AN: Okay, so you guys are all right, typically speaking, Glinda CAN'T keep a secret, no matter what she's calling herself at any given point on the timeline.

BUT THIS IS NOT THAT TIMELINE, THIS IS AN AU TIMELINE, LOLOLOL!

Disclaimer: The closest I am to owning anything or anyone is the Elphaba, Fiyero, and Glinda Sims that I have in my Sims 3 game. But they don't really count for anything, unfortunately, so all the names here? If you recognize it, the character isn't mine. Please excuse me now while I go and pout over that.

"You what?!"
"Keep your voice down!"
"You actually saw him?! You talked to him?! Elphaba—"
"Galinda, lower your voice."

The smaller girl leapt up and practically threw herself across the space between their beds onto Elphaba's mattress, grabbing her friend by the shoulders and looking straight into her eyes, her expression gravely serious. "You had better not be pulling my leg," she said in a low voice. "I swear to Oz, Thropp, if you're trying to yank the wool over my eyes or something, I'll—"

"I'm not, Glinda, I swear! Honest to Oz, I'm not! I swear on my mother's grave that this actually happened! I got down on the floor and looked this boy in the eyes and spoke to him! I don't...I don't understand why he's here, I mean, except for that arm, he seems perfectly normal. Granted, he does behave kind of like a kid, but some people are just like that, I should know since I've got a brother like that. Honestly, though, from what I saw, the only thing even a little bit strange about him is the fact that he's got an arm he's not able to move, otherwise, he seemed perfectly normal, if a bit childish. I...I walked in there, and he was sitting in front of a wall with his back to the door drawing on that wall with a piece of charcoal, and...oh my Oz. Glinda. The...The detail of that picture, it was...amazing, I've never seen anything else like it. The girl he was drawing, I swear, I half expected her to start laughing or something, it was insanely realistic."
Glinda frowned and crossed her arms. "I'm still not convinced," she said. "What was the first thing he said to you, huh?"

"You mean directly to me, or...?"
"Yes, directly to you. What was it?"

Elphaba thought for a moment. "He said...He said, 'You like books, too?'"
Again, Glinda frowned. "And why, pray tell, would he say a thing like that?" she asked. Elphaba rolled her eyes. "I told you this already," she said. "After she introduced me, Bria told him that I like to read."

Glinda furrowed her brow and puckered up her lips thoughtfully. "What time is it right now?" she asked finally. Elphaba glanced at the clock that sat on the bedside table that was between their two beds. "A quarter after eleven," she replied, "why?" Without bothering to answer, Glinda leapt up and dragged a wooden chest out from under her bed, throwing it open and rummaging through. "Glinda," Elphaba said, "what are you—"

"Gotcha!" the blonde declared triumphantly, holding up a sterling silver chamberstick with a floral pattern engraved around the rim and a small curved handle. After shoving the chest back under her bed, she opened the drawer of her nightstand and produced a tapered candle that had already melted down a bit, followed by a match, which she struck on the nightstand and used to light the candle before blowing it out and putting the candle in the chamberstick. Finally, only after she had done all of this, she turned around to face the green girl.

"We're gonna go on a little adventure, Elphie," she said, then smiled sweetly. It took a moment for things to click, but once they had, Elphaba began shaking her head. "No," she said, "no, Glinda, no, that is a bad idea, that is a very bad idea, we could get caught and then we'd both be in huge trouble!"

"Who is going to catch us?" Glinda countered. "There is less than an hour left until midnight, who in their right mind would be up and about at this ungodly hour?!"

"We're up at this ungodly hour!"
"Yes, but we're not in our right minds!"

"Oh, this cannot possibly end well," Elphaba muttered, biting her lower lip. Finally, she let out a heavy sigh. "Oz, I can't believe I'm actually letting you talk me into this."

"Oh, goody-goody-gumdrops!" Glinda cried out happily.
"But if we get caught, it's all your fault, got it?" Elphaba said quickly, and Glinda nodded, her smile never faltering. With another sigh, Elphaba took the chamberstick from Glinda, who was holding it out to her, then let the blonde take her hand before leading her friend out into the darkened hallway. Glinda held onto her arm the entire time, never letting go even when they got in the lift. "What room is he in?" Glinda whispered as they stepped off of it. "602," Elphaba replied. "Don't go running ahead, though, just stay with me, alright? I—What in the...Did you hear that?" Glinda looked around and frowned. "Hear what?" she asked. There was a pause while Elphaba listened.

"That."

"Elphie? Elphie, wait up! Elphie!"
"Shh! Glinda, keep your voice down."

Glinda peeked into the window of the door like Elphaba was doing, then let out a quiet gasp. "He's beautiful!" she whispered. Elphaba smirked. "Aren't you engaged?" she said wryly. Glinda rolled her eyes. "Oh, hush," she said, "there's nothing wrong with a little window shopping, it's not like I'm about to go and break things off with Fin just because I think a patient is kind of cute." Elphaba held up a finger. "Hold on for a clock-tick, Glin," she said, frowning as she handed the chamberstick to her friend. "I think...Is it just me, or does he seem a little...agitated?"

"Agitated how?"
"Agitated like—"
"Elphaba? Is that you?"

Both girls gasped as they turned around. "B-Bria!" Elphaba said. "I—What...What are you doing here?" Bria frowned as she came closer, the candlelight illuminating her face. "Keeping an eye on him," Bria replied, gesturing to indicate Fiyero's sleeping form. Her frown deepened. "What are you doing here? And who is this?" she asked. Elphaba tried to find her voice, but couldn't. "My name is Galinda, ma'am," Glinda said, coming to the green girl's rescue. "Call me Glinda. I'm...I'm Elphaba's roomate. This isn't her fault, I swear. I'm the one at fault here, she tried to talk me out of it, but I wouldn't have any of it, I can be so stubborn sometimes. I, um...I woke up from a bad dream earlier, you see, and, uh, Elphie here was...was talking in her sleep, and so when I was coming out of the bathroom and about to get back in bed, I heard her mutter something about this boy, and I was so overcome with curiosity that I shook her awake right then and demanded that she tell me everything, and I was just so persistent that she didn't really have any choice but to let the secret out, and then I talked her into bringing me to see him. I won't tell anyone, though, I swear! You have my word."
"Wait," Elphaba said.

"I don't...Why does he need you to watch him?"
Bria sighed and shook her head sadly as she fixed her gaze on the boy asleep inside the room. "He gets horrible nightmares from time to time," she said quietly. "He refuses to tell anyone what they're about, but we assume that for the most part, they're either about his sister or his paternal grandmother since he was so close to both of them and both their deaths hit him so hard. He just...He wakes up in the middle of the night crying his eyes out and screaming himself hoarse. There has to constantly be someone to watch him at night."

Elphaba shook her head, questions swirling endlessly through her mind as she watched Fiyero turn onto his side. "Why is he here?" she whispered. "What has he done to justify putting him in this place? The only thing even a little bit wrong with him is the fact that his arm is paralyzed, but...there are ways to overcome that sort of thing. He could...wear it in a sling or something, and if all else fails, there's always the option to..." She shook her head, not wanting to think on that sort of thing.

"But this place...he doesn't belong here," she said. "All the other people I've seen here so far, they all have something wrong with their mind. I even saw a girl who was completely catatonic earlier, but Fiyero...he...He seems perfectly normal except for his arm. He makes eye contact, he smiles, he talks, he reads, he draws amazingly relalistic pictures on the walls of his room, he acts like a silly little kid the same way my older brother does. Those are all things that any normal person does. What could have possibly compelled his parents to put him in this sort of a place?"

"Elphaba...sweetheart...that boy is a potential danger to himself and other people, his arm is proof of that. It wouldn't be paralyzed if an amoire hadn't fell on it, and an amoire wouldn't have fallen on it if he hadn't knocked it over. Why do you think his nightstand is round? He could hurt himself on it if it had corners. The reading, the drawings, the childish behavior...Those are all coping mechanisms for him. He reads to escape from reality, because in reality, the sister that was so precious to him is gone and is never coming back. He draws things, places, and people from his memories of home. The girl he was drawing earlier, that was his sister, the one that he lost. And if you stand right here and turn your head at this angle...See that picture right there? The one of three kids playing next to a fountain? Those are his nephews and their sister in the gardens of the castle he grew up in. And he behaves like a child because his mind has deteriorated in a way that...it's almost like reverse mental development, for lack of a better term. Oh, Oz...Elphaba, I might need you to—"

Bria never got to finish her sentence, because just then, Fiyero started shouting and thrashing in his sleep, then suddenly sat bolt upright with tears streaming down his face, all the while screaming at someone named Dryxen that something was his fault and that he was going to kill him for "doing this to her."

Before Elphaba or Glinda had time to fully register what was happening, Bria had yanked the door open and was pulling the green girl inside by the wrist, raising her voice to be heard over Fiyero's screams that she needed Elphaba to help hold him down. Once they'd gotten him pinned onto the mattress as best they could, Bria somehow managed to wake him up, and when his eyes opened, the look in them was one of absolute terror, and it wrenched at her heart in a way nothing ever had before, and so did watching those terrified eyes flicker all over the place as if he had no idea where he was or how he'd gotten there or who anybody was or what was happening.

And then, suddenly, he cried out in pain and started fighting against being restrained with a renewed strength before his entire body slowly started to relax until finally, he collapsed and let his head fall back onto the pillow as every part of his body was nearly as limp as his dead arm.

Elphaba looked up at Bria, who was standing over Fiyero with a syringe. "What did you do to him?" she asked in a trembling voice. Bria slowly let out her breath, letting her arm fall to her side. "I gave him a sedative," she said. "It's the only thing to do when this happens." Elphaba looked at Fiyero. She could see his eyelids just barely trembling, and for a moment, she thought he'd fallen back asleep and that this was from R.E.M. having started up, but then he let out a soft moan and made an attempt to open his eyes, which he quickly gave up on as his breathing started to even itself out again. Not knowing what else there was for her to do, Elphaba began to follow Bria out of the room.

"Wait..."

The voice was weak and scratchy, but unmistakable, and it made Elphaba and Bria both turn, the looks on their faces equally shocked. He hadn't moved an inch, but somehow, Fiyero had managed to get his eyes partway open, and he was laying on the bed staring at them. "El...Elphaba," he said, "don't...don't..." She turned around and hurried back over, brushing away some of the hair that was plastered to his forehead with sweat. "Do you want me to stay for a while?" she asked quietly. She could see his Adam's apple move as he swallowed, then took a deep breath. "Yes," he whispered. She nodded. "Just let me get something from my friend. It'll only take a clock-tick, she's right outside the door," she said, then went to where Glinda was still standing with the candle in its chamberstick, which she took from the blonde. "Go on back to our room, Glin, I'll be there in a little while. He wants me to stay here for a bit, so I'll come down once he's fallen back to sleep, alright? You go on to sleep yourself so you're not passing out tomorrow, and I'll see you in the morning, okay?"

Glinda bit her lower lip, but finally, she nodded and gave Elphaba a quick hug. "Just be careful," she said softly. Elphaba smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine, I promise," she replied. After another brief hug, Glinda turned and began heading back the way the girls had come. Bria put a hand on Elphaba's shoulder. "Don't hesitate to come wake me up if anything happens, alright?" she said. Elphaba nodded. "Of course." Bria smiled and hugged her intern. "You're a good person, Elphaba," she said. "I'm lucky to have you helping me. Glinda is right, though. Be careful, okay? Like I said, he's potentially dangerous. Never on purpose, but nevertheless, so just...Try to get out before the sedation wears off, just in case, alright?" Again, Elphaba nodded. "I'll do my best," she said. Bria smiled again. "I suppose that's all I can ask. In that case, good luck and goodnight."

And with that, Bria turned and set off in the same direction as Glinda. Elphaba took a deep breath, let it out slowly, then went back into Fiyero's room.

She put the chamberstick down on the nightstand, then sat down on the bed next to Fiyero. He looked so...so vulnerable laying there with his eyes closed and his lips just barely parted. Even in the warm glow of the candlelight, he looked pale to a point that it was almost frightening. Elphaba reached out to brush more hair away from his eyes, but she hesitated before her skin could come into contact with his. She didn't really know why...maybe it was the way he looked, like he was only halfway real...But for some reason, there was a part of her that was afraid that if she touched him, he would just...vanish.

Despite this uncertainty, she was able to bring herself to carry out her original intent and brush those strands of sweat-dampened hair back from his face. As her fingertips gently grazed the skin of his forehead, the slightest crease appeared on his brow. "Nini..." he breathed, "Nini...is...is that you?" Elphaba felt a pang in her heart. Who did he think she was? It took a moment for her to recompose herself to be able to answer him. "It's Elphaba," she said quietly. "Remember? You asked me to stay with you."

The crease in his brow deepened somewhat, and with a bit of effort, he was able to open his eyes. For a moment, they wandered slowly around the room, the look in them blank, as if he didn't recognize his surroundings. But when his gaze landed on Elphaba, for one brief instant, she could've sworn that there was a spark of something in those strikingly pale eyes, but it came and went so quickly that she wasn't sure if it had been real or she'd just imagined it.

He slowly let his breath out as he closed his eyes again. "For a minute, I thought..." He trailed off, sighing heavily. "Nevermind," he whispered. "I'm just imagining things...just like I always do...I'm...I'm a nutcase, you know. My parents, they...they were ashamed of me...I would be ashamed of me, too, if I was them. It's no wonder they put me in here...they probably resent me...I would resent me...The only son, the one suppposed to take the throne...and the only kid they've got left...and what do I do? I go and turn into a depressed nutcase with a dead arm. It's no wonder they put me in here..."

"You're here because they care about you," she said, and he made a noise that might have been a weak laugh, but she honestly couldn't tell because it was so quiet. "You lost someone too...didn't you," he murmured. It was a statement, not a question. Elphaba swallowed as she twisted the fabric of her nightgown up in her fist, then released it and nodded. "Yes," she said. "My mother passed away not too long ago. I have a locket that she gave me, and it's all the more special now that she's gone."
"Mmm...Maybe you lost your mom," Fiyero said, "but there's more to it than that, isn't there?"

"What makes you say that?"
"Call it the intuition of personal experience...It's not the sister you mentioned earlier, is it? Because that would be a strange coincidence."
Elphaba couldn't help but laugh lightly. "No," she said, "no, it's not Nessa. She's still very much alive. I don't...I don't like to talk about it." Something with a vauge semblance of a smile ghosted across Fiyero's face. "Suit yourself," he said. For the next several moments or so, there was silence.

"Elphaba?"
"Yes, Fiyero?"
"Will you tell me a story?"
"O-Okay...A story about what?"

When he didn't respond, she thought that maybe he'd fallen back to sleep, but then he slowly let out his breath, smiled faintly as he turned his face towards the candlelight, and said, "Everything and nothing."

And something about the way he said it sounded so...content...and his face was so peaceful that Elphaba couldn't help but smile.

"Once upon a time," she said, "there was a small kingdom that was ruled over by a king and queen with three children; a prince, and two princesses. The prince was the oldest, and so he tended to be a bit overprotective of his sisters sometimes, and the older of the two princesses got frustrated very easily with him because of it, but for the most part, all three of them loved each other and got along. Now, their father the king was very stern, especially with the middle princess, but since he spent most of his time doing things to keep the kingdom running, they didn't really see very much of him. But their mother the queen always managed to find time for them, no matter what she was doing. She loved all three of her children more than anything in the world, and she would have done absolutely anything if it meant they would be kept safe and happy. One of their favorite things in the world was the time with her before they went to sleep every night, when she would come into their rooms one at a time and sing each of them to sleep."

She stopped there, and after a moment, Fiyero opened his eyes to look at her. "Why'd you stop?" he asked. Elphaba bit her lower lip. "This is the first time I've ever told this story," she said finally, staring at the flame on the candle's wick rather than looking at Fiyero. "I only heard it myself fairly recently. I...I'm not sure it was the best choice for telling you, because it...Fiyero...this story...it doesn't have a happy ending. Or...any ending, for that matter. It's...It's not finished yet, but the part that happened most recently, the part I would have to end it at for now until I find out what happens next...It's not a happy part, Fiyero. It's not happy at all. And you're still so sad from what happened to your sister...I don't...I don't want you to be any more sad than you already are, and I don't want to be the reason for any extra sadness you might end up with. So I...I'm really not entirely sure that it was a good idea to tell you this story, and I don't think it would be a good idea to keep going, either, especially right after you've had a nightmare. I don't want you to get anymore bad dreams, not tonight. My mother used to say that nobody should have to be put through more than one bad dream per night, and you've already had yours for tonight."

"Will you tell me the rest another time, then?" he asked.
"Maybe," she said. "We'll have to see. Maybe once I know how it ends."

He nodded weakly. "Then...will you just talk to me until I fall asleep? I don't really care what you talk about, I just...I don't know, I just like the sound of your voice. It's...relaxing to me for some reason. It kind of reminds me of my sister's voice, and you kind of remind me of my sister. I guess that's why I wanted you to stay. I feel...safe...with you. I can't explain it, but it's just...earlier, when you came in here with Bria when she gave me that stupid shot...when you and I were talking...I don't know, I just...I...felt something, I guess. I can't really...describe or explain it, but...I felt something. And then...when you said that you're going to stay here instead of leaving like the other interns...there was...like...I guess it was...You know how people say that they can feel things in the pit of their stomach? I had never really understood that before, but when you said you're going to stay...I finally understood it, because I felt something in the pit of my stomach, and...I still can't figure out what it was. I know...I know that I've felt it before, because I recognized it. On some really, really vague level, I recognized it, but...at the same time...it was so...new and...and foreign to me, so I guess...I guess that means that it's something I haven't felt in a long time until today. But whatever it was...it felt nice...And then...when I woke up from my nightmare...even before I figured out what was happening...I don't know how or why, but your face was the first thing I recognized, and...I don't know...I just...I feel safe with you...there's just something about you that I can't figure out, but...you're...you're different...but not different like I am, because there's nothing wrong with you. You're different in a good way."

"Fiyero," Elphaba said, "listen to me. Just because you're different, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you."
"I'm a depressed masochist with a useless arm, Elphaba. I get mad at people for no reason and have spent the past two years of my life drawing on walls and staring off into space. I'm...broken." She leaned over so that she was closer to him. "You wanna hear a secret?" she asked. He stared at her with wide, childlike eyes. "What?" he replied, and she leaned even closer so that her mouth was beside his ear.

"I'm broken, too," she whispered.

She sat back up and waited for his reaction, but he only smiled at her tiredly and just barely shook his head. "You're not broken," he said so softly that she could barely hear him. He closed his eyes. "You're not broken," he repeated. "You're just..." He trailed off, once again turning his head towards the candlelight. His breathing slowly evened out, and she knew that this time, he really was asleep, so she stood up, fixed his blanket, then took the candle and left, pausing in the door way to look back at him as he slept.

He could tell himself that he was broken all he wanted, but that didn't make it true. And even if it was, she believed that there was still a chance he could be fixed. It was just a matter of the right person coming along and managing to figure out how.

AN: That story she told him? The one that doesn't have an ending yet?

IT PLAYS A MAJOR ROLE IN THE PLOT LATER ON, SO HAVE FUN TRYING TO FIGURE THAT ONE OUT, TROLOLOLOLOLOLOL! XD