Airofday forced herself to think calm, soothing thoughts. She imagined the money waiting for her, the idea that she would leave jail cells and the Realm of the Unwanted far away in her memory. She thought about getting the Princess back, both for the money and the chance to see Zero cry like a little baby. Smoothing her skirts she checked to make sure her 'guards' were all covered before she turned and walked to the doors.

"No-one enters," one of the guards began. She held out a hand and let light ball into it, "except you," the moved aside.

"Idiots," she whispered throwing a glare behind them as they made their way to the throne room. She only knew where she was going thanks to Azkdellia's directions but she did not let anyone else see that she was mentally counting steps to take the correct hallways, "we are here to see King Zero," she said boldly.

"Are you the Witch?" one of the men demanded.

"I am a Witch," she said, "I am also the Witch that did this, "she motioned around the window, "I've come to pay my respects to the rightful King of the Outer Zone," she said pushing back the cloak so the guards could see the dress she wore, "I've brought my own guards for my protection."

"Let her in," the Wizard instructed from inside the throne room. Airofday smirked and pushed open the doors herself, walking into the bright throne room to be faced with Zero standing at the top of the stairs.

"Well well if it isn't Airofday," Zero smirked walking down the steps, "come to grovel?"

"Yes," Airofday said, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her actually angry, "you bested me, I can respect that," she reached up and pulled off her cloak, revealing the dress, "I can love that," she bowed deeply revealing more skin to him, "I can obey that."

"Obey?" Zero asked.

"Obey," she motioned around her, "did you think Azkadellia undid the snow?" she rolled her eyes, "I wanted to show you how much use I could be to you and to your bride."

"My--" he looked at her, "I forgot how intuitive you are."

"Observant," she said walking up the steps to face him, "powerful, beautiful and utterly at your disposal," she gently wrapped a spell around him, "whether you claim to belong to another woman or not," he regarded her suspiciously and she went in for the kill, "I can be bought by many things, men who get the best of me is one of them," she reached up and snaked her arms around his neck, "in fact, its my hardest sell," and then she crushed her lips to his.

"Well," Zero said when the broke apart, "I suppose we have a deal," he looked at the men, "who are they?"

"My bodyguards," she said, "I found them crawling in a monastery, half mad with worship of a a God no-one believes in anymore. I am their God now. I need them more anyway, you know how unsafe it is for a Witch to travel outside the Realm of the Unwanted these days," she smiled, "I bought the animal like a dress," she added looking at Raw who was glaring at the guards. Zero's eyes narrowed, he knew the viewer--or maybe not, he had captured a lot of Viewers and they all looked the same anyway, "so, whose the girl?"

"Can they remove their hoods?"

"Not unless you want to die," she said, "they're rather touchy about that and the vow of silence," she added, "besides, I'm the only one you should be concerned with."

"Alright," he signaled one of the guards and dropped his voice, "escort the Princess back to her rooms, tell her I will come for her shortly."

Twenty minuets later they were in her new rooms and everyone, frankly, was stunned that it had actually worked. Using her own power she quietly swept the room for any listening spell and found few. The adrenaline that had been pumping through her slid away and she sunk down into a chair, running her fingertips through her hair. Cain had begun to pace like a caged animal and Airofday had a feeling what he was about to say.

"Okay," Cain said, "we need to find DG."

"You can't go wandering the palace alone," she said standing up, "we'll all go," he opened his mouth, "if you've got any chance of convincing this girl who she is and what you two are to each other you need to do it uninterrupted. I'll go to make my introductions to her and then we'll be in the background and short of sex you two can do whatever the hell you want."

He had no choice but to agree although at this point he would settle for DG knowing who she was much less what he was to her. Airofday led them down the hallway to the room where the spells were the strongest and where Raw said the most pain was coming from. There were no guards there but there was obvious magic on the door. Airofday sighed and reached out with her hand, calling her magic up and wrapping a hand around the doorknob. She hissed as her palm burned but she kept her hand there and stripped the magic enough to open the door and slip inside, replacing the magic in case Zero came in.

DG was sitting in her usual spot by the window, looking out at the pretty landscape when the door opened. She waited for Z to call her or come over but there was no sound. She leaned her head back and smiled faintly.

"There you are," she said, "I was getting worried--" she stopped when he didn't come any closer, "Z?" she turned her head and sucked in her breath. It was a man, but he was wearing a dark cloak. Behind him was a Viewer and two other men wearing cloaks along with a woman but they didn't seem to be part of what was about to happen, "can I--" she stopped, steadying her voice, "can I help you?"

Cain was frozen to the spot. The way she was looking at him, she was scared of him. He could barely move when she was looking at him with fear and thinking that Zero was her protector. One of her fingers was playing with the pinhead mark on her finger and he looked away sharply, the memory of her almost dying in his arms making him feel absolutely sick. She frowned and stepped forward, her bare feet making almost no sound on the floor as she came slowly closer to him, like a caged animal about to be offered freedom.

"Do I know you?" she asked softly.

That gave him the courage to push back his hood and fix her blue eyes with his own. Whatever he was expecting, the reaction he got was not it. She looked at him with puzzled blue eyes, waiting for his next move. He ran his hand through his hair, trying to think of what it should be. A large part of him had been hoping that she would recognize him and jump into his arms, kiss him senseless and then they would run off together after getting rid of Zero once and for all.

"We were--" he stopped, figuring out his next words, "we were friends."

"Oh, you mean before I--" she held up her finger, "do you have a name?"

"Cain."

"Cain," she repeated, "odd name."

"Its my last name," he explained, "you call me Cain."

"I do?" she frowned as if trying to remember something. He wished she would because they were rapidly going to a place that he did not to be in, "and what do you call me, Z says he calls me Princess but if I called you Cain like a nickname what did you call me?"

"Kiddo," he said, "until you pointed out you were most certainly not a kid," she laughed, "Princess, occasionally after I tried Your Highness and you almost clubbed me over the head," he shrugged, "but most of the time I just called you DG."

She sucked in her breath at that one, her hands flying to cover her mouth as tears filled her eyes. His own widened, wondering what the hell he could have possibly said to get that kind of a reaction. She lowered her fingertips and looked at her fingertips before looking at him with wide, tear filled eyes.

"You said you didn't love me," she said softly.

It was like a cruel joke. The one thing she remembered was the part where he said he didn't love her. Mentally he kicked himself, physically he took a step forward. She backed up, almost tumbling into the window seat and looked around like she was seeing the world for the first time. Cain thought back to what he had said and realized that the thing that had gotten a reaction from her was her name. If Zero was calling her Princess then he obviously wasn't telling her her name and keeping her some kind of prisoner. Cain walked over to her and pinned her to the window seat, using his body to make sure she didn't move.

"Someone's coming," Raw whimpered.

"Get out of here," he ordered turning back to DG, "DG listen to me, my name is Wyatt Cain. You saved me from a metal suite that I had been locked in for eight years. We saved the world, you, me, Ambrose--though we called him Glitch--and Raw. DG you're a princess, your sister Azkadellia is free from the Witches curse that she was under, the fault of which lies with the Witch and her alone."

"Coming soon," Raw called, "very angry."

"Your King Z is not who you think he is. I was there when you pricked your finger, you almost died in my arms and when you woke up I told you I loved you," he looked at her, "and in your heart you know who I am or you would have screamed for the guards a long time ago," pulling back he hurried over, throwing his hood in place as Airofday walked over to her and bowed deeply.

"What is going on in here?" Zero demanded walking inside, "how did you get in here?"

"I'm a Witch," Airofday snapped standing up, "I wanted to meet your Princess," she said, fire blazing in her eyes, "funny she doesn't remember her own name."

"She's been hurt," Zero explained, "you need a full guard to visit her?"

"Well if you've got so much security around her I figured there must be a reason for that."

"You don't need to know why that is."

"Then I keep my guards with me," she said defiantly before bowing and walking out with her guards. DG risked one last glance at the hooded man she knew was Cain before returning her eye to the hands in her lap, her memories coming and going like waves on the shore.

That night she was lying in bed tossing and turning in a fitful dream. Her protector was not there, no-one was there but her and the nightmares. She was struggling against some impossible force, some dark horror that she had no hope of wining against. One by one the people she could hardly remember were pulled away, each leaving a bigger gap in her heart until she was all alone. Her hands clutched at her lavender skirts as she looked around feeling helpless and desperate. And then the people resurfaced, Cain's skin the color of metal, Ambrose's head split, Raw in a ball little more than fur, a beautiful woman with black hair was hunched over, Jeb was staring at her with anger, the other witch beside him.

"You did this."

"No, I didn't--" DG stumbled back, "I didn't mean to--I didn't know!"

"You knew, you just didn't see it. Now you need to stay here and pay."

"No I didn't know!" she felt her lip tremble, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I promise I'll stay here, I'm going to make this right."

"You can't, just stay away."

"I will," she promised, "no matter what."

When she woke up it was the first time in a long time that she could remember her dream. Why she had to remember such a terrible one she had no idea. Biting her lip she pulled on one of the more simple dresses of a sheer white organza split up the middle to reveal an inner dress the color of snow. She pulled her hair up into a bun and sighed, unsure of what to do next. When the doors opened this time, Airofday walked in with just one of the guards. Not Cain but Jeb. DG sucked in her breath and looked away, their angry eyes in the dream burning into her mind.

"I promise to stay away," she said, before she could stop herself. Airofday raised her eyebrows and glanced at Jeb who gave her a look that plainly said he had no idea what the hell she was going on about, "I'm sorry," DG apologized, "in my dream, nevermind."

"Look, if it were up to me you'd remember in your own time and it would be all nice and happy and thats it but the fact is that's only a matter of time before Zero grows enough brain cells to figure out what's going on," he pointed out.

"I'll say this for the last time," Airofday said, "this is a bad idea."

"Well if you have any better ones then I'm listening," he said crossing his arms and glaring for all of ten seconds, "I thought not," he looked at DG, "I don't know what was in your dream but it probably wasn't your dream to begin with. Zero's lying to you," her eyes widened, "that's his name, not Z just like yours isn't Princess. You are DG and he's Zero and as soon as possible he's going to be dead but that's a whole different story."

"Men and their revenge," Airofday muttered, "would you get to the point?" she demanded raising her voice.

"Right, well the problem is that I can tell you everything but it won't be the same," he looked at her, "you've got to remember it on your own," he held out his hand, "you've got to come with me to the Tower," her jaw dropped, "its not like you remember it," he began, "do you remember it?" she shook her head, "alright we're going to go there and see if anything helps. The rest of them are going to stay with Airofday here and make sure Zero doesn't try--" the door slammed open, "anything, what's going on?" he demanded.

"Get them!" one of the guards shouted.

"Make the travel storm," he said turning to Airofday. She opened her mouth, "Azkadellia's good but she's not that good to do all this. You've got power, come on, use it."

Like so much it didn't work like they wanted it to. The travel storm slammed through the room, destroying half the palace in its wake. Cain, Ambrose and Raw had just enough time to jump in as Airofday, DG and Jeb followed suite. The storm blew them far away and dumped them in a tangle of limbs on the ground. They rolled away from each other and got to their feet. Looking around it became clear the travel storm had deposited them in the woods just outside Finaqua. DG lurched to her feet and looked around, her eyes wide in recognition. Before any of them had time to react she had picked up her skirts and ran as fast as her feet could take her through the branches.

Cain was the first on his feet and he had never been more thankful that DG was wearing white. She made it through the maze and into the main grounds of the palace and finally into the gazebo with the swing. She stopped and looked around. Cain made it to the steps leading up to the gazebo and hesitated only a fraction of a second before he ran up them and onto DG's level. She turned in a slow circle, drinking in the place surrounding her with a look of wide-eyed, something. She turned to face him and opened her mouth before quickly closing it.

"Finaqua," she said simply looking around, "I've found the past."

Night came slowly for the weary travelers. They settled in their rooms in Finaqua, each originally in their own. Raw could scarcely sit still, much less sleep with all the emotions and thoughts running through his system. So instead he sat by the window and thought about Kalm and the rest of the Viewers. Ambrose sat up half the night talking to Azakdellia who was sick with worry about DG. She swore to come out to Finaqua until he managed to change her mind, saying that they were coming to her as soon as they could. Cain was standing by the window, his mind too full of thoughts to sit still.

"Cain?"

Cain turned around to see DG in the doorway, still rubbing sleep from her eyes. He turned around to face her and motioned her inside. She walked into the room carefully, still wearing the caged-animal look he had become frighteningly accustom to her wearing. She looked at her feet and toyed with her hands before slowly looking up at him. He opened his own mouth before finding himself quite speechless.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked after a moment.

"I think so," she stopped and looked away, her cheeks turning a bright red, "I need a favor from you," she looked back at him, "I think it's going to be hard though and I understand if you say no," she bit her lip.

"You can tell me," he said, "you're a lot braver than you know," he smiled kindly at her, remembering Raw's words, "and you're not nearly as broken as you think you are."

"Thank you," she said, "I-uh-wanted to ask you if you would," she took a breath, "if you would kiss me."

What he had been expecting, that was not it and it must have shown on his face.

"I know its an odd thing to ask but Zero said he never kissed me and I know whoever saved me at the ball kissed me," he opened her mouth but she kept going, "Jeb said that if he told me it wasn't the same thing and Zero's been telling me but I don't remember but I thought maybe if you kissed me I would," she looked at him shyly, "we did kiss once right?"

"Once," he said, "but it was kind of desperate--" she looked down, "I'm shooting my mouth off here," he sighed, "come here," he instructed taking a few steps forward to meet her own until they were toe to toe.

"Thank you," she said, "for doing this, I know it can--"

He cut her off. Frankly he didn't think he could have not kissed her if she had asked him to. This time it was not just the rough, desperate kiss as he was watching her die, this time it was proper, or as proper as any kiss could be. Her arms came up around his neck as his own wrapped around her waist, giving her enough time to pull away. When her response was to give a little sound, barely audible, he pulled back a fraction of a second before crushing her against him. DG had been kissed before, but not like this. She was drowning and she never wanted to come up for air again. He smelled like the protector she remembered, he felt like him too.

In her mind was one resounding thought.

No matter what happened, no matter what came next, she belonged there in his arms.

"Wyatt," she said when she pulled back from him, "your first name is Wyatt," she sucked in her breath when his lips moved along the skin of her neck, "and I'm DG and we saved Azakdellia--" she realized something, "and you took off your wedding ring and almost killed a Longcoat when you threw it."

"You're remembering," he said looking at her, his eyes unreadable.

"Some," she agreed, "not all," she looked up at him and glared, "how could you say you didn't love me?"

"I was scared," he said honestly, "and I did say it, afterwards."

"Say it now," she challenged.

"I am in love with you DG," he said, no doubt or fear in his voice.

She smiled and leaned up, capturing his lips with her own once more.