Hello all and welcome to chapter 18 of 'The Darkness of the Night'! I'm sorry for all who is looking for Ares to be in this chapter but he is not going to be in this chapter either. He will be in the next one, I promise! He will be with Fiyero too, helping him with something. This chapter has Fiyero, Rain, Glinda and Elphaba will come in towards the end. In this chapter I'm going showing a shift in Rain's attitude towards Fiyero as I've decided that it would be best if the two of them would just develop a deep bond of friendship. That's all I'm going to say about this chapter as I want you to read the rest without giving much more away. I'll stop yapping and let you read. So read and enjoy!

Chapter 18

Fiyero pushes past a brush with a satisfied sigh. He holds up a brown sack with a happy smile on his face. He finally got the rest of the ingredients for the potion that will take away Elphaba's allergy to water. He feels very accomplished for some of the ingredients were not that easy to find. He has been chased by a wild animal or five when the ingredients were in their territory. The Winkie prince gets spooked when a branch snaps nearby. Fiyero is too much of a scardey cat to turn around to see if there is anybody behind him. Frankly, he really doesn't want to know because the last time he looked behind him when he heard a branch snap there was a drooling lion looking at him hungrily. The blonde was just thankful that the animal didn't know how to climb up a tree, where he safely sat, for hours, until the lion got bored and finally walked away from him. So he quickly walks past the protection barrier Glinda has put up so no enemies can attack the compound again.

"Whew." He says with relief as he wipes the sweat off his forehead. Fiyero feels safer now that he is inside the barrier. The prince looks behind him to see that nobody has followed him. Uneasiness pricks in his mind like little needles when he didn't see anything that could have broken the branch. With a quick trot in his step Fiyero makes his way to the compound.

Rain is slowly padding up to her father's grave with her jaw full of silver colored roses, special roses Glinda has grown, with magical help, just to be used to adorn the Wolf's gravesite. Rain puts new roses on his grave ever week. She lowers her head and opens her jaws to set the special roses on the dirt mound. She gives a soft smile while using her paw to make sure the roses are nice and neat.

"There we go." She whispers as she sits down with a satisfied sigh. Her whiskers twitch in thought while she continues to stare at her father's grave. It still feels strange to be free especially with her mother not by her side. She was born in the camp but was never separated from her mother because her mom fought every soldier who tried to separate them until they finally stopped trying when one soldier lost his hand. The Wolf learned to speak for her mother didn't want her daughter to be a causality of the Wizard's oppression. Rain had to learn to keep her voice quiet when soldiers did their patrol around their cage. If they knew that she could talk they would have killed them both right then and there. Her ears go flat against her head when she remembers the shot that killed her mother. The soldier who lost his hand got his revenge on her for making him lose his hand.

"Hey, are you ok?"

Her ears go straight up when Fiyero's voice floats behind her. She listens to his boots crunching on the ground as he makes his way to her side. The she Wolf didn't realize that he has been watching her ever since he has finally arrived back to the Compound. Rain looks to him when he sets down the sack then sits down next to her before looking to her expecting her to talk soon. Rain's ears twitch slightly when she realizes that her heart isn't pounding like it used to before when Fiyero's presence is around her.

"I'm ok. I was just thinking." She replies while digging her claws into the ground to keep her paws from shifting in habit. Maybe she realizes that what she has been feeling for Fiyero is just a deep friendship in the making. Though the Wolf is still confused about all of it because this is the first time she had positive interactions with humans. Her tail swishes in thought maybe she will talk to Glinda about it. It seems like the good witch knows a great deal about feelings and love.

"What were you thinking about?"

Emerald eyes turn towards Fiyero and her head feels normal, usually her head is swimming when those striking, blue eyes look on but now she feels clear headed.

"I...uh…I was thinking about my mom." She replies with her ears go to the side at the picture in her mind. Her waking up from her sleep from hearing a gunshot only to find her mom lying in a pool of blood and her blue eyes glaring at her with no spark of life in them. Her blood has quickly pooled out beneath her staining Rain's fur. It took her two days to lick the blood out of her own fur.

"When in captivity I always had the dream of being freed with my mom and finally meeting my father." She continues with her tail swishing slightly behind her. She is freed but all alone now. She makes a noise when Fiyero puts an arm around her and places a kiss on her muzzle. She never had somebody do this with her. It actually makes her feel good, make her feel wanted. Then as if reading her mind he responds with.

"Well, you're not alone. You have Glinda, Elphaba, all the Animals here and me."

A silver colored paw scratches the top of the black furred with a giddy laugh. This is making her feel very warm on the inside. She never heard such kind words being spoken to her before. It's so different after being talked down all of her life by the Gale Force.

"I know and it makes me happy to have all of you." The she Wolf says before looking to the Silver's grave with a happy sigh. If it weren't for her father being the good soul he was she would still be trapped in the cage with her hopes of being rescued slowly diminishing. Her speech would have disappeared as well. Rain almost purrs in content when she feels one of his hands rub the top of her head with much affection. That feels so good actually. Maybe she can get the others to start doing this as well.

"Why don't you come with me to see Glinda? I finally got the rest of the ingredients for her potion." Fiyero asks as he grabs the leather back and stands up with a slight grunt. Rain quickly gets into a standing position before shaking her fur. It's nice to be surrounded by people who lover her plus she is interested in seeing a potion being made for the first time.

"I would love to." She answers with her tail swishing in happiness. The Winkie prince smiles before the two walk into the Compound to find the good witch.

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Glinda is humming to herself as she stands before a boiling cauldron, adding ingredients to the frothing liquid. Both Fiyero and Rain are hiding behind a love seat despite reassurance from the blonde that the potion won't explode. Rain slowly pokes her head out from her cover and gives a worried whine. She is pretty a sure that it isn't supposed to be frothing like that but Glinda keeps saying that it's normal.

"Are you sure it won't explode? It wasn't doing that a couple seconds ago?" She feels like she has been saying the same thing for about the 100th time already. Fiyero could hear the frustrated sigh coming from the area in front of him. He guesses that Glinda is getting sick and tired of being asked the same question every five seconds.

"It will explode if you two keep asking me that damned question again." Glinda shots back while casting an irritated look to the Wolf and Prince. Black ears go flat against the skull while Rain pulls her head back behind the love seat. She thinks it's best to keep her jaws shut from now on. Why does she have the feeling if she asks again that pink bows will end up in her fur? Fiyero looks to the sheepish Wolf before giving her a wink while rubbing her fur. Her ears droop with a goofy grin on her face. She just never realized that feels so good especially with a gentle touch like Fiyero's or Glinda's, the blonde has a gentle touch too.

With a satisfied huff Glinda can continue working in peace and quiet. She looks over the instructions on the table next to the cauldron with her lips pursed. One more ingredient and she will be done. The good witch grabs the fur plucked off a year old black bear. Thankfully they had one in the Compound who generously donated some of their fur so Fiyero didn't have to do that in the wild. With a smile Glinda drops the fur into the cauldron and stirs it in.

"Whoa…" She says when the cauldron starts to shake to a high degree along with black smoke starting to pour out of it. She tries to look back to the book to see if missed a step but it's getting hard see from the dense smoke. Did she do something wrong? When Fiyero hears the utterance of these words did he wrap his arms around Rain and covers her head, making sure she is protected from the inevitable blast that Glinda said wouldn't happen.

Elphaba is walking down the hallway with a book in her hand and her nose buried deeply into the book. She walks past a closed door without a glance at it. Within a few seconds there is a loud rumble followed by a huge explosion with the door flying off its hinges. The book goes flying out of her hand as she stumbles forward from the force of the blast. With her ears ringing the green woman turns around to see what the hell happened. A part of her is afraid that it's another attack on the compound, even though there hasn't been one in months, and she doesn't know where Glinda is. The blonde had left her alone only a couple of hours ago to send messages out to their agents around Oz.

"What in Oz?" She exclaims when she walks towards the torn up door frame that has black smoke slowly billowing out from it. Her nose picks up the smell of something acidic and possibly burn flesh or hair, she couldn't tell which really. Elphaba coughs into her hand from inhaling the smoke that has filled the room. This is ridiculous.

"Hello?" The green woman calls out as she steps over remints of what use to be a table. She looks to her left when there is movement coming from that area. Her hands ready to use magic just in case Gale Force soldiers ready to attack her. She watches Rain and Fiyero slowly emerge from a scorched love seat, both of them are wide eye as saucers from the explosion. They must know what just happened in here.

"Rain, Fiyero…what happened?" Elphaba asks as she walks towards them. Fiyero wipes off the ash off her clothing while Rain shakes her fur with a huff.

"She said it wouldn't explode." The Wolf mutters while rubbing her ear to see if it will stop ringing. The green woman didn't like hearing that sentence and now she is worried about Glinda's health. Fiyero points behind her to show where the blonde is.

"She was finishing the potion when it went boom." He explains what happened to this room. Elphaba exhales shakily while she turns to where she is supposed to find her lover. She makes her way towards the area where Glinda is supposed to be but she didn't see her lover standing anywhere. The cauldron is the only thing that is not broken.

"Glinda?"

There is a soft groan before the blonde slowly starts to stand up behind the cauldron. Her clothes look charred and her hair is a wild mess. The raven haired beauty gives a sigh of relief to see her wife is all right. The blonde fixes her hair with a huff. She hated that her hair got messed up in the explosion.

"Thank oz."
Glinda gives a squeak when she feels herself get pulled up into a tight embrace. She doesn't have to look to know who is holding her. She looks up with a giggle but stops at the stern look from the brown eyes. The good witch knows very well a talking will be in order but not unless she tells the green woman the good news. That could keep her from getting an earful from the green woman.

"So when would you like to have your first shower?" Glinda rapidly says while pointing to the cauldron. Elphaba blinks her eyes and looks towards where the good witch is pointing to see the light, blue liquid simmering in the cauldron. Her eyes widen as she places her fingers on the rim of the cauldron while she keeps staring at the beautiful liquid. She can't believe that this is happening. Soon she won't be allergic to water anymore. The green woman looks to Glinda with a huge grin on her face. This is a day to celebrate.

Thus endeth the chapter. So Elphaba will finally no longer be allergic to water now when she drinks the potion, that Glinda said wouldn't explode. It did lol. I thought it would be nice reference to when she blew up the sandwich in the book. Though this caused a bit more damage then the sandwich. Now the next chapter is where things will get interesting. I won't say anything on it at all. I will say who is in it. Elphaba, Fiyero, Ares…who has grown up some for time has passed between chapters…you will see, Glinda and a special appearance by a character. Won't say who cause it will ruin the surprise. Haha! The next update will be on Monday. Till then my faithful readers!

DWK