Hey all! I am by no means new to the ficing world, but this is my first Tin Man fic!

AU, which you can tell almost immediately. I hope you enjoy! Tell me what you think.

There will be one more chapter (I think. Possibly one and an epilogue).

UNBETA'D

Not as They Appears

Wyatt Cain had been a Tin Man for two decade. Twenty Annuals. And in that time, he'd been elevated to Investigative Chief. He was given new recruits, the top of the top, to train and send into the field. However, nothing in those ten years had equipped him to deal with the uproar that enveloped Central City, when the youngest Princess, the slipper, had vanished.

She'd been sent to the Other Side when she was only a child to protect her from the Witch that had taken control of her sister. The decision had been made, as every person in the O.Z. knew, when Azkadellia had almost succeeded in killing her sister, Dorothigale. Princess Dorothigale had been entrusted to nuture units and taken to the Other Side. She'd returned ten years later, a young woman with a mind of her own. The nuture units had failed in the one area where it mattered. They had not educated the young Princess in all the ways of the OZ. She had come back understanding deportment and comportment, history and diplomacy, yes, but not society's expectations or her own responsibilities. Three years back and the girl had vanished. She'd nineteen and wandering alone somewhere in the OZ.

Cain rubbed his forehead and shoved thoughts of the princess away. He'd been instructed to search the city. Turn the entire thing upside down. Find her if she was here. They'd asked him because he was the best. He had not found her and so she wasn't here. That had been three years ago. Still, every now and then, he'd get a feeling in his gut that he'd missed something. Somehow, that she was here in the city and he just had to ask the right question to find her.

He sighed. He seemed to be the only one who believed she was still alive. The Queen had decreed that if she was incapable of having another girl-child, the thrown would pass to Azkadellia, who was infertile. From there, who knew? But Cain did not believe she was dead. Shaking his head, he turned back to his paperwork. He was going over the new batch of Tin Men that were being sent over from the academy later that day. The top three in the class were being entrusted to his…gentle care. He intended to make men out of them, because they would almost definitely be little boys, wet behind the ears.

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Cain surveyed the three boys that he was personally required to train and his lip curled back. Certainly, he had not been that small when he first became a Tin Man? No, of course not. He'd never been that small. The boy in question, one Darius Gallard, was maybe 5'5", perhaps a little taller and could not possibly weight more then 130 pounds. It was absurd that they'd even sent him this child.

"Gallard."

The boy's back straightened. "Sir."

"Tell me, boy. Why are you here?"

"To become a Tin Man, sir."

Cain almost pinched the bridge of his nose. The boy's voice hadn't even deepened that much. He sounded more like a woman then anything. "No. Why are you here?"

There was a brief flash of something in the boy's blue eyes. "Because I was top in my class at the Academy, Sir."

Cain frowned and double checked the file in his hand. He was shocked to find that it was true. The kid was an exemplary student. He scored even better than Cain himself, which was impressive to say the least. He'd finished his training in a year and a half, a full six months shorter than Cain. The man sighed. This boy was either connected to someone in an incredibly high place or he was running from some kind of personal demon.

Cain knew that feeling. He himself had only become a Tin Man when his wife and child had died in childbirth. A son. He'd been so young to be married, but not unacceptable by Ozian standards. Just sixteen on his wedding day. Seventeen when he had laid his beautiful Adora and their perfect boy, Jeb, in the hard, unforgiving earth. He had signed up for the Academy the following week.

Now, at thirty-nine, he was staring at a boy that could have been himself (if, he added wryly, he himself had looked like a underdeveloped girl). He tiled his head and examined the kid. "Alright, Kid. Let's see what you've got."

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He'd been right in his assessment on that first day. The kid was running from something. He still had no idea what it was though. Daemon Gallard was also the best recruit he'd ever trained. Odd kid though. Would not dorm with the other trainees. Cain assumed it was because of his late puberty. His voice had yet to deepen. He stayed somewhere in the Scarlett Square area of the city. Not the best area and certainly not where a Tin Man should live, but it had helped the kid on a number of occasions. He had connections in the underworld.

It took six months for Cain to request the kid for a promotion. He also asked his superior if he could train the kid to take his place, should the need ever arise. The man had nodded, waving him away. There was little likelihood that Wyatt Cain was moving anywhere. He was simply too good at what he did. The boys under his watchful eye became the best Tin Men that city had ever seen. The Academy gave them the laws, the rules and regulations, but Cain gave them the experience and understanding to actually do the job.

It was a night in late winter when Cain finally discovered what the kid was running from. And he was appalled.

It was snowing softly, when he'd made his way deep into the Scarlett Square section of the City. He'd been looking for a perp that the other departments couldn't get a hold on. He'd intended to check with his own sources first and, if they didn't pan out, he'd ask Dar for help. He'd taken to calling him Dar, after the kid had beaten the shit out of another trainee for calling him DG. That instance had sparked a flicker of a memory, but it had gone as fast as it had come. He'd also seen Dar break the jaw of a scumbag drug dealer that dared to comment on his feminine appearance. Cain grinned a little at the memory.

He pushed open to door of the saloon downstairs from where he knew Darius was staying. Cain entered the smoky room and took a seat at the bar. It was filled with women clad in less then decent eveningwear and men with fat wads of cash in their pockets. Cain wondered again why Darius chose to stay here. He turned back to the bartender who'd appeared at his back. "I'm looking for Darius Gallard."

The man scowled fiercely for a moment. "You mean Daria Gallard? She's on the top floor. But she'd not taking any customers tonight."

Cain froze for a split second. Customers? "Not a customer. I'm an old friend."

The man scowled again, eyeing Cain suspiciously, then he nodded. "She could do with a couple of those. Go on up."

Cain nodded and stood. He cut through the crowd and made his slow way up the stairs. Darius was a woman? That would explain a whole hell of a lot. It also meant that there would be a problem when the kid's voice never dropped and he never grew any facial hair, which Cain had been wondering about for a couple weeks. It also helped Cain's piece of mind a great deal. He'd been attracted to the kid for months now and it was slowly driving him insane. He'd been slowly and inexporably falling for him. He'd never been physically attracted to a man before this and, he'd certainly never been… never had feeling for a man before, and he could not for the life of him figure out why Darius should be different. Knowing that Darius was a female righted his world just a little. After all, the kid was uncommonly pretty.

Which led him to the next issue. Customers? If Darius…Daria was…selling herself, an idea he could barely entertain, there were going to problems. Lots of problems.

He reached the top floor of the building and realized that the bartender had not told him which room. He checked all the number plates and found that only one of them was a lodgings room. Taking a deep breath, he lifted a hand and knocked.

"I'm not taking customers tonight. Go away." It was Darius's voice, only just a little bit higher and a little more musical.

Cain sighed. "Dar, I am not a customer and you and I need to have a long talk about that."

There was a crash and a series of loud curses, followed by a pause. The door opened. A woman stood framed by the light coming in through her window. She had long dark hair. Cain briefly wondered how she hid it, and he breasts were swelling over the top of her corset, not at all obscured by the chemise she was wearing beneath it. A petticoat floats around her ankles. Cain had obviously caught her in the act of dressing…or undressing. He wasn't sure which. "Hello, Darius. You're looking distinctly not male today." His mouth tilted up in a slight smirk.

Daria groaned loudly and his attempt at humor and stepped back to let him in. "You're being very calm about all this. Please tell me you aren't going to rat on me! Tin Man'ing is all I got. Please, Cain…Wyatt, please, you—"

He held up a hand and ignored the jolt that his first name on her lips had sent through him. "Easy there, Darius…Daria. Whatever. Calm down. No, I won't turn you in. You're easily the best thing to hit the force since…well, since I became a Tin Man." He grinned at her and she rolled her eyes as usual. The humor dropped out of his face after a moment. "We need to talk about these customers of yours. Explain. Now."

She frowned. "They're just…Oh!" She turned bright red. Cain stared at her. He'd never seen Darius (shit! Daria) blushed before. "No, Cain! It's not like that. I'm a fortune-teller. A psychic. I can read a little bit of other people's futures. If I don't know them. People I know get clouded by… well, whatever emotion I feel for them. Friendship, annoyance, love, hate, whatever."

Cain let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Good, I was going to have to r—" He froze, deer caught in the headlights.

She raised an eyebrow at him, until what he'd intended to say struck her. She laughed. "You were going to threaten to rough me up, weren't you?"

Cain looked appalled at himself. "I…"

She continued to laugh. "Oh god, your face! I would go through being stuck in a Disney movie all over again, just to see your face when you caught yourself."

She clutched her sides and dropped into a chair. Her laughter was breathy, because of the corset that restricted her ribcage. It did bad things to him to hear it. He shook his head and blinked. Then he frowned. "Disney? What's a Disney?"

Now it was her turn to look like a deer in the headlights. Her eyes grew wide and she slapped a hand over her mouth. He stared at her and she stared back. Minutes passed. Recognition slammed into Cain like he'd run into a brick wall. In the space of a few seconds, he called himself everything possible curse word he knew. He was up and pacing the length of the room. Then he stopped in horror and stared at the woman, sitting before him in her underclothes in a seedy rooming house in the red-light district of Central City.

"I'm going to loose my job." Was all that her managed to push out of his mouth. He stood and stared at her. She blinked and frowned at him. "Princess Dorothigale. I should have known when you beat the shit…crap out for the poor kid for calling you DG."

Her eyes bugged. "No! No, that's not possible. You can't know who I am."

He raised a brow at her. "Kid, you are sitting in front of me half dressed. I can see that you're a woman. I can see your face. You've got make-up on. Not a lot but some. I was assigned to find you, Princess. I stared at your picture for months. I search the entire Gods-damned City to find you. I know what you look like."

She was shaking her head. "No, Cain. It's not that. I…I cast a spell over myself, so no one would recognize me. You honestly shouldn't be able to see that it's me."

Cain scowled at her. "I hate to break it to you Princess, but that is most certainly not the biggest problem here. You need to go home."

He dropped back into his chair. She seemed to fold in on herself. Gone was Darius, Tin Man. What was left in his place was not the Princess of the OZ she'd been raised to be. He could see the pain in her eyes.

"I can't, Cain. I'm sorry but I can't."

"Listen, Dar…Princess. You need explain to me what is going on here. It's my job to bring you back to the palace. If there is some reason that I really shouldn't do that, you need to tell me. I'll try to help you. You're a good kid. You're a great Tin Man. If there is something…or someone at the palace that… I dunno, hurt you or threatened you or something, you need to tell me." He frowned. "You know I hate going in blind, kid."

The thought of what had driven her from her family and her home made something twist painfully in his chest.

She stood and went to the window. Her voice was low when she spoke. "I spent my formative years in…" She stopped suddenly and turned to him. "Cain, I had this whole long speech about why I left in case I got found. But…you're…I can't give you that. You're my friend. My only friend now. I used to think that maybe Az was my friend too, but not anymore. She hates me now. I know she does. I forced the crown on her head, when she doesn't want it. My mother hates me too. I forced her to have more children, since the Witch made Az baren. You…you're the only one left. I…" He could see tears welling in her eyes and wondered briefly how he'd ever thought she was male. The angles of her face, the arch of her spine, and the gentle swell of her chest, which he assumed she bound during the day. Her quiet strength and the power of her gaze all clearly marked her as female. A weight that had lifted from his shoulders on the walk up the stairs settle back heavier then before. No, he hadn't fallen in love with a man. He'd fallen in love with the Crown Princess of the OZ, his country's future queen. He bit back a sigh.

Standing, he walked to stand in front of her. "Princess…Dar, you have to give me something. I know you spent ten years growing up in the Other Side. You grew up there. Everyone knows that."

She shook her head. "Yeah, everyone knows. But no one knows that my nuture units. My parents. Never told me who I was. I didn't know I was the Crowned Princess of the OZ until I got here. I knew that is was where I was from, but not much else. I had a life there. I spent the years from when I was 5 to when I was 15 in the Other Side. I'm as good as a Slipper, but no one seems to remember that. Lavender treated me like a pawn when I returned. I tried, Cain, I really did. For three years, I tried. But I couldn't do it anymore. She lied to me. She had my parents deactivated because they disobeyed her and then they were junked. But, worse…Ahamo…" She turned her face away and looked to the street.

Cain waited for her to speak. She remained silent, tears in her eyes, but never spilling over. Finally, Cain laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm here to listen, not to judge."

She shuddered. "Ahamo…isn't my father. Or Az's either. He's infertile. I don't know why, but he can't have children. Lavender and he loved one another. When they married, they both knew she'd have to get pregnant by someone else. Ambrose, the Royal Advisor, is the only other person who knows this. He's my father." Cain was reeling from the state secrets she was so casually presenting him. "When I returned, Ahamo hadn't raised me like he did with Az. He didn't see me as his daughter. He saw me as woman to whom he had access. He knew Lavender would never believe me if I told her what he was doing to me. Az wouldn't either. He was her father. Ambrose…well, he may have listened, but what could he have done? Ahamo is the Prince Consort."

Cain was rigid, trying to get control of his rage, which was boiling dangerously close to the surface. His voice was tight when he asked, "What did he do to you, Dar?"

She finally closed her eyes altogether. She couldn't bare to look at him. "He… He came to my room the first time about a year after I got back. I was 17. It was night; the castle was asleep and I never had guards posted outside my door, so there was no one to hear me scream. I was in a wing all my own. I learned later that Ahamo had placed me and that he was in charge of castle security. I remember I was sitting by the window, sketching. He just opened the door and came in. I stood, wondering what he wanted, but that trapped me against the window frame. He…He put his hands on me. At first, just on my shoulders or around my waist. He'd say things. Things he shouldn't've said. And he'd try to kiss me. I wouldn't let him. Once, I threatened to bit his tongue off and how would explain that. He stopped trying to kiss me, but he backhanded me across the face for it. The second or third time he came to my room, he…he didn't just…he…" She swallowed thickly.

Cain couldn't bare her pain. Pulling her arms free from where they were wrapped tightly around her, he took her hands. "Shh. Dar, it's fine now. He isn't here. He isn't going to touch you. I won't let him touch you ever again. But, I have to know. Did…" He clamped his jaw shut and pushed the words out through his teeth. "Did he rape you, DG?"

She froze, hearing her name on his lips for the first time. Hearing her name at all for the first time in three years. But only for a moment, until the actual question he was posing sunk in. She shuddered and leaned forward to drop her head against Cain's chest. He fought not to tense as her forehead touch his chest. He could feel her hair on his chest where his shirt wasn't button all the way. He swallowed back a nervous prompt and waited for her to respond. Finally, she whispered, "Yes."

Cain did tense then, angry and betrayal coiling in the pit of his stomach. The Prince Consort, the Queen's love, the man that Cain himself had looked up to as a child, was a rapist. DG stumbled back against the window frame the second she felt the tension enter him. She choked on a sob. "Not you too."

Her words were so quiet Cain barely caught them. Frowning, it took him a moment to realize what she meant. Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms, not wanting to step forward and trap her against the frame. "Dar, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not angry at you. I won't hurt you. Not ever." The sobbing abated after several moments. "How many times, DG? How often did he…come to your room?"

She shuddered again. It occurred to Cain that in pretending to be a man she'd trapped herself into keeping silent about this. This was probably the first time she'd spoken to anyone about being raped, by the man who should have been her father. And her actual father had done nothing. Her mother had done nothing. No one had protected this girl who was sobbing in his arms.

"He…he came maybe once a month…sometimes more often, but never when we were at Finaqua. I'm glad. I love it there and that…he…it would have poisoned everything. He didn't start…he didn't…It was only a handful of times, toward the end, before I ran away. He came twice the week I left. I just couldn't stand it anymore."

"Did you tell anyone?"

She shook her head, then laid it against his shoulder. A sudden thought struck him and he smiled sadly down at her. He'd run the gamut of emotions with this woman. Everything possible: love, hate, despair, joy, and everything in between. For the past several months they'd been partners, almost. His arms tightened around her when she answered.

"No, I thought about telling Mother or Az, but they wouldn't have believed me…No, that's not true. I told a Viewer. His name was Raw. He… he was sent away. Back to his people after that. I don't know who gave that order or why, but he disappeared." She pulled back and looked up at him. "Cain, now you understand why I can't go back. I can't."

Cain shook his head, his face slipping into its usual stoic mask, which DG knew meant he was trying to puzzle through something important. "Princess, what if you're wrong about Ahamo?" She recoiled as though she'd been slapped. "What if you weren't his only victim?"

She stopped struggling to free herself from his arms. "What?"

He looked down at her, tilting his head. "What if you weren't the only one? What if Ahamo was…taking liberties and worse with your sister, but she was too scared to come forward? What about the female help at the palace?"

DG stared at him, her eyes slowly widening in horror. "I didn't think…I…Oh my god. If…It would be my fault that they… Oh god."

She was beginning to hyperventilate. Cain grabbed her face in both hands and forced her eyes on him. "Dar, you need to stay calm! Breath. None of what Ahamo does is your fault. None of it! Nothing he did to you and nothing he does to anyone else. You understand me? I don't lie to you. I never have and I never will."

Her breathing slowed and eventually she nodded. "Cain, I…" She laughed mirthlessly. It was a hollow sound that hurt Cain's heart to hear. "I guess this is the night for admissions. Cain, I honestly don't know what I'd have done with past year, if I hadn't met you. Beside the fact that you're a damn good teacher, though I suspect that you already knew that." She managed a small smile. "You're a good man. You've helped me…come back to myself again. Before, in the Academy and before that, I just… I wasn't myself. Not after…what happened. I'd moved around a lot, before I went to the Academy. I saw most of the OZ, traveling on foot. But I wasn't really anywhere. The people of the Northern Guilds nicknamed me Wraith. And it's true. But then I met you. You just would not have that. I had to be a full person again, because you would allow nothing else. I…I wanted to thank you for that. I truly believe that you saved my life."

Cain blinked the dampness from his eye. "Kid, I think you're givin' me too much credit, but I have to say that I am glad to see that you're a girl."

His attempt at levity startled a laugh from her. "Why?"

He cracked a grin. "Because if you were a guy, I'd be gay. And I'm not. So…I'm glad you're a girl."

She blinked as she puzzled this then her whole face lit up. "I'm glad I'm a girl too." She leaned up on her toes and placed a brief kiss on his mouth. "But, Cain. What you said about the others…about my sister. Do you really think…I mean…"

She was suddenly nervous again. Cain felt like he had whiplash from her mood swings. Surely she hadn't bee this all over the place when she was Darius? He thought for a moment. No, she had been. He shook his head to clear it. "It's possible. Princess, you need to go back. You need to put a stop to his…whatever it is he thinks he's doing. You need to take back what he's stolen from you. Your life, your family, and your crown. Your birthright is the throne now that Azkadellia's refused it. You are meant to rule the OZ. You can't let him win. You can't let him take that from you. The Darius I know is stronger than that."

As Cain watched her, she straightened her back and seemed to put on Darius like a skin, even though she was still only clad in underthings. Cain felt the corner of his mouth curling up. She nodded once. "You're correct, Cain, as usual. I need to take back what's mine."

He nodded. "Good. I'm proud of you, Princess. We'll go as soon as you feel ready."

She furrowed her brow at him. "We?"

He could feel the tips of his ears turning pink. He coughed. "That is, if you don't want me t—"

She shut him up by throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him. He froze for one startled moment, before wrapping his arms around her. "Of course, I want you with me, Cain. I just…I can't ask you to come with me. To leave your life…"

Cain raised an eyebrow. "Darlin', are you joking? I've hit the glass ceilin' as they say. The higher-up likes me doin' what I'm doin' so much that I will never get another promotion as long as I'm a Tin Man. Leaving a dead end job is really no problem…It's not like I have a family that I'd be leaving behind. I left my family in the earth more then two decades ago."

DG frowned at him. "Wow, you got married really young!" She shook her head. "Not the point. Cain, if you do come, I promise I'll do everything I can to…give you work or whatever you need. I won't let you give things up for me."

Cain smiled at her. "Kid, I'd do it for you. When do we leave?"