Chapter 2
Green and gold stalks swayed in peaceful harmony, the wind whistling past. It was an eerie thing to see so much calm after the violence that took place less than an hour ago.
Elphaba didn’t care about contemplating the calm though. She needed to find Glinda. The girl had to be here and she had to be alive. Elphaba refused to consider any other possibility. She had already lost her sister today, she could not lose Glinda.
Elphaba admitted that she was abandoning caution in her desperation to find her girlfriend. She could easily be spotted despite the tall grass. It was especially unsafe because of the recent events and she could practically hear Glinda chastisifying her for being so careless.
She didn’t want to practically hear it, she wanted to hear it. She’d be fine getting yelled at as long as Glinda was safe and in her arms. She would have some words to say too. But then they’d kiss and it would all fade away. They would fly back to Kiamo Ko and figure out a way to get Nessarose’s shoes back from that farmgirl. Together.
First she needed to find-
A wooden post hammered into the ground, a pink cloth draped over a suspicious shape. Red littered the ground below it.
Elphaba ran. She sprinted, her stomach twisting and turning the entire way. She had no idea what direction she was heading in nor did she know why the vision panicked her so much.
No, she knew why.
There was nothing else it could be. Nothing else her worry filled mind could conjure up besides the thought that under that cloth was Glinda and she was hurt. She had to stop it before it happened. Every vision happened before the disaster. Sometimes, it was mere moments before and sometimes it was years.
Elphaba had time. And she wasn’t going to waste any of it.
Elphaba arrived at a poppy field and what accompanied it was a terrifyingly familiar scene. A beautiful pink cloak lined with darker pink fur was draped over a shape that looked like a body.
No.
Beneath it stuck out a pair of pale legs that were hard to see through the multiple rivulets of blood running down them.
No!
Elphaba’s gaze traced upward, her vision already blurred. She’s almost glad for them because they blur the sight that meets her and makes her fears undeniably true. Still, the tears can’t hide the brilliant golden locks that snuck out from under the cloth in a couple of places. The once bright locks weren’t spared from the ambush of blood either.
“No…” Elphaba’s voice shook from sheer emotion. It wasn’t just her voice, her entire body was trembling. “No. Please don’t be true.”
She reached out a shaking hand, making contact with the fabric and she tried to gather the strength to pull it off. The thing was, she didn’t think she’d ever be strong enough to see the sight that would greet her once she pulled away the cloak.
So she took a deep breath and yanked away the tarp. A strangled sob involuntarily broke out of her throat. Nothing could have prepared her for the sight that greeted her. If she’d thought it was bad before, now she felt grief tear through her unrelenting.
Glinda was secured to the post by golden chains that snaked bound her legs and ran up, criss-crossing over her chest. Her arms hung, haphazardly splayed out on either side of her. Her head lolled forward, bloodied hair creating a curtain around it, sparing Elphaba from viewing the damage done to it. But that wasn’t the case for the rest of her.
Glinda’s once yellow sundress was torn and bloodied, the pale colour barely visible underneath the scarlet. Through the tears, she saw multiple cuts of varying sizes and intensity, bruises littered her exposed arms and legs and blood dripped down every limb. The worst of the wounds was a large gash on her stomach.
And these were only the injuries she could see. These were the external wounds and Elphaba had no way of assessing the internal ones.
Elphaba pushed the bile in her throat back down and gingerly reached out, one by one undoing the chains that bound Glinda. She could use magic, but she wanted to be careful and gentle. She wanted Glinda to feel the love Elphaba had for her.
For once, Elphaba didn’t bother to bite back her tears. The one person who always wiped them away was so close yet far at the same time.
Once the chains were undone, she caught Glinda’s battered form and lowered her onto the grass, ensuring her head rested in Elphaba’s lap.
This gave her a perfect view of Glinda’s face and it hadn’t fared better than the rest of her. Bruises lined her jaw along with a couple of scrapes; Her forehead was split open and actively bleeding just like the rest of her. Her hair clung to her face, the blood acting as some sort of glue. And the worst part of it all was her expression — screwed up in pain, a pinch between her brows.
Elphaba’s chest was clenched so painfully, she wondered if that was all she would feel anymore: this all consuming pain fuelled by her grief. And guilt. Guilt for leaving Glinda behind, the one thing she’d promised she’d never do. Look what it led to the moment she broke it.
Still, despite it all, Glinda looked hauntingly beautiful. She always would look beautiful. Ironically, she’d died in a poppy field. Glinda loved poppy fields and they often visited the one near Shiz.
“I caused this.” She sobbed. If it wasn’t for Elphaba, Glinda would have been happy in her private room back at Shiz. Her life could have been so different. “This is all my fault.”
Tears fell, mixing with the blood on her girlfriend’s face and flowing away.
But she couldn’t live without Glinda. She couldn’t.
And it was as if the horrible book knew to respond to her thoughts because it floated into her hands.
“Hold out, my sweet.” She placed a kiss on the girl’s split lips. She will admit, a small part of her hoped the fairy tales were true, that everything could be solved with a kiss of true love. But this wasn’t a fairy tale.
She flipped through the book and the book, seeming to know what she was looking for, responded. It flipped to a page with some illustrations that Elphaba didn’t pay attention to. She focused on the words and chanted.
Elphaba couldn’t read the Grimmerie, unlike what people may think, she could understand it. The words came to her almost naturally, flowed from her mouth as quickly and fluently as Ozian would.
She repeated the spell over and over and over…
Why wasn’t it working? Why were Glinda’s wounds not healing? Why was she still dead?
Could the book not cure that? Was there truly nothing that could bring her love back?
She stopped chanting, despair taking over.
A crunch made her head snap up.
“Well this is disappointing.”
Her grief turned to fury within seconds. She cradled Glinda closer as she glared up at the older woman as though trying to protect Glinda from further harm. “Y-You can’t take her from me.”
“Miss Elphaba, she’s already gone.” Morrible sighed. “You’re cradling a corpse.”
Elphaba flinched. “Don’t you dare-”
“What? Speak the truth? Look what life on the run did, Miss Elphaba. All of this could have been avoided had you just listened to the Wizard. You still have a chance.”
Did this woman honestly think that after everything the Wizard took from her — Dr Dillamond, her sister, and now Glinda — Elphaba would still agree to his terms. “Never.”
Morrible sighed. “Then I fear I have no choice but to repeat the earlier events. Except this time you have no one to save you.”
When she saw the wave of green uniform, she had no choice but to let the girl in her arms go. She wanted to stay and hold onto her, waiting to join her, but she could see Glinda’s dissatisfied frown and hear her disagreement. She hopped onto her broom and flew, leaving not only the guards but also her lost love behind.
In the quiet darkness of Kiamo Ko, with only the confused monkeys as witness, she collapsed on the bed where they’d made love earlier that day. They were supposed to redecorate this place together, bring it to life. She clutched the clasp of the cloak Glinda had tied around her that one fateful day all those years ago. Silent tears leaked out of her eyes. Everything hurt, everything reminded Elphaba of her.
She’d lost her sister too. Despite their last encounter, Elphaba loved Nessa. Elphaba had hoped they could talk things out later. That wasn’t possible now either.
No good deed went unpunished.
Nessa.
Dr Dillamond.
Glinda.
Oh, Glinda!
What was the point if she couldn’t save any of them. The world named her wicked and since no good deed went unpunished, since she couldn’t save any of the people she loved, since she couldn’t save Glinda, so be it.
She would be wicked as they so desired.
And she would get Nessa’s shoes back from that impudent farm girl and her dog.