Chapter 21: Adder's Fork and Blind Worm's Sting
"What an unexpected pleasure, my dear," the queen said mockingly. "It's so kind of you to visit us in our loneliness." The queen made a pouty face, and Elphaba laughed. The flying monkeys had just brought Dorothy to the castle, and the queen's guards had dragged the girl, kicking and screaming, to a room high up in one of the towers. It was obvious that Dorothy Gale was scared, but neither one of them cared.
Elphaba held a squirming Toto. "What a nice little dog you have, Dorothy. It would be an absolute shame if anything happened to him." She turned to the guard named Claude, who was holding a basket with a lid, and she placed Toto inside. "In you go, Toto."
"What are you going to do to my dog? Give him back to me!" Dorothy said.
"All in good time, my dear," the queen said to Dorothy.
"Oh, please give me back my dog," she pleaded to the both of them.
"Certainly, Dorothy, certainly. You can have your little dog back when you give me the ruby red shoes you're wearing," Elphaba said.
"But, Glinda the Good Witch of the North told me not to!" Dorothy said.
"Oh, I see. You're going to listen to Glinda. Well, they're not Glinda's shoes to give away," Elphaba said, advancing on Dorothy. "They ARE MINE and I will have them!"
Dorothy was too afraid to speak, so instead, she just stood there trembling.
"No? Fine," she said, and turned to Claude. "Throw the basket into the river and drown the little mutt!" The threat was really just a bluff, since Elphaba didn't actually want the little dog drowned. Although she despised Dorothy, Toto was innocent, and though she was the Wicked Witch of the West, she liked animals far too much to have Toto drowned.
"No! No! You can have your shoes, just give me back Toto!"
Elphaba almost sighed with relief.
"Don't throw the basket in the river, Claude. I think Dorothy actually wants to cooperate," the queen said sweetly. "Such a good little girl, "the queen added, reaching out to finger one of Dorothy's curls, and Dorothy cringed away from her.
The queen sneered at her. "Well, dear," she said, turning to Elphaba. "Time to claim your shoes."
Elphaba approached Dorothy with a sinister smile. "I knew you'd see reason," she said, and knelt down to take the shoes off of Dorothy's feet.
Elphaba's fingers were inches away from Nessa Rose's ruby red shoes, and she was almost filled with joy, when the shoes suddenly shocked her, a burning sensation travelling through Elphaba's fingers, all the way to her wrists. She hissed, and yanked her hands away. Elphaba leaped to her feet, infuriated, and backhanded Dorothy out of frustration, which only succeeded in hurting her hands more. Dorothy lay sprawled on the floor, dazed from being struck.
"I should have remembered. I should have known it wouldn't be that easy. Those shoes will never come off, those shoes will never be mine, as long as you're alive!" Elphaba said. "But, how should it be done?"
"These things need to be done delicately," the queen said into her ear.
Elphaba looked at the queen, at a loss for ideas. Just then, Toto slipped out of the basket and made a run for it. Claude went to go after him, but Elphaba stopped him.
"Don't! He's not that important. Besides, I'm done negotiating with Dorothy." She turned to the girl. "You will stay up here, in this tower, until I decide just how I'm going to kill you." She picked up a large hourglass from one of the nearby tables, and set it on another table nearest Dorothy, turning it upside down so that the pink sand trickled into the bottom part of the hourglass.
"You've been far more trouble than you're worth. When the sand runs out, you'll meet your end." Elphaba and the queen left the room, ignoring Dorothy's pleas. In a puff of purple and black smoke, they both vanished and reappeared in the queen's chambers, where Nox was waiting for them. He immediately ran to greet his mistress, brushing against her legs, then doing the same to the queen.
"We need to figure out how to kill Dorothy," Elphaba said, ignoring her throbbing hands.
"First," the queen said pointedly, walking over to her chaise lounge, "we need to heal your hands." She sat down, and then patted the spot next to her, indicating Elphaba to sit down.
Elphaba walked over and sat down next to the queen, holding out her hands. The queen gasped, when she noticed the purplish tinge to Elphaba's fingers and palms, and as she delicately held Elphaba's hands, gently examining them, she noticed a few angry welts, too.
"Oh, Elphaba, your poor beautiful hands. They must be throbbing," the queen said.
"The pain doesn't bother me, they just look bad," Elphaba said through gritted teeth, and the queen looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She wasn't fooled.
Elphaba sighed, knowing she couldn't fool the queen, and looked at her with a guilty expression on her face. The queen gave Elphaba a look as if to say, "Don't give me that face," and placed Elphaba's hands in her lap. She placed her own hands very lightly over Elphaba's, and magic flowed from her fingers, the magic caressing Elphaba's hands as the angry welts disappeared. The queen turned Elphaba's hands over, so that they were facing up, and covered her palms, the magic making the purplish tinge disappear and the throbbing subside.
When they were completely healed, the queen examined them again. "There, all better, dear," she said with a small smile, taking one of Elphaba's hands and giving it an affectionate squeeze.
Elphaba actually smiled warmly back at her, and took the queen's hand and kissed the back of it. "Thank you," she said. "Now can we discuss ways of killing Dorothy?"
The queen chuckled. "Of course."
"I say we just snap her neck and get it over with," Elphaba said.
"Did you not understand me when I said that these things need to be done delicately?"
"Fine, then you rip her heart out and crush it. Or, at least show me how to and I'll do it."
"I think you're missing the point of 'delicately'," the queen muttered.
Elphaba heaved a frustrated sigh. "Well, then, what about poisoning her?" she proposed.
"You know, that could work," the queen said. "The question is, how do we go about doing it?"
"I assume holding her down and pouring the poison down her throat wouldn't work," Elphaba muttered.
"No, dear, it wouldn't," the queen said, starting to grow exasperated with the girl, but forcing herself to stay patient. We're both just growing tired and cranky.
"I suppose we could slip it into her food, but I doubt she would eat anything we give her. Unless she really is that much of an idiot," Elphaba said.
"We can't rely on her idiocy, though," the queen muttered.
Elphaba let out another frustrated sigh, and started to pace the room. "I should just kill Glinda!" Elphaba exclaimed suddenly. "This is all her fault! If she hadn't stuck her nose into my business, I would have Nessa's shoes. Nessa would have wanted me to have her shoes. But, no, Glinda had to meddle in my affairs. She, SHE, should be the one locked in that tower. She should be the one watching the sand in the hourglass run out as I decide her fate. She should be the one who dies," Elphaba said. "Not Dorothy. Not an innocent girl who SHE pulled into the middle of this." Then, suddenly, Elphaba grew quiet, her emotions in conflict with one another.
The queen stood and approached her. "What's the matter, dear?" she asked.
"I just…I don't know! I want to kill Glinda, but…I …she's my twin, Regina, my twin! And, I want to kill Dorothy…I do! But, I just want Nessa's shoes back! That's all I've wanted this whole time!"
"So, what do you want to do?" the queen said, and though she would have found this indecisiveness to be a weakness in most people, she didn't see it as a weakness in Elphaba. Neither of them actually enjoyed killing people, but sometimes you had to do such things in order to get some respect, some justice. Sometimes you had to kill in order to survive.
"I don't know," Elphaba said, her shoulders sagging. "May I admit something?"
"Of course," the queen said.
"You have to promise, though, that you won't call me weak, or laugh at me, or even taunt me," she said, looking the queen in the eyes. Regina saw a wall go up behind the girl's eyes, knowing that she was preparing herself for whatever cruelty was about to come her way. But, though she was the Evil Queen, she would never be cruel to Elphaba.
"I promise," the queen said, the corner of her mouth quirking up in a half smile.
Elphaba let out a sigh. "I've never actually killed anyone, before. Tortured, yes, many, many times, but I've never actually killed."
The queen was taken aback. "You told me you had. And, you are always ready to kill when you grow angry," the queen said.
"I lied," Elphaba said, staring at the floor with guilt. "I'm so sorry, Regina. I shouldn't have lied to you, but I was so afraid of being seen as weak." She looked at the queen now, and Regina saw a hardness in her eyes. "You think I'm weak, don't you?"
"You're asking me this after I promised I wouldn't call you weak," the queen said.
"You may not be saying it, but I know you're thinking it!" Elphaba snapped.
"I'm not!" the queen said, offended. She drew closer to Elphaba, and grasped her upper arm. "Elphie," she said, but the girl wouldn't look at her. She placed her fingers under the girl's chin, and lifted her chin so that she was forced to look at her. "I promise you, that when I tell you I don't think you're weak, I mean it." She said this quietly, and there was a note of warmth behind her words. She didn't understand why she didn't think the young witch was weak. Normally, she would have, but this time things were…different. No, she wasn't weak, far from it. In fact, the queen thought that she was the bravest young witch she had ever met.
Elphaba stared at the queen, her eyes scanning her face. Elphaba had always been good at reading people, and was particularly adept at being able to tell whether someone was lying to her and tricking her. This was how she had been able to survive a life where she had experienced no justice and never had anyone else she could depend on, except for Nox and Nessa Rose. But, now, she saw no deception in the queen's eyes, no deception written on her face. Of course she wouldn't deceive you, you idiot! You've been able to depend on her for this long, so why would that change now? The walls she had put up in preparation for any hurt slowly slid down and she sighed.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know why I'm being so stupid."
The queen cupped the side of her face. "You're not being stupid. I would have reacted the same way. That's how you and I protect ourselves," she said with a reassuring smile. "Come here, you," she added, pulling Elphaba into her arms. Elphaba automatically started to squirm and struggle a bit, and Regina couldn't help but smile. The young witch hated hugs as much as she did. I always make the exception for Elphaba, though. Elphie and my father, the only two people I allow to hug me.
Elphaba finally stopped squirming, and relaxed in the queen's arms. "Thank you for understanding," Elphaba said. Then, she squared her shoulders, and pulled back, looking at the queen. "I want to kill Dorothy. And, I won't let Glinda stop me. I want Nessa's shoes back."
The queen was about to respond, when they heard shouting in the hallway. They both glanced at the door, and then at each other, before flinging open the door and rushing into the hall.
"What the hell is going on?" the queen demanded to one of the guards.
"The girl is trying to escape, your majesty. Her friends have arrived, and they're all trying to escape," the guard told the queen.
"What?" Elphaba shouted. "You let them into the castle? Are you stupid?" Elphaba shouted again. The guard stared down at her. "I asked you a question!"
"Answer her," the queen said. The guard opened his mouth, but had no answer. With that, the queen ripped his heart out of his chest, and crushed it, the guard falling to the ground with a thud.
Elphaba had a smirk on her face.
"Come, dear. I'll make sure that insufferable girl doesn't escape," the queen said.
They both disappeared in a swirl of purple and black smoke, and reappeared on one of the staircases in the castle. They watched Dorothy and her troupe dash past.
"Get them!" the queen shouted to her guards, and the guards raced after them. "Kill them if you have to!" she shouted after them. "No one angers my Elphaba," she added under her breath. "No one."
Elphaba started to race down the stairs, but the queen caught her by the elbow. "Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm going after them," Elphaba said.
"Not yet," the queen told her. "Wait until the guards have them cornered, and then they're all yours."
Elphaba huffed and crossed her arms, and the queen pulled her against her side. "I think you're just worried that they'll try to kill me," she said, even though she felt comfort in the weight of the queen's arm across her shoulders.
"That's not entirely untrue," the queen said quietly, giving Elphaba's shoulder a squeeze.
"You're lucky I like you so much," Elphaba muttered, hiding the fact that she had almost said "love" instead.
The queen gave a small smile, but then her face grew serious when one of the guards came racing back to them.
"Your majesty, we have them cornered on the parapet,"
"Good," she said to him, then looked at Elphaba. "Go." And with that, the young witch vanished.
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Elphaba appeared on the parapet, broom in hand. "So, you thought you'd come here and kill me, did you?" Elphaba said with a laugh. "Well, I'm not the one who's going to die tonight. The last to go will see the first three go before her, to suffer watching the deaths of those she loves!" Elphaba cackled. Just like how I had to watch those shoes be stolen from my sister's feet. Just like how I had to watch her die because you dropped your house on her. "And, I think I'll start with you, Scarecrow," she said with a wicked grin. She took the end of her broomstick, the end with all the bristles, and held it over the open flame of one of the torches. When the end of the broom was alight, the fire licking the end of it, she thrust it at the screaming troupe, and caught the scarecrow's arm on fire.
Elphaba roared with laughter, but it suddenly caught in her throat when she felt herself doused with water. She started to scream as if felt as though her skin was on fire, intense pain shooting through her body. Right when her legs were about to give out, she felt someone catch her around the waist, and everything spun around her as she was engulfed in a cloud of magic.
(Author's Note: Yay! Chapter 21, finally! It took a while because I've been busy, but I was finally able to finish it because i'm on Spring Break. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long, but we'll see. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I enjoyed showing a more vulnerable and human side to not only Elphaba but also the Evil Queen. And, I'm currenly re-watching season 1 so that I can tie the Storybrooke chapters into the events of Season 1 better, now that Rowan has her memory back. As always, happy reading, and review, review, review. I love hearing what you guys have to say. Oh, and hello new story followers! *waves*)