Jeb walked into the infirmary flanked by two of his guards. Most of the infirmary that was not being used for the injured had been turned into barracks for the rest of the fighters. Jeb stopped, only for a moment and lost himself in the people he had somehow taken over. To this day he was not sure how he had become their leader, it probably had a lot to do with the fact that he was simply too headstrong and angry to take orders from anyone else. Revenge had been his fuel, his driving force. But now, looking out at everyone, he realized that revenge did not seem so important. He had gotten his father back, he had learned that Azkadellia was probably the bravest fighter of them all but the problem was that the rest of them hadn't. Shrugging off his stupor he walked right to one of the long tables and got on top of it, putting two fingers to his mouth he let out a single, sharp whistle that silenced the entire hall.
"We have a problem," he said. It was met with murmurs of agreement, "no, not the problem you think we have. This one is much worse. I've met with the Princess Azkadellia--"
"Is she dead?!" one of them called out.
"No, the Witch that possessed her is," he shot back. The gasps in the room were audible, "yes, you heard me, the Princess Azkadellia was possessed by ancient magic. Some of you will take my word for it, some of you will not. There is a reason that all of you became fighters, that you chose to stand up for what was right regardless of what those idiot Longcoats and that wicked Witch said to you. Now I'm asking you to do it again. The road ahead is a hard one, we do not have the same kind of fight as before and our enemy's most powerful weapon is now our most powerful ally. There will always be people who wish to harm the OZ we love, an OZ that is not rebuilt yet. We need to stand up and tell them that this is not how it is done here. Its time to come out of the shadows, to force them into hiding. We need to show them that the OZ is united behind its rulers, behind what it stands for," he shook his head, "I must sound crazy to you, I must sound like I'm switching sides. But look into my face, you know me. If there was the smallest chance that I thought she was evil I would tell you, hell I would have killed her myself. But what we have upstairs is a Princess and our future Queen. There is evil out there, make no mistake. And we need to fight it," he looked around, at least they were listening to him, "now it comes in the form of Longcoats and would-be assassins who are still loyal to that evil. They are plotting to kill the Princess Azkadellia and anyone who gets in their way. What I am asking for," he sighed, "is your help. I'm asking for your loyalty. I'm asking you to do probably the hardest thing you have done in your lives. If you cannot do that, I understand. If you will not do that, I understand. But if you will, if you choose to continue to fight for the OZ we love and remember, then come with me."
He got off the table and walked through the silenced hall. Frankly he expected to make it to the first floor of the palace completely alone and look like a fool. When he turned around, over half the barracks, his most loyal followers stood behind him. He stopped surprise on his face. Most of them were young, his age or older and fighting because no-one had told them not to. But a few of them, actually the ones in the front, were older men, some older than his father. He looked at the group. One of the men he had told to run for help shook his head and slung and arm around his shoulders.
"Didn't know you could speak like that mate, most of the time we just see you fight," he shook his head, "but if what you're saying is true then we're there," he looked around him, "we followed you into much more stupid situations," Jeb actually flushed, "lets go see this Princess of yours and tell her she's got herself a guard that's itching to put some Longcoats in prison."
"Right," he looked at two of them, "make sure whoever's behind doesn't get any bright ideas, like taking part in the assassination attempts. We'll brief you later."
They nodded and walked off. Jeb walked up the stairs with the remaining people. The Royal Family was in the throne room.
"Jeb," Cain walked over to his son, "what's going on?"
"Wait here," Jeb said and walked over to the side with Cain, "dad," he said, "I just stopped an assassination attempt on the Princess Azkadellia," he continued.
"You did what?" Cain demanded, shock on his face, "you stopped an assassination attempt--"
"She came to see me last night," Cain sighed, obviously having told her not to be alone with any resistance fighters, "she told me that she had been possessed and you know what? I believe her. I can barely understand it myself but I know she's telling the truth. And when I saw the man running to tell someone I went and got some Longcoat who it turns out wants her dead. So I went back to the barracks and I convinced them to come with me and protect her."
"You convinced all those people to come with you?" Cain looked over his shoulder at the mass of resistance fighters and then back at his son, "that's impressive," Jeb blushed furiously and looked at his feet before back at his father, "alright lets go see what we can do."
Jeb and his father walked into the throne room side by side. Jeb looked at Azkadellia who opened her mouth. His eyes begged for silence and she nodded and kept her mouth quiet. He recognized Glitch sans zipper by her side and saw his feet shift into a fighting stance. Quietly he prayed that he was going to make it through this without getting his ass handed to him.
"It seems you're in need of a guard," one of the older men said walking forward. The Queen recognized him, her eyes followed him, "this young man tells us that what we know isn't really true," he continued. Most of the older men, people he didn't realize had come with him walked forward after their commander, "that the Princess Azkadellia was possessed by some witch," he looked over at Azkadellia, "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but we're going to need a little proof."
"Raw can give proof," all eyes swung to the Viewer, "if okay with everyone," he looked at Azkadellia and held up his hands, "Raw can give proof," he repeated. Slowly she nodded.
Cain found her. He said nothing, there was nothing that he could say after witnessing that. Instead he simply wrapped his arms around her and hugged her against his chest while her fingers dug deeply into the shirt he was wearing. any doubts they had about Azkadellia were gone. DG sobbed until he thought that she had no tears left in her but soon a fresh wave would come and she would sob again. He had nothing to say to her, his brain had stopped working a while back witnessing horror like that. All he could do was hold her as she cried of a broken heart for her sister. He just hugged her, making sure she knew that he was there and giving her something to hold on to.
Finally though he felt her knees give out, her body finally shutting down after all the stress. He could feel her heartbeat and her breath so he knew she wasn't dead, just exhausted. Reaching down he put a hand under her knees and pulled her easily off the ground. His right shoulder protested only mildly before easily allowing him to pick her up and carry her over to her bed. He put her on the bed and reached down to her feet, carefully removing her shoes and pulling the blankets over her body. When he pulled away, one hand grabbed his wrist. Her eyes didn't open but the request did not need to be spoken.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," he whispered.
"Please," she mouthed, tears still making their way down her face.
He sighed, unable to refuse and kicked off his shoes. He eased himself onto the bed on the other side of her and turned on his side. She fitted herself against him, through the blankets he refused to get under and he wrapped his arms around her tightly. He tried to stay awake for as long as he could, swearing to himself that as soon as she went to sleep he was going to get up and go to the couch that had become his bed for the past night. But before he knew it, his body had decided otherwise and he found himself sound asleep.
Elsewhere in the palace Azkadellia sat at her vanity brushing out the long black mess that was her hair and vowing to get a haircut. Ambrose was across the room looking at the collection of books that she had on some rather forbidden subjects. Finally she put the brush down with a sigh and tugged at a lock of her hair. Ambrose closed the book he was studying and came over, giving her a puzzled glance.
"Its so damn long," she said finally, "I should have just gotten the seamstress to cut it off," she sighed and held up an offending lock, "it seems so silly to be angry about my hair but look at it," Ambrose smothered a laugh, "I'm serious, look at my hair," she motioned to it, "its so long and it was up in that ridiculous style," she pulled her hair up into two odd cones like the witch had done, "and now its all damaged."
"So cut it," he said.
"I will, I'm just complaining," she eyed him, "you don't seem quite as terrified of me now as everyone else is. No-one will stop crying, is what they saw so horrible?"
"To them, yes. I don't think they understood what you went through. I had some idea but I didnt--"
"Oh don't you start too," she said looking at him, "I don't think I could stand it if you started crying now too."
"I'm not going to start crying," he promised.
"Thank God," she sighed, "so did you find them yet?"
"Find what?" he asked.
She sighed and stood up, walking over to the bookshelves and reaching for a dusty, thick volume. She held it out to him and he took it, raising his eyebrows. Reaching over, he opened the cover and stopped. The centers of the pages which appeared to be on some kind of tax law were gone, the rims only forming a border making the book effectively like a box. Inside it, tied with a dark silk ribbon, were letters. Letters written in his own neat and careful school-boy handwriting. He looked up at her with surprise written all over his face before looking down at the letters.
"You kept them?" he sputtered, "after all this?" she nodded, "I knew that was how she got my inventions but you, you hid them in a book on," he looked at the spine, "Tax law?"
"She wouldn't look in there," she said, "I did it the night before the Ball, when she let me say goodbye to you. I thought if one day you managed to finish her off, you'd find them eventually and know that I did care about you," she shrugged, "it seems silly now but I thought you should know."
"It doesn't seem silly at all," he said honestly, "it-" he looked at her, "I can't believe I didn't remember you," he confessed finally, "I feel like I should have."
"You couldn't have," she said, "she took your memories remember?"
"But I remembered her," he looked away guiltily, "I remembered how evil she was and what she was doing but I didn't remember you. I knew DG though," he looked at her, "I think I knew her because she looked like you."
"Don't tell her that," Azkadellia said with a smile, "she thinks she looks like mother."
"You both do," he said, "so you've got guards now," he said changing the subject.
"Yes I do," she said, "from resistance fighters no less," she sighed, "Jeb is a good man, he's much like his father," something flickered in Ambrose's eyes, "what?" she said. He shook his head, "are you jealous?" she asked suddenly.
"Me? No, don't be--" he looked at her, "yes."
"Yes?" she smiled, "you're jealous of Jeb Cain?"
"Don't look at me like that, do you think I like it anymore than you do?" he demanded, "I'm not used to being jealous of anyone, especially not when it comes to you."
"What do you have to be jealous about?" she demanded. He gave her a look. She stopped, her mouth falling open in surprise.
"Is it really that much of a shock?" he asked weakly.
"After all this time, after everything?"
"I kissed you didn't I?"
"Yes but," she fell silent, just looking at him, "but," she was running out of arguments, actually she wasn't running out of them, she simply had none to give anymore, "do you love me?"
"Yes."
He had kissed her the first time, this time she was the one that kissed him. The book, the only real remnant of their failed first romance fell to the ground chair with a soft clatter. This kiss was not like the one they had shared before, this one made Azkadellia positive that the only man she ever wanted to kiss again was Ambrose. There were no tears, no confessions, no sadness, just her and him and a lifetime stretching out in front of them. The last real thought she had was that she was going to need a new bodyguard because the thought of any harm coming to him because of her was something she could not even fathom thinking about.
When DG woke up, the first thought she had was that she was warm despite the lack of blankets. Her eyes felt stiff, as if they had been cemented shut. Forcing them open was a task but she managed it. The terrible memories of last night came rushing back to her but despite the burning in her throat she found herself unable to cry at all. Looking down she realized that she was still wearing yesterday's cloths and there was an arm around her middle and another under her neck around her chest. Her own arms were interlocked tightly with the rough hands holding her close. She knew who was holding her and she faintly remembered begging him to stay. He was fully clothed as well, his breathing deep and even against the back of her neck.
She was quietly thrilled with how well she fit against him, like she belonged in his arms. But as she looked at their hands she saw the traitorous band on his finger. New guilt welled up in her, Cain had lost his wife. It had been eight years ago for the world but it was still terribly recent for him. He thought of her like a Princess, like a kid, like someone who needed protection and not someone who he could love. It was horrible of her to be thinking of herself after all she had done, she shouldn't be thinking about being in love, she didn't deserve it, especially Wyatt Cain's love. She didn't even call him by his first name, just Cain.
"Are you going to go crying on me again?" his voice, rough from sleep, came through her ear.
"No," she said, her voice hoarse, "I'm not going to cry," she said and felt him nod against her hair, "thank you for staying with me," she said, "I'm sorry I got your shirt all wet."
"Its no problem," he said.
"I can't believe Az is so brave, I mean I could believe it but still, fighting for all that time," she broke off with a sigh.
"Don't go selling yourself short again kid," he said, "you've been pretty brave too," she gave a snort of disbelief, "look at you and Glitch. You both had your memories taken but when it came down to it you were both very brave. Its like I told you before, I spent the last eight years in a tin suite and the first thing I see that's different is you charging in with a stick swinging. You were going to take on all those Longcoats with a stick to save a group of people you never met."
"But I didn't," she protested.
"I'm going to have to disagree with you there, seems to me you saved a lot of people, me and Jeb included. Sometimes all people need to save themselves is a purpose and you gave them that. You gave them hope, something even your sister couldn't do."
"You're a very smart man Cain," she said finally.
"You should hear me with a few drinks in me Princess, I'm a genius."
Someone pounded on the door. They heard three voices outside arguing softly before the pounding resumed. Both reluctantly got to their feet and walked over to the door to see the far too happy threesome of Ambrose, Azkadellia and Raw on the other side of the door. DG had a feeling that Raw was happy because of the identical grins on Ambrose and Azkadellia's faces but she said nothing. Azkadellia looked from DG to Cain before raising her eyebrows slightly.
"Whose ready for dance lessons?" Ambrose asked finally.
Down in one of the ballrooms DG tried not to get angry as Ambrose patiently explained how to waltz. Azkadellia made it look actually easy but DG had a feeling that had a lot to do with Ambrose and practice, of which she had neither. Finally Ambrose took her into his arms and Azkadellia took Cain into hers and the two tried to show them how to dance. DG had been a little worried when Azkadellia and Cain had been paired up but he did not seem to mind at all.
"So how are you and my sister getting along?" DG asked, her lips quirking up in a smile. Ambrose turned a bright red, "are we going to be making an announcement at the ball?"
"Maybe," he said looking at his feet and then up at her, "how about you and Cain?" her eyes widened but she said nothing, "oh don't tell me you haven't seen how he looks at you."
"I don't know what you're taking about," she said, her feet moving in time with his, "Cain and I are friends and nothing more."
"Not yet," Ambrose said, "he's not as broken as either of you'd like to think," he continued, "or as old frankly. Its terrible not being with the one you love, even worse if you know they love you," he looked over at Cain who seemed to be in shock at something Azkadellia had said, "I think you'd better go over there and rescue your Tin Man," he said nodding before giving her a little push and forcing them to switch partners, "what'd you say to him."
"What any good big sister would say," she said, "I told him if he even thought about hurting her I'd kill him."
"Maybe not the best thing to say Az considering they haven't even admitted they like each other yet."
"Oh like the entire palace hasn't seen it," she looked at them, "besides its not like he's going to say anything to her," they heard DG laugh, "see, they make an excellent pair," she looked at him, "I forgot what a good dancer you are."
"Its all about rhythm," he said spinning her and pulling hr back against him, "I didn't expect him to be quite so good though," he said nodding over at Cain and DG, "well it seems that she remembers some of what we taught her."
Raw found him.
He shouldn't have been surprised, he imagined he was leaving a trail of confusion for the Viewer to follow. He could not help himself though, he was mixed up inside. He had come from the seamstress's room where he had been fitted for the simple but rather splendid outfit that she had devised for him to wear to the ball. Then he had seen DG wearing the dress that she would at the ball. It still had some work to be done but she looked like he had never seen her before. It was easy, when she was wearing pants with her hair in disarray to see her as a kid. Even that may have been getting harder and harder but when he saw her in that dress, looking like she did, he was out of that room faster than his feet could take him.
And he had been on that balcony until Raw found him. He sighed and did not let go of his deal grip on the railing. Raw walked forward to join him, casting a few rather scared looks his way but coming forward none the less. Cain had to grudgingly admit that the Viewer seemed to have acquired a lot of courage that his species was known for lacking. Cain let out a frustrated breath and told himself that wishing Raw was a coward and would just leave him alone was pointless.
"If you're here to tell me what I feel, save it," Cain bit out.
"Raw no tell Cain how Cain feel, Cain know how he feel," Raw said, "Cain friend?"
"Of course we're friends," Cain said.
"Raw worried about friend," Raw said, "Raw know friend is angry because friend wants to be sad," Cain turned around, his jaw dropping, "Raw know that Cain thought wife was dead, found out she wasn't and then found out she was dead again. Cain mourned wife for eight years, Cain has no more sadness for wife left," he continued, "wife would want Cain to be happy," he looked down, "son wants Cain to be happy," he looked up at Cain, "friends want Cain to be happy. Cain happy with DG."
"No, no," Cain walked past him, "I mean yes, I mean no," he stopped, "I mean its complicated."
"Raw feels its not so complicated," Raw said, "Cain is making it complicated."
"Yes its complicated! I mean do Viewers even do relationships?"
"How does Cain think there are young viewers like Kalm?" Raw asked crossly, "Viewers do relationships easy, two Viewers love each other and then they make little Viewers and are happy together," Raw crossed his arms, "Cain is making this complicated, too complicated. It making Raw's head hurt."
"You're complaining because I'm giving you a headache?" Cain demanded, his voice thick with disbelief.
"Raw is complaining because Cain is being stubborn and is hurting DG and himself," he said, "Raw no like when friends hurt, especially when friends hurt each other."
"I am so old and she's so young--" he stopped, "and besides, Princess's don't fall in love with Tin Men," he sighed, "she needs to be with someone whose young, whose got a life ahead of them," he ran a hand over his closely cropped hair, "someone whose not like me," he said with a shake of his head, "someone whose whole."
"Cain is whole," Raw said, "Cain thinks he's broken but deep down, Cain is whole," he explained, "Cain is just scared and thinking of excuses," Raw walked over to Cain, his anger palpable, "if Cain hurt DG, Raw hurt Cain."
"That's what Azkadellia said too," Cain said with a shake of his head, "I don't want to hurt DG."
"Cain is hurting DG," Raw said hotly, "Cain is just too blind to see it," he touched Cain's head, "Cain thinks with this," he moved his hand to Cain's heart, "Cain should think with this."
"That's broken," Cain snapped.
"That's scared," Raw corrected, "Cain needs hardest kind of courage," he sighed, "dark days are coming, Jeb is right, evil is still in the OZ and evil wants to win. DG and Azkadellia are not strong enough yet, they do not have magic anymore because of what happened. DG needs Cain like Cain needs DG. Not just protecting body anymore, protect heart too," Cain looked away, "not a choice anymore, choice already made. Not doing will hurt more than help."
"Yeah," Cain said softly, "I know."
"Good," Raw stepped back, "Cain no worry about Jeb either, Jeb wants father to be happy," Raw walked over to the door, "Raw leave Cain now," he smiled, "Cain knows everything will be alright."
Cain nodded. The door closed, leaving him alone. He reached down, fingering the silver band on his left finger. Breathing in, he wrapped his right hand around it. Memories of his life before the suite flashed through his mind. His marriage, his son, how he knew, instinctively that he had to fight the evil no matter what. Being in that suite for all those annuls, finally letting Adora go only to be faced with her being alive and then loosing her all over again. DG telling him everything would be alright, dimly he found himself believing her. Maybe Raw was right, maybe he was not quite as broken as he thought he was. Breathing out he pulled the ring off in one motion. Looking at the silver band in his right hand he found himself not crying, not feeling much of anything except a profound sense of relief. He walked over to the railing and drew his hand back, throwing the wedding ring and his old life as far away as he could. Turning to go he looked over his shoulder one last time.
"Goodbye Adora,"he said before pulling open the door and walking back into the palace.