Hey all! Sorry I haven't updated Reawakening in a while! I'm going to be focusing on it next, as long as this one doesn't torture me in the meantime.

This is just a short story, maybe going to be about 2-3 chapters, depending on their length. I've had the idea for it in my head ever since I created Lucian's character in the first place last year, and I finally decided to put it in writing. It's just a little bit of fun, a small backstory as to how he came to meet his father and discover the world outside his tribe.

I'll be focusing on the next chapter of Reawakening now, and then back to this one. :D I've started Reawakening's chapter, but this story kept popping up no matter what I did, and I had to get it out somehow. :)

Set approximately one decade before Breaking Faith; this'll probably cover the timeline all the way up to the beginning of that story, depending on how I end up doing this. :D

"Are you sure that's all you want to take?"

Lucian paused what he was doing at the question directed toward him, pursing his lips and glancing down to inspect the pack hanging from his shoulder. He'd packed an extra change of clothing, some gold sovereigns his mother had supplied, and a little bit of food, but other than that, he had nothing. He didn't really need much to get by.

"I'm just saying," the lavender-haired woman crossed her arms, giving him a halfhearted smirk, "That's not a lot for someone traveling across the world." Her eyes, as hard as she tried to keep her sense of humor, flickered with sadness.

Lucian caught her underlying emotion and let his lids fall shut for a moment, letting out a soft sigh. "Gladia," he murmured, "It's more than enough. I'll be fine."

As much as he was trying to convince his friend, he was also trying to convince himself to go through with this. The tribe leaders, his mother among them, had arranged a partnership between Lucian and his closest, oldest friend, Gladia Broadleaf, but neither he nor she were willing to follow through with said 'marriage' (if it could be called that). They'd decided their only way out of it was for one of them to pack up and leave the tribe, which was highly frowned upon and generally considered as a one-way ticket out. Once you leave, you can't come back.

Gladia had volunteered to leave, but Lucian wouldn't dream of letting her do such a thing. This was her life here, and she would have no other options outside of this tribe. But Lucian, on the other hand, had a father. A father who didn't know he even existed, mind you, but a father nonetheless. This meant he had an opportunity to start a life away from this quiet, unchanging forest lifestyle, and he was quite willing to take it, and not only due to his necessity to evade the marriage.

Catalpa, Lucian's mother, had all but forbidden him from leaving, but with enough convincing, he helped her realize that this would be good for him, to meet his father and to possibly have a life outside this tribe. He was one month shy of 30, and when that day came he'd reach his coming of age. As much as he loved his tribe, as much as he wanted to fulfill the position of their leader when the time came for him to do so, he couldn't help but feel an urge to get out. He had a feeling he was meant for greater things than to live as a rebel tribe leader and hide out in Ashenvale his whole life…

Lucian took another look at his friend.

"Gladia," he said softly as he noted the pain in her eyes, and he reached a hand up, placing it on her cheek and brushing her hair to the side. "I'm going to miss the hell out of you. But this will be good for me. For both of us."

Her eyes once again shimmered on the verge of tears and she tightened her brows, expression hardening. He could tell she was trying to hide it, but this wasn't the time to bottle up anything. He was leaving. For good. Not coming back. If she or anyone else in this tribe ever wanted to see him again, they'd have to pack up and leave as well, and that was unlikely.

Gladia's strong, golden eyes flicked up at him from under her long, dark-purple lashes, and Lucian suddenly felt a strong rush of uncertainty wash over him. He loved her, but he didn't love her in that way... did he? She was his closest, oldest friend. Their compatibility was similar to that of siblings rather than mates. But, at times, he'd have to catch himself around her. She was so beautiful, both inside and out, and it made him second-guess this choice of his. Both of them, upon hearing the news of their impending marriage, had fought against the arrangement fiercely. It had seemed so unfair to him that he hadn't actually contemplated going through with it.

But what if…?

No.

No, he couldn't stay or be with her. He'd made his choice, and she had obviously made hers. She'd been just as willing as he to leave this tribe rather than marry. If that wasn't a big indicator of her feelings upon the matter, he didn't know what was. She didn't want it, and therefore made his choice on the matter a whole lot easier.

He let his hand fall and turned to go, but she grabbed it and pulled him back, wrapping him in close in a tight, wordless hug. He let his head crane down, resting his chin on the top of her head and encircling his arms around her too.

"This is so unfair," she said in a quiet tone, her cheek held against his chest.

"It'll be good for me, Gladia," he reassured her, rubbing her back with one big palm comfortingly. "One big adventure." He pulled away from the hug, bracing his hands on her shoulders and looking down at her affectionately, "And not only that, but you won't have to be stuck with silly old me. It's a win-win!"

A nerve in her neck pulsed and she smiled feebly. "That's right."

He laughed slightly, but the tone was hollow. "Can you imagine us married? Forever?" He grimaced jokingly. "You'd get tired of me after three days, tops."

Gladia just nodded, eyes scanning his intensely as if she wanted desperately to say something but couldn't quite bring herself to do so.

He watched her for a while, the room falling silent and time ticking away slowly.

"Goodbye, Gladia," he finally said, hoisting his bag onto his shoulder. "I love you." He leaned down and kissed her cheek, willing himself not to get too worked up about this. He wasn't coming back. This really was his final goodbye.

She closed her eyes, remaining frozen in the room and not responding to his farewell. He studied her for one more moment, slightly concerned at her silence, and finally turned and left his room.

He walked down the long corridor of the mossy caves, the home where his nomadic tribe was currently set up. He'd already said his goodbyes to both Catalpa and his eight-year-old sister, Lena, and the only people he had yet to part with now were the twins, though they were nowhere to be found. Because he wanted to leave soon in order to reach Darnassus before the sun rose, he feared he might miss them. The thought of leaving them forever without saying goodbye was enough to drive him mad, and he could only hope he'd see them during the walk out of the caves before he shifted and flew away.

But, he reached the open, verdant mouth of the living, airy caves completely alone. He hadn't seen the twins, and from the looks of things, he wouldn't see them within the next minute before he took off. He let his breath out in a heavy sigh. He was eager to leave, but not to leave the people he cared about.

His eyes flicked up into the tree canopy. It was dense, blocking out all light save for a few shafts of moonlight that filtered through the few open spots in the leaves. It was peaceful here, and he knew that by leaving this place, he'd leave a piece of himself behind, too.

But the idea of venturing out, exploring the world, pulled at him so strongly that he couldn't help but get excited.

He trailed through the dense underbrush of the forest, absentmindedly noticing he was now in his cat form. His connection to nature was so strong that depending on his emotions or intentions, whatever came easiest was what occurred. So when he needed to slink through the woods preferably unnoticed by anyone who could possibly be nearby, the cat form would just… happen.

These woods, despite their serenity, also held an unsaid level of danger. He knew countless people from his tribe who had ventured out and never returned, only to be found a week later with crude arrows protruding from their chests or an Orc blade stuck in the heart. The Druids weren't alone in this forest, and the Orcs who shared it (that word is used loosely; the Orcs were invading more than anything else) with them were far from friendly. To stay silent when exiting the caves or when venturing out in the open woods was a must.

Lucian broke into a quiet run, leaping over fallen trees and ducking below shrubs, his paws padding softly against the wet leaves of the ground and making no noise other than a soft 'pat-pat' of the initial impact of his toes on the ground. A sense of freedom spread within him as he ran from his home, and a wide grin covered his feline face. Without trying to and despite his need to stay silent, a rumbling laugh bubbled up from his chest, turning into a loud, lion-like roar that carried through the silent forest, startling the birds in the trees and causing the wildlife within a one-mile radius to scatter.

Just a little bit further and he would shift to flight form, when the trees were less dense and he could fly in their midst rather than above them.

Behind him, however, he began to hear heavy footsteps gaining on him, so he sped his prowl into a run. His indiscreet roar could have easily attracted an Orc scouting party, but he knew with confidence that he could easily outrun any two-legged creatures in this forest.

But, even as he sped up, his pursuer continued to gain on him, and he felt the fur on his shoulders rise in concern. As he ran, he glanced back over his shoulder only to see a dark, blurry form darting after him through the night forest.

He intensified his sprint, heart pounding. Whatever was chasing him, it was faster than him, and that was shocking. He was the fastest in his whole tribe, save Unaril and Sa—…

…Wait.

He suddenly halted, stomping his front paws into the ground and whipping around right as two dark-furred cats slammed into him from both sides, knocking him clean off his feet. Once he scrambled away and got on his feet, he shifted out of his cat form immediately.

"What the hell!?" he let out a boisterous laugh, grinning widely. "You two scared the shit out of me."

As he spoke, the two giant panthers transformed mid-attack into two very nonplussed-looking twins, who both advanced on him again, with Sarion, the darker one, forcefully shoving Lucian's shoulder and the sea-blue-haired one, Unaril, sending a punch right at Lucian's stomach.

"Screw you, Silverpaw," Unaril was practically yelling, both livid and laughing at the same time—if that was possible—and he sent another punch at Lucian, this time directed at the man's jaw.

Lucian ducked, then began dodging their attacks with his forearms and hands, cringing away from the two men, who were both smaller than him but still a lot to handle. "What?" he asked incredulously, laughing and dodging.

"You thought you could just leave us all, forever, and not even say goodbye?" Sarion said, placing his hands on his hips indignantly. "With all due respect, Lucian, you're a dipshit."

Unaril relented his attacks and copied his twin, giving Lucian a death glare. "Not impressed with you, kid."

"Kid?" Lucian smirked and reached out, catching Unaril off-guard, and within two seconds of scrapping between the two, Lucian had him in a headlock. He gave Unaril a violent noogie. "I'm older than you, kid."

"Older doesn't constitute smarter!" Unaril choked out, hands grasping at Lucian's firmly-held arms in an attempt to get him to release his hold.

Lucian just chuckled happily, releasing his friend, who readjusted stiffly.

Lucian spoke in a light tone, "I'm going to miss you guys."

Sarion glowered at him. "Damn it, Lucian, why can't you just suck it up and marry her? This is all very stupid."

"Sarion, what if you were the one told to marry her? What then?" Lucian crossed his arms.

"I'd marry her," Sarion looked at the white-haired elf emphatically. "Lucian, come on. Out of everyone in this entire tribe, you get Gladia. You two are peas in a pod. Perfect match. And she obviously cares about you... like, a lot. Why is it such a bad thing?"

"Because…" Lucian furrowed his brows, pausing a second before finally continuing, "Nevermind. You wouldn't understand."

Sarion just gave Lucian a helpless look, and Lucian frowned.

Sarion wouldn't understand. Gladia, Lucian, Unaril, and Sarion had all grown up together; they knew everything about one another down to their deepest secrets, at least as far as the twins knew. But the twins weren't the ones Gladia would come to when she needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to confide in. It was always Lucian. It was almost like she and he were too close, too good of friends to even think about stepping over that untouched boundary. Neither Sarion nor Unaril knew what that was like.

Unaril looked downcast. "So you're really leaving?"

"I've already left," Lucian gave Unaril a slight, sad smile.

Sarion looked almost frantic. "If you're going, we're going with you."

Lucian lost his glow. "No."

"You gonna try to stop us?" Unaril taunted, mouth curling at a smirk.

"If you try, I will stop you," Lucian retorted firmly.

"But you can't just leave!" Sarion threw his arms out to his sides. "Lucian, this is so selfish."

"No," Lucian retorted flatly, "You coming with me is what's selfish. If you leave the tribe, who's left with Gladia? She'll have lost her three closest friends in one day. You're all she will have left when I'm gone. Leaving her all alone? That is selfish."

The twins let their gazes fall, and Lucian knew that he'd won. Gladia was all three boys' soft spot, and he knew Unaril and Sarion wouldn't let her down.

Lucian softened his gaze. "She needs you two."

The twins merely shut their mouths and looked resigned, and Lucian shifted his stance, speaking in a light tone.

"And I do wish you could come; if only the circumstances were different." He shrugged, "Who knows? Maybe things will change. But right now, I'm going to find my father."

The boys gave Lucian understanding looks.

"All right, all right," Sarion said, letting out a heavy sigh. "I understand entirely. I just…" He trailed off, chewing on his cheek for a moment. "We're going to miss you, Lucian."

Unaril looked broken, and for a moment, Lucian thought the kid was going to punch him again. But, instead, Unaril just advanced and wrapped his arms around his old friend, hugging Lucian tightly and wordlessly.

Lucian hugged him back, knowing this might be the last time in a long time that he'd see either of these two. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd see them ever again, and that was one of the toughest realizations he'd had in, well, ever. He had to work not to let his emotions bubble over.

Unaril released and stepped back, sadness resting on his face, but he suddenly concealed it completely with one of his genuine, trademark 'Unaril' smiles.

"Cause trouble for us, okay?" the blue-haired kid grinned.

"Yeah," Sarion added, "Without us around, you'll have to work doubly hard to keep the mischief going."

"I'll do my best," Lucian smiled back, readjusting the light backpack on his shoulder. He put his hands on both of their shoulders, giving them both reassuring looks and taking one deep breath. "Take care of Gladia and Catalpa for me. And take care of yourselves, too."

They nodded sincerely, and he sighed. "I suppose this is the part where I leave," he said.

"Goodbye, Lucian," Sarion said quietly, and Lucian offered him a hand, which he took, returning with a firm, friendly handshake.

"Wish me luck," Lucian regarded them both, and he then turned around, back toward the western end of the forest where he'd shift in just a couple hundred yards.

Stormwind, Lucian thought to himself with a smile, Here I come.

Starts out kind of tough, but it'll get fun! :D