Edge of Dawn, 4/?. NC-17.

Forgive the delay in posting... It was a very busy start to my week!


Title: The Edge of Dawn
Author: Eustacia Vye
Author's e-mail: eustacia_vye28@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: The Wizard of Oz belongs to Frank Baum originally and the modifications belong to SciFi.
Rating: NC-17 for language and lovingly rendered sex.
Pairing: DG/Cain, Azkadellia/OMCx2
Warnings: This takes place after the SciFi movie.
Summary: Smoke and mirrors, lost hope and dreams. Some realms are meant to be saved, and others are meant to be destroyed.

The Edge of Dawn

Previous chapters located here.









Azkadellia had been walking down one of the hallways when she felt a sharp, stabbing lance of pain in her chest. She couldn't breathe, and was dimly aware that she was collapsing to her hands and knees. It felt like death, like magic twisting sideways and wrong, and she knew that it had to do with DG.

If she had been alone, truly alone, she could have hidden away in her rooms and tried to puzzle it out on her own. As it was, she was in one of the busier hallways, on her way to the main garden. She could feel one of the servants grab her arms and hoist her back to her feet. She was being dragged somewhere, one of the smaller reception rooms, and laid down on the cold marble floor. White and gray, veining in the opposite color. Glass. Mirror. Metal.

"Azkadellia!"

The voice was vaguely familiar, concern lancing through it. She hadn't heard that tone in annuals, and the sound of it broke her heart to pieces.

Dawn is coming. The light is breaking. I can see its particles...

"Azkadellia, answer me!"

She opened her eyes slowly, painfully. Light stabbed at her eyes, and the cold marble beneath her thin dress was seeping to her very bones. She shivered and coughed, and fixed her eyes on her mother's lavender ones. "Mother," she whispered hoarsely, feeling as though her body had been ripped to pieces and stitched roughly back together again.

"What happened?" the Queen asked, voice trembling.

This pain was beyond the death of her demon children when she was the Sorceress. This was more than that, a searing, soul-breaking pain. Azkadellia trembled in her mother's arms, unable to speak. "M-mirrors," she finally gasped out. "Breakers."

"I don't understand," the Queen said, brows furrowing in confusion. "Azkadellia, what are you saying? What's going on?"

"Deeg. Breakers. Mirrors." Azkadellia shook her head, unable to get any more out. Her lungs seemed to seize every time she tried to say more than a syllable or two at a time. She coughed, and ash spilled from her lips to fall onto her chest. Her mother looked at her in horror, but Azkadellia couldn't do any more than stare with wide eyes.

"We have to get the court physician..." the Queen told a servant at her elbow. The servant nodded and backed away before breaking out into a run. "Azkadellia! Hold on!"

It almost sounds like you care, Azkadellia thought, almost bitter. Her insides twisted with pain, and she shuddered in her mother's grasp. And it only takes extreme pain to draw it out of you.

Azkadellia closed her eyes, unable to tolerate the light. It seemed almost as if she had swallowed a sun, and now she was starting to burn from the inside out. Her mother didn't have magic anymore, and it was likely the only thing saving her at the moment. It's eating my magic. It's eating me alive.

The Emerald of the Eclipse, strung on a thick silver chain around the Queen's neck, flared to life. It bathed Azkadellia in a vivid emerald glow, and she could feel the pain subside. The ash and smoke receeded, and she could breathe again. "Mother?"

The Queen's eyes were filled with tears. "Thank the suns, you're all right."

The emerald light slowly dimmed, and Azkadellia sat up slowly. "It was the amulet. Something went wrong, and DG isn't here."

"But this reaction isn't just a failed amulet spell," the Queen said, fingering the ash that had fallen to the marble floor.

"It felt like something was tracing the spell back to me and consuming my magic."

The Queen had gone deathly pale. "What?"

Azkadellia saw a spark of knowledge in her mother's eyes. She had always suspected that her mother knew more about the old magics than she had ever let on, and this all but proved it. "What aren't you telling me, Mother?"

"It's just a story," the Queen whispered, shaking her head.

"What is?"

"The Breakers, you said," the Queen said faintly. "A story, from the old times..."

"Like the witch in the cave."

The Queen flinched at Azkadellia's flat, dead tone. "Yes," she said finally in a soft voice. "Like the witches of the OZ."

"What about the Breakers?"

"There were four good witches, and four bad ones," the Queen began, voice small and fragile. "The good witches of the east and west gave their lives to bind the bad witches in their prisons. The ones of the east and west were able to escape, and our ancestor Dorothy Gale defeated them. That's how she became Queen."

When the Queen fell silent, Azkadellia said firmly "We let the southern witch go."

The Queen nodded. "The northern witch is one of ice and snow. Her servants are the Breakers, meant to devour magic and the ties that keep the Zones separate."

"And the Breakers are coming," Azkadellia guessed.

"The unstable line must have brought them," the Queen whispered, almost to herself. "It's the end of the Gales now..."

The court physician arrived and Azkadellia waved him off. She pushed herself to her own feet; the Queen was still kneeling on the marble beside the flecks of ash, uncomprehendingly staring at it. "Mother. We still draw breath. It's not too late."

"We don't have defenses against the Breakers," the Queen replied, shaking her head sadly. "It is too late."

"The witches were all sisters," Azkadellia began softly, tentatively. The Queen looked up, confused. "We have an advantage the Ice Witch doesn't know about. I know everything the witch of Fenaqua knew."

Something almost like hope sparked in the Queen's expression. "Then we might still be saved."

"I can try," Azkadellia told her.

"Meet me in the throne room tomorrow at ten. I have guardians to summon."

Azkadellia blinked in surprise. For a moment, she had allowed herself to think of the Queen as her mother again, as someone who almost cared about how she was doing. She shouldn't have mentioned the water witch. She shouldn't have mentioned the possession. She shouldn't have let the emerald stop the Breakers from devouring her magic.

The Queen rose to her feet. "I need you to go on a journey tomorrow, Az. It's important and dangerous. I can't trust anyone else with it."

Hope flared in Azkadellia's chest, and she could feel her chest tighten with it. "Yes, Mother. Ten o'clock."

The Queen went to find her swiftest messenger and composed a letter quickly. Once it was set with the royal seal, the messenger flew to the heart of Central City.

***

They moved through the maze of mirrors, and DG was hopelessly lost. There was no way for her to retrace her steps, and even Cain looked dizzy. Finally Ozma slowed down, and dodged through a mirrored arch to the left. They were in a black marble hall that seemed to devour all light. "Peter?"

"Ozma? Did you find them?"

A tall, spindly figure with a large pumpkin for a head stepped out of the shadows. The pumpkin had an expressive face cut into it, and the spindly limbs were twigs clothed in an oversized guard's uniform. The eye sockets blinked in surprised delight. DG goggled at that. Did cut eyes blink?

"Peter, the Breakers. I heard the glass shatter."

"This is too far beyond the boundary, Ozma..."

"But they have magic."

Peter sighed and stooped down to face the three humans. "You have to run. Tik Tok is still at his post, Princess."

DG nearly bristled, but Ozma was shaking her head in reply to Peter. "I can't leave you here."

"You still have the magic powder, don't you, Princess?"

Ozma patted the pocket concealed in the frilly dress. "Yes, but..."

"So you can resurrect me. Let me do my job, Princess. Run. Find Tik Tok." Peter bowed to the three of them. "For the honor of Oz and the Mirror Zone."

Tears swam in Ozma's eyes. "For the honor of Oz," she whispered brokenly. She seized a twiggy hand and squeezed. "I shan't forget this, Peter."

He smiled a broad, toothy grin. "Of course not, but I will. Remind me when you find me." He bowed before DG and Cain. "I wish I could greet you both properly, but the danger doesn't allow it. Let Tik Tok do the honors. I will stay and defend your retreat."

"Thank you," DG whispered, clasping his hand herself. It felt like ordinary sticks that might have fallen out of trees, yet they were jointed into knuckles and hands and wrists. There was life within the dry wood, and the carved smile was warm and friendly.

"For the honor of Oz!" Peter crowed, running out of the obsidian hallway. He followed the path they had just taken, and with a choked sob Ozma ran ahead into the dark hallway.

"Ozma, where are we going?" Cain asked, voice harsh with impatience.

Tears began to fall. "Tik Tok. He's on the Obsidian Border. The Breakers have never been this far before. I should never have met you here. I should have waited in the heart of our territory. But I thought the Hall of Mirrors was safe. I thought I could show you the Zone." Ozma sniffled as she ran, not bothering to wipe at her eyes. "I'm so stupid!"

DG gave Cain a helpless look as they followed Ozma. She didn't know the way, and Ozma's distress was all too real.

What had she gotten them into now?

***

Azkadellia strode into the main throne room at precisely ten o'clock. She had always been punctual. She was surprised to see two men already waiting in front of the throne. One was very tall, spindly thin and frighteningly pale. His black hair couldn't seem to stay flat, and he turned light blue eyes on her as she strode into the throne room. The other wasn't nearly so tall, probably just half a head shorter than Cain was. He had dark skin and dark eyes, and was standing at full attention. He was powerfully built and intimidating to look at as he scowled at everything in the room. Azkadellia took in the uniform of Center City's tin men, but didn't comprehend why they were there.

The Queen motioned Azkadellia forward. There were no advisors in the room, which Azkadellia found disconcerting. There was always at least one advisor near her at all times, even if it was Glitch. There were five now, five to do the job that Glitch had done alone when he was Ambrose. Before I cut his head open, Azkadellia thought to herself scathingly. Sometimes she couldn't help the self flagellating thoughts that came up.

The Queen waited until Azkadellia was standing in front of her, next to the two men. "Azkadellia, these are two of Center City's finest. Benji Callan," the Queen pointed at the pale one, "and Paul Della," she said, pointing at the dark one. "They work closely with Wyatt Cain, and he trusts them implicitly. As a result, I trust them implicitly. They are to be your honor guard on your journey."

Azkadellia swung her eyes from the two men to her mother. "You mentioned that yesterday," she began cautiously. Azkadellia had spent the night pondering what it might be, and had packed a small bag for the journey. She had it spelled to contain more space inside the bag than it looked, and to remain as light as it was when empty. The old ways had many useful magics that had been lost in the modern era, and Azkadellia was probably the only living practitioner, if the Ice Witch wasn't taken into account. No one knew what had happened to the good witches of the north and south; there were no tales after Dorothy Gale's time, and no one claimed to know about contemporary witches.

"This must be returned to the Gray Gale," the Queen said, lifting the Emerald of the Eclipse from around her neck. The room was so silent that Azkadellia could hear every link in the silver chain clink. "I need you to go to the family vault and return it."

"But the magic in it..."

"Will draw the Breakers sooner or later. And perhaps our ancestor will be able to guide us, if they have truly been around that long."

Azkadellia tried not to feel as though she was being shunted aside, but failed.

"I would make the trip faster on my own." She turned to the two men. "No offense."

The dark man scowled even deeper, and the pale one didn't seem to respond at all.

"Maybe," the Queen replied, "but I think our ancestor may give you advice you need to act on. If so, then you might need bodyguards. Wyatt Cain said that he could only do his work well if he trusted those he worked with." The two men seemed startled by the statement, but remained silent. "So if he trusts these two, then I can trust them with your life. They will work for the good of the OZ, and I can trust them with your life." The Queen descended from her throne and took Azkadellia's hands in her own. "I can't lose you again, Az, not now. But you might be the only one with the magic to stop the barriers between the Zones from falling apart. I need to know that you're safe."

Azkadellia's mouth ran dry as the Queen put the heavy silver chain with the Emerald of the Eclipse around her neck. "Mother..."

"This was once known as the Emerald City. The emerald mines yielded such stones that they studded the palace walls and the walk along the Old Road. They marked the dominion of our family, our power and our grace with magic. One by one, the emeralds need to be taken to power the city's defenses." The Queen tucked the Emerald of the Eclipse within the bodice of Azkadellia's light blue gown. "This one once sat upon the throne itself. I need you to protect it on its journey to the Gray Gale, and to present it to our ancestor. She might know what's going on with the Breakers."

And just like that, Azkadellia was no longer able to hide in her rooms and wallow in self pity and self hatred. Now she had a purpose that was vitally important to the OZ, and her history of possession could very well be the thing that allowed her to do it.

"I won't fail you, Mother," Azkadellia vowed, hand pressed over the emerald beneath her bodice. Not again, she thought bleakly.

The Queen dropped a kiss along her forehead. "I know. I do love you, Azkadellia. I never gave up hope on you, even when you lost it in yourself." She turned to the two men. "Protect her, gentlemen. The future of our people may depend on it."

They nodded briskly, and turned to Azkadellia expectantly. "I... I need to get something from my rooms. I'll be right back."

No one moved by the time Azkadellia returned, spelled bag hanging from her belt. It was eerie, and something that made her want to curl up and hide. She didn't want to be important this way anymore. She wasn't supposed to be the important one. She wasn't going to be the next Queen.

But DG was, and she was trapped somewhere else. She was in trouble, and Azkadellia had to go save her. It was almost like being children again.

Only this time, Azkadellia wasn't going to fall into any ancient witch's trap.

***
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