AN. I think it was Ozian-in-Australia who asked to see Fiyero's perspective of the bonfire. So, here it is!

Cut from Chapter 11: The Bonfire

Even as Fiyero laughed and joked with his friends, debating which team would win the football game the next weekend, he wasn't completely there.

A surprisingly large portion of his attention was over with Elphaba, wondering what she was doing. They'd had fun today- however reluctantly on Elphaba's part, he was sure. And he was still mulling over what she'd revealed to him about her childhood.

He didn't know what Elphaba had been like as a child, but he could only imagine that she was the same impossibly brilliant, passionate person he'd come to know in the past month. He found it difficult to fathom how people could treat her so coldly because of the colour of her skin, let alone her own father. His parents had always been ridiculously supportive throughout everything he'd done in the past few years, he didn't think they would have treated him any different for having different coloured skin. So how could Elphaba's father?

More importantly, how had it taken nearly ten years before he'd realised how wrong that was?

After Elphaba had left him, he'd briefly wondered what would have happened to her if he hadn't made that realisation, but then pushed that thought away. He hadn't met Elphaba's father yet, he had no idea what the man was like. And Elphaba had been very firm on the fact that she loved her father dearly.

"Yero?"

Fiyero blinked and turned to his friend. "Sorry. Got distracted."

"You coming to the bonfire?"

Fiyero nodded and drained his drink. "Yeah, let's go."

The night was cold and the air hit Fiyero in the face as they left the pub and headed towards the column of smoke in the distance.

As they drew closer, they saw a sizeable crowd around the bonfire.

"Bigger turnout than last year," remarked someone. Fiyero wasn't sure who.

"Bigger bonfire?" someone else joked.

Fiyero frowned amidst the laughter that followed. For a festive bonfire, the crowd seemed oddly quiet and… not very festive.

"What's going on?" he asked no one in particular.

He left the others behind as they joined the crowd, peering over heads to stare in the direction everyone else seemed to be looking in.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

"The green girl wrote a book," sniggered a girl next to him.

Fiyero's stomach clenched. This couldn't be good.

"Excuse me," he said to the girl, pushing past her to get a better look.

He squeezed past a few more people until he had a clear line of sight. Elphaba was standing before the fire, facing off against Pinar, who looked entirely too smug for Fiyero's liking. Frowning, he noticed Nessarose and the Munchkin boy who worked with Elphaba on the Gazette (Boq? He was pretty sure his name was Boq) standing a little behind Elphaba.

The Munchkin was watching the scene with wide eyes, and Nessa looked about to cry. Fiyero's frown deepened and he began to push through the crowd towards her. When he reached them, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"What's happening?" he asked once more, ignoring as she jumped slightly at his touch.

"Pinar," Nessa replied hoarsely. "She's got Elphaba's book."

Pinar rolled her eyes as she spoke.

"She's bluffing!" someone behind Fiyero called out.

"Bluffing?" Fiyero started to ask and then it happened.

Pinar turned towards her friends and the notebook in her hand was tossed into the depths of the bonfire. Fiyero followed its fall like a football being kicked towards a goal to score the winning point, his chest tightening as he held his breath involuntarily. And then it disappeared from view, and like a football game, the world around him dissolved into a roar of sound.

Gasps filled the air in every direction, but Fiyero only heard the cry that came from Elphaba, a sound he'd never heard anyone make before. He couldn't even begin to describe it.

He was already moving forward when he saw her reach towards the flames. As her arm began to descend, he leapt forward and wrapped his arm around her, drawing her arm back from the flames and pinning it to her side. Her body was stiff and he looked around at her to see her face was ashen, her eyes staring unseeingly into the flames.

"Fae?" Fiyero asked lowly, his face by her ear.

She said nothing. She didn't move.

"Come on, Fae," he said gently, pulling her away from the flames.

She stumbled slightly and he quickly steadied her around the waist, causing her to sag against his hand somewhat.

"Fae, come on," he said again, gently pulling her back but she only sagged against him more, her knees buckling.

"Elphaba," he said, louder this time as he shook her shoulder a little. "Come on, let's go. Let's get you out of here."

He didn't think she heard him. Fiyero squeezed her shoulder, trying to catch her gaze.

Fiyero looked around. Nessa was crying, her face almost as pale as Elphaba's as the boy tried to comfort her.

"What's wrong with her?" Nessa demanded as she caught his gaze.

"She's probably in shock," Fiyero replied smoothly, trying to think of a plan.

They had to get Elphaba out of here. There were too many people. And there was nothing anyone could do. He turned to the Munchkin. "It's Boq, right?"

The boy blinked, looking startled at being addressed and nodded. Fiyero gestured for him to step forward.

"Grab her other side, will you."

Boq nodded again and hurried to Elphaba's other side. As they turned Elphaba away from the bonfire, Fiyero caught a glimpse of Pinar standing there surrounded by her posse, a glint of triumph in her eyes lit by the flames. Fiyero's eyes narrowed as fury rose in his gut, but this wasn't the time to give voice to the tirade screaming from a corner of his brain. He had to take care of Elphaba first.

Nessarose wheeled herself before them, her wheelchair parting the gathered crowd like a boulder parting water. The further they got from the fire, the more Fiyero became aware of Elphaba trembling beneath his hands. Her movements were stiff and slow, and his grip tightened on her as her breaths came more ragged, as though she couldn't catch her breath.

Boq clearly noticed it too, and his eyes darted up to Fiyero in panic.

Fiyero nodded to him reassuringly and stopped walking, drawing Elphaba to a halt alongside him.

"I've got her," he said to Boq, placing a hand behind her knees and scooping her into his arms.

Elphaba didn't protest or make any coherent sound beyond the uneven murmurs that might have been shivers or sobs. He wasn't sure.

"What do we do?" Nessa asked them, wiping her eyes with a shaking hand.

"If she's in shock, she needs to be warm," Fiyero said brusquely, starting to walk again.

Boq took up the handles of Nessa's chair, pushing her along as her gaze was fixed on her sister.

"I don't think her room is the best place to be right now," Nessa said. "What about the nurse?"

"Is the nurse even around at this time of night?" Boq asked.

Fiyero had no idea.

"We can take her to my suite," he offered. "I've got a fireplace."

Nessa nodded. "Ok."

Elphaba rested her head on Fiyero's shoulder.

"Is she asleep?" Fiyero asked.

Boq glanced over. "She might have fainted. I don't know."

Fiyero nodded, increasing his pace.

The walk back to campus and to Briscoe Hall had never seemed so long. Elphaba wasn't exactly heavy, but by the time they reached his building, Fiyero's arms were aching.

"I'll take Fae up and come back for you," Fiyero said to Nessa as they entered the foyer.

She nodded, her eyes still fixed on Elphaba's still form.

Boq followed Fiyero upstairs to open the door to his suite for him, hovering in the doorway as Fiyero gently lay Elphaba on the couch. Fiyero couldn't help himself from gently touching her pale cheek.

"Is she ok?" Boq asked.

Fiyero shook his head. "I don't know… but she's breathing."

There was no reason why she shouldn't be, but it still gave him comfort to watch her chest fall and rise.

"Let's get Nessa up here," he said and headed for the door.

Once Nessa and her chair had been brought upstairs, Fiyero hurried to grab a blanket to lay over Elphaba while Boq got the fire going. Nessa helped him remove her coat and outerwear before he made sure the blanket was securely around her.

"Maybe we should send for the nurse," Fiyero said worriedly. "Just to check, you know?"

"We could ask Xia to come?" Nessa suggested. "She's a trained nurse."

"I could go get her," Boq offered rather quickly.

Fiyero thought he seemed relieved to be able to offer to do something and he didn't blame him. Fiyero felt utterly useless.

He crouched down beside the couch as Nessa gave Boq directions to her room, watching Elphaba carefully. He heard the door shut quietly as Boq left and the faint sound of Nessa wheeling herself closer to the couch.

"I don't know whether or not to try and wake her up or just let her be," he admitted.

"Xia will know," Nessa said quietly.

Fiyero looked over his shoulder to her. "How are you?"

"I'm not used to seeing her this… still," Nessa admitted. "And the look on her face after…"

Fiyero glanced back to Elphaba. "Should I get her another blanket? A pillow?" he wondered aloud.

Nessa, for the first time since he'd seen her that night, smiled. "I think she's fine, Fiyero. Temperature wise," she amended, her face sobering.

Elphaba clearly wasn't fine, and certainly wasn't going to fine when she woke up.

Boq and Xia arrived within five minutes and Xia hurried over to the couch to check Elphaba. While she was examining her, Fiyero turned to Boq and Nessa.

"What actually happened? Before I got there, I mean."

"I don't know much," Nessa replied. "Elphaba came and found me, she said that she'd lost her notebook. We were on our way back to school to look for it when Boq found us."

They both looked to the Munchkin, who cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Pinar turned up at the bonfire with her friends and told everyone she had something of Elphaba's that everyone should see. I- I've seen Elphaba write in that notebook sometimes in the Gazette office, I thought it might be her diary or something."

"It was a novel."

The boys looked to Nessa, who gazed over at her sister.

"She's been writing a novel for the past few years. That's what the notebook was."

Although that's what people had been saying at the bonfire, Fiyero still felt faintly sick. That explained a few things.

"Have you read it?"

Nessa looked both surprised and confused at the question. "I- yes."

"Is it good?"

Nessa blinked and her eyes swam with tears. "It's really good," she nodded, her voice shaking a little.

Fiyero nodded and sank down to sit on the arm of the couch.

"Is she ok?" he asked Xia.

"Physically, yes." Xia answered. "She's had a shock. She'll wake when she's ready."

"Is there anything I can do?" Fiyero asked anxiously.

Xia smiled. "You got her here, Fiyero. She's safe and she's warm. You did everything right."

Fiyero glanced at Elphaba uncertainly.

"Really, all we can do now is wait for her to wake up," Xia continued. "Why don't we have some tea while we wait? I think we could all use some. Fiyero, would you mind if I used your kitchen?"

Fiyero blinked and turned back to her. "Er, no not at all. Except…"

Explaining his kitchen was empty and had never been used was always going to be a little awkward.

AN. Fae'sFlower has also informed me the 2018 Greg Awards are here, and she asked me to spread the word. So, here's me... spreading words.

Go to her profile for more info!