Title: Rubies For Blood
Author: Angel Leviathan
Spoilers: Whole book.
Notes: Set toward the end of the book.
They were coming to kill her and Glinda sent them on their way. Well, she sent the girl on her way. The Wizard did the rest. No, no, it wasn't just the Wizard. If Glinda had never enchanted those shoes, none of this would have happened. Nessa wouldn't have become remotely independent, would never have earned her name of the Wicked Witch of the East. She would never be known as the Wicked Witch of the West by blood. It all came back to Glinda. She hated her, she loved her, her true friend. She had asked her to hold on. For what? Keep faith for what? There was no good in the world. Glinda smiled and twirled and shined for what? Even she knew she was no good. A fake in an expensive dress. She took and she took and they still loved her. They didn't see the truth. They didn't see the spoiled, selfish girl of Shiz. It didn't matter. None of it mattered. She could blame and hate Glinda all she wanted, the girl was still her friend, her best friend…only…friend? Maybe she was doing her a favour. Maybe she deserved to die. Maybe she was Wicked, damn it all to whatever hell the Unnamed God sent unbelievers to. What if she had never met Glinda? What if she had never known what it was like to be that naïve and that corruptible with a shiny bauble. What if she had never known what it was like to be that…good? Glinda thought she was making good. If only on the outside.
The Witch hovered by the window of the castle, waiting. Glinda might shine, but her soul was as black as the Witch's. She had tried to make Nessa shine and only darkness had seized her heart. If she had had one. Just because Nessa had believed in the soul, it didn't mean she had ever had a heart. Not in those years.
History was about to destroy her. They were all in those shoes, herself, Nessarose and Glinda. Her selfish nature, Nessa's wretched soul and Glinda's false hope. The shoes shone. Rubies for blood.
Her blood. Nessa's blood. Glinda's blood. Everything in the hands of an innocent.
Shoes shine, blood drips, Witch melts.
Fin