AU: Hi guys! Thanks again for the reviews - I really appreciate it :). So... I don't really have anything else to say, so let's just go on with the story, shall we?

Disclaimer: Ce n'est pas de moi. Does that make any sense? My French has gotten a bit rusty over the years :3.

When Lady Glinda the Good, formerly known as Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands, opened her eyes, she saw a familiar face hovering over her that nearly made her scream again. The owner of the face, however, quickly pressed his hand over her mouth. 'Now don't scream, all right?'

She nodded, since she couldn't speak with his hand still covering her mouth, and he removed his hand. She sat up, feeling dizzy. It was only then she noticed that her face was wet… and not because she had cried. 'What did you do?'

Fiyero shrugged, almost apologetically. 'I poured cold water in your face,' he explained rather sheepishly. 'I'm sorry about that, but… well, to put it bluntly: I needed to wake you up one way or another. I can't handle your hysterics right now.'

'I wasn't being hysterical!' she protested, sitting up. Fiyero shot her a sceptic look, which she chose to ignore. Then she looked him in the eye. 'Fiyero… what happened? What are you doing here? How are you still alive?'

'It doesn't really matter right now what has happened,' he interrupted. 'I just… I need your help.' He gestured towards the bed, which was, Glinda now noticed, still occupied by her best friend – her dying best friend, she then remembered. She quickly got to her feet and went over to the bed. She carefully removed all the cloaks and blankets and gasped when the full extent of Elphaba's injuries got through to her. 'Fiyero… What in Oz makes you think I can help her?'

'I couldn't think of anyone else!' Fiyero started to pace and she couldn't help but notice the despair in his voice and the tears that started to form in his eyes. 'A regular doctor wouldn't be able to help her – she needs magic! I, I just…' He fell silent, but Glinda knew exactly what he meant. She took a deep, quavering breath, trying not to think about what would happen if she couldn't do this. 'Now,' she murmured to herself, 'where could I find a healing spell?' Her face brightened almost immediately. 'Of course!' She ran towards her wardrobe and started pushing clothes aside. It didn't take her too long to find the Grimmerie, in the back of the wardrobe, and she quickly got it out. Murmuring to herself, she started flipping the pages, scanning the pages.

'You have the Grimmerie?' Fiyero exclaimed in surprise. Glinda nodded, not looking up. 'Elphie gave it to me when…' Her voice trailed away. Fiyero didn't ask her to finish her sentence, since it was clearly a painful memory for her and he knew what she was going to say anyway. Instead, he asked another question. 'Can you read it?'

'Well… uhm… no,' the blonde confessed. 'Not really. I haven't really had the time to figure it out in the past few days, what with all the festivities going on…' She shook her head, sending her curly hair flying around her face. 'I have been able to figure out some simpler spells, and I think I know how to pronounce the words… but that won't be of any use if I don't know what spell I'm casting.'

Fiyero was still looking at her and didn't say anything. She was avoiding his gaze; she couldn't bear seeing the hope that had been there slowly fade away when he realized there wasn't really anything she could do to help.

'On the other hand,' she went on in an almost painfully optimistic tone of voice, 'we're more or less desperate, aren't we? So no matter what spell I cast, it's not likely to be any worse than what will happen if I don't cast a spell at all – which would be Elphie dying.' All kinds of feelings threatened to overwhelm her, but she resolutely pushed them aside. There would be plenty of time for those feelings later. Right now, someone's life was depending on her keeping herself together.

'All right then.' The blonde was flipping through the pages of the Grimmerie again, frowning slightly. Fiyero had gone to sit on the bed with Elphaba, cradling the green girl in his arms and whispering to her in a reassuring way. Glinda nearly burst into tears at seeing that, but she managed somehow to compose herself. Finally, she came across a spell that looked as if it just might work.

'Okay,' she said, setting the heavy book on her lap. 'I think I may have found something.'

Fiyero looked up with hope written all across his face. 'You do?'

She nodded slowly. 'I can't guarantee anything, of course, but… well, it's a spell that has something to do with healing. I'm not sure what it will heal, exactly, or how strong it will be, since I don't understand most of it… but I think it might be worth a try.'

'I trust you, Glinda,' Fiyero stated sincerely. 'If you think it might work, then I trust your judgment on that.'

'I'm not sure that's a good idea,' the blonde girl muttered under her breath, but then she sighed and nodded again. 'All right, then. Here we go.'

She sat herself on the bed, next to Fiyero and Elphaba, and started chanting. She spoke very slowly, careful to pronounce every word the right way, and when the last syllable left her lips, she looked over at her friend. Fiyero softly stroked her hair. 'Elphaba? Can you hear me?'

For a few awful moments, Glinda was convinced she had killed her friend by casting that spell on her. She was already hovering on the edge of hysteria again when the green girl let out a soft sigh and murmured something unintelligible. Glinda finally let out her breath. 'Well… at least she's not dead.' She observed her friend for a few clock-ticks and then concluded, 'but she doesn't seem to have gotten any better, either.'

'Yes she does,' Fiyero answered quietly. Elphaba stirred and whimpered softly, and Glinda threw Fiyero a sceptical look. 'Her breathing is much easier now,' Fiyero explained. 'Didn't you notice? It probably means the healing spell worked – to some extent, at least.'

Glinda listened intently for a moment and eventually had to admit that Fiyero was right. Where Elphaba's breathing had been very faint and irregular a few moments before, it was much more steady and clear now. Perhaps the spell had had an effect after all.

'You're right,' Glinda admitted. 'But is that enough?'

Fiyero shook his head. 'I don't know. But I don't think there's anything else we can do, now is there?'

'There's no other spell in the Grimmerie, if that's what you mean,' Glinda said. 'I've been through the entire book three times already. The spell I just cast was the only healing spell in there – as far as I could tell, anyway.'

'Would it have any effect if you'd cast it again?' Fiyero wondered. The blonde girl shook her head. 'If it didn't work the first time, it won't work the second time. And if it did work the first time, casting it a second time would probably do more bad than good. To be quite honest, I'm not willing to take that risk. Not until we first see how this turns out.'

Fiyero nodded. 'All right. Then we'll just have to wait.'

'You can go to sleep, if you want to,' Glinda offered. 'I'll watch over Elphie.'

Fiyero shook his head. 'Thanks, Glinda, but I'd much rather stay awake.'

She understood that, of course – quite frankly, she hadn't expected him to decide otherwise. 'All right. Then I'll stay awake with you.'

'Glinda…'

'You could explain me everything that happened,' suggested Glinda. 'You know… how the two of you are still alive. What exactly happened. Since you were planning on staying awake anyway, I mean.'

Fiyero nodded slowly. 'All right, then.' He pushed himself up to lean his back against the headboard and carefully positioned Elphaba so that she was resting against him, her head on his shoulder. Glinda made herself comfortable at their feet, across from where Fiyero and Elphaba were, legs crossed and an expression of utter curiosity on her face.

Fiyero hesitated for a moment, not sure where to begin. He decided to start with his own near-death experience and told Glinda what had happened after the guards had dragged him to the cornfields, intending to torture him to make him tell them Elphaba's whereabouts. He told her how he had lost consciousness after being beaten by the guards and how he had been convinced that he was going to die, but that Elphaba had cast a spell on him to save his life. 'You can still see it,' he said, showing her one of his hands. 'The spell's almost worn off, but if you look closely, you can still see… well, it's almost like a thin layer of cloth… on my skin.'

Glinda studied his hand, then squinted and looked at his face. 'I thought there was something different about you. That must have been it.' She sat back again. 'What happened next?'

He told her how he had sent message to Kiamo Ko, to let Elphaba know he was still alive, and Glinda's head shot up. 'So that is what she meant!' she exclaimed. 'When she received your note and told me we were never to see your face again, I thought that meant you had died!' She wrinkled her nose. 'Did she even know the spell was going to wear off after a while?'

Fiyero shook his head. 'I don't think so. I didn't know it myself until it started to show, a few days ago.' Elphaba moaned softly and Fiyero interrupted himself to whisper some soothing words in her ear and softly rubbed her back. 'It's okay, Fae, it's okay,' Glinda heard him whisper. 'You'll be okay. Everything is going to be all right, I promise.'

The blonde had to fight back her tears when she heard that. It was so crystal clear, how much they cared about each other, Fiyero and Elphaba, how deep their love went. It was so obvious she couldn't believe she hadn't seen it before – although back then, she hadn't wanted to see it. 'I'm so sorry,' she whispered, before she could help herself. Fiyero looked at her questioningly and she lowered her eyes. 'I should have known from the very start that you didn't love me,' she said, trying the best she could not to cry. 'And I guess I did know. I just wouldn't let myself see it.'

'Glinda,' Fiyero said earnestly. 'I know. I understand, I really do. It's all right.'

The blonde shook her head violently. 'No! I was so stupid back then! Everything was hard enough as it was, and then I came along with my stupid jealousy and made everything even worse!'

'Glinda.' The urgency in his voice made the blonde girl look at him. 'Don't blame yourself for anything that has happened,' Fiyero said, his voice making it clear that he would bear no contradiction. 'Whatever it is you might have done, Elphaba has forgiven you. I have forgiven you. Now it's time for you to forgive yourself.'

Glinda fell silent for a moment, and Fiyero added softly, 'there's nothing you could do about it anymore, anyway.'

That much was true, and the blonde decided to let it go. She would have time to feel guilty later. Right now, she just wanted to hear the rest of the story. 'All right then. Go on.'

'Well,' Fiyero said, with a slight smirk, 'the next part of the story you already know, considering you were the one who helped Dorothy and her travelling companions. And you heard about us melting Elphaba – or at least pretending to do so – afterwards.'

'Now hold on a clock-tick,' Glinda said with a puzzled frown. 'What do Dorothy and her travelling companions have to do with you? And what do you mean 'us' melting – oh!' She gasped when it suddenly dawned on her. 'You were the Scarecrow?!'

'Don't blame yourself for not recognising me,' Fiyero told her with an only slightly amused smile. 'I did look quite different than I normally do.'

Glinda couldn't quite grasp this fact. 'So… you were here, in the Emerald City? All this time? All this time I thought you were dead, and you were right here?' She didn't sound upset at all, and she wasn't; she understood perfectly well why he had chosen not to tell her he was alive. Fiyero seemed to feel the need to apologise, however. 'I'm really sorry,' he said. 'I just… I thought it would be safer this way.'

'I know,' Glinda said. 'I understand. It's okay.' She looked at Elphaba, still unconscious in Fiyero's arms, and a worried look crossed her face before she shook her head. 'How did Elphie fake her own death?'

'Trapdoor,' was Fiyero's simple explanation. 'She hid underneath it when she pretended to melt and she remained hidden until I came to get her.' The look in his eyes became defeated when he added, 'or that was the plan.'

'What happened?' Glinda asked gently. Fiyero sighed. 'I'm not sure, but when I was on my way towards Kiamo Ko after Dorothy had gone home, I encountered a group of soldiers. I strongly suspect them to be responsible for this,' he gestured towards the wounded Elphaba, 'but I'm not sure who had sent them, or how whoever that was found out about it all being a hoax.'

Glinda shook her head. 'It certainly wasn't me.'

'Of course it wasn't you.' Fiyero paused, then added, 'But it might have been the Wizard, or Morrible. Or even someone else in the palace who suspected something.'

'I have no idea who it was,' Glinda said, 'but if it makes you feel any better: Morrible is in prison and the Wizard is busy preparing himself to leave Oz for good.'

'Good,' Fiyero replied sincerely. 'That's good to hear.' He yawned and quickly covered his mouth with his hand. 'Sorry. It's been a long day.'

'You should get some sleep, Fiyero,' Glinda gently chided him. 'I swear I'll look after her and I'll wake you up if anything happens, anything at all.'

Fiyero nodded reluctantly. 'Maybe you're right.' He hesitated for a moment. 'I just… I really don't want to leave her alone now…'

'Then stay right where you are,' Glinda stated simply. 'Just close your eyes and sleep – you can have my bed for tonight. I wasn't planning on sleeping, anyway.'

'Thank you, Glinda,' Fiyero said and she smiled. 'You're welcome.' Then she got up from the bed, took the Grimmerie and walked over to the sitting area in her room. 'I'm just going to go through this book again, see if anything else pops up that might help,' she said. 'Just call me if you need me.' Then she settled herself in one of the chairs, with the Grimmerie on her lap, and Fiyero closed his eyes and soon drifted off to sleep.

He woke up again when Elphaba started moving restlessly in her sleep. Glinda was already beside the bed, a worried look on her face. 'I don't know what's wrong,' she said to Fiyero. 'She just started…' Before she could finish her sentence, however, Elphaba suddenly gave a yelp of pain… and snapped awake.

When she became aware of her surroundings, both Glinda and Fiyero were looking at her with the most peculiar looks on their faces – something between worry, surprise, amazement and concern, if she interpreted the look the right way. When they kept on staring, she commented, softly and hoarsely, but with her usual amount of sarcasm, 'You two look like someone has died.'

Glinda let out a shriek at that comment, jumping on the bed and hugging her friend as if she was never going to let her go again. 'Elphie!' she shrieked and Elphaba made a face. 'Would you please stop destroying my eardrums?' the green girl asked.

'Sweet Oz, Elphie, I'm so glad you're back!' Glinda hugged her friend again, only to let go immediately when the green girl let out another yelp of pain. 'Sorry! Elphie, I'm sorry!'

'It's okay,' Elphaba managed to get out. 'Just… please don't do that again.'

Glinda backed down a bit and Elphaba, suddenly feeling weak and dizzy, closed her eyes for a moment and focused on her breathing. When she felt a bit better, she opened her eyes again. Fiyero was watching her and she managed a smile. 'You're back to normal…' she said, tracing a finger across his jaw.

He didn't say anything; he just pulled her close and held her tight, and she closed her eyes again and relaxed in his embrace. 'I'm sorry I scared you,' she whispered, and she felt rather than heard him sigh. 'When will you stop apologising for things that weren't at all your fault?'

She smiled again. 'You know the answer to that one.'

He sighed again. 'Yes, I do. It's probably 'never'.'

'You're learning,' she teased him. He pressed his lips against her hair. 'Are you all right, Fae?'

She blinked. 'I'm not sure. I feel… strange.' She fell silent for a moment. 'I was absolutely convinced that I was dying,' she said then, with a puzzled frown. 'I think I saw my mother, and Nessa… Was I dead?'

'Not exactly,' Fiyero told her, 'but you certainly came awfully close.' He pulled her even closer, an almost desperate gesture, and that more than anything made her understand how scared he had been to lose her. She rested her head against his shoulder and looked at Glinda. 'What happened?'

'The soldiers discoverated you at Kiamo Ko,' the blonde girl explained – the short version, since she decided the long one could wait until Elphaba felt better, 'and they nearly killed you, Elphie! Fiyero found you and he brought you here. I cast a spell from the Grimmerie to save you, and – oh Elphie, thank Oz it worked!' she suddenly blurted out. 'I didn't have the faintest idea what I was doing!'

Elphaba patted Glinda's hand, a faint smile curling up the corners of her mouth. 'I told you I had faith in you, Glinda. You just needed to have faith in yourself.'

The blonde looked as if she was about to burst into tears, but then Fiyero suggested, 'Maybe now that you're awake, we should try and find out to what extent the spell has healed you.' He was still worried about her – he wasn't sure one spell could heal everything that had been wrong with her.

'Let me see the spell,' Elphaba commanded, and Fiyero and Glinda smiled at each other – she was clearly getting back to normal, which reassured them somewhat. Glinda brought her friend the Grimmerie and the green girl studied the spell for a few clock-ticks. 'It's an average healing spell,' she finally concluded, looking up. 'Strong enough to have healed some of my injuries and therefore it was able to save my life, thank Oz, but it certainly isn't strong enough to have healed me completely.'

'Well,' decided Glinda, 'in that case, you'll stay here, with me, and Fiyero and I are going to nurse you back to health. Let someone take care of you for a change.'

Elphaba opened her mouth to protest, but Fiyero gently squeezed her hand. 'She's right, love.'

'I know,' the green girl grumbled. 'That's what annoys me so much.'

Glinda laughed and then looked at her friend rather critically. 'Elphie, would you like to wash up? I mean, you're all covered in blood, and…' She made a vague gesture. Elphaba merely nodded. 'That might be a good idea – also to be able to tell how bad my wounds still are.' She tried to prop herself up on her arms, but made a face when pain washed over her like a giant wave, stealing her breath for a moment. 'Okay… that's not going to work.'

Fiyero carefully put his arms around her and lifted her up to carry her to the bathroom. Glinda ordered a few maids to get some water, which she took from them in the hallway and then told them she didn't want to be disturbed again – that was the easiest way to keep Fiyero and Elphaba's presence in her rooms hidden. She quickly filled the bathtub and politely left when Fiyero started helping Elphaba to undress herself. 'Call me if you need anything!' the blonde girl called before closing the door behind her.

After all the blood had been cleansed from her body, Elphaba put on one of Glinda's nightgowns – a pink one, of course – and let Fiyero carry her back to bed. He went to lie next to her and she snuggled against him, allowing him to tuck her in with the blanket. 'Go to sleep now, Fae. You look exhausted and you need sleep to heal properly.'

For once, she decided not to argue. Instead she just closed her eyes and trusted on him to protect her while she slept.