Nightmare

Prison of Her Mind

Glinda's eyes suddenly shot open. Confused and a little irritated, she sat up. It was the middle of the night and she had been in the emptiest, deepest sleep she'd ever been in in her whole life. Why she had woken up so abruptly, especially since there was no apparent cause, was a mystery to her. The room was still dark and quiet, and she was in the same position she had been in when she went to bed ago. So why in Oz-?

Suddenly, the bed a few feet away from Glinda's began to shake and shudder. Or rather, the girl sleeping within its black sheets was. Glinda dismissed it as the girl just moving around in her sleep, but when the movements became increasingly violent and showed no signs of stopping, Glinda became nervous. She jumped delicately out of her pink and frilly bed and darted over to her roommate's black one.

"Elphie? Elphie! Wake up!" Glinda called out to her sleeping roommate, shaking her shoulder in attempt to rouse her. Her confusion turned to concern the longer Elphaba remained lock inside of whatever nightmare was holding her hostage. She had never seen her roommate looking so scared, emotional and vulnerable. Glinda could feel her heart doing cartwheels in her chest. What was going on? Was this normal? Why wasn't Elphaba waking up? Why did she look so... haunted?!

"Elphie?! ELPHIE!" Glinda finally shouted her roommate's pet name once, and that did it. Elphaba shot up with the same intensity Glinda had, though she had woken up covered in sweat, her hair wild and tangled and her eyes tinged with red, bloodshot. Instead of flinching away in fear, disgust or surprise like most people would have upon seeing Elphaba's crazed expression, Glinda only drew even closer to the poor girl and she began to caress her. Glinda petted her back, shoulders and arms. At last, Glinda even was able to touch Elphaba's cheek. The fact that Elphaba hardly even responded to any of this at all was another massive red flag for Glinda, if the night-terror and wild expression hadn't been enough.

Glinda finally sat down beside Elphaba and she took one deep breath before asking her first question.

"Elphie, what was that?" she asked slowly, carefully. She received no reply. "Elphie?" she tried again, but Elphaba still refused to even look at her. This one-sided back and forth continued for a little while more before Glinda finally decided to put her foot down. As delicate and dainty as she was, Glinda still always got her way, and she was the only person who would ever defy Elphaba. She was the only person who did not allow Elphaba to always do as she pleased. On the contrary, especially when it came to Elphaba's personal health, Glinda became quite ferocious and demanding and she would not allow Elphaba to weasel her way out of this one. Not this time.

"Elphaba Thropp!" her voice was still quiet, but the gentle, coaxing tone had turned strong and serious. It finally did the trick.

"It was just a dumb nightmare, ok?!" Elphaba snapped defensively. Glinda was undaunted by the wicked glare Elphaba gave her.

"Did you want to talk about it?" she asked, gentler tone returning. For a moment, Elphaba could only keep glaring at her roommate, angered that Glinda was able to boss her around so easily, but then she finally remembered why... It was because they were friends. It was because Glinda was the first and only to see past Elphaba's mean, green exterior. She was the only one to see how vulnerable and in need of care Elphaba really was. It was why Glinda was so fiercely protective of her, it was why Glinda was always able to get Elphaba to obey when it really counted, like now. Finally, Elphaba yielded, her scowl fading into a resigned sadness, and she told her story.

"I had a nightmare that you were arrested," the green girl admitted. "They sent you to Southstairs..." both Elphaba and Glinda shivered a little at the thought. Southstairs was the largest, scariest prison in all of Oz, located somewhere within the Emerald City, but still kept very departed from civilian life so as not to disturb the upright folks from enjoying the majesty the metropolis had to offer. Southstairs had a reputation of being particularly inhumane, its inmates kept in dark, dank, dirty little cells and sometimes even forgotten until they rotted away, their iron bars becoming their tomb. But even those who were not forgotten and did eventually leave that awful place often came out insane, or deeply changed. If it didn't kill the body, it killed the mind and soul. It was amazing such a place could exist within the most paradisiacal part of Oz, but it did, and no one ever forgot it. The night suddenly seemed so much colder and darker to the two young Shiz students, but Glinda tossed her golden curls determinedly.

"Come now Elphie, what are the odds I would be jailed?" she asked. "And even if I was, I'd just wait for you to save me!" she forced a smile onto her pretty face in attempt to lighten the mood. She even waited for Elphaba to offer up some snarky reply about her being too reliant, but the reply never came. Instead, Elphaba only sighed, looking totally broken. Her voice sounded just the same.

"Glinda. Please. Just go to bed. I can't talk about this right now," she sounded so miserable and so lost inside of her own head that Glinda felt the distant chill of Southstairs snaking down her spine and prickling across her arms even though she had never seen the place in person (thank Oz). Elphaba turned away from Glinda, but Glinda could see from the way her shoulders quaked that she was crying again.

"Elphie? Oh, Elphie, please don't cry..." Glinda carefully touched Elphaba's back. Elphaba flinched violently, but Glinda did not draw back. Instead, she waited for a few moments before carefully, slowly wrapping her arm around Elphaba. Then she wrapped the other arm around the green girl as well until she was giving Elphaba a strange, sideways hug. It wasn't much and Elphaba still refused to turn around and face her, but Glinda didn't mind. Instead, she just began to whisper soft words of condolence and care, trying to reassure her friend that no matter what might've happened in her nightmare, it was only just that. A nightmare. This was the real world. This was the waking world, the truth. Glinda really was still here, alive and well, not locked away and lost in an underground labyrinth of death, despair and madness. She was still here, in Shiz, with Elphaba. That was real. That was the truth. Anything else in Elphaba's mind was nothing but a cruel and terrible trick. Southstairs was still hundreds of miles away and the law was nowhere near coming for Glinda. Everything was ok, everything was alright.

Slowly, slowly, minute by minute, Elphaba finally managed to get her tears under control. It still took her awhile to turn around and face Glinda, but she no longer was shaking. That was a good sign. Then at last, Elphaba finally began to turn around.

"Thank you, Glinda," Elphaba muttered at last. It was still clear she was ashamed at being so vulnerable, a thought that Glinda despised, but the fact that Elphaba was at least feeling well enough to talk was good enough for Glinda. They would work on everything else later. All that mattered right now was getting Elphaba out of that awful prison of her mind and back into Shiz and at Glinda's side, right where she belonged.

"Don't mention it," Glinda replied. "It's what friends do for each other."

"Yeah," Elphaba's voice was still strained, but she was talking and responding. That was good enough for now.

In the hours to come, Glinda finally got Elphaba to at least lie back down again. Glinda pushed their beds together again and curled up beside the green girl, holding her close. Glinda did all she could to make Elphaba smile again as they lay there, side by side, and she was stunned but pleased when she finally made the green girl laugh a little. It was the prettiest, sweetest sound in all of Oz. By the time the two girls had finally reentered the world of dreams, they had gone in a very different way than they had come out hours ago, and that was a very good thing. There would be no more nightmares that night, for either of them.

AN: You can see this as either a sequel or an AU to the first chapter, either works. Also, anyone familiar with Southstairs has read the book, kudos to you!