A/N: Heads up…this is an intense chapter so please do not send hate mail, haha. Thank you!
Chapter 36
Elphaba stood frozen for a couple of seconds. She couldn't believe that Fiyero had recognized her in her glamoured state.
"Surprised to see me?" Fiyero asked as the guards tightened their grip on his arms. They began walking again.
"Wait!" Elphaba snapped out of her stupor. She hadn't seen Fiyero in months and she didn't want to let him leave quite yet. "Yero!" she yelled and the guards stopped.
Elphaba slowed to a stop in front of the guards. "Where are you taking him?" She demanded to know.
"Southstairs. Direct orders from Miss Glinda." The woman blocking their exit annoyed the guards.
"Southstairs?!" Elphaba exclaimed. She knew that Southstairs was the worst of all prisons. Why would Glinda send him there?
"Yes." The guards confirmed. Fiyero was standing speechless the entire time trying to figure out where this was going. He didn't want to say the wrong thing the upset Elphaba at the moment.
"You can't take him there!" Elphaba yelled and looked towards Fiyero. Sure he had tried to enter the castle illegally but she knew he would never harm a fly. Fiyero was all talk and no action. He was too much of a softie on the inside to ever harm anyone. Glinda should know that.
"We can take him there and we will." The head guard replied. "Miss Glinda told us…"
Elphaba cut the guard off. "Don't listen to what Glinda told you. She made a huge mistake! I am her fiancée and I say let this man go." Elphaba pleaded to the guards to let Fiyero go. There was still a part of her that would always love him no matter what he did to her.
"Fiancée?" Fiyero gulped. It was the first word he had said in a while.
Elphaba looked into Fiyero's dark blue eyes. All of her emotions were conflicting. She didn't want to hurt Fiyero and she knew that this would hurt him.
"Yes." She spoke timidly. "Glinda and I are in love." She watched as Fiyero's face fell to a frown. All he had been working to obtain would have been for nothing. Elphaba didn't leave him because he lied. He left her because she had always been in love with Glinda. Everything began to fit into place now.
"Oh. Well congratulations." Fiyero managed a smile. He still loved Elphaba no matter what she had done to him in the past. If Glinda made her happy then so be it. Elphaba had spent too many years unhappy that she needed it.
"Congratulations?" Elphaba repeated unsure that she had understood correctly.
Before the two could continue their talk the guards pushed past Elphaba and began walking again. Fiyero took one last glance into the eyes of the woman he loved.
"HALT!" Elphaba yelled as loudly as she could. The guards stopped for fear that they would be hurt if they didn't. "Under the authority of soon to be Mrs. Upland I demand that you let this man go. Right now!" Elphaba screamed.
The main guard turned around and stared at Elphaba. The green woman could feel sweat beginning to pool at her forehead. Guards had always frightened her and so standing up to them was beyond terrifying.
"What did you say to me?" The guard challenged. He wasn't about to disobey a direct order from Miss Glinda.
"I said let this man go!" Elphaba stood her ground.
"And who's going to stop me if I don't." The guard smirked. What could one pregnant lady do to a group of five heavily armored guards?
"I will." Elphaba smiled for the first time. She loved standing up for things she believed in and she believed that Fiyero was being treated poorly. She could already see purple bruises around his eyes and arms. If she had known they had been beating him up she would have gone to see him sooner.
The head guard chuckled and the rest joined in. They obviously didn't know how much power the woman in front of them packed.
"Fae don't." Fiyero warned. His eyes pleaded for the green woman to just drop this. He would take whatever damage was coming to him if it meant she would walk away unharmed.
"It's too late Yero." Elphaba looked into his eyes and for the first time smiled at him. She had missed seeing his face for as much as she hated to admit it. She still loved Glinda with all of her heart, but there was a part of her that missed Fiyero. She missed his companionship. They were both outcasts in some sense.
Before the guards could comprehend the words passed between the two ex-lovers Elphaba had said a chant and they all fell flat on their backs. It was as if an invisible rope had passed through and tripped them up. The only one that remained standing was Fiyero who was still shackled.
"What the hell do you think you're getting at!" The head guard jumped back up and reached for his weapon.
"Are you going to let this man go now?" Elphaba asked innocently.
The guard reached his weapon and began pulling it out of it's holster. The handle of the weapon immediately glowed red and felt as if it were on fire. The guard retraced his hand as quickly as possible, shaking it to get rid of the burning sensation.
"I wouldn't do that again if I were you." Elphaba smirked to the five guards now standing upright in front of her.
"We could arrest you for that!" The guard second from the left shouted.
"Oh tisk tisk." Elphaba sounded bored with the whole situation. "I could have you all killed before you even managed to lay one finger on me." She threatened the guards. Of course she would never harm them but she needed them to believe that she would.
The intimidation seemed to work. A couple of the guards backed away from the woman and cowered behind the head guard.
"I don't believe that you answered my question. Are you going to let this man go?" Elphaba smirked at the receding guards. Her plan had apparently worked.
"Someone go get Miss Glinda." The head guard whispered to one of the men behind him. They were all eager to leave the scene, but only one actually did.
"I don't know why you insist on bothering her." Elphaba replied. She didn't want to have to drag Glinda into this whole big mess. It would worry her love greatly.
"I insist because we are apparently at a stand still. I will not disobey a direct order and you will not safely allow me and my men to leave. It seems I have underestimated your power Miss Iris." The guard admitted that he was a little intimidated at what Elphaba might do to them if they continued.
"Oh all right." Elphaba agreed this was the best way that no one would get hurt. "Can I at least have two minutes with the prisoner?"
"No." The guard was angry at such a request. He was already breaking so many rules.
"Oh come on. I won't go anywhere with him." Elphaba motioned around to all of the guards. She wasn't willing to try escaping with Fiyero with all of them around.
"No." The guard stood his ground.
Elphaba ignored his answer and walked back over to where Fiyero stood. The head guard didn't follow. He just kept a really close eye on the two.
"Are you all right Yero?" Elphaba used her pet name for Fiyero.
"I am now." Fiyero tried to smile but found it hurt to do so. "How come you haven't come to me before now?" He needed a direct answer. They didn't have much more time to speak.
"I…I was afraid." Elphaba admitted. "Afraid that you would out me." The green woman chose her words carefully. She knew the guards were listening in and so she had to keep her words as ambiguous as possible.
"I would never do that to you." Fiyero replied. "I love you too much to do that." He looked into Elphaba's brown eyes. Even though her skin color was different her eyes were the same shade of brown he had fallen in love with.
"Oh Yero." Elphaba sighed. "I'm so sorry for what they did to you here. I didn't know!" she was close to tears.
"Don't worry about it Iris." He said the name he had heard the guards call her. He didn't want to bring any more attention to the fact that Iris and him knew each other.
"Why did you come here?" She reached for his cheek to try and sooth the pain she knew he felt.
"You're overstepping your limit." The head guard spat out. He was not about to allow the prisoner and this woman to interact physically.
Elphaba sighed and let her hand fall to her side. She wasn't about to cause another scene.
"I wanted to get you back." Fiyero admitted. "I had no idea that you and Glinda were now a couple though. How long has that been going on?"
"A couple of months. I really love her." Elphaba looked into Fiyero's eyes trying to see if this information would make him change his mind.
"I'm happy for you." He smiled. "You got what you always wanted." He couldn't bring himself to be mad at Elphaba for falling in love with another woman. Deep down he had know for a while that Elphaba had fallen out of love with him.
"I did." Elphaba smiled. She did get what she had always wanted and she was happy that Fiyero could see that.
XXX
"Miss Glinda!" The guard that left the scene of the crime yelled.
Glinda was startled at the intrusion during her four o'clock meeting with Tahj.
"What is it?" She demanded to know what was so important that the guard didn't even knock.
"You should come quick! Miss Iris and the guards were getting into a fight when I left!" The guard panted as he tried to regain his breath. He wasn't quite sure what had happened since his departure.
Glinda and Tahj both looked at each other wide eyed before bolting for the door.
"What if she has been caught?" Glinda began crying as she ran towards the stairs. She couldn't bear to lose Elphaba to this again.
"I'm sure that's not it." Tahj tried to reassure her friend although he knew that that could be a possibility. His guards would not fight without being provoked. What if she had provoked them in some way?
"I…I can't lose her again." Glinda cried and ran faster. She thought the faster she ran, the more she could save her love. Her lungs almost burst through her chest as they screamed for air.
"I won't let that happen." Tahj was two steps behind Glinda.
The two continued to sprint in the direction they thought Elphaba would be at. Glinda cursed herself for not asking where they were before she left her office.
Glinda and Tahj finally reached the area between Ella's room and Glinda's office. The blonde gasped at the sight of Elphaba so close to Fiyero. Fiyero might be hurting her.
"Elphie." Glinda's breath caught as she raced towards the green woman she loved.
XXX
"I was never going to hurt you. I promise." Fiyero apologized to the green woman for thinking he could ever harm her.
"I know. It was an accident." Elphaba accepted his apology. They had talked about Fiyero being the reason she was shot and ended up in a coma. Elphaba knew that that was the guards fault if anyone's. Fiyero had never meant for her to get shot.
"I'm going to kill the bastards that did that to you." Fiyero became angry with the guards that shot Elphie.
Elphaba chuckled slightly. "Don't worry about it. Glinda has already had every single one of the fired." She smiled. "She had a little bit of a temper if you hadn't noticed."
Fiyero grimaced at the reminder of Glinda almost beating him to death. He knew now that it was because he was the reason Elphie was in a coma and might never wake up. He couldn't be as mad at her now.
"Yes she does. She has a bit of a jealousy streak too." Fiyero tried to chuckle about his current situation.
"Ah. So that is the real reason behind the transport to Southstairs." It all clicked in Elphaba's head now. Glinda was trying to make Fiyero pay for ever hurting Elphaba.
"I believe so." Fiyero admitted.
The two ex-lovers stared at each other for a little while longer. It was nice talking so friendly with one another. Fiyero had longed to talk to Elphaba for so long. Elphaba in return had missed Fiyero's company. The two of them may not be in love with each other but that didn't mean they couldn't be friends.
Elphaba leaned in to place a small kiss on Fiyero's cheek, a simple gesture that was often shared between friends. The guards could be damned for all the green woman cared.
As soon as Elphaba got one inch away from the man's cheek a force knocked her off of her feet and to the ground. The weight of another human body was on top of hers holding her down. She couldn't exactly see who it was.
"Get off me!" Elphaba screamed. She figured the guard must have tackled her. She didn't want to have to put up with this and so she muttered a quick chant under her breath.
The weight was lifted off of her back and the figure was thrown into the pillar nearby.
"I told you not to fucking touch me." Elphaba seethed. She tried to stand and look over to where the figure had landed.
That's when she saw all of the guards running forward with their weapons drawn. She stared wide-eyed down the barrel of the gun to the head guard she thought had tackled her. She quickly took a mental note of all of the guards. All four seemed to be facing her.
So if all four were facing her then who did she slam into the wall?
"Glinda." Elphaba looked over to the still figure of her love crumpled on the ground. Tahj was hovering over her to try and wake the blonde up. Blood trickled from her forehead.
"You are under arrest for the attempted murder of Glinda Upland!" The head guard began reading Elphaba her rights as he handcuffed her. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed to you. You have the right to use or invoke any of these rights at anytime."
"Glinda!" Elphaba tried to call to her love as she was being led away from the scene. "Glinda!" the green woman began to cry.
She hadn't meant to hurt Glinda. She thought it was the guard who had tackled her.
"Let go of me!" Elphaba tried to free herself from the shackles around her wrists.
"No." The guard smiled. He was glad that this woman finally received what was coming to her.
"Glinda!" Elphaba yelled once more. Tears rolled freely down her face.
The screaming was no help. She was already out of sight of the blonde.
"Look at it this way. You can join your friend now." The guard laughed devilishly and pulled on Elphaba's arms to get her to move forward.
"Wha..what do you mean?" Elphaba was terrified.
"Southstairs. Attempting to murder a head of state is an automatic sentence to Southstairs. Let's hope she makes it for your sake or you'll be facing the death sentence." The guard cheered again. The other guards were not far behind with Fiyero in tow.
Elphaba chanced a glance back towards Fiyero and the two locked eyes.
Elphaba was terrified and Fiyero could do nothing to help. He was in the same predicament as she was.
Elphaba couldn't stand the pained expression in Fiyero's eyes anymore. She turned her head around and looked towards the guard.
"I didn't know it was Glinda! I would never harm her." Elphaba tried to defend herself.
"I would remain quiet if I were you. You might not want to say anything to incriminate yourself further." The guard said.
Elphaba felt completely hopeless. She didn't know if her love was all right or not. She was being led away by guards. She was going to Southstairs where she knew people might recognize her. She was facing the possibility of death. Everything was falling apart.
In a moment of shock Elphaba fainted.