(AN: This little chapter helps make our story have a little bit more of an edge, which I think is essential in killing off the MS-myth about Elphaba. Also, I'm going through a rough spot with her as a character as well [Elphaba in general].)
(Hope you will enjoy it)
The Tenniken Incident
Though they had slept on the stage of the Red House, soon all of Dixxi House and Red Sand knew of the People of Oz. They were the next big thing. News was spreading all throughout Gilikin, and as early as the next morning, the sound technicians were passing them letters from the people gathered outside. They all wanted to know where they were staying, where they would be touring next and if they were coming out with an album soon.
Unfortunately, Oatsie Manglehand's wagon caravan had not stayed around long enough for them to book another trip and they did not know how they would go to the next place, much less the next show.
Galinda's sleep was filled with nightmares. She found herself in a dark room, with Fiyero and Elphaba. But they had their arms around each other, and were kissing. Galinda wept, but Elphaba mockingly laughed at her tears. She felt cold, alone and broken.
"Wake up!"
She opened her eyes warily, seeing the handsome face of the stranger she had met the day before.
"Nicky-Nick, right?" she asked.
"Nicolas," he returned. "And please, don't cry out. I snuck past those pesky tech-guys because I wanted to talk to you."
"Oh?"
"Yes." he said. "I wanted to say that I saw the show and I thought you were terrific."
"Really?"
"Yes, really!" he smiled. "I would love to have you guys come out to Tenniken and play there. You're all invited, of course."
"But we don't have any..."
"Money?" he asked. "I thought a rich Gilikin heiress wouldn't need to worry about money. But it doesn't matter, I'll ask my parents to give us money. They'll pay for the whole thing."
Galinda nodded. It seemed like fun to play somewhere closer to home. As long as she was doing something that got her thoughts away from Elphaba Thropp.
To everyone's great surprise, Elphaba was the last to wake. She complained of a throbbing head-ache, which Fiyero saw garnered a small smirk from Galinda. Avaric, meanwhile, was in an alarmingly cheerful mood. Galinda introduced them all to Nicolas.
"You sure picked a good time to have him meet us, Galinda." Fiyero stated.
"Huh?" she asked.
"Well, we're half-dead with sleep," Fiyero answered.
"Not I," Avaric boldly stated. "In fact, I feel like I could run from here to Traum and back!"
"Then why don't you?" Elphaba returned, massaging her head. Avaric ignored her.
"You know," Nicolas said. "I'm thinking about doing you guys a favor."
"What kind of favor?" Ramon asked.
"Well," he said. "I'm thinking, get this, about sending you all to play a show in Tenniken tomorrow evening!"
"Isn't it wonderful?" Galinda returned.
"C'mon, Galinda," Elphaba said. "It's not like we don't want to play another show, but we're tired!"
"I'm not." Avaric stated.
"Oh, you can rest up on the train," Nicolas said assuredly.
"Train?" Ramon queried.
"Yes," Nicolas returned. "My family has a private train of our own."
"You must be rich." Milla stated.
"Oh, yes we are!" he added. "Well, I've got to dash, really. Got to tell my folks about you guys. But I'll be back later to help you unload your things. Until then." He walked off briskly.
"Never trust a rich man with a pretty face." Elphaba commented beneath her breath.
True to his promise, Nicolas returned with several servants. They took the instruments and carried them out with them to the Dixxi-Sand Train Station. The People of Oz followed on behind, though Elphaba noted that most of the servants were Animals.
"Excuse me, Nicolas?" she queried.
"Hmm?" he turned around.
"Why do you have only Animal servants?"
"Well, they need work too, don't they?"
She didn't know how to answer this. True, they did need to work. But could they not work at more illustrious jobs than just the servants of Gilikinese masters? While they went on, Elphaba noticed that everyone of the band was present and accounted for except for Ramon.
Elphaba ran back to Red House, pushed open the doors and found a sight that she hadn't noticed before. Ramon and Milla were sitting down at his keyboard. The Munchkinlander girl was on the keys, playing and singing, while Ramon held a music sheet and was encouraging her each step of the way.
"Oh, Elphaba!" the Raccoon stated, seeing his band-mate.
"You're not ready yet?" she asked.
"Well, she's been wanting piano lessons." he said. "That's why she wasn't with us during the camp. She secreted back to the wagons and took out my keyboard to play around on it. She's actually very good."
Milla just smiled sheepishly.
"C'mon, we gotta go." Elphaba said. The two hurried to unplug the keyboard and followed after them.
The train that Nicolas said belonged to his was a large black engine with gilded siding. It looked like a thing of royalty. Galinda and Avaric's expressions changed the moment they saw it. No more riding around in bumpy, uncomfortable carriages: this was style!
They were on their way onto the train, with the conductor ushering them into the cars quickly. They were already running late as it was, by reason of their late start. As Elphaba, Milla and Ramon came up with the rear, the conductor held out his hand.
"What's wrong?" Milla asked.
"I'm afraid, miss," the conductor said. "Your pet can't come on board this car."
"'Pet?'" Elphaba repeated angrily.
"Would you prefer 'vermin?'" he stated.
"He's one of the People of Oz!" Elphaba fumed, leering up at the driver. He was a little taken back by the angry green girl glaring at him, but managed to keep from crying out or fainting.
"Miss," he said. "I couldn't care less if he were a friend of the Wizard. Animals go that way!" He pointed out at the end of the train, at the cattle-cars.
"No-How dare you!" Elphaba shouted.
"Please, Elphaba!" Ramon said. "No need to make a fuss over it!"
"I'm going to make a fuss!" she returned. "This is unfair, bigoted, biased, racist behavior!"
"No, it's alright!" Ramon blushed - though it did not show through his fur. "I'll go back there." He walked off in the direction of the cattle-cars.
"This way, miss." the conductor said, pointing to the train car.
"You just wait!" Elphaba pointed at him. "The Wizard is going to hear about this and he'll see that you get yours!"
The conductor looked a little taken back by it, but didn't betray too much alarm. Elphaba, in her frustration, walked after Ramon.
"Are you getting on, miss?" a now angry conductor barked at Milla. She simply nodded and got on the train.
She walked sheepishly down the line of cars. There was a noise of laughter from one of the rooms. Opening it up, she saw a middle-aged couple, bedecked in rich clothing and practically swimming in gold velvet chairs. With them were the others: Fiyero, Avaric, Galinda and Boq. Nicolas was there also, sitting in a chair of gold velvet with Galinda sitting next to him, laughing loudly. Fiyero sulked by himself, but Avaric was quite enjoying all the attention Nicolas' parents - it seemed - were languishing upon him. Boq was looking hatefully at Nicolas, wishing he were in his stead.
"Milla!" Galinda called out. "Isn't it amazifying?"
"Uh, what?" she asked, a little taken back.
"Oh," the middle-aged man said. "Is this charming young lady in your band?"
Milla could feel her cheeks turning red. The others just kind of said yes with their silence.
"Ah, a pleasure to meet you." the middle-aged man said. "I am Filmont, Lord Chuffrey."
Milla gasped. She had heard of the name, even in Munchkinland. They were one of the most influential and wealthy families in Gilikin. But Milla didn't feel at ease here, among the richness and excess of these Gilikinese nobles. Even Fiyero was a prince in his own right.
She? She was just a farmer's daughter who had to fight to earn her place at Shiz. Her family didn't want her to go, they said that college was just a waste of time, that she would be better off finding a husband and starting a family of her own. They constantly said that Milla was given her beauty for a reason and that it was foolish to waste it all with books and learning. But Milla wanted to do something, something extraordinary, something that normal Munchkinlander girls never got to do.
So, in secret, she began saving up money. A little here and a little there. Before long, she had enough for tuition and books. A coach-ride later and she found herself in one of Gilikin's most prestigious universities. She also found herself rather quiet and something of an introvert: what seemed to be quite an unusual thing for someone of her beauty. She had lived most of her life on her family's farm, with little interaction with people south of Center Munch. Now she was thrown into a school with almost ten thousand students. She was quite nervous and even when she started having friends (if Shenshen and Pfannee counted as friends), she found herself shutting off her brain just to be accepted by them.
Here, with the People of Oz, even though she was just a roadie, a stage-hand who helped with their set-up, she felt like she was doing something that mattered. But Elphaba's words that she belted out from the lighted stage made Milla feel that enough was enough: she didn't feel like shutting off her mind to be accepted anymore.
Just then, she recalled that there was someone else who also was from Munchkinland.
At the far-back of the train, after walking through several cars and depositing the keyboard (which she had been carrying all this time) with the rest of the equipment, she found her way to the cattle-cars. The first one was bolted but not locked, and after lifting the heavy bolt, she pushed the doors open and crept inside. They slammed back behind her and she was thrown onto the floor.
The floor was quite filthy, covered in sand, hay and Oz knows what else. Slowly rising to her feet, she saw all sorts of Animals sitting in huddled masses against each other. There was scarce any room for them to move, much less breathe. The acrid, rank smell of feces and urine made Milla feel like throwing up. But she had made her choice, and was going to vomit.
At the back of the cattle-car, Milla saw the only human (if not the only green one) there, sitting huddled against the side of the wall. A Raccoon was sitting next to her. Trying carefully to move her way through the Animals and not step on a fresh pile of stinking excrement, Milla made her way to the back.
"Oh, miss Milla!" Ramon spoke up. "Ah, you don't have to do this. Really! I'm perfectly alright with my traveling arrangements."
"Well, I don't think Elphaba is," Milla stated.
"And how would you know what I want or don't want?" the green girl returned sharply.
Milla made the final push and was now standing in front of the seated Elphaba.
"I'm not stupid, you know."
"You had me fooled."
"Elphaba!"
"It's alright," Milla's face fell. "I deserve it." She sat down next to Elphaba. "I should be sticking up for myself, like you."
"I'm not doing this for myself," Elphaba said.
"Then why are you doing this?" Milla asked. "And more importantly, exactly what are you doing?"
"I'm sitting here with the Animals," Elphaba stated. "In protest. If they want me out, they'll have to take Ramon and the rest of us out also."
"And why Animals?"
"Because someone has to speak for those who can't speak for themselves." Elphaba said.
"But I thought that all Animals could speak."
"Not anymore," Elphaba began. "They're being herded out into manual labor - more like slave labor. Forced to travel in cages like these cattle-cars, forced to live in cages, as Dr. Nikadik holds. Being told to keep silent, blamed for the Great Drought. It's not right, none of it."
"But what do you expect to do about it?"
"I don't know," Elphaba honestly said. "Although..." She began. "Last night, at Red House, while I was singing those lyrics, the ones I've sung along with forever and ago since I was ten, I had a moment of clear thinking. I saw that that was what I needed to do: to encourage the re-education of Animals so that we can save them from becoming animals forever."
"How would you do that?"
"Let them return to school," Elphaba mused. "Teach them how to write, then how to speak."
"And if they can't do that anymore? If they're too far gone?"
"We must never give up. Never surrender hope."
Milla nodded. It sounded convincing enough, Elphaba's plan.
"Look, I..." the green woman said. "I misjudged you. I thought you were just another one of Galinda's air-headed friends. I guess I was wrong."
The auburn-haired girl smiled. At last, she felt, things were looking up.
The train ride to Tenniken was over with that evening, as the sun was on its way toward the western horizon. Even now, Nicolas and his servants were helping the People of Oz make their way off the train and to the building entitled Sound Hall. Two very dirty Munchkinlanders walked out of the cattle-car, with Ramon the Raccoon with them. The shorter one, with auburn hair, was blinking in the sunlight - the cars were quite dark inside, being without windows. The taller one, with long black hair and green skin, floated somewhere between waking and sleeping.
"Hey, Elphaba!" Fiyero almost skipped over to her. "Are you alright? We didn't see you in the train car." He sniffed. "Ugh, you smell awful."
"Don't start with me," she said. "I'm on my period and still have that head-ache. I'm not in the mood, Fiyero Tiggular!"
"Uh, alright. I'm sorry."
"Get out of my way," she bit. "Before I kill you!"
"Then where would you go?" he asked, a smirk on his face as he stepped aside. "Can't go to the Vinkus, or my parents will kill you for killing me."
"What mindless drivel are you babbling about?"
"You know," Fiyero said. "The whole thing about the Vinkus. Wide open plains, high mountains, the clans don't really govern as much as wander around looking for food. Many rebels and criminals have found refuge there, though, if you kill me, it would be harder to protect you."
"Why?"
"Because my family are the head of the Arjiki clan!" he stated. "They'd kill you for killing me."
"Just get out of my way." She sighed angrily and walked off toward Sound Hall. The ushers let them in one-by-one, first Nicolas' servants and then the band itself. But once Elphaba and Ramon approached, the usher stood to keep them out.
"What are you doing?" she asked exasperatedly.
"Read the sign, miss!" he returned angrily. Looking at the side of the door, she saw a sign that said Animals Not Welcome Here.
"But what about Prince Chuffrey's servants?" she asked.
"They're just setting up!" he returned. "They will be herded out once they're done."
"How dare you!" Elphaba shouted. "This is an outrage!"
"Elphaba..." Fiyero returned.
"Get back!" Elphaba shouted, spinning around with her hand pointing out at him. A flash of green light later and Fiyero was knocked back off his feet, thrown down against the pavement. Elphaba gasped and ran over to see if he was alright.
"Maybe I should put up a new sign," the usher stated. "'No green freaks allowed.'"
"You'll pay for this!" Elphaba shouted at the usher.
"Elphie, please!" Galinda bounced over to her side. "Just let it go! We need to get inside and practice."
"Not unless he lets Ramon go with us!"
"But Milla can fill in for him!" Galinda stated.
"It's not fair!"
"I know," Galinda returned. "But what can we do about it?"
Feeling quite exhausted, Elphaba was dragged into Sound Hall by the rest of her band-mates, excluding Avaric and Ramon. The Raccoon was sitting on the side of the building, and Avaric walked in by himself, unwilling to touch the green girl.
They were half-way into their set-list. Milla, it seemed, was quite capable of playing Ramon's keyboard portions, but lacked his flair for improvisation. Elphaba was not very mobile, since she was still on edge by reason of her monthly issue and the throbbing head-ache.
At last the song came to an end. There was scattered cheering throughout the crowd.
"Thank you," Elphaba breathed. "Thank you very much. What we'd like to do right, is we'd..."
But she had barely gotten the words out of her mouth when someone shouted from the back of the audience.
"Freak! You don't speak for us! You don't speak for the Animals!"
Looking up, Elphaba saw that it was a Chimpanzee, who had snuck into the building with some of his companions.
"Please repeat that!" Elphaba nigh snarled, looking about for who had spoken.
"You're a human!" the Chimp roared. "You don't speak for the Animals!" Cries of protest, and some booing from the human audience members, filled the air.
She didn't know what to say. This was what she had feared ever since that Shiz-ite had died in the streets from refusing her help.
"B-But I'm different!" she said, her voice breaking.
"Why, because you're green?" the Chimp returned. "You're still human, and they're the enemy!"
Fights were now breaking out among the audience, between the Chimp's cohorts and the humans in the audience. Those who were not fighting were now chanting "Freak!" Avaric was alternating between making rude gestures at the Animals and taking up his mic and chanting along with the audience.
"Break it up!" Elphaba shouted into her mic.
Just then, a bottle flew onto the stage, hitting Elphaba straight in the head. It broke, and she fell backward onto the stage. Fiyero threw his bass down and ran to her side. Galinda bounced away from her drum-kit, her heart racing at the sight of her friend hurt.
"C'mon!" Fiyero shouted. "We gotta get her off the stage!" Milla ran away from the keyboard and helped them take the green woman off-stage and behind the curtains at the back.
It was like three warriors had brought their injured commander back wounded from the field of battle, how Fiyero, Milla and Galinda carried Elphaba back-stage. Her face had been cut open and she was bleeding. Galinda had her hands over her mouth, and was quietly sobbing, angry at herself for hating Elphaba as she had started doing.
"Milla!" Fiyero shouted. "I need a doctor! Go get a doctor! Quick!"
She nodded, then jumped to her feet and took off out the door that said 'Exit' upon it. Fiyero, meanwhile, was trying to do what he could. Oh, how he hated himself for not listening to the Arjiki healers when they talked about the natural remedies and ways to bind wounds in the wild.
"Elphaba, please!" he whispered. "Hang in there!"
Her large, brown eyes blinked open. "W-What happened?" she sighed.
Fiyero's face split with joy. "You're alright!"
"I feel like s..."
"You've been hurt," he said. "Just stay calm, don't panic. I've sent Milla to fetch a doctor."
"F...Yero..." she whispered.
"Yes?"
"G-G-Go...back on stage."
"What? No! You've been hurt! We've gotta cancel the show, send everyone home."
"S-Show...must...go on."
"You can't!"
"Go," she whispered. "Go back...tell them, we'll return...soon...find Ramon...bring him..."
"But, Elpha..."
"Do it!"
He nodded. "Alright! I'm gonna go find Ramon. Stay here and try not to move." He took off, eager to please her.
Elphaba, meanwhile, pulled something out of her pocket. If ever she felt like trying this out, now was the time.
Galinda ran off into the bathrooms to wash up and re-apply her make-up. That was what she hated most about crying, it ruined her make-up something awful. No compulsion to be with her friend right now, for she didn't really know if Elphaba was truly her friend. She had stolen Fiyero's heart from her, even though she hadn't laid a hand on him.
Once she was all ready, dusting off her yellow dress, she bounced out of the bathroom. Once she reached the back-stage, she saw something that made her blush and cry out at the same time. There was Elphaba, up and about, albeit swaying, with an ugly red gash in her forehead. She had two wooden signs laid out before her, which she had written upon them words in red letters (Galinda hoped it wasn't her own blood). As she finished, she now rose to her feet and began un-buttoning her white blouse.
"Elphie! What are you doing?" she gasped.
"They think I don't speak for them!" she said, like a crazy woman. "That I don't care! Well, I'll show them!" She had finished un-buttoning her blouse, and threw it upon the ground.
"Are you crazy? Elphie, stop this! You can't go out on stage like this!"
"The real crazy thing," Elphaba said, as she began loosening her under-shirt. "Would be to do nothing while Animals are being treated like garbage."
"Elphie..."
But she was no longer listening.
Avaric was at the fore-front of what seemed to be a riot. He was now hiding behind Galinda's drum-set, fearful of what they might throw at him. Several minutes later, Fiyero, Galinda and Ramon appeared, walking up on-stage. Fiyero walked over to his bass and threw the strap back over his shoulder.
"Alright!" he shouted out to the crowd. "Looks like you've gotten a little crazy out there!"
More angry cries came from the audience.
"Well, you're gonna go even crazier after this next song!" He began plunking around idly on his bass, looking for any sign of Elphaba. When he and Ramon had returned back-stage, Elphaba was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly he stopped, and walked over to Avaric.
"Hey, Av!" he said. "I think my bass is out of tune." He played the strings, top to bottom. The bottom one, however, sounded much deeper than it was supposed to be.
"Maybe you hit the knobs when you threw it down." Avaric stated. Fiyero began playing through the strings, then Avaric held up his hand.
"What?" he asked.
"That sounds good!" he said, indicating to the sound that was coming out of the bass amp. He turned the knob on the head-stock of his guitar that corresponded with the lowest of his strings. He then plucked the string, a loud D sound crunching out as opposed to the standard E.
"I like it!" Avaric said. "Let's go with it!"
"With what?"
"Let's play something!"
"We're out of tune!"
"Just make something up!"
Fiyero walked back to the microphone, testing it for a moment.
"Alright," he said to the audience. Suddenly he felt quite alone, very vulnerable. He was the swankified prince of the Vinkus, and yet here he was, struggling to come up with a song of his own. "We're gonna play something new for you now. It's like so new, we don't even know it."
Fiyero began with a heavy, groovy riff on the bass, which Avaric then followed with. Galinda started playing along with a drum-line that was somewhat mid-paced. Ramon's head was bobbing as he heard the sound that the two young men were making.
Though Fiyero loved what they had just come up with, he knew the audience demanded words. He couldn't sing, but he could shout. So he walked over to his mic and shouted off whatever came to his mind.
Solo, I'm a soloist on a solo list
All live, never on a record disk
Inka, inka, bottle of ink
Paintings of rebellion
Drawn up by the thoughts I think
The audience wasn't fighting as much as they were listening to this new sound that they were making. Some were even starting to move about in a kind of trance-like dance to the music.
It's set up like a deck of cards
They're sending us to early graves
For all the diamonds
They'll use a pair of clubs to beat the spades
With poetry I paint the pictures that hit
More like the murals that fit
Don't turn away
Get in front of it
Brotha, did ya forget ya name? Yo, check the diagonal
Did ya lose it on the wall
Playin' tic-tac-toe?
Three brothers gone
Come on
Doesn't that make it three in a row?
He noticed that Avaric wasn't playing. In fact, only him and Galinda were the only ones still playing. He looked, and saw something that made his mouth dry.
Elphaba had walked on-stage, wearing nothing more than a sign with red letters that said: Animals Should be Seen and Heard.
"The militant poet in once again!" Fiyero shouted.
Some people were cheering, others were shouting and making rude gestures at her. But she was now swaying among the band, making sure everyone was seeing her sign.
Avaric looked at Fiyero with an expression that said "Can we just play?" Fiyero nodded, then exploded away with a quick-paced bass-line. Avaric joined in on the guitar. The room was now bouncing with the beat and noise, and Elphaba had picked up her mic and was shouting "Freedom!" at the crowd. They played on, with Avaric jamming away with improvised guitar parts and Fiyero finger-picking away even though his hands felt on fire.
Just then, one of the mics made a loud hiss of feedback. Looking around, Fiyero saw that Elphaba was no longer standing up. She was lying on the stage, looking a pale shade of green. The rest of the band had now stopped. The crowd was cheering them on, but all of the people seemed like nothing more than a mirage. Avaric leaned back, trying to see what was beneath the signs, and Fiyero shot him a venomous glance. He then turned back to the mic.
"This is Yero of the People of Oz," he began. "And that is all for tonight. Thank you."
He waved them off, and then turned his attention to their fallen singer, their fallen front-woman. The woman he loved.
Just then, Milla appeared from behind the curtain, with the doctor behind her. Fiyero breathed a sigh of relief.
For better or for worse, tonight would definitely be remembered in all of their minds as one of their craziest shows yet.
(AN: I hope you liked this chapter)
(What Elphaba did on-stage with the sign was based on a pic I saw on tumblr, sort of like a PETA thing with a faceless green figure clad in nothing but a sign that said thus. I do not own the song "Freedom" by Rage Against the Machine, which I sampled as the 'improvised jam song' that he and Avaric come up with.)
(Character development! This is what I want to see in your reviews. How is Elphaba? Should I back off on making Galinda dislike her that much because of Fiyero? Is Avaric becoming too nice? Does Ramon need more screen-time? Is Milla becoming a Mary-Sue?)
(Yes, Nicolas is in fact Lord Chuffrey from Wicked the book. Obviously, he's much younger and not disabled. But I have plans for him, just wait.)