Well, here it is, everyone! The sequel to 'Seeing the Light'. It might be a little darker, depending on how I decide to write it.
Disclaimer: I own the laptop used to type this story and this story idea. Yeah… um… I don't own Wicked… at all… whatsoever… not even a little bit. So um… yeah. If I did… you know what? Let's not even go there. I don't have the time to cry. I'm too busy lovin' MY NAME UP ON THAT LIST! (Sorry, Legally Blonde reference. What? I'm one of the Queens of Referencing (I'mFlyingHighDefyingGravity aka Sydney is the other one)) I have a story to type!
Life in the Vinkus couldn't be better. Lanie, now fifteen years old, was growing into the young lady everyone knew she would be. The warm climate meant that she could spend a lot of time outside, which she did. She spent most of her time in the gardens, picking flowers or reading under a tree. Though she enjoyed the peace and quiet, she was very lonely. She didn't have any friends. Her parents were very overprotective of her and they wouldn't tell her why. No one would. She wasn't allowed to leave the castle grounds and go into the Elderwith Forest. Even though she enjoyed spending a lot of time with her family, she longed for a friend. Someone to share her secrets to. Someone who would really listen to her when she told them something of great importance to her.
"Yero, I'm worried about her," Elphaba said over tea one afternoon.
"Why?" Fiyero asked.
"What if the rumors are true? We can't take any risks."
"Fae, those are only rumors."
"I know, but what if –"
"Elphaba," Fiyero said, setting down his teacup and sitting down next to Elphaba on the couch. "Everything will be alright."
"Why do you always say that?"
"Say what?"
"Say that everything will be alright. Yero, we can't control the future." Elphaba was near tears. Fiyero sighed. He hated it when Elphaba cried.
"Fae –"
"Stop!" Elphaba cried, lowering her head, not even bothering to turn towards Fiyero's voice. "You don't have to sugarcoat anything anymore. I'm not a child."
"Fae –"
"And neither is Lanie."
"Fae –"
"She's going to get sick and tired of us keeping her cooped up inside this castle and –"
"Fae," Fiyero quickly cut her off. "Do you ever let anyone else talk?"
Elphaba fell silent. "No. Sorry."
Fiyero smiled. "Thank you. Fae, we're taking all of the necessary precautions. Rumors are just rumors. There's no guarantee that anything will happen."
"I know," Elphaba whispered, leaning her head against Fiyero's chest. "I just…"
"What?"
"I don't know. I just have a really bad feeling about this. What if…"
"Fae, stop. You're going to get yourself all worked up."
Elphaba scrunched up her nose, hating when Fiyero babied her.
"You don't want me to tell Galinda you're scrunching up her nose like that, now, do you?"
Elphaba sighed. As Galinda put it:
"Elphie, when you wrinkle up your nose like that, it creates wrinkles. Wrinkles take forever to get rid of, even with the best cream. Don't make me bring out the wrinkle cream!"
"Alright," Elphaba said as she unwrinkled her nose.
"That's better," Fiyero smiled, kissing her nose.
Lanie was walking by on her way outside. She knew she wasn't supposed to go into the forest, but she was tired of being cooped up in the house like a small child. She thought if she pretended she was going into the kitchen, her parents wouldn't question her. She was almost at the door when…
"Lanie?"
Sighing, Lanie turned around. Standing behind her were her parents, both with questioning looks on their faces.
"Yes?" she asked, trying to keep the edge out of her voice.
"Where are you going?" Fiyero asked.
"Outside."
"Outside where?" Elphaba asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Just outside, Mama," Lanie lied, slowly sliding closer to the door with each passing second. "Into the gardens."
"O-Okay," Elphaba said, deciding that it was alright. "Just… stay on the castle grounds. And don't go into the forest."
Lanie nodded and quickly slipped out the door. Elphaba made to follow her, but Fiyero pulled her back.
"Fae, let her go."
"Yero, I can't –"
"We're going to have to learn how to trust her."
"I trust her. I just… she's a teenager, Yero. Teenagers make mistakes. I just don't want her to make a mistake that we can't fix and that could have been avoided from the start."
Fiyero slowly shook his head. He knew his wife was right. Khylana was a teenager. She was becoming distant and modified and it was really worrying him. "Okay," he whispered, not wanting to get into a full-blown argument with Elphaba. He was never any good at winning those.
Lanie quickly sprinted through the gardens into the forest. She stopped when she came across a large rock.
"Lanie, is that you?" a voice asked from behind the rock.
"Yes, it's me," Khylana whispered back.
A tall boy Khylana's age peaked his head out from over the rock. A genuine smile appeared on his face when he saw the girl. "I've missed you."
"I'm sorry. My parents are constantly on my back. It's like they don't trust me or something," Khylana said, sitting down next to the boy. "How have you been, Arlis?"
"The same," Arlis shrugged.
Lanie nodded knowingly and held his hand. She slowly traced over the scar running from the middle of his hand to his upper wrist. "How did you get that?" she asked, looking into Arlis' brown eyes.
Arlis simply shook his head, not wanting to answer her question. She let the subject drop as she snuggled closer to Arlis.
"So…" she whispered.
"So…" he whispered back.
"We've known each other for almost six months now."
"Yup."
"And you still haven't told me anything about yourself."
"There's nothing to say," Arlis whispered, his gaze on the ground. "Though, I would like to know more about you."
Khylana giggled. No one had ever shown such interest in her before. "Okay. What would you like to know?"
"Well, your mother is blind, right?"
Khylana nodded slowly. "Yes, she is. But when you first meet her, you wouldn't know. She's really good at looking in people's directions when she speaks to them and knows where everything is and knows where she going."
Arlis nodded. "How many of your family members live at the castle with you?"
"Well, there's me, my mother, my father, my grandparents, my aunt and my godmother. So, that's seven of us. Now, I would really like to know where you're from."
"I travel a lot, so I don't really have a definite home. My parents died when I was really small and…" Arlis trailed off, tears quickly forming in his eyes.
Khylana kissed Arlis' cheek, comforting him. "Arlie," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him. "I'm so sorry."
"It's fine," Arlis sniffed. "It happened a long time ago."
The two teenagers sat in silence for a while, enjoying each other's company. Khylana leaned her head against Arlis' shoulder. Arlis smiled, pulling Khylana closer to him. Khylana took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them an hour later, the sun was shinning high in the sky.
"Arlie," she whispered, shaking the boy next to her awake.
"Hmm?" Arlis muttered, slowly opening his eyes.
"Do you wanna go for a swim?"
Arlis sat up and smiled. "Sure." He stood up and helped Khylana to her feet. Giggling, they ran towards the pond. Kicking off their shoes, Arlis was the first one in the pond. Jumping as high as he could and hugging his knees to his chest, he cannonballed into the pond, creating a large splash. Lanie stick her feet in, not wanting to get her dress wet. She didn't know how she would explain to her mother why she was soaking wet.
"You're not coming in?" Arlis asked, resurfacing for air.
Lanie shook her head. "I can't get wet."
"Why not?"
"My mother doesn't know I go into the forest. I-I'm not supposed to be here right now… with you… in the forest… all alone…"
"I thought you said she's blind?"
"She is, but she still has her other senses. And they're really accurate and sharp. I can't take any risks."
"Oh," Arlis said as he climbed out of the pool. "I guess that means I can't give you a goodbye hug."
Lanie put her shoes back on and ran to give Arlis a hug. Arlis quickly recovered from the initial shock and hugged her back.
"You'll be able to play this one off?" he asked.
"I'll think of something," Lanie whispered, kissing his cheek and running out of the forest.
When she returned to the castle, she slipped in through the front door. Turning around to close it behind her, she took a deep breath.
"Where were you?"
Lanie jumped and turned around. She saw her mother standing there, her arms crossed over her chest. Her jaw was set and she didn't look happy.
"I just went outside," Lanie said, shaking under her mother's hard gaze.
"Lanie, you were out there more than an hour. I was calling you. Where did you go?"
"I was taking a nap," Lanie said. She was trying to stay as close to the truth as possible without giving away where she was.
Elphaba opened her mother to saw something, but she closed it again. She slowly relaxed. "Okay," she whispered. "I just- wait! What's that smell?"
Ozdangit! Lanie thought, mentally face palming. She knew she shouldn't have given Arlis a hug.
"Lanie, what is that smell?" Elphaba asked, walking towards her daughter.
"I was sitting in the grass and some of the dew rubbed off on me."
"Lanie, dew doesn't smell like pond water. I'm going to ask you one more time, where. Did. You. Go?" Elphaba asked, her voice dangerously low.
"Mama, I told you. I just went outside. Nothing happened and I'm fine."
Elphaba's eyes narrowed as her gaze hardened. She knew her daughter was lying to her. "Don't lie to me," she hissed.
"I'm not lying!" Lanie lied. "I just went outside. I fell asleep and that's why some of the dew rubbed off on me. I have no idea why it smells like pond water."
"What's going on out here?" Fiyero asked, coming out of the parlor and wrapping his arm around Elphaba's waist.
"Nothing," Lanie whispered as she ran up the stairs.
Just for reference, Arlie is pronounced with a long 'e'. Reviews please?