◤ elphaba ◢ 

( ——  ☂  —— )

  Through the dark that was her unconscious mind were the most HORRID
   images one could come up with. Faces twisted before her, names unknown
   to her, yet maddeningly familiar. Without the words on her tongue she had
   nothing, without her active sense she had the heat of her own power that
   blistered her skin and clouded her mind. Elphaba Thropp had been alone
   all her life. She needed no one to give her nightmare. She could make them
   on her own.

                  She remained in the dark, unfeeling to the arms that had wrapped
                  themselves around her heaving figure. What she did feel, was COLD.
    Elphaba didn’t have much of knack for people. She’d grown up to
                  know them as hateful and cruel, not as things to depend on. She’d
                  never gotten close enough to anyone to sense their feelings. Even
                  with Elsa, that had not changed. She couldn’t tell from her body
                  what was in her mind. But, she’d learned to sense the cold. Even
                  to the smallest degress of change, from drafts to blizzards, Elphaba
                  could feel Elsa’s emotions against her skin. Even with sour colors
                  still dancing before her shut eyes, she could feel the icy touch of
                  winter wind against her forehead, through her wettened dress. She
                  could feel the tiny pieces of hard, hail-like snow. She could feel her
                  crying.

     It took her a long while to come to. She woke up drenched in her
     own sweat, and to the weight of Elsa’s sobbing body, which had
     stayed clasped to her through her unconsciousness. Her muscles
     tensed uncontrollably. She always woke up alone. She’d been
     through plenty a plaguing nightmare stealing her sleep away until
     her eyes turned gray and bloodshot, and her mind began to slip
     away. But she’d never woken up anything but ALONE. No one
     was ever there. No one waited that long. Why was Elsa still there?

                      ” I told you to get out. “

While she’d felt the cold there in her sleep like a blanket, she hadn’t
      heard Elsa’s words, Elsa’s apology. In truth, who knew what difference
      it would’ve made. She was so far gone, and she didn’t want apologies.

             Her eyes lifted to the children, still
             huddled behind Elsa’s snow beast,
             quietly sobbing into its thick legs.

     She tried not to remember, with everything that was left of her feeble strength, she
     tried and tried not to remember, but it was there. The memories of the teddy bear,
     the late-night stories when Elsa believed they were asleep. How she’d simply HATED
     as screaming little kids, but grown to see them as their mother did, grown to parent
     them in the occasional absences of their father, grown to be    ’ Auntie Witch. ’

          ’ I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. ’        Elsa had said.

                     And still, through her mind which couldn’t hold on to anything for
                     too long, she so slightly wrapped her numb and tingling fingers
                     around Elsa’s, that had been tight around hers for almost an hour. 
                     She knew it was already too late for her, but for Elsa, for her children,
                     it wasn’t.

                                                                                       ” I’m sorry too. “

✕ ✕ ┊she of ice & snow ;;

If she had to, she would have held Elphaba in her arms for hours on end.
No way in hell was Elsa going to leave her best friend. She could not stand
the idea of her friend waking up [ A L O N E ]. She needed to remind Elphaba
that she wasn’t alone. There was someone in this world who cared about her.
Every so often, she would hear Alexander or Amelia asking if their Auntie was
okay.

                God above, she wanted to slap Elphaba and
                shake some sense into the other woman. Why
                couldn’t she see how many people CARED for
                her? Frightened they might be, but her children
                were not begging that she step away from the 
                “wicked” witch. Instead, they were asking if
                 their aunt was okay. They worried for her. LOVED
                 her. Why couldn’t Elphaba see that?

When she felt warm fingers moving, Elsa’s heart raced
and a relieved smile spread across her lips. A tearful 
laugh escaped her lips and she could not help but press
her lips against Elphaba’s forehead. Before the tears 
could fall, she reached up and wiped away her tears. From
the corner of her eye, she could see her youngest trying
to move away from her brother and Marshmallow. No 
doubt she wanted nothing more than to embrace her Auntie
Witch.

                    She did not speak for a few moments as she was far too busy hugging 
                    all the air out of the other woman’s body. Thankful sobs escaped the 
                    Queen’s lips. Elphaba was far from okay. Elsa knew in her heart that she
                    had [ past the point of no return ] long ago. However, even with that thought,
                    she would never stop. She would never give up. She could not give up. 
                    She would rather walk in the dark with her friend than stand in the light and
                    watch as her friend suffered.

❝No matter how DARK the moment,
              love and hope is always possible.❞