Title: Falling
Universe: Tin Man – mid series to what happens after the credits roll.
Summary: They say your life flashes before your eyes as you die. What if the life you see is one you've yet to live?
Pairings: DG/Cain
Acknowledgments: I don't own it.
Rating: General audiences
Author's Note: This is another story that wouldn't be ignored. It was a struggle to concentrate on my previous Tin Man/Mentalist crossover. They both demanded equal attention, but I made this one wait until the other was finished. That's why I've published two stories so close together. This was meant to merely be a short introspective piece but it turned into something more. Watching the scene where Cain falls through the window, and later seeing him laying on the ice, I had to wonder what happened in the mean time. This is my answer. It's not related to my other story 'There's No Place Like Home, but it follows the same scenarios I set for what happens after the movie ends. Not including extraneous bits, the story is roughly 5,195 words long. That's why I published it as one chapter.
*** Tin Man *** Fan Fiction *** Falling ***
Falling
by: Vani Joy Dotson
One minute he was in the Northern Palace fighting with Zero and the next Wyatt Cain was falling from a window towards the frozen lake below. As he sped towards the ground, his life proverbially flashed before his eyes. To his surprise, it wasn't the life he'd lived with Adora and their son. No, the images that played through his mind were all about DG. From the moment they met, until seeing her being carted away from the castle by the witch's minions as he fell.
"You know who she is, you have to protect her. She's the key. Promise me, I want your word as a tin man, you'll not leave her side at any cost," The Mystic Man's demand rang through his ears as he hit the snow bank with such force that the air was forced from his lungs and he slowly felt the ice break beneath him.
As Wyatt Cain sank through the ice into the frigid water below, his one thought was, 'How do I protect her, now?'
The ice-cold water hitting his comparatively hot body made him gasp, only it wasn't air he sucked into his lungs it was the same frigid water that surrounded him. Reflexively, he coughed the water back out, but, without air to suck back into his lungs, it was a useless instinct. He was going to drown.
No, he was drowning. He realize as he sank deeper into those watery depths. No one knew how deep that sea went because no one ever survived to speak of it.
As his world faded to black, DG's face floated in front of him. Her beautiful smile, her intense blue eyes that burned into his memory from the exact second he looked into them, her innocence which she tried to hide behind a sarcastic façade, her boundless curiosity for a seemingly alien world. As an otherworlder, everything to her was new and interesting, while all he saw was ugly and grotesque. It was not the O.Z. he remembered.
He was old and jaded. He was no longer the man he had been and he knew it. Being forced to watch your wife and child taken from you, as you're powerless to prevent it had that effect on a person. After being locked in that iron suit for so long, he'd felt something click. On the other hand, maybe it was just the sound of his heart shattering into a million pieces. After a while, all he'd felt was numb.
Then 'she' came into his life. Slowly, his shattered heart began to mend. There were times when he wished he still felt numb, but sometimes pain was part of the healing process.
Suddenly, he saw his life, like the one he'd left behind, only instead of Adora, it was DG who was waiting for him. As she ran into his arms, he felt spreading across his face, a smile so large it nearly hurt his jaw. In all his thirty-five years, he'd never felt happier as he did in that moment. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly to him, reveling in her warmth, her vitality.
When he kissed her, it felt as though time had come to a standstill. She gave of herself so freely as she kissed him back. Still, he wanted more.
"Eww, gross, Dad," Jeb said from nearby.
Reluctantly, Cain pulled away from DG to look at his son, only to find that the boy hadn't aged a day in ten years. He was still the same eight-year-old that Cain remembered from the day Jeb and his mother were taken from Cain. He frowned, feeling a slight pang in his chest.
"Neal, why don't you go check on your sisters?" DG addressed the lad, making Cain look up at her.
"Ah, Mom!" the boy, DG called Neal, complained.
"Don't talk back to your mother," Cain said reflexively without thinking about what he was saying.
"Ok-ay," Neal unenthusiastically complied, heading into the other room.
"Is something wrong, Cain?" DG wondered, smoothing out the lines on his forehead.
"He looks so much like my son," He told her.
"Maybe, that's because he is your son," She smiled and shook her head.
"I meant Jeb. Wait, what do you mean he's my son?" He heard himself ask even though he already knew the answer before he asked the question.
DG threw her head back and laughed, "Jeb's fine. The last time we saw him he was heading north with Ambrose and Raw. He's leading the team that was sent to the mines to improve working conditions and Ambrose went to take stock of the remaining Moritanium supply. You were there when I gave birth to Neal; in fact, you were there when all of them were born."
"All of them? How many kids do we have?" He frowned at her.
"So far?" She grinned at him, "Three, Neal's the oldest, followed by Rose and Emily."
"What do you mean, 'so far'?"
"Well, we never actually talked about how many was too many. And there might be another one percolating on a back burner somewhere," she tried hard to keep a straight face, but unabashed joy resisted her control, pulling up the corners of her mouth.
"You're kidding! Really? Are you serious," He grinned.
"Yeah," She laughed again.
He hadn't felt that much joy since Jeb was born. He picked her up, swung her around, and kissed her passionately.
"How? How is this possible?" He asked then kissed her again.
"Well, you start out by kissing me because of which we inevitably wind up in the bedroom with our clothes off and then…," DG began.
He silenced her with another kiss, which he prolonged for as long as possible, "You have a wicked tongue, Deej."
"I'm not the only one, Wyatt," She breathed and kissed him again.
"No, I mean you and me. How…?"
"You really don't remember?" She ran her fingers through his hair.
He shook his head.
"After we defeated the evil witch, you told me how you felt about me. Since you felt that way and I felt that way, we decided the only thing to do was get married. Things just escalated from there. Now here we are, ten years and three beautiful children later."
"Four, four beautiful children," He smiled and kissed her again.
"Three and a half, like I said, the other one is still percolating."
"I love you. Every thing's going to be alright, isn't it?"
"I love you, too," She kissed him again. "Everything's going to be just fine, if you live long enough."
He frowned at that, as he began to feel heaviness in his chest, he let go of her and leaned on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
"What?" He fought the urge to cough.
"Save yourself, Wyatt Cain, and this happy life can be yours," She told him.
Before he had a chance to think, let alone respond, he was slammed backwards and began falling. He opened his eyes and became aware of his surroundings. He was falling through the window in the northern palace, speeding towards the frozen sea below.
He couldn't help but wonder if that life he'd seen with him and DG was merely his imagination, the incoherent ramblings of a mind racing towards certain death. Was it a vision of what his life could be if he somehow lived through this? Either way, he wasn't ready to die yet.
As he hit the ground, the deep snow bank broke his fall somewhat, but he could still feel the ice beneath him break. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for the bitter cold. He knew that he couldn't do anything about falling through the ice. Like quicksand, he knew that thrashing around could just make the situation worse. He was determined not to go down without a fight.
Once he slipped free of the broken ice beneath him and sank into the frigid water below, he cleared his mind of the panic that threatened to overtake him. Momentarily, he opened his eyes to get his bearings then squeezed them shut once more and pushed towards the surface with everything he had in him. He clawed and kicked upwards through the frigid water towards the light.
The water had yet to freeze over, but there was definitely slush when he broke through at last. Gasping for air, he gave himself a few seconds to take in oxygen before the most difficult task, which yet lay ahead of him. Then, he started the difficult task of hauling himself out of the water. His hands had already gone numb and he could see blood, caused by the tiny shards of ice and possibly glass from the broken window, seeping into the snow as he saught a firm handhold around the opening.
It seemed to take hours for him to find a solid piece of ice onto which he could pull himself, although he was sure mere seconds had passed since he'd reached the surface. He didn't have much time as he could feel hypothermia begin to set in. Taking a deep breath, he drew on what little strength he had left and heaved himself out of the water. With a wet splash, he landed on the solid ice around the hole through which he'd fallen.
"Cain!" he could hear DG's voice as she screamed for help as her sister's goons took her away from the palace, away from him.
"DG!" he tried to call after her, but he could barely force out a whisper.
He crawled towards where the witch and her goons were loading DG into a vehicle. He could barely move, feeling as though he had Moritanium encased limbs. He fought to get to her but, as they drove away from the palace, he slumped onto the ground in front of the door unable to crawl further.
As his world faded black once more, he thought he'd heard Glitch's voice.
"Cain! Oh, no, this is so not good."
He was reliving a nightmare. The same one he'd been forced to watch for ten long years. Zero's goons held his arms so he couldn't get to his feet while Zero beat, first, Adora, then, Jeb. Cain felt just as powerless in his dream as he had all those years ago.
What was worse is he felt guilty the entire time for beginning to feel things for DG. How could he not? She was the first ray of sunshine that illuminated his life since it was taken from him ten long years ago.
As the nightmare played repeatedly in his mind, he couldn't help wondering what he would do if Adora really was alive. He'd given up hope of ever seeing her again and, now, that he'd begun to fall for DG, he found out his wife could be alive after all. Was that just another one of Zero's mind games?
Slowly, he began to regain consciousness. First, he became aware that he was no longer freezing cold. His hands and feet had begun to burn from being exposed to bitter temperatures for so long. Next, he became aware that he was lying on what felt like pillows. After that, his sense of smell told him that he was in diMilo's caravan. Lastly, he heard the door open and he aimed the gun at whoever had invaded his space.
"You've been sleeping for hours like a baby with his pacifier," Glitch moved around him as he brought in more firewood for the wood burning stove.
"I thought you were dead," Cain croaked out.
"Ditto," Glitch agreed. "You know, I may have saved you from hypothermia, but this is what saved your life."
Cain forced himself to look through blurry eyes as Glitch held out the iron horse Cain had made for Jeb all those years ago. Cain reached out to take it
"It stopped the bullet," Glitch stated the obvious.
The bullet was embedded in the horse's left front shoulder. Because his muscles were still weak from the cold, Cain's arm dropped back to his chest. He stared up at the ceiling for a time before he spoke.
"DG?" He forced out the question.
"Azkadellia," Glitch hung his head in shame, obviously feeling just as guilty about not being able to protect their friend as Cain was.
Cain took a deep breath to test how thawed out he was, his lungs still hurt but, slowly, he could feel his strength returning.
"Raw?" His voice sounded a little stronger to his own ears.
"Ah, I don't know, I can't find him," Glitch turned to look down at Cain. "Either they took him too, or he's dead, or…"
"Maybe he ran away," Cain stated another possibility.
"You know, you've really got to do something about that bitter cynicism of yours, Cain," Glitch snapped.
"Why? Someone's got to keep your wide-eyed optimism in check," Cain chuckled.
Glitch didn't say anything for a while as tension hung heavy in the air around them.
"Hey, Glitch."
"What?" Glitch asked with a subdued tone of voice.
"I owe you one," Cain voiced his gratitude for being rescued. It was hard, admitting that someone who normally did the rescuing was the one in need of rescue. He couldn't quite bring himself to say thank you.
"You know, professional psychiatric help is only a crow's call away these days. I think a man like you with your issues with masculinity and what we call the 'boy scout syndrome'…" Glitch began what Cain knew would be another one of his long discourses.
"Shut up, Glitch, unless you can think of a way to rescue the princess," Cain barked.
"You've got an idea?"
"Not yet, but I'm working on it. After I've thawed out a bit more, we need to trek down the mountain back towards Central City. My brain's still a little slushy right now so thawing out is my first priority."
"Welcome to the club," Glitch said.
They both fell silent as each of them tried coming up with a plan to rescue DG and possibly Raw.
When they made it into the detention center where Azkadellia kept her prisoners, they headed for the high security wing where DG was sure to be held. Luckily, no one recognized them in their borrowed uniform. Cain kept his hat under his arm, but it was a bit difficult to hide the Zipper on Glitch's head. No one seemed to notice, or at least hadn't noticed yet and Cain prayed their luck held out.
As they passed an alcove, someone jumped out and struck Glitch on the head. Cain went for his gun and spun to face their attackers. DG and Raw stepped into the light and Cain felt his heart swell at seeing her safe.
"Oww, that could bust a zipper," Glitch complained as he got to his feet.
"Glitch," Raw exclaimed, sounding contrite.
"Hey there, Princess," Cain tried not to smile, but couldn't quite keep the smile out of his voice.
"Cain, you're alive!" Dg exclaimed and wrapped her arms around him.
He wanted to take her in his arms, swing her around, and kiss her passionately as he'd done in his dream. He forced himself to wrap only an arm around her as his guilt suddenly returned. He had to see if Zero was right, if his wife and son were still alive before he could allow himself the freedom to pursue DG.
Giving into impulse, he whispered in DG's ear, "I think I'm falling for you."
She quickly backed away from him, but he caught sight of a tell tale blush on her cheeks and took it as a good sign.
Sometime later:
After defeating the evil witch, and the royal family were reunited once again, there was a brief lull before the work of restoring things to the way they were originally really began. Cain, Raw, and Glitch had left DG and her family to get reacquainted. Cain, Raw, and Glitch returned to the prison to free those who'd been wrongly imprisoned.
Raw made sure Kalm and their fellow viewers were cleaned up and saw to it that they got proper meals for the first time in who knows when. Glitch had disappeared, but Cain find him in what had once been Ambrose's office. Glitch wanted to be left alone for a while as he tried to decide what he really wanted to do.
The Medicoats, who hadn't willingly worked for Azkadellia, told Ambrose/Glitch that, while they could return his brain, he might not be the same man he once was. Glitch needed time to process the information and decide what he wanted to do. Cain had told him that whatever he decided, he was certain DG would support him either way.
Cain had returned to standing guard in front of the door of the room in which the royal family had remained since Azkadellia was freed of the witch, who'd held her captive since she was twelve. Cain knew that she had a long difficult road of recovery ahead of her. Although ten years didn't measure up to the fifteen years she'd been a captive, whether the prison was tangible or mental, a prison was still a prison. He could definitely empathize.
Once the witch had been defeated, the Palace was left in chaos. People the witch had brainwashed into doing her bidding suddenly didn't know what to do with themselves and wandered around aimlessly. Jeb and his resistance fighters had stepped up to police the palace in the absence of the long coats who were amoung the witch's victims.
After they'd rounded up everyone into the ballroom to be dealt with later, Jeb and his lieutenants found their way back to Cain. Glitch and Raw had both wandered back as well waiting to see DG. As they were discussing their next course of action, the doors behind Cain opened outward. DG gave Cain a sad smile and stepped aside.
"Gentlemen, please come in," Queen Lavender Eyes called out.
She smiled when she saw Glitch and held out her hand beckoningly. He looked sheepish and reluctant to obey her friendly summons. DG put her hand on his back and Glitch went to the queen who embraced him warmly.
"Thank you for helping my daughter find her way, Ambrose," the Queen voiced her gratitude, "In fact, I'm told you're all responsible for helping to free Azkadellia from the witch." She turned to all of them and graced them with a smile. "I know that restoring the kingdom will take a lot of work, but it's been a long day for everyone. Which of you is Jeb Cain?" The Queen looked around at the group.
The younger Cain looked at his father who nodded that it was okay. Jeb stepped forward and bowed respectfully, "I am he, your majesty."
"I must thank you and yours since you have fought the longest and suffered the most, I think. I regret the need to impose on you still further. I need someone to act as security until we can straighten everything out. Would you be willing to become Tin Men to see to that task?" The queen inquired.
Jeb straightened up and stared at her in surprise before turning to look at Cain. Cain grinned at his son who'd often claimed he'd be a tin man someday like his father. Cain couldn't be more proud of his son. Jeb then turned to his fellow resistance fighters who eagerly nodded their heads.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Jeb turned back to the queen and bowed once more.
The Queen then turned to Cain who stood next to DG.
"Mr. Wyatt Cain?"
Cain nodded his head and stepped forward, removed his hat, and bowed likewise.
"DG told me that you were once one of the Mystic Man's Tin Men. Would you be willing to take on that role once again? You've done so much for us already, but I could use someone with your experience as my head of security."
"Ma'am, my son Jeb is more than capable of handling things," Cain looked to his son who smiled and blushed slightly at the compliment.
"I'm sure he is, but I need someone to coordinate things as well as see to training more men in the foreseeable future. Thanks to your efforts to aid my daughter, I know that you can be relied upon. Right now, I need everyone I can trust." Queen Lavender Eyes pleaded.
Cain turned to look at DG who said nothing but looked almost hopeful. He sighed and turned back to the Queen, "Your wish is my command, Your Majesty."
"Thank you. Until it can be proven that she is no longer under the witch's control, Azkadellia has offered to submit to house arrest. I want it known here and now, she is to be treated no differently than you would treat me. She is still my daughter, after all. I can feel that the evil has left her and I expect her to be treated the same as any other victim of the witch. Jeb, would you please post your most trusted people as guards for her room. She's not to leave the palace for the time being and guards are to accompany her everywhere she goes. As I already stated, she's agreed to this voluntarily and I want it known to everyone." The queen paused looking at the people present to be sure that they understood her instructions.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Cain nodded.
"I'll see to it personally, Your Majesty," Jeb gave his assurance.
"I was hoping you would," The Queen smiled. "Now, after their ordeal, my daughters would like to rest. Would you please escort them to their rooms while my husband and I see to business?"
"Mom, what about you?" DG went to her mother, concerned about her well-being.
"The witch's magic has drained you. You should also rest," Azkadellia objected.
The Queen smiled and held out her hands to both her daughters who each took one of her hands.
"Your father will be here to help me. As tired as I am, there are some things that can't be left until tomorrow," She told them. "I've already sent for some tea and once I've had some nourishment I should feel much better."
"Let 'me' do whatever needs to be done!" DG offered.
The queen smiled and shook her head. "Some things only a queen can do, DG, and you're not one yet. I'll be alright."
"I won't let her tax herself too much," Ahamo made known.
"Is it okay if my friends stat with me?" DG asked.
"Of course," The queen nodded her head and squeezed DG's hand.
"Mother, can Raw and the other viewers stay in the castle until they can return to their village?"
"By all means, there are guest rooms connected to your suit. Your friends can stay there for the night."
"Lillo will need medical treatment," Azkadellia spoke up and blushed when she became the center of attention.
"Raw and other viewers will heal Lillo," Raw stated emphatically.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Azkadellia burst into tears. DG and their mother enveloped her in a comforting embrace.
"Not Azkadellia fault," Raw stated just as emphatically.
"It's no one's fault," The Queen looked pointedly at both her daughters. "If anyone's to blame it's the Ancients for locking the witch up and not dealing with her themselves five-hundred-years-ago. I don't want either of you taking the blame."
Both girls nodded their heads in understanding. The three of them hugged before DG and Azkadellia broke away. Their father hugged them both as well while the Queen turned back to the others.
"Until we figure out which of them were complicit to the witch and the ones who were under her spell, I would like both the Longcoats and Medicoats kept in prison. As for the others, Tutor, would you please divide them into groups of ten and bring the first group here," the Queen looked down at the dog.
"Your Majesty, I was complicit…," Tutor began as he shifted into the form of a man once more.
"She held you in prison for fifteen years, my old friend. Helping DG get back her memories was the most important thing you could have done. For that, you deserve both our thanks and our trust."
"Your wish is my command, Your Majesty!" Tutor bowed respectfully and went off to obey.
"Now, my daughters need their rest and I have work to do, everything else can wait until tomorrow. You may leave," The queen's dismissal might have seemed careless, but Cain could see her nearly wilt once her daughters' attention was diverted. Ahamo caught his wife and guided her to a nearby chair into which she tiredly sank.
Jeb had seen it as well and looked up at his father. Cain shook his head slightly and turned his attention back to DG.
"You two, you heard the Queen's orders, I'll leave you to guard Princess Azkadellia," Jeb told his lieutenants. When they nodded, he turned and bowed slightly to the eldest daughter. "Princess, if you'll lead the way, we'll see you safely to your rooms."
Azkadellia nodded, smiled sadly, and headed for the door. Jeb saluted Cain then turned and followed her from the room.
"You ready, Princess?" Cain didn't feel the need for formality.
She smiled and nodded her head. She slipped an arm through both Glitch's as well as Raw's arms. She refused to meet Cain's gaze though he could see a faint blush that tinged her cheeks. She led the way to her rooms and, after tossing the Prince Consort a salute, Cain followed them from the room.
After everyone had gone to bed, Cain camped out in a chair in DG's sitting room between that of her bedroom and the door leading into her suite of rooms. He was a light sleeper and kept his gun nearby, ready should anyone try to hurt her. Raw and his fellow viewers were given the royal treatment, given their own suite of rooms across the hall from her suite. Glitch was asleep in the next room, as he didn't feel like being alone anymore than DG wanted to be far from any of them.
Despite regaining her memories, she still wasn't quite comfortable on her own. Cain wasn't either. Until things were back to normal, he wasn't willing to leave her side, even if the queen hadn't requested him to do so.
As he drifted off to sleep, he thought about the life that had flashed before his eyes. Since finding out his wife really was dead, he couldn't help wonder what his next move would be. Did he want that wonderful life he'd seen in his vision to come to pass?
Sensing a presence nearby, Cain drew, cocked, and aimed his weapon in the blink of an eye, thanks to his lightning fast reflexes.
"You really shouldn't sneak up me like that, Princess."
"Yeah, I realize that now," DG stated.
"Something wrong?"
"The bed's too big and the room's too vacant," She plopped down on the couch beside Cain's chair.
He withdrew his feet from the coffee table and sat up a little straighter. When he reached up to flick on the light next to him, he saw that she had brought a pillow and was wrapped in a blanket she'd brought with her. "And I miss my quilts," She pouted as she lay down on the couch.
"You haven't had much alone time since your arrival. I'm surprised you want company."
"I liked being alone when I was on the other side. Now, I can't sleep without feeling someone else's presence."
"We did camp out a lot," Cain smiled at her when she cracked an eye open to look at him.
"That's what I mean. This place is so big it's almost claustrophobic."
"What's that?"
"Fear of enclosed spaces," DG explained an 'other side' term.
He raised an eyebrow at her. "How can wide open spaces make you feel claustrophobic?"
"I don't know. Our house on the other side wasn't this big but it wasn't too small either. This place just doesn't feel homey to me. I also miss my cat."
"You had a cat?"
"Yeah, an outdoor cat. She kept down the mice population in the barn and other out buildings. Whenever I sat on my swing in the back yard, she'd jump up into my lap and just sit with me for hours. Her purr was so loud it felt like my whole body vibrated."
"I think Raw and his kind are the only cats we have in the O.Z. these days. All the others are extinct. I've never seen a cat small enough to sit on a lap, unless it's a lion cub."
"I wonder if mom would let me go home and get some of my things. I really miss Fifi."
"Fifi?"
"My cat, and yeah I know it's a silly name, but it seemed to fit her personality," DG yawned.
A time passed where neither of them spoke. Cain was content to just sit and watch her. DG looked like she'd fallen asleep, so he propped his feet on the coffee table again. He leaned his head against the back of the chair.
"Did you really mean it?" She asked.
"Mean what," he opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling trying to remember to what she might be referring.
"Are you really falling for me?"
He turned to look at her and smiled when he saw her watching him, "Yeah, I did." After she hadn't said anything in a while, he asked, "How do you feel about that?"
"I'm not opposed to it, if that's what you're wondering," She looked away.
"I was worried I might be too old for you," Cain admitted.
"How old are you?" She frowned up at him then.
He laughed, "Thirty-five."
"That makes you only fourteen years older than me. You're not that old, Cain."
"I feel old," Cain stated, shifting his legs so he wasn't putting pressure on his bad knee anymore.
DG laughed, "Everyone starts saying that when they reach thirty." After a brief pause, she added, "I'm glad."
"Glad I'm old?" He turned to look at her.
"No," she looked as though she'd fallen asleep once more.
"What then?"
"I'm glad that you're falling for me."
"Oh, why is that?"
"Because, when you came for me back at the Mystic Man's Palace, I realized that I'd already begun falling for you," she admitted sleepily.
It was all he could do not to jump to his feet and take her in his arms at that moment. By the sound of her breathing, he could tell she'd already fallen asleep. As he closed his eyes, he felt a contented smile spread across his face. Maybe his dream would have a chance to come true after all.
Good-bye my friends, my tale's all told, but the story continues for eternity.
Vani Joy Dotson 2015