Elphaba looked up from the book as the blonde left just after she read how to get rid of the ghost from the past. She scrambled to her feet and ran out of the room just in time to see the blonde running off into the night. She followed her praying she would catch her in time.
Galinda was crying and wasn't ashamed to admit it. After all, she was about to die.
She stumbled up the road towards the bridge, taking short, sharp breaths. She could feel the ghost bashing away at her defences and she knew she was running out of strength.
Shakily she stepped onto the side of the bridge, teetering a little as she did so. The water was black and unwelcoming below her, it looked so cold. She felt sick. She didn't want to die. But if she didn't so many more would. Elphaba would.
She took a shaky breath and closed her eyes.
"NO!" Elphaba screamed as she saw the blonde step up onto the ledge. "No Galinda Stop! There has to be another way!" She was running as fast as she could but she feared she was too far away.
She heard Elphaba and opened her eyes, turning her head to see her running.
"I can't" She cried, "He'll just keep hurting people and it will get worse and worse. It's all my fault"
He'll kill you, she wanted to scream, but found the words didn't quite come out.
"I'm sorry" she whispered and stepped off the bridge.
Elphaba's gut retched as she saw the blonde fall out of sight just as she reached the bridge. Without thinking she dove over the edge after her, whispering a spell she had mastered when she was little for getting caught in rainstorms, she just prayed it would hold up against a river.
Elphaba caught the blonde and held to her just feet before they hit the water. The pain was like nothing Elphaba could ever hope to describe, her skin burned and she would have screamed had she not been submerged underwater. She clung to Galinda tightly as the water swept them down river and she prayed they would find a shore soon.
"Elphaba you're going to burn!" She screeched in horror as they smashed into the water. No, she had done this so Elphaba wouldn't die!
"Elphaba get out of the water" She screamed again, before she was submerged. When her head next broke the surface she began kicking them towards shore.
Elphaba's head spun they were dragged under the water a few times before she felt solid ground under her feet. She started to push herself further onto it, unaware of what the blonde was doing as she tried to ignore the burning all over her body. The spell didn't hold up very well but she wasn't dead yet so that was a plus. Somehow she found herself on shore still clinging to the blonde as best she could.
"Galinda – you little shit!" she gasped out in between heaving for breath and trying to not scream in pain. "Don't ever do that again!"
"Let go of me" She screeched, trying to pull herself back towards the water. Now that Elphaba was out of the water she could try again.
"Let go!" She screamed, kicking Elphaba hard in the shins, and making a break for it.
She had to die. She had to!
Elphaba groaned as the blonde kicked her shins. How many times am I going to get hit today!? She screamed in her head as she quickly stood and tackled the blonde just as she reached the water again.
Elphaba couldn't hold back the scream as they fell into the shallow water and her hands and face were splashed as the spell had been worn down by the river before. Through the pain she held fast to the blonde knowing if she let go she would lose her for good. "Please Galinda, don't do this!" her tears added to the pain and she knew she looked horrible.
"For Lurine's sake Elphaba" She shouted, pulling her up and out of the water and giving her an almighty shove backwards so that she was on dry land.
"DO you want to kill yourself!" She shouted, gesturing to the water.
"I have to but for Oz sake there's no need…" She stopped realising with horror what had happened in the struggle. She couldn't feel the ghost any more. She'd lost control, she hadn't been concentrating. He could be any where! She'd never drag him back in now.
"YOU IDIOT" She screamed, running over to Elphaba to slap her again, and just stopping short of her when she saw how bad the burns were.
She wasn't red raw, which shocked Galinda, considering how long they had been in the water. But she was covered in red blotches down her neck and across her hands, she imagined it must be worse beneath the wet clothes.
Her face was least harmed, Glinda assumed because of her efforts to stay above water.
"He's gone" She said spitefully.
"Good, maybe now you can THINK clearly!" Elphaba shouted back still reeling from the pain. She went to take a step towards the blonde but stumbled as she did so, falling to her knees on the ground instead. "Oz Galinda! What were you thinking?" her voice was softer now as she, once again, held back from screaming as her burns were aggravated by the fall.
She gasped when Elphaba fell to the ground.
"I was thinking I was going to kill him and save a hell of a lot of people from death" She spat
"We need to get you to your oils" She said, a little less harshly.
"But staying in these wet clothes is just going to make it worse. You going to have to strip." She said, making helpless gestures at her, knowing that if she touched it it would only hurt her.
"And then, after all that I am going to have to figure out a way to get him back inside me so I can actually kill him this time!"
"You're not going to do that!" Elphaba cried from the ground, ignoring the rest. "I'm not going to let you. There are other ways, we need to plan this so you don't get hurt!" her shoulders fell as the determination in her eyes flickered down. "I can't let you, I can't lose you for good like that."
Galinda watched Elphaba in pain and watched her shoulders slump with sorrow. With loss. She came to a conclusion in her head. Elphaba wasn't going to move, until she said she wasn't going to kill herself. And what was that underlying emotion Elphaba was displaying. She pushed the thought away, not wanting to deal with that now. Not when she was so near death.
"Okay. I will make you a deal. I will not summon him back until tomorrow. But only, so I can get you back to our room and deal with your burns. If by some miracle you come up with an idea by then, then so be it. But as for now, I will be dying tomorrow" She said.
"Now get up" She said, heart heavy. She knew there wasn't another option.
Elphaba reluctantly moved, hissing in pain as she stood. She had to come up with a plan, she had to figure out how to fix this. She couldn't lose her only friend, not now, not ever. She made herself take two steps but then stumbled, the soaked dress on her skin was a bad idea but she didn't want to walk all the way back their room butt naked and covered in burns. That would be the cherry on top of this delightful day. She laughed bitterly at the thought.
"I can support you but its going to hurt" Galinda said, moving to assist her.
"And you might be able to walk better if you didn't have so many soaked clothes on. Do you have a shift on under that?"
Elphaba felt a blush creep up her face even at that thought. "I will remain fully clothed until I get to the bathroom." She hissed as she move again, avoiding the blonde and taking another shaky step. She had to get back to those books. She had to get this figured out tonight!
"Fine, at your own pain be it" She snapped, annoyed at being rejected.
She started to stride ahead.
"I would go and prepare the oils, but I suspect if I go to far you will collapse. Or simply throw yourself in the river on assuming I've killed myself as well" She shouted, getting faster.
Elphaba watched as the blonde rushed ahead yelling angrily into the night.
Oz could things get any worse?
Elphaba's gaze snapped to the sky as prayed she hadn't just – a rain drop hit her square on the nose and she hissed with the burning.
"Great, just great!"She willed her legs to move faster back to the room as the rain steadily grew heavier.
"Really" She screamed up at the sky as it started to rain.
"Hasn't she been hurt enough!"
She turned around and ran back to her, pulling off her jacket as she went. It was wet, but at least she could hold it over Elphaba's head.
Elphaba made herself run as she helped hold the jacket over their heads.
"Thank you," she said under her breath giving the jacket back to Galinda as they made it into the building. She turned and started to their room, she only had a few hours to figure this out.