Originally written May 7, 2015. Title taken from a line in the Breaking Benjamin song Anthem of the Angels, but that's about the only part from it that applies. This was written as part of a hypothetical future for Rhovin and Aranya after the events of the Fury of Hellfire patch in Warlords of Draenor, which ended up becoming an AU where their son got to be born, and lived and was loved. In the main canon storyline, Rhovin pushed Aranya away again due to his own fears. They had a colossal fight, splitting them apart, and she subsequently threw herself into defending Azeroth from the Burning Legion. Felfire and babies don't mix, and she miscarried without Rhovin ever having known that he was supposed to be a father.
Timeframe: After all the major and noteworthy events of the Warlords of Draenor expansion plot are over.
Days go on forever
But I have not left your side
We can chase the Dark together
If you go, than so will I
The rain wasn't heavy. Hardly a drizzle. But on a hot day like this it was more than welcome.
Rhovin stood under the open Eversong sky, shirtless, letting the misty downpour cool his skin. He held his son in his arms, a beautiful little lad, hardly older than a season, clad in nothing but a diaper in this too-warm weather. Tiny droplets glistened on the man's back and shoulders, and on the elf-baby's round, soft little head of wispy dark hair.
Aravin was quiet and wide-eyed with wondering interest at everything that his infant eyes saw. The world was SO BIG! Every once in a while his father would reach down to lift up some little wild flower or leaf or rough but shiny stone from the ground and show it to the child, who would grab for it and try to gum it with his toothless mouth. Failing that, he would simply grin at his father, burbling and giggling, his fel-kissed eyes shining like there was nothing better in life.
And perhaps there wasn't. Or perhaps there was. It was of no consequence.
Rhovin just wanted to savor this afternoon with his little boy, and then enjoy his night with the beautiful woman who bore him this wonderful child after the little one was put to bed.
"You look happy," remarked a clear voice that he thrilled to hear.
Speaking of whom...
"I am happy," replied Rhovin, turning to look at Aranya, who was smiling fondly at him. She was dressed for the weather, in a simple skirt and a barely-there wrap in the style of clothes commonly seen in Mag'har culture, wrapping from the middle of her back, up over her breasts, and crossing and tying near the neck. "I'm enjoying it while it lasts," he said, bouncing Aravin a few times in his arms, making the baby smile broadly.
Aranya's eyebrows twitched and one corner of her mouth went up. "'While it lasts?'" She stepped closer to the hunter, until she was standing next to him.
"Mhm," was the only reply that she got, as Rhovin looked at Aravin and continued bouncing the cooing infant gently.
The arcanist studied the archer's handsome face very carefully. He was happy, she could see that, but there was a flicker of something else in his eyes, just now. Something distant. "You don't mean when he's old enough for me to go abroad again, do you?" Aranya asked. "I told you, 'never longer than a few days anymore-'"
"Or nothing that won't allow you to come home at the end of your day if they'll need you longer, I know," he interrupted her, as he turned to meet her eyes. "I know, and I don't doubt your word. It's not..." Rhovin trailed off for a moment. His gaze returned their son once more. "It isn't that."
Aranya's head tilted a little to one side. She reached out a hand and trailed her touch aimlessly over one of his bare arms. "So, what proverbial raincloud is hanging over your head, then?" she inquired, a wry slant to her mouth.
Rhovin looked her in the eyes again. He seemed very serious now. His voice was low enough for only the two of them to listen. "Shadows stalk us both, Aranya. You know it, I know it, and we're not going to escape it." Aranya continued to make and keep enemies in the Legion and the Shadow Council; in two worlds now, and one had very nearly succeeded in getting her killed. Rhovin had his family to trouble him, to say nothing of anyone else out there that wanted him dead - known or otherwise. Most of their enemies remained mercifully unaware of the relations between the arch-lord and the sorceress, but some would still come howling for their blood. Aravin would not have some perfect, fantastically idyllic childhood among the forests and fields or by the sea, he would grow up with parents who courted danger, it was their way. "We can dream all we like, but sooner or later, you and I will both be spilling blood again and fighting all the harder to protect what we have."
"Then we'll fight," answered Aranya, every ounce as serious as he. Determination was set in her lovely face, in the way that she stood and moved. "And bleed, and kill, and we'll do it together," she said. She reached for his hand, the one that he didn't necessarily have to move to keep a steady, supportive hold around the back of baby Aravin. The arcanist twined her fingers with the ranger's, grasping firmly. "Whether I'm two feet or two miles from you, I will be at your side however you need me." Her eyes locked with his, smoldering with resolve, willing him to believe. "I am with you," she said.
The corner of Rhovin's mouth twitched up as he looked at her, and he found himself only a little surprised that he did believe in all her words. Completely.
Aranya lifted her other hand to the side of the hunter's face, tenderly. "So until that day comes," she said, a little more softly, "try not to wear yourself out fighting battles in your head that aren't upon us just yet." She gave him a lopsided smile, full of warmth and love. She leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth, in that lingering way that she liked to do, and Rhovin returned the action fully, eyes closing and breathing her in, with the scent of rainy, wet earth and grass in the background.
He could get used to feeling happy like this. A dangerous thing.
The wheel of fortune was always turning. Good times could never last. There was no such thing as a happy ever-after ending. There was no ending at all. Life, the world, time, all of it simply went on and on. But even the dark times were not eternal. The wheel would turn again, and happiness would reign for its time. Over and over, again and again. He could only hope that he wouldn't get used to any of it, that the bitter days that found him would make the happy ones all the sweeter when their time came.
And he knew she would be there with him, through it all.
Rhovin removed his arm from around Aravin's tiny back and snaked it around behind Aranya's waist, pulling her closer to him, their little one secure between them.
Together then.