I do so love the feedbacks. So, here's chapter two. a little later than i'd planned, but still, not a bad update time.

DeeDee came back to herself with the oddest feeling of de ja vu. Laying flat on her back after being tossed about by harsh, swirling winds, no idea where she was… The young queen blinked up at the ceiling above her and realized with a start that she did know where she was. She was still in the palace. The woman scrambled upright and saw that she was just outside the nursery where the wind had struck. It had only pulled her out into the hallway. That didn't make any sense. Why would a magical wind suddenly strike, only to knock her ten feet? She gasped, lunging for the now closed door and hands and knees. What if the purpose of the blast had been to separate her from the others? Without the woman there to protect them from whatever magic had been thrown their way, her family was vulnerable, defenseless.

DeeDee twisted the knob, but the door was locked. She pounded on the heavy wood. "Cain? Glitch?" she cried, panic rising. "Open the door!" There was silence from the room. "Cain!"

Though she had been married to the man for nearly four years, whenever Dee was upset or frightened, she called him by the name she'd learned her first week in the O.Z., when he was her fiercest protector. Footsteps echoed down the corridor and four palace guards rushed to her aid.

"Your Highness, what's wrong?" an unfamiliar guard asked. He was the only brunette out of the bunch, with clear green eyes. Dee knew she had never seen him before. In fact, she did not recognize the other three either, but was too upset to notice or care.

"I need a key for this door. Now!" she ordered, pressing one hand flat against the wood as though she would be able to feel her family on the other side. The brunette guard shifted uncomfortably.

"Highness, why would you need the key to this room?" he asked, eyes confused and more than a little worried.

"It's locked," she snapped, twisting the knob to illustrate. The men looked at each other uneasily.

"Yes, Highness. It's always locked," the man told her slowly. DeeDee scowled at him and he actually flinched. She did not dwell on it, but pushed to her feet, ignoring the way all four of them fell back a few paces.

"If you won't help me, I'll do it myself," she growled. She turned to face the door fully and gritted her teeth, taking a deep breath. That familiar, comforting tingle behind her heart spread warmth through her body, power pulsing against her senses.

One of the guards, one of two blondes, seemed to realize what she was about to do, for he suddenly stepped forward. "Your Highness, don't!"

It was useless. As the words left his mouth, Dee released the energy wave, focusing on the door before her. The floor shook as the heavy wood exploded into a shower of splinters with a deafening crash. The men fell back in fear and awe as bits of wood and dust fell all around them and the young queen.

DeeDee stepped into the room quickly. She knew that her demolition of the door was no risk to her husbands or son, as she had deliberately directed the blast outward. Fear still constricted her throat as she blindly ran a hand up the all aside the doorway, searching for the light switch. Neither Glitch, nor Cain had made so much as a whimper. Not even tiny Wyatt Ambrose had uttered a sound. Finally locating the switch, she flicked the lights on and was dumbstruck.

The nursery was gone. The large room instead housed a number of dust covered trunks and crates. One of those disturbing O.Z. spiders had made a home in an upper corner of the room and was eyeing her from its intricate, black web.

"Where are they?" the woman breathed.

"I tried to tell you, Highness. This is just a storage room," the green-eyed man told her plaintively from behind her. She could hear others fast approaching.

"Where is my family?" Dee demanded, still staring about the room in disbelieving shock. The footsteps halted outside the ruined doorway.

"Sir," the mouthy brunette guard said with stiff deference. "The situation is-"

"Where is my family?" she repeated, louder, anger rising to mingle with the cold fear pumping through her veins.

"Your Highness?" a firm, authoritative, and vaguely familiar voice asked. Finally, someone she knew. They would be able to help her. She turned towards the newcomer.

"Where is my son…" the final word died on her tongue as she lifted her eyes and came face to face with one of the monsters that haunted her dreams and made her cry out for Cain on the occasional cold, dark night - drenched in sweat.

"Zero?" she breathed, stepping back, further into the room.

"Princess," he reciprocated, ducking his head in a partial bow and taking a step towards her.

"How… how did you get here?" her eyes were wide as she continued to back away from the man.

"I heard the explosion and ran, your Highness." He spoke as though the question were entirely foolish, but he was humoring her anyway.

"But you… Cain…" the Queen stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence through the haze of shock that fogged her mind.

Zero's eyes narrowed. "Cain?" he asked, voice hard and demanding. He took a purposeful step towards her, one hand coming up.

"No!" she shrieked, falling back and tossing up a magical barrier by reflex alone. It was strong enough to knock the man back against the door frame. DeeDee pressed herself against a stack of crates, the wall of her barrier shimmering before her like gossamer.

A palace guard rushed forward to aid the stunned man and Dee pointed at Zero. "Seize him!" she commanded, voice quavering. In the back of her mind she understood how ridiculous the order sounded, but did not give a damn. For a moment the guard only stared at her. She repeated the command, her voice growing shrill with panic. Why weren't they listening to her? She was the Queen for fuck's sake!

"You heard the Princess," Zero snapped at the guards - there were ten of them now, and still not one familiar face, save that of the Longcoat. "Seize me. If that will calm her, do it now!" he ordered without even a hint of sarcasm or condescension. Two guards immediately flanked the man, each taking hold of one of his arms. A third stepped forward and relieved Zero of his sidearm - a painfully familiar six-shot revolver.

"What did you do to them?" Dee demanded, tears blurring her vision. She knew what Zero was capable of and thoughts of the awful things he might have done to her precious family threatened to steal her sanity.

"To whom, Your Highness?" he asked, sounding far to calm and reasonable.

"My husbands and son!" she shouted, slamming a fist against the crate at her back.

"Your Highness, what-" the other blonde guard tried to speak, but the enraged monarch cut him off.

"Where are they?!" she shrieked, the words half broken, almost sobs. "What have you done with Cain and Glitch? Where is Wyatt Ambrose, you son of a bitch?!"

One of the men suddenly gasped and raced from the room. Dee barely noticed his departure.

"Your Highness, I haven't done anything to anyone," Zero insisted, calmly, his gaze never wavering from her own.

"Then what are you doing here? How did you even get out?" she demanded. The man's brow furrowed ever so slightly in what looked like, but could not possibly be, confusion.

"Get out?" he parroted back. She ignored his attempt to toy with her mind. He knew full well what she was talking about.

"Why are you here?"

"It's my job, Your Highness," he told her, matter-of-factly. There was -yet again- the sound of footfalls hurrying towards the room. The guard that had left in such a rush reappeared in much the fashion with which he left - wide eyes and hurried movements. He was joined by a gangly man with raven locks and tawny eyes.

"Glitch!" she cried, launching herself at the man, throwing her arms about his neck. If Glitch was alright, then Cain and her baby son would be alright as well. Her knees were weak with sheer relief, sagging against her husband bonelessly. The man's hands came up to rest on her hips, but he did not pull her close, did not embrace her, did not bury his face in her hair as he had everyday since she met him in the giant bird cage the insane turkey-men of the Eastern Guild had imprisoned them within. His posture was rail stiff and he even leaned slightly away from her.

DeeDee pulled back, her hands slipping off of the shiny, smooth green silk vest. She took in the differences she had not noticed at first, so happy was she to see her beloved Glitch. His hair was shorter, slicked back smooth in lustrous waves. His shoulders were back, his back straight as an arrow. His mouth, usually curved in that sweet, mischievous Glitch smile was pinched and turned down. And, most telling of all, those lovely, toffee colored eyes gazed at her coldly, without a trace of the warmth she so loved and depended on.

"You're not Glitch," she told the man before her, her dark eyebrows bunching in confusion and betrayal.

"No, I'm Ambrose," the man told her. Even his voice was cold and distant. Dee took a step back from him.

"You're not my Ambrose," she declared, a horrible sense of dread washing over her as everything clicked into place. She gazed pleadingly into the eyes of this man who looked like her friend and lover and husband, but was not. "Where am I?"

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