Chapter Thirty-Two:

No words could escape the trembling blonde who stood behind the podium. Her mouth hung open showing her pearly white teeth but no sound could be heard from her lips. It was like she was frozen up there on the balcony. Her eyes had a misty, far off look in them as she stared down at the citizens below.

To everyone else it looked as though the Good Witch that they had known and loved had finally choked and cracked.

To Glinda though, she was frozen because she felt as if she was in some horrible hellish nightmare.

All around her, her eyes saw a million copies of Elphaba who were looking at her intently.

They all whispered the same thing, the same word over and over again until it was blurred so much that Glinda could barely register what it was that they were saying.

"Glinda…" they beckoned to her in soft, whispering tones. "Glinda…"

The blonde felt the last of her heartstrings that had been filled with little hope of Elphaba's survival snap.

Any feelings that she had cast aside now came rushing back into the blonde. Flashes of memories, good and bad ones, came to her mind.

The memories left as quickly as they had come but it was just enough so that Glinda still remembered them…Elphaba at her wedding, when Elphaba had kissed her at her own wedding, what had happened with Ama Clutch and the baby, things the two witches had done at the Corn Exchange, when Glinda had killed Fiyero, when Glinda had left Elphaba in the mauntery and didn't go back for her, Elphaba remembering that is was Glinda who killed Fiyero, and finally Elphaba's precious last moments evaded the blonde's mind. Those were memories and things that the blonde had tried so hard to bury deep down inside of her so that she never had to remember the pain and the hurt, but it all came back now and the pain was worse than it ever had been before.

After her mind remembered the horrible memories it finally registered and accepted that Elphaba was dead. She was dead, no pulse radiating through her body, no breaths of air being taken in from her lungs, she was nothing more than a puddle.

Ragged gasps now came from Glinda and she felt as if she would keel over from the lack of oxygen. Once the truth that Elphaba was dead had been accepted by her brain, it was as if the rest of her body was shutting down at the news.

Glinda's lungs felt as if they were shrinking by the seconds, her pulse felt like it was slowing, her eyes were tearing up at the supposed lack of oxygen; her body trembled and shook like she was being electrocuted.

With the last of her sanity fleeing, Glinda briefly wondered if this was because of the excess medication that she had taken but that idea was thrown out of her mind when her world began to swirl.

Colors blended together, faces became unrecognizable, ordinary things became meshed together.

Glinda felt tight hands on her forearms but she didn't know whose hands they were.

"Glinda, come on! Get yourself together!" snapped an angry voice and Glinda, though her mind was not stable by any means, knew it was Chuffrey that was yelling at her.

The hands pushed her back towards the podium and she heard Chuffrey make up some apology to the citizens of Oz for her behavior, saying that she was too overjoyed to even speak of this occasion.

Glinda licked her lips as her lungs slowly began to behave themselves and she found that she could breathe again. Her blue eyes flickered down to the paper that she was supposed to read and she found herself starting over again.

"Fellow-fellow Ozians," she managed to get out in a whispery faint voice.

"I-" she paused. Her eyes were looking out at the crowd and she had suddenly spotted Yackle with that damn cat in her arms, looking quite pleased. Besides Yackle was the man who had ordered Elphaba to be killed, The Wizard of Oz.

They both looked at her with stern eyes, like they were expecting her to go on and act like nothing was wrong just like she had done numerous times before this. But this time, this occasion, was different. It was not a lie that she was supposed to spread; it was not something that they had made up for her to tell that was half true and half not. This, Elphaba's death, was real and the blonde could not and would not lie about real things.

"I have a confession to make-" but as soon as Glinda got those words out a hand, Chuffrey's hand, clamped over her mouth and turned her sharply around to face him.

One of the guards came over and covered the microphone to keep their conversation private.

"What in Oz's name do you think you are doing?" hissed out Chuffrey angrier than Glinda had ever seen him as he took his hand off of her mouth.

"I won't lie to them," said Glinda standing her ground, "Not about this."

"The hell you will!" whispered Chuffrey, "Now say that speech."

"No!" said Glinda fiercely, "They deserve to know the truth."

Chuffrey stared at her, his brown eyes cold and hard. His hands trembled into fists but he did not strike her. For once Glinda was glad that they were having this fight out in public; it meant that he could not hurt her no matter how much he wanted to.

"So you're going to tell them everything? And you do mean everything?" his eyes glinted with satisfaction.

Glinda bit her lip as her mind wandered to the intimate memories she had shared with Elphaba.

"I will share with them what I believe they should know."

Chuffrey smiled, "And then I will share with them what I believe they should know."

Glinda felt enraged at his smug smile and she leaned in close towards his face.

"They don't believe in you like they believe in me. What makes you think that they will listen to you? You have no power over them…"

Glinda suddenly felt weak as she stared up at her husband. She felt as if she was going to start shaking again but she willed herself not to.

"But I have power over you, my dear. And if you do not confess everything today then I will force you to at some point after this," it was a threat and not an empty one.

He kissed the bridge of her nose and whispered in her ear, "You might have the rest of Oz fooled by who you pretend to be but I know who you really are. I know that you are not as powerful as they make you out to be. You might have power over the citizens of Oz in this moment but I've always had power over you…"

He took several steps away from her and signaled the guard to leave the podium. Without a second glance back at him, Glinda turned towards the crowd feeling quite delirious.

Swallowing hard Glinda rearranged the stack of papers and then dismissed the words that had been written on them.

She looked out into the crowd, with her hands shaking against the wood of the podium, her body trembling at the cold wind that was blowing all around her, to find that the crowd had vanished from sight.

As Glinda looked around at her new setting she realized that she was back at Kiamo Ko. Stonewalls and floors surrounded her and everything looked as though no one had touched it since the murder of Elphaba.

She jumped, startled when she heard the sound of laughter rise up from what seemed like beneath the floor.

She felt something poke her shoulder and the blonde turned around to find nothing there. Disappointed she turned back around and was startled with what she saw. A stone door of sorts had been opened from its place on the floor. The dark hole that was now revealed seemed to beckon to Glinda who walked towards it slowly.

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness as she peered down into the hole but nothing was to be found inside it.

"I'm not down there anymore," said a voice.

Glinda looked up to see Elphaba flying on her ratty old broomstick in the open air by the window. Glinda walked over to her in wonder and amazement. She reached out a hand and touched Elphaba's face through the open window. The soft emerald skin that she had grown to love felt to her fingers like nothing more than empty air.

Glinda recoiled her hand back in disappointment, "Are you really here?" she asked having her doubts.

"I'm not where you are right now, no. But I am still in Oz," replied Elphaba with a gentle smile.

"Where? I'll come find you," said the blonde eagerly, her face lighting up at the possibility that she could find Elphaba again.

"Don't," said Elphaba sharply, "I'll find you, when the time is right. But-" she paused and looked at Glinda with soft, sympathetic eyes, "Glinda… don't follow me okay?"

The blonde's lips turned into a pout as she stepped over the window frame and stood balancing on the stone ledge just below the window on the outer wall of the castle.

"I'm not going to follow you, I'm coming with you. Slide over, I can fit on that broom," said Glinda confidently.

"You're going to die, Glinda," said Elphaba softly, tearfully was more like it.

"No, I'm not. You'll catch me. You've always been there for me," protested Glinda. What was Elphaba saying; of course she wasn't going to die. Elphaba was right in front of her and Glinda was more than confident that she was going to catch her when she jumped.

"That's just it, my sweet. I'm not where you are. Glinda, you are balancing on the railing of the balcony. If you fall, I am not there to catch you," said Elphaba with tears in her eyes, "Please don't try and follow me because I am not there!"

Glinda looked at her surroundings, no balcony or railing was in sight.

"Elphie, what are you talking about? There is no railing or balcony here!"

Glinda was confused. Maybe Elphaba was the one who had lost her sanity instead of Glinda.

She slid a little on the stone ledge but she kept her balance. Invisible arms and hands felt like they were trying to drag her back into the castle but Glinda would have none of it. She tore her forearms out of their grasps and slid a bit more.

"Elphie," Glinda had started to cry now, "I don't understand! Let me come with you!"

"Please, don't jump. Why can't you just snap out of it, you stupid blonde?" Elphaba yelled at her as she pivoted her broomstick away from the blonde to hide the tears that were falling from her brown eyes.

"I don't know what to snap out of!" cried Glinda as her chest heaved with heavy sobs, "All I know is that you're here and you keep telling me I can't come with you!"

"You don't deserve to die like this. You deserve a good death, one with you passing away in your sleep, one with you dying from a ripe old age. Galinda Upland you are not going to die over my death. You are not going to die over me," said Elphaba passionately as she kissed the blonde one last time on the lips and then faded away.

"Elphie, no! I love you!" screamed Glinda when she realized that Elphaba had faded away and that Kiamo Ko had also disappeared.

With her last scream echoing throughout the city along with the horrified screams of the Ozians who were watching, Glinda the Good jumped off the railing and plummeted into the ground below.

…She was pronounced dead by her husband that day.

In the words of antiwicked who helped me come up with this ending:

BAM. Afterlife.

Or is it…?

Don't forget that we still have an epilogue…so this is not the end… so please don't send me "I hate you" reviews just yet...

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