This has been sitting unfinished on my computer for 8+ years. How scary is that? Having been drawn back to Tin Man recently, I thought it was time to finally finish it off and see if any of the other WIPs gathering dust have settled enough to be finished, too. Hopefully it won't take too long for this one to be fully finished and uploaded - I promise I won't stop till it's complete.
A Future Glimpse
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The closer they got to the throne room, the more subdued the child in her arms became. It was almost as if she knew what was about to happen, almost as if she sensed these moments may be the last she spent with her devoted mother.
With tears shimmering in her bright blue eyes, Princess DG of the Outer Zone tightened her hold on her daughter at the same time as her husband drew her closer to his side. Glancing up at him, her heart ached at the tense expression on his face, the pain in his eyes at what they were about to do making her own a hundred times worse.
"It's not forever," she said quietly, though her voice seemed to bounce off the walls of the otherwise empty hallways. She met his gaze as he looked at her, hoping to reassure as well as seeking reassurance herself. "We'll be back for her. As soon as we can, we'll be back for her."
Her husband's hand tightened around her waist once again but his step didn't falter; she knew that if either of them hesitated, they'd talk themselves out of the plan they'd spent most of the last week talking themselves into. "It'll be a week. A few days more than that at most."
He didn't sound so certain, either.
The baby cradled to her chest gave a little whimper as the couple stepped into the throne room. Directly behind the throne, one of the panes of glass of the mirrored walls flickered ominously. DG squared her shoulders and walked towards it.
"You sure this is safe?" Turning to her husband, she found him almost glaring at the mirror.
If the situation weren't so serious and concern in his eyes wasn't so blatant, DG might have either laughed at the expression on his face or maybe felt insulted at what she could have misconstrued as a lack of confidence in her abilities. Knowing he was worried, for both her and their daughter, made her eyes soften and she reached out a hand to touch his arm.
"Both Az and I checked and double checked the world we contacted was right. She'll be safe there. Safer than she is here." Her smile faltered a little when his eyes locked with hers. "If there was another way…"
"I know." A sigh escaped him and he reached out, enfolding in his arms, their daughter cocooned protectively between them. Gazing down at her, a shadow crossed over his features. "It would be safer if you stayed with her."
"My place is here." She would be lying if she said she hadn't considered it, though. The thought of being away from her daughter, even for a short stretch of time, was almost unbearable. "Azkadellia isn't strong enough to fight the mage on her own and Mother won't be much help..." Shaking her head against the thought of what was to come, DG fixed her gaze on her husband's face. "My place is here," she repeated firmly, "with you."
His arms tightened around her, around his family, before reluctantly falling to his sides. Leaning down, he brushed his lips against his daughter's forehead. With a heavy sigh he couldn't disguise, he straightened and half-turned away from her, so he could both keep an eye on her and keep an eye on the door. "Let's get this over with," he said brusquely. "The sooner it's done..."
"The sooner she'll be back," DG finished the thought, biting down on her bottom lip. She squared her shoulders and started walking towards the flickering pane of glass, her eyes beginning to sting as her daughter made a soft, cooing sound. "It's okay, my little princess," she whispered, her voice a reassuring murmur. "We'll all be together again soon."
Taking a deep breath, DG reached out with a trembling hand and touched the mirror's surface. Seconds later, there was a blinding white flash, and both mother and daughter were gone.
There was something about the cloudy surface of the mirror that drew her to it.
Something that kept her attention long after her mother had warned her not to touch it, long after the guards had been posted at the door and Tutor had expressed his concerns to the Queen and Consort – not quite far enough out of earshot, for DG had heard every word – that her fascination with the mirror could be further evidence that she was indeed the Daughter of Light drawn to darkness.
DG couldn't disagree.
Her actions as a child played heavily on her heart and her mind, despite the reassurances offered to her by both Azkadellia and Glitch that she wasn't to blame. In her own mind, in her memories, she'd heard someone crying and had wanted to help. In Tutor's mind, and, she suspected, in her mother's if not both of her parent's minds, she'd felt the call of darkness and had been unable to resist.
Still, she couldn't bring herself to believe that the phenomenon causing the pane of glass in the throne room was the work of evil. She could almost feel the magic behind it, almost sense the feelings that had been accidentally woven into the spell when it was cast.
Feelings that eerily mirrored her own.
Fear, anger, grief, guilt.
She felt all of them in spades.
Fear of what the future held for her, and her family, now that the witch had been defeated and her mother returned to the throne.
Anger that she'd been taken from the only world she could remember and left to flail helplessly in the one she was born to, without any guidance or support. Her parents were busy with their advisors trying to settle the realm, her sister was learning to live without the witch and Glitch was learning to live with his brain. The others...
... That was where grief came into it, she supposed. She mourned for her old life, for Momster and Popsicle, who had been restored as much as they could be but would never regain the memories they once had of the princess they'd raised on the Other Side. She mourned for Raw and Cain and maybe even the Glitch she'd once known, though all three were alive and well. They were just... gone. Raw had left to reunite Kalm with his people, promising he'd return one day. Glitch was still with them at the palace in Central City though he spent most of his time secluded in his lab, trying to find a natural balance between the Headcase she'd come to love and the noble advisor Ambrose had once been.
And Cain... Wyatt Cain, former Tin Man and someone she tried not to think about too much, had left with his son in the weeks following the Royal family's return to the shining city. There were Longcoats to hunt, and a relationship with his son to rebuild. He hadn't promised he'd return when he left but had tipped his hat to her, an emotion she couldn't read in his cool blue eyes as he'd casually commented that he'd see her down the old road.
When exactly that would be remained to be seen, and as the weeks passed, DG found herself doubting the day would ever come.
The guilt was a no brainer, DG reflected as she sat cross-legged in front of the mirror. So many lives had been destroyed, others ruined beyond repair, because of one mistake she'd made in her childhood. Her people had suffered uncountable evil at the hands of the witch, her family torn apart and her sister imprisoned in her own body for so long. Her friends, the family of her heart, those she'd never had it not been for her quest to find the Emerald... They'd all suffered so much, lost so much, and it pained her to no end to shoulder the blame for that.
Maybe that was why they'd all left her, DG thought sometimes. Maybe they couldn't stand to look at her and see the reason their perfect worlds had shattered.
Lost in her thoughts, it took her a split longer than it should have done to notice that the surface of the mirror had begun to ripple. Her blue eyes widened when she noticed the change and she shot to her feet, her mouth opening to call out for the guards she knew were waiting outside on her mother's orders.
The call died on her lips, her voice failing her, as the surface seemed to melt away with a flash of familiar light and someone – two someone's – stepped through.
"Oh." Her eyes widened, dropping from a face so like her own to the cooing baby in the newcomers arms before rising again. "Um. Hello?"
Her double managed a strained smile but it was one that didn't reach her eyes. "I'd hoped it would be you. Me. Us." Shrugging a shoulder, her expression showed she felt as awkward as DG did at suddenly being faced with herself. "I don't have time to explain everything," she continued, taking a step towards DG that was laced with obvious reluctance. "My world is under attack. The witch's followers found another mage to worship and, well, they're leading an assault on my people – our family – as we speak. This is Ami, Amelia. My daughter." The woman's gaze softened noticeably as she looked down at the precious bundle she held. "They want her. I don't know why but I know she's not safe, not while all the fighting is going on." Lifting her gaze to DG's, the agony she felt was visible in her eyes. "I need to know she's safe, to know that even if we fail, my daughter will live. To know that if we succeed, I'll be able to come back for her and take her back to the safe world she deserves."
"You want to leave her here." DG found herself taking a step forward, folding her arms over her chest as her own heart ached in sympathy with the pain in her counterpart's voice. "Is there anything else I can do? Maybe I could come with you, help you fight...?"
"Two of us cannot exist in the same reality, DG. Glitch's research proved that. You'd be fine for a few weeks at most but the O.Z. would realise that you don't belong and would try to destroy you." Her other self shook her head, a crystal tear slipping down her cheek. "We chose this reality because we were able to discern that Amelia doesn't exist here. Not yet, maybe not ever." She tilted her head, surveying DG intently. Her gaze dipped to the Princess's bare ring finger then back to the simple silver and sapphire band she wore on her own. "I know I'm asking a lot and telling you very little but I need to know... Will you look after my daughter? Will you keep her safe?"
"Of course." The answer came without hesitation, almost without thought. "I mean, I don't really know much about babies but I used to babysit the Collins kids when I was on the Other Side and..."
"Ami's a good baby," her counterpart reassured her when she trailed off nervously. Open affection lit up the other woman's face as she gazed at the child in her arms. "I thought I'd struggle with the whole Mom thing," she admitted quietly, "I didn't think I'd be very good at it but... It feels right." She tore her eyes away from her daughter and shrugged. "I can't imagine my life without her in it now."
Watching a woman who looked so much like herself blink back tears as she considered the very real possibility of having to do just that, DG found her own eyes begin to sting. She cleared her throat and looked away, glancing back when she sensed the woman get closer.
"I will be back for her," her counterpart vowed, both to herself and DG as well as to the child she held out for DG to take. "As soon as I can, I'll be back."
A little awkwardly at first, DG took the baby girl. She bit down on her bottom lip and drew the small body closer to her own. She looked away from the other woman's tear-filled eyes to study the child she now held, a gasp escaping her when Amelia gazed up at her with very familiar eyes. "She's... I..."
"She has her father's eyes." Amelia's mother spoke fondly, twisting her wedding band without conscious thought. "I know you'll take care of her. If I can't make it back, my husband will. And if neither of us can..."
"You will." For a reason she couldn't pinpoint, DG was absolutely certain of it. "I won't let anything happen to her."
"I know." Turning away, lifting a hand to her cheek to wipe away the traces of tears that had fallen, the other woman walked up to the mirror and reached out a trembling hand to touch its surface.
Alone, DG gazed down at the baby girl in her arms. A baby girl who was a perfect combination – an undeniable one – of both her mother and father.
"Any idea how we're going to explain this to my parents, Ami?" The little girl cooed up at her in response, prompting a smile from her new guardian. "No, I didn't think so."
As she contemplated the child in her arms, the doors to the throne room flew open, hitting the wall with enough force to make them rebound instantly. DG instinctively turned away, shielding the child she held from both the loud noise and the magic she felt surging in the air to keep the doors from hitting the people who'd opened them.
"What is it? What happened? I felt a shift in magic..." Her usually composed sister stared around the room with wild eyes, fear on her face even as her light shone brightly from her palms. Beside her and slightly out of breath, Glitch moved into a fighting stance seconds before realising there was no visible threat in the room.
As a look of confusion crossed over his face, the former advisor noticed the awkward position DG had twisted her body into and frowned. "What's wrong, doll face?"
Amelia answered before she could, her wail of discontent drowning out any reply DG could have made.