A/N: Oh well… I feel bad with all these rifts between our Gelphie :( Here we go…

Chapter Eight: In Your Embrace At Last

"I'm getting real tired of your shit, Miss Elphaba," Morrible droned in an incredibly bored manner, sauntering into the corridor, "Really, this has gone far enough. He's gone anyway. You won't get what you want."

With Morrible's sudden appearance, Elphaba's attention was completely diverted from her bloodlust for Glinda. Clutching her now badly burned hand, Elphaba bypassed the breathless blonde and made her way slowly to Morrible's direction.

"You," Elphaba growled, still in her animalistic haze, "You sent the house on Nessa."

Morrible considered her for a while. She narrowed her eyes. "I do believe I'm not talking to the same Elphaba I used to know back in her schooldays," she concluded, as if they were only discussing in class, "There's something… off, something different, in the way you're acting…"

Glinda was still left on the marble floor, her arm bleeding freely as it supported her weight. The deep cut on her face was smartly stinging as well, but she didn't bother mend her wounds. She was aghast at the fact that the house Morrible had animated had killed Nessarose.

She understood at once. Elphaba was indeed not in the right mind right now. The Wizard's escape and her sister's death had mentally plunged her into insanity. The shock had broken her interaction with reality. It had also seemingly caused her to feel intense animosity against everyone.

Elphaba glowered even further. "I'm going to kill you…"

Morrible merely raised an eyebrow, looking thoroughly amused. "Well that's a new side of you I haven't seen before, dear," she drawled, "But I must say… It's very fitting."

There was a flash of light.

Morrible swiftly waved an arm, and the knife Elphaba had hurled to her by magic bounced harmlessly off an invisible barrier.

"Too bad," Elphaba slurred, smirking at the outraged look on Morrible's face, "That knife wouldn't fitted well into that round belly of yours—"

It was Elphaba's turn to defend herself. Her incredible reflex had saved her from a jet of red light sent by Morrible.

"I'll make sure to shut that mouth of yours for good!" Morrible bellowed, advancing with her arms poised for an attack.

"Oh you don't know how much I've been wanting to do the same thing with yours," Elphaba grinned.

The corridor had erupted into brilliant lights as spells collided and exploded in midair.

Glinda hauled herself across the floor to the wall to avoid being accidentally hit. Her metal armor made deafening shrieking sound as it slid across the marble stone. She winced at the inconvenience, but its noise was a bean compared to the banging around the corridor.

As she used the wall to support herself to sit, her eyes fell on the knife wound Elphaba had inflicted on her. She tested the area by slapping it. She didn't feel anything. It was still under the influence of the poison. What was scaring her was that the numbing sensation was travelling to her hips.

She said it wasn't lethal, right? She thought, wanting to assure herself, Does it tend to travel to other parts of the body? But Elphaba said it only paralyzes the surrounding area…

Now that she thought about it, there came a sudden pang around the wounded area, causing Glinda to bite her lips to keep in a yelp. None of Elphaba's description was adding up to the symptoms she was experiencing. The stabbing pain was slowly and dully climbing her leg.

Not. Good.

The fight between Elphaba and Morrible ensues. Tiles from the walls were shattered on the ground. The handsome marble landscape was marred and cracked. The door in which Morrible had come in was hanging off its hinges in an unrecognizable mass of wood. The window frames, which had once contained multicolored glass, were empty.

As much as she wanted to help her Elphie, Glinda didn't dare. In the green girl's current state of deliriousness, she wasn't sure if she'll be attacked as well, or be allowed to help. Plus, there was the problem with her paralyzed leg, through which some unidentified poison was slowly crawling to her entire system.

And so, helplessly, she watched from the sidelines as Elphaba and Morrible clashed in an epic fight to death. Glinda didn't miss the change taking control of Elphaba a few minutes later.

Releasing a lot of stamina, the subtle weakness seemed to make her sober. Her eyes gradually reclaimed its focus, and she even looked confused at what had happened to herself.

At one point of the battle, Elphaba's eyes clashed with Glinda's.

Glinda felt a warm sensation creeping into her chest when she saw that Elphaba's eyes had gone back to normal. More than normal. The blind and senseless hatred was gone. Once more, they looked softly tender and loving, just like how they always looked to Glinda when they were together. In that minuscule moment in time, unspoken words were exchanged, unanswered questions were being asked. Apology and forgiveness met without the need of any articulated language.

This was her Elphie. Glinda knew, in that one split second, that she was looking into the eyes of the real Elphaba Thropp—

Elphaba's temporary distraction gave Morrible all the help she needed.

A strong wave of jet black light collided with Elphaba's chest, hurling the green girl off her feet. The blow was devastatingly powerful that it blasted her right through a solid wall and into the next room amidst scattered dusts and bricks.

"NO!" Glinda screamed, struggling arduously to stand. She had thrown all her weight against the wall she had been leaning on to get on her shaky feet, "Elphie? ELPHIE!"

Morrible had deliberately ignored her as she strode into the next room without as much as glancing at her.

Panic was hindering fine coordination. Glinda slid on the ground for her every attempt to hastily get up. It was maddening.

She dimly heard Morrible speak from the other room, but she could not grasp whatever she was telling Elphaba.

Several moments later, there were sounds of crashes. Glinda's ears caught a hint of Elphaba crying out in pain in between the incessant banging. Needless to say, it was either Morrible was tossing her around like a rag doll, or she was smashing things on Elphaba.

Neither sounded entirely appealing.

She spotted her wand lying uselessly on the ground. She dove for it. At the next crashing sound, she summoned a bubble and encased herself in it. Her legs were completely useless now. Both of them.

Elphie, I love you, she thought as she watched her transparent transport seal her within its glassy confines, But I'm really going to hit you for making me lose my ability to walk.

She floated into the jagged hole on the wall. The vision that had met her rapidly coursed heat all throughout her body in total anger.

"Leave her ALONE!" she found herself shouting the words.

Elphaba was lying on the badly dented wooden floor, looking as though she had fallen a hundred feet. The side of her head was shining with crimson blood. Her armor was cracked. Her cape was torn. Her hair had also come loose, and some were plastered to her face by the sweat and the blood. Her chest was heaving with difficulty, and her lips were parted, letting out audible, pained breaths. At the sound of Glinda's voice, she had turned her head to look at her. Hey eyes were heavily lidded, opening and closing on their own.

Morrible had a hand outstretched towards the girl on the ground, probably to toss her again. "Not now, you little brat," she hissed, keeping a wary eye on the semi-unconscious girl lying before her.

The fat cow received another surprise when Glinda fired a spell at her, which sailed uselessly behind her head. Morrible looked enraged more than anything.

Oh Oz… Glinda thought, blinking rapidly, I missed her head! It was right there! My vision… Oh, Oz, my vision! It's blurring! Elphaba, what DID you give me?

"We're on the same side, you idiot!" Morrible ranted impatiently, "You were supposed to help me finish her off!" She aimed a kick on Elphaba's leg to emphasize her statement, causing the green girl to grunt in discomfort at the further pain inflicted.

Glinda glared. "Hurt her again and you're the one I'm going to finish off!" she snapped, extending her wand to a fighting stance.

"Glinda…" Elphaba had managed to utter, her voice almost a whisper. She fought to keep her eyes open to see her, but she failing miserably.

Morrible turned to her instead. "Why, you little…" she glowered, "Fine then. Have it your way."

With one strike of a hex, Glinda's bubble had bursted, throwing the blonde onto the floor. To make matters worse, her wand had skidded to the other side of the room.

"No!" Glinda shouted as she watched her weapon slide away, slamming her palm on the wooden floor in frustration. She tried her legs again despite of knowing it was futile. After glancing at Elphaba's crumpled form, with the support of her frail arms, she clawed her way over to her.

Morrible watched Glinda crawl for a while, comprehending the lack of bipedal locomotion.

"Elphie…" Glinda whispered as she neared her, arms screaming in protest. Elphaba had her eyes closed, chest rising and falling slowly. Glinda reached out with a quivering hand.

Don't you dare die now, Elphie, she thought as she inched nearer. She didn't even notice that her open wound on the extending arm had completely inked her forearm red with her own blood, You haven't said sorry yet for poisoning me, you mean green thing. You haven't told me you love me… If this is goodbye, then you won't die alone… One last touch… One last touch and I'll happily let Morrible cut out my throat or something… We'd finally be together, even if it's not in this life, then in the next… Let me hold you, for the last time—

Glinda felt a mighty unseen force pull her away from only being mere inches from Elphaba.

She found herself sprawled at Morrible's feet.

She can't help but glare and cry at the same time. Was she going to be deprived of her final wish?

Morrible wasn't looking pleased with her either. She looked like the Headmistress she once was, like having caught a student who deserves to be expelled from the university. "You've just committed treason, Glinda, my dear," she said authoritatively, unhooking her golden chain necklace from her thick neck, "I believe you remember what happens to traitors like you."

She gripped the chain in her hands. Glinda's stomach twisted uncomfortably.

"Traitors like Tiggular," Morrible continued, her voice dangerously low.

Glinda's anger found her again.

But before she could retort, Morrible had thrown the chain at her. It had automatically wrapped itself tightly around her neck.

Eyes widening, Glinda lay flat on her back at the realization of what Morrible was trying to do. With both hands, she reached up to wrench it off of her, but the infernal necklace was too thin to be pulled, and it was already too close to her skin that it might as well be part of her.

Morrible watched as Glinda writhed on the wooden floor, gagging and gasping, desperately trying to take in air. The room echoed horribly with her choking and coughing sounds.

Glinda's world was spinning in dizzying circles. Her eyes rolled at the back of her head. Her lungs burned for air that will never come. She recalled what she saw on the day Fiyero was executed. She'd seen the abject terror in his eyes. She'd seen how his body had thrashed and fought the inevitable prospect of death. She vaguely wondered if she looked the same.

I'm going to die, she thought as she started to hear the furious hammering of her own heart in her ears, Without goodbyes, without last words, without Elphie… The horrible bitch is going to hurt her more before ending her misery, I'm sure of that…

In her fading vision, she caught a blur of green and black. And them, dimly, she heard a crash of glass.

And then the pain stops.

The chain loosened. Glinda reached up and wrenched it off her neck, audibly taking in air to fill her near-empty lungs.

Cautiously rolling over, Glinda looked up and saw that a window broke. Morrible was nowhere to be seen—

And so was Elphaba.

It slowly came to her, with rising horror, that Elphaba had tackled Morrible into the window…

"Elphie…!" she called, hear voice sounding raspy after the rough intake of breath. She could feel the numbness of the insidious poison around the stomach. She worked her arms again. "No… No… No, no, no!"

Falling to one's death was a terrible way of dying. She would never forgive herself if Elphaba had indeed fallen. Her Elphie had tried to save her. Save her and forfeit her own life in exchange.

"You idiot…!" Glinda screamed, tears madly flowing as she pulled herself closer to the open air.

"… What did you say?"

Glinda balked.

From the window ledge, a green hand emerged. Glinda smiled as she wept when she saw Elphaba haul herself to safety.

A couple of feet away from the mortal danger of falling, Elphaba collapsed on the floor, wincing and grimacing. She rolled over and lay on her back.

Glinda crawled all the way to her, greatly thankful that she was alive. Without hesitating, she laid her head on Elphaba's stomach, relishing the rough but cold texture of the cracked armor against her feverish cheeks. She meant to use her chest as a pillow, but she figured that Elphie would have a hard time breathing. She wanted to go for the shoulder either, but she digressed, not sure if the green wanted that a close proximity yet. She felt a familiar bliss when Elphaba had placed a hand on her head, patting her like a pet.

"Elphie…" Glinda murmured, moving to rest on Elphaba's shoulder instead that she confirmed her companion's docile contentment.

She felt Elphaba tense up and jump, causing her to prop herself up on her bruised arm. Elphaba glanced at her and saw how worried she was. "It's nothing…" she said slowly, "I had to save myself from falling. I sort of… disconnected a shoulder when I suddenly grabbed a ledge… But it's all right… Lie down, my sweet, I want you next to me…"

Glinda couldn't help herself anymore. She dove in and captured Elphaba's lips in hers. Elphaba didn't fight her off. On the contrary, she completely succumbed to their reunited passion. All other offenses were forgotten. Nothing else had mattered.

"I missed you…" Elphaba whispered breathlessly as she let the back of her hand lovingly caress Glinda's wounded cheek, "I've been unfair to you…"

"It doesn't matter," Glinda asserted as she carefully positioned herself on Elphaba's shoulder, nuzzling to her neck, "You're here now."

For a while, they lay in silence. The distant canons and gunfire weakly reached their ears, but neither of them commented on it, until Glinda finally said, "Who won the war?"

"Does it matter now?" Elphaba returned the question sadly, "He's gone. There's nothing more we could do. Oz is free, but…I don't know, my sweet. I just don't…"

Glinda tried to nod, only to find out that the paralysis had reached her torso. Her arms hung uselessly by her sides now.

"Elphie," she questioned, fear escalating, "What did you put in that knife? I can't move."

Elphaba paused, as if to ponder what she had really done.

"Oh sweet Lurline…" Glinda heard her say, detecting subtle panic in her voice, "Glinda… Glinda, I'm so sorry…"

There was a tense pause, in which Glinda decided to break by asking in a hesitant and frightened voice, "The thing you gave me… Does this mean… that I'll die?"

Elphaba said nothing for a while before taking Glinda's useless hand with difficulty. Glinda thought that she was going to pull her into a comforting hug, only for her hand to be brought far over Elphaba's waist. Their hands slid lower together on the green girl's side, only to be met by a jagged object seemingly poking out from the skin—

"You're hurt!" Glinda exclaimed, but she can't move or do anything about it.

"It's nothing—"

"Nothing?! Elphie, you're stabbed by a glass!"

Elphaba smiled sadly even though Glinda couldn't see it. "It was unintentional," she said slowly, dropping her façade of wellness at last, "It must've happened…happened when I knocked her out… of the window… I guess… I guess I'm going like Boq…"

"He's gone too?" Glinda asked, her vision dimming to new lengths that everything appeared to be darker. And then she remembered something. "Elphie, reach into my front pocket."

Elphaba extended her working arm, wincing at the strain on the wound, which was deeper than she first anticipated it to be. Her fingers had closed on something as small as a walnut. She pulled it out and saw a tiny model of herself wearing her old school uniform. "Did you…?"she trailed off, mesmerized as she held the thing before her eyes.

"That's Fiyero's handiwork," Glinda explained, and for the minutes that had followed, she reiterated Fiyero's dying words. When she was done, she can't help but smile in relief. She had finally fulfilled her promise.

Elphaba had then outstretched her hand to the ceiling, as if grasping for something. The action caused Glinda to panic, though she couldn't move even her neck to see what was occupying Elphaba's attention. "Don't go into the light," she said urgently, "Don't leave me yet. Whatever you do, Elphie, don't go."

She heard Elphaba chuckle. "Silly," she teased weakly, feeling the wound cause her to bleed internally, "I'm summoning this."

One again, she took the blonde's limp hand and together, they grasped on a fabric—

"The hat," Glinda said, smiling. She was slowly losing the scratchy sensation of the cloth. Her senses were failing her now. She was aware of lying on Elphaba's shoulder, but she could no longer feel the pressure and the heat of being that close to her anymore.

Elphaba could feel her lungs drowning with blood within her. She knew her internal hemorrhaging will be the cause of her death. She knew Glinda's time wouldn't be too long either.

"Are you scared?" she asked quietly to her, "Of dying?"

"You're here…" Glinda breathed, her parched throat and battered lungs weighing like bricks within her, "That's all I need to know…" As of now, she was completely paralyzed save her eyes and her lips.

"Let's play a game… one last game…" Elphaba suggested. When the blonde didn't interrupt, she continued, "The goal is to stay alive as long as we can. First one who dies loses."

"Haha…" Glinda murmured, her lips twitching as if she wanted to smile, "The loser's obvious enough…"

The sun exploded into the sun like bonfire in the sky, pouring golden and orange morning light onto the broken window, illuminating the two of them like they were under a humongous spotlight to be watched upon by heavenly beings.

"Glinda…" Elphaba muttered in a little while, "I think I'm losing…"

"Mmnn?" Glinda hummed, her lips joining the rest of her limp limbs. The poison was clouding her head. She didn't know where she was. She felt nothing. She couldn't remember why she was there, lying like a doll next to her lover…

"This… this wicked game… I think I'm l-l-losing…" Elphaba said breathlessly. Torrents of blood flooded her lungs like wine on a glass.

"Fhmm Mnm Mn, Mhnfhm…" Glinda muttered incoherently. So am I, Elphie.

For both of their sake, Elphaba, who held the tiny doll and Glinda's hand, gripped the black hat harder at the next agonizing stab of pain.

"I l-l-love you…" Elphaba whispered, faltering.

Ha, I win, Glinda thought ruefully when Elphaba moved no more. She wanted to bawl her eyes out, but her body was seemingly detached from her brain now. She couldn't summon the wretched tears at the moment when it was needed the most. She couldn't even feel her own heart inside of her.

To die with you, in your arms, has been the most wonderful moment of my life, Glinda thought, mentally envisioning herself spilling out necessary tears since she could not physically do so anymore, Hey, Elphie, wait for me, will you? And if you're with Fiyero already, I'll kick him to the third after life if he dares to flirt with you…

The sun continued to rise, blinding Glinda. She stared back at it, trying to remember how its heat had warmed her skin, just as Elphaba's presence once did.

The light grew steadily brighter and brighter, but it wasn't unbearable to the eyes anymore…

Until finally, she heard a gentle voice beckon to her. She'd know that voice anywhere. That sweet, loving voice…

"Time to go, my sweet… And what was that about Fiyero again?"

A/N: Mmm… Head feels like hell. Haven't slept for, what, two days now…

Anyway, the reason for this shortness is that it was already plotted out before I began writing it, and because of college work, I'm getting distracted, so the last chap is slightly off the hook because of that distraction…

Yes. Slight Les Miz themes…

Please do me all a favor and tell me what you think of this, because I am on auto-pilot mode again when I did the last half of this 8th Chapter.

~ Ædelstan