AN: Hey guys, sorry this update is late! I was off seeing War Horse yesterday (it was really, really beautiful) and I didn't have time to update.
10. A Plan
"Fae?" Fiyero whispered as he pushed open the cell door as quietly as he could. "Are you awake?"
There was no sound and he moved forward, figuring she was asleep. That was why he was so startled when a shape suddenly shot past him and out of the still-open cell door, into the aisle and around the corner before he even realised what was happening.
"Elphaba!" he shouted, chasing her. "Come back!" He sped up, his heart pounding as he could feel panic rising in his throat. He knew what she was trying to do. "Until I find a way to escape this place", she'd said, and that was exactly what she was doing now; only that was a bad idea. She was still in bad shape due to her injuries and even aside from that, he knew things she didn't. Things like the fact that there were four armed guards just outside the doors to the dungeons. Things like the order that had been in place for a very long time and that said every prisoner attempting an escape was to be shot on sight. She would never make it.
"Elphaba, stop!" he yelled, chasing her around another corner. He had to stop her from reaching the door.
He suddenly heard a gasp and a thump and he ran even faster, turning yet another corner before he saw her in a heap on the floor, cursing as she tried to scramble to her feet, but she had to sink back down at the pain shooting through her heavily bruised back. She coughed and hissed in pain. When she heard his footsteps, she glanced over her shoulder and then forced herself to her feet again, moving forward. Her delay had given Fiyero the advantage he needed, however, and he launched himself at her, wrapping his arms around her to stop her. She struggled, but she gave up quickly, her breaths coming in short gasps.
"Let me go," she ordered.
He shook his head. "No. Fae, you'd get yourself killed," he said pleadingly. "They'd shoot you!"
"I can't stay here, Fiyero!" she shouted at him. "I'm not just going to sit here and wait for them to execute me!"
"No-one is going to execute you! I won't let them!"
"Could you keep it down?" a man's voice asked gruffly from a cell nearby. "The peace and quiet of this place is all the comfort some of us have, you know."
"Sorry," Fiyero called out, gently but firmly taking Elphaba's arm and pulling her with him.
"It's not like you have any say in the matter, Yero," said Elphaba quietly as she followed him. "You won't be able to keep them from killing me if that's what they want."
He didn't say anything as he led her back to her cell and sat her down. He closed and locked the door behind him before sitting down on the cot next to her and pulling out the medical kit again, changing the bandages on her wounds and gently brushing a hand over her back. The bruised skin of her back looked almost black in the dim light and he softly rubbed some kind of cream into it that was supposed to help with the pain.
"You're too badly hurt," he said softly. "You'd never make it, Fae. Please don't try to do that again. Please. I can't lose you."
She opened her mouth to reply, but broke into coughs once again before she could get a word out. Fiyero frowned worriedly and felt her forehead, which was warm. She'd told him what Morrible had done to her with the torture spell using water. Could she have caught pneumonia because of it? If that was the case, he needed to come up with a plan fast or she'd die here in these drafty dungeons.
He stroked her hair until she stopped coughing and then he pulled her in his arms. She stiffened at first, but then she relaxed and sagged against him, her head against his shoulder.
"I'm going to leave some pills here," he whispered into her hair. "You've got to take one of those with every meal, okay? They'll help with the fever."
"I'm fine," she muttered, not sounding very convincing, and he decided to not even dignify that with a reply. He rubbed his forehead, wincing as a stab of pain shot through his head. He really needed a good night's sleep. He hardly spent a night in his bed anymore and when he did, he just lay awake all night long, worrying about Elphaba. He preferred sleeping in her cell, but he didn't get much sleep that way, either – he was always alert, afraid a guard would come in and find him. If he was caught, he would never be able to help her get out of here.
"Yero?" she mumbled after a while, her voice heavy with sleep.
"Yeah?" he whispered back.
"You shouldn't be here so often," she whispered, as if she had read his mind. "People will start asking questions."
"Let me worry about that," he said, moving his hand to stroke her cheek. He wished things could be normal between them. That they could just be a normal couple and have a normal relationship – or try to have one, anyway.
Then again, he mused, nothing about Elphaba had ever been normal and he suspected nothing never would be. He knew she saw that as a bad thing, but it was one of the reasons he loved her so much. She wouldn't have been half as beautiful if she hadn't been green and not half as attractive if she hadn't been so sarcastic and defensive. He wouldn't love her half as much if she'd been a rosy-skinned, giggling Galinda-like society girl – though he was sure he would still love her more than he ever could anyone else.
"I love you," he whispered randomly and he saw her roll her eyes, which made him grin. She yawned and he made her lie down. He waited by her side until her breathing evened out and she fell asleep and then he left quietly.
When he emerged again from the dungeons, a hand suddenly touched his shoulder and he jumped.
"Relax, it's just me," Glinda sniffed and he turned, exhaling slowly.
"Oz, Glin. Don't startle me like that," he admonished her. She scowled and crossed her arms. Only then did Fiyero notice Nessarose sitting in her chair beside the blonde and he smiled tiredly. "Hey, Nessa."
"Hi, Fiyero," she replied, returning his smile, but it faded quickly. "Is she in there?"
He nodded, not needing to ask what she meant, and she lowered her gaze.
"I was afraid so," she whispered, "but I hoped it wasn't true."
"We need to come up with a plan," Glinda told Fiyero, lowering her voice to avoid being overheard. "To free her."
His shoulders slumped. "I know." He glanced around the hallway and then beckoned the girls, making his way over to his private quarters before closing the door behind him and turning to face his two friends. "I don't know what to do, though."
"How is she?" Nessa asked softly and Fiyero hesitated before answering.
"She's... she's been hurt pretty badly," he admitted quietly. "Morrible used several torture spells on her. She's covered in small wounds and bruises – apparently Morrible used spells to do that to her – and I think she's developing pneumonia due to the way Morrible used water to..." He faltered when he saw the horrified expression on Nessa's face, the way she'd clasped her hands over her mouth and the tears in her eyes, and he didn't finish his sentence. Instead he just said, "She's holding up, of course – you know her. She can be hurt, but she will never be broken. She's insisting she's fine and I believe that she could hold out down there for a while longer, but the truth is that she's not doing too well, Nessa. She'd never admit it, but her physical condition is far from good. I'm sorry."
"It's all my fault," the younger girl whispered. "If only I'd helped her better, or sooner... I should never have let her go back to the City on her own."
"We've all made mistakes," Glinda said softly, placing her hand on Nessarose's arm. "We can't change the past. What matters now is that we try to set those mistakes right."
Nessa sniffled and nodded. "Right." She looked up at Fiyero. "Do you have a plan?"
He shook his head miserably. "None whatsoever. I mean, I know we have to get her out of there – she'll die if we don't. Soon she'll get too sick to last much longer."
Nessa made a choked sound.
"But how we should do that?" Fiyero continued. "I haven't got the faintest clue. Southstairs is heavily guarded. I know their schedules and the way things work – that's how I've managed to spend so much time down there with her without anyone noticing. We could use that to get her out of the dungeons. The biggest problem, however, would be what we should do with her afterwards." He looked at the two girls. "We might manage to get her out of Southstairs," he said, "but we'd never succeed in getting her out of the Palace, let alone the City."
Glinda suddenly perked up, her eyes glittering. She exchanged a look with Nessa and then said, "Maybe we don't have to."
Fiyero frowned slightly and Nessa looked up at the blonde girl hopefully. Glinda just smiled.
"Get ready, guys," she said, giggling with excitement. "Little Miss Blondie has a plan."