"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
Toto barked noisily while running around Glinda's sleeping form. It pounced on her arms and legs and licked her hands and cheeks but she remained unresponsive.
Glinda still wore the happy expression she had ever since she fell asleep. Not even the ruckus below, not far from where she was at the top of the Tower of Magic, shook her. It made Dorothy feel worried.
"Please wake up, Miss Glinda!" the girl told her, hoping she would hear. Toto whined and snuggled on the sleeping lady's side.
Dorothy's heart leapt upon hearing the landing of feet onto the floor. "Miss Glinda, you know Elphaba, right? Please wake up! She's here! She's…" The girl turned her head and gasped.
"Fascinatious!" Morrible, who just landed at the top of the tower, commented. Her eyes were sinister, making the girl's knees tremble. "But kids shouldn't stick their noses in adults' business. Off you go!"
While Morrible raised her wand, Toto angrily bit the hem of her dress. She merely snorted. "You little cretin dare interfere? Take that!" she said, punctuating it with a harsh kick that sent the poor little creature flying.
"No! Toto!" Dorothy rushed towards the dog's prone form. She trembled and cried in fear.
Before Morrible could get her hands on the weeping girl, a wall of fire appeared between them. The sorceress turned and summoned a lightning bolt using her wand. She directed the bolt towards the one who beckoned the flames. But before the lightning hit its target, it was met by a kick of a combat boot with a sole made of rubber.
"Let the girl go!" shouted Fiyero. "I am your enemy, Morrible. Fight me!"
Elphaba, behind him, was about to protest, but he went on charging towards their opponent.
More lightning bolts came in Fiyero's way but he evaded them. Once he was close, Morrible produced a dagger and used it to defend herself. Temporarily, he was able to immobilize her by grabbing the wrist of the hand holding the weapon.
"Now's the chance, Fae!" he signaled. Elphaba grabbed the hand of Dorothy, who was carrying her pet dog, and they dashed towards Glinda.
"Trying to be a hero again, huh? That's very charmifying," Morrible commented. "If only it would work well for you. I assume you haven't forgotten how easily I defeated you last time."
Once Morrible was able to get back some distance from her opponent, she showered him with bolts of ice. Despite his agility, Fiyero got a few cuts because he was still in a dangerously close range. Nonetheless, when the spell died down, he kept his guard and positioned himself in a fighting stance.
"Doesn't matter," Fiyero replied, panting slightly. "I trust Elphaba and Glinda. You won't win."
Meanwhile, Toto led Dorothy and Elphaba towards where Glinda laid unconsciously. It barked at the sleeping lady in another futile attempt to wake her up.
Elphaba rushed to Glinda's side and held the hand of her friend, who she had never seen in five years. She was the same beautiful lady with golden curls, but she was much paler this time. The green witch looked closely at her friend's hand and saw little ice crystals forming on her skin.
Dorothy grabbed Glinda's other hand and gasped. "She's freezing!"
Elphaba let go of Glinda's hand and cast a weak fire spell. The ice crystals on her friend's hands melted at her warm touch.
Dorothy watched Elphaba do her magic. Tentatively, the girl tried to help by rubbing off the ice on the hand she was holding. Later, she flinched upon hearing Elphaba's sharp intake of breath. Dorothy tiptoed to see what the green lady was looking at and saw burn marks on Glinda's hand. She watched Elphaba, whose face she cannot see because her head was lowered down. Teardrops fell on the burnt hand. Dorothy wanted to comfort Elphaba but she did not know how.
Elphaba was taken out of her reverie by the sound of explosion and flash of bright lights, which appeared from where Fiyero and Morrible were fighting. Dorothy easily recognized the lights coming from one of the flares Boq gave them.
Against the intense illumination, Elphaba watched the silhouette that unmistakably belonged to Fiyero. For a split-second, she thought he glanced at her but he quickly hopped off to evade an incoming lightning bolt. Suddenly, she felt so sorry – she only cried and dwelt in her helplessness while he fought bravely against their enemy. Finding her strength and courage once more, she focused her attention on Glinda, healing her burns and trying to melt the ice on her skin.
Finding her efforts fruitless, Elphaba took the Grimmerie from her satchel and looked for some spell in the book that she could use. She also fetched a pen and a piece of paper and hastily scrawled a sort of an incantation – one that was not exactly the same as what she read from the book.
"Please make this work," Elphaba pleaded silently to no one in particular. "Oh, Glinda, please wake up!"
Fiyero was serious when he said to Morrible that Elphaba and Glinda could defeat her. But, truth be told, he had no idea how they would do that. Nonetheless, he fought on, clinging on the hope that Glinda would wake up. It was their goal, after all. Of course, he never told Elphaba out loud because he thought she might protest. If dying in Morrible's hands would mean Elphaba and Glinda would leave this place alive and safe…
Huge icicles flew towards him, interrupting his thoughts. He quickly hopped off his place, escaping an icicle by a hair strand.
Moreover, he observed how powerful Morrible was despite her appearance – she looked years older than he last saw her in the power plant in Quadling Kells.
A second icicle approached him and easily slid over his skin, leaving a crimson-colored streak on his arm.
Unfazed, he was able to evade the ice needles and lightning bolts that followed. He even met the incoming giant snowball with a punch that dispersed it.
His strong punch dragged his body forward, but his heavily worn out legs were unable to support him. Consequently, he fell with his face down.
The sun was shining so intensely and the cheers and the ballyhoo of the happy throng was resounding. But Glinda the Good did not mind because she loved the people's attention. She continued smiling and waving at the people as she paraded in the middle of the crowd.
The sounds were almost deafening that she almost did not hear two familiar voices amidst the noise.
"Glinda! Glinda, over here!"
Glinda turned her head towards the source of the voices and was delighted to see her two old college friends, ShenShen and Pfannee. Since then, Glinda was able to spot a few more familiar faces among the flock of people.
One person came to mind as she scanned the crowd. She narrowed her eyes to look for someone whose skin had the color of emeralds. However, she found it impossibly difficult to distinguish her in the midst of people in green garb in the City of Emeralds.
"Miss Glinda!"
Glinda looked behind and saw a girl running after the carriage she was riding. "Dorothy!"
"Miss Glinda! Fiyero and Elphaba are in trouble! Please wake up!" the girl shouted.
All other sounds seemed to quiet down to Glinda's ears because worry flooded her thoughts. "Sweet Oz. What have I been doing here?" she asked herself internally.
The sunlight suddenly became too irritatingly too hot to her liking. She looked at her hands and gasped at the burns that covered it. Confused, she frantically looked around her.
Her eyes landed onto the Tower of Magic, which seemed to be on the verge of collapsing. Some beams of light came out of it, causing some parts of the tower to fall. She looked again at the people who seemed to be unaffected – they were still cheering happily.
"What's going on?" she asked no one in particular. No one responded.
"What's going on? Please answer me!" she tried again, this time addressing the one driving her carriage. "Stop! Stop this carriage! Please, stop!"
"How disappointifying! Just when I was starting to have fun," Morrible commented, looking down at Fiyero who was lying on the floor. Using her magic, she turned him around so he was lying on his back. Getting no response, she sighed. "Ah! Well, not my loss. Now I can get my hands on that witch!"
With a smirk, Morrible turned and walked towards the ladies Fiyero was trying to protect.