Rating: M
Fandom: Warcraft
Pairings: Kael'thas/Rommath, Rommath/Lor'themar
Warnings: Canon-typical violence, major character death (canon and otherwise), a lot of angst and feels, unhealthy coping mechanisms, Rommath is abusing Fel and I never say it quite outright but the vibes are there.
Author notes: This was from a fic prompt generator! I pulled Timeloop / String Theory / Tragedy. It was fun attempting to reel myself in and stick under 1k but still convey a timeloop as well.
✨ AO3 Mirror
Preview:
The choice comes down to this always- him or them.
Grand-magister that you are, to alter the passage of time is nothing to you. But can you change it? Can you change the fundamental truths of the universe? Can you divert the river's flow so totally that it never again touches the cursed path that it was set on by a million million decisions from the dawn of time?
Grand Magister that you are, you know the answer to this, and it is no. But as a man… as a lover, who would you be if you did not try?
You hook magical claws into the relentless current and drag backwards.
Sure. You can have those worlds. You can warm them in your hands at night. But know:
by signing, you agree also to be responsible for the universe
introduction to quantum theory, by Franny Choi
The choice comes down to this always- him or them.
Grand-magister that you are, to alter the passage of time is nothing to you. But can you change it? Can you change the fundamental truths of the universe? Can you divert the river's flow so totally that it never again touches the cursed path that it was set on by a million million decisions from the dawn of time?
Grand Magister that you are, you know the answer to this, and it is no. But as a man… as a lover, who would you be if you did not try?
You hook magical claws into the relentless current and drag backwards.
You stay, instead of leaving when he bids you back to Azeroth. But he never trusts you again after your refusal, and you meet your end at one of Haldurin's arrows, alone and disgraced, before you see what becomes of them.
You leave, returning to Azeroth— but pour your resources into reopening the portal fully, only realizing your folly when this time you meet your end at the hands of a furious, blue-eyed mob, their hands already stained with Lor'themar's blood.
You are the Grand Magister, you can do both, surely. But you never manage to find a way to reopen it that doesn't involve hundreds of sacrifices and so each time you must always choose
Damn it all, you choose Kael'thas— surely the strength of your resolve can divorce him from Kiljaden's lies, surely you can save them all. He trusts you less and less as time goes on. You meet your end at his hands, both of you weeping, betrayed by each other.
Choose him again, keep quiet about his loyalties- live that out. We will take the star-ships He says, Like Dath'remar before me, to a safer shore. A kind thing to believe, like a fairytale. These ships are paid for in innocent blood. There is no safe shore to be found. You all die, pursued to the ends of the universe, and Quel'thalas is abandoned far behind, rubble beneath the Legion's feet.
You turn your sights to Lor'themar (it's his fault, isn't it?). You plead your case— it's worse that in time he trusts you. In time he believes that the Legion is preventing Kael'thas from contacting you; that Kael has not abandoned his people. But when the eyes of the Horde fall open you all, exacting, the answer here is the same- Kael'thas must die.
You convince them both, but this doesn't stop Kael'thas from coming in his full glory, ringed by a corrupted Al'ar, who looks at you and promises greatness and burns all that you both cherish.
You try to convince all three
Again and again
Stand trembling at the edge of the Sunwell and look on this new font with only the greatest of bitterness because where was mercy for him? Where was resititution for him? The Light's safe future precludes him; you weep, but not for joy.
Some combination of words and supplications must work but
Kael'thas will kill for his vision of a greater future and
Lor'themar will kill to keep his people safe
and the Horde will kill because the Legion will destroy them
and there is no bargaining with the Legion
He tries anyways, and they delude him to thinking that he has won, but it ends all the same with Kael'thas dead and Quel'thalas reduced to ash and Halduron with Rommath's knife in his heart, and Lor'themar looking at him with his sad, tired eye, and not even asking you why because you both know why.
When did he get here? How long has he known what you do when you are alone? Lor'themar holds your calloused hands, pulls the Fel from your grasp, and presses a kiss to your forehead with chapped lips; he probably thinks that you're too out of it to remember him, but you remember this double-edged kindness with each circuit you make through time.
go back further and try to push him away from his vices, try to undermine the pride Anasterian demanded of him and you are silenced by the hands of the King before your first majority
Subtlety is not the merit of a fire mage but you are also Grand Magister and you machinate- you overthrow Anasterian before Arthas arrives and Kael'thas dies to Frostmourne and Quel'thalas rises as a necropolis
You save him from Arthas but it never stops him from going to the Legion anyways and beginning the cycle anew.
"No one would blame you if you chose him one time," The regent-lord murmurs into the dark, hand smoothing down your trembling back.
But that's just it, isn't it? For every variable that you solve, one constant remains- The choice comes down to this always- him or them. And you will choose them every time.
To you I'm just a man, to me you're all I am,
Where the hell am I 'supposed to go?
I poisoned myself again,
Something in the orange tells me you're never coming home,
If you leave today I’ll just stare at the way,
The orange touches all things around,
The grass trees and dew, how I just hate you,
Please turn those headlights around,
