Trigger warning: shooting discussion in the author's note at the end of the chapter.


'My Yero,

You have no idea how happy receiving a letter from you made me. I really needed that.

I can only imagine how conflicted you must feel towards both your parents; listening to your father go back and forth with his comments and having your mother constantly try and get something out of you.

Your feelings about the whole thing with them are completely valid. Your father's both mentally and physically beaten you down and your mother's hurt you so much as well in the past that having them act like this towards you now must be so confusing. The damage has been done and like you said, it may be too late to reverse or make up for any of it.

Love, you are so much braver and patient than I am with this whole thing and I'm so proud of you. At least you stay in the room while your father has these delusions and when your mother tries to talk to you.

Maybe it'll get slightly easier, for you and your mother, maybe you two will be able to have an actual conversation one day. That will certainly take some time, hell, probably lots of it, and so much effort. Or maybe nothing will ever change. Only time will tell, we'll see what happens. It's a little hard for me to try and give you some sort of advice since I'm not there and don't have the entire picture, just relying on your written events and feelings, so I hope my words are at least of some use to you and brought you a little, if any, comfort.

I'm so glad you're writing down your feelings. Even if you feel like it doesn't do much, at least you're getting it out somehow. I agree with you, I definitely think that once you start training, you'll be able to blow off some steam and you'll hopefully feel a lot better.

Out of pure curiosity though, have you broken anything?

I miss you too. My love, I miss you so so much. I'll be completely honest with you, the first couple of days I went about my daily routine as if you were here, sometimes I still find myself doing it. Like a couple days ago I was making dinner and then I remembered something someone had said at work (I don't remember what it was now) that had made me laugh and suddenly I was talking out loud and telling you about it.

I won't lie, the first couple of weeks were pretty hard. I began to neglect myself a bit without realizing it; working long hours and barely eating, but all I thought about was that I had to keep myself busy so I wouldn't have time to be sad. But Avaric and Galinda snapped me out of it.

Do you remember Galinda? The girl Avaric told us about? (I think they'll become official soon). I've been hanging out with some friends from work at times, but mostly with her. She's a waitress and lives not too far from our house. I think I have a best friend now? At least that's what she labels me as, but honestly I do think she's mine too. We've gotten so close this past month, I even told her about my past, something I've never done with anyone before. She's kind and caring and bubbly. You have to meet her. You wouldn't think we'd get along at all, but somehow we do. I think the only flaw to her is that she calls me "Elphie ''. It's a little perky if you ask me, but I can tolerate it. She's been such an amazing shoulder to lean on that I can look past it. She and Avaric keep me company in the house a lot, which I'm grateful for.

I'm telling you, Fiyero, I didn't realize how big our house actually was until you left. It's huge.

Galinda stays over a lot and we have a "girl's night", as she calls them. I actually kinda like them. It's how we've bonded over the past month. I'm truly so thankful to have met her.

But truthfully, overall, I think I'm doing well. I miss you like crazy, but I'm good.

I can't wait to see you again and hug you and kiss you senseless.

It hurts me to see that you describe yourself as a wreck. I desperately wish I could be there for you.

My love, take care of yourself. Write, eat, get as much rest as possible.

I love you. I love you with everything I am. We'll be together again before you know it.

Write again soon, Yero. Tell me anything and everything, like always.

All my love,

Elphaba.

P.S. This was the joke in the newspaper that arrived with your letter: what are two things you can't eat for breakfast? Lunch and dinner!

Hopefully that put a smile on your face. Love you!'

Fiyero was smiling from ear to ear after he'd finished reading Elphaba's letter. Dear Oz, this woman. How he loved her. She'd just made his entire day from hundreds of miles away.

He was so glad to hear that she was taking care of herself and that Avaric and Galinda were looking out for her too. And she was right; he had to meet Galinda, he wanted to meet her. If Elphaba felt comfortable enough to tell her everything from her past and considered her her best friend, she must be a great person. And he was so grateful she had someone like that in her life now. He would have to thank Galinda too when he did meet her.

"What are you reading?" he heard Helena ask.

He said the words before he could stop himself, completely absorbed in the first bit of happiness he'd felt since he arrived at the Vinkus. "A letter from my wife."

"Wife?"

Fiyero wasn't looking at her, preferring to keep his eyes on Elphaba's handwriting, but he could hear the utter shock in her voice.

When he did turn to look at her, he saw that her gaze was directed at his left hand. She was eyeing his wedding ring.

"Yes, my wife."

"W - Why d - didn't y - "

He cut her off. "Do you really want me to answer that?" because it wasn't going to be pretty.

She shut her mouth and Fiyero pinched the bridge of his nose.

Now where did he go from here? To tell her some things, or not tell her anything. Both were very appealing for different reasons, neither of which made him the bigger person. Part of him didn't want to tell her anything. Just keep things how they've been the past month or so. Extremely vague. She'd decided she'd wanted nothing to do with him six years ago. Why should she be privy to any part of his life now? And on the other hand, if he told her about Elphaba and it made her feel bad, that would make him feel good.

And maybe he was a prick for thinking about it like that, but that was just honestly how he felt.

Fiyero let out a deep sigh, folded his wife's letter, and turned his chair towards his mother.

He'd talk a little bit, if only to brag about being married to the best woman in the world. "We've been married about two years. Known each other for four."

Helena's eyes lit up at the information. She stepped into the room a little bit, but stayed quiet. Fiyero raised his eyebrow at her and made a small gesture with his hand, silently giving her permission to ask him something.

"Um," she smiled and swayed in her spot a bit. "D - Do you two have any children?"

Right to it, huh?

"No. Not yet."

They've talked about it. A lot. After they'd gotten married, they'd had many long conversations about the topic and had settled on waiting until Elphaba turned 25 to start trying. It would give them time to save up to buy a good house (that was checked off the list) and for the baby itself. There was a little less than a year left before her 25th birthday now, but he wouldn't be surprised if they ended up putting off having children a little more with everything that was happening. Both of them should be and need to be fully comfortable and ready if they were going to bring a child into the world and raise him or her like they deserved.

Once the queen realized Fiyero was going to give her vague answers, she moved on to the next question.

"How did you meet?"

"At a bar."

"What's her name? How old is she?"

"Elphaba. She's 24."

She nodded. "Um…"

She seemed hesitant to ask the next question, and Fiyero had a feeling it was one she wouldn't like the answer to.

"How come s - she's not here?"

And he was right.

He exhaled and rubbed his eyes with his hand. "Do you want me to answer you honestly?"

She was silent for a couple seconds then slowly nodded. Alright, she'd said she wanted an honest answer. He couldn't say he didn't warn her.

"I didn't want her to meet either you or Tristan."

She visibly flinched. Hey, she'd wanted his honesty.

"You'll meet her eventually, that's kind of inevitable. But she won't come here until after he passes away."

His mother bit her lip and he could see that she was trying not to cry. Maybe he was that tired already or maybe he was just that much of a prick, but he didn't care. He tapped his fingers in his lap and gave her a look that basically asked 'anything else?'

"Does she make you happy?" her voice was ever so slightly hoarse. "Are you happy with her?"

Fiyero looked up, closed his eyes, and smiled. "Yes," his Fae. "She saved me," he said before he could stop himself. Talking about Elphaba seemed to have that effect on him; speaking without holding back.

Oz, she made him so happy, he dedicated each day to making her feel the same way.

When he looked at Helena again, she looked like she desperately wanted him to elaborate on what he'd just said.

In the end, he could see that she'd decided to hold herself back. Good; it's not like he would have elaborated anyway.

"I'll…I'll leave you to it. Lunch is in an hour."

He laughed softly. 'Lunch and dinner'.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said, turning Elphaba's letter in his hands.

"It's stuffed chicken breast with avocado slices."

"I can't eat that."

She frowned. "Why not?"

"I'm allergic to avocados."

"Oh!" she gasped. "I'll make sure that's switched out with something else, don't worry about it."

"Hm."

He was kind of surprised she didn't remember that fact. She had been the one to try and force feed him avocados one time.

"Well…ok then. I'll leave you to it now."

He nodded. She walked backwards towards the door, hoping he'd say something, anything. But he just gave her a blank stare. She offered a tiny smile and turned around and left.

Once she was farther away and he couldn't hear her footsteps anymore, Fiyero slumped in his chair and groaned. Oz, that had been excruciating. He was so tired, but the fact that he had a letter, from his wife, to respond to gave him enough energy to write.


On Monday, February 13, Michigan State University had an active shooter on campus that killed 3 students and injured 5 others. While I don't attend MSU, I attend a college that's barely an hour away; we are a community and many people on my campus have friends and/or family at MSU.

I'm sorry for updating a week late, but last week was scary, it truly made me realize just on my own I am up here ten hours away from my parents. I have my car, but I'd be winging it as far as seeking refuge off campus. Needless to say it was pretty emotionally exhausting and I really needed to take a step back, sorry guys.

Updates should be good going forward. Thank you guys.