A Wicked Comeback: The Return To Oz
Disclaimer: I do not in any way own/make profit from the brilliance that is Wicked. That happy joy belongs to Gregory Maguire, the selfish, brilliant bastard… grumbles
Author's Note: Well, I'm very happy for the three reviewers who appreciate my pure brilliance . I'm glad that this was well taken (and in such a small amount of time too!). Thank you Warrior12, DarkwolfKnight and Elphie Loves Galinda, your words of encouragement have not fallen on deaf ears.
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"Well… the good news is this is not a permanent state, Miss Elphaba Thopp. The Unnamed God has deemed it… necessary… to send you back to Oz."
Elphaba simply stared at Glinda. And then promptly fainted uncharacteristically back onto the bed.
"…Oh dear… Elphie?"
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Chapter 2: Memories and MadnessGlinda stared down at Elphaba's sprawled unconscious form. She resembled a marionette whose strings had been severed, her right arm hung over the side of the bed while her left bent at the elbow and covered her green complexion in an unconsciously dramatic pose. Her beautiful, night-rain hair fanned out behind her head, a few thick strands settled onto her face and fluttered weakly with the shallow breeze from Elphaba's parted emerald lips.
Blinking once, twice, a third time down at the flopped over form, Glinda expelled the breath that she had held in. It came out as a breathy, annoyed sound. As she began to look around the room for some sort of aid, she placed her hands on her pink cloth swathed hips and felt a mild sense of irritation prickle her bubbly thoughts. She turned her head sharply back towards Elphaba, allowing her blond curls to lose their formation. She tried to focus her eyes up towards the stray curl that landed in between her eyes before she blew up at it in an absent-minded attempt to remove the offending stand. After placing it safely with the other strands, Glinda looked down once more. She could see Elphaba's pulse on her neck, a steady 'thump' 'thump' 'thump' motion against the evergreen flesh stretched against the artery.
She took a few relaxing breaths and closed her eyes, ridding herself of the bubbly irritation that had invaded her thoughts.
Glinda took a few small steps towards Elphaba and leaned over her still form. She leaned her left arm down against the bed, next to Elphaba's neck before she extended a thin, pale hand to the arm covering the pale moss-colored face. She lifted the smothering limb and moved it down to her side tenderly before moving her hand back up towards the woman's face. She plucked the dark strands away from her face and smoothed her hair in a comforting stroke.
Glinda lifted herself up away from the thin form underneath her and came around the side of the bed. She leaned down and pulled her hanging arm up and placed it against Elphaba, much like her other one. She moved farther ahead of Elphaba's head before slowly gathering the long, silky black tresses and moved them so she could perch straight-backed on the edge of the mattress. Glinda continued to stroke Elphaba's hair soothingly and began to hum a slow, quiet melody to herself.
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While Glinda stroked and did as much as she could to comfort the overwhelmed witch (without resorting to magic), Elphaba found herself trapped in a sea of memories, swirling through half –thoughts and dim, echoing voices…
'You'll be all right,' Elphaba said, 'now that you're a seasoned traveler. This is just a return leg of a voyage you already know.' She put her face against Glinda's and kissed her. 'Hold out, if you can.' she murmured, and kissed her again. 'Hold out, my sweet.'
Her youth, when she had disappeared into the crowds in Emerald City. Another memory swept into Elphaba's tortured mind.
"You have a soul. Everyone does."
Her Nessie, the last time she had spoken to her.
"Miss Glinda of the Arduennas" she said, her heart churning.
"Oh you came, I knew you would," said Glinda. "Miss Elphaba, the last true Eminent Thropp, no matter what they say!"
Glinda approached slowly, either through age or shyness…
The last time she saw Glinda … right before she told her of the ruby shoes that were now worn by Dorothy.
There was something else now, through the fog that Elphaba felt trapped in. A Gentle sweeping motion, a distant melody. Her raging thoughts and sadness soon dissipated as she allowed herself to be caught up in the calm.
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Glinda's hand paused mid-stroke on Elphaba's head. She ceased her sweet humming and fixed her intent gaze on Elphaba's twitching eyelids, silently willing her to come back to the "present" dilemma that she now faced.
Slowly, Elphaba felt a slow suction somewhere deep in her mind as she was pulled away from her thoughts, away from the storm she found herself in and back into a conscious state. She left her eyes closed for a moment while she allowed her body to register what was happening. The softness under her legs, buttocks, back and head, a small hand resting on her hair, the slight bend in the mattress above her head. She twitched her fingers lightly, willing blood flow back into the appendages before she cracked a bleary eye open to stare up at the ceiling. She allowed her other eye to open slowly as well before she moved her gaze a little higher to take in Glinda (who seemed to be upside down at this vantage point), who was staring back at her with great intensity.
"Glad to see that you're back with me, sweetling."
Elphaba swallowed a few times to lubricate her parched thoat and bashfully rolled to her side, avoiding Glinda's gaze. Slowly, as if she had been lying there for centuries, she sat up and hung her head wearily.
The silence in the room seemed to draw out for eternity. Both women were lulled into the silence, hypnotized by the slight buzzing in their ears. Glinda absentmindedly smoothed out the invisible wrinkles on her pink gown, picking off invisible fluff while Elphaba sat quite tensely, lost in her own thoughts. Glinda was startled slightly when Elphaba's gruff voice filled the silence.
"Unnamed God?"
Glinda stared at Elphaba's black cloth covered back and pondered the route to go with this conversation.
Because the silence answered Elphaba's question, she turned her head slightly to regard her companion. She raised a dark eyebrow questioningly before turning away again to gaze unseeingly into the empty fireplace.
"Now Elphie, you must understand this; everyone has beliefs. Pleasure Faiths, Lurline, St. Aelphaba of the Waterfall, everything has some sort of truth to it. The Other World and the Unnamed God fall into this category. Your father and Nessarose were wise to believe in what they did, though I must admit that how they went about their faith was a tad… extreme, dear. But they understood that there was something greater out there than themselves."
"But I am an atheist." Elphaba stated shortly
"Yes, you were an atheist, Elphie," Glinda murmured back, "But that does not exempt you from the Other World, dear."
"I have no soul." Elphaba was grasping at straws now
"Nessa put it right to you, dear. 'Everyone has a soul.'"
Elphaba, torn between her lifelong beliefs and what was currently happening to her, stood from the bed quickly and began to pace around furiously, like a caged animal or Animal would have.
Glinda sighed softly and withdrew her wand as Elphaba stomped around the room. She fixed her eyes on Elphaba's form and followed her with her eyes unwaveringly. Glinda flicked the metal rod in her hand a few times and whispered under her breath.
Elphaba stopped pacing immediately and sat down at the desk, facing Glinda blankly. Her angry thoughts had stopped quite suddenly and without warning and she felt as if something had pulled her towards the chair.
As she sat down, Glinda rose from her perch on the bed. She walked forward and around the end of Elphaba's bed and placed her wand back down onto the table. As she did so, she bent her knees slightly so her eyes were level with Elphaba's. She was happy to note that she was listening now, calmer and easier to convince of the truth. She stood up again and turned back to the bed, where she sat again with ease.
"Elphie, you mean green thing, I told you that this was a time for you to listen and understand. Please, do this for me. I don't mean to distress you."
Elphaba's lower eyelids twitched slightly at the word 'distress' but remained calm as Glinda continued.
"Yes, you were atheist. You believed you had no soul, you saw the world for the cold, narrow place that it is. You fought for rights by yourself, believed in the rights of the lower forms of life, everything. Elphie, you realize if people hadn't have conceived the idea that you were wicked from the color of your skin, they would have perceived you as a Saint," Elphaba snorted at this and Glinda felt irritation build up again.
"Yes, Elphie, a Saint. Had they seen the Wizard for what he was, they would have flocked to you for leadership. They only follow me for my marriage to a noble, because I seemed to follow the Wizard, because I was not a green, dry, sarcastic woman who flew on a twig in black robes. It's the way you're viewed. Elphaba… understand, please. Ozians are fickle, fickle creatures!" Glinda's eyes searched the murky brown ones that calmly stared back at her own blue ones.
"And… what of this 'mission' that the Unnamed God has left his besotted new follower?" The Witch's dryness and sarcasm seemed to pull all moisture out of the room.
Glinda narrowed her eyes slightly before tossing her hair behind her and resting her cheek against her hand.
"It was a wonder how you ever got through life this far, sweetling." Commented Glinda hotly
"And what is that supposed to mean, your great bubbly goodness?" Elphaba raised an eyebrow in a mockingly polite symbol of questioning
Glinda felt warm creep up her neck and onto her cheeks at the insult. She narrowed her eyes further and clenched her teeth together, listening to the slight grind in her own head.
Elphaba watched in masked amusement as her Glinda slowly lost her patience. Her face had flushed a nice pink undertone and her jaw was tensing. Elphaba straightened her back slightly and clasped both hands in her lap before smiling inwardly to herself.
"It means that you're an insufferable twat, that's what it means- No, listen to me," growled Glinda shrilly when Elphaba scowled and opened her mouth to banter back with her, "You listen here, you great green asparagus. You've been given a second chance. Redemption and all that nonsense. You'll do as your told, yes; don't shake your head at me, Miss Thopp! You listen. You have a task set ahead of you and it will not be easy. You need to understand what you must do before you return and go back to your sulking ways!" Glinda paused briefly to catch her breath, her face now turning a darker shade of pink.
Elphaba waited patiently, for once. There was a flicker of uncertainty, of jumbled thoughts before she quickly masked her emotions again.
"The Unnamed God has realized over these years that Oz is not how it should have been. The Animals that he created are all but existent. Armies have been raised without consent from his Unnamedness, cultures destroyed for 'greater good', as they say. The Unnamed God has watched your struggles, Elphaba, and he has watched as you failed. Your task, dear Elphie, is to reset balance to Oz. No, don't look at me like that, Elphie. I didn't make this choice."
Glinda was startled to hear the cackling, disbelieving giggle of the Witch in front of her.
"Oh for the love of Lurline, Elphie! Take this seriously!"
"I-I am! You're… ah! You're telling me t-that … ha… I must restore OZ?" guffawed the Witch, her mirth growing by the second.
Glinda, in a fit of aggravation, stood quickly. She leaned over and swiped her wand off the table, and rapped Elphaba smartly over the head. All giggling ceased immediately as the Witch turned her face up to stare at Glinda with anger and a wince.
"What the hell was that for?"
"C-control yourself, Elphie. This is not the time to lose your mind."
"Oh, my Sweet, I think it was lost the day I entered Shiz."
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