"I'm looking to the western sky just like you said, so why can't I find you?" Glinda asked sadly, though she already knew the answer. Her best fried had... gone away... Glinda refused to use the other word. But no matter what word she used, it didn't change the simple fact that Elphaba was no longer around.
"Why won't you return?" she continued to plead to the girl who wasn't there. "You're my Elphie! You can do anything!" she cried, but then she paused and gave a small, defeated sigh. "Or at least, you can almost do anything," she said. "But you were always so defiant! Please be, just one more time, and come back to me!" Glinda continued to beg the empty night sky as memories flashed through her mind.
Glinda had been raised slap in the lap of luxury... and had hated almost every minute of it. This was because, with that kind of life, it seemed nothing she had ever done ever truly mattered. Easy as it was to life as a rich and popular princess, it was a very empty and dull life, and it took her a very long time to realize what it was that she really wanted, and when she finally had the answer, it all became all too clear clear. It wasn't fame or fortune that Glinda wanted, it was love. Alas, this revelation came too late. She'd already chosen fame over love, and it was too late for a redo. She just had to grin and bear it. Just like always.
It seemed to be her curse, to forever be a cowardly fool who always chose the wrong or selfish choice. Worst of all, though, was how, even after she'd identified a mistake, she would still never own up to it. Instead, she always came up with justifications, arguments and excuses, always trying to deny any real wrongdoing on her own part. Instead of just apologizing and trying to make things better, she always ran and hid, sweeping her mistakes under the rug as she ran for the safety of someone bigger and stronger to hide behind. Regret, guilt, grief, cowardice, selfishness and a desire for forgiveness were far from foreign to Glinda now. She hated it. Her strongest emotion, however, was longing. Oh, how she longed to have Elphaba back by her side again! Or to have joined the green girl back when she'd still had the chance... Elphaba... Now there was a girl with honor, integrity, bravery, selflessness, goodness and strength! But to Glinda, Elphaba's most defining trait of all was her defiance.
In fact, this was so very true that Elphaba had been born straight out of defiance, literally! Her conception was the result of her mother, deciding to have an affair with another man. Then, her actual birth had revealed that she had green skin. It was a very far from normal event, for no midwife in all of Oz had ever seen such a phenomenon before. And after Elphaba's birth, the defiance got worse. She was rude, distant, stoic, aggressive and very anti-authority. Whether one talked about religion, law or parenting, Elphaba was quite defiant towards all authority. Then Elphaba had come to Shiz, and little changed in her naturally defiant demeanor. She was defiant of the students who bullied her for her skin, defiant of the teachers who told her she would never amount to anything, and defiant to anyone that tried to crush her dreams.
And funnily enough, defiance was so encoded into Elphaba's genes that it was defiance that first led to her and Glinda's friendship. After a semester of bullying and a party prank gone wrong, Glinda made the very first act of defiance in her life. She stood up for Elphaba. Even though she had orchestrated the prank, she came to regret her actions and when other students began to laugh, it was Glinda who stood up for Elphaba, defiant of anyone who tried to mock the green girl, even her own best friends. It had been that act of defiance in Glinda that sparked Elphaba's interest with her, which led to their subsequent friendship which, in time, became the most important thing in Glinda's life.
But Elphaba was not done being defiant yet. Even though Glinda's friendship with her improved her standing in the eyes of the university students, Elphaba still rejected a lot of status quo. At last, she even became defiant enough to challenge the Wonderful Wizard of Oz himself! If that wasn't enough, she'd stolen a spell book from him and enchanted a broom to fly. So not only was she defying the Wizard himself, now the stubborn green girl was defying even the laws of physics. She was defying gravity.
That moment on the broom, flying away from the Emerald City Palace, was the moment when Glinda had seen Elphaba at her happiest, her bravest and freest. The look of pure joy and power on Elphaba's green face as she began to fly on the broom was burned forever in Glinda's mind. Sadly, Glinda only ever got to see that look once because, right after that look, the Gale Force found them and Elphaba was forced to flee. Glinda stayed behind out of fear and conformity. It was something Elphaba would never do.
The years after that day were hard. Glinda, after losing Elphaba, felt her world slowly dissolve into sorrow and chaos. It was nothing but an endless cycle of misery and anger, and Elphaba wasn't part of any of it. Or at least, she wasn't there for most of it. But then there did finally come a day when Glinda got to see that beautiful green face once more. Sadly, the reunion was very far from pleasant. For starters, Glinda's fiancé, Fiyero, ended up running away with Elphaba... on his and Glinda's wedding night. Then, Glinda tried to get her revenge, but that vengeance ended up getting Elphaba's younger sister killed. Following that death, the Gale Force nearly captured Elphaba, but Fieryo sacrificed himself so that Elphaba could escape. That was the second death. Then even Elphaba herself died. So, all of Glinda's friends were gone...
What happened next was a blur. All Glinda remembered was finally managing to dethrone Oz's "Wonderful" Wizard. She took over the throne in exchange, becoming the new queen of Oz, but that triumph was barely even a shadow in the back of her mind, so consumed was she with grief over her fallen friends. But worst of all was the realization that all of it was her fault. All of it, all her fault. All her fault. Her fault. Her...
"But you were always so defiant! Please be, just one more time, and come back to me!" Glinda cried out again. But still no reply. The blond couldn't take the silence anymore. Instead, she threw herself under the silky sheets of her bed and sobbed into her pillow, hating herself for how soft and warm the sheets and pillow both felt. She didn't deserve such luxury. She didn't deserve anything. Glinda groaned loudly to herself in bitter self-loathing. She continued to sob for nearly an hour, but at last, she could cry no longer, and she slipped into a sleep that, mercifully, was devoid of any and all dreams, good or bad.
"I wish I could've been even half as strong and brave as you, Elphie," the blond murmured before sleep claimed her. "Please give me some of that strength and courage now, so that I, too, can dare to defy gravity..." then Glinda fell asleep.
Beneath Glinda's balcony, a thin figure on a broom hovered silently.
"Oh Glinda, I'm so sorry I left. But I couldn't stay. We both knew it," whispered the figure, it was Elphaba. "You're right about me being defiant but that's not what made me, me. I had something you lacked: compassion. But you're learning. You're on your way to truly defying gravity but it's not easy. It's also not something I can help with. It's a personal matter only you can choose when you'll start defying gravity but when you do, nothing will ever bring you down. I don't know when your time will come but I feel it'll be soon, my braver-than-you-think friend. You did so much good already. Just hold out my sweet," Elphaba whispered up, even though she knew Glinda wouldn't hear. But then, once her piece was spoken, she flew away from her hiding spot and headed out of Oz altogether, but she didn't leave without saying one last thing:
"We are both defiant Glinda, more than we know. Perhaps such power will reunite us again one day. After all, together we're unlimited."
AN: Just some more musing, this time surrounding the concept of defiance in the characters.