Happy is What Happens When All Your Dreams Come True
Nearly half an hour had gone by since Elphaba stepped into Glinda’s office. They had sat on the floor, too scared to let go of each other, for quite some time. Eventually, the sobs subsided, and they had shifted to the couch in the corner of the office, Glinda’s head laying in Elphaba’s lap. Glinda hadn’t realized how much she missed the feeling of Elphaba fidgeting with her hair, a common occurrence back at Shiz. She didn’t notice she had started crying again until she felt Elphaba wiping her tears away.
“Glinda, please talk to me,” Elphaba pleaded. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Glinda sat up and turned towards Elphaba. She wanted to talk to her, she really did. But there were too many different thoughts running rampant in her brain, and her head throbbed from crying. Finally, she whispered, “I thought I’d never see you again.” And with that one sentence, the sobbing started again. Elphaba pulled her in close, and Glinda cried until she fell asleep, somehow more relaxed than she had been in years. This was all she had been wanting for the past five years, and she couldn’t be happier.
---
A few hours later, Glinda woke up on the couch. Confused, she looked around at the late afternoon light streaming through the windows. She couldn’t remember the last time she had slept for more than two hours at a time, and it definitely been before lunch when she fell asleep. Then, she remembered. Elphie. She had been here. Panicked, she looked around. Elphaba was nowhere to be seen. Glinda leapt from the couch and ran out of the office into her connected apartment in the Emerald Palace. Where is she?? Did someone see her? And then a worse thought… maybe it was another hallucination?
Glinda used to have a lot of hallucinations and bad dreams after the Melting Day. The stress of trying to instate a new non-tyrannical government coupled with the flashbacks in nightmares of Elphie’s scream meant she rarely slept, and she felt as if she was slowly going insane. Eventually, an Emerald City doctor had given her medication derived from poppies that allowed her to sleep through the night, but she had stopped taking it a couple years prior. There were less frequent nightmares now, although she was still unable to sleep much. So, having a hallucination of Elphaba coming back was definitely not outside the realm of possibility for Glinda.
She ran through her kitchen and living room, no sign of Elphaba. She slowed as she came to the bedroom. If Elphaba wasn’t there, it meant she had never really come back. Glinda didn't know what she would do if that was the case. Then, Glinda heard sniffling from behind the bedroom door. She eased it open and saw Elphaba curled into a ball on the floor by the bed, holding the pointy black hat from all those years ago.
“Elphie?” Glinda said softly, not wanting to startle her.
“You kept this?” Elphaba asked, not looking up.
“Well, it was mine,” said Glinda, trying to lighten the mood. After a few moments, she walked over to Elphaba and grabbed her hand. “Come on, let’s talk.”
Elphaba sat on the couch in the living room. Glinda bustled around the kitchen, making tea. She said she was thirsty, but she was really just stalling. What am I going to say to her, after all this time?
A few minutes later, the tea was finished, and Glinda had no choice but to bring it over to Elphaba on the couch. Glinda sat down, avoiding Elphaba’s eyes.
They sat in silence for an uncomfortably long time, then Elphaba finally said, “well, you wanted to talk. So, let’s talk.”
“I don’t even know what to say,” Glinda said. Hands shaking, she sat down her tea and reached for Elphaba’s hand. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”
Elphaba squeezed her hand. “I know. I’ve been waiting for this for the last 5 years.”
Glinda wanted to be happy. She really did. But suddenly there was 5 years of repressed anger bubbling in her stomach. Trying to keep her voice neutral, she asked, “Then why did you go?”
“It was the only way. I didn’t want them to hurt you. I realized I was fighting a losing battle, and I had to leave. Fiyero thought you’d be safer if you didn’t know. I wanted to tell you, I really did, but-”
The mention of Fiyero made Glinda tense. “Oh yes. You wanted to tell me soooo badly, but instead you decided to run off with my fiancée.”
“Glinda, it wasn’t like that,” Elphaba said, her face falling.
“Oh, it wasn’t? You mean to tell me you and Fiyero were just pals when you were off together in Oz-knows-where? Where were you anyways?”
“Kansas,” Elphaba said. She didn’t answer Glinda’s first question. Glinda already knew.
Glinda paused. The anger left her face, replaced with confusion. “Kansas? Like that Dorothy girl and Dodo?”
“Toto,” Elphaba corrected.
Glinda glared. The anger was back. “I don’t understand.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I’ll explain. I found a spell in the Grimmerie that was a link between the two worlds. I memorized it before I left the Grimmerie with you. That note I received on that day was from Fiyero, telling me it was time to put the plan in motion. He was the scarecrow.”
“What?” Glinda was shocked. Although, thinking about it now, that scarecrow had seemed familiar.
“I cast a spell to save him from the Gale Force and it had some unexpected side effects. He was with Dorothy, and so he helped orchestrate the whole water thing. But then I snuck out, and we went to the outskirts of Oz. We stayed there for a few weeks, and then I cast the spell to take us to Kansas.” Elphaba kept talking faster and faster, as if she could sense that Glinda was getting more angry by the second.
“You’re not green anymore, was that a spell too?”
“I learned a spell to make Fiyero not look like a scarecrow, and I had a disguise spell to hide the green for a while. But this is actually just makeup from Kansas.” Elphaba rolled up her sleeve, revealing the green starting halfway up her forearm. “I can do the spell, but it’s a lot of energy. The spell for Fiyero was a one-time thing, since he wasn’t originally a scarecrow, but since I’m naturally green the spell wouldn’t last forever.”
Glinda thought for a moment. “So where’s Fiyero now?”
“We were in Kansas together for a while. But about 3 years ago, we split up and I haven’t seen him since.”
“So you just left me to gallivant around Kansas for 2 years with him, and then decided it didn’t work out anymore?”
Elphaba’s cheeks flushed dark green, but Glinda didn’t notice. “He left because he knew my heart wasn’t in it. There was… someone else.”
This statement made Glinda even more mad, but she wasn’t sure why. “Why did you do this to me?” Feeling the rage take over, she started to yell. “You let me think you were gone. For five years. FIVE YEARS, ELPHABA!”
“I know, and I’m sorry-”
“NO!” Glinda screamed, slamming her hands on the table so hard the teacups rattled. “You don’t know what it was like. I had that scream playing in my mind every night for years. I had to rebuild Oz on my own. I was the one who stood on top of that tower and…” She stopped, shaking her head to clear out that particular memory.
“Glinda, please,” Elphaba said, tears shining in her eyes as she reached for Glinda.
Glinda snapped her hand away. “No. You don’t get to just waltz in here after all you’ve put me through.” Her eyes went cold. “You know, I always felt bad for not getting on that broom with you that day with the monkeys. I thought I was a coward. But I was wrong. You recklessly launched off doing whatever you thought would annoy the Wizard. You made a mess of everything, and when you realized you went about this the wrong way you took off. You left me to pick up the pieces. ALONE! I’M the one who got rid of the Wizard. I’M the one who threw Morrible in jail. I’M the one who rebuilt the government into the fairest system Oz has had in centuries. And YOU just ran away. I’m not the coward. You are.” Seeing the tears stream down Elphaba’s face almost made Glinda feel guilty for her words. But then she remembered all the pain of the last 5 years, and felt a tiny bit glad that Elphaba was experiencing a fraction of what she had done to her.
“You’re right, Glinda, and I’m so sorry. Please-”
“Leave,” Glinda said, standing up.
Elphaba tried to follow. “Glinda-”
“I said leave,” said Glinda coldly as she continued to back away.
Elphaba was sobbing now. “My sweet, I-”
If Elphaba thought the nickname would calm Glinda down, she was wrong. It just made Glinda angrier. You don’t get to abandon me and then call me that, she thought. “Go.”
“Look, I know this is a lot,” Elphaba said, choosing to ignore Glinda’s eyeroll and expression that clearly screamed understatement of the century. “And I know you’re hurt, you have every right to be. But I can’t just leave you again. I care about you too much for that. Can I give you a couple of days and come back? Please?”
Glinda looked at Elphaba, but didn’t respond.
Elphaba turned to leave. “I’ll be back, my sweet. I promise. I’m not going to abandon you ever again.”