Back story time!

Personally (look at this chapter's title. OMG, I'm so punny), I really like this chapter.

Any favourite lines of yours?

9. Personal

"Okay, okay," Elphaba said, laughing as she nursed her fourth (fifth? Fiyero had lost count) glass of Munchkin white. "Now you. What's your most embarrassing moment?"

"That's easy," Fiyero said confidently, taking another sip of his beer. "I've had a lot of those. Especially with girls, you know – calling them by the wrong name, things like that. Oh, I know! One time when I was studying somewhere in the Glikkus, I woke up in the morning after a wild night and there was a guy sleeping next to me. I swear, I nearly died."

Elphaba doubled over, giggling. "What happened?"

"Mixed dorms," Fiyero said with a shrug. "The girl I'd gone home with had a male roommate." He thought for a moment. "Other than that... lots of other embarrassing things happened to me, but none of them funny. You know – disgracing my parents, ruining my father's business reputation, all that crap."

Elphaba nodded thoughtfully. "Same here. Between my skin and my father, I've had lots of embarrassing moments, but none of them really funny for anyone involved. I think the one that tops it all is actually my relationship with Avaric," she admitted and Fiyero perked up in interest.

"Avaric?"

She laughed mirthlessly and lifted her glass to her lips again, taking a few big gulps, presumably for courage. "I don't want to talk about him," she said finally.

"Come on," Fiyero whined. "This is a friendship date. We can hardly be friends if we refuse to share anything personal with one another."

"You go first, then," she said, raising her glass again to motion in his direction. "Something personal."

"Like what?"

"Like the real reason your father disowned you and kicked you out of the house," she said. She was definitely tipsy, but she was still surprisingly sharp, Fiyero noticed.

He sighed, looking down into his glass as he swirled his beer around. "Fine," he muttered. "Well... most of what you heard about my behaviour is true. About the girls, and the going out, and the drinking – the flunking out of universities... It was a lot of responsibility, you know? Having to take over the bank when I grew up. The fact that my parents didn't really give me a choice in the matter certainly didn't help, so I started rebelling when I was a teenager – probably about sixteen, I think, and it only got worse over the years. I partied, I flirted, I had fun, and I didn't do anything that seemed boring to me, such as actually studying and getting my degree. By the time I was twenty-three, my dad had already threatened a couple of times that he'd kick me out of the house if I kept going like this and my mother agreed."

Elphaba stared at him. "Your mother agreed that you should be kicked out?"

He sighed. "Listen, Elphaba… my parents weren't exactly the most affectionate people around," he conceded. "They were nice enough, don't get me wrong. My brother and I had a good childhood, but it was a little empty. We were rich and we had everything we could dream of, except for our parents' attention. They were always busy with one thing or another and they've always been a little obsessed with image and reputation. I didn't fit into that picture." He shrugged. "Then I got kicked out of my sixth university and pissed off the daughter of some important business partner of my dad's by sleeping with her and then not calling her again..."

"Wait." Elphaba held up her hands. "The part about you sleeping with all those girls and then dumping them is also true, then? Please tell me you at least used protection."

He could see the fire in her eyes at that question, feel the tension behind it, and he realised why. If she'd really been taken advantage of by some man as a teenager and it had produced the twins, then this was a personal matter to her. Luckily, he was fairly certain his reply would not incur her wrath for once. "Always," he assured her. "Believe me, the last thing I wanted as a careless playboy was a girl showing up on my doorstep with a baby."

She scrutinised him and then nodded, apparently satisfied with his answer. "So you did that to the daughter of your father's business partner?"

"The business partner got mad at my father on behalf of his daughter and broke off their deal, so then my father got furious with me. There was a lot of shouting going on, my mum got involved, and finally Dad yelled at me to get my things and leave, because he was completely fed up with me, and then I packed a bag and left." Fiyero emptied his glass of beer and gestured for the bartender to get him another one. "I went back once to try and talk to them, but they refused to let me in. I left the Vinkus and fooled around for a while before I started running out of money and had to find a job. Somehow I ended up being someone's bodyguard for a while and I've done that ever since, for nearly four years by now."

"Wow," Elphaba muttered into her glass as the bartender brought a full glass of beer for Fiyero. "I guess I'm not the only one with an asshole for a father, huh? Or, well, not biological father," she corrected herself, flushing a little. "Oscar is great. But... the one who raised me. Frexspar."

"I know," Fiyero said with a small laugh. "Xalo told me about the 'Big, Bad Bully'."

Elphaba grinned at him and took another sip of wine. "Yeah. Frex never did like me, from the moment I was born, because of my skin colour," she confessed. "He made my mother chew milk flowers when she was pregnant with Nessa, my younger sister, in an attempt to keep her from being born like me. Milk flowers were only used as experimental treatment for birth defects at the time – they can't be obtained anywhere anymore now because those experiments produced some horrifying results. My mother was one of those bad results. Because of those milk flowers, she passed away in childbirth and Nessa was born crippled. Frex blamed it on me." She got a sad, faraway look in her eyes for a moment. "He didn't hurt me, or anything," she said, "but he basically ignored me whenever he could. Sometimes, when I'd done something to anger him or he just didn't want me around, he locked me in my mother's old walk-in closet for hours. I think he hated me from the day I was born, but it got worse after my mother's death. I've taken care of Nessa since I was a little girl myself, to try and make up for the way she'd turned out because of me, but it was never enough for Frex."

The alcohol was loosening her tongue and Fiyero handily made use of that, wanting to finally hear the whole story about this mysterious woman. "Wait. 'Make up for the way she'd turned out because of me'?" he echoed incredulously. "You do realise your sister's disability wasn't your fault, right?"

She shrugged, leaning her arms on the table and resting her chin on top of them. "Frex always said it was," she said miserably. "And if I hadn't been born green, none of it would have happened."

Fiyero touched her shoulder. "Don't think that. That's not true. And even if it was, that still doesn't make it your fault."

She shrugged again listlessly, and he tried to move on to happier topics. "How did you find out about Oscar?" He already knew part of this story, but he wanted to hear it from her.

"Oh," she said, twisting her head a little so her cheek was pressed against the back of her hand. "I never knew Frex wasn't my real father when Nessa and I grew up, but we all went to the Emerald City for the summer when I was a teenager. Frex was doing some business there and Nessa wanted to see the City, so we did a lot of sightseeing as well. Frex liked to take Nessa out, but always left me at the hotel, so I took to exploring on my own."

Fiyero tried to hide his horror at the idea of a father favouring one child over the other to the point where he'd actually ignore his eldest daughter, treat her like filth, and leave her out of trips he made with his other child, just because she had been born with a differently-coloured skin.

Elphaba raised her head from her arms. "That's when I met Avaric." The corner of her mouth twitched. "Now there's an asshole if ever there was one. And now you got me to talk about him after all." She sighed bitterly. "Oh, well. Might as well. It was a long time ago, anyway, and I probably won't remember this in the morning. Not after two more glasses of wine, anyway." She squinted at her glass, which was nearly empty, and quickly downed the rest of the wine before gesturing to the bartender for a re-fill.

"Who is he?" Fiyero asked, probing a little.

She sighed again. "I was out on my own in the City and I ran into him at some point," she said. "He was handsome, all tanned skin and dark green eyes, and he was interesting – he was in the military, just like Duran. He said he did secret missions no-one else could know about, which was probably a bit of a stretch, but still. He seemed nice. He offered to buy me a drink, spent time with me, tried to get to know me... I was insecure back then," she admitted. "I'd never had any friends or any affection from anyone, really, aside from Nessa, and Avaric seemed like the nicest guy in the world for not being mean to me about my skin, even though he must have been at least ten years older than I was. We talked, and he asked me out, and I decided to risk my father's wrath for a night out with Avaric. He took me out for dinner, then drinks, then asked me to come to his place, but I said no." She snorted. "I knew that much, at least. Avaric didn't seem put out, though. He asked to see me again the next day and I agreed."

The bartender brought her a new glass of wine and she took it gratefully.

Fiyero was frowning. "But if you didn't go with him..."

She smirked slightly. "Not that time, I didn't."

He grimaced. "Oh."

"Frex was furious when I got home, of course," she continued. "We got into a fight the next day when I wanted to leave to see Avaric again and then... well, that night when Avaric asked me to his place again, I went with him. I don't even know why. To spite Frex, or because it just felt so good to finally have someone who cared... when he started fiddling with my clothes and I came to my senses, I tried to back out, but Avaric wouldn't have any of that. He pressed on, I gave up because I thought I deserved it – both for going with him and for being… well, who I was… and that's how the twins were conceived." She huffed another mirthless laugh. "Jackass. I never saw him again after that."

"Yeesh, Elphaba..." Fiyero shook his head, mildly shocked. "That's horrible. I'm sorry."

She waved him away. "It brought me Fawn and Xalo," she said. "And I wouldn't trade them for anything. I found out I was pregnant about six weeks later, not long before we were supposed to return to Munchkinland, and... well, Frex told me I wouldn't be going back and not to bother trying to contact him or Nessa. That's how I ended up in the City by myself. At least Frex still had the decency to throw my luggage out after me, so I had my things and a bit of money, but that was it. He'd always been looking for an excuse to ditch me and now he had it." She drank some more wine. "I looked for a job then. Worked as a waitress for a while, then cleaned rooms at a hotel. Just when my pregnancy was advancing to the point where I thought I wouldn't be able to work anymore, Oscar tracked me down, told me the truth about my parentage, and invited me to live with him. The rest is history, I guess."

Now, finally, Fiyero knew her entire story. He heaved a deep sigh. "Wow."

She chuckled. "I know. It sounds like a story straight from a bad drama movie, right?"

"A little," he admitted. "I had no idea you'd been through so much, though."

She scoffed. "Everything I've achieved, I've done by myself," she said a little sourly. "Of course I had some luck with Oscar, but I worked hard for my study, my job, and my children. I fought to get where I am now. I'm not a victim, Yero." The nickname seemed to slip out without her even noticing. "I'm the deputy mayor." She giggled, sipping her wine again. "The deputy mayor, who probably shouldn't be getting drunk in a public place where the whole City can see her. Especially not on a Monday night. Maybe we should go back."

"No!" Fiyero protested. "Not yet! I'm having too much fun!" He playfully poked her leg under the table with his foot. "You know? You look really pretty."

She did. She'd dressed up a little for her meeting with the Vinkun representative that afternoon and she hadn't changed her hair or make-up since then. She wore her hair up, with some loose tendrils of it framing her face. She was wearing black eyeliner and mascara, emphasising her large, chocolate brown eyes and making them look even larger. She also wore dark red lipstick, which looked surprisingly good with her green skin. She had changed her clothes, exchanging her stiff and formal skirt and jacket for a pair of blue jeans combined with a dark blue tank top and black cardigan and boots. She looked much more casual than he'd ever seen her and she was more relaxed, too – and not just because of the alcohol.

"Thanks," she said, clearly not believing him. She nudged him back. "You don't look so bad yourself."

He grinned goofily at her. "Looking like that, it's no wonder you're being stalked."

She blinked at him. "What?"

"Oh." His eyes grew wide and he mentally kicked himself. "I just mean... you said you thought someone had been following you around lately, right? That's why I'm here, after all," he tried to cover up his slip-up. "It's probably some secret admirer." And that, he thought, was probably closer to the truth than she knew.

She laughed sceptically. "Yeah, right." Another sip of wine. "Do you miss your parents?"

He thought about that for a moment, but then shook his head. "No," he said. "Not them. I miss my childhood home, mainly because of all the good memories there, and I miss my brother – the way he used to be, anyway. I haven't spoken to him since I got kicked out; my father managed to turn him into a money- and reputation-obsessed ass, a little carbon copy of the great Jorge Tiggular himself. I miss the way things used to be, in a way, but no. I don't miss my parents. Honestly, I think we're better off without one another, anyway."

"I know what you mean." She smiled sadly. "I don't miss Munchkinland – there are more bad memories for me there than good ones – and I certainly don't miss Frex, but I do wish I could see Nessa more often. Frex is trying his hardest to keep us apart. Of course we can call, and video-chat; but he hardly ever allows her to travel to the City to see me and he certainly doesn't allow me to come to his house to see Nessa. Talking to her over the phone just isn't the same as seeing her in real life, you know?"

Fiyero nodded. "I understand." He emptied his glass again and put it down. "So, Elba– I mean, Phae– wait," he said, stumbling over her name. He frowned, even as Elphaba burst into giggles. "That's not right. Oz, I should probably stop drinking right about now," he muttered, pushing his empty glass away. "Elphaba."

"I like 'Phae'," she teased him and he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Fine, Fae," he said, grinning. "Tell me more. I'm curious. I know about your father now, and Nessa, and Oscar, and the mysterious Avaric; but there's so much more to know. How did you meet Galinda, for example?"

And so she told him how Oscar had paid for her and the twins' stay at an apartment in Shiz, so she could go to university there after she'd lived with him in the City for a year; how she had met Galinda in class and the two had loathed one another at first, but they had been forced to work together on an assignment and they had somehow grown closer after that and become friends. She also told him more about how much she missed Nessa, whom she had reached out to at some point after the twins were born despite Frex's warnings. Nessa had talked Frex into allowing his youngest daughter to be in touch with her sister, but he tried to limit their contact as much as possible, which obviously hurt Elphaba more than she was even now willing to let on.

She told him more about the twins as well. She'd raised them herself, with Oscar, Galinda, and Cohvu's help, and she'd always been adamant to keep them out of the picture as much as she could. She'd done a great job at that; not many people even knew she had kids. They'd been home-schooled by Cohvu from the start and although they had hobbies and went on playdates, they hardly ever accompanied Elphaba when she made an appearance in public in her function as deputy mayor. They were fine with that, too. They liked being relatively normal. Elphaba confessed she'd been afraid other kids would give Fawn a hard time because of her skin colour, but the little green girl hadn't encountered any trouble so far – probably, as Elphaba concluded, because people in the Emerald City were so much more open-minded than her own environment in Munchkinland had been.

In return, Fiyero tried to make her laugh with anecdotes about the things he'd encountered working as a private bodyguard and he told her about some of the pranks he and his brother had pulled as children. Soon Elphaba had collapsed in giggles again and Fiyero could only grin at the way she was behaving. He decided he definitely liked an intoxicated Elphaba better than a sober one.

They went home not too long after that and again, Fiyero kept an eye out for the stranger following Elphaba. The young witch could barely walk straight and she didn't protest when Fiyero slid his arm around her waist to steady her; instead, she leaned against him, letting her head drop against his shoulder. "You smell good," she mumbled. "Underneath the beer smell, I mean."

He chuckled, keeping a close eye on his surroundings. This was good – Elphaba allowing him to touch her like this. If her stalker saw the two of them together now, he'd undoubtedly get jealous and maybe try something rash again. Fiyero was hoping the guy would try to beat him up, like he had beaten up Duran a few days prior, so that the bodyguard could identify this stalker and hopefully get him arrested, too.

"You don't seem that drunk," Elphaba observed, slurring slightly.

"I'm not," Fiyero said, tightening his grip on her as she threatened to fall. "I can hold my liquor and I know how far I can go. I'm still here to protect you, remember? I can't go around getting drunk when I'm on a job."

"Mmh." Elphaba yawned. "I'm tired."

"We're almost there."

The gates to the Palace loomed in front of them and Fiyero inwardly sighed, thinking that Elphaba's stalker might not have been there to see them after all. Elphaba pushed herself away from him a little, protesting that she could walk by herself just fine, and Fiyero rolled his eyes and let her, watching her closely. So closely, in fact, that he didn't see the man in black creeping up behind him until he suddenly felt an arm coming around him, followed by a sharp pain in his abdomen. He looked down just in time to see a flash of metal and he gasped when the person twisted the knife around. Then the knife was yanked back and blood came pouring out of the wound in his stomach.

"Shit," he swore, muttering a string of curses as he twisted around, barely catching sight of the culprit disappearing in the shadows. He was dimly aware of Elphaba wrapping her arms around him to hold him up, urgently saying something into his ear, but he couldn't hear what. His knees buckled and Elphaba tried to lower him gently to the ground, shouting for help; he could hear the pounding footsteps of the men guarding the gate to the Palace as they came running up to the pair. Then everything went black.

I bet you didn't see that coming, huh?

BOW BEFORE YOUR QUEEN OF CLIFFIES! MUAHAHAHAHA!