I can't tell you how long I've been working on this story. It doesn't look that way that is, but I'm wrapping my head around how I want to end this and I don't want it to end because it's my first proper piece of fanfiction and I feel like the characters are developing now. Anyway I hope you like the latest instalment, let me know what you think
They began travelling again just after dawn. The sky had its glorious orange and pink hue to it and it reminded Elphaba of waking up wherever it was Glinda and she had settled at the night Glinda brought her back. Coraline awkwardly jerked in the carriage, not liking the speed of the contraption, although she refused to allow the driver to slow. She still somewhat managed to have forty winks however much to Elphaba's amusement. The entire journey resolved around therefore, Coraline's pantomimed jitters, to Fiyero's nervous silence and Elphaba's nose being buried in the amazement of the Grimmerie, now restored to its full glory. Needless to say they weren't exactly laid back about the whole thing. Neither one of them knew how this was going to turn out.
The carriage made its way over the hill they had been struggling to descend for the past ten minutes and there stood in the distance Kiamo Ko. Fiyero was the first to notice and like a little boy who was coming home from school for summer nudged Elphaba in the ribs, who groaned unappreciatively as he pointed out the window at the castle.
"We're here. Here it is."
"Ahh this is your castle now is it Mr Tiggular?" Coraline squinted her eyes to look.
"It is. It was built by my great, great grandfather." He smiled.
"It's a beauty." Coraline concluded.
The guards held the door out to Elphaba who didn't even notice their gentlemanly gesture of taking her hand, she jumped out onto the gravel instead and did the guards job for them and took Coraline by the arm as she climbed out.
"Here link my arm." Elphaba said. The guard who still had his hand held out for Elphaba skipped around the other side of Coraline and took her other arm as they walked up to the castle doors. Fiyero let everyone in and became host straight away, grabbing a chair for Coraline and asking if people wanted beverages after the journey. Coraline shook her head.
"Not for me. I'd prefer to get right to it if I could."
"Me too Fiyero." Elphaba said.
"No need to convince me." The guards shut the doors behind them and three of them got themselves into order.
As Elphaba prepared the Grimmerie, handling it like it was a ticking bomb ready to blow at the slightest touch. She was curious how this would turn out. Spells are irreversible after all and that's what they were asking of the Grimmerie, to turn him back to how he was. Hence, the extra attention to the well being of the book as though if she treated it delicately it would somehow grants their request.
Coraline lifted her head in the air as she got used to her surroundings. She seemed to be sniffing the air for answers.
"Do you feel that Elphaba my dear?" Elphaba looked up and lifted her head identical to her thinking she would feel what she felt.
"Feel what?"
"That soft hum." She aimed her head to the staircase and started to make her way to it. Elphaba followed to help her.
"I feel – an energy coming from in here." Elphaba looked at the spot questionably. Staring back at her was a stone based staircase.
The corridors and passageways all looked the same to Elphaba and Coraline. Surely he was talking them around in circles. But Fiyero was strolling through them, knowing them like the back of his hand. At last, they all paused when Fiyero started examining one of the grey bricked walls. It indented inwards and then opened up for them.
"This is us." He declared smiling lightly.
They stepped into the pitch black room, Elphaba careful to hold the torch away from his easy to ignite straw, earning a little awkward jolt from Fiyero as he realised.
"Oh sorry." Elphaba noticed his panic.
"Go ahead." He gestured. There was not much to look at inside. It was peculiarly a small room to what they expected. Elphaba could easily take several strides and she would meet the wall.
"What are we looking for then?"
"Whatever it is giving me that feeling." Coraline peered in the dim light.
"Be a dear though would you Elphaba? I must sit down after all that endless walking." Elphaba nodded knowing what she wanted her to do, she got the feeling too. She rummaged through the papers stacked high to almost her own height, looking for whatever it was; and then her hand brushed against it. A white feathered quill with hints of emerald green on the tip. She didn't need to inspect it; she took it delicately in her hand and turned to Coraline who seemed to have fallen asleep in her sitting position.
"How peculiar." She muttered in her supposed sleep.
"A quill. What would a quill be radiating such energy for?" Fiyero questioned.
"To write with." Coraline answered a little too obviously and opened the Grimmerie up to where the missing page now held itself in its rightful place.
Elphaba handed the quill to Coraline and her and Fiyero watched patiently.
"This quill is to write spells with. Spells I think we need permission if you will to perform." She pryed one eye open to look at the Scarecrow stood before her and shut it tight again.
"I do not have the right to ask for this permission, however." She closed the page and flicked through to the page where Elphaba and Glinda had both attempted to perform the spell to turn Fiyero to his ordinary appearance. One without straw as a substitute to his flesh and bones. Coraline was frowning a deep crease forming on her forehead.
"What is it?" Fiyero asked.
"I'm a bit stumped." Coraline looked at Elphaba, really looking at her. The green witch stood staring back, not knowing what to do as much as the old woman before her.
"Take the quill my poppet." Elphaba stepped towards her, knelt down and did as she said.
"Do you know this spell?"
"A bit like the back of my hand these past few weeks."
"Write it down on this page." She flicked back to the blank page with the cryptic scrawls scattered here and then in a tiny size.
"Here?" She asked. This was the great Grimmerie. She had always been a great fan of books and always handled them carefully and here she was about to graffiti in a sense in the most precious of them all.
"You ready?" She was asking Fiyero stood over her. He nodded his head.
"When you are."
In her best handwriting, she wrote the words to the spell at the top left corner of the page. There was no neat little trick as she did this, much to Coraline's surprise. She slumped a bit as she sat watching. She frowned deeper, truly stumped. She thought Elphaba more than anyone else would be the one to be able to perform this spell. She just needed guiding to do so effectively. But much to her dismay, the quill didn't send any surge of energy; radiate any sort of light from it, nothing.
"Speak the words Elphaba. It needs your voice."
"You too?" She asked.
"I think this spell for Master Fiyero will be much more successful if you speak it my dear."
Elphaba began speaking the words as she wrote them down. Elphaba's eyes shut tight, concentrating all her energy and focus into the spell. She searched for Fiyero's hand with her free hand and he held onto it. Fiyero felt a slight tingle deep in his stomach, was it nerves, excitement? Or was it the spell taking shape as quickly as that. It seemed such a simple answer to his problems, write down the spell and say it. Of course he knew that not just anyone could perform something this advanced. He had every faith in Elphaba as did Mother Coraline. Elphaba never ceased to amaze him and here she was turning him into himself again. If she could do this for him, he would be eternally grateful. He only wished there was something he could have done as equally as important to her.
No doubt about it, the tingle he had felt were due to the spell. It was doing something alright. It felt like pins and needles, only not as uncomfortable and it was spreading throughout his entire body now. Elphaba knew it was beginning to work, the Grimmerie had never reacted like this when both her and Glinda had attempted it previously. Now, the energy she felt was evident and the way the words glowed as she scrawled them onto the blank page indicated it was achieving something.
She was caught off guard, when Fiyero's hands slipped out of hers and he seethed a deep breath in discomfort. Not wanting to interrupt the spell, she simply paused rather than spoke to him and was happy Coraline was on the ball to ask the question she was going to ask.
"Fiyero? What is wrong?" She noticed his discomfort.
"Elphaba carry on." She ordered and then turned back to him.
Elphaba was looking from one to the other whilst jotting down the spell and making sure she continued to pronunciate everything the way it was meant to be. If she slipped now, there could be consequences; she couldn't afford to sacrifice that.
"I feel like my insides are being – they feel shrivelled." He seethed in pain and clutched onto his garments. There was no turning back now. Elphaba comfortable with the spell now, speeded up her chanting, which seemed to make Fiyero grunt and wince more. He dropped to his knees and ripped at his shirt, tearing it, straw fell along with it and underneath skin replaced its exterior. Elphaba had to fight the urge to call out to him to offer him words of comfort.
What hurt him the most was the pain coursing through his head, he clutched onto it in a manner that could look like the music was too loud and he was trying to shut it out.
"Almost done Fiyero. Hold on now, she's got it." Coraline grabbed his hand and he held it tightly. Then a force that knocked him aback and Coraline almost with him, the spell was complete. Elphaba herself was knocked back, by the force that seemed to be coming from the Grimmerie itself. Realising that was she could do on her behalf, she clasped the book shut and aided Fiyero at his side.
"Yero." Panic and concernment was evident in her voice. She brushed his brown haired lock out of his face, which was damp with sweat and checked him over. His eyes were closed, but for only a moment. He stared up at her and gulped, his mouth had never felt so dry even when he was made of straw.
"Did it work?" Fiyero muttered breathless. Forgetting entirely about his physical appearance, much more concerned whether she hadn't actually killed him or anything she had forgotten to see whether the spell was actually successful. She looked down at his semi naked body, the clothes he had worn as the scarecrow were in strips around him, from where his original body had pulled to give way for it.
"You look ..." She smiled.
"... Like your old self again." Fiyero sat up and he looked down at his hands. It had seemed so long since he had looked down and seen his actual self instead of that damned straw. He was a man again and he had Elphaba to thank yet again. Before he realised what he was doing, he had leant forward and followed his gut instinct and captured Elphaba's lips in his own. The feeling was familiar and soft and it made his head feel light. Surprised at his reaction, Elphaba just let him kiss her, she didn't feel any impulse to pull away, but she did find the impulse to move her lips ever so slightly against his. It felt ... nice. Realising however that this was much too long for a brief kiss, she pulled away. It was wrong to be kissing him, no matter the context, he was still Fiyero and she was in love with Glinda, not him.
"Thank you Elphaba. Thank you." He spoke inches from her face. Pulling away she lowered her head and awkwardly got to her feet, so she didn't have to be so close to him. She crossed her arms across her chest and decided to address Coraline, who was sat watching the two of them with no surprise on her face, but with a tiny smirk in the corner.
"Is that all Coraline? Will he medically speaking be ok, like inside. Fiyero you were clutching your head." She said without pause for breath. Fiyero cleared his throat and nodded his head several times.
"When you were performing the spell yes, I feel fine now."
"It was his brain taking form again, as opposed to the straw one would presume." Coraline said slowly, as though she was suppressing saying anything else.
"Good. Well as long as your happy with how it went and Fiyero as long as you're feeling yourself again, that's hopefully it." She smiled and picked up the Grimmerie, looking for the nearest exit without dashing out for them to know she was bothered by the kiss. Although that was crystal clear to anyone who had a pair of eyes.
"Elphaba?" Coraline called. Elphaba looked down at her.
"Yes?" She replied fixing the Grimmerie into her satchel, holding it to her protectively.
"You made history today." She smiled.
"Yes well, ... anything to help." She struggled to know what to say. So much had happened in such a small amount of time, he head felt like it was going to explode. It was a straightforward spell, but it sure as hell zapped all the energy out of her and then for it to end with a kiss like that from Fiyero! She felt exhilarated and guilty at the same time and she didn't know which one she felt the most. Why didn't she pull away? It was only for a moment and it was a sign of gratification on Fiyero's behalf, but he still had feelings for her, it was more than just gratification.
Not wanting to take off and it seem as though she was more uneasy than she already was, she held out a hand to Fiyero and pulled him up on his feet.
"I'd prefer it if we didn't stay down here in all honesty, I'd much prefer to be upstairs with a hot beverage Fiyero, if you don't mind."
"Of course, anything." He took Coraline's arm through his and she laughed.
"Oh I can hold onto you now." Coraline gestured to his muscled arms, supporting her. Elphaba led the way back up to the ground floor of Kiamo Ko, where she needed to sit and relax before departing to return to Glinda again.
