DISCLAIMER: Wicked isn't mine.
AN. We got some very exciting news last week- Wicked is coming back to Australia in 2023! I am thrillified about this, especially because this means the next time I see it, it will not be the movie. (Also so that when I make all the friends I've made since it was last here to the movie, they know the standard I will be comparing it to).
To festivate, I asked on my writing socials for prompts of "happiness and fluff"; narrowed it down to 4 and then asked people to vote. And the winner was a Soulmate AU- which I've never actually written before, despite reading a million of them. And this turned out longer than I thought, not particularly fluffy, and with much more Glinda POV than I expected in a Fiyeraba... sorry guys.
In Your Eyes
By Vinkunwildflowerqueen
Chapter 1
It was a myth. A fairy tale- literally.
In the early days of Oz, when Lurline and her fairies freely roamed the land, they enjoyed mingling with the humans and Animals. Mixing among them, watching as they made the world their own, and how they made the most of the short time granted to them. Each fairy had their little amusements, using their particular skills and talents to aid the mortals- or hinder them, if the mood struck them.
Brunhilla was the fairy goddess of love and friendship, and she amused herself by pairing together the humans, much as a human child did with their dolls. She took her choices seriously, and she took pride in the successes of her matches. It became known throughout the land that if you were matched by Brunhilla, your relationship was very likely to be long-lasting and happier than most. Soon Brunhilla was being asked by those all across Oz to be matched, in order to ensure a happy relationship.
The thing about fairies is that they aren't known for the regulation of their emotions. What had started as pride for Brunhilla at her successes soon became ego. A dangerous thing for humans, even moreso for fairies.
One day, Brunhilla was approached by her younger sister Byella.
"Ilah and Myf have asked me to bless their marriage," she said, watching Brunhilla study a pool of humans to determine the best matches.
Brunhilla looked up with a frown. "But I've matched Ilah with Gorre. I've told her this."
"Yet she is planning on marrying Myf."
"That can't be right," Brunhilla insisted and headed down to Oz.
When Brunhilla sought out Ilah to correct Byella, because surely this was merely a misunderstanding, Ilah confirmed the news.
"With all due respect, my Lady, I believe I know my own heart. And my choice is Myf," she said firmly.
Brunhilla was overcome with fury. As I said before, they aren't good at regulating their emotions at the best of times. Brunhilla, with a focus on love, was ruled by her emotions more easily than most. Incensed at Ilah's audacity to go against Brunhilla's match, the fairy seized the souls of both Ilah and Myf, and thrust them into the waiting bodies of two babies about to descend to Earth.
"If the two of you are truly a superior match, it should be easy for you to find one another again," she said mockingly and sealed them inside.
Ilah and Myf grew up on opposite sides of Oz, their former memories swathed in haze and kept just beyond reach. Yet there was something. Something that told them each that there was something- or someone- missing. Something that they should be looking for.
Lurline herself, once she was made aware of the revenge Brunhilla had inflicted out of her bruised ego, took pity upon the young lovers and went to Kader, the fairy of fate and asked her to gently nudge the two into one another's spheres. Just enough to give them a fighting chance without offending Brunhilla.
"Brunhilla won't like that," Kader warned.
"No," Lurline agreed. "But she needs to learn that the Ozians are not her playthings, and perhaps that she does not always know best. I have faith in Ilah and Myf, but Brunhilla mustn't play the game to her own advantage. I'm merely asking you to even the odds."
And so it was that many years later, Myf and Ilah by happenstance (or at least, enough happenstance for Kader to be able to claim so if Brunhilla were ever to ask), were reunited in a small marketplace. And as would become a staple in so many future tales of love and lore, the two locked eyes for a moment, and in that held gaze, soul recognised soul. The haze surrounding their past memories dissipated and their love, hidden but never truly forgotten, was renewed.
Both had lived full lives while apart. They'd loved and lost, married and had families, travelled throughout Oz and its' surrounding lands. And now they were free, in all regards, to live their twilight years together and make up for lost time; although haunted by the "what ifs?" and "should have beens."
Brunhilla came to them, humbled now and full of regret.
"Congratulotions," she said to them. "It seems that you do know your own heart, after all."
"But you have robbed us of our life!" Ilah spat, clutching Myf's hand tightly.
"I know," Brunhilla replied. "And while I cannot correct that mistake, in due course you will rewarded. In the meantime, I give you my blessing and a badge of honour."
And upon their skin, she bestowed her mark. By all appearances, a birthmark, in some semblance of the heliotrope flower which signified 'eternal love'. A badge of honour for all to know that their love had been blessed by Brunhilla herself, that they had earned their happiness and their life together.
Too soon (because it was always too soon. Even eternity is not long enough to be with the one you love most), the time came for them to be separated once more, and Woddin, the fairy of death, came to lead Myf where Ilah could not yet follow.
"I can't lose you again," Ilah sobbed brokenly, clutching at Myf's hand.
"You won't," Woddin promised her, before guiding Myf away. "Have faith."
Faith was a lot to ask of the grieving, and the only worthy reward Ilah could have received was more time with her beloved, and she couldn't see how the time they had been granted with a reward at all. She was at last given answers when it was her turn to leave the earthly plane behind. And when Ilah was reunited with Myf once more, never to be separated again, Brunhilla found them once more.
"I promised that you would be rewarded," she reminded them. "Here."
She took a piece of their love, and scattered it into the air to carry it down to Oz, where it would fall all across the land like pollen.
"From now until the end of the earth, the essence of your love will find those who can love as purely and wholly as the two of you," she told them. "And when they find one another and their souls truly see one another; they will be honoured with my mark as you were, and blessed with a happy, long life together. Therefore, your love will live on for as long as the sun rises. Because of you, so many more will find love and they will know it."
Over the years, the story of Ilah and Myf's love became known as Brunhilla's mark, eventually passing down into folklore. But those chosen few who were blessed with the mark, did indeed have a long and happy life together.
"That's so lame," Fiyero complained, after first hearing the story. "How can you just look at someone and then be in love with someone you don't even know?"
"It's not a matter of just looking at someone," laughed Grams. "It's about the moment when you really see someone, eye to eye. Haven't your parents ever told you the phrase 'the eyes are the window to the soul'?"
Fiyero stared at her blankly, then wrinkled his nose.
"But it's not real," he insisted, with all his superior knowledge of his six years of life. "It's just a story."
He looked to his father, the fount of wisdom in his eyes. "Dad?"
Ibrahim looked between his mother-in-law and his son and smiled.
"Well," he said slowly. "Your grandfather used to tell me that all stories have a basis in fact. And there's definishly stories in my family tree of those who claim to have borne Brunhilla's mark."
Fiyero narrowed his eyes. "But you don't."
Ibrahim shook his head. "No."
Fiyero looked to his grandmother. "Do you?"
"No," Grams confirmed. "It's the chosen few, Yero. The special ones."
Fiyero frowned.
That night, when his mother tucked him in, he asked her about it.
"Why doesn't Brunhilla give everyone her mark?"
Kasmira paused, finished tucking the covers around him, and then settled onto the bed. "Sweetheart, the story-"
"Dad said all stories have a basin in fact!"
Kasmira chuckled. "A basis," she corrected him gently. "And that may be true. But the important thing to remember, Yero, is that these stories only mean what we want them to mean. Grams told me that story when I was a girl, but my best friend had a book with the story in it. And in her book, the story went that the pieces of love that were sent down into the air, sought out those who were going to struggle in life. And when they met the person who would complement them best, Brunhilla's mark was a promise that in the end, no matter what, love would prevail."
Fiyero considered that. "Like a rainbow?"
"In a way," Kasmira agreed, smoothing back his hair. "But not having a mark doesn't mean that you can't find someone to spend your life with one day. I know many happy people, and none of them have a mark. So, it's not something I would worry about, my darling. Just enjoy the stories Grams tells you."
Fiyero shrugged, rolled onto his side and snuggled beneath his covers. "Girls are dumb anyway," he announced.
Kasmira laughed. "Give it a decade or so. Goodnight, Yero."
"Night, Mom."
AN. Because this is quite lengthy and chunky, I did break it into five short chapters to help with the flow.
