Chapter Twenty-Nine:

Glinda's voice cut through the silent air like lighting. The blonde waited for the green woman to acknowledge her voice or her presence but Elphaba did and said nothing. She continued to talk nonsense to her animals whilst Glinda stood there near the door silent.

"Elphaba?" Glinda's voice rang out in the air. She shifted her weight nervously as she hoped for an answer.

Finally Elphaba turned more like whipped her body around to look at the disturbance.

"What are you doing here?" she growled in a low voice to the blonde, "You're disturbing me. Go away!"

At the harshness of her tone Glinda flinched. She didn't like hearing that lace of malice in her lover's voice.

"No," said Glinda firmly, "I'm not leaving and you are going to listen to me."

Elphaba scoffed at that, "Since when have you ever gotten me to obey you, Your Goodness?" Her voice was full of mockery and Glinda kept her face blank to never let Elphaba know how much those words hurt.

"Please?" she begged, her eyes searing into Elphaba's in need, in pain, "I can't let you die like this."

"I've already sent out my monkeys for the girl and her companions. So you're too late," barked out Elphaba and with a wave of her hand the monkey that she had been attended to flew out of the room from the window.

"You sent for her?" Glinda was confused. She couldn't make sense of Elphaba's twisted logic, "But what are you going to do with her?"

At that Elphaba let slip a cruel smile on her green face and Glinda gasped as it all came together.

"You must kill before you are killed, Glinda," said Elphaba after a few seconds.

Glinda was horrified. Her face paled and her stomach plummeted.

"Elphie," whimpered Glinda, "No… no, no, Elphie you can't!"

"I can do anything I want, I'm the Wicked Witch of The West my dear," protested Elphaba with a sneer.

Glinda felt her heart break piece by piece as she looked at her old friend.

"Oh, Elphie," Glinda felt tears building in her eyes, "You aren't wicked. You're Elphaba Thropp, the passionate Animal activist who just wanted to help people."

Elphaba scoffed and snorted as she turned away from Glinda.

"I'm not that girl anymore," she said harshly but there were undertones of sadness in her voice.

Glinda saw right through that lie, and she slowly approached the witch. Putting a hand on her bony shoulder Glinda sighed, "You are, and you always have been."

Elphaba shook her head as it hung low towards the ground, "I don't think so…"

Glinda put on a small smile, "You just forget sometimes… I forget all the time who I used to be. But together we can remember…"

Hesitantly Glinda slowly took her hand off of Elphaba's shoulder and linked it with her hand. Elphaba flinched at the contact but did not pull away. With her other hand Glinda gently caressed Elphaba's face.

"Glin…" Elphaba's eyes met the blonde's.

Glinda felt a surge of passion well up inside of her and before either of them knew it, Glinda had her lips pressed gently to Elphaba's. Afraid that she would pull away and never speak to her again Glinda savored every millisecond that she had with her lips on her lover's. The blonde was more than surprised when Elphaba didn't pull away and actually deepened the kiss by wrapping her arms around the tiny woman.

Theirs bodies pressed together in need, in want, and most of all in passion as their lips collided. The tensions that had been between them earlier faded away like nothing had ever happened.

"Elphie," said Glinda as her lips traveled farther down the witch's slightly nonexistent chest, "Say you love me."

Elphaba frowned when she realized that it was a command and not a plea.

"Why?" Elphaba slightly shuddered when Glinda's lips came to her abdomen.

As soon as Elphaba asked that question the blonde's lips immediately came off.

Glinda looked at Elphaba with piercing ice-blue eyes before she answered.

"Because I know you do," her voice broke, "I know you love me, I've known it for a long time now."

She got in quickened breaths as she waited for Elphaba to say those coveted three words. In the meantime, Glinda undid the buttons of Elphaba's dress ever so slowly and seductively with her slender fingers.

"Glinda…" protested Elphaba as she took a step back, "They'll catch us."

She was talking about Liir and Nanny but Elphaba also realized that it could be used as a metaphor for the world. If Liir or Nanny did see who's to say they won't go around spreading rumors. Who's to say that Sir Chuffrey or the Wizard would find out about their clandestine relationship?

"I hope they do," she said with a smile as the dress Elphaba was wearing slid off her body and onto the floor. Glinda's eyes gazed at the emerald skin that covered every inch of Elphaba's body in wonder. She brought those grayish lips to her pale pink ones and pressed ever so slowly so that they met.

But before Elphaba could response back, Glinda pulled away.

"Say it," she commanded in a shrill voice as she undid the buttons of her own dress, letting the black dirty attire fall to the floor as well.

Elphaba swallowed as she took in Glinda's naked body.

"I love you," she said as earnestly and honestly as she possibly could. Her brown eyes looked into Glinda in truth and the blonde's heart melted.

"I love you too," replied Glinda with a smile.

Her hand reached up and touched Elphaba's face lovingly. Just as she was about to kiss her Elphaba spoke.

"What about Chuffrey?"

Glinda pondered over what he had said to her at the funeral and how he had acted towards her over the numerous years they had been together and she shook her head and smirked.

"The hell with Chuffrey," said Glinda as she brought Elphaba closer to her with her hands around the green woman's waist, "It's always been you that I've wanted."

They both smiled at each other. There was a brief moment of silence before either of them moved.

"This is it, isn't it?" asked Glinda a bit tearfully. She sniffled as she looked down at her shoed feet.

"Yes, it is…" mused Elphaba. Her bony chin nuzzled against Glinda's neck in affection as her lips sucked on her collar bone, "So let's make it worth our while…"

Glinda let out a few giggled as Elphaba pressed the blonde's body up against a wall.

"Elphie, I love you," moaned the blonde as Elphaba's lips grazed her skin.

"I love you more, now shush they'll hear you downstairs," said Elphaba.

"Are you ashamed of me, Miss Elphaba?" teased Glinda as she felt Elphaba's fingers enter her.

Elphaba looked up and merely smirked at her, "No, my dear. Though I've always wondered if you were?"

Glinda laughed slightly and her hands were placed on either shoulder blade of Elphaba's.

"No, not ashamed of you. I was more ashamed of myself for not following my heart when I realized I was in love with you back at Shiz," explained Glinda as her lips pressed fully against Elphaba's, causing the green woman to stop what she was doing with her hands and moan. When Glinda pulled away, Elphaba searched her eyes for a moment.

"What?" asked Glinda softly with a tilt of her head. Her fingers traced the edges of Elphaba's breasts as she waited for an answer.

"I'm sorry for letting you go with Chuffrey. I should have told you how I felt right then and there when you told me you were getting married. If I did-"

"Oh my darling," cut in Glinda as she stopped her hands only to move them to Elphaba's face, "Don't talk about the past, not now. I'll leave if I hear another word about it. What's done is done, let's… let's just enjoy right now," she purred as her lips sucked on Elphaba's throat.

"You're right," said Elphaba and she looked down at the blonde, "I do love you Glinda…"

The blonde just smiled sweetly at her lover, "And I you," she said and she pressed her body against the stonewall in the sexiest pose she could manage.

"Now, my dear, how wicked did you say you were?"

It had seemed like an eternity had gone by with just Elphaba and Glinda having sex in the solar. No one disturbed them, and all noises seemed to turn into a blurring silence.

It was their last but they both made sure that it was a time that neither of them would ever forget for the rest of their lives, no matter how short one of theirs might be…

"Shush, my sweet. Do you hear that?" asked Elphaba pulling herself away from Glinda as the blonde moaned when the green woman took her lips off of hers. The blonde was too agitated to care, "It's nothing, Elphie," she dismissed," Now kiss me again," she breathed in the green woman's ear. She pulled herself closer to Elphaba but Elphaba pushed herself away.

"I think she's here, that girl Dorothy that I sent the monkeys to get," said Elphaba a bit breathlessly. Her hands remained on Glinda's hips and they were as still as stone. Her face turned patient as she listened for the sound again.

"She is, she's here," said Elphaba bitterly, "I can hear that whining annoying voice from up here. Good Lurline and I left Liir and Nanny to welcome her and not scare her away." Elphaba grabbed her dress from the floor and hastily put it back on. Glinda did the same with her own dress, though it was in reluctance.

"Don't go," whispered Glinda as her fingers clung to the fabric of Elphaba's dress, pulling her closer to Glinda's body.

"I have to," said Elphaba softly. Her eyes avoided Glinda's as if she didn't want her to see something in them.

"She'll kill you or you will kill her," reminded Glinda, "Either way Elphaba, neither outcome is good!"

At this Glinda started to break down. Tears fell from her eyes and she hiccupped and tried to muffle her sobs with her hands. Her body quivered and shook with horrible grief and horror at what was to come. She couldn't let Elphaba die, she just couldn't.

"You can't do this to me!" she wailed as she shoved Elphaba away from her, "After everything we've been through, you're just going to leave me again? I'm tired of waiting… I've done too much of it. I've spent my whole life waiting for you to come for me, to finally accept what we have. I've been waiting forever for you to say and mean those three words; I love you. And now you've finally said them and you're leaving me again."

Glinda paused for breath in her rant and her chest rose and fell quickly as tears shone in her eyes.

"I can't and won't be able to take it if you- if you die! I'll kill myself!" she shrieked as she backed herself into one of the stonewalls crying uncontrollably as she collapsed to the floor.

She didn't see Elphaba walk over to her and help her up but she felt it. She looked up at Elphaba and found that even the green woman was fighting back some sort of sad emotion.

"You're not going to kill yourself, you're going to be fine. You're going to live a great life with lots of money and fame and by this time next year you won't even remember my name," Glinda cried harder as she said this and was about to say something when Elphaba put a finger to her lips, "Don't even try to say it won't be true because it will. I am nothing to you and I am nothing to this world."

"Well you are, Elphaba! You're more than something to me!" screamed back Glinda as hot tears trailed down her pale face, "You're everything to me!"

Biting on her lip, Elphaba grabbed a tight hold of Glinda's wrists and dragged her towards the door.

"You have to leave," she said curtly and nearly fell over when Glinda stopped dead in her tracks and her wrists were ripped out of the green woman's grasp.

"Did that just mean nothing to you?" she shrieked at Elphaba meaning the act of sex that they had just performed, "Are you really going to try and send me away after all that? I won't leave and you will not make me," Glinda stood where she was, determined not to leave.

She heard Elphaba sigh and saw as the breath went through her whole body. Hard steely eyes met Glinda's soft ones, "Fine, but you have to hide."

"No," argued Glinda, "I'm coming downstairs with you!" she reached out to grab a hold of Elphaba's forearm when Elphaba took a step forward.

"Absolutely not," Elphaba shook her head at the idea and she beckoned to one of her monkeys who sat perched on a nearby windowsill.

"Make sure that the next time I come up here that she -at this Elphaba pointed sharply to Glinda- is out of anyone's sight, do you understand Malcor?" she asked her monkey.

The monkey nodded and grabbed Glinda's wrist with a furry hand.

"You're having one of your monkeys make sure that I stay hidden?" exclaimed Glinda furious.

Elphaba nodded as she put on her witch's hat and straightened out her homespun black dress, "He'll claw your eyes out if you don't obey the instructions I gave him…" she said as a warning.

Glinda felt more tears build up inside of her as she watched Elphaba stride to the doorway.

"Why can't we be like those fairy-tale characters who end up together forever in happily ever after?" cried Glinda as soon as one of Elphaba's hands touched the door handle.

The green woman, the one woman that she had loved for so many years, turned to look at her. Taking her steps slowly and lightly she made her way back towards Glinda. Without any words spoken, she brought a hand around to be placed on the back of Glinda's head and kissed her one last time.

It lasted but a minute but it was something that neither of them would ever regret doing.

"Because there are no happily ever afters for witches like us," said Elphaba softly caressing Glinda's face, "There are only afters and ends."

With tears falling from her face in utter heartbreak and lost hope Glinda watched helplessly as the woman she loved left the room and descended down the staircase to meet her death by the hands of a child.

So in honor and celebration of So Close winning for Best Gelphie-which is something that I give out a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone that nominated and voted for me- I decided to update!

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