Fae's Duty: When You Feel the World is Ending

I could only wait for so long on the floor of this empty room. I needed to take action, and the stress was taking over the weariness once again. The darkness of the abandoned apartment building was closing in on me.

I failed, and now they're going to be expecting something.

The disappointment was settling deeper into my brain, but now—now it's being replaced by something else. The noises from the streets are pushing their way back into my awareness. I think they're getting louder.

Fiyero.

If he was foolhardy enough to get himself into the organization—on my behalf—then he's foolish enough to be out there on the streets still. I need to know. I need to find out if he's home. I need… him.

I shake my head furiously to get the thought out of my head. I don't need him, and he's not mine to have in the first place. Really, I was handling things better without him. I don't need him. But… I do need to know that he's okay.

I ready myself to enter the outside world again, this time through the door that I can barely see across the room. I open it and peek out. The hallway is empty, and I walk hurriedly down it towards the door at the end where I can see sunshine peeking in the window.

I have to act normal. Then again, they did just witness an assassination attempt, even if they didn't realize it. How do I imitate that? Better to just make my way as quickly as I can, I think.

I exit the building and start walking. There's noise from the guards and the crowds in both directions, but I have to get to the end of this block before I can turn and start working my way back to our den.

I make it, and turn down the street away from the noise, but I can't help but glance behind me to see the state of the chaos. A couple people go running past me out of the mess of people; they must have snuck away from the guards that I can see attempting to barricade the street. I hide my face back in my cloak and turn down the street again before I manage to stop myself completely.

Out of the yelling, I hear a gruff voice suddenly. "Where d'ya think you're going?"

I can't look. It would be too suspicious. Not to mention he's way back there, he can't possibly be talking to me. And if he is? I'll run.

I've almost reached the next block. The fastest way home would be to continue straight ahead, but it would be too direct, and therefore unsafe. I turn back again, trying to judge the confusion behind me, as I'm trying to decide which direction to go next.

And I freeze.

Fiyero! No! Oh, no.

It might not be him. It just looks like him. You'll get back to the den and he'll be there waiting for you.

I have to turn myself away, force myself to keep walking. It's an agonizing few minutes—I take a shorter route than I might have in less emotional circumstances—but I arrive at the den.

It's empty. No. It can't be.

FIYERO!

I can't think. I can't move. I've lost Fiyero, and for what? A mission that failed for an organization I didn't even know the full purpose of. No, I wanted Madame Morrible out of the way—and I've been their pawn ever since.

I can't do this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore.

There's a hammering at the door. I leap up, startled, before my body can remember how it was feeling a moment ago.

"Gale Force, open up!"

There's nothing to gather. I'm wearing my clothes and my satchel's already strung over my shoulder and across my torso. I open the secret passageway, scoop up Malky and push her ahead of me, and pull the door shut behind me even as I hear the front door collapse inwards.

I'm running now to the only place I can think of: the sanctuary of Saint Glinda. I can't run to Glinda herself, not if the Gale Force is after me. So I reach the servants' entrance to the sanctuary and approach one of the stewards.

"Protect me," I gasp, "please."

"Sanctuary? We can do that, but if you are on the run, perhaps you are better off out of the Emerald City, dear."

I nod. It makes sense. I'm still gasping for breath.

"Let's get you up to see Mother Yackle. You can tell her what you need to."

My dear Fiyero… must I tell her you're dead? I can't say it.

No. I won't say it.

A/N: And so Elphaba arrives at the mauntery—and when she refuses to speak of Fiyero's fate, she decides it's easier to not speak of anything. Her story picks back up again in the "In the Vinkus" portion of the wonderful Gregory Maguire's Wicked.