Chapter 28.

A/N Thank you for the reviews. You are fantastic people. You really are. And..Wicked Is My Life...you planted a seed...I'll see what I can do for Frex...

If anyone else has any requests for after Skin Deep...feel free to ask :)

She would have thought they'd hate her. Or blame her, at least. Hold her responsible for what had happened to their son. He'd almost been killed. Would have been dead now, if that spell hadn't worked. Surely, as his parents, they'd hate her.

They wouldn't be thanking her for saving his life.

Yet they were. They'd come to see her, entering the room quietly and demure. Raina first, delicate steps into the room, her husband striding in after her. They'd taken a good look at her, sat down by her bedside and thanked her.

She had no clue what to do with that.

Fiyero wasn't here, he'd gone off to do Oz knew what, and now she had to deal with gratitude. Gratitude from two of the very few people in the world who had a genuinely good reason to hate her.

"I don't understand. You do realize he almost died?"

She fought to get the words out, they hovered on her lips as if they knew they should not be spoken out loud.

Raina blinked at that but didn't comment on her harsh tone. Liir didn't even bat an eye.

"We do. Unfortunately, as both you and Fiyero have pointed out to me repeatedly, Fiyero is responsible for his own actions."

"But...he did that because of me."

Raina stepped in then.

"He did that for you."

Yackle had made the same distinction.

"Why does everyone insist on focusing on that little detail? He was still almost dead because of me. They wanted to kill him. They left him to die. I did that. Not him. He didn't make the choice to die."

But he had and she knew it. And so did his parents. Just because she didn't like it, just because she couldn't live with it, didn't make it any less true.

"Because it makes all the difference." Raina said, "I don't like it, Elphaba. I don't like that my son insists on putting himself in danger. But you are not responsible for Fiyero's choices. He is."

"But..."

"I was there when you left, remember? I was there when you told him you didn't want him to come. That it was too dangerous. I won't linger on the fact that you shouldn't have gone either, I don't have that right. Either way; you didn't kill him."

"But you did save him."

Those words came from Liir and both women looked at him in surprise. He didn't see why. He spoke the truth.

"We were both here when you came back with him. You didn't waste time in doing whatever it was that you needed to do to save him."

"That wasn't some noble act, if that is what you've deluded yourselves into believing."

Liir directed a stern look at her, full of disapproval.

"I am not deluding myself into anything, young lady. And mind your words."

She looked at him, unable to hide her surprise. Not at his annoyance at being spoken to like that, but at the way he spoke to her. He admonished her as he would anyone else. Young lady...she almost laughed at that.

She took a minute to calm down. The way she viewed what she had done did not match up to how they did, but they'd come with good intentions. They were good people who loved their son and, through that, tried to care for her. She could appreciate the effort, even if she didn't understand or need it.

"I am sorry for what happened. And I am glad the spell worked. It was a risk. One that I would have taken with or without your approval." She looked at them and they looked back. "But I realize that I cared too little for the consequences to explain it to you first when I probably should have."

It wasn't an apology, because she didn't regret what she'd done or how she'd done it, but it was an acknowledgment of them, of their role in her life as Fiyero's parents.

Liir was about to say something, so was Raina, judging by their expressions, but they didn't get the chance. Fiyero came in then, carrying a letter.

"The Wizard is sorry to inform you I'm dead."

The other three people in the room looked up, their expressions varying from confusion to shock to anger.

"What?"

The same word from three mouths. Fiyero smirked.

"Yup. My body seems to be temporarily misplaced but they're pretty sure I'm dead. Or so they hope, though they didn't put that part in the letter."

He made his way over to them and took a seat at the foot end of Elphaba's bed. He handed his father the letter, who took it and read it with a frown on his face that deepened as he progressed.

It was indeed a message from the Emerald City for the King and Queen of the Vinkus. It informed them of the, suspected, untimely death of their son. It didn't speak of the circumstances, of Glinda, or the Gale Force. It did speak of the Witch.

The Wizard, it read solemnly, was very sorry to inform them that their son was suspected of treason and alliances with The Wicked Witch of the West and had, therefore, been convicted and justly punished. It didn't say that Fiyero's body had disappeared within an hour of leaving him behind to die.

It also said that they had, of course, planned to grant his parents the chance to bury their son according to the Vinkun customs but the Witch was suspected of robbing them of that chance by taking his body. The Wizard sent his sincere condolences and wishes for them to be able to overcome this tragedy, both for them and for their Kingdom.

It also mentioned subtly that, should the Witch or their son attempt to contact The King and Queen in anyway, they would, of course, be expected to honor the law and send word to the Emerald City.

Liir frowned, Raina laughed and Fiyero shrugged.

Elphaba, however, was livid.

Within minutes, she was out of bed. The other three too startled at her anger and her movement to do anything but stare. Fiyero was the first to recover, knowing he should not be as surprised as he was. Of course she'd be angry. It was the Wizard and this was yet another example of his despicable nature.

"Elphaba."

"Don't Fiyero."

She threw him a sharp look, anger overriding everything else.

"Don't."

He disregarded it, the way he often had.

"I know you're angry."

She huffed in answer.

"There is no point in flying off the handle over this right now."

She kept moving, taking large steps, her arms moving. Everything moved, agitation rolling off her in waves.

"Of course there isn't. There never is. This is just another thing he will get away with."

"Elphaba."

Lirr stepped forward. Again, it surprised the people around him. Again, he didn't see why.

"Elphaba. I understand you're not pleased. Neither are we. But this is not the thing to focus on."

She turned to face him but before she could retort, Raina had gotten to her feet as well.

"Elphaba. We know that what that letter says isn't the truth."

The green woman grimaced a smile, willing herself not to lose her patience with Fiyero's parents, who had been more than kind to her when she'd least deserved it.

"That's not the point. My reputation is not what I'm worried about. They could tell the world I eat dead babies for breakfast and they'd believe it, they're so stupid. That isn't the point."

"Then what is?"

"I can not let him get away with this. Not with any of it. He won't stop. He'll never stop. He rules this land with the power of lies. I can't..."

She avoided everyone's eyes as she moved towards the door.

"I won't."

As she fled the room, Fiyero looked at his parents.

"I probably should have seen this coming."

Raina and Liir exchanged a look.

"Do you want us to..."

Fiyero was grateful for their willingness to help, for how understanding and patient they'd been, but shook his head in answer.

"No...no..this one I'll do alone."

She was up in their room, shoving the Grimmerie into her bag, along with her hat. Fiyero grabbed her cloak before she could.

"You can't just up and leave, Elphaba."

She made a move towards him, reaching for the black fabric in his hands, but he was faster.

"And if I do? If you can't deal with it, Fiyero.." and her tone was once again the one he hated. She was too far gone now, for him to reach, "then you shouldn't have come. You can still get out."

It was almost a challenge. A dare.

Daring him to back out.

He wouldn't rise to it.

"Nothing will make me leave, Elphaba."

He was tired, there were circles under his eyes, his shoulders hurt, but he let the truth ring home.

"Nothing can make me leave. I am just..." He sighed then, deeply, because he really was so tired, and he wanted just a moment. Just a moment, with the woman he loved.

"I am asking you to wait a little. Not long. Not too long. Just...a little."

She looked at him then, at the circles under his eyes, the tension in his back, in his posture, and she knew that she was the cause of that. She was doing this to him. This is what he got for loving her.

She could feel it in her blood, the urge to go anyway, to ignore him, forget him, to run.

But she also felt, in her whole body, that she loved him too, and she didn't want to lose him. She didn't want to turn away. She wanted to want to, but she didn't want to.

She had been alone for so long, all her life really, with the exception of her brief time at Shiz. She'd never had anyone, and she hadn't been expecting that to change. She'd been expecting to remain alone, until the day she died.

Memories of her friendship with Galinda, her moments with Fiyero, it had become nearly enough. Enough to remind her of what she was fighting for. Enough to make her cry sometimes, when the loneliness set in and she simply missed them too much. But it had been enough. She was alone and it was enough.

But now, she wasn't alone any more. Fiyero was with her. He'd searched for her and he'd said goodbye to all he knew, and he'd come with her. She wasn't alone any more and she was loved.

And this was the price she paid for that.

She set her broom back down and he eyed her, warily and carefully, not willing to get his hopes up.

She dropped her bag on the floor and walked over to him. She took his hand and brought it to her face, kissed his fingertips and watched his face change, his heart so openly displayed there.

"Not too long."

He nodded and wrapped her in his arms. She buried her face in his chest and thought that maybe she'd make it.

She didn't.

She didn't want to hurt him, but what she wanted didn't matter. She had to go. Knowing that the Wizard, that Morrible, were still the ones in power, using everything they had to keep it that way. it kept her from sleep.

She'd fought for the Animals and their rights, that's how it had started. But now, it was about more than that. Nessa's death, Glinda's betrayal, Fiyero...

That stupid letter, no matter the intentions with which it had been sent...she knew that letter wasn't what she was so enraged about. It was just what had set her off.

So many things had happened lately, too many things, that had distracted her from what she'd been doing until Fiyero had come back into her life. And then Nessa had died, and she'd fought with Glinda...and then that spell...

But her fight against the Wizard, even when fought in hiding and underground, had been what her life had revolved around. And that had never stopped.

Fiyero's presence in her life, her relationship with him ( because she could no longer deny that that's what it was...or would be...or had been..), it had changed her. It had changed her life. But it hadn't changed the world. It hadn't changed the Wizard. And it hadn't changed what needed changing.

This letter had just reminded her of that. In that respect, she supposed, it was good that it had come.

She still had things to do. Things she needed to do. Even if there were other things she wanted now, too.

But it was harder than she'd expected. And she hadn't expected it to be easy. Lying next to him in bed, listening to his deep breathing, knowing that she wouldn't sleep a single night if she didn't at least try to attempt this, but also knowing that she wouldn't be able to look Fiyero in the eye and tell him that she couldn't keep her promise, she'd come to only one possible conclusion; she had to leave immediately.

But now that she was about to...now that she was standing by the bed, looking down at his sleeping form, she could feel the strings that tethered her to him holding her back. Pulling her towards him. She had roots now, in a way. A home.

Those were things she'd never had before and it had made her life as a fugitive, as a resistance member, as a Witch, easier.

Now...

It was so much harder than she'd anticipated. She'd spent so much time thinking what it would do to him, that she'd glossed over what it would do to her. She hadn't expected this. To be honest, she'd still underestimated the hold he had on her. The power her love for him had over her.

She needed to go, she knew that as surely as she knew that she didn't want to go. She hadn't foreseen, though, that want could be stronger than need. But it was. She was being pulled in two directions. She had to be true to herself, she had to go and fight this fight. It had made her who she was, it had been what she'd lived for the past three years. But as she stood by the bed, looking down at him, she comprehended, maybe for the first time, what it meant to love someone so much you were willing to give up all that had come before.

He looked so beautiful and so perfect and so peaceful. How he could sleep so peacefully after everything that had happened, she'd never understand.

"I'm so sorry, Fiyero. I don't deserve you. I never did. I'm sorry."

She let her face hover ever so close to his but she didn't touch him.

"I love you. I'm sorry."

And with those words, she was gone.

It wasn't until NastElilBugger's latest chapter that I realized some of the similarities between her story and mine. I can guarantee you all it wasn't intentional. Skin Deep has been pretty much finished for a while now but maybe she inspired me without me noticing ;)

In any case; she knows all about it and is awesome. If are among the few that hasn't read The Aberration. Go now! It's mesmerizing.

As for this story...Just a few more chapters...:)

Review, please, if you have the time. I would appreciate it very much!