Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked.
Chapter 3
The group's heads all shot up and they froze in place when they heard the gunshot. They all stood and tried to stay as still as possible, listening to the distant shouts of the guards. Fiyero signalled for them to run, grabbed Elphaba's hand and pulled her along with him.
Elphaba tried to keep her eyes on the ground and watch were she was running, but when she heard a gunshot go past her ear she turned her head to look behind her. She didn't see the root that everyone else had jumped over or ran around. She fell with a thump and cried out as she felt a sharp pain in her ankle. "Fiyero!" she called.
Fiyero turned and spotted her trying to get up again. He helped her up and started to move again, but she just fell as soon as she placed any weight on her ankle.
"I think it's sprained," she murmured. "Fiyero, you go. I can take care of myself."
Fiyero was outraged. "No way, Elphaba, am I leaving you here!"
Elphaba stared at him, a worried expression on her face. "Fiyero, I can't let you be captured too, you need to find were they are keeping our daughters. Please, Fiyero, just go on." She gave him a gentle push, leaning against a tree trunk.
Fiyero sighed and then placed his arm at the back of Elphaba's knees and at her shoulders. He then lifted her into his arms. Elphaba clasped her hands around his neck as Fiyero ran to catch up with Boq, Glinda and Nizava who had stopped to make sure they were all right. They saw Fiyero carrying Elphaba and gave them surprised looks. Fiyero just ran past them.
They hurried through the forest, trying to loose the soldiers. The group eventually managed to get away from the gunshots and the shouts stopped all together. Elphaba realised they were near one of the Animal camps she would visit and told them were to go. They arrived soon after and Fiyero carried Elphaba into one of the tents.
They met the Sheep that had greeted Kalina and Torrisa who told them that the two teens had gone to Kiamo Ko, with Chistery and were both perfectly fine. Elphaba nearly cried for joy at the news that her daughters were fine and was far too happy to complain about pain when they wrapped up her ankle.
Nizava entered the tent to talk to Elphaba about the situation. "I only know the whispers that were passing through the Emerald City when I came to get you." Nizava saw Elphaba's downcast face. "Not that I believed them of course! But they say that you have returned to your old ways. Even after nearly two decades, they still believe you capable of evil." Nizava shook her head.
Elphaba sighed. "It's a lot easier to believe that someone is capable of evil after they believed it than to think that it might be a misunderstanding. I guess I'm being blamed for most of it?"
Nizava nodded glumly. "Yes," she whispered. "I also guess that this is my sister's doing?"
Elphaba couldn't bring herself to answer and instead turned her head away. Nizava knew the meaning behind the gesture. She brushed the few tears out from under eyes and stood. Elphaba looked up at her from her position on the ground.
"I'm sorry, Nizava," Elphaba murmured.
Nizava raised an eyebrow as she gazed at the top of Elphaba's lowered head. "It's not your fault," she said kindly. "Come on, we need to find you some crutches."
Kalina, Torrisa and Chistery had arrived at Kiamo Ko. They had found the castle deserted, as there were only servants there were their family would be visiting. Torrisa picked the lock with shaking fingers. She was still shaken up from Chistery carrying her across Gillikin and into the Vinkus. Kalina kept watch and then crept inside after Chistery and Torrisa.
She was surprised at the chill that filled the castle. She rubbed her forearms as she followed after the Monkey and her sister.
They climbed up the stairs to Elphaba's private room, the one that contained the most powerful books from the Library. She had kept them up there since Kalina and Torrisa had learned to read, to stop them from mistakenly casting a spell, and had never taken them back down again. Luckily the door to the tower room was unlocked and Chistery pushed it open.
Kalina ran a finger down the spines of the books piled into the shelves and pulled one out. She looked at it and then put it back. She repeated this process a few times before carrying one of the books to the table and lay it down.
She turned the cover of the book and started reading, a finger guiding her eyes. Torrisa watched as her sister read the strange language of spells, a skill that the elder had never been able to master. Chistery sat on a stool next to the table and asked Kalina, "What have you found?"
Kalina didn't look up as she answered. "It's a spell book for finding things. I think I may be able to use one of the spells to find Mother, Father, Auntie Glinda and Uncle Boq." Her eyebrows pulled together worriedly. "At least, that's what it is supposed to do."
Torrisa went searching in one of the trunks that were pushed up against the walls around the room. She pulled out what she was looking for and placed it on the pedestal created for it.
"Use this," she said gesturing to the battered crystal ball that she had just found.
Kalina read the spell a few times and then went to try it in the crystal ball. She couldn't quite remember the words so she asked Torrisa to hold the book for her. Torrisa held the book in front of her and Kalina read the spell.
They both watched as a fine mist seemed to appear in the glass of the sphere. Kalina concentrated on who she wanted to see and mist swirled before forming a picture. A moving image.
It was of the Animal camp they had just left. The two girls watched their mother hobble round on a pair of crutches with Fiyero there to catch her if necessary. They both wondered what had happened to mean that she had to use the two pieces of sturdy wood to help her walk. They could see Glinda and Nizava watching Elphaba walk up and down the same patch of dirt.
Kalina leaned away and the mist disappeared. "At least they aren't still in the jail," she said, her voice not as comforting as she had hoped.
They both went to sit on the faded red couch that had been pushed up against the wall. Kalina finally realised that she still had her hat sitting on top of her head and she pulled it off and threw it across the room. Torrisa placed a hand on her sister's shoulder.
Chistery watched the two sisters and decided to leave them for a while. Neither of them looked up as the Monkey closed the door behind him.
Kalina shook the hand off her shoulder and stood up again. She clomped across the room in her big boots and read the spines of the books again. She pulled on out and lay it on the floor. She started reading a spell from it and waving her arms above the book, like Elphaba had taught her to.
Torrisa jumped up from the couch and collapsed to her knees next to her younger sister. She placed her hands on Kalina's shoulders and looked over her shoulder at the spell. Torrisa shook her head; she couldn't make it out. The words just seemed to move about the page before Torrisa's eyes could make sense of them.
"Kalina? Kalina! What are you doing? What does this spell do?" Torrisa shook her sister's shoulders. "Tell me, damnit!"
Kalina rocked back on her heels as she finished speaking. She looked at Torrisa's furious face out of the corner of her eye. "It will bring Mother, Father, Auntie Glinda, Uncle Boq and Aunt Nizava here," Kalina whispered. "Hopefully," she added.
Torrisa's mouth opened in shock. "Kalina, you idiot!" Torrisa shook the younger girl's shoulders again. "You don't even know what you're doing! These are Mother's books; you aren't powerful enough to use them properly! Even if you do have some of Mother's power, you aren't as strong as her!"
Kalina could feel her anger boiling in her stomach. She knew she would regret it later, but she couldn't help what slipped out of her lips: "At least I'm her real daughter."
Torrisa released Kalina's shoulders and stood up again. She could feel the pain in her heart at the comment and she sniffed the tears back. She knew that Elphaba and Fiyero loved them both the same, but she had always worried that one day they would decide that Kalina was enough and kick her out.
Torrisa swept to the door and said a curt: "Fine. Do what you wish," before slamming the door behind her.
Kalina stretched out a hand towards the slammed door but let it drop. She clasped her hands in her lap and stared at them for a few minutes. Her head shot up when she heard a thump as someone landed on the couch behind her.
Kalina was standing and had her hands in fists in front of her. The person on the couch, a girl around Kalina's age, shrank away from her. The girl's eyes widened and she stuttered: "I thought Mom was lying...you...you're the...Wicked Witch of the West!"
Then the girl promptly fainted dead away.
Kalina stared in shock at the unconscious girl. She wondered why the dark haired girl had called her 'The Wicked Witch of the West'. That was her mother, not her. Kalina crept cautiously towards the freckled teen, her hands still in fists. She grabbed her hat from where it had landed on the floor and pulled it on to her head.
Once she reached the girl she tapped her shoulder gently. The girl was wearing trousers made from a strange stiff blue material. She had a checked shirt on. Her hair was in plaits on either side of her head.
Once she tapped her shoulder, the girl shoot up off the couch. She shot away so she was pushed up against the circler wall. She cowered as Kalina took a step closer.
"Who are you?" Kalina asked from under the brim of her hat.
The girl swallowed. "Linda Roberts. You'd better not hurt me. Or...or I'll melt you!"
Kalina tried to impersonate her mother's witchy cackle, but to her ears failed. To Linda, it must have been pretty good because she squealed and whimpered. Kalina decided to play along with being the Wicked Witch of the West.
"Do you really think that that works?" she asked. "If I am stood here before you?"
Linda spotted the door out of the corner her of her eye and tried to open it. It seemed that Torrisa had managed to get the door to stick when she slammed it.
Kalina then realised that the girl seemed to know a lot about her Mother and so she posed a question to her. "How do you know all of this?"
Linda turned and held her hands up to Kalina. "My mom, Dorothy Roberts, told me about it."
Kalina's eyebrows rose. "Dorothy? As in Dorothy Gale?"
Linda nodded. "Yeah, that's what she used to be called."
Kalina took the hat off her head and placed on the table she was stood next to. She faced Linda and stared at her.
"You," Kalina said in an accusatory voice, "are the daughter of Dorothy Gale? Attempted murderer and successful one too?"
Linda nodded and could hold her tears back no longer. She sniffled and rubbed her nose.
"Do you know who I am?" Kalina walked towards the terrified girl.
Linda nodded her head and mouthed the answer she thought to be true. Kalina shook her head.
"No," she said, "that was my mother, Elphaba Tiggular-Thropp. I am her daughter, Kalina Tiggular-Thropp."
Linda pointed a shaking finger at Kalina. "You...you're...her daughter?"
Kalina nodded and held out a hand to help Linda off the floor where she had slid down the door. Linda shook her head at the offered hand and heaved herself up.
She flinched away when Kalina opened the door. She had to put one foot against the wall next to the thick wood before she finally forced the door open. She fell backwards and Linda shot out a hand to catch her wrist. Kalina cried out on pain as Linda pulled on her wrist.
Kalina looked down at her throbbing joint before glaring at Linda. The strange girl leaned away from the green girl's stare.
Kalina clutched her wrist to her chest as she stalked out the room and started making her way down the many stairs to the kitchen where she guessed Chistery was. She knew that the Monkey would be able to tell what was wrong with her wrist and probably fix it up.
Kalina led the girl down the winding steps of Kiamo Ko. Kalina, although she was annoyed about the throbbing in her wrist, was glad to be in a sort of home. She could almost picture her mother striding out of the library doors, a book pushed under her arm. She could smell the spices the cooks would use in their food when they cooked. She could hear the laughter as Elphaba or Glinda or Fiyero or somebody shared a private joke. Kalina sighed. All she could hear now was the emptiness of silence.
Linda followed cautiously. She still didn't know much about this strange place where she had found herself landing. All she knew were her mother's tales of the strange land and she had stopped paying attention to them a long time ago.
Her hands trembled as she placed one of them against the icy stone wall of the staircase. She could feel the bumpy surface of the stones as they brushed against her palm. She tripped on a few of the more irregular steps but the seemingly cold girl in front of her did not turn.
Kalina used her foot and back to make her way into the kitchen. She sat at the immense table in the centre of the room and nodded at a row of bells hung up on the wall. Linda stared at her until Kalina said, "Ring the bells marked Chistery and Torrisa."
Linda made her way over to the bells and the strings that swayed in a draft beneath them. She read the names of the different rooms and the names of the people who inhabited them. Elphaba. Fiyero. Library. Dining Room. And so they carried on. Elphaba's had a note stuck underneath it.
Don't ring this bell unless it is an emergency. I mean it. And that means you, Fiyero.
Linda wondered what an emergency would be and who Fiyero was.
She eventually found the bells labelled Torrisa and Chistery. She pulled on string and the bells in the respective rooms rang out.
Kalina looked up wearily as Linda sat across from her. Linda fiddled with her hands, twisting them on the table top. They both jumped when Torrisa strode through the door.
"Kalina," Torrisa addressed her younger sister, "who the hell is this?"
Kalina laughed nervously. "It's a bit of a long story."
Torrisa sighed and flopped into a chair next to her sister. "Of course," she said with a roll of her eyes, "Well, I'm Torrisa Tiggular-Thropp. Who might you be?"
Linda looked terrified. Her eyes were wide and her voice shook when she spoke. "I'm Linda Roberts."
"She's Dorothy's daughter," Kalina added. At Torrisa's incredulous look, the green girl nodded. "Yes, the Dorothy."
The door opened again at that moment and Chistery walked in. Linda took one look at the winged Monkey and fainted. Again.
Kalina rolled her eyes. "Great. We got a fainter."
Elphaba stared at the animals lined up in front of her. "Really, Fiyero?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are we really going to ride horses?"
Fiyero nodded and started to help Nizava up onto one of the animals. Once she was up there he walked back to Elphaba. Glinda had been helped up by Boq and they were both on separate horses. Elphaba did a quick count and hobbled closer to Fiyero.
"Yero, I love you, but can you count?" Fiyero looked insulted.
"Yes, Fae darling, I can."
Elphaba looked back at the horses. "Well, then we're one short. There's five of us and only four horses."
Fiyero nodded. "I know that. You're going to ride with me, Elphaba."
Elphaba started to protest but Fiyero just led her to a horse and helped her up, giving her the crutches to hold in front of her. Fiyero climbed up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist to get the reins.
Elphaba was not pleased with the arrangement but went along with it. She leaned back into Fiyero after a while and eventually she fell asleep. Fiyero smiled down at her sleeping face and kissed her forehead. A soft smile appeared on her face as they rode on to Kiamo Ko.
Glinda and Boq reached out to grip each others hand as they rode side by side. They were content to sit in silence and would smile at each other every so often.
Nizava watched the couples in front of her and she felt her heart tug. She had never been with someone like that. She shook her head. No use worrying about it now.
As Elphaba slept she dreamt. She was in a strange land, all grey and dry. She looked around her self, everything was devoid of colour except for herself. She watched as a woman walked out of the house in the distance and started calling a name.
"Linda!" The woman shouted. "Where are you?"
Elphaba walked to the woman, the pain in her ankle gone in the dream. The woman spotted her and recoiled in alarm when she noticed her skin.
"It's you," she muttered, raising an arm to protect herself.
Elphaba stopped and looked at the woman. She seemed familiar, like someone you hadn't seen a long time. She took in the woman's rounded face and dark hair and it clicked.
"Dorothy Gale?" Elphaba asked, eyebrows lifting.
Dorothy, for it was she, nodded and put her arm back down. "It's not Gale anymore," she told the green woman, "it's Roberts now. What are you doing here? I was starting to think my time in Oz was just a dream after all."
Elphaba shrugged, feeling surprisingly calm around the woman who had tried to kill her, all those years ago. "I am dreaming, I think. It must have brought me here."
"I have wanted to say something to you, all these years," Dorothy said. She reached out to take one green hand, but Elphaba pulled away. "I wanted to say that I was sorry. So sorry for what I did to you. I never meant to do it, any of it. Please, say you can forgive me?"
Elphaba eyed the woman in front of her. "Do you think forgiveness is that easy to give? You killed my sister. She hadn't been able to walk, you know, I gave her that. Crippled her whole life. She had had her heart broken, what she was doing in Centre Munch I don't know. You took her shoes, the ones I enchanted, and just walked off with them." Elphaba had begun pacing. "Then some crazy old man tells you to go and kill someone, just because he tells you they are wicked, and you do so? What kind of stupid are you? So no, I don't believe I can forgive you for that. But, because of you, I got a new start with the man I loved. Remember that Scarecrow? His name is Fiyero and I made him that way to save him. I have a family now, and I have my friend back. Glinda, if you remember."
"I remember," Dorothy told her, "My daughter, Linda, is semi named after her. It was the closest I could get to Glinda."
Elphaba nodded absent-mindedly. "She is happy now, you know. That Tin Man, his name is Boq, is with her now. He and Fiyero were turned back into humans. I won't tell you how, that would take too long. But we are happy. Or, at least, we were."
Elphaba felt something tapping her shoulder but, when she, looked there was nothing there. She stole a look at Dorothy and then walked up to the shaking woman. Elphaba was still taller than her and Dorothy still looked a little scared.
"I heard you shouting for your daughter earlier, is she missing?" Elphaba asked, looking at the wide open fields.
Dorothy nodded. "I haven't seen her since this morning."
Elphaba nodded and closed her eyes. She muttered something and suddenly the house was filled with a bright glow. It was a strange yellow colour.
"She is in the Vinkus," Elphaba said. "That spell can tell me where someone is and it is yellow, the Vinkus colour, and so that is where she is. I will try to find her."
"Why?" Dorothy asked. "After everything I did to you? Why would you do this for me?"
Elphaba placed a hand on Dorothy's shoulder. "Because I am looking for my own daughters. I know what it feels like. I wouldn't wish that on anybody. Even you." Elphaba smiled softly and the world around her seemed to shimmer. "I have to go now. Goodbye, Dorothy."
"Wait," Dorothy said. "I don't know your name!"
"Elphaba," the green woman said and she vanished.
Sorry about the wait. Again. Also, sorry for not replying to reviews, just know that I appreciate every single one.
By the way, did anyone in the UK see the Dorothies destroy Defying Gravity on Over the Rainbow? It felt so wrong to see them sing it. It is Elphaba and Glinda's song not the friendship destroying brat's. (As you can see, I am not happy about it!)
See you next chapter, and please tell me what you think of this one!
Cherry x