Content Advisory: Sexual Content, Violence (Mention), Weapon Use (Mention). High T rating, proceed with thoughtfulness.

✉ Chapter Twenty-Six: Caving In ✉

"I don't like flying."

Elphaba had landed them on a cliff overhang beside a great waterfall. Upon grounding, Fiyero hopped off the broom and stretched his unsteady limbs, thankful to be on solid ground again.

"Better get used to it," Elphaba shrugged.

"Where are we?" Fiyero asked, raising his voice to call over the rush of the waterfall.

"Home," Elphaba called back. "For tonight, anyway."

Fiyero watched as she approached the falls and held her hands up towards it. She rolled up her sleeve and slipped her arm into the rush and Fiyero's jaw dropped as she parted the water like a curtain.

"Well don't just stand there," she nodded her head towards the gap. "Get in."

Fiyero ducked his head as he slipped through the opening to step into the small mouth of a concealed cave. There were a few objects lying about, most notably several strategically placed lanterns. Elphaba stepped through the parted falls and dropped her hand to allow it to flow naturally again.

"Help me light them."

As Fiyero did as he was told, spotting a map of Oz and a thick cloak among the sparse belongings.

"Do you live here?"

"Sometimes. I have a few spots around Oz. This one is great because the falls make it so I can stay close to the mouth so there's some natural light. I don't relish the dark of caves," she repressed a shudder as she lit her last lantern. "I haven't been here for some time though. Actually had a good thing going for a while, established a hideaway for rebel Animals in this old abandoned inn. I stayed there for the better part of this year."

"Why didn't you take us there?"

"The guards torched it," she sighed. "It's probably nothing more than ash by now."

Elphaba casually removed her hat and flung it aside but stilled upon taking in Fiyero's expression. The shadows flickering across his features made him appear older, or perhaps it was the grim look upon his face. She took a deep breath and offered him both of her hands.

"Come, Yero," she beckoned. When he accepted her hands she gave them a patient squeeze. "It's a lot to take in. It's okay if you're overwhelmed."

"I'm not overwhelmed. It's just…I lost so much sleep wondering where you were. Wondering if you had enough food, enough water…enough light. I wondered if you had a safe place to rest. A place to hang your hat, so to speak," he smiled sadly and brushed the tip of her nose with his forefinger.

"I've managed," Elphaba assured him.

"You shouldn't have had to."

"I know."

They leaned forward with world-weary sighs until their foreheads hesitantly rested against one another. Elphaba's hands moved to Fiyero's chest, her fingers curiously grazing the visible hair around the edge of his undershirt. Fiyero tenderly placed his hands on her hips.

"Can you ever forgive me?" Elphaba whispered.

"For what?"

"For leaving," she fretted. "For walking out on the life we could have known with each other."

"You didn't have a choice."

"The Wizard gave me a choice," Elphaba corrected.

"Don't you dare apologize for doing the bravest thing anyone has ever done."

"You're brave too," Elphaba breathed. "Or brainless."

"No, my love. Following you is the wisest thing I've ever done."

"Yero…" Elphaba said yearningly.

"Fae."

They reached for each other in desperation and their lips met for an ardent, long overdue kiss. Elphaba hooked her arms around Fiyero's neck and he wrapped his fully around her waist to plaster her as close to him as possible. They stayed locked in their embrace for as long as they could feasibly manage, as if fearing the other would vanish into smoke the moment their kiss was broken. Their breath mingled as their lips cautiously parted, and upon realizing they were both still there, they wordlessly marveled in awe at how familiar and unfamiliar it felt to be with one another again.

"I never thought I'd see you again," Fiyero uttered weakly, his nose brushing against hers.

"Neither did I."

They kissed again, fiercer this time. Urgent. Fiyero placed his hand on the back of Elphaba's head before stepping forward to push her back flush against the cave wall. He pressed his hips into hers and they both groaned longingly as she bit his lower lip. Fiyero leaned back and pulled Elphaba's long hair to one side before burying his face in the crook her shoulder to kiss her neck. Elphaba, though dizzied by the overwhelming amount of touch, felt words stir to her lips.

"Yero. Fiyero…I…" Elphaba murmured. Her eyes closed and her momentum trailed off, pleasantly preoccupied by his affections. "I…"

Elphaba grieved the years they'd been cheated out of. She had put too much faith in time before and they'd both paid dearly for it. She wished she could blame fate for her inability to tell Fiyero the words that had been on her mind, on her heart, all those years ago, but in truth she had simply lacked the courage. With the past gone and the future not guaranteed, Elphaba wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. She wouldn't waste another clock-tick allowing fear to silence her. They simply couldn't afford it.

Elphaba pushed Fiyero away and pressed her hands against his shoulders to hold his distance.

"Wha—what'd I do?" Fiyero panted.

"Nothing. Believe me, I want you to continue…it's only that I need to tell you something…" she breathed, "…and I can't have you distracting me."

"What is it?"

She shifted her eyes down and took a breath to regain her focus. Her chest tightened and blood raced as jitters seized her, but when she lifted her head to meet Fiyero's blue eyes the edges of the world softened.

For him, she grasped in a gentle epiphany. Not for me. Do it for him.

"I withheld it from you for so long…and I don't know why," Elphaba murmured thoughtfully, moving to caress his face between her green hands. "Even now I feel frightened to say it out loud."

"Say what?"

"To say that…I love you," Elphaba said. "I love you."

The sentiment passed Elphaba lips in hushed awe, and the moment it did, repetition of the truth tumbled wildly out of her. It was free. She was free. She was free to say it as much as she could, and she would.

"Oh, Yero, I love you. I have loved you all this time," Elphaba professed. Her hands stroked down the sides of his face again and again in unfettered adoration as she exposed her soul to him. "I've loved you to the point of incurable insomnia. It has ached me, ailed me, inspired me, but has never abandoned me. I cannot begin to articulate the depth—but at least now I can try. At least now I can say it. Sweet Oz, I love you, Fiyero, and I was so scared that I'd never get to tell you that. I love you. I love you. I love—"

Fiyero cut her off with a series of chaste, grateful kisses.

"I needed you to know," Elphaba whimpered between the kisses.

"I know," he assured her. "I know. Oh, Fae, I've known all along."

They lowered themselves to their knees on the cave floor and Elphaba's shaking hands gripped Fiyero's shoulders. The time for words had ended, and there was only one thing left begging to be said.

"Put your hands on me, Yero," Elphaba pleaded.

Fiyero, who had waited years to hear those words again, didn't hesitate. His hands, acting on beautiful muscle memory, indulgently roamed Elphaba's silhouette to caress every curve and valley of her frame. His fingers drifted up her spine, flicking the small buttons at the back of her dress as he kissed her thoroughly, exploringly. It had been so long since Elphaba had felt the warmth of another person's willing touch that she felt as if she was starting from scratch. However, this sensitivity only increased her desire. Elphaba was starved for Fiyero's hands, and she reciprocated his passion with an intensity that had been lying in wait for years.

"Elphaba…" Fiyero murmured against her lips.

Elphaba broke their kiss for a fleeting moment, her brow furrowed in curiosity as if lost in thought.

"What is it?" Fiyero panted.

"Say it again. Say my name," Elphaba instructed in a pressing whisper. She twisted her fingers in his hair to anchor herself. "Oz, it's been ages since I've heard my name."

"Elphaba…" Fiyero obliged in a gravelly voice. He kissed her neck. "Elphaba." He kissed her cheek. "My darling Elphaba." He kissed her waiting lips.

He repeated her name like a prayer, like a vow. With each utterance, Elphaba's humanity strengthened just enough for The Witch to be temporarily discarded along with their clothes across the cold cave floor. Just for that moment, she was Elphaba again, just Elphaba. His Elphaba.

Fiyero gingerly laid Elphaba upon the cool ground and she gasped as his hand drifted featherlight over her abdomen.

"Are you hurt?" Fiyero asked in concern.

"No," Elphaba shook her head with a faint, ironic laugh. "That tickled."

The waterfall graciously drowned out the rest of the world as Elphaba and Fiyero took precious time to relearn one another. The flickering glow cast upon them from the lanterns was reminiscent of their first night together, but the comparisons stopped there. They'd once had comfort, safety, and all the time in the world. They had none of those things now…but they had each other.

Night fell and Elphaba rested on Fiyero's chest, clinging a bit closer now that the natural light beyond the falls had given out. Fiyero brushed his fingertips across Elphaba's well defined spine. The toll the years had taken on her were not invisible. She was thin, verging on emaciated, and sported bruises and scrapes from her troubles. Fiyero examined and pressed a kiss to a long scar on her shoulder.

"Dagger swipe," Elphaba explained. "Some wannabe witch hunter in Gillikin."

"Sweet Oz."

"He was just a kid. Stunning spell set him right."

Fiyero was quiet and Elphaba tugged the cloak they were using for cover further up her body.

"I should have warned you," Elphaba apologized. "I know that I don't look like I used to."

"You're beautiful, Fae," Fiyero said earnestly. "I just wish I could've protected you—"

Elphaba opened her mouth.

"—and I know that you didn't need protection," he said quickly. "I just…wish I'd been with you."

"You were with me." He gave her a funny look and Elphaba reached over towards her nearby bag to procure his letter. "In spirit, at least. In words. Mind the rip…"

She handed the partially torn letter to him and Fiyero opened it with a surprised chuckle. "I remember this."

"I read it every night. Dear Fae," Elphaba recited, resting her cheek on his shoulder. "I know that you're scared but you aren't alone in this. I'll wait for you. When you're ready, come find me. Love, Yero."

"I did wait," Fiyero commented with a sad smile. "I waited for you."

"I know you did."

She took the letter back and traced her forefinger over the last line. Come find me. She hadn't held up her end of the bargain, had she?

"You need to know how badly I wanted to come for you, Yero," Elphaba said, her voice teeming with regret. "There were days where I'd be halfway to you before willing myself to turn around. I thought that if I could just see you…just once. I came close to breaking into Kiamo Ko, spying on your graduation, Oz…I even wrote a letter to put in our tree but I couldn't bring myself to leave it."

"…what did it say?"

Elphaba lovingly caressed the side of his face with her hand. "The same thing all the others said."

"Why didn't you? Come look for me?" Fiyero asked.

"I wasn't sure you wanted me to…I was afraid you wouldn't want me to."

"You can't be serious," Fiyero said tensely. "After everything we went through together? After everything—"

"I know, Yero. I know, but please try to understand. Spending that much time alone? The mind plays tricks. It makes you doubt what you remember, it makes you doubt what you know."

"Well, I did want you to. I wanted you to find me!" Fiyero insisted.

"I know, my love, but it's more than that. I'm not strong enough. I never have been. I am not strong enough to resist you…case and point," Elphaba gestured ironically to their naked forms. "I knew that if I saw you again I wouldn't be able to keep my distance. I have felt the force of your pull every moment of our time apart, Yero. After all this time, after everything I have been through, yours is the only gravity I've never been able to overcome."

"And now?"

Elphaba sighed in resignation. "I guess I finally caved."

They fell into a silence, tucked away in their hidden world as they listened to the cave drips and the splash of the falls. Elphaba shivered unconsciously and Fiyero rubbed his hand up and down over her arm to warm her.

"I know it's not the most comfortable dwelling," Elphaba acknowledged. "Sleeping in a cave is hardly ideal."

"No," Fiyero agreed. "But sleeping beside you is heaven."

Elphaba tilted her chin up to look at him and he brushed a thumb over her cheek which made her smile.

"So you prefer this to your palace bed?"

"Any day."

"Was your palace bed nice?"

"Oh, yeah. Silk sheets, canopy, like twenty pillows and—"

"Glinda?" Elphaba asked before she could hold her tongue.

"What? No, we slept apart," Fiyero frowned. "What did you think?"

"I don't know. It just…it's okay, you know? If anything happened with Glinda…with anybody."

"What are you saying? I've been completely faithful to you, Elphaba," Fiyero sized her up suspiciously. "And you?"

"Me?" Elphaba scoffed. "What about me?"

"Well, you brought it up! Is there someone I should know about?"

"Obviously not! What an absurd thought. Being The Witch didn't exactly afford me a lot of dating opportunities."

"And if it did?"

"Sweet Oz, Fiyero! There was nobody, nor did I want there to be! Now put it to rest."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Elphaba and Fiyero crossed their arms and turned on their backs to stare up at the cave ceiling in silence.

"All I was saying was—" Elphaba spoke up. Fiyero groaned. So much for putting it to rest. Elphaba turned on her side towards him and continued in a softer tone. "I just meant that five years is a long time and—well…you would have been forgiven."

"For what?"

"For moving on," Elphaba said. "For…living. I wanted that for you."

"I didn't want to move on. What I was doing wasn't living. My whole life was a lie and… I was so sick of lying."

"I know, but—"

"No, no buts!" Fiyero turned on his own side towards her. "Sweet Oz, you enrage me. I'd forgotten how much you enraged me. There is only you for me, Elphaba. I accepted that a long time ago. Why can't you?"

Elphaba said nothing. She slowly sat up, tugging the cloak up to her chest as she stared forward with a blank expression.

"Elphaba?" Fiyero sat up in concern. "Oz, Fae. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you—"

"I used to envy my namesake," Elphaba said with a faraway stare towards the falls. "Saint Aelphaba spent years and years behind that waterfall all alone. I thought it sounded nice. But…"

"Yes?" Fiyero prompted, stroking her arm with his finger.

"I don't want to be alone. When I first started writing to you I thought that I was lonely, but no…" Elphaba shook her head. "I didn't know what loneliness was. To have no person, no home, no name. To have everyone that ever meant anything to you scattered to the winds. To not be known, truly known, by anybody…that's loneliness, and I don't want to be alone anymore."

"You're not alone," Fiyero said, chilled by her haunted stare. He shifted and wrapped his arms around her from behind, leaning his head against hers as he pacifyingly rocked her side to side. "You're not alone. I'm here, Elphaba, and I love you."

"I love you too…but Yero…" Elphaba sighed, her hands clutching at his arms as he held her. "So much has changed."

"Nothing has changed."

"I've changed." Elphaba shrugged out of his arms and turned to face him with troubled eyes. "Fiyero, what if—"

Elphaba pinched her lips shut and clutched her heart. The haunting fear was too much to mention. Fiyero encouraged her to continue with a solemn nod.

"What if I'm not that girl anymore?" Elphaba finally asked in a buckling whisper. "Oh, Fiyero. What if I'm not the one you've been waiting on?"

Fiyero was silent as her question sunk in. He reached forward to cup the sides of her face in his hands and took a good, long look at the green girl in front of him.

"I've already fallen in love with you twice, sweet Elphaba," he said softly. "Who's to say I couldn't do it again?"

They spent the night huddled together for heat and comfort, using Elphaba's cloak as a cover. Fiyero awoke the next morning with a muddled jolt, momentarily confused at his surroundings. When the events of his night before filtered back into his mind he sighed in relief. He sleepily pawed to the side for Elphaba, but couldn't feel her. He opened his eyes blearily and winced as he sat upright off the hard ground. When he rubbed his eyes and stared forward he suddenly second guessed himself, convinced that he was dreaming after all.

Elphaba stood ahead, bathing herself in the falls. Her drenched hair stuck to her back as water cascaded over her bare, green skin. Her eyes were closed as she delicately rubbed her stiff neck, the pale rays of dawn backlighting her in an ethereal way. She opened her eyes and spotted Fiyero awake, but instead of trying to conceal her body as she once would have, she offered him a wry, knowing smile and continued on.

An angel, Fiyero thought of her. A saint, such as her namesake. Witch.

As Fiyero watched the woman he loved he knew that no one label could ever truly encompass her.

Elphaba was…Elphaba. And she was all his.