Fiyero was on the verge of panicking as the sun dipped low in the sky. He had walked for hours, and he seemed no closer to rescuing Elphaba. He saw no signs of her captors ahead at all, and in truth he wasn't certain that he was even going the right way.

Exhaustion drenched him as he searched for any sign of his location, but he saw only a pair of men ducking their heads into a trench of water. Swallowing his pride, he decided to ask for directions. "Excuse me, sir," he called as he approached, and both men turned to stare at him.

The front of their jackets, newly spattered by the drips from their wet faces, bore the crest of the lieutenant's guards.

Fiyero's heart stopped at the sight of the very men he was simultaneously trying to find and evade, and he fought the instinct to run. Surely they didn't recognize him. And that should mean that their company, and Elphaba, was nearby. He steadied himself to ask for the now pointless directions when one of the men scowled at him intently. "It is him," the man grasped his companion's arm and shook it.

For a moment, Fiyero and the pair locked in a shocked stare. Then he bolted for the nearest thatch of cover as the other man's voice shouted, "Get him! He's getting away!"

He dodged through the trees again, cursing his luck. What was he going to do? How was he supposed to escape them if he couldn't lose them?

It wasn't easy to brainstorm while running for his life. Somehow he put some distance between himself and his pursuers even as his brain raced uselessly in search of solutions. He scanned the area fruitlessly for somewhere to hide until his foot tangled in some tree roots, sending him to his knees.

With a clumsy lunge forward, he regained his balance and pushed off again in a sprint along the edge of a steep slope. He raced forward, only to find himself facing the other guard. Damn them. The two had circled around and trapped him. He tried to slow down and slid on the loose soil, which sent him tumbling down the rocky slope.

Pulse thundering in his ears, he struggled to regain his equilibrium, but the sediment was so loose that he couldn't get any sort of stable footing. From the looks of it, neither could his pursuers who now skidded down the slope right after him.

One of the men reached out to grab his shirt, and without a second thought, he lashed out with a jabbing punch, which knocked them both off-balance. He toppled to the ground with a thud, but luckily the other man broke his fall.

It was enough to stop the outrageous slide, and Fiyero sensed an opening. Fiyero's eyes stung at the flying dirt, but he kicked again even as he blinked madly. The guard groaned as Fiyero's knee contacted his stomach, and his companion finally reached them as Fiyero pushed off into an upright position. The man took in his fallen partner and circled around Fiyero cautiously.

Fiyero struggled to control his rapid breathing as the two men faced off, and wild-eyed, he searched for anything he could use to his advantage. With no weapon in sight, he doubted this would be much of a fair fight. The officer continued circling him until Fiyero wanted to scream to just get it over with. What was he waiting for?

The fallen officer recovered to his feet with a groan and an angry scowl that didn't bode well for Fiyero. Oh. That must be why. "You're going to pay for that," the guard promised with a wheeze. Then he lunged at Fiyero with outstretched arms.

Fiyero dodged and used the man's momentum to shove him roughly into a tree. The tree protested with a sharp crack, and the guard slumped to the ground like a rag doll.

Fiyero didn't even have to time to turn around before the other delivered a sharp kick to Fiyero's ribs. He spun back with a hook, only to have the man deflect it easily. He tried desperately to counter each jab and kick, but the guard had much more substantial training than Fiyero's few brawls afforded him. He took a hit in the jaw that exploded pain across his face to stun him, and the officer took advantage with a staggering kick that toppled Fiyero into the same tree as his previous combatant.

As he slammed into it, the tree gave under his weight, and it smashed to the ground with an earth-shattering crash, sending dirt and debris flying into the air.

Adrenaline raced through his veins at the near miss, and Fiyero felt as if he'd shifted into hyper drive. Through the chaos, he caught sight of his opponent, wide-eyed and off-guard, and he seized the opportunity before the dirt settled. He delivered punches frenetically as the confusion disoriented his opponent. The officer tried to parry, but Fiyero knocked out the man's feet. The guard landed hard on the ground below.

Panting, he stood over the man in his best version of intimidation and asked sternly, "Where is she?"

"Who?"

Channeling Elphaba, he scowled at the man. "Don't be an idiot. You know who."

The guard shot him a haughty glare and clamped his lips shut.

Fiyero punched the man in the face, and a snap signaled the breaking of his nose. "Shall we try again?"

He winced. "Alright. Twenty yards west. By the river. But you'll never get to her."

"We'll see." He took a few steps away before he remembered himself. Fiyero had had enough unexpected surprises for a while. With a branch torn lose from the fallen tree, he thumped the man's head so that he joined his comrade on the ground.

He stuffed down the guilt and tossed the branch away, muttering hasty apologies as he jogged away from the unconscious officers.

The encampment proved remarkably easy to find, if not Elphaba. Several guards repaired the pair of carriages that had obviously broken down while a few more worked on the row of impromptu tents. Subtracting the two in the woods, Fiyero's calculations left Elphaba relatively unguarded.

The question was where. He couldn't exactly walk up and ask, and no place seemed more likely than another. If he guessed incorrectly, the entire camp would fall on him before he even had a chance to try again. Their chances were slim enough without that disaster.

Crushed with indecision, he finally picked, almost at random, the tent closest to the trees. The number of officers encouraged him that she might be within, but it did make his job considerably more difficult. He stalked around the perimeter as he mused. Perhaps he could club that officer on the end, steal his uniform, and impersonate him without drawing too much attention. Or Fiyero could throw a rock to distract them while he snuck it.

As he considered his pathetic options, one of the superiors announced dinner, and the group dispersed.

That was easy. About time luck went his way. Fiyero slipped inside before something else could go wrong. When his eyes adjusted to the darkness, a quick glance confirmed he was alone in the tent. He turned to retreat, but then the opening to the tent flew open.

His heart stopped, and only instinct threw him to the ground before being spotted. With a groan from the cot across the room, a man said, "Can they make these any less comfortable?"

"Could be the ground," another pointed out with a chuckle.

Fiyero heard footsteps approaching and rolled under a cot just as the steps reached his aisle. He held his breath and prayed the cot above him remained empty. After a painful moment, the steps halted at the cot one away from his left, and he let out a carefully controlled sigh of relief.

His would-be interceptor spoke again, "How's your shoulder?" There was an answering groan. "She's got to be some kind of witch. No way can a girl twist a man's arm like that."

"Yeah, well, I'm not guarding her again. Seville can guard her himself if it's so damned important to him."

The other guard said, "No one wants to go near her. She's a menace." Pride swelled at how she could still give them hell. She was not a girl to be underestimated.

"Who got stuck moving her?"

Fiyero lost the name, but it sounded like sort of old cheese. "They put her in the closest tent to her carriage, and she still managed to bite Azie's ear and kick Seville where the sun don't shine. Guess he won't be getting any action of her for a while at least."

Relief flowed through Fiyero. He could probably even figure out where she might be from the officer's statement. That is, if he could get out of there.

He couldn't run out fast enough, and if he waited for these two to leave, he could very well be here all night. Or more could come in.

So he rolled onto his stomach and inched forward into the aisle. His heart fluttered at how exposed it felt as he snaked millimeter by breathless millimeter to reach the aisle beside the officer. If he so much as rolled over... Fiyero forced himself to focus.

As he edged past, a loud cough from the cot froze his blood in his veins. Petrified, he couldn't even manage to check behind him. "That sounds bad," the guard across the room said, and his neighbor sighed in agreement. "Want some water?"

Fiyero almost shouted the no that resounded through his head, and only his clamped lips stopped the sound.

"What was that?"

The officer peered over the edge just in time to miss Fiyero's quickly withdrawn foot. Huddled behind a discarded bag, Fiyero fought to control his ragged breathing.

It took several minutes for Fiyero to work up the bravery to escape again, and this time he made it to the door without incident. Slipping through, he disappeared back into the cover of the forest to find her tent.

Using all his stealth, he stalked to the tent and slipped past the single, nervous guard. Immediately, he recognized Elphaba's back, her arms wrapped around the pole supporting the tent.

His stomach plummeted as he circled the pole to see the fierce bruises marring her beautiful skin. "Oh my Oz, Fae. What did they do to you?" his quiet voice magnified in the silence, and she jerked in surprise.

"Fiyero. How did you…?" but he cut her off, at her side in two quick strides.

"Elphie, I'm so sorry." He cupped her face with a delicate touch, and she shifted her eyes away uncomfortably. "Are you alright? Did they..," his voice caught, "hurt you?"

She scoffed. "Hardly." He touched a butterfly-shaped bruise on her upper arm. "You should see the other guy."

He started to argue, but he could see his concern unsettled her. Instead he slid a comforting hand down her arm. "Let's get you out of here."

"It's about time."

His tilted her chin up, hoping she could see his sincerity. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner." She nodded, and he offered her a soft kiss in penance.

She smiled. "Later."

He knelt to examine the metal bracelets with mounting frustration until he finally found the release hidden in an impossibly inaccessible spot. Unless she could contort her wrists like taffy, he couldn't reach to pick the lock.

He scanned for any type of key, even a sledgehammer or something to break the metal, though that would certainly draw attention. Nothing. Nothing at all.

"Don't think me ungrateful, Fiyero, but what the hell are you waiting for?"

He traced the inside of her wrist lightly, pained by the deep red marks left by the tight cuffs. "I can't reach without hurting you. Did he leave a key?"

"No," she shifted against the metal. "I'm not really that fragile, you know."

"Yes, but Elphaba, I'd have to break your wrist."

He considered the matter dropped, but she took barely a second of silence before saying, "If we don't leave before that ass gets back, I'm sure we'll have far worse problems."

"What? No! Elphie, I'm not going to break your wrist. Are you crazy?"

"Then what exactly do you propose?" Damn it, why couldn't he think of something else? "It's just a broken bone. It'll heal." He started to argue again, but she barked, "Just do it, alright?"

He took her wrist in his hands with a deep breath. "Ok, this is going to hurt. A lot. Do you want something to bite down on?"

She shook her head.

He stared at the delicate wrist as he tried to psych himself up to it. He could do this. She needed him to, and he would do anything for her. He just had to focus on the wrist, not who it belonged to, or how much it would hurt, or how long it would take to heal. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She shot him a glare.

"Just asking." The skin on her clenched knuckles turned white as he counted down. "Three…two…one…"

"Fiyero?"

He couldn't do it. He couldn't break her wrist. Oz, this was insanity.

"Fiyero, just get it over with." Her voice, tight with suppressed anxiety, made Fiyero all the more hesitant to do this. But what else could he do?

Fiyero jumped as a voice called out from right outside the entrance, "I'll let you know when we're finished."

Damn it, damn it, damn it! He couldn't think fast enough. There was nowhere to hide, and he couldn't leave Elphaba. "Fiyero, hurry up!" she hissed. "There's no time. Just do it!"

With a loud snap, she cried out as she came free, and in the second before the tent fell, he caught her look of surprise that her wrists were fine. "How did you…?" Elphie asked, but the collapsing tent swallowed her voice and knocked her to the ground. Shouts came from outside as Fiyero tossed away the unseated pole and grasped blindly for Elphaba. He hauled her to her feet and pushed a path for them both through the folds of canvas.

The chaos hid their escape until someone noticed the pair racing toward the trees. "Lieutenant! The girl!"

With the alarm sounded, they wove through the trees in a vain attempt to throw them off. Elphaba ran beside him, and Fiyero was impressed that she could keep up without the sympathetic motion of her arms. No sooner had he thought it than she stumbled on a gnarled tree root and crashed to the ground, unable to balance or break her fall.

"Are you alright?" he asked, racing back to help her up as she nodded. "Good, because here they come."

The guards ringed around the two. He planned how to stall, but a brutish man on his right didn't give him the chance. He rushed at Fiyero with ham-like hands raised, and two others broke from the pack to join in, each from opposite directions.

Elphaba put her back to his, and he tried to focus on the gigantic oaf in front of him. Fiyero slammed his foot into the man's kneecap and as he fell forward, Fiyero elbowed his collarbone hard. It bought Fiyero a second to dodge the punch aimed for his face, but it didn't come close to knocking the man down. A whack on the back of the head startled him as he could see both his combatant's hands.

He lashed out a spinning kick to hold his muscled giant at bay while he saw what hit him from behind. Elphaba's foot was caught in a short, stout man's hands as she hopped to keep away from the skinny one recovering behind her. Fiyero imagined she had tried to kick the small man, but with her hands bound, she could hardly maintain her own against two assailants.

He hadn't taken more than one step in her aid before his fighter clocked him from behind. The others roared from the sidelines, but Fiyero could barely hear it over the ringing in his ears. He shook his head and staggered back to his feet as his opponent pandered to the crowd.

Fiyero saw a fist-sized rock near him and lobbed it at the laughing guard. He didn't wait to see if he'd hit his target, rushing to Elphaba's aid just in time to redirect the punch aimed at her and hit the thin guard in his narrow nose. His assailant reached him to slam a thick knee into Fiyero's ribs.

With a wheeze, Fiyero caught Elphaba's shoulder for some sense of balance, and his guard down, the short one clocked him right in the nose. What little edge of control he'd managed was slipping, and Fiyero couldn't even hold his own against all three. Let alone the horde of others waiting to replace them.

Fiyero started to get desperate when the thin one threw a punch that, when Fiyero dodged, hit the short one off-balance to smash backwards into the thick one. Fiyero used the opening to drag Elphaba after him in a wild sprint toward the trees. It took the onlookers a couple moments to recover from their surprise and follow.

Sprinting through the trees, the pair led the officers on a wild chase, dodging trees, leaping over bushes, and sliding across the loose soil. Fiyero kept a hand on Elphaba's arm to keep her from a critical fall, but the others were still gaining on them. Flanking them on the right, the crowd forced the two to swerve back toward the river.

Disoriented by all the turns, Fiyero lost all sense of direction. They were probably running in circles now. He searched for a landmark when he felt fingers graze his back.

Damn! Fear spurred him into a wild burst of speed through the trees as he chanced a look back. Oz, there were so many of them. He looked forward again, only to see loose sediment and empty air.

He skidded to a halt, the cliff looming ahead. Neither left or right offered escape, and only air and the gurgling river behind them. No way could they fight the entire angry company.

He took a deep breath, and then gave Elphaba a desperate shove over the edge and jumped in after her. The water stung as he slammed into it, and he had to work hard to reach the surface. Faces appeared and disappeared at the top of the rocky wall as the men headed for a saner path to the bottom.

With a sigh of relief, he turned to Elphaba, beaming. Only she wasn't beside him. He spotted her under the water, kicking frantically, but with her hands tied, she couldn't fight her way up.

Guilt sliced through Fiyero as he dove under to reach her. Some rescuer he was, drowning the girl he saved. He looped an arm around her waist and drug her up with him toward the precious oxygen and then onto the sandy strip of coast. Coughing and gagging, she sucked air past the wet strands of hair blanketing her face.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, pushing aside the drenched locks, "I forgot about the handcuffs."

He expected a snappy retort, but she just shuddered with a ratcheting cough. "Help me up," she choked out, and he lifted her to her feet.

Voice thick with concern, he asked, "Are you alright?" She rolled her eyes and nodded, and Fiyero pulled her to him tightly. With a sudden wave of emotion at how close he had come to loosing her, he said, "Thank Oz. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You seemed to do alright," she said with a touch of pride. "Let's get out of here."

He ran a finger down the side of her cheek. "Have I ever told you that you're brilliant?" She smiled, and he dipped his lips to meet hers in a slow kiss. After a long moment, he pulled back to touch their foreheads together as he toyed with her top button. "Let's get you out of these wet clothes."

She swatted his hand away, and he grinned until he caught the ghastly expression on her face as she stared over his shoulder.

"What?"

He turned around to see a very unexpected blonde staring at them.

He sighed heavily. "That's it. No more buttons for either of us. They're only trouble."