A/N: This is my first attempt at a Wicked Fic, so please be gentle.
Try
By
18lzytwner
The sun had set long ago and the candle's wax was practically spent as it worked its way down onto the table and almost touched the piles of book sitting on the wooden surface. The dim light given off from what remained of the poor excuse of a lighting instrument managed to cast a slight shadow on the person who had fallen asleep on her precious books. She didn't hear his padded feet cross the room nor did she stir as his scratchy straw hands scooped her out of her seat on the bench. He crossed the room and placed her down on the bed and covered her with the quilted blanket. A slight sigh escaped his lips and a sad look crossed his face. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and set it down on the pillow next to her head. Then he placed his lips to her forehead. She twitched slightly and another sigh escaped his lips. Returning to the table he blew out the candle and disappeared out the only door in the one room house.
An hour or so later, she rolled over that piece of paper, it stuck to her face. She reached to brush it away and opened her eyes slightly. It took a few moments for them to get used to the darkness that surrounded her but when they did she realized something was wrong. He wasn't there. He was always there when she woke up. Always there to chase away the nightmares or tell her that no matter what they'd always be together. Grabbing the piece of paper, she exited the bed swiftly and headed back for the candle. She spread her hands over the table until she found the matches buried beneath the books. Lighting the little remaining wick, she read what he'd written. Only two words appeared on the page,
"I'm sorry." It wouldn't seem like much to anyone else but it crushed her. The pain that emanated from her chest suddenly became too much. Then she realized there was only one thing to do: go after him. It didn't matter that he had almost a two-hour head start and could be anywhere by now or that she only had a small idea of where he would go. Then blowing out the candle she headed for the door. Grabbing her big dark cloak off the wooden peg on the wall, she flung it on. The next thing to grab was the key. It might have been an ordinary key but to them it meant something more. It meant everything they had accomplished together and everything that they had strived to do. Leaving the doorway, her body attempted to adjust to the cool, crisp early morning air as she headed off into the woods.
He sat in the field that had once been intended for his death. The corn stalks had long been gone and now tall grass grew there. It was quiet and peaceful and a good place to stop and think on his journey. Once he got into town, no one would think anything was out of the ordinary. He often made trips into town for supplies and all those there only knew him as Scarecrow, not his true identity. Only a precious few knew who he was and only she could prove it. Thankfully, no one in town knew where he lived either. Absorbed in thought, he never realized how long he'd been sitting there or that someone approached swiftly from the south. Then in an instant he found someone sitting beside him. He turned to her and saw the hurt on her face.
"Why?" Was all she said to him. There was a pained look on his face as he answered her.
"We just can't keep this up,"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Now anger was replacing her broken heart.
"I can't take you flinching when I touch you. I can't take you spending hour after hour reading those books, hoping to solve my problem. I'm tired of you having to always be the one that gets hurt," his feelings were now out in the open. Silence fell between them. It would be a short while before he spoke again.
"Elphaba, I love you more than anything I could ever describe but you don't deserve this. You deserve to be with someone who could hold you in his arms and kiss your lips. Not someone who gets covered in bird droppings and could catch fire from the candle on the table," more silence from her.
All I know, is everything is not as it's sold, but the more I grow the less I know…
"I made you this way and I'm going to fix it," she told him, that firm resolution in her eyes told him she wasn't giving up.
And I have lived so many lives, though I'm not old, and the more I see, the less I grow, the fewer the seeds the more I sow…
"You saved me; I couldn't ask you for anything more than that. I wouldn't even be here right now if it weren't for you," he tried to make her understand as he stood from his place in the grass. The sun would be up soon and she would not be safe.
Then I see you standing there, wanting more from me, and all I can do is try…
"It's my fault I even had to turn you into a scarecrow. If you hadn't come back…" the thought trailed off as they both knew what that would've have meant.
Then I see you standing there, wanting more from me, and all I can do is try…
"I couldn't let you take that on by yourself. You don't have to be the one to suffer. You've suffered enough," he shook his head.
I wish I hadn't seen all of the realness, and all the real people are really not real at all…
"I suffered until I met you. I haven't suffered in a long time, you have. Everything we've built together, you can't throw that away now, when I'm so close to setting you free," she stood to look him in the eyes.
The more I learn the more I love, the more I cry the more I cry, as I say goodbye to the way of life, I thought I had designed for me…
"You've been close for almost two years now. You have to live your life, you can't let me hold you back," stubborn as she was, sometimes she swore he was more stubborn.
Then I see you standing there, wanting more from me, and all I can do is try…
"We built a house, we run an underground escape route for the Animals to a town we helped build, and now you want to just throw that all away? How can you stand there and throw it in my face?" She pulled the key out and shook it in his face. The anger was back, she was justified. How could he do that?
Then I see you standing there, I'm all I'll ever be, but all I can do is try, try…
"We built that on the love we shared. How can I not be able to touch you, express how much I love you? You have no idea how much I can't express," his emotions bubbled inside him. He ached to touch her bare skin, kiss her soft lips, and to hear his name called out like the night they'd spent in the woods, almost two years ago.
Oh Try… Try… Try…
She looked at him. A strange look crossed her face as she put the key back into her pocket. She had to be feeling what he was feeling, she had to. That's when she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him to her. He looked confused. What was she doing?
All of the moments that already passed, we'll try to go back and make them last, all of the things we want each other to be, we never will be, we never will be…
It was now or never. The spell she found was only a simple reversal with a simple way of sealing it. It might not work but she had to try. She mumbled some words that made no sense to him and then pressed her lips so hard onto his, he thought she would cut herself. A strange feeling came over him. What had she done?
That's wonderful, that's life, that's you, baby, this is me, baby…
She pulled away and he looked at her, a smile spreading across her face, her lips weren't bleeding as they should have been. He pulled his arms from his sides and looked at his hands. What he saw he couldn't believe.
We are, we are, we are, we are, we are, we are…
The sun began to lighten the sky and they both turned, knowing now it wasn't safe for either one of them. No longer would his skin hide who he was. He was no longer made of straw.
Free, in our love, we are free in our love…
He wanted to ask her how she'd figured out what to do. How she'd made him a man again. There was no time however as the sun would be fully up soon and it was a forty-five minute walk back to their sanctuary in the woods. The farmer would be out in his fields soon that bordered the one they borrowed and getting caught was not an option. Quickly he grabbed her hand and they ran.
Try
There was no stopping as they ran for the trees. The magnificent arbors would shield them slightly but the pounding of their feet and the crashing through the thickets would still give them away. Their hearts pounded, sweat grew on their hands which were still tightly clasped together. After what seemed an eternity, the house came into view. Instead of slowing down, the two sped up. They were minutes away from safety.
She pulled the key from her pocket and jammed it into the lock. Turning it, she flung the door open when the lock clicked. He dashed inside and began shutting all the wooden shutters. She closed the door and locked it. Once again it was completely dark in the small house. It did not matter as they found each other's arms. After a few moments of just standing there, trying to catch their breath, he kissed her. Everything they had, all that time ago, was back as the fire in their lips proved how long they had ached to touch each other. Soon his hands found his way to the buttons on her dress. Her hands made their way to his shirt and then his pants. It may have been dark but the two knew where they were headed, only a few feet away. The bed welcomed them as they fell upon it.
Later, they lay together; her head upon his chest, feeling it go up and down. No words needed to be spoken as all they needed was this moment. Finally they were together again as the universe saw fit.
The End