Wow. I haven't updated this in a while. Sorry about that. Anyway, here is another chapter. Enjoy and review! c:


It was terrible to handle. The sudden flashbacks, the searing agony in her back, the worried look on Fiyero's face when she finally opened her eyes. Elphaba tried to hide her pain; she tried to just clench her teeth and carry on, but it sure wasn't as easy as it sounded. The woman sat at the foot of the bed that she and Fiyero shared and clutched the railing, silently cursing Etai. She knew that it was terrible to feel this way, but she was glad that he was dead. It served him right, really. The man deserved it, after all the suffering that he put her through.

That was how Fiyero found her, laying at the foot of the bed. "Fae, you should get some rest." He stared down at her pointedly. Elphaba stared up at him, her vision blurry.

"I'd rather stay down here, thank you." Fiyero squatted next to her, taking her hand in his. Her skin was clammy and his worry for her spiked.

"I think you should get to the hospital, Elphaba. You're getting sick." He kissed her cheek tenderly and the woman drew herself from him. The prince gazed at her searchingly and she sighed quietly.

"Stop being Mr. Romantic, Tigelaar." A reluctant chuckle escaped his lips as her eyes fluttered closed. She was worrying him, yes, but what was there to do? Elphaba was having nothing to do with the hospital or having a doctor examine her. The green woman wearily stood, her bamboo-pole legs trembling with the effort. Fiyero made to help her and she waved him off. She didn't need – nor want- his help.

"How did all of this start?" Fiyero questioned her, cradling the bony girl in his diamond-crested arms.

"I felt fine, Yero. I felt fine before dinner." This one statement sent a shiver of anxiety down his spine. Was it possible that someone had slipped something into her cup before she drank? Or perhaps slipped some arsenic onto her plate? The whole idea of her being poisoned seemed ludicrous, but it was certainly plausible, and the fact frightened him. She had already been through enough pain without this. But Fiyero would find out what had happened if it was the last thing he'd do.


A lone carriage rolled down the gravel road, shaking up the passengers inside. Glinda clutched to Boq's shirt, not quite pleased with the bumping of the wheels. Without warning, thunder roared and lightning ripped through the sky. The blonde screeched in fright, burying her face in her husband's shoulder. The sky began to turn a deep shade of grey and he sighed, knowing that she would be like this for the rest of the trip home. The munchkin held his wife tenderly, chuckling quietly at her agitated appearance. She was almost twenty and still scared of thunderstorms. What a lovely wife you got for yourself, Boq.

"When are we going to get there?" Glinda whimpered, her high voice muffled from her mouth's position in his shirt.

Boq rubbed her back in circles, trying to calm the frazzled woman down. "Any moment, love. In a few minutes, we'll be tucked into bed snug as a bug." He emphasized that last phrase and Glinda had to admit that his joking tone cheered her up a bit.

The two stayed in each other's arms, the fact that there was another carriage behind them unknown to them. The man behind them parted the curtains, an unidentified object lying in his outstretched hand. He threw it, an expression of unadultered glee crossing over his shadowed face when it landed on the roof of the Upland's carriage. Revenge would come soon enough.

Glinda reluctantly pulled her head off of her husband's chest. "Boq, do you smell something burning?" Her nose wrinkled in disgust. The man gazed at her searchingly and then opened up the curtains of the side window. There was smoke all around them and Boq laid his hand on the doorknob.

"Glin, I think we need to get out of here." He warned her, grabbing her hand and beginning to open the door. But he didn't get the chance. The gilded carriage exploded, the wooden frame bursting into calescent flames. Smoke blurred their visions and clogged their lungs as the fire licked at their legs and the hems of their clothing. Boq crawled from the explosion, unaware that his wife wasn't behind him. He looked back and coughed violently, his chest burning from the smog that he was inhaling. Despite his physical condition, his love for Glinda spurred him on and he crawled back into the death trap. The woman was desperately clawing at the wood, attempting to pull herself out of the smoldering fire. Boq threw Glinda's arm around his shoulders and lugged her away from the pile of burnt wood, not really noticing that she had lost consciousness.

Boq collapsed onto the grass, breathing heavily and trying his best to force air into his corrupted lungs. "Glin… Glin, are you alright?" He questioned weakly, wheezing as he rolled over. Glinda was lying on the grass, her eyes closed and her body motionless. He knew that she had to get medical attention at once, for her arms and neck was covered in deep burns. The man knew that he had no way of carrying her in his current state, so he began to scream as loud as possible.

"Someone help, please! I think she's dying!"