Ever After
Here Comes the Rain Again
Here comes the rain again, falling on my head like a memory, falling on my head like a new emotion…Is it raining with you?
Okay I'm shutting up, on with the story.
Elation. Nervousness. Hope. Maybe even fear. It was hard to put a name to what she was feeling, there were just too many emotions coursing through her at that moment.
Elphaba was sitting on the edge of a balcony on the east side of the castle. It was still relatively early in the morning, and though the middle of fall was quickly approaching the sun's rays were already warm on her face. She'd come there to think, it was one of her favorite places in the palace, mostly because of the view. As she watched the sunlight spread ever so slowly over the colorful forest surrounding Loryntium, thoughts chased themselves through her mind.
She'd had an appointment that morning; she'd left even before Fiyero had woken up. She was going to miss family breakfast planted there on the balustrade but she wasn't particularly concerned. No one had any reason to believe she wasn't still in the medical wing with Healer Aristocra. And besides that she felt she had a reasonable excuse.
She hadn't been feeling well during the past few weeks, well no, that was a bit of an overstatement. She'd never really been sick, just nauseous after breakfast on most mornings. That, coupled with the fact that she'd missed her cycle twice now had inclined her to make the appointment in the first place. She hadn't talked to Fiyero yet; she'd wanted to make sure she was right first.
It hadn't taken Aristocra long at all to confirm her suspicion. She was indeed pregnant, by about two and a half months in fact.
Now all she had to do was inform her husband.
Elation. Nervousness. Hope. Maybe even fear. It was hard to put a name to what she was feeling, there were just too many emotions coursing through her at the moment.
Glinda felt as if she were standing outside herself as she watched various handmaidens fix her dress until it was perfect. It was somehow astonishing to think that this day wasn't just the day she'd been planning for the last three months, but here whole life. Yet, there she was and in ten minutes her father would arrive to walk her down the aisle and she'd marry the man she truly loved.
She was uncharacteristically still and quiet as her veil was lowered gently over her head. Before she knew it she was ready and there was a knock at the door.
"Galinda darling, they're ready for you," her father's warm and familiar voice proclaimed as he poked his head in.
"All right Popsicle," Glinda smiled. "I'm ready."
Glinda accepted her bouquet of lilies from one of the handmaidens, stepped down from her stool and took her father's arm.
"Look at you," he said. "It's seems like just yesterday you were dressing up your dolls and holding balls and tea parties in the garden. Now you're running a country and getting married. Sometimes it's just hard to believe you're really all grown up."
If she didn't know any better she'd have said that her infallible father had tears in his eyes.
"But I suppose I have to let you go sometime," he continued, gathering his composure. "And you've obviously found your wings –or bubble as it were- and you deserve your chance to fly. I wanted to tell you I'm proud of you, before you're not really mine anymore. I love you."
"Oh Daddy," Glinda replied softly, now near tears herself. "You'll make my mascara run."
They both laughed at that.
"But you know I'll always be your little girl, I love you too," she finished.
"Well," her father said, "before we both end up re-flooding the city I think we ought to get you down the aisle hadn't we?"
"I think we should," she agreed, kissing his cheek as the flower covered gates of the palace swung open. The street in front of the palace had been turned into a sort of makeshift aisle, in the square an altar had been constructed, as it was the only place where all those who wanted to attend the wedding could gather to watch. Her wedding march began playing, and gracefully Glinda started down toward her future.
"Is this where you always disappear to?" Fiyero's laughing voice filled Elphaba's ears as he entered the library to find her seated once more before her crystal ball. Elphaba looked up to him, discreetly removing her hand from her abdomen as she did.
It had been a whole day since she'd found out about the baby and she still hadn't told him. She wasn't sure why she was so nervous to do so, maybe it was because she wasn't sure what he'd say or think when she did. She generally liked to know what people were going to do before she presented them with something. Since she and Fiyero hadn't even been married half a year yet they hadn't really gotten around to talking about children, she had no idea how he felt about having them, or if he wanted them at all, especially this early in their life together.
But at the moment she pushed it back on her priorities list, as the events the orb depicted gave her a valid reason to do so.
"Shush, look," she gestured to the ball without looking up at him.
Fiyero moved behind her to get a good view and then he spoke again.
"Glinda's wedding?"
"Of course, the announcements have been in the papers for weeks, I couldn't miss it."
"What do you, tune in whenever you feel like it?"
"No," Elphaba retorted. "Just occasionally when it's important. Now hush."
When she turned back to the crystal image she expected him to leave but he pulled up a chair and sat down beside her.
"What?" He asked when he saw her strange look. "She was my friend too."
So Elphaba just took his hand and they settled back to watch.
The crowd stood up and faced the gates of the Palace when they swung open for the final time. Most of the wedding procession sere standing at the front, centered around the altar where Kris was waiting impatiently. Then a vision in white appeared, her dress nearly filled the aisle and Leif Upland occupied what little space was left. And then she was moving towards Kris, his breath caught in his throat as he realized this was the moment that would change his life forever.
All at once she was there before him, her father was kissing her cheek and then she was all his. Kris absentmindedly lifted her veil back, but found himself once again completely focused and lost in her eyes. She flashed him a smile that sent his heart racing and butterflies to his stomach, and together they turned to the Judge who would be marrying them.
Sixteen stories above the square in the south tower stood an imposing figure. Lack of access to make-up revealed the shockingly soft lines of her face. Without the eccentric application of cosmetics, Malendrian Morrible looked human. In fact as she stood at her window watching the wedding procession below she looked more like the lady who played grandma for the whole neighborhood than a villain.
That is to say, she looked like that until her gaze followed the bride down the long aisle and her impassive expression molded into a disgusted sneer.
As Glinda the Good was given away to her soon-to-be husband, Morrible turned her attention inward, refocusing her emotions into power, and she began to whisper to the wind, coaxing clouds to gather and altering the paths of every jet stream to converge directly above the square of the Emerald City.
Slowly she opened her eyes to see the sky already begin to darken. She could practically feel the breeze change directions and cursed the confines of her prison for barring her from the real freedom of being outside. But it didn't matter, not really. Imagining she could escape and consumed with her newest victory she threw her hands wide to welcome the coming storm, tossed her head back and cackled.
"Then by the powers vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife," Judge Ewyn said. "You may kiss the bride."
The crowd roared as their beloved leaders' lips met for the first time as newlyweds. But their joy turned to fear when in a flash –literally- as lightning split the sky and thunder echoed their cheer. The Ozians were all skittish of storms, as the last one had brought such destruction on their homes. This time their fear was warranted as only a minute before it had been a mild fall day. And normal storms didn't come without warning in Oz.
Glinda and Kristian wrenched apart, both their eyes shooting straight upward to the ever darkening sky above them.
"Not now," Kris groaned.
Glinda didn't bother to even complain about it and was disengaged from his arms before he'd even finished the sentence. In the blink of an eye she'd confiscated Judge Ewyn's microphone and was snapping orders to the panicking crowd.
"Ladies and gentlemen STOP." She said it with such force that everyone halted immediately as if under a spell. "You do not have time for a panic." Her voice resounded over the thunder and hushed crowd. "Will those in the west half of the crowd please proceed to your homes or the nearest building. Those in the east, please make your way to the Palace. Slowly! A little rain isn't going to hurt any of you."
As dubious as any of them might have felt about that they trusted her enough to do as she said. For a half a second she watched as the people herded in opposite directions in a halfway-organized manner. Then she conjured the bubble.
"Kris! Keep an eye on them; make sure we don't have a stampede to deal with too. Find Captain Stone and tell him to get his men readying the rafts and med-packs just in case. And for goodness sakes, stay safe."
"Where are you going?" He yelled after her as she climbed into the bubble, tugging her dress around herself.
"I don't know if I can stop this but I have to try!" Was her only reply.
"Wait! What about Morrible!"
But the comment didn't fall on any ears at all as she was already ten feet above him, heading to the uppermost turret of the Palace.
"Something's wrong," Elphaba said suddenly.
"What they're kissing and we aren't," Fiyero quipped, throwing his wife an over exaggerated pout.
"No," She whispered in return, leaning forward to try and get a better view from the orb.
Hail rapped against the window not far from where they sat. It was forceful enough that the whole glass panel rattled in protest against the frozen water pelting against it and the wind beating at the frame.
"Wasn't it sunny just a moment ago?"
"It's happening again," Elphaba proclaimed. There was no fear in her voice, but the odd sort of half-panicked urgency to her tone worried Fiyero.
"What's happening again?" He asked, afraid that he already knew the answer.
"The storm system that caused the floods, the haywire enchantment, I'm not sure what all it is, I just know it's going to be bad."
She checked the ball again, and found what would have been a breathtaking view at any other time filling the glassy surface and realized Glinda was in her bubble heading toward the Palace. The image shook and shuddered against the winds, but by some miraculous twist of fate stayed on course and floated through a large hole in the window of a tower. A hole and window Elphaba knew very well as she'd been the one to first go flying through it.
Then the image changed as Glinda landed and the bubble popped, freeing her. She went straight to a floorboard under the window and hauled out the Grimmerie, fluttering through the pages as if she knew exactly what she was doing. Elphaba hoped to all that was good the blond woman had granted her wish and learned to read the ancient text.
"She's going to cast the spell," Elphaba realized, and that calmed her somehow, to know that Glinda at least knew enough and was confident enough in her skills to give it a shot.
"Can she work it?"
"I don't know but if she finds it, I can help her."
Elphaba and Fiyero watched with nerve-wracking anxiety as Glinda turned pages frantically. Finally she stopped, and seemed to stoop closer to the page, the strange words came into focus and Elphaba quickly read, reread and memorized them as Glinda did the same miles away in the Emerald City.
Finally both women were prepared to work some magic and the book was shut and forgotten on the floor as Glinda moved back to the window.
Elphaba and Fiyero stopped watching the crystal ball as Elphaba took off to the balcony, not bothering to stop at the window, but going straight out on the terrace. Fiyero stopped midway where he could see his wife and Glinda at the same time. As if they'd planned it and were only feet apart, instead of separated by a country, in unison they closed their eyes and began.
"Qui viene la pioggia che cade ancora sulla mia testacome una memoria che cade sulla mia testa
come una nuova emozione
che desidero camminare nel vento
aperto desidero comunicare come gli amanti io
desidero il tuffo nel vostro oceano
sono esso che piove con voi"
The entire effect was frighteningly ominous and Fiyero watched as Elphaba flung her hands wide and the wind wrapped her in its chilly embrace, whipping her hair and dress about as she chanted over and over the words of the spell. He spared a glance towards the globe and saw Glinda mirroring Elphaba's every action. The wind was harsher on the tiny blonde however, freeing her hair to flay at her face, and billowing her huge dress out around her.
For a frighteningly long minute nothing happened. Elphaba and Glinda were both obviously exerting themselves beyond anything they'd ever attempted before. Stopping weather in its tracks was no simple task and the power they commanded was almost palpable even to Fiyero who was pathetically insensitive (or so his wife told him) in matters of magic.
He held his breath and at long last something changed. It could have been something as simple as a breeze or maybe a current of the storm had reverted but it compelled him to forget the magic glass in the library and venture out onto the terrace. He was careful not to disturb Elphaba who was still locked in concentration as she wrestled to push the magic forth. He watched her for a moment and then turned his attention to the tempest raging in the sky.
The clouds seemed to be locked in a war with themselves, first darkening to a threatening shade of purple and then growing lighter until they almost seemed to part and let the sun shine through, but then they'd darken again, continuing the tumultuous cycle. Lightning danced in waves across the sky but the thunder that would inevitably follow had lost its intimidating roar, instead it purred through the clouds. The wind would still, only to stir up again and the precipitation couldn't seem to decide whether it wanted to be rain, or hail or sleet.
Miles away Glinda stood on the windowsill of the high tower. The more courageous of the Ozians peeked out through windows and doors to watch as she worked her charm on even the weather. But Glinda was having more of a struggle than anyone was close enough to see. It was a challenge to simply stay balanced in her precarious position and her ability to stay focused and conscious was quickly depleting.
I never should have even tried, She thought, deep in the back of her mind as she chanted.
"NO!" She could almost hear Elphaba, saying the words. "Magic never works if you don't believe in it! And I can't do this without you."
Of course the words must have been a memory. But Glinda redoubled her effort anyway, forcing every ounce of power she possessed into the spell, believing in it with all her heart if only because a voice from the past incited her to do so.
Elphaba could feel Glinda's hope diminishing, even from so far away. And part of her wondered if somehow they'd bonded in their conjuring, if the magic they were tossing into reality had forged a connection to them. But she didn't have time to wonder at it.
"No!" She thought at her friend, in a desperate attempt to push Glinda onward. "Magic never works if you don't believe in it! And I can't do this without you."
She realized then it was true, as powerful as she was, they were never going to beat this if they didn't fight it together.
Believe Glinda!
A few stories below Glinda, facing the other side of the world Malendrian Morrible stood at the window. She wasn't in such a dissimilar position from the little fairy in the tower window, but her intentions were vastly different. As soon as she'd felt the storm receding she'd realized something was going on and began to work against whatever enchantment Glinda thought she could use to stop her.
But to Morrible's horrified dismay it wasn't working. The silly brat who'd very nearly failed ever sorcery seminar she'd ever taken –and would have failed if she hadn't had friends who could fly- was holding Morrible's own power at bay, and even staving it off.
It was impossible. Glinda, though she had her talents, had no claim to the abilities it took to reverse a Weather Workers charm.
Yet there they stood and Malendrian was becoming painfully aware of the fact that she was about to be beat at her own game and Glinda probably didn't even realize it.
"Curses," Morrible said darkly though Glinda couldn't hear her. "Well you may win this battle darling, but we'll see who wins the war."
And she wasn't going without a fight.
With tremendous effort she summoned and swirled every last vestige of her power and concentrated it into the storm. The effect would be painful for Morrible herself, but that wouldn't be anything compared to whatever Glinda and whoever in the damnable blazes was helping her felt.
And she let go of it, cutting herself off from the battle so she could brace against the backlash she knew was about to come.
Above Oz, with alarming speed the storm halted. The lightning disappeared, as if attached to a whip that was on its back run. The thunder followed it far away and as quickly as the storm had set in it dispersed. The clouds lightened into nothingness, and then even the wind was gone, leaving the gentle autumn breeze that had inhabited the day to begin with.
It was without consequence however. As if in a final furious protest, a surge of lightning blazed over the land. At least it looked like lightning, built up magic had to take some form, and it had to have somewhere to go, and it traveled best through conduits that were still connected to it.
Glinda opened her eyes and stopped her incantation in time to see the storm withdraw. She blinked though and the lightning was back. Her eyes widened as she realized that though she'd stopped reciting the spell, she hadn't let go of the currents of magic. And she was about to be an outlet for some very bad backlash.
About the same time as that realization hit her, so did the rogue magic itself, knocking her from her precarious perch. Luckily it was backwards, into the waiting arms of Kris, who had rushed up to the attic tower to see if there was anything he could do to help. Unluckily, the force of it was somewhere in the neighborhood of falling twenty stories anyway, so the effect on her physical health wasn't much better.
Kris gathered his petite wife into his arms and rushed down to a more inhabited level of the Palace, shouting frantically for a Healer as he went.
Elphaba never even knew what hit her. She'd held onto the connection for as long as she could, just to make sure the storm wouldn't reverberate. And as the real powerhouse of the escapade she was like a beacon to the rogue magic, her connection and force was the perfect conductor for it to return to its natural state.
She never saw the lightning-like wave, because she never opened her eyes. And she felt it too late.
"Elphaba!" Fiyero screamed, when he saw it. But his warning was futile, the magic was too strong and too swift, it blew into Elphaba with enough force to throw her backwards into the library, and she hit one of the low bookshelves roughly as she fell.
In an instant he was at her side, checking carefully to make sure she was alive. Her pulse was faint, and her breath came in wheezes that sounded like they hurt –she'd probably broken a few ribs on impact- but it least both were there. They could work with alive. Live people could heal.
He was afraid to move her, but when he saw blood beginning to seep through her dress he decided that back injuries were the least of his worries at the moment. He picked her up, as gently and quickly as he could, and tore out of the library, careful not to jostle her as they went, and headed straight for the medical wing. Not bothering to shout until he was close enough to be heard by someone who could help.
1 Day Later
Malendrian Morrible woke up a day later. Her old body was sore, and damaged but she'd live to fight again. She struggled off the floor to the mercifully soft bed and laid down to sleep off the sort of 'hangover' that heavy magic always gave her.
7 Days later
Glinda slowly became aware of the hazy noises around her as consciousness graced her with its presence for the first time in a week. As the noises became more coherent she forced her eyes open. Light attacked viciously, but after a week of staring at the back of her own eyelids it was almost welcome. At any rate, the blinding pain retreated quickly and Kris –a more welcome sight for sore eyes to be sure- was hovering above her with a nervously hopeful look on his face.
"Good morning starshine," he said lightly, though his eyes betrayed the fear he'd been nursing for days. "Welcome back to the land of the living."
"Kris," Glinda tried to say, but it came out as a rasp with vaguely consonant sounds.
"Shh, don't try and talk just yet," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder to keep her from trying to sit up. He produced a cup of water and pressed it against her lips. "Here sip just a little."
Her lips parted just enough to allow the blessedly cool liquid in and she swallowed as carefully as she could.
"Happy anniversary, by the way," Kris said in the same light tone that seemed to be tinted with relief. "We've been married a week now. Wasn't too painful was it?"
Glinda wanted to laugh, but the soreness of every muscle in her body prevented her from doing anything more than turning up the corners of her lips and letting her joy at being awake and with him shine through her eyes.
"The hard part's over now. You're going to be okay," he told her, as if he just finally believed it himself.
As her eyes closed again so she could give her body more time to heal she felt him press his lips tenderly against her forehead. It was comforting, and despite all of the pain she was in, she was suddenly very glad to be alive. After all, she had a very good reason to live. And that reason was currently stretching carefully out beside her.
3 Weeks later
The hospital wing of Iisen Lier was morbidly quiet. It was past midnight, but not by very much and the quarter moon cast a soft shadow to everything in the room. Only two were currently habited there, as the doctors and other family members had returned to their separate rooms for the night. One of the occupants lay flat on a bed in a partitioned corner of the room. The other sat in a chair keeping vigil over the first, and desperately praying to every god or goddess or power he'd ever heard of or had any inclination to believe in, to whomever or whatever would, to spare the one he loved.
The diagnosis hadn't been good to begin with. Three broken ribs, a punctured lung, massive internal bleeding and a concussion –as well as exhaustion- had taken a massive toll on Elphaba's body. The consequent miscarriage of their baby had only made matters worse. And the Healers didn't know if Elphaba would be there when she woke up. If she ever woke up at all.
The actual miscarriage had been another blow to Fiyero as well. The first blow had come when the Head Healer had informed him of the possibility that the baby had far fewer chances of survival than its mother, and Fiyero hadn't even know what she was talking about. Aristocra had realized that he didn't know his wife was pregnant, and then had to explain that Elphaba had found out the day before the storm.
He'd wrestled with the facts for the better part of the next day. First he was shocked, that he'd helped Elphaba create a life. Then he was mad because apparently Glinda's wedding and then diffusing a damned rainstorm had taken precedence to informing him of that little detail. But the anger hadn't lasted long, not when there was a chance that the child would never be born and its mother would never wake up. Then he'd only been scared to death that the last two possibilities might come true.
Eventually Aristocra had done everything she could to save the baby, but to no avail. The unborn child had been as badly hurt as Elphaba, and her injured body wasn't capable of keeping them both alive. Fiyero had broken down and cried like there would be no tomorrow that day. Nothing his family or the Healers had tried could calm him worked, he could only sob and sob, bury his head in Elphaba's pillow and beg that she wouldn't be taken from him too.
He hadn't slept much during the past three weeks since the . . . incident. He'd doze off for a few hours in the dead of night. But he'd always wake up, terrified, that the woman on the bed would either wake up or let go while he slept.
That night was no different. He'd fallen asleep sometime after his mother had finally gone to bed, but as the moon came into full view through the window at the far side of the room he started awake. His hand went to Elphaba's, and he listened for her rhythmic breathing before planting a gentle kiss on her forehead before he settle back into his chair. He wasn't afraid of touching her anymore. According to Healer Aristocra her cuts and scrapes and closed up, her lungs were back in working order and her ribs were nearly fully healed, as well as wounds that came with losing a baby. The only thing now was to wait for her to return to them.
He held her hand and his thumb traced absentminded circles on her small wrist. After an hour her soft, regular breathing had nearly put him back to sleep. That is until the even inhales and exhales hitched and he jolted closer, afraid that he might be losing her now after so much waiting.
To his boundless relief she wasn't in fact dying, but waking up. As her consciousness returned her breathing became stronger and he could feel her slight movement as she roused. Finally after three weeks of waiting for that very moment Elphaba Tiggular's eyes fluttered open.
"Hi," was all she said, as recognition –even in the darkness- flooded her features. The smile that traced her lips made him feel as if the past weeks had only been a dream and they were just waking up from it to face a new day.
"Elphaba." It was Fiyero's turn for his breath to hitch in his throat, as he choked on the emotion he was feeling.
"What happened, why are we here?" She asked, only just noticing they weren't in their room but the darkened hospital wing.
"How do you feel?" He asked, when he'd regained power over his voice.
"A little sore, but otherwise fine," Elphaba answered honestly.
"What do you remember?"
"What do you mean what do I remember? Fiyero what's wrong?"
"Do you remember the storm?"
"Storm? What are you talking about? You're starting to scare me. Tell me what I'm doing here."
"You don't remember Glinda's wedding or the storm or the spell at all?" He pressed, hoping he wasn't going to have to explain everything.
" Wedding? Storm? Wha-"
Her face dissolved from confusion to realization as her memory of what happened began to return to her.
She paled visibly under the moonlight and asked again, "What happened?"
"You stopped the storm, you and Glinda," he tried to explain. All the fear and sorrow he'd been carrying since the event tainted his voice. "It went away as quickly as it came and it was sunny and warm again. And then all the sudden the lightning was back, it hit you and knocked you clear back. You've been here ever since; it's been three weeks now, well twenty-three days if you want to be specific. I was afraid you weren't going to come back to me."
Sickening fear passed into her features as she processed the information. "What about- what about the baby?"
She remembered she hadn't told him yet. But if she'd been in the hospital that long someone, Aristocra most likely, would have told him.
His hand tightened on hers and sadness filled his features.
"We lost it," he told her. "I don't . . . I'm sorry."
"Lost it?" Elphaba's voice cracked. "You mean…Oh Lurline."
Her mouth hung open as if she couldn't breathe, and tears pooled in her eyes.
"I'm sorry," Fiyero said, pulling her into his arms. "I'm so sorry."
Elphaba couldn't answer, the words she wanted to say wouldn't come. So she buried her head in Fiyero's chest and sobbed. Tears streamed down his own face as he whispered into her hair "I love you," over and over. The two sat the rest of the night, both reveling in the fact that Elphaba had pulled through but mourning that their child hadn't.
Ok, as for notes: Just FYI the words to the spell Elphaba and Glinda cast are the lyrics from the first verse of Here Comes the Rain Again by the Eurythmics in Italian, in case anyone cares I don't own the song the people who own it do. And I know this was a sad chapter, but Elphaba and Fiyero and Glinda and the gang won't be happy again till I get reviews. So review, because it pains me so to torture them. Thanks much to Yero My Hero for her help with this chapter. TTFN.