DISCLAIMER: The Wicked characters are not my property or creation. And there is a line in here from the 2005 Pride and Prejudice that is also not mine, but had to borrow. Story inspired by Taylor Swift's Peace on the album folklore, another thing I didn't create and don't own (except for the CD and vinyl).

AN. If you write an ALAYM oneshot that doesn't quote any part of the ALAYM scene, does it still count? Let's find out!

Peace

By Vinkunwildflowerqueen

Elphaba's smile was like lightning.

It appeared in a flash and lasted only for a moment, sometimes so quickly that you weren't sure it had ever been there in the first place and you were left waiting, watching for it to appear again.

But when it did appear? It lit up the damn sky.

Fiyero had seen it twice. Just twice.

Sometimes he'd wondered if he'd imagined it. If Elphaba had been a ghost during the past two years, haunting him in the dead of night, the memory of her smile was like a fever dream- the more he strained to remember it, the more he couldn't be sure it had ever really happened.

He was much more familiar with the look Elphaba was giving him now from across the fire. Her brow faintly creased, her eyes dark and thoughtful as she studied him, head slightly tilted. The same way Fiyero felt in museums as he stared at artwork; trying to figure out how the orange in the leaf was supposed to symbolise the dwindling hope of humanity, or whatever people said it did. Whatever. There was a reason Fiyero had never studied art.

It was a look that, a lifetime ago, had made Fiyero twitch. Feeling her gaze upon him, like she could see right through him- or was trying to- had made him feel oddly guilty. After she'd been gone, that feeling had only intensified, even though she was no longer actually there to watch him.

"What?"

Dark eyes blinked at him from through the smoke.

"What?" she repeated, sounding almost surprised or confused by the question.

"You're giving me that look."

Elphaba's eyebrow quirked slightly. "What look?"

Fiyero nodded. "That look," he said, pointing to her. "Like you're trying to work me out."

Elphaba's face eased slightly, and he thought that one corner of her lips curved slightly.

"Maybe I am," she said quietly, no hint of amusement on her face or in her tone.

The Fiyero of old would have pressed her for more information. Now he just leaned forward slightly and waited.

He and Elphaba had never really sat in silence before. They'd always been sniping at one another when forced into each other's space. Silence with Elphaba unnerved him. Although maybe it hadn't been the silence, but the words that preceded it.

"No, you're not. Or you wouldn't be so unhappy."

Now, with just the faint rustling of the trees and the crackle of the fire, Fiyero let the silence settle around them like a blanket.

"Do you realise what you've done?"

It was Fiyero's turn to blink in surprise.

"I made the right choice."

Her head tilted again. "Did you?"

"Yes," Fiyero replied firmly, without a moment of hesitation.

Elphaba leaned slightly forward this time, still watching him. "What exactly do you think is going to happen now?" she asked him.

Fiyero blinked again. "We be together?"

"Which looks like what exactly?"

Fiyero paused. In the past two years, he dreamed of finding Elphaba a thousand times. He'd wondered about what would have happened if she'd never gone to the Emerald City that fateful day; if he'd ended things with Glinda and managed to find a way to ask Elphaba out. If he'd given in to the impulse to kiss her that day in the clearing with the Lion Cub.

What that future looked like- in a world where Elphaba hadn't become the Wicked Witch of the West, that future could never be now. He'd never be able have Elphaba rule beside him as queen. He knew that.

But a future with Elphaba, a reality that was finally within reach, he wasn't sure what that did look like. All he saw with Elphaba.

"What do you want it to look like?" he asked her, his heart quickening.

Elphaba drew back, her eyes widening slightly. Fiyero leaned forward even as she moved, his eyes locked on hers, eyeing her like one eyed a skittish horse that may bolt.

"Elphaba, all I care about is being with you. For two years, we- I didn't know where you were, or if you were ok," he said, his voice cracking slightly. "And now, we're here. What else matters?"

Elphaba shook her head slightly, almost in disbelief. She pushed herself up to her feet, graceful even with the long skirt of her dress- that dress.

Fiyero's eyes followed her movements dazedly, watching the way the dress flowed around her legs as she paced.

"You really didn't think this through."

Fiyero blinked rapidly as her voice cut into his thoughts, shaking his own head in turn to clear his mind as he looked up at her, taking in her clenched jaw and thin lips.

"I thought about being with you," he said, getting to his own feet. "What more is there to think about than that?"

She whirled around to face him. "Because this isn't a Lartius Flute novel!" she exclaimed. "It's not some coming of age story! Being together doesn't magically solve any problems!"

Fiyero paused. "Lartius Flute isn't really popular anymore," he said hesitantly, knowing even as the words fell from his mouth that it probably wasn't the most helpful thing to say.

Elphaba glared at him. "Fiyero, I am a fugitive. I can't exactly stroll into a bookstore and peruse the best-sellers list!"

Fiyero exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair. "Elphaba, I don't get your point here," he protested.

There was another look Fiyero had been very acquainted with in his former life- the look Elphaba had given him all too frequently that said, "You're such an idiot." To see it on her face again now directed at him, made Fiyero's chest ache slightly with nostalgia.

"Fiyero."

Her voice was softer now. And Fiyero didn't recognise the look on her face this time.

"You just gave up everything," she said softly. "Your life, your freedom… Glinda."

Fiyero frowned slightly. "I know."

Elphaba shook her head, moving closer to him. "No," she said. "You gave up everything."

Fiyero moved forward too, clasping her hands in his and drawing them to his chest.

"To be with you."

Elphaba's eyes were still wide, but up close, Fiyero could recognise the look- fear.

"There's no safe here. There's no… happy ever after," she said slowly, like she was explaining something complicated to a small child.

"This- this life? There's no end to this. Not until we're caught and locked in Southstairs- if we're lucky. For the rest of your life, you are never going to be safe again."

A shadow fell across her face. Fiyero had always thought that Elphaba looked older than her age. But now, he really saw how the past two years haunted her. Had aged her.

Fiyero wanted to say that he could relate. But he knew that the past two years for him were nothing compared to what Elphaba had been through. Had lived through.

"So we leave Oz!" Fiyero blurted out. "Where do you want to go? Quox? Fliaan? Ev?"

"What about the Animals? The Wizard? Glinda?"

"What about them?" Fiyero demanded. "Glinda… she's made her choice. And I've made mine," he said stubbornly. "The Animals… Elphaba, I know what you've been doing for them. I know you want to help them. But isn't it time to help yourself?"

Elphaba blinked in surprise. But then the moment passed, and her gaze turned almost pitying. "And when someone from Oz decides to take a vacation? Visit family or friends? Then what? I don't exactly blend in," she pointed out.

Fiyero lowered their joined hands, but didn't let go. "You think there's no where we'd be safe? Ever?" he asked doubtfully.

He didn't think as many Ozians travelled out of Oz as Elphaba seemed to think they did.

A small smile quirked at her lips, as though she knew what he was thinking.

"I think I'm a commotion," she said softly. "Always have been. Always will be."

The long-forgotten words pulled a smile from Fiyero too, and without thinking, he raised his hands to cup her face and kissed her.

Elphaba inhaled sharply against his lips, and then after a moment, her hands slipped around his ribs to splay hesitantly against his spine.

Fiyero had dreamed about kissing Elphaba for far longer than he was willing to admit, even to himself. The reality was more hesitant, more careful and more wonderful than any dream.

And then she was gone, stepping back as far she could with his hands still reaching desperately for her. Eyes still wide, but darker now. Lips slightly swollen and her emerald cheeks flushed ever so slightly.

"You- you deserve-"

Fiyero shook his head to cut her off, even as something in him jolted at the hoarse note in her voice.

"Elphaba. You deserve to be safe. To be happy. To- to be loved."

The words hung in the clearing between them as they held one another's gaze.

Deja vu.

But this time, Fiyero wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

He slowly drew Elphaba towards him once more, giving her plenty of time to stop him.

She didn't.

"I love you," he breathed as his lips brushed over hers, wishing his voice wasn't trembling. "I love you. And I know- I know, it sounds crazy… but I swear I've loved you since that day with the Cub. I just didn't realise how much until it was too late."

Elphaba pressed her lips to his more confidently than before, and when she pulled back once more, Fiyero thought he caught tears in her eyes, illuminated in the glow of the fire.

"It's not too late to go back," she whispered. "To say that I bewitched you or something. They'd believe you. Glinda would-"

Fiyero smiled wryly, brushing a thumb over her jawline tenderly. "You did bewitch me," he murmured. "Body and soul."

Elphaba's cheeks flushed darker as her eyes lowered.

"It is too late to go back," Fiyero continued. "Because I can't- I can't leave you now. I can't do it again," he said, almost desperately.

He couldn't be apart from Elphaba now, not know where she was or if she was safe. He wouldn't survive it.

Elphaba's eyes fell shut, lashes brushing her cheek. She moved closer towards him slowly, leaning her head down until her forehead rested against his collarbone, her hand gently wrapping around his wrist as he continued to cup her face in a hand.

"There's never going to be any peace for us," she said quietly. "You have to understand that, Yero."

She'd never called him Yero before. It thrillified Fiyero from head to toe to hear it from her lips.

"But there'll be an us," he replied.

The sweetest thought.

Elphaba lifted her head to meet his gaze again, leaning up to kiss him softly.

"Always moving, always looking over your shoulder… it's not a life."

"We can make it a life," Fiyero promised her. "We can just go. Leave Oz- go to the tiniest, furthest corner of Fliaan and just… be. Together."

Suddenly, he could see it. Images of a life he'd known was expected of him, but he'd never really wanted until now. Marriage. A family. A home. And without the shackles of ruling a kingdom along with all of it.

It was all there, in his mind's eye. Vivid in bursts of colour, the way nothing had been in two years- if ever. In flashes of green, he saw it all. And he wanted it, for the first time in his life.

Elphaba studied him again, that look like she saw right through him, like she saw what he was seeing. Fiyero held his breath, waiting for her to shy away from the dreamscapes his imagination was painting, every pounding thud of his heartbeat adding another frame of this life- another colour, another burst of light.

She did pull away, move back. But she didn't look afraid. She just looked sad.

"Elphaba?" Fiyero prompted softly.

She moved back before the fire, settling herself on the ground once more. Fiyero followed, sitting beside her rather than opposite her. He yearned to reach for her hand, to entwine their fingers. But he just sat there. And waited.

"It sounds nice," she eventually whispered.

Fiyero faltered. "What does?" he asked carefully.

Elphaba wasn't looking at him, but staring into the depths of the fire. "Being," she said, her voice barely audible.

She drew her knees to her chest and curled in on herself, resting her head against her knees. As her tangled hair fell around her face like a curtain, Fiyero couldn't see her at all.

"He asked if I was tired," Elphaba's voice floated out from beyond her hair, slightly muffled.

Fiyero frowned. "He?"

"The Wizard," she clarified. "Tired of running… tired of fighting."

Fiyero didn't know what to say to that.

"And he was right," Elphaba continued before he could work out what to say. "I am tired. I'm so tired."

Her voice cracked slightly and Fiyero gave in to the urge to touch her, wrapping her in his arms tightly.

"I'm proud of you, you know," he whispered. "What you've been doing. You've been so strong, and-"

He jolted as Elphaba flinched away from him, her lips pressed into a thin line so tightly her lips were almost white- even with the green.

"Elphaba?" Fiyero asked confusedly, hesitantly reaching out a hand towards her.

Elphaba shook her head, shrinking away from his grasp.

"That's what he told me," she said, avoiding his gaze. "How strong I've been through all of this. Through everything he has done to me."

Fiyero flinched too, at the venom in her tone. He knew exactly how caustic Elphaba's tongue could be- he'd been at the receiving end of one of her barbs more than once during the short few months they'd been together at Shiz- usually when he was annoying her while waiting for Glinda. But he wasn't used to the pain and hurt that coloured her tone.

Maybe it had never been there before. Maybe he'd never heard it or ignored it. But he couldn't ignore it now.

Elphaba shook her head again, but didn't shy away or stop Fiyero as he reached for her once more.

"I'm tired of running," she said heavily, her head slowly resting against his shoulder. "Tired of fighting."

A boulder lodged itself in Fiyero's throat as he waited for the inevitable "but" that would follow; sure she was about to crush the heart that seemed to have just only remembered what it was to truly beat again when he'd walked into the throne room and seen her there.

He closed his eyes. "But?" he prodded.

The pause that followed felt like it stretched for eons before she spoke. "But… I'd fight for you," she whispered. "For- for us," she said the word slowly, as though testing it out on her tongue and Fiyero couldn't help but smile as she tilted her head up to look at him.

"If it was at all possible to have a quiet life, I'd want it with you," she said, her cheeks flushing slightly.

Fiyero dipped his head to kiss her once more, cupping her face in his hands again.

"We could do it," he wheedled her. "We could go. Make a home, have a family."

Elphaba's eyes flickered at that with something akin to apprehension, and Fiyero couldn't blame her, hardly believing that the words were coming from his own mouth. But it just felt… true.

Elphaba straightened up slowly, taking his hands in hers and resting them on her thighs, looking at the green and dark entwined.

"I need to know- need you to know- that you're going into this with your eyes open," she warned him. "I don't want you to resent me in a week from now, or a month, or a year."

Fiyero squeezed her hands lightly, making her eyes flicker to his for a moment.

"I could never," he swore, but he could tell Elphaba wasn't convinced in the least.

"I don't know… if I know… how to be around anyone anymore," she said carefully. "It's just been me for so long, and even before that… I was never really good at it."

Her eyes lifted to his then. "I'm probably never going to feel safe," she confessed. "Even leaving Oz…" she winced faintly at the thought.

"We can do it, Fae," Fiyero promised, drawing her closer. "If you want it, I'll make it happen. No matter what."

"Everything's so different now. You. Me. I'm not the easiest person to live with."

"And I can't cook and leave the toilet seat up!" Fiyero exclaimed. "You can't scare me away, Elphaba Thropp," he said sternly, holding her gaze fiercely. "My eyes are wide open. I've made my choice. It's enough- you are enough. To have us is enough for me. What about you?"

Elphaba studied him again for a long moment.

"There's a lot of Animals who fled Oz across the Quoxian border," she ventured.

Fiyero's lips curved into a smile. "I know."

Technically, it had been his job to stop that. But it seemed he wasn't very good at his job.

"Quox?" he asked, latching onto her unspoken words.

Elphaba leaned over and kissed him softly, almost shyly, her lips lingering over his as she pulled back just a breath.

"I- I think I could fall endlessly in love with you, Fiyero Tiggular," she whispered so softly he barely heard her.

And because he knew Elphaba, who she had been at least, and knew from Glinda and Nessa where she had come from and what her life had been before they'd ever crossed paths, Fiyero knew how monumental those words were for her to say aloud.

"I want to give you my best," she whispered. "Is that enough?"

Fiyero smiled softly, kissing her more deeply. "It is for me, for now," he murmured. "I know everything is different. I do. But I want it all- rain or shine. I want to spend the rest of our lives getting to know every difference. Is that enough for you?"

Elphaba looked to him and smiled. Like lightning, and Fiyero's breath caught before she pulled him closer again and kissed him. Fiyero gripped her tightly and lost himself in every nuance of the commotion that was Elphaba Thropp.

But that's the thing about lightning- the thunder always followed, no matter how quiet a rumble. A storm was coming.

The End

AN. It's my birthday! So, you get this. If you feel like sharing your favourite line from the story with me, that's the only gift I need!

(And I'm literally making a scrapbook of reviews from every fic, so I feel like I can say this lol).

I hope you all picked up on the Pride and Prejudice movie quote! Also, shout out to those who let me know how much they enjoyed the last Family Ties oneshot and Fiyero's history essay- it was something a little different, so I'm glad you enjoyed it!