breakmychest | VIII - voice - locked to Elphaba;

Spike smiled briefly. "Yeah, sometimes I'm not sure what they were thinking either. But that was then. I met a girl, you see, who changed all that. Made me want to be a better man." He looked at Elphaba seriously. "The reason I'm a warden and not an inmate is that I've already been through my redemption. I've been through hell, literally, and I've given my life to save the world, and I'd do it again." Not that many people get more than one life to give. Spike was lucky. Sort of. "But I thought you should know who you're dealing with."

She gave an amused smirk at the comment about the girl. "How romantic. I've done my own good deeds, however. I gave my life to protect the Grimmerie from the Wizard's hands, and he would have abused its power, and I made him my enemy in the first place because I opposed his policies of degrading the Animals and driving them back into the wild."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "I thought Dorothy killed you. Was she trying to get the Grimmerie too?"

"Presumably so. The Wizard sent her, and he knew I had it. I can only assume she was given instructions to take it."

"Ever heard the saying, 'to assume makes an ass of you and me?'"

She grunted in irritation. "My assumption that she came to kill me proved accurate enough."

"She was a little girl, and I doubt she knew that water would melt you. It's not really a common weakness, and anyway, weren't you on fire?"

"I was...I don't want to talk about this." There wasn't much point now in thinking of what Dorothy's motives may have been. She won and that was that. Elphaba deserved to be allowed her bitterness.

Which probably means they should discuss it, but Spike was willing to wait. This was just the first time they were talking. "Suit yourself. What about... what did you say her name was? Horrible something?"

"Madame Morrible, an agent of the Wizard's. She worked very hard to revoke the rights of Animals that they had built up over the years, and even had Doctor Dillamond's throat slit when he was researching the difference between animals, Animals, and humans."

"Right. And what is the difference, again?"

"An animal is a simple creature that can't speak and can't think on a higher level. An Animal is a creature who can speak and has higher brain functions. A human is a creature who can speak, though the higher brain functions are debatable." The last part was a joke, despite her deadpan tone.

"So, uh, basically this Morrible bird was opposed to talking animals?" He couldn't hear the difference between animal and Animal, but he figured there was one from her point of view.

"Correct. She had her tiktok man, Grommetik, slit one of my professor's throat over the matter."

"Oh, bugger." Spike rolled his eyes, tilting his head back. "Bloody figures." He looked back up at her. "It's all politics, innit? Might be a bloody children's book in my world, but where you're from, it's all racism and horror and people killing each other over differences in belief. At least I knew killing who I killed wouldn't change anything."

"That pretty much sums it up."

"Brilliant. That mucks everything up, doesn't it? Morrible sounds bad, killing someone who opposes her, but then again, you did that too."

"I killed a killer. She killed an innocent Goat. I was right. She was wrong. It was very different."

Spike shrugged. "She's still a person. Maybe not innocent, but it's still a life, and you ended it."

"A life that's sole purpose was to bring pain and misery to Oz. I don't regret it."

Spike shook his head. "Things are never that simple, love. It'd be nice if they were, but that's the thing about humans. They're complicated. And they change all the bloody time."

"There was no changing her. She was a monster."

"A monster," Spike repeated. Then his features shifted. His eyes turned yellow and his forehead wrinkled while his teeth came out into fangs. "Like me, you mean?"

She gritted her teeth and bit back her startled reaction. "No. Not like you. Or maybe like you, I don't know, but you know I'd hardly be the type to call someone a monster based on physical conditions."

Spike shrugged. "It's what I am. And a few years back there are those who'd have said I couldn't change. Hell, I might have said it. And yet." He spread his arms and let his features melt back to human. "Here I am."

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