AN: To Those That Want To Murder Me: I have BlueD and Musicgal3 and her chainsaw to protect me, and PocketSevens offered me a hiding place. YOU CAN NEVER GET TO ME.

To Those That Do Not Want To Murder Me: Thank you very much, I appreciate the sentiment.

To Moreanswers24: WRONG MOVE. You just gave me the idea of killing Fiyero and bringing him back to life again, just to shock you all :D.

To BlueD: That cracked me up. The 'boops his nose' part, but when you called Fiyero 'Snuggly Booboo Kins', I was just rolling over the floor with laughter xD.

To Elphaba'sGirl: Your comment on Happy Ending made me laugh. "That wasn't really a happy ending, Maddy". I'm aware :D. I must argue with you, though. Fifty Ways To Say Goodbye doesn't count because I wrote an extra epilogue. Sometimes She Wishes She Was Never Born doesn't count because it's pre-Shiz and we all know she ends up happily ever after with Fiyero in the end (sort of, anyway). And as for Shadows... well, Nessa is in a better place right now ^_^.

Chapter 9. Fiyero, saving you

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THEY WERE LOCKED IN A CLOSET?!" It was the booming voice of the Captain of the Guard that woke Fiyero from his sleep. He rubbed his eyes, squinting against the early morning light. The Captain was standing on the other side of their improvised camp, but his voice was so loud that it carried all the way across the camp. The two scouts that had gone back to the hospital were with him, looking defeated.

Fiyero sat up quickly. Was this about Elphaba?

"Exactly what we said, sir," one of the scouts said a bit grumpily. "One of our men was found in the bushes next to the hospital, severely wounded…"

His companion sniggered. "Luckily for him, the hospital wasn't far away."

The Captain glared at him, and the scout muffled his laugh in his hand, pretending to be coughing.

"…and the other two were found in the closet in the hospital room," the first scout continued as if he hadn't been interrupted at all. "They had been knocked unconscious."

The Captain started pacing. "And those were the men that were supposed to capture the Witch?" he hissed at his scouts. "You're sure of that?"

They both nodded. "Turns out they never caught her at all," the second scout said. "Apparently she knocked them unconscious and escaped."

"How?" the Captain demanded. "She was hurt, wasn't she?"

The scouts shrugged helplessly. "She was probably stronger than we thought she'd be," one of them offered.

The Captain growled, but Fiyero suddenly felt ten tons lighter. Elphaba wasn't in Southstairs – she had escaped! He had no idea how that was possible, but as he had told Marlyn before, Elphaba was a miracle. If anyone was capable of getting away of a bunch of Gale Force soldiers while severely injured, it was her.

He wondered where she could have gone. Some of her friends from the Resistance, maybe? Or had she just waited in the woods for the Gale Force to leave, then sneaked back in again? He hoped not – the Captain had ordered some men to stay behind at the hospital and look out for her. It could get her caught again after all…

"Take Prince Fiyero back to the City," the Captain ordered, his voice almost a hiss. "Immediately. I want him locked up as soon as possible – before he, too, makes some kind of miraculous escape."

The scouts saluted.

"I will take three men with me to search the woods," the Captain continued. "I want to find the Witch, and I'm going to make sure I will find her if it's the last thing I'll ever do. Report back to the Wizard. I will find her and bring her to the Emerald City, where she will face the consequences of her crimes."

With that, the Captain stalked off, leaving his second-in-command in charge of bringing Fiyero to the Emerald City.

Galinda spent the next few days nursing Elphaba back to health, much to the green girl's annoyance.

"Galinda," she said, scowling. "I have to find Fiyero!"

"You will." Galinda was stirring in a pan filled with broth as she heated it up. "Later."

"Glin-"

"You can argue all you want, Elphie, but I'm not letting you leave. Not yet. Marlyn actually wanted you to stay down for at least another week. I already compromised by making that four days."

"But –"

"He's in Southstairs, yes, but he'll be fine for a few days, Elphie. It'll be much more helpful to him if you came to rescue him in fairly good health than if you'd fly there right now and get yourself shot out of the sky – or thrown in a cell with him. I don't think he'd appreciate that very much. Not to mention the fact that I would kill you."

Elphaba closed her mouth, sulking. She knew her friend was right.

"Still," she insisted. "If you're going to make me stay here, the least you could do is let me change my own bandages and let me eat by myself. You don't have to coddle me."

"But I like coddling you." Galinda was grinning as she brought a bowl of broth over to the bed. "You've never let me before, and now you can't do anything about it, so I'm going to take advantage of the situation. All you have to do is swallow when I feed you something and lie still when I'm taking care of you. Other than that, you just have to sleep. A lot. Just four days, Elphie. And meanwhile, we could perhaps come up with some kind of plan as to how exactly we're going to go about saving Fiyero."

Elphaba sulked and grumbled, but didn't protest again.

When the four days were over, however, she refused to stay tied down any longer. "Really, Galinda, I'm feeling fine," she insisted. "My fever is down, isn't it?"

Galinda was staring at the thermometer as if it had betrayed her. "Yes," she admitted grudgingly.

"You just took care of my burns and changed my bandage."

Galinda nodded.
"And you fed me the right amount of pills ten minutes ago. I'm not in any pain," okay, that was a lie; she was in pain, but it wasn't bad enough to mention it to her blonde friend, "and I'm awake and lucid and perfectly capable to move on my own. So what reason do you have to keep me here?"

Galinda bit her lip. "None," she had to admit. "But… but…"

Elphaba kissed her cheek. "No 'but'," she said sternly. "I'm going, and that's the end of it."

Galinda nodded. "I'll follow you," she said. "By bubble."

Elphaba sniggered. "I still think it's crazy that you taught yourself a spell to travel by bubble, of all things," she said in amusement. "It's so… Galinda."

Galinda curtsied mockingly. "Why, thank you," she said, giggling. "I love travelling by bubble. It's easy and elegant and fast – it got me to that hospital in mere hours! – and it's much more comfortable than a broomstick," she said with a hint of disgust in her voice.

"How would you know?" Elphaba held out the broomstick to her. "You've never even been on it."

Galinda wrinkled her nose. "No! I'm not touching that filthy old thing!" she protested.

Elphaba cackled.

"Have you got everything?" Galinda asked. "Did you cast the shrinking spell?"

Elphaba nodded, showing Galinda the object she'd shrunk. It was now the size of Elphaba's hand and it fitted snugly in the waistband of her underskirt, hidden by the heavy fabrics of her dress. After Elphaba had put it away, she looked around the room. "I think we're ready, aren't we?"

"I guess." Galinda sighed. "It's not much of a plan, though."

"No, it's not," Elphaba agreed, "but it'll get me to Fiyero, and right now that's all I care about. And it'll get you inside the Palace… if everything goes according to our not-so-fantastic plan."

"So our lives are currently depending on my acting abilities – which are moderate at best – and your unstable and almost uncontrollable magic," Galinda concluded. "We're doomed."

Elphaba smirked and patted her friend's hand. "Let's hope my magic wasn't affected by that energy ball and completely flies off the handle," she said. "Now that would be a problem."

Galinda paled. "Elphie, I don't think we should –"

"We'll be fine, Glin." Elphaba squeezed the blonde's shoulder. "Just try your best. It'll work out."

Galinda huffed. Elphaba gave her one last hug before mounting her broom.

She looked over her shoulder. "You'll be right behind me, won't you?" she asked.

Galinda smiled at her. "Always, Elphie. You know that."

Elphaba returned the smile.

Then she kicked off and flew out of the window, leaving Galinda to conjure up her bubble and follow close behind.

"Tell me where she is."

Fiyero looked up at the man leaning over him, then at Morrible, who was standing back a little, but he didn't say anything.

Morrible narrowed her eyes to slits. "Master Tiggular," she hissed. "I suggest you start talking right this instant, unless you want us to mutilate your pretty little face." As if on cue, the guard standing over Fiyero raised the whip he was holding.

"I told you," Fiyero said through clenched teeth. "I don't know where she is."

Morrible gave a nod to the guard and the man lashed out. The whip ripped open Fiyero's clothes, hitting the flesh of his back; and Fiyero couldn't hold back a yelp of pain. "I really don't know!" he said, panting a little. He looked up at Morrible. "The last time I saw her she was in the hospital! Then the Gale Force came and the Captain told me she had been captured! That's all I know!"

Morrible leant down to look into his eyes. Another lash of the whip made his back arch and he gritted his teeth, but he didn't scream.

"You're saying," Morrible summarised, "that you have not seen her since you left her in that hospital room. That's what you said before, isn't it?"

"Yes!"

"How did you know she escaped?"

"I overheard a conversation between the Captain of the Guard and a few other soldiers," Fiyero panted. "He'd sent them to the hospital and they told him that they had found the three men that were supposed to capture Elphaba. Apparently she'd knocked them all unconscious and escaped, but I don't know anything about that! I thought you had caught her and taken her to Southstairs!"

Now the guard was glaring at him. "Are you saying you were eavesdropping on our Captain?" he grunted, bringing the whip down again.

Morrible held up one hand. "That's not really of importance right now."

The guard looked pissed off, but obediently let the whip hang down beside him.

Morrible straightened her back, looking down at Fiyero. "I believe you."

Fiyero breathed a sigh of relief.

Morrible looked back up at the guard. "Fifteen more whiplashes," she said.

Fiyero's eyes widened. "What?!"

"You helped a fugitive criminal," Morrible reminded him. "The most dangerous one around, to be exact. You helped the Wicked Witch of the West. Now you must face your punishment."

"She is not dangerous!" Fiyero shouted. "She's not wicked and you know it, Morrible! If anyone is wicked around here, it's you! You ugly, disgusting, filthy witch!" He spat in her face.

Morrible wiped his saliva off her face, her expression murderous. "Soldier?"

The guard saluted. "Yes, Madame?"

"Make that twenty-five whiplashes," she growled. "Then throw him in the darkest, filthiest cell you can find. He will rot there for the rest of his life!"

"Of course, Madame." The guard rose his whip as Morrible left the dungeons, her cackle echoing through the dark hallways.

Fiyero squeezed his eyes shut.

Galinda led Elphaba through the hallways of the Emerald Palace. The green girl's hands were tied behind her back and there was a black sack pulled over her head, preventing anyone from seeing her face – and preventing her from seeing anything around her, which was annoying, but necessary. The moment anyone would see her green face, they would all start shouting, "WITCH!" and Galinda would never get her to the Throne Room.

"Your Ozness!" Galinda called as she shuffled into the Throne Room, dragging Elphaba with her. She curtsied a bit clumsily. "My name is Galinda Upland, of the Upper Uplands, and I –"

"Miss Galinda!" A middle-aged man appeared from behind the giant Wizard's head, smiling at Galinda. "Of course, of course. I got your letter. You said you were in a Sorcery class with Miss Elphaba?"

Elphaba stayed near the wall, hidden in the shadows, as Galinda chatted with the Wizard. "I was, and I know what happened to her."

The Wizard stilled.

"She became the Wicked Witch of the West," Galinda continued. "I shouldn't have been surprised, really – she always was mean and heartless." She had to force the words out, hating to say it, but knowing it was necessary. It was part of their plan. Pretend you're Oz's greatest actress, Galinda. You can do this.

The Wizard smiled hesitantly. "Is that so?"

Galinda nodded fervently, blonde curls bouncing. "But I was in that Sorcery class, too, Your Ozness," she declared proudly, "and I can do magic. I promise you I won't be ungrateful and fly off on a filthy old broomstick. I will stand by your side and I will help you and make you proud!"

The Wizard eyed her curiously. "Is that so?"

"I have always dreamt of standing by your side, working for you," Galinda said dramatically, bringing one hand to her forehead, then realising that might be a bit too much. She quickly dropped the hand again and batted her eyelashes at the Wizard. "It would be such an honour, and I promise you I could be of great use."

"How so?" the Wizard inquired. Galinda gave him her most bright and radiant smile and pulled Elphaba from the shadows. The green girl pretended to struggle.

"Your Ozness," Galinda announced, "may I present to you your greatest enemy: the Wicked Witch of the West!" She almost inaudibly hissed into Elphaba's ear, "Just know that I hate doing this and that this is the worst plan you've ever had." Then she pulled the sack from Elphaba's head.

The Wizard took in the girl standing before him. Emerald skin, black dress, long black hair in a ponytail over one shoulder. Her hands were tied, she was gagged and her eyes were burning. If looks could kill, Oscar would have dropped dead on the spot.

He frowned, then looked at Galinda. "You… you caught her?" he asked in wonder. He circled Elphaba, studying her from all angles. "How?"

"I set a trap," Galinda said proudly. "I set a trap for her, and I used my father's men to capture her." She thought that would be more believable than telling him that a petite little blonde had overpowered and captured the Wicked Witch all by herself. "As a sign of goodwill to you, Your Ozness. I brought her here, and you can have her to do with her as you wish." She shoved Elphaba forward.

The Wizard quickly disappeared behind his mechanical head and boomed, "Guards! Guards!"

Immediately, six Gale Force soldiers rushed into the room.

"We have captured the Wicked Witch of the West!" the Wizard barked. "Take her to Southstairs and lock her in a cell! Make sure she cannot escape, do you hear me?"

"Yes, Your Ozness!" the guards all shouted, saluting. Two of them grabbed a struggling Elphaba and Galinda watched with mixed feelings as her best friend was dragged out of the room.

Oh, she hoped everything would go according to plan.

"Miss Galinda," the Wizard said, appearing from behind the mechanical head again and smiling at her. He took both her hands in his. "You have proven our land a great service, and I am forever grateful. It would be my honour to welcome you to the government."

Galinda curtsied so low that her nose almost touched the ground. "Oh, thank you, Your Ozness!" she gushed, bending her relief to appear like gratitude. He bought it. "I will not disappoint you!"

The Wizard smiled at her and she grinned back at him. I will do so much more than that.

*imitates dude from Snickers commercial* Better?