Chapter Text
Elphaba Thropp was green.
Or at least that’s what everyone told her.
She’s never actually been able to see the shade of green that sends people running - everyone, and everything is varying shades of grey.
As a child, any potential friends would be torn away from her by their parents. Elphaba was always so confused, as were the other children, because they saw no reason to other her.
It wasn't until her peers started to grow older - and meet their soulmates - that they started to notice her verdigris and that she fully began to understand,
See, you can only see the world in greys and blacks until you meet your soulmate, which is when you can finally see colour.
Frexpar Thropp never seemed to bother explaining any of these things to Elphaba, but after learning about soulmates and colour, her father’s hatred toward her became ever clearer.
Someone like her - odd and stubborn - would never find a soulmate, and so she adjusted to a life of living without colour.
(A small part of her still clung onto a thread of hope that there was someone in the world she was destined to meet. Elphaba shoved that hope as far down as possible but the light still burned.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Not being able to see colour made many tasks difficult.
The most important struggle was coordinating outfits.
At least, it was important to Galinda Upland.
“Momsie! What do you think of this outfit for my first day at Shiz?”
Galinda was growing tired of having to ask for a second opinion every time she put together an outfit - she was 18 for Oz sake!
Her mother entered the room with an elegant smile which soon dropped as she noticed the colour palette her daughter was currently sporting,
“Galinda dear, pink simply does not go with green!”
Galinda’s cheeks grew pink. “I thought they were both the same colour.”
Her mother sighed and swept past towards one of the many wardrobes and lifted out another dress. “Here, put this on instead. I sure hope you meet a nice young suitor at Shiz so I don’t have to prevent a fashion emergency every day!”
“You and I both, Momsie.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Galinda stepped off the boat, placing her first foot into Shiz.
“Now darling,” Galinda’s mother took her hand. “The second you see a speck of colour you send us a letter, okay?”
The reminder of her soulmate possibly mingling in the crowd behind her made Galinda shiver in excitement. “Of course, Momsie, this is all so thillifying!”
After bidding farewell (not goodbye) to her parents, Galinda makes her way over to two old friends.
“ShenShen! Look who’s finally arrived!”
Both Pfannee and ShenShen skip over to Galinda, fawning over her hair and outfit.
“Galinda, have you met your soulmate yet?”
Noticing the slight smirk on their faces, Galinda knew she could soon be embarrassed - and that would be a horrendible way to start the school year.
“Not yet, but I’m sure they’re somewhere here at Shiz, I mean who would pass on an opportunity to be with me?” She punctuated her sentence with a signature hair flip, and turned to walk away.
It seemed everyone here wanted to speak to Galinda - and she couldn’t blame them, she was an excellent talker.
However, just as she was beginning to discuss the differences between the Uplands and the Upper Uplands, the crowd surrounding her begin to whisper and point.
Clearly there is someone trying to upstage her, and so she turns to deal with them.
“Excuse me, but I was in the middle of-”
Whatever mean statement she was going to say disappears from her mouth because suddenly the world is a thousand shades brighter. She can see that the Shiz uniform is a deep blue, that her dress is a wonderful shade of pink, and that the girl in front of her is-
“You’re green!” Galinda clamps a hand over her mouth - she hadn’t to sound rude, in fact that may have been the prettiest shade of green she’s ever seen. Granted, she had only seen colour for thirty seconds but she knew even then that it could never be beaten by another shade.
The girl in question seems to be equally astounded by the world, staring at her hands in a mix of awe, understanding and sadness.
Eventually she raises her eyes to meet Galinda’s. “I am.”