Chapter 1
Elphaba stares out the small window, and she thinks of flying far, far away from here.
It’s a beautiful thought, she muses, one filled with a fantastical flight throughout Emerald City during the daily firework display, flashes of colors painting the night before soaring away into the large, luscious forest a little ways away from the city.
Galinda would hate that, she thinks, flying into nature afterwards. Elphaba chuckles, a scratchy noise, imagining the shrieks of disgust as different bugs surround them.
They’re harmless, she’d tell her, soft chuckles escaping without meaning them to. I’ve survived these forests and worse, she’d reassure her.
Galinda would look at her, and she’d scrunch her nose the way she always did when she was faced with something she deemed…below her status.
Galinda would open her mouth, most likely to retort something about how horrible the sensation of crawlies on her was, or she’d have asked her if it wouldn’t have killed her to keep flying to the nearest town at least- but no words ever escape her throat.
No, this is where Elphaba, like routine, pauses the story.
“Good evening, Elphaba.”
Green eyes slowly drift towards where the voice has come from.
She’s only a few feet away from her, and that’s pretty much all Elphaba can make out in the darkness. The light from the window illuminated nothing but the rust on her cell bars. She follows the stream of light with her eyes, all the way back to that window.
“Good evening, Madame Morrible.” She can barely get the words out past her cracked lips, throat scratching itself in a way that’s become comfortable to Elphaba. Sometimes, if she talks enough, a bit of blood rushes up, and it reminds her that, despite the torture she’s been enduring, that she is in fact still human.
“Have you decided to stop being selfish yet, Elphaba?” The question is asked simply, as if it were over a cafe table between two old friends.
Elphaba takes a deep breath, and immediately flinches. The slashes on her stomach and chest weren’t fully healed yet (they never will, thanks to Morrible’s magic), and too much movement sends sharp pains throughout her body.
How long has she been here?
Morrible’s sigh echoes throughout the room, having taken her silence as a denial.
“Well, it seems you need a little longer to collect your thoughts.” Elphaba can hear the rustle of clothing, hear disappointment in her former mentor’s voice.
Elphaba closes her eyes, and she pictures Galinda there, mouth still open, staring at her like she was the only one in the world. In her vision, she steps closer to her, examining her face.
It’s a delicate one, with every feature magnificently gentle. Golden hair, large brown eyes, pencil straight eyebrows, and a dimple, hidden without the stretch of a smile, but Elphaba knows its location all the same. She brings her fingers up, almost subconsciously, and she tells herself this will be the last time. She just needs to touch her, one last time, and then she’ll finally have the courage to do what Morrible wants her to do.
Instead, her fingers go through the image, just like it’s always done, and Elphaba, without meaning to, lets the fantasy play. Galinda’s mouth begins to move, and Elphaba is reminded of why this particular vision of hers always stops here.
Elphaba had forgotten what Galinda sounded like.
“Elphaba?”
Elphaba’s head turns, painfully, towards the source of the voice. A large door creaks open, letting just enough light in to illuminate a bit of Morrible’s face.
She looks bored.
“I encourage you to think harder- I don’t think Miss Glinda will last much longer.”
And she leaves, just like that, and Elphaba is left alone again.
—————-
Elphaba dreams of a long forgotten memory.
It’s faded and grainy, and time had not been kind to her mind.
She can make out a dim glow of what appears to be a pink light- is it the sky of the sunset? The flowers from Munchkinland? The lamp of a dorm room shared for but a year?
She thinks she sees parchments thrown about, can feel the edges of something folded in her palms.
“It’s, it feels like…”
She can hear herself, a younger, healthier, most positive self, saying these words, but what was the context? What does what feel like?
This memory tugs at her, and she feels hot, like she’s melting. Everything in her is screaming, as if she should know this, as if this was a cherished moment she shouldn’t let go of so easily.
Remember, she yells at herself internally. Picture the moment. Picture the scenery, imagine the textures, remember remember remember…
It goes dark for a moment and Elphaba nearly gives up.
Then a giggle rings out- it’s soft, almost like a whisper, and she can’t pinpoint where in her mind it’s coming from.
“Just like magic.” A whisper.
Brown eyes stare back at her.
———-
“I have something for you. A gift.”
Madame Morrible’s next visit brings a small box, a tape player of some sorts. She leaves the door open, letting enough light to give Elphaba a good look at Morrible.
A soft click of a button slices through the silence of the cell.
“Elphie!” Glinda’s voice shrieks in delight, but it’s not the voice of Glinda the Good Witch- no, her voice sounded far younger.
Elphaba lurches forward.
“Come now, Elphie! We have so much to seeee!” The voice sings the last word, trilling into a high note. There’s a crunching sound, similar to boots on fresh snow.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Laughs a younger Elphaba, and their giggles begin to mix together.
Elphaba nearly throws up.
This was the voice, the one she had forgotten.
This was Galinda Upland, Shiz University student.
“Oh Elphie, are you a fan of the theatre? There’s a showing in just a few clock ticks! Oh we simply must attend-“
Another click, sharper this time, and Elphaba cries out, as if her oxygen was cut.
“Oh good, you can hear this.” Morrible sounds pleased with herself, and Elphaba forces herself into an upright position.
“How… where-“
“Without your… cooperation,” Morrible interrupts, “We’ve decided to attempt…. other methods to detach Miss Upland from your clutches.”
Morrible shrugs. “Memory manipulation is not my forte, but there is not much to manipulate if we simply… extract the memory itself.” She takes a step closer to the cell bars. “I cannot hear the memory, dear, because of the simple fact that I am not in it. Magic still has its rules, after all. This is one of her happiest memories, and we gambled that you would be part of it.”
Morrible brings the tape player to the edge of the cell, and Elphaba eyes it wearily.
“There are more here,” Morrible says. “More memories. Most happy, some sorrowful. Just press play. I hope this brings you to your senses, Elphaba. Think of the pain she must have endured when we took this from her.”
Morrible leaves then, and Elphaba waits a clock tick before she rushes over, every limb in her body screaming in agony. It’s worth it when she’s able to clutch the tape box to her person, cradling it like it could solve all of Oz’s problems. Elphaba’s back hits the cold metal of the bars, too weak to return to her original spot.
With shaking hands, Elphaba presses play.
“Elphie!” Galinda’s voice crackles to life from the box, just as it had done before, and Elphaba slams her finger on the pause button. She screws her eyes shut, but the tears she thought she had run out of ages ago come running down.
It’s all too much.
She remembers it, the memory in the box. She remembers that day, so perfectly wonderful. She hadn’t felt that kind of happiness in a long, long time.
Elphaba sits there for a moment, letting the pain engulf her, just for a clock tick. She leans her head back against the cold steel, and curls into herself.
Elphaba puts the box down, presses play, and lets the memory of their first date wash over her.
Click.
——-
“Elphie!” Galinda’s voice shrieks in delight. In her excitement, she had gotten a little carried away, being several steps ahead of her date in order to get a better view of the town below.
Her date, she giggles.
“Come now, Elphie! We have so much to seeee!” The voice sings the last word, trilling into a high note. There’s a crunching sound, similar to boots on fresh snow.
“I’m coming,” Elphaba laughed.
Grinning excitedly, Galinda throws her hand towards her roommate, who happily takes her hand before pausing, and then shyly intertwines their hands, much to Galinda’s delight.
“Oh Elphie, are you a fan of the theatre? There’s a showing in just a few clock ticks! Oh we simply must attend!” Glinda squeals, and soon she’s tugging Elphaba closer to her as she rushes towards the ticket counter.
Elphaba gladly follows, as usual, and trails along without a care in the world.
“Now it’s no Emerald City Players, but this is a fabulocious play to watch.” Galinda says seriously, motioning to the large signage in front of the theatre.
“Not that I’ve seen too many plays, so I’ll trust your judgement.” (Honestly, Elphaba was at her happiest when she was able to lace their fingers together, so really anything after is a step up.)
“Oh dear,” Galinda mumbles, examining the tickets. Galinda can feel Elphaba peering over her shoulder curiously to see what she was fretting over. The time on the parchments were about a few hours away- Galinda shrugged. Oh well!
“Well we have more time than I thought we would,” Galinda muses. Her eyes light up. “Shopping!” She turns around to check for the nearest stores, and thankfully there isn’t one too far away. Without missing a beat, she begins to walk backwards towards the store, tugging Elphaba along with both hands.
“This will simply be astoundifying,” Galinda promises, trying to convey a mask of sincerity. Truth be told, this shop was famous for their brightly colored garments, and Galinda was dying to see Elphaba in more than just neutral colors.
The bell jingles merrily above them, and soon enough a store associate walks over to them.
“Greetings, fine ladies! How can I-“ he stops mid sentence as he sees the complexion of Galinda’s companion.
“You’re… you’re-“
“Just browsing!” Galinda says cheerily, but there’s a hint of steel in her voice that left no room for any push back. The sales associate just nods, shaken, and leaves them in a hurry.
“It’s alright, Galinda,” Elphaba says with a sad smile. She shrugs. “It happens a lot.”
Galinda’s eyes narrow. “That may have been your daily, Miss Thropp, but I will have no such thing so long as I’m by your side.” And with that declaration, she pulls the girl over to the first rack of clothing she sees, which unfortunately (for Elphaba), hold no colors more muted than a soft beige.
“Now,” Galinda says brightly. “Which shall you try on first?”
“I’d rather go back to being gawked at,” Elphaba mumbles, and Galinda rolls her eyes. Turning back to all the hangers, she begins to pull out different outfits one by one until a small pile appeared in her arms.
“Here! Try these on,” Galinda squeals, and she pushes a protesting Elphaba into one of the changing rooms.
She busies herself by looking at accessories, but it’s not long before she hears the slide of a curtain.
Galinda’s breath catches in her throat.
Elphaba was standing there in a simple white dress that stopped halfway down her thighs. The fabric hugged her curves nicely, and Elphaba herself didn’t look too uncomfortable in the dress, which was pleasing to see. Elphaba’s comfortability level was of the utmost importance.
“You look stunning,” Galinda breathes out, and she doesn’t think she’s ever said a statement more true in her life.
“Really?” Elphaba says shyly, and a dust of dark green appears across her cheeks.
“Oh yes, Miss Elphaba, I believe this is the one.” Galinda nods, eyes shining and focused on her girlfriend.
A voice pipes up from somewhere behind her.
“Her figure is perfect for that dress.”
Galinda freezes for a moment.
“Try something else on,” she barks into the changing room, and quickly closes it shut. “But put that dress to the side! We’re buying that.” She yells over the curtain.
She receives a muffled ok! In response, and the shifting of fabric continues. Nodding to herself, she turns around to face the rest of the store, where only the sales associate from earlier stands. His face is tinged red, but he seems to have gained the confidence to try and assist the couple now that he’s gotten over his initial shock.
Galinda’s eyes narrow. The click of her heels on the marble floor echo across the empty store until she’s inches away from the sales associate, who has now broken out into a sweat. Galinda smiles at him, albeit a forced one.
“First, you rudely bring up the color of my partner’s skin, and now you comment on her figure. Have you no shame?” Galinda hisses through her teeth. This causes the associate to start stammering, face going redder, and he spits out excuses that Galinda doesn’t even bother listening to. Instead, she turns around and walks back to the dressing room.
“Dearest, have you found anything else to your liking?” Galinda calls out. “Our show is starting soon!”
Immediately the curtain is pulled back, and Elphaba is standing there with her signature black dress on. She raises an eyebrow, and jabs a finger towards the brightly dresses on the rod behind her.
“Despite your expertise, I’m afraid not.”
Galinda giggles, her bad mood disappearing, just like she knew it would, and takes the white dress from the side.
“Come Elphie, let’s hurry!”
They take the dress up to the register, where thankfully, a different associate helps the pair. The associate fails to mention anything about the green skin, and whether or not it was due to a warning from the previous boy or just from basic human decency Galinda does not know, but she tips handsomely to have the dress shipped back to their dormitory. They walk out of the shop hand in hand, Galinda commenting on the buildings within their eyesight. At some point in their trek back to the theatre, Elphaba begins to swing their conjoined arms back and forth, and to Galinda’s delight, there’s a pep in the other girl’s step. Her grin nearly splits her face in half when they enter the building, and Elphaba begins to look around, as if being in the theatre was a first time experience for her.
Wait.
Galinda pauses. “Elphie, is this your first time in the theatre?”
Elphaba snorts. “Well yes, being the way I am at the theatre draws attention away from the actual show most times. Better not to be there than to be hated by the cast.”
Galinda stares at her understandingly and lets go of Elphaba’s hand to wrap her arm fully around the other girl. She knows it’s a terrible thing, really, to be restricted from activities all because of your complexion, but some horribly selfish part of her is excited to have Elphaba’s firsts.
“Well, you’ll love this one Elphie, the reviews were positively marvioulous!” She sings out the last word, which gets a smile out of her companion, and she pulls Elphaba into the very back of the room, away from prying eyes.
Perfect make-out spot, Galinda thinks gleefully. Well, if the mood calls for it. Truthfully she hadn’t really looked too closely at the context of this play, but she was sure it would be a marvelous rom com of sorts!
Twenty minutes in and Galinda has realized she had stupidly, foolishly taken them to a horror show. The story itself is remarkable, something she’d never seen before, so it’s with a gruesome curiosity she continues to watch.
Elphaba is trembling beside her, poor girl, and Galinda absentmindedly leans over and wraps her arms around her, never taking her eyes off the stage. She kisses the temple of a similarly engrossed Elphaba, who keeps her attention focused on the actors as well despite her obvious terror. Green hands wrap around the arm across her chest, and Galinda smiles at the perfect domesticity of it all.
A monster jumps out just then (well really, a small man in a fuzzy costume), and while Galinda freezes in shock, Elphaba shrieks along with the rest of the crowd, and then hisses in pain.
Alarmed, Galinda pulls away to look at Elphaba properly in concern, and her eyes drift down to the tear in her girlfriend’s dress, on the left side of her chest. They both stare at the attacker, one of Elphaba’s long nails, to see traces of blood. This gets Galinda’s attention, and she starts to tug at Elphaba’s arm in urgency.
“Elphie, Elphie you’re bleeding! Come, we must see a doctor quickly.” Before she can stand, Elphaba is pulling her back down to her seat, looking around to see if anyone noticed the commotion.
“Galinda, I’m fine, I promise.” Elphaba says quietly.
“If we don’t get that checked, it could scar!” Galinda whispers. She’s still not done fretting- the appearance of blood has rattled her, which is funny considering she hadn’t been too scared of the horror show in front of her.
“Consider it a souvenir.” And Elphaba is grinning that toothy grin of hers, the one that shows off the cute little gap between her teeth, and Galinda leans forward to kiss it away. It doesn’t work, and she can still feel Elphaba smiling into the kiss, but she doesn’t care. She’s too giddy at being able to kiss her whenever she wants, an opportunity she’ll cherish for the rest of her life if Elphaba allows her to.
They separate quietly, and Elphaba nudges the blonde girl. “Focus on the show now,” she scolds, but all the bite is taken away with the dark green flush coloring her cheeks and grin still out in full display. Galinda happily nestles into the crook of Elphaba’s neck and fixes her gaze back to the stage.
After a time, the play begins to near the end, and both girls are enraptured. The actors on stage were professing their love for one another before the main actor takes a sip from his drink and promptly collapses dramatically on the ground, exaggerated snoring coming from his lips. The lead actress gives him a kiss on the forehead, apologizes, and walks out the front door to solemnly join the monster from earlier, who stood waiting for her to the side, out of sight from the man. The monster puts the actress in chains, who weeps for the man, and they both descend into the darkness. The man awakes and the curtains begin to descend as he frantically calls out the name of his lost love.
The lights go back on in the room, and the audience begins to cheer, standing and praising the cast on their hard work. Galinda remains rooted to her spot, and she gets the strangest feeling that the scene would become familiar.
“Elphaba,” she says seriously, turning to the other girl. Her companion’s eyebrows raise in alarm, and she shifts a little to face her properly.
“What is it, Galinda? Are you ok?” Elphaba brings her hands to Galinda’s face, which nods impatiently.
“Yes Dearest I’m alright,” she says. “But you must promise me that we will never lose each other, and most definitely not as they had done in the show. We stick together, and we trust that we’ll always return to one another. Understand?”
Elphaba looks at her, long and hard, before a soft smile breaks out across her face.
“Understood. I promise, Galinda, that we will never lose each other. I trust you.”
Galinda leans over and gives her a quick kiss.
“There,” she says into Elphaba’s lips. “Sealed with magic- you mustn’t break it now.”
Elphaba smiles. “Never.”
——-
Click.
“Galinda Upland.” A whisper into the air.
It had been a long while since she’s referred to Glinda the Good Witch by her old name. At least, out loud that is. Galinda Upland was the girl she fell in love with all those years ago at Shiz, the girl she swore herself forever to. Glinda the Good Witch was… well, she was still Galinda with a slight name change, right? At least, that’s what she tells herself.
The door creaks open, just as it had done before, and Morrible saunters in with a smirk on her face.
“Had enough, Miss Elphaba?”
Elphaba doesn’t respond.
After a moment, the smirk falls off Morrible’s face, and she shrugs in a what can you do motion.
“I will schedule for more rounds of… testing, on Miss Glinda then. They will continue until you make up your mind. I’ll have the guards come in tomorrow morning to continue their….” Morrible sneers. “….handiwork, on you. Do get your sleep.”
With that, Morrible turns around, leaving for the door. Pausing at the threshold, she looks over her shoulder, looking back to Elphaba.
“Oh dear? Miss Glinda was informed of this… non cooperation from you, Miss Elphaba. I did try to keep her in the dark, but these matters are stretching far beyond that of which I have the patience for. I suggest you think hard on how she must feel right now, knowing you refuse to put her out of her misery like this.”
The doors slam shut.
She’s numb, ears ringing in a way they haven’t in a long, long time. What must she think of me? Elphaba thinks to herself bitterly. Refusing to put her safety above all else. How utterly selfish of me.
Truth be told, it was never an entirely selfish matter, at least, not fully. Elphaba is trying, she really is, and those brown eyes flash over and over in her mind, full of trust and resolution. Does she remember?She muses. Does she remember the promises she made us swear to? Elphaba clings to the hope that she does, that those memories are still there, that she forgives her.
Elphaba reaches over-
Click.
———-
“Elphie!”
Elphaba had barely gotten her feet through the window and onto the floor before she was all but tackled by a ball of pink, back pressed against the windowsill. Her arms move on their own to wrap around Galinda- Glindanow, her mind corrects, and her eyes flutter shut in relief. The broom clammers onto the floor somewhere to the side, but neither girl seems to care.
It had been months since Elphaba had left Glinda on that tower, months since she’s joined the Animal Resistance, and months of Glinda working side by side with Madame Morrible and the Wizard.
“I’m here, darling,” Elphaba whispers into blonde hair, and she closes her eyes, savoring the moment.
Glinda pulls away suddenly, eyes darting everywhere before dragging Elphaba more into the room, drawing the blinds over the open window.
Glinda can’t be too careful nowadays- Madame Morrible had spies everywhere. Thankfully she hasn’t had to learn the hard way just yet, but numerous instances Madame Morrible has brought up information she couldn’t have possibly known, and Glinda was never going to risk Elphaba’s safety.
“What news do you have?” Elphaba asks, and it’s straight to business.
Glinda hesitates. Why can’t they just hold each other first, update one another on the happenings of their lives? She feels a tug at her chest, and she swallows down the hurt.
“The Wizard is planning an attack on the southern borders of Munchkinland,” Glinda says carefully.
“The horse region, an attack on our transportation,” Elphaba mumbles to herself, and she turns away from Glinda to pace the area of the bedroom to continue her musings out loud.
Glinda aches to reach out, to grab her by the hands and sit them down to just… to just talk. To just hold one another, whisper sweet nothings into the air, lying under the blankets after…. well, that certain aspect in their lives hasn’t changed much, Glinda can appreciate that, but the afterglow never lasts long after and Elphaba is up and away again. How long has it been since Elphaba asked for an update on her? Oz above, how she badly she wanted to tell Elphaba about the intrusive thoughts, the ideals Morrible prattles on and on about playing in the background softly when certain occasions arise, ideals she pushes away as quickly as they come. But it’s starting to become continuous, and she’s uncertain as to how to combat it.
Elphaba pauses in her tracks, and a silence engulfs them both for a short time. Glinda fidgets with her fingers, and then steels herself, opens her mouth and-
“Fiyero,” Elphaba starts softly, back still to her, “Fiyero’s in the infirmary at one of our safe houses. Compromised himself whilst undercover. Slaughtered quite a few soldiers after seeing some unforgivable Animal cruelty, I heard. Took four days to recover him, and it’s not looking good.”
Glinda can see dark shoulders moving up and down, shrugging, sadly, as if she knew there was something to be done. And then it began to shake even more, just so, and Glinda pushes down her throat and approaches cautiously.
“He’ll be alright, Elphie,” Glinda says carefully. When she gets to Elphaba’s side, she can see the tears falling, no matter how quiet she tries to be. Glinda automatically slides her hands to green cheeks and begins to wipe away tears, an action that feels disturbingly familiar. She whispers encouragement to her companion, slow and gentle, thumb brushing away the water that falls.
After a moment, green hands join hers, and green eyes meet brown ones.
“The Wizard’s army was spotted patrolling outside the Emerald City three days ago. Scouts reported that you were there, up on the front lines.”
So you couldn’t ignore me, Glinda wants to say, so you would see me sooner and tell me never to do so again.So you would tell me it was too dangerous, that my safety matters above all else. So you would show me you still loved me.
“Madame Morrible’s orders.” Glinda says instead.
Elphaba looks at her for a long, long moment.
Right when Glinda feels as if she’s been caught, Elphaba sighs instead, and brings their foreheads together, eyes slipping shut.
“Be careful, please. I can’t lose you,” Elphaba murmurs into the space between them.
Glinda, with her own eyes closed, leans forward and kisses her softly.
“You won’t lose me, Elphie,” she whispers. “Not even if you tried.” A pause. “Do not ever try, Elphaba Thropp.”
Elphaba grows suspiciously silent, and Glinda presses her thumbs just a smidge harder where it rests at her cheeks.
This gets a reaction from the other girl, who wrinkles her nose, just a little, and Glinda commits this moment to memory.
“But,” Elphaba starts slowly, “What if it’s for your own good? What if… what if losing me means you’re protected, and sheltered and cared for and-“
“Elphaba Thropp, you will do no such thing. No matter what.” Glinda’s voice is stern, sharp, and Elphaba immediately halts her sentence.
Glinda strokes her thumb over Elphaba’s face for a few moments, hoping to soothe the other girl of her worries. Truthfully, she had known her girlfriend would inevitably fall down this hole of what ifs, and it sparks a fear in her, a small little thing she so easily pushes towards the back of her mind.
(It’s still there.)
“You can’t ask me to compromise your safety if it comes to it, Glinda.”
“And you can’t ask me to throw away my happiness for a hypothetical,” Glinda fires back. She can feel the crease forming between her eyebrows, the knot of fear growing slightly larger in her chest. Elphaba herself is starting to tense, and the longer they talk about this the longer Glinda fears her beautiful girl would begin to think she could do such a thing. She has to defuse this, and she does so in the only way she knows how.
Glinda kisses her again, short and sweet, just enough to ground them both. Glinda pulls away first, resting their heads together in the way it was before.
“My love for you outshines any other frivolous ambitions I may hold, Miss Thropp, so enough with the protests and do take responsibility for it. My only loyalty is to my heart, that of which you remain the sole keeper of- you wouldn’t dare disrespect me to throw that away, right?”
A soft smile appears on Elphaba’s. “I wouldn’t dare dream of it, Miss Glinda.“
She pauses, and she hesitates, and the she says the words that have haunted Glinda since the day Elphaba left on that blasted broom.
“Come with me.”
Silence.
“Come with me,” Elphaba repeats. “Faking for so long erodes at your soul, my sweet. It’s… it’s entirely selfish, I know, but I can’t lose you, and more importantly you can’t lose yourself. Please, come with me.” It comes out at the end as plea, words dripping with desperation.
Glinda’s heart begins to pound, and she can’t speak.
Elphaba must take her silence as a disagreement. She sighs, and she pulls away, and Glinda wants to shout yes yes yes as loud as she can but then-
Then the reality comes rushing in. Morrible would never stop looking for her, too precious of a political pawn to let get away. With a quick twist of the story and classifying Elphaba as a kidnapper instead, the Wizard’s forces would triple their current forces to apprehend Elphaba, and no matter how much her body ached to finally, finally accept her offer to get on the broom to escape….
There were numerous different paths Glinda could have taken to help Elphaba when this whole mess began, and she had chosen hers.
She had unknowingly sealed her fate all those years ago.
“I understand,” Elphaba says. And Glinda knows that they were never going to escape these lives together, could never outrun it, and she knew Elphaba knew as well.
It appears Glinda wasn’t the only one who yearned for more.
Glinda watches her leave into the night, and it all feels so achingly familiar.
———-
Click.
The beginning of the end, what an odd memory to have extracted.
Then again, they were both filled with naive optimism back then, believing that their combined strength would be enough to topple the current hierarchy, to restore the rights of the Animals.
How foolish, Elphaba thought bitterly.
She hadn’t known Glinda was feeling such things at the time, either. What would a little bit of communication have done for them? Would they still be here like this?
Oz, she should’ve pushed harder for them to leave.
She shifts around a little, and the sharp edges of a piece of paper digs into her hip. She freezes a little, and slowly takes out the parchment. She unrolls it carefully, and smooths out the crinkles before examining it.
A page from the Grimmerie, ripped out and stuffed onto her person carefully for an emergency like this. She had forgotten all about it with what felt like an endless string of torture Morrible put her through, and she briefly wonders what her old mentor would do if she knew she had this. Would she kill her on the spot? No, that would be too much of a mercy. Most likely she’d string her up and beat her until she confessed the contents of the page, but even that imagery seemed too tame for Morrible’s tastes.
Focusing on the page once more, she examines it carefully. An escape spell, one intended to transport the caster back to their home. For Elphaba, that was the hidden campsite she created, far into Munchkinland territory, with the rest of the Grimmerie stored safely inside a hidden compartment in a nearby tree. The grounds hadn’t been touched in years, a relic from her childhood, and Elphaba was confident that Morrible and the Wizard would never find the spot.
Elphaba sighed. The spell was of no use to her, as the spell could only transport one person. How could she leave now, knowing Glinda was being held captive somewhere? How could she abandon her again? If Elphaba were to leave, no doubt Morrible would increase her torture methods against Glinda, and Elphaba would never let that happen.
Lost in thought, she had mindlessly folded the page into a small swan. She stares at her creation for minute, but the sound of a key being inserted into her cell door forces her to shove the page back into its original hiding spot.
The door cracks open, just enough for a bit of light to be casted across her face. It slams shut just as quickly as it opened, and Elphaba sighs with relief. Just another guard doing their rounds. It seems the torture she was promised by Morrible earlier had been a bluff- although sometimes, the guards are too fearful of her and the rumored destruction she could cause with the snap of her fingers, and merely make a show of insulting her before leaving, feeling as if they had done their duty the best they could.
Her eyes, valiantly trying to adjust to the dark, find the player not too far away from her. The dispenser looks to have one more memory left, and Elphaba feels a sense of dread pooling in her stomach. Despite her instincts, she presses play.
Click.
———-
“Elphaba, would you just listen to me!” The words rip out of Glinda like a snarl as chases after Elphaba. Her shoulders are shaking, and her hands itch to grab that cloak, once so cherished, yet diminished in her mind as nothing more than a piece of the Wicked Witch of the West’s costume.
Elphaba spins around to look at her, and there’s nothing but anger written on every inch of her face.
Oh, how far they’ve fallen.
“Listen to you? I listened and it got hundreds of Animals killed!” Her voice cracks, just a little.
“How could I have known that Morrible would actually listen to me? Historically she’s done the opposite of everything I’ve put on the table-“
“You told them, Glinda! You told them about our plans to rescue the Animals in that prison, and Morrible blew it up, with most of the Resistance inside.” Elphaba’s eyes are blown wide with rage, and the more Glinda looks, the more she can see the hurt and betrayal bubbling over.
Oz, they’re just animals, who cares if they all died?!
That ugly, intrusive thought makes Glinda pause, and all her anger disappears, instead replaced by horror.
What had she become?
She swallows her own hurt, and tries to convey the apology in her own eyes, pleading for her to understand.
Glinda slowly walks over to where Elphaba has frozen, arms up in surrender. Once she gets closer, she slowly attempts to lower her hands to the other girl’s shoulders.
“I thought it would help you slip in undetected. Elphie, please, I thought if I told Morrible about the prison break, she would just ignore me again and not put a thought into it-“
“You gambled with our plans, our lives, and you lost. Fiyero died there, his first mission back on the lines. We’ve lost more than half our troops, and the other half are debating on turning themselves in. I don’t know what to do.” It comes out as nothing more than a whisper, and Elphaba takes a step back, outside of Glinda’s reach.
Glinda’s arms are still frozen in midair, hurt written all over her face. They had never been mad enough at one another to draw back like this, and she swallows a lump in her throat at the thought of this being the end of them.
I was just trying to help, Glinda thinks desperately.
“Elphie-“
“Glinda. You didn’t even know if I’d be there or not. It could’ve been me, and you still told her.” Elphaba is staring at her now, and with a pang in her chest, Glinda realizes that all that sorrow, all the betrayal, was aimed at her.
I... I was just trying to help, right? Was… was I really? Or was I trying to impress Morrible unknowingly?
“It was a mistake to come here.” Elphaba’s turning away now, headed to the open window with purpose. Glinda can feel the panic rising, and she flings herself at Elphaba in a desperate attempt to keep her from leaving.
“Please, Elphie please, just listen to me. Please?” The last word is barely audible, but it’s enough. Elphaba slowly turns around, and something must be written on her face because Elphaba finally, finallyputs her broom down.
Green eyes bore into brown, waiting for Glinda to speak up. A hand is pressed against Glinda’s face, and she leans into it before a thumb wipes away one of the many tears coming down from her eyes.
Funny, when did that happen?
She cries harder then, and the tears don’t stop pouring down.
“You were right, Elphaba, you were right.”
The sob rips out of her throat then, and she feels herself sinking down to the floor. Elphaba follows her down, not removing her hand.
“It’s so… difficult, to keep pretending to be this, this puppet.” She spits the last word out bitterly. “The longer I pretend to be Madame Morrible’s pawn, the easier it’s becoming. And that scares me, Elphie. I’m terrified. My thoughts, they’re no longer my own at times, and I… I…”
Glinda doesn’t need to complete her sentence.
“I’m losing you, aren’t I?” Elphaba whispers, and all Glinda can do is whimper.
“I’m… I’m sorry, Elphie, truly. I-“
The doors burst open then, and all at once dozens of Emerald City guards rush in. Four soldiers immediately grab hold of the broom on the floor, that of which twitches defiantly, but unable to break free of the mens’ grips.
“Seize the Wicked Witch of the West!” Morrible commands, storming in.
Glinda can’t move.
Elphaba jumps to her feet and backs away towards the window, slowly being surrounded.
Her eyes meet Glinda’s.
Did you do this? They seem to ask her. But they’re stormy, dark, and they’ve come up with the answer before Glinda could even open her mouth.
(What happens next is a blur, even after being spun back on the player.)
It all happens so quickly- guards encompass Glinda in a protective circle, spears pointed at the intruder in the room.
She wants to scream, to reach out to Elphaba and jump out of the window together. She’s tired of the facade she’s had to keep up, tired of the way she can no longer be her true self. She wants to leave, she wants to go home, she wants Elphaba.
Glinda opens her mouth, and not a sound comes out. Her limbs as well don’t seem to be working, rooted to the spot Elphaba left her in. The only thing she can do is turn her head from side to side, and she shakes it as hard as she can in a no gesture, trying to capture Elphaba’s eyes.
Elphaba is too preoccupied with trying to summon her broom back to her (futile with the amount of guards holding on to it), and the eyes Glinda catches are that of Morrible’s instead.
Morrible raises an eyebrow at her, and raises her hand. It’s glowing faintly, and when she twists it, just a little, Glinda can feel her body moving with it.
She’s trapped.
With horror, Glinda’s head moves achingly slow at the pace of Morrible’s hand, forced to stare at where her mentor is levitating a forgotten spear off the floor with her other hand, and slowly, painstakingly, points it at Elphaba’s back, who remains unaware.
Glinda’s body shakes with the force of how hard she’s moving her head, trying her hardest to alert Elphaba of the danger behind her, to no avail. Her heart’s pounding, and she’s two seconds away from bursting a blood vessel in her forehead.
She looks to Morrible with a pleading gaze, and she only receives an eyebrow raise back.
Well, Miss Glinda? Where do your loyalties lie?
She can feel Morrible’s magic loosen around her mouth, and when she flexes her jaw she realizes she can speak again.
So she screams.
“Run, Elphaba, please!” It rips out of her quickly, and it scratches her throat so hard she can taste blood. It’s just enough to get Elphaba’s attention, just enough for her gaze to shift, and just enough of an opening for Morrible to slam the dull end of the spear into the back of Elphaba’s head.
She falls to her knees first, and her eyes roll to the back of her head, and she tips over to the side before collapsing fully onto the floor. Her hat flies off her head on impact, floating away and forgotten off to the side. Guards immediately swarm her, first gagging her mouth and then binding her limbs together.
“What will you do to her?” Glinda asks Morrible as she moves closer to her. Morrible looks down at her, still on the floor, and Glinda thinks that maybe she can hear the hammering of her heart.
“Nevermind her, Miss Glinda. We have lots to talk about, you and I.”
The guards pull Elphaba’s limp body through the threshold, and the doors slam shut, leaving Glinda alone with Morrible.
On the floor, hidden by the curtain of Glinda’s room, tattered bits of paper fall out of Elphaba’s hat.
———-
Click.
The night she was captured.Probably one of the most painful nights of Elphaba’s life, learning of the Resistance’s utter destruction and losing the girl she promised the world to. She pulls out the paper swan, tattered and frayed at the edges. She vaguely remembers a time with Galinda, back at Shiz, during one of the many long nights they had when attempting to master sorcery. Galinda had begged for Elphaba to tell her a secret (most likely to fend off her boredom), and Elphaba taught her roommate how to fold a paper swan, a lesson taught to her by her beloved Dulcibear, a secret skill that had never escaped her lips until then.
Elphaba smiles, lost in thought. She hears birds chirping outside, and she thinks the swan should not be a prisoner like her. It had been… well, Oz knows how long it’s been since she’s done any magic, what with being trapped in her cell, but casting spells and doing magic had always brought a sense of comfort to her. Hard to describe, really, what exactly that comfort stems from- but it brings her back to a gentler time, one where gold locks and pale skin were just an outreach away.
She presses the swan to her lips and whispers the escaping spell. Within seconds, it begins to flutter, as if alive, and the tears it brings to Elphaba’s eyes are ones she was not expecting. She brings the delicate thing to her forehead, careful not to get it wet, and her lips tremble as she whispers her regrets to the swan.
I never should have left her.
I should’ve listened to her, should’ve taken her with me when I could’ve.
I shouldn’t have blamed her.
If we had never met, she’d have never been in this position. She would’ve stayed as Galinda Upland, and Glinda the Good Witch would’ve never come to life.
When her throat gives out and she begins to cough up blood, she stands (it takes her a few tries), and releases the swan into the morning sky. Enchanted with the spell written within itself, the swan begins to flap its wings and float far, far away, twisting up and around the tall brick walls.
The sun is pouring through the window when Elphaba breaks.
“How did you do it?” It comes out a hoarse, raspy thing, but it gets the job done.
Morrible takes a moment to respond, shocked at being spoken to first.
“The memories? Certainly having you cast a spell from the Grimmerie would have been more…. Painless…. for Miss Glinda, but we do have other ancient texts at our disposal, and I am more than capable of reading those.”
“Hmm.” Elphaba looks at the window from where she lies. Her eyes trace over the sun beams, focusing on the white particles that become visible with the lighting. “They’re awfully clear. Surely Glinda the Good Witch wouldn’t remember a nightmarish time so vividly.”
Elphaba can hear the light rustle of fabric, as if Morrible was shrugging. “Of course not, dearie, the mind is quick to falter, but the soul never forgets. That’s where we extracted the memories from.”
Elphaba inhales. “I’ll do it, on one condition.”
A pause.
“I am glad you’re finally seeing reason, dearie.” Elphaba can hear the smile in Morrible’s voice.
“Tell me what I need to do.”
Elphaba exhales.
———-
It’s dark when she enters the chamber.
It’s quiet, and the whole place is eerily similar to Galinda’s half of their old room in Shiz.
Except, everything was too pristine, propped up like display pieces of a stage play. Despite having seemingly no rhyme or reason to the chaos around her, Galinda picked everything she brought with her from Frottica for a specific purpose, one she curated into a daily routine- heels for every type of occasion, perfumes with varying potencies depending on the proximity to people she plans to keep that day, and so forth. Every shoe and every dress and every perfume bottle would get at minimum a finger passing over them, even if just to browse, and it was Galinda’s small token of appreciation for all the things she owned.
Boxes from brands Galinda would’ve never touched were stacked here in the room of Glinda the Good, brands known for their increase in animal cruelty, for donating large amounts of money to animal conversion camps. No dust sat upon anything, but one could tell quickly that they hadn’t been used in a long time, if at all.
A large bed sits in the center of the far wall, covered in pink chiffon and lace. Elphaba walks slowly, methodically, until she reaches the frame, and her heart begins to ache at the sight before her.
Glinda the Good Witch.
Glinda was clad in a pink nightgown with long sleeves and a high collar, a curious choice being that Glinda has always been known to get hot in the night easily. It would be so easy for Elphaba to just sit there and watch her sleep peacefully, so easy to just forget the world around them.
If only.
Leaning forward, she gently rests her hand on Glinda’s face, just for a clock tick. Unknown gods above, please let her have just this moment.
Her prayers went unanswered as Glinda immediately startled awake, throwing her arms up in self defense. Elphaba pulls back and takes a good look at Glinda.
Her pupils are blown wide, eyes open but not seeing anything clearly. Her chest is heaving, arms up and fists clenched.
Elphaba’s heart aches for what Glinda must’ve gone through to warrant this reaction, which seems so second nature to her. She takes a second to drink her in, to process that she’s really here, with Glinda.
A minute passes.
“It’s me, my sweet,” Elphaba whispers into the space between them.
A beat.
Surprisingly, Glinda doesn’t let up. “You’re not real. You’re not real.”
Elphaba pauses then, but remains undeterred. Glinda is alive, and Glinda is in front of her, and Elphaba aches to hold her again.
Without taking her eyes off of Glinda, Elphaba slowly lowers the neckline of her tattered dress, just enough to expose a short jagged line to the left of her chest.
Glinda’s eyes get impossibly wider, filling with tears, as her hands shakily fly to cover her mouth.
“A souvenir,” Elphaba says slowly, “From one of the happiest days of our lives.”
In a split second she’s holding a ball of pink in her arms, and she shudders at how thin Glinda feels under the clothing. The nightgown hid it well, but Elphaba had known this body for a long time, had mapped it out and traced it all over with her fingers more times than she could count.
I knew you’d come for me,” Glinda sobs into her shoulder, and Elphaba clings to her tightly.
“It’s a simple detachment spell, dearie.”
Morrible has soldiers bring in the Grimmerie, and Elphaba rushes to her feet in a panic. There was no way Morrible could’ve known its location- Elphaba had painstakingly taken numerous safety precautions, even enchanting the area around it to ward off unwanted visitors. The only other person who would know that location even existed was-
Elphaba deflates.
“I see Nessarose has given me up.” She can’t even be mad, not really, not when the situation in Munchkinland was as dire as it is. They needed to be on the Wizard’s good side, and Elphaba has too many enemies to lump her sister in that category.
She truly was alone now.
“Eminence Thropp sends her regards.”
Glinda pulls away, and Elphaba can see the dark spots under her eyes clearer, buried under multiple layers of makeup.
“Elphie, something horrible is happening. I don’t know Madame Morrible’s plan, but it has something to do with us. We need to leave.” Her eyes are wide and her movements frantic again, and it takes everything in Elphaba not to cry.
“Elphie, please, we must leave. I, I received the-“
“You’re trembling.” Elphaba interrupts, and despite her protests, Glinda falls back into her arms easily.
“Let me hold you, my sweet,” Elphaba murmurs into her hair, and Glinda in turn mumbles about the soldiers in the hallway, and the guards at the door, and Elphaba can’t help but smile sadly at how some things never change.
“Elphie? How…. How did you get past the guards at the door?”
“Is this the right spell?” Morrible says, pointing a finger at the book. She never takes her eyes off Elphaba, looking for any signs of deceit.
“Yes.”
Morrible nods in approval. “Good. You know the consequences if you try to lie to me, Elphaba, and I know you would never put Miss Glinda in harm’s way.”
And what can Elphaba say to that?
Two guards come into her cell, forcing her to her feet. Morrible rips the page out of the Grimmerie and hands it to Elphaba, who takes it with shaking hands.
“Memorize it. You will have thirty minutes to cast the spell and leave her chambers, not a clock tick more.”
Elphaba’s eyes don’t leave the Grimmerie page. “And what will this do to us, exactly?”
“And… and…. How did you get past Madame Morrible?” Glinda tenses, just for a moment, and Elphaba wants to cry.
Elphaba begins to chant.
Glinda pulls back, staring at her in confusion. “Elphie, what, what are you-“ she is stopped by a gasp that rips out of her throat, and if Elphaba hadn’t been focused on casting this spell, she’s sure she’d have done the same. There’s a burning at her chest, right over her heart, and the longer she speaks, the hotter it feels. Glinda claws at her heart, gasping for air. In seconds she’s torn the collar and the upper part of her nightgown off, and Elphaba can finally see the yellowish bruises splattering her body, the angry red flesh that hadn’t fully healed yet.
Wounds that she indirectly caused.
Glinda’s eyes, wide in fear, snap to Elphaba. Brown meets green, and understanding dawns on Glinda, much faster than when Elphaba was presented with the spell.
Galinda did always have the sharper wit, she thought.
“NO!” Glinda flings herself back onto Elphaba, and she throws her hands over her mouth in an attempt to stop.
“No no please, please, please don’t do this Elphie,” she pleads, but Elphaba never stops, instead pulling at Glinda’s wrists to stop the obstacle. Despite their weakened states, Elphaba still had the upper hand strength wise by some miracle, and Elphaba easily pins her to the bed.
“Please- please stop, Elphie, please, I’m ok now! We have each other, please, please Elphaba, please stop!”
Glinda is panicking now, Elphaba can hear it in her voice, but she can’t stop, not when she’s gone this far. Glinda’s safety was on the line now, and Elphaba could never risk that. So, she keeps chanting, keeps breaking her own heart, and forges through the searing heat that begins to bloom from her chest.
And then-
Beautiful, wonderful, Glinda the Good Witch leans up and kisses her.
It catches Elphaba by surprise, and she can feel a wetness on her face- whether that was from her or from Glinda or from both she couldn’t say. The pain, once taking over her whole body, completely disappears. Instead, there is only the feeling of Glinda, and once again Elphaba surrenders to her, just as she always had. She can feel Glinda sitting up, pushing against her, and she lets her. Her hands slowly drift around Glinda’s shoulders, and she pulls her close. Glinda’s own arms sneak around her waist, and Elphaba could live in this moment forever.
Elphaba pulls away first, and she buries her head in Glinda’s neck, unable to look the other girl in the eyes. She can feel Glinda’s chest taking deep breaths, and the blonde leans rests her forehead to Elphaba’s shoulder as she lets out a sigh of relief.
“We’re ok, dearest, we’ll be ok. Just like magic, right?” Glinda whispers in her ear, leaving a kiss on Elphaba’s temple.
Elphaba tightens her grip, and leaves a kiss in return on Glinda’s cheek with shaky lips.
“I love you.” She breathes it out like a prayer, like an apology, like the last thing you say to a lover before you leave.
“It will detangle your souls, dearie. She will no longer feel the love she holds for you, and you the same.” Morrible smiles wickedly.
“She will finally be loyal to our cause.”
Elphaba closes her eyes and completes the spell.
The pain slams into her chest like a rushing train, and she can feel Glinda lurch forward violently. The air in the room feels thin, much too thin, and Elphaba can’t take enough oxygen. With the way Glinda is gasping for air, she must be in the same boat. The heat begins to spread up to her neck, and the only thing she can do is grip Glinda closer to her.
Elphaba doesn’t know how much time has passed, with her holding Glinda in her arms and hoping for the internal storm to pass, but eventually it calms, and Elphaba is able to breathe again. Glinda is passed out in her arms, most likely due to the lack of breathing ability. Elphaba slowly and carefully lowers Glinda back to the bed, and she stares at her face and… and….
Elphaba doesn’t feel a thing.
Her hand flies to her chest and her fingers scrunch up the fabric over her heart. She had done it, had untangled their souls like Madame Morrible requested.
And it cost her everything.
The doors fly open then, and Emerald City soldiers swarm in with Madame Morrible at the front. She feels hands grab at her, dragging her out of the room.
Elphaba puts up no resistance.
Her wrists get shackled, not that they needed to be, and they haul her back onto her feet. Something feels different now- the usual thrum of magic that sat underneath her skin no longer hummed, no longer sat dormant and waiting at her disposal. Had she gone wrong somewhere? Had she lost her magic?
Not that Elphaba really cared at the moment.
They push her backwards towards the door, and Elphaba stares at Glinda the entire time, hoping something went wrong with the spell, hoping that the feelings come back.
Elphaba watches as Glinda begins to stir awake, with Madame Morrible by her side. Elphaba lifts her head weakly, as high as she could in her state, and prays to the unknown gods above that she could see her eyes one last time.
They owed it to them, she thinks. One last mercy.
Elphaba stretches, and she can see brown eyes swirling in confusion, and they begin to shift in her direction-
The doors close soundly.
———-
Elphaba is thrown back in her cell, and not a single thing has changed in her absence. The dried blood remains splattered all over the cell, and the scratch marks from when she half heartedly tried to keep track of the days stay unfinished in a corner.
She wants to scream, to cry to shout to bang around the cell until her arms break, but she can’t. She can’t do much of anything, really, can’t even get up from the spot she was unceremoniously dumped on.
Her cheek touches the concrete slab under her, and she relishes the cool feeling against her skin. She focuses on that biting cold, anything to take away the nothingness in her soul.
Elphaba Thropp was a liar.
She had broken her promise to Galinda- for her own good, Elphaba tells herself, but it falls short.
“Elphaba.”
Elphaba can’t even turn her head.
“You did good, just like I knew you would.” There’s a shuffle, and it sounds as if Morrible had taken a seat on the ground next to the bars.
“As long as your souls were connected, Glinda would never have been truly loyal to our cause, and she has too much political power for us to lose her. You understand.”
Elphaba stays silent.
A sigh. Something is placed on the ground, outside her cell once more.
“As promised. It was quicker than Glinda’s, since it was just one memory you wanted extracted from yourself. I hope it is to your liking.” There’s a hint of sarcasm towards the end, but Elphaba doesn’t care.
Slowly, ever so slowly, she turns to face Morrible, whose face is already twisted in disgust.
“So much wasted potential.” She clicks with her tongue. She turns around then, her heels like bullets against the concrete floor.
“I do not know what we will do with you yet,” Morrible confesses, hand on the doorknob. “And that confession is a small mercy I will grant you. Because this? All your allies wiped away, forced to stay alive without the love you spent years protecting?” Morrible cackles, a hideous, villainous laugh.
“I cannot think of a fate more wicked than that.”
The door slams shut, but Elphaba barely registers it.
Instead, she reaches over to the player.
Click.
——-
“I don’t understand it at all, Elphie,” Galinda pouts from her side of the room, fingers mindlessly twiddling at a sheet of paper that previously housed her sorcery notes.
Elphaba sighs from her bed, mentally bookmarking the page she leaves off on in her novel before setting it down on her bedside table. She strides over to where her roommate is all sprawled out on her own bed, taking one of the abandoned notes off of the comforter.
“These answers are all flawless,” Elphaba notes, and it’s true. Galinda had most definitely wanted to be in the sorcery program for a while now, and it shows in her studies. She’s known every spell and every potion Madame Morrible had ever brought up in class before she could even finish with her explanation- whilst it earned admiration from Elphaba, who hadn’t even known sorcery outside of the wizard even existed, it only irked Madame Morrible more, especially with Galinda’s inability to apply her knowledge to real life practice.
“I don’t understanddd, Elphie,” Galinda whines again, this time throwing down the parchment she was toying with as she falls back fully on her bed.
“I know you don’t,” Elphaba says, and she picks up the abandoned paper with gentle hands. It’s folded neatly into a swan- beautiful, but ultimately renders the notes on the page useless.
“Well, at least this lesson stuck,” she says, and she holds out the swan towards Galinda, who raises her head from the bed.
“Keep it,” Galinda waves her hand dismissively. “You can- oh!” She shoots up from the bed, face alight with an idea.
“Elphie grab your hat,” she says, turning to dig through something in her vanity table. Elphaba simply complies and returns with the object in her hands.
“Sit sit,” Galinda commands, pulling out her vanity table chair. Elphaba does as she’s told, as per usual.
Galinda straddles her- oh Oz, Elphaba can feel her face turning red- and grabs the hat before lifting it over her head in one motion.
Taking the paper swan she created, she safety pins it to the inside of Elphaba’s hat, high enough not to disturb her hair as it sits upon her head.
“There,” Galinda smiles, admiring her handiwork. (Elphaba admires her.)
“This cannot be the only thing you’ve learned from me,” Elphaba says.
Galinda just winks at her before setting the hat back down carefully on her roommate, adjusting the hat to lie just a little skewed, the way Elphaba likes it.
They sit there for a moment in silence, enjoying the company of one another.
“Elphie?” Galinda asks, not taking her eyes off the hat.
“Hmm?”
Brown eyes flicker down into green. “What…. What do you feel, you know, when you cast spells? What does it feel like?”
Silence.
Elphaba clears her throat, eyes going everywhere but on her companion. “Well, I mean, it’s not always on purpose- just whenever I feel a deep emotion, so usually anger or sadness or-“
“No, Elphie,” Galinda interrupts softly. “I mean…” the pads of her fingers are gentle against Elphaba’s face, outlining cheekbones and eyelids and more, almost in a trance.
“When you’re casting the spell. Not before, not after, but during.”
Elphaba almost misses the question, eyes starting to flutter shut.
“It’s, it feels like….” She reaches, deep, deep inside herself. What is it? What does magic feel like?
“It’s… it’s pink…?” Elphaba answers. Then her eyebrows furrow, as if she’s not sure of her own answer.
Why had she said pink?
Galinda looks at her for a moment, before she chuckles softly. “If magic felt like- well, pink, I fear I’d have mastered it by now, Miss Elphaba.” Her finger stays on the tip of Elphaba’s nose. “I do love the color pink.”
Something shifts in Elphaba then, something moves and clicks and everything makes sense now to her.
“Me too. I like pink too.”
Galinda blinks at her, and tilts her head in confusion. Nonetheless, she grins a grin wide enough to show her dimple, and suddenly Elphaba is feeling brave.
“Geniuses think alike,” Galinda says, and she lets her hands fall the Elphaba’s own to interlace them together.
“It’s you, Galinda, I like pink because…” Elphaba trails off, and she feels Galinda’s entire body still. Elphaba doesn’t even think she can feel the girl breathe.
Elphaba’s eyes dart to various places in the room, and the words get stuck in her throat. Her heart is beating fast and hard, as if it could break out of her ribcage at any moment. Maybe for now, this would be enough. Maybe they could revisit this another time, maybe in a few weeks or-
Galinda brings their foreheads together, and then she’s close, impossibly close to Elphaba. She can smell the vanilla perfume the other girl insists on wearing to bed, can count all the eyelashes she has if Elphaba really wanted to. (She really wanted to).
“Go on,” Galinda encourages, eyes drifting close. Elphaba follows suit, if only to stop them from staring too hard. Galinda brings their intertwined hands to her face, straightening out Elphaba’s hand to lie flat across her cheek in an almost cradling motion. Elphaba sits for a moment and lets herself calm down, lets the tempo of her heart slow down.
“Elphie,” Galinda says, and her tone is teetering on annoyance. “I know you’re having a moment but I’m really not known to be a patient-“
Elphaba moves forward.
They sit there kissing for a moment, and Elphaba wonders why it took her so long to do something that felt so right.
Elphaba is the first one to pull away, and suddenly she’s too shy to make eye contact.
Galinda giggles, cheeks flushed, and buries her head in Elphaba’s neck.
“This must be what it feels like, Elphie,” she whispers in the space between them.
“Hm?” Elphaba’s distracted by the hands that have made a home on her shoulders, holding tight.
“This must be,” Galinda starts, and she sits up to look at Elphaba properly. “This must be how it feels like when you do your magic.” Her eyes are filled with the stars they watched together the night before, and Elphaba knows her own gaze is something similar.
“Yes,” Elphaba replies in a daze. Galinda gigged again, and presses their faces together, noses touching.
“Just like magic,” she whispers, and she closes the distance between them again.
———
Click.
The memory finishes, and the cell is plunged into silence.
“Just like magic,” she whispers.
Elphaba plays it again.