Chapter 18
Insanity's Prison
AN: Hello everyone! Wow I'm so happy to have reached 60 reviews! Thank you all so so so much! Your reviews have meant so much to me! ComingAndGoingByBubble, I have to say I absolutely loved the last two reviews you left me; they made me smile and laugh! You're awesome! L8zytwner, thank you so much, your such a wonderful person, and very sweet! RavenCurls, yes I agree with you completely, and thank you very much for your review. Alright, if I missed anyone I'm dreadfully sorry, and a huge shoutout to all who have not been mentioned! Your reviews mean the world to me! Alright, so here's the next chapter, bet a lot of you hadn't seen this coming. Don't worry, there's plenty more. Again, thank you all for reading and love the reviews! Any questions, just send them my way, I'll try and answer them. Love you all and Happy Easter!
Galinda stood stock still; her slender body went rigid, trembling violently against the chaotic waves crashing against her subconscious. Her dark cerulean eyes went wide like saucers as tears brimmed against the edges, threatening to spill, and stick to her long, black lashes. Her golden hair billowed around her, the tattered ends of her skirt; blood soaked by the rivers of blood, splitting across the decimated battlegrounds, flapped in the stale breeze like flags of truce, skipping across the breeze.
Her mind whirled; her world teetered, before tipping over the gilded edges of a crimson waterfall. The sounds of the battle around her faded, leaving only the faint whisper of her breath to whistle past her ears, before waning beneath the sound of her blood pounding furiously behind her ears.
This never ending symphony, this hellish nightmare, rained down upon the heads of those too weak to pull free from its seductive folds. Since the beginning of this sonnet, Galinda's worst nightmares had come true; bursting through the invisible barrier enclosed around her mind, protecting her from evil, from Darkness, from Death.
Everything shattered around her, the barricades, the walls she had forged since birth. The Light she had held onto; pressed tightly within her delicate fingers, cracked and crumbled to dust, swept up by the breeze, and vanishing within the dissipating horizon.
She couldn't believe what she was seeing. For one moment, Fiyero, her Fiyero lay listless on the ground, blood surrounding his limp form. His sapphire eyes stared vacant up towards the heaven, the sparkle long since diminished beneath the swirl of the night.
His body lay twisted amongst the sea of garroted and mutilated corpse; their blood staining the emerald grass beneath, turning it a rustic color. The smell of death, permeated the air, and a symphony of screams of agony, drifted along the edge of the breeze.
For the first time in her life rage, filled her, clouding her mind of reason, of conscious thought. The Blade of Arycetia remained loosely clenched between her fingers, as blades of grass sprouted between her knuckles. Her eyes remained closed, as the rage bubbled within her.
Her lips curl, before a growl, slips past her bloodied lips. Her head snaps up, darkness, floods her eyes, turning her cerulean eyes a darker blue. Tidal waves of rage, crashed within her majestic orbs, rage of a broken heart.
Curling her fingers around the hilt of the blade, Galinda lets out a strangled cry, before rising quickly to her feet. Her eyes, narrow on the emerald witch, standing half hunched a few feet away from her. An emerald hand remains pressed against her chest as pearls of crimson crack through her fingers, and drip to the ground.
"Murderer!" screams Galinda.
Elphaba stood, her eyes casted down to the blood soaked ground, her breathing came in labored gasps, as the pain from the blade, sliced through her chest.
Her mind was filled with chaotic emotions. Emotions of relief, of satisfaction, yet another emotion peeked over the dim. One, the emerald witch had not expected to feel…remorse.
The bastard who shattered her heart was dead, her vengeance was complete, and yet her broken heart still ached within her chest. Yet this time, the pain was worse, agonizing to the point that she couldn't breathe, couldn't think, nor feel, for everything within her, went numb the moment she had plunged the blade through his wretched heart.
The emotion was new to her, foreign, obtuse. How could this feeling of regret, pulse within her shattered heart? Shouldn't the pain he had inflicted have dissipated? Should she not feel as if a great burden had been lifted? Shouldn't she feel free?
None of that happened, for her soul felt heavier than ever, bound and chained by chains of fire and ice. It seared her soul, making the pain within worse, agonizing.
She stumbled as she tried to grasp onto her senses. He was dead, she killed him, and her vengeance was complete. Yet now, she felt even more alone, hollow, and empty inside.
Hearing the blonde's screams snapped the emerald witch out of insanities whirlpool of destruction. Her eyes snapped up and all but glared back at the Heavenly Angel, splattered in blood, her robes tattered, and blood soaked, glare back at her with the same beautiful darkness residing within her own.
An evil smile tugged at the corners of her lips. Slowly, Elphaba rose to her full height, her dark, ebony eyes stared soulless, back at the blonde.
"What now Witch of the Light? Are you going to forsake your vow and take vengeance on me? Spill my blood, and taint your soul?" asks Elphaba, her words mocked her, which only infuriated the blonde witch more.
"And what of you? You yourself took that same vow, and yet you spill the blood of the innocent?" spits back Galinda.
"Ahh, but I never committed my soul to the Light?" laughs Elphaba.
"You turn your back on the one thing in this world, which could very well be your salvation? What did the Light ever do to you?" asks Galinda, her voice thick with rage.
"What did the Light ever do to me? Oh no silly little girl…the better question is…what did the Light not do for me? "sneers Elphaba.
"Why turn your back on the one thing that brings people joy…happiness?" asks Galinda, her anger faltering.
"The Light forsaken me! Turned its back on me and casted me into the Shadows of Darkness!" roars Elphaba.
"The Light has only ever protected you Elphaba Thropp…the Light gave you your powers…instilled the virtues to protect the ones you love…to love your sister, and take care of her…to befriend me…to make me open my eyes to the real world...to have found real love"
"Ha! All the Light ever did to me was torture me! Do you have any comprehension at all to what that wretched Light did to me…what it still does!" roars Elphaba.
Angrily, Elphaba takes her umbrella and slams the end of it on the ground with such force; it spins up in the air. Gracefully, Elphaba's fingers twirl the umbrella between her fingers, before clutching onto the handle, and pointing the end once again at Galinda's heart.
"It raped me of my innocence! My life! The Light gave me a father who would rather beat me…starve me…molest me, than love me as a daughter…it gave me a sister who treated me more like a servant than a sibling! The Light made my life a living Hell! Being tormented daily by your fellow Munchkins…having children throw stones at you as you pass…beating you after cornering you in the village…or at school…the parents of those children doing nothing but watching…and laugh as your blood soaks the ground!" screams Elphaba.
Galinda stood there, shell-shocked. Never during her times in their shared dorm room, had she ever heard Elphaba expose anything in regards to her childhood, growing up in Munchkinland. She knew her life was hard, but never, in all her dreams had she imagined, such horrors to have befallen her friend.
"Now do you see…understand…the wretched Light killed the being that was once Elphaba Thropp years ago…now only Darkness inherits this shell, this form that has been hollowed out by the evils, by the hatred done upon her by those she trusted, who she loved"
"Elphaba" whispers Galinda.
A dark sneer slides across Elphaba's slender lips. A dark glint, before the emerald witch takes a small step back. Shifting her weight onto her left leg, Elphaba twirls the umbrella between her fingers, before slamming it down onto the ground, an emerald hand still clutching the handle, the other resting on her hip.
"You want to know…what your dear Prince ever did to deserve his fate. Well I'll tell you" laughs Elphaba. Her eyes once again flicker up to glare icily back into dark cerulean. "You…are not the first to be tasted by the Prince"
"I…I" starts Galinda.
"When he was injured, and remaining within the confines of the Infirmary of the Palace of Emeralds…I came, hidden beneath the cover of darkness"
Galinda watches, as Elphaba's long, slender finger rises up and lithely touches the top of her chest, before slowly dancing down her chest, past her breasts, and stopping at her abdomen.
"He tasted my lips, tipping me to the bed…touching my breasts and kissing every square inch of this body. He tasted me…everywhere" moaned Elphaba; her eyes flickered back to chocolate, before the darkness once again took over. "He took me…making made love to this body…until the dawns early light. And then…in his sleep…he mumbled the words he had not spoken to anyone…including you"
Galinda could only stand there, rigid, her breathing came in heavy, and her mind reeled. For so long, she had believed the night she and Fiyero shared had been special, that he had made love to her and only her…that he had…that he did …that he does...love only her. But now, now hearing that…
Angrily, Galinda shook those traitorous thoughts away. No, no he loved her, there was no way she could have mistaken that. He had taken her body, been so gentle, so caring, so loving to her that night. And though it was brief, she knew, that it had meant something to him, and not just a moment of blind passion.
"He said, in a whisper…I love you…before tenderly kissing my lips, and taking me again" replies Elphaba softly, almost like a whisper to the winds.
That did it, what was left of her heart, cracked beneath those hollowed words. He had said the words the blonde had always hoped, for, had yearned to hear come from his lips. Yet he never did. He never told her he loved her, not even that night, when the two danced beneath the moonlight.
Rage once again bubbled within her. Unable to control it, Galinda threw her hands up towards the emerald witch. As she does, bolts of white electricity fly from her fingertips.
A glint of insanity sparkled within her cerulean eyes, as she watched the emerald witch, her once best friend; fly through the air before slamming hard into the ground.
"How does it feel" laughs Elphaba, as she rises onto her elbows, her dark, ebony eyes glare back wildly at the blonde. "To have all your hopes and dreams shatter…to have your heart ripped out of your chest, and stomped on?"
"He never loved you…he only used you…your nothing but an unwanted creature…an abomination to this illustrious world…no one could love you…not Fiyero…not Nessa…not your father…nor even…your own mother" replies Galinda coldly.
A stab of pain sliced through Elphaba's heart, at the mere mention of her mother. She couldn't remember her, yet a faint glimmer still sparked within her mind. An image of a woman with skin as smooth as silk, the color of buttermilk flashed before her eyes. Her eyes were the same dark chocolate as her own, with long, wavy raven hair. She held a smile as delicate and soft as the angels, and had a grace that no other could match.
Was this her mother?
"M…mother?" whispers Elphaba, her voice cracking slightly.
"Yes, your mother Melena Thropp. She hated you…despised you…she tried drowning you after you were born and hence thereafter…she never touched you…nor held you. She turned away from you. And once she found herself with child, she locked you away so no one would see you again. She consumed milkflowers in hopes of not having to give birth to another aberration like you" replies Galinda, her voice growing darker as she stepped towards Elphaba now trembling on the ground.
"Milkflowers" whispers Elphaba, as if the peak of something was verging just on the horizon of her mind, a memory, screaming silently, fighting to crest over the horizon, and spill into the pools of her subconscious.
"Yes Milkflowers…they made your precious sister come to soon…with her legs all a tangled mess, they killed your mother…you killed your mother. For if it weren't for you….your mother never would have eaten them! Nessa would have been born normal, and your mother would still be here!" roars Galinda.
Elphaba's breathing became erratic; her heart beat frantically within her chest. She broke into a cold sweat, the moisture burning her skin, making it sizzle, before melting beneath crystal drops of acid. Her mind reeled, before shattering back into the Nothingness of the Night.
Melena, that name continued to echo within the empty void of her mind. She knew the name, yet could not place the face.
The memories of her life, pounded against the invisible walls imprisoning them within the symphony of darkness; a gilded cage made of cast iron and wrought with rust. And though she tried, the more she tried to delve deep into the small bubble forging within her mind, caused her head to ache in agonizing pain, and her body to seize beneath waves of pain and fury.
Galinda watched, her heart half breaking for the emerald witch. Yet her anger, her hate for her, overshadowed the sweet riptide of sympathy, rippling within her mind. She deserved this. After all, she killed her Prince, killed her best friend, and destroyed half of Oz, plunging the land further into darkness.
The screams were faint, almost like a whisper. Yet as the darkness around him faded, the screams slowly grew louder, before shattering the darkness once imprisoning him within its hollow confines.
Slowly, dark lashes fluttered open, revealing soft sapphire to sparkle beneath the golden rays of the sun. A pain, rippled across his body, making him clench his eyes closed against the dizzying nausea.
Once the pain faded, Fiyero, slowly slid his hand across the ground, and with a grunt, propped himself up on his elbows. The world spun, before clearing once more.
"What…what happened?" whispers Fiyero, his voice was hoarse, and strained.
Another scream tore him from his thoughts. Instantly, his eyes snapped up to see Galinda, standing above Elphaba, now writhing in pain on the ground. Her slender fingers curled within her raven tresses.
"Fae" whispers Fiyero.
Grunting, Fiyero placed his hand palm flat on the ground. About to push himself up, something, out of the corner of his eyes, made his stop dead in his tracks.
His dark sapphire eyes stared at his hand in horror. His mind reeled, his heart thumped hard within his chest. His hand was no longer the color of flesh, for it was white, and cloth-like, bits of straw poked out of the corners of his sleeves.
Gasping, Fiyero forced himself onto his hunches as he brought both his cloth hands up to his face. He wasn't imagining it; his hands really were made of cloth. Pressing his hands together, his eyes widened more at the sound of straw, crackling beneath the cloth.
Hesitant at first, Fiyero's eyes remained transfixed at his cloth hands, before slowly drifting down to his body. What he saw made his blood run cold.
His shirt was still that of the Gale Force uniform, except now, like the sleeves of his shirt, bits of straw stuck out, some poking through small holes in his chest.
Slowly, his hands drifted to his face. A hard gasp slipped past his lips at the feel of cloth beneath his fingers. Rough stitching of thread replaced his lips, and his eye brows. His nose was that of a button, and his lips were no longer there.
His hands drifted to the top of his head, and instead of feeling his soft hair, he felt straw, rough and course half tucked beneath a cloth hat.
All reason flew out the window once his mind grasped onto what exactly had happened. He had died, that much he was sure of. Yet somehow, he had been brought back. Only now, instead of returning to his original body, he had been transformed into a hollow, empty shell of a Scarecrow.
His breathing sped, his mind whirled. Slowly his hands slid down to the course material that made up his face. Then, his eyes snapped back up to stare enraged at the figure of Elphaba, kneeling on the ground, gasping in pain, and laughing maniacally as the white witch zapped her with her powers. A spark of insanity, tip toed along the edges of her eyes.
"Fae!" screams Fiyero.
Slowly, Fiyero rose unsteadily onto his feet. His hands held out before him, his eyes all but glared evilly back at the woman whom he had loved more than anyone else in this entire world.
"Fiyero…so good of you to join us" laughs Elphaba.
"Fae…what have you done?" whispers Fiyero.
"FiFi" whispers Galinda.
Elphaba, smirking, cackles evilly back at Fiyero's horrified expression.
Enraged, Fiyero takes the gun once strapped behind his back, cocks the handle and takes aim at Elphaba's head.
"What the hell did you do to me!" roars Fiyero.