Hey, long time no see, eh? Anyway...
This is my first Wicked fic. My first songfic, too, come to think of it. Oh, yeah...
Disclaimer: I do not own Wicked, which belongs to Mr. Gregory Maguire (sp?), nor do I own Because of You, which belongs to Ms. Kelly Clarkson.

A chill breeze blew dead autumn leaves across the brown, unkempt grass of the Colwen Grounds Cemetery, ruffling the long, straight, black hair of a young woman standing silently by a grave marked "Melena Thropp." Suddenly, she spoke, her voice cold with anger. "You did it to yourself, Mother." She spat the last word, as if disgusted by it. "You only got what you deserved." She paused. "Oh. I brought you something," she said, reaching into a bag slung across her chest, pulling out a small wooden box. Dropping gently to her knees, she laid the box on the ground in front of the grave and lifted the lid. The inside was filled with several small, green leaves, their color perfectly matching the girl's skin. "Not like you can get much use out of them, but they grow all over the place, and Lurline knows, I'll never use them." She chuckled. "After all," she said, standing. "You taught me not to." She turned on her heel and raced to meet her father and sister at the train station.

I will not make the same mistakes that you did
I will not let myself
Cause my heart so much misery
I will not break the way you did,
You fell so hard
I've learned the hard way
To never let it get that far

"Is it okay if I call you 'Elphie'?" the blonde girl asked the green-skinned girl.
"It's a little too perky," her roommate murmured. The blonde continued obliviously.
"And you can call me 'GA-linda,'" she said. "We should tell each other secrets."
"Wait. Why?"
"Well, that's what best friends do. I'll go first…" Elphaba never heard a word. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts.
'Why should she trust me with her secrets? After all, I killed my own…NO! You didn't. Yes, I did. Because of my skin, Mother started taking pinlobble leaves when she found out she was pregnant with Nessie. It didn't make her skin green, but it did make her premature. So that's two things I'm to blame for: Melena's death, and Nessa's handicap.'
"So, Elphie, what's your secret?" Galinda asked, snapping Elphaba out of herself.
"What?"
"What's your secret?" Elphaba hesitated. 'Well, here it goes.'
"My father hates me."

Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Because of you
I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me
Because of you
I am afraid

"Elphaba, get in this carriage!" Glinda was panicking. 'What's wrong with her? I can't go back without her. Nanny will be furious! And Nessa…oh, sweet Lurline!' Elphaba merely shook her head, stepped back, and turned around, turning away from the only friend she'd ever had. She heard the carriage driver slap the reigns and Glinda screaming at him to stop, that they'd forgotten someone. Elphaba felt tears collect in her eyes. Half of her whispered to let them fall, she was too weak and upset to hold them in. And yet, from somewhere in the far recesses of her mind, her mother's voice rang out: 'What, are you crying? You never cry! It makes you look weak! Do you understand!' Elphaba nodded, dried her eyes on the end of her scarf, and set off to find a place to stay in the unfamiliar maze of emeralds

I lose my way
And it's not too long before you point it out
I cannot cry
Because I know that's weakness in your eyes
I'm forced to fake
A smile, a laugh everyday of my life
My heart can't possibly break
When it wasn't even whole to start with

"Elphie!" the Vinkus prince called out to his classmate, bewildered as to why she stubbornly denied knowing him.
'Damn it! Why can't he take a hint!' Elphaba thought as she sped up, trying desperately to lose her pursuer. She failed.
"It's good to see you, Elphaba," he said as he brushed himself off and helped her up. Elphaba merely nodded.
"Fiyero."

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

"Elphie! Elphie!" Fiyero cried in horror several nights later as he watched the young woman scramble to find an old blanket with which to dry her eyes. He leapt out of his chair and pulled her to him, running his fingers through her ebony hair.
"No," she whispered. "No, I'm not a harem. I'm not a woman, no. I'm not a person." Fiyero gently tilted her chin up and kissed her lips tenderly. Elphaba, shocked, pushed him away briefly before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him again. She fell onto the bed, pulling him down with her as her white cat, Malky, turned away from them, going after a mouse.

Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Because of you
I find it hard to trust not only me, but everyone around me
Because of you
I am afraid

'No! No, not again! Please!' Elphaba thought, leaning heavily against the cold, stone walls of the now-empty Kiamo Ko. 'Melena, Fiyero, Nessa, and now Sarima, her children, and her sisters. And now, that little brat that killed Nessa is coming after me!' She cackled to herself. 'Well, maybe that's just what I deserve, what with so many deaths I'm to blame for.' Her self-berating was interrupted by Liir running towards her.
"Dorothy is…here," he gasped, trying to catch his breath.
'Perfect,' Elphaba thought, a small smile forming on her lips. She turned to the boy. "Well? What are you standing there for? Go let her in!" Liir said nothing, racing down the stairs to answer the door. 'Let me see…if she doesn't give me Nessie's shoes…I'll…use her as a dartboard! Yes. Yes, I could use the practice.' A girl's voice down the stairs interrupted her train of thought.
"Is this where the Wicked Witch of the West lives?" Elphaba rolled her eyes. She was really getting tired of being called that.
"Uh-huh," Liir said, and Elphaba had to stifle a groan. She recognized the tone Liir had used. The boy was in love, and he hadn't even begun growing a beard! Remembering Boq and Glinda in the garden during their first year at Shiz, Elphaba had to bite her lip to keep from letting her laughs be heard. 'God, how I miss them,' she thought before returning her attention to the matter at hand.
"Is she here?" The girl asked Liir. Before he could reply Elphaba spoke up, making her presence at the top of the stairs known.
"Yes she is."

I watched you die
I heard you cry every night in your sleep
I was so young
You should have known better than to lean on me
You never thought of anyone else
You just saw your pain
And now I cry in the middle of the night
For the same damn thing

"GIVE ME THOSE BLASTED SHOES!" This had not gone well. Elphaba was having absolutely no luck in getting her sister's shoes, Dorothy was getting on her last nerve, and her blasted dog's blasted barking was giving her a blasted headache. Pushed beyond her limit, Elphaba grabbed the dog, who only barked louder.
"NO!" Dorothy shrieked, making Elphaba's headache worse. "Don't hurt him!"
"SHUT UP!" Elphaba yelled right back. "You're both giving me a headache, and, unfortunately, I can't drown you until I get my sister's shoes! He'll have to do instead!"
"PUT HIM DOWN!" Elphaba turned to take the dog-- Dodo, or whatever his name
was-- down to the fishwell to drown him, just as Liir nearly had done so years before. Unfortunately, as she turned, her cape flew up and into the flames of one of the many torches that lit the stairway. Elphaba, in her panic to get the cape off, dropped the dog, who ran to hide behind his owner. Dorothy screamed.
"I'll save you!" she shouted, grabbing a bucket on the windowsill that was filled with rainwater and splashing it all over Elphaba.

Because of you
I never stray too far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I learned to play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Because of you
I try my hardest just to forget everything
Because of you
I'm ashamed of my life because it's empty
Because of you
I am afraid

Bells rang throughout Oz, and all of its citizens danced in the streets, celebrating. Well, almost all of them. Sitting by an open window in her room, clutching the strange green bottle that had belonged to her dead roommate's mother, tears rolled down the woman's cheeks as she watched the celebrations below. Celebrations that she could not, in good conscience, join. After all, how could one celebrate the death of the best friend they'd ever had? As she realized she had been her roommate's only friend, a sudden voice startled her.
"Glinda, dear, why aren't you out celebrating?" Madame Morrible asked her. She was accompanied by the Wizard, who froze when he saw the bottle in Glinda's hands.
"Where did you get that?" he asked slowly. A memory suddenly flashed before Glinda's eyes…

Flashback

'She's getting away! After her!' the Wizard ordered his Gale Forcers, who raced out the door of the throne room to catch Elphaba. The Wizard sighed and collapsed into his throne as he took out a little green bottle and took a sip from it. Seeming to just remember that Glinda was there, he took the bottle out of his mouth. 'Want a drink?' he asked, holding the bottle out to her. Glinda shook her head as Madame Morrible bustled back into the room.

End Flashback

"It was Elphie's. It belonged to her mother." Glinda paused as Madame Morrible looked from Glinda, to the bottle, to the Wizard, and back to Glinda. "The only other time I saw one like it," Glinda continued, "was when you offered me a drink from…" She stopped as the Wizard took the bottle from her hands, reaching into his vest as he did so. "…yours." Madame Morrible looked at the Wizard as he stared in shock at the two identical bottles in his hands. Suddenly, from the very back of his mind, he heard a voice, singing, his own voice from many years ago…
'Have another drink, my dark eyed beauty…' Glinda's voice broke into his thoughts.
"She was yours…wasn't she?"

Because of you
Because of you

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