The dusty moonlight just about managed to trickle through the dark, leafy canopy of the trees above, as Fiyero and Elphaba, hand in hand, he holding a lantern and she holding a broom, made their way through the dense undergrowth of the wood. The light that the lantern gave was no more than a timid, wavering circle of a pale glow in the heavy darkness, and Elphaba – who had never been particularly keen on the dark – found herself moving closer in to Fiyero, who responded by wrapping his spare arm around her hunched shoulders. She felt safe, and most of all: wanted.

The weak glow from the lantern gave light to a clearing. Twisting, rope-like vines unfurled from the boughs above, and the couple came to a gradual stop below. The shimmering haze cast around that place, caused by the diamond stars in the night sky, and the mist hovering above the ground, made the clearing mysteriously magical.

Fiyero placed the lantern down on the floor, where it sat precariously on the bed of twigs and leaves, and then straightened up to his full height – at least a foot taller than Elphaba was – stood to face her and, with both of his hands, held her face gently, looked deep into her brown glinting eyes – which he observed had flecks of blue and green in them, such magical eyes – and smiled. It wasn't just a smile which flickered at the corners of the mouth and didn't even so much as begin to venture up to reach the eyes, but a smile that one might find on the face of a man who was truly, deeply in love. For Fiyero was truly, deeply in love, with Elphaba, this green goddess of a girl, whose ethereal beauty enchanted him.

Elphaba managed a wry smile back. Truth be told, she had never, ever had this kind of experience, and she wasn't quite sure what to do. She let her broom drop to the ground, and her pointed hat – which she had also been holding – fell on top of it.

She felt his hands slide down her arms to grasp her shaking hands and shivered. She looked at their entwined fingers in wonder, not quite believing what she was seeing. In fact, she had felt as if she was in something of a dream-like state ever since Fiyero had said those words back at the Wizard's palace,

"I'm going with her,"

Then she remembered Glinda. The memory of her tear-stained face, torn apart with heartbreak and betrayal, her trembling hand pointing at them both in accusation, seared through Elphaba's mind,

"The two of you behind my back?"

The green girl was struck with such an overwhelming feeling of guilt that she felt quite ill. Desperately, she clung onto Fiyero's strong arms for support. She hated herself for what she had done to her only friend.

"He isn't mine to have," she thought to herself resignedly.

But that was just the thing. Fiyero was Elphaba's to have, and she was his to have. The two of them had each other, and thought neither of them knew it, the two of them had wanted each other for quite some time.

"Everything's going to be fine," Fiyero stroked Elphaba's long, lustrous black hair over her shoulder and whispered into her ear, "Relax."

She felt his lips tickle against her skin and simply melted into his arms, and allowed herself to be led down until her and her lover were knelt opposite each other, their fingers still interlinked, and their hearts beating in excitement.

However, that image of Glinda stayed imprinted in her mind's eye, which caused Elphaba to be both viciously torn by what she had done to her, and immersed in euphoric delight at being opposite the man who she would never have foreseen to be wanting her, not even in her wildest dreams.

Yet still she couldn't believe it. She almost wanted him to be too aggressive; it would at least make her feel less like she was deep inside one of her dreams. But he was perfect. A single, sparkling tear trickled down her cheek,

"My love, why are you crying?" Fiyero asked her, concerned.

"I... I just... Why did you pick me? Glinda is beautiful, and blonde, and happy. What's so special about me, the artichoke?"

Fiyero laughed, "I didn't pick you, Elphaba darling. I didn't stand and say to myself, 'Munchkin, Monkey, Turtledove. Who will be my next true love?" and simply pick one of you. When you're in love with someone, it doesn't make much difference what they look like on the outside; their hearts find each other. To someone who loves you: really, truly loves you, you are always beautiful, both inside and out, because that's just the way love works. You could be the ugliest toerag in the whole of Oz – which you aren't – but I still love you, oh so much, and you will always, always be beautiful to me."

Elphaba felt her lip wobble. She had never heard anyone, let alone a boy, talk to her like that before, nor did she have any memory of crying in front of someone.

From being a small child, she had grown to not shed any tears, or indeed show any emotion at all, in front of anyone. This was largely due to her father, who would strike her if she ever did, and call her a sissy, and other horrible names which it pained her to think about. If ever Elphaba felt the welling up of tears, or her eyelashes start to prickle, she would run away and hide herself in a corner and cry silently in private.

Now, however, she felt the tears stream down her face. She knew Fiyero would never strike her, or call her a sissy, she trusted him. With every particle of her being, she trusted him. He had opened up her emotions, like unlocking an old chest which hadn't been touched for many years.

"I'm seeing you in a new light, Elphaba," Fiyero continued, cupping Elphaba's rather damp chin with his warm hand, "When I first came to Shiz, and Avaric knocked you over with my cart..."

Elphaba raised an eyebrow in mock annoyance.

"I did admire the way you stuck up for yourself; I like that in a woman," Fiyero winked cheekily. Elphaba giggled, but it came out as more of a snuffly hiccup because of her tears.

"But I kind of dismissed you as a strange, green girl, who flailed her arms about whenever she got irked about something and made everyone act like Chickens! But then there was that day with the lion cub. That was when I felt something different about you. Different, but a good different. Time grew on, and I grew more sure. I love you, Elphaba, with all my heart. Now come here,"

He held her face again, and gently kissed away each of her tears. First her right cheek, then her left cheek, then her nose which made her giggle again. He wrapped his arms around her, and she wrapped her arms around him, and he kissed her, tenderly yet passionately, on her mouth, and she kissed him back.

For those few minutes, Elphaba and Fiyero simply forgot about everything. All they knew, all they cared about was that they were here, in each other's arms, and they had a bond so strong that no one, not even the 'Wonderful Wizard of Oz', could ever attempt to break it.

She felt his hands play with her hair, and smiled into his kiss. His hands slid downward, until he was holding her in the small of her back, pressing her further into him. Elphaba, similarly, ran her fingers through his hair, and then held his broad shoulders. She supposed that all this came surprisingly naturally to her because she also loved Fiyero, with all of her heart.

A distant rumble – it could have been thunder – made her jolt.

"What is it?" Fiyero asked,

"Nothing..." Elphaba replied distantly.

Fiyero held her head against his chest and stroked her hair. Their bodies were so close together that not one beam of moonlight found its way through.

They stayed in this loving embrace until a ghostly cry carried on the warm wind caused Elphaba to pull away abruptly in surprise.

"Now what's the matter?" Fiyero asked, somewhat impatiently,

"Listen, do you hear that? It sounded like somebody in pain." Elphaba whispered fearfully, her eyes wide,

"It's just the wind..." Fiyero sighed. He moved in to resume their kiss, but Elphaba pushed him away.

The cry came again. Elphaba cried out, "My sister is in danger!" She grabbed on to Fiyero's arms, terrified.

"What? How do you know?" He was confused,

"I don't know, I just -" Elphaba let out a shrill scream and clutched her heart, in agony. She had felt the pain her sister was about to feel.

Fiyero cupped her face with one hand, gripped her cold, clenched fist with the other, and would have looked her in the eye had she not been staring over his shoulder at the night sky, strewn with stars, and asked her, "Elphaba! What is it? What's wrong?"

Elphaba had seen something which brought on a new onset of tears, this time they were tears of cold, consuming fear.

She stood up, and with on trembling hand, pointed to where this 'something' was in the velvet sky, "There! Don't you see it?"

Fiyero also stood up, and squinted at where Elphaba was pointing so frantically, "What do you see?" he asked, worried,

"It doesn't make any sense!" Elphaba choked out, confused and afraid, "It's a house! And it's flying through the sky! I have to go to Nessa!"

Though Fiyero once again searched the starry heavens, this was in vain, and he simply did not spot the tumbling, rickety shadow of a farm house being thrown through the sky by a distant wind, which was growing in strength and ferocity by the second, its path leading to Nessarose.

Elphaba stumbled over to pick up her broom and hat, and turned to run to follow the direction of the house. Fiyero, naturally, followed after her,

"Wait! I'll come with you!"

She shook her head furiously, "No! You mustn't! It's too dangerous!"

Fiyero gripped her by her shoulders and almost shook her in an attempt to calm her frenzy in some way,

"Listen to me! My family has a castle in Kiamo Ko. No one's ever there except the sentries who watch over it. We've never lived there."

"Well, where do you live?" Elphaba asked hurriedly, frowning,

"The other castle..." Fiyero replied dismissively,

"Oh, of course," Elphaba shook her head in annoyance at herself.

He carried on, "It's the perfect hideout. Tunnels, secret passageways, you'll be safe there."

She gripped his elbows, "We will see each other again, won't we?" she questioned desperately.

"Elphaba," Fiyero stroked her cheek lovingly, looking right into her eyes once more, "We are going to be together always. You can see houses flying through the sky, can't you see that?"

She gasped in relief, Fiyero tilted his head down to meet hers, and they shared one last kiss before she fled from the scene, looking back only to see him lift the lantern from the ground and leave the wood by a different route.