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She knew he loved her. That wasn’t the thing why she had asked him. He told her over and over and over again, but that wasn’t why she knew.
He also showed her over and over and over again.
The first time was when he chose to go with her, all those years ago in the wizard’s throne room when they had seen each other again for the first time since Shiz.
And Oz, had he shown her that night in her hideout.
When he had willingly sacrificed himself for her was the third time and also the time when Elphaba had stopped counting because, first, she had thought that she had lost him and therefore didn’t think that there would be more times and second, because she realized that she didn’t need to count.
And while it was true and she didn’t count anymore, she still remembered every moment from the past and every moment now. When they woke up in the mornings and the first thing he did was to pull her towards him to kiss her (even though she had complained that she probably had terrible morning breath). When they walked around their little kitchen afterwards without talking (because they didn’t need to, they just worked together perfectly) and he brushed her arm, her shoulders, laid his hands on her her hip, handed her her coffee, pulled the chair for her,…
Sometimes he came home and brought poppies with him, other times she came home to find a beautiful bunch of poppies in the corner.
They had build a beautiful life outside of Oz and it had only been several months after they had made it through the impassable desert that they had both realized that something about him was slowly changing.
First they noticed that he walked more stable again. Then his nose changed from dark to light brown. Then his lips changed from burlap to skin.
He started to become more human again every day until the day he was pretty much the same as before. His hair remained lighter and his eyes stayed the same dark, but other than that, he was pretty much the same as before.
He didn’t care about that though, they had talked about that as well a lot of times. It’s not that she felt guilty for what she had done, but turning him into a scarecrow wasn’t the intention she had in mind when she wanted to save him.
But he had assured her over and over again that it was fine, as long as they were together he didn’t care. And she had assured him over and over again that she didn’t mind what he looked like, because she loved him for who he was.
And she had done research to why he started to change (because she was still Elphaba), but couldn’t really find a satisfying answer. „Maybe it was the sparkles in the sand of the desert,“ he joked and she had rolled her eyes as she turned the pages of the probably 90th book she read.
„Or it was True Love’s Kiss,“ he mumbled but wiggled his eyebrows at her.
And that’s when she started to think about love.
And why she had asked the question she never wanted to ask (it’s not that they didn’t talk about her, but they barely talked about the time when he had been with her while she was on the run) one late night when they were cuddled up in bed together.
„Did you love Glinda?“
She could feel his head turn and looked up to meet his eyes.
He didn’t reply for quite a while until she heard a quiet but certain „I did.“
And she wasn’t really surprised, because she loved Glinda too and really, she was glad that both Glinda and Fiyero had had love between them during the four years they had all been separated.
He pushed himself up against the headboard, and pulled her alongside him, moving them so that she was sat before him and he could properly look at her while he spoke.
„Otherwise I wouldn’t have agreed to the wedding.“
He sighed and she knew from experience that he prepared for a speech.
„Glinda and I were perfect for each other, and honestly, if life would’ve went normally I probably would’ve married her and build a comfortable life with her.
But then you happened and you turned everything around and I fell so hard for you Elphaba. I didn’t even realize how hard I fell until you stood in front of me in the throne room. Because suddenly there you were and I had to chose between you and Glinda and while, yes, I did love Glinda, you are the one I fell in love with, the one who saw me for me, who I am more connected to, who changed everything around, who I just loved more.“
And she saw the intensity in his eyes and she knew and nodded and crawled back into his arms, wove her arms around his chest and nuzzled her head into his neck, breathing him in and it was amazing how they even felt the same when it came to this.
,,I wish I could’ve explained,“ Fiyero whispered, his lips brushing her braids softly as he spoke.
„I wish I could’ve told her that I never meant to hurt her, that I never intended to lead her on, that I did love her, that I just love you more.“
He’s distant and moodified. And he’s been thinking!
…then let’s go, let’s leave together!
Glinda, I am so sorry!
He was never going to harm me, he just…he loves her.
It’s Fiyero isn’t it?
It’s fine, everything is going to be fine. I love you.
I love you too!
„She knew,“ Elphaba whispered back and she couldn’t help the tears appearing in her eyes as she thought back to her best friend.
„She knew that we loved her. Knows that we love her!“
She could feel the nod that Fiyero gave as he pulled her closer to him and she nuzzled further into him in the process.
And maybe it was True Love’s Kiss that had turned him back and while that also wasn’t an explanation that completely satisfied Elphaba, she realized that she actually didn’t care.
Because she loved him in whatever form. Maybe it was some form of reward, she thought as she closed her eyes. Maybe because of everything they went through, something aligned (even though that didn’t really satisfy her as well).
Maybe it was just True Love's Kiss.