No One Mourns the Wicked - But What About the Good?

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Elphaba is frozen in place, as Glinda rushes towards her. Her instincts tell her to flee, to hide, to defend, but her mind tells her that this is Glinda. The Glinda she knew wouldn't hurt her.

The calm, detached part of her mind surveys her friend's pale, thin face. The eyes are sunken, and the cheekbones stick out. There are a few hints, here and there, that remind Elphaba of the Glinda that she knew: A thread of gold in her hair. The corkscrew curls, a little ragged, but still falling to her shoulders. The eyes are the same, a pale blue-grey, though they appear even larger in her thin face, and worry lines wind their way around them. Elphaba takes in all these details in a split second. "Glinda... what has life done to you?" She says, in a soft tone.

The words seem to snap Glinda back to attention. She halts a few feet from Elphaba, and stares for a moment. Slowly, she steps forward, one slim hand reaching out. She touches Elphaba's cloak, ever so softly, as if to make sure she was real, solid. She looks hard at Elphaba's face for a moment, her eyes wide.

"No. NO!" The words are torn from her throat as she stumbles backwards. Her legs hit the chair and she sits down, heavily. She wraps her arms around herself and rocks forward, eyes never leaving Elphaba's face. "You're dead. I heard you die. I took the Grimmerie, and you died. You're dead." She says, close to tears.

"No, Glinda. I didn't die. Fi..." Elphaba pauses, quickly choosing more careful words. "I survived. I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you." Elphaba's keen ears pick up the sound of footsteps approaching. "Sweet Oz, they can't find me here." She mutters, ducking into the shadow of the wardrobe, where she would be out of sight from the door. Glinda's haunted eyes follow her.

The door opens, and a young male attendant peers in. "Miss Glinda? Is everything all right? Would you like me to help you to bed?" He asks, nervously. Glinda wipes her eyes with her sleeve, and takes a shaky breath. Her eyes dart to the corner where Elphaba is hiding. "No, thank you." She replies, waving her hand in a dismissing gesture. The attendant looks at her a moment and seems about to say something else, but instead he turns and leaves the room, closing the door softly.

Hearing only Glinda's ragged breathing, Elphaba slips out of her hiding spot. Silhouetted against the curtains, Glinda is sitting at the desk. Her eyes are trained on Elphaba. She is silent, still wrapped in her own embrace. Elphaba picks up a wooden chair from beside the door and sets it down next to Glinda. Taking a seat, Elphaba moves to put a hand on Glinda's shoulder, but the woman leans away from the touch. Glinda's eyes remain fixed on Elphaba. Elphaba looks into them, trying to find a trace of the Glinda she knew behind the fear and the madness.

"I'm sorry, Glinda. I don't know where to start - but I'm here." Elphaba says, softly. When this fails to elicit a response from Glinda, she sighs, suddenly feeling tired again. She rubs a jade hand across her face. "I should have realized that it would come to this." She says, mostly to herself now. She glances at the clock, as Glinda's gaze strays back to the blank sheet of paper on the desk. "It's all my fault." Elphaba's voice is heavy with emotion.

At this statement, Glinda's eyes snap back to Elphaba. Her thin arm reaches out, tentatively, and Elphaba turns to her. Slowly, the two women fold each other into a tight embrace, each one holding on to the other like a life raft on stormy water.

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AN: I do not own Wicked, Glinda or Elphaba. I do, however, love the story and the characters, and this creative outlet. :-) Just a reminder that this is based on the musical, since I mentioned a few things that definitely don't happen in the book.

Thank you for the reviews! I appreciate them. If anyone wants to offer ideas for the story, or even discuss Wicked in general, feel free to send me an e-mail. And I promise the chapters will get longer, once I get the hang of it.

Thanks go out to my buddy Kyla for jump-starting me on this chapter, and for prodding me to keep it going. ;-)

Thanks for reading!
Love,
B