This entire situation was quite unpleasant for Fiyero. For some stupid reason, he'd hoped to feel some sort of sick satisfaction in seeing people freaking out over his "death."

But instead, all he could feel was the utter annoyance that came from being naked in cornfield just outside of campus. He could just tell that the dozens of huge crows in the field were laughing at him. He shifted around uncomfortably.

"Shoo! Get outta here!" he whisper/yelled at them, making crazy arm movements. They didn't budge.

In retrospect, he could've brought an extra pair of pants to change into once he'd suffocated his own prized white pants in mud before tossing them onto some pointed rocks. That, besides pretty much breaking Elphaba's heart a week prior, was probably the most painful moment of his life.

He'd spent the past week of being "missing" in a cabin several miles out of town that was built for passing travelers to stay in for the night. But Fiyero figured that it was in such a random spot, he wouldn't be bothered. And he was right, naturally.

Just like he was right about this whole plan. Well, at least he thought he was right.

Boq had taken some convincing, but eventually, he came around when the price was right. And apparently, the price was Fiyero's Platinum Oz card number. No biggie, Fiyero had reasoned, because if I'm dead, won't they cancel the card anyway? Haha, sucker.

"I will kill all of you!" he hissed at the staring crows, trying to cover himself with a leaf with no success. He would just go back to his dorm when the sun had set according to Boq's game plan, but the game plan was made up before Fiyero was standing naked in a field full of suspicious crows. Must be females, he figured easily.

Shiz students walked around the campus just beyond the cornfield in almost total silence, afraid that if anyone spoke or laughed, they'd seem uncaring and heartless.

This fact made Fiyero angry. These people didn't even know him. Sure, he'd thrown some pretty amazing parties which gained him more "friends" than he could count, but the sight of seeing a raven haired girl –he'd never seen her before in his life – crying on a bench over his death, being comforted by another girl – also a total stranger – was just absurd. Who were these people? How did they know him? Had they wordlessly watched as he was scolded time after time by his professors? Did they live in the same dorm as him?

He thought about this strange phenomenon the rest of the evening. Who cries over someone they didn't directly know? Or rather, know anything about besides the handsomeness and brilliant party schemes? Apparently, all of Shiz did.

On his planned out route to sneak into his dorm room, Fiyero heard a group of girls talking about the latest events.

"I can't believe he just jumped into the Canal," one of them said. "I can't help but wonder if maybe I could've helped him somehow if I'd said hi to him in the hallway the day he went missing." Highly doubtful, Fiyero thought, waiting patiently in the shadows of the corner he was burrowed in.

"I don't think so, Liliana," another girl said comfortingly. "Galinda dumping him just broke his heart beyond repair. She's the one to blame, not you."

Fiyero scowled to himself. People thought this was Galinda's fault? What did she even have to do with anything? Everyone but her could plainly tell that Fiyero was pretty much over their relationship! Who were these girls? Again, Fiyero really had no idea, though he knew Liliana's name from his Vinkun History class (the class he usually excelled in, but only for the obvious reasons). But their voices didn't sound familiar, telling him that they probably weren't close friends of Galinda's either.

The group of girls left the hallway still talking about Galinda a few moments later, luckily before Fiyero could lose his temper and jump out of his hiding place to set the record straight. When they had vanished from his sight, he continued on his route through the many abandoned hallways and stairways until he reached his room, where he softly knocked on the door.

Waiting for Fiyero as was the plan, Boq immediately opened the door. Fiyero wiggled into the room and was almost to the bathroom when the Munchkin did a double-take.

"Wha- Why are you naked?" he asked, shielding his eyes with a math book.

"Dude, don't look at me," Fiyero snapped, grabbing some clothes from his dresser and running into the bathroom.

"I'm not! I'm not," Boq nodded, turning all the way around in embarrassment.

"Oz, you totally looked," Fiyero groaned as he put his clothes on.

"I didn't, I swear!"

"Chill, Boq, I know," the supposedly dead Prince laughed.

Rolling his eyes, Boq said in a hushed whisper, "Will you keep it down? You shouldn't even be here yet. The plan was that you'd show up at one. Not eight. What if someone walks in?"

Fiyero came out of the bathroom fully dressed a few moments later before saying, "Nobody's gonna walk i-"

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door. Boq and Fiyero began to make desperate hand gestures at each other, trying to figure out what to do.

"Boq, it's Elphaba. You there?"

"Elphaba," Fiyero whispered. Again, there were even more desperate movements before Boq finally shoved Fiyero under his bed which was still in the condition Fiyero had left it a week prior.

Opening the door, Boq stepped aside and motioned for Elphaba to come in.

From under the bed, Fiyero just barely held in a groan as he softly pushed what looked like a three month old turkey sandwich away from him. Why is that turkey black? his thoughts exclaimed in disgust as he held a sort of clean sock up to his nose to block the stench.

"Sorry, for coming over so late," Elphaba apologized. She was shocked to see all of Fiyero's belongings still in the room, thinking they'd have already been shipped off to the Vinkus by now. It threw her off more than she could have predicted, as it felt like Fiyero was there only a few minutes ago. She even thought she could smell his cologne lingering in the air, causing her heart to start aching all over again.

"What's on your mind?" Boq asked, sitting on his bed. Elphaba thought of just continuing to stand but her grief overcame her better judgment and she sat on the edge of Fiyero's bed.

"You said before that he moped around here before he…" Elphaba swallowed. "Did he… Did he mention me?"

Rather than let his mind focus on the negative, Fiyero took this moment to recognize that while he could see a line of ants leading out of the "turkey" sandwich, Elphaba was sitting on his bed with him. Well, he wasn't really on the bed, but it was sort of the same. Years later, he'd compare it to Elphaba sitting on his lap.

Boq, however, struggled to refrain from letting his eyes wander to the foot that was sticking out from under Fiyero's bed as he replied shakily, "Why- Why would he mention you?"

"Boq, people have been blaming Galinda. Galinda. How could they- She didn't even- He wanted to be-" Elphaba struggled to find the right words. But how do you tell someone that you caused their best friend and roommate's suicide? Easy, you don't.

But this guilt had been eating at Elphaba all week, and now that she knew he actually did kill himself, she needed to tell someone. Normally, she'd tell a secret like this to Galinda, but when the blonde came back to their room earlier that night still in tears, she needed to get away as soon as possible.

"You wished he was dead," Boq finished somberly with a nod. Elphaba lifted her gaze to his.

"So he did talk to you that night. Why did you lie to me? To the police?" she demanded.

"Don't think I've forgotten that you also lied to the police," Boq reminded her. "Where do you get off saying something like that? That you were engaged? You were barely friends!"

"I would've been his wife!" Elphaba almost shouted as she stood up. Boq and Fiyero both held their breath. "I might as well say it. He's gone anyway. He killed himself because I wouldn't love him back."

"Elphaba, I don't understand-" Boq started, seeing Fiyero's foot twitch. It was small movement but it was enough. He needed to get Elphaba to talk somewhere that the Vinkun wasn't present or he'd surely give himself away.

Walking to the door, Elphaba said, "I've learned to build some pretty tall walls around my emotions. And he danced right through the front gate. But now he's gone, and it's all my fault."

Sorry I haven't updated in so long! I've been working so hard on Ice in July, but soon I'll be focusing all on my Wicked fanfics, so pleaaase review! 3

Every time you review a fanfic, you help prevent the suicides of fictional characters everywhere.