Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2009. Found: 2018- Licia

"Elphaba? Are you okay?"

The girl lay on her bed, back to the blonde, tears silently running down her cheeks. She said nothing; her mind wouldn't allow her to. It raced to much, her thoughts bounced and...

"Do you want to talk?"

The girl shrugged the blonde's hand off her shoulder, and after a moment, Glinda got up, going to her desk. Silence settled between the pair, before,

"He thinks this is a game."

Slowly, Glinda turned back to her roommate. "I'm sorry?"

"Yero. He thinks this is a game. He doesn't understand that if we don't make the team, I lose everything. I have to go back to Munchkinland. I can't afford that. If I go back to Munchkinland, I'll never get out. My father won't let me."

"What do you mean he won't let you?" Glinda asked, getting up and making her way to the girl's bed. Elphaba glanced over her shoulder at the blonde.

"Do you have both parents, Glinda?"

The question was so out of left field that it caught her off guard. She stammered for several minutes, before nodding. "Um... yes. Don't you?"

"My mom died when I was a baby. My little sister's crippled and..." The girl bit her lip. "Your dad never... hurt you, did he?"

"Hurt me? Why would he hurt-"

But Elphaba shrugged, shifting onto her back. It was then that Glinda saw the tears trailing down her cheeks. "Do your parents love you?"

"Of course they love me. What kind of question is that?"

A soft sob escaped the girl's throat, followed a strangled question that near broke Glinda's heart. "Do you know how lucky you are?"

Before she could stop herself, the blonde had climbed onto the other girl's bed, wrapping around her, holding her close and letting her cry. Suddenly, the argument earlier made all the sense in the world.

His skates sliced through the ice in quick succession, the satisfying schlick! schlick! helping to calm him down. How dare she quit! Didn't she realize how important this was to him?

Don't you realize how important this is to her?

He stopped.

Her bastard father sent her to the Vinkus for a reason, remember? But only after he decided he wanted nothing to do with her. Or have you forgotten the scars on her body? The months of therapy? The fact that she will never be a mother, thanks to him. He's the reason Mom and Dad took her in in the first place. He's the reason her left arm is weaker than her right, the reason she walks with a slight limp that's more prominent on cold days, the reason her nose is slightly crooked, and why the tip of her tongue is split- it's all because of him. He's the reason she needs those sponsors, so badly. If she doesn't have those sponsors, he'll take her back, and if he takes he back before she turns eighteen...

He swallowed, wrapping his arms around himself.

If he takes her back before her eighteenth birthday, he'll never let her go. He'll keep her there until he either dies or he kills her. She won't get to take Nessa away from him, and you'll never get to tell her how much you-

He shook the thoughts from his head, returning to skating. Though skating wasn't his favorite, it as something to calm his racing brain. Unfortunately, he and Elphaba suffered from the same thing; an overactive mind, that only got more out of control the more anxious or upset they got. It was probably one of the reasons they got along so well- they were mirror images of each other.

She's your better half; your cuter half, that's for sure. And you did nothing but piss her off, by telling her it wasn't important, when you know how important this is to her. This is her life you're playing with-

He tumbled out of his quadruple axel, rolling several times on the ice before coming to a stop. He caught his breath, choking back tears. God, he was so stupid, to think that she shouldn't be concerned with the high possibility of being sent back to her father if she lost her sponsors. And if that happened, the next time he'd see her, would most likely be an obituary in a newspaper.

"Can you talk to him?"

Elphaba pulled away. She'd spent the last two hours sobbing in her roommate's arms- so much for avoiding each other. But it seemed that the blonde genuinely cared about her, and she couldn't shove away that small kindness, no matter how much she despised the girl. Though she knew nothing of Elphaba's past, she was still willing to listen, something Fiyero, who she'd known for nearly ten years, was refusing to do.

And for that, she owed the blonde some small kindness in return.

After a moment, she stood, brushing the tears off her cheeks. "Do you like ice cream?"

Glinda furrowed a brow in confusion, completely caught off guard. "I don't understand."

The young woman huffed. "It's a simple question. Do you, or do you not, like ice cream?"

"Oh." The blonde thought a moment. "Of course I like ice cream. Why are you asking?"

"Because buying you ice cream is the least I can do for... dealing with my... meltdown." Elphaba replied, glancing at her feet. One long strand of black hair tumbled in front of her face.

"Thank you, but that's not necessary-"

"I want to. I just... I know I haven't been the most... the easiest person to room with." The girls settled in silence before Glinda stood, holding out a hand. "What's that?"

"Truce?" The blonde offered, and after a moment, Elphaba shook, nodding.

"Truce."