AN:

Tadaaaa! Chapter 2!

The Elphaba-chapter that goes with it is called "Flying Solo"

Happy reading!

xoxo MLE :3

UPDATE LOG:

This chapter was updated on: 03-06-2014

I merged the original chapters 2 and 3 for this one – they did work OK as separate chapters, but I did the same for the Elphaba ver., so I had to do it for this one as well, because otherwise it would be too confusing… Other than that I only altered or added a few words here and there. No big changes.

Chapter Two: Where Are You?

They were both lying on the pink, fluffy bed in her dorm room. Resting on his side, Fiyero held the fragile girl close to his body, absent-mindedly stroking her arm. He could simply not stop himself from staring at the empty bed across the room, wondering what its owner would be doing just about now and whether she even had a warm place to sleep tonight. He was worried and he felt helpless, knowing that there was absolutely nothing he could possibly do for her.

On their way from the train station back to Shiz University, Glinda had not said a single word. He had been craving for an explanation for Elphaba's unexpected absence, but looking at the blonde girl's pained expression, he had not known how to ask.

At dinner, she had barely touched her food and when he had walked her back to her room afterwards, the silence only continued. As they had reached the door, he had already murmured a quiet "good night" and turned away, when she suddenly grasped his arm.

"Please stay with me tonight," she had pleaded softly and, not caring in the least that he would be breaking at least a dozen rules in doing so, he had complied with her wish.

After an awkward couple of minutes sitting next to each other on her bed, she had finally found the courage to tell him about everything that had transpired since her and Elphaba's arrival in the Emerald City.

Although convinced that the pretty Gillikinese was no liar, Fiyero still was not sure whether he could truly believe all of these strange things Glinda had spoken of; winged monkeys, a flying broomstick? Elphaba on the run from the Gale Force, the Wizard and pretty much all of Oz? The green girl had been right, he thought – she indeed was a commotion.

His heart felt incredibly heavy. He certainly had hoped for a simpler explanation. Maybe the Wizard, recognizing her enormous talent, could have asked her to stay, or perhaps she could have decided that the Emerald City was a better place for her to live and changed universities (Of course the Academy of Emeralds alsowas on his long list of universities he had been expelled from and from what he remembered, it was a very reputable institution). Either way he would have been devastated to lose her, that was undisputable, but at the very least he would have known that she was save and happy.

Suddenly he felt Glinda shivering and shaking next to him. He heard quiet sobs as well, but when he looked at her face, she still appeared to be fast asleep. The candlelight was just bright enough for him to make out a few glistening tears rolling down her pale cheeks.

He gently kissed her temple and carefully freed himself in order to get up. Sitting at the edge of the bed, he watched her sleeping figure. His plan to break up with her and telling her about his feelings for her roommate had failed. Considering the emotional state she was in, there was no way in Oz that he could do this to her. And if he was honest, he too needed some company and comfort right now. He always had had feelings of affection for Glinda and it pained him to see her like this, but these feelings could just not compare to what he felt for Elphaba.

Fiyero slowly got off the bed and crossed the room to where Elphaba's belongings were. Slowly he opened a drawer of her cabinet. Inside he found two sets of clothing and some notebooks. He carefully took out one of the notebooks and held it so that he could look at it in the weak candlelight. A sad smile appeared on his face as he traced the elegant handwriting with his fingers.

Putting the notebook back where he had found it, he opened another drawer. This one was full of books, just like the next one he tried. Of course this did not surprise him much, after all books were the only things this girl seemed to be interested in.

Opening the last drawer, he found a small wooden chest hidden under a knitted scarf. It had a lock, but much to Fiyero's surprise, it was not locked. Gently he placed the box on the nearby desk and sat down on the hard, uncushioned chair. The first thing he saw as he lifted the lid was a photo.

He remembered that particular day quite vividly. Boq had taken this picture on his birthday. Fiyero was seated right in the middle, with Glinda clinging to his right arm and Elphaba shyly sitting to his left. As far as he could remember, this was the only photograph of her that existed – or at least the only one he knew of.

Throwing a quick look back at Glinda, he made sure that she was still sleeping, then he quickly stuffed the photo in his trousers pocket.

There were plenty more items in that little chest: a small wooden bird that was studded with what appeared to be bitemarks, an embroidered handkerchief and other trinkets that Fiyero could not quite associate with anything he knew about her.

Then suddenly another object caught his eye. A wide smile tugged on his lips and casting one last, nervous glance in Glinda's direction, he hastily hid the object in the pocket of his jacket.

After he had put the chest back into the drawer, he walked over to the nearly burnt down candle, blew it out and quietly left the room.

Originally he had intended to return to his own dormitory, but lost in thoughts, he ended up wandering through the night aimlessly, blindly going wherever his feet would carry him.

His seemingly tireless feet only came to a halt when he reached the library. Like drawn by an invisible force, he slipped through the half-open window and, groping his way through the darkness, searched for the reading corner where he plunged on the old couch and switched on the dim floor lamp.

This was where he and Elphaba would meet for their private tutoring sessions. Sitting on his usual spot on the right side of the antiquated couch, he could almost feel, smell, see her sitting next to him. He even felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to do his long overdue assignments. Fortunately, his materials were still in his room, otherwise he might actually have succumb to this ridiculous urge.

Instead he rose again, picked a random volume that somewhat looked of like the Elphaba-kind of book from the closest shelf and sat back down, reading a couple of pages before falling asleep.

A few days passed, but nothing that happened around him could possibly lift his spirits. Glinda had been much the same and together that had spent many an hour moping over their shared loss. Sometimes, however Fiyero would sit all by himself, ruminating about how and what Elphaba was doing.

For at least an hour or so, he had been sitting on his bed, staring at the pink flower in the palm of his hand. Glinda truly was a little genius when it came to beautifications. The silken blossom really was very pink and very girlish. Who would have guessed that it would look so good on Elphaba – she who was absolutely not pink and not girlish at all.

The day she had come to class all galindafied, he had not been sure what to think about it. Without a doubt, the toss, toss was ridiculous and if he was completely honest, not even Glinda could pull it off without looking at least a little bit silly.

He had told her that this makeover was unnecessary, but he also had to admit that it was not all that bad either. This had been the first time that he had seen her wearing her hair down and flowing free, rather than restrained in that typical, stiff braid of hers.

The memory of the way her long ebony mane had shimmered in the sunlight, made him smile. During class he had been daydreaming and staring at the gentle waves cascading over her back. He had not even paid attention to the Lion cub the new professor had brought along until Elphaba had spoken up, in fury about the poor Animal's state.

And then, all of the sudden, everything had happened so fast. She had lost her temper and the whole class had gone crazy – except for him. Somehow he had not seemed affected by Elphaba's magick. Or had he been, just in a different way? After all, he had no idea what had made him darting for the Lion's cage and hurrying away with it.

Together they had run for the nearby forest, but once there, they had not really known what to do with the cub, or with themselves. They had argued, they had insulted each other and they had fallen in love.

Well, at least he knew that he had fallen in love with her. As for her – there was simply no way of telling. She had always been self-contained, hard to read and unbelievably stubborn.

However, he could not stop thinking about the brief moment their hands had lightly touched, their eyes inadvertently met and maybe, only maybe, he had not merely imagined her slightly flustered expression, or the faint, purple blush creeping up her cheeks.

An impatient knock on the door interrupted his reveries.

"Master Fiyero Tiggular," he heard the blonde girl's angry voice shout, "I know that you are in there and if you don't open this door in 3…2…1…"

Fiyero hastily stuffed away the pink flower he had pilfered from Elphaba's drawer the other night and hurried to open the door.

"Glinda," he exclaimed, "what's wrong with you? Why do you have to cause such a tumult?"

Glinda's eyes sparkled furiously.

"I have been standing out here for twenty minutes, knocking and calling like an idiot and you ask me why I'm causing a tumult? You have some nerves, my friend!"

Huffing and filled with indignation, she crossed her arms and lifted her chin.

Fiyero looked at her incredulously. Had she really been trying to get his attention for that long?

"Sorry Glin," he finally managed, "I… I was… um… sleeping…"

"In the middle of the day?"

Turning back towards him, the blonde raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

"You know, I was worried when you didn't come to class all day."

"I just didn't feel like it," he explained. "To be honest I don't feel like going to any class ever again," he added, his head hanging and his eyes cast down.

Glinda gently took both of his hands and pulled him over to his bed, kicking the door shut with her left foot.

"This is about Elphie, isn't it?" she asked quietly once they had sat down. "You know, she wouldn't want that you throw away everything you have been working so hard for and it definitely won't help her if you do."

He sighed.

"It's just… it seems so trivial to worry about tests and assignments when she could be in real danger… is in real danger; out there, all alone. It simply doesn't make any sense. And besides," he chuckled miserably, "with her my tutor is gone, how could I possibly make it through university all by myself? It's not like I actually have much of a brain."

"Don't say that," Glinda chided him lightly, rolling her eyes at him. "And besides, I can help you."

Fiyero threw her a skeptical look.

"Yes, I know," the blonde admitted, "I'm no Elphie, but I'm sure that together we can make it through Shiz and graduate in the end of this year!"

He neither shared her confidence, nor did he really see the point in accomplishing this goal.

"Look," Glinda explained carefully, "I've been thinking and I came to the conclusion that once we graduate from Shiz, we are free to go anywhere and do anything we want. Maybe we can even find a job in the Emerald City. From there it will be much easier to look for Elphie and maybe even help her. Just imagine we fail and remain stuck here for forever - what good could we possibly do for her?"

Although her plan was surprisingly sensical, he remained staring blankly at her while she went on and on and on.

"We simply have to do our best and hope that earlier or later some opportunity opens up," he heard her conclude her speech.

In a way this all still sounded a bit farfetched and overly optimistic, yet he nodded and offered Glinda a week smile. In return, she embraced him in a tight hug.

"You'll see Fifi, it will all turn out well in the end!"

Giving him a brief kiss, she jumped up and skipped towards the door.

"I've got so much to do!" she sang suddenly appearing excessively cheerful. "Assignments, shopping with Pfannee, Milla and Shenshen… See you in class tomorrow!"

With that she slipped out of the room and the door fell shut.

Fiyero gave off a loud groan and fell back on his bed. Starring at the ceiling, he saw Elphaba's face in his mind's eye and wished that she would miraculously turn up in a day or two and save him from Glinda's overly ambitious plans.

With a backpack full of meat which he had bought at the local butchery, Fiyero was on his way to the nearby forest. Deep in the wood he had found an empty hut with a fenced off garden. This was the place where he had brought the Lion cub he and Elphaba had saved.

Every now and then he came here to check on the Animal and to bring him food.

He was still a couple of feet away from the small house, but he could already see the young Lion play outside with an old ball Fiyero had brought him the other day.

"Hey there, little one," he greeted as he came closer, but timid as always, the cub startled and ran back through the broken door, hiding inside the hut. Fiyero sighed and quickly tossed the meat over the fence before moving away again.

As usual, he climbed a close-by oak tree and waited patiently for the cub to show himself again. He wished he could get closer to the Animal, maybe talk and play with him a little. But unfortunately, he was not very good at handling Animals or even animals. That definitely was Elphaba's department. He was more the people type.

After a couple of minutes, the Lion cautiously left the hut, heading straight for the pile of food. He already had grown quite a bit, Fiyero observed with satisfaction. That day when he had been waiting for Elphaba to return from her trip to the Emerald City, he had hoped to take her here and show her what progress their foster child had made.

Curiously enough, after that fateful day they had rescued the Lion, she had never asked about him again. Had she been afraid of what Fiyero could have done to him? Either way, he was sure that she would have been proud of him if she had had a chance to see how much effort he had been and still was putting in caring for the cub.

Only two days later, he returned to the little cottage with more food, this time also bringing along a few more toys the little Lion could occupy himself with. Unfortunately, the weather had been rather abominable since the previous night and as he was walking, a strong gust blew away his umbrella and left him unprotected from the downpour.

Completely drenched and soaked to the skin, he finally reached the old hut. Of course he was not surprised that the cub was not playing outside in the garden. Only as he came closer, he noticed that something was wrong: the gate to the garden was wide open.

"Damn," he cursed.

With big, heavy steps he made his way to the door and entered the house. It

was not particularly big and void of any furniture except a broken couch and a cracked table. Soon it was obvious that the Animal was definitely not there.

He weakly dropped onto the squeaking couch and covered his face with his hands. What would he do now? A young Lion should not be running around the forest all by himself. Maybe he wasn't running around the forest at all, maybe someone had found and taken him? The open gate at least suggested that the cub had not escaped by himself.

Despite the rain and the storm, Fiyero finally decided to comb the wood for any sign of the cub and to try and bring him back to the hut if at all possible. But no such luck. The search turned up nothing, not even a footprint. When the sun had already set and the moon had risen, he was forced to return to Shiz empty-handed.

He felt miserable. He had not only failed the young Lion, he had also failed Elphaba. How could he have lost the cub? It had meant so much to him to look after the Animal for her. It had felt like he had been connected to her through his commitment to the little one and now the Lion and with him his only connection to Elphaba was simply gone. This had been his one task, the one thing he could actually do for her and he had blown it.