"This is disgusting. This is disgusting, I can't breath, I will never smell okay every again - Why aren't we taking your broom?"
Elphaba trudged through the waste, pulling a reluctant - and ever talking - Fiyero by the hand.
"We're almost there." She said through the rag that was covering her face. "I told you I can barely see two feet ahead of me, if we crash we'll take a face full of crap."
Fiyero huffed behind his rag. "Isn't there usually some sort of closed off section in these things? Why don't you find a spell to see or something? "
Elphaba sighed taking small breaths. "Yes, there is usually a close off place, and I rather take my chance in the dark than mess up another spell in this book."
Fiyero stopped walking then, making Elphaba stumble for a second before she regained her balance and glared at Fiyero in the dark.
"I almost fell in it." She growled hitting him with the hilt of her broom.
Fiyero didn't even seem to blink, "Elphaba, if it's closed off why the hell are we still going?"
"I've been doing a lot of reading the past couple months, there are a lot of practical spells and a lot of impractical spells. Some of them may be illegal to use and were more lessons than actual spells…" At Fiyero's sudden quietness she understood that he did not understand. "To put it simply for you," She sighed, "I broke the metal the last time I was here with a spell I'm not legally supposed to use just so it would make it easier to go in."
"You think ahead." He said, pride in his voice and Elphaba smirked.
"I'm not coming into the palace on a whim here yero, I have always had a plan." Well, sort of. It wasn't entirely thought out but she had it.
"Which is?" Fiyero asked stepping over something when she did.
"I really wanted to out them and let the people of Oz know what was going on under their nose, but I know how people are, they won't listen to a few words a green girl will say against the wizard." She explained, coming to a stop when she felt a wall in front of her. She tapped it with her broom and turned until she was walking again.
"So then what is the plan?"
"Talk to the wizard, reason with him." She simply said and Fiyero seemed to choke on his spit.
"That's the plan you have? March in there and just talk to the wizard?"
"Other than resorting to violence I see no other way to do anything. If I go in with my hands raised buzzing with magic I'm not getting anything out it other than being proclaimed some kind of wicked witch or something, probably getting someone killed as well." She told him, pulling harshly on his hand when he stopped again.
"So your whole plan consists on just talking to him?" He asked her uncertainly.
"Pretty much." She admitted and Fiyero muttered something under his breath.
"What if he doesn't listen to whatever you want to say?"
"If he is at all a reasonable man, he'll listen."
"What are you planning on telling him to make him listen?" He asked slowly, his mind probably racing to think of what she would say to him.
"Easy. His name is on the papers we stole, his and Morrible's. If it leaks he is ruined and he loses everything and ends up in a prison cell. Now if he listens, he'll still most likely be the Wizard, but with the guidance of a few other countries leaders, to oversee what he does... Understand?"
Fiyero was quiet momentarily. "So basically we are threatening him to do what we want?"
"Basically... Watch your step." She warned him when she saw the familiar metal. She let his hand go to gently feel her way through.
"Careful here, the metal is twisted and you might cut yourself." Elphaba warned him, stuffing her rag into her cloak and ducking her head to stop herself from touching the jagged metal as she pulled herself through the hole. Fiyero followed behind her, his larger form having trouble getting through. She gave him her hand again to help him and once he was through they continued.
"And what happens if he doesn't want to listen and just shoots us dead on sight?"
"We die." She said matter of factly, and Fiyero squeezed her hand tightly.
"You say it like it happens everyday!" .
"Well, what else do you want me to tell you?" She shrugged, "If he has me shot, he'll have me shot and that's it for me."
"If that's a possibility then why are we going?" He questioned angrily.
"Because it's unlikely he will do it, especially with those papers in our possession."
"And if he thinks we have them with us and just kills us anyway? "
It was true that it could happen, but she honestly didn't believe that it would happen. "He would be an idiot if he thought we had them with us. "
"But... there is still small chance he could and kill us?"
"I guess. " She shrugged and Fiyero confidently closed in on her, putting both his hands on her cheeks, his rag forgotten on the ground as he pressed his lips on hers.
"If I have a chance of dying in there I will never forgive myself if I don't tell you that I love you." He whispered after pulling away from her, Elphaba's eyes went and a little cross eyed at his closeness.
"Huh?" She said weakly.
"I love you, and I have since that moment with the lion cub. I didn't understand at first but then that kiss that I thought I dreamt happened and I knew I was a goner…I just wish we had a little more time." He whispered, his lips caressing her cheek.
"We will, we wont die." She said confidently, her heart beating rapidly at his sweet words.
"You can't promise me that." He responded softly, brushing the strands of hair that framed her face back inside the cloak.
"I didn't promise you that. I just said we won't. Now really we should keep going before we end up smelling like crap for the rest of our lives." She said and Fiyero scrunched his nose realizing that his rag was now resting in the waste. He didn't let her hand go as they continued on, but now Elphaba no longer held his out of necessity. After a couple more minutes of fighting through the waste they finally came upon a metal ladder placed on the end of the tunnel, leading straight up into the palace. At least she hoped it did.
"I'll go up first and check to see if the coast is—or your broom, I forgot about that." He chuckled as he got on behind her. Elphaba rose slowly watching her movements carefully, not wanting to end up bashing her head on the top.
"This is still terrifying." He said quietly, holding to her waist tightly again.
"Don't be a baby yero." She breathed out, wiggling so he could loosen his hold.
"It's not being a baby, we are up in the air and if I were to fall right now I'd have a mouthful of crap."
"Keep your mouth closed when you fall and it wont be a problem."
"Ha ha." He was silent afterwards and Elphaba smiled in relief coming to the top.
At the top she found herself underneath a large man hole, with one of her hands firmly holding her broom, she used her other hand to push up, letting her magic run through her hand to force it to open, the cover wiggled around for a few seconds before rising slowly and clearing the way for them to enter. Elphaba felt faint, feeling as if she had used her own strength to push it off. Still, she forced herself through the hole and let herself rest on the ground as Fiyero scrambled off her broom. Elphaba pushed herself off the ground after a minute and removed her soiled cloak, tossing it off to the side as Fiyero tried to strip off his shirt.
"What are you doing?" She breathed watching his muscles flex as he struggled to take the clinging shirt off.
"There is no way I'm walking around in these clothes." He told her as he tossed it to the floor and starting on his trousers.
"So you're going to walk through the palace with your pecker just dangling around and hoping Morrible is enticed enough to stop everything?" She said trying to fight the urge to go over and touch the blue diamond tattoos that were scattered across his chest.
Fiyero shuddered in front of her. "Nightmare material right there. No, I'm assuming we are in some gale force soldiers room, what with all their clothes laying about." Fiyero said, picking up a green shirt. Elphaba took her time to study the room they were in, and indeed there were plenty of gale force shirts and trousers laying about. The washing room.
She turned away when Fiyero's trousers dropped and she focused on cleaning her boots with her discarded cloak, making sure to get them as clean as she could possibly get them. An excuse to stay away from him so she could focus on the task on hand, which was getting to speak with the Wizard.
"You know, I think I look rather handsome in this uniform Elphaba." Fiyero said standing in front of her with his clean clothes. He still smelled strongly of human waste, but he did look handsome.
He smiled sweetly at her and gave her a quick kiss before rushing away from the slap she was about to give him.
"We need to stay focused. I shouldn't have to keep telling you." She rebuked him.
"I am focused," He replied standing straight. "Now let's go and find the wizard!"
"Yes yero, yell it out so everyone can hear us coming." She muttered dryly.
Fiyero frowned, "Isn't that the point? So we can go and see the wizard?"
Elphaba stared at him and Fiyero winced at her unwavering stare. "Fiyero, do you think I would have hiked in a river of human waste just so I can be thrown out for yelling?"
He let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, no, but—"
"Keep quiet and follow me, I don't need you distracting me."
"I'm distracting you? You're the one -"
She gave him another look. "Fiyero."
"Quiet. Got it." He pressed his lips together in a faint smile and nodded for her to go on.
Elphaba sighed and looked out the door.
"Where do you think we'll find him?" Fiyero spoke up again and Elphaba gave up on getting him to be quiet.
"At this time of day he should be holding court in his throne room so that's our best bet."
"And where is that?"
"Don't know." She shrugged taking quiet steps in the hall.
"So we are going to just sneak around until we find it?" Fiyero whispered and Elphaba nodded, pulling him forward into the next hallway.
"Yeah." She replied after making sure it was safe to talk.
"I don't know how long we are going to be able to go without drawing attention with the smell?"
There was a strong smell of burning candles in the air, mixed with their own stench. "We might luck out and he'll come to us."
"Yes, the wizard and his soldiers with loaded rifles." Fiyero responded sarcastically.
"He wont shoot…through there." She pointed hearing footsteps nearby.
Fiyero pushed her inside the brightly lit room and closed the door behind them. They waited at the door hearing the footsteps fade away and once they did, Fiyero let out a breath he had been holding in. Elphaba felt slightly dizzy, holding herself up by leaning against the door. She let her eyes close pushing the feeling away. This was not the place and not the time to start feeling this way. That's what she repeated to herself. Not the place. Not the time. Slowly she let her eyes open and Fiyero was looking at her in panic, she waved her hand.
"It's okay, it happens."
"You sure?" He asked in worry and she nodded.
"Yeah." She said looking behind his shoulders at the blue containers being illuminated by lanterns. Fiyero brushed her hair back and smiled, turning around to see what she was looking at, he went gave her a quick glance and went over to the containers.
"Water!" He whispered to her excitedly, dumping his head into one of the many tubs glowing white. Fiyero took his head out of the water and shook the water off, throwing handfuls of it to his face and neck. Elphaba lingered behind, fearing moving and losing control, but her attention was on a desk that was littered with papers. Thinking they might be important Elphaba went over to them only stopping when Fiyero let out a loud yell. Her eyes widened as she shushed him, rushing over to him to cover his mouth, but Fiyero moved aside looking horrified as he pointed a shaking finger at the container. Elphaba peered over it and felt her heart begin to beat unevenly. Her fear taking control as she looked at the body half submerged in the water, almost shining brightly and beautifully with the lanterns at her side.
Galinda Upland was the embodiment of an angel, laying in the shallow water with a white dress flowing slightly, her face as peaceful as could be.
Her hand came over to her, not wasting time on placing it underneath her head to lift her from the water, Fiyero immediately went to helping pick Galinda up from the water.
"She's freezing." Fiyero said with a shake of his voice, taking her carefully in his arms.
Elphaba felt Galinda's skin, feeling only coldness, Galinda gasped and opened her eyes, looking widely at the two of them before her eyes closed again.
"Galinda?" She whispered shakily, feeling her neck for her pulse. Galinda parted her eyes making a noise in the back of her throat telling her she was listening.
Elphaba brushed the blonde's wet hair off her face, she couldn't afford to lose control of her emotions now. She couldn't think clearly when she did and that got her to control herself at that moment.
"Galinda what did they do to you?" Her hands shook as she found a tattered rag on the floor. It was dirty but it was something to cover her freezing body with.
"I think its the same drug Morrible gave me to use on you Elphaba." Fiyero said in a low voice and Galinda's eyes rolled to the side staring at something.
Elphaba aimed her sights to the desk she had been looking at previously and strode over to it and frantically picked the papers up with her wet hands, scanning over the words to figure out what they said.
Magic. Attempt. Control. Change. Words she picked up as she read along. It made her blood boil, they didn't want to just have normal people living in Oz they wanted total control of every person; Animal or Human.
"We need to get Galinda out of here…these plans…" She shook her head in disbelief, her teeth chattering.
"What does it say?"
"They want to control us, every aspect of us, not just make Oz pure but control our every thought and action…They want to make the drug airborne because even those with magic are powerless against it…We have to stop this, the people need to know, Fiyero take my broom and take Galinda and these papers out." She ordered, finding a book on the same desk and placing the papers inside so they wouldn't get ruined from the dampness of her hands.
"But what about- "
"I'll handle it," She said in exasperation pacing around the room anxiously. "Just get her safe and get the papers to your parents I can't have— " Her words were forced away from her mind, her eyes coming to a stop in front another one of the containers.
"No." She breathed out in horror. "No!"
"What is it?" Fiyero asked shifting Galinda in his arms.
Elphaba urgently threw her hands into the water of the container hauling the body out of it.
"What is it Elphaba?" Fiyero asked again more nervously.
"Nessa?!" Her tone rose as she kneeled to the floor with Nessa resting in her arms. She brushed back her sister hair, feeling only the ice cold of her skin.
Elphaba shook her sisters shoulder gently, Galinda had opened her eyes almost as soon as they got her out.
Elphaba placed one hand on her sisters neck to help her up, but in doing so she felt only her icy skin. Nessarose had never been this cold in her life, never this cold and never this unresponsive.
Because as Elphaba's hand remained on her sisters neck she felt no heart beat. No heartbeat and no response when she continuously shook her shoulder.
She didn't want to think it, she didn't want to know.
"Nessa?" She tried again, her eyes brimming with tears. "Nessie?" She rested her head on her sisters shoulder as tears ran down her cheeks. Squeezing her eyes shut and biting back the sob that was threatening to take ahold of her.
She remembered Nessa giggling when she pushed her through the house on the wheelchair. It was one of those days that their father would be called out to work all day. She would make sure their nanny was sleeping before she helped a six year old Nessa into her chair and twirled her around, Nessa would burst out in giggles clapping her hands together gleefully. They'd spend a few minutes with Elphaba pushing her younger sister around the house until their nanny stood at the end of the house with crossed arms and a frown on her face. Elphaba had thought she was in trouble but then their nanny smiled and started chasing after them. Elphaba launched Nessa forward to continue their fun.
She remembered a little Nessa trying to call after her, "Efafa, Fafafa, Fafala, Fabala!" She called repeating the name, "Fabala!" until Elphaba went over to her. That nickname never forgotten.
Her sister's face when she found out she had passed her entrance exam to shiz.
Nessa's happiness when she talked to her about how Boq had asked her out…
She fisted her green hand against her sister's side, lifting her face with a scowl. Fiyero had been trying to talk to her but she ignored him, gently picking her sister up. She moved towards the desk letting her sister's body rest on top.
"You are going to take my broom and get Galinda out of here." She said in a grave voice.
Fiyero opened his mouth to say something but he didn't, instead shifting Galinda in his arms so he could take the broom.
"Promise me you'll—"
"Go." She snarled clenching her jaw.
"Stay safe, I'll wait for you." He murmured looking apologetically at her sister's body before he turned around and fled through the door.
Elphaba took one last look at her sister vowing that she would not would let those who did this to her live.
It was time to meet the wizard.
Because, because, because, because, BECAUUUUUUSSSE, of the wonderful things he does!