AN. Rapunzel was highly requested, and whilst there were a few suggestions I use Glinda as Rapunzel, ultimately I decided to stick with the Fiyeraba theme.
On a bright note- I am seeing WICKED for the 4th time in 6 days!
Rapunzel
Once upon a time, there was a lonely couple that desperately wanted a child. When the woman fell pregnant at last, they were overjoyed and the husband catered to his wife's every need or desire as their child grew.
They lived next door to an enchantress named Madame Morrible, who's walled in garden overlooked the couple's bedroom window. One day, the woman noticed a rapunzel plant growing in the enchantress's garden and began to crave it.
"Husband?" she asked him. "Would you do something for me?"
Her husband kissed her hand lovingly. "For you, the mother of my unborn child, anything. What does your heart desire, my dear?"
"Some of the rapunzel plant that grows in our neighbour's garden," the wife answered. "Will you ask her for some?"
The husband was afraid of the enchantress and feared asking her for the plant. But he could not refuse his wife's request.
So, in the dead of the night, he climbed over the wall separating their garden from their neighbours and stole some of the rapunzel plant to satisfy his wife's craving. She loved the rapunzel, and soon asked for more.
Increased with a sense of braverism that he had not been caught or suspected the first time, the husband once again climbed the garden wall in the dead of night and stole more rapunzel from the garden.
But on the third night, he was careless in his task as he attempted to scale the wall to return home to his wife.
"How dare you thieve from my gardens?"
Madame Morrible snarled, using her magic to pull the man off the wall and sent him crashing to the floor.
The man cowered, almost paralysed with fear. "Please, I beg of you!" he gasped. "I only wanted some rapunzel for my wife! She's with child and so desperately craved some. Yours is the only garden that grows the plant! Please, spare me!"
Madame Morrible paused thoughtfully for a long moment. "I shall spare you on one condition- that your child, when born, is given to me as payment for your theft."
The man was aghast with horror. "What? No! I couldn't- I won't! You can have whatever else you want, but I cannot give you my child. It would destroy my wife."
Morrible's eyes flared with rage momentarily, and the man flinched in apprehension. And then abruptly, she calmed herself and spoke smoothly.
"So be it."
She released him and the man made to flee back to his own home.
"Oh, neighbour?" she called after him politely when he was straddling the wall and he looked back at her in apprehension.
"Yes, Madame?" he asked in a trembling voice.
"Don't forget your rapunzel," she said, handing him the plant he had picked for his wife.
"Th-thank you," he stammered and hastily fled.
He didn't dare tell his wife what had happened, but they were both stunned the next day and every day after that when Madame Morrible delivered fresh rapunzel to their door. The subject of payment was never mentioned again, and the man was so grateful and relieved, he didn't dare bring it up.
Eventually, the time came for the long-awaited child to be born. The couple eagerly waited to meet the child they had wanted for so long. The village midwife came to assist with the birth.
"It's coming!" she called out.
"Now?" The husband cried out in panic, hurrying to his wife's side.
"The baby's coming!"
"And how!"
"I see a nose!"
"I see a curl!" the husband said to his wife excitedly.
"It's a healthy, perfect, lovely, little-" The midwife cut herself off with a gasp as the baby slid out and the man paled.
"Sweet Oz!"
The wife, despite her pain and exhaustion, tried to sit up and seeing the baby for herself, panicked at their reactions.
"What is it? What's wrong?"
"How can it be?" the midwife muttered.
"What does it mean?" The man asked, horrified.
"It's atrocious!" she exclaimed.
"It's obscene!"
"Like a froggy ferny cabbage, the baby is unnaturally green!" The new mother was completely as shocked and as horrified as the others, stunned by the indeed, green-skinned infant the midwife was holding up.
The couple were mortified. To have a child such as this was the highest shame possible and they had no idea what they were going to do now.
And then came a knock on the door.
Madame Morrible was a cunning and devious enchantress and she had carefully conducted a plan over the last few months. After demanding the couple's unborn child as payment for the stolen rapunzel and being refused, she had quickly devised a plan.
The rapunzel she had been 'generously' delivering to the expectant mother since that fateful night had been altered with a spell, to have the effect of turning the baby green.
Now, hearing the news that the baby had indeed been born green; she went and visited her neighbours with a proposition.
"The child will be utterly shamed and shunned from society her entire life," she said bluntly to the devastated couple. "She will never fit in here."
"Is there nothing you could do, Madame?" The wife asked hopefully. "Magically?"
Morrible supressed a smirk- she already had. "No, I'm afraid not. But I do have a proposal for you."
She proposed that she take the child and raise the girl herself, where she would be 'safe' and not ostracised for her unique verdigris. Reluctantly, believing it to be in their daughter's best interests, the couple agreed and Morrible left with their daughter.
Morrible named the girl Elphaba and took her away. She raised her, away from the rest of the village and when the girl was twelve, she moved her to a tower in the middle of the woods which had neither stairs or a door, effectively imprisoning the girl inside. Morrible did not live with Elphaba in the tower, but visited daily.
To get inside when she came to the tower, she would stand at the bottom and call out,
"Elphaba, let down your hair!"
Elphaba had long, beautiful black hair which Morrible had never allowed to be cut since birth. Henceforth, it was extremely long and always trailed upon the floor. When Elphaba let her hair out the window, Morrible could use it as a rope to hoist herself in and out of the tower.
Apart from her hair, the most beautiful thing about Elphaba was her singing voice. She sang like the angels themselves, not that anyone ever heard it.
Many years passed as Elphaba sat locked in her tower, until she was eighteen years old.
One day, a prince from a nearby kingdom was riding through the forest. His name was Fiyero and he did not usually travel through this part of the forest, for it was known to be dangerous as it bordered on the desert.
But fate led him through this particular forest path this day, and he suddenly drew his horse to a stop, as a strange sound caught his ear.
It sounded like a voice, but everyone knew the forest was uninhabited.
"Maybe it's just the wind," he murmured to himself, listening intently.
Curious, and unable to resist the temptation to follow and find the source of the unfamiliar sound, he led his horse deeper into the forest.
It was a voice, the beautiful voice of a female, and Fiyero was stunned when he eventually managed to track the voice through the forest and saw the tall stone tower in the centre of the clearing, masked by its surrounding trees.
"What on earth is someone doing living out here?" he asked himself and dismounted from his horse to investigate further.
But to his confusion, there was no door anywhere to enter the tower. The voice, singing sweetly, completely entranced Fiyero and he stood there at the bottom of the tower for ages, simply listening and wondering to whom the voice belonged.
The only way in or out he could see was a window, high up near the top of the tower, and he could not think how anyone would get in or out. None of the surrounding trees were high enough to reach the window and the mystery was enough to drive him crazy.
Eventually, his horse whinnied and Fiyero realised how long he had been standing there. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he mounted his horse and left, resolving to forget about the mysterious tower and the magical voice from within.
That proved impossible however. The girl's voice haunted Fiyero, to the point of distraction. He found himself going to back to the forest and the tower, day after day, just to listen to the beautiful songs drifting down in the wind. When he wasn't at the forest, he was constantly thinking about how someone would get into the tower with no door.
And then one day, Fiyero sat at the base of the tower in silence. It was much than he usually came, but he it was the only time he knew he'd be able to come that day.
He was startled to hear footsteps coming through the forest and jumped to his feet in alarm. Who else knew of the tower? Had he been followed? Quickly, he made the decision to hide in some nearby bushes.
He was surprised and confused to see an old, fish-faced woman come through the trees, but waited and watched eagerly. If she was planning to get inside the tower, how would she do it?
The woman stood at the base of the tower, almost in the exact spot Fiyero had been sitting moments before; and then she titled back her head and called up to the window.
"Elphaba! Let down your hair!"
Fiyero frowned and then his jaw dropped as masses of raven black hair fell gracefully from the open window, stopping at the perfect height for the old woman to wrap it around her waist like a rope and gave a small tug. And then Fiyero watched as the hair was hoisted back into the window, carrying the old woman with it.
He almost fell over in shock. Climbing a rope of hair? That was how you would get into the tower? Elphaba… could that be the name of the girl with the beautiful singing voice. Eagerly, he kept a close watch and only perhaps half an hour later, the woman was lowered to the ground by the rope of hair and she disappeared back into the forest without a backward glance.
Fiyero debated for a few moments- did he dare? Would the old woman come back? But the thought of the voice that had been haunting him for weeks overruled his sense of logic and before he could change his mind, he was standing beneath the window and calling out,
"Elphaba! Let down your hair!"
Sure enough, as he waited with bated breath, the locks of hair were once again thrown out the window. Fiyero took a good grip, noting the strands felt like silk in his hands, and gave a gentle tug. The hair was pulled back in, and Fiyero kept his eyes on the ever-closer window as he was hoisted off the ground.
Obviously, the girl was expecting to see the woman climbing through her window, and not Fiyero; and she gasped with shock, fleeing to the furthest corner of her tower away from Fiyero. But she wasn't the only one surprised. Fiyero hadn't really thought about what he'd find once he was through the window, but it certainly wasn't a young girl with large brown eyes, flowing black hair and emerald-green skin.
He suddenly felt both awkward and embarrassed, and not sure what to say.
"Er, hello."
Elphaba was frightened, she had seen few people in her life, all before she was twelve and had been moved to the tower, and certainly had never met a man before.
"Who are you?" she demanded faintly, still pressed against the furthest wall of the tower away from the stranger.
Fiyero cleared his throat and gave a small bow. "I am Prince Fiyero Tiggular. I'm sorry to frighten you."
Elphaba didn't relax in the slightest. "Did Madame Morrible send you?"
"No," he admitted, assuming Madame Morrible was the old woman he'd seen. "I- I heard you singing."
Elphaba blushed. She hadn't realised it was possible for anyone to hear her sing- not even Morrible had heard her voice.
"How did you know my name?" she demanded, still not sure if she could trust the strange man.
Fiyero had the grace to blush. "I've been listening to you sing for a long time now," he admitted sheepishly. "I'm usually here later in the day though. I heard the woman- Madame Morrible, did you call her? I heard her call out to you."
"She always visits in the morning," Elphaba replied. Then she looked frightened again. "What do you want from me?"
Fiyero was startled by the question. "Nothing!" he answered hastily. "I just- I wanted to get to know you. You have the most beautiful voice I've ever heard… it's why I kept coming back. And… I couldn't imagine why someone would be living in a tower in the middle of the forest alone, with no way to get out."
Elphaba lowered her eyes. "No one should have to be subjected to the sight of my skin," she murmured, repeating what Madame Morrible had been telling her all her life.
Fiyero took a small step forward. "I don't mind your skin," he said softly and her eyes flew up to meet his.
He smiled encouragingly and took a deep breath, extending his hand. "Can we please start over? Hello, my name is Fiyero."
Elphaba hesitated for a moment and then stepped forward to take his hand. "I'm Elphaba."
Fiyero's smile widened as he gently kissed the back of her hand. "Hello, Elphaba."
She flinched at the contact and stiffened, but his eyes were kind.
"I won't hurt you Elphaba," he said softly. "I promise you."
They sat down and began to talk, and as they did, Elphaba slowly relaxed. She remembered little of her life outside the tower and the world around it, and Fiyero was more than happy to tell her everything she asked about. They talked of books and music, and eventually, as the sky began to darken, Fiyero knew he had to leave.
"May I come back?" he asked her hesitantly, as Elphaba lowered her hair out the window for him to climb down.
Elphaba met his eyes shyly and nodded. "Yes. Come in the afternoons. Madame Morrible only ever comes in the mornings."
Fiyero grinned and nodded. "I will. Goodbye, Miss Elphaba."
She blushed slightly. "Goodbye, Prince Fiyero."
And so began their routine. Every afternoon, Fiyero would climb Elphaba's hair through the tower window and they would sit for hours and talk. He would bring her gifts, food, music or books, and she would hide it all carefully in the tower, where Morrible would never find it- should she ever have cause to look. Fiyero would stay until the sky darkened and then he would reluctantly leave.
One twilight, before climbing out the window, he turned to Elphaba and took both her hands gently in his.
"Elphaba…"
He wasn't sure how to ask, but she met his eyes steadily and Fiyero's words failed him. So instead, he gently lowered his head and brushed his lips against hers.
"Goodnight," he whispered when he drew away and left her staring at him in amazement.
It wasn't long before Fiyero proclaimed his love for Elphaba and he was thrillified when she returned his sentiments. He had been visiting her for three months when he asked her to marry him and Elphaba didn't hesitate before agreeing.
"Madame Morrible won't approve," she warned him. "She's always said I will never leave the tower. She might hurt you, Yero. She's a very powerful enchantress."
Fiyero grinned at his fiancée. "Oh, don't you worry. I have a plan, my sweet green girl."
Fiyero's plan was simple. Each day when he came to visit, he would bring silk with him. Elphaba would weave the silk into a ladder, and when it was completed, she would use it to escape the tower and they would go back to Fiyero's kingdom and be married, all before Madame Morrible was any the wiser.
Elphaba agreed with the plan, and was resolved it would not be long to weave the silk into a long enough ladder. Fiyero continued to come every afternoon and he began to stay longer and longer, until eventually he was only leaving the tower as the sun was rising.
The two were desperately in love, and Elphaba couldn't wait until she would escape the tower and Madame Morrible and finally be able to be with Fiyero. Between when Morrible left and when Fiyero arrived, Elphaba would sit and weave all the silk Fiyero brought her into a long ladder, that would be secure enough to hold her weight.
It took two months, five months after the first meeting between Elphaba and Fiyero, but the ladder was almost complete. Only a few more days, she had told Fiyero before he slipped out her window that morning; a few more days and they would be free.
That morning, when Morrible came, she brought Elphaba some new material.
"I thought you might be able to use a few new dresses for the winter," she explained as she handed it over.
"Yours are a little old now."
"Thank you, Madame," Elphaba said graciously. "However, I don't think it was really necessary. My dresses should suffice for now."
Morrible frowned critically at the green girl. She had noticed on her last visit that the girl's dresses appeared tighter than usual, and that had prompted her gift of the new material.
"I don't think so. Have you looked at yourself lately, girl? Perhaps you've been indulging on sweets too much. We should measure you again."
Elphaba blanched. She may be naïve, but she wasn't ignored nor stupid, and she knew exactly why her dresses seems tighter than usual, and why she was so keen to escape the tower as soon as possible.
She tried to argue and change the subject, but the more she did, the more suspicious Morrible became and the more she insisted. Becoming impatient and frustrated, Morrible finally grabbed Elphaba's arm and pulled her to her. She forced her to undress to be measured, and as soon as she saw the subtle curve of her belly, Morrible knew what was going on.
"How did this happen? Who have you let in here?" she demanded furiously, shaking Elphaba.
Elphaba was terrified of the enchantress's rage, but refused to give Fiyero away, for fear he would be harmed.
"How did a man get in here, girl?"
"The same way you do," was all Elphaba replied and Morrible's eyes darkened.
"Well, we'll see about that."
She seized a pair of scissors and cut off Elphaba's long hair. Then she made the pregnant girl dress herself again, climb down her own hair and sent her off into the forest to fend for herself.
When Fiyero arrived that afternoon, he was in good spirits. Elphaba's promise rang in his ears and he was sure that the silk he had brought with him would be enough. Soon, they would leave and he could make Elphaba his wife.
"Elphaba! Let down your hair!" he called up to the window, and sure enough, the long, black tresses were let down for him.
He climbed through the window, expecting to see Elphaba's loving face. Instead, he saw the old enchantress he had seen five months before that had led him to meeting Elphaba; and saw what he recognised immediately as Elphaba's hair pooled on the floor, one end tied to the rafters, which was how the witch had hauled him up through the window.
"Where's Elphaba?" he asked worriedly, not seeing her in the tower and Morrible cackled.
Whilst waiting for the prince to arrive, as she had been sure he would eventually, she had torn the tower apart and found the silk ladder and all the gifts he had brought Elphaba in the past five months which Elphaba had so carefully hidden.
"Where's Elphaba? Elphaba is somewhere will you will never see her again! I've cast her out into the desert, and you will never find her. She's lost to you, boy."
Panicked by that thought, knowing how treacherous the desert was at the best of times, and thinking only of finding the woman he loved, Fiyero grabbed hold of the hair rope and swung himself out the window.
Furious, Morrible grabbed the scissors once again, and cut through the hair tied to the rafters and heard Fiyero's yell as he fell the remaining distance to the ground. It was only then, as she laughed vindictively, that she realised she was now trapped in the tower, with no way of getting out. For the rope ladder Elphaba had painstakingly made, had been destroyed in the enchantress' fury and was not yet long enough to reach the ground.
Fiyero didn't hear Morrible's scream of fury, he had been rendered unconscious by the fall as he hit his head. And when he awoke, he was startled to realise he could not see anything. He was blind.
Although panicked, his one thought was how to find and save Elphaba, sight or no sight. So, using his well-trained hunting skills, he slowly made his way through the forest and into the desert. It had struck him that he wasn't even sure if Morrible had been telling the truth about that, but it was all he had to go on.
He wandered through the desert for months, not quite sure where he was going, but determined to find Elphaba or die trying. And then one day, three weeks after he'd begun searching, he heard a familiar sound and stopped in his tracks.
It was Elphaba's hauntingly beautiful voice, singing softly and Fiyero's heartbeat quickened as he followed the voice.
Elphaba was somehow managing to survive, she had found an old well and had not strayed far, fearful of losing her only source of water in the desert. She was drawing water, and humming softly to herself when a voice called her name.
"Elphaba?"
Her head whipped up and she gasped as she recognised Fiyero coming towards her.
"Fiyero!"
She ran to him and when she realised he could not see, she cried. Where he had hit his head was bruised and swollen and infected and she carefully administrated first aid and took care of him, even as they rejoiced in their reunion. He told her about Morrible and it was Elphaba who realised the enchantress would be trapped in the tower. She told him she was expecting his child and Fiyero was thrillified, vowing to be a good father, even if his sight never returned.
And when they awoke one morning to find Fiyero's sight returning, they both cried again. Fiyero took her back to his kingdom and introduced her to his parents and explained what had happened. The king and queen tracked down Elphaba's parents, who were overwhelmed to see their daughter again and apologised over and over again for giving her up to Madame Morrible. They had had no idea their daughter had been trapped in a tower for years.
And eventually, Elphaba gave birth to twin boys, neither of them with their mother's skin colour. No one ever bothered to check on Madame Morrible, imprisoned by her own actions in the tower, and the king forbade anyone from ever entering that area of the woods again.
And Elphaba and Fiyero lived happily ever after.