A/N: Thanks to those who voted Erik/Elphaba for 'other pairing' :] Congrats to Ultimate Queen of Cliffies for the multiple awards, and to Fae the Queen as well, for placing first in 'other pairing' :D And to all other authors who won!
Okay for those who are wondering, 'Chapter 14? Haven't I read this already?' I took down this chapter to alter it shortly after I had posted it on Valentine's day, so now the plot will move in a slightly different direction than the previous version. A bit shorter, still hope you enjoy it just as much :)
Extra note: Countdown to Heart of Fire update - 7 days
This time, she found her voice.
"Stop the wagon!" Elphaba screeched, and poor Oatsie, unaccustomed to her passenger's raised voice, jolted in her seat, and the packhorses reared with her sudden jerk of the reins. They managed to stop, however bumpy and abrupt, and Elphaba literally scrambled out of the wagon and onto the dirt path at the edge of the lake. Her doubts were diminished as she neared the body. It was indeed Erik, his pale skin ghostly in the misty light of Kellswater, his lips grey and cracked.
"Oh my Oz," Oatsie gasped as she came to a halt beside Elphaba.
Elphaba wasted no time bending down and checking his breath. "He's breathing, but barely. He needs medical attention immediately."
She proceeded to haul the man to a standing position and sling his arms upon her shoulders, his tousled black hair falling over his face as his head lolled forward limply.
"Oatsie! Grab his stuff!"
The girl obeyed without another word, grabbing his duffel bag and stick, hurrying back to the wagon. They lay the unconscious man on the floor in the corner of the wagon, and the cook immediately began to grumble about another mouth to feed, while Liir's eyes widened with horrified recognition.
"Mister Erik…" he whispered.
"Oh, so you know him, boy?" asked Oatsie. Liir nodded.
"He disappeared from the mauntery a month ago," he said slowly, as Elphaba began to rummage through the first aid kit. Her panic was rising with each coarse rasp that was Erik's struggle to breathe.
"Oatsie, take a look at his stuff, find out if anything in there is the cause of his affliction," she said. "Maybe he's consumed something…either that or he's suffering from starvation or dehydration."
Oatsie obliged once more, ferreting through the duffel bag.
"He doesn't have much," she reported. "A wad of bills – Oz who has so much money on them? – some paper sketches, and a flask…" she threw open the flask, sniffing at the liquid inside. She froze. "Oh my Oz…"
"Oatsie, what is it?" asked Elphaba, noticing the girl's stupefied state.
"Oh Unnamed God!" cried Oatsie, flinging the bottle out of the wagon as if it were an explosive about to blow. "Who in the right mind would drink water from Kellswater?"
"Kellswater?" Elphaba felt her blood run cold. "Shit!" She scrambled to Erik's side, forcing open his mouth and peering inside.
"Oh fu – "
"Not in front of the kid, Elphie!"
"His throat!" gasped Elphaba. "Oh Lurline help us! His throat!" The green woman fell back, in somewhat a stunned daze.
"What happened?" asked Oatsie, the green girl's hysteria beginning to crawl all over her.
Elphaba's eyes were wider than saucers, her voice barely a whisper. "It's burned..." She glared at the lake, as if she could set it on fire if she stared hard enough. "Damn you, Kellswater!" she shrieked. "Damn you!!" She began to sob with distress. Erik would not be able to live without his throat...she would not be able to live if he died. Not another one lost.
She would've sobbed the next hour, if Oatsie hadn't grabbed her by the shoulders and shake her with as much aggression as the girl could muster.
"Don't stand there like a lemon, you're a blinkin' nurse!" she practically screamed. "Do something!"
It was then that Elphaba snapped herself out of her pettiness. Shaking her head, she thanked Oatsie and her practicality, and set to bark at the cook to boil some water. The cook shot her a glare, only to be returned with an even more intense one. That got him scurrying for his equipment.
The next thing she knew, Elphaba found herself bent over and pushing her labored breaths into his, whilst Liir huddled in the corner, praying to the stars that Erik would pull through.
To let go and give up, it seemed all so simple, to abandon thought and let the blackness envelope him in, to submit to this darkness that he knew he could not fight. He was floating, falling in the sweet evil embrace, a soft voice lulling him, pulling him deeper into the abyss. He just felt so tired...if he could only rest for a moment...
But there was something holding him back, a small warmth within him, pulsating with obstinate ferocity. You can't...you can't back down, not right now.
Suddenly the darkness didn't seem so black anymore.
Don't close your eyes...we're all in this together...
Don't close your eyes.
They snapped open, a burst of garish light hitting him in the face. A pain split through his body, zipping up to his sore throat. He felt a spasm rip through his body as it wracked with hacking coughs. It was all so painful...
As the harsh light seemed to die down slightly, he could make out a blur form of a woman staring down at him.
"Christine...?"
And he descended once more into the dungeon of his dark despair.
"Erik? Oh Lurline no, please stay with me you idiot!" Elphaba cried out, flinging her hands into the air. Her emotions ran through her like a furious tornado, mixed and incoherent. Was she to feel relieved, that he was alive, or was she to feel angered that he hadn't had the guts to stay with her? Or should she feel annoyance at the mention of Christine?
Elphaba paused in her reverie. Why would she even care about Christine? There were better things to life than to be annoyed at one young foolish girl who was the love life of her friend.
The water boiled, and like a skittish animal Elphaba dove into her luggage and dug out her supply of herbs. She pulled out a stem of a plant, shoving a few into her mouth and some into Liir's.
"Chew, you lazy sausage!" she screamed through her herb-filled mouth when the boy's jaw movement began to slow.
His pasty face was lined with sweat when she finally spit it out into the cup of boiling water, and Liir was seen later massaging his jaw for the next half hour.
Elphaba's fierce demeanor suddenly dissipated as soon as she was beside Erik. Her touch as gentle as a dove, her fingers moved to open his mouth, before pouring the tea into his mouth with a visible flinch as the man began to cough. His mouth lined with the mushed herb, but before he could regurgitate it, Elphaba leapt upon his mouth, sealing it with a firm hand and holding the man down as he struggled in pain of swallowing.
Oatsie had the sense to turn Liir's face away as Erik's body began to convulse. His eyes flew open once more with a glazed diluted stare.
Then he stilled, and his eyes closed, and his body relaxed. Suddenly it looked as if the man were sleeping, as if he hadn't just been thrashing about in pure agony.
When Liir dared look again, he nearly fainted. His mentor looked like she'd emerged from the Battle of Witz; her eyes were wild with agitation, her gloved hands trembled like leaves, her breaths roared from her nostrils like the howl of the winter wind. Never had he seen Elphaba in such unnerving state before.
"Why, Miss Elphie," Oatsie couldn't help but comment. "You're...flustered."
Elphaba sat down upon the seat, burying her face in her hands. "We have to go," she only said.
The whip cracked, and the carriage lumbered down the dirt road.
It was another two days gone by, by which time, the company had left the malevolence of Kellwater behind, much to everyone's relief. The Great Kells rose to meet them in a grand display of rocky mountains, dotted with pines and capped with snow. Perhaps it was the whole change in the air, the freedom from the heaviness of Kellwater, for Erik stirred on their first day into Kumbrica's Pass. Elphaba, who'd kept vigilant by his side, was on her feet in a flash, oblivious to the shouts as her sudden movement caused the carriage to rock slightly.
"Erik? Erik are you there?"
She knelt down beside him, her heart ricocheting loudly in her chest. C'mon Erik...c'mon...
His finger twitched, and Elphaba felt her heart almost jump with it. He groaned, and his eyelids fluttered, and Elphaba released the breath she hadn't know she'd been holding.
She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Don't try to speak, Erik," she said softly. His pupils were visible now, those rich, glassy, irises peeking out from behind the lashes.
A pang of guilt hit her chest as she thought of the next words that were to come out from her mouth.