World of Warcraft

Dad friend

in retrospect, he should've seen this coming. elves, with either no family, or no family that wants them, seeking vengeance against the legion, coming to him. the final product shouldn't have been as much of a surprise to illidan.

of course it was belath that slipped up first. illidan and a small assortment of illidari huddled around a map, scouting for the next place to send their troops. kayn reached forward as belath tried to move out of his way to allow him better access, but ultimately tripped over his own feet, stumbling into illidan.

"sorry dad" he said, and quickly turned red, "uh, i- sorry lord illidan" belath turned back to the table, head bowed slightly and ears pink from embarrassment.

illidan laughed a little, also a bit stricken by belath's new nickname for him.

.

a month or two passed, and the illidari were in a blur. their latest mission had been successful, but not without some injuries.

kor'vas had been hit by, something, and had been knocked out cold as soon as it got in her lungs. the few medics that the illidari had didn't even know what had happened to the elf, and had no real way to treat it yet.

illidan went down to the medic room, seeing which of his illidari were in there, and to see if kor'vas had made any progress. 

as he made his way to her bed, she began to shift around, curling her body towards him.

"it," she started, voice feeble and small, "it hurts dad" her eyes flickered, unable to stay open. 

"i- i know, but you're strong kor'vas"

she whined, arms clutching her chest as she fell back into a fitful sleep.

illidan brushed the hair from her face and stood up, letting out a sigh and continuing to check on the others in the wing.

.

jace was always a prodigy with the arcane and fel arts, but the newest spell was so, well, odd and unstable that illidan almost forbade him from using it. 

"yes, it could be helpful in locating where this dreadlord lies, but, it is also the most confusing spell i have ever seen jace. until we know that its safe enough and wont call the attention of anything we don't want, ill watch while you preform the spell."

jace just nodded. yeah, maybe that was a bit of a dangerous spell, but weren't they all? he walked to the crucible, watching as the fel blood within bubbled, feeling the familiar tug on his heart and summoning the energy to his fingertips. eons wizzed past his ears as he continued to pull on the energy, following a nearly invisible string thousands of miles into the empty space, inching ever closer to the dreadlord.

illidan watched as the fel blood boiled, changing colour slowly but surely, a sign of just how much energy jace was pouring into the spell. jace began mumbling to himself, seeming to try and keep track of important places he passed by. illidan grinned, the illidari had always been impressive in his magical ways, even long before he had ever joined illidan in his fight, he had always been exceptional with the arcane arts. the knowledge of bending arcane to his will had definitely been helpful in being able to control the fel energies. 

jace continued to search for this god forsaken dreadlord, the magic surrounding his fingers was slowly begining to pull more from within jace himself than the crucible, though the elf didn't notice soon enough. tracking spells were difficult to do well, as one needed to save at least 25% of their magic to be able to return with ease, simply being knocked out of a spell like this often causes the practitioner to fall unconscious, or have short term delusions. though jace was normally very aware of how much of the energy he had used, there was so much to keep track of during this spell that it was slipping from the forefront of his mind. 

the green markings along his torso and arms faded, growing dimmer and dimmer with every passing second. the blood in the crucible had lost its fel taint, and jace was now pulling the energy from himself.

illidan stood, rushing to pull jace from his spell. the glow of the elf was almost dim enough for illidan to lose sight of him. thoughts ran through his head, all circulating the one horrible idea; 'hes dead, no illidari lose their glow, their energy, to this extent and are alive.'

yes, sometimes his troops die on missions, but this wasn't a mission, this was scouting. this is not supposed to be fatal. 

a weak and feeble whisper broke illidan from these thoughts. 

"father?"

jaces pale hand reaches towards him, "father, i-it is you," his voice cracked and weary, "i- how? you had- i watched you, i-im sorry i couldnt stop them"

illidan watched, dumbstruck, as the elf continued to mumble on, words losing their meaning as they begin to slur together. jace had regained just enough light to reassure illidan that he was at least stable. illidan stood with an armful of illidari and headed to the small medics chamber of the fel hammer. jace continued to mumble, assorted apologies slurring together, just recognizable enough to hurt illidans heart, even if just a little.

the drained elf lay on a thin bed, chest rising and falling slowly, shallowly, but moving nonetheless. illidan looked him over once more, breathing out a deep sigh, this would definitely earn jace a solid 10 minutes of lecturing.

.

(illidan is a dad to the illidari, i say this because lets be real, any time people lose father figures, we end up finding a friend that falls into the category of dad friend and get emotionally attached)