A.N. - Thanks for the reviews! I will keep putting more up regularly. This isn't exactly musical or book version: it's a combination of both, really, leaning more towards musical. There were things in the book, though, that I thought should have been included in the musical, so I included this thing in this version of Oz. Enjoy!
A sudden warmth ran through Elphaba, causing her crying to cease immediately. She was sure to compose herself in order to make sure everything went as planned. The warmth became a burning heat, and she thought how this was pain, this was torture, but this was a new beginning. The pain intensified, and she thought for a wild moment she might die anyway. The heat then ebbed to a tingly warmth and then to cold.
Elphaba tried to blink her eyes and realized she could not. Instead, a think membrane passed over each eye; she was a pfenix.
"Yessss..." she whispered, then paused. Why, she wasn't a pfenix at all! She was a Pfenix, an Animal! One of the very kind she had tried to save. She flapped her wings experimentally, knowing she could change back to woman if she wished, but realizing this was far too risky. After several tries, she had succeeded in flying from her place on the floor to the top of the wardrobe and back. She fluttered over to a mirror and took a long look at herself, scarcely believing what she saw.
She was a Pfenix: there was no doubt of this. Her feathers were a deep crimson shade all except...several places on her chest and wings had teardrop shaped markings of green. Green? she wondered to herself, and then...
"Glinda!", exclaimed the Pfenix, the green girl, The Wicked Witch of the West, "She must have cried over my ashes and when I reassembled..." she shook her Pfenix head, unbelievingly. Elphaba stopped a moment, considering taking her cloak, and fought the urge as she heard a commotion from a large group coming up the stairs. Without so much as a backward glance, she fled from Kiamo Ko, straight to the Emerald City where she would watch things unfold as they would.
After what seemed like ages, Elphaba was safely atop a housetop, overlooking the palace of the wizard. Realizing the rooftop of the palace itself would be much better a spot to watch the goings-on, she started to fly but froze when she saw a group of people she truly loathed making their way up the yellow brick road.
That wimpy lion, the heartless bastard who was now the tin man, the only man who had ever loved her, yet had not even shed a tear over her passing, and the little bitch from Kansas. Yes, they were all jolly and skipping up the road with that yippy little dog nipping affectionately at their heels. It was enough to make Elphaba sick.
From her perch on the house, she watched them pass by, catching a few words of their conversation.
"Now that she's dead, I'm going back to Kansas. Killing witches takes a lot out of you. I'm pooped."
"...Now if I only had some courage, I would have done it. Look at what she did to me! You can't fight everyone's battles for them."
"...I thought she loved me and she turned me into...this. Just look at me! She would probably say, 'Fiyero, you're lucky to be alive', but I'm not. I'm NOT! She's just selfish, that's all. If she weren't...she would have let me die."
"...Her sister honestly thought I loved her. As if I could ever love some...some...cripple. That is beneath me. Now that I'm a big hero, Glinda will love me."
How they sickened her. Their uneducated, untrue comments were despicable but cut Elphie deep. It wasn't like she was trying to be selfish, after all. But yes, sure, she wanted Fiyero to live. She had thought what she felt for him was love when what it all translated into was a naive sort of need, of want. He was the only one who had ever loved her, who would ever love her...
No. That wasn't true. Someone else had, but that was so long ago, so painful to remember...and Elphaba had broken that person's heart. Hell, perhaps she was selfish, but at least she didn't follow the wizard's mindless plans like these...dare she say, 'conformists'. But maybe conformity wasn't such a bad thing. At least they would experience something that could be considered true love. At least they weren't completely empty, devoid of emotion.
True, Elphie wasn't either, but she had the tendency to push people away.
She left her perch, disgusted with herself while somewhere far below, people were getting their heart's desires. She flew back to Kiamo Ko blindly, her mind elsewhere. She was thinking back to her days at Shiz, the days when someone had loved her. Had she loved them, too? She couldn't remember at first. As she thought back, though, everything became clear.