Author's Notes: Thanks and hugs again go to Alamo Girl and Meredith Paris, whose suggestions and encouragement are what keep me from slapping a frustrated palm to my face every time I think about writing.
Again, the medical information contained herein is factual. Thank God for Google.
Disclaimer in chapter one.
Chapter Two: Necessary Evils
"Damn it, Doc, would you just listen to me?"
"Jeb Cain, I would strongly recommend you leave me alone, unless you want to be walking funny for a week."
His long legs allowed him to catch up with her easily, and he grabbed the reins of her horse before she could even attempt a mount. She whirled on him, eyes blazing with an anger neither of them had ever seen from her before, and he used his free hand to grab her upper arm, partly to stop her from hitting him.
Disbelievingly, she looked down at his harsh grip on her bicep. Her voice was venomous as she spoke lowly. "You unhand me this second before I break your arm."
He did not move, but partially loosened his grip. "Think about this," he seethed through gritted teeth. "Do you honestly think I'd let you go anywhere dangerous? Do you think my father would let DG in the same room as the Sorceress?"
He had a point, and she hated him for it. She turned, wrenching her arm from his grasp. Her foot caught halfway in a stirrup as she tried to get away, and she was trapped and tangled again. After a long moment, she gave up and hopped down, her boots swirling grey dust around both of them. "You told me the Witch was dead."
"She is, Doc. I swear it. I swear on my mother's grave."
As she looked over her shoulder at him, she saw that his eyes were wide, open, and honest. He reached hesitantly for her, easing the medic away from the steed and turning her to face him fully, his hand now gentle on her arm. "I don't know all the details. DG hasn't been that forthcoming. All I know is that the Witch lived inside her sister, and she's gone now. Az—" he stumbled over the name that had brought fear and deadly desolation to their lives for so long, "the Azkadellia in that bed is not the woman who killed your father. She needs your help."
She looked over the ruins of the tower for a moment, sighing inwardly. "You could have called any other medic. Why me?"
"I trust you. So does my father, and DG. We knew nobody else would give one hundred percent to helping her. Hell, they'd probably just let her die. You're not like that. You know right and wrong, even if you don't agree with it."
She closed her eyes, her chin touching her chest in acquiescence. "You could have warned me."
"I know." He dropped his hand and gaze, focusing on the wrecked landscape around them. "I'm sorry."
"Two apologies in one day," she said with a half-smirk. "You're getting soft on me, Captain."
"Don't let it get out. I have a reputation to uphold." He shouldered her pack and slid aside, letting her pass back into the tower.
Her stomach remained in knots as she approached the royal chamber again, and embarrassment colored her cheeks as she reentered.
The Viewer was sitting on the couch, and the medic made a mental note to check him for signs of system stress once she was finished examining the Sorceress. Jeb knocked once on the bedroom door, and the two Resistance fighters stepped through again, a sense of déjà vu replacing the tension in the room.
The medic offered an ashamed smile and curtsy at the princesses, the Queen, and the Consort. "Your Majesties, I apologize for my rudeness—"
The Queen waved her words away with the palm of her hand, and it felt as though she'd drawn the words from the blonde's mouth and made them disappear into the air. "It is perfectly understandable, Doctor. We've all had our share of shocks today."
The blonde nodded and approached the bedside again, wishing the rushing blood in her ears would stop and allow her to hear again. She set her bag next to DG's chair and did a quick once-over of her patient. She was white as a ghost, and her body shook with every unsteady breath she took.
The doctor felt DG rise from her chair, and come to stand behind her. Her breaths were broken by half-sobs, and the shaky air tickled the hairs at the back of the blonde's neck. Off-handedly, the medic wondered why Cain hadn't come to stand guard behind his princess, but got her answer when the brunette stepped back, coming to rest just in front of Cain's chest, his hands on her shoulders in a manner similar to what DG had done while the doctor stitched up Cain's bullet wound in the camp earlier.
The medic took a deep breath as she looked to Azkadellia's face, and tried not to step back in instinctive fear as the dark-haired woman opened her eyes.
What the medic saw there—or, more importantly, what she didn't see there—startled her further and sent her heart racing again, beating harder and louder than it ever had before.
This was not the woman who'd sentenced her father to death. This was not the woman whom she'd screamed at from in front of the gallows, just a teenage girl pleading for her father's life. This was not the woman who'd smiled as the noose tightened around Dan Lowry's neck. This was not the woman who cheered when the floor fell from beneath him, and who did not care that at that moment, while she laughed, that his daughter's life had ended too.
This woman was nearing death's door, and she was obviously scared.
The doctor leaned down, placing her stethoscope to Azkadellia's chest. Her heart was palpitating erratically, and her breaths were shallow. She held the bed sheets tightly, but her grip began to falter as she drifted toward unconsciousness.
The medic heard DG's sob as she tried to muffle it behind a balled hand. She heard Cain shift ever closer and murmur encouragingly to her, offering unwavering support and comfort just as the brunette had the previous day.
The blonde found her voice as she replaced her stethoscope around her neck. "Your Highness," she managed, sounding very unlike herself, "I need you to sit up for me."
DG was to her sister's side in a flash and protesting even faster. "She tried that earlier, and she got dizzy."
"I understand," the doctor replied sympathetically, looking between the sisters, "but lying down isn't helping her heart. I need you to sit up and cough."
Now Cain joined the party, disbelief radiating off him in flooding waves. "That's ridiculous."
"Father," Jeb interjected, but the medic shook her head almost undetectably, knowing the young man would see and understand the movement.
"If this is the result of panic or stress, coughing can restore the heart rate to normal," the doctor said, looking down at Azkadellia but feeling every set of eyes searing into the back of her head, burning the curve of her neck. "I want to try that before we have to resort to anything more invasive."
"I can do it," the eldest princess assured them, reaching a hand for her father and Cain. With the men's help she sat up, but placed a hand to her chest in agony as she did so.
"Az!" DG's cry was terrified.
The doctor moved behind her patient—just another patient, she repeated to herself, it's just another patient—and clapped a hand to the center of Azkadellia's back, causing the brunette to sputter and cough uncontrollably.
DG knelt unsteadily on the bed, grasping her sister's hand tightly in hers. The medic was momentarily blinded by the white light radiating from the fixed grip. She saw Cain step forward again and rest his hand on DG's hip, holding her in place at her sister's side. The look on his face registered fleetingly in the doctor's mind, one not only of concern, but something akin to hope and pleading, as though he were praying to gods she knew he no longer believed in that someone close to him would not have to know loss or pain again.
Azkadellia's coughing slowed, and the medic rubbed slow, soothing circles on her back, identical to the ones her sister was currently receiving from her protector. "That's it," she murmured, as though speaking to a child. "Now take a deep breath in for me."
The breath the former Sorceress took was shuddering, the effort whitening her face even further. DG looked at the blonde with pleading eyes, silently begging her to stop the perceived torture. The medic shook her head, her own eyes assuring the princess everything she was doing was for the good of her sister, and returned her attention to Azkadellia. "One more deep breath. That's it."
The shaky breaths ceased, and the eldest princess surprised the entire room when she took a deep, cleansing breath, as though she'd just emerged from a tsunami. Her eyes were clearer than they'd been upon the doctor's arrival, and the princess blinked harshly, pulling her hand from her sister's and rubbing her face.
The blonde replaced her stethoscope on the brunette's chest and listened, pleased when she heard the palpitations had slowed. "Very good, Your Highness," she soothed, somewhat unnaturally, reaching behind the woman to prop up some pillows for her comfort. "Just keep breathing." She watched the woman carefully as she leaned back, apprehensive that her paleness had not dissipated, even with concentrated oxygen flow. Azkadellia was also still fighting to stay conscious, looking as though she was ready to fall into a long, deep, dreamless slumber at any moment.
The doctor directed her through a series of simple, quick tests to show muscle condition and fatigue, trying to filter her observations about the other occupants of the room from those of her patient. She knew the few minutes she'd examined Azkadellia had felt like an eternity to her family, evidenced by the relieved sigh DG expelled when the medic replaced her stethoscope around her neck and looked toward the royal family.
"You're going to be fine." She addressed the family briefly before looking directly at her patient. "I believe your body treated this…possession…like a parasite. Now that it's gone, your body is fighting to right itself. Your magical ability," she glanced down at the sisters' rejoined hands, "is fighting with your body's natural ability to regenerate. I think that with rest and some remedies, both herbal and medicinal, we can have you back to full strength in a few weeks."
The doctor had to keep the shock off her face when the former Sorceress reached for her hand, the warmth of her magic tingling and warming the blonde's fingers. "Thank you, Doctor Lowry." There was a pleading sincerity to the simple words, and the medic swallowed the uncertainty in her throat before replying.
"You're quite welcome, Your Highness." She looked at the Queen and Consort. "With your permission, I'd like to follow up with Princess Azkadellia within a few days to ensure the treatment is working."
"Of course," the Queen replied, her smile lighting the room like her daughters' linked hands had. "You are always welcome here, Doctor."
"I need to go back to base and retrieve the supplies. If you'll pardon me, Majesties." The blonde curtseyed after the Queen nodded, and gathered her bag.
She shook all the way to her horse, and could not tie her pack to the back of the saddle.
Jeb followed her and gathered her in his arms as she sobbed, adrenaline seeping from her body through her tears.
"DG, my darling," the Queen said quietly after the Resistance fighters left, "you need to rest."
DG looked at her mother, surprised. "I'm fine."
Cain's voice was as soft as his breath on her ear. "It might not be a bad idea, kid. You've had a long couple of days."
She craned her neck to look at him, and found his face as impassive as ever. But there was something in his eyes that registered subconsciously, but still deeply, within her, and she sighed, knowing this battle was all but lost. "Only if Az says it's okay."
Her sister smiled at her from her bed. "I'm not going anywhere, Deege. You look like you could use a bath, a meal and a bed."
"Hey!" DG protested. "I don't look that bad. Do I?" She looked to Cain for confirmation. He only smirked and gave a half-shrug.
"Fine," the brunette huffed, rising from the bed, but not before kissing her sister's cool forehead. "If you need anything—"
"I'll have someone find you. I promise." Azkadellia looked beyond her sister at the protective soldier behind her. "Do try to keep her out of trouble, won't you, Mr. Cain?"
"I make no promises, Your Highness. Trouble does seem to find her rather easily."
"Hey!" DG protested, moving to elbow Cain in the ribs. He caught her arm easily, turning her slightly toward him. If either of them moved any further, her arm would be around his waist.
Neither seemed to mind.
"There are more bedrooms two floors down," Azkadellia said softly, her eyes light as she watched her sister and the Tin Man. "Forgive the decorating."
DG laughed brightly in spite of the situation and hugged her sister once more before allowing Cain to usher her to the bedroom. As she stood in the hallway, allowing him to search and secure the room, the nagging sense of confusion and loss she'd felt since the travel storm dropped her in the O.Z started to overwhelm her. She'd lost, and then found her parents—or, the robots she believed to be her parents—then lost them again to the Sorceress' tyranny. She found people who cared for her, who remembered and knew more about her life than she did, and she felt nothing but confusion around them.
She'd found friends and a warm sense of comforting safety, despite not knowing much about them, nor spending much time with them. Indeed, she'd found very good friends, one in particular who'd refused to leave her side, and despite the justifications she'd tried to make herself believe, not just out of some promise he'd made to an old man. One in particular whose proximity was making her head spin, and she couldn't tell if she liked it or not.
She'd found a home she didn't remember, but that remembered her, and she was going to be in charge of helping to rebuild it. All those lives, depending on her.
Only one, and one alone…
DG felt her knees start to give out from beneath her, and as always, Cain was there to keep her from falling. He guided her into the bedroom and kicked the door shut with his foot, placing her in an overstuffed chair. Kneeling in front of her, he bent his head until he caught her eyes, which were wide, wild and the deepest navy blue he'd ever seen.
He'd never been good in dealing with emotional females—hell, he'd never been good with dealing with emotions, period. But there had been something about this crazy girl, this insane Other Sider, that he instinctively understood.
She wanted to find her family, just like he did.
She didn't take shit from anybody, just like he didn't.
She may not have understood it fully, but there was a mission to complete, answers to find, and she'd do her damndest to do it right, just like he did.
As DG sat, looking down at him, openly and unabashedly scared, he thought back to the doctor's orders. "Take a deep breath," he said, lowering and quieting his voice as he had with the Mystic Man. "You gotta breathe for me, DG, or you're gonna pass out."
She closed her eyes and tried to center herself, but found only a swirling and foreboding maelstrom of overwhelming confusion waiting behind her eyelids. Her eyes flew open at the imposition, and she instead focused on Cain's concerned gaze, his softened face, and the way his hands held tightly to hers as they rested on her knees.
As she tried to breathe, she felt as though there was no air in her lungs. She started to panic further, until she felt Cain squeeze her fingers, partially lacing their hands together.
"Come on, kiddo," he urged. "Don't lose your head."
Somehow, as though his words persuaded the gods above offered some of their own air to her, she found a short breath and expelled it, harshly and unevenly. Once the initial gasp passed, she found it easier to fill her chest, and nodded after her breathing returned to normal.
"I'm sorry," she said, and watched as Cain's forehead scored with momentary confusion.
"You have nothing to be sorry about. Truth is, I'm surprised that hadn't happened sooner."
Now it was her turn to be puzzled. "What?"
"You've been through a hell of a lot the past week. Most people would have panicked long before now."
"Oh, I panicked," she assured him.
"I never saw it," he countered.
She dropped her gaze to their still connected hands. "When I lost you in the Realm of the Unwanted, when Ahamo grabbed me…"
He sucked in a slight breath at that, but pushed his discomfort aside. "You're safe now. Everybody's fine. Because of you."
"Because of us," she corrected. "I couldn't have done it without you."
They were treading on dangerous ground, teetering on a precipice that he'd seen before, and knew the dangers of. "Don't forget about Raw and Zipperhead," he added, releasing her hands and rising to stand in front of her. "And that damn dog, too."
She smiled, shaking her head at his reticence. "False modesty does nothing for you," she teased.
"I know. I'll be expecting my medal any day now, Princess." He stepped further back and allowed her direct access to the bed. "You should get some sleep."
"So should you."
"Not tired," he lied. "Besides, Jeb and Doc should be back from camp soon."
If it was possible, DG's face softened further. "You guys have a lot to talk about."
Cain nodded gruffly. "Yeah, we do."
"Will you get me once the doctor's done with Az? I want to be with her."
"Of course, Princess," he replied, reaching down to the bed and unceremoniously yanking the covers back. "Now, sleep."
She toed off her shoes and peeled off her jacket, haphazardly throwing it in the chair she'd previously been sitting in. As she passed him, she rose on her socked toes and pressed a lingering kiss to his cheek. "Thank you," she said quietly, slipping in between the sheets.
He could only nod in reply, and hovered as her exhausted eyes shut themselves almost involuntarily. He watched her carefully as she fell asleep, waiting to make sure her stressed visage melted into one of comforted dreams before he left her, closing the door silently behind him.
End Chapter Two