Wow! 10 reviews for the last chapter! Maybe I should be mean more often!
AnOreoForElphie: Of course I'll give Fiyero a hug for you! He deserves some fangirl hugs right now.
Ultimate Queen of Cliffies: We shall find out more about the letter soon. And feel free to get the Nia Hunters *Cackle*
ElphieNeedsAHug: *Dodges magic ball* What the… *Turns around and sees hole in wall* I'm glad that didn't hit me… And yes, we can make #NiaAbsolutlyHasNoChillWhatSoEver a thing! Because it's true! *Smirk*
Indy's Green Hat: I can promise you that Fiyero won't "Fiyero it up" with every girl.
After unpacking, Fiyero decided to walk around the campus to try and clear his head a bit. Half of him hoped that he would run into Elphaba and the other half of him hoped that he wouldn't. His emotions were so conflicted he didn't even try to separate them. He walked into the Shiz café and his eyes quickly fell on a certain brunette and he quickly walked over to her.
Nessa heard footsteps approaching her and looked up, frowning at the sight of the prince. "What do you want?"
"Where's Elphaba?"
Nessa frowned. "That's none of your business."
"Nessa, stop being difficult and just tell me."
"She's still in Munchkinland."
"Why?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Ozdamnit, Nessa! Just tell me!" the prince grunted, not in the mood for dealing with the younger Thropp.
"She's in the hospital."
"What?"
"She's in the hospital."
"What happened?"
"Nothing. Mind your own business, Fiyero!"
"What did you do to her?" Fiyero asked, more harshly than he intended.
Nessa's eyes widened in surprise. "What did you just say?"
"What. Did. You. Do. To. Her?"
"What do you mean 'What did I do to her'?"
"Everything was going fine, then over the break, I get a letter from Elphaba saying that she's breaking up with me. She gave me back the bracelet and I want to know what you did to her?"
"How dare you!" Nessa hissed. "I am her sister. I love her more than anything. I would never do anything to hurt her! How dare you accuse me of such a thing!"
"I know you did something, Nessa. Elphaba wouldn't have done this on her own."
"That's where you're wrong. I know my sister more than anyone else does. I don't need to influence her decisions. She can make those on her own."
Fiyero was seething. Something told him that something wasn't right. "You're lying, Nessa."
The wheelchair-bound girl's face hardened. "Don't blame me because your relationship with my sister didn't last more than a week."
"We were very good friends before I asked her to be my girlfriend!"
"So why are you blaming me because she changed her mind? People change their mind, Fiyero. It's not the end of the world. You can get any other girl you want."
"I don't want any other girl. I want Fae."
"Well, maybe she just doesn't want you," Nessa said before unlocking her wheelchair and wheeling away, almost running over Fiyero's feet.
Four days later, Nessa waited at the Shiz gate. A cold wind blew and she shivered slightly. She didn't look happy. The sound of a carriage approaching caused her to look up. Her frown deepened when she saw the door open and her sister carefully stepped out. "You shouldn't be back here."
"Hello to you, too, Nessa," Elphaba deadpanned, taking her suitcases.
"You should have stayed home."
"I'm feeling better, thanks for asking."
Nessa sighed. "What must it take for you to realize that –" She stopped short, realizing that she was talking to air. She turned around and saw Elphaba marching down the path to the dorms. She hurried after her, calling her name.
"I thought that you would want me to get out of the cold as soon as possible," Elphaba said evenly without turning around once she sensed that her sister was close enough.
Nessa bit her lip and didn't comment. "I've missed you," she said softly after a while.
That made Elphaba stop and turn around, placing her suitcases down. "I've missed you, too," she said as she hugged her sister.
"I was so worried about you."
"I know you were. But I'm fine now."
Nessa smiled as her sister's body heat warmed her, but pulled away when she felt Elphaba shiver. "Come on. Let's go inside."
"Have you seen the bracelet Fiyero gave me? I couldn't find it anywhere," Elphaba asked as they continued to talk to the dorms.
"Where did you last leave it?" Nessa asked.
"I had it in my room. Have you seen it?"
"No. I'm sorry, Fabala. Maybe it's still there and you misplaced it by mistake."
"Maybe… hopefully," Elphaba said as she held the door open for her sister.
The two girls walked inside Crage Hall and Nessa watched as her sister climbed the stairs to the second floor. Once she heard the door open, a loud squeal, and the door close, she wheeled back to her own room.
"Oh, Elphie!" the blonde said as she attacked her roommate in a hug. "I've missed you so much! What happened? Are you alright? Nessa said that you were in the hospital, but she didn't say why." She decided not to tell the green girl about how her sister had snapped at her. It would probably only make things worse.
"I'm fine. I just had a really bad attack the day after Lurlinemas," Elphaba said as the blonde helped her bring her bags inside.
"What happened?"
"I don't really know. The last thing I remember was falling asleep on the couch shortly after breakfast. The next thing I knew, I woke up in the hospital. Nessa told me that I had stopped breathing and she and Father rushed me to the hospital. I had my letter to Fiyero in my dress pocket and was going to mail it. I asked Nessa if she found and mailed it, and she said no, but promised me to mail it when she went back home," Elphaba explained as she and Galinda unpacked her things. "According to Nessa, I was unconscious for three days. After I woke up, I spent an extra three days in the hospital before going home, getting my things, and coming back here the next day."
"I was so worried about you," Galinda said softly, going over to the green girl and gave her another, much more gentle, hug.
"Thanks, Glin. I was worried about you and Fiyero, too, although for a completely different reason," Elphaba chuckled. "How is Fiyero? He wasn't overly worried, was he?"
Galinda slowly pulled away. "Um… he's been…"
"What?"
"He's been really distant and moodified since we came back. It's really worrying me."
"What happened?"
"I don't know. When he got back, he was really upset about something. Maybe something happened with his family over Lurlinemas break. He didn't tell me. I thought maybe you would be able to get him to talk."
"I'll try to talk to him. He only wrote me one letter." She made for the door, but Galinda pulled her back.
"Fifi can wait a little bit longer. I want to hear all about your break, other than the part about what happened after Lurlinemas."
Elphaba sighed, but allowed the blonde to lead her back to her bed and told her about her break. Once she was done, Galinda was more than happy to talk about her break, making Elphaba stay seated to do so. Once she had finished telling Elphaba every little possible detail (Elphaba was very impressed that the blonde had remembered so much), evening had fallen and the temperature had dropped dramatically. Elphaba was getting tired, so she showered and retired, promising herself that she would speak to Fiyero tomorrow.
The next day, Elphaba went Fiyero-searching, but couldn't find him anywhere. She checked the café, the library (although she wasn't surprised when she didn't find him there), and even his room. But he was nowhere to be found.
When she went to Dr. Dillamond's class, she found him sitting in the back, surrounded by girls. Confused, Elphaba made to go over to him, but Dr. Dillamond came in and called everyone to attention. Fiyero looked up and he and Elphaba made eye contact for a clock-tick before Fiyero frowned and went back to conversing with the girls surrounding him.
Once the class was over, Elphaba quickly picked up her things and headed over to him, but Fiyero was already halfway to the door. "Yero!" she called, but the prince didn't turn around. Elphaba was surprised. What was going on?
"He seems more moodified than I thought," Galinda said, placing a hand on her friend's arm.
"I… I don't understand. What is going on? And who are those girls? Are you sure he was like that when you got back from break?" Elphaba asked, glancing at the blonde.
The blonde nodded. "He was like that. Don't worry, Elphie. When he feels better, he'll come around."
"I must have missed something," Elphaba muttered.
"Fabala, we need to go now," Nessa said, wheeling over to the two girls.
Elphaba sighed, but nodded and stepped behind her sister's wheelchair, pushing her out the door with Galinda close behind them.
Elphaba couldn't find Fiyero for the rest of the day. And when she did catch a quick glimpse of him, he was always surrounded by girls, all giggling and batting their eyes at him. He would meet her gaze for a moment before turning away.
That evening, Elphaba went to Fiyero's room and knocked on the door. When Fiyero opened it and saw who it was, he moved to close the door, but Elphaba stopped him.
"Fiyero, what is going on?" Elphaba asked, pushing against him closing the door on her face.
"Nothing," Fiyero muttered.
"Did you get my letter?"
"Yes, I got your letter," Fiyero practically growled, pushing even harder.
"Then why are you acting like this?"
"I think you know why."
Elphaba paused at hearing that, and Fiyero was able to slam the door in her face. What did he mean by that? Had she said something to make him upset in her letter. She couldn't remember, but she didn't think she had. "Yero, please talk to me."
"Go away!" came Fiyero voice.
"Not until you tell me what's wrong!"
"You don't want to talk to me, so why should I want to talk to you?"
"Because I do want to talk to you. I want you to tell me what's going on. Why were you surrounded by all those girls in Dr. Dillamond's class?"
"I already told you to go away!" Fiyero shouted, and Elphaba heard something, probably a pillow, hit the door and fall to the floor. "It's over, Elphaba! We're over!"
She felt tears begin to form in her eyes and she stubbornly wiped them away. Turning, she hurried down the hallway and out the door.
When she returned to her room, Galinda looked up and gasped, seeing the green girl's bloodshot eyes. "Oh Oz, Elphie, what happened?"
Elphaba simply shook her head. The blonde hurried over to her friend and wrapped her arms around her. She expected Elphaba to start crying on her shoulder (though secretly hoping that she didn't because tears are so hard to get out), but when she didn't, she gently pulled away and came face to face with Elphaba's numb expression.
"Come on. Let's sit down," Galinda said, leading her roommate to her bed and helping her sit down.
Elphaba simply stared into space, not exactly seeing or noticing anything. She barely registered the feeling of Galinda sitting down next to her and gently taking her hand. The blonde waited patiently for Elphaba to come back. She finally seemed to register the feeling on someone's hand in hers and turned to look at the blonde.
"I… I have no idea what happened," the green girl finally whispered. "I went to his room and…" She trailed off.
"What did he say when you went to his room?" Galinda prompted gently.
"He told me to go away. I asked if he got my letter and he said that he did and slammed the door on my face."
"What did you say in your letter?"
"I told him about our ball. I said that I had a minor attack, but that I was fine and not to worry about me. I didn't say anything that I thought would make him mad at me."
"What happened after you tried to talk to him, Elphie?"
"I kept trying to talk to him, but he kept pushing me away. And then he… he said that we were over. He… he broke up with me."
The blonde's face was a mixture of 'My poor Elphie' and 'How slowly should I kill Fiyero?'. "Oh, Elphie," she whispered, quickly pulling her friend into her arms. She felt Elphaba's tears against her skin, but completely ignored it. Her friend needed her. And she really needed to have a very serious conversation with a certain prince.
