#linthael

More silence. Niccolai combed his fingers through his wheat-blonde hair. “You and she were like ice and fire. You didn’t mix. One of you was bound to destroy the other.” He drummed his fingers on his arm. “I guess I should be grateful you weren’t the one to strike first. Though you certainly chipped away at her patience all you could.” He wasn’t sure why he bothered. The undead man wouldn’t listen. He never did, not unless Niccolai had some sort of fact he had need of. “Well. It’s all known to you already, anyway. I suppose I’ll be going.”

“...She didn’t have to leave,” Allidar murmured. Niccolai lifted a brow. “We could have... It didn’t have to be this way. I could have...”

“You could have what? Changed everything about yourself? Allidar, don’t lie to yourself.” He sighed. “You’ve improved a lot since we first met. I hoped your biting issue would have been fixed by now, but... Progress is progress, I suppose.” The doctor adjusted his ruby specs. “Allidar, be honest with yourself. If you had any intention of fixing this, you would have learned to open up and speak to her as if she was an equal to you. You know, like a person would. If you truly wanted this to work out, you would have put more work into it.”

“But I did, Niccolai.” He turned his head, his icy gaze cast over his shoulder. “I tried to accommodate her. I gave her what she wanted. I gave her Cirrus, I gave her Sorrowdusk, I gave her the freedom to seek from others what I could not give. I gave up my revenge...” He turned back to the window. “...Revenge is all I have, and I let it go for her. Hatred is all I can truly feel. Yet I stifled it for her. I haven’t felt as dead before as I do now.”

“Allidar,” Niccolai sighed, “I know. I know you tried. But it wasn’t enough. It’s time to let it go. She wants nothing to do with you. She fled this world--this timeline--just to get away from you. It’s over.”

“...It doesn’t have to be.”

Khadgar had visited the Overhang enough times to know who Lin was. They might not have been friends, per se, but he knew her well enough to recognize her when she walked into his study. In one arm was a solemn, dark-haired infant; and behind her she had dropped the strap to a rolling trunk. The latter made Khadgar lift a curious brow. Her armor-clad figure made him put down his arcane tome. But it was her request--demand, really--that made his jaw drop.

"Lady Duskwatch--"

"Autumnchaser," she corrected immediately, lifting her chin. If there'd been a slight quiver to her voice, it was gone in an instant. "Just 'Lin' will do."

"-Lin,- I can't just send you back. That timeline...Gul'dan has created an army. The Broken Isles--Azeroth, they're--"

"Are they still standing?"

"Well yes, from what I've been able to gather--"

"Then I want to go home."

He couldn't for the life of him figure out what she was on about. After Gul'dan had escaped Draenor, Allidar Duskwatch had sent his family and the rest of his people to this alternate timeline. Here, Azeroth was peaceful--boring, really. There was no Legion, no Scourge, no threat beyond the typical squabbles between races and kingdoms. He didn't know much about Lin, because she was rarely present for their meetings; but this seemed like an ill-thought-out decision, to say the least.

To Lin, however, it was the only choice she had left. Allidar had grown increasingly distant, spending more time with his machines than with her. Of course, he'd been fully opposed to her leaving, but she knew it was only because he regarded her as a possession. Whatever love they'd once shared--ha! As if a Death Knight could love--whatever they'd shared, it was over now.

Cirrus, on the other hand...That was what had her heart breaking. The way he'd wept...and then shouted, hoping that anger would make her stay. They could have escaped together, he'd insisted. Caiori was their daughter, not Allidar's: they could have raised her with all the love a child should have had. But she turned him down, too. Allidar would never loosen his hold on Cirrus. The man was too much of a risk. And even now, Lin had to force herself from crying, because without her influence to keep Cirrus safe, what would Allidar do to him? Had she just sentenced him to death?

"Lin, are you listening to me? The risks involved..."

"Khadgar, you're the most powerful mage Azeroth has. Are you telling me you can't do this safely? That it would put this timeline at risk?"

"No, I'm reasonably certain the timeline would remain safe from the Legion. But -you,- and your daughter..."

"You let me worry about us. I appreciate the concern, Khadgar, but it's time to go."

He sighed heavily and stood, which gave Lin enough time to turn away and swipe at her eyes. Cirrus' tear-stained face, Allidar's cold blue gaze...they would both haunt her for the rest of her life. But she could not stay.

It took some time for the portal to be complete. Plenty of time, in fact, for Allidar to come storming through the door demanding her to return to him. Part of her hoped fervently that he would. With every sound outside, every creak of a floorboard, her eyes darted to the door.

But no one came for her.

"It's time," Khadgar said at last. "I'm afraid I can't leave it open for very long, so if you've changed your mind, now is the time to say so. I...won't be able to contact you again."

"You should come, too," Lin insisted. "Azeroth--OUR Azeroth--needs you. Who else will help us battle the Burning Legion?"

He patted her shoulder in a grandfatherly way and shook his head, saying nothing. It was a surprise to her, when she knew he always seemed to have a clever word or two. When she finally realized he was going to remain silent, she sighed and picked up the strap to her trunk.

"I understand. Thank you, Khadgar, for risking this."

"I might not have, had it not been for my ties to your hu--well. Take care of yourself, Miss Autumnchaser."

That was what Niccolai used to call her. Lin choked on a sob and then, angry at herself for showing emotion, stomped through the portal.

Goodbye, Niccolai.

Goodbye, Cirrus.

Goodbye, Tei...Please take care of your brother. He's so good at pushing people away, when he truly needs them...

And Allidar...

I dreamt last week that I was dating Robert Downey Jr, and I don't even have a thing for him. xD

Oh no, it’s such a wasted opportunity when it’s someone you don’t care about! Who do you have a thing for? :D :D

I did BC for 2 months before I lost my health insurance. The first month was spent wanting to punch just about everyone who spoke to me. Definitely hormone BS. I'm sorry you're dealing with it! And I wish I was brave enough to get an implant, lol.

Hormones suck so bad. >.< I’m feeling a lot better today, for which I am thankful! It’s so weird knowing that your feelings and reactions are different from normal but you’re still feeling them!

Ugh, that’s terrible that a thing like BC is so dependent on health insurance! I’m so glad that all contraception is free on the NHS. The implant is actually really great, or it was for me, anyway. I was a bit squeamish at the thought of having something put in my arm, but it’s tiny and plastic and after it healed (which didn’t take long) I kept forgetting about it! I’ve had two of them (three years each), and the only side effect I really noticed was lack of periods (which also meant less crazy breakouts, and lack of period hormones). I’d thought that the implant might be making me more hirsute, but it’s looking more likely that I have PCOS and it was actually helping me, lol. Need to have my blood taken to find out...

To say her latest visit to Silvermoon was “impromptu” wouldn't mean much.  All of her visits back home were unplanned, and she was grateful that she had the ability to go on a whim.  Sometimes, as much as she enjoyed living at the Overhang, she just needed to see her own kind again.

To say that running into Feyoran was a surprise, however, was making an understatement.  The last time they'd met, he'd left her curled up and sobbing in the snow.  She hadn't exactly been looking forward to ever seeing him again.  His greeting didn't make things any better.

“Miss Lin, what has he done to you?” His eyes had rounded in something akin to horror.  It immediately put Lin's hackles up, and she'd never once lost her temper with him before.

“It wasn't Allidar!” she spat, thinking he was referring to her obviously-rounded belly.  It seemed a logical conclusion: Death Knights weren't exactly known for their baby-making abilities.  Unfortunately, then she realized that her declaration didn't make her situation look any better, and it was too late to fix it.  Further explanation would only make things worse.

Turned out, she needn't have worried, because it wasn't her pregnancy he'd been referring to.  There was a hardness to her, he'd said, cruelty in her features that had never been there before.  What was this Death Knight doing to her?

Lin was so shell-shocked that she almost didn't hear him asking her to leave Allidar.  There were no declarations of love, or of wanting her to come back to him, of course; even if he'd still held any shreds of affection for her—and she knew he didn't—he would never ask for something so selfish.  But there was concern in his voice, worry that she was swiftly becoming a monster.

And perhaps she was.  Who else would enjoy having pain inflicted upon them?  Who else would crave it, would ask for it?  Once, she would have thrashed anyone who dared do the things she now allowed Allidar to do.  Now...even now, she found herself missing it.

But it wasn't just that.  She was turning hard, had adopted Allidar's fierce need to win at whatever cost.  Because she would never be dominant over him, she had begun taking out her aggression on the only person with whom she could get away with it: Cirrus.  And he'd called her out on it, too.  She was becoming someone she hardly recognized.

That was why she'd run from Feyoran, without so much as a word of farewell.  It was why she was curled up on her parents' bed—dust-covered but still smelling somehow of her mother—and why she was crying her heart out.  To leave Allidar was unthinkable; she did love him, and loved all the things about him even as she fought against becoming that herself.  She was his balance: where he felt too little, she felt too much.  Her fire helped to thaw him, and he cooled her down when her temper was raging.  They would destroy each other if she became like him.

Besides, what kind of mother would she be to her child?  She wanted to be like her own parents.  Both Allidar's and Cirrus's childhoods seemed bereft of affection and laughter, and she would not allow that for her own child...

A noise in the apartment brought her out of her misery in an instant.  Bolting upright, Lin glanced toward the doorway, which was darker even than the bedroom.  She hadn't realized the sun had gone down, and wouldn't have felt the need to light any lamps even if she had.  This had always been a safe place, but that noise had not been the usual sounds of settling.  Someone was inside.

Lin fumbled for the lamp on the bedside table before remembering she had another means of illumination at her disposal.  Thrusting her hand out before her, she called the Light to her with barely a thought.  Her hand glowed brilliant and golden, casting stark shadows off the objects in the room.

And Sarin Autumnchaser, who'd just entered the doorway, recoiled as though he'd been struck by a venomous snake.

“...Papa?”  

Allidar: I've killed Bladeleaf.

Everyone: Why--

Allidar: And now he's back to life and I've let him go.

Everyone: Oh, okay, well if you say so.

Allidar: WHY IS HE BACK

Everyone: Maybe he's mad

Allidar: KILLING AGAIN

Everyone: Okay--

Allidar: Psych, letting him go. GTFO.

Everyone: So... Are you trying to be honorable or--

Allidar: Wait why am I captured

Everyone: Okay let's rescue him I guess.

Allidar: Splendid, the saberon have torn him to shreds.

Everyone: Now that that's done--

Allidar: Now he has mechanical legs and a robot arm.

Everyone: ...Okay -what-

Allidar: Killed him again.

Everyone: For good now?

Allidar: Nah, Lin said to revive him, so he's back.

Everyone: This is a bad idea.

Allidar: It's okay, he's under my mental control.

Everyone: He just fu