Wow! Thank you all so much for your response with the first chapter! Here comes little Yero!

AnOreoForElphie: Yup. Nessa's in a wheelchair.

Ultimate Queen of Cliffies: Yes, you're not one to talk, considering I learnt most of this from you.


"Mommy! Mommy! Come look at this!" little Prince Fiyero Tigulaar giggled, gesturing his mother over to a store window.

The prince and princess of the Vinkus exchanged a look and laughed as they caught up with their son, whose nose was pressed up against the window. The young prince was completely mesmerized by the intricate window display of the city. "The lights in the palace even glow! And the train even moves!"

"Yes, it does," the princess, Amalie, smiled, gently ruffling her son's hair.

"And look! You can even see the glow from the Wizard's chamber!" Fiyero laughed. "Can we go inside?"

"We have to go visit the hospital, remember?" the older prince, Raal, said, smiling softly.

The younger prince pouted, but took his mother's hand and walked in the opposite direction. "Do we have to?"

"That's the reason we came here, Yero. The tour and everything else is extra," Amalie said softly.

"But I wanna go inside the toy store!"

"We can go after we come back."

Fiyero continued to pout as they walked through the city to the hospital. He really didn't want to go to the hospitals. He would much rather go into the toy store and walk around and see the shops.

"Welcome, Your Highnesses," the hospital director said as the royals walked through the door. "On behalf of everyone here, we would like to welcome and thank you for visiting."

"Of course," Raal smiled and nodded.

"Look at the walls, Yero," Amalie smiled down at her son, pointing to the brightly colored and decorated walls.

"We try not to make this place look a lot like a hospital, especially for the children's sake," the director explained as they walked down the hallways.

Fiyero looked at all the paintings. There were paintings of children playing, historical moments, and the streets of the Emerald City. He was intrigued by the paintings, but would still much rather be in the toy store.

"Everyone," the director said when they came into a large room filled with children and some parents. "The prince and princess of the Vinkus have arrived."

The room erupted into claps and cheers as the royals began to make their rounds. "Why don't you play with some of the children, Yero?" Amalie suggested before going up to a mother with a sleeping baby in her arms.

Fiyero looked around. Most of the children looked extremely sick and didn't look like they could do much. He looked at the table and grabbed one of the coloring books and a handful of crayons. He saw that his parents were occupied with talking to people and quickly slipped out of the room, in search of something more fun to do. He wandered through the halls, dodging nurses and doctors until he came to another part of the hospital. He looked around again, not seeing or hearing anyone approaching. Turning a corner, he noticed a door open and peaked inside. He saw a young girl around his age reading a book in her bed.

She must be really sick, Fiyero thought. Her skin is green.

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of someone, probably the girl, clearing her throat. He looked up and saw her staring at him, her book forgotten on her lap.

"Who are you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"I'm Fiyero," the boy said, stepping into the room. He noticed her move back slightly, clearly unsure about him. "What's your name?"

"Elphaba," the green girl said after a pause.

"That's a long name."

"It is not."

"I think I'll call you… Fae."

"That's not my name."

"How sick are you?"

Elphaba blinked. Who was this person? Why were they here? And what did she have to do to get him to leave? "What?"

"How sick are you?"

"What do you mean how sick am I?"

"You must be really sick, because it turned your skin green."

"My sickness has nothing to do with my green skin. I've been green my whole life."

"How long have you been sick?"

"Since I was four."

"How old are you now?"

"Eight."

"I'm seven!" For some reason, Fiyero sounded really happy about that. "Anyway, how sick are you?"

Elphaba looked confused. "I'm not that sick. I'm just here for a procedure."

"What kinda procedure?"

"I… don't know. No one will tell me."

"Will they have to cut you open?"

Elphaba threw her book at Fiyero, hitting him square in the face. "No. And I would appreciate it if you left right now. You ask too many questions."

"I'm sorry," Fiyero quickly apologized. "My parents are visiting and they're doing really boring, talkative stuff. But I like you."

"You do?" Elphaba asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. You're interesting."

"Gee, thanks."

"And not just because of your skin." A pause. "Do you like coloring?"

Elphaba nodded and Fiyero hurried over to her, climbing up onto the bed with the book and crayons. As they colored, they began to learn more about each other. Fiyero learned that Elphaba was the oldest daughter of the Munchkinland governor, had a younger sister, and no one knew why she was green. Elphaba learned that Fiyero was the prince of the Vinkus, an only child, and liked trains.

"We don't have trains in the Vinkus yet. It's pretty old famished there," Fiyero explained, concentrating on trying to stay inside the lines.

"You mean 'old fashioned'," Elphaba corrected.

"That's what I said."

Elphaba rolled her eyes. "Famished means that you're hungry."

"I am. Let's eat!"

Elphaba rolled her eyes again. "It's not lunch time yet. The nurses don't come around until twelve o'clock."

Fiyero looked up at the clock and sighed. He knew that when both hands were on the twelve, it meant the food would come, and currently, the big hand was on the six and the little hand was on the eleven.

"We have thirty more minutes," Elphaba explained.

"I can tell time!" Fiyero argued, crossing his arms.

"Really?"

Fiyero deflated slightly. "Okay, I'm learning how to tell time."

Elphaba smiled and taught the prince a trick to remember what it meant when which hand was on which number. Pretty soon, it was noon and the nurses came around with food.

"Elphaba, who are you talking to?" one of the nurses asked as she came in and saw Elphaba with the prince. "Prince Fiyero, there you are! Your parents and most of the staff have been looking for you." She set the food down and went to pick up Elphaba's book from the floor.

"Oh," the prince said shortly.

The nurse looked at him and sighed before leaving, probably to tell his parents where he was. The two children heard voices and footsteps shortly after and the princess appeared in the doorway.

"Yero, there you are!" Amalie gasped, rushing to her son's side and pulling him into her arms. "We only turned around for a minute and you disappeared. You can't just go walking around in hospitals like that. Some of these people are very sick."

"But Elphaba's my new friend, and she's not that sick, Mommy! She said she's green because she was born that way. Isn't that cool?" Fiyero asked, twisting in his mother's arms to be put down.

The princess looked at the young green girl in the hospital bed and smiled softly at her. Elphaba gave her a shy smile back. She watched as her son climbed back onto the bed and resumed coloring with Elphaba. "Yero…" she said gently.

"Can I stay, Mommy? Please? Fae and I have to finish this coloring page," Fiyero pleaded.

Amalie looked at the nurse. "Would it be alright?"

"I will have to check with Elphaba's doctor, since she's technically not supposed to have visitors right now," the nurse said, giving Elphaba a slightly amused look, which Elphaba matched with a sheepish smile.

Amalie nodded and followed the nurse out. She asked about Elphaba and the nurse paused, wondering how much about the green girl she was at liberty to say.

"Well, she's the eldest daughter of the Governor of Munchkinland," she finally decided on.

"How long has she been here?"

"Only about a week and a half. She has a lung disease and is here for a special procedure."

"Is she alright?"

"She'll be fine. No one believes the disease will kill her… at least, not yet, but it has been taking a toll on her. This is the second time she's been here in the past two years, and she's in and out of the hospital in Munchkinland. She doesn't have many friends, even in the hospitals. She usually doesn't let anyone close to her unless it's on one of us. She hates socializing."

"And Fiyero is a very hyper child," Amalie quipped, wondering how Fiyero had managed to befriend the seemingly reserved girl.

After getting the okay from the doctor for Fiyero to stay with Elphaba, Amalie went back to the children. She found Fiyero and Elphaba still coloring, though Elphaba was being much neater than Fiyero.

"Can I stay, Mommy?" Fiyero asked when he saw his mother.

"I thought you wanted to go to the toy store," Amalie smiled.

"I changed my mind. I wanna stay here."

"Well, the doctor said it's okay, so it's up to Elphaba."

"It's okay with me," Elphaba said, smiling shyly at the princess before turning back to her coloring page.

Amalie nodded. "I'll be back in an hour. Stay here, Yero."

"I will," the little prince smiled, giving his mother a kiss and watching as she left.

"Your mommy is really nice," Elphaba smiled, almost longingly.

"Don't you have a mommy?" Fiyero asked.

Elphaba frowned. "Mine died a few years ago."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

The two were silent for the rest of the time, finishing the last pages in the coloring book. Amalie soon came back to collect her son, who threw a mini-temper tantrum when it was time to leave.

"Can we come back tomorrow?" Fiyero asked, clinging to his mother's hand.

"Sure. If it's alright with Elphaba," Amalie said.

Elphaba nodded. "It is."

Fiyero looked positively gleeful that he could come back. Something about the green girl intrigued him, and he wanted to spend more time with her. "And Fae?"

"Yes?"

"You can call me 'Yero'."

The two children shared a grin and a quick goodbye hug before Fiyero left, waving goodbye once more before his mother pulled him away.

The next day, the little prince came back, as promised. "Hi, Fae!" the little boy smiled, climbing onto the bed.

"Hi, Yero. What's that?" Elphaba asked, looking at the small bag Raal was carrying.

"I brought some of my toys and books," Fiyero explained. "Oh, Fae, this is Daddy. Daddy, this is Fae, but her real name is Elphaba. It was too long, so I shortened it."

"Nice to meet you, Elphaba," Raal smiled, helping his son open the bag. He had been warned ahead of time about the girl's green skin, and was sternly told by his son not to stare at her.

"You, too, Your Highness," Elphaba smiled politely.

"Please, Elphaba. Fiyero's friends call my wife and I Mr. and Mrs. Tigulaar."

Elphaba smiled at the elder prince.

"Fae, look at this!" Fiyero said as he pulled out his toy train and showed it to Elphaba. Soon, the two children were playing together and Raal chaperoned from a chair in the corner. He took out a novel and began to read, occasionally glancing up at the children to make sure they were alright.

Everything went fine for the first hour. Raal had fallen asleep in his chair, but was awakened by his son frantically shaking his arm.

"Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! Something's wrong with Fae!" the little prince exclaimed as fearful tears streamed down his face.

Raal looked up and saw Elphaba lying on her side, wheezing and clutching her chest. Her skin had turned a clammy pale green and beads of sweat covered her forehead. "Come on, Fiyero," he said as he took his son's hand.

"Where are we going? We can leave Fae!" Fiyero tried to protest.

"We're not leaving her. We're going to get a doctor. But when the doctor is in here, we can't be in here with her."

"Why not?"

"Because the doctor will need lots of space to make sure she's alright."

"Can we come back?"

"If the doctor says it's alright." Raal quickly found the doctor and told him what happened. He lifted his son into his arms as he watched the doctor hurry down the hall.

It took an hour, but the doctor finally came out. "She had an attack. She's asleep right now."

"Is she gonna be okay?" Fiyero asked, looking up at the doctor.

The doctor smiled gently. "We will do our best, Prince Fiyero. I see you two have formed a friendship."

Fiyero nodded vigorously.

"That's nice. From what I've been told and observed, Elphaba doesn't have many friends, but I'm glad she found one in you."

"Can we come back tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is not a good day. Maybe in two days?"

"I won't be here. We're goin' back to the Vinkus in two days."

The doctor nodded. "Maybe you can stop by before you leave?"

Fiyero looked up at his father. "We'll try," Raal said, nodding to the doctor. "Come, Yero."

Fiyero waved to the doctor and allowed his father to lead him out of the hospital, hoping that he hadn't seen Elphaba for the last time.


So… we met little Fiyero. I hope that makes up for this teeny-tiny cliffy. And even if it doesn't… we still got little Fiyeraba.