I hope to pass 100 reviews with this update. I've never, ever had a story that broke that boundary, so this is very exciting :) I require all of your help this time! You all must review and tell me what you think! While that doesn't logically match since I'm only three away from 100, I'll be honest and admit if I can get 13 reviews for this small chapter it'll put me at an average of 10 reviews per chapter, and that is a really, really cool concept.
It seems that many of you enjoyed that last chapter in particular. If that was the case for you personally, rejoice!, for this relatively tiny chapter was the true conclusion to the last one. I broke up it after I realized that they both stood well on their own. I think you'll enjoy this; it's certainly one of my favorite parts. But then again, I've realized how much I love writing Fiyero so I might just be biased by his involvement. Glinda's back in this chapter, yay! With that in mind, you can expect rainbows and glitter and happy endings, right? :)
After a few staircases Elphaba felt herself growing evermore weak, but that was the last thing she wanted Fiyero to worry about as they tried to escape with their lives. There was more than one occasion in which they nearly took a path but found it blocked by a sentry, and every time they did so Elphaba pulled him hastily back and he would point out another direction to run, so soon they had multiple confused guards chasing them.
"Are you limping?" he exclaimed as they slid around a corner, but she ignored him and flew through an adjacent hallway, forcing the door shut and locked behind them after they cleared it, delaying the few men on their tails. "Do you even know where you're going?"
Undoubtedly she didn't, because she was heading in a direction they most definitely did not want to go. But she kept feigning deafness as he tried shouting instructions to her for the safest route out and zigzagged in and out through doorways he kept instructing her not to pass through.
As they burst out into the familiar open courtyard outside the Wizard's grand entry, Fiyero was positive she led them to their doom.
And they say men are terrible with directions.
Elphaba skidded to a halt as dozens of eyes turned to gape at them, and Fiyero nearly bowled over her. She caught him and held him unreasonably tight by his upper arm as the Gale Officers guarding the Wizard's square began approaching them warily.
"Surround them! Don't let them get away!" they shouted to one another.
Fiyero didn't get frightened often, but to be completely honest he was scared out of his goddamn mind and he was quite sure it showed. While they were able to physically overcome a small number of men down in the cramped dungeon, the ten or so guards circling them in the wide plaza would be much more challenging, if not completely impossible, especially if they were both as injured and exhausted as he reckoned. In addition, there were numerous civilians working, shopping or sightseeing nearby the Wizard's southern entrance and they would all be put in danger if violence erupted. What's more, Elphaba would risk exposing herself, which in turn would probably sentence her to death on the spot if she did anything foolish.
"Long live the Wicked Witch!" she suddenly cried out brashly in a voice not her own, startling everyone who stood in her midst including Fiyero. "Long live the Witch of the West!"
So much for not doing anything foolish.
She was right about one thing above all in the end, he thought to himself: she was a commotion.
"What's going on out here?" a melodic voice called out, gathering the attention of everyone but the guards, who kept their attention rapt upon the problematic pair.
Fiyero's eyes widened in simultaneous relief and anxiety as he saw the great green doors to the Wizard's throne room open inward and his ex-fiancée glide out. As Glinda surveyed the scene, she gave an elegant gasp, called out his name in sincere surprise and ran forward between the guards. They all seemed to step back to watch, as if they were confident their job was done now Glinda the Good was in charge.
"I demand you release him at once!" Glinda commanded in an unexpectedly strong tone to the hooded figure next to him.
He glanced up fearfully at Elphaba, for it was apparent that Glinda did not recognize her (how could she possibly?), but somehow the dark witch did not seem as afraid as he was. Instead, she wrenched his arm back in defiance, and he blasphemed at the harsh pain and fell on a knee in front of her.
"Glinda…" he moaned plaintively, turning his head to gaze desperately up to her, to make her understand: this is Elphaba. Even though they ended on bad terms, he knew what he told Elphaba that night was true, that she and Glinda would make up and things would be okay…
Well, that was assuming that they didn't kill one another first, and judging by the way they stood staring down the other, he actually found himself dreading the possibility.
"It's okay, Fiyero. You'll be okay," Glinda assured him, flashing her stunning smile briefly at him before returning to her fierce stare. "I told you to release him."
He couldn't remember ever seeing her so composed and, if he had to say it, frightening in her anger before. Glinda was always the sort to stamp her foot or wave a finger when mad in a passive-aggressive, graceful way. But this, he realized, was indeed something she was entirely capable of and with it she had more power than good manners could ever have provided her. Fiyero realized that there was much Glinda had learned from her green friend since their school days.
"Get out of our way," Elphaba demanded in that strange, eerie tone. It gave him shivers down his spine.
"Let him go," Glinda countered. "What do you want with him, anyway?"
"I want to finish what the Witch of the West started, and if it means taking and killing the prince to do it, so be it! She will live on! Long live the Wicked Witch!"
It was days like these that Fiyero just felt plain old dense. He had no idea what was going on or why Elphaba was acting like a crazy person. She twisted his arm back more, pushing him closer to the floor, and he couldn't help a cry as his sore muscles were pulled farther from place.
He didn't even care. He was too busy staring out of the corner of his eye at Glinda, so intense and compelling, and feeling Elphaba's strong fingers through the thin material of his sleeve, squeezing his arm what he desperately hoped to be reassuringly.
"This is your last warning," Glinda said, and Fiyero's eyes widened as she lifted up her wand, aiming it right at them. He writhed and yanked at Elphaba, trying to stand to protect her, step in the way, push her aside, dive free, talk sense to them, anything; but as he tried to jerk away she only held him more firmly.
He felt torn because he felt that something drastic was going to happen any minute and he worried that he would never see one of them again. They were on the brink of mayhem and he found himself imagining possible futures devoid of one or the other. And it broke his heart, this subconscious weighing, measuring and comparing, because he loved them both too much.
He strained as he turned his head around to look up at Elphaba, but as soon as he did he saw her withdraw what looked like a ceremonial knife from her bag, raising it high above her head. Sweet Oz, she was going to stab him.
Why was she chanting under her breath? Weird.
"No!" Glinda shouted, and a unanimous intake of breath echoed in the courtyard as she whirled her wand and flung a shot of dazzling, glowing light at Elphaba. Fiyero was blinded but could feel Elphaba let go of him, dragging her fingertips as though she were falling away, and he looked up and blinked away the light just long enough to witness something that would forever haunt him:
She released a shrieking, echoing wail and vanished in a column of smoke and flame.