A/N: That epilogue I talked about writing? I'm writing it! So, lucky you guys I guess. :D Thanks again for all the reviews!

Chapter 6 – Truth of Heart

Hands grab at her ankles. Her body is whipped around by a freezing gale; her fingers grapple at the edge of a tall cliff. She digs her nails in hard, desperate not to fall. The hands pull and tug, trying to claim her, trying to seal her downfall.

'Freak,' they all cry and their voices howl in the wind. Galinda can feel her fingers starting to slip and reaches for a higher rock. Her hand slides down the slippery stone in search for a ridge to cling onto. Rain tumbles down, drenching her body, washing away her beautiful exterior in favour of a limp, bedraggled creature.

'Freak. Ugly,' they cry. 'Ugly freak. Sinner.'

Among the voices Galinda does not immediately hear the soft echo of something else. It whispers gentle words in her ears, claims that the awful words of the angry mob are false. The sweet murmurs slowly penetrate the soundscape, taking the forefront of the noise and overshadowing the cries.

'They're right,' Galinda yells, and her voice gets carried by the wind. 'I am a freak.'

'They're wrong,' says the whisper. 'Look up.'

She looks up and sees her Elphie extending a green hand towards her. She hesitates. It would be much easier to let herself go and fall into the hands of the masses. Forget this whole thing had ever happened. Pretend like it is business as usual.

Or she can take Elphie's hand.

'Be strong,' Elphie says.

'But I'm not!'

'Yes, my sweet. Yes you are.'

Elphie's voice sends a tremor down Galinda's spine. She looks uncertainly at the green girl, and then extends one hand and allows herself to be pulled up. Elphie sets her on the ground and wraps her in a hug.

'I love you, my sweet. You're not a freak.'

And Galinda knows she has made the right choice.

.../...

Racks of sale dresses created a maze in which Galinda could easily lose herself among the bright colours and expensive fabrics. The boutique bustled with the likes of the wealthy Gillikinese on their weekly pursuit of the next exciting fashion trend of the week. The place was noisy and crowded. Galinda normally took delight in fighting the other Misses for dresses that were too good not to get (she usually won) but today she stood back, her eyes glossing over the racks.

Elphie would hate all of this.

She could not leave now, though she badly wanted to. She would have nowhere else to go but back to her dorm, and there she would have to face Elphie, if the girl wasn't locked up in the library, or the isolation of a silent dorm and loud thoughts.

Earlier that day she had received a letter from her parents asking her to invite her boyfriend home for the holidays. Galinda had realised then that she hadn't even told them about breaking up with Fiyero. The letter had brought about a new set of worries: how would her parents ever understand her even being friends with a girl like Elphaba, let alone the fact that she was feeling things that went beyond?

She'd thought the shopping would distract her. She'd thought wrong.

Resigning herself to the fact that the day would be dismal no matter what, Galinda did take herself out of the boutique after all. Relieved of the noise, she wandered slowly back towards campus, shivering in the cold air even though she wore a fur coat. Or maybe the shiver was from the dread of facing her peers...of facing Elphie.

Crage Hall loomed within her sight. Instead of moving towards it she stubbornly turned the other way and headed for the grounds instead, her eyes trained on the ground beneath her. She bypassed Briscoe Hall and a couple of the other colleges, and was soon in an unfamiliar part of the university where there were a lot of trees. With a slight shrug, she sat down underneath one, hoping none of the Crage Hall girls would come her way.

She took her parents' letter out of her bag and read it again, the unwittingly awful words filling her with guilt. Her thoughts drifted towards imagining the looks of horror on her parents' faces if they found out about her – misdeed; abnormality; sin? She took a deep breath, tried to calm her mind.

Something moved nearby. Galinda looked up and almost growled in exasperation, cursing her bad luck. Of course it would be Elphie coming this way. She shouldn't have been surprised – knowing that Elphie was one for secluded spots – but why did she have to choose this particular secluded spot, today of all days?

Still, she couldn't help her cheeks flushing and a guilty surge of excitement in her chest. Her Elphie was coming towards her in that willowy way of hers, as though she was being carried by the wind. Her hair, for once down and not in that boring braid, blew around her face like a dark halo. Her brown eyes twinkled as they spotted Galinda, and one green hand offered a slight wave.

Galinda loved and hated the effect it had on her, and promptly burst into tears.

She was incredibly conscious of how stupid she must look, crying randomly out of nowhere, but if she did, her Elphie didn't make light of it. That, Galinda thought, was one of the things she loved most about her mysterious and complex roommate – despite Elphaba's harsh exterior, she never judged someone who was in distress.

It was exactly what Galinda needed right now, as she allowed Elphaba to embrace her and carry her through her secret burden.

'It's out of control,' she said quietly. She sat with her arms folded across her chest, and Elphaba's arm around her waist. 'I can't refute it anymore.'

Her Elphie didn't speak; didn't need to – Galinda knew she was listening. Galinda looked around warily for any passers-by who might bear witness. Fortunately there were none.

'I want to tell you, but I'm afraid the masses might discoverate my sin. It is the wickedest crime and yet it is a thing I cannot help. I suppose this is what people mean when they say one who is at the top comes crashing down from their pedestal.'

'I do not see you crashing, but rising,' Elphaba responded. 'Rising from the superficial masses and into the more selective plane of realism.'

Galinda gave her a watery smile.

'It is a lonely plane then.'

'Yes, my sweet, it can be.'

'I find that I can no longer be conventional. I am far too distracted by the exotic and unexplored. The pastimes I used to love have become unimportant; my relationships devalued – all except one.'

'And which one is that?'

'Yours.'

The confession garnered a twitch from Elphaba's lips.

'You have come a long way,' she said.

'I couldn't help it. It's like an unstoppable force pushed me into a confusing myriad of self-discovery.'

They got up and started to walk. Elphaba's arm did not leave its place around Galinda's waist. Galinda tucked her head into the crook of Elphaba's shoulder and neck and observed the university from a sideways perspective, so it was tipped over like her feelings. Her own arm slipped around Elphaba's waist and held onto her tightly.

'They all think I'm crazy, breaking up with Fiyero, and perhaps I am,' Galinda said. 'I couldn't love him like I was supposed to. But there are a lot of things I was supposed to do, but didn't,' she added, thinking of her and Elphaba's friendship. 'And there are also things I was not supposed to do, but couldn't seem to help myself.'

'I frequently find myself in the same situation,' said Elphaba. 'I never could keep my silence around others. I couldn't pretend to not exist, much as it would be better for everyone.'

'It wouldn't!' Galinda exclaimed. 'It certainly wouldn't be better for me.'

'You are quite unique in that opinion.'

'Well it's true. I couldn't imagine my life without you in it.'

They turned into Crage Hall, which didn't look half as imminent as before, though Galinda was conscious of the shocked stares which incurred as a consequence of daring to touch the artichoke. She focused on the destination and tried to ignore them, knowing that she was not succeeding nearly as well as Elphaba. Her movements were slow and conscientious; her eyes kept darting around in search of the next hostile glance.

Stop being so superficial, she scolded herself, but continued to feel nervous nonetheless.

As soon as they reached the safe confines of their room, Galinda puffed a relieved sigh.

'They turn so quickly. All I did was dare to be near you, and already they stare. I can only imagine what they would do if they found out that I...'

She released herself from Elphaba's embrace and stared at her hands. The room was hot – or was it just the adrenaline pumping through her veins and causing her hands to shake? Why did her breath hitch as her Elphie took one of those hands inside her own and squeeze it with such a gentle reassurance? Why did her eyes lock into her roommate's with a paralysing compulsion that rendered her unable to tear her gaze away?

Why did her mind feel as though it was being ripped in half by her love of Elphaba and her fear of society's perception of her?

Why couldn't she drop her shallow disposition and just come out and say it already?

'Be strong, Glin,' said Elphaba, and Galinda could hear the echo of her own voice from her dream: But I'm not...

'Elphie I love...I...' She shook her head. 'I shouldn't. It's wrong. I'm not like that. Other people are into that sort of thing, but not me, I don't...I can't...'

'Yes you can.'

Galinda could see the imagined pedestal in her mind's eye. It was high up and swayed dangerously, teetering from one side to the other. She looked down from it and saw Elphaba standing at the bottom, extending her arms to catch her. She shuffled to the edge, heart racing, palms sweating, and leaned over, seeing bliss and hardship beneath her.

From her place of safe content she launched herself forward, into her Elphie's embrace, and kissed her hard, and with the kiss accepted any and all consequences of her choice.

And she knew, in an instant, that she'd made the right decision.