"Do you accept me as a mate?" Illidan smiled a bit arrogantly against her lips, cupping the little human's chin in his rough, calloused hand. Without allowing time to hear an answer, his lips softly brushed against Kelset's, oddly gentle for such a large man.

With half lidded eyes, Kelset pressed her palms against his chest, only to have him pull her in closer, nearly into his lap as that grin grew with each silent moment. A part of her wanted to say yes, but that answer was so binding it was hard to accept.

"Why can't you be like every other man and just enjoy the attention without making it complicated?" A frown tugged at the corner of her lips.

He just chuckled, partly opening his own lips to pull the lovely human into a deeper kiss. Just as those sharped teeth dared to graze against her soft, supple skin, Illidan pressed a hand against her chest and harshly pushed her body into the earth. Kelset, shocked by the sudden roughness, glared upwards and sucked in a breath to protest against being treated so harshly. The words were stopped before they even formed as Illidan crouched above her. All of the muscles in his body were tense and rigid as if coiled tightly by springs. Those lips that were being so nice and gentle were curled back to reveal those menacing, wolf-like teeth. Through the hand pressing down on her chest, she could feel vibrations that grew in intensity until a low rumble could be heard. The massive, tattered and torn bat-like wings unfurled quickly to ready themselves for use. Those burning embers for eyes were not fixed on Kelset, and she recognized the stance he was in - possessive. Illidan looked like an animal that was guarding a fresh kill from another creature desperate enough to get too close.

"Illidan?"

Kelset grabbed his wrist, which only made him press down harder. She was able to wriggle enough to follow the direction he was facing to see a blond male Blood Elf looking on. It was hard to decide if he was amazed, astonished, or even disgusted by the sight he stumbled across. Perhaps it was a little of everything. Her heart skipped a few beats as the Elf's face began to stir something within her memory. He looked all too familiar, but it had been a long while since she last saw anyone and over the last few years many faces had faded and blurred, and many names were lost.

"Illidan? As in Illidan Stormrage, Lord of Outland?" His breath seemed to come in quick and shallow. The sight of the Betrayer hovering over the body of a woman so hungrily was hard to absorb. Not nearly as tough as believing that the Betrayer was truthfully alive.

The Elf's voice picked at Kelset. Again, very familiar to the point of being painful.

"Yes. What of it? You have no business with me, or my mate." Illidan spat, releasing his grip on the little human writhing beneath him. As much as he looked forward to the day she would be writhing under him, it wasn't in this manner that he wanted.

"Hold up!" Kelset barked, getting to her feet and brushing the dust and dirt from her torn clothing. "I never said I was your mate!" Quickly, she rushed to stand between the Elf and Illidan before a dog fight broke out. Turning to address the man who interrupted them, she was suddenly hit with a flood of images and memories she had long stored. With the flashes came his name, Lucen, and it sent an enormous smile stretching across her face in glee.

"Lucen?"

Kelset giggled out his name rather than said it. The look on his face told her that the name was correct, only he looked as if he was seeing a specter instead of a person made of flesh and bone.

"You're supposed to be dead." Lucen's body rocked forward slightly, indicating that he wanted to approach her, but was held back by the large demon Lord still ready to pounce just behind her. Cautiously, his eyes flicked between her face and that of Illidan's. "Do you have any idea how long you've been missing? Years! How come you never tried to contact anyone?"

Now that Lucen was truly looking and studying the slightly more mature woman before him, he could smell and almost see the mystic energies crackling all around her. In her absence it was clear that her power had grown tremendously. Confidence had been gained. She carried her self differently, with more pride and self assurance. All of it just added to her beauty that he not once forgotten over time. Without answering him at all, Kelset rushed to Lucen, wrapping her arms tightly around the Elf, burying her face in the crook of his neck and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with a vaguely familiar scent.

Illidan just watched carefully. That moment was all the answer he would truly ever need from her. Every tendril of energy within her, and even her very soul, gained a brilliant shine that he had never seen in the time she was with him. The glow of her soul only burned hotter once the Elf reciprocated the hug. Even his own energy and life forced flowed differently since she had shoved her self willing into his arms. There it was. Rejection, again, only this time he didn't need to hear words to see it.

"So, I managed to get lost," Kelset started to share her story on where she had been holed up this time, slowly pulling from Lucen's arms to look him over as a hole. "inside the Black Temple. Probably would have ended up back in Stormwind had I not been found by Illidan." That's when she turned to face her once capture turned ally. There was no stopping the guilt that began to creep in. He was no longer ready to maul Lucen. Instead, he looked defeated which effectively shut her up as she gnawed at her bottom lip.

"A lot of people would be so relieved to see you again..." Lucen grabbed her hand, pulling the attention back on him once more. It was odd how much he actually missed her once she wasn't there to nag at him, or complain about the smallest things. He missed not being taunted by every sway of her hips when she walked, he missed hearing her voice. It didn't matter if all she did was yell, he just wanted her to keep talking. "Listen," a heavy sigh was heard as he sifted through a few choice words, trying to find something he thought Kelset would like to hear. Just something that would pull her in his direction once more. "I never did get to apologize for pushing you away so harshly. It wasn't right, and wasn't your fault."

Kelset raised a brow as she gently slid her hand from his. "Now you want to talk? Really?" Disappointment filled her voice and spilled across her features. "I could have used some sort of explanation the day of. Not years after. I've moved on."

His words didn't provide comfort in a way that she had hoped they would. Kelset had long often daydreamed about hearing that from Lucen, dwelling on what she would do, what he would do, how to progress from there, but now that the situation was presented to her, it was hard to truly decide. A part of her wanted to jump into Lucen's arms and just simply pick up where they had left off. That would mean abandoning Illidan. Kelset didn't really want to be claimed as his,he had simply been there. However, she still valued him more as a friend and would love to see him make steps to better himself in the outside world. She really believed it was possible.

Sensing the conflict within her, Illidan stepped forward, which caused Lucen to instinctively pull Kelset back as he stepped in front of her. Scowling at the large hybrid, it was clear there was no trust between the two, despite that Kelset would have easily trusted the both of them. The tension in the air quickly became so heavy one could feel the pressure of it bearing down. The two men truly felt threatened, but Kelset couldn't help but find the display a bit silly and pointless.

"Guys?" Kelset asked, placing her self between them. "Is there - "

"Who resurrected him? Why would anyone unleash that on Azeroth once more?" Lucen interrupted with a horrible look in his eye a growl in his throat.

"I'm not looking to make past mistakes." Illidan's tone really wasn't much better, but his face showed much less agitation and aggression.

The banter between the two continued on for several minutes, even as Kelset tried raising her voice to get her side of this heard. No one seemed interested. All the two cared about was trying to chase off the other. Too much testosterone in one area, and it was doing nothing but giving her a headache. Enough was enough. Without saying a word, she released a strong pulse of arcane energy. Not enough to harm, but it was enough to stun them into a silence and end the bickering.

"I would like to take Illidan back to Darnassus, and see if it was possible to work something out so that he could build trust among them once more." Kelset started, gaining a surprised look off Lucen.

"You do realize that is a lot more complicated than that?" Lucen asked, Kelset nodded in response. "Do you know anything of Night Elf politics, or law?"

"Well, no." She admitted sheepishly.

Lucen shook his head, giving a frustrated laugh. "Then you don't qualify, at all, to do this."

"But-"

"The Elf is right, Kelset. I will handle my own problems." Illidan crossed his arms, taking steps back from the couple to make his way to the Temple once more.

"But wait!" Kelset rushed up to Illidan. The hybrid simply shushed her before running his fingers through her silky hair.

"I will be fine. Perhaps one day our paths will cross and our fates will be intertwined. For now, it's not me that makes your soul flare, and I can accept that." A disheartened smile crept across his face before Illidan placed a small kiss on her forehead. The last he will likely ever have from her, and it would be sufficient enough of a memory. "I will return to the Night Elves on my own time, but just know, I am not likely going to find forgiveness anywhere."

With that, shadows, dark and thick, began to snake around his body until no part of him was seen. When Kelset waved her hand through them, hoping to find a solid body underneath, they withdrew from her touch and dissipated, revealing that nothing was there. Illidan Stormrage was gone and had likely went to go crawl underneath the rock from where he came to begin with, leaving behind a somewhat saddened woman and a hesitant Elf.

"Kel?" Lucen called to her cautiously, not sure of what she wanted to say to him. "We need to go back home. There are a few graves I need you to see."