The

Warping

of Shadows

A/N: Credit needs to be given where it is due:

Characters from Borderlands and Brent Weeks' The Night Angel Trilogy

Partial sequence of events from Borderlands as well

Chapter 1: The Beginning from the End

Kylar was shocked. He just couldn't believe what he had just heard. But after contemplating it, he understood that it could only be true. One of Logan's twins was actually his child.

A few months earlier…

Kylar and Vi had started to get to know each other even better after the war that had nearly destroyed the entire world and enslaved the human race. Not only was she there for him when he had awoken from his slumber which had been induced by the sheer amount of magic it had taken to save the world and rid themselves of the terrible Khali, but she stood by him during Elene's funeral as well. As his tears flowed freely in streams down his face, he tried to block thoughts of his previous 'attachment' to Vi from entering his head. 'This is a day for remembrance of Elene, not a day to reflection on my only current possibility of a love life'. Kylar had gotten

so used to talking to the ka'kari that he sometimes found that he was talking only to himself. 'Do not worry I am still inside your head' the ka'kari snorted. 'Oh well look who decided to pop in' Kylar retorted. 'I am just trying to relieve anymore grievance that you may have been feeling' the ka'kari seemed to sigh. 'Well thank you, I will talk to you later. It is my turn to say farewell to Elene.' With that final thought Kylar stopped the connection between him and the ka'kari.

"It's our turn Kylar." Vi softly reminded Kylar. She had a fair idea of how hard it was to see the girl he had cared for his entire life lying lifeless in a coffin.

"Alright let us go and see her one last time." Kylar sighed sadly, remembering everything that had happened to Elene and him. Kylar remembered how Rat had beaten her, cut her face afterwards and just left her to die. Then he had gotten his apprenticeship from Durzo and could send her money for support and his contacts allowed 'Doll Face' as she was known at the time be taken in by the Drakes as a servant. He remembered all the times he could only watch Elene from afar because Durzo had forbidden him to interact with her. He had even saved his virginity for her, he just wouldn't allow his first time to be in a brothel. He remembered how happy he was when he could finally marry Elene, even though it turned out to be only for a short

time and took longer because Vi had stolen the bonding rings he was going use to make it official. And he couldn't believe the note that he had received that she was pregnant, but he had lost her at that point. She had fled to try and save him; also to find a way so that she could become immortal with him.

"Kylar? Kylar come on it's time to say our good-byes." Kylar was pulled out of his day-dream to see the concerned expression on Vi's face. He couldn't get over the fact that she was never using glamour. Well except for that one time in the Drake's house, but he didn't like to talk about that.

"Huh? Oh sorry, I was just remembering everything I could about Elene." Kylar started to drift back into his memories. They were much more bliss and filled with happiness than the present actually was. He wished that he could just stay in his memories forever, it seemed as though life wouldn't get better.

"Kylar you need to stay in the present, Elene would have wanted that." Vi was desperately trying to pull Kylar from this obvious depression that he was facing. She had a feeling that most of his emotion was due to the fact that he was facing Elene again for the final time and he had to admit to himself that she wouldn't be with him anymore.

"You are right, let's go" With that they

finally started their approach to the final resting place of Elene. The slow approach gave Kylar sometime to reflect on the final battle. He had nearly given Iures over to the venomous women, or the one who called herself Khali and was actually one of the original ka'karifers, who had been controlling Elene. The only reason he had not handed over one of the most powerful artifacts to this vicious women was because of Vi. She had broken the earrings bond that had literally kept them inseparable, by sharing all of their thoughts and feeling to each other, and with the mind set of simply letting go of everything related to Kylar, she told him he owed her nothing at all. With those simple words yet powerful meaning behind them, the earrings had unsealed themselves and fell from Vi and Kylar's ears. Based on how the earrings were pierced, it would give dominance to one of the couple over the other. In this case Vi had pierced her ear and then Kylar's, giving Vi control over him. This basically meaning as it sounds; Kylar had to do anything that Vi said. If she told him to walk until he died, he would do so because he was compelled to do so by the bond. When the earrings broke, not only Vi's control over Kylar broke but also Khali's control over Kylar broke as well. Khali's control was not because of a physical bond but more of a mental one. The control came because she had taken over Elene's body, who Kylar was married to at the time, and used the deep love that they shared to have the needed obedience that she wanted. Kylar was literally trying to follow two commands at once. It would almost be like ordering someone to stand up and sit down at the same time. With the help of all the mages, wetboys, Feir, Dorian, and more importantly the hunter who protected the Dark Forest and all of the ka'kari, they were able to cleanse the land of the krul and the ancient evil that had been awaken, namely Khali. When Kylar finally got to Elene, after reliving the final battle one more time, his eyes started to tear up again at the mere sight of his once wife.

"I am going to miss you. I loved you to the farthest star in the sky and back again, but even that may not have been enough to describe the capacity of love that I felt and still do feel for you. I just have to believe that you are in a place that is more comfortable than here" Kylar had to stop for a second to keep his voice from cracking. "Because it really sucks here and I wouldn't dream in a thousand years to make you come back. I mean it would be nice and all, but as you would say it you served The One God's purpose. Thanks for all of the beautiful flowers by the way. They are truly beautiful and couldn't resemble you any more or any less. Not everyone will know what the true meaning behind them is but I will never forget for your sake and all that you

sacrificed, it just wouldn't be right. Good bye Elene." Tears were streaming down his face as he finished his speech and now he could not find the words to continue any farther. He knew that he had said everything he had wanted and more. He could finally let go and move on into whatever the future may hold. Vi watched Kylar as he spoke his final farewell to his wife and lifetime lover. She couldn't help but feel her heart break as Kylar had to stop speaking for a moment because he was completely and utterly full to the brim with emotion. She had to find a way to let him know that he never had to be alone, even though Elene was now gone. Elene had told Vi to watch over Kylar, she couldn't believe that Elene had known all along that Vi would develop strong feelings and eventually fall for Kylar. If Elene had told her any earlier than she did, Vi would had laughed in her face and walked away considering if Elene were drunk or not. As these thoughts floated into her head, she realized it was her turn to say good bye and decided to focus solely on what was in front of her and that happened to be Elene.

"Well Elene, I did not know you that long and I do not think I could make my good bye as heart-felt as Kylar made his. I am overjoyed that you did not seem to care too much, well at least on the outside, that I had stolen your bonding rings and your husband in the process. Yet all

the same, I tried to repay you in every way I could. You may think differently but I did not care in the least what I had to go through to make sure that you and Kylar could finally lose your virginities together. Well maybe I still do care that I was put through an enormous amount of pleasure with no way to relieve myself and that was only round one for Kylar! Though my concerns were nothing next to yours and I still tried to please you at every waking moment that I was near you. But it was never enough, especially since I am left with Kylar and you sacrificed yourself to destroy that old hag who had started the war in the first place. You made me promise to take care of Kylar and I swear by everything I own in this world and the next that I will take care of him to the best that I can. It is just too bad that could be done to prevent your child…" Vi paused during her speech because as she was referencing that Elene's child hadn't made it, her hand had unconsciously drifted from the side of the coffin to Elene's stomach. While she had been moving her hand to Elene's stomach she had performed the weave that Ariel had taught her to detect for a child inside the mother. There was no response or anything from the weave! 'It is as if some erased all traces of the child from her body.' Vi pondered. Her eyes suddenly grew to be the size of baby moons when she remembered how many children the high queen was supposedly was pregnant with. 'The high queen is expected to have two children! But I could have sworn earlier scans said that there was only supposed to be one. Is it even possible to do to transfer a child like that…?' Her train of thought was suddenly derailed when she remembered all who had been inside of the ruins at the time. Dorian the Mad, who had been greatest healer in the all of the world, had not been holding just one but two of the most powerful magical artifacts. It most likely would have been the one of the simplest thing for him to do at the time. She pivoted to look at Dorian who was sitting by the door and being watched by Feir so he wouldn't cause any trouble. He broke out into the biggest grin she had seen since this whole thing had started when he saw her looking at him. Even though his mind may have become mush because of the insanity that eventually took over him, she got the feeling that he knew exactly what she was revelation had just transpired in her mind. "I guess your child will be in good hands then Elene" she barely breathed as the full effect of this new information washed over her like the icy water from a well in the last months of the year. "You know what Elene, strike that. Your child will be in the best hands, if Logan and Jenine aren't looking after your little one than you can count of it that Kylar and I will be the first one to step up and take responsibility. You have no need to worry about anything at all wherever you may be watching over us. Good bye and my you find peace in your world hereafter." Vi slowly walked away from Elene's body in a haze trying to digest all that she had just learned. She couldn't even begin to comprehend what had just taken place. She had just discovered the last plot and willful act of Dorian. It truly was amazing that he had thought ahead of what was happening, instead of being wholly in the moment and not trying to think about what would be the outcome in the end.

"Vi, are you feeling alright? You seem to be out of sync with everything. Did something happen?" The look on Kylar's face was one of deep compassion and caring and Vi could not help reminding herself of the deal that she had made with Elene. 'Elene I can't thank you enough for providing me with a person who needs me as much as I need him.' Like she had told Elene directly, she couldn't repay Elene enough for what she had sacrificed and given up just to protect all of those she loved. Even if her pursuit had started out a little selfish. "Yeah I'm fine and no nothing happened, I just have my mind filled to just about maximum capacity right now. I honestly appreciate all the concern that you have given to me even if the first time we met I was supposed to kill you." She was determined to be 100% certain, and a few extra 100s if she had

to be honest with herself, that the child was Kylar's before she got his hopes up.

"Yeah well, it's no big deal. I try to look past that because of all the memories that have filled up after that. You really are a good person Vi. You went against your mentor, Hu Gibbet, though you should have tried to get out of his grasp earlier. He was a disgrace to wetboys everywhere, even if he was the second best. And don't forget that you went directly against the Godking, even when you knew that he could do a number of things to you, killing you being one of the main things on that list. You watched over me too after you thought I had died, though. I wouldn't approve you 'ringing' me but hey that only let me get to know you better. Vi all those are examples of how much you actually care about people, namely me." Kylar had blushed when he had first started talking, because when Vi had tried to kill him she had first stripped down and used a glimmer to seduce him to swiftly remove his defenses, but as he had continued talking he grew more serious and his tone had softened to get his point across. Vi blushed as well at the memory and rubbed her shoulder were the knife that Kylar had thrown had been lodged. Her shoulder had been sore for weeks! But she ultimately decided that a sore shoulder was less painful than having killed Kylar on her conscious. Having finished their

conversation, they walked together over to where Logan, Jenine, Ariel, Solon, Feir stood and Dorian sat. As the funeral came to a close, all of Elene's close friends or people who had been the final witnesses of her lined up to thank and receive condolences from the small grouping of people who had come out in support. When the people started to begin their walk to the outside and continue to rebuild and restart their lives, Kylar started to feel weak. Out of pure reflex, his hand went out to latch onto the thing that was closest to it so he could use it to steady himself from this bout of weakness. This 'thing' just so happened to be Vi and her own hand. Vi jumped in surprise and let out a small yelp only to realize that the thing that had disturbed her peace was only Kylar and his hand now resting in hers.

"Not that mind you holding my hand, but do you think you could at least give me some kind of warning before you have to go and snatch it?" Vi looked up to see the brief transfer of color on Kylar's face. What had once been what one can only be described as deathly pale suddenly had the color return in a flood.

"Sorry, I had this sudden feeling of weakness and I simply needed something to anchor me to this world and make sure that I stayed where I was." Kylar felt the color return to his cheeks and hastily looked down at his feet to try and cover it up, which, for future reference,

does not work all that well when the person you are trying to hide said blush from is a good five

inches shorter than you. As one could infer, Vi was more than able to clearly see his blush.

"Do not worry about it. I was being rather harsh to begin with; I will be your anchor anytime you need me to be. You just let me know when and where and I will be there as soon as humanly possible. Though I have some inhuman characteristics, so I may be there a little faster than say if Logan where to come to your aid." Vi felt as if she was falling for Kylar all over again and all of the loving, compassionate, and very inappropriate thoughts she had been trying to suppress since the two of them had been connected with the rings broke into the open. At that point she knew it was hopeless to try and resist any farther; she could not stop what had already been in motion by faith and love. She was hopelessly and quite helplessly in love with Kylar Stern, the legendary wetboy who had just helped to save the world from the eminent doom that is had faced not two days ago.