Chapter Nine:

Light footsteps echoed across the hall as the early morning rays of sunlight streamed into the castle through the windows and various cracks in the stone walls. Noise could already be heard downstairs, and as the blonde prisoner made her way down the stairs she knew the noise could only be from one person.

True to her suspicions when Glinda finished descending the stairs she found Elphaba flipping through her spell books, which were spread out all over the dining room table. The furrowed look on her face told Glinda that Elphaba was concentrating hard on whatever she was doing, and the blonde made sure to make as little noise as possible as she moved through the room.

"How did you get out of your room? Did I forget to lock the door?" Elphaba asked a bit tensely.

The questions caught Glinda off guard. She had thought that she hadn't disturbed Elphaba, but she had been wrong.

"Yes, you did forget. But don't worry, I just came down for some breakfast. I'll go back up right after I'm done," Glinda said nervously. She didn't know how Elphaba was this morning and she did not want to get on her bad side.

"Don't bother, I require your assistance today," called Elphaba as Glinda quickly grabbed some bread from the kitchen area and came back to the dining room.

"Oh?" Glinda tilted her head in intrigue. Her eyes glanced over the pages of the spellbook but she soon stopped once she realized that she couldn't understand a single word of it.

"The Wizard and his army are getting restless with no news of you or your kidnapping so I thought I'd give them something to ponder over, keep them busy for a while. It's no secret that you are here with me, they just don't know how they should act to get you back."

"You mean they don't know if you're planning to kill me or not," Glinda filled in the blanks for herself.

The green woman merely smirked at that.

"Who knows," she said softly,"maybe I still am planning that."

Glinda's facial features dropped and she gave her kidnapper a stern look of disapproval, "Your sense of humor is still as dry as ever, I see."

Elphaba finished scouring through her books with a 'whomping' sound and she looked up at Glinda, "Who says I'm joking?"

If anyone else had said that, it would have sent shivers up the blonde's spine but since it was Elphaba her body held no fear for her threat. Elphaba would never do such a thing, not to her anyways.

"Ha-ha. Very funny," quipped Glinda, not in any way amused.

It was then that Elphaba extended one hand towards the blonde, her eyes returning back to her books and her parchment.

"Give me your hand," she demanded.

Glinda's stomach quivered with butterflies and her face blushed as she looked at the hand. Was this some sort of open invitation? Had she and Elphaba returned to their former relationship at last?

"W-what? Why?" stammered Glinda like a child being accused of something they did not do.

Elphaba merely sighed at Glinda's hesitation and grabbed one of her hands before the blonde even realized she had done so. All the blonde saw was a flash of silver in the air and then there was a shooting pain that radiated throughout her palm. Pulling her hand away from Elphaba, Glinda cursed out loud and cradled her injured hand towards her body. The beads of red that were collecting on her skin confused her for a moment until she saw the dagger that Elphaba was now dragging across the blank parchment she held in her hands.

"What was that for? That hurt, Elphie! I can't believe you just cut me!" whined Glinda like a little child but she had every right to yell. She had not been expecting that.

"I needed your blood," explained Elphaba calmly, "And please stop being so over-dramatic, it's exhausting to listen to you. It's a cut. It will heal."

Glinda grumbled something under her breath but Elphaba didn't hear, nor did she want to.

"Why did you need my blood, and you could have just used your own!" snapped the blonde as she pressed her other hand to her wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The cut wasn't that deep but it still hurt.

"The Wizard and Morrible would have known it was my blood, I'm guessing that they will use every spell to examine this note and if I had used my own blood they would have known that you were safe. I have to make them think that I'm not making false promises, that I will go through with this."

"And what exactly are you trying to prove here? And why did I have to receive the short end of it all?" asked Glinda as she put aside her childish anger and sat down next to Elphaba, looking briefly over her shoulder at the note. It was blank.

She watched as Elphaba picked up a quill and handed it to her.

"Write down what I say, exactly how I say it and I will give you more answers," bargained Elphaba.

Glinda took the quill in her hand and Elphaba passed her the blood-stained parchment.

"If you are reading this, that means that I am alive but I don't know for how much longer. The Witch has said that I will be returned to you all, if and only if The Wizard and Madame Morrible surrender her sister's slippers, the ones the savior Dorothy had. If you do not give the shoes to her, she will kill me-"

Glinda stopped writing and looked at Elphaba, "But Elphie, I've already told you those shoes are gone. They disappeared... they have no value to you now even if they find them."

Elphaba said nothing but only gave Glinda a look as if to say, keep writing.

"If you do not give the shoes to her, she will kill me," repeated Elphaba," and I know that my fellow Ozians would never let such a thing happen to me. Return the shoes to Kiamo Ko by nightfall on the anniversary of her sister's death or I fear that this will be the last time I will contact you. Yours, Glinda the Good."

Glinda's hand reluctantly wrote down the words on the parchment, careful not to tear the page where the blood stains were.

"There," she said defeatedly once she was done. Elphaba snatched it from the table, examined it closely and nodded, giving her approval.

"I still don't understand, Elphie. Why send them on a mad chase for shoes that aren't even in this land anymore? What good can come of it?" inquired Glinda.

Elphaba looked thoughtful.

"It buys me more time," she said softly as she rappd her fingertips against the table, her eyes glazed over in some sort of trance.

That struck a chord within Glinda.

"More time, more time for what, Elphie?" asked Glinda gently.

But Elphaba didn't answer her, she just kept her mouth clamped shut. The blonde, exasperated, sank back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest.

"You'll understand in time, Glin... I promise," said Elphaba solemnly as she got up to leave, packing her spell books under her arms.

"Elphie, I know you don't want help but I can give it to you! I can make this all go away and you can start over!" Glinda persisted passionately. She was not just about to let Elphaba be defeated.

"I can't be helped anymore, Glin. I'm past that point and we both know that..." Elphaba gave her a small, weak smile and walked out of the room, the note in her grasp.


The sound of Elphaba's boots clamored throughout the castle, leaving Glinda with an empty feeling in her heart. She knew that if she and Elphaba tried hard enough that the citizens of Oz would change their minds about her. She just had to convince Elphaba of it too.

When the Witch returned from her walk to go instruct Chistery and his companions to deliver the note to the Wizard and Morrible, Elphaba sank into a chair and was silent. She ran a hand through her hair, which was kept tight in a bun.

"Is it right to presume that your Chuffrey will most likely take charge of the search to find the shoes?"

Glinda nodded, "Yes, he'd do anything for me."

Elphaab scoffed, "Really? A man who would do anything for you that must be nice..." she paused.
"Would he kill for you?"

That inquiry brought silence into the room. Glinda shuffled her hands in her lap.

"I believe he would."

"Good," Elphaba nodded, "At least now I know who my assassin will be."

"Oh, Elphie!" scolded Glinda, "Don't talk like that! No one is coming to kill you."

Elphaba bit her lip, and muttered, "Not yet," so low under her breath that Glinda almost didn't hear it.

That drove Glinda to her breaking point. She quickly grasped Elphaba's chin with her non-injured hand and forced the woman to look at her.

"Now you listen here, Elphaba Thropp. I know you think that the entire land of Oz wants your head on a spike but I don't and I won't let them harm you. I know the real you and I won't let Morrible and the Wizard win. You are not the monster they fear you are. You are not wicked!"

Each one of Glinda's words was filled with passion, with fear, with love, and with a determination that only filled Glinda when she needed it most.

"Oz-damn it, Elphie. Why can't you see that I still care about you? That I still love you?" Those sparkling blue orbs filled with tears, "I'm still rooting for you and yet you're acting like you've already lost! Don't give up, not while I'm still here to fight for you!"

Elphaba had her mouth open and when Glinda's rant was done she closed her mouth and swallowed hard. As for the blonde she was trembling and not from fear. She hadn't poured her heart out like that in a long time. Though her hand was still grasping Elphaba's chin, she relaxed her grip and soon found her hand pulling away from that green skin.

But Elphaba wouldn't let her fingers leave her skin so quickly and the Witch clasped Glinda's hand with one of her own.

Their eyes connected and a feeling of warmth and ease filled both women.

"I'm sorry I got so upset," apologized Glinda, "I just don't like it when you talk so negatively."

"I know you don't," Elphaba sighed, "But I need you to realize that everyone else, besides you, is against me. The odds aren't really in my favor... you need to come to terms with that or I'll send you away myself and let you go on your merry way back to the Emerald City and your 'Chuffers'."

"Don't tease," pouted Glinda, "I know what the odds are. I'm not blind. I just like believing that there is always a possibility for a happy ending."

"You're such an optimist," Elphaba shook her head, "I thought that that part of you would have lessened by now."

"You overestimate my feelings, Miss Elphaba," said Glinda a bit tartly, "I'm just as optimistic as I was at Shiz."

"Good," said Elphaba after a long pause, "Because I'm not. And it would be nice to have some positivity around here."

The two witches grinned at each other, and it became clear to both of them at that moment that they were still holding hands but neither of them withdrew their embrace, so their hands stayed together in such fashion.

It felt good for both of them to have at least some familiarity in a situation in which there might not have been.

Together they made each other feel safe, and in an Oz that was being destroyed by chaos, that was very, very rare indeed.

Sorry for not uploading in a while. Life got super crazy and I had personal problems but everything is okay now so I should be uploading somewhat regularly. If I don't, feel free to PM me and remind me.

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