For disclaimer and other stuff, see part 1 and thank you for the reviews to XxXxIcePrincessXxXx and TillIlltryIllneverknow.
Chapter 16
In the evening, Fiyero had to get back to the Palace and the life he lived with Glinda. He wished he could stay with Elphaba and talk to her. There were a lot of things he wanted to ask her, the most important one being about Tanith. But for the moment, he would have to settle with go back to the Palace and find out where Morrible was hiding the girl. He had to save her for Elphaba.
His mother stayed with Elphaba. And for the first time since being with Fiyero, Elphaba felt as if someone cared for her and wasn't afraid of who she was.
"Why aren't you afraid of me?" Elphaba asked.
"Why should I?"
"Because I am the Wicked Witch of the West," Elphaba answered.
Kaikoura laughed.
"Dearie, you may be a Witch, as you call yourself, but I don't believe the evil things the Press Secretary has told the Ozians. I remember the letters my son wrote home during his time at Shiz telling me about the green goddess he had met."
Green Goddess? Elphaba remembered a time, years ago, when they had been back at Shiz.
Elphaba stood in front of the window in Fiyero's dorm room. Fiyero stood right behind her. It was dark both out and in the room; only the moonlight was illuminating part of the room.
She closed her eyes at the sensation of Fiyero's tender kisses on the back of her neck, memories of earlier that night resurfacing and causing her to duck her head.
"You are beautiful, my little green goddess."
"I am not," she said.
"To me you are. You're my beautiful green goddess. I don't care what the others say or think."
The memories of her past with Fiyero were wonderful but they didn't keep her warm at night. Finally she had been able to close that chapter of her life only to have him entered her life again.
Elphaba felt confused.
"What is going to happen to me?" she asked Fiyero's mother.
"Fiyero hasn't told you?"
"He said that I will go to the Vinkus," Elphaba answered.
Kaikoura sighed. She knew her son. She knew that he would try to force Elphaba to do what he wanted. She remembered a day long ago when he had returned home. Fiyero had been disturbed that his girlfriend had left him. He had told his mother that he wanted to keep her safe.
"Mother, I love her and now she is off fighting for whatever she believes in. I know that they will try to kill her. I have begged her to stay with me and go into hiding. We could keep her safe here, in the Vinkus," Fiyero told his mother.
"She must be a remarkable woman, your Elphaba."
"She is, but right now she is doing something foolish."
"She chose to stand up for her beliefs."
Kaikoura knew what her son meant. She had read all the letters he wrote home. She could read between the lines and knew that he envisioned a happily-ever-after with a girl she had never met but was now bringing uproar to OZ.
"Fiyero wants to keep you safe. In the Vinkus you will be safe. You need a lot of rest to regain your strength. We are here to help you," Kaikoura answered.
"I never had help and I don't want help, especially not his," Elphaba whispered.
It seemed to Kaikoura that Elphaba tried very hard to not let Fiyero get close to her again, but being a woman, one who loved deeply, Kaikoura presumed that there must have been a time in her life when Elphaba had longed for Fiyero to be there for her. She could only assume that Elphaba had closed her heart of all emotion, especially hope, and couldn't let herself to feel again. She couldn't let herself get hurt again.