Chapter 4

"Anduin! What has happened? Where are the children?"

"They're safe."

"Is that-?"

"Yes."

That 'yes' was so broken, so tear filled, that my heart-my heart nothing, it wasn't beating.

I tried to open my eyes, but I couldn't, they were forged shut. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, I could only hear.

It's so cold.

"Why is she stone?"

"She got so cold, so-oh god Jade come back, please come back."

Plop. Plop. Plop.

That was weird, did water just fall on me? Yeah, water just fell on me, and three little miniature explosions of warmth came from them. Suddenly I could feel my chest, and my heart began to shudder and slowly thud. My lungs came back, and I felt my pulse jump. My mouth returned, and I could feel the clench of my jaw, I could smell and breathe and, and then-

I could see.

I blinked, eyes wide and still blurry, focusing in on a watery-eyed Anduin, whose bright blue eyes were rimmed with pink. His blonde hair hung limply and framed his face, and I felt his hands on my back.

He must've caught me.

My vocal chords came to me all at once as my head dropped down, lolling back, "Anduin…"

I felt my arms return as he sat me up again, holding me against him in a tight, hard hug. He was burning hot, and the warmth penetrated the last of the stone. I could feel, but I was so weak, so weak…

My legs came to me, and I dropped a little, and he caught me, pulling me to him. My head laid haphazardly on his shoulder as my hair paled, "Anduin…cold…"

He drew the miraculously dry cloak about me, not letting go of me as my mind slowly came back into focus.

"What…happened." I slurred slightly, my voice breathy.

"You-exploded. The Saurok are all dead, and the Sha dissipated, but You-I caught you as you dropped and you-you-."

"You were stone."

I lifted my head weakly to see Taran Zhu standing there, in the now bone-dry pond, looking vaguely disturbed and shocked.

"Help me up, please," I said, and Anduin carefully stood, my body still curled around his torso, and he gently set me on my feet, bracing me as my legs shook, like a new born colt.

"Explain why…why you just…" Lord Zhu couldn't find words.

"It's an um…it's a curse, on me, I. Apologize for not telling you beforehand," I said, out of breath and beginning to realize exactly what the light loving Azeroth just happened.

I was a statue.

"I'm…walking back...need to lie down…feeling a little dizzy…" I said, pushing off from Anduin and managing maybe three steps before falling to my knees.

"No way. You're weak. I'll carry you. We'll get some hot food in you and…blankets, and fire. Fire yes, fire. There's no way in hell you're getting cold," Anduin said, and something in me went soft because he sounded so caring-

No, you cannot. He's human, and he…. he's that human's son.

I resigned myself to being carried, burying myself in his cloak and closing my eyes, tired and still unnerved to all hell, and I fell asleep.

I was in my chamber, I was home.

But it felt different.

I was warm, and my bed was a mess. My covers were rumpled, and my clothes…whatever nightgown I had been wearing was torn all the hell.

I looked into the mirror across from my bed, and gasped, shocked.

My hair was a rat's nest, sticking out in several directions, the white gown was torn to just below my hips, one shoulder strap gone entirely and looking yanked down. My skin was pocked with what looked like bites, my eyes were unnaturally bright and my lips were puffy. My hips were sore. What the fuck?

Suddenly, Anduin was there, closing a door that turned into wall behind him. He was shirtless, his skin pocked with bites and his hair sticking in fifty thousand directions.

I yanked the covers up to my chin, horrified, "What in the name of Azeroth-." I felt under my pillow, where is my knife?

"Looking for this?"

I looked up and swallowed my fear to see that he was holding it, and he put it in his back pocket, smirking at me with something that tugged at my arousal.

Not. Now.

"What-what-why?" I was breathy, confused and abso-fucking-terrified.

"Oh, we've just been having some fun. We've gone about…five? Rounds, I think," Anduin said, and the implication made my stomach clench almost painfully.

I withdrew to the head of the bed, clinging the blankets and whimpering when he just chuckled and ripped them away, throwing them to the floor, "Oh please, it's not like I haven't seen you before." I grabbed a pillow and held it in front of me, and as he began to crawl onto the mattress. I darted up and off the bed, to where the door should've been.

I heard him follow me, and I flattened into the corner, terrified and still fucking aroused.

"You can't run from me, from...this," He was suddenly right there, pressed against me, and my body reacted in a way that it really shouldn't have. I was panting, terror and arousal fighting for my attention. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the knife.

I wasn't expecting the kiss.

He tilted my chin up with two fingers, pressing his lips to mine, while his other arm slid around me to hold my waist. I was flush against him, his lips tasting of honey and his minty scent drowning me. I was screaming inwardly, this was wrong, this was-!

My body gave in, and I melted.

My eyes flew open, my entire body jerking up, and I was hyperventilating. To hot, to hot to hot-

"Jadearra?"

I nearly screamed, I realized Anduin was lying beside me, with his arm strung lazily across my lap, and I had to breathe.

"Whoa, what's wrong?" He sat up, looking concerned, but I was panicking.

He's too close, that was too real, what the hell-

Anduin put out the fire that was burning outside the cubby, sending us into darkness, and he drew the cloak off of me before withdrawing, giving me space.

"You're overheating and hyperventilating," he said, watching me as I tried to not pass out.

It was just a dream, it wasn't real, thank Yu'Lon it wasn't real-

"Want to talk about it?"

"No." Of everything, I was sure of that.

I was getting cold, the air quickly chilling, and soon I was shivering, and my breathing was mostly back to normal.

"Do you want me up there to keep you warm again?" He asked quietly, looking concerned still.

My cheeks were red as I nodded, taking the cloak back and curling into my mat, feeling him settle behind me.

He fell back to sleep pretty quickly, his arm strewn over my waist like a couple, while I stared wide eyed at the wall and tried not to over analyze that dream.

Why did I dream that?

Why did I like that?

I woke up to the morning sky, still one of Sha fire and cold wind and green tinge.

Anduin was sitting outside the cubby, watching me carefully as I sat up, leaning on the wall.

"Do you feel better? Everything back in order?"

I nodded, "Water, please." I felt dehydrated, like my throat was sto-well, okay, yeah.

Anduin produced a water flask, and I reached out to take it, jumping as our fingers brushed on the flask. I brought it to my lips, gulping down water and feeling better almost immediately.

"What's the plan today?" I asked, looking at Anduin Tiredly-I was here, but I was tired.

"He wants us to prepare to assault the temple tomorrow, and he wants you especially to rest." Anduin said, and I sighed, sagging into the wood.

"I'm not made of glass, ya know," I said.

"Nope, just stone,"

I chucked the water flask at him as he laughed, and I couldn't stop the smile that was tugging at my lips, or the weird warm feeling pooling in my stomach.

"I want to walk, or something," I said, getting to my feet and arranging the cloak about me to keep warm.

"I'll come with you," He said, bouncing up to his feet, and I rolled my eyes, but let him follow nonetheless.

"Tell me about your home," He said after a few minutes of simply walking aimlessly through the jungle, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"What do you want to know, princeling?" I asked, using the little term from before.

"Back to that are we? Well, princessling, what did you do for fun?" Anduin responded, keeping in step with me, his hand brushing mine as we walked.

"Well…I work a lot, but a lot of that is fun. Elvi and I would sometimes dress my mother up to look ridiculous, and then watch my father's reaction as she put on ridiculous accents and was silly. Outside of the court…Bandit and I liked to visit the villages with orphanages. So many of the mothers got sick…" I shook my head, not wanting to think about it.

"Sick with what?" Anduin asked, looking around the curtain of my hair to see my face.

"It's the Elvin affliction, I guess…we don't really age past the human thirty, physically, our organs and muscles and minds stay the same typically. The sickness…it accelerates your age, and shows it. Your hair turns grey and falls out, your skin will come off in chunks, your face wrinkles, your organs malfunction, your mind deteriorates…it takes what would happen if a human lived to 1000 and crunches it down into a span of months." I said, blinking rapidly, "And it's contagious. If a woman in your family gets sick, the child is moved to the orphanage and the father often just leaves-the woman is left to care for herself and eventually die alone." I said, and I felt his hand on my shoulder.

"That sounds…horrible," He said, and I cracked a weak smile.

"What do you do for fun, princeling?" I asked, trying to lighten the conversation back up.

We spent a good portion of the day just wandering and talking, and sometimes just thinking in silence. It felt…it felt right, to be quite so in tune with someone, which was terrifying.

The sky began to darken again, and we headed back for camp, grabbing rations and settling into my cubby-at this point he was just invited in.

We sat shoulder to shoulder, eating in silence, eating our no longer completely fresh rations, and I let my fingers stroke Bandit's fur absent-mindedly.

"What changed your mind, Jadearra?"

I looked at him, confused, "What do you mean?"

"About…humans, I suppose. You haven't been mean in days," Anduin said, and I shrugged.

"I don't think, as a race I ever really…hated humans. I just…not all of them can ever be forgiven," I had been struggling not to bring him up, and Anduin knew it too.

"Can you forgive me for being human?" he asked, turning to look at me, an emotion I couldn't identify burning in his eyes.

"I suppose I could, but I mean. You can be a bit of a…diva," I said, poking at buttons, and the scoff I got in response made me grin instinctively.

"Excuse you-!"

Suddenly, fingers were digging into my sides, and I squeaked with laughter, diving deeper into my cubby and giggling as I got tickled until I couldn't breathe.

"Apologize you little shit!" he exclaimed, grinning ear to ear with playful offense, and I was grinning so hard it made my face hurt.

"I surrender!" I said, laughing and catching my breath as he withdrew, laughing.

This felt…good. Laughing with someone, being comfortable, not being stressed, just being…me.

There were layers of emotions that were mixed in as well, but those terrified me and I didn't want to think about them.

We eventually quieted, just staring at each other with small smiles and an intensity that came out of nowhere.

"We should probably sleep."

I nodded, sinking down to lay down on my mat, not even resisting or questioning it as Anduin sunk down next to me, which troubled me more than anything.

I cannot get used to him.

Nothing can ever happen here.

I was worried that that thought made me want to cry a little.

"How long have they been doing this?"

"Last few days, Lord Zhu. It's quite sweet."

I opened my eyes slowly, looking into the slightly glassy blue ones in front of me, realizing that our noses were touching.

"Morning," he said, hot minty breath making my nose tingle.

"Morning, morning breath," I said, and he smirked, jabbing me lightly in the ribs.

"Speak for yourself," he smiled, and sat up, stretching his arms over his head.

"You two!"

I scrambled up and away from Anduin at the sound of Lord Zhu's voice, and we stood apart as he approached.

"The time has come to assault the temple. Cover as much skin as you can, and Bandit must stay here." Lord Zhu said, and I wanted to argue, but something in his voice discouraged me.

I looked over to see Anduin kneeling on his mat-it's hardly been used, I realized with a flush of my face. He was holding a duster.

He stood, sliding it on, and I tilted my head to the side, "Why?"

"It was just sitting there. It's…convenient," He said, looking at it in thought.

It was a deep brown that made his skin glow, with a gold embroidery and loads of pockets. It suited him.

We had slept in full armor. I pulled the hood up over my head, tucking my hair in and around my neck and face, and a Pandaren woman came up with two facemasks.

"To protect your nose and mouth," she said, and I have her a gratuitous smile, taking it and stringing it under my hair and tying it at the nape of my neck, making sure it was tight.

Anduin did the same, hair askance and flopping over his ears and neck, and soon all we could see of each other were eyes.

"Suit up princeling," I said, voice muffled by the leaf, and he rolled his eyes, watching with an eyebrow raised as I slid two daggers into my belt, a full quiver over my back, tightened my bowstring, and slid two smaller knives into my boots.

"Ready?" he asked, having slid a couple daggers of his own into his belt, and I nodded, giving Bandit a farewell scratch behind the ears, and we were off.

I focused on shutting down my different emotions, staring straight ahead and keeping a wary distance between myself and And-the human. He has this skill of undoing me, of forcing my emotions to the surface. In this fight, he cannot do so.

"The temple will be just over this ridge," he said, his voice almost as locked down as mine would be if I spoke, and I nodded stiffly, trudging forward.

We reached the crest of the ridge, and I was slightly in awe of the beautiful broken temple in front of me.

Great, grey stone made up a majority of the construction, with ruby red tiled roofs on every building, and sprawling gardens in front.

But Sha were everywhere.

Manifestations that looked like lumps with tentacles and gaping maws squirmed on the grounds, and larger, armed manifestations floated along, their entire face nothing but a gaping mouth.

"Ready?" Andui-the human asked, and I nodded stiffly and silently again.

I nocked three arrows and aimed for the gaping maw of one of the taller manifestations, letting them fly.

They hit their target, and with a shattering scream it faded into vapor.

I felt pain try to weigh down on my chest, but I muscled through it and charged onto the grounds, sending more arrows flying and more manifestations fading.

The human followed, blasts of pure light hitting whatever manifestations my arrows didn't.

I found one of the defenders, just sitting there curled in a ball, his skin bleached almost grey, and I went to him, patting his shoulder and getting him to look up at me.

His eyes were almost pure black, and he looked so…sad.

"There is no hope, the temple is lost," he wailed quietly, and I tried to convey a smile through the leaf.

"There is still hope, friend, we are harbingers of it," I said, turning and shooting down another three manifestations, as the human blasted a couple more to our right.

I turned to him again, to see his eyes lightening, his fur brightening, and his courage grow, "They…can be defeated! I will fight!"

He jumped up, brandishing two swords and dashing into the fray, the ground regaining some colour beneath his feet.

We kept fighting our way towards the temple, as defenders went about reviving their comrades, and soon the steps and grounds were taken.

"Take the temple, heroes! We'll cover you!" one of the defenders yelled, and we threw the doors open of the temple open-

A black wave of pain so powerful that the human fell down to his knees completely, clutching at his sides hit us, and all hell broke loose.

"Princeling!" I went to his side, fighting back emotions as I looked into his face and saw his skin greying.

Where was it getting in-his hands.

I put my hands on his cheeks and leaned my forehead against his, closing my eyes and sending a prayer to Yu'Lon and to the light, for good measure.

Hands covered mine, and I opened my eyes to see brilliantly burning blue eyes looking into mine, "Thank you," he said, and I nodded, moving away and shutting down again.

"Gloves back on, use your weapons, no more light today," I said, shooting down four manifestations that were charging us.

The defenders had moved into the temple, and helped us fight our way down the steps.

"You will fail, deathspeaker."

It resonated from below us, and something in the human's face hardened, "He's in Chi'ji's chambers! We have to get down there,"

He fought with a growing determination, and I found myself watching him with admiration, and I shook my head hard, shooting down more of the charging manifestations.

Soon we reached the lower doors, and the defenders held the top level.

We opened a small door at the back of the temple, and the human led us to a huge, spiraling staircase.

"This way," he said, and we ran down them, going down and down and down…

The cold started to seep in, and I blinked hard, pushing Forward-I cannot do this right now.

We reached two large, ruby doors, with a golden knocker, and the human reached out to open them, but stopped just short of it.

"I am bound..." he whispered, and I nodded.

"But I'm not," I marched forward and yanked the doors open.

The freezing blast of pure despair sent me flying back, hitting the stone wall, and my eyes flickered between here and the chapel as my body started stiffening.

"You've come, deathspeaker."

I coughed hard, my sides heaving, as my vision started tunneling.

Suddenly, the human was there, his hands on my face and burning away the cold, wide blue eyes piercing my soul.

"Come on, you can fight this, come on…"

It all cleared, and I was back, I nodded to him, and he helped me up.

"Thank you," I said, mind still reeling from the sheer power of that slam.

"Always," he whispered, and I don't think it was intended for my ears.

We walked into the chamber, where the great thing from the lake stood, its head nearly brushing the ceiling and its gaping maw of a mouth twisted into a smile.

In the center of the room, chained to the floor, was a great red and white crane, who cawed weakly upon seeing us, his head barely lifting from the floor.

"Chi'ji!" the human's anger amplified, "You will pay for this," He turned and ripped his glove off, before I could stop him, and sent a wave of pure light flying at the thing.

It hit its mark, leaving a hole in the things great, taloned hand, and it roared with a sound of despair and agony so great that smoke filled the room

I was filled with a vision of…myself? Holding Mother. She was dead.

"You…you did this to her!" myself screamed, looking up at me with eyes that were purely black, "You should've stayed home! And away from that boy!"

"What…?" My heart was pounding as I stared at this scene in front of me, and the dark version of me stood and charged me, tackling me the ground, knife in hand.

"You. Killed. Her!" I screamed in my own face, and I gripped my own wrists hard, fighting to keep that knife from hitting my heart.

"I. Did. Nothing!" I snarled in my own face, and suddenly, where my real hands were, colour spread, and soon my mirror's eyes were green.

Then she disintegrated.

I stood, breathing hard, to see the human fighting his own demons.

I watched in-oh no.

"Look what you've done! LOOK!" The dark one was screaming, pointing at where my form laid, completely stone. I wore a blue and gold headband-his headband.

"I haven't-." the true human looked so startled and afraid that it made my chest hurt.

"You didn't tell her! She gave you everything and You. Didn't. Tell. Her!" The dark one charged, and I darted forward, tackling it around the middle and taking it to the ground.

"I still live! This isn't real!" I roared, and the image disintegrated.

The human-Anduin-looked so startled and shell shocked that he stood there, frozen for a moment.

I turned to the beast, fury pounding in my veins as I took an entire quiver of arrows and prayed to Yu'Lon and the light and the Sunwell, watching my arrows glow. I aimed all of them, and let them fly.

They hit the thing is so many places that the thing exploded into dust.

Dust that wasn't disappearing.

I grabbed Anduin and hauled him out of the room and up some of the steps as the dust chased us, and then it disappeared.

It looked as though it had never been there.

Chi'ji was freed, and he lifted his head feebly.

Anduin, having returned to himself, ran to his teacher, kneeling at his side and healing immediately.

The bird never looked away from my eyes, and a voice penetrated my mind.

"His love can save you."

"No," I whispered, shocked and terrified, and Anduin looked up, confused.

"No." I shook my head, turning and scrambling up the steps.

"Jadearra!"

He had given chase, and I made it off the temple grounds before he caught me about the waist, turning me to him.

"Why are you running?" He asked, out of breath and warm and-fuck!

I pressed my lips to his hard, feeling him stop breathing momentarily, and I felt my eyes burn with tears as I pulled away and freed myself from his arms, taking off.