Emerald Princess

Nessa drove the carriage all the way to Munchkinland, reaching a lavish manor as the moon rises over Oz. They pull to a stop. Boq and Fiyero help Nessa out of the carriage with her wheelchair, while Elphaba stubbornly carries Glinda despite the blonde feeling better enough to walk.

“Nice place here.” Fiyero huffs, a bit out of breath from the amount of running they’ve done that night. “Whose is it?”

“Mine,” Nessa says quietly, leading them around the back of the building to the hidden servants’ entrance of the mansion. “Well-- my father’s technically. He’s the governor of Munchkinland.”

“Is it a good idea to be hiding a runaway princess here?” Boq asks nervously. He, Nessa, and Fiyero glance back at Elphaba. The green girl had been silent and sullen since Chistery sacrificed himself to allow them a chance to escape. The only person she spoke to was Glinda.

“I don’t know,” Nessa sighs, turning back to the door and unlocking it. “But we don’t really have anywhere Else. Besides, my father should be out on a work trip.”

“What about your mother?” Boq asks.

“She’ll probably be too drunk to even care.” Nessa shrugs and leads them inside.

Elphaba and Glinda are the last to enter the manor. The servants’ door leads straight into the kitchen. The place is dark and empty as it’s the middle of the night. Nessa leads them all down a hallway on the bottom floor to her room, which is quite large and could probably fit three elephants in comfortably.

Elphaba gently puts Glinda down on the bed, still clutching the blonde’s hand as the other three get arranged for the night.

“How are you feeling?” Elphaba whispers gently to Glinda, absentmindedly stroking the other girl’s knuckles.

“Better,” Glinda smiles softly at Elphaba. “Just a bit sore. And thirsty.”

“I’ll get you some water.” Elphaba says quickly, eager to help.

Glinda catches Elphaba’s hand quickly, a look of fear crossing her perfect face.

“P-please don’t leave…” the blonde whimpers.

Elphaba frowns in concern and sits next to Glinda on the bed.

“Alright,” she whispers soothingly, “I won’t. I’ll stay right here.”

Glinda pulls Elphaba close with surprising strength considering she’s been unconscious for the past few months. The blonde wraps her arms and legs around Elphaba, pinning her to the bed. Like a pretty, clingy, pink sloth. Which makes sense, the last time Glinda was separated from Elphaba she was tortured and put to sleep.

Elphaba awkwardly holds Glinda, slowly relaxing in the blonde’s embrace.

“I thought you were thirsty?” The princess whispers.

“I’d rather you not leave,” Glinda whispers back.

“You need to drink something.” Elphaba chides gently. Glinda just huffs in response, burying her head in the crook of Elphaba’s neck.

It doesn’t take long for the both of them to fall asleep like that.

Fiyero is the first to wake the next morning. He hears footsteps in the house and simply chalks it up to servants just moving around. But then he notices Nessa slowly stir and go pale at the sound of her father’s voice.

“My father is home early!” She hisses, pulling herself into her wheelchair while Fiyero quickly wakes the others up. “Hide!”

Boq grunts as he’s pushed off the armchair he fell asleep on. Glinda huffs and rolls over in her sleep, accidentally smacking Elphaba in the face. The princess groans and rubs her face, reaching blindly for her glasses.

“Hurry!” Fiyero says, pushing Elphaba off the bed to wake her up fully, and shaking Glinda. “We can’t be found, hide!”

Elphaba yelps as she hits the ground, and gets up. She glares at Fiyero, before his words register. Elphaba and Glinda hide in the closet while Boq and Fiyero roll under the bed.

A moment later, the door opens and the Governor of Munchkinland, Frexspar Thropp, enters the room with a furious look.

“What is the meaning of this?” he growls, slamming down the morning newspaper in front of Nessa, who was pretending to have just woken up.

“Meaning of what, father?” Nessa asks innocently.

“This!” Thropp snarls, pointing to the headlines.

PRINCESS OF OZ KIDNAPPED LAST NIGHT, ROYALTY MISSING

Underneath the headline was a picture of friends escaping on the carriage. Nessa’s face wasn’t visible, just her wheelchair. However, Fiyero and Boq were visible and identified as traitors in the paper, with a bounty for both them found dead or alive. Surprisingly, Glinda wasn’t mentioned. Probably a good thing since word that she had been tortured and held captive just to keep Elphaba in line wouldn’t react well with Ozians.

“I-I am not listed on there…father.” Nessa says in a poor attempt to mask her mounting anxiety.

“I’d recognize your wheelchair anyone,” Frexspar huffs and paces the room with an anxious air. “Do you know how devastating this would be for our family if word got out that you aided in the kidnapping of the princess?”

“I didn’t!” Nessa says defensively.

“You better pray to Lurline that everyone believes that.” Frexspar glares at her for a moment before his gaze softens. “I am willing to believe you now, because I refuse to believe that you’re a traitor.”

Thropp places a hand on Nessa’s shoulder. “Just promise me you'll be more careful.”

“Yes, father.” Nessa murmurs.

“Good,” Thropp nods and stands up before shooting her a quizzical look. “What are you doing at home? Melena told me last night you came home, you’re supposed to be at Shiz.”

“I-- uh got homesick…” Nessa lies awkwardly.

Thankfully, Thropp buys it.

“Ah, well feel free to stay here as long as you’d like darling, just remember to get your schoolwork done.”

Then the governor leaves the room and Nessa sags in relief. She waits until his footsteps are no longer audible before speaking.

“You guys can come out now.” Nessa says quietly to not be heard throughout the house by anyone.

Fiyero and Boq climb out from under the bed with sighs of relief, while Elphaba and Glinda come out of the closet, holding each other’s hand.

“That was close,” Fiyero sighs, dusting himself off while Boq grabs the discarded newspaper.

“Fiyero,” Boq whispers in horror, showing the prince the page on the newspaper with pictures of Fiyero and Boq labeled as traitors.

“Ah…shit.”

It had been a few days since Elphaba and Glinda escaped. The friends stayed in Thropp’s manor the whole time, hidden in Nessa’s room while the paralyzed girl pretended everything was normal in front of her parents.

They were all sitting on the floor on the fifth day of hiding, eating soup in a circle.

“I’m just gonna say it,” Fiyero huffs, putting his bowl down. “We can’t stay here forever. We need somewhere safe to reside while we plan what to do.”

The others nod in agreement, save for Elphaba who just looks sadly at her soup.

“What can we do?” she whispers, sounding hopeless. “My father is the most powerful being in Oz, both with his magic and everyone that blindly serves him. It’s inevitable that he finds us again, or me. We’re just biding time until something goes terribly wrong and he finds us.”

“...well you’ve become a downer.” Fiyero frowns.

Glinda hugs Elphaba’s arms.

“Maybe you’re right,” The blonde murmurs soothingly to the depressed princess. “But we should still make the most of the time we have.”

“Like what?” Elphaba asks in a softer tone.

“Like…helping the remaining animals in Oz…” Glinda suggests, “Doing what we can to undermine the Wizard and his power.”

“We could sabotage the prison transits when they take animals to the Emerald City.” Boq says, his face lighting up as the idea hits him.

“Yes!” Fiyero grins, “And we can set up traps for the guards searching for us, and--”

“Guys!” Elphaba interrupts. “We shouldn’t be drawing attention to ourselves.” the princess hugs herself. She hunches slightly in guilt. She couldn’t stop thinking about Chistery, and how he sacrificed himself for them. “I won’t let anyone else get hurt for me.”

“Elphaba--” Nesa tries.

“No,” Elphaba doesn’t give the paralyzed girl a chance to speak. She stands and paces the room anxiously. “None of this would have happened if it weren’t for me, and now my father wants Fiyero and Boq dead for helping me escape,” Elphaba glances anxiously at Nessa. “If he finds out you were there then he’ll call for your arrest and execution as well, and your family’s reputation will be ruined--” Her voice cracks “--and it’ll be my fault.”

Glinda stands and hugs Elphaba tightly, refusing to let her friend go. The others watch in silence with concerned and sad looks. Glinda gently pulls Elphaba down on the floor, wrapping her arms and legs around the princess in a firm hug so Elphaba won’t leave.

“Elphie,” she whispers, “I don’t blame you.”

Her words and her hug are enough to cause Elphaba to break down. She clings to the blonde desperately as sobs wracked her body. Throughout the month she spent locked up in the Emerald Palace Elphaba didn’t once allow herself to cry. She had spent the whole time trying to find a way out, and refused to allow herself to lose her head, not even when she was separated from Glinda.

But Elphaba was safe now, sort of. She didn’t need to stress about anything at the moment. So the princess allowed Glinda to hold her as she cried into the blonde’s shoulder.

“Y-You should…” Elphaba whispers, clutching Glinda like a lifeline. “Y-you wouldn’t have b-been hurt if it weren’t for-for me…”

“I don’t care.” Glinda says firmly, tightening her embrace around the princess. “You did the right thing, going to the Emerald Palace to talk to your father about the animals. None of us could have known that he wasn’t a good man.”

“I-I should have…” Elphaba whispers, “I s-saw the signs growing u-up, but I ignored them!”

“He is your father,” Glinda cups her friend’s face so Elphaba looks at her. Neither seem to care about Fiyero, Nessa, or Boq in the room. “It is natural for you to ignore the signs.”

Elphaba meets Glinda’s eyes. The princess feels very undignified with tears and some snot dripping down her face, but Glinda doesn’t care. The blonde gently wiped the tears off the green girl’s face, then gently kissed her.

Nessa and Fiyero share a smirk, both pleased to see Elphaba and Glinda finally acknowledge their feelings, while Boq gasps in surprise. The Munchkin boy has always been oblivious.

“I could never blame you, Elphaba.” Glinda whispers. Elphaba gently pulls Glinda back in for another kiss. Glinda wraps her arms around Elphaba’s neck, while the princess wraps her arms around the blonde’s waist. They finally pull away from each other, Elphaba hides her face in the crook of Glinda’s neck to calm herself down from her much needed meltdown.

“...We don’t blame you either,” Fiyero says quietly after a moment, “just for the record. It was our decision to try and help you, after all.”

Nessa and Boq nod in agreement.

“We’re in this together now,” Nessa says, offering Elphaba a small smile as the princess looks up from Glinda’s shoulder. “We’re not leaving.”

“...if you’re determined to stay…” Elphaba quietly says, slowly sitting up, “then I think we should do something more in Oz then just help the animals.”

“What do you mean?” Glinda questions, happy to see her friend regain some of her spark.

Elphaba gives her friends a steely and determined gaze.

“We’re going to overthrow my father,” she says, “and restore Oz to how it should be. We’ll start by freeing the animals.”

Reports of animal escapes spread quickly through Oz. In all quadrants of Oz, animals have been broken out of their cages and jails and taken to some safe place. A few trains carrying animals to the Emerald City have even been infiltrated. These acts baffle the public, no one knows who has been doing this.

Though, the Wizard has a pretty good guess.

The moment he heard these rumors, the Wizard sent MadameMorrible to investigate them. Not wanting to lose her head, Morrible complied.

She was a sorceress, a powerful and influential figure in Ozian politics due to her connection with the Wizard. But as soon as Elphaba escaped, she was suddenly put in charge of all efforts to find the runaway princess.

So she followed the trail of animal jailbreaks, finding no pattern…yet.

But Morrible would find one. She was an intelligent and determined woman. And with her life on the line, she would not give up in her search for Elphaba.

After about another week of hiding out in Nessa’s room, the five friends all had quickly agreed that they’d need a better hideout. Fiyero was the one to suggest going to an abandoned castle in Winkie Country, one that he had explored a lot as a kid since he was from Winkie Country.

Nessa lies to her parents, saying she is returning to Shiz when instead she goes to the castle with the others. They all quickly find out the castle isn’t friendly to handicapped. So they all just set up base on the bottom floor.

It takes a while to “beautify” the castle, as Glinda called it, but they manage to make the bottom floor liveable, about a few days. By the time they’re done, they begin their plan to free the animals.

Elphaba explained how any animals already in Emerald City were, at the moment, unhelpable. So they instead focus on the four countries of Oz. Starting in Winkie Country.

The plans were always simple. Nessa remains in the carriage as the getaway driver. Fiyero and Elphaba sneak in to free the animals from their cages and get them on the carriage, while Glinda and Boq distract any guards.

It works quite well, and they manage to get through a vast majority of the animal imprisonment camps in Winkie Country and part of Gillikin before the Wizard catches wind of this. It is so very easy, frighteningly so, for the Wizard to paint them as terrorists who want to help dismantle Oz, as the same terrorists who took the beloved Emerald Princess.

Boq, Fiyero, and now Nessa, are made public enemies. Wicked. People to be feared and arrested on sight. Glinda is turned into a special case, someone kidnapped alongside Elphaba as a casualty.Which does outrage a lot of people who adore the blonde, and just gives the five friends more people to worry about avoiding.

During all their break ins, Elphaba is constantly disappointed to not find Dr. Dillamond or any of the animals she saw him talking with. Her anxiety mounts with the lingering thought that her father did something terrible to the former professor.

When they’re hiding out in the castle and not about to move out, Glinda and Elphaba spend time together to try and stay sane. A method that works, usually.

“Have you ever noticed how strawberry milk doesn’t taste like strawberries or milk?” Glinda murmurs one night as she lies with Elphaba on the cushions, spooning the girl from behind.

“Please go to sleep…” Elphaba mumbles wearily.

“Do you think fish feel wet?” Glinda continues, her head resting comfortably against Elphaba’s back. “Because they’ve never been out of the water, so they wouldn’t know what being dry is like unless they’re dead.”

“Glinda…”

“Oh--and bricks are just domesticated rocks.”

“Oh my oz.” Elphaba groans.

“The beach is the only place you can bury a child without getting too much bad attention.”

“Glindaaa.”

“If death is just eternal sleep, then does that make immortals insomniacs?”

“Glinda!” Elphaba huffs and sits up, looking over at the blonde. “Please go to sleep!”

“I can’t,” Glinda pouts and sits up. She dramatically rests her head on Elphaba’s shoulder. “I’m stressed, I can’t sleep when I’m stressed.”

“Maybe you wouldn’t be stressed if you stopped thinking about all these weird things.” Elphaba huffs, tiredly rubbing her eyes.

“That’s not what I’m stressed about.” Glinda pokes Elphaba.

Elphaba feels a pang of guilt. She had been so caught up in her own problems and trying to save the animals, that she neglected to check on Glinda.

“What’s wrong?” the princess asks softly.

“I miss my parents,” Glinda whispers, hugging her knees to her chest in fetal position. “But that’s not the biggest thing on my mind.”

“Then…what is?”

“The nightmares,” Glinda whispers with a hint of vulnerability in her voice. “Every since the…uh…torture…I keep getting the same nightmares almost every night. They’re not so bad when you’re around, but when I’m alone I’m scared to sleep.”

Elphaba gently wraps an arm around Glinda’s shoulders.

“Can you tell me about them?” the green girl quietly asks the blonde.

“They always start the same,” Glinda whispers, “I’m lost in the Emerald Palace. I try to find you, or a way out. But I never do. The halls are empty and dark, and the windows just show an endless, black abyss.” Glinda shivers slightly.

“...is that all?” Elphaba tentatively asks.

“No,” Glinda shakes her head, “I always find someone eventually. But it’s always the Wizard.” Glinda wipes her eyes and hugs Elphaba. “Oh, Elphie, it's just awful! He acts so nice at first, so caring like when I first met him. But then he-he turns into a monster, literally! Like a beast made of darkness!”

Elphaba is stunned into silence, hugging Glinda tightly as the blonde speaks.

“He always chases me. Wh-when he does catch me I’m tortured again. O-or locked up, or turned into a puppet. B-but he won’t kill me, Elphaba, why won’t he kill me-?”

Elphaba gasps as she sees Glinda starts to cry. She hugs her partner and strokes her back.

“It’s okay,” she tries to soothe, “I’m so so sorry…but you’re safe now. I’m here. I won’t let him touch you again, I swear it. I…” Elphaba hesitates, “I love you too much to let that happen…”

“I-I love you too,” Glinda whimpers, still firmly hugging Elphaba.

The princess’ heart skips a beat at Glinda’s confession. She gently kisses the side of Glinda’s head.

“...I’ll protect you,” Elphaba promises.

“And I’ll protect you,” Glinda says quietly, pulling away to look Elphaba in the eyes. “Girlfriends protect each other.”

“G-girlfriends?” Elphaba stutters, blushing.

“Yes,” Glinda nods, wiping her tears away and shaking it off like she didn;t just have a breakdown. “We’re past friends by this point, wouldn’t you agree? I mean,” Glinda giggles, “We have kissed twice.”

“Girlfriends…” Elphaba mumbles, dumbstruck and overjoyed at the idea. “...yes.”

“Great,” Glinda smiles and kisses Elphaba, this time just a peck on the lips. “Let’s try and sleep. We have the next rescue mission tomorrow.”

“Oh-- right,” Elphaba nods.

They both lie down. Elphaba wraps her arms around Glinda’s waist, while the blonde hugs Elphaba’s head to her chest. They fall asleep peacefully, neither experiencing a single nightmare.

The friends wake up naturally at the crack of dawn. They all slowly get ready, none fully awake yet.

Elphaba can hear the sounds of the animals they already saved moving around on the other parts of the castle. Whenever they free an animal, they bring the creature to the abandoned castle until they can find a way to safely get them out of Oz. Though, a lot of animals stay with the desire to help them change Oz.

Once ready, they board the carriage and head out. Nessa brings them into Munchkinland to an animal containment camp near the border with Quadling country.

“Alright,” Fiyero huffs as he jumps out, Elphaba, Glinda, and Boq following. “Let’s be quick about this one, there’s more guards than usual.”

They all nod and move in. Boq runs in front of the guards, drawing them away from the front entrance. Glinda follows Elphaba and Fiyero inside, distracting the two guards she sees.

Elphaba feels a sharp pang of worry for her girlfriend as Glinda bolts with great speed away from the guards.

“They’ll be fine,” Fiyero whispers as they make their way through the camp to the massive room with the cages, “We’ve done this plenty of times.”

“Right,” Elphaba nods, distracted by her worry, “right…”

Fiyero picks the lock and holds the door open for Elphaba. They enter the room and gasps in surprise. There are rows upon rows of cages. But not a single one had an animal in it.

They were all empty.

“It’s a trap,” Elphaba whispers in horror.

She and Fiyero turn tail and bolt for the door. But it’s locked. Growling in frustration, Fiyero kicks the door in with surprising strength. They don’t waste a moment and run out. By the time they make it outside, Nessa, Glinda, and Boq have been pinned to the ground by guards and handcuffed. Madame Morrible stands over them.

“Ah, Miss Elphaba.” the woman says with an intimidating grin. “How wonderful it is that you could join us.”

Without sparing a glance to Fiyero, Morrible waves her hand dismissively. Her magic throws Fiyero towards the carriage. He crumbles to the ground, and the guards instantly handcuff him.

Madame Morrible, being the glamorously dramatic woman she is, summons a ring of fire around her, Elphaba, the guards, and the five handcuffed friends so they can’t escape.

“Your father has been worried sick, you know.” Madame Morrible says in a sickeningly sweet tone as she slowly circles Elphaba. “As have I. Whatever were you thinking running away, dear? You know the Wizard has only ever had your best interests in mind.”

“I don’t care,” Elphaba glares, “He doesn’t control me anymore.”

“Oh, but that’s where you are wrong, my dear.” Morrible says smoothly. “The Wizard controls everyone. There is nowhere in Oz you can go that he won’t find you. It’s much easier to just…give in.”

“Well I’m going to change that,” Elphaba says determinedly. “I’ll ask only once. Leave. Us. Alone.”

Madame Morrible chuckles in cruel amusement.

“Or what, my dear?” she taunts, “You have no magic.”

“Or this,” Elphaba shoves past Morrible and jumps on the nearest guard, catching him by surprise. She steals his pistol and shoots him in the leg.

Instinctively, the other guards move to attack her.

“No, you fools!” Morrible spits furiously, “She is not to be harmed!”

In their brief distraction, Elphaba steals the handcuff keys and frees Fiyero and Glinda first. The two immediately pounce on the guards nearest to them, using the element of surprise to overwhelm them. Elphaba frees Nessa and Boq next. Boq helps Nessa onto her wheelchair while Glinda, Fiyero, and Elphaba hold back the guards with the pistols they snagged.

Morrible, infuriated by how quickly the guards lost the upperhand, claps her hands angrily. Bolts of lightning rain down, all magically avoiding Elphaba. Boq gets hit by one, causing Nessa to scream his name, while Glinda is hit in the leg. One guard isn’t so lucky and is struck in the head.

Seeing the damage being done to both her friends and the guards, Elphaba runs at Morrible and tackles the woman to the ground. Distracted, Morrible loses concentration and her weather spell stops. Fiyero disarms and ties up the guards in their moment of distraction, while Elphaba manages to knock out Madame Morrible. The older woman was not the best hand to hand fighter.

Breathing heavily, Elphaba gets up and wipes sweat off her brow.

“Elphaba!” Nessa calls her name desperately. The green girl turns to see her friends crowding around Boq’s still body. “He’s not waking!”

Elphaba moves quickly, helping Nessa onto the carriage, then Glinda. Fiyero lays Boq down on the ground of the carriage to administer CPR, while Elphaba climbs in next to Nessa.

“To the castle!” The princess says urgently, “Maybe one of the animals we’ve helped is a doctor!”

Not needing to be told twice, Nessa snaps the reins and the horses take off, galloping back to their base.

Elphaba prays to every deity she can think on the way, begging for Boq to live.

She couldn’t handle another body on her conscience.