Strength
A.N. Thanks for the reviews
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters
Elphaba was unsure of how to start her letter to the Wizard. It wasn't as if she had made a huge scene leaving the palace, but she didn't want to appear as if she was crawling back to him.
Dear Mr. Wonderful Wizard of OzI hope my hasty exit after our meeting was not taken to mean that I did not want to keep communications open between the two of us. The information you gave me that day required much thought on my part. As you can imagine, it was quite a lot to find out in such a short amount of time. However, I have accepted it now and find myself in need of your assistance.
As you well know, I was raised believing Frex, the governor of Munchkinland, was my father. He has now fallen ill, and my half-sister Nessarose has informed me that he does not have much time left. While this does cause me a great deal of distress, this is not why I'm writing to you. You see, after Frex's eventual death, I am in line to become the next governess of Munchkinland. I'm sure you would agree that a first-year collage student is in no way equipped to handle this type of job. There is no way around it, though. Munchkins, as I'm sure you know, value rituals and traditions very deeply. If there is any way at all that you can convince the Munchkins that I am not the right leader for them, please don't hesitate to do so.
Sincerely,
Elphaba Thropp
Elphaba threw her notebook down on the bed in disgust. She knew what she had written would not get her any assistance from the Wizard. First of all, most of it was a lie. She had not fully accepted the information, she would never consider Nessa to only be her half-sister, and Frex's illness was only contributing to her distress through the situation that his impending death would cause. She also knew that the Wizard would never publicly address all of the Munchkins at once. He had told her that he was too old to travel around Oz, and that he had never let anyone see him unless he was behind that giant head.
Glinda, who had begun to get ready for class, looked up at her friend. "Are you ok?" she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
Elphaba shook her head. "Glinda, there is no way this is ever going to work." She flung herself back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling.
As Glinda was debating what to do next, she heard a knock at the door. She opened it and saw Fiyero standing in the doorway.
"Hey, Glinda. I stopped by to see how Elphie is doing." He looked into the room and saw Elphaba's current position on the bed. "Um, what's she doing?"
"The same thing she's been doing since all of this started: re-evaluating her sense of self." Glinda replied.
"You go to class. I think I can help" said Fiyero. Glinda considered protesting, but simply nodded her head and left the room. Once she was a considerable distance down the hall, Fiyero entered and shut the door.
"Having fun?" he said, causing Elphaba to sit up. "I came by to bring you to class."
"Fiyero, I don't think…"
"Yes, Elphie. I know. And that is precisely the problem. The rest of your life may be falling apart, but there are two things that I can assure you I will personally make sure stay the same."
"And they would be?"
"First, I can promise you that I'm always going to be here and I'm always going to take care of you, whether you want me too or not. And second, I am going to make sure that you remain the smartest girl in Shiz. And I plan on fulfilling both of those promises right now. Now, let's get you dressed."
"Fiyero I told you the other day that I can dress myself."
"Yes, but then you spent ten minutes getting your old dress off and ended up on the floor, remember? We don't have time for that now." Fiyero said as he stood at Elphaba's closet.
"You really don't have to do this, Yero. I'm sure I could…"
"Elphie, I told you. I'm taking care of you whether you like it or not. Now stop trying to talk me out of it or I'm dressing you in something from Glinda's closet."
Elphaba gave up trying to convince Fiyero that she could dress herself. She knew that if she tried, she would end up on the floor again. But the idea of allowing him to dress her made her feel so…helpless.
Fiyero dressed her quickly, and then started rummaging around the room, looking for something.
"What are you looking for?" Elphaba asked.
"Your books and stuff. I know you haven't been to class in like 2 weeks, so I figured they might be buried somewhere." He came across a hairbrush, and threw it onto the bed. "Here, brush your hair while I look."
While Elphaba didn't appreciate Fiyero ordering her to brush her hair, she was happy to have at least one task that she could do on her own. Meanwhile, Fiyero continued to hunt for the missing books. He came up empty, finding only a notebook.
"Never mind, Yero. I can just look on with you or Glinda. Let's just go, we're late already."
"Yeah, you're right. The professor will be so happy to see you again that he probably won't even notice." Fiyero lifted Elphaba off of the bed, and carried her to class.
When Fiyero carried Elphaba into the lecture hall, Elphaba felt something that wasn't new, but that she hadn't felt in awhile. She felt like she wanted to disappear. She knew she would get stares when she entered. She had always gotten stares. But she hadn't expected the severity of them. Somehow, being carried into the room ten minutes late made them sting even more than usual.
Elphaba was relieved once she had settled into her seat, although doing so wasn't an easy task with the cast on her leg. She opened the notebook Fiyero had found and immersed herself completely in the class. For that short time, everything else went away. Everything was better.
As the class was drawing to a close, Madame Morrible entered the room. She approached Elphaba, knowing very well that Elphaba couldn't approach her.
"Miss Elphaba, I'm glad to see you getting back to your studies, my dear. I need to have a word with you. Stop by my office later on. We have some things to discuss."
A.N, OK, I'm sorry for the pointless Fiyeraba fluff chapter, but I've had a lot of things on my mind lately. School musical rehearsals have started and I'm rapidly approaching my drivers test. I promise more plot development in the next chapter. Please review!