A/N: First things first, Wicked obviously belongs to Gregory Maguire, and the title The Speaker for the Dead was already used by the author Orson Scott Card.
Take it easy on the commenting section, aye? This is the first fanfic I'm posting.
~ I ~
THE SPEAKER
"Is there a progress, Madame?"
"Your Ozness, we've been trying. It was just impossible to know where all these horrid notes are coming from at this stage—"
"Which is why it is critical! If the public get's a hold of this—"
"Sire, it's beginning to spread like an unharnessed conflagration at Quadling Country. The folks there read it like it's a doctrine sent from above. Or from below. No one really knows who the author is."
"Madame, we're running out of time. We need to act before these so-called doctrines corrupt every single Ozian into turning against us. We need to know who this Speaker is."
There was a new regulation at Shiz that morning.
In fact, every single class had been suspended in lieu for a surprise inspection.
What galled everyone was that the school administrators wanted to check every single reading material they have, from private diaries to their assigned textbooks. All were to be brought to their assigned queues in a bag. No one understood what the teachers wanted from them. They were provided with no explanation. As such, they were all muttering and whining among themselves at the long lines they were forced to stand on for hours.
Galinda had been in the line roughly about two and a half hours now. At first, she and her small group of friends decided to fall in line once the crowd dissipates, but the longer they put off that chance, more and more people would line up to get the ordeal over with. They were left with no alternative but to stand there and frown, carrying their heavy bags with them.
"What's all the fuss about?"
Galinda and her friends turn to look at the intruder. Their annoyance began to rekindle anew.
Galinda was the one who found her voice amidst the fog of anger. "Of all people, weren't you supposed to know what this is about, Miss Elphaba?"
"Of all people, you were the last one I was expecting to see in an arrangement such as this, Miss Galinda," was Elphaba's answer, allowing herself to grin as she stood outside the queue, hands behind her back.
Galinda resisted the urge to pummel her ever so obnoxious roommate. It was tempting, seeing as she held a heavy bag full of useless textbooks. After all, Elphaba loved books. Perhaps she wouldn't mind having one or two of them against that smug grin of hers. "Why are you not in line, then? It's mandatory, you idiot."
"Unlike every other imbecile, I got in line an hour before the inspections began, Miss Galinda. The question of who the idiot is in this situation seems self explanatory, then. Now, if you'll excuse me. I need the comforting silence of the library."
As Elphaba left, Pfanee turned to Galinda and muttered darkly, "Is is too much to hope for that the library just burns down and take her with it?"
Elphaba heard it. Perhaps they meant for her to hear it. Not did she care. If the library did burn down one day, Elphaba would return to this moment and have someone ready to blame for the incident. The thought made her smile, and she was in good spirits as she headed to the Great Library.
Her jovial mood was immediately dampened when she saw that it was closed. A notice was placed across its doors:
CLOSED FOR INSPECTION.
NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLIC ACCESS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
"They're getting desperate."
Elphaba didn't turn around; she knew the voice well enough. Her eyes remained glued to the notice as if it had committed a mortal sin against her. In fact, it did. This simple piece of wood was hampering her from her safe haven.
She sighed as she turned to her only source of solace now. "The students knew nothing about the Book yet. And they knew this. That's why they're conducting an inspection. They needed to make sure Shiz is still under their control."
"Wrong. The students are beginning to know the existence of the Book. Three students of Quadling origin were apprehended and sent to Morrible's office earlier," Doctor Dillamond answered. "They knew the Book's been gaining an audience. They needed to act."
"To cut off the threat even before it begins, I know," Elphaba answered.
Doctor Dillamond looked at her for a while, a fatherly gesture Elphaba had come to know, love, and appreciate. "Are you afraid, my child?" His callous voice somehow sounded soft, somehow seemed gentle for an Animal.
"I'm not. But he is. And he should be. That was just the introduction."
Camaraderie at school seemed like a rare occurrence. But the tighter the old ones held them by the neck, the stronger the young ones resisted.
The teachers began to exhibit odd behaviours such as suddenly halting a group of students to look at the books and notebooks they were carrying. At the cafeteria, they would sit close to students, listening at their conversations, watching like sentinels. Hours spent at town were limited, and curfews were enforced. This had caused an uproar from the student body, only to be quelled when Morrible further decreased their liberty of gallivanting at the town by one more hour to prove her point.
Shiz was slowly morphing into a twisted military school, and no one was liking it. Speculations began to wander from student to student. They began to piece the facts together, and by and by, they worked as a whole body to find out what was happening to their school. They worked in the dark, and as such, darkness had bound them all together as they searched for enlightenment.
"Hey, have you heard?" Shenshen whispered as she came back with her tray. The food, they were all thankful for, was still pristine and appetising despite the disturbing changes.
"Keep your voice down," Pfanee muttered, glancing at one of the nearest professors two tables away from them.
"I know, you ninny. One of those girls from Quadling Country was expelled."
"Another one? What do they have against Quadling folk?"
"I heard it was a because of a book or something."
"Oh, will you keep up, Shenshen? Everyone knew that this is all because of some stupid book ages ago."
"Fine, fine, but get this. A senior student helping out in the teacher's office saw the book."
"Get out."
"I'm serious. Only he can't remember the exact title. Horrible Morrible snatched it right then and there once they discovered it in the girl's bag. He thought he saw the author's name, though. Something about a singer? Seeker? Snitcher?"
Pfanee snorted derisively. "That sounds like a petty thing to get us all in this stupid situation. What do you think, Galinda?"
"I'm thinking this is all nonsense, and we're getting ourselves into trouble talking about this... Singer," Galinda answered, ducking her head low as a teacher walked by.
They agreed not to mention anything about the matter for now.
Galinda had a separate class from Pfanee and Shenshen, and opted to leave early to get there in time, seeing as her assigned room was way away. On the way out of the cafeteria, she found herself caught in an impasse.
"Get out of my way, artichoke. I don't have time for you… like, ever."
"Miss Galinda, I would like you to practice caution from here on out."
Galinda grimaced at her and scoffed impatiently, "What are you on about now? I'm late for my next class."
"That compares to nothing should the teachers catch you gossiping about private affairs again."
Galinda felt blood drain from her face. "What do you mean?"
"You know very well what I mean. Little detectives and inspectors in this university get caught up in trouble, do you know that? If you know what's best for you and your friends, you better leave everything the way they already are."
From being numb and cold, Galinda felt her veins surge with the heat of anger. How dare she? How dare she threat her? Galinda was not to forget that Elphaba was a particular favourite of the professors; exceedingly bright, highly participative in classes, and she was just an excellent student that no one could deny that. If there was anyone who was going to tip the teachers regarding trouble makers at school, it would be her.
The teachers were not the only enemies now, it seems. There would be traitors like Elphaba in their midst. She had never been associated with any student anyway. That would make sense. Elphaba would turn anyone in to the teachers for "extra credit". She was probably doing it right now. She must've condemned many lives in her allegiance with the faculty.
"I'll remember that," Galinda said quietly, anger dancing in her eyes as she held Elphaba's cold gaze for a few moments before rushing past her. As she hurried away, she could feel Elphaba's eyes trained on her. She shuddered, not in disgust as she usually did in their room, but in fear.
They were tasked to read again for the whole duration of the period. Surprise, surprise.
Galinda did what she does best during Theories of Personality: nothing.
The book was open on her desk, but she had been on the same page for the last fifteen minutes or so, still trying to grasp the first sentence she saw over and over again. The professor had been moving around, going between isles, tapping a nodding head here and there. When he finally left for a restroom break, the fun begins.
Two or three of the boys began jokes in the back, and everyone simply went along. Everyone simply got along so well for the past month or so without really working it out first. They simply clicked together, like lost siblings in a reunion.
In fact, in their little playtime, they began to make use of paper as ammunition to pitch at each other. Others even grab the recycle bin and make use of the stuff there.
Galinda decided not to join the fun, no matter how invigorating it looked. Even though she didn't want to admit it, she was still shaken with her encounter with Elphaba earlier. She had to watch her back now, and stay clear form Elphaba as much as possible beyond the walls of their shared dorm room. If Elphaba was indeed in league with Morrible's sickening regime, then Galinda and her friends had just inadvertently landed themselves in her watch list. She knew Elphaba hated her, and she's proud to say that the feeling was mutual ever since the day she laid eyes on her, and she knew that it would only motivate Elphaba further into condemn her to the professors—
A crumpled ball of paper had collided with her forehead.
Annoyed, but still refusing to join the fray, she conditioned herself to calm down by opening every paper that landed on her desk. The predicament with Elphaba will have to be dealt sometime later. For now, she needed to calm down. She unraveled paper after paper, shooting them as accurately as she could at the bin in the corner.
this class suck ha ha ha (Galinda's face grew warm at the obscene sketch at the bottom of the page)
She hastily threw it away.
Clemelda, i know you don't like me. i wish you would notice me. my heart is only for you.
Galinda decided to pocket it and slip it into the girl's locker later, and then leave her to worry for her mysterious cheesy admirer.
The history of biology traces the study of the living world from ancient to modern times. Although the concept of biology as a single coherent field arose in the—
Galinda chucked it away before she fell asleep.
The fourth one landed neatly on top of the open book at her desk. It was badly crumpled and torn at the corners that Galinda wondered how long it had been sitting there at the bin. She began to think twice whether she would read the abject garbage or not. As she read it, however, she was glad she didn't simply dispose it. It seemed like the very first page of a book. By the time she was finished with it, she wondered madly where the rest of it was.
I am the Speaker for the Dead. I tell the truth when I speak, and I do not keep away from other people's secrets. You know him as the Wizard, and he loved everything and everyone. But I knew him as the Architect of Misery, and he destroyed and slaughtered. He had built his kingdom over the civilisation he had torn asunder. Hear me now, Seeker, as I speak for the lives he had scorned, for the souls he had damned.
She read it several times, her eyes going wider and wider at every repetition. Before she could completely comprehend what the short text truly meant, the professor stepped in the room again. If the page she held in her hands is what she thought it was, then she would rather not be caught with it. As the professor began to viciously sermon the class, Galinda crumpled the page in the earnest, let it drop on the ground, and heftily kicked it aside, not caring where it went.
Within several minutes, the class went back in session. Pretty much everyone helped in disposing the papers. Galinda hoped and prayed that someone didn't take interest in the moldy page. She would find it again. She have to find it again.
She can't get the page out of her mind. She felt tainted as she recalled what it had said—
"W-Where did you get that?" came the professor's voice somewhere from the back.
Everyone was saved from their stupor, and they turned on their seats to see the commotion progressing behind them. Galinda knew what it was about. Not wanting to appear guilty, she, too, hesitantly turned around.
The professor was standing next to a frightened boy's desk, looking absolutely terrified.
"I asked you a question. Where did you get that?" the professor's voice shook.
"I… I just found it, I mean— It's just lying around—"
"Lying around?"
"Sir! Sir— ow!"
The boy was suddenly being dragged from his chair by the professor, who had a wild, hysterical look in his eyes. He grabbed the whole book off the boy's desk, heading towards the door. "Class dismissed!" he called before he and the sobbing boy disappeared into the hallway, the boy's desperate pleads ringing viciously in Galinda's ears.
"A boy was in the office today, Elphaba. Poor child. Morrible was livid. She didn't believe him when he said he only found the excerpt on the floor. Someone had been utterly careless enough to throw a piece of it in a recycling bin."
"Ah. What did our headmistress do?"
"Sent the boy to somewhere unknown. Tomorrow, they plan to announce his expulsion to disguise the whole thing. To the students, they'll say he's been sent home. To the parents, they'll say nothing. Poor, poor child…"
"… Should we stop writing for a while?"
"No. He's rattled. So is Morrible. I say we keep pushing the stone off the hill."
"No matter the lives it cost, Doctor?"
"It is for them, Elphaba. For the others who suffered before, and for those who are yet to suffer under the Wizard's tightening grasp."
It was her fault. But was it? Would there had been another way to avoid it?
Galinda's head was mired in deep thought as she automatically made her way back to the dormitory. The whole affair wasn't so trivial after all. It was a conspiracy against the Wizard and those who supported him. And the way to every Ozian wasn't through an oration that will immediately get the culprit shot on stages. The means of these rebels were through a book. And it frightened Galinda to no end that she had actually read an excerpt of this book. She couldn't imagine what it would be like had she been caught with it.
She didn't know what to feel. Now that she knew a tinge of what was happening, she couldn't simply confide it with anyone. If she had told someone untrustworthy enough, then it would spread like wildfire. And when it was out in the open, all fingers will point to her. And yet keeping it to herself made her anxious, made her feel as if someone was always watching her and waiting for her to blurt out the dire secret before enclosing her to a trap.
It was maddening. And to boot, distracting. In fact, she didn't seem to take notice of the sounds of another person walking in the corner.
They were both walking so fast, neither really seemed to be paying attention either, and they barrelled against each other, the tremendous force knocking them both to the ground.
"You know, I've always doubted your brain capacity. I never realised the discrepancy extended all the way to your visual capabilities."
Galinda almost groaned in frustration. "Amusing notion, Miss Elphaba," she muttered as she struggled to gather her things.
Elphaba did the same. "You idiot. I had my lab papers arranged already!"
"Too bad, then."
Muttering angrily to herself, Elphaba looked around one last time to make sure that she didn't miss anything before walking away to the direction of the laboratories.
Galinda glowered menacingly at her retreating figure before she took time to arrange the various paraphernalia in her arms. One of them, she noticed, was not hers. It was a singular page she had mistaken to be part of her unfastened reflection paper for one of her classes. When she read it, however, she felt the same numbing and dizzying sensation she experienced in her recent class.
For he doesn't acknowledge compassion. For he piteously lack the benevolence of a true leader and a father. They seek redemption and he gave them damnation. So, if he asks for mercy, it is only just to retaliate with the fury of demons.
- The Speaker for the Dead
A/N: Ah, yes. There's a lot of copyright forgone in this fanfiction. I may or may not be open for suggestions for this one. This thing only has a beginning and its ending. Retarded of me, right? Perhaps we could talk this over tea or coffee sometime?
