A/N: Thanks Whogirl, for the great review! I really appreciate it! And yes, I know, this chapter really sucks. But I wanted a companion for Fiyero and Elphaba and had to introduce them someway. I really don't want to call this Wicked the Sequel, so if if any of you can think of any title, any title at all, please please PLEASE tell me. Thanks so much!
"You're going to take too long, it's not a good day to go. When would you be back?" Elphaba asked, her hands on her hips.
"By dusk," Fiyero answered, putting a hatchet into his belt, preparing to go hunting the afternoon after their escape from Oz. "Elphaba, you're not going to stop me from going."
"I'm not trying to stop you. I just want you to wait until tomorrow, when the rain will stop. I'll go with you." Fiyero stood up from the table, grabbing the spear that was leaning against the wall. "No, we need food now. And don't worry! I grew up hunting. I used to bring home all the meat we got growing up." Fiyero walked the few steps over to where Elphaba stood. He brushed his hand against her cheek, and she turned her head against it. He sighed and put his hand down. "I'm leaving now," he said, walking to the door. She looked up at him. "Be back soon," she said finally. He smiled briefly at her and walked into the light rain that was falling, closing the door behind him. Elphaba walked to the door and kicked it, angry Fiyero was going without her because of her water allergy. She huffed and then realized she had a little time to herself. She wandered into the uncomfortable living room-Fiyero's family had never lived there, after all-and laid down on the couch. In nearly five minutes, she had fallen asleep, thinking about what might have been if she had stayed in Oz.
She was awoken by someone banging open the door. Groggily, she woke up, knowing it couldn't have been more than an hour after she had fallen asleep. Fiyero came in, not entirely graceful while carrying something human-sized in his arms. "Hi, Elphaba, I need the couch," he said, huffing and puffing. She quickly got off and backed away, not wanting him to get her wet. With a grunt, he heaved the thing onto the couch and backed away. She peered at it. It was human, and what looked like someone from the Uplands. Where Glinda was from. It was a boy, probably not any older than sixteen. "Why did you bring him home?" Elphaba asked him, panicked. Nobody could know they were alive. Fiyero sighed. "I had to," he said. "I mistook him for some sort of animal, he was in the bushes, and I shot him in the arm with an arrow. Don't look at me like that, what could I have done?! I couldn't have just left him there to bleed to death!" Elphaba walked over to the boy and stared at where Fiyero had hit him. He had taken the arrow out and it was bleeding still, but not as much as it probably had at first. "The cut isn't that deep," Elphaba said unconvincingly. Still, she had to admit that she would have done the same thing. The boy was unconscious, probably more from fright than pain. He was thin, but looked fairly strong. He had brown hair that was a little shaggy. She twirled a lock of her hair around her finger. "You'll need to clean his cut," she said at last. Unseen behind her, Fiyero smiled. "All right," he said, heading in to get some water on a towel. "And get some material to wrap it, too," she called after him. She sat in a chair facing the couch while Fiyero cleaned his wound. As he was wrapping the material around his arm, the boy woke up. He opened his eyes, and seeing a scarecrow and a green person, jumped up, knocking Fiyero down. He put his fists in front of his face to the two of them. "You stay away from me!" he cried, bouncing on the balls of his heels. Elphaba stood up, staying where she was. Fiyero also got up, advancing towards the boy a little bit. The boy backed up, fists still up. "Okay, you don't understand, I brought you back here to help you."
"No! You're going to kill me! I've heard of you-" he said, twirling around to point at Elphaba, who stood silent, "you're the Wicked Witch of the West! Well, you can't kill me, my father's got the entire army out looking for me! You'll never get away with it if you keep me here!" Elphaba and Fiyero exchanged worried glances. "The entire army?" Fiyero asked, warily.
"Yes! And if you don't let me go, then they'll find you and really melt you this time, Witch! And I don't know who you are," he said, turning to Fiyero, "but if you're in cahoots with her, they'll get you too!" He backed up a few steps, looking behind him at the door. "So now, if you don't mind letting me go, I'll just be leaving." He turned around and almost got to the door. Fiyero came running behind him and jumped on his back, which made the boy fall down. The boy started to swing without any effect, and Elphaba ran to the door, guarding it. The boy, exhausted from his losing battle against something that could only be hurt by fire, gave up. Elphaba was angry that Fiyero had brought this kid home, and angry at herself that she let him stay. If this boy had the entire army out looking for him, surely they would find him eventually. And with finding him, they would find her and Fiyero, as he was with them. But then also, the boy was not to be trusted. He had seen her, he obviously didn't trust her, and if they let him go, he would tell everyone, for sure. "What's your name?" she asked him quietly, speaking to him for the first time. He eyed her. "Damaran," he said unfeelingly. "Who is your father, Damaran, and how is he so important that he has the entire army out looking for you?"
"My father is the Wizard himself. And he doesn't take kindly to you, believe me." Elphaba cackled. "Clearly you've been running around in the woods too long. The Wizard doesn't have, and never has had, a son." Damaran looked around, scraping up a story. "I meant my uncle is the Wizard. My father is his brother, so it would be very clear that he would be important." Fiyero had gotten off Damaran by now, but Damaran was still on the ground, looking up at the two. Elphaba and Fiyero exchanged amused glances. "So what's your real story?" Fiyero asked, smirking. Damaran began to take a breath to speak, then sighed, and began the truth. "I have no idea where my parents are, and I don't really care. My mother's an alcoholic that couldn't take care of me by herself, and I never knew my father. I left a couple months ago and traveled down here by train and by walking. I was planning on traveling all of Oz, and I don't think that you should interrupt my plans."
"How old are you, Damaran?"
"Fifteen and a half." He stood up, defiantly. "And you can't make me stay," he said, pleading with his eyes to them to make him stay. Elphaba nodded, putting the chain lock onto the door. "Yes, we can," Fiyero said apologetically. "And we're going to have to. No one can know that we're alive." Damaran looked a bit relieved, by now realizing they probably meant him no harm. "Well, I guess you're right," he said quickly. "So why aren't you dead, Witch? I heard you were melted." Elphaba shrugged, realizing this boy wasn't scared of her, for some reason. Something had happened between the time he had gotten there and then, and he seemed perfectly at ease, walking back to the couch and perching on an arm of it. His arm didn't seem to be bothering him, which Elphaba resented a little, realizing Fiyero could have left him there and he would have been fine. "I don't really think that it's any of your business why I'm not dead," she told him, assuming a haughty air. He leaned back. "Well, fine then. Don't let me take away any of your secrets." He looked at the scarecrow. "And who are you, anyway?"
"That's also none of your business," Fiyero said, moving to stand next to Elphaba at the door.
"So what have you got for food around here?"
"Nothing, thanks to you moving about in the bushes."
"Oh, I'm so sorry you hit me with your arrow," Damaran replied sarcastically. "I'm good at hunting. I can help get some food," he told them eagerly, changing his attitude in half a second. Elphaba was about to make a sarcastic remark to the young boy, but Fiyero threw him the spear that he had laid on the ground when he came in. Damaran caught it, and smiled. "Let's go, then!" Fiyero told him, happy to have a hunting partner. After all, the three of them were only ten years or so different in age. Damaran could become a friend, if he dropped his lies and false toughness. Elphaba's eyes widened. She pulled Fiyero off to the side. "Fiyero," she said, speaking in hushed tones, "we know nothing about this boy! He could pull you apart when you're not looking!" Fiyero looked at her seriously. "I think I'll take my chances. Clearly he has nowhere else to go to, and even if he did pull me apart, or run away, who's going to believe a homeless child who claims that two people so very clearly dead are still alive?" Elphaba rolled her eyes, once again angry they were going without her. "Fine! But don't come back with another runaway this time!" Fiyero grinned and hugged her. With childlike excitement, Fiyero and Damaran ran out the door to play hunt.
Glinda sat in her room, looking through the book Elphie had given her. Everything was written in a foreign tongue, and she couldn't read it. She squinted at the odd writing and threw the book down in frustration. "How am I supposed to learn! I don't even know what the markings mean!" She huffed, angry Elphie had left her with the funny book without even any tips on how to decode it. She sat back in her chair. Elphaba. It was funny, in a way…when she believed Elphie to be dead, she was sad she was gone, but now she was a little mad at her best friend. She hadn't even told her that she was still alive! She wouldn't have told anyone! But Biq, or Boq, or whatever it was had no proof that Elphie was still alive…he had a "feeling". Feelings were conniving and misleading. Feelings were not to be trusted. She put her head in her hands. She wasn't sure what to do…she knew she had to keep the tin man away from Elphie, but she wasn't sure how to do that. She had promised Elphie that she wouldn't try to clear her name…but that was when she was dead. If she attempted to clear her name now, maybe Elphie could come back to Oz, and the two of them could be friends, and rule Oz together! Glinda smiled, despite herself, getting excited. They both had their entire lives ahead of them, why should Elphie waste hers in hiding? Glinda nodded to herself. Perhaps…maybe she could figure out the Grimmerie, change Boq back into a man, and send him to find Elphie. But instead of killing her, he would bring her back to Oz, and then Glinda would set the record straight. They wouldn't turn on her, they couldn't turn on her. She didn't care anyways. If Elphie was back, she'd be happy again. Maybe she could find them each boyfriends…Glinda grinned. She'd been lonely since Fiyero had left her for Elphie, but she doubted that would happen again. She squealed. That was a great plan, she decided. She set back to studying the book.