What Lies

Beneath

Chapter 6

Reflection

Hours after her encounter with Morrible had still left the blonde shaking inside. She didn't like the tone of her voice, nor the coldness in her voice. But what bothered the Good Witch the most, was the fish woman's arrogance and though Morrible had always carried an heir of superciliousness, this time, felt different, more calculating and dark, and the blonde didn't like it one bit.

She had tried her best, to rid herself of this shadow, this cloak of ice that had somehow wrapped its silken webs around her body, squeezing the air from her lungs, and leaving her to feel like she had plunged head first into a bottomless well of ice. Yet no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't and it was ruining her normally bubbly mood.

In a rare case of desperation, the blonde actually had found a quiet corner, sat down and tried to think logically in order to find the root of her problems, though after about an hour or so, she had given up, due to a massive headache.

"Ugh! How in Oz does Elphie do this!?" she exclaims. Angrily she balls her small hands into fists and slams them hard against her sides.

"Lady Glinda" a voice called from around the corner.

Sighing, Glinda rose to her tiptoes and peeked along the edge of the bookcase. She had decided to go to the Library; Elphaba's favorite place to go and study, or to think and groaned, seeing Quirk, one of the Palace guards marching in quick time towards her.

Quirk, who was a year older than her, was a tall, muscular man, who was still awkward around the ladies, and even more so in his Gale uniform. He had long blonde hair and silver blue eyes that would make any woman swoon and a soft smile that would melt even the coldest of hearts.

Sighing, she takes a seat on a stack of books and folds her arms against her chest and glares at the spot where she knew Quirk would end up standing in.

And just as she suspected, Quirk; the awkward boy from the Glikkus, stumbled into that exact location and froze, upon seeing the blonde's dark cerulean eyes bore into his.

"Err," righting himself, Quirk lifts a hand and rests it behind his head, "is everything alright Lady Glinda?"

"You mean, aside from your rather noisy and sloppy entrance?" the blonde retorts, arching an eyebrow for effect.

"Yeah," he says smiling. Stiffening, he straightens and shakes his hands, "no I mean are you hurt Lady Glinda?" he stammers nervously.

"Straighten up for one," sighs Glinda, "and two, relax you don't need to be so on edge all the time" she huffs the last part.

"I'm sorry Lady Glinda," sighs Quirk. Lowering his head, his shoulders slump in defeat.

"Quirk…what's the matter?" asks Glinda. Standing up, she takes the young man's hand in hers and leads him over to the stack of books she was once sitting on.

"It's just that," he start before taking a seat, "my parents all think I'm a nobody…neither my father or mother expected me to make it here in the City of Emeralds, let alone become a Gale Force member," sighing, he lowers his head, "I've sent them letters every chance I get, letting them know how my training was going and when I had become an official member of the Wizard's elite force…and still they write back saying they're waiting for me to fail"

In a moment of weakness, the normally selfish blonde who only thought about herself cast her own problems aside in order to comfort this man.

"Oh Quirk," tenderly, she cups her hand on Quirk's broad shoulder, "I'm so sorry"

"It's not your fault Lady Glinda. This is just something I should be used to" Quirk sighed sadly.

"What do you mean?" Glinda frowned back at her Gale Force guard confused.

"I've always been a failure at everything I've ever tried in life, why should being a Gale Force member be any different" Quirk said shrugging his shoulders.

"Quirk, you obviously can't be a failure at everything" giggled the blonde

Confused, Quirk lifted his head and blinked back at the blonde, "What do you mean?"

"Well, if you were a failure at everything then you wouldn't be here right now, marching in line with the other Gale Force soldiers protecting the Wizard" the blonde said simply

"Yeah but-"starts Quirk

"Stop thinking you're going to fail cause if you do…then you will" interrupts the blonde

"Huh?" answers Quirk dumbly

"Self-fulfilling prophecies," winks the blonde. Upon seeing the confused look on Quirk's face, she continued, "My Popsicle always told me that if you tell yourself that you're going to fail at something, or trip and fall, or have a bad hair day, then you will…but if you tell yourself the opposite-"

"Then the opposite will happen," Quirk finished with a smile of understanding, "I see…so if I keep telling myself that I'm going to be the best Gale Force officer here, then I will"

"Exactly" smiles Glinda.

'Thank you Lady Glinda" without thinking, Quirk wrapped his arms around the blonde and hugged her tight, which normally would have pissed the Good witch off, but for some reason, this time, it didn't.

'So this must be what Elphie meant when she told me how good it felt to help others' she says to herself.

Realizing what he had just done, Quirk immediately sets Glinda back down and backs away.

"Sorry" he says in a sheepish tone

"It's alright Quirk" smiles the blonde.

"Just don't tell Siefer…he'll have my head if he finds out" whisper/shouts Quirk

"Speaking of Siefer I was wondering. Do you know much about him?" asks Glinda, taking a seat again.

"Only that he's the strongest man I've ever seen, which explains how he rose quickly to the ranks of Captain. He's ruthless and will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants. Including finding rebels…why?" frowned Quirk at the end.

"Have you ever seen him around his wife?" asks Glinda, ignoring his question.

Quirk nodded.

"And?" presses Glinda.

"They seem like a normal happy married couple…though," Quirk starts but stops right away. Instantly Glinda could see the nervousness in his eyes and knew he was hiding something.

"Tell me Quirk. Please" she pleaded.

Sighing, Quirk rose to his full height, his head snapped to the right, and to the left, before taking Glinda's hand, "Follow me" he says.

Glinda nods and follows him deeper into the library. Coming to an office, Quirk opens it and ushers Glinda inside quickly before closing it.

"What?" asks Glinda.

"Many of us soldiers have been worried" he says nervously as he plays with the buttons of his uniform.

"Worried…over what?" she asks.

"Lady Elphaba" he answers softly.

"Elphie…why?" gasps Glinda.

"It didn't happen right away…but about a month or so after their marriage the soldiers and I have noticed Lady Elphaba coming to the Palace with fresh bruises either on her face, neck or on her body. Whenever we've asked how she's acquired them, she simply says she was clumsy with a spell or potion that she was trying to make…but all of us know how talented Lady Elphaba is and making a mistake in either seems-"

"Incredulous" finishes Glinda.

Quirk nodded, "We know Captain Siefer can be rough, but we never imagined he would dare cross that line and strike a woman…especially his wife. But after the incident with her having fallen down the stairs and losing her baby…well it was getting harder to believe otherwise"

"Quirk, do you think Siefer is abusing Elphie?" asks Glinda softly.

Quirk looked at the blonde sadly

"I do…especially after I saw her this morning"

"What?" gasps Glinda.

"She came in limping and looking pretty beaten up. Her lip looked like it was split and the right side of her face looked pretty banged up" says Quirk softly.

Slowly, Glinda's hand rose and cupped her mouth.

'Oh Oz…what have I done'

"Lady Glinda?" asks Quirk

The room around her spun violently around her and her powerless to stop it. The echoing sound of Siefer's laughter assailed her, followed by the low scream of Elphaba's cries of pain and Morrible's icy cackle.

"Lady Glinda?" calls out Quirk, though to the blonde, his voice sounded miles away.

A gasp and the world faded before her eyes, before darkness consumes her.

"LADY GLINDA!"