Chapter Twenty-One:
You are in every line I have ever read.
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens.
The mountains of the Vinkus seemed to engulf her, almost swallow her whole. Compared to them, she was nothing more than a speck on this earth.
It was slightly intimidating really, to be in the presence of such majestic power... and humbling too.
But the scenery nor the philosophical musings inspired by it was why she came here.
The tall walls of Kiamo Ko came into view and she was reminded of her goal once more.
Glinda.
She needed to speak with the blonde, to tell her everything and then break it off. She had her own life to lead, and Glinda certainly didn't seem like she was going to stop hers for Elphaba's sake. There was no use in waiting around for the blonde to wake up and realize the truth.
She was hesitant to go searching for the Grimmerie, if that even did provide any help. She wasn't so trustful of Larena, and she had good reason to be.
The gates of the castle opened wide for her, and Elphaba disembarked from the carriage; her mind still tingling from her previous thoughts.
To think that just a year ago, she had been in possession of the Grimmerie. While at her visit to the City Elphaba had the opportunity to meet with the Wizard and he saw great potential in her... he even let her use that book since she was the only one who could actually read it. Her opportunity was gone now, she had blown it by being too devoted in her search to find Glinda.
She wished now that she could remember the spell that Larena was talking about, if there was such a thing at all.
Her pace slowed as she got to the door, her feet suddenly stopping. Instantly, she got nervous, almost fidgety. Her skin grew cold and she felt the urge to run back to the carriage and just go home.
But she had to do this. She had to face Glinda.
So, she raised one fist and knocked on the door.
A maid's head peeked out of it in a few seconds.
"I'm here to see Glinda, I mean Princess Glinda Tiggular," corrected the green woman as she realized the blonde probably went by her title here more so than her actual name.
The maid nodded, "And you are?" she prompted.
"No one... just... just an old friend."
The maid opened the door and let her in, though not without a suspicious look in her eyes.
"I'll tell Madam you're here. You can wait in the library," she ushered Elphaba into the room just down the hall, not giving Elphaba any time to look around at the stone castle.
She closed the door quickly, and Elphaba was left to herself.
For a while she paced around the room, trying to think of what she actually wanted to say to Glinda when she got there. Her pacing then turned into sitting down on a chair, standing up when she thought the door was going to open, and then sitting back down to repeat the cycle all over again.
Finally the door opened, and Elphaba looked up, not before standing, to greet her.
"I can't possibly imagine who in the world would come see-" the blonde started before she saw Elphaba, but she immediately cut off her own sentence.
She pursed her lips delicately and then moved back a little to shut the door. She moved gracefully for she was dressed in a lavish cream gown with a gold belt and gold embroidery in the shape of roses on it. The front of hair was pinned to the back with exquisite sparkling pins, and the rest was left to loosely hang down her back in gorgeous curls.
Once again, Elphaba felt overshadowed by the blonde... feeling under-dressed in her dirty black dress from the party which was now stained with mud at the bottom, along with her combat shoes.
"What are you doing here?" Glinda questioned softly, her eyes averting Elphaba's gaze.
"I came to see you," Elphaba answered honestly, taking a step closer to the blonde.
Glinda, after a moment, took a wary step forward, "I didn't ask you to come," she said glancing at some of the books of a shelf that was next to her. One of her hands ran over the edge of the shelf lightly, as if she was trying to calm herself.
"I know."
Glinda looked at her at that, a snap of those blue eyes betrayed a hidden resignation.
Elphaba suddenly felt her nerves wash away in that moment. She still had power over Glinda, even if Glinda didn't want to admit it.
Those combat boots took two steps forward and Elphaba watched as Glinda's face morphed into one of regret and sadness.
"Elphie... why are you here?" the blonde asked, taking a step back when she decided that Elphaba was close enough.
"You know why I'm here..."
"Then why don't you just get it done and over with then?" snapped the fair-haired woman, "I know how you felt about the other night at the ball. I could see it on your face. Why couldn't you have just left it alone at that and let us live our lives in peace?"
"Because I love you and I felt that I needed to do it in person," Elphaba said, reaching out to take the blonde's hand, which she did. Glinda didn't resist.
Those blue eyes glanced at their hands intertwined.
"We've already decided that this would never work... why must we keep breaking it off when it never started in the first place?" pointed out Glinda.
"I guess I'm just too stubborn," said Elphaba. She meant it as a joke but it came out flat.
The blonde loosened her grip on the green woman's hand, and let her hand slip back to her side. Her fingers touched at the gold embroidered roses on her dress gingerly.
"I'd say," said Glinda with a little more life in her voice. Elphaba slightly smiled at that.
Glinda's face faltered and soon silence filled in the space between them.
"I went to see your Mother," Elphaba started, treading carefully.
The blonde tensed up immediately, stiffened at that statement but said nothing.
"She said that in the Grimmerie, that there might be a spell to help you... it's not a guarantee but it could be worth a try if you want to. I could go get it..."
"No," cut in the blonde sharply.
"No?" asked Elphaba a bit baffled at the answer.
Glinda's face was stern.
"Yes, Elphaba you heard me. I said no. I'm not trusting anything that woman says or tells me to do..."
"But what if-"
"No!" screamed Glinda, nearly losing all of her composure. Her chest heaved, her face blushed at the exclamation, and Elphaba just stared at her.
"I don't want to be fixed by some stupid spell. That's what got me here in the first place. I don't need it," admitted the blonde softly after some period of silence had gone by.
Elphaba just looked at her.
"You don't want to change, do you?" she asked, accusingly.
The blonde took a breath, but didn't answer. She started avoiding eye contact with Elphaba again.
"Are you happy... with him I mean?" Elphaba asked suddenly when she realized that she was going to get no where with that other question.
"Did becoming his princess really make you as happy as you thought it would?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"You know I don't love Fiyero, Elphie," confessed the blonde.
Elphaba perked up at that.
"If you don't love him, then what am I to you? Just a play thing that you can toy with?"
"Keep your voice down, Elphaba!" scolded the blonde, coming very close to the green woman's face, "And you know for a fact that you are not just some play thing to me! You never were!"
"Wouldn't have known it by the way you treated me. You threw me out of your life like a piece of wrinkled paper," stated Elphaba hotly.
"For your own protection!" argued the blonde, "You were better off back home than with me. You still are."
"I don't believe that for a second," Elphaba crossed her arms over her chest, as if to prove her point and challenge the blonde.
"Don't do this," pleaded Glinda, "You came here to end this... so do that. Don't try and rekindle what we had, it'll just be snuffed out in the end."
Elphaba bit her lip. She had came here to end this, but now that she was here, she wasn't so sure that was the right thing to do. There was always this pull, this magnetism towards Glinda that she couldn't fight. She would go to the ends of the earth to see Glinda happy and alive.
"I love you," said Elphaba with a hitch in her voice.
Glinda's bottom lip trembled every so slightly. She couldn't bring herself to look at Elphaba.
The two of them stood there, a few feet a part for a while.
Then it was Elphaba who made the first move. With one hand out, her lips crashed into Glinda's with a fiery passion, her hand that had been outstretched reached around and clutched at that gorgeous blonde hair. The blonde resisted for only a second and then she succumbed to Elphaba's passion, allowing the green woman to kiss her.
Time seemed to stand still for them, in that moment. That kiss seemed to stretch on for an eternity, for a lifetime.
And yet it seemed to end all too soon.
There was nothing but the sound of their breathing when it was over, both women standing inches apart. Gasping for breath that seemed to elude their lungs, lamenting for what could have been.
There were no blubbering goodbyes, no heart-wrenching pleas to stay from either woman.
There was no yelling or screaming...
It was just silence and their breathing. The empty space between them said everything.
Elphaba caressed Glinda's pale cheek slowly, and Glinda grasped Elphaba's hand, stopping it in it's place on her face.
The blonde tried to get her words out, an apology, a plea for her to stay. Her mouth moved but nothing except air escaped her lips.
Elphaba could see that the blonde was struggling, and she herself was too. Tears stung at her eyes but even still she saw Glinda's lips trembling through her misty veil.
Elphaba let her hand fall out of Glinda's grasp down to her side. Panicked, Glinda tried to reach for the hand again, but Elphaba stepped away from her.
The silence was deafening, almost harsh to their ears. It seemed to cause a ringing all around even though there was a lack of noise in the air.
"Elp- Elphie..." begged Glinda in an almost incomprehensible plea. Her eyes were full to the brim with unshed tears.
The green woman took a step back.
"I'll return," she said in a low voice, "when I find the book."
"No, Elphie-" the blonde tried to argue but Elphaba cut her off with another hard kiss.
The blonde's hands wrapped themselves around Elphaba's body. Despite being usually prim and proper, the blonde didn't even make a fuss when she suddenly found herself pressed against the bookcase, causing wrinkles and tears in her dress.
The two women seemed to be in their own private world, which was fulled with exchanges of kisses, moans, touches... until it shattered.
There was a knock on the door, and they hastily tried to make themselves presentable.
"Glinda, darling... is that you?" Fiyero's voice soon came after the knocking sound.
The blonde looked as if she was about to curse all of the gods. She bit her lip worriedly.
"One moment, dearest!" called out Glinda, still out of breath as she tried to fix her dress and rearrange her hair.
Elphaba made little adjustments to herself, and wore a slightly amused smirk as she watched the blonde try and keep up her prim and proper appearance.
Flustered, the blonde looked herself over for any hints of what had just happened when she noticed Elphaba's hand outstretch towards her.
Elphaba silently tucked in a lock of stray hair that had come out of Glinda's hair clip.
The blonde gave her a grateful look in return.
"All set, dearest!"
The door opened and Fiyero looked at Glinda with a rather quizzical glare. He then looked to Elphaba in surprise.
"Elphaba!" he said, gawking slightly at the sight, "What a surprise to see you here!"
Elphaba nodded at him, "Fiyero."
She then glanced at Glinda, whose eyes were begging for her to stay.
"I should get going. I was just on my way out. Goodbye Fiyero... Glinda," said Elphaba as she turned towards the door.
"Oh, so soon?" Fiyero questioned, "You should at least stay for dinner, please. It would do us some good to have some company around here."
Elphaba looked back. Fiyero had now placed his arm around the blonde's waist, holding her close. He seemed content with this position but Glinda looked as though she was going to vomit.
"I really need to get going, but thank you for the invitation," she said in a monotone voice.
Fiyero's welcoming smile faltered a little.
"Well, please don't be a stranger. You are most welcome to come by anytime, isn't that right dearest?" he glanced at his wife.
Glinda's breath hitched in her chest. Her eyes locked on Elphaba's form.
"Of course you are," she said at last in a soft, whispered voice.
Elphaba stood still for a fraction of a second, just staring at Glinda.
"I'll head out now," the green woman said at last.
She saw those blue eyes of Glinda's well up with tears, but she left before she could see them fall.
Thank you for the support! Only a few more chapters left until this story is over! Thank you for sticking by me! It means so much!
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