A/N: so much for that whole not leaving it so long between chapters thing. Stupid work, making it difficult for me to keep up with my fics. Stupid school doing the same thing. Ah well, enough of my grumblings, here's chapter 4.

Warm. Wyatt was very warm, and sort of dozy, more than content to remain wherever he was and bask in the warmth. And he would have too, had something not nudged against his side and sent pain pulsing through him.

He came to with a gasp, flailing violently, which only made the pain worse.

"Wyatt! Calm down cowboy, you've been hurt," Glitch's voice came out of the darkness, and at once Wyatt calmed enough to take in his surroundings. They were in one of the other bedroom at what he assumed was the winter palace; the thick curtains were drawn against the wintery sun, leaving a fire crackling in the fireplace as the only source of light. They were curled up in the large bed, which had been heaped with blankets and pillows, and both he and Glitch were naked. Wyatt tried to sit up, and another wave of pain coursed through him. He groaned, and with Glitch's help, lay back down.

"What happened?" he asked while Glitch smoothed back his sweaty hair.

"What do you remember?"

"I remember Azka-D showing up right after we found out she and DG are sisters. I remember Zero being with her and I remember fighting him. He shot me didn't he? That's why my chest aches," Wyatt gently touched his fingers to the bruise he could just make out on his chest, that felt like it went through his skin and had settled in his bones and made breathing more difficult than it should have been.

"He did. Almost point blank range. I swear, I think my heart stopped when you went out that window."

"Well not that I'm complaining, but why am I still alive?"

"I believe," Glitch reached onto the floor, picking something up, "that would be because of this." He held it out to Wyatt, revealing it to be a tiny toy horse that he had given Jeb and tucked into his breast pocket shortly after DG had cracked him out of the metal suit. A bullet was embedded in its side, and had kept it from going through Wyatt's flesh. It had still been enough to knock him out the window, through the ice below and into the frigid waters, but it hadn't killed him.

"So, did you pull me from the water then?" Wyatt asked, turning the horse over in his hands.

"I did. I, uh, tried to stop Zero shooting you, you might remember, but he just chucked me out the hole you had so conveniently made in window. I landed half in the water, but had to play dead or at least knocked out because they were coming back. Azka-D and her soldiers I mean. But I overheard Azka-D absolutely screaming at Zero. He wasn't supposed to kill you, all he was supposed to do was capture you."

"What for?"

"No idea. Nothing good I imagine. In a way it's good Zero can't control his temper, or you'd be long gone."

"I'll be sure to thank him next time we meet," Wyatt replied drily, drawing a chuckle from Glitch before he frowned.

"Next time? You really think there will be a next time?"

"Oh I don't doubt it. He and I…it's an instance of one of us is going to have to kill the other."

"How comforting," Glitch muttered. "What exactly did you do to make him hate you so much? I know what he did, but…"

"Not to sound clichéd, but it's something of a long story."

"Does it look like I'm going anywhere, sweetheart? Someone's gotta keep you here until you're better and we can go rescue DG and Raw."

"Good point," Wyatt sighed. "Alright, well, surprising as it might sound, Zero used to be a Tin Man himself. My partner in fact. I trained him from when he was just a rookie, still with that wide eyed, wet around the ears look to him. But he soon lost it as he got older, got more experience. Except what replaced it was something else entirely. He was rougher with convicts, becoming more "shoot first, ask later" in mentality. I should've written him up, but…but he was my rookie, my partner. I turned a blind eye to what he was doing, until…I couldn't anymore."

"What happened?" Glitch asked softy.

Wyatt let out a heavy breath. "He killed a guy. I mean, the guy was a criminal, but nothing more than a petty thief. He was terrified of Zero, and Zero liked that. He taunted him, roughing him up, laughing all the while until the guy tried to bolt out of pure fear, shrieking. Except he didn't get far. Zero shot him, right on the street, where everyone could see. And he was a good shot; one bullet, right in the back of the head, and the thief dropped. People were screaming, and Zero looked back at me with this look on his face; he looked exhilarated. After that, I had to write him up. He lost everything, and blamed me. Which I guess it was my fault, partly."

"Not hardly. Sounds to me like he was rotten from the off. Nothing you could've done sweetheart, sorry. Some people are just born bad." Glitch clambered onto the bed and settled himself on Wyatt's lap, long legs folded under him and fingers trailing across Wyatt's chest, mindful of the bruises. "Now," he ran his hand along the other man's chin, "what shall we do to pass the time?" He grinned, head cocked to the side, trying for demure but having the effect ruined by the lascivious light in his eyes. Wyatt let out a weak chuckle.

"Nothing too strenuous sweetheart."

"I could do the work." Glitch punctuated this with a roll of his hips that made Wyatt groan and draw in a sharp breath through his teeth.

"Oh that is tempting," he managed. "But I don't think I'm up to it. Willing but unable, as they say. Rain check?"

"Hmm, I suppose, but I'm holding you to that," Glitch slid off of Wyatt and curled up next to him. They lapsed into silence broken only by Wyatt's occasional wheezing as he attempted to breathe around his bruises without coughing.

"How hard do you think it'll be, rescuing DG and Raw?" he asked after a time.

"Hnnm?" Glitch sat up, having dozed off with his head pillowed on Wyatt's hip. "Oh…pretty hard I expect. They won't just let us waltz in you know. There will be guards everywhere, and I mean, it's a fortress, it could take ages to find them and…" Glitch tilted his head back and saw the look on Wyatt's face. "Oh you wanted me to say it would be no problem and we could do it, blah blah blah. Sorry sweetheart, being realistic. I'm sure if we're incredibly lucky and smart about it, we have a chance. But still…we'll have to plan and plot and hope for the best."

"We've got plenty of time," Wyatt mumbled, stifling a yawn.

"Well, sort of. We've enough to catch some sleep, not a lot but some, and to cobble together a plan. We don't have days, at most one actually. And then well…" Glitch shrugged before burrowing deeper into the blankets. "See you in a couple hours."

The suns had sunk lower in the sky when they awoke, painting the snow in blood red, orange, and a pink dark enough to be almost red again. Glitch stretched and rolled out of bed, twitching the curtains open and letting the light in. He snatched a blanket off the bed, wrapping it around his shoulders against the cold, as the fire had burned down to ashes. Wyatt flinched and shivered as the cold settled in where the blanket had been, and aimed a sleepy glare towards Glitch.

"Morning sunshine," the former dancer plunked himself down on the mattress once more, grinning at his still not quite awake companion.

"Looks like night to me," Wyatt grumbled, running a hand through his tousled hair and wincing as his bruises throbbed.

"Psshh," Glitch waved him off. "Now, how are we going to get in, get DG and Raw, and get out, all without drawing a lot of attention? That is the problem. Fortunately," and here he paused to flash a smug look at Wyatt, "I happen to have spent my fair share of time there, entertaining this or that Long Coat, so I have a…well not vague, but not perfect idea of the layout. The guards too could be problematic, but a bit of scouting should solve that." From there Glitch went on to describe where he believed the holding cells were located, though he understandably couldn't guess at which would hold DG and Raw.

After much deliberation, and after the suns had fully vanished beyond the horizon, Glitch and Wyatt had a roughly hewn plan laid out. It was simple, very cut and dry, and left them both more nervous than they would ever admit.

They dressed in near silence, Wyatt only breaking it to grudgingly ask Glitch to help him into his shirt, and help buckle his holster on. As a last touch, Glitch set Wyatt's hat on his head and straightened his collar.

"You done?" Wyatt laughed, gently pushing Glitch's hands away.

"Yeah, sorry just….Ready to go?" Glitch pulled on one of the fur lined coats he'd found in one of the cavernous closets, followed by gloves and a thick knitted hat.

"When you are," Wyatt led the way down the stairs, gripping the banister more tightly than he would have liked. Each step sent a sharp pain dancing along his ribs, but he managed to keep his balance until the last few steps when he nearly missed a step and would have gone pinwheeling backward to land on his back were it not for his grip and Glitch diving under him and setting him on his feet.

"Gonna be alright cowboy?"

"Eventually, I hope," Wyatt tried not to hunch in on the pain, instead forcing himself to stand tall, though Glitch caught the wincing around his eyes. He sighed and slid his arm around Wyatt's back, pulling his arm across his shoulders. "Glitch, what're you doing?"

"Keeping you from damn near killing yourself over some macho pride thing," Glitch grunted, forcing Wyatt to walk with him down the rest of the stairs and across the foyer. "And there's not a damn thing you can do about it." Wyatt quietly let himself be half carried, and he had to admit, if only to himself, that the pain was eased by letting Glitch take some of his weight. But there was one thing wrong with it…

"I'll never be able to get to my gun this way," he mumbled.

"If you need it, I'll get it for you," Glitch replied soothingly as they stepped out into the snow. Fortunately, it had stopped actively snowing, and instead the world looked caked in thick vanilla frosting. By moonlight the pair was able to make out distant foot prints leading in the direction of Azkadellia's castle.

The going was slow, wading through knee deep snow; slow enough that Wyatt was able to walk on his own, though he knew that Glitch was keeping an eye on him, should he stumble or look winded. And even though it pricked his pride, to have to be watched like some maiden prone to fainting at the slightest excitement, he couldn't help but grin to himself whenever he caught Glitch stopping himself from running over to help out of the corner of his eye. Eventually, the suns began to rise once more, and Wyatt decided they should make camp. It would be colder for a while, traveling at night, but they were less likely to be seen.

"Exactly where are we going to sleep? Because I'm noticing a distinct lack of 5 star hotels. Or even a cabin, or a tent," Glitch shivered, drawing his coat tighter.

Wyatt sighed, having been dreading this part. "We're going to sleep here," he gestured to a massive snow drift blown between a small stand of trees.

"You can't be serious," Glitch nearly sneered.

"Oh but I can," Wyatt crouched, noticing that the ache in his ribs had lessened significantly, and started to dig out a hollow in the drift. With a harried sigh, Glitch knelt to help, making sure that the ceiling in particular was structurally sound and wouldn't collapse while they slept, smothering them. When finally it was large enough that they could both huddle in relative comfort, Wyatt spread his coat out for them to sit on, and pulled more snow up around the bottom of the make shift cave to block them from view. He settled back with Glitch, who had pulled his coat off for use as a blanket. Glitch was sulking, arms crossed across his chest and his breath misting in angry huffs in front of him.

"It's not all that bad," Wyatt tried to say optimistically.

"Oh yes it is. I've got snow in my hair, and dripping down my neck, and freezing my ass," Glitch grumbled. Chuckling, Wyatt slung his arm around Glitch's shoulders.

"Better?"

"A little," Glitch conceded, leaning against Wyatt. "But my rear end is still numb."

Come the following evening, there wasn't an inch of either of them that wasn't numb. Wyatt actually heard frost crackling gently as he struggled out of the small cave, and Glitch's curls looked like someone had broken a snow globe over his head. Wyatt set about making a fire while Glitch pulled the coats from the snow and set them near the flames to dry. They huddled together at the base of a tree, cold, sore and hungry.

"Wyatt, this really, really, really sucks."

"Yeah? Did you think, when you came along with me, that we'd be living the high life? Being pampered, and staying in fancy accommodations, eating three square meals a day?"

"Well no, but I at least thought, y'know, maybe we'd have a sleeping bag, or tents, or…something. I mean, there's roughing it, and then there's what we're doing. And it's not going to be any better once we've saved DG. It's just gonna be camping with more company," Glitch sulked.

Wyatt sighed, because he was right of course. It did suck, and there was little chance of it getting better, and Glitch was not built for traipsing throughout the wilderness. "Look, if you wanted to, you know, head back, I wouldn't stop you."

"Head back where? That drafty palace we just left?"

"The palace, or your club…whichever you wanted."

"Uhhh someone's trying to kill me most likely back at the club," Glitch retorted. "And that palace is terribly cold, and I'd be lonely."

"It'd be better than slogging through the snow with no shelter and little food wouldn't it?"

"You trying to get rid of me cowboy?"

"Not exactly, but, well, you're not really suited to this, are you?"

Glitch rolled his eyes, "Neither are you. Better than me sure, but what kind of Tin Man doesn't remember that the snow round here is only around here? Once we get beyond the trees that way it becomes more autumn or summerlike. Hence why it's like, the winter palace, or ice palace or whatever, obviously."

Wyatt flushed slightly, abashed. "Oh"

"Yeah, oh," Glitch laughed. "Good thing you're cute, huh?"

"Oh shut it. Let's go then."

A/N: And there we go. Another chapter finally done. And about time too, I'd say. I would say I'll promise not to leave it so long, but with summer and all that, all I can do is promise to try not to leave it so long.