Not quite Musicalverse, not quite Bookverse. Elements of both, apologies for any confusion. Just a one shot I knocked out in a couple of hours when I should have been working. I finally got round to uploading it. I actually wrote this before I read "Son of a Witch" but there seems to be an element or two of that in here anyway. Not planned, but what can you do?
Obviously I don't own any of the Wicked or Wizard of Oz characters. Reviews/comments/criticisms appreciated. Enjoy.
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Glinda wandered, she was not entirely sure where, the alleyways and avenues looked vaguely familiar yet at the same time completely alien. This was certainly not the Emerald City, but could easily have been a township close to Shiz, or a village on the border of Gillikin and Munchkinland, possibly even a tourist spot within the Uplands. Wherever she was, she nevertheless felt completely at ease and walked for miles, completely content and relishing in the warmth of the afternoon sun. She paid no heed to the fact she had not seen another soul for hours.
She came to rest eventually in he shade cast by a small copse at the side of a brook a few hundred metres outside the village walls. She leaned against the trunk of a tree and sighed peacefully, smiling as she surveyed the landscape. There was little evidence of agriculture within the surrounding hills, save for the vast fields of poppies lying to the west, vibrant in their scarlet hue. She remembered hearing tales of when Dorothy had visited Oz, of the attempts of the Wicked Witch to lure her into an endless slumber. Unwittingly, Glinda felt her own eyelids grow heavy as she thought on the potentially narcotic properties of the only visible crop, and soon fell into a pleasant sleep.
She could not say how long she had been out for, but when she awoke she was greeted by a distinctive, long absent, figure.
"Lady Chuffrey." The unmistakable emerald features were lit up by a wry smile "it is an honour."
Glinda smiled "it's been a long time, Miss Elphaba" as she fell into the embrace of her dearest friend from years ago. "There is no word worthy of describing how I have missed you." Elphaba held her close.
"There is no need to detail such things. I see you have been keeping well Lady Glinda." She made to prostrate herself, seemingly in earnest.
"There is no need for such formality, it is a title I gladly would relinquish and live as a peasant should it mean I could truly see you once again."
Elphaba chuckled "then you know this isn't real?"
Glinda sighed "would that it were, but you are…gone, and have been for many years. You've visited me in dreams before, but never have you deigned to speak to me." Her sarcasm was thinly veiled.
"I'm a busy woman, Glindy. But I must confess, it is a joy to talk with you again."
"Oh Elphie!" Once again she pulled Elphaba close. "How are you? Where are you? I know you can't be dead, it took me so long to realise, but I can still feel you, and you would not visit me in my dreams so often if you were truly gone."
Elphaba smiled wryly "you may want to be careful who you share these theories with, you don't want people thinking that the strain of ruling has damaged your sanity."
"You haven't changed, I see, but honestly, are you alright? I need you to set my mind at ease."
"Honestly? I'm…I'm happy. Even if I could tell you where I was, there would be no point, as you could never reach me there. But all is well for me, I promise, for the first time, my life is close to content. What of yourself?"
Glinda paused to consider this. Her life was wonderful, there could be no denying it, but she had not felt truly happy for a long time. Though she relished life as a public figure and rejoiced in the constant adulation it brought with it, she was, at heart, dissatisfied. That she had never been able to clear Elphaba's name in Oz, that she had to perpetuate every day the rumours and scandal surrounding "The Wicked Witch" had always sat uneasily with her, and now, once again face to face with her dearest friend, she was forced to acknowledge the moral ambiguity of her existence as "Glinda the Good." As if reading her thoughts, Elphaba took Glinda's hands in her own.
"You are doing good for a great many people, Glinda. Sometimes the truth really isn't the best thing for people to believe, they need you to be the absolute paragon of virtue, just as they need me to be the figurehead of all that was evil. You need to let go, Glinda, to let me go and forgive yourself, or you'll never be happy again. That is not what you deserve."
"Elphie…I needed to hear that from you." Her voice was small and beginning to crack slightly. "Thank you. It still hurts, but thank you."
They walked together for a while, alternating periods of enthusiastic chatter, dominated by Glinda, with lulls of comfortable silence, much as they had done as school friends. Eventually they stopped to rest again, a setting sun casting an ethereal pink tint over their surroundings as the light, billowing clouds glowed in a verdant hue.
"I believe you haven't told me everything about your life since I left." Elphaba's statement broke the silence that had been hanging in the air for several minutes.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, a woman in your position needs to look to the future, and you've not so much as mentioned the prospect of producing an heir. Were you keeping this from me intentionally or had you just forgotten to mention it?" There was a slight suggestiveness in her words, though Glinda could not ascertain its significance. She sighed heavily and looked away from her friend's gaze.
"We have tried, we have been trying for several years now, but to no avail. We have tried so many things, I was even tempted by green elixir, but we are yet to be blessed. Chuffrey is so, well. . ."
"Old?"
"I can't find a more tactful way to put it. He is such a proud man, too, will not acknowledge that the problem may be with anyone or anything but me. But there is no reason why I shouldn't be able to fall pregnant, I just haven't yet and I'm beginning to think that I never shall." Glinda gave up on trying to hold back the tears her eyes were brimming with as Elphaba took her in her arms.
"It's going to happen, Glinda." The blonde woman pulled away from the embrace.
"What?"
Elphaba grinned widely "You're going to have a baby, I promise you." Glinda's hands flew to her abdomen and she stared down disbelievingly, as if searching for the first hint of maternal roundness there.
"But that's not possible, after we've tried for so long, how can this be? Did you. . .? How?"
"I know how important this is, not just to you, but to Oz. Consider it a greatly belated parting gift. It was the least I could do, to help things along for you. But please, don't mention to anybody else how this happened. They would likely not believe you anyway, and it is better for your people if I'm allowed to gradually slip from their consciousness altogether. No need to stir up any fear again, these are troubled times."
"Oh Elphie" she threw herself into an embrace, weeping into the shoulder of her friend, who winced only slightly as the stinging tears fell into contact with her skin. She smiled and hugged Glinda tightly.
"You have to understand that I can never, ever make my presence known like this again. You may see me in your sleep but I can never make something like this happen, it was dangerous enough for me to speak with you now, and the last thing I want is to put you in jeopardy, especially now."
"I understand. Just promise me that wherever you are, you are happy."
"I am. Leaving Oz was the most difficult thing I have ever done, not because of the persecution, not even because of the Animals, but because of you."
"Elphie." Glinda's voice was little more than a whisper. "Thank you." She allowed her lips to find Elphaba's and gently kissed them, as they had done a thousand times before, many years ago, as young girls thrown together by circumstance and seeking comfort in one another. Now, as women, the exchange signified a parting, the final closure that had never truly come when Elphaba had left.
"I love you." They both laughed as they uttered the words at exactly the same time.
"You have to wake up now Glinda, you have a new phase of your life to begin." The blonde witch was now choked by sobs as she nodded, reluctantly letting go of Elphaba's hands, feeling a quick-acting drowsiness descend upon her as the landscape faded to darkness.
"Goodbye, Ginda the Good."
Glinda forced her leaden eyelids open. Slowly growing accustomed to the brightness of the infirmary room, she noticed the midwife, the estate doctor and her husband, all peering intently at her with no small degree of worry in their eyes. She smiled and attempted to greet them, shocked by the hoarse gasp her voice had been reduced to and by the exhaustion lying heavily in all of her muscles. She was aware of a dull but deep and persistent ache below her stomach. Lord Chuffrey's eyes darted briefly to Glinda's left then met gaze once more, but the look of fear and confusion on his face was unmistakable, even in her sedated state. With no small effort she turned onto her side and peered into the crib next to her bed. Inside it lay an infant, barely a few hours old, a girl with a beautiful shock of golden hair atop her sweetly sleeping face. Tiny hands shifted slightly in the innocent slumber of a newborn. From the top of her head to her miniature toes, the baby was perfect in every way, already a reflection of her mother's beauty and father's nobility.
The dazzling green skin, however, was inherited from neither.
For the first time in years, outside of her dreams, Glinda wept.