Level 24: Dreaming of You
A/N: Special thanks to SilentMech, refferee, Freya, and ILurvTrixie for your thoughts last chapter, and I am sorry for the wait! My computer died and deleted the chapter right before I finished it awhile back.
I hope you enjoy, and I hope to hear from you all in the comments below!
“Well here we are. Any food you want at any point of the day is available here.”
“I can eat anything?”
“Why you could try the tables and chairs for all I care, but I doubt they would be very appetizing. I will warn you that you should stay away from cake, as Celestia has a weakness for it and may grow angry if there is not enough for herself.”
“Trixie?”
“Twilight?”
“What are you doing here?”
“She is my guest, as well as my first student.”
“Oh, wow, congratulations?”
“Thank you for your letter, Princess.”
“Oh, that little thing? Just a joke, haha.”
“Letter? Joke?”
“One of the first things Princess Twilight here did was add ‘The Great and Powerful’ to the beginning of my name. I don’t care about that, but she signed it with ‘Princess Twilight Sparkle’ as if to rub it in.”
“Am I sensing this is going to be a…thing?”
“Not if you don’t want it to be, Princess Luna.”
“I do not care honestly if you two do this little childish routine so long as it does not interfere with anything else. Twilight, you will stop sending childish letters when you should be doing paperwork. Trixie, you will be learning a spell to turn her into a sheep should she continue pestering you.”
“Sheep?”
“Does the pact between our people mean nothing to you?”
“You long ears tried helping the Naga. For that you’re being put to death, simple as that.”
“They helped us when you abandoned us to our deaths!”
“Come on man, stop listening to the prisoner. He’ll say anything to get out. Garithos will have him executed soon enough.”
“Father, I’m sorry…I couldn’t save our people…”
When Trixie awoke the next day from a nap she did so groggily, as if disturbed from the wrong sleep cycle. Despite the physical pains she felt though Trixie was mentally cognizant, and because of this she realized on some level that she felt so out of it because she had woken in the middle of a dream.
Only the dream didn’t feel right for some reason. Like it was both parts familiar and wrong.
Given that the group was unused to traveling they made little ground on the first day and only ended the day at an inn in the Elwynn Forest that began at the edges of Stormwind’s gates. Fortunately a flight service was nearby and the next travel day would be more productive, but for the moment Trixie was glad to just have things going. She was not a troop commander, not yet at least, and Lavitz was uncomfortable ordering civilians around like soldiers so there was a lack of strength in their leadership at the time which made organization difficult.
Despite this, Trixie was confident things would go their way.
They had to.
Rising from the bed on which she had been sleeping next to Kael, she noticed that he too was stirring. The night sky was still out and the voices of others clamored outside, making Trixie realize that she had woken up in the middle of the night while the others were still out and about. She had slept early since Kael seemed to be in the least pain when she was around him, though sadly the Inn had little to give them in terms of helping him besides a healing potion that made him capable of consciousness yet just as poisoned and pained as before.
Trixie brought a hand to kael’s head as he squirmed underneath the covers she had afforded him. He felt like he was burning up, though Trixie was unsure if that had anything to do with his magic or not.
“How are you feeling?”
Kael opened his eyes just a crack to glimpse at her, “Alive, if the pain means anything,” he glanced over to the table nearby the bed and brought a hand out to grab at something on it, “Lavitz’s books on tactics are proving quite the read.”
He had read pieces from their friend’s tomes brought with them once they settled down at the Inn, having realized they would not be going anywhere else that day and Kael too miserable to move about like the others.
Trixie sat back down next to him and helped him take the book into hand, at which point she helped set it up for him to read in his position, “I read one by some guy named Uther while you were sleeping earlier. And another by Datt…Dathro…Dathrohan?”
Books were shorter than Trixie thought they ought to be, but that made skimming them easy. It also made it easy for Lavitz to bring a slew of them with him in a single bag, giving them access to a lot of material to go over.
Whereas Uther’s book spoke about ways to protect civilians, Dathrohan’s spoke to how to cunningly annihilate one’s enemies. Trixie appreciated the practical aspects while paling at the manner in which he so callously wrote about how to slaughter one’s foes. In case a future fight was escalated to the point of life and death, Trixie kept the practical suggestions in mind while also hoping it would never come to that.
Kael smirked despite his severe pain, amused by the idea of Trixie reading warfare books, “He has a series of literature, meant for the Scarlet Crusade’s perusing I’d assume. Lavitz likely…liberated it from them to add to his library.”
“Is it stealing if they are dead?”
“I suppose so, since it should go to their next of kin. But these Crusaders have entire contingencies on eliminating their own people if they are even so much suspected as being Undead or similarly corrupted…” noticing Trixie’s look of reservation, Kael moved a hand to try and console her only for his arm to violently shake and collapse on its way, “They aren’t the sort we should shed tears over.”
Thinking about their approaching enemy, Trixie found herself saddened by how these possible allies against the Lich King’s Scourge instead were maniacal zealots who may have been born of tragedy but who also were playing a role in creating new tragedies for even more, “The Scourge and the Undead…the former seek to kill everyone, and the latter seek to only survive. I wish these fanatics could tell the difference or I wouldn’t even oppose them on their crusade, really. They are dragging innocents into a war they have no part in.”
It was not lost on Kael that his partner was completely out of place in this world. Beyond her transforming nature, she was nowhere near as malevolent as the beings they were surrounded by. Even Kael found himself killing with ease, even if he did not care for the brutality, while Trixie was anything from a born killer. Wherever she was from, they likely were a more peaceful race with far less physical dispute than killing everything and anything in one’s way as Azeroth seemed inclined towards.
“Trixie…”
Trixie took his shaking hand and smiled down at him, her face sad as she looked over Kael’s weak form. He was even paler than normal, “I’m alright…” her hand brushed across his face until she reached the space just below his eyes, where a certain familiar wetness caught her attention, “Are you though? You were crying in your sleep…”
Kael slumped back in the bed, “I cannot even remember my dreams right now, thankfully…perhaps when I am more h…”
“Were you dreaming about being imprisoned?”
Kael blinked at the sudden and very odd question. It struck a cord in him, but he still was not recalling it.
“That…”
Before he could come up with a full response Trixie stood up and ended the conversation with a shake of her head.
“It’s no matter,” she leant down to give him a quick kiss on the cheek, “You get your rest. I’ll be back after I’ve worked out some details about our own personal crusade.”
The flight the next day would take them extremely close to their destination, at least as far as the continent was concerned, and so it was about time they decided their plan of attack. So with this in mind Trixie rushed out of their rented room and headed downstairs to the Inn’s main floor, intent on leaving Kael behind so she would not have to continue their conversation any further. He would have Nana to look after him, so she was sure everything would be fine given how smart Nana was. If he took a turn for the worse she knew Nana would come to her and get aid.
Mostly made of wood and other common materials, the Inn had a kind of simple home-y feel to it, and Trixie could see a couple of the members of her group sitting around the hearth and talking. Lavitz was chatting with a Human with blonde hair and glasses while the blue haired woman in her group, Sayaka, was working on fixing a broken violin that had inhabited the Inn.
Outside Trixie could hear singing and cheering though, and so she had her attention drawn that way. Upon exiting the Inn she noticed that a crowd of about a dozen was gathered, with someone at the head of it doing something of note. Someone finished singing a song for the group when it was Bronn that next came to the group’s head, a mug of beer in hand as he opened his mouth and too began to sing.
Catching Trixie by surprise, despite his shifty looks the mercenary proved himself a capable singer. In fact, Trixie found his performance to be on the level one would expect of a professional vocalist.
When he finished to a large round of applause and another Human took his place and began to perform, Trixie approached Bronn to give her own congratulations.
“That was beautiful. I did not know we had such a talented singer with us.”
Bronn smiled at the praise, but he shrugged at the subject, “Fighting and killin’ pays better unfortunately.”
Trixie realized that what he said was likely true here, but it did not feel like the same could be said for what she could grasp about her own society, “From where I am from you could make quite the living as a singer.”
Oohs and ahhs from the crowd disrupted Trixie’s conversation with Bronn, and the two turned their attention to what was so captivating the Humans sitting around the campfire.
The subject of attention was a lithe male Human with piercing eyes and thuggish look to him, but his face was handsome and topped by blonde hair that was a darker shade than Kael’s and more golden than yellow. He was, to the sound of a music box, performing a ballet dance with incredible precision of movements and grace. His dark clothing made him almost difficult to see in the dead of night, but the flickering fire illuminated him enough to show off his skill at dance.
Impressed by the performances she had witnessed thus far, Trixie was amused enough to inquire about this particular performer, “Who is that?”
Bronn shrugged again, not having asked the other man’s name nor even talked to him in their time outside, “One of the others here at this Inn. There’s a guy who looks a little like him inside.”
Observing the ballet dancer further, Trixie found herself really noticing the similarities between the man and her partner, “He looks like Kael a little.”
The mercenary took another look over the man and found the same link, even noting that the Human could pass for a physical double of Kael if he had longer ears, eyebrows, and glowing eyes, “Blonde, fit, on the skinnier end. I can see it,” Bronn watched as the man continued his performa-nce and smirked to himself, “Only, Prince-boy doesn’t dance as far as I know. Not like that at least.”
Still amused by the talent she was surrounded by, Trixie murmured, “I will have to see about making him when he gets up.”
She did not end up seeing the end of the dance as a hand tapping her shoulder interrupted her. She turned to see that Lavitz had left the Inn and was seemingly excited about something, for while he was not bouncing with energy he had a definite smile plastered on his face at this late hour.
“Trixie, I have spoken with someone who wishes to join us.”
“Join us?”
“His name is Tony. He and his brother have some insight I think could prove useful. They each seem a motley sort, but sound genuine. I will introduce you.”
“After this dance finish—”
She turned and found that the performer had already taken his farewell bow and was leaving to go inside. How someone could move so quickly and silently was beyond her, but even the crowd seemed surprised by how easily he slipped by.
“Trixie’s her name. One who fought Kargath…Wait, come to think of it, I think I knew a Trixie once.”
The man with glasses inside was sitting down when his older brother joined him in the Inn, the two men quickly jumping to the subject of business when they joined.
The older brother gave the younger brother a small yet amused look, his voice thick with an accent, “Knew her vell.”
The younger brother smirked before he gave a nonchalant shrug, his own voice laced with a smaller accent but it still crept into his speech, “Might have been Pixie…oh who can keep up vith all of these hooker names.”
“What’s a hooker?”
The two turned to see that the woman they had been about to speak about was here, the one with the name of a hooker who apparently had no idea what a hooker was. They each shot each other a glance before looking back to her with polite smiles. Or, at least the younger one smiled. The elder instead tried not to adopt his normal grimace.
With Lavitz muttering something to himself besides her, Trixie decided to let her question go unanswered if it meant someone would speak. She offered a hand forward and quickly had the gesture returned by the glasses wearing man, “Hello, I am Trixie Lulamoon. I am the one leading this expedition, along with my partner Kael, who is busy resting.”
The younger brother gestured to the table he sat at and Trixie graciously took the seat offered, with Lavitz standing behind her and looking over her shoulder.
The man with glasses gestured to himself and then to his sibling, “I am Tony and this is my brother Karl. Vord has spread of your battle vith Kargath. For an arena champion and expert such as himself to be fought to a standstill is quite ze impressive feat, Miss Lulamoon. Especially since he nearly murdered Lady Proudmoore right after. That makes you even more remarkable.”
Trixie fought off a gasp as she realized why Kargath was in Stormwind, managing to stave off the noise by adopting a tight smile and keeping her lips pursed, “Thank you, Tony. Now, what can I do for you?”
“Businesswoman. I approve,” Tony pulled out a scroll and placed it down on the table for Trixie to view, “Now, my brother and I have had dealings with zhe Scarlet Crusade in one vay or another and by chance have a map of zheir Northern base. Zhe Monastery.”
Seeing the value of such an item, Trixie hastily cut to the chase, “Can we buy it from you?”
Tony shook his head no, but he went on to explain it with his partial accent, “I am offering to you my services as vell as my brother’s. I have technological skills and he is a skilled Hunter and vell trained in infiltration, and we vill bring our map with us.”
Trixie glanced at the other man, the ballet dancer named Karl, who had once again silently done something: this time brought a crossbow out of nowhere and he had begun to toy with it, seemingly inspecting it to make sure it worked while making sure it was not pointed at anyone.
“SI-7,” the stoic Karl added when Trixie and Lavitz continued to look him over, each of them not all that fond of the word “Hunter” at the moment. His statement seemed to placate Lavitz while confusing Trixie, so the soldier leant down to whisper in her ear.
“They are Stormwind’s intelligence agency…our spy network. If he is telling the truth, he can be an asset.”
Tony could sense that they were favorable to the deal, so he spoke again as he slipped into and out of his accent, “We come with you, and we all split a share of the gold zhey have locked away in zheir vaults. We vere planning on gathering a crew to steal from zhem in the future, but I see no reason why ve cannot use this opportunity.”
Trixie knew well the importance of money, and the idea that with these two helping they could deprive the Scarlet Crusade of a major source of money actually sounded good to her. She mulled it over to herself under her breath, “You take their money, you ruin their operation in the region…”
When she decided that this indeed would be helpful, Trixie snapped her fingers once and smiled beamingly at the two brothers. This would bring their total trained warriors count up to five, since she had a plan for Bronn that meant he would not be with them. Five fighters was much better than three, and made for quite the party of fighters.
“Empty their vaults, take the valuables from them, but do not take trinkets or jewelry from those inside. We will get you to your vault, but we are not thieves. This serves our purposes, and our purposes do not include making them starve to death. We do not want casualties as well, so only do what is necessary to live and don’t kill them if you have any option.”
Tony glanced to Karl, who simply said, “Live is extra.”
With no other objections, Trixie and Tony shook hands on their deal. The map he offered had a great many details on it, but he had not placed it too close to Trixie so she could not just take advantage of him by reading the pertinent details in small text on the scroll.
The deal made, Trixie turned around to yell towards the open door. Kael was the only one who might be sleeping, so she didn’t feel bad about her volume.
“Everyone, gather up! It’s time to discuss the plan!”
Laying in bed was not confined solely to be Kael’s fate that day, as a Human Mage of great renown was too resting at that same time. In a hospital bed, Jaina Proudmoore lay as she let the last of the healing magic tend to her wounds.
The Bladefist had wracked such deep wounds on her that even the best healers in Stormwind had been unable to do all that much. They could stop her bleeding, but some of it would only be fixed with gradual rest. Whatever Kargath coated his blade with, it was sharp and deadly enough to make quick recovery difficult. In fact, new wounds seemed to crop up without seeming cause. This spread of wounds and bleeding was coming to a stop, and Jaina was just beginning to relax from the pain when her hospital room door was opened.
Thinking this another assassin sent by Illidan to eliminate her, Jaina tried to rise from her bed to face her attacker, but she instead collapsed down and howled in pain.
Fortunately for her, the one who entered was a man with no such intent.
The man was comprised of short auburn hair, sharp cheekbones that made his face appear as if it were a skull, and piercing blue eyes that all together chilled Jaina even though she realized he was no assassin. He wore a grey uniform with pants that flared out in a stylish fashion, and if she looked hard enough she could swear there was a miniscule green tinge to the outfit.
The man approached her bed, looked down to her from about a foot from its edge, and continued his piercing gaze.
“Jaina Proudmoore, I presume,” his voice had a rolling quality to his pronunciation, particularly on the r’s.
Jaina calmed down and settled into her bed as she realized that outside were the guards posted to guard her still. They had let this man come in, so he should not be a threat, “I am, though I am not quite sure who you are…”
He held up a hand to silence her, “Who I am is unimportant. I have come to discuss with you someone I hear you have history with, as well as encountered most recently before your unfortunate accident.”
“Assassin Orcs are mere accidents to you? I would hate to see what would be considered attempted murder,” Jaina joked, which surprisingly made the uptight man give a small smile.
He ignored her statement while continuing on with his agenda, “The man you have familiarity with is Kael’thas Sunstrider. He was here in the capital just freshly under unknown business, despite also being in Outland, and I have come to find him.”
Jaina thought to herself of how she had come across Kael just recently, or who she had thought to be him. It seems her intuition was correct, but that did not change how poorly the situation had gone, “So that was Kael…his female companion did not appear to be all that friendly to me. I called after him when he was leaving the keep, but only she heard,” Jaina frowned as she thought of how the woman may have mistakenly thought Jaina a romantic rival, given her actions, “The Elf ignored me.”
This explanation seemed to actually please the man visiting so late at night, his face only illuminated partially by the lights outside the room.
“Then you are familiar with her. Excellent. It is my understanding that you were formerly a friend of Sunstrider, before your people separated from his and your lover Prince Arthas betrayed his people, as well as Sunstrider’s. I assume you would like to smooth things over with your past friend and see why there appear to be two of him going around?”
Jaina paused at first before slowly nodding. If she could somehow reach out to Kael and stop him from helping Illidan, they could make the war with the Illidari far easier. Kargath was a brutal handful for her, though she knew it was because he had ambushed her rather than confronted her in a fair fight. That may have gone more evenly, or even in her favor.
“Excellent. You will pack your things and we will prepare immediately.”
The man began to turn around when Jaina spoke up quickly to stop him.
“Who are you though? What do you have to gain by finding him? I am not going to track Kael down only to have him harmed. Not without talking at least.”
This man was a Human like her, but he was cold beneath what affable bits he did show. Jaina had met many cold hearted fiends in her time, and she had a feeling this was one of them.
Despite her misgivings, he spoke truly to her then, “Oh you can be rest assured I have no ill intentions for Prince Sunstrider. I have interrogated that miscreant Elven woman in the stockades and it appears others do wish him grievous harm, and the sooner I locate him the sooner I may prevent such an occurrence. My benefactor who brought me to this place would like to see him live, though that is secondary to first locating and securing the other Elf with him.”
Jaina realized why he had been glad to hear about her own encounter with the other woman. She was important somehow? “That girl?”
“Yes. Think of me as an agent of Order. She ought not to be here, and others wish her to return to where she belongs. It is for this reason that I do not seek to harm this group, but must locate them nonetheless.”
Jaina realized that she would not be receiving personal information from this man, so she stopped trying to press him in that manner. She was in dire pain, but she was almost healed. She could go and be fine, though she would not be at full power for likely a day or so more, and even then she would have to take things easy.
It would mean finding Kael though to come with this suspicious man, as he apparently was able to pull enough strings to investigate the matter quite deeply. But who did he belong to? SI-7? They did not dress that way, and their agents would likely not reach out to her when they could just stalk Kael themselves…
“You certainly do not wear anything similar to what I am familiar with. Is that some organization or order’s dress, or…”
He seemingly was amused again, taking a look at his own outfit before looking back to her.
“Do you like it? A…personal acquaintance of mine sewed it at her boutique. I would recommend the venue to you, but I am afraid you likely will never have the opportunity to see it.”
So even his clothes were off limits. He responded to her without actually answering the question posed, showing that he was indeed keeping his secret for the time being.
“I will be waiting outside, Miss Proudmoore. Do not dally. We will meet up with my subordinates and move out come dawn.”
He walked out the doorway and disappeared into the dark corridor beyond, leaving Jaina alone in her room to think. To stew in her pain.
This could help curb a war’s entire scale if she was right. If the Blood Elves withdrew from Illidan’s forces the Night Elf Demon would be hopelessly outnumbered by the Horde and Alliance.
Jaina forced herself upright and swung her legs off the bed. If it meant saving lives, she would follow the sharp cheekboned man.
Hopefully Kael would be one of those saved.
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Near the start of the chapter there was a missed capitalization for Kael's name.
I'm feeling like Jaina's new acquaintance is Spike disguised as a human through use of magic.
Trixie brought a hand to kael’s head
1. Just forgot to capitalise.
Welp, here I am not managing to get the references again but hey, that's just me not venturing out much. I didn't even know of Legend of Dragoon before this story.
Back to Jaina... Methinks that the Huntard and Kargath used the same poison of sorts. Maybe it's one of those that are more... Poisonous to magic users. Something like a mana feedback in a bottle so to speak. Could explain why wounds appear out of nowhere. Funny how Jaina was receiving such a cold reception though considering she is a technical Ice Queen.
I'm almost willing to say that perhaps our mysterious auburn hair and sharp cheekbones man is from Equestria but... I think this man is more connected to who was funding the Defias in the precious arc. Just judging based solely on his interest in Trixie.
So when Jaina and Kael meet back together will it be a... Song of Fire and Ice?
*ba dum tsh*
...
Don't mind me, just thinking of horrible puns on the go.
6678205 Why thank you
It's always nice to check the front page and see that I've made it.
6678278 Ehhh, Spike is more of a shining knight in armor kind of guy than uniformed hardass, but you're thinking the clothes connection = Rarity and Rarity = Spike. Am I right?
6678284 Sayaka is a reference to Madoka, Tony and Karl are two of the villains in Die Hard, and the last one…well, you guys will know sooner or later
I just finished his book and it confirmed my decision of awhile back to include him. 
Fortunately for everyone I will confirm that despite his appearance and mannerisms, he is not a villain.
Well, here at least.
And you should now play Legend of Dragoon now that you know it exists
More quality time with one of our characters 
The Shattered Hand enchantment in Warlords of Draenor causes bleed damage over time, basically causing them to get wounded additional times over time. Thus getting stabbed and mauled by Kargath means you get wrecked even more than that implies.
As for Jaina being treated coldly, Kael jokes about that in Heroes of the Storm
Fitting she gets the treatment she gives.
I will confirm that our uniformed man has come from Equestria! What he did before then/if he originates from Equestria to begin with, I will leave ambiguous
As for the one who hired the Defias, we’ll have to see 
It’s be a Story of Fire and Ice, more like. And I made that joke in like the first couple chapters, Tomes of Fire and Ice and whatnot
I want to say the man in question meeting with Jaina is Discord under a self made illusion screen, or Loki come to pick up his adoptive daughter from whatever happened previously. The reason being the slight tint of green in his outfit to highlight his eyes (because let's be honest, that's all the green and gold color scheme does), or because he is one of the few beings who might be nice enough to his sister in law to bring her daughter home. Unless Sleipnir or Hel is involved...
6679712 Unfortunately, no, it is not Discord. Though I won't say Discord is out of the question entirely for the story, he'd have been more troll-ish. And if someone were wearing green and gold, it would be Loki
But this is grey, with the smallest hint of green. Think the second on the left of this diagram: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/bc/d4/aa/bcd4aa93fe632be2a914bf8ba11f1e33.jpg
As for Sleep Near and Hela, they certainly do love their sister Trixie in We Remember Everything
And have reality breaking powers (to a certain extent and limitation). I mean (the older) Sleep Near is literally bringing people back to serve Loki and Luna there to make up for his failure, while Hela has stopped being as-psychotic. Given that the younger Sleep Near and Hela are even more well adjusted, whose to say they won't take things a step further? 
6679774 You know what, I approve of the eventual meeting for the chaos it will cause.
6679999 Meeting of who exactly?
6680001 Trixie and Kael, and mister mysterious of course.
6680025 Ahhhh, yes, indeed
I look forward to the encounter as well, but as he is going to be tracking them he is a step or two behind them at the moment. We'll have to wait a bit before he's actually encountered them, but in the meantime we have the main plot!
I'm not really one for romance conflict such as this so...Meh
I don't watch enough to know any of the references.
6683058 Well good thing there isn't one
Jaina explicitly was irritated Trixie seemingly thought her to be a romantic rival when she's not, and Kael's into Trixie now. No love triangle.
6822469 Trixie is OP, and we'll find out why at some point
Chromie is fun. She makes the time related quests funner.
As for "Queenie", I guess we'll have to find that out as well sometime
The events leading up to this can only mean one thing: Trixie's blood is toxic.
So, people should avoid coating weapons with it.
6927900 Good one
I wonder who the guy was. Someone from Equestria?
Well, things just continue to be interesting.
WAIT! Skull like face. Grey suit. Agent of Order.
Either that is Tarken or Loki but either way this EXTREMELY complicates things.
God i hope im not wrong...