The Emerald woman and the little star
Chapter two.
The screaming grew louder as Fiyero raced down the hall towards the master bathroom, he stopped outside the bathroom door, knocking softly before pushing the door open, the sight that met his eyes all but broke his heart into a thousand pieces. Elphaba was sat on top of the closed toilet trying to undress the screaming child and also comfort her at the same time.
"Fae is everything ok can I help" asked Fiyero from the door but she was so busy with Alice she didn't hear him.
"Sweetheart it's ok no one is going to hurt you but I need to bath you" said Elphaba she reached down on the wriggling child and tried to unzip her skirt but Alice opened her mouth and sunk her teeth into Elphaba's hand, Elphaba yelped and pulled her hand away noticing a small amount of blood on it.
Alice wriggled free of Elphaba's grip, she made a dart for the door but ran smack into Fiyero, looking up at him the little girl paled and started to panic.
"I'm sorry I'm sorry please don't hurt me I won't do it again I promise" said Alice through panicked breaths "I will have a bath I promise don't hurt me please"
Fiyero's heart broke for the little girl he knelt down taking care not to get too close to the frightened child and spoke to her in a firm but gentle voice.
"I'm not going to hurt you Alice I promise, no one here will hurt you no matter what you do, but I think you need to apologise to Elphaba please" said Fiyero
Alice turned to face Elphaba who had cleaned the blood off her hand and put a plaster on it.
"I'm sorry Elphie" said Alice she walked over to Elphaba and wrapped her arms around her legs.
"It's ok baby, now shall we give you that nice warm bath" said Elphaba kneeling in front of Alice, sighing the little girl nodded her head and began to undress herself. Once she got down to nothing but her knickers she turned to Fiyero.
"Am I allowed to take off my knickers or do you want to do it Fiyero" asked Alice.
Elphaba and Fiyero looked at each other shock on both their faces they froze for a few seconds then recovering first Elphaba looked at Alice.
"Sweetheart what made you ask that question" said Elphaba dreading the answer.
Alice looked at Elphaba confusion on her face " I thought Fiyero wanted to play the special love game with me like Daddy used too"
"What's the special love game sweetie, what did you do" asked Elphaba swallowing the bile that was rising in her throat.
"Daddy used to take my knickers off then he would touch my legs then he would make me touch his … his" said Alice through sobs.
Elphaba pulled the sobbing child into her arms trying not to cry herself, Fiyero looked at the two in front of him and sighed rising to his feet he left the bathroom he headed down the hall and into his and Elphaba's bedroom he sat down on his side of the bed, put his head in his hands and began to silently cry. He cried for the little girl and all she had be through and suffered he also cried for his Fae for what she had been through but most of all he cried because he felt he should be able to make it better for them both he was the crown prince of the Vinkus and he couldn't even protect his people.
Meanwhile back in the bathroom Elphaba had finally managed to get Alice bathed, now wrapped in a cream fluffy towel she lead the little girl back to her room where she found the two small cases still sitting on the bed where Fiyero had left them. Quickly opening up the first one Elphaba looked through and pulled out a clean pair of knickers, a pair of pink pyjamas and a pair of fluffy slipper socks.
"Sweetie can you get yourself dressed for me please" said Elphaba
Alice nodded and quickly began to dress herself, once she was dressed Elphaba grabbed a hair brush from the bag and quickly brushed and French platted the little girls wet hair.
"There you go sweetheart " said Elphaba "now can you be a big girl for me and stay here and play while I go and see if Fiyero is ok"
"Ok" said Alice she walked over to the toy box and pulled out a doll along with a tea set and began to play.
Elphaba smiled at the little girl before leaving the room, closing the door and walking down the hall to the room she shared with Fiyero. As she approached the door she could hear quite sobs coming from inside the room, taking a breath Elphaba opened the door. The sight that met her eyes made her heart ache Fiyero was sat on the bed sobbing, she walked over to the bed, sat beside him and pulled him into her arms.
"Oh Yero it's ok" said Elphaba rubbing Fiyero's back as he sobbed into her shoulder they stayed like that for a few minutes until Fiyero pulled away he grabbed a tissue from the box on the bedside table and wiped his eyes before turning to Elphaba.
"I'm so sorry Fae" said Fiyero.
"Hey you have nothing to be sorry for" said Elphaba.
"Yes I do Fae look at me I'm the crown prince of the Vinkus and I can't even protect my people, the children of my country from monsters like little Alice's so called father and your so called father" said Fiyero "that little girl is eight years old Fae she's had eight years of pain, neglect, abuse and fear"
"Fiyero stop it, it's not your fault" said Elphaba " you weren't the one who hurt Alice or me"
Fiyero pulled Elphaba into his arms and held her tight to his chest he kissed the top of her head a few times then tilted her head and pressed his lips to hers then he slowly began to deepen the kiss before gently pushing her down on the bed. Feeling his hand slide under her top Elphaba put her hand on Fiyero's shoulders and push him back off her.
"Yero we can't what about Alice" said Elphaba "she's playing three doors down what if she wonders in"
"I know I just want you so much Fae" said Fiyero leaning in to kiss her again.
"I know you do I want you too but we can't we have to think of Alice maybe we could put this on hold for later" she sat up and kissed the end of Fiyero's nose "I better go and check on the little one"
"You do that I just need a minute" said Fiyero shifting from side to side.
Elphaba walked out of their bedroom the heated kissing replying over and over in her head as she got to Alice's door she noticed it was slightly open fear began to creep up inside her. Opening the door completely Elphaba found the room empty the tea set and dolls lying on the floor.
Panic took over Elphaba, she began looking in the wardrobes and under the bed but didn't find the missing child she ran out of the room crashing headlong into Fiyero coming the other way.
"Fae what's wrong" asked Fiyero
"Alice .. is ..gone" said Elphaba in panicked breaths "we have to find her"
"Ok we need to do this sensibly" said Fiyero "You check the rest of the rooms up here and the library floor , I'll start down stairs and get Zeke and the gardeners to check the grounds"
They parted and headed in their separate directions, Fiyero headed down the steps taking them two at a time until he hit the ground floor almost crashing into Zeke at the bottom, he quickly told Zeke what had happened before dashing into the front room he looked behind the huge sofas, in the cupboards, under tables and even in chests and boxes but there was no sign of the little girl.
Sighing Fiyero headed through to the huge dining room he looked under the long dining table and in the crockery cupboards but again there was no sign of the child, heading out of the dining room he headed down the corridor towards the kitchen he had just put his hand on the kitchen door handle when he heard a rustling noise coming from the rear yard where the big waste bins where kept.
Slowly Fiyero turned and walked towards the yard doors he quietly opened the door which he found to be a jar and was shocked to see little Alice riffing through the bin bags he watched as the child found a half empty box of stale crackers and began to shove them hungrily into her mouth.
Back upstairs Elphaba finished checking the library floor and headed back down stairs to find Fiyero. Once she was on the ground floor Elphaba headed down the corridor looking for Fiyero she was about to call his name when she spotted him standing with his head around the rear yard door.
"Yero what are you doing we need to find Alice" said Elphaba as she walked up beside him.
Fiyero jumped at the sound of Elphaba's voice then turned to her, he put a finger to his lips in a motion to tell her to be quiet he then pointed out of the door. Elphaba looked where Fiyero was pointed and saw Alice who was still stuffing stale crackers into her mouth she looked back to Fiyero.
"Stay here and keep quiet" said Elphaba she slowly opened the door and slipped out, as she walked towards the little girl Elphaba accidentally knocked the lid off one of the smaller bins which hit the floor with a clang, Alice startled by the noise dropped the cracker box then she tried to run past Elphaba towards the door. Reacting fast Elphaba grabbed the little girls shoulders.
"LET GO OF ME" shouted Alice struggling against Elphaba's grip.
"Hey it's ok you're ok" said Elphaba trying to calm her down.
"Please don't hurt me I'm sorry I'm sorry I know I'm not supposed to eat after breakfast but I was so hungry" sobbed Alice.
"Oh baby I'm not going to hurt you sweetie why didn't you tell me you where hungry" said Elphaba lifting Alice into her arms the little girl immediately wrapped her legs around her waist and rested her head on Elphaba's shoulder.
"I didn't want to get in trouble for being greedy Daddy said I could only eat at breakfast time" sniffed Alice.
"Sweetheart what your daddy said was wrong little girls like you need to eat more than once a day" said Elphaba then noticing the little girl had gone quiet she looked at her Alice's face had turned almost as green as her own, knowing what was coming Elphaba quickly put the little girl down and within a few second Alice threw up all over Elphaba's shoes.
"I'm sorry" Alice gasped between vomiting.
"There's nothing to be sorry for baby nothing at all" said Elphaba rubbing the little girls back.
Once Alice had stopped being sick, Elphaba lifted her up again and carried her back into the castle where Fiyero was still stood by the door. When Alice saw Fiyero she buried her head into Elphaba's shoulder and started to shake.
"Please don't let him hurt me Elphie"
"Alice, Fiyero is not going to hurt you baby I promise I've known him a long time now and all he has ever done is love me even if I didn't want him too at first and he has never hurt anyone" said Elphaba "now shall we get you a drink of water and get the sick taste out of your mouth"
Alice nodded, her head still buried in Elphaba's shoulder. Elphaba carried the little girl into the kitchen Fiyero followed making sure not to get too close, after sitting Alice down on one of the kitchen stools Elphaba grabbed a small glass from the cupboard and filled it with water before handing it to the little girl who immediately started to gulp it down.
"Slowly sweetie or you will throw it straight up again" said Fiyero.
Alice stopped drinking and looked at Fiyero for a few seconds she then held out the almost empty glass to him with a shaky hand.
"I'm sorry Fiyero I didn't mean to drink it all" said Alice her voice wobbly.
"Sweetie you don't have to be sorry you can eat and drink as much as you need to here" said Fiyero "isn't that right Fae"
Elphaba smiled and nodded her head "sweetie you will never have to be hungry again you will always be fed here, so you don't have to go through the bins to find food ok"
Alice nodded and held her arms up to Elphaba who immediately wrapped the little girl up in her arms. The two remained like that for a few minutes before Alice pulled away she looked up and Elphaba.
"Elphie can I go and read my book now" said Alice.
"Of course you can sweetheart, can you find the way back to your room" said Elphaba
The little girl nodded and walked out of the kitchen, Elphaba and Fiyero watched as she disappeared up the stairs, once the little girl was out of sight Elphaba rested her head against Fiyero's chest and began to cry her shoulders shook with the silent sobs.
"Oh Fae what's brought this on" said Fiyero wrapping his arms around the sobbing green girl.
"That poor little girl Yero was so afraid to tell me she was hungry she thought it would be better to go through the bins" said Elphaba through sobs.
"Hey that's not your fault Fae the only one to blame is the monster who hurt that little girl" said Fiyero. They stood cuddling for a few minutes before Fiyero began to feel the ground beneath his feet start to shake and the kitchen utensils start to float. "Fae you need to calm down baby"
Elphaba pulled away from him fire in her eyes, she threw back her head a let out a loud cackle.
"Calm down, I will not calm down until I kill that monster who hurt that little girl" said Elphaba.
Fiyero gingerly stepped closer to Elphaba and began to rub small circles on her back then he started to whisper softly in her ear. After a few minutes Elphaba felt the anger start to leave her body she laid her head on Fiyero's shoulder and inhaled his scent.
Meanwhile upstairs Alice had got bored with her book and had decided to explore the castle she left her room and wondered down the hall to Elphaba and Fiyero's room, pushing open the door Alice walked into the room looking around she noticed a set of doors with odd cog shaped patterns on them, walked over and opened them up the little girls eyes widened when she saw what was inside.