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Soulmate AU where once your soulmate realises that they’re in love with you your hair begins to change colour. If your soulmate dies, it immediately begins to revert back to your natural colour.
“Elphie! Oh, Elphie, do you see that?”
Elphaba, looked up from her homework, more than a little startled by the way Galinda had just launched herself across the room, seeming to go from her desk-turned-vanity to laying sprawled across Elphaba’s bed in a matter of seconds. The girl was pinching a few strands of honey-blonde hair between her fingers, and holding it out to Elphaba as though it was a revelation. The green girl blinked at her a few times, unsure how to even respond.
“That.” She paused, looking bemused, as though Glinda was asking her a trick question. Elphaba was unused to this kind of friendship, and found herself once again wondering if this was a thing she should have been prepared for, or just a Galinda thing. Admittedly, more often than not, it was just a Galinda thing. “That’s your hair, Galinda?”
“It’s pink!” Galinda’s tone sounded very much as though she was scolding her for not having noticed the couple of brassy strands in the sea of gold, though Elphaba couldn’t help but roll her eyes. A month ago she probably would have bitten back, but who was she to curb Galinda’s enthusiasm at a moment like this?
Once it was pointed out, she could definitely see some rosier tones in those strands, though she wouldn’t have called them pink- it was hard to tell what it would look like once it had fully turned. It still had gold running through it- maybe rose gold? And, yes, thinking of Galinda with rose gold curls framing her face rather than the honey ones she currently had was certainly a pretty picture- then again, Galinda was always a pretty picture.
“Elphie?” Galinda’s voice broke her out of her thoughts, and she realised she’d been staring. “Elphie do you know what this means?”
Elphaba swallowed. “It’s a pretty colour.” She murmured stupidly, though luckily for her her statement drew one of Galinda’s bubbly little laughs from her lips, and I turn, brought a smile to Elphaba’s.
“It’s Fiyero! I just know it.” And then that smile tightened, her lips stretching until it was almost painful. Right. Fiyero. Of course.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy for Galinda. Her relationship seemed to be going well, and Galinda had been convinced that they were soulmates from day one, so it was nice that she had this confirmation, but that selfish little voice in Elphaba’s head wished it was her who’d triggered the change.
“Galin- Uh. Glinda.” Well that was going to take some getting used to. Elphaba was rather comfortably settled across from her friend on the train, and so far hadn’t had too much trouble with passing the time. It was a long journey but she’d brought books, and Oz knows they had enough homework to more than fill the journey. Still, Glinda seemed to be struggling to do so- Elphaa supposed that this trip had been so last minute for her she hadn’t had much chance to think what she would do on the train ride, and after their initial excited chatter about the Emerald City had subsided Glinda had fallen uncharacteristically quiet, her eyes focused on the window.
Not for the first time, Elphaba found herself admiring how the smattering of rose colouring through Glinda’s curls softened the halo given to her by the setting sun streaming through the window. Glinda had always been beautiful, but the icy perfection seemed sweetened into something infinitely more approachable by the new colour. Despite her speaking up, Glinda didn’t seem to have noticed that she’d set her book aside.
“Something on your mind, Glin?” She asked, pulling one leg up so her heel could rest on the edge of the seat and wrapping her arms around it. It’d been a long few hours of sitting in one position.
“Hm-“ Glinda looked up, and blinking as though she’d been drawn out of some deep thought. “Oh, it’s nothing, just-.”
Elphaba nodded. She already knew what it was. While Glinda’s hair had been rapidly changing for weeks, Fiyero’s had stubbornly remained that same rich brown colour. It had always been. It suited him, of course, but still. Elphaba had noticed a serious change in both him, and in Glinda since it became apparent. “It doesn’t happen for everyone right away-” She tried, but what could she even say? It’d been weeks, and people were already beginning to talk.
“I really do love him. I just don’t understand.” Glinda’s voice was small, and betrayed a vulnerability which had Elphaba slipping out of her seat to take up the one beside Glinda instead. It was odd to see her friend so genuinely vulnerable, and while she still wasn’t entirely used to this whole friendship thing when Glinda tucked herself against Elphaba’s side the instinct to wrap an arm around her came easily. Elphaba didn’t speak, she didn’t know what to say, but her fingers ran gently through the soft rosy curls, and she just let Glinda cry herself out, her own heart aching that she couldn’t do more to help.
Floorboards creaked overhead, and Elphaba did her best not to flinch at the slight rain of dust falling into her hair. The cellar had been her best bet- there was no way she’d have survived a night in that blizzard even with every trick in her book. It was damp, and cold, and clearly used mostly as a dumping ground for the family’s garbage, but so far it’d proved to have one upside despite being disused and mostly snow-free.
It’d been months since she’d had any word from Glinda- something which, admittedly, was entirely her own fault. Still, it meant that the magazine abandoned in a corner of the space was a welcome update. It was a few weeks out of date, and from what she could tell it seemed to be the worst kind of tabloid nonsense, but it gave her enough of an impression over what her friend’s had been up to.
There was a picture of Glinda hanging off of Fiyero’s arm- she looked utterly radiant, as always, and he- well. He looked different.
For a brief moment, Elphaba had discounted him as a stranger, before she got a look at his face. It shouldn’t have made so dramatic a chance, he still had those same dark eyes, with the little blue diamonds set around them which only seemed to darken them further. He still had the same good looks which had captivated so many girls in their year at Shiz. He still had those curls which framed his face so perfectly, though they’d grown out since their school days, and they’d taken on an almost garishly blue hue which was so unlike him it was enough to make him look alien to her. While his tattoos had always been charming spots of sky blue which made his dark skin seem somehow richer, this was far too much. It was an almost electric colour, which made him look almost sickly and clashed awfully with the emerald guard’s uniform he was wearing.
Knowing that another person she cared about had been taken in by that monster stung, but somehow seeing the change hurt worse. Maybe it was just the resurgence of old jealousy, or maybe it was just how unnatural it seemed. Glinda had loved him for a long time, and such a drastic turn would have been obvious from the start, so why had it never occurred until they both wound up in the spotlight?
For a brief moment, her mind flitted to magic. If it wasn’t a natural shift, it would explain the delay, as well as the colour which seemed so utterly unsuited to him. It was the kind of thing he would do, too. Fiyero, who never really wanted to hurt anybody. Fiyero who cared deeply about Glinda, even if both had seemed to suspect that they weren’t made for each other as they’d thought. Fiyero who knew very well just how to put on a performance to make the world believe his bullshit.
Still. She couldn’t think like that. Jealousy aside, Elphaba had to be happy for the pair of them. They’d found each other, and their smiles seemed genuine- they were moving on with their lives, and even if she wasn’t, it was a wicked thing to hope that their happy ending was false just to feed her own wishful thoughts.
Elphaba was gone from that place by the time the snow stopped falling, and the picture of her former friends was gone with her.
Elphaba knew who’d come to find her at Kiamo Ko before she even turned around. The only other person Fiyero would have told about how to get into the place, and certainly the only one who’d be clicking around in those ridiculous heels.
“Go away.” Her voice didn’t hold as much venom as she’d have liked- something she could pass off as a side effect of her own guilt creeping into her tone.
“They’re coming for you.” Frankly, Elphaba didn’t know why Glinda was here. After everything that’d transpired between them, it was hard to believe that Glinda would actually be here to warn her. Still, when she turned to look at her old friend, Glinda looked entirely sincere. She was a little surprised to see she still sported that halo of rosy curls. Fiyero’s love of her hadn’t changed her hair from it’s lifeless black colouring any more than hers had broken that garish illusion that Morrible had engineered to keep things nice and respectable, but it seemed that his death hadn’t changed Glinda’s either.
She had to concede, then, that despite their squabbling, while they’d both loved him, neither of them had been made for him in the way they’d hoped.
Elphaba stared at he for a moment, standing like a vision on the staircase, before her jaw clenched, and she shook her head. “Go away.” She repeated, turning her back on Glinda- not that Glinda had ever really listened to a word she said.
“Just let the little girl go.” Elphaba whipped around at that one. Since when was Glinda in the business of caring about other people? Was rescuing the little farm brat just a stunt to improve her reputation, or- No. No, that wasn’t fair. Glinda’s face betrayed the soft expression which had been so often reserved for her and Fiyero. She still cared, they just- they’d had different priorities.
Or, maybe Elphaba was still just hopelessly in love with her best friend. Either way, she couldn’t stay mad at her.
“I can do anything I want, I’m the wicked witch of the west, remember?” There was a bitter note in her voice now, and she probably would have kept going, but the way Glinda’s face crumpled when she said it was enough to shut her up. She hated being the reason Glinda was upset, even if it seemed to be the case more often than not now.
She looked at her for a moment longer, and then back to the cell door beneath their feet, and it all came crashing down at once. Nessa, Dilamond, Fiyero. All dead on her account. She had been doing more harm than good for a long time now. “You’re right.” She eventually admitted, and for a brief moment she saw Glinda’s face light up. It only made it worse when she added, “It’s time for me to surrender.” and saw it fall again.
Glinda sounded heartbreakingly close to tears when she next spoke. “Oh, Elphie…” She came close, but Elphaba stepped back under the pretence of grabbing a water bucket, shooting Glinda a knowing look in the process. It’d be enough. Glinda, who seemed unwilling to accept the facts of what was happening, and simply looked at her perplexed. “What is it?”
Elphaba closed her eyes briefly, the bucket still in hand, though she was careful to keep her fingers from dipping below the surface. She resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose at Glinda’s wilful refusal to accept what she was doing. She wouldn’t explain this. She couldn’t explain this.
And Glinda couldn’t be here when they came for her.
She placed an arm around Glinda and began to usher her towards the door. “You can’t be found here, you must go.” She tried earnestly to move her in that direction, but Glinda wouldn’t budge, shaking her head and trying to object. “You must, please.”
“No, I’ll go and tell them! I’ll tell everyone the truth! I’ll-“ She insisted, but Elphaba cut her off. Elphaba wouldn’t allow Glinda to destroy everything she’d built up trying to clear her name. She wasn’t worth it.
“They’d just turn against you.” She tried, and when Glinda tried to argue back, Elphaba just shook her head again. “You don’t care, but I do.”
Glinda was looking at her like she’d never truly seen her before, so intently that Elphaba actually shuddered under her gaze. “Elphie you have-“ Glinda reached up, running a hand through her hair, and capturing a few strands of pure white between her fingers which stood out starkly against the sea of inky blackness. For a brief moment they stood in a twisted parody of that moment in their form room, with the excitement of the revelation entirely gone, and Glinda standing frozen in place. Elphaba tried to get a look at what she was doing, but Glinda let her hand fall away as quickly as it they’d come. “Nothing, nothing.”
Elphaba watched her for a moment longer, seeing her face seemed set, now. Resigned as Elphaba was. She indulged herself a moment longer by Glinda’s side, before moving off to find the Grimmerie.
If she was going to do this there was only one person she trusted to keep it.
It was hard to believe it’d already been three days. Three days of parties and celebrations and of Glinda trying to pretend as though her whole world wasn’t crumbling around her. It was the first time she’d really gotten alone since the melting, and Glinda was sitting at her vanity, trying to pick the pins out of her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror, and saw a girl who didn’t look much like her at all. Her smile was tired and worn, she had bags under her eyes worthy of a woman twice her age, and that soft rosy colour which had framed her face since her school days was cheapened back down to her natural honey tones. It was odd, how quickly it’d happened. She tugged on one curl, pulling it straight to admire the alien colour, before tears blurred her eyes too much to see more than a streak of yellow.
She’d known this was coming. She’d suspected it for a long time- but, seeing Elphaba’s hair just beginning to turn that night in Kiamo Ko had been all the confirmation she needed. It’d been a beautiful colour, almost pure white, though with the barest hints of gold. She was sure it would have suited Elphaba perfectly- but. She’d waited far too long to realise.
Elphie was gone. Her soulmate was gone.
And she’d never even gotten to see that Glinda loved her back.
Glinda wasn’t sure that she’d ever forgive herself for that.