AN: Um... guys? Protection, please? I'm fearing for my life right now? *gulp* I think if Moreanswers24 finds out where I live, I won't live for much longer... (Just know that if you cut off my fingers and hands, I can't finish this story and you'll never know what happens... Desperate attempt to save myself :P.)

BlueD: Yeah, that was my welcome back present :D. Did you see the 'March of the Maddy Hunters' by Fae the Queen? Go and check it out. It's creepy.

PocketSevens: Just put up the final chapter of it!

Elphaba'sGirl: Three instances? I can only think of one... no, two, I think. Do enlighten me - which ones were you thinking about? :P

Chapter 8. What friends are for

Elphaba was running, running through the woods as fast as she could, her raven hair flying behind her and her side stinging. She dodged trees and bushes as she ran through the forest, desperate to reach a place, any place, where she would be safe.

After a while, she stopped, trying to catch her breath. She leant heavily against a tree, the fever and the excruciating pain in her side taking their toll on her, but she knew she had to keep going. They couldn't find her. If they found her, too, all would be lost.

She'd been in her hospital room, asleep, when someone had forced their way into the room. By the time she had properly awakened, three Gale Force soldiers were standing around her bed, looking down at her menacingly, and she had immediately panicked. When they'd tried to grab her, she'd grabbed the stand her drip was attached to, the one with all the bags of liquid hanging from it, and she'd used it to keep them off her back while she yanked the needles out of her arm.

When they had advanced on her, she had knocked one of them unconscious with the stand, then somehow managed to make the second one fly out the window. When the third one pulled out a gun and aimed it at her, her magic had rushed through her in an instinctual reaction. It had left her body through her fingertips, knocking the man out. She'd pushed the two unconscious man into the closet, just in case anyone would come into the room after them – she didn't want them to be found right away – and then she'd sneaked out of her room and into the hallway.

She had quickly discovered that the Gale Force soldiers were keeping the nurses, as well as Fiyero, trapped in the main hall; and with that discovery came the realisation that she could do nothing to help them. They had Fiyero. They weren't going to let him out of their sight anytime soon. Right now, in her weakened, feverish and wounded state, she could not help him.

She had made her way out a back door somehow, fleeing into the forest, and then she had started running, as fast as she could, trying her hardest to get away from the Gale Force soldiers that were searching for her.

She shivered in her thin hospital gown. What was she going to do now? Fiyero was captured and she needed to save him, but right now, she barely had enough strength left in her body to keep herself upright, let alone fight off a dozen Gale Force soldiers as she forced her way into Southstairs to free the man she loved. She needed a plan, a good one, and she needed it now.

She tried to orientate herself; then she realised she was near a hiding place she had used a few times in the past months. It wasn't ideal, but she could build a fire there and maybe there was some food, too… Oz knew she could use it.

The idea suddenly came to her, and she immediately felt lighter. At least she had something she could do now. She pulled a long branch off a tree, tying smaller branches and twigs to it with the headband she had been wearing. Then she softly muttered the magical incantation under her breath and the improvised broom rose about a metre into the air. Elphaba reached out to grab it and carefully situated herself onto it, shifting a little and wincing upon feeling the stab of pain in her side. Clenching her teeth, she ignored the pain for now, steering the broom in the right direction and flying off.

Fiyero was taken to the Emerald City, as he had expected he would be. He was the only one; the Gale Force had spent hours interrogating the nurses, but apparently, Marlyn had managed to stay off their radar. He was glad about that. She'd done so much for them, and he would feel terrible if she ended up in Southstairs for it.

Something was off, however. They had been travelling for a couple of days now. On the first day, the Captain of the Guard had sent two soldiers ahead to catch up with their colleagues – the ones that had apparently kidnapped Elphaba from her hospital room – and report back how they were doing handling the Witch. The two scouts had returned this morning. Fiyero probably wasn't supposed to overhear the conversation they had with the Captain, but he caught bits and pieces of it; and from what he heard, the scouts had never found the other Gale Force soldiers.

On the one hand, that worried him. He had hoped to catch news – any news – concerning Elphaba and how she was doing… if she was even still alive. On the other hand, he couldn't help but feel that anything that didn't go according to the Captain's plan might work in Fiyero's advantage somehow.

"Go back to that hospital," the Captain now barked at the two scouts. "Search the room the Witch was in and interrogate everyone you come across. I want this mystery solved!"

Galinda Upland was sitting at her desk in her dorm room, doing some homework for a change, when a strange, large object suddenly crashed into the room through the open window with a lot of noise.

Galinda screamed, whirling around, but her eyes widened when she realised that the tangled mess of limbs, fabric and black hair was actually her best friend. "Elphie?"

Elphaba moaned. "That was not one of my better landings."

Galinda hurried to her side, kneeling down next to the green girl and helping her up. "What in Oz happened?" she asked. She took in her friend's appearance. She was dressed in nothing but a thin, smudged hospital gown. She was bare-footed, her hair looked like a bird's nest, and Galinda could tell that the broom she was flying was not the same one she had been flying before. She studied her friend's face, which was extremely pale, and her chocolate brown eyes looked haunted.

"Elphie," Galinda said softly. "What is going on?"

Elphaba took a deep breath. She slowly lowered herself onto Galinda's bed, struggling to get her breathing under control, and she ran a shaky hand through her hair. "Glin, I… I screwed up."

Galinda furrowed her brow.

Elphaba buried her face in her hands. "They took Fiyero," she whispered. "The Gale Force has him, Galinda… they're taking him to the Emerald City, to Southstairs, and… and it's my fault!"

"Whoa, Elphie, calm down." Galinda took both of her friends' hands in her own; then she frowned, noticing that Elphaba was hunched over in pain and that there was a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead. The blonde lay her hand against Elphaba's forehead and gasped. "Elphie! You've got a fever!"

Elphaba nodded, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment as the adrenaline left her system and she became aware again of the throbbing pain in her side. "Yeah," she said faintly. "I had a little… accident."

Galinda raised an eyebrow. "An accident," she repeated.

Elphaba cringed slightly in anticipation. "With my own energy ball. You know, when I kind of… um… tried to kill Morrible," she admitted, staring at the floor sheepishly.

Galinda did not disappoint her – she exploded. "What?! Elphaba Thropp, what in Oz were you thinking?! Are you insane? You sent an energy ball at Morrible?! Have you completely misplaced your mind?!" she screeched.

Elphaba winced. "Yeah… I know." She sighed, deflating. "I… she was smarter than me. She saw it coming," she said quietly. "She brought up a force field to protect herself, and my own energy ball bounced right back at me."

Galinda looked murderous. "You know? For a straight A student, you are really stupid sometimes," she hissed.

"I know, okay?" Elphaba snapped. "It wasn't a smart move. I get that. Especially since it's what made me end up in that hospital in the first place, and if we hadn't gone to that hospital, Fiyero wouldn't be on his way to Southstairs right now!"

"Slow down, Elphie." Galinda held up both hands. "Tell me exactly what happened. No, wait, give me a minute first." She scurried around the room, collecting things, before plopping back onto the bed next to Elphaba. "Okay, start talking."

Elphaba told her everything, while the blonde took her former roommate's temperature, fed her some pills and water, and laid out some warm clothes for her. When Elphaba finished, Galinda ushered her into the bathroom to change, and then she insisted Elphaba would take a nap.

"You sure look like you need it," the blonde pointed out. "And besides, there's nothing you can do for Fiyero now. I hate to tell you this, Elphie, but if you set out to save him right now, you're going to end up falling off your broomstick. Or crashing into a rock. Or a tree. Or colliding with a bird in the sky. Or –"

"I get it, Glin," Elphaba interrupted her tiredly, and Galinda pushed her friend into the fluffy pink bed and tucked her in.

"Sleep," she ordered. "I'm going to think about this. Don't worry, I'll figure something out."

"Thanks, Glin," Elphaba murmured, half asleep already.

Galinda stayed put for a while, watching her friend sleep. Then she rose to her feet and pulled out some pen and paper. She scribbled a quick note for Elphaba, should she wake up, which she put on the desk; and then she pulled on a cloak and left, carefully locking the door behind her.

"I'm looking for a nurse called Marlyn?"

The red-haired nurse across from Galinda eyed her a bit warily. "You weren't sent by the Wizard, were you?" she asked. "We've had Gale Force soldiers swarming the hospital for the past days. It looked like a war zone in here."

Galinda shook her head. "No, that's not it," she assured the woman. "It's just that this Marlyn treated my friend when she was sick a while ago, and I need her advice on something."

"Oh." The nurse pointed towards another nurse, somewhat younger, with strawberry blonde hair. "That's Marlyn."

Galinda flashed her a beaming smile. "Thank you." She strode over towards the other nurse. "Marlyn?"

The nurse looked up from her paperwork. "Yes?"

Galinda lowered her voice. "Could I talk to you for a minute?" she asked her quietly. "Alone?"

Marlyn sighed. "I'm sorry," she apologised, "but I'm really busy right now, and –"

"It's about Elphaba."

Upon hearing that name, Marlyn's eyes immediately widened. She dropped the paperwork, grabbed Galinda's arm and pulled the other blonde into an empty examination room, closing the door behind her. "What about Elphaba?" she whispered. "Who are you?"

"My name is Galinda Upland," the petite blonde said. "Of the Upper Uplands. I'm Elphie's best friend."

Marlyn nodded slowly. "She told me about you."

"So you did help her," Galinda concluded, and Marlyn nodded again.

"Only I couldn't help her all that well," she added a bit bitterly. "I still don't know who betrayed her, but… but the Gale Force came, and…"

"Oh, I know," Galinda assured her. "She told me."

Marlyn looked confused. "Elphaba told you? But…" Her eyes widened even further when realisation dawned on her. "She escaped?"

Galinda shook her head. "She was never caught in the first place," she said simply. "The Gale Force came into her room, but she fought them off and got out of here. She came to me for help."

Marlyn breathed a sigh of relief. "But Fiyero…"

"Is with the Gale Force," Galinda finished. "And we need to save him."

Marlyn nodded. "I see." She thought about this for a moment. "There were some Gale Force soldiers in the closet of Elphaba's old room," she offered.

Galinda chuckled. "Yeah, she told me about that."

"The other soldiers took Fiyero to the Emerald City," Marlyn told her fellow blonde. "They're going to throw him into Southstairs, as could be expected. They're travelling down the Yellow Brick Road right now, if I'm not mistaken. They left two days ago."

"Two days?" Galinda gasped. "Elphie only arrived at my place this morning!"

Marlyn looked concerned. "Where did she stay in the meantime?"

"She said something about a cabin in the woods…" Galinda said faintly. "She was too weak to travel all the way to Shiz all at once, she said. She has to focus to keep the broom under control, so…"

Marlyn nodded. "How did she look when she got to you?" she asked Galinda, who made a face.

"Not good," she said.

Marlyn hesitated for a moment. Then she said, "Wait here," and hurried out of the room.

She came back ten minutes later, carrying a bag with her, which she handed to Galinda. "She'll need this." She held up a few strips of pills. "These are to get her fever down." A roll of bandage. "She'll have to change her bandage tonight. Tell her to keep an eye on it – whenever it gets dirty, she'll have to change it… and what with the rescue attempt you girls are planning, I'm imagining it could get very filthy." She showed Galinda a jar filled with cream. "Let her apply this to the burns before you change the bandage."

Galinda just kept on nodding, taking the bag from the nurse. "Make her drink lots of water," Marlyn advised the blonde, "and get some food into her. Make sure she sleeps well. I'd tell you to make her stay in bed for at least another week, if not longer, but, well, from what I've seen of her and how much she cares about Fiyero…"

Galinda was already shaking her head. "Not going to happen," she declared. "You have no idea how much effort it took me to get her to take a nap of a few hours' time."

Marlyn sighed. "Right. Okay. If her fever gets higher, come to me immediately," she warned Galinda. "Keep an eye on her, okay?"

"I'll look out for her," Galinda promised. "She's my best friend – I won't let anything happen to her… but I know she has to do this. For Fiyero. I want her to be safe, but I want her to be happy, too, and she could never be that whilst knowing that Fiyero is in Southstairs all by himself."

Marlyn nodded. "Good luck."

Galinda gave her a weary smile. "Thanks," she said. "We'll need it."

All better now?

...sort of, anyway?

*hides in a kitchen cupboard just to be sure*