Fade To Black 3/? by Light_Spectre, PG-13
Title: Fade To Black 3/?
Author: Light_Spectre
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Elphaba/(Dark)Glinda
Verse: Book (mostly)
Summary: Chaos ensues at Shiz and a certain bubbly someone loses their way. Why is Glinda suddenly so cruel and with a tongue even sharper than Elphaba's? (Mind out of the gutter, people.)
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters in any way, shape or form. I'm not certain who does, actually. Is it completely Gregory Maguire? What about those happy-happy rich musical people that tend to own lots? Huh. Either way, I do not own. No no.
Wordcount: 3,308
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
======================================================
Fade to Black
The Emergence of Dark Glinda... CHAPTER 3
Later that night, Elphaba found herself journeying to Crage Hall embarrassingly unsteady on her feet and with an almost light-hearted outlook on life. She even smiled as she walked, uncaring of the bitter cold wind as it bombarded her, hardly realizing how very close she was to being caught in a downpour with the skies heaving and sputtering, about to erupt at any moment. Whether the chirping in her ears was actually birds singing melodious songs or if she was delirious, she couldn't know, but either way it served in making her thin lips stretch to a smile. Something she didn't do so often.
Once on the university grounds, she ambled just as slowly to Crage Hall, buzzing on the panel by the door until an exhausted looking proctor came out and grumbled as she let Elphaba in. “A bit late, don't you think?” she said, but Elphaba continued to smile oddly as she walked past, as if trying it on like a pair of new shoes. “Maybe to you, when it is your job to stay up. The irony of life...” she said absently, and off she went toward the part of the building that her room was situated. It was at this point, however, that she was briefly able to step back, in a sense, and realise that she was strangely happy. A night of invigorating debates with Boq about souls (but his opinion was refreshing, unlike Nessa's), and witches, and reminiscing about Dillamond's research and swapping witty barbs with the ever hammy Crope and Tibbett... well, she found it was something she had missed recently. It had been easy to convince herself that work was all she needed-work and research on Animal rights, but as Boq had said, they had inadvertently become friends over the end of summer break as they worked together. The friendship creeping up on them like one of Doctor Nikidik's strange classroom potions.
She gave a pause.
No wonder there was such a low turn out to his lectures. No one could be sure whether it would be a day with possessed murderous antlers or floating vaporous spells to charm them all into listening to his incessant 'and this is the mumble mumble... which I'm sure you'll find rather mumble mumble mumble.' How preposterous. But that was a lecture where Crage Hall and Briscoe Hall mixed and Boq, Fiyero, Crope and Tibbett were also there, as was she, and Glinda.
Elphaba nibbled her lower lip - not that there was much to nibble - as she continued up a set of stairs. A plan was forming and an all new level of... happiness, she guessed... no, more likely excitement at the prospect of organised activity. Life Sciences would be important in this. Yes. The mystery of Glinda would be solved quickly with so many eyes on her.
Fumbling with the dark layers cocooning her, Elphaba eventually managed to retrieve her key, and gently opened the door to find the room beyond entirely quiet and dark aside from the quietly glowing embers in the fire. She took care to walk quietly, taking caricatured steps on tip toes to bypass any random clutter on Glinda's side of the room, but alas, there was an unfortunate tube of something, which from the sounds of it, exploded messily under her foot. Elphaba froze and closed her eyes, silently cursing herself and wondering what mess would greet her in the morning.
“Elphie...”
Elphaba turned, though in the dark and with unaccustomed eyes, she could see only the general shadow of Glinda's occupied bed.
“Elphie, is that you?”
With a sigh, Elphaba nodded and continued on through the room toward her own bed, treading whatever beautifying spillage was under her boot. “Yes. It's me.”
A rustle of sheets and Glinda was sitting up, rubbing her eyes and frowning, though Elphaba could see little of this. “Where were you?” Her voice was lower than usual. Husky from tiredness and gentle-vulnerable, even. “I didn't know where you were and Nessa was looking for you.”
“I was with a few people,” Elphaba muttered as she began unlacing her heavy boots, but the darkness, cold fingers and lingering inebriation proved the task near on impossible.
“Who?”
“Never you mind.”
Glinda stayed silent and continued to peer at her, bunching the pink sheets up in her nervously fidgeting hands, while Elphaba cursed quietly as the laces of one boot became a knot. Though Elphaba could not see the girl, and was not trying to either, she could hear Glinda's restless movements and paused her struggle with the boot.
“Why won't you tell me?” Glinda whispered, but it was loud enough for Elphaba to hear. And she ignored it.
“Was Nessa okay? Did Nanny help her instead?”
“No. Nanny was away with the Amas today. Morrible had arranged a day trip for them, including Nanny in it, for some reason or another.”
Elphaba frowned, “So who-”
“I did.”
Elphaba expelled a breath, feeling strange suddenly. “Why would you...?”
“Because you weren't here.”
Elphaba could hear the accusation in Glinda's voice and she wasn't sure what to do with it. How could a singular night out with friends lead to such ill feelings from Glinda, when it was she that made it her business to attend every party above a certain calibre, and there were many. How was this fair? Not that Elphaba expected fairness as such, because it was not something she had been in a position to grow particularly accustomed to. No one had been fair to her, but if anyone was, it was Glinda, in a way, perhaps because she had little care for Elphaba and even less for her sister that Elphaba was not always losing out.
Elphaba frowned again.
Losing out on what? Affection? Why would she care for affection? But she expected Glinda to understand this.
“Elphie...”
“What was it she needed help with?”
Glinda sighed and there was more shuffling of bed linen as she shifted. “Page turning.”
“You read with her? You read with my Nessa?”
“You have no right to get angry with me.”
Elphaba shook her head and yanked off the partially loosened, though still knotted boot, hurting her foot in the process. “I'm not angry. Why would I be angry? It makes no sense.” And she yanked off the other, inducing more pain, before ripping off her cloak and hurling it toward the closet.
“You're angry at me.”
“I am not.” Elphaba dropped down to her bed with such a speed that it nearly winded her. She stared up at the ceiling almost gasping.
“You weren't here.”
“I know. You told me already.”
Silence settled over them, but neither was in a position to sleep. Glinda continued to sit upright and peered at Elphaba, while Elphaba stared at the ceiling, without much of a clue as to why she was suddenly feeling so worked up. She turned her head and watched Glinda, now able to distinguish more of her, but she didn't say anything. It was Glinda that seemed intent on this impromptu late night talk. And as such, it was her that asked: “Are you drunk?”
Elphaba turned and continued staring at the ceiling, taking a deep breath. “What does it matter?”
“Are you drunk.”
“I don't see how this makes any difference to you.”
“You are drunk. And I can smell smoke on you!”
Elphaba jumped up from the bed, standing in her dark tights and smoky dress, “Will you hush!” she whispered harshly and glaring, “Don't wake Nessa-”
“As if you have her best interests at heart!” Glinda returned with a throaty whisper, and rising from her bed as well.
“I do!”
“You do not! You were off getting drunk and... and smoking like one of those... town commoners down there, while your sister needed you!”
Elphaba stepped closer, her hands tense and claw-like and out from her sides a little as anger began to overwhelm her. “What is wrong with you! I understand that you're tired and highly irrational, but how could you possibly find fault with my absence! And using my sister in your quarrel with me! It was one night! Not even the full night like you often do, returning in the early hours of the morning, doing Oz knows what!”
“I fell asleep at that party!”
“Well, unlike you,” Elphaba sneered, “I don't sink so low as to be ruled by jealousy, and misplace my frustrations by shouting at you for no reason!”
Glinda stumbled back as if struck, “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing.”
“Elphaba.”
“Go and catch up on beauty sleep. I'm tired and I find this juvenile exchange of words profoundly boring.” Elphaba turned and strode to the closet, selecting a nightgown at random before locking herself in the bathroom with a grim set to her sharp jaw.
The room had been oddly quiet when Elphaba opened her eyes the next morning. Aware of the chill in the air and the early morning smell of dew coming in through the partially open window, Elphaba sat up in her bed as it creaked its complaints. She couln't help but find Glinda's early absence incredibly strange. Yet another moment of mystery concerning the blonde, and Elphaba wondered if it was all deliberate. To distract her from her studies; to make her pay more attention to Glinda, and of course, Glinda must have been thriving off it, smiling triumphantly every time Elphaba's back was turned.
Could Glinda really be so devious? Surely not, but either way, Elphaba's mood had plummeted. While she was never one to smile any significant amount and prance about in overly apparent levity, this morning her expression had passed from her usual noncholance, to a perpetual frown. She felt as though she were at a strange disadvantage, suspecting, but not fully knowing. Glinda and her friends were likely laughing at her for an all new reason now. Elphaba the Dim, they would soon be calling her. How terrible that would be... if she could find it within herself to care what the intellectually retarded masses at the institution thought. But she cared what Glinda thought.
And if this was not some absurd plan to confuse Elphaba? She hoped with all her cold vegetable heart that Glinda could handle whatever strangeness she was going though.
Elphaba went through her morning rituals without being too distracted, but breakfast unsettled her. She intended it to be a quick affair: to go in, retrieve food of some sort and go out again, hardly seeing any reason why she should stay in an enclosed space with the early risers of her cohorts more than she had to. The very idea was absurd - masochism at its best - but on walking in, she was met with the sight of Nanny and Nessarose queuing for food. “A foul mess today, that not even a burst of amateur sorcery can even improve,” Elphaba murmurred upon reaching them.
Nanny turned, her pasty hand coming away from Nessa's chair and resting on her generously sized hip, looking gnarled and still as that of a garden gnome. “We should appreciate what we are given and not be catty,” she said, holding her head high and keeping her gaze hard as Nessa nodded in agreement, regarding Elphaba in a similarly stern way.
“But you hate this slop as much as I. You even told me so yesterday and countless times before that,” Elphaba countered, her eyes narrowing at the aged woman.
“Nanny,” Nessa reprimanded, but Nanny had turned away, rolling her eyes and muttering, “No one likes a talkative grasshopper. Such ill timing, Elphaba. Really.”
“My whole life is a story of ill timing. A horrific one not for the faint-harted,” Elphaba grumbled. “Why are you here? Will the procter not deliver your food as usual?”
“I have heard odd things about that girl...” Nanny muttered.
“Oh don't gossip, Nanny," Nessa muttered, frowning. "It hurts my soul.” She then stretched her neck and glared at the older woman, but soon turned after a moment of Nanny refusing to look sorry. Instead, she cast a hard eye on Elphaba, “I have decided to be more independent. I will not take special treatment any longer.”
“Oh?” Elphaba glanced at Nanny with amusement, “and what brought this on?”
“The fact that I had to look to Glinda of the Arduennas for help in your absence.” Nessarose delicately sniffed for effect.
“Is it really so terrible that I was out for a night? Nanny, you tell me. You have a practical head on your shoulders - practical, Nessa. Don't argue with your biased words - is it wrong for me to have a few friends? Really?”
The gnarled woman gave a shrug, “You have responsibilities.”
“I understand that. I always have, but it was one night.”
“At a time when I needed you most.” Nessa sniffed again. “Morrible arranged that damned night for Nanny, and you left me all alone! Would you know Glinda can hardly read? Her page turning left a lot to be desired.”
The line shuffled forward and Nanny wordlessly pulled Nessa along.
“At least she helped you, Nessa,” Elphaba muttered.
“As if I am such a chore! What would have me do when abandoned!”
“Don't shriek so. It mars your tragic beauty.”
“Oh do not mock me, you green evil thing! I pray for you every night and hope that your sins may be forgiven, but the Unnamed God will hardly cast a blind eye at your neglect of me - and yes! Dare I say it, you neglect me.” Nessa sniffed and her indignant eyes grew shiny. “Abandoning me like that. How could you? Nanny? Nanny, I fear I'm terribly upset. I cannot bear being in this hall any longer with her. She hates me, Nanny. Uncaring that I am her own flesh and blood and so put upon.”
“Such a martyr.” Elphaba arched a far from preened eyebrow, “Are you ever happy about anything? If a pot of gold fell upon your pretty head you would still moan.”
Nanny twitched, smirking, while Nessa strengthened her glare. “You are truly wicked,” she sighed, resignedly.
“And you, dearest Nessa, are truly annoying, but I do still love you as I, above all, know nobody is perfect. I love you so much, I would chew your food for you if you so desired. I would even shit for you, darling holy Nessa.”
“Now now.” Nanny chirped in her own gravelly way, “No talk of shit in this place. It's almost wrong.” She tutted.
“Nanny, take me from this place. Please, before the wickedness spreads and infects me too.”
Elphaba smiled as Nanny grasped the handles of Nessa's chair, to wheel her away. “No it wouldn't. You're far too riteous. And far too riteous to have much sense.”
“Be nice to your sister, Elphaba, or I'll never hear the end of this.”
"Nanny!"
Nanny patted Nessa's head, "There there. Nanny loves you."
Elphaba moved forward in the line. “Alright. I'll swallow any vestiges of sorry pride I have left, and let her roll over me with her practised righteous ease.” She gave a tight smile. “Have you seen Glinda?”
The question was intended for Nanny, but it was Nessa that answered, grumbling in a pained fashion: “She said she would have sorcery early today." She motioned with her sniffling head for Nanny to take her away, while Nanny muttered about the controversial proctor bringing them blighted breakfast and how they would likely die from it, all the while intermittently patting Nessa's head and saying, "There there," quite absently, not having realised Nessa's moment of dramatic hurt had passed.
"Nanny. My neck. Do stop."
~~~
“Are you alright, Glinda?”
The blonde straightened, her breath coming quick as she peered at the anxious man in front of her. “No thanks to you,” she said, exhaling a shaky breath. She reached an unsteady hand up and rubbed her forehead as if soothing it. “Not very impressive, I have to say.”
The man swallowed and the sound of his throat mingled with the sounds of crackling candles around them, that illuminated the otherwise dark and silent room. The curtains were all shut and the window panes of the door were covered, setting a moody secret atmosphere.
“I don't think I understand,” he said.
“No. I don't expect you ever understand much, Doctor Threnidee.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand in a strangely masculine way, and his eyes widened.
“Miss Glinda-”
“Suddenly so polite. I'm honoured,” she drawled, her voice dripping with cold sarcasm. “We're over.” She then picked up her discarded training wand with a disdainful look and gracefully left the room, despite the darkness and various desks partly obstructing her path.
~~~
Glinda hadn't returned till late that night, seemingly intent on making as much noise as she could, much to Elphaba's annoyance who had long since retired to bed. She laid there, with her blurry tired eyes open and staring at the ceiling and the scratchy bedsheets pulled tight about her, wrestling with their ineffective nature for some semblance of warmth. But as her roommate produced an extraordinarily loud noise and then cursed in quite an obscene way, Elphaba had to turn and look, certain that what would greet her was not her usual roommate.
Indeed, as her eyes tracked to the blonde through the darkness, there was something very off about her, but still somehow recognisable as Glinda. The shadow of her bouffant skirts seemed the only thing unchanged. The girl's stance was all wrong - she was hunched as she moved about as though incredibly tired and she had a certain air of melancholy about her, but aggressively so. Even from this second and obscure exposure to Glinda in this state, Elphaba new that the girl could only really be described as aggressive. She could feel it permeating the air; a certain unnatural vicious darkness making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. In quite a distressing way, Elphaba decided.
There was no doubt in her mind that this was what she had been waiting for. Her roommate was, for all intents and purposes, now Dark Glinda; but before Elphaba could even work up the courage to open her mouth and engage in enlightening conversation, the blonde had dashed further into the room and then turned, into the bathroom followed by a resounding slam of the door, prompting Elphaba to jerk upright in her squealing bed, and watch the closed off threshold. She blinked at it, trembling slightly, a part of her disbelieving of what was happening and perhaps hoping she was still dreaming while the rest of her knew this was very real, and no desperate clumsy persuasion from the parts in denial could sway the truth of the matter.
Elphaba - the verdant thing that some would happily refer to as evil or wicked, obviously lead by their dramatic tendencies, was scared. That is, scared of Glinda. Her roommate.
And that realisation in itself, was enough to hold Elphaba frozen in absolute horror, as she watched that bathroom door shake and rattle as a myriad lights careened from the gap beneath it. Glinda screamed. Short and terrified-a burst of a scream, really, and then all was silent. The lights ended, the door stilled, Elphaba found herself able to breathe again and the room seemed somehow darker though less oppressive. Adrenaline coursed through her as she sank back into her bed, staring at the ceiling once again, hardly blinking. She stayed like that even as she heard the bath filling with water, and eventually the sound of the bathroom door creaking open, allowing a sniffling Glinda through as she slowly padded toward her bed. The mattress' springs sqeaked as she settled between the sheets, but now she was crying. The scent of soothing lavender soap filled the room, and yet Glinda was crying. Elphaba could hear the shallow breaths, the snivels, and the way she shook in her bed, but she could not get up and console her. Not even when she heard Glinda whisper brokenly into the darkness: “What's happening to me?”
While Elphaba considered that moment to be of great importance, cementing her and Boq's suspicions of Glinda's new strange state, it would not be till morning that she would know the full extent of all that had transpired on that fateful evening. Shiz would never be the same; and neither would she or Glinda, for on those very grounds, no more than several corridors away, a brutal murder had been comitted.
======================================================
Author: Light_Spectre
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Elphaba/(Dark)Glinda
Verse: Book (mostly)
Summary: Chaos ensues at Shiz and a certain bubbly someone loses their way. Why is Glinda suddenly so cruel and with a tongue even sharper than Elphaba's? (Mind out of the gutter, people.)
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters in any way, shape or form. I'm not certain who does, actually. Is it completely Gregory Maguire? What about those happy-happy rich musical people that tend to own lots? Huh. Either way, I do not own. No no.
Wordcount: 3,308
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
======================================================
Fade to Black
The Emergence of Dark Glinda... CHAPTER 3
Later that night, Elphaba found herself journeying to Crage Hall embarrassingly unsteady on her feet and with an almost light-hearted outlook on life. She even smiled as she walked, uncaring of the bitter cold wind as it bombarded her, hardly realizing how very close she was to being caught in a downpour with the skies heaving and sputtering, about to erupt at any moment. Whether the chirping in her ears was actually birds singing melodious songs or if she was delirious, she couldn't know, but either way it served in making her thin lips stretch to a smile. Something she didn't do so often.
Once on the university grounds, she ambled just as slowly to Crage Hall, buzzing on the panel by the door until an exhausted looking proctor came out and grumbled as she let Elphaba in. “A bit late, don't you think?” she said, but Elphaba continued to smile oddly as she walked past, as if trying it on like a pair of new shoes. “Maybe to you, when it is your job to stay up. The irony of life...” she said absently, and off she went toward the part of the building that her room was situated. It was at this point, however, that she was briefly able to step back, in a sense, and realise that she was strangely happy. A night of invigorating debates with Boq about souls (but his opinion was refreshing, unlike Nessa's), and witches, and reminiscing about Dillamond's research and swapping witty barbs with the ever hammy Crope and Tibbett... well, she found it was something she had missed recently. It had been easy to convince herself that work was all she needed-work and research on Animal rights, but as Boq had said, they had inadvertently become friends over the end of summer break as they worked together. The friendship creeping up on them like one of Doctor Nikidik's strange classroom potions.
She gave a pause.
No wonder there was such a low turn out to his lectures. No one could be sure whether it would be a day with possessed murderous antlers or floating vaporous spells to charm them all into listening to his incessant 'and this is the mumble mumble... which I'm sure you'll find rather mumble mumble mumble.' How preposterous. But that was a lecture where Crage Hall and Briscoe Hall mixed and Boq, Fiyero, Crope and Tibbett were also there, as was she, and Glinda.
Elphaba nibbled her lower lip - not that there was much to nibble - as she continued up a set of stairs. A plan was forming and an all new level of... happiness, she guessed... no, more likely excitement at the prospect of organised activity. Life Sciences would be important in this. Yes. The mystery of Glinda would be solved quickly with so many eyes on her.
Fumbling with the dark layers cocooning her, Elphaba eventually managed to retrieve her key, and gently opened the door to find the room beyond entirely quiet and dark aside from the quietly glowing embers in the fire. She took care to walk quietly, taking caricatured steps on tip toes to bypass any random clutter on Glinda's side of the room, but alas, there was an unfortunate tube of something, which from the sounds of it, exploded messily under her foot. Elphaba froze and closed her eyes, silently cursing herself and wondering what mess would greet her in the morning.
“Elphie...”
Elphaba turned, though in the dark and with unaccustomed eyes, she could see only the general shadow of Glinda's occupied bed.
“Elphie, is that you?”
With a sigh, Elphaba nodded and continued on through the room toward her own bed, treading whatever beautifying spillage was under her boot. “Yes. It's me.”
A rustle of sheets and Glinda was sitting up, rubbing her eyes and frowning, though Elphaba could see little of this. “Where were you?” Her voice was lower than usual. Husky from tiredness and gentle-vulnerable, even. “I didn't know where you were and Nessa was looking for you.”
“I was with a few people,” Elphaba muttered as she began unlacing her heavy boots, but the darkness, cold fingers and lingering inebriation proved the task near on impossible.
“Who?”
“Never you mind.”
Glinda stayed silent and continued to peer at her, bunching the pink sheets up in her nervously fidgeting hands, while Elphaba cursed quietly as the laces of one boot became a knot. Though Elphaba could not see the girl, and was not trying to either, she could hear Glinda's restless movements and paused her struggle with the boot.
“Why won't you tell me?” Glinda whispered, but it was loud enough for Elphaba to hear. And she ignored it.
“Was Nessa okay? Did Nanny help her instead?”
“No. Nanny was away with the Amas today. Morrible had arranged a day trip for them, including Nanny in it, for some reason or another.”
Elphaba frowned, “So who-”
“I did.”
Elphaba expelled a breath, feeling strange suddenly. “Why would you...?”
“Because you weren't here.”
Elphaba could hear the accusation in Glinda's voice and she wasn't sure what to do with it. How could a singular night out with friends lead to such ill feelings from Glinda, when it was she that made it her business to attend every party above a certain calibre, and there were many. How was this fair? Not that Elphaba expected fairness as such, because it was not something she had been in a position to grow particularly accustomed to. No one had been fair to her, but if anyone was, it was Glinda, in a way, perhaps because she had little care for Elphaba and even less for her sister that Elphaba was not always losing out.
Elphaba frowned again.
Losing out on what? Affection? Why would she care for affection? But she expected Glinda to understand this.
“Elphie...”
“What was it she needed help with?”
Glinda sighed and there was more shuffling of bed linen as she shifted. “Page turning.”
“You read with her? You read with my Nessa?”
“You have no right to get angry with me.”
Elphaba shook her head and yanked off the partially loosened, though still knotted boot, hurting her foot in the process. “I'm not angry. Why would I be angry? It makes no sense.” And she yanked off the other, inducing more pain, before ripping off her cloak and hurling it toward the closet.
“You're angry at me.”
“I am not.” Elphaba dropped down to her bed with such a speed that it nearly winded her. She stared up at the ceiling almost gasping.
“You weren't here.”
“I know. You told me already.”
Silence settled over them, but neither was in a position to sleep. Glinda continued to sit upright and peered at Elphaba, while Elphaba stared at the ceiling, without much of a clue as to why she was suddenly feeling so worked up. She turned her head and watched Glinda, now able to distinguish more of her, but she didn't say anything. It was Glinda that seemed intent on this impromptu late night talk. And as such, it was her that asked: “Are you drunk?”
Elphaba turned and continued staring at the ceiling, taking a deep breath. “What does it matter?”
“Are you drunk.”
“I don't see how this makes any difference to you.”
“You are drunk. And I can smell smoke on you!”
Elphaba jumped up from the bed, standing in her dark tights and smoky dress, “Will you hush!” she whispered harshly and glaring, “Don't wake Nessa-”
“As if you have her best interests at heart!” Glinda returned with a throaty whisper, and rising from her bed as well.
“I do!”
“You do not! You were off getting drunk and... and smoking like one of those... town commoners down there, while your sister needed you!”
Elphaba stepped closer, her hands tense and claw-like and out from her sides a little as anger began to overwhelm her. “What is wrong with you! I understand that you're tired and highly irrational, but how could you possibly find fault with my absence! And using my sister in your quarrel with me! It was one night! Not even the full night like you often do, returning in the early hours of the morning, doing Oz knows what!”
“I fell asleep at that party!”
“Well, unlike you,” Elphaba sneered, “I don't sink so low as to be ruled by jealousy, and misplace my frustrations by shouting at you for no reason!”
Glinda stumbled back as if struck, “What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing.”
“Elphaba.”
“Go and catch up on beauty sleep. I'm tired and I find this juvenile exchange of words profoundly boring.” Elphaba turned and strode to the closet, selecting a nightgown at random before locking herself in the bathroom with a grim set to her sharp jaw.
The room had been oddly quiet when Elphaba opened her eyes the next morning. Aware of the chill in the air and the early morning smell of dew coming in through the partially open window, Elphaba sat up in her bed as it creaked its complaints. She couln't help but find Glinda's early absence incredibly strange. Yet another moment of mystery concerning the blonde, and Elphaba wondered if it was all deliberate. To distract her from her studies; to make her pay more attention to Glinda, and of course, Glinda must have been thriving off it, smiling triumphantly every time Elphaba's back was turned.
Could Glinda really be so devious? Surely not, but either way, Elphaba's mood had plummeted. While she was never one to smile any significant amount and prance about in overly apparent levity, this morning her expression had passed from her usual noncholance, to a perpetual frown. She felt as though she were at a strange disadvantage, suspecting, but not fully knowing. Glinda and her friends were likely laughing at her for an all new reason now. Elphaba the Dim, they would soon be calling her. How terrible that would be... if she could find it within herself to care what the intellectually retarded masses at the institution thought. But she cared what Glinda thought.
And if this was not some absurd plan to confuse Elphaba? She hoped with all her cold vegetable heart that Glinda could handle whatever strangeness she was going though.
Elphaba went through her morning rituals without being too distracted, but breakfast unsettled her. She intended it to be a quick affair: to go in, retrieve food of some sort and go out again, hardly seeing any reason why she should stay in an enclosed space with the early risers of her cohorts more than she had to. The very idea was absurd - masochism at its best - but on walking in, she was met with the sight of Nanny and Nessarose queuing for food. “A foul mess today, that not even a burst of amateur sorcery can even improve,” Elphaba murmurred upon reaching them.
Nanny turned, her pasty hand coming away from Nessa's chair and resting on her generously sized hip, looking gnarled and still as that of a garden gnome. “We should appreciate what we are given and not be catty,” she said, holding her head high and keeping her gaze hard as Nessa nodded in agreement, regarding Elphaba in a similarly stern way.
“But you hate this slop as much as I. You even told me so yesterday and countless times before that,” Elphaba countered, her eyes narrowing at the aged woman.
“Nanny,” Nessa reprimanded, but Nanny had turned away, rolling her eyes and muttering, “No one likes a talkative grasshopper. Such ill timing, Elphaba. Really.”
“My whole life is a story of ill timing. A horrific one not for the faint-harted,” Elphaba grumbled. “Why are you here? Will the procter not deliver your food as usual?”
“I have heard odd things about that girl...” Nanny muttered.
“Oh don't gossip, Nanny," Nessa muttered, frowning. "It hurts my soul.” She then stretched her neck and glared at the older woman, but soon turned after a moment of Nanny refusing to look sorry. Instead, she cast a hard eye on Elphaba, “I have decided to be more independent. I will not take special treatment any longer.”
“Oh?” Elphaba glanced at Nanny with amusement, “and what brought this on?”
“The fact that I had to look to Glinda of the Arduennas for help in your absence.” Nessarose delicately sniffed for effect.
“Is it really so terrible that I was out for a night? Nanny, you tell me. You have a practical head on your shoulders - practical, Nessa. Don't argue with your biased words - is it wrong for me to have a few friends? Really?”
The gnarled woman gave a shrug, “You have responsibilities.”
“I understand that. I always have, but it was one night.”
“At a time when I needed you most.” Nessa sniffed again. “Morrible arranged that damned night for Nanny, and you left me all alone! Would you know Glinda can hardly read? Her page turning left a lot to be desired.”
The line shuffled forward and Nanny wordlessly pulled Nessa along.
“At least she helped you, Nessa,” Elphaba muttered.
“As if I am such a chore! What would have me do when abandoned!”
“Don't shriek so. It mars your tragic beauty.”
“Oh do not mock me, you green evil thing! I pray for you every night and hope that your sins may be forgiven, but the Unnamed God will hardly cast a blind eye at your neglect of me - and yes! Dare I say it, you neglect me.” Nessa sniffed and her indignant eyes grew shiny. “Abandoning me like that. How could you? Nanny? Nanny, I fear I'm terribly upset. I cannot bear being in this hall any longer with her. She hates me, Nanny. Uncaring that I am her own flesh and blood and so put upon.”
“Such a martyr.” Elphaba arched a far from preened eyebrow, “Are you ever happy about anything? If a pot of gold fell upon your pretty head you would still moan.”
Nanny twitched, smirking, while Nessa strengthened her glare. “You are truly wicked,” she sighed, resignedly.
“And you, dearest Nessa, are truly annoying, but I do still love you as I, above all, know nobody is perfect. I love you so much, I would chew your food for you if you so desired. I would even shit for you, darling holy Nessa.”
“Now now.” Nanny chirped in her own gravelly way, “No talk of shit in this place. It's almost wrong.” She tutted.
“Nanny, take me from this place. Please, before the wickedness spreads and infects me too.”
Elphaba smiled as Nanny grasped the handles of Nessa's chair, to wheel her away. “No it wouldn't. You're far too riteous. And far too riteous to have much sense.”
“Be nice to your sister, Elphaba, or I'll never hear the end of this.”
"Nanny!"
Nanny patted Nessa's head, "There there. Nanny loves you."
Elphaba moved forward in the line. “Alright. I'll swallow any vestiges of sorry pride I have left, and let her roll over me with her practised righteous ease.” She gave a tight smile. “Have you seen Glinda?”
The question was intended for Nanny, but it was Nessa that answered, grumbling in a pained fashion: “She said she would have sorcery early today." She motioned with her sniffling head for Nanny to take her away, while Nanny muttered about the controversial proctor bringing them blighted breakfast and how they would likely die from it, all the while intermittently patting Nessa's head and saying, "There there," quite absently, not having realised Nessa's moment of dramatic hurt had passed.
"Nanny. My neck. Do stop."
~~~
“Are you alright, Glinda?”
The blonde straightened, her breath coming quick as she peered at the anxious man in front of her. “No thanks to you,” she said, exhaling a shaky breath. She reached an unsteady hand up and rubbed her forehead as if soothing it. “Not very impressive, I have to say.”
The man swallowed and the sound of his throat mingled with the sounds of crackling candles around them, that illuminated the otherwise dark and silent room. The curtains were all shut and the window panes of the door were covered, setting a moody secret atmosphere.
“I don't think I understand,” he said.
“No. I don't expect you ever understand much, Doctor Threnidee.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand in a strangely masculine way, and his eyes widened.
“Miss Glinda-”
“Suddenly so polite. I'm honoured,” she drawled, her voice dripping with cold sarcasm. “We're over.” She then picked up her discarded training wand with a disdainful look and gracefully left the room, despite the darkness and various desks partly obstructing her path.
~~~
Glinda hadn't returned till late that night, seemingly intent on making as much noise as she could, much to Elphaba's annoyance who had long since retired to bed. She laid there, with her blurry tired eyes open and staring at the ceiling and the scratchy bedsheets pulled tight about her, wrestling with their ineffective nature for some semblance of warmth. But as her roommate produced an extraordinarily loud noise and then cursed in quite an obscene way, Elphaba had to turn and look, certain that what would greet her was not her usual roommate.
Indeed, as her eyes tracked to the blonde through the darkness, there was something very off about her, but still somehow recognisable as Glinda. The shadow of her bouffant skirts seemed the only thing unchanged. The girl's stance was all wrong - she was hunched as she moved about as though incredibly tired and she had a certain air of melancholy about her, but aggressively so. Even from this second and obscure exposure to Glinda in this state, Elphaba new that the girl could only really be described as aggressive. She could feel it permeating the air; a certain unnatural vicious darkness making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. In quite a distressing way, Elphaba decided.
There was no doubt in her mind that this was what she had been waiting for. Her roommate was, for all intents and purposes, now Dark Glinda; but before Elphaba could even work up the courage to open her mouth and engage in enlightening conversation, the blonde had dashed further into the room and then turned, into the bathroom followed by a resounding slam of the door, prompting Elphaba to jerk upright in her squealing bed, and watch the closed off threshold. She blinked at it, trembling slightly, a part of her disbelieving of what was happening and perhaps hoping she was still dreaming while the rest of her knew this was very real, and no desperate clumsy persuasion from the parts in denial could sway the truth of the matter.
Elphaba - the verdant thing that some would happily refer to as evil or wicked, obviously lead by their dramatic tendencies, was scared. That is, scared of Glinda. Her roommate.
And that realisation in itself, was enough to hold Elphaba frozen in absolute horror, as she watched that bathroom door shake and rattle as a myriad lights careened from the gap beneath it. Glinda screamed. Short and terrified-a burst of a scream, really, and then all was silent. The lights ended, the door stilled, Elphaba found herself able to breathe again and the room seemed somehow darker though less oppressive. Adrenaline coursed through her as she sank back into her bed, staring at the ceiling once again, hardly blinking. She stayed like that even as she heard the bath filling with water, and eventually the sound of the bathroom door creaking open, allowing a sniffling Glinda through as she slowly padded toward her bed. The mattress' springs sqeaked as she settled between the sheets, but now she was crying. The scent of soothing lavender soap filled the room, and yet Glinda was crying. Elphaba could hear the shallow breaths, the snivels, and the way she shook in her bed, but she could not get up and console her. Not even when she heard Glinda whisper brokenly into the darkness: “What's happening to me?”
While Elphaba considered that moment to be of great importance, cementing her and Boq's suspicions of Glinda's new strange state, it would not be till morning that she would know the full extent of all that had transpired on that fateful evening. Shiz would never be the same; and neither would she or Glinda, for on those very grounds, no more than several corridors away, a brutal murder had been comitted.
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