AN: I wrote this drabble/one-shot thingy within... I think it must have been about fifteen minutes? Twenty, maybe? I think that might be a new record :P.
This is based on the song "Say Something (I'm Giving Up On You)" by A Great Big World.
"Elphaba?"
It was her. Sweet Oz, it was really her! He couldn't believe his own eyes. All these years of searching for her, becoming Captain of the Gale Force for it, but never even finding a trace of her… and now here she was.
He ran towards her, dropping his rifle as he fell down onto his knees next to her. She was lying curled up on her side, faced away from him. She looked exhausted and he was reluctant to wake her… but he just had to. Now that he had finally found her, he had to wake her up, talk to her, look into her eyes, make sure she was real and not just one of his daydreams again.
He shook her gently. "Elphaba?"
She didn't move. Only now did he realise that she was not alright. She wasn't just sleeping. Her eyes were hollow and sunken in, her face way too pale and thin, her bones poking through the fabric of her dress. He reached out to gently brush some hair away from her face; only then did he notice the growing pool of blood around her, and he suddenly felt like he was going to be sick.
"Elphaba…" he whispered.
Say something I'm giving up on you
I'll be the one if you want me to
Anywhere I would have followed you
Say something I'm giving up on you
Her eyes fluttered open – those beautiful, dark, chocolate brown eyes he had missed so much. They were tired in comparison to before. Less alive, and with less of a sparkle. It was like he could see the light fading from them even as he sat there bent over her.
"Fi-Fiyero?" she stammered, her eyes widening slightly. "Is that you?"
"It's me." He held her, cradling her limp body in his arms, ignoring the blood slowly soaking his clothes now as well as hers. "It's me, Fae, it's me… I'm so sorry." He choked on a sob. "They got you… I should have gotten to you first. I'm so sorry, Elphaba…"
"'s Not your fault," she mumbled, slurring a little. "You couldn't get to me, I was hiding… but they found me when I was trying to free an Animal from a trap."
And I, I'm feeling so small
It was over my head
I want nothing at all
And I, will stumble and fall
I'm still learning to love
Just starting to crawl
"I love you."
For a moment there, he could see the life returning to her eyes when she locked them with his. "What?"
"I love you," he repeated. "For Oz's sake, Elphaba, I love you… you can't leave me now." He choked back another sob. "I've loved you for such a long time, I've been searching everywhere for you, ever since Glinda came back from the City alone and told me you were gone. I searched so hard, I love you so much… please, Fae…"
Say something I'm giving up on you
I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
Anywhere I would have followed you
Say something I'm giving up on you
She shook her head so lightly he barely caught the movement.
"…too late…" she croaked. "But…" She tried to lift her hand, raising it to his face and laying it against the side of it, but she was too weak to even keep it there. He caught her hand with his own and trapped it against his cheek, which was wet from his tears.
She didn't cry. Not really. Her eyes were dry, but she was sobbing on the inside.
"For what it's worth," she whispered, her voice growing fainter, fading away even as he sat there with her, "I love you, too."
His eyes filled with fresh tears. He cried, and she closed her eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispered to her. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I'm sorry I didn't do anything, I'm sorry for being such a coward, for not kissing you in that clearing, for not breaking up with Galinda and telling you how I felt, for not searching hard enough… I'm sorry, Elphaba. I'm so sorry."
And I will swallow my pride
You're the one that I love
And I'm saying goodbye
"Don't be," she murmured. Her hand was limp in his, and she didn't even have the strength to keep looking at him, even though she tried. She kept her eyes open, trying to meet his gaze, but her eyes were blurry and unfocused. She tried to move, but found that she couldn't. "It's okay."
He leant down to kiss her forehead. It was a long, lingering kiss that seeped through her skin and warmed her entire body from the inside out; and somehow in that moment, she found herself feeling happier, lighter, and more alive than she had ever felt before.
When he pulled back to look into her eyes, they were gazing up at the heavens, glassy and dead and unseeing. There was no sparkle anymore now whatsoever. The life had drained from her body and faded from her eyes, and she was no longer the girl he had known, the girl he had searched for for so long. That girl was out of his reach forever now.
He ran his fingers over her face, closing her eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispered again.
Say something I'm giving up on you
And I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you
And anywhere I would have followed you
Say something I'm giving up on you
Glinda was waiting for him when he got back, her blue eyes wide, sad, and anxious.
"Is it true?" she whispered. "Did they get her?"
Fiyero didn't trust his voice. He didn't think he could ever speak again. Instead, he just nodded.
Glinda's eyes filled with tears and she pressed a trembling hand to her mouth, her entire small body starting to shake. "She's gone?"
Another nod from him. She threw herself at him, sobbing into his shoulder. His arms went around her almost automatically, holding her, trying to comfort her; but somewhere in the back of his mind, it registered that all of this was wrong. This life, this job, this girl… none of it was right.
And yet he lived it. He lived it for many more years. He lived it with Glinda and his parents, as a husband and as King of the Vinkus. He lived it with his children, who played around his feet, fought with one another, and grew up with him as their father. He lived it with his people, his country, his friends and his family, and some might think he was happy.
But that day in the Great Gillikin Forest, his heart and everything, everything he was and everything he had always wanted to be, had died with her.
Say something I'm giving up on you...
Me? In an angst-y mood? Pfft, where did you get that idea?
I haven't really been doing great emotionally, lately... I guess this is what happens then :3. Sorry? Nah, not really sorry.