Chapter Text
Boq’s POV
The air was cold, but it always is in the heart of Snowdrift. I sat up in my bed, looking around the house that I’d started living in ever since I left Nessa. It was surprisingly warm, considering how cold it always was outside. Not that I had a problem with the cold, anyway. I haven’t felt the cold or heat since I was human. I’d almost forgotten what they felt like.
I don’t really need to eat or anything, so I kinda just… walked into the kitchen to start going about my day. Getting ready is a lot easier as a tin man, that’s one thing. As I stepped on the stairs, though, my leg gave out, and I crashed down the entire set of stairs. I sat up and looked down- apparently my leg rusted overnight. I groaned and got to my feet, going to find my oil can.
The commotion must have attracted the attention of Tallulah, because there the little girl stood, looking up at me with concerned dark eyes.
“Hey, Tally,” I said to the kid in front of me. “Sorry about that. I’m okay, my leg rusted overnight.”
She handed me my oil can, and I smiled, fixing my leg up with it. Tallulah doesn’t talk much. She can, she just chooses not to. I can relate to that. Sometimes talking feels like nothing short of a waste of time.
“Thank you, princess. Good as new. And happy birthday! What, you think I forgot? You only turn 6 once.”
She smiled excitedly, twirling around in her patchwork nightgown. She had a lot of different things she could have worn- she is a princess, after all. But she’s been obsessed with patchwork lately. When I ask, she never answers.
“Hey, I got you something. Stay here, and no peeking.”
She giggled and covered her eyes, obviously peeking through her fingers.
“I can feel you looking.”
She covered them fully, giggling again. I pulled out a small pink box and handed it to her. She opened her eyes, taking the wrapping off the box before lifting the lid and smiling happily, picking up the snow globe and smiling.
“Pretty!!” she said, shaking it aggressively like it owed her money.
“Yeah, you like it? Thanks, I picked it up in the Emerald City. I saw the little flower in it and I was like yeah, that’s Tally. Well, your mom and dad are probably waiting for you at home to start your party. Wanna hit the road?”
She nodded excitedly, running to grab her gown. I laughed slightly. She was definitely excited, she’d been talking about the party for weeks.
She skipped along beside me excitedly, happily humming bits and pieces of random songs she heard on her mother’s radio. We stopped by and said hello to a few of the citizens of Snowdrift on our way to the castle.
Now, let me explain. Snowdrift is the land just outside Oz. It used to be part of Oz, but once its leader, aka my friend Jane Gale, the Witch of the South, separated its government from Oz, it became its own small country that mostly consists of Animals, munchkins who fled Munchkinland under Nessa’s rule, or other various people that have been oppressed in some way. Glinda is currently fixing the laws of Oz and making the country safe to live in again, so there’s much less tension between the two kingdoms now, considering Jane and Glinda were best friends as children.
When the castle was in sight, Tallulah sprinted off, and I had to chase her all the way to the door. One of the guards let us both in, and we entered the castle to look around for either Jane or Charlie, Tallulah’s father. We found Jane on one of the balconies, staring out into the distance towards the west.
Towards Kiamo Ko.
“Mama!!” Tallulah said happily and she snapped out of her haze.
“Tally!” she said happily, running over to hug her daughter. “Happy birthday, sweetheart!! Okay, we got everything set up. I think you’ll really like it.”
She turned to me, and I nodded.
“Hello.”
“Hey, Boq. Thank you so much for watching Tally,” she smiled, hugging me.
“Anytime, I love that child,” I said, smiling at her when I pulled away. “You look lovely.”
“You don’t have to lie to me, Boq. I was up, like, all night, waiting on a letter that still hasn't come-”
“What letter?” I asked. She got a weird look, like she said something she shouldn’t. But then she just shrugged.
“Oh, just a letter from Glinda about Tally’s birthday. Anyway, how’s life been for you? What, with you being made of tin and all.”
“Great. Well, as great as a life made out of tin can be. My only recent complaint is that my leg rusted overnight so this morning I fell down the stairs.”
“...Of course you did,” she said, fighting back an amused smile.
“Yeah. I shouldn't have told you that, I’ll never live it down. Well, how’s life been for you? How’s the ice working?”
She paused at that, looking away. A long time ago, around the same time I got turned into the tin man, she got turned into ice by Elphaba. She doesn't like to talk about it. She’s never been able to bring herself to be angry at Elphaba, not even after everything. I probably shouldn’t have asked about it.
“Alright. Hard to get used to. When I said I wanted magic, I didn’t exactly mean like this, but I really don't mind all too much, I suppose. It definitely makes Snowdrift seem a lot less cold.”
“It seems difficult, though, running your own country.”
“Well, it’s not just me. Charlie does a lot of the political stuff. I’m honestly the glorified trophy wife, and I really couldn’t be happier. I always did hate politics. Ironic, isn’t it?”
“Very,” I said. “I remember you saying that at school, too. Speaking of Charlie, where’s he?”
“Oh, he’s right in there. Probably with Desmond.”
Tallulah excitedly held up the snow globe, showing it off to her mother. Jane looked at it before smiling.
“Awh, did Uncle Boq get that for you? That was so nice of him, it’s so pretty. Did you tell him thank you?”
She nodded and tried to hug me. I let her, but I didn't hug back too hard. I didn't want to crush her or anything. Then she ran off to find her dad.
“Seriously, thank you so much,” Jane said. “Really.”
“No, it’s fine. Thanks for trusting me with her.”
“She really likes you, y’know,” she said, smiling.
“Well, I’m glad,” I said.
“Are you staying for the party?” she asked, tilting her head slightly.
“Of course, how could I not?” I said.
“Glinda’s coming too,” she said. “Most everyone is.”
“Good, the kid deserves it,” I said. I hummed slightly, thinking. “It’ll be nice to see Glinda again.”
“Oh, how long has it been since you’ve spoken?”
“A month or two,” I said. “We haven’t been keeping in touch as much as we ought to be, not since I moved here.”
“Aw, that’s a shame. Are you liking Snowdrift? Be honest,” she said, seemingly scared of my answer.
“If I’m being honest? You worry far too much,” I said, nudging her. “Everyone loves it here.”
“But do you?”
“Yes.”
“Good, that’s good,” she said.
“It’s nice to not get weird looks,” I said. “Back in Munchkinland, people always did. Either because I’m made of tin or because of my… Nessa dilemma. But here, no one seems to care. So I’m automatically going to love it.”
“Well I think you’re nice. For a tin man.”
“I think you’re nice for a popsicle.”
She nudged me, and I laughed.
“Ice sculpture, thank you very much,” she said, fake offended.
“Same thing.”
“You are insufferable, Woodsman.”
“Thank you.”
Everyone knew when Glinda arrived because her excited squeals were unmistakable.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LULU!” Glinda said, running in and squeezing her in a hug. Tallulah’s giggles were muffled into Glinda’s pink, sparkly, exceptionally poofy dress. “Oh my goodness, how are you already six whole years old?! I brought you a few little things-”
Jane and Charlie shared a glance at Glinda’s enthusiasm, in which Jane smiled slightly apologetically and Charlie was trying not to start laughing. This is who you’re friends with?
“Glinda,” he said, nodding. Glinda looked up surprised, as if she hadn’t known they were even there.
“Oh, hello Jane and Charlie. Anyways!!” Glinda said, going back to the smaller girl in front of her. “I got you a couple little things, I hope you love them- Oh. My. Goodness. What is that adorable little snow globe??”
Tallulah pointed at me from across the room, and Glinda seemed to notice me for the first time. She was quiet for a second, until she turned back to Tallulah.
“Well, I am absolutely obsessulated. I love the pink. Come on, we gotta go do all the party things-!!”
More excited squeals could be heard as she dragged Tallulah away excitedly.
“I think she’s more excited than Tally is,” Charlie said, finding the girl’s antics very amusing.
“Glinda’s always excited,” Jane said. Almost as if on cue, we distantly heard Glinda loudly rambling about the flowers. “See what I mean?”
“Wait until she finds out about the bubbles.”
“Oh, Oz, I really don’t want to know how she’s going to react when she finds out about the bubbles.”
Fiyero’s POV
“Yero, be careful, you’re going to get us caught-!”
“Caught by who, Desmond? Fae, the man’s quiet as a mouse, he won’t say anything.”
“I will hex you.”
“Awh, not again.”
“Please just let me fly the broom, it’s my broom anyway-”
“Nooooo, I wanna try.”
“Fiyero Calix Tigelaar.”
“Elphaba Lyman Thropp.”
The familiar sound of Elphaba’s annoyed sigh accompanied the feel of her breath against my neck.
“If you crash, I swear on all of Oz, I’m figuring out something to turn you into that isn’t straw,” she said, clearly annoyed.
“Well, I was going to suggest ‘yours’, but I’m already yours, aren’t I?”
She smacked me on the back of the head and I practically cackled, not minding at all.
“Please just focus on flying the broom,” Elphaba said, clinging to me like she thought I was going to crash into a tree at any moment.
“You have no trust in me,” I said, feigned offense coating every syllable.
“I do, just not with this.”
“Wow, Fae. You wound me.”
I was honestly tempted to swerve just to get her to grab me tighter, but I didn’t want to give her a literal heart attack, so it remained an inside thought. I knew the way to Jane and Charlie’s like the back of my hand, so neither of us were worried about getting lost. Despite that, it would have been so much easier to just follow the red brick road, like quite literally everyone else in Oz did. However, me and my amazing lover were not like everyone else in Oz, because, you see, the government wants both of us dead personally. We managed to convince everyone that both me and Elphie are dead, and that ‘the Scarecrow’ (aka, literally just me) ran away or faded into the background or something. I’m honestly not quite sure what they said. It worked, though, because me and Elphie had managed to go about our lives for almost an entire year with no detection.
“Turn left,” Elphie piped up from behind me.
“I know which way to turn, babe, you’re forgetting that I come over here almost every dang week,” I said. “Just trust me.”
“Fine…”
“Thank you.”
The rest of the ride over was mostly calm, apart from the maybe one or two alleged near-collisions with a tree, which definitely didn’t happen and Elphie’s just paranoid. Anyway, we stopped at the familiar sight of Snowdrift’s castle, staying just inside the edge of the forest. Elphie didn’t blend in as well here, considering everything is covered in snow and therefore not green.
“How are we gonna get in?” I asked.
“Just use the front door, we have cloaks, Jane will let us in,” she said.
“Nah, I wanna fly to the window. I wanna see Tallulah first.”
“I don’t trust you to not to kill me if we’re up that high-”
“Okay, fine, I’ll drop you off. I want my dramatic entrance, Fae.”
“That… works.”
I did just that, dropping Elphie off and flying back up to the side of the castle. I’m getting that cool entrance one way or another.
I went up to look for the right window. Most of the sides on the castle look alike, so it was kinda hard to tell, but I thought one of them looked kinda like the window to Tallulah’s room, so I went ahead and went towards it. I was gonna stop and knock on the glass, but the window opened on its own, so I lost my balance and crashed onto the floor of the inside, still holding the broom.
“Wrong window, bud,” Charlie said, not even looking up from his desk.
“...Hi, Charlie…” I said, waving. “...Where’s your-”
“Tally’s down the hall with Glinda, I’ll go get her. Where’s Elphie?”
“The door, she didn’t trust my flying abilities. Even though I only almost crashed, I never crashed once, and I only almost did 4 times,” I said. He just scoffed in amusement.
“Oh, how dare she,” he said sarcastically. “How long are you two gonna be over?”
“We don’t wanna get caught and mess up the party, so… probably not too long. But c’mon, we gotta see her, y’know?” I said.
“She’s been asking for you,” he said. “At least, I think that’s what ‘crow’ means. So I have no doubt she’ll be happy you’re here. I’ll get Jane to distract Glinda and Boq real quick, no one else is here.”
And then he left.
I looked around the room, drawn to the photo on his desk. It was of most of the old friend group, but during Shiz days. I picked it up and examined it.
Nessa was still there, which was the first thing I noticed. Elphie still misses her like crazy, that’s for sure. I guess I do too. I wasn’t all that close with her, really, but every now and then I’ll see a pair of silver shoes in a store window, or something striped white and black, or even just a decorative wheel on something, and she’s stuck on my mind for the rest of the day. And once I start thinking about her, I start thinking about Dorothy…
No, not this again. We’re not doing this today.
The second thing I notice is that me, Boq, and Jane are still human in the picture. I haven’t seen Boq human in such a long time, I’d nearly forgotten that he ever was. The transformation was jarring to say the least. He looked so innocent, so much smaller and happier. It was almost like someone had sucked the soul out of him now. Jane still looks similar enough to her human form. Well, still shaped the same, unlike me and Boq, who were unrecognizable. She has the same face, the same way of moving, now more refined and graceful than during our Shiz days. The same smile. Just… made of ice, now, like an uncanny replica. But her eyes didn’t change, not even a little bit. Jane as she was now always reminded you of her human form, instead of being so different and separated. It was like the ghost of the girl she once was still haunted every room she walked into.
It haunts her too. I know it does.
The only thing I really noticed about mine were the tattoos. I missed those, but I’d lost them when I got turned to straw.
We all looked so happy. Maybe that’s why Charlie kept the picture up after all these years. Not one of us knew what was coming for us next.
I put the picture back down, not ready to face those memories today. Almost as if on cue, Charlie walked back in with Elphaba, who was holding Tallulah.
“Tally!!!” I said, smiling.
“Crow!!” she said, and Charlie nodded.
“I knew that was what ‘crow’ meant.”
“Happy birthday, kiddo!!” I said as Elphie put her down. She ran up and hugged my leg, so I leaned down and grabbed her in an actual hug. “How are you six already? It really doesn’t feel like you should be six. Like maybe two or something. Well, anyway, we got you something. Elphie do you-”
“Yes, I brought it, what do you think this hot pink bag is? I’m not Glinda,” she said, handing Tallulah the bag. She took it and dug through it excitedly, pulling out the patchwork stuffed animal.
“Monkey!!” she said happily as she looked at it.
“Yeah, it is a monkey! I made it,” I said. “Look, it has wings.”
“Chistery?”
“It- …It can be Chistery if you want it to be.” She just nodded, hugging it. “Chistery it is.”
“How did you know she’s been obsessed with patchwork stuff lately?” Charlie said. “Because she absolutely loves it, and it’s weird, I don’t know why.”
Before I could respond, she just pointed up at the patches on me, which had all come from various idiotic mistakes I had made.
“Match,” she said calmly.
“...AWHHH, that is the cutest thing I have ever SEEN. I love you so much, kid-” I said, before standing up and grabbing Elphie. “Look, she loves me-”
“Yeah, yeah, she loves me too, y’know,” Elphie said.
“Uh huh. I’m her favorite,” I said.
“Nuh uh. Tally, who’s your favorite?” she asked. I saw her smile evilly and then she proceeded to point at Elphie. Therefore, I made a very dramatic, very fake, offended face, which she greatly appreciated, and started dying laughing.
“WHAT.”
“Oh boy,” Charlie said, just watching the interaction as if it were a really good movie.
“How DARE you?” I said. “I thought you liked me! I feel so betrayed.”
“I told you,” Elphie said.
“Oh, ha ha,” I said, nudging her. “Everyone is so mean to me. Well okay, I’ll just go pout in the corner, because everyone hates me,” I said. Tallulah kept giggling, finding this to be the funniest thing in the world.
“Yeah, you do that,” Elphie said. “I wanna show Tallulah something cool anyway. Who wants to go on a broomstick ride?”
Tallulah proceeded to start jumping up and down excitedly.
“I do,” I said.
“No, you already did that earlier, and you scared the daylights out of me,” she said, picking up an ecstatic Tallulah. “Charlie, can I fly her around the castle?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Wh- you’ll take her and not me??” I said.
“Yeah, I like Tallulah,” she said. “See you guys later.”
“...Wow. Be careful I guess,” I said. Charlie just laughed as they flew off.
“Free my boy Fiyero.”
“Please do, everyone hates me.”
“Yep,” he said. He sighed, leaning against the desk. “It’s good seeing you, man.”
“I know, it’s been way too long. We have got to keep in touch.”
“Jane wrote you and Elphie a letter yesterday,” he said. “Why didn’t you write back?”
“What letter?” I asked, tilting my head a little.
“You didn’t get the letter?”
“No… actually, we were talking about how weird it was that Jane hadn’t written us yesterday,” I said.
“Oh. That’s weird. Maybe Nikko got distracted or something,” he said. “We haven’t seen him back yet.”
“Probably,” I said. “Pretty much all the flying monkeys do that a lot.”
“Yeah. Jane was still worried, but I said it was something like that,” he nodded.
“Jane worries about everything,” I said. He smiled a little bit to himself, knowing better than even I do just how accurate that was.
“She does indeed. That woman never has a moment’s peace. She worries about things I’ve never even thought of in my life.”
“I guess that’s why she’s such a good ruler, she’s so terrified to mess up that she ends up fixing even the things that don’t need fixing.”
“Maybe,” he agreed. “She didn’t used to be like that. Remember when she almost threw hands with a teacher?”
I almost immediately burst out laughing. Oh, I remembered very well.
“Oh Oz, poor Dr. Nikidik. She actually told me she was gonna jump him, I had to distract her by bribing her to hang out with me and Boq,” I said.
“She would have fought that man if it weren’t for everyone passing out immediately,” he said. “Well, everyone except you and Elphie.”
The memory of saving the lion cub with Elphie flashed vividly in my mind. Oz, where had those times gone?
“Yeah,” I said, acting like that wave of nostalgia didn’t almost knock me off my feet. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Yeah. We all do. I think that day was the start of… y’know, everything.”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding casually. “...So, how’s everything been going?”
“Hm? Oh, pretty well, I’d say. Tallulah’s talking a little bit more, I’d say that’s the only thing that’s new.”
“Yeah, I noticed that.”
“She can talk, that’s the crazy part. If she wants to, she will, she just… doesn’t,” he said.
“Socialization is overrated,” I shrugged.
“You sound like Boq,” he said, smiling a little bit. “He says that to her all the time.”
“Well, he’s right,” I said. “It really is.”
“Yeah.”
There was a bit of an awkward silence, which he broke with:
“Well, I’m gonna go watch Tally.”
“Okay, see you in a minute.”
“Yeah.”
He walked off, leaving me to sit and wait for Elphie.
And that’s exactly what I did. I found myself wondering about that letter. Why hadn’t Nikko delivered it? Where even is Nikko right now? Oh, well. Whenever I get home, he’ll probably have left it there. Or maybe he did get distracted. What else could have happened? Yeah. It’s probably fine.
Right?