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It wasn’t supposed to go this way.
Nothing was supposed to go this way.
She wasn’t supposed to become the most hated woman in Oz.
She wasn’t supposed to become wicked.
Julie had once had plans. She would serve her sentence at “dear old” Shiz, take care of her wheel-chair bound little sister, Flynn (who just wanted something normal in life, hopefully including the love of the handsome Munchkin boy, Reggie), and then she would carve out a tiny spot for herself in the world where she could play her music, try and do some good in the world, and then maybe, maybe, find someone who could see past her looks and into the heart that beat within.
They weren’t very grand plans, but they were hers. She hadn’t had many things in her life that were truly, individually, solely hers. Well, besides green skin, her father’s constant disappointment and shame, and a set of walls so high and thick they made the Emerald City look like a public park.
And then everything changed.
Suddenly, she had kind and gentle Dr. Harrison, a beautiful loon with a magnificent voice, who saw Julie as more than just a young woman with green skin.
Suddenly, she had a roommate, and then an actual friend, in Carrie Wilson, who was decidedly the last person on the planet she would have ever chosen but the only person she could imagine by her side.
Suddenly, she was the most promising sorcery student at Shiz, and she had a chance to work with the Wizard himself!
And suddenly, he was there.
She wasn’t supposed to meet Luke Patterson. She and the infamous Winkie Prince had absolutely nothing in common, and to be frank, she hoped someone would come along and knock him down a peg or fifteen before their time at Shiz was over.
But, then she let Carrie try and change who she was in the name of “popularity.” He’d taken one look at her and told her she didn’t have to do any that.
The day the scientists came and took Dr. Harrison, who’d slowly begun to lose her power of speech, Julie finally saw the prince’s true colors.
The professor that replaced Dr. Harrison as soon as she was taken told the students that an animal’s place was in a horrible new device called a "cage." He completed his lesson by showing them a frightened lion cub locked in a box made of metal bars. Julie couldn’t stand it anymore, and her magic forced everyone in the room to start moving uncontrollably.
Everyone but Luke.
And Luke, despite her loss of control, wasn’t afraid of her. No, he’d helped her escape and free the cub, whom she’d affectionately named Alexander. She saw in those quiet moments after that there was more to the prince than the “genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow” façade he hid behind.
There was more to him that was much closer to Julie’s heart than he or she ever realized.
But Julie wasn’t the girl who could win a man like him.
Carrie was. And she was determined, so Julie wouldn’t stand in her way.
Not even when Luke brought her flowers the day she left for the Emerald City.
Not even when he tried to tell her he thinks about that day, (and therefore her) a lot.
No, she was the girl who finally had a purpose in the world: save the animals from whatever horrible fate the scientists had planned for them. She was the girl who was powerful enough to work with the Wizard, and she was the girl who was going to make life better for the animals because she worked with the Wizard.
Meeting Caleb, the actual Wizard, however, proved to be the source of the problem, not the solution.
He was creating enemies out of the animals so he could continue to capture them and “keep Oz safe” in order to hide the fact that he had no real power. He’d taken it a step further and used Julie to create his flying monkeys so he could continue to spy on them and force them into cages.
And Carrie, her best friend in the whole of Oz, had gone right along with it.
"Just say you're sorry and listen to him! I'm sure he has a perfectly reasonalistic explanation," she'd said.
But Julie had had enough. No one in her life was real except for the animals, so she made it her mission after that to overthrow the Wizard and stop him from destroying them. And she would defy anyone, Carrie, Shiz, the Wizard, even gravity itself to make sure that happened.
That was what led to that morning.
She’d paid the Wizard one last visit to see if she could convince him to change his ways, and he almost convinced her he was willing to work with her by letting the flying monkeys go.
Too bad he’d kept Dr. Harrison, now forcibly silenced forever, in a cage right where Julie could see her.
Like he was bragging that, no matter what she did, he’d won. He would always win.
Julie vowed right then and there that she would fight the Wizard until the day she either defeated him or died trying.
The Wizard called for his guards.
Luke, their newly promoted captain, ran in alone.
And all hell broke loose.
Her chest froze inside her. “Luke?”
She hadn’t seen him in months. His hair was a little shorter and his eyes didn’t sparkle with the same mischief they always had. Even in the bright, happy green and gold jacket that all Ozian guards wore, he looked worn and tired, stress tightening his features in a way she didn’t know was possible for the care-free prince. But he was still Luke, and she didn’t think she’d missed anyone as much as she’d missed him.
His eyes widened. “I don’t believe it…” he breathed.
The Wizard ran up to Luke and took his arm. “What are you doing! Seize her!”
Luke’s eyes flew to the cage that held Dr. Harrison and he finally understood. “You’re the one doing this to the animals.” He turned an icy glare on the Wizard -- no, Caleb -- snatched his arm away, and stepped in front of Julie. “You’re the reason Julie had to leave too, aren’t you?”
Caleb narrowed his eyes. “The people need a protector to feel safe. I can’t protect them if there’s nothing to protect them from.”
“You didn’t have to hurt the animals to do that!” Julie yelled. “They’re just as much citizens of Oz and just as in need of your protection as we are!”
“‘We?’” Caleb smirked. “Oh, Julie dear, there is no ‘we.’ There is us, there is them-" He pointed a thin finger at Dr. Dillamond. "-and then there’s you. Too much of a human to truly be one of the animals you’re so desperate to protect, and too much of an animal to be one of the humans you’re so desperate to be.” He laughed. “Give up, dear girl. There is nowhere for you to go and no one who will ever want you.”
“That’s not true!” Luke roared, snatching Caleb by his collar. “I-”
The words caught in his throat. He glared down at Caleb, then slammed his eyes to Julie’s.
She had no idea what to think. What was he going to say?
Before he could tell her, the doors to Caleb’s office burst open Carrie ran in.
Despite everything that had already happened between them, her heart swelled at the sight of her dearest friend. She’d missed her so much.
“Your Ozness, are you coming? The party just isn’t the same without yo-” She caught sight of Julie and gasped. “Julie! You’re alive!” Her excitement faded to fear. “But you shouldn’t have come. If anyone sees you-”
“Carrie, go back to the ball!” Luke snapped.
It was only then that Carrie saw Caleb standing at Luke’s mercy. “Darling! What are you doing?” she shrieked, grabbing his arm and pulling him off of Caleb. “Your Wizardship, please, you must understand. We all went to school together, and-”
Luke shoved Caleb toward his desk, slamming the false Wizard so hard into the wood all the air escaped his lungs. He crumpled to the floor, clutching his stomach and gasping for air.
Luke ran to another door at the back of the Wizard’s office and yelled, “Julie! This way!”
Carrie sputtered. “Luke, have you lost your mind? Our engagement party is going on as we speak!”
“Engagement party?” Julie asked, stepping back away from Luke.
He shook his head and held out his hand. “I’m going with you, Julie.” He met her gaze for one brief moment. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”
Hurt widened Carrie’s eyes. “What? What are you saying? You mean all this time… The two of you… Behind my back…"
“No!” Julie shook her head. “No, Carrie, it wasn’t like that!”
“Actually it was.” Luke said quietly.
Both women whirled on him. Julie could barely believe what she'd heard. “What?”
“It wasn’t,” he continued, trying to find the right words, “but it was.”
Caleb finally regained his breath and yelled, “Guards!” in a thin, strangled voice. “Guards!”
Luke grabbed Julie’s hand and pulled her after him. “Come on, Julie. Let’s go!”
Julie couldn’t take her eyes from Carrie’s, the pain and betrayal clear in her dark glare. “Fine. Go. You deserve each other.”
“Carrie-”
Luke tugged on her hand again. “Let’s go!”
The sound of pounding boot steps snapped her into gear and she followed Luke out without looking back again.
Luke grabbed a lantern from an alcove in the wall and led Julie down a secret passage and out into the forest. Then they ran, and ran, and ran.
Finally, after what felt like hours, Julie tugged her hand out of his and stumbled to a stop.
“Julie, we can’t stop.” He reached for her again. “We have to keep moving or they’re going to catch us.”
She shook her head and waved her hand behind them. Immediately, any broken branches, crushed leaves, footprints, or other evidence that would tell anyone where they ran was put together and mended as if it had never been done. “Not even Oz’s best tracker could find us now,” she said between exhausted breaths.
Luke nodded, but took her hand again. “We need to keep moving. We’ll be there soon, I promise.”
“Where are we even going?” Julie snapped, her tired feet tripping on a branch.
Luke whipped around, a wild look in his eyes. “I don’t know. Just… Away.”
Julie planted her feet and pulled Luke to a stop in a small clearing. “Luke, I can’t take another step. We have to stop, just for a little while.”
He glared at the ground for a moment, his mind clearly working to come up with another argument. But after a minute, he just nodded, set the lantern down, and unbuttoned his guardsman’s jacket, leaving him in nothing but a brown shirt and suspenders.
“What are you-”
He laid it on the ground and indicated for her to sit down. Normally she would fight him on that. Today, however, was as far from a normal day as they could get, so she collapsed down onto it, laid her hat to the side, and pulled her boots off her aching feet.
Luke sat down next to her and raked his hand through his hair, glancing around the dimly lit clearing. “We can’t stay here long.”
She nodded. “I know, but if I go another step my feet are going to fall off.”
He chuckled. “Couldn’t you just…” He waved his hands in criss-crossing circles in front of him. “Magic them back on?”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s not how it works.”
His eyes filled with a soft, gentle hunger Julie had never seen before. He leaned a little closer to her, sweeping his lips against her ear. “Want to tell me how it does work?” he whispered, sending a tremor down her spine.
She drew in a deep breath and leaned away from him. “No,” she said, pulling away and turning to face him. “But I do want to know why you just ran away from your engagement party. With me.” She shook her head. “How long have you and Carrie been engaged?”
“We’re not,” He snapped though a frustrated sigh. “Ever since you left, Carrie’s been telling everyone she and I are together. I’ve tried to quell the rumors, but you know how much everyone just loves Carrie, so they always ignore me and keep right on gushing. Eventually I just let them talk. I didn’t even know she was throwing a party, let alone that it was supposed to be an engagement party for us. I…” He glanced up at her. “I was too focused on finding you to care.”
Julie’s chest tightened. “You were looking for me?”
He breathed a tired laugh. “Why do you think I started wearing this green monkey suit?” he asked, pointing at his guardsman’s jacket.
Julie didn’t know how to feel about that. She didn’t know how to feel about anything at this point.
He reached up and touched her cheek with the tip of his thumb. “I always wanted to help you, I just didn’t know how.”
Kiss me too fiercely, hold me too tight;
I need help believing you’re with me tonight…
My wildest dreaming could not foresee
Lying beside you with you wanting me...
Julie let him run his finger up and down her cheek. “Why did you want to help me?”
He smiled. “Because… You’re Julie. You’re kind, in spite of how the world has treated you. And you’re strong, even though you’ve had to bear your burdens alone for so long. Julie, you’re the only woman I’ve seen in a long, long time.” He swallowed, a blush staining his cheeks. “And it's not just about wanting to help you.” He leaned forward, his forehead touching hers. “More than anything, I want you.”
Julie’s eyes fell closed as a delicious shiver ran from the top of her head to the bottoms of her feet.
“Julie… May I kiss you?”
She pulled away so she could look him square in the eye. “What?”
He grinned. “May. I. Kiss. You?” he said slowly.
No one had ever kissed Julie before. No one had ever even asked if they could kiss Julie before. Green lips did not a temptation make.
But... at that moment she couldn't think of anything in the world she'd wanted more. “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered, her stomach somersaulting inside her.
A thoughtful look passed across Luke’s face. “Then allow me to take the lead.” He cupped her face in his hands and captured her lips in a tender, aching kiss.
And just for this moment, as long as you’re mine
I’ve lost all resistance and crossed some borderline
And if it turns out it’s over too fast
I’ll make every last moment last…
As long as you’re mine.
A sudden heat blossomed in her chest, and her heart nearly leapt out of her body. Luke didn’t move for a moment, waiting for her to invite him to continue. Julie could tell by the tightness in his muscles that he was desperate for her to tell him something.
She parted her lips and kissed him back, each slip of his lips sending her deeper and deeper into a void of magic like nothing she’d ever known.
Maybe I’m brainless, maybe I’m wise,
But you’ve got me seeing through different eyes.
Somehow I’ve fallen under your spell
And somehow I’m feeling it’s up that I fell.
Luke's hands skimmed from her cheeks to the sides of her neck, down her arms and finally to her waist, pulling her to her knees as he raised to meet her, a hand at her lower back drawing her even closer to him.
In all his travels and schools, with all the different women he'd met, Luke Patterson, Winkie Prince, had never once been in love before. Despite his somewhat sordid reputation, he’d never really trusted anyone enough to allow them that close to his heart.
Julie was unlike anyone he’d ever met, and not just because of the color of her skin. No, there were depths to Julie’s soul he didn’t realize people could possess, and from the moment he first met her, all he wanted to do was leave the shallows he’d become so comfortable with and drown in everything she was.
Because he was in love with Julie Molina. Had been since the moment he laid eyes on her.
He smiled against her lips as the memory of that first day played in his mind.
He’d just arrived at Shiz and was already planning how he was going to get himself kicked out. It seemed to be about the only thing anyone expected of him, so why disappoint?
Total no-brainer.
Fast forward to the party at the Ozdust Ballroom that night, when Julie walked in wearing a black dress and the strangest hat Luke had ever seen. A hush had fallen over the crowd; not even the music played anymore.
“What in Oz is this?” he’d asked, pausing as he pushed Carrie around the dance floor.
Carrie, to her credit, squeezed his arms in warning. “My roommate,” she said. “Please don’t… Stare!”
“How can you help it?” he asked, dumbstruck.
Everyone laughed at that, but Luke hadn’t meant it to be funny at all. He’d never seen anyone like Julie before, so different and yet so much more confident and comfortable with herself than any of the fluffed up peacocks (who were worse than the actual peacocks he knew) that filled Shiz’s hallowed halls.
It was only when she started dancing, by herself and without music, that he noticed her skin’s emerald green color.
Huh. How interesting. And he’d always loved the color green…
“Well, I’ll say this,” he said, a slow smile creeping across his lips, “she doesn’t give a twig about what anyone else thinks.”
Carrie shook her head. “Of course she does, she just pretends not to… I feel awful…”
That was enough to tear Luke’s gaze from Julie for a moment. What an odd thing to say. “Why? It’s not like it’s your fault.” Something told Luke the last thing Julie would ever want was someone apologizing for her because she liked herself.
The dancing finally resumed, but Luke wasn’t in much of a party mood after that.
In those few moments he’d watched Julie, something inside of him shifted, molded, and changed until he no longer recognized the person he was.
Huh.
He left the ballroom not too long after and headed to his dorm. He had a lot to think about…
Julie pulled her lips away from his, bringing him back to the present. “Luke, what are we doing? You just gave up everything you’ve worked for, everyone who admires you, and for what?” She pushed him away and stood, pacing across the clearing and curling in on herself.
He followed and stood behind her, running his fingers up the sides of her arms. “You, Julie. I gave it all up for you.” He brushed his lips over the sensitive spot at the crook of her neck. “And, it’s no loss. None of that mattered to me anyway. All I ever cared about was you.”
She gave a watery laugh, and… Was she crying?
He took her hand and spun her around to face him. “Hey,” he whispered, using his thumb to brush away her tears, “what’s this?”
She sniffed and refused to meet his eyes. “Luke, the one thing I’ve ever wanted in my life was to be accepted.” She shook her head. “For years, I’ve dreamed that once, just once, someone would look at me and see me, Julie. Just Julie. Not the green skin, or the magic powers, or anything other than just me.” She pulled away from him again and scrubbed at her eye with the heel of her hand. “You had everything I ever wanted. I can’t let you give that up for me. I’m not worth it.” Her eyes closed as more tears poured down her cheeks, and these she didn’t bother to fight.
Luke’s heart nearly shattered. In two long strides he was in front of her again, cradling her cheek and forcing her eyes to his. “Julie, listen very closely to what I’m about to say.”
She met his gaze for a long, silent moment, then nodded.
“All of my life, people have expected two things from me: to do the bare minimum when it came to anything that required effort, and to hurt people. That was it. My father’s last words when I left home for Shiz were, ‘Don’t leave too many broken hearts behind you, my boy. We wouldn’t want all the women in Oz completely ruined!’ That was it.” His chest still clenched at the memory, but he pressed through the shame. “And for the longest time, I believed that was all I was good for. So that’s what I did. I broke the rules for no reason and lived my life as if I didn’t care.”
He smiled. “And then I met you, someone who broke the rules just as much as I did, but with a purpose. The ones you broke were the stifling, unwritten ones ‘perfect’ people had imposed to keep others in their place and themselves in power. You refused to back down, especially when you saw injustice disguised as progress, and you showed me the very first rule I met that was actually worth breaking.” He stroked his thumb along the apple of her cheek and pressed a kiss to the invisible line it left. “Julie, you dance when there’s no music playing, and you give others the freedom to do the same.” He pressed another kiss to the corner of her mouth. “And, for the record, I see you. I see you, and I missed you every second you were out of my sight.” He parted her lips with his and lost himself in her kiss for one long, wonderful moment.
He pulled away just enough to whisper the last bit of his little speech. “I want to help you. You were right this whole time: Caleb is a monster and we have to stop him, for everyone’s sake.”
Worry and fear permeated her features. “Luke, please don’t-”
“No. Don't tell me you're better off on your own. Do not do that. I’m in love with you.” No sly smiles, no sarcasm, no games. It was tell her now, or tell her never. “You’ve enchanted every part of me, body, mind, and soul, and if this is a spell, please, don’t ever break it.”
The laugh that left her lips nearly unmade him completely. “I love you too,” she breathed. “Luke, I love you too.”
Every moment, as long as you’re mine
I’ll wake up my body and make up for lost time.
Say there’s no future for us as a pair.
And though I may know I don’t care...
Luke’s arm looped around her back as he kissed her like she was air, backing her up until she felt the smooth bark of a sycamore tree press into her back. She gave a long, shaky breath and tangled her fingers in his hair as his lips moved from her mouth to her cheek, then down her jaw and to her throat.
"Oz, Julie, I missed you so much," he mumbled against her skin, running his hand up her side.
Every nerve in her body flared to life under his touch, sending tiny shockwaves across her skin until she thought she’d explode. She draped her arms around his neck, to pull him closer and hold herself up, as his wandering, curious lips found hers again.
So, this was what it was like to know the love of a man. She had to admit, she’d never let her dreams take her this far. The touch of a hand, a meeting of eyes, sure, but nothing like the sweet, slow rhythm of his lips, the press of his hand against her back, the swell of her heart as it tangled with his forever.
Somewhere in the back of Julie’s mind, she knew this wouldn’t last. Caleb probably had everyone down to the last child looking for them now, and there weren’t many places they could go where people would be willing to oppose the Wizard of Oz himself.
But she refused to care. She had now, and she wasn’t going to squander it worrying about a false king and his paper kingdom.
Just for this moment, as long as you’re mine
Come be how you want to and see how bright we shine.
Borrow the moonlight until it is through,
And know I’ll be here holding you
As long as you’re mine...
The night disappeared, neither of them aware of anything but the other.
What happened to them after this would matter later. If they continued to fight alone, they’d eventually be caught. If they were caught, they’d be thrown into the deepest hole the Emerald City had and left to rot. Or they’d be executed.
Probably executed.
But Julie wanted one moment, just one moment, where this man could love her and she could love him back. And as unwise and selfish as that probably was, she was going to take it.
A surge of searing magic shot through her chest, igniting her heart in a blaze that she didn’t think even death itself could quench.
They probably wouldn’t win.
But they would try.
And that was what mattered in the end.
And if that made her evil then so be it.
Wait…
No…
Not evil…
She gasped and pulled her lips away from Luke, squeezing her eyes shut against another wave of power that blasted through her heart.
Luke searched her gaze, worry and confusion furrowing his eyebrows. “Julie, are you alright? What is it?”
She took a few deep breaths. “I’m okay, I promise. It’s just…” A small, breathy laugh escaped her lips. “For the first time I… I feel…” She slid her fingers from his hair, cradling his cheeks in her hands. She leaned forward and let her lips touch his again, a grin slowly lighting up her eyes.
And then she finally accepted who and what she was.
“Wicked...”
