The Witch of the Emerald City
Kirra White Tigress

Chapter Nineteen:

"If we're going to save Fabala, we have to act now!"

Glinda crossed her arms, glaring down at the green woman. "And just what do you think you're accomplishing by destroying my library, Elphaba?" she asked.

Elphaba didn't answer her. She just went back to flipping through the pages of her next selection before tossing that one aside, reaching for another one blindly. Liira glanced over at Glinda, who was quietly fuming, waiting for an answer that might never come. Her gaze went back to the Witch in disbelief. Just when she had gotten through to one of them, the other one had to go and cause yet another disagreement. And I'll be left to pick sides, she thought. What a mess my life has become….

Liira sighed and kneeled down before the small mound of books. She couldn't see how any of this could possibly help rescue Fabala. What they needed were spells and magic, something the Grimmerie would be useful for. But these were all maps and diagrams, texts on the most complex structures in Oz. From Southstairs to even the castle in Kiamo Ko, and maybe even—

She stopped and looked up at Elphaba, who was still furiously reading. Unable to get her attention, she glanced at Glinda, who was just flat-out furious. She was better than nothing, Liira supposed. "Glinda, look," she said, holding up the tome. The green girl watched as the blonde's expression switched from anger to interest in a flash. Shocked sapphire eyes met equally astonished blue after a moment of trying to figure out the chaos. Liira then turned to Elphaba and asked, "Why are we looking up the Emerald Palace?"

"It's just a hunch," the Witch began, "but I think that's where they took Fabala."

"Why would they do that, though?" Liira asked. She then looked over at Glinda, who flushed. "Glinda—"

"Don't look at me that way, Liira. I've only lived there for a week! Do you expect me to know that place inside and out?" the blonde cried. "I don't even know where the damned kitchens are!"

Elphaba snorted and went back to her book. She then closed it and tossed it toward her former lover, who almost dropped it in surprise. "Well, now that I've hooked your interest, I'm not going to let you leave until we figure this out," she said.

Glinda dropped down beside Liira, her blue eyes once again narrowed. "Why are you even doing this? You don't even know my daughter."

"It's the least I can do to pay you back," Elphaba replied without even looking up. "You saved my life, and I appreciate what you did even though it sounded like I did not. Saving your daughter seems to be the least I can do."

"And the most you can do?"

The Witch's head shot up finally. She looked Glinda dead in the eye, her own eyes burning with a fire and an intensity that Liira had never before witnessed. With a calm but firm voice, Elphaba said, "I'd gladly die again if I fail to bring her back to you. I've failed you so many times, my sweet—I do not want to see you hurt again."

There was another silence that passed between them. Glinda finally picked up one of the remaining books—The History of the Emeralds— and began to look into it. Liira breathed out, smiling to herself. There wasn't going to be a fight; that would be left until tomorrow when they went to retrieve Fabala. She found it strange how she could suddenly feel so protective of someone she barely knew. Maybe that was a part of being in a family.

Family. That word startled the green girl. She had never been part of a family before, not even in the congregation of maunts, who treated each other as sisters even if they didn't want to. How could she possibly know what it felt like if this was the first time she felt like this?

Liira turned the page of the book in her hands, but she couldn't concentrate on the words. All she could think of was Fabala. As she ran a hand down the diagram of the Emerald Palace, she willed the Unnamed God, Lurline, anyone who would listen, that the blonde would be safe.

-( )-

The book hit the floor with a thud, making the green girl and the blonde jump in surprise. When they looked up from their books, Elphaba was grinning at them. "Did I scare you?" she asked.

Glinda only glowered at her while Liira nodded.

"Good. I'm glad I have your attention."

"You didn't have to give us heart attacks, Elphie. Couldn't you have just got our attention by saying something?" the blonde asked.

The Witch grinned even wider at the blonde. "I love seeing your reaction to things. You look so cute that way." She ignored Glinda's slight blush and looked back to Liira. "I think I've found something. It's the only thing that fits."

Liira felt Glinda grab one of her hands and squeeze it lightly. She looked over at the blonde and saw that she was leaning in a bit like doing so would help make her hear better. The green girl rolled her eyes. Why must she always be so grabby?

"The Emerald Palace was the previous residence of our Wizard. The guards of the Gale Force still linger there, am I correct?"

"Yes, and they will not leave me alone," Glinda muttered under her breath. She cleared her throat and asked, "So you have proof that they have my daughter there?"

Elphaba nodded, though her eyes lowered when the blonde said 'my daughter'. "I've found a map of the inside of the Palace. There seems to be a secret exit in the back." The Witch picked up a book different from the one she had slammed down on the floor and began flipping through until she came upon the desired page. She showed it to both females.

The blonde took one look at the map and sucked in a gasp. She grabbed the book, looking from it to Elphaba and back again. "It's a shortcut to Southstairs," she said at last, her voice cool and emotionless. Even Liira shivered at the sound of it. "So they're planning on taking her there if it's too late?"

"Her or us," Elphaba replied as she set the book to the side. "They're wanting a switch, I'm guessing. You turn the two Witches in to get Fabala back, or you don't get her back at all. They don't care how it goes—just as long as they can throw someone in prison."

"So what do we do?" Liira asked. "I sure as hell don't want to go to prison. But I don't want Fabala to go either. What should we do?"

The Witch suddenly smiled again. "We take her out by force."

"How are we supposed to do that?" the green girl cried.

Glinda was biting her lip again as she thought. Elphaba wasn't helping with this one, obviously. Let them figure it out, then come up with a plan. Suddenly the blonde said, "I don't know much, but I could try a little bit of my magic."

Liira looked at her. "What kind of magic?"

"She's going to shoot those Gale Force bastards with bubbles. Either that or she'll blow up the damned place," the Witch interrupted. "Personally, I opt for the latter."

The blonde sniffed. "Well, that just comes to show how much you really know about me," she snapped. "I know more magic from back then. It may not be a lot, but it's enough." Her eyes softened as she frowned. "I can't believe you would really say that about me, Elphie."

Elphaba tried smiling at her. "Well, bubbles aren't that bad, are they? They're a Glinda original. What better way to end a fight than by blinding them with bubbles and then blowing them to pieces?" She frowned when she saw that it didn't seem to be helping her. She sighed. "Have you been studying the Grimmerie like I asked you to?" she asked as a way to change the subject a bit.

Glinda began to nod, but she stopped herself and shook her head. "I thought that I could teach myself. I have the books—yes, I've been reading these past two years, don't look so stricken. Besides, it's an Elphaba original. I can't take the credit of someone else's work. I'm through with all of that." She paused before adding, "Please don't be mad at me, Elphie. I tried, really I did, but I'm just not you."

"I understand that." She looked over at Liira. "It looks like we have someone else capable of doing the job," she told the blonde.

Liira's eyes widened. Her gaze shifted to the leather-bound book that still rested on the table. It seemed to be mocking her, silently saying, "You got yourself into this mess; I'm not getting you out." It was taunting her with its pages. She had tried once, hadn't she? She couldn't read that! No one could! Besides, why make such a fuss over one book that was hardly decipherable? All it had was large quantities of magic, spells, formulas for potions, illusions…. Just what we need. "Why can't you do it?" she asked the Witch.

"I've memorized most of the incantations already. Twenty years have done a lot with me," Elphaba replied in a heartbeat. Her eyes softened a little. "Please, Liira, you're the only one who can help. At least think about it. Please?"

If she had been able to reduce the Witch of the West down to pleading, this must be the only thing she could do, the only thing that would work. And now that she thought of it, it could be the only thing that could save Fabala. The green girl looked back at the Grimmerie. "What if I can't?"

Glinda smiled. "Just chant something and wave your broom around. No one will know the difference," she replied before the Witch could. But then her smile disappeared when she suddenly let out a big yawn. The blonde shook it off. "So when are we going to get her?"

"Tomorrow," Liira and Elphaba said in unison, both looking at Glinda like she had an illness. The green girl helped the Good Witch up. "We should get some sleep if we want to fight the Gale Force… and win."

"The adrenaline will keep us awake. We can get her tonight," Glinda protested, but she yawned again, her eyes drooping a little.

Elphaba took her from Liira and led her toward the door. "No, my sweet, we're getting her tomorrow. We're going into a battle zone—we can't have you fainting in the middle of it."

"I'm fine!" Glinda cried, turning around right when they made it to the door. "Just trust me on this, Elphaba. We can go in, get Fabala, and get out easily. I'm betting you don't even have to go in. I'm Glinda the Good; they'll listen to me."

"You're talking in delusions," Elphaba said before grabbing the blonde again. She opened the door and said, "They'll betray you—that's the one thing humans are masters at."

The blonde glared at her. "And what does that make you?"

"I'm not human. Never was, never will be."

"Just because you're green?"

Elphaba finally let go of her. She turned to look at the blonde, shock and anger crossing her pointed features. "You know that's not my reasoning, Glinda. I'm not human because—"

"Oh don't give me that 'I'm heartless, I'm soulless' crap, Elphaba! I know that's not true. Why would you risk your life for a little girl you don't even know if you don't have them?" She paused as she reconsidered, then she asked, "But then why are you willing to wait until tomorrow to save her if you really cared about her?"

Liira had been watching all of this from the library as she tried to put the books back in their previous locations. It wasn't really that hard to do—Elphaba had just cleared off two shelves on the wall on the right. She sighed. Must they always fight?

"You're health is what concerns me at the moment," Elphaba was nearly yelling. "I don't want you to collapse from lack of sleep right where they can play target practice!"

"It's all a way to get out of it, I know it!" Glinda cried. "You're using me as a way to get out of having to face them. The old Elphaba used to take charge without question whenever things like this happened. Now you're just a coward—"

"I'm not a coward!"

"Then why are you holding back?!"

Then she saw it. The green girl watched in shock as the Witch stepped forward and slapped the blonde across the face. The sound ricocheted throughout the hall, never quite disappearing until seconds after the strike. Liira was tempted to throw a book at the Witch, but she held herself in check. She shouldn't be getting involved in these things.

She expected Glinda to hit her back and start a catfight of sorts, but she just stood there, glaring at Elphaba as if she were a demon. They were locked in a stare-down, neither one of them blinking. After a moment, the blonde's eyes softened and she nodded slowly. Without a word she went down the hall toward the stairs. Liira saw Elphaba look in her direction and she blushed slightly. "Are you coming?" the Witch asked.

The green girl glanced over at the pile of books that still remained. "I'll be up in a little while," she said. "You go ahead and get some rest."

Elphaba sighed. "Don't stay up so late. We'll need to be up early if we want to catch them off guard." She paused before walking over to Liira. As the girl restarted putting the books away she said, "I'm sorry you had to see that. I swear to Oz it was by instinct that I hit her. I didn't mean it…." She paused again and sighed. "Okay, so maybe I did, but I'm sorry for it nonetheless."

"You don't have to apologize. You did what you felt you had to," Liira said. She didn't bother looking at her for sincerity—it was already there. From past experiences she'd learned that Elphaba rarely ever—almost never—lied. "At least she came to her senses. I could tell that she was running on exhaustion."

"What gets me is the fact that she's been doing so for the past two years. Fighting to not break down, trying to go on in life without the one she loves…. That I can understand. But what I expected is actually a lot worse in reality."

Liira chose now to glance in her direction. She set the books down on the chair near her and asked, "You didn't know that your death would have affected her like this?"

Elphaba shook her head. "It's not that. I knew that she would have gone through a hard time. But Glinda's always found a way to get past troubling situations. I believed that she would have gotten over me in due time," she said.

"Let's see. She lost her friend, who used to be her lover, by a big misunderstanding; you left her all those years ago in the Emerald City, which isn't an easy thing to get over; oh, and that affair in the Emerald City tore her apart, too. Not to mention that you gave her a daughter by the means of magic. You're pretty much the cause of every horrible thing in that woman's life!" Liira sighed, tugging absently on a lock of her hair she tried to quell her frustration. "And yet she's still in love with you, believe it or not. I don't see how that's possible with all that you put her through."

The Witch nodded. She couldn't seem to find anything to say to that, so she simply turned and walked away toward the stairs. Liira shook her head and sighed. She couldn't see how someone could possibly be in love with a woman like Elphaba. The one she knew eight years ago, yes. But the person she'd become now was so… different.

You're turning out to be like the others—always judging before you actually get to know her.

"Shut up," Liira told herself. She put up the rest of the books and followed the Witch's steps up the steps to the bedrooms. From Glinda's room she heard the sound of soft voices and someone crying—apparently the blonde hadn't gone to sleep yet. The green girl walked into Fabala's room, but froze after that. She couldn't grasp how such a space felt empty just because one person was gone—a person she didn't know all that well.

Liira shook her head and went toward the chair by the window. Well, she couldn't sleep in someone else's bed even if she had permission to stay; she felt guilty still for everything that happened, and that one action would be rubbing it in. The green girl curled herself into the chair, feeling amazingly comfortable as she did. Tomorrow was going to be a long day, but the night was going to be much longer.