Kudos to HC247 for, indeed, being the 100th reviewer! (You having to write something fluffy is never a bad thing!)
Lol, Nia, I did talk to you about this in NY. Sorry for traumatising you guys, but Morrible just isn't nice and after discovering a betrayal this huge, admit it, she'd do something awful.
Stratagems
The older witch appeared to revel in Elphaba's screams; a wide smile spread across her face as she listened to the sound. It made Fiyero absolutely sick. Only when the blade had almost reached Elphaba's right ear did Morrible release her. The knife clattered to the floor and Elphaba collapsed in a heap, sobbing in pain.
"Do you want a final look at your prince, dearie?" Morrible asked in a deceivingly pleasant tone of voice as the young witch tried to pull herself together, blood dripping from her face and splattering onto the floor below her. "Before I do the same thing to your other eye?"
And that, somehow, was enough to make Fiyero shift enough to break free, letting out a howl as he leapt at Morrible.
She wagged a finger at him as if he were a naughty puppy. "Ah-ah," she chided him. She cast a glance in Elphaba's direction. He followed her gaze, only to find the green girl now pressing the knife against her own throat with one trembling hand, her good eye filled with tears and fear. He couldn't see her other eye; there was too much blood. He could guess how it would look, though, and it made him feel even sicker.
"Step back, Prince Fiyero," Morrible ordered him. "Calm yourself. I'd rather keep her than kill her, but I will do it if you don't obey me."
Left with no choice, he did obey, forcing himself to calm down enough to change back slightly. The guards grabbed him again and Morrible smirked. "That's better."
Fiyero hadn't even realised until now that he was crying, too. "Fae," he called out to her. His voice broke. He wasn't sure what he could say to her; he just wanted her to know he was there.
She raised her head, one hand pressed over her damaged eye and still holding the knife in her other hand, although Morrible appeared to have relaxed her control on the green girl for now. Her gaze met his for a moment, but then her eye shifted to something behind him and he saw something flicker in its dark depth.
"Fiyero," she whispered, swallowing her pain. "Run."
He began to protest, but her glare, even one-eyed, was enough to silence him. Something in her face told him she wasn't just trying to be noble and sacrifice herself for him. She had some kind of plan.
"How touching," said Morrible sarcastically. "He'd never leave you, dearie, and I'll never let him get out of here alive, anyway. It's no use."
He still hesitated, but then a very quiet voice breathed into his ear, "Do as she says. I've got her."
Glinda. She must have sneaked back inside. Relief washed over him, but he tried not to let it take over. Instead, he recalled everything he'd seen the old hag do to Elphaba, both this night and before, everything she'd told him; and all together, it was enough to make him so furious he could feel himself begin to shift again. Aided by the transformation, he gave a roar and broke free, throwing the guards off him.
"Run!" Elphaba shouted and this time, he didn't hesitate. He trusted her, and he trusted Glinda to get her best friend out of there.
He bolted, back to, and then straight through, the kitchen door, disappearing from view with some of the guards chasing after him.
Morrible faltered, surprised by this turn of events, and then there was some kind of explosion that came out of nowhere and knocked everyone in the room to the ground. Everyone but the one who had caused the magical outburst, anyway.
"Hurry!" Glinda cried, dragging Elphaba to her feet. "She won't stay down for long!"
With the guards' attention scattered, the remaining ones unsure of who to chase and whose escape to ignore, they managed to get out of the front door of the castle before Morrible could recover. Glinda helped her flee into the forest and soon they were out of sight, although they both knew they weren't safe yet.
"Thank you," Elphaba panted as they stumbled through the woods together. It was so cold they could see their breaths in the air, but at least it was too warm for snow, now. If it had snowed, they'd leave footsteps and Morrible would find them in a matter of minutes.
Glinda shook her head. "Oh, Elphaba, what did she do to you?" she asked sadly. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there sooner…"
"You saved us," the green girl said. She winced, pain shooting through her shoulder and face at every step. "Do you have the Grimmerie?"
Glinda nodded. "Yes."
"Where are we going?"
Now the blonde girl looked helpless. "I don't know," she admitted. "My main priority was getting you out of there."
"And Fiyero?"
"I don't know where he's going, either, but we need to get away now, Elphaba. We can figure out those things later."
Elphaba nodded, knowing her friend was right, only to realise a problem. "I'm leaving a blood trail," she muttered. "Wait." She stopped walking and Glinda, catching on quickly, tore a few pieces of the skirt from her dress. She wrapped one around the green girl's shoulder as a makeshift bandage. Elphaba took the other piece from her and pressed it against her eye, a whimper escaping her lips before she could help it.
"Elphie," Glinda whispered, but the dark-haired witch ignored her.
"You have to help me," she said, only the slight tremor in her voice betraying her emotions. "I only have one eye and it's constantly tearing up because the other one hurts so badly, so I can't see much."
"Do you think it's bad?" Glinda asked, a slight note of hope in her voice. "Your eye, I mean? Maybe we can fix it? Clean it, or bandage it and let it heal on its own? Or… or use a spell?"
Elphaba gave a short, mirthless laugh. "Glin, I cut into my own eye with a knife. Even healing spells can only patch up so much damage. I think I'll have to get used to seeing with only one eye for the rest of my life."
Glinda winced. "I'm so sorry, Elphie."
"Stop saying that. If it weren't for you, I'd have lost the other eye, too. Just help me get out of here," Elphaba said, a little sharper than she had intended. Her blonde friend did as she asked, recognising the green girl was trying to stay strong – at least until they were somewhere safe.
Glinda silently led Elphaba through the forest, pausing and listening for signs of Morrible's guards every now and then, but she didn't hear them. She glanced over at her friend. Elphaba's wings were drooping, just barely refraining from brushing the forest floor and leaving a trail. She seemed to exhausted and too weak to even fold them up against her back, the way she usually did. Glinda could only hope they'd make it to a safe place soon. She wasn't sure where they were going, but then Elphaba said, "That big tree up ahead. Is that a weeping willow?"
"I'm not sure," said Glinda, feeling sheepish. "What does a weeping willow look like?"
The tiniest hint of a smile flitted across Elphaba's face at that. "The branches hang down. That's why it's called a weeping willow – when it rains, it looks like it's weeping."
"Ah." Glinda nodded solemnly. "Then yes, I think it is."
"Turn left," Elphaba instructed.
The other girl did as she asked, puzzled. "Why? Where are we going?"
"Somewhere safe," Elphaba said quietly. "I hope so, at least." She swayed a little and Glinda tightened her grip on her friend, who gave her a weak smile. "I lost a little too much blood, I think."
"Will you make it?" Glinda asked worriedly. "I can't carry you, Elphie."
The young witch beside her just grunted. "I'm tougher than I look."
Glinda knew that meant Elphaba was probably right about on the verge of collapsing, but she didn't say anything, instead following the green girl's instructions until they reached some sort of cottage. "Who lives there?" she asked as they went up to the door.
"Myah?" Elphaba called, her voice hoarse and still shaking. "It's me."
The door opened and Myah's eyes widened to the size of saucers when she saw the state Elphaba was in. "Oh my Oz," she breathed. "What happened to you?"
"Can we come in?" Glinda asked a little impatiently and Myah quickly helped the two witches inside. She met Glinda's gaze over the green girl's head and Glinda shook her head at the princess. "We need to clean that wound in her shoulder and we need to look at that eye," she said softly. "She needs rest, too. She's lost a lot of blood."
Myah grasped Elphaba's waist and allowed the dark-haired witch to lean on her, supporting her as she made her way over to the bedroom at the back of the house. She painstakingly managed to pull in her wings so they wouldn't be in the way and Glinda helped her lie down on the bed, pulling open the top of Elphaba's dress without even blinking. The fact that her friend didn't even protest told her more than anything about the shape she was in – she knew how uncomfortable Elphaba was with showing a lot of skin, even to her best friend.
"What happened to your eye?" Myah whispered, clearly horrified. Glinda couldn't blame her. The skin around the eye was raw, bloody and swollen; as far as the blonde could see, the white of Elphaba's eye was completely red. It was an impressive gash and she knew for certain it would scar, not to mention the damage to the eye itself.
"Morrible," Elphaba muttered and Myah shivered, turning away.
Glinda took a deep breath. "All right. I'll do this," she said bravely. "Unless you volunteer?"
She glanced up at Myah, who looked like she might faint any moment, so Glinda exhaled again slowly. "Right. Do you have any medical supplies here?"
The younger girl shook her head faintly. "I found some old sheets to use as bandages," she offered. "And I could boil water…"
Glinda grimaced. It wouldn't do, but she had nothing else to work with at the moment. She just hoped it would be enough for now. If Elphaba needed stitches, there'd be a whole different kind of problem, but she'd approach this one step at a time. "Please do. And while you're at it, why don't you also make some tea and something to eat? Elphie will need it to get her strength up soon."
The princess nodded, grateful for something semi-useful to do that didn't involve wounds or blood. "But… Can't you use magic?"
Glinda shook her head with a sad look on her face. "I don't know the spells," she admitted, lowering her gaze. "I'm much less skilled at magic than Elphaba is, and… she can't cast the spells on herself because they take so much energy. She could, maybe, once she's stronger, but since she'd have to be conscious the entire time, it'd hurt terribly; and in any case, it wouldn't be enough to enable her to see again. We'll have to do this the old-fashioned way for now."
Myah bit her lip and nodded. "I'll go get those bandages and the water," she said and fled the room.
Glinda bent over Elphaba. "Elphie, this is probably going to hurt," she warned. "Not as much as a spell would, maybe, but still."
"It already does," Elphaba croaked. She was feeling faint, although she'd never admit that, and the pain only seemed to get worse as more time passed.
Glinda took a deep breath and set to work. Very carefully, she dabbed away the blood around Elphaba's eye, enabling her to get a better look at it. She'd hoped it wouldn't be as bad as they'd thought, but her heart sank at the sight. The eye was still there, but that was about all she could say for it. It wasn't good.
"Well?" Elphaba asked when her friend didn't say anything. Sarcasm crept into her voice. "Do you still think a bit of cleaning and rest will be enough to heal it?"
Glinda shook her head mutely and the green girl bit her lip. "That bad?"
"I…" The blonde swallowed. "Maybe it just needs time to…" She trailed off.
"Listen, Glin," Elphaba said quietly. "I knew I'd lose that eye the moment I cut into it with that knife. I'm not going to be able to see with it again. Just… try to patch it up the best you can. You're an expert on making people look pretty," she joked weakly.
Glinda grimaced. "It's going to scar."
"One scar more or less isn't going to make much of a difference now."
"But it's your face, Elphie!"
"As if my face was anything to look at before," Elphaba said sarcastically. When Glinda scowled, she added, "Glin, I got away from Morrible. That's the most important thing. If I hadn't, she'd have done so much worse. It doesn't matter."
The blonde clearly disagreed, but she tried the best she could with the supplies she had. She moved on to treat her friend's shoulder, cleaning it and bandaging it, instructing Elphaba to try to keep her arm still for the next few days at least.
"Now sleep," she instructed. "You lost blood and you need rest."
"Fiyero," Elphaba murmured, already half asleep.
"Shh." Glinda covered the dark-haired witch with a couple of blankets. "He'll be all right. He got away; he's probably just laying low for the time being. He'll find us, or we'll find him. Don't worry."
"We can't stay here…" Elphaba mumbled. "She'll find us."
"We'll think of something," Glinda promised her. "Just rest now."
Despite her worries and the pain she was in, Elphaba was asleep before the blonde had even left the room.
"We can't stay here," Myah said the moment Glinda re-entered the living room. "Can we?"
Glinda shook her head as she sat down at the table across from the princess. "It's too close to the castle. Sooner or later, they'll find us here." She took a breath. "I don't suppose you know of a safe place for us to go to?"
Myah shook her head. "No. Glinda… What happened?"
The blonde went with the shortest possible version, enquiring as to what Myah already knew and filling in the blanks and everything that had happened since she'd discovered that Morrible knew about Elphaba's betrayal. She explained to the younger girl what the woman had done to Elphaba's eye and told her that Fiyero had escaped, although she had no idea where he had gone.
"He doesn't know where I am," said Myah. "I mean, he knows I'm here, but he doesn't know where this cottage is. Only Elphaba does. She insisted on that, for my safety."
"What if something had happened to her and she couldn't come to take you to Fiyero?" Glinda asked, knowing her friend would have had some sort of back-up plan in case that happened.
"If I hadn't seen her for a week, then I was supposed to go to Kiamo Ko," Myah said.
Glinda looked thoughtful. "Do you think he would go back there?" she asked, but the princess shook her head.
"I don't know," she said helplessly. "He might… It's the only place that would make sense for us to meet up at, but it's also the place where Morrible will most likely keep some guards stationed for that exact same reason. If we go there, there's a big chance of us getting captured. The same goes for Yero and I think he wouldn't take that risk – he's smarter than that. On the other hand…"
"…he might, if he thinks it would lead him to Elphaba," Glinda finished quietly.
Myah nodded. "I think so. If he really loves her that much… Fiyero has a big heart. He'd do anything for the people he loves."
Glinda thought of all he had risked, and was still risking, by being with Elphaba; and she nodded.
"I have an idea of where to go once we find him, though," she said, trying to focus on the bright side of things. "I think it would be safest if we could travel to my Momsie and Popsicle's house. They'll take us in, I'm sure of it. The only problem is that the journey might be quite long, but perhaps Elphie and I can do something about that. We still have the Grimmerie, after all." She smiled.
Myah nodded. "Okay."
They tried to lay out a plan – or something like it, anyway. There wasn't much to plan, aside from taking the Grimmerie to Elphaba once she awoke so she could find them a spell that could help them get to Gillikin; and finding a way to locate Fiyero. Still, it made them feel better to do something, so they kept busy. Eventually, however, Myah couldn't take it anymore.
"He's out there somewhere," she said to Glinda. "Morrible doesn't know what I look like, does she? I could go out and look for him. It wouldn't be that dangerous."
Glinda clearly doubted that. "Myah…"
"I can't just sit here and wait," the girl said stubbornly. "If he's out there, looking for you and Elphaba, while Morrible is still looking for him… I will never forgive myself if I'm sitting here, twiddling my thumbs, and he gets captured by her again in the meantime. I'm going, Glinda."
Glinda took one look at the princess's face and nodded, recognising there was no stopping her, anyway. "All right. Just… please be careful," she begged. "I don't want to have to explain to Elphie that you got killed or captured, too."
"I'll be careful," Myah promised and then she left the cottage.
Glinda sighed, resting her cheek in the palm of her hand, and stared out of the window. Now all she could do was wait – for Myah to return, hopefully with Fiyero; or for Elphaba to wake up. For the sake of her own nerves and her friend's health, she was fervently hoping the former would occur before the latter or she was sure there would be hell to pay.
There's a brief hiatus coming up, because I'm going to Malta for five days this Saturday and I'm not taking my laptop. I'll update Friday evening and then again on Wednesday, if I remember to do that. Just so you know!