A/N So, this story takes place in an AU where Glinda and Elphaba did not make friends before Elphaba went to the Emerald City and Glinda believes like the rest of Oz that Elphaba is wicked. This story also defies any canon timeline logic, so don't even try to make sense of it.
Chapter 1:
'If it'll make you happy, of course I'll marry you.'
'It will make you happy too, right?'
'You know me. I'm always happy.'
But I'm not! This was the first thought creeping in Glinda's mind the moment her newly announced fiancé turned away and left her alone in the hustle and bustle of their engagement party. Very politely, very apologetically but just as much matter-of-factly, he had excused himself and vanished.
Not more than four weeks had passed since the -horrendifying, if the newspapers were concerned; unfortunate, according to the wizard and Madame Morrible; nightmarish, if she was asked- events of Elphaba Thropp's terrorising actions against the wizard and all of Oz. Everyone spoke about it and Glinda had lost track of what was proven facts and what seemed to be nothing but rumours- and there had been many. Some people said there had been an assassination attempt on the wizard. Glinda shivered at the thought. True, or not, she could not believe she had been sharing a room with the evil green witch at fault for all this. Of course, Glinda had known she was a detestable being from the very beginning, but she still had not expected her to be outright evil. In hindsight, she coursed herself for not seeing it coming.
It did not help that Fiyero was captain of the guard that was trying to find her- he barely had time for Glinda now.
Through the betrayal- and hurt-induced fog in her mind, somewhere deep in the forthrightness of her good, sympathetic side, she acknowledged what an inconvenient situation Oz was facing but it didn't make it any easier. She had devoted her life to Fiyero, always available, but it seemed like Fiyero, for some reason, was interested in nothing but finding Elphaba Thropp and Glinda couldn't help but feel somewhat betrayed. Of course, they had to find the witch responsible for all the sheer terror and chaos in the country, and since this was something no citizen of Oz would soon forget, it was obvious Elphaba Thropp had to be found soon, before all of Oz's trust in Glinda the Good, and worse, the wizard, started to waver.
It was just ironic that up until now she had still slept in their shared room at Shiz. Even with Elphaba gone, the thought of sleeping in a room that still had most of the Wicked Witch of the West's belongings was unsettling. So Glinda had collected her personal belongings in a cardboard box- reluctantly, as she was almost afraid touching any of her things would burn her skin- and got rid of them. Not that there was much to get rid of apart from her hideodious clothes and a few books. She had kept the green bottle hidden under her pillow, though. Glowingly fluorescent and mysterious. Why she couldn't just discard it was almost ridiculous. But for some reason, she felt like keeping it might be of use to her later.
During the few weeks following Elphaba's disappearance, she had had enough, too much actually, time to assess her situation. In hindsight, everything had been obvious but she had been too prone to ignore the signs. When the first days of shock following Elphaba's terrorising acts had worn off, the underlying, unspoken truth that Fiyero had gone through irreversible changes since she had disappeared was suppressed by flagging it as weariness. However, with every passing day it was harder to keep up the façade, to smile and please and submit to whatever nuisance the Ozians could come up with, now that even Fiyero seemed to abandon her. He seemed to think everything people were saying about Elphaba was an unfair amount of blatant lies. Glinda had tried to talk to him about it, but he had just politely dismissed her. Glinda couldn't lie to herself, the way things had unfolded for Fiyero and herself made her nothing but discontent and impatient with every faked moment of her life.
After Fiyero had left, she was sulking at the rest of the engagement party all evening, feeling sorry for herself. It could have been perfect, the happy ending Glinda Upland- no, Glinda the Good now- deserved, but it felt empty and meaningless, because Fiyero seemed to care more about finding that evil, green excuse of a person than spending time with his fiancée. And for that, Glinda hated Elphaba with every single fiber in her body. It very much felt like she got punished instead of the Wicked Witch.
Glinda sighed and sat down at a table, joining her friends to half-heartedly chat and laugh with them, all the while lost in thought.
The sudden noise of collective gasps made her look up. There was a slight commotion a distance away. She spotted a small group of people stepping back, making room for a group of guards, marching towards the wizard's castle entrance. Glinda's heart stopped when she saw who they were dragging between them. In the hands of these guards was no one else than the Wicked Witch of the West.
She stood abruptly, the chair she had been sat on falling over.
The only contentment she could find in the situation was the evidence that Elphaba Thropp was just as much surprised to see her as Galinda was to see Elphaba. She didn't trust her own legs, jelly knees, sponge joints, so she stayed rooted to the spot, half leaning against the table for support. Elphaba was led through what would have been a crowd if not everyone had tried to get as much distance between themselves and the witch as possible- handcuffed and escorted by no less than four guards in uniforms. She sneered at the festive decoration, just before making eye contact with Glinda.
"What a reception, I have to say I'm flattered! Have been dying to see me, Galinda?"
Her voice was the same as Glinda remembered from their quarrels at Shiz. And though it had been only a few weeks, she looked even thinner now, and -if it was possible for her green skin- paler. Her hair messier. The look, the maliciously blinking darkness of her eyes was the same though, and just as revolting as in Glinda's memories.
"In such company, yes," Glinda nodded toward the security guards, and was relieved that her voice came out steadier than how she was feeling. Her remark had no visible effect on Elphaba apart from the twitch of an eyebrow.
She could tell Elphaba was not all too concerned about the captivity she found herself in right now by the way her lips curled into a taut, self-confident smile. "Don't worry, soon I'll be free and Oz can relish in their fair share of nightmares and rumours again."
Glinda couldn't think of anything to say. Eventually she was saved by the guards nudging her from behind. "Come on, witch, move."
She cast one last wrathful glance at Glinda and walked on. Glinda followed her steps numbly, and realized belatedly that Fiyero was standing right beside her.
"You are still here,"he said. It was a statement, a bit apologetic as if it was his fault that she hadn't left the engagement party yet. "I thought you had left when I did. I wanted to spare you this encounter, Glinda."
"She said… Why is she here?" Glinda mumbled, fixating on the gates behind which Elphaba had disappeared, as if trying to convince herself that it was only a hallucination.
"We finally managed to find and capture her." Glinda would have stated how vague and uninformative this reply was if she had not been in a weird state of shock still.
"Why don't you go home, and I promise I'll join you in a few hours."
Even when Fiyero had long followed the other guards, Glinda stayed rooted to the spot.
Somehow, and it was disturbing, meeting Elphaba had shaken her more than she would have anticipated. The last time she saw her, they had been nothing but room-mates- with a strong mutual dislike of course, but learning to tolerate each other's presence. Glinda had happened to forget how menacing she could be, how cruelly spot-on about the impact of her words, how her eyes and voice could deliver so much... wickedness. As she let loathing engulf her in a hope that she could suck every ounce of willpower out of it, a faint realization dawned on her. There was no way she would go home and wait for Fiyero to explain what happened, she just couldn't do it.
Most of the party attendants were still there, but they were not celebrating anymore. Everyone was murmuring and whispering, looking scared. People started leaving in little groups.
Whatever Elphaba was referring to with her last remark, whether it was true or just an empty threat, it left a sick feeling in her stomach. Not feeling too well, she sat back down.
Minutes or hours went by, she couldn't tell through the mind-numbing turbulent thoughts raging in her head.
That was when part of the gate leading to the wizard's castle dissolved with a deafening bang, followed by a mild series of explosions from around the premise.
Glinda was thrown out of her chair, less by the impact and more out of an instinctive reaction to cower. Within a few seconds she was surrounded by smoke, dense and opaque. There were a few shouts, another sound of explosion but Glinda didn't pay attention. Choking at the throat-scratching smoke and her own tears, squinting her stinging eyes, only one horrible thought could reach through the incredulity binding her mind. It's Elphaba. She's trying to destroy the Emerald City.
She scrambled to her feet and stumbled in the opposite direction of where she guessed the castle was. Blinded by all the smoke, she almost fell over someone who was crawling on all fours, then evading the figure she ran into another one, the momentum repulsing her backwards.
She recognized the green witch just a fraction before the witch saw her and caught her off-guard by lurching at her. In the panic of trying to evade the smoke and explosions she had completely forgotten about Elphaba but her sudden manifestation before her made the pieces of puzzle clash in her head, forming a very likely and worrisome image. It was just too obvious, too clear right now.
"You! Get off-!" Her grumble got lost in a croak, and instead of talking she tried to yank her arm free. Glinda, adrenaline exploding in her stomach, clung onto her, desperate to make her stay till a guard would come to her help. Elphaba, with an incomprehensible growl, grabbed her hair and pulled her away from her. Glinda only now realised Elphaba was holding onto her broom, ready to fly off.
"No…!" Galinda shrieked and as soon as Elphaba turned to leave she lashed out again, knocking her down from behind. In the debris she lost her footing but immediately pushed herself off the floor, grabbing onto the broomstick. Before Glinda could even blink, the witch whirled around and the feral sneer that appeared on her face coiled her stomach into a small knot.
"Hell, why not…?" she growled, and pulled Galinda closer to her by the back of her neck, and with her left arm secured around her shoulders, she gnarled into her ear from behind her back. "Since you insist…" with that, the broom took off- not just with Elphaba, but – to Glinda's shock- with both of them.
With wide open eyes, Glinda's glance fell on the ground getting smaller and smaller by the second. Instinctively, she tried to free herself from Elphaba's grasp, but in the attempt she lost her balance and almost slipped off the side of the broom- if it wasn't for Elphaba's arm around her waist pulling her up.
"You better keep still" Her voice carried such power and coolness that Glinda involuntarily shivered. Elphaba tossed Glinda in front of her on the broom and just when she regained her balance, she clung to the broom in panic.
Between the realization that she was in deep trouble and the almost blinding fear caused by the incredible height they were at by now, all Glinda could focus on was her fingers holding on to the thin broom as tight as she could.
Once she had steadied her breath and regained control of her racing thoughts- which took a while- Glinda finally found the courage to speak.
Grinding her teeth, she glared at Elphaba over her shoulder "Let me go."
Elphaba chuckled coldly. "Be more consistent, Glinda. Back on the ground you seemed to be eager to stick to me."
Her irritated yet malicious grin, the clouds, the broom flying at high speed through the darkening sky, even her desperately restrained fear faded into blackness as Glinda felt her consciousness slipping away.
