Tin Man: Medals and Luckdragons
Title: Medals and Luckdragons
Author: klcthebookworm
Characters: DG, Cain, Zack Baker, Lissa, Cassandra, and Umbriel
Rating: PG
Summary: The battle has been won, so congratulations are in order.
Warnings: Set during my unnamed sequel to Tin Man: Dragons and Ninjas. I think now that I'm finished I should have written the other idea I had instead.
Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda, Gargoyles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tin Man do not belong to me. But I have OCs that live in all of them.
Note: Written for tmcrossovers Challenge 3.
Words: 1498
"This is my way of not dealing with ball stress." DG explained as they waited for the herald to announce into the dining hall. "Those things take ages to plan and someone gets their feelings hurt when they didn't get invited."
"Not to mention you give the whole shebang to Azkadellia to handle and she's not here." Cain smirked at his wife, who stuck her tongue out at him.
"I'm not criticizing anything." Cassandra adjusted her wings wrapped around her shoulders. "Back home, we're lucky to get a few thank you's from the citizens who don't scream demon as they run into the night. I'm enjoying this while it lasts."
DG laughed and Cain escorted her through the doors when the herald announced the royal couple to the dinner guests.
"You know we have to go back." Umbriel linked elbows with the silver-skinned gargoyle.
"It would take a few centuries for this world to get boring," Cassandra said wistfully.
"But our place isn't here."
"And you'd be really upset to go back and find your island got developed with a tourist resort," Zack added.
She shuddered. "Truly horrific, Hatchling. I guess we'll have to go back so I can insure that never happens to the dryads."
"Cassandra and Umbriel of the Manhattan Clan." The herald announced and the pair of Halflings sailed through the door.
Lissa chuckled. "Should I even ask?"
"Don't think we have time," Zack answered.
The herald proved him right. "Lady Lissa of Hyrule and Sir Zack Baker of New York City."
They swept through the doors and into the large dinning hall. Only half of the space was taken up by the long tables of military men and their wives with a few well-dressed civilians sprinkled around. DG and Cain were set up with a small table on a dais to the side, and Cassandra and Umbriel stood in front of them. Zack and Lissa joined them, and he felt every eye on the back of his black suit.
"Everyone here is aware of the threat the Outer Zone was most recently under." DG's voice carried through the hall without a microphone. "What isn't common knowledge is victory would not have been possible without the aid of these four Slippers before you. For their selfless bravery on behalf of a world that isn't even their own, we name them each a Friend of Dorothy."
Zack's eyebrow rose--he couldn't help it--but he kept his mouth shut while DG pinned on the medals: an entwined O and Z studded with emeralds from which a charm of a pair of women silver dress shoes dangled.
The applause from the crowd didn't last long before DG interrupted it. "This is a party, so let's eat!"
They were sat at the end of the long table with DG, Cain, Jeb, and the ambassadors of the guilds including Raw, Kalm, and Adsaluta. DG made sure she was seated between her husband and Zack, and gave the younger man a poke with her elbow. "I'll have you know that is our highest honor. And I didn't name it, Grandma Ozma did."
Umbriel's bright blue eyes turned towards her from across the table. "Grandma Ozma?"
"There's a string of greats," DG waved her hand, "but I need the family tree to keep count."
"Ozma and Dorothy Gale?" he continued as DG nodded. "Silver slippers, yellow brick road, Somewhere Over the Rainbow?"
DG's eyebrows knitted together. "I don't know that last part." Cain shook his head slowly when she glanced at him.
Cassandra blinked. "O.Z., Oz! But how?" Cain set down his fork to go into interrogation mode, but Cass beat him with an explanation. "On our Earth, there is a series of children books dealing with the adventures of Dorothy Gale in the Land of Oz, ruled by Ozma. But not on your Earth?"
"Oh that again," Zack said before starting on his salad. So then he was faced with the entire group's stares with a full mouth and couldn't chew fast enough.
"Realities bleed through, sometimes," Lissa answered for him. "Creative people pick up on it some how and turn it into fiction. On Zauk's Earth, I live in a video game."
"Too bad Homer doesn't have that excuse." Cassandra stabbed her salad with a fork.
Umbriel patted her arm. "It's been three thousand years; time to let it go."
"So in some other universe, someone might be writing about us in a book?" Jeb frowned and focused on Zack. "And you're okay with that?"
"I like the idea that a Bastian out there is rooting for me. Though stuff would be a lot easier with Falkor helping out."
"The Neverending Story!" DG blurted. "That actually makes sense. You wanted a luckdragon too?"
"Who didn't want a luckdragon after seeing that movie?"
"What's a luckdragon?" Kalm asked.
"A dragon-sized puppy with magic that brings good fortune to those with him," Lissa answered while Zack and DG gaped. "My husband is from your Earth."
Cain chuckled. "Movies are entertainment like plays on the Other Side." The confused expressions on Adsaluta and the Munchkin ambassador's faces cleared.
"What is going to happen in the Southern Territories?" Adsaluta asked. "Are they blighted for all time now?"
"The plants are already coming back." DG accepted her main dish with a smile at the servant. "But I think we will focus rebuilding the villages for the refugees first. Finaqua will be last."
Musicians started setting up on the dais while the meal continued, and talk moved onto the local issues with the refugees and the Longcoat prisoners. DG didn't hide her dismay over trials fast enough for Zack to miss it, but he didn't press her on the issue. She stood up. "Come on, Tin Man, no one will dance until we start it off."
Cain grimaced but caught his wife's smaller hand as they moved toward the clear side of the dining hall. Jeb chuckled. "He really hates the being put on display part of the job."
"Your father is a better politician than he is given credit for being." Cassandra circled around the table, ignoring Jeb's confused expression. "Come, Hatchling, you must have something to discuss with your shrink."
Zack smirked as he took her arm. "Right, like I don't have topics to exhaust before ever reaching dancing with my adoptive gargoyle mother."
Behind them, Lissa and Jeb both asked in unison. "Shrink?"
"Psychiatrist," Umbriel answered. They spun away from the table and couldn't hear any more.
"And what did you observe about the Royal couple that has escaped the very observant Captain Cain?" Zack settled into the waltz, leading Cassandra around the slowly filling dance floor.
Cassandra's smirk matched his. "The Consort makes the bigger show of distaste, so no one focuses on the Queen's distaste of being put on display. I am impressed with them, and not just because they gave me my first medal. They are going to take this realm far."
"If the fighting is finally over."
"Zack, you're not usually so disheartened. What is it?"
"I don't usually have to go home after one of these adventures and explain what happened to my sister." Cassandra bit her lips to keep from laughing. "Please take my mind off it."
"Of course, when are you going to settle down and make me a grandmother?"
Zack's mouth fell open. Luckily, his feet remembered to move. "I… I just started seriously dating and you think I should jump to kids? I haven't even finished high school yet!"
"I don't understand why you sound so shocked. You're the only one of the clan's next generation that has hit puberty."
"What, three thousand years old means you can't have a hatchling of your own?"
She winced. "Not with Umbriel. We have no idea who my father was."
"That matters?" Zack frowned.
"When Umbriel's father is Oberon and there is a one in four chance of having offspring that is fully Third Race? It matters." She shook her head with a smile. "So there is someone you erota. I want know all about her."
Zack groaned.
"Or him. We Trojans shared the cultural mores of the Greeks. I don't judge."
"Her name is Karen and she has a black belt in karate." Cassandra laughed at his hurried response and Zack glared. "I'm glad you're on our side," he added. "At least, I think I'm glad."
"And I'm always surprised how often that comment is made about me."
The song ended, but Cain and DG were right next to them. "We decided we should dance with our heroes," DG said cheerfully as Zack took her hands and Cain lead Cassandra away in another waltz. "Because medals aren't nearly embarrassing enough."
"It could be worse," Zack said.
"You can make it worse than the interrogation you were just getting?"
"Your Majesty could be stuck wearing pink."
Both tried not to be the first to laugh and ended up whooping together, startling the dancers closest to them.