(A/N: don't give me that look! Yes, I'm starting another story. Soiry, enjoy it anyway! I just had to post this. I know that in the book, Shell is younger, but I'm making Shell the oldest in this story because I can. I really hope you guys like this story, becuase I think it's going to be my main focus. It's fiyeraba all the way, though later on it won't be so innocent. Rated for language mostly and some older theme splashed here and there. I realize that the way they talk they sound kind of southern I guess, but I just wrote it like that, I dont' know why. Also, this is somewhat modern day. I'm not quite sure what kind of time frame I'll put this in...anyway, enjoy! and please review!)
"Ha!" Shell declared, waving his makeshift sword in the air, it was actually the cardboard left from a long roll of Lurlinemas wrapping paper. He and his younger sister, Elphaba, were in the middle of playing a game of pirates. Shell had wrapped a handkerchief around his head and Elphaba had taped a piece of black construction paper over her eye to serve as an eye patch. Shell was the oldest child in the Thropp family at age 7 and Elphaba was 5. Neither child was the favorite though. No, their father's favorite was of course Nessarose who couldn't walk and was 4 years old. Shell didn't care for Nessa because even at four she was always such a snob. He liked Elphaba much better, she wasn't afraid to play pirates with him and get her clothes dirty, she was much more fun than Nessa; though Shell did feel very sorry for Elphaba because their father really hated her because she had green skin. All of the other kids hated Elphaba too, and for the same reason. Shell hated to watch his favorite sister get hurt, so he had become very protective of her. He was so scared that one day, Frex would let his hate overcome him and he might actually hit Elphaba. Shell knew that the only reason Frex didn't hate him so much was because he was the only boy and he needed a boy to carry out the bloodline. Shell didn't know what the big fuss was about anyway; he thought Elphaba's skin was kind of cool actually. Elphaba actually had the tiniest inkling of love for Nessa, but it was hard to do anything with her because she was such a boring uptight kid. She never wanted to play pirates, or cowboys and Indians, or reenact something from the Saturday cartoons. She was afraid of getting her clothes dirty and tangling her hair. She hated ice cream and building things and she was scared of every animal or Animal she ever saw.
"You'll never take my ship, not while I'm captain!" Elphaba yelled, hitting Shell with her sword.
"Well you won't be captain for long!" Shell declared, jumping onto the couch that Elphaba had claimed as her ship.
"Hey!" Elphaba cried, "No fair!" she ran across the room and jumped on a larger couch, "Fine, I get this ship!"
"You can't just jump on a ship and claim it Fabala." Shell rolled his eyes.
"That's what you did!" Elphaba defended herself.
"Yeah, because I conquered your ship." Shell said.
"And I conquered this one!" Elphaba laughed.
"Fine!" Shell said, "But I'm coming to get it!" He jumped off of his couch and ran over to Elphaba's and they began jumping on the couch and dueling with their cardboard roll swords. Their yelling and laughter echoed through the house. Frex sighed as he tried to tuck his darling Nessa in bed for her afternoon nap. Nessa was always such a good orderly child. He stood up with Nessa still in his arms and barreled down to the living room where he found it thrown into chaos. Lamps were tipped over, chairs were lying on their sides and it looked like all of the pillows had thrown up. Feathers fluttered around chaotically in the room, whirling about from the wind the ceiling fan made. Elphaba and Shell didn't notice him walk in, too engrossed in their game. Frex sighed.
"Will you both shut up?!" Frex thundered. They both stopped jumping and climbed down from the couch quickly. They faced their father and their cardboard swords hung at their sides lifelessly. Frex stared at them both sternly as they took off their eye patches and handkerchiefs, "Nessa needs to take her nap." he said. A maid bustled in then.
"Oh I'm sorry sir, I forgot all about the littlest one." she apologized, taking Nessa out of Frex's arms, "Don't you worry though, I'll just take her off to bed and send these two outside." Frex thanked her and walked away back to his study probably to file papers and what not. The maid turned to Elphaba and Shell, "Go on, get! Nessa needs to take her nap and I don't need you two runnin' 'round the house making noise that's taller than you are! Get!" the maid ushered the two children out of the house as she carried a whiny Nessa off to her bedroom. Shell and Elphaba made faces at Nessa as she was carried away and Nessa stuck her nose up at them. The two children finally turned and did as the maid told them and made their way outside to the courtyards behind the governor's mansion. It was a very sunny summer day, so they were hardly complaining.
"Betcha can't catch me!" Shell said as soon as they'd gotten outside.
"I could catch you with my eyes closed!" Elphaba said, rising to the challenge. Shell laughed and took off running, Elphaba right behind him. The courtyard was a maze of tall hedges, rose gardens and fountains. Shell laughed as he ran behind a tall hedge. Elphaba missed this and was confused as to where he'd gone. She went the opposite direction and Shell laughed quietly as he snuck after her. Elphaba stumbled through the bushes, trying to find Shell. She was nearing the gate where the Thropp property ended and she stepped on something that was right next to the gate. She heard a distinct 'oomph' and she looked down and saw a little boy there, crawling under the gate. He had blonde/brown hair and blue eyes.
"What do you think you're doing?!" she asked him.
"I wanted to come play with you guys." said the boy, standing up and brushing himself off. He was taller than Elphaba, which Elphaba didn't like one bit. So she walked over to a bench and stood on that.
"And you are?" asked Elphaba, trying to sound authorative.
"Fiyero Tiggular, I can read and I'm only 6 years old. My folks send me to Munchkinland every summer to stay with my Aunt Florence. She lives two estates down in the big lavender house." said Fiyero.
"First of all, I can read too and I'm only 5 so don't act like it's something special. And second of all I know who Florence is, she's a real nice lady, gave me some cake the other day when Frex kicked me out of the house for breaking a lamp." Elphaba snapped, not liking this boy's know-it-all attitude.
"Well I know who you are." Fiyero said, "You're the Governor's daughter, 'that right? I know that 'cause this big ole yellow and white mansion is the Governor's house, it's the biggest one in the whole of Munchkinland. You're Nessarose, ain't you?"
"No." said Elphaba, "Nessarose is my sister."
"You—you mean the Governor has more than one daughter?" asked Fiyero, his eyes bugging, "Well I didn't know that. See, my parents hired me a private tutor so I can learn about all of the provinces and rulers and what not in Oz. So I know that your mother died. And I'm real sorry about that."
"Yeah yeah, I heard it before. I'm real sorry about it too, but only because Shell loved her. I don't remember her." said Elphaba, "I just feel sorry for Shell. He's my brother."
"I know that." said Fiyero, "You gotta name?"
"Well, sure I do! It's Elphaba." said Elphaba, rolling her eyes.
"That's a right pretty name." said Fiyero politely.
"Yours ain't so bad either." Elphaba offered, making Fiyero blush. Elphaba laughed at him.
"Hey!" said Fiyero, still blushing, "Stop your laughing!" Elphaba just laughed harder. Fiyero soon laughed too, finding Elphaba's laugh infectious. Shell bounded over then.
"There you are Elphaba!" he said, "I've been looking for you." he looked at the other little boy and quickly pulled his sister behind him out of habit, "Who are you ?!" he questioned Fiyero.
"He's not going to hurt me." said Elphaba, coming from behind Shell, "This is Fiyero, he comes to Munchkinland ever y summer and stays with Lady Florence down in the lavender house."
"I know where Lady Florence is." said Shell. He looked at Fiyero, making sure he was safe and that he wasn't going to hurt Elphaba. He concluded he was a fine boy, he stuck his hand out to him, "Shell Thropp, age 7." said Shell. Fiyero took his hand.
"Fiyero Tiggular, age 6." he said. Shell nodded.
"I suppose you can play with us." said Shell.
"You wanna play cowboys and Indians?" asked Elphaba.
"Elphaba! Shell! Come in! Your father wants you!" they heard the maid shouting from the doorway.
"I don't suppose I can come too?" asked Fiyero.
"Nah." said Shell, "Maybe Ellie and I'll come see you tomorrow." he took Elphaba's hand, "But we gotta go. Bye." they waved goodbye to Fiyero and Fiyero blushed as Elphaba waved to him and gave him a quick smile. He sighed as he looked at the small space under the gate. He'd already dirtied his clothes, why not do it again.
As Elphaba and Shell sprinted back to the mansion, they chatted.
"You think he's good?" asked Elphaba.
"Yeah, he's a good one." said Shell, "He won't hurt you."
"Why are you always so worried everyone's gonna hurt me?" asked Elphaba, annoyed, "I'm 5 years old, I can take care of myself."
"Well I'm 7 and I'm gonna take care of you." said Shell. Elphaba rolled her eyes and Shell laughed. As they walked inside, the maid directed them to the living room. They saw Frex sitting in one of the chairs, holding a broken picture frame of Melena. He looked angry. Shell quickly grabbed Elphaba's arm and pushed her behind him. She peeked under his arm at Frex.
"Who broke this?" asked Frex, holding up the broken frame. Elphaba thought back and remembered knocking it to the floor by accident while she was fighting Shell in pirates. She was about to tell Frex that it was her, but Shell beat her.
"It was me sir." said Shell.
"You?" asked Frex.
"S'right." said Shell, "It was an accident though."
"No it was--" Elphaba began, but Shell put his hand over her mouth behind his back.
"Who was it Ela?" asked Frex.
"Me." said Shell.
"Fine." said Frex, "Leave. And don't come in here again. Conduct your games outside." he waved his hand and the children quickly left the room, running out of the house. As soon as they reached the courtyards, Elphaba grabbed Shell's arm.
"Why'd you tell him it was you?" asked Elphaba.
"I didn't want him to hurt you none." said Shell, kicking his feet in the dirt.
"He can't hurt me." said Elphaba, with the defiance of any 5 year old. She crossed her arms.
"Yes he can!" said Shell, "He can and I don't want that to happen. So you better just listen to me and let me do the talking!"
"Whatever." said Elphaba, turning her back on him.
"You wanna go into town for some ice cream?" asked Shell. Elphaba didn't answer, just sat down and crossed her legs to match her arms. Shell sighed.
"Come on Ellie, you know you want some ice cream." he said, squatting down next to her. She looked up at him and couldn't help the little smile on her face. Shell grinned and offered his hand. She took it and he helped her up.
"Fine, but I better not drop it this time." said Elphaba, walking next to him. As they walked down the dusty sidewalk, Elphaba asked, "Hey, you think Fiyero can come with us?"
"Well…sure." said Shell. They walked to Lady Florence's house. The door was a bright clean white. Elphaba and Shell looked at their dirty hands and wiped them off on their clothes before knocking on the door, careful to keep it from getting dirty. The door opened and they were greeted by Florence. She was a beautiful woman with dark brown thick hair that fell in waves around her angelic face. She always wore beautiful dresses and her make-up always looked perfect. Elphaba suspected Shell had somewhat of a crush on her.
"Good day Lady Florence." said Shell, blushing badly. Elphaba smirked and he pushed her which made her laugh.
"Well, hello Mister Shell and Miss Elphaba, what can I do for you today?" she asked kindly, smiling at him.
"We were wondering if Fiyero wanted to go get some ice cream with us." said Elphaba.
"Well, I'm sure he would love that." said Florence, "When did you two meet Fiyero?"
"He snuck into our courtyard and I stepped on him." said Elphaba. Florence chuckled. They heard small running footsteps and soon Fiyero was at the door. He blushed soon as he saw Elphaba.
"Hey." he said shyly.
"Hey." Elphaba blushed this time. Florence laughed.
"Here," she handed Fiyero a few coins, "You all have fun in town." Fiyero pocketed the coins and the three ran off. He grabbed Elphaba's hand and they both blushed.