Disclaimer: Tin Man is not mine in this or any of my other stories. The end… or the middle? Wait… I'm at the beginning. That's right. The beginning.

"That was insane." Cain growled low in his throat. His arm was slow to loosen its tight hold from around her waist despite the fact that they were now inside the Central City Palace. She figured the safety of the palace was still questionable at this point. "How did that many people even know we were going to be coming through?"

Around them resistance fighters were shifting and breaking away to sweep through the halls and towers of the palace at Jeb's strained orders. Despite the fighters help with crowd control and her exhaustion from calling all the travel storms she had been forced to call up a low level shield to protect the group from being overwhelmed by her people. She had never in her life seen so many people in one place before, and boy had they been happy to see her mother. Unfortunately her head was now pounding and she had the distinct impression that she was about to pass out soon. That odd hazy feeling had started to form at the edge of her consciousness.

Ahamo's body was practically vibrating with tension as he stood protectively in front of her mother and Az who he had against a very sturdy looking wall. He wasn't even bothering to keep his knives hidden in his sleeves as he gripped them dangerously in his hands. All those years in the Realm of the Unwanted had made her father a little paranoid. She figured that many people with eyes on his family had made him as nervous as they had made her. "Word of mouth has certainly gotten better since the Witch took control. It was safer for everyone that way. She had control of all the media outlets."

She vaguely thought that was a real bummer as darkness began to attack her from the right. She tried to beat it back silently as the conversation continued on around her. "We need to get up higher." Glitch said tilting his head up so he could see up one of the oddly hollow spires that they had found themselves in. She followed his line of sight. She really didn't understand the architecture in this world. How did things stand up? Where were all the support beams? All she could see was a wide spiral staircase leading up and up and up toward the top of the metallic looking walls that seemed to stretch on forever. Was everything controlled by magic or did they build things differently here?

She threw her head back down abruptly when she started to choke on something sticky. Hacking wetly she raised the back of her hand to her mouth and nearly doubled over as the Tin Man moved his head back to look at her. Coughing hard she managed to clear her lungs and straightened with his help. When she pulled her hand away from her mouth she found it was covered with thick wet blood. That probably wasn't real good. She blinked at the dark liquid twice before she lost the battle with consciousness and passed out where she stood.

Waking up with a groan she rather wished she had stayed asleep. Her head hurt like a mother and the room was tilting on her. "DG?" Cain's voice drifted over her softly.

"Too much magic." She put a hand over her head and curled up into a ball. She noticed she was on something soft and hoped someone had found them a bed. "Was I bleeding or hallucinating?" Either way she wouldn't be surprised.

She felt his hand run over her hair. "Bleeding."

She heard the anxiety in his voice and mentally berated herself. She needed to stop making him worry all the time or she was going to give him a stroke. "I'm sure that was sexy."

He grunted. "You've never used that much magic in one day before. I'm not entirely sure anyone has." She heard something like a cross between awe and frustration in his voice. "There were bound to be side effects. It could have been worse than a bloody nose." Yeah, probably.

"And a headache from hell."

She heard his smile. "And a headache from hell."

She cracked an eye open so she could see him. He was crouched in front of her, his hat off, watching her intently. She could see relief and love sparking in his blue eyes as he watched her open her eyes and she smiled at him in response. Still, he was blocking her view of the darkened room. "Where are we?"

His hand began to toy with her hair absently. "The upper levels of the western spire. As soon as Jeb had it cleared we moved up here. It'll be easy to defend and no one will be able to get at us from above." She made a soft understanding noise. "Your sister said she'd set up a protection spell of some kind come morning, but until then Jeb's men will be watchin' for us."

"That's nice of her." Az must have been as exhausted as she was. At least she hadn't passed out. She reached out and tugged gently on his duster. "Hey, Wyatt?"

"Yes?"

"There's nothing green in here is there?"

He chuckled softly. "No."

"S' good." Stretching a bit she held onto his coat and let the room steady itself out around her. "Where'd Decon go?"

"He's sleepin' out on the balcony." He jerked his head slightly in what she assumed was the direction of their apparent balcony. "Don't think he likes the indoors much."

"Imagine that." His lip twitched briefly before his amusement faded. His eyes went distant as he looked toward some point behind her shoulder. She sighed, worry gnawing at her. She was at a loss as to what to say to him to make him feel better about this situation. She doubted anything would make him feel comfortable again until it was totally over.

Letting go of the waterproof material she let her hand wander up to his face and ran her knuckles lightly over his jaw. His eyes refocused on her and for once she dropped all her cheerfulness and pep. She knew how hard this was for him, what Zero represented. He wasn't just a man that had bested him. To Wyatt he was the symbol of his failure, his loss, and the memories of his past that no one should have had to carry. The man that was now so eager to serve her had tortured the Tin Man in ways she didn't fully want to comprehend.

When she started talking she heard the steel edge in her voice and saw his eyes flicker with surprise. "The guilds are in place and waiting for my orders. He won't get away again, Tin Man." She felt the emerald stir briefly at her statement but thought nothing of it as her stubborn streak kicked in. When this was over he was going to be able to sleep at night with or without her in his bed.

She saw him waver then he stood up and started pacing. "This never should have happened. This wasn't your fight."

Struggling to sit up she stared at him as he made his circuit raising her eyebrow. The moment he was facing her again she leaned back against the headboard. "Are you done being stupid now?"

He threw a glare at her that thoroughly unimpressed her. "Don't pretend this is trivial!"

"I never said it was. I said you were being stupid." She huffed at him. "Not my fight. Whatever, Cain." If he thought she wasn't in this with him he had another thing coming.

His jaw twitched. "I should have killed him-"

She cut him off before he could finish. She did not need him questioning his morals. "If you'd killed him it would have destroyed you!" She pushed herself off the bed ignoring how badly she was swaying. She needed to drive this point home. "You are a good man, Wyatt Cain! When you had Zero he was your prisoner. He was tied up and at your mercy. If you'd killed him, if you'd done what you'd set out to do, you would have become him. Is that what you want?"

He ran his hand through his hair. "You're twisting my words-"

"No! I'm telling you the truth!" She locked eyes with him. "I realize I can't ever understand what it must have been like for you in that suit. What it must have been like for you to watch that projection." His eyes went cold at the mention of it but she pushed on. "And honestly the very thought of you going through that horrifies me. But if you think for one second that this is your fault, that you somehow failed me or Jeb, then you really are an idiot. If it wasn't Zero doing this it would be someone else. You can't blame yourself for this anymore!"

He growled low in his throat and she saw the conflict raging behind his icy eyes. She could understand it, was closely acquainted with the mix of guilt and helplessness that she knew he was fighting with. Letting out a slow breath she held out her hand to him. "It's not your fault, Tin Man. Jeb doesn't think so and neither do I."

He stood still for a long time before he jerked his head in acceptance and moved back to her. Taking her hand he pulled her into his arms and picked her up. She squeaked as she left the ground and he sat on the edge of the bed setting her on his lap. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders she pressed her face into his neck. "Are you ok, Wyatt?"

"No." Despite the tension in his voice she felt her lip twitch at his blunt answer. His arms tightened around her as he pressed her closer to him.

"That's because you worry too much." She stated matter of factly.

She heard him grunt. "That's only because you don't worry enough. I have to worry for both of us."

She lifted her head, which was still pounding, and grinned up at his stony expression. "Nonsense, I simply know I'm going to succeed. Huge difference."

She saw humor returning to his face and his posture relaxing. "You just know? That's very reassuring."

She jabbed him in the ribs and he twitched. "Hey! Who saved you three?" He raised an eyebrow. "Who broke out of prison? Who brought trees to life, restored a palace, and killed a witch?" She pointed to herself. "All me, buster."

"All you?" Ok, Cain was too O.Z. to say that phrase. It was seriously disturbing.

She giggled. "I admit you guys may have helped a little, but regardless, I know. Zero's ass is grass."

He opened his mouth until her phrasing caught up with him. Then an adorable puzzled look crossed it. "And we're back to you spouting gibberish."

She laughed up at him before laying her head on his shoulder. His hand came up to rest on her head and she relaxed, happy that he had calmed down. After a minute or so he moved his arm under her legs and moved her off him onto the bed. She let out a whimper of protest clutching at him. He hushed her pushing her hair out of her face. "Just let me get out of my boots, Darin'."

She let him go reluctantly and he slipped away long enough to shed his duster, holster and boots before sliding onto the bed next to her. Rolling over she laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes wanting to let sleep take her again. Cain's hand slipped to her lower back briefly tugging her lower half closer to his before his hand strayed upward to the back of her head leaving a slow trail of shivers in its wake. Soon his fingers were hitting every pressure point that could be found on her head and she sighed as he chased the headache away. Murmuring her thanks she drifted off in his arms.

Author Note: I swear there is a reason this took me so long to post. Homework swamped me and even with my plot bunny frantically digging me out it took a while to escape the avalanche. Picture if you will, a pile of man-eating books and papers viciously attacking me! Scary I know, and the paper cuts….