Strength
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.
Elphaba proceeded to walk out of the room, and out of the building, with an eerily calm expression. The last place she wanted to go was back to the hotel. She couldn't face Glinda and Fiyero yet. She walked the streets of Emerald City looking for a private nook or alley, showing no signs that anything was wrong. She found a small alley behind an abandoned building not far from her hotel, unusually quiet for 3:00 in the afternoon.
And she lost it.
She fell to the ground against a wall and pulled her knees up to her chest. She couldn't bring herself to cry, however much she wanted to. Her body simply wouldn't let her, as her skin had been burned so much in the past week by crying. Fiyero's tissue trick worked some, but it still left slight burns. Even without tears, Elphaba rocked herself back and forth on the ground and sobbed. She didn't care how loud she was, or who heard her. She only stopped when she sensed the presence of someone else in the alley.
She looked up, and saw a raggedy older man standing over her. His facial hair and clothing suggested that he wasn't the highest on the social ladder, as Glinda would say.
"Hey, you! Look, I found a human size lizard! Come on, lizard! You can be my friend." When the man spoke, his speech was slurred, suggesting to Elphaba that he was most likely drunk. She didn't think much of him calling her a lizard; after all, both drunk and sober people alike had been calling her "lizard girl" all of her life. Still, something about this man told Elphaba that this wasn't the safest place for her to be. She stood up and tried to get away, but the drunk man grabbed her before she could.
"Come on, lizard! Don't run away! I just wanna play with you!"
A million ways of escape ran through Elphaba's mind. If she focused her fear and turned it into anger, her powers would have taken over. But that would have also drawn attention to her, which was the last thing she wanted right now. Against her better judgment, she reverted to the first means of self-defense (and self-destruction) she had ever learned.
She bit him.
The man yanked his hand away from her mouth. Elphaba could see that her bite had done some damage. "Ow! Bad lizard! I don't want to be friends with you anymore." Elphaba's satisfaction at damaging the man's hand was short-lived, as the man then threw her into the wall and left her there.
Elphaba tried to get up, but couldn't. She cursed herself for being so skinny. Had she had more between her skin and her bones, her bones would have had some sort of a cushion when she hit the wall. Instead, Elphaba assumed that her entire right side was either broken or badly bruised.
Elphaba closed her eyes, and hoped for some miracle that would allow the past week and a half to be dream. No such luck occurred, however. She opened her mouth to call out for Fiyero and Glinda but she couldn't bring herself to speak loud enough for anyone else to hear. Not knowing what else to do, she closed her eyes, assuming that if she was meant to live past this day, someone would find her.
Eighteen hours later"Elphie? Come on, Elphie. Wake up."
Elphaba's eyes fluttered open at hearing this. She had been scared to do so upon first hearing the voices, because she had not been able to identify who was talking to her. Only two people in Oz called her "Elphie", though. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw those two people standing over her bed. Actually, only one of them was standing over her bed. Fiyero was asleep in a chair next to it. She had no idea where she was, but she didn't care. As long as Fiyero and Glinda were here, she was safe.
It was all Glinda could do not to throw herself on top of Elphaba when she saw that she was awake. "Oh, Elphie! Thank Oz you're awake! Don't you ever do that again, running off into some alley like that. We were both so worried."
"Really? Because that one", Elphaba said, pointing to Fiyero "doesn't look too worried to me."
"He passed out from exhaustion about an hour ago. We were both up all night trying to find you, and I don't think he had been sleeping well since we've been here anyway. I think something has been bothering him."
Elphaba glanced downward for a moment. She knew exactly what was bothering Fiyero. She decided to change the subject quickly. "So where am I?" By now she had gotten a decent look at her surroundings and realized that she wasn't in the hotel anymore.
"You're in the hospital, sweetie. You broke your right leg pretty badly, and fractured your right arm as well. You bruised a whole bunch of other places, too. What happened, Elphie?"
The memories of the previous afternoon came rushing back to Elphaba. She glanced downward again, unable to talk about what had happened just yet. Glinda put a hand on Elphaba's shoulder.
"It's alright, Elphie. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'm just glad you're safe. Hey, are you hungry?"
Even though she wasn't really that hungry, Elphaba nodded and sent Glinda down to the hospital cafeteria to get some food. Once she had left, Elphaba reached over and gently touched Fiyero's face.
Glinda had been correct; he wasn't sleeping very well. Elphaba's touch was enough to wake him up.
"Hey, Fabala. You're awake. How are you feeling?"
Elphaba glanced away at hearing the nickname first given to her by her…no, not her father. She once again considered arguing the use of the nickname, but decided against it. It was the only link to her childhood that she had left, other than Nessa, of course. And it actually sounded cute when Fiyero said it.
"I'm alright, I guess. Fiyero, I'm sorry about the other day. I…"
"No, you were right. I wasn't being very supportive. I'm sorry, Fabala."
Elphaba opened up her mouth to tell Fiyero the whole story, but was stopped when Glinda came in, carrying three cups of fruit. Elphaba wasn't sure she could tell both of them at once, so she made small talk with them as they ate. Her story could wait a little while longer.
A.N. OK, how is it? Please review!