Chapter 7: Plots

Thank you for all your encouraging reviews, they give me the warm fuzzies! I always try to find something different that I can use in a fic, and I'm glad it seems to be working! Also- there was some question as to whether Elphaba slept with Fiyero... All I have to say is- use your imagination ;)

No. No, no, no, no, no. There had to be some way to reverse that stupid spell. Elphaba didn't care what Morrible had said about spells being irreversible back in her lectures at Shiz, there had to be some way to undo this... this curse! She had managed to get rid of the brainless lump by telling him to find a safe hiding place for them as she went to talk with her sister. Nessa would help, she would get their father to help and then she could simply hide with them until all this wicked witch nonsense blew over.

But if only it was that simple. Elphaba knew things were off as soon as she had stepped out of that wardrobe to greet her sister. Nessa didn't look like she was pleased to see her. In fact she said as much.

"Elphaba, I can't believe the nerve of you!" she hissed, her back straight as she sat in her chair, as if a cobra poised to strike at a threat, "How dare you come back here!"

"Nessa, please, I just need some help- I need father's help and you can--"

"Father's dead, Elphaba," The invalid laughed harshly, "you killed him!"

"I killed him? Now wait just a clock tick!" the emerald woman was losing her temper- but she reigned herself in to give a civilized retort, "How could I have killed him, I've been in hiding?"

"Shame, Elphaba, pure shame! Father died of terminal disappointment because you went off and got yourself into this mess!" again that harsh laugh, it was starting to concern the older Thropp sister.

"Nessa, what did I do to you to make you so angry with me?" it wasn't an accusation, it was hurt- everyone seemed to be turning on her, with the exception of the hexed Fiyero.

"What did you do to me?" this only caused the younger Thropp to shriek with laughter, it wasn't a pretty sound like it had been in years past, "You left me in Shiz with just Nanny and Horrible Morrible to take care of me!" She screamed, a vein throbbed in her temple as she seemed to be expending great energy on this, "You left me there to chase your fantasies with that slut Glinda- yes, I know you two shared a bed- and then disappeared for months while everyone said you attempted to kill the Wizard, and I was sent home for protection only to find father dead of shock! You ruined my life Elphaba- what little I had of it- and you destroyed it!"

"I'm just trying to do good, Nessa!" Elphaba whined weakly, opening her the Grimmerie and gesturing towards it, "In fact I came to help you out as well, to prove that I'm not a disappointment!" and before the other could wheel herself over to the door to call her guards the green woman started chanting. And then Nessa screamed in pain, eyes wide in shock as she looked down at her feet- her shoes were glowing blood red. And then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped. and Nessa fell out of her chair, stumbling to her feet.

"What have you..." She looked in wonderment at her sister and at the book in her hands just as Boq jogged in.

"I heard screaming-" he stopped as he caught sight of Elphaba and turned to call the guards with a yell.

"Wait, Boq, look- I can walk!" Nessa called, drawing his attention finally to her feet, which were firmly on the ground, she smiled beautifully at him and he returned the smile, rushing to catch her up in an embrace.

"Oh Nessa!" He gushed, "This means I can go tell Glinda my true feelings!" This was not what the younger Thropp wanted to hear and she wrenched away from the munchkin.

"Of course, it's always someone else- it's never Nessa, no one cares for the girl in the chair! Even when I'm out of the damn chair it's still someone else! I ought to spell you!" she screeched, her laughter still ringing with that odd harsh quality that made her seem mad. And, without warning, she stumbled to Elphaba and wrested the Grimmerie from her green fingers, falling to the floor with it and trying to read falteringly from the page it had fell to.

"No, wait!" Elphaba cried, also falling to the floor and tried to grab the book back from her, "You don't know what you're saying- you could hurt someone!"

And then a cry from where Boq was standing stopped the sisters in their struggle for the book and turned both of their heads to see the munchkin on his knees clutching Nessa's chair for support with one hand, the other was wrenching at his clothes as he moaned about his heart... shrinking?

"Elphie... Oh Elphie, help him!" Nessa demanded, suddenly switching from anger to terror. Her elder sister looked at her with a mixed expression- as if deciding the true nature of Nessa's heart- and then stood, going to Boq and lifting him easily into the chair and wheeling him into a corner. She would try to fix him, but she didn't know how good she would be at it- especially since she had come here for that very help herself.

xXx

The floodgate of emotions had turned Glinda into a hot mess. she couldn't stop crying- or at least, not for very long until she would remember something about the way Elphaba had looked at her, how she had gone with Fiyero... And then she would stop crying and boil with hate and anger- how could she have done that? How could he have done that? And to her! And it was during one of these small bouts of resentment that Morrible and the Wizard had found her and talked with her. And it was then that she had given them that horrible idea. Get to the sister and you get to Elphaba. As soon as the words were out of her mouth she knew it had been a mistake and she almost started crying again- But there was nothing she could do so she stalked out to cry in the privacy of her own home.

But nothing comforted her there. None of the luxuries she had been provided made her feel any better because they had all been gained from her 'heroic act'. And she couldn't sit here. She had to make things right with Elphie- But where would she be? And then it hit the blonde, that she would run to Nessa, especially if the Wizard and Morrible were taking her foolish words to heart! And so the lithe form stumbled down her grand staircase in her haste to get to her former love- and to save Elphaba's only blood relation that she had left!

Nessa had thrown her out. After she had seen all that Elphaba could do for the poor munchkin was to make him a Ticktock clockwork thingy. She should have known better than to clean up after her sister- but either way she was going to be blamed for everything. And so the jaded woman left her only relation and flew along the Yellow-brick Road, to where she had no idea yet. Perhaps back to Jax- he had tried to warn her about something, and maybe she should have listened to him. She was shaken from her deep thoughts by a sudden gale and her broom was pushed around and around- spiraling towards the ground. Somehow her fall was cushioned, but all the same, Elphaba tumbled to the ground, bouncing painfully on the drought-cracked earth. The weather- although having been sunny and warm only moments ago- had taken a turn for the worse and it looked like it was going to rain.

Fear took hold of her and Elphaba scrabbled to her feet, taking up her broom and running into a nearby barn as the storm suddenly descended. The wind hit the barn hard, and it creaked dangerously, but held fast. The green woman stood by the door looking at the sky, trying to figure out the sudden change in the weather. And then she spied something very odd... A house... caught in a spiral of strong wind and blowing back the way Elphaba had come- Back towards Colwen Grounds!

Too late. She had been too late and Nessa was dead. The Munchkins were in a panicked mass of confusion. The twister- as they had taken to calling it- had dropped a house on the Eminent Thropp and out had walked a girl! Glinda had shown up quite suddenly and everyone turned to her for direction, so she did what she seemed to be best at- she made up a story and sent the little girl along the Yellow-brick Road towards the Wizard. Which might not have been the wisest thing to do, but then, when had she ever been wise in her life ever? The Munchkins had cleared out, satisfied with the lie and the blonde was left to weep at this unfitting grave, laying a few flowers plucked from a bush near the house.

"What a touching display of grief." The biting sarcasm jarred Glinda from her position near the ground, Elphaba had strode up to her. And her lip curled- was that hate? The blonde hoped not!

"I don't think we have anything further to say to one another." she said sharply before she could bite it back. But it was true- clearly her former love didn't want anything to do with her.

"I wanted something to remember her by, and all that was left of her were those shoes- and now that wretched little farm girl has walked off with them!" Elphaba spat back. Nessa had been her only living family member left. "You know, I would appreciate some time alone to say goodbye to my sister!" Glinda was hurt- she had been hurt by Elphie more than anyone had ever hurt her before- but she slowly backed away to give the distraught woman some space as she grieved, "Nessa, please- please forgive me!"

Glinda began to cry as she watched and couldn't stay back any longer, "Oh Elphie... Elphie it's dreadful, it really is to have a house fall on you but..." she couldn't tell her the truth, she couldn't bear to listen to the voice that was cold as steel- She longed for the voice that was soft and firm at the same time, lilting as she read. But those days were over, "Accidents will happen." She offered lamely, laying a hand gently on her arm.

"You call this an accident?!" Elphaba shook her arm off, rounding on Glinda and backing away from her as if she had said something truly astounding.

"Well, maybe not an accident..." Glinda was trapped, she couldn't tell the truth, but she couldn't lie to Elphie- it was tearing what little heart she had left in two!

"Well what do you call it?" the verdant woman demanded, her face flushed evergreen with anger.

"A... A regime change..." the blonde faltered, still unable to tell the whole truth, "Caused by a strange twister of fate...?"

"Oh, so you think cyclones appear, just out of the blue?" Accusation poisoned every word as it left Elphaba's mouth and stabbed the blonde.

"I don't know, I never-"

"Well of course 'you never'," Elphaba mocked, "you're too busy telling people how wonderful life can be!"

Anger overtook Glinda and she spoke without thinking, "Well, I'm a public figure now, people expect me to-"

"Lie?!" the green woman interrupted.

"Be encouraging!" Glinda shouted back.

"So, who's idea was it?" Elphaba asked wildly, "To send a house toppling onto my sister? Was it the Wizards? Of course even if it wasn't he'd still take credit for it!"

Again, without thinking Glinda spat back, "Yes, well, A lot of us are taking things that don't belong to us. Aren't we?" it was a painful jab and the stunned silence that answered pulled Glinda back into her right mind. But too late, as a group of Emerald Guards rushed in and seized Elphaba.

"I can't believe you would sink this low!" Elphaba shouted at her, "To use my own sister as bait!"

Glinda wanted to deny it- but it had been her idea, although she hadn't meant for it to slip and she hadn't meant for it to be like this! And then Fiyero jumped in and everything happened so fast- he grabbed her roughly and pointed a gun at her head and the guards let Elphaba go. She looked like she wanted to help... dare she hope that it was her she wanted to save? but Glinda mouthed a 'Go.' to her, even if it wasn't her say so that the green girl was waiting for.

And Elphaba escaped.

XxX

"Damn it!" Elphaba cursed. She knew Fiyero was going to be punished for helping her- and he had done so quite unwittingly too. If only she hadn't cast that spell on him! But now she had to protect him, she had to make things right! and so she did what she only knew how to do- and that was to spell him again. Make it so that he would forget, and so that he wouldn't feel the pain they would no doubt be inflicting on him. She couldn't bear another body on her conscience! Opening the Grimmerie, she searched for the spell and began.

"Eleka nahmen nahmen ah tum ah tum eleka nahmen, eleka nahmen nahmen ah tum ah tum eleka nahmen..." It felt pointless, she couldn't know if it was working or even what it was doing to the brainless man! She tried the chant once more and gave up, "This is... this is stupid! I... I just need some time to think!"

She paced back and forth under the shelter of a tree- she was confident she had gotten far enough away from the guards. And they were probably too busy questioning Fiyero to chase after her. She was startled from her broodings by a monkey as it landed deftly beside her. It was one of the winged ones. It held out a small paper to her.

"What is it?" She asked, prompting it to speak, but it remained mute and pressed the paper into her palm with is leathery one. She looked down and opened it, inside was scrawled in an untidy script she didn't know, 'there's an empty castle in the Vinkus, I've told the monkeys where- they seem intelligent. I will find you-' it was signed 'Fiyero'. She looked back at the monkey and recognition dawned on her, "Chistery! Fiyero gave you this?"

The monky nodded and took her hand in his own and tugged on it looking to the western sky.

"Chistery, you can speak, you're an Animal!" Elphaba said, as if reminding him of an inherent right, but he blinked at her balefully, "Oh, never mind right this instant, now where's this castle?"

xXx

Ahhhh, I know I know! You want your Gelphie goodness! I do too, believe me! The monkeys won't let me bring them together yet! Perhaps if you review you can persuade them?