Chapter Nine:

"Where in the Unnamed God's hell is she?" the voice roared and pierced through the silent room of Southstairs Asylum.

The voice belonged to none other than Sir William Chuffrey.

"I don't know sir…"

"I'm sure she didn't go far sir…"

"I think she got magicked out of here…"

A chorus of doctors and nurses alike answered him in stammering uncertain replies. They all ran around the room like chickens with their heads cut off trying to figure out where in the world Lady Chuffrey disappeared to. It was as if she had vanished out of thin air. One moment she was injected with a needle and the next she was gone. It was beyond puzzling to everyone in the staff except Allaska. The primary nurse for the missing blonde woman couldn't help but smugly smile as she went along with everyone else and pretended to look for Lady Glinda. She was the only one who knew exactly where she was and Allaska couldn't have been happier for her. Finally after years and years of suffering, Glinda had been reunited with Elphaba. The nurse couldn't help but feel pride within herself for causing such a good thing to happen.

But now she was left to deal with the aftermath of that good event, which was not as joyful or pride swelling.

To say that Sir Chuffrey was livid was an understatement. He was nearly bursting at the seams; his veins were popping out of his skin, his face contorted with anger. Allaska was glad of his pain, his misery in losing Glinda. She had never liked him, even in his younger years.

"I want her brought back immediately," he howled at some poor new nurse who took out of the room crying.

The older doctors tried to calm him down.

"Now Sir Chuffrey, I'm sure this was just some freak accident… Lady Glinda will soon be returned and the operation will go as scheduled…"

"Like hell she will be," he snarled at them, "I know exactly who is responsible for this…" he left without another word, leaving the asylum in deep distress for their missing patient.


Within a couple of days the two women had established a routine, which they adhered to almost religiously in fear of the unknown.

Everyday, Elphaba got up earlier than the blonde, made breakfast (which meant either magicking a fish to come out of the waters below or scouring the forest for berries that weren't poisonous), and then usually began her reading of The Grimmerie. After making sure the protective spells were still in place, she was more at ease and less cross. By the time Glinda woke up sometimes she could get the green woman to smile but that was on a good day. Elphaba, at least to Glinda, seemed to be on constant edge, always seeing daggers and danger around every corner, within every shadow. She flinched whenever something made a noise or something sounded out of the ordinary to her keen senses.

Glinda figured that if she lived this fugitive life as long as Elphie had that she would soon start seeing danger in everything too.

Then after breakfast came the unbearably long hours until lunch where they basically did nothing. Well, Glinda did nothing. Elphaba sat and read for hours upon hours. The blonde thought it was ridiculous. She didn't see the need for Elphaba to be pouring all of her energy into reading that stupid spell book.

"I don't think that any more spells are going to appear if you keep reading that thing, Elphie," she had remarked one morning to her companion. Her comment did not sit too well with Elphaba who had barked some terribly mean thing back at her and sulked in her silence and her reading for the rest of the day.

Evenings were even more stressful than the mornings. Then again Elphaba wasn't a big fan of the darkness. Every sound be it made by Glinda or herself was like an alarm to the green woman. She hadn't been this impossible to live with the first day. It was like she was retreating into the secretive, careful fugitive that she had been for the last ten or something odd years.

They had to be especially careful about when and if kisses or touches could be exchanged. Make too much noise and Elphaba would get paranoid that the sound charms might have worn off. Rip off the other's clothing too hard and she snapped her head up and listened for any sound of intruders or people who were just passing through, just to make sure.

Outings from the cave were strictly forbidden, for Glinda at least.

"You don't know your way around here," said Elphaba simply as an answer one night when Glinda asked if she could go out, "It's for your own good, my sweet. I couldn't bear the thought of you getting lost or worse killed because you trespassed on the wrong path of some crazy tribe."

Glinda didn't think it fair but she understood Elphaba's reasons however much she disliked them.

Everything Elphaba did was for her own good. Glinda found herself having to remind herself of that from time to time.

She chose this life; she chose to be with Elphaba.

"Elphie?" she asked in the middle of the agonizing silence one night, "What's Oz like now?" Glinda hadn't been able to keep up to date with the happenings around Oz. No one in the asylum was. They were purposely isolated from the outside world and for good reason too.

The glasses that Elphaba had to wear now in her older age fell from the crook of her nose. She looked up from the page she had been reading and repositioned the glasses back on her face.

"Oz hasn't been the same since when we were young," said Elphaba slowly trying to figure out the best way to describe what little of the new Oz she had encountered.

"I know that the Wizard's rule has only been strengthened by his allegiance with Morrible. The Gale Force is a nightmare though. They are all around Oz, secretly rounding up Ozians and Animals alike who are suspected of treason. I have a confidant who says that they execute them in Southstairs whether they have the death penalty over their head or not. Oz is not safe anymore…"

Elphaba looked at Glinda as if she expected a tantrum, a plea for her to be brought back to the asylum immediately where she could live out the rest of her life in peace and as far away from the monsters of the world as possible. The blonde surprised her by letting this come out of her mouth.

"When was it ever safe?"

A smile tugged at the corners of Elphaba's lips and she found herself smirking at Glinda's comment.

"I missed you," she said looking back down at her book.

"I missed you too, Elphie," replied Glinda as she suddenly got up from her spot on the blanket and sat herself down next to Elphaba. She carefully leaned her body up against Elphaba's and smiled to herself when she did not get rejected for the action.

"So I was thinking," she started off the conversation with a bright smile.

"Lurline, behold," remarked Elphaba sarcastically without taking her eyes off of her page.

Glinda frowned but was delighted that Elphaba was joking around. She hadn't joked in what seemed like weeks. She hadn't smiled in what seemed like years.

"When we get out of here, I think we should get a little cottage, something quiet, something modestly-sized with a bit of crown molding and a nice little yard with a garden of roses. And for our bedroom we could paint half of it green and the other half pink."

The book was shut.

"This is what you think about?" asked Elphaba clearly amused, her voice shaking with laughter.

Glinda smiled with her lips. She had only said it to get such a reaction out of Elphaba. She hadn't really meant it… but now that she saw Elphaba's enthusiasm her hope in the project grew.

"Well yes! What else do you expect me to think about when you keep me locked up in this drafty old cave for days upon days?"

"Anything but that," said Elphaba with a wave of her hands.

"Well I thought it was pretty creative if you asked me," said the blonde with a teasing pout.

"You have such a gift for optimism," said Elphaba with a smile. The blonde couldn't help but smile back. She suddenly inclined her head after a few moments and without any warning kissed Elphaba gently.

Thankfully Elphaba decided to at least engage in this kiss, unlike the numerous others since Glinda had escaped Southstairs Asylum, where the green woman would merely do nothing.

One hand cupped itself around the gentle curve of Elphaba's face as the other rested on her bony hip.

Elphaba's hands were entangled in those blonde tresses and mangled around her neck. Glinda was ever so glad that this simple kiss deepened into a fierce one.

It lasted for what seemed like forever, with each pair of lips battling it out for control, with each pair of hands caressing and grabbing at the other's body.

It felt unbelievably satisfying when it was over thought. Like a dream come true.

"We should have a safe word," said Elphaba as the night went on and they both were still up even though the darkness was flooding the sky and their fire was almost burnt out, "just in case one of us gets hurt or something."

"We wouldn't need a safe word if we stuck together and you didn't sneak off by yourself," Glinda took the opportunity to reprimand Elphaba for her various, mysterious outings.

"No, it's too dangerous," snapped Elphaba, "You're still much too recognizable. People barely knew what I looked like so I can get away with it if I shroud myself in dark cloaks."

"Then change me so that I don't look like myself, so we can be together at all times," Glinda begged, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She couldn't bear the thought of losing Elphaba now, not after what they had been through, "You can't leave me alone… not anymore."

"I'm working on it, my sweet. I almost have everything ready," said Elphaba and it was true. She had been stealing things here and there that would help disguise Glinda so when the time came for them to leave, she would no longer look like herself.

"But for now you need to wait," Elphaba kissed the top of that golden head gently and looked back at those blue eyes, "Now help me come up with a wretched safe word. It has to be something that only we know about, something that no one is familiar with..."

"Gelphie," said Glinda automatically without even thinking, "Gelphie should be our safe word."

Elphaba raised an eyebrow, "Gelphie? Now where in Oz did you-"

"It's our names," defended the blonde quickly, "put together."

Elphaba remained silent for a moment.

"Gelphie… I like it. No one will ever guess what or whom it is."

Glinda beamed proud of herself that she could be helpful.

"Well, I'm glad you're pleased," said the blonde with a bright smile as she snuggled up closer to Elphaba.

"I love being able to sit here next to you," whispered Glinda in a sigh, "We haven't done this in years."

She felt herself being pulled closer to Elphaba's body by Elphaba's arm and she smiled.

"I know," said the green woman softly, "I love it too."

They both spent the rest of the night watching the flames in their fire flicker out one by one.

Awwww...

So I planned out a lot of this story today in AB so I'm going to try and write as much as I have planned out and then update maybe weekly from now on. I'm going to try and finish this story more than anything else right now because this is what I have inspiration for.

Wish me luck because we all know I'm terrible at keeping promises, especially when it comes to updating or continuing to write one story at a time.

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