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Author's Note: I wrote this while watching the movie again. Wooweee. Also, chag Pesach kasher vesame'ach, Trish! (Check out her works, y'all! Link in my FFN profile!)
Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts 2.0 (T05); RAVEN (2025); MC4A (Sp-Yr8)
Individual Challenges: Anti-Puzzle (Y); Red Instead; Encore; Feather Head; Purple Scholar; Tiny Terror; Dreamers; Magical MC; Ethnic & Present; Neurodivergent; Rian-Russo Inversion; Finders; Zukes of Hazard; Beastly Era; Outer; Sliding Scale; Rainbow Connection; New Fandom; Cinematic; Reader; Singer; Stagehand; In a Flash; Stand Alone; Eating Cake; Exchange; Greatest Gift; Outer Limit; Two Cakes (Y); Crack Addict
Hogwarts House: Ravenclaw
Assignment: Term 05 - Assignment 07
Subject [Task (Prompt)] : LGBTQ [Task#3 (someone with a commanding presence)]
Other Hogwarts Challenges: Library [Oz](Elphaba Thropp); Frenzy [AVPT#1](Time Travel AU); Center [101 - Pluto](Questioning Someone); Pokemon [699 - Aurorus](Olive Green); Apr House [Desire#26](Proving Oneself);
RAVEN Challenges: A [80](Summoning); Traits [23](Enthused); Colors [76](Ruby); Items [28](Eyeglasses); Settings [58](Marsh/Swamp)
Other MC4A Challenges: Chim [Jolene]("Isaac" - Bear's Den); Hunt [Sp Set (Windy); Sp Items (Dress/Skirt)];
Representation(s): Child Elphaba Thropp & Fiyero Tigelaar; Time Travel AU; Chim Song Prompt
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Found Family; Zucchini Bread; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Second Verse (Ladylike; Not a Lamp; White Dress); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Wabi Sabi); Demo 1 (Queen Bee; Where Angels Fear; Easy Zephyr; Lovely Coconuts; Under the Bridge; Bog Beast); Demo 2 (Tomorrow's Shade; Unicorn; Hot Stuff; Abandoned Ship; Messing w/ Morlocks; Sitting Hummingbird)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Toad); SN (Rail; Spare); FR (Satisfaction; Gestation); O3 (Oath); SHoE (Terse; Onus); FIN (n/a); Once (Santa Fe); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Ntaiv; Enfant); Share (Ameliorate; Dragoman; Augur); DP (Terse; Yearn)
Space Address (Prompt): SpB 4A (Pebbles); TrB 3A (The Damsel)
Word Count: 751 words
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Worst Fates
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Fiyero stepped out of the portal to find himself stranded on an island of ruby red turf. The brackish water surrounding the small island smelled like brine and rotting vegetation. He frowned around him, trying to remember which part of Munchkinland possibly had any kind of bog. Taking a deep breath, he remembered another possibility.
This had to be part of Quadling Country.
It wasn't the time where he had intended to be, but he could work with it. The good thing about the way he had lived his life up until he had met Elphaba was that Fiyero had learned how to adapt plans on the fly. Dancing around obstacles that would be roadblocks to others was well within his skill set.
…getting out of a swamp without ruining his riding boots might not be.
"You look stuck," announced a voice that was familiar despite being so much younger than he had ever heard it.
He looked around again. This time he spotted the little girl standing on a rocky bank nearby. Her twisted curls didn't stir in the wind that was causing the embroidered skirt of her black romper-dress to flap quietly. A stray beam of sunlight caught on the rim of her glasses. Fiyero gave a little huff of laughter as he shook his head. Between the growing darkness around, her dark dress, and the olive green of her skin, she blended into the foliage. Some things appeared to be destiny, even when he was in the process of changing the course of the universe.
Fiyero was drawn back to the present by an equally familiar aggravated sigh of exhaustion. He felt the lopsided grin spreading across his face as the little girl straightened her shoulders and folded her hands together in front of her. He loved this speech since the first time he had heard it, even if hearing it delivered by someone who could not possibly be older than nine was going to break his heart.
"Okay, let's get this over with," Elphaba declared. Fiyero found himself leaning forward in anticipation. "No, I am not seasick—"
"Which is good," Fiyero interrupted, unable to help himself, "because we're on mostly dry land."
"No, I do not eat grass," Elphaba continued with only a slight frown to show her confusion. Fiyero's grin was undeniable this time.
"I do."
"And yes, I have always been green," she continued. She tilted her head like a magpie. "You've heard this speech before."
"I have," Fiyero admitted. Elphaba had warned him not to lie before she had sent him back. Not that he saw any reason to deny her guess. She really has always been so much more than anyone gave her credit for. "Would you believe that I come from the future?"
"But why would you do that?" She stepped back, as if distancing herself from the very idea. "The consequences could be disastrous. You could change everything. You could destroy the universe!"
"We decided the risk was worth it," Fiyero said, holding out his hands beseechingly. "Things were bad enough that we were desperate."
"We?" Elphaba whispered. Behind the lens of her glasses, her eyes were wide but focused on him. "You know me, in this future of yours." Her gaze darted around him. Her frown deepened into a scowl. "But I didn't come with you."
"You couldn't," Fiyero answered, his heart twisting in his chest all over again at the reminder of what the cost of coming back was. "Someone had to—" He couldn't bring himself to say it. "Someone had to stay behind."
"To anchor against paradoxes," Elphaba answered with a solemn nod. Fiyero had no doubt that she understood what he couldn't say. "They are the greatest danger of time travel."
She gave a sharp nod. Then she stomped the ground off to the side of the path. A series of mossy tufts popped up in the water between his island and the pebbly bank. She waved a hand at them before turning on her heel and heading back up the path. She made it three steps before twisting back to look at him over her shoulder.
"Well?" she demanded. "Are you coming?"
Fiyero gave her a grin before hopping along the tufts to catch up with her. Even as a child, Elphaba commanded both respect and obedience. As always, the very core of his being demanded he give her both. There were worst fates.
And maybe now, they could avoid a few of them.