It was exactly one year after the double eclipse. Life was starting to settle down again around the castle. People were beginning to get over the shock of thier newly alive princess and treated her as they once had, a normal part of the O.Z. But that didn't make DG any more of a princess. She still yearned to ride her motercycle, and she'd never get used to the dresses. So, in essance, she was still plain old DG, just with a fancy title.

Cain was as stubborn as always, but thank God, he was at least a little happier. After the eclipse, he'd taken it upon himself to get more aquainted with his lost son and thier relationship was well on it's way to recover. Goodness knew it would take years, but it was a start.

And speaking of young Jeb, he'd been impatient to get married in the aftermath. So now he shared a house, happily, with his father, his lovely wife, Fiona, and thier newborn daughter, Cynthia. They made the best family, but they all still had thier doubts. After all, who knew how long it would be until happiness was snatched away from them again.

Glitch couldn't care less about the future. His brain never was put back, the surgery was too tricky and the damage too extensive. But he didn't mind that so much. It'd been so long that he prefered being plain old Glitch to stuffy and boring Ambrose any day. DG was glad too, from the few memories she had of him, she knew that her and Ambrose had never really gotten along that well.

Then, of course, there was Raw. He stayed here with Kalm as the Ambassador for the Viewers. And that worked ok for him, as long as no one touched him when they were upset or sad. Most people respected that, seeing as Raw was one of the few Viewers that still trusted humans, thanks to DG.

Her parents were another matter. Evidentally, she'd been a wonderful little girl who loved dresses and palace life, and that was what they'd expected. They didn't understand her like her "Robot" parents did. They argued, constantly, about the way she dressed, the way she acted with her friends. Like they had the right! But she always tried to remember what it had been like for them, and always pretended like it didn't matter. Still, sometimes she just missed Mom and Popsicle, even with thier crazy quirks.

Az was fine, suprisingly. The witch had effected her deeply but most of the inner scars were close to completely mending. She hadn't been able to speak out, and hadn't looked at anybody for months. What were friends for, but to bring others out of thier shells.

And so, today, they all crowded into Glitch's old lab. Today they'd try out something that Glitch, Az, and DG had all managed to come up with. And the others, well, they were there to laugh when it didn't work. Cain leaned against the work counter as Glitch fiddled with some knobs on the control panel and reminded DG of something. "So, what exactly is this thing supposed to do again?"

" It's kind of like what a Viewer can do, only without the pain it causes them. Hopefully, they won't be used like that quite as often." Glitch grinned at DG for a second before nodding at Cain. "And it was all DG's idea, so if it doesn't work, blame her."

"Your the genious, not me." She smacked him playfully.

Raw just smiled from his corner, he knew Glitch well enough to keep his distance. Cain joined him as Az picked up a small metal helmet and fastened it to Glitch's head.

DG looked at them, earnest panic in her eyes. "You sure you want me to do this?"

Az layed a hand over hers. "You know why we can't risk anyone else. You need my magic to run the machine, and Glitch could forget and completely destroy your entire brain."

DG just nodded, still not sure she could do much better than he could. Az moved to a different part of the machine as Glitch's hand replaced hers. She looked at him and tried to smile, failed. "What if I do something? What if I hurt you?"

He laughed once, stroked his thumb along the smooth skin on the top of her hand. " You won't, because I know you, and I know you can handle this. And if you do mess up, well, I don't exactly have a brain anyway."

Her eyes narrowed. "That's not funny, Glitch."

He mirrored her expression with a tiny bit of humor, "Not even a little."
At this she had to giggle, her worry lessened slightly. "Alright, maybe a tiny bit. Now sit back so we can get this over with." Silently, she began to turn knobs, flipping switches. Then she gave Az a solemn nodd. Az touched her hand to a glass orb, drew some of her power into it.

The machine began to whir, but Az couldn't let go, couldn't stop filling it with her magic. As it went faster and faster, somebody screamed. DG wouldn't realize it was her as she was yanked away from the panel by Cain.

Fighting against him, she struggled to reach the switches. She had to shut it off, and she had to do it now. Giving him a solid jab in the gut, she fumbled at the switches and within seconds had them off.

Terrified to see the damage she'd done, she brought her eyes up to the scene before her.