AN: I'm kind of surprised at how many of you guessed what's going on - but then again, some of you probably know how my mind works by now :3.

Something else: the Greg Awards have been up again for a few weeks already, so don't forget to go there and nominate your favourites! (Nominations close and voting starts on 1 December.) Nellytheactress is hosting this year :).

12. When Tragedy Strikes

Fiyero blinked when he realised he knew that voice – and not because it belonged to Avaric. "Boq?"

"Open up, Fiyero," the Munchkin grumbled from the other side of the door. "It's freezing out here. Miss Galinda is getting cold."

"Miss… what?" Fiyero got up and opened the door only slightly, peering at the two people standing outside of it. Galinda was hugging herself, clearly cold. Boq was scowling at the prince.

"You don't keep a lady waiting like that," he admonished Fiyero.

Fiyero scowled right back at him. "You show up here in the middle of the night, pounding on my door and shouting," he pointed out irritably. "You scared the wits out of us. We thought you were Avaric!"

"Oh." Boq had the decency to look sheepish. "I hadn't thought of that."

"She's here, then?" Galinda asked, and Fiyero nodded.

"She is."

"Can I see her?"

He hesitated and cast a glance at the green girl over his shoulder, but then he opened the door wider. Galinda immediately rushed in and threw her arms around her friend. "Elphie!"

"It's not the middle of the night, by the way," Boq told Fiyero as the latter closed the door again. "It's only nine o'clock. Elphaba wasn't at dinner. Avaric was, but he looked shaken and he couldn't walk properly. When Galinda asked him what happened and where Elphaba was, he freaked out completely. She thought Elphaba might have come here, so she went down to the second-class deck, only she didn't know which room you were staying in. I ran into her and decided to help her."

Fiyero arched one eyebrow. "Her saviour in distress, right?"

Boq flushed. "Shut up."

Galinda, meanwhile, was hugging Elphaba tightly on the bed. "Oh, Elphie," she blubbered, "I was so worried about you! What happened?"

Elphaba told her everything and Galinda fell silent, horror written all over her face.

"You're not going back to him, are you?" the blonde asked quietly.

Elphaba shook her head, holding the blankets to her chest. She sighed. "I'm not going back, no matter what. I just…"

"She's staying with me," Fiyero said as he sat down on the chair by his desk. Boq raised an eyebrow at him, Galinda looked at him in surprise, and Elphaba just stared at him.

"What?" he asked. "You are, aren't you?" When she didn't reply, he started to panic a little. "Fae?"

"Fiyero…" she began slowly. "I know I said before that I would, but really, I couldn't impose on you like that –"

"Nonsense," he said curtly. "You're not imposing and you know that. You can't go back, Fae. I'm not letting you. Where else did you want to go?"

She deflated, her shoulders slumping. "I don't know. But, Yero, your parents –"

"My parents will be okay with it. They'll have to be. I'm not giving them a choice."

"I don't want you to –"

"Would you stop already?" Fiyero demanded in exasperation and Galinda placed a hand on her friend's arm.

"He does have a point, Elphie," she said softly. "Just stay with him and let him take care of you. Please? I don't want to see you ending up back with Avaric, and you can't stay on your own. You have nothing. No money, no food, no clothes – nothing. I'd ask you to stay with me, but the risk of Avaric finding you would be too big…"

"Fae, please?" Fiyero asked softly, sitting down next to her. She looked into his pleading blue eyes and she caved.

"Okay," she said.

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly before pulling back and pressing his lips to hers.

"I love you," he told her when he pulled away. "Now go to sleep, sweetheart – you look tired. Don't worry," he said, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. "Everything is going to be alright."

She heaved a sigh and he gently urged her to lie back down on the bed, tucking her in and kissing her forehead before turning to face Boq and Galinda. They got the hint and backed off towards the door.

"Take good care of her," Galinda whispered and he gave her a tired smile.

"I will."

Galinda had promised him before that she'd look out for Elphaba and he felt like that was something that bound them together. It was nice to know that he was not the only one who cared. When it came to protecting Elphaba, it felt like he and Galinda had one another's back somehow.

Boq and Galinda left, and Fiyero paced the room for a while, too restless to go to sleep. Elphaba sometimes moved or murmured something in her sleep, but she never woke up. He spend the good part of an hour watching her before deciding to crawl back into his own improvised bed on the floor to try and get some sleep himself.

He hadn't even fallen asleep yet, though, when a strange, scraping sound, accompanied by a shuddering feeling, caused him to sit straight up again. The noise was horrible and he clamped his hands over his ears, watching in horror as the room shook around him. What in Oz was going on?

"Fiyero?" came Elphaba's sleepy voice from the bed. "What is that?"

He shook his head, even though she couldn't see him in the dark. "I have no idea."

She lit a candle and he looked at her. Her eyes were wide and frightened and she was clutching the blanket to her chest.

"Something's wrong," she whispered. "I can feel it."

He didn't question her. She was the one with the magical powers, not he; and aside from that, he had a feeling that something was wrong, too. He just didn't know what.

"I'm going to check," he said, throwing the blankets back and rising to his feet. Elphaba made to protest, but he silenced her with a kiss.

"I'll be right back," he said. "Stay here."

With that, he slipped out of the room.

Many people had left their rooms, gathering in the hallways to discuss what was going on, but no-one seemed to know exactly what had happened.

Fiyero grabbed a staff member's shoulder. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, sir," the man said nervously. "I don't know. I'm sure it's nothing, don't you worry." With that, he hurried away, but Fiyero wasn't reassured at all.

He couldn't find anyone else who was willing – or able – to give him an answer, however, and so he just returned to his room, where he found Elphaba anxiously awaiting his return. When he told her that he had no idea what was going on, she looked at him.

"Whatever it is," she whispered ominously, "it's not good. It's bad, Fiyero. It's really bad."

"It will be okay," he tried to calm her down, wrapping her in his arms and resting his chin on the top of her head. "Don't worry. I'll protect you."

She didn't tell him that he probably couldn't. He couldn't protect her from everything and they both knew that; but it was still nice to hear him say it, and so she didn't protest. She just burrowed into his arms and let him hold her.

They sat like that for a while, neither of them knowing exactly for how long, before Fiyero finally pulled away.

"What do you think we should do?" he asked.

She thought about that. She wasn't sure what was going on and what to do about it, either… maybe the first step was to try and find out. "I think we should go back out," she said eventually. "To see if we can find out more about what's going on. Someone has to know."

Fiyero nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll go."

"I'm coming with you," she said, but he shook his head.

"It's too dangerous," he said gently. He ran his hand over her hair and cupped her cheek. "I don't want to risk anyone recognising you. Avaric is still looking for you, you know."

She bit her lip. "But…"

"I'll be fine," he promised, kissing her softly. "Just try to get some more sleep, okay, sweetheart? I'll be back before you know it."

He rose and left again, leaving her alone in his room with an increasingly nauseating feeling in her stomach.

The ship was sinking.

Fiyero hadn't believed it when the staff member had told him. The man had been reluctant to say anything at first, but Fiyero had pinned him to a wall, told him that he was the crown prince of the Vinkus, and demanded answers. The staff member had then reluctantly admitted that he had been instructed to hand out life-jackets and that he had overheard one of his supervisors saying that the ship was sinking.

"But don't worry, Your Highness," he had added quickly, "I highly doubt it to be true. I must have misheard, really. The ship is unsinkable, after all."

Nothing was unsinkable, and they both knew that. Fiyero had thanked the man and let him go, standing in the hallway for a while as he let the news sink in. He couldn't be sure, of course, but he guessed the man's supervisor knew what he was talking about. What if the ship really was sinking?

He went back to his room, intending to tell Elphaba what he had heard and to take her with him in search of more information. Whatever it was that was going on, he didn't trust it; and despite the risk of someone seeing her and notifying Avaric, he didn't want her to be alone right now. It could be dangerous.

When he arrived in the hallway where his room was, however, he frowned. Was he imagining things, or was the door to his room open?

"Fae?" he called as he approached the door. When he found that it was, indeed, ajar, he quickly pushed it open entirely. His voice rose in pitch and volume. "Elphaba?"

She wasn't there. He searched the bed, looked around the room wildly and even checked the bathroom, but she wasn't there.

Elphaba was gone.

I mean, come on - that had to happen at some point. And it made a good cliffy, which is always good :D.