Rifiuto: Non Miriena

A/N: Written: 2013. Found: 2017.- Licia

Elphaba and Raven didn't speak for a day, because Glinda wouldn't allow them to go any longer than that. So it was two days later when the three girls found themselves at a table in the Tangled Heart cafe not far from campus. The girls had come to some unspoken truce, and Glinda had brought a notebook with them, to jot down notes.

"When were you both born?"

"Seriously, Glinda?" Elphaba raised an eyebrow. The blonde nodded.

The two girls shrugged, sharing a glance.

"I'm seventeen; I turn eighteen in October." Raven whispered, and Glinda quickly jotted it down before turning to Elphaba.

"You know how old I am, Glinda."

"Please, Elphie? Humor me?"

A sigh, before, "I turn twenty in September."

Glinda did the math in her head. So they were exactly a year and a half apart, which didn't make sense, since Nessa was fifteen, unless-

"Unless Bookend is in another dimension."

Both girls turned to her; Raven wrapped her hands around her coffee up. "What do you mean? Another dimension?"

"You think you came over the rainbow, right?" Raven nodded. "Well, for us, we don't know where the rainbow leads."

"It's just a rainbow, Glinda, and just an expression in a song." Elphaba replied softly, sipping her coffee.

"But what if it's not just an expression, Elphie?" The blonde replied. "You said it yourself, you've been studying it in Sorcery- straightening the dimensions or whatever you call it."

"Bending the universe." The green girl whispered, flicking her wrist. Since coming to Shiz, she'd been slowly gaining control of her powers; having passed both Sorcery One, Two and Three in two short semesters, she was now in Sorcery Four and was signed up for Morrible's Sorcery seminar in the fall. Raven sat back, watching as the green girl flicked a finger, sending the sugar container dashing towards her. The container floated above Raven's coffee, and slowly, Elphaba twirled her index finger; a steady stream of sugar poured into Raven's coffee, stirring slowly before stopping and righting itself. Once it was back on the table, Elphaba rubbed her hands together, causing the container to roll back and forth for several minutes before stopping and returning to its place by the creamer.

"So I'm not the only one that can do magic." Raven whispered, feeling suddenly relieved. Elphaba furrowed a brow.

"I'm sorry, what?"

The younger girl bit her lip, before slowly, lifting a hand and aiming it at Elphaba's coffee cup. The cup in question rose a couple inches off the table, before she slowly returned it to the table. Glinda's mouth dropped open in shock, but Elphaba just stared at her. "I've been able to do things since I was a kid, and... being the daughter of the Evil Queen... well... Mother's always pushed me towards... being evil. But I don't want to be. I just feel so..."

"Misunderstood." Elphaba replied and Raven nodded. She swallowed. "Mama died when I was four. Nessa was a baby, maybe a week old when Mama died. I guess... if she went over the rainbow..."

"My mother attended Ever After High." Raven whispered.

"So, if your mother died, Elphie, and she went over the rainbow into another dimension, and she was young again, she could have attended this Ever After High, and become the Evil Queen and... become Raven's mother."

"Mama... did have a mean streak." Elphaba replied softly, thinking of the few memories she had of her mother where Melena had lost her temper. But for the most part, Melena had been loving- as loving as one could be to a green-skinned toddler. If anything, Elphaba had been more neglected than abused; something she saw in Raven as well. Something that hid behind those violet eyes, something Elphaba knew well. "She neglected you, didn't she?"

Raven slowly raised her gaze to the green girl's and nodded once. "She kept trying to get me to be evil, but when I refused... she took to ignoring me instead. And my father... the Good King, he... was always busy. Not that he neglected me like she did, but he neglected me in a different way-"

"Didn't have time for you." Raven nodded again, and Elphaba sighed. "Exactly like Frex." She whispered. At Raven's quizzical stare, she clarified, "When my father wasn't preaching, using me as a tool to preach, or having a wild affair with Turtle Heart, he was neglecting me in favor of Nessa. Because she's in a wheelchair, she was the one that needed all the attention. I was more servant than anything. I got into Shiz on full-ride scholarship; I took it, more to get out of the house than anything. Nessa wanted to come, but she can't until she turns seventeen."

The three girls lapsed into silence for several minutes before Glinda spoke up. "I think you're sisters. Half-sisters, like you and Nessa are, Elphie, but still sisters. Don't look at me like that. How can you not see the similarities- especially in your features? The same big eyes and heart-shaped faces. The same nose and mouth and cheekbones. I met your father the last time he came up to visit and brought Nessa, Elphie, and you do not look like him. The only thing you inherited from him is your hair and eye color. You said your mother's eyes were purple; Raven's eyes are purple. And the glass bottles- how could Raven have one if your mother gave you hers? Unless she had two. Maybe in Bookend whatever turned your skin green didn't work on Raven?"

"Ever After. Technically, it's the land of Ever After, Bookend is the main city-"

"Like the Emerald City." Elphaba clarified. Raven nodded, seeing the correlation. Eventually, the three young women finished their coffee and got up, gathering their things. "Come on. Let's go shopping. You need something to wear besides our clothes for the rest of the year."

Raven blushed, looking down at the black leggings and purple shirt she'd borrowed from them. "But I don't have any money-"

"That's okay. I've got you." Glinda replied, and Elphaba rolled her eyes.

"She really wants to go on a shopping spree." Glinda slung her arms through both Elphaba and Raven's, tugging them close.

"Come on, I think I know a store you'll both like."