Wyatt Cain took a moment to catch his breath, disguising it by tilting his hat back. There had been some fierce fighting in places, but a lot of the longcoats had fled or surrendered. Some had even switched sides when the Queen had appeared close to the front lines. That was fortunate, as the resistance had been severely outnumbered and outgunned.

He looked to his side, keeping a wary eye on DG. She and Ahamo were supporting the Queen, who was looking a little frail. On cue, it started to rain. For a brief moment after the eclipse, the sky had seemed clear, but dark stormclouds had quickly raced in. The Queen ran a hand across her forehead, and then visibly pulled herself together. She laid on a hand on DG's shoulder. "Just allow me to take a little more, DG."

DG nodded her assent, and then the Queen announced, her voice magically bolstered, "The field is ours. The forces of the Witch have been routed." A loud cheer rose from a thousand throats, and the resistance fighters turned to face the Royal Family. The Queen continued, "I thank you for your continued struggle through these dark times, and for your help in liberating me and my family from my prison."

DG turned to her mother and whispered something to her. The Queen nodded, and then DG disengaged and walked up to Cain. He watched her silently, and when her eyes flicked towards the tower he nodded and fell in behind. The Queen continued to speak, now relying on her unaugmented voice.

They entered the tower, by the front doors this time, and started up the interminable stairs. Eventually, DG started to chatter, a tad nervously, Cain thought. As they approached the throne room, DG said, "It's all over now, right? The O.Z. will get back to normal?"

Cain did not care to answer, and never had to reply, as at that moment, DG opened the door, and did not find her sister. "Where is she, Cain?"

He shrugged. "Who knows?" DG sent him a sharp glare, and he said, "What? Come on then, let's have a look through the rooms round here."

They started to hunt around, and Cain took a moment to look over the balcony, but there was no crowd directly below. DG quickly grew frustrated, and said, "She's not here, Cain. I can feel it." She waved her hand at him for emphasis. "I think I could find her anywhere, right now. And she's not here."

It was not really clear to Cain what she was referring to, but he nodded peaceably, and then picked up his pace as she dashed down the stairs. They were out of breath when they arrived back on the field. DG pushed through the crowd without paying attention. Cain glowered at anyone who looked up in protest.

Once at the Queen's side, DG whispered harshly, "She's gone, Mom. She's not in the castle."

The Queen jumped, with not a little fear, or so it seemed to Cain. "Gone? Are you sure?"

Cain tipped his hat respectfully. "Yes, ma'am. Not in the upper rooms, at any rate."

The Queen sighed, and muttered, "I don't have time for this right now."

DG stepped back as if she had been slapped. "What's that supposed to mean? Az is my sister."

The Queen looked alarmed and signaled DG to keep the volume down. "We have to make sure the O.Z. survives, DG. That is our priority. There is so much to do to rebuild the O.Z. Your sister should know this. She shouldn't have gone wandering off." She softened her tone. "Still, we have to find her, and quickly. It's too dangerous, especially with all of the resistance fighters around. We have to find her, preferably without involving too many of them. I don't think they would be particularly keen on that."

DG looked stubborn. "Tell them the truth."

Cain stepped up. "It's not quite that simple, kid. Some of these people have lost …"

"No, Cain. It is that simple."

He shut up; she had that particular look in her eyes, the one that brooked no opposition.

They did not find her until the next day. After a fruitless night's searching, the Queen finally asked the leaders of the resistance for assistance, and one grizzled warrior reluctantly stepped forward, and led the way into the forest. He struck Cain as a rather shifty sort, and so he kept a hand close to his gun at all times.

Cain immediately recognized the tin man as the one where he had imprisoned Zero. He grabbed DG's arm, stopping her dashing forward, and after looking to the Queen for permission, he stepped forward to open up the suit.

Azkadellia was inside, covered in mud and dirt from head to toe. He was expecting a reaction, but apart from some blinking in response to the daylight, her face remained blank. He stared at her for a moment; trying to catch a glimpse of someone behind those terrible eyes.

Then he stepped back and picked up her arm. At his tug, she stepped out, although he still saw no signs of awareness in her face. Out of the tin can, he could see that somewhere along the way she had lost the chain-mail outfit, leaving a rather torn and dirty slip. He stepped back again, keen to get away from her, leaving her arm to fall back to her side.

DG seemed shocked into silence, and the Queen reached out and took Ahamo's hand in a death grip. "Azkadellia?"

The woman in front of them seemed to jump at the Queen's voice, and a spark of life appeared in her eyes. Cain let out a breath that he did not realize he had been holding. Raw stumbled backwards and tripped over his own feet with a loud crash. Glitch whirled round and started fumbling around, pretending to help the Viewer get up.

"Mother?" The voice was full of hope.

The Queen seemed at a loss for words, but no one stepped in to fill the gap. "Oh, Azkadellia, what happened? We have to get you out of here."

"I was waiting. I could never get out."

Everyone seemed rather nonplussed by this answer. DG shook her head violently, and then dashed over to envelop her big sister in a hug. After a moment, Azkadellia seemed to relax into the hug. "DG. You're here?"

"Yes. Of course I'm here. Where else would I be?" DG's voice was brittle, and Cain was sure that she would burst into tears in a moment.

He looked over to the man who had led them here and said, "There was a man in here. Where is he?"

The man, Earl Marshall, blanched and stuttered, "We thought he was one of her prisoners. Let him go, didn't we. Haven't seen him since." Cain stared at him coldly, and his fingers curled into a fist. Next time, perhaps he would not be so merciful to Zero.

A thought struck him, and he looked back to Azkadellia, in time to see her look up to see Marshall. Her eyes fluttered shut for an instant, and then she gently pushed her sister away, her posture suddenly even more tired and defeated than before. There was no sign of the Emerald of the Eclipse. He looked to the Queen. "The Emerald."

She gasped. "Yes, the Emerald. Where is the Emerald?"

Azkadellia moved her hand up to rub her collarbone. "It's gone. Someone took it."

They all turned to look at Earl Marshall, and then Ahamo was walking forward, grabbing the man by his jacket. He looked as if he just needed a good excuse to beat Marshall into a pulp. Marshall struggled and then shouted, desperately, "He took it. The guy who was in the suit. He stole it. We meant to give it to you, ma'am. But he stole it."

Cain looked grimly at DG, and said, "Zero."