Elphaba handled their story as efficiently as she could, whizzing through the explanation of Dorothy's presence and in elucidation of the blood on their clothing. Nessa of course overreacted melodramatically at the part where Elphaba nearly died, no matter how much she had minimized it, and she found herself forced into illuminating her miraculous recovery for everyone.
That was difficult as she didn't really understand it herself, but she believed it was merely an accidental explosion of power as she was known to have in extreme emotional situation. The infamous tree incident sprang to mind, as did Nessa's introduction to Shiz in a flying wheel chair courtesy of Elphaba's lack of control. However, she stressed the importance that she was in fact, fine now, and they had far more pressing matters than to worry what might have almost happened.
Glinda, turned to Boq. "What happened to you two? You look awful," her voice was kind, and even though he was now very loyal to Nessa, he was obviously still nursing his slight crush on Glinda. He fumbled around a bit until Nessa began to answer for him.
She sighed, "We found the balloon, but unfortunately we were discovered. The soldiers chasing us managed to hit and explode the helium tank with their gunfire, idiots that they are…no offense," she added hastily for Fiyero's benefit. "Anyway, we managed to lose them, but in the process Boq managed to lose us as well. So we have no idea where the balloon is, and nothing to inflate it with should we stumble upon it now. Does that explain things well enough, dear?"
They winced at her tone, knowing Boq was probably going to be suffering for this for a long time. Elphaba turned to Fiyero, "Do you know how to get there?" He nodded, leading the way for the group while maintaining his hold on Elphaba's wrist tightly as if she would try to escape at any moment. She resigned herself to the fact that they had lost the Wizard anyway, and they would have to resort to a more desperate plan to try to discover him later.
Once they arrived at the balloon, Elphaba and Glinda managed to inflate it easily enough with magic, and depositing Dorothy with Boq and Nessa, they charged the trio to watch the balloon until they could return.
There was an unexpected boom in the distance, and with a wild, violent shriek, the wind flew into chaos tossing hail and debris around wildly. Mercus must have found Morrible. Ducking frantically for cover, everyone scurried under overhangs and anywhere that could protect them from the oddly misshapen hail. Fiyero acted as a human shield for Elphaba, who in turn shielded Glinda, who was cradling Dorothy against her waist. All of them were crowded against the wall to the stable, with Boq and Nessa huddled in the basket of the balloon.
In disbelief, they watched a soaring rock puncture the balloon, and with a depressing whushing sound, it deflated miserably, sending Nessa and Boq fleeing from the rapidly dropping canvas. Once they had reached the others, they all looked back to the ruined balloon disheartened by the pathetic slump of a balloon. Would the frustration never end?
"Look, you and Fiyero go find the Wizard," Glinda called to Elphaba above the howl of the storm. "I'll stay here with the others, and somehow we'll repair the damage and inflate it again." Elphaba nodded in agreement and turned to start, eager to do anything productive, but Glinda caught her arm. "Just promise you'll come back in one piece. A living piece."
Elphaba almost laughed at Glinda's addition, as if the blond had read her mind. "I will if you will." Glinda grinned in response, and she called over her shoulder as she grabbed Fiyero's arm, "Watch out for my sister. She's got bad luck with tornadoes."
All thoughts to cover blown, Elphaba and Fiyero began a frantic mission to find the Wizard and get this stupid thing over with. Racing through the tumultuous atmosphere, she was beginning to give up hope when she saw a flash of the Wizard racing to cover as eggs started to fall from the sky, splattering into the dirt like missiles. Oz, what was the world coming to?
They took off in pursuit and spotted him cowering under a ledge. At Fiyero's signal, they slowed to apprehend him with the element of surprise on their side. Creeping noisily, Elphaba was impressed by his skill as a hunter, secretly storing this knowledge of his agility for use later should they survive this pathetic coup. Unfortunately, just as they neared him, an egg whizzed past his ear, drawing his attention in their direction. With a frantic shriek for the guards, he resumed his flight, but luckily for them, the guards were all being occupied by Mercus's militia at the moment.
He glanced over his shoulder to see them rapidly closing the distance when suddenly a rock fell from the crazed sky, whacking him soundly on the head. With a comically surprised look on his face, he dropped in a heap to the ground. Fiyero reached him first. "He's unconscious, but not dead." After all their plotting, a flying rock is what it took to bring down the Wizard. Perfect, she thought with a tired sigh.
She helped Fiyero lift the body and maneuver it to a safer location. It was slow moving even with the dead weight divided between them, but eventually they were under a porch and out of the path of falling paraphernalia.
After a few moments, the flying objects stopped abruptly as they were still trying to figure out what to do, and she assumed that meant either Morrible or Mercus's entire force had been subdued. They took the opportunity presented to lug the Wizard's unconscious form across the courtyard and back toward the area where the others were waiting. A familiar face greeted them, and Elphaba wondered what Mercus was doing that they kept meeting him in this courtyard.
He caught sight of them, racing to help Fiyero lift the Wizard, and they moved faster toward the others as he updated them. Elation all over his face, he beamed, "We did it. Morrible is dead. She put up a hell of a fight, but…"
Elphaba stopped, dropping her end, and the others staggered at the sudden pull of falling weight. Turning to stare at her, she ignored their confused looks. She glared at Mercus. "You killed her? We weren't supposed to kill anyone." He blinked, confused, and she continued. "Hence the elaborate plot to drag the Wizard to the balloon instead of just assassinating him, which would have been much easier."
"But…she was raining rocks on us. Surely that counts as self-defense at the very least."
Elphaba sighed, picking up her side again so they could continue this ridiculous journey. Grunting as she lifted her portion of their burden, she said, "Well, it's fine with me, Oz knows I wanted to kill her. But don't tell Glinda. She'll be furious." They continued their journey with a little more speed now that there were three of them.
Finally arriving in the clearing where the balloon now floated, straining against its tether. At the sight of Mercus, Glinda beamed, running up to greet them. "Oh, thank Oz you're alright." With a glance to the others, she blushed, "I mean, all of you, of course. What did you do to the Wizard?"
"Morrible did it. One of her rocks smacked him in the head, and now he's out cold." Boq joined them in loading the Wizard into the basket, and then they all stepped back, pleased that the difficult mission was finally over.
Then as Fiyero was about to untie the grounding rope, Glinda stopped them. "Wait! How will he be able to navigate it? He's unconscious. We can't just send him up anyway like that."
Elphaba cast a sideways glance at Mercus as if to say, I told you so. "Glinda, dear, he's an evil tyrant that has destroyed countless lives of innocent citizens of Oz through innumerable crimes, not the least of which is attempting to murder nearly everyone standing in front of you. I think we can let him figure out how to pilot the balloon on his own once he wakes up."
"What if the wind takes him to crash into something? It'd be like we're killing him."
She was getting a headache. "Ok, well, we can try to pilot it with magic then."
Glinda glowered at her humoring tone. "You know very well you can't control it after it's out of sight." Damn, the blonde had caught her too quickly for her to think of an alternate solution.
Boq suggested they just wake him up, to which everyone turned to refuse at once, making him cower against an overwhelming chorus of "No!" and "Are you crazy?!"
He winced. "Sorry. Just a thought."
Elphaba glared, "I am not about to give him another chance to lead us on a chase around the palace. This is ridiculous. Glinda, he'll be fine. Just send it up and get this over with!"
Then a small, meek voice interrupted, "Ellie," with a tug on her arm. Dorothy's wide eyes met hers, and Elphaba was too taken aback by the endearment to respond. "I want to help."
"How can you help?"
"I could go. After he wakes up, maybe the Wizard would show me how to take the balloon home?"
She felt a stab of remorse for forgetting her promise to help the girl home, and she started to try to explain why the girl couldn't do that when Glinda beamed at her. "Dorothy, that's perfect honey! I think the Wizard mentioned your country, what was it, Canasta?"
"Kansas."
"Yeah, we can tie him up, and she can keep them from anything dangerous until he wakes up. Then surely he'll help her when he realizes he has no other choice."
Elphaba nodded reluctantly, and they went to work tying up the Wizard to protect Dorothy in the air. She met the girl's eyes in an appraising way. "You realize how dangerous this is?" The girl nodded somberly. "Are you sure? You know we won't be able to help once you're in the air. You'll be on your own."
The girl thought a moment, and said, "Well, ever since I came to Oz, I've been on my own. Until I met you guys. And there's not really another way for me to get home is there?" The look on Elphaba's face said it all. "I thought so. I know you'd try, but it's the only way for you, and the only way for me, so I guess that just makes it the only way." She shrugged bravely, as if it were just a given.
Elphaba felt a newfound respect for the little girl. "Alright then. Be careful." Fiyero caught her eye, and she blushed at the affectionate look he'd caught her giving Dorothy. Stiffening, she turned to help prepare the balloon, leaving herself open to another launched hug from Dorothy. Did all children hug this much? She surprised even herself when she returned the hug, giving Dorothy an awkward pat on the head.
Dorothy boarded the basket, and with a few final shouts of encouragement, they cut her loose.
Elphaba felt like she could finally breathe. It was odd to watch her problems from the past few years literally floating into the sky. They watched until the balloon was safely just a speck in the sky. Then, Glinda's deep intake of breath woke them all from the spell that had captured them at the realization of all their dreams. "I guess I should go make the announcement. Oz is free." She smiled, squeezing Mercus's hand lightly as she turned to go.
Fiyero's voice surprised them all. "Wait." He turned to Elphaba. "You remember what I said? About having something to ask you when this was all over?" She nodded hesitantly, suddenly afraid of what he had planned. Surely he wouldn't….Glinda squealed when he dropped to one knee, and Elphaba felt her eyes reach the size of saucers.
"Fiyero," she hissed, "what are you doing? Get off the ground!" She started to panic, feeling that need to flee again. Tugging his arm, she whispered sharply, "Stop it, get up."
"Elphaba, I love you more than I could ever have thought possible. You've made me into so much more than I was before I met you, and I can't imagine life without you. You are the only person I could ever feel this way about, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." Her face was going to catch fire it was burning so badly. He produced a ring from his pocket. "Elphaba Thropp, will you marry me?"
Glinda squealed again, and Elphaba wanted to throttle him for asking her in front of everyone like this. "What's wrong with you?" Everyone leaned back, clearly not expecting that reaction. "This is not the time for us to talk about this! Just…get up. We'll talk about this later." She was mortified that he would have such a private discussion with her in the middle of all this.
The air was thick with awkwardness, and at Elphaba's glower, everyone suddenly came up with something pressing that needed to be accomplished. Elphaba decided to get away from the odd group, accompanying Glinda to her public address incognito for the moment. Glinda obviously wanted to berate Elphaba for her treatment of Fiyero's proposal, but she held her tongue for the moment.
After a brief argument, Glinda had agreed that Elphaba should probably be left out of it for now. Her reputation could be restored shortly, but in conjunction with the Wizard's absence, it would be a little too suspicious even for the gullible Ozians to believe. Still, she would be able to hide out in peace until the necessary interval of time had passed now that the Wizard was not going to be sending search parties in elaborate schemes to capture and execute her.
Elphaba had to admit, Glinda was a splendid politician. Ascending the steps, she could almost see her friend transform into Glinda the Good, champion of the weak and now the benevolent leader of Oz, though surely the blonde hadn't recognized that fact quite yet. With a charming smile, she quieted the crowd as she stepped forward. "My fellow Ozians. Let us glad. Let us be grateful. Let us rejoicify that goodness could survive the wicked workings throughout our lives." The crowd cheered her, though she had yet to really say anything.
"I have news, my friends," she said graciously. "The Wizard has left us to go on a sabbatical. The strains of wizardship have grown to be more than he could handle. I'm sure he wanted to tell you this himself, but in preparation for his departure, the balloon he travels by inexplicably rose in the air with him aboard. While he had not planned to leave so soon, he had such a peaceful smile on his face, it lifts the heart to see him so." Elphaba was impressed. Through careful wording, her friend had managed to lie without lying – quite an impressive task.
"Though I know you will miss him, please do not despair. We Ozians are strong, and I believe there are happy days just around the corner for us. So long as we put goodness and friendship," she cast a fond glance toward Elphaba's hiding place, "above our petty fears and discriminations, we will find strength and peace together. Let us embrace our future and move together, for though change can be frightening, I firmly believe that we can change for the better. We can change for good."
The crowd let out a raucous cry of support, which Elphaba joined, and she watched her friend then with such awe. Glinda had come so far in the years Elphaba had known her, leaving that popularity-seeking ego to become genuinely worthy of the public's adoration. It was truly an impressive sight to see. For the first time, Elphaba really believed that it was over.