"I never expected to find you in anything other than a dress," Elpheba noted, eyes trained on the path before her.
"I didn't have much of a choice. Slaying a monster in a dress isn't flattering," Glinda replied, her blue eyes hard like an amethyst. It surprised Elpheba. She wasn't used to seeing Glinda so...cold and harsh and stone like. Even when they first met she wasn't so distant.
"Which reminds me, why are there monsters?" The witch asked, adjusting the wilting hat on her head.
"Magic." Glinda said the word like it was a curse but Elpheba heard the hint of a tremble in her voice. There was a reason Glinda seemed to hate magic now.
"You know, I wanted to tell you...but Fiyero-"
"He helped you?" Glinda glared, her words nearly a growl. "That little bastard."
"Well, I thought you knew. He's been gone you know-"
"For three years. He said he was going home. To explain things to his family," the blonde explained. "I didn't expect him to come back, but at least I assumed he wasn't keeping a secret from me. That he wasn't lying. I should've known better."
"Glinda, if I could've said something I would," Elpheba insisted.
"Then you should have. When did you take orders from him anyways?" The blonde demanded, pausing in their walk to face the taller girl. "You don't listen to other people Elpheba. That's what got you into that entire mess in the first place. What changed?"
"It was safer for you," the witch insisted, reaching out to take Glinda's hand but the blonde moved away.
"Don't make this seem like you were selfless. Like you did any of that for me." Glinda hissed, her eyes fractured in the light. "I'm tired of being lied to. Tell me the truth. Tell me you wanted to leave with him and pretend nothing ever happened in Oz to begin with."
Elpheba paused. She wanted to deny Glinda's accusations but she couldn't. "I've tried everything to change him back. Nothing works."
"And I'm supposed to fix that? How?" Glinda asked. "He's two weeks away from here and I'm not going out to the perimeter for your boyfriend."
"He was yours once too, you know." Elpheba frowned.
"He was never mine," Glinda shook her head. "Nothing I had was ever mine."
"Really, so all those dresses and gowns and the glittering jewels and the adoring fans? None of that was yours?" The witch snorted, crossing her arms.
"No, it wasn't." The blonde's voice was barely a whisper. "It was all a lie."
Chewing on her bottom lip, Glinda turned curtly on her heel and set back off down the path leaving Elpheba to catch up.
"Why are you still here?" The witch's question seemed to fall on deaf ears. "It's been three years. You could have gone home."
"No," Glinda shook her head, shoulders slumping. "You wouldn't understand."
"Listen, Glinda, I don't want to make you miserable. I didn't want to come in the first place but I'm desperate. Fiyero...he doesn't want to live. He-he hates himself." Elpheba admitted, her chest tight with worry as she spoke. "I told him I'd find a way to fix him. I promised him. I don't know what else to do."
"I can't help you."
"Why? Because you're selfish?"
"No!" The blonde yelled, turning about to face the witch, "because I can't."
"Why?" Elpheba demanded.
"That spell you did-the emotions you felt while doing it made it incredibly powerful. You can't undo something like that. You can't take back what you poured so much into. That's not how the laws of magic work." Glinda fumed, her fractured eyes welling with tears. "S-selfish? Really?"
"I'm sorry," the witch replied, "I didn't mean it. I'm just...afraid."
"I stopped being selfish a long time ago." Glinda muttered, wiping hastily at her eyes. "But since I can't help you, you might as well head back home. Sorry to waste your time."
— — —
Head lowered, Glinda marched into the camp eyes trained on the ground as if she could set it on fire. She wanted to burn everything in her path but she couldn't. It wouldn't be fair and it wouldn't be right.
"How did it go?" A dark haired girl clad in armor asked, emerging from a tent.
"Fine," Glinda replied. She tried to move on when a gloved hand caught her by the arm. "I don't want to talk Genevieve."
"Okay," the other girl nodded, releasing the blonde. Glinda meant to hide away in her own tent, escape the prying eyes of the other warriors and just let herself cry but she couldn't.
"This was an unexpected find!" A callous voice called over the ruckus of the settlement. "Can't say I'm not surprised you tricky little bitch."
"Jameson," Genevieve warned, caution hidden in her voice. Glinda turned to see what she expected.
"You just don't learn do you?" She whispered to herself, noting the way Jameson and his companion had tied up Elpheba's hands at a painful angle behind her back.
"She's supposed to be dead!" Someone exclaimed.
"Then kill her," another interjected.
"No," Glinda shook her head, her eyes meeting those of her old friend. They were desperate, pleading. "No one does anything to her. Let her go."
"What?" Jameson demanded.
"Let her go," Glinda repeated, drawing her blade for emphasis. The man stared at her in disbelief before shoving Elpheba to the ground.
"Then take her." He scoffed.
Feeling everyone's eyes upon her, Glinda knelt beside her old friend and cut through the bonds. "You should have gone home."
"I'm stubborn." Elpheba remarked, drawing the faintest smile from Glinda.
"You're stupid is what you are." The blonde sighed, drawing Elpheba to her feet. "You really want my help?"
"Please."
"You have to earn it."
"What?" The witch frowned. "Why-"
"Earn it." Glinda insisted. "Give me a reason to trust you again." 
"Glinda-"Elpheba was at a loss for words. "Please."
"Don't beg. It's not a good look for you."
The blonde turned, and marched towards her tent when Genevieve stopped her again.
"Are you sure about this?" The warrior asked, sparing Elpheba a glance. The witch, however, watched intently as Glinda took the hand of the other girl giving it a light squeeze. "Okay."
Stepping aside, Genevieve left the two women alone. Glinda led Elpheba inside the tent and took a seat on the floor, her back pressed against a metal pole of the tent's frame.
"Who is she?" Elpheba asked, rubbing her wrists from where the ropes had been.
"A friend when I need it."
"Right." Elpheba laughed coyly. "How often is that?"
"If you're suggesting I sleep with her you're wrong," Glinda frowned, sliding off her gloves. "Despite popular belief I don't sleep around. I never did that and I never will."
"Right," Elpheba snorted, arching a brow.
"That was one time and it was an accident," Glinda hissed, "besides, I didn't know the party punch was spiked and I told you it wasn't going to happen again. It didn't."
"I know," Elpheba nodded, tucking her hands in her pockets.
"Besides, I don't let anyone in here." The blonde muttered.
"I'm here."
"Don't push it," Glinda warned. "Sit. There's things you should know."
"Like why the hell monsters are ravaging the towns?"
"Something like that," Glinda nodded.
— — —
"When you died, things were great. Everyone was happy and they rejoiced but then people grew afraid," Glinda explained, carefully unlatching her ruined armor and setting it aside. "They thought the melting thing was all a lie. I guess it was but that's not the point. They wanted me to prove you were dead."
"Couldn't they take your word for it?" Elpheba frowned, rummaging around in her bag and pulling out a journal to take notes in.
"No. When people are afraid they become irrational. They wanted me to find some proof of your body. To find some corpse and bring it back," the blonde shivered. "I didn't want to go back but I did."
"And?" Elpheba prodded.
"There was nothing I could give them as proof. They knew we were friends and they turned on me. I wasn't the good witch anymore I was just...a witch." Glinda swallowed tightly and examined her injured arm. "They took me to Morpheus-"
"The great sleeper," Elpheba noted, awe clear in her voice.
"Even he couldn't prove you were dead." Glinda admitted, "I guess I know why."
"So what does this have to do with the monsters?" Elpheba asked, looking up from her notebook.
"Once we woke Morpheus they haven't stopped appearing all over Oz. No one can lull him back to sleep. They've tried and they've failed." The blonde took off her tattered shirt and rummaged about the tent for something to dress her wounds.
"And you decided to wield a sword," the witch noted.
"I taught myself. Then I taught others. I made a lot of mistakes but I learned." Elpheba noted the pale scars running across Glinda's back and torso. They were strange and new and nothing Elpheba had seen before. Glinda had been so perfect, so unblemished and beautiful. She still was, but now her skin told a different story.
"Why? Why not-"
"Use magic? Elpheba, magic has a price. It always has, and I'm tired of having to pay it." Glinda seemed to age ten years as she spoke. Her eyes were tired and sad. They weren't bright and curious anymore.
"Maybe Morpheus could help me with Fiyero," the witch suggested.
"No." Glinda replied curtly. "No more Morpheus no more magic."
"Glinda-"
"No. I'll escort you back through the mountains but that's it." The blonde insisted. "It'll be like you never came back. Now get some sleep, the moon is out and we'll leave early tomorrow."
But Elpheba's mind was racing. If Morpheus had woken and he was truly this powerful-powerful enough to create monsters-maybe he could turn someone who thought they were a monster back into a human.