A/N: A thank you to all reviewers! I was so happy that i got so distracted that I climbed to the roof of the hotel.
The Wickedrae: I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT but let's just say, thanks :]
The reader would have now realized that the Scarecrow was in fact Fiyero (If not, you're probably in the wrong fandom here), and so, let us journey into the depths of his conscience, for his opinions and intentions. He'd joined the company of Dorothy and her yapping terrier Toto in gratitude of her help getting him off the blasted pole. He'd done nothing but hang there thinking of Elphaba, replaying the moment she'd left him to face the music alone. He remembered the look in her eye when they had locked, the emptiness and nonchalance that hung in those cerulean blue orbs. He didn't understand the change in her. No matter, he left those questions to Glinda, should he ever got off the pole. He'd seen bright lights flashing through the sky before he arrived, and that was in fact why he'd decided to see if she was alright.
All that thinking was starting to make his head ache, so he was truly grateful when Dorothy had shown up, offered him a chance to journey with him to the Emerald City. He'd expected the singing, with all her jolly mood despite being in a foreign world with directions Glinda had given. However, he hadn't expected to meet Elphaba halfway to the Emerald City, and he hadn't at all anticipated her fiery attack. Something was off about her. He couldn't place a finger on it, but there was something different about the way she carried herself. There was a delirious air around her during that encounter.
Fiyero (we shall henceforth call him by no other name) naturally walked quite unsteadily, having no bone support in his straw body. Who'd taken his whole body and replaced it with straw, he highly suspected Elphaba, being the most powerful witch he'd known. But why turn him into a scarecrow, and then torment him with threats to his weakness? There was definitely more than what met the eye.
Glinda was in the Emerald City. Perhaps, when he reached the city he could confide with the Good Witch and see if she knew something he didn't.
That was, if they reached the city in one piece.
"Let's see, gentlemen, how far you dare go!"
The Witch's words rang out in his head, and they were now the main reason why he walked unsteadily. They were the reason Dorothy clung to him like a scared five year old, the reason why the Tin Man was so determined to get to the Emerald City. Elphaba had never sounded more...deranged before. In fact, she had sounded completely unhinged.
Great, now she truly was a vegetable.
He glanced over at the new companions who walked beside him. The Tin man, who walked with an upright air of arrogance, and the Cowardly Lion, who walked with a trembling air of cowardice. Fiyero couldn't deny his recognition of the Lion, being the exact same Cub he'd rescued with Elphaba. The cause of the moment they spent later taking in each other, the moment sparks first flew. The Lion showed no sign of recognizing him, but Fiyero still felt unsettled by the Animal's presence and the memories he brought, of those times long ago.
It seemed so long ago, how young and innocent they were. And now Elphaba was a number one public enemy hurling balls at him and he was accompanying her so-called arch-nemesis to see the very man he'd betrayed.
The Emerald City loomed over them in an array of glimmering green. A collective gasp escaped from the group, though Fiyero's was a nervous hitch in the throat. All the green reminded him of Elphaba, her long gangly green arms caressing him lovingly beneath the moonless sky, her green face turning a darker shade of emerald each time she blushed. Where had that Elphaba gone?
Then suddenly, Dorothy collapsed.
It all happened in a blur. She fell to the ground, the red poppies below her cushioning her fall. The Cowardly Lion cried out in fear. "It's the Witch! This can only be her witchery!" He began to hyperventilate in his panic, and soon, he too, collapsed. The Tin man stood frozen, and thinking them dead, began to sob, rusting his hinges badly and immobilizing him once more. Hell and damnation! The Tin man, who'd been so strong just a few moments ago, was sent into despair because of the Witch's magic? Perhaps Fiyero had underestimated her abilities after all.
He rushed to Dorothy's side, heaving a sigh of relief as he saw her chest rise up and down. She seemed almost peaceful, as if she were...sleeping.
Then a cackle echoed through the air, piercing through his thoughts and chilling him to the b - straw. Why?
"Oh my, the Tin man defeated all because his friends fell prey to poppies," she mocked, and Fiyero narrowed his eyes. So she'd enchanted the poppies. "Don't look so surprised, Scarecrow, red is naturally the color of desire, it draws people to it, just as her shoes are doing to me!" She let out another cackle, her hair whipping in the wind, giving her a crazed look that seemed to match her mind. She began to descend, Fiyero backing away slightly as the green witch neared the condemned group.
Yet, she never reached them, for a shill shriek pierced the air.
"Release them, you witch!"
Fiyero never thought he'd be so happy to see the blonde. Glinda sailed down in that ridiculous pink bubble of hers, an angry determination crossing her face. She muttered a spell under her breath, and almost immediately Dorothy's eyes fluttered open, as did the Lion stumble to his feet. They wasted no time oiling the Tin man, but neither did the Witch in expressing her fury.
"You have no business here Glinda," she growled. "You had no right to interfere!" She sent a jet of flame at the Good Witch, who, now prepared for the attacks, countered it with a less explosive blast of magic.
"I have every right!" she retorted, dodging yet another attack from the She motioned to Fiyero to get the company away to within the safety of the walls of the Emerald City, who obliged, dragging a shivering Lion, a petrified Dorothy and a swearing Tin man to the city gates with . "This is my territory," she continued, faltering slightly as she spoke, "and as long as my blood runs in my veins, you will not set foot in that city."
"Then, my sweet, I will bleed you dry if it means getting what i want." The Witch's very tone not only snapped her back to the dangers of her current situation, but also made Glinda's blood run cold. All courage she'd shown a few moments ago fled her. "And I always get what I want."
"Y-you're a vampire too?" she squeaked out of her silliness. As of now, her mind was anything but straight. She no longer saw her best friend - she saw a cold, heartless murderer.
The Witch raised an eyebrow. "Worse than one," she replied. "Hell would not take vampires, but hell would gladly accept me."
Glinda felt herself begin to tremble. Come on, Glinda, pull it together, don't be so...pathetic.
"Don't worry, my pretty, I'll spare your meager little life today." Any other day, Glinda would've slapped whoever called her life small and worthless, but this wasn't any other day.
The Witch stared off into the distance, her eyes filling with livid fury as the company made it past the city gates. Her mission had failed. She'd have to get them next time, when the brat Glinda was not around to interfere.
"You," she said, jabbing a spindly green finger at Glinda, "will rue this day, the day you decided to cross my path. I'll let you off this time...again - " disgust was evident in her voice, but at whom? - "and next time i see that pretty face of yours..." She left her threat hanging in the air as she cackled her way into the skies above, leaving Glinda to her jumbled up mind and mixture of possible reactions to her friend's strange transformation.
Elphie...what happened to you?
"Glinda, we need to talk."
"It's Lady Glinda to you, and - " Glinda halted as she looked up from her papers, her gaze falling on where Fiyero now stood at the doorway. "Scarcrow," she greeted, nodding her head politely. "I daresay you had a fabulous audience with the Wizard?"
"Don't even bring up that preposterous man, Glinda," Fiyero growled. The Wizard was the last person he wanted to talk about now, especially after the task he'd been given...no, he couldn't let Glinda know; it would break her heart. Or wouldn't it?
"Lady Glinda," Glinda corrected, oblivious to the fact that Fiyero cared nothing of titles at the moment. "And how do you know the Wizard is a man?"
A lump of panic formed in his throat. Was he ready to reveal his identity to Glinda? He would need to eventually, if he were to help Elphaba.
"I...I used to work for him," he spluttered out finally.
"Is that so?" Glinda's eyebrows were now creeping up her forehead. "Only the Captain of the Guard knows such confidential details." Her tone was getting suspicious. Fiyero cursed at himself for dropping such a huge hint. There was no going back now.
"I was the Captain of the Guard once," he admitted.
Glinda's eyes widened as she observed Fiyero for a moment. "You...a Scarecrow?"
Fiyero barely prevented his forehead from meeting the door. "Ozdammit, Galinda, this conversation isn't supposed to be about me - "
"What did you just call me?" Fiyero spun to face the blonde, whose jaw looked like it could hit the ground.
Bloody hell.
"I...uh..."
"You called me Galinda." The blonde arose from her seat, stepping slowly towards Fiyero. "Only schoolmates from my college years know that name, and you can't be the last Captain of the Guard, whom I went to school with...he's de - " Suddenly she stopped. If her eyes could get any bigger, they just did. Her jaw hung open so hugely until Fiyero swore he could see down her larynx.
"F-f-fi-fiyero?!"
And then she collapsed.
Fiyero could only stand there, staring at her unconscious form, unable to help the imminent feeling of deja vu.
