Author's Note: First day of school…yayyyy. Anywho, we're supposed to get a hurricane on Friday and I have no idea how that's gonna affect my internet access/power. So if you don't hear from me for a while…that's why. Send the hurricane go away vibes, ok?


Chapter 31

The cell was small, cold, and dank, but blessedly free of any actual water. Elphaba had somehow managed to trod through the swamp with only minimal burns on her legs from the mud. The tiktok that had captured them was old and rusted and seemed strangely unresponsive. They had been careless and yet the tiktok had still taken a great amount of time to find them; moreover, the tiktok simply led them to a cell and locked them inside, failing to take away any of the supplies that they were carrying.

"That was odd," said Fiyero when the tiktok had gone.

Elphaba nodded, still staring down the dark, smelly corridor that the clockwork being had vanished into. They were underground, she thought with a shudder. Underground again. But not just under normal ground this time, no, they were under what was normally a lake. They were under thousands of pounds of sopping wet mud, and perhaps water. She lifted her skirts gingerly and attempted to assess the damage to her legs. The mud was caked on so think it was impossible to see through to her skin. She winced a little, then sat down against one wall, hoping Liir had not seen.

The boy was looking sullenly at his parents, as though he blamed his predicament entirely on them. Elphaba couldn't blame him. After all, he had been the one to sense their captor. She thought suddenly of her own parents, and then of Sarima and Nanny. A deep stab of guilt twisted her stomach.

"I'm sorry, Liir," said Elphaba before the she realized what she was doing. The moment the words were out of her mouth they felt wrong, like some kind of poison in the air. Liir looked up at her with eyes so full of hatred she had a nearly irresistible urge to claw them out. She was so tired of all the hatred.

"Sorry?" said Liir insolently. "For what? For getting us all trapped out here by showing up in my group and wanting to play along? Ha! That's the least of what you've done to me. And yet you say you're sorry. Of course you do. Because it doesn't matter. That's precisely why you'd say it. To win me back into trusting you so you can hurt me some more."

"Liir, I never meant to hurt you and I think you know that," said Elphaba vehemently, the words stinging like acid in her throat. "I tried to be the best mother to you that I could."

"You sure had a funny way of showing it," said Liir, his voice harsh with resentment. "If that was your best I'd hate to see your worst. Lurline, all those animals mattered more to you than any human being I've ever seen you interact with."

"That's not true!" shrieked Elphaba, surprised to feel tears burn her eyes. She took a deep breath and slumped against the wall.

Fiyero, who had been watching the exchange uneasily seemed suddenly determined to take a stand and end the conflict. He got up and stood between them, but then lost his conviction and remained silent.

"I suppose you have something to say to me too? My supposed father? The hero of war, gone missing for years, suddenly miraculously alive and with his lover. Let me guess, the two of you faked your own deaths so you could run off and be together and your families would never know. Too bad if innocent people were killed in the process; that's jus the price you both are willing to pay for true love."

"This has nothing to do with love!" said Fiyero suddenly. The moment he'd said it he seemed to regret it; he stood staring at the floor with rapt attention. The silence in the cell was deafening.

"That's not true," said Elphaba quietly. "It has everything to do with love and we all know that."

She pulled herself to her feet, leaning heavily on the wall, and made her way over to Liir. She stared the boy in the eye for a moment, then hooked one finger under his chin. He flinched visibly, but did not pull away. Elphaba took a deep breath, willing herself not to look away, searching for the strength to do what she knew was necessary. Apologies were nearly impossible for her, showing affection was sweet torture. This required both. And it was years overdue in coming.

"Liir. Listen. This isn't easy for me so I am only going to say this once. I know that I was wrong then. I was so preoccupied with trying to make things right with Sarima that I couldn't bring myself to face you. Of course I should have. I know that. I can't take back the past, but I can try to make it right now. Once this is over…" She sighed heavily. "I want to be the mother to you that I couldn't be before…That is…assuming we're all still alive." Elphaba stared at him a moment longer, then leaned down and kissed him lightly on the forehead. She laughed a little, to regain her defenses. "Go to sleep, boy. We're going to have to find some way out of this mess in the morning."

Liir muttered something under his breath, then pulled off his tunic and balled it up in a corner. He cast an insolent glance at Elphaba and Fiyero as though daring them to interfere, then curled up on the ground and was snoring in moments. Fiyero crossed over and sat against the wall, opposite his son.

"You're hurt," he said softly to Elphaba.

"What?" said Elphaba, startled and disoriented.

"Your legs."

"Oh. That. I'll live."

Fiyero smiled sadly at her.

"I have no doubt you will. Come here."

Fiyero grabbed Elphaba's hands and pulled her gently down into his lap, opening the large supply pack he'd brought on the journey. He took out a tube of burn salve and began applying it to her legs. Elphaba shivered at his touch. The salve was cold, clammy on his fingers. She had the sudden eerie feeling that she was being touched by a dead man.

"What's wrong?" asked Fiyero as though he could sense her discomfort.

Elphaba tried to shrug the feeling off.

"Nothing…it's just…nothing. That feels really odd."

Fiyero nodded quickly and wiped his hands off. He wrapped his arms around Elphaba's shoulders, pulling her back against him. She snuggled against his chest, the feeling banished, at least for the most part.

"The tiktoks," said Elphaba drowsily, "they seem…dulled somehow. Not alert. I think maybe…maybe the moisture isn't good for them."

Fiyero looked at her thoughtfully, then kissed her jaw.

"It's possible."

Elphaba leaned up and kissed him on the lips. Across the room Liir mumbled something in his sleep and turned over restlessly.

"What you did…" said Fiyero uncomfortably, "I know it couldn't have been easy. But it was the right thing to do."

Elphaba laughed wryly.

"Well that's a first then." Elphaba shook her head in bewilderment. "He's just so full of hatred. It kills me to think I made him that way."

Fiyero leaned down and kissed the back of her neck tenderly.

"He's scared, Elphie. It's perfectly natural to hate what we're afraid of."


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