AN: So here it is - the sequel to Blow My Mind :). It follows the musical in the sense that Elphaba goes to the City and defies the Wizard, but then again... it's not. You'll see ;).

This first chapter kind of reminded me of the first chapter of Wonderwomen, as well as the second chapter of Fifty Ways To Say Goodbye... you'll see why.

I hope you like it, and please review! :)

Chapter 1. Defying gravity

"You can't come with me."

"Elphaba," he said, "I'm not leaving –"

"And I'm not putting you in danger." She looked over her shoulder. The door wouldn't hold for much longer and she knew it. "Please, Fiyero," she almost begged him. "Just go back. It's me they want. I'm their Wicked Witch now." She didn't miss the way he flinched at that. "But you… they'll leave you alone," she continued. "Go back to Shiz, Yero. Finish school."

He looked at her for a long time. "No."

Before, she'd been glad that he was with her. He'd offered to come with her to the Emerald City the moment she'd told him about her invitation to meet the Wizard. She had asked Galinda, too, but the blonde couldn't come along; her parents would visit for the weekend and it was too late for them to cancel that trip, but she had made her friend promise to tell her everything about the City when she and Fiyero would get back.

During that wonderful day in the City, it had been nice to have Fiyero with her. When she was nervous to meet the Wizard, it had been nice to have him with her, too. Now, however, she wished he would have stayed back at Shiz; because she knew that no matter what she said or did, she wouldn't be able to talk him out of this. Once he got something in his head, it was near impossible to get it out again.

"Fiyero, please!" she tried, but he just shook his head stubbornly. "If you're flying away on that broomstick," he told her, "then so am I."

She looked at him. Then she took a step closer and kissed him.

He closed his eyes during the kiss, and she used the opportunity to slowly move the broomstick between her legs, ready to take off the moment their lips would disconnect. She was not going to endanger him. She refused to.

"Elphaba…" he breathed, and she whispered into the kiss, "I love you."

Then she pulled away and kicked off.

His eyes widened when he realised what she was doing, but he was quicker than she'd anticipated; and before she knew it, he'd grabbed the end of the broomstick and held on to it.

"Fiyero!" she cried, the broomstick wobbling in midair with the extra weight pulling it down. "What are you doing? Let go!"

"Never," he said, gritting his teeth.

Just then, the guards burst through the attic door and came into the room. Fiyero shouted, "Go!", and this time, Elphaba didn't hesitate. She steered the broom towards the window and flew through it, with Fiyero still dangling from it like a sack of potatoes.

"Are you happy now?" she yelled down at him when they were out of earshot.

"I'm always happy when I'm with you, you know that." He shifted a little. "Any chance you could haul me up? This is kind of… uncomfortable."

"No," she said. She was really angry with him – no, not with him. With herself. She'd promised to herself that she wouldn't endanger him, so why was he here with her now? She should have stopped him. One way or another, she should have stopped him.

"Fae…"

"Fine," she snapped. She landed in a nearby forest, Fiyero trampling his legs to try and hit the ground safely. The moment they were both on their feet, she sent a death glare in his direction.

"Don't look at me like that," he said. "What you did back there was the right thing, and there was no way I was going to let you go alone."

She sighed, slumping against a tree. "You don't understand, Fiyero," she said tiredly. "You have no idea what you've just done."

He moved to stand next to her and took her hand. "I know I just prevented the girl I loved from flying off on a broomstick all by herself," he told her. "And that's all that's important, Fae – that you're not alone. For as long as I have any say in it, you'll never be alone again."

"You're a fool," she muttered, leaning her forehead against his temple. "You should stay away from me. I'm a wanted criminal now."

He drew her closer, his hands warm on her waist. "I'm not leaving you," he whispered. "Not ever. I love you, Elphaba."

She shuddered at the sharp contrast of his body heat with the icy cold outside, burying her face in his neck. She remembered that night in the library. She'd been cold back then, and she'd been afraid, but she'd also known that she was safe. Now, however, everything was different. She was in danger, and because he came with her, so was he.

"Hey," he whispered, as if he was reading her mind. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I promise."

"All of Oz will be looking for me now, Fiyero," she whispered back, and he pressed his lips to her hair.

"I know," he said. "But we'll figure something out."

"How?"

"I don't know." He rested his chin on top of her head and stared at the forest surrounding them, lost in thought. "But as long as we're together," he said, "everything will be okay."

She looked up at him, and when she saw the determination sparking in his eyes, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his. He softly pressed her against the tree behind her and she wound her arms around his neck, clinging to him. "I love you," she whispered between kisses. "Please don't leave me."

"I won't." He kissed her one final time, hard. "Come on," he said. "We can't stay here, or someone might find us."

Elphaba bit her lip worriedly, running her fingers through her long raven hair. "Where can we go?" she asked quietly. "Fiyero, I'm a fugitive. I can't go anywhere…"

He kissed her forehead. "Don't worry, Fae. We'll go to the Vinkus," he said. "My parents will protect us. They'll protect you. We'll be safe there."

She nodded faintly. "Okay."

He squeezed her hand and she mounted her broomstick again, gesturing for him to get on behind her. He did, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, and she kicked off.

"You know?" he said in wonder as they flew over the treetops and he looked down. "This is actually pretty cool."

She let out a soft laugh. "Yeah. I guess. Once you get past the circumstances under which it happened."

He smiled as he continued to enjoy the view. "Look," he said, pointing. "I can see the Emerald Palace from here. I didn't know we were still so close to the Cit-"

Before he could finish speaking, Elphaba screamed, "Look out!" and the broomstick suddenly pointed down. They seemed to be falling for a moment and Fiyero yelped in fear, but then a bullet suddenly wheezed past his face and he understood. They weren't falling; Elphaba was just trying to dodge the bullet rain that was suddenly coming their way. Apparently Fiyero wasn't the only one who'd noticed that they were hovering only just outside the walls of the Emerald City; because now there were Gale Force soldiers occupying every vacant spot on the roofs of the Palace, their rifles aimed at Elphaba and Fiyero.

Elphaba yanked the broomstick to the right, then suddenly shot up high in the air. Fiyero gripped her tightly in order not to fall off. He could feel Elphaba trembling against him, and he squeezed her closer. "Breathe, Fae," he said into her ear. "Just breathe."

She slowly let out a breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. "We've got to get out of here." She quickly moved the broom upwards again, dodging another bullet.

"We will," Fiyero said.

"Hold on tight," she said, and he rested his forehead against her back.

"To you? Always."

She took a deep breath, then steered the broom down. Immediately, there were shouts heard from the Palace and Elphaba leaned forward, urging the broom to go faster. Fiyero clung to her as they shot forward, away from the Emerald City and away from the rifles that could put an end to their flight any moment now.

"Are you okay?" she yelled over her shoulder at some point during their crazy flight.

"Fine!" he shouted back. "You?"

"I've been better." She steered the broom sharply to the side to avoid another rain of bullets. "You know, back when I wasn't the main target of the Gale Force and I wasn't being shot at, and all."

He held on to her tightly. "I'm glad you can still joke about this," he said.

She shrugged, trying to create as much distance between them and the soldiers as possible. "Would you rather have me freaking out?" she asked him rhetorically.

She swore under her breath when another bullet wheezed just past her ear. "Where are they? Aren't we out of their reach by now?"

Fiyero pointed down. "These bullets don't come from the Palace," he said, and when Elphaba looked down, she saw that he was right. There was a small group of Gale Force soldiers down below. The fact that they were riding horses made it more difficult for them to aim, which worked in Elphaba and Fiyero's advantage; however, the horses also allowed the soldiers to keep up with the broom rather well, meaning they had more time to aim.

"We have to steer away from them!" Fiyero shouted. He loosened his grip around Elphaba's waist just the tiniest bit, allowing him to look around, taking in their surroundings. He pointed towards a forest, a couple of miles away. "Go there. If we make it to the woods, we could lose them."

Elphaba clenched her teeth and steered the broom in that direction. "Let's hope we'll make it."

At some point, Fiyero's grip on her suddenly tightened and she heard his sharp intake of breath, and she knew he was hit. "Yero?"

"I'm fine," he said, though she could tell by the sound of his voice that he was in pain. "It just grazed me."

"Where?" she asked, trying to stay calm, and she felt him softly kissing the back of her neck. "Just my hip, Fae. Don't worry, really. I'll live," he said.

"Okay." Her voice sounded uncharacteristically small, but she closed her eyes for a moment in an attempt to compose herself. First she needed to get them both to safety.

More bullets came flying their way… and then several things suddenly happened at the same time.

Elphaba unexpectedly yanked the broom to the side.

Fiyero cried out in pain.

And then he fell off.

It happened so fast that Elphaba barely had the time to register it. She was so focused on keeping the broom under control that Fiyero's yelp of pain completely startled her; and at the same moment, she felt his arms slipping away from her waist and she knew that she had a problem.

She whipped her head around. He was falling, and without thinking, she dived down, bending forward over the broom so far that the tip of her chin was nearly touching it, in an attempt to make the object go faster, faster, still faster. She could not let Fiyero fall.

The Gale Force soldiers were screaming, kicking their horses' sides to urge them in the direction of the falling prince and the witch going after him, but they were too late. Because just then, Elphaba managed to grasp the back of Fiyero's shirt.

She gripped it tightly, gritting her teeth. He was heavy, but she couldn't pull him onto the broom with her with just one hand, so she would have to hold on to him until they would reach the forest.

He moaned softly, and she looked down. A patch of red was visible on his shirt, between his right shoulder and his collarbone, and it was getting bigger. She tightened her grip on his shirt.

"Hold on, Yero," she whispered. "I've got you."

She wasn't sure how she did it, but somehow, she managed to hold on to Fiyero with one hand while steering the broom with her other until they reached the forest. Dodging trees, she made sure they were far enough into the woods so that they had lost the Gale Force before she carefully landed.

The moment she hit the ground, she dropped the broom and knelt down next to Fiyero. "Yero?"

He was pressing one hand against the wound in his shoulder, but at least he was still conscious. He looked up to meet her worried gaze and managed a weak smile. "I'll live," he said again, but it sounded a lot less convincing than it had before.

"Probably," she agreed. "But not if you come with me."

He opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off by pressing one finger to his lips. "Fiyero," she said. "You're hurt. A graze I can live with, but this?" She quickly inspected the wound. "It didn't even come out the back," she muttered. "There's a bullet stuck inside of you."

"I'll be fine –"

"No, you're not." She shook her head. "You're not coming along," she said. "If you come with me now, you'll die. I can't let you die, Yero. I'm taking you to a hospital."

"Fae, you can't do that!" he protested. "If anyone sees you, they'll capture you!"

"I won't let them see me," she promised him. "But I'm not letting you die, either."

She ripped a piece of fabric off her dress and used it for a makeshift bandage around his shoulder. Then she picked up her broom again. "Can you sit behind me?"

He nodded. "I can hold on to you with one arm," he said, and she flashed him what she hoped to be a reassuring smile.

"I'll go slowly," she promised him. He carefully settled behind her and she made sure that he was steady before she rose into the air, going slow as to prevent him from falling off.

Then she steered the broom towards the nearest hospital.