"Today we have a special guest!" Doctor Nikidik announced. He was filling in Doctor Dillamond's position and Elphaba already resented him for it. The students leaned forward, eager to meet the guest. Doctor Nikidik whipped the cover off a large cube-shaped object that had been resting at his feet when the students had arrived for the lesson.
A few gasps were heard and a couple silly girls cooed. A cub, Lion or lion--it was impossible to tell--was cowering in the corner of its cage, mewling piteously. Doctor Nikidik began to mumble about Life and life, the effects of the cage, and then he brought out a very large wooden mallet. Elphaba stood up furiously, catching only the words, "eliminate" and "pain" before she began shouting.
"You'd hurt that cub just for the purpose of science!" Elphaba let a string of angry ranting loose and began gesticulating wildly, nearly hitting Boq and Fiyero as she pointed.
"Miss Elphaba, please," Doctor Nikidik called for her silence, but then a few more people stood and cried out for the cub to be released and unharmed. A couple of girls broke open the latch on the cage and pulled the cub into an apron between them, scampering out of the hall, presumably to release the cub as soon as possible.
"Elphaba, you're shaking." Boq touched Elphaba's shoulder lightly and she whipped her head around, her dark eyes filled with fire. She sank into her seat, her legs no longer supporting her, and buried her pale face in her quivering hands.
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"What's wrong with Elphie?" Glinda did not dare ask Elphaba directly, for fear that she might turn into a toad of some kind. Fiyero, staring into the blue sky, did not answer. Boq decided he ought to clue Glinda in, it was more than either Fiyero or Elphaba had deigned to do.
"Doctor Nikidik wanted to hurt a lion cub this morning and Elphaba got really upset about it." Boq supplied. Elphaba focused on Boq's face with a sharp glare.
"Don't talk about me as though I can't hear you!" Her words were fiery and made Boq flinch.
"You wouldn't tell her, nor would Fiyero, so who was going to say it?" Fiyero blinked at the mention of his name.
"Nor," he mused. "I like that word." Glinda rolled her eyes and leaned her head against Elphaba's shoulder. Elphaba angrily shook her off and stood up.
"I'm leaving." Elphaba pronounced. Boq and Fiyero made no move to stop her, but Glinda tugged on the hem of her dress.
"Are you mad about the lion?" Glinda unwisely asked. Elphaba wrenched her dress from Glinda's grasp and furiously pounded away, off to who-knows-where. The students that saw her coming immediately gave her a berth of at least ten feet.
Glinda's eyes filled with childish tears.
"Was it something I said?" Boq rubbed her back gently, trying to figure the puzzle that was Elphaba.
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Elphaba wanted to speed into the library, but Crope and Tibbet were working on manuscripts and she wanted to avoid anyone who would dare talk to her. Instead, she found that her legs had propelled her into the Life Sciences classroom. She stood completely still, staring at Doctor Nikidik. He lifted his head and frowned at Elphaba.
"So you're back. Going to hex me, then?" He smiled at his own joke and returned to his work. Elphaba stepped forward slowly and raised her arms. There was not a spark of magic that flew from her fingertips. Doctor Nikidik looked up again and frowned.
"Miss, please, if you would leave now?" He pointed to the door, but Elphaba already launched into action. Her green fingers curled into hard fists and slammed themselves into Doctor Nikidik's jaw and stomach. Doctor Nikidik cried out in surprise and pain, raising an arm to protect himself. Elphaba worked herself into a fury, punching, kicking sometimes, at every inch of Doctor Nikidik she could reach.
"Miss Elphaba!" Doctor Nikidik continually shouted at her, trying to bring her out of her anger. Arms and hands pulled at Elphaba's body, tearing her away from her aggressive attack on the doctor. Elphaba screamed and swore, digging her fingernails into the arms that held her back. Boq and Fiyero shouted in her ears, calling for her to stop. Eventually, after much bleeding on Boq's, Fiyero's, and Doctor Nikidik's part, and much swearing, snarling, and general fierceness on Elphaba's part, the green girl's energy was spent.
As her rage slowly seeped away, Elphaba found herself breathing heavily, blood and skin and hair under her fingernails and her friends' arms around her waist and shoulders and neck. She hung her head, waiting for them to let her go.
"Elphie?" Boq asked gently, his voice hoarse after endless shouts in her ears. He nodded to Fiyero and they both released her thin frame. She slumped to the floor and did not say a word. This sudden silence frightened the boys.
"Elphie! Elphaba!" Fiyero bent and shook Elphaba's shoulders. He swore under his breath and lifted her up so that she was leaning on him.
"Have your Miss Elphaba see me soon, Masters Boq and Fiyero, we have punishment to discuss." Doctor Nikidik rearranged his ugly gray suit and sat at his desk, trying to find tissues to stop the flow of blood.
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"Glinda!" Boq shouted to Glinda, who had locked herself in the room and was pouting. "Elphie's gone funny, you'd better let us in!" Glinda pattered to the door and whipped it open.
"Oh Elphie!" Glinda pulled the pointed hat off her head and smoothed her hair, which had become sweaty ringlets. "Where did you find her and what did she do?" Glinda gasped as she inspected the blood under Elphaba's fingernails.
"She attacked Doctor Nikidik and she was going to beat him to death, we guess." Fiyero was checking Elphaba's pulse and breathing.
"We don't want to take her to the nurse," Boq bit his lip. "She might ask questions." Glinda nodded and began searching the bathroom for oils with which to clean Elphaba up.
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