AN: All right, so yes, I had to make a few changes to this because the lyrics in it were violating the Content Guidelines - whoops :$. Should have thought about that, of course, but clearly, I didn't. So I changed it, tried to maintain the story as well as possible without explicitly mentioning the lyrics. Hope that worked out - let me know :).
Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked, and the song, 'Beautiful', is not mine either - it's Megan Nicole's.
It was late, and she was lost.
She had never been lost before. She could walk the way from the library to her dorm with her eyes closed – or so she had always thought – but somehow, she had taken a wrong turn somewhere and now found herself in a part of the university she had never been before. It was pitch dark, which didn't help things. There wasn't anyone to be seen; it was almost midnight, everyone would probably be back in their rooms by now. Not that she really minded. She liked the silence, even now in these dark, strange corridors.
She pushed open a random door to find another hallway, which she crossed. She opened another door and this time found herself in a room lit by the moonlight shining through the windows. It didn't look familiar to her, neither did it seem to have a way out, and so she was about to turn around again, when a glimpse of ivory caught her eye. A piano. The she also noticed the harp standing in a corner, along with a few violins on a table, and she realised this must be the university's music room. She hadn't even known Shiz had a music room, but it was a pleasant surprise. She liked music. She could play the harp and the piano herself, and she loved to sing – even though she would never do that in front of anybody.
She still wanted to get back to her dorm, especially since Galinda would probably worry about her, but for some reason, she found herself hesitating in the doorway. It had been a long time since she had played anything, and even longer since she had sang. She could come back later, of course, at a decent hour, but then there would probably be other students here… Right now she was completely alone. Could she really let this chance pass?
No, she couldn't, she decided. She carefully closed the door behind her and walked over towards the piano. She couldn't find any candles, but she didn't need to; the room had very large windows and the moonlight streaming in through them provided enough light for her to be able to see. She sat down on the piano crutch gingerly, sliding a slim emerald finger along the black ivory and relishing in the feeling of it. She placed her hands on the keys and tried out a few chords before a song suddenly occurred to her. It wasn't usually her kind of song; it was one Galinda really liked. For some reason, though, when she had heard it, it had touched a desire deep inside her that no one even knew was there. She figured out the right chords rather quickly, took a deep breath and started to play the intro. Then, her voice broke the utter silence of the night when she started to sing along as well.
It was a song about wanting to be loved and wanting to be called beautiful by someone, about - in her case - wishing for the impossible. She sang the chorus and paused then, considering the utter ridiculousness of this and feeling embarrassed, even though there was no one there to see her. 'Who am I kidding?' she said out loud. No one in their right mind would ever even consider calling her beautiful. The worst part: there was actually someone she had had in mind while singing the song. Someone so completely and utterly out of her reach that it was just ludicrous, really. The one that made it hard for her to breathe. The one she was scared of how strong she was feeling for, even though she barely knew him. That one moment in the forest, with that Lion cub, had been enough. She hated herself for it, but there was no point in denying it and she knew that.
She started playing again, raising her voice despite she knew she was being stupid. It was not like anyone could hear her, anyway. And she felt like she needed to get it out. She sang her heart out, her long, green fingers dancing gracefully over the piano keys, until she finished the song. 'Call me beautiful,' she whispered, allowing herself to believe that possible for only a single clock-tick.
She sighed, cursing herself for her stupidity, and carefully closed the cover of the piano before silently getting up, gathering her things and leaving the music room.
Fiyero waited a few moments after she had left before he thought it safe to leave the dark corner of the music room in which he had been hidden all this time. He liked to go here when he wanted to be alone, and when he had heard someone approach, he had hidden himself, not wanting to talk to anyone. When he saw it was her, he had wanted to come out, but something had stopped him. Then she had sat down, playing the piano and singing, and he had been mesmerised. She had the most beautiful voice he had ever heard, and there had been so much emotion in it, so much pain. He had known it hadn't been for him to hear and he also knew she would kill him if she ever found out that he had been here, and so he had kept silent and waited for her to leave. His heart was racing, however, and his mind was raging – a rare thing for him. But she had caused it. In that song, she had exposed more of herself than she would ever do in front of anybody, and he couldn't help but feel that the words had been meant for someone.
Could that someone be him?
Could she possibly feel the same way about him that he did about her?
He would never ask her. He didn't have the courage.
Instead, he walked over to the piano, a bit tentatively, and tried to imitate the chords he had heard her play. He was a skilled piano player himself and so it didn't take him too long to figure them out. He smiled when he started playing the song he had heard her sing, and the words came almost on their own accord, softly, but oh so truthful. Because he wanted to be the one that made it hard for her to breathe. He was lost in love, and he was scared of how strong he felt for her, but he did feel for her.
'I'll call you beautiful,' he sang softly, closing his eyes and imagining her face, the emerald green skin, the huge, brown eyes with long lashes, the rosy cheeks, the soft hair, the lips he wanted to kiss so badly...
''Cause you truly are beautiful.'
Please let me know what you think :).