I do not own the rights to the Tin Man Mini series or the characters in the story.
None of this would be possible without my Beta reader Krin. Every time I felt like giving up, or that things were complete trash, Krin was there with wonderful comments, support and advice! So cheers to her!
Comments and reviews are always welcome
Summary: How a never before attempted surgery, ancient magic, and some old fashioned eavesdropping changed the O.Z.
Chapter One
In Central City things were not perfect. It had been two months since the destruction of the anti-sunseeder, and Azkadellia's freedom from the witch who had possessed her for so long. In those two months more progress was made in the O.Z. than many thought possible. A complete restructuring of the Tin Men units began and with their reestablishment the crime rates started to drop. The Papay and Munchkin forests had been restored while the city had started to undergo a strong polishing but there was still famine, poverty and disarray in several places in the O.Z. The last of the longcoats needed to be found. A new Mystic Man was needed for Central City. Yet despite those things, there was a bright future ahead for the country, with their Queen and the King Consort back at the throne and their two princesses back.
So while things weren't perfect, they were getting better. Change was occurring, and people were hopeful. And there was one place more hopeful in the O.Z. than the rest, and that was the waiting room in the medical wing of the Central City palace. Inside a green-tiled waiting room the royal family and several friends waited for the results of the first ever headcase reversal surgery.
The Queen and her consort Ahamo, who were so recently reunited, sat on their side of the recently freed oldest daughter, Azkadellia. Leaning against the door frame was Wyatt Cain, who had become well-known among the citizens of the O.Z. as a Tin Man and as a resistance fighter. He was currently using his connections with both the Tin Men and resistant fighters to help lead the Tin Man reform. Raw quietly sat apart from the royal family. He now spent most of his time with his fellow Viewers, trying to rebuild the once healthy relationship between them and the royalty of the O.Z.
They all sat in silence, and watched the youngest princess pace the length of the green waiting room in a steady manner. The fact that she was in deep thought was written across her face. Her blue eyes were clouded in concentration. The full-length dress she wore twisted around her ankles every time she turned causing her to continually pull absent mindedly at her skirt, as she had for the last hour.
Cain had considered telling her to stop before she made herself sick from worry, but by now he knew DG had a way of ignoring his wishes. Raw sat calmly, tucked away in his chair with his eyes closed, trying to channel himself away from all the nervous energy that everyone was putting off while trying send calming energy towards DG. Who in her current state of worry didn't even notice that everyone eyes were constantly following her.
DG couldn't help being nervous. She had spent a lot of time with Glitch before the actual operation talking with the alchemists about the process so they both knew what was going to occur. There were so many risks and unknown factors involved with the operation that it made DG's stomach turn at the thought of it. And while she was nervous about it, she couldn't even image how her friend felt.
While Glitch never really vocalized his fears to her, it was easy for her to read the worry on his face. There were moments when she would catch him looking out into space. While most people figured he wasn't thinking about anything she could tell by the way that his brow furrowed that he was scared. They both knew no one had ever done a re-implantation surgery before, because brains were never the intended to return after removed. Yet what really told DG that he was afraid was the hug that he gave her before he went in for his operation hours ago. It wasn't a back breaking hug, or even an overly long one, but she could feel him shaking in her embrace, which made it all the harder for her to let him go.
Her pacing was interrupted when she heard the click of the door latch on the other side of the room. Her feet moved her quickly across the tile and she stood in front of the alchemist before he even got the chance to properly shut the door behind him.
"Well?" DG said before the man had a chance to compose himself from the mere fact he was so close to one of the royal princesses.
"Ahh, well" he said in a flustered tone, the princess's close proximity unnerved him. He looked around at the others who were now standing behind DG, waiting patiently for news of their friend.
"DG" the queen said softly. "Why don't we go sit down? This conversation may take some time". As if she could read the nervous energy flowing off him.
"Thank you Your Highness" the alchemist said with relief and gratitude written across his face.
The alchemist didn't speak again until everyone was situated. He eyed DG nervously. Her intense stare seemed to shake him to the core. The youngest princess wasn't anything like the other royals he had interacted with, and he was actually a little afraid of her. He fiddled nervously with his long lavender alchemist's coat, trying to muster up the courage to continue.
"Right, yes, the brain" he stammered, "has been successfully re-implanted in the skull. We haven't removed the zipper, because...well, we may have to go back in later to make sure everything has been connected properly."
"One thing we should be thankful for was the pristine condition the brain was kept in. Ah... most headcases had their brains ahh, donated to science after the original removal. Yet this brain is in the best condition an out of body brain could be in, physically at least."
The lavender-coated alchemist stared at DG for a long moment before turning away and continuing.
"What we do have some concerns over is…well, the mental condition of the brain. We don't know if any of the thoughts or memories were manipulated or fried in the part of the brain that we replaced. Since this has never ever been attempted before we had no way of testing the mental stability of the brain. There is a chance that once the brain is fully re-acclimated to the nervous system that there is nothing…functioning in it."
DG felt her stomach drop and had to look away. She chose to look around the room instead of at the alchemist. Her wandering gazed didn't make her feel any better. Cain was staring out the window of the waiting room, seemingly miles away. Her sister had her face buried in her hands while Ahamo wrapped his arm around her pulling her against his chest. Lastly she saw Raw, who was looking right at her, his intense but kind gaze caused her to look at the floor.
"When will we know if the brain is in a good functioning condition?" Ahamo asked the man, running a hand down his oldest daughters back.
"We'll know first thing when he wakes up."
"When will that be?" DG asked quickly.
"Well, we predict anywhere from a half annual to two annuals."
"Two years?!?" DG jumped out of her seat. Startling the poor alchemist and causing him to jump a foot in the air.
"Well," The alchemist looked like he was about to break into tears under the pressure of DG stare. "What we believe is occurring is similar to the shuffling of two decks of cards together. So in theory all of the memories and thoughts from Ambrose and all of the memories and thoughts from 'Glitch,' as fragmented as they may be, are being mixed together to create a master list of memories and personalities."
Why so long?" the fragile voice of Azkadellia finally spoke up, tears welling in her eyes.
"Well, because we know little about brain science we can only guess at the time. The two lobes spent a long time apart. So they had to learn to function on their own. Now the mind has to go through organizing and sorting these memories, yet how long it's going to take… we can only very roughly guess."
He looked at the forlorn face of the princess and did his best to redeem himself.
"But on the bright side he'll sleep through all of it. He'll wake up and it will be like no time has passed."
DG looked at him with a sadly strange expression. "Yeah but time will have passed. He has already spent years not fully being himself, and now he'll wake up and years will have passed. Isn't there anything that can be done?"
"I'm sorry Princess….but we know so little about the process that we may do more harm than good by trying to speed up the process."
"My angel" her mother said turning to her. "Sometimes we just need to let things run their course."
"Can we see him?" asked Cain. His long coat and green hat stood out among the clean bright walls and strange shiny contractions against the wall but he still managed to blend in and go unnoticed by the alchemist who jumped again when he spoke.
"Well, yes, but he is asleep and will be for a while so please don't be too loud."
Cain was the first to enter the room, followed by the Queen and Ahamo. Raw took the seat next to DG who sat silently in her seat, unable to move.
"DG scared."
She looked over at her Viewer friend and smiled at him.
"Yeah Raw, I'm scared. Glitch…Ambrose, may never be the same."
"Raw scared too, but we need to be strong for Glitch. He need you"
"Thanks Raw" she said reaching over to hug her friend. "We should go in there and see him now."
Raw wished he could stop her from going in the room. He could sense a wave of sad and distraught emotions washing from that room but he couldn't keep her from seeing the truth.
~~~
DG sat in the chair next to Glitch's bed the rest of the day. She was at a complete loss of what to do. Everyone else had left hours ago, but she just sat there staring at her friend. She wished she didn't have to see him this way.
He made her think of the cancer patients she had seen at the hospital when she broke her arm in middle school. The alchemists had to shave his head so all that was left was the silver zipper splitting the top of his head. His skin was always pale, but now even his normally pink lips were pale. He seemed gaunt and frail and that out of everything that had happen to them, frightened her the most. Even when they were running from Papay or struggling out in the snow or wandering across the O.Z he was always full of humor. Yet now when she needed his humor the most, it wasn't there. The man in the bed had a resemblance to her friend, but it didn't look like him.
She took his hand carefully, trying not to move any of the strange wires and contraptions attached to his forearm, while mentally cursed him for being so adamant about having his brain replaced. Not that she could blame him; he had spent so long being only half of himself that be whole again must have been something he wanted so badly.
She sighed as she squeezed his hand. She knew she was being selfish, while he was being noble.
"With my brain back in my head I won't have to worry so much about other people misusing what's in there" he told her time and time again whenever she questioned him having the surgery. She was more reserved about it than he was.
What if he did not want to be her friend when the scientific half of his brain was put back? What if he lost his sense of humor? What if he didn't like her anymore? Or decided to leave the palace? What if he decided to return to his family now that he could remember them? Why was she being so selfish? All of those questions ran through her head as she watched her friend sleep.
Slowly tears started to roll down her cheeks and the mixture of stress, fear and worry for her friend finally put her to sleep.
Several hours later, another person entered the private room that Ambrose had been assigned. Ahamo wasn't surprised to find his youngest daughter in the medical ward, asleep in the chair next to Ambrose's bed. Since he moved back to the palace he had a tendency to get up in the middle of the night and check on his family. He had been without them for so long that sometimes he worried that he was dreaming and he would wake up and be alone all over again.
What did surprise him on his late night visit was something he had not seen in many years.
She had fallen asleep leaning forward with her head buried in her arms on his bed and one of her hands entwined in his. Yet this wasn't what surprised him.
The light emanating from their joined hands is what did.