AN: Ha. You didn't see that coming, did you? :P Also, I forgot again to show you Elphaba's dress from last chapter - it's on my blog, along with some info about the fics I am currently working on!

Guest: The short version of what is on aforementioned blog is that I'm currently completely stuck on Frozen Love and won't start posting it anytime soon... sorry :(. And no, I don't know that song, but thank you! :)

Kudos to Elphaba'sGirl for pointing out my favourite line(s) :).

Chapter 21. Forgiveness

"Fiyero, what did you do?" Galinda asked worriedly, taking hold of Fiyero's arm. "I just saw Elphie storming past me and out of the room. I tried to follow her, but there were all these people blocking the way, so I decided to go and find you instead. What happened?"

He sighed, leaning his arms on the bar and resting his head on top of them. "She broke up with me."

Galinda's eyes widened. "What?"

"She did," Fiyero said miserably. "I've been the worst boyfriend ever."

"What? No, Fiyero, I'm sure that's not true," Galinda tried, but Fiyero just sighed again.

"Yes, it is."

"What did you do, then?" Galinda wanted to know.

He picked up the glass standing in front of him and whirled the liquid around, staring down at it. Then he threw his head back and emptied the glass in one gulp.

"I was engaged once," he confessed to Galinda as he gestured for the bartender to refill his glass. "To a girl I loved. Aliyra."

Galinda gaped at him.

"She died," Fiyero said gruffly, giving her the short version. "Only I don't think I'm really over her yet and that bothered Fae… with good reason." He sighed once more. "I was a jerk. Not intentionally, but I was. And now she refuses to even give us another chance anymore." He took another sip of his drink. "I can't blame her."

"Oh, Fiyero…" Galinda's heart broke. "That is so sad, but… but I'm sure Elphie doesn't mean it. If you would just explain it all to her, she'd understand –"

"I told her everything," he interrupted her. "But it's just too hard for her. Would you stay with your boyfriend if he kept calling you his ex-fiancée's name and constantly stared at a girl from your class that looks a lot like said ex-fiancée?"

"Who?" Galinda asked and Fiyero nodded at Cedence.

Galinda suddenly understood Elphaba's behaviour. "Oh."

"She thinks she's not good enough for me." Fiyero emptied his glass again and asked for another. "She thinks I want her to be another Aliyra, but I don't. I really don't. I just… need to get over this, somehow. Only I don't know how, and now I've lost her and I just don't know what to do…"

In an impulse, Galinda hugged him.

"You'll be fine, Fiyero," she told him. "You'll be fine. Listen to me. I'll go back to our dorm room right now and I'm going to talk to Elphie. Okay? You just stay here – find some friends of yours, have some fun… I'll make sure she talks to you in the morning."

He nodded, clearly unconvinced. "Okay."

She patted his shoulder and then disappeared in the crowd. Fiyero emptied his third – or fourth? – glass and got up to find Avaric, determined to follow Galinda's advice and have some fun tonight… if only in an attempt to forget about his fight with Elphaba.

When Galinda entered the room and found Elphaba in her bed, curled up on her side with her back towards the room, she smiled sadly. "Oh, Elphie…"

She sat down on the edge of her roommate's bed, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Elphie, you and Fiyero can work things out. I know you can. Just go talk to him, and –"

"What business is it of yours?" Elphaba snapped, sitting up and glaring at Galinda angrily. "Stay out of this, Galinda. You have nothing to do with it. Don't tell me what to do."

"I'm not," Galinda said, feeling offended and a little hurt. "I'm just trying to give you advice. It's what best friends do. I want you to be happy, Elphie."

"I'm not happy." Elphaba turned around again and crossed her arms. "I'll never be happy. I'm not meant to be happy."

Galinda reached for her friend, but Elphaba recoiled and the blonde dropped her hand.

"Just leave me alone, Galinda," the green girl said softly and Galinda sighed, but obliged. By the time she had changed into her nightgown, washed off her make-up and brushed her hair and teeth, Elphaba had huddled underneath the blankets and appeared to be asleep.

Galinda wasn't going to let her off the hook so easily, though. She just needed to talk to Elphie again in the morning. She was sure her friend would be much calmer and more open to Galinda's advice then.

Only the next morning when Galinda woke up, Elphaba's bed was empty.

The blonde sighed and flopped back into her pillows, staring at the ceiling. Of course the green girl was already up. Elphaba was always up before Galinda was. Now that she thought about it, maybe she should have set an alarm or something… but then again, that would have meant missing out on a few extra hours of very necessary beauty sleep, and she couldn't have that. What if she got wrinkles or dark circles under her eyes because of it? She wouldn't be able to leave the room and have to soak her face in hydrating facial cream all day!

She sat up, rubbing her eyes as she looked around the room. She frowned. Elphie's bag was still lying in a corner… so where was Elphie herself?

As if on cue, the bathroom door flew open and Elphaba came out, a toothbrush in her mouth as she tried to towel-dry her dripping wet hair and pull on her shoes at the same time.

"Elphie!" Galinda cried happily. "You're not gone yet!"

Elphaba cast a quick glance in her roommate's direction. "I will be in two minutes," she said, although with the toothbrush still in her mouth, it sounded more like, "Ahwohleeoeints".

"Why?" Galinda asked. "Do you have somewhere to be?"

"Breakfast with Nessa," Elphaba replied as she removed the toothbrush and disappeared in the bathroom again. Tying her hair back in a ponytail, she came back into the room and grabbed her bag.

Before she could leave, however, Galinda leapt out of bed and blocked the door. "Elphie, wait."

Elphaba lifted one eyebrow.

The blonde took a deep breath. "Elphie, please go talk to Fiyero."

Elphaba sighed wearily. "Glin…"

"I'm serious." The blonde looked at her friend solemnly. "He was so sad last night… he thinks he's been a horrible boyfriend to you. And maybe he was. I don't really know. But he feels really bad about it. He's miserable, Elphie. Please, just… talk to him. Give him another chance. I really think he won't mess it up this time."

Elphaba bit her lip.

"Please?" Galinda added.

Her friend sighed and conceded. "I'll think about it."

Galinda squealed. "Yay! Okay now, off you go – say hi to Nessa for me." She waved at Elphaba and fell down on her fluffy pink bed, heaving a happy sigh. Once Elphie and Fiyero would talk, everything would be alright again, she was sure of it.

Fiyero opened his eyes and immediately squeezed them shut again.

His head was pounding and his mouth was dry, which could really only mean one thing: he had been drinking too much last night. It had been a while since he had last felt this way, but he felt like the situation had warranted it. Just for one night.

He slowly blinked, peering through his eyelashes to allow his eyes and his throbbing head to slowly get used to the bright light in the room. His eyes widened, however, when he realised he was staring at a ceiling he had never seen before.

He shot up, ignoring his headache and nausea, and looked around him in bewilderment. He was in a dorm room decorated with soft yellows and oranges, with all kinds of stuff adorning the room – he was surrounded by photo frames, jewellery, make-up, cushions, books, and candles. This was most definitely not his own room. In fact, it did not look like a boys' dorm room, either.

And then he turned his head around and found himself staring into the hazel eyes of Cedence.

The first thing that came out of his mouth was a colourful curse and Cedence shook her head with a small smile. "Well, good morning to you, too."

Fiyero wanted to kick himself all the way back to the Vinkus. What had he done? He scrambled up, pushing both his hands through his messy hair. "Cedence…"

She raised one eyebrow.

He moaned. "Oh, Oz, what did I do?" He buried his face in his hands.

Cedence chuckled. "Relax, Fiyero," she said, amused. "Nothing happened."

He peered at her from between his fingers. "What?"

"If you weren't currently experiencing the worst hangover ever in existence," she said, "you would have noticed that you are still fully clothed, and so am I. We didn't have sex, Fiyero. Calm down."

He tried to remember what had happened last night. He remembered finding Avaric and some other boys and drinking together, laughing and joking all the while; and then Pfannee, Shenshen, Milla, and some other girls had joined them, Cedence among them. The boys had started kissing and feeling up the girls, most of them quickly disappearing to take the girls with them to their dorm rooms. Fiyero remembered talking to Cedence. If he remembered correctly, he had even burst out crying at some point, snivelling into Cedence's shoulder. He felt embarrassed, but at least he hadn't done anything horrible.

He breathed a long sigh of relief. "Oh, thank Oz."

"Not that I didn't want to," Cedence added. "We talked a lot at first, and we kissed –"

"We kissed?!" Fiyero gripped his hair. "Oz dammit…" He remembered, now, too. It had only been one kiss, but it had been a passionate one, if he remembered correctly.

"We didn't do anything else." Cedence shrugged. "You started crying, but you weren't really coherent, so I had no idea what that was all about. And then you started kissing me, so I kissed you back. After that, it seemed like you wanted more from me, but you were so drunk you could barely stand up straight and so I tried to take you home, only all of your friends had already left and I had no idea where your dorm room was, so I just brought you here. It was really awkward, by the way," she added. "You constantly tried to get me out of my dress or feel me up, but every time you stopped and started blubbering about how you couldn't do this to Elphaba and you really should stop. So we stopped, but then you started again, until you finally collapsed on my bed and started snoring."

Fiyero, by now, had buried his face in a pillow, moaning. "Oh my Oz, Cedence, I'm so sorry… I feel like the biggest idiot alive."

"It's okay," she told him. "But honestly, Fiyero? Given the way you kept talking about this Elphaba, and your behaviour… I don't understand what you were doing with me in the first place. It sounded like you really love her."

"I do," came his muffled voice from the pillow. "But she broke up with me yesterday."

"Ah." Cedence chewed her lip. "That explains a lot."

He sighed and raised his head. "But we're not really broken up," he tried to explain. "I mean… I think she was just angry with me. I hope that was it… but I never meant to hurt her. I just wanted to have some fun for one night, I was going to talk to her again in the morning…"

"Is she the green girl you're always with?" Cedence asked him and he nodded.

"Yes."

Cedence nodded, too. "Well, I won't claim to know her, or anything like that… but she seems reasonable enough. If you were to go to her and talk it all out, I'm sure you'll be fine." She stretched in a very cat-like manner. "Would you get out of my bed now? I tried to sleep on the couch, but that didn't work out too well, so I'd like to take a nap if you don't mind."

"Oh. Right. Of course." Fiyero grinned sheepishly and rolled out of bed, combing his hair with his fingers. Cedence stretched out on the bed and he looked at her. "Thanks. You know, for letting me sleep here, and for your advice."

"You're welcome," she said. "I hope you and Elphaba will make up."

Fiyero smiled and leant down to kiss her cheek. "Bye." With that, he left.

He did not even take the time to freshen up or change. Instead, he went straight to the cafeteria, hoping he'd find Elphaba there; but he only found Boq, who told him that Elphaba and Nessarose were having breakfast at the Primrose Café.

And so that was his next stop.

He discovered Elphaba and Nessa in a corner and he approached them, smiling at Nessa. "Hello, Nessa. Can I borrow Elphaba for a moment?"

Nessa smiled back at him. "Sure. I had just finished eating, anyway." She wheeled herself out of the way so that Fiyero could sit down. "I'll see you later, Fabala," she said to her sister before leaving.

Fiyero sat down opposite the green girl, who was attacking her scrambled eggs with her fork.

"What do you want?" she asked gruffly when he did not speak.

He sighed. "Fae… I just want to make up."

"There's nothing to make up, because we're not fighting." She stabbed another piece of egg. "We just broke up."

"No, we did not." He reached across the table and took her hand, stopping her angry movements.

"Elphaba," he said. "I love you. Only you. And yes, I've neglected you, and I haven't treated you with the respect you deserve… and I'm sorry. I really am. Please, just… give me the chance to try again."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "I heard you were having fun at the OzDust with Cedence last night," she spat. "I hope you enjoyed yourself."

He winced. "Fae… nothing happened."

"She took you to her dorm room," Elphaba accused.

He nodded. "She did, because I was too drunk to go home by myself. She said I rambled about you all night long."

Now she seemed uncertain. "Really?"

"Really." He lowered his eyes. "I'm really sorry, Elphaba. I just… don't want to lose you."

She seemed to soften at that. "Yero…"

"I'll be the perfect boyfriend," he promised her. "I'll do anything for you. Just give me another chance. Please."

She hesitated. Then she took a deep breath.

"Okay," she said. "One more chance."

A grin spread across his face and he felt like sweeping her off her seat and whirling her around, but somehow, he did not think she would appreciate that; and so he settled for leaning forward and kissing her.

"You won't regret it," he promised. "I'll be the best boyfriend ever in existence."

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "I'm just glad nothing happened between you and Cedence," she confessed. "I mean… after the way you kept denying that anything was going on between the two of you, and then the fact that she looks so much like Aliyra… I don't know if I could handle that."

He swallowed difficultly. He didn't want to tell her about the kiss… but he couldn't lie to her, either.

"Um…"

She sat up straight. "Something did happen." It was a conclusion, not a question.

He swallowed again and looked down.

"We kissed," he said quietly.

She sucked in her breath with a sharp hiss.

"I'm so sorry, Fae – I didn't mean for it to happen… but I was so sad and heartbroken after you left, and I got drunk… that's no excuse, I know, but I wasn't being myself. I'm sorry, I regret it more than anything, and it didn't mean anything… it was just once. But we did kiss." He was making pathetic excuses now and he knew it. He also knew that she was never going to forgive him now.

And he was right.

When she reached for her drink and threw it in his face, he was just grateful that she had grabbed her orange juice, rather than the searing hot coffee right next to it.