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[amicably_absent]

They arrived the day before Wyatt and Jeb left.

Glitch happened to be in the entryway when they came, getting tackled full on by DG before he was quite prepared. He hugged her, listening to her bubble about how well he was looking and her mother had told her he might not even be up.

Then he was being cuddled by Raw as well and pushed forwards a bit and there was the tank, nicely decorated and with a smiley face on the side. He was touching it before he stopped to think, looking at the much smaller portion encased in the much smaller and more portable tank they had moved it in to.

"Mother said we should bring it down with us." DG at least never seemed disgusted by it. Not DG, not Raw, not Cain. Never Cain.

He nodded, taking the tank in his arms and trying to adjust to it.

"Glitch glad to have it back?"

He looked up to Raw and nodded. "Can you-?"

Raw nodded and touched Glitch's face, his other hand coming to rest on the glass.

Glitch jerked, inhaling sharply, head tipping back and then straightening, look out with calm, collected clarity.

"Gli-" DG stopped herself. "Ambrose?"

"Yes, Princess," he asked mildly.

"Do you remember your time as Glitch," she asked.

Ambrose smiled ever so slightly and bitterly. "Enough. But not more than I do at any other point. The memories are misformed in the brain." He shakes his head. "Enough, Raw, please."

"Ambrose? Glitch?" DG was catching his arm even as Raw withdrew. "Are you okay?"

He gave her a tremulous smile. "Yeah, doll face. I'm okay. Just thinkin' a little too clearly for a moment. I think... I need to go and lie down for a bit, 'fore Rennie gets on at me."

"Okay," she murmured, kissing his cheek. "We'll get ourselves settled, say hello to Mister Cain. You go and rest, all right?" She patted his shoulder.

He nodded and headed upstairs to his room with the brief, lasting lucidity of being whole.

Comments

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Raw doesn't growl back. He knows why Kalm's possessive of food. Hell, they all do. "Not taking away. Just slower."

Glitch isn't even looking at Kalm, watching nothing much with the hat on like that. "You know what food I really missed out there?"

"Apples," Azkadellia says softly. "Big, red apples."

Glitch gapes at her. "That's it exactly..."

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Wyatt watches as the older princess ducks her head, her cheeks going warm. DG reaches out to take her hand again. "It's okay, Az. It's okay."

He really hopes she's right about that. The silence in the room is nothing short of deafening.

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Glitch rolls over, looking at her. He takes off the hat in a practiced, sweeping gesture, the expression muting and gaze going solemn. "I used to let you on my shoulders to pick the reddest apples in the garden in Central City. When Anoria thought I needed sunlight and you two were being a handful."

Azkadellia nods silently, soft light playing from where her hand grips DG's.

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Hushed, timid and scared, she finds words somewhere deep inside, despite everyone watching her. "You were always so sweet to us. Always."

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He looks down and away, shy. "Thank you, your highness. You were such good girls, even when you got into my projects. Or the day we sat for the portrait and you were..."

He looks up suddenly, panic filling his eyes though his face stays relatively somber. He looks around, somehow not showing the fear that's evident in his eyes in his body. "Who are you people," he asks softly.

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Somehow, Wyatt doesn't think a glitching Ambrose will react too well to being called Sweetheart. Nevertheless, he's the one who speaks up, when no one else knows what to do. He doesn't know either. "We're friends, Ambrose. You're with friends."

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"I don't remember any of you..."

But there's a slight murmur at the name.

"Where's Anoria?"

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He swallows thickly against the stab to his chest, trying his best not to let it show. By the look on Jeb's face - drawn and worried - he can tell. He doesn't like any of this, and Wyatt can't blame him.

"She's safe. The Queen is safe, reorganizing her court and the government. The entire royal family is safe and sound."

Of all the things Glitch could have blurted out, as himself or as Ambrose, that's the worst thing he could have ever said.

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"Reorganising?" Ambrose just looks even more bewildered. He looks around the group again and suddenly turns and buries his face in Wyatt's chest, clinging onto him.

"My head hurts," he whispers. "And Ambrose is all fuzzy."

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Heart stampeding in his chest, Cain hands their two cups to Raw, then envelops Glitch in a tight hug, one arm around his back, the other curved all the way out to the tips of his fingers to cradle the back of his head.

"Shh. It's okay, Sweetheart. It's okay." In an undertone, "Raw, please?"

Raw passes the cups along to Jeb, who watches silently. The frown line between his eyebrows hasn't smoothed out, and is showing no sign of it. The two princesses hold hands tighter now than ever, the light between them shining brighter in response to their escalated alarm.

"Glitch is safe. Safe with friends." Raw places his hand slowly on his cheek, looking to soothe the ache.

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"I know. I know that. Just he didn't... He's not good with stuff after the surgery. Like you guys."

He reaches over and grabs the jar, sliding it into the hug between them, head tipping back into Cain's hand and then over into Raw's palm. "Sorry... crazy got to me for a moment."

It's aimed at everyone.

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It isn't Glitch's fault. None of this is Glitch's fault, and Wyatt will be damned before he starts shoveling the blame onto him. He needs air, needs out of there, just for the tiniest moments so he can breathe, but he's not leaving Glitch.

It's not Glitch's fault Ambrose forgot. Not even if it feels like it is. "Someone's got to keep our unbridled sanity in check."

DG breathes a chuckle, chin trembling slightly as Azkadellia sits down beside her at the edge of the bed. No one's leaving.

Not even Jeb.

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He shakes slightly, then nods tightly. He's calming, the rising panic kept at bay by the push of Raw's concern against him.

"Raw thinks maybe Glitch needs sleep. Lots of healing. Too many glitches, too soon after surgery."

"I don't wanna sleep. Wyatt leaves soon." He clings on tighter.

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Too many glitches. Too soon after surgery. Wyatt's heart sinks in his chest, and he holds Glitch closer, not caring what anyone thinks or who's there, or what propriety means in the face of the Queen's daughters.

"It's been a rough few days, Raw. He's only trying to cope, and he's been sleeping more than his minimum hours."

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Raw nods, fingers still brushing Glitch's skin. "Sleep good. Brain healing. Surgery..." he touched the zipper briefly and they both flashed the same expression of almost pain. "Hurts. Inside. Where pain isn't physical."

Glitch bats lazily at Raw's hand and pulls it into the hug as well.

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Wyatt smiles wearily, including his friend in the hug with one wide-sweeping arm. "You'd better make sure everyone gets fed properly after we've left, Raw. Everyone eats when they should, everyone sleeps when they should. I'm holding you personally responsible if you're not all rosy-cheeked and rested when I get back."

Jeb's jaw moves from one side to the other, but he doesn't say anything.

But Azkadellia does. "Go on, Deeg. Tell them. About the ball."

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Raw nods solemnly. "Simple. Raw feed everyone when Kalm wants food. No one get underfed then. Go to sleep when sun goes down."

Glitch is awake still, just calmed down a lot and being kept from glitching again. But he hears that. "Ball? What ball?"

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DG manages a small smile, still shaken by the glitch. "I'm throwing a party at the Royal palace in Central City once the restoration is done. The chief engineer says it'll be one more month while they repair the structure, and then all that's left is getting the interior decorating done, and finding people to work there, and sending out invitations." Boring stuff, really, which is why she skims the details, and looks at all of them.

"I want you all to be there. All of you, looking your best, all of us together again. We'll celebrate!"

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"I remember balls," Glitch says in a soft, wistful voice. "I always wanted to dance, but I never had the courage to ask anyone and they all just looked straight through me." He sighs wistfully and looks up at Cain. "I'd go outside to dance... dance in the moonlight..."

There's glimmers of memory there and he smiles slightly.

Raw nods. "Raw and Kalm going to get brushed."

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Wyatt smiles back, hunching over to give Glitch a soft kiss in encouragement. "You won't be blending into the wallpaper this time, Glitch."

Several sets of eyes watch the tender display, but DG goes on. "And wear your finest, too. Everyone needs to be pretty as can be. I want my boys to knock everyone for six."

Raw blinks at her. So does Kalm, and Wyatt and Jeb and Azkadellia.

"Knock who for what?"

"Knock 'em dead. K.O. Make everyone speechless." She throws her hands up in the air.

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"I knocked those Longcoats for six," Glitch chirps up, grabbing the phrase and missing the point. "Except there was only four of them." He sighs with a smile. "It's all about rhythm."

"So is dancing," Raw says.

"I was talking about dancing," Glitch retorts. "Dancing in moonlight. With moonlight... both."

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"No dancing in moonlight at my ball, Glitch," DG tells him mock sternly. "You'll be too busy dancing with all of us, you won't have time to slip outside."

Wyatt nods, playing along, and so does Raw. "Glitch is very pretty man. He get plenty cavaliers."

Jeb goes to grab another cup of coffee for himself.

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Glitch blushes, faintly, and looks down. "Aw, shucks, you're going to pop my zip saying things like that."

He looked over to DG and points a finger at her. "But no standing on my feet this time, missy. At least... not while you're wearing heels."

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"I promise. No standing on your feet." She smiles, easing forward to give him and the rest of her best friends an awkward hug.

"I'll make sure to keep you updated, Mister Cain. Wouldn't want you to miss it. You and Jeb both."

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Glitch closes his eyes, tightly cuddled in amongst his friends and urged by Raw to just keep relaxing until he's a dead weight in Wyatt's arms, one arm curled on the tank, the other on Wyatt's arm, head in his hand.

"Glitch still needed sleep," Raw says softly. "Glitching too much for Raw to keep back. Too much glitching. Too stressed. Needs dreams."