Series Title: Different Shades of Black
Summary: A new witch enlists Zero in her plot to claim the OZ.
Disclaimer: The Lady owns no rights to Tin Man, but owes much inspiration to the creative talents of the writers and to Mr. McDonough and Mr Cumming.
Dangerous Adoration
Near perfection. Dark eyes glittering with pride, the witch admired her new profile in the gilded mirror, turning from side to side to revel in her craftsmanship as long, tapered fingers brushed smooth, supple skin. She drew the tortoise-shell combs from her hair, freeing the heavy tresses to swirl alluringly around her tanned shoulders.
The expressive eyes, the light dusting of freckles, and the tiniest of beauty marks just above her full, inviting lips were all quite inspired, if she must say so herself.
Her eldest sister, the deposed witch (what a hag!), would have cackled at her countenance, crowing that she herself had been far, far prettier when she was the Sorceress Azkadellia. But what mortal woman didn't benefit from accouterments such as stunning gowns, flawless makeup and elaborate hair styles?
"As for me, dear sister, I prefer a more natural beauty," she told the mirror.
For over 500 annuals, her sister had languished in that musty cave reeking of bat droppings before two adventurous princesses in ruffles and curls were confronted by the dark force that they couldn't skip away from unscathed. Ironically, her sister, who oppressed the Outer Zone with the manicured hand of a demented despot for 15 glorious annuals, was undone, not by a powerful queen or cunning military strike, but a clueless slip of a farm girl, escorted by the comical likes of a whimpering man-beast and a babbling headcase, and faithfully protected by a bitterly heartbroken ex-Tin Man.
Her sister was gone. Now it was her obligation to re-claim the OZ, darken the lands and exact revenge in her sister's honor. The iron-fisted approach wasn't her style though. Her initial attack would be subtle, drawing on her entrancing powers to bewitch and beguile. Both princesses eventually would be delivered back into the witches' hands.
"Come in."
The knock on the door disrupted her preening. Her sister's former general entered, offering a stiff bow in his tight leather coat before lifting his smoky blue eyes to boldly appraise her new incarnation from the tips of her tiny toes curling in the heavy rug to the crown of her tousled hair.
"Incredible," he whispered, unable to take his eyes off of her meagerly-clad frame.
"You may approach, Zero." She secretly thrilled in seeing no time was wasted in minimizing the gap between them.
Reverently, his black leather-gloved knuckle brushed her cheek. "It's like you were formed from a mold," he marveled. "Maybe even better than the original."
Perhaps just this once, she mused, she would allow him to forget his station by addressing her so informally. Zero's heated perusal repulsed her human side, yet ignited an unfamiliar feeling in her very core. The contradiction provided a rather perverse thrill.
Moving closer, her finger traced circles over his shoulder armor. "Maybe too perfect?" His tongue was too thick to respond with anything intelligible.
The witch turned to study her reflection again. "Tell me, Zero," she said with a pretty pout, with her hands resting on her hips. "Who is the fairest? My sister when she was Azkadellia? Or me?"
Zero cleared his throat. "Before I answer, I need to know if the old witch is gone for good and if you have any other jealous sisters in the waiting?"
She tossed her head back with a throaty laugh. "That's what I like about you, Zero. You make no bones about always looking out for yourself."
"Come." She turned to offer her hand. "We need to go over my plan."
"Um, Sorceress, not that I'm complaining," Zero scratched his forehead, "but if you expect me to pay attention, you're gonna have to..." He pointed to her sheer chemise, then reluctantly looked away. The great Zero was blushing like a school boy.
"Oh, poof!" she muttered, plucking up a muslin dress the color of daffodils strewn over a velvet high back chair. "I've crossed so many time zones, my mind is a fright. I'd forgotten that in Ozian society females only display themselves to a male after the cords of matrimony have been knotted."
"Respectable ones, at least." Zero smirked as he held the gown, waiting for her to thread her arms through the short, capped sleeves before he tugged it over her head and drew it downward. Lifting her heavy locks, she turned away from him and with the softest smile thrown over her shoulder encouraged him to fasten the back. She waited patiently (or so he thought) as he doffed his gloves and started fumbling with the buttons.
"So you've traveled a lot?"
Ah, idle chit chat. The mark of a smitten man. Humans could be so entertaining. Perhaps it was time to keep another one as a pet, maybe two if her plan went well.
"Why, yes, Zero, I'm quite the gadabout. I've taken many different forms. Jezebel, Salome, Catherine II of Russia were personal favorites." She bit her lip apologetically when she saw the blank look on his face. Oh, well. He was tall, ruggedly handsome and a ruthless henchman. Guess she couldn't expect an Other Side history scholar, too.
"Now, come."
His eyes widened as she slipped her small hand into his, leading him to a large gazing globe mounted on a tall, three-legged wooden stand.
"What are you doing to me?" Zero closed his eyes and drew a ragged breath, tilting his head back as his body felt bathed in warm waves of euphoria. Whatever she was doing, he'd follow her anywhere, even to the pits of Hades if she beckoned him with a crook of her finger. The sensation intensified, making him want to call out her name, if only he knew it, along with those three words that he'd never told a woman before.
"Poor, Zero," she tugged her hand from his grasp. "It's only a spell mimicking the sweet bliss of true love. I'm sorry if you didn't recognize the feeling."
"Doesn't matter." Zero mumbled, wiping his hand on his pants. He struggled to control his breathing again.
The glazing globe began to glow as she stroked the sphere. Its light reflected green on her wide pupils. "Show me the youngest princess of the Outer Zone and her Tin Man," she commanded.
"You hinted before that we're going after a treasure." Zero moved closer to the globe as the white haze inside cleared to show a vision of DG and Cain skirting around the booths at a street festival. Cain's hand on her back gently guided her through the light-hearted chaos. Jeb Cain followed, turning sideways to squeeze through a troop of clowns, looking none-too-pleased with Azkadellia in tow.
"There's your girl, Zero," the witch teased. "Poor child looks like she's still surrounded by an entourage of clowns."
Zero bit back a reply, knowing she could reduce him into a pile of cinders. He coughed, then asked, "Are we going after the emerald again?"
"Not this time, Zero. I want the Jewel of the OZ, a diamond in the rough -- the Princess Dorothy Gale."
Zero dared to laugh at her. "That stick-slinging, smart-mouthed, greasy tomboy is the Jewel of the OZ?"
"Perchance would you like to laugh at my expense back in that stuffy, tight, iron suit that I rescued you from?" Her tone was playful, but Zero caught the way her fingers curled tightly around the globe.
"I'm sorry, Sorceress. I forgot my place."
She noted the vein pulsing in his neck. "All is forgiven. But not forgotten. As I was saying, DG -- ugh, how I detest that moniker -- is a diamond in the rough. She knows not of her potential to become the most powerful queen to ever rule the Outer Zone."
"Never would have guessed it myself."
"Watch this." She tapped the glowing globe once. DG was arguing with Tutor inside a classroom. As she threw her hands up, the aggravated shape-shifter begged her to concentrate on the elementary task of lifting a small figurine of her mother off a desk.
"How did you get these pictures?" Zero's nose was within inches of the sphere.
"A fly on the wall, a little mouse in my pocket," she grinned. "I have my ways. Now, watch this."
With two taps of her finger, the view changed to a frantic scene deep in the forest, a cave collapse. As frustrated rescue workers clamored at the rubble-blocked mouth of the cave, Zero could make out that five youngsters, would-be explorers, were trapped inside. Huge boulders, movable only by heavy equipment, most likely had sealed their fates.
"DG, the crane will take six hours to haul in." Cain put both hands on her shoulders as he leaned down to level his gaze to hers. "Those children may not last that long, Kiddo. It gets awfully cold out here at night, near freezing. They may be running out of air already. You're their only hope."
"There's nothing I can do, Mr. Cain." DG's face paled as panic welled in her blue eyes.
"Move those stones, Kid."
"I, I can't, Mr. Cain. How can I move a humongous rock when I can't lift even your hat up, even if you held your gun to my head?"
"Focus, Sweetheart." Cain stood behind her, his hands back on her shoulders. "I know that you can do it. Just believe in yourself, too, DG."
"You think I can?" She sounded surprised.
"I know." Cain squeezed her shoulder, then waved to the surprised rescue workers, shouting, "Better move back, boys. It's time to try some princess power."
"Sounding like a fanboy there, Tin Man."
DG scratched her head vigorously with both hands, then took several cleansing breaths before bending and twisting in some warm-up exercises that left the rescuers workers slack jawed. Cain hushed their grumbles with a 'hold-your-horses' finger of warning. Finally, DG stretched out her hands. After a minute of concentration and a couple of false starts, one of the smallest boulders near the top of the heap shook and levitated about a foot as DG pinched the air with her thumb and forefinger. As she started to move the stone away, it crashed down on the rest of the pile, starting a minor avalanche.
"I can't do it," she doubled over, holding her knees, panting. "I might kill them."
"Don't give up yet, Princess." Still standing behind her, Cain wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her back up. "Try again. I have faith in you," he whispered to her. "Now concentrate."
DG tried hard not to giggle as his breath tickled her ear. "So help me if you say, 'let the Light flow through you,' I'll write your name and number in every toilet stall in the Sin District."
"Focus, Kiddo." He chuckled, then whispered, "And while that Light is flowing through you, don't forget to spell 'Wyatt' with 2 T's and no 'E' on the end of 'Cain.'"
As Zero watch in fascination, the witch worked her finger back and forth across the globe's surface to speed up the view. One by one, the princess lifted enough of the enormous rocks to allow a medic to worm his way into the cave. A cheer went up as the medic popped his head out of the hole and gave an enthusiastic thumbs up to DG. Once freed, the dirty-faced children ran up to thank the princess, spent from the magical drain, too weak to stand on her own as she leaned back against her silent bodyguard.
"Guess she saved the day." Zero was begrudgingly impressed by DG's powers. "Didn't know the Slipper had it in her."
"She didn't either," the witch admitted. "The girl has no idea of the resources she could draw upon. Her mother locked her memories in a spell."
Zero shrugged. "She always seemed kind of lost to me."
"That's exactly how she feels, Zero." The witch's luminous eyes met his. "She feels lost, alone, adrift, a stranger wandering aimlessly in this peculiar land. I've viewed her countless times sobbing into her pillow, tearing up dozens of sketches in frustration, sitting on the pier wishing that she could see golden wheat fields instead of the blue waters."
"What keeps her from hopping a travel storm back where she came from?"
"He does." The witch tapped the globe thrice. "Observe."
DG was breathtaking in a pale blue, off-the-shoulder gown that shimmered in the moons' light bathing one of the balconies outside the grand hall of the palace on the Northern Isle. Laughter and a light orchestra tune spilled out of the leaded-glass doors. Tiny white lights twinkled in the ornamental shrubs.
"Would ya look at that," Zero whistled. "The tomboy cleans up pretty good." The witch's eyes flashed with jealously.
"Oh, come on, Mr. Cain," DG whined, feeling a champagne buzz. "You haven't danced with me all night. It's time to get your groove on." She knew that she'd lost him. "Bust a move? You know, shake your booty or whatever you call it in the OZ."
"Princess, not sure what you're asking for, but I don't think you and the hired help should be seen doing it in public on the dance floor," Cain reprimanded gently as he tried to extricate her fingers from his dress jacket and the nape of his neck.
"Don't you like me, Mr. Cain?" DG stumbled backwards. "Maybe just a little bit?" Cain started to open his mouth then clamped it shut as his arm shot out to catch her as she tried to measure an inch-width between two fingers. "Not even this much?"
"That's not the issue." Cain reluctantly released the teetering beauty. "You've got to get it through your head that you're the OZ's crown princess. I'm your bodyguard, period. That's the way it's got to be, Princess. I own nothin' but the clothes on my back. Land sakes, I've got a kid, Kid, who's old enough to be your brother and..."
'Blah, blah, blah, and you're just an old Tin Man." Shivering, she pulled her silk wrapper up around her slender shoulders, then spat back, "Fine. Be that way. Just hang out here on this balcony alone with all your friends while you dry up and blow away." DG's slumped as she turned back toward the gaiety in the grand hall, muttering, "Why'd I ever dream that I could compete with a ghost?" She nearly tripped; Cain sprang forward to catch her. Regret or guilt was obvious on his pale features.
Zero laughed, clapping his hands at the melodrama. "So the gorgeous princess has a thing for the Tin Man?"
"Yes, but he tries hard to be an honorable man with only the best intentions for her," the witch said, peeved that What's-Her-Dreadful-Name earned a 'gorgeous' from Zero. She lightly rubbed the globe in contemplation.
"Always thought Wyatt Cain was a rock," Zero sneered. "Now I got proof."
"Enough gossip." The witch rapped the globe, watching intently until Cain's face dissipated into a white haze. "The girl grows despondent. More memories are unlocked each day she works with her Tutor, but not fast enough for her."
"At what point could she put up a good fight against you?"
"Never," she purred, tapping the globe to look at Cain's face again. Zero rolled his eyes. "Day by day, she gains more of the power I crave, but not the confidence to use it. She draws upon his strength, his unwavering trust. Without him, at least for now, she is lost."
Another Longcoat knocked on the door. "Pardon me, Sorceress, but your scouts have spotted the target, right where you predicted."
"Excellent!" The witch grabbed both Zero's hands and, to the surprise of both Longcoats, joyfully waltzed him across the floor. "Soon, Zero, little Dorothy Gale's world will be spinning like yours."
As the dance finished, the witch clapped her hands, transporting both of them to the shadows behind a clump of thorny bushes near the rotting cabin three spans past the Crack in the OZ. There on the lush grass under an apple tree, Wyatt Cain napped peacefully after a morning spent tearing down a good deal of the dilapidated home next to his wife's grave. A half-smile tugged on his lips as a pleasant dream melted worry from his handsome features.
"DG will return soon from Central City," the witch whispered as she sized up her prey. "Keep tabs on her in case I have to abort my mission much sooner than I anticipate."
She lifted her hands to clap them again, intending to teleport Zero back to her fortress.
"Wait!" Zero looked at the dirt under her bare feet. "Did you remember to do your ground work?"
"Oh, poof!" The witch kneeled, drawing a small, long rectangle in some loose dirt with the end of a twig. She scooped up a handful of dirt, tossing it in the air. "Dust to dust." She brushed her hands against each other. "There, that should do it. Good catch, Zero."
"One more thing." Zero pulled on the end of a yellow ribbon sticking out of her gown's pocket.
The witch waited as Zero gathered her long hair back and tied it in the ribbon.
"Now, you're perfect, Sorceress."
Turning to her henchman, she charmingly offered a demure smile. "Please, Zero, call me Adora."