Thoughts of A Scarecrow(Finished)

[Alluramallura]

(This was just one of the pieces I thought I'd work on. Just thought it was strange how Elphaba thought about Fieyro being dead in 'No Good Deed' and yet at the end...Well this is just some middle stuff I thought maybe was left out. It isn't based on the book, rather a mixture of the book and the original movie, the one staring Judy Garland...Hope you like, there will be more soon.)

Thoughts of a Scarecrow
By Watson aka Alluramallura
Prologue:
They have left me here to die I assume, so this is what it comes to? So be it. I guess I don’t care any more. Well, that is to say I do care, someone has to save Elphaba. She is not to blame for any of this! I can’t believe that the world can be so…so…Brainless? Funny, didn’t I use that line once? I did but it wasn’t me saying it. What do you have to say now dancer, now that your feet are hanging off the ground and the vultures are hovering over your head? Still think it’s easier for the brainless to go walking through life without a care in the world? If you were brainless you would have brought into all that stuff they said about Elphaba, but you are not brainless so you can’t. It would make life so much easier wouldn’t it, but you can’t. You’ve seen too much to be brainless.

Glinda, are you begging for my life right now? I figure you are. Trying to save that pretty picture that you put up in front of you and it is just killing you that the real picture isn’t perfect. And what are you doing, my wicked Elphaba? Trying to think of a way to save me? Save your spells kindly wicked witch. I’m not worth the time. I already screwed up as I let things get this out of hand. With all my power, with my entire kingdom, and with all my charm I couldn’t do a thing to save your reputation and now maybe your life. What will they do when they realize that you don’t melt with water? It’s too hard to think about that, both in the head and the heart. You didn’t deserve any of this. Forgive me as it comes out of the mouth of an idiot. I do love you though; you did something to me that you can’t take back. So don’t worry about losing me because it’s not possible now.

I feel something inside now, something warm…it’s strange…could it be love, guilt, or…Is that you Elphaba…did I just hear your voice…The feeling is growing…I can’t feel my feet any more, now my leg, and now…Elphaba…don’t leave me…It’s scary here alone…

TBC...

(P.S. Excuse my horrible mistakes because I have a habit of not knowing that I make them. Does anyone know how to make the space at the begining of the paragraph?)

[Alluramallura]

Chapter 1:

Dorothy told me that when I have a thought I should write it down. It’s hard to believe that one without a brain could have a thought. Still every time I close my eyes something just, well, pops in there. So it’s not impossible. The funny thing is that the pictures in my head, they are nothing like anything I ever did or what I think I did. They all center on this wooded area and I’m running, but I’m not alone. I can hear another voice but I can’t understand it. I can also hear my self answering but once again I can’t understand me either. All this thinking is hurting my head. I guess when the Wiz gives me my brain I will be able to think without it hurting.

The witch has been about again, she hasn’t done anything to us. She just keeps circling around on that broom of hers. I haven’t said anything because it’s not worth it to worry Dorothy about something that doesn’t seem worth worrying about. All she seems to talk about is getting back to Kansas anyway that and seeing the wizard. She hasn’t said anything about my brain yet. She told me that I could go with her though so I just fallow her. Not like I have much else to do right?

This actually didn’t get weird until last night, the night that I talked with the Witch. Okay, now don’t get me wrong, I still think she is wicked. But last night I sort of…talked with her. It happened when we stopped to rest in a forest. I was happy because my head was hurting and Dorothy had stopped talking giving me time to rest up. My head hurts enough from trying to figure out that thought that keeps popping in my head; I don’t need all this talking from the girl to make it hurt more. So there I was, just looking up at the sky and then the witch flew over us, making a silhouette on the moon. It was almost lovely in a scary sort of way. Then my eyes were starting to close as I just wanted to rest. I don’t need sleep but it is fine for me to take a break once and a while. As my eyes were slowly drifting closed I caught the sight of the Witch drifting downwards and landing somewhere in a wooded area a few feet away. It took a moment for my head with no brain to make me snap up and realize that this was very wrong! I don’t know why I went alone but I figured there was once again no reason to have her talking again.

My first thinking was to take it slow. Don’t need to trip over my feet and alert the witch. Was she going to attack me and Dorothy as we were resting? It would be a rather good plan. Kill us when we weren’t prepared. But as I snuck up on her I found that she was plotting anything. No actually she was doing something rather- Unwitch like. I mean I’ve never seen a witch cry. Although my head can’t remember seeing anything about a witch, so technically I’ve never seen anything a witch has ever done. But I do remember distinctly that I heard once that witches melt when hit with water. Maybe witches don’t cry tears? I wanted to get closer, to see if I really was right, and wouldn’t you know it…I tripped. Not only tripped but fell right into her view. She instantly jumped up and in the moonlight I could see the tears coming from her eyes. She didn’t have the type of face I think I had imagined her with, she wasn’t ugly. Actually she was quiet lovely, in some ways, beautiful. Of course I have no idea where that came from but in my chest something was thumping hard. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” she nearly screamed as I tried desperately to get to my feet.

“I was…I was…” I stumbled, but she seemed unimpressed.

“I should burn you to the ground! Then I should send that little girlfriend of yours packing! It’s all because of you that my life is like this!”

“Wait a minuet!” I said finally getting my voice, “We are not the cause for your being mean and-“

“Go ahead!” she dared, “I dare you to say it! I just dare you!”

“WICKED!” I took her dare and she instantly had a fireball in her hand. But strangely I was feeling brave. I guess brainlessness has some good points, you don’t know to be afraid of anything. Not that I had to be afraid because after a moment she paused and sighed. I could see the tears fall from her eyes as the pounding in my chest became painful.

“Look,” she said softly, “Just leave, I promise I won’t do anything if you just leave me alone to my grief. I’ve lost a lot in the past few days and I’d rather have sometime alone.” The witch then sat down on the stump again and began to cry softly. This made my own actions feel rather ‘wicked’. It’s like Dorothy said, no one is exempt from grief. I guess she has her own problems that I didn’t even think of. Well, that is if I could think. I don’t know what made me approach, but once again being brainless, I had no fear as I stepped forward and stood in front of her. She looked up at me, her green eyes brimming with tears that slipped down her slender face. “Please,” she begged through the tears, “I just want to be alone…as I am alone…”

“I just wanted to say, that I guess I was being a little mean,” I told her, “I mean, I know we are sort of the cause for what happened, although who could drop a house on someone…”

“That’s not what I’m mad about,” the witch answered, in a soft voice, “I know that wasn’t her fault and the people who did do it are the ones that really run the show…But why am I telling you?! You will never believe me. You’ve bought into the propaganda and the lies too! So why complain to you?”

“Well I don’t know if I’ll believe you,” I said taking a seat in front of her, “But I am a relatively good listener, I listen to Dorothy all the time and she can talk a lot. So maybe it will make you feel better if you tell me.”

“I don’t know…” the witch began wiping the tears with the back of her hand. From my pocket I produced a handkerchief that I guess someone had put there before I can remember. I handed it to her with a smile on my face.

“Well for one night lets pretend that I’m not the scarecrow and you’re not the wicked witch, and we met on the road and just started talking. So what do you say?” She paused for a moment, looking at me with eyes that were unsure.

“You promise not to argue with me about my beliefs or what I say?”

“I swear on all the straw packed inside my head, that I will be the most intent listener you have ever met!” I told her, “And maybe we can help each other, you never know right?” She nodded and for a moment I could have sworn I caught a smile.

“Well, I guess I should start at the beginning then…First my name isn’t really the Wicked Witch of the West as everyone seems content on calling me. My name is Elphaba and my father was a leader in Munchkin land…” And so started a night of learning the history of the witch, and yet I felt like I already knew it all. I learned all about the Shiz, meeting Glinda, and the reason behind the ruby slippers. All the while I was actually really comfortable listening to the story and sitting with the witch. For once we weren’t enemies but we were like friends, two people talking. As we reached the end of the story, I learned about Fiyero and she had to pause a couple times to rub away the tears. Losing this Fiyero was the worst thing for her and as she cried I felt the tightness in my chest. Even the brainless know that losing a lover can be tough on anyone, especially for one who would have very little love in her life.

“…And that is how I got here, with you,” she ended the story with a small smile, “Now I feel relieved, you don’t know how good that was to get that all off my chest.”

“Well it sure was a lot,” I answered with a grin, but I then smiled softly to show her I understood, “But I’m really sorry about your family and your love, I guess I didn’t think about it till now that you may have had a hard time.”

“Well no one thinks about the person going against the regime.”

“You mean the wizard?”

“I mean the fraud who calls himself the wizard,” she answered coolly, “I’m sorry but I can never accept that man for a wizard ever again.”

“I can live with that,” I said, “We can’t all love him I suppose. So are you really friends with Glinda?”

“We use to be friends,” she said looking away, “But I hardly think she could be my friend after what has happened with Fiyero and the Wizard…”

“But if she really is your friend then she will try and understand. It would be horrible to lose such a close friends just because of a world that is cruel to you.” This time I really did get a smile and a small laugh.

“Your right, and with me it is not easy to make friends. It’s getting close to morning though, you should start getting back. Don’t want anyone thinking that you are with me?”

“Why?” I asked, “Don’t want to associate with a brainless fool?”

“No, that’s not it,” she answered standing, “if they were to think that you were with me they would all turn against you and it wouldn’t be a pretty picture, you got me? Besides, I’m not in the need of having anyone else on my team.”

“Yes I think I do,” I said, fallowing her in standing (amazingly without tripping), “So I guess this is goodbye then.”

“’Um yeah,” she said unsure again, “’Um hey, you won’t tell anyone about this? If you do I will deny it all! From now on, you go back to being the stupid lackey to that shoe stealing wit- girl and I go back to being the ‘evil’ girl trying to get those shoes back, okay?” I couldn’t help but smile myself.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way…”

[DancingElphie]

I just read this on FF.net! Anyways, I really like it! I think that the idea is awesome. this is one of the loose threads that has always bugged me, so a fan fiction sounds great. The one thing I think is a bit out of character is Elphaba telling the scarecrow Fiyero her life story. It may just be me, and maybe I'm a bit jaded from reading the book and reading LOTS of fan fiction, but I don't think she'd do that. Cry, yes. Tell someone why? Maybe, but not really in my mind. She tries to put out a strong front, and wouldn't tell someone why she was crying, especially a stranger. Or maybe that's exactly wahy she told a stranger. I don't know, but that's just my first impression.

[Alluramallura]

That's a good point. I was just kinda thinking that maybe she just wanted to finally say something. About this point no one even thinks she is human at all, so maybe she just wanted to blurt out something. I also think it's kinda like Elphaba felt comfortable with this stranger but she didn't know why. Kinda the bond of love if I may be so cheezey.

Acctually it's really funny that I was just watching the movie on TV (The original one of course) and kept saying what a cute couple Elphaba and Fiyero are, even if she tried to turn him into a pile of ash...Isn't love grand? You've been turned into a Scarecrow and your girlfriend is trying to burn you! (The movie has nothing to do with the musical, I'm just being silly )

[DancingElphie]

That' funny that you find that cute, because I'm the toatall oposite! I yell at the screen! I get really riled up about Elphaba being mean to her hero,Yero (as the book says).
On topic, maybe you're right. I think it all depends on your point of view, and honestly, none of us have ever been inside her mind, so what do we know? I think she could do it, and the way you wrote it was very good. Some people have her blabbering out everything to her friends, and that just doesn't ring true. If you wanted this to be incopereated, you did it in one of the best fashions I've read. Good job, overall!

[Alluramallura]

Chapter 2 (Part 1):
The other day we picked up another traveler, after a moment of meeting with the witch again (not that it was a surprise that she was around). The Tin man seems nice but he keeps looking at me funny. He seems to know something I don’t and it makes me nervous. He keeps asking me if I ever went to Shiz and I keep telling him that if I did I wouldn’t be so brainless. When I say that he grows even more interested like the word ‘brainless’ is something that he has heard before.

To tell you the truth I can’t stop thinking about the past myself, especially the talk I had with Elpha- I mean the wicked Witch. Although I promised I can’t help but feel like the witch is now more than an enemy. If I can call her an enemy, it’s hard now that I know that she really doesn’t want to hurt us. Meanwhile it would seem that people are suggesting me and Dorothy are some kind of ‘item’. The Tin man won’t leave it alone and it seems to have caught on with the Munchkins. ‘Oh what a lovely couple they would make!’ ‘He is a really nice guy!’ ‘Wonder what the children will be like…’ What are these people thinking? I mean, Dorothy is a sweet girl but I’m like her father! Or at least I feel like her father. She is so innocent and so young; I can’t talk to her about anything. I guess that’s why I had to talk to the witch again, not that she was so far off. So while the Tin man wasn’t paying attention and Dorothy was resting, I slipped off.

It was just as before, I saw her land and I approached slowly. This time she accepted me a little better. Not that it was like open arms but I was ready to spill to anyone. So we sat down, or rather she did, I kept pacing. “…And now they think that we are going to get married or something!” I said annoyed, “She is like a child! Not that she is a bad girl, just not the type of girl I would like to be with if you know what I mean!”

“It’s not like scarecrows have ages,” the witch told me, “Maybe you and her WOULD be a good couple…”

“Are you kidding me?!” I asked in shock, “I don’t have any feelings for her other than a friend! If only that Tin man would leave me alone about it! He just knows how to push my buttons some times!”

“Did you say Tin man?” the witch asked softly.

“Yes, and it takes all my strength not to take his axe and just club him one in the head,” I sighed as I finally sat, “And he has something personal against you, every time I bring up the subject, not talking about the other night of course, but he always gets this fire in his eyes like he knows something…actually he seems to know a lot.”

“Actually he does,” the witch said, “I know him; he was one of my former school mates. I’m…sort of the reason that he is like that…” At this point my eyes became wide as anything that is wide.

“You? What did you do that for?”

“It was to save his life!” she said in her defense, “My sister would have killed him accidentally, if I hadn’t thought of something! I was thinking on my feet and the only thing I could think of was that! It’s not like I meant it to happen, it was other let my friend die or turn him into something that would never let him die. It’s not like I meant to make him hate me, he just seems to resent me for it.”

“He never said anything about knowing you.”

“Do you think he would admit once being friends with the Wicked Witch of the West before everyone knew about her?”

“I suppose not,” I answered after a bit of thought (which isn’t really thought, but who cares), “But why would he resent you for saving him?”

“Well he is heartless after all,” the witch chuckled, “He no longer can see that I was trying to save him, he only sees that I turned him into tin! Now he can no longer love and he will never be able to be with anyone. Not really a winning combination if you’re a young man looking for love.” I nodded in agreement, since it was logical. But something had been bugging me since our last meeting.

“’Um, Elphaba, if you don’t mind me calling you that-“

“Why?”

“Well I guess it’s easier than calling you ‘witch’ or ‘miss wicked witch of the west’.”

“I guess so,” she sighed, in semi-annoyance, “It’s not like I get to hear it often anyway.”

“Okay, Elphaba, would it be possible in anyway, for you to take off that hat?”

“What?! Why?”

“Well to tell you the truth, it’s sort of makes your face hard to see. I like to look into the eyes of the person I’m talking to you know?” For a moment she was hesitant. I was actually expecting her not to do it. But she nodded and slowly, hesitantly, reached up and plucked the hat off her head. Curly black locks fell along her shoulders as they were released, shaping her emerald complexion into one even more feminine then I had seen before. “Wow…you look…”

“Don’t lie,” she snapped harshly, “I don’t need lies!”

“I was just going to say you actually look more like a girl,” I said, “I mean you could hardly tell with your hair up in that hat. When you let it down you can see that your face is actually more like a woman’s.”

“So you’re suggesting that I look like a man with this thing on?” she asked with a small cackle.

“No!” I answered quickly, not wanting to insult someone who could instantly make me a bonfire, “I just mean that it makes you less menacing is all. You can see your eyes more, and I don’t care if this sounds like a line but you do have beautiful eyes.” This time I got a reaction that made me feel actually warm. She blushed, which made her cheeks a weird purple.

“Thanks,” she muttered clutching the hat in her hands, “You have…good eyes as well…for a scarecrow…”

“I guess I should take that as a compliment,” I chuckled, “Excuse me if I don’t take my hat off but it’s kind of attached to my head so to speak.” She nodded as she looked away from me. “Can I ask you another thing?” I asked, after a moment’s silence between us.

“You have a lot of questions for one who belongs on a pole!”

“Well I’m sort of brainless so I kind of need all the information I can get.”

“But if you’re brainless, what would be the point in me telling you anything if there is no where to store it in your head?” I opened my mouth to respond but found nothing. She was right, how in the world was I keeping all this information if I didn’t have a brain. For that matter how did I know how to do anything without a brain? This conundrum made my head hurt once again.

“Maybe it will get caught in the straw where my brain should be,” I answered, while still contemplating it in my head, “then when I get a brain from the wizard-“

“A brain? From the Wizard? Ha!” she laughed, “The guy doesn’t have any brains himself little less any he could give you!”

“Well, I don’t see much choice that I have,” I said coolly, as like other people I don’t like being mocked, “it’s not like you could give me any!”

“And who says I couldn’t?” she asked back, “I never said I couldn’t now did I?”

“No, but will you?”

“No!”

“Now there is my point! Even if you are able to, you would never give me anything! The wizard on the other hand at least will be willing to try and give me something! At least I hope anyway.”

“And what will happen if you don’t get your brain from him.” I paused for a moment; I hadn’t thought that far a head as usual.

“I guess I’d have to just go back to my pole,” I said, “Go back to being the guy that no one notices.”

“You should be so lucky,” she told me, “I would love to go back that way, the girl that no one notices. Just think, if nothing had happened, I would have most likely just graduated from the Shiz and maybe gotten a job as a librarian or something in a little farming town.” I laughed a little and she looked at me strangely. “What?”

“I was just picturing you as a librarian. I mean it’s kind of hard given everything.”

“Yes well,” she said, “I guess it is a little hard to see now. I’m sure everyone would never come to get a book because they would be afraid I’d turn them into frogs.” At this point I saw something amazing. She smiled; I actually got a smile out of the witc- I mean Elphaba. Now I really think it’s going to be hard to call her an enemy because how can you call someone your enemy when they have such a pretty smile. Why is my heart beating so fast?

“So Elphaba, can I tell you something without getting all huffity and suff?”

“I guess so. I mean as long as you don’t start in on something that is going to make me want to burn you to the ground.”

“Fair enough. Well I want to say that…really, I like talking with. I don’t know what it is, but I do like talking with you. Sounds strange huh?”

“Well not as strange as what I am about to say. For some strange reason I feel comfortable with you. Now it’s really weird.”

“WELL I guess we aren’t as different as we thought,” I said with a smile, “Who knows maybe we could do some of those changes that you keep talking about.”

“What changes?” she asked confused, and surprise.

“Well you know, we could talk maybe to the wizard and you could become one of the good guys aga-“

“What do you mean one of the good guys? You mean the side that everyone else is on! You mean the side that fallows one man into the oblivion like lemming to the ocean! I refuse to be a ‘good guy’ then because I refuse to be anyone’s puppet! I am on the side of truth and freedom! And no man stuffed with straw is going to tell me otherwise! I shouldn’t have even been talking to you as your just one…one…one of them!” At this point I had really hit a nerve and I was afraid that she would do something to me at that moment. A held up my arm to my face but she just stood and marched away, looking as if she was about to leave. Now I felt bad for thinking bad about her, I may not have brains but I do have a heart.

(Continued)

[Alluramallura]

Chapter 2 (Part 2):
"Elphaba, wait, please!” I said quickly, jumping to my feet and grabbing her arm.

“Let go of me!”

“Please, I want to apologize! I didn’t mean what I said! I was being stupid!”

“Well that’s no big surprise! Now let me go!” she ordered. She ripped her arm from my hand and began to march again. I just stood there watching. For some reason I couldn’t let her go away, not angry like that!

“Elphaba! Please!” I begged, “Elphaba! Elphaba! ELPHIE WAIT!” As my cry echoed through the forest, everything stopped. She stopped midstep as I paused in breathing. Time had paused for that one moment just for us. She turned slowly, her hand clutching her hat and her body turning towards me. The look in her eyes was something I had never seen, it was mix of a couple of the feeling I was feeling myself.

“What did you call me?” she asked, in a voice that carried slightly over a whisper. I myself was speechless. The name had just so easily carried out of my mouth that I hardly knew where it had come from. But the instant that I had spoken it I felt as if my heart was about to burst. “I ask you a question! What did you call me?”

“I…I…I don’t know…”

“I don’t believe that you could have just spoken something and not know it!” she screeched as she quickly returned to in front of me, “No one has ever called me that name but two people and one of them is dead! Now what did you call me?!”

“I called you…I called you…”

“WHAT?!” she ordered pushing her face up into my own as if to frighten me.

“I called you Elphie!” I stated in a serious tone, “I called you Elphie! I called you Elphie and it felt good! For some reason it seems so easy to let that out than calling you even Elphaba! It felt good to call you, that name!”

“WHAT NAME?!”

“ELPHIE!” I roared at the top of my voice and like it wasn’t me, I did something I thought I would never do. I leaned forward and instantly I was kissing the witch. Never had I ever felt the power I felt at that moment, that moment that I kissed Elphie. Her lips so soft and gentle, much more than a scarecrow’s lips made of straw and cloth. Not that it was hard, for a moment she was shocked, gripping my arms with her hands with a grip that if I was human would have really hurt. But then she relaxed and her body pressed against mine as the kiss continued. Her little one pressed against mine as we did the thing that no one would believe. The scarecrow and the witch of the west, a moment where the world was filled with impossible things and neither of us were who we were before. As the moment ended she pulled back, still in my arms. How right that felt, to have her there in my arms like she had never left…but wait had she been there before.

She looked up into my eyes and I back into hers. Her eyes were green but there were soft and gentle, like I had cracked something within her. Had I finally hit something so hidden deep inside her? Not to mention something hidden deep within me, something that had been lost. “That was amazing,” I breathed out in a whisper, “Elphie, that was something I’ve never felt before.”

“I have,” she answered just as breathlessly, “But I only felt it when I was with…Fiyero…” Elphaba looked as if she had been hit by a cart of something heavy. Her eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth. “Oh Fiyero, what have I done?”

“Elphie, I don’t understand,” I said confused, “I thought it was good.”

“I can’t believe…not after…I have to go now!” She once again clutched her hat and started towards the woods. I tried to grab her arm once again but one look from her and I stopped. “I’m sorry, it’s to soon…he just died…and I…I can’t betray him like that…” It was liked something broke with in me as she disappeared. I once again was nothing, and what I had just found was gone again. I sat on the ground, defeated, and confused. How could something so right have gone so wrong so fast? And how come I hurt SO much?

The Tin man and Dorothy found me a little while later, they said I didn’t look so good and then they asked me if maybe I had seen the witch. I said I did, it technically was the truth. But I hadn’t seen her in the way they were thinking.

[Alluramallura]

Don't know how long I'll be able to keep up this chapter a day, but it's a lot of fun to write! I'm glad I can please some people of course:). Hope I can please you all in the end. But I'm not done yet...

[DancingElphie]

I think I shall become your permanent reviewer! Anyways, I really love that last chapter. All in character, and only one little gripe (I am a nitpicky person!). There's some grammer/punctuation stuff that needs fixing.
"How right that felt, to have her there in my arms like she had never left…but wait had she been there before. "
I would put that as "How right that felt to have her there in my arms like she had never left... but, wait. Had she been there before?" It just seems to get your point across better. Also, the last paragraph.
"The Tin man and Dorothy found me a little while later, they said I didn’t look so good and then they asked me if maybe I had seen the witch. I said I did, it technically was the truth. But I hadn’t seen her in the way they were thinking."
I would put that "The tin man and Dorothy found me a little while later. They said I didn't look so good, and asked me if I had seen the witch. I said I did, and technically it was the truth. But I hadn't seen her in the way they were thinking." By the way, I love that last line. It bascially puts all of Wicked into one sentance.

Overall, lovely chapter. Love how he called her Elphie, and how she couldn't betray her "recently deceased" Fiyero. I want to just tell her "IT"S HIM!" and have it all over with and they live happily ever after, but that wouldn't lead to a very good fanfiction, now would it?

[Alluramallura]

Thank you, you may be the only one giving me anything constructive. I know I'm horrible with spelling and grammer, I may need to go back through when I'm done and rework some stuff. I am even thinking of a sequel or a prequel to this, one where he is the prince before or what happens after the story...or maybe both...don't know yet.

[DancingElphie]

It's okay if you're horrible with it, so am I! I just happened to notice that. I think a sequl would be nice, but of course, it would need to be set after the musical. How long do you think this will go? I'm not so sure if a Prequels a good idea though. I mean, isn't the prequel pretty done (i.e. the musical?)? A new insight though, that may be interesting. What do I know? I'm just reading and loving it!

[Alluramallura]

Chapter 3:
I couldn’t focus on anything for the next few days. I couldn't talk at all and I guess it has been bugging Dorothy. She finally isn’t the center of my attention; maybe she thought that we did have something going. My head was just else where after that night with Elphaba. I have started calling her that all the time now, as she isn’t anything else to me now. I keep picturing how she looked that night, green eyes, black hair, her soft lips…The Tin man one day caught me thinking as Dorothy was down cleaning her face in a near by river.

“You okay?” he asked me, breaking me from my thoughts. I had been sitting on a stump just thinking and he was shining up his ax. I don’t think he is much of a woodsman but still he carries around that thing. It makes me mad sometimes. He plans to use it on Elphaba I bet, so while it use to be okay with me, now it just makes me feel a feeling of anger in my gut.

“Yeah, I guess I was just lost in thought.”

“Lost in thought?” he chuckled as he watched me, “Are you sure you need a brain? Because you sure do a lot of thinking for someone who doesn’t have a brain.”

“Funny, someone said something like that just the other day,” I muttered.

“What?”

“Oh I was just wondering that myself.”

“Well what ever gave you the idea that you were brainless in the first place?” he asked, “I’m surprised that you could know what a brain is if you don’t have one.”

“I guess I heard it somewhere,” I answered, “I think I heard a farmer say it or something.” I could hear him chuckle and in a way I wanted to wring his neck. I’ve said before that something about the guy bugs me and it’s not something he has said or done, just something.

“A friend of mine use to say the same thing, you know that he was brainless and that was the best thing to be. Of course he is dead, so I guess that maybe he wasn’t as ‘smart’ as he thought.”

“That or he found a girl that he could give his life for.”

“Trust me, there was a girl but not a person worth of giving up a perfect life!” Tin man laughed, “He was going to marry Glinda, what could better than that? Glinda is a goddess!”

“Maybe he wanted something more than perfect.” After that we became silent once again as he chuckled again, still working hard on the silver axe blade. Didn’t want to anger the guy with the weapon, now that would be really brainless wouldn’t it?

“I think the witch has been about,” he told me, “We better keep our peepers open for her.”

“Yeah,” I said, “Hey, did you ever wonder who the witch might have been, you know, before she was a witch?” At this I got silence. He stopped his polishing and looked down at the tip. I had found his sore spot, and I believed Elphaba. May sound foolish but it is true.

“Don’t ever wonder about that,” he said with a cool tone to his voice, “Trust me, there is no beginning to her. She is just wicked, her and that sister of hers! They are menaces to all of OZ, well this one is anyway.”

“Maybe you’re the menace,” I said under my breath. No one would talk about Elphaba like that, especially someone that she tried to help. I had become rather defensive of her the past few days, and took no enjoyment in discussing anything about her as everything we would discuss would suggest that the witch was horrible. Once you know the truth it’s not easy to just turn back and say those things. We soon picked up another traveler, a lion. Another familiar face in the crowd, but nothing I did could bring back the memories. Not that I would have wanted another friend against Elphaba. Have a problem? Just blame the witch, even if she had a heart and was just trying to do something good! Maybe I was the one with any conscious thought and the rest of the world was brainless. Finally it was night again and I could escape to our place. Luckily a lot of this part of OZ is covered by woods or it would have been impossible. I wasn’t even sure that she would talk to me again but I had to try.

(Continued)

[Alluramallura]

“Elphaba! Elphie!” I called out softly, not wanting to alert my ‘companions’ to what was happening, “Elphie please!” I kept thinking that I wouldn’t see her; I hadn’t seen her in days. Was she avoiding me? It would be a plausible explanation. I had finally really screwed up, but I didn’t regret it. It just wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to take back. “Elphaba!” I called out one more time. But as nothing answered I shook my head, thinking she wasn’t going to come. I turned to leave but a movement in the shadows caught my eye. I turned back and there she was, a few meters away, slightly hidden in the darkness of the trees, looking at me as if she wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t have her hat, so as the moonlight glittered off her emerald features I felt my heart beat excitedly. “Elphaba,” I spoke softly, “Please, trust me. If I upset you the other night I’m truly sorry, but I can’t take back the feelings I have for you.” She said nothing. “Please Elphie!” I begged, “I know I’ve done wrong but let me make it up to you.”

“You haven’t done anything,” she answered moving into the open, “I can’t expect you to understand. I don’t understand how these feelings came about or why so quickly. But I had a love and his name was Fiyero. I loved him deeply and when he died I was crushed. I can’t be with another man so soon after I lost him, it would be like our relationship meant nothing. But it was the greatest relationship of my life, the only one that felt true to me. He could look past the green and the lies and see me. I’m sorry but I can’t do that to a man who understood me so well.” I nodded. I felt hurt but her words made sense. He was the man I would never live up to.

“I understand, Elphaba. I just have one question, if it is alright with you.”

“You don’t have to ask my approval to ask a question.”

“I know but it’s kind of a personal question, and I’m not sure if you would like to answer.” She paused for a moment.

“It’s okay.”

“I just wanted to know, if you felt anything. When I kissed you, and you kissed back, was there any feeling?” Once again she was silent, and looking unsure. I felt my heart break as she began to cry. I couldn’t just let her cry so I did the best thing I could think of. I took her in my arms, holding her close as she cried.

“It’s alright Elphie, it’s alright,” I whispered to her, “You can cry if you want.”

“No, I can’t,” she cried into my shoulder, “I can’t do this anymore.”

“It’s okay to cry,” I told her again, “No one can tell you that you can’t cry. It’s going to be okay, you’ve been through a lot.”

“Fiyero…” she sobbed, and although I felt my heart break, I held on to her. She needed someone and they all could hate me forever but I didn’t care. She continued to cry into my shoulder as I gently rubbed her back. I don’t know when I started singing, but the song just popped in there (as things seem to be these days).

“Maybe I’m brainless, maybe I’m wise,” I sang softly, like lullaby, “But you got me seeing through different eyes…” Elphaba froze in my arms, her body as stiff as a board suddenly. She looked up into my face as I looked down into hers, with a few tears that I brushed away. We sat that was for a few moments, just looking at each other. Something so familiar and so wonderful in that moment.

“Fiyero,” she whispered, as she reached up and touched my face, “Could it really be? Could it really be you? I don’t want to dare to dream…” It made as much sense as anything else since this all began. I had no past; I had nothing to tell me how I came to be. All I knew was that I loved this woman and that somehow I had loved her from the beginning. I had nothing to deny it.

“I can be any one you want,” I answered, kissing her hand, “I don’t know who I was in the past but I can be yours now…” She continued to look at me in confusion as tears gathered. Yet she smiled and held me close, once again the most wonderful feeling.

“I thought maybe…never in my wildest dreams…Oh, Fiyero, I thought I had killed you!” she said, the tears now happy. I liked this feeling I had, she was happy again and I had made her happy. What could make a person happier than having the one they love in their arms?

“Well I think I like this side of you the best side of all,” I said after letting her cry a bit more.

“What the sloppy, tear soaked me?” she laughed, trying to rub some of her tears away.

“No,” I answered, with a smile, and a gentle hand to wipe away the stray tears she had missed, “I mean the lovely side of you. You are no witch Elphaba; you are someone the world has used as their scapegoat. But I promise you that I will never let anyone hurt you ever again.” She smiled which made my heart fly even higher! My sweet Elphaba, the prettiest angel in existence, not mention the smartest, kindest, funniest, and gentlest. Sure ever person can say that about their love but not everyone is as right as I am.

“When I saw them carry you off…but what am I saying…” she said with a slight laugh, “You don’t know what I am talking about do you.”

“To tell you the truth,” I answered, almost sheepishly, “I don’t…but I want to know everything! I could try to be the person you knew back then! There is nothing to say that I’m not Fiyero.”

“There is just too much to suggest that you are,” she said, “I think the spell may have saved your life but changed you into another person or scarecrow rather.”

“So this was a spell?”

“Another one that came from me thinking on my feet, they were going to kill you and I would never let that happen. I guess it worked, not the way I thought it would-“

“But it doesn’t matter,” I told her happily, “I am happy being a man or a scarecrow! I am happy just being with you!”

“Which makes you so sweet,” she laughed, “But I know it won’t be long till you want to be a man again. The first time you will want to be…well together…”

“You mean like-“

“Yes,” she said quickly, “I mean that way. As we both know that scarecrows aren’t built with that equipment.”

“Well, it’s not like I need it.”

“And that would mean we would never have any children.”

“We can adopt.”

“And it would mean that you could never die unless you-“

“I get the feeling you’re trying to back out of this,” I said, with a raise of a painted eyebrow.

“Oh no!” she answered, “I just am trying to think of the future here. Although I guess we have to figure out the first mess before we figure out the other one. That’s why we have to keep playing this game. You’re going to have to stay my enemy-”

“I can’t be your enemy Elphaba,” I told her truthfully, kissing her hand again.

“You don’t have to be, but you have to continue at least acting like part of the popular group. You won’t have to really believe it, just act like you do. Do you understand?”

“I guess I do, just what happens when it finally comes down to the final fight?” She knew this was coming as I could see it in her eyes. She lightly touched my face again, the hay making a crackling sound underneath the cloth.

“We’ll just have to wait till we come to that bridge,” she said, “Just promise me that what ever happens that you’ll be happy.” I smiled.

“I’ll only be happy, with you,” I said, “And we will come out of this together, I promise.”

“I can see that,” she laughed softly, “At least I wish I could see it.”

“You don’t need to see when it is the plain truth,” I answered with my own little laugh. She smiled again and my heart was happy. It wasn’t happy long before there was the sound of a snapping twig which made us both jump. “You should go now,” I whispered to her, “I promise that we will figure out something.”

“I know we will,” she said with a bit of confidence, “I can sort of see it now.”

“And I can see it even without sight,” I answered jokingly. She laughed. I laughed. Then we kissed. A sweet and warm kiss, not so unexpected as before but just as beautiful. Then she departed into the sky as not to be caught. I smiled watching her go, knowing I had finally found the answer. It may not answer all the questions I was and am in love, so whatever decision I was going to make was going to be around getting me and Elphaba out safely. After returning to the camp, I found Dorothy was asleep and the Tin man was waiting.

“You were gone for a while,” he said, his tone not to my liking, “What were you doing out there in the woods.” I could see the lion watching me from across the way, yellow eyes watching my moves.

“Thinking,” I answered.

“I don’t think a person like you could think that much,” the Tin man said getting a bit closer, “Maybe you are thinking of turning against us for that witch.” At that point our eyes locked, and the stand off had begun. Scarecrow against Tin man in a battle I knew had been coming for a while. Him with an axe and me with nothing but my fists (which, while firm, are not exactly brass knuckles), not fair but I would defend myself if necessary.

“If I did side with her, would you have to DO something?” I asked coolly.

“I would have to DO something but it won’t come to the will it?” I looked at him and then I looked at the axe.

“I’m sure it won’t,” I answered, taking my eyes away, “I was just thinking and that is all.” Maybe I should have given him a reason to fight me, but what would that have done. I needed to play the fool for just a while longer as Elphaba had told me.

“You know I can never forgive her,” he said as I walked away, “She has done a lot of things that I can’t forgive her for!”

“Then don’t give any,” I answered, only to myself, “Because she isn’t the one who needs to be forgiven…”

[Alluramallura]

Chapter 4:
So there we were, in front of his wizardness. That was after the poppies that came out of no where. Not that I could care really. All I had to worry about was figuring out a way to get out with Elphaba. We hadn’t seen each other in a while but I was happy just picturing her sweet face in my mind. The Tin man sure is emotional for a man claiming he can’t love. He says I’m weird for thinking without a brain? Finally the emerald city, I’m sure if it weren’t for the wizard my Elphaba would have fit in well here. With all the green glasses, no one would have been able to tell she was different from anyone else. Not that she is. Actually, she is better than anyone else. That is what makes her Elphie.

Wish she could see me then, all cleaned up and freshened up. I look like a new man (or scarecrow rather), although it’s not hard to impress Dorothy. She keeps complimenting as if to pull me back in to her cuteness. She quickly forgot about it as we approached the wizard’s thrown. It was a spectacular show, nearly enough to make me question Elphaba. Nearly. It was little surprise what he wanted of course, the head of the one person that challenged what he stood for. So instantly we had to move quickly towards the castle of the wicked witch, not really questioning why when we already knew that answer.

So we continued to travel and quickly the landscape began to change from the normal beautiful to some twisted and dark. I couldn’t believe that one such as my beautiful Elphaba could live in such a place. The trees were baron and the ground was cold, nothing like back in the Munchkin lands I had started from. Instantly we were in trouble again (as if anyone would have doubted that). The instant those winged monkeys set down on us, Dorothy was snatched up into the air. This was the least of my worries at that a time, at least she wasn’t there for the carnage afterwards. It was like a war zone with all the creatures descending on us like so many bombs. They seemed more as a distraction than an attack force. Yet, through the commotion I could still hear someone call to me. “Fiyero! Fiyero!” I spotted Elphaba in the trees not far away. I felt the smile cross my face as I saw her, and I instantly wrapped her in my arms. She gasped as I kissed her. “You’re being attacked and that’s how you greet me?”

“It’s not like you sent-“

“I did.”

“Oh…well I’m just so happy to see you, hold you in my arms, and to do this!” I swung her around in the air and she laughed.

“You are incorrigible!”

“Nah, I’m just brainless remember?” She laughed again and what a melodic sound it was. How lucky am I to hear that sound and be the one to make it happen? This, as many other things have been, was short lived. It was like a hammer hitting us both. I tumbled to the ground; it doesn’t take much to knock a man made of straw to the ground. It also wasn’t too hard to tell who had taken the time to clobber us, as the monkey’s had dispersed in fear. I looked up quick enough to see the Tin man and his axe high in the air, high above my Elphaba who would have no time to save herself.

“It ends here!” the Tin man cried as my love held the arm over her head, as if to protect herself from the blade. As it came down I lunged forward. I don’t know how a man of straw is able to knock down one made of harder stuff. I guess when something is forceful enough one can do anything. In my heart I was strong as steal.

“You’re not going to hurt her!” I ordered, trying to hold back the axe from taking off my head as I pined him under me, “Listen to me Tin man, I don’t want to hurt you!”

“Like you ever could!” he snarled, knocking me off with a kick to the midsection. This kick was strong enough to send me flying quiet a distance as it’s not hard to knock me into the air. Elphaba had gotten to her feet, her face filled with mixed emotions.

“Boq, stop!” she cried out.

“You don’t order me around any more witch!” he warned, axe in hand and pointing it directly at her, “I am a free man and you don’t own me any more!”

“I never wanted to Boq!” she told him, “Nessa didn’t understand that she can’t rule over a person! She didn’t mean to hold you like a slave! She just wanted someone to love her for- But why am I trying to explain this to you when you don’t ever seem to want to listen?!”

“I don’t listen to lies!” he answered coldly, approaching her again. But I once again tackled him to the ground, this time bringing my fist to his hard face. A good solid hit to the jaw, which of course did little damage.

“Why can’t you leave us alone?!” I somehow was able to get out while we tussled.

“Because it’s all her fault!”

“No it’s our fault, for not taking the chance!” Although I had the upper hand I didn’t have it for long as he let a good strike to my face. Tin is a much better weapon than straw. “Elphaba, run!” She looked at me, pausing in concern. “Don’t worry about me! Just run!” She took into the trees, disappearing from my sight. Meanwhile, the Tin man’s rage had turned on me as he began to beat the stuffing out of me. As I am straw, and without feeling, I had no reason to stop him.

“You idiot! You fool! You stupid, stupid, stupid idiot!” he cried over and over again as the hay slipped from my body, my legs, and my arms. Since there was no pain, it was better to let him beat me than to go after Elphaba. His hands ripping me apart as if some carnal beast. After a while the punches slowed, as he lost the fight he had. He never used his axe against me, not that it would have been much use. Finally all that was left was a metal man in tears, and pieces of me across the ground. “You stupid…stupid…” his voice spoke through the tears.

“Boq,” I spoke softly after getting an up the courage to speak, “You finished?” He didn’t say anything but he nodded. “Okay then, listen to me. I guess you needed to do that and I’m glad you got that out of your system. Now we are going to have to pick me up and before we can go get Dorothy, you understand?” Again, he nodded. “Okay, let’s get to it.” He stood slowly, metal parts creaking slowly. Then he looked at me.

“I don’t hate her, Fiyero,” he told me, “I just can’t forgive her. I mean she was my friend but now…”

“Any enemy can be a friend under different circumstances,’ I said, “Now please, we don’t have much time. Go get the lion from behind the tree and collect me up.” He nodded one final time before going to work. Somehow I felt relieved that he had done what he had to do. It could have been worse but now at least I knew he had gotten it out of his system. Maybe we all need to get something out, unfortunately for me it was to get something back in for me. Being a scarecrow isn’t so bad; the only thing you have to worry about is losing yourself all over the place. After an hour or so of restuffing my insides, we were off quickly towards the castle. This time we were quicker than before, even if we were a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion (that had to make sure he hadn’t wet himself every few meters). Finally we made it to our destination and the castle was just as scary as the surrounding country. After quick costume change and a bit of acting; we slipped inside unnoticed.

While the Tin man and Lion focused on finding Dorothy, my mind was on other things. I had to make sure Elphaba was alright and to let her know that she didn’t have to worry about me. So I slipped away from my companions to do a little spy work of my own. The palace was familiar so it wasn’t too hard to move from room to room without being found. Still the castle was seemed empty of one witch, not one room contained my Elphaba. My search finally brought me to the far tower and seemingly make shift laboratory. The small room had been converted, with bottles of concoctions littering the walls, along with books, ingredients (at least things I assumed were ingredients), a large circular orb in the center of the room, and a large book sitting on a stand near the window. No sign of Elphaba, so I turned to leave.

“Fiyero…"

The voice was soft and light. “Elphie?” I asked turning back. No one was in the room and with no places to hide, it would have been impossible to-

“Fiyero…”

The voice spoke again and if it wasn’t for my brainless curiosity I would have just left. But I walked in hesitantly looking around at ever corner. I was standing near the orb in the center of the room when the glass circle began to fill with green gas. I was nearly knocked off my feet in surprise. I backed into one of the shelf accidentally knocking over a bottle of some blue liquid. It shattered on the floor and spilled out across the stone. It smelled funny, now that I really think about it. Forgetting the blue liquid on the ground, I once again let curiosity take over and approached the orb. The glass reflected back to me, as glass is supposed to, but the face I saw wasn’t mine. This face had skin, soft and peach colored; the hair was soft and sandy colored; the diamonds of blue scattered across the face; and the eyes of a most mystical color. As I reached up to check my own face, the face looking back did the same. The face looking back at me with the same confused look as my own. Could this really be the face of…

“Fiyero…”

The voice again as the face started to disappear. “Wait!” I called grabbing the orb, “Wait! I don’t understand! Wait!”

“Fiyero…”

“I don’t understand! Wait…I…wait…” I would remember more but at this point my mind was becoming fuzzy and the voice was fading. I guess I must have slipped and fell to the floor (as I often do). The light started to fade as my body started to feel light…or rather lighter…and I could hear…Elphie’s voice…

“Fiyero...Fiyero…FIYERO!”

“Don’t leave me Elphaba…it’s so scary here alone…”

[Alluramallura]

Chapter 5:
“Fiyero!” I moaned as I came to my senses once again, slowly and with my hand to my head. My head felt so strange it was as if I had stuck Tin man’s axe through it. The pain was so great that I wished I could have. “Fiyero!” There was the voice again. I opened my eyes slowly as to shelter the light out of my eyes. I felt like I had been asleep for years, with my body feeling heavy and barely able to move. I felt like just going back to- “Fiyero!”

“Huh?” I answered finally, rubbing my eyes clear of their fuzziness, “What? Where am I?”

“You knocked over a bottle of ‘blue fog’, it is sure to put anyone sleep…including the man made of straw…It’s not good to mess with magic love.”

“Elphaba?” She smiled gently as she kissed my forehead lightly. My head lay in her lap as I looked up in her features.

“You shouldn’t wonder away from the group,” she said in a mocking tone, “It would have been safer if you had stayed with the others!”

“I was looking for you,” I said, slowly rising into a sitting position, “And I got all the way into this room…with the glass…and then-“

“You first knocked over my bottom of ‘blue fog’, stood in the fumes for a bit, and then were knocked out cold,” she laughed, “Then I came in, found you on the floor and waited till the effect wore off, thankfully before the hunters found us together…Speaking of which, you have to leave now…”

“What?!” I said jumping to my feet in shock, “And leave you here?! To face them alone?!”

“Boq and the Lion are with them…” she spoke softly looking at her lap, “That girl too…Dorety or something right? Maybe it’s just the end here, figure the last battle would come sooner or later. It would be best if you were with them, as to seem like you are against me and-”

“Elphaba, would you listen to yourself?! You sound like you are given up! What happened to seeing us able to escape?! What happened if we are together, we could get through anything?!”

“I’m just really tired,” she answered, her voice softer than I had ever heard it, “After today…I don’t see the point in trying to fight when everyone is against me!”

“And what about me Elphie?” I asked, partly begging, “I believe in you! I have always believed in you!”

“Well what am I suppose to do after they finally get here?” she asked eyes suddenly sparking their old angry fire, “I don’t have enough power to stop them all! I am only part of the power of OZ! I don’t have any power to control fate or the lives of other! I can’t kill and I can’t give life back! Don’t you see! It’s impossible for me to stop the inevitable! I am tired and weak and ready to just let them storm this place and do what they want! I don’t want to fight!”

“For the love of-“I sighed, not wishing to finish that sentence (not really knowing what to end it with), “And I’m suppose to believe this?! I’m supposed to believe that this is the point that you give up at?! After all that fighting and all that has happened, am I suppose to just go back to being that person that I was before? The mindless scarecrow?”

“Well it was easy wasn’t it?” she asked, her eyes as sharp as tacks, “It was so easy being one of them! I should have just given up! I should have taken Glinda’s advice and apologized when I had the chance to! I am so sick of fighting that I would rather just drop down now and beg the wizard-“

“Elphaba you are being so stubborn!” I cried out of frustration, “Why must you always be so stubborn? It’s just like back in school when you-“

“What did you say?”

“I said you can be so stubborn like you were back in-“

“But…you can remember being in school?” I froze. Indeed I could remember. I could remember that I was in my family’s extra castle, that I was indeed a prince of the Winkies, and that I fallen in love with Elphaba while attending the Shiz! I could remember everything! I had been left to die out in that cornfield and then I felt the spell take over me and then-

“I can! Oh Elphaba! I can remember!” She let out a cry of surprise as I lifted her into my arms and swung her around, “I may not be human but I remember it all! I remember you, the school, the day I first saw you! Oh it’s a beautiful day! My name is Prince Fiyero, a winkie prince, who loves a young munchkin land girl by the name of Elphaba, who has a rare condition that has turned her skin green! But I don’t care I love her! I love her!”

“Fiyero!” Elphaba cried as she grabbed my shoulders to settle herself, “Get a hold of yourself!”

“I can’t when I finally can figure my life out!” I answered with a grin, “I can finally say who I am again! And I…I…”

“What is it?” she asked, curiously.

“I…I…think…I just thought up a plan!”

“Fiyero…Do you really think?”

“Hey, if a brainless scarecrow can think up a plan, then we can escape?” I asked with a smile, holding her face in my hand. She was unsure a moment, before she smiled.

“I guess miracles can happen can’t they?”

“We are the miracle people,” I told her, “ I guess I’m not brainless, just at that time I had wished I was as it would be easier. I’m sure that even if it would be easier I would rather be myself now that dancing through life anytime else. But now I have a plan that is going to work. I told you that this place is filled with tunnels and secret passages right?”

“Yes, and I’ve seen a lot of them myself while getting use to the castle. But there isn’t any that the people won’t search if we try to hide.”

“Yes but I bet you haven’t realized that there is a trap door right in the main room did you?” I said a small smile playing on my lips, “We are going to play on their ideas and let them save us!”

“I’m still not getting exactly what you are getting at?” she said looking at me with a slight turn of her head.

“Here is my plan. Everyone keeps saying that you will melt with water right?
Well what if we make it look like you melted, you’ll be actually hide under the trap door, and then after everything dies down I will come back and we’ll escape from OZ and from all of this forever!”

“Escape from OZ?” she said with surprise in her voice, “I don’t think any one has been outside of OZ before, we don’t know even know what’s out there-“

“But what do we have here?” I asked, slipping my arms around her, pulling her to me, “I promise you, whatever is on the outside that it has to be better than in here. Where we are criminals although all we did was show a little bit of strength in standing up to the government who controls the people with lies and propaganda. Trust me; whatever is out there has to be better than being a criminal here in a place that hates us.” She was silent, laying her head on my chest, my arms around her waist, and her arms around me. I could be in OZ or anywhere else and still be at home with her. “Can I take that as a yes?”

“Will you be there?” I smiled again.

“Anywhere you are that is where I will be.”