I'll be the one to love you when there's no one else around.
Be the one to hold you when the others let you down.
I know it sounds crazy,
I know we just met.
Life is always sweeter when there's no regrets.
~o0o~
Why couldn't she succeed? Elphaba must have tried every damn spell in the Grimmerie and not a single one helped her permanently save the Animals and escape the loop. It didn't matter where they went, how many pamphlets she dropped, or even if she ripped the Wizard's Palace apart brick-by-brick to expose the gears and mechanics within, nothing changed.
"STOP, THIEF!"
She had been getting sloppy, oftentimes getting shot or captured by the Gale Force after her spell attempts. She just wanted this to end one way or another.
Clutching the Grimmerie to her chest, Elphaba ran to the tower to cast the spell on the broom to make it fly.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Elphaba staggered away from the carriage careening towards her. She stumbled and leaned against the carriage, swallowing back the wave of nausea. The world continued to spin even though she was sure her body had stopped moving.
"Step away from the carriage, Miss," said Av.
She responded with a cough from deep in her lungs. Blood spurted out of her mouth and she staggered away from the carriage careening towards her.
She staggered away from the carriage careening towards her.
She staggered away from the carriage careening towards her.
She staggered away from the carriage careening towards her.
She staggered away from the carriage careening towards her.
Elphaba dropped flat on her back, her head stinging from contact with the ground. Was she finally dying for real? Was this it? Had she used up all of her chances? Was someone screaming or were her ears ringing?
Someone focused in her line of sight. Fiyero.
She gagged and convulsed, and was quickly turned onto her side. She felt as if her eyeballs were trying to squeeze out of their sockets. She retched and something metallic rolled off her tongue. She watched three round bullets drop onto the grass covered in drool laced with blood.
How? She'd been shot before, so many times. Why would the bullets appear now?
Elphaba shivered.
"My driver is calling for help," said Fiyero, his voice trembling slightly. "You'll be okay."
She raised her head and saw Nessa staring at her in shock. A crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle. Elphaba reached out a hand for help. Nessa was her sister. This wasn't a mental breakdown, her body was giving up on her.
"Elphaba, what did you do?!" Nessa demanded.
Right… because if something like this happened to her, then it was because she brought it on herself. Nessa didn't and wouldn't care about her. Not really. She was just an accessory that needed to be replaced.
That's why she called Father on her. That's why she didn't come to the hospital when Father tried to kill her. She didn't care. No one gave her any reason to care.
Elphaba collapsed completely, hiding her face into the grass. Everything hurt so much, like someone was trying to reach in and turn her inside out.
"Your Highness!" Madame Morrible boomed. "Allow me to welcome you to— good heavens what happened here?"
"I think my carriage hit her," said Fiyero, though he didn't sound at all certain. "My driver is over there calling for help."
The siren could already be heard.
Elphaba gagged and choked again. Please, no more.
"It's okay," Fiyero murmured, easing her back onto her side. "Help is coming."
The siren made her ears ring, the lights were too bright and everything else was too dim.
"Here! Over here!"
The same paramedics who helped her when she was thrown out the window, ran over. As she was eased onto the stretcher, she saw Fiyero's stricken face, she held his wrist in an iron grip.
Don't leave her alone. They were going to set her up for experiments. Torture her. Determine she was a creature and put her in a cage.
Not a cage.
"Would you like to ride in the ambulance, sir?" the Bear asked.
"I… okay."
Elphaba didn't know what else to do anymore. She tried. She failed. Maybe she really was dead, cursed to repeat this day over and over. Cursed to be alone. Please… please don't let her be alone anymore.
~o0o~
Fiyero quietly allowed his arm to be bandaged, the green girl (Elphaba?) had held onto him so tightly. He received bodily harm from fans before, but this wasn't "a prince is in my presence" desperation, this was "I am scared for my life" desperation. The look in her eyes, all that blood, those bullets she coughed up…
What could have happened to her?
There was an urgency in himself he couldn't understand. He needed to know if she was going to be okay.
She'd been brought into emergency surgery upon arrival and there was too much chatter for Fiyero to really pick up anything definitive. He'd been stopped before he could follow her beyond two large doors.
"When can I see her?" he asked the nurse.
"Family only," she said brusquely.
"No you don't understand," he said. "I came here with her."
"Family only."
"Don't you know who I am?"
"Family only, Your Highness."
"I'm her fiancé!" he blurted, pounding his fist against the counter top. "Doesn't that count for anything?!"
He didn't know this girl, he was barely certain her name was Elphaba. Still, the nurse softened and nodded her head.
"I'll show you where to wait. She may be in emergency care for a while, but you can make use of the canteen or leave and come back."
Fiyero nodded and followed her out to the waiting area, putting his name down as someone waiting to hear back about someone in surgery. He sat down and patted for his bag, realizing he must've forgotten it.
"Yero!"
Av jogged over to him.
"You alright?" he asked.
"I'm okay," Fiyero said, examining his arm. "She just held on a little tight. She's in emergency surgery."
Av nodded.
"Ready to head back then?" he asked. "Plan your party?"
Should he? He didn't know her. Except… he did. It was on the tip of his tongue. He'd had a sense of déjà vu and vaguely recalled one of Pip's drawings. Her studio was plastered floor to ceiling with almost manic scribbles in an effort to allow her visions to escape her mind and give her a moment's peace before the next vision took her over.
A thin, dark-haired woman on a stretcher was a mere footnote to all the horrors Pip saw on a daily basis, but for some reason it stuck out to Fiyero now.
"I think… I'm going to stay," he said slowly.
"I didn't hit her, she just had a fit or something," Av protested.
"No, I know," Fiyero said, even though he couldn't confirm nor deny Av hadn't injured her. "I just… I think it'd drive me crazy not knowing."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
Fiyero stared at the tiled floor. Someone had mislaid them, so one of the patterns was off from the rest. Av left and came back with his bag, knowing how he felt about not having it.
It wasn't likely Fiyero would ever be stranded in the wilderness and be forced to fend for himself, but he liked being prepared.
Often, he wished he could just disappear into the woods and never come back. Nature was important for Vinkuns, but everyone he knew preferred camping in a luxury cabin with at least two staff members to attend to their needs.
None of them liked to sleep under the stars during the Harvest Festival or go walking in the grasslands or hiking in the mountains or hang around tide pools by the sea.
It was unlikely Elphaba would like all those things. He didn't know her. She was just someone in danger. He could claim it was his duty as a prince to rescue damsels in distress, but he rarely spent much time on that. Usually the extent of his "services" was to flash a smile and give a compliment or pretend he was the old friend of a creep so the lady could have a chance to run away.
Yet, Fiyero felt drawn to this girl. Like if he simply watched that ambulance cart her away, he would regret it.
It made absolutely no sense. He danced through life, never making a meaningful connection because he couldn't get hurt that way. He should be itching to throw a party and find the most popular girl in school to be his girlfriend (or have a string of girlfriends if there wasn't a clear top of the rung) for the short amount of time he spent at this school.
Instead, he sat under harsh, buzzing lights hoping that the angry red light announcing the ongoing emergency surgery would turn off and a nurse would tell him Elphaba was going to be okay.
A girl raced across the lobby to the help desk.
"Excuse me," she panted. "Is there an Elphaba Thropp checked in here? She was taken in by ambulance and I have already tried two other hospitals!"
"I can't release patient information, Miss," said the nurse.
"I am her sister," the girl said importantly. "Nessarose Thropp. As in: the Governor of Munchkinland is my Father Thropp? I think it's worth noting that the green is a condition she's had since birth."
The nurse nodded and checked with another nurse. A few excruciating minutes later, she came back.
"Your sister is still in surgery, you can wait there," she said. "When the light goes off a doctor will be with you momentarily to give you an update."
The girl thanked her and turned away, spotting Fiyero. Her look of shock was almost audible. She sat down next to him, taking out a compact to check herself in the mirror.
"Why the lie?" Fiyero asked, despite the fact he lied to get information as well.
The blonde stiffened.
"How do you know I'm not Nessarose?" she asked, snapping her compact shut.
"Well, because I know Governor Thropp and he has many pictures of Nessarose he insists on sharing with anyone who seems vaguely interested. I might not recognize her on sight, but I have a general idea of what she looks like. So, who are you?"
"Her roommate," she said softly. "I wasn't aware you knew her, but I suppose if she's the Governor's daughter…"
"Oh, no, we've never met before," said Fiyero. "I wasn't even aware the Governor had another daughter."
"Then why?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "I told them I was her fiancé. I didn't think about the brother angle."
"I see." She didn't seem to understand, but also didn't grill him about it. "I'm Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands."
"Fiyero Tiggular of the Arjiki Tigelaars," he replied. "Why are you here and not her actual sister?"
Galinda winced. "She was… preoccupied."
Fiyero frowned and remembered Elphaba reaching for a girl named Nessa. That was her sister. If this was happening to one of his siblings he would have dropped everything to be there for them.
"I'd never seen anything like that," said Galinda with a slight shudder. "She seemed okay when History ended. I mean, she was furious because someone wrote something nasty on the chalkboard but… she wasn't coughing up blood. Maybe someone poisoned her?"
She gasped sharply, startling several people in the waiting area.
"What if someone was trying to poison Dr. Dillamond and she accidentally ingested it instead?!"
Fiyero's frown deepened. "Most poisons are fast-acting and the slow acting ones wouldn't do that."
"How do you know?" Galinda asked, slightly suspicious.
"I have an immunity built up to numerous poisons and venoms," he said.
"Oh. Why?"
"Vinkuns were blamed for the Great Drought for a while there. You do the math."
She pursed her lips and looked at the red light as if willing it to turn off. There was a bag nestled between her feet that was full to bursting, but all Fiyero could see was fabric.
He tried reading the magazines provided in the waiting room, but none of them piqued his interest. He did end up getting something to eat just so he wouldn't lose his mind watching the clock and he brought Galinda back a coffee.
She set it aside without touching it and he wasn't offended.
It was past four o'clock when the angry red light finally turned off. Fiyero sat up and after some needling from Galinda, a doctor was finally sent out to update them.
"We've moved her to a room," she said. "Please, come with me so we may talk, but do not disturb her."
Fiyero felt like he could finally exhale and followed her down the halls.
Elphaba had been moved to a small, private room. Fiyero had a sneaking suspicion it was because of who she was associated with. She was hooked up to all sorts of wires and things that made her look like a partially disassembled tick-tock machine. Her eyes were closed and her face was slack. She had oxygen going through her nose and a drip bag attached to her arm. Her heart rate seemed steady, though a bit slow. Fiyero wasn't exactly sure what normal did look like.
She wore a hospital gown that was situated so the wires could easily be accessed and the visible skin on her chest was purple with bruises. The rest of her skin was a sickly shade more grey than green. Her eyes were sunken in and there was a small wrinkle in her brow.
"Would you be able to explain what happened to her?" the doctor asked.
"I don't know," said Fiyero, staring at Elphaba, almost mystified. "I… I was just arriving at Shiz and I was woken up when she started…"
"She was okay in class," said Galinda. "She stayed behind to speak to our teacher."
"Could he have—"
"No." Galinda seemed certain. "He adores her. He'd never do anything to harm her or anyone else for that matter. His only crime is the inability to correctly pronounce names."
"I see," said the doctor. Her badge read Dr. Blythe. "Well, we were able to do a patch job with a blend of surgery and magic. And I emphasize 'patch job'. When she gains consciousness, we'll need to schedule further surgeries to ensure she heals. She was bleeding internally, but the damage to her organs looked almost like knife damage, though there were no entry wounds that we could find. It's almost as if something tore her up from the inside out. My only guess is someone cast a nasty curse on her."
Fiyero recalled the shiny metal bullets Elphaba hacked up before collapsing completely.
"Is she going to wake up?" he asked.
"That's up to her now," Dr. Blythe sighed. "She suffered serious trauma. I'm uncertain when she'll wake up, but I'm optimistic she will sooner rather than later. It could be days. If it's longer than a week, we may proceed with another round of surgery with your permission as her next of kin."
"Sure."
"For now, we just want to keep her stable. Amazingly, she seems to be able to breathe a little on her own, so we have a non-invasive ventilator to help her along and—"
A garbled voice came over the speakers in the hall and Dr. Blythe paused to listen.
"I have to go," she said. "You may stay, but please touch her as little as possible. Call for the nurse if anything changes."
A Sheep appeared.
"Hello," she said. "I'm the attending nurse for the moment. We had to cut her out of her clothes, but here are her shoes and glasses."
Galinda took the boots and Fiyero the glasses.
"Let her hear your voices," she said. "I'm sure with you here she'll come to in no time."
She left, closing the door behind herself.
"Her feet are ginormous!" Galinda whispered, holding up Elphaba's boots. "Oh… I hope the socks I brought her fit."
She fished a pair out from the bag she brought and ripped away the packaging. She stuck them onto Elphaba's feet to find they covered them just enough, though not like they were supposed to.
Fiyero almost laughed. Instead, he brought a chair over to Elphaba's bedside and sat down. He hesitantly took her hand and glanced at the monitors. No change.
Her hands were large as well, calloused from hard work. The backs were soft, though.
Galinda exhaled shakily.
"I'm famished!" she said, much too brightly. "I'll be back in a bit."
She dropped the tote bag by Fiyero's feet and rushed out of the room.
"Uh… hi," said Fiyero to Elphaba, feeling a bit foolish. "I'm Fiyero. I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I should at least get a practice run in explaining myself when you do wake up. I still don't fully know why I said we were engaged I just… You seemed so afraid and I had to know if you were going to be okay."
She had freckles. Fiyero had an image of her lying across from him, smiling softly as he traced those freckles.
Was that a memory or a wish? Oz, his head hurt.
The sunlight made its way across the room. When half the room was shrouded in blues, Galinda returned, looking very upset.
"You okay?" Fiyero asked.
"I'm fine," she said sourly and didn't elaborate. "Oh! Is she moving?!"
Fiyero snapped his attention back to Elphaba. Her hands twitched and her heart rate ticked up. Her lashes fluttered as her eyes rolled.
It took time. Her toes twitched, then her fingers, then her head wobbled from side to side, pinned by the tube in her nose.
Finally, her eyes opened. She looked around the room and they settled on him and Galinda. Her eyes were grey. So dark they were almost black.
"Hi," he said.
"Oh! The doctor said to call when you woke up!" Galinda gasped and rushed out of the room.
Elphaba furrowed her brow.
"Uh, right," he said and he could feel the gears in his brain try to turn. "Congratulotions, I am your fiancé."
Okay, he could have eased into that better.
Elphaba stared at him and shakily raised a hand, forming the letter "B" then "U" then "LL" then… ah.
"They wouldn't tell me anything otherwise," he said. "I just… I needed to know if you were going to be okay."
"Why?"
"I don't know…"
Dr. Blythe came in and checked Elphaba over. The nurse brought her some ice chips to suck on and prepared a water jug for her.
"I'm amazed you've woken up so soon, Miss Thropp," Dr. Blythe said, sounding genuinely impressed. "Most patients would be in a coma for days after a trauma like that."
She weakly signed for the time and Fiyero figured she wanted to know how long she was out for.
"It was just this morning," he said and was unprepared for the absolute anguish that crossed her face.
She turned her head away as far as she could.
"Could you give us some insight as to what happened to you?" Dr. Blythe asked.
Elphaba didn't respond, her teeth clacking against the ice.
"Well, we'll need to schedule further surgeries to repair the damage. For now, get some rest. Do you want us to reach out to your father?"
Elphaba shook her head.
"I'm sure he'd be worried sick," said Galinda. "He'll come right?"
Elphaba hissed through her teeth.
Dr. Blythe frowned and made a note on the chart.
"Get some rest," she said. "Is it alright to do the next surgery three days from now?"
"Fine," Elphaba signed weakly.
"Any questions? Concerns?"
"No."
"Very well, I'll be back tomorrow morning. Good evening, all."
"Thank you," said Galinda.
When they left, Galinda spoke up.
"Surely your father would care if you're in the hospital."
Elphaba shook her head and started to speak, but ended up breaking into a coughing fit instead.
Fiyero stood and brought the straw of the water jug to her lips. She took a few sips, a small stream dribbling down her chin. He set the jug back on the tray when she was done and dug around his satchel, finding a blue pen. He turned her wrist over and drew two diamonds.
"There," he said. "You're a Tiggular now. Mazel tov."
"Can you do that?" Galinda asked.
"Sure," he said. "She wouldn't have any legal claim to the throne, but it's allowed. My parents were having an argument once and Grandma Baxiana came up and my mother said something about her being my father's mother and he said 'My mother? I thought she was your mother.' And they never brought it up again."
"Nessa?" Elphaba asked.
Galinda pursed her lips.
"I see…"
"It doesn't matter!" Galinda declared. "I'm your sister now. Everything is water under the bridge."
Elphaba nodded.
"Well, you're lower maintenance."
Galinda laughed tearfully and squeezed her hand.
"I brought you some things for your stay," she said. "I know how horrendible staying in a hospital can be."
"Do you need anything?" Fiyero asked, wanting to be useful.
"Tell me a story," Elphaba whispered.
"A story?"
"You tell the best ones."
How would she know that? Fiyero didn't consider himself a great storyteller, but he did enjoy fairytales and folklore.
"Any requests?" he asked.
"Rough Face Girl."
He nodded and cleared his throat before launching into the tale. Galinda busied herself by brushing out Elphaba's hair. There was so much of it and it was so long, Fiyero was reminded of the story of Marule, the girl with seventy feet of hair, and decided he'd tell that one next if she didn't absolutely hate his stories.
Elphaba closed her eyes, but her face twitched in response to the tale.
As he reached the ending, he had a feeling she might not appreciate the girl's appearance changing as if there was something wrong with the way she looked.
"The healing waters… melted away her pain," he said. "She emerged from the garden dressed in the finest clothes that couldn't match the beauty of her smile. A brilliant white stag was waiting for her and bowed before her. As she was carried through the village, everyone gawked and whispered, but she paid them no mind, having only eyes for her lover waiting for her at the top of the mountain."
Elphaba sighed softly, the sound almost drowned out by her ventilator. She seemed to have fallen asleep.
"I should get going," Galinda sighed. "I'll be by again tomorrow to see how she is."
"You're a good friend," said Fiyero.
"Oh! Yes… the best!" Galinda grabbed her purse and left.
Fiyero looked back at Elphaba.
"Are you really asleep?" he asked softly.
She didn't respond so she was either a good actress or she was out.
He knew her. He didn't know how, but he did. It was like a missing word. Right on the tip of his tongue. If he could just make something click, the answer would come to him. Who she was. Why his heart wanted so much to be close to her.
What was this feeling? It should have scared him. Sent him falling harder into his safe party-boy prince box. Instead, it was as welcome as a breath of fresh air.
It was so confusing.
"Pardon me," said the nurse. "I just need to do a few things, why don't you go get something to eat?"
"Sure," he said.
"And I can have a cot brought in if you plan to stay the night."
"Yeah… that'd be good."
He left and found the canteen was closed. So, he went out and found a sandwich cart. While he was at it, he may as well pick up a change of clothes from his dorm.
After doing just that, he stopped by the payphone in the hospital lobby and called home.
"You rang?" Keel grumbled.
"Hi, Keel, can you put my mother on the phone?" Fiyero asked.
Keel grunted and a few moments later, his mother picked up.
"Yero," she said. "Have you been expelled already?"
"Your faith in me is astounding," said Fiyero. "No. There was… an incident."
He explained what he knew and sighed sharply.
"School's going to have to wait another day," he said. "I can't just leave her when her own family doesn't care that she was dying."
"I take it you aren't calling for advice," his mother said eventually.
"No, just giving you a head's up," he said. "I gave her diamonds, she's a Tiggular now."
"I trust you know how the press will react to this."
"I know."
"Well, if you decide to make the proposal official, my blue pearl earrings are in the pot and your Aunt Morta thinks I'm crazy to believe you'd propose on your least favorite day."
Fiyero snorted. He knew very well about the betting pool surrounding whether or not he'd ever have a real relationship.
"Sure, Mom," he said and the phone beeped for another nickel. "I should get back."
"Alright. Maybe this girl will make this one stick. Don't hold off on school too long."
"I won't," he said and hung up then headed back to Elphaba's room.
The cot had been arranged for him and Elphaba was sitting up, sipping some beige shake and wincing like each swallow was agony.
"I'm back," he said, sitting back down in his chair. "How are you feeling?"
She tapped her fingers to her mouth and pantomimed throwing it down. She set the shake on her tray and looked out the window.
"Why are you here?" she whispered. "You don't have to stay."
"I don't know," he said. "Do you want me to leave?"
"No."
He sat down in the chair by her bedside.
"Then I'll stay," he said.
"Tell me a story. Something with a happy ending."
"A happy ending," he repeated and thought for a moment. "Once upon a time, there was a lonely older woman who wished for a child. Someone she could pass on her knowledge to, a sweet ball of sunshine who would fill her days with laughter and trouble and exasperation as all children do. One day, she went to Laverna, Queen of the Springtime Fae, and asked for a spring child. For you see, springtime children were the most spirited of all children…"
"What about the other children?" she asked sleepily.
"Hm?"
"The seasonal children?"
"Oh." He quickly thought of an answer. "Well, summertime children were similar to springtime children except they could be very hot-tempered but content with what they had. Autumn children were winsome, but fickle, and winter children were sturdy, but wistful and quiet. And the woman wished for a child who was adventurous, curious, and lively."
Elphaba closed her eyes and listened quietly about the fairy child born from a flower and her adventures. Fiyero added a few more than the original story, something more than just the girl being chased after for marriage.
"And she became a good and fair queen," he said. "With wings that cast rainbows on the ground when she walked. Her mother lived nearby and was taken well care of through her old age. The sparrow visited the warm place each winter and the pair would sit and talk, remaining best friends for the rest of their lives. The end."
Elphaba smiled. "I wish I had wings in this form. Flying is the one place I've ever felt free."
"I feel the same about dancing," he murmured. "I feel like I know you, is that crazy?"
"I don't know. How would you feel if someone claimed they knew you like this?"
He'd had that actually. More times than he could count. People declared their undying love for him at least once a week. Some of them got jealous when he talked or dated others despite them barely having a conversation.
He hated it.
It was fun when he first started getting the attention, but the novelty wore off pretty quickly.
"I guess I'd find it creepy," he admitted. "I'm sorry."
"Well, you're a handsome prince, so I think you get a pass."
He snorted. "Well, thank you very much."
Pain crossed her face and her heart rate spiked.
"Do I need to call the nurse?" he asked.
She shook her head and tapped a button, dispensing more pain medicine.
"Tell me another story," she whispered. "Please."
"Okay," he said, taking her hand.
Eventually, she drifted off to sleep. Fiyero went into the bathroom to change into a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Clothes he wouldn't mind sleeping in, but also wouldn't have to worry about changing tomorrow.
He wished he had packed a lunghi or a dashiki, but he preferred dressing in the latest E.C. fashions when he wasn't in the Vinkus.
Elphaba was startled awake when the door closed a little harder than he expected.
"Sorry," he said. "Can I get you anything?"
"I just wish I slept through tomorrow," she croaked. "I'm so tired."
She sounded on the verge of tears.
"Hey, it's going to be okay," Fiyero said, cupping her cheek. "You're going to be okay."
Elphaba grabbed his hand and pressed her cheek into his palm, closing her eyes. She looked so tormented. She opened her eyes and quickly let go of him.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
Fiyero pressed his forehead to hers. He needed to know why his heart wanted to be with her, why his actions didn't follow with the person he was acting like this morning before climbing into that carriage.
This morning felt like a distant memory.
An urge to kiss her overwhelmed him, as if it would answer all of his questions. Slowly, tentatively, he brushed his lips against hers. He pulled away just enough to see what she thought. She drew him back, sighing softly.
It didn't answer any questions, but it did cement his feelings. There was time. There was plenty of time to find out why his heart reacted in this way. He knew he was meant to be by her side.
He kissed her twice more, lingering on the second kiss. She sank back into her pillows, those eyes of hers sad. So deeply, profoundly sad.
Quietly vowing to take that sadness away, Fiyero ran her braid through his hand and sat back in his chair.
"You should get some rest," he murmured.
"Tell me a story."
Fiyero obliged and eventually she drifted off under the weight of the pain medicine. He pressed a soft kiss to her cold fingers before lying down on the cot.
It didn't take long for him to drift off. He didn't often dream, but this time he did. Nothing coherent, just flashes and feelings that made no sense until one focused in on Elphaba.
She lay beneath a blanket, her dark eyes open, something black plastered to her temple. Fiyero pulled the fabric back and a cloud of flies rose up, revealing her mutilated body. A scream cut the air and the grisly sight scared him awake.
Fiyero sat up and looked around the hospital room. The sun was rising, filling it with soft light. Elphaba's ventilator pumped rhythmically with air and her heart monitor looked steady.
Even so, he got up to check on her himself. Her chest rose and fell and her eyelashes flickered with dreams.
Swallowing hard, he rubbed his chest, trying to soothe the anxiety he felt.
All their lives, his twin sister was plagued by visions, able to see all potential futures. Fiyero always thought he was just able to see through magic, but what if there was some ability to see the future, too?
He hoped not. What he saw was too horrific.
Fiyero got up and staggered into the bathroom. He splashed water on his face and brushed his teeth. He took just a few minutes to compose himself. It was just his brain mixing up what he saw yesterday.
He stepped out and the door closed a little too hard. Elphaba jerked slightly and raised her head.
"Sorry," he said and went to her side. "How are you feeling?"
She sighed and her gaze drifted to the window. Fiyero glanced back and saw there was a tree with a bird's nest. It was late for baby birds, but there they were waiting for their breakfast. Though the sky was dark and grey with an impending storm, a few rays still managed to break through like a spotlight.
A nurse came in with breakfast for the both of them.
Elphaba didn't touch her beige shake, just staring intently at the birds. Fiyero ate a little bit of his meal but the eggs were rubbery, the ham had no flavor, and he choked on the dry biscuits. At eight, Galinda came in bright-eyed and bearing paper coffee cups.
"Good morning, Elphie!" she sang. "I asked the nurse last night and she said tea would be alright, so I brought you some."
Elphaba took the cup, but just held it, not tearing her eyes away from the window. What was she thinking about?
Another nurse came in, pushing a small cart. "We're going to have to do some tests this morning."
Elphaba tensed, the cup in her hand bending slightly under her grip.
"Oh, sure," Fiyero said, moving to the other side of the bed so he wouldn't be in the way but could still hold her hand if she needed it. "Don't mind me."
"I'm afraid you'll have to leave," she said brusquely. "You can come back in a little bit."
"But—" he stopped when a hand touched his arm.
"Come on, Fifi," Galinda said, tugging at his elbow. "We'll be back in an hour or so. We can find Elphie a nice bouquet of flowers to brighten this place up."
Elphaba looked up at him and gave him a reassuring smile that didn't quite seem to meet her eyes. Fiyero still hesitated. He felt uneasy about leaving her alone like this, but caved and let himself be led out of the room.
He and Galinda made it to the elevator at the end of the hall when he realized he forgot his bag and his wallet as well.
"I'll be a moment," he said.
"No, I'll go with you," said Galinda.
They hurried back to Elphaba's room. The door hadn't quite closed all the way, so Fiyero pushed it open. What they saw made them freeze. A doctor he hadn't met was using a pen to mark out a section of skin.
On the cart were glass vials and petri dishes and several shiny sharp instruments.
Elphaba's eyes were wide and her heart rate was rapid. A hand sluggishly swatted at the doctor until the nurse grabbed it and pulled out a restraint. They must've injected her with something to keep her from moving too much.
"Docs are going to run tests on you," the nurse said with a malicious grin. "Find out why you're green. You'd be just like those little white rats. They are disgusting creatures, too."
"Excuse me?!" Fiyero snapped.
The nurse and doctor jumped sky high and whipped around.
"Y-Your Highness," the nurse exclaimed. "I hadn't realized you were still here!"
"Good thing," Fiyero said, straightening his spine and lifting his chin. "She's not here to be experimented on, she's here to be healed."
"Now you can't blame a man for being curious," the doctor said with a saccharine smile. "After all, if we find the cause of this peculiarity, then we could sooner… cure it."
"I don't know how things work in the Gillikin," Fiyero snipped, "but in the Vinkus, skin color isn't something to be cured. Get out. I better not see either of you in here again."
"Of course, Your Highness."
They both skirted around him. They didn't see Galinda until she had already read and made note of their name tags.
Fiyero shook his head and went to Elphaba's side.
The little color she had gained overnight had drained from her face and she was crying, she could barely turn her head to look at him.
"You left me," she croaked.
"I'm sorry," he said, swiping a thumb across her cheek. "I won't leave you alone again. I promise."
"Why do you always leave me?"
Her face twisted up and a shudder ran through her. The monitor for her heart started wailing and nurses ran in.
"Code blue!"
Fiyero was pushed away from the bedside.
No, this was wrong. She was going to be okay, wasn't she? They had patched her up. She was supposed to be okay until the next surgery.
Fiyero felt more useless than he ever had in his life as he watched the nurses try to save her. They performed CPR and tried to shock her heart back with a machine. The monitor continued that dull, skull-rattling tone.
Please… please move.
"Call it."
No.
Fiyero felt numb as they backed off and unhooked her from the machines.
"Why did you stop?" he asked. "Why didn't you take her to surgery again?"
"We can't operate on a corpse," said the nurse who compared Elphaba to a lab rat.
"You barely tried!" he snapped and fell to Elphaba's side. "It's your fault! You injected her with some shit and were going to cut her up while she was still awake! It's all your fault!"
He didn't know what he could do. There was no single heroic action that would magically breathe life into her was there?
He brushed Elphaba's hair out of her face.
"She was okay, though!" Galinda cried. "She was okay!"
"I'm sorry," said another nurse. "We'll move her to our morgue while arrangements are made."
Arrangements… This wasn't right. It wasn't fair.
"Do we need to do anything right away?" Galinda asked tremulously.
"No, you can have a few days."
The Governor sure as hell wouldn't give her a proper burial. He couldn't even be bothered to show up. Fiyero set his jaw and stared at Elphaba, hoping to see a small rise and fall of her chest or a twitch in her lashes. Instead, she was so very still, her jaw slack, her eyes half open and dull. There was no pretending she was asleep. She was so pale…
"You can't," he whispered and held her close. "You can't turn my life upside down in a single day and then leave me."
Galinda put a hand on his shoulder, then sent an icy glare at the staff.
"We will be pressing charges," she said. "However good your lawyers are, ours are better. We'll make sure those two can't even get a job in a hospital cafeteria!"
Fiyero didn't register speaking to anyone, though he knew he did. He had paperwork clutched in his hands when he made it to his dorm room. Boxes were still stacked up, though his bed had been made.
The storm continued to roll in, darkening the sky.
Good.
Fiyero wanted the entire world to feel his grief. He dropped his things and flopped onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling.
It wasn't fair. She was supposed to be okay. For the first time in a long time, he had seen a real future. Why? What cruel twist of fate was it to present him with someone who really seemed to see him and then snatch them away?
Like Pháidín all over again except this time he didn't even get the chance to be with her.
It had to be a dream. This couldn't be the end. Please… give him another chance to be with her. To find out why he felt like this.
"Please…" he begged the plain white ceiling.
It glared coldly back, a crack acting as a frown, and he closed his eyes to avoid it.
He wished and prayed.
Then, his body shifted and a light appeared in front of his eyelids.
"Yero, we're here."