As Elphaba stumbled into him once again, Fiyero sighed and said, "Elphaba, really, we need to stop and rest. You're about to fall over."
She glared at him, "We need to keep moving as fast as we can until we find somewhere we can stay, and we only stop when I say I'm ready to. That's what we agreed on."
"Well, I don't agree with the idea that you're going to push yourself to the point of death because you have no sense of your limitations," Fiyero replied irritably.
Rolling her eyes, she collapsed onto the ground, "Fine. Do you think there is somewhere nearby where I can bathe?"
He looked over at her, "Why do you need to bathe?"
"Because I'm starting to stink like an unwashed person considering I haven't really washed myself in a few days. I guess you can't smell it," she said softly.
Nodding his head, Fiyero told her, "I'll go find somewhere. I think we should be at the calmer part of the river we've been following."
He walked off, wishing he would pay more attention to what she did so she wouldn't have to find out that he was much less human than she had hoped. It bothered him that it hurt her so much that he had lost the majority of his senses, but he had realized early on that it was best not to tell her that he could barely feel anything, which was why he had so much difficulty walking at times. He did have a vague sense of the ground under his feet, but most of the things he felt came from memory and the shadow of feeling he still possessed in his straw body. Looking up, he saw the trickling river, the sun reflecting brightly from its mostly still surface. He smiled with satisfaction and hurried back to Elphaba.
"I was right," he said as he walked over to her. "The river is about half a mile from here, and you have all the privacy you could wish for."
She smiled gratefully up at him as she stood up, "Thank you, Yero."
As they walked to the river together, he slipped her hand into his gloved fingers in hopes of reassuring her. Within a few minutes, they had reached the calm water, and Fiyero took a seat on the ground as Elphaba walked over to it, giving him a hesitant look as she neared the bank.
He noticed her timidity and asked, "Is something wrong?"
She bit her lip and shot another glance at the water, "Do you mind not, well, not watching?"
"Why?" he replied, forgetting how modest she was.
Shrugging her shoulders, she wrapped her arms across her chest, "I just don't feel comfortable with…"
"You don't feel comfortable being naked in front of me?" he finished, almost laughing until he saw her mortified face. Quickly, he tried to find something reassuring to say to her, "Fae, you don't need to worry. It's not like I'm going to hate what I see. And, I've seen you without clothes before."
"Still," she insisted, shrinking away from him.
"I would feel better if I could keep up with where you are in case there is someone out here. I don't want anything to happen to you," he explained. "But, I'll try not to stare at you."
Still feeling hesitant about the situation, Elphaba nodded her head in agreement, "All right."
She turned her back on him and began to undo the buttons on the back of her dress. Sliding the garment over her head, she hunched her shoulders and gritted her teeth as she took off her undergarments and slid into the water. Taken aback by the beauty of her emerald skin in the sunlight, Fiyero completely forgot about his promise and trained his eyes on her, feeling the stirring of hot, uncontrollable desire stirring in him. She refused to look back at him and dipped under the water, emerging with her hair thrown away from her face and droplets of water travelling down her entire body to where the river met with her hips. Transfixed, he traced the path of the shimmering liquid, and soon became frustrated at the fact that his desire for her was flooding through his entire body, but there was no way for him to release it. He clenched his fists and bowed his head as Elphaba continued to bathe.
As she sank under the water until her entire body was submerged up to her shoulders, Elphaba chanced a look over in Fiyero's direction and felt her heart fall at the sight of him almost huddled into a ball. She wasn't sure if he was upset over his current condition as a scarecrow or if the sight of her green skin had frightened him and was making him question why he had ever left with her. Maybe it was a combination of both reasons. She tried to stop her self-doubt and submerged her entire body under the water as she focused on the refreshing coolness of the clean fluid. Holding her breath, she swam slowly right underneath the surface until she felt the need for air, so she rose slowly up to the light once again and started to wade to the bank. When she reached her clothes, she held up her very dry dress and tried to figure out if she really wanted to put it on while she was still so wet.
"Don't get dressed," Fiyero said softly.
Startled, she looked up to see him standing beside her, his eyes filled with some emotion that she couldn't recognize.
"Why not?" she asked, allowing her clothes to fall to the ground.
He just pulled her flush against his body and crashed his cloth lips onto hers, pulling a gasp of surprise from her parted lips. She started to pull away from him, but he kept up his insistent kiss until she was forced to respond. As their lips moved together in a frantic dance, he allowed his gloved hands to wander down her body and managed to make her let go of a low moan as she clung to him. He started to grow impatient with the swirling lust within him that refused to be satisfied, so he allowed his mouth to move from her lips down to her neck, the rough cloth of his lips rasping pleasantly against her soft skin. She moaned again at the sensation and arched her back slightly as he kept moving down to her rounded breasts, his hands curving around her hips. Feeling like he was about to explode, Fiyero finally pulled away, his entire body shaking with a mix of anger and his desire for her.
Gasping slightly at the sudden loss of contact with his body, Elphaba looked up at him, her eyes hazy with awakened lust, "Why did you stop?"
Fiyero just shook his head and turning away from her, he ran back up the bank. She stared after him before she bent down and pulled on her clothes as quickly as possible.
"Yero!" she yelled as she ran after him, holding her skirt high above her knees.
As soon as he heard the uncertainty and concern in her voice, he turned around and waited for her to catch up with him.
She stopped in front of him, her head slightly bowed, "What's wrong?"
He shook his head, "It's nothing, Fae."
"It can't be nothing," she snapped, her eyes flashing as she looked up at him. "Why did you do that? Do you just not want to be with me? You can't shut me out, Fiyero."
Sighing, he sank down on the ground and buried his face in his hands, "I want you so badly, and I can't do anything about it. I can barely feel anything, Elphaba, least of all you, and it's torture! I can't look at you without wanting to hold you and to be able to feel it, not just to survive on a memory."
Slowly, she sat down beside him, "Oh. I didn't realize…"
A few tears slipped out of her eyes, and he looked up to see the crystal liquid tracing a delicate path down her face.
He pulled her into his arms and said softly, "It's not your fault, Fae."
"How can you say that?" she asked, frustration spreading over her face. "I put this spell on you. If it wasn't for me, you would be normal."
"Fae, look at me," he told her, leaning his forehead against hers. "I made my choice. I love you. You saved my life through that spell, and I don't regret it."
"But," she started to protest before he cut her off with a gentle kiss.
"I don't regret it. I'm sorry for what I said," he said, smoothing her damp hair away from her face. "Now, you need to get some rest before we keep going."
She started to shake her head, but instead she yawned heavily as he pulled her head down to his chest and lay back on the ground. Feeling her eyes start to close, she traced a lazy pattern on his stomach before she drifted off to sleep. He smiled slightly at her attempt to comfort him and tightened his weak arms around her body as he tried to cling to the few memories he had of being with her in order to never forget what it was like to be human. He couldn't live without her.