i am a shallow pool of water in Deathvalley, in which a unique breed of fish struggles for life. chemical pollution and dark poisonous acid rain, threaten my light, but still it shines on. i'm not crazy, i want to be but i'm not i don't think. but i could be, i know just how to break myself, i know perfectly how to do it but another part of me wants to be good, to be right... but its so hard and so awful, whereas being bad, being crazy, falling like that it could feel so good.

but part of me just doesn't want that, part me wants to be there for my nieces, wants to be a good uncle. another part of me wants everysingle person carrying a drop of my mother's tainted blood exterminated. Both sides want my mother dead, one just wants her gone forever another wants to screw her then kill her with my bare hands like she almost killed me 8 years ago, another part just wants us to die. when i think about me i want to die, because i know what the meaning of the universe is, i know the horrors that lie within it, i know the fate of humanity, i know what awaits us all and its not pretty. prettier than our present condition but still nothing our souls want to be around for, which is why purgatory is such an appealing concept to me. i don't want Heaven and i don't want Hell, i want purgatory... if i go to Hell or if there's clerical error or something and i get sent off to Heaven.. my fate will be the same as the rest you fuckers... at the end Their both going to suck us dry and use us, use us to break through to the other side... where they'll feed on the unsuspecting inhabitants of the next Universe and the next and the next.

Warlock POV. we're on a bullet and we're headed straight into god.. take a pill get a face buy a ticket. i saw a cop feed a priest on the TV cause they they've killed our heroes too.

i hummed along to lyrics of a song playing in my head, and slammed my head into the nearest wall in reaction. Damn it! i snarled mentally. i shook my head, and rubbed at my eyes. what was worng with me damn it? ever since i had come to this blasted ruined land, i'd been losing more and more of myself, and getting stranger and stranger... no not since i'd come here, since that Sylvanas bitch blew up the portal! i trembled with rage as i remembered that moment, when she used my own creation against me.. when she used the damned blood to remove herself from my clutches and at the same time strike back at me.

i shook my head. if you die when there's no one watching then your ratings drop and you're forgotten.. if they kill you on their TV your a martyr and the lamb of god! i felt a manic giggle escape my lips and i quickly tried to surpress it and i failed. i laughed like the lunatic i was becoming. the Revenants shifted uneasily and i punched one of them out, laughing into his face and dancing over his fallen form. There is no other way, release your life and take your place inside the fire, Baelic.

"Ahh but there is another way, we can do this see. in fact there are 2 ways we can do this, 2 WAYS! 2 ways this can end!" i sing songed, "And in both of them you DIE BITCH! HEhahahahahaaahhaaah!" i crouched down cackling like mad and then i paused, to stare at my reflection in a nearby puddle of water. i looked at myself, i looked at my ruby lips, my fish belly white visage cracked like a clay doll pulsating with red and black energy. Like blood through veins, like the scourge plague dripping through the rotting flesh of a ghoul! but that wasn't what got my attention, i'd seen it before... no waht got my attention was my hair, once blond, after the explosion it had turned black no not just black it had turned Abysmal like the magic my masters granted me.. abysmal magic the magic of destiny the magic of paths not taken, so black it was like staring into the heart of a blackhole for crying out loud.

Now my hair had changed again it was white in patches now, the short locks now a messy mass of black and white, hidious and... strange something about it called to within me, this signaled something. Something deeper was at work here, something akin to... Destiny.

i frowned, but destiny bends to my will! it bends to the will of my masters, how can it, how can i be changed like this without my permission, how can i- one of my spies ran up to me, slightly out of breath. "High Warlock, Illidan Stormrage and Sylvanas, you asked me to inform you of their activities, well they've left the Citadel. they flew off into the mountains and appear to have landed, fairly close by." i straightened up from my hunch over the puddle.

"Very well, let's see what the Betrayer and that platinum haired bitch are up to, be prepared for battle my children... be prepared for the ultimate battle.. and be prepared for vengeance.. cause vengeance is most certainly prepared for you.. oh my little angels! !" and with that we started off out of the depths of the cavern we'd set up camp inside, out to show the world, that dark destiny was calling and that it would not be ignored.

Sylvanas Windrunner, POV.

Illidan looked like he wanted to punch me or failing that make the sign of the extremely cross at me and then use that sign to gouge my eyes out, but then he sighed a defeated look crossing his face.

"I suppose, it doesn't matter much now anyway." he sighed sadly.

"Ten Thousand years ago," he began, "back, during the first invasion of the Burning Legion, I… I was in love with a priestess, Tyrande Whisperwind." his voice was wistful and he had a very sad smile on his face, "Her voice was like the tinkling of silver bells, her skin was so, soft and perfect her eyes were kind and gentle, compassionate. But she had a fiery streak inside of her, she would defend herself if she had to and she wouldn't take shit from anyone. Tall about 6'8 with a voluptuous build but lithe as well, her shoulder length silken dark blue hair. her eyes were silver and blue and they had a light glow to them especially in the moonlight, we were friends since childhood me and her… and my brother, you may have heard of him, Malfurion." his voice became a low growl towards that last line and I was caught between feeling sympathy for him, knowing as I did how some of this story turned out and having to push down a great and bitter jealousy as I thought of this description he'd just given me and how I looked compared to this woman… and I felt a new hatred well up inside of me as I saw just how well this Tyrande would look next to Illidan as opposed to me.

"She was caught between me and Malfurion, even as the world went to the demons around us, more and more, we fought a silent battle over her… I did… god so stupid now." he sighed, and I prodded him, "What, what did you do?"

He let out a long depressed sigh, "I did just what any boy or man did, I tried to impress her, with my power and my studies of power and how to master the arcane… but she wasn't interested in that, she wanted what Malfurion had and I didn't and… god I was so foolish, showing off my fancy demon slaying spells and just how corrupted I was even then, with the Arcane. She chose him even before the battle begun I think… and Xavius knew it."

"Xavius?" I asked confused and he nodded, "Yes Xavius, once a night elf he became a Satyr with help from Mannoroth the Corrupter. He saw my weakness, saw how to hurt me and he did. He saw it and he used it, he showed me dreams and visions and made me listen audio clips of Tyrande and Malfurion… having each other," he croaked his voice sounding wretched with the pain he felt. "he didn't even have to fake what he showed me." he snarled bitterly, "Tyrande had Malfurion, she had him against a tree, she was in his arms and they were obviously naked beneath the cloaks they had wrapped around themselves, they didn't even bother to tell me the battle was over before they did it either." his gray silk on gravel voice was hoarse with the remembered pain and I felt nothing but compassion for him and a growing dislike of both Tyrande and Malfurion, I was in a tie about which one I disliked most.

I wrapped my arms around him, or as much as I could, trying to comfort him.

"That was my turning point, that was the part of history that really struck me the hardest blow and changed my allegiance, preferring to go after the power that I was so great at mastering and craved so desperately, Arcane Magic a force that wouldn't betray me wouldn't cut me as deeply as Malfurion did as she did, I suppose I sound like a love struck magic addicted fool to you." he laughed bitterly, "You wouldn't be the first to think that." he spat.

I shook my head, "No, I don't think that Illidan, I think you were, that you are in pain. I think you were betrayed by two people you trusted, two people that you loved and that you just wanted to feel something, something other than the hurt and betrayal, maybe something to inflict similar hurt and betrayal on them as well… so you went with your instincts, you went with your heart and you… you weren't wrong in my opinion."

He gaped at me in shock and I hastily added, "I mean you were wrong, but you weren't you, oh god how can I explain." I put my hand to my head tiredly, "You saw the woman you loved had just had sex, maybe not for the first time, in secret with your brother, you trusted them to tell you before such a thing happened at least and they betrayed that trust… you were right to want to take a path that'd hurt them and make yourself feel better… though you might have chosen a path slightly less destructive to the rest of the world maybe more self contained, like…" I paused feeling a loss for what to say next and then Valentine, good dear old Valentine came to mind, "Drugs, or alcohol, or some other chemicals."

He stared at me for a long couple of moments before he chuckled and then he laughed, he laughed so hard I think he caused a slight avalanche elsewhere in these black mountains and after a while I laughed with him.

After we'd had time to calm down just a bit and get our laughter under control, Illidan stared at me with amusement and… something uncomfortably close to adoration in his face, "God, I think I'd forgotten what it was like to laugh like that." he smiled running one large callused hand through his hair and over his horns. "Yeah, and who could blame you." I chuckled with him, feeling somewhat uncomfortable now and just a bit vulnerable.

"But," I hedged, feeling really uncomfortable and vulnerable with this next question and hating him just a bit for making me feel this way, "that doesn't really answer my question, Stormrage… why did seeing me with Valentine like that, why did it affect you that way?"

His smile dimmed and he returned his gaze down into the dark abyss below, thunder was really making itself known up there. "Honestly?" he asked and I nodded. He sighed and rubbed at his temples, "I'm not sure Sylvanas… I mean, so much has happened, so much so fast I've had a hard time keeping track of my feelings but… I've really grown to… care for you Windrunner, care for you in a way I thought I'd only ever care for one person for… cared for you in a way that, Maiev originally proved me wrong in that assessment by making me feel it towards her."

Seeing my questioning look he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Maiev Shadowsong, may jailor, after what happened… I killed her brother Jarod and she wanted vengeance on me… so she took it, she showed me brutality I'd never quite heard of before and she showed me that love while it can be great and quite unbreakable… it can be split… she raped me Sylvanas, she used chemicals on me and tricked me while I slept into thinking she was Tyrande and she took me, she, she screwed me, used me and abused me and… she made me learn to… enjoy it, I learned under her tutelage to ignore the pain and enjoy the pleasure and to sometimes enjoy the pain as well, she made me learn t-" he swallowed looking ill, "to love her, to crave her and what she did to me, almost to love what she did to me and make me devoted to her, but thankfully I think, Tyrande broke me loose before I became so enticed by her."

I listened to his words with wrapped attention, feeling a mixture of sympathetic pain, disgust and horror and not to mention Loathing towards this woman Maiev. "This woman, what happened to her?" I asked tightly, he glanced at me, "You killed her." he said simply and I gaped at him in shock, "W-what?" I asked surprised, he shrugged, "Remember that sunset we shared together fighting all those Raiders? I was busy with a draenei I think and you shouted at me about a threat behind me." I nodded remembering, "That was her?" I asked he nodded.

"Wow…" I said simply, staring at my feet my loathing feeling rather pointless now. And then the enormity of what he was saying abut feelings struck me and I looked up into his face wide eyed, "Wait, are you saying… are you saying what I think your saying?" I asked and he turned away his cheeks darkening just a bit to a dark blue.

"I don't know… maybe, like I said, I'm not certain of… much of anything anymore." he sighed.

I watched him for a while and eventually he turned his gaze up to meet mine, "So, what is your opinion on this development?" he asked, softly his face a stony mask, obviously preparing himself for rejection.

"I-…" I started and stopped, what were my feelings on this? I tried to think rationally and calmly and deeply about this but I just couldn't, so I spoke the truth. "I think, that you are not alone, in this… feeling, your having, that its somewhat… mutual?" I hedged that last part coming out something of a question as I was unsure just how to express myself here. I'd never had to deal with this sorta thing before, oh sure I'd had my fair share of male company and even… had a few flings, here and there. But it was always casual and meaningless, just physical feeling, nothing on the emotional level like this was.

Now it was his turn to stare at me, his bright fiery orbs seeming to glow even brighter than before. "Mutual." he said slowly and carefully, as though he were tasting it. "R-really?" he asked looking vulnerable and sounding it too, just like me.

I nodded… we just sat there, looking very uncomfortable with each other for a good long while, before his tongue rasped across his lips and he asked, "What abou- what about Valentine?" he asked and I thought long and hard about that.

I couldn't honestly say what my feelings were towards the obviously mad elf/human hybrid. I mean, at first I'd just been creeped out by him and then I'd… I'd kissed him and I'd seen his eyes and I'd tasted him, tasted his corruption and his sickness and tasted just how great how… forbidden it would be to lie with him, to touch him and be touched by him, to taste, touch, feel and connect with on an emotional level as well as a physical one and I… I shook my head with a sigh, "I don't know, I don't know what his game is or how to feel about him I mean, what happened back there was a surprise, I mean the most I'd felt towards him up to that point was… well being creeped the hell out by him and sorta disgusted. And then he kissed me and I spilled my blood into him and… well then you showed up and he told me to go after you, that he'd arranged it or something, I don't know."

He frowned, "What do you mean, he arranged it?" I shook my head, "Like I said I don't know he just, he didn't make any sense as per usual and, I don't know."

I slumped against Illidan and I was surprised when he placed his arm around me and… cuddled me, right up against him.

He wasn't looking at me, his cheeks dark with his blue blush, his orbs staring off into the space.

I realized this must have been fairly new to him, or well sorta anyway considering how long it had probably been since anyone aside from perhaps a mad jailor slut had done this sorta thing with him. So I ignored the slight sense of surrealism and snuggled up against the large demon Elf, sighing softly as I breathed in his scent. Like burnt amber, cherry blossoms and lavenders… and maybe some unburned amber as well.

"So how are we going to take this?" he asked and it took me a moment to realize what he was talking about. "I dunno," I thought a moment, "slowly? I mean if you want I just…. I've never really, done the whole relationship thing and… I don't think you've really done much of it either."

He nodded, looking very uncomfortable. "Okay, but how slowly?" he asked, I thought about that a moment, thought about what I had asked Valentine I'd been feeling so desperate, thought of the delicacy of what it was I was proposing with Illidan and tentatively said, "Well… hand holding would be a start, I guess," I hedged thinking desperately of things I'd seen other couples do together and marveled at how quickly I'd considered ourselves close enough to be a couple.

"hugging like this, works too," I gestured to the way we were and he nodded stiffly, but I could sense that he was secretly… grateful for the contact "and maybe a little cuddling, but no sitting on your lap okay, I do not sit in laps like a child, even if you are… rather large."

He snickered, "I wouldn't have expected you to do such a thing, of course, Sylvanas, you're too dignified, I'm surprised you're even hugging me let alone proposing that we cuddle."

I punched him in one of his really quite well developed looking pectoral muscles and winced slightly, as my hand came away slightly bruised and he chuckled. "I've been working out even more since we fought in the dining room," he cackled, "You really don't have much chance of damaging my stomach with naked fists or even with a firm kick, now, you're not strong enough."

I glared at him, "Are you calling me weak! I demanded indignantly. He shook his head, "Elune but no, I'd never accuse you of being weak, Sylvanas, you are… Unique, like me, your stronger and more powerful than any of your Elfin brethren or any undead could ever hope to be, or at least in this day and age."

"Just like you?" I asked and he nodded he sighing softly as he looked up at the sky, "we'll never make it."

He said simply. I blinked at him, "What?" I asked, he sighed and pushed himself up onto his elbows staring moodily up at the sky, "Its about to rain."

I looked up and saw that it did indeed appear to be about ready to pour down on us. "So what? I like a good rain every once in a while."

He nodded, "So do I, I even like this rain but that's just because I'm immune to its effects, its highly corrosive to living beings that aren't immune to acid, for the first few minutes of its landing. The demonic power that's corrupted and shatted this planet has altered it, mutated it in ways strange and sometimes deadly even to me. The water will quickly become like simple ordinary rain water after its landed if it doesn't dissolve ones the demonic power leaves it, but till then, we need to find shelter, well you do anyway I think that even your Synthablood would be sorely tested by the corrosive effects of the rain."

Before I could even get to me feet Illidan was upright on his hooves and he had scooped me up into his own arms. "Hey let me down!" I protested slapping his chest lightly, "Be quiet I need to think." he growled and I complied, I wouldn't have under different circumstances but there was real fear in his voice and I'd heard of storms up here, so I'd keep the string of curses at bay till we were safely under shelter.

"I've never used it for this purpose," he sighed, "but it will have to do."

And then without any warning whatsoever he jumped off the cliff and began to fly.

I suppose I should have been more prepared for it having ridden on bats and dragonhawks but still, there is a big difference between flying safely strapped to something with its reigns under control… and being cradled in the arms of a man that didn't have these wings naturally and whom's wings looked rather… threadbare? Yes that was it threadbare. I screamed and cursed him all the while and he just flew on silently. I felt a burning sensation in my arm which was wrapped with bone breaking tightness around his neck and I cried out a little and stared at my arm to see a thumb sized circular hole steadily burning itself through my arm.

God it really was starting to rain acid.

I shut my eyes and pressed myself even tighter to Illidan.

When we finally came to a stop, we were in a large cave, facing slightly upwards, in the side of one of the many great black mountains. "It should be safe enough here," he said setting me down, "even with the tilted angle of the mouth of this cave there should be a boulder somewhere that you can-" he stopped dead and he made a little sound.

I looked at him, in concern and wondered what was the problem. "Illidan? Illidan whats wrong?" I asked and he swallowed and tried to speak but… I followed his gaze and realized immediately what the cause was of his sudden muteness, the breast that had threatened to fall out of my torn gray blouse had finally made good on that threat and now lay in perfect sight and Illidan had his orbs locked onto it.

I flushed and whirled around and Illidan coughed, embarrassed. I quickly tucked my breast back into my shirt, embarrassed by his seeing of my erm… assets. Well I thought just a little bit smugly, at least that answers two questions I had, how well can he see and does he find me attractive. Answers, well enough and definitely if what I saw of the state of his pants was anything to go by. I paused just a second, thinking of what I really had seen and felt just a little bit worried, I know large men go with small women all the time, but still… that wasn't even full length! I suppose… we could probably make it work but we'd have to be careful.

Stop that! I mentally demanded of myself, stop thinking with hormones damn it, its not like the guy said he really liked me that, nor did I say that I liked him that way, he just said that he had grown to… feel for me and I likewise told him that I have come to feel for him, see nothing really solid there, not like we proposed love or anything towards each other, we just… just feel for each other, alright.

I stared down at the ground moodily, Yeah we certainly do feel for each other, question is what the hell do we feel for each other and is it enough that we'd really work out as… whatever the hell it was that we've become to each other? I mean we're not even the same species!

I turned to Illidan and looked at him speculatively, "Hey, Stormrage." I said looking at how his mouth was formed and admiring those cheekbones of his and wondering just what was it about him that made me think Wolf. He turned to me and raised one questioning eye brow, I steadied my shaky courage and thanked the Light I was incapable of blushing, "Would… would you like to try out some kissing?" I asked my voice low and smoky and I'd like to think rather sexy though it was more gruff and demanding to my ears making me flinch internally, "Would you like to try out some light kissing?"

Sweet dreams are made of these, who am i to disagree. travel the world and the seven seas, everybody is looking for something.