AN: This chapter actually goes with a blog post. It's about a Dutch song I think really fits this story, especially this chapter; the link to the song and a partial translation on it are both on my blog! Queen of cliffies dot blogspot dot nl. Remove the spaces.

BlueD: I died with laughter when I read that xD.

Moreanswers24: That actually cracked me up so much I posted it on Twitter :'). Please with dead Morribles on top... *howls with laughter*

No, Morrible does not put a spell on Frex... Frex is evil enough of himself without needing a spell to make him even more evil.

You'll hate me after this, but I have protectors. Their names are Elizabeth and Chainsaw. Mwahahaha!

Chapter 10. Killed

"Fabala!" Nessa knocked on the door to Fiyero's dorm room – or, well, knocked; it was more like pounding. Nessa never pounded. Ever. She was always the picture of sophistication, grace and elegance.

Not now, however. Now she looked like the devil was on her heels.

"Fabala!" she shouted again. "Fiyero, open the door! Open it now!"

He did, so unexpectedly that Nessa almost lost her balance and toppled out of her chair. She quickly wheeled herself into the room, eyes darting from left to right. "Is she here?"

Fiyero nodded and Nessa turned. "Fabala," she said desperately. "He's going to do it. Father… he's going to sign the papers!"

Fiyero froze. He met Elphaba's gaze over Nessa's head.

The green girl knelt down next to her sister's chair, grabbing Nessa's hand. The moment the younger girl felt that, she began to cry.

"Fabala, I tried," she sobbed. "I swear I tried. But Madame Morrible… she went to talk to Father. She convinced him that I'm being delusional in thinking that you might ever wake up again. He believes that I am holding onto a hope that doesn't exist, and that it would be better for me if he let you go because otherwise I keep making myself believing things that aren't true… Morrible told him that you will never wake up again, no matter what I say, and… and he believes her, Fabala! He's heading out to the hospital right now! Please, please, Fabala… you have to go to the hospital… you have to stop him!"

Fiyero looked incredibly pale, and Elphaba let go of her sister and moved over to him instead. "Yero, breathe," she ordered, cupping his face in her hands. "We have to go to the hospital. I'll meet you there."

"No!" he cried immediately. "What if you disappear before I can get there? I can't…"

"I know," she whispered, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "But if I don't go now, we might be too late. If I go, I'm sure I could stop him… maybe using my magic or something like that. I promise I won't disappear until you're at the hospital, too, okay?" She didn't wait for a reply; just kissed him one more on the lips and disappeared.

Fiyero touched his lips with one trembling hand. A sob racked his body and Nessa wheeled herself closer to him, taking his hand.

"Fiyero," she said, softly but urgently. "Hospital. Now. Please… please save her."

He nodded, managing a tiny smile through his tears; then he bolted out the room, through the hallways of the boys' dormitory and outside onto the streets, where he stopped a carriage.

He would not let her die.

Elphaba arrived at the hospital and immediately saw that her father was already there. He was in her hospital room, looking down at her unconscious body as he listened to one of the doctors.

"…and she is stable," the doctor was saying, "but there is no sign that she is going to wake up anytime soon… if she will ever wake up at all."

"You must understand," Frex said, his eyes still on Elphaba's body, "that my youngest daughter is suffering because of this. She cares a great deal about her sister and her life is standing still because of what happened to Elphaba. My sweet Nessarose is so distressed that she thought I came all the way here to have her sister killed! She thought I came to Shiz only to sign the papers that would allow you to let Elphaba go!"

The doctor shook his head sadly. "I understand your dilemma, Governor," he said not unkindly. "Having a family member or a close friend that is in a coma can have a large impact on one's life, and sometimes it is better to let someone go… if it is unlikely that they will improve."

Frex looked at Elphaba again. "Is it?" he asked. "Unlikely that she will improve?"

The doctor hesitated, then shook his head. "I am sorry, Governor," he said. "We have examined her very thoroughly, and though there is a chance… I personally do not think that she will awaken from her coma."

Frex nodded, all business-like. "Alright then. Doctor, I would like to see those papers."

The doctor looked flabbergasted. "You… you want to let her go, sir?" he asked, frowning slightly. "Now? Don't you want to discuss this with your wife, your other daughter?"

"My wife is dead," Frex said curtly. "My Nessarose's judgement is clouded. This situation is not good for her health, either mentally or physically. She worries all the time, she barely eats and sleeps, and she keeps on hoping that her sister will wake up. I do not wish to keep that false hope alive. Elphaba is my daughter and I decide right here, right now that it is better for her as well as for the rest of my family if we let her go."

The doctor nodded, giving Frex a sympathetic smile. "Of course, Governor Thropp. I'll go and get the papers."
Elphaba lurched forward and grabbed her father's arm. The moment he felt something invisible touching him, he jerked away, looking around him suspiciously.

She looked around frantically and found a piece of paper and a pencil on the side table. She quickly wrote a message to her father, pushing it into his hand.

Father, it's me, Elphaba. I'm still here. You can't kill me!

Frex' eyes widened and he looked around the room, dropping the piece of paper to the floor. "I don't know who you are," he said in a low, growling voice, "or what game you are playing, but –"

It's not a game! Father, it's me!

"I don't believe in this foolish nonsense," Frex declared. "You are either a very mischievous young person that wants to pull a prank on me or an evil spirit. In either case, I do not believe that you are Elphaba's… what? Ghost? Ghosts don't exist. Elphaba is gone, all that remains is her body, and that body will be allowed to rest in peace now." With that, he turned on his heels and strode out of the room.

Elphaba made to follow him, but just then, Fiyero skidded into the hospital room, out of breath – he had clearly been running all the way from the carriage to the room. When he saw her, he drew her into his arms, looking at her hopefully.

"Did you prevent it from happening?"

She shook her head, leaning against him. "No," she whispered. "I have no idea how. I tried to tell him that it's me, but he believes I'm an evil spirit. I should've known – he believes in the Unnamed God, and all that stuff… he doesn't believe in ghosts wandering Oz or anything like that. Fiyero, what am I supposed to do?"

"Sir?" The doctor stepped into the room, looking at Fiyero with raised eyebrows. "I'm sorry, sir, but you're not supposed to be here."

Fiyero looked at him. "Why not?" he asked, fearing that he already knew the answer. "She's… she's a friend of mine." His voice broke. "I love her."

Elphaba squeezed his hand tightly.

The doctor's face softened. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"My name is Fiyero Tiggular," he tried again. "I'm the Crown Prince of the Vinkus, and –"

"Your Highness," the doctor interrupted him swiftly. "I am truly sorry, but Miss Elphaba's father is here and he is the one that makes decisions for his daughter. He has expressed his wish to let his daughter go, given the fact that there is little more we can do for her and the chance that she will wake up by herself is very small; and though I tried to convince him otherwise, he does not wish to inform Miss Elphaba's friends of this decision or to let them say goodbye to her. He wants it to be over as quickly as possible, in order for himself and his daughter Nessarose to be able to move on with their lives and –"

"No!" Fiyero went to stand between the doctor and the bed with Elphaba in it. "You can't do that!" he said pleadingly. "Please… She'll wake up, I know she will!"

"Your Highness –"

"Her spirit is still here!" he blurted out. "I can see her! I love her! Please, you can't do this!"

The doctor looked at him sympathetically, but moved away and out of the door. "Security?" he called. "Please remove this young man from the room."

Fiyero's eyes widened. "No!" He struggled against the two men that suddenly came into the room and started pulling him out.

Elphaba was suddenly there, punching one of the security guards in the jaw. The man wobbled and Elphaba punched him again, fighting desperately; but by that time, the other guard had already dragged Fiyero from the room and was keeping him outside.

The doctor helped the other security guard out of the room, trying to reassure him that no, of course he hadn't been punched by a ghost, Fiyero must have hit him with his flailing limbs, and if he would just calm down. The doctor then walked away, only to return a minute later with Frex and a stack of papers in his hand.

"No," whispered Elphaba. She shot into the hospital room after them, yanking the papers from the doctor's hands, wanting to rip them apart.

Frex, however, was faster. He grabbed the papers back. "Leave, you evil spirit!" he roared. "I have signed these papers and this is going to happen, and you cannot stop it!"

He looked at the doctor. "Do it."

The doctor moved over to the machines that were beeping next to Elphaba's hospital bed. The green girl jumped in front of the machines, holding her hands out to push the doctor back. Outside of the room, in the hallway, Fiyero was screaming; still restrained by the two guards, but thrashing wildly in an attempt to break free. Elphaba, growing panicked, felt her powers surging through her body; everything in the room started shaking – the medical supplies on the table, the machines, the vases in the window sill. The doctor froze in place and Frex roared in anger, frustration and confusion, but Elphaba blocked them both out and focused on her powers.

Come on. Help me. Just this once, you stupid powers, work with me instead of against me…

And then, suddenly, she found herself in the hallway instead of the hospital room.

She blinked for a moment, dazed; but ice cold shivers ran down her spine when she saw Morrible approaching through the hallways, looking smug.

"Do not worry, Governor Thropp," she called through the closed door. "I got rid of that evil spirit for you – it cannot go back into the room now. You just do what you have to do."

Frex nodded at her gratefully, and he and the doctor moved closer to the bed with Elphaba in it.

"No!" Elphaba screamed and started pounding on the window with her fists. "Don't do this! Father! I'm still here, you can't kill me! Father, please!" But of course he couldn't hear her. No-one could, except for Fiyero.

He forced himself to calm down enough so that the guards let him go. They glanced at him suspiciously; but since the door to Elphaba's hospital room was locked, they left him behind with a warning not to try anything stupid. Alone with Elphaba now, he moved closer to her.

She turned to face him and her eyes were filled with tears. "I'm sorry," she sniffled. "I'm so sorry, Fiyero."

He was crying, too, as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, as if by holding her he could prevent her from going anywhere. He closed his eyes, breathing in the exotic scent of her hair, tightening his grip around her body. He felt despair washing over him like a gigantic wave, swallowing him whole. It hit him like a strike of lightning.

He couldn't live without her. He just couldn't.

"Fae…" His voice broke. "Please don't leave me."

"I'm sorry," she sobbed again, clinging to him. "I'm sorry, Yero, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry…" She kept repeating it like some sort of mantra, and he finally came to his senses enough to realise that this was not how he wanted to let her go. He didn't want to let her go at all, of course; but if he had to, he didn't want her to be feeling guilty about leaving him. She deserved better than that.

He pulled away just enough to look down into her eyes – those dark, deep, mysterious, soul-searching chocolate brown eyes he so loved. "Don't be," he whispered. "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. It's okay, Fae. It's okay."

She shook her head frantically. "No," she insisted. "It's not. Of course it's not."

Suddenly she gasped and doubled over as if in pain. He caught her around the waist, holding her tightly. "Fae?"

"I…" She raised her head to look through the window at her own body, and her eyes widened. The doctor had turned off her life support.

She looked at Fiyero desperately. "It's too late. Yero, it's too late…" She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply – a heated, searing kiss filled with love and grief and despair. She clung to him, burying her face in his neck. "I love you, Yero my hero, I love you so much… thank you for everything you've done for me…"

"I love you, Fae. I love you." He kissed her again and she burrowed in his arms; but even as he held her, he could feel her slipping away. When he opened his eyes, he could see that she was fading.

Suddenly panicking, he tightened his grip on her. "No… Fae, please, please… no…" A sob escaped his lips.

She leant up to kiss his lips one more time, the touch of her own lips to his barely even noticeable, like the soft brush of a feather. "Goodbye, Yero," she whispered.

He was crying. "I will always love you," he promised her through his tears, and her smile, genuine but filled with sadness and heartache at the same time, was the last thing he saw before she vanished.

He pressed his hands against the glass of the window, staring desperately at her still body in the hospital room. Frex left the room and the doctor went to close the curtains, but Fiyero kept on staring at Elphaba, willing her to be alive, to be alright despite the fact that her life support was turned off. He rested his forehead against the cool glass, his gaze fixed on her, unblinking and intense; as if by staring at her intently enough, he could will her to take a breath, to be alright, to come back to him.

Nothing happened. The line on the one machine that was still working stayed flat, and her chest wasn't rising and falling. And suddenly, the truth hit him like a ton of bricks.

Elphaba Thropp - the one girl he had ever loved; the one person he couldn't live without - was gone.