DG walked slowly through the quiet gardens surrounding the lake palace. The quiet, serene ambiance was exactly what the young woman had been looking forward to for months. The months since the witch's demise had been anything but quiet. After many hugs and kisses, stories and tales, she was happy to have some time to herself. She walked at a leisurely pace, kicking up gravel as she strolled through the newly planted gardens. She was far away from the palace walls when she came upon an old shed. Hidden amongst a group of large trees, the old building was conveniently hidden from the world. As she approached, she heard rattling from inside. Fearing an animal had set up home within its wooden walls, she slowed her pace a bit. As she reached for the knob, the doors sprang open, a bumbling Glitch bounced out towards her.
"Glitch what are you doing in there?" She asked. Glitch looked at DG, his face filled with concern, his brow furrowed in frustration.
"This is the last place I've looking within the kingdom. I can't find anything, anywhere that will help me jog my memories." He shook his head sadly. Yes, after the reunion, it was decided that the first matter of business was to restore Glitch with his brain. However, the doctors told them that it wouldn't be smooth sailing. It would require time and patience for him to reconnect with his old, life long friend. Part of the process was to find items and things that brought back memories. It had been a slow, painful process for people all around.
"I hoped this old shed of junk would carry something, anything." He pointed over his shoulder at the mass of clutter. Throughout the years, when the princesses were little, whenever something was out grown, it was placed in the shed. Over the decades, the shed was soon forgotten, as were many of the objects within it.
"There has to be something to say about a queen's advisor who can no longer advise the queen due to the fact that he can no longer remember how he advised the queen when he still could advise a queen." He cocked his head to the side, trying to unravel the riddle he so cleverly and accidentally created. He scratched the side of his head and allowed a soft 'hmmm' to escape his lips.
"Glitch—"DG started to say. She stopped short as Glitch turned back and rummaged around in the small shed again. She sighed heavily and plopped down on the soft, damp grass. It was no use trying to stop him when he was on a mission. She watched as he tossed objects over his shoulder haphazardly, literally digging through years of clutter and junk.
"There has to be something. There has to be something. There has to be something." He said over and over again. DG thought for a moment that perhaps the surgery hadn't gone quite the way it should and Glitch would forever be. . . well. . .glitching. However, as she studied him closer, she realized that he kept repeating the same thing over and over again, hoping it would jog something in his scattered mind.
"Aha!" He cried, lifting a bar high in the air. DG sat up, her eyes wide, hoping this was the key to unlocking everything. Glitch stood there for a moment, the bar raised over his head. Slowly he brought it down, shaking his head sadly. DG quickly leaned to the left as she dodged the bar being flung from the shed.
"Glitch!" She yelled. "Watch out!"
Glitch rushed out of the shed, followed by a tidal wave of junk. Glitch panicked as 20 odd years of junk raced out behind him. DG sprang to her feet and jumped out of the way. Glitch watched an old bike scooted by, crashing in a heap a few feet from where he stood. He looked over at DG and smiled sheepishly at her.
"Whoops." He paused. "My bad." He looked down at his feet and kicked a tennis racket out of his space.
DG watched as a small yellow wheel bounced out of the shed. She smiled as she noticed the small item as it raced down the path on its tiny rubber encasement. It was as if it had been trapped in the shed for too many years and now it yearned for a brand new adventure. She reached down and picked up the wheel, rolling it between her two hands. Glitch scrambled to pick up scattered items and he flung them over his shoulder back into the shed. DG laughed as she watched him miss many of the shots. Tiny toy dolls landed haphazardly on the roof of the shed, large rubber balls ended up in her mother's prized lavender. Glitch looked over towards the laughing and stopped mid throw.
"What is that?" He pointed to the wheel. DG stopped spinning the wheel and shrugged.
"It's just an old yellow wheel." She took a step back as Glitch advanced towards her, nearly falling over the clutter that surrounded them both. DG handed the wheel over to Glitch as he offered her outstretched hands. "Really, it's just a wheel."
"You don't know what this is, do you?" He asked. DG took a quiet, deep breath.
"Other than it being a wheel? No, I do not." She eyed him closely. "Why? Do you know what it is?" She asked, suddenly hopeful that perhaps this was the item he'd been looking for. Her face fell as Glitch shook his head.
"No. I was hoping you knew what it was?" He was about to throw the wheel back into the shed when he stopped. "Wait!" He exclaimed. DG jumped and put a hand up to her heart, startled by his surprise. "Do you know what this is?" He asked. DG rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She'd never had a migraine before, but she was starting to think this was how they started.
"It's a wheel. I yellow wheel in fact." DG shook her head. "What about it?"
"Wait here!" Glitch started towards the shed but turned back to DG. "Hold this." He handed her the wheel. DG cringed as Glitch nearly dove into the shed head first. The clanking of metal on metal and the sound of glass breaking would surely draw some form of attention. It would be a matter of time before Cain or Raw came out here to investigate. She tapped her foot impatiently as she watched Glitch throw junk around the small room. With an exasperated groan and a heaving sound, Glitch yanked a yellow buggy out of the shed.
He raised his hand to wipe away a few beads of sweat and then gestured towards the dilapidated toy.
"Ta Dah!" He posed next to the buggy and smiled proudly. DG looked on wordlessly. She carefully swallowed and chose her words carefully.
"What is it?" She asked slowly. She looked the old buggy up and down. Clearly it had once been a beloved object, rolled around everywhere. However, due to the cruel test of time, the soft yellow buggy was now a rusty brown. The once soft and delicate silk that lined the inside was now ripped and water stained. It was missing a wheel and the handle was broken, jutting out in a dangerous angle. Glitch tapped the buggy with a hand.
"You see the fact that I know what this is and you don't, says a lot." Glitch nodded his head fiercely. DG still didn't quite catch on. "I remember something!" Glitch hopped up and down.
"You remember a wheel?" DG asked. Glitch nodded his head firmly then stopped and shook his head harder. "You don't remember the wheel?" Glitch sighed.
"I remember the thing the wheel was attached to." He gestured towards the buggy. "Ta Dah!" He repeated. DG smiled slowly and nodded. Clearly she missed something. "It's a buggy." Glitch said happily. DG kept nodding. "It's your buggy." He pointed a finger towards her. DG stopped nodding. Glitch nodded for her.
"I don't remember a buggy in my childhood." She eyed the buggy closely. "Maybe it was Azkadellia's. I won't be hurt if you remember the wrong sister." DG hardly had the words out before Glitch shook his head.
"No, it's yours. I know that clear as day." He nodded once in determination. Now DG was lost and confused.
"But I don't remember pushing dolls around in it." She lightly kicked the edge. "Clearly I would have remembered that." Glitch shook his head again.
"No. You never pushed it. You were in it." He said softly. DG turned towards Glitch. "In fact, I pushed you in it." Glitch began to walk towards a near tree, and he gestured DG to join him. DG grasped the wheel tightly and followed him over towards the shaded patch of grass. Both sat down slowly, unsure of what would happen next.
"So when you mother had you, there were many things going on in the kingdom and the last thing she needed was a baby crying around." Glitch frowned. "She needed as much quiet time as possible. So I would volunteer to push you around outside until you quieted down and fell asleep. Then I would hand you off to the nanny and then go back to you mother." Glitch told the story so clearly and concise, like it had always been there the entire time.
"But you were the advisor. How did you get out of advising?" DG asked. Glitch smiled.
"I was the only one who could get you to quiet down. You and I were quite close Doll." He nudged DG and she nudged him back. She looked down at the little wheel.
"It's amazing how a little wheel can draw up such a large memory."
"Tell me about it. I was there for you first word on a walk like that." He looked out onto the setting sun. DG looked over at him closely. "I will say that it wasn't quite the story you've been told." He looked coyly up towards the branches of the tree.
"You mean my first word wasn't 'mama'?" She asked. Glitch shook his head.
"No one else was around and I didn't want to break your mother and father's hearts when they found out they weren't there for your first word. So, you and I kept it our little secret. And it would have remained quiet literally just that until you found this wheel." He reached over and took the small object from DG.
"So what was it?" DG asked. Glitch looked over at her.
"What was what?" He asked back. DG panicked. Could he have forgotten it already? Would she always have to go through life thinking her first word was 'mama'?
"The word Glitch, what was the word?" She asked quickly, feeling like she was running out of time.
"Yellow." He said simply. He stopped and cocked his head to the side. "Although it sounded more like 'lellow', but quite a feat for a girl so small." He looked over at DG as she smiled. "We had just passed a row of yellow daisies and I asked you what color they were, without even thinking. I figured you wouldn't respond, but you did. Luckily you didn't repeat it again until after you said 'mama' and 'dada'." Glitch shrugged.
"I'm glad you remembered that." DG said softly. Glitch looked over at her, relieved.
"Me too." He pushed up off the ground and headed back towards the shed. "Who knows what else I'll remember next." He said over his shoulder. "Why, just the other day I was thinking about what it would be like to go around in the world without memories of my own." He stopped as he felt DG's arms wrap around him.
"Thank you Glitch." She said. Glitch relaxed and hugged her back.
"Not a worry Doll, I should thank you." He pulled away. DG smiled up at her friend, now feeling even more attached to him than she had before. She pulled away and turned towards the mess strewn around the grass. As she helped toss old relics back into the shed, DG couldn't help but smile over at the little yellow wheel leaning up against the old oak tree.