.-.-. Ways of the Ancients .-.-.
(A/N)- I'm still pondering over an extra chapter to my other Tin Man fanfic, but this was something that came to mind that I could not shrug off. Hope you like:-D
Chapter 1 - History and Discovery
It had been a little over four hundred years since Dorothy Gale of Kansas had arrived in the merry old Land of OZ.
That is what it was called back then. OZ, not 'the O.Z.' Over time it's correct meaning of 'outer zone' was more known to the inhabitants, and they referred to it by the initials. OZ itself had been sealed about ten years or so since Dorothy's arrival. Her aunt and uncle could no longer keep their farm in Kansas, so she moved them to OZ, and gave them a farm to run.
Back then, no one ever grew old. No one ever died. No one ever got sick. It was beautiful, and peaceful. All the animals could talk, and so did various normally inanimate creatures. Everyone got along with one another and lived harmoniously under the kind rule of Princess Ozma. It was all a part of the magic of OZ.
But like all things, this had changed. People and creatures started to age. Some got sick. Eventually, they died, some from old age and some from sickness. Less and less of the animals had maintained the ability to talk. Those who were normally inanimate returned to become inanimate. What was left of them was buried respectfully or lost in the fires and battles that occurred as the years went on.
It couldn't be helped. With time comes change, and though things had changed drastically over the years for the utopia that was OZ, life still thrived and magic lived on. Some amount of peace was still maintained through the heirs of Dorothy Gale. Ozma's children maintained the peace as well in the southern part of OZ, but their reign ended after her last remaining heir was slain by a descendant of the Nome King.
Lavender Eyes was a young princess of five annuals when that particular assassination occurred. Still, her mother did not waver in her ways, and continued to rule with her wits and her love. Lavender Eyes learned a lot from her and ruled in the very same respect. Her biggest flaw was risking too much for the safety of her daughters. When Azkadellia had become possessed by the Wicked Witch of the East, she did everything in her power to save her and lost some magic in the process. When Azkadellia proceeded to kill her sister, DG, Lavender Eyes brought her back to life.
The last of the Queen's magic was wasted on the reopening of the veil that divided the O.Z. from the other side; from Kansas, and from the rest of Earth. This was unwise of her, for the veil was sealed to protect their world from the evils of all the other worlds. Her defense was that there could be no more evil than that of which thrived in Azkadellia's soul.
Now, the O.Z. is safe once again. With the help of DG, Azkadellia was able to fight the evil inside her and tear the witch from her soul, and defeat her. They stopped the emerald from locking the suns behind the moon during the eclipse. Had they not, it would've announced the end of the O.Z. in its entirety, for total darkness not only spelt lack of food or warmth, it would've allowed ferocious evil creatures of unimaginable proportions to inhabit and take over the land.
Despite how bright the outcome was- It is not the utopia it was, and could never be that way ever again.
Queen Lavender Eyes knew that the veil had to be sealed. She pushed the thought out of her mind. She just wanted to prevent the magic in her daughters from being pulled from their bodies. She no longer attained the power to seal it, so someone else with magic in their blood would have to seal it. It killed Lavender Eyes to have to one day ask her daughters to decide … if not, to do it together- to seal the veil and prevent any other evil forces from getting in.
She just wanted to wait. She couldn't ask this of them, not so soon. The veil was open this long, and it could remain open just a little while longer.
But what she wasn't aware of was, in actual truth- this could not wait.
…
…
DG and Glitch found themselves wandering aimlessly through the forest, not far from the place the two had first met. They had just been back to the munchkin tribe encampment, explained their position in the O.Z., and declared peace. The munchkins were afraid they would receive punishment for holding the Advisor and the Princess captive, so they were relieved at this outcome and graciously accepted peace between them.
DG made sure not to walk in the direction of Cain's old log cabin, for the memory of witnessing the projector's video of he and his family being tortured was still vivid in her mind. She instead led Glitch in the other direction, discussing anything but their relationship. Glitch … or perhaps, it might've been the Ambrose in him that was fretting about any thoughts of marriage. She couldn't blame him. She was feeling rushed into things and wasn't looking forward to marriage at this particular point. She'd be perfectly happy spending several more years falling asleep in his arms.
She swung his arm gently as she walked, "Does my mother ever do anything else besides hold big parties and balls and stuff?" she asked.
"Not really," he said with an amused smile, "I mean she does take care of issues dealing with the economy and stuff … she believes the balls help to bring more people together … to unite them and bring peace, you know …?"
"Well yeah, peace among the rich people," DG said with a snort, "I mean, have you ever seen someone of the lower classes attend one of her parties?"
Glitch thought a moment as they walked. He reached a hand to scratch his head, "Actually, I can't say I ever had …" he said finally.
"Exactly!" she proclaimed, "So how is it promoting peace? I know there are a lot of stuffy rich people who wouldn't want to be around people of the lower classes … but we can still hold parties for them, couldn't we?"
"I don't see why not," he agreed with a warm smile.
She smiled back, and quickly looked back down to watch the terrain. The ground had gotten rockier and she had to watch her steps as well as Glitch's. He may have his other half of a brain back, but he often got kind of brainless when they were alone together. She loved him for that, but she also had to be more aware.
"Glitch!" she nearly shouted, gripping his hand tight, pulling him away from a large rock he nearly walked into for his eyes were blissfully focused on the sky. He looked dazedly towards where he was walking and looked over to her with an innocent smile.
"You've got to be more careful," she warned, kissing their intertwined fingers.
"... you've got to be more careful!"
"Come on," she ushered, bringing him away from the rock, but Glitch suddenly stopped in his tracks.
"What is it?" she asked, following his gaze. He stared at the rock that he nearly run into, and pulled her around to the other side of it.
"It's a cave," he breathed.
"Oh no," DG said, pulling him back, "No, I'm not going through that again!" she remembered the cave she and her sister found when she was little, and how they found the Wicked Witch. The thought of something similar happening to Glitch had increased her hold on his thin fingers, and she dragged him away from it. He yelped, trying to pull himself towards it like a disobedient dog bent on sniffing a fire hydrant.
"No, Deej!" he whined.
"I am not letting you get possessed or hurt or worse!" she demanded, pulling him back earnestly.
He stopped pulling towards the cave, and held up their joined hands for her to see the white light glowing from it. She looked at it, and her blue eyes met his chocolate brown ones with worry.
"We'll be safe as long as we stay together," he reminded, planting a kiss upon the top of her hand. She watched his eyes a moment, and with a gulp, she nodded. Really, what was the worst that could happen? They were safe together, and she certainly wouldn't let go, especially after that incident with her sister.
"I have a good feeling about this," he remarked, leading her towards the mouth of the cave, "It's hard to explain, but somewhere deep in my heart I can feel it calling to me."
She snorted, "Sure it's not your stomach calling?"
He looked to her, the Ambrose coming out in him and he was not amused, "I'm sure. I can feel it."
She rolled her eyes, squeezing his palm gently as they went in.
The light from their palms lit up most of the cave, and as the cave was small, there was some light from the sky that poured in through its entrance. It only went a little bit into the ground as it got a little narrow, and they came upon a sort of rounded room. Cracks between the rocks making the roof allowed sunlight to pour through, and in the center of that room stood what appeared to be a metal person, like a sort of copper robot.
DG gasped at the sight of it and squeezed Glitch's hand hard, her other hand flying to clutch his arm. Glitch stopped in his tracks.
"Don't worry. It's …." He searched for the word.
"Dead?" she offered. It seemed to be. It just stood there, eyes closed, metallic mustache drooped.
"No," he said, "I-it's alive … I think … just sleeping."
Cautiously, he took one step towards it, and DG's grip on him tightened in the midst of her fear.
"If it's sleeping do we really want to wake it up?!" she hissed into his ear, her eyes never leaving the robotic man.
"Relax Deej," Glitch assured, "He's as harmless as a statue." And then it clicked, "Oh wait, I read about these!"
His sudden realization caught DG off guard and she was unwillingly dragged to the robot's side. It only increased her fear but she was not about to leave Glitch's side. He started to excitedly swipe away the dust and dirt that had collected upon its' back.
"See?" he asked, pointing to a symbol, "Royal Army of OZ!"
"OZ?" she choked out, "Why not the O.Z.?"
"It's the olden way of referring to it," Glitch explained briefly, and stopped, "At least I think it is …"
Her free arm wrapped around his midsection as her curious blue eyes fell upon the rest of the text.
"Patented clockwork mechanical man … does anything but live," she looked to Glitch, "Well if he can't live he can't be dead right?"
Glitch was transfixed by the two wind-up knobs that were on either side of him and the one that sat in the middle of his back. He reached out and pulled away the cobwebs that had tried to cloak them.
"What does it say about these?" he asked dazedly. He must've been searching his brain for an answer.
She looked back to the text, and struggled to read it. She took her free hand away from Glitch's chest to pick away some dirt, "For thinking, wind number one under left arm. For speaking, wind number two under right arm. For action wind number three, middle of back."
"Guaranteed to work perfectly for a thousand years," she finished, looking up at him, "Think it's been that long since he was made?"
Glitch didn't seem to hear her as he reached for one, and she smacked his hand away, "No! That's the action!"
He scoffed, "So?"
"So if he is evil do we want him running after us? I think not!" she cried hysterically.
He thought this over briefly and figured that she did have a point. His hand fell to the one that controlled the thinking, "This one first then?"
She looked at it, and shrugged, but nodded soon after, "I guess so. He'd have to think before speaking, something you don't do," she said with a teasing grin.
"Ha ha," Glitch mocked, and twisted the knob a few times.
An echoing sound erupted through its hollow body and the turning and screeching of gears resounded soon after as he continued to wind it. One particularly large screech startled him, forcing him to release the knob. It turned slowly as a wind-up on a music box would do; only the tick-tocking sound came out of it as it went.
"You think it's a bomb?" DG asked suddenly.
Glitch snorted, "Well, of course it's not a bomb; it would've said so on his back," he replied, motioning to it.
She raised a brow, looking up at him, and back to the mechanical man, "I don't know …"
They stood there as it ticked for a while, and DG reached out for the speech, "Might as well," she said as she wound it, "If we give him too much time to think he'll … I dunno, devise a plan to trick our minds or something …"
"DG, I highly doubt--"
His words were cut off as a creaking sliding sound was heard from the copper man. DG bent 'round to see that he was blinking. He had brilliant emerald eyes that gleamed so beautifully in the sunlight.
Cautiously, she led Glitch around the front of the man, making sure they had at least three feet between themselves and the strange fellow. He blinked several more times, mustache twitching and creaking. He soon caught sight of DG and Glitch, and his mustache curled upwards in what DG could only assume was a smile- she hoped, not a mischievous one at that.
He cleared his throat and his voice rumbled throughout his hollow body, "Why hello there!" he greeted hoarsely, and this followed by several more hollow coughs as he cleared his throat. Much more clearly than before, he continued, "And just who might you too be?"
They remained silent for a moment, speechless … and then Glitch said nervously, "I-I'm Gl …" he stopped himself. DG remembered that he insisted that he be called by his birth name except by DG- he only allowed her to call him Glitch, "I'm Ambrose, advisor to the Queen Lavender Eyes," he introduced. He looked to DG, who remained silent, blue eyes watching the copper man with curiosity and fear- she didn't know what to think.
"This is Deee- Princess DG," he corrected with a nervous grin.
If a robot could look surprised, that was what this one appeared to look like.
"I am Tik-Tok," he introduced, "of the Royal Army of OZ," he added, and with a blink, "I would tip my hat off to you but it appears my action has run down."
"Sorry about that," DG spoke finally, "But … you are a stranger, and we can't be too sure of what your true intentions may be."
He laughed in amusement, "My intentions are to serve Dorothy Gale and the Scarecrow."
DG's eyes widened at this. Dorothy Gale. Her great great grandmother … Tik Tok must've been here for quite a long time.
"From which kingdom do you two hail from?" he inquired.
"Kingdom?" she asked, "My mother rules all of OZ. Queen Lavender Eyes."
He blinked as he tried to register this, "What happened to Dorothy? Has she been overthrown by your mother?" he added, sudden anger in his voice.
"No," she quickly answered, "Dorothy Gale was my great great grandmother. She died about three hundred or so years ago."
(A/N)- Yes that was evil but I just wrote it tonight! xP I'll get the next chapter up ASAP. Please feel free to fuel me with reviews. :-)