Hi! Here's Chapter XXXVII!

So, I suppose I should tell y'all more about Hamilton. The wheelchair seats were right up front, so I had a good view. Donald Webber Jr made me cry as Hamilton, and James Monroe Inglehart rocked as Lafayette/Jefferson, though I think he was a better Jefferson than Lafayette. And Mandy Gonzalez (a former Elphaba, you know, and my mental casting for Vaia) was an AWESOME Angelica, and her performance sort of inspired Elphaba's rant at the beginning of this chapter.

Enjoy!

Chapter 37

Glinda and I looked at each other in panic, both of us knowing we had to separate. I was grateful she realized that, because I had no time to type anything to her. As soon as she had concealed herself, Fiyero and Boq burst into the foyer, the former looking nervous but trying to hide it (and holding that mangy little dog), the latter almost unrecognizable from the sweet boy who was devoted to Glinda and who made me a bookstand, the bookstand that I still used, four years later. As I stared back at the hateful glare he gave me, I got a sudden impulse. With a mere thought, I paralyzed my brother in law; it was a simple spell that would wear off within clock ticks, so I typed as fast as I could.

"So … Boq … you've … come … to … rescue … your … little … friend. You … may … certainly … try. She's … just … up … the … stairs. But … I … hear … you … also … want … your … son. Little … Frexspar. My … nephew. You'll … never … find … him. He … doesn't … want … to … be … found. Even … when … I … die … I … have … ensured … that … he … will … be … provided … for. You're … just … like … my … father. Only … caring … for … your … child … when … doing … so … makes … you … look … good. It's … pathetic. But … as … much … as … I … love … my … nephew … I … loved … my … sister … more. I … loved … my … sister … more … than … anything … in … this … life. I … always … chose … her … happiness … over … mine. There … was … no … one … in … Oz … as … kind … or … trusting … and … you … let … her … live … a … lie. Her … guilt … over … you … corrupted … her. And … now … she's … dead. She … died … in … misery … because … of … you. Congratulotions." SPEAK.

As I predicted, Boq regained movement while my message played. "You corrupted her too," he said. "You and your father protected her from stuff that was just – life! So when she finally got exposed to it, she couldn't handle it. She trapped me in a marriage that I couldn't get out of without badly damaging my reputation. I would have been the foolish Munchkin peasant who left the crippled governor of Munchkinland. Even with her unpopularity, people would have pitied her and hated me. My hands were tied. And your morality has worn away with your muscles. Come on, Scarecrow. Let's rescue Dorothy."

They rushed up the stairs, and I said a spell in my head which pulled a level in the foyer that sounded an alarm for the guards who watched over the castle. They came quickly; they obeyed me because of loyalty to their "dead" prince and fear of what I might do to them. "Intruders! Seize … them!" SPEAK. Fiyero and Boq had already picked the lock on my door, and Dorothy was free.

"Oh, you found me!" she exclaimed happily. "And you found my dog! Oh, Toto! Oh, Scarecrow, Mister Boq, we have to get the Lion! I think that horrible ape locked him in the kitchen!"

"No time!" Fiyero said impatiently. "The soldiers are gaining on us. Come on!" He led them towards the North Tower, and I quickly followed them. In no time, we arrived in the North Tower, and the guards surrounded the three companions, effectively trapping them. I briefly considered saying something, typing out a monologue fit for a wicked witch. But that would take too long, and anyways, I thought the image of the silent sorceress would intimidate them even more. With only a little effort, I conjured up a fireball and let it float between me and my victims. I had to fight back a smile as Fiyero put on a look of terror and said, "Oh no, I may not have a brain, but I think that's for me. Somebody help!"

"No! Scarecrow!" Dorothy kind of surprised me, I have to say, as she broke free from the guard that held her and grabbed one of the buckets of water in the tower. She glared at me dangerously. "You are not going to hurt my friend, you wicked old witch!" She threw the water, putting out my fireball and soaking me from the shoulders down. Thank Oz it didn't hit my trach, otherwise they'd have an actual dead witch on their hands.

The water was absolutely freezing, so it took me a clock tick to get over that, but then I began to mentally chant, Aqua corporem faciatte. Aqua corporem faciatte. Thankfully I really didn't get to see what I looked like as I descended into the floor, but based on the looks on everyone's faces, including Fiyero's, it was not pretty. But all I saw was the floor getting closer and closer, and then the wine cellar. The spell wore off as soon as I was in wine cellar, and I fell to the ground, where Vaia was sitting, waiting for me.

"Whoa, green human girl!" she said, still managing to keep her voice quiet. "That was awesome! Wow, this has got to be the craziest thing I've ever been a part of."

I smiled up at her, but just then, we heard one of the guards say from above, "S-She's dead. You killed her!"

"Oh, I didn't mean to kill her," Dorothy said, in that annoyingly innocent voice that got on my nerves even now. "I was just trying to protect the Scarecrow."

"Hail to Dorothy! The Wicked Witch is dead!" This turned into a whole celebration that luckily only lasted for a short while before my murderers resolved to rescue the Lion, get my crutches and bring them to the Wizard so he would know I was dead.

The last thing we heard from them was Fiyero saying to Boq, "Cool it about your son. He's not here. The Witch said he would be provided for. And who knows? Maybe she had a point about you …" We didn't get to hear Boq's response to that.

I, of course, didn't have my device, which meant that Vaia and I couldn't really have a proper conversation, but we were content to sit in a comfortable silence. Until that silence was broken by a sob from above. "Elphie … oh, Elphie!"

A bolt of guilt hit me as I fully registered the pain my little stunt was causing Glinda. I could only imagine what she was going through. To have my death hanging over her for four years, and then to seemingly finally have it happen, not by my illness, but by the Wizard's unwitting child hitman. It was almost comforting to know that I literally couldn't tell her the truth at this point, because that was what part of my brain was screaming at me to do. I looked up at Vaia, who gave me a sympathetic look. But soon, my exhaustion from the evening took over, and I fell asleep.

I woke up to a knocking on the trapdoor. "It worked!" Fiyero sounded more relieved then anything else.

"Congratulotions!" Vaia yelled up at him. "Give us a tick tock!" She went over to the wine cellar door and pulled down the foldable steps leading up to it. She climbed up the steps and opened the door. "Hi, Your Highness. It's good to see you again. Glad you're not dead. One more clock tick, and I'll get Elphaba up here. 'Cause it would've been kind of hard to carry her AND open the door, you know what I mean?"

"It's good to see you too, Vaia." I could just picture the crooked smile on his face, at least on his old face, as he said that, and it made me grin too.

Vaia quickly went over to me and picked me up. "I believe a very handsome prince is up the stairs waiting for you."

As soon as I was back in Killyjoy, my safe haven, I looked over at Fiyero, and finally was able to fully take in what I had done to him. Ozdamn, I guess it's only fitting that the only way I could save him was by turning him into a … Amazingly, he seemed to know what I was thinking as he took my hand in his. "It's okay. You did the best you could. You saved my life."

"You're … still … beautiful." SPEAK.

"No, you don't have to lie to me."

"It's … not … lying! It's … just … looking … at … things … another … way." SPEAK.

Hope you liked it! Thanks for reading!

Cheers,

Elle Dottore