A/N: Hello again! I'm a bit of a World of Warcraft nerd, and I just haaaaaaaad to write an AU for it. I should warn you that there is pure angst ahead.
Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, would I REALLY be doing fanfiction?
She slammed the head of her staff onto the squirming insect's head, crushing it and ceasing it's desperate writhing. Bug juice splattering over her exposed molars and decayed face, and she wiped it off on her coarse sleeve. "Come on, Kagegetsu, we're finished here." Karin mumbled to her succubus companion, and she sneered at her. The demon could hear the voices echoing in her head, the voices of her former family and her former friends and her late sister. They were overwhelming, screaming in her small ears. She needed a drink.
She stuck her peeling fingers in her mouth and whistled into the twilight. Her windrider fell from the sky, its scorpion tail swinging behind it and its golden eyes looking expectantly at her. The warlock and her demon companion mounted it, and after taking hold of the reigns and flying into the air, her mind wandered.
"This is nice, Yuzu." She sighed from her sister's lap, happily munching on a tough roll as she lay on the packed dirt.
The blonde stroked her ebony hair and giggled. "It's nice out, huh? Not nearly as hot as yesterday."
"We must be near Ratchet, then. I hear the sea cools the air near the coast." Karin said as she swung her leg over her opposite knee. "It's pretty too. Don't you agree?"
"Yeah, it's gorgeous." Her blonde sister sighed, looking around the oasis. A twig snapped a few meters away, and the two girls scrambled to their feet. Karin pushed her sister behind her as she drew her bow.
"Who's there!?" The sable-haired twin shouted firmly, jerking her weapon side to side. "Cancel that spell and come out!"
She was grabbed by her hair and threw to the ground. She yelped in alarm, and her arm was twisted behind her back and her bow thrown several meters away.
"Get off of me!" She heard her sister screech. The being on top of her shed the invisibility spell and sneered at her.
"Let go of her!" Karin screeched, thrashing under the bandit. He twisted her arm further, and she cried out in pain. "Yuzu!" She shrieked over her sister's screaming.
A soft voice cut through the mayhem, authoritative and calm, and all seemed to still. Karin watched a figure approach, clad in armor embellished with Empyrean sapphire, a horned helmet hiding their face and their bulky armor partially concealing the woman behind them. She was beautiful, she thought, adorned in a blood red dress that swept down to her thin ankles with waving, gold embellishments. Dark brown hair fell around her jaw, her bangs pushed to the side and partially covering one of her luminescent green eyes. A red shield with azure flames surrounding it and a gold Phoenix in the center held back the hair on the other side of her face, and long, pointed ears cut through her locks and fine eyebrows hung off her face. It hit Karin— they were blood elves. They were Horde, they were her country's enemy.
The elf's intense, iridescent eyes glared at the gang of bandits, and she drew her red and gold staff from behind her. She flung it in front of her, and a fireball spun off it. Karin pressed herself as flat as she could to the ground and awaited the burning pain. When nothing came, she risked looking up and saw that the gang of bandits was annihilated in a few, short seconds.
She scrambled to her feet and ran to her sister. Yuzu's trousers were torn down to her ankles and blood was running down her thighs and down her cheek from a cut, and she was sobbing into her hands. Karin's blood ran cold and tears brimmed her eyes. She threw her arms around her sister and wept with her.
"I'm sorry!" She sobbed. "I'm so sorry!"
Karin felt someone tap her shoulder, and she pivoted on her heel, herding her sister against the boulder. She glared at the blood elf woman hostilely. The mage pulled her satchel in front of her and opened it. She produced gauze and ointment and nodded to the blonde.
Several tears dripped down Karin's cheeks and she bowed on her knees. The blood elf pushed her aside and she sheepishly moved.
The blood elf warrior removed their helmet. His unkempt hair was the color of virgin snow, several pieces hanging over the left side of his face. His round eyes were just as green as the woman's, fiery and intense, and like his sister, his fine eyebrows hung off his face and his ears sloped up to a point. His jaw was square and masculine and his cheekbones were sharp and high. His nose and lips were small, the latter set in an indifferent line.
"Toushirou," he pronounced, pointing at himself. He pointed to his companion tending to the blonde. "Momo,"
"Karin," the teen pointed to herself. "Yuzu," she pointed to her sister. She bowed to the blood elf, and he pushed her up, shaking his head. Her eyes brimmed with tears again and she threw her arms around his neck. He froze for a moment as she sobbed, before his arms awkwardly circled her waist.
The Forsaken warlock landed in the floating city of Dalaran and she handed off the reigns to the stable master. She and Kagegetsu made their way through the sparsely populated streets, eventually coming to their inn. The succubus informed Karin via their link that she was venturing out, and the warlock waved her off as she set her staff in the corner.
Karin pushed her headdress off and unclipped her cape, letting both fall to the floor. She sat in the chair tucked in the corner near the window and pulled a silver flask from her bosom and screwed the top off. She brought it to her pale lips and tipped it back. Only, nothing flowed into her mouth.
She cussed and stood, tucking the flask back into her dress and rushing out of the inn. Dalaran nightlife was nearly nonexistent, with only one pub to its name down in the slums next to the sewers below. She weaved through the streets and found an entrance into the sewer system. She walked a little farther, coming to a shabby tavern. She it slid into a stool near the corner. She called for a strong mead, and the goblin barmaid quickly gave her one.
The small party had been travelling together for a little under a week, communicating via animated gestures and pointing. Toushirou and Momo were conversing in Thalassian in front of the human twins. Karin jogged up to them and tapped the brunette on her shoulder. The elf turned around, stopping.
"Doral ana'diel?" She questioned sweetly.
"Doh-rahl an-ah-dee-el." Karin copied phonetically. The elves looked at each other, whispered, and then the female giggled enthusiastically.
Momo pointed to the sun in the sky. "Belore," she said, and again, the sable-haired human copied, her sister joining them. The brunette pointed to her companion's sword. "Zaram," again, the two humans copied. The group continued like that as they walked, Momo pointing at various things and saying the Thalassian words, and Karin and Yuzu would copy. Even at the inn, they continued the lesson late into the night.
The twins turned out to be quick studies. They memorized simple nouns fairly quickly, and then learned small phrases, and within the year, they were fluent speakers.
The three women, once they could understand each other, soon became close friends through their mutual hobby of mercilessly teasing Toushirou. Karin regularly expressed her gratitude to the elves for saving them, as well as her disbelief. She was taught that those allied with the Horde were very bad, but her experience with the blood elves had been the exact opposite. Toushirou and Momo regularly responded with astonishment themselves. They always believed that all Alliance were allies and were shocked to find the gang of bandits assaulting one of their own race.
Either way, the twins were grateful.
The warlock downed another mug of chilled mead, bottling that memory inside her. She had no need for human memories, they only hindered her work.
She had two more mugs, yet her thoughts still did not quiet.
It had been a year since they began travelling together; since the twins were attacked and the four became the oddest party in all of Azeroth and the Outlands and the Dark Beyond. They were more like family than friends, bickering and joking and just talking when they weren't working. Karin had the chance to work with her bow more with the elves, since they were in a guild that gained their revenue from bounties. Yuzu had grown better with her cooking with two more mouths to feed and exposure to foods from more cultures than just the Alliance races. Where the human merchants couldn't go, Toushirou and Momo could, and vise versa. Karin and Yuzu had learned Orcish, Zandali, and Taur-ahe within a couple of months, and they taught Toushirou and Momo Common and Dwarvish.
Toushirou and Karin were exceptionally close. When she needed someone to talk to, mostly to work out her feelings of the Horde and their attack so many months ago, she would go to him. When she woke up because of night terrors, he would let her sleep closer to him. He taught her how to better utilize her bow and helped her tame a dog from the Plaguelands to help her fight. Although he was stoic, he was very kind and very empathetic.
The elves were invited to a party in Shattrath City by the Scryers. Being high-standing elves, Toushirou and Momo had little choice but to go. They brought along the human twins, and they were even allowed to attend (after being outfitted with blood elf garb, supplied by Momo. Both girls were very excited). Although they received disgusted looks and were whispered about behind hands in Thalassian, their relationship with the well-known elves quickly garnered them respect. A few were stubborn about their racism, but were quickly put in their place by Toushirou (he had grown more audacious and spontaneous with Karin's influence).
He invited the sable-haired girl to dance when the orchestra began to play a slower song. She had little time to reject, as he physically dragged her to the center of the dance floor. He spun her around and twirled with her until she was softly laughing to herself and beaming like there was nothing wrong in the world.
"Thank you." She whispered as she tucked herself against his chest. They swayed in place, basking in the moment they created.
"What for?" He inquired, and she smiled up at him.
"For saving my sister and I."
"It was a long time ago. It's past us, no need to keep thanking us." He said.
"Not really." Karin retorted. "Yuzu and I still have night terrors, my sister especially."
"Ah," she watched him furrow his brow. "I'm amazed."
"What? That she still has nightmares? She was assaulted, Toushirou, it's not unbelievable that she remains traumatized."
"N-no, not that." He blushed sheepishly.
"Then what?"
"I'm amazed that a such a cheap bounty lead to this— the time of my life, a beautiful woman in my arms, and a complete disregard for the damage being done to my reputation for associating with you."
She frowned. "And what's that supposed to mean? Are you embarrassed to be seen with a human?" She spat.
"No!" He scoffed, and his cheeks went from pink to red. "I-I mean the complete opposite. I want to be seen with you. I want to be seen next to you and eating with you and dancing with you and drinking with you and entering the same room as you at inns, even though my heart palpitates and my belly feels strange whenever I'm with you. But you're so beautiful, and you've shown me so many things. You've shown me that not all Alliance are my enemy, and you taught me languages and trade. You were always very kind, even when we first met outside of Ratchet. When I first saw you being held down by that bandit, screaming like a wild animal because they had your sister, I wanted to cut every one of those bandits open to get you to stop screaming because it was so heart-breaking. After you learned Thalassian and we could speak, I saw how intelligent and motivated you are, and I knew I was doomed. Every time I look at you, Karin, it's like I'm gazing at the sun. You're a beautiful, life-giving being, and I can't compare."
"I don't understand. Clarify, " Karin scowled.
The blood elf cupped her cheek and drew her face close to his, resting his forehead against her's. "I love you, with all of my heart, Dalah'surfal." He murmured.
Her heart hammered in her chest, and she felt like giggling like a small child. She fisted the material over his chest. "I love you too." She whispered as she blushed.
She felt like crying, but her body was unable to produce tears any longer. So she downed another mug of mead, and the room seemed to warp.
They kept their affair private, but they knew that Momo and Yuzu had noticed that they began to always walk next to each other, and how when their shoulders would brush together they would blush like children, and they stood closer to each other than normal, and that they would whisper in each other's ear more often.
They had to stay in an out of the way inn owned by a pair of amiable goblins. There were only two available rooms. Momo and Yuzu quickly claimed each other as bed mates, and gave the two remaining members a sleazy glance grin as they were assigned the remaining room.
"Don't look," Karin said as she began undressing.
"You needn't worry, I have more respect for you than to invade your privacy, Dalah'surfal." Toushirou assured her as he set his heavy armor in the corner, his back to her.
She blushed at his pet name and pulled on a nightshirt. Toushirou blew out the candle before they laid down together, facing each other despite being unable to see one another in the darkness. She pulled the sheets over them as they pulled their bodies flush. His arms circled her waist as she draped her leg over his hip, and he brushed their lips together.
"Dalah'surfal," he repeated softly, and she hummed inquisitively. "Nothing, I just have great satisfaction finally being able to say that aloud without prying ears."
She pecked him on the lips, and the elf deepened the kiss before she could pull away, his hands venturing across her sides and hips.
"I'm not making love with you." She whispered, curling her hand into a fist against his pec, and he softly kissed her.
"I suppose I'll just have to live with holding you for the night, then."
Ten mugs later, and her thoughts still weren't quiet.
"That should be the last of them." Momo said, stretching high in the air. She sighed, and rolled her shoulders. "You're improving with your archery, Karin. I was impressed."
The human chuckled bashfully, scratching her neck. "Thank you, but comparatively, I'm nothing against you and your magic."
"I've had years to practice. You are only, what, seventeen? When I was seventeen, I could hardly perform magic, not with the natural talent you have with the bow." She sneered. "That aside, you two should hold hands."
The couple flushed bright red.
"I don't want my sister to see me displaying affection while we're covered in blood! It would give her the wrong impression!" Karin squawked.
"I sincerely doubt that. Just hold hands." The brunette rolled her eyes.
Toushirou wrapped his armored hand around hers, facing straight ahead. She glared at him.
"Don't encourage her bad behavior."
"Human culture is weird and prude." Momo sighed. "Let's go, Yuzu's waiting at camp."
The party of three weaved through labyrinth of cultist corpses, the human blushing timidly as Toushirou interlaced their fingers.
A mile outside the cultist hideout, the three approached the camp. The fire was smoldering, barely holding on after having water dumped on it, steaming quietly. The spit of meat was still hanging over it on an iron support, still pink. Karin was immediately unsettled when she didn't see her sister.
"Yuzu?" She said, opening the tent. Her eyes widened, and she shrieked, falling to her knees. Her sister was thrown unceremoniously in the back, blood dribbling from her gaping mouth and her eyes wide open. Blood still dripped from her slit throat, seeping into the dirt in front of her.
"Oh my god," Momo gasped behind her. "Toushirou!"
Karin was pulled to her feet and spun around. Her lover tucked her against his armor, hiding the scene behind him, and she wailed into his neck.
"I'm going to scout around and see if we missed anybody-"
The trees near them rustled, and Karin whipped around. Her silver eyes widened as a long, tapered shaft whizzed towards her, and her world went black.
"Another!" Karin slurred, whipping her head up from its resting place on her palm.
"Ya look like hell, honey. Maybe ya should go home, I'll even have Nuzak take you there." The barmaid said.
"There's gonna be a demon bitch waiting back there, and I sure as hell don' wanna hear her bitching until I'm so fuggin' drunk that I can' even remember my own name."
"I hear ya. Just get yer ass outta here after Merelda comes in, 'cause she's a serious bitch with drunkards."
"Right," She tipped back the new drink.
She was floating in a vast abyss, barely aware of her existence. There wasn't warmth, there wasn't cold. There wasn't light, there wasn't darkness. It wasn't lonely, but she was alone. She was just floating about in nonexistence.
She felt a rough tug, and then seconds later her eyes flew open and she gasped for breath. She sat up quickly, running a hand through her frizzy hair as her lungs heaved. She whipped her head from side to side, taking in her surroundings.
She was in a cemetery, surrounded by bodies in various states of decomposition running from place to place. Armored angels floated about, their translucent bodies casting a pale blue glow on the ground. She coughed into her hand.
"Feel better?"
She looked to the source of the gravelly voice. It was a man, his nose eaten away and his thin lips pulled into a toothy grin. His gums were retreating, revealing the long, yellow roots of his teeth. His flesh was shrivelled and leathery, maintaining a slightly blue pigment. His visible joints were torn, bone peeking out from the tears. A green and white hat shielded his sunken eyes, and he wore slim-fitting trousers and a scraggy black jacket. Behind him, a luminescent angel floated, her ghostly wings silently flapping.
"Wh-who are you? And where am I?" Karin demanded.
"You're in Deathknell in the Tirisfal Glades. I'm Kisuke Urahara, one of the apothecaries in legion with Lady Rukia. The Val'kyr behind me, Orihime is her name, has successfully pulled you back from death. It's been a month since you died, hence the amount of decomposition, but I'm sure you understand that we're a little a shorthanded. Do you remember who you are?"
The young woman furrowed her brow and looked down at her hands. The were a similar pigment to Kisuke's and the Val'kyr's— a pale blue. She bent her stiff fingers, her dry, leathery skin opposing the action. She gasped as the memories flooded back. She remembered her human origins, her prior status as a merchant, travelling with Yuzu, the day they were attacked and saved by Toushirou and Momo, and her romantic involvement with the former, and the night she and her sister died.
Karin gasped again, vaulting out of the hole she was in. "Yuzu, where are you!?" She screeched. She was forced to the ground by the Val'kyr, her arm twisted behind her.
"Calm down, Orihime, and let go of her." Kisuke said. She released the young Forsaken and levitated in the air. Karin stood and coughed up grass.
"We apologize, but we yet been able to revive your sister." The apothecary said. It felt like her world was pulled out from under her feet. Her knees seemed to turn to jelly and it was like her breath was knocked out of her. It felt like she was on the verge of tears, but when she felt her eyes, they were perfectly dry. "However, there is someone here to see you. Do you remember Toushirou? He's been waiting here for us to revive you for a good month. He hasn't left the tavern a single day. Go and see him."
Her heart seemed to soar in her ribcage, and she ran out of the cemetery into town. She found the tavern and skidded to a stop, holding the door frame. She spotted a cloud of snowy hair in the corner of the tavern, the owner's back turned to the door. "Toushirou," She said breathlessly. They turned their head, revealing familiar fluorescent eyes and a square jaw.
His eyes widened and he flew out of the seat. "Karin," He cupped her face in his hands, his round eyes brimming with tears. His chin was dotted with pale stubble, and there were dark bags lining the underside of his eyes.
The blood elf tucked his nose in the crook of her neck and wrapped his arms around her waist. "I'm so sorry…" He whispered emotionally. "I'm so, so sorry."
She reached behind him and gripped his loose undershirt. "I'm happy you're here, at least." She sniffed, her husky voice quivering. "But where's Momo?"
"She retired after… after you and Yuzu were killed. We were unable to find the perpetrator, and the guilt has weighed on both of us. It was simply too much for her to bare and she joined the Requilary in Silvermoon City." He explained, nuzzling her neck. "I'm sorry…"
"Oi, take yer lovefest elsewhere, elf!" The innkeeper cursed at them. The couple separated bashfully, and the Forsaken watched her lover blush.
"L-let's go upstairs." He said, taking her hand in his. The couple ran up to the room the blood elf was renting. Toushirou shut the door behind them, looking Karin up and down. She bashfully shifted in her death gown.
He looked her up and down one more time before throwing his arms around her again. "I'm so happy you're here." He croaked.
Her arms looped around his back and she rested her head against his shoulder. "Please, stay with me."
She raked her fingers through her wiry hair. "D'ya got a pipe?" She murmured to the blood elf next to her. Stupid bastard had his eyes…
"No, sorry." He said, and those green eyes sparkled. She was so damn drunk…
She awoke the next morning tangled in the sheets of an empty bed. She got up and straightened her hair and her gown and ran downstairs, looking for the blood elf. Only, the tavern was empty, except for her and the innkeeper.
"Lookin' for yer friend?" He inquired, wiping a glass with a rag.
"Yes, do you know where he is?"
"He left this mornin'. He told me to give ya this, though." He pushed a folded letter onto the bar top. The young Forsaken ran over to it, hastily unfolding it.
Karin,
I'm very sorry, but I am incapable of staying with you at this current time.
T.
The note fluttered to warped floor, and it felt like her world was decimated all over again. She fell to her knees, sobbing tearlessly.
"I can't believe this." She uttered in shock. "How could he?"
"Y'know, Lady Rukia is far more loyal to her subjects than any elf. She'd never abandon you, or us."
Karin folded her hands in her lap, her brow furrowing. "It's ironic," she said. "When I was human, he'd call me Dalah'surfal, his love. But now that I'm dead, now that I'm ugly, he skips town." She chuckled bitterly. "I'll be happy to join the undead."
She landed on her ass outside of the bar's door, screeching slurred Dwarven profanities at the barmaid for having been thrown out. She jumped to her feet and stumbled about the darkness of the sewers, dimly lit by the sky above. She walked in a drunken zigzag, bringing the lip of her flask to her mouth and downing the entire thing in one go.
"'m so fuggin' hammer'd it ain' ev'n funny no more!" She sadly hiccuped at the air.
She turned and hurled against the wall, sobbing tearlessly. She raked back her hair again, leaning forward as her stomach convulsed almost painfully.
She felt her hair pull back into a small ponytail by a gentle grip. She prepared to turn around and decapitate the bastard when her rotten belly heaved again, silencing her.
"It's alright, get it all out of you." She heard, and vaguely recognized the voice through her hazy inebriation.
She spat in the alley. "Fuck you, Toushirou." She croaked.
"I know," he said as he pulled her to her feet and picked her up bridal-style. Her head lolled back, and she felt him readjust it so her forehead rested against his neck. "I'm sorry."
"No ya aren'." She mumbled and gripped the material over his chest. "If ya were sorry, I wouldn' be so fuggin' drunk."
"Yes, you're right. I'm sorry."
They eventually made it to the inn she was staying and brought her to her room. He pulled off her shoes and her dress and the remainder of her armor, leaving her in just her cotton underwear and a wool undershirt. He undressed as well, laying down next to her and pulling the blankets over them. He tucked the smaller Forsaken against him, and she feebly pushed him away. He persisted, and she ceased.
"I hate ya." She slurred.
"I know, and you have a right to." He brushed her wiry hair out of her face.
"I hate ya fer changing my life, and I hate ya fer makin' me love you, and I hate ya fer abandoning me the night I was resurrected, and I hate ya because I still fuggin' love ya."
"I know. I hate me too." He rubbed up and down her spiny vertebrae. "Hate me all you want, because I deserve it."
She sobbed into his shoulder. "Why? Why did ya leave me? You left me right after I was revived and the apothecaries have given up on raising my sister because she's jus' a fuggin' skeleton now and Momo abandoned me you were the only person I could depend on, and you just left. Why?"
The blood elf licked his lips and cleared his throat. "I wasn't strong enough." He answered. "I wasn't strong enough to protect you and your sister, and I wasn't strong enough to bear the guilt of that. So I ran away, like a coward. And I'm so, so sorry." He kissed her forehead.
"Ten years," she rasped. "I haven' fuggin' seen you in ten fuggin' years. What the hell makes you think I wanna see you now?"
"You don't, I know, but I need to take responsibility for my actions and fix them. So I'm staying with you until you can stand on your own, and then I'll leave, and you never have to see me again."
She tucked her face in the crook of his neck. "Fine,"