Title:

Better or Worse

Disclaimer:

I would love to put my claim on these characters but I'm sad to say I can't.

General Info:

Rated T

Angst/Romance

Author's Note:

PLEASE read and review. I love to hear your opinions. As always, thank you for taking time to read my story.

To those who have reviewed:

Thanks for your words of encouragement and praise. I'm glad you like my characters as much as I do. You never know how readers will react to people of your own design. I hope this chapter is new and exciting to you and all you were hoping for. Sorry about the cliffies, but I love to keep you coming back for more. :)

Chapter 6


"I prithee send me back my heart,
Since I cannot have thine;
For if from yours you will not part,
Why, then, shouldst thou have mine?"
– John Suckling


DG walked away. She walked away from the prying eyes of the village, walked away from her friends, walked away from Robbie, walked away from him. Shoving her fisted hand into her mouth she bit down hard to stifle the sob bubbling up her throat. The tears came, fat and fast as she moved silently through the tall grass lost in thought.

It was as if her legs had a mind of their own. She just kept putting one foot in front of the other, eyes focused on the ground just a few feet in front of her to keep from walking into something. Most of the objects coming into view were trees which she would quickly sidestep before continuing her thoughtless stride.

The darkness surrounded her, invading her senses and her thoughts. It consumed her, drew her into its core. The trees were shadows of their former glory, memories of the suns presence. The grass, a dark blanket on the ground, was enticing her into its fold. And she only too willingly accepted.

Sinking down into the soft, dark grass she crossed her arms around her knees. This was not a pleasant experience so far.

DG hated hurting Robbie, hated she was responsible for his heartbreak. She tried to let him down easy when she first got back to Kansas and thought she had succeeded with the way things were headed before the bumpy ride to the Outer Zone. Now he was hurting just as much as she was, living with unrequited love. Robbie didn't deserve to feel this way. No one did. To live with the knowledge the woman he loves, does not return his feelings. To live with the knowledge the woman he loves, loves another.

If she could stop loving Cain, she would. If she could turn that love toward Robbie, she would. But the heart wants what the heart wants, damn the pain, damn the consequences, damn the results.

"Care to give me that explanation now, kid." The rough voice broke through the darkness like a floodlight. It was not a true question, more of a prod to get her mouth moving and to let her know she was no longer alone.

She bristled at the use of the nickname she had gone without hearing since the last time she was in his presence. It still caused her blood to cook in her veins. Close to twenty-five now and he still considered her a child. But this time she just ignored the epithet.

"We got here accidentally," she stated calmly, letting her anger at him referring to her as 'kid' cover the butterflies forming in her stomach with each passing second, and she still had yet to look at him.

"Really," he countered, disbelief obvious in the inflection. "So, you didn't decide to go on a little adventure to find me than?"

Her expression contorted in astonishment as she simultaneously turned to face her former friend. Steam should have been visible billowing out of her ears, she was that heated. The smug look gracing his facial features and the relaxed way he leaned against a tree only increased the temperature tenfold.

How dare he assume such things!

Sure, she wanted him to come back, wanted him to feel for her the way she felt for him, but she would never force it upon him. For a year and a half she left him alone, would have continued to do so if the damn twister did not thrust her back into the fray.

There was no way she would condone that comment with an answer.

"The travel storm appeared so suddenly Robbie couldn't out run it," she ground out. DG tried to go back to neutral, tried to get her emotions in check but was having little success.

The smug expression dropped and his brows knitted over his baby blues.

"Travel storm?"

"Yeah, you know, the things that twirl wind and objects in their midst," she mimicked the movement of the storm with her pointer finger. "Grabs people from the Other Side and throws them into this backward world." Raising her hands palms up, she glanced meaningfully around the area.

With a push his back was off the tree, one hand hooked in the belt of his holster, the other in his pocket. He didn't make any move to close the distance but she could see the war to do so going on behind his eyes.

"You were on the Other Side?"

She felt like she was playing 50 questions.

"I've been living there for a long time. Didn't intend on coming back." She snorted loudly. It was very un-Princess-like, but when had she ever been the pristine royal. "Though, in both instances I didn't have much choice in the matter." DG shook her head ruefully.

It was the truth. During the first storm her parents, nurture units, actually threw her into the swirl of wind and debris. This time it consumed the truck right off the road they were traveling down. Who knew how it would happen next time. Probably suck her up off the toilet.

"So, these people…" Extracting the hand from his pocket he pointed back toward the village where her three companions were hopefully resting.

"Friends from my childhood," she finished for him.

He nodded, finally understanding they were from Kansas.

DG turned back to facing away from the man.

There were so many questions running around in her head she wanted answered. Had he been here the whole time? When was this place built? Who were all these people? The list went on and on.

However, if she asked those simple questions it would only lead to the more personal ones seeping into her brain. Did he miss her? Think about her? Change his feelings? Want to come back?

Those would only cause more heartbreak. So, she kept her mouth closed tight.

"You and that boy…" Cain grumbled, fingers trailing along the scabbed over cut on his swollen bottom lip.

She knew what he was asking. Part of her wanted to lie, to tell him they were lovers, engaged to be married, hell, maybe even that they were married. But she had never lied to the man and wasn't about to start with such a huge whopper. It would only make matters worse when he found out the truth. And he would sniff it out, he always did. Not to mention what it would do to Robbie.

"We're just friends. All of us are just friends."

There was a small shuffling noise from his direction and she wasn't surprised to hear him move closer. As his hand came down softly on her shoulder she twisted it out from under the weight. In a swift, almost elegant, motion she was on her feet heading further away from the village, hearing his feet beat against the hard ground as he tried to catch up. Even with her injured hip she gave him a run for his money.

DG was deep within the confines of the trees before he caught her by the arm stopping her retreat. But she refused to turn, keeping her back to him.

"What do you want, Mr. Cain?" she pushed passed her stiff lips.

"You can't go off on your own," he stated firmly. "It's too dangerous."

"I've been on my own in Kansas for some time now," she countered.

"The Queen agreed to that?"

Another snort let loose. "She wasn't happy, but the bullets made quite an argument in my favor," she said nonchalantly, like it meant nothing. "They both thought I'd be safer on the Other Side for a while."

"Bullets? People were shooting at you?" She could hear the agitation in his voice, she could picture is back ramrod straight, hand twitching toward his gun.

Twisting, eyes wide, she gave him the most disbelieving stare imaginable. What did he think would happen? The longcoats were still around back then, not that she knew what the tensions were like currently. But did he honestly think there would be no assassination attempts for the woman who took out the most powerful Sorceress any of them had ever seen?

"Yes," DG answered coolly. "One of my guards was stupid enough to jump in front of a bullet for me. It almost cost him his life." Again, little emotion in statements that should have been flooded with feeling.

"It's their job, Princess. It's their job to protect you." His face was just as disbelieving as her own. That she would think it absurd a guard, her guard, would die to keep her from harm.

"My life is no more important than his." For a long time she had thought it but never voiced her opinion knowing it would fall on deaf ears in the palace. She turned away again, facing into the darkness. "Besides, I can take care of myself."

Cain made a noise that was something between a laugh, a cough and a sneeze, probably trying to cover up an amused snort of laughter. "Oh, so you can take care of yourself, can you?" Another funky noise coming from deep in his throat pierced the cool evening air. "And that head wound is just a paper cut… right?!"

In a flash she was facing him again, hands clenching and unclenching spasmodically at her sides. "How dare you!" she breathed out low and deep. "What makes you think having a guard would've stopped me from hitting my head against the side of the truck? That is, unless I used him as a human cushion."

"Don't be a smartass, kid," Cain retorted.

"Smartass? Oh, I'll give you smartass!" she snarled. "Oh, wait, I know!" Her face contorted, mouth agape, eyes focused toward the sky, pointing her finger up in the air. "He would have jumped out of the truck," she stated thoughtfully, "dug out all the trees in the area and blown up a giant air bag all in the span of a few seconds. How stupid of me!"

Again he managed to get a rise out of her and she hated his ability to play with her emotions, all of her emotions.

"Kid…" it was a warning.

"What do you care?" she asked, venom in her words, and for a moment she thought she saw hurt flit across his face. DG chucked it up to being a trick of the light filtering through the branches from the rising moons. "Why do you care so much about my safety all of a sudden?"

"I've always been concerned with you're safety." It was soft and almost tender.

DG rolled her eyes. "Sure, so concerned you decided to go away and never come back." Taking a step toward him she felt emboldened. "I've been in Kansas since you left Finaqua and you had no idea. I could've been dead and you would've been none the wiser. That totally shows all the concern you felt for me."

Then, to the surprise of both of them she laughed outright, long and hard. Bending slightly at the waist, hand clutching her stomach, face red from lack of oxygen. It echoed off the trees, off the ground. Seeing the shocked face of Cain only made the bouts continue, tears springing from her eyes in the mirthless noise.

Once her breathing returned to normal she wiped the moisture from her cheeks standing up straight and tall. The smile on her face held no joy, no warmth, just a quiet surrender.

"You never cared," she said calmly and was pleased to see the man flinch. "Oh sure, you wanted to make sure I completed my mission but that was more about the survival of the OZ and not about my survival."

Letting lose an incredulous snort she rolled her eyes. "I have no idea why it took me so long to figure out."

Pointing an accusatory finger she poked him several times in the chest, eyes focusing on the place of impact. "You don't give a damn about me. It's always been about keeping up your precious Tin Man reputation after you made that promise to the Mystic Man. Save the OZ, save the Princess, save the day. And to think I thought you at least considered me a friend. What a crock!"

As her hand dropped down to her side she brushed past the stunned form of Wyatt Cain only to have her waist ensnared by his arms. He pulled her back flush against his chest as she squirmed, kicked and twisted to be let loose. Sliding her fingers under his she tried to pry them away from her body. Kicking her legs she managed to make contact with his shins a few times and elbow him in the guts once or twice.

Then he was grasping her wrists within one of his large fists, using the other arm to turn her and push her back into a nearby tree. Cain shifted his weight so his left side was pressed against her abdomen, his left leg pinning her legs in place. Her wrists were restrained against the coarse bark as high above her head as possible.

"Are you finished?" Cain growled.

She was trapped.

She was pissed.

DG was a trapped, pissed off Princess.

Lips pressed into a thin line, eyes narrowed focusing on a position somewhere beyond the line of Cain's chest, nose flared out as she took long, deep breaths. She said nothing in response, wasn't even sure she could force her vocal cords into working.

"I'll take that as a yes." He pushed his hip against her stomach and she took it as him rubbing in the fact she was under his control.

"You can't honestly believe anything you just said!"

DG let her eyes flit to his for a moment before returning to their original position.

Of course she believed it! He was just too damn conceited to think she would ever come to realize his true feelings. She was nothing to him, nothing at all. Never had been, never would be anything more than a kid who kept getting him into sticky situations, causing his family pain at every turn.

She released the witch, therefore she was the reason Zero locked him in the Iron Maiden, took his family away. She was the reason he wasn't there to protect Adora, why she died while he could do nothing to stop it. She was the reason he lost so many years with his son, why the OZ was plunged into years of Civil War.

"DG…"

Her eyes glanced at him once more, surprised he reverted to using her proper name and not the usual demeaning moniker or formal title.

"You know I care."

She snorted again. She couldn't help it.

"Why don't you just walk away," DG prodded. "It's what you're good at."

Anger was her safety net. If she could just stay angry she would be able to cover up the tremendous hurt coursing through her veins. DG had to use the anger, had to use it to keep her sane, to keep her from crying like the baby he thought she was.

"Damn it, DG! You can be so insufferable sometimes."

There went some of her anger, out the damn window. She felt the tremors building in her toes, working their way up her calves. Soon she would be a quaking mess held up by the tree behind her and the large man to her front. But she kept her chin held high hoping it would pass.

"What do you want from me?" Although it was quiet it lost none of its power. "I get it, I really do." Still she refused to make eye contact, losing focus as water began to well in the confines of her eyes. "You have a life of your own and I don't fault you for wanting to get back to it." Her heart hurt. "I told you how I felt and I lived with the result just like you." The dam was beginning to crack. "So what exactly are you looking for?" Swallowing hard she turned her waterlogged eyes to his. "Acceptance… fine. Understanding… fine. Forgiveness… fine." And with a final blink the dam broke flooding her cheeks with moisture.

Closing her eyes she tried to stem the tide. Her chest began to hitch with suppressed sobs.

"Please…" she heard him plead. "Please don't cry."

When he released her wrists her hands went straight to her soaked face, trying desperately to cover the evidence of her weakness. He stepped back freeing her from her position against the tree. In a quick movement she had sidestepped the tree, backing away still wiping at the tears flowing over her lower lids.

Cain took a step forward, she took three steps back. On more forward, five back. It was an unusual dance where the partners found themselves moving further and further away from each other the more they moved.

"DG, you have to listen to me!" His voice was strained, tight and quiet.

She shook her head, eyes stuck to his face which looked pained.

"Please let me explain!" He was pleading with her again, begging her to just hear him out.

She didn't know if she could handle hearing him trying to let her down easy this time. There was no way her heart would survive him telling her there was no chance for them to be together. It had been bad enough the first time around when he barely said anything at all. This time would surely do her in.

Again she shook her head, taking another step back. This step proved to be her last. The ground was not there. Her foot floundered in the air trying to find purchase as it kept moving down into nothingness. The hands covering her face shot out to grab nonexistent branches.

Her wide, fearful eyes were mirrored in the blue of Cain's who looked to be in slow motion as he lunged forward.

"DG!" she heard him call.

He was too late. Her other foot slipped over the edge into the chasm.

Screaming, limbs flailing, she fell.


AN: Come on... you know you want to leave me a message! So what are you waiting for?