A/N - Hey there! So, just a small Drabble that popped into my head a long time ago after reading some of Maddy's (a.k.a Ultimate Queen of Cliffies) other drabbles. This story is entitled "Nightmare 4" and flows from Chapters 30 ("Nightmare"), 31 ("Nightmare 2") and 32 ("Nightmare 3") of the Ultimate Queen of Cliffies "Drabbles" series.
Disclaimer 1: I do not own Wicked - that is owned by Gregory Maguire, Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman.
Disclaimer 2: Um...I didn't actually ask for permission to write/publish this Drabble. I hope you don't mind, Maddy. :)
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"Just hold on, Fae," he whispered as he pressed a new piece of cloth to her neck. Just like the one before this one, it was soaked with blood within clock-ticks. He could feel her pulse racing beneath his fingers, but it was faint and irregular and he feared the worst.
"Can't you go faster?" he shouted at the carriage driver, who yelled back, "I'm doing the best I can!"
"We're almost at the hospital, Fae," Fiyero tried to encourage her, pressing the cloth to her skin even tighter. "Please, don't… don't leave me." He was crying now. "I'm sorry, Elphaba, I'm so sorry… It was an accident, I swear, and I…"
"I know," she cut him off, her voice hoarse and barely even audible. "I know it was an accident. It's not your fault."
He stared at her, shocked. "I stabbed you with a kitchen knife," he stressed. "How is that not my fault?"
Even in her current state, she managed to roll her eyes. "You turned around with a knife in your hand," she corrected him, "and I happened to be standing there. It was hardly your fault, Yero." She coughed and blood stained her lips.
A sob caught in his throat and he held her tighter. "I'm so, so sorry…" he whispered. "Please be okay. Please… forgive me."
"We're here!" the carriage driver shouted, and Fiyero immediately leapt out of the carriage with Elphaba in his arms and ran into the hospital. "Help!" he shouted. "Please, I need help!"
As he ran, he recognized everything about the building - the halls, the doors, the beds along the corridors, the lack of smell…
Why doesn't this smell like a hospital?
And then, somehow, he tripped and they ended up on the floor together. There was a pool of blood surrounding her and she looked up at him, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"I'm dying," she whispered incredulously, even as nurses came rushing towards them. "You… you killed me…"
It was in that moment that a realization came to him: he'd been here before.
He balled his fists and clenched his teeth. "No," he simply said defiantly.
"No?" Elphaba whispered back shocked.
He closed his eyes. "This. Is. A. Nightmare!" he cried in defiance.
Suddenly, a new voice shook him out of his thoughts. "That is quite right, Mr. Tiggular."
Turning swiftly, he saw Madame Morrible stride towards him, wearing one of her trademark flowing gaudy dresses. "Now, answer me this: why would the Captain of the Gale Force be having a nightmare about the 'Wicked Witch'?"
His heart stopped at her question. Had he been discovered? Did the former Head Shizstress discover his secret?
"What are you thinking?" he asked her defensively. "Because, whatever you're thinking is going on..."
However, she dismissively waived her hand interrupting him. "Oh, dearie, I'm not real…I'm just a figment of your imagination - just like this hospital and your dying girlfriend."
Upon hearing her response, Fiyero quickly turned towards Elphaba. His eyes went wide in shock when he saw that the green woman was gone - not a trace of blood anywhere. He then noticed that everyone else was gone: no doctors…no nurses…not even the carriage driver.
They were alone.
The elder woman walked up behind the Prince startling him. Whispering in his ear, she asked him sinisterly, "So, I ask again: why would the Captain of the Gale Force be having a nightmare about the 'Wicked Witch'?"
"Stress of the job?" he replied weakly quickly backing away, not wanting to be anywhere near the older woman.
She laughed at his pathetic response. "Oh, come now, your Highness. We both know that's a lie."
"How do you know it's a lie?" he asked her.
Shaking her head, she simply replied, "I'm part of your nightmare, remember? So, think for once...use that brain of yours! How would I know what you're feeling right now?"
It was a good question. He was having a nightmare - this was true. How would Horrible Morrible be part of this nightmare? He pondered her question for a few moments before answering: "Because you're a representation of my sub-conscious mind."
Clapping mockingly, Morrible replied, "See, he can be taught. Shall we continue this train of thought, or has your 'train' derailed already?"
He rolled his eyes at her.
"So, dearie, what do we know of dreams?" she then asked.
"They could be anything: hidden desires, fragments of memories..." It was then that it hit him: "...or fears we lock away inside ourselves."
Morrible nodded at his response. "And when it comes to Elphaba, what are you afraid of?"
"Of losing her," he replied in realization. "Of Fae being captured or killed before I can tell her."
The elder witch's eyebrow raised. "Tell her what?"
He looked up directly in Morrible's eyes. "That I love her."
Once again, she applauded mocking him. "Well, there you are. That's why you're having this nightmare again. So, what are you going to do about it?"
Before the prince could answer, he heard a ringing beside him. A constant ringing...getting louder and louder. He covered his ears as the world around him started to dissolve...
Fiyero bolted upright in bed, panting and covered in sweat. It took a few moments for the Prince to realize that he was in his bedroom in the Emerald Palace and his alarm clock was ringing. Turning it off, he wiped his face and looked out the window of his room to see the dawn of a new day.
As he showered to wash away the sweat, the question 'Morrible' asked him rattled in his mind: "What are you going to do about it?"
He knew the answer - it was the very reason he joined the Gale Force - why he became Captain - and what propelled his actions. As he dried off, he grew more determined to follow through on that answer.
He was going to find her.