A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! I hope you all like this chapter.
Chapter 2
I stayed sitting there, with my mouth hanging open. Had it been any other situation, I think I'd be condemning myself for acting this way. I mean, I must look so stupid right now, just sitting there, without any other reaction than staring like an idiot at Glinda.
But then, there were too many things going through my mind to do anything else. The first thought that had come to me was that I was imagining things, so I reached my hand to touch my blonde friend and when I felt the fabric of her dress I discarded that thought. I felt so much relieve at that moment that I also wasn't able to fight an immense urge to hug her, so I did. Feeling her skin against mine, gave me the reassurance I needed to know that she was here, with me, just like she was supposed to. I pulled away from the hug quickly though, feeling hurt that she hadn't hugged me back instantly.
Then I felt angry, angry and confused. Why were there news around Oz about her death? And why was there a gravestone with her name on it right next to us? Doesn't she know that people love her, that I love her, and that she shouldn't go around scaring people like that! What was going through that brain of hers when she decided to "fake her death"?
I knew that maybe I was the last person to have the right to complain about something like that, but I decided not to think about it right now.
"What the…" I started. But it seemed Glinda had already guessed the questions that I was about to ask.
"Oh no, you don't Thropp. You have as much explaining to do as you think I do. If there's anyone who'll start asking questions, it will be me"
That froze me completely; she was right. I suddenly realized I was standing right in front of Glinda. I had been so relieved at seeing her, and had been trying so hard to understand this whole situation, that I hadn't completely realized I was standing right here, in front of my friend, when I was supposed to be dead. And there was something else, Glinda didn't seem as surprised to see me as I had been to see her. What was going on here?
Glinda and I stayed there looking straight at each other. As I said, I was completely relieved that she was well, but now that I knew that, I was desperately trying to find a way to get away from this situation. But as much as I tried to, I couldn't think of a way out. Glinda had found out somehow that I was alive, and now she had proof of it; there was nothing left for me to do to change that.
We kept staring at each other, silently daring the other to speak or make the first move. As I realized there wasn't really a way to go back to stay hidden from the blonde, I accepted this situation for what it was. I would give Glinda the answers she wanted, but she sure as hell had to give me some answers too.
So, without breaking the stare contest we seemed to be having, I decided to speak.
"Glinda, I" I had just said that when I saw Glinda's eyes widening and then I heard a weird noise coming from behind me. Before I could turn around or do or say anything else, I felt a hit in the back of my head followed by a strong pain. After that, everything went black.
oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz
As I started to regain conscience, I felt that I was waking up from a deep and… disturbing… dream. Soon, I'd open my eyes and I would see Fiyero lying beside me, telling me that my dream was a clear sign for me to stay away from Chistery, the Emerald City and Glinda.
Well, the feeling vanished once I started to smell roses around me. Fiyero didn't smell like roses at all. Maybe it hadn't been a dream, maybe it had all been real.
Seeing Glinda's blue eyes and blonde locks hanging inches in front of my face, just as I had started opening my eyes, was the only proof I needed to know this was real.
"Glinda…" I found myself saying.
"Oh Oz Elphie, you scared me to death!" she answered, while pulling me into a tight hug. I hugged her back.
After a few moments passed, she let me go and suddenly punched me in the arm (a little hard, in my opinion).
"I had been planning on giving you the cold shoulder, you mean green thing. You deserved nothing better. But then you had to go and faint in front of me and stay unconscious for hours! I was planning on treating you the way you deserved after deciding to leave me. But then, just after I was finally seeing you for the first time in months, you had to go and collapse in front of me; I really feared I had lost you this time. You really have to stop scaring me like that!"
"Why? It works as a charm" I answered with a small smile, and then winced when Glinda punched me again after hearing that.
"Ok, ok. I'm sorry, my sweet. But what happened last wasn't my fault at all. I didn't "faint", as you put it, on purpose. I was attacked! By the way, what happened back there?"
"It was Chistery, he hit you with a rock"
"What? Why would he do that?"
"He didn't know it was you until it was too late. Before hitting you, he only saw a figure covered in black approaching me, so he thought I was in danger. When he realized he had hit you, he looked completely mortified. I sent him back to the castle telling him I would take care of you. He's supposed to come back tomorrow afternoon. He'll be happy to see awake and not dead. He was scared you'd be mad at him for what happened".
"Well, it did hurt" I said, touching the place where Chistery had hit me and feeling a bump starting to form "But I'm not mad about it because it made me see that you still care about me. I mean, after I hugged you right after I saw you, it hurt so much when you didn't hug me back".
"It was hard not to do it, Elphie. It really was" Glinda said with a tear falling down her cheek.
A felt guilty and sad at seeing that, because I knew I was the reason behind it.
"Why did you leave me?" she then whispered, and that sentence alone broke my heart.
I pulled her to me and held her against my chest, feeling relieved when she didn't push me away. Instead she leaned into me, burying her head into my shoulder. I kissed her on the top of her head before I continued.
"I'm really sorry, my sweet. You don't know how much" I said, feeling my own tears starting to fall. "But I had to run away, I had no other choice"
"But you could've taken me with you"
"No, I couldn't. I couldn't drag you into the life of a fugitive. I didn't even know where I was going, or if I'd be safe. I just knew that you were better off without me"
"How could you ever think that?" she said, pulling away from me and looking straight into my eyes. Her eyes full of sadness and confusion. "You are my best and only friend, the only one I trust. You are the most important person in my life. After you died, I felt my life was fading away day by day. Sure, at the beginning there was the Wizard and Morrible for me to fight, and I also wanted some kind of revenge for what they'd done to you. But after that was done, I felt empty. I felt empty without you".
"I'm sorry, Glin. I love you so, so much. I never meant to hurt you. I also needed to be by your side, that's why I didn't leave Oz immediately, as it had been planned. When I decided to leave Oz for good, when I decided to… to lie to you, I thought I was doing what was best for you. But in the end, I couldn't leave you"
"Is that why you had Chistery spying on me?"
"You, you knew about that? Did he…?"
"He didn't say anything to me, Elphie. He remained loyal to you until the end"
"Then how did you find out about me? And, most importantly, why did you decide to pretend you were dead?"
"As I said ealier, we both have questions that need to be answered, and I think I deserve the right to ask them first. I'll prepare us something to eat and then we'll talk"
"Ok. Mmmm, where are we again?" I asked looking around me without recognizing a single thing.
"At a small cabin my family owns close to our home in the Pertha Hills. The place I pretend to keep as my permanent residence from now on."
oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz-oz
And so, we sat in the kitchen's dining table. Glinda had finished preparing some sandwiches for us and we hadn't spoken since the first bite we took.
"Why?" was the only word that came from Glinda after a few more moments had passed.
I swallowed a piece of bread I had been chewing before speaking.
"I told you Glin, I needed to do it, I had no other choice"
"Fine; then how? How did you make yourself "die" and how did you stay hidden all this time?"
"Well, I used a trapdoor. I pretended to have a fight with that girl… Dorothy… before she threw that bucket of water at me, to make things more believable. And after she threw the water, I made some smoke appear with a simple magic trick; the people around me where so surprised at seeing so much smoke, that I was able to disappear through a trapdoor unnoticed. I guess that, at the end, I only took advantage of the rumor going around about my allergy to water".
"And then what?"
"Then Fi… Fiyero and I left Kiamo Ko the same night of my death" I finished, flinching a little after mentioning Yero's name.
"What? Fiyero is alive? But I thought he was dead, you told me he was dead!" Glinda said, sounding completely astonished. I had been looking at anywhere but her, but when I turned to see her, I noticed a mix of shock and… something else, something I couldn't recognize… flashing in her eyes.
"I never said he was dead, my sweet. I said we would never see his face again, but…"
"But you led me to believe he had died…"
"I know, and I'm sorry. The day you came to visit me, after Fiyero had been taken away, I received a message from Chistery, remember?" When Glinda nodded, I continued. "That message was from Fiyero. In it, he asked me to run away with him, and he told me about a plan he had… a plan that I accepted and that led me to fake my death. Fiyero, Fiyero turned into the scarecrow, Glinda. The scarecrow that traveled with Dorothy".
At Glinda's horrified look, I decided to continue "It was a spell. I cast it when the Gale Force took him away after our encounter at the corn field"
"I can't believe this, Elphaba! I mean…"
"I know Glin, he is your ex-fiance after all, but…"
"That's not what bothers me. The worst part is to find out that you lied to me about several things, several huge things."
"Sorry" I said while looking away embarrassed. I really didn't know what else to do. After a few seconds I turned toward Glinda again. She was glaring at me and I wanted to look away again at seeing that murderous look on her face.
"I guess there's no reason to dwell on this any longer" she said slowly. "But Oz help me if you are hiding something else from me, Elphaba. So, what was the next step in your plan?"
"We had to leave Oz right away by going through the Time Dragon Clock. But in the end, I couldn't leave without making sure you'd be okay"
"So, this was never your plan… it was Fiyero's"
"Yes, pretty much. But it was the perfect plan for me to leave this whole situation unharmed, after all, all of Oz was praying for my death at the moment. Now, how did you find out about me?"
"Well, you have to give me some credit Elphie, I'm not as silly as some people think, you should know that. As I told you, in the beginning I was busy with the Wizard and Morrible, but after that was settled, reality started to sink in. I realized you were really gone, that's when I felt like I couldn't take it anymore. After a few days of feeling completely empty and alone, I went to my parents' house, and during one of my nights there, I had this dream…
I was standing in front of a waterfall, located in front of some kind of cave. So it was like there was a water curtain separating the cave's entrance with the rest of the world. In my dream, I was standing in one side of that curtain and I didn't understand what was really happening. That's when I noticed there was someone in the other side and when that someone started coming to the front of the cave, I realized it was you. I called your name, wondering if it was really you, and you just came closer and raised your hand toward me. After that you said "come my sweet" before letting your arm pass the water barrier between us. When I saw you moving your hand toward me, I screamed, thinking you'd get burned, but your hand ended up crossing the water and taking mine and nothing happened to you. Then you said "There was never any reason to worry, my sweet" and after that I woke up startled."
"Honestly, at the beginning that dream only unsettled me. I hated when I had dreams about you because then I'd wake up and realize you were gone. I guess that that's why sometimes I refused to leave my bed because I only wanted to sleep and dream about you…
Anyway, this dream was different. I couldn't get it out of my head and I started dreaming it over and over again. Until… until one night something else happened… on night, when you told me there wasn't any reason to worry, you cried".
"Glinda…"I started, feeling like I needed to comfort her for all the things she had gone through.
"That's when it hit me" she continued, ignoring me "That's when I remembered something vital. I remembered that the last time we had seen each other, we both ended up crying, but when you cried, your tears didn't leave any burn or trail behind them. I guessed I hadn't thought about that earlier, because every time I remembered that night I only remembered our last good bye and your… death. But, once I focused on other parts of my memories, I wondered if there might be hope; was there a chance of you being alive? I mean, I had never seen you taking a shower or anything like it, but I had never seen you getting burned with water either.
Unfortunately, I knew that I had no proof of any of the theories I was starting to form, so I decided not to let my hopes up. After all, I could be imagining all this; the dream and my memories could be the result of me going through some kind of denial.
However, my doubts and my decision not to get my hopes up, went away one night in which Chistery came to say goodnight before I went to sleep, he always did that. That night, the moment he came into my bedroom and gave me a hug, I… I smelled you all over him".
"You…. You, smelled me?" I asked confused at this last fact. "I didn't know I had some kind of smell…" I continued, sniffing at my shoulder, trying to understand what Glinda was talking about.
"Oh Elphie, you do, you most certainly do. You smell like a mix of sandalwood, rain forest and… honey" Glinda said, suddenly blushing.
"I, I didn't know that"
"Well, as I was saying, that's when I realized that I couldn't be imagining all this. Maybe, maybe there was hope, and I knew I had to do something to prove my theories once and for all. So, I put a spell on Chistery, one that would let me know if he left the Emerald City and, every time he did that, I would follow him.
After a few days passed, I was about to change tactics when I realized my idea wasn't working, he wasn't really leaving the city at all. Until one day when, after passing the city's boundaries, he started heading toward the Vinkus.
That's the first time I saw you, in that small cave you live at. The moment my eyes laid on you, I felt my heart had stopped beating completely; I was in shock… The only reaction I ended up having was watching you for a while before going back to the Emerald City. Once I got to the Palace, I felt so much anger in me once I realized you had lied so horribly, but I also felt hope, hope and happiness, because I realized I wasn't alone. That sense of hope overruled my anger and the next morning I decided that soon enough you'd pay for lying to me, but first I had to bring you back. That's when I started forming the plan to fake my death; that way we could escape this place together. I hadn't known about Fiyero, though."
"Wow Glin, I must say I'm surprised. I didn't know you had gone through so much just to, just to find me. But I'm so glad you did" I said hugging her tightly, this woman never seemed to amaze me "I was desperate to see you, to be there for you"
"And now we can do that Elphie" she said excitedly "we can be together…"
"We can't" I found myself saying and Glinda quickly pulled away from me.
"What? What do you mean?"
"Glinda, you can't leave Oz. You are its ruler"
"No Elphie, now we're both free. When I found out about you being alive, I couldn't understand why you had decided to lie or stay hidden. But then I understood, you wanted freedom, and I need that too. You really don't know what's like, to have the country's future in your hands, it's really too much to do it alone"
"But you are not alone! Everyone loves you!"
"I already told you, Elphie. I only have you, just you. People may think they know me, but they don't. How could they, if they don't know me at all? You are the only one who really knows me"
"And I love you, my sweet. But you and I both know that you can't leave Oz just like that. In my case it was completely different. But you can't leave. I would love for us to stay together, but I don't see how to do that"
"You could stay here, with me" Glinda said almost whispering.
"But Oz, and Fiyero…"
"Look Elphie, I'm not going back to Emerald City to keep my position as Oz's ruler. I can't do it, and you should try to understand that. I told you already, it's not a job to do it alone."
After saying that, Glinda got up angrily and walked toward the bedroom.
"I'm going to sleep" she then yelled.
I felt horrible; I didn't want her to think that I wasn't happy to see her or be with her. I wished I could stay next to her forever. She was my best friend… the most important person in my life (I admitted to myself).
I got up and walked toward the bedroom, I wanted to explain myself to Glinda somehow. When I entered the room, she was already lying on the bed.
"May I sleep next to you?" I asked timidly.
"Sure" she said, without looking at me.
I went toward the bed, lying down next to Glinda. "You are the most important person in my life, Glin. And the last thing I want to do is try to force you to go back to a life you don't want to live. I was insisting earlier because I know you are the best thing that could ever happen to Oz, but I know we can't leave your feelings aside"
Glinda turned around and looked at me with a smile on her face "Am I really the most important person in your life?"
I couldn't help but smile back at her "Of course you are. Look, we can talk about all of this tomorrow morning. We could get to an agreement. What do you think?"
"Okay, I can deal with that" Glinda said, and then she scooted closer to me, burying her face in my shoulder and wrapping an arm around my waist. I moved my left arm around her to pull her closer to me; we had been through a lot today.
"Good night, Elphie" she said.
"Good night, my sweet".
I woke up the next day with a huge smile on my face. I opened my eyes and my smile got brighter when I realized it really hadn't been a dream. My Elphie was lying next to me, her arms closed around me, holding me tightly. I buried my face deep into her shoulder, where my head had been resting, and I inhaled her smell. That smell I had missed so much and that hunted me after I had sensed it in Chistery.
Since the moment I realized Elphie might be alive, my life had started to have meaning again. That's why now that I had her, I wasn't going to let her get away from me ever again. Especially not after I had realized what my true feelings for her were.
I had finally accepted them the week I visited my parents after the Wizard went away, the week I dreamed about Elphie and the waterfall. Those days my mom had seen me so sad and devastated that she said it seemed as if I was mourning a lover that had just passed away; that's when I realized my mother was right. I had been feeling so empty and desperate because Elphie hadn't only been my friend, I had been in love with her.
When I found out Elphie was alive, I was furious, but after a while, I started thinking about all the possibilities that could come along with that. We could be together now, and maybe someday we could even be more than friends. Of course, I hadn't known about Fiyero then, that's why when Elphie mentioned him, I was not only surprised, but hurt as well. I had meant to ask her if they were together, but I decided against it. Of course they were together. So I recovered myself quickly and decided that I could learn to live with that, I could learn to live with having Elphie only as a friend, it was completely better than not having her at all. So, if Fiyero came with the package, I would find a way to deal with it.
Well, that had been my decision until this morning. Now that I was lying in Elphaba's arms, I realized I wanted to wake up like this every day for the rest of my life. So, giving Fiyero a clear path to keep Elphaba with him wasn't an option anymore. But I would be fair, I would just show Elphie how much I had to offer and then she could choose between Fiyero and I. So, I was actually just showing her that there were other… options around.
Suddenly, I felt Elphie shifting against me. And I raised my head to look at her.
Elphaba opened her dark brown eyes, and they landed on me. She then gave me the sweetest smile.
"Good morning, my sweet"
"Good morning, Elphie" I said, grinning like a fool.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Better than ever" I answered, noticing that she was still holding me close to her. Unfortunately, a growling coming from my stomach interrupted us.
"You seem to be hungry" Elphaba said, smiling at me. "We should get you some breakfast"
"Okay, we could go pick up some strawberries from the forest. I know where to find them, would that be okay?"
"It would be perfect" Elphie said and then we got ready, grabbed a basket, and left the cabin.
Once in the forest, we found some strawberries and blackberries around. We started picking them up while talking about our days at Shiz. I had missed being with her so much. I was about to talk about another memory when I saw a lake in the distance; I had forgotten it was there.
"Elphie, there's a lake not too far away from here. Would you like to go eat these there?" I asked pointing at all the fruits we had gathered in the basket.
"Sure, Glin"
We moved toward the lake and sat under the shadow of a tree. I put the basket on my lap and we started eating quietly. After a few moments, she stopped eating and turned to look at me, holding one of my hands in hers. My heart began to beat faster when she also started to caress it softly.
"What are we going to do, Glin?" she asked.
"I'm not going back, Elphaba" I said looking away from her. I didn't want her to ask me to go away anymore, it hurt too much.
"What if… what if I stayed with you?"
Quickly, I turned toward her once I heard that. Finally she was saying something that made sense.
"Well… well, I"
"We could tell everyone that there was a mistake or something like that. We could tell them that you had a weird disease that made you fall asleep for too long and that's why people thought you were dead. But once you got to your home, with your family, you woke up! I know it sounds silly, but people around here will believe anything they are told".
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Would you also say you hadn't died somehow?"
"No, my sweet. I would stay hidden, but I would be next to you, for as long as you find it necessary"
"What if I want you with me forever?" I asked, fearing what her answer would be.
"Well, I don't think that'll happen. Eventually, you will get tired of me" she said sounding sad. I couldn't believe she actually thought something like that.
"That would never, ever, ever happen, Elphie" I tried to reassure her.
"We don't know that for sure Glin, but on the meantime we could agree to this. I'll stay with you for at least some time" That answer wasn't what I had wanted to hear; I wanted her to say we could be together forever. But I guess it was at least something, and I would have to make the better out of it.
"Okay" I said, and almost jumped to hug her. I did that so fast that I ended up losing my balance, falling on top of her.
"Sorry" I said flushing.
"It's okay. Actually, from here I can…" and before she finished her sentence, she started tickling me.
"Nooo, Elph, Elphie… sttto… stop" I said laughing loudly, trying to stop her.
"Oh no, my sweet. Now you are mine" she said laughing too. I couldn't help but shiver at that last sentence, imagining how great it would be for her to be mine, while I was hers.
Before she could continue assaulting me, I grabbed her hands, pushing them to the ground and smiled triumphally at her. That's when I realized that our faces were inches apart from each other. Before I got the chance to think about something else, Elphie had rolled around, leaving me on the ground before standing up. "You'll never catch me" she said playfully, before starting to run toward the cabin.
I smiled again, got up and started running after her, giggling all the time. That is until I heard a shout coming from behind me that completely paralyzed me.
"Your goodness, is that you?" I heard a male voice yelling.
Shit, this couldn't be happening. A few feet ahead of me, Elphie stopped running too and she turned around, looking horrified.
Hide, I mouthed silently to her. She shook her head starting to walk back toward me but I raised a hand to stop her. It's okay I mouthed again and turned around to see a soldier running toward me very fast. I was really hoping Elphie had decided to listen to me.
"Good morning, your goodness" the guard said "I've been looking all over the place for you. Your parents told me you'd be in your cabin, but when I didn't see you there, I feared the worst".
"Good morning" I said swallowing slowly, hoping now that Elphie was too far away to listen to the things the guard was saying. This wasn't supposed to happen; I had told them not to bother me under any circumstances. "I just decided to take a walk. What is it?" I asked, trying to sound as exasperated as I felt at the moment.
"Sorry for disturbing you, your goodness" the guard said, maybe he had noticed I was not in the mood to talk right now. "But we got an important message for you from the Palace" he finished handing me an envelope.
"Thank you" I said taking it quickly "I should be back soon, so I would appreciate not to be bothered again until my return"
"Of course, Your Goodness. I'm sorry for coming to you, but the Lion himself gave me that note and he said it was extremely important for you to get it as soon as possible".
"Okay, I'll write back to him. Thank you" I said with a tone that meant I was also dismissing him.
"You are welcome" he said, bowing, and then he started to walk away.
A few seconds passed and then I decided to turn around to go look for Elphie, but that wasn't necessary.
"What the hell was that, Glinda?" she said, appearing suddenly next to me.
"Oz, you scared me, Elphie" I said, putting a hand to my heart; she really had scared me!
"Did he just… he just… why did he?"
I knew that I had to say something, but I didn't know where to begin. At the same time I could see Elphaba's eyes moving all over me and then back at the place where the guard had been standing at just a few moments ago. Looking at her eyes, I realized her brain was working fast, trying to understand all this and after a few more seconds, her eyes went wide and she looked straight at me. She had figured everything out.
"Who else believed you had died?" she asked slowly
I gulped and looked down before replying. "Only… only you"
I looked up again just in time to see her turning around and walking away from me.
"Wait!" I yelled, running after her and stepping in front of her to block her way. To stop her from getting away.
"Glinda, please move" she said slowly, glaring at me.
"No" I answered, glaring back at her. There was no way I'd let her go.
She gave a step to the right and I quickly did the same, blocking her way again.
"Please, move" she said again, coldly.
"No, I WON'T" I said, trying to sound strong. "I won't. Not until you at least let me explain"
"Explain what? That you lied to me and made me believe you were dead while you told the rest of Oz you wanted to… to… let me guess, to spend a few days with your momsie and popsicle?"
"Well, I…"
"The news, the grave I saw… everything… Did you just want to make me see how horrible it felt to lose your best friend? Did you do all that just to punish me?"
"Nooo, I did that to bring you back to me!" I almost screamed. "If you could only let me explain"
"Fine, explain" Elphaba said, folding her arms in front of her. "But I want the truth, Glinda. Only the truth"
I nodded before starting to speak "Everything I told you yesterday about the way I found out you were alive is true, Elphie. Although, instead of just deciding to join you, I decided I had to bring you back to me first. Ironically enough, the first thing that came to my mind was that I could pretend to die. That was something so big that would guarantee a visit from you.
After I decided that was a good enough plan, I took the next step. I spread the news of me being ill to the newspapers, and one day after I had followed Chistery when he went to visit you, I saw you getting ready to leave soon, so I decided that was the day for my plan to be executed. That day I spread the rumor that I had died in the closest towns around your home. Then I just waited for you to come see me. I'm sorry, but I thought it was the best way to bring you back" I finished, feeling tears falling down my cheeks; I didn't wanna lose her again because of this.
"What about the town I saw before leaving my home?"
"Well, the next day, an official palace member informed them that it had all been a mistake"
"Why didn't you tell me about this from the beginning?"
"Because I wanted you to come back with me to the Emerald City. I didn't lie about needing help with being Oz's ruler, I really need that. But I wanted you to decide that you wanted to help me and the rest of Oz. I didn't want to force you, telling you we should go back to the palace right away".
"I…"
"I need you Elphie, nothing has changed that".
When Elphaba didn't say anything else, I started crying harder, fearing the worst. She was going to leave… But then my friend surprised me again by taking my hand and pulling me into an embrace.
"Don't cry, Glin. I, I need you too" she said whispering to me. "Come on" she continued, pulling me toward a near tree. We sat on the ground next to it and she pulled me into her lap, soothing me until I finally stopped crying.
"So, you are still coming with me?" I asked taking small breaths.
"Always" she said pulling me closer to her.
We sat there for what seemed like hours, until some clouds started to appear in the sky, so we decided to go back to the cabin.
Once we were up, I took one of her hands and intertwined our fingers. "Elphie, I'm…"
"It's okay, my sweet. Lately we have both done things we regret. But I think it's better if we don't dwell on them any longer. I didn't like the fact that you had been lying to me all this time, but there are more important things we should focus on right now" she said with a kind smile. "There is our return to Oz, leading the country together for a while, making amends to each other…"
"You're right" I said "Thank you"
She nodded and took my hand to her lips, kissing my knuckles lightly. I felt a tingling throughout my entire body when her lips brushed against my skin.
I hadn't planned on this, on her discovering so soon that I hadn't lied to everyone in Oz about my death. But I would do as she said, and I would stop thinking about it. After all, I only had a couple more days before having to go back to the Palace, only this time I would have Elphie by my side. On the meantime, I could work on making her fall for me, so she would choose me over Fiyero in the end; I should start focusing on that.
I hadn't realized I had been lost in my thoughts until I felt Elphaba kneeling in front of me to retrieve the letter the guard had given me moments ago. I honestly didn't know at what point I had dropped it.
"Here, my sweet" she said handing me the letter.
"Thanks Elphie" I answered. I had forgotten about it, so I opened it immediately. I realized that would be for the better, considering the guard had left it with me because he thought there was an emergency in the Emerald City.
"Miss Glinda,
I'm sorry to disturb your vacation, but something extremely big happened yesterday at night. The Scarecrow came back! He still didn't tell us where he'd been, but he's back and he demanded to have an emergency meeting with you. He said it was important because "he…" and I quote because he asked me to do so, "he would die before letting all the green leave his life". I assume he means he'd die before leaving the palace and the Emerald City again, but he said he really needed to talk to you.
Anyway, now that I have delivered the message, please consider it again and come back whenever you feel is appropriate.
The Lion"
"What is it, my sweet?" Elphaba asked. She had been looking at me while I read the letter, so I handed the message to her so she could read it too. I was looking at her intently while she read, so I couldn't help but notice how worried she started to look.
"Fiyero.." was the only thing she said.
"I know" I replied, not wanting to pronounce that name at this moment. "It seems, my dear Elphie, that he is requesting my presence urgently. I guess it had to happen sooner or later, right? The three of us really need to have a serious talk and set some things straight"
Elphie nodded and we started to walk back to the cabin. We had to get ready because we both knew we needed to leave to the Emerald City soon. I would have preferred to spend some more time alone with my Elphie before having to go back, but I knew that wasn't possible anymore. After all, a serious meeting between the Witch of the West, the Witch of the North, and the Scarecrow had been delayed for too long, and now it was time for that encounter to take place, whether I liked it or not.