Disclaimer: I don't own anything. All credits for WICKED go to Gregory Maguire, Stephen Schwartz. I own the plot, the idea, nothing else.
Thanks to BelieveTheWarIsOver for betareading.
AN: A different version of WICKED. Story starts after "Defying Gravity" in the Musical.
FAIRYTALE GONE BAD
Chapter 1
She had done it. She had defied gravity.
Right now Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West as everyone in OZ now called her, was flying over the Emerald City. She felt happy, excited. She didn't think about the consequences of her actions. Not now. There was time to think about them later.
Elphaba knew that there were consequences, but she wanted to feel, to cherish this powerful feeling of defiance for now. Back in the palace she had no other choice. There never was a choice for her.
She would never ever go against her beliefs and now she was an outcast, even more then before. Her green skin had made her stand out back in Shiz and back in her childhood. Now she was an outcast, the enemy of OZ for defying the wonderful wizard of OZ who wasn't so wonderful in her opinion.
It felt like she had been a child many years ago and not just only weeks ago. Today in the palace she had aged twenty years or more in one short day. It felt like she wasn't the young woman who had entered Shiz full of plans for her future. Now she was someone else. Someone she never wanted to be. She was now the Wicked Witch.
Shiz. Dear old Shiz. She couldn't return. Not to Shiz, not to her old life. She wouldn't be able to finish her education. Elphaba had to leave her friends behind without ever having the chance to say goodbye. She could never say goodbye. Maybe never see them alive again. They were now enemies, she and her friends.
Elphaba had left her last friend, Glinda, behind, back in the palace. What would happen to Glinda now? The Gale Force had gotten her back in the palace. She was captured, Elphaba was sure about it. Glinda would never work for the Wizard. Or maybe she would. Glinda was the most popular girl back in Shiz. She would do anything to become more popular. Maybe she would. But helping to enslave the Animals? Glinda would never. Or maybe she would. Elphaba wasn't sure anymore. Yes, she could picture Glinda doing those things. Helping Morrible and the Wizard.
And a feeling overcame her suddenly. Sadness hit her full force.
"I am sorry." She whispered into the silence of the western sky to no one in particular. No one except the moon and the stars were the witnesses of her heartfilled apology. No one else was there to give her the absolution she seeked.
And as she reached the forest she steered her broom down into a clearing. The broom was a reminder of tonight. It was the second thing she had bewitched. First it was the monkeys, then it was the broom. They were both now able to fly.
The clearing was a place she could stay, but only for a couple of minutes. Elphaba had to get as far away from the Emerald City as possible, and soon. The Gale Force would already be searching for her in the Emerald City.
She sat down on the green grass, taking deep calming breaths. There was no turning back now.
"Why? I thought I finally found a place where I belonged. Why did life have to be this cruel? I can never return to my family and the only friends I ever had. Fiyero and Glinda. She had made her choice and I have made mine. I hope one day she realizes her mistake. Our Wonderful Wizard is a dictator, mutilator of the monkeys. No. That had been my doing, my spell. But he had asked me to give Chistery the chance to fly. I couldn't have known the damage, the commotion I would cause. I am just a foolish girl," she said, voicing her thoughts.
She had to keep on moving. Elphaba couldn't stay in the clearing any longer. But where would she go? Home? There was an old saying: Home is where the heart is.
If it was true Elphaba had no home. The place where she grew up never felt like home.
Shiz? No. The first place the Gale Force would search for her was Shiz. She couldn't endanger the students.
But there was a place, somewhere, where she could stay for a couple of days and then she had to continue moving. She could never stay at one place for long.