AN: Props to Glinda, because Failey wants me to. And because our cute bubbly blonde indeed does deserve it :).

Furthermore, I'm happy, because Sister Act is here in the Netherlands and I'm going to get to see it with my Aunt! :D We were originally planning to go with my friend and my Mom, too, but my Aunt got this arrangement for two where dinner and the show are included, and also... drumrolls... a meet and greet with the cast! *squeaky Galinda-dance* So my Aunt is taking me, and you can imagine me being veeeeeery happy right now :D. One of the nuns is played by our former Dutch Nessarose - I'm soooo hoping to get a pic with her!

Anyway... after this chapter you'll hate me again. I'm going to answer the questions you're going to fire at me right away, once more: because I can and because it's funny. Feel free to get all angry and desperate and murderous towards me - in fact, I'd be disappointed if you wouldn't act that way - and thus make me laugh :D.

Fiyero woke in the middle of the night because Elphaba was screaming.

It was such a sudden, piercing, and high-pitched sound that he bolted upright from sleep, losing his balance and falling off the cot in the process, landing harshly on his back. He scrambled up, blinking his eyes and trying to wrap his mind around what was going on. Before he could do anything, however, Cyara was already there, her pale face appearing behind the bars in the other cell. 'Elphaba!' she yelled with more volume than Fiyero had thought his little sister capable of, her voice echoing through the dungeons.

It worked, somehow, because Elphaba's screaming died down to a soft whimper. 'It's okay,' said Cyara in a soothing voice, softer now. 'Go back to sleep.'

The whimpering stopped and when Fiyero looked at the green girl, she was still sleeping, only silently so now.

He glanced at his sister, slightly baffled. 'What was that?'

'Nightmare,' said Cyara quietly. 'She's been having them almost every night I've spent in the dungeons with her, usually more times a night. Sometimes she screams, sometimes she wakes up, sometimes she suffers them in silence, but she told me one day that they're always there. They're about you, mostly. Sometimes she says your name in her sleep.'

His heart constricted as he looked at the girl he loved again. As if life wasn't horrible enough for her when she was awake…

'In the beginning, I wasn't sure what to do,' Cyara continued. 'Especially since I can't get close to her. After a while, I found out that screaming her name helps. Somehow it gets through to her, even in those nightmares, and it breaks through them or something. I have no idea how, but she said it works, so…' The girl shrugged. 'It was one of the very few things I could do for her while we were both in here.'

Fiyero buried his face in his hands. 'It's my fault.'

'Yes.'

He hadn't expected that and his head shot up. 'What?' Yes, he did feel that it was his fault, but he had expected Cyara to try and reassure him that it wasn't. She looked back at him with calm, knowing eyes, however. 'I'm sorry, Yero, but it is,' she added in an almost apologetic tone of voice. 'You know what exactly they're about? Her nightmares?'

'I think I can make an educated guess,' he mumbled, knowing what had been the most terrifying and desperate moment of Elphaba's life… her breaking point. Cyara nodded. 'When you were taken away by the Gale Force. She said that if you'd just stayed in the forest, she would probably have been able to save herself from them. Only you didn't. You came to rescue her. Don't get me wrong, Yero, it was noble of you!' she said honestly. 'But she feels guilty about it. That you were turned into a Scarecrow, even though it only lasted a few weeks, that you were tortured in the first place… she believes it's her fault.'

'It wasn't,' he whispered, realisation dawning on him. 'It was my own. It was my decision, not hers.'

'You shouldn't have done it,' Cyara said matter-of-factly. 'It was noble and brave and at the time it probably felt like the right thing to do, but you still shouldn't have done it.'

He let out a mirthless laugh. 'All I could think about at the time was to save her life, no matter the consequences. I could have known she would save herself – she's been saving herself for three years already on her own. Only I didn't think. As usual. And now she pays the price for that.' He moaned softly and dropped his head back into his hands. 'It is my fault!'

'Would you shut it?' Elphaba suddenly snapped from her spot on the cot behind him and he whirled around only to find her glaring at him in annoyance. He was baffled. 'You're awake?'

'No, I'm sleep-talking.' She rolled her eyes at him. 'I'm a light sleeper, you knew that. It's one of the things spending years on the run does to you. And you two are having a nonsensical discussion. You're both wrong. None of it was Yero's fault, Cyara – you shouldn't be telling him it was.'

'But it was,' Fiyero insisted. 'If I had just trusted you when you told me to let you go by yourself-'

'Feeling guilty about everything is my department, remember?' she reminded him. 'And there's nothing you could change about it now anyway.'

'But if I hadn't…'

'You wanted to save me,' she pointed out. 'You did save me. And it was my own fault that I needed saving in the first place. The nightmares are just that – nightmares. I'll survive them. Now could the two of you please be quiet, so that I can get some more sleep?'

The siblings fell silent. 'Sorry,' mumbled Cyara sheepishly. Fiyero leaned against the cot and gently stroked her hair away from her face. 'Go to sleep. I'll be right here when you wake up.'

'I know you will be,' she murmured, and she adjusted her position a little in order to lie on a part of her body that wasn't whipped or burned or bruised. 'Goodnight, Yero my hero.'

'Goodnight, my Fae,' he whispered back, then watched as she drifted back off to sleep.

He kept a close watch on her as she slept, and when he heard her whimper softly and saw her curl up into herself a bit more, flashes of pain and hurt crossing her face, he suspected she was having another nightmare. Sure enough, as he was about to wake her up, she awoke by herself. She didn't stir or make a sound; her eyes just suddenly opened. She watched him vigilantly at first, then blinked a few times and she relaxed as she recognised him. 'Yero.' His name escaped her lips in a sigh and he reached up to take her hand and squeeze it softly. 'It's me, Fae.'

'You okay?' she mumbled sleepily, eyeing him closely, and he rested his forehead against hers. 'I'm fine.'

'Good,' she breathed. Her eyes started to flicker shut again, then opened once more. 'You should sleep, too.'

He started to shake his head, but she managed to glare at him quite impressively, despite the fact that she still seemed to be half asleep. 'Fiyero…'

'Okay, fine,' he complied. 'Move over.' She did, and as he lay down next to her, she snuggled closer to him again, using his chest as a pillow. 'Better?' he asked her.

She sighed softly. 'Much.'

Fiyero fell asleep within no time and she was about to drift off herself when a thought suddenly struck her. She sat up abruptly, eliciting an indignant sound from Fiyero, though he didn't wake up. She stared into the darkness, pondering over a few ideas in her mind. They needed to get out of here. That much was for sure. The only question was: how?

She knew that there were only two answers to that question, one of which was 'a miracle'. She dismissed that first answer almost instantly. Elphaba Thropp had never been one to sit around and wait for miracles. If she could take matters into her own hands, she would.

That left only one answer: the Grimmerie.

She knew the guards had taken it from her when she had been captured. She also knew that it would most likely be with Morrible right now. Which in turn meant she needed to get back into the Throne Room to have even the smallest chance on getting her hands on the book… and unfortunately, there was only one way she knew of to accomplish that.

Tomorrow, she promised herself. Tomorrow I'll try.

Before she could even start executing her plan, however, fate seemed to be lending her a hand for a change by giving her an excuse to be in the Throne Room.

She woke up to guard marching down the stairs and stopping in front of the cell she shared with Fiyero. She turned around, taking them in sleepily, but before she could do anything, Fiyero had leapt to his feet and was shielding her body with is. 'You're not torturing her again!' he growled. 'Over my dead body!'

'That can be arranged, Prince Fiyero,' one of the guard replied drily, 'but that's not why we're here. We were sent to escort Miss Elphaba to the Throne Room.'

Fiyero kept firm in place. Elphaba's eyes, however, lit up at that announcement. This was going to be easier than she thought it would be. Once in the Throne Room, it would be a matter of locating the Grimmerie and finding a way to get to it. That, of course, sounded much easier than it was, but she was confident that she'd think of something. Somehow.

She gingerly rose from the cot. Fiyero glanced at her once, then was at her side instantly to help her. Instead of pushing him away, she flashed him a grateful smile and he kept his arm around her waist steadily as she walked up to the guards. 'The Throne Room?'

'What for?' demanded Fiyero, and one of the guards looked at him mockingly. 'Wouldn't you like to know.'

'Well, he will know,' another guard said, with a look at Fiyero. 'Because you're to come with us.'

That made Elphaba's blood run cold and her breath caught in her throat. This wasn't part of the plan. She knew that there was only one reason why Morrible would want Fiyero there. To try and break her. Morrible, and even Glinda, torturing her, she could deal with. But the old hag hurting Fiyero… The mere thought caused her blood to boil with rage.

Fiyero was relieved that he could come with her, but when Elphaba uttered a colourful curse under her breath, he frowned. He didn't understand why she seemed so unhappy, suddenly.

It dawned on him, however, when they were both brought into the Throne Room and the first thing Elphaba did was step forward, back straight despite her injuries, eyes blazing. 'You are not touching him.'

Morrible cackled, but her eyes were calculating and cold as she watched how two guards grabbed the green girl's arms and wrenched them behind her back. 'I don't think you're in any position to stop me, dearie.'

The implication of that sentence caused Elphaba's eyes to widen, and she started to struggle heavily against the men who were trying to restrain her. 'You are not touching him!' she screeched, fury clearly audible in her voice, and a few of the other guards watched her warily. Morrible just smirked, which only made Elphaba fight harder.

She only stopped when Fiyero spoke, even though his voice was quiet. 'Fae.'

She stopped struggling and met his gaze. He could see the feral, almost primitive despair in her eyes, and he tried to keep his own gaze steady and reassuring as he said, 'I'll be okay.'

Something flickered in her eyes for a moment, but then she dropped her head and he couldn't read her expression anymore. Morrible motioned for the guards to force them both on the floor and stood there towering over them, her expression smug and grim at the same time. 'Now, Miss Elphaba. Shall we start with you or with your lovely Prince here?'

Elphaba glared at her and Morrible spat out a laugh. 'I found a new spell, you know. It's a very interesting one, I must say. You see,' she started explaining, as if she were a school teacher trying to explain something to a child, 'the spell paralyses you completely. Everything. You can't move a muscle, you can't blink your eyes, you can't breathe. The best part of it, though, is that you'll be conscious the entire time. I've seen warriors, incredibly strong men, been put down by this very technique.' Her eyes were shining maliciously as she looked down at Elphaba. 'I'd love to try it on you.'

'Do your worst,' Elphaba growled at her. 'I don't care one little bit. You can't break me, Morrible. You almost did, you had me this close, but you'll never fully succeed. I'm stronger than you are and you know it. That's the only reason you're even trying to break me – because you know what I'm capable of when you give me just the tiniest bit of leverage. I never thought I'd say this, but you know what? I feel sorry for you. You have achieved nothing in your life. All you've done is induce pain and fear, but no one truly loves you. No one cares about you. You're alone, Morrible. Old and ugly and pathetic and alone.'

In that moment, despite all of her injuries, despite the fact that she was being held down onto the floor in an attempt to make her feel inferior to the woman towering over her, she looked more fiery and more fierce than ever, and Fiyero was immensely proud of her. This was his Fae. This was the woman he loved. Her fire, her determination, her strength – all beyond belief. She'd break down sometimes, almost giving up, almost letting go, but always scrambling to her feet again, only to come back stronger. He hadn't thought it possible, but in that moment, he knew he had come to love her even more than he already had.

Morrible, however, didn't seem to amused. She didn't say anything else to them; instead she just started chanting under her breath, and when she finished the spell, Elphaba had collapsed onto the floor, her eyes open, but her entire body unmoving. For an awful clock-tick, Fiyero was convinced that she was dead, but then Morrible leaned forward to place herself into the dark-haired witch's line of vision. 'I know you can hear me, dearie. You see now? It must be hard, isn't it? You see me, and you hear me, but you can't move one tiny finger. You can't breathe. Does it hurt already, the lack of oxygen? You know, this is a most effective form of torture. Take your enemy up to the point where they're about to die, then bring them back again. Over and over and over again, until they either snap and tell you what you need to know, or until you accidentally don't reverse the spell in time and they actually die. Don't worry, though, I'm not planning such an ending for you. No, dearie, your ending will be much, much worse…' She straightened again and looked down at Elphaba with an evil smile.

Fiyero looked into the eyes of the girl he loved and he knew she could see him. 'Hold on, Fae,' he said softly. 'You can do this. I know you can. Just fight to get back to me, okay?'

Morrible snorted. 'How touching.' She started to chant again and when she was done, Elphaba suddenly started drawing in gulps of air, nearly choking on it in the process. It took her a minute or so to get herself together again, but when she did, she didn't in the least seem affected by Morrible's spell. 'That was,' she finally gasped, looking up at Morrible, 'an interesting experience.'

Morrible's face darkened with anger. 'All right,' she hissed. 'Let's see then how you'll react when we start to torture your little boyfriend here!'

Elphaba's glare was fierce enough to make an entire army drop dead on the spot. 'Don't you dare.'

Morrible had already started to chant, however, and Fiyero braced himself, trying to prepare himself mentally for the pain he suspected was coming. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited.

The pain never came. When Morrible reached the end of her spell, Elphaba, who had not been pinned down by the guards again because she had still seemed too weak after the last spell, suddenly lunged forward, effectively placing herself between Fiyero and Morrible. It was too late for anyone to do something at that point and Morrible seemed annoyed when her spell didn't strike Fiyero, but Elphaba instead. 'Have to play the hero again, dearie?' the fish-lady asked in an exasperated tone of voice. 'Trying to save your handsome Prince from harm? It won't work forever, you know. I'm going to make sure that one way or another, you're going to see him suffer. You have my word on that.'

Something flashed in Elphaba's eyes, but she was squirming and writhing on the floor in pain and so Morrible didn't catch it. Fiyero's heart ached as he watched her in so much pain, and he managed to wriggle himself free from the guards still holding him and get to her, gently cradling her head in his lap. 'Ssh,' he cooed soothingly. 'I'm here, Fae. I'm here.'

Her eyes met his for a moment and he could have sworn he saw a look of triumph in there. 'Why did you do that?' he whispered in mild despair. 'You shouldn't have done that…'

'You… saved me once,' she managed to choke out from between clenched teeth, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt not to scream out in agony. 'Now it was… my turn… to return the favour.'

He shook his head, tears shining in his eyes. 'You already saved me so many times, Fae…'

'Don't they make such a cute little couple?' Morrible asked one of the guards in a mock amiable tone of voice. She looked back at the couple with disdain and contempt written all over her face. Elphaba felt bile rising up in her throat and she fell onto her hands and knees, retching on the clean, shiny floor.

'You two are sickening,' Morrible continued in a disgusted tone of voice. 'Pathetic. Are you still trying to say that love makes you stronger, dearie? That it's so important? I dare argue with you. Look at us both now for a moment. You, the one that believes in unconditional love, squirming on the floor like an insect about to be trampled under someone's foot – mine, obviously, since that's all that you are to me anyway. An insect.'

Fiyero was holding Elphaba's hair back as she threw up, and when she was done, she looked up to Morrible, her dark eyes burning like fiery coals. Morrible didn't seem to even notice.

'And then look at me. All I ever cared about was power. That's what it's truly about, isn't it? Everything has always been about power. It's what makes you the strongest one, the best one, the superior one. Pure, unadulterated power.'

'Ah… but that's where you're wrong, Morrible,' Elphaba gasped as she tried to get a hold of herself –the agonising spell was slowly starting to fade now. 'Love is so much stronger than mere power can… ever be.'

Morrible looked down at her. 'I seriously doubt that, dearie, since I'm not the one vomiting on the floor right now.'

'What doesn't kill you…' Elphaba exhaled audibly and tilted her head a little to meet Morrible's gaze. '…makes you stronger.'

'We'll see about that.' Morrible saw that the effects of her spell were wearing off and she started to chant the first one again, the paralysing spell. As Fiyero felt Elphaba's body go limp in his arms, Morrible grinned at the green girl. 'Now I'm sure you won't be bothering me when I torture your Princey here.'

He could clearly see the panic in green girl's eyes as she realised she was completely helpless now. Morrible started to chant again and Fiyero kept talking softly to Elphaba. 'I'll be okay, Fae. We'll both be okay. Don't worry about me, please… don't worry.'

Elphaba's mind, in the meantime, was raging. Her original plan was failing; she had located the Grimmerie by using her powers when they got in, by sensing the waft of magic that surrounded the book. It wasn't within her reach, however. Morrible had hidden it somewhere, and unless she could break free to start a search for the book, she knew she could never get to it.

On top of that, she was now lying completely paralysed and helpless as Morrible started chanting the spell that would hurt Fiyero. Her Fiyero. Again. She couldn't let him get hurt again. She couldn't do nothing, but at the moment, she couldn't do something, anything, either. She felt utterly useless and desperate as she fought to not give in. Morrible was nearing the end of the spell and Elphaba thought about the way it had hurt her, the agonising, piercing stabs and lashes of pain searing through her body, breaking it, hurting beyond belief. She couldn't let that happen to Fiyero. She couldn't.

She barely even realised that the power had been building up inside of her until it was too late already. She screamed as she broke free, broke free from the spell Morrible had cast upon her, while at the same time her magic broke free from her body, knocking Morrible and the guards quite literally off their feet as a stunned silence dawned over the room. For a moment, all that was audible were Elphaba and Fiyero's ragged, uneven breaths.

Then, all hell broke loose.

Flames suddenly erupted in several places in the Throne Room and the Palace seemed to rumble for a moment. Commotion filled the hallways and it wasn't before long that a servant poked his head around the doorway. 'Madame Morrible?' he called in a shrill tone of voice. 'We have to evacuate! There's fire everywhere, and everything is rumbling! It's probably an earthquake – we all have to get out of here!' With that, he dashed out into the hallway again.

Gale Force members started pouring into the room, carefully but firmly grabbing Morrible's arms and starting to take her away. 'This is an evacuation, Madame,' one of them told her emotionlessly. 'Don't worry, we'll take you somewhere safe.' They started spreading around the room, talking to the guards that were still there, though dazed and disoriented, and Fiyero was lost for a moment at what to do.

Elphaba wasn't, however; she had recovered quickly from the spell and her outburst and soon scrambled to her feet, grabbing hold of Fiyero's hand and dragging him behind the giant mechanical Wizard's head before anyone paid too much attention to them. They both sat there with their backs against the structure, panting, fingers still firmly entwined.

Fiyero was the first to find his voice. 'An earthquake?' he questioned her in a whisper. 'Fire everywhere? Did you do that? It seems too well-timed to be coincidental, but I never knew…'

'I don't know my own power sometimes,' she acknowledged a bit sheepishly. 'But I guess it was me. As you said, it was too coincidental. But I never know what happens until it just… bursts out.' She shook her head. 'All I could think about was to keep you from getting hurt by her spell…'

He wrapped both his arms around her and kissed her temple. 'Are you okay?'

'I'll manage,' she said, her voice muffled a little by his shirt. They sat like that for some time, waiting until everyone had left the room. The fire was glowing in several places in the Throne Room, illuminating their faces; they were small, contained fires, but judging by the screams and panicked sounds coming from the hallways and the rest of the Palace, it wasn't like that everywhere.

Elphaba was slightly horrified. She had only meant to save Fiyero – she never wanted to set the entire Palace on fire! Still, she couldn't help but feel just the tiniest bit smug about it. She'd always hated the Emerald Palace, mostly because it had been where most of her problems had started and where the Wizard and Morrible lived, but also because it was so incredibly flamboyant and showy.

There was the sound of something heavy crashing down, followed by more screams coming from the hallways. Fiyero rose and pulled Elphaba to her feet. 'We have to get out of here.'

Elphaba's eyes looked even more huge than usual in the flickering light of the fires. 'Go, Yero. Fetch Cyara from the dungeons and get out of here.'

He stared at her. 'You better not be saying what I think you're saying.'

She shook her head. 'I can't come with you yet,' she stated simply. 'I have to stay and find the Grimmerie. I can't leave it here. If it falls – or stays – in the wrong hands, things could go horribly, horribly wrong. Please, Yero… you have to go. Save your sister.'

The Palace suddenly rumbled again, causing them both to lose their balance and fall down onto the floor, and there was another loud crashing noise, as if part of the ceiling had just collapsed. Dust and pieces of plaster rained down on them from the floor at the impact and Fiyero instinctively covered Elphaba's body with his to protect her from a possible crash. When the rumbling stopped, however, he moved away from her, yet keeping a firm grip on her wrist. 'I'm not leaving you here by yourself! It's way too dangerous – what if the Palace collapses down on you? What if you get caught again? You're either coming with me, or I'm staying with you!'

'It might be too late for Cyara if you wait for me!' she pleaded. 'Please, Yero…'

'I'm not leaving you again!' he declared angrily. Elphaba winced as another crashing sound reached them and more matter rained down from the ceiling. Fiyero looked ready to have a mental breakdown and she firmly grabbed his shoulders, spinning him to face her. 'Fiyero, listen to me. I promise – no, I swear, on… on my mother's grave… that I'll do everything in my power to return to you.' She knew she couldn't promise him simply to return to him, since there was some danger involved and she never made promises she might not be able to keep. 'But I have to do this, to prevent a lot of people from getting hurt in the future, and you have to go get to Cyara now. Please. Before it's too late.'

He hesitated, but he saw the look in her eyes and he knew she wouldn't give in. He also knew she was right – if he didn't move now, Cyara might be lost. So he pulled her to him and kissed her, hard. Then he spun around and ran out of the room.

Elphaba took a deep breath to keep herself from trembling and shook her head to clear it. She then took in the room and started her search for the Grimmerie.

'Hey!' Fiyero shouted at one of the guards running past. 'The dungeons! Open the dungeons! You need to let the prisoners out!'

The guard looked terrified. 'I'm not risking my life for some criminals!' he declared, and Fiyero shook his head quickly. 'I'm not asking you to. Just give me your keys!'

The guard hesitated, then threw Fiyero the bunch of keys from his belt and ran away. Fiyero quickly opened the heavy door and stormed inside. 'Cyara?'

'Yero!' He could hear the relief in her voice as she called back to him. He ran to her cell and tinkered with the keys for a moment, then managed to open the door. His sister threw her arms around him in a quick hug, but when she drew back, her eyes were wide with horror as realisation dawned on her. 'Where is Elphaba?'

'I'll explain later,' he said urgently, pushing her in front of him. 'Go! Get out of here – I'm freeing the other prisoners!'

He watched his younger sister run out as he did just that – letting out the other prisoners. They all ran up the stairs and into the hallways of the Palace; most of them took off right after that, off towards the family they'd been forced to leave behind when they were arrested – most of them for nonsensical crimes, Fiyero knew. He watched them go, then went in search of his sister again. He found her easily between the other people and joined her. 'You okay?'

She looked frightened and shaken, but fine otherwise. 'Yeah.' She suddenly wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. 'Yero… where is Elphaba?'

'She'll be here in just a minute,' he assured her, not entirely confident himself, but trusting Elphaba. It was a mess on the square; Palace occupants and servants were gaping at the burning and slowly collapsing building, other people were running around, trying to tend to some minor injuries that had befallen some of those who had been inside the Palace. He couldn't discover Morrible anywhere. Neither did he see Glinda, which also worried him slightly, but his mind soon drifted back to Elphaba. The Palace was shuddering now, ready to collapse entirely any moment. Several towers and parts of the building were already down. He watched the shiny green building intently, expecting Elphaba to come flying out of a window on a newly enchanted broomstick – or any other object, for that matter; she could practically fly anything – any moment now, cackling her Wicked Witch-cackle and frightening the Ozians beyond belief as she so loved to do. She didn't, though. What did happen, was something that filled the both of them with horror, despair and grief.

They watched as the Palace gave in and collapsed entirely into a heap of stones and fire.

Wow, that was a long chapter. Next chappie Glinda will be back! :D