Disclaimer- I don't own Wicked or Rent.
A/N- Just as a quick note, please review and let me know what you think.
Joanne stood staring down the hallway after Emrys and a sleeping Emaurie; or more specifically, she was staring at Chistery.
"A flying monkey…a real flying monkey…I thought…but he…but I don't…" Joanne kept murmuring on to no one in general.
Fiyero spoke up, patting her shoulder comfortingly, "He's real. His name is Chistery, Joanne. Elphaba saved him from the Wizard. The Wizard used her powers, unknowingly, to create the wings. He wanted spies. Elphaba felt then and still feels terribly guilty for causing their pain. She's always championed Animal rights. When she had the chance, she freed them…all of them. Given the choice, they chose to follow Elphaba instead of helping the Wizard."
Joanne gave a nod and said with a somewhat sarcastic smile, "Sure, and then they all moved to a big stone castle and lived there right?"
Fiyero looked stunned. "You know about Kiamo Ko?!"
"Who?"
"Kiamo Ko, one of my castles. Well, the one that was unused. How do you know about…"
Joanne looked like she needed to sit down again. She answered somewhat faintly.
"Book…movie. It's in there. Trust me."
"I do." Fiyero answered softly. "The point is that Chistery will keep the girls safe if needed. He's better than a guard; Elfie and Emmy adore him. He's their friend and they'll listen to him without being frightened even more. If Fae's right, Emmy just witnessed a murder…psychically, so to speak."
Joanne didn't understand everything, but she knew fear when she saw it and it was written on Maureen, Emrys, Fiyero, and Elphaba's faces. When Emrys rejoined them, having been followed to the nursery by Maureen, they gathered in the hall.
Everyone looked to Elphaba. She was silent for a moment and then went back to the window and leaned out for a moment. When she stepped back this time, four more monkeys flew in through the window and landed at her feet. She quickly put a finger to her lips to signal them into silence. Joanne watched as she bent down and looked into their eyes.
"We may need your help, my friends. The little ones are sleeping so we mustn't frighten them. Chistery is in the nursery with the girls but he may need your help later. Emaurie has seen what I believe to be a portent…if so, she witnessed a murder."
The reaction of the Animals was sharp. They looked startled and reached for her hand. Joanne watched as Elphaba's two hands held four paws gently. There was no doubting it; they had reached out to her to comfort her. Her tone was calm but serious when she spoke.
"Things should be quiet tonight, but should anything happen, protect the girls, please? If something happens, get them away from here. Fly them out the window if you have to, but please protect them. We could put guards here, but it would only frighten them more. They love you; they trust you…just as I do. Fly them to the manor across the river to the east. Ask them to protect them until we can get there. I want you to stay there too. Stay with Elfie and Emmy. If I need you to come back, I'll fly up. Look to the western skies, you'll see me. Will you do this for us, my friends?"
The Monkeys looked from one to the other and all nodded vigorously. One of them spoke.
"We will…keep them safe, El-phaba! We'll protect them. We love them too! Do not…worry!"
Another spoke up, "We will fly them…to the Vinkus and King… Adair if we must! Their grandfather will… protect them!" Still another looked to Maureen and Emrys. "Do not worry…we will protect them…keep them…safe, no matter what." The Monkeys were truly devoted to the two little girls who, once they understood the Monkeys trouble speaking, had made it their job to help them all relearn how to speak. Maureen mouthed a silent thank you to them with tears in her eyes.
Elphaba ran her hand gently down their cheeks. Their eyes met in a silent bond, a deep trust and love between them. Then the Monkeys moved off down the hall, taking up posts, two on each side of the nursery doors. When she stepped back to the others, Elphaba looked more relaxed. The most important thing was taken care of.
Joanne couldn't help musing as she watched her during this time. This was the Wicked Witch of the West? She had seen her comfort a frightened child easily, ask for help from her Animal friends with respect and obvious affection, a respect and affection that was visibly returned and she had also watched her as a strong centerpiece of a true family. Everyone should be as wicked as this woman!
Elphaba slid into Fiyero's open arms. She rested her head on his chest a moment and thought. When she did, Fiyero closed his arms around her and began to stroke her back firmly, but gently. Tilting his head, he kissed her hair and then rested his head above hers. Here, in this place, in this position, she could think clearly and her husband knew it.
"Don't worry, Fae. We'll sort this out, we'll keep them both safe, and if you're right, if it is a portent? You can help Emmy understand it all; I know you can help her."
Elphaba sighed, "Ah, Yero, you always see so much in me."
"Because it's there, my Fae, because it's there and I know it" He answered simply and softly.
Maureen, also safe in Emrys's arms for comfort, spoke up as well. "We know it too, Faba. We'll get through this. But what do you expect next?"
Elphaba spoke, though didn't move. "A message? Perhaps a message from the Ixian kingdom announcing Gorrian's death? It's hard to be sure."
Maureen's memory quickly skipped to her wedding, where they all had met Gorrian for the first time, as Glinda's date.
Emrys soothed his wife and tried to take some of the strain off his sister-in-law.
"Time will tell. Time will tell, and when it does we will deal with it as we do all things…like the family that we are: strong, loving and undivided. Who could ask for more?"
It occurred to Joanne, as she watched all these things take place, that what Fiyero had said was true. A strong, loving, united family was more than anyone could wish for. Yet, she also realized it was the one thing she did not have. Then and there she made a promise to herself to find a way to build all those things for herself…if she ever made it home that was!
--
It was late that night when Fiyero awoke to find his arms empty. Propping himself up on his elbow, he looked about the blackened room. "Fae?" He saw her then, bathed in the moonlight that flowed in from the window where she stood. At the sound of his voice, she turned and called to him softly. "Right here, Yero. I'm over here."
He frowned and asked, although he already knew the answer, "Can't you sleep?"
Elphaba didn't speak but only shook her head slowly. Then, Yero rose from the bed, and came to her in the moonlight; he wrapped his arms around her when he reached her. She curled her body against him, her back to his chest.
"Haven't you slept at all?"
She shook her head once again. "How can I, Yero? How can I sleep when I'm not sure what's about to hit us? If I'm right, and that was a portent that Emaurie experienced, there must be a reason. But what, and where will this all lead? I had hoped their childhoods would be peaceful and happy. I wanted them to be able to laugh and play and be safe as little girls…"
"Just as you weren't." He finished for her. "Am I right?" Fiyero's voice was soft and gentle.
She nodded in his embrace almost violently. "Yes, yes! I want that for them both so badly I can almost taste it, Yero. Every child should feel safe and happy and loved. It's their right! No four-year-old should witness a murder and suffer through portents. If it was a portent, it means that Emmy will almost certainly have them all her life. She's so young, Yero! It isn't fair!"
Fiyero nodded in agreement but added his own sage advice. "No, it's not fair, but you know more about that than anyone. Was your upbringing fair? At least Emmy has all of us to love and protect her and you to help her understand what's happening to her and how to use this gift."
At the word gift, Elphaba swung around sharply. "Gift?!"
Yero held her from him so she could see his face. "Yes, gift, just as your visions were gifts. There were times that they saved lives."
"And when I couldn't save them?" He knew she was talking about Nessa now.
"Then they made you stronger and helped you face the future."
She looked into the sapphire eyes she loved and knew so well. Yero's face was aglow in the moonlight and his eyes were startling. Her expression became a small, soft smile. When she spoke, her voice was soft but deeper as she reached out and stroked the length of his face. "No, no, my Yero. They never made me stronger…you did. You and the love you give me. I'd be lost without those gifts. Lost and shaken."
Now she moved back to him, kissing him gently, but long.
"Yero?" He murmured to show his attention. "Show me again? Here, now, love me again. Be with me…now, right now. Gift me with your body and love again? Make me forget everything but you… for tonight?"
She heard his low growl of assent. "With pleasure, Fae. Always with pleasure."
Suddenly he pulled her to him, assaulting her lips and throat with his kisses. When he heard her moan of pleasure, he stopped and looked down at her, a great hunger showing in his eyes. Her nightgown disappeared easily, and then she was in his arms, on their bed, and lying beneath him. "Fae, my Fae." He stopped between kisses and took her face in his hands.
"I love you, Fae. Trust me; I'll bring you through the night. You'll never be lost again."
Then her mind knew only heat, only sensation, only Yero. When the sun arose, it found them both, still wound about each other. Fiyero was awake, smiling down at his sleeping wife. Together, they had forgotten everything in the night.