A puddle broke beneath the soles of the Director's boots as she journeyed through the rain across the city of Boralus. Eyes swept across open streets from beneath the hood of the long coat, drops of water cascading off to the sides. The amount of rainfall here stirred up memories of her Gilnean childhood for only a minute before she shifted focus to the upcoming meeting.
"I don't think I've ever seen you nervous," Alyssa chimed across the telepathic link. "Anxious, sure. But nervous—"
"Are you making a point here, or?" Kat interrupted.
"No. Just curious. Why does she make you nervous and not anyone else?"
"It's not her. It's the topic at hand. Doing this puts an unnecessary risk on other financial ventures and our relation, should she decline. Yet, I'm left with little other options to seek funding." Kat admitted as the office came into view across the plaza.
"There's also the matter of what I plan to do. Pad her funding line with my own coin to avoid potential investigations into my financials. She won't like it, I know. To keep that behind her back creates more risk while revealing the matter could turn her away."
"Well, if she doesn't need to know, then why risk it? What she doesn't know won't hurt her." The dagger-bound woman practically shrugged in her tone.
"It could hurt us both. I'll consider your point," Kat sneered.
Drowning out the warlocks reply, she swung the office door open, the bell above the frame emitting the soft chime throughout the space, announcing Kat's arrival to the noblewoman seated at the desk. Pulling back the soaked hood with a smile, the pair commenced with the standard pleasantries. An informal greeting, inquiring on one another's state of wellbeing, and a brief catch-up of the recent Scourge invasion.
"My family is all well and safe, and Stormhollow did not suffer the Scourge. I would consider things well and good." Lady Stalsworth answered as she eased back into the seat, following their courteous handshake.
"Glad t'hear," Kat nodded, swinging one knee over the other as she dropped into the adjacent chair. "Gransonee was spared from the dead risin' again as well. So, no effect on our current arrangements as it stands." She paused for a moment. "Unless, of course, ya' wish fer changes?"
"Unless there are reasons why I should wish for changes, I see no need. Do you?"
The Director shook her head slowly. "None wot-so-eva. Th' profit flows, th' people are happy, and the hamlet has been able t'repair and expand some infrastructure. Most importantly, it keeps Jasper out of m'ear."
Elaianna chuckled in a breath, a faint smile touching the corner of her lips. "You did not write to me about our current business affairs, but rather, a new one if I am to understand your letter correctly?"
The pleasantries were dismissed. Both women preferred to discuss business over the former at every meeting.
"That is correct, yes. While this proposal is of another nature, it bears no effect on the current trade agreemen'." Kat cleared her throat, ignoring a comment from Alyssa as she pulled a ledger from the coat. "I'm sure yer aware of th' current state of the Kingdom, yes?"
"Presuming you mean things such as the King's absence and an ill-chosen replacement on the throne in the meantime? Yes. I cannot say things are any better here, as the Lord Admiral has also gone missing."
"I was referin' more t'the current economic situations." The Director clarified, collecting her hands upon the leather cover of the ledger.
"Aye," the Lady dipped her head in a shallow nod. "Such things come with recent events."
"More-so when on th' tailwinds of a long and costly war," Kat added. "Stormwind is, well t'be blunt, fractured. Th' military cutbacks, coffers empty...surely ya' know wot follows there. Taxes and overexertion. Th' nobles houses are all in a tiff, vyin' fer favors and agreements in exchange fer gold. Sharks, th' lot of 'em."
"I am an affluent woman, but I cannot cease an entire kingdom from going into taxation," Elaianna remarked, weaving her fingers together and studying the Director. "So what favor and agreement are you looking for?"
Kat quickly wet her lips, knowing her discomfort in this proposal was visible to a small degree, and while the dagger-bound woman was silent, Kat knew she was listening. Without further delay, she promptly opened the ledger to her Unit's budget and slid it across to Elaianna.
"I do no' have th' time or patience t'lobby the houses while they are in congress fer fundin', nor would I likely care for th' things they ask in exchange. My Unit is internal affairs, we are no' combat facin', but many believe wot we do is of little value."
"What -do- you do? Especially in times post-war?" Lady Stalsworth inquired, glancing over the ledger.
"Th' same as we would durin' war. We handle issues that extend beyond th' capabilities of the guards; serial killin's, drug cartels, slave rings, th' occasional cults." Kat picked at her nails in her lap, out of the other's view.
"Our latest project has no' been well received by m'peers, and I narrowly dodged havin' the Unit axed with my proposal. With the right resources and time, we could document and categorize these dangerous people's thought processes and mental states. Study them, if you will, and create a possible method t'detect these behaviors before they manifest into somethin' larger. However, with no fundin' or resources, I canno' produce the results needed to keep my Unit from disbandment."
"And you're looking for..." Elaianna asked as she found no estimated total within the ledger.
"Wot eva yer willin' t'give." Kat answered plainly. "I hate t'even ask at all, given our current professional relationship. And I certainly do no' expect charity either."
The Lady nodded again, motioning toward the Director. "Would monthly increments be of use, or were you hoping for a singular lump sum?
"Monthly would be ideal, luv'. A lump sum may create too much of a surplus that others may try to pillage."
"I can commit to supporting your Unit on a monthly basis." Elaianna pushed the ledger back across the desk with her answer.
Inquisitively, Kat stared and collected the ledger, returning the book to her coat as she hesitantly asked, "And in return?"
With a simple shrug, the Lady answered, "I would ask what I would hope you would already do. If you happen upon any knowledge of a threat to Stormhollow or my family, you will let me know so that we might protect our people and ourselves."
A soft hum rattled with Kat's throat. This was something she would have done already, yes. But while Elaianna had never given her a reason to be mistrusted, Kat struggled to believe one would ask only this in return for funding. A thought that Alyssa did little to dismiss.
"That I would already do, yes. Though I will add that if ya' have an issue within Stormhollow that falls within wot m' Unit handles, I would be more than happy t'direct focus there until the matter is resolved."
"Thank you."
Kat lifted her hand, "it is I who owes ya' thanks, twice over."
"Then let us call it a deal." Elaianna smiled, extending her hand over the desk to cement the agreement.
Now at the crossroad of revealing or secreting her intend, Kat's conflicting thoughts churned again as she eyed the offered hand. Forcing her way through, she began to reach but recoiled at the last second.
"Don't do it," Alyssa argued to no avail.
"There is one more thing," Kat muttered, clearing her throat.
"I will pull funds from my personal accounts, those undocumented linked to Gransonee. Doin' so on m'own would draw attention and force m'hand into revealin' th' island and hamlet publicly, which would then force a pledge to the Alliance or vassalage t' a noble house. Against the wishes of its people. I will hide th' funds I sent in the same ledger line as yer own." The Director admitted, letting out a heavy breath as if a weight had been lifted.
"I wanted ya' t'know, rather than keep it hidden from ya' and risk an auditory blowback."
Immediately, Elaianna's lips pursed, and a low hum vibrated behind the displeased expression as the offered hand was withdrawn. The silence which followed lingered uncomfortably between them for a solid minute as Kat held her breath and avoided the Lady's gaze.
"I suspect such will not pose a problem," Elaianna finally spoke, "as it is assisting the Kingdom."
Kat's shoulders dropped as she relaxed and let out her breath.
"I wanted t'be honest and transparent in m'intentions than lead ya' blind and risk everythin'."
"I appreciate that," The Lady smiled faintly. "Thank you."
"Th' consequences will be mine, and only mine t'bear should anythin' happen." Kat offered her hand to complete the transaction with a nod, relieved when Elaianna nodded and took the hand in a firm shake.
"Let us hope such things do not come to be."
Standing to exit, Kat fixed the position of her coat, which had shifted slightly while seated. The hood remained down, as the sound of rainfall beyond the door had ceased during their exchange.
"Light and Shadow keep ya' and yer family, Lady Stalsworth."
"Tides guide you and yours, Lady Hawke."
Resisting the urge to correct and discourage using such a title, Kat resigned to dipping her head and turning towards the door. Quickly leaving the office and taking in the scent of the city after the rain. She knew Alyssa overheard every word and would likely inquire on details but cut the inquisitive warlock off before she had a chance.
"Another time," Kat implored, "I promise. Just give me time."
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Words: 44549
Chapters: 13/13
Fandom: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, Good Omens (TV)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens)
Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens), Michael (Good Omens), Gabriel (Good Omens), God (Good Omens)
Additional Tags: Aziraphale and Crowley Met Before The Fall (Good Omens), Pre-Fall (Good Omens), Post-Fall (Good Omens), Pre-Armageddon, Post-Armageddon, Memory Alteration, memory manipulation, Love through the years, a 6000 year long love story, brief mentions of Aziraphale/various partners, minor scene of potentially dub-con, Pre-Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), Crowley’s Fall (Good Omens), Crowley Was Raphael Before Falling (Good Omens), Aziraphale and Crowley Through The Ages (Good Omens), non-graphic description of metaphysical angel sex, metaphysical angel marriage, Michael’s a wanker, So is Gabriel, God Ships Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens), All part of the Ineffable Plan, Not to be mistaken for the Great Plan
Summary:
He was an angel without a name and without a title. Mocked and picked on for being small for their kind. It wasn’t until God put him into Rafael’s care that he began to flourish. And it was Rafael who gave him the most precious gift of all. His name.
Following the Great War in Heaven, the pair finds themselves on opposite sides. Neither having any real clear memories of their time before the Fall, yet still drawn to each other. As if it were part of some great, ineffable plan the Almighty had been playing with since before time…
Kat stared blankly at the mechanical pen in her fingers as it flipped, end pressed against the desk as fingers slid down the length to the bottom, only to flip it again to repeat. Requests had been sent to both close the Pig & Whistle and for the church clergy to cleanse the building. Quinn had been dismissed to her home, ordered to remain barricaded inside until collected or killed from the exposure at the tavern. It was for the informant's safety, as she lacked the same immunities Kat carried from undeath.
Amidst the anxious churning in her gut, she was momentarily proud of the young informant. Her ability to defend herself from the geist's unremitting attacks came as a pleasant surprise, but the reaction to the kitchen cook's demise brought disappointment. Kat's gaze shifted to Quinn's file, marking the informant for future evaluation, but marked her age as a point of concern.
With a deep, slow breath, she looked over the various reports from her operatives that seemed to grow exponentially with each passing day. Agent Evensky confirmed the involvement of Uvexius Grimm at the edge of Elwynn, where scourge crossed the river from Duskwood. Her heart sank in dismay before her thoughts were interrupted.
"You've been an emotional disaster for days now," Alyssa spoke into her mind. "I've let it be, but...what the fuck is going on out there? Didn't we slay your demon or whatever?"
Kat's initial reaction was to bristle with annoyance, but instead set the report aside and gave the woman an honest answer. "The scourge has returned."
Silence lingered between them for several seconds before Alyssa spoke again. "I wish I didn't believe you."
"I can stab one if you want proof of their existence."
"I don't need proof. I believe you." The dagger-bound woman protested. "Why do we never get a break?"
Kat leaned back into her seat with an exasperated sigh, staring up at the ceiling as she answered. "I ask myself that question all the fucking time."
"I don't know for sure what'll happen when you stab one. Can I..." Alyssa starts to ask, 'can I help' but abruptly changes course, asking instead, "Stormwind?"
"Minor instances," Kat answers honestly again, "but things will no doubt go tits up here soon..."
"Yeah," Alyssa sounds tired but not surprised. "Damien better get out. Guess you'll be in the thick of all this, as usual."
Skipping over the mention of her brother Kat instead shared the news of the King's abduction and the reports of other leaders sharing the same sudden fate, aside from Tyrande and Genn. The two women shared a distaste for the former, disappointed he had not been taken among the rest. Alyssa went on to offer her power where ever she could, something Kat glanced over and brushed off with a quip on the dagger's placement upon her person. As a drink poured, she paused with the woman's next query, "Been sleepin'?"
Kat's lips pursed as she gulped down the whiskey as squeezed a sliver of azerite in her fingers. "You already know the answer to that."
"Would've been nice to be wrong for once, though."
To that, Kat does not respond, staring into the now empty glass with an inkling of regret chewing at her conscious. How she would have loved to had been wrong about so many things...
Content with the empty office silence, Kat continued to shuffle through the backlog of documents, itching for a drink but finding the bottle dry. Tirelessly, she worked as the warlock's spiritual presence hung in the stillness, knowing the comforting peace would soon be broken by curious probing.
"I know you've thought about it," Alyssa chimed as if on cue, "Is there anyone you wish to see?"
"No," Kat answered adamantly as the fountain pen was thrown against the desk in frustration over the interruptions and lack of liquor. "That's half the fucking problem with these idiots jumping at the chance to cross the veil— dredging up old memories and opening old wounds, and for what? All it does is show who is stuck in the past."
"Some people want closure," Alyssa added, "Some people are stuck in the past. Maybe they hope to escape it that way."
"Closure?" Kat scoffed and collected her face within her hands atop the desk as the fatigue over the topic intensified. "Make your closure in life. There is no escape that way, only the reliving of pain, heartache, and a new cycle of grief."
"Not like the gate is going to stay open forever, I'm sure. Eventually, they'd have to say goodbye again..." Doubt clings to the dagger-bound woman's words as they echo within the Director's mind.
"The Shadowlands is the realm of the dead, not meant for mortal eyes," Kat states immediately. "The consequences of prolonged exposure are unknown."
"Power with unknown consequences has never stopped either of us." The warlock countered.
At that moment, Kat could feel the woman's gaze upon her soul, sitting up and pressing into the office seat as she bites back the urge to lodge the dagger into the far wall.
"That isn't power," she tentatively replies. "It's fully immersing your body into a new plane of existence."
Consequences are known for such folly as she was forced to live in constant pain beneath shackles after bathing in raw energies that now twisted her soul. The brief reminiscence enough for Kat's nails to scar the desk's wooden top, snapping back to reality as splinters dug into the tender flesh. With a shaky breath, she covered the mark with a folder as Alyssa spoke again.
"That doesn't mean there's nothing to grow on to be found over there. I'm not advocating you go; I was just curious." She paused then, for a moment before adding, "if anything, if you were going to, I'd want to stay behind. I don't care to risk the land of the dead latching on to what's left of me in here."
"My job is here, not there. I have no reason to go without jeopardizing my career." Kat responded with a flare of her temper, looking to put the subject to rest before the other woman crossed a line. Fighting is all they did before the corruption rooted. Fighting is what she tired of.
"Was that justifiable when—" Alyssa cuts off and for the better. "Nevermind. I know you weren't yourself. Anyway, good, this seems like the wisest course. It's nice when we agree on those when it happens."
With eyes drifting across the office, the broken and tormented memories of the Vale and Uldum sparked to life. Despite Alyssa cutting the thought short, the sting of the implication remained. Teeth sank into the lower lip as the frustration boiled, going on the defensive out of habit and bristling as the dagger slipped from the sheath and was held to the candlelight. A single tear welled in the eye, conjured from the mixture of anger and remorse.
"Your agent," Alyssa breaks the spiraling thoughts. "You risk her loyalty if you say no; you risk it differently if you say yes."
"How very astute of you. Thank you for stating a fact I already know." Kat wiped the tear from her eye and inhaled deeply to recompose. The sarcasm had not been intentional but a natural reaction.
"You're welcome," Alyssa replies, equally sarcastic. "I think you should make her stay. She'll get over it. Why open old wounds and risk the possible effects of the Shadowlands?"
An eye roll and groaned exhale was the initial response, shaking her head and reaching for a letter that had been postmarked nearly two weeks ago.
"Then, I have to deal with the trust argument. This is more a matter of security than it is anything else."
Flipping the soul-bound dagger in her hand, the tip of the blade sliced the edge of the envelope, falling then to clatter on the desk beside the Director as she scanned the correspondence of Lady Stalsworth. Understandably the message arrived later than expected, and Kat reached for the pen to write a reply but froze as the warlock commented again.
"This is why I summoned demons. Trust wasn't a factor, and their loyalty was uncomplicated."
"It's not her loyalty that I'm concerned about," Kat said.
"What is? If she's loyal, doesn't the rest follow?" Alyssa inquired in shock.
Slender fingers rose then to pinch the bridge of the nose as Kat drew another calming breath, hesitant to reply at first but resigning to their agreement on open communication.
"The former master is what bothers me...and that she still refers to him as such."
"Another reason not to let her go," Alyssa replied with haste. Kat could nearly vision the gesture of the woman's hand as she spoke. "If she's so willing to go running when he calls, she might bend the rest of the way."
"I'm aware. I don't think she would, but she's also quite susceptible to manipulation, which this master likely knows. She may not realize it before it's too late." Leaving the line of thought there, she omitted the fear of losing control over the elf.
"She seems so. She's a good enough Agent that it's important to you to keep her around, though...so keep her around. I don't see the reason to risk it."
Now they were going in circles, again, and the final shred of Kat's patience had been exhausted. Filtering the first and abusive comment to come to mind, she yielded to the silence between them. The paranoia of another using Vynette or plucking knowledge from her mind began to churn once more, coupled with the fear that the elf would realize the toxic manipulation that the Director utilized to ensure compliance.
"You need a drink," Alyssa interjected, disrupting the self-destructive cycle and abandoning their previous conversation.
"No shit." Kat riposted with a sneer.
"I need a drink."
"I can probably find some sod in an Old Town alley," she teased the warlock with the old habit.
"Tempting," Alyssa floated the prospect, "but if I want to make a go of this being better thing, let's keep human souls off the table."
Kat snorted and rolled her eyes again, doubting how true the woman's statement had been. "I wasn't serious but good to hear."
"The low doses of Azerite are working. No reason to change."
It felt as if their discussion had ended there, as Alyssa paused for a solid minute before inquiring about her family. "Now that things are settling, have you heard of my father and brother made it?"
Kat tapped the tip of her pen upon the desk, sucking her teeth as she formulated an answer. "They're fine. Miles is skulking around the office, I'm sure, and I'm sure your bother probably has an elf bent over a mattress somewhere."
Truthfully, she was unsure. The senior and junior Ward were of little concern to the Director and her operations, but their names were absent from all documents of the deceased and missing.
"I definitely didn't need that detail." The distaste is evident in her voice before it gives way to relief, "but I'm glad they are alive. I'm worried Damien will try to enlist. He might try to find our mother."
"I'll leave you to your thoughts for now...I know I'm stating the obvious a great deal. I'm losing track of things I've already said. It's getting hard to keep it all organized."
"It's a welcomed distraction." Kat smiled, faintly, as she contemplated the effects the vessel had upon Alyssa's memory. Realizing then that her comment opened the door for future interruptions, she quickly added, "Sometimes."
"Welcome sometimes is a pretty good bar to hit. I'm a simple woman." Alyssa chimed, practically smirking in her telepathic words.
"That's bullshit, and we both know it." The Director spoke physically and across the link with a scoff, dropping the conversation there. Returning the dagger to the sheath upon her thigh, she collected a fresh pen and stationery, settling in to write Lady Stalsworth before heading home for the night.
(Following [Returning Home] & [Cover to Cover, for You and I])
The greater part of Kat's afternoon had been spent in the hidden basement level of her home, hunched over the workbench with various materials scattered around her. Things were both procured and stolen from Mechagon, Zandalar, and Kul Tiras. Most notably of which was the sack of powdered azerite with the Ashvane logo printed on the front. The second being the mechanical hand, half disassembled and modified to fit over her own like a gauntlet.
At a slow and deliberate pace, Kat repaired the leather bracers around her wrist. She was dragging the thread through powdered azerite as the mechanical hand stitched the tears together with inhuman precision. The old runic seals were systematically replaced, re-etched in the leather, and imbued with the azerite powdered before completion. While she worked, she could feel the subtle pulls of emotion from the dagger at her thigh; Alyssa was no doubt watching her soul and every reaction. Kat could feel her hunger for power each time she touched the azerite, and the fluxes in her soul with each prod of the bracers.
Dismissing the other woman's emotions, Kat pressed on. These preparations had to be completed. The bracers were not an option in her life anymore.
As she worked, memories of the dream-like state of her coma replayed, the final one in particular. 'We had a deal — I will get what is owed.' The voice of Erzis echoed over and over in her head as she questioned where the void-born being escaped to and what havoc it was causing. Kat refrained from going to the cave Erzis had been bound to since her return.
Sprinkling another pinch of powdered azerite into a new seal on the bracer, Kat's thoughts were interrupted by Alyssa's abrupt interjection.
"By the time this whole thing ends, I might be hooked on the stuff too. Riley used it to fuel me."
Kat looked over at the bottles of liquid azerite as she paused her work. "Didn't just have her murder people?"
"Just one," Alyssa answers honestly, "and that was to test its effect on the piece of soul you left me."
"Well, probably for the better then. We don't need a bigger mess than what we already have." Pursing her lips as she returned to work, Kat moved a magnifying glass over the bracer to inspect the finer details for imperfections.
"Yeah, I'm trying to ease back my kill count," Alyssa's tone a bit sardonic. "I also hadn't met Riley before, didn't know anything about her or what I could ask...to save you though, she was game for anything it took."
A smile pulled across Kat's lips as she responded over the telepathic connection. "That doesn't surprise me. She and I are alike in a few ways, stubbornness and determination among them. Riley's had my back, and I've had hers for a while now. Come a long way from hardly trusting each other when we first met." Glancing off to the side, Kat looked to the damaged set of custom armor. "I guess, in a way, she'd been keeping me safe for years. Still feel bad about nearly bleeding out on her floor, though."
"Got the sense of that. She cares a lot. I'm glad I got to work with her. If anyone else were going to have the dagger, I'd trust it to be her."
"You'd have loved it if Sarah had found the dagger." Kat teased, realizing how accustomed she had become to having Alyssa's voice always around. She didn't linger on the thought, returning her focus to infusing the bracers.
"She'd have thrown me into the ocean first chance she got, I bet. Think she'd have been glad to no longer have me in the world."
"Sarah? Never." Kat's sarcasm was painfully obvious. "She might have used you as a prop in one of her shows. You could have been famous. If you ever made your presence known to her, that is."
"If she'd been the one to find the dagger, I would've," Alyssa replies after a pause of consideration. "I would've taken anyone I could get to try and save you."
"Mhm. Well, she should remain in her bubble of naivety."
"Agreed."
"The less she knows th—" Pain seared against the flesh and cut Kat's sentence short. A miscalculation resulted in the azerite burning through the leather, reaching the skin below.
"What's wrong?" Alyssa inquired in a flash of concern.
"Nothing," Kat grunted out as she removed the mechanical gauntlet from her hand to aptly strip the bracer from her wrist.
Alyssa's exasperation was palpable in the connection. "What caused you pain."
"I burned myself, it's fine."
"Your aura's been doing interesting things for the last while. What are you working on?" Alyssa probed further.
"Fixing the bracers you broke," Kat stated, careful not to allow emotion into the thought as the leather was pulled from her wrist, the crudely carved and scarred over rune in her flesh exposed. Immediately she felt the effects of her waring soul threatening to become unstable. The unstable sensation was short-lived as Alyssa interfered, and Kat suddenly felt ill. Vision blurred, and the stomach churned, cold sweat began to collect on her brow.
"I don't remember breaking them. I remember that they broke."
"I remember warning you they would break after you got all hocus pocus in there and damaged them the first time." Only a faint hint of spite touched her tone as a palm pressed against the workbench to keep her stable. "Whatever you just did, I am not enjoying it."
"I remember we might both be dead if I didn't. It's not like I 'hocus pocus' for the fun of it." Alyssa promptly replies. "I imagine this isn't comfortable, but it will hold things until the bracer is in place again. Your soul really doesn't like to be...wrangled? Is that the word?"
"I don't care to be wrangled either. I've had hangovers more enjoyable than whatever this is." Curled knuckles lifted to Kat's lips, feeling as if she was going to vomit.
"You'll like this better than what it feels like if your soul rips itself in half, I bet."
"I can at least manage that, thank you." Kat spat back as she hastily and carelessly wrapped a single layer of bandage around the burn. With another disoriented sway, she had to grip the edge of the workbench, taking a deep breath to steady herself and fasten the bracer back on her wrist without hesitation.
Abruptly shifting the topic, Kat inquired, "Can you manage excess energy any better now?"
"I don't expend much energy, nor take much in since then, so I don't know the answer," Alyssa replies honestly as her magic faded, and Kat's head cleared again.
That wasn't the answer Kat was hoping for. Turning to face the sack of powdered azerite, she pulled the dagger from its sheath as she stood. "Well, then. This is probably going to be unpleasant."
"What am I bracing for?" Alyssa asked in concern.
"Remember the Vale?" Kat looked down at the glowing engravings upon the dagger's blade. The pang of pain twisted her gut as she thought back to the time the blade went dormant.
"I used the most powerful Pandaren soul we had to restart your soul."
"That's unfortunate..." Kat trailed off. It was a minor detail, but no longer critical. "I meant the fight when I...thought I killed you."
"You're talking about the amount of energy that you used me to deflect?" Alyssa was seeking clarification, still concerned.
"Before that?" Suddenly Kat realized she was having trouble recalling the order of events as if the memory had been damaged. "You did something to cause a swell of energy, which I surged over the dagger."
"Oh..." Alyssa replies, she sounds more sheepish and less sure now. “I did something someone like me never should. I channeled the Light."
"Interesting," Kat says in that way, indicating she would revisit the subject at a later time. "You won't need to do that, I don't think, and I'd rather not experience that level of pain again, even if it was enjoyable." She quickly skips over that admittance. "It's the level of power in the attack I'd rather focus on."
"Okay...power I can do. The negative side effects on me had more to do with the Light's effects on me. I should be able to handle that level in magics I'm more comfortable with."
Kat pulled her lips inward as she looked from the dagger to the pile of powder, spinning the handle over in her hand for a downward plunge. "Just think of it as training." Without any real warning, the blade was buried in the azerite, and Kat took a step, arms crossing over her chest as she stared at the exposed handle.
She knew that any confrontation with Erzis would result in a fight, and she knew that in their current state, Alyssa would likely be a collateral casualty if the blade made contact with the lesser void lord. Kat could remember stabbing the faceless in the Vale, and the resulting destruction she was able to reap with the dagger. It was both the level of power and reassurance Alyssa could survive she wished to recreate.
Minutes passed as Kat chewed her lower lip, watching the teal glow of the engravings flicker with blue and gold hues. In Kul Tiras, they had coated their blades with the same powder; this would have the same result in theory. Once the azerite around the blade turned a pale gray, Kat yanked the dagger free.
"How do you feel?" She quickly asked.
"Dazed," Alyssa's voice was garbled, hard to make out. "Drunk."
Not precisely what Kat was expecting.
"On a scale of one to ten, how equal is this to the instance in the vale?"
"I'm conscious," Alyssa replies, still sounding a bit out of it. "Eight?"
"Can you expel any of the energy?" Kat watched as the flicker along the dagger engravings became less frantic.
"Out of the dagger?" Sounding foggy, Alyssa was trying to follow the question.
Kat rolled her eyes, patience wearing thin. "No. Into the nether..."
Almost immediately after her sarcastic quip, the glow of the dagger suddenly swelled. Kat's eyes widened as strands of her hair lifted with the palpable energy in the air. Panicked, she turned around, making an effort swing the dagger towards the empty stone wall, but it was too late. The excess energy erupted from the dagger, scorching the wall and sending Kat tumbling to the floor in the opposite direction.
The sound of the dagger bouncing on the floor couldn't be heard over the ringing in Kat's ears. Dazed and disoriented, she slowly pushed herself back up, grunting as she held what was likely a bruised rib or two. Staggering her way across the basement, she scooped the dagger up off the floor.
"Okay," Kat grunted in pain, "not what I was planning."
"Sorry," Alyssa replies, "could barely hold it."
"It's fine. I'm used to it." Kat breathed out a faint sigh of relief upon hearing Alyssa's reply. "How do you feel?"
"Disoriented, confused. The last few minutes are a blur...I feel like I have a hangover."
"That's better than dead." Kat attempted at humor as she approached the powdered azerite once more. "Ready to try again?"
"Are we in an open space?"
"Open enough." Kat looked over at the scorched wall.
"Hit me then. Tell me now what you want me to do with it, though."
"In the Vale I swept the energy over the dagger in a wide swing. The resulting wave cleaved everything within its path in half." Kat paused, speculating something. "Trying to recreate that, but something is different here."
"Maybe it wasn't the Light I was thinking of..." Alyssa attempted to recall the event. "This was when you gave me the azerite?"
"I wanted the power, and you were hesitant to give it. I remember panicking when you did, then the attack." Kat walks Alyssa through it. "I remember the pain, the amount of power, and I remember pushing it back over the blade."
"You were fighting the Faceless."
"I was, yeah."
Alyssa went quiet for a moment as Kat continued to stand over the powder. "Even if we figure this out, it won't matter anymore once I'm not in it."
Kat skips right over that comment, a thought she didn't want to entertain. Her paranoia and fear of betrayal kept her up at night as it was.
"The difference is that I pushed the energy over, or through, you. Because you passed it to me after I stabbed the faceless." She spoke as if having a revelation, looking down at the blade as it all suddenly made sense.
"I don't know if it was ours. I saw the city. It could have been an offering of power to tempt us." Alyssa paused a moment before moving on. "Let's try again then. I'll store the energy and siphon it into you."
Without a second thought, Kat buried the dagger into the powder a second time, letting go of the handle and taking a step back. Just as before, the teal glow within the engravings flickered with the subtle blue and golden hues of the azerite.
Watching with bated breath, Kat chewed on her thumbnail, mind racing as Alyssa's single comment effectively sent her paranoid thoughts into motion. The fear of abandonment ripping into her gut as she considered the possibility of a whole-again Alyssa walking out, or even turning the dagger against her. For a brief moment, she contemplated the option of using the trapped soul as payment for Erzis, to change the terms of their deal and cut off any plans of betrayal.
Shaking her head and returning to the present, Kat dismissed the dangerous lines of thought and reached out to pull the dagger from the now depleted azerite. "You okay?"
"Mmm..." Alyssa sounded more dazed than the first time, but she alive.
"Still better than dead." Stated simply before Kat siphoned energy from the dagger.
The sensation of which felt intoxicating. The swell of power and numbness to the brain as pure power flowed from her fingers and over the bracers, which fortunately held. She could feel Alyssa attempting to control the flow of energy, but Kat practically inhaled it all at an alarming rate.
The pain of the overcharge was nothing new for Kat, but every time felt like the first. As if her skin would tear to shred and energy would pour from every wound. Eyes burned and felt as if they'd burst under pressure, the pained howl she screamed out always did little to mitigate the pain. If Alyssa had said something, she couldn't hear it.
Kat lunged forward without hesitation, sweeping the dagger in a wide arc and forcing the excessive swell of energy back over the blade. Just as it had in the Vale in a line of pure power was sent out in a wave, cleaving several feet through the stone wall of the basement and the earth behind it.
A pleased hum was all Kat could manage as she went light-headed, swaying on her feet as she reached out to plant a hand on the wall for stability. Looking at the dagger, she was happy to see the glow still present. "You— You alright?"
"Mmm," Alyssa groaned again in response. "Hangover...but...yeah. Kind of not sure if it's actually better than being dead."
"With the former, I'm not alone." Kat doesn't elaborate as she leaned her back against the wall, eyes shut as her head felt swimmy. "That was better, not ideal, but better."
"It's draining...and I don't know if I could hold it long before we use it." Alyssa also sounded exasperated.
"We can probably skip the first part, go right...to..." Haphazardly Kat's sentence trails off as she slides down the wall to the floor, the dagger still in her hand as it goes limp in her lap, head falling to one side as she blacks out from overexertion.
Several days after Kat's return home and the cabin was finally restored to its former state. Layers of dust eradicated, empty bottles and broken glass swept away, and the plethora of depleted azerite stones had been disposed of. The regular visits between Riley and Sarah ensured the home's recovery, and her own, never deviated from the rails.
The home office had been the one room spared from her downward spiral months ago, yet Kat still felt the urge to inspect every detail within meticulously. Each shelf of the bookcase, every piece of paper left out, and to go through every drawer. With the knowledge Riley had, at the least, gone through the desk, she expected to find some of the liquid azerite to be missing, along with the duplicate stone she wore around her neck. With nothing else out of place, Kat found no cause for alarm. Her fingers brushed against the silver setting of the stone at her neck as her thoughts wandered to the twin necklace that Riley now had—wondering if she had learned how to utilize the energy of the stone as well.
Gently shutting the bottom desk drawer, Kat's gaze lifted to the office bookcase. With pursed lips, she crossed the room and scanned over the collection of books, all of which the common man would find boring, relating to her work or other professional interests. As she reached for one book, in particular, the voice of Alyssa invaded her thoughts, and she froze in place.
"Hey, Kat? Got a bit of a request. You think next time you read something that you don't have to keep secret, you could," a pause, "read it aloud in your head? Anything at all honestly, I've been over the books I remember hundreds of times now. I could use some new material."
Kat's eyes remained fixated on the book mere inches from her fingertips, and she mulled over the request with creased brows. 'Wars Of The Decade,' a title out of place with the rest of the shelf dedicated to shadow magic and espionage.
"Yeah, sure," Kat responded as her hand pulled away from the bookcase.
"Thanks."
With another tentative sweep of her gaze over the office space, she retreated into the cabin's main room, moving towards the bookcase that sat adjacent to the couch. For a moment, she eyed the binding of the naval strategy book, which still needed to be returned to Alexa. Opting not to bore Alyssa into an actual death, Kat instead selected her favorite from the shelf; the complete collection of mystery and macabre writings of a Gilnean author.
Sinking into the nearby lounge chair's cushions, she flipped open the cover and started at the beginning. Despite the fact, Kat had nearly memorized every story; she never grew bored with them.
(Following [The Not-So-Dead] & [Strangers and Old Habits])
The walk from Stormwind to the cabin on the far side of Elwynn was a bittersweet feeling of familiar. The light-hearted conversation passed the time as Kat occasionally glanced at the dagger Riley carried, careful not to be obvious with her wandering eyes. Odell, as always, napped in the treeline at the end of the clearing. The fox lifted his head to inspect the pair as they approached the front porch, huffing as he curled up again. Kat paused as she began to open the door, staring at the handle in her hand with a nervous breath before forcing it open. The home was still in disarray. The level of dust had grown since Riley's last visit. Slowly Kat stepped into the main room, her eyes sweeping over the mess in silence.
"Can I get you that drink?" Riley offered from the doorway as she unshouldered her bag.
"More like a bottle," Kat muttered as she kicked an empty glass on the floor with her boot. With another anxious breath, she pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes closed. "Wot a fuckin' mess..."
Riley retrieved two bottles from her bag with a small grin, holding each by the neck in either hand. "I've got ya covered there," she mused, stowing one of the bottles in the crook of her opposite arm so she could deal a reassuring squeeze to Kat's shoulder with the free hand. "And it's nothing that can't be fixed, yeah?"
Kat mirrored the smile, weak as it was, as she glanced over at Riley before eying the bottles. "Ya've never disappointed, luv'."
She leans down to pluck an empty bottle from the floor to deposit into a waste bin on her way into the kitchen, the resulting 'clunk' seeming to echo through the otherwise quiet home.
Moving into the center of the room, Kat watched Riley make her way towards the kitchen in the far corner, an empty bottle plucked from the floor along the way, and dropped into the waste bin, resulting in a 'clank' which echoed in the cabin.
"It's no' about that, it's just—" Kat let out another heavy exhale, nudging and empty bottle on the floor with her boot. "—yeah, the place can be fixed. But can I? I hardly remember any of this. It's all flashes like a skipping record. What I remember most was the feeling of being empty, and how intoxicating it was as I drowned m'self in whiskey and azerite."
"I think," Riley paused, uncorking one of the bottles, "after everything you've been through, the fact that you're even standing there, to begin with, is proof enough that you've got what it takes to get there - where ever 'there' is." A gentle shrug was offered, but not in any dismissive way - her tone was genuine, as was the sentiment behind it. "I can't imagine what that must have been like." She shook her head gently, taking a cloth to the two cleanest glasses she could find. "And I'm not gonna try. But I gotta wonder what it was that led you there, to begin with..." The question is gently probing but understandably pointed.
"An Old God," Kat answered in a monotone, "by the time I knew it was too late. I took lives, traded pieces of m'self for power. It's funny because the subtly and level of manipulation makes me feel... Envious?" Kat dropped into the seat, pushing several depleted azerite crystals and shards from the couch to the floor. Thinking, only for a brief moment, if she too could achieve such a subtle level of manipulation. "I can't undo some of th' things I've done, the people I've hurt."
"Ah. Right." Riley nodded, knocking back the contents of her glass before refilling it immediately. She takes the other glass by hooking a finger into the rim to carry in-hand with the bottle, pausing to drop the glass off on the coffee table. "I could sit here and feed you the whole 'It gets easier with time' bullshit, but you and I both know that's all the line is." She offers this as a gentle tease, though there's some obvious truth in the statement. "What I can say is if there's anyone that can find a way to navigate that path, it's you. Never known you to back down from a challenge, doubt that'll change anytime soon." She adds the last bit with a hint of a familiar smirk, helping herself to a healthy pull from her glass.
"Too stubborn for m'own good sometimes," Kat added with a faint smirk of her own. "Challenge is wot started the who mess, but I appreciate the sentiment all th'same." Scooping up the glass, she quickly knocked back the contents, holding out the empty vessel for a refill. Pulling her eyes from the mess littering the floor, Kat looked to Riley.
"And you?" She gently probed. "I sat on the roof across from your shop every Wednesday, watching the dust collect on the windows."
After refilling Kat's glass Riley slumped onto the couch, ignoring the dust that flew into a plume around her, focusing instead on her drink. "I thought about that," she murmured, huffing a sigh as the weight of Kat's words settled onto her shoulders. "About the fact that you had no way of knowing what happened, and I had no way of telling you." With another large swig from the glass, Riley paused, setting her gaze on the amber contents as the drink was gently swirled.
"I know I told you my family was all dead - that I'd lost them all before I came to live in Stormwind. That's not true. I've got a brother. The kind of brother you grow up never talking about - not even with those closest to you." Riley sat forward in her seat, pursing her lips to the side for a moment as she looked up to meet Kat's gaze. "I've got something he wants, as it turns out. And while the 'what' and the 'why' of it all is lost on me, it took him a long time to figure out that I wasn't lying every time I said I didn't know what the fuck he was talking about."
She rolled her shoulders in a shrug, a pained attempt at a smile taking residence on her features. "I'm sorry I put you through that. I really am."
"I could have helped..." Kat spoke above a whisper, leaning forward and placing a hand on Riley's arm. "I didn't know where t'look or where t'start, but I wanted anything and everything to help." Exhaling out a sigh of her own, Kat took a generous swig from the glass and sank back against the cushion.
"And I'm sorry I put you through the same. As we agreed, though, never again." Her foot nudged Riley's leg, and the faintest of smirks touched her lips. "Where is he now? Will he be a problem again? Is there anything I can do?"
"We didn't exactly part on good terms," Riley paused for a split second. "I imagine he'll reach out again at some point, but I doubt he'll go about it in the same way. I can give you enough information for one of your files, that way you'll know where to start if it turns out he is foolish enough to pull that shit again." She met Kat's gaze then, reclining back into her seat with as relaxed a sigh as she could manage. "I should have told you about him a long time ago. Just one of those things I thought I could bury and forget about until it simply... faded into obscurity, y'know?" A chuckle rumbled within her throat at the thought.
"Anything is better than nothin'. The file can wait until another time. But if he dares touch ya' again, I'll bury my blade in him. Personally." The signature tone of a threat hung in Kat's voice as she looked towards the cold hearth. Killing the last of her whiskey and shaking her head as she promptly refilled the glass. "I know th' feelin', of ignorin' and tryin' to forget about something. Pushin' it deep and hopin' it becomes obscure and lost t'time. Take from me, luv', that shit just doesn' work." In a blink, her eyes shifted back to Riley.
"I'm sorry ya' had t'see all this." A finger lifted from the glass to indicate the cabin which sat in disarray. "This is where ya' found—" Kat nearly choked on her words in the abrupt pause. "—her?"
"I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to start this conversation, so I'm glad you're the one to bring it up," Riley paused to empty her drink down the back of her throat. Setting the glass aside before her hand fell to the hilt of the dagger, Kat had been eyeing all evening and removed its encasing sheath from her hip.
"Ya' know me. Right t'the point." Kat tried to joke, the fake smile faltering in a pained expression as Riley removed the dagger.
The backs of Riley's wrists rested against her knees, the sheathed dagger draped across open palms, brow furrowed with inner conflict she didn't even try to hide as she looked down at the dagger and then back up to Kat, who eyed the blade with apparent anxiety and shifted in her seat. The nail of her forefinger dug into the side of her thumb, hard enough to draw a drop of blood. The lower lip was tugged inward by teeth, and breath hitched as a lump in Kat's throat. Water welled in the eyes, and she had to look away.
"She's still alive, then?"
Riley's dark brows pulled a little tighter together, and her voice was hesitant in tone when she finally did speak up a moment later. "Do you... remember what happened?" Her uncertainty appears honest, as does her desire to tread carefully. "Any of it..?"
Kat winced. Face scrunching as lips were curled inward, shifting in anxiously again in her seat, one arm wrapping tightly around her core, still looking away towards the bedroom door. "Wot—" Kat's voice broke, she cleared her throat and tried again. "—Do ya' know? Wot did she say?" With a trembling lower lip, she hesitantly looked towards Riley again, locking their eyes together. The pain and guilt ran deep into Kat's core, and she couldn't hide it.
"Enough to understand why you're looking at me like that..." it was meant to be a gentle jab - an attempt at levity -, but there was no denying the seriousness of what they were about to get into. "I may have coaxed more information out of her than she wanted to give, but you know what they say about old habits. Whatever you're still holding onto that's making you anxious about what I'm thinking - you can go right ahead and let go of it. I'm not here to judge." Riley shook her head. "And whatever happened between the two of you - despite what happened between you - you should know that she's been desperate to find you this whole time. I couldn't have done it without her help - she's been my guide through all of it, really."
Kat's nervous twitches continued as Riley spoke, her thumbnail now raking across the fingertips, pausing at each one to pick at the skin. "It wasn't me...not completely." She finally breathes out in a shaky voice. "Towards the end, memories become patchy. I've been worried, afraid she didn't survive." Reaching for the bottle, she inhaled a gulp of whiskey from the container directly. "I know that regardless of wot I say, I can't make it right."
"No one's asking you to," Riley offers gently, pausing her thought with a sigh. "Least, not either of us - I can only speak honestly about the things I know, and I imagine that's just a drop in the bucket with all you've dealt with, but you've still got folks in your corner. You don't have to go through it alone." Reaching out across the space between them, Riley places her hand atop Kat's.
"I know..." Kat whispers between gulps of whiskey. Her hand stopped the nervous twitch. Instead, her fingers were gently gliding across Riley's. "Thank you..."
A moment of heavy silence hung between them before Riley gently spoke. "Do... do you want to talk to her?"
Kat looked anxiously towards the dagger, unsure what to expect. A fight, empty apologies, bitterness, acceptance. The overwhelming pressure was enough to warrant another massive gulp of whiskey.
"Do ya' think I should?"
"I do," Riley affirms, offering a nod. With that, Riley takes hold of the blade within its sheath, breaking contact with the hilt after a small hesitation to hand it out for Kat to take. "I know she's desperate to hear your voice again..."
An amused huff broke the guilty expression as Kat shook her head, biting her lip again as she glanced down at the dagger. With a deep breath to calm the nerves, she reached out and wrapped her fingers around the handle of the blade.
Immediately the familiar sensation of connection pummeled into Kat's consciousness. The ability to feel the lifeforce, the soul, bound within the dagger, left her dazed and twisted with emotions. Riley sank into the couch with a quiet sigh of relief, content to sit, and carefully monitor the situation at hand for the time being.
"Hey..." Alyssa's voice broke the awkward silence, echoing within Kat's skull and threatening to bring tears to her eyes again.
With another slow exhale, Kat cracked her necked and responded in an equally lackluster, "hey."
"Think I'll win some kinda magical award or something for figuring out how to put a dormant soul back together?"
"I'll put something together for you, but I never had my doubts you'd figure it out." The anxiety and guilt Kat harbored was nearly palpable as she covered up the lie. There was no plan when she ejected Alyssa through the scroll of recall; the only concern was removing her from inevitable destruction. "I was worried you didn't survive."
"I'm glad we both survived," Alyssa's replied, her overwhelming emotional state is pure relief at the moment. "It's good to hear your voice again. Really good. I...don't know if I would have, without Riley. You pick good friends."
"She's..." Kat trailed off a bit as her eyes shifted from the dagger in her lap to Riley at the end of the couch, who was finishing off another glass of whiskey. "...yeah. Glad she ain't dead, and that she's the one who found you."
Kat drew the dagger from the sheath and spun it over in her hand. A thumb running over the edge of the blade as she sat in silence, inspecting the dagger and the glowing engraving. "It looks like she's taken great care of the blade. You two playing nice?"
"I think so. She's been... We both needed someone to lean on during this. I owe her dinner when—" Alyssa paused abruptly "—If." She leaves the rest of that unsaid, but Kat knew where the thought was going "We've been worried. She's probably said everything I'd want to say. We thought you were gone."
"She's said a lot. But we all know there aren't enough words to describe how we feel."
Kat's eyes narrowed skeptically, looking to Riley again as she inquired. "She ask ya' t'kill anyone?"
"Oh yeah," Riley responds, nodding a few times before standing and making her way over towards the kitchen. "Couple of times." There's an air of acceptance to her words, even while offered up in mild jest - she seems neither disturbed by the admittance nor surprised by the inquiry.
Kat's tongue pocketed in the corner of a cheek as a low hum rolled in her throat, skeptically concerned about that answer as she focused on Alyssa again.
"I'm sorry. For everything."
"I can't say I understand why things went the way they did." Alyssa responded with a mix of emotions, "I think you know after everything we went through, though, that I don't hold it against you. Thank you for saying it."
There was another pause as Kat's emotions churned again with guilt and grief, tying knots in her stomach and threatening to send the whiskey back up. "I don' know wot I know anymore. I hardly remember things towards the end."
"A lot of things got said. I remember it all, but I don't know what was real and what wasn't. It was in both our minds by then. It's over now. We both came out on the other side."
"Did we?" There was a pain in Kat's words. "The things I did, there's no going back from that. For months my actions weren't my own. Even now, I feel as if I'm waiting for a veil to be lifted, and this all to be another trick of the mind."
Alyssa was taken aback, and a long pause followed before she replied. "Months... I never knew how long— This is real though, Riley and me, we won't let it not be. Maybe you can't come back from all of it, but we're here."
"It was there, in my mind, whispering and goading me on when I—" Kat choked and couldn't finish the sentence. Her legs curled up on the cushion, and her head dipped, forehead resting on the dagger's pommel held tightly in a fist at the top of her knees. "Some of us are more here than others, and that's the problem. I don't know how to fix my biggest mistake."
It wasn't until Kat curled up that Riley stepped away from the cutting board in the kitchen and moved to stand beside Kat's seat, reaching out to rest a hand on her shoulder. "I know this is probably a stupid question, but are you alright?"
"I've missed her," Kat whispers in the curled-up state.
"We'll figure it out," Alyssa attempts to reassure, "hell, I'm an expert in soul magic and near as I can tell, even without it's influence you seem to be too. If anyone can—"
"And if it does more damage? Or worse..." Kat interrupted
Kat sucked in another uneasy breath, looking out to the cold hearth as Riley's hand squeezed her shoulder. "If I can find a way, what does it mean for us?"
Alyssa hesitated in her response. "What do you want it to mean for us? Can we rebuild that we had?"
"I'm asking you."
Kat's teeth clenched before she glanced over her shoulder towards Riley and painfully whispered again. "I don't understand."
"That seems perfectly understandable to me..." Riley's uncertainty is palpable in her tone, though she offers another reassuring squeeze to Kat's shoulder all the same.
"You might not remember the last moments. I said, I love you, and I meant it." Alyssa's tone ached. "We can rebuild."
Kat paused there, wetting her lips and looking to the floor. "I said it too, and I meant it..."
"Then we'll try. If we figure this out. I'll get clean, and we'll go from there." Alyssa spoke in faint relief.
"Yeah... Yeah, maybe..." Kat's attention pulled back into reality as Alyssa echoed back the same response, sounding unhappy with the way Kat had said it.
To Kat, it didn't make sense, with how easily Alyssa seemed to let it go. It played on her paranoia, and her mind raced with a dozen scenarios of freeing the woman from the dagger. Some tragic while others were wholesome, but Kat's returning thoughts of abandonment plagued each projected outcome, even the fear of becoming the dagger's next inhabitant out of spite.
"It started right there," Kat pointed the dagger at the empty hearth, addressing Riley again. "Our voices raised, I shoved her against the stones. Then it ended over there," the dagger pointed towards the dining table next. "That's where I plunged this blade into her gut, after beating her with a candelabra." Kat's voice cracked and broke as she relived the scene, tears beginning to fall, all while maintaining a simple conversation with Alyssa in her head. "And she just...forgives me? I don't understand."
Riley followed the narrative; her gaze was tracing each location the dagger highlighted. "I know this doesn't need to be pointed out - least of all by me - but she loves you. Regardless of... how things progressed, she knows it wasn't all you there. At the end." Pausing, Riley gave herself a moment to breathe a sigh. "I wish I knew what else to say... but she never gave up on you."
"She tell ya' why I did it?" Kat's watery gaze shifted towards Riley again, lips pursing in a mix of self-loathing and sorrow.
"She didn't talk about it a lot. What happened, anyway," Riley reached up with her free hand to deal an idle rub to the back of her neck. "From what she did say, though, it seems like you did it to save her. That's how she explained it in a roundabout way."
"Yeah," Kat stated coldly as she wiped away a tear. She was making the conscious decision to change the narrative in hopes of clearing her guilt.
"The fel was gettin' the better of her. Got to th' point where it would have been her or me." Pushing up to her feet, Kat paced slowly across the rug, eyeing the hearth. "Said before she'd get clean, but didn't. Told me about someone she loved and killed, how else was I supposed to react when the fel comes out in an argument?" Arms lifted with the rhetorical question.
"If I put her back into a body, she'll walk out on me and go right back into hurtin' people. Tryin' to play us..." The pacing stopped, and Kat chewed on her lip again before firing a loaded question. "Let me guess; she told ya' to kill someone so she could regain strength? To repurpose th' soul?"
"I mean, yeah... but it was all with helping you in mind," Riley interjects, brow furrowed. "She was there with me when I found you in Uldum. She took what we were able to collect and did... whatever it is you do with soul energy... to see if we could bring you back. Somehow."
Kat shook her head a bit, to make it more apparent how crazy it sounded even if she knew the truth.
"I felt what she felt, Kat..." Riley motioned faintly towards the dagger. "She probably could have made me do whatever she wanted once that link was established. She didn't. She left it up to me."
"That's the thing about manipulation. Feels like yer choice, until it isn't." Kat pointed the dagger at the table, the spot of the murder, again. "Felt like my choice at the time, but in reality, I was watching as it happened, helplessly through m'own eyes. Until I was finally left with my thoughts as I held her body."
Nesting the weapon in two hands, Kat looked down upon the glowing engravings of the dagger. "But I still love her..."
"I know you do..." Riley responded gently.
Pacing again, Kat scooped up the whiskey bottle in one hand, tipping the bottom skyward in a deep chug. Her emotions and expressions were scattered, fingers pressing to the side of her head as the dagger hung upside-down and ran parallel to her wrist.
"I've missed you."
"I missed you too. I love you, Kat."
"I love you." Kat echoes back with emotional strain. "I don't know what'd I'd have done if you didn't make it."
"Tell me I'm just paranoid." Kat's voice broke again as she looked back to Riley, sounding more like a plea as she choked on the final syllable. She was tearing herself apart from the inside out, slipping right into her self-destructive nature.
"Hey..." Riley stepped forward, gently coaxing the bottle from Kat's grasp and setting it aside. Taking Kat's face into both her hands to meet and hold her gaze with a sense of gentle purpose, she spoke softly. "I can't tell you what I don't know. You could be right - I obviously don't know Alyssa as well as you do, but I know I trust my gut, and it led me to trust her." She paused, exhaling a small sigh.
"She never even mentioned returning to her former... self, until I brought it up - she only ever seemed keen on finding you." Riley let her hands slip from Kat's face, falling then to her shoulders. "You've been through the fucking ringer, Kat. There's a lot to unpack here, just give yourself a break."
Kat's eyes clamped shut as she listened to Riley with several nods, pulling in her lips, which dragged slowly over the teeth until pursed again. "Yer right, luv'. Yer right. And I trust ya' more than anyone else these days, so..." Dropping her arm, Kat tossed the dagger onto the hearth's mantle beside them, looking at the blade for a second longer before returning her attention to Riley again.
"I need a break, yeah. We both know I'm bad about that, and we both need one." Glancing down at the whiskey bottle only inches away, Kat plucked it up by the neck without too much movement, waving the alcohol in the space between them as a smirk touched the corner of her lips. "So. Let's get drunk together so I can kiss ya' and then blame it on the whiskey."
(Following [Preparations], and subsequent sub posts.)
One after another, spaced evenly apart, Kat swung the dagger in wide sweeping arcs. She alternated from Light to Shadow to light again as the energy pulsated from the blade and cleaved the target dummies in two. A handful of the trees behind her home were scared, collateral from the training over the last week of experimenting with various sources of power and combinations, searching for the ideal equilibrium.
Letting the dagger rest at her side Kat pushed the sweaty raven hairs back out of her face, panting as the three-hour-long session came to pause. She plucked the waterskin from the windowsill and inhaled the contents, wiping away the beads of water from her lips with the back of her just as she heard the muttered 'fuck' from within the dagger.
"Three too much?" Kat asked, though hardly concerned. "Are you actually touching the energies, or do they flow through you? I'm not entirely sure how things work for you in there."
"Everything in here is me. Nothing just flows through. It looks like a place, but it's all me. Three is manageable. The Light just hurts."
"Well, I have to alternate," Kat stated, inspecting the damage to the dummies from afar. "I remember the pain. You get used to it."
With a soft thump, the empty water skin dropped to the wooden bench where a few other supplies were sitting. Nimble fingertips found the Azerite crystal next, pulling the stone into the palm as she siphoned off the raw energy to recuperate her strength. The numbing sensation that washed over her mind made her nearly miss Alyssa's next statement.
"It's not the alternation. It's my nature. It repels the Light. I'll get used to it. Keep going."
"No, that's enough of that for now. We found a flow and decent control point." Kat said as she turned to face the clearing, her left-hand coalescing with Void as she reaches out to tear a small hole in the plane of existence.
Pain search from the tips of her fingers to the left shoulder, her body was fighting against the excessive use of the dark magic. Kat grit her teeth and clenched her jaw as the air split open with a tiny portal, a tear into the void. Setting her gaze on the darkness beyond, she uttered a select verse beneath her breath.
"Are you going to tell me why we're doing this training yet?" Alyssa asked again. She did every day but never got an answer.
"This is the endgame." Kat's cryptic monotone offered little to go on as she stared into the vast nothingness as the repulsive voidling lurched itself free from the portal. Her gaze was cast down to the dagger in her hand as the creature gurgled and crawled about. "What did it feel like when I stabbed the Faceless and K'thir?"
"Chaotic. I lost myself for a moment both times...it felt like a moment, could have been longer. N'zoth spoke to me, and I saw the city." Alyssa's answer came with a cautious form of curiosity.
"Mmm, well, N'zoth is dead now, so that shouldn't be a problem." With a shrug, the blade spun around in her hand, gripping the handle and plunging the dagger into the voidling. The engravings upon the blade shift from teal to purple in the blink of an eye, and the shambling creature shriek out in what one could assume to be pain as its body turned to dust.
Running a fingertip across the glowing floral engravings Kat could feel the raw energy of the voidling's life force resonating from the blade, as minor as it was.
"How do you feel?" She probed, subtly searching for signs of danger. Unsure what to expect when directly feeding the woman's soul with the essence of the Void.
After a short and suspenseful pause, Alyssa gurgled her response."Bwixki... amala zal qulllll."
Kat's eye widened, threatening to nearly fall out of her skull as her gut twisted, and her mind began to panic. "I think not," she stated forcefully, tightening her grip on the blades handle to siphon off the power.
"I'm just fucking with you," Alyssa revealed with a mirthful tone. "It's painful but manageable."
Kat's widened eyes immediately narrowed into a severe squint as she stared at the blade's engravings as if the woman within could physically see the amount of annoyance that radiated off her. With her lips pursed to hide the faint snarl of the upper lip, she looked up to the tear in the Void again, reaching out with another uttered phrase. The second creature that was called forth leaped from the portal, a void spawn this time. One she had no control over as it charged at Kat with its bodyless form.
"Well, since you're having so much fun." She spoke in spite as the dagger was driven into the spawns would-be heart, shouting away the pain with her overhead attack.
Just as before, the process repeated, and the void spawn cried out as it's form drained of color until it vanished from sight. The dagger itself was glowing brightly from the engravings and pummel. The deep purple hue flicked off the blade in whisps. As Kat inspected the weapon, she snapped out of her blind rage, knitting brows together in a brief moment of concern.
"Still good in there?"
"Yes," Alyssa answered in a strained voice, "Won't be able to hold this for very long..."
Wanting to avoid an explosion, Kat did not hesitate to siphon off the energy from the dagger. The sheer amount set her soul on fire, and the bracers constricted against her wrists, and they struggled to contain the power. For a moment, her head was foggy, but she regained footing and forced the energy back over the blade with a broad horizontal sweep—the resulting wave of destructing cleaving down several trees and shearing the boulder in the back.
"That's enough for today." Kat conceded, doubling over to plant her palms on the knees, gasping for breath and reeling from the rapid absorption and discharge. Her mind jumped from one thought to the next, concerned that if this resulted from a simple voidling and minor void spawn, then cutting a lesser void lord would be catastrophic.
"You said that ten minutes ago and then stuck me into a void creature." Alyssa sounded doubtful.
"Would you prefer I stick you in the wall? Again?" There was no sense of jest in Kat's tone this time as she fell back onto the bench.
"Well, that doesn't feel like anything. It's just boring," Alyssa said, pausing for a moment before reaching out again. "I had a question, though."
Kat's eyes rolled. "You often do."
"I keep your mind active," Alyssa replies sardonically. "It's about our link, less question more observation. Something about it is different than it was with Riley."
"How so?" Kat entertained the query for now as she leaned back against the cabin wall. Odell slunk forward from the treeline to check on her condition. The huff of disapproval from the beast had been expected.
"It became clear that I could only see Riley's soul when she had the dagger in hand. I can see yours with almost any kind of proximity."
Kat shook her head a bit as she reached out to run her fingers through the massive fox's fur. Even though Alyssa could not see it, she made an expression that showed she was not at all surprised. "And this surprises you?"
"Yes. You sound like you expected this?"
"Well, I don't think Riley is as magically inclined as you and I, if at all for that matter." Unsure of how accurate her statement was, Kat, glanced up at the broken trees, shelving the thought for another time.
"Did you not expect this? I thought you were supposed to be educated in soul related magics? Our emotional entanglement strengthens the link, as you call it. That's one theory. The other, and most probable, is that it is because I made you, in a sense." Kat pauses for only a second before rushing into an explanation to avoid lingering on that subject.
"You can't just stick a soul into an inanimate object on a whim, not without preparations and conditioning the vessel first. I conducted a small ritual while binding your soul to the blade. There was, of course, a cost. There always is. Physically many see it as just blood, but it's more than that on a deeper level; it's the life force. Mogu texts referred to it as anima, which they used to power golems. The phrase 'I put blood, sweat, and tears' into this dagger is much more literal in this sense. In a way, there is part of me in you, in there. So I would expect the connection to be healthier." "In my hand, the sheath on my thigh, or even just a few inches away on the desk. I can feel and hear you. More than a few inches, and there is nothing."
Fingers scrunched up a few times in Odell's fur before Kat pushed to her feet, allowing a moment of silence for Alyssa to process all the information given as she collected the few things from the bench to head inside.
"I've gotten very good at blocking out the sounds of souls in soul stones, or I'd have gone mad. Maybe I tried to erase in my mind the fact that part of me was in each of them too. It's a sound theory, though. It would make a lot of sense."
"Short of blaming lack of magical inclination, that is." Kat pointed out as she promptly poured herself a glass of whiskey from the home bar.
"I didn't read magic in her soul."
"Well, case and point, then." The drink was knocked back with a single, fluid motion. "I'm sure she loved you poking around her soul."
"I told her what I saw. I didn't poke into it...much..." Alyssa stated dismissively.
Raven brows pushed together again as a second drink was poured. Kat wasn't surprised, but still a bit annoyed and sought a further explanation. "Much?"
"Once I knew more about who she was, I stopped. I had no idea where I was or who she was when she picked up the dagger. I started probing because I needed to start figuring out how to take...her...o..." Alyssa trails off, clamming up. "Doesn't matter, I stopped looking."
"What?" Raw frustration overtook Kat's tone as she slammed the bottle of whiskey back onto the shelf.
"It doesn't matter now." Alyssa eluded.
Without realizing it, Kat's knuckles had gone white from the fist she was clenching in anger. "How to, what, exactly?" Though she knew where Alyssa was going with the thought, she continued to push for an admittance.
"I was considering any possible option to save you, regardless of who got hands on the dagger." Alyssa continued to evade. "That's all. I didn't have to do anything dangerous since Riley found me."
With flared nostrils, Kat let out an agitated huff as she spat, "Right."
"I was just considering that I might be able to hijack a soul." Composedly, Alyssa yielded. "Better not to have to find out, though, right?"
With a clenched jaw, Kat's teeth felt as if they would shatter. The sheer thought and suggestion of her best friend being subject to such a thing made Kat's blood boil. "Mhmm," she hummed out in reply, knocking back another full glass before walking away, abandoning the dagger on the bartop for the rest of the afternoon.
