The rocking ships lurched and moved in ways Son’Ispa was not ready for. The void entity inside of Temperance had been holding control do the young girl's body for almost three days. Three days where she had ridden with a man she knew but did not bear to think about long. Three days they brought her to a Kul’Tiran ship where her hands were healed and she was given the Captain’s quarters to rest.
Before this, she had been a prisoner, and again she felt like she was a prisoner for a different reason. Last twenty years Temperance and Son’Ispa had feared what was hunting them. The creature that would rip apart any adopted family they had, the thing that hunted them all around Kul’Tiras and now the thing that saved them.
‘He’s hardly a thing, he’s a man, even if his body is not really his own.’ Son muttered as she looked up at the lurching ceiling. Her body did not like the ocean, and a deeper part of her wanted to be deeper in the ocean. To a place where there weren’t any currents to thrash her around.
The moment Son’Ispa saw the Captain of the ship when he saved her from that witch's home, she knew. Twenty years she had been running for no reason, but yet for more reason than she had ever had. Being healed, and having several meals in her, she was counting down the moment when he would walk back in. When he came, she knew she would have to tell him something she dreaded.
The knock didn’t make her jump, she had been expecting it for long enough. Clearing her voice she called out. “Come in.”
For all the monsters in this world, he was a beautiful one. If she was not protecting Temperance, Son’ispa would be more relieved, but that’s not the world she lived in.
He had beautiful golden hair, bright eyes, and tanned skin from working out on the ship. His clothing was perfectly tailored, he had to be wealthy. It didn’t matter what the crew called him. Son knew what he was. He was a void entity, much like her, no, exactly like her. He was her other half. A pair who were sent to inhabit human bodies so they could sew chaos and confusion among the humans while more powerful entities did the things the heroes focused on. They were small pieces, but small pieces always meant the difference between success or failure.
“Pa’thay.” She said quietly watching him.
His smile was bright, and it hurt to look at. “So your memory is coming back now?”
It had come back the moment she had seen him. Like a jolt of electricity, it shocked the fog from her mind. The botched ritual that kept Temperance and her sharing the same body had almost made her forget, but now she couldn't, she wouldn't ever forget.
But she couldn’t do what they had planned. Not anymore.
Instead, she nodded. “I had forgotten everything.”
The other half of her sat on the edge of the bed that she had been rooted to for the last few minutes. The ship lurched and she reached out to steady herself.
“You’ll get your sea legs soon.” His voice carried not just warmth, but a joy to it, it broke her a little.
“We need to talk, something has, changed.” She looked at him, and her body wanted to relax. But it was not her body. “I am only a passenger for this body. I don’t own it.”
Her other half, Alexander, that’s what the crew had called him, shook his head. A hand came up to touch her. “Then we make sure this is your body. It was promised to you.”
“Promised when the child who owned it could be ushered to her next life without pain.” She pushed his hand away. “I love her.”
The silence was threatening like a knife in the dark. Son knew what she was saying was treason. If their Master found out she no longer wanted to do her job, she wouldn't die, there were worse things than death and she knew it now. Temperance and she would suffer, Alexander would suffer, that’s why she used to obey.
Alexander’s eyes seemed to forget to blink. His voice carrying more emotion than his face, like something didn’t sync up. Did he have a hard time figuring out how to be human? Son wondered what she would be like if she didn’t have Temperance figuring out how to man her body as well. “You love her?”
“She’s my daughter. I’ve been protecting her since I was put in this body. twenty years I’ve been protecting her form everything. She’s the last of her family Pa’thay.” She said his real name not caring to try to use the human one. “All of them were whipped out. I can’t, I can’t destroy the family that gave me a chance at life by killing her.”
His lips part and Son’Ispa waited for the devastation to hit him. How could he not be devastated? They waited for hundreds of years to be together and this time they couldn't, they would be separated because of a mishap of mortals. It wasn’t fair, but it was what they had.
“We can find you another body.” He offered.
“I want to protect her.” She reached out and took his hand. “I need this. Every time we’re together I get twenty-five, maybe thirty years. As soon as I have a child I die. We both know it. Us together murders any human body I’m in. I’ve never raised a child. Please. You know how much this hurts me.”
He should feel every pain she felt. That was the darker edge of being a soulmate, that is what the void twisted their blessing into. Others would feel joy, but they had a time limit, one they fought against, but they always failed. It was their cycle.
Pa’Thay reached out first holding his hand out to show he meant no harm. Then a warm hand touched her cheek. “We’ll be punished if he finds out?”
“I think our Master has bigger worries right now. Aren’t the Alliance and Horde hunting him down?” She said and she knew it was treason, but she had grown so much bolder when she had suffered along with Temperance. “I want him to win, to bring the dark empire back to its full glory, but Pa.” She got up and nearly tipped over with the lulling motion of the ship. Pa’Thay grabbed her arm and steadied her so she could sit up to face him better. “Tell me, what has stopped the people of Azeroth yet?”
There was silence again, the danger clinging to the room as it hung there between them. “Nothing.”
“Exactly. And, he’s so busy, he’s not going to notice the two of us not fulfilling our normal cycle.” She shook her head. “You know me. You know this is what I’ve always wanted.” She wrapped her arms around herself, giving the body a hug. “I want this. At least let me get her to a place where she’s happy, healthy, with people who will care for her. A husband, a wife, I don’t know what she’ll pick. But give me this. Give me this and I’ll find a new body and we can be together. You can pick the body too.”
Pa’Thay hadn’t blinked or made any expression during her plea and Son’Ispa knew he wouldn’t. that’s not how their kind worked. Instead, she took a deep breath, smelling him, feeling him in the energy in the air.
“If we make this work, if he won’t find out, we will need to be close. I want to meet the girl.”
“You need to apologize to her.” Son’Ispa snapped. “You scared her and I half to death with that hospital.”
But he didn’t look guilty, he smiled. “Did you like the gifts?”
The organs on the ground, the blood on the walls. Without her knowing the depth of what she was, it had been a place of horror. But now she saw it as it was. It was him showing he could care for her, protect her from those who had harmed her.
“They were wonderful, and I have no doubt you can keep us safe.” She finally reached out and touched his shoulder. “You can meet her, and you will apologize to her. Then, Ducky and I need to find a place to grow. She’s still learning her magic and after that witch... I don’t know who she will want to trust. It will be hard enough for her to trust you. You murdered everyone she thought she loved.” She held her hand up. “I know what you were doing, don’t say anything.”
Instead, he smiled a bit. “I missed you.”
She let out a small huff. “And you’re going to have to learn how to act more human. You are horrible.”
“You sound like my crew.” Pa’Thay lay back on the bed. “All of you telling me I’m not human enough.”
“Obviously you’re not.” She rolled her eyes but slowly lay back as well. She didn’t move in to hold him, even if she wanted to. This was not her body, and she loved Temperance too much to use the body in any way the protected girl world be offended by.
“Can you take us back to Boralus?” She asked.
Pa’Thay looked back at her with a small smile. “Miss home?”
“I want Temperance to grow, and the only nice witches we met were there. I don’t know who we can trust. I know you will do anything to keep me safe. So you’ll do anything to keep her safe. Out of the world I trust you, but I don’t know who else I could trust.” She looked back over to him, his face perfect and Son felt like it was such a waste of a perfectly angelic face. Not when it would have to be alone for so much longer.
“Do you need anything, money, papers? The family who made the deal with me is very wealthy and they gave me this ship. I’m not without anything.” He looked down at her and her ragged-looking clothing. “Let me care for you. If this girl is your daughter...” He let out a breath and nodded. “I’m her father.”
“Temperance is going to love that.” She rested her head back down laughing. “Two void entities as parents...” But her laughter slowed letting the silence creep in. The danger was there, but she was at the center of it. She would attack anyone who hurt her daughter, and knowing her mate, that Pa’Thay was there no one would be able to imprison their chosen child again.
((Kinda excited to get Temperance to a place where she can find some character growth! Thanks to @caedera-mendenhall for making her realize she doesn’t want to be that kind of a witch. Now to see where she’s going to go from here... with her void family... I have a trope I love okay))
