Chapter Text
Elphaba was very drunk when she felt it happening. At first, she thought the fuzzy feeling was just the effects of alcohol, then she realized she was regressing.
It could not happen.
Not here. Not now.
They were at the Ozdust, surrounded by their friends and peers.
It was a thing Elphaba did when her emotions were too big, no matter if she was happy, or sad, or angry. It all linked back to the way she was treated during her childhood. Her father was awful and abusive, causing Elphaba to never learn how to properly regulate her emotions. Now, at nineteen, it was impossible to feel anything without feeling little again. That's when she learned about age regression and recognized her symptoms. Naturally, Galinda became her caregiver.
Galinda was walking back from the bathroom when she recognized the look on Elphaba's face.
"Hi, sweetie. Are you feeling okay?"
Elphaba's lower lip jutted out slightly, as she shook her head. No, she was not feeling okay.
"Would you like to go outside? It's quieter."
Elphaba nodded slightly, letting Galinda take her hand and lead her away.
Once they were out, Galinda lead them to a bench so people couldn't see them.
"Are you feeling little?"
Elphaba nodded once more, bringing her hand up to her mouth to suckle and chew on. Galinda automatically removed it, reaching into her bag for Elphaba's dark purple pacifier. She took it everywhere with them, just in case.
"Mama," Elphaba whispered around it, suddenly becoming clingy.
Galinda happily let Elphaba lean against her side, brushing her fingers through her dark braids. "I'm here, little one—Can you explain what you're feeling right now, Elphie?"
"M'head and tummy hurts."
"How about we go home and we can cuddle?"
"Okay," came a little voice, muffled by her pacifier.
Elphaba was a little unsteady on her feet, so Galinda made sure to have an arm wrapped firmly around her as they wandered to their dorm.
When they arrived back, Galinda helped Elphaba out of her dress and into a diaper and pink, fluffy onesie. It was her favorite when she was little.
"There, all done." She said, carrying Elphaba over to her own bed. Even when Elphaba was aged up, they cuddled in Galinda's bed.
"Ma, baba?"
"Of course, honey." Galinda said, walking over to the small station of little supplies and beginning to make a warm bottle of milk.
She walked back towards the bed and scooped Elphaba up, adjusting so her head was tipped back against the crook of her arm, to start feeding her.
Elphaba's eyes instantly drooped, a soft sigh escaping her.
"Go to sleep, love. I've got you."
And, with the safety of her Mama, Elphaba let herself drift to sleep.
The girl woke up some hour later, the sky casting grey hues across all of Oz meaning it was still very early, and she was still in her floaty headspace, but something was off.
She pushed herself up to sitting.
Then—
She threw up.
She all but burst into tears, whimpering and wailing at the gross taste in her mouth.
Galinda sat up instantly, turning the lamp on and climbing out of bed.
“Hey—Hey, it’s all right.”
Galinda placed a trash can in Elphaba’s lap, rubbing her back as Elphaba continued to vomit up all the alcohol she consumed earlier.
“Mama—“ She whined, hiccuping on her cries.
“Everything is okay, Mama’s right next to you. Are you feeling icky?”
Elphaba nodded, lurching forward once more.
After she finished, Galinda gave it a longer minute to make sure Elphaba wasn’t going to vomit again, before saying, “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Galinda carried Elphaba on her hip, over to their en-suite bathroom.
She drew a small bath, enough water to rinse Elphaba off in.
Then, she set Elphaba down on the counter, unzipping the onesie and taking it over to the dirty laundry basket.
“Right, little one.” Galinda said under her breath, carefully slipping Elphaba into the tub. “There you go,” Galinda soaked a wash cloth with warm water, bringing it up to Elphaba’s mouth and chest to wipe any remains away.
Elphaba babbled away, keeping herself entertained as Galinda cleaned her. She kicked her legs and lightly splashed the water around, smiling and trying to form full sentences, which in the end was just strings of sounds.
Once the water started getting cold, Elphaba began whimpering again, signaling she wanted to get out.
Galinda bundled her in a towel, drying her off and pressing kisses all over her green skin, making Elphaba squeal and giggle, her limbs uncontrolled and flailing.
She once again placed her baby on the counter, helping to brush Elphaba's teeth and rinse her mouth out with water, so the girl didn't have a nasty taste in her mouth when she woke up. And, she knew Elphaba would be very grateful for that when she was aged up again.
When they finally finished in the bathroom, Galinda lay her down on the floor to swaddle her, the pressure and containment of her limbs making Elphaba’s instantly feel better, causing her to relax into asleep.
Galinda made quick work of changing the bedsheets, cleaning up and spritzing down the room with her signature strawberry and vanilla air freshening spray. She even cracked a window open, just to try and get rid of the smell before the sun rose.
She carefully scooped Elphaba back up, ensuring the girl didn’t wake, before settling them both back into bed, curling together.
Telling their group of friends was way out of Elphaba's comfort zone.
She didn't want anyone else to know. Not that she was embarrassed—although she was a bit—she just enjoyed having that secret with Galinda.
Something that was theirs.
She was already feeling little by the time they reached their friends in the quad. They were stretched out across the grass, eating lunch.
Galinda sat down first, letting Elphaba choose where she wanted to be, and the girl sat directly next to her, pressed together.
"Ma—Galinda, I change my mind."
Galinda softened at the slip up, bringing a hand up to cup Elphaba's cheek. "You don't want them to know?"
"No... I mean, I do, but—I don't know!" Elphaba basically whined, her face falling as she came close to tears. She was too small to make such a big decision like this.
"Come here," Galinda whispered, pulling Elphaba's head down to rest against her thigh. "Breathe."
Galinda glided her hand through Elphaba's braids, scratching at her scalp. She knew the repetition was soothing for her. Not long after, Elphaba let her eyes slide shut, she didn't mean to fall asleep, but she knew Galinda was safe, so she didn't fight it.
And, when the timing was right, Galinda got the attention of the group.
Six sets of eyes turned to face her—Crope, Tibbett, Fiyero, Boq, Nessa, and Milla.
"So... Uhm," Galinda suddenly was at a loss for words. How was she supposed to word this?
"Basically—Elphie does this thing, when her emotions get too much for her, well, she sort of thinks she's a kid, it's called age regression."
Crope, Tibbett, and Milla perked up, they had read about this in a newspaper not too long ago.
Boq was in his own little world, of course.
Fiyero was slightly confused, but very intrigued.
And, that only left Nessa.
Well, it was safe to say, Nessa did not get it. She thought they were joking at first. Then, she got mad. Galinda had explained it some more, missing out the key detail that it was all Frexspar's fault, but Nessa would not accept it.
"She's an adult."
"Physically, yes. But, when she gets overwhelmed with emotion, her headspace makes her act and feel like a child. Sometimes she regresses all the way down to a baby, sometimes she's a toddler. It depends on the situation, really."
Crope chimed in then, "Oh! Please let us babysit her some time!"
"I mean, I can definitely talk to her about that and see if she wants to." Galinda compromised, not sure if that was something Elphaba would be comfortable with.
Elphaba stirred then, the sleep had made her regress further, into a baby.
She reached out, knowing Galinda would hold her hand.
"Hey, sweetpea. Are we done napping?"
Elphaba tried to sit up, and almost toppled over. Galinda instantly caught her and brought her to sit in her lap.
"You're feeling extra little right now, huh?" She wasn't expecting a reply, she knew Elphaba couldn't verbalize her thoughts, but her voice helped Elphaba know that she was still there, so she mindlessly spoke.
Nessa watched with narrowed eyes and a scowl. "This is ridiculous," she mumbled.
Fiyero turned to her, frowning. "I think it's sweet. She isn't hurting anyone, and clearly Galinda wants to take care of her."
Nessa scoffed, crossing her arms.
Milla leaned over, blunt as ever. "Maybe, if her family accepted her, she wouldn't have this condition. Have you ever thought about that?"
Nessa gasped, extremely offended. She did think about it though, and it made sense. Of course her childhood would have triggered this condition, even if it was a bit... Odd.
It took Nessa a while to accept her after that. She just thought something was off about the whole situation. But, when she realized that, actually, it was just a trauma response, she felt more open to the idea.
After being told, the rest of the group did just continue on like usual. Everyone also carried extra snacks in their school bags, just in case Elphaba needed one. They learned her signs of when she was going to regress and often just got Galinda to help.
But, there was the random few times where the group dealt with the little themselves, and honestly, they didn't know how Galinda cared for her so much. It was hard, especially when Elphaba's caregiver wasn't around. It just made her cranky and moody, crying until Galinda was back. But, the group still pushed through, helping out where they could.
The next time Elphaba regressed, the whole group was present, and they were studying in the library. Well, Elphaba was studying, everyone else seemed to just be chatting.
Elphaba was overtired and overstressed.
She brought her fists up to her eyes, rubbing harshly, a small whine escaping her.
Galinda noticed first, because of course she did. That was her little, after all.
She slowly ended her conversation with Nessa, turning towards Elphaba.
"Hi, little one."
Elphaba moved her hands away, her screwed up face falling for a moment, mesmerized by Galinda's gentle smile.
"You're overworking yourself, Elphie. Come here." Galinda opened her arms wide for Elphaba.
The green girl chewed on her bottom lip, glancing towards their friends.
"It's okay, they know. Remember, I told them?"
Oh—Elphaba had forgotten that the group knew about her regression.
Happily, she climbed into Galinda's lap, cheek smashed against her shoulder.
Everyone turned, a collective, "Awh," before returning to their conversations.
"See, I told you. They aren't going to judge you," Galinda reassured, her hand continuously rubbing Elphaba's back.
"Mama, I ti'ed."
"I know, you can take a nap here. I'll protect you."
"Okay, I sleep now."
Galinda chuckled, shifting so Elphaba could curl up fully in her lap.
They stayed like that for an hour, before Fiyero offered to help carry Elphaba back to the dorm.
Galinda was fully capable of carrying Elphaba home herself, she was an inch taller, after all. But, her arms were already numb from the position Elphaba was sleeping at, so she accepted the help begrudgingly.
The moment Elphaba couldn't feel Galinda close anymore, she woke up, bursting into tears and seeming to regress further without her caregiver.
Galinda immediately stepped back towards them, brushing Elphaba's hair away from her face and kissing her forehead.
"I'm still here, Elphie. Fifi is going to carry you back up, but I'll be right next to you the whole way."
"Mama?" Elphaba reached out a hand blindly, her eyes fluttering shut once more.
Galinda smiled, her heart warming. She loved being needed, particularly by Elphaba. It validated her a lot of the time, helping her feel like people actually wanted her around, instead of just using her for her popularity again. After becoming friends with Elphaba, she realized all her friends truthfully despised her, they just wanted popularity, so she joined Elphaba's friend group, who loved and accepted her as one of their own.
Galinda stepped even closer, linking her fingers through Elphaba's and pressing a kiss to green knuckles. "I'm not going anywhere."
The walk back up was awkward, but they made it work. Fiyero carrying Elphaba, bundled up in her arms, while Galinda managed to hold her baby's hand the whole way up.
Elphaba didn’t feel the need to let herself regress for a while after that. There was no big events, nothing which caused her to have big emotions. Galinda helped to regulate herself when she couldn’t regress, such as when they had a presentation in history class.
But, besides that, it had been weeks, months even.
Elphaba had just confronted the Wizard.
Everything was going too fast, the palace was too big, she was feeling too much.
The second after she casted that spell on the broom, she broke.
Tears flowing freely, wails which shattered Galinda’s—Glinda’s heart.
“Mama, come!”
Glinda let herself cry too. She knew she couldn’t go. She couldn’t just leave everything behind.
“Elphaba, please. You can’t go out there on your own. You’re so little and you need me—“
“Come wif me, Mama!”
“Let’s just talk to the Wizard. We can fix things and maybe we can live here after we graduate Shiz.”
Elphaba shook her head frantically, “I go out there," she pointed a finger towards the Western Sky.
And that was it.
Elphaba had made her mind up.
Little or not, she had to leave, and she had to leave now.
“Elphie, you’re trembling.”
Glinda looked around for a long while, before finding a large piece of fabric and walking back over to Elphaba. “This should keep you warm,” she muttered, tying it into a bow around Elphaba’s neck.
Glinda surged forward, pulling Elphaba into a bone-crushing hug.
“Please be careful. Here, take this with you.” Glinda slipped Elphaba’s purple pacifier into the girl’s pocket, keeping it safe and secure. “My sweet baby.”
“Mama, we go home later?”
Glinda pursed her lips, tears making her vision blurry. “Yeah, we’ll go home soon,” she lied, not wanting to make Elphaba any more upset.
“Okay, hurry. Off you go now. I’ll see you in a little while—keep yourself safe, stay hidden.”
Elphaba jumped through the window, broom in hand and cape whooshing behind her.
A moment after, she popped back up, proudly flying.
“Mama, I doin’ it!”
“I’m so proud of you. You’re so brave up there all by yourself, my darling Elphie.”
“Bye bye, Mama. I go flyin’.”
“Goodbye, my sweet, little one.”
And, she was gone.
That was it.
She’d lost her baby in the blink of an eye.
Glinda fell to the ground as she sobbed and shrieked and cried until her body ran out of tears.
Why hadn’t she gone with her?
It’d be so much easier to have just left.
If only she had just gotten on that damned broomstick.
After some time flying, Elphaba touched down in a random part of the forest.
She forced herself to be aged up, not caring about the oncoming headache it caused by trying to hard to be big.
She knew she couldn't be little and be all alone out here, she'd be terrified and screaming for Mama to find her.
She walked for a while, using her magic to make somewhat of a den, a hideout if you will.
It wasn’t much, but it’d do for now. Glinda had told her to stay hidden, and she’d never disobey her Mama, so that’s what she did.
She kept herself locked away for weeks.
Elphaba just wanted to go home. Not a place, but Glinda’s arms.
The girl knew Glinda would come and find her eventually. She had to, she couldn’t leave her little all alone for a long time, could she?
And, even after two months, Elphaba kept telling herself that Mama was coming. Especially when she was little, and only had her pacifier for comfort, she’d still say out loud, “Mama’s coming soon.”