IT'S A REAL CHAPTER, I SWEAR!
A while or two passed as the teens searched for an icecap, not succeeding. "There has to be at least ONE in this city!" Cosmo exclaimed, worrying as Mittens and Jerry came from another building empty pawed. "Search that one!" He told them, pointing to another one, folding his arms over his chest as he began to rapidly tap his foot. "Should we search the area too, Cosmo?" Akazil asked him carefully. Quickly, the hunter turned his head. "Yeah. Uh… You and Ixxy can search that building and I'll search another one and try to ask around. There has to be an icecap around here somewhere!" The young teen rushed, turning and heading off into another empty building.
"I think all this business with Xanna is driving poor Cosmo insane…" Akazil said, slightly pouting his lips as he watched his friend leave in a blur. "Pfft." Ixxy responded with an eye roll. "If he's gone insane that quickly, then he's a wuss. I've dealt with her for fifteen freakin' years and I'm still fairly sane!" She said irritably, stalking off to the building Cosmo had pointed to. "C'mon, let's go look for the damn fairy's flower." She said in a low snarl. "Better help us find Xanna…" She added in a mutter.
"What did he say it looked like again?" Akazil asked as he followed the halfling girl. "White and purple with a blue puffball on top or something like that." Ixxy replied as she busted down the door to the building. The orc stared with wide eyes, going back and forth between the girl and the door on the ground. "…Couldn't you have just…picked the lock?"
"Nope. Wasn't locked."
"Then…why kick it down?"
"Because I could. Got a problem with it?" The girl snarled, turning around to glare at the orc. He quickly addressed his eyes elsewhere. "N-Nope! Not at all! Do as you wish!" He told her, smiling nervously. 'Just please don't get us killed because we are still in Alliance territory…'
"You check upstairs and I'll check down here." The purple teen ordered, using her glowing green eyes and what light that was being let in from the battle to search the bottom floor of the building. Akazil managed to shoot her a blank stare without her noticing as he tried to find the stairs. 'Sure, send the orc upstairs to search for a flower in the dark. He doesn't have glowing eyes but can stumble over himself looking for a light switch, breaking at least two bones before finding the damn thing. Yeah, sure. Makes perfect sense. No, no, really. It does. It truly does.' He ranted in his mind as he almost tripped over a stool before getting to the stairs. 'I am never taking a road trip ever again…Ow!' He thought when he bumped his head on a low doorway.
'Finally.' Akazil thought with quite blissful relief when he found the light switch. When flicking it on, he stared in horror at the room he was in. Stuffed animals, pink wallpaper, make-up, dresses, boy band posters, it was horrible. "What is it with the Alliance and pink? !" He quietly exclaimed to the air. He then sighed and shook his head. "Flower…" He said to himself. "Blue and… Oh, I hope Xanna's alright…" He shook his head to focus. "Blue and… Oh god, she could be dead and I'm the cause of it." He shook his head more as he searched the room. "Blue and pink and… Dammit, why did I have to go and confess to her!" He yelled at himself, searching under the dresser. "Pink and… I knew I should have just kept my freakin' mouth shut!" He thought, letting out a low groan of aggravation, lightly pounding his balled up hand on the ground. "Pink puff… Oh god, all I did was kiss her and it may have killed her! Only me! Only me! ! Only I could do that! Admit that I love someone and get them killed by doing so! Only I can do that!" With a sigh of frustration, Akazil began to carelessly search through the closet for the flower. "I'm sure she'll be alright… Right? I mean…she's Xanna. She just…she just can't… Not when I finally told her how I feel… She just can't…"
"Akazil, you having any luck up there?" Ixxy called from downstairs, snapping the orc back to reality. "Uh…no, but I'll keep looking!" He replied to her, sliding some of the clothing he'd tossed out of the closet back in with his feet. "She'll be fine… She has to be." He told himself reassuringly, checking the room some more. "Now what did this flower look like again… Blue and pink with a purple puff?" He talked to himself some more as he searched the room. "No… It was pink and purple with a blue puff. No, wait… Purple and white with a pink puff!" He said victoriously. "…Wait, no! Agh, dammit!" He grumbled, slapping his palm to his forehead. "Oh, now I remember! It was pink and pink with a pink puff!… DAMMIT!" He said irritably. "How am I suppose to find this thing with all this pink distracting me? !" The orc huffed as he lifted the bed and quickly scanned beneath it. "Freaking pink wall, pink carpet, pink bed, pink stuffed animals…" He muttered, "gently" placing the bed back down, not even paying attention to how he was in love with a pink girl. "Pink, pink, pink, pink, PINK!" He went on, wishing he had hair to rip out. "The only thing that isn't pink is that damned flower on the dresser!" He said irritably to the air, throwing his right arm in the direction of the flower. "But it's pretty damn close! It's purple and blue and white and-…" He trailed off, growing silent as he looked at the beautiful flower. He walked up to it, sighing contently and gently touching the puffs. "I bet Xanna would like a garden of flowers like this…"
"Did ya find it?" He heard Ixxy at the door as he played with the pretty flower. The girl's eyes widened and her jaw dropped in shock. "You idiot, that's the flower we need!" She yelled at him, walking up, snatching the flower and smacking him upside the head. "Idiot! What're you doing just staring at it like that!"
The orc let out a little huff, rubbing the back of his head, glaring at Ixxy as he stood up. "Unlike you, I have feelings. And they are worried about Xanna!" He yelled at her. "I've known you only a short while and I can already read you like a damn book! You're a selfish, heartless, ruthless bitch! You don't give a damn about her, do you! Not unless there's something in it for you! I genuinely care for her! I love her and I'm worried sick about her! I was just looking at that flower to calm myself down! But you, you just don't care at all, do you!"
"Wow, you are stupider than you look." Ixxy replied to the orc, glaring back at him. "What? You've apparently been a voice in her head for your whole lives and you don't seem to give a damn! Prove me wrong, if I am!"
"I grew up with her! I watched her take those beatings! I watched her get burned! I watched her cry herself to sleep every night in that God forsaken orphanage! I watched the way others would scold her! I watched as she was attacked in Ghostlands! I watched every damn thing that ever happened to her! Going crazy that I couldn't do one thing about it! Now that I'm free of her mind, I'm going to do whatever it takes to take action and keep her safe! You have no idea how this is affecting me!" Ixxy retorted to the orc. "You think you know something but you don't know shit! You just fell for a pretty face!" She yelled, turning around and storming off to find Cosmo.
Akazil was taken aback, letting the words float around in his head for a moment. 'She's…right… I don't know anything…'
Ixxy stormed out of the building, holding the flower close to her person as she searched for the hunter again. "Cosmo! We found the flower!" She yelled out, looking to where the young lad would appear from. After waiting a moment of not seeing him, she headed for the building she remembered seeing him head to. "Cosmo! Cosmo, I got the flower!" She yelled out again, jumping back in surprise when the boy came stumbling out of the building. "You-!" He exclaimed, tripping over his own two feet. "You found one? !" He said as if he had not fallen, looking up to the purple girl. She nodded slowly in reply, holding out the flower. "Here."
Cosmo quickly stumbled to get back on his feet, slowly reaching his hands out for the plant. "That's the right one, isn't it?" Akazil asked, coming up behind Ixxy. The hunter nodded in reply. "Yes… This is an icecap…" He said softly, half closing his eyelids as he drifted off into his memories. The purple teen waved a hand in front of him, snapping her fingers. "Hey! Focus! Stay on Azeroth, if ya don't mind!"
"Right." Cosmo nodded in reply. "Mittens!" He called for his pet, kneeling down before her. "Smell this." He said, holding the plant up to her. The lioness obeyed and inhaled the flower's scent deeply. "You too, Jerry." The hunter said to the mouse on Mittens' head. "You need to learn how to do this." He said as Jerry also inhaled the icecap's scent. When they pulled away, Cosmo pulled the flower away. "Got the scent?" He asked them, receiving nods. Letting a small smile of hope grow onto his face, Cosmo stood up and put the icecap away in one of his bags. "Alright." He said, pointing his arm in a random direction. "Go find Xanna."
Both animals sat up straight, giving their master determined looks and nods. They then placed their noses to the ground, sniffing out for anything that smelled like the flower. It took all of two seconds to find.
Ixxy stared blankly at Mittens and Jerry as they pointed to her like bloodhounds.
"No!" Cosmo told his animals, lightly stomping his foot on the ground. "Not Ixxy! Xanna! Find Xanna!" He told them, throwing his arms in a random direction again. Mittens and Jerry nodded to their master again, exchanged a few words, then went their separate ways to track down the other elf girl. A moment or two passed and the two came back, pointing to Ixxy again. "Guys!" Cosmo exclaimed in a high pitched whine. The lioness and mouse laid their ears back, tucked their tails between their legs and cringed at the sound of their disappointed master. "Find Xanna! ! !" He yelled to them again.
Exchanging looks of determination; and slight irritation; again, Mittens and Jerry went separate ways to search the whole are of the city they were in. They searched in houses, corpses, boxes, dumpsters, loose pieces of concrete, a few backsides and anything else they could find, only to go straight back to Ixxy.
"Mittens! Jerry!" Cosmo exclaimed in a slightly higher pitched girly whine. The lioness laid her ears back again, talking back to her master with small defensive roars. "What do you mean she's the only thing that smells like the flower? !" The hunter repeated what his pet had stated. Mittens let out a small growl of irritation, pointing to Cosmo's bag and then to Ixxy. Cosmo shot her a slight look of irritation right back, gritting his teeth. "Mittens, I think your nose is broken." He told her, taking a step toward the purple girl. "There's no way she can smell like Xanna." He said, pulling her close. "The hell? !" She exclaimed. "Sorry, this'll only take a moment." He told her, holding her tight, inhaling her scent deeply, immediately being shocked.
"Get off me, you damned rapist!" Ixxy exclaimed, shoving the hunter away. Cosmo only looked to her in great puzzlement. "You… How… No, that can't be right!" He said, shaking his head as he looked back to his pets, sadly receiving nods from them. "No! That's-… That's impossible!"
"What? What's wrong?" Akazil asked, unsure of what problem was. Cosmo sharply pointed an accusing finger to the halfling girl. "She's the only thing in the city that smells like the icecap!"
"You mean Xanna's not here? !"
"That can't be possible…" Cosmo talked to himself, quickly turning back to his pets. He needn't say anything to them for them to know to search the city once more. "How can you smell like her…" He continued to mutter to himself, this subject bothering him more than the fact that Xanna was missing from Stormwind completely. "What?" Ixxy replied, quirking an eyebrow. "No two people can smell alike!" He told her. "Each person has their own scent! So why do you smell like her! It's throwing Mittens and Jerry off!"
"Don't yell at me like it's MY fault! I don't know why the hell they're coming to me!"
"Maybe it's because you held the flower?" Akazil threw in to be helpful. "Then they'd go to you too because you also touched it." Ixxy said solemnly, folding her arms over her chest. "Look, we'll figure this out later. We just need to have them find something else that smells like the damned plant."
"Um… I don't think we're gonna have much luck with that." Akazil said, pointing the two animals at Ixxy's sides again. She and the other elf sighed in aggravation. "So…new plan…"
Ixxy gracefully leapt onto several objects to get herself to a higher place, leaving the two boys and animals to stare up at her in awe. "Wow, she's kinda like that human chick that goes around raiding tombs…" Akazil muttered as he stared up at the purple girl. When she disappeared from his sight, he addressed it to Cosmo, seeing him on his knees and holding his lioness for comfort. The orc pursed his lips, walked over and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We'll find her." He said, unaware of the glare he had been receiving.
"If you keep messing up, I'm taking her away from you." Came the low growl from the elf boy as he hugged his pet tightly. "What?" Akazil replied, quirking a brow. "You heard me." Came another growl from the hunter, making his anger palpable as he stood up to glare at the orc. "You've already screwed up twice! Screw up again and, I swear, I'll take her away from you!" He yell at him, poking him hard in the chest. "You've let her die and now you keep letting her get kidnapped!"
"Cosmo-" Akazil tried to get a word in, forcing himself to not blow up right back at the other teen. "No! You listen to me! I already messed up my chance with her, and if you keep messing yours up, I'll kick your ass so hard, you won't even remember your own damn name!" The blood elf continued to yell, shocking the orc with his swearing. "Xanna is the most wonderful person ever! She's beautiful, kind and caring, funny…" Cosmo began to grow quiet, fighting back his tears as he thought of his friend.
"Cosmo…" Akazil said again, placing a hand on the teen's shoulder once more. "I would never do anything to harm her. All I want is to keep her safe." He said, gently patting his friend on the back. "We'll find her. I promise." He said reassuringly, taken aback when the sobbing elf wrapped his arms around him and muffled himself in his chest. Not knowing what else to do, Akazil wrapped his arms around him in return and held him tight as he cried.
"What are you two homos doing?…" Ixxy questioned the sight, suddenly back from scouting what she could atop the nearby buildings. Akazil did his best to bite back his irritation he wished to shoot her and shot it elsewhere. Cosmo simply blinked away some of his tears and sniffled, wiping at his nose. "We were…"
"Did ya find anything?" The orc asked, letting go of the hunter, keeping his arms to himself once more. Ixxy shook her head in reply. "Other than Fëan and his parents making sure that their family doesn't die in their flaming house, no."
"Is everyone alright?" Cosmo asked, wiping away the rest of his tears. "Yeah, I did a head count. Everyone's there." Ixxy replied nonchalantly, folding her arms over her chest. "Well, I'm out of ideas on how to find Xanna."
"We can't just give up!" Akazil protested. "There's gotta be something we can do to find her!"
"Unless you have any other ideas, we're just gonna have to give up for now. While I was up there, I saw abominations making their way through the gate. And, oddly, Terokkarantula hogtying the Beast…" Ixxy muttered the rest of her words, staring blankly at whatever was to her left as she pointed to the impossible to overlook sight just a ways from where she and the two boys were.
"Oh, that's what that noise was…" Cosmo murmured as he and the orc stared at the giant beasts. "How the hell did I not notice that?…" Akazil asked himself, quirking an eyebrow.
"This is no time to get distracted, you idiots!" Ixxy yelled to the two, regaining their attention. "C'mon, we gotta go!" She added, turning around and heading off to find people to help her stop the monsters at the gate.
Akazil pursed his lips with slight irritation. "Well, you heard her." He said to Cosmo. "Let's go." He said and headed off after the girl with the hunter and his two pets.
"Guy! Miss Priss!" Ixxy called out, running for the two. "Yesss, darlin'?" Guy replied with a cheeky grin, using the monster he'd just killed as a shield when the purple girl tried to hit him. "I am not a priss…" Rebecca snarled to her, gripping the sword she had tightly in her hands.
"Whatever." The teen said, rolling her eyes. "I need you both and a few more people at the gates."
"Why?" The two humans questioned. "Don't question me! Just get your asses over there and start killing!" She yelled at them, pointing in the direction of the gate. "Go! Get moving!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Guy saluted, quickly grabbing Rebecca by the hand before she had the chance to snap at Ixxy. With a sigh, the halfling girl turned her attention to the hunter and warrior. "You two, grab some more people and tell them to head for the gates. I'll meet ya there." She said, quickly sprinting off before either had a chance to respond.
As she made her way to the city's entrance gates, Ixxy only stared at Xanna's unconscious body in her mind. 'Where the hell did she go? What happened?' She thought worriedly. 'Wait… Where did Elros go?…' She thought, her eyes widening as she remembered the psychopath. 'Oh god, no!'
'There's no way!' Ixxy shouted in her mind, tackling Knucklerot to the ground. 'How the hell did he even get these two?…' Her mind wandered off as she stared at the two abominations from the Ghostlands. Quickly, she shook her head and slashed at the thing's face. 'How could he have made his way out of the city with her? There's people everywhere! And two giant beasts fighting each other!' She went on, dodging said beasts as they continued with their fight. 'What the hell is he? ! Part rogue? ! Agh, that son of a bitch!' Ixxy yelled in her mind, viciously moving on from Knucklerot to Luzran. 'Stupid Xanna! I wouldn't even have to be worrying about this if she had just listened to me from the start! If she had just stayed away from this city! If she had just stopped trying to make a friend!'
"Um…Ixxy, are you okay?" Guy asked, simply staring at the purple halfling girl along with Rebecca. "JUST DANDY!" She replied, attacking another poor blob of an undead monster. "I think that girl has some issues…" Rebecca muttered, staring blankly and going off to attack another monster as well. Guy simply rolled his eyes at her. "Look who's talking…" He muttered, earning a severed head tossed harshly into his stomach.
Louis groaned as he regained consciousness, sitting up as slowly as possible. "Uhn… That…bastard…" He said through gritted teeth, his eyes shut tightly and his arms placed on achy places. When he finally opened his eyes, he looked for his wife Seda, spotting her sprawled out on the ground just a short distance away from where he was. "Seda…" He whispered to the air, forcing himself to crawl over to her, biting his lip to hold back his groans of pain. "Seda, wake up." He told her, lightly placing a hand on her shoulder. "Stay away from the light."
The blood elf woman remained unconscious, not moving and barely breathing. "Seda. Seda, open your eyes." Louis continue to say gently, lightly tapping his wife's cheek. "Seda!" He said, gasping and wincing at his pain. "Urgh… Damn you, Elros." He growled. He did his best to ignore the pain and went back to his wife. "Seda, wake up, please. We have to go back and make sure Xanna's alright."
"Xan…Xanna." Seda whispered, slowly opening her eyes at the mention of her daughter's name. "Xanna…and Sanora…" She added the other girl's name, groaning as her own pain caught up to her. "Uhn…"
"Heal yourself." Her husband said, carefully placing one of her hands onto one of the more serious wounds, kissing her forehand and tenderly rubbing her hand with his thumb. Seda took in a deep breath, placing both of her hands on her husband's arm, focusing everything she had onto him. "No." He said, pulling away. "Heal yourself first."
"But-"
"Seda…please."
Seda begrudgingly nodded, placing her hands on herself, focusing her energy and muttering a few spells. Slowly, her wounds began to disappear, a blissful feeling washing over Seda as healing spells eased her pain, then taking it away completely. "I think we may have underestimated El just a tad…" She let out a soft chuckle as she sat up to finish healing herself and stretch her bones. Louis growled to her, a grim look upon his face. "We didn't underestimate shit. He just got lucky." He spat, groaning again at his pain.
"Lay down." His wife told him, gently pushing him onto the soft grass. "Seda, I swear, after fifteen years of this, I'm losing it. I'm close to just heading to the main cities and killing everyone! We are good people! We don't deserve this! And Xanna never deserved growing up alone! She did nothing wrong! Ah! !" The night elf yelled out as Seda adjusted him to reach more of his injuries. "I know, Lou. But we have to keep ourselves together. For Xanna." The blood elf said gently, healing her husband's broken arm. "I know we're not a complete family…but having just each other is better than nothing." She went on, placing a hand on Louis' cheek. "I'll always be here for you, just like how you're always there for me."
"I miss her, Seda…" Louis whispered, looking away to fight back his tears. "And she misses us. I know she does. Sanora too." Seda's voice was like silk to his ears as she comforted him, holding his hand and kissing his cheek. "We'll get them back." She told him, blinking back her own tears.
"HOLY ILLIDAN ALMIGHTY!" The two elves perked their heads up at the loud shout coming from the city, flinching at the small explosion that came shortly after.
"C'mon, we have to get back in there quickly." Seda said, hastening her healing. She slowed down again when Louis sat up and turned her head toward him. "I love you." He told her, pulling her close, kissing her deeply. "Thank you for always being there for me."
A small blush grew across Seda's face. "Anytime, Lou." She replied, going back to the rogue's injured leg. 'Damn his charm…' She thought, unable to help her smile.
"HOLY ILLIDAN ALMIGHTY!" Ixxy shouted at the sight of the floating undead skeleton thing she had never seen before. "What the hell is that thing? !"
"It kind of looks like the lich thing from the Western Plaguelands!" Guy replied, shoving off another undead thing. "Geez, did this guy go undead shopping in that area or something?"
"Look out!" Rebecca shouted, tackling Guy to the ground as the lich fired a frostbolt in his direction. Since the original target was knocked away, the frostbolt missed and hit one of the bigger blob looking scourge, the harsh impact making it explode and its organs and body parts fly everywhere. With quick reflexes, Guy rolled his and Rebecca's bodies over, returning the favor of hovering over her protectively.
"This…is the worst day…of my entire life…" Ixxy muttered to no one in particular, covered in fat blob scourge guts from head to toe. 'Someone is going to die a horrible and painful death… I don't know who…but someone…' She thought, her brow twitching irritably.
"Mmm… Best one yet." Dethiam said, having used her finger to wipe off some of the organs off the halfling girl to taste it, ignoring Ixxy's eyebrow twitching even more so. "Will you stop appearing from nowhere? !" She yelled at her, glaring daggers. The undead girl actually thought about it for a moment, taking another finger full of spewed undead flesh from the purple girl; making her irritably shake off the rest as quickly as she could. "…No." She shrugged, putting the finger up to her lips. Just before she could lick at it, Ixxy shoved her away harshly.
Instinctively, Dethiam caught herself, about to throw a dagger in return for the shove. However, she was forced to stop from doing so when she saw Ixxy on the ground, unable to move because the lich had frozen her feet in place. With a growl, she aimed her dagger for the undead thing instead. 'I'll get her back later.' She thought, throwing the dagger at the lich. "Hey, ugly!" She announced her presence. "Pick on someone your own kind!"
The lich slowly turned itself, its icy blue eyes staring right through Dethiam; and not in the literal sense.
The undead girl smirked at her target, running up and jumping at it, only to be quickly shot back down to the ground with a frostbolt, her body easily falling apart and flying in different directions. "Dammit…" She muttered, irritably getting her body parts to try to find each other. "Other left…" She told her one of her feet. "Other left, you moron!" She barked at it, her head suddenly being frozen by the lich.
'Shit…' Ixxy thought, still trying to free herself from the block of ice with her dagger. "A little help would be nice, you two!" She shouted at the two blondes.
"Just a moment, darlin'!" Guy called back, rolling around on the ground with Rebecca to avoid being hit by the other scourge. "You know, this isn't usually what a I do for a first date…" He chuckled to Rebecca. The woman growled and stared at him blankly.
'Dammit, dammit, dammit…' Ixxy thought, stabbing at the ice as quickly as she could without tiring herself out. Every other second, she would look to the lich, almost panicking as she watched it ever so slowly turn its attention back to her. What's more; she still also had to keep her eye on the unconscious girl in her mind. 'Dammit, dammit, dammit!' She thought more, beginning to worry. 'C'mon…' She pleaded, still cutting away at the ice. Then, suddenly, she felt so icy cold. "Sh-…Shit…" She chattered. 'F-F-F-Frost-st-stbolt.'
Trying to keep calm and not shake uncontrollably, Ixxy turned her head back to the lich, her eyes widening as it readied to fire another attack. 'G-G-Gotta hurry!' She thought, going back to chiseling the ice. "Oh g-g-g-god, I'm so c-c-c-c-cold!" She exclaimed, breathing into her hands and rubbing her shoulders for self warmth. 'D-Don't give up!' She told herself, reaching back for her dagger. 'K-Ke-Keep trying…' Just barely touching the blade with her fingertips, Ixxy cried out in pain and threw herself back onto the ground, whimpering in pain from the cold spell cast upon her. 'No! G-Get back u-Sooo c-c-cold… I'm s-s-sorry, Xanna…'
"Ixxy, hang in there!" Makaza called out from a little ways away, tossing his imp at the lich. "Dammit, I am not a rag dol-Oof!" Ezekiel complained, splatting onto the lich's face, quickly using his imp claws to blind it.
"Need some help?" Akazil chuckled to the two humans on the ground, slicing at some of the undead things around them. "I was doing just fine on my own…" Guy muttered, being shoved away harshly from the blonde woman. "It's about time someone showed up to help!" She barked, grabbing her sword as she got up, charging at the next scourge she saw.
"You know, if you two wanted to be close, you shoulda got a room first. It's just rude to display something like that in public." Cosmo told Guy, shooting an arrow right between the eyes of one of the more smaller scourge. The young man puffed out his chest and grinned widely. "I am not afraid to display my love." He said to the two young teens, earning yet another severed head tossed harshly into his stomach. "SO NOT WHAT WE WERE DOING! ! !" Rebecca yelled at them in an ear piercing high pitch. "Right…just kidding…" Guy squeaked and groaned, falling onto the ground as he tried to rearrange his organs to be where they were suppose to. As soon as they were back in the right places, he would hit the two chuckling teens hovering over him.
"Boys!" Azlirac called out. "Focus!"
"It's fine, Dad!" Kalvin said cheerfully, leaping onto her twin brother's back and onto the shoulders of the tallest of the scourge. "More fun for us!" She said, roughly tearing off its head, reaching into its neck hole to pull out as much of its insides as she could before it fell over.
"Kal, watch where ya throw that stuff! And leave some fun for me!" Melvin yelled to his sister.
Azlirac shook his head to his two eldest children. "They take after you." He said to his wife, firing a spell to the lich once Ezekiel had literally poked its eyes out. "Ewww!" The imp said, tossing the eyeballs aside just before leaping back to his master.
"Everyone look out!" Fëanáro yelled as the angered lich began to fire spells wildly. Quickly, everyone; including what scourge were left; hit the ground. "Kad, can't you have Naraxis paralyze him or somethin'!" The night elf boy asked his friend, pulling his ears down to avoid being hit by a frostbolt. The draenei looked to his pet spider. "You heard him." He said. With great irritation, the spider king of Duskwood skittered a few nasty words and made his way to the lich, leaping onto it and using some web to bind its hands.
"Mittens, you too!" Cosmo told his lioness, grabbing Jerry just before she leaped forward. Placing the mouse on his shoulder, Cosmo stood back up and began to fire as many arrows as he could at lich; as did Kadgaa. Shortly after they started attacking, everyone else leapt back to their feet and attacked as well, taking it down quickly.
"Good job, everyone." Azlirac panted, watching as Guy and Rebecca took down the last of the other scourge.
"Yay! We did it!" Cosmo cheered, grabbing his two pets, jumping up and down with them.
"That was fun! Let's do it again!" Kalvin exclaimed, ignoring her twin rolling his eyes at her.
Everyone's victory cheers were cut short at the sounds of Makaza grunting. The whole time everyone else was fighting, he'd been using his staff to free Ixxy's foot from the ice block. Eventually, the staff broke and he began to pound on the ice with his fists as hard as he could.
"Makaza, stop! You're gonna break your hands!" Akazil told his brother, trying to pull him away, his concern being returned with a harsh shove.
"He's right, boy." Azlirac said, coming to pull the boy away as well as Feladora tried to keep the girl warm, being shoved away as well.
"Ixxy, stay with me!" Makaza told the shivering purple halfling, continuing to break his knuckles on the ice block until he was suddenly pulled away. Before he had a chance to go back to what he was doing, he watched as a giant hammer was brought down, smashing the ice block to bits, freeing Ixxy's foot.
"Sanora!" Seda cried out, falling to her knees, taking the girl away from Feladora. "We need a fire!" She said quickly, looking to the other grown elf woman. "Hurry! !"
Regaining as much of her composure as she could, Feladora got to her feet and began to search through some of her bags for some spare firewood she always kept for "just in case" purposes. Within the blink of an eye, she found it and had the fire made and ready to warm the freezing girl. Seda nodded to her thankfully, then carefully scooted herself and Ixxy closer to the fire. "There, there, Sanora…" She said softly. "It's okay. I'm here."
"Dad, is that…?" Fëanáro whispered to his father as he watched the blood elf woman cradle Ixxy in her arms as a loving mother would do her child. "Louis…" The elder night elf whispered, his eyes tearing up as he looked to his brother, watching him as he made his way for his wife and child.
"Heeeey, guys… How ya been?" Louis said sheepishly, doing his best to break the stiff and awkward feeling in the air.
"Just freakin' dandy." Ixxy snarled, squirming her way from Seda's hold, sitting closer to the fire for warmth, quickly being mauled by a certain orc. "Ixxy, baby! You're okay!" Makaza cheered, holding her tightly, ignoring the horrible pain in his hands. "And you're not! You idiot, look at what you did to yourself!" The girl snapped, displaying his broken hands to him. "Why the hell would you-!" She continued to rant, looking up to see his smiling face. "Quit smiling at me! I'm trying to yell at you!"
"You're concerned about me…" Makaza replied to her, smiling more and more at her suddenly blushing face. "I am not! ! ! You take that back! I am not concerned about you! That's a lie! STOP SMILING AT ME! ! !"
"I love you too."
"AGH! ! ! !" Ixxy exclaimed in annoyance, throwing the boy's broken hands in his face, quickly turning her attention back to the warm fire. "The pain! ! ! !" He cried, falling over and groaning. "Shake it off, Boss. Shake it off." His imp chuckled to him.
"Um, here…" Seda said, trying to avoid the heartbreaking stares of her in-laws. "Let me fix them." She said to Makaza, focusing as much as she could on his hands to heal them.
"I thought you two were unconscious just outside of Goldshire." Ixxy said nonchalantly, rubbing her hands then displaying them to the fire.
"We heard you yell and then heard an explosion." Louis said, doing his best to avoid looking at his brother. "We thought it was because of Elros."
"He's not here anymore." The purple girl continued to speak with no regards of anyone else's feelings. "He left when the fight started. With Xanna."
"Wha-? !"
"Ow!" Seda exclaimed when she was slapped harshly across the face. "That's for not saying hi!" Feladora yelled to her, dropping to her knees, wrapping the woman in her arms and crying on her shoulder. "Oh, Seda, I've missed you so much…"
'Oh god.' Louis thought, staring with wide eyes, knowing full well his brother was coming to do the same to him. "Uh… Agh!" He choked when pulled into a tight hug. "Still…affectionate, eh, bro?"
"Shut up." Azlirac muffled into his sibling's hair, holding him tighter and tighter.
Ixxy's eyes widened in horror, staring side to side at the emotional adults. "I feel very uncomfortable right now…" She said to no one in particular, just clarifying her awkwardness. Suddenly, she was pulled away like a rag doll and was trapped in familiar big strong green arms yet again. "Can't hurt me this time." Makaza grinned cheekily as he displayed his now fixed hands. "Ohhh yes I can." She said, grabbing a finger, slowly bending it the wrong way. "Ow, ow, ow! Okay, okay! Uncle! I give! You win! Let go, let go! !"
"Mhm. That's what I thought." The girl said snidely, letting the poor orc boy's finger go. "Alright…" She said, dusting off her shoulders. "If we could wrap up this touchy drama bullshit, I'd like to form a plan of getting Xanna back from that psychopath."
"She's right." Azlirac nodded in agreement, releasing hold of his sibling and standing up. "We will have to save the reunion for later."
"But how are we gonna find them?" Feladora asked, standing up as well; as did the two elves they both had had hostage. "He could be anywhere!"
"I suppose those things there don't really count as major clues to any of you, do they?…" Ixxy said blankly, pointing to the Beast and Terokkarantula; both in a rather funny position, for the spider had finally defeated and pinned the giant core hound. "Honestly! Even if Elune herself or someone of great importance like that gave you directions, you'd all still be clueless! Am I the only one here that has a freakin' brain? !" The purple girl said irritably, ignoring Naraxis and Mittens cheering for Terry in the background.
"All it means is that he could be at Blackrock Mountain or somewhere in Terokkar." Louis bit back as much of his annoyance as he could. "And Seda and I have checked those places, amongst others, at least four thousand times."
"He was nowhere in sight." Seda backed up her husband, a slight worried look upon her face.
"They're in Terokkar. I know they are."
"How can you be so sure?" The elder rogue questioned, narrowing his eyes to the halfling a bit. 'There's no way this girl is my child.'
"For one; Xanna rode in on that thing." Ixxy said, pointing to the giant spider. "For two; I…I saw her. In my mind."
"What? How? How is that possible?"
"Believe it or not, but Xanna and I can see and speak to each other with our minds. Parts of our brains must have fused together or something because we were one for so long. I know it sounds crazy, but that's all the explanation I could come up with. And unless you want her to die and for that freak to rule Azeroth and Outlands, you'll just have to go with it for now and listen to me."
Louis growled, balling up a hand. "Fine. But you should learn how to address your elders, young lady."
"I address anyone however I want, old man." Ixxy spat back. "Why you little…" The purple night elf man huffed down at the girl, narrowing his eyes just as much as she was. "Cut it out you two." Azlirac told them, pushing them apart. Louis huffed again and turned away from the girl, standing by his wife; whom kindly held onto him to calm him down.
"How do you propose we find his hideout?" The priest asked Ixxy, making her stop glaring at his brother and focus on him.
"Well, we can't count on Terokkarantula to necessarily to us to the front door, but she can at least take us to the area he's at. If we move quickly, we might get there before he's moved on to another place or something like that." The young girl explained her plan. "Once we're there, I guess we'll just have to keep our ears perked up and our eyes open." She looked to everyone around her. "Is everyone okay with that plan or does someone else have a better idea?" She asked, focusing most of her attention onto Louis. The elder night elf rogue simply narrowed his eyes and growled in return. "Alright. Then we go with my plan."
"I have to check on Stacy first." Rebecca perked up, already turning around to go back to her daughter. Ixxy rolled her eyes as she folded her arms over her chest. "Fine. Five minute break to check if everyone's okay. But make it quick! And Guy!" She pointed to the ever so giddy looking paladin man. "You go with Miss Priss and make sure she's alright."
"Yes, ma'am, darlin'!"
"I am not a priss! !"
"Ow, my head…" Xanna groaned, rubbing her head as she sat up. "Uhn… Where am I?…" She said groggily, her eyesight still a little fuzzy. Yawning, she rubbed at her eyes, then examined her surroundings again, her eyes widening in horror. "Oh god, not again…" She said quietly to the air, grabbing the blanket tightly. 'Waaait a minute…' She thought, addressing her eyes downward, her head slowly following. She blinked blankly a few times upon seeing that she was in a familiar looking bed, tucked rather nicely into the silken sheets. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and let her head fall a little more so. "Not again…" She muttered.
"You seem disappointed." Elros said from the nearby closet, letting out a small chuckle at the sound of her jolting in surprise.
"Whaaat? Disappointed? Who? Me? What? Oh, you're so funny! Who's disappointed! It's certainly not me. Sooo, how ya doin'?" Xanna said nervously, beads of sweat leaping off her scalp as she awkwardly moved around beneath the sheets.
Aside from the sounds of Elros shuffling around in the closet, the next moment was of nothing but awkward silence until the blood elf man appeared at the doorway with a lovely looking black dress. "You cannot be as disappointed as me." He whispered, looking intently at the dress as he placed it carefully on a nearby chair. "Hurt…" He went on, slowly making his way for the bed, fixating his eyes on the young girl as he crawled toward her. "Heartbroken…" He continued to whisper, placing his lips by her ear. "Betrayed…" He finished, moving his head to look into her eyes.
"I…" Xanna gasped out at the sight of his eyes. Those gorgeous green eyes filled with so much pain like her own, so much hurt, so much loneliness, and an odd but still attractive slight yellow tint. 'Yellow?…' She thought, looking closer. Slowly, she raised a hand and put it behind his head, as if she would caress him, but only lightly smacked him with it.
"Ah!" Elros exclaimed with a growl. As he sat up on his knees and rubbed the back of his head with a snarl, Xanna looked to the blankets, seeing a contact on it. With wide eyes, she looked up the elf man, gasping at the sight of the dark yellow eye that was no longer covered. "You're a halfling!" She said loudly, pointing a finger at him. "What?" He replied, glaring down at her. Carefully, Xanna used a finger to pick up the contact lens and showed it to him. His eyes widened at the sight of it.
"You're a halfling!" Xanna said again, almost smiling. "I… I didn't think there was another one like me! Especially one as old as you!"
Elros stared blankly at the comment, a tad offended. "Just because I am over a hundred years old, doesn't make me old… If you didn't know, elves can live for long periods of time… I'm still practically a teenager."
"Oh, uh… S-Sorry, I didn't mean it like- I just meant… I didn't think there were any halflings left other than me. I…thought I was the only one ever." Xanna apologized, slightly jumping in shock as Elros snatched back his contact lens. "No!" She protested, pulling his arm closer to herself. The other elf quirked a curious brow at her, making her slightly blush and look to another direction as she lowered her head. "How… I mean… What's your story?" She asked innocently, perking her head up to him, tilting her head ever so slightly.
The male halfling scowled at the question, pulling his arm away from her. "It's not interesting." He snarled.
"It is to me." The girl persisted, keeping his arm close to her to make sure he wouldn't hide his true eye. She couldn't stop staring at it, absolutely fascinated with it. "Please…tell me." She pleaded to him, reaching up a hand to caress the left side of his face, lightly tracing beneath his eye with her thumb, being careful to make sure she didn't poke it. "Was your mother the blood elf like mine?"
"No." Elros began to whisper again, looking away from her, even pushing her hand away. "My mother was a beautiful night elf woman." He began, moving away from Xanna to sit at the end of the bed alone. "She was a farmer woman and lived in Stormwind with her loving family."
"What happened to her?" Xanna continued to ask innocently, absentmindedly crawling next to the lonely looking elf.
"There has never truly been absolute peace between the Alliance and Horde. Yes, way back when, there was more peace than there is now, but there was still never absolute peace…" Elros explained, staring off into space at whatever was in front of him. "There was a raid. A bunch of drunken Horde…bored and looking for fun."
"And your father was one of them and saw your mother and they fell in love?"
"Not everything works like that, Xanna. You'll learn that one day."
"If that's not what happened, then-…" The halfling girl questioned, not quite getting Elros' meaning until he looked to her with those sad, sad eyes. "Oh…"
"Her family, amongst others, was slaughtered ruthlessly. Sometimes I think that's why she kept me…so she wouldn't be alone."
"No one likes to be alone…" Xanna whispered, not being able to help but reach for Elros' hand. "Yes…" He agreed, not acknowledging the touch. "She was a wonderful mother. But I still always knew she could never really love me… I never knew why because I was too young to understand, but I still knew there was something bothering her. I could see it in her eyes everytime she looked at me. With each smile, hug and kiss…I knew she hated me."
"I'm sure she didn't hate you."
"She did."
"What makes you say that?"
"She gave me away." Elros whispered again, gripping Xanna's hand for comfort. "I was eight years old… Everything seemed so perfect that morning, but I knew something was wrong… I kept asking her, but she wouldn't tell me. She would only say that I was going to visit someone very special." He went on, lightly shaking at the memory of a perfect sunny day turning into a horrible rainy night. "She had tracked him down somehow… She left me on his doorstep. I was scared and she was crying… I begged her not to go. I promised I would be a better son… She said it wasn't my fault and that she would be back soon…" Going on, thinking of being abandoned by his mother, Elros began to tremble. "She kissed me on the forehead, told me she loved me, knocked on the door, hopped on her mount and left… "Be a good boy" was the last thing I heard her say…" He finished, a tear sliding down his cheek as he remembered how he cried out for his mother to come back. "I suppose after all those years of looking at me, I only reminded her of the worst day of her life…"
Xanna frowned to Elros, almost wanting to cry. 'No wonder he's so desperate to have someone care for him…'
"Please, Xanna…" Elros choked out, bring her hand up to his face, nuzzling it like a sad little puppy, getting his tears all over it. "Promise you won't leave me…" He said, looking to her. "I can give you anything and everything you want. I can take care of you." He sniffled, kissing her hand. "If you want the moon, the stars, I'll give them to you!" He looked to her with his sad pleading eyes. "You and I have been hurt for what we are… Please…let me take you away from that, take care of you and make you happy. I'll do anything." He said, leaning close to her to kiss her neck and whisper into her ear. "I can make everyone that's ever hurt you pay… Those snot nosed brats from the orphanage, the people from Crossroads, your parents…" He told her, desperate to get her attention. "I can make them all suffer… You just have to promise to stay here and love me."
"My…parents?"
"They abandoned you, Xanna. Like how my mother abandoned me." Elros continued to whisper, lovingly kissing her ear. "They hurt you… Stay with me and I'll hurt them for you…"
"Yeah, they abandoned me…"
"Yes…"
"But…it was because they were trying to protect me…from you…" The girl said sternly, remembering of what she was told, pushing Elros away. "Yeah, we've both been hurt for what we are… But it doesn't mean we're alike." She told him. "How we choose to handle it is what makes us different." She answered his unasked question. "You chose to go down the path of getting revenge and hurting people. I choose to go down the other path… I choose to forgive and forget. I choose to do my best to find the good in people, even if it's not there." She said, standing up to look down at Elros. "I choose to be the better person and not hurt the ones that have hurt me."
"What about Lythrien?" The man almost hissed, narrowing his eyes up to Xanna. "You must still have nightmares of when he gave you that scar…" He said, standing up, slowly slipping a hand under her shirt to lightly touch the burn scar. "And you certainly must remember of what he tried to do to you in the Ghostlands…" He hissed into her ear, reminding her that she could have had her own little Elros. "He would never show you mercy, Xanna… Even if everyone on Azeroth and Outlands worshipped you…he would never change the way he treats you… You could save his life and the very next second, he would be trying to end yours." He told her, holding her tightly against himself. "He will never change… No matter what, he will always hurt you… He will always only see you as a filthy halfling…"
"I never did anything to offend him…" Xanna thought with teary eyes, remembering her days of the orphanage. "You didn't." Elros agreed, kissing the top of her head. "I would do anything to please him and he would still always hurt me…" She squeaked, her bottom lip quivering as tears began to slide down her cheeks. "He'll never change, Xanna." Elros whispered and kissed her ear again. "Be mine…and we can make things right…" He told her, lightly grabbing her chin with his thumb and index finger, looking deeply into her eyes. "Join me." He purred to her, half closing his lids and leaning in closer.
"I…w-" Xanna tried to deny, getting lost in his gorgeous eyes again, getting lost in feeling safe in his arms, getting lost in the feeling of being cared for. "I will…" She said, closing her eyes, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him deeply.
Thank you all so much for being patient with me and not showing up at my door formed as an angry mob. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Now that I am out of my writing slump, I will work on the next chapter as soon and as quickly as possible.