Chapter Text
The scene in front of Elphaba felt so utterly disconnected from reality, she was unsure if it was something her panic stricken brain had conjured up or if it was real.
Glinda clutched her stomach with a red hand, her weight unbearably light in Elphaba's arms.
This shouldn't be happening.
"Elphie?" Glinda gurgled as Elphaba laid her on the ground of the dilapidated building.
"Yes, my sweet?" She said, failing to keep her voice steady.
She was shot. Glinda was shot. Her abdomen leaked blood like a broken faucet. It made Elphaba sick.
Emotions twisted in Elphaba's gut, making an ugly tangled mess. Beneath her the ground shook dangerously.
"I'm... sorry." Glinda choked out.
"Save your breath." Elphaba sobbed. "You have nothing to apologise for. You're going to be okay."
Elphaba cursed herself for not having learnt proper healing magic during the five years she was on the run.
She remembered Glinda's grief stricken and betrayed face when she'd seen Elphaba with Fiyero, she remembered the flashes of the horrendible vision that plagued her mind during her short moment with Fiyero, she remembered making haste to the Emerald City barely bothering to explain what happened to Fiyero who she was vaguely aware was calling after her.
Most of all she remembered arriving back at the palace just a few hours after she'd run away with Fiyero to Morrible's smug smile and a resounding gunshot that echoed through the haunted halls of her mind as Glinda collapsed into Elphaba's arms.
She remembered screaming while everything around her collapsed and debris flew everywhere as she shielded Glinda in her arms.
"I s-should have gone with you." Glinda's voice clawed at her heart. "I'm sorry about Fiyero-"
"I don't care about Fiyero!" Elphaba cried.
A crease formed in between two blonde brows. "W-What?"
"You idiot!" The green girl said. "I didn't come back here for him."
The feelings she had buried deep down after the hurt of Glinda not coming with her surfaced. It was never about Fiyero.
"Oh." Glinda said, a shuddering breath making it's way out of her, her face crumpling in pain. "E-Elphie-"
"I love you, Glinda." Elphaba interrupted, needing to say the words. "I love you."
A small smile curved the blonde's lips. "I love you too, Elphie."
Elphaba's breath caught in her throat. She never thought she'd hear those words falling from those soft pink lips. And she hated that it was this situation that brought them to surface.
"E-Exactly, so you're not allowed to die."
The blonde's sad smile remained on her lips as she forced her head to lift, the effort straining her concerningly pale face.
Before Elphaba could protest, soft lips landed on her chapped ones, a distinct tast of salt and iron mingling.
Elphaba knew the exact moment Glinda let out her last breath, the puff of air releasing into Elphaba's mouth as her lips stopped moving.
Verdant hands scrambled to check everywhere for a hint of life. Nothing.
Her chest, her neck, her wrist and everything about the girl she loved remained unbearably still.
She was just another corpse in the sea of bodies Elphaba had created in the palace.