Disclaimer: Not mine. All the characters, minus Renaht (Ren-aht) and Norri (No-ri), belong to Gregory Maguire and Winnie Holzman. Magic belongs to the realm of Oz. Microsoft Office Word belongs to Bill Gates. I have no clue who actually owns Fanfiction-dot-net. Anybody else I forgot, lodge a formal complaint via reviewing. If you love it, lodge a formal compliment via reviewing. If you hate it, buzz off :). Okay, just kidding. This somehow takes place in between Dancing Through Life and Popular, because I need Elphaba nerdy and Fiyero at Shiz.
Pairings: Fiyero/Elphaba, Fiyero/Nessa, Boq/Elphaba. Don't yell at me yet, read it for Oz's sake, and it'll make sense.
Keep reading and writing! -LostOzian
"Hey, look at this!" Renaht pulled down an old leather-bound book from the library shelf and set it down on one of the study tables. Norri poked his head out from behind another set of shelves.
"What is it?" He said as he joined his friend in examining the book.
"I don't know…" Renaht began flipping pages experimentally, noticing scribbled notes in the margins. "Somebody wrote in it." He said disgustedly. He hated it when people wrote in library books.
"No wonder," Norri took the book from Renaht. "It's in another language. Those scribbles are translations." He peered closely at the translations, but noticed that a title was translated. Love spell, it said in curly girl's handwriting. Norri looked up at Renaht mischievously. Renaht read the two words and immediately began scolding Norri.
"No."
"Please?"
"No!"
"It'll be fun!"
"No! You don't mess around with people like that!"
"We can undo it…"
"What?!"
"Right here, there's a neutralization at the bottom." Norri turned the book around, where a large paragraph of swirling letters with the translation squeezed in around it. Renaht read it aloud.
"Love is a flighty thing, and hence easy to disperse. Know that accidental pain may be remedied, but keep in mind not all miscast spells have such an easy solution." There was a single line of letters under it, with their pronunciation scribbled above each letter.
"So why not? We can fix it if things go wrong, and who knows?" Norri tried to look innocent. "We might make some people very, very happy." Renaht chewed it over for a minute.
"Fine," he said, shoving the book at Norri. "I don't want anything to do with this, but you go ahead. Have your 'fun' while screwing with other people's feelings."
"Thanks!" Norri pored over the book, glancing up for the first person he should magic-spell. Renaht scoffed, and went off to find the book he wanted to check out. Norri discarded a group of sophomores, a pair making out behind a shelf, and a junior nerd before finding his prize. It was perfect. The person least likely to fall in love, ever, suddenly goes head-over-heels for…well, he wasn't sure how to specify who.
He began speaking, using the translations as a guide, not even suppressing a manic smile as the words formed on his lips.
Elphaba Thropp scanned down the books mindlessly, trying to find one interesting enough to keep her distracted during Galinda's slumber party tonight. She passed over histories, science essays, and philosophies with a bored expression, trying to find the one thing that would be able to occupy so much time. She reached the end of the shelf, and in a blinding moment of revelation, suddenly understood that she didn't want a book to keep her busy. She wanted a person.
Fiyero Tiggular, sprawled in a library chair, his book long forgotten, was fast asleep. Even in sleep, Elphaba saw the perfection of his features. Everything was so handsome and noble. She could spend all day thinking of him, and still not tire. Why hadn't she realized this before? She approached his chair cautiously, knowing that it held the one truly good thing in the world. Elphaba scolded herself with each step for every bad name she had ever called Fiyero, every ill intention she had imagined. She had been stupid, and now finally she could see the truth, like a bright, warming fire.
Norri scuttled away, giggling, as he hid to see the mayhem his creation would cause.
Elphaba knelt beside the chair tentatively, caught between desires and common sense. He was asleep, everybody else was engrossed in books, and it would be so easy just to kiss him now…
…Wait. Did he want her to kiss him? She imagined what it would be like if he didn't. Causing so much alarm and displeasure to the love of her life for ever would be physically painful for her to watch, especially knowing her actions had made him feel that way. Hands trembling, she settled for shaking his shoulder.
"Wha…?" Fiyero awoke with a start. Elphaba stared up adoringly as consciousness returned to the prince. He noticed Elphaba, actually looked at her. She immediately felt lost in his deep blue eyes, almost powerless to do anything else. "Oh. Hello," he said tentatively, not sure why Elphaba was sitting there with such a stupid- well, stupid for her- look on her face.
"Hi," she said breathlessly. She added his voice to her mental list of reasons she loved Fiyero Tiggular, right after name, hair, gait, and eyes. Eyes were really high on that list, like sapphires… No, she corrected herself, blinking a few times. Blue diamonds…
"Can I help you?" He asked, almost creeped out by the amount of attention Elphaba was paying him. Usually she just scoffed at him and moved on.
"You dropped your book," She handed it to him slowly, never looking away from his face. He took it quickly, trying not to show she was making him nervous. He had received a lot of practice from other adoring girls, but this was different. Elphaba never did anything like this, not to anyone, and why she suddenly started was a mystery beyond most brilliant minds, let alone his.
"Thanks," He said. "Er…do you have the time?" Elphaba didn't even look at a clock to check. She had checked a few minutes ago, and she was glad she did. She didn't want to lose a single clock-tick with Fiyero.
"A bit past two." She said dreamily. Fiyero stood up, placing his book on a table.
"Really? I…ah… have an appointment…at five...so I need to get moving…." And he left. Elphaba took his chair, barely believing that it had once held Fiyero Tiggular, her one and only true love. She settled into the warmth, ignoring hints of rational thought. You're being like a stalker…a freak…you're green, for Oz sake, get real! She felt like she was floating on a cloud, and made a promise to herself that she would live for every moment with Fiyero in the room. Fiyero and Elphaba Tiggular… She repeated the names to herself again and again, letting it sail her to new heights of joy. Fi-yer-o and El-pha-a Tigg-u-lar…
"Renaht!" Norri's face was bright red like a cherry, his smile wider than anything his friend had ever seen.
"You tried it, didn't you?" Renaht assumed, and correctly. "Who were the victims?"
"It's one way, unless I cast it twice." Norri started to snigger. "Elphaba Thropp is deeply in love with Fiyero Tiggular!" Renaht shook his head disappointedly.
"You're disgusting." He said simply. He wasn't friends with Elphaba, but that was just about the wickedest thing you could do to a person like her. Make her fall in love.
"Who cares?!" Norri kissed the grimy cover of the book. "This is the best thing in the world!" Norri committed the details he had found out to memory. They fell in love with the first person they saw. They lost all sense of judgment. They acted like riotous lunatics.
This book is gold, Norri thought as he ran out of the library, almost in hysterics as he planned all the fun he could cause with that book.
Fiyero hurried out of the library, not daring to start walking until he was fifty feet away. He shivered involuntarily. What in Oz could make Elphaba act like that?! She was insane, sitting there and staring at him, her usual piercing hazel eyes soft and vulnerable. Elphaba was not soft! But she's gone soft… Fiyero thought. When you think you know a girl…
He continued walking with no particular direction, his slow mind puzzling over this conundrum life decided to throw at him. He liked Elphaba well enough, but her sudden chance in attitude was too much. Something was wrong…
…No. Everything was beautiful and right, now that he had realized that it was her all along. Nessa wheeled herself down the cobblestone path, the light shining off her light brown hair, her clothing neat and crisp, delicate porcelain features in her face. He felt a longing, more pure than anything he had ever known, mixed with a guilt that he hadn't realized sooner and been able to help her, so small and dependent. He crossed the green between them, determined to make up for the years she had been forced to exist without him.
Norri shut the book again, pride that he had struck twice filling him. He was good at this spell-casting stuff; maybe he should ask to be in Morrible's little seminar. He followed Fiyero at a distance, wondering what antics he would get up to in attempting to win the heart of Nessarose.
"Hey," Fiyero said, falling into stride beside Nessa's chair.
"Hello, Fiyero." She said politely.
"Where are you headed?" He asked eagerly. He had his chance, here and now, to prove to Nessa that he would do anything for her.
"To Madame Morrible's quarters. I have some studying to do." She said. Fiyero immediately took her chair and started pushing. Nessa panicked.
"What are you doing?!" She cried. She hated it when people just pushed her chair like that. It reminded her that she couldn't walk.
"Helping you get to Morrible's," Fiyero said, slowing down a little bit. Had he done something wrong? He tried to think of ways to redeem himself.
"Could you ask?" Nessa said, still shaken from Fiyero's sudden possession of her chair.
"I'm sorry," Fiyero looked at the ground, slowing down so much Nessa would go faster if she wheeled herself. "I really am."
"It's all right, just tell me first!" Nessa calmed herself. It was an honest mistake. She only knew Fiyero as 'Galinda's boyfriend' and he probably only knew her as 'Elphaba's sister', so of course he wouldn't know. He pushed the chair at normal walking speed again, thinking of Nessa. His angel, forgiving and kind, willing to let him try again after his mistake, even after he had been out of her life for so long.
"What do you need to study?" Fiyero asked her.
"Life sciences," Nessa said, folding her arms in her lap and letting them rest.
"Need any help?" Fiyero said, making mental notes along the way. He should pay more attention in classes from now on so that he could help Nessa with assignments. Nessa looked back at him. He smiled winningly. Was he suggesting he could help with her classes? Mr. dance-through-life-and-ditch-class? She put her guard up.
"No thank you. I'll just ask Elphaba." All Fiyero heard was the no.
"Well, what about other classes?" Fiyero immediately suggested. "If I'm in it, I'll try and help!" Nessa was fully alarmed now. Had he actually been paying attention in any of his classes? No, he couldn't have. Nessa remembered that he would always- and promptly- fall asleep five minutes into class. She would be better off having a dumb mole-rat help her in history.
"If I need help, I'll ask Elphaba!" Nessa said sharply. Fiyero stopped suddenly, blinking as if struck. She would rather go to her sister… Fiyero thought. He didn't have her trust. Nessa twisted around in her chair fully to look at Fiyero.
"Hello?" She waved a hand in front of his face. It didn't quite reach, but it caught his attention. He looked down at her face, her small nose, rich brown eyes. Fiyero steeled himself. He would become her perfect man. "Are you all right?"
"Fine," he lied, and tried to think of something intelligent to say. "Excellent," was all he managed to come up with.
"Really?" Nessa said. "Because you just passed Madame Morrible's quarters." Nessa pointed back behind her. Fiyero started.
"Oh! Sorry," he said, turning the chair around. "Sorry." He pushed Nessa's chair down the path to Madame Morrible's little cottage slowly, trying to get a few more moments with Nessa. His mind tried to think up a legit excuse for him to stay, but was too late. Nessa was already at the door. She opened it, took the chair herself, and wheeled inside.
"Thank you," she said politely, and she shut the door.
"You're welcome, Nessarose." Fiyero said to the empty green. He couldn't think of a person more deserving of him, more deserving of everlasting love. He would make her his princess, and she would never need to be sad as long as he loved her.
He stood outside the cottage, lost in his thoughts of Nessa, until he finally managed to tear himself away to go and find out what the heck today's lecture had been about.
Norri hid the book under his coat to go and find if there was anything else he could do for fun. Renaht's warnings were starting to get to him, but not so much that he wouldn't be able to do it again later. He just needed a little break.
Boq left the library, three thick books under his arm. He hated studying. It would have been so much easier to just ditch it all and run after Galinda all day, but he knew his parents were expecting high marks, so he just did the bare minimum to get there and spent the rest of his waking hours trying to get Galinda to recognize that he existed. He lifted the books higher and proceeded to trudge back to the dorms. School felt like metal in your mouth; cold, bad-tasting, leaving ugly marks on your teeth if it was rusted. Still, you put up with it for hope of being able to take it out soon.
The sun was starting to go down, and he was scolding himself for having put off going to the library. He would have to find his way back to the dorm in the cold darkness. Already the night-Birds were coming out, warming up their voices for their late night warbling.
"Only-thing-to-do is jump, o-ver the moon…" A single voice stood out among the choruses of do-re-mi's. It wasn't a Bird voice, he could tell that immediately. A person, female, was singing. Her voice was sweet and low, not caring who heard her. He squinted in the semi-darkness. He could barely see her, her clothing was dark as well. Dark navy blue, with a long black braid…Elphaba?! She was strolling idly along the path, almost wandering, pausing to touch the light blue flowers that lined this section of the lane. She was singing nonsense, her steps slow and rhythmic to her little song.
She's…beautiful. Boq thought suddenly. She honestly was. Tall, graceful, intelligent. Boq sped up slightly to catch her, the traits he loved in her hastening his feet. Humor. Good person. Oz, she was even destined for greatness with magic powers like hers. Magic so powerful, all thoughts of Galinda had evaporated upon seeing her like this tonight.
"Elphaba," He called after her. A lovely name, to be sure. She turned slowly, never stopping. The turn became a spin, and she continued on her way. Boq felt disheartenment looming over him, when she responded.
"Hey, Boq," she worked his name into her little song. Boq's heart melted. He never really liked his name, but her voice brought glory and wonder into the three letters. He caught up to her, shifting his books to his other side. Questions ran through his head. Should I tell her? Would she mind if I held her hand? Does she know I think she's beautiful? They walked in silence a few minutes, Elphaba's song dying down into little whispers of a melody.
"Even been in love, Boq?" She asked absently. Her harsh nature was gone, and Boq felt warm and welcomed. "Like, about-to-die in love?"
"Yes!" He said enthusiastically. "Like if you don't say something, you're going to burst!"
"And the whole world looks wonderful?" She added, staring up into the first stars of night.
"Limitless," He said. He could feel Butterflies in his stomach. She smiled slightly.
"Unlimited…" Elphaba said softly. "That's really what love is, Boq. Unlimited."
"Like you could fly." He truly felt like he could, like he could take a step off of a cliff and not fall. This was true love. They continued for a while, alternately watching the stars and where they were going. After a long walk, they reached the girl's dorm complex.
"It feels good to talk about when you're in love." She said as she climbed the small flight of stairs to the girl's dorms.
"Especially to who you're in love with," Boq said. Elphaba frowned.
"Excuse me?" She asked. Boq simply smiled at her. She was perfection, each defect the world thought she had adding to the majesty of everything she was.
"Elphaba…." Boq started, feeling each word resound around his head, making him surer of himself. "I love you."
Instantly her face hardened. The breezy nature gone, the tender expression faded into nothing as if it were never there.
"Don't joke about things like that, Boq." She said sternly, and retreated into the dorm building, practically slamming the door behind her. He felt the slam as if it were a slam in the face. So she wasn't talking about him? Who could she be talking about? Boq shoved the questions aside and filled himself with resolve.
You're going to lose your heart to me, Elphaba. He thought, then turned and walked back in the opposite direction to the boy's dorm. The same way I lost mine to you.
Renaht looked up from his novel when Norri entered the small dorm room.
"Where have you been all night?" He asked sharply. "It's late."
"This is the most wickedly fun thing in all of Oz!" Norri declared, placing the book on his bed.
"What more trouble have you caused?" Renaht tried to hint to his friend that he should just stop.
"Listen to this," Norri's eyes gleamed as he prepared to tell the story of his exploits. "Elphaba pines for Fiyero, Fiyero lusts after Nessarose, Nessarose adores Boq, and Boq couldn't live without Elphaba!" Renaht stared at Norri coldly.
"I cannot say this enough," Renaht said. "You're twisted."
"I know," Norri changed quickly and jumped into his bed, slipping the magic book under his pillow. "But it's fun." He blew out the candle beside his bed. "Ready for bed?" Renaht put aside his book and pulled back his sheets. He extinguished the second candle himself.
"I'm only letting you get away with this because I know you're going to fix it." Renaht said, his voice seeming to come from nowhere in the darkened room. "You do know that, right? The instant somebody gets hurt, I'm reporting you."
"Nobody's going to get hurt," Norri yawned.
"People in love do insane things." Renaht said. "But you do understand?"
"How did I end up with the most rule-abiding student in all of Shiz as a roommate?" Norri teased.
"You don't know your own power," Renaht's bed groaned, a sign he had rolled over. "Good night, Norri."
"G'night," And Norri fell asleep.