The first thing Elphaba saw when she opened her eyes was a fuzzy greyish figure leaning over her. Boq? When the haze cleared a little, she realized it was Boq. "Boq...?"

"Elphaba," he sighed. "What happened to you?"

"The last thing I remember is ordering a soda," she murmured, feeling her head start to throb. "And being carried, but it was bright. But I remember..." It was fuzzy. She felt like she'd gotten married to Fiyero the night before, but that was wrong, she knew it was. "Did I get married?"

Boq's eyes widened. "Not that I know of," he said, looking nervous. "Why do you say that?"

"I feel like Fiyero carried me through a doorway," she chuckled, shaking her head.

Boq's face fell. "He did. But..." He took a deep breath. "It's not good, Elphaba."

She sat up, concerned. "What? What happened?"

"It's Fiyero..." Boq said, not sure how to phrase it. "He uh... Last night, you ended up in one of those rooms."

Elphaba's voice was low. "What?"

"We're not sure how. Kers was in there, too, but... I don't want to talk about that. The point is, I guess you were up. I mean, you were picked. They... Oh, Elphie, I can't."

"You can," Elphaba growled. "Tell me, Boq."

"When we got there, you were tied to the slab in the middle of the room, and a man was undoing your dress." Boq rushed on as fast as he could. "Fiyero ran up there and untied you, carried you down..."

"Thank Oz," she sighed.

"Elphaba." She just looked at him, waiting, knowing from his tone of voice that there was more. "He traded. Fiyero took your place. He got home late last night. I went to his dorm to wait for him, and he was in rough shape. He wouldn't tell me what had happened, so I'm not exactly sure. But he was in trouble for doing it." Elphaba staggered out of bed, reckless and panicked. "Elphaba, get back in bed. We don't know what you had, you've been out cold for hours -"

"Fiyero," was all she could say, as she smashed her feet into her boots and pulled a coat on.

He was shirtless in bed, on his stomach, with the blankets down around his waist, obviously to avoid any unecessary weight on his back. Elphaba gasped at the sight of the bruises, feeling tears well up in her eyes. His face was bruised, too, on his cheek bone underneath the bottom outside corner of his eye, and she could see rope burns on his wrists. "Fiyero," she whispered. "Fiyero, I'm so sorry..."

He stirred, then jumped up, panicked, before realizing it was Elphaba. "Fae," he breathed, trying to sit up. "Are you -"

"Shh," she said, sitting on his bed and gently pressing an unbruised section of his shoulder so he would lie back down. "Oh, Fiyero." Her words were barely audible, and choked with the tears she was trying not to cry. It wouldn't help him to see her cry, she knew. "What can I do?"

He tugged her so that she was lying next to him, facing him, and stroked her cheek. "Are you okay?"

"Of course, but I'm -"

"Then that's all I need," he sighed, closing his eyes.

She shook her head. "Fiyero, you shouldn't have -"

"Don't say that," he commanded. "Fae, it was either you or me, and it wasn't going to be you." He sighed. "It really wasn't so bad," he promised. "It could have been a lot worse, really."

"What... what happened?"

"Well there were two other people up there, and they... pleasured each other. Only the physical harm to me was what they liked, really. Which makes me shudder to think what they would have done to you. I mean... it was humiliating, and I had to... I had to embarass myself, but I wasn't... violated, or anything." He didn't want to go into any more detail, and she didn't want to press for any. "I'm going to kill Curse," he said, his voice bitter. "As soon as I'm half better. And when I'm full better, I'll beat the tar out of Avaric, too, just because I suspect he had something to do with it. But, like I said, I need more recovery time for Avaric. He's no more of a man than that bastard you're dating, but he's tough. They're little boys, but I need some time to heal..."

"Kers and Avaric didn't -"

"They did, Elphaba. I'm not saying they're the ones who rendered you unconscious, because I can't make that accusation. But they should have been looking out for you. Kers should have been looking out for you, and he was just sitting there. I'm sure he was afraid, the rules were set and that place is insane, but you're worth too much to just sit back and not at least try to save you." He wriggled closer to her and tucked his face next to hers. "I shouldn't have to follow your boyfriend around making sure you're not getting raped at some club. I'll gladly do it, because I love you, but you need to think about him a little, Fae."

She sighed, knowing he was right, but also wondering if he wasn't being too hard on Kers. Kers wasn't like Fiyero, he wasn't brave like him, and wasn't used to getting his way. If you went into one of those rooms, you got whatever was coming to you, and everyone knew it. Kers would never have had the courage to speak up, nor the ingrained idea that things would go as he wanted them if he did. The only thing that upset her was that she wasn't sure how alert she'd been, but if she seemed a little foggy, he should have known better than to lead her in there. Kers' lack of action in the room was regrettable, but she could understand it. It was that he'd let her in there in the first place... That was not alright with her.

The bluntness of Fiyero's words - "making sure you're not getting raped at some club" - struck a chord. Rape. She would've been, no doubt, had he not stepped in. Her sexual inexperience plagued her, though being raped could hardly have counted as gaining experience. She'd spent the last few months cursing her virginity, but now, she was suddenly so grateful for it. "I never thought I'd be so happy to still be innocent," she murmured.

Fiyero opened his good eye and studied her. "I thought you and Kers...?"

"No," she said, surprised. "No, not even close!" She flushed. "It's hard for me, to let someone touch me. You know that. I've only known him a couple months, and... You know you're the only person I trust." She shrugged slightly, hoping he didn't think she was implying anything by that. Why was she so uncomfortable with him, worried about what he was thinking? Then, she realized. "We haven't talked like this in a long time."

He sighed. "I know, I've missed you terribly." He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him, nuzzling her face with his nose. "We used to sneak off together, we used to laugh at Galinda's antics or Boq's shyness, we used to... We were a team, Elphie. And now..." His facial expression revealed his sadness. "I miss it. I miss it every day."

"Then we should spend more time," she said, wondering now how it had gotten this bad. "We'll make a point of it." She paused. "I want to hug you back, but I'm afraid of hurting you."

He pulled her even closer to him, fiercely. "All I'll feel is our friendship." She tentatively lifted her arm and then placed it around his waist, her hand resting softly on his back. He winced a little, but trapped her arm under his before she could pull it away. "Feels perfect," he murmured, drifting back to sleep.

She nodded, and let herself drift, too.

AN: The song in the chapter before this was "À La Claire Fontaine" - the Vinkan is actually phonetic French ("Il y a longtemps que je t'aime, jamais je ne t'oublierai") with strange spelling, and the translation is accurate. I didn't want to write an AN after THAT chapter, because the ending was so... intense. Anyway, the version I love is the one from The Painted Veil - Score by Alexandre Desplat. FIND IT AND LISTEN. Very beautiful.