AN: Yay, most of you got it right! Chapter 7's title was from "When We're Human" :). (Sorry, Nia. No pie for you. :P)
9. Dreams Do Come True
Elphaba breathed in deeply, an involuntary smile spreading across her face as the smell of dusty pages and wax candles filled her nose. The library was by far her favourite place in all of Shiz. If she were to be completely honest, though, there were very few places here that she did not love. She liked the old buildings with the modern classrooms, which were filled with the smell of chalk; she loved walking around outside, past the buildings, courtyards, and fountains, but also by the canal or in the park; and she even liked her apartment, which was situated just off-campus and looked out across the park and canal. It was small, but nice and clean and completely fungus-free. She didn't just have a bed and a desk now, but also a table with two chairs, bookshelves, a wardrobe, and a fully furnished bathroom.
She enjoyed her lectures and the studying in general. She often spent entire days locked up in either her room or the library, eagerly taking in everything there was to learn, reading books and articles and taking notes. Most of the other students still gave her strange looks because of her skin, but there were some that treated her decently enough, which was nice. All in all, she was happy.
"Hey, Elphaba," one of the students she sometimes ate lunch with called out to her. "This handsome man just came up to me and asked me to tell you he's happy for you. Do you have any idea what that's about?"
"What?" Elphaba blinked in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
The other girl shrugged. "I don't know. He was really cute, though, and he looked kind of familiar. He said he saw me talking to you after class this afternoon and asked me if I could deliver a message to you. I had to say that he's happy for you. Then he just left again."
"Is this some ridiculous attempt to try and play matchmaker between me and some random boy?" Elphaba asked suspiciously, but the other girl shook her head.
"As awesome as that sounds, it's not," she assured the green girl. "I would have thought of something better than "I'm happy for you" if this had been a plot of mine. I'd have told you the guy said his heart is singing with desire for you, or something like that."
Elphaba chuckled. "And you think I'd have bought that?"
"I could have tried." The girl smirked and waved before leaving for her next class.
Elphaba pondered the strange message as she spent the rest of the evening studying in the library and she was still thinking about it when she finally returned to her own apartment. She yawned and cleared away her things before disappearing into the bathroom to change into her nightgown. She re-emerged and hung up her dress, smiling as she opened her wardrobe to hang it on the railing inside. At least Fiyero had gotten his wish about her living in a decent apartment.
Her smile melted right off her face as realisation suddenly hit her. Fiyero. Who else could it have been? But why had he been here? Why in Oz had he come to Shiz and then left again without even saying hello to her? Didn't that other girl say he had seen the two of them talking after class?
She closed the closet and opened a drawer in her nightstand, pulling out the note Fiyero had written her to go with the thousand he'd slipped into her box back in Pertha Hills. She was only here right now because of him. She owed him so much, and she still thought of him a lot; but when he had stopped writing to her a while ago, she had convinced herself to stop hoping for them to work out a way to be together after all. It had been nice, but it was over now.
But if that was the case, then why had he come here?
The question didn't leave her alone for another couple of days. Then she received two surprising letters.
The first one was from Galinda.
"Elphie, you'll never guess who was here last week," the blonde wrote. "Fiyero came all the way here to try and find you again! Isn't that sweet? We told him you were at Shiz – by now he is probably already there, isn't he? Or has he left already? He has duties back home, of course, but Neomi and Lairan and I just loved the fact that he came back for you. It's so romantic. I told you he loves you, Elphie, I told you! Now please tell me you didn't push him away for stupid reasons! (Yes, I know you.) Just give it a try. He'll make you happy – in fact, he already has. Don't let that slip away."
Elphaba re-read the letter three times, but it did nothing to alleviate her confusion. At least she had confirmation now that it had really been him, but she didn't understand.
She thought of what her fellow student had said – that Fiyero had asked her to tell Elphaba that he was happy for her. What did that mean?
The second letter came from Munchkinland and she was apprehensive to open it; but when she did, she recognised Nessa's handwriting.
"Dear Fabala," Nessa wrote. "I have missed you so much! Father wouldn't tell me if he had heard anything from you, how you were doing, or where you were. I've been so worried, but I didn't know how to find you. He changed his mind because a man came here yesterday, saying he knew you and that he knew how much you missed talking to me. I don't know what he told Father, but they talked a long time in private and by the time they were done, Father agreed to let me stay in touch with you through letters. I am so happy, Fabala. Please let me know what you've been doing these past years and how you are now. I can't wait to hear from you!"
Fiyero had gone to Munchkinland? Speechless, she lowered the letter. That man was full of surprises, but she still didn't understand why he was doing all these things for her and yet had not come to see her.
She could write to him and ask, of course, but she was reluctant to do so. It took a long time for letters to travel across Oz and if he chose not to reply, she would never know. And she wanted to know. She would know. If Elphaba Thropp was anything – besides green – it was stubborn, and right then, she set her mind to finding out what in Oz Fiyero was trying to accomplish.
And yes, fine, she'd admit it to herself: she'd like to see him again. She'd missed him. Everything reminded her of him, from the coffeehouse on campus where she worked now to her money box and from the park at Shiz to her apartment – especially her wardrobe.
She'd go to the Vinkus this weekend, she decided. She'd have to ask her boss to give her two days off, but she was sure that wouldn't be a problem – he was kind and always willing to accommodate his employees. She'd leave on Friday, straight after her classes, and she'd make sure to be back before class started again on Monday. That only left her about a day to spend with Fiyero, but that was okay. She just wanted answers. She couldn't take this not knowing anymore; it felt like her head and her heart were constantly at war with one another and just when she'd thought the matter had been settled, it was starting all over again. Part of her was angry with Fiyero for coming after her now, after so many months, just when she'd started thinking she would be okay on her own... but another part of her was excited and hopeful. She didn't want to be hopeful. There had been very little for her to be hopeful about in her life and she hated the feeling of disappointment that always inevitably came, no matter what.
She shouldn't be going to the Vinkus. She should spare herself that disappointment and stay here, focus on her study and her dream and what would come after that, not on some stupid romance she'd had that probably didn't mean anything to the guy in question. But she was too curious and too stubborn to let it go and so she decided to go. Just once. And if this did not work out, she would return to Shiz and never look back.
"You're a coward," Fiyero told his mirror image. "An idiot. The biggest, most cowardly idiot alive, in fact. Did you really just tell some random girl to tell Elphaba that you are happy for her? What in Oz is wrong with you?"
"Would you like a list?" Paro quipped as he entered the room and saw his cousin talking to himself. "I would start with the fact that you are talking to a mirror."
Fiyero glared at him.
"And I would follow that by the fact that you are travelled all the way to Pertha Hills, and then to Shiz, and then to Oz-forsaken Munchkinland, only to come back empty-handed," Paro continued. "You didn't even talk to her? What did you do at Shiz, then, anyway? Why did you go if you were just going to chicken out at the last clock-tick?"
"I didn't "chicken out", okay?" Fiyero snapped. "I just... saw her, and she looked so happy. She's doing fine without me, Paro. I didn't want to mess that up for her."
"Fiyero," Paro said patiently. "Is she mentally disabled?"
"What?" Fiyero looked at his friend in confusion. "No."
"Is she a child?"
"No, of course not."
"Then what makes you think you have the right to make decisions for her?"
That shut the prince up.
"She's a grown woman, Fiyero," Paro said. "You told me she's been making a living for herself for years already. It sounds like she knows how to take care of herself. If she didn't want you back in her life, she would have told you so. You just never gave her the chance to do that because you're too afraid she doesn't want you anymore. You're afraid of rejection and that, dear Yero, is the real reason why you did not talk to her."
"Well, maybe it is," Fiyero said irritably. "So what? Isn't everyone scared of something?"
"Of course." Paro placed a hand on the prince's shoulder. "You just shouldn't let it hold you back."
Fiyero sighed and flopped down into a chair. "So I am a coward."
"What did your parents say?" Paro asked as he sat down across from his cousin.
Fiyero shrugged. "Not much. Dad thinks I'm stupid for not going up to her or even letting her see me. Mum claims she won't judge me and she says that maybe it just isn't meant to be, but Dad told her that was stupid, too, because nothing works out just like that – you have to work for it. And then he told me I was stupid again."
Paro grinned. "That sounds like Uncle Hum."
"I just don't know what to do," Fiyero whined. "I want her to be happy, and she is now. I also want to be happy, of course, but... but I don't know how to do that. What if I did talk to her and we got back together somehow and I mess it up?"
"Still sounds like you're scared to me," Paro said casually, flexing his fingers.
"I just don't want to ruin my life. Or hers. Paro, I'm Fiyero Tiggular."
"Really? I hadn't noticed."
Fiyero grumbled something under his breath. "What I mean is that I don't do relationships. I have one-night stands. I have make-out sessions and sex and sometimes I stick around a girl for a couple of days. I'm the scandalacious playboy prince who can throw amazing parties and has even more amazing kissing skills. What I'm not good at is relationships. Okay?"
"No," said Paro. "Not okay. You're sabotaging yourself before you even give it a chance. Did you have an argument that does not involve you being scared of one thing or another? Because being scared is not a good enough reason not to do something, Yero. If you let fear hold you back, you might as well just lock yourself away in a room and never come out again."
There was a knock on the open door. Both boys looked up to see a servant standing there.
"Excuse me, Your Highness," he said. "You have a guest – a young woman named Elphaba Thropp? She... she's green." He was clearly confused by that fact.
Fiyero and Paro exchanged a baffled, but excited look.
"Where is she?" the prince demanded and the servant blinked at him.
"I let her into the formal sitting room," he said. Before he had even finished talking, Fiyero and Paro had already stormed past him.
I was going to say "They're almost there!", and then I realised how perfectly fitting that is for this story. *sing-song voice* Trials and tribulations, they've had their share... but they've climbed the mountain, they've crossed the river, and they're almost there!
