Chapter Text
Elphaba felt eyes on her when she walked back into her room, and she raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "What?"
"Nothing," Fiyero answered, resting back on his arm. "Just admiring the view."
That made her blush, and she walked back over to him. "You're incorrigible."
"And you're wearing too much," he smirked as she climbed back into bed. He pulled her close to him.
"I'm sorry I'm not as free-spirited as you are," she said with a cheeky smile and laughed when he tickled her. "No! Get off!" she squealed.
"Hmm, you weren't saying that five minutes ago."
She lightly swiped at his shoulder, rolling her eyes, and she kissed him. "I guess you'll just have to do it again, won't you?"
He grinned at that. "Gladly." He held her in the bed and once more showed her exactly how much he loved and desired her.
Later, Elphaba curled up beside him as he pulled her cardigan over her shoulders to keep out the slight chill in the air.
"You're not going to be safe here," he said after a long silence. He almost didn't want to break it, but he knew they had to address the elephant in the room.
"I'll be alright," she said softly.
He shook his head and held her closer. "No. You won't. We were so close to here last time. I'm not taking that risk with you again."
She looked up at him.
"I have somewhere. I've secretly been preparing it for a long time, every time I said I was needed back home. It's a castle on the Gillikin Forest border. Kiamo Ko hasn't been lived in for a long time."
"Then where do you live?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Well, the other castle," he shrugged.
"Oh. Of course." She giggled softly.
"My family know about you. Have done since Shiz."
"Really?"
He nodded. "That's kind of one of the reasons they weren't in the city... they didn't agree with... well, that."
"Oh." A shiver ran down her spine. Something was-
A flash of lightning cracked high above her as she stood in the eye of a storm. A... twister... A scream rang out-
She lurched forward with a gasp and a half-strangled sob. "N-no!"
"What is it?" He reached out for her and rubbed her arms.
She pulled herself away and leapt out of bed, scrambling around for her clothes.
"Elphaba, wait!" he jumped out and quickly threw on his trousers with effortless ease and ran to her, stopping her in the middle of the room. "What happened?"
"Nessa... she's in danger. I have to go to her." She was already pulling on her dress.
"What do you mean? Fae, talk to me." He brushed a loose braid behind her ear. "Breathe. Slow down. Good," he breathed with her until she was no longer on the verge of hyperventilating, and he helped her with the buttons. "What do you mean by in danger?"
"There was a house... and it was falling through the sky. Nessa was screaming...something, I don't know..."
When she finally looked up at him, he froze. He'd never seen her look so terrified, not even when he'd held his gun to her before he turned it on the Wizard. "Fae, what if this is a trap?"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Think about it. What's the one thing they would know to do to bring you out again?"
"I..." she paused, and for once, thought before she acted. "But who would...?"
"Maybe it's their last-ditch attempt to catch you."
She gasped again and fell forward as another vision crashed into her mind, holding on to Fiyero.
The storm cleared, and the morning sun shone on Munchkin Square. Cheering could be heard as the villagers swarmed the now broken house, each one trying to shake the hand of a scared little girl for finally dispatching the Wicked Witch of the East.
Fiyero held her as she screamed. In another room, he heard the smashing of glass and the roar of the fire pit, but he didn't let her go as he felt the waves of grief rolling over her. "It's okay. I've got you," he whispered. He lost track of how long he stood with her, but eventually, the tears did dry. Silently, he pulled her out of the bedroom and into the living area. He sat her down on the sofa and then made his way to her kitchen, returning moments later with a mug of sweet tea. "Here. Drink this," he kept his voice low.
She stared into the flames in the pit while he was busy, and blinked when the mug filled her vision. "Thank you..." Her voice was hoarse. Anger was beginning to take sorrow's place, but she forced herself to remain neutral. At least for now, while she drank. Her sister may have been a brat, may have truly been the more wicked of the two of them, but she didn't deserve that... No... she just knew Morrible had something to do with it... 'If I flew to the Emerald City and gutted that fish woman...' she thought, and gasped. That thought was... so unlike her...
"Fae?"
"I-it's n-nothing." she said quickly.
"Mind telling your face that?"
She could hear the smile in his voice and rolled her eyes again, smiling a little in return. "Shut up."
"Never." He walked over to the main wall where she kept everything. Every wanted poster, every ridiculous caricature. "You really shouldn't keep this stuff. None of it is true."
She looked over her shoulder and sighed. "It keeps me focused." It may have been true once upon a time. She couldn't say if it still rang true.
Fiyero raised an eyebrow at her. "If you expect me to believe that, I'm sure there's a footbridge I can sell you."
She laughed. It sounded wrong in her ears, but it was still a laugh. She drained the cup, put it down on the floor and walked over to him, curling her arms around his waist.
He held her close. "We will go to Munchkinland tomorrow. If it is a trap, we want to miss it."
"You still think so?"
He shrugged. "Yeah. Something in my gut is telling me not to go. Not yet."
"Okay." And yet... her instinct was telling her to leave straight away. Her sister was in danger, and she was standing in front of her own wanted posters with a man who, 24 hours earlier, seemed out of her reach. But she couldn't bring herself to leave his side. She had to admit, the tea worked wonders with her nerves. "How did you know the tea would work?"
He shrugged again. "Might've needed it once or twice myself over the years."
"What?" Her belly swooped uncomfortably. "Why?"
"Doesn't matter."
"Yes, it does. Don't invalidate yourself like that."
"I just knew I needed to find you. I knew they wouldn't rest until you were caught, and I couldn't let that happen. Every near miss was because I learned to notice where you were."
"The last time... you put yourself between them and me..." she realised. "I thought... I heard you say..."
He held her tighter. "I know. I'm sorry, but I had to do whatever it took to make sure they didn't see you. They just knew you were green and would have started shooting anywhere in those trees. At least with me in front of you, they would have at least missed. Unless they got me through the head," he sighed. "But I hated every second of it. Hated hearing them say all of these things about you. I got tired trying to pretend like you didn't matter. You were still, at that point, one of my closest friends."
She leaned her head on his shoulder. "You shouldn't have worried." 'Nobody else did...'
"Why not? I knew I loved you since I first saw you. I just didn't know it then. Probably figured it out when we took the cub. And I ran away like an idiot. I came to look for you when Morrible sent out that warning. It's how I got stuck with Glinda in the city."
She looked up at him.
"I did try to tell her. Several times I tried to tell her it was over, but... she wouldn't listen. And I didn't want to leave the city because it meant losing track of you. I had to find you before they did. Above anything else, you were a friend, anything that comes after that is... well, I'd be the luckiest man in Oz."
She smiled a little and stood on her toes to kiss him again. "I think I'm the lucky one..."
He smiled at her. "Then we both are." He looked up as the trees rustled high above them.
"So it begins..." she whispered, her heart constricting painfully in her chest. She was already too late to save her sister. Maybe she was already too late by the time her visions came to her.
"Can I burn those? You're really nothing like them, and not nearly as scary."
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I can be scary."
"Elphaba, the only thing mildly intimidating about you was that glare you gave me in the library," he smirked and patted her head. "Look at the small Munchkin."
"I swear to Oz I will hit you."
He laughed. "Again, not scary." He walked her backwards to the sofa, and he sat down; she lay on it with her head in his lap. Idly, she traced a pattern into the green fabric as he ran his hand through her hair.
They stayed until the storm passed. The high winds had whipped the canopy of trees into a frenzy, but the magic that had been woven into the hideout had kept most of the chill and the rain at bay. Eventually, Elphaba had fallen back to sleep, and Fiyero stayed awake. His mind wandered to his oldest friend. He hoped his running away hadn't meant they would take it out on Feldspur. I should go and get him... he thought. But how was he going to get to the city to get him?
A long while later, Elphaba woke up, and she slowly sat up. "Why didn't you wake me sooner?"
"You looked like you needed it," he smiled.
"But... you haven't sat there the whole time?"
"No. I burned all the stuff Morrible said about you, and I went to get dressed. You were that tired you didn't even realise I'd moved you."
She smiled a little and stood to stretch her cramped muscles. "I think I should go. It should be late enough that hopefully the guards will have gone, if it was a trap, that is..."
"I'll come with you."
"Why?"
"Because you don't know what you'll find. You're not facing that on your own." He stood up. "And then when you're done, we can head to Kiamo Ko."
She blinked, confused for a moment, and her brain was trying to catch up with what was happening. "But... what if I'm wrong? What if there is trouble?"
"I meant what I said, you're not on your own now. You never will be again." He slowly lifted his hand to caress her cheek.
"If something happened to you, too... Fiyero, I wouldn't handle it." She closed her eyes as he kissed her.
"We're going to be together. Always. You're not lifting this alone. You can see houses flying in the sky, but you can't see that?"
She smiled a little and nodded. "Fine... But if there are guards-"
"Then I'll be dragging you away, and we'll be away on that broom before they can get us."
She nodded again, and she left the hideout with him. Soon they were away on the broom and arriving into Munchkinland.
Glinda was thankful that the soldiers had given up waiting and had left earlier that morning. She knelt in front of the house, whispering apologies to Nessa's body.
"What a touching display of grief," Elphaba said sarcastically. She didn't need to look at Fiyero to know he rolled his eyes.
"You took your time." Glinda saw Fiyero walk past her, presumably he'd spotted Feldspur.
"How did you even know I'd be here?"
"Because you're still predictable, Elphaba Thropp." Glinda sighed heavily and slowly got to her feet.
"What happened?"
"A storm came... and for whatever reason... Nessa was out here. There was a little girl inside the house, and so I sent her down the yellow brick road."
Elphaba slowly walked forward, her eyes surprisingly dry, but her heart felt heavy with sorrow. "Wh-where are her shoes?"
Glinda swallowed the lump in her throat. "Uh... They just... magically appeared on the girl's feet."
Elphaba raised an eyebrow. "Magically appeared on her feet?" she repeated.
"Y-yes, well, when you say it like that it sounds absurd! But it did happen!"
"You're lying."
"I'm not!"
"Yes, you are. Your voice is getting so high, dogs will start barking soon."
Glinda's eyes widened, and she clamped her mouth shut.
"Now, can I please have a moment with my sister?"
She nodded and stepped away from the fallen wreckage. She turned her glare at Fiyero. "You've some nerve to show your face right now."
"D'you really think she should walk into a trap on her own?" He looked at her. "Glinda, I've been trying to tell you for years that something would happen. They got to you, they tried to get to me, and now they've killed her sister. Morrible won't stop until she's dead."
"So you'd sign your own death sentence too?"
"If it meant keeping her out of harm's way, yes. Why do you look so shocked? I've told you, been telling you since we were at Shiz. I don't care about the titles, or the privilege or anything else that comes with what I have. Out here, none of that means anything! I just let them believe it did."
Glinda paused and looked at him. Really looked at him. "You do love her."
His expression softened, and he nodded. "I never meant to-" He was cut off by a smack to his arm.
"You should have said something sooner!"
"I agree with that one," Elphaba called over, hiding a smirk. "Smack him again."
"How about we don't?" he leapt out of the way, unable to stop himself from laughing.
Glinda smiled a little, the tension easing as the three of them fell into familiar but new territory. "Elphie?" she held her hand out.
Elphaba walked to her and tentatively took it.
"Be careful out there? I think I know what to do now." She gripped her hand tightly.
Elphaba hugged her, and she didn't know which of them sobbed first.
"I'm so sorry, Elphie..." For more than she could say... She knew if Elphaba ever found out the truth, she would lose her forever.
"I..."
"Don't apologise for putting you first. Elphie, I was selfish. But I want to make good now. If you'll let me."
Elphaba nodded, unable to speak. Her gut was telling her something would go wrong... She looked over her friend's shoulder at Fiyero.
"We have to go. Just in case patrols come back." He said quietly.
"Go. Be safe, both of you." Glinda said.
"When you get back to the city, let Feld wander off. I've told him where to go."
Glinda nodded and watched them both run off into the field before taking off. This time, she watched the direction Elphaba fled until she couldn't see them anymore. She turned back to the house and gasped. She left the bag. She rushed to grab it before she headed back to the city with Feldspur.
"You left the book?" Fiyero asked.
"Yeah... That thing has caused nothing but hell. She might need it for what she's planning."
"You trust her? Still?"
"I know, I'm stupid-"
"Not stupid. You still see good in people," he held her tighter against him as they flew. "See that tower coming up in the distance?"
"Hmm?"
"We can head there tomorrow. It's gonna take Feld at least 2 days by himself."
She smiled and nodded as she flew to her hideout.