Author's Note: The reason why this chapter has no POV is because I think this chapter would be better told from a third person's point of view for Ludwig's side of the story. Maybe in the next chapter, I'll write it in his POV but for now, enjoy this particular chapter!
~•~
He had been striking down countless undead for a few hours now, enraged at his how his efforts of drawing Alyssana to his side had failed.
'She is a bloody fool!' he thought. 'How could she choose a demon like him over me?! He's dead and just a lingering spirit while I'm here in the flesh and fresh from the grave! I know of the wrong I've done but I can make up for it, can I?!'
He was in the training floor in the floating fortress of the Archeus. Edua, a Draenei priestess turned death knight had been muttering to herself about how reckless Ludwig had become now that he finds out that his ex-wife did not only become powerful, but how she ended up with that demon, Illidan Stormrage. She doesn't blame her for siding with him of course, but she did feel pity for her fellow death knight.
"Hey Eddy!" shouted a voice and the draenei female looked at the direction of the voice to see her orcish lover, Agronak.
He may be an Orc but he died with honour and in his dark rebirth, he kept to that honour. It didn't take long for Agronak to become head over heels for Edua, despite her being a Draenei. She had gently gestured Agronak to keep his voice down as Ludwig kept lopping off heads from zombie after zombie in rage.
"Is he being a drama queen?" he muttered to his beloved.
"Yes, he's been at this for a little while now." she replied to the Orc. "Can't say I blame him though! It's only natural that his ex-wife would somehow move on but he wasn't expecting she'd move on to the Betrayer himself."
Edua sensed another presence nearby and saw Koltira, a blood elf death knight walking towards the Orc and Draenei. "What's going on here?" he inquired.
"Ludwig's in the middle of a tantrum because his ex-wife is the lover of Illidan Stormrage himself." Agronak answered.
"Hmm, word seems to travel around here fast!" Koltira deadpanned as he took a seat next to Edua and so did Agronak. "Apparently, Illidan bound a piece of his soul to Alyssana as he died?"
"Yes, he did! Apparently that's what Ludwig is angry about, which is pretty sad considering that she was the one who killed him." Edua groaned as she went through her rucksack to pull out a large bottle of vodka. "Every time Ludwig makes a war cry in the middle of his tantrum, we take a shot. Who's with me?"
Agronak gladly went along with his Draenei lover's idea, but Koltira wasn't in the right mood to drink. But he found it odd that Edua, a Draenei, the holiest race he ever came across, has a drinking habit.
His curiosity got the best of him. "I'm sorry if I'm coming across as insensitive but...aren't Draenei not supposed to drink?" he cautiously asked her.
After his question, Ludwig had let out a war cry. One shot. After Edua gulped down a shot, thankfully it went down smoothly for her, unlike Agronak who choked on his shot when he heard Koltira's question. He tried to gestured Koltira to run for his life but it was too late!
"Well, get this, blood elf! I was once a noble and humble priestess who served the Light in all its glory and when I died, the retched Light abandoned me when the Lich King raised me as one of his cursed undead warriors!" Edua ranted. "I thought to myself that if the Light won't answer me in undeath, I'd revoke the Light and it's religion. If the Draenei and Velen won't accept me as one of theirs when I clearly served them in the past, then to hell with the bloody lot of them! Since I am free of their standards, I can drink and go on a gory and bloodthirsty killing spree all I want!"
Koltira's face screamed the expression of shock as he heard Edua rant about how she was cast out from her society as a whole because she's a death knight.
"However, the only good thing that has come out of this is meeting this handsome lug!" Edua cooed as she scratched her Orc's bearded chin and he chuckled shyly. "My big precious shnookems!"
Hearing another war cry from Ludwig, both Edua and Agronak took another shot! Then, Darion Mograine had made an appearance on the training floor and Agronak had quickly helped Edua hide the alcohol and stood up and saluted to Darion as he walked up to them.
"Knights, I know things have changed for probably the worst but I am glad you're still here." Darion chattered. "What's gone into lieutenant Ludwig?"
"He's been like this for hours, Mograine. Ever since he found out his ex-wife had moved on to a demon named Illidan Stormrage, he's been furious since then." Koltira explained.
"Didn't his son also have a positive reaction to Illidan being with Alyssana?" Edua inquired.
"In fact he did and uh, I think it'd be an understatement to say that Soulterror's not happy about it." Koltira snorted trying to stifle a laugh. "He's really furious but it's hilarious! Because if I'm correct, wasn't he the one who...fucked up?"
"That demon bastard is taking my family away from me!!!" Ludwig roared as he summoned an abomination undead. "How dare he run his dirty hands all over her?! The bitch is fucking blind to his true intentions!!!"
"What family? You were never a faithful man to start with." Koltira muttered to himself. "I think I'll be having that shot now."
"You're drinking when the Lich King is biding his forces?" Darion lectured Koltira.
"With all due respect, Darion, Ludwig had made a game out of himself. Each time he makes a war cry, we take a shot." Edua chuckled, trying to defend Koltira's request.
Darion only shook his head and made his way back to the upper floor. Then the abomination went down, dead on the floor with his head chopped off! Ludwig walked towards Edua, Agronak and Koltira exhausted and tired after taking out his rage on the poor undead.
"Done already?" Edua simply asked him. "We didn't even make it to three shots!"
All Ludwig could do was shake his head at Edua and he went to take a seat and slump over with his head in his hands. The only thing he could think about was Alyssana! Hearing her laughter while she was with the spirit of Illidan made his soul rage with unrest. He couldn't fully accept that his ex-wife would move on to someone such as Illidan and neither could he ever accept that Alyssana is okay with Illidan's "mental control", at least that's how Ludwig sees it. Even if she told him about Illidan's good intentions on prolonging his existence within her soul, Ludwig still wouldn't have it! Not even telling her that he still loved her would win her to his side, yet Ludwig could never explain what really happened that night. He could've sworn that he was under some sort of possession but he didn't have the words to describe it. It felt like his own consciousness blacked out while the foreign host took over the body and did the rest, leading to Ludwig's death by Fel Fire. He shuddered at the thought, the feeling of being burnt alive searing into his undead skin yet there was no pain! He could cry but he couldn't bring himself to weep in front of his fellow knights, only in front of Alyssana when they last spoke.
"Ludwig..." Edua spoke up. "I know that things are perilous between you and Alyssana but the one thing you can do is try to be there for her when the worst comes about! Even though the soul of Illidan Stormrage still lingers within her, there's a few things you need to keep in mind."
"And what's that?" Ludwig asked her in a sarcastic tone, as if he already knew what she was about to say.
"First of all; When it comes to a woman who is obviously not single and ready to mingle, you cannot touch her." Edua began to explain. "Second; She is your ex-wife! Ever since she killed you, the marital bond between the two of you was destroyed and so you have no say on what she does, how she feels or what she says in general. You have no power over her and you never had anyway! And third; I know you two have a son together but that's just about it. You two are merely co-parenting!"
The human death knight was waiting for Edua to lecture him even more but that was it. Although he wished he could've been told this sooner before the recent events, now he had three things to remember when he's around Alyssana;
1. His opinions on her personal life don't matter
2. He cannot touch her or even attempt anything romantic or affectionate towards her as he'll just get his ass kicked.
And 3. They are parents to their son Marenus but since Ludwig and Alyssana are not a couple, they'll have to resort to co-parenting, which won't be easy for Ludwig.
The more he thought about this, the more he dreaded being in Alyssana's enticing presence. As he was deep in his thoughts, a female night elf death knight walked up to Ludwig.
"Hey, I overheard you talking about Alyssana earlier!" she mentioned. "I was able to pop in and out of Darnassus and she's there moving into a new home, in case you wanted to know."
Ludwig simply nodded and thanked the night elf for her report on Alyssana.
"It's a shame too." The night elf chattered to Ludwig, making him look straight at her. "She kills you and she gets karma later on having to watch her beloved die in front of her."
Snap!
"As much as I would relish in that irony," Ludwig boomed as he stood up, catching the attention of everybody in the room. "She didn't deserve to watch Illidan die in front of her!"
Edua, Agronak and Koltira had a mixed expression of shock and pride as they watched their friend stand up for his ex-wife's reputation. As much as Ludwig knew that Alyssana disliked him, he wouldn't let anyone disrespect her behind her back!
"As much as it pains what's left of my still heart, I'm glad that Illidan loved her in the way that she wanted to be loved!" He continued, trying not to let his jaw shudder at the very things he's spouting. "I couldn't give all of that to her when we were wed and so it was only natural that along the line, somebody would give her everything she wanted! I don't care if I still love her, she has everything she's ever wanted and big deal if I'm not in the picture! I'm happy that she's moved on, that she's having a child with that demon, I'm happy that she's happier without me!"
After that outburst, he opened a death gate to his old home in Elywnn Forest and went through it then closed it as soon as he stepped through. The house was still intact! He couldn't sense any living beings in the building so he cautiously made his way to the entrance and he found that the door was opened. There were a couple of rats here and there, scattering about but, everything seemed to be in place. Except for one thing! A dresser that was near the door entrance had a drawer opened and it's contents were empty. Ludwig would've wondered who did this but he didn't want to dive deep into that thought. He abandoned his search of the dresser, closing the drawer and continued to look around until he saw a picture frame, depicting a photo of him and Alyssana on their wedding day. He picked it up and brought it closer for him to see the details of the picture and a tiny amount of tears escaped his eyes as he reminisced that beautiful day! Alyssana had her thick dark brown hair in waves from when she plaited it the night before, her wedding veil was adorned with mageroyal flowers and her wedding dress shown her hourglass figure which hugged her curves and it had a puffy bottom and last but not least, the bouquet she was carrying had Steelbloom flowers. Then Ludwig looked closer at her face! She had natural makeup on with nude eyeshadow and lipstick and black eyeliner and mascara and he specifically remembered the perfume she used too. It was sweet with a hint of coconut which balanced out the sweetness to not make it so overwhelming.
Ludwig then focused on her facial expression in the photo. 'The way she smiled, the way she laughed and the way she kissed me...it felt so heavenly!' He thought to himself. 'If only I didn't throw my lot in with the Cult of the Damned, we would've been happy.'
He sighed heavily with a tinge of sadness, knowing still that Alyssana is much more happier without him and she didn't have love for him anymore. Even though he said back at the Archeus that he accepted that she's moved on, it would take time for the death knight to come to terms that he would have to forfeit his love for her. He put the photo back where it once was and continued to look around. The bedroom had been left untouched and he wondered about the latrine, so he checked and thankfully it was empty! As a death knight, he wouldn't need to be using it, but if he had living guests over, he'd have to make sure it's emptied so they can relieve themselves without worrying about an awful stench. He shook his head at the thought with a chuckle and walked to another room which held the study. This is was the only place that was ransacked! Without panicking, he looked all around the room and saw papers scattered all over the floor. Then he heard footsteps from a few feet behind him!
"I thought you would come back here." said a familiar voice.
Ludwig turned around to see Alyssana in purple and white robes. Her hair was singed black due to her usage of Fel magic but yet it's beauty remained intact, flowing ever so elegantly with a luscious shine and it was tied up in a high ponytail with a wavy fringe that almost covered her right eye. She bore the Kirin Tor tabard as well as a black and green hearthstone as her necklace, including the ring Illidan had given her when he proposed on her left ring finger. Her eyes were no longer bloodshot and she had a blank expression on her face, as if being in the presence of her ex-husband did not phase her. She also had her staff behind her, clutched to her back. The jewel at the very top was heart-shaped and it changed colours from time to time and little crystals spun around the jewel in rings like an atom. The very foundation of the staff was wooden, as if it came from a branch or bark from a tree and to Ludwig, a strange symbol was carved into the wood just below the top of the staff, but to Alyssana the symbol represented the demon hunters, also known as the Illidari. Even though it's been 5 years, Alyssana still kept her curvy hourglass figure!
"Have you come here to finally kill me?" Ludwig scoffed with a relaxed smirk.
"No, my behaviour was a bit rash back there." Alyssana muttered, clicking her nails on her right hand. "I simply came here because I wanted to do a little cleaning, just incase someone might be interested in living here."
"I'd doubt it but I find your reason a little odd." The death knight chuckled which made Alyssana frown with a sigh. "Did you really come here to clean up the place or did you know that I was going to be here?"
Alyssana closed her eyes with a deep breath and exaggerated her exhale. "You know, I'm sorry that you still love me, even after what I did."
"You're not the one who should be apologising." Ludwig mumbled. "I'm sorry that I couldn't accept the fact that you've truly moved on, but I was able to come to my senses earlier. Edua had to give me a knock on the head to realise that!"
For the first time, he had heard Alyssana giggle like a little girl. He had to hide the fact that he was happy to see her laugh again so he changed the subject. "So someone here ransacked the study. Why would they do this? What could possibly be important here?"
"Actually I had a hand in that." The mage snickered which caused the death knight's eyes to widen in shock. "You see, Norwell exposed me for killing you and since the whole of the Alliance wanted my head on a platter, I had to arrange for someone to find evidence for my innocence and for your involvement with the Cult of the Damned. And well, you can imagine what they found out about you, hence their displeasure of you existing again as a dead ballsack."
"Okay can you stop being so fucking vulgar?!" Ludwig snapped, slamming his fist on a nearby desk which left a dent in the woodwork. "For goodness sake, how is it that Illidan put up with your ridiculous vocabulary for a few months?!"
"To be fair, I learnt it from him." The mage fired back with a snort and a chuckle. "Look, the whole reason why Norwell died was because he told the Alliance of my crime and Illidan had him killed to protect me!"
"Now that you mention it," Ludwig hissed, walking into Alyssana's personal space. "Since Illidan can hear me through you, I'll ask him this; Did you really think you can stop me from pursuing Alyssana? How do you know that she won't betray you and come by my side when she finds her common sense?!"
With a demonic snarl, Alyssana's fel corruption took over and pinned down Ludwig, trying to choke him. He was trying to get her off of him but he couldn't help but notice how quickly Alyssana had let her Fel magic take over her! Her black hair was now flared up in strands, her eyes were glowing with Fel energy, cracks of the Fel appeared on her face, her canines have grown into full-on fangs and the framing of her face had a hint of dark purple. Her body was no different either, only it glowed with the eerie green colour of the Fel!
"Talk shit about him again, death knight and I won't be afraid to let Illidan take over my body whenever you piss me off!" She growled in a demonic voice and she got up from Ludwig's body and stormed out of the house.
The death knight stood back up and watched his magical ex-wife teleport away, probably back to her new home in Darnassus and he heeded her words about cleaning up the house, although the only difference was that Ludwig wasn't going to let anyone move into this place. The words he said back at the Archeus started to ring in his head;
"I'm happy that she's happier without me!"
It would continue to ring in his head, making him space out and without knowing it, he found himself in a clean study room. He went to the bedroom where he and Alyssana would lay in after eating a hearty dinner. He still remembered how she would wait for him, all laid out in bed waiting for her warrior to take her and how after they made love, they'd sleep in the next day, appreciating one another's physical presence. Now, the memories of their love-making are just a thing of the past and it saddened Ludwig, but he had to stick by his word and do his best to just be there for Alyssana as a friend, nothing more.