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There was something frightening about the words which had etched themselves into Galinda Uplands’s wrists on her fifteenth birthday. She had two sets- which was unusual enough, but they both had a striking finality to them. The words on her left were written a messy scrawl, the sapphire blue ink shining bright against her pale skin. ‘Glinda, I am so sorry.’ The writing made her smile- it seemed haphazard, and a little carless, like her soulmate wasn’t someone who spent a lot of time with his head in books. The colour was bright and bold, and made her think of clear skies and happy days- there was nothing in the form of them which she disliked, but- they were so final.
Of course. They were supposed to be final, she supposed. The final words her soulmate- one of her soulmates- would ever say to her, but they left her constantly wondering. What had they done which they’d need to apologise? Did they know that this was the last time they’d see her? Is that why they were apologising? Or was it something innocent, something mundane they were apologising for?
And then there was the other mark. That one was written in green ink, so dark it was almost black. The writing was tiny, and looked a little smudged. Glinda had always assumed that this soulmate must be left handed, that was all she could think of to explain it. It was simpler than the other, a single word in tiny lettering with no capitalisation or punctuation to speak of- mundane enough that it could be easily missed- and yet it scared her even more. It simply said ‘hide’.
She didn’t know what they’d be hiding from- thieves on the road? Or a home invasion? Maybe an animal attack? Or- well, the possibilities were endless. Still, the way it was written. It felt calm. Final. It seemed to her at least, that she was destined to lose two soulmates in unnatural circumstances, and that in both cases, her partners would have resigned themselves to death.
While most teenagers got excited on their fifteenth birthday to get the first clue about their soulmates, Elphaba Thropp never really expected to have one. Her father had always told her not to get her hopes up- who in their right mind would want her, anyway? She woke up on her fifteenth birthday, and at first she thought he’d been right. It wasn’t until she was getting dressed she caught a glimpse of them, two lines of obnoxiously bright text scrawled over her ribs. The writing of one was messy, and blue, and stood out starkly from the sea of green around it. For a moment, her heart had leapt, until she actually moved up to her mirror and read them.
“Go! Now!”. A faint, sick feeling settled in the pit of her stomach as she traced an uncertain finger over the words. She should have known whoever it was would be ordering her away. It seemed a cruel trick to give her a soulmate who wouldn’t want to be around her- but. When had life ever really been fair.
The second set were just below them, large, looping letters in a bright, bubblegum pink. “What was that?” They were more confusing. There was a chance that her soulmate was talking about her- it wouldn’t be the first time that people had spoken about her like she was something less than human- but. It could be something else. Some threat which Elphaba apparently wouldn’t face in time. The thought of having someone who actually loved her and losing them because she couldn’t act fast enough to save them was somehow even scarier than the thought of never truly being loved at all.
Elphaba pulled a dress on quickly after discovering the words, and went about the rest of her day as though they’d not appeared, letting her family think that she was just as unlovable as she’d thought, and dreading the day she might actually hear them.
Fiyero Tigelaar was the first person in six generations of his family to have two soulmates, though he didn’t discover them at the same time. The green lettering was obvious, curling along the side of his thumb in tiny, smudged cursive lettering. “No. Not without you.” They weren’t quite what he was expecting, and, if he was being honest, there was something about them which filled him with dread. They made it pretty plain- at least in his eyes- that he’d be dying before his soulmate. Whoever they were, their words made it seem as though they knew he’d be leaving them. At first, in his adolescent mind, the prospect was terrifying, but, at least if his partner was saying that, whatever had happened to him wasn’t sudden. It seemed to mean he had the time for goodbyes.
It wasn’t until hours later that his mother spotted the looping pink writing on his shoulder blades. “Don’t hurt him! Please don’t hurt him! No! Fiyero!” His mother had cried after reading it. She refused to tell him what it had said- but, after a few minutes fooling around with mirrors he managed to get a good enough look at it to read it. Luckily for him the writing stood out against his dark skin, making it easier to read. He almost wished he hadn’t. His whole life, Fiyero knew he’d die a violent death, and- presumably, his soulmates would have to watch. It was hard to care about much at all knowing that.
Elphaba had spent her entire life trying to ignore the words printed across her ribs. She rarely let anybody see them, and most people just assumed that like her sister, she didn’t have a soulmate. Glinda caught sight of them once when she was changing, but she wouldn’t talk about them. They were nothing- just. Proof that she was unlovable, just like her father had always said. Even her soulmate would send her alone.
Even once she had proof that somebody could care about her, pretending those marks on her skin didn’t exist was second nature. She spent so long ignoring them, that when Fiyero stepped in to save her, she’d almost forgotten what it meant. She was standing, surrounded by guards, his gun the only thing keeping them from dragging her away, when she heard them spoken again, and felt heart shatter on the spot.
“Elphaba, go, now.” His words were firm, but she wasn’t about to leave him here alone. They’d kill him.
“No. Not without you.” She bit back, brandishing her broomstick at the guards. The cowards flinched away as though it was any match for their guns.
“Fiyero please!” Glinda’s exclamation drew Elphaba’s attention, and meant that she wasn’t even looking at him when he said two words that broke her heart.
“Go! Now!” The words rang out from behind her, and a feeling like a knife being driven into her ribs took hold right over the site of his words. She wouldn’t find out until later that they’d turned inky black against her skin. She opened her mouth to speak again, but- it was already too late. Fiyero’s fate was sealed and there was nothing she could do to save him now.
She shot him one last look, and then took Glinda’s advice, running off through the corn field, past Nessa’s body, and towards safety.
“No. Not without you.” Elphaba’s voice hit him harder than he’d thought they would. He’d known, she was his soulmate, or- one of them. That green ink which had stained his hand for so long had been a real giveaway. There was a stabbing pain in his hand, and from its position on the gun he could actually see the words turn from emerald to black. It wasn’t what he’d hoped when he’d first seen them appear- there were no tearful goodbyes. But. He’d died saving her. That was enough.
“Go! Now!” He watched realisation cross her face when he spoke, and nodded once at her, watching as she ran off towards safety. It didn’t matter what happened to him now, not if she was safe.
Glinda took a step closer to the gun, and suddenly his hands were shaking. He looked her in the eyes, his own pleading. He’d never wanted to hurt her. Fiyero dropped his gun, and the guards were on him in a moment. He met Glinda’s eyes again, and a sudden wave of realisation hit him. He already knew what she was going to say when they took him away.
“What are you doing? Stop! In the name of goodness, stop! Don’t you see? He was never going to harm me. He just. He loves her.”
Glinda was kneeling in front of him now, taking his hand, and he felt guilt wash over him even worse than it had when he’d had a gun pointed at her, because he knew, deep down, that she knew he wasn’t capable of hurting her. Not physically, at least- but. He’d broken her heart. And, that was something he couldn’t forgive himself for.
“I’m so sorry, Glinda.” He murmured, meeting her eyes, and from the way her fingers curled around her left wrist, he knew that she’d felt it. He tried to pour as much emotion into those last words as he could, trying to let her know that he really did love her- he just couldn’t live with himself being under the Wizard’s thumb any more.
He was dragged to his feet, being carried off by guards, when her words rang after him from where she was being restrained by yet more soldiers, causing the tattoo across his back to burn like fire.
“Don’t hurt him! Please don’t hurt him! No! Fiyero!”
“I’m so sorry Glinda.” Those words had been ringing through Glinda’s mind for days. Fiyero was gone. He’d been her soulmate all along, and now he was gone, and she had those damned blackened letters wrapped around her wrist to prove it. She’d watched Elphaba run, but- she had a suspicion about where she was. She had to go to her- to warn her, before- Before she had to lose someone else she cared about. Of course, when she got there, Elphaba had had other plans.
Surrender. Elphaba was willing to die to bring peace, and as much as Glinda desperately wanted to try- well. She knew her best friend better than she’d ever known anyone, and if Elphaba thought that this was the only way to end it, it was the only way it would end. They got a few minutes to say their goodbyes, and for the first time Glinda got to really hold her soulmate, knowing who she was. Her arms wrapped tightly around the taller woman, and just as she was sure that she’d never let go, she heard a banging sound coming from the stairs.
“What was that?” She asked, pulling away to look, but- there was something in the way Elphaba’s breath hitched that let her know how important the words she’d just said were. She looked over at her, and sure enough, there were tears in Elphaba’s eyes, though she was clearly fighting them.
“Quickly. Nobody can know you’re here. Hide yourself.” She instructed, guiding Glinda over into an alcove of the room, behind a musty old tapestry. When Glinda took a step towards her, she shook her head. “Hide.” She murmured, soft and breathless, eyes fixing on Glinda’s icy blue ones. The tattoo on Glinda’s right wrist began to burn, and blacken, and her pale fingers curled around it as she bit back tears. Elphaba blew her a kiss, and let the tapestry fall, blocking them from one another’s view.
Just minutes later, Elphaba found herself crouching in a crawl space under a trap door, listening to Glinda weeping above her. Her fingers pressed against the blackened tattoos across her ribs which she’d been thought for so long meant she was unworthy of love, and she finally let tears fall.