Disclaimer- I do not own Wicked or Rent.
"An Animal, Fae?! It can't be!"
Fiyero was completely taken aback. He looked to his wife now and could see the conviction in her eyes. She looked now to her sister and Emrys and gave them a half-smile.
"You both should be so proud of Emmy! Everything in her portent was shadowed and she was alone the first time, but she was amazing. She remembered how I taught the girls to trust their instincts. Even with a 'monster' there, she wanted her family and home back and fought through to get them. She even warned me about the scream as she neared the bottom of the staircase, this time with me. It gave me the added time to see what I needed to. Where she had originally seen a shadow disappearing after Gorrian's attack, this time I was able to get to the sitting room in time to see a Lioness leaving the room. Gorrian was dying; bloody and torn apart, but she still helped him, she gave him some peace before he died. She was holding his hand. She knows now, that she did everything she could…and more. She knows now that everything she did was right. She's stronger now, calmer. She'll be alright and safe once we see to Gorrian's murderer.
"This Lioness…she's not…sane. Her attack was vicious and more than over the top. Yet, I have the strangest feeling that this murder was not random…it was deliberate; just as Grale's was deliberate. We've managed to get warnings from both Gorrian and Grale. We need to get the girls away. Now! Before we're too late. That's why I risked passing into Emmy's portent. I wanted to know just how much danger they were in and hopefully from whom. It was worth the risk!"
Maureen looked at her sister with a sudden stark realization. "Risk? Risk?! Faba, how dangerous was this walk down 'Portent Lane' we just witnessed?"
Fiyero's mind had gone to the same place at the same instant. He waited for her answer now with more patience than Maureen.
Finally, his wife answered in a firm yet knowing voice. "For Emaurie? Not at all. She was always perfectly safe. If something had gone wrong, she simply would have flowed back to her present self."
"And you, Fae? What could have happened to you?"
She sighed, "My consciousness would have been left there, in the portent. A professor once surmised it would be much like becoming stuck in a nightmare with no way to exit…no way to return to one's body. That's if it went wrong, but it didn't. I'm back, the spell worked. Don't you see? Emmy needed this to find some peace and we needed it to get as much information as possible. I'd risk it all again…in a moment."
Emrys and Maureen were silent. Neither of them had ever guessed that the spell they witnessed could have cost Elphaba her very being. Emrys tried to wrap his mind around the sight of his sister-in-law and friend; her body living but a mere shell since her essence was lost to them somewhere in a nightmarish reality that would remain her prison forever.
The knowledge that she would attempt all this to protect their daughter filled them both with awe. Maureen saw now how much Elphaba would risk for the girls and to protect everyone around them. She would risk it all! She also saw that Elphaba was trying to fight alone, while she herself was a witch as well. They had fought together before; they could do it again.
"From now on, we fight together. You don't have to take the weight of the world on your shoulders alone, you know. There's more than one witch in the family!"
Elphaba nodded. "That's true. But for now, let's concentrate on getting the girls out of this."
The four of them exchanged looks and decided to move now, while they could. Not long after, while Emrys and Fiyero stole some last moments with their unknowing daughters, Maureen and Elphaba packed some clothes for each girl. They didn't talk while they worked; each one knowing that that would be the straw that broke them. When Emrys and Fiyero returned to the nursery with the girls, there was a small bag packed for each of them.
Elfie and Emmy looked at the bags curiously and finally Elfie asked, "Mama, where are we going? Are we going home? Is Emmy coming too?"
Her mother bent down and stroked her daughter's long black hair. "No, love, but you and Emmy are going on an adventure. I'm going to take you both. Now, once I bring you where you're going, I have to leave. We have work to do here."
"Magic work?" Emmy asked, standing in her mother's embrace.
Her aunt nodded. "Yes, magic work. So you'll go on an adventure for a while and then we'll come for you. Now, I want hugs from both of you…all of us do. Then we'll leave." There were hugs and some tears and more than a few, "I love you."
When they were through, the girls looked toward each other and exchanged a long look. Suddenly, Emmy remembered her favorite toy dog. It was in the nearby sitting room and the girls left to get it. If their parents were not so over- wrought, they might have noticed that it took them far too long to get back. It was Fiyero who suddenly noticed the adults bolted into the upstairs corridor and into an empty sitting room.
The girls were gone and Emmy's dog was nowhere to be seen.
An urgent sense of panic gripped them all and they ran through the palace, gathering searchers as they did, calling for the girls. Mark and Joanne had joined them by now along with the staff and now a veritable army searched the palace and grounds.
The only person left in the palace not helping was the grieving Glinda, still mourning her lost love in her room. She heard the commotion and heard the staff calling the girls' names and hoped they'd be found soon so she could have silence to call home again. She'd ask Elphaba what it was all about later.
Sensing Elphaba's panic, the Monkeys had joined the hunt. While they missed their friend Grale, they loved the children more. They took to the air now, searching the grounds as none but Elphaba dared to try. It was Chistery that found it. He called to the others now, and together they flew toward Elphaba.
She saw them coming and touched Fiyero's sleeve as she caught her breath. He called now to Emrys and Maureen and waved them over. Joanne and Mark heard their friend's name called and began to run to Elphaba and Fiyero as well. Six faces looked up hopefully as the Monkeys began to land on the ground.
It was Elphaba that broke forward first. Her eyes were fixed on Chistery. He landed and came to her slowly, his face troubled and sad. She looked down and saw him hold out something to her. Her hands acted out of instinct and took it. When they looked down at it, Elphaba's breath came in short quick bursts.
Her green hands held the remains of Emmy's stuffed toy. The dog lay in her grasp, ripped and torn, parts of it looked shredded. Maureen let out a loud wail; her daughter's name echoed throughout the fields and gardens around them as she fell into Emrys' arms.
Mark saw the toy and the shape it was in and fell silent. His mind could only see the two four-year-olds who had brought them to Burzee in innocence, for Maureen's birthday. He could practically hear their voices and giggles. Joanne stood in shock, her hands covering her mouth, shaking her head 'No!' over and over, as if it could turn back time and make all of this go away. The tough New York lawyer's eyes were filled with tears that started down her cheeks in streams. Only Elphaba was still, her eyes begged Chistery to tell her a tale that would take her fears away, yet knew he could not. The Monkey looked at her with sadness and sympathy.
"Chistery?"
"Elphaba, I found this…it was on Grale's resting place…near your poppies."
When he saw her eyes close in pain, he took hold of her wrist and held it gently. Then he added quickly, "There is nothing else! The grass is moved…disturbed…but that is all! There is no…blood. They live, Elphaba…they live."
She raised her face and looked toward the cemetery in the distance. She did not cry, she did not panic, and she listened. She listened and Yero saw her brain working even while his seemed to stall, his Elfie's face in his mind. He saw both girls as they looked when they flew in the garden and he caught them. They would do it again. He heard Fae now.
"Someone took them? You think they were taken, Chistery? Taken alive?"
Her old companion nodded. "Yes…there was no fight there. No one ran there. Chistery's Elfie and Emmy were… taken! We must find them! We must find them now!"
They saw Elphaba's eyes when she looked at him again. Fiyero knew the look, so did Maureen and Emrys. Mark saw her now, not as the strong, gentle, intelligent maternal figure he had come to know, but as a fearsome force to be reckoned with.
"We'll find them, Chis. We'll find them, and Lurline protect whoever took them from us. I'll show them what a wicked witch can do!"
The staff, the guards and everyone else in the palace was silent and somber when they arrived back there. Long, sympathetic looks followed the parents wherever they moved. The word had spread like wildfire: Princess Emaurie and Princess Elfie had been kidnapped! Both children were treasured by everyone and their loss was palpable. Voices were lowered to whispers, as if to hopefully hear the joyful giggles and voices of the girls they loved so very much.
Maureen was clutching Emmy's dog to her and her tears flowed, silently now. Mark saw the diva now, heart sore and bereft. He watched Emrys help her into a seat and watch over her carefully. Then Mark looked at Fiyero. He had been quiet but his eyes held a pain that was almost too much to bear.
Yet, Mark noted, Fiyero watched Elphaba closely. She didn't cry and she didn't collapse; yet Fiyero looked as if he was expecting something…and soon.
It struck when they went upstairs. As they all entered the upper corridor, a maid was exiting Glinda's suite with a tray. While they had all attempted to draw her out, Glinda remained mournfully ensconced there since her arrival. She didn't even leave for meals. To ensure that she ate the staff had been bringing her meals to her.
Now, one of the maids was leaving with a tray and Glinda saw them passing in the hall. She called to her friends now; her voice pouting as she did.
"I'm certainly glad you found Elfie and Emaurie. All that noise, people yelling everywhere…it's most undignified, and not very thoughtful! You must teach them to behave better, Elphie!"
That was it, Elphaba snapped. She lurched forward but took care to miss the hardworking maid, Fiyero knew. He stood now in the doorway and watched his wife advance on Glinda with fire in her dark eyes.
"How dare you?! You weak, obsessive, shallow little fool! Undignified?! Not thoughtful?! Well, I'll be glad to pass the word along to them…if we find them alive again!"
This got Glinda's attention and she now took in everyone's appearance. She backed away from her friend as she continued.
"The girls have been taken…kidnapped by the same Animal that killed Gorrian… the same Animal that killed Grale! We were moments away from getting them to safety and now they're gone!"
Glinda's looked stricken. "Oh! Elphie!" She reached toward her friend now and for the first time, Elphaba threw her hands off.
"Get away from me! Go back and wallow in your cocoon of grief, Glinda. We can handle this situation ourselves! We'll fight and do whatever it takes to get our girls back…everything but quit! Oz, Glinda! How can you live with yourself? There's magic at work here and you used to have the strength to handle it. Instead, you're sitting here, feeling sorry for yourself. He's gone, Glinda! Gone! Deal with that reality and here's another one for you to toy with while you do: the last person to be with Gorrian, to try to help him, to comfort him, has just been taken by the same Animal that ripped Gorrian's throat out! Only Emmy…Emmy didn't wallow, Glinda, she fought.
"We reentered her portent together to try to find out who killed the man you love. It was frightening for her, but she did it because she knew it would help. How does it feel to know that a four-year-old has the courage to do what you could have and didn't because you wanted to feel sorry for yourself? How does it feel to know that Grale…Grale gave his life and left a warning to protect those girls while you sat sulking?"
Glinda yelled at her now, tears in her eyes. "I know he's gone! You have no idea what that feels like, though!"
Bad move! Fiyero thought. She knows! She knows far better than you could ever guess!
"No idea!!?? I have no idea what it feels like to lose the man I love?! Are you serious?! Try living with the knowledge that you were responsible for his death too! Try knowing that a spell you used to save him turned him into a scarecrow! I know the pain Glinda, but never; never did I curl up in a ball and stop living!"
Glinda was angry now. "No! You just kidnapped a little girl and her dog so you could get your hands on your sister's shoes! I hardly call that dealing with it well. Besides, you got him back in the end! I'll never…"
"No, you'll never. Never feel happiness again; never work for the good again, never let yourself be loved again, never live! Oz, Glinda! What would Gorrian say? What would he think? Would he be happy that you shut yourself away and died like he did, only in your case, slowly; or would he want you to live, live for you, live for him, live for both of you? I went into Emmy's portent. I saw the look he gave Emaurie. He wanted to warn us but he also wanted her to tell you he loves you. Emmy more than did her part, Glinda. She gave you the message and helped me find his killer. Now…now we have to find those girls before she does to them what she did to him. I just pray we're not too late."
With that, Elphaba turned and left the room, head held high. She never looked back, but closed the doors behind her as she swept into the corridor. She never looked at the stunned faces in the hallway as she passed them. No one moved and they exchanged troubled looks.
Fiyero watched her pace and saw it start to slow down several feet away from them. It slowed and grew unsteady; he was moving before her hand reached for the wall. As she pitched toward the floor, Fiyero caught her, supporting her weight down to the floor. Only he heard her plaintive whisper as she passed into unconsciousness. "Elfie"
The others ran down the corridor to them.
Maureen, still clutching the shredded toy, called her sister's name loudly, "Faba! Faba!"
They were crowded around her when Glinda opened the door and saw Elphaba unconscious in Fiyero's arms. She began to dash to her friend only to be cut off by Maureen. Her look was angry and her tone, protective and fed up.
"Haven't you done enough?! She needed you and you weren't there. She was there for you, but when Faba needed your help, you locked yourself in your room and let her deal with it all herself. She needed another experienced witch. You knew about the portent, you let it go, you knew about Grale and how much pain that caused her, and you still never came to her. She entered Emmy's portent earlier. None of us knew she could have been lost there, you would have, but you still weren't there. Now Elfie's been kidnapped, and our Emmy. Tell me Glinda; are you here for her yet? If not, get out of our way."
With that, Maureen watched as Fiyero carried her sister to their suite. The physician had already been sent for. Soon the corridor was empty except for the guards, and Glinda Upland came to a decision.