Look a chapter! Don't kill me….

p.s. I reworked the end of the last chapter a little bit, you could go read it but I don't think that it was a whole lot.

Chapter 11: Moving Forawrd

The imaged disappeared but DG didn't move. She could feel everyone waiting on her to move, speak, or react, but all she could think to say was, "Az was right. She is a bit of a Drama Queen."

"Dorothigale!" Toto sounded scandalized and DG just had to turn to see his face.

And she was glad she did. It was about the most comical thing she had ever seen, even if this was definitely not the time to bust out laughing. Evan was also giving her a fairly funny face, though it was more along the lines of 'oh-you-silly-little-child'. So DG just smiled at them and said, "Well, what are we waiting for? We have to find this Realm so we can get the Emerald. The Eclipse is in, like, three days."

DG bounced down the steps, and Evan caught her arm, speaking softly, "Then we are going there too?"

DG smiled at him and left it at that, as she walked over to the men, but Cain heard him, "Why would we not go?"

DG didn't turn around and kept going, "I know, right? It's the only clue me have and plus it's been waaaaay too long since I've seen my daddy."

Suddenly DG's world was spinning and she wasn't sure why. When it came to a stop, she realized Cain had seized her arm and spun her around, "This Ahamo person is your father? The Consort?!"

DG shrugged trying to be nonchalant, despite the fact that Wyatt was being rather forceful, "Apparently... If that's what his title was…"

He wasn't satisfied with that response, "'Apparently'? What does that mean?"

"Well…" DG drew out the word trying to make it seem like it was obvious, "I remember my dad's name being Ahamo and since my mother was talking about him, I'm going to assume it's the same guy. And besides, no matter how freaky this place is, there can't possibly be more than one 'Ahamo'."

Cain clenched his teeth, "Fine, but still the Consort abandoned the Queen and country fifteen years ago. His treason cost the Queen greatly, broke a lot of confidence in the Gale line. I hardly think that he's the person we need to be running to for help."

DG scoffed, "Please, if that was true why would my mother – his wife – have sent us to him if he 'abandoned' her? Scorned women don't do things like that. They're more likely to light your truck on fire."

Cain simply stared at her, face like stone but his eyes bright with confusion. DG wasn't sure what to do next that might ease whatever was causing his unrest so she simply had to move on to the next order of business, "Well, like I said, three/four days to the eclipse and all that. We need to make some progress while the suns are still up."

Everyone else in the group shifted and move a little bit closer, but Cain still was undecided. DG just sort of huffed, wiggle her arm in his grasp a little bit, "Would you please release me, sir?"

Cain's hand shot away from her, looking as if he had forgotten that he had a ahold of her, then cleared his throat and straightened his hat, "Well, is there anything else that you just so happen to remember that we should know about?"

DG was really not liking where this was going. Cain was starting to get icy and mean. He was beyond suspicious of her and she'd almost say he didn't trust her… That hurt more than she'd care to say, "Cain, a lot of things are just popping up randomly. If every time something jogged a little inkling, I gave you a full run down, we would never get anywhere."

Cain only narrowed his eyes at her, before moving on and turning away, "Right, we won't make it to the Realm today, but we can make some good ground if we move now."

DG threw her hands in the air, "This is what I'm saying! Let's get a move on cowboy!"

DG realized this may not have been the best time to try and joke when Cain glared at her, rather harshly. It also probably didn't help that he had no idea what she was referring too.

The imaged of the young Queen faded and the Witch fumed, looking around at the bright, luscious grounds. How could one infinitesimal Queen and her puny offspring do all of this?!

Worst of all, rather than being able to use this message and planning to prove to the weak Azkadillia that no one loved her, the message seemed to spur her on! As if they had orchestrated all of this to save her! The Witch would get no help from her host. She would have to find another way to gather information on Ahamo.

Tensions were now thick in the air, particularly between Cain and DG. Well, more of Cain to DG, because DG was ignoring Cain. But either way, no one was dumb enough to speak. Which in hindsight, only made it all worse.

They walked most of the evening in silence before they all silently decided to take a moment's breather. DG took the time to meander down to the river they had been using as a guide, so wrapped up in her thoughts and worries about when this bubble was going to explode she didn't realize it was about to. Right now.

Cain noticed how Toto was starting to get jittery and his alarms had been going off for a long while and he wasn't about to ignore them anymore.

"Hey Pooch," Cain called, walking over to the man, "You okay over there? You've just been antsy as a guild fighter since we left Finaqua."

Tutor hummed a bit, "Uhh… Just nervous about being a man on the run, I suppose."

"I hear ya," Cain agreed, pretending to just be making conversation, his Tin Man instincts and training kicking in, "Sky's clear… But I get this funny feeling we're being followed. What do you think?"

Before the question was out of his mouth, Cain felt Tutor freeze up before trying to act calm and laugh it off, "Another mobat? Didn't you say it was probably just a… random scout who stumbled across us?"

"Didn't you say we should just pretend that it didn't happen?" Cain shot back at him, finally looking at the man, letting him know that he didn't believe him for a moment, "You were sweating then too."

Tutor tried to tactfully remove himself from the situation, but Cain wasn't going to have it. Cain grabbed a hold of the arm that was conveniently burrowed into the Tutor's pocket and Tutor panicked, "Let go of me! Let go of me!"

Unfortunately in the small scuffle (that wasn't really a scuffle), Toto inadvertently flung the small recorder discs onto the ground. This did not escape Cain's keen attention.

Before Toto could look up from the damning evidence at his feet, he found a pistol pointed at his chest, "I'd shoot you in the heart if I thought you had one."

By now, Raw and Glitch had rushed over to them and Evan was standing atop a small hill looking down on the scene, the Kid was nowhere to be seen at the moment.

The Mystic Man was the first to call out, "Wyatt! What are you doing?"

Glitch though was the first to see the shining objects on the ground, "Oooh, what are those?"

"Breadcrumbs for Azkadillia," Cain informed them all loudly, "She had an inside man all along. Didn't she?"

"A spy!" Raw accused, and Evan was starting to get worried. One thing he had learned from being a part of the Royal Court so long was that the Gale line was crafty and one never knew all of what was going on in their heads. He had no doubt that DG was the same way. As it was she had known what Tutor was doing and she allowed it, for a purpose. And she almost certainly didn't want him to be shot by Wyatt Cain.

Only probably was that she was not around and Evan wasn't able to just run off and find her. The only thing he could do was send a magical burst in the direction he thought she went and hope she could understand what he meant.

Until then he'd have to watch this unfold.

"You don't understand," Tutor demanded, "I stopped dropping those a while back."

"Afraid you'd get caught?" Cain accused.

"DG trusted you," Glitch sounded disgusted, like betraying her was the worst possible thing imaginable, "She thought of you like family."

"I care about her more than anybody else in the whole wide world," Toto pleaded, "But… I…. For the last fifteen annuals I've been locked up. In a dark hole. Azkadillia came to me, offered me my freedom if I'd track you. If I said no, she'd have killed me on the spot."

Cain was done with this man's lying and attempts to save his own skin. He was ready to just shoot him, when there was a crashing in the brush and a worried voice washed over them, "Cain, what are you doing?"

DG had been knelt down by the river's edge, trying to scrub at least one layer of dirt off of her face when a green wave of magic suddenly enveloped her. She nearly went toppling face first into the water in surprise, but kept her balance, only to bolt up and into the forest in a panic.

While she didn't understand what was up with the colors, but she knew that green meant it was Evan and he would never have accosted her with that sort of burst of magic unless he needed her. And the only reason she could fathom for that was trouble.

She ran and jumped over roots and logs until she burst out on to the path next to Evan and was confronted with the sight of her three best friends ganging up on Toto and, if she knew Wyatt at all, he was ready to kill the man. Like for real.

"Cain, what are you doing?" The question was out of her mouth before she could think of what might have happened.

Cain barely glanced up at her, not willing to take his eye off of the traitor, like he may disappear into thin air, "He's a plant from Azkadillia. Been leaving a trail for her to follow."

DG had to grit her teeth to keep from screaming. Damn it, damn it, damn it…Of all the times to walk away. But it didn't matter now. She was going to have face this. She knew that she was jumping feet first into a land mine, and knowing her she was not going to do it gracefully.

"Cain, pull your gun down."

She had spoken softly, but Cain still heard. He didn't turn his head, figuring she was still trying to stick up for the man that she had thought that she knew, "I know that this man was your childhood teacher, Deeg, but things have changed."

"Cain, please, put the gun down," her voice sounded strained and closer, like she had moved down the hill and was only a few yards away.

"DG, he's been – "

"I know."

The words were so softly spoken, so full of conviction and pain, that Cain didn't know what to do with them. Moreover, he didn't know what to do with what they meant.

DG stood a short distance from the men, staring at Cain's back and forcing herself to not fidget with the hands she had folded nicely in front of her. A half a second after Cain processed her words, his head whipped around so fast that at any other time DG might have wonder if he had given himself whiplash, "You know?"

DG swallowed hard, "Yes."

Cain was silent for a moment, before he uncocked his pistol, pulled it away from Tutor, and (thankfully) holstered it. He began to slow approach her, each step careful and measured, "Just to clarify, you knew that this man, your teacher, was leaving a trail for Azkadillia, who is hunting us down to kill you, and you convinced me to allow him to join us anyway?"

DG was not sure how she was able to keep her breathing normal and her eyes from watering up, because Wyatt had never spoken to her like this. Sure they had had fights before, and he's been furious at her, and he'd yell and she'd yell back. But that had been with feeling. This… This was cold, ice cold. The words were low and even and… terrifying. The only time she could remember him ever sounding like this was when… Oh, God… After they had released Zero and sentenced him to prison, when he had spoken to Zero for just a minute.

But, somehow, some miracle, she was able to hold it together, "Yes."

They simply stared at each other, Cain clearly getting angrier and angrier by the second, and DG not willing to say anything that she didn't have to.

Cain was the one that was going to be direction this conversation, "So, you rope all of us into this little adventure and then go and decide to play with our safety in situations that you know nothing about? I don't know about the Otherside, but that's not how we show gratitude here."

Okay, now DG was a little bit hurt and angered by that accusation, "You know that's not true."

Cain laughed. He had the audacity to laugh at her, now of all times, "Do I now?"

DG stuck out her chin stubbornly, "Yes. I would never do such a thing. I have done nothing but try to help since I have gotten here."

"Really? Helpful? Hiding things, like this, from us; making everything we have to do more difficult with you crazy stubborn notions? How has any of that been helpful?" Cain all but shouted in her face.

DG really didn't know what to say to all that, so she tried something else, "Well, I guess I just have to ask you to trust me."

Which turned out to be the exact wrong thing to say. Just when they had entered a territory that DG was familiar with – a yelling Wyatt – he fell back onto the quiet even voice that terrified her, "Trust you? You can't possibly be that stupid. Why should I ever trust anything you have to say, Princess?" He said her title like it was a disgusting slur, instead of the pet name he normally/used to make it.

That was the blow that broke DG's wall. The box that she had been shoving all of her unwanted and unnecessary emotions for the last few days – and last six months if she were being honest – had just been shattered. The image of the man she loved, trusted more than anyone in the whole world – so much so that she would willingly so anything that he asked her to do – was cruelly suggesting that she wasn't worth his trust and never would be was forever burned into her brain. And she just snapped.

"Because I don't know what the hell I'm doing!" she screeched, breathing raggedly, "I have no clue what is going on, and I am just trying to keeping going forward, because if I stop for even a second, I am going to collapse and won't be able to get up and all of this shit will be for nothing!

"And, damn it, Wyatt, I don't," she nearly choked on these few words, "I don't care what you think, but I would never, ever try and jeopardize or harm good people. And as far as I am concerned the lot of you are the best kind of people there are. And I promise… I just, I am just trying to help…"

DG trailed off, her emotional rollercoaster only taking her so far before forcing her to quit. She brought her hand up to her face and had to walk away before bursting into tears, something she hated to do under even remotely normal circumstances.

Everyone else was completely shell shocked after that blow out and it was Evan that was the first to make any movement or sound. He cleared his throat before softly suggesting, "Perhaps we should make camp for the night."

They all turned to Cain to approve the plan, like he normally would, but he only stared after DG for a second before stopping away in the opposite direction.

Camp had been set up quickly and by the time Cain had calmed down enough to simply brood on his own, everyone had set to their own ways of passing time. Tutor was staying as far away from Cain as he possibly could, Glitch was fidgeting uncontrollably and Raw was nervously glancing between himself and the…. That girl.

Evan was, over the period of the evening, alternating between giving her space and attempting to talk her. But every time that the elderly man approached her or trying to engage her in conversation she would shoot off in a different direction of shore and would plopped down to curl in on herself.

At one point, after being evaded for the fourth time, Evan approached Cain, looking very cross, "Just what do you think you were doing Wyatt Cain?"

"I was demanding some straight answers. Something she had never given any of us," Cain shot back.

"You tried to chastise DG about gratitude, but perhaps you should learn from her. If I am correct, she saved you from a prison you would have never gotten out of on your own. Sure is a fine way to show her your appreciation," it took all of Cain's considerable self-restraint not to recoil from the suit being thrown at him in such a manner. And from someone he counts as a friend.

"She asked for me to help her to Central City and I did that and more. I think that should suffice."

Evan shook his head and regarded Cain with deeply serious eyes, "There was a time were you took my advice to consideration and heart. I pray that this will be one of those times. Don't be a fool, Wyatt. There is so much more going on here than we know, Dorothigale included. Magic is unpredictable and always for a reason. You would do well to remember that."

With that and a parting stare, he then went back to fussing over the girl.

All of this continued for another hour or so as the final sun set and everyone decided to find shelter from the tension in blissful sleep. Even D… That girl decided to call it quits, stomping over the farthest possible position while still being 'in' camp before dropping to the ground and curling into her jacket.

Cain volunteered for the first watch (or two) because he was nowhere near able to sleep and he had to figure a few things out. Like whether or not he was going to continue traveling with this lot.

He had no idea what else he would do with his life now, but he was fairly certain he could not do this. In a place and time as dangerous as this one, you could not afford to spend great deals of time with people you don't trust.

Granted he trusted The Mystic Man, but he seemed to be in this girl's pocket. For whatever reason Evan trusted her more than was strictly logical, and Cain wasn't sure about that. The Mystic Man, while steeped in the mystical arts, was a man of science. He didn't do things on a whim. This lead part of Cain to think that he was right, that there was more to this than he knew.

Cain also wasn't so sure about the Headcase and Furball. Glitch had proved himself to a valuable and trust worthy, but his loyalties also lay with this slipper. As for the Viewer… Well, he was a Viewer. There was little doubt in Cain's mind that he knew most of what was going on and made a more sound decision than Cain would ever be able to make. And again that lay with the Kid.

But still Cain wasn't sure if he was able to trust her. She was hiding things from them – that was obvious now. She must have lied to them at least once or twice, possibly more. But when she yelled at him… That was honest. Cain could see the emotion and hurt in her eyes. She was spiraling as bad was he was and she too was just trying to hold it all together for just one more day, just one more step. But she still wasn't about to tell him anything. She wasn't going to trust him.

But she wanted him to trust her. And he didn't know if he could do it. And maybe that's what caused him the most worry. Cain had always believed in the black and white. Either you were right or you were wrong. You lied or told the truth. You could be trusted or you couldn't. But DG didn't seem to fit into any of his parameters. His brain was telling him that she shouldn't be trusted – despite the fact that a trusted mentor and a Viewer of all things would follow her. But something else in him was telling him to just go with it. That he should listen to her and it would turn out alright. It always does.

Cain was locked in this internal struggle, when he suddenly heard something, a bang of sorts. His head snapped up, searching out the source of the thunking. It didn't take him long to find it. The Kid was jerking around in her sleep. One of her feet had lashed out and kicked the log beside her.

Cain was ready to dismiss it and go back to his brooding, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her still restless form. Normally DG slept very peacefully, despite all that they were going through. Cain couldn't help but be concerned, despite not wanting to nor still being angry with her. Despite himself, he wanted to know what was distressing her so much.

As he continued to watch her, he realized that she was speaking in her sleep. He was too far way to hear what she was saying. His feet and curiosity picked him up and carried him closer before he realized what he was doing. He stood in the shadows, watching the woman.

Her face was twisted in fear and sorrow and slow tears were tracking down her face. Her lips trembled as she mumbled, "No, leave him alone… Don't… Let her go…. Don't hurt him…."

Then unexpectedly her eyes flew open, wild and scared like a frightened animal, a strangled cry escaping her, "No!"

In the same instant she rocketed forward, bolting to her feet, running into the forest, tripping over everything in her path. If Cain hadn't had years of experience he might have started and alerted her of his presence, but as it was he kept his head and was able to slowly follow after her. To make sure she was safe, of course.

When he found her, she had fallen in the middle of a relatively clear space, and was on her knees, arms wrapped around herself, rocking back and forth. She was crying hysterically, but Cain was barely about to make out what she was saying, "Please… No! Don't leave me… Come back… pl-please…. no…don't – don't go…"

Her sobs persisted and it took everything Cain had to not go and try and comfort her. Instead he had to force himself back to camp.

When he was back in his place against a tree trunk, he placed his hat over his eyes, allowing the girl to be able to walk back into camp without worrying about him questioning her. It wasn't his place.

But as he started at the inside of his hat and inadvertently drifted to sleep, Cain came to a conclusion to his plan for the foreseeable future.

Cain woke to the sound of his name being called, "Cain. Cain! Wyatt! "

He grunted as he lazily lifted his hat and was accosted by the bright sunlight. He blinked a few times, before lifting his head to find the source of disturbance. Not that he didn't know who it was already, "What?"

His eyes found the sight of the youngest princess of the OZ, standing shin deep in a lake, trousers that she wasn't supposed to be wearing rolled up past her knees, glaring at him with her hand on her hips, "Are you listening to me?"

He let his head fall back onto the soft grass, letting out another grunt, "No."

DG huffed indignantly, "Why not?"

"Because I was asleep."

DG recoiled slightly, "What? You don't sleep."

He turned his head to look at her, "Thank you for that."

DG her hands in front of her as if to erase what she said, "That's not what I meant. I mean, you don't sleep when you're being all bodyguardy."

He raised an eyebrow at her word choice but let it go, "I'm not."

"Not what?"

"Your bodyguard right now. We're on vacation."

Again DG was stunned, "You don't do vacations."

Cain rolled his eyes and decided he wasn't going to entertain her nonsense anymore.

If he had been paying attention to her, he would have noticed the mischievous glint in her eye sparkle just a little bit brighter, "Well, if that's the case then…."

Of course Cain also knew DG, so he didn't really need the visual clue, "Don't even think about it."

His eyes slid over to look at her and sure enough, she was bent over, trying to cup as much water as she could into her small hands, ready to throw it on him. She hadn't dropped the water yet, but she was pouting at him, "Aww… Cain, it's just so hot, don't you want to cool off?"

He sat up to stare her straight in the eye, "Next Royal Ball, I might have something to handle when Duke 'Big Feet' ask you to dance."

DG's eyes grew wide as saucers, but she still hadn't dropped the water, even though most had drained out by now, "You wouldn't."

"And Sir 'Ego Maniac'."

Now DG dropped her hands and straightened up, stepping out of the water and closer to Cain, "That's not cool."

"And maybe Master 'Self-Righteous'."

Now, DG's cool broke. She ran over to where Cain was sitting, dropping to her knees and grabbing on to his arm, "Cain! You can't do that! You have to bail me out! Otherwise I would die. Completely and totally die. And you would be instrumental in high treason and assignation against the Royal Family."

DG seemed quite proud of her logic. Cain simply raised an eyebrow at her, barely able to hold in his laughter, "Already did that, didn't I?"

DG opened her mouth to reply, but came up with nothing. So instead she said, "You're mean. I don't like you."

To which Cain erupted with deep rumbling laughter, which always was impossible for DG to resist.

Yay? Don't worry about the angst. I hate angst so it won't hang around for long. And I won't make any promises, but I will try my hardest to not take a year to post.