It's the one who won't be taken
He smiled nervously as he sat back down, she wondered idly what her mother could have said to him. She couldn't look him in the eye, she didn't think she could handle that.
Cain was regailing them with his own stories of his time with the mystic man. Although she would have loved to hear them, she couldn't seem to pay attention, trapped in her own thoughts. Cain nudged her, locked his steely gaze on her. "You ok, kiddo?"
Glitch looked up at the question, she could feel the blush run to her cheeks. She couldn't lie to them, she trusted them too much, but she didn't trust her self control enough to tell them the truth. "I just have a lot on my mind."
"Father means well." Raw smiled knowingly. "And he's right. Change will happen soon. DG will accept it, will love."
She smiled weakly, wished she could crawl into a hole. But even the crack in the O.Z. wouldn't be deep enough. "Thank you, Raw. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go talk to Az for a bit, she looks kind of lonely."
Glitch got up to follow her but Raw grabbed his arm and pulled him back down. "DG needs time alone. Won't sleep alone, though. She needs Glitch, and you need DG. Both will be happy, together."
"Raw." Cain glanced back and forth between the two. Glitch was getting more and more nervous with every word he said. "Stop talking." He took Glitch's drink and gave him his. "You look like you could use the real thing."
"Thanks." He nodded before taking a sip, the knots in his stomach loosened. "You know, I could tell you plenty of stories from my time as the Royal Advisor." He thought for a second then frowned. "Or not."
The others laughed and slapped him on the back, the awquard situation between DG and Glitch was easily forgotten as they eased into conversation. Az was sitting alone in a corner, watching as people stared and talked about her. Silently DG slid into a chair next to her, grabbed her hand. "They don't know anything, people like to talk."
"I deserve to be in jail." Az shook her head, she was wearing an incredibly modest dress made of minty green cotton. Her hair was naturally curly and hung over her shoulders. There was nothing scary about her appearance now, with her face pale and unpainted. "I've killed, tried to place the entire Outer Zone in complete darkness. I deserve more than jail, I deserve death."
"Stop it." DG knelt down in front of her, waited until thier eyes met. "You didn't do anything, the witch did. And for that I am really, really sorry. But you don't deserve prison, and the longcoats aren't going to prison either. They were just following orders. Now this is a party, so celebrate."
Az reached out to touch her sister's cheek. " And what about you, little sister? You deny yourself what you deserve most. When mother dies, your going to become queen. I can't have that kind of power within my grasp, it wouldn't be right. And when that happens your going to be too busy to find love, don't let it escape you now.
"Your going to become queen, because your the one who is best suited." DG grimaced. "Don't argue. And I'm the entire reason he got his brain taken away, everything he's been through is all my fault. How can I expect him to love me after that?"
"You don't have to expect anything, dear sister." She nodded toward the group, DG looked to see Glitch walk away from the table. "It'll happen whether or not you want it to. It's just like magic, let it flow through you. Now go, your needed."
"What about you?" DG rose, kept her sister's hand. "You deserve a happily ever after."
"I know you believe that." She patted her sister's hand, looked up at her. "But there's nobody who would want me."
"Think again." She pulled Az up, dragged her across the room.
"Where are you taking me?"Az laughed.
"You need to spend some time mingling." DG pulled her through a doorway. Many people sat around, all quietly chatting. It'd been DG's idea to have two rooms, that way everyone would feel comfortable. Almost all of the ex-longcoats sat in here. There were a few who really did get sent to prison, but those were the ones truely corrupted by the witch. The rest had been easily forgiven by the royal family. And in the center of the group was Zero himself.
He had probably been the most effected by the witch, who had infected him almost as soon as she took over. There had been a small tattoo on his arm, one Az had recognized as the monkey bat that had once been on her back. They'd been able to draw it out and he'd been fine, much like Az. Neither had control of thier actions so neither would take any blame, not that they didn't think they deserved it.
"Zero." DG smiled, motioned for him to come over. The room had gone dead silent the moment they stepped in. "How are you doing?"
"Better, your highness." He nodded with a small smile. Az kept her head down, afraid that he would hate her for corrupting him.
"It's DG, please." She shook her head, pushed Az out in front of her. "I thought Az might like to be around people she is at least somewhat familiar with."
"Wonderful idea." He took Azkedillia's hand, kissed her knuckles. "Come, join us. We've got plently of food and drink for all of us." He smiled at DG, brighter this time. "Will you be joining us as well?"
"Not this time." She hugged Az. "Enjoy yourselves, I need some shut eye."
"Goodnight, little sister." Az grinned, she knew more that she would let on. "Sleep well."
DG tried to run, hoped not to get caught. She was halfway up the stairs when she heard her name called. Glitch was running toward her, stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Where are you going?"
"It's getting late, I'm going to bed." She looked away, hoping it wasn't obvious how much she wanted him to join her.
"Can I come? I don't want to sleep alone." He smiled at her. She seemed somewhat nervous, she'd been fine before they were interrupted. Only made him wonder more what her father had said.
A grin spread across her face as she turned back toward him. "You don't have to sleep alone anymore, Glitch, I told you that this morning. Come on."He ran up the steps to where she was, and with thier arms linked they continued on thier way to bed.
Who cannot seem to give.