WARNING! Violent scene! No descriptions, but knives and betrayal! Just in case you care. -Don't mind me, I'm just a friendly reminder from LostOzian.
"Galin- oh, sorry, Glinda, what happened?"
"What happened in the tower?"
"Glinda, we were so worried! Why did she go crazy?"
"Must've been the pressure. Was she under a lot of pressure?"
"Or some hidden brain disease that comes from having green skin."
"Come on, Glinda! Tell us what happened!"
"SHUT UP!!!" Glinda turned on her friends, her eyes starting to burn, petty hatred for each and every one of the puzzled faces building up. They stared at her, innocently scared at her sudden outburst, questions unanswered written all over their faces. "I don't want to talk about it," Glinda turned and ran. Not one of them followed her. All the way up to her room, through the door, barely pausing to make sure the key left the door lock.
Two beds rested in the room, one covered with fluffy pink pillows and a matching comforter. The other stood, stripped and barren, the yellow-stained mattress and pillow washed and sterilized. The other closet stood open, empty hangers a painful reminder of the dark, practical clothing that had hung there but a few days earlier.
Elphaba Thropp was gone forever.
Elphaba added a few more sticks to the fire, building up the smoldering pile of dry leaves into a small flame. One of the many things she missed about society was fireplaces, but to have heated rooms would mean going back to the Wizard, and she could never do that no matter how cold it got; too many Animals were depending on her.
Somewhere in the forest, a twig snapped. Elphaba jumped to her feet, the broom leaping from the ground beside her to her hand, feeling her instinct to flee. Elphaba stayed on the ground, however, not really knowing what kept her there.
"Who's there?" she called out. The brush rustled as the thing came near. Elphaba mounted her broom in a quick step, ready to fly off-
"Are you the Wick…the Witch?" Elphaba relaxed a tiny bit. They didn't call her 'wicked'. Almost, but not quite. There were three men, ragged and mean-looking. A few daggers hung from their belts, but they stayed sheathed.
"What do you want?" She asked warily, not sure if she should trust these men. The first man kneeled, followed by the other two.
"We have come to support your cause against the Wizard."
"Well, we went and royally screwed up our chances with Elphaba," The Wizard lounged on his throne in front of the Oz head, nonplussed by the great empty eyes staring down at him.
"It was a mistake to show her the other Monkeys," Madame Morrible was pacing, not taking the same reclining attitude as her superior. "I should have remembered the day Dr. Dillamond was arrested, and how she reacted. An obvious clue."
The Wizard glanced around the corner of the Oz head to the great tapestry, hiding and almost blotting out the new voice in the gigantic cage.
"You'll never keep me in here! I'll get out! You can't do this to respectable A-a-a-animals!"
"Aw, shut up, you old goat," The Wizard mumbled, tapping his foot in the air with a bored manner. "We need to keep her friends quiet, though. I propose the usual. Bait 'em with their dreams…"
"They're certainly not as smart as Elphaba, so it should work. You will probably earn their trust by showing yourself, but don't show them the Monkeys. That Glinda already knows, but she wouldn't side with Elphaba."
"I won't…though you did ruin their use as spies by blaming Elphaba with them." Madame Morrible puffed up defensively.
"I had to! It was the only way to get the general public stirred up like that."
"Fine, fine…just tell her friends that they get to meet with me next break. I'll have it paid for and everything, just let them meet me."
"As you wish, your Ozness."
Elphaba stared at the Gale Force guard. Why would he come? Why did he not resist her followers? Elphaba smirked ruefully as she though of what they called themselves. Elph, Elphs in the plural, short for Elphaba, her name. They had all these visions of glory and finally defeating the Wizard and restoring peace to Oz. Many of them didn't think of doing this for the Animals; that freeing them from cages was just to deal another blow against the Wizard and his Gale Force.
"You have to believe me," The guard said pathetically, his legs limp as he was being held up by two Elphs. "I've seen the Wizard, and his cage. It was terrible. That's why I ran away from the Force. I couldn't stand having things like that done to Animals." He stared up at her, pleading to be a part of the resistance.
"Let him go," Elphaba said. "He knows how the Gale Force works, and would be invaluable." The two Elphs dropped the man. He got up and brushed the green uniform off.
"Welcome to the Elphs," She said, extending her hand. He took it with a firm handshake, gratitude written all over his face. She turned away; ready to go off on other duties. There was the issue of a slaughterhouse not far from here, where the butcher there killed mercilessly, not caring whether his meat came from animals or Animals. It needed to be rooted out and-
"HEY!" Someone shouted. Elphaba whipped around, raising her broom just in time to block a knife from the Gale Force guard that they had just let into their band. He snarled angrily that is assassination attempt had failed, then screamed as an Elph was forced to kill him.
"Are you all right, Elphaba?" Other Elphs checked their leader for injuries.
"I'm fine…" She glanced down at the body of the Gale Force spy. "Maybe a little defense magic is in order…" She left to her little makeshift tent to find a proper 'protect from harm' spell in the Grimmerie. Her hat would do nicely….
"It must be really terrible, Nessa," Minnex, a new friend of Nessa's, said as she pushed her chair to history class. "Knowing your sister's…y'know…"
"Not really." Nessa stared down, counting the rows of cobblestones in the road as they passed them.
"What do you mean?" Minnex looked around the chair to its occupant. Nessa's face stayed blank and even as she talked.
"Elphaba was always kind to me…" Nessa started. "But she was always better than I was. Nobody ever pitied her once they got to know her, but everybody's always too sympathetic to me." Nessa sniffed, thoughts of her sister becoming more vivid as she voiced her opinions aloud.
"She was always smarter, more talented…" Her confusedly swirling sea of emotions was stirring again, but Nessa continued. "More beautiful than I am. Now, I don't have to compete with her. I can be myself and be the best for once."
Minnex continued pushing the chair in silence until they reached the History building. Nessa couldn't help thinking of the other opinion she held on Elphaba's departure, reasons she wished her sister had never left; never deserted her. Elphaba, her caretaker, her best friend, her crying shoulder.
She especially missed her crying shoulder ever since Boq left her, too.
"And now, presenting our valedictorian for this year's graduating class, Fiyero Tiggular!" Madame Morrible bowed aside, still maintaining her job as headmistress along with her duties as Press Secretary.
Fiyero walked slowly to the podium, reciting his carefully memorized speech in his head.
"I can barely remember when I first came to Shiz," he began. "I was uneducated, and didn't really have the want to learn." He gazed out over the crowd, his mind racing at a speed it had never known about what to tell them all. Tell the truth? Would they believe it?
"I think it was…the atmosphere of Shiz, which finally got me motivated to learn. That and the appearance of the Witch." Fiyero paused for breath and to keep himself from blurting out: 'The Wizard lies! I knew Elphaba, and she isn't evil! She's not a wicked witch!' He remembered the meeting with Morrible: If you promise to remain silent, never speak Elphaba's name again, then you can be guaranteed of glory for the rest of your life.
"I am going to accept a position offered to me in the Wizard's Gale Force Guard, so that I may find the Witch." Applause broke out, approving Fiyero's declaration of his intention to end the Witch's reign of terror. "I believe my time at Shiz has prepared me for this job." He sat down, keeping eye contact with Glinda, the only other one who knew the truth. As soon as I find her, I'm leaving you. Fiyero thought as he stared the beautiful girl. You'd probably want to know.