Disclaimer: I do not own the book Wicked or any of its characters. If I did, Fiyero would have lived.
Horrors
Chapter 1: Terrors
Melena couldn't take it anymore. Her ferny green daughter was being cuddled and groomed by a huge, tiger-like creature. Even from where she was standing a few yards away, the woman could see the animal's fangs gleaming in the moonlight. "Frex!" she hissed, pulling on his sleeve to get his attention. "Do something!"
Her husband's eyes were wide and wary, as if he was waiting to see what the beast would do. Would it attack his child? Or was it benign? For some reason, the long, glowing fangs did not convince him that it was friendly.
"Frex!" she whispered again. When her husband did not respond for the second time, she turned to gaze pleadingly at their Quadling friend, Turtle Heart.
Turtle Heart, however, was approaching little Elphaba and the tiger already. Although his legs strode confidently towards the pair of unlikely companions, he held his head lower than his neck normally would in a cautious and reverent position. As he came closer, the tiger lifted its huge head from where it was grooming Elphaba's stringy black hair and looked at the man angrily, as if he wanted to tell the Quadling off for interrupting him. Turtle Heart paused for a moment, and then continued on towards them, never breaking eye contact with the Elphaba's new "friend". He was determined to rescue the weird, green child.
Melena gave a start, however, when the tiger gave a little roar at Turtle Heart's advance, and gripped Frex's upper arm with her small hand.
Before the fuming animal could stand, little Elphaba rose to her small feet, still gripping the looking glass that was given to her a few weeks before. She gave a slight grunt of effort as she tottered to Turtle Heart, and when she finally reached him, dropped the glass at his feet.
The Quadling looked down at her and asked, "Would you like me to carry this to the house for you?"
Elphaba eyes rolled a bit in her head and gave a scowl that would have most likely been translated to be a "duh".
Once the tiger took a step back, Frex dove to scoop up his child. As he did so, Elphaba twisted in his grip, so that she was facing her furred friend instead of the rough fabric of her father's shirt. The beast gave a little grunt, and she giggled.
"Horrors." She told it matter-of-factly. "Horrors, horrors, horrors." The green girl pointed at the glass in Turtle Heart's hands, as if trying to explain something about it to the tiger.
"Horrors indeed, little one." it rumbled before stalking off into the trees.
Even after it was out of sight, the three adults still stared after it, eyes wide open and mouths ajar.
Elphaba giggled at their expressions.
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The door gave a painful creak as Frex drove it open. The middle-aged man looked sopping wet and sported a dissatisfied expression on his strong face.
The moment the sound of the floorboards creaking at the entryway hit Melena's soft ears, she bolted out of her room, where she had been "occupied" with Turtle Heart. After straightening her hair a bit, she strolled over to the front door, where she saw her husband handing over a wooden horse to his daughter.
Elphaba snatched it from him with her little claw-like hands and broke all of its legs off, one by one. Once the toy was broken apart, she gave her father a pleased look and flashed her signature wicked little smile.
Leaving his daughter to play, he moved over to where Melena was standing. He was about to kiss her, but the scathing look she shot into his eyes made him think otherwise. He instead gave her a little pat on the shoulder. "How have you been, love?" asked Frex.
"How have I been?" Melena laughed. "You just disappear for two days and you ask me how I've BEEN?"
"Melena, I…"
"No, just shut up and listen. You said you'd be gone for a few hours! 'I need to find out more about that Tiger, and what it was doing here'" she mocked in a childish, sing-song voice. "Well, you'd better have found out ALL about the tiger, or Tiger. Whatever the hell it was." Melena was absolutely livid. The strands of hair she had hastily pulled back moments ago stuck up rebelliously, and her face was the same shade as a ripe tomato.
Turtle Heart had crept in unnoticed by the feuding spouses, and sank into a very old gray and blue chair.
Elphaba, still gripping her leg-less toy horse, slunk over to the orange-skinned man and sat down at his feet. She decided that Turtle Heart's undone shoelaces were more interesting that her busted plaything at the moment, and pushed the wooden toy away with one hand as the other began fiddling with ties.
"Well, why didn't YOU think of a better idea?"
"Because I was the one who dropped out of school and getting a proper education to get married to YOU!"
"Oh, you think you're SO CLEVER, don't you?"
"No, actually, I DON..."
"HORRORS!" Elphaba yelled. Her voice sounded as though she was the adult breaking up a fight between children.
Frex and Melena's eyes flicked to look at their daughter.
Elphaba gave a little snort of contempt at her parent's behavior, and then turned her attention back to Turtle Heart's shoes.
"Frex," Melena's voice quivered with the strain of not raising it into a high-pitched scream. "What…what if the Tiger came back? It could have broken in here, and hurt Elphaba, or Turtle Heart, or…" her voice broke, and she swallowed a lump in her throat before turning her tear-filled eyes up to her husband. "…or me?"
"The Tiger wouldn't have hurt you." He answered simply.
"Oh?" she questioned, her temper beginning to take over again. "And what, may I ask, makes you so sure of that?"
"Well, it didn't hurt Fabala." replied Frex, using the nickname he gave to his daughter.
"However," interjected Turtle Heart, speaking in his thick, Quadling accent, "it did take her and kept her under that jetty. I shall be surprised if the girl doesn't have night terrors about this for the next year."
Elphaba looked up at Turtle Heart excitedly. "Te." She began. "Terruh…terroh…terrors. Terrors!" she shrieked, looking tremendously proud of herself. "Terrors! Terrors! TERRORS!"
"Oh no." Melena groaned, and planted her head in her hands.
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Author's note: Sorry the first chapter's a bit short, but they'll get better. R&R please! But be nice, it's my first fic.