"My, ye sure can eat for someone of yer size, lass."

I swallowed the rather large mouthful of stew, eyeing the orange bearded dwarf as he came in with another tray of something that looked like chicken. I ignored his rather rude statement in favor of closing my mouth around another spoonful of the delicious, warm stew.

I was a stress eater who had been nearly starved for a week with plenty of stressful thing rattling in my head. I felt like a bottomless pit, and I guess I looked it as well, considering Drum's remark.

Zane sat in the chair next to me, rubbing his stomach with an exhausted, yet contempt look on his face. He had stopped eating ten minutes ago, leaving leftovers that quickly disappeared, my mouth chewing before I even registered it.

I would never waste food ever again, I vowed while glaring at my brother for forgetting already the growls and roars of his own stomach.

Another ten minutes passed before I was satisfied. The beast in the pit had been sated.

"You're finished then?" Drum's eyes were the size of teacups as they had been since he finally sat down a few minutes before.

"Christ, sis, you're an animal"

I tried to glare but didn't manage to put any venom behind it.

"Well, now that yer stomachs are full, I would like to have a chat with ye, if yer up for it?"

I shrugged and Zane replied with a "sure".

"Well then," Drum began, "what I've been dying to know- figuratively speaking, of course- is how you managed to stay together through your journey to Kharanos? Did ye awaken in the same place? In the same time? And now that I think about it, how come ye hadn't noticed each other's changed appearances until in my loft this morning?"

I mulled this over, chewing my bottom lip as I categorized each question and tried to find an answer to each one. I hadn't thought about any of this before but it was strange. When I woke up all those days ago on the river bank, Zane was already there, worried eyes scanning my face for injuries or recognition, and I knew without a doubt that that was Zane.

I just knew it was him. And yet, now that I really though about it, I couldn't remember what he looked like during those days of trekking through the woods. But I remembered his eyes.

"Huh" the idiot next to me said, "I have no idea."

I rolled my eyes, but then realised, despite everything I had been thinking so far, I didn't really have a straightforward answer either. 'I just knew' wasn't really an educated answer.

The dwarf eyed us for a moment before speaking "Right then, let's put that one on hold for the time being, yeah?"

"I have a question" Drum and I both looked at Zane, curious.

"Why are we here?"

With that one question, my whole body went cold and my fingers twitched. Didn't he know?

I very slowly turned my head towards Drum, whose face morphed from surprise to concern in the span of a few seconds. He glanced at me, but I didn't know which facial expression he received. I did notice the puzzlement on his face before he turned back to Zane who was waiting patiently.

Oh god, how would he take the news?

"I thought you were aware," Drum began, clearing his throat, "I'm sorry to tell you, lad, but ye're here because ye died. Back on Earth, before you lept, I mean. Ye're dead."

I was beginning to feel sick and my body was shaking with anxiety.

I realized as I tried to decipher the expression on my brother's face, that I couldn't. The idiot who had always been an open book to to me was a blank page. I didn't know what was going on in his head and that, more than anything, scared me.

"No I'm not" my brother finally said, and my head shot towards Drum.

"Er, no, perhaps that was poorly phrased on my part, I apologise," he cleared his throat oncr again, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

"yer not dead over here, of course, but back on Earth ye died. Both of ye did. But ye were lucky, ye see, because yer special. Yer souls had something extraordinary in them, something that allowed ye to leap across realities- to this world. Ye had so much left in ye that yer souls, yer essence managed to travel all this way, where ye were granted another chance at life.

"So lad, try and see this, not as a loss but as an opportunity. Of course, yer allowed to grief, but in the end I hope ye can be glad ye had his chance."

The dwarf then glanced up at me, "and besides, yer far luckier than most of us. Yer the first lepers who come through at the same time- the first ones to share a past life. That too, is a blessing not to be taken lightly."

A long while passed where no one said a word. Drum, most likely giving us time to take it all in; Zane presumably piecing everything together, trying to make sense of things; and me, waiting for the accusing stare of my favorite person in the world.

The minutes passed without a word being uttered and I was starting to feel lightheaded from my quiet panicking.

Finally, Zane looked up from the wooden dining table, eyes watery, a clear sign the reality of our situation had actually sunk in, and with the most vulnerable expression I had ever seen on his face, he simply asked "how?"

I stared at him, completely lost for words. Did this mean that even now he hadn't remembered anything from from that night? The memories hadn't finally flooded in even after he finally realised that we were, in fact, dead?

"I see." Drum said with a serious face, stroking through his large beard. "Memory loss isn't unusual in this situation. The memories might come back to ye after some time- or maybe they won't, there's no way of really knowing. Personally, I think yer better off not remembering the trauma of yer own death. That memory has been close to driving half of us mad, let me tell ye. How about ye, lass, do you remember?"

I opened my mouth to answer, only to close it once again. How about me, indeed.

Of course, I knew what had happened that night. I remembered with sickening clarity every detail of our last moments. And Zane would probably remember them later on. It was likely, yet indeed, not but a probability still.

I wet my lips, my mouth suddenly dry as sandpaper. Zane had the right to know. Didn't he? It would be selfish of me to keep that information to myself. And yet… how could I possibly tell him, my best friend, my rock, that I was the one that killed us?

My mind flashed back to the moment I saw my brother's face in the car, bloody and bruised… Lifeless. He had died on impact, I was almost sure, so perhaps there wouldn't really be any memories for him to recall in the first place?

I looked at the two faces in front of me, concern evident in both of them. Thy needed a reply.

"I…"

I croaked, my mind going faster than I believe it ever had in both my lives.

"I don't recall."

The silence that followed was suffocating. Any second I prepared myself to be called out on the obvious lie, barely allowing myself to breathe- perhaps they would hear my lungs scream out 'liar!' if I allowed them too much air.

"That's okay, lass," Drum finally said. "Believe me, it might be better that way. Don't beat yerself up about it." The dwarf's dark brown eyes conveyed understanding and the tiniest undertone of pity.

I let out a long, shaky breath before nodding once. I steeled myself to look at my brother, trying to read what was going through his mind, but his head was slightly lowered, eyes staring intently at the table in front of him.

Panic settled in once again. He knew, he had realised I was lying. Had he remembered all of a sudden?

"Zane," I said, panic almost affecting my tone but just barely under control.

"I'm so sorry, I-" Zane looked up, surprise on his face, quickly overwritten with guilt.

"Oh no, don't apologize, it's not your fault," he said, and my brain stopped in its tracks.

"I can't remember either, right? So it's not your fault. It's just… annoying, is all. I don't like the thought of having died without knowing about it, ya know? But maybe Drum's right, maybe we are better off not knowing. I mean, what if we died in pain or something? It would suck to have that memory with you everywhere."

I shuddered, but hoped it would be seen as an affirmation of Zane's statement.

Yeah, that would definitely be unpleasant.

Zane sighed, deeply, like an old man. It didn't suit him. He had always been the carefree one. I was the responsible one that heaved long sighs. Responsible one. I nearly laughed, bitterness coiling around my stomach. How I had utterly failed that job.

There was a long moment where we all just sat there, each in our own world, but eventually, Drum spoke up.

He began chatting about his inn that we were currently residing in, his pride and joy. Had won it in a bet with some other dwarf during a Belfast festival. He told us all kinds of stories about the adventures he had been on, the people he had met and the things he had learned.

He told us about magic, about how real it was, how dangerous and utterly breathtaking.

And he kept talking.

After a while he had managed to clear out the heavy air. At one point, he went to fetch refreshments from the kitchen in the next room behind the bar, all without seizing his endless storytelling. And I was grateful.

It wasn't until evening, when we had eaten dinner and we're relaxing with some cookies and tea (for me) and cocoa (for Zane) that the exhaustion kicked in. The stress of the day finally caught up to me, and I found myself frequently covering my yawns with my shirt-covered hand.

Eventually, Drum paused his endless stream of words and smiled at us warmly, "The two of ye look like ye could use a nap."

I didn't say anything, but Zane stretched out his long limbs and said "Feel like I could sleep for a month."

The dwarf chuckled at that before rising up from his chair and beckoning for us to follow him. "Come along, young'uns" he said and we both stood up to stagger behind him. Man, I was stiff after all that sitting.

Drum lead us upstairs where the bedrooms were kept, and showed us our rooms. They were in the far right corner, Zane's at the end of the hall and mine next to his.

Drum showed us us how to light the fireplace, with a stern note not to keep it burning while we slept; where to put out very scarce set of clothes while we slept, with the promise of getting us some new ones very soon; and finally told us to go about his inn as if it were our homes.

He then gave us each a key to our bedrooms before bidding us a good night, reminding us that his bedroom, should we need him, was below the kitchen. He then patted us on our shoulders and left.

Zane and I stood in silence for a while before Zane took a step forward and put his arms around me in a hug. I stood still for a moment before returning the gesture, finding myself fighting the urge to bawl my eyes out and snot out his shirt.

"I still don't really know what's going on," he said and I closed my eyes to the prickling sensation in my nose, "but I'm glad you're here with me. I can't imagine having to go through this alone."

The hug lasted for a minute or so longer, before he finally pushed himself back and put a large hand on my head.

"I love you, little sister. Good night."

I managed to huff out a "'night" before he turned around and walked towards his bedroom. He gave me a last warm smile before he closed the door behind him.

I almost collapsed on the floor the moment I heard the 'click' of the lock being turned, but managed to stay on my feet long enough to reach my own door and closing it quietly behind me. I listened as my brother went around his room, preparing to go to bed, struggling with his pants, hearing a thud and a low 'ow' as he fell over. The ruffle of sheets, creaking of a bed…

My feet gave out underneath me and I slid down along the door. I sat there for a while, dazed, as I went through everything that had happened that day, categorized it and admitted it all to memory. At last, I recalled the sincere expression on my brothers face as he said he loved me and I knew I could never tell him the truth, ever.

He was my rock and I could never allow it to shatter. It was selfish, but I had never really been all that noble.

I didn't notice the tears leaking down my face before they dripped down soaking my pants at my knees. I was surprised at first, bringing up my hands to dry the tears away.

But they kept coming down in endless streams. I heard a light snoring in the room beside mine and I choked out a sob before covering my mouth with my hands. I brought my knees in closer, hugging them close to my chest and burying my face in them. My body shook with silent sobs as the night covered the land.

Sixth night in Azeroth. And I had never felt so alone.