She knew she should have left him. Knew she should have fled to Kiamo Ko just like he told her to, but for once, her heart ruled her head, and she hovered on her broom above the cornfield, hidden by the trees. Every hit, every break had her wincing, her mind spinning wildly, looking for a spell from memory that would keep him from harm, but found nothing. She could hear the soldiers demanding to know where she was, and Fiyero, her dear, sweet, brave, stupid Yero remained silent through the whole ordeal.
It felt like hours, yet could only have been mere minutes before she made up her mind, anger, despair, the sheer will to protect him took over and she screamed out, feeling her heart and her mind shattering to pieces and the magic she'd been trying to hold back finally broke free of its shackles and lashed out at the men below. Vast amounts of power whipped the breeze into a force that would rival a storm on an October night and the soldiers were either blown from their feet or sent retreating from the clearing. Without wasting another second, she flew overhead and touched down in front of the man strung up on the poles. Like a common scarecrow! She thought bitterly, a sneer on her lips as she scanned the area for other signs of life that she knew were not there. She hesitated before turning her gaze up to the bloodied, broken man before her and she tried not to cry. "Fiyero..." she whispered brokenly reaching up to touch his cheek, blood still warm and sticky and staining her green fingers red.
It took all of his willpower to pry open an eye and gaze down at her. Upon catching sight of his green angel he started to shake his head painfully. "El-Elph...aba... You r-really sh...shouldn't-"
"Shh," she spoke softly, leaning upon her tiptoes to press a gentle kiss to his lips before discarding her bag to the side and she scurried around to the back of him, pulling out a sheathed blade from her ankle boots, and she began to cut the ropes away, starting with his feet, working her way up to his arms. She winced as he crumpled to the ground, knowing there was no way she could have broken his fall without him accidentally hurting her. She put the blade away and scrambled for the Grimmerie.
He groaned loudly, rolling on to his back. His breathing came out in rattling gasps and he started to cough harshly.
Stay calm, Elphaba... She told herself sternly as her hands shook with every turn of the pages. "It's gonna be okay, Yero... I... I can fix this." She told him, hoping that her voice remained unshaken with emotion. She knew before she could do anything else, she had to fix his broken bones. Once she found the page she was looking for, she scooted closer to him on her knees and leaned over him, gently stroking his face and his hair now matted and dark with his own blood. "Shh... Shh, my love, it's going to be alright... I promise..." She didn't want to tell him the next part would hurt and she sat back on her legs with the Grimmerie placed firmly in her lap and begun to chant.
Elphaba screwed her eyes shut as his screams filled the air. She didn't dare break her concentration now while his bones healed back into place. Moments later, she felt the effects of the spell finishing and his screaming quietened, and she slowly, reluctantly opened her eyes. Fiyero lay in front of her, his head turned in her direction and his eyes closed. With trembling fingers, she gently grasped his wrist to check for his pulse, and a sob ripped from her stomach when she found it, much to her relief. She lifted his hand to her lips and pressed a soft kiss to his skin. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, my heart." She whispered.
She got to her feet unsteadily and packed away the book in her bag and grabbed her broom before attempting to lift Fiyero up off the ground.
"You're not going to lift him like that."
She dropped his arm and spun around, glaring in the direction of the voice and she sighed, seeing one of her only friends in the Resistance. A Bear who had taken her in almost two years ago. "Brennan! What in Oz did I tell you about sneaking up on me like that!"
The Bear chuckled and walked over to her. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say this is one of the friends you were talking about."
"Fiyero... Yes..." She nodded as he picked up the Prince easily in his arms, his torn Gale Force uniform ruined beyond recognition.
"Come on. We won't have long before they wake up and reinforcements arrive."
Elphaba nodded once more and she fled the scene with the Bear. "He... Uhm... He might need checking for internal bleeding..."
"Maniah can check him over when we get back to base."
"Thank Oz... I thought she'd have been captured..."
"She's a sly old fox," Brennan smirked. "She managed to give them the slip."
Elphaba fell silent at that and remained that way until they reached the base.
"You brought one of them back?! Thropp are you out of your mind?!"
Before she had time to respond, the owner of the snarling voice slapped her hard across the face. She glared daggers at the male before her.
"Lysander, let her explain before you start abusing her," Brennan growled.
"I thought you were smarter than this! You've-"
"Will you shut up! For once in your oz-damned life, just be quiet! Not everybody enjoys the sound of your voice!" Elphaba snapped. "And if you touch me like that-"
"I've done worse to you and you know it!"
"And it's the last time! Now tell me where Maniah is, Fiyero needs medical help."
Lysander laughed in the green girl's face. "Pathetic. You may be good at what you do Thropp, but you really are pathetic."
"Where is she?" she ignored the jibe.
"In the back." He held her arm roughly, preventing her from following Brennan.
"Get your hands off me," Elphaba growled.
"What the hell has gotten into you, Thropp? Or rather, who?"
She glared at him. "My friend got himself hurt because of me. He's in there now fighting for his life. I don't believe for a moment that he is like those other men, he's a good man."
"Sounds a bit more than a friend if you ask me."
"Good thing nobody did." She snarked and ripped her arm out of his grip.
"Think Princey would want anything to do with you when he hears what you've been up to? You're damaged goods, Thropp. He's not gonna look twice at you."
"That's where you're wrong. It wouldn't matter to him what happened in the past."
"And what makes you so sure?"
Elphaba ignored him and pushed her way into the room watching her friends work on saving Fiyero's life as he lay on the wooden table in the centre of the room.
Maniah looked up from her work to give the green girl an apologetic smile and shook her head. "We've had to..." She gestured to the ruined pieces of clothing.
Elphaba shrugged. "In honesty, he'd probably thank you for it." She smiled a little, sitting at his side and gently holding his hand. "I did what I could with what I had..."
"You're a good sorceress, Miss Fae. You're stronger than you think you are. You care for him a great deal don't you?"
"I love him..." She said it without thinking and she looked up, wide-eyed. That had been the first time she'd admitted it aloud and in front of someone else. "I... I don't know why I said that..."
The Fox gave her a knowing look and grinned. "Yes, you do. Miss Fae, you came very close to losing him tonight. With a very real possibility that it would have been for good." She paused at the girl's shudder. "He's going to be alright now. A bit sore. A bit scarred. But he's alive."
"As soon as he is able to, we're getting out of here. I think... I think I should lay low, get out of Oz... I have nothing to keep me here now, my sister is dead, my best friend hates me and my brother hasn't been in contact since I was fifteen years old... Oz only knows where he is now... "
"I'm sure your friend doesn't hate you. Give it time, you'll make up."
Elphaba shook her head. "He left her at their engagement party... Left her to come with me and look where that got him."
"Miss Fae, stop that. He's got his own mind, does he not? He surely must feel the same way you do, otherwise, he may not have taken such a risk." the Fox rolled her eyes and paused when Fiyero groaned out in pain.
Elphaba jumped up, gently stroking his hair, her gaze softening as she looked down at him. "Shh... Yero, it's alright... You're okay."
He pried his eyes open slowly, looking into those intense, dark irises. "F...Fae." He managed a lopsided grin that turned into a grimace as another jolt of pain shot through him.
This time it was Elphaba's turn to smirk at the shocked look on Maniah's face. "Where do you think I got the code name from?" she commented and she looked back to him. She knew Lysander would lose it, but she didn't care. He wouldn't be able to hurt her again.
"I'm... I don't... R-egret it."
"Oh, if you weren't already hurt, I'd hurt you for that comment." She scolded, the smile still on her face.
Maniah and Brennan left the young couple alone once they had finished healing him and giving him pain relief.
Fiyero caught sight of the blossoming purple on her cheek. "Th... They didn't...?"
It took a moment for her to remember and she shook her head, cursing herself for forgetting the spell to cover her bruises. "Nothing I couldn't handle."
"Y-you sh... Shouldn't ha-ave to."
She smiled. "Curse of being green, I'm afraid, my Pretty."
He coughed out a laugh. "Not looking so pretty right now I'll bet."
She rolled her eyes with a sigh of his name. "Fiyero..."
"Wasn't so... Long ago you we...were saying that in a different way..." He smirked, causing her to blush and duck her head. Weakly, he reached for her hand and held it in his. "Fae, lo-ok... at me."
Reluctantly and slowly she looked over at him, her eyes pained when she saw what those men had done to him all because of her.
"N-no. Don't... Don't do that." He told her. "Given the chance... I'd d...do it again in a heartbeat."
She hissed and snarled in frustration. "You could have died, Fiyero! You have absolutely no idea of what that would do to me if you had died, especially because of me!"
"It wouldn't have been your fault, Elphaba." his voice gained in strength as the pain medication took hold.
"Don't talk stupid, of course, it would be. Fiyero, you left Glinda and everything you could ever want just to be with me. A home, a life, you could have a family with her. I can't give you that. I have nothing to give."
"And I would have been that same unhappy, dancing through life kid. I don't love Glinda. I love you. And a home? Home is wherever you are, we can make one of our own, I don't care as long as I have you."
She shook her head.
"Fae, I'm tired. I'm sick of living a lie and I'm sick of that damned uniform. I'm not going back there to listen to a bunch of sadists talk about what they'll do to you if they catch you. I'm not walking away from you now that I've found you and I did what I should have done a long time ago." He reached up to touch her cheek. "I love you, Elphaba Thropp. And you're just going to have to deal with it."
"What I do... Where we are right now, it's dangerous."
"I don't care." He told her. "If... If I go back there, you really would mourn me."
"Don't talk like that."
"It's true. The years have been hard on all of us since you left. And I didn't cope very well. I went back to my old ways, Glinda knew... She had to have known. I wasn't exactly subtle. But she stuck by me because she was the only other person in the world who knew what I was going through."
She bit her lip and looked away from him again, the guilt felt like a crushing weight on her chest. "I'm sorry..."
"Stop it. You've nothing to be sorry for."
She didn't respond to that and didn't even look up when she heard the door open.
"Thropp, you're needed for your next assignment."
"I'm not going."
"That wasn't a request."
She rolled her eyes and glared at Lysander. "The sooner I get away from this place-"
"Good luck with that. Now move."
She bit her tongue and looked back at Fiyero, her face softening. "I'll be back soon." She leaned over and kissed him gently, smiling when he tried to keep her there. "No, my love, I must go." She murmured against his lips and pulled away and left the room.
"Don't get too attached. Remember who you belong to." Lysander snarled behind her and they entered another room.
A chill crawled down her spine and she refused to look at him. After two years of his abuse, she was more than used to it, after all, she'd suffered for years at her father's hand. "Just get this over with." She wanted to run. Run back to the safety and the love of Fiyero, she never wanted to let him go, but she feared what would happen next. If they couldn't get out if he saw the extent of the marks upon her body given to her by the very man beside her. In the rush of adrenaline and euphoria of that one moment in the forest, she barely felt the pain even as they lay together.
"Your next assignment is to liberate the Animals from the Emerald Palace and kill Morrible."
"Are you out of your mind?! I'd be killed on sight!"
"Then make sure that you don't get caught!"
"No. I'm not doing it. Find somebody else." She told him. "I'm going to clean up." She added and left the room, heading to her own bedroom quickly, closing the door and locked it from the inside, keeping the key in the door and she hurriedly pulled her dress off, throwing it in the corner of the room and soon she was in the shower. The spells had long since worn off as the water stung the still healing wounds on her back and she shuddered, quiet sobs drowned out by the shower as she saw the new and old bruises and scars littering her skin. As if I wasn't repulsive enough... She thought. He's right... As soon as Fiyero sees this, he's not gonna want anything to do with me. Damaged. She truly was damaged, at not yet twenty-three, she'd known the horrors of the world from a very young age. Her older brother had tried to protect her as best he could, but nobody could stop the true nightmare that began each night.
Half an hour later, wrapped up in a towel and dark blue dressing gown, she collapsed on her bed, a moan of pain escaping her lips and she closed her eyes. "Please go away." She complained at the knock on her door.
"It's me, Miss Fae. I have something for you." Maniah spoke softly.
Elphaba sighed and got up, heading to the door and unlocked it and opened it for the Fox to enter.
The Animal smiled gratefully and walked in, handing over two bottles, one for pain relief, the other was a sleeping draught. "You know if you plan on leaving, you'll have to learn how to do these yourself."
Elphaba smiled a little and nodded. "I know. It's just... Fiyero doesn't know what I've been doing the whole time I've been away... He doesn't... -"
"Miss Fae, you haven't been in a relationship with our leader for a long time ever since he first laid a hand on you. It's just unfortunate that you're stuck here with him and he can do what he wants to you..."
"Well... Not any more... I'll be fine." She smiled. "Honestly, Manny. I'm alright now. Yero just needs to heal fully and we can get out of here."
"I hope you're right, Miss Fae. We've moved him to a room of his own, just at the end of this corridor and Brennan has gone to get him some clothes."
Elphaba nodded. "As soon as I get ready I'll go and see him before I go to bed."
"You'll have to tell him about these eventually."
Elphaba ignored her and swiftly drank the pain medication and bustled around her room looking for her nightclothes, Maniah left her alone. She eventually pulled on a long black nightdress that covered every part of her and put on her dressing gown again. She knew the Fox was right, but she didn't want to think about it at the moment. She left her room and quickly made it to Fiyero's room, quickly muttering the masking spell just before she entered the room.
Fiyero looked up, grinning at the sight of her. "Fae."
Her heart melted and she smiled back at him. "I told you I'd be back."
"The last time you said that was four years ago."
She walked over to him and sat on the edge of the bed. "I know... I'm sorry."
He shook his head, gently tugging her hand. "Lay with me?"
She glanced at the small bed and shook her head. "Probably not the best idea."
"Why not?"
"Because there's not enough room, my pretty. When you're feeling better, I'll lay with you whenever you wish."
"I am. Look, I'll move over." He smiled.
She laughed quietly. "Yero, you're quite impossible. Are you aware of this?"
"Absolutely." he grinned and tugged her hand again.
She sighed and made a show of rolling her eyes, the smile never leaving her face and she tentatively lay in the small space beside him, melting against him as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him. She knew this was dangerous territory, and she hoped she wouldn't have to explain much to him if the spells wore off and she settled her head against his chest, listening to the sound of his heartbeat. Strong and steady. She closed her eyes as she got comfortable.
The couple stayed together all night, and for once, Elphaba had slept without waking from a nightmare. She smiled sleepily as the scent of him filled her senses and she snuggled against him.
Fiyero woke up slowly at her fidgeting and held her closer. He looked down at her with a lopsided grin and kissed her head. "I could wake up like this forever."
She smiled softly. "So could I." She shivered slightly causing him to hold her closer to try and keep her warm, and she bit her lip to hold back any indication of the pain she was now in, as dull as it was now. "I... I always feel the cold more..." She told him after a few minutes.
"I'm not surprised, there's hardly anything left of you." He scolded gently. He could still remember being able to count her ribs during that fleeting moment in the forest, and he'd been more tender, more gentle with her than any other woman he'd ever been with. It killed him to see how she would try not to flinch or back away from his touch, knowing the years hadn't been kind to her. "It won't be this way forever, Fae. I promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep, my dear. This life is very unpredictable." She looked up to meet his face. "Hm... You could do with a shower." She commented.
"Only if you'll join me."
She rolled her eyes with a small giggle. "Not today, my pretty. I've got work to do."
"Is this about what you were needed for last night?"
She nodded. "But I can't tell you anything about it. I'm sorry, Yero but you can't know. I told you, this life is dangerous. I've almost lost you once, I don't intend on making it permanent."
He sighed heavily and shook his head. He didn't agree with her putting herself in danger every day, he hated knowing she could come back to him with another mark on her, and he was completely unaware of what she'd already been through.
"I know you don't like it, my heart. I know. But right now, it's the only thing I can do. It's all I know after three years of doing this and I'm the only one with the means of getting into the situation and straight back out again. I might not even encounter any soldiers today."
"Do you know where you're going?"
"No." She lied. She didn't need him hurting himself further by trying to follow her. "I'll be told just before I leave."
"Do you at least know what you're doing?"
"They've had information on a new Animal camp and they want me to go in and release them."
He nodded. At least not all of the camps had soldiers guarding them. "Just so you know... If it wasn't for me not being able to get up right now, I'd be coming with you. I don't care if it's dangerous, but like it or not you're going to need my knowledge too."
Elphaba shook her head and sat up, shivering again as she left his arms, tightening the dressing gown around herself. "I don't want to argue this, Yero. Now I'm going to get dressed." She stood up and fled the room, and to her own room.
He called after her and sighed, staring up at the ceiling.
"She's a stubborn one." Maniah chuckled softly upon entering the room.
He looked up at the Fox and shrugged, wincing as he did. "Should have seen her in college. She always claims she's right." he smiled.
"That's where you knew her?"
"She was one of my best friends. I was with her roommate who became her best friend too."
"You were dating her friend but you're in love with Elphaba?"
"I know, it makes no sense. But yeah, that's pretty much it... I mean... I liked Glinda... She's a nice girl, but... I loved Elphaba from the moment I met her... I just... I guess I didn't realise it until something happened."
Maniah put the clothes on the table and picked up the bottle of pain relief. "What happened?" she gave it to him.
"Did she ever tell you about a Goat teacher by the name of Doctor Dillamond?"
"He was arrested at the school, right?"
He nodded. "Yeah, and they brought in a lion cub. I mean... I can't be sure if it was an Animal or not, you don't see many of them where I'm from... But she was so desperate to help it... In the entire year I'd known her I'd never seen her scared up until then. I knew I never wanted her to be scared again, and I helped her. We took the cage and we just ran for it. Then we argued. Of course, in true Elphaba fashion she can't let things go without a fight." he smiled. "I knew I loved her when she held my hand to stop me from leaving her."
"If you loved her then, why didn't you do something about it?"
"I got scared." He admitted. "I've had these feelings since I met her, and I had never had them before, not even with Glinda. They didn't make sense and I had no idea what was happening to me... And suddenly everything made sense... That touch... Everything clicked into place and I got scared and I ran. They were both my friends, and it didn't matter what I did I was gonna end up hurting one or both of them. Maybe I should have done it sooner, but I didn't exactly understand what I was feeling."
The Fox smiled softly and nodded. "I can understand that. I know she loves you. She doesn't talk about her past very much, but when she does, you and Glinda are the two people she talks about the most."
He smiled a little. "I'm hoping I can take her away from all of this. She says she has another assignment to do but she doesn't know where it is yet..."
Maniah paused for a second. Maybe there was a reason she hadn't told him where she was going... "I'm sure Lysander will fill her in about it. Anyway, I must be going. Remember to take that and try not to do much today." She smiled and left. "Miss Fae?"
Elphaba stopped outside her door as she put her hat on her head and clutched her broomstick. "Maniah. How is he?"
She walked over to the green woman with a raised eyebrow. "Fiyero is doing well. Why haven't you told him where you're going?"
"Because the reason you had to save his life is that he followed me back to Munchkinland. My sister was killed by somebody dropping a house on her head, and the Gale Force soldiers were sent to capture me whilst I mourned her. That incorrigible fool in there put himself between me and them and let them take him instead of me." Elphaba told her. "I'll not have him getting himself ultimately killed by trying to save me and generally getting in the way." She walked away.
x-x
"Elphie... You can't be here, what if someone sees you?"
Elphaba looked up as she propped her broom against the near wall. "Glinda, get out of here."
"I'm sorry about Fiyero..."
She glared at her friend. "Don't you dare say his name!" She spat, walking further into the camp. "I'll not tell you again, Glinda. Get out of here."
"Let me help... Please..." the blonde pleaded, rushing after her. "Is there much of the original dress left?"
"What? No, I made it. That's besides the point! Leave, before you get into something way beyond your control."
"I'm staying and I'm helping. Now tell me what you want me to do."
"Fine. Want to help? Go and stand guard and make sure nobody comes. And stay out of my way," Elphaba scowled and walked away from her.
Glinda sighed and headed back to the entrance, chewing her lower lip nervously. She had no idea of what became of Fiyero, and her best friend wouldn't let her in, she was completely lost on what to do with herself or how to rectify the situation. She flinched when she heard a bang from inside and looked around her, the commotion hadn't alerted any of the soldiers.
Elphaba quickly guided the Animals through to a passageway at the back of the room. "Follow it through, it'll take you to just beyond the Palace walls. Keep going and don't look back."
"Tha-aank you, M-miss Witch," a Lamb bleated.
"Hurry, before you're seen. Go!" she urged the group and watched them leave. She shook her head. That was almost too easy... Or am I just getting better...? She thought and hurried for her broom.
"Elphie! Get out, someone's coming!"
Elphaba nodded and mounted the broom, silently flying out of the same open window she came in.
Glinda carried on walking along the corridor just as a soldier rounded the corner.
"Your Goodness." He bowed his head.
Glinda smiled sweetly, looking into dark brown eyes. "Hello. Forgive me, I'm just at a loss as to what to do with myself today."
He nodded in understanding. "I can't imagine it being easy, knowing your fiance betrayed you with the Wicked Witch."
"Has there been any sightings of him? Or the... Witch?"
"Nothing, Your Goodness. I can't see him surviving out there given what was done to him. He'll be food for the forest creatures fairly quickly."
Glinda swallowed thickly and fought to keep her voice level, wondering if Elphaba knew or if she believed he'd escaped. "I see... I'm sorry, but I must... I have to go." She walked away quickly before he could notice how upset she had become. Her heart hurt, not just for herself, but for her friends also.
Elphaba landed back at the Resistance base and she walked inside.
"Is it done?" Lysander looked at her.
"The Animals are free. I'm not risking my life trying to end Morrible. Get someone else to do it." She told him and walked past him.
He grabbed her arm and dragged her back. "I gave you a job to do, Thropp. I expect you to finish it."
She tried to free her arm. "And I told you I'm not doing it. I've freed the Animals, that's all you're getting from me." She glared at him. "Let me go. You can't hurt me anymore."
"Do not provoke me, Thropp. You know what I can do to you."
She ripped her arm away, stumbling back as she did and she caught herself on the wall. "I hate you." She spat and rushed away. She let out a shaky breath and shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts before she went back to Fiyero.