Oh. My. Oz. I saw the amount of reviews I got from the earlier chapter and I swore really loudly, much to the amusement of my friends who were with me at the time =D And if you know me, I never swear, so that's pretty epic :D
-greenTARDISgal- gave me avatar honours... I'm so proud :D I promised myself I wouldn't cry... :') hehe! Annnnnd, I wrote this listening to Lucy Durak and Amanda Harrison's version of 'For Good' after being told how awesome it is by –gTg- and it made me cry! Honest! Check it out, its just... wow!
Disclaimer: I need more witty ways to say 'I don't own Wicked' but I can' t think of any :(
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Fiyero leapt out of the carriage at the same time as Avaric's palm collided with the girl's face with a ringing smack!
"Avaric!" he yelled, in disgust and horror, helping the girl up from where she had fallen to. She clung to his arm, shivering, glancing around fearfully, her knotted hair sometimes hitting him in the face. Fiyero couldn't help but notice that her eyes never focused on anything.
"Fae!" a short, young boy pushed through the crowd that had gathered around the scene, running straight to the girl and grabbing her hand. "Fae, oh Fae, its me, Boq," the girl – Fae – let go of Fiyero and reached out to the boy, putting her hand onto his shoulder. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her against him.
"Sorry," he muttered, starting to turn them both, but Avaric grabbed him and pulled them both back.
"She nearly got us all killed," he growled, sticking his finger in Fae's face. To Fiyero's surprise she didn't flinch or recoil from his hand. "She should be arrested, for almost being the cause of death for a prince," his finger swung around to Fiyero who dodged expertly.
"She has a name..." Fae muttered under her breath and Boq gave her a small nudge, indicating for her to be quiet. She fell silent, her eyes gazing up above everyone's heads. When Fiyero tried to see what she was staring to intently at, he saw nothing. He glanced back at her, taking her face in properly.
If she hadn't have been green, she would've been quite lovely looking. No, she was lovely looking, just more... exotic? Her features seemed strangely familiar, like a distant memory from a young age, or a dream. Apart from her eyes. He had never seen eyes like hers, so grey and dull, with what looked like a film of silver glazed over them. And that's when it clicked; she was blind.
At the same time he realised Fae's condition, he also became re-aware that he had drunk a lot of water on the long journey.
"Maybe, if you could give us shelter and food, the charges could be lifted," Fiyero suggested. Avaric gave him a 'what the heck?' glare, but he ignored it, until Boq had agreed and turned away. Only then did he send a 'I really need the loo!' look back in return and Avaric smirked, taking the horses to be fed.
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"I don't want him staying for long," Fae announced when the prince was out of earshot. Boq winced as she hissed in his ear. "Don't you know who he is?"
"Oh... he's not that Prince... from when you were nine?" Boq froze, causing Fae to stumble and grab his shirt to keep balance.
"Yes, and if he recognises me, Nessa and I are in serious trouble!" Fae faltered for a moment, images of that night from six years ago, flashing in her mind. It was odd how she could still see that clearly, but she couldn't even look at Boq who was stood right next to her and see anything apart from black. "That... that thing of a woman might come back for us," she snarled. "I nearly died the first time Boq, I won't... I won't leave her, not Nessie, not like... mother and...." there was no chance of stopping the tears she normally tried to hold back now.
Boq gave her a quick hug, but it didn't do much to help. Fae hadn't taken any comfort through physical contact since her parents had died – not even Nessa's consolations after nightmares gave her much warmth anymore.
"Erm...??" The two realised that Fiyero had caught up to them, and, being taller than them both, was looking down with raised eyebrows. Fae hastily wiped her eyes, stalking uneasily off, until Boq grabbed her wrist and dragged her back in the right direction.
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"That's Yero?" Rose gasped to Fae, who gave her a sharp nudge on the arm, which, due to her lack of sight and Rose's inability to stand, ended up as a prod on the side of her neck. Fiyero looked up in surprise at her gasp, but she had already rearranged her features into a hasty smile, so he lowered his gaze back to the rough wooden 'table' they were all gathered around.
He hadn't realised that when he asked for shelter, that shelter would be an alley in which Boq, Fae and Fae's sister, Rose, huddled in every night.
"What's wrong, your highness?" Fae sneered, unknown resentment clear and lingering in her voice. "Are we not good enough for you?"
"Fae..." Boq muttered, in a tone that really said 'please, please, please shut your gob so you don't blow this'.
A white cat crept into the alley, stalking up to Fae and settling on her lap. Fae scowled at where she must have thought Fiyero was, stroking the cat softly.
"Stop frowning at me, El," Rose snapped, still irritated with her sister for poking her.
"El?" Fiyero's head rose again from staring at his feet.
Rose and Boq exchanged quick horrified glances, and Fae leapt to her feet so suddenly the cat flew from her lap with a screech that seemed to snap them all out of their shock.
"It's an old... er, old name, from when we were little and still had... parents," Rose threw out an explanation wildly.
Fiyero didn't look convinced. "Oh, okay then," he waited till his hosts had settled back down, Fae calling the cat back to her by saying 'Malky, Malky, Miaow, Miaow,' soothingly before he added, "Its just that I once knew a girl who had a little sister who called her El. And Rose reminds me of her. Of course it was around seven years ago – I probably just imagined the resemblance."
"Uh-huh," Rose nodded, nonchalantly, although her breathing audibly hitched for a moment.
"She was called Nessarose," Fiyero continued, watching the two girls try to keep heir faces calm. Boq reached under the table to grasp Rose's hand. "Her sister was called Elphaba. I seem to remember they were both very beautiful – Elphaba especially. I called her Elphie, I think. She was the Governor's daughter, you know, and I met them both at Nessarose's eight birthday party. Very beautiful. Very lovely..."
At ten years old, Fiyero didn't really understand what his mother meant when she told him of how she and his father fell in love. The concept of 'love' confused him – his mother described it as though your heart wanted to escape out of your chest because it started to beat so much. 'Hands touch, eyes meet,' she used to say to him when he asked her to tell him the story. 'Sudden silence, sudden heat,'
Fiyero didn't understand love – until now. It seemed ridiculous that he fell in love so young and with a girl who was a whole year younger than him! What would his friends think? But it was too late to turn back now.
The girl was in the middle of the floor, dancing with the birthday girl, who he had been told was her sister. They didn't really look the same though, other than the fact they were both extremely pretty.
"Why don't you go ask her to dance?" Fiyero snapped out of the trance he hadn't realised he was in as his mother gently pushed him forward. The song had ended and the two sisters were hugging tightly.
"But... she's a girl.." Fiyero protested, although the real reason he refused was because he was too nervous.
After much poking and prodding from his mother he did eventually shyly approach the girls. "Hello," he said, sheepishly.
Nessarose turned first, beaming. She said a quick greeting then was whipped away into the crowd for the next dance by her father. The older sister smiled at him softly.
"Hi," she held out her hand to shake his. "I'm Elphaba. El for short."
"Fiyero," he replied, dumbly. He stretched out his arm to take her hand. As their fingers brushed, electricity ran up and down his arm. Shocked, he glanced at Elphaba's face to see her eyes steadily gazing into his. The whole room seemed to have become silent, as Fiyero felt warmth spread up his arm, winding around his wrist, all generated from her fingers wrapped around his.
Without realising it, Elphaba had moved towards him, and he mirrored her, wrapping an arm around her waist as she placed her hand delicately on his shoulder, fingers intertwining again, as they started to sway to the music that they couldn't even hear.
All of a sudden, with a rush of air, the noise of the party broke through their little world, causing both of them to blush furiously at how close together they were.
"Um," Fiyero, ever full of tact, mumbled. Elphaba laughed slightly. "I think, that, maybe, one day, I should like to... um, kiss, erm, you..."
Elphaba's pale skin turned an even darker shade of red. Boldly, she untangled her hand from his to place both her palms on his shoulders. "I think I should like to kiss you right now," she announced, and gently pressed her lips against his.
It was short, but sweet, as only puppy love can be. It lasted only a second before Elphaba fell back – Fiyero realised that their height difference had made her need to stand on her tiptoes to reach his face – into his arms, which had somehow become looped around her waist. They stood like this for only a moment before Fiyero bent his head and softly kissed her back. Elphaba giggled.
"Will you marry me, Elphaba?" he asked. Elphaba gazed at him in awe.
"We're not old enough yet!" she laughed, shaking her head at him.
"Okay," Fiyero pulled her closer to him. "When we're old enough, will you marry me?" he asked again, his face inches away from hers.
Elphaba suddenly felt breathless, merely nodding in answer to his question. She didn't trust herself to speak. He smiled.
"Good. Thank you, Elphie,"
"...and then, she said-" Fiyero was cut off from his story by a very angry Fae.
"That's quite enough!" she snapped, once again knocking the cat from her lap. Lucky it had nine lives, he thought idly. "We gave you shelter, we gave you food, all we have in fact! We haven't asked for anything in return, and your stories of how the better half lives don't entertain or amuse us! I'll bid you goodnight, sir, and hope you have gone by tomorrow!" she stalked, surprisingly enough in the correct direction. But before she had fully left the alley, she turned back, her expression softer, full of...longing? "That Elphie... she died. With her father and her mother and her sister."
"I know," Fiyero fixed his gaze back to the floor.
"Did you love her?"
Caught off guard, he stared at Fae, who was hovering at the entrance to the alley, her gaze directed slightly above his head. "I... yes," he answered, without much thought.
"I... I think she loved you too," For a moment, Fae's eyes landed straight on his, startling him. "Much, much more than you ever thought..." Then, with a panicked look, as though she had said too much, she fled.
Boq sighed, breaking the silence that had begun to settle. "I'd better go make sure she gets to her bed," he said, kissing Rose softly on the forehead, before leaving her alone with Fiyero.
"I'm sorry... about Fae," she apologised after a moment. She really did look like Nessarose. And Fae's voice, the way she held herself... it all seemed so familiar.
"Its okay," Fiyero rarely spoke about his Elphie, suddenly surprised he ahd told a group of strangers the story of his love. "I'm sorry I talked about-"
"Would you have married her? Elphaba, I mean?" Nessarose cut him off.
"When we were old enough? Definitely." Fiyero answered immediately, no doubts in his mind.
"Do you miss her?" Why was she asking all this? And why was he answering?
"I met Elphie once, kissed her twice and had one proper conversation with her. I wrote to her five times and she replied to the first four. When I inquired why she hadn't answered the fifth letter, I found out that she had died, in a mass murdering at her family home." As Fiyero spoke, he truly realised for the first time how little time he and Elphaba had had together. "I miss her so much it hurts. That's why I pretend not to care. It stops the pain."
"Were you honest, when Fae asked if you loved her?"
"Why are you asking me all these questions?" Fiyero suddenly turned on her.
Rose drew herself up to her full height in her sitting position. Wheeling herself from the table she followed Fae's path to the entrance and exit of the alley. Before she left, she called cryptically over her should "I just like to know if the person my sister loved, loved her too," leaving Fiyero bewildered as night began to fall around him.
Ooh! Plot twist :D
I started writing this chappie a week ago (that's when the above author's not is from) then went to France for a week. So I though, as I made you wait, you deserved a long chapter. So – tadaaa!
I had loads of stuff to say, but I'm so tired I've forgotten it all! I'm well good, I am!