Glinda sat in the train carriage, which was empty save for a couple of Munchkinlanders who looked as happy as she was unhappy.
She couldn't stop the hot tears from streaming down her face. She was sure they were ruining her makeup, but at this point she was beyond caring.
She was sitting here alone. She should be sitting here with Elphie, celebrating her best friend's rise to being the Magic Grand Vizier of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
But Elphaba had flown off into the sky, promising to fight the Wizard until the day she died. If she wasn't so miserable about being left behind she might have felt proud for her roommate's actions.
As the train inched towards Shiz, Glinda was reminded of all the people who had waved them off a mere two days ago. It seemed like another lifetime to Glinda.
Boq and Fiyero and Avaric and –
Glinda's heart nearly stopped. "Sweet Oz,"
Nessarose. Elphaba's younger sister Nessarose, forced to depend on her emerald sister her entire life. Suddenly, a memory of a talk she'd had with Elphie entered her mind.
"Promise me something," Elphaba said. The two friends were sitting on their beds. It was the day Elphaba had received word from the Wizard.
"Sure, Elphie, anything," Galinda squealed. "After all, we're best friends now."
Elphaba only grimaced, but then her expression turned serious again. "I want you to promise me that if anything happens to me – anything at all, you will look after Nessa."
Galinda's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Oh, Elphie I-" she began.
"Promise?" Elphaba ordered.
Galinda bit her lip and nodded. "Okay, I promise."
Glinda knew Nessarose would be heartbroken when she turned up at the train station and her sister wasn't there. And Glinda had promised Elphaba. So she would stand by her when Elphaba had abandoned her at Shiz; become her surrogate sister.
She saw all of them waiting at the train station, but she couldn't bear to meet their eyes.
"Where's Elphaba?" Nessa asked when she saw Glinda exit the train alone.
That's when Glinda knew she couldn't hide the truth any longer. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she raised her head to meet Nessarose's eyes.
"Oh Nessa," she sobbed, he voice stilted. "Oh Nessa. She's left."
Nessa looked shocked. Boq and Fiyero wore expressions of worry mixed with awe. Avaric looked bored.
"Good riddance," he muttered.
But Glinda had stuck by her word, babying Nessa as though she were her own sister. She let Nessa share the private compartment of Morrible, though that was more because she couldn't bear the heartbreak that would come from sharing a room with anyone other than Elphie, rather than the fact she thought Morrible would look after her better. Oz knew she wouldn't do that.
And then, out of the blue, Elphaba had turned up again. Crashed her engagement party and run off with her fiancé. Though Glinda knew that she was not that girl, and Elphie was, she couldn't help but feeling a tiny twinge of jealousy.
When she heard Morrible and the Wizard discussing ways of capturing Elphaba, she mentioned Nessa, the way she had always felt responsible for her and that she would rush to her side if she was ever in danger.
And because of that one tiny sentence, she was here, in Munchkinland, carrying a bouquet of flowers to lay beside a ruined farmhouse from which a pair of stripy-stockinged legs poked out.
She'd given the shoes to the owner of the house, the poor girl who wanted nothing more than to return home. If they were left here, who knew what kind of problems they would have caused.
As she was sobbing in front of the house, wishing she could go back to the time before the tornado, before the fateful trip to the Emerald City, she heard the sound of feet.
"What a touching display of grief," sneered a voice. Though it was like audible daggers, Glinda would recognise that voice anywhere.
Elphaba.
And she didn't sound happy. Glinda had promised her to care for her little sister. Well look at what that promise had led to.
Taking a deep breath, Glinda stood up and turned around to face her.
