AN: Thank you all so much for the reviews and the lovely birthday wishes! :)

Glisa the Good: Hm... You're kind of close ;). Also I just wanted to ask you a random question - how tall is Nurlaila? :P I just noticed when I saw her that she's so small, which I actually love, because that makes it even more impressive that she manages to fill the entire stage with her performance ^_^ but I was just wondering whether she just seemed small from my point of view or whether she really is :P.

Aww, Dimpled, I'm so sorry! :( But really, thank you so much and I love that you're reading this!

Kudos to Vinkunwildflowerqueen for picking up the HSM reference in the title of the previous chapter :).

You are all so close with your theories now... but Musicgal, yours is so close that it's creepy. Girl, do you read minds?!

Also, a shout out to Fae the Queen and her new story, Darkness of the Night. Go check it out, it's amazing!

And one for Elphaba'sGirl, too, because she was the 200th reviewer I got on this story! :) Virtual leftover birthday cake for you ;).

Chapter 19. Love games

'Let's play a game.'

They had been playing around in the water for some more. Now they were both lying down on the beach, far enough into the sea to still be surrounded by the water, but close enough to the beach to be able to lie down without being washed away.

He was lying on his back, his arms behind his head, and she rolled onto her stomach to look at him. 'What kind of game?'

A grin tugged at the corners of his lips and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. 'It's a game Galinda came up with,' he explained quickly. He propped himself up onto his elbows. 'I take it you told her about… us?'

She blushed a little and nodded. 'I did.'

'I could tell.' He rolled his eyes. 'I received a twenty-page letter from her, almost everything written in capital letters and with hundreds of exclamation marks. The general message was that she is very happy for us.'

Elphaba laughed. 'Of course. Typical.'

'And she advised me to play a 'game' with you.' He used his fingers as quotation marks at the word 'game'. 'Apparently, she really does know you, because she figured out for herself that you would be hesitant to believe me when I tell you I love you.'

Now her face was a thundercloud. 'I'm going to kill that girl.'

'No, you're not.' He pulled her closer and she rolled over again to lay her head on his chest. 'So she suggested we play a game she calls 'Ten things I love about you'.'

Elphaba groaned. 'Of course she did.'

'Aw, come on, Fae,' he said, tapping her nose teasingly. 'Humour me.'

She rolled her eyes. 'Fine.'

He grinned at her. 'Alright,' he said. 'So you tell me something you love about me, and I tell you something I love about you, and we keep doing that until both of us have mentioned ten things. Not that I couldn't go on until a hundred, or a thousand, even, but I don't think you'd like to spend the next week here listening to me telling you all that, so…'

She shoved him. 'You're so cheesy!' she scolded him, but he just stuck out his tongue. 'I'm telling the truth.'

She lied down next to him again, both of them staring up at the clouds in the blue sky. 'You start,' he said. 'What do you love about me and why?'

'Your eyes,' she replied immediately. 'Because… I don't know. They're a beautiful colour, and I could get lost in them.' She blushed and lowered her own eyes. 'And I love the look that's in them whenever you look at me.'

He was grinning broadly, feeling his heart doing somersaults in his chest at her words. He knew this was a good idea to get her to open up to him a little bit more. 'I love you,' he sighed happily.

'That doesn't count,' she teased him, and he laughed. 'Okay then. I love your intelligence. Because you always seem to know everything about every different subject, and every time I talk to you, I end up learning something new. I love that.'

'Your humour,' she said next. 'Not your dancing-through-life humour, but your real humour. The jokes you make when you're with your parents or with Cohvu, or with me. And the way your face lights up when you laugh, and your eyes start to sparkle.'

'That's two things,' he chided her gently, and she rolled over again, pressing her arms down onto his chest and resting her chin on top of them, looking at him. 'So sue me,' she suggested playfully.

He smiled at her. 'Then I get to mention two things, too.' He thought about it for a moment – he hadn't been lying to her, there was just so much that he could think of. 'Your dimples,' he said finally. 'Because it means that you're smiling, which is always a good thing, and because they just look adorable on you.'

She rolled her eyes, but he could see that he was getting through to her.

'And your passion,' he said. 'For everything. For the subjects you're studying, for animals and Animals, for trying to find out where you're from. Everything you do, everything that means something to you, you put so much passion into. You care so much and you're not afraid to show it, and I love that about you.'

She blushed again and he rested his hand softly in her neck, pulling her closer to kiss her. He pressed his lips against hers and watched as her eyes fluttered shut slowly.

When they broke apart again, she snuggled up against him, her head on his chest and her hair fanning out over it. 'Your turn,' he mumbled, feeling a bit light-headed.

'Your body,' she sighed. 'You're the handsomest guy I know, and the only one that's not cocky about it – again, forgetting about the dancing-through-life stuff for a moment. You know that you look good, you have to, but you're modest about it. You're that, too – modest. Continuing to call yourself stupid when you're actually really smart, and things like that.'

'That's two things again,' he pointed out, softly running his fingers through her hair. 'So my things… your hair, because it's so soft and thick and silky and I love touching it.' As if to prove his point, he started twirling strands of it around his finger. 'And your skin.'

She sat up immediately and stared at him with wide eyes. 'What?'

He sat up, too, and looked at her. 'It's true,' he said honestly. 'Your skin is beautiful, Fae. It's ethereal and mysterious. It seems to glow whenever you're happy. It's you, and it looks perfect on you. I love it and I wouldn't have it any other way.' He softly kissed her fingers, then up her arm, to her neck, and up to her lips again. 'I love you.'

Slowly, he urged her to lie down again, and she stared at the clouds once more, not saying anything for a while.

'Your optimism,' she then said softly. 'You never see the bad things, always just the good ones – and even with me being pessimistic the way I am, you usually manage to make even me feel better.'

'Your wit and sarcasm, because it makes me laugh.'

'Your obvious love for your family, because that's really rare to see in a guy and I just love the way you interact with your parents.'

'Your eyes.'

'Your lips.'

'Your strange magic powers. Because strange as they may be, they're amazing. You're amazing. And I would love you with or without them, but in a way, they make you even more mythical and magical and mysterious than you already are.'

'The fact that you're the best friend anyone could ever wish for, not only to me, but to Galinda and Cohvu as well. And your loyalty, towards your friends and your family…'

'…and my girlfriends?' he finished sarcastically. 'Or is that again excluding my dancing-through-life stage?'

She bit her lower lip. 'It is,' she said, and he shook his head and pulled her even closer. 'Well, from now on, my loyalty is extended to my girlfriend,' he declared. 'Singular, not plural, because there's never going to be another one ever again.'

She looked stunned. 'Yero-'

'I mean it, Fae.' He took her hand and laced their fingers together, before bringing up their joined hands to kiss hers. 'If I can't have you, I don't want anyone.'

She surprised him by suddenly flinging herself at him and kissing him passionately, but he was happy to comply. After a while, she pulled away a little, but kept her arms around his neck and her face mere inches from his.

'Your big heart,' he whispered. 'The fact that you forgive everyone, even Avaric…'

She had to chuckled slightly at that.

'…and that you can love so many people at once and do everything for them in order to keep them safe and happy. The fact that you let me in, even though I know how much that scared you.'

She kissed him deeply. 'Your kissing abilities,' she murmured against his lips, making him chuckle.

'Your courage,' he said finally. 'Because you're the bravest girl I know, in every way you can possibly think of.'

She lay herself flush against him, capturing his lips again. Then she pulled away to look at him.

'I love you.'

He started grinning like an idiot. That was the first time she'd said it, and he inwardly thanked Galinda for her suggestion. Perhaps he had now convinced her that he really did love her. He made a mental note to thank the blonde girl later.

'I love you, too, a chroí.'

Again, she pulled away a little. 'Did you just call me your heart?'

He was startled for a moment, but then he remembered that she, too, had learned to speak the Vinkun language. 'Maybe.'

She rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. 'You're such an idiot,' she said fondly before leaning down to kiss him again.

He rolled them over and pinned her underneath him, looking down into her sparkling dark chocolate eyes. 'I love you so much, Fae,' he whispered, before leaning down again and kissing her until they were both breathless.

They stayed together for a while longer, before Fiyero finally rose to his feet. 'Shall we go back?'

She looked out over the ocean for a moment. 'Not yet. I'd like to stay a little bit longer,' she said.

'Want me to keep you company?' he offered, but she shook her head with a smile. 'You can go, Yero. Actually, I'd like to be alone for a moment.'

He nodded, not taking that personally. It was just in her nature to always analyse everything and think everything through, and he knew she would need to think about everything that had happened today. 'Okay, take your time. I'll see you at dinner.'

He leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head, then quickly put on his shirt and shoes and walked back towards the castle. Elphaba rose to her feet as well, putting on her dress and positioning herself on the rocks near the water again, lost in thought.

Suddenly, there was that splashing sound again, and she looked up, disturbed. 'What in Oz is that?' she muttered, inching a bit closer to the edge of the cliff and peering down into the water intently. She didn't see anything. Still, she would have sworn…

'That's it,' she said out loud. 'I'm going crazy. Or perhaps I've been crazy all my life. It's the most probable solution. There's no strange sound – and while we're getting at that, Fiyero is probably not really my boyfriend, and I don't really have magic powers. I made that all up. I must be delusional. That explains it.'

'I would hardly call you delusional, dearie.'

A startled squeak escaped her lips, and the hollow voice that had just spoken now laughed. 'Did I scare you?'

Elphaba turned around, trying to pinpoint the location of the voice, but not finding anyone that could have spoken. 'Who are you?' she asked, frowning a little. 'And where are you?'

'I'm everywhere,' the voice hissed, seemingly changing direction as it spoke. 'And who I am is not important. What's important, Miss Elphaba, is who you are.'

Elphaba spun around, but there was still no one there. She tried to ignore the fact that her heart was pounding in her chest. 'How do you know my name?'

'I know everything about you, Miss Elphaba.' The voice seemed to move again. 'I know who you are. I know who your parents are. I know where you're from and what you can do. I know what you are… I know everything.'

'How?' the green girl demanded, subconsciously stepping away from the edge of the cliff. She half expected someone to suddenly show up and push her off it. 'Who are you?'

'I thought we had already established that those questions are not important here,' the voice said, echoing slightly. 'What matters is that I do know. Especially since Governor Thropp wasn't really a big help to you, now was he?'

Shivers ran down Elphaba's spine. Who was this? How did this person know everything? 'He wasn't,' she conceded, slowly turning round and round, trying to locate person the voice belonged to.

'But I am,' the mysterious voice whispered. 'I can help you, Elphaba Thropp, daughter of Governor Frexspar Thropp of Munchkinland and the late Queen Melena, Daughter of the Sea. I know you and I can help you.'

Elphaba was completely stunned. She tried to focus on the different parts of what the voice had just told her, one by one. 'Governor Thropp… is my father?'

The voice moved closer to her. 'Perhaps,' it said in a sugary sweet tone of voice.

'And Melena…' She closed her eyes and scrunched up her nose, trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. 'She… She was pregnant when she left the Governor?' Then something else the voice had said dawned on her and she gasped. 'What did you mean, the 'late' Melena? Is she…'

'Melena is dead and gone, has returned to the ocean from which she was born.' The voice seemed to drift farther away from the green girl again. 'But you have other family members who are still alive. A family you could be reunited with… if you come with me.'

Elphaba laughed hollowly. 'Yes, of course. Because I completely trust strange voices coming out of nowhere who know all these things about my life without telling me how they know it. Are you psychic or something? A witch? Or just a creepy stalker who has been watching me?'

'A little bit of all three,' the voice replied with a hissing undertone, and Elphaba inadvertently backed away a little.

'I could tell you everything,' the voice whispered. 'I could teach you so much… I could reunite you with your family. I could take you to the place where you belong… I can fill the hole in your heart that has been there ever since you woke up without any memories at all.'

It felt like someone had knocked the breath right out of her lungs. Her head was spinning. Who was this person? How did they know all this? And most importantly… could she trust them?

Yes! her mind screamed at her. This person knows about you! About your family! This could be the chance you've been wanting all your life, the chance to find out who you are!

But her instincts told her an entirely different story, and she had learned to trust them.

She took another step back, nearly stumbling over a few loose rocks. 'No,' she said in a slightly shaky voice. 'I can't. I don't trust you.'

'You can think about it,' the voice said. 'Talk it over with your little princey boy. I will be right here waiting for you to make your decision.'

A strange fog suddenly seemed to fill the air, rolling towards the raven-haired girl from the sea and enveloping her, making it almost impossible for her to see. When it cleared again, she no longer felt the presence of someone else there.

The voice was gone.