"Uh… Hi." Jeb Cain knocked on his father's office door, letting himself in as he did, to meet his father's eyes for the first time in several months. He'd been away on business, here and there, looking for various resistance groups and telling them the news of Azkadellia's supposed revival. Hardly anyone truly believed him, but there would be a ball in a month's time to celebrate the older princess' new freedom, they could find out then. Jeb himself barely believed the news when he'd heard, but he trusted his father's judgment.

"Jeb…" The older Cain's voice possessed a cool tint to it, and the younger man winced slightly at it. They had been close before the sorceress' reign, but years of believing the other to be dead tore them apart, and they only had a few days together before Jeb decided the quest to spread the word was a good idea.

"I'm back."

"Yes, I can see that."

"I was actually wondering…" He had to pause, fingering the red scarf tied around his neck for a couple seconds before approaching his father's desk. "…If I could get a job… at the castle. With you being the head of guard and all, I thought you would be the right person to talk to…"

Cain was relieved to hear that. Judging by the awkward tone of Jeb's voice, you'd think he went out, got married and had several kids in the couple of months and had come for advice. He looked his son over, finally meeting his blue eyes once again. It was a little like looking at a younger version of himself, one that was more naïve, tons more uncertain of himself, but himself nonetheless. He had no idea why the young man had to be so unsure of everything he said and did, but he didn't question it.

"You've come to the right person, son." A small smile found a home on his face, as Cain gestured to the chair before the desk. "Come, sit. What were you looking for, specifically?"

"Honestly… I don't know. I mean, a guard's position, but… I don't really have training or… anything. I mean, I did lead the resistance band, but that was in the forest, and a group of men who used all sorts of things for weapons. I can't exactly hope for anything--"

Cain raised a hand to shut his son up. That was where the two were not alike at all. Jeb, when he was trying to make a point or ask for something, would ramble on in a train-of-thought fashion, while Cain would come out and say whatever it was he needed.

"Look, Jeb. I know you're good with a gun, I've seen you use one. After a basic training course overseen by one of the senior guards, I'd be more than happy to offer you a position in the castle."

--

"Evening, Jeb, isn't it?" The man greeting him looked a bit more like a mountain than a man, forcing Jeb to tilt his neck in order to actually look at him. "I'm Roderick, and I'll be your guard, instructor, trainer… whatever it is Cain's calling us these days."

"I believe he called it… senior guard."

"Ah. Well, let's begin then, shall we? I'm going to assume you know how to properly handle a gun…"

"Yeah, I do."

"Resistance leader, weren't you? I was in one of those bands..."

"Were you?"

The two men soon enough found something to bond over, discussing strategy and kicking Longcoats around more than shooting guns at the target itself. With the amount of shooting they'd gotten done, Roderick figured that Jeb knew enough to not waste any more time at the range. Of course, at least an hour a day was recommended to keep his aim up, but he passed that section of the training.

Roderick told him to report back at the same time tomorrow, just for another checkup, and then he would tell his father to give the kid a job.

--

Azkadellia was taking a walk in the gardens, trailed constantly by one of her own guards at a distance. They were always so silent, so focused on their duties, but she didn't seem to mind the silence as much as her sister did. There were moments, much like this one, when she would rather walk alone.

The older princess used the gardens as a sort of retreat from the overwhelming reality of the rest of life. She knew well enough that most of the O.Z. still had doubts about her possession, heck, she'd had them herself sometimes, late at night when the nightmares prevented her from getting to sleep. Long walks in the gardens seemed to help, when she could simply relax and think about her life now. She had her mother and father, and DG, even Cain, Raw and Glitch, all more than ready to stand up for her, protect her, be there for her, but she couldn't help but notice the glances from others in the halls. It was clear that the maids and even some of the guards did not trust the woman behind their back.

Her path this time took her past the shooting range, where she'd never really had a mind to go before, but her feet seemed to enjoy walking in that direction. There were rows of daisies there, and daises were what Azkadellia wanted that evening. Picking her way between the fence and building for the guns, she picked several of the flowers: just enough to make a small crown for her sister, whom she would be seeing shortly for dinner anyway.

A soft smile graced her face as she turned back to return to her guard, a small gust of wind plucking one of the daisies from her hands to blow it a short distance away.

"Oh…"

The flower blew away towards a young man walking out of the gun storage room, carrying one of them and looking throughly dirty. From what she'd seen of men firing guns, he'd probably been outside for at least an hour or two today alone. She could have sworn she'd seen him before, somewhere, but Azkadellia didn't stare at him for long enough to place a name before he picked up the flower, holding it out to her.

"Here." Once he spoke, it took several seconds of watching his face before recognition hit Azkadellia. Jeb Cain. He was holding out the flower in one hand and had a gun in the other. Something about the young man in combination with the weapon terrified her. Looking between the flower and his face for several seconds, she turned and fled. The circlet of daisies can still be without one flower anyway…

Azkadellia would probably not later admit it to herself, her guard, or even her sister, but Jeb had been in her nightmares several times before. Every time, he is dragged in by Zero, and every time the Longcoat slaughters him in front of her eyes. Then, the body moves, getting up and blaming Azkadellia for everything that the witch had ever ordered the Longcoats to do, everything that Azkadellia wanted to prevent, but could not. The resistance leader's body grabs a gun from the on-looking general, shooting her several times.

She'd been happy that he was away, fearing these silly dreams, but now that Jeb was back... She was already making plans to stay in her room as much as humanly possible, or at least as much as DG would allow her to.

Jeb watched her run off, up the stairs, into the castle, with a confused frown on his face. Her guard had followed her without much more than a shrug in his direction. Given he was the leader of a group trying to kill her only months earlier, he still thought it was rather strange for her to flee without a word. It wasn't as if he was going to jump on her and kill her at any second.

One of these days, he would make a point of getting her to stay, if only to say hello. He knew she wasn't possessed anymore, after all, and couldn't see the danger in trying to befriend the older princess. He'd written to DG several times while he was away, considering her a decent friend by now, asking about his father. He'd written to Cain too, but their relationship wasn't that close. Why couldn't he at least try to get to Az as well? She was a different woman, and he would have liked to stop thinking of her as the one who'd taken his life and torn it apart so many years ago.

Author's Note:

Whee. I'm trying my hand at writing fan-fiction. Quick! Be proud of me!

Yeahh… There isn't enough Jeb and Azzy out there, so I has a writing for them. They're so damn cute.

Aren't they?

R&R appreciated.