A/N: As usual, Tin Man is not copyright to me, I do not own it, unfortunately. Anyways, this chapter is much longer than the last one, so I hope you enjoy! Also, Reviews help me write faster, so please, Read and Review!
Divided I stand
Chapter 2
AKA: Disagreements with myself
"I'm Ambrose, what are you doing in my head?!"
"Oh! I'm Glitch! I'm you."
"You just said you were Glitch."
"Right. Hi, I'm glitch."
"Aaaand, I'm Ambrose..."
"Great! I'm you!"
"You just said you were Glitch!" Ambrose cried, becoming increasingly angry with the voice in his head. He was beginning to get the feeling that he had gone quite mad.
"Yeah, and...?" Glitch replied, getting fed up. For a genius, this Ambrose was awfully slow.
"How can you be me if you're Glitch?!" The queens advisor demanded.
"Oh, that's an easy one." Glitch said, smiling. "See, after you had half your brain removed, I was what was left. I've been wandering all over the O.Z. trying to find my brain, and now I have! I do wish you'd go away though, it's awfully cramped in here with you around."
"But this is my brain, and my body, and I insist that you leave immediately!"
"No way! Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for my brain?" Glitch demanded, outraged by the others rudeness.
"How long?" Ambrose asked sarcastically.
There was a long pause before Glitch finally responded, "I...don't remember."
"What?!" Ambrose shouted.
What neither person realized that as the debate had heated, it had gone from an internal struggle to a very loud external argument with, for all intents and purposes, himself. Another thing neither realized was that Wyatt Cain had been standing on the other side of the door for most of it, one hand still raised to knock, but he had failed to carry out the motion upon hearing Glitch having such a bizarre conversation with himself.
Afraid that the clearly deranged man would become violent...towards himself...Cain finally decided to forgo the knocking and simply opened the door, snapping it quickly shut behind him. "What the hell is going on in here?" He demanded of the frazzled looking scientist before him, who had turned to look at the intruder on his self inflicted argument with surprise.
"Who are you?! Another deranged lunatic come to drive me mad?" Ambrose demanded of Cain, causing the Tin Man to give him a very confused look.
Before he could speak though, Glitch took over and threw himself at Cain's feet. "Cain! Oh thank Ozma! You've got to help me! Something went horribly wrong with the surgery."The half-brained man grasped Cain by the pant legs and looked up at him from where he knelt on the floor, looking more upset and confused than the Tin Man had ever seen him before.
"I gathered as much." Was all the pale haired man could manage as he stared down at the distressed Glitch. Cain had to be honest with himself. He was completely and utterly astonished at the state in which he found his good friend (not something that happened very often). Through their travels across the O.Z., he had become accustomed to the malfunctions of the mans brain that gave him his name, but they'd always been temporary. He'd never seen him come so completely unhinged before.
"You still haven't answered my question. Who are you? Oh, and what are you doing barging into my room like this?" The confused look Glitch had been wearing vanished and was replaced with one of righteous indignation from Ambrose as he got to his feet and stared angrily at Cain. It was then that the former rebel realized that this wasn't one of Glitch's normal episodes, not by a long shot. He'd never seen Glitch affect such a look toward anyone. No, the man staring him down now wasn't Glitch at all, it was the Queen's Advisor, Ambrose.
"Damn, the Princess was right." Cain said quietly. Her nervous feeling hadn't just been nerves on their friends part after all. Perhaps it was her magic warning her that something had gone amiss in the surgery.
Glitch's face brightened as he eagerly shoved Ambrose to the back of their shared mind and surfaced once more, "That's it Cain! You have to go get the princess! She'll know what to do! But you can't tell anyone else, can't tell anyone else!"
"What do you mean, don't tell anyone else? We have to tell the queen, or a doctor at least..." Cain began, but he was cut off when Glitch suddenly grabbed him by the front of his coat and pulled on him with surprising strength.
"No! Cain, on the Ice Lake you told me that you owed me one, for saving your life. I'm calling in that favor now. You can't tell the queen, or anyone else." Here, Glitch looked unusually solemn. "I can't let the queen down like that, Ambrose either, that's something we have in common."
The Tin Man was so struck by the intensity of their gaze, for he somehow had a feeling that both of the man's personalities were suddenly united in this single idea, that he could do nothing but agree.
"Fine, but if this gets too out of control, if you hurt the princess, I will report to the queen." Cain said, meeting their gaze with equal intensity on this subject.
Glitch nodded and released his friend's coat from his death grip. As soon as he did, Cain had turned on heel and swept out of the room, donning his wide brimmed hat as he did, leather coat billowing out behind him.
DG was in her spacious bedroom, surrounded by a gaggle of women, both young and old, all of them busy pinning fabric to her, paying her compliments, and occasionally sticking her with pins. The youngest princess was in no way thrilled with being fitted for new dresses, this one in particular being for the ball that her mother had arranged for two weeks hence. She would much rather, she thought, be with Cain checking in on Glitch to make sure that he was okay. As it was, her mother had insisted that she stand for her fittings first and let Glitch get some rest before she went to him. This hadn't sat at all well with DG, but not wanting to argue with her mother, she had agreed, but taken Cain aside before her fitting and asked him to check on Glitch for her.
The princess looked up hopefully as the door to her chambers creaked open part way and the man she had been hoping to see stuck his head in to see where she was.
"Cain!" DG said, relief showing all over her face for the excuse to push a few seamstresses out of the way and jump off the pedestal she had been perched upon to go see what news her friend had for her.
The Tin Man's insides gave a twinge of regret as he saw the princess rush towards him, hope in her wide blue eyes. He hated to be the one who told her that what he had previously thought was her unfounded fears had turned out to be all to true.
At the uncharacteristic look of regret on the mans face, DG's own face fell, and she knew that all was as she had feared last night. Something had gone wrong with Glitch.
"Oh god, what happened?" she whispered, horrified as she looked up at her protector, dread rising from somewhere deep within her to gnaw at her heart in the form of fear.
"DG...He...well, Glitch is-" Cain was having trouble finding words that wouldn't send the princess into an outright panic, but his hesitation did just as much damage. DG shoved past him and bolted from the room, trailing yards of blue silk and pins as she ran.
The Tin man put an arm out and stopped the seamstresses from running after her, telling them that he would handle it, and that the princess would be back momentarily if they would be so kind as to wait. With that, he closed the door sharply in their surprised faces and took off after DG at a quick jog.
Back in his room, the confused scientist was seated in a chair looking alternately sulky and outraged, his knees drawn up to his chest and toes curled over the edge of the comfortable cushion.
"Is someone going to answer me yet? Who was that?" Ambrose demanded.
"That was Cain, a Tin Man. My friend."
"A Tin Man? I thought Azkedelia got rid of them all when she took over?"
"She did, but now they're back."
"And working for Azkedelia? You realize she'll be taking my brain back out now, thanks to you." Ambrose said, sounding incensed.
"For a genius, you're awfully stupid."Glitch snapped back.
"I beg your pardon?!"
"Cain's not going to go get Az, and even if he was, she's okay now anyways."
"What are you talking about?" Ambrose demanded. The last thing he remembered was the elder princess's coup and the subsequent removal of his brain. "What other princess would he be getting?"
"Isn't it obvious, I asked him to go get-"
Glitch was cut off though as the door abruptly burst open, making him jump up halfway in his chair in surprise and alarm, a feeling mimicked by Ambrose, who was certain the long coats would be on him any second to haul him away to the nearest alchemist.
"DG!" Glitch said in relief as he realized that it was the princess who had entered so abruptly. He let out a yelp of surprise, though, as the princess jumped up and wrapped her arms around him in relief that something truly horrible hadn't happened. She had secretly been afraid that he had died or something, thanks to the Tin Man's lack of explanation. Unfortunately, before she could speak, Glitch's precarious position of being halfway up the chair with her clinging to him sent the chair tumbling over backwards, making them both hit the floor with a thump.
Glitch found himself mildly dazed by the impact, but came around quickly, only to find himself awash in a sea of blue silk, with several somethings stabbing him, and making him rather uncomfortable.
"DG?" he said again, pulling up a fold of blue silk and spotting the dark haired princess looking at him from beneath it. "You okay?" he asked, struggling to sit up, though it was a little hard with her sprawled on top of him. Not that he really minded her being on top of him, he discovered, but the stabbing sensations from the silk rather took some of the novelty out of it.
"Y-yeah. I'm fine." DG replied, though her voice sounded shaky, and it wasn't their sudden fall to the floor that had caused it. She pushed herself up, though remained sitting on Glitch's legs, looking at him worriedly as he pulled himself together, removing a few pins that had become lodged in his clothing.
Glitch looked at her from the corner of his eyes as he picked at a few needles. Even as a man with only half a brain he could see that DG looked lovely in her new dress, even if it was only half finished. The color, he thought, really brought out the color of her eyes. His heart quickened slightly with her sitting there on his knees, looking rather fetching in a cute, tousled kind of way.
With great difficulty, he shoved the thought away, even he could see that thinking things like that about the princess was inappropriate. So, instead, he smiled at her and said "Hiya princess, what brings you here?", his brain, once again, living up to his name.
Through all this, Ambrose had been shocked enough by DG's sudden appearance to remain in the proverbial back seat. Apparently there was more to Glitch than he had first thought. It was obvious he was on friends terms with the princess, and not just any princess, but DG, who had been sent away as a mere child before Azkedelia's violent take over. But if this was DG, then many years had passed indeed, for she was not a child anymore, but a lovely young woman of at least twenty.
That thought alone suddenly struck fear through his heart. If the princess was this old now, and she had been a child when he had last seen her, then over decade had passed. What had happened during his long absence? Where had he been? The Queen? Azkedelia? He had to know. So, while Glitch was distracted with the princess, Ambrose reached for the other mans memories, hoping to learn what had happened while he was gone. Being the brilliant man that he was, it didn't take Ambrose long to figure out how to access Glitch's side of the brain and find what he needed.
DG ignored her addled friend's question, as she knew it was just his brain glitching again. She looked back over her shoulder and nodded at Cain as he stood in the doorway. He nodded in return and left the room, closing the door behind him and proceeding to stand guard so that they wouldn't be interrupted.
The princess turned her gaze back to Glitch, who was still smiling at her and asked "Glitch, are you alright? Cain said...well, actually Cain didn't say much of anything, but I got the impression that there was something wrong."
"Hmm? Oh! Yes!" Glitch abruptly exclaimed as it all came back to him once more, the reason he had been upset, why Cain had gone off in such a hurry... "Oh princess it's horrible! The surgery, the surgery went all wrong!" he said, pulling his legs from under DG and crouching before her.
"What?! How do you mean?" DG exclaimed.
"It's Ambrose! He won't give me back my brain!" Glitch complained, looking pained as he put his hands to his bandaged head.
That made DG pause.
"You mean, Ambrose is in there too? You're two separate people in one body?" the princess asked, clambering mentally to try and keep up with where this conversation was going.
"Yes! It's horrible!" Glitch paused and then leaned forward, as though Ambrose might overhear, and whispered "He's not at all nice. Keeps telling me to get out of his body! So rude."
DG thought for a moment before finally saying "Can I...talk...to Ambrose? Maybe he could explain what happened?"
Glitch sat back, frowning, "I guess so. I don't know why you'd want to though." Internally he called out to the other occupant of his body "Hey stuffed shirt! The princess wants to talk to you."
Ambrose managed to rouse himself from his perusal of Glitch's memories, and frowned internally, replying "That is no way to talk to the queens advisor."
Glitch snorted, but otherwise didn't make a reply, he simply let Ambrose take the forefront of their shared mind, though not without a few discontented grumblings.
The dark haired woman brushed some of her long dark hair from her face, her eyes never leaving her friends face as she waited. He had closed his eyes, and she was shocked at how his countenance changed once he opened them again. He truly was a different person. "Ambrose?" She asked, blinking at him in surprise, for memories of her mother's most trusted advisor immediately began springing to mind, and she knew that this could be no one else looking back at her from her best friends dark eyes.
Ambrose rose to his feet, straightening himself out to make himself look as dignified as possible (at least as dignified as one can look in their pajamas. Granted, they were very nice pajamas, all brown silk with gold trim, but that's beside the point), before bowing low at the waist to her.
"Welcome home, Princess."
DG could only sit and stare up at him, looking flabbergasted. It wasn't until her mother's chief advisor extended a hand to her, that she recalled herself. She took his hand and he pulled her to her feet, letting her straighten herself and her half-sewn skirts out.
The princess curtsied as best she could in her unfinished dress and said "It's been a long time, Ambrose. I don't suppose you remember anything?" She looked at him curiously, wondering just how much he remembered.
"I didn't until just now." Ambrose replied, dark eyes watching the Princess. He was still growing accustomed to how much she had changed. It was all rather unsettling. "I've been accessing some of Glitch's memories, and I'm beginning to get the general shape of what has been going on. Your mother is alright? Glitch seems to think so, but some of his memories seem warped, or are missing pieces."
DG smiled slightly, warming up to the man a bit more. He was just like she remembered him, which she supposed made sense, as it had been hardly any time at all for his conscious mind since she had last seen him. "Yes, mother is fine, we all are. The witch that had possessed Azkedelia is gone, and things are slowly making their way back towards normal. Well...except for-"
"Me." Ambrose finished. DG nodded, and he could practically read her next question on her face.
"You're no doubt wondering what went wrong with the surgery so that it's both of us in here, instead of just one. Truth be told, I have no idea. Last thing I remember is that alchemist counting down from one hundred before he..." Ambrose bit his lip at the memory, still fresh for him, though long past for everyone else.
He looked so upset then, that DG couldn't help but reach out and hug him, just like she would have done with Glitch. This sudden move of affection from the woman took Ambrose by surprise though, giving Glitch the opportunity to move to the front again. He hadn't been keeping track of the conversation enough to know why they were hugging, but he wasn't about to let the chance pass him by. He wrapped his arms around DG and said "Hello there, why are we hugging?"
DG looked up in surprise and could immediately tell that it was Glitch smiling down at her from those eyes. She didn't know how, but even when they didn't speak, she could always tell them apart.
"He just looked so upset, thinking about when he had his brain removed, I couldn't help but hug him like I would have you." She said, a little embarrassed.
"Oh, yeah. Took him by surprise I think." Glitch smiled as the princess laughed slightly and then he spoke again. "I like your hugs though. You can hug me any time." He flashed her a smile that the princess couldn't help but return. She didn't let him go immediately though, instead she asked "Well, Ambrose doesn't seem to know why you guys ended up like this. You have any ideas, Glitch?"
Glitch tilted his head up and to the side, like he always did when he tried to think. This time around, he seemed to have more success than usual. DG thought that maybe he was able to make some use of Ambrose's side of the brain, similar to how Ambrose had been able to look at Glitch's memories. "It seems to me...that we're two very different people. Maybe if my brain had been returned right away, it would have been okay...but as it is, Ambrose has been gone for almost 15 annuals, leaving the remains of my brain time to make up a whole new personality for what was left of it. As you can tell, we don't seem to mix well."
DG blinked in surprise at the idea, or more because it was Glitch who had thought of it.
"You're surprise too, I see." Remarked Ambrose, having recovered from his earlier surprise. As he took over, he released DG and took a step back. "What he says does make sense, though I'd have to run some tests on myself to see if that is what's really wrong, or if it's just something that didn't get reconnected physically in the brain, which is also possible." The scientist looked thoughtful and then said "I don't suppose my old laboratory survived?"
"I haven't really asked. I can find out when I go explain things to my mother though." DG said.
Ambrose and Glitch both looked like they were going to object for a moment, before Ambrose finally nodded slowly in reluctant agreement. "It is probably for the best that the Queen know. I doubt we'd be able to hide this..." He waved at his head in refference to the fact that there were currently two people residing within it, "...thing from her for very long. She's always been such a perceptive woman. Do try and keep it quiet amongst everyone else though, please."
"Alright." DG said with a nod. She almost moved to hug him again, but reminded herself that it was Ambrose, not Glitch, speaking right then. "I'll ask about your laboratory so you can get to the bottom of this."
"Thank you Princess." Ambrose said with another courtly bow as DG made to leave.
"Wait! What am I supposed to do while stuffed shirt plays with our brain? Don't I get to do anything?" Glitch asked suddenly, dissapointed.
"Of course you get to do something Glitch, if you don't mind teaching me how to dance. For the party, you know." DG said with a smile back over her shoulder.
Glitch beamed at the dark haired woman and nodded enthusiastically. "That I can do."
"Good, now you guys get back to bed and rest. I'll be back by later." the princess said with a warm smile, closing the door softly behind her.
AN: Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you enjoyed, and if you did, Please make sure to Read and Review! Reviews always help me write the next chapter faster!!!
