A/N: Long chapter; be prepared. I seriously can't believe I wrote this much. 4 double-sided handwritten pages. Freaky coming from me. Anyway, I need reviewers' input on whether or not I should put Fiyero in the story. Send me messages with your ideas, please.
GAH! STUPID SPELL CHECK! How dare you say Ozians isn't a word!
Disclaimer: C'est ne pas a moi, mes ami. Pas même proche. (Is that how you say it? I think so.)
I couldn't believe this was finally happening. The Wizard had sailed away in his fluorescent hot-air balloon, hopefully never to return to Oz again. This may well be one of the happiest days of my life. I realized with an ironic half-laugh--almost a cackle, which startled me--that I would have thought, long ago, that my meeting with the Wizard had been the happiest moment of my life. It was funny how the tables had turned so abruptly. But at least something had gone right.
The Ozians were positively devastated, of course. Some of them booed and others yelled, begging the Wizard to come back. It was a little pathetic, in my opinion. But soon the disappointed crowd dispersed, rejoicing once more at the Wicked Witch of the West's "death". As I watched the celebrations, a little stunned, I couldn't help thinking, What now? The Wizard was gone. My mind went blank for a moment, but then a familiar, bubbly figure popped into my head.
Glinda! Of course. How could I have forgotten? Deciding there would be time to join the celebrations much later, I got on my broom, getting a few ashes on my cloak in the process. This made me wonder, however briefly, where Dorothy was now. Where could she possibly live except in Oz? But maybe there were other Worlds out there, Worlds that didn't know me as a tyrant, a Wicked Witch. As this thought entered my brain and was registered as ridiculous, I scoffed. With my green skin, no one was going to accept me, in this world or any other. I had been destined for being treated like a pariah from birth. That was the blatantly obvious truth. I tore myself from my depressing train of thought and swooped above the Ozians on my broomstick; I was a little surprised I wasn't seen, but they were still caught up in their celebrations. Just my luck.
I soon reached Glinda's residence, which looked a little quiet. Hoping nothing out of the ordinary had happened, I carefully turned the emerald doorknob and entered, looking around me warily. I ventured a guess that anyone other than Glinda who say me would have a heart attack. Which wouldn't be too bad, but I didn't need all of Oz finding out I was alive just yet. But everything in the mansion was as it had been before, and no one seemed to be there; I hoped Glinda was. I breathed a quiet sigh of relief, although the quiet part of it wasn't necessary. I could start whooping and dancing (though I doubted I would) and no one but Glinda (hopefully) would hear. These walls were that thick and empty. Now, to find the bubbly (formerly) blonde.
First I cautiously searched in the first room I saw, which turned out to be a bright green kitchen that seemed to mock me. No one there. Looking for her was harder this time, as there were no hysterical sobs to guide me. It occurred to me that she might not be here. My hear rate sped up. If she had opened up her big mouth and told someone, we could both get killed! I marched down the hallway and soon I saw a gleaming green door wide open, and followed the emerald light. Sure enough, there she was, staring solemnly at her dress with red eyes. I couldn't help being a little that something else was wrong. Nevertheless, I opened the door a bit wider and she looked up, smiling a little awkwardly.
"Oh, Elphie, what happened? I've been worried sick! I heard yelling, did they-" She started talking in a high pitch. I could tell she was going to throw question after question at me in a high-pitched rant, so I decided to stop her. I knew exactly what she was going to say, anyway.
"See me? Not a chance," I said, collapsing into a chair near her. "They were too busy celebrating my melting. Anyway, the Wizard's gone-"
"What! Really, El-"
"-so I can continue in peace. Hopefully." I looked at her seriously. "Glinda, I need to know where Morrible lives." I was sure I needed to do this, but I had to do some research before I went doing in the government, feeble as it was. Glinda seemed a little taken aback.
"Oh, but Elphie, she's an old frail thing now, hardly. . ." She began, but faltered at the look I gave her. "Are you sure?" She couldn't help adding feebly.
"Of course I'm sure, Glinda!" I said, somewhat fiercely. Only one piece of the puzzle was mine, no matter how big. Morrible was the second obstruction to the Animals'--and Oz's--freedom. And no matter how old she was, I was going to stop her from wreaking her kind of havoc on Oz. "I have to finish the job I failed to do so long ago. I lost...everything then." My voice grew quieter and quieter and I seemed to be talking to myself. But I could tell Glinda knew what--or who--I was on about. She grew, if possible, more solemn. Some time passed in quiet. Then she spoke, shattering the silence.
"You didn't lose me." She said, almost inaudibly, looking at me. I looked up at her sincere face, looking almost as shocked as when I had seen the bottle of Miracle Elix- gone from my apartment, after the. . .incident. It had never occurred to me that all along, I had had Glinda. I still did. This was so unexpected and touching that I grabbed her in a hug, surprising myself with this sudden display of affection.
"Thank you, Glinda." I muttered. We stood like that for a moment, and then I pulled away. There was work to be done, and a lot of it. There would have to be plans, locations. . .I almost smiled as my old Resistance diagrams came swimming back into my brain. The game is not over yet. At least not for me. "Come on, Glinda, you've got to help me. I need her location." I said, turning to her.
"No, Elphie." She said, I was ready to argue when she put up a hand. "First let's go into the living room, and I'll give you some tea and biscuits. The servants are all out celebrating, you see."
"Oh, but Glinda, I really-" But at the pleading look she gave me I had to agree. It didn't sound too horrible to me, anyway. All we were doing was going to a more comfortable area to have some refreshments. I needed some food to think. My stomach growled in agreement. But I still couldn't help the tingle of anticipation. I was going to be doing something again.
No, I thought. We are going to be doing something. Because unlike in my childhood, when I played alone, or in the Resistance, when my assignments were my own, or after Fiyero died, and I was all alone once more, I had someone with me. I was not alone.
And it felt good. I couldn't help smiling as I walked into the living room after Glinda, already feeling this plan would be a success. When I made it. We made it. I see this "not alone" thing will take some getting use to.
Later on in the evening, when our stomach were full of biscuits and blueberry tea, Glinda and I went to work. It was decided that I would do the actual killing, because if we were caught, Glinda the Good could not be seen murdering the Wizard's former Press Secretary. Or anyone, for that matter. So she would help me with the work behind the scenes. And there was a lot more to do that we thought. But years working in the Resistance had taught me that you couldn't storm up to someone and murder them. It was a delicate, planned procedure. There were concealment spells involved, of course, especially with the theme of the Ozians' current celebrations. This was something I had trouble explaining to Glinda.
"But-hic-I don't-hic-understand." She said again, hiccuping because of what I thought was buckets of tea she had drunk earlier. "Why can't you-hic-just fly there and-hic-zap her, or something? Don't you-hic-have that book? Or-hic-you could even do it-hic-from here!" I had a strong urge to scream (she had said she didn't understand at least twice in the last minute), but I fought it back.
"No, Glinda." I said firmly. I was going to satisfy the curiosity bursting out of her and explain, but I didn't get a chance to. Before you could say Sweet Oz, she was talking again.
"But I don't underst-"
"Yes! You have made that point very clear, thanks! But if you would just let me explain, maybe. . ." I trailed off when I saw her cowering slightly, and immediately felt bad for yelling at her. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have. . .blown up. On you. Sorry." I apologized, and Lurline knows how painful it was for me. I don't like apologizing, but she was my best--and only--friend. She nodded, hiccuping and sniffling a little pathetically. I began to explain as calmly as I could.
"I can't go up to her and kill her, because I would probably be captured by the Gale Force and burned at the stake." I let these words sink in, making her shudder in horror. "I don't know what kind of protection Morrible has. For all we know, she has Lurline herself guarding her place. And as for using the Grimmerie from here. . .well, I could easily kill another innocent old woman by mistake. I'm not going to kill an Innocent." I said, using the term we had employed in the Resistance, where Innocent were not to be harmed, if we could help it.
"Oh, well okay Elphie, I get it now." Glinda said, a little hesitantly. We continued working in silence for a while.
About an hour or two later, I woke up on the couch, under a thick blanket. It seemed I had dozed off and Glinda had covered me. I smiled at her thoughtfulness. Looking around, I saw her asleep on another couch, snoring a little. I was going to continue working, but decided to sleep. It was dark anyway, and I was tired. I lay down and stared at the ceiling for a little.
I soon drifted off once again, and I dreamt of him again, his blue diamonds imprinting a permanent pattern in my scarred memories. They wouldn't leave me alone.
A/N: Click the little purple button, and how happy Miss Elphie will be! Do it. Now.
