Hello all! Welcome to chapter 23 of 'Darkness of the Night". Last chapter ended with the death of Elphaba along with Glinda revealing to the Wizard that he just murdered his daughter. This chapter will mostly be with a magic battle between the two of them. I do bring in a reference to 'Oz, the Great and Powerful' in this chapter to explain how the Wizard knows magic. You should know when you see it. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Again I won't say much about it because I would just give a lot away. Anyways…read and enjoy!
Chapter 23
"You bastard! You just murdered your daughter!" Glinda shouts towards the Wizard She yelled so loud that her throat started to feel raw. Another hush falls over the crowd at this admission coming from the blonde. It became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop a mile away. All eyes turn towards the agaped looking Wizard. The gun, that ended Elphaba's life, hangs on by a thread in his limp hand before it clatters to the wooden floor, though he makes no attempt to pick it up. He can't believe with what he just heard. Elphaba is his daughter? This has to be a ploy on Glinda's part to throw him off his game.
"You lie." Oscar hisses as he takes a step forward and points an accusing finger to the grieving witch. Glinda gives a scoff as she digs into her pants pocket. The Wizard motions his Gale Force to stay their guns because he is curious as to what she is going to pull out of there. He blinks his eyes for a second when flash of green is thrown towards him.
"I've lied about many things, Oscar, but I would not lie about this." Glinda replies in a thick voice while using his real name to show that she is very serious about this information. Oscar catches the green object before looking at it to see what it is. Soulful, brown eyes widen at seeing the little, green bottle he left behind when he left Elphaba's mother after he was done with his experiences in Quadling Country. His fingers trace the ridges of the bottle with a mist in his eyes.
"She had gotten that from her mother and I know you have one like that. Plus the two of you are both stubborn, hot headed, short tempered people I know with the exact same colored eyes." The good witch continues as she forces herself to stand up and look him in the eyes. The same color eyes she has been staring at, for years, on Elphaba's face. She didn't know how she couldn't have made the connection sooner. Oscar wraps his fingers around the green bottle before bringing it up to his lips. Tears actually start to tear up in his eyes in his sudden grief. How he always longed to be a father. His brown eyes snap towards the heavy breathing Glinda. They narrow in anger at a thought in his mind. This is all her fault. If he had known sooner he wouldn't have fired the bullet that killed Elphaba. There is no way in hell would he have harmed her, not his own flesh and blood. There is a loud crunch as he crushes the green bottle in his hand. He will make her pay for this. There will be no quick death for her anymore. Oscar will make her suffer greatly after this latest injustice
"You knew and you let me kill her?! Her death is on your hands!" Oscar yells before throwing the shards of glass, augmented by his magic, towards Glinda. The good witch calmly watches the sharp projectiles get closer to her. She isn't afraid of them.
"I only found out and I figured it wouldn't have made a difference if you knew. You never loved anybody." The blonde retorts as she uses her own magic to make them miss her. Her ears whistle when the glass flies by her. This has turned into a battle of magic now. The original plan has been thrown out long ago when she found out he knows magic. Glinda doesn't know how well the Wizard is trained in magic because she didn't know he had that capability.
"It wouldn't have made a difference on your fate but she would have lived." He snaps as lightening starts to spark from his hands. The good witch looks out to the crowd to try and spot her people, who have been slowly maneuvering themselves closer to the stage to help attack the Wizard. She manages to spot Fiyero about fifty feet from the stage. The two connect eyes before he silently asks her what the next move is. She snaps her fingers to make a red spark come out to inform him not to get any closes. The plan has drastically changed when the Wizard showed his gift in magic. Nobody else will fight in this lopsided battle. It will be just between Oscar and her. Fiyero swallows hard at seeing signal. He doesn't like that she will be fighting him alone especially when he has shown aptitude in magic. Nobody has her back now that Elphaba is dead. With a sniffle he sends a silent prayer to the gods to keep Glinda safe before disappearing into crowd to find Chistery and Rain to pass the word along to everybody. When she saw him leave she turned her attention back on Oscar. She gives a shout when a streak of lightening hits her square in the stomach. The good witch goes flying back before bouncing on the wood floor.
"You should have been paying attention, Glinda." He says casually as he slowly makes his way towards the downed witch. Glinda holds her stomach with a cough; leave it to him not to play fair. She should have expected dirty hits from him. She does wonder how long her skin will have the tingling sensation for.
"And here I expected you to fight fairly" The blonde replies sarcastically as she pushes s herself off the ground. She wants him to suffer for all that he has done to her. Glinda looks at him with slight curiosity. The question is still going through her mind. How does he know magic? It is something she has to ask before this battle continues on.
"And what will you do? Throw bubbles at me?" Oscar asks with a smirk on his face along with more lightening forming in his hand. Glinda can't wait to wipe that arrogant look of his face. Oh, Elphaba is his daughter for sure cause she makes that same look when she gets full of herself.
"Much better than that. I will show you but you have to answer a question for me. How did you learn magic? I never sensed you having any type of magical capabilities." Glinda finally gets the burning question out of her mind. Oscar blinks his eyes at the question before looking to his hands where the lightening is still sparking from his fingertips. For as long as he can remember things would happen around him when he didn't physically didn't do anything to make the things happen. Oscar would use his gift to become a magician with hopes of becoming famous for what he has done and to bring joy to the people who watched him. It devastated him when a girl in a wheelchair asked him to make her walk during one of his shows, at the circus. His heart broke at the desperate yet hopeful look in her eyes as she pleaded to him to make her walk. The Wizard vowed never to use his gift again when she realized he couldn't do it and was run out by the angered crowd. When he came to Oz it all changed when Madam Morrible has told him he had the ability to use magic. It took some convincing on her part but he finally gave in to her after she said he can use his magic to help the people of Oz. He wanted to help the citizens of Oz when he couldn't help the young girl who couldn't walk. It became twisted over time while under her tutelage.
"Morrible told me I had an affinity for magic and she has been a wonderful teacher to me over the years. There is your answer now it's time to fight." He answers as he hurls a bolt of lightning at her effectively ending the conversation. He doesn't want to talk with her. The Wizard just wants to finally snuff out her life. Glinda is expecting this attack this time around before she rolls out of the way. The blonde woman pops up a few second later and suddenly throws a fireball at him at lightning speed. Oscar didn't register what she has done until it was too late. So when he finally tried to dodge it the fire burned through his jacket leaving a smoking hole with second degree burns on his flesh.
"Damn it." He hisses as he clutches the area. That is unexpected for sure. Oscar pegged her being more defensive in her magic then offensive. He knows better now. He hears rapid footsteps coming towards him. He turns his head to see the good witch running towards him. He moves his head to left to dodge a punch but he feels an intense heat coming near his face. She must have surrounded her hands with fire to make her punches more deadly.
"My turn." He says softly to her as he opens his palm and swings it forward. Glinda's body trembles in pain when it connects to her chest but the hit is enhanced with magic. It makes it feel like a boulder landed on her chest.
"Ugh." The blonde groans as she stumbles back while clutching her chest. It just got very hard to breath for her. While she gasps for air Oscar sends another stream of lightening towards to her to weaken her even more. Glinda feels a static build up around her before she quickly raises her hand up. The crowd screams and ducks when the lightening bounces off the invisible barrier that Glinda has put up to protect herself from the onslaught.
"I will make you pay!" The blonde yells before she gives a magical push, sending the lightening back towards the Wizard. He yells as he goes flying backwards until he hits the floor and skids back till he stops at the very edge of the platform.
"I'm impressed." He responds to the attack while he lays on the ground still. He has to admit that she is putting up more of a fight then he thought she would. He will remember this fight when he wins. Glinda wipes away the blood that is dripping from her nose. She feels rusty for she has never faced somebody so powerful and hasn't really kept up on her magic conditioning. That is something she will need to work on when this is all over.
"I'm more powerful than you thought." Glinda replies before she lifts her foot up to bring it down on the ground in a hard way. It sends a shockwave towards Oscar, who is launched into the air. It makes a perfect aim for a stream of fireball at the target. Nobody has notice Chistery by Elphaba's body for they are all focused on the big battle between the Wizard and Glinda. The Monkey is busy getting the shackles off her wrists and ankles. This is something he is doing all by himself. A hunch he is going on. He hoots softly with his tail gently caressing the green skin.
"G-Gl-Glinda." Chistery says his first words with a stutter. His wings ruffle when he hears Glinda give a scream of pain. He turns his head around to watch the good witch falls to her knees, her body smoking from an onslaught of lightening hitting her body. She didn't have enough time to react to it when the Wizard broke through the fire she sent at him. Oscar lands on his feet with a satisfying sigh. He is kind of disappointed that the fight didn't last longer but it's better to finish it now then to have it be prolonged. He could get tired and make a mistake that could lead to his death.
"You tried and you failed to kill me." Oscar says as he walks to her while holding his hand out to his gun. The gun flies into his hand in an instant. Glinda is gasping for air as she clutches her chest. It feels like her heart is beating out of rhythm. She looks up when she hears a gun cocking. The blond swallows hard at seeing the barrel of the gun being pointed at her face. Is this how her life ends? A tear rolls down her cheek. She didn't avenge Silver's or Elphaba's death. She lost to him now she will pay for it. Glinda feels too weak to fight back. That last assault really zapped all of her strength out of her body. She exhales shakily as she looks past the barrel to look in the familiar, brown eyes. At least she will be with Elphaba soon.
"It's been swell, Glinda. I have been waiting to do this for a very long time. Say hello to my daughter for me." Oscar says as he puts a finger to the trigger and starts to squeeze it to fire the gun. He suddenly gasps and drops the gun when an arm wraps tightly around his neck. Blue eyes widen in shock at seeing who her rescuer is. She can't believe it. Her heart isn't hurting because of physical pain now.
Elphaba grunts as she keeps her head lock on the Wizard when he struggles to get out of her hold. She looks down towards with a slight smile on her face.
"Next time, I would really appreciate it if you would tell me the Wizard is my father first instead of telling him first."
And Elphaba is alive! I know you all knew that I wouldn't have kept her dead for the rest of the story. How is she alive though? That answer will be in the next chapter. Why do you think Elphaba is alive when it seemed like she was dead in the last chapter? I couldn't help but have Chistery speak his first word in the chapter and have it be Glinda's name. It's a nod to the musical for sure. Anyways, the next chapter will be updated on Saturday. I will see you all soon. Until then.
DWK