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~The Wicked Witches
Galinda grabbed all the bottles off of the shelf shouting, "You better be taking those clothes off" as
she went.
She knew Elphaba would want to focus on finding a solution, but this was far more important.
Elphaba groaned as she put the book down, drat. She flinched in pain as she peeled off her wet clothes and quickly replaced them with a fresh nightgown before the blonde could leave the bathroom.
She sat back down on her bed opening the book again and starting to read it again. She only had a few hours left. She felt the impending sunrise like a hot poker in the back of her mind. She had to come up with a plan before then, she had to figure out how to save her roommate.
"Elphaba" She exclaimed, seeing her sitting on the bed with a book.
"Put that down, we need to put these oils on you." She said, marching over and dumping the bottles on her bed.
"And I thought I told you to strip, not put your nightie on! Don't be modest, its no time for that, there must be burns all over your body."
"They'll be fine, there are much more pressing matters that need to be dealt with." Elphaba said without looking. "And you will not be helping me while my oils when this is all over." Elphaba knew the burns would be able to stand a few hours left untreated, but she had to use all the time she was allotted to figure out a plan before it was too late. Also the blonde needn't see so much green, or scars.
Elphaba shook the thoughts from her mind as she once again focused on the book. If she couldn't find another way to get rid of Galinda's ghost then she would have to come up with a plan to keep Galinda from harming herself. Or you could kill her yourself and then magic her back, Elphaba paused at the thought. What a horrible thought! Why had she even thought that? Elphaba growled at her own thoughts as she pulled the book closer to her face trying to focus.
"Come here" She hissed, climbing onto the bed and attempting to tug down the corner of Elphaba's shift, she succeeded in getting it over her shoulder. She grabbed the appropriate bottle of oil and poured some onto her hand, gently smoothing it over Elphaba's shoulder.
"If you must insist upon reading that dratted book then go ahead. But I will get oil on these burns somehow."
Elphaba hissed in pain as she shrunk away from the blonde's hands. She gripped the book harder and slid off the bed sitting on the floor as she reopened the book.
"I thank you for your concern, Miss Galinda, but I have work to do." Elphaba realized too late that her tone was harsher then she intended and she had accidentally tacked on the honorific once again. She looked up to the blonde eyes wide as she stammered to take the statement back.
"Here let me do that work for you" She snapped, getting up and snatching the book from her hands. She flipped through it until she found the appropriate page ,then threw it back at Elphaba.
"Page 394, it tells you the only solution. And wait, that's for me to die! So for fucks sake let me put these bloody oils on you. There is no sense in both of us dying tonight!" She shouted tearfully, picking up the bottle only to mis-grab it and see it smash on the floor.
"For Lurine's sake!" She screamed, and grabbed one of the others.
Elphaba quickly moved forward and knelt in front of the blonde, before the blonde could drop another bottle she gently but firmly took her hands in her as she looked into her tearful eyes.
"Galinda, I refuse to accept that you have to die! I refuse to let him kill you. I refuse to let you kill yourself. I know this is risky Galinda, and I'm terrified." Elphaba paused as that part fell from her tongue without realizing it. She looked down to where her hands held onto the blonde's the burns marking her green skin look even more hideous. With the damage already done to her how in Oz would she fix this without hurting Galinda?
Elphaba was scared. Well at least she understood the situation now. But that instilled a feeling of loss for Galinda; a loss of the foundation she had been standing on.
"There isn't another way" She said, following Elphaba's eyes.
"Now please, I want to do something good before I go. Let me cure the burns for you."
Elphaba shook her head 'no' she had spent too much time already. "You're not going." She looked up to the meet Galinda's eyes as she held her hands tighter. "I may be terrified but that doesn't mean I'm going to let this happen. I will figure this out. And in the end I swear to you I will not let you die."
"You heard what it said in the book Elphie. The only way to get rid of him is for me to die." She said, wanting to squeeze Elphaba's hands in return but not doing so, knowing it could only hurt her further.
"Don't fear for me my sweet. I'm not scared of death" She lied, knowing that now she had to play the role of the strong one.
"Don't lie to me again Galinda." Elphaba released her hands as she grabbed the book again. "There has to be another way, we just need to find it! You created it, even if it was unintentional, there must be a way for you to get rid of it. I just have to find it." She flipped through the pages desperately trying to find a way to get rid of the ghost without permanently hurting the blonde.
Galinda sighed when Elphaba picked up the book again. She was relentless, she would give her that.
"There's not going to be anything in there. The only other thing I vaguely remember readin which may turn out to be of some use is how I can draw the spirit into my body. I think its for if they go into some other being. But that's highly unlikely in this situation. And still is not an answer to the problem."
"Yes but the answer is in one of these, it has to be!" Elphaba didn't look up from the book as she spoke. "I cannot have this end with you dead."
"Elphaba, there isn't going to be" She said, laying a hand gently upon her shoulder.
"Unless you can find something to bring me back from the dead…" She stopped realising what she'd just said.
"Oh no. No, you can't do what you must be thinking. He'll just come back to!"
Elphaba concealed a flinch at the touch.
"Galinda it just said you had to die not that you had to stay dead right?" Elphaba looked up to Galinda before she flipped to page three hundred ninety four as Galinda had mentioned earlier, reading it over herself.
"Elphaba no" She said
"It doesn't say that I can come back to life either. Its too risky."
Elphaba thought over the blonde's words, she did have a point, but what choice did they have? The book looked like it wouldn't help them get anywhere. She picked up another book and handed it to the blonde.
"Look through this, who sets of eyes will move faster than one." Elphaba then picked up a new book and started to skim the pages. "There has to be something about an attempt before, they couldn't have found out they had to die without seeing if they could come back or not."
Glinda sighed, but picked up the book anyway. She might as well humour Elphaba, seeing as she wasn't going to be able to treat her wounds.
Half an hour later and she still had nothing. She closed the book with an audible thud.
"That's it I give in. There is nothing there that is going to help us." She said, standing up.
"You barely looked! It's been only a few minutes." Elphaba protested. "Why are you refusing to find another option?" she looked up from her spot on the floor.
"Its been half an hour and I am tired. You are in serious need of your oils and we have found no solution." She said, getting up.
"I am going for a walk."
"Oh no you're not." Elphaba said as she quickly stood and grabbed the blonde's wrist. Elphaba almost fell back to the floor as her burns reminded her of their existence but she knew if she showed the blonde she'd lose more time. "You're not going anywhere alone."
She shouldn't be wasting time! She only had about five hours before sunrise and she wasn't sure if she could figure out a plan in that time. And wasting time to go on a walk was not something she truly wanted to do but she had to make sure the blonde didn't try anymore stunts. Elphaba moved to slip her jacket on unable to hold back the hiss as the fabric rubbed against her burns still hiding under her nightclothes.
"No" She said, glaring at Elphaba.
"I am going for a walk and you are staying here. You are in no fit state to be going out." She said.
"I'm just going to draw him out. I'm honestly surprised he hasn't tried anything yet, I can feel he's about" She said, throwing glances at the empty space around them.
"When I come back. Or when he does, just make sure you have a spell ready to kill me" She said, shrugging her off and heading for the door.
"We're not going to find an answer. The least you can do is find me a painless way to die."
"But Galinda what if something happens and I'm not there to try to stop it?" Elphaba pulled her jacket on all the way and glanced out the window to see it was still raining, shit. "You can't go out alone, so I'm going with you."
"I want something to happen Elphaba that's the whole point. He's hardly going to try and posses me in here again." She said, moving over and gently trying to remove the jacket from her shoulders.
"Please, just search for a spell to stop my heart or something. I'd rather not be strangled again."
Elphaba fought the blonde as she tried to remove the jacket shrugging it back onto her shoulders with a painful hiss as she tried to pin the blonde with a glare.
"Y-you want me to kill you?" Elphaba had realized that it was most likely going to be her, and although the thought bothered her, at this point she was just trying to stall the blonde into rethinking her plan to leave or somehow slip out with her.
"Well unless you would rather I threw myself of the bridge again" She said, not quite appreciating the repercussions of what she was asking.
"I can't very well kill myself with a spell, the laws of magic defy it. And it is impossible to strangle one's self." She continued, not noticing the cold that was becoming more present in the room.
"See that's not convincing me that you can leave alone!" Elphaba threw her hands up in exasperation but immediately regretted it as her burns shot pain through her arms and shoulders in reply.
"Elphaba I am going to die by morning one way or another. So if you really must insist upon it perhaps you should be finding a way to bring me back to life." She said, relenting a little.
"But please whilst you are at it, put some oil on those burns and find a spell to kill me" She said for what felt like the millionth time that evening.
Elphaba may think she was insisting upon a spell because it would likely be more painless, a better way to go. Now whilst that was a nice sentiment there was a darker reason behind it.
Spells were irreversible.
Elphaba couldn't stop herself; she pulled the blonde close in a tight hug. "Promise me you'll come back. I promise I'll do my best just, promise me, please."
Glinda relished in that hug, knowing she wouldn't feel something so kind again.
"I will return" She said, pulling away and opening the door.
"Just be ready for me when I do." She said, and walked out the door into her last midnight.
Elphaba watched the blonde leave hoping she would be able to return. She then turned to the books again pouring over them looking for what the blonde asked her to find.
A spell to stop her heart.
Elphaba was so lost in the books that she didn't notice the rapidly falling temperature of the room. Finally she picked up a large very old looking book.
'Grimmerie' the title read. Elphaba opened the book and dropped it with a cry of surprise as the pages started to turn themselves. She looked over the page the large book had turned to shocked to see exactly what she had been looking for. She quickly memorized the spell and prepared a plan for when the blonde came back to the room.
Galinda had been wondering around for an hour trying to get the ghost to come to her. Nothing was working, she didn't even feel his presence. She had been so sure she had felt him back at their rooms.
Back at their rooms.
Elphaba….
"ELPHABA"
Elphaba looked up suddenly as she felt as if someone was trying to crawl through her skin. Panicking she screamed and tried to back away from the feeling. But she had realized too late what was happening and her conscious mind was suddenly shoved into what felt like a glass tank inside her own mind. She tried to fight to control her body but was only greeted with a sinister laugh as her body moved to stand in a deep shadow.
No! Galinda! Elphaba fought to regain control but failed at every attempt. A new found respect for Galinda came to Elphaba as she realized just how much more power he must have over the blonde. As she did her best to fight off whatever had her she suddenly wondered if it had never been that cold in the room before.