Actions

Work Header

so if you care to find me / know that you have changed me for good

Summary:

fic time imAGINEEEEEEEEEEE elphaba convincing fiyero to help her see glinda “one last time” RELEASE MEEEEEEEEeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEE
or
set after the events of wicked, fiyero asks elphaba if she's taken care of everything she needs to before they move on. elphaba decides to visit glinda one last time (fiyero already had a plan in place).

 

major canon divergence with the minimalist of editing (Godspeed) because i am in my lesbian happyland and no one can bring me down

i would caution for people who've been abused because even though it's not overt iykyk, it could be triggering re: glinda's relationship to madame morrible

Notes:

read this as if you allowed me to send you a flurry of messages torn from my social studies spiral notebook when we were supposed to be watching a documentary on the industrial revolution and the teacher is coming to take me out of class but i NEED you to know these things IMMEDIATELY

 

extra extra that has nothing to do with anything:
[side note please also imagine glinda sending dorothy to elphaba like divorced moms sending their kid back and forth to each other like PAY ATTENTION TO ME and the kid is like i actually have a real family why are you doing this

scarecrow fiyero done forgot who he is and is the stepdad helping out by accident

dorothy deciding to stay at elphaba’s and just ties the note to toto and says "come here and talk to your wife im tired of walking in these shoes”]

Work Text:

and glinda asking why she left the hat behind and trying to be all cool about it and obviously failing and elphaba being like they wouldn’t have believed it if i had taken you with me and like A LITTLE bitterly reflecting on defying gravity, “thats what you told me, right?”

glinda taking it in stride, “i wouldve just weighed you down”

and elphaba seeing its getting them nowhere. “that was then. what about now?”

an aside for fiyero the scarecrow doing a little jig and flirting with the guard at the door

at one point he starts singing “kiss de girl” and glinda says NOT NOW in a loud whisper and fiyero was like i was talking to elphaba but NOTED

glinda is hoping that elphaba is for some reason not as perceptive as she’s always been and goes, “I DIDN’T KNOW THIS FANCY SCARECROW COULD DO SUCH AN INTERESTING NON-OZIAN ACCENT”

elphaba: you know thats fiyero and why are you yelling

elphaba tries to get them back on track, fiyero takes this time to go to the guards and teach them a quick little choreo so that he can really seal the deal when the time comes

he’s also now going on a date with three of them

glinda: well now. ive changed.
elphaba: for good?
glinda tries to break holding their hands but elphaba won’t let her. so she settles for looking at her shoes, which makes elphaba’s heart wrench at seeing not just shiz galinda, but that one picture of galinda standing in the middle of several childhood friends that’s front and center in her family’s album, and how she looked done up like a doll, the picture of perfection, but that wasn’t what elphaba remembered the most. it was the look in her eyes. something so close to fear that she can’t believe whoever looked at little galinda didnt stop the world to fix it. but then she wonders whenever they looked at her, did they really see her?
glinda: i wouldnt—i couldnt—say that.

elphaba: well we can fix whatever you’ve broken.
glinda: there isn’t enough time.
elphaba: there is always time to do good. even when there is no time left.

fiyero comes in: not to break up this lovely reunion that is long overdue, but i may have called robert, tabius and tabius did not take too kindly to that even though in my opinion those are so closely realted that—

elphaba: the point, fiyero?

fiyero: the guards are on their way.

elphaba turns back to glinda because those guards mean nothing to her.

fiyero: and morrible is with them.

elphaba’s lips twitch at that.

not so much at the woman but at the fear from the picture returning to glinda’s eyes.

glinda: you have to go. i can’t risk losing--

elphaba: your place here?
she knows thats not what glinda means, but she dare not hope.

glinda’s eyes break even further, her shoulder collapse in on themselves, and elphaba has never seen her smaller than this. she feels fiyero giving her a death stare from somewhere over her shoulder.

elphaba: i didn’t mean—

glinda: you did. and i get it.
she looks up to make sure elphaba doesn’t misunderstand her.
glinda: i cannot risk losing. [she steps closer and grips elphaba’s hands in her own, making sure not to break eye contact.] you.

and before elphaba can respond, glinda closes the distance between them. she takes one breath, not for confidence or determination, but for elphaba to move back if she so chooses. when she does not, glinda moves her hands to elphaba’s shoulders and pulls her closer. she presses her lips to elphaba’s and oh.

is this just a taste of it? of defying gravity?

she pulls back a little, to make sure elphie is okay. she has to grip her shoulders again because her feet aren’t touching the ground. she looks at the dreamy but focused look on elphaba’s face and somehow she falls in love all over again.

elphaba: will you come with me?
the smashing at the door is reminiscent of that broken tower.
glinda: if you’ll have me.
elphaba: no, you have a choice. i will never choose for you.
glinda’s mind flashes through the past fifteen years of every choice snatched from her. starting with clearing elphaba’s name down to what kind of tea she could have this morning. she’s, strangely, more terrified now than she was back then. she didn’t even know what evil could look like outside of hushed rumors and childhood stories. now she knows morrible. and if they come through that door, she knows it will be even worse. and if elphie comes back one more time, and thats a big if, she may not be herself enough to even respond.

she feels elphaba pull back a little. even though she’s grown so much into herself, rejection still stings a small part of her and glinda can see that she put that flash of doubt in her eyes—again. she’d promised herself she’d never do that again.

glinda moves her hand into elphaba’s and says: i choose you.
the smile on elphaba’s face could light up all of oz. elphaba whistles and fiyero stops trying to keep the doors locked, hops on the back of elphaba’s broom like he was born there and glinda worries for a moment that there isn’t room for her. not just here, but in elphaba’s life, in wherever they’d go next.

before the thought can take place, the doors open and morrible’s terrible voice has her frozen in fear. elphaba squeezes her hand and it’s enough to guide her in front of fiyero who holds her steady as elphaba takes one snap and freezes the entire room.

fiyero whispers: of course she couldve done that any time but once again, wants to impress the girl. meanwhile ive lost five pounds of straw to this debacle.

a part of glinda wants to laugh, in a corner where she kept her love for fiyero, for elphaba (which never stayed put, it kept finding itself in the most unhelpful places, her finger tips, her mind, behind her calves, her shoulders, her neck, her lips, her heart), for herself (she couldn’t find her even if she tried)—but stays still. the feeling of morrible in the room trained down to her bones. try not to be seen. speak only when spoken to. hope she doesn’t speak to you at all.

elphaba turns the broom slightly so glinda can see morrible is stuck, her mouth cannot move, neither can her fingers. any type of magic she could create, is stuck within those body parts.

she can hear and see though.

elphaba goes to talk but her voice catches with tears that surprise her. here, was a mother she never knew she needed. and even that mother betrayed her. used her. only decided she could be used for evil. and when she had a chance to save her, she chose herself instead. she—

the threat of tears in elphie’s voice shakes glinda out of her fear more than anything else. she is still terrified—no doubt about it—but she can reach that small but so very powerful part of herself that would choose elphie’s happiness over her own any day (even though elphaba would never ask her to) for ten seconds. thats all she needs, ten second of brave.

glinda: im leaving.

the anger in morrible’s eyes causes her to pause, to falter.

glinda: im leaving with elphaba. you are to clear her name, as you should’ve done….as we should’ve done years ago.

she can almost hear morrible’s condescending cackle, the one that soundtracks most of her nightmares. that, and elphaba’s crying. no, that’s not the focus now.

glinda: if you do not.
she steps off of the broom and stands next to elphaba.
glinda: there is something worse than death that awaits you.

elphaba stares at her in awe and glinda is very aware in this moment that she wants to kiss the HELLVIAN out of elphie but she needs just five more seconds. just five.

glinda turns to elphaba.

glinda: do you have anything you would like to say to her?
elphaba shakes her head. they both get on the broom.

before they take off, glinda throws over her shoulder:

“the wizard is dead with your signature magic all over the room. the city has been evacuated. the animals are coming.”

she smiles, “by now, everyone shall have received the true story of elphaba thropp, penned from your personal stationary.”

as the broom lifts a few feet, she ends with, “but you may want to put out this burning building first.”

she releases a laugh as she grabs elphaba around the middle and feels fiyero’s hands lightly grab her hips to keep her in place. she feels the wind on her face, she feels outside not just the imitation of it like from inside her bubble.

when elphaba raises her hand to release morrible, to give her a fighting chance as the flames lick ever quicker towards the top of the building, glinda squeezes her tighter and murmurs “thank you for saving me.” into the crook between her neck and shoulder. elphaba puts her hand back down and places it over glinda’s clasped hands around her waist.

"i suppose i could thank you for doing the same.”

before glinda can respond fiyero calls out THIS IS CUTE AND ALL BUT I HAD TWO DATES WHO’S GONNA FIX THAT NOW?