gbl337

That Which You Are, The Mirror You Become, Part 4/?

2009-07-04T23:53:12Z

Here's Chapter 4!

The three of them stood in the garage of the Firehouse, and Maria froze, a questioning look on her face.

“So we aren’t taking the ECTO-1?” Maria asked, no longer speaking in a near-whisper.

“No, I don’t think that kind of publicity is necessary right now. Anyway, I like driving my car. I’ll pay for the clothes this time. That nice auctioneer saw what happened and gave us the whole payment instead of the split deal. And Ed-er-Maria, you’ll be happy to know that we paid all the bills, so you have your TV again.”

“That’s the first bit of good news all day,” she said, a calmer melody in her voice.

“You know, you have a really pretty voice, Maria, did your mom have a nice voice?”

“Yeah—she used to sing me to sleep when I was little,” Maria said, smiling a little.

Kyle said, “Yeah, I sound a lot like my dad…not the best thing, but I guess it works.”

Maria’s smile seemed to glow as she reminisced about her childhood before her mother died.

The many stores in Times Square overwhelmed their senses as Janine took them shopping. She pulled them into a trendy little boutique and said, “Have fun, you two—I have some shopping of my own to do for a moment,” and she walked away, knowing full well those two would leave that store in an instant. She tailed them both, watching them converse as Kyle dragged his friend and co-worker into a less mainstream store and pulled several outfits off the racks for her and pushed her into a fitting room. She felt happy to watch them interact, seeing Kyle light up every time Maria came out with a new outfit.

“Do I really look that good? I don’t think leather agrees with me,” Maria said, itching at the knee-length skirt Kyle picked out for her.

“But you look amazing…mebbe we should pick something less “me” and more “you””

“You mean, comfortable and non-Nine Inch Nails wannabe?”

“If you call it that; c’mon, I’ll show you some places I think you’ll like.”

He dragged her over to a smaller store and picked out some jeans and cute shirts in calm colors.

“Now that’s more like it,” Maria said, relieved, “I never understood fashion any.”

“You didn’t need to, that’s why. We still need to get you a new bra; mine’s way too small for your chest.”

“Aw, maaaann…do we have to?”

“Doesn’t your chest feel tight?”

“Um, yeah—kinda…but is it gonna make that much of a difference?”

“A world of difference,” he intoned emphatically.

After picking out a comfortable ensemble that looked excellent but tasteful on Maria, they went to the lingerie section of the department store on the corner and Janine chose this moment to come back, saying, “Oh, Maria, you look gorgeous! That color looks wonderful on you—it brings out your eyes.”

Blushing, Maria said, “Yeah, whatever…Kyle’s draggin’ me to the lingerie department…”

“Yeah, that bra looks uncomfortable on your chest.”

“That’s what he’s saying.”

Janine went to the counter and said, “Excuse me, but my niece has experienced a bit of a growth spurt—can I get her fitted?”

“Of course, ma’am…is she uncomfortable with this?”

“Yes…she’s rather self-conscious about her body, you know how that goes.”

“Indeed, ma’am,” the person said with a knowing smile as she came to Maria and said, “Come with me, we’ll get you fitted properly.”

Both Kyle and Janine sniggered at the horrified face Maria had as she mouthed the word “Traitors!” to them both as she went into a fitting room.

“Ya think we were too hard on her?” Kyle asked Janine.

“Nah, I think it’s good for her to get a jolt out of those doldrums she’s been in.”

“I hope so,” Kyle said as a fire-red Maria came out, the curve of her chest more pronounced as she wore a more comfortable bra and said, “You owe me BIG TIME…that was…FREAKY.”

Kyle placed his hands on Maria’s shoulders and said, “That’s life for us.”

Looking down and shrugging Kyle’s hands off her shoulders and said, “Well, I don’t want it to be my life for very long, okay?”

“Understood—now once you get your stuff paid for here, we need to get you a nightgown or something and then you need to help me pick out some guy clothes.”

“Okay…she forced panties on me as well, so don’t even THINK of getting me those, either.”

“Awww…and that was gonna be the fun part!” Kyle said, laughing.

“If I had a proton pack, I’d blast that face right offa you,” she growled, only coming up to shoulder-level on Kyle.

“Now I know why you make all the short cracks with me—it IS kinda funny to see you get all riled up.”

“And I know the one thing all guys are weak to,” Maria said before socking Kyle in the balls, smirking viciously as he went down, tearing up because of the pain.

“You bitch! No low shots!”

“Welcome to a guy’s life,” she answered coldly, offering her hand to help him up.

“Jeez, are you being that vindictive and oversensitive that you’d hurt me?”

“I’m a chick, that’s what you’d do any other time.”

“Touché…let’s just get this taken care of.”

Their mutual bad mood continued through the trek to find sleeping clothes for Maria that she would actually submit to wearing, finally settling on a satiny pajama top and bottom in black.

“It’s comfy, I guess—a little slick on me, but it felt good enough,” she muttered, shoving the clothing into another bag. She looked at the shoes Kyle gave her to wear and said, slapping her forehead, “I just noticed…Kyle’s feet’re bigger than mine now…I know what you’re going to say and you’re right—”

Janine brightened and said, “Shoe shopping!”

Kyle looked at Janine and said, “We need something that can be usable while busting. I know a few places that specialize in that kinda stuff.”

Kyle took Maria to an army surplus store and asked the man at the counter for some combat boots in Maria’s size, after measuring.

“Eh, doesn’t exactly go with the outfit, but it’ll work,” Maria said, looking at the boots in comparison to the rest of her outfit.

“Look at the little shoe connoisseur. Do you wanna buy something else?”

“Mebbe some basic tennis shoes…just for going out on the town…I can use the boots when busting.”

“Oy…you’re always full of surprises, aren’t you?” Kyle remarked, paying for the boots.

“That’s the job of a Rivera!” she said in the brightest voice all day.

They then moved and got a plain set of white sneakers, and with very little incidence, Maria guided Kyle to utilitarian and comfortable clothing.

“Buying for men really is simple and easy,” Kyle remarked, feeling good in the new clothes.

“Told you—that’s why I liked being a guy—very few complications outside of the realm of women.”

“And you’re learning about that right now…so you should be fine.”

“Whatever you say…”

Maria walked with Kyle, sneaking a hand hold here and there without realizing it, and said, “Ya know, I think this is a mistake to say, but I think I understand why chicks like shopping—it feels kinda good, y’know, like in a cleansing sorta way.”

“Yeah—I don’t do it a lot, but when I do, it feels pretty nice. Hey, Maria—you’re walking pretty girly already, I just noticed.”

Looking down at her sauntering stride, Maria raised her eyebrows and said, “Yeah, you’re right—I guess things just felt more comfortable like that.”

“It’s kinda cute, actually—you have the hips for that kinda walk.”

“Thanks for emphasizing the fact that I have chick hips.”

“Yer welcome…are you really that sensitive to stuff like that?”

“Would you enjoy it if I said that you have nice arms and abs and that your package is GRANDE?”

Looking down, Kyle suddenly felt very aware of himself and said, “Point taken. Let’s get back before Egon sends out a search party.”

“Agreed.”

Guarding What We Love and Live For, Chapter 5/?

2009-05-05T22:32:32Z

I just realized I haven't posted much of this, so of course I'm gonna be overwhelming you guys with updates for this--say hello to chapter 5!

Barely concealing a smirk, Glinda asked, “How, pray tell, did you manage to not only have a child, but a grandchild for that matter?”

“I—I…I honestly cannot say I remember ever birthing him, but I have been told, and now proven that Liir is indeed my child. He wrote that…green skips a generation. My dratted genes made their way down a generation,” Elphaba muttered, looking down at the broom, which felt somehow more powerful than before.

Glinda looked down, feeling a twinge of jealousy as she said, “I suppose one of us was fertile, then…”

Elphaba looked down and said very quietly, “You aren’t?”

Glinda shook her head slowly, tears falling silently as she said, “I’m not sure what happened, but…when I was with Chuffrey, I—I miscarried so many times that the doctors…they…said I was barren!”

Elphaba rushed to hug her friend tightly, cooing softly in her ear, “It’s alright…having kids is nothing special, to be honest…”

Glinda looked up and gave an incredulous stare, “What do you mean?? It’s every woman’s DREAM to have a child!!”

“Then having it follow you every step you took, to the point where you had to lock your doors to keep it from stealing things? Not my cup of tea, thank you,” she answered with a glower.

“You really aren’t cut out to be a mother, Elphie…” she mumbled when Elphaba stood up and swapped her new hat for her old one and shook the dust off the broom and gestured for Glinda to follow, a wild grin on her face.

Glinda shook her head violently and said, “No, no, no, and further more NO! I heard so many things about your recklessness on that infernal broom—you’ll drop me for sure!”

“You’re more cowardly than that lion that accompanied Dorothy,” she needled.

Glinda marched over to the broom and sat on it as it hovered a few feet above the ground and said, “Alright, I’ll show you how brave Glinda the Good is.”

“You’re so very predictable, my sweet,” Elphaba cackled.

Glinda shot a satisfied smile and said, “At least I’m making the right decision this time.”

Elphaba gave a quizzical look and Glinda continued, “I remember a green bean once asking me to join her. C’mon Elphie, let’s defy gravity…together.”

Nodding, Elphaba grabbed Glinda’s hands and wrapped them around her waist and said, “Hold on tight—this is going to be fast.”

“Wait, what??” Glinda gasped before the two of them rocketed out of the open window and the shrieks of fear coming out of Glinda’s mouth were drowned by the loudest, most joyous cackle emitting from her friend as Elphaba shrieked with unrestrained glee, “FREEDOM!!”

The speed with which they flew stole the breath out of Glinda as she gripped Elphaba tightly, not looking…until Elphaba turned her head and cooed softly, “It’s okay, Glinda—it’s safe to look…it’s so beautiful from here.”

Taking a peek, Glinda gasped—they were hovering above the Emerald City and with the wind whipping softly at her, the thrill of being so high up, unprotected by a bubble, with her hair flying around and mixing with Elphaba’s, she began to allow a joyful grin peel across her face as she said, with awe in every syllable, “You’re right…this…is the most beautiful thing in the world…let’s go lower…I wanna see the City a little closer up.”

“Your wish is my command, my sweet,” she laughed, dipping quickly as they both giggled like schoolgirls on a roller-coaster and as they wove in and out of the higher spires of the Emerald City.

The verdant glow mixed with and illuminated Elphaba’s face, giving it an almost celestial luminescence. Her face looked so many years younger as childlike joy emanated from every feature, from the ear-to-ear grin to the near-glowing chocolate eyes and the wildly flying hair that she swore she saw an angel underneath it all—and it was showing more and more. This was Elphaba in her rarest of states: pure happiness. That cackle wasn’t of insanity and depravity; it was of freedom, ecstasy, and wild-eyed glee.

She felt the joy infect her, at first slowly, but more and more. She knew what she wanted then—she knew what she wanted to tell Elphaba, but didn’t want to spoil it. Instead, in a fit of joy, she called out in the loudest of voices, “ELPHABA LIVES!”

Elphaba cackled again and as they rocketed toward the Emerald Spire, within obvious earshot of the Wizard, “DID YOU HEAR THAT, OZ? I’M ALIVE!”

They laughed with joy as they saw people (ants at this distance) come out of their doors and Elphaba, perhaps drunk with her joy, flew lower, and saw terror in everyone’s eyes as she let out her signature cackle and flew faster than before—seeing the Wizard’s eyes go saucer-wide as she stuck her tongue out and flew back at near-warp-speed back to Shiz, touching down into their dorm room.

“THAT is defying gravity, Glinda—THAT is what I wanted for the both of us!” she whooped, jumping in the air and landing on her bed, hugging her broom for a moment before moving it against her closet door. She got up and hugged Glinda tightly, still in the throes of her unearthly glee and breathed, “Thank you for keeping me alive, Glinda…”

Glinda blushed and said, almost embarrassed, “I should thank you for coming back—but y’know, we’re all dead now, right?”

Her head tilted as comprehension dawned on her face as she realized just what they had both done.

She did the last thing Glinda expected; she shrugged and said nonchalantly (with a definite tinge of defiance) “I’m glad we did—it gives those sheep something to think about. It turns out that the Wizard lied. They saw you with me, so of course they know we’re friends now; all the better—I owe the Wizard one HELL of a talking-to.”

She paused and a defiant glare set in her face and she looked at the moon and said, the cold moonlight throwing her sharp features in sharper relief, “It’s time for a revolution, Glinda—I was meant to come back with you: it’s time for us to set things right once and for all.”

Glinda smiled, feeling the tides of war coming deep in her stomach as she hugged Elphaba closely and said, “I’m with you this time. No more running, no more fleeing, no more cowardice from Glinda the Good. It’s time I show those imbeciles at Emerald just how Wicked this Good Witch can be.”

Elphaba rested her forehead against Glinda’s and grinned, tears threatening to fall, saying, “Of all the things that mouth could spout, those are the words I’ve wanted to hear for a very, very, long time. Thank you Glinda—there is no running for me this time. If we defy gravity…”

“We defy it together—and we’ll win this time,” Glinda finished before pulling her friend’s face down and kissed it, tears flowing on her face as she felt no resistance.

They pulled away and Glinda asked, with a smirk, “Oh, goodness me, I forgot to ask permission…”

Elphaba blushed hunter green and said, a sultry smirk flowing across her face, “No need…THIS time.”

“I woulda done it anyway,” she laughed as they both went to their beds and Glinda said, “I have a surprise for you tomorrow. I hope you’ll like it.”

“If it’s from you, I’m sure to,” she answered softly.

Glinda whispered into her pillow, in the faintest of voices, hoping Elphaba wouldn’t hear, “I love you Elphie.”

As she fell asleep, she heard in her dreamy state a soft, “You too, Glinda…”

They awoke to a massive clamor they had not heard since their own college days as they heard the knocking of a hammer against their door. Elphaba was the first to fly out of bed and open the door as she gasped.

“Glinda…you may want to look at this…”

Slinking out from her bed in her bright pink nightgown, she padded over to her friend and cold shock shot up her spine—there was The Emerald Chronicle’s front page and the headline blared: “FEARS CONFIRMED: WICKED WITCH ALIVE AGAIN!”

What frightened her was the subtitle: “Glinda the “Good” found colluding with Witch; Wizard to strip her of “Good” title as a result.”

Instead of fear pure, acid-laced defiance emanated from Elphaba as she growled, “Well, I suppose we have no choice but to be together, now that you are as much a fugitive as I am, my pretty…all the better.”

The defiance seemed to infect Glinda as she glared at the headline and sighed, saying, “This time he is going to get the Glinda treatment as well—and this girl isn’t afraid to come up to him anymore. C’mon, Elphie—let’s gather the kids and prepare…”

“For what?” Elphaba asked dimly.

“For a trip to Emerald—the Twin Witches of Oz are going to have a chat with the bastard.”

“Ooh, such language, Miss Glinda,” she purred, smirking at her friend’s sudden transformation. She felt a twinge below her navel at the thought of her friend’s newly assertive and defiant demeanor and pulled her close, whispering silkily, “I like it when you curse…”

She didn’t expect Glinda to melt into her arms and pull them slowly below her sash. As such, she removed the hands and said, “Glinda…I didn’t realize you were a…” and she couldn’t say it as all the clues came into place.

Glinda threw the both of them into the room and slammed the door shut, enchanting it to be soundproof. She turned to her and said, in a defiant but hushed voice,

“A lesbian, Elphaba; don’t be afraid to say the word—my preference isn’t known so well, but trust me, “Momsy and Popsicle” both know it. I…”

“Say no more,” Elphaba sighed, feeling almost disgusted; she unconsciously rubbed her lips, remembering the kisses and almost feeling repulsed that she caved. She may be Wicked, she may be green, but she was also the pseudo-daughter of a Unionist minister; such things were frowned upon. But…she felt like something was there, something was amiss—her confusion left her brows furrowed, her eyes somewhat unfocused and her mouth almost agape (but not quite).

“Oh, Elphie…don’t ha…”

Elphaba placed her long green finger on Glinda’s plump lips and shook her head, interrupting with, “No, I don’t hate you…I just…it’s too much right now…please, Glinda—the mission at hand.”

“Then why did you kiss me? Why did you let me think you…loved me too?” she asked, her defiant glare suddenly crashing into a plaintive stare, tears forming at the corners.

“I…you didn’t give me a chance to say no either time, Glinda! I…was confused…I was caught in the moment; you have to understand, that broom was my freedom and to live without it was like…”

“Me living without you?”

“Please don’t complicate things with the fact that you are attracted to me, Glinda,” she said, a little too harshly for her liking. She felt a migraine coming on from all the stress when Glinda shoved her on the bed and sat down beside her, growling, “You liked me—I know when a girl likes another girl, Elphaba. Admit it now.”

“I will admit nothing, Glinda—give me some time to actually get my head back before you bite it off again.”

“Fine…” she pouted.

She didn’t have time to pout when Elphaba got up and moved to the door and asked, “You had something to show me?”

“Don’t quite feel like showing anything to a green bitch in denial,” she sniffed. She instantly knew she overstepped a boundary when Elphaba’s eyes flashed angrily as she growled back, “Oh, so you’re NOW deciding to punish me just as I came back simply because you want me to go back on years of Unionist upbringing? Or did you forget that I was raised as the daughter of a MINISTER??”

“Fine time you decide to conform to religion,” she growled.

“It’s HARD to think that I might possibly find my best friend attractive just as I not only have her crash back into my life along with three kids who tell me that another witch took over MY castle but find out I am a damned GRANDMOTHER! PLEASE Glinda, don’t ruin things by pushing!”

“I—I’m sorry, Elphie…I just…”

“It’s okay…just…give me some time to think over everything, AFTER we clear things up. I can guarantee the headmistress is less than pleased at our little escapade last night.”

They were right.

“WHAT POSSESSED YOU TO COMPROMISE THE VERY SECURITY YOU LAMENTED TO ME?” the headmistress exploded to Elphaba—whose expression did not change a tiny bit.

She answered evenly, “I will leave at once—we plan to speak to the Wizard anyhow; you have no reason to worry about the well-being of your staff and students, Madam Headmistress. I cannot apologize for my exercise of free will, but I ask that you please hold no ill will to Glinda or the children we were with.”

“Fair enough. Now please leave as soon as is possible—I have an announcement to make to the students.”

They left and Glinda came up and slowly brushed her hand against Elphaba’s and barely grasped it before Elphaba slowly grasped it gently before moving it away, shooting a gentle, “Don’t push it,” look to Glinda.

They all but ran to the rooms that the Keyblade Trio were staying and Elphaba knocked, calling out rather loudly, “All of you, get ready—we’re leaving for the Emerald City.”

Sora answered sleepily, “What? I thought we were close to your castle? Did something happen?”

Elphaba and Glinda shot each other a guilty look and Glinda answered, “You could say that…but please, get ready.”

“Now,” Elphaba piped in with almost anger in her voice.

“This is what I’ve lived with since you left and I didn’t have you to cover for me, Glinda. I bring disaster with me wherever I go,” Elphaba sighed, massaging her temples.”

“I had a role in it this time, Elphie. This time I helped you bring some disaster—to be honest, it’s kinda fun,” she answered, giggling.

“So I’m not insane in that category,” Elphaba laughed.

In the room, Riku was smacking Sora awake with his Keyblade, barking, “Hey, sleepyhead! Get up—this is important!”

“Dun’ worry…I’m up,” he answered, slowly getting out of bed as Kairi was completely ready, calling out to the Witches, “We’re almost ready; what happened?”

“Can we come in?” Elphaba answered, irritated.

“Sora’s still getting dressed…”

“Oh. Well, let’s just say that we need to, er, answer for some things we did last night,” she answered slowly.

“Great,” Riku answered bitterly, “We get in more mishaps…”

“Watch it, Riku…you and I have done some crazy things ourselves…don’t sound all high and mighty yet…”

“Shaddup Sora…”

“What, do I hear a ‘you’re right Sora’ in there?”

“Shaddup….”

“Alright, I’m ready!” Sora answered, opening the door.

“What happened, really…” Kairi answered, concerned.

“Uhhh….” Glinda paused, blushing.

“What, did you make out in front of everyone?” Sora asked bluntly.

The two witches blushed furiously, yelling simultaneously, “NO!”

“We compromised the security of Shiz and now we want to go confront the Wizard about some things,” Elphaba answered sharply.

“You WHAT?!?” Riku shouted, his tone identical to the headmistress’, “Now we’re going to have to wait MORE before we can go solve the Heartless problem in this world!”

Elphaba shrugged and walked out, gesturing for the others to follow.

Glinda sighed in annoyance, calling out, “Elphie, get back here!”

“No. Let’s go before the headmistress chases us out with a torch and a bucket of water. We’re going by broom and bubble—we don’t have the leisure of walking for this.”

“Elphaba got her broom?” Kairi asked Glinda curiously.

“Yes, among other things that you do not need to know about.”

They all ran out to catch up with Elphaba; she was already hovering a little bit off the ground, saying icily, “Glinda—give the children bubbles to fly with—you are flying with me.”

“Elphie, I’m not sure if I should be flying with you in such an angry state…” Glinda answered hesitantly.

“I’m FINE,” she answered edgily, “I am merely annoyed at how long we are waiting without making any ACTION. I am not a woman of talk; I am a woman of ACTION, Glinda.”

“Well, so long as we are going to be waiting, I may as well unveil my little surprise for you.”

Elphaba’s eyebrow arched in curiosity as she asked, “Oh, really? I must see this…”

“Let’s go to the Peach and Kidney…”

“You were going to show me a surprise…drinking is hardly a surprise for me…” she answered suspiciously.

Glinda replied loftily, “You’ll just have to see…”

“What about the children?” Elphaba whispered as she got off her broom and walked over to Glinda.

“Well, they can have something softer while we do what we need to do.”

“Fine…let’s just go already.”

“Impatient, aren’t we…” she giggled, hugging Elphaba around the middle; Elphaba surprisingly only gave minor resistance before walking over to the pub.

Glinda ordered a few drinks for the group and relaxed for a bit, taking her time and thoroughly enjoying her former favorite hobby—irritating Elphaba within tolerable limits. She paused and watched her friend continually inch away from the children, homing in on a corner booth, pulling out a book, small by Elphaba standards (meaning about 400 pages) and reading in her signature jackknifed position.

She walked over after grabbing the drinks and giving them to Sora, Riku and Kairi and slowly crept toward Elphaba, whispering, “Is it okay if I get a little closer to talk?”

“You’ve always been the only one I don’t mind within my comfort zone Glinda, you know that,” Elphaba mumbled back.

“So that means I’m the only one you don’t mind in this entire bar?”

“Oh, ha ha, very funny,” she sighed, a small smirk creeping across her face as she put the book down and took off her glasses to look at Glinda, saying quietly, “I apologize for earlier—you just came on to me a little fast…”

“It’s alright—I should have let fate choose the proper timing for that stuff, right?”

During this, Glinda’s hand inched towards Elphaba’s and she murmured after a long silence, “I haven’t just been thinking about your absence…when I told you that I’ve been redeeming you by proxy, I meant far more than I think you thought. This is the surprise I want you to see—hopefully you like it. It took a lot of work on my part, but the thought of you made it worth it.”

“What do you mean Glinda?”

“You’ll have to see it to believe it.”

Their hands met gently as Elphaba’s impossibly soft hands caressed Glinda’s and one squeezed the others, though it wasn’t sure who squeezed whose hand. Glinda got up, pulling Elphaba by the hand and going to the bartender and saying in a hushed tone, “I’d like a Freedom Special, extra green on the rocks.”

“Follow me, Lady Glinda.”

They walked over to a door labeled “EMPLOYEES ONLY” and opened it up, revealing a long flight of stairs into a basement. Elphaba looked around and gripped her friend’s hand tighter as they walked down into a room where she froze in disbelief.

A door at the end gave way to a large room filled with Animals of every variety mulling about, whispering about everything from the weather to the Wizard until Glinda cleared her throat loudly. The whole room fell silent as Glinda called out, “My Animal friends, I am sure you all have read the papers—I wish to confirm what the headlines all across Oz are saying: the inspiration behind this movement we have created is truly alive. Please give a hearty welcome to Elphaba Thropp.”

Elphaba stepped forward to cheers and applause as she saw a massive painting of herself holding a Monkey in her arms. An Ox came up and said in a rich bass, “Lady Elphaba, it is truly a great honor to have you in our presence. I would like to thank you for granting us the ability to form the Thropp Society for Animal Liberation. We have been continuing your efforts to grant Animals the same rights as other Ozzians and ending the tyrannical rule of the Wizard. It was your work that gave Lady Glinda the idea of forming this Society in your honor, thinking in horror what all of Oz thought.

“I—well—I…thank you…” she squeaked in response—all of this attention suddenly made her claustrophobic, realizing that her work was not in vain and that she was very nearly venerated as a Goddess. In short, it was too much for her as she whispered to Glinda, “What the hell did you do??”

“Gave Oz what it needed many years ago—a beacon of hope and freedom. Elphaba, in case you have forgotten this in your fugitive years, the Wizard has progressively repealed freedoms for ALL Ozzians; Animals were merely the beginning. As I worked under the face of ‘Glinda the Good Witch, Herald of the Great and Mighty Wizard’ I used my newfound power to find Animals who were hiding from the ever-tightening guard of the Gale Force.”

Stepping back, Elphaba intoned in her amazement, “That…that was my plan! That was what I wanted to do had I not royally messed up in Emerald that first time! You took my plan and brought it to fruition!”

Beaming proudly, Glinda poked her temple and said, “See? There is a lot more inside this skull than fashion and popularity tips.”

“It just took longer to find than most,” Elphaba returned.

“Silence you…” Glinda answered gently, smirking.

Elphaba paused for a long time, her eyes darting from Glinda to the room with the Animals to the painting and back, nibbling on her knuckle nervously. Glinda sighed and waited patiently for several tense minutes before she asked, “Can we go back in? I’m not entirely finished with the surprise for you.”

“More??”

“Yes. More.”

As they walked back in, the Ox who had spoken before came up in an almost reverent bow and said, “Lady Elphaba, we of the Thropp Society have worked tirelessly to unite the splintered havens for the fugitive Animals into a singular force with resources to which we may direct where needed to protect the Animal population. With Lady Glinda’s creative use of false reports for the Gale Force among other tactics, we have set up an underground network that runs from Frottica to Munchkinland and everywhere in between. The final place we planned to connect the network would be Kiamo Ko—at least, it was until the new Witch took residence there.”

“My…” Elphaba breathed, “I HAVE been out of the loop, haven’t I. So much of what I had hoped I could perform myself has occurred without a single aid from me. I feel almost useless at this point.”

“Quite to the contrary, Lady Elphaba,” came the softly screeching tone of an Owl in vicar’s robes, “Your image and your soul has resonated long after you left; while the greater public fears you, the Animals have felt your fiercely protective presence a powerful rallying force. Soon, with the final placement of our railroad, we will be able to move fugitive Animals wherever we desire, and that shall be the finishing stroke to our grand master plan.”

“Wha—what do you mean??”

“You told me last night that Oz needed a revolution. That is what Oz is going to receive if the Wizard does not abdicate—we have the resources, the will, and the means to move every free Animal in Oz straight to the front steps of the Emerald Spire before anyone can do anything about it,” Glinda stated, a dramatic energy flavoring each word, a near-manic grin slowly forming.

“You no longer have the power over the Gale Force, Glinda—they stripped your title and everything! What will you do now??” Elphaba protested concernedly.

“That only accelerates our plans,” Glinda returned, “We no longer have the luxury of waiting. That is the real reason I wanted to go to the Wizard—to give him an ultimatum and to make sure the exits are clear.”

“Wait, exits? Do you mean the underground network is literally UNDERGROUND?”

“Do not make it sound so ridiculous, Lady Elphaba,” the Ox answered, a smirk on his face as he moved the painting to reveal a massive underground passage.

“We ARE in Oz after all; ‘impossible’ is a word that should be removed from our collective vocabulary.”

“This is the way we’re going to take to see the Wizard. It is many times faster than flying or bubble and it will allow us to ensure the security along the route. We have a train system that is in its infancy that should provide a secure and swift travel to Emerald.”

A train with many massive carts with about 5 meter high fencing on all sides came in, pulled by what looked to be a steam engine that did not use steam.

“Fantastic…” Elphaba breathed, turning to the Ox and saying, “You are a magnificent group! It is an honor to have such a force formed as a result of my efforts!”

The group nodded before the Owl said, “I shall fetch the children and you shall be on your way. Be sure to let the Wizard know who he is up against!”

The Keyblade Trio soon came in, confused expressions on all their faces as Riku and Kairi attempted to help Sora understand the explanation the Owl had given.

“So basically, these are Animals who are a kind of army to fight for freedom from the Wizard.”

“So the Wizard is bad.”

“To the Animals.”

“So he’s good to everyone else?”

“I guess.”

“So he’s sorta-Good.”

“I suppose.”

“Then we can change his mind, right? I mean, he isn’t a Nobody—he has a heart that we can help change.”

“I suppose.”

“Alright, I think I understand now.”

Riku and Kairi sighed in relief as they all came up to the cart. The gates of the cart opened and the Ox held something in his hooves with the same reverence as he came to Elphaba, saying, “Here is something to remind you of your journey, Lady Elphaba. It is something of a relic among us. Lady Glinda found it and has kept it all these years.”

He held up Doctor Dillamond’s glasses.

Gasping, Elphaba gingerly grabbed them and placed them in a pocket of her coat, looking down with a mixture of remorse and anger as she said, “He will be avenged. I promise all of you that Doctor Dillamond will be the only casualty of this movement so long as I have a say in the matter. Take care of Shiz for us while we are gone and if the Gale Force comes, give ‘em hell.”

“I assure you, we will,” the Owl smiled, his aquine eyes glittering.

“To Emerald,” Glinda announced.

“To destiny…again,” Elphaba added.

Usual "I don't own anything" stuff applies...

That Which You Are, The Mirror You Become, Part 3/?

2009-04-21T23:41:25Z

Here is Chapter 3 because the kind anonymous commenter on Chapter 2 managed to encourage me to post more of it. Enjoy and Comment!

In the firehouse, everyone began to wake up slowly, huddled around the phone, and when it finally rang, Egon picked up, looking at the caller ID and saw it was Kylie’s apartment and said, “So, what happened?”

“Uhm, Egon, you might wanna pick us up…something happened.”

“I’ll say, you sound like you have laryngitis, Kylie.”

“Something like that.”

Roland drove over and waited out in front of the apartment building and saw a man and woman walk outside, waving to them. His heart stopped when he realized the man was Kylie and the woman was Eduardo.

“So you switched genders??”

They nodded, Eduardo saying gently, “No cracks, PLEASE…”

“C’mon, Eduardo—I don’t make jokes like that. It’s Garret you’ll have to worry about.”

“Ah, right…he’s gonna have a field day with me.”

“Um, in your defense, you look…good.”

“No compliments on the figure, man—it’s freaky right now.”

“Kylie, you’re pretty buff yourself…let’s go get you checked out.”

They both glared at Roland and he added, “As in ecto—I didn’t mean it that way.”

They sighed and Eduardo said, “Lo siento—we’re kinda sensitive about that right now.”

“Ed’s right—we’re probably going to be making a lot of miscommunications for awhile. Choose your words carefully.”

“I’ll do the best I can.”

They drove silently down, both Eduardo and Kylie sitting in back, and Roland turned on the radio, playing Shania Twain’s “Man, I feel like a Woman,” and Eduardo shrieked, “TURN THAT STUPID THING OFF!!!”

“Ow, you could use that voice as a sonic weapon!”

“Don’t matter—I don’t like the radio laughing at me.”

Kylie grabbed Eduardo’s arm and looked her in the eyes and said, “Ed, calm down. I don’t like this situation any more than you do.”

They held contact as Eduardo felt suddenly calmed by Kylie’s touch, sighing shakily as she asked very quietly, “Can I…hold onto you for awhile?”

Kylie blushed just as much as Eduardo, but felt a pang of sympathy for his friend and grabbed her around the shoulder and leaned her into his chest, feeling the silky hair under his chin as he felt Eduardo fall asleep.

“Sheesh, it must be horrible for Ed to get this clingy. He’s a nuisance so often, but these times of weakness, I see something…more, behind that macho façade. It feels good to comfort him-er-her like this, though.”

They got to the Firehouse and Eduardo woke up, shuffling away from Kylie as if she realized what she was doing and blushed crimson as she walked out of the car.

“Oh ho, who’s the dame?” Garret cracked as he wheeled in, noticing Eduardo’s eyes and hair and saying, sniggering, “You look gorgeous today, Miss Rivera.”

“Cut it, ass-hole…I may be a chica, but I can kick yer ass any day of the week. Just don’t mess with me right now.”

“Yeah, Garret…you mess with her, you answer to me,” Kylie said as he got out of the car, looking rather menacing.

“Okay, okay, just lightening the mood a little, sheesh,” he said, annoyed, “Go ahead and protect your girlfriend Kylie…” and he wheeled away, moving more quickly as Eduardo chased after him, screaming more obscenities in Spanish, falling over as the new weight distribution affected her stride.

Tears welled up in Eduardo’s eyes as she bit her lip and pounded her fist on the ground, willing the tears not to fall. Kylie walked over and picked her up by the arm and said, “You now know why I wear a chest plate.”

“But, but ‘e called me your girlfriend! Lemme kill him, right now!”

Kylie paused a moment, thinking, “Yeah, he called you my girlfriend, and the fucker’s gonna get his comeuppance soon enough. I mean, it sounds kinda nice, just not right now. Kylie Griffin, get a hold of yourself; this isn’t the Eduardo you keep thinking about. Don’t take advantage of him-er-her, just cuz of the incident in the ECTO-1.”

Taking a deep breath, he said slowly, “No—he’s a member of this team. I wanna kill him as much as you do, but let’s get things straightened out—we’re both kinda unstable right now. Let’s take a logical route on this.”

“Easy for you to say—I’m a mess of emotions right now!”

“Welcome to PMS.”

“Point taken. Let’s go…” she said sullenly, getting up, wiping her eyes and holding onto Kylie subconsciously for a moment before breaking off.

“Eduardo, what the hell is going on??? You are supposed to be the smooth operator here! Why the hell are you crying like some chick? Oh, that’s right, you ARE a chick. DAMMIT! All I wanna do is hold onto Kylie like some kid; everything is so confusing right now. I dunno WHAT to feel right now; they all are hitting me at once!”

“Hmm, this is very intriguing. A full physical shift in gender for both of you, or so it seems. I’m going to want a blood sample for both of you immediately, so I can check if this is occurring at the genetic level or not.”

“Why do you want to know that, Egon?” Kylie asked with an attempted calm in his voice.

“Because if you have become a genetic male, then there is a chance this is irreversible,” he said flatly.

“Chalk it up to Egon to make things sound cheery,” Eduardo said with venom in her voice.

“It is entirely both of your faults you looked in the mirror, I cannot say much more than that.”

Eduardo protested shrilly, “It was because Kylie slipped on a piece of paper while we were arguing!”

“For once, Ed’s right on this one, Egon—it is my fault for tripping.”

“Alright, but still—we cannot change what has already occurred.”

Egon then took some blood from both of them, and said calmly, “Both of you are free from work today. Get some sleep and stay together. You may need each other’s prior experiences.”

“Egon, I think the kids should stay at the Firehouse tonight,” Janine said, “Maybe they will be better off near you and the proper materials if something happened.”

“I agree—get anything you will need for awhile—I don’t want you out of my supervision until we can arrive at a solution, if indeed there is one.”

Janine added, “Maybe I can take Eduardo shopping—she looks like she needs better fitting clothes.”

“That reminds me—the both of you need more fitting names for now…Eduardo is hardly a proper female name, and Kylie would not suffice either.”

“Great, I gotta change my name, too. What else should I do Egon, start watching chick flicks and get a makeover, or should I just throw my identity in the trash so Slimer can eat that TOO?!?!” Eduardo shot, tears filling up.

“It’s alright, Eduardo—we won’t make you do anything you aren’t comfortable with. You just need more comfortable clothes. I can imagine how much of a shock this is.”

“I don’t really think you can, Janine—no offense, but this tops my ‘weird’ scale, and I don’t really know how to deal with it. And I’d actually like Kylie to go with me as well.”

“Right…you can give advice on guy clothing and he and I can give a more womanly touch to your wardrobe.”

“One outfit, though…I don’t want to get too comfortable in chick clothes, por favor,” she murmured, still breathing heavily.

Sighing, Janine said, “Okay, one outfit…plus sleeping clothes. You NEED those.”

“Janine’s right. Ed, please—do this for me?”

Sighing, Eduardo said, “It’s Maria…that was my madre’s name. It was what she wanted my name to be if I was gonna be a girl when she was pregnant with me.”

“Okay…I guess you can call me Kyle…I’m lucky to have had an uncreative father when it came to names—he thought I was going to be a boy and wanted Kyle, but when I was born, he just made it sound girly and named me Kylie.”

Garret wheeled in and asked, “So, how’s the happy couple?”

“CAN IT, GARRET,” the both of them said angrily.

“Okay, okay, I take the point. Just relax a little, please?”

“Once they get into more comfortable clothes, I’m sure they’ll be able to relax,” Janine said soothingly, moving toward her coupe parked outside.

Guarding What We Love and Live For, Chapter 4/?

2008-06-27T19:15:25Z

Here it is at last! I'm sorry it took so long everyone..lots of...ahem, stuff happened these last 6 months, but here it is...still working on chapter 5, but yeeeaaaaah, ENJOY!

Title: Guarding Those We Love and Live For 4/?
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Gelphie/Soriku
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words that you will read in this post...all hail Maguire, Squeenix and the rest of the gang.

The others ambled along the avenues and hallways of Shiz, gazing at the architecture in awe.

“Is it just me, or does everywhere look better than the Island??” Riku laughed.

“I dunno, Riku—I guess it’s just cuz it looks different,” Sora answered distantly.

Kairi looked at him carefully, asking slowly, “Sora, what’s wrong?”

Looking down, Sora sighed and said, “I’m just kinda worried about Elphaba and Glinda, y’know? I mean, poor Elphaba—she looked really freaked out back there. They look like they’re trying to wake up from a dream.”

“What do you mean by that?” Riku asked, sitting down at a table in front of one of the cafes at Railway Square.

“Like us when we met at the Castle before going against Xemnas. We were acting so differently, like we thought it was still a dream that we finally met up.”

“Yeah, now that you put it that way, they HAVE been acting kinda like that. We don’t know them perfectly yet, so let’s not jump to conclusions,” Kairi commented, sighing and sitting at the table, watching the sun set.

Elphaba and Glinda still sat silently on their beds, inhaling the smell of Shiz like it were the sweetest perfume in the land.

“Oz, does this bring back memories,” Glinda breathed.

Elphaba sighed and managed a slight smile and spoke, “I still remember how we utterly loathed each other those first few weeks. To think it has been that long—I feel so old.”

“Don’t—Elphie, you don’t have to be old. You have been ‘reborn’ to everyone else, remember? You said that it was a second chance…why don’t you use it?”

Elphaba remained silent for several minutes and answered slowly, brow furrowed, “I suppose it is because I still feel I do not deserve it. So many peoples’ lives were ruined because of me, Glinda; you need to understand just how heavy that weighs on my conscience.”

“But without you, I would have not changed and become ‘Glinda the Good’ and through me, you have also touched many lives. Consider it redemption by proxy.”

“Interesting idea…you really have learned how to use that mind of yours after all,” she smirked.

“Oh, Elphie, do shut up about that.”

Elphaba seemingly obeyed, falling very silent, frowning and staring at the ceiling.

“Elphie?”

Silence.

“Elphie…” she asked with a hint of annoyance.

More silence followed.

“The girl…” she mumbled.

“I told you—she wants YOU to forgive HER. Please stop being a twit about that.”

Elphaba looked up at the ceiling and sighed, “Glinda—I know you mean the best, but this is much more complicated than you will ever know. I have changed since we parted…perhaps for the better, perhaps for the worse. All I understand is that I have changed.”

“You are here. That is all that matters, Elphie,” Glinda whispered, moving onto Elphaba’s bed and looking her square in the eyes.

“Why does it matter?” she returned.

“Because—I nearly killed myself out of grief the day we found out you ‘died’,” she choked out, “and they had the gall to celebrate…sheep the lot of them.”

Glinda’s face darkened angrily, biting her lower lip as tears flowed. Elphaba sighed and slowly removed her hat, revealing a bright pink flower pinned in her spun-coffee hair, smiling.

Glinda gasped and squeaked, “The flower—but how? That was so many years ago!”

Smiling enigmatically, she slowly said, “I was originally a natural science major here, remember? I found a seed in the original and planted it. It was perhaps the most precious item I brought with me aside from the hat and broom. I never went anywhere without one of these in my hair. It reminded me every day that there is a reason to go on.”

“Oh, Elphie,” she sobbed as she dove into Elphaba’s arms, hugging her tightly, “I knew this wasn’t a mistake! I just knew!”

The two of them embraced tightly, refusing to let go for several minutes until Glinda parted and sternly gazed into Elphaba’s eyes and said, “Promise me you won’t ever leave me like you did. If you go somewhere, I come with.”

Smiling widely, Elphaba softly said, “I promise. I won’t make that mistake again…you held out, and you won’t have to any longer. I’m here to stay.”

Hugging her again, Glinda let out a muffled, “Of course!”

They both slumped into each other and Elphaba whispered, “Who knew I’d rejoice the day I reunited with the roommate I once despised.”

“I did…I felt the same way, Elphie.”

A peaceful silence fell over them until a knock on the door jolted them out of their embrace. Glinda opened the door and a delivery boy asked, “Is Elphaba Thropp in this room?”

“Yes, I’m here,” Elphaba said as she got up, eyeing the boy suspiciously.

“I have a delivery for you; the postage has been paid for, and the sender has wished to remain anonymous. Here you are.”

The delivery boy handed a long, narrow package to Elphaba and left hastily. Elphaba blanched at the shape and furiously tore off the packaging to reveal, in perfect condition, her beloved broom.

Whooping in ecstasy, she cackled, “My freedom! My beautiful, beautiful broom! But who—?” she stopped, looking down and saw a note hidden in her old hat, also tied to the broom.

“I thought that with your return, your broom should too. Just so you know: Green skips a generation.”

“Green skips a—oh Oz, it isn’t…Liir…and he—oh dear, sweet Oz.”

“What is it, Elphie?”

“I’m a grandmother.”

Guarding Those We Love and Live For 3/?

2008-01-05T07:55:49Z

Title: Guarding Those We Love and Live For 3/?
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Gelphie/Soriku
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the words that you will read in this post...all hail Maguire, Squeenix and the rest of the gang.

Finally, after a long absence, we now continue the adventure with Glinda, Elphie and the Keyblade Trio. Thought I died, huh?

As the spires came into view, Glinda’s smile turned from the usual bubbly grin into a more serene, distantly happy one as she guided the bubbles down to a lawn where they popped gently, leaving all of them softly on the ground.

Well, not all of them landed gracefully.

Elphaba, still dour, was sitting cross-legged in the bubble and when it popped, she ungracefully flopped over on her face in the thankfully dry and soft grass.

Kairi giggled at the sight, while Glinda walked over, an impish smirk firmly in place as she offered her hand, saying, “That’ll teach you to run away from me and not at least send a letter.”

“Honestly Glinda, are you STILL bitter about that?” Elphaba muttered, brushing blades of grass from her face and placing her hat, which fell off, back on her head, unpleased as ever.

“Well, are you willing to apologize?”

“I already did.”

“I mean REALLY apologize.”

Elphaba sighed and bent down to eye-level with Glinda and looked her square in the eyes and said, holding her hand, “Listen, Glinda—I did what I needed to as to keep you and the others safe. The Wizard was going to kill anyone associated with me, so I left and made it look like that girl had killed me. I am very, very sorry about the deception, but it was necessary for your sake.”

Nodding and falling quiet, Glinda kept massaging Elphaba’s emerald palm as her cerulean eyes met the warm chocolate of her friends. Her heart skipped a beat, but she looked down, hiding the blush that was flooding her creamy cheeks as she whispered, “I should have gone with you that day.”

“The past is the past, my sweet,” Elphaba said, her voice butter-soft, “Even I learned that we cannot do anything about what has already happened. You made your choice, I made mine. I don’t think either of us made the right decision, but it happened nonetheless.”

“You were probably happier than I was; I had to act cheery as he grabbed more and more power. He had the nerve to come back after the Dorothy incident! I thought I could breathe again, but when he came back, well…I wish he hadn’t, that’s all I can really say.”

Smiling and looking back at the others, she said, “We can talk about this over a drink at the Peach and Kidney, alright?”

Nodding, Glinda lifted her face, the blush thankfully fading as she announced to the three, “Welcome to Shiz University, learning center of Oz and my alma mater.”

“And almost mine,” Elphaba piped in.

Sora looked around and said, “Y’know, this kinda reminds me of Hollow Bastion in a way. You know, like the area around Merlin’s house?”

Riku nodded and said, “I think you have a point here, Sora. Shut up, though—let ‘em give us the tour.”

Glinda laughed as Sora scowled and said, “Okay…” as she turned and pointed to a tall building in the distance. She squinted and then said, “If I am correct, that would be our old dormitory, Crage Hall.

“Oh, the insanity that happened in those hallowed halls,” Elphaba groaned with a smirk.

“You know it,” Glinda returned with a matching smirk.

Bells rang out clearly across the quad they walked through; class had apparently ended and groups began to flow out of the academic buildings in droves. Elphaba’s face went a very pale green as she looked frantically for a tree and climbed up it, concealing herself in the foliage.

Several students came up and bowed, calling out, “Lady Glinda! It’s an honor to see you on campus—who are these people?”

Glinda announced, reclaiming her distantly regal air, “These would be friends from another realm, such as Dorothy; their names are Sora, Riku and Kairi and please make them know why Shiz is legendary for its hospitality.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they intoned, smiling to the others and continued to walk. As soon as the groups cleared, Elphaba hissed from the tree, “I cannot believe I forgot the school schedule!”

“Elphie, I told you—I’ll vouch and you’ll be FINE.”

“Somehow I am less than reassured,” she whispered sardonically.

“Fine, don’t accept my help, green bean…” she sniffed, moving toward Crage Hall.

Elphaba slinked down fluidly, marching up to Glinda and grabbed her by the hair and growled, “Green Bean? You have not called me that in eons, Glinda—should I start calling you by your old name, then? Maybe Miss Galinda, does that sound good?”

Breathing heavily, she adjusted her hat and sighed, kneeling down beside Glinda and saying wearily, “I am terribly sorry, Glinda—this place…brings out the worst in me.”

“So that means I befriended the worst of you?” Glinda asked sagely.

Nodding, Elphaba muttered, “It would seem so—though there is not much difference between the best of me and the worst of me; if there was, I would not be hiding in trees and covering my greenness from all of Oz.”

“Elphie, you’re being a twit…get up—I’m going to have you talk with the NEW headmistress; she is nothing like Morrible, so don’t give me that horrified gape.”

“I really DID rub off on you…sounding so…authoritative. I like it,” Elphaba observed, getting up slowly and smirking.

“Shut up…you are acting just like me, so I suppose we’re even,” she sighed, walking faster toward the looming building.

Falling silent, but giving an intense, defiant look that gave Sora the impression that she was not yet defeated, Elphaba followed. Her hat hid most of her face as she folded her arms, successfully hiding most of her skin and not looking completely conspicuous.

They went into the headmistress’s chamber and a young, severe looking woman sat at the desk and rose, giving a short hug to Glinda.

“Lady Glinda, a pleasure as always. Your letter was…interesting, to say the least. I was under the impression, as was the rest of Oz as you know, that Elphaba Thropp was slain by Dorothy of Kansas coming on one year prior. But now you say that one of the most legendary students of Crage Hall has returned very much alive? I ask pardon for this, but even coming from you that is far-fetched,” she said respectfully.

“Then I suppose you should start believing in the impossible, headmistress,” Elphaba said in a calm, icy tone that sent shivers through Kairi’s spine, “I am very much alive, and very interested in cleansing Oz of this less-than-savory reputation I have earned over the years. Unless this intention, too, is doomed to failure.”

The headmistress went pale as she coughed loudly and said, in a failed attempt at composure, “Miss Elphaba, it is a curious…honor to be able to meet you in person. Erm, what can I do to assist you on this venture?”

“Well, seeing as we have guests that as yet remain nameless to you, I suppose you can assist us by becoming acquainted with all of the guests, and not simply the most infamous of reputation.”

Gesturing to the three, the pregnant silence cued Sora to announce, “I am Sora, this here’s Riku, and the girl is Kairi…we’re all from another world and were sent here to solve some problems having to do with some creatures called Heartless that came here recently.”

The headmistress’ eyes flashed at the mention of Heartless and asked curiously, “Enlighten me on the appearance of these heartless…”

“Well, they’re usually black or dark blue, with glowing eyes and they take a lot of different shapes, but they always have a spiky heart design somewhere on them.”

The headmistress nodded, falling silent for a moment and then got up, speaking in a soft voice, “Fortunately for us, these Heartless have not yet reached Shiz, but most unfortunately for Lady Glinda, it appears they have reached Gillikin and are spreading.”

Glinda’s face fell as she breathed, “Please tell me Frottica hasn’t been taken…”

The Headmistress’ face moved side to side sadly. “I am terribly sorry, Lady Glinda.”

“Are the arrangements in order?” she asked tersely, visibly fighting tears.

“Yes—your old room has been cleared and readied for your sleeping during the stay. Also, the students have been informed that Miss Elphaba has returned from the dead and that in the strictest sense, they are not to inform anyone. I hope this is to both of your liking.”

“You TOLD THEM? Pardon me for finding the lunacy in that decision,” Elphaba hissed, “Seeing as my role in the Wizard’s latest power grabs could lead to disaster for Shiz, I feel that any knowledge of my presence is at best a security risk.”

“Miss Elphaba, I would advise you to trust me—we have ensured that the students and their families are compliant with this request and have been extremely well…compensated for their efforts,” the Headmistress stated evenly.

Taking a long sigh, Elphaba turned around and left the room, muttering, “Whatever you say.”

Sora muttered, “Sheesh, she’s awfully moody,” and looked out of the room, seeing Elphaba stumble, retching.

Glinda had begun to silently cry; tears flowed down her face as Kairi moved in to comfort her.

“It’s alright—we’re here to help, Glinda; Sora, Riku and I are all really good at beating Heartless,” Kairi cooed soothingly.

“I’m not frightened about my hometown, Kairi; I’m frightened of what could happen to Elphaba. She has never dealt with this sort of stress very well—she bottles things up all too frequently. I need to find her—alone—and talk some sense into her. You three may explore Shiz at your leisure.

The three nodded, Sora choosing now to say, “I think she was barfing back there, just to let you know…”

Kairi wrinkled her nose and Riku lightly punched his friend’s arm, growling, “Way to go, genius.”

Glinda blanched and ran off, dropping her wand and tearing off her tiara.

“Elphie, get back here this instant!!” she shouted, seeing the fleeing form of her friend in the distance. Elphaba turned around and stared, tears burning her whole face, as she growled through grated teeth, “THIS is why I did NOT want to come here, GA-linda.”

Gasping at the severity of her tear-burns, she dove in for a tight hug, burying herself in the embrace as she sobbed, “I’m sorry! I—I thought this would help…just shows I’m still the idiot you left on the carriage…”

“The idiot that night was ME, Glinda. I should have never left you; I should have never done many things I did. I will bear the burden of my decisions for the rest of my life, but you don’t have to. I have some perverse second chance after Dorothy killed my doppelganger…” she spoke, staring intently into her friend’s eyes and trailing off at the end.

“You know, she still feels that she needs to be forgiven for what she did. I spoke to her shortly after her second visit here. She couldn’t get the visions of ‘you’ melting out of her head, the poor girl.”

Closing her eyes and taking a steadying breath, Elphaba slowly sighed, “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get enough forgiveness for my stupidity. After Nessa died, the last reminder of who I was on Oz disappeared—I thought you had truly become the Wizard’s lackey and gave up that moment.”

Coughing softly, Glinda said in a choked breath, “Elphaba Thropp, you GAVE UP on something? Pardon me for saying this, but that is quite honestly impossible!”

“Oh it’s very possible, my pretty,” she murmured, “I just need an exceedingly good reason to. Losing everything was definitely a reason.”

“But you still have me, don’t you?”

Nodding, Elphaba sighed and said, “Let us get reacquainted with our old room, shall we?”

Smiling, Glinda pulled out a bottle of oil and applied some on her hand and gently rubbed Elphaba’s burns. “Honestly, Elphaba—you never were good at taking care of your appearance—those burns will leave horrendous scars!”

“I suppose I have you to do it in my stead once more,” she intoned dryly, smirking and wincing at the tenderness of her burn.

“No more crying for you; I’ll have none of this burning nonsense, water allergy or no. If I must gather all of Oz, I swear I shall make you happy before this visit is over.”

Mock-saluting, she laughed and as they walked in, she answered, “Don’t worry Glinda; as long as you are around, I’m rather sure that you will tease at least one smile out of me.”

“I would hope for more than THAT.”

“I’m rather tired—let those three children fend for themselves.”

“How very maternal of you,” Glinda moaned sarcastically.

“Mothering is your job. I’m too beautifully tragic to make a good mother, remember?”

By now I hope you know my usual panhandling for comments/critiques...if not, well, ask someone who has...

Urk...

2007-08-03T05:00:17Z

Stupid writer's block...stupid LIFE in general...

The problem with my progress on Guarding What We Love and Live For has been how to approach the change in perspective of both Glinda and Elphaba while preserving their identity and original voice. I mean, they've changed since the "death" of Elphaba, especially with the KH trio arriving, but they ARE still Glinda and Elphaba at their core.

I'm kinda stumped as to what to do...

Help?

That Which You Are, The Mirror You Become, Part 2/?

2007-05-16T05:04:17Z

Title: That Which You Are, The Mirror You Become, Part 2/?
Rating: T-M
Pairing: Ed/Kylie
Disclaimer: I own nothing, give Richard Raynis and Jeff Kline all the credit for the characters

Chapter 2

“You WHAT?” Egon asked, looking at Eduardo and Kylie, “I thought we said not to look at the mirror! This is at least a Class 10 matter-energy manipulating specter, do you have any idea what could happen! It could be changing you right now!”

“We seem fine right now…we both felt kinda sick when we looked at it, though,” Kylie said distantly, holding her stomach.

“Yeah, I feel kinda funky, but otherwise I’m fine,” Eduardo added.

Egon waved them up and down with the PKE meter and sighed, saying, “You are both registering high levels of psychokinetic energy. Go home, get some rest, and call us if anything comes up. In fact, Kylie—go home with Eduardo. You both should be together on this in case things happen.”

“Oh, maaan! I gotta room with Kylie?”

“Believe me, I’m enjoying this news as much as you are, Eduardo,” Kylie muttered sarcastically.

They both left and Kylie said, “My couch is pretty comfy—I don’t wanna leave Pagan alone, either. My apartment’s closer to the Firehouse anyhow, that sound okay?”

Eduardo looked down and thought, “Go figure the one time I am close to her, it’s because we’re both Ecto-poisoned or something. Are we ever gonna have calm time?”

“Ed? You okay?” Kylie asked, putting a hand delicately on his shoulder.

“Si, I’m okay…we should get home and get some sleep anyways—it’s an excuse to dodge outta work and get some real sleep for once.”

Rolling her eyes and smiling gently, she nodded, saying, “I’m a bit of a night owl anyways, I’ll watch you for awhile so you can sleep.”

“Nah, let’s just get some sleep together. We both need it in case we turn into monkeys or something.”

“Let’s hope nothing too extreme happens…”

Roland drove both of them to Kylie’s apartment and said, “Take care you guys, we’ll be on call at the Firehouse tonight, so call if anything weird happens.”

“Got it…” they answered in unison.

When they got home, Eduardo looked around at the apartment, saying, “Nice digs…better’n mine, plus I don’t have Carlos to deal with.”

Out of nowhere, a black cat brushed up against Eduardo’s leg and he looked down, petting it and saying, “I remember you…”

Kylie nodded and said, “Normally Pagan hates guests…he seems to like you.”

“Mebbe cuz I crawled around Manhattan in his fur…This place is way different when you aren’t a foot tall with paws…”

“Yeah—still haven’t really forgiven you for that…you coulda hurt him, for all we knew!” she growled, lightly slapping him on the arm.

“Yeah, thanks for not recognizing that I was the one who came up with that wish! And why don’t vets give animals antibiotics like everyone else? I mean, even bubblegum flavor’s better than a needle shoved up your butt!” he returned indignantly, rubbing his arm.

“You mean you didn’t hear Pagan’s mind?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“C’mon…you didn’t know I was joking ‘bout that? And I thought you were smart.”

“I am…just, Pagan is closer to me than anyone. If he left, I wouldn’t have anyone close to me…”

“Thanks…I feel so welcome now.”

Kylie winced, biting her lip and swiftly answered, “I didn’t mean it that way—make yourself comfortable…I don’t have any guy’s clothes, so you’ll have to sleep in yours tonight.”

“Eh, I sleep with my undershirt and boxers anyways…just gimme a blanket an’ I’ll be cool.”

Kylie cringed and said, “That’s not the image I’d like burned into my skull just before bed, thank you…but there’s a blanket on the couch already…I’ll get you a pillow. Warning—Pagan likes sleeping on that couch when he gets tired of sleeping on my stomach…so he might pounce on you.”

“Eh, we’re cool…I like cats, actually—better than dogs—they’re just estupido, y’know? I’ll be okay with him sleeping on me, it’ll be like old times…”

“Okay…sorry I’m not much of a hostess, I’m just not used to guests.”

“Es okay, Kylie…I get kinda lonely in my apartment anyways…it’s a nice change. You are DEFINITELY better than Egon and Slimeball.”

Kylie laughed as she went inside and changed, her stomach still somewhat upset, though the butterflies didn’t help.

“Kylie Griffin, what the hell are you doing?? There has NEVER been a male ever to cross that threshold aside from Pagan! What’s wrong with you!?”

When she finished changing into her nightgown, a satin black robe with straps, she went out after grabbing a pillow and saw Eduardo in his shirt and boxers, slipping underneath the blanket and she felt a slight blush on her cheeks and she threw him the pillow with surprising strength, murmuring, “G’night…yell if anything happens, okay?”

“Buenas noches, Kylie…you do the same…and…..thanks.”

She smiled and said, “You too.”

“We can talk tomorrow.”

“Yeah…”

She went to bed, mad at her weakness and pulled a pillow over her hot face, feeling the cool fabric as she fell asleep with surprising speed.

Eduardo stayed awake for awhile, looking at the ceiling, sighing and muttering, “Ay, the only time I can be with her, and still, she’s a room away. Eduardo Rivera, you are a girly man after all—no nerve to just go up and ask her out! Mebbe there’s a chance once we see what happens with that stupid mirror.”

With that, he fell asleep, feeling his stomach finally begin to calm down.

Kylie felt the sun shine on her as the morning came, blinking several times as she felt unbelievably sore, as if every muscle in her body ached, groaning and looking at the ceiling fan whirl lazily as she noticed Pagan had left her bed once more.

“Sheesh, what the hell happened?” she said, gasping at her voice—it sounded lower…more gravelly.

She attempted to get up, as the muscle pain subsided and hobbled toward the mirror.

The urge to shriek was almost too much, at least for Kylie. She saw that she had grown a full 3 inches overnight, and her breasts had disappeared in place of a flat but muscular chest. Her hips had narrowed and her legs had more muscle. Instead of the comfortable space between her legs, she felt something there and slowly looked down and felt the urge to retch—she had become a man.

Suddenly, an ear-piercing scream rent the air like a knife and Kylie stumbled in, expecting Eduardo, but seeing a smaller, very curvy young woman, with Eduardo’s hair color and his eyes, but the face was narrower, and the curves unavoidable, as the only word Kylie could think of was “Beautiful” as she mumbled in her—now his—voice, “You too?”

Kylie winced as the female version of Eduardo screamed in rapid-fire Spanish, most of the words Kylie noticed were curses.

“I’m a CHICK!”

“Hey, I’m a GUY now…you happy?”

“What ‘choo mean?”

“You always called me the manliest girl you ever met,” he growled, now taller than his friend, feeling odd as he felt like he couldn’t stop looking at the gentle flare of her hips, the softness of her skin, the fullness of her lips and most of all, her breasts—pert but soft and at least a C-cup on her frame. The dusky color of Eduardo’s skin smoothed out and the rusty brown smoothed into a shiny auburn as she looked down, blushing furiously.

She asked in a smooth but higher pitched and very feminine voice, “Um, can I…have some of your clothes? I kinda shrunk last night.”

Indeed Eduardo had—at least 4 inches in height and lost more or less all his muscle tone, looking petite but curvy in all the right places.

“Um, sure—you look about my size, though those hips and breasts might make things a little difficult.”

“Uh…Kylie—I dunno how to put on chick clothes…” Eduardo asked meekly, looking down again, giving Kylie the impression that Eduardo was mortified at the whole situation.

“Uh, I guess I can show you how…I just feel so…weird…like I can’t stop—”

“Staring at my tetas? I noticed—welcome to the world of the guy. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was hardwired into our skulls.”

“And I noticed that you have realized how vulnerable we feel when you do that.”

“Yeah, I feel like I have a pair of balls on my chest…it’s freaky, man!”

Chuckling slightly, Kylie pulled Eduardo into the bedroom, and pulled out an ensemble that seemed to look good enough.

“Now, I’ll help you put it on…the bra’s the hardest part for beginners.”

“Show me…just don’t touch ‘em too much…they’re mucho sensitivo…”

“I just realized—your accent thickened.”

“It did? Ay, ay, ay…mama always said the girls in the family had thicker accents.”

Kylie managed to fit the bra over Eduardo, showing how to clasp it and noticed that her bras didn’t seem to fit—Kylie hoped that they wouldn’t be like this long enough to need a bra shopping trip.

“Um, thanks…this fits kinda tight around my T&A…”

“You’re curvier than I am-er-was…a lot curvier.”

“Great…shouldn’t we call Egon?”

“Let’s hope he recognizes our voices.”

“Yeah…”

Please, more comments!

That Which You Are, The Mirror You Become, Part 1/?

2007-05-01T03:49:59Z

Yes, I finally decided to split this sucker into chapters...

Summary: An everyday bust that soon becomes much, much more...
Pairing: Kylie/Eduardo
Rating: For now, Teen...soon to be Mature
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Extreme Ghostbusters (c) Richard Raynis and Jeff Kline. Also, if you dislike TG, I recommend you find another fic...

Chapter 1

Just another day at the Firehouse—2 busts, one paid on a bounced check, another on the Ghostbusters pay-as-you-go account, and no real money to pay the television bill. In other words, a bad day for Eduardo Rivera, as he sits on the couch, munching on some old potato chips he found in the cupboard.

“Hey, mebbe we should just ditch that pay-as-you-go thing and actually ask for the money up front? I’m missing out on my favorite shows, man!” he groaned, yelling in the direction of Janine, who was typing out several bills to customers on the account.

Out of nowhere, Eduardo felt his hand become moist and slimy as Slimer stole his chips and he yelled, “Give ‘em back, Slimeball, or it’s into a trap for you, pendejo!”

Slimer stuck his unnaturally large tongue out in a raspberry and flew into the kitchen. Before he could get up, Kylie leapt over the couch and sat next to him, glaring into his eyes as she said, her accent in full, “Don’t even think about it, Ed—Egon told you before, no trappin’ Slimer unless he says so.”

“But ‘e stole my chips! Plus, you’re not my madre, Kylie…what’re you gonna do if I just do it anyways?”

“I’ll rip your balls off and let Slimer chow down on ‘em,” she growled, her eyeshadow giving her face a hollow, almost demonic look in tandem with her raven-black hair.

Eduardo’s eyes went wide as his hands flew to his member, guarding it, saying quickly, “Point made!”

“Good…you aren’t the only one suffering cuz of the bad business lately, so quit ya bellyaching. Gut it through like the rest of us adults,” she said, sighing and relaxing on the couch, making sure there was 3 feet of space between them.

Reclining as well, he said, “Jeez, you sure you’re a girl, Kylie? Aside from the Elvira look, you act as much a guy as Garret.”

Rolling her eyes, she looked at Eduardo and sighed, “If I didn’t hate female stereotypes so much, I’d say you’re girlier than me, Mister “I shriek at a mouse on the job””

“It was a big rat and we were in the sewer!” he protested.

“Then why did no one else get scared?”

“I’m scared ‘a rats! I nearly got eaten by one when I was a niño!”

“On top of being afraid of heights, the dark, small spaces, long hallways, weird noises and your older brother?” she asked with a definite hint of annoyance.

“So I got a lot ‘o things to be scared about!”

“Wrong biz to work in, genius.”

“Ey, I was in this for an easy A, I just…decided to join cuz it’d pay my loans off, that’s all…” he said with a shifty look.

In reality, it was because of their first encounter, and when Kylie approached him and asked him to kiss her. Since then, he’s wanted to be close to her, but at the same time was frustrated by her abrasive attitude toward him.

“You sure it wasn’t because you didn’t want to be left out of the game? Or did you have nothing better ta do than annoy us?”

“’Ey, Kylie, I stuck with this cuz I’m a man—men don’t back down from stuff. And I’m workin’ on my fears…you need a boyfriend, y’know that?”

Her pupils contracted as she glared daggers at him, enunciating every word as she growled, “And why do you say that?”

Eduardo slunk down, realizing the stupidity of what he just said and he mumbled, “You’re too intense…you need someone to help you relax or something—I worry ‘bout you sometimes.”

His eyes met with hers for a moment and both their hearts beat a little faster as they looked away and Kylie managed a snide, “And who do you expect to fill this position, you? I hardly think so.”

“Just…someone…other than Christian Slater in your dreams,” he said, his ego wounded from her barbs as Roland came in.

“Hi, guys, how’s everything going?”

“BAD,” they both said with frustration in every syllable.

“Oh…well, I guess things might look up—we just got a call about suspected Class 9 on Central Park West.

They both looked up and seemed to brighten up as Eduardo asked, “They gonna actually pay us, or are we gonna go without TV for another day?”

“They’re paying us part in advance and part when we finish—it’s a high-paying customer, too. They’re paying us 5,000 now and 6,000 on completion!”

“11,000??” they both shouted excitedly.

“Then, what’re we waiting for??” Garret asked, rolling in, already suited up and armed.

Eduardo and Kylie got up, their hands meeting for a moment as they pulled away quickly, looking away.

“So, gonna be the manly girl on this one, too?”

“Can it, Ed—this is gonna pay us off a lot.”

“Alright, alright, keep your shirt on,” Eduardo mumbled as he grabbed a Proton Pack and got into the ECTO-1.

They drove to the address Janine gave them, and the tenant, an auctioneer came down and said, “Thank God, you’re here, it’s been terrible.”

Kylie came up and asked, “What happened, ma’am?”

“Well, it’s the mirror in there…people see strange things and they…change…it’s horrible.”

“How do they change?” Roland asked concernedly.

The old woman called out inside and a dog came out.

“It’s just a dog, lady—what’s wrong?”

“It used to be a cat.”

“WHAT?” they all asked in unison.

“Yes…I haven’t looked at the mirror for fear of changing…it’s in the attic. Please, take care of it—it’s a valuable antique I was hoping to auction off for a charity next week.”

Kylie looked at Eduardo and they both shared a smirk as they remembered the Class-13 they once dealt with in a similar circumstance as Eduardo said, “Don’t worry, senora, we’re scientists…we’ve done stuff like this before.”

“For once, he’s right,” Kylie said with a smile.

The auctioneer nodded and smiled gratefully as she led them inside. They came to a large mirror, covered in a tarp.

Kylie waved a PKE meter up and down the mirror and her eyes went wide as she said, “Whoa, this one’s definitely hot—I’m getting readings more along the lines of a Class-10 or 11…this is not good. I’m getting a signature closely resembling the class-13 we dealt with awhile back…that means it really can directly interact with the physical plane.”

“You think we should take this to Egon for analysis?” Roland asked and Eduardo said, touching the tarp with the end of his proton gun, “Mebbe we should try and communicate with it. Y’know, find out what it wants. Mebbe it just wants something it lost…”

“Eddy, I think that’s probably the dumbest idea you’ve had for awhile—and that’s saying something,” Garret cracked, rolling up and grabbing the end of Eduardo’s gun and pointing it down.

“Roland’s right—Egon’d know how to deal with this. He’s dealt with possessed objects before—remember the Vigo incident?”

They all nodded, Garret exclaiming, “I remember seeing the Statue of Liberty passing my parent’s apartment window that night; that was so COOL!”

“Yeah, I remember it, too—I’m just saying he might have more experience than us. By all means, NONE OF US looks at the mirror. We’ll stick it in the back of the ECTO-1. Eduardo, you and I will guard it.”

“Trusting Eddy with something that important, have you lost your mind Kylie?” Garret asked, his eyes wide.

“He and I dealt with a Class-13 single-handedly without looking once at it. If anyone can be trusted with something like this, it’s us,” she said, nodding to Eduardo.

“Yeah, so bug off, wheelchair boy,” Eduardo added, grabbing the side of the mirror, his eyes firmly shut.

Kylie grabbed the other side carefully and said, “You sure you can handle this thing? It’s awful heavy.”

“Oh, look at the comedienne…very funny…I’d be more worried about you, chica,” he shot back, hefting the mirror as the others left.

The mirror was a lot heavier than either of them thought and it took a great deal of strength to pull it off the ground. The two of them slowly made their way through the attic, looking at the ground and not the mirror and Eduardo said between grunts, “So –pant- you think I’m –pant- some kinda girly man?”

“Nah, I’m just saying that you need to stop using all these chauvinistic stereotypes so much. I don’t want you to get a false image of yourself.”

“Yeah, well, you need to stop making me feel like some kinda girl…like that time with the Class-13. You need to stop showing others you act like a guy…”

“Everyone seriously thinks I’m some kinda tomboy? Great…”

“Kylie, you moved past tomboy a long time ago.”

“Lovely…just pay attention to the—AAAGH!”

Kylie slipped on a piece of paper that she didn’t notice and fell, pulling the tarp along the way. The two of them accidentally looked at the bare mirror and saw a man and a woman, looking like them but somehow different, as if there were people impersonating them. They suddenly felt very sick as a voice boomed in their heads, “I will reveal your truest faces…what you are, the mirror you become.”

“Mierda!! We’re screwed now!” Eduardo shrieked, panicking.

“Calm the fuck down, Eduardo!!!” Kylie yelled, throwing the tarp back over without looking any more, “We gotta get to Egon double time!”

“Hey, guys, what’s wrong?” Roland asked over the walkie-talkies.

“We need some help getting this thing down…we might have a bit of a problem,” Kylie said, her stomach still rolling around.

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Well, that's the first of many chapters...please, comments are like proton canisters!

Should I post it?

2007-04-25T03:52:57Z

I've been bitten by the inspiration bug and churned out 50 pages of Extreme Ghostbusters fanfic-ness...

Should I post it? It's a TG-based Eduardo/Kylie pairing, and it's got a LOT of stuff...I'm in the process of separating it into manageable chunks, but I'm not sure if I should post it yet...

Comment and I'll give you a taste of it if you want.

Gelphie One-shot...proof that I need to stop procrastinating on my finals...

2007-03-20T07:48:01Z

Title: What Happens When Glinda Goes Shopping…

Rating: PG-13

Summary: One-shot of a trinket Glinda brings back to the dorm, and Elphaba’s reaction

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Wicked © Gregory Maguire, and the candleholder in question is an actual candleholder on display at Gump’s San Francisco on Maiden Lane.

“Baaaaaack!” Glinda hummed gently, opening the door to the dormitory, always seemingly locked as to stay open, with her foot as she balanced numerous bags and boxes.

Elphaba was jack-knifed into the corner of her bed, her silken hair draped messily over her face, reading a book as always as she grunted a soft acknowledgment of her friend and roommate’s return.

“Elphie, I need a hand with these bags, would you be so kind as to help?”

Sighing and chuckling, she placed a bookmark in her latest tome—“Standing Tall: A History of Munchkinland” and peeled several bags of assorted clothes off the diminutive Gillikin girl and sighed, saying, “Honestly, do you really have the need to have three separate outfits for every day? I am sure they have a 12 step program for shopping addicts.”

“Why would I want to stop wanting to shop?” Glinda said emphatically as she rolled her eyes, dropping the rest on her bed, the springs groaning under the weight.

“Because, although I doubt you will ever need to worry about money, I think you should spend more time studying—your parents pay good money to go here.”

“I guess you’re right…but you don’t, do you? I mean, you’re here for your sister…”

Biting her lip, Elphaba said, “I suppose…Dad always did lavish Nessa.”

Glinda felt a twinge of guilt at bringing it up and wrapped her arms around her friend’s waist, her head buried slightly into Elphaba’s smallish breasts as Elphaba looked down and pulled her tighter and said, “What am I going to do with you?”

“I dunno…”

“You’re a fat lot of help,” Elphaba smirked as something caught her eye—some sort of statue.

“Glinda, what is that?”

“Oh, it’s something I found while shopping—something to brighten this room up a little! Isn’t it pretty?”

Elphaba slowly parted from the embrace, the residual heat and scent of her close friend enveloping her gently, as she stood, gazing at an intensely beautiful candleholder made entirely of green crystal.

What truly left Elphaba in awe about the candleholder was that it seemed to reflect her—the exterior was like an emerald, sharp and angular, seemingly bristling with reflections and an untouchable hardness. As she gazed deeper, admiring it, she noticed that beyond the sharp edges was a smoky, soft curve at the heart—no doubt where the candle went, but it glowed with a softness all its own, the way the etched lines intertwined across one another to give it a sense of vulnerability, as the core hid amongst its crystalline fortress waiting to have its emptiness filled to be complete.

“It’s beautiful…please tell me this wasn’t too horribly expensive—you know how I don’t like showing off the fact that my roommate is filthy rich.”

“Elphie,” Glinda said, her warm, admonishing tone firmly in place, “What’s the use of having a family fortune if you don’t share it with people you care about?”

Taken aback slightly, she asked, “Wait, ‘share with’? You mean that this is…”

“Yours. I don’t know if you remember, but today, exactly one year ago, I tried embarrassing you with that hat at the Ozdust and failed, ending up your friend instead.”

“R-really?? I hadn’t thought of that. Wait—you tried embarrassing me? This hat was a joke?” Elphaba said, a hint of accusation in her tone as she took her hat off, revealing a flower stuck in her hair and she held the hat close to her, “I thought this was a truce gift—Glinda, this meant a lot…”

Walking over and hugging her again, Glinda said, “I’m sorry that slipped, Elphie—I’m glad something I gave you meant so much. And the fact that you wear it every day makes me really happy…we can talk about the reason I thought it was a joke some other time…tell me how you like the candleholder? Is it too much?”

Moving to the bed, Glinda in tow, Elphaba sat down and sighed, saying, “Well, I’m not sure there will be much room to put it in, seeing how many things we have already, but perhaps we can maneuver something so it looks tasteful but visible. I think it is rather frightening how similar it is to…me, I suppose.”

“Really? So I wasn’t the only one who was instantly reminded of you when I saw that. And, erm, Elphie—it WAS expensive, just so you know…I know Daddy will hit the roof when he finds out about this purchase. It’s….worth it for you, just like the hat and that flower you try to hide under the hat.”

Elphaba fidgeted with the blossom wedged into her braid, blushing hunter green as she said, “Well, if it forces your father into bankruptcy, I doubt I’m worth THAT…I’m just a roommate and a close friend. Or…” Elphaba stopped, noticing the deep gaze Glinda gave to her lips as she blushed even more furiously, confused as to the attention being given, and how the sudden heat came on deep within.

“We can save THAT for later, too…” Glinda cooed, getting so close that Elphaba felt Glinda’s breath on her face, and then moving away, standing up and placing the glittering candleholder on a stand.

Elphaba was literally panting, almost frightened by how intensely she felt herself respond to Glinda’s sudden closeness—her attitude had been like this only sporadically over the past year. Was this how Gillikinese girls responded to other girls they regarded as friends, or was this one a particular oddity?

“It’s missing something,” Glinda said matter-of-factly.

Elphaba shook her head violently as she was jarred out of a trance, remembering Glinda’s soft lips being dangerously close to hers—she had never had an attraction to women before, although being green limits her romantic prospects enough not to have much grounding in what constitutes a “normal” relationship anyways.

It was a little too tempting, seeing as how kind and wonderful Glinda had been to her since the Ozdust incident, despite trying too hard to make her more beautiful with the incessant requests for a new hairdo here, a makeup trial there, or a new scent in her bathing oils then. All of these things, plus the never-ceasing “You need a new wardrobe, Elphie,” nagging fests, endeared her closely to the self-seeming austere young green bean. Never had a friend filled her heart with such joy at such trivial things as an argument over whose turn it was to fix the window or an interruption during studying to go to the Peach and Kidney for a light drink. (Glinda’s tab, of course)

“I think you’re right—there is definitely something the green shell needs, and I think it’s got to do with the painful emptiness right there.” Elphaba pointed to the empty candleholder.

“Hmm, how will we fix this problem? Not just any candle will suffice—it has to match the beauty of the carrier, otherwise things just won’t work.”

Elphaba thought a long time, looking at Glinda, thinking slowly, a dizzying feeling rising from her stomach all the way to her head, and she decided—this would be the perfect time, if any.

“I’ll be back in a clock-tick,” she said quickly as she dashed down to Nessa’s room.

Glinda stood there, flushed and anxious—maybe, just maybe, this would be her chance to admit to Elphaba what had been boiling in her skull and other regions for the year they had been friends. Quite a far cry from the utter loathing they had displayed each other after Ama Clutch’s absence forced her to pair with Elphaba, now Glinda felt her reputation, secret to those outside the Pertha Hills, of just what she liked, in terms of relationships.

In short, her rep for liking the girls had followed this queen of popularity since grammar school, and she had to hide it by dating only the most popular of guys, despite how “icky” they felt to be around.

In shorter, she was attracted to Elphaba. Heck, she was in love with Elphaba, true and sure—never had someone knew her so intimately and been able to help her with everything. Much like the crystal candleholder she gazed at, Elphaba was a thorny, edgy young woman with a shield around her heart that not even she could penetrate. But unlike everyone else, she saw the heart—vulnerable, yearning for warmth, and sweet as they came, with a spot for those in need always available…at least for Animals. Combined with an exotic beauty all her own, this was a deadly mix to Galinda the Girl-Chaser, as the girls in her boarding school before Shiz had taken to calling her in private.

She only bought the clothes for her so that she had an excuse for Elphaba to get close and to help her; her whole plan centered around the candleholder, which indeed was expensive enough to necessitate a letter of credit on her father’s account to purchase. She wanted Elphaba, but try as she might, the verdant beauty did not intend to fill her heart with Glinda’s.

“I’m back—I knew Nessa had one of these, so I needed to barter something of mine—I will just get her some striped socks for her birthday. She loves those things, I swear.”

Elphaba came back, flushed from running but with a wide grin on her face, her eyes firm with a mission, glinting brightly.

“So, what did you need?” Glinda asked brightly, smiling and

“Close your eyes and turn around; I want this to be a surprise.”

Pivoting with a loud huff, she smiled widely as she closed her eyes.

“Okay, you can turn around now,” Elphaba said after a series of scratching noises.

Glinda literally began to tear up the moment she saw what Elphaba had completed the candleholder with: a short candle, brightly glowing, the exact same shade of pink as half of her dresses and her lipstick and a small engraving along the candle.

YOU CAN NEVER CHOOSE THE ONES YOU LOVE—THEY CHOOSE YOU.

“No you can’t, Elphie—I love you!” She cried, tears smearing her mascara quite magnificently as she hugged her friend—or is it her girlfriend now? It didn’t matter—all that mattered at that moment was the choked whisper from Elphaba of, “Me too, Glinda,” and the long, passionate, joyful kiss that provided a canvas for the jumping flames of the crystal candleholder that started all of this.

They did not care what lay before them, but as long as they had each other, if only in secret, life would be a little brighter.

“After all, you told me once that green goes very well with pink—care to test it?”

--------------------------------

Well, I hope you guys like this—I’m not so sure; something just feels…lacking. Please, tell me what you think and I may be able to tweak it to be awesome. I am, after all, still just getting into the whole fanfic thingamajig…

Guarding What We Love and Live For, Chapter 2

2007-03-15T07:38:53Z

Well, here it is! Check my journal for chapter 1 if you have not yet read it. Help the budding fanfic writer hone his skills by giving constructive comments...the less constructive "I love this" comments don't hurt either, eheh...

Thanks to everyone who has helped me so far, including those who have commented on Chapter 1, as well as my best friend Oliver, without whom I wouldn't have gotten this far.

Without Further Ado...

Glinda was the first to scream and ask “What in Ozma’s name are THOSE?”

Elphaba, equally frightened, managed to jab, “Those WERE my flying monkeys, but they don’t look like it anymore. What did that Maleficent DO to MY monkeys??”

She shot the last question accusingly at Sora who returned, “Those are Heartless! The three of us fight Heartless because they steal the hearts from people and animals and then turn THEM into Heartless!”

“WHAT?? You mean to tell me that the animals I worked my hands RAW to help learn to fly are now heart-stealing monsters?”

Riku nodded, never taking his eyes off the swiftly closing Heartless swarm and said, “That about says it all. Be lucky you aren’t dealing with Nobodies…they’re a hundred times worse.”

“But those were---were my BABIES! I worked so hard on them! To HELP THEM was my goal!” Elphaba cried out, falling to her knees.

“If I had my broom, I’d be able to do something, but that disappeared,” she muttered, looking at her hands and shaking her head.

“Don’t worry, Elphaba! We handle this kinda thing all the time!” Sora said brightly, a hand on her shoulder, drawing his Keyblade in a ready stance.

“DON’T YOU DARE HURT THEM!” Elphaba shrieked, rising to an intimidating six-foot-two as Sora quickly returned, “Listen, they’re not your flying monkeys anymore! Seriously, they’re just monsters. If you can help us, I’d really appreciate it.”

Looking up at the swarm, back at the three, then at Glinda, then at her hands, she shook her head, slumped her shoulders and said, “You’re on your own. I’m no good at destruction magic.”

Glinda laughed mirthlessly, walking up to her and only managing to be at shoulder height and said, “Good joke, Elphie—I’m sure at the next party I hold I’ll tell it—YOU ARE THE FORMER WICKED WITCH OF THE BLOODY WEST!”

“THAT DOES NOT MAKE ME SOME SORT OF DESTRUCTION MACHINE!”

“THEN WHAT CAN YOU DO????”

“Um, Elphaba, Glinda, could you save that argument till later?” Riku asked hesitantly.

“NO!” they both shot back in unison.

“My thoughts are get rid of these now while they argue. Kairi, Sora, you in?”

Sora had already leapt into the air, white-and-black designs all over his clothing as two Keyblades hovered around him, careening toward the swarm.

“Showoff,” Riku and Kairi muttered in unison.

---------------------------------------

“You could have in the very least waited a few clock ticks prior to jumping in like that,” Elphaba snorted, glaring in Sora’s direction quite venomously.

“Oh, Elphie—give it a rest; you made those things by accident, remember?”

“Do you honestly think that those were the only ones? I was, what, twenty years old then? As much as I adore expounding on my age, the average Ozzian Monkey only lives to be about ten years old, average. Magic drains their lifespan a significant amount. That, and apparently the wings are not genetic as I had hoped—I had to cast a spell on each generation and teach them as if I were their mother. If I weren’t so delightfully single, I would be willing to take a chance for a real child, now that I’ve had practice on Monkeys.”

She sighed as she revealed just how much of a natural scientist she was at her core, rambling on about biology as if it were the weather.

“Uh, Glinda—did…you catch any of what she just said?” Sora said, a blank stare meeting Glinda’s laughing smirk.

Nodding, she said, “We learned about this kind of stuff when we were in college together. Even then, she LOVES using words no one else understands.”

“Fashion,” she nearly spat, rolling her eyes, “The only thing I don’t need to explain to you—despite your painful lack of adherence to it.”

Wrinkling her nose, she said, “Elphaba Thropp, I am not that vain and you know it!”

“Spoken from the Gillikinese woman who checks herself in every reflective surface in Oz three times before moving on…”

“That was only once, and I couldn’t help it—we were on a train and I looked like garbage! I didn’t want to see the Wizard looking like THAT!”

“So it’s like Sora insisting on going into Final Form on ANYTHING when we have guests?”

“I’m sorry? What’s Final Form?” inquired a blank-stared Elphaba.

“Oh, what I did when I took on those Heartless—it’s a little trick I got from our last big adventure and it makes me really strong and fast for a period of time…and it looks cool!”

“It doesn’t mean you need to do that to a Shadow just because that kid with glasses and a scar wet himself after seeing it.”

“Hey, when you’re in the outer worlds, you gotta show ‘em a little style!”

Glinda made a double take as she said, “That’s a good phrase; I should remember that one.”

“What, so you can justify the bouffant skirt and corset even though we’re going to be trekking through mud and grass and everything under a time constraint?”

“Shut up—you know I don’t have much else.”

“There are hundreds of shops in Emerald; why not buy something, I don’t know, functional?”

“The day you buy something other than black is the day I buy something you think is functional.”

“Then get one—I have a red traveling dress I wear on occasion.”

“You mean you still fit in that old thing?”

“I’ve been living rather lean and on the run—it doesn’t foster gaining much weight, after all—in fact, starving is not something I’ll readily re-enact.”

She sighed, rolling her eyes and said as she gestured at herself, “Everything about my life must always be beautifully tragic, I suppose…thin and stick-straight as a girder in the Emerald Tower…with the color to match,” she sighed, chuckling at herself very slightly.

“Whereas you are implying that I have grown somehow fat.”

“Well, I was not necessarily leaning in that direction, but while we are on the topic, yes—is Gillikinese cuisine really that heavy?”

Glinda sighed, stuck her tongue out at Elphaba and hugged her, saying in a muffled tone with the hug, “I could never cook…”

“I know. Never, ever try to learn—Oz is better off without your experiments.”

“Just shut up and enjoy the moment, Elphie.”

“You’re beginning to sound like me,” Elphaba purred.

Riku laughed and said, observing all this, “Y’know, I think Sora has a point—they ARE awfully close…”

“They could just be really close friends—they haven’t seen each other in a really, really long time, remember?”

“Yeah, but they sound like an old couple, arguing over the littlest things.”

“Kinda like how you and Sora always do the same thing? I mean, for example, why is the sky blue?”

“Because the air blocks the rays of other colors and we just see blue.”

“No, it’s that it reflects the water in the air!”

“No, Sora—I know I’m right.”

“No, I am right.”

“Not really, smart one…”

“Oh, so you’re calling me stupid?”

“Nah, just not very bright.”

“Say that again…”

“You need to come up with better retorts—you sound like that Xigbar guy.”

“THAT is an insult!”

“Why else would I waste it on a sap like you?”

“Why I oughta….” Sora growled before tackling Riku and throwing haphazard punches at his friend.

Riku blocked them all playfully, taunting him as they wrestled on the ground for several minutes. Sora tired out first and flopped on Riku, ready to fall asleep on his friend’s chest. It felt oddly…comfortable.

“Sora…you’ve been on me for the past hour…can you get up?”

Blushing wildly, he got up and said too loudly, “Let’s get moving!”

“And they say WE are lesbian...Oz….” Elphaba mumbled to Glinda, holding her close.

Glinda looked away, seeming to be very embarrassed, but she made sure her façade held as her friend watched as she mumbled to herself, “Not yet. Not yet for either of us.”

Elphaba was too much into the warmth of the embrace to really notice her friend’s faltering face as she smiled a little too widely to be able to hide how much she enjoyed the affection.

“So where do we go now?” Sora asked loudly, walking up to them.

“We’re following Dorothy’s path to Kiamo Ko the last time I checked. She managed to get there fairly easily, right?”

“Well, I did add a few obstacles along the way…”Elphaba sing-songed, looking up at the sky, a sheepish grin on her face.

“Oh, you’re incorrigible!”

“Well, I was bored, insane, and bitter all at once—I could have done much worse, believe me here. All I really did was add a little mischief here and there, and let Chistery’s children have a little fun with them in the Dead Forest. Please don’t chastise me about that…” she sighed, looking severely annoyed.

“Hey, at least we don’t have Heartless to worry about…just these two,” Riku said dryly, still observing them.

“But what d’you think Maleficent is planning?”

“Dunno, really. Let’s relax for now.”

--------------------------------

Maleficent sighed, her most venomous voice purring to Pete, “He eliminated every last one of those Heartless…”

Pete hid behind a chair as he said, “I’m sorry! I didn’t know the kid would be so strong now!”

“You FOOL! Of course he is powerful, he defeated all of the Organization XIII members with relative ease! That was a test of the HEARTLESS, not of HIM. And they are not nearly as powerful as I had hoped. Those women, though—they intrigue me greatly. When they are not obsessed with each other, they are extremely powerful in their own rights…what intrigues me is how they would function together.”

“Um, wouldn’t that be bad?”

“For whom? I wish to see just what it will take to break them; to see their power is art to me, especially when I quash it. Why else would we leave the boy and his comrades alone and unscathed so many times? They are not yet strong enough…”

“Strong enough for what?”

“Nothing I will say to a dolt who will fall prey to a trap after ignoring my instructions…”

“What should I do?”

“Nothing for the moment…they are making their way slowly but surely to our location. Then, my dear Pete, we will test their powers. This should be very entertaining…” and Maleficent cackled darkly, observing them from the scrying glass.

----------------------------------

Looking around as the two of them fell silent to each other continued, Glinda noticed something. They were nearing the roads that split to where Shiz University was.

“Hey, Elphie?”

“What?” she said with a hint of annoyance. The walk was tiring her greatly, and she wanted more than anything to just relax with Glinda.

“Well, if you’re going to say it like that, maybe I should not tell you…”

“Glinda, you can tell us,” Sora said brightly, leaning on Riku and Kairi’s shoulders several paces behind her and Elphaba.

“Well, remember when I told you Elphie and I went to college together?”

The three nodded.

“Well, if we take a right at this coming crossing, it’s a half a day’s walk to that college! We could get some supplies and maybe, if I’m right, run into some old friends!”

“You mean YOU can get some supplies and YOU can run into some old friends. I’m still the ugly green witch with a shoe fetish to those people,” Elphaba groaned wearily, sighing more painfully than with annoyance this time as she looked into Glinda’s eyes for a moment.

Grinning confidently, she placed her hands on her hips and stood as tall as she possibly could and looked straight into her friend’s eyes, saying, “Elphie, you’re with ME. I hold more power over people here than the Wizard himself. If there’s any place that will take you in, it’s Shiz. After all, if I remember, you never finished your Sorcery Degree.”

“Glinda, please, I’d rather just get this over with—if they do not outright burn me at the stake, they will surely be uneasy with me. Uneasy toleration is just as bad as, if not worse than overt animosity.”

“C’mon, Elphaba…it’ll be okay. Maybe you should start trusting people—it’ll get them to like you a whole lot more,” Sora said brightly.

“Oh, listen to the little sage speak to someone who is roughly twice his age.”

“Actually Elphie, he’s right.”

“Lovely. Fine, we go to Shiz…but no more side adventures, please?”

“Deal.”

Smiling for once, Elphaba said with a joking tone, “And here I thought you were going to seal it with a kiss. I mean, you’ve done everything else…”

She froze in her tracks as she looked around, licking her lips subconsciously. The “I can’t believe this is happening” look written all over her face—she knew Elphaba was joking around, but jokes like that went too far. “She’ll have to learn her lesson…” she muttered as she sighed and put on a sly grin.

She walked over and said with a seductive air, “Now, Miss Elphaba, that would be unnecessary to someone so morally straight as you…but if you insist…” and she kissed her again, feeling Elphaba’s body slump in submission, feeling the gentle warmth of those emerald lips on her own plump pink ones, smelling the scented oils Elphaba bathed with all at once.

Elphaba’s eyes were wide as dinner plates as she blushed a deep green, gasping for air as she screamed, “PERMISSION WOULD BE NICE!!!” as she shivered, teasing her hair into a haphazard braid. A tense silence followed as Elphaba attempted to regain her composure, saying, “Let’s go…I’m going to go to the nearest pub. Quickly.”

“Elphie, I didn’t know you drank…”

“Believe me…when you’ve gone through what I have, you would, too.”

She shuddered both out of a soft arousal and of thinking of the horrors Elphaba had experienced. She had just done something she had sworn not to do, no matter how tempting it was. She could see clearly that Elphaba had not taken it nearly as well as she had hoped, with the tense silence and the constant wiping of her lips as if to clear something off. For several minutes, Elphaba had avoided Glinda, often moving over Sora and the others to be as far away from Glinda as possible.

This tension hurt deeply, and noticing that things needed fixing, she said, “It’s a half a day to Shiz…maybe I could show ‘em how I travel?”

“You mean that ridiculous bubble?” she spat, more venom in her voice than usual.

“You never flew by bubble, then. It’s very soft and easy…and surprisingly fast.”

“I think I’ll pass…I will take broom any day,” she said with some softening in her tone as she stole a glance at Glinda.

All of a sudden, with a wave of her wand, Elphaba was encased in a giant pink bubble as she looked around, shock written on her face and rather vulgar words being mouthed silently.

“Let’s get going…” Glinda smirked and she encased everyone else in a bubble and they all floated with very surprising velocity to a small city of glittering towers, huge spires, and open lawns—in a word, Shiz.

--------------------------------------

Well, ya got your next chapter…and your first Gelphie kiss…trust me, Elphie has a lot to say about that kiss in the next chapter! There is much to come—I must make things very action packed for the next one…or funny…or sexy—I’ll determine that by the comments I get. I love you guys!

Don't you love those blocks that creep up on you?

2007-03-12T02:57:14Z

yeah, struggling with a sudden block on chapter 2 of Guarding is not a good thing to my budding fanbase...I'm working on it as we speak, so don't worry too much...I think I have some ideas.

Just to let you guys know, chapter 2 might be weird, just because it's in a weird place in the plot progression...it's a transitory chapter, leading to some major incidents later on, so expect it to be weird and rushed a bit.

I always graciously accept suggestions and tips for those who want to give them, especially with pinning down a definite tone of Elphaba...sheesh, she's hard to get just right. Even Glinda's easier to do.

Guarding What We Love and Live For, Chapter 1

2007-03-05T21:14:55Z

Guarding What We Love and Live For

A Wicked (Book/Musicalverse)/Kingdom Hearts (post-Xemnas) Fanfiction

By GBL337

Chapter 1

Sora, Riku, and Kairi walked slowly into the gates of the city, emerald green in color all around, in which they landed from the Gummi Ship, and Sora asked in a whisper, “So, d’you think we’ll find Maleficent in this world?”

“I dunno…word has it she and Pete were headed in this direction; at least, that’s what Chip and Dale picked up on the Gummi Radar,” Riku said, looking around and sighing.

The three of them had been traveling around the worlds for quite some time now—even into worlds they had never been to, all in the interest of stemming the tide of Heartless that have been coming despite the death of Xemnas. Riku had been explaining to them that as long as people control the Heartless, the heightened numbers will persist, and thus Kairi thought that they should find a way to defeat any Heartless-user in the worlds, hopefully restoring the balance once more.

“But that means that we’ll have to hit every world we can find! We’ll be old people by the time we finish this!” Sora moaned, looking to Riku like a puppy.

Riku sighed, ruffled his friend’s hair and said with a jaunty grin, “I guess that’ll be our motivation to get all this done as quickly as possible, now won’t it?”

“Alright, Riku—can you land us gently this time?”

“Hey, hey, I didn’t see that rock, that wasn’t my fault.”

“Riiiight, and Sora is patient.”

“Hey! I AM TOO patient! I can’t wait to show you guys!”

They all laughed and landed on the world that came into view.

They landed in this strangest of worlds after pursuing Maleficent in particular for what felt like ages, and now they walked through a city seemingly made of emerald.

“Now, Sora—please, don’t do anything stupid…we need to find a way to track Maleficent without attracting too much attention,” Riku warned, knowing his friend’s penchant for blurting out the worst thing at the worst time.

Sora shot a sour look at Riku, blushed gently in embarrassment and gazed around, searching earnestly. He saw a tall spire, pointed and said, “Maybe we can find out something there?”

The group nodded. At that moment, a pink bubble floated gently over them, hovering innocently toward the same tower.

Whispers around them frothed furiously that day, with mentions of a “Wicked witch returning,” constantly.

“Who’s this wicked witch they’re talking about? Could it be…?”

“Could be…if we find out she is tallish, wears black, and has greenish skin, I think we can narrow it down…”

“You know of the Wicked Witch of the West? You’ve seen her? She has terrorized Oz for ages!” cried out a short man, with glasses and a magnificent beard.

“Oz? That’s this place’s name?” Riku asked, taking charge.

“Of course! Are you another visitor from the other worlds?”

Riku, Kairi and Sora all gasped, worrying about the integrity of the worlds, something King Mickey had emphasized to them rather forcefully as of late. Sora and Kairi looked at each other and their eyes went wide.

“H-How do you know?” Riku managed to stammer, after a few tense minutes of looking frantically at his friends.

“Well, we’ve had another visitor from the far-off land of Kansas. You do not know of Dorothy of Kansas?”

The three sighed deeply, relieved slightly that it wasn’t something to do with their mission, shook their heads, and Sora asked slowly, trying to be as clear as possible without giving anything away, “Um, we’re looking for someone who would know a lot about a lot of things…is there anyone around?”

“Of course, stranger, The Wizard will surely know!” the midget said brightly, heading in the direction of the tower. “Th’name’s Boq, by the way…I’m from the lands to the East called Munchkinland. I am on a visit for some supplies.

“Would he know of a really, really evil witch with ugly green skin, and is surrounded by a lot of morons? Especially this big lug named Pete?” Riku said, half-listening to Boq’s introduction.

“Like I said before, we know of the Wicked Witch of the West—her castle is in Kiamo Ko, in the Vinkus to the West, but first, the Wizard!”

“Thank you, Boq, I think that my friend here was rude enough not to return the introduction. I am Kairi, The boy with the large Key is Sora, and the white-haired boy is named Riku.”

“Pleasure to meet you all…and I hope to run into you again…if you ever feel like going to Munchkinland, you need merely follow the yellow brick road, and you’ll land right in the center of all the action here in Oz! Well, all the action that doesn’t occur in the Emerald City, o’ course.”

They all nodded, smiling warmly at the reception made by this kind, small man as he walked off. In reality, they planned not to go anywhere that was not immediately necessary to the plan—go in, find the source of the Heartless, neutralize the source, and hop back out onto the next one.

“This Wizard sounds like Merlin…” Riku whispered out of the side of his mouth.

“Why worry?” Kairi asked brightly, holding both of their shoulders and grinning. “After all, what’s the worst that could happen?”

They all laughed as they followed the person to the tower. At that moment, however, a small dark spot appeared and a lone Dusk ambled behind them.

A large door loomed over them with a small door-flap at eye-level; the three of them looked excitedly, and the door-flap opened and a bearded guard said irritably, “I take it you wish to speak to the Wizard, eh? What of?”

Riku said, “Well, we are looking for someone. We’re told this Wizard will know.”

“That and we’re looking for information about this Wicked Witch of the—”

“Mention nothing about her!! She has only recently died and yet there is word of her return! Is there no peace destined for Oz?”

They gasped and said, “Did she call herself Maleficent or something?”

The guard shook his head and said, “Only those of us old enough to remember know her true name…it is not Maleficent, I can assure you this. Please, come in, and the Wizard will give you all the information you need.”

Riku and Kairi both glared daggers at Sora’s slip of the tongue. Sora’s sheepish embarrassment was written in every inch of his face as he mumbled, “Sorry, guys…”

They ignored him as they continued behind the guard.

They followed and were finally met with a short, balding man, smiling sheepishly to them. All three of them kept their Keyblades drawn, though they held them at their sides non-threateningly.

“I suppose you are the visitors from the other worlds, I have heard much of you already. You should be thankful that the fellow with the oversized ears warned me in advance of things.”

“THE KING!” they shouted excitedly. Among their journeys these days, the quest to find King Mickey had been around the top of the list, since the apparent death of all of Organization XIII. What worried them was that the Heartless were not disappearing as they had hoped.

“You know him; then you should also know that this place is being besieged by those Heart-whatsits…”

“Heartless?”

“Those. And apparently we have other beings similar to them…only they are white, apparently. Only smatterings of reports of them have reached me, so they may very well be nothing.”

The rest of the group’s eyes went very wide—Nobodies should have disappeared when Sora and Riku defeated Xemnas! They all shot each other nervous glances as they listened.

“They are not rumors, Wizard,” came a light, airy but concerned voice. A woman in a bright pink dress with a blindingly glittering wand came through and said, “I have been watching these three for a while now, and they were trailing a small white being with a zipper on its chest.”

This woman exuded an extremely loud and feminine fashion sense and everything about her seemed pink. Attractive in a very bubbly manner, her face seemed plastered with a smile that Sora didn’t seem to think was genuine, as he stared at her blankly. For once, he kept his mouth shut about this.

“Ah, Glinda, just the witch I’ve been waiting for. These three need an escort through Oz, and you know the place better than anyone, save for Elph---never mind…off with the both of you—Glinda, I fear we will have to investigate Kiamo Ko once more. Would you like the Gale Force with you?”

Shaking her head gracefully, she answered, “No, you have enough security issues in the Vinkus as it is…I believe these people will be more than sufficient, if that King Mouse fellow is right.”

The Wizard looked to Sora, eyed him up and down repeatedly, and his eyes fell on Sora’s keyblade. His eyes never left the keyblade as he said, “You are Sora, if I am correct—King Mickey spoke exceedingly well of you in particular; your friends also hold some clout in his eyes, especially the Riku boy. Be good to Glinda, and,” he paused, looking up at Sora and not his keyblade, leaned into Sora’s ear, and continued in a nearly inaudible whisper, “if you meet with a hawkish woman with an odd skin condition, tell her I’m sorry.”

--------------------------------------------------------------

The group walked out of the main spire, and Sora had dismissed his keyblade several moments after leaving the company of the Wizard, uneasy at the greedy stare he gave the keyblade; Riku and Kairi followed suit.

Glinda held herself as if she was on a cloud, but anyone could see that her smile was as carefully sculpted and hollow as a plastic doll’s. Kairi moved up to Glinda and asked gently, “Miss Glinda? Are you alright?”

She looked back and sighed, saying, “Just Glinda…long story behind that one and not one I am privy to tell you. I’m glad you guys see through this. It gets very tiresome to come off as Lurline incarnate everywhere I go. The only other person who could ever see through it was Elph—never mind; allow me to guide you to where this Maleficent person would most likely be, if the description checks out.” Her posture slumped very slightly, giving her a more human look now.

“Who is this Elph person?” Sora asked curiously.

Glinda flinched, a longing gaze floated on her face for a moment before shaking her head and saying, “That is one person you won’t be seeing on this trip, unless you believe those rumors to her being brought back to life.” She looked up hopefully it seemed and sighed, murmuring in a choked whisper, “Our last visitor to this world killed her.”

Sora felt extremely sad for Glinda—her gaze said a lot about this person to him. He was tempted to ask her but Kairi held his hand and squeezed it and he fell silent.

“Or that’s what you would enjoy believing, Miss Galinda of the Arduennas of the Uplands…” came a sharp and even voice from behind her.

The reaction of this voice was extreme; Glinda literally leapt several feet into the air and stayed there, quivering with a disoriented, disbelieving gape and gaze, tears beginning to flood her eyes.

With the voice came a stiff and confident strut belonging to a tallish woman with bright green skin and a tall, pointed hat and cloak, all black. Sora saw Riku eye the woman, apparently young judging by the bright skin tone and the lack of age-marks as she leaned her hat back to reveal rich chocolate brown hair and matching eyes, bright and sharp as an eagle’s, glancing down a prominent nose.

She spoke with the same voice, knife-sharp but with a definite tone of sarcastic humor, as she looked up, “You still have the same awful fashion sense. Maybe it should be ME to give YOU the makeover this time around, eh?”

Glinda hovered down, a look of absolute shock on her face, tears streaming freely and squeaked, “I thought you were…”

“Dead? Would I be here if I were?”

So what happened with—”

“Elphaba the Delirious seemed to have known enough to put a doppelganger with Dorothy and escape…ah the wonders of being left alone and sleep-deprived with a giant book.” She said this in a heavily sarcastic tone, her eyes never leaving Glinda’s.

“R-really? You always WERE the smarter one…” Glinda muttered, giving a shifty glare at the nearest wall.

A wild grin followed the woman who called herself Elphaba and cackled with joy, whooping, “YOU ADMIT IT!”

“Okay, okay, okay…calm down. For once in your life, you have good timing.”

“Hello to you, too,” she muttered just loudly enough for Sora to snicker.

Sora turned to her and said, “So you’re this Elphaba everyone is scared to talk about?”

“Scared of ME? Never…wouldn’t even think of it…” she said, rolling her eyes very bitterly as she sized Sora up in her mind and shrugged.

“Hey! Do you think I’m a twerp or something?”

“You said it, not me.”

“Say that again…”

“You said it, not me.”

“Sora, I think you should let the woman speak…”

He scowled at Riku’s advice and fell silent once more.

Satisfied at her little argument, she gave a wry smirk and looked up to Glinda and said, “Okay, Lurline—you can come down now…I have a question to ask of you once I can see more than your lovely pink crotch.”

Glinda floated down, glaring daggers at Elphaba, blushing so furiously her face now matched her dress and glowering, asked, “What is it that you wish to ask of me, Your Wickedness?”

Biting her lip as her eyes flashed, she took a deep breath and said, “I don’t much appreciate that title anymore, thank you very much. I was going to ask where you were headed and,” she ran over to her and hugged her very tightly, her eyes closed and she was seemingly breathing in Glinda’s scent, “to say that it’s great to see you, at least not while you’re leading that Dorothy girl down the path to my attempted ruin,” and she grinned, revealing teeth with unearthly brilliance and a slight sharpness to each tooth.

Glinda smiled widely, holding her close, smelling Elphaba’s beautiful hair, and stood there for what felt like a lifetime before she said, her voice breaking, “Glad to see you, too…and glad to know you’ve come around. Got some sleep finally?”

“Finding an antidote to that Elixir the Wizard gave my mom helped a lot. That and some Dreamless Sleep spells I devised got my brain back to working condition. Sleep deprivation is NOT a good thing, especially when it is not in order to pass a test at ‘Dear Old Shiz,’ believe me here.”

Elphaba laughed at her own joke, and Sora did not seem to catch on and Elphaba giggled, ruffling his hair and she said, “I see your friends are of the same level of intelligence as always…”

Glinda asked slowly, head cocked to the side, “But what about your voice, it’s…it’s—”

“Normal—I never talked like that normally; you know how I adored shock value, my pretty...”

“Your face…”

“Come now—you taught me how to do this!”

Glowing with pride, she said, “Well, I suppose I did have some skills in sorcery after all, Miss Elphaba! You look as you did shortly after Shiz!”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, I hope…” Elphaba said, rolling her eyes.

Glinda smiled warmly and said, “Well, either way, it seems there is another doppelganger of you,”

A long time passed as she looked at her and thought, looking up, saying, “I only had enough materials to make one exact copy of myself….that must mean that there is someone of another world…a parallel of me…”

The others blanched at her conclusion as she said waspishly, “No one ever believes me when I say that I am well-versed in spying on people! Glinda—you know that better than anyone and you know for a fact I was watching you guys the whole time. Where was this Maleficent person last spotted?”

“Your old haunt…”

Elphaba’s face fell as she looked around, biting her emerald lips as she paced anxiously, looking back from Glinda to Sora and back to Glinda.

“Kiamo Ko? Oh, blast—I still have some of my old experiments still there. You guys have one more on board on your itty-bitty little journey. I left a few…traps there, and you would definitely NOT want to get caught in…oh, Oz do you not want to…”

----------------------------------------

“You dolt! Why did you step on that block?” Maleficent growled while looking at Pete, suspended in air, with a pig’s nose and fairy wings as the two of them trekked through the old castle.

“I didn’t know it’d be so chock full o’ traps!”

“You fool, did you not pay attention to me when I told you who once inhabited this castle? A grand sorceress of unimaginable power and shrewdness! Allow the Heartless to spring the traps this next time!”

“Awright, awright, can ya turn me back?”

Maleficent smiled slowly and evilly as she purred, “I am not sure, that nose is rather…becoming on you.”

“Aw, c’mon Maleficent! Please?”

“When you have learned to listen to me, then perhaps…until then, you can silence that infernal tongue of yours.”

She raised her arms and called out, “Heartless! Come to this castle and make it worthy of me!”

Hundreds of Heartless rose up, mainly Shadows but other types interspersed, and the whole swarm scoured the castle slowly, springing every trap they could get their greedy hands on.

“That, my dear Pete, is how you take over a castle. For once, you were right about that Nobody castle—far too close to the Darkness for even my liking. I prefer to be in charge, not serving another.”

“Darn straight…” Pete muttered crossly, hovering with his lurid wings, following his mistress of sorts.

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The group, now including the two witches, strolled the streets of the Emerald City, and Sora noticed that Elphaba had put a mask on, to cover her bright green skin as she walked with Glinda. Sora piped in, “Hey, Elphaba…why cover yourself like that?”

Turning around, she said, “I’m still Wicked until someone clears my bloody name…I don’t want to get marked for death twice.”

Glinda turned around and said, “Ah, yes—that reminds me…” and she slapped Elphaba square on the cheek as hard as she could. People turned around for a moment and turned away as if this happened regularly.

“What in OZ was that for?!”

“For not letting me know you were alive, Oz Dammit!” Glinda said, tears running down her face again.

“Miss Glinda, could we please continue this AFTER we’ve left Emerald?”

She shrugged, still glaring tearily at her.

“Oh, don’t give me that look, please Glinda…”

Glinda replied sniffily, “I will do what I can to clear your name…if we perchance defeat this Maleficent, perhaps I will give you the credit; saving Oz sounds about fair to clear you of being the ‘horrible terror of Oz’ am I correct? Or would you rather try something on your own, Miss Independence?”

Elphaba muttered something unintelligible and Glinda tripped over a mop that flew out from under her.

Giving her a nasty glare, she muttered, “If I didn’t know the consequences, I would call you on your disguise right now, Elphaba Thropp.”

“Oh, please, do—I would love to see their reaction upon noticing you didn’t do it awhile back…” she retorted, venom in her voice.

This silenced Glinda rather quickly, a hurt look in her eyes as she slowly got up and dusted herself off.

Sighing, annoyance written in her eyes as she walked over to Glinda and, nose-to-nose, said in a sweeter, softer tone, “Don’t be so easily hurt by my barbs—has it been so long that you are no longer accustomed to such idle banter, my sweet?”

The other three couldn’t hear what was said but the blush remaining on Glinda’s face as she seemingly resisted something surprised them.

“Could they be…” Sora said, trailing off as the two witches spoke in such close proximity.

“Naah…they can’t be…”

“Don’t be so sure…” Kairi said hesitantly, and piped up, “Aren’t we going to go to that castle anytime soon?”

Both of them were hardly moving their lips to each other, merely looking at each other and they both jumped at Kairi’s speech and Glinda said, “Yes, right, Kiamo Ko…Elphie, do you still have that infernal broom?”

Shaking her head, she said “Nope…it was taken, remember? “Proof of my demise for the Wizard,” I believe was what that Dorothy girl had mumbled while I watched her from my scrying ball.” Her edgy tone returned as she glared accusingly at Glinda and folded her arms as they left the gates of Emerald City.

“What else was I supposed to do? The Wizard would have had those shoes and we’d all be in a heap of dung bigger than we had started with! I ENCHANTED NESSA’S SHOES! I know what in Ozma’s name they can do with the wearer. I’m sorry. I didn’t even expect him to order your death, okay?”

Tears freely flowed from Glinda, but Elphaba winced, seemingly forcing the tears not to come. Through gritted teeth, she growled, “Still—Nessa said those would be mine if she ever died. I mean, I couldn’t even take the socks I got her…those would have been enough. I know she was a royal pain in the rear, but she was still my sister and I loved her. I mean, I took care of her for most of her life up until Shiz, and well, it was the closest I ever genuinely felt to being a mother.”

She looked distant as Glinda hugged her softly and gestured the three over.

“How do we get to Maleficent without giving our location away?” Riku asked gently.

“We don’t—if she has taken over the castle, she most likely found my scrying ball and is watching us as we speak. For example,” she looked up at the sky in no particular direction and threw a very vulgar hand signal in the air, shrieking, “THAT IS FOR TAKING MY CASTLE!”

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“Oh ho, so she knows her castle well,” Maleficent said with a distantly amused voice, as she gazed into the flawless crystal sphere at the group.

Pete floated in and said, “Maleficent, ya found ‘em? Let’s sic these new Heartless on ‘em!”

Maleficent raised a sculpted eyebrow and said chillingly with a sneer, “Why that is perhaps the first good idea you have had since we arrived!”

Raising an arm, she called out, “Heartless! Swarm them and show them who the new master of this castle is!”

At that moment, a large group of winged monkeys, black as night with the Heartless emblem on their chests flew out toward the open field in which the five allies were walking.

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The group had fallen silent after Elphaba’s lurid display and began walking along the Yellow Brick Road with Riku, Sora, and Kairi all watching the amusements that followed the reunion of Elphaba and Glinda.

“I still think they have something for each other…” Sora stated, watching the two hold hands.

“We know you think that, Sora—you’ve only said it, what, a million times now? Is lesbianism such an amazing thing that you need to point it out every time we work with them????” Riku said very irritably, glaring at him.

“Riku’s right—it’s kinda offensive to hear it all the time. I mean, what if we’re wrong?”

“Then we’re wrong, but I don’t think we are. They’re more than just friends…”

“Like you and Riku?”

Whirling around, a crimson blush on his face, Sora said, “That’s RIDICULOUS!”

Riku looked away, sighing, hiding his face with his Keyblade due to just how red it was at that moment.

Kairi giggled, looking at the sky as they walked, interested in the cloud in the distance.

Everyone stopped as Sora’s Keyblade was the first to react—that was no cloud. That was a swarm of Heartless, and it was coming straight at them.

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Well, thanks for suffering through the first chapter; stay tuned for many things to come, including our Heroes’ first taste of action in Oz...please comment! Comments are like Drive Orbs!

Kingdom Hearts 1, 2, and Chain of Memories all (c) Square Enix, Ltd. and Disney Interactive

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (book) (c) Gregory Maguire

Wicked (musical) (c) Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman

Testing, 1,2,3, testing....is this thing on? feedback

2007-03-02T00:04:42Z

Yeah, just testing this and seeing how long it takes for people to check on me...like I said in my profile, my current work is a real mishmash (according to me, of course) of Wicked (Bookverse and musicalverse, where convenient^^;) and Kingdom Hearts (after Xemnas' demise, in terms of timelines) Both get explained over the course of things, but I'm trying not to be so jumpy with getting everything down...I'm trying to pace all of the information. That, and setting the scene for Gelphie goodness (and maybe a Soriku moment or 2...hundred)

I've had a hard time with it so far, but maybe if I post a finished chapter and post it up, people can gimme some feedback (be gentle, I bruise easily XP)

So...yyyyyyyyyeahhhhh.......