Chapter 5
Elphaba should leave.
She knows that quite well. It was a foolhardy idea to come to the Emerald City in the first place. But everytime she gazes at the palace towering above the rest of Oz, remembering what she left behind almost two years ago, she feels her desire to leave sap away.
Glinda’s screams still echo in her head at times, haunting her nightmares. Elphaba feels quite lost without the blonde. There have been so many times when she was on the run imagining the girl’s reaction to the multiple things Elphaba had seen, heard or done.
She had been foolish to come back, but she’d been most foolish to leave behind the one thing that mattered to her most. It didn’t take Elphaba long to realise that.
She gazes at the night sky, the sounds of the city fading into the background. Fiyero said there was something, but on a night like this, seeming so peaceful, Elphaba finds it hard to believe.
His letter, albeit short, was ominous and it lingers at the back of Elphaba’s minds. She finds herself thinking of his words. He said that he hadn’t seen Glinda, hadn’t been allowed to.
I saw you and Glinda get on that train, and neither of you came back.
That part is also there. It makes her think of her family, namely Nessa. She is sure Fexspar doesn’t care, if anything, Elphaba’s reputation proves him right. But Ness… How does she feel about all of this? Elphaba never really allowed herself to think about anyone else. It hurt less that way.
Her fingers twitch as memories flood through her. Frexspar, Nessarose, Fiyero, Dr Dillamond and Glinda. Those last two hurt more than any other. She’d failed both of them. She tried to look for Dillamond after everything, she never found him. She wonders what the old goat would think if he saw her now. He did not want Elphaba to get involved with the effort for Animals.
She grit her teeth as the final two people came to her mind. Morrible and the Wizard. Two people she’d respected immensely. Morrible especially. When Elphaba came to Shiz, Morrible was the first one who hadn’t made her feel like an outcast, and though she now knows that she was being used, she had come to care about her mentor and her opinions. Her betrayal hurt more than learning the Wizard was a fraud.
A dream so close within reach snatched away so quickly.
Oh Glinda, what are they doing to you?
She looked back down, the city’s lights glittering below her, the entire city looking like the miniature model of Oz in the Wizard’s palace from her place on the broom. The palace looks intimidating even from above.
In another life. In another life she and Glinda would have escaped together. In another life, the Wizard would have been everything she imagined, Morrible wouldn’t have been evil, and Oz wasn’t crumbling, and she and Glinda could have lived together in the Emerald City, maybe in a small apartment or maybe in the palace.
But this wasn’t that life, and wishing wouldn’t make it so.
With that final thought, she angles her broom downwards, and swoops back to her hideout.
She might as well prepare for whatever tomorrow may bring.
The morning dawns bright and early. Elphaba closes her eyes again and shifts around.
A finger pokes at her ribs.
“Elphie,” she can practically hear the pout in her voice. “wake up. We can’t be late.”
Elphaba groans, sitting up.
It takes her a moment to realise that she isn’t in Shiz, she isn’t sleeping on a bed, and — worst of all — Glinda isn’t there.
There’s a caw from somewhere above her. Elphaba looks up, and the Crow stands in the exact spot he stood in before, head tilted at her. She looks for a letter then frowns at the Bird when she doesn’t find one.
“Nothing?” She raises an eyebrow. “Then why are you here?”
The Crow continues to stare at her, and after what feels like a couple minutes it gets on her nerves.
“Well?” she demands. “I know you can speak.”
He clicks his beak, a sound similar to a sigh escaping from it. “How did you figure it out?”
“I’m not stupid.” She answers. “Now, answer my question.”
“You intrigue me, Elphaba Thropp.” He says, beady black eyes gleaming. “Or should I call you the Wicked Witch.”
Elphaba tries not to flinch at the moniker. It shouldn’t bother her, it’s been two years, but everytime she hears it, she remembers a certain blonde girl, and thinks it’s true.
“Elphaba will do just fine.” She says curtly.
“Very well.” He bobs his head.
“Is that it?”
“No.” He says quietly. “As I’m sure you’ve heard, something is coming.”
“Something has been coming for years.” She scoffs.
“Not that.” He clicks his beak disapprovingly. “Something different.” He glances at her uncertainly. “It doesn’t involve the Animals.”
Elphaba regards the Bird suspiciously. “Do you know something?”
“Not completely.” He shakes his head
“Then what do you know?” Elphaba asks exasperatedly, having no patience for the Bird that interrupted her sleep.
“I-” He shakes his head. “How can I trust you?”
“You’re the one who came here.” Elphaba rolls her eyes. “If you’re not going to be of use, you might as well leave.”
“And what about Glinda Upland?”
Elphaba freezes, not daring to look back. “What about her?” She says stiffly.
“Did you truly mutilate her?”
“Yes,” she tries to swallow the lump in her throat. “yes, I did. I’m as wicked as they say. You should leave before I blast you to pieces. The Wicked Witch claims another victim.”
The Bird doesn’t take the hint. “Fascinating.” He muses.
“It truly isn’t.” The broom is fascinating. What she did to Glinda was terrible, wicked. “If you are going to be staying, you might as well give me a name.”
The Crow grins. “Corvex. And don’t worry, I will be taking my leave now.”
Elphaba doesn’t bother to ask where he’s going. They are just acquaintances and she couldn’t care less about where the Bird goes.
Still, she takes a glance as his form fades into a black spot in the sky, until he disappears from sight.
And although Elphaba would never admit it, she feels mildly less lonely.