AN: hey guys! Next chapter up I want to give a shout out to Maddy (Ultimate Queen Of Cliffies) for being such a wonderful friend and amazing author! Go check her stories out! They are wonderful! Also thanks to Exotic Peach Blossom for being so patient as I bounce questions and ideas off her and waking her up at all hours of the day and night :P Also, fan fiction is being weird and did not show my new story on the main page or send alerts out to my followers. It's called Darkness of the Night, so check it out!
Hours drifted by, marked only by the shadows cast by the sun's light through the stark, sterile white room. Oscar and Fiyero waited, trying not to their imaginations run wild as to what could possibly be taking so long. Finally, the doors opened to reveal the doctor who had spoken to Oscar what seemed a life time ago.
He turned exhausted eyes on the pair, wishing with all his heart he had better news to pass along. Oscar looked up with hope in his eyes as the doctor approached.
"Well? Is she going to be okay?" Oscar's heart sank as the doctor hesitated before answering.
"Honestly, your Ozness, I have no idea. She is lucky you brought her in when you did or she would for sure have not survived. As it is, I am still not sure she is going to, and if she does, what kind of state she will be in." The doctor's words did nothing to calm Oscar's fears.
"What do you mean, if she survives?" Oscar almost shouted this at the poor man.
"She is suffering from severe hypothermia, malnourishment, and dehydration. She has significant blood loss from the whipping she received. Her arm is broken, but that is the least of my worries. Right now, it is the lack of oxygen to her brain, compounded by the blow to her head which worries me the most. Until, or even if she wakes up, there is no way to tell. However, she is a fighter and I don't see her giving up easily."
"Can we at least see her?" The doctor looked at Oscar and for perhaps the first time saw not the Wizard, but a father scared out of his mind about the well-being of his daughter.
He nodded slowly and turned away as he was paged for another patient, only to be stopped by Fiyero's next question.
"Was she…." he swallowed before trying again. "Was she raped?" There was a tense silence in the room as they waited for an answer.
The doctor looked at them a moment, before answering. "If you mean, did he take her virginity, then no. However, based on what I have been told, she was assaulted, and she will need help coming to terms with that"
The Wizard, looked on with sad eyes, at how small and frail Elphaba looked laying limp in the hospital bed. His heart sank, as his eyes drifted towards the multitude of machines hooked up to her. And though he presented a strong façade in front of Fiyero and the doctor, in truth, seeing her lying there almost broke him.
The next few days were trying on both Fiyero and Oscar. They did not leave Elphaba's bed side at all until Melena grew fed up with the both of them.
"We can't leave! What if she wakes up and we aren't here? What if she needs something?" Fiyero was not pleased at being kicked out of the room.
"That is my daughter lying, unconscious in that bed! You expect me to just leave her there when I couldn't protect her in the first place?" At Oscar's words, Melena turned on him, her eyes flashing.
"Your daughter? Your daughter? In case you haven't noticed, she is my daughter too in all the ways that matter! Do you think you are the only one suffering right now? Well you aren't. I unlike you am trying to make myself useful instead of wasting away next to her. There is an entire country outside this room looking to YOU for answers as to how this happened and if she is going to be okay. You are not the only one suffering! Now out! Both of you! Get some food, bathe and get some sleep. You two do not look much better than Elphaba herself! If there is news, I will send for you right away. Until then, get out!"
With a sigh, Melena sank down into the chair that Fiyero had just vacated, looking like the hounds of hell were after him.
She looked at Elphaba, gently holding the girl's emerald hand in her own, listening to her gentle breathing, before licking her lips to speak.
"I've been told that people in comas can hear if you talk to them, and may even help them. I don't know if it's true, but I have to talk or I will go mad. I love your father and absolutely hate yelling at both him and Fiyero, but they needed to get out and get some fresh air. It's been 72 hours since we found you, and we are all a mess. Me, your father, Fiyero…did you know there have been people sending cards and gifts and just about anything else imaginable to you? They love you. We all do. I know you feel safe in your mind right now, but we miss you. Please come back to us. I am begging you, please…please come back to us. Please open those pretty brown eyes for me!"
She sat there for several hours and must have drifted off before she was startled awake by a hand on her shoulder. She looked around for a moment before her gaze landed on Glinda looking down at her with a sad smile.
"How is she?" Glinda may not have known Elphaba long, but she still felt for the girl.
Melena looked up, sadly, trying not to cry. "She's in a coma and the doctor isn't sure how alert she will be when she wakes up. She was strangled and deprived of oxygen to her brain for a short while" Melena's voice trails off, tears shimmering in her eyes. A choked sob vibrated deep within her throat. Closing her eyes, she struggled to regain her composure, for it wouldn't do Elphaba, nor herself any good to break down now. "As well as…a violent blow to the head."
Glinda looked at her and whispered "I am so sorry; I feel like I should have gotten her out sooner, at least then" slowly, Glinda turned her soft blue eyes to Elphaba's unconscious form, her once beautiful skin, now a pale, sickly looking green, "none of this would have happened." Melena looked up at her in shock.
"You do realize that if you had gotten her out before Avaric and Frex were dealt with, she would never have been safe right? Avaric is now dead and Frex will be soon. If you had not given her the blade, she would have been unable to fight back and she would not be in the hospital right now. She would be dead." With that, she broke down, sobbing into Glinda's shoulder. "We almost lost her Glinda and we still might."
Glinda looked surprised at first before gathering Melena into her arms and rocking her as she would a child. "Do not say that. Even from the little time I spent with her, I know she will not give up without a fight."
Eventually, Melena calmed and took a deep breath to compose herself.
"Thank you. I needed to break down and I could not bear it if Oscar saw me like that." Glinda smiled and the two women spoke quietly for a while before just sitting together, taking quiet comfort and support from each other until a small voice broke the silence in the barren room
"Mama?"
