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“Lin?”
“Mmhmm?”
“What do you think he’s like? The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!” A dreamy voice could not suppress a shudder of delight.
Effervescent giggles bubbled against an angular shoulder. “I don’t have a different answer from the one I gave you this morning. Or yesterday. Or the day before that. Or the day before that!”
Elphaba ruffled the newly dubbed Glinda’s hair rather harder than necessary. “Fine. What’s Fiyero like? Really like?” Mild worry bloomed behind chocolate-colored eyes. “He is good to you, right? All his new thinking didn’t give him any funny ideas-”
The blond girl beamed. “No. He’s very good to me.” Her grin became a bit naughty. “I’ve even tested him. Multiple times.”
“What do you-” The older girl gaped at the younger. “You didn’t!”
Glinda flushed, and she whacked Elphaba. “Not like that! Well, not exactly.”
“Then, what in Oz’s name do you mean?”
Brown and blue orbs locked on one other, competing to outshine each other in intensity.
“The first time, I pretended to be drunk after one of our other parties.” Glinda frowned and hip-bumped her friend though they were both reclining on the daybed of the travel suite Madame Morrible had arranged for Elphaba. “Which you should’ve come to, by the way! I planned that whole masquerade gala expressly for you. So you could mingle without-”
A heavy sigh tickled her neck. “I’m telling you; it wouldn’t have worked. My voice is too distinct.”
“But you barely talk to anyone besides me! You’d be surprised how-”
“Little people notice things because of how self-absorbed they are? Doubt it.” Ripples spread down silky locks when Elphaba shook her head. “Anyway, we’re getting off-topic.” The taller girl frowned. “You’d better not say you tempted an idiot boy when I wasn’t on-hand to-”
“It was your choice not to be there! I begged you to come!”
“Beside the point! Did you really-”
Glinda sighed. “Yes. I did. I got Fiyero drunk and played along to see what he’d do. His scandalacious reputation, while exciting, made me a bit nervous, so-”
“But he didn’t-”
“No. That’s the main reason why I love him so much. We were rolling under the covers—Wipe that grimace off your face; we were fully clothed!—really making out, like- Just listen! Until I shrugged a shoulder out of my dress. He kissed it, but when I said that the room was beginning to spin, he got off of me. Fiyero wasn’t swayed even when I snagged his sleeve and pulled him back over me to kiss him harder and lower the other side of my dress. He just gave me a peck on the cheek and said we should wait ’til we were both in our right minds. Didn’t want to press an unfair advantage. He’s a gentleman! Just look at the flowers he got you!”
Dark eyes had looked at little else in the compartment surrounding them. Darker lips did not part.
“But, yeah. Even, um-” Pink cheeks became crimson. “Never mind.”
Elphaba lifted Glinda’s chin with a single finger. “Tell me.”
“…Okay,” the younger girl agreed though she would not meet her friend’s gaze. “Even, uh, rubbing my knee against… well, his special area… excited him—Just wait!—but made him remove himself from the bed entirely. He locked himself in the bathroom so he could deal with …the issue on his own.
“Us being sober doesn’t change his mind either, ever since I told him I want to be pure at least until I’m engaged—Do you think he’ll stray? Never mind!—He once got a bit too, uh, passionate with me, but when I flinched, he instantly pulled back and showed me his hands, keeping them off of me or within my sight at all times from then on. He… kinda knows about what happened, before- No details, but-”
The brunette snorted to break the tension. “Me neither. …Not that I need to know!” Her reappearing wince became more pronounced. “I’ve actually heard more than enough for one day; thanks.” Tutting her tongue and shaking her head, Elphaba chuckled ruefully. “I knew you’re a terrible flirt, but you really- Oz!”
Glinda did not smile back. Instead, she sat up on her knees before tucking her chin to her chest and sniffling. Her fingertips traced the pattern of her skirt. “I had to know.”
“But what if that had gone horribly wrong? Say he- He could have- Ugh, I can’t even think about it! You are worth so much more than that, Lin. Promise me you’ll never try something that stupid ever again.”
A fair face both smiled and pouted. “I won’t. I won’t need to. As I said, Fiyero lives up to his status as a prince. And, we’re soon to be wed!”
Once more, Elphaba loosed something that had been niggling at the back of her mind. “Is that why you’re in such a rush to marry him? Because he’s the only guy to ever respect you?”
The blonde shrugged. “Maybe. …I feel safe with him. When I had thought I could never, ever feel comfortable with a man again.” Her smile turned inward.
Elphaba sighed deeply, but not for the reason Glinda imagined. And that’s why I can’t have him, no matter how much I may- I could never take that from you.
#
“Will Nessa truly be okay, do you think?”
Glinda puckered her lips to the side. “You know, you worry about her much more than she does about you.”
“Of course I do! I’m the big sister! And she’s- Plus, it’s… I’ve spent most of my life believing that her condition is my fault. What do you expect?”
Azure eyes and white teeth sparkled. “There you go. You don’t believe that anymore, right?”
The green girl smiled somewhat inauthentically. “Right.”
The blonde stroked cocoa-colored tresses. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. Even if I have to write to Boq and tell him how disappointed I was by how he treated Nessa at the train station.”
Elphaba chewed her lip. “You shouldn’t do that. Just like we won’t let him use your sympathy against you, you shouldn’t use his feelings for you against him either. It’s only fair.”
Glinda was slow to nod. “Okay.”
#
“So, Glinda, you think about that day constantly, do you?”
The younger girl coughed a mildly abashed laugh. “Of course! But, you know what I really remember about it?”
Elphaba winced again. “That I picked a stupid fight with you that night?”
“No. That was the day you became my hero, even before we came across that cad.” But Glinda would say nothing more on the subject. In fact, she went into a rare pensive mood and did not speak for the rest of the night. Per usual, however, she sought lots of cuddles, which Elphaba was only too happy to provide.
#
It was up to Glinda to play the hero in front of the Wizard of Oz. Though she initially cowered behind her friend, she urged Elphaba forward to introduce herself and state their business with him. Their gamble paid off when an ordinary man gladly came out from behind his figurehead to meet them.
Or so they thought.
#
The blonde beamed same as Elphaba did upon the Wizard’s lack of reaction to the brunette’s skin color; he even reached for and took her hand in his as he would anyone else’s. Prior to skipping to her friend’s side to examine the oversized golden face with her, the younger girl chimed, “Glinda! The ‘Ga’ is silent!” when it was her turn to greet him.
Not quite. And not the ‘duh.’ That’s still a part of your name, Elphaba said with twinkling eyes and a protruding tongue; Glinda responded in kind.
The Wizard then spoke his immortal words that had changed Oz and could only wreak more havoc. “I know; it’s a bit much, isn’t it? But people expect this sort of thing, and you have to give people what they want!”
For a while, his mission statement did not register as such for either witch.
They merely basked in his presence and warm reception.
Oh, just look at all your dreams coming true! Glinda quivered on the spot, verklempt. Before them stood a kind man perfectly willing to embrace Elphaba just as she was, a father like she’d never known. Somewhat guiltily though much more proudly, the blonde recalled snatches of the poem she had found written in plain text on an early page of Elphaba’s diary.
And with all his Wizard wisdom
By my looks, he won't be blinded
Do you think the Wizard is dumb?
Or, like Munchkins, so small-minded?…
And I’ll stand there with the Wizard
Feeling things I’ve never felt!
And though I’d never show it
I'd be so happy, I could melt!
Then, it all came crashing down. Elphaba mentioned her concern for the Animals’ plight only to get tricked into splitting open their backs; she panicked at Chistery’s pain while Glinda ambivalently cheered on her friend’s success at proving her abilities.
The younger girl got louder in an attempt to smooth things over with everyone, to get through to Elphaba.
Alas, the green witch’s lifelong but recently suppressed companion, guilt, seized upon her with a vengeance. Neither adult appreciated her distress while Elphaba alternated between rocking on her knees and pressing her face to the floorboards.
The Wizard and Madame Morrible continued heaping congratulations on their intended pawn, for something she could never abide by, let alone, celebrate. Their corruptive deceitfulness oozed out into the throne room like a noxious gas while Elphaba stared up at them in horror and Glinda temporarily hid from it.
Without sound, Glinda begged Elphaba to return to decorum. Her glossy lips moved in a frantic prayer, hoping against hope that her friend wouldn’t lose control and cause a worse commotion than ever. The blonde’s stirred ambition faded in favor of her protective instincts.
But the Wizard only made things worse, completely forgetting Elphaba’s expressed desire to help the Animals of Oz and bragging about how he’d use her mistake to further their oppression, to enslave the very creatures she had accidentally hurt.
Glinda wondered if he was a fool or simply blind to any view but his own. He ignored the magnitude of Elphaba’s shattering illusions to strike harder and faster at them, so sure he could persuade her to his side. The one statement that seemed to make some headway with him was Elphaba’s strangled declaration that he had no magical abilities. But, after a short pause, he confirmed the truth with a smirk. More and more, he divulged his nefarious plans to the exact wrong person.
Most alarming to Glinda was her friend’s overt nearness to tears. Elphaba never cried, less, showed weakness in front of those tormenting her. But at that moment, shaking hands clamped over her paling face, the lone brunette gasped and choked into her lap.
Knowing it was useless but still holding onto any bit of hope with all her might, Glinda charged forward when the Wizard beckoned her to his side. “Oh, thank you, your Ozness!” she enthused. Please say it too, Elphie! Please! Just say it and then we can get out of here. Play along; please! Just for a tick-tock! Follow my lead! Sending a nervous grin her friend’s way, she tried to catch dark eyes.
“No!” the trembling girl howled before fleeing the room.
“Elphie, wait! I’m sorry, your Wizardness! I’ll fetch her back! Elphie!” the blonde tried harder than ever to cover for her friend, hot on green heels. Her disquietude only grew when Elphaba headed up rather than down. What are you doing? You’ll trap us both! “Elphie, stop! Elphie! Wait; where are you going?”
“There are no more stairs! This must be the attic!”
Well, what in Oz’s name did you expect? The hysteria Glinda had absorbed from Elphaba was diminishing in the face of her own. We’re doomed; doomed! Who knows what they’ll do to us once they catch us? In one last desperate attempt to make her friend see reason, Glinda used her real name. “Elphaba, listen to me!”
But the older girl could not hear over the pounding of blood in her ears and instead went to hold off a retinue of armed palace guards with a rotting broomstick.
Thus fell the last straw.
The two friends devolved into shouting at each other, fear feeding accusations feeding fear. Glinda used every angle she could to try and bring her friend back to reality, no matter the pain such a crash might cause. They were in real danger, just two young girls against the most powerful man in their world. But there was still a chance things could work out. How many times had Glinda smoothed things over for Elphaba in the past? She could do it again, if only Elphaba would let her, or better yet, join her.
Madame Morrible turning against her star student in such a staggering fashion startled the pair back to themselves. Glinda went to comfort her best friend, while the final betrayal made everything stop for Elphaba. Fleetingly, she recalled when the old woman had been someone in whom she had found acceptance, encouragement, and solace, perchance a mother figure. Too, the headmistress had been the first to appreciate what Elphaba had considered a curse, her, taught the girl to use her magic with intention rather than let it use her.
Voice shaking, the blonde exhorted the brunette to fear not, unnecessarily.
Realizing who held the true power in Oz, stunned to discover that it was she, Elphaba literally and figuratively rose above all the land and everyone in it. Her only regret was that she flew unaccompanied. But she understood, could even be grateful for that fact. “Take care of Nessa for me,” she mouthed to Glinda, who nodded vigorously through her tears.
Thus, the newly dubbed wicked witch sped off toward the setting sun.