'One big happy family' (Ledgic/Zech/Eothan)

‘One big happy family’

‘Speed it up will ye? Wha’ if we get t’is place n’ ‘e’s a’ready left?’ said Ledgic as he walked down the dirty stone path running through western Elwynn. ‘Wha’ ye getting sa’ rushed fer, eh? ‘e migh’ na’ of even been ‘ere in th’first place!’ said Zech as he hurried a little to catch up with Ledgic.

‘Don’ see why one o’ ‘is boys would lie’ said Ledgic as he ruffled a hand through his hair, trying to ignore the sweat forming on his brow.
‘Ye prob’ly didn’ ‘ave t’threaten th’guy ye know’ said Zech with a smirk as he stretched his arms in the air, his leather armour creaking loudly once again. Ledgic shook his head and continued to walk, waiting patiently for the entrance to Eastvale to appear. Ever since learning about the Hawthorns and Eothan, and Zech’s urgency when he spoke of their main target, he couldn’t allow himself to not worry. Eothan had been through more than enough because of the Caans, and he refused to allow it to happen again, whether the truth of Eothan’s blood had been revealed or not.

‘Sa wha’ ye gonna tell ‘im? Jes stroll in there like a mad bloke n’ tell ‘im ‘e’s a Caan?’ said Zech as he tapped Ledgic on the shoulder. Ledgic shrugged Zech’s hand away and kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead, his face a picture of determination. ‘I’m gonna tell ‘im wha’ ‘e needs t’know, then ye n’ I are gonna take ‘im t’Dalaran. Th’further we keep ‘im from th’awthorns th’better’ said Ledgic bluntly.

Zech nodded slightly and turned to peer ahead of them, they’d arrive at Eastvale within the next few minutes, especially at the pace Ledgic was walking. It had taken Zech most of the journey to convince him to actually walk, rather than dash across Azeroth at speed for no reason. Dawn had been and gone during their travels and Zech was beginning to feel the ache for his bed, a thought that often brought a smirk to his face. Yet he watched as Ledgic showed no signs of tiring, yet another thing to respect about the kid, he guessed.

Ledgic stopped in his tracks and looked down the road leading into Eastvale, the mesh of sounds flowing from the area led him to reach up and rub one of his ears. He was used to noise, he lived in the bay after all, but a lumberyard, mixed with yelling and the tweeting of birds was just not a good noise. It wasn’t often he’d ever say it, but give him some drunken fisherman, any day of the week.

He cleared his throat and turned his head to look at Zech as he stopped beside him. ‘Tried t’come up wit’ some idea o’ ‘ow ‘e’s gonna react, but I can’t come up wit’ feck all’. Zech nodded and folded his arms, staring down the same path. ‘Don’ really matter ‘ow ‘e’s gonna react, does it? ‘e needs t’know, Coran’s a’ready sided wit’ th’awthorns, tha’ makes ‘im more vulnerable’.

Ledgic nodded and began walking forward again, squinting at all the noise the closer he got. The pair stopped in the middle of Eastvale and began to look around them, the small houses and the loud lumberjacks walking around. Zech stopped and pointed at a single large house on the outskirts of the village and nodded. ‘Tha’s th’one, fergot ye hadn’t been ‘ere befer’. Ledgic shook his head and began walking towards the house, dodging piles of lumber and small time merchants trying to sell their wares. For all of Eothan’s moaning about Ledgic living in a loud place, he was sure being hypocritical.
He stopped at the front door of the house and lifted an arm to rap his knuckles against it loudly. Zech carefully lit a cigarette as he heard the bolts of the door moving, along with a faint noise recognisable to him as a spell, though he doubted Ledgic had much of a clue. The door opened slightly, as Eothan peered out, before he opened the door fully. Ledgic looked Eothan up and down, at least he was in decent health. His hair was loose and messy, and he was wearing what looked like an old shirt. ‘Ye ain’t lookin’ as sharp as usual’ he said with a smirk.

Eothan stepped back and gestured for the two to come inside. ‘Yes well, forgive me for not tarting myself up, I’d have made the effort if I were aware of your visit’ he said with a slight grin. Zech made his way in and tapped the door closed with the heel of his left foot and took a look around the room.

He’d been here before, and he wouldn’t have ever said it was tidy, but this was a little beyond Eothan’s usual messiness. The room was dusty, with the remnants of a fire still covering the foot of the hearth, and the room was littered with opened tomes and sheets of parchment with various runes covering them. Eothan stepped across the room and closed a few of the tomes; he lifted a hand and chanted a few words as his hand shone with a mix of shadow and arcane. The tomes and sheets of parchment seemed to hover from the ground, before all shifting into poorly constructed towers in the corner near the hearth.

Ledgic shook his head, ‘Ever ‘eard of usin’ yer ‘ands?’ he said. Eothan looked over his shoulder at Ledgic with an eyebrow raised. ‘I think you’ll find I did use my hands, or one, to be precise. Now… not that I don’t love your company so much my heart skips a beat, but what exactly are you here for?’

Ledgic looked at Zech, watching him shrug as if he didn’t have a clue. Ledgic sighed heavily and looked back to Eothan, gesturing to a nearby chair. ‘Ye might wanna ‘ave a seat there’ he muttered. Eothan knitted his brow together before stepping toward the seat and plonking himself down with a bit of a thud. Ledgic took a moment to observe Eothan’s appearance once again, he seemed to have lost a bit of weight. Eothan had increased in size quite dramatically over the past year, but it appeared as though he was losing some of that.

‘If you’re lusting, I could undo a few of the buttons on my shirt for you’ said Eothan as he leant back in the chair and folded his arms. Ledgic turned his head sharply to the right at a burst of laughter from Zech. Zech looked at Ledgic and coughed, some smoke throwing itself from his lungs.

‘Will you get to the point, Ledgic? I was rather busy’

Ledgic turned to look at Eothan once again and nodded as he slowly folded his arms and closed his eyes. Finding the right words was the easy part, it was ignoring those words long enough to explain the situation correctly that seemed to be the difficult bit.

‘There’s been a lo’ o’ information abou’ th’Caans tha’ I’ve ‘ad brought t’me attention recen’ly. Zech gave me ‘is dad’s journal y’see… an’ well, there’s plen’y o’ shit in there tha’ ain’t great’ said Ledgic. He opened his eyes at the sound of Eothan scoffing.
‘You came here to talk about Caans, Ledgic? You know as well as I do that I’m hardly a confidant for you in matters of deep trouble, I did my part with your shadow-‘ said Eothan, he paused briefly to catch his breath before continuing, however he was interrupted by Ledgic.

‘Shut th’feck up an’ listen t’me y’giant tit. This is abou’ ye as much as it is abou’ me, Vale or Zech. Sa’, gimme a few minutes t’get ye up t’date, or I’ll break yer pissin’ jaw’

Eothan’s eyes widened as he looked up at Ledgic, his facial expression had changed completely. He’d looked troubled before, now he simply looked angry. Eothan had learned long ago that having that face directed at him never ended well.

‘I learnt a load abou’ a family called th’awthorns, an their th’other ‘alf o’ wha’ started this feckin’ clan. An’ there’s bad blood between th’two, there ‘as been fer years. They were th’only folk th’clan fought tha’ made any sense, were th’only thin’ th’clan did tha’ could be considered good. One Caan did a runner wit’ a Hawthorn, once th’feud ‘ad started. ‘is name were Relius’ said Ledgic, tensing his jaw a little once he’d finished.

Eothan looked up at Ledgic with wide eyes before lowering his head and sitting forward, peering down at the floor. ‘Yer ‘alf Caan, ‘alf ‘awthorn an’ I’m afraid tha’ don’ spell good times fer ye’ said Zech as he walked across the room to stand beside Ledgic. He dropped his cigarette against the wooden floor of the room and stomped it out, before peering down at Eothan.

‘I’ve done all th’checkin’ I can through records in th’city, even ‘ad a few o’ yer boys do it. Th’Dawn family were jes made up, s’wha’ Relius chose t’call ‘imself ‘cause ‘im an’ me’ dad always got up fer it as kids’. Zech knelt down and tapped Eothan on the knee, ‘Yer me’ cousin, an’ I know this ain’ exac’ly wha’ ye figured ye’d be ‘earin’ t’day… but we’ve ‘ad t’tell ye, ‘cause it’s important’

Eothan looked up and threw his arm toward Zech, his fist landing squarely against Zech’s nose. Zech tumbled backwards onto the floor as Eothan stood up swiftly and looked down at him.

‘How long have you known all about this, cousin? How long have I been walking around with this on my shoulders while knowing nothing of it? You’ve been in Stormwind and plain sight for a year, a whole damn year, and you knew what I was going through, yet you chose to say nothing?’ shouted Eothan, his fists clenching tightly.

Ledgic grabbed Eothan’s shoulder roughly and shook him until Eothan turned his head to peer at Ledgic, with a similar angry expression. ‘Listen t’me, ‘e kept all tha’ from everyone ‘cause he promised ‘e would. S’only now tha’ ‘e’s seen reason t’tell anyone, an’ be feckin’ glad ‘e did. ‘cause it migh’ o’ jes saved some damn lives, a’righ’?!’ shouted Ledgic, his grip on Eothan’s shoulder tightening.

‘So I should be grateful? Grateful for all that has happened to me over these past couple of years? For every single drop of blood that has been shed because of this stupid fucking clan, why should I not be angry, why should I just take this lying down?’ Eothan growled, his right hand engulfing itself in shadow flame as he lifted it and pointed it towards Ledgic. There was definitely a fire in Eothan’s eyes that Ledgic had never seen before, not even during the time he had attacked Ledgic for Vale’s affections.

Ledgic sighed and rolled his eyes, before twisting Eothan’s shoulder and ramming his foot into the back of Eothan’s left knee. Eothan fell to the ground with a yell, the shadow fading from his hand as he moved it to grab his shoulder. ‘What the hell did you do?’ he said through gritted teeth.

‘I popped yer shoulder outta th’socket, sa’ calm th’feck down or I ain’ gonna put it back in’ said Ledgic as he stepped past Eothan to offer Zech a hand, eventually helping him to his feet. Zech stood up with a finger and thumb shoved up his nostrils, clearly he had some strange way of dealing with nosebleeds.

‘Ye look proper stupid’ said Ledgic as he peered at Zech.
‘Bite me’

Ledgic shrugged and looked down at Eothan, before raising a foot and kicking him sharply in the shoulder. Eothan yelled again as he fell to the floor, letting out a few sharp breaths. ‘THAT’S HOW YOU POP IT BACK IN?’ he shouted as he banged his head against the floor a few times.

‘Can it y’pussy, yer a Caan now’ said Ledgic as he reached down and pulled Eothan to his feet by the scruff of his collar. ‘Ye’ve shown ye can stand up t’em befer, an’ now ye know th’truth. I’m gonna ask ye righ’ now, stick wit’ us, don’ go over t’them’ said Ledgic as his expression and tone of voice seemed to change immediately, it was almost as if he was pleading.

Eothan peered at him before looking to the floor and letting out a deep sigh. ‘You know full well who I’ll side with, but not for you. For my son’ he muttered before looking back up. ‘However, you’ve yet to explain why this puts me in danger’.

Zech slowly removed his finger and thumb from his nose, allowing the blood to flow from his nostrils freely. ‘The ‘awthorns are powerful shadow users, think abou’ wha’ ye’ve got flyin’ aroun’ inside ye, double it, an’ then make a whole bunch o’ ye. Then ye’ve got wha’ we’re up against, an’ these are th’folk tha’ forced Led inta’ ‘avin’ th’shadow’.

Eothan looked at Zech and nodded, before looking at Ledgic at the sound of him clearing his throat. ‘They’ve also got a couple o’ necromancers, sa’ we’re lookin’ at th’chance of ‘em fightin’ us wit’ our dead. Some graves ‘ave a’ready been robbed’ he said as he lifted a hand to rub the back of his head.

‘Eothan, yer gonna be their target… well, th’main one. Y’see, yer everythin’ they were strivin’ t’get over th’years. Yer th’best o’ both worlds, if ye will… an’ tha’ makes ye really friggin’ important t’em. If they get ‘old o’ ye, they’ll do wha’ever they can t’use yer powers against th’rest o’ us’ said Zech as he wiped blood from his face.
‘And Rosemary… what about her, what are we going to do?’ said Eothan as he looked between the two. ‘I’ve a’ready told ‘er, an’ she’s gonna go th’same place as ye, which is Dalaran. Th’further away from tha’ lot ye are th’better’ said Ledgic as he lowered his hand again. Eothan nodded slightly and looked up at the ceiling.

‘My head hurts’ he muttered as he closed his eyes. Ledgic simply smirked at the idea of the headaches finally assaulting someone else. ‘More than yer shoulder?’ said Zech with a grin. Lifting a hand in front of his face as Eothan looked down at him. ‘Yeh feck ye, me’ nose is enough fer yer lil’ ‘issy fits m’lady’.

‘Got a lot more we need t’explain t’ ye mate, but we gotta move. Rose is up in Dalaran, we ‘ad a couple o’ yer boys escort ‘er n’ me’ kids’ said Ledgic as he pointed to the door.

‘Let me grab what I’ll be needing… if they’re powerful shadow users, I’m going to have to go ahead and become stronger than I am now’ said Eothan as he peered toward the tower of tomes and parchment.

‘Yeh… they got yer brother y’know, sa’… they got some o’ tha’ arcane now n’ all’ said Zech as he continued to wipe blood from his face.

‘They’ll need a lot more than that when I’m done’ said Eothan as he walked over to the tower and knelt down.

The truth was, had Eothan not had a child with a Caan and had he not cared for that child, he wasn’t sure how easy the choice between the sides would have been.

'Now… not that I don’t love your company so much my heart skips a beat, but what exactly are you here for?' ... I love Eothan >>

You have some ridiculous but awesome lines in here, really cracked me up. The interaction between these three characters is really good, you brought them to life so much! <3