A/N: cor, it's been awhile. I do apologize for that. School's started and I've had mass amounts of homework. Ah the joys of being a senior in high school. Not to mention, I failed my driving test for my license recently, and now have to do a lot more driving. Rawr. However, I'm going to do my best to update more often.

The night was quiet in the post apocalyptic-esque desert of the Other Side. Nothing but the lull of the fire, the stirrings of insects and nocturnal critters, and the shush of the wind through the sparse, dry grass.

Wes laid in his tent, curled on his side, eyes gazing into the fire. He felt bone weary, exhausted to his core. They still had yet to figure out exactly what had occurred in the basement of the building, the sudden surge of power from an unknown source. All he knew was it had drained him.

Wren sat by Wes's head, carding her fingers through his curls every now and then. They'd eaten a light dinner, though Wes had only nibbled. He wasn't up to eating much, he said. Wren was becoming worried about him, he was trembling slightly, bundled under a blanket. For the thirteenth time in an hour (he'd been keeping track) she told him "Don't worry Wessie, the grown-ups will figure out what happened." "I know Wren. You've said that thirteen times now, I'm so tired I'm beginning to believe you." "Are you saying you didn't before?" she glared down at him, though it was softened by the concern for him.

Wes rolled onto his back, grinning up at her, the blanket pulled up to his chin. "Let's just say, the state I'm in, and the tense air over everyone, I didn't think we'd figure it out. But I'm beginning to believe it. Look at who our parents are. If they can't find a solution, then we're all in trouble. Anyway, I think I'm going to take a nap now. I'm really wiped out," Wes yawned and turned back onto his side, resting his head against her leg. "Sleep tight Wes," Wren whispered, and tucked the blanket around him.

DG stirred the fire, letting it blaze up and settle. "How is he?" she asked, sitting back down. "Sleeping, or just about, curled up tight against Wren. She's watching over him," Cain answered softly. "Any ideas about the burst of power he showed off?" Glitch asked again, though he knew no one really had. It was getting frustrating. He was worried about his son, and no one had a clue what to do. Was he really alright, or was it sapping his energy even as they conferred? Would he just deteriorate until he all but disappeared? Or would this power, whatever it was just keep growing? Would it serve as a help in this crusade against the Witch, or as a hindrance?

All this swirled around his head until it condensed into a headache right behind his eyes. Cain heard the little whimper of pain Glitch let out, and threw a worried glance his way. The advisor was clutching his head, rubbing his temples, eyes screwed shut in pain. "Sweetheart?" Glitch opened his eyes, looking at Cain. "Headache just hit. Thinking too hard," he answered, voice tight. DG dug through her bag, finding a small white bottle. She shook it after opening it, and held out her hand. A single blue pill rested in her palm. "Try this Glitch, it'll make you feel better." "What is it?" "A pain reliever. Something from the Other Side. But trust me, you'll feel better afterward, but maybe a little tired. Just swallow it." Glitch looked at Cain, who shrugged. Resigning himself to whatever may happen, he popped it in his mouth and swallowed it with a grimace. Not five minutes later relief washed through his head, easing the tension of the headache. "Thanks doll. I think you'd better stock up on those though. We're going to need them I bet," he sighed. "We'll just have to be careful and not use them for every little thing. That's all. After all this is over, I'll buy more and we can take them to the OZ." "I bet I could replicate them, if given enough time to study what it's made of." "Sure Glitch, I'll bet you could," DG said, though even to herself she didn't sound very believing. But it was hard to be hopeful with the way things were.

Silence once more took over, until DG dug out her mirror and contacted her mom.

"DG, is everything all right?" the Queen asked, concern thick in her voice. "Well, honestly mom, it's getting a bit depressing here. There's nothing and nobody around. But that's not why I called. I was wondering if you could have someone look up Cain and Glitch's family trees, see if there's anyone with any sort of magic in them at all." "Why?" "Well, if there is, then it's skipped a few generations," DG explained what had happened briefly with Wes, making it brief yet not leaving out anything important. "Oh dear. How is he?" "Sleeping. Really weak too. Wren's watching over him now. She doesn't even know what happened, only what triggered it." "Well, yes of course, look at how close they are. Anyway, I'll have someone look into that right away dear, and get back to you as soon as I know." "Thanks mom. I love you." "And I you. Good bye sweetheart."

The mirror blanked, and DG had to blink back tears. She missed home, and her family. She'd had them back for quite a while now, but didn't like being away from them all the same. True most of her family was here with her, but she longed to be home with Az, her mother, and her father. For the first time she felt overwhelmed by saving the OZ. What if this didn't work? If they couldn't stop the Witch here, the OZ would surely fade away, as would all its inhabitants. And then there was Wes, what of him? Worries and doubts chased each other around her head until she felt dizzy, and was grateful when Blake wrapped his arm around her shoulders, steadying her.

"What do we do now?" Victoria asked softly. "We're staying here for the night. We'll move on tomorrow, so maybe we should plan out where we move on to from here," Cain suggested. "Do we have a map?" "I do actually," wearily DG got to her feet and dug through her bag to find the crumpled, slightly torn, coffee stained map. "We're here, I think," DG pointed along a red line that represented a major road way. "And we came from here," she traced to the right. "Makes sense that the only direction to go is this way, and search the cities. My guess is she's taken over a major city and set it up as her base of operations. We find out which city, find her, and stop her. Easy as pie." "So we start out in the morning?" Kalm asked. DG nodded. "I'm going to bed then. Good night," he and Victoria went to their tent, as did Raw. "We're staying up until your mom gets back to us Princess," Cain informed her, leaning back and pulling his hat down low. "I figured as much. All right. But there's no sense in us not getting sleep too. I got the mirror set up to alarm when someone tries to reach me. We can sleep too," she said. "Good. I'm going to check on Wes and get some shut eye," Glitch scrambled to his feet and went to see his son.

Wes was asleep in the tent, with Wren leaned back against the side of the tent, sleeping as well. He was using her lap as a pillow, and she had her fingers twined in his hair. Glitch smiled fondly, and tucked the blanket more securely about the pair, brushing Wes's bangs out of his face. Wes mumbled softly, and shifted, letting more firelight fall on his face. Glitch frowned, not liking the pinched appearance of his skin, how pale and sweaty he looked, with deep bruise like circles around his eyes. He smoothed back his son's hair, and whispered that they would find out what had happened, and that everything would be all right. He promised.

"How is he?"Cain asked, at once alarmed by the look on Glitch's face. "Hard to tell Wyatt. He looks awful though. But Wren's doing a fantastic job looking after him. She won't let anything happen to him, you can be sure of that. I just wish I knew what caused all this. It's frustrating, not knowing, having no way of finding out. I miss my lab," Glitch sulked, and curled up at Wyatt's side. A few moments later, his light snoring was added to the other various nocturnal sounds. One by one, DG, Blake and Cain followed suit, each one dead tired from the events of the past few days.

The tinkling sound of silver bells woke them, a metaphysical alarm clock. The sun was just starting to tinge the sky with palest pink to chase back the inky night. DG stretched, her back sore from the awkward angle she'd slept in, not to mention the rock poking from the dusty ground. Again, her mirror rang, this time more urgently. While the men woke and grumbled about the early hour, she answered her mirror before it started to get really annoying.

"Mom? Did you find out anything?" "DG dear, did you get any sleep at all?" "Sort of. We fell asleep around the camp fire, and the ground is far from comfortable." "I'm sorry. However, yes, we did find out something. Two somethings actually," the Queen allowed herself a small smile. "And? Come on Mom, don't keep us waiting in suspense," DG said impatiently, suddenly more awake. She pushed her hair from her eyes to see the small circle of polished glass more clearly. Blake, Glitch, and Cain all listened intently. "Well, it seems that Mr. Cain has many times great grandmother, who was a very powerful witch specializing in healing. And Ambrose has a many times great uncle who also had great power. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say the gene skipped many a generation, and combined into Wesley, making him very powerful. And his desire to aid Wren was a catalyst, bringing the power in a rush sooner than it would have. We can't even be sure it would ever have manifested. But it has, and for now, you must help him gain control. He'll join Wren in her study of the magical arts when you return." It didn't go unnoticed that she said 'when you return' not 'if you return.'

DG said good bye to her mother, and closed the mirror with a snap. "That certainly explains it doesn't it? At least we know he'll be all right." "To right. I was worried," Glitch looked highly relieved, as did Cain. "Should we let him know?" Blake asked. "Soon, let him sleep. He needs it. We all do actually, but I'd say he and Wren need the most sleep," DG said, combing her fingers through her hair. "That the do. But, we might as well start packing up to go. We're awake already," Cain stood up, shifting his hat back. "Just like a Tin Man. Always got to be hustling everyone along. Let us get some breakfast first, huh Wyatt?" DG grinned up at him, smirking at the glower set on his face. "The fire died down though Princess," he gestured to the cold embers. She waved her hand almost idly at the fire pit, and it sprang to life, flames crackling merrily. "Sit down Wyatt. We can't really pack up with the kids still asleep in the tents," Glitch tugged gently on Cain's arm, easing his love back to his seat. After a moment, Cain let himself be settled down, he knew when he was beat. Though it hardly seemed fair that all Glitch had to do to win this time was pull on his sleeve and look up at him with those big brown eyes and his hair all sleep mussed.

Though modest by their usual standards, the smell of breakfast was good enough that it roused the kids from their tents to sit around the fire. Even Wes joined them, though he looked rather peaky. He piled food onto his plate, devouring it while the others watched in awe. "What? Don't I need to build up strength or something?" he asked, swallowing convulsively and setting down his fork. "Yes, but son, keep eating like that and you'll just make yourself sick all over again," Cain advised. Wes rolled his eyes, which were still surrounded by purple bruise like circles, but slowed down his eating. Though he wouldn't admit it, his stomach was rolling a bit. He only hoped he didn't throw up in front of Wren.

Cain was finally able to get them on the road once more, and the car packed. It was a tight squeeze as DG took over the wheel and turned onto the stretch of highway, with Blake sitting shot gun and the rest sitting on each other in the back. "We need more room," DG grumbled. "I'd say so," Blake groaned uncomfortably. The roof of the car was so low, and he was so tall he had to crane his neck at an awkward angle to be able to fit in. "Sorry honey," DG spared him a glance and concentrated on the roof. It melted away at her whim, becoming a convertible. "That's better," Blake sighed, relieving the pressure on his neck. With a little happy sound Glitch clambered up to perch on the side of the car, letting the wind blow through his curls. He hardly noticed when Wyatt tightened his grip on his ankles. As smart as his head case was, he was not the most observant at times and prone to clumsiness. It would be just like him to take a tumble out of the car.

"Might want to hang onto your hat Wyatt," Glitch shouted over the wind. Wyatt nodded and tucked his hat into his jacket. He looked over to see how Wes was doing. He was slumped against the seat, looking a little green around the gills. "All right son?" Wes blinked at him, and limply shook his head. "I think breakfast is coming back at me," he mumbled, and let out a hiccup. "Over the side of the car Wes," Cain told him. Wes leaned quickly over the side and emptied his stomach. Wren rubbed his back, combing his hair out of the way with her fingers. Wes stayed leaning over the side of the car, just in case. Cain and Glitch shared a glance, both hoping their son's weakness would come to pass soon, and the massive surge of power hadn't done any lasting damage. They wanted to see him master his power, and join in his lessons with Wren. Like any parents, Glitch and Wyatt wanted Wes to be both happy, and do great things. No telling what he could do with the amount of power he had manifested, if he didn't let it rule him. But for now, their main concern was for him to regain his strength.

"Where are we going mummy," Wren asked for what seemed like the millionth time as the day wore on. "Not sure honey," DG answered, just as she had the past few hours. "If we don't know where we're going, how will we know when we get there?" Wren fought to keep the whine out of her voice. "We just will. Please be quiet Wren, everyone else is," Blake said over his shoulder, narrowing his eyes against the wind. "That's 'cause they're sleeping or almost sleeping," she muttered petulantly. It wasn't her fault she was bored. Wes and her uncles, and Raw and Kalm and 'Toria were all dozing or staring out across the plains. No one would talk to her. And naturally, be from the OZ, she had never heard of portable DVD players, iPods, Nintendo DS, or any of the other ways kids of the Other Side kept themselves entertained. Purely out of sheer and utter boredom, she thought to practice her magic. But only the fun bits.

Wes cracked open his eyes, waking slightly from the near stupor he'd been in most of the day. He watched as Wren poured a tiny amount of water from a canteen into her cupped hand. She concentrated on it, and before his eyes, it formed into a ball and floated into the air a few inches above her hand. Wren waved her hand and it danced about, leaving a trail rather like a comet behind it. She finally noticed his observing, and tilted her head, silently asking if he wanted to try. He shook his head. "Come on Wessie, you know you can, I know you can, what's stopping you?" "I think what I did was a fluke. Nothing more. I'm not that powerful, I'm just…sorta smart," he shrugged, hanging his head. Wren shook her head, sighing. That was the problem with those loner smarty pants types; they seemed to have low self esteem. And it was up to their girlfriends to boost them.

"Wesley, you are more than just 'sorta' smart, you're brilliant. Who was it that came up with the idea to come here?" "Yeah, and look where that got us," he said sarcastically. She chose to ignore him. "Who always came up with our schemes as kids? And kept us out of trouble most of the time? And helped me study, who's the smartest kid in our class?" "Which did wonders for my social life." "Would you stop with the self pity party? I'm trying to make you feel better. May I get back to it now?" The ball of water had swirled around her head furiously like a small orbiting moon, and settled down by her hand as she relaxed. "Oh fine, carry on," he waved his hand for her to continue. "As I was saying, not only that, you're brave too, really brave. And the power wasn't a fluke. You're really that powerful, and I'm not surprised. You've always been selfless like that, looking out for me and stuff," she quirked her lips in a wry smile. "You are my best friend you know, of course I'm going to look out for you. You really think I'm the smartest kid in class?" he grinned bashfully. "I know you are. Feeling better now?" "A little. You think I can give it a try?" Wes asked, indicating the ball of water. "Sure. Just don't strain yourself all right?"

Sweat broke out on Wes's brow as he concentrated with all his might, trying to get the water to form into a ball. "Easy Wessie, take it slow. Breath. Don't force it," Wren encouraged him. "Just think of it as a ball of water, envision it in your head, and make that thought a reality." "I'm trying," he ground out through gritted teeth. The water wobbled, and hovered for a moment as a globule of water, not quite the perfect sphere Wren so easily achieved. He had a moment of excitement before it dissipated and fell back into her upturned hands. "I almost had it!" he exclaimed. "I know! How do you feel?" "Exhausted…but happy. I did it! But, I think I'll take another nap. I really wish I wasn't so tired. I hate this whole helplessness thing." "I know. I'm sure you'll be better soon." "I hope so. I really do." Wes curled up as much as he could in his seat, and tried to get some sleep. Wren turned towards him, slipping her hand into his and drifting off to sleep with him.

A day and a night went by with nothing but desert and highway as far as the eye could see, with the occasional unidentifiable carcass and buzzard circling over head to add to a change of scenery. DG, Blake, and Cain took turns behind the wheel. Glitch offered, but none of them was too certain of his driving abilities, whether he had a whole brain or not. On the next day, the highway ended abruptly, for no reason Cain could see, simply ending on the desert. He couldn't be certain, but there were marks ingrained in the dirt that looked suspiciously like tire tracks. Lots and lots of tire tracks actually. "Hey, kid, look here," he called. DG scrambled up to peer over his shoulder. "Why not just put up a big blinking sign saying 'this way to secret lair'?" she chuckled. "I don't know. We going to find out?" "Of course Wyatt. What kind of heroes would we be if we didn't follow the trail so blatantly left for us?" DG grinned. He returned it, and slammed on the gas pedal, charging out into the desert, leaving a cloud of dust behind them.

"Really Wyatt, was that little display of overly masculine machoness necessary? I thought you'd gotten over your Boy Scout syndrome," Glitch peeled himself from the seat he'd been forced back against by the g-force and leaned against Wyatt. "Course it was necessary sweetheart. Look at the car I'm driving," Cain gunned the engine as he drove, making it growl like some great jungle cat. "Boys and their toys," Glitch murmured under his breath. "Pot, kettle, black," Cain countered. "Excuse me?" "Like you don't get like this when you're in your lab, with all your test tubes and Bunsen burners and such. You've got no room to throw stones Glitch," Cain smirked. "I'll throw stones if I want," Glitch grumbled. "Throw all the stones you want sweetheart, I'm still right." Glitch didn't answer, but did take time to flick Cain in the back of the head before sitting back in his seat.

The Mustang jolted over the rocks embedded in the dirt path, making for a highly uncomfortable ride. Wes groaned, fighting the urge to be sick. "Any chance we could go a little smoother Dad," he called, clutching his stomach. "Like to son, but I'm afraid the road's pretty much nonexistent, and there are all kinds of rocks and who knows what else poking up from the ground. Something tells me this car wasn't built to handle things like that. Was it kid?" Cain asked DG. "Not really. Almost wish we'd found a jeep or Hummer instead, despite them being gas guzzlers," DG answered. "No, this was more designed for cruising down the highway at high speeds, wind in your hair and music pumping loud." "Not going above the speed limit though, right princess?" "No of course not Tin Man, never." Cain snorted, doubting that she hadn't ever broken the law ever. He knew her too well by now.

The shy grew successively cloudier as they drove across the desert, big dark clouds swirling together and getting darker with each mile. "Looks like rain," Glitch observed, shielding his eyes. "Smell rain," Raw added, nose into the wind. "Mummy, you might want to put the roof on again," Wren said warily, wrapping her arms around Wes to protect him from the impending storm. DG agreed, and Blake crouched down as the roof came back into being. "I'm beginning to think they know we're after them, and aren't too pleased about it," Kalm noted sardonically as the rain pounded onto the roof the minute it settled. "What was your first clue?" Victoria asked. Glitch let out a little depressed sound. Cain chanced a glance back at him. "What's the matter sweetheart?" "It's my fault. If I hadn't gone to the club, and I never would've met Tony and they wouldn't know about us and be ten thousand steps ahead," Glitch explained, his eyes downcast. "It's not entirely your fault Glitch. She's a super powerful witch, she's probably known about us since we got here. You just sort of…confirmed it," Cain tried to be consoling. But the truth was, it was a tiny bit Glitch's fault. But only the going out bit. He hadn't gotten drugged on purpose. He just couldn't put that much guilt on him, it was too cruel. Glitch heaved a giant sigh, and nodded. They both knew he still blamed himself, and no kind words from Wyatt could make him think otherwise.

The rain pelted against the car, hitting the windshield with enough force that they worried it would break. Cain lost sight of the trail as it was turned to mud, and the wheels struggled through them. Eventually, they could go no further, and were stuck fast. "Damn it!"Cain smashed his hand against the steering wheel, furious with the car. "What do we do now?" Wes asked, pushing his sweat dampened hair from his eyes. "We can either hunker down in the car 'til the rain dies down, or try and brave through it on foot," Blake suggested. Glitch looked over at his son, who still looked pale and frail as he leaned against Wren. "I think we should try and wait it out," he offered. Wes sighed quietly. It was his fault they couldn't go on like they clearly wanted. Cain peered into the dark, unable to see a thing in the complete and utter blackness. No way could they safely know where they were going in the weather.

"Fair enough," he said. "But we continue on in the morning, rain or no."

TBC…

This took so much longer than it should have. I kept writing myself into a corner, like I'd get so far, then lose inspiration, then get a bit farther, and so on. Plus, I got wrapped up in my numerous other fics. My muse was clearly delighting in taunting me. He can be so mean sometimes. I keep him appeased with Nutella and apple juice. So all should be good now. I hope…reviews might keep him even happier…just saying. Heh heh.