Reunion Of Old (Fanfic)

      “What are we going to do?” Glinda asked frantically.  “Boq knows you’re alive!  And he’ll probably be going off to tell all of Oz about it!”
       “I don’t know!” Elphaba cried back.  “I can’t do anything in my current position.”
       “You–you can still cast spells,” Glinda said weakly.
       “Spells.  What good are spells to me now?”
       “Elphie!  Calm down.  Look, we have to do something.  Boq’s probably going to be coming to the castle.  We have to–to get out of here,” she looked at Elphaba in the wheelchair, “or hide, or something!  We can’t stay here.”
       Elphaba sighed.  “You’re right.  I can’t stay here.  I do have to leave.  I don’t ask that you come with me, Glinda.  You don’t deserve to live a life of secrecy and hiding.”
       “But . . . Elphie, I want to make sure that you’re okay.”
       “Glinda . . .”
       “Listen.  A lot was going on last time that I wasn’t aware of.  Now, I can help you.  I want to help you.  Won’t you let me?”
       “I can’t ask you to live the kind of life I’ve had to.”
       “Then don’t.  I’m already volunteering.”
       “But why?”
       “You’re my best friend, Elphie.  I lost you once.  I’m not gonna lose you again.”

*~*~*~*~*~*

       “Scarecrow– I–I mean, Fiyero, where exactly are we going?” Dorothy cried as they ran along the yellow brick road.
       “Back to Munchkinland.  Glinda’s checking the Emerald City and we can check where Nessa used to live.”
       “Oh.  Hey, wait!” she gave a frantic tug on his arm, but only straw came away in her hand.  “I’m–I’m so sorry . . .”
       “It’s fine,” he said, coming to a halt.  “What did you see?”
       “I might be crazy, but I would’ve sworn I just saw the Tin Man running by.”
       “The Tin–  Oh, no.”
       “What is it?”
       “Dorothy, listen to me.  You must never call me Fiyero in front of him.  We have to catch him.”
       With that, Fiyero took off again and Dorothy couldn’t help but follow, pondering his odd request.

       “Come on!  You have the most to get back at her for!  Why won’t you come out?!”  Boq shouted at the lion.  It whimpered and backed away from him, waving it’s paw harmlessly.
       “I thought you got over your fears!”
       “Tin Man!”
       Boq heard someone call, vaguely recognizing the voice.  Wishing he hadn’t run off without his axe, he turned slowly.  Who he saw nearly made him feel like he had a heart, because something caused that lump in his throat.
       “Dorothy!  You’ve come back to Oz!”  The two embraced in a tight hug and as she backed away, she saw the lion was there, too.  “Lion!  How did you get here?”
       “W-w-w–well, I–  Gosh . . .  I was just mindng my own business when he comes here and tells me the Wicked Witch isn’t dead.”
       “What?” Fiyero cried.  “How do you know that?”
       “I don’t know,” Boq said.  “I was in Munchkinland looking at the house that was—” he stared at Dorothy.  “That’s your house!  They said that was how you got here the first time.  I guess it happened again.”
       “Yes, exactly,” Dorothy said.  “How could something in Munchkinland convince you that El–that the witch was alive?”
       Boq gave her an odd glance and Dorothy mentally kicked herself for almost giving away that she knew Elphaba’s real name.
       “Like I said, there I was.  And all of a sudden I heard this shout.  Then, actually in the sky, I saw an image appear, almost like I was looking through a mirror, and saw Glinda and the Witch standing next to one another.”
       “Standing?” Fiyero said.  He looked at Dorothy and they both let out something of a sigh of relief.  Elphaba couldn’t walk now.  Boq must have been hallucinating, or dreaming, or something.
       “No . . . Wait.  That can’t be right.  Glinda was up higher than the witch,” Boq said.  “I guess she was sitting.”
       “Tin Man,” Fiyero began to say, “it’s not that I want to discount your story, but . . . floating mirror-like things in the sky?  Surely you know that that sounds crazy.”
       Boq got angry.  “I know what I saw, Scarecrow!  The witch is alive, and I’m gonna go up to her castle and make sure we kill her properly this time!”  He rounded on Dorothy.  “Maybe that’s why you were brought back!  Because she wasn’t dead, and we were all meant to find one another and go do it right!”
       “You’re a lot more ruthless than I remember,” Dorothy said.  She shifted a few steps away from him.  “I don’t like it.”
       Boq looked hurt.  “I–I’m sorry.”
       “Why are you like this now when you were so sweet before?”
       “Because . . . Becuse I’m angry.  Dorothy, the witch tunred me into a man of tin.  I didn’t love her sister, so I guess she decided she had to take away my ability to love anything.”
       Behind Dorothy, Fiyero blanched.  Luckily, the Tin Man didn’t notice.  But Fiyero had now recognized him and knew they both had to stall him at any cost.  “Excuse me,” Fiyero said.  “But can you two excuse Dorothy and myself for a moment?”
       “All right . . .”  Boq gave them another odd glance but said nothing else.
       Fiyero pulled Dorothy away and whispered, “I’ve recognized him.”
       “Who?”
       “The Tin Man.  That’s Boq.  The one who was in love with Glinda.  The one Nessa was in love with.”
       Dorothy’s eyes widened.  “Oh, my gosh . . .  Then, he doesn’t know that you’re–“
       “Exactly.  And he can’t find out, either.  We have to stall him

, because he won’t take any pity on Elphaba.  He’ll kill her whether she can walk straight and proud, or whether she’s in a chair like she is now.”
       “I understand.  But how are we gonna stall him?  He’s on the warpath.”
       “I don’t know . . .  But we’ll think of something.  If I do first, just follow my lead, whatever I do, all right?”
       “Okay . . .” Dorothy murmured, already formulating a plan.
       “I don’t like how he’s eyeing us.  We’d better get back.”
       They walked back over to Boq and the lion.  “You get everything settled?” Boq asked coolly.
       “Yes, no worries,” Dorothy said.  “We talked it over and decided that we would join you to kill the witch of the West once and for all.”
       Boq smiled maliciously.  “Good.  Now let’s storm the castle!!”