A worn and weathered man, the Commander knelt to the ground in front of a harshly carved wooden grave. The absolute certainty he had carried in his shoulders since Zero's tin prison had not disappeared, but now looked as if it were placed upon a welcoming altar, and replaced with the rigidity of duty.
Sixteen men stood at attention in protection and respect for the Tin Man and his buried past. The soldiers kept their eyes level, not intruding on the privacy and intimacy of the moments passing- all of them except one.
Aaron knew of the gravity here. As a spy during the resistance, he had honed his skills in observing the people around him, especially those he was expected to serve under. He knew of Cain's history- of his lost wife and found son. He knew Jeb well, and respected him as much as his father, for all the same reasons. He also knew of Jeb's pride in seeing his father live- and love- again, at the unrelenting expense of a princess. It may mean the business end of a six shooter, but Aaron stepped slightly closer Cain to be sure his ascertainment was true.
To the rest of Cain's men, the situation amounted to grieving and closure. These hardened soldiers fought off the depression of the situation, the scene steeped in sadness. So they watched inadvertantly, every single one of them, as Cain uncovered his threadbare soul to a piece of ground.
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"You showed me how to love," Cain spoke in a low, steady voice. "You showed me how to love effectually and with abandon. I succeeded. I thought myself a man mad with passion for the woman he loved. I was wrong."
Aaron tried very hard not to let his breath catch in his throat.
"I was very much in love with you Adora. I still love you. But I've had annuals to mourn your death and face the life I would need to lead if- and it was a strong 'if'- I ever escaped that hell. I knew you were a strong, bull-headed woman. I knew you would fight for your life and mine, and I had fleeting hopes that you had somehow escaped Zero. Then, I realized that if you had lived through the attack, you would be a broken woman. I knew, absolutely, how empty a broken existence felt. It's a torturous being in itself, unrelenting and without a saving grace. That's when I had hoped against all hope you were gone, that you would never bare witness the destruction of your own soul."
Aaron knew he was the only one of the soldiers who had heard Cain's confessions. He knew he was crying. He knew the other men had seen his tears and he knew that he did not care.
"I was lead to believe you were alive. For selfish reasons, I had let my heart hope that you were, that you were the same woman who had instinctively grabbed that gun when you heard Zero's men. The woman who could level my temper with a sidelong look. The woman who could comfort my torment with a touch of a hand on my shoulder. Reason screamed at me that I was wrong."
Aaron dropped to his knees, praying to any deity that would listen that Cain's words would reach his dead wife.
"I found you here, where you rest I hope to Ozma in peace. I grieved for you then, like I grieve for you now. But now, my sweet Adora, I ask your acceptance and goodbye. Your death and torment has been avenged, not only by myself, but with the powerful hand of a princess."
There. That's what Aaron had been waiting for. Affirmation of his suspicions, and not for any reason less than hope that his Commander would find the same peace he wanted for his lost love. Something in the air- the magic of the OZ? DG herself?- assured the wisened soldier that it would be so.
"I don't know a damn thing about where you are Adora, but if you have been watching at all, you have seen what I speak of. She's quick-witted but wise, stubborn but smart, hot tempered but patient, reflexed but rational, and easier to set off than my old hammerless."
Still knee deep in soil, Aaron did his best to suppress a laugh at his dead-on accurate description of the younger princess. He sobered at Cain's heartbreaking sigh.
"She saved me from the iron prison, my ironclad vengeance, and my iron-bent self destruction. It was her hand goin' to my gun when she thought she could use it- and I swear by my life she could have handled it; it was her who believed in very simple terms that I was no killer and quelled my resolve to take Zero's life in my hands; and it was her who laid a hand on my shoulder when I found this very grave."
Aaron held his breath, for this was the moment of truth.
"I'm in love with her Adora. I'm a man mad with passion, because madness and passion are two of the only things I had left. But now I have a proper direction- the woman who recognizes my downfalls, but brings infinite light to the things I can do right. She knows I'm broken. She knows you will remain with me until I die. She knows the things I am capable of when push comes to blood. Hell, she knows that I sought Zero's blood so hard I could taste it, for you. And I swear that she could taste it too, for me, and for you just the same. She hates, with every fiber of her being, what happened to the OZ, to her people, her family, her friends, and to you and Jeb. It's taken me some time but I think I've finally convinced her of her innocence in the context of all the shit that's happened. You would have been better at it. You, Adora, could have taken DG by the hand and spoken just a few words, and she would have fallen prey to your reason and sympathy. You could have, and would have, made her believe and trust in her own conscience far sooner than I did."
The wind stirred- howled through the trees and shook the boards of the dilapidated cabin in the distance. It cut straight through Aaron's uniform like a knife, and he was about to shiver at the sensation, when he caught a fragrance of juniper- and lavender?- on the breeze, that warmed and comforted him. His eyes went instantly to Cain, still bended knee in the dirt, and his breath stopped short.
The gust of air took Cain's duster blowing out behind him, and then wrapping itself tight around the Tin Man, like a concerned mother or wife protecting her ward from the elements. Aaron watched with wet eyes as Cain's leather connected itself at the appropriate buttons, to rest peacefully against his body. He did not witness, however, the brief but unmistakable brush of lips on Cain's cheek that the man in review felt without question.
Aaron did not hear the last words confessed between man and once-wife and remained in his position with his knees finding home in the ground. The soldier in him still knelt amidst the weeds, pleading with Adora to understand, while the spy in him failed to sense Cain standing directly in front of him. Aaron never made to look caught, or apologetic, just met Cain's eyes straight on, hoping the man understood the admiration in his own. Cain offered a hand to the younger soldier and Aaron took it without hesitation, pulling himself up from his knees. Cain didn't let go, but put his other hand on Aaron's shoulder, in assurance and mutual respect. As Cain walked around Aaron, through the men at attention, and away from the clearing, Aaron caught sight of Adora's grave. There, her name, etched into the wood; the Tin Man's badge, a tarnished star; and the unmistakable shimmer of silver, Cain's ring.
Aaron looked to the sky. Somehow he knew that something had shifted, moved in a proper direction. The air tingled with the ghosts and the magic of the OZ, and carried with it the easy feeling of a circle about to be completed.
He followed Cain then, making his way through the stoic soldiers. Not one of them looked at him like he had expected, for showing his emotion, but instead wore their own drawn expressions. They had all decided, every single one of them, that nothing is tougher than tin.
A/N: The angst and sadness in this chapter wrote itself, I had nothing to do with it. I usually keep a new chapter around for a couple days to proof and change as the inspiration strikes, but I had to post this- stat- because it wouldn't let go! I kept tearin' up all over my keyboard, and that just had to stop. So blame any mistakes on the fact that either my vision was blurred, or that I posted this immediately after writing it.