The Effects of Gravity 2/?, by ainsleyaisling

Jan 29, 2007 13:37

Title: The Effects of Gravity 2/?
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Pairings: Glinda/Fiyero, Elphaba/Fiyero, Glinda/Elphaba
Summary: Glinda and Elphaba make it back to Shiz, but discover that bad news travels much faster than good.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Previous part can be found here.



~~Glinda~~

When Glinda woke the next morning, the other side of the bed was already cold. For a moment she was terrified that Elphaba had run away and left her, but she rolled over and immediately spotted her friend sitting up in one of the armchairs, staring out the window with her bare feet pulled up under her. Elphaba had her glasses on and her long hair tumbled loose and free over her shoulders, which were left mostly bare by the simple undershift she still wore. She didn't look like a grown-up witch today; she looked like a schoolgirl lost in a daydream. Hesitant to shake her out of it, Glinda swallowed her relief and instead padded quietly over to the small closet to get dressed.

Elphaba didn't speak or appear to notice Glinda at all, until Glinda paced the room several minutes later trying to do up the buttons on the back of her dress. Although her eyes didn't seem to so much as flicker in Glinda's direction, Elphaba wordlessly stretched out one hand. Glinda stepped slowly within the reach of her roommate's arms, looking down at the floor the entire time, and allowed Elphaba to finish the buttons for her.

The silent tension pressed on Glinda, constricting her chest and urging her to say something, anything; but then Elphaba finished her task by laying, for a long moment, the palm of one cool hand against the back of Glinda's neck. Even though Glinda couldn't see her, the gesture felt so tender that she closed her eyes and leaned back into the touch. She turned her head finally, letting Elphaba's hand slip to her shoulder, and saw Elphaba giving her a smile so fond and sad at the same time that it made her breath catch.

She spent the rest of the morning mostly watching Elphaba, and trying to persuade her to eat bits of breakfast. Elphaba continued to stare out the window in a haze, taking notice of Glinda only when the other girl occasionally touched her hand. They sat that way in silence until the sun had risen enough to cast shadows on the buildings across the street, and then Elphaba suddenly spoke.

"Did you mean what you said yesterday?" Even after only one night of disuse her voice was scratched and creaking.

Glinda set down the tea she had been mostly pretending to drink. "I said a lot of things yesterday," she said without guile. "I think I meant all of them."

Elphaba nodded as if that were the exact answer she had expected. "I mean - about the Wizard. About - working from the inside."

Curses. Elphaba would pick on the one thing Glinda had maybe not entirely meant. Not that she didn't believe Elphaba could do such a thing; in fact - now that they were in this situation - she was fairly certain that she would. But that had been something to cry out in desperation, something to make Elphaba stop and consider. She sincerely hoped that Elphaba didn't expect her to have a plan. "What about it?"

"Do you really think I should? I mean - is that what you think would be the best thing to do?"

Glinda had to bite her lip for a moment to keep from saying Well it seemed a lot better than flying off to be a fugitive for the rest of your life. "Yes," she was finally able to say confidently. "Yes, I do."

Elphaba took a deep breath and paused before asking, "Will - will you help me?"

To this question at least, she knew the answer. She had known, in some way, that she was committing herself to this the second she'd reached out to detain Elphaba. "Of course I will," she said. "Though I don't know what kind of help I'll be."

Elphaba actually laughed softly at that. "You can set things on fire without even trying," she said. "That's a useful talent." When Glinda laughed in response, Elphaba finally turned to face her. "You're in this now too," she said seriously. "I think I should be sorry for that, but - I'm selfishly glad there's someone in it with me."

Elphaba's narrow body took up barely half of the available space in the armchair she had curled herself into. Glinda crossed to her in two steps and eased herself into the remaining space, letting one knee drape over Elphaba's lap. Before she spoke, she decided that she was tired of seeing her own reflection in Elphaba's glasses, and she reached up and carefully took them off. "I'm here," she said, holding on to Elphaba's hand. "I'm in it with you."

How easy it was, in the end, for Glinda the good girl to commit herself to something so awful and impossible. After all, treason plotted by two schoolgirls was probably still treasonous.

They stayed in the Emerald City for another two days, remaining mostly in their room despite the fact that the palace had publicly revoked the warrant for Elphaba's arrest. On their last day, Elphaba didn't speak at all - not when Glinda gently reminded her that Nessa and Fiyero would be expecting them on the evening train, not when Glinda guided her patiently toward the station, and not even when Glinda misread the city map and led them four blocks out of their way.

On the train Glinda clung tightly to Elphaba's hand, hoping to pass some comfort and strength through that connection as they flew past the fields and forests of central Oz, toward the edges of the city of Shiz. Elphaba closed her eyes as they approached the Shiz station and the platform where they had said goodbye to Nessa and Fiyero six days earlier. With her eyes still closed she didn't see Fiyero waiting for them on the platform, but Glinda did.

She bustled Elphaba out of the compartment, wondering why he had come to meet them, whether he had been worried or angry or hurt that she had gone with Elphaba without telling him, whether he had missed her. He came to them on the steps of the still-smoking train, just as Glinda was beginning to prod Elphaba before her onto the platform. Without a word of greeting he wrapped an arm around Elphaba's waist and took her suitcase from her hand.

"Fiyero!" Glinda exclaimed. "I didn't think you would -"

He hushed her quickly, pulling Elphaba down the remaining steps and tucking her against his side. She could see now that his face was pale and tense, and his jaw tightly clenched. "We don't have time to talk, we're getting her back to your dormitory as fast as we can. Stay on her other side and don't let go - don't look at anyone, don't talk to anyone, just walk, fast."

"All right," Glinda said, fighting down a surge of panic. She had never seen Fiyero look so serious, and the nervous way he kept watching Elphaba was really frightening her. She took firm hold of Elphaba's arm and let Fiyero lead them hastily toward the university campus.

They walked in tense silence, all three of them staring determinedly at the ground. Glinda was afraid even to glance up to see whether anyone had noticed them. When they reached the girls' dormitory, Fiyero kicked the door open without comment and pulled them inside. "Upstairs, hurry," he said, following Glinda into the stairwell in complete disregard of the rules.

Glinda released Elphaba's arm to shut the door of their room behind the three of them; Fiyero, on the other hand, held onto the still-silent green girl until he had seated both of them on Glinda's bed. Finally he looked up at Glinda and asked tersely, "What in Oz happened in the Emerald City?"

Glinda sank into her desk chair in an exhausted, ungraceful manuever that she normally would never have allowed Fiyero to see. "I'll tell you," she said, "but first would you like to explain why we rushed here like that?"

He glanced warily at Elphaba. "Well, the night after the two of you left - without telling anyone, by the way, Glinda -"

She winced. "I'm sorry, I know. I didn't think of it."

He waved off her interruption. "Messengers came hurrying from the Emerald City, announcing in any pubs and restaurants that were still open that a dangerous fugitive had escaped from the palace."

Glinda was surprised at the intensity of disgust that rose within her. "Morrible," she hissed in a tone that made Fiyero stare. "She must have sent them out immediately."

"The alerts did mention her name," Fiyero said, looking a bit afraid of Glinda. "She's - the Wizard's new press secretary? How did that happen?"

"I think we can tell you," Glinda said. "But go on first. I suppose you were in one of those late-closing pubs to hear the alert yourself?"

He shrugged as if to say What did you expect? "Well at first I didn't think anything really - except to worry that Elphaba, and I assumed you too, were in the City with a dangerous criminal loose. Even when they said something about a Witch it didn't occur to me to think it could possibly be . . ." He shook his head. "But then they said she was - well, you know. I couldn't understand it, but I knew it had to be - Elphaba." He said her name almost in a whisper, simultaneously lifting his hand and placing it high on Elphaba's back, between the sharp planes of her shoulderblades. He left it there, although even Glinda could tell from across the room that Elphaba had stiffened. "So what happened?"

"Wait," Glinda said, shaking her head. "That was the last you heard?"

"I got your express the next night, saying you were staying for a few days - but it didn't say why, or under what circumstances . . ."

"I'm sorry, I was afraid of anyone reading it."

"I was afraid Elphaba had been arrested!" His tone was so sharp that Elphaba looked up, startled, and his hand dropped from her back. "And Nessarose -"

Elphaba's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. "What about Nessarose?"

Fiyero looked down at her apologetically, visibly softening at the sound of her roughened voice. It was clear to Glinda that he had meant to make her feel guilty, not to alarm Elphaba. "I - well, I heard she fainted when she heard the news that they were looking for you." Elphaba dropped her head into her hands, and Fiyero gingerly patted her back. "She's fine now though; Madame Greyling has been checking on her."

"Madame -" Glinda lifted one eyebrow in an unconscious imitation of Elphaba. "New headmistress?"

"Yes - anyway, that was the last we heard from anyone."

"There haven't been any messages from the Emerald City since then? Nothing to say that Elphaba isn't wanted anymore?"

"No - isn't she?"

Glinda leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and began to pour out the entire story. She sanitized portions of it, saying only that she had convinced Elphaba to reconsider running away and that the Wizard had accepted her change of heart. She felt no need to mention whispered discussions of treason to Fiyero, or to share the true extent of her fear for Elphaba when the guards had taken her away.

When she opened her eyes, Fiyero was looking at Elphaba with something like awe. "You - I mean, I've seen you cast a spell that affected a whole roomful of people, but . . . even the monkeys you didn't know were there? The ones you couldn't see?"

Glinda gestured wildly for him to shut up about the monkeys. "That's not the important part, Fiyero. The important thing is Elphaba's not in trouble anymore - in fact we're both waiting for instructions from the Wizard right now."

"Well . . ." He had begun absently stroking Elphaba's back, running his fingers through the ends of her hair. Elphaba finally seemed to have relaxed slightly, although she hadn't raised her head. "She can't go back to class, not until word comes from the palace. Someone would try to arrest her, or worse."

Glinda kicked the rung of her chair vindictively. "I'm beginning to think it's just like Morrible - to get the news out right away that Elphie's a dangerous fugitive, but conveniently forget to tell the rest of Oz when she isn't one anymore."

"You have to go back to class right away, though, Glinda," Fiyero said. "You have to be there to spread the word that you were with her the whole time and it was all a big misunderstanding."

"It wasn't exactly a misunderstanding," Glinda said, "but you're right." She crossed to the bed and sat down on Elphaba's other side. "It'll be all right, Elphie, you'll see. I'm sure we'll have word from the Wizard soon." She covered Fiyero's hand on Elphaba's hair with her own. "Would you like me to go and check on Nessa?"

"No." Elphaba raised her head and scrubbed her hands over her face. "No, I'll go. I'll have to face her sometime."

"But - if you run into any of the other girls, in the hall -"

Elphaba had reached the door; she turned around with her hand on the knob. "I'm a mad, dangerous witch, remember? Even if I do run into anyone between our floor and Nessa's, what do you think they'll do?" She sighed. "Anyway I'll have to talk to the new headmistress. Let's hope Morrible at least sent some word to her." And with that, she disappeared into the corridor and shut the door behind her.

Glinda closed her eyes and leaned back onto the bed, careless of Fiyero sitting beside her. "I'm so worried about her," she confessed to the ceiling. When she felt the bed shift as Fiyero stood up, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. He was staring back at her with an expression she couldn't read. "What?"

There was a long pause before he spoke, in a low and intense tone. "What didn't you tell me?"

She sat up again, surprised. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you left out what the Wizard and Morrible promised you. Whatever you're going to have to do for them, it was bad enough that Elphaba tried to run away. So why are you willing to do it, and what do you get out of persuading her to stay?"

Glinda felt the blood drain from her face at his angry words and the accusation she could read in his eyes. For a moment she couldn't speak; she covered her hand with her mouth and prayed that she wouldn't cry. "What - what are you talking about? Why are you so angry with me all of a sudden?"

"I'm reading between the lines, Glinda!" He leaned toward her, and instinctively she leaned back away from him. "Only one of you had a warrant out for her arrest, and coincidentally it's the one who had the invitation to meet with the Wizard in the first place, the one who has all the power! So Elphaba took you with her and somehow you ended up unscathed and being offered a position beside her, and I just want to know how, because someone has to protect her if you aren't going to!"

She seized on his last, strangest accusation first. "Why - what would make you think I could protect Elphaba? I couldn't protect her, even though I was brave enough to try . . ." She lost her battle; tears welled up in her eyes. "Do you know what I left out? It wasn't easy, it was horrible, with guards chasing after us and yes, I know they only offered me a position because I came there with Elphaba and because once I was in that throne room, I knew too much so they had to appease me with something! And I convinced Elphaba to stay because I was afraid, too afraid to face it without her."

Sobs choked her as she tried to explain, getting to her feet and holding out her hands imploringly. Fiyero no longer looked angry, but she couldn't tell what he was thinking now - she was only desperate for him not to hate her, or to leave her. "And when she stayed with me, even though it was of her own accord, they came for her, the guards came for her, because Morrible had already told the whole city she was dangerous. And they came for her with bayonets and spears and they took her away from me, and she was in with the Wizard all alone and I don't know what he told her, because she wouldn't say!" She took a deep, heaving breath. "And they hurt her, I know they did, she's got marks all over her from those awful bayonets . . ."

Fiyero sat down on the bed again, looking stunned by her outburst. "Bayonets? For a schoolgirl who did one spell? These are the people you want to work for?"

Glinda closed her eyes and sank down on the bed beside him. "I'm trying to tell you. I don't have a choice, neither of us does. Once we were in that palace, our only choice was to agree or to run. And I made Elphaba stay." Suddenly angry, she grabbed his chin and forced him to look her in the eye. "I kept her as safe as I could, I did, and I got her back here to us! So don't try to tell me that I'm enjoying this, or that I wanted it to be this way, because -" Her determination broke and she released him, looking down into her lap. "Because I love her, and I was so afraid for her."

She heard his exhalation beside her, and then his strong arms wrapped her tightly in his embrace and held her against his chest. "I'm sorry," he said against her hair. "I shouldn't have yelled at you, I'm sorry. I saw her, and she looked so - awful, and I've been so worried about both of you . . . there's no excuse." One of his hands came up to cradle the back of her head, and he pressed a hard kiss to her temple. "I'm glad you're back safe."

Glinda began to feel very afraid that his supportive embrace, the sensation of being taken care of, would break through her last reserves of strength. She buried her face in his neck and breathed carefully, trying to control the last sobs that threatened to wrack her body. "I like that you care so much about her," she murmured into his shirt collar.

His response rumbled against her ear. "I love that you love her."

Taking one last deep breath, Glinda pulled back enough to lift her face to his. He looked at her for a long moment, piercing eyes examining her face, and then he bent and pressed his lips to hers. When they separated, he asked, "Should you go and look for Elphaba?"

She stroked the side of his face with one hand, focusing on his lips rather than his eyes. "In a minute I will."

Fiyero nodded and kissed her again, this time more deeply. His hands moved to support her shoulders and the small of her back, and he leaned forward to lower her onto the bed. After a moment's resistance, she let him.
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