Nicole
One could feel the tension echoing around the room, and the crowd was silent as Nicole began. As the one most likely to get a ease the tension by saying something silly - besides Kaylee and Holli, but they weren't goofing right now - Nicole had been elected dthe unoffical announcer, and the other Kaylee, Holli and Tiana would answer questions... and Mikayla, Allen, and Carley would rest from running around the castle fetching people.
"Fellow Ozians," the blonde who had recently whacked Taye with a fish said seriously, "We are gathered here today to remind everybody that, while you're all running around with one love plot line after another stuck in your head, the Wizard has been working on getting the Earth blown up."
Taking a deep breath, she continued. "One of the reasons you haven't seen Kerry or Elise around lately is because they've visited the Emerald City." A murmur ran through the assembled Elphabas as Kerry stepped up with Elise, who seemed to have become more like an adopted daughter, and sat down next to the three non speakers. "She's already agreed with what we're going to tell you. Now, most of the people of Oz have revolted against the Wizard - his guards are protecting him and he's trying to go along with his plan to destroy Earth. Now, you guys are all too preoccupied. We think..."
Nicole grew silent for a second and Kaylee and Holli elbowed her in the ribs at the same time. "OW!"
"Say it," they hissed in unison before high fiving each other behind Nicole's back.
"We think we need to put ourselves in charge, and we have, because we're the only ones that seem to think clearly anymore."
Silence ensued for a moment, then all chaos broke loose. Half of the Elphabas were for it, half were against. The only three Glindas in the room agreed with the Witches of Oz 'kids'. Said kids remained were they were as the yelling grew louder until an ear splitting whistle pierced the room.
Elphaba picked up her skirts and walked up to the four stubborn kids in the center of the room. "You can't be serious. You're all just kids. You don't know what you're doing."
"Here, here," a voice called from the back of the room. Julia Murney.
"We couldn't have done what we have without them, though," Teal said, coming to sit next to Kerry. "I'm with them."
The yelling picked up again...
And a high C stopped it.
"Thanks, Kristin," Glinda said, grinning at the smaller woman. By an inch, but still. "I think they can do it, Elphaba. After all, how old were you when you challenged the Wizard? Not much older than they were. I support our little Witches... and Allen."
Elphaba raised an eyebrow at Glinda, and Ginda just smiled back. The tension between the two was all that was needed for everybody to stand up and start yelling, demanding a chance to speak.
The Witches of Oz kids looked at each other and then at the room. "STOP!" Tiana waved her arms at the crowd as she began to panic. "Just... STOP!"
Everybody in the room froze as a feeling of calmness over took everybody.
"How did you do that," Elphaba said, turning to face Tiana.
"How did she do that," murmured Annaleigh, trying to imitate her arm movements.
"Hey," grinned Kaylee, "You said this wouldn't happen again!"
Holli picked up. "You mean this has happened before?"
Nicole grinned. "I'm sorry, sometimes something just comes over me..."
Elphaba glared at the group. Apparently Elphaba was immune to it... or the stronger the feeling, the shorter it lasted. "I think..."
The girls turned to stare at her, and from their seats, the other members stood up to stare as well.
Elphaba swallowed. She shouldn't be intimidated by these... children.
"I think it's time to concentrate on saving Earth instead of, um, who'se shacking up with who..."
From the back of the room, Glinda smiled sadly. "I agree. Shall we plan?"
And they began to plan...
ElphabaFae
"Okay," Holli said, a little unsure of herself. As the oldest of the Witches of Oz group at twenty, she had been voted into the lead role. It was the first time she had led anything. "so, we need to get into the palace I think."
"Too dangerous," Elphaba said. "we are easily recognized. All of us."
"Elphaba, are you a witch or not? and many of us have shown the ability to use magic as well."
"your point?"
"I am pretty sure we can disguise ourselves using magic."
"The last time we did that, Pfannee ended up dead," Glinda spoke up. every one murmured in agreement.
"That's because she was trying to be a guy. Now I know we only have four men, but I think the less we put in there the less noticeable it will be."
"Wait, there's only Taye, Jae, and Fiyero. Who's the fourth?" Elphaba asked.
"Allen."
"He's too young."
"I am not," Allen argued.
"I don't think he is. He's already proven himself in my opinion when he was in that whole situation with Rajah and Jae. So you four will go see exactly whats going on inside the castle and out. Jae and Fiyero, you two will be outside sizing up the Ozian rebellion to see how we can use that to our advantage. Allen and Taye, you two will see whats going on inside the castle."
"and what will the rest of us do here?" some one asked.
"I haven't quite figured that out yet," Holli said. Elphaba murmured something under her breath that Holli really didn't want to know what it was, so she didn't ask. "Elphaba, is there a protection spell that you can do so that if some one is in danger, all four of them will be teleported back here immediately?"
"I'll go look," the green woman said as she got up, then realized she was being ordered around by some one younger than her. This is getting ridiculous. I am letting my self be ordered around by kids. But she didn't argue.
"Why are you having Jae and Fiyero go together? Don't you think you should put the ones who don't know Oz with some one who does?" Glinda asked.
"Well, Taye and Fiyero will probably kill each other if they are together. Like wise with Taye and Jae. I don't want conflicting personalities right now. Its too important. Besides, we will be using Elphaba's transporting spell to get them there and back as long as none of them get into trouble."
"Found a spell," Elphaba said as she walked back into the room.
"That was quick," Holli said.
"I have marked a few pages in the Grimmerie. There's also a disguising spell as well."
The next day, everything was set. Fiyero, Jae, Taye, and Allen had been disguised and protected by the spells Elphaba had found. Holli told them that in an hour they would be transported back unless something went wrong in the palace, which would bring them back earlier, then Elphaba chanted the spell and they disappeared.
"What now?" Kaylee asked Holli.
"We wait. When they come back and tell us what they found out, then we decide what to do next."
Half an hour later, the silence in Kiamo Ko was shattered when some one screamed. Holli ran to where she heard the scream come from, followed by Kaylee. It had been Mikayla who'd screamed. In the middle of the room stood Allen, Jae, and Taye. Fiyero was nowhere to be found.
"What happened? Where's Fiyero?" Holli asked as everyone else in the castle arrived in the room. Holli noticed Jae had blood on his hand.
"We saw a few Ozians sneaking over a wall, so we went to investigate, forgetting that we were disguised as guards. One of them shot Fiyero. Why wasn't he transported back here?"
"Oh sweet oz, this can't be happening," Holli said.
"What happened?" Elphaba asked as she ran into the room. "where's Fiyero?"
"He was shot, Elphaba," Jae said. Elphaba stared at him confused. Then his words sunk in and she ran up to her room. Glinda and a few of the Witches of Oz people and one of the Elphaba's went to go after her, but Holli stopped them.
"Only Glinda should go. Elphaba wouldn't want a lot of company right now. In fact, if she's anything like me, she won't want any, but someone should go make sure she's okay. And it should be Glinda." Glinda ran after Elphaba and every one else, except Holli, sat around the room, all digesting what had just happened. Holli went to another part of the castle that was secluded and sat down and put her head in her hands. "why is it always me? I am like friggen anti midas. Everything I touch turns to crap."
A week later, no plan had been processed on what to do next. Holli could hardly ever be found, so Allen tried to take over but no one was really in the mood to plan. Idina, Jae, Taye, and Glinda were back to their arguing over the whole couples situation. All in all, things were not going well.
Holli was wandering the castle one day to find another spot to hide since Kaylee and Allen had found her in the previous spot when she walked into a room she hadn't yet discovered. Elphaba was in it.
"Elphaba?" Holli said as she approached the green woman.
"Go away."
"Elphaba, you can't shut every one out. It'll only make the pain of losing him worse, believe me." hypocrite, Holli thought to herself.
"How would you know," Elphaba snapped to Holli, who, instead of backing away as most would, sat down beside the woman. "You are too young to understand."
"First off, I am twenty, although I know that is still young. I may not know what its like to lose a husband, since I never have even had a boyfriend, but I do know what its like to lose some one you love a lot."
"Oh really," Elphaba said in a voice that made Holli think the woman didn't believe her.
"almost a year ago, my grandmother was sent to the hospital because of an aneurysm in her brain that burst. The doctors did everything they could think of. It involved lots of surgeries and a few months waiting. But after about four months, my family was losing hope. Finally, they decided to take her off the machines. She died two days after that. I was the first to know."
"That was your grandmother, though, not some one who you have lived with for the last few years in hiding. I bet like most children you didn't even visit her."
"I lived with her for most of my life. There was only seven years when I didn't visit her much, and that was because we were like a thousand miles apart. But I still got to see her almost every summer. A part of me still doesn't believe she isn't coming back. sometimes before I fall asleep at night, I'll think of her and realize that she really isn't coming back and I'll cry. The pain will never go away. There's nothing you can do but think of the good times you had together. That will ease the pain a bit. And don't hold back your emotions. It will eventually make you lash out at people for no reason."
"And you know this how?"
"Thanksgiving, about a month or so after the burial, and her favourite holiday, I lost complete control of my temper. Stayed locked up in my room for three days not talking to any one. The only time I came down was at night so I could eat. I even ignored my dog. Up until that point I thought I was doing very good at controlling my temper, but when you hold in your emotions, well, it can be bad. Especially with you and that magical quirk of yours. Its I good thing I never had any powers or things could have gotten really bad."
"I guess I'm not the only one with emotional problems, then."
"Hardly, Elphaba. I was always made fun of in school because of my weight. That contributed to my temper issue. usually I held it all in for a while, and then finally some one would do one little thing that would be the tipping point, and I would lose it."
"You sound almost like me."
"Except you can lead. I can't. I'm sorry I got him killed."
"You led just fine. there was something wrong with the spell, I think. I pronounced something wrong. No one could have thought of that coming up. I didn't."
"Kaylee and Allen keep trying to find me so order can be restored. I don't think it's a good idea for me to lead anymore though."
"You should atleast try. You did a good job of it until everything went crazy."
"Yeah, and when everything goes crazy, that's when you need a good leader. I have never led before this."
"Then I say you are a great leader. Lets go fin everyone. I think its tome we come up with a plan to stop the Wizard and get you all back home."
When they found everybody, there were a lot of arguments. Kaylee and Allen were arguing about who should take over the leadership, Jae and Taye were arguing about Idina, and Idina and Glinda were arguing about Jae. Some of the Witches of Oz people were arguing about which couples should exist, and the actresses were all trying to get the arguments to stop, but were failing miserably.
"Everybody stop arguing please," Holli said. no one listened.
"Would you all be quiet," Elphaba said a little louder. Still no one listened.
"QUIET OR I WILL SING HIGH NOTES!" Holli finally yelled. Every one shut up immediately.
"Holli's back!" Kaylee squeeled. Allen rolled his eyes.
"Okay, every one, we need to figure out a plan. So all of you keep queit, and we will let Jae, Taye, and Allen tell us what they saw." Every one turned to the three men. Jae started first.
"Well," he said, but Holli didn't hear the rest. Instead, her attention was brought to a dark corner of the room where she swore she saw something move. As she squinted her eye's she realized, with horror, who was in the corner of the room.
"ELPHABA MOVE," Holli said as she pushed Elphaba out of the way of a red ball.
"What the—," Elphaba said, then heard an evil laugh. She looked over to where holli had been looking, and there stood Madame Morrible, back from the dead.
"The girl thought she could save you, but she can't," the woman said. "Mark my words, You and your friends will either surrender or die. Just like that foolish girl who just tried to save your life."
Elphaba looked beside her and realized Holli was there, but she was bleeding badly from her side and she wasn't moving. Elphaba got up and rushed at Madame Morrible, who promptly disappeared in a cloud of green smoke. Everyone stood there in shock, not knowing what to do, while Holli bled. I can't do this anymore, Elphaba thought, too many lives are in danger. I don't want to be responsible for another death. But Elphaba realized, no matter which path she chose, lives were at risk. It was a lose lose situation.
Nicole
"Holli?" Five minutes and she had felt like she knew the girl her whole life. As Holli fell, Elphaba's head snapped up and she took a step towards where Morrible had been,
"Somebody get the Grimmerie." Kaylee's voice snapped out the command as she darted towards her fallen friend, peeling off her shirt as she went - something, after all, needed to stop the bleeding. Elphaba turned and took the two steps needed to get back to Holli as Kaylee dropped to her knees and pressed the shirt up against Holli's side. As she was closest to the door, Caissie whirled and darted up the stairs to where the book had been left.
"Where's Fiyero?" Nicole turned to Allen. "You didn't just leave him where he was, did you?"
"No, no, we brought him back-" Allen wasn't able to complete the sentence.
"You said he was shot. Is he alive or dead?"
"Alive, but barely and then all this happened..."
"darn IT YOU IDIOTS!" Nicole snarled out the words, turning and darting towards the hallway. "You left out the most important part in your summary of what happened!" She disappeared out the door.
The rest were left in the room, with nobody wanting to take charge.
So Glinda did what she did best.
"I think it would be best if we all assembled into groups of five." Everybody turned to stare at her. "Well, five is the perfect number for dancing in a group, so I assume it's the best for watching each other's backs, too."
"Like you know anything about watching out for somebody's back," muttered Elphaba as Caissie darted back into the room, almost tripping over Holli's head as she handed the book to Elphaba. Kaylee snatched the book out of her hands and flipped to a marked page - healing spell. Perfect.
"Elphaba. We need to talk. Now." Glinda turned to where the green girl lay, kneeling over Holli.
"Um, now is not the best time for that," Elphaba said dryly as Kaylee began to chant - as well as Elphaba had the first time.
"I think Kaylee has it under control." Glinda watched Elphaba stand up, straightening her skirts as stood to face the blonde.
"What." It wasn't a question, it was a demand. Speak your mind and get it over with. With a pause, she remembered what Holli had said. "What?"
"I apologized-TAYE, JAE, IF YOU DON'T STOP ARGUING OVER IDINA'S BABY I WILL HURT YOU." They grew silent, Idina looking at the two of them. They were arguing over... her kid? Her hand rubber her hard stomach.
"I apologized for what I did, Elphaba. It was wrong of me, and I know that. But you don't have to be so decidedidily stubborn!" Glinda crossed her arms. "We have to organize, or we'll all die."
Elphaba paused. "You're right. It was wrong of you." Turning, she swept out of the door, her own arms wrapped around her swollen stomach.
Glinda went to take a step after her, and a hand wrapped firmly around her wrist, pulling her back. "She needs a minute alone, Glinda." Idina smiled at the blond, who nodded her head.
Kaylee finished the spell, the blood dried on her clothing, but no noticeable wound on Holli. "I think she'll be okay... I hope. Although it'd be awesome if she turned into a scarecrow." Taye walked over to Kaylee and, together, they carried Holli into another room to rest.
Tiana looked around, and Allen and Mikayla joined her. "What do we do know," whispered Mikayla, wringing her hands.
"We'll be tonight's entertainment?" Tiana shrugged. "It's not like we can do a magic trick that'll make Morrible disappear."
And, as soon as Morrible's name left her mouth, a cackle was heard. They looked up. Mikayla threw up her hands as the Elphabas grouped together.
"darn, where does she keep COMING from!?" The large lady grinned down at them, ugly wardrobe and all.
"And why does she have Nicole!?" TIana took a step towards the stairs, and Morrible pulled Nicole closer to her chest, as if protecting her own self from a possible bullet. The captured blonde wrinkled her nose, managing to pull her mouth free. "SHE SMELLS WORSE THAN DEAD FISH!"
"SHUT UP!" Morrible whacked Nicole on the head with her other hand, thankfully missing with the gun. "Now, where is our precious Elphaba? I'm sure she wouldn't mind a trade - her life for this innocent's." Nicole wrinkled her nose, and her foot slowly began inching towards Morribles. (And no, not to play footsies.)
"I have to say, if anybody's going to kill Nicole, it's going to be me," Allen said, folding his arms and looking up at Morrible. "And I'm not the one with a gun right now."
"Oh, so I'm only allowed to kill her if you're out of the way? Okay." Morrible pointed the gun at Allen, and Nicole started squirming. It was clear that she the feelings with Allen were mutual - friendship with annoyance and a healthy respect and comradeship if needed. (Kind of like brother and sister.)
On a side note: That is to clear up Tiana's notion of torturing Allen and I by having our characters hook up by having Allen save my life, having us fall in love, get married in Oz before we turn 18, and dying. Please, please, somebody stop her...
And, just as Morrible fired, Nicole succeeded in hooking her foot around Morrible's ankle and pulling, They fell from the stop of the stair just as the gun was fired, landing neatly in the nearby Annaleigh's leg, who fell over onto the ground with a high-C scream. Stephanie was already sprinting over to the fallen blonde as the rest of the events seemed to unfold in slow motion.
Meanwhile, Morrible and Nicole were rolling down the staircase. Crunching sounds could be heard, and a scream erupted - most definitely not a Morrible scream. "FuFu#FuFu&FuFu#Fu"
"Nicole, mouth," muttered Mikayla as she started to walk towards the bottom of the stairs where Morrible and Nicole lay in a heap. It seemed ironic that, after all of this, something as simple as falling down the stairs would do Morrible in. Her head had hit the bottom step rather hard, and her skull had shattered.
Nicole wasn't in much better condition. Morrible wasn't exactly what you would call a light weight, and she had landed on Nicole's arms more than once. Both were bent at odd angles, and the pain was written all over her face as time seemed to snap back into normal speed. Mikayla and Tiana were joined by Allen and Cheno in darting over to where Nicole lay. "Nicole? Nicole?" Cheno's voice sounded frantic.
"Allen... gravy help me, if I could slap you right now for saying you wanted to kill me..." Nicole stuck her tongue out at him, and Cheno sighed in relief. Despite her injures, Nicole was still there. "I feel like Harry Potter right now..."
Meanwhile, Stephanie was pressing her hands against the bullet lodged in Annaleigh's leg. "Um, where's Elphaba? She has the powers, and Kaylee has the book..."
Kaylee and Taye, who had been careful in putting Holli in the room near Fiyero, had heard the chaos and had run back and were just now entering the room. "Whoa, what happened - MORRIBLE!? NICOLE!? ANNALEIGH!?" Kaylee swung her head back and forth among the chaos as Elphaba stood at the top of the stairs, looking down. "Did anybody else get hurt? Where's Glinda?"
"I'm over here, Elphie," said the blonde softly as she knelt by Annaleigh's head. Idina was walking slowly over Nicole, who was mumbling random things under her breath that was causing Tiana to laugh and Mikayla and Allen to look at each other with confused expressions on their faces.
"Tiana, I want my phone call. I want my phone call, I want my phone call... You're going to need something a lot bigger than Taye and Jae to get through or, uh, pick up or move Morrible.."
Elphaba threw Glinda a relieved glance. "I've already lost Fiyero... twice... and we're on the brink of a third time. I can't lose you now, too."
Glinda smiled at Elphaba. "Realizing who you can't lose?"
Elphaba nodded as she descended the stairs, Kaylee darting over to hand her the Grimmerie. She kneeled down awkwardly on the stairs besides them, ignoring Morrible's head - which was bleeding all over the bottom stair and onto the floor.
"Hi, Elphie. Why so serious?" The blonde girl laughed weakly, and Elphaba realized something. She had come to care for these kids, just as she had come to respect the Earth Elphabas as friends.
darn it, and here she thought she was a loner.
"Because you're injured. Now be quiet so I can heal you..."
As Elphaba began to chant, Idina broke away from the small group around the fallen Witches of Oz member and pressed her back against the wall. From her spot, she could see Glinda muttering a basic healing spell over Annaleigh's leg, and those who had been arguing just a little while before were talking and making amends.
And, from across the room, Taye was walking towards her. "Idina-"
"Shh." Idina gave him a small smile. "I don't mind that you love Elpha-"
"But I don't." Idina blinked, staring at him. "I'm intrigued and infatuated and it was nice and almost familiar - she's a lot like you, you know - but... she's not you."
"No, really?" The sarcasm slipped out before Idina could stop it, and she sighed. "I'm sorry, I just-"
"No, I'm sorry. I understand that you might have slept with Jae at some point or something, but that's nothing compared to what I've done to you. If you can forgive me..."
"But then, I guess there's blame to share..." Idina grinned at him weakly, and they both finished. "And none of it seems to matter anymore..."
--
Elphaba finished the spell over Nicole as the girl closed her eyes, breathing deeply. "You'll be tired for a little while, and your arms will be weak, but that'll go away."
"Hey, Allen?"
Allen blinked down at the supposedly sleeping girl. "Um..."
"Remember how the Joker goes, 'Hit me, hit me, hit me," and Batman rides right by him?"
"Well, I've seen previews-"
"Well, you were the Joker when you were talking about killing me... and I'm the Batman. 'cept I'm not nice." And her weak hand came up and slapped him - 'cept since it was weak, it was more like her shoulder swung her whole arm up and whacked him in the face like a wet fish. "darn. That didn't work..."
Rolling his eyes, Allen leaned back and motioned towards MIkayla and Tiana. "I'm sure you can take care of bringing this one to Holli's room..."
Elphaba, who had stepped over Morrible's blood dripping body into the room, looked over to where Idina leaned against the wall. Her and Taye had their hands intertwined and were talking softly to the other, completely oblivious to everything around them. Annaleigh was propped up against the wall, talking to SJB. The rest of the group had divided up into smaller divisions, murmuring to themselves. Nobody noticed Elphaba as she slipped into the hallway and into Fiyero's room...
Glinda had managed to move across the room with nobody stopping her and was looking out a tiny window when Jae came up behind her, tapping her on the shoulder. His reflection showed in the window.
"I'm still pissed at you," she informed him simply, staring out the window. A monkey flew by.
"I know." Jae looked out the window as well. The monkey flew back.
"I also still care for you."
"And I you." And they stared out the window, Glinda not willing to stop being angry, and Jae not willing to stop worrying over everybody else.
And back at the castle, the Wizard glared into the stolen orb. The little bit of power Morrible had she had cast a spell to allow him to use the crystal ball if necessary, and he had watched the whole thing unfold. With a sigh, he stood up. "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself..."