"Halt!" One of the men shouted, pointing his spear at Elphaba, but she wasn't paying attention to him. Fiyero's gun was the immediate danger to her. The Elphs had managed to test her hat against knives and swords, but they had never been able to get hold of a gun. She had no idea if the enchantment could stop a bullet.
Though would Fiyero actually pull the trigger?
"Are you all right, Your Ozness?" He asked the giant head. It continued to glower menacingly at Elphaba's general area. Elphaba's hopes fell. Fiyero probably thinks the Wizard is wonderful. If ordered to, he would shoot. Maybe he didn't think of her as Elphaba anymore…would there be a chance that he could remember Elphaba instead of the Wicked Witch?
"Fiyero…" She said softly, desperately hoping that he wouldn't shoot her. He looked at her closely, barely believing that she would enter the Wizard's throne room, the very place where it was most dangerous for her.
"I don't believe it…" He said, amazed that he had finally found her. She was still at the Lion's jaws, though. His other guards, the Wizard, citizens that would gladly turn her in.
"Oh, Fiyero, thank Oz. I thought you were-" Elphaba started, glad that Fiyero honestly wouldn't shoot her. Fiyero began to panic a little bit. Not now, Elphaba! Where's that mind of yours I love so much?!
"Silence, witch!" Fiyero jabbed the gun at the air, trying to convince the other guards that they had nothing to do with each other, no past connections of any sort. Elphaba shrank back. Fiyero would shoot her, but more importantly, the person she loved… didn't love her back.
"Sir, there's a goat on the lam," One of the guards said. Dr. Dillamond! Elphaba thought. She made a quick mental note to come back for him.
If she got out alive.
"Never mind all that," Fiyero said impatiently, listing phases of a plan in his head. Get rid of the other guards. Stop the Wizard. Get Elphaba out… "Fetch me some…"
The memory of the engagement party came back. I hear her soul is so unclean pure water will melt her! "…some water."
"Water, sir?" One of the guards lowered his spear a bit, confused by the strange request. Elphaba, having not heard the rumors about her, was baffled as well. Is he thirsty?! Why in Oz would he ask for water at a time like this?
"You heard me, as much as you can carry." The two other guards exchanged a look, but still went off to fulfill the order of their Captain.
Phase one completed, Fiyero thought as the large doors slammed behind him.
"Fiyero…!" Elphaba tried to get to him, the old Fiyero she had left behind at Shiz.
"I said silence!" He nodded his head toward the Wizard subtly, and then winked one eye. Suddenly, the entire act made sense. Fiyero had to pretend because the Wizard was still here. Keeping the gun trained on her, he worked his way to the other side of the Oz head.
The Wizard held on to the controls of the head, keeping it aloft in one position. Slumping back on the steps, he replayed what had happened inside his head. There had been obvious signs, things he should have seen that would have avoided all this pain. She hadn't changed her mind; she had lied to him, built up his hopes and then sent them crashing down once she achieved what she came to do. That was what I had done to her. The Wizard thought, remembering the day that Elphaba had first seen him, how she had believed that he could make everything better, but abandoned it all once she realized he had not power. So this is what it feels like to have your dreams broken. All of a sudden, he was grabbed from behind and dragged into the front hall, away from the cover of the Oz head.
"No! NO!" He shouted, not sure who had grabbed him. She didn't look strong enough to be able to pull him like this. He twisted in the firm hold and saw the Captain of the Guard, completely ignoring the witch he was supposed to capture. Hold on a second! The Wizard thought as he was thrown down in front of the Oz head.
"Don't make a sound, your Ozness, unless you want all your guests to know the truth about the Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Fiyero said casually, training the gun on the Wizard. Staring down the barrel of a gun, the Wizard complied. He's supposed to be in my side! What's he doing?! Fiyero turned to Elphaba, keeping the gun raised. "Elphaba, I'll find Doctor Dillamond later, now get out of here!" Elphaba knew he was right; it was too dangerous for her to stay here, but she wanted to stay so badly. Old dreams from Shiz were coming back to her; days spent staring out the window at the dorm's gardens, trying to find an easy way to break it to the then-Galinda that she loved Fiyero.
"Fiyero, you frightened me. I thought…" Elphaba didn't know what was making her say this, why she was still here when she should go. "…I though you might have changed." Fiyero lowered the gun a bit, thinking of how he had been before he met Elphaba. Self-centered, stupid, shallow Fiyero, the prince who loved to have fun. Just by knowing her, he discovered that there was more to life than parties and fun; what it was like to be in love with someone. She didn't know how he had spent the last years at Shiz studying, working to achieve the intelligence he knew she valued so highly.
"I had changed…" He said thoughtfully. He had changed so much from the party-boy he used to be. He grew up. He used his brain. Actually seeing Elphaba again reminded him why he had gone on, put up with Glinda, sabotaged strategies…
…Why he wanted to be with her.
"Fiyero, what's going on?" One of the side doors to the throne room opened, and Glinda came out. Elphaba noticed how she seemed exactly like the way she did at Shiz. Bubbly, cheery, attention-adoring. She was incredibly dressed up, shimmering pale-blue ball gown with amazing amounts of sequins, a tiara completing the image of royalty. For a brief instant, Elphaba wondered if she could have been the one in magnificent gowns and jewelry if she had stayed with the Wizard. Yes, she would have, but the price was too high. She couldn't go against everything she believed in for superficial adoration.
"Elphie?" Glinda squealed on seeing her friend. Rushing up, she took her old friend in a great big hug. I had forgotten Glinda did hugs like this…Elphaba thought, but she hugged Glinda back, happy to see her best friend again. "Oh, thank Oz you're alive!" She broke the hug and took a step back to examine her friend. The hair was knotted from flying at high speeds, traces of scratches could be seen on her face from skirmishes while freeing Animals, but it was still Elphie. "You shouldn't have come. If anyone discoverates you…"
"Glinda, you'd better go." Fiyero said stiffly. Glinda really noticed him for the first time. If he was here, the Gale Force would have been here. Why wasn't Elphie in prison? Or would Fiyero lock her up himself?! She saw the gun, still aimed in the general direction of the Wizard, lying cowardly against the throne.
"Fiyero, what are you-" Glinda tried to make sense of the situation. Fiyero was threatening the Wizard…to make sure Elphaba went free? Yes, he would probably not want to have her punished, but this was the whole point of his job, to find and capture Elphaba.
"Please, just go back to the ball!" Fiyero said, realigning his gun so it was pointed directly at the Wizard. Elphaba heard the edge in his voice, the tired annoyance that she had heard once before…Boq. He used the same tone speaking about Nessa as Fiyero did talking to Glinda. Oh, sweet Oz…Elphaba was hit by the magnitude of what she had done, and could have fixed.
"Your Ozness, he means no disrespectation." Glinda turned to the Wizard and bowed slightly. "Please understand! You see, we all went to school together..." Glinda tried to explain. Fiyero looked back up at Elphaba. She was still standing there, hesitating. She had to leave; it was for her own good! The other guards may be coming back soon with the water, the fool's errand Fiyero sent them on.
"Elphaba!" Fiyero said, pointing the gun quickly at the broom in her hand. Just go. He felt a kind of pain, when you have to leave something you love behind. She has to leave him, for her own safety. The thought of all the hardships she had faced at the hands of the Gale Force, his Gale Force, was too hard to bear. He needed to know that she would be safe; he needed to escape all the lies and deception.
There was only one way to do that.
"Fiyero, have you misplaced your mind?" Glinda glanced from the gun to the Wizard to her fiancé. He put the gun down, but took a step towards Elphaba. "What are you doing!?"
"I'm going with her." Fiyero said, staring into Elphaba's eyes the whole time, trying to ask her if she would let him go. He fully understood that if she didn't want him, he had no right to leave, but he got the sense that he would die if he didn't. Please let me go!
"What?" Glinda looked from one to the other, trying not to admit to what was going on. "What are you saying? You mean all this time... the two of you..." Glinda was close to tears, her voice cracking. "Elphie, you promised! You promised you wouldn't steal him!" Glinda pointed accusingly at Elphaba, betrayed by her best friend.
"Glinda, I'm sorry!" Elphaba pleaded, hoping she would understand. "I didn't want it then, but things have changed! I changed!" Glinda glared at her now ex-friend, still appalled that she would go back on her word like this. She should have said something! All the nights that she would go to bed silently at Shiz, never saying anything. She could have at least told her how she felt before something like this happened!
"Elphaba…Let's go…" Fiyero said nervously, hoping to leave before Glinda grew too angry. He didn't like leaving her this way, but he didn't love her. There was no other way to put it. Elphaba held out the broom, Fiyero climbing on to it awkwardly. Elphaba joined with more grace.
"Fine! GO!" Glinda screeched, the anger not doing her beautiful face any good. Elphaba kicked the broom off into the air, Fiyero almost falling off at the sudden lurch. He had to grab on to Elphaba's waist to keep himself on, the final insult in Glinda's mind. "You deserve each other!" Tears fell openly now, Glinda not caring who saw her. Her perfect life had just shattered into more pieces than she could count, untrue lies about her friends forming in her mind.
The Wizard had sat up and moved a little bit, taking pity on Glinda. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a little bottle full of green liquid.
"Here," He held out the bottle to Glinda. "Have a swig of this. It dulls the pain." Barely sparing the bottle a glance, Glinda wiped her tears away.
"No, thank you." She said curtly, something telling her that she didn't deserve to have the pain go away. She wasn't good enough for Fiyero. She wasn't talented, she wasn't that intelligent, and he didn't think she was beautiful. All that was left of her in her mind was a hollow doll that deserved to be punished for all of her shortcomings.
The bang of a slammed door announced that someone else had entered the room.
"Oh! Is it true?! Your betrothed has brought the Witch into custody?!" Madame Morrible made assumptions from what little she knew: The Captain had left the ball and hadn't yet come back, yet was not in the throne room where the Witch had been sighted. Fresh tears came to Glinda as Madame Morrible called Fiyero 'her betrothed'.
"Our new Captain of the Guard had other plans…" The Wizard said ruefully, rubbing his shoulder where Fiyero had grabbed him. It still hurt. Madame Morrible looked at him disbelievingly.
"You mean she hasn't been captured?" Madame Morrible said. It seems that their bait wore thin for Fiyero; suddenly he didn't want all he ever wanted.
"Quite the contrary. And considering how well she's eluded us all this time..." The Wizard sat up straighter, trying to think of how best to get her to show herself again. The Monkeys were gone now, and she had no reason to come back to the Emerald City.
"Strategies! Humph!" Madame Morrible said disapprovingly. "She needs to be flushed out, not hunted. Forced to show herself."
"Her sister." Glinda said quietly, her anger and misery condensed into one truly wicked thought: ruin Elphaba.
"What? What did she say?" Madame Morrible seemed to notice Glinda for the first time. The fact that their precious little figurehead had a thought seemed impossible.
"Use her sister…" Glinda stared at the floor; using all the faults she had ever seen in Elphaba to convince herself that she deserved this, imprisonment from the Wizard, public ridicule, death. "Spread a rumor. Make her think her sister is in trouble and she will fly to her side... and you'll have her."
You're betraying her. Glinda's conscience cut in rudely.
Eye for an eye! She betrayed meGlinda responded violently.
"Exactly so," The Wizard said. Glinda made sense; families cared strongly about each other in Oz; Elphaba would definitely help, what's her name, Bessie? If she was in trouble. Glinda collected herself and stood slowly, the long skirts crumpled from their time on the floor.
"Now, if your Ozness will excuse me I have a slight headache, I think I'll lie down." Glinda left the hall calmly, still crying the whole time. The door shut quietly behind her. Madame Morrible's lip curled at the pathetic sight. Heartbreak is over exaggerated in the young.
"Yes, well...a rumor won't do it. Elphaba's too smart for that." Madame Morrible said coldly, staring at the door Glinda just left through.
"Far too smart." The Wizard said. She had used his own ploys against him, avoided capture all these years. They didn't even have an Elph to show for all their hard work, she organized them so well.
"Perhaps…" Madame Morrible looked out through the open skylight to the darkened cover of night. "A change in the weather..."
"Elphaba!" Salamaris and a few others were waiting outside the Emerald City. He immediately noticed her passenger, the Gale Force uniform familiar, even through the heavy decoration. "Who's he?" He drew a sword and pointed it at him.
"Fiyero," Elphaba said, never dismounting. "He's an old friend." Fiyero smiled slightly at the description. "The Monkeys are free, I don't know if they'll come to us." Salamaris nodded, still slightly wary of the Gale Force officer. Then again, Elphaba still had her hat.
"I'll meet you back at the camp later. I need to spend a little time catching up with Fiyero." Salamaris raised an eyebrow. "And…the…way the Gale Force works…" she added hastily. Salamaris nodded. Elphaba was a young woman, after all. Can't deny her everything.
"Lady Glinda!" Glinda turned as a noblewoman chased her in the hall. "You've been gone from the engagement ball for quite some time, whatever is the matter?"
"There is no engagement anymore," Glinda said, trying to hold back the fresh wave of tears about to come. Not in front of the public.
"Why, whatever do you mean, Lady Glinda?" The woman tittered and smiled falsely. She was sucking up, big time. Glinda didn't need it.
"The Captain of the Guard just flew off with the Witch!" Glinda raised her voice at the woman. "So there is no engagement!" The fake smile wavered as the noblewoman realized what Glinda had just said.
"Oh…I'm terribly sorry to hear that, Lady Glinda!" The noblewoman turned and ran back into the ball room, eager to tell this thrillifying story to her friends. Glinda was slightly pleased: It meant she didn't have to call off the ball herself. Walking down the hall a little further, Glinda passed a window, looking out over the Emerald City skyline. Elphaba was out there somewhere, with her Fiyero. But he's not mine anymore. Glinda thought sadly. He loves her so. I'm not that girl…
I updated quickly! Yay! Relatively so, at least. I'm getting better about using the line things. It's pretty confusifying when I switch between scenes and POV's without letting you people know. I'm going to replace the Intermission chapter soon with one that has the lines, so it's easier to read. Glinda's in pain. Poor old blonde. Review and tell me if you liked it! As Long As You're Mine is coming soon...ish...So keep reading and writing! -LostOzain