Title: Flying Freely Once More
Rated: PG-13
Auther: MeganFaye
Disclaimer: I don't own Oz or the characters of Wicked.
Note: This is written with the adorable Kristin Chenoweth and the sexy Idina Menzel as Glinda and Elphie! The BEST Cast: Original!!!
Note 2: I have already written through chapter 10, but don't want to post until I finish another chapter or two ahead in case I need to make changes. I will have this done before March 4th, my birthday. I really like that people are reading this fanfic! Thank you for taking the time to read what is running through my head 20 hours a day :-)
I still hate Mondays. However, with my Elphie here, its not as terrible as before.. I wake up to her beautiful smile every morning, and I hear her singing as she studies magic in her library.
She's becoming more open about us and about her ideas with the city leaders at meetings. I think she was afraid that they wouldn't listen to her because of the Wizard. She's still very shy with everyone.
I love her so much, but I'm still fighting with the anger I feel toward her sometimes. A full year of hating myself a little more every day, only to discover it was a lie takes more than a few months to get over. She hurt me so much, and I worry that I may never fully forgive her for it. And I feel so guilty for letting it happen, and I don't feel like I have any right to be angry. I got her 'killed,' and I have no right to be mad.
But I am.
Furious.
And I don't ever plan on telling her how much it hurts to look at her sometimes.
Elphaba watched her wife write, wishing she knew what it was that had Galinda looking so sad. She'd been doing better the last month since she fell from the balcony, but every once in a while, she'd stay in her meeting room alone to write. Elphaba gave her the space she needed, but wished she knew what was going on.
As soon as Galinda closed her book and waved a wand over it, sealing it, she waved Ephaba in, looking tired.
"You could use a back rub," Elphaba offered.
"I'm all right," she said calmly. "I think I'll go for a walk in the gardens before bed. I need to gather my thoughts." Elphaba nodded.
"That sounds lovely."
"I'll be in shortly." Elphaba took the hint not to follow and sat back in her own chair in the meeting room. As soon as the door closed, Elphaba took out her crystal ball and watched her wife as she walked the gardens.
She was crying, again, as she did most nights on these walks.
Elphaba was done with Galinda hurting. She needed to fix it, and soon. She marched out to the garden swing, where Galinda sat, sobbing into a hankie.
"What did I do?" she asked, taking her wife into her arms. "I can't fix things if I don't know, Galinda."
"You.....lied to me. You lied to me for a whole year," she choked. "I hated myself more every single day, and when I got you back I was so scared that I held on too tight."
"What are you saying? That you don't really want to be married to me!?"
"I do, my love, but," she started. "I am still so angry that you let me believe that you were dead! I don't know how to let it go!"
"Galinda-"
"No! You don't understand! I am so...mad, and I can't even say it! I have no right because its my fault! I can't tell you, but I want to," she whispered.
"Oh, enough already!" Elphaba spout. "Get up, Glinda!"
"What?"
"You want to tell me, SO TELL ME!" Elphaba shouted. "You're mad? BE MAD! Glinda the Good, you're allowed to be mad, so be mad!"
"I HATE YOU!" She screamed. "I HATE YOU SO MUCH ELPHABA THROPP! I hate that I got you killed, I hate that you lied to me, and I Hate that I missed you so much! I hate that I loved you and couldn't tell you! I HATE YOU!" Elphaba sniffled.
"Now say how you really feel." Galinda collapsed into tears.
"I missed you so much that I wanted to die right along with you. You lied to me, Elphaba. I am so ashamed of myself for not being standing with you when I should have. People hated you because I didn't stand up for you. I was a coward and I am so sorry, my love." Elphaba knelt down and dried her tears.
"I hated you for letting them come after me. I hated that you didn't stand with me against the Wizaard, and left me to fight alone. I hated that you cried alone. I was ashamed that I hid from you. I can forgive myself. I can forgive myself for how I felt."
"How?" she cried.
"I have you now, and I'm here for you."
"How can you hate me and love me?"
"That's not the right question."
"What is?"
"Can you forgive yourself?" Elphaba took Galinda in her arms and rocked her as she cried. "I forgave you the first time you cried for me. Can you forgive both of us?"
"I don't know how."
"Tell me that you either want me to stay or you want me to leave." Galinda pushed back and looked at her wife. "One or the other."
"Stay."
"Then put behind us the problems. I will not allow you to think I am dead if you don't allow people to try to kill me again. Simple enough?" Galinda choked out a small laugh. "Please forgive me, my sweet." Galinda kissed Elphaba gently.
"I am trying. I need time, my love. Just time." Elphaba nodded and raised a hand in the air. Within a moment, her broom drifted into her hand. "Where are you going?"
"I am going to give you the time and space you need. I will be back, and I will not be far. But I will not stay where I am not accepted," Elphaba said, with a gentle but firm voice. "I deserve better, and so do you." With that, she sat across her broom stick and flew off into the night.
Galinda paced. Her hair was a mess, her dress was not properly fluffed and she was unhappy.
Unhappy was an understatement. She was in misery.
Elphaba had been gone almost a full day. She had people searching for her, but she knew her wife. Elphaba wouldn't be found until she was good and ready.
"Your Goodness," a caretaker called. "Your father is calling." Galinda nodded and went to her mirror and looked into her father's reflection.
"Goodevening," he said, smiling. When Galinda only managed a small grin, he frowned. "Oh, dear."
"Its personal and Elphaba and I will work it out. Is this Ozian business or is this a personal call?"
"Both."
"Business first."
"The Upper Upland territory and the Western Uplands are having an issue between the plants. Sir Diggins can't get his stalks to give up their corn without a fight, unless they promise that he doesn't trade them for the apples from the Western Uplands. Apparently, the trees are overgrown and blocking the sun on some of the seedlings," he explained. "The trees complain that they have too little water, and blame it on the seedlings' planting. I can't get them to talk."
"Tell the trees that I will have extra water brought to that part if they move out of the seedlings' light."
"Thank you, your Goodness."
"And please ask the plants to send more of their surplus seedlings to the badlands. They are having rain for the first time in years, and can plant finally."
"Of course. Now, what is happening with you and Elphaba."
"I would rather not talk about it. Its my fault."
"You're still hurting from the funeral, hadn't told her and finally lost your temper with her." Galinda nodded. Her father knew her much more than she liked at times. "It wasn't really her there, and you need to forgive her. She has just as much of a right to be hurt and angry, and if she can move on, so can you."
"But-"
"Drop it, darling. Picking fights over old wounds lands you alone every night." Galinda nodded and dabbed at her eyes. "You love her."
"More than anything."
"Then go find her, and bring her home. And don't let her go this time." Galinda nodded and left the mirror. It faded over and returned to reflecting the room.
The old cottege on the eastern side of Oz, where her sister once lived, was dusty and, aside from the table and the lone bed, empty. Elphaba could gather some fruit from the trees going near-by when they woke up. She'd learned as a small child that picking fruit from a sleeping tree would get you a good thump from a branch.
After an hour, she changed her mind. She was hungry, and decided to risk waking a tree. Elphaba slipped into the dark and up to a smaller peach tree.
"Excuse me," she said, tapping the bark lightly.
"What do you want!?"
"I'm Lady Elphaba Thropp Upland, and am very hungry. Could you shake a few of your peaches down for me, please?" Elphaba wanted to just snatch the fruit for herself, but Galinda had taught her that her name now carried something in their lands.
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me, Witch. I am trying to sleep. Pester someone else." The tree lifted its branches high. Elphaba grunted and went to the next tree.
"Don't even think about it, Wicked Witch. Just because you married into royalty doesn't make you any less evil. You must have put a spell on our Glinda," an apple tree hissed.
So many biting responses stayed on her tongue, pleading to let lose at the petulant trees. She held them back and went to bed, hungry.
She tossed and turned, stomach growling at her through out the night. The bed was hard and cold. Elphaba cursed herself; she'd lived for years in a similar hut with no problems sleeping or getting trees to hand over their fruit, with a nasty comment following a threat.
After several hours, and the trees rustling in the wind through most of the night. Elphaba gave up on sleep as the sun peeked into the kitchen window. And since the cabin was one room, it hit right over her eyes in the bed in the corner.
She stood and left the corner to close the opened window in the kitchen area; she hand't left it open.
"Lady Elphaba," the small peach tree called from outside. She looked through the window. There, at the base of the tree, were baskets filled with apples and peaches. "There should be enough here to trade for wheat, eggs and milk in town, Your Emeraldness."
"Thank you."
"Could you get us....." it started.
"Get you what?"
"More water? It hasn't rained her in quite some time, and we're very thirsty." Elphaba nodded.
"Yes. Yes of course." Elphaba found a cart in the back, and after shooing the chickens from it and gathering the eggs, she filled it with the apples and peaches, aside from what she'd want for herself. The cart was small enough for her to push into town, as she began her journey.
Galinda had searched the Uplands for days, and had moved to the West, where Elphaba had once ruled. No one had seen or heard from her in several weeks. Galinda needed to rest, and think about where her wife could be. She missed her, and she wanted her to be at their palace where she belonged.
"Elphie," she said to no one as she floated in her pink bubble toward The Emerald City. "Come home, my love."
"Perfect," Elphaba said, taking her pie from the fire stove. Galinda had taught her how to make a perfect pie. The little lady had a talent for it, and Elphaba had picked up some of the skills. Today's pies were a steak and egg pie (dinner!) and Peach pie with apple peals shaved in, for a snack later while she read her sister's journals. In the week she'd been in the cabin, she'd read every book in the cabin, and the journals at least twice.
"It smells wonderful," came a soft voice from the window.
"Hello," Elphaba said to the small boy who stood, watching her. "Who might you be?"
"I might be Thom," he said, grinning. He had a gap where teeth were missing.
"Thom," she said, grinning. "Where are your parents?" His smile faded.
"The Wicked Witch of the East had them put to death when my sister Nessa was born. My Uncle was raising me and my sister before Madam Nessarose took them as well. We live with the trees now."
"Please, come in and eat. Bring your sister as well. I have plenty to share. Its still hot, and I'll even share the milk." His eyes went wide and he dashed off for his sister.
The two children returned shortly, with the trees handing them fruit along the way, to bring as a gift.
"Thank you," Thom whispered as Elphaba dished large helpings to each child.
"My sister's name was Nessa, as well."
"My parents named her after the Witch because they didn't have the taxes when it was time to pay them. Is that why your sister was named Nessa?" Elphaba sipped at her milk, looking at the small children.
"How old are the two of you?"
"I'm 6, and Nessa is almost 3."
"You're old enough for harsh truth. Nessa the Witch was my little sister. I was once The Wicked Witch of the West, but have been redeemed and forgiven." Thom looked frightened. "Glinda the Good and I are married now, and live in The Emerald City."
"But...but you're here, and she isn't."
"Listen to the Witch, child!" the peach tree called. An apple tree agreed.
Before any more arguing could begin, a pink bubble floated by the window, stopped, floated back, hovered for a moment and shimmered and trembled with glee.
"Quick giggling at me, and help!" Elphaba told the bubble. It floated in and Galinda appeared.
"Glinda!" The boy yelled, hugging her tightly. "The Wicked Witch is back!"
"Young man, is that any way to speak to one of the leaders of Oz?" Thom looked at her. She smiled down at him. "Lady Elphaba is my wife, and we live in the palace. You should not call her wicked, for she is a kind and wonderful Emerald Lady."
"She is?"
"Did she or did she not share her meal, and her hut with you?"
"She did."
"Perhaps you should not believe the rumors you heard."
"Love, the rumors you're thinking of them are about NessaRose. And they were true." The little boy nodded and scrubbed at his eyes, where tears cleaned the dirt from his face. "They live with the trees."
"Oh my."
"Do you think we have extra rooms at the palace?"
"Why, I think we have extra room, extra food and toys, and extra love from our families in the palace. Would you like to live at the palace?" The boy nodded.
"Do you want to fly on my broom to get there?" she asked Thom, who nodded again. "Nessa can float with Glinda, and you and I will fly on the broom."
The children were fed, cleaned, dressed, and tucked into beds in the palace. Galinda found a family who wanted them; Remzen and his wife were unable to have children, and took the two in. Remzen, Galinda's personal guard, had the same color of eyes as both children; the greenest she'd ever seen.
"We should have children," Elphaba said, her first night back in the palace.
"Don't you think we should talk?"
"Yes," she said. "Can you forgive me for faking my death?"
"Yes," Galinda whispered. "But you have to promise that you won't run away every time we have a fight."
"I didn't run away; I gave you the space you needed to be angry, to forgive me, and to get through what you couldn't get through with me over your shoulder."
"You ran away."
"Galinda-"
"Space is why you have the library. The hut in the woods that I didn't know about until now is for you to hide." Elphaba settled into her wife's arms. "You need never to hide, Elphaba. No matter what our problems are, don't hide from me. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
"Let's go to sleep, Elphie," she said, turning away. Elphada took her wife in her arms and held her.
"You are much angrier than I thought you knew how to be, Galinda. Let it all go, love."
"I don't want to talk about it anymore!"
"I will not hurt you, but you need to let go of being so mad at me! I did NOT do this to hurt you! I did it to save my life and yours!"
"I would have gone with you!" she grunted. "If you had told me what was going on, I'd have gone with you and hidden with you! I wouldn't have had to be alone, you wouldn't have been scalded by a scarecrow who has no brain, and we'd have been together!"
"We're together now! Isn't that enough? Will it ever be enough?" Galinda looked into Elphaba's eyes. They were filled with hurt and fear. "Will I ever be enough for you?"
Galinda realized how much she was hurting Elphaba; she was pushing her farther and father away.
"You are enough for me, love." She pulled Elphaba into a hug. "I'm sorry I've been so cold, Elphie."
"I just want you to love me, Glin."
"I love you, with all of my heart, Elphie." She kissed her forcefully. "With all of my heart."
"I love you, too," she whispered.
"So show me."
NOTE: Thanks for reading another chapter!!! Woot! On with the 9th!