OZ (The Outer Zone)
"Az! Jeb! Somebody, anybody! Help me!"
Archie and Az were awake in an instant and a puff of green smoke surrounded them, teleporting them out of their prison dome and into the hall outside Az's bedroom where Jeb, Lavinia, Ambrose and Ahamo were already trying to get in.
"Az! Oh thank the stars! Please, help your sister!"
"What the hell is going on?" Archie demanded. They were now fully recovered and he suspected his sister-in-law had something to do with it.
DG reached out to open the door, but Wyatt's tail was blocking it.
"It's Wyatt...oh my God Az, Archie he's turned into a dragon right in front of me!"
"Ha ha...good one Deege," she heard Ambrose say.
"Do I sound like I'm joking!" she yelled.
Wyatt snarled behind her and used his tail to push her out of the way, shooting a blast of fire out of his mouth at the door that incinerated it.
"What the hell was that!" she heard Ambrose yell and glanced out into the hallway and saw him, Jeb, Archie and Az lying on the floor.
"I don't think she's kidding," Az said and screamed when she looked up. "She's not kidding! There...there's a dragon in there with her but...it can't be Wyatt."
"Oh, yes it is…and I'm responsible for it," Archie mumbled.
They got to their feet and ran into the room. Wyatt was curled up on the broken pieces of Az's bed, his snout resting on his front claws. DG was sitting beside him stroking his back gently. The only familiar part of him she saw were his blue eyes only now they were enormous.
"I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "It's my fault."
"Dad...how did you turn into a dragon?" Jeb asked.
I don't know, they all heard him answer in their heads. Find the pooch. See if he knows how I can change back because I have no idea and I can barely move in here! Not to mention that I'm only half the size of a normal dragon and I'm still growing!
"It's my fault. I got you so mad and..."
It's okay kiddo. I just never expected to actually turn into a dragon. No one in the order ever has as far as I know. Where the hell is that pooch? It's getting cramped in here and I don't want to crush anybody.
Toto entered the room. "Amazing!" he cried. "There hasn't been a dragon shapeshifter since the time of Dorothy and Nicolai."
I'm not finding it amazing, dog man. How the hell am I supposed to change back?
"What happened just before you turned?" Toto inquired.
"I told him about something that happened to me on the other side and it made him so mad he turned into...into this!" DG cried.
What the hell is going on here?
"We're getting to that, Wyatt," Az said gently.
Well you'd better talk fast because if I stay in here much longer while I'm still growing I'll end up crushing all of you and probably the tower along with it.
"We'll go outside. Can you get out through the balcony?"
Not without busting it up. My neck and head will get through but not the rest of me. I'm sorry.
"I'd rather have the balcony destroyed than for you to be uncomfortable. We'll meet you downstairs. Deege?" Az glanced back at her sister. She wasn't moving only watching as Wyatt broke the balcony and hovered above the bedroom window with his wings flapping when he noticed she was still in the room. She was grinning.
Don't even think about it kiddo!
"It would be just like riding a horse," she said playfully. "Come on."
I won't risk your safety. Walk down with your sister. DG! Dammit, what did I just say? Get off me! Get off me right now!
DG hopped onto his back and wrapped her arms around his long neck, as much of it as she could reach anyway and held on tight. "Let's go for a moonlight flight, dragon man," she murmured.
You, crazy stupid girl! If you slip I might not be able to catch you!
"DG, this is no time to be playing around!" Az scolded.
"I'll be fine Az," she said as she patted Wyatt's neck.
Az rolled her eyes and shook her head before she left her room.
"Oh, and where does she get that stubbornness from I wonder?" Archie teased.
"Not me!"
Well I'm not. I'm not fine with any of this.
"I'm not getting off, so you may as well fly, dragon man."
I swear your purpose in life is to drive me crazy and you can forget about me taking you anywhere other than back on the ground, so we can find out what the hell's going on here.
"Fine...but you will take me on a moonlight flight."
He snorted. Although he was scared to death that she'd slip and fall, he kept his balance enough so that they landed on the ground safely. DG climbed off Wyatt's back and sat down beside him. The others were sitting on rocks. Lavinia and Tyler now joined the group, both terrified by Wyatt's change in appearance.
Okay, talk! How the hell did I get like this?
"I'm afraid I'm responsible for it. I and the Mystic Man," Archie spoke up.
"What?" Lavinia demanded.
"Almost a century ago, before I became Jiminy Cricket, Rumple had me steal two vials of dragon's blood from one of the dukes in our land. Blue for male, red for female. He didn't tell me what he wanted with them, just that he needed it. Years later, before Bastinda killed DG, the Mystic Man traded a seeing globe with him for the dragon's blood. He injected Wyatt and DG with it before she was sent to the other side with Elmer."
"Wait…so I'm part dragon too?" DG gasped.
"Yes. But more specifically, you are his mate," Az answered.
What? I'm her bondmate? But that's...that's...impossible!
"No, it isn't Wyatt. You were bound to each other just before DG left for the other side. Once that happened it unlocked your magic and the Mystic Man was tutoring you so that you would be able to use it to protect DG until she grew into womanhood and could complete your bond. And since you're now the Talon of the Dragon Grand Master you inherited the Mystic Man's magic too."
Ozma's ghost, this isn't happening. Wyatt raised his snout and looked up at DG. She didn't seem bothered by it at all and that disturbed him. Didn't she realize what a bond like theirs meant? What was involved in it?
So, if we were bound before, why don't I remember it?
"You severed your bond the night Bastinda attacked DG. You were there with DG trying to fight her off, but your powers weren't strong enough. Since your life forces were bound the Mystic Man told you the only way you would live was if you broke it."
Wyatt suddenly saw himself back in his old room at the Mystic Man's mansion. The older man was talking to him, begging him to live for Jeb and Adora and he heard himself chanting a spell.
With a severed heart comes a severed memory...I was punished by losing my magic, my memories and my family for defying the will of the OZ.
"I'm still here, Dad," Jeb said.
You and your mother suffered because of me.
"No, it was because of me," DG croaked. "I'm the one who gave Bastinda the power to escape her prison. All of this is my fault. You gave up everything you had to try to save my life. All of you did. I wasn't worth it! You should've just let me die!"
Wyatt slammed his claw down on the ground with such force that it nearly knocked the others off their rock seats.
Dammit, I am sick and tired of listening to you wallowing in self-pity. When the hell are you gonna grow up?
"Don't you talk like that to me! Wait...I forgot, you can't talk."
He raised his head, glowered at her and let out a loud roar that made her back away in terror.
I may not be able to talk out loud, but you can still hear me in that thick head of yours, so I suggest you listen. You may not think you're worth anything but we all do, or we never would've made the sacrifices we did. But I have to tell you little girl, when you act like this you sure make it easy for us to regret it. You're a woman now for Ozma's sake so act like one!
"And that my angel, is why he was chosen to be your bondmate," Lavinia informed her daughter. "Balance must be kept between youth and innocence and age and experience."
"That's why I'm the older one and Dellia is the younger one in our bond," Archie said.
"Is everything coming back now, Cain?" Ambrose asked him.
The more I hear, the more I remember. Most of it the Mystic Man told me, the rest I heard from Adora since she was Alana Kantrine's granddaughter. I guess she was trying in her own way to tell me what I really was, but she was probably bound to the same oath of silence you are all taking a huge risk to break.
"Most of my memories came back the day Bastinda locked me in the Gale Crypt. I'm sorry I didn't tell you Wyatt. I thought...I had to make your memories come back another way but...it wouldn't have worked anyway," DG confessed sadly.
And we lapse into self-pity again. Were you even listening to me at all?
"It's not self-pity this time. It's the truth."
Then forget about it. We have bigger issues to deal with right now. If Almedea gets to you, me or both of us she has a way to breach Lurline's fortress and kill her. Believe me, the reign of terror Bastinda waged in your sister's body would be nothing compared to the terror the Dark One will unleash. It took Dorothy, Nicolai, Alexander and Glinda six months to draw enough of her powers out of her that they could lock her back in Ephesis.
"So, turning Wyatt into a dragon was one of her attacks?" DG asked Az.
"Possibly. You experienced one of your own just before that. She feeds on negative emotions Deege and she'll want ours as much as an addict wants the vapors, so we have to be very careful. Since Rumplestiltskin, her current vessel, is restoring the missing pieces of his heart, her control on him is weakening and Archie and I suspected years ago you and Wyatt are the intended vessels for the other two daggers."
"You mean she gets off on them? That's disgusting!" DG cried.
What does that mean?
"Ummm..." she blushed. "Getting excited, only in a perverted way but please don't make me go into detail."
No, you don't need to elaborate. What was going on when you were attacked? I know you were burning up but what were you thinking that caused it?
"You don't want to know."
Maybe if you talked about it...
"Trust me you don't want to know."
It had something to do with us, didn't it?
"I really think we should have this talk in private..."
There really isn't much that it is private anymore. You know what kind of bond ours is now and so does everyone else here.
But your wife...you've barely had time to grieve for her.
I've been grieving for her for eight years, Dottie. Seeing her grave...just made it more real for me that she's gone. And Jeb told me something I didn't give much thought to till now. She already knew there would be someone there for me when I was ready to move on.
D..Did you just call me Dottie?
He felt her teardrops falling on his claws. As he looked at her again, he saw them together in his mind only she looked two years younger. They were living in his cottage in Elba like a married couple only he was a shadow.
You said no one was allowed to call you that but me, my dragonswan. Dragonswan...you got that out of some book you read, right?
"Oh, Wyatt!" she cried and embraced his neck.
The others watched with smiles on their faces. "I think we should leave them alone for a few minutes," Lavinia suggested softy. They stood up and concealed themselves behind the south wall of the tower.
"Mother, do you think her kiss will break the enchantment?" Az asked hopefully.
"If she loves him enough to kiss him in his present form, yes. I don't think this was Alemedia's doing. It was his, or should I say Nick's. They heard thunder overhead and it began to rain. "Now I know it is. My angel, please don't fail this time. Look beyond the dragon and remember the man within..."
"You remember everything now," DG whispered.
A lot of good it does me. Look at me. What if I can't change back? What kind of a life would we have? It would be as lonely as it was two years ago. As it was when I was him.
"It wasn't so lonely for me, Wyatt. In my heart I felt like we were already married. We weren't able to touch until the day Bastinda came for you, but we made our feelings for each other quite clear without needing to. We were doing it right in this life."
But...this is worse than being a shadow...or a rust covered wreck. I still can't love you the way I want to! You're better off without me.
"So, you're just going to give up and hide in corners? Where is my brave Tin Man?"
Obviously, he's not here anymore. I'm a monster. People see me, and they run away screaming and I destroy everything I touch. Look at the tower.
"Oh, damn that tower. It needs torn down anyway!"
He raised himself up and started to walk away, the ground shaking beneath him, his tail swatting at everything inanimate in its path as he vented his anger out on them.
"You're not leaving me again!" DG hissed and felt her magic flare up; changing her clothes to the same white negligee Dorothy wore. She raced after him, mud splattering onto the skirt of her gown. "Wyatt Cain, don't you dare run away from me!" she screamed over the thunder. "I promised you we would be together again, and we will!"
He stopped and turned his head. Dottie, what are you doing?
"You think there's no hope for you, for us? Well I have news for you, I don't. You told me you want me to act like a woman. Well I am and right now the only thing this woman wants is you! You think you can't change back. I think you can."
Got a dragon enchantment removal spell, do you?
He lowered his head so that he could look directly into her eyes.
"The best one," she whispered. "And even if it doesn't work I love you and I'll still love you no matter what you are." She placed her small hands on both sides of his snout and lowered her head so that her lips were just above the tip of his nose. She pressed her lips to it and kissed it softly. A beam of bright white light surrounded them, knocking her on her backside. She looked up with tears in her eyes as she saw the dragon vanish and in its place stood the old Wyatt Cain, complete with his grey fedora hat and duster. He gazed down at her, a sorrowful expression on his handsome face.
"It was against my will that I have spoken
The words that made our bond broken
A chance I took that one day you would return
And your forgiveness I must now earn."
She rose to her feet, took his face in her hands and gazed deeply into his blue eyes.
"You, the other half of my heart I at last reclaim
And through my love I release you from your pain
With m my kiss I now restore
The bond of light between us forever more."
She gently moved one of her hands down his chest and pressed it against his heart as she kissed him on the lips. Her palm began to glow as her magic shattered the final locks on his memories and his magic and restored them.
"Dottie," he murmured as he wrapped his arms around her and held her against him. "You've freed me at last."
"I told you I would," she said through her tears.
"I love you."
"And I love you," she whispered as he kissed her. "I've waited so long for this…"
The sensations she'd experienced from the kisses they'd shared in her dreams was nothing compared to the ones she was feeling now. Her body was a blazing inferno that no amount of water could ever put out, her limbs so weak she could barely stand on them. She pressed her body closer to his as he deepened the kiss.
"I think we better tell them the rest of what's going on before they start doing things they'll need to get a room for," Ambrose said. Several pairs of eyes turned in his direction, all of them angry. "What?"
"I'd like to give them a little more time alone before we throw more bad news on them," Az said angrily.
"Ummm…Az…I think maybe he's right," Jeb said. "My dad has that look on his face."
"What look?"
"The 'we're going to bed and not coming out for the rest of the day' look."
"How do you know that's what it means? You were just a child the last time you saw them together."
"Because every time he had the look on his face he and my mom went in the bedroom and didn't come out till later. I always thought it meant they were tired but as I got older I heard from the other fighters what it really meant."
"And how often have we given each other those looks, darling?" Archie murmured.
Now it was Az's turn to blush. "They can't consummate their bond now." She took a deep breath. "Be prepared because we may just make Wyatt mad enough to turn into a dragon again and roast us alive for interrupting them."
DG didn't want to think about anything else except that after years of waiting and hoping she was finally in the arms of the man she loved but when she saw their friends and family trying without success to hide behind the south wall of the tower she growled in frustration.
"I really hate voyeurs," she mumbled.
"What?" Wyatt asked as he broke their kiss.
She nodded in the direction of the south wall. "People who have nothing better to do than spy on a couple's private time!" she said loud enough for them to hear. "If we wanted to...we could give them something worth looking at," she added seductively.
"Behave!" he scolded with a smile.
"I will...for now but I promise you Tin Man when we're alone I am not going to make much of an effort to keep that promise. We have a lot of lost time to make up."
Although he loved her it didn't feel right to him to rush that part of the relationship. He didn't with Adora either. They both agreed it was better to wait until they were married, and he wanted to at least try to wait with DG, but he suspected she would put up more of a fuss about it due to being raised on the Other Side. From what he heard, a lot of women on the Other Side refused to wait until they were married and had children when they were barely out of childhood themselves. Thankfully his son hadn't chomped at the bits when he asked him to wait to have children with Xenia before they were married. He could only hope the boy had enough sense not to bed her before then either.
"Dottie, I really think we should wait a bit for that," he said and braced himself for the verbal assault that would likely follow. "I know it sounds old fashioned, but..."
She pressed her fingertips to his lips to silence him. "No, it just means that you love and respect me enough to want to do this right," she said softly. "And we have a curse to break."
"That damned curse," he muttered. "It's going to bring out the worst in us until we break it," he reminded her. "We'll get in fights, say and do things we don't mean..."
"Name one couple who hasn't gone through life without having fights. I know you and Adora had to have your battles."
"One of them was so bad she left me and went to Lurline's temple where Ambrose and Xenia's parents threatened me with bodily harm if I hurt her again."
"Our Glitch's parents? Bloodthirsty people? I find that hard to believe."
"His mother is the worst of the two and from what Jeb tells me so is Xenia. I am not looking forward to facing those two when Jeb and Xenia ask for their blessing to get married."
"I'm terrified of when any daughter of ours brings a man home! You'd use the poor boy for target practice. That is...if you want to have more children or would just prefer being a grandparent."
"I'd love to have a little girl who looks just like you," he said softly.
"And I want a little boy who looks like his father." She smirked. "That settles it. We have to have at least two."
"We have to get married first."
"Don't you think you should ask me?" she teased.
"I don't have a ring...yet. "
"I don't need one," DG insisted.
"I want you to have one." He closed his eyes and held up his right palm, moving his left one over it. A small beam of light formed between his hands and when he opened them a gold band rested between them. There was a minature image of their dragon tattoo on the top of the ring that was usually reserved for the stone. He held the ring out to her and gazed deeply into her eyes as he spoke.
"For what seems like an eternity we have been made to wait
I stand before you now to ask you, will you be my lifemate?"
"Yes!" she cried and threw her arms around him, kissing him again as he slid the ring onto her finger.
"I love you, Dottie."
"You know I love you, Tin Man."
"You may not say that when I start training you."
"Training me?" Her eyes lit up. "You mean you're going to train me to be a Talon again?"
"You haven't used your abilities in a few centuries, so you need a refresher course. I'm not going to be easy on you either."
"When are you?" she retorted with a smirk.
"As soon as I give Glitch and Jeb their tests it'll be your turn. You'll need a new sword though."
"I never felt safer than I did when I carried yours...and your pistol." She looked up at him. "It saved my life when Nicolai tried to kill me for wanting to be with you instead of him..."
"I know."
"I should never have let Alexander take the blame, but he insisted. This is so weird Wyatt, having both sets of memories."
"It's part of the curse too, don't forget that," he reminded her.
"I won't. When should I expect the drill sergeant to show up?"
"I told Glitch and Jeb I need a week to get ready for their trials. That should give us enough time to get you a sword and your training clothes ready."
"I already have an idea of where we can find some of the materials for my sword."
"Where?"
"I want to melt down that damned tin suit she had you in. Yours was made from your tin suit in your first life. It seems fitting that mine should be made from the tin suit you were kept in in this life."
"We have to get your chalice back from Xenia too. Jeb, do you have still have Dottie's chalice with you?" he called out.
"It's in Xenia's bag. I'll get it." his son said as he hurried off.
"Az, can you tell him to meet us in the training room? You and Archie come too, and I need you to bring the emerald."
"All right," she said softly.
"Wyatt, what are you doing?"
"Starting some of your training," he explained as he led her back into the tower.
Although she would have preferred to be doing other things with him, he left no room for argument and she'd been eager to learn how to fight like he did from the moment she first saw him do it. It would give her the chance to relearn the skills The Mystic Man's ancestor taught her centuries earlier. She was a strong woman in this life but not strong enough yet. That would come with time and practice.
Jeb, Archie and Az were waiting for them in the training room. Az was wearing the emerald around her neck while Jeb a duplicate of his staff in his hands. DG's chalice was on the floor in front of them.
"Why are you standing like that?" DG asked them.
"Because it's how we're supposed to stand," Az explained as she used her magic to draw a makeshift compass on the floor. "I'm the North Gate so I always stand in the northern position. My element is Earth and my symbol is the emerald."
"I'm the temporary East Gate so I always stand over here. My element is air and my symbol is the staff. Since I'm also the dragon's son, my staff has a dragon on it," Jeb said. "I'll lose my powers once the real East Gate, Henry Strogoff, beings his training."
"You're the South Gate so you'll always stand here, Dottie," Wyatt said as he moved her to her correct position. "Your element is water and your symbol is your chalice. That's why sometimes when you use your magic you always have an image of water in your mind." He moved over to his spot. "I'm the West Gate. My element is fire as you already know, and my sword is my symbol." He took it out and it flew out of his hand, locking inside the chalice.
"Oh, that's not sexual in nature at all," DG giggled. "Why do they do that?"
"We honestly don't know," Az answered. "Do you remember that chant we did out on the balcony?"
"Yeah."
"It's the spell we use to protect each other when one or all of us are under attack from a strong magic user," Wyatt explained. "Had the Mystic Man not passed his powers onto to me when he died your shield against Bastinda wouldn't have held as long as it did when she was attacking you. You needed Jeb and me to complete it."
"And your sword and my chalice have to be like that for it to work?"
"Yes."
"I kinda like that idea."
"Get your mind out of the gutter and pay attention," he scolded as they all joined hands. "Az, start the chant," he instructed.
"Emerald of the North Gate, hear your mistress's call.
Form around us the protective wall."
"Dottie, it's your turn."
"Chalice of the South Gate, hear your mistress's call.
Form around us the protective wall."
"Jeb?"
"Staff of the East Gate, hear your master's call
Form around us the protective wall."
"Blade of the West Gate, hear your master's call
Form around us the protective wall."
DG watched fascinated as a dome shield formed over them and each of their symbols began to glow.
"We don't always have to be standing in the circle together for this to work, Deege," Az said. "Because of the bond we all share, we can send distress calls to each other across time and distance. "As soon as you and I started chanting up on the balcony it sent a distress call to Jeb and Wyatt that we needed them, and they answered it. Although Wyatt didn't have his sword on him and you didn't have your chalice, Jeb did, and he put them together. All Wyatt had to do was complete the spell."
"I still don't know how I figured out how to open my gate."
"You have Dorothy's memories. She always knew how to do it. Hearing me open mine triggered that memory."
"That other chant we did, it's to lock the Dark One up, isn't it?"
"Yes, but it will take all four of us to weaken her enough that she can't get out of Ephesis again and that can't happen until our bond is consummated," Wyatt spoke up.
"All eight. Rumple, Henry and Regina complete our circle, Wyatt," Archie corrected. "If they fail, you have to take Rumple's place and Jeb will take Henry's with Xenia as his heart."
"We have to go to the Northern Island to do that," DG murmured. "I hate that place."
"It's the curse's point of origin. We don't have any other choice, Dottie."
"Still, having to make love in the same bed where I died is kinda...creepy."
They released each other's hands and the shield vanished. Wyatt returned his sword to its scabbard and DG kneeled down to pick up the chalice. It shrunk down to the size of a pendant. She fastened it around her neck.
"I didn't know it could do that," Jeb spoke up.
"You wouldn't. It only does that for me so that I can always carry it with me," DG explained as Dorothy's memories still continued to come back to her. "I kept it, Wyatt's sword and pistol with me until I died as Dorothy. Then I gave my chalice to Glinda and the weapons to the Mystic Man's ancestor, so he could hide them."
"But...but if you had Wyatt's pistol how...?" Az asked.
"I was the one who killed Nicolai Az, not Alexander. I didn't want him to take the blame, but he insisted. He was afraid the people would lose faith in me if they found out I killed my husband no matter what he did to me. She gasped. "Wait a minute...oh God.." She glanced over at Wyatt. "I never understood why Zero hated you so much. Now I know why. He made a pact with Alemedia. She brought him back so that he could have his revenge against Wyatt."
"Wait a minute! Zero, that son of a bitch is Nicolai!?" Archie exclaimed.
"Please tell me he doesn't have his magic." DG moaned.
"No. Lurline took it from him but that doesn't make him any less dangerous," Wyatt reminded her. "We don't know what Alemedia gave him."
"Nothing you and Deege said makes any sense to me...why?" Jeb asked his father.
"Because Dottie and I have two sets of memories...ours in this life and our previous lives. When we were born, your mother merged the hearts and souls from our bodies when we died as Nick and Dorothy into these ones."
"You mean you have two hearts?"
"Not the physical body part, no, but the essence of two of them like they have two souls," Az explained. "So do Glitch and Raw because they've all be reborn to complete the task they failed the first time. The first time Dorothy and Nick were the West and South gates while Alexander and Glinda were the North and East. Dorothy was the only one of them who consummated a bond with the wrong man and after they imprisoned Alemedia."
"Yeah, well if I could go back, I would have told him to take a hike and took my Tin Man to bed. And I'd really like to do that now."
"Dottie, you could try the patience of a saint," Wyatt said with a sigh. "It's not the right time."
She'll be ready soon enough, Wyatt, he heard Az say to him in his mind.
You sure I'm still capable of...?
I gained enough control to make certain she never tortured you to the point where you could never father a child. As soon as your bond is consummated, and your child is in her womb, your light will be at its full strength.
"I know but that doesn't stop me from wanting you..."
"Be careful Deege. You remember what happened to Nicolai..."
"How can I forget when I dealt with it every night?" DG grumbled. "My only consolation was seeing you even though you were a shadow." she said to Wyatt. "Nicolai was an obsessed bastard who tried to rape Wyatt out of my mind and heart, but he never could."
"We need to do something about him before he gets loose," Jeb reminded his father.
"We need to find the other two Dark One daggers and destroy them. Bastinda was looking for them along with the emerald since Alemedia told her she hid them here," Archie spoke up. "Alemedia can control more than one vessel at the same time and now that Rumple wants rid of her and she can't take me or Dellia, you and DG are the ones she wants. And the Final Eclipse is coming."
Everyone in the room shuddered.
"I see you all have heard it."
"Who hasn't!" DG exclaimed. "Aramon's prophecy, the destruction of this world! Wyatt, that settles it. We have to move up our timetable. The final eclipse is in fourteen days! I know you didn't want to rush but there is more at stake now. What of Rumple and his bondmate?"
"Their bond isn't consummated either," Archie confessed.
"Then DG and I will go to the Northern Island and search for those daggers." Wyatt said.
"And we will go back to Storybrooke," Archie said.
"Az, no! I just got you back!" DG cried.
"We can't stay here DG. People still think I'm the Sorceress and will kill me and Archie on sight. And I can't lose my baby again!"
"You're pregnant?" DG hugged her sister.
"So, it was true," Wyatt whispered. "You and Archie did have a child all those years ago that was murdered. I heard rumors of it before I was captured."
"And her murderer is locked in a tin suit!" Archie snarled. "But Ozmalita was kind and returned Ambrosia's soul to us. She'll be reborn. I want her born somewhere safe and Storybrooke is safer than the OZ right now. The Sons and Daughters of Shadowlands will be after us again once word gets out that Dellia's pregnant, so it will be best if we leave before anyone finds out we're still alive."
"You want everyone to think you died that night."
"It's better this way, Deege," Az said softly. "We can only return when I'ts time to return Alemedia to her prison but never forget that I love you."
DG nodded through her tears.
"You're in good hands now. Take care of her Wyatt or I can become the Sorceress," Az threatened.
Wyatt put his arm around DG's shoulders. "She'll be safe with me."
The couple then said their goodbyes to Az's parents, Archie noticing that her mother wasn't as upset that she was leaving as Ahamo was. He snorted in disgust. Once again, his precious wife would become the invisible to everyone else but him and hopefully her sister. He summoned a travel storm token and tossed, holding Az's hand tightly.
"I love you Deege!" Az called out over the rising winds. "Remember. Nothing can hurt us if we're together! I'll see you in our dreams, little sister."
"Find the daggers and destroy them Wyatt and guard her with your life!" Archie ordered before they stepped into the funnel cloud and vanished.
"Dottie…"
DG spun around and buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing quietly, his arms the only place she wanted to be now that her beloved sister was gone.
Oz (The Outer Zone)
Later that night
Zero was uncertain how much time had passed since he'd been locked away in a tin suit that had once been the prison of his nemesis, Wyatt Cain. The elder Cain had provoked his son's wrath by releasing him from his bonds when Jeb wanted to run him through but Zero never expected Cain to lock him a suit and seal it with magic.
He was even in for a greater shock when his hated rival appeared in the woods, flicked his wrist and the suit opened. Zero sneered at him.
"Feeling a bit guilty Cain."
The other man glared at him under the brim of his hat. He gestured and Zero floated over to him. Wyatt reached into his chest and pulled out his heart, squeezing tightly.
"We asked you to do one thing. Just one. Kill the South Guardian and her bondmate….and you couldn't even do that!"
"Sorceress!" Zero cried happily.
"Not quite. On your knees servant!"
"M…Mistress?" he asked as he kneeled in submission.
"Well since I'm occupying this body Mistress is a bit inappropriate don't you think?" Alemedia demanded. "Just call me Master…or Dark One."
"H…How…but I thought you were using Rumpelstiltskin as your vessel."
"Rumplestiltskin will soon neutralize my first blade. But," Alemedia held up Wyatt's sword in triumph, waving her hand over the blade to reveal his name engraved in the steel. "as a Son of Shadowlands you should know the legend of the three blades. This is the second." She waved her hand and a dagger similar to Rumple's appeared. "And this is the third, but it's not meant for you."
"Please! Let me take it….I'm worthy!"
She squeezed the heart tighter. "Unless you want to live long enough to see me crush this into dust you'll keep that mouth of yours shut! I've already chosen my second vessel but you might still be useful." She reached into the pocket of Wyatt's duster and took out the travel storm token she'd stolen from Ambrose's vault. "You're going on a trip to the other side. Kill the other Guardians and their bondmates. The North Guardian is with child again and that child must NOT survive outside the womb. Fail me again and I will send you down to the worst realm in Ephesis for my pets' amusement!"
"I won't fail you Master. Who is the other vessel?"
"Dorothia of course. Now that she's revealed her guilt in releasing Bastinda, the council no longer trusts her or anyone in the royal family. And your mother is already at work spreading the fear of magic throughout the land. Soon they will be calling for the destruction of it." She smiled. "And the prophecy they fear so much will finally come to pass for all but those who are most loyal to me."
"Yes, Master. I will not fail this time."
"See that you don't!" she hissed and teleported to the iron works where Wyatt Cain's old prison was being melted down. She smiled and tossed the blade into the hot steel watching under a cloaking spell while it was being poured into the mold that would become Dorothia's sword. Moments later her name appeared on the blade. Alemedia waved her hand over it and the name was replaced by the symbol of the chalice.
Divide…and conquer.