A/N: I've never been all that happy with this chapter, even after rewriting it. I hope you guys like it better than I did. :)

Chapter 10

When I wake up I have been placed in a bed and am covered by warm blankets. I still feel heavy and weak, but at least I am no longer cold and damp. As soon as I open my eyes I hear a gasp from next to me.

'Thank Oz!' breathes Nessa.

'Nessa,' I manage to get out before pain rips through my throat and I am forced to stop talking. My throat is dry and parched and I swallow with a grimace. 'How…?'

'You didn't show up at breakfast so I asked Galinda, and she said she hadn't seen you since the afternoon before. I was worried that something had happened, so Fiyero and I went to find Madame Morrible. She used a tracking spell to find you.'

'But why…?'

I mean to ask, 'why Fiyero?' but my throat hurts too much. I shake my head and sigh; I will have to find out later, whenever I can speak again.

'I don't know what in Oz you were doing, Fabala, you could have died!' Nessa exclaims. 'You know better than to wander off like that, especially when you don't know where you're going!'

Her voice is tearful and I feel so, so guilty because I do know better and once again I have failed my sister.

'I take this to mean you have not bound your magic?' she asks.

I shake my head, remembering how the binding spell failed.

'Then I will have to brace myself for the consequences.' She sounds bitter. I can understand that – maybe she thinks I would have been better off dead. It would certainly save her the trouble of having me for a sister.

I spend a week in hospital, fighting illness. The first three days are the worst: I flash between boiling hot and freezing cold, never finding a comfortable balance. I can scarcely eat or drink because it hurts my throat to swallow. My body is wracked with hard spluttering and sneezing and continuous shivering. I flip between being wide awake and fast asleep and trapped in lucid dreams in which I'm unable to move, only stare at my surroundings and watch as strange hallucinations form before my eyes.

On the fourth day, my fever breaks and everything finally begins to settle. My body is still aching and I am still congested, but for the first time in what feels like ages, I am hungry. Slowly and tentatively I raise myself onto my elbows, and into a sitting position.

'Good morning, Miss Elphaba.'

'Fiyero? What are you doing here?'

'Visiting you,' he says quietly.

He takes my hand and presses something into it, a cold glass. I raise it to my lips and drink. The trickle of liquid is soothing to my throat and I gulp it back as fast as I can.

'Thanks.'

There is a long silence.

'I broke up with Galinda.'

I wonder why he is telling me this. Their relationship is none of my business. There is no need to make an announcement about it. However, he seems prepared to keep talking about it, so I hold my tongue and let him continue.

'She was…moodified.'

I already know. I was the one who had to put up with her complaining.

'She became distant all of a sudden and I couldn't figure out why. And mopey – like, really mopey. As if all her bubbles had disappeared. But when I asked her what was wrong she snapped and told me to mind my own business. Said I was interfering. But I wasn't – honestly! – I just wanted to help with whatever it was. Anyway, I finally decided that I couldn't take it anymore with the secrecy. I told her that in order to be in a relationship with her, I needed her to be able to be honest with me.'

'That's deep, coming from the partying prince,' I quip.

I actually feel a little sorry for him. He has no idea what she was hiding. I almost tell him about Meddik right then, but decide to hold back. I'm not Fiyero's friend and the information is too valuable to easily let go of.

'Why are you here?' I ask. 'Not because you care about my health, I assume.'

'No. Well – I mean, not that I don't care, but…'

'Don't bother to cover it up. You hate me like everyone else does. I brought down a building. I get it.'

He sighs. 'Well, with Galinda being your roommate, I wondered…'

'You wondered if I had any juice to spill about your ex-girlfriend,' I interrupt. 'Sorry, princey, but I do not follow the renowned social life of Galinda Upland. You would be better off asking one of her friends.'

'But surely you must know something…?'

'Listen, Prince Fiyero. What may or may not be going on with Miss Galinda is none of my business, and is certainly not mine to tell. If you want to know why she's been so moodified, you are just going to have to ask her yourself. To be quite frank, I'm amazed that you even care. You're the one who broke up with her. Why the curiosity?'

'Because I think something might be going on that we don't know about. I'm worried about her.'

'Oh I get it. You ran, Fiyero. You ran because you didn't want the responsibility of having to care for someone during the bad times.'

He stalls, and I know I have hit the mark. I am tiring of this meaningless conversation. I cough, and roll onto my side, facing away from him.

'I am feeling rather tired,' I state. It is a lie – for the first time in a week, I am full of energy – but it will get rid of him and his baseless talk about his ill-fated relationship. He gets up and leaves, not bothering to bid me goodbye. Whatever. I don't care.

After he leaves, I lie there and ponder what he said. Could something be wrong with Galinda? I consider her recent mood swings; the unusually quiet nights, uninterrupted by her drunken giggles; the general snippiness whenever she enters the room, in the place of her bright, annoying bubbles. For some reason, I cannot shake the thought that Fiyero might be right. But it's only Galinda. She's not my problem. Her choices are her own to make, and she can deal with them herself.

And yet, I can't help but continue to wonder…