Author's Note:
Something possessed me to go back and finish this chapter tonight. No idea what. Still had fun writing, tho'. (The next Shadow update is coming along nicely, too, and there will be no more delays for the foreseeable future.)
...
Elsewhere, Kael'thas Sunstrider was not having a good night.
He'd managed to slip out of the condo he shared with his 'advisors' – a bunch of arrogant, self-indulging pricks, really – and find a quiet place where he could chill at an out-of-the-way table, toss back shot after shot and reminisce about the good old days-
Wait... no, that wasn't right at all. There was nothing good about the 'old days', not since he'd been stupid enough to renew his contract as a raid boss for the fourth year in a row. Another thing where his advisors had failed royally. 'What could possibly go wrong?' they'd told him. And now, seven days a week – six, if the stars aligned and extended maintenance happened – he was mostly stuck in Tempest Keep, with no-one but his advisors and the occasional twenty-five people hell-bent on bloody murder to keep him company.
Well, it was funny to watch them wipe, at least. It was usually the healers that ended up taking the brunt of it, or the tanks if the healers would drop group and (or) bubble-hearth. Oftentimes they'd just sit there and argue right under Kael's nose, and he'd be too caught up laughing at their half-assed insults to bother killing them again.
Still, all things considered, his life wasn't nearly where he wanted it to be.
"Hi there!"
It took Kael a few seconds to realize he was being spoken to. He looked up from his drink to find yet another young woman in clothing that left very little to the imagination leaning over the table and offering him a very ample view of her endowments.
Too bad he wasn't in the mood.
"Do I know you?" He had to shout to make himself heard over the loud music and the many conversations going on at once.
The girl laughed and changed her position slightly so he could get a better angle. "Would you like to?" she purred.
"Not really, no."
"Oh." A pause, then, "Okay, maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Let's try again. My name is Cheri, and you are...?"
"Not interested." He looked down at his drink pointedly. When he looked up again, Cheri was gone.
Thank the Sun.
It wasn't the first time some girl who looked barely old enough to drink randomly threw herself at him. In fact, this was happening almost on a daily basis whenever he wasn't stuck playing loot pinata with guilds like 'HORD KILLAZ' and 'exalted with ur mum'. So far tonight, he'd turned down three offers, and set a fourth girl's purse on fire - subtly, of course, since any 'inappropriate' use of magic in this particular world was highly frowned upon by the Powers That Be.
And speaking of magic, what kind of a world was this, anyway? Nothing ever seemed quite right here, despite repeated assurances from his Blizzard liaison that everything was 'Working As Intended' and any problems would be addressed 'Soontm'. Kael had no idea why his liaison insisted on spelling 'soon' with an uppercase 'TM' after, but he'd long since written it off as one of her many strange habits. Either way, for someone who was supposed to know the ins and outs of both Azeroth and the-world-that-wasn't-Azeroth, she could be really weird sometimes.
"Excuse me-"
Kael ignored the fifth pretender for the night. He tossed back the rest of his drink, then stood up and closed his eyes until the bar stopped spinning. To hell with this.
A few minutes later, Kael stepped out in the street, staggering a little. The chill of the night hit him like a full shield slam to the face. He took a few hesitant steps, eyes scanning for a cab, or a bus, or anything else he could ride home. He didn't feel like walking. Walking was what peasants did, and he was still a prince, dammit.
"Really? Really, Wrynn? The one time I get to drive, and the engine just has to go and die on me for no bloody reason?"
The voice sounded sort of familiar. It was coming from the opposite side of the street, where a car appeared to have broken down. The hood was open, and two figures were hunched over the still-steaming engine and, at the moment, scratching their heads. Kael did a double-take. He knew one of them – the girl, Vanessa or Victoria or some other name starting with 'V'. The other one was undoubtedly King Varian Wrynn, whom Kael vaguely recalled seeing at an NPC gathering some time back. Onyxia had tossed a drink in his face then. He chuckled at the memory. That was a perfect example of 'good times'.
Oh well, a ride from them was as good as anything. Kael waved, then, realizing neither had seen it, crossed the street and cleared his throat politely. "Excuse me," he began, "but-"
"Go away," the girl said without looking up.
Kael blinked. If this was what sudden rejection felt like, then he could almost find it in himself to feel sorry for all the girls he'd been turning down lately. Almost. If only he could remember her name, for the love of mercy. "I believe we've met before, and-"
She straightened up at this, annoyed, and opened her mouth, no doubt to send him on his not-so-merry way under pain of a slow and torturous death. A second later, she clamped her mouth shut and her face reddened slightly. Kael grinned a little. He'd obviously been recognized, and she wasn't trying to beat the ever-living bejebus out of him for loot. "Um," she said finally. "Is there – what can we – I mean, me – how can – what's up?" She did a small curtsy, which looked ridiculously out of place. It was almost endearing, in a way. He couldn't blame her, either; this was how most girls reacted to his presence, anyway.
Varian was watching him now, one eyebrow arched. "You should be proud of yourself," he said flatly. "That's the first time I've ever heard Vaala offer to help someone whose name isn't Illidan Stormrage." He leaned back and crossed his arms, obviously pleased with himself and oblivious to the fact that his friend was glaring bloody murder at him behind his back. "What can we help you with?"
Kael didn't answer straight away. His mind was still hooked on the name Stormrage, and all the negativity that went with it. "You're friends with Illidan?" he asked at length.
"Well, she-"
"Oh, no, no, not really 'friends', I wouldn't say," the girl cut in quickly. "More like acquaintances, really. We meet up at Jaina's poker nights, have a chat, you know how it is."
Jaina... Another blast from the past. Kael sighed. Well, if the Universe wasn't hell-bent on making him feel even more miserable tonight. "If you could just point me to where I can get a cab, I'll be out of your way," he said weakly.
"I think I saw-"
"Actually, we can give you a ride, can't we, Varian?"
Varian crossed his arms. "I really wish you'd let me finish at least one sentence every now and then," he grumbled. "Besides, the engine is still-"
"You had your sentence. Now hand over the keys."
"But the car won't-"
"Zap it!"
Varian had to remember to breathe slowly. "You can't talk to me like that," he grumbled. "Besides, I think you meant 'zip it'. To 'zap' is to-"
"Your Highness," Vaala said pointedly, turning to Kael with another attempt at a curtsy – a slightly better one this time, if he was any judge. "It would seem that our battery has died, so would you be so graciously kind as to zap it for us, please?" She glared at Varian out of the corner of her eye.
Kael shrugged. His liaison would give him hell for it tomorrow, but right now he was tipsy and he didn't care. "Of course," he said pleasantly. He moved over to examine the engine and frowned at the many bits and pieces of unfamiliar shape. A blind, drunken goblin could've probably put together something better-looking than that.
Behind him, Kael heard Varian say, very, very quietly, "If he blows up my car, you're paying me back."
There was a shuffle of footsteps, then Vaala appeared next to him and pointed out to something square-shaped and greasy-looking. "That's the battery, right there," she offered. "It doesn't need much, just enough juice to get all of us home in one piece." She didn't curtsy this time.
Kael frowned. "If it's juice you need, then I have none to offer." After a moment, he added, "There is a bar across the street, if alcohol is an acceptable substitute."
Vaala bit her lips, but not before a very tell-tale sound made it past them. "Electricity was what I meant to say, my lord. A little arcane transfer should do the trick."
"A little," Varian echoed from behind.
Kael nodded to show he'd understood, then pushed his sleeves up and tried to think of a spell that would amount to just that. When he couldn't find any, he shrugged and cast the first thing that came to mind. Oh, they were going to love that.