Chapter Text
There was no time to look back.
History lay before them.
Now was the only time they had.
Galinda cradled a terrified lion cub in her arms as the storm sorceress advanced across the classroom toward her Wonderful Witch. Every student froze except Galinda, who moved behind Elphaba’s shoulder. Fiyero wielded the whistle and club from the police officer who had surrendered them. Boq, Shenshen, and a dozen other students sported makeshift cudgels. Pfannee and the rest of the class had huddled in a corner, whispering to one another. Nessarose was still in her place, hands on her wheels ready to follow the order Elphaba hadn’t completed.
Galinda could smell ozone and petrichor. A storm was coming, and the bright sunlight outside began to dull.
“Out with it dearie,” Madame Morrible repeated. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”
Elphaba raised her shoulders and flexed both of her hands into wicked claws. Her lip curled in a sneer and the scent of fresh earth washed through the room. Madame Morrible might have controlled the sky, but wherever Elphaba went, Oz itself followed. Galinda stood proudly behind Elphie as they both stared down the storm sorceress.
“If you tell me you had no hand in this,” Elphaba said to her erstwhile mentor, “I’ll let you join us in ending it.”
“Oh, Elphaba,” Madame Morrible said sweetly, then her voice and face hardened. “I’m through with lying to you.” She swirled her hand in the air, made a fist, and pulled down. A clap of thunder rumbled from the bright sky and one of the skylights overhead shattered. Some of the students scattered as the glass rained into the classroom. Miss Coddle screamed again. Elphaba and Galinda, stood their ground. “If you stop this childish act of rebellion,” Madame Morrible continued with a threatening tone, “all will be forgiven. For you and your friends.”
“Or what?” Ephaba sneered. “We know everything. There’s no way back for you.”
“Accidents happen, dearie,” Madame Morrible said as drops of rain began to come in the skylight. “Bad storms happen all the time. If not a storm, people make so many foolish decisions. All it takes is a few carefully misplaced words. Like suggesting a man make his pregnant wife chew milkflowers.” Elphaba gasped, as did Nessa. Galinda had no idea what she meant, but it was clearly not good.
“You gave him that idea?” Nessarose said, angrier than Galinda imagined possible.
Madame Morrible ignored her, still focused on Elphaba. “Make up your mind quickly,” she taunted. “Storm’s coming.”
Elphaba looked up through the shattered skylight as raindrops the size of peas began to fall in. She paused for a moment, then turned her gaze to Galinda. Elphaba’s green eyes flashed with… mischief?
“Oh no , my sweet,” Elphaba said playfully, “your hair is particularly lovely today. Mustn't get it wet.” She raised her hand and with a pinch, the skylight shade snapped shut. Madame Morrible’s eyes whipped upward, shocked.
“Your power may be in Oz’s weather,” Elphaba taunted back, “but mine? Mine comes from its people.” She raised her voice, majestic and terrible, and shouted “Seize her!”
Fiyero, Boq, and a half-dozen other students threw themselves bodily at the Dean of Sorcery Studies. A moment later, the deed was done. Someone had forced Madame Morrible’s hands behind her back, and Pfannee was tying the sorceress’s arms using her own ornate robes. He looked up, proud of a job well done, as Galinda smiled at her old friend.
“What?” Pfannee said across the room, clear to Galinda. “I’m a bitch, but I do have other skills.”
Galinda advanced next to Elphaba and looked at Madame Morrible.
“Everybody out,” Elphaba said, staring at the bound sorceress. “Except Nessa. Galinda, Fiyero, split up. Anyone willing to go with them, help find the professors. Stop them from being taken from the harbor. Everyone else to your dorms. Lock those three—” she gestured to Miss Coddle, the police officer, and the prone man who had been their professor for less than a minute, “— in the nearest closet.”
Fiyero and the class bolted out, almost all of them galvanized by Elphaba’s display of fearless determination. Miss Coddle and the officer were pushed along. The professor was dragged, still unmoving. Galinda dallied for a moment and held the cub tight.
The blonde placed herself between Elphaba and Madame Morrible for a moment.
“Do what you have to, Elphie,” Galinda said. “I love you. Oz be with you.”
Elphaba wrapped an arm around Galinda, and the cub sprang to the ground as the blonde was pulled against the Wonderful Witch. Galinda felt her breath hitch.
“Be strong, my sweet,” Elphaba said softly. “I love you too,” and then the Emerald Princess kissed her.
**
Galinda ran out of the classroom, scooping the lion cub back up into her arms and closing the door behind her. The only people remaining in the history classroom were the daughters of Melena Thropp and the woman who masterminded her death. Elphaba had never felt so filled with purpose, nor had she ever thirsted for revenge.
“Her?!” Madame Morrible said with genuine shock. “Rebellion I can understand, but Galinda?! She’s useless! How many times have I had to keep her hands off you?!”
“Seven,” Nessarose answered without a pause.
“And tonight I’m gonna fuck her until she can’t stand,” Elphaba said defiantly. “On top of your dead body if I have to. Talk, now, and maybe you’ll get a cell that sees the sky.”
“Talk about what?” Madame Morrible sneered. “You’re as weak as your father. At least he saw the value in continuing to pit the people against the Animals. Encouraging the people’s bigotry to keep them on his side. What do you have? A dumb blonde and a crippled sister.”
Elphaba screamed and lunged at Madame Morrible, wrapping her hand around the woman’s throat. She squeezed, feeling her claws sink into the flesh as blood welled around the pinprick wounds.
“Why?!” Nessarose screamed as Elphaba squeezed Madame Morrible’s throat. “Why did you do that to our mother!?”
“Loose… end…” Madame Morrible hissed, struggling for breath. Elphaba squeezed tighter, staring into the monster’s eyes. Revenge felt good. Revenge for a mother she barely remembered.
Then Elphaba’s mind flashed with clearer memories. Madame Morrible arriving at Colwen Grounds on that cold winter’s night. Learning meditation from her under a moonlit sky. Practicing walking like her, and talking like her, while Dad watched and laughed about how quickly his little girl was growing up. The time Dad told Elphaba he chose to have Madame Morrible help raise her because she needed to learn to love. She had. Elphaba had learned to love the person she was. A person who would do the right thing, even if the wrong thing felt easier.
Elphaba roared and pushed the sorceress back, five puncture wounds oozing blood down her neck. The eldest daughter of Melena Thropp regarded the bound woman with hatred, revulsion, and pity.
“I love myself too much to become what you would have me be,” Elphaba said, standing over the gasping sorceress. “I will never be your tyrant.”
**
The students of Dr. Dillamond’s Ozian History 101 had become a rag-tag squad of liberators.
“You and over with me,” Fiyero said, gesturing to Boq and the right half of the students from their class. “We’ll take the west tower. Everyone else with Galinda, and go east. Go through the Quad, and meet at the harbor.”
Galinda clutched the lion cub, who continued to tremble against her. Everything was coming together, and she found a plan forming in her head. It was so simple. Follow Elphie’s orders. Save the professors, stop the police.
Pfannee approached and took the cub into his arms. “Here kitty kitty,” he said. “Only Our Witch gets her claws into Galinda.” The blonde blushed slightly, but tried to focus on the adrenaline of the moment.
They could do this, Galinda told herself. Easily.
The blonde made eye contact with Fiyero and gave him a curt nod. “Good hunting,” she said tersely, “and see you at the harbor.”
“You too,” he paused. “For Oz,” he added softly. Galinda shook her head. Now wasn’t the time for meekness. That wasn’t her style anyway.
“For Oz !” Galinda intoned at the top of her lungs, a battle cry.
“Oz!” responded the joined voices of thirty Shiz students, and one tiny lion cub. Galinda went left, Fiyero went right.
Galinda left no door unopened as her group dashed down the halls, pressing faster and faster. There wasn’t a single Animal professor behind any of them, making them faster and more frantic. Galinda was growing frustrated until they came to a simple door marked “P.E. Supplies.” She tried to open it and, to her immense relief, it wasn’t locked. In moments, her half of the class was armed with dueling pikes — except the cat-babysitting Pfannee.
That wasn’t enough. Galinda pressed onward, running through the halls like a woman possessed. She called the name of every Animal professor she could think of. There wasn’t a single reply for what felt like eternity.
Then, down the stairs in front of her, a goat bleated.
**
“Stay with her,” Elphaba told Nessa as she finished tying a gag in Madame Morrible’s mouth. The Wonderful Witch had already secured the storm sorceress to one of the tables, ensuring she couldn’t go anywhere. Blood trickled down the sides of Madame Morrible’s neck, already slowing and congealing. The wounds felt more satisfying than they were lethal. “If she moves,” Elphaba continued, “break her knees.”
Nessa nodded, and Elphaba burst out of the classroom. There were two ways to go. Her senses told her to go left, and she did.
The Emerald Princess ran harder and faster than she ever had before. Her legs pounded, listening for anyone in front of her — especially one particular soprano. Doors hung open, some students and human professors milling in the halls.
“Stay in your classrooms!” Elphaba ordered them. “Secret police have abducted the Animal professors. In half an hour, return to your dorms to await further instructions.” She repeated this over and over. Each classroom, the same order. Curt. Simple. Easy to follow. She didn’t need these people panicking. She needed them out of her way.
When Elphaba hit the stairway, she missed the top step. It didn’t matter. She glided down the stairs, turning midair as she did. When she reached the ground floor, she kept running. Every third step, she leapt farther and farther. After only a dozen long strides she emerged into the quad.
It was chaos.
She’d hoped to see her history class and the Animal professors. Instead, a hundred students armed with a mix of fighting pikes and makeshift cudgels were battling at least a dozen black-clad police officers.
Elphaba didn’t want this. She didn’t want blood spilled. Then she felt her fingers twitch. She’d already spilled blood today. She may have killed today, as far as she knew. Was that it? Was she a killer now? Was hers to be a reign of blood, built on the death of oppressed and oppressor alike?
No.
Elphaba had magic. If she was to be a Sage of these latter days, she had best act sagaciously. She looked around and surveyed the crowd. Maybe fifteen police, holding their own better than they had any right to do. She was thankful they didn’t have firearms like the Emerald City Guard did. Honestly, she was impressed by how well they fought. But the students were winning. They’d all trained in dueling pikes in physical education, and they outnumbered the police almost ten to one. She couldn’t be sure they would stop when the police surrendered.
Time to end this, as bloodlessly as she could.
Elphaba stalked toward the edge of the crowd and found the first police officer she could, a woman on the edge of the pack. Elphaba surveyed the area quickly, flexed her claws, and pulled the officer into the air. The woman sailed backward, down the broad stairs toward the harbor, and over the water before splashing down harmlessly. It had been so easy, like skipping a stone. Hopefully the officer could swim, Elphaba thought, but the harbor was shallow enough.
The students who’d been fighting the guard turned and looked at Elphaba, and a cry began to spread through the crowd. “Our Witch! Our Witch is here!”
Heartened by the cry, Elphaba reached out to the next officer she found. And the next. And the one after that. One by one they were flung across the sky and into the harbor. When Elphaba’s eyes settled on Fiyero, she pointed toward the water.
“Fish them out and tie them up,” she ordered as the last few officers dropped to their knees in surrender. As the Wonderful Witch loomed over them, she saw a flash of gold out of the corner of her eye.
Elphaba Diggs turned her head and released a breath she didn’t know she was holding as Galinda Upland soared through the air and wrapped her body around her witch. The Emerald Princess swung the blonde around her in triumph, and kissed her with weeks of repressed fervor.
With an arm around her sweet, the Emerald Princess was greeted by the cheers of a hundred students… and the bleat of one very thankful-sounding goat.
The Battle of Shiz, as history would come to know it, was won.
There was no time to enjoy it.
“You must get to the Wizard immediately,” Dr. Dillamond said, agitated and stamping his hooves. “If any of those thugs got away, they could return with a thousand more. Or armed soldiers. You must move, and quickly.”
“Miss Coddle said there was a train waiting,” Elphaba added, “we’ll take that. It’ll be the fastest option by far.”
“I’m coming with you,” Galinda said without pause.
“My sweet, you–”
“That wasn’t a request,” she said, seizing Elphaba’s hand.
In less than an hour, they were cresting the hill to arrive at the train station.
There was a train, and it was a sight to behold. Elphaba had been on every sort of train in Oz, at least in the railyards at the Emerald City. There were freight trains, passenger trains, and even the magnificent personal locomotives that the Wizard sent out for his invited guests. Those were works of art. They showed off her father’s power and majesty, the magic that he had contained in those machines and gears, the power of fire and steam that he had bottled for the good of all of Oz.
Except it wasn’t magic.
Elphaba needed to not be in her head right now. She didn’t have time for philosophy, or a soliloquy on the nature of what was or was not magical. She was going to confront her father over what she hoped to be the last secret he kept from her.
Elphaba hadn’t changed, and neither had Galinda. They were still in their Shiz uniforms – somewhat disheveled uniforms, but unmistakable. This was a students’ uprising, and the Wonderful Witch was at its head, one of Shiz’s own.
The train before her seemed to be one of the Wizard’s personal trains, but it was… wrong. Different. Dark. As her feet trod the train platform, she understood the sinister air grew from the shapes surrounding it.
Cages.
One for each Animal professor at Shiz, sitting on the platform, ready to take… subversive Animals to answer for their perceived crimes. It chilled Elphaba to realize how easily she could replicate their thinking. Forward she trod nonetheless, forcing her disgust down into her gullet.
To the right of the Wonderful Witch strode Galinda Upland, the only one of her companions who would also travel to the Emerald City. The rest would return to fortify Shiz in case they failed. If they couldn’t avert a war here and now, this would spiral quickly. It didn’t matter how many people approached the Palace. As long as Elphaba was there, she might be just enough. With Galinda by her side, she believed she could do anything.
Beside them strutted Prince Fiyero Tigelaar, dashing as always, and bloodied from battle. Elphaba thought that, in some world, she could have been very happy with him. This wasn’t that world.
Next, on all fours, the only person who had been doomed for one of these cages. Dr. Dillamond had spent the journey to the station talking strategy as only someone who knew history could. He’d left instructions behind to help fortify Shiz, plans he would supervise personally on his return.
And two more – Pfannee and Shenshen. Shenshen armed with a dueling pike, Pfannee with a lion cub still in his arms. Something about them struck Elphaba like saints, each with their attributes. Not the ones they would have chosen for themselves, but the ones that they would be remembered for in the tales of the Battle of Shiz.
Two were not with them – Nessarose Thropp and Boq Woodsman. Nessa was coordinating the activities at Shiz, organizing logistics and seeing to their food stores if the worst should occur. Boq? He was a Woodsman, and the only student who knew two things about carpentry. He was coordinating the staff woodworkers and student labor to build barricades in record time.
“Your Wonderfulness?”
It was a mustachioed man in bright green, with a cap to match, standing on the platform. He had looked up from his pocketwatch, and Elphaba recognized him. He was a conductor, a man very proud of the machines that the Wizard had entrusted him with.
“The very same, Mr. Shack,” she said as she crossed the platform toward the open door of the train. “There’s been a change of plans. You will be transporting me and Miss Galinda here to the Emerald City. Alone.”
After a puzzled moment, Mr. Shack nodded. “As you say ma’am. I’ll put steam on the engine, we’ll be ready to go in a few minutes.” Then the mustache man disappeared into the train, his footsteps ascending to the conductor’s platform.
Elphaba gave Galinda’s hand and brief squeeze as the locomotive roared to life, then they spun to face their companions.
“We won’t know how you fare until we hear from you,” Dr. Dillamond said. “Know that the hopes of every Animal in Oz goes with you.”
“Good luck,” Fiyero added with nerves palpable across his face. Elphaba gave him a warm hug, and felt the fear behind the prince’s dashing demeanor. A man who would do what was right, even if he was scared. Yes, Elphaba decided, Fiyero will make Nessarose very happy.
Pfannee and Shenshen looked at one another quietly for a moment, words failing them. Galinda wrapped her arms around the two of them, as best as her tiny frame could allow.
“Don’t be strangers anymore,” Galinda said with tears in her voice. “I’ve missed you.” The pair held her back, not a single punchline or snide remark came from either of them. Their weak point, Elphaba thought amusedly to herself, was brutal sincerity. She noted that, thinking there was some lesson to take with her. The cub squirmed, mewling comfortably in the warm embrace.
“My father had some phrases he took from the outer world he liked to repeat when I was growing up,” Elphaba said as Galinda returned to her side and took her hand.
“But what I have to say,” Elphaba said, squeezing Galinda’s hand tighter, “is that there’s no peace for the wicked in Oz. No mercy for oppressors who hold to their monstrous ways. No one shall mourn them. So I swear to you, by Oz itself, and by Lurline who crafted it, I will not return here until justice is done. Because none of us are free until all of us are free. Long Live Shiz, and Long Live Oz.”
“Long Live Oz!” echoed their companions as Elphaba and Galinda stepped onto the train. With a hiss and a chug, it began to move. Galinda leaned in and whispered one last message.
“Long Live My Wonderful Witch.”
The Great Gillikin Railway led from Shiz to the very heart of the Emerald City itself. The journey was at an inhuman pace, but it wasn’t short. Four hours would pass, but Elphaba’s adrenaline lasted barely fifteen minutes. She spent the first half of the journey pacing a nervous circle in the carpet of the lower passenger deck.
“You’re wearing flats Elphie,” Galinda said sharply from the upper deck, two hours into the trip. “Keep doing this and you’re going to confront your father with holes in your shoes.”
Elphaba stopped and looked up at the blonde that she may have condemned to a horrible, unknown fate.
“Am I a villain?” Elphaba asked, finally giving voice to the fear in her heart. “We’re going to storm a castle and tear down its king. This is what villains do, right?”
“Elphie,” Galinda said, rolling her eyes and her neck at the same time, “calm down. Please. Villains don’t ask if they’re villains. Now get up here and relax. I’m sure Dr. Dillamond will write a history that paints you as… I don’t know. Queen Elphie the Great.”
“That’s not wha–” Elphaba began to say, before being shushed by the doting blonde.
“Shhh…” Galinda hissed as she took two steps down toward the lower deck and grabbed Elphaba by the wrist. “Come up here. If you wanted to worry, you could’ve done this alone. I’m here, let me help you relax…”
Elphaba sighed and let Galinda drag her up the stairs. It was a very plush couch, and the blonde was so good at making a spectacle of herself…
**
Elphaba let out a series of long, shuddering breaths, trying to steady herself on the final stretch of the train ride. Galinda had done a glorious job of helping her relax. She could see herself finally making a life with this one. Elphaba smiled softly, then felt it drop. They still needed to discuss something.
“I said we’d talk, before…” Elphaba began, feeling her heart speed up again. This time, it wasn’t in a good way.
“No,” Galinda said, tidying her lipstick in a mirrored panel on the lower deck. “You said we’d talk when this is over.” She looked up and tossed her hair. The cascade of gold was enough to make Elphaba want to run away with her, forsake Oz, and live only for that blonde. Galinda continued. “This isn’t over yet.”
Elphaba felt humbled by that. She’d never had someone who had been willing to stand beside her unconditionally. Her father had been that once. Maybe he still was. Fiyero might have been, if she hadn’t pushed him away. Right now, she could only be certain of Galinda.
That certainty remained as they pulled into the station at the Emerald City. A train like this was a display piece. It was meant to be put on a pedestal, not hidden away in some depot on the outskirts of town. Elphaba and Galinda stood at the massive front window of the train as it pulled in, and green enveloped them.
Galinda’s face was full of awe.
Through Galinda’s eyes, Elphaba could see how wondrous this city was. Elphaba tended to forget how amazing her home really was. Buildings that scraped the sky, grand and green, with all the secrets of Oz inside them. Her fingers twitched, remembering the rage she felt as she nearly killed the woman who helped raise her. Remembering how good it felt. She took that wicked impulse and pushed it down, hard. There were more important things than rage.
“C’mon,” Elphaba said as she began to walk down the stairs and out the train. She was almost on the platform before she realized Galinda hadn’t gone with her. Sighing, she ran back up to the googly-eyed blonde. “We don’t have time for this right now,” Elphaba sang, and seized the blonde’s hand. With a tiny ‘eep,’ Galinda yielded and followed.
“Your Wonderfulness?”
Elphaba was sick and tired of hearing that today. First, the terrified guard in the classroom. Then from Mr. Shack, who until today seemed to be a complete sweetheart but turned out to be an accomplice in the abduction of the Animal professors. Now whoever this was.
Elphaba turned with a sigh and her eyes beheld another seemingly-sweet railroad worker. She’d seen their face before, but their name eluded her in the moment. She was in no mood.
“You will escort me to the Palace,” Elphaba ordered tersely, “now.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the worker responded and began to shout ‘make way’ to all passersby. Galinda looked at Elphaba, squeezing her hand a heartbeat tighter.
“Do they all answer to you?” the blonde whispered in continued awe.
“Yeah,” Elphaba sighed. She had no energy left to engage in small talk. Galinda wanted to know about her world, and Elphaba wanted to share. She wanted to show her sweet every last boutique, cafe, shop, salon, library, and museum in the Emerald City. She wanted to demonstrate her love in every corner of the palace. She wanted to make good on that snide promise she’d made to Madame Morrible. But there was something to be done first.
Galinda’s awe didn't fade a glimmer, even when they reached the palace.
“Your Wonderfulness!” exclaimed the sentry, the same redheaded one that had first encountered her the day she snuck out of the palace. He was rewarded with a weary sigh. “We had no clue you would be returning today!” he continued. “We were only told to expect a shipment of… dissenters.”
Elphaba closed her eyes again, and sighed. She clenched Glinda’s hand, feeling her own nails digging into the soft skin of the blonde’s palm. Not so tightly as to harm the delicate flesh, but enough so Elphaba didn’t snap on the poor man. Such mundane cruelty, the kind that could only come from the top. There was no doubt left. Dad knew. He had to.
“I will see the Wizard. Now,” she commanded through clenched teeth.
Without another word, the palace’s massive smaragdine gates swung open. Elphaba knew they were some sort of composite iron from the Wizard’s world. So strong that nothing in Oz could penetrate them. Just more of her father’s ‘alchemical miracles.’ Anyone foolish enough to assault this place with an army was doomed to fail.
Elphaba was here to assault it with words.
**
Galinda felt herself pulled along behind Elphie, into a sanctum that felt like the holiest place in all Oz. It was also Elphaba’s home. Only now did the enormity of their task dawn on her, as did the splendor of the woman she would share her life with.
A first set of doors closed behind them, and Elphaba kept walking and pulling Galinda along. Beyond was a long room, with winged monkeys milling about. None of them talked.
“These are the Wizard’s spies…” Galinda thought aloud.
“Chistery!” Elphaba said as she pulled Galinda along. The single word displayed that same sense of majestic gravitas the Emerald Princess had been mustering all day. This was the opposite of the girl who floated her way into Shiz on a throne of jade and jet. There was nothing frivolous or flighty about her in these moments, and Galinda found herself falling in love even more. The Wonderful Witch was so much more than just a princess. She really was one of the Sages, and all of Oz was pulled to her when she spoke. It made Galinda, to her utter embarrassment, incredibly aroused. The only outward signs, she thanked Oz, was a gentle blush to her cheek.
“Chistery!” Elphaba repeated, now with relief and command. “Take your soldiers and your families. You’re free. The Wizard won’t exploit you any longer.”
They didn’t stay to see if the monkeys followed her order, but Galinda looked back to see them looking at one another with puzzlement.
Elphaba, with a magical flick of the wrist, flung open the last door and they stepped into a truly cavernous room.
Galinda gaped. In front of her loomed a massive, multi-paneled wooden effigy of a man’s face. Beside her stood a woman, a daughter, and a princess ascendant. This was where they needed to be.
The visage stirred, awakening in power as flame erupted from high in the wall. Galinda felt the heat on her skin — and wondered what it would do to her hair — but remained unmoved. Elphaba’s majesty had awakened a fearlessness Galinda had never known before.
“I,” boomed the visage, “am Oz, the Great and Terrible.” This giant, Galinda thought. Was this truly what the Wizard had become?
“Knock it off!” Elphaba yelled at the monstrosity. “Get your ass out here!”
“Elphaba?” the head questioned in a suddenly-changed voice. Its eyebrows raised, then dropped. The head slumped slightly, and seemed to go to sleep.
“Elphaba?” Came the voice again, much more human. A tall, thin figure appeared from around the head, clad in a dark green double-breasted suit.
“It’s a man…” Galinda thought aloud, knowing it was unhelpful but unable to stop herself.
“You’ve been behind it all along,” Ephaba accused her father with a pointed claw in his chest. “Oppressing the Animals. Making them disappear. Making them lose their voices!”
There was a pause that contained so many years of unspoken words that Galinda could feel them all. There was something in the silence that taught her more about Elphie’s father than a lifetime of propaganda.
“Yeah,” he answered with a sigh. There was more to it, his body language made that abundantly clear. He just lowered his head.
“Did you think I wouldn’t figure it out!?” Elphaba yelled, louder even than Galinda had ever heard. “When you sent your thugs to arrest my favorite professor just for being a goat?!”
“You always understood more than I realized,” he said with a sad pride, the kind that Momsicle had when Galinda insisted on attending Shiz. “You deserved better.”
“I didn’t want what you think I deserved. How would you know what I wanted? You never even asked my heart’s desire,” Elphaba said angrily. This struck Galinda as off. Didn’t everyone get their heart’s desire when they met the Wizard?
“I was arrogant enough to think it was me,” the Wizard answered, glancing down with an embarrassed, self-conscious smile.
That struck Elphaba, and she softened. Her warpath ended, and she was no longer the avenger. She was a sad daughter.
“I wanted a father who loved me,” Ephaba said as she lowered her accusatory claw, and took Galinda’s other hand. The couple stood, their hands entwined, Elphaba drawing strength from Glinda to confront her father. “I didn’t know I should’ve asked him to be a good person.” The Wizard shrank, as if humbled by a few words from his own daughter.
“It’s so hard to do this job alone,” the Wizard said like he’d told her this before. “I saw something I could use to bring the people together and I exploited it. It got out of control, but… I guess the buck stops here.”
The phrase meant nothing to Galinda, and she looked to Elphaba for an explanation.
“It means he’s taking responsibility for his actions,” she whispered, as the Wizard shot back a small smile. Galinda nodded and looked to the Wizard. She wondered if anyone else in Oz truly understood him other than his daughter.
“What do you want, Elphaba?” he asked plainly. “I’ll end it. Right now. Free the Emerald Guard and their families. Stop the rules against the animals.”
“You’ve done enough,” Ephaba said, a mixture of sadness and anger in her voice. “It’s time for you to pass the torch.” She paused and looked at Galinda. “It means to—”
“I get it,” Galinda said quickly.
The Wizard began to cry tears of relief. He backed up, hit his heels on the platform below his visage, and collapsed to sit. He buried his face in his hands. “Oh thank God,” he said quietly, “I’m just so tired.” He looked up. “Just don’t make me leave Oz,” he begged, “please. You’re the only person in the world who matters to me.”
“Fine,” Elphaba said, squeezing Galinda’s hands again. “But it’s the Animals who will decide your fate.”
“Yeah,” the Wizard nodded with odd nonchalance, “sure. I prepared a speech for this day!” he continued as his mood rebounded swiftly. “It’s in my desk. Bottom left drawer, under the knife. I’ll—”
“I’ll get it,” Elphaba said, letting go of Galinda’s hands. “Watch him,” she charged the blonde, then disappeared behind the curtain.
“Well,” the Wizard said, looking up at Galinda from where he still sat, “I might as well ask your heart’s desire. Someone always had to be the last, it might as well be you.”
“My heart’s desire,” Galinda said without missing a beat as she looked at the curtain where Elphaba had disappeared, “is to love your daughter every day for the rest of my life.”
“I’m sorry to say,” the Wizard replied with a chuckle as his tears lingered in his eyes, “that’s not within my power to grant.”
Elphaba returned a moment later, a sheet of paper in her hand and a pen in the other. She’d clearly changed something in the speech. The Wizard stood and took his final words to Oz from his daughter’s hand. He nodded, seemingly agreeing to the edits, then lowered the speech and looked at Elphaba.
“So are you going to introduce us?” he asked Elphaba, gesturing to Galinda.
“This is Galinda Arduenna Upland,” Elphaba said meeting her eyes, “of the Upper Uplands. My sweet.”
The Wizard gestured between the women for a moment, apparently thinking very quickly before continuing. “Y’know what? Mazel tov!” he said, tapping his toes and shaking Galinda’s hand. “Really I’m just happy she finally brought someone home.” Galinda beamed, amazed by how the touch of such a magical man felt so mundane. So much like Elphie’s. The blonde released the Wizard’s hand, and put that arm around Elphie, squeezing with a happy squeal.
“Just…” he ventured to ask, with a tone knowing he might be asking too much. In that moment she could feel how truly otherworldly he was, how the things that seemed so mundane to Ozians might bewilder those from beyond. “Could you two… I mean… without…?”
“We’ll be fine,” Elphaba sighed back, frustrated and embarrassed.
“I have two moms myself,” Galinda added with a girlish giggle to help put the poor man at ease, “and they had me no problem.”
With that, the Wizard departed to his amplifiers, Elphaba directing him to take his time. “I want to be upstairs to hear this,” she told her father.
A few minutes later, Elphaba stood with Galinda in the grand sitting room, looking out over the Emerald City and all the lands beyond as the pinks and oranges of sunset settled in around them. They held hands and looked out over the land Elphaba would soon govern.
Ephaba had said they would talk, but Galinda wanted to frame the conversation.
“I’m still in,” Galinda began as she held Elphaba’s hands. “You can do anything, Elphie, and I want to be there to help you do it. For the rest of our lives.”
Galinda watched as those green eyes took her in, as if measuring and weighing her. They weren’t harsh, they were majestic and determined.
“Together, my sweet,” Elphaba responded, then lifted Galinda’s hands to her lips, and kissed them, “we’ll be unlimited.”
They were cut off by the sound of Oscar Diggs speaking on the amplifiers, for all of the city and land to hear.
Citizens of Oz
This is your Wonderful Wizard
Some years ago, I shared the joyous news about my daughter Elphaba
Now, it’s her time to lead this miraculous land we all love so much
Our Wonderful Witch will henceforth govern the Land of Oz, and lead it into a new Emerald Age
I know you, our loyal citizens, will support her like you supported me
Elphaba will lead with strength and determination, wisdom and prudence, mercy and justice
She will ensure a great future for all the people of Oz, Animal and Human alike
Thank you for trusting me to govern this great land all these years
I am sensible enough of my defects to know I have committed many errors
I ask your indulgence that they may be confined to memory, as I soon will be
Fare well, my fellow Citizens of Oz
Long Live Elphaba
Long Live Our Wonderful Witch
and
Long Live the Wonderful Land of Oz
**
Many Years Later
The Wizard’s cell was comfortable. It was home now, and there was nowhere in all of creation he would rather be. He was under the kind yet dedicated hand of his daughter and the woman she loved. He’d accomplished the only goal that mattered. He’d given Oz the Philosopher Queen it deserved, a leader more honorable than he ever could be. He was proud that he had a small part in raising her, and humbled by her majesty.
If he never saw the sun again, that was fine by him. He was at peace here.
Occasionally, he got to see his grandchildren.
And they shined with the light of a hundred different futures.
The End