#and shooting to signal the start would also aggravate the demons around

[everyryuujisuguro]

[technoplaguearchive]

Cruel To be Kind (3/4)

Holy crap guys I just realized I never posted the rest of this fic here >.< My bad!!!

-------------

Mornings are their own special hell, complete with friends as the tormenting demons.

Pairing: MidoriyaxBakugou / BakuDeku Rating: Teen & Up Category: M/M Fandom: My Hero Academia | Boku No Hero Academia Originally Published: Some time in April 2019 & I can’t remember when on AO3 Chapter: 3 of 4

Previous || Next

The morning signified the start of a new day, a new chance at life. Mornings were a chance to renew oneself and start on the right foot.

Mornings brought with them a sense of peace.

Most people greeted mornings with a smile and a positive outlook, while some others greeted it with a scowl and a middle finger. But no matter how people felt about them, they kept coming and kept signaling a new day.

Mornings brought the chirping of birds in areas that were lucky enough to be graced with them. Mornings brought sunlight gently filtered through windows, blinds, and curtains. Mornings could also bring gentle city noises to life where one could hear greetings being tossed between pedestrians as they started their days.

This morning, however, brought some additional things to the table; a pounding ass headache, nausea, and the sinking feeling that karma was getting Bakugou back for something... No, wait, that sinking feeling was probably still nausea. So scratch the karma bit.

Sitting up in bed was pretty much a no-go, not unless he wanted to spill his guts all over his clean sheets and the floor. So, for now, he was bed bound and on his back staring at the ceiling, he could accept that. Everything was within reach and he could lay here for a few hours. The light filtering through the small gap in his curtains is enough to make him wince, but sadly not easily remedied unless he wanted to roll across the floor to fix it. Which, if he thought too hard about it, even the mere aspect of rolling anywhere was enough to convince his stomach contents to make a break for it. So fuck it, he’d just face the other way and deal with the shitty sunlight.

The birds he couldn't do anything about except turn some music on to cover their stupid happy chirping. So that was the course of action; locate his phone and put some mindless playlist on low until he could crawl his ass to the shower. Was this the dreaded hangover that his friends always complained about? Fuck, why did they keep drinking if this was how they felt? This was fucking god-awful.

Last he could recall he had put his phone on his nightstand but was he remembering last night or remembering another night? That was the real question. He could barely remember what had happened last night and the few snippets he could piece together weren't helpful. Deku had shown up and Bakugou had decided to get piss drunk instead of leaving. Why? And how the fuck had he got home? And who the fuck had let him drink so much?

First things first; find the phone and get some music going so those fucking bird chirps would stop grating his ears.

A heavy hand slaps around the nightstand as far as he can reach, which is just his rough fingertips groping the edge. After several seconds of half-assed searching, he comes up empty and groans loudly into the emptiness of his apartment. Fucking hell he was going to have to sit up or roll over now to find that plastic piece of shit that controlled his life.

Okay, we can do this, he thinks to himself, quickly followed by Fuck. I’m giving myself a pep talk, this is stupid.

The mental pep talk is enough to distract him while he slides his hands in and levels himself into a sitting position. He slams his eyes closed as the world tilts violently to the right in a blast of white and smudged colors, only to open them again when he finds closing them so quickly had only sent the signal to his brain that he was going to pass out, fall over, vomit, or some combination of the three. With this in mind, he cracks heavy lids open and blinks into the filtered sunlight. On any other morning it might have been beautiful but this morning it was aggravating and anger-inducing. At least his drunk ass hadn't turned every light in his place on, that probably would have been absolute hell on his head.

BZZZZZTTTTT

Bakugou twitches at the sudden noise then winces as a new round of pain shoots through his head.

”What the ever loving fuck…”

BZZZZZTTTTT

”Okay, seriously what the fuck is that noise?”

BZZZZZTTTTT

…..

BZZZZZTTTTT BZZZZZTTTTT BZZZZZTTTTT BZZZZZTTTTT

The noise dies off and Bakugou lets loose his second groan of the morning. Thankfully whatever it was seemed to have stopped. Probably something outside.

BZZZZZTTTTT BZZZZZTTTTT BZZZZZTTTTT

”GOD FUCKING DAMMIT WHAT IS THAT?”

His own roar of anger sends him sprawling backward onto the bed like a turtle on its back while his hands clutch his face and tears pool in his eyes.

As if to mock his predicament the noise sounds several more times before it clicks what it is; his phone. Which means that noisy fuck has to be on his nightstand to be making that hellacious racket.

Well, that solved that mystery but now he isn't sure he even wants music with the way his head is pounding. Between the movement, the noise, and his own stress level he's had enough of everything already.

Now that he knows the general whereabouts he gingerly rolls onto his side and slaps a hand out for his nightstand again. This time his hand slides across smooth plastic and he tugs it over with his fingertips, sliding the device into his palm and pulling it to his prone body. Moving absolutely sucked but staying stationary wasn't an option right now. He needed to figure out why it was going off so much.

”Please don't let it be an emergency,” he mutters desperately as he holds the screen before his face and turns the brightness down.

23 messages received.

Twenty. Fucking. Three. Messages.

Who the actual fuck was trying to get ahold of him this badly?

The good news is the messages, as far as he can tell, aren’t in the least bit important. They’re all from the group chat with Ashido, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero. Did those idiots not have hangovers? Kirishima was drinking an awful lot last night, too.

A brief glance through the previews tells him they’re discussing last night. He should probably read over those and see what happened, maybe someone got hurt or lost something… or maybe Ashido got laid and wanted to talk about it. All valid options, really.

First, the music.

Opening his music app he chooses his last playlist and hits shuffle then turns the volume way down. The Bluetooth picks the signal up and soon he can hear it floating gently through the speakers stashed about the bedroom.

With that task out of the way, and the birds now effectively silenced (Fucking finally, chirpy motherfuckers), he sets about figuring out what the idiots are talking about. The messenger app they use for their chat shows several messages privately to him but the majority are in the group. Okay, get the group nonsense out of the way and worry about the private stuff when he was a functional human being again.

He swipes back to the first missed message and sees it’s from Kaminari.

Zappy-Boy: Where did you guys go? I just saw Bakugou storm past back to the bar…? AlienQueen: We’re down here with him. He and Midoriya got in a fight AlienQueen: no surprise, of course

No more messages rolled in after until this morning, before he had even woken up.

AlienQueen: Has anyone heard from Bakugou? Do we know if he made it home? Zappy-Boy: ask Kirishima. Last I saw they were all over each other -_- AlienQueen: fucking hell...again? RIOT: not like that! He got a little trashed last night and I helped him get home. I left him at his door cause he didn’t want me inside AlienQueen: proof of life? RIOT: [image.jpg] AlienQueen: you’re right, he was trashed Zappy-Boy: did anyone check on Midoriya? He looked pretty upset when he showed up again last night AlienQueen: he said he was fine, just tired. Yelling at Bakugou wears a person out, so I get it Zappy-Boy: soooo, I’m gonna be who asks it since you’re all cowards; anyone got the tea? RIOT: I don’t even know what that means Zappy-Boy: the deets! The details! What were they arguing about? AlienQueen: that’s between them, and I wasn’t going to ask RIOT: yeah Bakubro came back in and started downing shots, so probably a fight like they did back in school. AlienQueen: who wants to place bets on the hangover he’s gonna have? RIOT: count me out, I wanna live Zappy-Boy: I’m with Kirishima. I like my head on my shoulders

Gossipy fucking idiots. But at least that filled in the blank of how he got home. He’s tempted to write back and tell them to fuck off but then he’d probably be bombarded, and he didn’t really want to chat much right now.

Next step; flop over and stare at the ceiling while contemplating the hangover and simultaneously trying not to think about the hangover. With an admittedly exaggerated groan, Bakugou rolls off his side and onto his back to stare into the vast emptiness of his bland white ceiling. At least it wasn’t a popcorn ceiling like Kirishima’s place. He didn’t know how that idiot could stand it... then again how often did someone look at their own ceiling?

He suddenly snorts out a laugh as a dark thought strikes him; if someone bottomed enough they probably were intimately familiar with the configuration of their ceiling. The immediate next thought is; Kirishima probably knows his ceiling is popcorn.

Unable to resist the temptation he snaps a picture of his ceiling and thumbs open the private message from his shark-toothed friend.

RIOT: let me know when you wake up. I need to know you’re not dead

Bakugou rolls his eyes at the redhead’s dramatics and sends the picture of his ceiling as a response along with a message.

Blasty: I didn’t know my ceiling was this smooth. Do you know what your ceiling looks like?

The little dots signaling an incoming response come up almost immediately and he has to repress a groan. As it is, he mutters ”Over-eager fuck” with a small smile.

RIOT: oh thank god you’re alive! RIOT: it’s popcorn, why? Blasty: that’s what I thought. Stare up at it a lot? RIOT: you’re being perverted, aren’t you? Blasty: always

He lays the phone down beside him and stares once more into the ceiling. Last night was a blur. He could recall bits and pieces, and a bit more now that he knew what some of those sensations and colors were, but for the most part after Midoriya showing up he didn’t remember much. From what he gathered from the group conversation he didn’t get blackout until after he and Midoriya fought? Which he certainly didn’t remember fighting. Was it a fist fight? A quick check of his knuckles and prodding his mouth with his fuzzy, disgustingly dry tongue answers that question; not a fist fight. So back to verbal sparring between them? That seemed more plausible.

The throb in his head makes itself known with an especially violent pang and he winces. Fuck, what the hell did he do last night? How much did he drink and why had the idiot-brigade let him?! The more frustrated he gets with the situation the more his headaches. The ache just adds fuel to his frustration and he finds himself gritting his teeth and internally cussing out the squad already.

"Good for nothing fucking assholes. They should have stopped me. They know how bad hangover is.” In a quick flash of unchecked anger, he chucks his phone across the bedroom and instantly regrets it. He's sitting up quickly to trace its path and make sure it’s intact but curses his decision when the urge to vomit nearly overwhelms him and sends him sprawling back onto the mattress to stare once more at the ceiling.

He lets out a rare for him, pained sob and throws an arm over his eyes to block out more light. “Whatever I did last night, I feel like karma’s kind of going overboard with revenge.” The empty apartment doesn’t answer and he sighs. “Bitch.”

BZZZZZTTTTT BZZZZZTTTTT BZZZZZTTTTT

“Motherfucker. Stop. I’m coming.”

Slowly he rolls over until he can claw himself off the bed and onto shaky feet. The room immediately tilts and he plunks down on his butt hard enough to snap his teeth together. "Fucking dammit. What the hell did I drink last night?"

It takes several minutes before the room settles enough for him to attempt standing again. Two steps are all he gets before he falls to his knees and ends up crawling the rest of the way to his phone. The screen looks intact and when he taps the screen it all seems to be working. Internally he thanks karma for not going as far as to break his phone.

The phone goes off once more in his hand and he almost drops it at seeing the name pop up on the screen;

DEKU.

Why the fuck was Deku messaging him?

With shaky fingers, he opens the message and this time does drop his phone. The words staring back don't change and sent a jolt of panic up his spine.

Deku wants to meet him. Deku wants to talk. Deku was apologizing.

If Deku was apologizing then Bakugou probably said something really fucked up. Fuck, if only he could remember what the hell had happened that would make Deku apologize.

With a resigned sigh, he flops stomach down on the floor and stares down his nose at his phone screen. The words weren't changing, they were still mocking him and giving him anxiety-butterflies. Why did Deku need to talk to him? Surely he knew Bakugou had a hangover.

”Uggghhh. Why does this morning suck balls?”

Only one way to find out what the fuck happened and that was to read his other messages and maybe ask someone. Probably Ashido, that gossipy bitch knew everything.

He snatches the phone back up and rolls over once more, managing to get himself into a cross-legged sitting position that wouldn’t topple his unsteady ass backward. There’s one missed message from Ashido as well when he checks.

AlienQueen: did you hurt that precious broccoli?! I’ll end you! Oh- and I hope you’re not dead, you were trashed

The message has one side of his mouth quirking up into a small smile. Good to see the ‘broccoli’ nickname had stuck and the group was using it. He probably should reply soon though or Ashido would insist Kirishima take her to him for proof of life.

Blasty: not dead, much to the general populace’s displeasure I’m sure

He chooses to ignore the part about hurting Midoriya because fuck if he knows what the hell happened. There was no way to answer that without lying. For all he knew the nerd was in a hospital. He winces a little at that thought and shakes it off. No, Shitty Hair would have told him if he’d done something that bad.

The response from Ashido jolts him from his dead-eyed stare and he jerks, fingers clenching around the plastic in his hand. Fuck, he was spacing out now.

AlienQueen: we’re glad you’re not dead, idiot. otherwise I would have had to summon your back from the grave to hand you an ass-whoopin Blasty: first off, you don’t have that kind of power. second, why the fuck? AlienQueen: first off, fuck you and I bet Tokoyami could so I’d ask him. second, did you get blackout drunk? Blasty: judging by the size of my enormous ass hangover, I’m gonna say yes? AlienQueen: why was that a question? Blasty: shutup Pinky and answer the question AlienQueen: I will, but first I wanna tell the others that you actually admitted to being hungover Blasty: fuck off, hair for brains already knows AlienQueen: well, that’s no fun AlienQueen: but fine AlienQueen: I’m sure you gathered you and Izuku got in a fight...again Blasty: yepppp AlienQueen: you came back in pissed off and went straight to drinking Blasty: I gathered that from the other messages AlienQueen: yeah well what you probably didn’t gather is you started rambling to Kirishima about shitty love confessions Blasty: stop right there I’m fucking calling you

Bakugou hauls himself off the floor and towards his bed once more, head barely landing on the pillows when he lays back down. He’s already calling Ashido by the time he rolls into his back again and gets comfortable enough where he doesn’t feel like vomiting. At this angle the sun is barely in his face and he’ll take it.

She picks up after the third ring with an overly chipper and probably purposely loud, “Hey Blasty Boy!”

He winces and yanks the phone from his ear but her shriek is still piercing. He cradled the phone between his shoulder and ear and examines his ceiling as he talks. A couple corners are looking dustier than he’d like, probably needed to get to them and clean soon.

“Pick up where you left off. And turn your volume down you shrieking siren.”

Ashido only giggles at his gruff tone and he growls a warning. “I was only teasing. You sound like shit, you really must be hungover.” From her end of the line, Bakugou hears cabinets closing and metal jangling around. She must be making food. He suppresses a groan as the thought of cooking food sends a new wave of nausea through him. “Anyways-,” another cabinet closes and he hears her softly curse, “-anyways, yeah. You were bitching to Kirishima about shitty love confessions and how it wasn’t right. Kirishima looked really upset about it but you kissed him on the cheek and he peeked back up. He really has it bad for you still, and I don’t see how.”

Bakugou rolls his eyes. She always got distracted with off-topic details. “Whose shitty love confession was I supposedly bitching about to Shark-face?”

“Apparently Midoriya’s?” Bakugou feels his heart stop and he wants to puke again for entirely non-hangover related reasons, and the feeling gets worse at Ashido’s next words. “Yeah, I guess you and Midoriya got in a verbal sparring match about him wanting to take you home and he finally came out and said he was in love with you. And like a fucking psychopath you rejected him and told him to leave you alone.” She heaves the most out-upon sigh he’s ever heard from the girl. “You’ve got a real fucking drinking problem, Katsuki. Once in awhile for fun isn’t bad but Eijirou says you’ve been doing it at home alone and you schedule around it. That sounds awful,” her voice goes soft towards the end and he feels his stomach twist again.

Was he really that bad that Kirishima was trying to enlist help from the rest of their friends? He swallows his pride and manages to breathe out his question, “Who else has he talked to about this?”

“Everyone. Hell, I think he even talked to All Might.” Bakugou’s curse cuts her off and she sighs again. “All Might said it was your problem to work through but he’d help if needed. Eijirou’s worries about you. We all are.”

“Well stop, I didn’t ask you to be worried.” Damn his pride.

“That’s not how friendship works, Bakugou. You know that.”

Her words jog something in his mind and he shakes it off. “If I promise to cut back will you guys quit worrying like nannies?”

“Only if you promise to also talk to Midoriya. He was pretty worried this morning when I talked to him. He said he was going to contact you.”

That explained the message. “Yeah, the fucking nerd sent me a message” he admits.

“So talk to him, and we’ll help you get the drinking under control. You know we can come over and hang out if work is stressing you out.” She sounds so sincere that he feels guilty.

He laughs quietly into the phone and he can hear Ashido’s answering giggle. “Having you guys here would stress me more.”

He can almost hear the smile in her words. “Just think about it, ‘kay Blasty? You know we love you.”

“Yeah yeah, now fuck off so I can go puke and shower and-“ he grimaces and pushes his bangs off his face- “call the nerd back so we can talk.”

“Tell him how you feel this time?”

“I said fuck off, PinkyPie.”

Her answering laugh is loud and she blows him a kiss through the phone before she hangs up.

Well fuck, now he’d have to follow through or she’d show up at his place with Kirishima and he didn’t want that.

The phone gets deposited back on the nightstand and the music starts back up.

“Volume up,” he growls to the room as he rolls out of bed and heads towards the attached bathroom. The shower was calling his name, and maybe he could take that time to think shit through. Like what the fuck was he going to tell Deku? And why the fuck did Deku want to talk to him? And also why the hell was the nerd apologizing if Bakugou was the one who was a dick last night?

“AHHHHHHHH!”

He yells into the emptiness of his bathroom and slams the shower door open to blast the water to nearly full heat. Knowing it would take a little bit to get as hot as he wanted he stomps back to the phone and snatches it up. He needed to text Deku now before he chickened out or conveniently forgot that he needed to message him.

The messages from the other man are still in his inbox where he left them, mocking him and making his insides squirm. Okay, fuck, he could do this.

Blasty: I need to take a shower and maybe vomit first, in no particular order Blasty: no clue why you want to apologize though, so maybe forget that part and we can talk Blasty: or not, whatever, because I have no clue what you want with me

There’s a few minutes of silence where all Bakugou hears is his music and the pounding of the water hitting the shower floor. Cathartic, he thinks with a small laugh.

Finally his phone vibrates again.

DEKU: oh! I’m sorry that I interrupted your shower DEKU: you can let me know when you’re done and I’ll come over? Blasty: you can just head over now, I’ll be quick DEKU: I don’t want to rush you, it’s fine DEKU: I’ll grab us coffee on the way DEKU: same as usual right? Blasty: yeah Blasty: just head over now, I don’t have to vomit anymore Blasty: I’ll be quick Blasty: & then we can get whatever you need to talk about over with DEKU: ...okay then. See you soon

Bakugou puts the phone back down and strips off his clothes on his way to the bathroom. Shirt, shorts, and boxers fall into a heap and finally he’s under the warm spray. It’s like a mini massage on his back and he can’t help the small moan that escapes his lips.

“Fuucckkkkk.”

He slides his palms against the cool tile wall and hangs his head. He can still feel a throbbing behind his eyes but it’s less now, the urge to vomit at every movement is gone at least. Standing slowly he leans back to dunk his head into the warm spray and groans again. Leaning backwards; not a good idea.

“Fuck. Shit. Fuck.” He repeats the mantra over and over as he backs against the wall he’d been leaning on and slides down to sit and put his head between his knees.

So maybe he wasn’t as good as he thought he was. He probably needed to take it easy for a little longer.

Three songs pass before he stands back up on shaky legs and finishes his shower as quick and efficiently as he can; not the best wash job on his hair or body but at least he didn’t smell like alcohol anymore. The thought of brushing his teeth is mildly sickening but he bears through it, towel draped around his waist as he hugs his sink in case he needs to get sick and ruin his clean teeth. Fuck mouthwash, he’ll deal without that for one day.

“Fuck, never again,” he swears as he stumbles back into the bedroom and starts digging through drawers for clothes.

One pair of boxers and pants later he hears a knock on the door. Deku. Little fuck probably ran over here with his quirk, probably forgot the coffee too.

Bakugou steps into his clothes and grabs a random shirt on his way to the door, another knock aggravating his slowly decaying headache. “I’m fucking coming, quit with the damn noise nerd!”

A squeak on the other side of the door makes him smirk and he tosses his shirt over his shoulder as he opens the door. The smirk turns positively feral when he catches Deku’s eyes lingering a little too long on his exposed torso. “See something you like, Izuku?”

The nerd’s cheeks go bright red and he shoves past Bakugou in a rush to get into the apartment and away from the blonde male at the door. “Put some clothes on, Kacchan! I have your coffee and I got you that cream cheese pastry you like,” he squeaks as he rushes to the kitchen.

Bakugou chuckles and closes the door before turning towards the kitchen and tugging his shirt on. “Yer good for something, s’good to know.” The pastry is heavenly in his mouth and the coffee warms his fingertips.

Nourishment taken care of he plops down onto his couch and nods to the spot next to him. “Sit, jackass. Let’s get this over with.”

Deku nods sheepishly and grabs up his own coffee shop items then sits on the couch beside Bakugou. The space between them has never felt so tense and both men can feel it.

Bakugou breaks the silence first. “What did you need to apologize for?”

Deku’s face goes so red Bakugou’s sure he could use him as a stoplight. It’s a sight to behold. The freckles dotting his face are like little dark constellations. “W-well, I figured we should talk about last night and-“

“Spit it out, nerd. I’m still hungover and don’t wanna deal with your mumbling.”

He can see Deku’s brain short-circuit and knows he’s in for a treat now; Deku tended to get dumb when he was called out. “IWANTTOAPOLOGIZEFORSAYINGILOVEYOU.”

Hearing it from Ashido earlier did not even begin to prepare Bakugou for this. Hell he’d even kind of forgot about it already. His own brain short circuits in a never ending cycle of vicious karma this morning and his mouth pops open.

“Oh.” Then, “No.”

[razieltwelve]

Infiltration (Final War)

“You seem troubled, my lady.”

Jaina was shaken out of her musings by the question. They had been sailing for days now, and they were all feeling the strain. After what had happened in Lordaeron, it was for the best that they had left. Yet none of them could quite understand how everything had gone so horribly wrong.

Arthas… he was a good man. Had been a good man. And yet he had become the very evil they had sworn to destroy. Countless thousands were already dead at the hands of his Scourge, and she had even heard whispers of a vast undead army marching on Silvermoon. If the high elves fell as well…

“It isn’t your fault, you know.”

Jaine’s eyes widened as she turned her full attention to the woman speaking to her. Her brows furrowed. She wasn’t wholly familiar with all of her ship’s crew, but she had never seen this woman before. She was tall with blonde hair that seemed to be ever so slightly red in the sun. Her eyes were somewhere between blue and green, and there was a small smile on her face, as though the whole situation amused her.

“What are you talking about?” Jaina murmured.

The woman made her way down to the deck via the rigging with ease. “The prince, my lady.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jaina replied stiffly.

The woman shrugged. “Fair enough, but I’d have to be blind not to notice. The thing is… he was a grown man. I don’t know exactly what happened in the far north, but he made his choices. The only one to blame for what he’s become is… him. Oh, maybe things were tough, or maybe something went wrong, but he still had a choice.”

Jaina’s magic stirred. There was an undercurrent of cruelty in the woman’s words despite how reasonable they sounded. She knew they were true, at least intellectually. Arthas was a grown man. His choices were his own, and yet…

“My father has a saying,” the woman continued. “Don’t worry about the ones you can’t save. It hurts, but there’s nothing you can do for them. Worry about the ones you can save.” She gestured at the ship and the others not far away. “You can save a lot of people, my lady. Save your strength - and your worry - for them instead of the fool who forced you all to flee.”

X     X     X

Kahle found Jaine Proudmoore fascinating. The sorceress was incredibly naive in some ways, yet she could sense an inner streak of ruthlessness just waiting to be awakened. Victor would probably be aggravated at her poking and prodding at one of the key figures in this whole debacle, but Kahle was having far too much fun.

She blamed her ancestors.

She was descended from Jihl and Fujin from the Age of Heroes. More recently, however, her bloodline featured luminaries like Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor. As an infiltration specialist, there were precious few in the Grand Empire Alliance who could claim to be her equal.

Her convoluted bloodline had given her immense psychic powers. It was trivially easy for her to enter the minds of others, and she could layer illusion after illusion with ease. More to the point, her eyes could project a sort of ‘psychic harpoon’ that let her dig her hooks into her targets for even greater effectiveness. 

The little mishap with the portal into Azeroth had been unfortunate, but she had swiftly found a way onto this ship. Since then, she had been leaching the details of this world out of the minds of the others as they slept, building a truly in-depth picture of how Azeroth operated. She had also delved into the dreams of those around her to see if any of them needed to be eliminated or if there were ways to nudge them into the directions she wanted.

Jaina’s dreams had been a swirl of horror, shame, and regret. Oh, the sorceress carried so much baggage that it was a miracle she could even put up the front of a calm, level-headed ruler. It spoke volumes as to her ability that she had managed to do so for so long. In the end, though, she would break, and Kahle could not let that happen.

Besides, they were headed to Kalimdor, and her AI, Infiltrator, had detected signals from it that matched those belonging to Cinnamon. The last thing she needed was for someone so important to end up anywhere near the Dia-Farron without being mentally stable.

X     X     X

“Still brooding, I see.”

Jaina scowled as Callie, the woman from before, landed on the deck beside her. Every day since they’d first spoken, the other woman had taken to speaking to her. Her words always drifted on the very edge of insolence, but there was no denying the wisdom in them. It made her wonder what sort of life she’d led to have developed such a perspective.

“There is much to brood over,” Jaina said at last. 

“Oh? Worried about what happens when we get wherever we’re going?” Callie waved at some of the other sailors. She seemed to be well liked, and Jaine had heard that quite a few of the others had taken to seeking her out for advice. 

“Perhaps,” Jaina conceded. It was, in a way, refreshing to speak to someone who was not awed by her rank or accomplishments. “We are going to be landing in an unknown land with only the forces and resources at our disposal. There are many things that could go wrong.”

“There are,” Callie agreed. “But you should keep things simple.” She grinned. “When I used to go camping with my father, he told me to keep it simple: food, water, shelter, defence. Those are the four thing you need to worry about. You need food. You need water. You need shelter. And you need some way to defend yourselves and the other things.”

“That sounds simple enough,” Jaina replied. “But it has to be more complicated than that.”

“Of course, it is,” Callie said. “Which is why you need to send out scouting parties. You have soldiers and sailors under your command, and you’ve got mages too. Don’t commit to a location until you have at least some idea it can meet those four needs. An island in a strategic location would be good. You could defend it easily, and provided it isn’t too far from land or is large enough, you could find food and water. As for shelter, well, you’ll need to build things. Timber and stone are essential.”

“You seem awfully knowledgeable about this,” Jaina drawled. “For a sailor.”

“I have a friend who likes to build things,” Callie replied. “She has taught me a lot.”

X     X     X

Cinnamon breathed a sigh of satisfaction as she watched her base continue to expand. She’d brought along some Eranthem too, and the industrious insect-like creatures had been busy expanding her base and its capabilities. Not far away, Shayna was still gawping at everything like a fish out of water.

“Don’t look so shocked,” Cinnamon said. “And keep talking about the Burning Legion. I might have to start choosing tech paths soon, and I’d like to avoid any mistakes.”

The Eranthem and the Imperial Zerg had already established vast extractors that delved deep into the earth for metals, minerals, gases, and anything else that could be of use. More of them had built up processing centres to turn wood, stone, and anything else they could get their hands on into more useful substances. They had even built a pipeline of sorts to the ocean, and they had a refinery hard at work splitting the water into oxygen and hydrogen for further use, not to mention filtering it for rarer materials.

All in all, it was going quite well.

In fact, her first batch of flyers were due to hatch right about… now.

“By Elune!” Shayna cried. “What is that?”

Cinnamon followed her gaze. The creature soaring through the air above them had two pairs of wings along with a sleek, aerodynamic body. There were several openings in its body from which blade-like parasites could be seen.

“That? That’s a Mutablade. Basically, it flies super fast and shoots parasites at stuff I don’t like.” Cinnamon paused and cackled malevolently. “The parasites burrow into their target and then explode in a huge cloud of acid. It’s great. They’ll melt your average flying demon into goo in about two or three seconds. Oh, and they can shoot heaps of those way faster than you can imagine.”

X     X     X

Jaina was awakened from her slumber by a sudden lurch.

“We’re under attack!”

She was up on her feet in an instant, throwing on her clothes, and rushing onto the deck. It was night, but a spell swiftly illuminated the area - and the foe they faced. It was a massive sea serpent.

“To arms!” someone shouted. “Damn you, this is why I told you to keep your weapons handy!”

The massive creature lunged, and Jaina jerked out of the way just in time. Part of the deck splintered, and there was wild cursing as an assortment of attacks clattered down onto the creature only to bounce off its thick scales.

Jaina summoned her magic, and fire blossomed to life. The serpent hissed and reeled back before the assault. Jaina swiftly seized the opportunity to summon a pair of water elementals, the magical creatures putting themselves between the serpent and the crew.

“There are more of them attacking the other ships!” the captain roared over the din of waves and battle. “But this one is the leader! If we can drive him off, I’d wager the others will flee as well.”

“Then we drive him off.” Jaina’s eyes narrowed, and the elementals surged forward. The serpent met them head one, its massive bulk smashing through them with terrifying ease. She gathered her magic for another spell, only for the sea serpent to go reeling back as a harpoon caught it squarely in one eye.

And still holding onto that harpoon was Callie. The blonde woman swung her body around the weapon, driving it deeper into the creature’s eye, before flipping off it and sliding down some of the rigging. It was a casual display of agility that Jaina was sure no one else in the crew could have matched.

Still, the blow had earned her an opening. Magical power gathered, and there was a flash of light as Jaina’s spell ripped the sea serpent’s skull apart. The creature toppled back, blood spewing, and sank beneath the waves. Elsewhere, the other sea serpents quailed at the sight before following their fallen leader back into the safety of the ocean.

“Not bad,” Callie said. “My lady.”

“I could say the same.” Jaina frowned. “And you say you’re just a sailor.”

“That’s what I am for now. I’ve been other things before.” Callie smiled thinly. “You have to be flexible to survive.”

Jaina could certainly appreciate that sentiment. “See to the wounded,” she ordered. “And let us hope there are not too many of them.”

X     X     X

Author’s Notes

Things are tricky for our heroes. Sort of. While Victor has to keep the high elves alive (and hopefully get them to listen to him), Kahle has to help Jaina establish some sort of stronghold in Kalimdor without revealing too much. And Cinnamon? She’s busy playing SimCity except with Imperial Zerg.