"That's right! You just take that one road the whole time!" Glinda called after the little girl in the blue-and-white dress and her little dog as they were escorted by Munchkins. They would at least see her off to the edge of Munchkin Square. Oh, I hope they don't get lost, Glinda thought as the small girl towering over the Munchkins finally faded off into the distance. I am so bad at giving directions. She tried to remember if there were any forks in the Yellow Brick Road that would confuse the poor girl, so far from home. Kansas…Heh. Funny name for a home. Seeing that everybody had either left or tried to follow the girl further down the road, Glinda turned to the house. It landed askew, a wonder that the girl had still managed to get out the door. Still, Glinda couldn't help but feel sorry for the victim of the accident. Nessarose, truly a good girl when Glinda knew her. Sadly, Bick didn't love her, so she kind of went insane. She didn't know all of the details, but it's always a tragedy when a friend dies. Gathering a bunch of wildflowers, she knelt beside the house, placing the flowers in front of her as an offering to the dead.
"Oh, Nessa…" Glinda said softly. This was truly terrible. Then again, there hadn't been much Glinda could have done about it. Her glittering wand was only good for a few simple spells: her bubble, clearing clouds away, flowers bloom, and little cheer-up spells, but she couldn't have just made the cyclone go away. Only Madame Morrible could have done that…
"What a touching display of grief." Glinda recognized the biting tone instantly. She should have known that she would stick around after that poor girl was gone. Elphaba glared at Glinda, barely believing her own eyes. The very person who had been leading the Munchkins in that annoying 'the Witch is dead' song had the nerve to turn around and mourn for her! Glinda got up, leaving what she was doing as if she had just finished.
"I don't think we have anything further to say to one another." Glinda didn't even glance up at Elphaba; she deserved everything she had coming to her. The shame, the pain, the family death…well, she was sorry Nessa died, but not that Elphaba had to put up with the loss.
"I wanted something to remember her by!" Elphaba said, her anger rising as the incident with the girl replayed in her mind. Elphaba had screamed, shouted, almost threw a very Glinda-hissy fit, but Glinda merely laughed at everything she said, even had the nerve to give Nessa's ruby slippers to the girl that killed her! "All that was left were those shoes, and not that wretched little farm girl has walked off with them!" Elphaba pointed down the road, wishing every misfortune that could possibly be considered an accident on her sister's murderess. May she break her ankle skipping…may that little dog run away…may some straw-for-brains give her wrong directions… Shaking herself of the curses, she turned her attention back to Glinda. "So I'd appreciate some time, alone," Elphaba jerked her head for Glinda to go away. "To say goodbye to my sister." Glinda took a few steps back, sweeping her arms by in a 'be-my-guest' way. Elphaba knelt down beside the house, noticing that Glinda had dandelions in her makeshift bouquet. Nessa had loved dandelions as a little girl; their thick stems were easy to make into flower crowns. Also, sitting on a hillside weaving flower crowns didn't use your legs.
"Nessa, I'm so, so sorry…" Elphaba let her tears fall openly now, the tears she couldn't cry in Munchkin Square, in front of her sister's killer. Something weakened in Glinda. She had only seen Elphaba truly cry once before, and that was when someone had thought it would be funny to burn her final draft for an essay two hours before it was due. Did she really deserve this? Glinda couldn't imagine what it was like, knowing that you would never see a member of her family again, to wake up one morning and find them dead, to not be able to force retribution on the killer. Glinda, you're being petty. A long-ignored conscience said. Things weren't working; he was going to leave eventually. And hasn't Elphie suffered enough? She knelt beside Elphaba, folds of ice blue fabric meeting with dark blacks as the heavy skirts swept out behind their grieving owners.
"Elphie... you mustn't blame yourself. It's dreadful, it is, to have a house fall on you," She waved a hand at the farmhouse. A beat-up shutter fell off a window unceremoniously and landed with a dull thunk. "But accidents will happen." Elphaba looked up at the house, anger building up in her veins.
"You call this…" She examined the house again, the ugly, falling-apart farmhouse. How many houses fly, for Oz sake?! "…an accident?!"
"Yes!" Glinda insisted, but then remembered the feeling she had when she first told the Wizard and Madame Morrible that Nessa could be used to force Elphaba out. "Well, maybe not an accident…"
"Well?" Elphaba stood up, looming ominously over the petite blonde, even smaller while sitting. "What do you call it?!"
"A-a regime change!" Glinda blurted out, threatened by the overbearing figure of Elphaba. She had never been tough-stuff interrogated before. "Caused…by a bizarre…and unexpected twister…of fate!" Elphaba couldn't help but roll her eyes. Glinda was well suited to her position; she was stupid enough.
"You think cyclones just appear out of the blue?" She insisted, pushing the point of her sister's foul and most unnatural murder (Hamlet! I love you, William!).
"I don't know…I never really-" Thought about it. Glinda cowered, never feeling this scared by Elphaba before. All of the pity she had once felt for her friend moments before was ebbing away.
"Of course you never! You're too busy telling everyone how wonderful everything is!" Elphaba finally backed up enough for Glinda to stand.
"I'm a public figure now!" Glinda extended her neck elegantly, trying to convey the image of the beautiful public figure every single magazine said she was. "People expect me to-"
"Lie?!" Elphaba accused. Glinda knew the truth; she had the power, why wasn't she telling the truth?!
"Be encouraging!" Glinda said in response. It was hard to stay here and be quiet, but she had to! She couldn't do what Elphaba could, they were different people! Just because Glinda didn't go with her that day in the City didn't mean that everything she did was wrong! "And what exactly have you been doing, besides riding around on that filthy old thing?" She pointed her silver-steel wand at Elphaba's broom disgustedly. Elphaba put a finger to her chin in mock thought.
"You mean besides helping the greater good of Oz?" Elphaba said sarcastically, then added in a drawling tone, "and you must remember, we can't all come and go by bubble!" Glinda stiffened. She liked her bubbles! They were adorable! Elphaba continued mercilessly. "Whose invention was that, the Wizard's? Of course, even if it wasn't, I'm sure he'd still take credit for it…"
"Yes, well, a lot of us are taking things that don't belong to us," Glinda stared at the ground, the lost sympathy for her former friend being replaced with the all-too-familiar jealous anger. "Aren't we?" Elphaba immediately knew who she was talking about.
"Now, wait just a clock-tick," Elphaba chose her words carefully, defensive of her newfound, or would it be new-renewed?- relationship with Fiyero. She turned to Glinda and advanced slowly."I'm sorry this doesn't fit into your perfect life, but he didn't want you. He never loved you. He loves me-"
She was suddenly staring to the side, her cheek smarting slightly. Elphaba raised her hand to the sore spot tentatively. Glinda just slapped me… She thought, barely believing that Glinda thought it was okay to slap people like this. She laughed; not her usual chuckle, but a great cackle, spanning octaves haphazardly. She turned back to Glinda, who was rubbing her hand with the force of the slap.
"Feel better now?" Elphaba said sweetly. Glinda considered the question for a minute. It did feel better to actually inflict some kind of harm to Elphaba rather than the green throw pillows from the hall (Glinda had received many a strange look from the maids when they found the pillows ripped open on the floor, the green fabric shredded and feathers all over the place). It eased the suffering; forgiveness might not be entirely out of the question.
"Yes, I do." Glinda said simply, the rest of the scene playing out in her mind. Elphaba would accept that Glinda had been really ticked when she slapped her, they would put it behind them, and go their separate ways, sure that the other had made the right decision in the tower. Well, Elphaba hadn't exactly been right. Righteous, maybe...
"Good." Elphaba pulled back her arm and topped Glinda's slap spectacularly. The other girl spun once with the force of the slap. "So do I!"
Glinda raised her wand, listing off her advantages as Elphaba copied the stance with her broom. She's stronger, more magically talented, and taller than me. I'm prettier, more well bred, and honored. She stared into the dark eyes, absolutely sure that they would hurt her if given the chance. I'm gonna get my tush kicked. In desperation to look like she knew what she was doing, she spun her wand in a circle. Throwing her broom aside, Elphaba charged at the blonde, wand or no. Glinda dropped her best defense in surprise, trying her best to block Elphaba's attacks with her arms, but was no match for a person who had spent the last three years watching several backs at once, including her own. Glinda grabbed the hat, Elphaba clawed at skin leaving red welts down her arms. Glinda finally managed to get Elphaba in a headlock, Elphaba snatching at everything she could reach, hoping to grab the necklace Glinda so conveniently wore around her scrawny little neck….
"Halt! In the name of the Wizard!" Five Gale Force guards surrounded the two, three restraining Elphaba while one pulled Glinda away with his left arm. Immediately, Elphaba noticed her hat was in Glinda's hands, and that she was at the mercy of the Gale Force's weapons.
"Stop! Let me go!" She shouted, hoping to distract the guards enough that the would let her go.
"Let me go, I almost had her!" Glinda added, screeching. If they would just let herat her again, by Oz, they wouldn't have enough of a witch left to cart off to prison….
"Sorry it took us so long to get here, Miss." The final guard, clearly the head of the squad, dusted off his hands as if he had pulled the two apart. Elphaba, still having a scrap of rational thought with her, understood their plan.
"I can't believe you would sink this low!" She struggled against the three, each trying their hardest to hold her back. Glinda paled, realizing that those three guards were the only things preventing her from being beaten into a pulp on the ground. "To use my sister's death as a trap to capture me!"
"I never meant for this to happen, Elphie!" Glinda started crying, the reality that what she had done was the wickedest thing a person could ever do to a friend.
"Let the green girl go!" Seven heads turned to the newcomer; a man in a Gale Force Captain's uniform that was beginning to show the first signs of tear. He pointed a shabby-looking rifle at nobody in particular; hoping that everybody thought it was pointed at them.
"Fiyero, how in Oz-" Glinda began.
"I said let her go!" Fiyero glanced at Glinda, getting an idea. "Or explain to all Oz how the Wizard's guards watched while Glinda the Good was slain." He pointed the rifle specifically at Glinda, the guards making a move, but unable to do anything for fear he would pull the trigger.
"Fiyero…" Glinda stared at the gun's threatening bore. He wouldn't kill her! They had been friends, dating, almost married! But he left with Elphaba. Glinda tried to push away the frightening thought that Fiyero would shoot her if it meant Elphaba could go free. Elphaba winced, remembering the questions running through her mind when Fiyero had pointed the gun at her in the Wizard's throne room.
"I said, let her go!" Fiyero said commandingly, as if he still had power over the Gale Force. The guards loosened their hold on Elphaba, and didn't try to keep her back when Elphaba pulled away. Fiyero kicked her broom to her.
"Elphaba, go now." He glanced up quickly; trying to pack all the love he had and promises that he would still find a way to be with her into one longing look.
"No. Not without you." Elphaba stayed firmly on the ground, her broom staying on the ground, not making a move to pick it up.
"Fiyero, please." Point the gun away. Don't be stupid. Come back to me! Glinda tried to wish her way out of this repulsively difficult situation, hoping that it would all go away and the next morning she could wake up like it had never happened.
"Hush!" He pointed at Glinda with one finger, still keeping it close to support the gun. "Now!" He switched the finger to Elphaba. "Go!" He pointed away. Elphaba tried to think of ways to save him. A fight, a distraction…
…a spell.
"Do it!" Glinda thought she was hesitating because she wanted to stay and threw the hat at her. Elphaba took it, kicked her broom into the air with one foot, and flew off. Speed was of the essence; the sooner she got to Kiamo Ko the better for all involved.
Fiyero watched her go, for one instant forgetting the guards and Glinda. A movement turned him back, reminding him that if he kept his gun pointed at Glinda, they couldn't harm him. They stopped, but it was too late. Four of them were positioned around him, weapons raised, and the fifth was ready to step in front of Glinda if he pulled the trigger. It was hopeless.
But at least Elphaba will be alive… he set down the gun, accepting his defeat. Instantly the guards were on top of him, tactfully taking his arms and keeping a blade of some sort pointed at his neck as they had been trained.
"What are you doing? Stop it!" Glinda cried. The guards froze, still restraining Fiyero. She surveyed the faces, scorn at their eagerness to find someone to kill. "In the name of goodness, stop! Don't you see? He wasn't going to harm me, he just…" She looked down at Fiyero, his expression hard. She understood it immediately, the look she sometimes caught him with. I'd have done it, Glinda. She read from his face. "he just…" He never loved you. He loves me. Elphaba was right. They deserved each other. "He loves her." She said quietly.
"Glinda, I'm sorry." Fiyero said simply. I never meant to cause you pain, but I didn't love you either. Pick your poison. The lead guard locked his jaw. You can't grant one person amnesty because he loves someone. At a certain point, he had to be punished.
"Talk him up to that field over there!" The guard barked, men obeying orders mindlessly. They strung one of their spear shafts through his shirt, leaving him powerless to move. "Put him on one of those poles until he tells us where the Witch went!"
"No! Don't hurt him!" Glinda tried to go after the guards, but one of the guards kept her back. "Please, don't hurt him! FIYERO!!!" She screamed after the little party, Fiyero's limp, submissive form silhouetted against the dying sun.
"FIYERO!" Elphaba screamed, looking out a thin, siege-designed window. Where was he?! Was he all right?! She wouldn't know until she did something.
"Elphaba?" Salamaris knocked on the door. There were about fifty Monkeys with wings that couldn't speak, and they needed to know where to put them.
"Not now!...Spells!" She shouted at him, fanning through the Grimmerie franticly. A tree, a flower, an eye, a dagger. None of those were right! She needed something to help Fiyero! Finally, she found a human figure. Swords lay at his feet, his arms spread wide as if expecting to be struck. Some sort of immortality spell, Elphaba hoped desperately as she began chanting.
"Elekah nahmem nahmen atum atum elekah nahmen," The words were harsher, unlike the spells Elphaba had cast before, but she knew she was pronouncing them right. Either way, she couldn't just start over if she had said it wrong; this was Fiyero's life she was dealing with, and she couldn't waste a second. "Elekah nahmem nahmen atum atum elekah nahmen…" This was the right spell…right? Worry that the effect wouldn't save Fiyero, she added in a little prayer in English.
"Let his flesh not be torn, let his blood leave no stain, though they beat him, let him feel no pain..." Elphaba's imagination was getting away with her, dreaming up new tortures the Gale Force might inflict upon Fiyero as her common sense trailed in its wake and added it into the impromptu spell-booster. "Let his bones never break and however they try to destroy him, let him never die!" He can't die! She wasn't sure if she could continue to live if he died. "Let him never die!" She looked back to the Grimmerie; the spell she was casting needed to be finished.
"Elekah nahmem nahmen atum atum elekah nahmen…" The words started to blur on the page, the fear and adrenaline she had relied upon to get here turning into a poison in her mind. "Elekah nahmem nahmen atum atum elekah…." She couldn't read the next word. "Elekah?" Was it different? Did it repeat again? Slamming the arcane book shut in frustration, she left it on the podium, turning away while lost in thoughts. She wasn't even sure if she had interpreted the picture right; Fiyero would probably have been stabbed by conjured swords, and it would be her fault. That's if the spell had done something.
This was my attempt at saving another's life, and it didn't work. Elphaba's mind was starting to go into mourning, the dulling pain of Nessa's death made fresh by this new tragedy. All the good that she did didn't matter in the end; this was the punishment the truth brings. The only thing that can be relied upon is that doing what's right hurts more than it's worth. The Wizard lived his comfy life in the Emerald City, never having to honestly work, and look where he is, worshipped by all. And she, Elphaba, was sitting in a deserted castle with a handful of ragamuffin supporters and dumb ex-Animals. She couldn't do it, and this was probably where all the truth-seekers were headed: eternal scorn and hate, everything working against them.
She sank to the floor, black skirts swirling around, causing displacement of dust. By the time it settled, Elphaba was crying openly now. She had hurt so many. She remembered faces of terror as she crossed the sky, children crying as their fathers tried to fend her off with prayers to the Wizard, and for what? The life of an Animal or two? She wasn't able to save Dr. Dillamond, or Nessa, and now Fiyero's death proved her incompetence. Who was she to run around and act the hero? She couldn't even do things that were straightforward; cast a spell and it's done. Had she ever wanted to do this for goodness's sake? Tumbling out the window and screaming 'It's me' was all done in theatrics. None of that helped Oz. She hadn't been looking for a life of goodness, all she had wanted attention. She was no better than Glinda. It was all in which label is able to persist. No matter what she did, she would be a Wicked Witch. Even if she unseated the Wizard and exposed his lies, the people would hate her for it.
They call me wicked, Elphaba thought ruefully, standing up. The haze of the dust seemed to be in everything she saw- the sky was bleaker, stone walls grayer, time-worn tapestries duller. So I am wicked. In fact, it's so much who I am its part of my name… She turned slowly, each of her movements slow and deliberate. Opening the door, she was met immediately by Salamaris. He had heard the chanting end a little while ago, but was scared to enter unless she was still busy.
"What is it?" He took in everything about her immediately; the dull expression, sorrowful eyes, slow walk.
"It's over." Elphaba said flatly, still walking. The determined energy was gone, and Salamaris didn't even have to break into a jog to catch up to his usually quick-paced leader.
"What do you mean, over?" he said. Elphaba had never quit before. They had even tried to raid one trouble spot four times before succeeding, how could she give up the whole thing now? He didn't even know what about that spell made it so urgent.
"We can't keep fighting the Wizard." She never looked at Salamaris, never turned her head. "People have died, Animals are dying, and we can't do anything to stop it."
"Yes we can!" Salamaris stopped her, standing directly in front. Elphaba almost ran into him, her reflexes suddenly gone. "The Elphs would go to war with the Wizard if we had to." She avoided his eyes, ignoring his claims that they still had a leg to stand on. "We have your magic, the Grimmerie-"
"I can barely read that thing," Elphaba shook her head sadly. "The only thing that tells me what spells do are little pictures. They're hard to read, I don't even know what I'm doing half the time."
"But…the broom, your hat…" Salamaris tried to think of more spells that would have been hard to decypherate. Most of the other magic they had used was smoke distractions, unlocking spells, a short invisibility once. Those would have been easy to guess the meaning of. Elphaba looked at the floor.
"Flukes." Salamaris stood there, shocked almost as senselessly as he had when he had learned the truth about the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. "Go home, Salamaris." Elphaba said at last. "Tell whatever lie you need to and go home. Say I kidnapped you, enchanted your mind, anything. Just…stop fighting. The others, too. We're done." She stalked off down the hall, leaving a kind of depression in her wake. "I'm done." Salamaris watched her go, not sure what else to say to make her continue. She wanted to stop, but there was no way for her to get out. It was the least she could do, giving the Elphs a way to leave this existence they created.
That didn't mean it wasn't sad, knowing that your purpose in life, to stop the Wizard, had ended. Turning the other way, Salamaris left to fulfill Elphaba's last wish for the Elphs. He would find some way to continue to fight, but it would be much, much harder. He knew it.
It took a good two hours to get all the Elphs out of Kiamo Ko, especially after they had just arrived there. Elphaba was glad to a certain extent Salamaris helped carry out her final order; it meant less talking to other people.
The halls of the old castle were hauntingly empty without the Elphs. Elphaba wandered them aimlessly, trying to walk off her grief. Her ever-buzzing thoughts were silent, not even attempting to contemplate the sorry life she had been leading.
Work, Something cut through the fog, a half formed idea. Do something.
But what? She answered it dully, wanting to wallow in self-pity for a little longer. It wasn't necessarily less painful, but two losses in quick succession needed some mourning. She knew the voice was right, though. She had to do something to keep from wasting away. Immediately she thought of Fiyero, but she pushed the thought away quickly. He was dead, and there was nothing she could do. Nessa came next. Also dead, but Nessa had her shoes. The shoes that sniveling lump of a girl stole off her dead body. Elphaba felt rage revitalizing her body, anger forcing blood through her veins and giving her life meaning.
Revenge was and excellent project to keep her busy...
There. I changed some things in the cornfield scene, and finally finished the rest of it. Tell me if you liked it. Or if you didn't. Or if you think Salamaris should hook up with Elphie...All right, just kidding. Elphaba and Fiyero are forever. Except when one of them's dead. Please don't review with crazy claims of otherwise, Elphaba won't listen. -ahem-. Until then, keep reading and writing! -LostOzian