Chapter 2: Starts with a Dream

A/N: I hope that you are all enjoying this so far. Well, enjoying it as much as you can with the sad start point anyway. DG got her say in the first chapter, but she will not be the POV for several chapters at least. That is, unless you want to hear from her intermittently. Be sure to let me know though.

Sebastian-Flight - Yeah, the POV will jump around. Not so much for this chapter, but other chapters will have more than one POV usually. The characters just seem to have so much to say in my head...Anyway, thanks so much for reviewing!

KLCtheBookWorm - When I watch the series, I always want to make the sister bond important in my fanfic. I just think that since they were so close when they were young that they would try and rekindle that. Also, thanks so much for the review!

A thought, I will try to post new chapters on a weekly-ish basis. I usually land on Thursday or Friday. However, one of my readers has asked for an early posting this week. A day is still early. I can swing it sometimes, as I like to have chapters done long before they have to be posted. But sometimes writer's block or real life happen.

I do not own Tin Man, I just play with the characters.

AZ

Winds swirl around me. There is a sudden drop. I see a pile of rubble that I know used to be a comfortable home. My hand reaches out in front of me, except it is not my hand. How confusing. Something flies out of the mess and into my hand. It seems to be intact. What is a cell phone and why would I know anything about it? There is a piece of a shattered mirror on the ground. In it, I catch a glimpse of myself. It's not me. It's the shadow that DG has become. Our eyes meet…

I jerk awake, gasping for air. Something has happened. I can feel it. Grabbing a robe I run to DG's room. The closed door stops me. She's not there. I know this deep down. The wood taunts me a moment before I throw the door open.

"DG?" I ask the empty room.

There is no answer. I did not expect there to be, really. Everything seems to be in its place. Art supplies spill from a wardrobe and her desk. The bed is made. She didn't sleep here. There's an envelope on her pillow. My heart sinks at the sight. I don't have to read it to know. My little sister is gone. Clutching the envelope to my chest, I sink to my knees. Tears stream down my face. All I feel is bone-breaking heartache. My despair seems to leave almost visible waves in the air. My magic is projecting my grief, but hopefully not my guilt. I know that my parents will be on the way here ay moment.

DG could have come to me. She was having problems and trying to take care of them herself. Who's surprised? Not me, that's for sure. If she didn't think she would get a sympathetic ear here at the palace, did she try to talk to someone else? Maybe one of her friends tried to help her. How long has it been since she spent any time with one of them? I just can't recall. Now that I think about it, she has been alone more and more often. Also, she has been spending more time in the library outside of magic lessons. Does Tutor know what is going on? I will have to ask him about it…

The gasp behind me barely registers. My mother is here, I don't even have to look. My father has to be beside her. A hand grips my shoulder. The envelope won't move from where I am still holding it. Mother knows that I have it somehow. She probably felt my distress through my magic. Gently, my hands are pried apart. I don't want to know what that letter contains. I have to know, but I don't know if I can handle it. I failed my sister. That failure is probably stated outright on that very paper. I should have seen this coming. I should have stopped DG from leaving.

"Dear everyone. I can't be what you all expect me to be. It's abundantly clear that I am not a proper princess of the OZ. I can't bear to disappoint any of you further. My failure is overwhelming. The OZ would have been better off if I had never existed. The witch would still be imprisoned. Az would have had her childhood. Mother and father would never have been apart. Wyatt and Jeb's family would still be whole. Glitch would have remained Ambrose. Raw's people would be safe. The list is endless.

Since I don't know a spell to erase my being born, I am doing the closest thing I can to it. I summoned a travel storm and slipped through to the other side. This decision was not made lightly. Great thought went into it over a long time. I hope you can find it in yourselves to understand. I know that forgiveness is not an option, so I won't even ask. Know that I will never be able to forgive myself.

Please do not try to follow me, I don't want to be found.

I love and will miss you all. DG." Mother reads the letter in an oddly calm voice. It's more like there is no emotion, really.

Somehow I made my way to DG's bed during the reading. Holding her pillow, I curl around it in the very middle of the mattress.

"We failed her," father whispers.

"She never came to anyone about how she felt," mother sobs. It seems she has found her feelings.

"Why would she have? We were all so focused on the kind of princess that she would have been had she grown up here. DG didn't grow up here. She didn't even have any evidence that we like her for the woman that she is." I can't hold back my contempt of all of us.

We were all so blind to DG. There were signs. She was thin in an unhealthy way. I'm fairly certain that she did not sleep well. The exuberance that carried her through the journey to save me faded. It was gradual, but someone should have noticed. I should have seen what was happening. DG thought we didn't care. That hurts a lot, if I am being truthful, because I know what that feels like. All she had to do was reach out, but that reaching is also the hardest and most scary part.

"What should we do?" Mother ignores my outburst. I know she wants to have a plan.

What can we do? DG doesn't want to be followed or found. I don't think that I can accept that. I know that I don't want to live without knowing she is safe and happy. She's my sister. After thinking about it, I decide what I'm going to do. I know that my parents will fight me on it, but I will not back down. This is too important.

"I'm going after her," I announce as I sit up on the bed.

A/N: I'm pondering spreading the POV to include other characters, but Az seems a good central point. Thoughts? Leanings? Thanks for reading! Review if you please.