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Fic: Oxygen
Title: Oxygen
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Cain, DG and some random OCs (mention of Raw, Glitch, Jeb, the Queen and Azkadellia)
Rating: PG-13 barely
Summary: "No one knows what it's like to feel these feelings like I do... and I blame you." (Behind Blue Eyes, Limp Bizkit) [I fail at titles and summaries, so hard...]
Warning: post-series *For wildsky_sheri, by way of demilos_wagon. Beta'd and nudged by luxuria_oceanus, with my thanks and any remaining errors are mine.
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The OCs are mine.
DG had never really been one for "being a girl". Sure, she wore dresses - when the occasion called for it - and did her hair, but she was always more content to be in the garage, working on her bike than out with the girls from school, scoping boys and shopping at the mall.
Now, here she was: a princess of the Outer Zone, an entire kingdom under her rule. Okay, the Zone was still under her mother's rule, and then it would be Azkadellia's... but it was still "in the family."
She didn't care for the twenty petticoats, the lung-crushing corsets or the heaving bosom that went with it. Really, DG didn't really have to worry about the last one, but it was usually more skin than she was used to showing. Kinda like announcing to the world that she was a girl and "ready for taking," as she once told Az.
She didn't mind the shoes, though. Granted, they were more librarian-heel than hooker-heel, but they were rather comfortable. All right, honestly, she did sort of enjoy the whole dressing up thing. If it was the right dress.
In her short time back in the Zone and her royal way of life, DG had come across the full spectrum, from the downright hideous to the make-the-toughest-tomboy-feel-like-a-princess. She was rather fond of the latter, simply because she’d only ever seen dresses like that in the movies.
Now, she could wear one just to walk from her bedroom to the dining room if she wanted to. She didn't, of course, because sitting in all that fabric was not as easy as one might imagine. It was no wonder the movies never showed people sitting down.
The real problem DG had with being a princess, beyond the hair and the lack of oxygen and standing for hours straight, was the "royal court". Since there weren't a lot of other royal families in the Zone - like, any - the court was made up more of the well-to-do's of the Outer Zone; the mayors and the businessmen who made up the Zone's version of the city council.
And their wives.
These were the women who had everything and expected to be treated as such. Rich, snobby and stuck-up. And, every day, DG had to sit with them for tea and sandwiches and participate in conversation and, really, it was to learn diplomacy and patience, which her mother insisted be her strongest suit.
Both of them knew that Azkadellia would rather be caught in Central City Square in her birthday suit than in sight of anyone who wasn't family, so a deal was made that she would attend to the non-public aspects of the crown, while DG would be "the face".
DG and her mother headed down to the garden, every afternoon, and met with different "ladies of the court"; some, DG liked, like Mrs. Potter and Widow Parker. Others, like Delinda Morris, DG would rather do without. The thing DG learned while sitting through the sessions with her mother was that, when one had "means", they didn't tend to filter themselves.
She was used to kitchen gossip, having worked in the busiest establishment in the county, but DG also attributed that bias to a simple, small-town atmosphere. These women held nothing back and didn't seem to care if they offended anyone.
Especially DG.
She finally realized that they saw her not as the future queen, but as a girl with no polish or understanding of what was expected of her. Her mother, of course, they revered and praised and basically sucked up to. Once or twice, DG had to suffer through the meetings on her own, and she'd rather lie down in the middle of the Fields of the Papay than go to them at all; going alone was the equivalent of having her brain gnawed on while her head was still attached.
But it was her duty.
She would give anything on this particular day to be anywhere else. In lessons with her new tutor - Toto-Tutor had been pardoned by her mother and had headed north - or even scrubbing floors in the kitchen. Anywhere but sitting here, listening to these women give her pointers on what she should be looking for in a suitor.
She wondered if this was how a dating service worked: a bunch of frustrated old women sitting around and deciding just why this was the right guy and that was the wrong guy and blah blah blah.
She'd tuned them out after "this one's family owns a horse farm in the Western Guild. Good stock on both sides." DG didn’t want to think about marriage, let alone dating. She'd been in the Zone less than a year and still didn't know half of what was going on.
All she knew was what she'd learned in lessons, and half of that was only fresh in her memory because she read the notes to put herself to sleep at night. Why was everyone trying to change her? In the last hour, they'd commented on her dress, her hairstyle, her makeup, her posture, her table manners and her expression.
Finally, it dawned on her: Why was she taking this crap? She could better spend her time by sticking her head in the oven. Taking a deep breath, DG sat up and nodded to the women. "Ladies, if you'll excuse me, I have a lesson to get to."
They all gave her a raised eyebrow and DG could tell that none of them realized she was the one who was offended. "Please," DG smiled sweetly and motioned to the table. "Stay as long as you like. If you need anything-" she continued, nodding to one of the attendants in the corner.
As she turned from the table, DG rolled her eyes, made a very un-princess like face and walked away with all the elegant grace she'd managed to learn.
As she moved back into the palace, DG leaned against the door with a heavy sigh and let her chin drop to her chest. Taking a moment to think back on all their "must have"-requirements for a suitor, DG breathed a laugh and wondered what they would say if she went out and found the least-approvable male in the Zone and jumped him, right there in the garden, for all the women to see.
Frowning, DG realized that it would never happen, and not because she would disgrace herself or the family, but because Wyatt Cain would disapprove of her actions, regardless of the intention behind them. The thought of her mother's reaction never even entered DG's mind; only Cain's.
DG knew that no matter who she found, none of them would ever fit Cain's bill. Why his opinion even mattered, she had no idea. It should concern her father, not Cain. Why did she even care what Cain thought? It was her life, not his. He wasn't the one sifting through a Who’s Who of the Outer Zone's most eligible bachelors.
He wouldn't even suffer through a single one of these lunch gatherings just so she wouldn't have to be alone.
Of course, she'd never asked if he'd go along, because she assumed he'd say no. And, knowing how the women were with just the guards around, DG wasn't about to risk losing him to one of those crazy broads. Well, maybe Potter and Parker.
DG pushed off the door and started down the hallway, wondering why she didn't want Cain around the women. She had no say in his life, really. If he wanted to meet them, she had no right to keep him away. Of course, her luck would find him falling madly in love with one of them - hopefully one who wasn't married - and then running off.
'Stupid,' she reminded herself. 'Cain's not like that. He'll never marry again...' "Probably won't even have a one-night stand," she mumbled, not sure why she was suddenly so sullen.
"You got that right, Princess," she heard. DG spun around and saw Cain standing behind her, one eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. She noted he didn't look happy, but she wasn't aware of having done anything lately to piss him off.
"What?" she asked with a shrug.
"You ever have a one-night stand," he spoke slowly, stepping toward her and giving her that menacing glare he seemed to think she was afraid of. "-not only will I hunt him down and string him up as Papay food,” he nodded. "I'll make you wish you never let me out of that suit," he added with a single, sharp nod.
DG’s eyes went wide and she leaned back as her arms crossed defiantly. "And how is my personal life any of your concern?" she asked, remembering her earlier thought of Cain having a say.
And why was he thinking about her having a one-night stand?
Cain uncrossed his arms and stepped toward her, grabbing DG’s elbow and turning her as he pulled her along. "Come on, Princess. You'll be late for your lesson," he said with a hint of sarcasm.
"What? Now you're spying on me?" DG shrieked, trying to pull free from his grip. Cain stopped, breathed heavily and turned to face her. He said nothing as he looked at her and thought about how much she was still the girl he met that day by the lake, even when she was now standing in front of him as a complete stranger.
He hated how much she'd changed, but he had no right to tell her. He knew how much she hated the dressing up and the public appearances and the lessons and the general day-to-day of being a member of the royal family. He also knew that she did it anyway, regardless of her own feelings.
It was what was expected of her and she would continue to do it. And he would be there, because he just couldn't make himself leave her. She didn't need him any more; not now that she had her family. But he just couldn’t let go.
When the time came for her to marry, Cain knew he would have to step back. Was it so wrong that he hoped that day never came? Right now, it was the four of them: Glitch, Raw, DG and himself. He liked it that way.
He didn't mind that Ambrose and Glitch hadn't been able to reconnect; he liked that Raw wasn't welcomed back to his tribe; he liked that DG barely remembered anything from before her first day back in the Zone. He didn't like the pain and suffering it caused them, of course; but he liked that they were his Glitch and Raw and DG.
It was all he had.
"No," DG said loudly and stomped her foot. "Why do you care?" she demanded. If she wanted to have a damn one-night stand, she could. She was an adult, after all. And it's not like he had any claim on her or her sex life.
And that was when DG realized that she wanted Cain to have a claim on her. She wanted him to grab her and pull her close and tell her that he couldn't stop thinking about her when they were apart; that, when they were together, it was torture.
She wanted him to want her the way she wanted him.
'Oh God,' she realized. She wanted him. And not for a dumb, one-night stand. She wanted him forever. Whatever the Zone-version of Hell was, she was surely in the express lane. Cain was so past off-limits he was practically a monk.
Well, she knew he wasn't a monk -Jeb Cain did exist, after all- but she was damn sure he wasn't about to ever look at her as anything but an annoying kid who freed him from the suit and then dragged his gloomy ass from one end of the Zone to the other.
"Because I do," Cain snapped back, not realizing that DG hadn't heard him. How could she get him so riled up so very easily? He wanted to punch the wall, just to let off steam. With the simplest look, she could send him into a rage. He hadn't ever been so easily angered with Adora.
Maybe it was a product of the suit. This little slip of a girl wasn't afraid of him, no matter how hard he tried to push her back. Adora hadn't been afraid of him either; Cain blamed his morals and the fact that, hard as he tried to fight it, his heart knew that he would never win against DG, for she pulled the heartstrings.
'Adora,' his brain pointed out. Cain actually blinked, realizing the contradiction between his head and his heart and actually jerked back. Adora. Adora had his heart. Not DG.
'Your heart belongs to Adora, Wyatt,' Cain told himself. 'But, you're not Wyatt any more,' his brain countered. 'Wyatt may have gone into the suit... but it was Cain who came out. Cain's breath actually caught and his jaw clenched.
Glancing over his shoulder quickly, Cain -for the first time in, probably, ever- didn't think. He grabbed DG's elbow and pulled her toward the closest open door, pushed it shut behind him and turned back to DG. She was preparing for an argument behind closed doors, so when Cain's arm went around her and his lips met hers, she was just a little bit surprised.
It didn't stop her from kissing him back, of course. As his hand moved along DG's neck and into her hair, Cain's brain was screaming for him to stop, while his heart was about to explode from his chest. What in the name of the Zone was he doing? DG's hand moved to his jaw and she pulled him closer -as if it was possible- as she pushed up on her toes.
'I swear to God, if I wake up to an alarm clock and the attic, I'm gonna kill someone,' DG threatened the static in her head. Cain's hands started moving back down to her shoulders, then to her sides, then down farther, stopping on her backside.
Well, her backside was somewhere under about eight layers of fabric, but Wyatt Cain's hands were on her ass! She would swear time had stopped, but somehow knew it had been less than a minute since he first moved toward her.
Cain took a moment, needing to catch his breath, to break contact just enough that he could still feel her breath on his mouth and he hiked her up. As her legs wrapped around him -well, she tried to, but the skirts were making it slightly awkward- Cain started stepping forward, trying to get to the table behind DG.
Holding out a hand as they neared the table, Cain set DG down on the table and returned his hands to her face, kissing her again before he finally pulled away and icy-blue met brilliant-blue.
"Because I care," he said again, more to convince himself than her. He didn't have anything grand to say, no words of wisdom or great speeches. There wasn't even anything remotely romantic about it.
DG couldn't breathe -whether from the shock of Cain kissing her like that or the damn corset, she didn't know- and knew she needed oxygen. Why her brain wasn't registering the room-full of air surrounding her, she didn't know.
Cain was her oxygen... and she had already gone far too long without it.
Author: Erin (erinm_4600)
Characters, Pairing: Cain, DG and some random OCs (mention of Raw, Glitch, Jeb, the Queen and Azkadellia)
Rating: PG-13 barely
Summary: "No one knows what it's like to feel these feelings like I do... and I blame you." (Behind Blue Eyes, Limp Bizkit) [I fail at titles and summaries, so hard...]
Warning: post-series *For wildsky_sheri, by way of demilos_wagon. Beta'd and nudged by luxuria_oceanus, with my thanks and any remaining errors are mine.
Disclaimer: The original characters belong to L. Frank Baum and their respective actors. The current characters belong to Sci-Fi, the movie folks and their respective actors. The OCs are mine.
DG had never really been one for "being a girl". Sure, she wore dresses - when the occasion called for it - and did her hair, but she was always more content to be in the garage, working on her bike than out with the girls from school, scoping boys and shopping at the mall.
Now, here she was: a princess of the Outer Zone, an entire kingdom under her rule. Okay, the Zone was still under her mother's rule, and then it would be Azkadellia's... but it was still "in the family."
She didn't care for the twenty petticoats, the lung-crushing corsets or the heaving bosom that went with it. Really, DG didn't really have to worry about the last one, but it was usually more skin than she was used to showing. Kinda like announcing to the world that she was a girl and "ready for taking," as she once told Az.
She didn't mind the shoes, though. Granted, they were more librarian-heel than hooker-heel, but they were rather comfortable. All right, honestly, she did sort of enjoy the whole dressing up thing. If it was the right dress.
In her short time back in the Zone and her royal way of life, DG had come across the full spectrum, from the downright hideous to the make-the-toughest-tomboy-feel-like-a-princess. She was rather fond of the latter, simply because she’d only ever seen dresses like that in the movies.
Now, she could wear one just to walk from her bedroom to the dining room if she wanted to. She didn't, of course, because sitting in all that fabric was not as easy as one might imagine. It was no wonder the movies never showed people sitting down.
The real problem DG had with being a princess, beyond the hair and the lack of oxygen and standing for hours straight, was the "royal court". Since there weren't a lot of other royal families in the Zone - like, any - the court was made up more of the well-to-do's of the Outer Zone; the mayors and the businessmen who made up the Zone's version of the city council.
And their wives.
These were the women who had everything and expected to be treated as such. Rich, snobby and stuck-up. And, every day, DG had to sit with them for tea and sandwiches and participate in conversation and, really, it was to learn diplomacy and patience, which her mother insisted be her strongest suit.
Both of them knew that Azkadellia would rather be caught in Central City Square in her birthday suit than in sight of anyone who wasn't family, so a deal was made that she would attend to the non-public aspects of the crown, while DG would be "the face".
DG and her mother headed down to the garden, every afternoon, and met with different "ladies of the court"; some, DG liked, like Mrs. Potter and Widow Parker. Others, like Delinda Morris, DG would rather do without. The thing DG learned while sitting through the sessions with her mother was that, when one had "means", they didn't tend to filter themselves.
She was used to kitchen gossip, having worked in the busiest establishment in the county, but DG also attributed that bias to a simple, small-town atmosphere. These women held nothing back and didn't seem to care if they offended anyone.
Especially DG.
She finally realized that they saw her not as the future queen, but as a girl with no polish or understanding of what was expected of her. Her mother, of course, they revered and praised and basically sucked up to. Once or twice, DG had to suffer through the meetings on her own, and she'd rather lie down in the middle of the Fields of the Papay than go to them at all; going alone was the equivalent of having her brain gnawed on while her head was still attached.
But it was her duty.
She would give anything on this particular day to be anywhere else. In lessons with her new tutor - Toto-Tutor had been pardoned by her mother and had headed north - or even scrubbing floors in the kitchen. Anywhere but sitting here, listening to these women give her pointers on what she should be looking for in a suitor.
She wondered if this was how a dating service worked: a bunch of frustrated old women sitting around and deciding just why this was the right guy and that was the wrong guy and blah blah blah.
She'd tuned them out after "this one's family owns a horse farm in the Western Guild. Good stock on both sides." DG didn’t want to think about marriage, let alone dating. She'd been in the Zone less than a year and still didn't know half of what was going on.
All she knew was what she'd learned in lessons, and half of that was only fresh in her memory because she read the notes to put herself to sleep at night. Why was everyone trying to change her? In the last hour, they'd commented on her dress, her hairstyle, her makeup, her posture, her table manners and her expression.
Finally, it dawned on her: Why was she taking this crap? She could better spend her time by sticking her head in the oven. Taking a deep breath, DG sat up and nodded to the women. "Ladies, if you'll excuse me, I have a lesson to get to."
They all gave her a raised eyebrow and DG could tell that none of them realized she was the one who was offended. "Please," DG smiled sweetly and motioned to the table. "Stay as long as you like. If you need anything-" she continued, nodding to one of the attendants in the corner.
As she turned from the table, DG rolled her eyes, made a very un-princess like face and walked away with all the elegant grace she'd managed to learn.
As she moved back into the palace, DG leaned against the door with a heavy sigh and let her chin drop to her chest. Taking a moment to think back on all their "must have"-requirements for a suitor, DG breathed a laugh and wondered what they would say if she went out and found the least-approvable male in the Zone and jumped him, right there in the garden, for all the women to see.
Frowning, DG realized that it would never happen, and not because she would disgrace herself or the family, but because Wyatt Cain would disapprove of her actions, regardless of the intention behind them. The thought of her mother's reaction never even entered DG's mind; only Cain's.
DG knew that no matter who she found, none of them would ever fit Cain's bill. Why his opinion even mattered, she had no idea. It should concern her father, not Cain. Why did she even care what Cain thought? It was her life, not his. He wasn't the one sifting through a Who’s Who of the Outer Zone's most eligible bachelors.
He wouldn't even suffer through a single one of these lunch gatherings just so she wouldn't have to be alone.
Of course, she'd never asked if he'd go along, because she assumed he'd say no. And, knowing how the women were with just the guards around, DG wasn't about to risk losing him to one of those crazy broads. Well, maybe Potter and Parker.
DG pushed off the door and started down the hallway, wondering why she didn't want Cain around the women. She had no say in his life, really. If he wanted to meet them, she had no right to keep him away. Of course, her luck would find him falling madly in love with one of them - hopefully one who wasn't married - and then running off.
'Stupid,' she reminded herself. 'Cain's not like that. He'll never marry again...' "Probably won't even have a one-night stand," she mumbled, not sure why she was suddenly so sullen.
"You got that right, Princess," she heard. DG spun around and saw Cain standing behind her, one eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. She noted he didn't look happy, but she wasn't aware of having done anything lately to piss him off.
"What?" she asked with a shrug.
"You ever have a one-night stand," he spoke slowly, stepping toward her and giving her that menacing glare he seemed to think she was afraid of. "-not only will I hunt him down and string him up as Papay food,” he nodded. "I'll make you wish you never let me out of that suit," he added with a single, sharp nod.
DG’s eyes went wide and she leaned back as her arms crossed defiantly. "And how is my personal life any of your concern?" she asked, remembering her earlier thought of Cain having a say.
And why was he thinking about her having a one-night stand?
Cain uncrossed his arms and stepped toward her, grabbing DG’s elbow and turning her as he pulled her along. "Come on, Princess. You'll be late for your lesson," he said with a hint of sarcasm.
"What? Now you're spying on me?" DG shrieked, trying to pull free from his grip. Cain stopped, breathed heavily and turned to face her. He said nothing as he looked at her and thought about how much she was still the girl he met that day by the lake, even when she was now standing in front of him as a complete stranger.
He hated how much she'd changed, but he had no right to tell her. He knew how much she hated the dressing up and the public appearances and the lessons and the general day-to-day of being a member of the royal family. He also knew that she did it anyway, regardless of her own feelings.
It was what was expected of her and she would continue to do it. And he would be there, because he just couldn't make himself leave her. She didn't need him any more; not now that she had her family. But he just couldn’t let go.
When the time came for her to marry, Cain knew he would have to step back. Was it so wrong that he hoped that day never came? Right now, it was the four of them: Glitch, Raw, DG and himself. He liked it that way.
He didn't mind that Ambrose and Glitch hadn't been able to reconnect; he liked that Raw wasn't welcomed back to his tribe; he liked that DG barely remembered anything from before her first day back in the Zone. He didn't like the pain and suffering it caused them, of course; but he liked that they were his Glitch and Raw and DG.
It was all he had.
"No," DG said loudly and stomped her foot. "Why do you care?" she demanded. If she wanted to have a damn one-night stand, she could. She was an adult, after all. And it's not like he had any claim on her or her sex life.
And that was when DG realized that she wanted Cain to have a claim on her. She wanted him to grab her and pull her close and tell her that he couldn't stop thinking about her when they were apart; that, when they were together, it was torture.
She wanted him to want her the way she wanted him.
'Oh God,' she realized. She wanted him. And not for a dumb, one-night stand. She wanted him forever. Whatever the Zone-version of Hell was, she was surely in the express lane. Cain was so past off-limits he was practically a monk.
Well, she knew he wasn't a monk -Jeb Cain did exist, after all- but she was damn sure he wasn't about to ever look at her as anything but an annoying kid who freed him from the suit and then dragged his gloomy ass from one end of the Zone to the other.
"Because I do," Cain snapped back, not realizing that DG hadn't heard him. How could she get him so riled up so very easily? He wanted to punch the wall, just to let off steam. With the simplest look, she could send him into a rage. He hadn't ever been so easily angered with Adora.
Maybe it was a product of the suit. This little slip of a girl wasn't afraid of him, no matter how hard he tried to push her back. Adora hadn't been afraid of him either; Cain blamed his morals and the fact that, hard as he tried to fight it, his heart knew that he would never win against DG, for she pulled the heartstrings.
'Adora,' his brain pointed out. Cain actually blinked, realizing the contradiction between his head and his heart and actually jerked back. Adora. Adora had his heart. Not DG.
'Your heart belongs to Adora, Wyatt,' Cain told himself. 'But, you're not Wyatt any more,' his brain countered. 'Wyatt may have gone into the suit... but it was Cain who came out. Cain's breath actually caught and his jaw clenched.
Glancing over his shoulder quickly, Cain -for the first time in, probably, ever- didn't think. He grabbed DG's elbow and pulled her toward the closest open door, pushed it shut behind him and turned back to DG. She was preparing for an argument behind closed doors, so when Cain's arm went around her and his lips met hers, she was just a little bit surprised.
It didn't stop her from kissing him back, of course. As his hand moved along DG's neck and into her hair, Cain's brain was screaming for him to stop, while his heart was about to explode from his chest. What in the name of the Zone was he doing? DG's hand moved to his jaw and she pulled him closer -as if it was possible- as she pushed up on her toes.
'I swear to God, if I wake up to an alarm clock and the attic, I'm gonna kill someone,' DG threatened the static in her head. Cain's hands started moving back down to her shoulders, then to her sides, then down farther, stopping on her backside.
Well, her backside was somewhere under about eight layers of fabric, but Wyatt Cain's hands were on her ass! She would swear time had stopped, but somehow knew it had been less than a minute since he first moved toward her.
Cain took a moment, needing to catch his breath, to break contact just enough that he could still feel her breath on his mouth and he hiked her up. As her legs wrapped around him -well, she tried to, but the skirts were making it slightly awkward- Cain started stepping forward, trying to get to the table behind DG.
Holding out a hand as they neared the table, Cain set DG down on the table and returned his hands to her face, kissing her again before he finally pulled away and icy-blue met brilliant-blue.
"Because I care," he said again, more to convince himself than her. He didn't have anything grand to say, no words of wisdom or great speeches. There wasn't even anything remotely romantic about it.
DG couldn't breathe -whether from the shock of Cain kissing her like that or the damn corset, she didn't know- and knew she needed oxygen. Why her brain wasn't registering the room-full of air surrounding her, she didn't know.
Cain was her oxygen... and she had already gone far too long without it.