Little Galinda returned home from school in tears.
"What's wrong?" Highmuster and Larena asked, on the alert at once when their daughter came home, crying.
"Some girl in class said I don't belong here," Galinda sobbed. She collapsed into her parents' arms and, through her tears, managed to explain.
Apparently, Galinda had been reading a book about architecture and construction and one of the girls had called her out on it, insisting that she was stupid for wanting such a stupid job. She basically said that a real society girl would be the one inside these marvelous buildings, not the one building them. And furthermore, the girl argued that building was what boys did anyway. Girls were supposed to like clothes and makeup, and the fact that Galinda didn't made her an outcast, a freak, a misfit.
Those hateful words had cut Galinda deep, and the fact that no one had tried to defend her at all only made it that much worse. It was like there were only two kinds of people in Galinda's class: those who said she did not belong, and those who agreed, but just didn't make it verbal. Galinda finished her tale, crying, asking how anyone could be so very mean to her.
"Darling, I don't think she meant you didn't belong. I think she meant the book didn't belong," Larena said slowly.
"Yes, I don't think she was trying to be mean. Just helpful. But she was a bit harsh about it," Highmuster agreed.
"You mean you think she was trying to help me fit in and be like her?" Galinda asked, sniffles decreasing slightly now that her parents were giving her a new outlook on her situation.
"Yes," Larena and Highmuster said in unison.
"Hmmm, ok, I guess," Galinda murmured slowly. She was glad to hear that no one really actually hated her, but it still hurt her a little to think that her hobbies and interests were considered wrong, and subpar for what someone of her status should be striving toward.
But even though Galinda was able to understand her parents' reasoning to some degree, there was still a shadow of doubt in Galinda's heart. But Galinda's parents were oblivious to it. Instead, after seeing that their little girl was no longer crying, they patted themselves on their backs and went along with their day, convinced that everything was right as rain once more. They couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, this left Galinda to walk sadly up to her bedroom and look at all her favorite books and toys. Only about half were what proper little ladies played with.
"What should I do?" she asked no one in particular as she studied all of her books and toys. Part of her said that she should follow her heart, and do what made her happy. But another part said that she, if she wanted to have a happy life, would have to start playing by the rules and not just go willy-nilly as she pleased. This was the side that won out, and she reluctantly put away all the things she wasn't supposed to play with. It made her sad, but at least no one at school would be mean to her anymore, right?
But even so, as the years rolled by, Galinda would never forget what that mean little girl had said to her, about her not belonging to the Upland community. Sometimes, Galinda had to admit that she almost agreed with that. She would look around to see a room, a face and a life that she had personally designed, but they were all full of things she did not personally want. It was at times like these when she would agree with that mean little girl from school. This place was not her home.
Miles across Oz, a girl named Elphaba felt much the same way. She had been born with green skin, an anomaly that set her apart from everyone else she ever met, even her own family. Because of that, she could not call her house a home, nor could she call any of the rest of her town a home because the rest of the community was just as hostile towards her as her family was. No one liked a girl with freakishly green skin. She had no friends, only books. They were the closest things she had to companions. They were the only things that did not hate or judge her. For that, books were not like an escape for the green girl. They were like a return. A return to the closest thing she'd ever had to a home.
At last, these two girls, so different yet so similar, finally met each other. They became roommates at Shiz University. At the start of their relationship, they were the worst of enemies. But then Galinda went through a change of heart and, from there, a beautiful friendship was born. Both of the two girls valued that friendship above nearly anything else in the entire world because, in that friendship, both of the girls had found something that they had not found anywhere else in all their lives: a home.
"You like architecture?" the green girl asked her little blond roommate one night when she caught Galinda studying some blueprints.
"Yeah," Galinda nodded with a blush, trying to hide the blueprints away from Elphaba.
"Well, why do you sound embarrassed?" Elphaba asked. "I think it's great!"
"Well, all my life I was told that such study was stupidity," Galinda confessed. "Dreams like that were discouraged where I came from," she added, and then, from that night on, Elphaba vowed that she would help Galinda in her studies, despite knowing very little about architecture herself. But even though she was probably the last person someone should've ever asked for help on architecture, Galinda had still been touched by this promise from Elphaba. It had been the first time that anyone had ever truly supported her, or loved her for who she was and not who they wanted her to be.
"That's because I want you to be you," Elphaba said when Galinda had asked why Elphaba was being so kind. Galinda's heart had melted at once.
And such love was mutual. Although Elphaba still endured a daily dose of bullying because of her verdigris, she finally had someone who would stand up for her, and try to protect her from all the abuse.
"Leave her be," Galinda snarled coldly as her ex-friends tried to start taunting Elphaba again. They were then prepared to turn on Galinda as well, but all Galinda had needed to do was raise her wand threateningly. Cute and non-threatening as Galinda looked, she could be very dangerous when required and it was a very bad idea to cross paths with her when she was in a foul mood. Galinda's tempers were the stuff of legends, meaning that they were rare, and also powerful to an epic proportion.
And even if Galinda wasn't exactly the best witch in the sorcery seminar, she was no pushover either. Some students also came to learn the unfortunate lesson that if the wand ever failed Galinda, fists would not. Galinda had willingly thrown some punches to protect Elphaba before and, despite her tiny and dainty appearance, her punches were incredibly powerful and painful. Anyone who had been on the receiving end could show the giant, dark bruises to illustrate that point. In short, Galinda was not nearly as harmless as she seemed. She had a wicked temper.
"Thank you, my sweet," Elphaba said softly as Galinda sent her would-be bullies running for the hills.
"It was my pleasure," she promised sincerely, sheathing her wand again.
"But I could've taken them on myself," Elphaba said next.
"Even so, I still want you and them to know that you don't have to face them alone anymore," Galinda replied calmly. "Even if you could hexed them all into next week without any of my help, I want everyone to know that I'll be by your side anyway." And for the first time in her life, Elphaba felt the stone walls that she'd conjured up around her emotions begin to crumble. At long last, Elphaba had found someone who really loved her, and who would stay by her side as a friend forever. It was the first time Elphaba had ever truly felt happy.
This loving bond was pushed to the limit, however, when a political storm finally swept them up and apart. Elphaba had taken Galinda, who had since renamed herself Glinda, to come with her to meet the wonderful Wizard of Oz, but it didn't take either girl long to realize that he was little more than a coward in disguise. Elphaba had been bold enough to defy him and his wicked regime, but Glinda had not. Instead, while Elphaba raised a fist against the Wizard, Glinda had stayed behind. From then on, both of the girls had lost the sturdy shelters they'd found in each other, and they returned back to the "good old days" of being two lost and lonely misfits without a place to truly call home.
Glinda grew up to be a successful worker for the Wizard, and she was beloved by all, yet, at the same time, she couldn't have felt more hated if she'd tried. And she felt this way because, despite all the praises given to her, they weren't for her so much as they were for her work. The people did not love her, they loved the performances that she put on, and they misconstrued the two as being one in the same. In truth, though, she was little more than a painted doll, a pretty puppet, a mask. The true Glinda wasn't receiving any of this love at all, and it was taking a severe toll on her emotional health. She was replaceable and forgettable, only loved on the surface. This "dream life" was not her home.
Unbeknownst to Glinda, Elphaba felt just the same. Elphaba hadn't seen her beloved little blond in years and the loss was taking its toll on her as well. But because of what her line of work was, Elphaba was unable to show any sign of grief or weakness. So, on the outside, she was just a lone wolf. On the inside, she was dying inside, pining away for the only true friend that she'd ever had, her only home. But those tears would've been considered a weakness by her comrades, and weakness was NOT allowed. But it was funny, Elphaba began to think, she had spent her whole life trying to fight her weaknesses and now, day by day, she was succumbing to them. The longer she was apart from Glinda, the weaker she became. For one who was trying so hard to be strong, she certainly wasn't getting very far. Then, in the end, the weakness finally got the best of her. Some strange little girl from somewhere over the rainbow had arrived into Oz and she was sent, by the Wizard, to kill her.
The little girl succeeded in this goal, but only because Elphaba had allowed her to. Although Elphaba had not wanted to die, per se, she was sick and tired of the life she was living now, and it didn't seem like there was any other way out for her anymore. Except this one. So she allowed herself to be killed, to be melted away by a bucket of water. But she would wake up very soon after her death, only this time, she would be in a place far more magical than the one she left behind. Maybe she would find a home here? In whatever Ozian afterlife this was?
But even though Elphaba was dead, Glinda was still very much alive. Her heart had broken beyond repair when she learned what had become of the girl she had so deeply loved. When the farm girl responsible for Elphaba's death had returned, Glinda had almost wanted to kill her, but Glinda knew that the girl really wasn't to blame. Perhaps she had ended Elphaba's life, but it was only on the Wizard's orders. She had only been another pawn in his sick, twisted game. She did not deserve to die, so Glinda made sure to get her out of harm's way as fast as she could.
"To return to your world, simply say, "There is no place like home!"," Glinda instructed her. The girl did exactly what she was told and was successfully sent back out of Oz and to her own home world. Glinda was deeply jealous of her. If only she could have a simple spell that would take her back home so easily! But alas, there was no home for her to go back to. Not anymore.
Decades later, Glinda had managed to land herself in jail. After a lifetime of madness, mayhem, mystery and magic, Glinda took her final bow and made one last act of defiance against the corrupt government before being carted off to the dreaded Ozian jail of Southstairs. But Glinda hadn't really minded the prison too much. Sure, it wasn't a very nice place, but it wasn't terrible either. And it was, blessedly, very far away from the miserable gilded cage she'd spent the better portion of her life trapped in. To be quite honest, this physical prison felt very similar to the mental one she had been stuck in back in the Emerald City Palace!
A year after her arrest, Glinda died. Her body was discovered when one of the Southstairs guards had come to give Glinda her daily meal only to find a very cold corpse awaiting him inside the cell. But even though Glinda's body was cold, her spirit was very warm...
"You wicked thing, you've taken your own sweet time of course," Glinda whispered as her eyes closed for the final time. When they opened again, Elphaba was standing before her with open arms, and Glinda didn't hesitate to launch right into them.
After a happy, slightly teary, reunion, Elphaba gestured to the sky, and, this time, Glinda agreed. Elphaba's spirit had returned from the grave to guide Glinda to hers and, this time, Glinda was more than happy to follow Elphaba off into the unknown. So together, the two girls entered the afterlife and, at long last, they finally managed to find the place where they truly belonged: at each other's side. They were finally home, and there really was no place quite like it.
AN: Another musing Gelphie fic, this time based around the concept of "home". This is book and musical-canon both. And as you can see, we have more Glinda backstory. It's also semi-based off the quote that says, "Home isn't always a location, sometimes it's a person."