Exodus 3/?
Fandom: Book
Characters: General Cast
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Implied non-con, captivity, physical abuse.
Summary: Based off of the Gregory Maguire Wicked Years, AU. The Philosophy Club is everything it's rumored to be; disgusting and filthy with unspeakable acts happening in every corner. What Fiyero Tigelaar didn't expect was to find an enchanting emerald woman locked away in the basement, a slave to the club's mysterious owners. Warnings for non-con, captivity, physical abuse, and language.
She lay limp in the glow of the oil lamps, her body damp with somebody else’s perspiration. Her eyes were open, turned in the direction of the flickering fire but staring through it. If one didn’t know her, they’d assume that she was dead.
Those who knew her knew that she was, perhaps not physically but her spirit had perished long ago.
It was of no consequence.
Except to one.
The sound of a heavy steel bar settling into its place resounded throughout the small chamber, a lock to her prison. She only blinked at the sound, only stared through the flame until the shadow of the old woman appeared through it. Elphaba’s eyes closed then.
“Do not lay there so,” her voice crackled as the fire, “for your cavalry is coming.”
There was no response from the form beneath her. Yackle used an old knobby walking stick to poke at her with it, “Find your fight, dearie. You’re going to need it.”
--
Boq shifted his weight nervously from one foot to the other. He had a bouquet of flowers clutched in one hand, so much so that some of the stems were breaking, in the other a letter, rumpled and sweaty from his palms.
“Sit back boys, this should be entertaining,” Avaric grinned to Crope and Tibbett.
“He’s trying again? Is he ever going to give up?” Crope snorted, “He’s pathetic.”
“Not as bad as that one,” Tibbett jerked his finger over his shoulder at Fiyero, who seemed to be mulling over some sort of book, “since when has he taken up studying?”
“He’s got a sudden interest in the layout of Shiz,” Avaric replied dryly, eyes still trained on the spot where Galinda would appear with Shen Shen and Pfannee any moment now.
Fiyero glanced up from the book briefly, a history on the Southstairs and the extensions that led from the Emerald City, particularly the extensions that led into some very specific places in Shiz. He hadn’t found the book on his own; rather it had been delivered into his custody by a dwarf without a name, accompanied by some tiktok mechanism that reminded him of Morrible’s Grommetik.
The events of the previous day were vague and fading by the moment. Only one thing remained clear in his mind.
Elphaba.
The book was pulled from his hands and he looked up, face still contorted in concentration. His eyes came to focus on Avaric’s face.
“You’re missing the show. The munchkin is about to make a fool of himself again and you’re studying geographics. You’ve lost your mind.”
Fiyero shrugged sheepishly, “It’s an old show.”
“What is this anyway?”
“Just a book.”
“You’ve been torn up about this girl for too long. I think what you need is a night out on the town,” Avaric said, his eyes suggesting misdeed but his smile suggesting innocence, “maybe a trip to the Philosophy Club.”
Tibbett’s slouched posture perked up at the suggestion, “The Philosophy Club? The stories about that place are-“
“Scandalous. In every sense of the word and it’s no place for a lady,” Galinda finished for Tibbett, “I insist we go.”
Shen Shen and Pfannee were nodding eagerly in agreement, tittering on about the stories that they’ve heard, the conversation quickly fading to what they would wear.
Tibbett prodded Boq in the side, “C’mon shortstuff. You know you want to come along too.”
“I have not heard good things about that place at all.”
“I want to check out if all the things I’ve heard about that place is true,” the boy grinned in response, “because I think it sounds great.”
Fiyero stood abruptly, “Tibbett, you’ve been. You can’t have forgotten…y’know, that.”
Avaric’s brow raised in surprise, “Fiyero, you’ve been? And without us?”
“No, we’ve-“ he started but his voice broke. It was part of the plan, this sudden turn of events. A plan he didn’t understand but one that was working out to his advantage thus far, “You’re right. I’ve gone without you. Sorry.”
The group flooded him with questions, asking about what it was like inside and what they should wear but his mind was already elsewhere.
Elphaba was his fate.
--
“Couldn’t it at least be a little bit cleaner?” Galinda commented, pulling her bedazzled wrap tighter around her body.
“You don’t know what the inside looks like,” Tibbett shrugged, “it might look like a palace.”
Boq put an arm around Galinda’s waist, pulling her close, “We could go somewhere else.”
Galinda stepped out of his grasp, “I’ll take my chances with Tibbett’s wagers, thank you though.”
Shen Shen allowed Avaric to put his arm around her waist, guiding her inside and they were given playing cards, the six of clubs. Fiyero was given the joker.
“That card is off,” Avaric remarked, “especially lately.”
“Things will change tonight,” Fiyero promised his companion. A lot of things would change tonight, it was just what he couldn’t say for sure.
The same mixture of Animal and human littered the club but the mood was different, it was more subdued than their previous trip. The music had changed from a thumping electric mix to a softer sound out of a wooden pipe. A Snake danced on the stage, each sway and curve hypnotizing the crowd as they watched.
Fiyero watched with a degree of amusement as the rest of the crowd seemed to sway along. He looked down at the card in his hand, studying the picture on it. Perhaps he was a fool for attempting this, perhaps being here would only end in his demise.
The six of clubs was called along with the eight of hearts and the two of diamonds, giving Fiyero his perfect opportunity for exit. He would come back another time with an actual plan, not what had been laid out for him.
A firm grasp was placed on his shoulders and he was held in place, “What you seek is not here,” a voice spoke whispered, “do not hesitate, young man. So much is at stake.”
Fiyero spun but saw nobody behind him, he turned again for good measure and found himself before the door, the haunting music now flooding his ears. “She is your fate,” the voice whispered again, “open it.”
The door slid open with some protest and he slipped inside the dimly lit room. He closed the door firmly behind him, searching for some sort of lock or bolt. Certainly it had to lock from the inside but the sound of a heavy metal latch from the outside startled him from searching any further.
There she was, the girl haunting his dreams. The name echoing through his head.
“Elphaba,” he said her name in no more than a whisper, “Elphaba, it’s me, Fiyero. Do you remember?” He felt foolish, asking somebody he had only meant once in his life if they remembered him. He was no more memorable than any other patron that had been through here, save for his appearance.
Brown eyes lifted to meet him, the same emptiness that was there before, “I remember,” her voice was soft, almost trembling, “the diamonds.”
He smiled slightly, extending a hand to her, “The diamonds.”
Elphaba did not take his hand, instead flinched slightly when he extended it. Nobody had ever touched her in an endearing way and she knew better to touch anybody who pretended that they wanted to, “Why are you here again?”
Once again, he felt sheepish. This is not how he’d pictured his valiant rescue of her. Or even his silent escape with her, “You shouldn’t be here. In this place.”
“It’s the only place I’ve ever been,” she answered, watching him as he studied her shackles. She drew her leg back slightly when he reached for the cuff around her ankle, “Those don’t come off.”
Fiyero looked up at her, his hand hovering over her ankle, “I know you have no reason to but please…trust me.”
Every muscle in her body was tense as she watched his hand reach out, fingertips grazing her dirty skin around the cuff. He pulled them apart with ease, laughed slightly and then reached for the other one. Her eyes widened slightly and she looked at the ones around her wrists, “The old woman. She locked them earlier.”
“Or unlocked them,” he answered, reaching for her wrists and undoing them one by one. He slipped his jacket from his shoulders and rather than trying to wrap it around her, he offered it to her, “I’m afraid you’ll get a lot of looks if you leave like that.”
“Won’t I get a lot of looks anyway?”
“We’ll deal with it as we need to,” he assured her, standing up and checking the door. There had been no indication that it was yet unlocked. He walked to the corner of the room, a small tattered blanket and a pathetic pillow made into a makeshift bed. He pulled them away, looking for the door marked in the book that he was given. It wasn’t an immediately obvious door, no certain sign of escape, just a mere discontinuity of the wooden floor.
He knelt, used a small knife from a sheath in his shoe to pry the corner of the door, working it open quietly. He felt her eyes on his back and he smiled to himself.
Maybe it could be a valiant rescue after all.
Fiyero turned to her then, extended his hand, “Just trust me. Please. I want to take you from this place.”
“Where does it go?”
“A place not much better than this but after that, after that will be much better. Please, Elphaba. Let me do this for you.”
She started to question why but heard the bolt on the door, she scampered across the floor as quickly as she could. She wasn’t used to moving much, let alone quickly. There were punishments for running away from customers; she could only imagine that if they caught her trying to make an escape that she would be put to death.
A blessing so long as they didn’t make it slow and torturous.
Fiyero lifted her into his arms, noting every emaciated muscle tensing in her body, “I’m not going to hurt you, Elphaba. I promise.” He pulled the handle of the door down with his free hand, used his weight combined with hers to pull the door back into the groove. There was a large bar with which to lock the door above them and he did so.
It was far too convenient, how it had all fallen into place for him. Them now.
He turned to her, watched as she adjusted the jacket he’d given her, trying to keep herself covered completely, “We’ll find you some clothes,” he promised her, his voice still just slightly a whisper.
Elphaba looked at him, eyes as empty as they had been in the chamber above them, “I don’t understand why.”
“I needed to,” he answered simply, unable to describe why. For the first time he looked up to observe their new surroundings. It had dawned on him that while he had prepared himself for their escape that he failed to plan how they were going to find their way to the opposite side of the Southstairs, to the tunnel that would take them north towards Gillikin. Was it the opposite side of the underground city or the adjacent side?
He could hear footsteps above them, heavy and angry and he pulled her away from the door, “Come on, we have to go.”
Elphaba moved as quickly as she could alongside him, getting away from the door and the people who would likely kill her just above it. There was precious light guiding their footsteps and many times she stumbled. Her heart was pounding in her ear, her lungs burning as she struggled to keep up with him. Again she fell, this time hitting the ground hard, “I can’t. I can’t do this.”
Fiyero stopped long enough to lift her from the ground, carry her as best he could, “We just have to get away from the door. We get away from the door and then we can slow down.”
She wanted to ask him what would happen after that but she was too exhausted and too scared to ask. Elphaba allowed her head to rest against his shoulder and she closed her eyes.
She wasn’t certain that he knew what would happen either.
Characters: General Cast
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Implied non-con, captivity, physical abuse.
Summary: Based off of the Gregory Maguire Wicked Years, AU. The Philosophy Club is everything it's rumored to be; disgusting and filthy with unspeakable acts happening in every corner. What Fiyero Tigelaar didn't expect was to find an enchanting emerald woman locked away in the basement, a slave to the club's mysterious owners. Warnings for non-con, captivity, physical abuse, and language.
She lay limp in the glow of the oil lamps, her body damp with somebody else’s perspiration. Her eyes were open, turned in the direction of the flickering fire but staring through it. If one didn’t know her, they’d assume that she was dead.
Those who knew her knew that she was, perhaps not physically but her spirit had perished long ago.
It was of no consequence.
Except to one.
The sound of a heavy steel bar settling into its place resounded throughout the small chamber, a lock to her prison. She only blinked at the sound, only stared through the flame until the shadow of the old woman appeared through it. Elphaba’s eyes closed then.
“Do not lay there so,” her voice crackled as the fire, “for your cavalry is coming.”
There was no response from the form beneath her. Yackle used an old knobby walking stick to poke at her with it, “Find your fight, dearie. You’re going to need it.”
--
Boq shifted his weight nervously from one foot to the other. He had a bouquet of flowers clutched in one hand, so much so that some of the stems were breaking, in the other a letter, rumpled and sweaty from his palms.
“Sit back boys, this should be entertaining,” Avaric grinned to Crope and Tibbett.
“He’s trying again? Is he ever going to give up?” Crope snorted, “He’s pathetic.”
“Not as bad as that one,” Tibbett jerked his finger over his shoulder at Fiyero, who seemed to be mulling over some sort of book, “since when has he taken up studying?”
“He’s got a sudden interest in the layout of Shiz,” Avaric replied dryly, eyes still trained on the spot where Galinda would appear with Shen Shen and Pfannee any moment now.
Fiyero glanced up from the book briefly, a history on the Southstairs and the extensions that led from the Emerald City, particularly the extensions that led into some very specific places in Shiz. He hadn’t found the book on his own; rather it had been delivered into his custody by a dwarf without a name, accompanied by some tiktok mechanism that reminded him of Morrible’s Grommetik.
The events of the previous day were vague and fading by the moment. Only one thing remained clear in his mind.
Elphaba.
The book was pulled from his hands and he looked up, face still contorted in concentration. His eyes came to focus on Avaric’s face.
“You’re missing the show. The munchkin is about to make a fool of himself again and you’re studying geographics. You’ve lost your mind.”
Fiyero shrugged sheepishly, “It’s an old show.”
“What is this anyway?”
“Just a book.”
“You’ve been torn up about this girl for too long. I think what you need is a night out on the town,” Avaric said, his eyes suggesting misdeed but his smile suggesting innocence, “maybe a trip to the Philosophy Club.”
Tibbett’s slouched posture perked up at the suggestion, “The Philosophy Club? The stories about that place are-“
“Scandalous. In every sense of the word and it’s no place for a lady,” Galinda finished for Tibbett, “I insist we go.”
Shen Shen and Pfannee were nodding eagerly in agreement, tittering on about the stories that they’ve heard, the conversation quickly fading to what they would wear.
Tibbett prodded Boq in the side, “C’mon shortstuff. You know you want to come along too.”
“I have not heard good things about that place at all.”
“I want to check out if all the things I’ve heard about that place is true,” the boy grinned in response, “because I think it sounds great.”
Fiyero stood abruptly, “Tibbett, you’ve been. You can’t have forgotten…y’know, that.”
Avaric’s brow raised in surprise, “Fiyero, you’ve been? And without us?”
“No, we’ve-“ he started but his voice broke. It was part of the plan, this sudden turn of events. A plan he didn’t understand but one that was working out to his advantage thus far, “You’re right. I’ve gone without you. Sorry.”
The group flooded him with questions, asking about what it was like inside and what they should wear but his mind was already elsewhere.
Elphaba was his fate.
--
“Couldn’t it at least be a little bit cleaner?” Galinda commented, pulling her bedazzled wrap tighter around her body.
“You don’t know what the inside looks like,” Tibbett shrugged, “it might look like a palace.”
Boq put an arm around Galinda’s waist, pulling her close, “We could go somewhere else.”
Galinda stepped out of his grasp, “I’ll take my chances with Tibbett’s wagers, thank you though.”
Shen Shen allowed Avaric to put his arm around her waist, guiding her inside and they were given playing cards, the six of clubs. Fiyero was given the joker.
“That card is off,” Avaric remarked, “especially lately.”
“Things will change tonight,” Fiyero promised his companion. A lot of things would change tonight, it was just what he couldn’t say for sure.
The same mixture of Animal and human littered the club but the mood was different, it was more subdued than their previous trip. The music had changed from a thumping electric mix to a softer sound out of a wooden pipe. A Snake danced on the stage, each sway and curve hypnotizing the crowd as they watched.
Fiyero watched with a degree of amusement as the rest of the crowd seemed to sway along. He looked down at the card in his hand, studying the picture on it. Perhaps he was a fool for attempting this, perhaps being here would only end in his demise.
The six of clubs was called along with the eight of hearts and the two of diamonds, giving Fiyero his perfect opportunity for exit. He would come back another time with an actual plan, not what had been laid out for him.
A firm grasp was placed on his shoulders and he was held in place, “What you seek is not here,” a voice spoke whispered, “do not hesitate, young man. So much is at stake.”
Fiyero spun but saw nobody behind him, he turned again for good measure and found himself before the door, the haunting music now flooding his ears. “She is your fate,” the voice whispered again, “open it.”
The door slid open with some protest and he slipped inside the dimly lit room. He closed the door firmly behind him, searching for some sort of lock or bolt. Certainly it had to lock from the inside but the sound of a heavy metal latch from the outside startled him from searching any further.
There she was, the girl haunting his dreams. The name echoing through his head.
“Elphaba,” he said her name in no more than a whisper, “Elphaba, it’s me, Fiyero. Do you remember?” He felt foolish, asking somebody he had only meant once in his life if they remembered him. He was no more memorable than any other patron that had been through here, save for his appearance.
Brown eyes lifted to meet him, the same emptiness that was there before, “I remember,” her voice was soft, almost trembling, “the diamonds.”
He smiled slightly, extending a hand to her, “The diamonds.”
Elphaba did not take his hand, instead flinched slightly when he extended it. Nobody had ever touched her in an endearing way and she knew better to touch anybody who pretended that they wanted to, “Why are you here again?”
Once again, he felt sheepish. This is not how he’d pictured his valiant rescue of her. Or even his silent escape with her, “You shouldn’t be here. In this place.”
“It’s the only place I’ve ever been,” she answered, watching him as he studied her shackles. She drew her leg back slightly when he reached for the cuff around her ankle, “Those don’t come off.”
Fiyero looked up at her, his hand hovering over her ankle, “I know you have no reason to but please…trust me.”
Every muscle in her body was tense as she watched his hand reach out, fingertips grazing her dirty skin around the cuff. He pulled them apart with ease, laughed slightly and then reached for the other one. Her eyes widened slightly and she looked at the ones around her wrists, “The old woman. She locked them earlier.”
“Or unlocked them,” he answered, reaching for her wrists and undoing them one by one. He slipped his jacket from his shoulders and rather than trying to wrap it around her, he offered it to her, “I’m afraid you’ll get a lot of looks if you leave like that.”
“Won’t I get a lot of looks anyway?”
“We’ll deal with it as we need to,” he assured her, standing up and checking the door. There had been no indication that it was yet unlocked. He walked to the corner of the room, a small tattered blanket and a pathetic pillow made into a makeshift bed. He pulled them away, looking for the door marked in the book that he was given. It wasn’t an immediately obvious door, no certain sign of escape, just a mere discontinuity of the wooden floor.
He knelt, used a small knife from a sheath in his shoe to pry the corner of the door, working it open quietly. He felt her eyes on his back and he smiled to himself.
Maybe it could be a valiant rescue after all.
Fiyero turned to her then, extended his hand, “Just trust me. Please. I want to take you from this place.”
“Where does it go?”
“A place not much better than this but after that, after that will be much better. Please, Elphaba. Let me do this for you.”
She started to question why but heard the bolt on the door, she scampered across the floor as quickly as she could. She wasn’t used to moving much, let alone quickly. There were punishments for running away from customers; she could only imagine that if they caught her trying to make an escape that she would be put to death.
A blessing so long as they didn’t make it slow and torturous.
Fiyero lifted her into his arms, noting every emaciated muscle tensing in her body, “I’m not going to hurt you, Elphaba. I promise.” He pulled the handle of the door down with his free hand, used his weight combined with hers to pull the door back into the groove. There was a large bar with which to lock the door above them and he did so.
It was far too convenient, how it had all fallen into place for him. Them now.
He turned to her, watched as she adjusted the jacket he’d given her, trying to keep herself covered completely, “We’ll find you some clothes,” he promised her, his voice still just slightly a whisper.
Elphaba looked at him, eyes as empty as they had been in the chamber above them, “I don’t understand why.”
“I needed to,” he answered simply, unable to describe why. For the first time he looked up to observe their new surroundings. It had dawned on him that while he had prepared himself for their escape that he failed to plan how they were going to find their way to the opposite side of the Southstairs, to the tunnel that would take them north towards Gillikin. Was it the opposite side of the underground city or the adjacent side?
He could hear footsteps above them, heavy and angry and he pulled her away from the door, “Come on, we have to go.”
Elphaba moved as quickly as she could alongside him, getting away from the door and the people who would likely kill her just above it. There was precious light guiding their footsteps and many times she stumbled. Her heart was pounding in her ear, her lungs burning as she struggled to keep up with him. Again she fell, this time hitting the ground hard, “I can’t. I can’t do this.”
Fiyero stopped long enough to lift her from the ground, carry her as best he could, “We just have to get away from the door. We get away from the door and then we can slow down.”
She wanted to ask him what would happen after that but she was too exhausted and too scared to ask. Elphaba allowed her head to rest against his shoulder and she closed her eyes.
She wasn’t certain that he knew what would happen either.