Ok, so here is the next update. I know now that I need to start working on my grammar slightly more but I have already got the next five chapters written so it'll begin to appear after that! :D I hope this chapter is ok, please review after! Thanks!

Fiyero knew that the moment he arrived at Shiz it would be the hardest part of the process so far. He could only guess how the other students would be feeling and how they would look at him, he knew it would not be the same reassuring way that Elphaba and the others did.

"Fiyero," Galinda's voice drew him out of his reverie as he moved his gaze from the window to the Gillikinese girl sitting next to him, "are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," Fiyero smiled bravely at her and they stood up, leaving their compartment and joining Boq and Nessa on the platform. Their bags were brought to them by the station master and porters and they were led to a carriage Morrible had sent that would take them to Shiz.

"We'll see you at dinner," Galinda said to Nessarose and Boq as they all got out of the carriage and Nessa and Boq nodded their approval before heading inside and Galinda and Fiyero were left alone.

"I still think this was the right decision, I need this, it's a distraction," Fiyero assured her, noticing the slightly apprehensive look on her face

"You know you'll never forget him Fiyero, he will never really go away," Galinda said wisely.

"I know that, I just, I need to keep going, I have to keep my grades up at least, if I do nothing else," Fiyero said judiciously.

Galinda smiled bravely and reassuringly at Fiyero as she led him inside and immediately people began to stare and whisper. His first thought was this must be what Elphaba feels like when she walks the corridors every day. He hated the pitying, sympathetic glances he was receiving and the way people looked as though they wanted to say something to him but hadn't the nerve to actually approach him.

"I hate this Glin," Fiyero muttered almost incoherently, as he tried to zone out and ignore the whispers.

"I know but they need to stare now and get the sympathetic glances out there so they feel like they've done their part and felt sorry for you before they can continue as normal," Galinda explained, trying her hardest to relate to the way Fiyero must be feeling, "besides Sam Tiggular was known by everyone in a way Fiyero, you are royalty after all, the whole of Oz is in shock."

"But they didn't know him," Fiyero said, his voice showing slight signs of anger as they approached Crage Hall and Galinda's dorm.

"Fiyero we didn't know him either," Galinda pointed out, "Elphaba and I, we hardly said two words to him yet we still grieved, we still came to the funeral."

At the mention of Elphaba's name Fiyero visually relaxed, Galinda noticed his body language was less tense and she could almost see the flicker of a smile in his eyes and it was evident as his lips twitched upwards, Galinda looked away to hide the fact that she had witnessed it.

The rest of that week seemed to move along slowly but fairly uneventfully. Galinda acknowledged that Fiyero wasn't going out partying with his friend's anymore and he was trying more in lessons. He was doing assignments on time and she swore she had seen him going into the library several times that week. Elphaba must have been having a positive influence on him. It was only in the last lesson on Friday afternoon that Fiyero finally snapped from all the pressure he was putting on himself.

Avaric had made a comment about how storms were caused and Fiyero knew he was implying something about Sam's death so the Prince had thrown his papers to the floor and run from the classroom. Tears streamed freely down his cheeks as he ran towards the grove, the same place he had come on numerous occasions with Elphaba, they were the only students who frequently spent time down there. He carried on sprinting; trying his hardest to run off all the pent up anger he had wished to use up on Avaric. He pulled the baseball from his jacket pocket that he had kept from Sam's belongings and it only proved to make him more distressed than he was before. Fiyero didn't notice until it was too late that he was going downhill and he promptly tripped and fell the rest of the way down, tears still falling fast down his cheeks and the baseball rolled from his grip, coming to a halt three metres away from him. Fiyero closed his eyes together tightly, desperately trying to stop thinking about Sam but it was impossible. When he opened his eyes the baseball had gone, he looked up to see Sam looking back at him.

"You're late; I thought we had a deal?" Sam asked him, tossing the baseball up and down with his right hand.

"We do have a deal," Fiyero assured him, pulling himself to his feet and dusting off his uniform.

"Promise?" Sam asked once again, those words haunting Fiyero but at the same time he couldn't keep the smile off his lips.

"I promise," he beamed at his little brother.

Fiyero certainly seemed more contented as he played baseball with his brother; the fact that Avaric had made some thoughtless, inconsiderate comment didn't bother him much more. When the sun finally went down and the gardens of Shiz were covered by a blanket of darkness Fiyero left the grove and headed back to Briscoe Hall. It just so happened that his thoughts were interrupted by Galinda bustling over to him just as he was about to open his dorm door.

"Fiyero, there you are, thank Oz you're ok, we were all worried about you, I heard about the disturburance in class, you should not take heed of whatever Avaric Tenmeadows says, he's a moron and he always will be," Galinda spoke quickly, Fiyero hardly able to understand much of what she was speaking, it all came out as a flurry of jumbled, soprano pitched words.

"Have you been drinking coffee again?" Fiyero merely asked her once she had finished.

"No," Galinda squeaked, almost discouraged that Fiyero had thought such a thing, was she being too over excited again?

"If you say so," Fiyero smiled at her, "and Glin I know Avaric's a moron, his opinion isn't exactly highly valued by me or many other students for that matter but I flipped out, I know I should not have but I did. I will apologise to the professor on Monday."

"Yes well make sure you do it before Elphie gets back, I doubt she would be too impressed to see that you have been back tracking since she helped you out at Kiamo Ko, she cares about you," Galinda smiled back at him before turning and leaving.

'Don't you think I haven't noticed that?" Fiyero asked Galinda's retreating form silently, unlocking his dorm door and heading inside, dropping tiredly down on his bed and thanking the Unnamed God for the weekend.

All Fiyero could seem to think about was what Galinda had said to him, 'she cares about you'. Fiyero wanted nothing more than for things to return to the way they were when he had arrived at Shiz, when he had a beautiful relationship with Elphaba where they could sit together in the library and not be ridiculed, when they could speak for hours about politics in the grove and not be disturbed, he'd give anything to go back to that time but someone somewhere, on the path his life was taking had dictated that there were to be no more of those times, at least not in the near future anyway.

X-X-X-X-X

By Monday morning Fiyero seemed to be a changed person to those around him. He was back to his usual 'Dancing Through Life', smiling self; people were shocked yet passed it by, not wishing to intrude on his personal life anymore than they already had. Unknown to the other students Fiyero had met Sam at the grove at sundown for the past three days and that was what was keeping him going, that made him smile and reflect more positively on his life. He still had his brother when he was certain he had lost him, but he hadn't.

Fiyero, Galinda and Boq were sat outside in the gardens early on Monday morning, during their free period when Elphaba returned. Galinda saw her first and noticed she looked happy, yet she could see her desperation to finally see them again. Galinda's face lit up with a bright smile and Fiyero who had his back to Elphaba raised an eyebrow at her, to which Galinda merely nodded in the direction of Elphaba. Fiyero too turned around and beamed a dashing smile in Elphaba's direction, standing up. She was still only halfway across the green and Fiyero couldn't help himself as he ran the rest of the distance towards her and embraced her tightly, Elphaba laughing slightly as her feet left the floor.

"I missed you too," Elphaba smiled jokingly as Fiyero eventually let go of her.

"How is my wonderful future Grand Vizier this fine morning?" Fiyero asked her cheerily and he noticed Elphaba cringe slightly and shush him.

"I'm fine thanks for asking but please try and keep the secret until Lurlinemas," Elphaba reprimanded, taking Fiyero's hand and leading him back in the direction of the others before commenting, "You seem happier."

"I am," Fiyero replied simply, turning his head to flash a smile at her.

"Elphie," Galinda squealed, unable to contain herself for much longer as she launched herself at her friend and Elphaba honestly thought Galinda might squeeze her to death.

"Can't breathe," Elphaba choked over Galinda's shoulder at Fiyero who just laughed at her.

Elphaba shot Fiyero a pleading look as Galinda refused to let go of her and Fiyero just smirked at the fact that the verdant girl could not get herself out of the situation she was in.

"Hey Glin, d'you want to stop compressing Elphaba to death?" Fiyero joked casually and Galinda reluctantly let her friend go.

"How was the rest of your stay in the city?" Galinda asked her friend as they sat back down on the bench.

"It was good, I filled in so much paper work I don't think I ever want to do a test again in my life," Elphaba said grudgingly, moaning slightly as she recalled the documents.

"Elphaba Thropp, give up studying? Somehow I think that may be the most unlikely thing to ever happen in Oz," Fiyero chipped in.

Galinda just sighed and shrugged Fiyero's comment off, desperate to get more news from Elphaba, "So did you meet any high-society people, anybody rich and famous?"

"No Glin, just the Wizard's advisors and such, not that they have been doing much advising recently anyway though," Elphaba said scornfully, she would not be needed to revive Oz if the employees of the Emerald Palace had been doing their jobs properly.

"Well once you are famous, you can introduce me to all your new friends," Galinda smiled excitedly.

"We better go Glin, before we're late for Life Sciences," Elphaba said, discreetly tugging Galinda up and pulling her in the direction of the classrooms.

"Are you ok Elphie?" Galinda questioned, slightly annoyed at the firm grip Elphaba had on her lower arm.

"I am now officially vetoing all talk about the Emerald City, fame and me becoming the Grand Vizier, is that ok?" Elphaba asked her commandingly, "I do not want people finding out, we can talk about it when we are alone, in our dorm room, nowhere else."

"Ok Elphie, if that's what you want," Galinda sighed dramatically before entering the lecture hall alone.

"Are you not proud of what you've achieved Elphaba?" came a voice from behind her, making her jump.

"Yero, how many times, don't do that," Elphaba said, mock angrily as she whirled round to face him, a smile present on her face, recalling the day that Galinda had told her that Fiyero 'liked' her.

"Sorry," he smiled apologetically, "but you do keep putting yourself down, you need to let us, especially Galinda, be happy for you."

"I just, I'm not used to having so much attention, I'm never the sole focus of people's attention because I have done something good," Elphaba said, blushing slightly as her gaze fell to her feet.

"Hey," Fiyero smiled, lifting her chin up, "You didn't just do good, you did amazing. I'm proud of you."

Fiyero continued to smile at her, it reached his eyes for the first time in weeks and Elphaba's eyes locked with his as he leant forwards, placing a kiss softly on her forehead.

"We should be getting inside," he said to her, unaware of how uncomfortable she was now feeling, her cheeks flushing a deep red that was threatening to make her look like a Lurlinemas decoration.

Elphaba nodded quickly before slipping past Fiyero and into the classroom, taking her seat at the front. The blood rushed to her cheeks once again as she turned her head to the right to notice that Fiyero had sat down in the seat next to her. She went to get her books out of her bag and tried desperately not to drop them as she realised her hands were clammy.

"Oz Elphaba you are behaving like a stupid, asinine, love sick teenager, sweet Lurline you're nineteen-years-old for Oz's sake, get over yourself." She chided herself angrily in her mind, her thoughts constantly occupied by Fiyero, "You are not like this, you don't get embarrassed by boys and most certainly do not get involved like a prissy little girl." The way she was behaving reminded her of the Galinda-esque, prima donna girls such as Pfanee and Shenshen who followed boys around gushing and giggling pathetically in an attempt to win their affections, she was most definitely, not, like that. And most of all, she did not want to be with Fiyero like that, no.

A little voice in her head seemed to laugh almost evilly at her then, an incarnation of her own self, smirking knowingly, "you just keep telling yourself that Thropp, one day you might even believe it."

Ok? What did you think? I know it wasn't one of my best chapters but I would still love a review! :D