Kansas
No one ever believed Dorothy Gale. No one. No one. No one.
The sixteen-year-old kicked petulantly at a rock as she considered this. On Dorothy's sojourn home from the schoolhouse, this was what she always thought of- the irony of how her "perfect world" over the rainbow had made her an outcast in this one. Ever since she had returned from Oz at twelve, insisting on its reality, she had been mocked, made fun of, and not taken seriously by anyone but Evie O'Sullivan, who'd returned from University to teach at the town's small school.
"You should take the exam and apply to college, Dorothy," Evie always told her. "You've got a great mind. Imagination is a gift, not a curse."
That didn't change the fact that it made her a freak.
And she couldn't take it anymore. She wished- she wished- she were back in Oz, where everyone believed her and she was a hero-
Apparently Evie was right. Imagination was more powerful than she'd thought.
Gillikin, the forest north of Shiz
Glinda was still in shock as she sat drinking tea at Elphie's kitchen table, her old friend and her ex-fiance sitting across from her, staring with worried eyes.
Cassie had, at her mother's bidding, taken little Grania over to play in the corner, but the dark-haired little sprite kept looking curiously at Glinda and grinning whenever the woman made eye contact.
Her mother's spirit, her father's charm, Glinda thought ruefully. Watch out for that one. She'll be able to do anything. And the elder has Elphaba's solemnity and steel spine, certainly…
"Glin?" she focused back on Elphaba, whose hands were folded nervously on the table and whose foot kept twitching in that way Elphie had when she was anxious or even just bored. "Glin, I'm sorry- I had to-" Elphaba began painfully. She was interrupted by a loud thud and the sound of a female voice going "Ooompf!" from outside. Fiyero was up instantly.
"I'll check on it," he said, dashing outside. And a moment later: "Oh, shit." And then the door opened and yet another girl's world turned on its axis that day.
Dorothy:
Her first thought was, Holy shit, a word she'd only heard from the farmhands and had been practicing in her head ever since. Her second was, spotting the children in the corner, I was right!
And her third, upon seeing the expression in Elphaba's eyes, I hope.
Elphaba spoke first.
"What the hell," she began menacingly, standing and pulling herself up to her full height, which was less impressive than Dorothy remembered, or maybe she'd just grown- "Are you doing here?"
"Dorothy?" Glinda squealed, getting up from the table. "Oh, dear. Elphie. Elphie, calm down. I must insist. Sit. Both of you."
Glinda managed the Witch with incredible aplomb, getting both women and the man who had found Dorothy and whose face was somehow familiar to sit down.
Elphaba glared. Glinda ignored her. The dark-haired little girl giggled. The redhead glared. The littler girl ignored her. The man looked from the girls to the old friends and stifled a laugh himself.
Everyone glared, but the effect was somewhat spoiled by both children bursting into laughter in quick succession. Elphaba turned her head, the anger flashing out of her eyes in an instant.
"Go in your bedroom, girls," she said in a surprisingly soft voice. "Cassie, make sure Grania stays put." The redheaded girl nodded, and the pair trotted off, the other girl sending periodic glances over her shoulder when her sister wasn't looking.
"I was right," said Dorothy. Elphaba whipped her head around and the fury was back, as if she had it in a faucet she could turn on and off.
"Shut up."
"I was."
"What was she right about, Elphie?"
"Nothing." Elphaba fixed Dorothy with an even fiercer look, if that was possible. "Who says that's the same child?" she demanded.
"She has the same hair. She's the right age," Dorothy said.
"And you're such an expert on children, I'm sure."
"Let's have both of you calm down," suggested the man calmly.
"Let's not," said Elphaba.
"Who are you?" asked Dorothy. The man exchanged a nervous glance with the Witch.
"He's a person," Elphaba said obnoxiously. Glinda giggled. The other three glared at her.
"Well, I can see that," said Dorothy.
"He's a man. He has a d-"
"Elphaba."
"Duodenum," Elphaba said innocently, smiling a sarcastically sweet smile at Glinda, who had delivered the reprimand.
"What's that?" Glinda and Fiyero asked at the same time.
"Part of the digestive system."
The others were silent. "Why are you here?" Elphaba demanded of Dorothy.
"I don't know!" the girl cried. "I was wishing I were somewhere else, and then
suddenly-"
"Oh, lovely, Glinda," Elphaba snapped. "You've managed to give her some kind of magic or something." Glinda raised both hands.
"No, I didn't. I can't even change a dress into a ballgown," she protested.
Elphaba cocked an eyebrow. "Then who-"
"You?" Fiyero suggested, grinning slightly.
"Ha!"
"Well…maybe she just has the power."
"But she's not a-"
"Morrible has it, and she isn't either."
Elphaba gave Fiyero a dark look. "How did you know what I was going to say?"
"Logic?"
"You, logical?"
"Yes, I am the non-suicidal one here."
"I am not suicidal."
"You sure as hell act like it sometimes. Going within five feet of the City just to see if you'll get caught."
"Don't be ridiculous. It was twelve and three fourths of a foot, and I was behind a tree."
"You measured?"
"Be quiet, you, you- brainless idiot."
The halfhearted insult triggered something in Dorothy. She stared at the man's blue eyes.
"I know you!" she declared suddenly. Everyone looked at her. "You're the Scarecrow!"