Chapter 14

A/N Lots of thanks to everyone for the reviews. It's brightens my day to read all the feedback for this difficult chapter.

LittleMissDelirious – cries-and-dies – I love Game of Thrones (reading book 2 right now)! You know what they say about writing – protagonist and antagonist – but frankly speaking, life is not so clear cut, it's never black and white, just different shades of grey (and I am not referring to that book)

Elphabalover101, Emerald Minded Fictionist – calm down! *hint hint* =)

Lightningprince – I am so sorry that this chapter cuts so close to your heart. I have to admit that it is difficult for me to write too =( As for Fiyero's reaction, we all know that he is not the smartest pea in the pod. And thank you so much for helping out the anon reader in the review for Sight. Much appreciated. As for your comment in your review for Sight… no, in my mind, she did not go on a killing spree, because it happened when they were much younger (before she joined the resistance) and many of the attackers were not identified.

Wickedly Hope Pancake, I am so tempted to prolong his misery so that I can get more flying tapirs and open my own zoo. I think tapirs are cute!

Elphaba's Girl – sigh?

Bunny, thank you! How did you know that chocolate chip cookies are my favourite? =) and when I see your nick, the first image that came into my mind was that adorable Thumper in Bambi =)

And thanks to MyLittleElphie, Fae the Queen, Wickedly Hope Pancake and LittleMissDelirious for reviewing that terrible, work-stress-induced, angsty one-shot Happily Ever After. To the rest who do not mind angsty plots please check it out. Though I have to say that I DO NOT advocate whatever that happened in that plot.

Fry the seasoned chicken cubes. Remove the cubes from the pan when they turn golden brown and add onions and mushrooms. Add in chicken stock and milk gradually and stir well. Put the chicken back into the pan and let the mixture simmer.

To prepare the pie, line the pie dish with pastry and add the warm mixture into the dish. Cover the dish with more pastry. Seal the edges, but cut a few slits for the steam to escape before putting the pie into the oven. Bake for 30 minutes.

Fiyero Tiggular, Crown Prince of the Vinkus Arjiki Tribe, ladykiller, Oz's most eligible bachelor (according to a recent issue of Ozmopolitan), and brainless, heartbroken scarecrow woke up, on a bright morning, and wondered where he was.

The mattress felt unfamiliar.

He looked up. The ceiling that was painted sky blue with fluffy white clouds looked unfamiliar. The pastel walls with the cheerful, colourful flowers looked unfamiliar.

He turned and looked at his arms. And groaned when a skull-piercing pain shot through his head.

"You so deserve this," a shrill voice spoke from somewhere to his right. He closed his eyes and slowly shifted his head to the right before he slowly opened them again.

It was a girl. A short girl.

"Galinda?"

"The one and only. What happened, Fifi?"

He closed his eyes again. "Where am I?"

"You are not dead. This is not heaven. You're in my room."

He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a while before he replied. "It looks… different," was all he could say.

"I redecorated it after we broke up."

"My head hurts." He groaned again as he tried to sit up.

"Of course," she replied (a bit too smugly in Fiyero's opinion). "I heard that you drank the whole of Oz dry."

He protested, as much as someone with a bad hangover could. "I didn't."

"Pfannee said you did."

"Pfannee?"

"Yes. Pfannee. I was on my way back to my room when someone told me that you were drinking in one of the pubs. I went over, and I was just in time to see Pfannee trying to drag you away. She looked like a cat that had gotten her paws on the fattest and juiciest rat in town, Fifi. If I had not reached there on time, she would have brought you back to her room and ravished you."

Fiyero blushed at the blunt comment, and then noticed that he was not wearing any shirt. He quickly pulled up the blanket to cover himself.

Galinda flopped on the edge of the bed, bouncing the bed and sending another shockwave of headache into his head.

"So what happened between you and Elphie? I was at the café last evening and she was so quiet. Did you guys quarrel?"

And then Fiyero remembered what he had done.

"I broke up with her," he whispered softly.

"What!?" Galinda exclaimed as she jumped up from her bed. "You broke up with me to be with Elphie and now you broke up with her? Do you have a commitment problem, Fifi?"

He told her what happened.

"And so you decided to break up with her just because she was not jealous when a girl flirted with you? Just because you got a competitor? Sweet Lurline, Fifi. I know you are not very smart, but this takes the cake."

He winced in shame.

"You like her, she likes you, and then you broke up with her because you're jealous of the attention that she gets from another guy? I thought the usual testosterone-loaded reaction is to fight for her attention? This is brainless!" She crossed her arms across her chest, looking so furious that Fiyero had to look away. "Will you really be happy if she ends up with Nick, Fifi?"

He shook his head, and then opened his mouth.

"But you said that he is marriage-material, and I'm just…. "

"Lurline, Fifi. What I said does not matter. Did she say that she is dumping you for him?"

He shook his head slightly.

"Do you love her?"

He nodded.

"Then go and tell her all this and patch up with her!" she shouted into his ear.

He tried to get out of bed, and then remembered that he was not wearing any shirt.

"Where's my shirt?"

Galinda pointed to the bathroom.

"You threw up on yourself last night. The shirt is still wet from washing."

"Do you have anything that I can borrow?"

The Cheshire cat smile should be a warning, but he was too hungover to notice. "Of course," she chirped cheerfully as she opened the doors of her wardrobe. Inside the tiny wardrobe was dresses of various lengths and different bright and sweet colours. There were dresses for different occasions, all budging from the small closet space. The wardrobe looked as if it would topple over any moment.

"Take your pick," she told him, a saccharine smile on her face.

"I'll .. I'll wear my shirt," he mumbled.

Galinda reminded him that he had a class in fifteen minutes.

"Elphie will throw a fit if you miss your class."

Fiyero ran all the way back to Green Café, trying his best to ignore that pounding headache that threatened to topple him any moment. Elphaba was in the kitchen, and he quickly went upstairs to change and grab his books before he dashed down and helped himself with a cup of strong, black coffee.

She exited the kitchen just then and he gave her a quick kiss. "Fae, I need to talk to you after my class," he told her as he turned and ran out again, almost spilling the coffee on his clean shirt.

Time passed extremely slowly for the prince, and he was all fidgety by the time his classes were over. He went back to Green Café, but not before dropping by the florist and buying a bouquet of yellow and red roses.

He entered the café, and could hear the gasps from a few tables of girls when they saw the flowers.

He went to the kitchen just in time to see Elphaba taking a tray of pies from the oven. The kitchen was suddenly filled with the aroma of the chicken and mushroom and Fiyero wondered if chicken pies were also good for the soul.

He presented the flowers to her.

"What's this?" She narrowed her eyes at the blooms as though they were poisonous.

He smiled sheepishly. "Well…. The florist said that yellow roses are for apologies. I'm so sorry about all the things that I said yesterday. I know that I cannot take it back but can you please forgive me? I want us to be together."

She took a step back and looked down.

"You want us to be together," she repeated his words monotonously.

He nodded his head. "Of course," he said as he reached for her hand which was still in the thick oven mitt. "I'm jealous because you have been paying Nick so much attention. And he is paying you so much attention. And you don't seem to care about me anymore ..."

She pulled her hand away, leaving the glove in his hand. "This is all very fun to you, isn't it?" And then she looked up and he saw that her eyes were red. "You're twenty-one and you are behaving like a thirteen year-old. You came into my life and turned it upside down and then you want to break up, and now you want to get back together again? I am not a toy for you to play with. I'm not something that you can discard when you got bored."

Fiyero touched her arm gently.

"You're not something. You're someone. You're the girl whom I love… I….I was being.. I don't know.. brainless. I heard everyone raving about how good he is and you are spending all your time with him and I thought that you don't want me anymore."

"Nick is not interested in me," she stated.

She took a deep breath but her voice cracked when she spoke again.

"Where were you last night?"

Last night? Why was she asking that?

"I …. I was with Galinda," he fibbed.

And then he looked at her face and he knew that she knew.

"Do you know that you are the breakfast topic for this morning? They were all talking about you. They said that you left the pub last night with Pfannee. And you didn't come back last night." She raised her hand to stop his protests.

"You don't have to explain anything. I am not your girlfriend anymore. You are right. We should not be together. I cannot give you what you want. It's best that you look for it elsewhere."

A single tear appeared and Fiyero rubbed it away with a thumb.

"Fae, look, I can explain –",Fiyero was about to elaborate when they heard a loud cry outside.

"Fabala!"

Elphaba pushed him away and ran out of the kitchen. Nessarose was at the door, a piece of paper in her hand. She was shaking so terribly that the paper nearly fluttered out of her grasp.

She rushed over and knelt down in front of the wheelchair.

"Nessa.. Nessa.. what is it?" she asked her sister, her hand on the younger girl's arm.

Nessarose looked at Elphaba, the tears rolling down her face.

"Fabala.. it's a telegram from our neighbours in Munchkinland. It's about Daddy… he's very ill and they say that he may not make it…."

"We must go back!" Nessa exclaimed.

The sisters were seated at Fiyero's usual table in the café. Many of the guests had left, and Fiyero took it upon himself to turn any newly arrived customers away.

Nessarose sat on her wheelchair, visibly upset. The telegram was still in her hands, and she had crushed it and smoothed it out so many times that the paper was almost falling into pieces.

"Of course you must," Elphaba replied, her voice low and monotonous. Fiyero noticed that her eyes were not red anymore.

Her sister caught her tone. "You are going back with me, aren't you?"

She shook her head. "He has only one daughter."

"Fabala, you know that he said that in the heat of the moment. He does not mean it!"

"Really? Did he tell you?"

"You know him, Fabala. He is a stubborn man. He will never admit that he is wrong."

"Or maybe he thinks that he is not wrong."

"Fabala….. can you just do this for me? I can't do this alone. I need you to be around." Nessarose leaned across the table and held her sister's hand, the creamy white a great contrast to the emerald green. "I don't want to go back with some stranger. I need you."

"Someone needs to run the café," Elphaba mumbled unconvincingly.

"You can close it for a few days," Fiyero suggested. She glared at him and stomped upstairs.

Fiyero looked back at Nessarose, whose eyes were still wet, and she looked at him pleadingly. He gave a slight nod and went upstairs.

It was not a big house and there was only one place where Elphaba could have her privacy. He knocked on the door and, when there was no reply, opened it.

She was looking out of the window, her hands gripping the window pane so tightly that her knuckles were a whitish-green.

"You're wasting your time if you think that you can get me to go," she said without turning around.

"He is your father, Fae," he reminded her. "Don't you want to see him one last time?"

"What?" she spun around. "And let him remind me again that I am the cause of my mother's death and my sister's disability?"

"It's been so many years. I am sure that he realise his mistake by now," he replied calmly as he stepped closer to her and she subconsciously reached out for him, until she remembered that they had broken up and shrunk back.

"There's no mistake, Ye – Fiyero." He cringed at the way she refused to call him Yero.

"Do you know what did he use to do?" she asked. She looked at his confused face, and then placed her fingers on the buttons of her shirt and unbuttoned them as she turned so that her back faced him. With one swift move, she pulled down the shirt exposing her back. On her back were many short faint lines that were whitish-red, criss-crossing all over the skin that was not covered by her chemise.

"I hope they are still there," she said sarcastically.

Fiyero reached out a finger and traced a line, and she shivered under his touch.

"They're still there," he confirmed as he turned her around and pulled her into his arms.

This time round, she did not protest, but wrapped her arms around him, burying her face onto his shoulder.

"We had a little room in the house for prayers, for his small congregation. He would ask me to go there, knelt down in front of the Unnamed God and prayed for forgiveness for causing Mommy's death, for causing Nessarose to lose the use of her legs, for causing the family to be incomplete. Then he would get me to take off my dress…" Fiyero hissed, and she looked up.

"No…. it's not what you think…. he never touched me. He would cane me. On my back, on my thighs. Places that other people would not see. Not my chest because he said he does not want to see my face. Just a few lashes each time. They would bleed a bit, but usually it will stop after a while. He said that I deserve to be punished. That I should not even be conceived. That I should have died during birth. That I have no redeeming quality – at least if I am a boy I can serve the God like he did. It's funny. How he was the one who planted the idea into my head - to disguise as a boy."

Fiyero held her tight. He had no idea that she had gone through all this. She had been hiding her past and her misery from everyone, including him, and it was only then that he realised how little he knew her, how much she had kept from him. He had no idea that there could be a parent in this world who would do this kind of thing on his own flesh and blood. He hated this man even before he met him, and he hoped that he would not have to meet him because he had no idea what he would do if he came face-to-face to this monstrous father. But Elphaba was in his arms, seeking comfort, and entertaining dark thoughts was not what he should be doing right now.

He released his hold on her and tilted her face so that she was looking at him.

"I may not be smart, but I am absolutely sure that he is wrong. It is not your fault that your mother died. You didn't give her the milkflowers. I read up after you told me about the milkflowers. Too much consumption can cause miscarriage. Nessa could have died even before she was born. It is not your fault. And as your father, he should not have done all these to you. He lost his wife, but you lost your mother. You lost the only person in the world who can comfort you when you are just a little girl." He looked at her as he cradled her face in his hands gently. "Nobody deserves that kind of treatment, and that includes you," he told her, as he kissed her on her forehead. She let him, closing her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him again.

She stayed in his arms until her breathing slowed down, taking comfort in his warmth and the familiar way he rubbed her back.

"Nessa is right," she spoke after a while. "She cannot go through this alone. It is not fair for her to go back to Munchkinland with some stranger. She needs my support. I can't let her go back alone."

Fiyero kissed her on her forehead again.

"So you're going back with her?"

She nodded her head. "I'll go back with her to Munchkinland. But I may not step into the household."

"I'll go with you," he offered.

She shook her head. "You stay here. It's school term. You cannot skip class. Moreover… "

He knew what she was thinking.

"I'm so sorry, Fae," he apologised. "I am a brainless scarecrow for breaking up with you. And I did not spend the night with Pfannee. Galinda found me, drunk, and she brought me back to her room. Nothing happened between me and any girl. You can ask Galinda if you want to. I will never do anything that will hurt you."

Elphaba looked at him and then looked away.

"Yero," he took heart that she was calling him Yero again. "Can we talk about this when I am back? I … I don't want to think about this... not now…"

He nodded. "We'll talk about this when you come back. I'll be here, waiting for you."

To Fiyero' irritation, Nick offered to go with the girls.

"I can take two weeks leave. The project has started, and my colleagues can handle any issues that arise when I am away. It is not safe for two girls to travel on their own."

Nessarose was grateful with the offer, and Elphaba cast a cautious glance at Fiyero. He tried to keep his face neutral, though he wished that he had thought of that reason first.

Elphaba packed for the two girls while Nick, who was familiar with the route back to the Munchkinland, arranged for the transport. Fiyero went to the administrative office and applied for a leave of absence on Nessarose's behalf. Nick came back in the evening and told everyone that the arrangements had been made. There would be a carriage, big enough for Nessarose's wheelchair, available the next morning.

They left early the next morning.

Galinda turned up with scarves and jackets and gloves.

"We're not going to… to…." Elphaba fumbled, unable to name a place that was that cold.

"Oh, Elphie, it is going to be cold. You are going to be on the road. What happen if the windows break? What happens if the inn does not have enough blankets? What happens if it snows?"

"It never snows in Munchkinland," she tried to be patient, but her tiredness showed.

"It never snows doesn't mean that it won't. Elphie, I wish I can go with you!" the blonde cried as she clung onto Elphaba, and the green girl had no choice but to accept the extra luggage or they would never get to leave.

"Can you write when you're there?" Fiyero asked as she boarded the carriage.

Everyone was tired in the carriage. Nessarose's face was sallow, a testimony that she had not slept well last night. The gentle rocking of the carriage sent her into a semi-slumber, and she leaned against Elphaba, her eyes drooping for a while before they closed completely.

Elphaba looked out of the window at the endless green fields, an arm across Nessa's shoulders, the conversation that she had with Fiyero the night before repeating in her head.

The carriage stopped at an inn before night fall. Nick managed to book two rooms, one for the two sisters and one for him and the driver. They checked in and had an early dinner.

Nessarose took her dinner quietly. The trip would take about four days, and she hoped that she would be in time to see her father. She looked at her sister, who was next to her. She seemed to find the soup fascinating, and ignored any comment from Nick, who then directed his chit chat to the younger sister. Nessarose, unfortunately, was also not in the mood for any small talk and they spent the rest of the dinner in silence.

They went to their rooms after that. The rooms were near to the end of the corridor, and as Elphaba pushed Nessa's wheelchair towards their room, she subconsciously glanced at the wall at the end of the corridor. There was no bed parked against the wall. There was no one sleeping there, his blond hair tousled and his legs kicking the blanket to the foot of the bed. No Arjiki prince for her to cast one last glance before she retreated into her room for the night.

She missed him already.