After I gone to the bathroom to remove my bandage so Elphaba and I could heal the scars, Madame Morrible then asked, "What would happen if you two were separated for long periods of time over long distances?" I returned to the room and Elphaba and I looked at each other and I stood, shakily. Holding out my left hand, I pointed to my scar, and said, "Miss Elphaba's got an identical scar on her right hand." Madame Morrible nodded and Elphaba said, "The scars will swell up and get infected—it's pretty painful—this happened when Galinda spent the night at one of her friends' house and it wasn't until we reunited the following morning that the scar went back to normal. It hurt a lot. The scars actually swell up if we're separated at all—even if Galinda and I were reunited earlier, the scars would still be slightly swollen." I nodded, in agreement, stroking the scar, gently—even though Elphaba and I were together, it was still a little swollen.
Madame Morrible frowned and grabbing my left hand and Elphaba's right hand, asked, "How did this happen?" I sighed and said, "Elphaba, you can explain." "Why?" Elphaba demanded. "'Cuz I said so," I told her. "Plus you remember more than I do," I added. Elphaba grinned at me and said, "When we were born, I was holding Galinda's hand very tightly. She was scared and kept thinking, sis, don't let them separate us. They tried just prying our hands apart, but we refused to let go of each other. So, the doctor had to get a hot iron and slide it in between our hands. We let go, but we got these scars for life. The only reason I remember is because my powers—my magic—are more powerful than Galinda's powers—her magic—but we both are extremely talented. Yesterday, when I freaked out, there was a smaller explosion caused by Galinda's magic—I can use her powers as well as my own." Madame Morrible nodded and said, "I'll teach both of you in my sorcery seminar—private students." I grinned at my sister, who hugged me and said, "Galinda, please wait until Madame Morrible leaves and then you can talk."
I nodded, and Madame Morrible left, saying. "You may stay together, but I do expect good behavior—from both of you." We nodded and I said, "We'll be good, Madame Morrible."
After Madame Morrible left, I held my left hand out to Elphaba. She held out her right hand to me and we pressed our scarred hands together. I hissed in pain and Elphaba watched my face as our powers merged. I watched the monitors anxiously—this was the first time we'd done this with only one of us in the hospital bed—this could be risky—the last time we'd done this, we were both in a hospital bed. Elphaba's heart suddenly stopped—I almost pulled back, when I remembered what we'd done the last time this happened. I closed my eyes and pulled images of me and Elphaba, curled up against each other. Pushing them into her mind, I thought, Elphaba, keep your heart beating. Don't you quit on me now. We need the other to survive—you die, I die—just stay with me and keep fighting. Elphaba opened her eyes and her heart began beating at the same rate as mine. We looked at each other and thought in unison, Alright, enough. We pulled back and I shakily sat down in the chair that was next to her bed.
I reached for her right hand and started holding it—she looked at me and I said, "I'm still scared that you're going to disappear on me." Elphaba said, "Glinny, I'm not going anywhere. I can't, even if I wanted to. I'm tied to all these stupid machines, which by the way, are really annoying." I smiled weakly at my sister and thought, Elphie, thank you. You're welcome, Glinny. Elphie, I'm sorry I called you a green bean yesterday—I really didn't mean it—it's just that, well, I was jealous. I was really jealous. But you said you were happy for me. I was, but I was jealous—I wanted to study sorcery, so thank you for helping me get into her class. It was nothing, Glinny.
I smiled at Elphaba and suddenly said, "Sit up, Elphie." She sat up carefully and I scrambled behind her. "Glinny, what are you doing?" she demanded. "Fixing your hair—you've got to wear your hair differently instead of in that boring ole braid." I told her. I quickly undid the braid and then curled up against her, drifting off to sleep. Elphaba rubbed my shoulders and carefully shifted me back to the chair, then taking my hand.
Elphaba's POV
Galinda undid my braid, and I relaxed. Then she fell asleep and I carefully moved her back to the chair, without hurting her or myself. As she slept, I took her hand to keep her calm. I watched her carefully, waiting for her to wake up. When she woke up, I said, "You fell asleep, and I moved you to the chair."
Galinda's POV
I woke up, and realized I was sitting in the chair. I looked at Elphaba and asked, "What happened, Elphie?" She grinned at me and said, "You fell asleep, and I moved you to the chair, Glinny. Don't worry—no one got hurt. Oh, and you didn't move at all after I got you back in the chair." I glared at my sister and said, "Elphie, are you okay?" "Sleepy," she said, starting to drift off. I pressed my hand against her forehead and thought, I'll be right back—I want to unpack my stuff. Want me to unpack your stuff too, Elphie? Sure, if you want to, Galinda. Now let me sleep.
I returned to our dorm room and unpacked all of my belongings that I'd brought with me. I put my clothes in the closet and grabbed Elphaba's clothes and put them in the same closet as my clothes. I grabbed the hat collection—hats our grandmother sent us—they were so odd—and stuffed it quickly into the closet. Elphaba and I only wore them if we were alone—they were too embarrassing to wear in public—our grandmother had a very odd sense of fashion. I carefully unpacked the rest of Elphaba's belongings, setting them up on the bookshelf—I'd decided I'd get the closet for my things and Elphaba's clothes and the bookshelf would hold all of Elphaba's books and the small selection of books I owned—mostly magazines. As soon as I'd finished unpacking, I returned to Elphaba's hospital room and sat in the chair. I wanted to sleep, but I didn't want her to wake up, without me realizing it. She looked calmer and relaxed, when I decided to check on her dreams—I was worried about her.
I entered her thoughts and realized she was having a nightmare. "Glinny, when did you get here?" she asked me when I entered her dream. I grinned and said, "Technically, I'm not really here—I just entered your thoughts." She nodded and twisted slightly in the hospital bed. The instant I realized it was a bad dream, I started shaking her and hissed, "Elphie, wake up." "Elphaba!" I called. I had to get her to wake up. Elphaba stirred slightly and called, "Elphie, c'mon. Rise and shine. Up, up, up." I pulled her into a sitting position and finally got her to wake up. Elphaba grabbed her pillow and smacked me in the face with it. "Why did you wake me up?" she demanded. "You were having a nightmare, Elphie, and I don't like it when you have bad dreams—it scares me—so I had to do something," I said. "Would you rather I just let you suffer and have the dream or help you?" "Help," she said, quickly. "And thank you, Glinny, for waking me up." she added hastily. I grinned and said, "I've unpacked—we'll share the big closet for clothes—and the hat collection's in there too." Elphaba grinned and said, "Go see if we've got any mail from Grandmother."
I nodded and checked and there were two hatboxes. I carried them to Elphaba's room and said, "Another hat?" "Another hat," Elphaba replied. We stared at the boxes, nervously. "Grandmother is always sending us the most hidedious hats." I said. "She does have an odd sense of fashion," Elphaba said. I nodded shakily and handing her the box that had her name on it, I said, "On three?" "On three," Elphaba agreed. "One." I said. "Two," Elphaba said. We looked at each other and said, "Three." We opened the boxes and were greeted with two almost identical witch hats—one was black—Elphaba's—and one was pink—mine. We looked at them and I said, "Wait or put them on now?" We glanced around and Elphaba said, "Put them on now." We each put our respective hats on, looked at each other, and burst out laughing. I grinned and said, "We make an odd pair, Elphie." Elphaba, struggling not to laugh, said, "Glinny, you have no idea."
We took off our new hats and Elphaba said, "I kinda like it." "Uh, what?" I said slowly, processing my sister's words. "Elphaba? Are you insane?" I asked uncertainly. "Galinda, think about it—this is the first we've gotten hats from Grandmother that actually look like hats and really acknowledge our favorite colors—pink and black—every other time they've been weirdly shaped like an Easter egg and yellow and green and blue and purple." Elphaba pointed out to me. I groaned and said, "Fine, you keep it, but don't wear it in public—it would look weird." Elphaba shifted, turning her back to me—clearly, something was bugging her. I didn't enter her thoughts, because I knew she was blocking me.
I frowned and said, "Elphie, please, I'm just trying to protect you—that's why we never wear the hats Grandmother sent us in public—unless she's with us. Kids are mean enough because of your green skin, so I don't want you being picked on because of your—well, no offense—but your nonexistent sense of fashion, and well, I don't want to get hurt." "Galinda," Elphaba said, struggling to sit up. "I don't want you protecting me anymore! I can take care of myself!" she yelled at me. I nodded and said, "Fine!" Nearly crying, I took the box that held my hat and said, "I'll leave, seeing as you don't want me here." "Galinda, wait," Elphaba called, but I was already running away. I returned to the dorm room and said, "I'll never visit her again—she doesn't need me and I don't need her."
I changed and reorganized our room—moving my stuff away from Elphaba's and Elphaba's stuff away from mine. No longer would we share anything. I dug out the hat collection and took Elphaba's hats and stuffed them into her smaller closet, leaving mine in my larger closet. When I was finished, I smiled, and said, "We can share a room, Elphaba, and we may be twins, but that doesn't mean we have to share everything."
