Chapter 10

A/N Thank you for the reviews and the new favorites and alerts ! :)

BookWorm001, hey I think you right. I manage to find a map of GM's Oz online and it does look as if the Great Gillikin Forest is near enough for Brr to roam from Shiz (or nearby) to the forest (without being run over by many carriages).

JCBoLt, ToriJazz, ahhaa.. so I am not the only one who think too much :P (sometimes over analysing does prevent me from thoroughly enjoying a show)

James Birdsong, Guest, thank you for your reviews too

LittleMissDelirious, no worries about not reviewing every chapter! I love the idea for AYAYL (the plot is so totally original and the chemistry between the characters are so good). So is there really no chance of it being continued (pleasepleaseplease)? Tell you something, I read your review at 1.30am last night (doing work at home) and after that my hand just automatically clicks my fanfic folder instead of my work related folders. Unhealthy obsession! :P

I went to peek into the 6th Annual Wicked Fanfic awards post again and saw my name there! Thank you very very very much for those had listed my fanfic via PM/review. It really makes me very happy that there are people who thought of my fanfic when they are asked about their favorites. :) :) :)

Disclaimer : Bet GM never know how life-changing it will be for so many people when he came up with that dark-skinned, diamond-tattooed Winkie prince character for his Wicked story.

"We just can't let the soldiers catch him," Elphaba told Fiyero.

"But we can't leave him here forever," he reminded her.

"We got to do something!" Elphaba was almost pleading.

Fiyero shook his head. He thought for a while.

"Stay here," he instructed the Bear as he pulled Elphaba out of the room into the corridor.

"Guard the door," he told her, "and made sure nobody goes in. I'll go and get Marman." He then ran off as fast as his long legs could carry him.

He came back with the royal valet after what seemed like forever, though it was most probably minutes. Elphaba still had her back to the door, as if she was worried that someone would come any minute and insisted on barging in. Marman had a covered basket with him.

Without saying a word, Elphaba opened the door and they went in. She knocked on the second door.

"Nimble? It's me," she called out. "We are coming in." After waiting for a while, she opened the door.

The Bear was still there, trying his very best to squeeze into the corner next to the door as if that would stop him from being discovered by anyone who walked into the room. Fiyero would have laughed if the situation was any less serious, but even the sometimes-brainless prince understood the severity if anyone found out that there was a Bear in a room in the heart of Emerald City that was booked under the name of the Arjiki royalty.

Marman broke the ice by lifting up the basket and opening up its cover. There was food inside.

"I supposed you must be starving," he simply said.

It would not do for the Prince and his guest to disappear for long from a dinner, and so Marman shooed the two of them back downstairs. Elphaba was reluctant, though. She wanted to stay on. She wanted to make sure the Nimble was fed and that he would left the hotel in a single living piece (leaving the hotel in one dead piece was not what she had in mind). But Marman would have none of that; and underneath that friendly face was a man who would not take no for an answer, not even from a stubborn person like Elphaba.

So Fiyero and Elphaba went back to the function room again where she ate only a little bit and Fiyero acted as if nothing was unusual, laughing at the appropriate moment when the men laughed and nodding his head when the rest did, usually when his father said something. And when the dinner was over, Fiyero excused himself, and came back sometime later and asked Elphaba to go back by herself.

"Don't wait up for me," he said, and then added sheepishly.

"Oz, I sound as if we are married."

But wait up she did. She sat on the bed and read the book that she had bought from the bookstore and only fell asleep much later, the book still in her hand. She had no idea how late it was when she felt the book left her hands and a cold kiss on her forehead. She opened her eyes.

"Fiyero?"

"Reading in bed is bad for your eyes," was his reply.

She looked at him. He had showered and changed into a pair of loose white pants. But he looked tired, and she saw something on his face.

"You're bleeding," she touched the long scratch mark on his cheek.

"Mmm, your friend was not very happy when we tried to squeeze him into a crate."

Elphaba's eyes widened. "A crate?"

"He panicked and struggled. I supposed he could have scratched me then."

"So was he safe?" Elphaba asked.

"I guess so. We hid him under a pile of bear skins and got the crate out of Emerald City just before the gate closed for the night. The official story was that the Queen of the Arjiki tribe bought a whole crate of genuine bear skins and insisted that they must be shipped back to Vinkus immediately. The guards at the gate did not give it more than a passing glance," Fiyero updated her as he climbed into the bed.

"I like excitement in my life, Elphaba, but this is not what I have in mind," he told her as he snuggled close to her.

"But there was no way I would have left him there."

"I know, but how many Animals do you plan to save, Elphaba? You can't save the world."

"How will I know if I don't try? Don't you agree, Fiyero? Fiyero?"

Elphaba looked at the prince, but he was already fast asleep, his face lying close to the crook of her neck and an arm around her.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

It was dawn when something woke Elphaba up. She thought that it was Fiyero, but the prince was still asleep, his arm still around her. And then she heard it again.

Someone was knocking on the door.

She moved his arm away, and climbed out of bed before she quickly put on a sleeping robe that she had found in the wardrobe and had left on the chair last night. She went downstairs. The knocking had stopped, but she could see the silhouette of a person standing outside through the tinted glass panel next to the door.

She opened the door and recognised the person standing there.

King Marillot.

"I'm not too early, am I?" he asked.

"I… he… Fiyero is still asleep. I'll wake him up," she stammered, forgetting to greet the King.

"I know my son. He will not wake up so early. It's you that I am looking for."

She showed her surprise.

"So who are you actually?" The King went straight to the point. Well, not exactly.

"Me?" Elphaba was surprised. "I'm Elphaba Thropp."

"I know your name," the King, his tone not revealing his mood. "But who are you exactly? You are not the kind of girl that Fiyero usually go for, and mind you, I have heard enough to know what kind of girls he prefers. You are not that kind."

Elphaba thought that that was the understatement of the year.

The King continued. "I had no idea what you did, but he seemed to be less flippant recently."

Elphaba found her voice. "Fiyero may behave like an immature prince, but it is just a mask that he uses sometimes. He tries to study, and he carries out whatever duties you ask him to. "

"Grudgingly," the King told her. "As for the studying part, it only started after he had gone to Shiz. The first few universities were disasters. Last night… last night was the first time I saw him took charge of anything. He thought of the plan and then bossed Marman and me around, just to get the Bear out of the City." The King chuckled at the memory (which sounded like a cough actually). Elphaba had not known that the King had the capability to laugh until then.

"He's not that stupid, Sir," she told the King. She was not sure if he had noted the way she had addressed him. "You underestimated your son."

"And you are selling yourself short, Miss Thropp. Tell me, what are your plans after your graduation?"

Elphaba pulled her sleeping robe closer.

"I don't know. I might stay in Shiz for one more year to look after my sister if she still wants me around. Maybe I'll make myself useful and help out around the school wherever I can."

"But what do you really want?" The King asked. "Find a rich man and get married? A lot of girls want to do that."

Elphaba could not help but laugh. "I'm not marriage material. I would most probably be doing something useful, like helping the Animals, or working in something related to Life Sciences or academia."

The King raised his eyebrows. "So getting married is not, to use your word, 'useful'. So you planned to work?"

"Either that or I have to starve," Elphaba said matter-of-factly. "I don't have a large inheritance waiting for me. Moreover, I like to keep myself busy."

He nodded, and then he turned to leave. But then, he stopped and turned back again.

"Miss Thropp, I don't think there is a need to let my son know that I was here." It sounded like a request, but Elphaba knew that it was a command. And then the King was left in the carriage that was waiting for him.

Elphaba went back to the bedroom and climbed into bed.

"Where have you been?" Fiyero's asked in a sleepy voice as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I went downstairs."

He gave a smile with his eyes still closed.

"I will miss this," he said, "Waking up with you next to me." And then he opened his eyes. "Let's go back to sleep."

Elphaba raised her eyebrows.

"So that you will be the first thing I see when I wake up again," he said cheekily.

Elphaba rolled her eyes.

But she did what she was told. She faced Fiyero, their faces just inches apart, his hand on her hip, and her hand on his chest.

She tried to sleep, but her brain was already wide awake, running over the brief conversation that she had with the Arjiki king. Thinking that Fiyero was already asleep, she started to trace the diamond tattoos that were on his body, starting from the one on his chest and then moving on. She was caught by surprise when he suddenly held her hand while she was tracing the last diamond on his abdomen.

"Oz, how am I going to sleep when you are touching me like that," he told her as he opened his eyes and smiled at her. Suddenly she was conscious of how close they were physically, and how many parts of their bodies were already touching. Her hand in his. His other hand brushing against her stomach. His thigh resting against hers, with their ankles touching. Elphaba's heart beat faster, and she knew that it was not due to fear.

She tried to retract her hand, but he would not let go.

"Too late, Elphaba." Fiyero shifted so that he was above her and released her hand, cradling the side of her face instead as he kissed her deeply. Elphaba's hand went to his hair as she responded to his kisses, letting him in as she closed her eyes and let other senses took over. He kissed her jaw, and then her neck, while his hand slid under her night gown and caressed her bare skin.

"Yero…" she said his name.

Fiyero stopped, and looked at her.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "I can stop if you want to."

Elphaba looked back at him, at his mesmerising blue eyes that were shrouded with desire and love. No, love and desire. At his beautiful features that was hers to touch. The most attractive guy in school - the scandalicious Vikun prince Fiyero, and he only wanted her.

She shook her head with a smile, and then pulled him down to her so that she could kiss him again, yearning for more. She slid her hands down his back as she shifted her legs around him.

She would miss this too.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back in Shiz, the scar on Fiyero's face was not much of a topic, except for Crope and Tibbett who came up with the most outrageous stories when all the girls were not around. Boq was so embarrassed that he excused himself from the table halfway during the conversation, his face all red.

Fiyero and Elphaba got into a fight.

Fiyero got into a fight in a bar with a man over Elphaba.

Fiyero got into a fight in a bar with a man over another woman.

Fiyero and Elphaba got into a fight over a woman that both of them wanted.

Fiyero and Elphaba got into a fight over a man that both of them wanted.

Or.

Fiyero got into a cat fight when buying the Oz'Couture latest range for Galinda.

Fiyero was scratched by Elphaba when she found out that he was actually a regular at Oz'Couture – he wore the items from their lingerie series.

Or.

Fiyero was scratched by Elphaba when he tried to force himself on her.

Fiyero was scratched by Elphaba when he rejected her advances when they were in Emerald City.

Fiyero was scratched by his mother when he tried to stop a cat fight between her and Elphaba.

Fiyero got scratched when Elphaba was too passionate in bed and there were many more on his body (Fiyero had to take off his shirt off on the spot to prove that it was not true, and then the infirmary subsequently reported an increase of fainting cases on that particular day).

Galinda claimed that she was happy to have her roommate back, was nothing could be compared to the ecstasy on her face when the delivery from Oz'Couture arrived two days after that.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Two weeks later, Elphaba went to Fiyero's room and saw a cat on a makeshift litter box that was pushed against the wall next to the door.

"Am I seeing things or have you studied too much?" She asked. She never knew him as a pet person, let alone a cat person.

Fiyero put a finger to his lips, and closed the door behind her.

"This is Malky. He was sent by my father to keep an eye on me. 'To stop me from getting into trouble.' " he quoted with his fingers bent.

"You mean to stop me from getting you into trouble."

"That's not what he wrote. He specially said to stop me."

Elphaba squatted down and looked at the Cat. It looked just like an ordinary cat with white fur and a pair of golden eyes. She scratched the Cat behind its ears. It meowed and turned over, exposing its belly for more scratch favours.

"Don't scratch him. He's male. I will get jealous," Fiyero told her.

Elphaba smiled indulgently.

"A Cat," she said to herself as she stood up to receive her first kiss of the day. "What are you going to do? Nobody is allowed to keep pets in Shiz. You will be reprimanded and the cat disposed of. And imagine what will happen if they found out that he is a Cat. Why can't your father hire a real Ama?"

"Only girls need Amas as chaperones," Fiyero pouted.

"A valet then?"

"I will be a laughing stock. Well, to look on the bright side, at least he is toilet trained."

She asked him what he intended to do then.

Fiyero shrugged. "He won't be staying here all the time. We will just pretend that he is a stray who prefers my room, and I won't chase him out because my girlfriend loves animals."

"How did I get involved?" she asked with a smile.

"Everyone knows that I will break all the rules just to make you happy," Fiyero told her teasingly, as his arms encircled her waist and gently pushed her against the study table.

She pushed him away. "Fiyero."

"What?"

"He's here."

"So?"

"He's watching."

"So?"

"Your hands. They are unbuttoning my uniform right now," she said, as if there was a possibility that he had not known what he was doing.

Fiyero chuckled as he kissed her again.

"Go away." He told the Cat.

"I'm in charge, remember," the Cat spoke in a dry raspy voice that did not carry beyond the room.

Fiyero did not reply, but pulled Elphaba close to him again.

"I guess we just have to find out what is his limit then?" He told her as he kissed her again. He continued to unbutton the Shiz uniform that she was wearing. The Cat kept on staring at them with his golden eyes, but finally gave a snarl when Fiyero pushed Elphaba's blouse off her shoulders, exposing her green skin. He leaped onto the study table and jumped out of the window.

"Now we know what is his limit," Fiyero told Elphaba, but did not stop what he was doing.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Malky, like his 'owner', was a hit with the girls at Shiz. They would squeal when they saw him, and some of them even chased him all over the lawn. There was once when Fiyero even saw a group of five girls trying to scratch him at the same time. The guys, on the other hand, thought that tying up his tail was the latest in-game, but Malky was smart enough to avoid them after the first time.

Even Nessarose loved him, and he would always lie down on her lap and pretend to sleep while the group of friends were together. Maybe it was because she would never suddenly stand up and drop him onto the ground. Nobody, except for Fiyero and Elphaba, knew that he was actually a Cat.

Fiyero never had a roommate of any kind in his life. Besides the lack of privacy (Fiyero learned after a while that Malky would give him the privacy he needed if he were to ask nicely or to give advance notice), the two seemed to have developed a friendship of some sort, which consisted of Fiyero talking to Malky and the Cat purring in reply or giving him a look of disdain. On the rare times that he replied, his replies would remind Fiyero of Elphaba's sarcasm when she was in one of her moods.

Madam Morrible was not amused with the appearance of the Cat of course. She sent some staff to capture him on various occasions, since animals and pets were not allowed in the campus. When the smart Cat eluded them easily, the Shiz mistress hired outside help to catch him, which did not work either. After a while, the Cat and the Shiz mistress seemed to reach an unspoken consensus. He tried not to appear so often in front of her, and she just pretended that there was no cat in the campus.

A/N Please review! More drama in 2 chapters' time (don't say I didn't warn you :P)