Author's Note: Sorry for the delay…I'm in NY on vacation and have very limited internet access and almost no time to write. I did see Wicked though. Finally. It was AMAZING. Kristin was NUTS. Practically every other line was an improv, and she kept trying to crack everyone else up. She actually got Norbert in Dancing Through Life. He missed like half a verse cuz he was laughing so hard. She did this weird little high kick thing that everyone apparently thought was really funny…hmm…inside joke, perhaps? Oh, and in case anyone is wondering…Eden Espinosa is out of this world AWESOME. In my opinion, she's every bit as good as Idina, maybe better in some respects. ::hides from angry Idina fans:: I still love them both…Eden is really nice too…so's Kristin…yeah…I'll shut up now…if anyone wants more details or pics, email me. Oh and I also saw Aida and met Adam Pascal in case you didn't see on my other A/N. ::dies:: My life is now complete…
Chapter 24
"They've made a wreck of the camp," said Glinda absently as they watched the last of the Gale Forcers lead the lines of shackled Scrow out of the ruined settlement.
"Thank you, Glinda, for that astute observation," muttered Elphaba sourly. "Only I think it might be a bit of an understatement."
"Well someone's in a foul mood," said Glinda pointedly to Boq. He held up his hands as if to signal that he had nothing to do with this argument and did not in any way want to be connected to it.
"I hardly think it appropriate to attempt good cheer at a time like this," Elphaba retorted.
"Well it certainly won't help anything at all to be so negative."
"And this, coming from the woman who never stops talking about how much her feet hurt."
"I do not—"
"Everyone, please!" Fiyero interrupted, stepping between them. "Keep this up and they'll come after us."
"They'll do no such thing," snapped Elphaba. "You said yourself they're too afraid to come in here."
"And we wouldn't want them to change that all of a sudden, now would we? Besides, they've got tiktoks with them. And we've already seen for a fact that they are not afraid of the Grasslands."
Elphaba sighed.
"All right, conceded. But what do you suggest we do now? We certainly can't stay in this camp, and we've no supplies to last us any amount of time in the Vinkus. And it's been two days and we haven't seen any kind of animals whatsoever. We'll starve to death out here if we don't come up with some halfway decent plan."
"Decent descent descend consent," said Chistery, plucking Elphaba's hat off her head and fluttering over to the Tin Woodman who was standing several feet away staring in silence at the camp.
"Hey!" she cried, chasing after him. "Come back here!"
The Tin Woodman looked at Elphaba with what looked for all the world like disdain.
"Poor Witch," he muttered, "can't control her own minions."
"Poor Tin Man," she shot back, "can't protect his own people."
Elphaba caught Chistery and shoved the hat back on her head, clutching the monkey under one arm.
"Dead it is," said Igitur, pointing to the camp. "Suicide it is now to stay."
"So then what do you suggest?" snapped the Tin Woodman. "I just abandon my people?"
Elphaba snorted.
"After that wonderful display of bravery you've got no people left to abandon."
"And where were you during that battle? I thought you said they were your enemies as well. What's the matter, Witch? Forget how to use your powers?"
Elphaba just stared at him for a moment in shock, then turned on her heel and stalked off, her long skirt billowing behind her.
"I have nothing more to say to you."
"Fine by me."
Elphaba pushed past the rest of the group and made it several feet off into the grass before Fiyero caught her arm, stopping her.
"Wait."
She spun to face him, angry now.
"What? I'm obviously not of any use to anyone anymore."
"So what are you going to do? Go off and find a cave to live in, like Igitur? Spend the rest of your life searching for a magic treasure that doesn't exist?"
"You'd be surprised," she muttered under her breath. "There was a time when I was ready for that."
"What?" It was his turn to look shocked, and for a moment all the life appeared to leave his eyes. "Elphie…Fae—listen to me-"
"No. You listen. What we're trying to do…what I tried to do all those years ago…it's impossible. There's too much evil in the world for a few impassioned dissenters like us to make any change worth anything. There was a time when I knew that. When I accepted it. I should never have tried again, never have listened. I'm only hurting all of you, leading you on another of my hopeless endeavors. Go back to Kiamo Ko. Stay there, in hiding. Live as happily as you can while you can. They'll leave you alone as long as I'm not with you."
Fiyero took a step closer and wrapped his arms around her, surprised when she didn't push him away.
"Elphaba, I'm not leaving you anywhere. Call me stupid, call me a fool, but I'm not. I'll carry you with us, kicking and screaming if I have to. What we're trying to do may be impossible, but that's no reason not to try. You have to understand. They've slaughtered and enslaved my people, my family. At the very least, I have to go down fighting. All I have left is the will to fight. I won't give that up and wait at home in comfort to be killed." He leaned in and Kissed her, long and hard. "Now listen. Glinda has a plan."
Elphaba snorted.
"What?" Fiyero asked curiously, surprised by her sudden mood change.
"Glinda has a plan?" she asked incredulously.
Fiyero laughed a little at the irony of his own statement, then shrugged.
"Give her credit. Every now and then a little seed of wisdom manages to make its way through that mass of blonde curls and out into the world."
"So what is the little seed of wisdom this time?"
"Use the Tin Woodman against the tiktoks."
"What? That hunk of scrap metal? How?"
"Think about it. The tiktoks are enslaving all 'organic' beings, because they feel that machines are superior. The Tin Woodman is not organic. In their eyes—"
"He's the ideal being," mused Elphaba, catching on.
"Exactly. If we can persuade him to work with us, which Glinda believes she can—"
"He could work as a double agent! Brilliant!" She whirled back in the direction of the others, then stopped for a moment and turned back.
"What?" asked Fiyero, concerned.
Elphaba shrugged, at a loss for words.
"Nothing. It's just…how did Glinda think of something like that?"
"It's just like you said all those years ago at Shiz. Glinda is perfectly capable of thinking, provided that she thinks she can think."
"I said that?"
"Well not in as many words, but—"
"Oh, good. For a moment there I was afraid I might be losing my ability to articulate a thought."
Fiyero rolled his eyes at her.
"Perhaps. But never that razor wit of yours."
"Come on." She grabbed his hand and steered him back in the direction of the camp. "Let's go see how Glinda's doing against the walking trashcan."
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