AN: If I tell you that I ended this chapter with a cliffy, just because some of you were begging me not to... do you think I'm cruel? Hm... Cruel Queen of Cliffies. I like that. Alliteration :D.

Mixed/not so mixed feelings towards Graydon, huh? Trust me, there will be more of that. This chapter reveals his life story, and soon Sortres will be introduced.

Chapter 7. Found And Lost

'It's nothing personal,' the man told her as he was holding a gun against the head of her daughter. 'All this is about is money.'

'I'll give you all the money you want if you let her go,' Elphaba said immediately. She contemplated using her powers for a moment, but she was reluctant to do so. She still couldn't always control them; if she made one mistake, Elyssah would be dead, and that was a risk she couldn't take.

Graydon shook his head. 'Where I come from, we don't make deals based on people's words,' he declared. 'No one can be trusted. I can't just let you walk away and trust you to give me my money instead of having me thrown into jail…' Or sentence me to the gallows, he added in his mind. Kidnapping the princess was bad, but by also threatening to murder her, he had pretty much signed his own death warrant.

Elyssah started crying softly. 'Mommy…'

The sound broke Elphaba's heart, and in that moment, she knew what she had to do. She straightened her back. 'Take me instead of her.'

Graydon's eyes grew wide – he hadn't expected that. 'What?'

'You heard me,' she said.

He was completely baffled. 'But… but why?'

'Mommy!' Elyssah struggled weakly, but froze again when she felt the cold metal of the gun pressing against her temple once more. She sniffled.

Elphaba offered her a reassuring smile before looking back up at Graydon. 'She's only a little girl,' she pleaded softly. 'She's five years old. Just let her go back to her father, and take me instead.'

He hesitated. Was this a trap? Why would she do this?

'Fiyero will pay as much ransom for me as he would for her,' Elphaba added in a final, desperate attempt to convince him. 'Please…'

He looked at the sobbing child he was holding, then at the woman in front of him, the despair clearly visible in her dark brown eyes. And in that moment, he didn't see Elphaba and Elyssah. He saw his own wife, trying to sacrifice herself for their daughter, and he had to close his eyes for a moment to wipe the image from his mind.

He stepped back a little, into the house, pulling Elyssah with him. For a moment, Elphaba's eyes widened in panic, thinking that he was going to shoot the little girl; but then he gestured towards the green girl with the gun. 'Get in. Close the door behind you. And no surprises, or your daughter is dead.'

She quickly stepped inside and closed the door, and Graydon sighed, then nodded. 'I'll let her go in exchange for you as my hostage.'

Elphaba let out the breath she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. 'Thank you,' she said quietly, and he nodded brusquely. 'But I'm not going to take her back to the castle or something,' he warned her. 'And I am also not above shooting you if you resist. I need you alive, but that doesn't mean I can't blow a hole in your leg.'

She bit her lip and nodded. 'Understood.'

He let go of Elyssah, and the girl flew towards her mother. 'Mommy!'

Elphaba caught her and hugged her tightly, squeezing her eyes shut and thanking Lurline that her daughter was safe. 'I love you, Lys.'

'Love you too, Mommy.' Elyssah sobbed quietly and Elphaba pulled away a little to look at her. 'Sweetie, listen to me.'

Elyssah nodded and her mother smoothed some raven hair away from her face. 'When you get out of here,' she said, 'just follow the road, and you'll reach a village. Go up to the first house you see, okay? Tell the people who live there who you are, and they'll make sure you get back to Daddy. Okay?'

'What about you, Mommy?' the girl asked in a small voice, and Elphaba hugged her again, fighting to keep her own tears at bay. 'I can take care of myself, a chiste. I'll be fine. Don't worry.'

The sight caused a tightening sensation in Graydon's chest. It was almost enough for him to blow off the entire thing and let them both go home – if only so that he could go home himself to hug his family and never let them go again.

Almost.

'Time's up,' he barked. 'Let her go now or you're both staying here.'

Elphaba hugged her daughter one last time. 'I love you, Lys. Always remember that. Stay safe, and take care of Daddy for me, will you?'

Elyssah hugged her back. 'I will, Mommy.'

Then Graydon took the girl's hand and took her outside, giving her a small push in the direction of the village. 'Go now.'

She looked back at him once. He nodded towards the village again and then she turned around and broke into a run.

When Fiyero finally reached the small village where the tip about his daughter had come from, the Royal soldiers that had been waiting for him approached him immediately. They bowed. 'Your Highness.'

Fiyero jumped off his horse and threw the reins towards one of the men. 'Is there any news?' he asked anxiously.

'Actually,' one of the soldiers said, smiling warmly at the distraught prince. 'We found your daughter.'

Relief washed all over him. 'You did?' Then he felt cold chills running down his spine. 'Wait. Is she alright?'

'She's perfectly fine, Your Highness,' another soldier assured him. 'We don't know exactly what happened, but one of the people here found her running into the village this morning, and the baker and his wife took the girl in. She was upset, but the local doctor has already checked her over and physically she is perfectly alright. She keeps asking about you.'

Fiyero exhaled slowly, feeling as if a heavy weight had suddenly been lifted from his shoulders. 'Where is she now?'

'Still at the baker's,' a soldier said. 'Come on, I'll show you.'

Fiyero followed the man through the village until he knocked on the door of a house. Immediately, there was a sound of hurried footsteps coming from inside. A woman opened the door and she smiled and curtsied for Fiyero. 'Your Highness.'

'Daddy!' A small whirlwind of violet fabric and ebony hair came dashing towards him, and before he knew it, his daughter was in his arms again, sobbing her heart out against his shoulder. 'Daddy…'

He clutched her to his chest, burying his face in her soft hair. 'Thank Oz,' he murmured into her hair, tears stinging his eyes. 'Thank Oz…'

Elyssah cried, locking her arms tightly around his neck, and he looked over her shoulder at the baker's wife, who was standing in the doorway with a smile on her face and tears in her own eyes as well. He locked eyes with her. 'Thank you,' he said sincerely.

She waved him away. 'It was nothing, Your Highness,' she assured him. 'I couldn't very well leave her out on the street, could I? And she's been a little angel from the moment she arrived.' She gently patted the little girl's head. 'See now, lass? Everything is going to be alright again now. Your Daddy is here.'

For some reason, that only made Elyssah cry harder, and Fiyero gave the woman a faint smile. 'Must be the shock,' he said, and she nodded understandingly. 'Thank you for all your help,' he continued. 'A generous reward will be distributed among the people of this village for finding my daughter.'

The baker's wife's eyes widened and she curtsied again. 'Thank you, Your Highness.'

She closed the door behind him and he moved back towards the square of the village, where his men were waiting for him. They all smiled when they saw the little princess, safely enveloped in her father's arms.

Fiyero gently put Elyssah back on her feet and crouched down in front of her, taking her hands. 'How are you feeling, princess? Are you okay? Did anyone hurt you?'

The girl shook her head, sending her raven hair flying around her face. 'No… but Mommy…'

It was as if ice cold fingers suddenly closed around Fiyero's heart. When no one had mentioned Elphaba, he had just figured that he had somehow arrived at the village before her and that she would come soon, and when his men had told him that Elyssah had been found, he had been so focused on that... He hadn't taken into account once that even though Elyssah might be fine, perhaps Elphaba was not.

'What happened to Mommy, princess?' he asked softly, and she sniffled. 'She- she found me,' she said. 'But… but then the man took me and he had a gun and he said he would kill me if Mommy tried anything…'

Fiyero tried not to shiver at the thought.

'And…' The girl sniffled again. 'Then she said…' She started crying again. 'She said that he could have her if he let me go!' she sobbed.

'Wait, wait, wait.' Fiyero tilted her chin up a little so that she had to look at him. 'They have her now?'

Elyssah nodded, still sobbing, and Fiyero closed his eyes for a moment. Elyssah wrapped her arms around his neck again and he held her close to him, burying his face in her raven hair and willing himself not to cry. He couldn't break down in front of his daughter. He had to be the strong one now.

Yero my hero.

He swallowed.

'Drink this.' Graydon handed Elphaba a cup.

She took it, but didn't drink from it. 'What is in it?' she asked calmly, and something about her made him decide not to lie to her. 'Something that will make you fall asleep,' he said. 'If you found this cottage, it probably means others, like your husband, are on their way here as well, and so we have to leave. I have a carriage waiting out the back, but I don't trust you to not make a fuss or try to escape as we go. I also don't want you to see where we're going, just in case you manage to get in touch with someone out there through those magic powers of yours. You can't help them find you if you yourself don't know where you are.'

Sortres had given him the address of another refuge, should something like this happen, and that was where he planned on taking Elphaba. And this time, he wouldn't let anyone see his hostage.

She nodded. 'What exactly are you planning on doing with me?'

'Nothing,' he answered truthfully. 'I'm going to keep you with me while my superiors take care of the ransom money. As soon as we have it, you're free to go, and you'll never see me again.'

'So you just want money?' she asked, looking up at him as she sat on the bed. 'That's all there is to it?'

He nodded. 'That's all, Your Highness. I'm not trying to be the bad guy here. I don't want to hurt anyone and I don't take pleasure in kidnappings. I just want to be able to feed and clothe my family.'

She thought about that for a moment, then nodded. 'Alright.'

He was surprised. 'What?'

She held up the cup with the mysterious liquid. 'I trust you,' she said, and he let out a barking, mirthless laugh. 'You shouldn't.'

'I know. But I'm doing it anyway.' With that, she brought the cup to her lips and emptied it all at once.

She put the empty cup on the nightstand. 'How long before it takes effect?' she asked, but as the words were leaving her mouth, they sounded strange to her own ears, muffled, like she was under water. Her head started spinning and her vision went dark, and she fell backwards onto the bed.

Graydon approached her and lifted her up in his arms. 'Not long,' he told her sleeping form.

He took her out the back door and gently put her down inside the carriage, closing the door; then he took the reins of the horse and steered it towards the road.

They rode on for a few hours without stopping, and by the time they reached the cottage that would be their new refuge for the next few days, dusk was already setting in. He had abandoned the carriage in a village a few miles ago and had moved Elphaba to the horse, rising on through the forest until they reached the cottage.

Once they arrived, he lifted her off the horse and brought her inside, putting her down on the bed before moving to the kitchen to make himself something to eat. When he walked back into the living room, he looked through the open door into the bedroom and saw that she was awake.

'Hey,' he said, moving into the room and putting some tea and toast on the nightstand for her. 'How do you feel?'

She brought one hand to her head. 'Dizzy,' she muttered. 'Headache.'

'That's normal. You'll be fine again soon.' He hesitated. 'You can sleep here,' he then said. 'I'll take the couch.'

She pushed herself up a little, propping herself up onto her elbows, brow furrowed. 'Why?'

He looked at her, confused. 'Why what?'

She shook her head slowly. 'I can't read you,' she said. 'First you kidnap my daughter and threaten her with a gun. Then you allow me to take her place, knock me out with a strange beverage and take me to some cabin in the woods, and now you're making me tea and food and offer me to take the couch so that I can sleep in a bed? What kind of kidnapper are you?'

Something about her tone made him feel like he should be offended, but he wasn't, really. He just shrugged. 'Not the everyday kind, apparently.'

She snorted softly in agreement. 'You could say that.'

'What? Would you rather have me throw you into a cold, dark cell to rot?' he asked pointedly. She shook her head. 'No, of course not. I'm not saying that I mind,' she explained to him. 'I was just wondering… why?'

He sat himself down on the edge of the bed, a reasonable distance away from her. 'It's true, what I told you earlier,' he said. 'I'm only in this for the money.'

'You don't strike me as a greedy person.'

'I thought you said I was hard to read.'

'Not all of you.' She tilted her head a little to the side. 'But somehow, I'm having trouble believing that you're just doing this because you want a big mansion and expensive clothes.'

He was silent for a while, considering telling her everything. Sortres had warned him about not growing too close to his victims, but he didn't really understand why. It wasn't like he was going to kill her in the end, or something. He would never do something like that, no matter how much money his brother offered him.

'My brother and I… we've never had much,' he began quietly. 'Our parents died when I was three years old and Sortres seven, and we ended up in an orphanage. We went to several foster homes, but there were always problems… Sortres was emotionally damaged by the death of our parents, and he became… difficult to handle.'

He fidgeted a little. 'We always ended up being sent back to the orphanage in the end because the families couldn't deal with Sortres. When we were sixteen, we were kicked out and expected to make a living for ourselves.'

Elphaba stayed very still. When this man had talked about being able to feed and clothe his family, she had started wondering whether there were really people that poor living in the Vinkus, and now she wondered if Hamold and Lori knew about these things. They were the King and Queen and they tried to take care of their people the best they could, but they didn't know everything. If they knew about this, they would do something, Elphaba was sure of that. And if they wouldn't do it, she and Fiyero certainly would.

'I fell in love with this wonderful girl,' Graydon continued, 'but her family wasn't rich, either. We were young and in love, and we thought everything would turn out alright in the end… we managed. There were days when we barely got by, but we managed.' He took a breath. 'And then Daeni was born.'

'Your daughter?' Elphaba guessed, and Graydon nodded, a smile on his face. 'She's the most beautiful girl you have ever seen. Dark brown hair, bright green eyes. She…' He swallowed. 'She looks a little bit like your own daughter.'

Was it stupid, Elphaba wondered, that she was starting to feel sorry for him? Whether it was or it wasn't, she did. His life clearly hadn't been easy.

'She's amazing,' he continued softly. 'But she's… ill. She has a lung disease that could be fatal if she isn't given the proper medication.'

He was clearly trying his hardest to fight back his tears, and though he was failing, Elphaba pretended not to notice.

'We can't afford it,' he whispered. 'We get her the medication when she gets too sick, but when we do, there's no more money left to buy her proper food or warm clothes. Our roof is leaking, our house ready to fall apart. My wife has been wearing the same dress for over two years, and I feel like I'm failing them. Both of them. Sooner or later, Daeni will need even more medication, and if we won't be able to pay for it… she'll die.'

He looked up at Elphaba again, pain visible in his gray eyes. 'That's why I'm doing this.'

She remained silent, mulling this new information over in her head. Somehow, this all made sense, she realised. Her first gut feeling about him had been right. He wasn't cruel, just desperate.

'I understand,' she said, and he blinked at her. 'You do?'

She flashed him a tired smile. 'I'm a mother,' she said simply. 'You couldn't prevent your daughter from getting sick; I couldn't prevent mine from getting kidnapped. I know what it feels like to fail as a parent.'

He cringed slightly. 'I'm sorry.'

She shook her head. 'I get it now.' She looked at him. 'Look… What's your name, anyway?' she suddenly asked. 'If we're going to be stuck with one another, I might as well know.'

'Graydon,' he said, and she nodded. 'Look, Graydon… I don't know how this is going to end,' she began.

'I don't know if I'm just going to walk away from here in a few days, or if something else will happen that will turn everything around. But I promise you that if I ever make it back to the castle alive, I will make sure that your family is taken care of. Whether by that time you are the richest man in the Vinkus or spending the rest of your life in jail.'

He looked up in surprise. 'Really?'

She nodded. 'Under one condition.'

'Which is?' he asked, and then he could see a fire burning brightly in her dark chocolate eyes as she said in a low voice, 'Do not ever, under any circumstances, point a gun at my daughter ever again.'

He started laughing, suddenly feeling much lighter. 'I promise.'

'Good.' She reached for the cup on the nightstand, but froze when there came a knock on the door. 'Who is that?'

Graydon cursed softly under his breath – had someone found them? He moved towards the window and peeked outside, fearing the worst.

When he saw the man standing outside the cottage, though, his heart sank. Even though it wasn't Elphaba's husband or a member of the military squad, it still wasn't someone he really wanted to see right now.

'It's Sortres.'