One of my greatest fears is being buried alive, so a particular re-run Bones episode I saw lately really stuck inside my head…and somehow twisted itself into a Wicked one-shot (a 4,000+ word oneshot)
This is pre-Fiyero, Shiz-era…
And, just FYI, the little / marks indicate a change in POV or time passing
Galinda groaned. Her head felt like it had been clobbered with a club. The blonde allowed her eyes to flicker open and was met with nothing but darkness. What in Oz's name was going on here? Galinda sat up, trying to remember something that might help with the staggering disorientation. The last thing she could remember was…was…
Galinda blinked. Now the ache previously limited to outside her skull was rattling around inside it. Her recent memories were scrambled into nonsensical flashes. The frightened girl eventually decided that passing the dense clump of quoxwood trees outside the library was the last memory that made any sort of sense. It was grounded firmly in reality because Elphaba, that awful, green blemish on her perfect year at Shiz, had been reading nearby. In fact Galinda had just been on her way to verbally torment the artichoke when…
In the thick, total darkness someone moaned. Galinda jumped, letting out a terrified squeak. "Who's there?" she whimpered.
"Huh?" The confused voice sounded oddly familiar. "Who's there?"
"I asked you first."
There was a pause, in which Galinda felt certain that the feminine stranger recognized her voice. "Miss Galinda it's me," she explained after a moment. "Your roommate. The artichoke." Her tone was icy.
"Oh." The blonde wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or annoyed. On the one hand, Elphaba was smart. Perhaps she could figure out what had happened to them. On the other hand Galinda honestly couldn't think of a person whose company she enjoyed less.
"Where are we?" Elphaba wondered.
"I haven't the faintest idea," Galinda sniffed. There was silence, then some muttering, and suddenly brilliant, white, light filled the petite girl's vision. Once her eyes adjusted she could see Elphaba, hawkish face bathed in illumination and cupping a pale, glowing orb in one hand. Galinda realized the green girl must've learned such a spell from Madame Morrible's seminar and flushed with envy.
The light had revealed that the girls were seated inside a round, copper-walled chamber of some sort. Shadows still clung to the furthest corners and the peak of the ceiling, but thus far Galinda could see no way out. "This is a liquor vat," Elphaba exclaimed. "They're used to store corn liquor in Munchkinland."
With a flick of her wrist she sent the light floating upwards. It cleared shadows away from a round, porthole of a window at the very top of the vat. Upon sighting it Galinda's blood ran cold. On the other side of the smudgy glass she could see only one thing.
Dirt.
They had been buried alive.
/
The first thing Elphaba experienced was fear; deeply rooted, instinctual, gut wrenching fear. For a moment she simply sat there, staring in horror at the heartless, black, dirt pressing in on them. Then, as usual, the green girl smothered her emotional response in a net of logic and rationality.
They were buried alive. That was a fact Elphaba couldn't change. She could, however do something to lengthen her survival or, better yet, escape the predicament altogether. Comfortably set down a familiar path the gears inside Elphaba's head began to whirl.
Why were they buried?
The witch would've assumed it was on account of her many haters at Shiz, but Galinda was buried too and everyone loved her.
Galinda. Elphaba's thoughts hitched on that little issue.
Why did she have to be buried with Galinda? That incompetent blonde would obviously be nothing but a hindrance. Even now she was curled into a panicked ball, nearly hyperventilating and wasting valuable air.
"Stop that," Elphaba snapped. Galinda's eyes jerked up to meet hers. They were bottomless, blue pits of terror.
"Stop what?"
"Stop breathing so hard," the green girl growled. "You're wasting oxygen." Galinda sucked in a short, fearful breath.
"How long do we have?" she whispered.
"I don't know," Elphaba murmured. "Do you have a watch?" Galinda glanced at the gilded, pink timepiece adorning her wrist.
"Yes." Silence.
"Well may I see it?" Elphaba requested in exasperation. The blonde's eyes narrowed.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because it's my watch and I don't want you messing with it." Elphaba pinched the bridge of her nose in angry frustration.
"Miss Galinda I don't want to mess with your watch I simply want to know what time it is so I can figure out how much longer we have to live." Her harsh wording seemed to do the trick.
"It's two o clock in the afternoon," Galinda said quietly.
Elphaba closed her eyes and calculated. The last thing she could remember was reading by the quoxwood grove at about noon so…Her eyes swept the chamber to estimate how much air it would hold. "We have about ten hours," the green girl eventually concluded.
"Just ten hours?" Galinda's voice was so tiny she had to strain to make it out. Elphaba nodded, swallowing the lump that had just formed in her throat.
"But someone else might dig us up," she insisted. "This could be a ransom kidnapping." Suddenly the blonde's eyes lit up.
"Southstair!" she exclaimed.
"What?"
"A man, who identifies himself as Southstair, has been threatening my family over the last few months," Galinda explained. "He's been saying cryptic things like 'I'll get that money one way or another'. This must be his doing. Which means that once the ransom is paid we'll be out of here."
Elphaba's forehead creased. "Then why am I here?"
"I…" Galinda trailed off. "I don't know. You're the Governor of Munchkinland's daughter I suppose; perhaps he wanted some extra money. Or maybe it was a mistake."
/
After the utter terror of the last few minutes Galinda felt a tiny smidgeon of relief. Popsicle would pay the ransom and they would be set free. It was as simple as that…
If this was Southstair's doing.
And if Elphaba's presence here didn't raise the price higher than her parents were able to afford.
"Miss Elphaba how much does your father make?" the blonde asked.
"Significantly less than yours, I would assume," the snappy girl replied, casting a disdainful look over Galinda's expensive garb. "However there is a sort of hostage fund available to him in emergencies." She bit her lip. "Hopefully Southstair doesn't know that."
"Why?"
"Because, if your parents can't pay the ransom by themselves, we'll be struck down here forever." Galinda gasped.
"What do you mean?"
"My father won't pay," Elphaba explained without emotion. "Not for me." Icy silence filled the vat. Then, as if waking from a thoughtful daze, Elphaba began to empty her pockets. She spread their contents on the floor; several ink-pens, a small, leather-bound notebook, and a glass bottle full of some amber colored oil. As Galinda scrutinized these artifacts the green girl reached into her boot, one of those awful calfskin things, and withdrew a knife. The blade was about four inches long, curved, and wickedly sharp.
"Wh…what's that for?" Galinda demanded, inching away.
"Self defense," Elphaba replied.
"That seems a little drastic," the blonde commented mildly.
"Of course it seems that way to you," Elphaba scoffed. "No one would have any reason to harass a rich, pretty, little blonde." The cynical girl's voice was so bitter that Galinda felt guilty for even asking.
"Well obviously someone wanted to harass me," she joked weakly, gesturing at their surroundings. The corners of Elphaba's lips twitched upwards in a humorless smile.
"So do you have anything useful in your pockets?" she asked.
"Just a vile of perfume," Galinda replied. She suddenly felt very silly for withholding her watch earlier. Elphaba shrugged at the blonde's contribution. Abruptly quiet she moved to a corner and started writing in her notebook.
"Well aren't you going to try and get us out?" the smaller girl demanded.
"I can't do anything more than you can."
"But what about your magic? Hasn't Madame Morrible taught you to blast through walls or something?" Elphaba arched an incredulous eyebrow.
"Not really," she responded. "Besides, if I tried an explosion down here, if we're deeper than four or five feet, the force would rebound and kill us."
"Oh. Sorry."
"There's nothing to apologize for. Total ignorance isn't a sin." Galinda's fists clenched as Elphaba stonily went back to her writing.
"And what exactly are you doing Miss Elphaba?" the blonde asked. "Writing last letters to your loved ones?"
"Loved one actually, but yes," she snapped. "Contrary to your beliefs there is a person I care for and, seeing as I am not likely to see her again, it seems appropriate to say goodbye." Tears leaked into Elphaba's voice at the very end.
Galinda's heart went cold. "Do you really think we're going to die in here?"
Elphaba turned away, eyes tightly closed against tears, and nodded. "Yes. It seems likely at this point." The blonde scooted to sit beside her roommate, fighting panic.
"Could I have a piece of paper too?" she asked quietly.
The green girl tore a sheet from her book and offered it to Galinda with a pen.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me. I want to be clear that I loathe you and your kind. But even you deserve a chance to say goodbye."
"If you really hate me so much, why not kill me?" Galinda exclaimed huffily.
"What?" Elphaba's head jerked up in surprise.
"It would give you more time," the blonde pointed out. "You've got that knife." Elphaba's eyes went hard, like a pair of steel marbles.
"I'm not interested in surviving like that," she hissed. As if to prove her point she nudged the knife towards Galinda with her boot. "You're welcome to kill me though. I know your life would be much pleasanter without me. My family would probably thank you. Oz knows I've caused them enough grief."
She sounded almost hopeful and Galinda's heart just about broke. "You don't really mean that."
"Yes I do."
/
Elphaba intended to stop with those three words. However she'd never actually told anyone about her contorted family dynamic, and now that the truth had started to drip free she found herself facing a flood. It felt oddly exhilarating to be holding all her long kept secrets so close to the light of day.
"My father hates me," Elphaba elaborated with a resigned sigh. If they were going to die in here she might as well tell someone.
"What? Why?"
"Because it's my fault."
"What is?" Elphaba glanced at Galinda to see if her concern was sincere or another cruel joke to play on the artichoke. Her wide, blue eyes looked genuine enough.
"That Nessa is…the way she is." The blonde shifted closer. "You see, when our mother was carrying Nessa, my father began to worry that the new baby might turn out…" Elphaba gestured to herself.
"Green," both girls said at the same time.
Elphaba nodded. "He was so worried that he made our mother chew milkflowers day and night." Now the witch's face grew pinched. "Only they made Nessa come too soon, with her little legs all tangled, and our mother…" She sucked in a deep, steadying breath. "Never woke up."
"None of which would've ever happened, if not for me," Elphaba finished.
"But that was the milkflowers' fault," Galinda argued gently. "Not yours." Those words were startling for Elphaba to hear. She'd spent eighteen years being told that the two greatest tragedies in her life were undeniably and unchangeably her fault.
And now Galinda, spiteful, popular Galinda, had challenged such a fact moments after hearing Elphaba's story. "Of course it's my fault," she argued resentfully. "If I hadn't been born my…"
"Did you have any say in being green?" Galinda interjected. "Did you have any say in being born, for that matter?"
"No," Elphaba admitted quietly.
"Then it's not your fault," the blonde concluded neatly. Galinda turned back to writing her goodbyes as though nothing had happened.
/
Galinda had never felt so ashamed in her entire life. The remorse went deep, making her very bones ache with it. How could she have spent so much time teasing a girl who already carried around such guilt for something she couldn't control? No wonder Elphaba endured the insults with nothing but a set jaw and hard eyes. No wonder she was so cold and cynical.
"I'm sorry," the blonde murmured so quietly even she had trouble making it out.
"What was that?" Elphaba replied, not looking up from her letter.
"I'm sorry," Galinda repeated.
"For what?" Now the green girl looked up in surprise.
"For being so awful to you all that time."
"Oh." Genuine surprise was scrawled across Elphaba's features. "Well…thanks." She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry too."
Now it was Galinda's turn to be shocked. "For what?"
"For hating you," Elphaba sighed. "I mean, it wasn't totally without cause, but…I shouldn't have made assumptions about your character." The blonde couldn't help but smile a little.
"What?" Elphaba demanded defensively.
"Oh nothing," Galinda giggled. "I'm just proud to have proven you wrong Miss Elphaba the All Knowing." A tiny, nearly imperceptible grin tugged at the green girl's mouth. "You really should smile more often," Galinda observed. "People might like you more."
"I doubt that would make much of a difference," the skeptical girl snorted. Galinda frowned at Elphaba's stiff, pessimistic outlook. Everything about her was stubbornly somber, sharp, and cynical; even her name. Elphaba. It was archaic; every letter saturated with intense severity.
"Do you mind if I call you Elphie?" the blonde piped up suddenly.
"Well it's a little perky," Elphaba responded, utterly baffled. Then she shrugged. "I suppose ten hours with a silly nickname won't make a huge difference." And with that any happiness that might've come from the girls' conversation dissipated. Bleak reality crashed back in.
"Ten hours," Galinda whimpered in fragile disbelief. She sternly reminded herself that there was still a chance of rescue. All hope was not lost.
/
Elphaba couldn't help but think of Nessarose, the one person who might truly miss her. The green girl had already finished her goodbye letter. She hoped Frex wouldn't find it first, because he would probably hide it from Nessa. It made Elphaba's insides simmer to know that she would have no control over whether or not her little sister got a proper goodbye.
"So what's your list?" Galinda's soft, timid voice cut into the witch's musings.
"Huh?"
"What's your list?" the blonde repeated. "You know, the list of all the things you've never done."
"Oh." Unprompted, Elphaba's mind went careening down this new path. "It's an awfully long list."
"I don't care. Tell me."
"Well I never got to start campaigning for Animal rights," the green woman replied. "And I never got the meet the Wizard or use my powers for good."
"Not those kind of things," Galinda chastened. "I mean the silly, little, things."
"Like what?"
"Like…" The blonde took a moment to think. "Like, for example, I've never been in love, and… I never told Pfannee and Shenshen how stupid and shallow they are."
"Well I have plenty of those too," Elphaba chuckled humorlessly. A slight blush crept onto her cheeks. "I've never kissed a boy. I've never found a way to degreenify myself. I've never had a friend other than my sister."
A strange, melancholy look came into Galinda's eyes when she said that. "It's never too late," the petite girl pointed out. She sidled closer to Elphaba. "We could be friends."
The viridian witch looked acutely doubtful.
"I mean it," Galinda cajoled. "Come on Elphie."
Elphaba winced at the nickname. "I don't know the first thing about being friends," she admitted.
"I could teach you."
"Is that really what you want to spend your last ten hours doing?" Elphaba inquired harshly. "Making friends with a vegetable?"
"Well I've finished my letter," Galinda retorted, eyes shining with tears. "There's not much else to do is there?"
"I suppose not." A deep, resigned breath hissed out of Elphaba's chest. "So what do friends do exactly?"
"All sorts of things," Galinda explained. "Friends tell secrets, and give each other makeovers, and just generally hang out."
"Well I already told you my biggest secret," Elphaba pointed out. "So I guess it's your turn."
"Okay…" Galinda tried to find something of equal value to Elphaba's soul-bearing admission and came up empty. There was nothing bottled up inside her of that magnitude. Eventually the blonde settled on something she wanted Elphaba to know before they died. "I'm not stupid."
"Huh?" The green girl's forehead creased. "That's not a secret."
"Yes it is," Galinda argued. "I know perfectly well that everyone thinks I'm an airheaded, dumb blonde. Usually it doesn't bug me, but I want you to know that I don't get bad grades because I'm an idiot."
"Then why do you get bad grades?"
"Because I don't read."
"What?"
"I don't read."
"You mean you can't?" Elphaba looked horrified.
"No, I can read perfectly well," she defended. "It's just that I haven't opened a textbook, or any book for that matter, in a long time."
"Why?"
"Because I need reading glasses!" Galinda exclaimed. "Without them I have to squint at small print and with them I look like a nerd."
A grin was tugging at Elphaba's mouth. Her eyes twinkled. "I wear glasses."
"It's ok for you," Galinda wailed. "You're a bookish, straight-A student; it's practically expected. But imagine if I started wearing glasses around. It would be a disaster."
"Forgive me, but I don't quite understand the disastrous consequences."
"My friends wouldn't want to be seen with me anymore."
"I don't know much about friendship, but I would think that reading glasses shouldn't be a deciding factor."
Galinda scowled. "Why do you have to be so smart?" she demanded, halfway joking.
"I apologize," Elphaba chuckled, holding up her hands in surrender. Then her face went serious. "Reading is amazing. You don't know what you're missing."
"Neither do you," Galinda retorted.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, since you spend all your time with a book in front of your face, I'd assume that a fair amount of life is passing you by."
Elphaba shrugged. "I've never really been on good terms with life."
From there the conversation segued into deep, flowing talk. It came effortlessly and the girls were so different that they never ran out of subjects. Galinda's heart beat faster in excitement when Elphaba passionately explained her plans to fight for Animal rights. When asked what she wanted to do with the rest of her life Galinda automatically replied that she wanted to fall in love with a prince, marry him, and have lots of beautiful children. Upon hearing this Elphaba's eyes darkened with what could only be disappointment.
"Is that really what you want?"
"What does that matter? It's what's expected of me."
Elphaba bit her lip against a sure to be sharp tongued reply. "Say whatever it is you're thinking," Galinda invited. She glanced fearfully at their surroundings, then down at her watch. "This is hardly the time to hold anything back."
"What time is it now?" Elphaba wondered, changing the subject.
"Six o clock." The witch bit her lip.
"Six hours," she whispered. Galinda's stomach growled, a little reminder that their resources were dwindling.
"So what were you going to say earlier?" Galinda prompted. Her attempt to sound perky fell flat.
"I was going to say that you've got more to offer the world than just a few well bred children." The blonde's mouth popped open a little in shock. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. Elphaba's compliment was vastly different from the usual exclamations of beauty that Galinda received, but somehow that made it all the more special.
"I'm truly sorry Galinda," the green girl continued, obviously thinking down a very different track than her companion. "I'm sorry that my presence here makes your rescue less likely."
"It's not your fault Elphie," Galinda insisted, liking how the nickname sprang off her tongue so easily. She settled her head against Elphaba's shoulder. The witch tensed for a moment, and then rested her own head atop the blonde's. They sat that way for who knows how long, just thinking. After awhile Galinda felt wetness drip onto her face and realized that Elphaba was crying.
For some reason that made the tragedy of their situation all the most acute and before Galinda knew it she was crying too. The tears started quietly, gently, but soon her entire frame was shaking. Elphaba hesitantly wrapped her arms around the sobbing blonde.
"Shh, Galinda. Shh, my sweet. It'll be ok. We'll get out of here; any moment now your parents will dig us up." Elphaba's voice was choked with emotion too, but it felt nice to hear condolences, even if they were meaningless.
/
As the girls sat there in silence Elphaba was mystified. A few short hours ago she had hated Galinda, and now she was holding the blonde, even calling her by a pet name formerly reserved for Nessa. It was unmistakably odd, but the green girl was glad to have made a friend before she died.
Sadly Elphaba glanced at Galinda's watch. Nine o clock. Three hours left.
"Elphie, is suffocating painful?" Galinda whimpered.
"No," Elphaba replied truthfully. "It's like falling asleep."
"Oh." For some reason the blonde only sounded more frightened. "Elphie I'm starting to feel tired."
"That's just because it's getting late," Elphaba assured her. "Besides, we missed lunch and dinner."
"So…so it would be ok if I went to sleep for a little while?"
"Yeah. I should probably snuff out the illumination spell anyway; it's starting to sap my energy." As the vat went black Galinda tensed.
"I'm afraid of the dark," she admitted quietly. "And I'm afraid to go to sleep. What if I don't wake up?"
"It's alright my sweet," Elphaba soothed. "I'll wake you in two hours. If no one has come for us by then we might as well try blowing our way out."
"Alright," Galinda squeaked. She shifted to lie down on the floor, and pulled Elphaba along with her. The blonde dragged a bony, emerald hand to her chest and clasped it tightly. Before long the green girl felt her friend relax into unconsciousness.
Elphaba kept herself awake thinking. She wondered what it would feel like to die, and she wondered what would come after. The green girl was staunchly convinced that she didn't have a soul, and that if she did it was condemned to an eternity in the fires of Hell, but the last few hours had planted a seed of hope in her hard heart. Perhaps there was something pleasant waiting for her on the other side. Maybe, just maybe, she would see her mother again.
Unwilling to hope, the witch pushed her happy daydreams away; conjuring joyous images of the future would do little to change her present. Elphaba began to consider what she would do if, in the next two hours, no one came to rescue them. Attempting to blow their way out might be deadly, but waiting too long could be as well, and the green girl didn't feel prepared to make a decision that could end not only her life, but Galinda's too. For a moment Elphaba seriously considered slitting her own throat to give the innocent blonde more time, if only to save herself from making such a choice. The witch was so wrapped up in her personal conflict that she didn't feel slumber's warm, seductive embrace creeping closer until it was too late.
Suddenly Elphaba felt her eyelids drooping with fatigue. Somewhere inside her drowsy mind she knew that staying awake was important, but she couldn't for the life of her remember why. The green girl struggled to recall why she shouldn't fall asleep and came up empty handed. Elphaba allowed her body to go limp, arms relaxing their hold on Galinda. Then her eyes drifted shut.
/
Galinda awoke to light on her face and the sound of banging. She squinted upwards and saw light streaming through the liquor vat's round window. For a moment the blonde's oxygen-starved mind struggled to understand what that meant. Then her eyes widened in excitement. They were being rescued!
"Elphie!" she murmured, clumsily shaking the still-asleep witch. "Elphie they found us. We're saved." Elphaba slumped onto her back from the shaking, but she didn't open her eyes. "Elphie?" Galinda asked, worried. When there was no response a cold lump of dread dropped into her stomach. Though her body still felt sluggish and tired she managed to heave herself over Elphaba's prone form. There was no hint of life in the green girl's face. "No," she whimpered. "Elphie wake up. Please wake up. We're being rescued. Elphie!" By now tears were coursing down Galinda's face.
Behind her she heard the sound of someone breaching the copper hull of the liquor vat. Fresh, oxygen-laden, air surged into the sealed space. Someone grabbed Galinda around the waist, gently pulling her away from Elphaba. Such an abrupt rush of stimuli overwhelmed the blonde's sluggish mind; she could feel unconsciousness coming. But, even as the blackness closed in, she knew there was something the rescuers needed to know. Galinda fought her way back to her body. "Get Elphie," she murmured, tugging at the man who carried her. "Go back for Elphie. Don't forget her." Then she relinquished control.
/
Galinda woke in an unfamiliar bed. She determined from the too-clean sheets and lingering smell of sterile instruments that they'd brought her to an infirmary. This time the blonde wasn't disoriented. From the moment her eyes fluttered open she felt an aching sense of loss. Elphie was gone. Tears flooded Galinda's eyes and she curled in on herself, shaking with sobs. Though their time as anything but enemies had been brief, the blonde felt that her friendship with Elphaba had been more precious than all previous relationships combined. It had been open, and raw, and honest and Galinda hated herself for having been so cruel to the green girl before.
"There's no need to be so upset, my sweet," came an amused voice. Galinda looked up to find Elphaba standing at the end of her bed looking very much alive.
"What…? How…?" The petite girl was at a loss for words. "But you were dead. I saw you."
"Unconscious and dead are too very different things," Elphaba explained, smirking. "I simply passed out from lack of oxygen before you." Galinda's brow creased in puzzlement.
"Then why am I the one in a hospital bed?"
"Apparently you reacted badly when we were rescued. The doctors thought you'd gone into delayed shock."
"Oh." Galinda quickly swabbed the tears from her eyes, embarrassed. "So…where are we?"
"In a medical center just outside Shiz," Elphaba answered, perching on the bed beside her friend. "Your parents were all for taking you back to Frottica, but the doctors convinced them that it'd be better if you returned to your normal routine as soon as possible."
"So we're going back to Shiz?"
"As soon as you're ready." For the first time Galinda noticed that Elphaba's usually hard eyes were currently gleaming with shy uncertainty. "And I will…understand…if you don't want to be friends once we go back." The blonde's heart clenched and she abruptly found herself fighting back tears.
"Elphaba Thropp do you really think, after all that, I would go back to making artichoke jokes behind your back? I don't care what people say; you and I are friends."
A tentative, disbelieving smile pulled up the corners of the green girl's mouth. "You're sure?"
"Of course I'm sure," Galinda shrieked, voice strained with emotion. "You're the best friend I've ever had." And with that she lunged off the bed and caught Elphaba in a suffocating hug.