OZ (The Outer Zone)

Fourteen days prior to the Final Eclipse

The battle was over, but it would take more than a few days to repair the broken realm. Lavinia had been restored to her throne and the former members of the royal council returned to their positions yet the distrust the Resistance fighters still had for the nobles remained in place and once again talk of secession spread like wildfire among their ranks. They wanted to form their own government with Wyatt and Jeb Cain as their leaders, but Jeb was in no condition to lead anyone. He spent most of his time in the makeshift medical ward that Toto's long-lost wife Otille set up on the seventh floor in the Tower.

The sight that first met DG and her parents' eyes was heartbreaking. There were dozens of injured men and women in the room and the dead were covered with sheets. Wyatt found his son sitting beside Xenia's bed tears streaming down his cheeks. DG, her parents, and Raw started helping Otille with the rest of the wounded.

"What happened, son?" Wyatt asked him.

"We broke through the first floor and we thought it was clear. A Longcoat came toward us and Xenia...she threw herself right in the bullet's path before I had a chance to stop her!" Jeb moaned. "They got the bullet out and said she's gonna be okay but Dad...any closer and she..."

Wyatt put his arm around his son's shoulders. "She is going to be fine. She better be if she's going to be the mother of my first grandbaby."

"Ummm...Dad...isn't it a little too soon for you to be thinking about grandkids?"

"Hell no! You just make sure you marry her first, you hear?"

"Might have trouble getting permission from her folks."

"And why is that?" Wyatt demanded. "Are they like your mother's."

"Worse. They're Temple of Lurline guardians."

"Temple of Lurline guardians!" He looked at Ambrose. "Your parents are Temple guardians?"

"Yeah."

"They're your great grandma's protectors and now yours since you're the last of her line," Wyatt said to Jeb.

"I know."

"Jeb..." they heard Xenia murmur as she opened her eyes. Jeb leaned down at kissed her.

"You scared the shit out of me!" he cried. "Don't ever do that again!"

"I couldn't let them kill you..."

"If you're going to be having my grandchildren I don't want you taking risks like that again," Wyatt warned her.

"What makes you think I'm going to be the one making you a grandfather?" Xenia asked with a small smile on her lips.

"Well, do you love my son or not?"

"Yes," Xenia said softly. "But...my parents..."

Wyatt frowned. "You get better and then we'll figure out how we can talk some sense into your folks because you'll be a good wife for my boy."

"You're more interested in the grandchildren," Xenia teased.

"I didn't get to see Jeb grow up, but I do want to see some of my grandchildren grow up."

"My parents are pretty stubborn, Cain," Ambrose warned. "Probably more stubborn than you are."

"I don't see why they should have a problem with your sister marrying my boy when they're happy together," Wyatt said angrily.

"They always put duty first," Ambrose said sadly.

"Well then they need to change their priorities a bit. What are their names, so I know who to yell at if I have to go to the Temple of Lurline?"

"Medira and Callux," Xenia answered.

"Oh shit...those two!" Wyatt moaned. "That damned father of yours threatened to behead me one-time Adora went there after we had a big fight! And your mother...well she threatened to cut something else off..."

"I don't remember Mother taking off on you after you fought," Jeb said.

"It was before we had you and I don't even remember what the fight was about. Something stupid probably. Anyway, Adora was so pissed at me she went to the Temple of Lurline since Alana was the only member of her family speaking to her after we got married. I went out there and asked to talk to her and ended up being shoved against a wall with Callux holding his sword on my neck while his wife was pointing hers somewhere else. Had your mother not decided to let me have my say the Cain line would've ended that day one way or the other. Needless to say, those two scare the shit outta me."

"They won't scare me," Jeb said confidently.

"Try saying that if Callux has his sword on your neck and Medira has hers on your manhood and see how far you get."

Jeb paled and squirmed in his chair. "You mean she wanted to..."

"And she would have too."

"Now I know where you get that from!" Jeb cried as he looked at Xenia. "Xenia here threatened to cut Demillo's off if he didn't tell us everything he knew about when you showed up in Central City."

Wyatt laughed. "As much as I hate that pissant, I never would wish that on any man."

"This is a welcome sight," DG said as she walked over to them. She had removed her jacket and was wearing an apron over her shirt. The apron was stained with blood. The mood around Xenia's bedside suddenly turned grim as everyone remembered there were other souls in the room who were not as lucky as Xenia.

"You look tired Princess," Wyatt observed. "Why don't you sit down, and I'll take over for a while?"

"I can't, Wyatt." she said. "There's more of them coming in every minute and we...we just can't keep up."

"Why don't you all go help out? I'll be fine," Xenia suggested to her brother and the Cains. Jeb kissed Xenia on the lips and they followed DG to where the wounded needed them.

He'd been more concerned with helping the rest of the wounded as much as he could that Wyatt had given little thought to his own injury until Otille forced him to lie down so that she could treat the gunshot wound he'd sustained in the brain room. She removed the bullet carefully and bandaged his shoulder.

"Now I want you to get some rest too. I don't want any trouble like I had with the Princess," she commanded.

"But, I..."

"Do I have to have some of our men restrain you while I give you a sleeping potion?" she threatened, hands on her hips.

"Ummm...no."

"Then go!"

He ran into his son when he was walking out of the infirmary.

"I smell cigar smoke," he said with a frown. "Jeb?"

"Dad!" he cried and dropped the cigar, crushing it with his foot.

"Well, I don't like smoking any more than I do drinking. Dealt with enough drunks in my life. Where've you been?"

"I was just out for a walk. Needed to clear my head. How is Xen?"

"Sleeping. Ambrose is sitting with her. Do you have a recreation room in here?"

"On the fifth floor, why?"

"Good. I'll need at least a week to prepare. Use the time to prepare yourself."

"For what, Dad?"

"Ambrose is ready for the trials and I need to brush you up on your own skills."

"Then you'll need this," Jeb said and handed his father his sword. "I'll have your robes brought from our camp."

"My robes? But...I left them back at our cottage." Wyatt said, feeling a twinge of energy when he grasped the handle of his old katana.

"Not those ones, Dad. You're the Grand Master now. Your robes are blue. Mother had a set made for you years ago and kept them at the Temple of Lurline. Xenia brought them with her. Have you told Ambrose?"

"I will in the morning. I'll let both of you know when I'll be ready. I'm under orders to get some sleep or the pooch's wife is gonna make me take a sleeping potion. Where's DG? I want to check in on her before I turn in."

"She's in the Sorc….Az's room. It's one floor up, the last set of doors at the end of the hall. You can't miss it."

"Thank you," he said as he walked away.

When he opened the door to Azkadellia's bedroom he saw DG asleep on the bed, the blankets in a pile on the floor. He picked one of them up and covered her with it, laying down on the sofa.

I'll just lay here for a little bit, he thought as he pulled his fedora down over his eyes. After a few minutes he was asleep and dreaming he was back at the Mystic Man's old house. They were standing in his training room, both now wearing the blue silk robes of the Talon of the Dragon Grand Master.

"DG isn't the only one who needs to unlock memories, Wyatt," the Mystic Man advised his former apprentice.

"I'm remembering most of my Talon training," Wyatt said.

"You'll need to remember it all now. This battle against the witch was only the beginning. The day for the final battle approaches and you must be prepared. You both must be prepared. You will have to meet the darkness at its heart and destroy it."

The Mystic Man waved his hand and his training room transformed into a repair shop. Wyatt recognized Nick Chopper, the first Tin Man. He lay on a table, badly rusted. At his side were his two best friends, the Scarecrow and the Lion. The Scarecrow was holding the Tin Man's rusted hand.

"Isn't there anything you can do?" the Scarecrow pleaded as he glanced over at the wizard.

He shook his head. "He is dying from a broken heart. We can repair his other parts, but I cannot repair a broken heart."

"What could've broken his heart beyond repair?" the Lion asked.

"I wish I knew old friend, but he won't speak of it. He hasn't spoken at all."

"D...Dorothy..." they heard the Tin Man's raspy voice through his rusted lips.

"We've sent word to her, but she and Prince Nicolai are on their honeymoon. She'll be here soon," the Scarecrow said gently.

"No!" he cried and to Wyatt's shock, the Tin Man's voice sounded exactly like his. "She...can't... see me like this."

"But she'll want to be here with you."

"I don't want her here! I want her last memory of me to be as I was, not this rusted down wreck, do you hear me?!"

"I..."

"Promise me!"

"All right, all right...I promise I'll make sure she doesn't come here but why you want to keep her away, I don't understand."

"It's better this way." The Tin Man closed his eyes. "When I'm gone, I want you to have my axe and my remains melted down to be made into a sword and a pistol and give them to Dorothy's personal guard. At least...part of me will still be able to protect her and her descendants from those who might harm her. Will you do this for me, old friend?"

The Scarecrow nodded through his tears. "I will."

"Thank you," The Tin Man closed his eyes and lay motionless on the table. The wizard placed a hand on his rusted chest.

"He's gone," he said sadly. "And now we have to honor his final wishes."

The repair shop vanished ,and Wyatt and the Mystic Man were once again back in the training room. The Mystic Man was holding a satin pillow and on it were Wyatt's sword and his silver pistol.

"I now bequeath to you that which is rightfully yours," he said and handed the pillow to Wyatt. "You've been given a second chance and you cannot fail again."

"What do you mean?"

"Lurline will only give second chances to those who prove themselves worthy of it and Nick's actions proved his worth. He was given a second life."

"A...Are you saying...I'm him?" Wyatt asked.

"Yes. But different. You have more abilities than he did. Some of them you were born with, others have been given to you. You now have all the abilities of the Talon Grand Master...among other things."

"Magic," Wyatt moaned. "You know how much I hate that stuff..."

"Yet it has proven useful as you've seen with the Princess. Without it you never would have been able to open the west gate and free her sister from the darkness's control. You must also regain control over your signature element, fire."

"How?"

"Remember your training my apprentice..." he heard the Mystic Man say as he faded away.

DG found herself standing once again in front of the locked double doors of Dorothy Gale's crypt. She raised her palm and called on her magic, forcing the doors to open. When she entered this time, she did not see her old farmhouse. Instead she found herself standing in front of the Northern Island palace as it was in the past with green grasses, warm crystal blue lake waters. She opened the door and went inside, making her way up the long marble staircase and opened the double doors to the room that was once hers and found a dark-haired woman standing in front of the bed, her back to her. When she turned around DG felt as if she were staring into a mirror. Instead of the customary black bomber jacket, sneakers and blue shirt, this version of her was wearing a white lace and satin negligee that was soaked and had spots of mud on it. Her blue eyes were filled with tears.

"Why didn't you tell me about Nick when I came to you before?" DG asked the woman whom she now knew was Dorothy as an adult.

"It wasn't the right time," Dorothy said hoarsely. "Your sister had to be freed from the darkness's grip first. She and her bondmate and you and yours must create the final seal together along with your Strogoff cousins."

"My bondmate is going to hate the sight of me when he gets his memory back, thanks to you!" DG said bitterly. "Now I want the full truth, what happened between you and Nick?"

Dorothy waved her hand and DG was standing out on the gazebo, the rain pouring down around it and thunder rumbling. They heard footsteps and Nick, still a tin man was walking past them, his head lowered, his trusty axe clutched tightly in his hand.

"Tin Man!"

DG could see Dorothy running toward him in only her negligee and bare feet, mud from the ground splashing onto the frail white garment.

"You shouldn't be out here," he said as he turned to face her. DG wasn't surprised that he sounded exactly like Wyatt and beneath the tin that was now his body, she had no doubts that he would look like Wyatt too.

"Neither should you...you'll rust yourself so badly," she said softly. "Come back inside."

"I can't Dorothy. It's time for me to go," he said sadly.

"Go? What do you mean?"

"I'm not needed here anymore."

"But...but you'll always be needed here!" Dorothy protested.

"You have Nicolai and you should go back to him."

"He knows how important my friends are to me. He wouldn't want you to leave either."

"Don't make this any harder for me than it already is," he pleaded.

"But I don't understand why you feel you have to go!"

"It's better this way. You need to devote your time to being a good wife to your husband and the children you'll have one day."

"I haven't decided whether I want to accept his proposal yet."

"Yes, you have."

"I just don't understand. Scarecrow and the Lion are not leaving. They've promised to stay no matter what. I'm beginning to think they're better friends to me than you are!" she said angrily.

"They don't feel the same way about you that I do!" he yelled.

"W...What do you mean, Tin Man?"

"My name is Nick! Before I lost every damned body part I had, including my real heart, I had a name, and I had a real life...a life as a man! But you forget that. You've all forgotten that, and you treat me like I'm another Tik Tok, just another machine and I'm not. There's still part of the man left in me."

"Tin...Nick, what are you saying?"

They were now standing face to face. Nick reached out with his mechanical arm and touched Dorothy's cheek. "When I lost my Nimmie I never thought I'd find anyone who could ever replace her in my heart and I was so overwhelmed by my grief that I stood out in the rain all day and rusted myself to the point where I could no longer move. I wanted to die. Until...until you came and freed me. At first all I wanted to be was your friend and then when I knew the witch was after you I made it my duty to protect you. When you decided to return home, I missed the little girl who brought the sunshine back into my life with her smile. So, I kept that memory with me to brighten my days while you were gone."

She opened her mouth to speak but he shook his head.

"I thought that was all I would ever want you to be, a friend. But the little girl I knew was gone and in her place was a woman...the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen. She still had that same smile I remembered but I couldn't think of her as that little girl anymore. I began to love her the same way I loved my Nimmie."

"But...you can't we...can't..." Dorothy said sadly.

"And that is why I wish you would've just let me go!" he cried. "Do you know the agony I'm going through being this close to you knowing I can never love you the way a real man can?"

You deserve so much better than to be with someone with only half an existence. DG heard Wyatt saying to her in her mind, the words he'd spoken in anguish while he was still a shadow in her dreams.

You were just a shadow when you first came to me, Wyatt but I didn't give up on you and before she tore us apart that last time I made you human love made you human again.

"I...I don't know what to say..."

"You've said enough," Nick mumbled as he pulled his hand away and turned around. "Go to Nicolai. Accept his proposal and be a good wife to him, a good mother to his children. It's the last thing I'll ever ask of you."

"Nick," Dorothy sobbed. He ignored her and started to walk away. In a few minutes he was out of sight.

The image faded, and Dorothy and DG were back in the Northern Island palace bedroom.

"I'm not repeating your mistake," DG said angrily. "Wyatt may try to hold back his emotions but I won't let him do it forever. He loves me, and I love him. Had you loved Nick enough you could've broken his curse!"

"By the time I knew the truth it was already too late," Dorothy confessed sadly. "He was so badly rusted by the time he reached the Emerald City that there was nothing that could be done to save him."

She waved her hand again and this time they were inside another palace. Dorothy was speaking to the Scarecrow, the Wizard, the Lion and another woman whom DG remembered from her history lessons was Glinda, the sorceress of the Northern Realm. The Scarecrow held a large satin pillow and two weapons lay on it. DG recognized one of them as the pistol Wyatt carried and the other was a Katana sword.

"His final wish was that his remains be melted down into these two weapons that you must give to your most trusted protector," the Scarecrow said. "That way, a part of him would always watch over you and your descendants."

"It's more than I deserve for the pain I caused him," Dorothy said through her tears.

You did more than that, Dorothy. You killed him, DG thought. When you looked at him and told him you could never be lovers it was as if you stabbed him in the heart. You robbed him of his reason for living.

Dorothy glanced over at Glinda, hope shining in her blue eyes.

"No, my dear child. I cannot bring him back. You have pledged yourself to another man and I cannot tear asunder a union blessed by Lurline herself."

"That will not be necessary," they all heard another female voice say and turned to face a tall woman with white blond hair wearing a silver gown. They all bowed to the goddess.

"What is thy will, my mistress," Galinda asked.

"Bring the weapons," she commanded the Scarecrow. He walked over to where the goddess stood and kneeled. Lurline touched them with her hand and they were now suspended in the air. "Dorothy, remove the silver slippers, please."

Dorothy stepped out of the slippers. Lurline waved her hand and the slippers floated over to her. A red mist surrounded them, and they began to take the shape of a silver chalice. The chalice drifted down to the floor. While the pistol remained suspended in the air, the sword plummeted until the blade struck the inside of the chalice and held there.

"Despite the true loving words he said

You took another into your bed

A second chance and one only I will now give

Another life will you and he live

For the darkness longs to be free

Conquered forever must it be by the combined forces of the heart and soul of the OZ

For you the final battle will never be done

Until the blade and chalice are at last joined as one."

She glanced over at the scarecrow, lion, and the wizard, smiled and began to speak again.

"Once there were three and their charge was to defend her

Another three will come to the last of her kin, one to be her protector and lover

Armed will he be with the weapons forged from the first protector made of tin

He must lead her into the heart of darkness for the final battle to begin."

"The sword and pistol must be kept here," she instructed the wizard. "Your descendant will know to whom they will belong for he will bear this mark upon him." She formed the image of an axe's blade in the air.

"Yes, my mistress." the wizard said.

Lurline turned to Glinda. "The chalice must be kept at my temple. My high priestess will know to whom it will belong."

"It will be done, my mistress." Glinda replied.

Lurline vanished. Dorothy waved her hand and she and DG were now back at the Northern Island.

"You are already proving to be stronger of heart than I was, Dorothia. You cannot fail this time," Dorothy said softly. "Or your fate will be the same as mine. A broken heart shall be your death…and his."

"I won't," DG vowed.

Wyatt's eyes fluttered open and he sat up, his fedora falling to the floor. He could see DG a few feet away from him still asleep. As if she sensed another person in the room, she also sat up, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw him.

"Are you okay?" she asked, indicating his injured shoulder.

"I'll live. It's not the first time someone's taken a shot at me."

She frowned. "Don't remind me. One of those bullets almost had your name on it."

"How are your sister and Archie?"

DG glanced over at the dome she'd moved into her bedroom and shook her head sadly. "No change and there's nothing I can do! I really should get back to helping down in the infirmary."

"No, you're staying put till you get a good night's sleep," he insisted when she got out of bed.

She crossed her arms over her breasts. "You gonna make me, Tin Man?"

"If I have to."

She jumped out of bed and started toward the door. As she was about to turn the knob, he was out of his chair and picking her up, slinging her over his uninjured shoulder. She felt her body temperature rise and her breath catch in her throat as he started carrying her over to the bed. He dumped her on the mattress.

"You get up and I'll do it again," he threatened.

I would! I would do it because that had to be the sexiest thing you've done since we met but if you carry me to bed like that again sleep is going to be the last thing I have on my mind.

Not that it wasn't already, and she quickly scolded herself. They were in the middle of a war zone and she couldn't be thinking about how much she wanted him to make love to her and what it would be like when he finally did.

"You okay kiddo? Your face is beet red," he observed.

"Ummm...yeah...I guess I'm more tired than I thought." Liar. You want him and its taking every ounce of self-control you have not to drag him onto this bed with you. After all, hasn't everyone been telling you that's what you have to do to break the curse?

I don't want to rush it...he'll think I'm a slut...I want our first time to be special and because we love each other.

What is this, the Dark Ages? You'll be a virgin the rest of your life if you wait for him to make the first move. Why put off tomorrow what you can do today?

No!

"Deege, what's wrong?" Wyatt asked worriedly. Her face was crimson, she was breathing heavily, and her body was drenched in sweat. He lightly touched her arm. "Ozma's ghost you're burning up!" he cried. He ran into the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth, soaking it with cold water. He ran back into the bedroom and pressed the cold cloth to her forehead. "Talk to me...what's wrong?"

"I...I'm okay."

You know what you want. Take it. Take him.

"Bullshit, you're as hot as a furnace!" he cried.

And you're the spark that makes her burn. Take him, Deege. It is the only way to end your agony.

It's the darkness. It can take any form it wants to Wyatt. It is feeding from her negative emotions. If it becomes too strong the seal on its prison will open again.

"Deege, I need you to listen to me," Wyatt said gently. "Put whatever bad thoughts you have out of your mind and only think of something good. Can you do that for me?"

"L...Like what?" she moaned.

Her element is water. Make her focus on a memory having to do with water.

"Remember when you found that heart shaped stone and skipped it across the dirt in Finaqua?"

"Yeah."

"It made the lake come back, didn't it? You used to love skipping stones across that crystal blue lake with your sister, didn't you?"

"Uh-huh." Her voice sounded childlike now.

"Imagine you're swimming in the lake now and it's not so hot anymore...good girl," he said softly as he pressed his hand to her forehead. It felt cooler to the touch and her breathing started to return to normal. A few minutes later she was asleep again. As he gazed down at her, he began to see images of himself as a younger man being trained to use defensive magic by the Mystic Man.

"You mean we're not safe when we're asleep either?" Wyatt asked.

"Not always. There are some forces that can use dreams to launch attacks and we even have to be prepared for them during sleep. If you think you will be susceptible to an attack in dreams its best to have another sorcerer you absolutely trust perform a dream protection spell on you."

Wyatt took DG's hand in his, concentrated and began to chant.

"With all the powers of the light I cast this spell

In her dreams, guard her well."

He staggered over to the sofa and collapsed on it, falling into an exhausted sleep himself.

When DG awoke again she could see Wyatt asleep on the sofa and as she remembered what happened earlier, she was mortified.

I was acting like a slut and scared the shit out of him but...he used some kind of magic on me! Oh darling, does this mean your memories are coming back?

She walked over to the sofa and kneeled beside him, taking his right hand and turning it over so that she could look at her palm. To her dismay the skin was still unmarked, the House of Gale symbol no longer visible yet she felt light radiating from him...his tutor's light.

Oh, thank you Mystic Man. At least now when the darkness tries to come for us, he won't feel so defenseless. He felt so guilty that he wasn't strong enough the first time we fought it but now...now with your light guiding him that bitch will run screaming from him in terror.

You'll run screaming from both of us, bitch. Love is the strongest magic of all and ours will not only lock in your prison so you can never get out, I'd like to blast your evil ass into oblivion.

She heard him stir and his eyes opened.

Those eyes...I could drown in them...

"You okay?" he asked sleepily.

"Thanks to you. That protection spell you did was pretty powerful."

"I never did like magic but if I can use it to keep you safe, I'll do it." he said. "I just wasn't that good at controlling it or fire."

"You can control fire?" she asked, trying her best to appear surprised. Hopefully he won't be able to sense I already know. Like it or not, I have to let him come to me of his own free will so that I can restore our bond with a pure and honest heart.

"You've probably figured out by now I wasn't just a Tin Man."

"Yeah. How do you know martial arts?"

"It, sword fighting, and magic were the skills I was taught so that I could succeed the Mystic Man as the Talon of the Dragon Grand Master. They were the original protectors of the OZ and once the Ozopov took power, they made a vow to protect the royal heirs themselves. I didn't know that was the purpose the Mystic Man had in mind for me when I joined his protection detail. As you've probably already guessed Ambrose is one of them and so are Az and Archie. My son is the other one. We are the last of the order."

"Was your wife one too?"

"I promoted her to the rank of master the night before Zero came for me. Knowing what I can do, don't you find it strange that he was able to capture me so easily?"

"Yeah. But I also have a sneaking suspicion that time loop would have showed you trying to kick his ass before I shut it off," she said with a smile. "I know even that asshole couldn't have taken you down easily. He still can't. He can't escape from the tin suit you put him in, can he?"

"Oddly enough, I sealed it with magic. Only another person with magic can open it. It's the same type of seal the bitch put on my suit. I should've realized you were the lost princess then. I was half dead when you found me but when you knocked on that suit I felt some kind of energy burst that woke me up and made me determined to get the hell out of there."

It wasn't an ordinary energy burst Wyatt. It was my light, the light of my love. My brain didn't remember you, but my heart always has and that's where my light comes from...my heart. And you still had a little bit of yours left that it called me back here to release you because you complete me as I complete you.

"You were pretty scary when you first came out, but you had damned good reasons to be scary and pissed off."

"My temper is even worse when I call on the dragon."

"Uhh...does that mean what I think it does?" Oh, I do hate having to act so ignorant about all this! Dammit, if I didn't think it would be harmful to our bond I would just tell him the truth, but he has to come to me by choice, not force.

He chuckled. "No Deege, I don't actually turn into a dragon. I do, however have a dragon's strength and its senses are much stronger than those of a regular human. If my eyes are red, you might want to keep a safe distance."

"Your eyes got red when we ran into those bikers and then you unleashed hell on them. Had you been using a sword you probably would have cut them to pieces."

"No. The Mystic Man was teaching me how to control my rage and Adora did before that. Deege, had you met me years ago, you would've wanted to get as far away from me as you can get."

"You were an abused child and that's where the rage comes from," DG said softly. "You wanted to hurt everyone that hurt you."

"How...how did you know?" he whispered.

"The way you try to avoid being touched...the way you try to stop people from getting close. It was how I was before I came here. Not because of Hank and Emily. They loved me as much as any parents could but...something happened to me two years ago."

Tell him. You can tell him part of it and maybe it will unlock something in his memory.

"What?" She could hear the anger rising in his voice and hesitated, fearing it could do more harm than good but the desire to keep a close connection to him made her push her fears aside.

"We have something on the other side called Prom Night. it's a night where kids from school get together. It's probably like a ball here. My date, or escort as you would call him was a boy named Mike. I liked him so when he asked me to the Prom I was happy about it. We had a good time there until we left and went to a place called Porter's Glen..."

She saw his eyes narrow to slits and realized it was the exact same look he had on his face when she told him what happened the first time.

"Who touched you?"

"Some boy I went to the prom with. Calm down, dragon man. I held him off."

"The dragon's spirit is stronger in you now. You can call on it when you need it or use my strength, but I warn you, I won't be as lenient with your enemies as you are."

"He raped you!" Wyatt growled, his blue eyes now fire red. "Take me back to the Other Side. I'll kill him, but I won't just kill him. I'll tear his worthless hide into so many small pieces his own mama won't know where to find 'em!"

DG's eyes were wide with horror. She'd seen Wyatt lose his temper a few times but it was mild compared to this. The blood red eyes were disturbing enough but his voice was changing too, sounding almost demonic.

"I'll flay him alive and make a bonfire with his innards then pick my teeth with his bones or I'll feast on his entrails..."

I have to calm him down, she thought. "Wyatt, listen to me. He didn't actually rape me. I stopped him. C'mon, you've got to snap out of it. You're scaring me!" He raised his hands and she gasped when she saw his fingernails turning black and growing outward so that they were shaped like talons and his skin was turning blue. A blue mist surrounded him, concealing him from her view but inside it she could hear what sounded like an animal snarling. She heard a crash behind her and turned to face Wyatt, now a large blue scaled dragon trying to maneuver his way around the bedroom that was getting smaller with every inch he grew.

"Oh my God," she screamed. "You...you really are a dragon! Az! Jeb! Somebody! Anybody! Help me!" She ran to the door and started pounding on it, her fear paralyzing her ability to wield her magic.

"Oh shit, oh shit...oh shit! What the hell did I do? I didn't mean to piss him off that much and now he's gonna wreck the place or worse...mistake me for his next snack! Someone, get me out of here!"