A/N: Random one-shot fic that popped into my head when questing in Northrend (specifically the Ice Crown area) and doing quests for the legendary Death Knight Thassarian. Please note that this takes place in the MMORPG World of Warcraft and that the Skybreaker is an Alliance ship flying over Ice Crown. Yes, Raissandra is the name of my toon I was questing with (Alliance) and yes, she is a paladin. Disclaimer: Some of Thassarian's lines are copyrighted by Blizzard and I do not claim them as my own.

As I approached the death knight, his companion Lurid nodded, double-bladed axe gleaming menacingly, in what I took to be a relatively non-hostile greeting. I wondered then as I did every time if he remembered the thrill we had hunting down the Scourge in the En'kilah. Thassarian towered over me and even though we had fought together brilliantly side-by-side in its highest citadel, even though I had saved his sister from certain death, I still felt shy and almost reverent in his presence. Of course, he was a legend in his own right, as much as there are those who tell me I am the same, even if of a different generation. His twin blades glowed with a luminosity that came from within their eerie metal as I approached him from behind, coming down the stairs. The High Captain had wanted me to speak with him about no small matter—then again there hasn't been a 'small matter' since long ago. And yet…I felt that I could not speak to him of such until I said my own peace.

"Thassarian…" Raissandra began, her words catching in her throat.

The death knight glanced over his shoulder from where he leaned on the railing of the Skybreaker to see the amber-haired paladin approaching him.

"It is good to see you again, Raissandra." He beckoned her closer, to join him. He half-chuckled at her disbelieving expression, which tended to greet him whenever he spoke her name. "How could I ever forget the woman who saved my sister's life?" He had seen this competent woman wield sword and shield first-hand in battle, watched her brandish the powers of the Light with ease and confidence, but… While he was not simply a 'man' anymore, in the strictest sense of the word, he had to remind himself his name was spread among the ranks of the living like wildfire. Even redeemed fallen heroes forget sometimes that they are considered heroes.

The words just started to pour from Raissandra's mouth, no rhyme or reason to them, "Thassarian…I…I know it to be considered improper of me and yet, yet, I-I-I…"

Glancing over at the all-to-important soldier before him, Thassarian was taken off-guard at the slow blush that was beginning to creep up the sides of Raissandra's cheeks, presumably having started on her neck. Not to mention her stutters and stammers, when, while on the quiet side, her words never failed to come in an assured and calculated manner. Her fingers were interlaced with one another and being wrung together periodically and her eyes, never meeting with his, darted about, this way and that.

"I-I cannot, continue these motions w-without a, um, that is I have to say, err…" She rested forwards onto the Skybreaker's railing, eyes looking as if they searched the wood for inconsistencies, when actually they were searching for words.

Before the stammering persisted, Thassarian held up a hand, "Peace, Paladin!" Thassarian surprised even himself by barking out a rasping laugh, "I know your heart." He had guessed at it rather quickly.

"You…you do?" She peered over at him from behind a bit of her hair.

He managed a wink, but said wryly, "You tend to wear it on your sleeve, Light-wielder."

"I do not know what you will think of me for my foolishness, but I could not keep it to myself any longer." Straightening to her full height, she looked up into Thassarian's eyes. "I do not wish to jeopardize anything, nor cease to count you among my friends, but were I to continue with this knowledge in silent acquiescence my sanity would not have long remained."

There was the warrior and her words, Thassarian thought.

"That certainly would have been a shame."

While it was difficult to read his face, Raissandra felt, if he was capable of such a thing still, that he was teasing her a bit.

"We all know very keenly that there is a war here. I fully realize all of the implications and difficulties that arise from this situation, as well as the impossibility of it—"

"So you have thought this through." Not that he expected any different from the usually brooding and deliberate woman next to him.

She nodded, turning her back to the railing and leaning upon it, crossing her gauntlet-covered arms and staring down at them.

"And you have nothing else to say about it?"

Her expression was dark, brow turned downward in what most would consider an unhappy frown, but she shook her head, eyes never leaving her presumably interesting gauntlets.

"Good."

Raissandra felt the finality of it all, and found that she was okay with it. Her heart no longer clamped about itself with the emotions that had stirred within it. No, she could not help the slight sinking she felt after the moment had passed, but-

Suddenly, Raissandra was caught up in Thassarian's strangely frigid embrace, feeling only briefly the deathly chill of his breath before her lips were pressed against his. While her eyes at first widened at this so satisfactory reaction, she now had them closed, her arms being forced again the plate about his chest, her heart soaring out of the top of her head with its intense pulsations.

After an eternity that could never have lasted long enough for her, Thassarian pulled his head away far enough to gaze at her countenance which he would have sworn was nearly glowing.

"Raissandra…" His eyes, while still far from kind, had greatly softened as he looked down into her face.

Thassarian said her name again, seeing that her expression was focused inward on something else. "Are you going to stand on those stairs all night?"

While her shaking head was meant to clear her thoughts more than respond to his query, Raissandra finished approaching him by coming down the last few steps.

"It was wise of Captain Bartlett to send you. While he frets over your conflict with the Horde, someone must remain exclusively focused on the real mission here – the march on Icecrown Citadel. Who better to direct your efforts than a former servant of the Lich King?…"

No lie, this is pretty much how it happened on-screen while I was playing the game. xD ...minus Thassarian actually saying anything except his AI/NPC lines.

Thanks for reading! ~lotsm