9. Our Shiz Years

He was 23, she was 20

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Galinda said with a smile. She was pointing up at one of the constellations in the night sky.

"Not as pretty as you," Fiyero grinned. He didn't need to turn to know that his girlfriend was blushing furiously.

Elphaba groaned as Galinda smacked her arm lightly.

They were lying on a mat, Galinda in the middle, Fiyero to her right and Elphie to her left. It was only supposed to be Galinda and Elphaba, but apparently Fiyero being Galinda's love of her life meant that he was automatically included in everything now.

It wasn't Galinda's fault of course, Fiyero had found out about their little weekly star gazing thing and he'd invited himself for the next one. He even brought a bottle of wine and some sandwiches.

Elphaba took some of the wine, trying to use the alcohol to forget dull her annoyance at Fiyero. The vinkun prince, however, seemed only to get more excited the more fancy grape juice he ingested. Elphaba had hoped that he was a sleepy drunk, but she wasn't about to get so lucky.

"This is really nice, just lying out under the stars and seeing the world." He said with a sigh. "I used to do this in the Vinkus, at the Thousand Year Grasslands."

"Is it any different, between the stars we see here and the stars in the Vinkus?" Galinda asked, smiling sweetly.

"It feels strange here. Feels like there's less of it." He said almost sadly. He sat up slightly, and turned his body to face Galinda, although, instead, he found himself glancing over to Elphaba. She looked… peaceful. He'd never seen her like that before.

Her long, black hair had always made her look deranged because she refused to tame them before she left her room – but now – swept to the side and away from her face, she was almost beautiful. She stared out into the great expense of the night sky, a small smile gracing her lips.

Fiyero felt something stir in his chest and he forced his eyes away. He glanced down at Galinda instead. She looked back at him with adoration in her eyes and suddenly he felt a pang of guilt. Without thinking, he leant down and kissed her.

"Oi. Down boy." Elphaba growled. "You haven't had that much."

Galinda didn't complain however, and simply blushed. Fiyero winked at her and laid back down, although now he kept wanting to look over to the green girl.

That night, he dreamt about what it might feel like, kissing Elphaba.

He was 24, she was 21

She was tired, and sleepy.

And hungry.

Spending the entire day in the library studying for a class that she didn't like tended to do that to her. Elphaba groaned as she pushed the door to her room – a cold sandwich bag in one hand and her satchel in the other.

"SURPRISE!"

"GAHHH!"

She fell backwards, landing on her bum.

"Oh shoot!" Galinda exclaimed worriedly and rushed to her room-mate's side. She helped her with her satchel, "Sorry Elphie! We wanted to surprise you for your birthday…"

Elphaba was too tired to be mad. In fact, she was too tired to move at all. "Just leave me here. I'll be sleeping out here tonight…" She laid down and stayed there.

"Elphie, what's wrong with you?" Galinda's eyes widened.

"Was it too much?" A male voice sounded out. Footsteps came over and crouched next to her. Elphaba's eyes focused on the face leaning over her. It was Fiyero.

"Boq, could you check?"

It was Nessa's voice. And she supposed that Boq was here too. Elphaba groaned again and closed her eyes, willing them to go away. She was too exhausted for this.

"Did we kill her?" Fiyero asked, genuinely surprised and concerned. He cupped her cheeks gently. She was annoyed enough to muster up the energy to swat his hands away – she didn't want him to feel the heat that had come to her cheeks. "Oh good, she's alive. Unusually warm, though." He said, his voice lined with amusement. "Happy Birthday, darling."

"Don't call me that," she hissed weakly.

"Is she okay?" Boq asked. She supposed that he was leaning over her now as well.

"I'm fine, go away."

Hand s were on her cheeks again, but now she was too tired to swat them. They then moved to her forehead. Fiyero grumbled, "She's ill."

"Elphie!" Galinda cried out, and she could feel her dainty, cold hands on her neck, "Lurline – you're right. Elphie, you're burning up!"

"I'm fine. I'm just tired from all the reading…"

Fiyero scoffed, "You're tired from the fever, not the reading." She could feel his hands on her shoulders now, "Come on, we're getting you to bed."

"How on earth did all of you people fit in this room?" Elphaba opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings. Fiyero had managed to pull her up by the shoulders while Boq and Galinda helped her in.

"Great start to your birthday, Fabala," Nessa wheeled herself over to her bedside. She felt her forehead gently and frowned, "You're very ill."

"Nonsense! I'm strong as an ox!" Elphaba announced with fervour. She even demonstrated her ability to lift her leg.

"You're exposing yourself!" Galinda scolded as she slapped her foot down.

"So this is how you really are," Fiyero laughed. Elphaba looked up at him and glared. He grinned back at her with his arms folded across his chest. "I can't believe you ruined your own birthday surprise." He chuckled, looking at her with… what was that? Fondness?

"I don't celebrate my birthday." She said solemnly as Galinda laid a cold towel over her forehead. She could feel Nessa squirm next to her.

"For convoluted reasons, I'm sure, but that doesn't mean we won't celebrate it for you." Galinda assured. She had managed to find some emergency medicinal herbs her momsie and popsicle had sent over last summer. She began boiling the water.

Quarter to an hour later, Nessa began complaining about her own sleepiness. She kissed her sister on the cheek and Boq dutifully wheeled her back to her own room. Fiyero chose to stay behind, despite Elphaba yelling at him to go away and Galinda telling him that if he was caught in here tomorrow morning, he would've been expelled.

The medicinal herbal tea helped tremendously, but Elphaba's hunger was another problem altogether. The sandwich that she had previously was squished when she fell back, and it was declared to be too disgusting for her to ingest. They had a small cake for her birthday, but Elphaba warned that if she ate that in her current state, she would just throw it all up.

"The cream – blargh" she stuck her tongue out. "I appreciate the sentiment though."

Fiyero then ran off somewhere and promised to be back soon.

"Maybe I'd have the good fortune to die on my birthday."

"Hush," Galinda scolded. She switched her towel with a colder one. "If you die on me, I'll kill you myself."

"Have you any idea what you just said?" Elphaba asked with a laugh.

"You'll be fine. We'll get you some breakfast tomorrow and you'll stay in to rest. No more books!"

"Toture!" Elphaba groaned, but was too weak to protest any further.

An hour later, Fiyero was back. Elphaba was surprised that he hadn't been caught, and was seriously concerned about the actual security of their dorms.

"I've got a turkey sandwich–"

"I don't eat meat."

"I know that, you think I'm really stupid, don't you?" he fished through the paper bag, "anyway, the sandwich is for Galinda. As for you, my dear—"

"—don't call me that."

"—AS for you, my dear," he continued, "kimchi burrito."

"Oh, I like that."

"She's already ill, and you bought kimchi?" Galinda looked at her beau exasperatedly.

Fiyero paused suddenly, and then flushed. He then slapped a hand to his face. It was all very amusing to Elphaba, but she was too hungry to care about her stomach churning.

"Give me! I'm starving."

Galinda glared weakly, "It's only going to make you feel worse!"

"I'm hungry!" Elphaba whined.

"You turn into a 6 year old when you're sick, don't you?" Fiyero smiled amusedly.

Elphaba grabbed a book from her bedside table and tossed it at him, hitting him square on the jaw.

"Ow!"

"Elphaba Thropp!" Galinda scolded.

"He started it!"

A little while later, when the effects of the herbs seemed to finally take hold of Elphaba, the room was quiet again. Their chatting became softer, and Elphaba could see Fiyero making himself comfortable by her bedside, reading one of her sorcery textbooks. Galinda, she noticed groggily, had already fallen asleep in her bed. She didn't even have a chance to switch out to her night gown.

Occasionally, Fiyero would change out her towel with a fresh one, and wiped her face with a gentleness nobody had ever showed her except for Nessa and Galinda. He smiled often, looking irritatingly handsome as he told her to stop resisting and just go to sleep.

After what felt like forever, Elphaba began nodding off. She could still hear Galinda shifting slightly in her sleep, and a soft snore escaping her lips. And then when her eyes had closed, Elphaba could feel Fiyero switching out her towels again, although this time, she thought she felt his lips on her forehead.

She slept particularly well that night, and dreamt of holding straw hands and dancing under the moonlight in the Thousand Year Grasslands.

He was 25, she was 22

He hated winter.

They didn't have winters in the Vinkus, and he was suddenly grateful for it. For many years, he'd thought that he would love the powdery white fluff, but now that he's got the chance to really live it and experience it, he hated it.

He didn't like the cold, and he didn't like feel like every time he wanted to pee, his balls might freeze off. Avaric had laughed at him the other day because he was too afraid to whip it out after a long night at the bar with too many beers. He was just cold and he didn't like it.

So, he wondered, why had he said yes when Galinda had asked him to come up to Pertha Hills in Frottica, to spend the long weekend with her and her parents in their mountain lodge up in Mount Runcible.

It was a good thing that Elphaba would be joining them as well.

The trip up to Pertha Hills was fine. Fiyero had enjoyed the white fluffy things across the rolling hills. The farmland weren't as impressive as Munchkinland's, but Gillikinese counties always seemed to have this bright, dainty feeling to it. Elphaba had complained – softly and quite possibly meant for herself – that she very much preferred the flat grounds of Munchkinland.

It was when they had met up with Galinda's parents – and taken the carriage up to Mount Runcible – that Fiyero felt the full force of the cold Gillikin winter. And Great Oz, he hated it. Elphaba had whined about it as well. She had experienced winter, but because of her own personal reaction to cold weather, she simply wanted to stay right next to the fire and drink hot tea. Fiyero agreed with her escape mechanism very well.

"Yero, my love. You're sure you don't want to join us for ice-fishing?" Galinda asked as he held her tight in his arms. Fiyero had to admit that the only reason he's holding her like this is because he was so Oz damned cold.

"I'm good. You should spend some quality time with your parents." He smiled charmingly and kissed her on her forehead.

She smiled sweetly, "Well, alright… I suppose you could spend some time with Elphie. I know how miserable she is in the cold. I'm just sorry that I didn't warn her that it's only going to get colder."

Fiyero flinched at the thought of it getting colder, but continued to smile. "I'll be with her. Safe journeys."

Galinda kissed him on the cheek and left.

Fiyero quickly went and found Elphaba curled up in a blanket and sitting just an inch away from the fireplace. She was on the floor, with a cup of steaming tea next to her, and it seemed like she was reading a book.

"You look like one of our Vinkun dessert balls. The ones with matcha fillings." He commented with a grin as he settled down next to her. He sighed in pleasure as the heat hit his face.

Elphaba narrowed her eyes at him, but quickly returned her attentions to her book.

He tilted his head, trying to take a peak. "What's that you're reading?" He asked curiously. He could tell that their closeness was tripping her up as she coiled away from him.

"How to get away with murder." She said pointedly as she returned to her book.

Fiyero scoffed, and then peeked down to see the cover between her long, green fingers. "A brief history of deaths on mountains?" He blinked blankly at her, "You're awfully morbid today, aren't you?"

"I hate the cold," she replied dryly and reached down for her tea. She took a long sip and sighed dreamily. "But I love tea."

Fiyero was instantly jealous of her current situation. He leapt up and ran upstairs to the rooms, leaving behind a very confused Elphaba. She could hear him rustling about upstairs and suddenly he was running down again.

A quick minute later, he was back in the living area with her, carrying a thick blanket on one shoulder and a cup of hot tea in the other. He placed his tea down very gently and curled up next to her. He was grinning like a little boy as he took a sip of his tea.

"I hate the cold too." He said simply. His green eyes twinkled in the warmth from the fireplace. He rested his chin on his knees, which were brought up to his chest. "Read to me."

Elphaba looked at him strangely, and he was sure that she was blushing. He couldn't really tell from the orange light from the fire however. He shifted closer to her, their shoulders touching. He wondered if it was too much, but she hadn't moved away, so he stayed.

"You must be really bored if you're asking me to read to you." She said brusquely. He just kept staring at her until she finally relented. She rolled her hazel eyes at him and began.

Her voice was gravelly and low – he could tell that she was feeling awkward, having to read out loud. She seemed to relax after a few passages, and she began to read with a little more smoothly. He realized that her voice had an almost musical quality to it, and he was becoming addicted to the pitching and the tone.

He kept his eyes on the book, but every so often, he would glance up to her face and feel the insurmountable urge to rest his head on her shoulder. He wouldn't, of course, but he was beginning to worry about his urges when he was around her.

She finished the chapter, and turned to him. Their faces, he realized, were impossibly close. He was breathing her air, and she – his. He could see every lash and every freckle. Elphaba pulled back with an awkward laugh, "Was I really so boring that you're falling asleep?"

"Oz no!" Fiyero exclaimed. He beamed, "Another!"

"No thanks, I'm parched." She reached for her tea and sipped daintily.

Fiyero bathed in the fact that at least they were still sitting shoulder to shoulder. It was the body heat, he insisted to himself – he didn't like the cold and simply wanted to stay close for body heat.

"Alright then. I'll read." He took the book from her and flipped to where she last left off.

Elphaba, amused, sat quietly and set her gaze on the text. He pulled her closer, so that she might be able to see better. She slapped his hand away from her waist, but couldn't stop the little laugh that escaped her lips. If he hadn't known better, he wouldn't have realized that they were now basically cuddling.

He glanced down at her and fought the want to bury his face in her long, black hair.

"Are you going to start, or have you already fallen asleep?" She teased.

He huffed playfully, and began reading.

A few hours later, Galinda had returned early to check on her friends.

"Yero! Elphie!" She called out, but nobody had replied. Perhaps they were in the kitchens? She went there straight, but only found the Monkey chef napping in a hidden corner. Confused, she went upstairs and checked the rooms.

Neither heads nor tails of both Elphie and Fiyero could be found, but she noticed that their blankets were missing from their beds.

"Curiouser and curiouser," Galinda muttered to herself with a small smile. She suddenly had a pretty good idea of where they might be.

The Frottican made her way down, and followed the hallway to the living area.

It was an interesting sight that was presented to her as she stood by the doorway. Right in front of the slowly burning fireplace sat a Vinkun Prince and the Wizard's Apprentice. They had their backs to her.

There were two empty cups by Fiyero's side, which Galinda assumed used to contain tea. It was Elphie's drink of choice any time of the day.

Elphaba's head was rested on Fiyero's shoulder, and Galinda could tell that she was asleep. Her head was drooping slightly and Fiyero was sitting painfully still.

The image sent an aching pang to her chest, she realized.

She was jealous.

It wasn't that she hadn't had moments like these with Fiyero, but as she looked at the both of them like this, it had almost seemed too perfect. Elphaba was just tall enough that her head was at the perfect height to rest on his shoulders, unlike herself who was too short. And the way the two of them would banter with each other, it wasn't something that Galinda and Fiyero could bring themselves to do. They simply didn't have the same chemistry as when Yero and Elphie were together.

But they loved each other, and he's her boyfriend, not Elphaba's. That was enough, wasn't it? Elphaba would never give Fiyero the time of day anyway. She said so herself.

Fiyero took a glance at Elphaba and rested his head on hers.

Galinda felt that pang again.

She approached them and tapped on Fiyero. He jumped slightly, and it startled Elphie awake.

"Good gracious—"Elphaba shrieked as she all but leapt away from Fiyero. Galinda laughed lightly.

"You're back," Fiyero remarked awkwardly, his cheeks flushed. He shook his blanket off his shoulders and stood up, towering over the petit blond.

"I came back to check on you goons," she smiled sweetly and reached up to kiss him on his lips.

"Would you like some tea, Galinda?" Elphie stretched lazily and began gathering the tea cups. "I'm headed to the kitchen."

Fiyero swallowed hard, "I—"

"—I'll love some tea, thank you." Galinda exclaimed cheerily. Too cheerily. Elphie looked at her strangely, but said nothing as she smiled back and went away.

Now left to the two of them, Fiyero smiled – not without affection, but a little distant, "How was your day?"

"Good… Good." She smiled.

Galinda had never felt lonelier that day.

He was 28, she was 25

Glinda signed the papers with a flourish and thanked the courier. Her parents had sent over all her personal artefacts from Pertha Hills, and now she has officially moved into the Emerald Palace.

The Wizard had been very excited for Glinda to join 'Team Green' as he liked to call it, and it was strongly implied to her that she would be serving next to Elphaba and that he would not be 'poking his nose' into their business.

"I'm getting older," he said simply with a crinkly smile.

Elphaba said nothing and the meeting was over.

It had been a few weeks since Boq's engagement, and a few days after Elphaba's birthday. She'd been a little out of sorts lately, and Glinda was getting worried. Elphaba had begun to bury herself in her work and nothing she said would persuade the Grand Vizier to snap out of her stupor.

What was worst was the way Elphaba seemed to be avoiding her.

Glinda was sure that her withdrawal had started around the time at Boq's party, and then it worsened when Elphaba received a strange note delivered by special mail. Elphaba had only mentioned that it was a birthday note and refused to say who sent it.

Sighing, she went over to Elphie's office at the other end of the hall and knocked.

"I'm busy." The person on the other side called out impatiently.

"Lunch, Elphie. You need food." Glinda replied tersely.

There was ruffling and flipping of pages, but she had not heard any indication of the green woman leaving her chair.

"I'm swamped, Glin. You should eat without me. I'll get Wanda to bring something for me."

Glinda sighed again. This was as good as it would get. Sometimes she wouldn't even promise to get some food later.

"I'm going into your room later. I think I left some things over when I slept there the last time I was here." She announced through the door.

Elphaba made some inaudible noises which Glinda took as affirmation.

It was strange feeling now that she was alone. She no longer had Fiyero's shoulders to hold on to, neither could she cling to Elphie's support forever. She was standing on her own now. Her new position as the Publicity Secretary would be her first step towards independence.

Seeing Fiyero again at Boq's party had been liberating for her. She found that while she still cared for him, she had accepted the fact that his heart wasn't hers to take. It already belonged to someone else, and it was clear that he was a man in love.

It wasn't a long walk to Elphie's room from her office. Glinda entered the room and took in the mess in front of her – the kind of organized madness that was distinctively Elphaba. The heavy curtains were drawn and her bed haven't been made. It was most probably because she didn't like the servants poking around.

Stacks of books and documents were strewn all around. Tiny mountains of texts surrounded the bed. Empty cups of tea (?) sat on the table next to the armchair by the fireplace. Elphie's room had always had a warm feeling to it.

She headed for the bathroom and searched around for her rouge and her special sponge. When she was done fussing around – and ended up cleaning up after Elphaba – she retreated back to the bed room.

From the corner of her eye, Glinda caught the little paw of the stuffed teddy that Elphie had hidden away. By some divine urge, she went over and sat at the end of the bed and lifted the toy by the paw. It was the same feeling she had when she had found Elphie's green bottle under her pillow – she felt that it was probably something very important to the green lady. She had been childish back then, of course. She wasn't about to go parading the toy in front of Elphaba's face now.

Besides, she had already explained that the toy had been a parting gift from a friend.

Glinda stroked the teddy gently, as if it might've been a puppy instead of an old, hand stitched bear. There was something inexplicably charming about teddy that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Perhaps it was brown buttoned eyes, or the tiny stitched mouth? Maybe it was the squishy paw or the silly, pointy hat.

It was probably the carefully stitched, patchwork shirt that the bear wore – a forest green, linen thing with shaky embroidery on the hem…

Glinda furrowed her brows. Embroidery?

She ran her thumb over the bumpy surface and took a closer look. It wasn't just a random embroidered pattern, she realized. It had the word 'Yero' stitched on the hem. It couldn't have been a coincidence.

Glinda set the bear on the bed gingerly. Her head had begun to spin.

Could it be? If Elphaba had known another friend with the nickname 'Yero', Glinda would've known. They were bestfriends – She would've known. And so it was settled, the bear was from Fiyero. But when? How?

The teddy was old, Glinda could tell that much. It must've been something that he had all his life – something from the Vinkus. And it had been hand-stitched, not the off-the-rack rubbish. It must've meant a lot to him.

And he gave it to Elphaba.

…

It couldn't have been Elphie – right? Glinda's grip on the teddy's torse allowed a folded note to fall out from under its shirt. She employed all her will to not read the note, but it was too late. Her hands worked without permission.

It was the birthday note that she'd seen Elphie read before. The one that got her so upset that night. She recognised it from the unique texture of the paper – it was grey writing paper, the expensive kind that only the particularly rich types would use. Glinda had only ever seen it twice. Once at Elphaba's birthday dinner and the other at Fiyero's study…

She read the note, carefully and with a steeled heart. She hadn't needed to finish the whole damn thing before it was made perfectly clear that Elphaba had been the woman that Fiyero had been in love it this whole time.

Perhaps it had been the words "I am yours, forever and always."

He'd never said anything like that to Glinda.

Glinda had considered many possibilities when Fiyero had told her that night that they were breaking up. It was the evening of their 6th year anniversary together and she had wanted to do something special for him. She had been feeling that something seemed to be off between them, and Fiyero, even when he tried to stay cheerful, she could tell that he was forcing it.

He was with her, and they loved each other. He was going to be the King of the Vinkus. He should've been the happiest man alive. But he wasn't.

He had buried himself with reading and studying, a hobby that he had picked up in school after spending many a night studying with Elphaba in the library – perhaps she should've picked up the signs then.

She had wanted to show him that she could be smart and sophisticated as well by choosing to visit the museum. They were unveiling the new 'Animal History' exhibition and they were hosting a fancy party that Fiyero was invited to anyway.

Hell, even Elphie had been there for a little bit before she was forced to go back to the Emerald Palace over pressing matters.

He did say that the woman had been there that night… Glinda began to feel the hot tears behind her eyes and desperately willed them back.

They were supposed to be happy, but even as they stepped into the exhibition hall she could already tell that he was upset. She had thought that it might've been because of the photographs of the Animals being dragged away by the Gale Force. She hadn't thought much of it.

And then they met Elphie, who was accompanied by a man she had never met. Eventually Glinda had found out that the man had been one of Elphaba's many 'suitors'.

Fiyero had been very disturbed by the meeting and was significantly quiet for the rest of the night. He became distant and increasingly moodified, something that led her to bring him out of the Animal History hall and back to the smaller exhibition room.

They waited around for another hour or so, until the party began to die out. She then broached the subject, and he simply let it all out.

She could remember his words with painful clarity.

Elphaba hadn't seen Glinda for what felt like months.

She was sure that she had exaggerated that, but she could legitimately say that she hadn't had a good face to face conversation with her bestfriend for many days at least. They lived under the same roof now, and she'd working in the same Palace, so how is it possible that they hadn't seen each other for so long?

It was a curiosity that had plagued her all day and night, and it had started when she realized that Glinda hadn't come down for breakfast this morning. Now, it wasn't as if they would have their meals together every day, but breakfast was usually shared, and Glinda hadn't attended for many days in a row.

Elphaba had intended to track her down in the afternoon, but none of the servants seemed to know where the Frottican had run off to. She had checked Glinda's personal office – adorned with pastel colours and soft pillows – and had found no one. None of the surrounding areas of the Palace seemed to have sightings of the immensely popular Publicity Secretary – who was quickly named Glinda the Good by the masses – and Elphaba had exhausted all her options.

It wasn't until she had heard Chistery's excited chirping from the gardens that she finally found the blond.

"Glinda!"

Glinda's head snapped up from coddling Chistery and the colour from her face drained in a matter of seconds.

"Elphie? What's the matter?" She asked as casually as she could manage. Elphaba knew better, however. Her years in court had taught her a thing or two about reading tones.

"You're avoiding me." She stated evenly. Chistery seemed to sense the heavy tension and quickly shifted away from Glinda and back to Elphaba's side. Elphaba was his favourite human, and while he liked Miss Glinda very much, Miss Elphie was his mistress – one that he chose himself and would scold him but still secretly feed him banana slices under the table.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Glinda said, her eyes completely avoiding Elphaba's glare.

"You stopped coming for breakfast."

Glinda scoffed, "I've been oversleeping. I'm sorry for that but—"

"You don't oversleep. You wake with the sun – I roomed with you for all of University. Try harder, Glin." Elphaba replied tersely.

Glinda seemed taken aback by that and flushed. "You're reading into it, Elphie. I'm fine. I've just been busy with some things."

"What things?"

"Well aren't you nosy? The Palace has changed you," Glinda smiled wryly.

Elphaba was having none of it, however, "Glinda. What's wrong? What did I do?" She frowned.

A strange emotion seemed to flash over Glinda's face, but she had quickly tried to hide it away. It was too late, however. Elphaba had already caught it.

"I was me, wasn't it? I did something." Elphaba said. "Don't try to deny it."

Glinda finally had the courage to look at Elphaba. They stared at each other for a while, each taking in the other's appearance. Elphaba was certain that she looked like a deranged madwoman while Glinda had looked like she was just going out to take a nice stroll in the park.

She seemed to be fighting against saying anything, but the green lady was steadfast. She wasn't about to let Glinda go without explaining herself. She was owed that much at least. They used to tell each other everything. How did it end up like this?

Glinda sighed heavily, which Elphaba took as a good sign.

"Sit with me," she said as she began walking towards a stone bench by the large apple tree. Elphaba shooed Chistery away and he made off indignantly to find his siblings.

"Alright. What's going on? What have I done?" She said finally when they had settled themselves.

Glinda looked sad. Phenomenally so. This in turn made Elphaba want to cry. She had always thought of herself as the strong one, but seeing Glinda so upset had always had this harrowing effect on her own heart.

"... I am yours – forever and always."

"…"

"… Does it sound familiar?"

"… You found the letter."

Glinda inhaled sharply, and then exhaled. As if she were trying to calm herself and preventing herself from bursting into tears, like she was likely to do if Elphaba knew her well enough.

"Yes I have."

"Where?"

"Under teddy's shirt. The same teddy that he gave to you." She replied, almost vehemently.

Elphaba felt all energy and power drain from her body. She didn't feel angry. She was sure she would've felt angry at the thought of Glinda fishing through her personal artefacts. But she had done too much against her. She deserved whatever that was coming her way.

"Are you going to defend yourself at all?" Glinda said evenly.

Elphaba lowered her gaze. "I'm sorry."

"Are you just going to apologize all day?" Glinda sounded exasperated. She had her hands folded neatly on her lap.

"I never wanted to hurt you." Elphaba managed, her chest ached at the thought of Glinda leaving her forever. "… I love you."

"Don't – You sound like him." She rubbed the bridge of her nose, frowning.

"I don't know what else to say."

"Do you love him?" She asked softly.

Elphaba wasn't sure if there was a right answer. Glinda watched her carefully. Elphaba could only choke back the words that sat on the tip of her tongue. Although it seemed like her reaction was all Glinda needed. The silence was answer enough.

"… I'll tell you how I feel then." Glinda placed her hand neatly on her lap again. Her gaze was strong. "I feel betrayed – by my closest and dearest friend. Because for 5 years, you were the one he had loved. You were the one in his thoughts."

Elphaba kept her lips shut. She felt like she would rather have died right there and then, because the pain in her heart was almost too much to bear.

Glinda continued, softly. "I feel sad – because I've fought so hard for his love and attention for half a decade, but this entire time, his heart wasn't to be won. He'd already given it to someone else."

"I feel like the most horrible creature in Oz," she began again after a deep breath, "because my best friend has to watch someone she loved be with another person, for a good half a decade. And she couldn't say or do anything about it."

Elphaba was shocked into biting her tongue at that last sentence.

Glinda looked up at her with sad, tearing eyes. She did not smile soothingly, but she reached out to the green woman and held her hands. "I'm devastated that the man I loved had loved someone else. But at least it wasn't some random strange girl. At least he loved someone caring and good. At least he loved someone who deserved everything he could give."

The tears had begun to fall, and Elphaba reached out with a hand to cup her cheek, rubbing the salty liquid with her thumb. She held her breath, for fear that she would begin crying herself. She was already half way there – her eyes were beginning to sting and ache.

Glinda sobbed, and cupped Elphaba's hand on her cheek with her own, "He loves you – and I know you love him." She wept gently, and managed a sad smile, "You deserve each other."

Elphaba felt something hot run down the length of her cheek, and realized that they were tears.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry."

Those were the only words she knew how to say.

A/N Ultimate-Queen-Of-Cliffies - Thanks for the kind words :)
Fun Halloween fact: I attended this thing with some friends and I went as Dutch from Predator. Being the highly evolved human being I am, I didn't have any chest hair (and neither did Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie) but my friends thought it would be funny to draw them on with sharpies. 24 hours later, could not get the swirly marker chest hair off and beginning to fear that I might have to wear crew cut tees for the rest of my life.