Author's Note: See previous chpts for disclaimer. Thank you all so much for reviewing! Such lovely people you all are, and thank you especially for your suggestions! It is so wonderful to know that there will be eyes reading this when I send it out and I hope you know how much I appreciate your efforts!
I am not sure how you will all take this chapter; it is not very nice. But it has a purpose, as everything does. So please enjoy xx
"She set them on fire?" Fiyero asked incredulously. Galinda nodded carefully; she was reluctant to tell him. "I didn't mean for her to resent me for it – they were a thank you for what she's been doing." Fiyero leaned back on his wooden bench; this was his least favourite lecture hall. A few weeks ago it had been his favourite because he'd just started dating Galinda and this was the only class they had together without any of their close friends around. Sure, there were always friends; they were the most sociable couple at Shiz and between them they knew most every student. However, both Galinda and Fiyero prized their closer circle of friends and in Ozian Social Politics 1A they found that such a circle of friends was reduced to them.
On Fiyero's part, he was glad their break-up was mutual and amicable enough that they were still good friends, but Galinda was not sure she was entirely past her feelings for him. She knew both that she would struggle to watch him with someone else and that she had very little right to feel that way.
"What has she been doing? Fiyero, have you actually made progress in one week?"
"Of course –" he stopped at Galinda's raised eyebrow and stammered an admission, "well . . . not that I can measure. But it's not exactly my fault because we've not had any tests apart from that one on Friday and we won't get it back for another week." Galinda nodded, having to agree with him on that one. "She really threw the whole bouquet into the fireplace and let it burn?"
"Fiyero, she's just not used to that kind of thing. I mean, think about what she's gone through; her mother died when she was just a tiny girl and her father . . . Oz only knows what damage he's done."
Galinda turned to see Fiyero's eyes bulging almost out of their sockets and she realised too late that Elphaba would not have told him her secrets and nor would she expect Galinda to just blurt them out to him. "What?"
"I . . ." Fiyero leaned forward, ". . . um . . ." he sighed and Galinda gave up her attempt at lying; she really was terrible at it, ". . . look please don't ask me anything else and please don't tell anyone what I've said. Especially Elphaba. Fiyero, she would kill me. I'm not just tossing out hyperbole here, I mean it literally. Me, dead."
Fiyero chuckled softly and pressed Galinda's hand reassuringly. "I promise I won't." He was not by any means satisfied, but he figured if Elphaba began to trust him a little bit more then maybe she would tell him. Besides, Fiyero did not think it would take him long to achieve such a level of friendship. After all, how long had she known Galinda before she opened up to her, three weeks?
Fiyero reasoned from what Galinda had mentioned absentmindedly that Elphaba was pushing away the little she had opened up to him about herself because she thought he would laugh at her, or worse. Fair enough, but he was determined to make her see how trusting he could be, how trusting he had been already. For the next few times they met, Fiyero laid off teasing and baiting her and focused on impressing her with the progress he made in his academics. Although this meant he actually had to work, it never seemed as bad as he anticipated because Elphaba's quiet patience became a motivation. He worked to see her smile.
Their study times became for both a relaxation of sorts; they would lounge in the huge armchairs of the sectioned-off areas and flip the pages of heavily perfumed books that would throw clouds of dust all over the room and make them both sneeze again and again.
"Ach-choo! Choo!" Elphaba put her hand on her chest, recovering from the exhilaration of sneezing. "Fiyero, you're doing that deliberately." She accused when she looked up only to have to look down again because he was not standing before her but was doubled over on the floor laughing. "It's not that funny!" She crossed her arms. "What are you laughing at?"
Fiyero wiped his eyes, tears streaming down his face which was scrunched up in amusement and he shook off the last laugh. "Sorry, it's just so unusual to hear you sneeze. It's cute."
Elphaba's mouth made an 'O'. "Cute?" Fiyero nodded and her volume increased along with her shock. "Cute?"
"Yeah, what's wrong with that, Fae? I'm not allowed to think you're cute?"
Elphaba blanched slightly at the implication of his words but allowed herself to smile and glance quickly at Fiyero, who smirked at her in the way that always made her heart race. He was just so handsome. No, Elphaba thought when she caught his eye again, he's not just handsome he's so . . . hot. Fiyero was not the only one who eagerly anticipated their times spent together; she found his aptitude unbelievably attractive, especially when she could get him talking about something he really cared for, then his eyes would light up and even when he had run out of a proper defence he would make her laugh by firing witty retorts back at her.
She sneezed again; her composed and focused face screwed up and confused. He jumped up and handed her a tissue, placing his hand on her back. It was warm where he touched her. Elphaba self-consciously wiped her nose and discarded the tissue as slowly as possible, hoping he wouldn't move. "Still cute?" She teased, wondering and hoping if she could make him feel as unnerved as he did her. She had expected him to smirk or tease her back, but there was no sign of that. Instead, he brought his hand up to her face. Elphaba couldn't breathe or think or hear anything; her heart was pounding too loudly for that. As she stared at him, she watched his face soften and felt his hand fall to the base of her neck. Sweet Oz, I don't ever want him to move that hand. She resisted the urge to close her eyes, if only to savour his face and everything about it. He was tanned and unblemished; perfect, she remembered. His eyes were expressive but she could not put her finger on what they might be saying. They travelled all over her face; Fiyero was watching her, too, and that sent a thrilling chill up her spine and made her wonder what was going to happen. How much longer would they stand here like this, in the middle of a study area and totally absorbed in one another? What would he do and how would they move on from this situation? Elphaba wondered if he would see something he did not like in her, as so many had, and would try to figure a way out.
Fiyero was taking his time to study her face; he had never had such a good opportunity to do it before and he was enjoying himself. He knew she thought of herself as a closed book and it was generally understood that this was the case. Fiyero prided himself on having known her long enough to begin to re-interpret what she was thinking or feeling, however, and that was exactly what he was trying to do now. He was not having much success. From the day they had met there had been something about her that had captured his attention. It may not have been beauty that he observed when his carriage had almost flattened her, but it was definitely beauty now. "Not cute." He said, stroking the line of her jaw with his thumb. "Beautiful."
Elphaba heard a dozen voices in her head shouting and moaning that he was lying to her, but she didn't listen to any of them. To her surprise, the sound of them dimmed a little. She didn't know that she could speak, so she just smiled and smiled more when he returned it. Elphaba didn't feel awkward anymore, she felt secure. Fiyero planted a kiss in her hair. He pulled her in with his hand and Elphaba gently held his shirt to keep him close to her. It lasted only for a second before they both stepped back. "If it really annoys you that much, I won't throw dust around anymore."
She shook her head, finding her voice. "It's fine. I like sneezing. It feels good." She added as an aside, before realising how completely inappropriate it was.
"Yeah, I know. I wonder why. . ?" Fiyero leaned on the desk, eyeing her. "Fae? Why does it feel good?"
She eyed him back, not knowing if he genuinely was ignorant of the answer, or was provoking her to get her to blurt it out and embarrass herself or something. He asked her again, assuming she would know the answer. Elphaba felt entirely too uncomfortable to explain it to him. He kept asking her until she turned on him, irritated and yet enjoying the fact that he paid her so much attention. "Oh for the love of Oz, Fiyero, I'll tell you when you pass this semester. Or maybe you'll surprise me and figure it out for yourself."
"I doubt it. Don't get your hopes up, Fae."
"To your desk, Tiggular." She demanded, trying to settle herself from his touches.
Fiyero began to run down a list of everything they had covered that day. His quiet studiousness convinced her to raise her hopes in his ability to achieve. "I've never heard of . . . factors concerning the societal variegations of species migration in politics." Elphaba laughed a little at the confused puppy face that Fiyero now wore and wrote down the shelf number of the topic he knew nothing about. Truth be told she thought it was a roundabout description of Animal social politics. "Thank you, Fae. What would I do without you?" Fiyero linked their fingers together and kissed her cheek. "Be back in a minute."
Fiyero didn't know how she would react, but he hoped it was favourable, and when he saw her sit down and touch her cheek where he had kissed it, he smiled to himself and bounded off to find his odious books. Elphaba let a huge smile spread across her face when he had gone and set to taking notes under a new topic from several books. She just loved the privacy and peacefulness of a good book, and now she was surrounded by several of them and had just been kissed on the cheek by Fiyero. Elphaba was very happy.
For most, silences can become oppressive and disturbing. For Elphaba, who could certainly not be counted among most people, silences were like the Emerald City; rare and beautiful and to be treasured. She cherished silences. Elphaba liked that her progress could be marked by the quick and furious sound her pen made on paper and she liked the singular sound of the pages when she turned them.
She had not really banked on Fiyero taking such a long time to find the books he wanted, though, and eventually found herself looking up from her work and expecting him to be there. Checking her watch she discovered he had only been gone fifteen minutes. Elphaba cursed her female tendency to want him near her and was sure that she was neither the first nor the last woman to wish so. It was just that she felt very uneasy all alone. She had no idea why this feeling crossed her now because she had certainly studied by herself in the same room countless times and had never been nervous about her friendlessness. Elphaba scoffed at the thought that it might have something to do with the friends she had now; they had been so non-existent before that when one or two came along, their absence could be more easily measured.
Elphaba even found herself planning an exit strategy, but she recognised her own irrationality and put her ridiculous thoughts away along with the pile of books she had finished with. Weakly, she checked again for Fiyero having sworn she could hear someone move around the bookcases. Sighing when she greeted with only a hot silence, she opened a new set of texts and began to take notes once again.
"Well, you're certainly a bright spark."
Elphaba jumped up and yelped quietly at the voice, whose owner was as yet unknown to her. She quickly scanned the little room for the intruder. "Who's there? Who are you?" She demanded into the darkness. In front of her, a tall and well-set young man appeared, leering at her. Her pulse quickened but she set her expression; furious and hard like stone.
"Mraic. My name's Mraic. And you . . ." he stepped closer to her and to prevent herself from showing how tense she was Elphaba did not move back, though her instinct told her otherwise, "are Elphaba Thropp."
She sneered, drawing herself to as full a height as she could reach. Not that it made much of a difference. "Miss Elphaba Thropp. I don't know you and I do not appreciate people sneaking around me. I would also thank you to keep your pathetic little comments about my skin to yourself. I've heard them all before."
Mraic threw his head back and cackled causing Elphaba to shiver; she'd never heard anyone but herself make such a horrible sound. It was designed to put people off; to threaten them. "Oh I'm sure you have, Fae." Elphaba frowned and wondered what was going on. In her mind she was repeating Fiyero's name over and over. "Your mind is a cavernous trove of knowledge, isn't it? You're just a little genius." Elphaba disliked his bitter tone and juvenile reference to her. This time when he stepped forward, she moved away, scoffing at him and pretending to find a book on one of the shelves. When she brought her hand up to take one down, it was shaking vigorously and she began to panic. "Do you actually have anything you want to ask me? Or did you come all the way out here just to insult me for your own pleasure?" She stared at him, her courage low but she was determined to call on it all. "Did you want to utilise my mind in some way?"
"It's not your mind I give a damn about, green bean."
He lunged angrily at her, growling, and pinned her hands above her head. On impact, the contact of his knee with her thigh gave her a dead leg and she called out. He was right behind her. Elphaba had a sudden flashback to her altercation with the spider. Mraic was like a spider – no, he was a spider. He seemed so unimportant and yet here she was entirely weak while he had all the power. Elphaba muttered a spell under her breath but to no effect; her magic was useless when she really needed it. Damn these nerves, how the hell am I supposed to pass a Sorcery Exam? She knew she was stalling, and just as a biting insult was building in her throat, she felt an unwelcome cold pressure on her thigh.
Panic. Elphaba was in utter panic now. She could feel adrenaline pumping through her and though she searched her brain for inspiration, for some idea of what she was supposed to do, there was nothing there to help her. "I've just always wanted to know what you look like under all that black." He hissed into her neck. Elphaba's eyed widened and she opened her mouth to scream but only a whimper came out. Helplessly, she gripped the bookcase and pressed herself against it in an attempt to create distance; his body blocked all her exits. She screwed her eyes shut when he stepped forward again and she felt a hand creep under her blouse.
"Stop . . . what are you . . . doing?" She said feebly. Her words were so quiet, she was not entirely certain she had said them out loud. Mraic's movements suddenly turned from careful to angry; the hand that had found its way under her slip now pinched her breast while the other brought tears falling down her face and neck when it worked under her skirt and between her legs. Abruptly, she was turned to face him but looked down and began to audibly wail. She had never felt so bare in all her life. Her nails must have scratched the wood from the sounds she heard, but all she could feel were his hands in her most intimate areas. When Mraic groaned and kissed her, she cried out and though still conscious, she was limp and shaking violently. Her heart pounded so loud until she could no longer hear anything.
Fiyero thought he must look absolutely ridiculous carrying so many books all at once. He had completely impaired his vision in an attempt to pile them on top of one another and it didn't exactly help that they were the heaviest books he had ever seen in his life. Fiyero laughed at the thought that Elphaba would probably be able to carry twice that amount by herself; she was freakishly strong . . . in the best way.
Unfortunately, by himself Fiyero was not capable of carting them all back to Elphaba and as he didn't want to have to come all the way back up and leave her again, he was forced to ask assistance from the old Cats. On the upside it was one of the nicer Cats and she chatted away to him until she discovered it was Elphaba Thropp who was tutoring him. Fiyero found it refreshing that at this point in the conversation the old Animal began to chatter even more quickly than before and practically sang the praises of Elphaba's willingness to help the library staff. As they reached the study nook, Fiyero decided to remember that he liked this one.
Fiyero was glad that the Cat moved as quickly as he did; he was anxious to get back to Elphaba. He wondered what she was doing and what she was thinking. Probably studying. Ha, she loves that so much; she's so intelligent and brilliant and she's gonna be running Oz someday. My Fae. Fiyero was rushed out of his thoughts at the term of endearment but he smiled. He liked it. Fiyero had to turn and push the door open with his back to open it, and he laughed as he stumbled into the room. "God Fae, these books are a bitch. They better be beneficial to me or I'm holding you responsible." She didn't respond, and he could just picture her face dripping with sarcasm. "Fae, it'd be great if you could give us a hand right now." Silence. "Fae?"
He put his guard up immediately when the Cat hissed suddenly and her tail stood stock still in the air. His voice dropped to a whisper. "What's wrong?"
The Cat turned to him, eyes ablaze with tension and her whiskers prickling the air around her. "Where is Miss Thropp? Listen . . ." Fiyero turned his ear to the room and the sound of struggling set his entire body on edge and he felt sick to his stomach. Before he could react, the Cat hissed manically and her books hit the ground. Later, he would send a cheque to the University towards the improvement of the Animal staff facilities at the Library.
Fiyero ran into the corner towards the source of the noises and what he saw was the worst thing he had ever set eyes; he felt bile in his throat at the sight of a man hunched over Elphaba, his hands working underneath her clothes. In the split second between the discovery of them and his reaction, he saw Elphaba's bony knee shove itself into his groin. He did not have to think to know what to do and in a rage, Fiyero grabbed the shirt on his back and used all his strength to wrench him from Elphaba. "What the fuck have you done, you bastard!" The Cat made no attempt to stop him when he punched the dishevelled criminal in the neck, winding him.
He heard the Cat call for help as she dragged the man from the floor in front of Fiyero out into the middle of the room, but Fiyero disregarded the commotion and took Elphaba in his arms and helped her close her blouse and pull her skirts down. "Fae, Fae . . . look at me, it's alright." Fiyero had never been so frightened in his life, and he cradled her like a newborn. He leaned down until they were cheek to cheek and kissed her temple. Tears threatened, but he held them back if only to appear strong for her. He didn't even want to think about how much had happened before they had found them.
Shaking his thoughts away, he focused on Elphaba. Her eyes were glazed but she breathed heavily and gripped his hands. "Fiyero." He smiled. "Fiyero, I'm fine, let go of me." Elphaba pushed him away and scrambled with her legs in an attempt to stand, falling back onto Fiyero and cursing. "I'm fine."
Fiyero saw a black bruise forming on her cheek and blood trickling down her neck; they would have time to discuss Elphaba's welfare later, right now he wasn't about to let her stubbornness prevent him from getting her to a hospital. "Elphaba, we don't have time for this. Stop it." He knew she was resisting and he couldn't blame her for not wanting to be touched now, but he was stronger than her and though she punched and kicked, he overpowered her. "Fae . . . please."
Her face was a mess of fear and anger and she spat out her words. "I don't want your pity! Get off me! LEAVE ME!" Her sharp tongue and the fire in her eyes made him flinch. He would let her handle herself as long as she recognised the need for medical care. Fiyero expected that she would be in a state of denial. He saw that she was shaking, and she winced in pain when she turned to eye the Cat. "You won't spread this around. And you won't treat me like some damaged flower. I can take care of myself. I always have."
Her voice was a harsh whisper, and Fiyero wanted to shake it out of her, but he simply nodded and stood. Gently, he prodded her. "Please let me take you to get cleaned up. You need stitches." He hesitantly lifted his thumb to the blood on her, and held it up for her to see. She made no attempt to speak, but echoed his courteous nod and let him walk with her to a cab.
Whoa. Review please! xx