I held myself still as I heard Leia approach the door. The urge to flee was growing, but I would not give in to it. The knob turned, and a woman answered the door with a smile.

She looked nothing like the girl I remembered.

She looked exactly like the girl I remembered.

I stood there staring at her, forgetting to remember to breathe. She was older. Of course she was older, I scolded myself, people age. She was dressed in an outfit made mostly of leather and was taller then me now. Her blonde hair was much longer then it had been, and was gathered in a ponytail; it might have been darker then before, I couldn't be sure. I could see where life had left its marks on her face, in the tiny wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. Her brilliant green eyes were the same; the tattoos around them were not. I could see a little of myself in her, and more of our father. I felt something strange as I looked at her.

"Hello, can I help…" she trailed off as she finally really looked at me.

"Scourge!" she screamed, and slammed the door in my face. I could hear her calling to her children inside.

I sighed and rested my head on the now closed door. I didn't exactly need to breath, but sighing was something I still indulged in. I could hear running towards the back of the house, and I could clearly hear the screaming of the two children. I considered going after them, but I didn't want to scare them even more. They faded from my senses as they entered the trees and were engulfed by them. I had turned around and was studying the clearing when something slammed into the back of my head.

I whirled around to see a small ashen owl circling. It landed on the roof where it spread its barred wings and screamed at me. I considered my options. I could leave, which might be dangerous for me, but safer for my family. I could pursue them, but it would almost certainly end poorly. I could remain here, hope that they returned and would be willing to hear me out. I heard the twang of a bowstring behind me as the owl flew at my head again. I ducked and felt an impact in my back.

Or apparently I could get shot full of arrows I thought, looking down to find a shaft sticking out through my chest. I turned to see my sister standing at the edge of the trees holding a bow, looking shockingly competent. I had assumed she would follow the path of the Light, as my brother had done. As I had failed to do. It seemed instead she had become a hunter.

"Wait, Leia," I implored as I raised my hands. "Leia, it's…."

I didn't get to expand on that as she put an arrow through my throat. This unfortunately made it difficult to explain anything, given that talking above a whisper would be hard. Her aim was good, but I was unsure what she was trying to accomplish. Had I been actually trying to kill her, it would have been pathetically easy, even alone and unarmed. She had nocked another missile, and frowning, appeared to realize that arrows alone were unlikely to stop me. She scowled and shot again anyway, this time at my leg. I wondered what she was doing, unless she was just attempting to distract me while her children fled. I started walking towards her, arms still held up to appear less threatening, or as unthreatening as someone can be with three arrows protruding from them. I ignored the scream of a bird as it dove for me, which it turned out, was a mistake. The bird's scream shifted into a roar of rage and an enormous bear flattened me. It appeared she had been waiting for Ireclaw. I cursed this thrice-damned forest and it's ability to occlude my life-sense; much as I loathed it, I had come to relief on it in combat.

I attempted to get out from under Ireclaw, but the weight of his bear-form crushed my back into the turf. He had gotten my shoulder in his mouth and was savaging it, which also caused the arrows in my neck and chest to tear my flesh open even more. At least the shafts had snapped off in the back so it would be easier to remove them. I managed to get my legs under him and kicked, hard; even at full strength I was unlikely to hurt him with physical attacks. The kick lifted him enough that I could get out from under his white bulk, but it also ripped a huge chunk out of my shoulder. I scrambled to my feet a few paces away, drawing arrow splinters out of my wounds.

"Eboncloak," he growled, spitting out pieces of my flesh, "I knew you were perverted, but to come after my family…" he trailed off into incoherent snarls. I fought to keep a snarl off my own face in response.

He swiped at me as I circled around him, still trying to stay out of his range while not letting him get between me and my sister. He was fast though, and managed to rip open my leg with his ivory claws. I hurled myself backwards and landed badly on the mangled leg. I couldn't feel the pain, but it became more of an effort to hold together and not blindly lash out at him. Leia thoughtfully slammed another arrow through the same leg, bringing me down on my knee.

I could take a lot more damage, but after a certain point I wasn't going to be able to hold myself back, and then someone was going to end up dead. I decided that I needed to take the offensive if I had any hope of salvaging this situation. As Ireclaw reared up, I reached out and ripped the heat out of the air around him. Ice quickly grew up around his feet, and kept climbing higher. I pulled more and more heat out from around him until he was entirely encased in a crystalline prison. Snow began to fall in the clearing as Leighara screamed and shot at me again, this time missing.

Already I could hear the ice creaking around the druid; it wouldn't hold him for long. I turned and began to lurch towards her. Walking normally was impossible; my leg didn't want to bend so I had to drag it along behind me. My shirt and pants hung off me in tatters and the black ichor that served as blood was splattered around the clearing. In the back of my mind, I worried that it might still be full of the plague of undeath. In theory, channeling the Light purged it, but I hadn't tested that yet with a volume of blood this large.

Leia sent her owl at me again while reaching into her quiver for another arrow. I managed to keep myself from batting the bird out of the sky as it flew off with bits of my scalp in its talons. I was just a few feet away from her now and her shaking hands fought to nock the arrow. She succeeded as I drew to a stop just out of arm's reach. Her green eyes were wide and full of fear as she shakily drew the bow.

"Leia…" I whispered. It was hard to draw enough air in to talk loudly enough to be heard. I pushed one of my hands against my shredded throat and succeeded in getting more air into my lungs. "Leia, it's me, your brother," I wheezed.

I watched as her hands stilled. She looked into my eyes, keeping the bow level with my face.

"Alex?" she asked, puzzled.

"No, Will…" I didn't have time to say more, as with a thunderous roar Ireclaw broke free of the ice. I could hear him shaking off the cage I had made for him, and I knew shortly he would renew hostilities. I lowered my hand from my neck and reached out towards Leia. I was close enough to her that Ireclaw wouldn't risk charging me again, but he was still a danger.

"Will?" she gasped. I kept my eyes on Leia's face as she stared at me in disbelief. I could see her searching my face, comparing it to what she remembered. Two decades was a long time, and I had changed a lot since we had last seen each other.

"Wilhelm is dead," she finally replied, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. I watched fury settled over her face as she prepared to release the arrow.

"Yes, I am." I whispered.

"Will?" she asked again, incredulously this time. I watched the anger bleed out of her expression as her eyes grew wide. Abruptly, she came to a decision.

She lunged past my outstretched hand and pulled me into a hug, sobbing "I'm so sorry Will" over and over again into my hair. Her bow and arrow fell to the ground unnoticed. I stood paralyzed in her embrace. This was the first time I had touched someone who was alive while trying to not kill them; it was difficult. Everywhere she touched me felt like it was on fire, and I had to stop myself from pushing her away. Behind me I could hear the low reverberating growl of Ireclaw in his cat-form. Without even thinking I rotated on my good leg to place her between us.

"You plague-ridden coward, release her and face me!" Ireclaw snarled, "You may have escaped at Andorhal but you don't have your foul army here to save you this time."

I ignored him and slowly raised my arms on either side of Leia. As I tentatively hugged her back, I felt a searing emotion fill me. It was something I hadn't experienced in so long that I had forgotten what it felt like.

It was love, pure simple love.

Ever since I had died, I had only been able to remember that I loved my family, but not what it had actually felt like. Now it all came back to me as I stood there hugging my sister. I felt my eyes prickle with what I hoped were tears. Though even as love filled me, so too did hunger, awakened at being so close to what had been food for the last 20 years. Carefully I pushed Leia back from me unwilling to risk her safety any further. I slowly stepped around her and addressed the druid.

"I didn't come here for you," I said as clearly as I could. Bubbles of blood rose in the gaping hole in my throat as I tried to speak.

"Liar," he seethed, crouching to pounce.

I straightened myself as well as I could and started gathering my power. The light snow continued to fall around me and I swiped my fingers into my ruined shoulder to gather some blood. Specks of blue the color of the Lich King's eyes began to swirl around me like unholy sparks. I was preparing to immobilize him again when Leia ran past me and knelt in front of him.

"Lorn," she pleaded, "stop. That's not the Eboncloak. He's my brother. Wilhelm. Remember, I told you about how he died…" she trailed off, reaching out a hand to cup Ireclaw's face. He shifted from cat to Night Elf, drawing Leia up beside him. He towered over her, his dusky purple skin looking alien against hers. He never stopped glaring at me, and even as an elf I could hear him growling.

"That," he spat, "is most certainly Eboncloak. I would not mistake the man who killed my brother."

In order to explain, I would have to fix my throat. I knew Ireclaw would disapprove, but I didn't care anymore. Leia and her husband were far enough away that I could safely steal the life from the forest around me. In order to heal my throat enough to talk clearly again, I carefully bled life out of the trees around me. I wiped my bloodied fingers around the hole in my neck and drew a rune of Dark Mending, imbibing it with the life I had borrowed. As usual I felt a slight tingling as new flesh grew and died. Around me leaves fell from the branches and turned to ash before they reached the now snow-covered ground. Ireclaw looked, if possible, even more furious.

"I didn't kill Desdriel, I failed to save him. There is a difference," I finally responded.

Ireclaw's fists tightened and his glowing white eyes narrowed. Leia looked at me, fear creeping back into her expression. She had expected absolute denial from me, but that was something I couldn't give her. I sighed, and attempted to be more placating.

"I am truly sorry for what happened. That I let your brother die. That I fought you when you tracked me down at Andorhal. In the Plaugelands. But I did not have a choice."

I slowly reached down to the satchel at my side, which had mostly managed to not get ruined. I pulled out the scroll that King Varian Wrynn had given me and held it out towards them. It was lightly flecked with my blood, and somewhat rumpled, but still looked official.

"Highlord Tirion Fordring has forgiven me for what I have done. King Varian Wrynn has pardoned my crimes. I no longer serve that foul abomination that stole my life, my mind and my soul from me. For the first time in twenty years I am free." As I finished the soft glow of the Light shone from the exposed runes on my chest.

"Here druid, proof," I said gesturing with the scroll. Ireclaw just stood there, but Leia slipped out of his grasp and walked over to me.

"Oh, Will…" Leia said as she reached out to take the parchment, letting her gloved hand brush mine. I saw her try not to flinch from the contact. She unrolled the scroll and showed it to her husband. She glanced at it, but mostly she just stared at me looking like she was going to cry again. I looked away from her, and the Light around me died.

Ireclaw read through the proclamation. Three times. He then rolled it up with scarcely concealed fury and threw it at my feet.

"They may have forgiven you, but I will not," he hissed. "And Felflames take you if you think I am going let you anywhere near my family." He paused and attempted to collect himself.

"As you are a fellow member of the Alliance, it seems I must allow you to depart. Remain here, or approach my wife and children again and I will destroy you," he finished coldly.

"Lorn, that is not your decision to make," my sister stated. She wiped the tears from her eyes and turned him to face her. "He's my brother. He gave his life to save Alex and me, and I owe him every breath I've taken since. I won't let you just send him away like some sort of monster."

"He is a monster!" Ireclaw sneered.

I couldn't disagree with him.

"No, he was a monster. I don't know if he's still the brother I remember, but I know damn well that no Scourgelord would seek out family like this. Wilhelm just stood here taking our attacks, hardly even defending himself. I can see through his chest! Are those the actions of the Scourge that you know?" she sighed and continued, "We've both lost so many people to that traitor Arthas, and you know not one of them went willingly. That is his greatest crime: he takes our loved ones and makes them turn against everything they stood for. I know that you had history with him, but he isn't that thing anymore, he's my brother again. People change. Please…"

"Yes, people change," he admitted. "But I am not convinced he's a person. What if this is some sort of ploy to get us to lower our guard so he can slaughter us?"

I considered how to respond to this. It's true that in the past, that was exactly the sort of thing I would have done. Pointing out I could slaughter them regardless would not help my case either. I didn't know what I could say to convince him, but I was determined to try. I started with the truth, for once not having to make an effort to swear by the right thing.

"I swear by the Light that my sole intention here is to get to know the sister I left behind."

Ireclaw snorted at that, and my sister gave a tiny smile.

"The Light. Clearly since you used to be human and you swear by the Light you must mean it," he said sarcastically. I was beginning to regret not freezing him again instead of trying to explain.

"Please," my sister repeated putting a hand on his arm. Ireclaw considered me again, for the first time more thoughtful than furious.

"Why," he demanded.

"Because I remembered Leia. Even when I had forgotten almost everything about life, I remembered her. She helped save me from what I had become. I wanted to thank her for that, and to see if she could help me be… not Eboncloak. More… human."

He looked down at his wife and a silent communication appeared to pass between them before he sighed and kissed her. He then turned and addressed me.

"These are the rules. One, you will not meet our children, ever. Two, you will not defile any more of this forest while you are here. And three, if anything happens to Leia while in your company I will unmake you," he stressed.

I looked quizzically at him, surprised by his change of heart.

"The only reason I am agreeing to this," he continued, "is because if I do not, I know Leia will just work around me. I made this mistake only once, before I knew the lengths to which she would go for that which she believes in. I know better then to force her away from something she cares about. She is her own person, and I would not change her for the world." He paused before adding, "I have known Forsaken who serve the Argent Dawn, and I acknowledge that it is possible for even the undead to grow. If that is truly your goal, it is my duty as a druid to encourage it. I will take our children to my cousin's home and we will return tomorrow at noon, by which point you will be gone."

Having finished his speech, his form blurred into a hawk and flew up to perch on Leia's shoulder. He nuzzled her, and glared at me. I realized he was waiting for a response.

I nodded at him and said, "Yes, I agree to your terms. I swear it by the Light."

If it was possible for a bird to roll its eyes he did so, but nodded in acknowledgement. He then launched himself from Leia's shoulder at my head. I stood my ground and he cleared my hair by only inches. He gave a shrill cry as he circled upwards into the sky, out of sight.