.-.-. Ways of the Ancients .-.-.

(A/N)- Last chapter! :-( These guys are a lot of fun to work with, especially Glitch, and I'm going to miss this. I hope I can come up with a couple of one shots and perhaps one more fanfiction, but if not, I had fun and I hope anyone who reads my work enjoys it. :-) I'm glad to say I didn't leave this open-ended like most of my fics and most of the fics on this website. And I'd like to thank all my readers and everyone who reviewed - they truly helped to keep me going strong! :-) I can't thank you enough. Enjoy!

Epilogue: A New Beginning

DG had to go into what she could only describe as vigorous princess training, where she was to learn to walk in all sorts of outrageous dresses and painful shoes and things relevant that she loved to hate. She rarely saw Glitch at all, and when she did it was only with a fleeting glance, for her mother insisted she have no distractions while she learned the proper princess eticquitte, whatever the hell that was.

DG no longer worried if and when she'd be married, but that was all that was ever on Glitch's mind. It worried him as he searched frantically through his many desk drawers in his laboratory, searching frantically for the ring his mother had given him. Shortly after declaring he'd have to find DG a ring, he recalled that his mother had given her his in hopes that he in turn would give it to his future wife.

His venture resulted in bruises and cuts along his fingers, the likes of which DG hadn't seen until he approached her with said ring. So his proposal was then put off for a while longer whilst she fussed over his wounds, scolding him for doing whatever he had been to cause such injuries.

He had already been kneeling on the floor since he wound up stumbling over the last few top steps in an attempt to catch DG before her piano lessons- why a princess would need some of those, DG'd never know.

"Whatever you did, don't do it again," she scolded, kissing his knuckles softly.

He giggled, "Well, I don't think I'll have to ..." he replied, and pulled the black box out of his pocket, and opened it.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the emerald ring that lay there, and her gaze shifted quickly to Glitch.

"DG, will you marry me?" he asked, almost hopefully. He knew she ought to be standing, and he ought to be on one knee, but she didn't seem to mind. She smiled broadly, and caught him off guard when she threw her arms around him, nearly knocking him backwards down the steps.

--

She later told Glitch about what Tik Tok had said about their ancestors. Glitch took it for a second as a sign not to get married, but after DG said it was a good sign, he didn't need much convincing.

Years flew by, and soon DG and Glitch had been married for five years. It seemed so much longer ... of course with the marriage came the coronation, much to DG's horror. Ambrose spent that day all confident and proud but later broke down in their new bedroom as he let Glitch take over. She understood his fear of ruling - she had more to fear since the kingdom was and always will be run by the Queen and not the King. Amidst their shared fear, they vowed to each other to run it together, despite tradition. DG needed help and the Ambrose in Glitch was unbelievably helpful when it came to handling situations in the kingdom.

Since he was King now and no longer the advisor, DG made Tik Tok her royal advisor. He seemed perfect for the part seeing as he had much knowledge on the way things were, and she had wanted to return it to the peacefulness it had once been. Of course, Tik Tok creaked too much so they sent him to be oiled and cleaned up, and he was as good as new.

The O.Z. proved to be too big for one kingdom to run, so DG suggested to her mother that they refinish Azkadellia's castle and have her run it. They would've picked Finaqua, witch was originally the castle Ozma had run, but Finaqua was too out of the way of communities, since over the years they had long since drifted from that territory. Finaqua remained a vacation home to them.

Azkadellia became Queen of the South, and DG was now Queen of the North. Live got easier that was for certain. DG had more time to spend with Glitch and their daughter, whom they named Dorothy. DG would've gladly stepped outside of tradition to name her something else, but she couldn't help it. Her baby girl had the same emerald green eyes and the same ginger-brown hair that the young Dorothy Gale had in the old painting in Finaqua.

And now, DG was spending time with her 3-month-old son on the swing in the gazebo overlooking the lake. She smiled down upon him as he lay sleeping in her arms, wrapped in his little blue blanket. He had a tuft of chocolate brown hair atop his head that was a prelude a curly mess that would rival his own father's.

She heard an excited giggle and looked over. Dorothy was placing a flower chain around the top of Tik Tok's helmet as he spoke to her about the things her great grandmother and Ozma used to do when they were her age. DG smiled; the two had grown as close as Tik Tok might've been to the first Dorothy. She admired his immediate patience and understanding with her daughter- it was something DG thought she'd be used to with Glitch but discovered otherwise. That discovery simply proved that Glitch wasn't the child he thought himself to be.

Her eyes wandered across the grassy field as she looked for her husband. She soon found out he was closer than she thought when she heard the ruffle of dry leaves. She stared incredulously at him as he lay by the gazebo steps, his legs and middle buried by dead leaves. He was wearing his tattered coat again, the coat he saved specially for such outings, and his hair was still in a mess from earlier when DG ruffled it up after complaining that he looked way too proper. He continued to bury himself in leaves as he felt DG's gaze, and looked up innocently.

She raised a brow at him in question, and he put a finger to his pursed lips as he silently warned her to be quiet.

She smiled, shaking her head knowingly as her gaze returned to her daughter, who came walking up, pulling her flyaway strands of hair from her eyes as her braided pigtails bounced with each step. She was wearing one of DG's old dresses, the pink one, which was now smeared with grass stains and dirt along the apron.

"Mommy, when are we going to- AHH!" she let out a high pitched scream as Glitch emerged from the abnormally large pile of leaves beside the steps and snatched her up in his arms. Her scream quickly turned to a giggle when she realized it was him, and she squirmed around to reach up and pull at a lock of his hair, "Daddy, don't do that again!" she shouted.

He stood, picking her up with him, and she let out a squeak as he bounced her up to get a better hold on her. He kissed her atop her forehead and replied, "Sorry, kiddo."

"What were you saying dear?" she asked.

"I wanted to know when we're--"

"Shush!" Glitch warned, giving his daughter a gentle squeeze, "You'll wake your brother."

"Lemme talk!" she growled through gritted teeth.

"He's already up," DG said when she saw her son's bright blue eyes looking curiously up at her.

Glitch hid his head behind his daughter's back for a moment, and peeked over her shoulder with fearful eyes as Dorothy giggled at her father's behavior.

"Don't worry," she assured, "he just woke from his nap." Her words earned a relieved sigh from the tired Glitch who'd lost many hours of sleep trying to stop his son's crying.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she asked, "when we're going to what, dear?"

"When we're gonna see Auntie Az's baby." she finished as her dad placed her on the deck of the gazebo.

Glitch snorted, "Aren't you sick of babies?"

They both ignored him as DG answered, "Soon. We need to give Auntie Az time to rest, you know."

Dorothy nodded, hanging onto Glitch's coattails as he approached DG. "Can I hold him?" he asked quietly.

She laughed, "Aren't you sick of babies?"

"Not this one," he replied with a grin, and thumbed over his shoulder, "that one," he said, rolling his eyes.

Dorothy knew who he was talking about and she gave his coattails a sharp yank but it didn't affect him. "Hey!! I am not a baby!" she complained, hugging her father's leg as she peered around to glimpse at her brother before looking up at her father with a pout.

"I know that look." he laughed, glancing at his wife, who stuck out her tongue in annoyance, "That one too." he pointed out with a grin.

"Here you go, daddy." she said, handing him his son. Glitch scooped him up with great carefulness as his eyes never left his baby's face. Glitch's face broke from the look of awe when he was sure he was holding him right, "Hey there little guy ..." he breathed softly, a smile playing about his lips. He stroked his hair with his fingers gently but was careful not to shift his hands too much for fear of dropping him. He had been much more paranoid when they had Dorothy, but by now he seemed to have gotten the hang of it. He didn't put too much faith in himself though - he still held him so carefully as if afraid he'd shatter into a million pieces.

DG thought it sweet how he behaved with the children, especially with his own son.

"Hey, Fiyero Ambrose the second."

Well, she thought it sweet nearly all the time.

"It sounds silly when you say it,"

"Well I like his name," he retorted, and Fiyero smiled.

"You would, you named him," she said, pulling Dorothy onto her was steadily kneeling himself to sit cross-legged on the floor, and his mouth turned into a surprised 'o', "We agreed on it!" he reminded.

She smiled, "I'm kidding, Glitch; I like his name but when you say it, it sounds silly."

"Yeah daddy," Dorothy emphasized with a teasing grin.

"I can't win, can I?" he asked, shaking his head, telling his son softly, "Yesterday I was stinky and today I'm silly!" he said it in a funny voice and caused Fiyero to giggle.

"It's the way you say 'second'- it sounds like you're sneezing."

He sighed, rolling his eyes, "Go ahead and add it to the list of my many faults."

"It's not a fault, it's cute," she leaned over to give him a kiss on the lips, "but silly," she added, and laughed lightly.

Glitch smiled and kissed her back, and Dorothy made a hacking nose, "Yuck, boy germs!" she exclaimed, and wriggled out of her mother's grasp, landed on her feet, and bolted off back to the fields, calling out to Tik Tok.

DG laughed, recalling her own childhood when she too found boys to be icky. She looked back to Glitch who was too focused on the baby in his arms, who reached up to grab at an unruly lock of his hair.

"Come on," she said, getting to her feet, "We should head to lunch."

She went to take Fiyero, but Glitch jumped slightly as she made to, "No, I wanna carry him."

"Are ya sure?" she asked, hands on hips. He always tried not to move about much when handling Fiyero, and walking with him was always out of the question.

He nodded, and grinned shyly, "I'm sure."

She helped him to his feet, "Well, I'll be right here in case you fall," she assured, "And don't rush - we're not keeping mother waiting; she's at the Tower, remember."

He nodded as he followed slowly beside DG, not too slowly but enough to be careful, and he was extra careful on the steps of course. He was moving so steadily that Fiyero didn't seem aware that he was moving at all, and he reached up to pull at a yellow string that hung lazily off his battered coat.

"Dorothy!" she called, making Glitch freeze in mid-step, "Tik Tok!" she called, motioning them to follow. She saw that Glitch had stopped, and she pulled him right along, "Fiyero's not easily disturbed- you should know that by now."

"I know," he said, "You just startled me."

"I'm sorry," she apologized, and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, and was soon met by a running hug to the stomach by her daughter.

"Oof!" she coughed, hugging her daughter briefly before suggesting that she wait up for Tik Tok, and Dorothy ran back.

"Poor little tyke," Glitch said mournfully, "He's got such lovely eyes but his hair might be the death of him, socially."

"Hey!" she warned, "He's got your hair, and I love it," she proclaimed, "Stop being so down on yourself."

"I do it for attention," he admitted.

"Nowadays, yeah," she said with a laugh, and wrapped one arm around his middle as she walked, "I don't know what I'd do without you ..."

"Ditto," he said shortly with his boyish grin.

(A/N)- So hard to end it! And I had to cut out a bunch of senseless fluff after he proposed, because it dragged on for far too long and it just wouldn't have worked out. :-P Let me know what you think, and I'll try to come up with a one-shot or two :-) OH!! And if you'd like, check out my fan trailer I made for this fanfiction- I can't link it through here so check me out on Youtube - I go under the name SeltzerAddict there. There's also another music video I made on my account, good quality too. :-)

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and I hope you'll do so just one last time, just for the heck of it! :-)