Broken: The Second Book of the A Tale of Two Sisters Series

We Are Both

"This, gentlemen, is our mission," Leroy said as he and the other dwarves stood at Storybrooke's border. He spray-painted an orange line right at the town limit. "The great barrier of our existence. Does it remain? We must investigate the line. I made straws. Short one crosses. Draw."

He turned to Happy first who drew one, "With the curse broken, we can cross, right? Should be no problem? Yeah?"

Leroy continued to Sleepy, "With magic back, it could be even worse now."

"Like, vaporize us," Doc said as Leroy gave him a straw.

"Let's go home," Bashful said.

"Guys!" Leroy yelled. "We are The Royal Guard! Dwarves, loyal to Snow White! This is our chance to prove ourselves to the prince. We must do this." Sneezy and Dopey drew their sticks. "Show your hands."

The dwarves all held out their hands, showing their straws. Sneezy sneezed as Leroy saw his straw.

"You're up, Snotty," Leroy said.

He patted Sneezy on the shoulder before pushing him up towards the line.

"You know, what if we found a turtle and sort of nudged it over, first?" Sneezy suggested.

"Oh, for the love of . . ."

He pushed the dwarf over. The dwarf froze in place and vibrated as blue magic took over him.

"Sneezy, you okay?" Leroy asked, but he didn't get a response. "Sneezy!"

*  *  *  *  *

Storybrooke was a mess from not only the wraith attack, but the curse breaking. People could not find their loved ones, and everyone was furious with the mayor. Everyone had gathered outside of Town Hall to get things figured out. Reagan was running all over creation, trying to be helpful.

"If you're looking for a family member, come to the front table!" she said as she walked through the crowd. "If you need counseling, Dr. Hopper has a signup sheet. If the wraith damaged your home, there are cots at the school."

Mother Superior approached the girl holding blankets with a sigh, "This is getting out of hand. People are in a panic. They don't know what to do."

"It's okay. It'll be fine," Reagan said with a smile as she took the blankets from the fairy. "We just need everyone to remain calm. I have a feeling our prince is working on something right now."

Across the lawn, Serenity was standing by herself, looking at the chaos that surrounded her, feeling responsible for it. Maybe if she never agreed to help her mother, none of this would have happened and everyone would be happy.

"Sweet Oz, I thought you were dead."

Serenity turned her head and gasped at who she saw. It was her girlfriend, but she no longer looked the same. Her pale ivory skin had become a light emerald green which made her ice blue eyes stand out more than they did before.

"Elphaba?" Serenity said, looking at her. Her girlfriend looked down, scared of what she might say. "You're emerald."

"Surprise," Elphaba said with a nervous laugh.

"I . . . For a moment I thought the stories got it wrong about The Wicked Witch of the West."

"Well, since there was no magic here, my skin was normal."

"What do you mean by 'normal'?"

"You know what I mean."

"I don't care that you're emerald," Serenity said with a small smile. "Hell, I wouldn't care if you were blue, or red, or whatever. You're Elphaba, my best friend and girlfriend. In all honesty, I think you look even more beautiful with emerald skin."