A/N: Can I say thank you again for all your wonderful reviews? :D
And in another news: … crap, crap, crap, crap, crap… In three days, I'm officially going to be a college student. Panicking like hell T_T My childhood is slowly dying.
Oh, and to those who are asking, I'm taking BS Psychology :D
Chapter 8: When It Rains
Within weeks, the rainy season entered.
To Glinda's delight, Elphaba had taken her leave from the Resistance until the season ends, so as to abscond herself from the prospect of getting burned in the rain.
But in another notice, Glinda noticed that there was a slight change in Elphaba's patterns of movement. The green girl was quieter, and was always lost in thought. Whenever Glinda would look at her, she would catch the girl staring at her. Elphaba would now read the Grimmerie alone instead of asking her to join her unless the blonde voluntarily sat next to her. Her "habit" of touching her hand had also mysteriously disappeared, and they barely talked to one another, prompting the blonde to excuse herself to leave the awkward silence.
However, as strange as her roommate was getting, Glinda couldn't bring herself to ask the reason why, slightly afraid of the answer, whatever it might be.
Usually, they would take turns in feeding the chickens, but due to the unfortunate weather, it was Glinda doing all the work. Not that she complained about it. In fact, she wouldn't even let Elphaba sit near the door or the windows, much to the green girl's amusement.
A storm ravaged Oz in a few days.
Glinda went out one night amidst the heavy torrent, equipped with nothing but an umbrella and carrying the chicken feed in one arm. For the whole day, she had been waiting for the storm to calm down to feed the chickens, but it lasted well into the night that she finally decided to go out after realizing that it probably wouldn't end soon.
Chirping filled her ears when she entered the barn.
"I'm sorry, you guys," she said, throwing the umbrella aside. The storm was so fierce that her legs were doused.
She walked down the aisle, filling the trays with food.
Each chicken had their own space. Glinda was at the back of the barn when she noticed that the last space was empty.
"Avaric…" she groaned.
Most of the chickens were named after her schoolmates back at Shiz. She found it slightly funny that two of the fattest hens were named Pfanee and ShenShen. She had purposely called the most headstrong chicken Avaric in memory of its namesake back at school.
She circled the barn and was not able to find the animal in question.
"Not again…" Glinda muttered irritatedly. This was not the first time Avaric the Chicken had gone missing. Even Elphaba found him troublesome.
Regardless, Glinda took her umbrella. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out into the raging downpour.
Two hours later…
Elphaba sat by the dining table, the Grimmerie open before her.
She found it hard to concentrate. She looked at the door again, as if willing it to open and pull Glinda in.
Glinda had been gone for about two hours now. Her longest visit to the barn had been half an hour, and that was to passionately think of names for the newly hatched chicks. What could she be possibly doing in the barn to take her this long? Elphaba thought, her feet subconsciously tapping the floor in impatience.
Thrice she wanted to go out and see for herself, but she would risk getting burned, and Glinda would probably scold her for being so daring.
And so Elphaba waited for the blessed minute of Glinda's return. Even the Grimmerie couldn't distract her now.
At the next cackle of thunder, the wooden door creaked opened.
Elphaba jumped to her feet, looking expectant as Glinda absentmindedly folded the dripping umbrella and tossing it into a corner.
"What happened?... Sweet Oz, Glinda, you're soaked," Elphaba said, deeply worried.
Indeed, Glinda was soaked. It was even an understatement. She was completely doused from head to foot. Her damp clothing had wrapped itself tightly around her small frame. Her blonde hair had lost its curls and was plastered on either side of her face.
There was something wrong.
Glinda was unnaturally pale, and she looked tipsy on her feet, swaying on the spot.
"I'm fine, Elphie, really," she asserted. She smiled at her, though there was something off in it, and her eyes seemed unfocused, "Avaric had been missing, but he's back now. I found him by the lake…"
Without warning, Glinda fell on the floor with a soft thud, unmoving.
"Glinda!" Elphaba shouted, panic rising rapidly like venom in her veins.
She fell on her knees beside the fainted girl. Water was seeping from her clothing and was lazily spreading on the floor. Elphaba couldn't care less.
Biting back a hiss, she took hold of the blonde's shoulder and turned her over. Glinda was definitely motionless.
Feeling her forehead and her neck, Elphaba blanched. Oz, she's burning!
Running over to a cabinet, Elphaba wrenched out a massive cotton towel. As best as she could as fast as she could, she tried to make Glinda dry. She received several burns in the process, but the pain was numbed in her brain.
Next she attempted to dress Glinda into warm clothes. Despite her predicament, she couldn't help but feel deeply ashamed. Between this and to dance in front of Morrible wearing a fuzzy pink ballgown, she would pick getting humiliated in front of the old cow.
She even tried to distract herself by thoughts of spells in the Grimmerie, but it could hardly do much to get her brain away from the present task. Undressing her roommate without her knowledge was something Elphaba never would've dreamed of doing. Add the fact that her hands were ready to burst as they were exposed to so much water.
She didn't bother putting on undergarments. As if pulling the previous ones off wasn't mental torture enough. Elphaba had to blindly put on new clothes since she tightly squeezed her eyes shut. Glinda was now wearing a simple thick frock, and it was enough to cover the girl's arms and legs.
She then hauled the unconscious body to the bed. Desperate to keep her warm, Elphaba had put on three layers of blankets.
And though her hands were protesting vehemently, Elphaba brought over a pail of cold water, submerged a clean cloth, and laid it over the blonde's searing forehead.
"Come on, Glinda, wake up," she pleaded as she sat on a rickety chair next to the bed.
Every five minutes, she would dip the cloth on the pail and place it on Glinda's head. Her temperature was so high that Elphaba had to repeatedly keep the cloth cool.
Finally, a quarter of an hour later, Glinda eyes fluttered half-open. "Elphie…?" she inquired weakly and hoarsely, her head turning slowly from side to side.
Elphaba immediately jumped into action. Diving her battered hand underneath the covers, she took hold of Glinda's warm one. "I'm here, my sweet," she said breathlessly, gently squeezing her hand, "I'm here…"
"It's dark…" Glinda said slowly, her blue eyes rolling in their sockets, "So dark… Where are you…?"
Elphaba frowned slightly. The bedside table was just nearby, and there was a candle with a flickering flame on it. It was practically shining all its light on the bed. And Elphaba was sitting just next to her.
This is not good, Elphaba thought, feeling an unpleasant cold sensation filling her lungs.
"I'm here, right next to you," she answered, hearing her voice tremble.
Glinda smiled a little, closing her eyes again. "I knew you wouldn't leave me…"
Elphaba changed the cloth again, sensing a strange feeling of foreboding at the sight before her.
"…Elphie?" came Glinda's voice again.
"Yes, my sweet?" Elphaba readily answered.
"It's so cold…" Glinda said, "So, so cold…"
Elphaba did not like where this was going at all. Glinda's chest was rising and falling in a painfully slow manner. The girl even looked like she was having a hard time to take in air.
No, Elphaba thought, clinging on to the hand she was grasping, It's not going to end this way. Glinda's not going to die… Not here. Not tonight. She is not going to die with everyone in Oz remembering her as a traitor… She won't leave me alone…
But the more she thought about it, the more the vision of freedom for the both of them becomes hazy… Or was it the foolish tears pooling at her eyelids?
Glinda started breathing audibly through her pale, cracked lips. The sounds she was making were low, dull, and raspy that it was sending shivers down Elphaba's spine.
"Do you… Do you remember when we've met?" Elphaba asked, her throat heavy.
Glinda smiled, but her eyes remained closed. "Yeah…" came a low and breathy reply.
"You looked beautiful that day," Elphaba continued, squinting a little as the first tear rolled down her cheek and leave behind an angry red trail; she was spurring the girl into living, "Sitting on a mountain of valises, a smile on your face."
"Hah," Glinda breathed, attempting to grin. "And you were… were wearing that depressing outfit of yours… You still had your glasses on then… Your… Your greenness was slightly surprising…"
The green girl smiled as she reminisced that day. She didn't like the idea of thanking Morrible, but there was no other way she and Glinda could've been roommates without her.
"It's getting really dark…" Glinda said weakly.
Tears felt like knives dancing across her face, but Elphaba didn't bother to stop them.
"I'm making apple pie tomorrow…" she said, desperate to keep the blonde intact, "And then for lunch, we'll… We'll try out that recipe you were working on… We'll play hide-and-seek again because I k-know you love playing it. And… An-And for dinner… F-f-for dinner—"
"Elphie…" Glinda softly interrupted, turning her head to the green girl's direction, "Why are you crying…? Water hurts you, remember?"
Elphaba only gripped her hand tighter.
Don't leave me, don't leave me, Elphaba chanted in her head, Please don't leave me… We can still do all those things. If not for tomorrow, then in another day. We can do it every day. Just be here tomorrow… Please, Glinda, please…
When Glinda's breath sounded deeper than before, Elphaba decided that it was now or never.
"Do you remember all those times I said I love you?" she said, swallowing a sob.
"It never left my mind, Elphie…" the latter replied after a slight pause.
"Glinda," Elphaba said, "I meant it. I really do. I love you. I love you so much it hurts!"
"Oh Elphie…" Glinda whispered.
"Tell me," Elphaba whimpered, "I need to know. Do you… Do you love me too?"
Glinda's eyes finally opened, and blue met brown. The blonde's eyes looked slightly red, but the tenderness in them was still there.
"You're…" she said, frowning, "You're hurt…"
"Glinda, do you?" Elphaba insisted adamantly, oblivious to the waterfalls cascading down her face. "No secrets, remember?"
Glinda looked at her for a moment before replying, "Elphaba… Elphie… My Elphie… You don't know how much I love you too…" Her voice had been rough, but she spoke in such sincerity, such profoundness, that the callousness of her tone barely came to notice, "I love you, Elphaba…"
"Glinda…" was all Elphaba could manage. She couldn't think straight anymore.
They've finally bared their soul to one another at the most cruel timing—
Glinda had released her hand.
Elphaba's eyes snapped up.
Glinda's eyes were closed. She wasn't moving. She wasn't gasping for air.
"No…" Elphaba muttered, her heart hammering madly, "No, no, no, no— Glinda, this isn't funny… Glinda, come on…"
The girl remained rigid on the bed.
Leaping up and knocking her chair, Elphaba rushed to the dining table and threw the Grimmerie open, flicking wildly through the pages that she almost tore them. Nothing. Over a thousand pages of powerful magic and nothing.
Letting out an anguished cry, she slammed the book shut and sped back to the bed. Glinda remained as she were, looking paler than ever.
Feeling defeated, Elphaba let her knees collide with the floor beside the bed.
Glinda was dead. Elphaba was unable to save the one thing she couldn't live without.
She didn't knew how long she had been kneeling there, staring at the motionless corpse before her, silently weeping.
Finally, she stood up with quivering legs. Without any hesitations, she leaned down and gently pressed her lips against Glinda's pale ones, freeing more tears, praying that even in death, the blonde may feel it—
It came as a slight surprise when she felt Glinda answer the kiss.
Elphaba leaned back a little, her heart being filled with a dull light of hope.
She felt like crying again.
Glinda slowly opened her eyes. Color was returning to her porcelain cheeks. Her chest began to reclaim its normal rhythm. To top it all, a smile— a warm and welcoming smile—eased their way into her lips, which too began to return to its normal color.
"Do you know how long I've waited for you to do that, Elphaba Thropp?" she said. She sounded a little tired and she was feeling parched, but the mischief in her tone didn't escape Elphaba's ears.
Elphaba was speechless, but she was smiling through her tears as she gently caressed Glinda's face.
Glinda spoke for her. "Oh come here, you green bean," she said with a cheeky smirk, unearthing her arms from the ocean of sheets and throwing them around Elphaba's neck, pulling her for another kiss.
It felt much more different now that both of them were participating in it. They didn't know how long they'd been at it, but neither of them cared. All the unspoken words were thrown together in one peaceful, blissful, and memorable moment.
The storm had passed, and the almighty light of dawn was illuminating their small cabin, their small home.
"Get some sleep," Glinda finally suggested, throwing the two extra blankets off as Elphaba laid down beside her, still unable to speak at the light of the recent events. Arms wrapped around each other, Glinda nuzzled her nose at Elphaba's neck, saying, "When you wake up, we're going to do something for those nasty burns..."
"When I wake up, remind me to roast Avaric for lunch," Elphaba slurred, closing her sore eyes.
Glinda giggled. "And you'll have to answer some questions," she said, sounding highly amused.
"Like what?" Elphaba yawned.
"Like how I got into this dress and why I'm wearing nothing underneath it."
They both laughed at it for a while.
And then dreams, uninterrupted sweet dreams, temporarily pulled them from their world. They were both thankful, however, that even in sleep, they haunted each other's minds.
A/N: Longest. Chapter. Ever. It was supposed to end in a cliff-hanger, but I figured it would be downright rude of me to leave Elphie in such state. If this is somehow off the hook, tell me, because my eyes and my brain aren't in good terms at the moment, and my fingers were occassionally entering auto-pilot mode :D