Without Tears

Author: Jinnarin

Rating: M

Pairing: DG/Cain

Summary: Five annuals after the defeat of the dark witch the rebuilding of the O.Z is at full speed. But there are those that feel that the royal family aren't doing enough. Alone at Finaqua, during a training retreat with Toto, DG is captured by those who once fought for the freedom of the O.Z. Forced into a collar that suppresses her magic, and blind, DG's only chance for survival is her wits, and the hope that her shape shifting Tutor can reach the Palace in time.

Warnings: Rape (This scene will be clearly marked! Do not read it if you can't handle, are to young or otherwise immature about these things.) Violence, and language.

Occasionally, the Viewer, Raw was able to block his empathetic visions, if he concentrated hard enough. He could push the voices that whispered to him, like gentle breezes over grassy plains, to the back of his mind. The thoughts that scrambled through his mind, like bunnyburies from the predator, would slow and still, to be brushed off at a later time, when he could be neutral over their meanings.

Quite different than the hurried, often skewed views that the Dark Witch pulled from Lylo and Kalm.

For that bit of control, he was ever thankful, and deeply grateful to his friends for having the patience to provided him the well to his own courage.

Tonight, however, that rabid, heart wrenching fear was back.

He sat, furs askew, breath coming in naught but ragged, shuddering gasps. His gently curved claws were tearing large rents in the soft fabric of his bed, given to him during his diplomatic stay in the Palace. He would feel horrible for the ruination of the fabric later, when he was fully capable of seeing past the vision that gripped him now.

Calloused fingers were pressed into the mouth of the viewer, making him gag slightly. He tried to see, pressing his sight to it limits to drag himself to a position where he could see more than what the person he was viewing felt. But strong magic stubbornly refused him. He could hear a strong, heavy male voice, growling out words he didn't understand, and his head was suddenly drug to the side, his scalp protesting harshly enough to make him cry out.

He tried once more to move to another position, and again he was violently rebuffed.

And then suddenly, his sight was full of the lake at Finaqua. His eyes widened in terror, the Princess was at Finaqua! His friend was in danger. That terrible voice, dark and wicked whispered in his ear once more, and he shuddered, trying to move away from the sound of it. Slowly the vision began to fade, slipping back into the recesses of his mind, but all he could feel was the sudden, searing pain in his eyes and face.

Raw's roar of pain slipped from his throat uncontrolled, loud and terrifying.

Ambrose, better known as Glitch, advisor to the acting Queen, stood at the head of the steps to the Palace, arms comfortably behind his back. As he watched his old friend, Wyatt Cain and his son Jeb, take the steps to the palace two at a time, he smiled grimly. He suddenly longed for the carefree worry of his half a brain, where he could occasionally fire the wrong synapses and forget the horrible, gut wrenching worry for a few moments.

The pained roar that had woken most of the palace just a few nights prior, had kept him on edge and sleep deprived for the following days.

He had waited, admittedly as impatiently as he had before being reunited with his brain, for Cain's arrival. The Queen and her Consort had sent a detail of reformed Longcoats to Finaqua in search of the youngest Princess of the Outer Zone. Azkadelia, distraught, had begged to go with them desperate to find her sister. Ambrose had watched, heart shredding at the sight of the weeping woman, as she was refused, and put under heavier guard.

Now half his worry could be put aside, the best man he knew for the task of finding their endangered friend was making his way toward him.

Ambrose, advisor to the acting queen, a friend named Glitch, let the fear he once felt as a Headcase, spread through him as he gripped the proffered hand of his friend. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the former Tin Man.

"Come inside, my friend. The Queen will want you to speak with Raw."

Wyatt Cain, the former Tin Man, dusty and weary from the long travel from the Realm of the Unwanted to Central City, laughed as his son, Jeb made a sly comment about a lean looking woman as she slipped by. Five annuals ago Cain wouldn't have thought this conversation possible. If he hadn't seen the grave marker of his wife Adora, with his own eyes. Or hadn't heard the surprised sound of the Rebel captain's whispered "Dad", with his own ears.

He smiled in spite of the joke this time, dismounting his dapple mare and began to pull his gear from the sturdy horse. He had a small group of friends to thank for the light feeling in his chest now. In the place where a certain Headcase said only cynicism could live for a former Tin Man.

DG had proven him wrong.

Jeb made another comment to him, which he barely caught among his musings, about the construction going on in Central City. He could see the changes once he truly looked for them. The seediness of the place seemed to have vanished in the last five annuals, though he was certain he dig up a place or two if he liked. Cain entertained the thought, momentarily, of speaking to the Queen of reinstating the Tin Men as they reached their hotel.

He shoved that though aside, with a fond farewell.

That part of his life was over now, it was time to move on.

Later, once settled, playing a card game quietly between them, they were interrupted by a heavy knock on the door. Jeb, grumbling about the hour, though it wasn't really so late, answered for the delivery boy. As his son returned, reading the missive, a heavy feeling settled into the pit of his stomach. Something about the way his son's face paled, made the once familiar uncomfortable ice blossom in his chest, that physical warning that something wasn't right.

"It's from Glitch. Dad, it's DG..."

Well, here is the end of the first chapter. Hopefully, since I have this all planned out it will come to me relatively quickly. Thanks for reading, and any comments are welcome.