Warning: Bullying and Harassment

~o0o~

Fiyero hitched his horse to a sled so he and Elphaba could go into town. Chistery usually took her letters for her, but the mail bag was too heavy for him. Aside from that, he didn't like going out in the snow.

"You sure it's okay for me to borrow this?" Elphaba asked, entering the carriage house.

Fiyero's head turned 180° to look at her. He had brought her a chest of clothes that were warmer than what she brought for herself. Things that had been left behind when his family stopped returning. The clothes were more elegant than what she typically wore, but she gave in when he pointed out she was still getting over being sick.

"You can have them," he said. "If they don't fit, we can get you some material."

"They fit alright," she said and touched the cloak. "I'm just… just… not sure about the color."

He thought the yellow looked fine. The cloak was thick, lined with dyed fur, and beautifully embroidered on the outside. It nearly suited her. Beneath, she wore a bright blue wool dress that definitely had layers padded underneath. Ever proper she wore mittens and a quilted winter bonnet. The look was dated, but as long as she was warm it didn't matter.

Fiyero offered his hand to help her into the sled, which she accepted. She fixed her skirts and tucked her glasses in her pocket so they wouldn't get wet from the snow. He grabbed the furs and laid them across her lap.

She looked surprised at this, but didn't comment.

Adjusting his own coat to hide his face, Fiyero climbed in next to her and clicked the reins, sending them on their way. After a moment, Elphaba grabbed onto his arm.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Just not used to sleighs or carriages," she said over the wind. "Usually I walk everywhere. The carriage that brought me here was the first one I'd ever been in. I've ridden on the backs of wagons, but they always moved slowly."

He assumed her sister had ridden in a carriage before. Likely to a place Elphaba wasn't invited to. So she was green. It was weird at first, but now that he was used to it Fiyero couldn't imagine her any other color.

What he couldn't understand was why he could feel her. He felt the shift of her fingers rather than a mere presence on his arm. He could sense her warmth, her breath on his cheek. The cake they made together almost had substance for him. Most foods just disappeared with no taste and barely any texture, but that time he had felt a ghost of something. Like a memory of the taste of cake.

It made no sense. Was it because she was magic, too? She said she had no curse, but he had seen her practice sorcery.

He wished he could find the Bog Fairy just for some answers!

The road wound down the mountain and the town that was visible from the castle came in and out of view. The buildings were painted brightly so they could be found in both fog and blizzard. It had also been decorated for the Vinkun Winter Festival with some Lurlinemas decorations here and there. A massive tree in the middle of town square was decorated handsomely with baubles. The river and lake were frozen solid, allowing people to ice skate.

"How pretty!" Elphaba gasped in a most un-Elphaba-like manner.

"Most beautiful town in the Vinkus," said Fiyero, gesturing to a sign that read just that.

She chuckled and looked around in interest. Fiyero had tried to go to the village when he first became a scarecrow but had been screamed at and chased out, so he kept his hood low. He almost urged Elphaba to do the same, but she looked so happy to be out and about. He didn't want to spoil her joy.

He stopped outside the post office and Elphaba took a deep breath, tightening her grip on his arm.

"Let's hope the holiday spirit is enough to keep people from forming a mob," she muttered.

Oh. So she had thought about it, too.

Fiyero climbed out first and helped her out of the sleigh. They both hurried into the post master's office.

"Hello, how can I— YIPE!" the woman jumped back.

Elphaba forced a polite smile.

"Good morning," she said. "One of your postmen left this at our gate. I imagine there are people wanting their mail."

She set the bag down on the counter, then took her parcel out of her satchel along with a letter.

"I would like to post these, please," she said.

The postmaster's eyes flicked between the two of them as she inched forward; her forehead shone with sweat and she trembled slightly.

"Of course!" she squeaked and noted the address. "Munchkinland?"

"Yes." Elphaba withdrew her purse.

Fiyero glanced at the envelope.

"Who's Dr. Dillamond?" he asked, feeling a twinge of something he couldn't place.

"An old Goat who was nice to me," she said. "He has an apothecary attached to a book shop and gave me some healer training. I thought it might be good to have some recipes in case I get sick again."

Yeah, probably a good idea to get them from an apothecary rather than old books in an abandoned castle.

"How much?" she asked the postmaster.

She cleared her throat and weighed the parcel. "That will be a penny for the letter and two bits for the parcel."

Elphaba counted out the money and placed it on the counter. She waited patiently while the package was stamped and placed in an outgoing bin.

"Anything else I could assist you with today, madam?"

"No, thank you."

They quickly left and both exhaled sighs of relief.

"That could have gone worse," said Elphaba.

"Sure could've," said Fiyero. He hesitated and thought of the emptiness that awaited them back at the castle. "Care for a walk around the square?"

"I'd like that."

Most people were keeping their heads down instead of paying attention to those around them. The square was beautiful. Fiyero forgot what it was like to get out and just look. He wished he could smell the air.

Elphaba stopped walking to look at the display of a dress shop.

The dress in question was beautiful: red velvet and gold brocade with delicate ruffles on the sleeves and silk rosettes on the neckline and elbows. A gown fit for any winter festivation.

Elphaba's expression was wistful. She stepped forward to get a better look. Suddenly, she flinched and shook her head.

"Foolishness," she said. "Why anyone would want to spend money on a gown they'll barely wear is beyond me."

She marched on, but Fiyero lingered and stood where she had. The shop had been lit and situated so reflections could be seen in the glass and women could stand and see what they might look like wearing the items in question.

Oh.

Fiyero worked his jaw and hurried after her as much as he could in the snow. He often felt like a harvest spider when he moved. He caught up to her at the toy shop.

Many children were staring at the display in awe. Fiyero remembered that witches made the toys at this particular shop and often enchanted them. A train set wove around a miniature village, marionettes waved at the passersby, and a tin soldier flirted with a paper ballerina in front of her wooden castle. There were also dolls dressed in the latest fashions, rocking horses, tea sets, and shiny marbles.

"I'm going to buy Chistery a toy or two," Elphaba announced. "Something he can play with indoors when we're busy."

"Oh, sure." Fiyero glanced inside the shop apprehensively. "I'll just wait out here."

"Suit yourself," she said and went inside.

Almost immediately, a woman ran out, dragging along a wailing young child.

Fiyero kept quiet watch for the soldiers or the sheriff. He received a few looks, but if he remained absolutely still, then no one really noticed him.

A group of young men strolled across the square towards the tavern, joking and laughing. Some threw snowballs at those in the square or each other. Another was daring his friend to lick the lamp post.

"Look at this thing!" said the one in the center of the group.

Fiyero could immediately peg him as the leader. He was handsome and held a swagger that called for undivided attention. His friends stopped their horsing around to approach Fiyero.

"Doesn't exactly scream 'festive' does it?" said the leader. "Must be leftover from the Harvest Festival. Or someone's idea of a prank."

"It's ugly, isn't it?" said the one who intended to lick a lamp post.

"A better sight than you are," said Fiyero.

"Oi!" he protested and shoved his friend.

They bickered for a minute before the leader got them under control.

"I think it's looking at me," said a Llama, wobbling side-to-side to watch Fiyero's eyes follow him.

"An ugly scarecrow is hardly the worst thing in this square," said the leader, dropping the mask and nudging the friend closest to him. "Guess our little flower girl didn't get the message."

They looked around Fiyero and the malice came out full force. He could see it in their eyes. They moved on towards a young girl, no older than twelve, peddling flowers. She spotted the men and backed up, her face twisting in fear.

"Little ragdoll, back again?"

"Please!" she said. "I don't want any trouble!"

"Oh, but you asked for it the minute you thought you could show your dirty face around here. This is a respectable part of town."

The leader ripped her basket away and held it above her head.

"Don't! Father gets furious if I don't sell!"

One of the men shoved her into a puddle of slush.

"Hey!"

Elphaba stormed over and a few people screamed, backing up. The look in her eye was fierce and protective.

"Shame on you!" she growled. "Picking on a child! What gives you the right to steal her wares or push her to the ground?"

"What is that?"

"It's hideous!"

"I can't believe it can talk."

The leader stepped forward.

"If you walk away now, I'll let you do so peacefully. The ragdoll is our target."

Elphaba lifted her chin defiantly and helped the girl up. Fiyero couldn't hear what she said, but saw her press her purse into the girl's hands. The flower girl ran off, clutching it to her chest.

"You're going to regret that, artichoke."

Elphaba straightened up. "Never."

Fiyero was struck with admiration for her and fear of her getting hurt, but couldn't seem to move. He didn't know what to do. How to intervene.

"Never seen anything like you before," said one.

"Well, idiots like you are a hay penny a dozen," she retorted.

"Quite the mouth," said the leader. "If I was walking around looking like you do, I wouldn't be so confident. And yet, such finery you wear. Stolen no doubt."

"You'd know a lot about stealing, wouldn't you?" she spat, snatching the basket of flowers out of his friend's hands. "You have no honor."

"Big talk from a common grasshopper."

They all laughed. Elphaba glanced in the direction the girl ran, then sighed and walked away.

"And where do you think you're going?" the leader demanded, grabbing her arm. "You took away our entertainment."

"I'm sure you'll find something to do with your time," said Elphaba, jerking away. "Like tipping cows or taking a long walk off a short pier."

"Oh, ho! Our little green pepper has a bite to her!"

"How much to see if you're green all over?" one of them asked, grabbing at her skirts.

"How much do you want to keep all your teeth?" she retorted and stomped on his foot.

The leader slapped her hard.

Fiyero snapped out of it, ran to her, and pulled her away from them, stumbling backwards with her in his arms.

"It's alive!" someone screamed.

"There's no need for this," said Fiyero. "We can all go our separate ways."

The men gawked at him, but the leader recovered first.

"You must be new around here, so I'll give you a courtesy," said the leader. "Run now. Freaks aren't accepted in this town."

"Thanks for the heads up," said Elphaba. "Tell you what, we'll stay here so you can get a head start."

Fiyero stiffened and backed up, not getting far when the implication registered.

"Why you little—"

Fiyero grabbed her by the hand and ran back to the sleigh. He tossed her in and scrambled after her.

"Get out of my town, freaks!" the leader shouted, grabbing whatever he could off the ground to throw at them.

The others followed. Stones, ice chunks, snow, anything. Fiyero took up the reins and a horn blew, cutting through the town.

The men froze and looked towards the sound in fear. People screamed and scattered into the shops.

Men on horseback rode in, hooting and laughing. They wielded weapons from swords to firearms and wore pieces of soldiers uniforms along with fine furs and clothing.

"Time to pay up!" said their leader. He was big and mean-looking. "You know what happens if you don't. We don't like to be kept waiting."

Bandits?

Elphaba scowled and flung out her hand. Snow slid off a roof, dropping right behind the men's horses, causing them to rear up in fright.

In the chaos, Fiyero snapped the reins and they were speeding back towards the castle, a spray of snow behind them. He wanted to put as much distance between them as possible.

He didn't slow until they were past the gate.

"Home sweet home," he sighed. "I think that's enough adventure for a while."

Elphaba didn't respond.

Fiyero hopped out and unhitched Poppy. She trotted into the stable to drink some water and eat some hay, so he turned to help Elphaba. She was still sitting stiffly, Chistery's present in her lap. The paper was crumpled a bit, but it seemed okay.

Something was splattered across her temple. Mud? Fiyero took a step closer and realized it was blood. Caked in her eyebrow and the hair along her temple, a trail dried down the side of her face.

"You're hurt!" he gasped. "Here, let's get inside and clean that up."

"I can take care of it myself," she snipped and shoved the present into his hands before climbing out of the sleigh by herself. "Like I do everything else."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded, not liking the icy tone of her voice.

"You were just going to let that little girl be harassed!" she said. "And then you let them harass me!"

"You didn't have to step in," he retorted angrily. "What were you even thinking? Seven against one?"

A storm began to brew.

"No one else was going to!" she argued and shoved the basket at him, too. "If they were, they would have protected her before those men could even think to steal her basket! You could have intervened! Scared them off!"

"And done what?! Get torn to pieces like they would have done to you?"

"You just stood there! I guess maybe you thought it was secretly funny! After all, you said the same thing before!"

"We could've walked away, but you had to go and run your big mouth! Do you even think before speaking? Has it occurred to you that maybe you wouldn't have so many issues if you kept your damn mouth shut?"

"Has it occurred to you that maybe it's worth it to help someone else?!" she yelled. "No! Or you wouldn't be moping around in this castle day after day feeling sorry for yourself! It's all about you, isn't it? No wonder the Bog Fairy turned you into a scarecrow! You're a heartless, brainless, spoiled coward!"

He flinched and straightened up to his full height.

"Well that's better than being a smart-mouthed, stubborn, ill-tempered witch with a skin condition!"

She grabbed a broom and swung it at his head. He dodged and grabbed it, dropping the basket, his temper rising up and taking over any other thoughts.

"I wish I never came here!" She tried to pull it free. "I wish I never met you! I should have run while I had the chance!"

"Feel free to leave any time you wish! I never wanted you here in the first place! You're only here because your father was just itching to get rid of you! I'm amazed he kept you around as long as he did!"

Elphaba froze and stared at him, then dropped her end of the broom and ran. Fiyero's rage died, instantly replaced with regret and guilt. All their progress had been undone and now they were back at square one.

Maybe even farther.

Fiyero shuffled inside to find Chistery in the foyer looking distressed.

"Baba… is… angry," he said slowly. "Hurt."

"Yeah," said Fiyero. He looked down at the present. "Let's give her some space. Why don't you open the present she got you today?"

Chistery tipped his head and took the parcel. He shook it, hearing a rattle, then opened it. Inside was a wooden frog painted bright yellow with green legs. Sticking out of its back was a key. The Monkey tugged the key to find it attached to a string. He let it go.

There was a funny sound and the frog leaped into the air. Chistery chattered and clapped his hands before pouncing on it. It hopped just out his reach.

Well, at least someone was happy.

"Remember to thank her," said Fiyero.

"Kay-kay!"

Fiyero dusted snow off himself and headed up to his chambers to hang his cloak up. He collapsed onto his bed, ignoring the cloud of dust, and ran the day over in his mind from start to finish, Why was she so angry in the first place? He did intervene. He stopped her from getting attacked by those men and picking a fight with those bandits.

What was it with her and picking fights with those she couldn't win against?

Why couldn't she fit in any box of all the other people he met? She was unpredictable, stubborn, and impulsive! A pain in the ass.

Flinging himself to his feet, Fiyero paced around his room and caught his reflection in the shards of the mirror he cracked in anger. The stupid burlap sack grinned back with a poor imitation of a human face. That's all he'd ever been, hasn't he? A poor imitation of a human, even before his flesh and bones were replaced with wood and straw.

Ripping the mask off, he strode up to Elphaba's tower. He wanted to understand.

"Elphaba?" he called, entering her room.

Her carpet bag was sitting open with a couple items haphazardly tossed inside.

"Go away!" Her voice was muffled.

He turned to her bed, which had been closed.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you need air to breathe," he said.

"I don't care!"

Fiyero sat down on the chest and opened one of the doors. She quickly rolled away, but he had already seen the tears on her face.

"I said go away!"

"I don't get it," he said.

"What's there to get?"

"You playing the hero isn't going to change people's opinion of you," he said. "What difference does it make?"

She shook her head.

"I want to be accepted more than anything," she said. "But that's not why I help. I help because it's the right thing to do. Maybe it'll make life harder on me and maybe I never get to see the difference, but at least I know I tried."

Fiyero looked down at his hands.

This woman made no sense.

She yearned for frivolous things, yet had difficulty accepting anything beautiful to call her own. She picked fights, yet cried when her feelings were inevitably hurt. She didn't mold herself to the same confines everyone else lived their lives by, yet still longed to be accepted. She was an enigma.

And she was right. Fiyero was no better. He saw himself as temporarily embarrassed. He could be callous, callow, and cruel. He could step in when others were getting hurt. He couldn't die. If he helped someone and was destroyed in return, he would just return to that pumpkin patch to be put back together.

If Elphaba was killed because of her weird, sharp kindness, that would be it. And yet, she did it anyway.

"You're right," he said softly. "About me."

She sighed and crawled out to sit next to him. She held that bottle again and traced the bumps in the glass with her finger. Her hair was coming loose from its bun and she had cleaned up the blood. Cotton was secured to her temple to stop the flow. She scrubbed her cheeks and sniffled.

"I went too far," she said. "I said some things that weren't true."

"You said a lot that was, though," he insisted. "And I'm sorry. For what I said to you. It was beyond cruel."

"Nothing I haven't heard before," she said. "Or thought myself."

"Doesn't give me the right to say it." He leaned back against the door.

She didn't respond and Fiyero didn't really want to go around in circles about who was the bigger jerk. It wouldn't change the fact that they had said those words nor make it better.

"That bottle," he said. "What's it from? Absinthe?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "It belonged to my mother. When she died, I wasn't allowed to have anything of hers, but before they were locked away, I managed to grab this from her perfume bottle collection. I don't know if it's even her favorite one, I just grabbed whatever I touched first."

Fiyero hummed. "And that's all you have?"

She nodded. "I don't even remember if my mother loved me or not. I guess it's easier to pretend she might have. Just a little."

They sat in silence.

"I'll step in," he said. "Next time. I… I want to be better. I just don't know how. And… maybe I didn't expect you to be here, but I'm glad you are."

"We'll work on it together," she said. "I didn't mean it, by the way. I'm happy here."

"Maybe next time we try and talk before escalating to hurting each other?" he suggested and stuck out his pinkie.

"Might take a while, but I'll try if you will," she said, hooking her pinkie with his and shaking on it.

"Listen," he said. "Why don't I teach you some self-defense? I'd feel better if I was certain you could fight long enough to get an opportunity to retreat."

She pursed her lips, then nodded.

"Fine," she said and tucked a loose strand of hair back. "We'll start tomorrow then."

"Tomorrow then," he agreed.