Chapter 20.

A/N I made it! Sort of :)

Thanks for the kind words. They make the chaotic days I'm having at the moment so much brighter :)

To RVRosey; I love that Reyna means Queen in your language! I didn't know that. I love it. Thanks for letting me know!

To those that initially didn't want this to go AU but have come back and like it anyway; I'm so happy! Thank you :)

To DorothyInWonderland; Thanks so much for breaking the silence and leaving me a review!

Alright. On with it.

Nessa would have paced if she'd had the ability. It wasn't like her. She rolled her frail shoulders back and forth in an attempt to shake the anxiety.

She shouldn't have.

She'd said too much.

She hadn't meant to betray her sister but Elphaba had such horrible timing. And she was responsible for Boq's departure. And...and...and what she'd done to Fiyero was wrong. Even so, Nessa was a good person, unlike her sister, and she had never meant to betray her.

But Morrible had showed up, claiming to wish to check on Nessa, after hearing about drama at Colwen Grounds and a possible sighting of the Witch...and Nessa...she'd been angry and hurt and it was all Elphaba's fault!

And Madame Morrible had been understanding, had assured her that the Wizard would not let Elphaba's behavior impact his ties to Munchkinland, and Nessa had admitted to her sister's visit. After that, Morrible hadn't been willing to talk about anything else. She'd kept asking, kept after Nessa to tell her what Elphaba had said. Nessa had been quick to point that there had been no contact at all until that day, not since Elphaba had fled the Emerald City. She couldn't risk losing the Wizard's support. Nessa had been terrified to be considered an accomplice to the Witch and she'd lost her patience with Madame Morrible. After all; she was nothing like Elphaba. Nothing like her. She was a good person.

"I don't know where Elphaba is, Madame. Please, I have things to do. I need to focus on Munchkinland. I have duties. I have no time to discuss my sister's ill-timed adventures. If she wants to fancy herself involved in some sort of romance, that's her business.'

"Romance?"

"What? Oh...well...she seems to believe Fiyero loves her, or something like it. I told her it wasn't very likely, but..."

"You've not shared this information with Glinda?"

"Glinda can have any man she wants. Why should I help her? And what good would it do? It won't bring back Fiyero, will it? For whatever reason, he is with Elphaba right now. As far as I can guess, anyway. Madame. I do apologize, but I have no patience for this topic."

"Oh, you've told me quite enough, Miss Thropp. I thank you."

Now, she regretted it slightly. She still didn't approve of her sister's behavior. But they were sisters still and Elphaba had taken care of her, long ago, when she'd had no one else. She didn't mean her sister harm but she couldn't find it in herself to truly care either. Maybe that made her a terrible sister but surely, she was not the abnormal one? She could not be, because Elphaba...well...Nessa shook her head and gathered her thoughts. She took her place at her desk and focused on the paperwork in front of her.

She hoped for the best for Elphaba. But that was all she would do.

It was time.

Fiyero knew he wouldn't be able to avoid it much longer anyway and these days he favoured the head-on approach over the ostrich approach.

He owed his father answers and it was time he gave them. His parents had been surprisingly tolerant of the whole situation so far. Much more than he'd ever have expected. Or had the right to expect. He knew, however, that it was mostly his mother's doing. No matter how curious she was, how opinionated; she'd kept her mouth shut. He'd seen her walking around, unsure of how to deal with the situation and trying to get glimpses of Elphaba, of him, of the two of them. But at least she'd tried. She was still trying.

Fiyero knew why. It was because his mother was a mother first and a Queen second. Always. She was a good Queen; she knew her priorities, she worked hard and she wouldn't let her family life distract her from her duties. But she didn't let her duties distract her from her family life either.

She was always a mother. He remembered when he'd brought Glinda home the first time. He'd been up late, as he always was, pacing the kitchen and thinking that if Drakin found him there, he'd get a telling off, despite being an adult now. His mother had known, the way he supposed mothers do, and she'd asked him if he was happy. He'd said what he always did. You know me, I'm always happy. She hadn't asked beyond that point, but she'd seen through the lie. She was always a mother first.

His father, on the other hand, was a good man and a more than decent father. But he was the King, first and foremost. Fiyero didn't blame him. It was how his father had been brought up and Fiyero knew that if he'd done what was expected of him, he'd have ended up the same way.

The problem was that now he owed his father answers, but he owed the King answers too, and that was far more troublesome.

"So?"

Her eyes were clear as summer skies, but the look it held was less pleasant. Keegan looked at his feet awkwardly. He knew full well that if she hadn't been so unbelievably beautiful, he'd have found his nerve a lot quicker and lost his patience a lot sooner. As it was, however, Glinda the Good stood in his room, back to demand answers he still hadn't given her.

Avoidance only went so far when you weren't allowed to leave the damn room.

He looked back up at her and she waved her hand in an impatient little gesture.

He feigned ignorance.

"So...what?"

She sighed deeply. An impatient sigh. A womanly sigh. A sigh women saved exclusively for tiresome men that refused to understand them. Keegan had sisters. He knew that sigh.

"So, what happened? And don't give me that 'I don't remember' crap because we both know you're lying out of your...well..." She trailed off then and he was amused for a moment, that she'd be so blunt, so candid, with him but she would not finish that sentence. The moment didn't last long, however.

"I..."

"It takes one to know one, Mr Keegan. And I know you're lying."

"Keegan is my first name."

She merely raised her eyebrows. He probably shouldn't have said that.

"And what might be your last name then?"

He hurried to correct himself.

"I meant...you could just call me Keegan..."

Who ever thought that Glinda the Good was harmless had clearly never seen this face. He nodded in acquiescence.

"Mr. Keegan it is."

A short and firm little nod made her curls bounce.

"Glad to hear it. Now, Mr Keegan. I would like the truth." She frowned for a second and then, as if she'd only just remembered, added:

"And why you're lying about it."

"I don't know exactly what happened."

"Oh, for heaven's sake. I told you not to lie to me."

She patted her dress and when she seemed satisfied she looked at him and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Let me help you get started; He left with her, didn't he?"

His head shot up.

She nodded again. A nod that said he'd just confirmed what she'd said.

"Wh...what?" He was stammering like a twelve year old in front of the class.

"Well, didn't he? I assume so because he came to say goodbye to me the evening he left and I know Elphie wouldn't hurt him."

She put her small hands on the mattress and pushed herself off.

"That, and he spent years pining for her, so really...it's the only thing that makes sense."

Keegan wasn't sure how to respond. What was she talking about? How did any of this make sense?

"What?"

"Oh, in the name of Lurline! Are all you soldier boys this slow?"

Keegan felt his ears turn red. It was always what gave him away and he hoped with all he had that she wouldn't notice. It didn't look like he had much to worry about.

She wasn't paying attention to him at all. She was staring out the window. A small lady in a poofy dress with a wand in her hand like a weapon. Suddenly, she spun back around.

"I am going to tell you what I think happened, okay? Which is that he found her, and he left with her, no spell required."

"He...I..."

"Is that what happened?"

"I don't know! I'm trying to tell you I don't know!"

He was getting annoyed now, Glinda the Good or not. Everybody kept asking him questions he couldn't answer. He was sick of this room, these people, these questions. This was not what he'd signed up for.

"All I did was follow him. I saw him going in the direction of that fortune teller's place and I figured that maybe he'd need help. I thought he was going to question her or arrest her or something. I don't know. I was waiting outside but I couldn't hear anything or see anything, so I look through the keyhole..next thing I know...he's...she's..."

He couldn't finish that sentence. He didn't want to say the words out loud, even if she seemed to know already.

"She was there. Only...she wasn't...like...like in the pictures. She wasn't at all what they told us. But she was the Witch so I pulled my rifle and I was going to shoot her.."

"You were going to shoot Elphie?" Her eyes widened in horror and her voice was shrill.

What? Why was she so upset?

"What?"

He'd never been eloquent. But she'd composed herself already and did that little wave again.

"Never mind. You go on."

Keegan shook his head, but did as he was told.

"Well, I don't know. He called her name and she looked at him and it was like...she seemed scared or something. And then he shot me."

If he'd expected the same sort of reaction to his being shot, he was disappointed. She only nodded as she processed the information.

"To stop you from shooting her."

Her voice was so understanding. He couldn't grasp it.

"But why?"

He forgot the rules then, forgot all propriety. He crossed the room until he was in Glinda's face. Then, reaching out to grab her arms, he seemed to remember who he was and whom he was with and pulled back. He turned around and smacked a vase of the bedside table instead.

"Now, Mr. Keegan. Is that really necessary?"

He whirled back around.

"Why? Why did he save her? Why would he leave with her? Why?"

He looked at her then and the anger and desperation screamed at her.

"We were trained to find her, to kill her. We were told she was evil. I don't...Why would he do what he did? I've been asking myself these questions for days. I've been telling myself that it must have been a spell. It must have been because Captain Tiggular would never betray us all like that. He wouldn't because he's a good captain and he was devoted to his job. So she must have done something to him. Something to make him go with her. To make him walk away. To make him leave here, leave you."

His breath ran out then and he deflated, but he had one more thing to say, to confess.

"But I can't convince myself."

She sighed. Genuine sympathy on her face for the first time.

"Oh, Mr. Keegan. The answer is not so difficult, really. No need to over-think it." She gave him a small smile, but it didn't fully reach her eyes.

"It's love."

"But..."

"He's been in love with her for years, you see."

No. He didn't see. It was making less sense than before, if that was possible.

"But...but...you and him..."

"Yes, well...I'm afraid I tend to close my eyes to what I don't want to see sometimes."

Keegan tried to come to terms with all she was saying. Tried to grasp that what she was telling him was, undoubtedly, the truth.

"So...you knew?"

"Of course I know. I've known since Shiz. I think I knew before they did."

"Shiz?"

"We were all friends then as I am sure you've heard. Fiyero and I were dating but he and Elphie...I suppose it was always stronger between the two of them, in a way."

"Elphie?" He'd made the link before but realized it only now.

"Elphaba."

Glinda nodded in confirmation.

"We were room mates. She was..." She shook her head, a little angrily, as if annoyed with her own confusion and continued:

"is...is my best friend."

"Even after.."

"Even after."

He'd never understand women.

"That's enough out of me for a while, don't you think? It's time for you to talk now."

Keegan wasn't sure what to say, but she'd foreseen that.

"Why did you lie? You could have told everyone the truth. Fiyero committed treason."

It was all true.

"I don't know." At her frown, he added: "I know you're tired of hearing that but it's the truth. I don't know why I didn't say anything. I still might. I probably should."

"But?"

"But...I liked the Captain. And she...she seemed...she didn't...she tried to help me."

He almost whispered that last part and it was followed by awkward laughter.

"What kind of Wicked Witch would try to help someone that wanted to shoot her?"

Glinda didn't say anything, but her face told him she wasn't surprised.

"It just didn't seem right. Do you think I should tell the truth?"

The look she gave him told him he should regret that question.

"No! No, of course not. We need to help them!"

It wasn't going particularly well.

His father wasn't a patient man and, as a King, he knew the worth of keeping feelings separated from business. He believed in taking all emotion out of the equation and only letting it back in when the mind alone didn't suffice. It had been one of the first things he'd thought his son about the life of a King. Back then, Fiyero had been too busy dancing to realize what that meant. He'd been too busy dancing to have many feelings at all.

So far, he'd explained everything all over again, his whole life, from Shiz to the Gale Force, to his relationship with Glinda (why did everyone consider him engaged? He hadn't even proposed!), to his decision to run off with Elphaba ( and why did people insist on calling it that? As if it had only been a spur of the moment-thing. As if it didn't mean anything. Why was Glinda the serious one and Elphaba the other woman? Didn't they realize it had always been the other way around?)

In short; the King was quickly losing his last shreds of patience and his son had already lost his. Fiyero couldn't help a snort at the image they made. Prince and King. Father and son. Fiyero and Liir. Eye to eye. If only the people of the Vinkus could see them now.

"Fiyero, You understand I am not asking you these questions because I wish to make your life harder..."

Fiyero gathered whatever calmness he could find within him and focused on the end of this conversation, when he could escape this room and look for food. And a drink. And Elphaba.

"I know, dad. It's fine. Ask me."

At his father's silence, he continued.

"Ask me what my intentions are. What I plan to do with my life now that I'm a fugitive. What I intend to do about the throne. I know that's what this is about."

"But you're not a fugitive. Everyone still thinks you're a hostage of the witch."

Of course.

He promised himself a big drink and managed to speak without raising his voice.

"Right. I have to admit that I prepared for that question before we came here but I wasn't expecting to hear it now. I thought I made it clear that I am not a hostage. I think everything so far and all I've told you makes it very clear that I am not, and never was, a hostage."

The look on his father's face told him that he was not the only one envisioning a drink.

"Yes, Fiyero. I realise very well that you were not, in fact, taken hostage by the witch. My point is; the public still believes it to be true. You have the option of using that."

Oh.

This wasn't good.

Fiyero kept his jaws clenched as he spoke and he knew that he was about to enter into a conversation he'd never wanted to have. With his dad, or the King.

"Using that to achieve what exactly?"

"Oh, Fiyero, don't be a child. You know exactly what I mean."

"I do. I am trying to ignore it and give you the opportunity to come up with something else. Something that would make me not angry."

"Mind your tone, son. I am not only your father. I am King too."

Yup. Here it went.

"Yes, well. Seeing as how your words were spoken, I hope, as a father, not as a King, I will reply as your son. I will not, I'll repeat it to make sure you hear it, I will not turn her in. I will not leave her. I will not let her leave and I will make sure that no one else does either.

"Fiyero. That woman...what good has she done you?"

"Dad! I love that woman. She has a name, by the way. I love her. Elphaba is...she is...dad, she's all I want."

"Fiyero, please. How can you possibly know that it's love? You've been together, what, a week? You were with Glinda for four years and it still didn't stop you from running off with another woman first chance you got."

Running off? The press would have a field day.

"I didn't 'run off with another woman'. I left with Elphaba, after having searched for her for three years. Three years, dad. Do you have any idea how long that is? Three years I spent telling myself that one day I'd find her. Three years of hoping against hope that someday...someday I'd get my wish. Three years."

He was tired again. All he did was fight these days. Plead. Beg for the people he loved to believe him. To listen.

"Three years is a long time, dad. So don't tell me that I can't be sure. Don't tell me I don't know what love is. Just because you don't agree with my choices doesn't make me a child."

"And your duties? You have a people to lead. A throne waiting for you."

"I know."

"How did you plan on solving that?"

At least he wasn't questioning his feelings for or his relationship with Elphaba anymore. And this was a fair question and one he'd been expecting.

"Well...I haven't thought that far. Honestly; I've always known I would have to be King one day and though I've never exactly jumped through hoops about it, I'd gladly do it. I would. I love the Vinkus, dad. I do."

His genuine tone made Liir believe him and he felt himself cool down a little. He knew this was hard on his son, but he also knew this was greater than that.

"And how exactly do you see yourself becoming King in this current situation?"

Fiyero had been expecting that one too, but that didn't mean he had an answer.

"I don't know." He admitted. "I said I would gladly do it. I didn't say I will. I can only do it if Elphaba's name were cleared and she'd be willing to become Queen. I haven't talked to her about it yet. I figured that'd be a conversation for after we're married. Like our tenth anniversary."

The last part he added with a slight smirk. He could already see Elphaba's face when he brought up her being Queen of the Vinkus. Or marriage.

"Married? Queen? Son, this woman can not be Queen of the Vinkus!"

Oh damn. Why did they have to go back to this? He'd been so close to that drink. And he wanted pancakes.

"And why is that?"

He dared his father to say it. Liir knew it and willingly took the bait.

"Well, she's...Son! She's still, as far as the people know, the Wicked Witch of the West."

"And if she wasn't?"

"What do you mean?"

"If her name was cleared. Or if I'd just brought her home, a normal woman. No witch business."

"Normal?"

Fiyero shook his head.

"So you're telling me she couldn't become Queen because of her skin?"

"Look, Fiyero..."

"That is what you're saying."

Liir paused. He knew exactly what his son was doing. He supposed it was only fair. The boy had always been smarter that he let on. It was just highly unfortunate that he chose to show it now.

"No. That is not what I am saying."

The older man took a breath and gave in. Fiyero was his son, after all. Whether he'd be King or not, he would always be his son. He deserved a chance to prove his father wrong. All sons did.

"I agree with you that that would be...well...it is unjust. You're right. Your mother has also informed that although peculiar, the girl doesn't seem to be of any particular evil kind. I have always striven not to be a prejudiced fool and so far that has served me reasonably well. So, you are right in your anger here. I will try to, at least, get to know her better before I judge her. And before I judge you."

Fiyero nodded, relief easing his stomach.

"But...Yes, Fiyero, but...even if her name was cleared...it'd be a challenge to introduce her as the new Queen. And for now, there is no such silver lining in sight. We must assume the worst. If you can not clear her name.."

The Prince didn't want to say what he was about to, knowing it would hurt his father and make their relationship more strenuous, but he also knew he needed to be honest:

"Then I guess you better call your daughters. Because I won't be King."

"Fiyero."

"Dad. I'm sorry. I truly am. But I won't do it without her. I spent too long without her. I won't do it again."

He saw his father deflate, accepting, for now, his determination.

"What is it about this girl?"

Fiyero shrugged. It was a difficult question to answer.

"You said you'd try to get to know her. If you do, hopefully you'll see."

Thank you so much for reading! This was quite difficult, I must admit. I missed Elphaba :P

In additional news; I leave tomorrow on a trip that will leave me with very limited internet access. I promise to try and update whenever I can! Just so you don't go thinking I abandoned it or anything.

Of course, I might be persuaded to post a chapter before I leave tomorrow...yes, you are correct. This is a shameless bribe...review?

Oh, and I am aware that I am the gazillionth person to name Fiyero's dad, or any other male family member, Liir but I love the name, it suits a King and I love that he is King Liir :)