Thunderstruck

Chapter 5: Savior

In the early hours of Saturday morning, and uncharacteristically, Galinda awoke and quietly got dressed, did her hair and makeup, and slipped out the door unnoticed.  She wanted to make this day extra special for her friend.  Galinda first headed to a jewelry store, where she bought a small silver necklace with a simple heart pendant.  Next, knowing that Elphaba could use it, Galinda got her a new set of books she knew the green girl had been mentioning reading. She then walked to a clothing store and got her green friend navy blue shirts and a mid-length black skirt, knowing her friend needed a wardrobe update.

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After her little shopping spree, Galinda started to walk back to their room. She was stopped about halfway, in a dark alley between two buildings. There were three obviously intoxicated men quickly advancing on her. One of them pinned her against the brick wall. She squeaked and dropped her purse and her bags she had been carrying.

"Well, look here, boys. We've got the ourselves a pretty one."

Galinda's eyes scanned the alley for a possible escape from the men.

"You're not going anywhere."

The man put a hand to her throat, and squeezed hard enough so she wouldn't make a sound, but had a loose enough grip so she could still breathe. He slid an unwanted hand up her thigh, under the skirt of her vanilla-white dress. The blonde struggled for control, but couldn't kick, hit, or throw the man off of her. Out of the corner of her eye, she just barely could make out a figure walking swiftly towards them.

"LET HER GO!"

The blonde could just barely make out who the voice belonged to: Elphaba. The man holding her by the neck had her off of her feet, and he was squeezing it so tightly she was starting to loose consciousness.

"And what makes you think we would do that?" A man responded to Elphaba's command. "Give up this prize for some freak?"

Elphaba was seething with anger.

"I said. Let. Her. Go." She said through gritted teeth. "Before I do something worse than simply kicking your ass."

"You? Hurt us? You must be joking."

The green girl's blood began to boil. The thought of those men hurting Galinda made her want to snap their necks and keep Galinda protected from the outside world forever. So she would always be safe.

Suddenly, without warning, a loud bang sounded, and grey smoke started to rise from the ground where the men and Galinda were standing. Shocked and afraid, the three men ran off, leaving a limp Galinda to slip to the ground. But as soon as she was down, she was up again and running into Elphaba's arms, sobbing. The green rubbed soothing circles on her back, whispering calming words in her ear.

After Galinda had calmed down considerably, Elphaba wrapped her arm around her waist and they started to walk back to their room. The blonde never once left Elphaba's side.

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When they got back on campus, the two girls decided to walk the rest of the way to their room indoors, just to make sure none of that would ever happen again.

They were walking through one of Shiz's maze-like hallways when Elphaba heard voices coming from a locked office door. Madame Morrible's.  Even though she could only hear bits and pieces of the conversation between the two people in the office, she knew the voices.  One was Madame "Horrible" Morrible's.  And one was her father's.
Elphaba turned a very pale shade of green.  She put her strong verdant arm around Galinda's small frame, pushing her against the wall around the corner.

"Elphie? What is is?" Galinda asked.

"Galinda... that... was my father."

"Sweet Oz! Why is he here?"

"I don't know," Elphaba admitted.  "But I'm not sure I want to know."

The office door opened, and a tall, brown-haired man exited behind Madame Morrible.  Elphaba took off, Galinda in tow.  They ran down the hallways, and we're out of breath when they reached their room.

"You know you're going to face him sometime." Galinda said soothingly, but still panting.

"After what he did to me, I can face him whenever I want to." Elphaba snapped. 

"Sorry," she quickly added.  "I didn't mean to sound like that."

"It's ok, he did some horrendifying things to you." Galinda said understandingly.

The green girl squeezed her eyes shut.  A tear slid down her cheek, leaving a slight red mark where it had come in contact with her skin.

"Thank you."  Elphaba whispered, barely audible.

"For what Elphie?" Galinda dabbed the tear off her friend's face with her sleeve, careful not to let it burn her more.

"For being there for me when no one else was. Even though something even more terrible than seeing your father happened to you, you were still there. I shouldn't have run off like that, and starting crying when it was you who needed me, not the other way around."

"No, do not blame yourself. You have every right to be like this."

"Be like what? Vulnerable? Afraid? Helpless?"

"Don't say that. You're just so used to being the strong one, you don't know what is feels like to be taken care of."

The blonde pulled Elphaba into a tight embrace, and for the first time, she didn't tense or pull away.