Author's Note: This story is rated M but this chapter is T. This is my first Tin Man fic. I don't own Tin Man. Please r&r. Enjoy.
My head is pounding really hard. I try to remember what happened. That's right there was an very powerful tornado and I couldn't get in the cellar in time. I feel the sun on my eyelids and slowly open my eyes. Men are pointing guns at me.
"Who are you?" one of the men asks.
"I'm Caroline. Who the hell are you?" I ask them.
They look me over, put their guns away and the one who spoke earlier says, "We got a slipper."
"Where am I?" I ask. They help me up and start leading me somewhere.
"You're in the O.Z. We're taking you to see the princess," one of the men answers my question. I must have hit my head harder than I thought. Although most of the time my dreams aren't this tactile. I look up and see two suns shining in the sky. Definitly not dreaming because this is all too real. After walking for hours we come upon a huge city surrounded by a wall. Checking in with the guard at the city entrance we head for the castle that is the focal point of the city.
"This is central city," one of the guards explains to me before I can ask. We enter the castle and the head guard goes away to get the princess.
I am looking at the intricate design of the castle when I hear, "I hear you found another slipper." I freeze and the guards around me bow. It can't be, I know that voice. I turn around and see my best friend who disappeared a few months ago standing a little distance away.
"DG?" I ask still in shock.
"Caroline?" DG ask with a smile. DG runs up to me and gives me a huge hug.
"I can't believe it's really you," I exclaim.
"I can't believe you're here too," DG says.
"We have a lot to catch up on," I tell her.
"Guards its ok I will take care of this one personally," DG instructs them. They bow and then disperse. DG and I link hands like we did when we were little girls and she leads me upstairs to her room. Her bedroom is as big as my kitchen and family room at home combined not including the balcony, closet, and attached bathroom.
"Wow," I comment.
"Yeah and this was the smaller option," DG informs me. We giggle as we both hop on her bed.
"So tell me everything," I say.
TMTMTMTMTM
"And then together Az and I saved the OZ," DG finishes. I am completely laying on the bed and DG is propped up on one elbow next to me.
It is silent for a few seconds before I say, "I don't know what to say to that."
"Caroline speechless, this is a first," DG teases me. Before I can respond there is a knocking on the door. "Who is it?" DG yells.
"Princess, one of the guards told me you had taken a special interest in a slipper. Is she in there with you?" the voice on the other side of the door asks. DG turns to me and whispers "Cain," one of the men that helped DG save the OZ. From the way she talked about him, she fancies him quite a lot.
"Yes Cain you can come in," DG replies to his question. I sit at the edge of the bed like DG is now doing. She is in between me and the opening door. An older man walks into the room. His white shirt with brown vest and khaki like pants told me he wasn't a man who was going to be messed with when angry. The gun in his holster told me if I did mess with him I would pay for it. He stops walking towards us about halfway. I get up off the bed and walk towards him. As I walk around him he doesn't move but follows me with his eyes. His blue eyes are lighter than DG's and his blond hair is cut short but still visible under the fedora. I come back to his front and we are staring at each other.
"Cristo," I say. He looks confused and looks at DG for clarification. After a moment he looks back at me. DG probably shook her head or shrugged her shoulders as a response to his look. I smile at him and turn back to face DG. "Well you've certainly found your Han Solo," I tease her. She blushes as I sit back beside her.
"Caroline stop it," she says.
"Princess what is going on?" Cain asks.
"This is Caroline my best friend from the other side. She was just making sure you were a good person. She did it with all of my friends back on the other side," DG explains. Cain looks me over. I know what he is probably thinking. Is this girl with long straight brown hair and green eyes a threat to the princess's life? Before he makes some sarcastic comment I decide to see just how he is going to react to me.
"I've heard a lot about you Mr. Cain," I tell him. He narrows his eyes at me.
"Princess you know you're supposed to tell me when you are doing things like meeting with slippers," Cain declares.
"Why do you to do that? To see if I am dangerous?" I ask Cain.
"Yes," Cain replies firmly.
I smile and say, "I am dangerous, just not to DG."
"How are you dangerous?" Cain asks doubting me.
"I know how to handle myself in a fight Mr. Cain," I remark.
"Caroline use to fight for me at school," DG interjects.
"Those were mostly the argumentative ones though," I put in. It is silent for a moment.
"Would you like to meet everyone else?" DG asks me.
"Absolutely," I exclaim. DG and I walk out of the room and I hear Cain follow. As we are strolling down the hall we come across a young woman.
"Az the slipper that they told me about just happened to be my friend Caroline," DG starts. "Caroline this is my sister Azkadelia." I notice that she called me her friend and not best friend. I suspect this is so her sister doesn't feel bad and I am ok with it. I don't bow to her but Azkadelia doesn't seem to mind.
"It's very nice to meet you," Azkadelia comments. She has a sweet smile and it is hard to imagine her being possessed by the witch. Her light blue dress is simple on the skirt part but the top part has intricate lace patterns.
"It's great to meet you too, Azkadelia," I return.
"Please call me Az."
"Your dress is very pretty," I compliment her.
"Thank you. Are you sure you're DG's friend?" I laugh a little before saying,
"Yeah even though I do all the fighting, I was still more of a girl then she was." Az smiles again.
"Do you know where Glitch and Raw are?" DG asks Az.
"There in the lab with Ambrose's brain," Az tells us.
"Great we'll see you later," DG says pulling me along. The three of us hurry along and enter a room with a big door. There is a strange looking creature and a man with a zipper in his head at the far side of the room. We all go over and the creature who I know is Raw stops what he is doing. He and Glitch turn towards us. "Raw, Glitch this is my best friend from the other side Caroline," DG introduces. I shake Glitch's hand and smile with a nod at Raw. Glitch notices Cain in the background.
"Is there something wrong Cain?" Glitch asks.
"He's watching me because I told him I can fight. He thinks I'm dangerous," I explain to Glitch.
"Well let's have Raw take a look at you. If that's ok with both of you?" Glitch proposes.
"That's fine with me," I confirm. Raw steps up and takes my arm.
"Overwhelmed," Raw says. I nod my head. "Happy to see DG," Raw continues. I smile at DG. "Good person, good fighter," Raw finishes and lets go of my arm.
"You see Cain there is nothing to worry about," DG tells Cain. Cain walks up so he is now with the rest of the group.
"I'll even prove it," I say. I turn to Glitch and tell him, "Punch me."
"What?" Glitch asks. I roll my eyes.
"Punch me," I repeat. He goes in for the hit and I block him easily. He tries a different angle and I block him using my other arm. I give him a signal to stop. "The fighting that I do is mostly about bringing my opponent down with a few hits to key places like pressure points in the body," I explain. Everyone is staring at me. DG is the only one who doesn't look shocked.
"So all we have to do is meet my parents now," DG says.
"Great," I exclaim enthusiastically. We grab hands and leave the boys contemplating what happened. When we get to her mother's office door there is a guard there.
"We would like to see my mother," DG tells the guard. The guard goes inside the door and comes back a little bit later.
"You may go in," the guard announces to us. We go in and at the end of the room is a desk. At the desk is a woman with lavender eyes and a man who looks (to me) a little scruffy. We stop just in front of the desk.
"Mother and father this is one of my good friends from the other side Caroline. She happened to slip over here during a storm," DG explains. I bow to the queen and her consort (that's what she called it).
"Welcome Caroline it is nice to know my angel had such a lovely friend while on the other side," the queen says.
"Thank you your majesty," I reply.
"Mother could she stay here for a little bit please?" DG begs. I smile remembering her begging her robo-parents to let me sleep over when we were young.
"Alright but only for at most a week," the queen answers.
"Thank you your majesty," I thank her. DG grabs my hand and pulls me back to her room. Once in her room DG starts going over all the things she wants to show me.
"DG what is up with you and Cain?" I ask interrupting her.
"What do you mean? Nothing is up," DG answers. I roll my eyes at her.
"Come on I know you like him," I remark.
DG blushes and replies, "He is like twelve years older than me and that doesn't count the time he was in the suit. His son is the same age as us."
"Love doesn't have an age restriction," I say to her.
"I don't know if he is totally over his wife's death yet," DG comes up with another excuse.
"He is if the way he looks at you and his protectiveness over you counts for anything," I provide. DG looks down at her hands. "
If you don't do something about it I will and you know what happened last time that happened," I tell her. She nods saying she knows I mean business. We talk and giggle for the rest of the night until we fall asleep.
