Disclaimer- I do not own Wicked or Rent.
Maureen, Emrys, Joanne, Mark, and Glinda were gathered together in the library when Elphaba came barreling in with Fiyero, Angel and Collins. At the sight of Angel, both Glinda and Maureen screamed in excitement.
"Angel…Angel…oh my God, Angel!!" Maureen had her in her arms and they were dancing around hopping up and down in circles. Collins watched with a loving smile. When Maureen went to hug him as well, Glinda moved in on Angel.
"Angel!"
"Glinda!"
"You're back!"
Mark stood with his mouth open and totally speechless. Angel?! Collins?!
"I'm back, girl…at least for now. Let's see those nails, baby." Glinda stretched out her hands with a smile. Glinda remembered Angel's help when she was blind. Angel had assured her that she was a 'peach' person as well as a 'pink' one. The long, manicured fingernails that met her eyes were indeed, peach.
"You go, girl!"
Angel embraced Glinda and over Angel's shoulder she saw a very tall, rather handsome man.
"Hellooo…! I'm Glinda… and you are?"
"Sugar, this is my baby, Collins. Honey, this Glinda; she's Elphaba's best friend and our little Chicas honorary aunt…like me!" Angel looked quite pleased with herself and she watched as Glinda appraised her man, finishing with an approving smile. Angel and Collins turned to Mark and Joanne. No words were spoken, but silently, swiftly, they all wound up in a group hug.
When all the introductions were over, Elphaba filled the others in on Fiyero's idea. Nine people went silent at once and looked at each other. Maureen jumped forward and landed in her brother-in-law's arms.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You're a genius!"
Fiyero hugged Maureen close but warned her, "Let's see if it's feasible. We don't know yet whether it will work or not."
The Bohemian in her reared her head so Maureen looked at them all with a dare in her eyes and said, "Well, let's find out!!"
The group descended on the vacant hall where the ancient mirror still stood. Elphaba and Maureen tried just stepping in front of it together like they did the last time, but only their own images stared hopefully back at them. Glinda joined them and they began to chant. Over and over they chanted softly until it became quite apparent that nothing was about to happen. They were more than irate and this caused Joanne to look at the reflections and toss back, "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble …"
As they stood trying to figure out what to do next, an odd look came over Collins' face. He looked over to Angel and asked her off-handedly, "Your drumsticks were the missing piece, baby?"
Angel nodded sullenly. The disappointment was plain on her face. Her girls needed her and she couldn't come through! Elphaba noticed Collins though. He had the look of a mathematician working out a problem, and suddenly, she saw a light come to his eyes. He passed them and pulled the drumsticks from the mirror. He held them a moment and then reinserted them. Suddenly, the mirror sprang to life. As a picture began to form, Collins backed away and shrugged.
"It's just like rebooting a computer. You turn it off and then start over; works almost every time." Angel grabbed him and kissed him deeply.
"Damn, baby! Brains can be hot!" Then they turned to watch the picture that formed.
A forest formed before them. They heard children giggling and laughing and the mirror focused on two lion cubs.
"Take it back!" They were Lions!
"No, I won't, silly! It really is my turn! Come on, Zev!"
"Make me, Keela!"
The Cubs played and wrestled among the undergrowth. Off to the side was the Lioness, Zara and her mate. They lay together, nuzzling each other lovingly, watching their Cubs.
The male Lion spoke up sharply at one point, "Zev, remember that she's your sister! Play a little more gently! You're not a wild animal, don't behave like one!"
The male Cub answered respectfully, "Yes, Dad."
The Lioness licked her mate gently, "Storsh, have I told you how much I love you today?"
Her mate cradled her head gently as he rubbed against her. "You have, Zara, but I can always hear it again."
This was the Lioness who kidnapped the girls?! They saw her now with different eyes. What had happened to her?
Suddenly, the family heard a crashing coming in their direction. The Cubs ran to their parents who now took on an air of caution. They heard voices in the distance, "Hurry! She's escaping! The Wicked Witch is escaping! Stop her!"
The witches watched as Zara and Storsh gathered their Cubs up and began to flee from the Gale Force. As the family fled, they ran right into another phalanx of the Force. The young Female Cub, Keela, was terrified and called out to her mother, "Mama!"
The officers of the Gale Force, having just lost Elphaba, now set their sights on a new target.
"They're Animals! Grab them, bring them down!"
The Cubs were captured quickly and Zev fought to protect his sister. It took some time, but Storsh was soon netted with the very nets they had planned to use on the Wicked Witch. He fought against the nets until he was clubbed into unconsciousness.
They watched the mirror as it showed Zara uncertain whether to stay and fight for her family or run for help. She chose to get help. In a mad dash for the open, Zara ran, eyes looking wildly to the skies searching…searching…then she saw her! Zara saw Elphaba streaking across the sky on her broom and she ran calling out to her for help.
"Elphaba! Elphaba! Help us! My family…Elphaba!!!!!"
Glinda and Maureen saw the dawning horror on Elphaba's face.
"I never heard!! I didn't know! Oh Oz!"
Fiyero soothed her gently. "Fae, you were so high and trying to escape yourself. I've flown that high, hearing anything from the ground at that height is almost impossible. It gets lost ion the wind, love."
Elphaba would not be consoled however. She watched as Zara gave up on fetting her attention and ran back to her family. Zara's mate was still unconscious… and as she ran to her Cubs, she herself was netted.
Everyone gathered by the mirror watched in utter horror as Zara watched her Cubs tortured and clubbed while the Gale Force laughed. The Cubs cried for their mother until finally, the officers had had enough fun and used their sharp pikes to impale the beautiful young cubs. Their dying screams rang through all of their minds.
Zara screamed out in grief so a particularly cruel soldier asked, "What's wrong? Do you want your brats? That's no problem." With that, her son and daughter's bloody corpses were thrown right before her face.
The mirror shifted.
Zara and Storsh were being brought to the dungeons. As they led a muzzled, tethered and beaten Zara from a cart, she realized in horror that they were separating her from mate. "Storsh!" It sounded strange because of the muzzle. He remained roped down in the cart.
"I love you! Stay strong. We will make it out!" He called to her. From listening to the soldiers, Zara knew Storsh was being taken to a dungeon on the other side of the city.
As she was forced down a hallway a guard called out to her, "Welcome to Southstairs! Don't plan on leaving, cat… at least not as yourself." Then he began to laugh cruelly.
Down, down, down she was taken, to a level of the dungeon that even Fiyero had no knowledge of. At the end of a hallway, sat a large metal square with bars. Her guards laughed. "It's a cage, cat. Welcome to your new home." Their cruel laughter remained as they watched the effect the cage was having on her.
They watched in the mirror as it shifted and saw the effect the cage was having on Zara. At first she only looked frightened. Then as they watched they saw her trying to hang onto her very sanity in the dank, dark cage.
"The magic…" Elphaba said softly, "It's draining her mind!"
They watched Zara begin to pace constantly, back and forth, back and forth. Then they watched her shadow boxing objects that weren't there. Her voice was becoming slurred as she spoke to her dead Cubs as if they were there beside her. Yet, she fought! The family watched her fight to hang onto her intelligence by reciting quotations, telling stories and fables and remembering the names of those she loved.
The mirror shifted once more.
Soldiers of the Gale Force stood outside Zara's cage. She looked as if her intelligence was lost. She no longer talked and she was shadow boxing a cobweb. She didn't even notice them standing there smiling down at her cruelly.
"Meow!" One of the soldiers called to her, and she looked at him, answering softly with a purr. The other soldiers laughed as two of them opened her cage door and she rubbed against their legs in a docile manner. Zara was muzzled again and harnessed and led out of the cage and down the hall.
As she watched her in the mirror though, Elphaba could see the lost sanity begin to flow back into her as they moved her away from the cage. Her sense of self-preservation kicked in and she remained, by sight, as they believed her to be. Elphaba could see the cunning in her eyes and silently found herself cheering her on. Zara was taken to small, circular, arena-like room.
Her muzzle was removed and her harness unclipped; then she was locked inside with a large door before her.
Fiyero murmured, "No, oh, no!"
As the others turned back to the mirror from his pale face, they saw a sight that sickened them.
When the door opened, another Lion was revealed. His mane was knotted and dirty, and his whole demeanor was that of a very wild animal. He also had scars…many scars but one particularly nasty one near his hind leg. The other Lion took in Zara's presence and took long, growling breaths.
He began circling her to attack, when Zara finally spoke, "St-osh…"
She found her mate now almost unrecognizable.
Glinda sucked in air and Maureen and Emrys were speechless. Elphaba looked swiftly at her husband. "Yero?"
Fiyero's face was a study in painful memory. "It's what they wanted me to do to you, Fae. Turn me into a killer with no remorse, and set me against you. That's how they think…thought, use me to kill you and not only would they have a dead witch, they have a killer who no longer cares who and how he kills. Then they use him to gain whatever they want."
Elphaba ran her hand down her husband's cheek. "They didn't know you, Yero! They didn't know you."
"They didn't know I loved you and I had put myself there just to save you. I used them! But Zara…and Stosh?"
They turned back to the mirror only to see Zara trying to reach her mate…reach his mind, but it seemed useless. He was wild now and lunged at her, attacking her. Zara kept tarrying to defend herself, but Stosh was wild. His eyes showed only anger, only pain, only rage…and absolutely no recognition.
He continued to attack her, while she kept screaming at him, trying to get him to remember. Finally, Stosh pinned her to the ground and went for her throat. With all her strength, Zara pushed him off her. She tried once more to reach him.
"Stosh! Remember Zev, remember Keela! Stosh! I love you!" His lunge and roar told her all she needed to know. Her mate, her love, was gone. He was gone and would never return. Even the sound of his Cubs' names had meant nothing to him. Stosh was dead…killed by the Wizard, killed by humans…and killed by the Witch that had abandoned them while she claimed to champion Animals.
It was inevitable. Stosh lunged again and went for her throat again. Her instinct was one of self-defense. Zara grabbed her mate by the throat and with all her strength, ripped it out. She heard his dying gurgles as his body fell upon her, covering her with his blood.
For a moment, she lay there beneath him, breathing in his scent, remembering….remembering and then all her grief was released. She cried out, it was a loud, visceral sound that filled the room and stunned all the humans who were watching. They had enjoyed these moments. Some had been gambling and now bets were being paid off.
Those watching through the mirror found this particularly sickening.
Zara's scream and lack of movement caused the Gale Force soldiers at the gates to think that she was gravely, perhaps mortally, wounded. They entered the arena now and shoved Stosh's body off her. As they prepared to chain her again, she made her move. All her uncontrollable feelings were released and she attacked the soldiers near her. She ripped the throats out of two and mauled the other horribly.
She felt powerful again, and sprinted out the open gates and through the corridors of Southstairs. If anyone got in her way, she showed as much mercy to them as had been shown to her children and mate. Once she was out of the building and into the light, Zara dashed through the streets. Deep wailing moans came from her throat; and as she made her way through the city, she attacked any human who crossed her path.
Once she knew freedom again, Zara vowed to destroy everyone that had destroyed her family. The Wizard, Morrible, the Gale Force, humans, and the Wicked Witch of the West!
The more she destroyed over time, the more she lost. Zara's sanity was teetering on the brink at this point, Elphaba realized. She felt personally responsible for all the pain and all the madness. "If only I had heard her…"
The mirror shifted one more time.
In a forest clearing, Elfie and Emmy slept against a tree. Their heads were together and they were holding hands. Off to the side, Zara lay staring at the children. She looked more than uneasy. Finally, they saw why. Standing between the girls and Zara, stood a woman. A very touchy and irritated woman.
Angel and Collins were smiling and smiled even broader when Joanne said, "Mimi!"
"You betcha! Mimi! And she's not leaving those babies, don't you worry!"
They watched as Mimi turned to face the girls and began to sing gently.
Mimi bent and gently ran her hand over each girl's cheek. They moved to her hand in their sleep. They were peaceful.
As the mirror went black, Elphaba looked as the others. "How can we think of her as a monster now?" She looked at Maureen. "She was a mother, like we are. Can you say you'd be any different if you were in her place? I think she needs us…almost as much as the girls, maybe more."
Emrys looked at her astonished, "More?"
Elphaba nodded, "Yes, more. You saw them, Emrys. Elfie and Emmy aren't alone…not even a little. But Zara…Zara has no one."
"Yes she does," added Fiyero. "She has us."