moonshadows

“You’re sure? You only just got out.”

Illidan crouched beside her, peering through the sickly bushes at the object on the pedestal. “You said this needs to happen. That it will happen. I don’t see a point in waiting, do you?” At her silent headshake, he nodded grimly. “Okay. All I have to do is draw out all the power of the Skull, right?”

She nodded slowly. “I’ll take care of the demons.”

“And then when the dreadlord comes, I draw out all of his power and then kill him.”

Tessa looked distinctly unhappy, but she nodded. “He won’t die until you’ve drained all his power. Illidan…I don’t know how soon the change will start.”

He put one hand on her bare shoulder. “But you’ll get me to a safe place, no matter what.”

“Of course. If your brother or Tyrande find us, I’ll disguise myself as mostly night elf. I won’t change my hair or my eyes, but the rest…” She bit her lip nervously. “Illidan? Be careful. You’re not immortal yet, and I don’t want to lose you.”

The unusual experience of having someone care about him made his stomach flutter. “Let’s do it.”

==================================

Illidan swayed from pain, exhaustion, and the muddling effects of the magic he’d consumed, and banished his glaives. “Did…did I do it? Is he dead?”

Tessa glanced at the lifeless husk cooling on the forest floor. “You did it. He won’t be coming back.”

She slipped one of his arms over her shoulder to steady him as he swayed again, the wounds he’d sustained already healing as his body struggled to burn through the fel energy flooding it. His other hand pressed absently against his stomach, still nearly concave from the half-starvation of his imprisonment.

“I don’t…” the young kaldorei belched. “I don’t…feel so good.” The hand on her shoulder tightened. “Feels like I’m going to be sick, but-“ he swallowed abruptly. “-I don’t think I have anything to be sick with.”

“You’re gorged on magic,” Tessa said worriedly. “Your body’s confused. It’s going to try to purge. I can stop it.”

Illidan’s jaw clenched as his empty stomach heaved. “Do it.” After a moment, his expression cleared with the fading of his nausea, but clouded again as cramps took its place.

“Do you want me to stop the pain?”

He straightened with an effort of will that set the pieces of his mind grinding against each other. “Not yet. I can handle it. Let’s go, before something finds us.”

Weaving spells to hide them, Tessa led Illidan towards the night elf encampment they’d seen from the dragon’s back. They made it to a small clearing halfway there before he doubled up in pain and cried out. In a flash, her demonic features faded into the shape of a black-haired, green-eyed kaldorei girl and she lowered him to the ground with his head in her lap. When inarticulate sounds of pain were the only response to calling his name, she bit her lip and decided that she’d take that as a ‘yes, please make me unconscious now’. She reached into his mind and nudged. Abruptly, he went limp and the light of his eyes winked out behind their cloth as his eyelids drooped shut. Even deeply asleep, he moaned and occasionally thrashed weakly as the painful transformation started wracking his body, and a cold sweat broke out on his lavender skin. She dove into his broken mind for the first time, blanched at the jagged, bleeding tangle, and started gelling sharp edges into stillness so he couldn’t hurt himself further. Fixing it would take time, but she could at least give him this temporary relief. Time passed unnoticed, and she wasn’t aware that she’d been singing lullabies until the sun and moon entered the clearing and broke her concentration.

“Illidan!” Tyrande cried, rushing to kneel at his side while Malfurion looked stunned. The obvious pain Illidan was in dismayed both of them. Tyrande looked sharply at Tessa, concern overcoming her revulsion at her demonic eyes. “What’s wrong with him?” she demanded.

“He’s very sick,” the disguised demon replied. “He destroyed the warlock artifact the Burning Legion was using to corrupt the forest, and the demon in charge of the entire operation, but he absorbed an awful lot of demonic energy while doing that.” In her arms, he cried out and flailed as his nails began a slow transformation into talons, and she whimpered at his pain.

Malfurion stepped forward and placed one hand on the priestess’s shoulder. “I’ll go check out the forest. You stay with him.”

Tyrande nodded, and Tessa gave the druid a brief look of gratitude that startled him before he moved off. There had been only worry in his mind, concern for his twin’s health. Hopefully, it would stay that way.

“I don’t understand,” Tyrande said once they were alone. “How did he absorb that much demonic energy?” She winced as Illidan cried out again. “What’s happening to him?”

In answer, Tessa trailed one fingertip along the glowing green whorls on his chest. “These are a kind of…” she shook her head. “You don’t have a word for it, but their purpose is to take in magic and use it to sustain him. They were meant to power his eyes, but with the amount of energy he absorbed…” She bit her lip and fearfully met the priestess’s eyes. “He’s changing. His body is trying to balance out its elven nature with the demonic nature of the eyes fused to it. He’s becoming a half-demon.”

The priestess paled. “Is there no way to stop it?”

“No. All I can do is try to slow and control the transformation, make it focus on one area at a time so I can block the pain better.” Her fingers brushed Illidan’s sweat-soaked hair gently. “It would have happened eventually, but much slower. This was his fate the instant the dreadlords plucked out his eyes and replaced them.”

Tyrande was silent, digesting this information. “You’re a demon,” she said finally, calmly, expression cool and distant.

“I’m a half-demon,” Tessa corrected with equal serenity. “I do not serve the Burning Legion. My only loyalty is to Illidan.”

“You say this would have happened eventually, but it’s because of you that it happened now, isn’t it?” The words were curiously restrained, as though Tyrande were withholding judgment.

“I brought him to the Skull, and I told him what needed to take place. I also told him what would happen to him because of it.” Tessa’s calm cracked and concern bled out, her fingers curling around Illidan’s half-taloned ones. “He said he didn’t see a point in waiting. I think he wanted to see you again.”

Tyrande looked startled for just a second before her cool mask slipped back into place. “That brings us to the question of how it is that he vanished out of the Hyjal barrow den ten thousand years ago, and why he doesn’t look any older than when I last saw him.”

“I broke him out,” Tessa said calmly. “One of the Bronze Dragonflight helped me. I didn’t see why he should have to suffer Maiev’s abuse for ten thousand years if she was the only one who’d miss him if he wasn’t there, so I brought him forward in time.” She offered the priestess a flicker of a smile. “I told him how Maiev kept you away, and that you didn’t mean to forget about him.”

The priestess looked troubled. “You said Maiev’s abuse. Had you not brought him forward in time, what would she have done to him?”

“Horrible things,” the half-demon answered solemnly. “She hated him. Any cruelty you can imagine, she probably would have inflicted on him at some point.”

Lilac fingers reached out and brushed Illidan’s clammy temple gently. “You care for him, don’t you?”

“As much as he cares for you.” The flickering smile came back. “If he hadn’t let me rescue him, if he’d stayed to endure ten thousand years of torment and abandonment, he would have still loved you at the end of it and laid down his life for yours. For you, he would have risked an eternity of pain and torture. For you, he would have let himself be exiled from this world.”

“Exile?” Tyrande breathed, eyes wide. “Who would-“

“It seems you were telling the truth,” a rich voice said, making both women start and turn towards the source as Malfurion strode back into the clearing. “…whoever you are. The corruption is already fading, although there are still many demons infesting the woods. Now, you will tell me who you are, and why my brother is here.”

“Furion!”

“It’s okay,” the half-demon said reassuringly in answer to Tyrande’s chiding tone. “I’d rather he be angry at me and worried about Illidan than angry at Illidan.” She turned her head to look at the druid. “My name is Tessa. I’m from the future. I haven’t even been born yet, and the Bronze dragon who brought me here seems to have gone back without me. He helped me rescue Illidan from his cage and brought us here so that he could destroy the Skull of Gul’dan and kill Tichondrius. Like I told Tyrande, my only loyalty is to Illidan. I don’t serve the Burning Legion.”

The elf so named moaned and thrashed. Concern on her face, Tessa reached into his mind and cut off all nerve response from his hands. He stilled, expression smoothing out as the pain left him. This was not lost on Tyrande.

“We need to get him back to camp, Furion,” she said crisply. “I am convinced that she can be trusted, at least as far as caring for Illidan goes. For the moment, she can do more for him than I can.”

The archdruid nodded. “The rest can wait until he wakes up.”

==================================

“Doesn’t she sleep?” Malfurion asked Tyrande from the tent’s entrance. On the bedroll, his brother lay, occasionally moaning in his sleep while the half-demon gently touched his face or chest and sang alien lullabies. He tried not to think about the talons, or fangs, or huge curved horns his brother now sported. “It’s been two days.”

“She’s devoted,” Tyrande said noncommittally.

“The horns are done,” the girl called in a tired voice. “It’s starting to turn his feet into hooves, but I can block that so he won’t feel any pain. I can wake him up, if you want.”

“Do it.” The priestess’s words sliced through the air before Malfurion could even open his mouth.

The girl nodded and laid one hand gently on Illidan’s forehead. After a moment, he stirred and groaned – the first pain-free sound he’d made in two days. “Don’t try to move your legs,” she said quietly. “I’ve paralyzed them so that you don’t feel the pain. You’ve been out for two days.”

“Where…” The raspy word sent jolts through his brother and the priestess. Illidan licked dry lips and tried again. “What’s happened?”

“We’re safe in the night elf encampment. They’re clearing out the demons. You have talons, fangs, and horns.”

“Tyrande?”

“I’m here, Illidan,” she answered.

The demon hunter jerked, moving his head awkwardly until he could see her. The joy and relief on his face made her feel more than a little guilty for having forgotten him for so long. Then he saw his brother standing next to her, and the joy became overshadowed by fear and pain. “Brother?”

“Illidan!” Dignity forgotten for the moment, Malfurion rushed to kneel at his brother’s side and carefully took the half-outstretched, taloned hand. “I’ve been nearly as worried about you as Tyrande has been. The demon-girl-“

“Tessa,” Illidan supplied.

“She says she told you this would happen, and you agreed to it. Is this true?”

“It would have happened whether I left or stayed,” the younger male rasped, fangs making his speech awkward. “I figured…if it was going to happen eventually, there was no point in delaying the inevitable. She said it would hurt, but that she would try to shield me from the pain.” Fel-green eyes closed as he took a deep, shuddering breath. “Tyrande?”

The priestess joined her mate and took Illidan’s other hand without hesitation. The vulnerable, pleading look on his face twisted the blade of guilt in her heart. “Yes, Illidan?”

“Do you think I’m a monster?” The words were hardly louder than a whisper, hissing oddly between his fangs.

“No, never!” Her grip on his hand tightened reassuringly. “I am distressed by what’s happening to you, but I know that it’s not your fault. Your…Tessa has been exceedingly attentive over the last two days, sacrificing her own comfort to keep your pain at bay. Illidan, you are aware that she is a demon?”

A warped smile flared briefly on his face. “I am a demon hunter, Tyrande. She could hardly hide it from me. Not that she tried.” Again he licked his lips, and Tessa made a small sound of distress. “She said that if I refused her help, you would find me again after ten thousand years and free me, but that you would see me after I had turned into a half-demon and think I was a monster. I didn’t want to wait that long to see you again only to have you turn away from me in horror.”

Silver eyes followed the girl’s motion as she fumbled for a waterskin and metal cup, then gently lifted Illidan’s head and helped him drink.

“Illidan,” Malfurion said gently. “Did Maiev abuse you?”

The younger male choked out a laugh. “It’s only been two days since I was released from her tender mercies, brother. How do I look to you?”

Both elves shared a horrified glance. Beneath the glowing green runes, Illidan’s ribs were nearly clear enough to be counted. “I never should have given her power over you,” Malfurion growled. “I’m so sorry, my brother.”

“Illidan?” Tessa’s tentative voice cut the tension in the air. “The block will hold for about eight hours. Will you be okay if I get some sleep? Once the hooves are done, your wings are next and I want to be rested for that.”

“Have you been awake this whole time?” he asked, amazement and surprise warring in his voice. When she nodded, he smiled at her. “Sleep. I’ll wake you if I need anything.”

==================================

A suppressed sound of pain woke her and she went from a dead sleep to alert panic in the space of two heartbeats. Illidan didn’t notice her until she laid a hand on his forehead and numbed his pain. A glance outside the tent told her that more than eight hours had passed.

“You didn’t wake me,” she said, concerned and just slightly disappointed.

Illidan didn’t answer for a few moments, busy taking deep breaths and forcibly calming himself from the strain of withstanding bone-deep, searing pain. “You looked so peaceful,” he panted. “I didn’t want to disturb you. You needed the sleep.”

Tessa made a discontented sound, but did not protest, and it warmed his heart. Instead, she moved out of reach and checked whether his feet were hooves yet. “They’re almost done,” she said quietly. The apology in her voice warned him that when they finished transforming, an even greater pain would begin.

When she came back within reach, he reached for her wrist, careful to not pierce her with his claws. “Tessa.”

She looked startled at his urgent tone. “Yes, Illidan?”

“Do something for me,” he half-pleaded. “Drop your disguise.”

It was done almost before the last word left his tongue. He stared at her for a long moment, slowly relaxing as his eyes drank in her horns and wings. He released her wrist, but grabbed her hand instead and she covered his reassuringly with hers.

“Don’t hide yourself from me again,” he said, tone just short of begging. “It makes me feel alone.”

Her burning green eyes sparkled as she smiled at him. “I won’t. You’re not alone, and I won’t leave you,” she promised, and was rewarded with a hesitant smile in return.

“How much longer will my transformation take?” he asked.

“I’m slowing it down so that it doesn’t hurt as much,” she said somewhat apologetically. “It would have been done a day and a half ago, but it would have hurt-“ she broke off, biting her lip, and he paled at the implication.

“How long will it take to grow wings?” he asked shakily.

“Another two days at the current level of pain.”

“And if you let it go by itself?”

The half-demon looked ready to cry. “One hour, but the pain would overwhelm anything I could do to block it.”

“You would do it if I asked.” He grimaced as tears started trickling down her cheeks. “You would do it, but my pain would cause you more distress than I am willing to inflict upon you. No. I will endure two days.” He smiled weakly at her astonished look. “Friends have to trust each other. I trust you to look out for me. What kind of friend would I be if I discarded your advice, knowing that it would hurt you?”

Tessa blushed and tried to stammer something, but he gripped her hand tighter and she subsided.

“I spoke with Tyrande and Furion while you were sleeping. You were right about them forgetting me, and why. I owe you for saving me from ten thousand years of Maiev.” His expression hardened, and she looked frightened. “You told Tyrande that you care for me as much as I care for her?”

Terrified now, the half-demon nodded.

“And still you begged to serve me, knowing where my heart lay?”

“Even if you hated me,” she whispered.

He tugged her hand sharply, pulling her off-balance, and with a startled squawk she fell across his chest. Blushing furiously, she tried to get up, but his arms went awkwardly around her and held her still.

“I would be a fool to not appreciate such devotion,” he whispered, making her shiver. “You said you would do anything I asked to the best of your ability. I’m asking you to be patient with me. I can’t promise that I’ll ever stop loving Tyrande, or that I’ll grow to love you, but you are still important to me, and…” he took a deep breath. “I don’t want to lose you, either.”

“It’s okay. I don’t care. I’ll never leave you,” she breathed, awkwardly trying to embrace him.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said softly, letting his arms drop. “Now, which is going to hurt worse, the start of growing wings or the end?”

“Probably the middle,” Tessa said, sitting back up now that he’d released her.

“Put another block up and get some more sleep,” Illidan said firmly.

Tessa nodded. “You’ll want to lay on your side or your stomach.” Her hands fluttered at his temples. “This time, please wake me up if the pain gets to be too much? You’re growing new muscles and bones, and I don’t want you to damage them accidentally.” She blushed. “There’s…I will need to talk to you about your wings when they start growing in.”

One black eyebrow arched up, but Illidan held his tongue. “Sleep,” he said.