Well, the pressure is on me now. I didn't realize you people would be expecting so much from me :P Well, hopefully I can live up to expectations!
I think we can all agree that Elphie and Nessa might get themselves killed very easily. So why not give them a little help?
Shiz University, One Day Later
"What?" Exclaimed a petite blonde as she stared at a newspaper, rereading the headline again and again, unable to believe what she was seeing. She blinked several times, thinking that perhaps her vision was blurred and she was therefore seeing the words wrong. She scanned the article beneath it, desperately hoping that the headline was misleading, that it didn't mean what she thought. She flipped through the paper, dropping many of the pages in the process, hoping that there was more to the story that would clear everything up, but she found nothing.
"What's wrong, Miss Galinda?" Boq asked as he approached from the blonde's right, leaning down to gather the pages she had dropped and handing them back to her.
"Oh, Biq-"
"Boq."
"Biq. The most horrendible thing has happened!" She cried. "Look!" She turned the paper so that the Munchkin could see the picture and the headline that took up a good bit of the page.
Wicked Witches Terrorize Emerald City Palace Before Escaping
Boq looked beneath the headline and was beyond surprised to find two pictures, one of Elphaba and one of Nessa. "W-what does the article say?"
"That they terrorized the Wizard and his Press Secretary and then mutilated some poor creatures before escaping on a flying broom through a window..." Galinda looked down at the article once more. "With an extremely special ancient book of spells!" She added, sighing. "They would never do anything like that. Elphie wanted nothing more than to be with the Wizard. It was a dream she'd had her whole life! And she's been fighting for the Animals for... well, a long time! She would never, ever do anything to hurt them! And Nessa might not have been as passionate about it, but she cared about the Animals, too. And she wouldn't do anything to get in the way of her sister's dreams!"
"What are you saying?"
"It was a set-up!" The blonde exclaimed a bit too loudly, attracting a few stares, though she didn't seem to notice.
"A-are you sure, Miss Galinda? I mean, it seems like you're just jumping to conclusions. There isn't any evidence to prove that."
"Well, it's a good thing that we're going to go get some!" She responded.
"Wait, what?"
"Biq-"
"Boq."
"Biq. We're going to the Emerald City!" She exclaimed, holding her head high and sticking a hand high into the air before grabbing Boq's wrist and dragging him off towards the girl's dormitory.
"The Emerald City?" The Munchkin asked in disbelief as he was pulled away.
"Yes."
"But, why?"
"Because the Wizard is there, of course!"
"How is that going to help us?"
"Because he was there when this happened. He can clear everything up!"
"What makes you so sure?"
"I can feel it." Galinda said matter-of-factly, as if it was all of the reason Boq needed to hop onto a train with her and head off to the Emerald City.
Umm... Okay."
"Wait here." Galinda instructed as she and Boq stood out in front of the girl's dormitory building. "I'll be right back." Then, in a blur of pink, she rushed into the building, disappearing from the Munchkin's view as the door swung shut behind her. He stood there as he was told, taking in the lovely sight of Shiz in the Spring. Students walked in all directions, in clusters or alone, some talking, some reading, some doing as he was and simply looking around. There were students sitting on the benches that were scattered about, a few of them drawing or writing in books, one or two reading, quite a few talking to a group of friends. There were flowers in some places, ones with bright colors that stood out amongst the green grass of the area. A couple of birds flew overhead, chirping a sweet, peaceful song.
Then he looked down to the newspaper in his hand and remembered why he was standing there. Now, he didn't know Elphaba all that well, but he had been involved in one or two conversations that he had also been apart of. But Nessa... He knew Nessa and, even though he didn't feel as if he would ever love her like she wanted him to, or thought that he did, he definitely cared about her. She was kind and sweet, gentle and understanding. But of the many words he could think of to describe the sisters Thropp, 'wicked' was not one of them.
Then again, he hadn't known them that long. Maybe there was something he didn't know about them. It was a definite possibility. But he decided that he wasn't going to voice these thoughts to Galinda, unless he wanted to be stabbed with a stiletto, which really didn't sound like that much fun to him.
"Hey, what are you doing hanging out in front of the girl's dormitories?" Came a voice that Boq recognized as Fiyero's. Looking up, Boq did, indeed, find the Prince walking up to him.
"Oh, I'm waiting for Galinda." He explained, not realizing how weird it sounded until Fiyero made a face. "She told me to wait here." He quickly added, hoping that would make him sound much less creepy. He would admit that he had a lot of quirks, but he certainly didn't stand outside of the girl's dorms waiting for the girl he had a crush on.
"Right... why?" The Prince asked, cocking his head to the side slightly.
"Something to do with this." Boq replied, shoving the newspaper into Fiyero's hands. Fiyero's eyes scanned the headline and the pictures before skimming over the article. It seemed to take a moment for his brain to register exactly what he was reading, and he looked back at the Munchkin in utter disbelief when he finished.
"What?" He looked back down at the paper. As Galinda and Boq had done, as well, he reread everything, hoping that he had missed something and that was why he thought the article said that. But, as Galinda and Boq had also already discovered, they were reading it right. "But... this doesn't...how...I..."
"Fifi!" Came a sudden bubbly, though noticeably less cheerful than usual, voice. Boq turned around and Fiyero looked up to find that Galinda had returned, clutching two medium-sized bags, one in each hand, one pink and the other yellow, though both were very sparkly. The sun caught the sparkles and reflected them, illuminating the entire area in yellow and pink. She looked down and saw the Prince holding the newspaper. "You read it?"
"Umm... Yeah. So, how did this happen? It's just so-"
"Unlike them?" Boq finished the sentence for him.
Fiyero nodded. "Yeah."
"Exactly." Galinda said. "That's why we're going to clear this whole thing up!"
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Fiyero asked uncertainly.
"We're going on a trip!" The blonde declared, holding up the two bags in her hands.
"To... where?"
"The Emerald City, of course!"
"And, um... who's 'we', exactly?" Fiyero asked.
"You, me, and Biq!"
"Boq."
"Biq. Come on!" She said, charging off. The two boys behind her exchanged a glance before timidly following behind the blonde.
"So, what exactly do you plan on doing when we get there?" Boq asked as they pulled up alongside the blonde, all three of them speed-walking.
"We're going to The Wizard himself."
"The Wizard? And what exactly do you plan on saying to him?" Fiyero asked testily. He didn't see how this was a good idea, but he wasn't going to let the blonde go straight into a stupid idea all by herself.
"I'm going to march in there and demand he tell me what really happened with Elphie."
"Yeah, that's not a good idea." Boq said simply.
"Well, you got a better one?"
"We could stay here in the safety of our dorm rooms until this whole thing blows over?" He said sheepishly.
"No! Nessa and Elphie are in danger and I won't rest until they are safe!"
"Yes, but how do we know they're actually in danger?"
"And isn't our safety important, too?"
The blonde huffed loudly and turned around, facing the two boys now. "Look, I'm going. So if you two want to go run and bury yourself under your fuzzy blankets and cower in fear with your stuffed animals, then go. But regardless of what you do, I am going to save Elphie!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Fiyero demanded at the same time as Boq blushed and asked,
"How did you know I had stuffed animals?" Fiyero looked at Boq for a moment before turning back to the blonde.
"What. Is that. Supposed. To mean?" He demanded again.
"If you two aren't willing to risk your safety for them, than you aren't true friends!" She huffed before turning on her heel and continuing on to where Boq and Fiyero could only guess was the train station. The two exchanged another glance and hurried after her.
"Hey, we are true friends!" Boq protested when they had caught up.
"Then prove it." Galinda said.
And that was how a blonde, a Munckin, and a Prince all ended up on a train to the Emerald City with nothing but the clothes on their back, except for Galinda who had packed a change of clothes, and the few bits of food, water, and money, and makeup, that Galinda had shoved into her bags, in search of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz who they, or at least one of them, believed would help them clear up what they, or at least two of them, believed to be a huge misunderstanding.
You guys didn't think that I'd be able to resist writing Galinda into this, did you?
We'll go back to Nessa and Elphie next chapter!
(Galinda isn't Glinda in this because the scene at the station never actually happened, since Nessa went with Elphaba instead. We'll see that later on.)
Four red pandas are now defying gravity, but their buddies are getting jealous. Let's help them out, shall we? :P