Only a Setback

Deathwing was dead. The heroes of Azeroth, both Alliance and Horde, were invited to Hyjal for a celebration. The dragon aspects were there, along with the highest ranking members of the Earthen Ring and Cenarion Circle. There were others too; independent adventurers who had been instrumental in several key victories against the forces of evil. Some were veterans of the wars in Anqiraj. Others she recognized as the ones that variously slain Edwin VanCleef, unmasked Onyxia and liberated Gnomeregan.

Jaina Proudmoore, being not one much for hobnobbing, reclined against the wall away from the crowd. People watching, she mused, was much more fun. Brann Bronzebeard was telling Krasus about his narrow escape from the Halls of origination; he had to stop every so often because of Nozdormu's constant interjections of "I knew that would happen." The Scarab Lord was making several women laugh with his list of "Saurfang facts". The champions of the frozen wastes were...getting wasted.

But she could not help but watch two individuals in particular more often than the others: Thrall and his new mate Aggra. Jaina knew she was happy for Thrall, but something bothered her to the very core. Aggra always seemed perfect. Too perfect. What's more she came out of nowhere and suddenly...her best friend in the whole world wants nothing more than to be with her. The more Jaina thought about it the less it made sense, and the less it made sense the more she thought about it. As she tried to ponder the situation, she found that it was like trying to walk through a fog that became progressively thicker. Was something trying to stop her from following that line of thought? There was something disorienting about it,disorienting and disturbing. It made her, for a moment, want to stop trying and forget about it. But no! She refused to quit. Soon the fog surrounded her completely and she felt as if she were wrapped in chains. It held her tightly and continued to make all of her senses hazy and muffled. But Jaina was an arch-mage...trained by the best and brightest teachers of the Kirin Tor to be a paragon of mental power. Drawing on all of her inner strength, she collapsed her entire body and then extended her limbs explosively whilst she screamed. There was a massive burst of mental energy that shattered the chains and burned away the fog. She slowly opened her eyes and realized that she had stumbled to her knees during the ordeal. Her head felt as if she had stood up too fast and her vision was blurred by a myriad of "floaters" swirling about. The blurring subsided and her head felt clear again. Very clear. Her eyes widened as an epiphany came to her.

"That was...a mind control spell! But who-"

The answer came faster than she could finish her mental questioning. For as she looked about the room, her eyes fixed upon one figure that stood out among all of them. There it was, a bat-winged woman with ample breasts and lavender skin. The stench of the burning legion filled the air like a seething pool of sulfur. The charm had somehow disabled her true sight and suppressed the demon's odor on a subconscious level. The succubus had her arms wrapped around Thrall. That could only mean that she was...

"Aggra...Now it's all clear. I know what must be done."

Jaina stood up. She began muttering in the language of magic. The incantation culminated with a pointed finger and a shout of the word "fireball". A burning sphere streaked forth from her outstretched hand and collided with Aggra, who screamed as the fire burned her flesh and collapsed to the ground. All of a sudden everyone, Thrall included, clutched their skulls at the right temple and staggered.

"Ugh...i feel strange," said Thrall. "I was...i was under some kind of spell," he turned to the fallen form of Aggra, snarling, "and she was the one who put it on me!"

Krasus shook his head in surprise, "A succubus? I ought to have seen through such a basic disguise. She must be a formidable illusionist to have fooled a member of the red dragonflight."

Brann raised an eyebrow, "Still looks like a bloody orc to me."

"Dragons of sufficient age can see right through illusions and shapeshifting, friend dwarf. Normally, at any rate. Since the demon hasn't died it hasn't reverted back to its true form. Therefore, only those of us in the room with true sight as a spell or an innate ability can see her for what she really is."

"I knew thissssss was going to happen," muttered Nozdormu.

Thrall slowly approached the woman who had been his lover and looked upon her. How helpless she seemed, lying on her side and propped up feebly with her hands. Tears flowed from her eyes as Thrall glared at her.

"Go'el...surely you don't believe what they say? Don't you remember the love we shared? Those nights in Nagrand?"

Compassion left the shaman's eyes and he roared, "None of that was real enchantress. You enslaved my mind and caused me to make horrible decisions that have adversely affected our efforts against the Twilight's Hammer. I was going to reclaim my position as warchief after I heard what happened to Cairne, but did I do it? No! Because your magic stopped me!" Thrall unsheathed the doomhammer from his belt and brandished it "You are a horrible creature that must be wiped off the face of the world forever!"

Aggra raised her hands and cried. "Go'el, no!"

"My name is THRALL, bitch!"

The hammer that killed Blackhand and Lothar alike came to bear down upon Aggra's head. There was a satisfying crunch as her cranium was shattered into a thousand pieces. Her body twitched for a moment and then went completely limp. Fel energies swirled around, melting away her orcish features and revealing what had been apparent to Jaina the moment that her spell had been broken. The stench of brimstone increased a thousand fold as the monster's bowels voided. Thrall dropped to his knees. The silence was thick and heavy. Krasus began to leave, followed by Brann, Nozdormu, and then everyone else who happened to be present...save only Jaina, who stood by Thrall's side.

"I...I can't believe I let myself be controlled like that."

Jaina put a hand on Thrall's shoulder, "It isn't your fault, Thrall. She fooled me too, and I'm supposed to be some kind of genius. Heck, even the dragon aspects were affected."

"It felt so real..I thought she was so wonderful. I thought I was in love. But she was evil all along. I haven't felt this sad since..." tears welled up at the mere memory of Taretha.

"I...I know exactly how you feel. My childhood friend, the love of my life, murdered his father, slaughtered his own people and became the Lich King."

Thrall turned to face Jaina, his eyes meeting hers "We're...we're very similar, aren't we?"

"Haven't we always been?"

There was a long pause during which all they did was stare into each others' dumbfounded eyes. Why didn't either of them realize it before? It had been staring at them in the face for so long. If it had been a snake it would have bitten them. After what seemed like an eternity, Thrall finally broke the silence.

"If you're not too busy later, perhaps we can...have a drink or two ?"

Jaina smiled. "I-I would like that."

FIN