AN Me again, don't know what's up with me... same as always, not my mother tongue, please be nice and inform me about serious mistakes, will you?
Disclaimer: Is this mine? It isn't. What a surprise. Nothing is but this scene. Don't own the people nor the background story. Don't even own the room these guys are in here. Poor me.
The Wrong Person
The candle flackered and nearly extinguished as the soft breeze reached the little flame. The witch shook her head, sighing again, and squeezed the wick with her long slender fingers. The following darkness was suffocating, but she didn't light the candle again. It would have gone out within a few minutes anyway, there was hardly any wax left.
After a while, her eyes adjusted to the gloom. The faint light of the moon showed her the chaos of her room well enough, and she shook her head once more. Her fingertips tickled a little from the small burnings the dying flame had left there. The witch didn't care. It didn't hurt half as much as the burnings on her soul did, although she would never admit to be in possession of such a thing. She closed her eyes and tried to will the world away. It didn't work. She tried to will herself away, to a place where the world couldn't hurt her at least, but that didn't work either. At least she couldn't see it anymore with her eyes closed.
A little creak was heard as the door opened a crack. Light spilled in, from another candle. A lit one. The witch could see it through her closed eyes, an unkind red tint on her lids. She didn't move.
„What do you want, Liir?" Her voice sounded tired and sad, and the little boy hesitated a moment before he came in. He closed the door again, but the light grew brighter as he slowly approached her, the candle in his hand. He didn't even know why he was here, and the witch's reaction wasn't the angry scowl he had expected. Her silence scared him even more, and he found himself unable to utter a word.
After a moment, the witch sighed. „Stop the light."
Liir crinkled his brow in confusion. „W-what do you mean, Auntie Witch?"
„The candle." The calmness of her voice sent shiver down the boy's spine. He nearly set the papers on the desk on fire as he hastily blew out the flame. The witch seemed to tense for a moment, but when his eyes could see again, she was calm once more. Liir shivered. Suddenly he didn't want to be in the witch's room anymore, and he started to retreat back to the door slowly.
„Going already?" His head shot around and he saw that the witch had turned and opened her eyes, glowing white in her dark green face. She didn't expect an answer. „Why did you even come?"
The boy swallowed. „I-I don't know, Auntie Witch." She cocked an eyebrow at him, and he felt silly. „I'll go. I'm – I'm sorry, I didn't want to disrupt you." But her eyes wouldn't let him go. He couldn't identify what he saw in her face, but he felt his fear slowly disappear. Auntie Witch almost looked... sad.
„Well, since you're here already..." She motioned to a reasonably empty space on a desk. It took him a moment to realize she wanted him to sit down, and when he did, he knocked over a little pile of papers on it. The witch didn't care. She faced the window again, watching the moon vanish behind a cloud. Liir didn't know what to say and remained silent. Somehow, the sound of the witch's soft breathing irritated him.
„You better watch out, boy", she said, so quiet that he almoust didn't hear, „Because this is no life for you. It's no life for a kid like you are. You shouldn't come up here again." Liir hardly dared to breathe, and for a long minute, nobody said anything. „You better not listen to me all too much. Most things I say aren't for you, not even for Sarima or her sisters or anyone else of those guys around here. But the one they are for isn't around, and I have to say them to somebody, and then it's the wrong person, but I don't have a chance. Things have to be said sometimes." Liir wasn't sure if she even remembered he was here. He didn't know what she meant. „I guess I won't be able to tell these things the right person, but I shouldn't tell them anybody else either. I just can't help it. I'm too late."
The witch exhaled and buried her face in her hands. Liir didn't know what he was doing, but he slowly approached the slim dark unmoving figure that was Auntie Witch. He could tell something was wrong, but he didn't know what it was, and he felt helpless. He carefully laid his hand on her back, but the witch flinched and turned to look at him, an unreadable look in her eyes. She shook his hand off and stood, looking down at him.
„It's late, Liir. I don't know why you're even up at such a time, but you shouldn't be, and you definitely shouldn't be here. Go back to sleep." Liir was confused but nodded. The witch didn't see. She had turned back already, gazing intensely out of the window again, and ignored the boy. He slowly made his way out of her room and back to the kitchen, where he had decided to sleep today. He felt pity for the witch without knowing why. He hadn't understood the little she had told him, but he wouldn't forget it.
When the time came and he finally knew whom she had been talking about, he knew she had been right. She was too late. She was dead and gone for a time already when he laid eyes on Glinda and eventually found out what Elphaba had felt for her. But he didn't know what to tell the good witch, and he remained silent once more.
AN Nice little button underneath. Wants to be clicked. You know it wants...