Fic: Worlds Away 4/6
Mar. 22nd, 2010 08:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amediaTitle: Worlds Away
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
amedia
Word Count: 6706
Rating: PG
Pairing: Cain/Ambrose
Summary: Ambrose returns from a strange journey.
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Imagiquest. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Many thanks to TODS for beta-reading far above and beyond the call of duty.
Part 1 may be found here.
Part 2 may be found here.
Part 3 may be found here.
Cain walked Ambrose down to breakfast the next morning; a splendid array of food was laid out in a grand room that hadn't yet been restored in Ambrose's dimension. Ambrose nibbled on some fruit while Cain buttered a muffin absentmindedly.
DG bounced in. "Good morning!" she said. "Look at you two, so quiet. Don't tell me you ran out of things to talk about." She sat down and reached for the coffeepot.
"Well, actually," Ambrose said, "there's one thing I still don't know." He turned to Cain. "In this dimension, how did you and I originally meet?"
Cain grinned. "Now that's a story," he said, his earlier awkwardness vanishing. "The first time we met, I didn't even see you. Just heard your voice from the lab. The palace majordomo was taking me around for introductions, and everyone was very friendly and gracious. That is, until we got to your laboratory. She knocked and said, 'Ambrose, I'd like you to meet our new Director of Security.' This ridiculously affected voice hollered back, "I'm not interrupting my very important experiment to trade pleasantries with a policeman, thank you very much!"
Ambrose laughed. "That sounds exactly like something I would have said. I had quite the high opinion of myself back in the day."
"Yes, you did," Cain agreed. "I mean, he did, too." He took a sip of his coffee. "Of course, I couldn't let such an affront pass without some sort of response."
"So what did you do?" asked Ambrose.
"Let me tell him, Mr. Cain!" DG begged, and Cain nodded.
"As one of the new security protocols, Mr. Cain insisted on assigning a personal guard to Az and me," DG began. "That's how we got Madame Tutitia, who was a sweet little old lady with a black belt in everything. I mean, she could kill you with her eyebrow. Well, Mr. Cain told Madame Tutitia that Az and I should visit the laboratory complex for at least fifteen minutes every afternoon." DG giggled. "We had never been allowed there before, and we drove you—I mean, our you—absolutely crazy! And you couldn't get around Madame, because, she said," DG adopted a cracked, elderly-sounding voice, "you didn't have the authority to countermand someone of Mr. Cain's rank." Cain smiled.
So did Ambrose. "Oh, I would have hated that!" he exclaimed.
"It took less than a week," said Cain, "before your counterpart sought me out, begged my pardon, and introduced himself with the absolutely stiffest, most formal palace manners he could muster. Once that was settled, we didn't talk to each other for, oh, at least a month. We would bump into each other every now and then at various official functions and seethe quietly."
Cain's eyes looked far away as he looked back into the past. "Then we both attended an event in Central City—some sort of official opening, I think. Yes, that was it. The new alchemical wing at Oz University was being named after your counterpart."
"No less than he deserved, I'm sure," Ambrose put in.
"There was a dissident who got past my guards and tried to assassinate the guest of honor." Cain stopped for a moment, taking another sip of coffee. "I got in his way."
Ambrose stared. "He shot you?"
Cain nodded. "I was wearing a bulletproof vest, of course, but I got knocked down pretty hard. Had a whacking great bruise for weeks." He moved his hand automatically to the spot, and Ambrose felt a stab of recognition; it was the same spot where Jeb's toy horse had stopped Zero's bullet, back in his own dimension. Cain continued. "I remember lying flat on the floor, trying to catch my breath. I could hear the guards wrestling the gun away from the guy and dragging him away, and then I felt someone slapping my face. I opened my eyes and there you were, I mean, there he was, kneeling next to me on the floor. 'You all right, sweetheart?' he said. I couldn't help but smile. And that's when we became friends."
Ambrose smiled sadly. So near and yet so far, he thought. Everything was familiar, yet nothing was the same.
Cain reached out and touched his arm. "You still with us?" he asked with a kind smile.
"I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't home," Ambrose said. "It's a problem I haven't had in any of the other dimensions I've visited. It's… unsettling."
DG came around behind his chair and hugged him, resting her head against his. "I hope you can get to your own home soon," she said.
Part 5
Author:
amediaWord Count: 6706
Rating: PG
Pairing: Cain/Ambrose
Summary: Ambrose returns from a strange journey.
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Imagiquest. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Many thanks to TODS for beta-reading far above and beyond the call of duty.
Part 1 may be found here.
Part 2 may be found here.
Part 3 may be found here.
Cain walked Ambrose down to breakfast the next morning; a splendid array of food was laid out in a grand room that hadn't yet been restored in Ambrose's dimension. Ambrose nibbled on some fruit while Cain buttered a muffin absentmindedly.
DG bounced in. "Good morning!" she said. "Look at you two, so quiet. Don't tell me you ran out of things to talk about." She sat down and reached for the coffeepot.
"Well, actually," Ambrose said, "there's one thing I still don't know." He turned to Cain. "In this dimension, how did you and I originally meet?"
Cain grinned. "Now that's a story," he said, his earlier awkwardness vanishing. "The first time we met, I didn't even see you. Just heard your voice from the lab. The palace majordomo was taking me around for introductions, and everyone was very friendly and gracious. That is, until we got to your laboratory. She knocked and said, 'Ambrose, I'd like you to meet our new Director of Security.' This ridiculously affected voice hollered back, "I'm not interrupting my very important experiment to trade pleasantries with a policeman, thank you very much!"
Ambrose laughed. "That sounds exactly like something I would have said. I had quite the high opinion of myself back in the day."
"Yes, you did," Cain agreed. "I mean, he did, too." He took a sip of his coffee. "Of course, I couldn't let such an affront pass without some sort of response."
"So what did you do?" asked Ambrose.
"Let me tell him, Mr. Cain!" DG begged, and Cain nodded.
"As one of the new security protocols, Mr. Cain insisted on assigning a personal guard to Az and me," DG began. "That's how we got Madame Tutitia, who was a sweet little old lady with a black belt in everything. I mean, she could kill you with her eyebrow. Well, Mr. Cain told Madame Tutitia that Az and I should visit the laboratory complex for at least fifteen minutes every afternoon." DG giggled. "We had never been allowed there before, and we drove you—I mean, our you—absolutely crazy! And you couldn't get around Madame, because, she said," DG adopted a cracked, elderly-sounding voice, "you didn't have the authority to countermand someone of Mr. Cain's rank." Cain smiled.
So did Ambrose. "Oh, I would have hated that!" he exclaimed.
"It took less than a week," said Cain, "before your counterpart sought me out, begged my pardon, and introduced himself with the absolutely stiffest, most formal palace manners he could muster. Once that was settled, we didn't talk to each other for, oh, at least a month. We would bump into each other every now and then at various official functions and seethe quietly."
Cain's eyes looked far away as he looked back into the past. "Then we both attended an event in Central City—some sort of official opening, I think. Yes, that was it. The new alchemical wing at Oz University was being named after your counterpart."
"No less than he deserved, I'm sure," Ambrose put in.
"There was a dissident who got past my guards and tried to assassinate the guest of honor." Cain stopped for a moment, taking another sip of coffee. "I got in his way."
Ambrose stared. "He shot you?"
Cain nodded. "I was wearing a bulletproof vest, of course, but I got knocked down pretty hard. Had a whacking great bruise for weeks." He moved his hand automatically to the spot, and Ambrose felt a stab of recognition; it was the same spot where Jeb's toy horse had stopped Zero's bullet, back in his own dimension. Cain continued. "I remember lying flat on the floor, trying to catch my breath. I could hear the guards wrestling the gun away from the guy and dragging him away, and then I felt someone slapping my face. I opened my eyes and there you were, I mean, there he was, kneeling next to me on the floor. 'You all right, sweetheart?' he said. I couldn't help but smile. And that's when we became friends."
Ambrose smiled sadly. So near and yet so far, he thought. Everything was familiar, yet nothing was the same.
Cain reached out and touched his arm. "You still with us?" he asked with a kind smile.
"I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't home," Ambrose said. "It's a problem I haven't had in any of the other dimensions I've visited. It's… unsettling."
DG came around behind his chair and hugged him, resting her head against his. "I hope you can get to your own home soon," she said.
Part 5
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 01:56 am (UTC)Oh, I'll be so sad to see this story end. I would just ~adore~ a whole 'verse of stories about this world, with this Ambrose and Cain. LOVELY, I tell you! Addicting, too. *grabby hands*
no subject
Date: 2010-03-24 03:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 02:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-24 03:30 am (UTC)Thank you - that's just what I was going for! Yay!
no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 03:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-24 03:31 am (UTC)I'm so glad you liked that bit! Thanks for the great comments!
no subject
Date: 2010-03-23 10:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-24 03:31 am (UTC)Yay! I had so much fun writing that part, I'm glad you liked it! Thanks for letting me know!
no subject
Date: 2010-03-28 03:45 am (UTC)I'm with Surr... I want more of this verse and these new versions of Ambrose and Cain! :D (not to mention Madame Tutitia and her eyebrow >.> )
I mean, the notion of 'restored Ambrose' is grand, but the idea of 'never-headcased-to-start-with Ambrose' is just delightful and VERY intriguing. I bet he's a handful!
no subject
Date: 2010-03-30 01:44 am (UTC)I'm with Surr... I want more of this verse and these new versions of Ambrose and Cain! :D
Be careful what you wish for. *waggles eyebrows*
no subject
Date: 2010-04-03 01:38 am (UTC)HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! I'm sorry, but I'm shallow and laughed a damn fine amount at that.
*quietly thinks of Mal's reprimanding eyebrow manoeuvres*
DG's so cute, too. I like a good, cute DG.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-04 03:33 am (UTC)*thinks happily of Mal*
I like a cute DG, too! It's one of the things I love about this fandom - we love the characters we ship, and we love the characters we don't ship, too.
no subject
Date: 2010-04-05 02:36 am (UTC)