Defying Gravity, 15/?, by ainsleyaisling
Title: Defying Gravity, 15/?
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Summary: Glinda and Elphaba - and Fiyero - working hand-in-hand, the way it was supposed to be . . . maybe . . .
This chapter: Glinda makes a plan.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Sequel to "The Effects of Gravity," a link to all chapters of which can be found here. The previous chapter of this story can be found here.
Even more notes: I am going to stop making promises about how soon the next part will come, because it's all lies. In my life there is much work. Suffice it to say, the story will not be abandoned, and there will be another part coming as long as there is still a "?" in the number of chapters.
~~Glinda~~
Elphaba was quiet for a long time after Fiyero left them, staring absently into the fire and worrying at her lower lip. His news about Rikk had obviously given her more than one new thing to think about, on top of everything she had seen and learned the night before. Her voice had been steady while she described the horror of the laboratories down in Southstairs, but she was pale and Glinda couldn't imagine her being unaffected by the discoveries they'd made. She'd gone off soon after that to gather spellbooks from the Wizard's library, returning only moments before Fiyero arrived to talk to them.
The cat had given up on trying to gain anyone's attention, despite the slightly frantic coddling Elphaba had been giving it in the morning. It had curled up like a sitting lion directly at her side and fallen asleep, purring in a rhythmic snore.
Eventually Elphaba had gone to bed surprisingly early with only the barest of conversation, though Glinda suspected "bed" really just meant shutting herself up in her room with the pile of dusty books she'd brought upstairs with her. Glinda banked their fire and methodically got herself ready for bed, but she lasted not terribly long in her attempts to sleep. It was still dark when she got up and went back out to the sitting room to make herself some tea and pat the cat, which had gone to sleep again with its back pressed against the outside of Elphaba's closed door.
Glinda took her tea to the window and looked out over the City, with its few pre-dawn lights shimmering in the crisp late-fall air. She'd begun to notice something, though she hadn't been sure enough of her suspicions to discuss them with Elphaba yet. Parts of the City were lit as one would expect of the middle of the night, with street lamps burning for safety's sake and the occasional glow of a window where someone was up late or the moving glistening of an early carriage. Parts were lit ceremonially, so that the emerald would glow even in the dark. But other parts were completely, entirely pitch-black. Not a lamp glowed there; no one seemed to be awake, no one was moving, or if they were, they were doing it in the dark.
During several long nights when Elphaba was either gone, or asleep, or studying in silence by the fire, Glinda had had time to stare out over the City and wonder why people in entire neighborhoods would be choosing to move about in complete darkness - because she was fairly certain those neighborhoods were not empty. Now that Rikk had made contact with Fiyero, she had quietly added another layer to her mental map of the City streets. Animal areas. Warehouses. And possible Resistance cells.
She didn't move much from the window - it was going to be a very clear day, and dawn was especially pretty. Pink streaks bled into blue as her second freshened pot of tea grew cold on the windowsill and the cat began to stalk back and forth just under her chin, waiting to be fed. Elphaba found her there, still staring at the early haze over the formerly dark parts of the City, stirring cold tea with her smallest finger.
"Have you been up long?" Elphaba asked. Her face was drawn, but her voice was gentle. Hands clutched her dressing gown tightly around her - Glinda had let the fire die.
"Yes," Glinda replied, turning her eyes back to the window. "I've been making a plan."
"For what?"
Glinda pulled her finger out of the teacup and licked it clean. "I've been thinking. I can't do the things you can, you know, take spells apart and put them back together again, and I'm not as strong as you."
"You -" Elphaba started to interrupt, but Glinda cut her off.
"But I could organize people if I had to."
Elphaba pulled a chair from the table over to the window and sat down in it, crossing both her legs and tucking the dressing gown over her bare feet. "You could," she said. "What was the plan?"
"There are still Animals hiding in the City," Glinda said. "Fiyero thinks the soldiers really can't catch them anymore - your spell is hiding them - but that's not a perfect solution." Her tone and her expression turned apologetic, but Elphaba seemed undisturbed.
"No," she said. "Especially since they don't know they're hidden by a spell. It can keep them from being arrested or killed, we hope, but they're still living in fear."
"Right," Glinda agreed. "Well, Rikk being here gave me an idea. Fiyero said he would want your help sometime -"
"Our," Elphaba corrected.
"Mostly your," Glinda said. "But I think there are definitely Resistance cells in the City, and I think I know more or less where they are. As well as where the Animals are hiding."
Elphaba looked surprised. "How?"
"The lights," Glinda said simply. "Even the highest Guard tower isn't as high as we are."
Elphaba turned and looked out over the brightening City, deep in thought. "A bit stupid of the Wizard and Morrible, isn't it?" she finally said.
"Everyone's always putting princesses in towers, in stories," Glinda said, letting herself laugh a little as she nudged one of Elphaba's crossed knees with her foot. "No one ever wonders what they can see from up there."
Elphaba did almost laugh, just a bit. "So, your plan?"
"I don't think the Animals and the Resistance can have found one another," Glinda said. "They're both too busy hiding, even if the Resistance is trying to gather information. I think we can find them both. I think I ought to convince the Resistance to help gather up all the Animals still hiding in the City and smuggle them out to one of the refugee camps." She waited, watching Elphaba carefully, but eventually had to fill the silence. "Those Animals who are still here may not have a way to leave, or they may not know where the camps are," she said hurriedly. "The location spell could find all the groups, find the camps - we could tell them where to go and get the Resistance to help them there. Smuggle them out among farm equipment or wagonloads of apples or whatever leaves the City every day. On the boats, even, until they're past where the Guards can see."
Elphaba spoke slowly, as if her thoughts were still forming themselves. "It would mean revealing the location of the refugee camps to people who may not already know about them."
"Surely Rikk could tell us who to trust."
"If there were spies . . ."
Glinda shook her head. "I think we have to take that chance sooner or later. Don't you?"
"Probably," Elphaba admitted. Her mouth curved into a fraction of a smile as she looked at Glinda. "It's a good plan. It's a wonderful plan."
A ridiculous elation swept through Glinda. "You think so?"
"Yes."
Glinda made to push herself away from the window and put her hand in her teacup by mistake. "We could really do it, I think."
Elphaba held up a finger. "I've been working on something - let me work a little longer, and then I'll tell you about it. Maybe you should sleep a while in the meantime."
"Did you sleep?" Glinda asked, trying to lick dripping tea from between her fingers.
"Not much."
"Then I'll wait," Glinda decided. "I'll make more tea. After you've shown me whatever it is, we can both sleep."
Elphaba looked as though she might be going to argue, but then she rubbed at one eye with the back of her hand and said, "All right. I'm almost there, I think - it won't be long."
"I'll be right here," Glinda promised.
~~Elphaba~~
The book's pages were beginning to blur, and even her glasses weren't helping. The dull pain behind her eyes had turned into a sharp hammering, and her mind was beginning to wander, and she knew she didn't have much longer before she would have to sleep, or end up unconscious over her desk. She lifted her eyes to the array of books on her nightstand, held out a hand, and began to whisper. The familiar power flowing through her brought with it an unexpected lightness, a dizziness, that seemed to start behind her head and float through her mind. She caught herself almost falling backwards and finished the spell quickly. The books vanished.
Out in the sitting room, Glinda gave a startled exclamation of surprise.
"Books?" Elphaba called, one hand going to her aching forehead.
The door opened and Glinda poked a tentative head inside. "They just appeared on the table. Your doing?"
"Yes." Wearily Elphaba closed the old spellbook and pushed herself to her feet. "Do they seem all right?"
"All right how?"
"Undamaged?"
"Oh." Glinda ducked back out of the room, then leaned in again. "I suppose. Did you conjure them?"
"I moved them, from in here."
"Oh." Glinda brought the rest of her body into the room and leaned against the doorframe. Like Elphaba, she was still in her nightgown. "We never got to that in Madame's class."
"It's not easy," Elphaba said, "especially the part about choosing where the things will end up."
Glinda paused, then asked the obvious question. "Did you mean them to end up on the table?"
Elphaba felt herself unexpectedly laughing. "Yes."
"Well done!"
"I need to try it on something living next." Elphaba pushed her books into a neater stack and headed for the door of her bedroom, letting Glinda follow her out. "Something small first - an ant, something. The book implied there might be a problem with the method."
"They wrote the book without trying it?" Glinda asked practically.
"It's partly to do with the caster, and the type of magic they're drawing on, or something," Elphaba said. Her head was beginning to spin in earnest. "Have you guessed why I wanted to show you that?"
Glinda frowned. "You want to magic all the Animals out to the camps, instead of having the Resistance transport them?"
"No." Elphaba sank onto the sofa, still rubbing her head. "I don't think I could move them anywhere near that far. I was thinking of the ones in the laboratory, in the cages. If I could get them just far enough for the Resistance to pick them up -"
"You could get them out, too," Glinda finished. "Of course."
"And no one would know how. No one would have been seen in the area . . ."
"Wouldn't that make them suspect magic?" Glinda asked hesitantly. "And, therefore, you?"
"Probably," Elphaba admitted. She pressed her eyes tightly shut for a moment before continuing. "But they won't have any proof. And there's always the chance that someone working in the laboratory, or one of the Guards, could have been responsible - someone who's usually there, whose presence wouldn't be suspicious."
"They wouldn't suspect Fiyero?" Glinda asked with some horror.
Elphaba shook her head, which was a mistake. The room spun for a few moments. "He isn't usually there, and he won't be anytime soon. They'd have no reason."
Glinda's hand settled on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"
"Just tired." Elphaba made herself smile. "I feel like I've magicked all my strength into the books."
"Let's sleep now, then."
Glinda's little tug on the shoulder of her dressing gown wasn't nearly enough to budge Elphaba, but she struggled to her feet anyway. "We'd better," she agreed. "I feel a little -" She almost stumbled, and Glinda looked alarmed. "Tired," she finished, trying to smile again. "We'll need our strength."
"Are you hungry, before we sleep?" Glinda asked. Her hands reached out for Elphaba as Elphaba came closer, gently clasping Elphaba's elbows.
"Not really," Elphaba replied, remembering not to shake her head. "Are you?"
"No." Glinda bit her lip, looking down at her hands. "Will you come and sleep in my room?"
"Of course," Elphaba said automatically. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, just a bit . . ." Glinda looked as if she couldn't quite decide what to say. "I'd just like to have you close by."
"I am," Elphaba promised.
Author: ainsleyaisling
Rating: PG
'Verse: Musical AU; some details from bookverse
Summary: Glinda and Elphaba - and Fiyero - working hand-in-hand, the way it was supposed to be . . . maybe . . .
This chapter: Glinda makes a plan.
Disclaimer: Wicked belongs mostly to Gregory Maguire, and musicalverse belongs to Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and possibly Universal.
Notes: Sequel to "The Effects of Gravity," a link to all chapters of which can be found here. The previous chapter of this story can be found here.
Even more notes: I am going to stop making promises about how soon the next part will come, because it's all lies. In my life there is much work. Suffice it to say, the story will not be abandoned, and there will be another part coming as long as there is still a "?" in the number of chapters.
~~Glinda~~
Elphaba was quiet for a long time after Fiyero left them, staring absently into the fire and worrying at her lower lip. His news about Rikk had obviously given her more than one new thing to think about, on top of everything she had seen and learned the night before. Her voice had been steady while she described the horror of the laboratories down in Southstairs, but she was pale and Glinda couldn't imagine her being unaffected by the discoveries they'd made. She'd gone off soon after that to gather spellbooks from the Wizard's library, returning only moments before Fiyero arrived to talk to them.
The cat had given up on trying to gain anyone's attention, despite the slightly frantic coddling Elphaba had been giving it in the morning. It had curled up like a sitting lion directly at her side and fallen asleep, purring in a rhythmic snore.
Eventually Elphaba had gone to bed surprisingly early with only the barest of conversation, though Glinda suspected "bed" really just meant shutting herself up in her room with the pile of dusty books she'd brought upstairs with her. Glinda banked their fire and methodically got herself ready for bed, but she lasted not terribly long in her attempts to sleep. It was still dark when she got up and went back out to the sitting room to make herself some tea and pat the cat, which had gone to sleep again with its back pressed against the outside of Elphaba's closed door.
Glinda took her tea to the window and looked out over the City, with its few pre-dawn lights shimmering in the crisp late-fall air. She'd begun to notice something, though she hadn't been sure enough of her suspicions to discuss them with Elphaba yet. Parts of the City were lit as one would expect of the middle of the night, with street lamps burning for safety's sake and the occasional glow of a window where someone was up late or the moving glistening of an early carriage. Parts were lit ceremonially, so that the emerald would glow even in the dark. But other parts were completely, entirely pitch-black. Not a lamp glowed there; no one seemed to be awake, no one was moving, or if they were, they were doing it in the dark.
During several long nights when Elphaba was either gone, or asleep, or studying in silence by the fire, Glinda had had time to stare out over the City and wonder why people in entire neighborhoods would be choosing to move about in complete darkness - because she was fairly certain those neighborhoods were not empty. Now that Rikk had made contact with Fiyero, she had quietly added another layer to her mental map of the City streets. Animal areas. Warehouses. And possible Resistance cells.
She didn't move much from the window - it was going to be a very clear day, and dawn was especially pretty. Pink streaks bled into blue as her second freshened pot of tea grew cold on the windowsill and the cat began to stalk back and forth just under her chin, waiting to be fed. Elphaba found her there, still staring at the early haze over the formerly dark parts of the City, stirring cold tea with her smallest finger.
"Have you been up long?" Elphaba asked. Her face was drawn, but her voice was gentle. Hands clutched her dressing gown tightly around her - Glinda had let the fire die.
"Yes," Glinda replied, turning her eyes back to the window. "I've been making a plan."
"For what?"
Glinda pulled her finger out of the teacup and licked it clean. "I've been thinking. I can't do the things you can, you know, take spells apart and put them back together again, and I'm not as strong as you."
"You -" Elphaba started to interrupt, but Glinda cut her off.
"But I could organize people if I had to."
Elphaba pulled a chair from the table over to the window and sat down in it, crossing both her legs and tucking the dressing gown over her bare feet. "You could," she said. "What was the plan?"
"There are still Animals hiding in the City," Glinda said. "Fiyero thinks the soldiers really can't catch them anymore - your spell is hiding them - but that's not a perfect solution." Her tone and her expression turned apologetic, but Elphaba seemed undisturbed.
"No," she said. "Especially since they don't know they're hidden by a spell. It can keep them from being arrested or killed, we hope, but they're still living in fear."
"Right," Glinda agreed. "Well, Rikk being here gave me an idea. Fiyero said he would want your help sometime -"
"Our," Elphaba corrected.
"Mostly your," Glinda said. "But I think there are definitely Resistance cells in the City, and I think I know more or less where they are. As well as where the Animals are hiding."
Elphaba looked surprised. "How?"
"The lights," Glinda said simply. "Even the highest Guard tower isn't as high as we are."
Elphaba turned and looked out over the brightening City, deep in thought. "A bit stupid of the Wizard and Morrible, isn't it?" she finally said.
"Everyone's always putting princesses in towers, in stories," Glinda said, letting herself laugh a little as she nudged one of Elphaba's crossed knees with her foot. "No one ever wonders what they can see from up there."
Elphaba did almost laugh, just a bit. "So, your plan?"
"I don't think the Animals and the Resistance can have found one another," Glinda said. "They're both too busy hiding, even if the Resistance is trying to gather information. I think we can find them both. I think I ought to convince the Resistance to help gather up all the Animals still hiding in the City and smuggle them out to one of the refugee camps." She waited, watching Elphaba carefully, but eventually had to fill the silence. "Those Animals who are still here may not have a way to leave, or they may not know where the camps are," she said hurriedly. "The location spell could find all the groups, find the camps - we could tell them where to go and get the Resistance to help them there. Smuggle them out among farm equipment or wagonloads of apples or whatever leaves the City every day. On the boats, even, until they're past where the Guards can see."
Elphaba spoke slowly, as if her thoughts were still forming themselves. "It would mean revealing the location of the refugee camps to people who may not already know about them."
"Surely Rikk could tell us who to trust."
"If there were spies . . ."
Glinda shook her head. "I think we have to take that chance sooner or later. Don't you?"
"Probably," Elphaba admitted. Her mouth curved into a fraction of a smile as she looked at Glinda. "It's a good plan. It's a wonderful plan."
A ridiculous elation swept through Glinda. "You think so?"
"Yes."
Glinda made to push herself away from the window and put her hand in her teacup by mistake. "We could really do it, I think."
Elphaba held up a finger. "I've been working on something - let me work a little longer, and then I'll tell you about it. Maybe you should sleep a while in the meantime."
"Did you sleep?" Glinda asked, trying to lick dripping tea from between her fingers.
"Not much."
"Then I'll wait," Glinda decided. "I'll make more tea. After you've shown me whatever it is, we can both sleep."
Elphaba looked as though she might be going to argue, but then she rubbed at one eye with the back of her hand and said, "All right. I'm almost there, I think - it won't be long."
"I'll be right here," Glinda promised.
~~Elphaba~~
The book's pages were beginning to blur, and even her glasses weren't helping. The dull pain behind her eyes had turned into a sharp hammering, and her mind was beginning to wander, and she knew she didn't have much longer before she would have to sleep, or end up unconscious over her desk. She lifted her eyes to the array of books on her nightstand, held out a hand, and began to whisper. The familiar power flowing through her brought with it an unexpected lightness, a dizziness, that seemed to start behind her head and float through her mind. She caught herself almost falling backwards and finished the spell quickly. The books vanished.
Out in the sitting room, Glinda gave a startled exclamation of surprise.
"Books?" Elphaba called, one hand going to her aching forehead.
The door opened and Glinda poked a tentative head inside. "They just appeared on the table. Your doing?"
"Yes." Wearily Elphaba closed the old spellbook and pushed herself to her feet. "Do they seem all right?"
"All right how?"
"Undamaged?"
"Oh." Glinda ducked back out of the room, then leaned in again. "I suppose. Did you conjure them?"
"I moved them, from in here."
"Oh." Glinda brought the rest of her body into the room and leaned against the doorframe. Like Elphaba, she was still in her nightgown. "We never got to that in Madame's class."
"It's not easy," Elphaba said, "especially the part about choosing where the things will end up."
Glinda paused, then asked the obvious question. "Did you mean them to end up on the table?"
Elphaba felt herself unexpectedly laughing. "Yes."
"Well done!"
"I need to try it on something living next." Elphaba pushed her books into a neater stack and headed for the door of her bedroom, letting Glinda follow her out. "Something small first - an ant, something. The book implied there might be a problem with the method."
"They wrote the book without trying it?" Glinda asked practically.
"It's partly to do with the caster, and the type of magic they're drawing on, or something," Elphaba said. Her head was beginning to spin in earnest. "Have you guessed why I wanted to show you that?"
Glinda frowned. "You want to magic all the Animals out to the camps, instead of having the Resistance transport them?"
"No." Elphaba sank onto the sofa, still rubbing her head. "I don't think I could move them anywhere near that far. I was thinking of the ones in the laboratory, in the cages. If I could get them just far enough for the Resistance to pick them up -"
"You could get them out, too," Glinda finished. "Of course."
"And no one would know how. No one would have been seen in the area . . ."
"Wouldn't that make them suspect magic?" Glinda asked hesitantly. "And, therefore, you?"
"Probably," Elphaba admitted. She pressed her eyes tightly shut for a moment before continuing. "But they won't have any proof. And there's always the chance that someone working in the laboratory, or one of the Guards, could have been responsible - someone who's usually there, whose presence wouldn't be suspicious."
"They wouldn't suspect Fiyero?" Glinda asked with some horror.
Elphaba shook her head, which was a mistake. The room spun for a few moments. "He isn't usually there, and he won't be anytime soon. They'd have no reason."
Glinda's hand settled on her shoulder. "Are you all right?"
"Just tired." Elphaba made herself smile. "I feel like I've magicked all my strength into the books."
"Let's sleep now, then."
Glinda's little tug on the shoulder of her dressing gown wasn't nearly enough to budge Elphaba, but she struggled to her feet anyway. "We'd better," she agreed. "I feel a little -" She almost stumbled, and Glinda looked alarmed. "Tired," she finished, trying to smile again. "We'll need our strength."
"Are you hungry, before we sleep?" Glinda asked. Her hands reached out for Elphaba as Elphaba came closer, gently clasping Elphaba's elbows.
"Not really," Elphaba replied, remembering not to shake her head. "Are you?"
"No." Glinda bit her lip, looking down at her hands. "Will you come and sleep in my room?"
"Of course," Elphaba said automatically. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, just a bit . . ." Glinda looked as if she couldn't quite decide what to say. "I'd just like to have you close by."
"I am," Elphaba promised.