Tin Armor

[feistyfox.livejournal.com]

Title: Tin Armor
Author: FeistyFox
Rating: M
Pairing: DG/Cain
Summary: After the witch falls DG may need more than optimism to make it in the O.Z.

This story is in progress. I hope those of you who are reading it continue to do so!

Chapter 33

Disclaimer: No hope for that suit now… Pity.

“Sorry, Glitch!” She jumped out of Glitch’s arms yet again as she crushed his toes. He flinched not even trying to stop her from putting space between their feet anymore. She gazed at him apologetically. “My bad.” She was trying to do this. Really she was. Only she was bad at it, in a major way. Scuffing her new silver shoe she sighed throwing her head back so she was staring up at the wooden rafters. “Should I go get Raw?”

“I don’t think they’re broken, DG. At least not yet.” That didn’t make her feel all that much better.

“I would have thought you’d be better at this.” Az decided to throw in from the sidelines. She had managed to conjure up a few chairs for her and Cain as Glitch tried to teach her the steps to this dance. Her sister’s head was propped on her hand as she watched her stumble about in the advisors wake.

“Apparently we can’t all be terribly graceful. I think I got the short straw when it comes to dancing.”

“It doesn’t make sense.” Az continued. “After all our parents are both excellent dancers and I certainly never had a problem.” She rolled her eyes at that and started pacing along the edge of the dance floor. “Didn’t you have some sort of dancing lessons on the Otherside?”

“I wouldn’t call what we did dancing per say.” She muttered. She doubted anyone in the O.Z. would classify what she and her classmates did at prom as ‘proper’ dancing. She rather thought it would give either Glitch or Cain a stroke if they found out the kinds of dances she had learned. Probably not princess approved learning material. Although they were considerable more fun than waltzing.

“What would you call it?” Az asked curiously. Her head had come up as she watched her pacing around the wooden island of evil.

She glanced over at her sister and saw Cain’s eyebrow raised. She might be willing to tell her sister that if they were alone. “You know what? Doesn’t even matter.” The Tin Man was now watching her suspiciously. “Ready to try again, Glitch?”

He grimaced at her as he extended his hand. “Your sister might have a point.” She took his hand now deeply worried that she knew what was going to come next. “Perhaps if you show me the kinds of dances you know we can work from there.”

Her eyes darted to Cain before going back to the advisor. “No thanks. This seems to be working fine.” She was sure mister uptight would appreciate the bump and grind, not to mention the fact that she had learned it while in the presence of unknown males. Yup, he’d have a conniption fit.

Her dance partner sighed dramatically. “Tell that to my toes. Come now, one little dance from the Otherside. It could be fun.”

“Why are you pushing this?” She hissed under her breath. “Not like I could do those dances either.”

His toffee eyes started to twinkle. He knew something was up now. Taking her hand he spun her out and she did her best not to fall as she stumbled out gracelessly. “I’m sure you could do them fine, Doll. Why not give us a show?”

He spun her back and she thumped into his chest. “No way.”

He turned his head toward their small but adamant audience. “Wouldn’t you love to see her natural rhythm, Cain?” The Tin Man grunted as he stretched his legs out in front of him, blue eyes flickering with interest.

She had to physically restrain herself from hitting Glitch. “I hate you.”

He laughed merrily placing his hand on the small of her back, guiding her in a tight circle. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out how he and Az had made this look so flawlessly simple. She watched their feet as they waltzed doing her best to avoid his toes. “Don’t look down.” She tilted her head back up and immediately stepped on his foot. He winced again but continues to guide her around the floor. “Remember back, back, left.” She frowned in concentration counting silently in her head.

As they made their way around the wooden floor he whispered to her. “You can relax. This isn’t meant to be painful.”

“Tell that to your toes, or my pride.” He shook his head, grinning, before spinning her out once more and bowing over her outstretched arm.

“Was that so bad?” He teased gently.

“Yeah it was.” She was thoroughly embarrassed by her display. “You think Toto could teach me to magic my feet to dance right?”

“That might help.” Cain grunted. She sighed as her shoulders slumped.

“Don’t worry, Doll.” Ambrose encouraged optimistically. “I’ll make sure you don’t make a total fool of yourself no matter the number of toes it costs me.”

“Thanks so much.”

“Besides-“ He continued on unperturbed by her listlessness. “There won’t be that many people there at any rate.” She straightened feeling a little better. If that was the case they might get over her sudden appearance and she could simple melt into the background or cut out early. “Only a few hundred at most.”

She blanched the color draining from her face. What the hell was his definition of many? That was more people than the entire population of her hometown. There were going to be several hundred people watching her? Staring at her? Judging her? She put one hand on her face and one on her stomach. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

She heard a chair creak as Cain stood up. “Good job, Zipperhead.” Beginning to pace again she tried not to think about what the advisor had told her. “You couldn’t ease into that could you?”

Glitch shot him a disbelieving glance. “This coming from you? You’re one to talk about easing into anything. And how was I supposed to know that was going to surprise her?”

“Stop being overly dramatic.” Az cut in. “Deeg, settle down. You might as well get used to the idea of large functions. It’s part of being in the royal family.”

She sucked in air through her nose and nodded trying not to panic as one of her worst fears sprang into existence. This was almost as bad as thinking Cain was going to leave. She didn’t like crowds, or big parties, or the idea of being the center of attention. “You’re right.” She would worry about this when they got to the city. Forcing a smile she turned back to the advisor and assumed her pose for the begging of the waltz. “No biggie. It’s going to happen so I need to focus on the dancing thing.”

Az smiled and Glitch beamed but the Tin Man was watching her totally unconvinced. They went over the steps once more before Glitch called a halt. “That’s plenty of progress for the day. We can pick up from here tomorrow.”

“And come down here for lunch. We can start on etiquette as well.”

She nodded as she slipped off the silver shoes and reached for her boots. They were really so much better, and she could run in them and stuff. Cain offered her a hand and hauled her up, refusing to let go of her as they headed to the door. She belatedly realized as they walked back up the stairs that she had forgotten to make him popcorn. She’d fix that tomorrow. “Have fun watching?”

He hummed rubbing her knuckles with his thumb. “You did fine when you and Glitch were talkin’. You need to stop thinking so much.”

Easy for him to say. Even if he was probably right. She was about to tell him that at least she had a few weeks to learn when searing pain ripped through her head. The emerald flared filling the hall with green light as her magic lashed forcefully outward. She ripped her hand away from Cain clutching at her forehead as she screamed in agony.

“DG!” She lurched to the side, thrown off balance by the unexpected assault, and nearly toppled down the stairs before the Tin Man caught her around the waist hauling her back. They tumbled to the cool marble floor as she screeched. She vaguely heard Cain shout for Raw and Glitch before her body stiffened and her magic merged with the emeralds.

Something is wrong!

Her body convulsed and her vision was filled with orange light. She could hear the roar of flames around her as the acrid smell of smoke filled her lungs. She blinked dazedly as the heat nearly overwhelmed her. She felt as if she were about to burst into flames herself. Fighting for air she looked around for a way out and saw a break in the dense cloud of smoke to her left. What she saw nearly made her heart stop beating.

She recognized Central City sprawled out far below her. She had somehow ended up on a window ledge of one of the towers in the middle of the city. She was a dozen stories up and from here she could see walls of fire sweeping mercilessly across the city. Muffled screams drifted up to her perch and she felt horror grip at her insides. The Shinning City was burning.

She didn’t understand what was happening. Even the Witch hadn’t been so crazy as to set the Capital on fire. Twisting hard she felt something pining her to the ledge and she fought to break free.

You must stop this!

She couldn’t have agreed more. But she didn’t have the power to stop this type of disaster. Even with the emerald helping her. There was too much and it was out of control. “How? What am I supposed to do?”

You need to-

Apparently she wasn’t meant to find out because a second later she had been thrown to the muddy ground. She groaned as another flash of pain tore over her but she forced her eyes open all the same. She was lying in a heap at the feet of a tin suit. She gasped struggling back. Looking frantically around for the cabin the only thing she saw were trees and in the distance a trampled area of open ground. What the hell was going on? Where had the city gone? Where was she?

Get up!

She heard a loud clank and her head snapped back around to the iron maiden. The front was now open and suddenly before her there were two dead men. One’s head had been split open like a melon and was oozing blood over the mossy ground while the other had a hatchet buried deep in his chest. She froze at the grizzly sight before her, horrified, before she felt herself jerked forward yet again.

Disoriented she fought to get to her feet against the wave of pain only to be held flat down. She felt anger rise in her right before she heard a soft clatter to her left. She stilled on what she recognized as a worn leather sofa. Her breath was coming in short pants as she caught sight of movement in the doorway of a rather memorable room. Between her and the bathroom she noticed an all too familiar bed cover in rumpled green blankets.

She sensed the emerald assessing the situation. Be calm. This isn’t real. You are being summoned.

She had no idea what that meant and she certainly wasn’t about to calm down. Soft rustling continued for several minutes before she saw the edge of her old jacket being held in someone’s hand. Her breathing became more erratic as a silhouette emerged from the small room and she was tossed into yet another place.

This time she found herself in the same room she’d been in when Lylo had tried to read her and her head was throbbing as painfully now as it had then. She lay on the rough stone panting as clipped footfall echoed around the now empty room. The only other sound was the soft bubbling of the tank. “Princess?” She shuddered as the familiar voice oozed over her. “I know you can hear me, Majesty.”

You are not really here. You are still in Finaqua. He can’t see you.

The hair on her neck stood on end as a battered Zero walked into her line of sight. His pale blue eyes were moving around the room carefully. He was worse for wear. His hair was dirty and his uniform was torn and bloodstained. She felt her stomach drop when she realized it was most likely the blood of the men in front of the suit. “I must beg your forgiveness for such a hostile message.” She shook harder as he passed within inches of her prone body. “Believe me I have no intention of hurting you. All I wanted was to speak with you privately for a few minutes.”

Lucky her. She waited silently as he continued. “I wish to offer my congratulations over your defeat of the Sorceress. She always was overly ambitious. Her reach exceed her grasp but you are so much stronger.” She bit her lip at the hunger she heard in his voice. “I’m sorry it took me so long to contact you. I’m afraid I was trapped in a rather uncomfortable situation. But now that I’m free I wanted you to know you have my absolute loyalty and that of my men. We’ll be waiting for you in Central City.”

Shit, that wasn’t good. “And to prove myself to you I give you my word that we will remain hidden until you arrive. No need to give ourselves away is there?” He chuckled softly under his breath. “I do hope to see you soon, it would be a pity for the city to burn. Don’t you agree?”

Before she could even think about opening her mouth she was flung forward yet again. She moaned as her head throbbed and her body went limp. She felt as if her magic had been forcefully wrung from her body. “DG!” She whimpered turning her head away as she tried to curl up into a ball.

She heard movement all around her as the Tin Man held her down. Raw rumbled next to him. “Let go now. DG back.” She felt his hands loosen and turned on her side, propping herself on her elbow before she threw up. She felt Raw’s gloved hand reach around her and slid her across the floor even as his gift washed over her. She lay shaking, her arm curling up over her head as she tried to readjust to being in her body.

“What happened to her?” She heard Jeb ask as a set of small cool hands moved her arms.

Anna laid her palm over her forehead. “She’s got no fever but she’s sweating.”

Batting the hands away she struggled away from the help and staggered to her feet. She was surrounded on all sides by concerned people. She felt the emerald hit her chest and wrapped her fingers around it as she staggered, disoriented, into the wall. “How much was real?” Her voice came out as a croak and every eye locked on her.

The summons was uncontrolled. The images you saw were all real except for the first. That I believe was a desire. The man that called to you is not stable. I have never seen a summons like that before. It was disjointed and filled with unnecessary imagery.

Unstable? Understatement. Big, giant, huge understatement. “Fuck.” She cursed quietly closing her eyes. She stood trembling against the wall as her mind tried to think of a solution to this.

“Spitfire?” She lifted her head and saw Ahamo watching her with obvious concern. He wasn’t the only one. Az was fidgeting nervously next to a twitching Glitch while Jeb stood motionlessly behind them both. Anna was crouched next to her medical bag as her Mother’s purple eyes swept over her. Raw stepped up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. When she met his compassionate eyes she knew he had seen at least part of what she had.

Turning back she locked eyes with the Tin Man. This was about the best way she could tell him first. There was no way they were going to have private time now. “He’s going to burn Central City if I don’t go back soon.”

The group shifted and her mother snapped. “Burn Central City? Who would do such a thing?”

She never broke eye contact with the Cain. “He summoned me. At least that’s what the emerald told me. He’s crazy, Wyatt.” She licked her lips. “We need to go. We need to stop him.”

“Summoned you?” Az cut in. “No one could summon you unless they had access to something you owned and to the Tower…” She trailed off apparently realizing they’d left the place completely unguarded.

“Who was it?” The Tin Man’s eyes were ice. He already knew. He simply wanted confirmation. “Who was it, DG?”

She let go of the emerald and answered. “Zero.” Jaw clenched he nodded as Jeb snarled a curse behind him.

Author Note: I am sooooo sorry this chapter took so long. The last week of my internship was crazy busy and I had to write a paper for it. So big apologies but hopefully this will make up for it! Leave me one!

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