1.2 A Good Night
"Oh, let it be Fae," Fiyero whispered tiredly and Elphaba looked up sharply from her place on the window bench,
"What did you just call me?" she hissed. "Fiyero?" she added softly, after realizing the amount of hissing she'd been doing lately. That and growling seemed to be her choice of infliction.
"Fae," Fiyero answered nervously, "Do you like it?"
Elphaba's shrugged as her eyes wandered around the room. They fell on Glinda, whose peaceful sleeping form dominated the large and, she had to admit begrudgingly, comfortable looking bed. Fiyero got up from the floor, where he'd taken up residence, despite Shandra's insistence that there was a bed for him as well.
"Why don't you just go to sleep?" he asked, sitting down beside her. She scooted away from him, leaning back against the window and unfolding her legs from underneath her. Finishing the sentence she'd been reading by moonlight, she closed her book, careful to keep her finger inside of it as a bookmark. "Fae?" Fiyero prompted and Elphaba sighed,
"I'm not like Glinda," she said, looking over once again at the now gently snoring body, "I can't just remain ignorant of our predicament. And apparently, neither can you," it wasn't a question, but Fiyero treated it as one,
"It doesn't seem too bad."
Elphaba stared at him.
"Fine, it is," he admitted. He stood up, pulling her along with him, taking the book away gently, "But the sooner you go to sleep, the sooner it'll be morning, right?"
She didn't say anything, but allowed herself to be pulled over to the bed by Fiyero, who moved the covers aside, unearthing one of Glinda's feet. Elphaba eyed it with distain; "Any chance we could change the current arrangements?" she asked and Fiyero shook his head saying,
"I don't believe that would be very appropriate Elphie," while more or less forcing her to lie down.
Shivering from the cold of the mattress, Elphaba smiled as Fiyero placed the sheets over her, setting the book on the table near the bed. "Thank you, dear Fiyero," she said quietly turning away from Glinda, who seemed to subconsciously sense her presence and had shifted her head towards the new inhabitant.
Fiyero lie down on the floor, folding his hands across his chest thoughtfully. Silence filled the room.
…
"Fae?"
It was so quiet that Elphaba was almost sure she'd imagined it. "Fiyero?" she whispered quietly, turning to face him and reclaiming her pillow from Glinda for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. "Are you awake?"
There was a pause as she saw him turn towards the bed, resting his head on his arm, "Only if you are."
His comment caused her to smile. It eased her to know that she wasn't the only one too preoccupied to sleep. Glinda huddled into her back and she was suddenly envious of her best friend's ignorance of the gravity of their problem. Her smile slowly disappeared, replaced with a much darker look, "Where are your thoughts, Fiyero?"
"Everywhere. How did we come to be here Fae?" he asked her, looking to her for an answer- answers she always seemed to have.
"I…" she let the syllable falter. She had a feeling that she had something to do with their sudden… movement, but she wasn't sure what it was. It still didn't make sense to her, even after thinking it over for so long. One minute Glinda and she were arriving back at Shiz from their meeting with the… that horrible oppressor. Glinda spotted Fiyero across the street and called out to him- he inquired as to how their trip had gone… and the next moment, they were stumbling through the underbrush of this very unfamiliar territory.
The thought of the supposedly 'Wonderful' Wizard made her blood boil; the flippant way he had dealt with Glinda and her. If she could only get back for the sole reason of standing up to the Wizard, to prove to everyone what a terrible person he was and stop the Animal bans, she would be happy.
The uncomfortable sting of Dr. Dillamond's death resurfaced in her chest and she felt her hands clench into tight fists. If only-
"Fae?"
The stress he put on her name pulled Elphaba away from her thoughts, "Yes?"
"How are we going to get back to Oz?"
As hard as it was admitting to herself that she had no idea, actually saying 'I don't know' wasn't something she was eager to do. She settled on, "We'll discuss it in the morning, Fiyero."
"Are you all right?" he asked and Elphaba nodded, scooting a little as Glinda even more effectively took up the majority of the bed. She was now perched over the edge, relying on the blanket tucked securely underneath her to keep her in the precarious position. Now that she was no longer physically alright, she decided to ignore the question. It would make her feel worse knowingly lying to Fiyero.
She closed her eyes and determinedly pushed aside all thoughts of the Wizard.
When Fiyero didn't get an answer to his question he sighed softly, looking down at the base of the bed where it didn't strain his eyes so much to look. Although there was a good amount of clearance from the floor to the frame of the bed, the soft continuous line of hardwood was broken by what looked like a book.
"Elphie?" he asked, making sure that she was still awake. His eyes remained trained on the sizable object.
"Yes…" she sounded half asleep and he didn't have the heart to take that away from her for something that would be there in the morning.
He turned away from the bed, closing his eyes as well, "Good night, Elphie."
Elphaba smiled lazily, feeling herself drift off. The last thing she remembered was saying, "G'night…"
A/N: I know there are at least two of you who are reading it. Tell me if you want other chapters.