AN: Yes, I get it. Sad, sweet, please don't kill Elphaba. I'll just say that I'm not going to make any promises *smirk*.
Musicgal3: ...like I said, no promises :3. But kudos for pointing out my favourite lines again :D.
Just want to say again how much I appreciate all your votes in the Greg Awards! You had me squealing and grinning like an idiot ^_^.
You won't like me after this chapter, but let's be honest - what else is new? :P
Chapter 8. Discovered
They spent a lot of time with the two girls, all of them crying and hugging each other, and explaining things; and by the time Fiyero and Elphaba left, she felt exhausted from all the emotions.
She leant against him and he wrapped his arm around her, squeezing her softly. "You okay?"
She shrugged listlessly. "I guess." She heaved a sigh. "At least now they know… that I'm still here. And it's good to know that I said goodbye, just in case something happens, but…"
She trailed off, but it didn't matter – Fiyero understood what she meant. He planted a soft kiss on the top of her head. "I love you, Fae."
She smiled faintly. "I love you, too."
He stopped and cupped her face with his hands, making her look up at him. "You'll be alright," he said softly, brushing some stray strands of hair away from her face. "You're the strongest person I know, Elphaba. You'll get through this. We will get through this. Together."
Before she could say anything, his one hand travelled to the back of her head, tangling in her long, raven hair, as he leant forward and pressed his lips against hers. Her eyes closed almost as if they had a will of their own and she wound her arms around his neck, pressing herself closer against him as he deepened the kiss.
"Tiggular?" a stunned voice suddenly broke their moment. "What in the name of Oz are you doing?!"
Elphaba tensed, but when she saw that it was Avaric, her eyes narrowed. She advanced on him, but Fiyero held her back.
"He's drunk," he whispered. A smirk tugged at the edges of his mouth. "Let's have some fun with him."
Elphaba sniggered.
"What I'm doing?" Fiyero asked casually, placing one arm around Elphaba's shoulders. "I'm kissing my invisible girlfriend."
Avaric spluttered. "You… She… What…"
"Yeah, I got tired of all those regular girls," Fiyero said casually. "So I found myself someone more… special." He looked at Elphaba and realised that wasn't even a lie. Of course if he said that aloud she would assume he called her 'special' because of her skin, which was why he didn't say it; but she was special. She was so much more special than any of the brainless bimbos from his past had ever been.
Avaric took another swing from the bottle he was carrying, shaking his head all the while. "Tiggular's lost it," he slurred. "Invisible girlfriend… Bet'cha it's the Artichoke's ghost. Booooooo. Hey, Artichoke… D'you wanna bet, too? How long do you still think you'll be in that coma? You can't bet on the other thing, because I guess you know how you died and that wouldn't be fair. No, no, not fair…"
"Uh-oh. Now you've pissed her off," Fiyero grinned, just as Elphaba stomped over towards the obnoxious boy and grabbed his hair, yanking his head back.
Avaric yelped and tried to get away, but Elphaba grabbed his shirt and stopped him. The boy's eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he suddenly found himself punched in the stomach by… nothing.
She pushed him down onto the floor and held him there with one foot on his back. She cast a glance back at Fiyero. "May I?"
"Of course," he said. "Go ahead."
"What?" Avaric spluttered, but a kick against his arm cut him off. "Ouch! Would you stop that!"
"No," Elphaba said, pushing him down again with her foot.
"I'm serious, Avaric," Fiyero said, moving closer to the other boy. "End the pool now and stop saying such things about her. You don't do that when someone is in a coma."
Avaric huffed. "Fine, fine, just… tell your creepy invisible Artichoke to get off me!"
She bristled, but did move away. Fiyero, however, pulled Avaric up again and punched his jaw.
"Don't ever call her that again," he hissed.
Then he wrapped an arm around Elphaba's waist and they quickly hurried off.
She leant her head against his shoulder. "Thanks for defending me."
He pressed his lips to her hair. "Always. Anytime."
Behind them, they heard some chattering girls and Madame Morrible's voice, and then Avaric. "It was Fiyero's invisible girlfriend! The Artichoke's ghost! She tried to kill me!"
The girls burst all out in giggles and they heard Morrible's disapproving voice. "Are you drunk, Master Avaric?"
Avaric muttered something and Fiyero grinned at Elphaba. "No-one believes him."
"Good." Elphaba chuckled and tugged at his arm. "Let's get out of here, though, before they can blame it all on you."
"Wait a clock-tick," Fiyero said, frowning. "You said Morrible is working with the Wizard. Why is she still Headshiztress, then?"
Elphaba shrugged. "I suppose she's not working for the Wizard," she said. "If that was the case, we would have heard about it. She's probably just helping him with his evil plans."
Fiyero nodded. "Well… maybe we can find out about their further plans," he suggested. "I mean… sneak into her office, or something."
Elphaba's eyes started shining. "Fiyero, that's a brilliant idea!" she exclaimed, hugging him quickly.
He grinned at her. "I have my moments." He put his arm around her shoulders. "You'd better do that at night," he said. "When she's asleep and can't walk in on you. Not that she'd see you, but still."
Elphaba nodded. "I'll do it tonight. What do you want to do now, then?"
They ended up going back to Fiyero's dorm room, unsure of where else to go – it was a Saturday after all, so there were no classes. They had barely closed the door behind them, however, before Boq stormed in.
"Fiyero!" he yelled. "Have you heard?" He waved a newspaper in Fiyero's face. "The Wizard! The Wonderful Wizard has left Oz!"
Elphaba sucked in her breath and Fiyero stared at Boq, baffled. "Really?"
"I didn't think he was being serious," Elphaba whispered. "But he was! He's really leaving!"
Boq showed Fiyero the front page of the paper. It went on and on about the Wizard, how the strains of Wizardship have been too much for him and he's taking an indefinite leave of absence. There were all kinds of speculations about the reason why – he's been getting death threats, he misses his own world, he's in love and wants to build a life with his family… and the real reason – the ghost of a past Ozma has been haunting him and he is fleeing the country.
Boq whistled. "They're brave, to print something like that. Normally when someone so much as breathes a word about the Wizard being scared, or wrong, or a coward, that person is immediately chased down by angry mobs."
"Yes, well, with the Wizard gone, it doesn't matter what people say about him anymore," Fiyero pointed out. "Who's taking over?"
Boq shrugged. "Doesn't say. Some high officials, I bet. I believe your parents, Fiyero, and all the other leaders of Oz's provinces are getting together to arrange some things. Nessa said her father is going to pass by Shiz on his way to the City."
Elphaba froze, though Fiyero couldn't exactly pinpoint why. He cast a glance in her direction, but couldn't read the expression on her face.
"Anyway, I just wanted to show you." Boq took the newspaper back and folded it, tucking it under his arm. "I'm going to check on Nessa." He walked to the door, then hesitated and turned again. "Is there… any news?"
"On Elphaba's condition?" Fiyero translated. He shook his head. "No."
Boq nodded solemnly, then slipped out the door.
"He's actually kind of adorable when he's like that," Elphaba commented. "You know, all awkward around Nessa and Galinda crying and clearly uncomfortable whenever my condition is brought up in conversation, but it's clear he cares."
"He does," Fiyero agreed quietly, gaze still trained on the door. Then he shook his head and turned around. "So what happened when Boq mentioned that meeting of all the leaders of the provinces of Oz? I could almost feel the tension radiating off of you."
Elphaba bit her lip, her face suddenly worried. "Not the meeting," she said. "The fact that Father is going to stop by on his way to the City."
Fiyero looked confused. "I'm assuming he just wants to see Nessa…"
"Probably," Elphaba agreed. "But… what if he signs those papers, Fiyero? What if he goes to the hospital and the doctors tell him I haven't improved, and he decides to turn off my life support because I'm costing him too much money?"
Fiyero paled.
The dark-haired girl sighed and sat down on the couch, drawing her knees to her chest. "I wish I was back in my body."
Fiyero sighed and went to sit next to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. "I do, too, green girl. But you'll get there. Eventually. And in the meantime, we're going to do anything it takes to keep Frex from signing those papers. If he even wants to sign them in the first place," he reminded her. "You don't know that for sure. I'm sure Nessa wouldn't want him to – especially not now that she knows your spirit is still here - and don't you think your father would listen to her?"
"Maybe," Elphaba said reluctantly. "But, Yero, we're talking about my father here. The man that cleared out my room within a few days of hearing about me being in a coma. He doesn't care one twig whether I live or die."
Fiyero's grip on her tightened. She looked up at him.
"It doesn't bother me, Yero," she said gently. "Not anymore. I know how he feels about me and I'm okay with that."
He shook his head furiously. "How can you be okay with your own father hating you?!" he demanded incredulously, but she just shrugged.
"It's what I've always known," she said. "I wouldn't know what it's like to have a father that loves me. This is all I've ever known, Fiyero. I'm used to it."
He stayed quiet for a moment. Then he asked, "Do you hate him, too?"
She took a few moments to contemplate that, mulling it over in her head, before she replied. "No."
Fiyero looked at her, surprised.
"Because no matter what he's done to me, no matter how little he cares…" Elphaba sighed. "He's still my father. And he adores Nessa, just like I do. He's good to her. She loves him. That's reason enough for me not to hate him."
"It's frustrating," he mumbled, resting his chin on top of her head. "To hear you say such things. To hear you telling me that you don't hate the man that made your life miserable, the man that might kill you, because he treats your sister like a princess."
"She deserves to be treated like that," Elphaba began, but Fiyero cut her off.
"And you don't?"
She remained silent.
He sighed and tightened his hold on her even further. "You do," he said, kissing the top of her head. "And you will be, Fae, I promise… if you let me. And…" He sighed again. "No matter how frustrating I find it to hear that you still place your sister's needs before your own… it's also one of the reasons I love you so much," he admitted. "Because… because you're selfless and compassionate, and caring and protective… you don't let people in very easily; but when you do, you give them your all – the way you do with Nessa, or Galinda. You would kill for them. You would die for them. You're so passionate about everything and I love that about you."
"I would do that for you, too, you know," she said softly, pulling away slightly to look up at him. "I love you, too. More than you'll ever know, and… I would do anything for you."
He responded by leaning down and capturing her lips, and she closed her eyes and melted into his arms. She could never get enough of kissing him. She loved the feeling of his arms around her, the way he smelt, the way his hand tangled in her long, raven hair as he pulled her even closer, the feeling of his lips on hers. She could keep doing this forever.
She wished she could have that chance.
"I know it's you, Miss Elphaba."
Elphaba froze in the middle of her movements. She was in the Throne Room again – the new one, since she had accidentally burnt the old one down. The Wizard had left Oz, but Morrible was still there; and Elphaba had been planning on changing that.
She had searched through Morrible's things the night before; but the old hag's office hadn't provided any clues as to what Morrible's plans for the future were or how Elphaba could chase her away, and so the green girl had decided to return to the Palace to see if she could do more around here. She had known Morrible would be here – it was a Sunday and Morrible never spent a single Sunday at Shiz.
Elphaba slowly turned around. Morrible was standing there, calmly and patiently staring ahead of her. "I never believed you were a dead Ozma in the first place," she said. "But I couldn't figure out your identity… until that fool of a Tenmeadows started rambling about 'Fiyero's invisible girlfriend, the Artichoke's ghost'. Then it all made sense."
Elphaba swore. Avaric. She suddenly regretted what she and Fiyero had done the previous morning – messing around with Avaric like that. She had given herself away to Morrible now.
"I'm going to tell you what I think happened, Miss Elphaba," Morrible continued. "I think you came here for one reason or another and overheard a conversation between His Ozness and me. You found out about the things we're doing to Oz, to the Animals, and you decided to turn against us. Am I right?"
Elphaba, figuring it was no use lying to Morrible when she already knew the truth, found herself a paper and a pencil and wrote, What you were doing was wrong.
Morrible smirked. "Ah, yes, dearie. It was. It is. Because you can't stop me."
Why?
"Because Oz needs a scapegoat," Morrible said simply. "With the Ozians looking at the Animals as the cause of all their problems, I can continue to rule Oz the way I want to… and I will not let some snotty little student get in my way," she hissed. "You were supposed to help us, Miss Elphaba. You were supposed to come here in all your magical glory and the Wizard would hire you as his Grand Vizier, and your magic could help us rule Oz in ways we never could before!"
Elphaba was fuming. I would never help you with that!
"I see that now." Morrible turned around. "Clearly I underestimated your sense of justice, Miss Elphaba. I thought the promise of a prominent position in the government and all of Oz loving you despite your skin colour would be enough to sway you, but it seems like I was wrong. I'm very sorry to say this, dearie, but now that you know, I'm afraid you're going to have to be eliminated."
Elphaba's eyes widened. You wouldn't.
"I've done it before, and I'd do it again," Morrible said. "It shouldn't be too hard, either. After all, you're in a coma. It's not like you can fight back… nor will anyone be surprised if you die." She smirked and walked towards the door. "Time to say goodbye, dearie."
Elphaba just stood there, frozen in place as Morrible cackled and left the room.
