Rifiuto: Non Miriena
A/N: Written: 2010. Rewritten: 2015. Found: 2018.- Licia
And just like that, she was gone.
So close; she'd been so close, and yet, you let her walk away. Again.
Somehow, someway, they'd made it from the front of the Admissions building to the cafeteria, and now sat across from each other, both picking at their food, nursing their coffee, unsure of how to broach the topic that had just blown into and out of their lives for the second time in four years. He couldn't get the sight of her out of his head; she'd appeared so grown up, so... adult, as though she were an instructor facing a couple unruly children.
And that's what he felt like, an unruly, stupid child, who hadn't known how to string a sentence together and ask her to stay. Instead, he'd let her walk away again, for good this time. You heard her, she's not coming back.
"The Grand Vizer. Elphie's the Wizard's Grand Vizer. Can you believe it?" Glinda whispered, and he shook his head, sipping his coffee.
"She was always going to do great things." He replied automatically, before pushing his mug aside. Silence settled over the table again, and after a moment, he folded his arms on the table. "How... could she not tell us this? I mean... how hard is it to pick up a pen and write out a quick letter? 'Dear Yero and Glinda, I have the most amazing news! The Wizard has asked me to become his Grand Vizer! Unfortunately, it means I will have to completely withdraw from Shiz, but you know what? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I've accepted it, even though I won't be returning to school. I'm sorry.' How hard is that?"
"Maybe she didn't know how to put it into words."
Fiyero sighed, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest. "It's Elphaba. She's always been good with words."
Glinda pushed her half-eaten bowl of soup aside with a sigh, and propped her chin in her hand. "I don't know then, Fiyero. Maybe she just... forgot? I don't know the inner workings of Elphie's mind, no matter how close we were. I wish I did, but I don't." Silence settled at the table once more, until finally, Fiyero stood, grabbing his bag and jacket. "Where are you going?"
He turned back to her. "Back to my dorm. I'm going to go lie down and... try to wrap my head around the fact that Elphaba just blew in and our of our lives for a second time without so much as a goodbye." And without another word, he turned and strode out of the cafeteria, heading back to Bristol Hall. The walk was leisurely, as much as it could be, what with his thoughts racing every which way.
How could she do that? Just come in for the briefest of moments before going out again, permanently? How could a year have possibly changed her so much? What happened that day? What happened between Elphaba and the Wizard that Glinda didn't see? What did he offer her to get her to take the position? Money? Power? A combination of both? Her own province? Her own country? What was so significant, it got Fae to change her mind and stay?
Once back behind the door of his dorm, he dropped his book bag by the door, toed off his shoes, and then flopped onto the top of the bed, rubbing a hand over his face. Her reason for staying, much like Elphaba herself, was as mysterious as the night sky scattered with stars. She hadn't given anything away, no tells, no little hesitations- other than her normal lip biting- that would indicate that anything could be inferred. In fact, if anything, she'd played it completely cool and collected, despite Glinda's tears and his silence.
With a sigh, he let his eyes close into a soft sleep-
"Something more... personal."
Her words echoed in his head as his eyes snapped open.
Something personal.
Personal.
That was his one clue. Whatever the Wizard had offered her, had promised to give her to make her stay, had been of a personal nature to her. It probably wasn't some fancy gift she would only use or wear once. It was something tailored more towards her specific interests, probably. Like Animal rights. Or maybe it even had something to do with the well-being of Munchkinland, or Nessa. Or maybe even Elphaba herself.
Climbing to his feet, he pulled a notebook from his bag and took a seat at his desk, quickly jotting down everything he could think of that would be considered personal to Elphaba, before finally deciding that he needed to speak to Glinda; that she might have some more insight into Elphaba, because she was Glinda's best friend, her former roommate.
Slipping back into his shoes, he grabbed the notebook and dashed out of the dorm, hurrying across the green towards Crage Hall. After bounding up three flights of stairs, he came to a halt in front of what had been Elphaba and Glinda's dorm and now was just simply Glinda's. Minutes passed, as he tersely knocked on it, waiting eagerly for the blonde to open up.
After a couple minutes, the door opened and Glinda poked her head out. "Fiyero? What are you-"
"I think I know why Elphaba didn't return last year." He cut her off, barging into the room.
"Come on in, no problem." She muttered under her breath, before finally shutting the door and making her way to her bed. Taking a seat, she watched as he stopped in his tracks, suddenly surprised that Elphaba's things were no longer on her side of the dorm. "Elphie had her things removed last year after I got back from the City, remember? I went to class one day and came back, and everything that was hers was gone. Boxed up and sent somewhere."
"Right." He hadn't been in the girls' dorm room since before they'd left for the City, and it was a shock to see the other side so... bare. "How do you cope with it? Why haven't you found a roommate yet?" She shrugged.
"I don't want any other roommate but Elphie. And... it was hard at first, but now... now I'm used to it, the silence, the quiet, the loneliness." She sighed. "Now, what were you saying about knowing why Elphie didn't come back last year?"