A/N: I apologize for neglecting this story! Last time I worked on it, I blasted through quite a bit of stuff, and then hit a sort of snag in the story- I knew where I was, and how I want it to end, but getting those points connected? I had little idea. Luckily, I have a rough outline and sort of have an idea of the rest of the story! That doesn't really mean much (if you could see the outline that I first conjured up at the beginning of this whole mess, it's not even reminiscent of what I've written), but I think I have a clear path to the ending, which, to offer some sort of hype, I hope it's as awesome for the readers as it is for me, in my mind xD

Anyway, point two: November is NaNoWriMo, and I will be working on a novel of my own original fiction most of the time! You can catch it on my 'FictionPress') So, my apologies, but it will be another while for me to update this story again :( I hate to leave you all hanging (there are two readers in particular that I hate to have to let down for a bit), but if I may humbly offer my Overwatch stories in replacement, I think 'Lacroix' in particular has turned out to be better than most of what I've written in this series xD It has been hailed as "glorious", due to the sex and the blood, so if that won't sell it, I don't know what will xD

If I can complete this little arc of this story, I certainly will, so as to not pause on a cliffhanger! Happy reading :)

The arms around Colin forced him forward, nearly off his balance, before landing into Kyra's body, the soldier whipping her body in front of him as she drew her sword alongside Vylira's, the elder sister staring seriously at the motley crew before them, her eyes narrowed in critique.

"This one's ours," Kyra confirmed, roughly.

Ulrich shrugged, "Fine by me. Though I believe you owe us something for getting his ass out of there. If it wasn't for the good graces of-"

"We cleared a whole path out of here for you!" Vylira shot, still with her arm outstretched, "I'd say that's payment enough."

The two of them locked eyes as if sizing up the other, Ulrich's eyes particularly vicious looking, like an animal trapped in a corner. Colin noticed Shadowmoon hiding behind the draenei, pulling her cloak further over her head, probably not wanting to cause a scene, which he respected. Finally, Ulrich reached up, grabbing ahold of Vylira's sword before pushing it to the side, grunting.

"Come on," he spoke, gravely, waving his group along, "We've got what we came for. Shadowmoon, watch our sides; I don't trust these two as far as I can-"

He paused, his eyes just catching Vylira's surprised expression as he passed her, rushing to grasp his dagger before spinning backward, grasping her arms and pulling her down against his steel before she could react, a snarl escaping his lips, "How do you know her?!"

Vylira was too frustrated to speak as she was held as a hostage, though Kyra was quick to react as she held her sword up, staring maliciously toward Ulrich while keeping her sword at an even distance with the rest of his group. Colin was turned toward Kyra, away from the others, a groan escaping him as he shut his eyes, speaking as best he could without moving his lips to Kyra, not wanting to tip off that he was doing so.

"You're not her sister," he whispered, "Make something up."

Without making a face, Kyra's mind bored inward, wondering what the hell her sister had gotten herself into, though before she could come up with something, Ulrich wrangled Vylira further, digging his knife into her neck, "HOW?!"

"For god sake, knock it off," Vylira groaned, as if being a prisoner was rather trivial, "She's-"

"He's an artist," Shadowmoon muttered, annoyingly, "Who I admire greatly. That's why I had you get him out as well."

Ulrich's eyes fluttered from side to side, suspiciously, as Kyra nodded, "Yes; that's why we came. We're his bodyguards."

As Ulrich continued his standoff, Shadowmoon groaned, suddenly making her way toward Colin, ripping his satchel from around his shoulder and quickly grabbing the sketchbook from inside, tossing it to Ulrich, who caught it expertly without relinquishing control of Vylira, "Should be a lot of Teldrassil in there. That's most of his work; that's why I like it."

Ulrich dropped the pages as he held up the book with one hand, indeed, finding what looked like images of Teldrassil, his voice softening as he questioned, "Then why didn't you say-"

Shadowmoon scoffed, pointing a thumb over her shoulder, "And let them have ammunition to tease me with?"

The draenei chuckled, "Good point."

Ulrich gave a final stare toward Kyra before letting Vylira go, the soldier quickly bouncing away, glaring back toward the man as she returned to her group, "Some manners would be nice."

"Manners get you killed up here," Ulrich muttered, waving again for his group, "Let's go; we've spent far too much time as it."

The other band of intruders quickly made their way along, each one giving the three of them various stares of either curiosity or anger, particularly the blood elf, who sneered at Kyra while giving her a rude hand gesture, which must have been offensive only in Sin'dorei culture, before rushing off along with the others. Vylira rolled her eyes, massaging her neck as the three took in their situation.

"I ought to have carved his face off for taking a Silverwing hostage," she sneered, angrily.

Colin eyed her, "You seemed oddly comfortable with playing the role, to say the least."

Kyra offered a hushed laugh as Vylira's expression dropped, "I had a rough go when I first became a Sentinel, okay? Sue me. Now are we getting out of here? We have your mate; no point staying, right?"

The three made their way out the way the sisters had come, though not too hastily, as they had made much less of a commotion than the other group. With two Silverwings, Colin found, stealth was key, whereas, even in his limited interaction with Shadowmoon's party, explosives seemed far more explicitly used.

"Where is "here", anyway?" Colin asked, quietly, keeping in line with the two in front of him, Kyra answering quickly as they all filed into a small armaments room.

"Westguard Keep," she spoke, begrudgingly, "We had to trail you two for three days. I'd like to say it was an advantage to still remain heading northward, but this wasn't exactly what I was expecting."

Colin frowned, "Yeah, I think I'd prefer to remain under the radar. You two are much better company than the others, in that case."

"Yeah, what the hell was up with that earlier?" Vylira questioned, nearly stopping in her tracks as she turned her head around, "That whole thing with Syheath? I mean, Kyra needs to work on her swiftness of mind, but what, are we not good enough for her?"

Colin shrugged with a sigh, "I don't know, but she didn't seem interested in revealing much. She used the excuse of protecting herself, but I've been wondering whether or not it was to protect us, more."

"What do you mean?" Kyra asked.

"Well, the one guy, what, their leader? he seemed pretty crazy; who knows what he might have done if such sensitive information came about?" Colin opined, curiously, "I don't know, but she would know them best, and even she seemed more quick to shifting identities."

"Yes, indeed, Mr. Artist," Vylira teased with a wry grin, waving Colin off dismissively, "What all did you two talk about if you were willing to let her look through your book?"

He shrugged, "Nothing really. She seemed more callous than anything, like she had a fight to pick or something."

Kyra groaned, "She's always been like that; very, very rebellious for some reason. Why else would she have come all the way up here to this insane land?"

Colin thought to himself, wondering whether or not these two were truly so blind as they were letting on, though it came to him that they probably hadn't even spent that much time with Syheath, at least when it came to night elf time-scales. Then again, these two were far more rigid in comparison; be it alongside their parents, and later on, the military, they always had had a place to call home- something that seemed lacking for the middle of the two.

At that final thought, Colin could only stifle a chuckle, Kyra's serious face whipping around, "W-What?!"

"Nothing," Colin answered, grinning, "Just the idea of the younger sister lecturing the older of the two, that's all."

Vylira laughed, giving her own look, "You know, you've got something there. How many lectures have you given me?!"

Groaning, Kyra buried her head into an open palm, her head shaking in disapproval, "If you quit doing such childish things, both of you, I'd stop-"

"She lectures you, right?" Vylira interrupted, leaning over her sister to look at Colin.

He smirked, "A few times."

Kyra suddenly shot a stare to him, unamused at the thought of her mate selling her out in some way, though she only sighed, crossing her arms, as she merely accepted her fate in this discussion, shaking her head in dissatisfaction.

Vylira held her back against the wall beside the window, only gently pulling the curtain away to peer outside, eyeing the collection of guards that were making their way across the lanes of the settlement. She wore a crooked frown as she dropped the curtain, her head falling backward against the wall as she groaned.

"Still out there?" Kyra asked, sheathing her sword as she placed her sharpening stone down beside her.

The elder sister nodded silently, lowering her head to look at the other two as she frowned in thought. Colin had been sitting cross-legged on the bed, tracing his fingers along his opposing hand, slowly, while Kyra sat on the opposite end, lowering her sword to the ground. The two had procured a room at the inn for the very purpose of having a hiding spot once having reclaimed Colin, and here they were, though they hadn't accounted for the tenacity of the guards in the ensuing aftermath.

"They're serious," Vylira noted, more to herself, "Those guys must have really screwed that Deegan guy over. I haven't seen any of them take a shift off."

Kyra sighed, frowning as she lowered her head, attempting to accept the situation. Her eyes suddenly caught what Colin was doing, his finger still running along his other palm as he focused, seriously, muttering some words to himself. She leaned over to get a better look, causing his head to quickly rise up to watch her, his face spreading out a grin as he returned to what he was doing.

"Yes?" he asked, innocently.

Kyra shrugged, "Just seeing what you were doing is all. Normally you'd take this time to take stock or draw or something."

Colin chuckled, "Well, I'm sort of drawing with my finger, aren't I?"

Vylira's voice broke the air, sarcastically, "We may have already lost him, sister."

He only scoffed with a smirk, lowering his hand for Kyra to see, "I'm trying to follow the meridians in my hand. They're like, uh, channels of energy in your body; that's how we mages usually go about our work. Though, I'm sort of working off a foreign concept of it; my body is different than, say, a dwarf or night elf."

Vylira's ear quivered as he finished, catching his last two words before her narrowed eyes peered at him from across the room, curiously, as Colin went on, "So when I split out some flame-"

He curled his fingers together before jerking them apart, instantly, a fireball jumping into the air before popping into sparks that burned out above them, Colin's lips curling into a smile, "Basically I'm honing my magical abilities."

Kyra nodded, "I see. I'm only vaguely familiar with druidic magic; and that all is so different than all that. Mages are so inward, but druids allow the natural world to fuel their magic."

Colin nodded slowly, speaking quietly, "Interesting."

He lowered his head as he brought his sketch pad over into his lap, writing down what seemed to be notes, though Vylira didn't mention anything as she peeked back out of the windows, thinking quietly as her eyes stared out into the settlement.

"So what's next?" she spoke up, her eyes turning back toward the others.

Colin looked up at her, then toward Kyra, who remained silent as she stared back at him, Colin's face quickly shifting from one to the other, "W-Wait, me?"

Kyra shrugged, "This is your excursion, is it not? I go where you go; if you took me into a dragon's nest, I would follow and fight to my death alongside you. So, ultimately, its up to you where we go from here."

Colin's eyes slowly followed down the length of her seated body, nary finding a tremble as she spoke, his face quickly shifting toward Vylira across the room, though she simply shrugged, "I'd drag both your asses back to Teldrassil if you had such delusions as entering such a nest; I'm not romantic enough to chase death, you know."

The others grinned amusedly as Vylira shook her head, making her way across the room toward them, "But I said I would keep you two alive, so to do that, I guess I'm going wherever you two go. And if Kyra's putting you in charge, well, you guide the hand of a Silverwing. Be proud."

She'd finished with such a bland air that Colin could only grin back at her before sighed, scratching his cheek as he began, "Okay, well, we can't go anywhere with Deegan's men crawling around, so we sit tight, here, until then. Once we can leave, we head up to Wintergarde, then enter into the Blight toward Wyrmrest."

"Sounds easy enough," Vylira opined, dryly.

Kyra's eyes dropped, drolly, as they met with Colin's, "If only the two of us could assure that to be the case…"

Colin groaned, "Exactly. For one, what do we do about-"

"Nothing," Kyra shot back, immediately, earning stares from both of the others, "She's content up here to wile around with these people; if that's good enough for me, as it should be for you two."

"Or, uh, here's a though," Vylira retorted, pithily, "How about, that's our sister, and we make sure we mend whatever it is that has her not bothering to even return home? Obviously there's a disconnect; if we can make it right, why not?"

Kyra shook her head, "You honestly think she's going to just sit and-"

"Colin obviously got to her," Vylira interrupted, pointing toward the human who suddenly froze at being brought into the argument, "She's not some emotionless breath of wind, Kyra; she has just as much- hell, I was actually old enough to know her; she probably has more emotions swirling around in there than any of us. It's my job as a sister to-"

"It was her job as a sister not to worry her siblings, and her job as a daughter not to worry her parents the way she has!" Kyra shouted back.

Vylira sighed, rubbing her face, continuing where she was cut off, "It's my job as a sister, the eldest, mind you, to make sure all of you little devils stay in line. You may have run the straight and narrow path, and I couldn't be more proud of that; you followed in my footsteps, after all. But that means you are not the one I need to look after. Whatever that girl is going through -and hell, maybe she isn't even going through anything!- I need to be there for her, especially with her being so foreign."

Disagreeing, Kyra shook her head, "I, for one, didn't come here to look after anybody that didn't want me doing so. As far as I'm concerned, she's an anomaly on this trip; we didn't plan for her, and should go on as if that's the case."

"Look at you," Vylira replied, laughing lightly, "You wanted to lead a squad once upon a time; how could you ever look after soldiers if you can't even look after your own sister?"

Kyra eyed her sister critically, unable to reply. Her teeth clenched angrily behind her lips, both of them trembling as she pressed them into each other as tight as she could. Her brow furrowed, dipping low as she quietly kept her eyes at her sister's, Vylira's face far more even keeled as she twisted her lips, turning up toward Colin.

"Sadly for us, neither of us has a say in this," she muttered, subjectively, "We began this conversation with Colin leading us, and as far as I'm concerned that that's the case."

Kyra's whipped around as she watched Colin's surprised face, he, again, not wanting this sort of attention, though Kyra took on an unamused expression, as if presupposing her mate's agreeing with her. However, her face quickly turned sour as he began.

"I just think that Vylira-"

"Seriously?!" Kyra interrupted, rising to her feet, "You have even less to care about her than I do!"

Colin sighed, "Look, I spent enough time in that prison with her. Sure, she rough and somewhat brutish, but I know she's a good person. A person who still loves her family; just something got caught in the middle. I mean, when you lose your family, I-"

He paused, his face turning sad, Kyra's following in suit, empathetically, as he went on, "Family is something you don't get back, you know?"

Kyra sighed, turning to stare out the window, "It's your choice. Where you go, I go."

"Good thing, too," Vylira winked, "I'm not bound by such things; had you both disagreed, I could have easily cut this threesome short."

Turning her head toward her sister, Kyra sarcastically rolled her head around her shoulders before shaking her head, walking over toward the window where Vylira had once surveyed the township from, possibly hoping for the ability to move on as she barely pulled the curtains apart. Colin lowered his head, sadly, at seeing Kyra in such a state, but Vylira reassuringly knocked her knee against the bed to get his attention, smiling down at him.

"She'll see that it's as you say," she confirmed, gravely, "Maybe not soon, but one day. I've seen enough women die under my care; I don't intend to see another."

Colin nodded, shoving his sketchbook to the side, giving up on his note jotting, "True."

Kyra's head just barely tilted to the side, her body still frozen as she peered out the window. Vylira quickly noticed her movement, swiftly approaching her side as Colin took to his feet to follow along, knowing this to potentially be ominous of bad news. Sure enough, as he approached the window, he noticed what the sisters had noticed, his body running cold as the guards dashed up the streets toward the center of town to view the show.

That of Deegan Poore, grinning ear to ear, a massive battle-axe in one hand, and the struggling body of a large tauren, dragged easily behind him, toward a rectangular stone set up at the city's square.

"Oh no…" Colin managed, barely, "That's Syheath's companion."