Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked.
Ellie was woken up gently by her mother. She pulled the blankets over her head and mumbled for five more minutes. She heard her mother sigh and say, "But then we'll miss the carriage to the RMS Ozmania. But I can tell that you want to sleep, so I guess we'll see you when we get back." Ellie woke up right away, throwing the blankets off of her small frame and sitting up with her brown eyes wide with excitement.
"No!" she exclaimed. "I'm gonna get ready right now!" Ellie ran over to her closet and looked through all of her dresses that she hadn't packed. She grabbed a dress and went into her bathroom and started to get ready.
She rushed out of her room and met everyone down for breakfast. She grabbed an apple as usual and ate it happily as she thought about the luxury liner that everyone had been talking about. She thought back to the bullies and she wished she could just go and laugh at their faces, maybe even laugh when the liner was to depart from the docks so they could watch her go. Maybe then they'd respect her. "The carriage is here," Elphaba announced. Ellie got off of her chair and went up to Elphaba.
"We're leaving now?" she asked, brown eyes shining with happiness.
"Yes we are," she said. "Our luggage is already packed and ready to go."
"This is gonna be awesome!" Ellie said and grabbed a brown folder. Glinda reached for her hand, and Ellie took it as they ran out to their ride. Elphaba grabbed her sister's wheelchair and pushed her out, following the other two out to the carriage. First, Glinda climbed in as Elphaba grabbed Nessarose and lifted her out of her chair. Ellie folded up the chair and pushed it to Elphaba for her to put in. Glinda grabbed it and put it to the side of the carriage. Elphaba picked Ellie up and put her in, and then finally she got in herself.
"Do you have the tickets?" Glinda asked Elphaba.
"Of course I do," she rolled her eyes.
"I'm just making sure, Elphie." Elphaba took all four of them out, showing them to Glinda.
"Satisfied?"
"Very."
"Mommy?"
"Yes, Elena?" Nessa responded.
"Do you think there will be other people my age on the ship?" Ellie hoped that there would be, and maybe, just maybe, she'd make an actual friend. She had been in Oz for about a year and a half now, and she still failed to have any.
"Probably. It is a big ship," Nessarose said.
"Do you think they'll like me?" she whispered.
"I think so. Not everyone will be from Emerald City on there. They'll be from all over Oz." Ellie positioned herself so that she was leaning against her mother's chest.
"It's going to be so much fun, right?"
"Right. What's that you've got in your hand?" Nessa asked, just noticing the brown folder with paper in it.
"This? Oh, it's nothing," Ellie said. Nessa wrapped an arm around her daughter.
"Really? Because it looks like a whole lot of something." Ellie looked towards Elphaba and noticed she was asleep, as well as Glinda. She opened up the folder, exposing the drawings she had made over the course of the past year. "Elena, these are amazing." Nessa said. They were pictures of people in their natural states, just going about every day.
"Thanks," Ellie said.
"I had no idea you were into art," Nessarose said as she looked through them.
"Me either. Well, not until I took an art class in school. The art teacher is so good, and he even says I have a gift."
"And that you do," Nessarose said. She came across a picture of herself, sitting in her chair and looking out the window. The emotion in her face was strong, and she seemed to be upset about something. "I had no idea you drew me."
"I do. I draw people when they don't know I'm there on purpose. It's when you capture the most emotion in their faces. See? I can tell that you looked upset about something. But if you knew I was drawing you, then you wouldn't have looked that way. You would have faked what you were feeling," Ellie explained. "What were you upset about?"
"I don't even remember."
"Your body language says you're lying," Ellie said.
"How would you know?"
"My art teacher taught me about emotions and body language," Ellie explained. "So, tell me, mommy."
"I was upset because I feel bad that you don't have a father."
"Mommy, I don't need one. I have you three," Ellie said. "Don't feel bad. Here, look at this picture of Glinda!" Nessa had to stifle a laughter because in the picture, Glinda was leaning forward towards the mirror and had a serious look on her face as she wanted to make herself look perfect as usual. And the next picture was of Elphaba reading, and as they looked through them, there were a lot of drawings of Elphaba.
"How come you draw her so much?" Nessa questioned.
"Because she's interesting. I mean, she has this wall that she puts up to mask her emotions. I try to get her in different situations. This one right here, I drew from memory. It was the night when she was, well, raped. It's the only time I've seen her vulnerable," Ellie explained.
"You love your aunt a lot, don't you?"
"I really do. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have gotten to you or Glinda. I would probably be dead. When I was ten, I was oblivious to the dangers out there at night. But now, I know I wouldn't have been able to make it on my own. Even mama had three men with her when she came here to protect her."
"I can't wait to show Elphaba and Glinda these drawings of yours," Nessa smiled.
"You can't tell them," Ellie whispered.
"Why not? These are wonderful!"
"Mommy, you can't because if Elphaba found out about these, then she'd be mad at me. She doesn't like when people spy on her."
"Well, then you can tell her when you're ready," Nessa smiled. "Elena, if mommy found someone she loves, would you be happy?"
"Of course I would," Ellie smiled. The rest of the ride was silent, and with that silence brought sleep.
Ellie hated being woken up, and it was the fourth time that day. The first had been in the morning, then again before lunch, then dinner, and now they were stopping at a place to stay the night. Ellie rubbed her eyes and knew it must have been past midnight. She realized her mother was no longer in the carriage, and Elphaba was scooping Ellie up in her bony arms to carry her inside. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"Where's mommy? And Glinda?" Ellie questioned when she didn't see the other two women.
"They're checking in the hotel as we speak," Elphaba replied and carried her inside the hotel. Ellie saw that Glinda and Nessa were waiting for them. "Everything all set?" Elphaba asked Glinda and Nessa.
"Mmhmm," Glinda nodded happily.
"Except there was some kind of mix up with the rooms," Nessarose explained.
"What kind of mix up?" Elphaba questioned.
"Well, you see Elphie, umm, they accidently gave some other family the best room, the one that we reserved for us," Glinda started.
"Meaning?" Elphaba raised an eyebrow.
"Meaning," Nessa continued, "That it is a single room with only one double bed."
"Let's see the room before we make any rash decisions!" Glinda exclaimed and attempted to pick up her large suitcase. She dragged it across the floor and towards the elevator with great effort. Ellie heard Elphaba sigh and she placed her on the ground so that she could grab the rest of the luggage that Glinda had left behind. Ellie pushed her mother's wheelchair and followed Glinda.
The four entered the room, and saw that the bed was indeed a double bed and there was only one bed. Elphaba sighed again and muttered a vulgar word, one Ellie had heard many times before from the green witch. "What do we do?" Ellie spoke up.
"Well," Glinda said, pondering for a moment. "Nessa can sleep in her chair, me and you can have the bed, and Elphie can get the floor!"
"Oh please," Nessarose sighed. "Fabala's bones will hurt her on the wood floor. I mean look at her! She's so bony! And I cannot sleep in a chair!"
"I have a solution!" Elphaba said, wanting to stop the argument. "How about me, Nessa, and Ellie get the bed. Ellie is small enough to get on the edge of it."
"What about me, Elphie?" Glinda fumed.
"You're small," she shrugged. "You can curl up on Nessa's chair."
"Like a cat?"
"Like a cat."
"Elphie, I am not a cat nor am I a Cat! I cannot sleep in Nessa's chair!" Glinda exclaimed and Elphaba kissed the top of her head. While the three women were attempting to find a solution to their problem, Ellie looked in the closet and found extra blankets along with extra pillows.
"Two of us could sleep on the floor," Ellie suggested.
"And they say you're the smart one, Elphie," Glinda joked.
"So who's going to sleep on the floor?" Nessa asked the dreaded question. Even with blankets and pillows, the hardwood floor seemed quite uncomfortable.
"I will," Ellie shrugged. She didn't seem to see the big deal. After all, when Dorothy accidently sold her bed, Ellie had been forced to sleep on an uncomfortable floor herself. "Now the three of you can battle to the death!" she joked.
"How are we going to solve this?" Glinda asked.
"Rock, paper, scissors?" Ellie suggested as she set up a place to sleep on the floor. Satisfied with the arrangement of pillows and blankets, she watched the duel take place. The three women seemed to listen to her suggestion.
"Best two out of three?" Glinda said. The Thropp sisters nodded and they took their places.
"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" the three said. Both Elphaba and Nessa chose paper, while Glinda chose a rock.
"Ha! I win!"
"No you don't, Glinda. Paper beats rock," Nessa pointed out.
"What? How in Oz is it possible for a piece of paper to beat a rock?" Glinda questioned angrily.
"I don't know, it's just how the game goes," Elphaba said. "Never made sense to me, my sweet, but that's how it goes." Then, the three women did it again. Elphaba and Nessa chose scissors while Glinda chose paper.
"All right!" Nessa exclaimed in victory, high fiving her older sister. Elphaba picked up the brunette and helped her into bed while they laughed at Glinda who was forced to sleep on the floor.
"How about the person who, I don't know, is paying for this gets the bed?" Glinda said.
"No," Nessa and Elphaba shook their heads.
"But Elphie! You're supposed to be the…" Glinda trailed.
"The what? Man in the relationship?" Elphaba chuckled. "Sorry my sweet, but I am not a man, so sometimes you must sacrifice something for the woman you love."
"You guys are so weird," Ellie said and shook her head. "I don't get old people sometimes."
"Old?" Glinda's brow furrowed in confusion. "We are not old!"
"You guys are practically ancient!" Ellie laughed. Glinda just crossed her arms and gave a huff.
"Oh, lighten up, Glinda. She's twelve! Twenty probably seems ancient to her," Nessa said and pulled the blanket over her. After saying their goodnights, Ellie fell fast asleep on the floor.
So...I got tons of hits, story favorites/alerts and one review...I'm a bit disappointed...But anyway, I'll still update as soon as possible with the next chapter because I know people are reading this :)