Chance of a Millennium

[Taiteki Kagato]

Not to spoil what wouldn't be much of a surprise, but as to what's going on in the Moon Kingdom: not much. After all, wouldn't do to bring that sub and have it taken apart before we can get our hands on it, right?

On that tangent, a nitpick of mine: When I said "Boomer" in the first chapter or so, I meant Ohio-Class Nuclear Submarine. Among navy peoples (and NJROTC nerds like me) the subs used to launch nukes at enemies from the sea are called "Boomers." So no, no bubblegum crisis. Sorry, for those who might have been hoping.

The "Reinforcements had fixed that problem over time, but the older soldiers who'd come across the seas with them treated them with the same respect they gave the new officers, and newer arrivals copied those 'in-the-know.'" line meant as follows:

We (Serenity, Matt, and Kyle) arrived with the first batch of soldiers as advisers of sorts. But the officers knew (by the King's orders) to listen to us, and that was picked up on by the regular soldiers, too. Over time, as officers died and were replaced, we stepped in to help, and pretty soon were treated less as advisers, and more like officers. As reinforcements arrived, the new soldiers saw the older, veteran soldiers treating us like officers, and assuming that they knew what they were doing, they followed. So as more people arrived, everyone just thought "Oh, I guess those are officers, too." until we were finally handed commissions.

Theoretically, there's a story there. A closed little story which I just explained the gist of, but in the future, could revisit. Maybe.

Arlos is, if you wander out to the Borean Tundra, the current leader of Valiance Keep. Since I sorta intend to leave Azeroth in such a way that the game itself is now, I can't really kill him off. But hey, this is me. I'm sure there will come a time where someone else might bite the dust.

I think Matt has dibs on a couple people, too, actually.

 

[TerraBull]

Thanks for clarifying.

About the Chain of Command, I was wondering if the General fell Ill or otherwise out temporarily, who was next?

Not Capt Bitters, correct?

Could the three leave without breaking the promise made if none *Competent* were left?

 

[ryugabriev]

Do you take resumes for this story?

Cause I would love to assist you in some way. This is great! I can't believe I haven't bumped into you two before..

 

[TannimFodder]

Sadly, we're not taking applications for this story, and ironically, that's exactly how Kyle and I met. I actually took applications on one of my earlier works, "Power Struggle," and he was one of the few coherent responses. Although that idea fell through, and we didn't work together immediately afterward, somehow we managed to get in touch down the line and try some collaborative works later.

Ever since we've been writing together off and on for a number of years, and I think it's safe to say this is the longest and most involved story we've managed to produce. I'm really enjoying the process, and hope we continue for some time. ^_^

 

[Nukem]

That is one IMBA story. :yay:
I have been laughing my ass off here.
Especially at Private Jenkins.

If they go to Azjol Nerub i guess they will also end up at Ahn'kahet or visit Moa'ki Harbor with the Kalu'ak.

 

[TannimFodder]

Chapter 12

Xxxxx

"You know," Kyle said, grunting as she ducked to avoid another low point in the cave. "We really had little reason to split up."

"Captains orders," Sergeant Soerta briskly replied, torch held high.

Holding back her initial reply, Kyle finally asked, "You've worked with Captain Bitters before, then?"

Private Jenkins made a sound that could have been a laugh, or an aborted sneeze.

"What was that, private?" Matt asked.

"It's Knight, er... Sergeant Soerta's story to tell, sirs, not mine."

Kyle paused. "That's telling enough, right there. Run afoul of our situationally-myopic mission commander, Sergeant?"

The Sergeants glowing eyes narrowed. "An officer of the Alliance does not speak ill of her commanders, no matter how questionable their actions may seem." She glanced around, before turning to inspect the walls. "However, an enlistee such as myself, might let slip that she would not be at all upset to never have to work with the self-serving runt, ever again."

Kyle sighed wearily. "Private, do you have anything to add?"

Leeroy shrugged his shoulders uncertainly. "I've got nothing to say that I wouldn't want reported back to him. He's mean if he thinks you don't like him."

"Kinda like how a chihuahua will bark at anything they perceive bigger than them? I think we get the picture," Matt noted sourly.

Jenkins nodded. "I don't rightly know what a chihuahua beast is, but that sums up the Captain perfectly."

"Something to bring up with the general when we get back, then," Kyle said.

"Not that you hadn't planned on doing that already anyway," Matt interjected.

Kyle smirked. "Yeah, well. More fuel to the fire."

"Whatever you say, sirs, you didn't hear from me." Jenkins made a sign of the Light. "I'd rather be kept outta that boar-stew, thank you very much."

Matt clapped a hand on Leeroy's shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile. "Of course not, don't worry about it. The Captain will get what he deserves, that's all."

"Listen!' Kyle said suddenly, staring ahead.

Matt strained his elven ears to tune out the ambient sound of three people trying to be silent while wearing plate armor. Kyle was already nearly impossible to hear. "Yeah, I think- skittering?"

"Scourge Nerubians... We're not alone in here," Kyle hissed, pulling her daggers free.

"Spiders. I hate spiders." Matt and the others copied the motion and freed their weapons as well. "And giant, undead spiders are the worst."

In moments, the faint sound gave way to the hissing, aliens shrieks of the undead nerubians as they came barreling out of the tunnel ahead like a water hose suddenly set to full blast.

In the cramped caves, the four members of the scouting team had left behind larger weapons for those that could be used in close quarters, and as they stood shoulder to shoulder against the onrushing tide of undead, they began the grisly task of taking their foe apart, limb by limb by limb.

The Nerubian Scourge was a horrific combination of humanoid and spider; often quite large, depending on the variant, and all had what passed for faces sitting on top of disjointed torsos. Many could cast some form of magic, while others specialized in producing the strong, sticky strands that made up their webs. Luckily, for the four in the scouting party, those that they faced seemed as surprised (albeit angry) to see them as they were. As such most were lowly workers; uncoordinated, weak, and easily killed. It was still brutal work though, and the going was slow.

Matt and Leeroy set themselves up in front, a solid rock of steel for the onrushing tide to break upon their shields as they went to work with their swords and shouted spells. Kyle, a whirling dervish with her daggers, seemingly appeared everywhere at once, making attacks of opportunities against any opponent that showed an opening. All the while Soerta, wielding a mace almost the size of her head, made sure that Matt and Jenkins were not flanked by pulping any nerubian audacious enough to try to get behind them.

The four warriors made steady progress against the onrushing horde until the stream of enemies slowed down to a mere trickle, then stopped entirely. In the lull of fighting, Soerta attempted to dislodge a particularly nasty piece of chitin that had seemingly glued itself to her maul, while the paladins spoke beneficial prayers to heal everyone's minor injuries. Kyle shook an offensive layer of ichor and chitin off her dagger with a grimace, refusing to wipe them off on her pants. She'd learned the hard way just how difficult it was to wash out undead insect guts.

"Well, that was easier than I thought!" Leeroy grinned.

"I doubt it, private," Kyle replied, frowning at the dark caves ahead. Though faint, she could still hear the skittering of many exoskeletal legs, and for a moment, a hollow, insane laugh drifted up to them; the rallying cry of geists. "Yeah, I'd say they're regrouping. Setting up a place to ambush us up ahead, since this tunnel gives us too much of an advantage."

Sergeant Soerta grumbled, "A troubling thought. If they're being directed..." She trailed off, earning a nod from Kyle. "You're right. There's something else down here calling the shots. We're not just up against mindless undead aggression. Stay alert."

It was, of course, at that moment that she heard a muffled, aborted yelp from behind her. Kyle spun, just in time to see the ichor-smeared greaves of the sergeant disappear into a surprisingly well-hidden hole in the ceiling.

"... Matt. Did our sergeant just get pulled up into the ceiling by bug-like monsters?" Kyle asked, flatly.

"Yes Kyle, she did." The man looked angry and perturbed, but held his frustration in check as he couldn't really do anything about it.

"Good. I was afraid I'd been knocked out and was mixing my situation with my favorite movie. Hand me a grenade?" Without taking her eyes off the hole, Kyle took the grenade, a ball of green metal called 'fel-iron' with an explosive middle and a quick burning fuse, and lit it on Soerta's fallen torch.

"Wait! You're not going to-" Private Jenkins cried, even as Kyle chucked the grenade into the hole and ran to hide behind the two plate-wearers. There was a flash of light, a surprisingly muffled boom, and suddenly the whole cave was shuddering and chunks of rocks fell for a moment, before everything fell calm again.

"How... How could you do that?" Jenkins asked, aghast.

Kyle frowned at him, wiping away some blood from a cut a fallign rock had opened on her forehead. "Trust me. What she had to look forward to was something I wouldn't wish on my most hated enemy. I was doing her a favor."

"She's right. I'd hate to face Soerta's corpse on the field of battle. Or even worse, a Sergeant-turned Death Knight," Matt supplied, softly.

Jenkins looked at the hole in the ceiling, now apparently blocked by some fallen debris, and simply nodded. "Very well. To come to such an end, though..." He knelt in prayer for the fallen, before standing back up and frowning at Matt. "Umm, sir? Why... Why did you call Commander Jaessica 'Kyle?'"

Matt glanced at Kyle, who shrugged back. "It's... a code," he finally said reluctantly.

"A... Code, sir?" Jenkins asked, skeptically.

"It's private, private," Kyle interrupted. "Without the Sergeant, we're in a bit of a jam, We need to continue to clear the cave ahead, but if they can enter this tunnel from caves like the ones above us, they can circle back behind us... which means clearing the way is pointless."

"And?" Matt prodded. "Your point is?"

"MY POINT IS... that we should really head back and meet with the bomb team. Seven will fare much better than three," Kyle growled. "Jenkins, lead the way, Matt will follow."

"And where will you be, ma'am?" Jenkins asked.

"I'm going to continue in, alone, and hopefully find a good place to set that bomb. I'll catch back up," Kyle explained.

"Wait... you think it's a bad idea to run around in here with only three of us... so you want to split us up even more?" Matt asked, incredulously.

Kyle shrugged. "The path back should be fairly clear. And I can turn invisible. Unless you can too, I think it's safe to assume I'm better off alone."

At this point, Matt wanted to argue, but he'd already seen Kyle in action over the intervening years to realize that her claim was true. It had constantly astounded the man just how easily she could sneak through enemy lines and appear seemingly anywhere at will. It was also the best chance they had of reaching the bomb site with at least a modicum of forward intelligence.

"But sir!" Leeroy objected. "That's suicide!"

Matt put a hand on Jenkin's shoulder and shook his head. "Don't worry about her, son. She can take care of herself." He steered the lad away from their current position and back towards the way they came, while Leeroy threw one last uncertain glance back at Kyle before continuing down the gloomy path.

With that, Kyle watched Matt disappear into the murky darkness of the cave, waiting a moment for the glow of the torch to fade around a corner, before shifting into stealth and moving forward. Despite the utter lack of light sources, the cave seemed dimly illuminated to the Night Elf, which had been a pleasant surprise, back when it had been discovered. Finding out that they (and he -now she-)had what amounted to night-vision without the goggles was a welcome addition to her arsenal. An addition that she now employed to steer clear of whatever traps and foes lay in wait ahead.

Unfortunately, She'd only made a couple dozen meters worth of progress when the clatter of armor moving quickly was heard coming from behind her.

Pressing up against a wall, Kyle waited, unseen, until Matt and Jenkins came into view, running as if the hounds of hell were behind them. Unfortunately, that description was somewhat applicable, as a trio of demonic dog-like beasts, feet and head ablaze with magical fire, came around the corner after them. Kyle cursed, Some things, like the undead, she could hide from practically in plain sight. But those demonic dogs had been reported before by scouts. Reports that detailed an unwelcome ability to rogues everywhere: detect invisibility.

Still, Matt and Jenkins could easily dispatch the four-legged creatures. That didn't explain why...

"Oh, shit," Kyle said, as a veritable horde of ghouls, geists, zombies and nerubians rounded the corner as well. With her stealth and the option to hide utterly out of the question, Kyle dropped the technique, fading into sight just ahead of Matt.

"Don't ask, just RUN!" Matt screamed.

As Kyle fell in beside them, he shouted "How the-"

"I SAID DON'T ASK!"

Kyle shut up and ran.

After a good couple minutes later (which felt a lot longer, considering the terror of the moment) Kyle gasped between breaths. "I think. There's an opening. Ahead!"

The light ahead seemed somewhat brighter, and even Jenkins and Matt, unaccustomed to the darkness and requiring torches, could tell that there was a light ahead. Then Kyle realized what color it was and cursed. Pale blue. They were headed into the underground Kingdom of the Nerubians, utterly overrun with various undead.

Still, there might be some way out, or at least some way to even the odds ahead.

Finally, they entered the cavern, a wide, bowl-shaped room with steep upper walls of sculpted ice and stone. It would have been beautiful, if not for the spider webs everywhere. The center of the room was dominated by a structure shaped like a twisted fantasy fortress, its architecture distinctly nerubian in design, and on the very top of it, watching them as they ran into the cave, was a huge beetle-like Nerubian.

Unfortunately, of a far more pressing concern was the fact that their cave opened up on the cavern near the upper, steep slope, and whatever staircase or bridge that had once led inward was absent.

With a yelp, Kyle fell as her foot landed on nothing but air mid-stride, and Matt and Jenkins hardly had time to react before they too were falling.

The only saving grace was the majestically carved walls that slowly curved in towards the walled ziggurat. There was a lot of rolling, a lot of bruises, but the well carved stone and it's gentle curve left them relatively unharmed. Especially when they landed in the frigid, stinking pool of standing water at the bottom of the cavern, forming a ring around the room.

Kyle gagged on the putrid tasting water, coughing as she fought back the urge to vomit, and she just knew she'd have to get any cut treated soon, before infection set in. Matt and Jenkins were slightly better off, protected in some way by the thick metal armor they wore. They too rested in the pool of water, but aside from what had seeped into the armor through the joints, they were spared Kyle's fears and disgust.

"Ahh, it appears our guests have arrived," a voice cried out. Trying not to wobble on shaky feet, Kyle turned to look up at the Nerubian she had spotted earlier. Unlike the spider/centaur creatures that usually attacked, this was a crypt-lord, a bloated scarab-beetle-like creature with no true humanoid features. Which made it's echoing, alien voice all the more unnerving, as it spoke accented (to the point of sounding almost regal) English.

"What have we here?" it chittered. "Smells like a delicious snack. ATTACK, MINIONS, AK-CHKCHKCHK-TA! BRING ME MY DINNER!"

"I dunno, you look like you can stand to lose a few pounds," Matt replied snidely. All he got in reply was a string of unintelligible angry hisses that did not sound complementary.

The three of them braced themselves as the undead came at them; a small party of skeletons that fell to their weapons far faster than expected.

"Well... that was weak. Might as well work our way to the top," Kyle said, kicking one of the skeletons at her feet.

"Work our... oh," Jenkins said, seeing another group of undead coming towards them. As teams of undead came at them from ahead, behind, and the sides, they worked their way towards the staircase leading up to their enemy leader.

When they reached the base of the steps, the Nerubian Crypt-Lord looked down at them and waved its chitinous limbs in anger. "How can this be? I Am Anub'Zakak! Scourge Lord! DIE MORTALS!"

Unfortunately for him, his opponents failed to die, instead decimating the few scourge he had on the platform with him. Those that tried to come up from behind where picked off as they advanced, some taken apart by weapons, others roughly shoved down the steps, where a precarious tumble would (and did) result in broken bones.

Finally, they reached their objective, and without further ado, began to assault the Crypt Lord. Jenkins and Matt held its attention, their larger weapons smashing chitin and knocking pointed exoskeletal feet out from under it, while Kyle darted around the body, daggers whirling around her to slice into leathery joints and stab into weakened cracks in the armor to deliver noxious poisons to it's softer innards.

Much to their annoyance, Anub'Karak was willing to give as well as he got, and both Jenkins and Matt were forced to use what healing spells they knew when a particularly devastating hit made it past their shields, or Kyle failed to properly dodge a flailing limb. After several minutes of this, both parties were looking under the weather, but no clear victor was yet apparent. That was when their fight was interrupted.

LIGHT!

Silver light danced throughout the cavern. As quickly as it began, the beams of light converged as one on the Crypt Lord.

"AAAAIIIIIIEEEEEE!"

The monstrosity screamed as its hard carapace blackened and smoked. With its attention off of them, Matt, Kyle and Jenkins moved in for the kill. Before it could sufficiently react, Matt and Jenkins began to pour their own magic on the burnt area until it burst into flame; silver and gold flames that crawled across its form until Anub'Zakak's entire body was engulfed. Within moments, the Crypt Lord was on its back, legs twitching in the air.

Kyle turned to look at where the glow had come from.

"SERENITY!" Matt shouted with a fierce grin.

The Queen of the Silver Millennium nodded down at her friends, before holding her staff aloft once more. While the three had carved a nasty swath through the undead on their trek to Anub'Arak's platform, there were dozens more scattered throughout the cavern, and the mindless undead began to recover from the shock of Anub'Arak's death and started to converge on the three living beings most visible in the center of the cavern.

"Undead filth," she hissed, glaring at the mob around her friends. Behind her, she heard Captain Bitters telling her to stop drawing the horde's attention to them, but she ignored him. Kyle and Matt were in danger, and she would not fail them. "LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!" Her words reverberated in a resonant echo across the cavern, voice boosted by the sheer power she was drawing together.

The glow from her staff returned, but unlike before, where multiple bright beams illuminated the room like myriad spotlights, this time a single beam inches wide lanced out, searing into the walls and floor of the cavern as it darted erratically around the room. Any undead caught in its path exploded in a cloud of dust.

When the light stopped its motion and faded out, glowing magic circles covered many exposed areas of the cavern. Nodding once at the array before her, she knelt swiftly, speaking in a low tone, in a language nobody present could understand.

"I hereby claim this land In the name of the Moon;
Of Peace. Of Prosperity. Of Power.
For within these lands life the source of my rule; my people.
For within these lands live that which is worth dying for.
For within these lands live those worth killing for."
For Peace, let no friend go wanting.
With Prosperity grant those who work upon the land full bounty.
In Power shall the enemies of those who belong be swept away.
The Sovereign of these lands demands it."

The magic circles flared once, the same silver light that had shone from her staff reaching out of the very ground, moments before an unseen force sent the remaining undead flying. Outside, they might have survived, but underground, the power that had swept them up deposited them into the sides of the fortress with enough power to pulverize bone. In a matter of seconds, the chamber was clear of moving undead; only their rotting bodies sliding to a halt against an unseen barrier that began where the edge of the magic circle had been moments ago.

Xxxxx

"Nice shot, Highness!" Matt cheered. "Perfect timing, as usual."

Serenity smiled back cheerfully. "Well, I couldn't let you boys have all the fun."

"We could have taken them," Kyle muttered half-heartedly. "We had 'em right were we wanted."

Matt rolled his eyes. "Right; surrounding us so we could attack in all directions." The three gave a small laugh at that, though Kyle and Matt's laughter was tinged with relief. Serenity's arrival had been damnably well-timed.

Captain Bitters interrupted the moment with a loud 'harumph.' "If you three are done grinning like idiots, we've got a bomb to place!" He looked particularly angry that Kyle and Matt survived, where his hand-picked warrior had not. "If you don't hurry up and finish helping me arm the damn thing, I'll let the lot of you blow up with it!"

He began muttering as he stomped angrily down the rocky slope towards the center of the room. "Couldnae even take down a Crypt Lord on your own. You're all as useless as that mush-for-brains Sergeant I sent with you three. Probably fell on her own sword."

"Sergeant Soerta died on your orders, Captain!" Jenkins said with a scowl.

"Watch yourself Private!" Captain Bitters replied, hotly. "You're not much better than the space goat," he said, before a boot sent him sprawling.

"The Sergeant is barely an hour dead, and you dare speak ill of her?" Matt said softly, even as his eyes burned with fury.

"Sergeant Seorta's family died when we crashed onto your planet. Despite her grief, she chose to help the Alliance, knowing it was for the greater good. And this is how you treat her death?" Corporal Hartaz asked, the burly draenei's face also showing barely-restrained rage.

Kyle, shot the captain a disgusted look, which was mirrored by Serenity, before she placed a hand on the draenei's shoulder. "She died clean, and is with her family now. She will not be a puppet for the lich king, and I will personally see to it that she is properly honored when we return. The Captain, in this instance and many others, speaks not for the alliance or even his own race."

"How dare you presume-"

"HOW DARE YOU," Serenity shouted. Before Bitters could recover, she leaned forward into his face, crystal blue eyes boring into his like diamond drills. "You will proceed with the preparations silently, or you will face a wrath unlike any this planet has ever seen. do you understand?" she said, her voice dripping with contempt, even as it echoed with the command of someone who had been and was at times still considered a god in another world.

Captain Bitter's hindbrain was a lot more intelligent than its fore. It recognized that if it wanted to continue living with all its appendages in place, it needed to shut up and start working. It was therefore with remarkable restraint, and much surprise to the rest of the party, that he silently stood up without further comment and motioned for his detonation team to move forward. "Lets get this thing set up and get out of here," he muttered. "The sooner we finish this the sooner I can be rid of the lot of you."

Matt shrugged at Serenity, who was looking back at him with a pained expression. "Well, I suppose that's about as big a miracle as we could expect out of that guy," he quietly whispered. "Maybe we'll actually be able to blow this joint and go home."

"Where's technician Nobbs?" Kyle asked, looking around for the diminutive technician. In the bustle of getting the bomb onto the platform and ensuing argument, she'd missed the fact that he wasn't present.

Serenity's frown was all the answer she needed.

"He died on the way in," Hartaz said. "He was... taken while scouting," he explained, though his pained expression gave Kyle reason to doubt that explanation. Serenity nodded, though she didn't think that was truly accurate. The little gnome had heard a noise a head, and unthinkingly run off to investigate. The rest of the bombing team had arrived in time to see the gnome torn asunder by a pack of geists that scrambled off after a pair of ghouls. All of the scourge seemed to be intent on chasing something, but a few had broken off to attack them. Hartaz and Serenity had taken care of most of then, Bitters keeping back "to protect the bomb," until the path was clear once more. From that point on, they'd encountered no more undead, and only after arriving at the mouth of the cavern had they discovered why.

"Useless!" Bitters shouted. "Without me, this whole plan would have fallen apart!" He grinned the vicious grin of a bully that discovered an ounce of leverage against a weaker opponent. "They'll give me my due, at least, when we return. I'll be the hero!" He sniffed in distain as he turned his back on the rest of the party and began tinkering with the device. "Unless, of course, one of you knows how to operate gnomish engineering? Ha! I thought not!"

Matt physically restrained Kyle from moving forward to attack the dwarf's unprotected back. "Hey, he's working. Let him have his moment of imagined glory."

"I'll shove his glory so far up his imagination he'll be spitting rainbows and farting unicorns," Kyle muttered in anger. With a huff she calmed down and backed off. "Whatever. Lets just get out of here before-"

"Who dares lay claim to my lands?" An impossibly deep voice ground out.

Kyle blinked as she recognized the sound. "Oh, come on out, Arthas. If you're going to whine and bitch about this, you might as well give us something to point and laugh at, as well."

Captain Bitters started to gibber quietly. Everyone ignored it, as a glowing orange-and-purple portal opened up and a phantasmal Lich King stepped out of the summoned Death Gate.

"Oh, now that's just cheap. You send a mere shade?"

"Umm... Commander? Why are you antagonizing the most powerful being on the planet?" Private Jenkins hissed.

"Because he's not."

"You think you are more powerful than I?" The Lich King growled.

Kyle shrugged again. "I never said I was. But really, all you do is tell corpses what to do. Whoop-de-friggin-do. Nozdormu can travel through time. Five minutes, and he could kill your mother before she even met your father. Deathwing's minions still cause trouble, and everyone thinks he's dead. Kil'jaden MADE you, and I'll bet if you two went toe-to-toe, he'd wipe the floor with your face."

As she spoke, the blue glowing eyes of the Lich King narrowed in anger with each example she gave.

"But you know what? It doesn't even matter. Sooner or later you will fall. You're evil. It's just the way things work."

"Enough prattle. You will serve me in time, Night Elf. As will all the other living things on this planet-"

"What about Outland?" Kyle interrupted.

"ALL WILL SERVE ME," the Lich King shouted.

"I'd serve you some turtle soup, but I don't know if you have the taste buds to appreciate it," Matt commented wryly.

"ARGH!" The Lich King bellowed, shaking his phantasmal fist at them all. "Your days are numbered mortals. Everyone dies. And when you do, you will be mine."

"Oh, listen to the big bad. 'Everyone dies.' Tell me, moron; what does that say about yourself?"

Arthas, who had started walking back to the Death Gate, paused. "I am beyond death."

Kyle just smirked. "And that is why you fall. 'Arrogance borne of ignorance,' as it were." She shrugged. "Farewell, King of dust. We will not meet again."

The Lich King stepped into the gate, which collapsed behind him. Kyle shook herself and then turned to the others. "Okay, hurry the hell up. He's going to send everything he can here, and we need to be gone when they arrive."

"Why would you antagonize him like that?" Serenity asked.

Kyle smirked. "Because as soon as that bomb goes off, anything he sends our way that isn't destroyed will be buried under a mountain, and out of the fight."

The others all suddenly looked more enthusiastic, aside from Captain Bitters. "You've endangered our lives and the mission! When we get back to base, I'm reporting you to the general for-"

"You will report it to the King of Stormwind when you arrive back in the Eastern Kingdoms, as per our prior arrangement. Otherwise, you will report it to the Lich King, if he manages to put you back together when this bomb blows your body to pieces," Kyle spat, pointing her dagger at him.

He growled, but stayed silent before turning to the bomb and pulling out a few bloodied sheets of paper. Matt glanced at Serenity, who merely shook her head.

As the dwarf fiddled with the device as the paperwork apparently told him to, Corporal Hartaz made his way over to one of the many entrances to the cavern, before turning. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we're about to have company!"

As he shouted this, he took a step back, even as a ghoul launched itself at him. Falling back with the attack, the ghoul found itself impaled upon his sword, a moment before his shield truck it with enough force to crush its rotting skull in. At that moment, the caves all around them began to expel undead at a truly horiffic rate, and even with Serenity's consecrating effect on the ground killing the weakst ones in droves, more and more continued to enter the room, until the dead bodies formed a barrier between the still-moving undead and the ground that sought to kill them.

"That's got it. No stopping this thing from blowing up now!" Captain Bitters cried as he stood back.

"Unless some undead manages to smash it to pieces," Matt replied, even as he caught the swing of a nerubians forearm on his shield and retaliated with a sword-thrust through the chest. Being undead, the nerubian wasn't too injured by this, until Matt channeled some of Elune's power into the sword while it was still imbedded within the fiend. It gave a raspy screech, before toppling onto its side.

Across the cavern, another shout, this one far more pained, rang out, and the living people within the cave turned to watch Hartaz get dragged down into a pile of ghouls, skeletons, and more, swinging even as he was obscured by the undead around him.

"Son of a bitch," Kyle said, even as she flicked her wrist and embedded another of her throwing knives into the single eye of an oncoming geist.

"Commander! There's too many of them!" Jenkens cried, blacking up slowly so that the oncoming tide of undead didn't flank him as they had Hartaz.

"Aye, lass. 'Tis only one thing we can do," Captain Bitters said, trying hard to look like he was making a touch decision. "As the Commander, you should stay behind and prevent them from sabotaging this weapo-" He was cut off as a rock bounced off his thick skull, thrown by an angry looking Serenity.

"How dare you suggest any of us stay behind!" She said, even as she unleashed another bolt of silvery magic that turned a trio of undead to ash.

Kyle frowned, looking at the oncoming crowd of undead. "Actually, he might be right... I think I underestimated just how many undead he had down here."

"He could be gating them in, like he did earlier," Matt supplied.

"Well then, Commander, are ye going to stay and do yer job?" Captain Bitters said with a little smirk.

"Well, Captain, it was your idea, and your bomb. Maybe I should make it an order?" Kyle sniped, wondering just how she'd survive something meant to bring down a (mostly-hollowed-out) mountain.

"I'll do it."

Everyone paused to look at Jenkins. He nodded, as if reassuring himself, before looking Kyle in the eyes. "It's the enlistees job to die for their officers, right, ma'am?" Before anyone could refute it, he continued, "The Alliance needs officers like you, Commander. You and the Lieutenant and Lady Serenity."

"And me, laddie?" Bitters asked, hopefully.

Jenkins just laughed. "I don't trust you enough to protect yourself, much less a weapon as important as this." As he said that, he pointed to the bomb with his shield-hand, before moving to step beside it.

Bitters growled and took a step forward, before he felt a razor sharp blade press up against his throat. "The Private is saying he'll die so that your worthless, useless carcass can leave, and you're going to attack him?" Kyle hissed in his ear. Bitters froze, before stepping back slowly. "Good luck Private. Light be with you." Though insincere, Jenkins nodded at the Captain, before turning to look at Matt and Kyle.

"It's been an honor serving with you two. In the little time we worked together, I think I understood why the King trusted you so." He turned to Serenity. "Lady Serenity, these two obviously care about you a lot, from what I've seen and heard. You yourself are a force to be reckoned with. Would that I could do half the magic you could, we might have all made it out of here. As it is..." He closed his eyes and bowed his head, a short sigh escaping his lips before a short prayer. He looked up then, renewed strength in his eyes, as he glanced at everyone. "May the Light continue to guide and protect you and yours. Go, sirs, ma'am. I'll handle things here."

With that, Jenkins turned towards the oncoming crowd of undead, before a shimmering field of energy surrounded him and a pair of golden wings appeared behind him.

Kyle took a moment to salute the soldier, a move followed by the others, before the four turned to run down the tunnel they'd entered the cavern from.

"How much time does he have?' Kyle asked, not quite as winded as before, since the dwarf had relatively small legs compared to her.

"Four minutes or so. The note said it would explode with the force of two-to-twenty kaituns of gnomish explosives," Bitters explained.

"What the hell's a 'kayton?" Serenity asked.

"It's on the note. Probably a gnomish word."

"Wait wait wait..." Kyle said, frowning. She did not like what she was hearing. "Was that 'kaituns.' or 'k-tons?'"

"'kaituns!'" The dwarf cried.

"LETTER 'K' THEN 'TONS,' OR 'K-A-I-T-U-N-S?'" Kyle bellowed as they ran.

"The letter then the word, lass! Why are you hollerin? Are you trying to draw their attention!?"

"Matt-"

"I heard."

"Now would be a great time for some divine intervention," Kyle said, voice uncharacteristically weak.

"Kinda hard to pray and run at the same time."

"We're trying to outrun a nuke. Learn FAST."

Matt grunted before he took on a golden glow, much like Jenkins had before.

Suddenly, the four of them found themselves speeding up, the walls practically blurring as they raced out of the tunnel at a far faster speed than was natural. "It worked!" Matt cried out.

"You think?" Kyle snarked back, even as she saw the cave ahead growing lighter.

"We're almost clear!" Bitters said, still unsure why they were so worried. The bomb couldn't hurt them from this far away.

Kyle was the first one out, but considering their speed, the ghoul that had been waiting above the entrance only had time to blink before all four had exited, and were on their way down the hill towards the keep.

Spotting a rocky outcropping, Kyle veered towards it, and ducked behind it, Matt and Serenity following. She hoped the bomb wasn't as powerful as the upper projections had been, but knew it would probably exceed them.

"Damn Gnomish engineers," Kyle muttered, before taking stock of their location. "Serenity, this may seem undignified, but trust me; I need you to lie down here," she pointed at a shallow furrow in the ground at her feet. "Face-down, and cover your head with your hands."

"I-" Serenity was about to protest, when she saw the look in Kyle's eyes. Her friend was a few steps away from terrified. Without saying anything, she got down on the cold ground and covered her head. A moment later, she let out an undignified squawk as two bodies got down on top of her, Her left covered by Kyle, and her right covered by Matt, both of whom were doing their best to cover her as completely as possible.

"What are you three doing? This is no time for any of that!" Bitters said, stepping out from behind the rocks to look at the mountain. "There's undead coming!"

"I'll take my chances, now get down you moron! The mountain is going to blow!" Kyle yelled, before apologizing to Serenity and Matt, whose ears she had just shouted into.

"Ha! No bomb is that powerful. It'll bring that cavern down, but I doubt the mountain will change that much. You're nothing but a coward in the end, Commander!" Bitters taunted, before turning around and heading towards the Keep. With as much of a lead their goddess-given speed had granted them, he should be safe within the keep long before the majority of the scourge arrive.

Kyle took a moment to look back at the Captain, blissfully wandering down towards the keep, before ducking her head again. "Remember how I said the Horde build their base within a rocky crater in the middle of the Borean Tundra?"

Matt and Serenity both "Mmmhmm"-ed in response.

"Currently, there is no crater..."

Before either could respond to that, the ground trembled, and then HEAVED, and only their prone position kept them from being thrown. As it was, they had the wind knocked out of them, even as an earth-rending BOOM echoed throughout the land, the sky darkening as tons of dirt and rock were thrown into the air by the explosion.

Where once a mountain had stood, there was now a crater ringed by the outer remnants of the mountain. What hadn't been pulverized began its steady descent to the land below. Kyle and Matt both winced and endured as rocks and other hard bits of mountain and undead began falling on them, some large enough to bruise. Thankfully, their position behind the rocky outcropping kept the larger, deadlier pieces off them.

Unfortunately, not everyone had listened to Kyle's advice. Captain Bitters was only halfway to the keep when the bomb went off, and the lurch as the shockwave passed under his feet had tossed him to the ground a moment before the blast began to rain rocks on him. "Ha-ha! A little rock won't hurt me! I'm a Dwarf! The Earth itself yields to my kind like..." He trailed off as he spotted a boulder the size of a large house appear through the dirt and dust in the air heading straight for him.

Before he could say anything else it landed, putting an end to the Captain, even as it rolled down the mountain towards the keep. When it finally stopped a hole had been knocked in the right side of the outer wall, but no damage had been done to the actual Keep itself.

Kyle and Matt waited a few minutes before climbing to their feet. Bits of rock and dirt were still raining down around them sporadically, but the loud thuds and shudders had stopped a while back.

"Well... lets not do that again, okay?" Kyle asked, as he helped Serenity to her feet. Serenity's robes were dirtied in the front where she had lain on the ground, and she tried wiping some of it off before giving up as she managed to smear it around and make it worse.

Kyle's backside was covered in dirt as well, and every time she moved, dirt, dust and small pebbles rained out of the folds, creases and joints in the heavy leather. Matt, wearing plate, managed to brush the majority of the dirt away with a swipe of his cape, before turning to look at Kyle.

"So... The Horde are going to... Build their base in that?"

Kyle shrugged. "Looks that way. At least my memory of the geography wasn't as wrong as I had thought."

"So it would seem. Still, next time you find yourself questioning your memory like that, please let us know," Serenity said, frowning at the thought of how much work it would take to get the mud out of her robes. Up here in Northrend, even the nobles had to do their own laundry.

"I suppose we should find the Captain and return to base," Kyle said, frowning down at the Keep. "Damn..."

"What?" Matt asked.

"There's a huge hole in the wall. I guess even the keep wasn't far enough away to avoid damage," Kyle explained.

"I hope the guards on duty weren't hurt," Matt muttered, obviously worried.

"Only one way to find out. We need to report in," Kyle said as she began picking her way through the field of debris.

"We also need to report Sergeant Soerta's death, as well as Technician Nobbs, Corporal Hartaz, and... Private Jenkins."

Kyle paused, before shaking as she stifled a laugh that threatened to escape her. "Private Leeroy Jenkins," she said, before snorting. "Despite all my fears, he lived longer than the others..."

"And was damn heroic, in the end," Matt reminded her with a frown.

Kyle nodded, her mirthful grin replaced with a wistful one. "He did die a hero. How many scourge do you think he held off for us to escape and the bomb to destroy?"

"More than we'll probably ever care to know," Serenity said.

"Sounds about right," Kyle muttered, before grinning again. "Of all the things to have been wrong about..." She sighed. "You did good, Jenkins. Godspeed."

She paused, before turning around and looking at the ground she'd just stepped on. "Ugh. I think I found the Captain."

Matt, crouching over an impressively deep crater about twenty feet back, nodded. "I think I did, too."

Serenity looked between the two, before clearing her throat. "I suppose we should bring him back to be buried properly, like the others..."

Kyle shook her head, looking at the wet mess in clothing she was standing beside. "If I were a guy right now, I'm not so sure I wouldn't be relieving myself on him... as it stands, I just survived a close encounter with a nuke. I'm afraid I don't have the energy to..." Kyle trailed off as she stared at the mess some more. "Hmm. Bottle him up, I suppose."

"Should we say something?" Matt asked.

"Here lies Captain Bitters. He died so that others may live in peace," Kyle snarked.

"I like it." Serenity said.

"That works," Matt added, before straightening up. The mess he'd found was not something wanted to stare at too long. It would make eating a bit difficult. "Better than he deserved, anyway."

Kyle stretched lazily as the activities of the day caught up to her, and the fatigue adrenaline had been keeping at bay finally set in. "Well, lets hurry back and report in. I can't wait to leave this place behind us."

Serenity and Matt nodded in agreement as the three headed off towards the keep at a slightly more sedate pace. Behind them, the remains of the small mountain smoked and sizzled as it settled into the crater that remained.

Xxxxx

Author's Notes (Magus): Sorry about the delay. Work changed on me. Hours. Job Security. Whether I have any employees under me at all. Great way to ruin the writing mood. Or a sleep schedule. Or Timely car payments.

Anyway. Here's the new chapter. Up above. Hope you enjoyed it.

Author's Notes (Tannim): It also didn't help that I got a new job working for the US Census, and all my hours are in the evening. At any rate, we're excited that we've got only a couple of chapters left in Azeroth. And don't let Magus fool you, he's been working hard on this and future chapters, despite his troubles.

Anyway, let us know what you think about the story so far!

 

[TannimFodder]

Xxxxx Omake Omake Omake xxxxX

"Hey, boss. Wouldja look at dat!"

"Wut are you talking about, gobbie?"

"Dere's a perfectly defensible crater we could build our base at. Looks fresh, too!" The goblin engineer sighed wistfully. "Wish I coulda seen da explosion dat made dat! It musta been HUUUUUGE!"

The orcish horde scout snorted. "Whatevah. Looks good. Guess our job's finished then." The scout was cheered by a sudden thought. "Lets hurry back then and tell the others, I hear they've gotta new kinda beer made from the bushes here I wanna try."

"But weren't we sapposeda look around summore?"

"Nah. This'll do."

 

[TerraBull]

I Laughed.

With the 3 survivors recommendations, will a Marker stone/ memorial be put up to Honor the Fallen Heroes?

I admit, seeing this, I am envisioning a broken parody of the game Counter Strike where Private Jenkins is a Terrorist. Protecting the Weapon & gets the Highest Kill Ratio with the Weapon Detonation.

Captain Bitter gets the notation for 'Setting up the Bomb' & the Lowest Kill count. Dying by Taunt as the Earth Kissed him.

You know? History is written by the Victors, will Kyle write the report of "The TRUE Story of Private Leeroy Jenkins Last Stand" so he becomes as Famous as we all know? :lol:

I also laugh at the thought of Captain Bitter's Spirit still there, then when the Horde comes, it ends up Possessing a Peon.

Will Arthas remember the taunts enough to keep a eye on the 3? What I mean is, when Serenity did her Prayer, did Arthas hear it when he said.

"Who dares lay claim to my lands?"

It sounds sorta like she is Colonizing the area with her Prayer?

Thanks for sharing, write when you can.

 

[nick012000]

LEEEROOY JEENKIIINS

 

[Gulping Again]

That's some solid work there, you two.

Now do something with NASIF already, Kagato. I marathoned through that mess earlier and want to see what the hell's going to happen next.

 

[blackkyuubi]

Nice.

 

[TannimFodder]

Chapter 12

Xxxxx

General Arlos watched the trio enter the hall with some surprise. His smile collapsed into a frown when nobody else followed the three in. "Am I to assume you're all that remains of the two teams?" He asked, wearily. Serenity nodded slowly, and the General merely sighed and shook his head. "I suppose it's to be expected... At least the mission was successful." He glanced at a window set into the wall in the back of the room, and the pile of glass shards on the ground below it. "Though I suppose everyone from here to Stranglethorn is aware of it." Shaking himself from his introspection, he turned to look at them again, before letting another sigh out. "I can tell I won't like your debriefing... Very well. Lets hear it."

Kyle took the lead. "As the General is no doubt aware, the scouting team entered the Scourge caves ahead of the bombing team. Sergeant Soerta was ambushed from above by a Nerubian and as per standard policy, rendered useless to the scourge. Following a brief altercation, both teams were reunited in some ruins of the ancient nerubian empire, where a scarab lord lie in wait. The bombing team arrived in time to assist in dispatching the scourge leader, and the weapon was placed. After the weapon was set the Lich King arrived as a shade, I proceeded to taunt him in an attempt to draw in more scourge casualties. Private Jenkins elected to remain behind to protect the weapon from Scourge tampering after Corporal Hartaz was overwhelmed. Technician Nobbs..." Kyle paused to look at Serenity.

"Technician Nobbs was killed by geists on the way in," she offered quietly.

Kyle nodded, before continuing. "Captain Bitters explained the weapon's potential explosive capacity during our exit, and I made a command decision to prepare for the worst. Unfortunately, the Captain chose not to heed my advice and thus paid the ultimate price."

The General withheld a snort of derision at that. Whenever someone had died in a particularly preventable manner, the Commander waxed poetic about their death. It had bothered him at first, the casual disrespect for the recently deceased, but over time, he'd come to realize that the Commander only used it for those that truly died for naught, usually by not following the orders or advice from their superiors.

"On a personal note, sir," Matt spoke up, "I'd like to recommend the enlistees for posthumous promotions. Jenkins died a heroes death, and both Soerta and Hartaz died to ensure the mission was a success. Without them, it's likely we'd have been overrun on the way in, and the mission would have failed."

"I will have to run it by Highlord Fordragon at least, as posthumous awards are not something a general can hand out on the battlefield, but I see no reason why it would be denied." he paused, then looked at Kyle. "For the sake of our dwarven allies, Commander, I have to ask what truly happened to Captain Bitters."

Kyle winced. She'd expected this, but couldn't come up with a valid explanation that would absolve the captain of his idiocy. Not that any of them cared, really, but if the negative report got back to Ironforge, it might ruffle some beards.

Fortunately, the problem was taken out of her hand as someone spoke as they walked through the door rather brazenly. "If he acted as I suspect, it's likely he died trying to save his own hide and ignored the suggestions of his betters."

"Highness!" General Arlos cried in surprise, before kneeling. Kyle, Matt and Serenity followed him to the floor, though Sereinty with some hesitation. She wasn't used to kneeling for anyone.

"None of that! I came as soon as the blast reached Stormwind. By the light; a mountain reduced to rubble with one weapon! That we could have a dozen more to unleash upon our enemies." The king said as everyone stood back up. "I'll deal with Ironforge. It doesn't leave this room, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I had expected an outcome like this."

"You mean... you sent him here-" Kyle started to ask, scowling.

"I sent him here to assist. I personally gave him orders to listen to you three, and to obey his chain of command. That he is not here means he either failed to listen, or we failed to train him," King Wrynn explained.

"I'd say a little of column 'a', a little of column 'b.'" Kyle muttered.

General Arlos frowned. "Are you saying the Alliance Military does not prepare it's soldiers properly?"

Kyle blinked. "No?" When the General bristled at this, she explained further, pointing. "Out that broken window are hundreds of soldiers willing to die for the Alliance. You cannot train that; it's a matter of faith. They trust those around them to work together, to cover their backs. That's trust. And were they to see an incoming arrow about to take their king in the chest, they'd step in front of it gladly. That's respect. Any soldier can be taught to soldier, but virtues like those? You either have them, or you don't. It's not a matter of training, it's a matter of individuality and teamwork. Captain Bitters had no respect for his superiors. He had no faith in his men. And he had no trust in the ability of others. He died as he lived; alone."

"That's... quite the viewpoint, Commander," King Wrynn said, frowning, but with an understanding nod. The night elf's insight sounded accurate. However...

"Aye, it is. But I fail to see how you can fault the Alliance's training for his failures, when you yourself said the virtues he failed to uphold were unteachable," Arlos pointed out.

Kyle shrugged. "They can't be taught, but they should damn well be noticed. You can watch any soldier in the Alliance for mere minutes and see examples of teamwork. Captain Bitters had none. Yet he came to Northrend as a Captain, able to challenge, brush off, or undermine all but the most senior of officers here. If your leaders abroad had been trained to watch for problems like this, it would not have been a problem. Bitters would have arrived a private at best, a sergeant at worst. That he was a Captain..." Kyle shook her head in disgust.

"Actually, he might have been better off as a Civilian advisor. Even Privates are required to work as a part of the team," Serenity stated.

King Wrynn looked annoyed, before turning to Matt. "Do you have anything to add?"

Matt shrugged. "I think they covered it pretty well, your highness."

General Arlos groaned. "Milord, please don't think too ill of them. They did just return from a fairly trying ordeal."

The King nodded. "I know that. They've enough dust on them to tell me that at a glance. It's a rare thing, a King chewed out by a Commander, a Lieutenant, and a Noble. Even moreso for them to be absolutely correct."

"Well," Kyle mused, "it's not as if the King has personally seen to it that the Alliance Military fails at so important an aspect of training. Those below those below him should have seen to it. So," she said, turning to King Wrynn, "don't take my complaint as if it were directed at you, sir." After a pause, she glanced at the General, then the King again. "Exactly what brings you to Northrend anyway, Highness?"

King Wrynn smirked. "Blowing up that mountain was quite loud. We heard it in Stormwind, and I had quite a few mages react to the blast, as well. Not to mention some visiting druids. I had been expecting a report about the destruction of the Scourge encampment, but the report of the blast? I had to see it for myself. I'll be leaving for Stormwind Keep again shortly, once my mages are rested from transporting us here, but until then, there are some details I'd like to discuss with General Arlos here... As well as those in charge of training..."

"By your leave, then?" Serenity asked.

The King nodded, before turning to Arlos and engaging the general in conversation.

As the three exited the debriefing room, Matt noticed one of the soldiers beckoning him closer. It was Sam, his first sergeant. He was wearing a grin and looked practically giddy.

"Excuse me, it appears I've got some business to take care of," Matt noted. At Kyle and Serenity's nods he parted from the group and walked towards Sam, who was at this point hopping from one foot to the other with excitement.

"I take it preparations are going well?" Matt said dryly.

Sam hugged himself with glee. "You don't know the half of it sir! When I spread the word of this little get together around, I had a better response that I could have hoped for! To begin with, you wouldn't believe the amount of drink people had stored away for a rainy day! Addin' in to the fact that we've got a lot of talented men here that're willin to provide the entertainment! I say we've got a right proper send-off in the works we do!"

Matt motioned with his hands for his sergeant to calm down, but he couldn't help but grin himself. "All right, all right, it's going to be spectacular. Great. Just tell me when and where to get the Commander and her ladyship and we'll be able to start the party."

Xxxxx

Several hours later...

"Matt, why are you taking us back to the main hall? I was kinda looking forward to sleeping. You know... Before we head out into the wilds so we can go home?"

The man shrugged without a hint of guile. "Apparently we've been called to talk to the King one last time about our plans."

Serenity turned her eyes heavenwards. "Whatever it is, it could at least wait until morn-"

"SURPRIIIIIIIIIIIIIISE!"

Both Serenity and Kyle took a step back in shock as several tens of soldiers and various civilian workers cheered at them from inside the hall. The place, which had been decorated garishly from whatever shiney bits of metal or colorful pieces of cloth that could be gathered within such a short period of time, assaulted their eyes as they took in the spectacle.

"I thought the King knew I didn't like to talk to large crowds..." Kyle muttered to Serenity, tongue-in-cheek.

Serenity giggled in shock and amazement. She turned to Matt with a small smile that threatened to escape into a full-blown grin. "All right, out with it. What is going on here?"

Matt nodded towards the assembled crowd and waved at a few of them to get things going. "Just a little something for the men, in the disguise as a victory celebration and farewell bash for us. Apparently they were eager to show their appreciation for all our hard work this past year and a half." He turned to Serenity, a smirk adorning his features. "And I figured one night of revelry wouldn't kill anyone."

"Well, I suppose, since they've already set all this up, it would be rude not to participate," Kyle said, finally. With a smile, she made her way to the lavishly loaded table, trying hard to smother the protest at the abundance of fresh food they'd just gotten off the boat the other day, and proceeded to nibble at the tastier looking dishes.

Serenity, for her part, had made her way towards the crowds, intent on mingling with those she'd come to see as her surrogate people. Back home, she'd spent the majority of her time hoisted on a pedestal and kept from going elbow-to-elbow with the common people of the kingdom, but here, in her role as officer, she'd been face-to-face with hundreds of people, and now, she used what she had learned of them all to brighten their spirits and exchange friendly words of respect and admiration.

Prompted by a few of the men, Matt entered an ad hoc drinking contest with several of the toughest and strongest lads in the guard. They had finished their second round and had started chugging their third when the appearance of someone at the entrance to the hall interrupted them.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?"

The booming voice echoed through the party, and with all the speed of a sudden heart attack festivities ground to a halt. Everyone looked towards the speaker in shock as the King of Stormwind himself, Varian Wrynn, stood before them with a glower on his face looking particularly unhappy.

"How DARE you have a party... Without inviting your KING!" His face instantly changed from anger to mischievous in a blink of an eye as he stepped fully into the room, and grabbed a drink off of a nearby table. Looking around at the people still frozen in shock, he motioned with his glass. "Carry on, then."

It took a few nervous chuckles and one roaring laughter from Matt for things to pick up again. Kyle, Serenity and Matt all made their way to the King, who looked like he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Ah, it was a bit of a surprise for us as well, your majesty," Kyle nodded towards Wrynn, before punching Matt on his armored shoulder. "There were some dissenters amongst us who felt that sleep just didn't cut it when it came to recuperation."

"Are you kidding? This is much better than those dreadfully dull cocktail parties I have to throw every few months to keep the local nobles in check. At least here I can actually enjoy myself for a change."

Serenity nodded in agreement. "I understand completely, highness. Back home we had similar functions, and I fear they were possibly even more dull than yours sound."

Wrynn looked pityingly at Serenity, before grabbing another drink off the table and pouring her a glass. "Care to join me for a drink then? Shared misery and all that?"

Serenity smiled and took the glass. "I'd be honored."

As things really got into full swing, a succession of soldiers and civilians began a series of variety acts. First up, a mage pulled a rabbit out of his hat, which in turn un-polymorphed from a rabbit into a rather irate cook who proceeded to chase the mage around, much to the amusement of the onlookers. Next, a juggling act ended badly when the soldier juggling the knives was distracted by a pretty waitress. He had to be taken to the infirmary with minor cuts to his hands and a knife in his foot. After that a trio of soldiers got everyone's attention with some flashy magic, before proceeding to tell a variety of relatively lame jokes.

Kyle, having been handed a few glasses of alcohol already, groaned loudly at the: "a guy walked up to me and said, 'I'm a teepee, I'm a wigwam, I'm a teepee, I'm a wigwam!' and I said 'Relax, man! You're two tents!'" Amidst the groaning his "get it? Two tents, too tense?" explanation was all but ignored.

"Think you could do better?" Serenity asked, smiling.

"At jokes? Not without offending someone," Kyle said.

"How about at entertaining in general," Serenity offered.

Kyle's eyes narrowed, and she looked down at the mug in her hand. "I may have had a couple drinks, but I'm not drunk enough for a repeat performance."

Without warning Matt appeared at Kyle's elbow with an enchanted microphone in hand and a wounded puppy-dog look on his face. "But, but, but everything's already being prepared for you!" He pointed towards an area that had been cleared, where a band was currently setting up. "See?"

Kyle's scowl deepened. "I said no, Matt."

"Don't do it for him, do it for them," Serenity said, waving her hand at the crowd, who had grown quieter, each one with an ear in their direction, and looks of obfuscated inattention on their faces.

"Uh-huh... Right. And what, exactly, will I be doing for them?" Kyle asked.

Serenity smiled. "Well, entertaining. Providing them with something to hold on to when we depart.

"... You're not going to let this go, are you?" Kyle finally asked, looking at the sparkle in Serenity's eyes, and knowing she was doomed to singing again.

Serenity shook her head.

"Fine. But if I'm singing, then so are you two," Kyle demanded.

Serenity looked somewhat taken aback by this. "I'm not sure I know any songs-"

"You're how old? You have to know something." Kyle interrupted, before turning to Matt. "And as for you, don't even think about protesting. If you can play a lute for the songs I know, then you know the words to quite a few, as well."

Serenity nodded while Kyle's head was turned, but went back to looking innocent and confused when the night elf's gaze returned to her. "In fact... Lets be a little more grandiose... since Serenity knows as little of our music as the crowd here..."

"Wait a second," Matt started to protest.

Kyle just grinned darkly, "Oh no. You're in this with me, buddy. For every song I sing, so do you. The good Queen Serenity here will chose the topic about which we sing. And the crowd will decide which of us chose the better song."

"Sounds like a fair competition," a new voice interjected. Kyle was about to tell the interloper to butt out, before realizing it was King Wrynn. "How about it, friends? Lets see what these two can do to inspire us!" He asked the now-silent crowd.

They weren't silent for long.

Kyle, voice nearly drowned out by the cheering, buried her face in her hands, "what have I gotten myself into?"

After the stage had been set up, and the band was ready to go, Serenity took the limelight first. "Tonight, Commander Jaessica and Lieutenant Tannim are going to break their strict outer shells and show you that even the most dedicated of soldier can let loose every once in a while. Indeed, my two friends have shown me time and time again that to be the best, you have to unwind. So tonight, they're going to let loose for all of you, in a sing-off that will leave you in charge!"

Kyle stepped onto the stage, motioning for Serenity to give her the mic for a second. When it was in her hand, she nodded at the still-cheering crowd. "Thank you, thank you... You! I saw that. Latrine duty next week! Just kidding." As the cheers and laughter died down, Kyle's face went serious. "Before we begin, I'd like to say that all of you have made me proud. And yet... And yet this is less than half of those I've been proud of. For every man and woman here today, dozens, hundreds have fallen to the scourge, to evil, and in defense of those they loved. So tonight, lets not just celebrate that which we have here today. Let us celebrate the lives of those who have left us to be with their ancestors. And let us thank them for the sacrifices they made for you, and for me, and for everyone here on Azeroth today. A moment of silence, I believe, is appropriate."

The crowd grew silent at this, and Kyle paused for an appropriate ten-count, before speaking again. "Well then, I suppose it's time to sing. Serenity, what's our first topic?"

Serenity took back the offered microphone and turned towards the crowd. "Well, given your prior speech, I suppose we should start off with something everyone is familiar with. Not that I want this party to be a sad one, but 'Loss' seems an apt starting point. After all, from there, we can only go up!"

The crowd cheered at that, not too upset by the topic of choice. Of course, years of ongoing warfare had jaded them somewhat, so this was not a taboo subject, by any means.

Kyle watched the crowd for a moment, before nodding. "Alright then. Loss it is."

Matt, electing to go first (at Kyle's harshly whispered insistence) made his way to the bright-eyed band. With a frown, he asked them if he'd met them before. "Of course, Lieutenant Tannim! We're the band who played for you in Darnassus years ago. We remember the songs you taught us, and have practiced what we could, building on what you showed us."

"I... See..." Matt said, not really.

Sensing his confusion, the dwarf grinned again, "When word went out that you were planning a party for after your mission, one of my cousins used up a lot of his pay to contact us and get us up here as soon as possible. The fee for a mage to bring us was ghastly, but with this crowd, I'm sure we'll recover our losses!"

Glancing over a the crowd, who in their enthusiasm started banging their steins and stomping their feet, he couldn't help but agree. "There's certainly our share of men with plenty of back-pay and no leave to spend it on... I'm sure they'll be able to part with some of it if we put on a good show. Anyway," Matt leaned in closer to be heard over the rising din of the crowd, "lets get on with the first act of that show, shall we?"

If Matt feared that he would be performing with a sub-standard set of musicians, he was pleasantly surprised. Each player had indeed mastered their chosen instrument, and could in fact switch between a couple on the fly, depending on the need for the song. It also appeared they brought more than enough to spare. Even their rate of learning was astounding; all it took for the band to get the gist of the song he planned on performing was a few minutes of explanations and verbal cues when to switch beats. As they were also more than happy to lend him a guitar to play, he felt confident in being able to lead playing the song with this group of talented players at his back.

Finally, Matt stepped up to the center of the stage and raised his hands for silence. "I'd like to start off with a song that is dear to my heart. This goes out to everyone who has lost those closest to them."

At this proclamation the crowd quieted down, some with expressions like they were starting to sober up. They gave their attention to the band as they started the intro to "I Miss You" by Incubus.

"To see you when I wake up, is a gift, I didn't, think could be real. To know that you feel the same, as I do, is a three-fold utopian dream. You do something to me... that I can't, explain. So would I be out of line, if I said... I miss you?"

The crowd, exposed to a song they'd never before heard, cheered loudly as it concluded. Kyle took the time to make her way to the band, greeting them with confusion as she'd been a little too inebriated last time, before explaining her simple song for them to play. When they gave their nods of understanding, Kyle made her way back to the center of the stage, smiling softly at the waiting crowd.

As the solo instrument started up, Kyle waited for the intro to finish, before she started. "Would you know my name? If I saw you in heaven?"

"Well," Serenity said, as Kyle finished, "it seems the crowd is somewhat torn, both songs seemed to speak to all of us. Instead of forcing the issue, I think we should press on and enjoy the next attempts to break this starting tie." The crowd cheered in response, and Serenity nodded to them with a smile. "The next topic should be something fun. I'm torn, however, between just plain silly," the crowd cheered at that, though it was driven more by a desire to hear more songs than preference for the topic. "Or maybe drinking songs-" Serenity couldn't continue, as the cheering grew to a deafening roar at that. When it finally died down, she spoke again, "Aaand I think it's been settled. Drinking songs."

There was a pause from the two singers, as they mulled over their options. Or option, as the case was with Kyle. 'Drinking songs? Really?' She asked herself, before turning to look at Matt. There was only one song about drinking... Kind of... That she knew. And Matt looked about as at-a-loss as she felt. So while the crowd waited and cheered, Kyle slid over to the Paladin, and quietly suggested a slight deviation, to which he nodded eagerly in response.

"Well, it looks like... huh," Serenity said, as they both approached her. Matt took the microphone this time. "Despite the abundance of choices, we decided that there is only one song truly appropriate for this occasion, a song boisterous enough that only the alliance deserves to hear it."

"Indeed," Kyle muttered into the mic.

"So, without further ado... lets get the band ready!"

As the band was being coached on their roles by Kyle, Matt motioned towards a surprised General Arlos and King Wrynn and beckoned the two towards him. With bemusement the two listened to him as he asked their participation, and at their agreement he described their roles in the chorus, which was simple enough to follow along. Both men looked cheered by the prospect of participating in such a fashion, especially the King.

Finally, Kyle motioned to the crowd to quiet down, and as they did, she handed the mic to Matt, who was flanked by General Arlos and King Wrynn.

Matt suppressed a smile, before counting down quietly. When he hit zero-

"I GET KNOCKED DOWN, BUT I GET UP AGAIN, YOU'RE NEVER GONNA KEEP ME DOWN!"

The three of them nearly shouted, the crowd cheering after a beat. As the song Tubthumper continued, the cheering became singing, as the relatively easy-to-remember lyrics were repeated.

When things finally drew to a close, Serenity had to duck a flying mug before taking the mic back.

"Well, it would seem their decision to work together was well worth it. And than you, King Wrynn, General Arlos; your participation only made the song that much more enjoyable!" The crowd opened up with further cheers and a few catcalls as the two smiling men took their leave of the stage.

When Serenity had regained the attention of the crowd, she spoke again into the mic, not even bothering to stifle the smile on her face. "Quite a song, wasn't it?" She asked, before pausing as the roaring again threatened to drown her magically amplified voice out.

"Well, I suppose it's time for the next set of songs. Let's see... after that, I think the only appropriate follow-up should be 'Battle!'"

With a hearty cheer, she turned to her two friends, who stared at her with someone shocked looks on their faces. Or was that loss?

Kyle, for her part, was coming to a painful realization. Every song she knew about fighting was about fighting for love. All one song. At least, the only one she could think of off the top of her head. Glancing at Matt, she couldn't help but her her wince at the rather smug grin splitting his face. Apparently he didn't have the same problem she did.

Kyle made her way to the band, who watched her with knowing smiles. So far, even at their most nervous, these two had given them far more songs to pass along than even the most diligent of musical muses. Despite her worried look, they knew Commander Jaessica would deliver something unheard of, and therefore profitable.

After coaching the band as best she could, Kyle took the stage, after Serenity had finished whipping up the crowd. Before she could run away, the band started, and she sand, hoping the novelty of a new song would cover her somewhat half-hearted attempt at singing. This was such a horribly corny choice.

"Woooooaaah We are strong! No one can tell us we're wrong!"

Doing her best to keep the audience happy by dancing as she sang, Kyle quickly and efficiently belted out "Love is a Battlefield," wincing internally the entire time. When it drew to a close, the audience cheered in approval, obviously not as displeased as she had worried. With a glad smile, Kyle bowed, before handing Serenity back the mic.

With a confident smile and smooth gait Matt boldly walked towards Serenity and silently asked for the microphone. She handed him the object with a raised eyebrow, wondering what, exactly, he had in mind. He just smiled wider at the unasked question and indicated she'd just have to wait and see.

After coaching the band for a few minutes on what beats to keep, he picked up his own lute and began the intro for his song. When the first notes started, Kyle buried her face in her hands. How in god's name had she not thought of that one?

"Risin' up! Back on the street. Did my time, took my chances. Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet, just a man, and his will, to survive!"

The crowd went wild. Much as Kyle had expected the moment the song had started. "Eye of the Tiger... how the hell did I forget that one?" she muttered darkly as the song came to an end.

When the crowd finally finished cheering, Serenity strode back onstage, taking the mic from Matt with a flourish. "Well, much as I hate to say it, it looks like Matt has pulled ahead in this round. Wouldn't you all agree?" She pointed the mic at the crowd, which did it's damndest to blow Serenity off the stage with sound alone.

"Well then, I hope you two have something special in mind for this, because it's the Final Round! And what better finisher than the topic you've been hinting at all night? Soldiers of the Alliance, King Wrynn of Stormwind, I give you our final topic; 'Love!'"

There was a pause as the crowd digested that, but it uickly began cheering again as her point was made. Almost every song so far had been about love, even if it was love of drinking. As the audience got more into it, Serenity turned to Kyle. "Hopefully you can turn yourself around with this. Ladies everywhere are going to feel a little put off if a guy upstages you." While it was spoken softly, the mic in her hand let the words travel, and there were a number of wolf whistles suddenly, while the female soldiers all shouted encouragement to Kyle.

With a smirk, Kyle motioned towards Matt. "I'll do my best, but this is a high-elf. The guys can damn-near out feminine females."

The crowed laughed at the byplay, and Matt suffered the laughter with a grin.

Kyle waved at Matt. "Let him go first, then. I need time to prepare myself. I have a secret weapon, but I need time to prepare it."

Serenity gave Kyle a curious look, but nodded before turning to Matt and handing him the mic.

Matt nodded at them, before turning to the band and spending several minutes trying to get the nuance of the music down pat. The song he had in mind had a much slower beat than their previous fare, and he realized it didn't have quite the ambiance he would have liked without electric keyboards this particular number, but he hoped it would work out anyway. When he finally felt confident, Matt moved forward to the stage started into his one of his most beloved love songs, aptly titled "Lovesong," by The Cure. The particular version he was trying to emulate was a cover performed by 311. It was filled with bittersweet notes and of implied hopeful reunions, but by far the chorus was his favorite part.

"However far away, I will always love you. However long I stay, I will always love you. Whatever words, I say, I will always love you. I will always love you..."

When Matt's song came to a close, the crowd cheered wildly, Serenity smiling as she came back out on stage. "Nothing but the best! I should have expected. That will most definitely be a tough act to follow. Much less to wrest the score back to a tie. Do you concede defeat, Commander? Or is your plan every bit as imressive as you imply it will be?"

Kyle sauntered over, doing her best to act as calm and in control as she could. Taking the mic with a flourish, she winked at the crowd, before grinning. "I'm not sure about the horde, but here in the alliance, we don't know the meaning of the words 'conceding defeat.' You want a love song that will win this competition? I'll give you a song that will be remembered for a thousand years!"

The crowd cheered at this, and Matt frowned. What, exactly, was Kyle planning on singing?

"In order to make this perfect, however, I need a little time to prep the band. This is a delicate sort of song, and unlike the improv we've had so far... which, I must say, has been astonishing. Most of the time, I would have never guessed this was their first time playing it."

"And the rest of the time?" A heckler from the crowd called, to some laughs.

Kyle grinned again. "The rest of the time, it was something I'd had them practice, so they obviously weren't!"

The crowd laughed and Kyle handed the mic back to serenity before making her way back to the band.

Finally, after a short intermission, Kyle took the stage, the room growing quiet as it prepared for what she had continually insisted was going to blow them away.

After a moment of silence, a lone fiddle started, the enchantments on it giving the instrument the volume and clarity needed to reach the entire audience.

"Take me, back into the arms I love..."

"Need me like you did before,"

"Touch me once again;
And remember when
There was no one that you wanted more..."

Unlike the songs of earlier, the crowd stayed silent as Kyle did her damndest to match Celine Dion, and thanks to Elune's god-given voice, managed to keep up.

As the song neared its end, Kyle waved for Serenity to join her on stage, a moment before singing the first of the final vocal bits that have no real name, but are really long "ohh"s that tend to leave amateur singings out of breath before reaching the end.

As the first one drew to a finish, she motioned for Serenity to sing with her, and the queen, almost as much to her surprise as everyone else's, joined in.

Finally, the drummer struck his instrument four definitive times, the band stopped, and Kyle looked out at the crowd with a small grin. "Well?"

The roar was deafening. The entire list of songs sung had been unheard on Azeroth, and many had spoken to the gathered members of the alliance in one way or another, even if had just been to entertain.

But that last one had been something else. Even moreseo, because Kyle, disliking being on stage, had finally relaxed enough to sing with confidence. "I guess all those times singing along on the drive to and from work helped," she muttered to herself, with a grin. The other songs had been fun, but that was one of the few she utterly enjoyed. Hopefully she'd done it justice.

After a full minute of cheering, Serenity had to wave the crowd down before she could be heard. "Well, I take it the crowd approves?"

Another roar, and Serenity's grin grew. "I guess then that the Commander delivered as promised. It looks like this contest has resulted in a tie. Congratulations, both of you!"

Matt and Kyle looked at each other, shrugged, and bowed to the crowd, secretly enjoying the cheers that went up again.

Matt stepped forward, and Kyle waved him on. "I'm stepping out for a bit," Kyle said, before heading for the side of the stage, where she could get to the exit. All those people watching her had gone against almost everything both Jaessica and Kyle stood for. Rogues weren't supposed to be seen, and Kyle was far to introverted to ejoy being in front of a crowd for an extended period of time. Once outside, she leaned on one of the oversized parapets, and stared out over the moonlit northrend sea, the lighthouse off to the right occasionally bathing a wedge of the ocean surface in its ever-revolving light.

Of course, her internal musing was cut short when there was a sound from inside. Not just a sound, a song; one painfully familiar, and bad enough to elicit a groan even as Matt's voice carried out to her. "Oh, God, Matt... how could you..." It became particularly bad when he reached the chorus.

"Never gonna give you up! Never gonna let you down! Never gonna run around and, desert you! Never gonna make you cry! Never gonna say goodbye! Never gonna tell a lie, and hurt you!"

She settled for burying her face in her hands until he finished.

"Thank you, Azeroth! You've just been Rickrolled!" Matt yelled to the cheering crowd.

"I get the obscure suspicion that Azeroth being 'Rickrolled' is not the greatest of honors," Someone said, frightening Kyle out of her musings.

Glancing over, she shrugged before responding. "Well, your Highness, it's not easily explained... Lets just say that just say that what was promised was far greater than what was delivered."

"And when nothing is promised, but something delivered all the same?" The King inquired.

Kyle smirked. "Then Azeroth, or really The Alliance, got a freebie."

King Wrynn chuckled. "So it would seem." he glanced out over the ocean for a moment, before sighing. "I hear from General Arlos that you're to be leaving, now that this task is complete," he asked.

Kyle nodded softly. "Yes, I think I mentioned it before, but we have a task to complete here in Northrend."

"You did. And I must say, for someone not in my army, or even human, you set your task aside far longer than I had expected. You truly saw this through to the end."

"I'm an elf of my word," Kyle replied with a smirk.

"A credit to the night elves. I'll not forget it." He paused. "Nor shall it go unrewarded. I've set some land aside for you and your friends. The work you did here should be recognized; you set an example for the men and women both here and abroad. I'd be remiss in my duties as leader of the Alliance not to reward you for a job well done."

Kyle, however, shook her head. "As honored as we would be, highness, when we complete our task, we will be leaving Azeroth behind. And all our hard work will be swept away by the adventures of those to come after us."

"The sacrifices made here should never be forgotten. And you speak as if you go to your deaths. Where did your bravado go, the attitude that impressed Master Shaw when you stood up to a black dragon despite your apparent lack of power to back your words up?"

"Oh, don't count on me dying, Highness. When I say another world, I mean it quite literally. And I will rest easy knowing those who died here will not be forgotten. But I ask that you spare the land you set aside. Or, if I may be so bold as to make a suggestion; please sew the land with grain and stock it with cattle."

"Oh? To tell me what to do with my land is quite bold. Though it sounds to me like you know of yet more fighting in our future."

"Beyond Icecrown? I can only speculate. But tell me; when was the last time a lasting peace was established and maintained? In the end, the drums of war sounded again, and the peace was shattered. Azeroth..." Kyle paused, and smirked, though it was laced with bitterness. "Azeroth is a world of warcraft. Peace is an impossible goal. But just like the moth chasing the moon, it is forever in our nature to pursue it with all the powers we possess. To do any less would be to fail the generations to follow."

The King thought about his young son, back in Stormwind Keep, and turned to look out over the ocean again. Finally, after a couple minutes of silent contemplation, he responded. "I've never heard of it described as such, and I doubt I ever will again. But Azeroth, indeed, seems cursed to suffer an unending cycle of war and peace. I will think about what you've said. And I will see to it that the land is prepared for war."

Kyle shook her head. "No, your Highness. See that it is prepared for peace. That one word... Makes all the difference."

Kign Wrynn paused, frowning at being corrected by a commoner, but knowing she was right. "And so it does. So be it. 'For Peace.'"

Kyle grinned and nodded. "For the Alliance."

"And let none forget it," he said, before turning around and heading back inside.

Kyle spent another five minutes outside, thinking over the events in Azeroth, and the implications they had on the future, before the chill northrend air became too unbearable. Ducking back inside, she found the party still in swing, though thinned somewhat. Not seeing Serenity or Matt around anywhere, Kyle shrugged, making the rounds and socializing before heading off to bed.

Xxxxx

Kyle woke up to a rather odd THUD coming from the other side of the room. The private room she and Serenity had gotten (through much arguing and insistence) was usually pretty quiet, and Kyle rolled over to see what the commotion was. Then she froze.

"Umm.. Hi." Matt replied, nervously, as he held his shield up to hide himself from Kyle's eyes. Eyes the size of dinner plates.

Behind Matt lie a blushing Serenity, doing her best not to stare at Matt's uncovered backside, Kyle's shocked look, or be too obvious in her attempts to look elsewhere. Needless to say, she failed miserably.

Finally, Kyle's thoughts started back up. "Right.. This... Is a drink-induced dream. I'm going to wake up any minute now," she muttered, rolling back over and trying to hide in her pillow.

Unfortunately, it was for naught, as Matt, now aware that the secrecy was lost, began to noisily pull on his clothes. When he was decent, he tried to appologize.

Kyle didn't respond, merely burying her head under her pillow.

Finally, Matt turned to Serenity. "You don't think she's jealous, do you?"

Before Serenity could respond, Kyle had shot across the room and knocked Matt to the ground with a foot to the head.

"The fact that I'm going to be scarred for life is one thing. To suggest I'd want..." Kyle shuddered, to grossed out to continue. "I'm going to look for a mage," She finally said, walking out the door. A moment later she walked back in. "Just as soon as I get dressed properly," she amended, realizing walking around in her underwear would be rather counterproductive.

"What do you need a mage for?" Serenity asked, trying to stifle a giggle as Matt tripped trying to pull his boots on.

"To wipe the memories of this morning from my mind!" Kyle growled, before pulling on her own boots and leaving the room.

"Huh. You think she wants me?" Matt asked Serenity.

Serenity put her finger to her lips as if thinking about it, before shaking her head. "No... no, I don't think so."

"Oh. Good. Because that would have been weird."

"How so? You're attractive. Otherwise I'd have not... well.. done what I did."

Upon recalling last nights events, Matt figured he was blushing hard enough to reach his toes about now. "Uh, yeah. That was... unexpected."

"Yes... And I'm afraid it can never happen again. It was nice, Matt. And honestly? I think I needed that. After all that's happened... I'm finally ready to finish this; to go home. But this can't continue beyond last night."

It would be a lie to say that announcement wasn't a bit of a blow to his ego, but Matt perked up a few moments later. "Well, at least we're still friends. I think I can live with that."

Serenity nodded. "Good. And Matt?"

He turned to look at her, and she smiled at him, the warmest, most sincere smile she'd probably ever given him, without the bitterness or loss that had haunted her eyes over the past years. "Thank you," she said, simply.

He nodded softly in reply. "You're welcome."

The door flew open, letting Kyle back in. "I'm so glad I'm not going to have to wake up like that again. And no, the Mages could not help me." As she spoke, she moved quickly around the room, pulling everything she'd acquired together and began neatly packing it up. "And Serenity? You're not to talk about it until I get back into my own body, and Jaessica is out of my head."

"Umm.. why?" Matt asked, confused.

"Because unlike me, she's asking a lot of questions. Questions I don't want to think about!" Kyle answered, shutting her eyes tightly before finally relaxing. "She shut up. For now."

Turning to look at the two of them, she shooed Matt towards the door. "Go get packed. We've got our final debriefing with the General and the King, and then we're off to find the Ginzoishou."

After finishing her own packing, and waiting for Serenity to finish Kyle sat down at the small desk between the two beds and began writing. Despite all her attempts to adhere to the timeline, she'd grown too fond of the people here (or at least some of them) to leave them in the lurch without any warnings whatsoever of things to come.

Finished, she folder it up and set it inside an envelope, and tucked it into her pocket. Then she turned to look at Serenity, who had finished packing and was watching her.

"I'm sorry. You seemed somewhat preoccupied, and I thought it best to let you finish," the queen explained.

Kyle merely nodded. "Ready to go?"

Serenity nodded. "I am. And while I spent many nights here worrying about my kingdom and those within it, I must admit, leaving here..."

As she trailed off, Kyle smiled. "I'm not all that surprised. Even if it isn't home, It's definitely familiar enough for us to have become attached to it."

Serenity merely nodded, glancing around once more, before smiling herself. "Well then. It's time to go."

"And so it is," Kyle replied, throwing on her pack and following the queen out the door.

The two of them made their way to Matt's quarters, where the muffled sounds of packing, cursing, clanking metal and shuffling emanated through the heavy wooden door.

At Kyle's exasperated sigh, Serenity chuckled. "Go on ahead. You still have to talk to the King and General Arlos. I'll make sure Matt's ready to go by the time you're through."

"Thanks," she replied, heading off towards the Main Hall. behind her, she heard Serenity slip into the room, and Matt's surprised shout, before the door slid shut again.

"And here she is," King Wrynn said as Kyle entered the hall, Drawing the attention of several others who'd been standing around the map of Northrend on the table.

"And where are your companions?" General Arlos asked.

Kyle shrugged, "The Liutenant is still gathering his things. Probably spent more time saying goodbye than Lady Serenity or I," she responded, truthfully.

"I see. And so we're left with you... An unknown Night Elf who's understanding and foreknowledge despite an apparent lack of initial experience has helped see this undertaking through to..." Bolvar Fordragon trailed of, as he considered how best to describe the time at hand.

"Highlord; much as it pains me to say it, this... Is merely the beginning. You've fortified your positions. You've seasoned heroes and adventurers returning to Azeroth from Outland. And, unfortunately, you've made yourselves the most obvious targets on the planet in doing so. Arthas will soon be on the move, and when he does, no matter how much preparing you've done, the Alliance will still be forced to react."

"And yet, you say you've done all you could for us? Sounds to me like you know what's coming. Moreso, at least, than merely the fact that something is coming," Mathias Shaw pointed out.

"Indeed?" Kyle asked, trying to supress a grin.

"Don't play coy now. If you have information that will save the lives of my people, then I order you to divulge it," the king growled.

"As if I would deny The Alliance. Your faith in me seems questionable, Highness," Kyle said, pulling the envelope out of her tunic with a flourish. "Everything I can think of is in there. Locations, events, names... From the moment your first boatload of... Special reinforcements set foot on Northrend, everything I've forseen is written there."

The king looked down at the envelope in his hand with a frown. "Everything?"

Kyle paused to think it over, before she nodded. "As stated. However, before that, events will transpire that will be required in order to force the hands of those that might not wish to act in the alliance's best interest. However distasteful they may be, I strongly recommend that when the Argent Dawn asks to take up station in various locations throught the Alliance, you offer them as much assistance as you can."

"And I think that's more than enough warning," A deep voice spoke from the center of the room.

A blue-white portal appeared in the air, and through it stepped an aged figure with bronze skin and white hair; a pointed beard hanging over gold-threaded robes. Most telling, however, were the high pointed ears, and infinitely-blue eyes.

"Well well well. Nozdormu? Or an agent thereof," Kyle muttered.

"Just a loyal shepherd of time, interloper. My name is unimportant, but I must take that letter, Varian Wrynn. The future must be allowed to play out as it will; the meddling of mortals only drives the infinite progression of time to snap back ever harshly."

"Oddly enough, despite your claims, you belong to an entire flight with the ability to manipulate time. And the ability to manipulate implies changes. Otherwise you'd merely sit back and watch." Kyle said, even as the letter in the King's hand disappeared, reappearing in the dragon's humanoid hand.

"We are observers and caretakers, mortal! You'd do well to remember that; your squandered immortality was a gift of my lord millenia ago. Surely you've learned something in the years you've lived?"

"I've lived long enough to recognize a pretext when I see one. If you were as all-seing as you claim to be, then you'd know where Nozdormu was. Or who the leader of the Infinite Dragonflight is," Kyle sniped. The King had initially intended to protest the loss of such a useful list, but now listened as the mysterious Night Elf went toe-to-toe, intelectually, with a dragon. And appeared to be winning.

"You are far too well informed to be left alone. Only your ties to a higher power keep me from silencing that mouth of yours permanently," the dragon snarled.

"I'd like to see you try, you overgrown lizard! A little humility might do the entire draconic race some good! Certainly couldn't have hurt Neltharion! And it would save the Spellweaver from his upcoming fate, as well!"

"Enough! I don't have to take this from you. I've gotten what I came for. But be warned: any attempts to tell these humans of their futures will not end well for you."

"Oh? Deathwing's little tongue-addling spell not too evil for you to employ? I begin to see just why none but the Lifebinder's words can be trusted," Kyle snarked as the dragon began to summon another portal. It stiffened at her words, but continued its wordless casting, a scowl on its aged features.

"Azeroth will be a much more pleasant place when you and your friends are gone from it. Trust me when I say that my flight is anticipating that moment with much enthusiasm."

Before she could retort, it disappeared into the portal. "Bah, dragons. If it isn't red, it's up to no good," Kyle muttered. "Of course, Vael was a red dragon..."

"Surely the Green Dragonflight-" Highlord Fordragon started.

"Dreamers, all of them. Ysera rarely opens her eyes, and the rest... like all dragons, they suffer from the same affliction most non-humans... And humanoids, are afflicted by: blind obedience. Greens live in a world without any of the sentient races. A living dream."

"Doesn't sound so bad," Shaw muttered.

Kyle let out a bark of laughter. "No it doesn't does it? But if you spend countless years in a world that doesn't exist... well... The druids like to say that this world and the other are interconnected. Even if that's true, you can't live your life in a fantasy. You have to wake up eventually. Otherwise, you might as well be dead."

"An... Interesting observation," the King finally said after a few moments of silence. Before the conversation on dragons could continue, however, he brought the topic back around to the present. Or, more importantly, the future. "What did the dragon mean by 'any attempt to tell us of the future wouldn't end well?'"

Kyle smiled. "A spell he cast. If I try to tell you something he doesn't want me to, I'll babble incoherently until I change the subject."

"I'm surprised the spell let you say that much," Mathias Shaw observed.

"Well, it probably would have been cast to stop me from explaining had I never met you before. But their flight has probably been watching me and my friends since we started making a mess of the timeline. They know that you know I'm sane. Making me appear addled now would be pointless. However-" Kyle tried to tell them of the upcoming attacks on Stormwind Harbor by the Lich King's frostworms, but only succeeded in making unintelligible sounds until she gave up with a shrug. "You see? Just remember what I've said... And you should be alright."

"We could always try to get a cursebreaker-" Highlord Fordragon started to say.

"-They're still watching." Kyle quickly pointed out.

"Stop interrupting me. Though your point is valid. Damn," he pounded his fist on the table to punctuate his point, before turning to the King. "Your Majesty, we should return to Stormwind. General Arlos has things well under control here, and I fear we've little time to waste. The Argent Dawn has a guild hall in the city, I'll travel there when we arrive to see if they have any idea of what is to come."

"That a group of paladins dedicated to fighting the scourge will request a presence throughout the Alliance bodes ill for my kingdom," King Wrynn muttered. "Commander Jaessica. Your services to the Alliance have, since we met, been far above and beyond anything I would have expected of the men and women serving the military. That you have done so much, both within the Alliance, and here amongst its soldiers, does your race proud. I may lead the Alliance as a human king, but it's men and women like you that make it what it is today. Gnome or Elf, Dwarf, Draenei, or Human, we're in this fight together, and I thank you for your contributions."

With that, he pulled a small insignia from a pouch in his armor and nodded to Highlord Fordragon, who took up a position beside him. "You may be leaving, but you will always be a member of the Alliance. In two years, you've proven your ability to lead, and your inabiity to abuse the power rank can bestow. Thefore, I'm trusting you with this. You are not a soldier of Stormwind, but at times, will benefit from the position bestowed. Therefore, I hereby promote you to the rank of Marshal. This pendant, while somewhat flashy for your attire, should earn you the respect you deserve at any Alliance-controlled location, in Northrend and beyond."

"I thank you, Your Majesty," Kyle said, bowing. An unexpected boon, but a welcome one. Few Alliance members in Northrend would have questioned her before this; now only a small handful would even consider it.

"I too, would like to bestow a small token of thanks," Mathais Shaw said, stepping forward.

With a rougish grin, he withdrew a small packet from within his armor, the leather pouch held carefully and with respect. "This is a master poisoner's kit. Don't ask me how it was made, but with it, you will never need to stock up on poisons again. All our usual mixtures are in there, but in self-filling bottles."

"That's..." Kyle started, shocked.

"Too good to be true? The bottles take a couple hours to refill, and it takes an entire bottle to dose a blade long enough to last more than a few minutes. Use this when you're sure you're about to fight, and you know you'll need it. When it runs out, unless you have some spare poisons on you, you're going to be fighting dry."

"I'll keep that in mind." Kyle stated with a nod, as she slid the pouch into her own armor.

"I suppose I should offer you something as well, Marshal, but I'm afraid all I have are items meant for paladins. In your line of work, I'm afraid the only use you'd get out of them is for bartering." Seeing the look in her eye, and the grin threatening to split Mathias' face, he growled "And I'm far too fond of them to let them go knowing they'd be sold to the highest bidder!"

"Worth a shot," Shaw whispered to Kyle, just loud enough for Bolvar to hear. The Highlord bristled, but didn't respond, merely shaking his head as if to calm himself down.

"Well then; our business here is done. I've business to attend to in Stormwind, as do Highlord Fordragon and Master Shaw."

"Me?" Shaw asked, surprised.

"Indeed. As our resident spymaster, you're going to find out why a night elf stranded at the end of the world for two years knows more about the threats to our home than you do. Then you're going to correct those shortcomings. Personally."

As the trio left the room chatting with a familiarity similar to that bwtween Kyle, Serenty and Matt, General Arlos turned to look at Kyle with a frown. "You're a good leader, Marshal. The King sees it. I see it. The men here saw it. Losing you will be hard. But trying to continue what you helped start will keep this place running for a long time. I'm sure of it."

Then the General stuck out his hand. Kyle grinned, taking the hand and shaking it firmly. "It was an honor serving with you. I'd tell you about the reinforcements you can expect, but I doubt I'm allowed... instead, I'll merely ask that you be patient, but firm. They're good people, but sometimes a little too... Overeager." She offered.

"I'll keep that in mind. And now, I have to break in the officers sent to replace you and the Lieutenant. Knight-Captain Carven and Knight-Lieutenant Blythe."

"Nobody to replace the Lady Serenity?" Kyle asked, as she made her way out the door.

"Some gnome called 'Nelmo' or something like that. Just a dockmaster. My work is definately cut out for me," The General replied, before snapping off a salute as Kyle turned around to look over the room one last time from the doorway. Behind her stood Matt and Serenity, bags packed and ready to go.

With a nod, Kyle returned the salute as sharpy as she could, before performing a parade-ground about-face and stepping out the door. It was time to retrienve the Ginzouishou.


Author's Notes:

Kyle: Well.. it took a while. But it's done. On to the final stretch!

Matt: We'd like to dedicate this chapter to the letters A, B, and the number 5.

Kyle: ... we would?

Matt: Obviously. Arathi Basin, and the 5 minute enrage timer on Festergut.

Kyle: ... Fester has an enrage timer? I guess my guild's too good to ever take that long.

Matt: ... hush your piehole.

Kyle: Do you have anything constructive to say here in the author's notes?

Matt: Thanks to everyone who's kept reading along with us! We appreciate the feedback, and moral support. Plus, my ego can always use the boost.


Xxxxx Omake Omake Omake xxxxX

"You can't tame a rhino Matt. You're not a hunter."

"Nonsense. That's just game talk. I'm sure that with enough careful persuasion and appropriately applied force, I'll be able to convince one to let me ride it."

"Let me get some distance before you try..."

Xxxxx

Twenty Minutes Later...

Serenity stared slack-jawed at the sight. She rubbed her eyes once, twice. "Did... Did Matt just ride by on a HERD of rhinos?"

It was plain to see the devastation. Everything in a thirty foot wide swath was trampled to a flatness normally reserved for pancakes, stretching from beyond the hill Matt had emerged from a' hootin and a' hollerin, on towards where he was currently "steering" the herd in the direction of the icy heart of Northrend.

Kyle sighed deeply. "Just the alpha. I think he's trying to get them to Icecrown and trample the Lich King." Then she muttered something else under her breath.

"What was that?" Serenity asked, not quite making it out.

"I said 'damned huntards.'"

 

[azereath]

ah we soon be seeing the end of WOW it seems, anyway good chapter but one question. how long has the group been there and will that time be the same in the sailor moon verse

 

[Taiteki Kagato]

Been there just under two years. Times-kipped the construction of Valiance Keep by eighteen months, then add in the travel time and events before and after (preparations to leave, as well as events in the story) and we'll have been in Azeroth a good two years and some change by the time everything is said and done.

And due to the fact that they're seperate universes, the Sailor Moon universe has...

Well... We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?

 

[spooky316]

Heh, for drinking songs I was waiting for one of you to come up with "I Drink Alone" by George Thorogood, though of course since no one in Azeroth knows the types of drinks they wouldn't get all the play on words used with the drink names.

 

[TerraBull]

Interesting.

I am surprised that there is no local version of the song by Bruce Springsteen (sp?)

0~`I am Proud to be an Azeroth'in!! Where at least I know I'm Free! 0~`

The Paladin Highlord Fordragon was giving away Epic Gear? Kyle cannot use it, True, but Matt can as a Paladin, is it being overlooked? Matt Helped.

Just thinking because someone got the Poison kit.

How many Marshal's are there Alliance-wise currently? Instant Fame?

I am curious if some of the Horde were there, Thieves, scouting, saw the entertainment?

Thanks.

 

[TannimFodder]

The Paladin Highlord Fordragon was giving away Epic Gear? Kyle cannot use it, True, but Matt can as a Paladin, is it being overlooked? Matt Helped.

Just thinking because someone got the Poison kit.

I know, right?

When we came to that point in the story I asked that very question to Kyle, and was told reliably that he agonized long and hard over it for a full three minutes but couldn't really think of anything terribly useful. And upon reflection, I agreed; I'd either get new armor or a new weapon, neither of which would be taken with us or used when we leave this place. Anything else would feel contrived and we'd have to shoehorn into the story. If it made it in, it'd immediately be forgotten about and never seen again, which wouldn't really make sense in a writing sense; if you're going to mention an item it should be used later, at least according to Chekhov's Gun. As this wouldn't happen given we have everything already plotted out, we figured we just skip over it and leave it at that.

But thanks for your concern, I appreciate it. ^_^

How many Marshal's are there Alliance-wise currently? Instant Fame?

Not many, but truth be told in that part of the world we're already pretty famous. Despite our best efforts signs of the difference between the regular WoW world and ours would be visible for years to come. Just in small, subtle ways that wouldn't upset the time-traveling dragonflight TOO much.

I am curious if some of the Horde were there, Thieves, scouting, saw the entertainment?

Despite it being a party, we've still got guards on duty, and they were vigilant in their patrols.

So yes, a horde thought it'd be fun and snuck in. Maybe one day we'll write about his misadventures disguised as a human as he joined in the festivities. Or someone else will. It's up in the air at this point.

Thanks for reading!

 

[TerraBull]

Not sure if it was thought of, how about Bags, to hold gear & treasure in? Unless they have them already.

So no custom mounts to fly/ summon?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[nick012000]

The Paladin Highlord Fordragon was giving away Epic Gear? Kyle cannot use it, True, but Matt can as a Paladin, is it being overlooked? Matt Helped.

Just thinking because someone got the Poison kit.

I know, right?

When we came to that point in the story I asked that very question to Kyle, and was told reliably that he agonized long and hard over it for a full three minutes but couldn't really think of anything terribly useful. And upon reflection, I agreed; I'd either get new armor or a new weapon, neither of which would be taken with us or used when we leave this place. Anything else would feel contrived and we'd have to shoehorn into the story. If it made it in, it'd immediately be forgotten about and never seen again, which wouldn't really make sense in a writing sense; if you're going to mention an item it should be used later, at least according to Chekhov's Gun. As this wouldn't happen given we have everything already plotted out, we figured we just skip over it and leave it at that.

But thanks for your concern, I appreciate it. ^_^

Magical holy amulets or rings or something?

 

[Taiteki Kagato]

In light of the sympathy Matt has received due to his lack of gifting, I suppose I shall re-write the scene to grant Matt... a herring.

A red herring.

 

[ryugabriev]

In light of the sympathy Matt has received due to his lack of gifting, I suppose I shall re-write the scene to grant Matt... a herring.

A Herring! A Herring!

...ni!

It had to be said.

 

[TannimFodder]

Chapter 14

Xxxxxx

"Wyrmrest Temple," Kyle stated, staring at the towering structure in the middle of a field of snow.

"Interesting architecture," Serenity observed.

Kyle shrugged. "Another structure created by the Titans ages ago. Now claimed by the five flights as a meeting place."

"Black, Red, Blue, Green, and Red?" Serenity asked, echoing what she'd been told before.

"Right. Though I doubt the black dragonflight is really all that welcome there," Kyle responded.

"You would be right, mortal."

The three turned at once, weapons hastily drawn, only to find themselves looking up at a scaled, humanoid figure that towered over them.

"A Drakonid. Red scales; a servant then, of the Aspect of Life, Alexstrasza?" Kyle asked, haltingly.

"One of many guardians of a place sacred to our kind; even those of the black flight. What brings three mere mortals to our domain?" As he spoke, the figure walked around the trio, until it took up position between them and the temple ahead. This wasn't lost on any of them.

"We seek the holy grai- Ow!" Matt started, before being cut off by a swift kick from Kyle. "Jeez, lighten up, will ya?"

Ignoring her companion's antics, Serenity answered. "We seek an audience with the Aspects; as we have information we feel is of great importance to them."

"You must think it important indeed, to actively seek out the greatest beings on Azeroth. Most mortals know better than to hunt dragons."

Kyle scowled, "And sometimes, dragons find themselves wishing they had known better when hunting mortals. But only briefly."

Serenity winced, and the drakonid before then reared up in surprise. "Oh? I've met mortals like you before, Night Elf. Many are the boasts I've heard about the prowess you and your allies can call forth in battle."

Matt sighed, before speaking up. "Let me guess: they didn't survive long enough to prove it?"

The reptilian visage leaned forward to peer at the three with amusement. "No. They did not."

"Well, if you're not going to let us proceed, we'll be forced to kill you. Which means you won't be able to enjoy the knowledge that some of us can back up our claims," Kyle pointed out flatly.

"And when I kill you for your impertinence, whatever information you have will be lost to time. Though I suspect it is nothing of any real importance, anyway. At least, not to the Aspects," it responded in kind.

"Is there no way we could convince you to let us pass?" Serenity asked, while mentally reminding herself to have a long talk to Kyle about negotiation in the very near future. After all her companions lectures on the world they found themselves in, it was about time she started imparting some of her own knowledge.

"I think not. After all, you've already killed a dragon, and proven yourselves as threats to all of us."

"Oh? And how is it you know that?" Serenity asked, frowning.

"One of Lord Malygos' flight came here to warn us. About a night elf, a high elf, and a human, who might seek to disrupt the unity of the five flights," the drakonid explained.

Kyle's eyes narrowed, "And you remember this warning almost three years after the incident? Despite the fact that it was a black dragon we slew. A dragon intent on killing countless living beings?"

"Not much of a red dragon, are you?" Matt asked, pointedly. "Thought you guys were big on the whole 'life' thing."

"And the 'unity of the five flights?' From what I've learned," Serenity pointed out, "the black dragonflight is somewhat disliked by the others."

"... putting it mildly," Kyle muttered.

"Regardless of what Kcalbanihc intended, you killed a dragon, and in so doing, signed your own death warrants."

"You're quite knowledgeable... For a security guard," Kyle muttered, adopting a fake german accent for a moment. As she spoke, she carefully ran a gloved hand down her leg, before shrugging.

"That's because you face Daxglaucous! Servant of Lord Malygos, and harbinger of your demise!" As he roared, the red drakonid shifted, changing from red bipedal reptile to blue dragon.

"Dax. Funny meeting you here," Kyle snarled.

"Ha! I knew you would come! Malygos still lives, and you yourselves implied that the Aspect of life would assist! I knew I would just have to wait for you to come to me and-" He stopped talking as a small blade sunk a few inches into the scaly flesh just behind his left eye.

"Shit; missed," Kyle hissed, even as the blue dragon before them roared in pain.

"DAAAAAAX!" Matt bellowed, pulling his weapon and charging. Serenity, for her part, pulled the staff she'd gotten from her back and held it before her, once again wishing she had the Ginzuishou, but knowing that until she did, a tool like this would help her and her friends survive until they retrieved it.

Daxglaucous hastily erected a magical barrier to intercept the high elf's blade, the unsure swings of a poorly trained paladin he recalled from Neltharion's throne room replaced with a far more controlled swing that would cripple if it struck.

With a puff of smoke, the night elf disappeared, and the dragon took to the air, not wanting to be surprised by a blade sinking into is flesh. After gaining a dozen feet or so, he let loose a blast of blue flame, the snow bank upon which they battled withering away in the magical heat, even as the rogue re-appeared, encased within a silvery bubble of light and glaring at him with daggers in hand.

Serenity watched Kyle for a moment more, making sure her shield spell wouldn't fail him, before turning her gaze on the dragon overhead. With a scowl, she raised her staff before her, before turning to yell at her companions. "Get ready for it!"

Closing her eyes, she let go of the staff with her right hand, keeping it in place with the left while she gestured at the dragon with an open palm, fingers bent as if clawing the air. Then she brought the hand down, flipping it over and clenching it into a fist as she did so.

The snow beneath the dragon, already thinned by the blast of magical flame, suddenly flattened, and the dragon roared in shock as it was pulled to the ground, gravity in the area Serenity had specified increasing suddenly and without warning.

Capitalizing on the shock that had stunned the blue dragon, Kyle charged forward, daggers ready. Dax, however, saw the leaping attack, and twisted at the last second. He still roared in agony as the twin daggers embedded in his side, and the damnable rogue rode the weapons to the ground, the blade slicing through his flesh as the elf fell down his side.

Kyle, upset to have missed the dragons neck, dodged a feeble swipe from Dax's claws, even as Matt reared back to split the beasts side with a blade that could reach far deeper than Kyle's daggers.

"HALT!" A new, feminine voice dried out.

Despite the ridiculousness of the command, and the ire the trio felt towards the blue dragon, Kyle and Matt both found themselves halting their attacks, even as Serenity began charging up a blast of divine retribution.

A shadow suddenly passed over them all, and all four combatants looked up in surprise, as a dragon easily three times Dax's size passed overhead, red scales glinting in the wan Northrend light like rubies.

It sharply turned around after passing overhead, and landed before them. With an eye-searing flash, it disappeared, and suddenly, they found themselves facing a very tall humanoid in questionably protective attire.

"Lady Alexstrasza! These mortals attacked me without provocation!" Dax started, before roaring in pain when Kyle kicked one of the gashes she'd just made with her daggers.

"What Dax means to say is that he intercepted us as we came to you with a message of the utmost importance, and tried to prevent us from delivering it," Serenity explained.

"Oddly enough, both of your explanations do little to explain why you were fighting as you were. Does anyone else have anything they'd like to say, before I continue?"

"He started it," Matt explained sullenly.

"Dax here," Kyle said, about to kick the dragon again, before noticing the frown on the dragon queen's face and deciding to gesture instead, "-is irked with us for having interfered in his overzealous plan to exterminate much of the life on Azeroth. Since his companion tried to kill us, even if that attempt did fail, he managed to cause us a lot of anguish. We aren't exactly in the mood to be lenient after he declared himself, and I quote: 'the harbinger of our demise.' Oh, and we do have something important to tell you and Ysera, which if he kills us we'd be unable to deliver."

Alexstrasza looked at the four of us, before shaking her head. "Leave it to the young ones," she muttered, before waving her hand.

There was a flash of light, and the next thing they knew, Kyle, and Matt were standing in a room devoid of walls, overlooking the fields of the dragonblight they'd been fighting upon just moments before. Beside them stood a familiar Blood Elf rogue, and before them stood Alexstrasza and a couple other figures.

"Odd," the Life Binder said, glancing around, before disappearing again. A moment later she returned, this time with Serenity's upper arm firmly gripped. Upon arriving, however, she let it go, falling to a knee with a gasp and turning to look at Serenity with wide eyes.

One of the figures rushed forward to kneel at Alexstraza side, before offering her his hand to help her stand back up.

"Do they know?" She asked Serenity, quietly, flicking her gaze to Matt and Kyle as she asked.

Serenity smirked. "We're all in the same situation, they just have less baggage," She replied, cryptically.

"I... see..." Alextrasza replied, turning to look at the four beings before her with renewed interest, and far less hostility.

"All I see are three mortals who assaulted me outside!" Dax raged, earning a glare from Serenity, Matt, and Kyle.

"And what do you intend to do about it?" A new figure spoke up, this one looking like a blonde human, her eyes closed peacefully as if she were asleep.

"I'm going to-" Dax started, before realizing everyone in the temple was now watching him intently. I'm... gonna..." With that, he scowled at Kyle, before disappearing in a flash of azure light.

"Oh, and a miss for the new guy," Kyle mocked, before turning to the blonde woman. "Lady Ysera, I presume?"

"Indeed I am, young one. I'm impressed, most of your kind know of me only in my natural form," she said softly.

"I'm what you might call a student of history."

"You're also a sound strategist," Serenity offered.

"And a rogue!" Matt chipped in.

"... Perhaps 'jack-of-all-trades' would be more appropriate?" Kyle growled out.

"'Jill,' maybe," Serenity muttered softly.

"WHAT was that?" Kyle asked, spinning to pin the queen with a glare.

Serenity just smiled and looked off to the side nonchalantly. "Nothing!"

"Well, it seems you have us at a disadvantage," the male elf who'd come to Alexstrasza's aid said. "You seem to know some of us quite well, where as we have yet to even learn your names."

"Krasius, or Korialstrasz, prime consort to Alexstrazsa and member of the leadership of the Kirin Tor," Kyle replied with a smirk.

The figure started, before nodding, "Indeed, you are well informed."

"Do me next!" A female gnome called out, bouncing from foot to foot as she watched the byplay.

Kyle glanced her way, before shrugging. "Chromie, the cross-dressing dragon."

Whatever whispered conversations had been going on in the background paused, and even the winds seemed to die down in response to the words just spoken.

"What?" someone, nobody could recall who, asked.

Kyle shrugged again. "Well, she's a little knee-biter here, right? And she presents herself as a female gnome when forced to interact with mortals. But as a dragon, she has a beard. And I noticed that Alexstrasza here didn't in her natural form. So I'm just going by popular opinion here in guessing that she's a male dragon that enjoys..." Kyle trailed off, suddenly realizing how hypocritical this made him, currently 'her,' sound.

Sensing his discomfort, Serenity spoke up. "Your situation was not of your own doing," she pointed out.

Kyle shook her head, before turning to look at the two aspects. "Lady Alexstrasza, Lady Ysera, I am Kyle, a traveler to your world from one too far for words to adequately convey." She sketched a weak bow, before standing aside and letting Matt step forward.

"Hi everybody, I'm Matt, and I'm an alcoho-" A blade slammed into his armor, fortunately hilt-first. "-from the same world as Kyle."

Serenity took a moment to compose herself, before introducing herself as well "I am Queen Serenity the Third, Empress of the Silver Millennium, and Goddess of the Moon."

"The moon?" Alexstrasza asked, glancing outside.

"Silver Millennium?" Ysera mused, cracking one eye open in curiosity.

"The third?" Matt and Kyle asked, simultaneously.

"That's... quite a claim," Krasius finally said.

Serenity looked around, before sighing. "Very well then." She coughed once, a dainty thing meant more to get everyone's attention than to clear her throat, before she let loose. "Believe it."

As ridiculous as her statement was, when pouring her power into her words, the effect was immediate. The lesser dragons in the room fell to their knees in shock, while the more powerful lowered themselves gracefully to a kneel. Matt, not having experienced the sensation before, had crashed to the floor with a bang as his armor toppled his suddenly weak knees.

Kyle, however, stood shakily, fists clenched, eyes squeezed tightly, and trembling in a mixture of piety and anger. "I toldyou-" She started, before Serenity interrupted.

"It worked, didn't it?" she asked with a smile.

"What... was that?" Krasius asked, blinking in shock as he climbed to his feet.

"Divinity," Ysera said, both eyes open, now, and watching Serenity with far more caution and interest than before.

"Little help here?" Matt asked from the floor, having managed to roll himself over and flail like a turtle on its back.

As Kyle helped him up, the occupants of the temple all turned to look as the sound of giant wings were heard from outside.

"A Black dragon," Chromie asked, sounding surprised.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" The dragon roared, even as it began to glow as it approached the temple. Despite the winds, the dragon had no trouble transitioning from its natural full-sized form into the shape of an aristocratic human with dark hair and a well-trimmed beard.

"Hey, isn't that the exact same goatee-thingy you had?" Matt whispered to Kyle.

"Yeah, well, what can I say? I liked the way it looked," Kyle whispered back.

"You know, most of the time, bad guys wear those," Matt offered.

"And sometimes, it's nice to smirk darkly at someone and have them think the exact same thing," Kyle replied, not missing a beat.

"Your kind are unwelcome here, black! Only the ancient treaties keep us from removing you permanently," Alexstrasza growled.

"Ahh, Life-Binder, it is indeed regretful that my master's plans for you fell through. But I'm afraid I'm here on business, leaving us no time to reminisce on what might-have been."

"What?" Matt asked, frowning.

"The Black flight assisted the Dragonmaw clan of Orcs in capturing Alexstrasza here and using her to produce dragons for them to ride into battle. Near the end, Deathwing attempted to kidnap the Life Binder's eggs to help repopulate his dying flight," Kyle said.

Everyone in the temple was looking at her in shock. "What? That's what happened. Only you all finally managed to work together and destroy the Demon Soul. You all act so surprised; not like you weren't, you know... there."

"A student of History, indeed," Krasius mumbled, before turning to look at Alexstrasza who was herself looking somewhat unsettled. "But perhaps we could avoid bringing up painful, recent memories while dealing with our unwanted visitor?"

Kyle bowed her head in acquiescence, "very well."

"So, these are the slayers of Kcalbanihc?" the newest figure spoke, glaring at Serenity, Matt and Kyle before grinning darkly.

"It was a team effort," Matt nodded. When the dragon turned his attention towards the paladin, Kyle's form rippled briefly.

"His plan was as insane as it was impractical," Kyle shot, shifting from one foot to the other with her hands inside her armor. "We did you a favor."

"What was that?" the black dragon growled.

"I said you should police your own better. You want to rule the world, and grind everyone who isn't a part of your flight into the ground? Fine; go ahead and try. You'll find the opposition is more than ready to stop you all. But if your siblings fail to keep their dark plans firmly based in the tenuous grip you all have on reality, then it's your job to keep them from tarnishing your names. After all, the black dragonflight is often referred to as 'cunning, treacherous, and ambitious' and always considered evil. You're doing yourself a disservice if everyone began to add 'harebrained and unstable' to your list of descriptors."

"... Not the approach I'd have taken," Ysera muttered, watching the byplay in stunned silence.

"And you feel you know what's best for the black dragonflight? Ha! What do we care what mortals think of us! It is your destiny to serve us or die. No more, no less."

Kyle just crossed her arms. "And yet, your master had to rely on mere mortals to apply the armor he currently sports, did he not? Not just in the application, but in the design, as well? Even the Demon Soul required mortal assistance. Either you're selling us mortals short, or you've already become harebrained and unstable. A pity; I was all set to fear you properly. Now I'm more inclined to shake my head with pity whenever I see your kind."

Serenity had to cover her mouth to hide her smirk.

"You play a dangerous game, elf. Despite your words, you still face execution at the hands of the black dragonflight for killing one of our own. We would have taken care of Kcalbanihc in time. Your intervention merely hastened your demise!"

"... wait, you mean, you intended to kill him?" Matt asked, incredulously.

"Of course. He was insane, after all. We have, as your friend so aptly put it, an image to maintain."

"Two-thousand gold." Kyle suddenly said, holding out her hand expectantly.

"What?' Alexstrasza asked.

"A fee for doing your work for you. Our services don't come cheap."

"Quite a fee. Even if I paid, you'd be dead before you could spend it."

Smirking, Kyle pulled a small pouch she had nicked earlier while his attention was off of her, from within her armor, having stepped back out of arm range of the dragon and waved it at him. "You've already paid. And I'm afraid I'll also have to steal your victory over us from you as well."

"Why you!" The dragon growled, human form wavering briefly, before it solidified. Then he did something unexpected. He laughed.

It was mirthful, but still tainted with a darkness that only something evil could convey in a sound meant to express joy. "Very well, Elf. Your execution will be stayed, and your fee paid. You've made an enemy of the black dragonflight, but impressed me enough to see what else you might have to say."

"Regardless, you're still unwelcome here..." Ysera started.

"Serinar," the dragon replied, sketching a bow that had little respect in it.

"Serinar, then. It is time that you left," Ysera said.

"Wait!" Kyle cried, frowning. "Serinar, Serinar..." she mumbled, before glancing up at the others. "Is there a Novice?"

"What?" Krasius asked, wondering where this came from.

"You," Kyle said, turning to pin Serinar with a look. "Of the black dragonflight. A female. Novice? No.. something... Malice?"

"Do you speak of Nalice?"

Kyle nodded. "Right. Nalice. A novice with malice. She exists, then?"

"Indeed she does, mortal. And she would flay you alive if she heard you refer to her as a novice. Though I might have to use that insult myself sometime. Heh. 'A novice with malice.'"

"Well, since she's not here, you'll do. Loathe as the other flights may be, your presence here is beneficial, as my message is meant for all the flights."

"You mean to tell me that this message of great importance is not only for us, but for the blacks as well? Did you expect us to agree if Deathwing himself were to attend?"

"No. He's hiding underground, telling himself that he's preparing, and generally missing out on all the action because he's afraid someone might poke holes in his hide. Don't look so upset, Serinar, he's not here. Everyone talks bad about their boss."

Serinar growled under his breath, but held back the outburst he'd been planning to give the presumptuous elf.

With a flourish, Kyle strode to the center of the temple, ignoring her instincts to avoid drawing so much attention to herself, before speaking.

"Auspicious members of draconic-kind, I come to you with a warning of things to co-" she froze, then frowned. Turning to Chromie, Kyle growled. "Do you mind?"

Chromie gasped, before shaking her head, but stopped mid-shake, frowning at something only she could see, before sighing. "Very well. But only briefly!"

With a wave of her hands, threads of magic lifted from Kyle's head, the bronze fragments of magic seemingly frayed. "Impressive mental defenses," Krasius mumbled.

"Ah, then, as I was saying..." Kyle, briefly distracted by the actions of her companions, found that she had to ask a quick question. "Who's winning?"

Matt glanced up from the game of rock-paper-scissors he had been playing with Serenity. "She is, 32 to 17. But I'm making a comeback!"

Kyle just nodded, before turning to Ysera and Alexstrasza. "Malygos the Spellweaver has gone mad and intends to redirect all the ley-lines of Azeroth to the Eye of Eternity, where he and his flight can oversee, control, and command any and all magic that happens on Azeroth. Needless to say, this is a bad thing."

There were gasps from around the room at that, and Kyle shrugged. "Oh, and Arthas Menethil, the Lich King, is about to finish his healing session within the Frozen Throne and set out to destroy all life on Azeroth. Your help in taking him down would be appreciated."

"That's... quite a claim," Alexstrasza said, finally.

"Oh, it's no claim. It's fact. Also, Malygos stole something-"

"Stole?" Ysera interrupted, frowning.

"Yeah, a reality-hacking device," Matt said even as he tried to think of a strategy to defeat Serenity. Rock or scissors next? "We'd like to get it back."

"For the sake of keeping from getting off track, let us say that Malygos has acquired something of mine I'd prefer returned," Serenity offered.

"You don't really expect us to believe this without proof, do you?" Alexstrasza asked, frowning skeptically.

"Well... No. Not really. This was more of a warning to kickstart the formation of the Wyrmrest Accord."

"And my role in all this?" Serinar asked, frowning in thought.

"Peripheral. Nalice, however, was chosen to be the ambassador for the black dragonflight. Due to her utter lack of tact, diplomacy, or manners, you can imagine why I might have forgotten her name in favor of the qualities I most remember; her malice, and, well, her rather novel lack of skill as an ambassador. A novice."

Serinar threw his hands up and laughed. "Ha! Now I know I need not bother killing you. When Nalice hears of this, she'll turn this world upside-down hunting you. So, travelers from the future, anything else you'd like to share of what's to come?"

"I think not!" Chromie cried, stepping forward on her little gnome legs. "Much as I despise this disdain for the natural flow of time, it seems events have been set in place to ensure that this meeting is required, breaches of the temporal flow not withstanding. But any further abuses of the flow of time are not going to be tolerated!"

"Hmph. Not like I'm creating a paradox," Kyle muttered.

"Be glad that somehow your future knowledge is not, Traveler. Despite the protections placed upon you, the bronze dragonflight would be more than willing to remove you from the timestream completely if your blatant disregard for causality were to continue." Chromie's declaration was intoned with as much seriousness as she could muster.

"So then, this traveler speaks the truth? Malygos truly intends to damage Azeroth in some misguided attempt to... To... Why?" Alexstrasza asked, voice pained with emotion.

"I can neither confirm or deny these claims," Chromie said, back turned. Then the gnome glanced at the dragon queen over her shoulder. "However, if I were you, I might try talking to him. It would seem the future is more clouded in mystery than even I had expected. Still, that path does not seem to have a detrimental effect on the timeline, and I myself would prefer to hear it from him whether or not this is true."

"Wait... You're going to talk to Malygos?" Matt asked, glad to have a reason to stop playing with Serenity. His losing streak was beginning to pain him physically.

Ysera turned to look at him with close eyes. "As you may or may not know, we've been allies for ages. To turn on him on the words of strangers," she paused to glance at Serenity, "despite how powerful they may be, would be to spit in the face of everything we've endured together for the past twenty thousand years."

"And if you are the student of history you say you are, you should know of what we speak," Alexstrasza said, looking at Kyle, before turning to glare at Serinar, "as well as why their kind are no longer welcome here."

"Ours is not to reason why," Serinar said, holding his hands apart in mock helplessness. The sinister grin on his face as he spoke, however, laid to rest any thought that he might genuinely feel that way.

Kyle grunted, trying to suppress a grin. Serinar was obviously as evil and malicious as any black dragon, but damn if he didn't present himself exactly the way Kyle would have if he were forced to fight for the side of darkness.

"Keep staring at him like that, and I might have to have another girl-talk with you," Serenity muttered to Kyle.

"I.. What!? NO!" Kyle protested, realizing what her appraisal might look like. " I-In any case; if I'm lying, then there's no need to tolerate Serinar's presence. But if I'm right, then surely as beings so far above the mortal races of Azeroth, you're beyond the petty pride that would prevent you from accepting help from anyone who might offer it?"

"Oh, well played," Serinar called out, earning himself yet another glare from the two present aspects.

"Your point is made, Traveler. Distasteful though it may be." Alexstrasza said, shooting the black dragon another glare before turning to look at Chromie. "Are you to come as well?"

Chromie frowned, before shaking her head. "I trust you two to tell me what happened."

"Trust them to tell you, or already know?" Matt asked.

Chromie glared. "Unlike your friend, I don't find ways to disrupt the timeline to solve whatever problems I'm faced with."

"Not yet, anyway," Kyle softly muttered, just loud enough to be heard by everyone present.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Chromie asked, frowning again.

"Kyle's merely expressing her beliefs. As they are about you, and you would know better than she whether her comments are true or not, I can see no reason for you to take offense if what she says is false," Serenity pointed out. "After all, the onus is on her to prove her claims, is it not?"

Kyle looked at Serenity with a shocked expression on her face, before shrugging. "Fine, fine. See if I care. Not like I've been right before."

"As far as we're concerned, you haven't," Krasus pointed out.

Gritting her teeth, Kyle bowed her head in acquiescence.

"Very well. We will go to ascertain whether your claims are true. Wait here, please."

"Woah! You think we're going to pass up a chance like this?" Matt said, stepping forward.

"What?" Ysera asked, turning away from the ledge she'd been approaching.

"Malygos holds the key to our return." Serenty said, stepping forward. "Our message to you was a favor, no more, no less. That you've chosen to verify it rather than dismiss it means you've taken it seriously."

"Serious enough to verify its accuracy, in any case," Kyle pointed out.

Serenity nodded, before continuing, "While I'm saddened to have forced you to call into question a friend you've known for an impressive number of years, I cannot let this opportunity to face the one you call the Spellweaver pass me by."

"Pass us by," Matt clarified, taking up a position behind Serenity's left shoulder, while Kyle slid into place behind her right.

"You may question your friend to verify the knowledge my companion has chosen to bestow upon you. Despite her attitude, she knows well the bonds of friendship; were one to accuse me of such treachery, she'd question me first before believing it. So your reaction here is well within reason. But as you go, we demand you take us with you." Serenity decreed.

"And who are you again, to make demands of the Aspects of the Dream and Life?" Serinar asked, frowning.

"Someone with the power to force both aspects to their knees with two words," Krasius stated.

Serinar blinked, before turning to look Serenity over with far more interest than before. "Oh, really?"

There was the sound of metal on stone, and where nothing had been before, a dagger now quivered in the stonework of the column that held the roof of the temple over their heads. Serinar, however, grabbed his face, where a thin cut had appeared on his cheek, just below his eye. With a bellow, he turned to Kyle, who stood, arm outstretched, a second blade held ready in her left hand.

Serenity placed a hand on Kyle's shoulder, and the night elf briefly tensed, before relaxing and letting her arms fall. With her friend properly subdued, Serenity strode towards Serinar.

"I don't know you. I don't know your world. But I've met a black dragon before. And he took something from me no one would have dared touch before. I do not lie when I say that this world would burn had he done this to me while I was at full power. I've had time to come to grips with my loss. I intend to leave here, and let everything on this world go on fighting its ceaseless wars and battles for however long they like." By this point, she was less than a foot away from Serinar, and talking so quietly it was almost a whisper. "But if you look at me like that again, I will reduce you to ashes where you stand. Do I make myself clear?" she hissed, once more filling her voice with power.

Serinar fell to his knees in shock, his arrogant sneer replaced with fear and awe as he mumbled an unintelligible reply.

"What was that?" Serenity asked, glaring down at him.

"I... understand," Serinar said, looking down in shame. Whatever this Serenity was, she was no mere human.

"Good. Now; how are we getting there?" Serenity asked, spinning to look at Ysera, whose eyes were once again open.

"You may ride with me, Lady," Alexstrasza said.

"I will carry the paladin," Ysera offered.

"Great. So how will I get there?" Kyle asked, looking around.

"Sadly, in my absence, Krasius will have to stay here, and Chromie has already declined," Alexstrasza explained.

"What? But-" Kyle was looking at the other dragons, all of which seemed to have more important things to look at, like the cracks in the floor or ceiling.

"What of Serinar? If the black dragonflight is to take part in this endeavor as you say, then surely one of them should do their part now? Carry their weight, so to speak? Or would that be carry 'your' weight?" Ysera said, before laughing at the outraged look on Serinar's face.

"This bitch cuts open my face, and you expect me to let her ride me like I were some beast of burden?" Serinar snarled.

Ysera just hummed to herself before stepping off the edge of the temple, growing and glowing as she did until a giant green dragon hovered outside, wings beating steadily to keep her in place. "Coming, Matt?"

"Uh, right!" He hurried over to the dragon and peered nervously over the edge. It looked like he'd have to jump a few feet to land on her back. With two steps back to gather his courage, Matt shot forward with a muttered prayer and made the leap, only to land surprisingly softly as the dragon matched his fall, literally catching him on her back.

"Thank the maker," he breathed. "That was a long drop. Nice flying there, by the way." He frowned thoughtfully. "Though, how did you manage all that with your eyes closed?"

"You'd be surprised what you can learn to do in the span of a few millennia," she retorted.

Alexstrasza sighed, before turning towards the edge nearest her. When Serenity was near, she reached out to place a hand on the Goddesses shoulder, prepared now for the power within the passenger-to-be, before teleporting them outside, changing into her natural form as she did so.

To Serenity, one moment she was standing inside the temple, the next, she was astride the largest creature she had ever seen.

Kyle watched the two dragons fly around briefly before turning to Serinar.

"You know your friends are too far away to stop me from killing you, now," he said, matter-of-factly.

"You know, I didn't miss when I threw that dagger at you," Kyle replied.

His eyes narrowed and he turned to look at the blade that was still imbedded in the wall.

Then he grinned. "For a mortal, you aren't half-bad. A pity you all die so quickly; if even half your kind were like you, we might not be so intent on culling you for the blight you are."

"... thanks," Kyle deadpanned.

Serinar shrugged, before turning around and changing into his natural dragon form. When he was done, he turned to look at Kyle, who was approaching him with far more caution that before. "I'm still going to kill you, you know."

Kyle paused, then grilled back, the caution in her step disappearing, replaced by a confidence that carried in her voice. "You'll try."

---===---

As three dragons flew above the frozen wastes of Northrend, three very different conversations were taking place between dragon and rider.

"Your friends seem to be far less powerful than you... so much so that I can hardly tell them apart from the average mortals who live and die on Azeroth every day," Alezstrasza said to Serenity.

"Oh, what they lack in power, they make up for in other ways," Serenity replied with a smile.

"I'll believe that of the rogue, she's dangerous enough with the knowledge she has of the past. Especially considering there was nobody around to document events she spoke of, and her race was unknown on the continent in which it took place at the time it took place."

"And if her warnings as to what's to come are true as well?" Serenity asked.

"Then I fear for the mortal races of this world, even as I fear for my friend."

"And Kyle?"

"That rogue knows far too much about things she shouldn't. Which is why I'm also in fear of your other companion."

"Matt?" Serenity asked with surprise.

"If you have the power you do, and the night elf knows all that she does, I'm not going to even ask what power your paladin friend has. I've enough troubling thoughts, already."

---===---

"Hey, I've got something I'd like to ask, if you wouldn't mind. You being so wise, and all."

"Yes?" Ysera asked. The paladin had barely spoken in the temple. Maybe now she'd get some insight into what kind of companion the self-proclaimed goddess was keeping.

"In all your years, have you discovered how much wood could a woodchuck chuck?"

Ysera wasn't quite sure what to make of that question. Seeing as she was the only being within hearing range of the Paladin, either he was actually asking her that, or she'd managed to offer a ride to an insane high elf who just happened to also be the companion to a goddess. If he was being facetious, however... Finally, she answered. "A woodchuck would chuck all the wood it could chuck..." she paused, then added, "if a woodchuck could chuck wood." It must have been the correct response, as it sent the paladin into a peal of laughter.

"Hey! You are pretty smart! To figure out the answer to that without even knowing the joke... heh. I guess you've lived so long you know a bit of just about everything, huh? Dunno what Kyle was saying, all y'all green dragons being stoners or whatever. Totally untrue, proven right here, right now."

"All... 'stoners?'" Ysera asked, not recognizing the term, but knowing it wasn't a compliment.

"Yeah, and I quote, 'the green dragonflight are like hippies without the drugs.'"

"And I still fail to comprehend. What, exactly, is a 'hippie?'"

"Well, nobody likes a dirty hippie," Matt stated as plain fact. "They do nothing but laze about, putting flowers in their hair and singing campfire songs without contributing anything beneficial to society." He nodded decisively. "They're a bunch of good-for-nothing dreamers, if you ask me."

Ysera growled. "Well, it would certainly remiss of me not to teach your friend exactly what my flight contributes. Both to society, and Azeroth itself."

---===---

"- Look, the point of number forty-five is to ensure that both your minions understand that there is a price for failure, and that your higher-ranking underlings don't get cocky and tell you what you want to hear, instead of what you need to hear." Kyle explained.

"I understand that, but minions are meant to be killed. Fear is the motivator for success, and examples like that ensure that they aspire for a role ABOVE being a mere... what did you call them? 'Mooks?'" Serinar shook his head, prompting his passenger to hang on for dear life. "I'm not saying don't kill the general for their failure. But do it where the minor minions aspiring for that position won't see. Otherwise, you'll undercut morale."

"Morale is great, but if your minions don't know about it, you'll find yourself with a lot of general skeletons cluttering up your moat."

"Fine. It's good advice either way. Now explain to me this need to keep birth records in my kingdom?"

---===---

"So is this the place?"

"Yeah. The Nexus." Kyle shrugged. "I suppose it's appropriately named, given that it's at the center of a criss-crossing of magical ley lines."

"I... can see that."

Aside from the constant, pulsing purple energy that flowed in and around the cracks in the ground and the [something about the color in the sky], there were the large slabs of land floating leisurely above them in several circles of concentric rings. That was a dead giveaway.

"I can feel it. It's close." Serenity stared intently at the center structure as if willing the ginzuishou to appear. After all this time, and long struggle together, their journey in this wretched world was finally nearing its end. Her blood sang with impatience with their goal so close at hand. "Let's get this over with. I've got a kingdom to run, and I hate to imagine how things have been without me."

"Malygos approaches," Ysera said, shooting another glare at Kyle when she wasn't looking.

"Friends! Had I known you were coming, I'd have prepared a more welcoming place to meet. And who is... is..."

With a flash, the Giant blue dragon was replaced by an elderly man in a blue robe. "Ysera. Alexstrasza; why have you brought a black dragon into my domain?"

"The temple has received some rather disturbing news, and this one was unwilling to wait for our return as those of Nozdormu's brood do."

"A black? At the temple? Have I been gone so long that things have changed so much?" The Spellweaver asked, shocked.

"Oh, no. We're still generally reviled by the other flights, and barred from entry," Serinar explained, happily.

"I... See... And these three?" He asked, turning to Serenity, Matt, and Kyle.

"Another matter to approach, but before that, I must ask, what's happened to you? You were a recluse merely a few years ago, nearly broken by grief and self-recrimination! You seem almost as spry as you were before... well, you know."

"Well, if you must know, I've come across something that as puzzling as it is wonderful. Imagine if you will, an artifact as powerful as the demon soul, but with none of the malignancy of that abomination."

"Sounds too good to be true," Ysera said softly.

"No; merely familiar," Serenity said, frowning.

Malygos nodded, though whether it was to Ysera, Serenity, or something else, nobody could tell. "I have studied it intently these last three years. I felt, Ysera, just as you did when it was delivered to me. But in all this time, even as I've barely managed to understand the protections it has upon it, I've discovered that it is, without a doubt, the most pure source of magic I have ever seen."

Kyle sighed, before whimsically asking, "I suppose this discovery derailed your plans to redirect all of Azeroth's ley-lines here?"

Malygos grinned, "But of course! This is far more importa... wait, how did you know about that?"

Alexstrasza frowned. "That is what we came here to find out about. It seems the information was accurate, once."

"Now that the plan has been put off, however, things should be able to proceed as normally, right?" Ysera asked.

"I'm afraid not," Serenity said, stepping towards Malygos.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Malygos asked, frowning.

"Queen Serenity the Third. And you have something that belongs to me."

Malygos looked at her with a condescending grin. "And what might that be?"

"The Ginzuishou. A spherically cut diamond about this big," she held up her hand to indicate, "radiating a pure silver light. I believe you know precisely what it is I'm speaking of."

"I'm sorry. No mere mortal is going to convince me that the device in my possession doesn't belong with me. I'm beyond you, little Serenity. I am magic!"

Kyle chose that moment to speak up. "Malygos the Spellweaver. Charged with guarding the magic of Azeroth by the titans ages ago. And yet..."

"And yet what, elf?"

"You've been made... Obsolete. The Mages of the Kirin Tor know enough about magic to bend the world to their will. You may have forgotten more than any one mage will ever learn, but your purpose has become irrelevant. The magic of the world has moved on, and you and your flight have stagnated over the ages, while the younger races innovated."

"You think magic has surpassed me?" Malygos roared.

Kyle smirked. "I think Azeroth has surpassed you. You and yours- all flights, dragons in general; they're bastions of a bygone age. Time marches ever forward, and what remains of the five flights matter little to the dominant races of the world."

Ysera, Alexstrasza, Malygos, and Serinar all stared at Kyle as if he were insane.

Serenity buried her face in her hands, and Matt slowly inched away from his friend, as innocently as he could.

"I'm sorry," Kyle said, drawing everyone's attention again, "I mean, I'm only saying what I think, but I've gotten off topic. My point is, you're obsolete, Malygos. And even while you refuse to believe it, you know it in your heart to be true."

"How dare yo-" The enraged Dragon started to say, before Kyle held up a hand to silence him. "If you were truly as powerful as you say you are. If you were, as you say, magic itself, then why have you failed to work past the basic protections on the Ginzuishou? If they are magic, and you are magic, I fail to see how you could not have worked your way past them by now."

"I..." the Spellweaver started, before pausing to look around futilely.

"There is, of course, a simple solution to this problem you seem to be facing, Spellweaver," Serinar said, gathering everyone's attention.

"Speak, Black. But sparsely; the mere thought of listening to your poisonous words as they roll off your barbed tongue fills me with rage," Malygos growled.

"Serenity here claims to be from another world. If that's the case, then her artifact, being from a different world, would be beyond your comprehension without intense study. Your pride is spared, and the burden of proof shifts to her to prove her claim," Serinar explained.

"I don't know what sickens me more, the fact that that made sense, or the fact that I'm forced to agree," Ysera muttered.

Alexstrasza gave a weak chuckle at that, while Malygos scowled. "Whatever name you've come up with for the device is irrelevant. As are your attempts to steal it from me with your pathetic attempts at flattery and manipulation!"

Serinar shrugged, before turning and walking away. "Where are you going?" Ysera asked.

"Back. The Black Dragonflight must be warned, and parties prepared to act. We will be ready when the Spellweaver snaps, even if you all are caught with your eggs out in the open. I'll send Nalice to the temple when we are prepared. Hopefully you will have come to a decision by then," he said, before changing back into a dragon and flapping his wings to take off.

"And what makes you so sure he's a threat?" Alexstrasza yelled at him as he prepared to take off.

"I've lived among the maddened and the deranged for years. I know madness when I see it; And the spellweavers eyes are alight with it!" Serinar bellowed back, before disappearing into the clouds.

Five pairs of eyes fixed themselves on a single pair of blue eyes that darted from face to face nervously. And one by one, the viewers saw past the jovial facade in place, and saw the madness dancing within.

A chill went down Kyle's spine that had nothing to do with the freezing winds blowing around Coldarra at that moment. She suddenly realized how cut off from the rest of the world she was, and even with Ysera and Alexstrasza there, it was impossible to predict what the mad aspect would do.

Matt reached for his sword, but hesitated before actually pulling it out. This wasn't like before, and, much as Kyle had surmised, there was no way to predict what would set the Spellweaver off.

Serenity, for her part, held the maddened dragons gaze whenever it shifted to her, blue eyes blazing with righteous indignation, almost daring the dragon to do something. And that's exactly what happened.

With a roar, Malygos turned on all of them. "You dare question me? You DARE come to my home, and presume to call me mad? I'm not mad, I'm FURIOUS!"

In a flash, the old man was gone, and the bearded blue dragon that was Malygos towered over all of them. In two more flashes, a Green and a Red stood across from him as well.

"Ysera! I once thought of you as a sister! And now you betray me? I can only imagine what dark dream you've yet to awaken from that would have you trusting a black dragon before myself!" He turned to Alexstrasza. "And you! I thought you, of all of us, would understand! But you look at me the same! I will not have you question me! And I will not be stopped! What I do is for the good of Azeroth, and I would rather DIE than let you try to talk me out of what I know is right!"

"Malygos! Please!" Ysera cried.

"No! Leave this place! And never return!"

With that, Malygos rushed Ysera, who replied with a blast of green flame that merely drove him back momentarily.

While they were occupied, Alexstrasza turned to the three travelers who were watching with wide eyes. "Run. Find some place to hide, while we... Finish this. When it is done, we'll see about returning what is yours."

"Lady Alesxstrasza!' Kyle yelled, as she turned away. When she was sure she had the dragon queen's attention, she spoke. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry it had to be this way."

"I can never thank you for this, Mortal. But I can appreciate your honesty. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a friend to kill."

The three of them ran towards one of the caves along the edge of the crater, as the sound of battle raged behind them. Only a few meters away, however, there was a sudden flare of light, and Kyle tackled Serenity into a bank of snow as a jet of blue flame incinerated the frozen water she'd been standing on moments before.

With a deep bellowing chuckle only a dragon could make, a blue dragon landed between them and the cave they sought refuge in.

"Well now. It would seem your protectors are busy with the master. Almost a pity Serinar didn't finish you off, but I suppose that means I'll have the pleasure of killing you myself." Dax grinned at them, then, and as one, they pulled their weapons and prepared for the fight of their lives.

Xxxxxx

Author's Notes:

Matt: So what's with you throwing sharp things all the time, suddenly? You could put someone's eye out.

Kyle: Gratuitous foreshadowing. And really? Tell me it's not cool whenever someone throws a knife like that?

Serenity: Only if it hits the target. You have one instance of missing an eye the size of a dinner plate, one instance where the wrong end hits some of the thickest armor Matt is wearing, and finally, a warning that would have been just as effective, if not more impressive, if you had actually sunk the blade into the meat of his arm or shoulder.

Kyle:...

Matt: She got there, Kyle. Nice burn, Serenity!

Serenity: Thank you! While I'm here, I'd like to personally thank everyone reading for supporting the writers in their efforts. I'd also like to give my heartfelt thanks to those of you who have taken the time to stop and send reviews and comments their way. It's been a real pleasure to see the responses by the community. Oh, and looking forward to the next chapter? I have it on good authority that writing longer reviews goes a long way towards that.

Kyle: I... wait, what? Hey! I'm not that kind of author!

Serenity: Oh? What about that scene with Serinar? That goofy grin while you stared at him... something you'd like to tell us? Is that body finally getting to you?

Kyle: No! Look at him. He's the epitome of... some trope I can't recall off the top of my head. Sort of Dangerously genre-savvy, maybe a little chaotic evil with a glimmer of true neutral?

Matt: You feel pretty strongly about this, huh?

Kyle: I need a good bad guy.

Serenity: I knew it.

Kyle: AS AN OPPONENT! ARGH. This authors note ends here.

Matt: G'night everybody!

Serenity: Keep reading!

Kyle: Why won't it end?

 

[Taiteki Kagato]

Only one month later. Though I have some post-posting woes; certain issues with wording that seems out of place in hindsight... What can you do?

Ah well. One chapter left in Azeroth, then it's back to the Silver Millennium. And the outline is done. Just need to get it written. I guess I can go start that now. Anyone want to guess how things turn out?

 

[Berserkslash]

Their return to the Silver Millennium will somehow draw the attention of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which shall devour everything........

Nice to see some more progress on this, now if only Tannim would work on Otaku......

 

[azereath]

good chapter, i loved how kyle started giving advice to Serinar with the evil overlords list