A/N: I wasn't feeling that well today, so I'm sorry this is short and a little shitty. The entire prompt is called "both of them injured and waking up besides each other". Happy reading!

Elphaba woke with a headache that seemed to split her head in two, as if someone repeatedly tried to smash it with a hammer. Screwing her eyes shut, she grunted in pain as she attempted to move. The ground underneath her was hard and cold, although she was still too disorientated to know where she was. Her lungs screamed at her to stop when she tried to take a deep breath, and as little stars began to dance in front of her closed eyes, she thought she would pass right out again.

"Elphie?" A soft voice asked, soon accompanied by warm fingers stroking her cheek. "Can you hear me?"

The pain in her head made it impossible to nod, as she was afraid that it would only increase with the movement, but she managed to choke out a quiet, "yes."

Glinda's fingers left her cheek and went to her ribcage instead, even the light touch already causing a new wave of pain at the spot. "You have two or three broken ribs, try and breathe as flatly as possible."

Elphaba obeyed and the fire in her lungs seemed to subside a little. As she tried to concentrate on her breathing, a small sense of reality began to seep through the edges of her brain.

Flashes of memories danced through her mind, a badly mapped out plan at the last minute to fake her death, people with torches and pitchforks conquering the walls of Kiamo Ko. A girl in a blue and white dress throwing a bucket of water at her, a trapdoor … and that was where it all went black. She had no idea how long she was laying here already, if the danger was averted and the witch hunters gone or if she still needed to hide and be quiet. Glinda was with her, that was a start, but apart from that, she had no way of knowing whether their plan had worked.

As the hammering in her head slowly started to fade to the back of her brain, she began to open her eyes, blinking to accustom her gummy eyes to the light.

A shaft of light in form of a square illuminated the tiny hideout under the floor, the trapdoor that was meant to be her escape standing wide open. Letting her eyes wander further, she was soon met with Glinda's face, a mixture of worry and relief written plainly over her stunning features.

"What happened?" She asked with a hoarse and raspy voice, and quickly downed the glass of water Glinda handed her. Her throat screamed for more, still feeling dry like she was swallowing sandpaper, but she forced herself to wait.

"You fell," the blonde said with a timid smile, sniffling a little. "You have must have tripped when you tried to disappear through the trapdoor. Your ankle is sprained, if not broken, I already told you about your ribs and you hit your head pretty hard. You had water burns too but I already treated those with your oil."

Elphaba lifted her hand to touch the back of her head, hissing when the touch sent a new sharp pang through her brain. She was also met with crusted blood sticking to her skin and hair, but according to the fact that she was still alive and able to think, the wound couldn't have been too deep.

"How long have I been asleep?"

Looking down at the ground, Glinda played with a lose strand of her dress. "Two days plus a few hours."

"What?" Elphaba tried to heave herself up in a sitting position but was soon stopped by her lungs screaming in protest. Pressing her hand to her chest, she noticed that she was naked, only covered by her dark cloak.

"Elphie, be careful!" The blonde yelled and quickly grabbed her arms to stabilize her, before helping her lean against the wall. Their faces only inches apart, Elphaba couldn't help but stare.

Something about Glinda was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Her hands were shaking a little, as if she herself was struggling to stay upright, and from this closer perspective, Elphaba noticed the redness of her face and the sweat causing it to glisten in the faint light.

"Glinda, are you-"

"I'm fine," the blonde cut her off a little too quickly. "Do you need anything? Water? Something to eat?"

During the last decades, Glinda had become an excellent actress. Being forced to tell all these lies about the woman she loved with a smile on her face that was never allowed to falter and fooling the Wizard and Morrible into believing in the mask of shallowness and joy, had trained her well. Someone else might have never noticed the way her bottom lip trembled until she bit on it to stop, or how her eyes became a lighter shade of blue whenever she was close to crying. Only Elphaba knew her well enough to see right past the fake smile she put on.

Elphaba sighed, slipping her hand into the soft blonde curls at the base of her neck. They were damp, sticking to her skin, and only raised her suspicion that something was wrong.

"Glinda," she said in a slow, serious tone. "Look at me. What aren't you telling me?"

Shaking her head, Glinda put a finger to the green woman's lips. "Nothing. I'm-"

"Don't!" Elphaba interrupted, the force behind the single word shooting a sharp pain through her lungs, but she tried to ignore it. Bringing her hand from the blonde's neck towards her forehead, she gasped in shock as she noticed how hot it was against her palm. "Stop telling me you're fine! You're burning up!"

Without saying a word, Glinda reached for her hand on her forehead and gently pulled it away.

"You don't need to worry about me," she finally said. "It's only exhaustion. I haven't really slept in a few days, that's all."

Elphaba huffed in response. "Sure. Because lack of sleep always leaves you burning hot like right now."

"Why, thank you, Elphie," Glinda smiled weakly in an attempt to change the subject. Looking down at the green woman's bare chest, which was covered in violet marks where she had hurt her ribs, before peaking up at her again, she winked suggestively. "Even with these injuries you're not too shabby yourself."

Elphaba felt her own face fall at the blonde's statement, though not out of flattery. She could read the hidden pain on Glinda's features as clearly as if it was written out in bold letters, and yet the blonde didn't cease to lie right to her face.

Using both of her hands to shove Glinda away, she then pulled her cloak further over her chest, avoiding to look the blonde in the eyes. Her headache started to come back with new vigor, part of it surely because of the tears she tried to hold in at the sting of Glinda trusting her so little.

"Thank you for saving my life," she said through gritted teeth, her head turned to the side so she didn't have to face Glinda. "But if you really think I can't see that you're in pain and lying to me is your only option, then leave me alone."

She couldn't see the blonde's reaction, but the slight gasp resounding from the walls of their hiding place told her more than she wanted to know. It hadn't been her intention to hurt Glinda, especially since she owed her everything, from her being alive to the fact that she even wanted to be alive, but seeing them start right back at where it had went wrong so many times before, with secrecy and lies, made her sick.

"Elphie …"

When nothing more came, Elphaba drew her knees closer to her body and rested her cheek on them, still turned away from the blonde.

"What do you want me to say?" Glinda finally yelled after a few moments of silence, and although she couldn't see them, Elphaba could hear the tears in her strangled voice.

She fumbled with her fingers, eyes still facing the wall. "The truth, Glinda. After everything we've been through, I deserve the truth."

"You want the truth? Fine!" Glinda lunged towards her, thanks to the small place they were in she barely needed two steps for that, before taking the green woman's face between her hands, forcing her to look at her. "One of the witch hunters came back and found us. I managed to kill him before he killed us but I- he kind of sliced my leg open with his pitchfork before I could-"

Elphaba's eyes almost bulged out of her head. "What?"

Biting down on her bottom lip, Glinda slowly exhaled before continuing. "I tried to take care of it myself but I think-"

Her voice cracked, tears streaming down her cheeks, but she didn't let go of Elphaba's face to try and wipe them away.

"What is it?" She whispered at a barely audible level.

"I think it's infected … it's swelling and hot and red-"

Elphaba forced herself to stay calm, even though all of her alarm bells started ringing in her head at her description. "O-okay, okay, let me see."

Flopping down next to Elphaba with a grunt, Glinda raised her stained and torn blue dress up to her waist, revealing the wound on her thigh. Elphaba struggled against the urge to throw up at the sight, not simply because of the way it looked, but because Glinda had finally dropped her mask and hissed and clenched her jaw in pain as Elphaba tried to touch it.

Her thigh was about twice its normal size, the cuts of the pitchfork seeming rather small considering what they had caused. The flesh was colored in a sickening mix of red and purple, and it already reached all the way up to her hip. Elphaba swallowed down the bile gathering in her mouth.

Together with Glinda's fever, her worst assumption seemed to get even more likely.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Elphaba asked in a monotonous voice.

Glinda looked down to her lap. "I don't know … you are injured too and I wanted you to get better first-"

"For Oz' sake, Glin, you can't compare a few broken bones and a headache to …" She broke off because she didn't find the words to describe Glinda's leg, or at least none that would make it sound less life-threatening. So she just gestured towards her thigh, forcing down her tears.

She couldn't lose her. She refused to lose her, but without some kind of a miracle or strong medicine which they didn't have, it didn't look good to say the least.

"So it's that bad?" Glinda asked quietly, staring at her leg.

Elphaba didn't answer.

"Talk to me, Elphie, please."

Sighing deeply, ignoring the pain her lungs that suddenly seemed so laughable and irrelevant, Elphaba forced herself to look at the blonde. "I think it's a sepsis. The swelling, the redness, your fever … it all makes sense."

"That sounds … really bad."

Elphaba only nodded, trying to eliminate all emotion out of her face because she knew Glinda well enough to know that she would unconsciously copy them. In that aspect she was like a toddler, if Elphaba showed confidence, she was more positive about the situation too, but as soon as the green woman's composure crumbled, so would hers. It was exhausting in so many ways, especially because Elphaba didn't mean to manipulate her emotions.

Glinda's face fell nonetheless, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks. "So am I going to die?"

"No, no, my sweet, no," she tried to calm her, shuffling closer to wrap her arms around her tiny frame. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you. I promise."

Her entire body was radiating heat and yet Glinda pressed herself even closer to the green woman, goosebumps evident on her skin.

"How?" Glinda wailed against the crook of her neck.

Elphaba pressed a kiss onto her sweaty temple. She had no idea how she would do it, but she would not let Glinda die. Not after everything they had been through, not after she had successfully faked her death and they finally had a chance to be together.

Life couldn't be that unfair.

"We're going to find a way", she said, trying to convince herself as well while speaking the words out loud. "I promise."