Title: You'll Lose Your Heart to Me!
Rating: Hhhmmm…
Archive: Like anyone would do that.
Disclaimer: Can you hear me laughing?
Summary: "Please save her, my sweet rose, my brave…Don't leave me till my sorry life has ceased. Alone and heartless here, just the boy in the mirror; just him and me. The Heartless Fool of the East. We deserve…Each other…"
Author's Note: I know I've made it big-I was in a fic. I think I can die happy now…So, this is day three. Please read and enjoy. As always, please be honest with me.
Sorry if this is cut up too much. If you think it is just say so. I just finished HP7 so I'm on my Epic McGonagall High right now. Yay! Minerva McGonagall!
Chapter Twenty
Elphaba Thropp understood human nature. Her constant run-ins with greed, power and lust drove her to understand the mind, and her life led her to understand love, sadness and betrayal However, as she took each step away from Nessa's room she fell farther into her own chaos of thoughts; she didn't understand this. She could not-would not-understand how Nessa could do something like this. She knew those feelings of loss, despair, isolation and depression; they were overwhelming. She felt her cheeks burn. She had been the one hunted down, hated by thousands, turned on by friend and family, and her own country had celebrated her death. Nessarose had been handed everything. A life, a father's love, a seat of power-
-that she hadn't wanted. Elphaba clenched her hand. She had known that Nessa didn't want to be governor. She had just let everything carry on, and things had been all happy and fine until it all went to shit. She laid her head against the cool wood of the hallway wall. Nessarose hadn't wanted any of that…
…"Elphaba, I'm sure he'll come around. You're the eldest daughter-it should be you by tradition." Nessa's wheels skidded around a corner as she tried to catch up with her sister. Her twelve year old fingers gripped the wheels of the chair, and her gloves snagged the wood. "You'd do the country a better service anyways." Elphaba finally faced her sister. She took one hand into her own and spoke.
"Nessa, he's trained you since birth."
"But I don't want it." She breathed out. "I want to work in the city."
"What?" Nessa let go of her sister's hands. "I want to work in the city-a historian or professor of history." Elphaba eyed her younger sister. "Don't give me that look. You're not the only one who likes to read." Nessarose tugged her sister towards the hallway. "Anyways, the history books are on the bottom of the shelves; the only ones I can reach. What else would I read?"
Her memories of the night before haunted her as the sound of running water drifted through the wall.
She pushed open the door to the kitchen. Nessa might have been forced into it, but she couldn't have hated it enough to die. To die for the man who hated her?
Fiyero paused as Elphaba entered the room. His second sandwich hung between his hands with one pepper dangling off of a piece of bread. Glinda shifted her uneaten first sandwich towards the edge of the table and played with her nails. She looked up.
"It'll be all right, Elphie." She was at her friend's side before any protest could arise. "It will; I promise."
"How could you perform that spell?" Glinda drew her hand away.
"Well, if you're going to be all meanified-"
"No, no Glinda. Why would you do that for him? You killed her." Dorothy and Fiyero glanced at each other and he beckoned her out of the room. Glinda's breath caught in her throat and choked her.
"I…Nessa…It's what she wants, Elphaba!"
"She's been hit by a house. She doesn't know what she wants!" Elphaba felt her temper flare. "What? You couldn't refuse Boq? Was all of that tin really, really scary, Miss Galinda? You should never have considered it!" Her mind jumped from thought to thought as she released the anger and frustration that she couldn't place. Glinda ducked her head. "If you hadn't set her up to save yourself none of this would've happened. Was he really that bad? Was it worth it now?" She spun away from Glinda who just stood there shaking her head.
Nessarose lay curled up on Boq with her useless legs twisted atop his thighs. He turned in his sleep, and caught Nessa between himself and the bed. One of his arms curled around her waist with his fingers tangled in her gown. His other arm wound around her shoulders cradling her head against his chest. She kept the collar of his shirt caught in her fingers the whole time. Her nose bumped his neck, and she nuzzled against it. Boq pulled her closer in his sleep.
The morning breeze knocked the branches around outside, and the green tips hit the window glass. Boq's fingers twitched against her waist. Nessarose snuggled closer to him. His nose brushed her scalp as he inhaled, and Bog woke up with the sweet sensation of a woman in his arms. Nessa again nuzzled his neck.
'I could actually enjoy this…' He let his fingers slide through her hair and down her shoulders. She shivered under his touch.
"Do I have to wake up now?"
"No, but you're already awake."
"No, I'm not." She buried her head in the curve of his neck to his shoulder. Boq laughed softly and tugged at the tips of her hair. He let the fingers of one hand brush against her side. Nessa squirmed beneath his fingers. His fingers still moving, he tilted her head up, and she blearily opened her eyes.
"Please don't, Boq." He smiled. The last time she had said that…
"Nessarose, what're you doing?" The young woman lying beside him on the grass shifted again, and he gently moved his arm from around her waist. "Are you alright?"
"No, I can't move my legs. Oh Oz, Boq I can't move my legs!"
"Nessa, you're crippled."
"Oh curses…" She smiled at him. Boq brushed his hand against her own and smiled back. "…It's just…"
"Yeah?"
"That tickles." A soft blush spread across her cheeks.
"The future governor is ticklish?" Boq gently poked her side. "Don't let the enemies of Munchkinland find that out." She smiled. He pressed his hand against her side.
"Please don't."
He brushed her side again. "Don't what?"
"Boq." Instead of the usual joy in her voice he heard a slight waver, and he faltered.
"What's wrong?"
A small bit of bitterness seeped into her response. "My heart is fine; no need for you to worry about it." He pressed his palm against her ribs, and as he watched her hide a grimace of pain he remembered the black and blue bruises dotting her body. She watched his eyes widen. "Really, don't worry."
"No, Nessa, it-" He stopped. "I know what'll make you feel better." Boq slid out of the bed, but kept his eyes on her. Her mind went to a kiss-a kiss to make everything better. "I remember you taking those hour long baths…" He bit his lip. "…with all that bubbly salt or whatever."
"It's just salt, Boq."
"Well, it makes you feel better, right?" She didn't answer. "Okay." Boq pulled himself from the bed, and as he walked off Nessarose buried her head into her hands.
"Sweet Oz Boq, will you ever understand?"
"I made waffles."
"How thoughtful of you." Elphaba brushed past the wide awake Dorothy towards the garden. The scents of fresh flowers, green grass and dirt hit her nose as her green body slid across the grass in a fury. Her voice soft but wrath filled frightened the song birds from their branches.
"How could she! She was my best friend-I trusted her-and she did this! She should have protected Nessa-my little sister! And Glinda goes and kills her!" She swatted a branch from her path, and the smell of roses filled her nose. "She could have stopped it!" An uprooted songbird trilled at her. "Nessa wouldn't be dead." Her lithe body slowed as she reached the outskirts of the garden. Elphaba eyed one of the budding roses taking over part of the boundary walls. She breathed in once. "Nessa wouldn't have fallen in love with him." One dark red rose petal brushed her finger tips as she touched the wall, and a drop of dew settled onto her left ring finger. A circle of skin blistered underneath the water. Pain washed across her body.
"She wants this; this is her punishment." She blinked back tears that were threatening to fall. "She wants punishment."
The water was hot, there was a thin layer of bubbles across the surface, and Nessarose was thoroughly enjoying it. She let her body sink into the water. The tips of her toes hit the other side of the tub, and her fingers curled and uncurled beneath the water. Nessa pulled a wet strand of hair from her neck and sighed. As misguided as Boq was…She smiled.
"This is nice." Her fingers tapped the edge of the tub.
"Told you so."
"What in Ozma's name!" Nessa dropped deeper into the water when she twisted her head around in time to see Boq enter the room. "Boq!" A wet strand of hair flopped onto her face. "I'm not-I'm-Get out!"
"Nessa, I can't see you." Boq gestured up towards his eyes, and Nessa gestured down towards her body.
"I don't care."
"…Nessa…"
"What?" She heard the scrape of something against the floor and a gently clunk.
"I just came to make sure you don't drown."
"You.-?" She finally turned to look at him. "What?"
"I just came to make sure you don't drown."
"I'm not going to drown myself." Nessarose crossed her arms across her chest, and Boq eyed the dip in the water. He stared back up at the ceiling.
"I know; I'm just making sure that you don't accidentally."
"Boq, I've always been able to bathe without help so you can go." She dug her nails into the skin of her arm. The tip of one nail caught the edge of a cut in her arm, and she felt her skin tear. Boq sighed into his hand.
"Nessa, I didn't mean that you couldn't."
"Glinda, I need to know what spell you used." Glinda pushed her letter to the side and turned to face the green witch standing behind her.
"I'm sorry; I can't quite remember seeing as I don't think I could perform it anyways." Elphaba kneeled before her friend with one hand resting on the back of Glinda's chair.
"Glinda, please. You know that I didn't mean that Glinda. I'm just…Upset about Nessa and Boq and all of this. I thought she was dead and-"
"I thought you were dead, and I wasn't mean and moodified!"
"You slapped me." Glinda fell to the ground next to her best friend.
"Yeah…" Elphaba pulled the tiny blonde into a hug, and Glinda pulled the green witch off of the ground. "I felt better." They eyed each other for a second. Glinda snorted. "You remember?"
"Yeah."
"Elphie, I don't know what I'd do without you. I really don't." She tugged at her friends hands. "So, no more dying?"
"Not if I can help it."
"Well…" Nessarose turned towards him. "Fine." Boq touched the edge of the tub, and she eyed his hands.
"Just here to make sure you're all right."
"So you've said." Downcast and shielded, Boq darted his eyes across the room towards the mirror-Nessa's reflection had never been so interesting…Until she shifted. He swallowed. "Are you all right, Boq?"
"Yes, I'm fine." He shifted too. His mind flashed back to images from Shiz, from graduation, from his imprisonment, from five seconds ago, and Boq tried to push it farther back into his brain. One did not just have tantalizing images of the Wicked Witch of the East-the dead Wicked Witch-after she had ruined his life. He swallowed. The hollow of her throat was so…'Oh, no you don't'…He leaned his forehead against the cool bathtub. He licked his lips. Pictures of Nessarose in a long, strapless yellow dress sitting at the edge of a dance floor invaded his mind. 'I never even saw her in that dress while we were alone.' He opened his eyes. Nessa was still very bare and very beautiful. She exhaled and opened one eye. 'I should've kept her in the dress.'
"What're you doing?" She narrowed her eye at him. Boq sighed…
"Boq, do you want to dance?" Nessa's hands twisted in her lap and she feared the 'no' that would come out of his mouth. She watched the spinning colors weave across the dance floor, and Boq watched one swirling vortex of pale pink dancing with her Prince. He did a double take with his eyes barely catching the slightest glimpse of a golden yellow covering her body. He shook his head.
"Sorry Miss Nessarose, but I think it's too crowded." She watched Galinda spin once then put her weight onto her left leg. Blonde hair curled and perfect, the tiny beauty smiled and laughed. Nessa looked down at her hands, her pale gold gloves netted, and protective, and her useless legs. She licked her lips. A strand of dark hair fell across her shoulder, and she flipped it from her sight. Boq missed her eyes traveling across his body. She wheeled herself away. She caught the end of Boq's words.
"…Beautiful…"
Boq didn't look at her.
"Just…Sitting…"
"Oh, yes, sitting." Nessa leaned back again. Boq was again drawn to the curve of her neck. "So, when did sitting involve starring?"
"I…You have a cut on your shoulder." Boq sighed inwardly.
"I have many of those." Nessa turned her head towards him. His fingers fell down the line of her jaw, and, not expecting any sort of contact, she jumped. Her legs buckled underneath the water and slid up at the knees. Boq watched her body vanished beneath the water, and Nessa tried to grasp the edge of the tub. Her fingers latched on, but with nothing to brace against she fell under again. After years of propelling herself through life with her arms she found a use for that strength. Nessa managed to pull herself up before Boq's hands closed around her.
Fiyero eyed the two women in front of him. He raised an eye brow.
"And how are we going to do this?"
"I said kill Boq, but Glinda seems to think that that would hurt some peoples' feelings."
"I don't think Boq would appreciate that either, Fae."
"Well, unless you can convince one of them not to do it within the next few days…"
"So, I'll get a rope, shall I?"
Boq's fingers curled around her waist, and in one swift motion he had her sprawled out across the floor of the room. Nessa's legs were tangled together and twisted backwards, and she had her face pressed into his shoulder. She coughed.
"Nessa, please be all right!" He ran one hand across her hair, neck, and back before bringing her face up to his. The tip of her nose hit his and she coughed. "Nessa?"
"I'm okay. Just a little…" She sighed. "…Naked." Boq closed his eyes.
"So you are." A puddle began to form beneath them as the water seeped through his clothes. He grabbed a towel from the rack about a foot away, and Nessa lowered her head to his neck. She breathed in. "What're you doing?"
"I-" She pulled herself from his neck. "Nothing."
She stayed silent as he wrapped a towel around her and carried her to the bed. She touched his hand before he left to cleanup the bathroom floor.
"Boq, could I-may I wear one of your shirts?" He cocked his head to one side.
"If you want to."
-TBC-
So, how is it? I've been writing this forever, and I had to keep stopping so that I could write my short stories for class and what not.
Love Always,
Minerva