Chapter Text
It was easy to tell that he was not happy, and everyone wise enough stayed out of his way.
Why he was feeling this way, you ask? Because no one could do things right!
The Black Prince prided himself in being a calm, patient person. He didn't explode, he didn't lash out, he didn't throw hissy fits –and no, that one time doesn't count-, but he was one more thing out of place from incinerating everyone.
Everything needed to be perfect, you see. News has reached him that, in a matter of minutes, the all too famous Princes of Stormwind was coming to the Tavern in the Mist to stay for some time.
First impressions were a very important thing, and he needed to make the best one for Anduin Wrynn.
He had heard many things about the 'wayward human child who had everyone touring the world to find her', and not many of them had been bad. Even those that condemned her refusal to go back home had said so with concern in their voices.
So having the human on his side could prove to be beneficial in the future.
"Five minutes till they arrive" his human bodyguard, Right, informed him, reassuming her place by his side.
Wrathion straightened his garments and put on his best smile, he needed to be as charming as he could for the soon-to-be new guests.
So anxious he was that the sound of glasses falling and breaking made him jump in surprise –but just a little!
He frowned at Tong and was about to 'calmly' remind him not to disrupt his perfectly set up atmosphere when in came Sunwalker Dezco, carrying on his arms the one and only Anduin Wrynn, who looked nothing like he imagined.
Practically all of the girl's body was covered in bandages, both legs and her left arm were encased in thick casts and the only part of skin that could be seen was the left side of her face, with some tresses of blonde hair picking out from under the bandages here and there.
Oh, and not less surprising, she was giggling silly for no apparent reason.
Wrathion quickly snapped out of the…oddness of the situation and walked towards them. He knew about the princess' recent 'encounter' with the Horde's Warchief and the Divine Bell, but he hadn't thought her wounds were so severe.
While Tong greeted Dezco and arranged the details of their stay, he stood right in front of them, gaze focusing more on the human, and he opened his mouth to introduce himself, but the girl beat him to it.
"Dezco! Dezco, look!" a big smile was curling Anduin's lips, her right hand was pulling the tauren's mane in a childish attempt to get his attention, while her one good eye was wildly looking from side to side of the room "Look at all the butterflies! They're so pretty!"
Eh…what?
"Yes they are your majesty" Sunwalker answered absentmindedly, freeing his fur from the human's grasp. He sounded slightly amused, but it was hard to tell by the tauren's rough voice, he could just as well be exasperated.
The Black Prince was dumbfounded, something that has only ever happen once before –he'll rather not talk about that occasion, if you don't mind-, this meeting wasn't going at all how he has planned.
Anduin Wrynn wasn't even looking at him! She was too busy describing insects that didn't exist to her guardian and acting as he wasn't even there.
He cleared his throat to get her attention; he felt a little bit offended by her disregard of his presence.
It worked and her gaze fell upon him, her left eye looking right at his, and he noticed that it was foggy, unfocused and the pupil was so dilated that the color of the iris couldn't be seen. But at least he had her attention.
Or so he thought, but when he tried again to introduce himself, all he managed to pronounce was the 'gre' in 'greetings' before he was interrupted by the girl's hand swatting at the air right in front of his face, like someone who swats away a fly, and almost falling to the floor in the process –Dezco was thankfully quick to steady her.
"Damn it, I missed!" Anduin complained, gaze following the imaginary butterfly's moves, and making her guardian struggle to hold her every time she tried to catch it.
"Excuse us" once he managed to restrain her, Sunwalker Dezco tried to head towards their quarters, and so astonished was Wrathion that he didn't even notice when he stepped aside to let them reach the stairs that lead to the second floor, where the rooms were.
"Dezco~! We have to get them!" The girl whined, not liking to be prevented from catching the imaginary butterflies "They're so pretty! Mama would love to have some!"
"I'm sure she would, your majesty" the voices of the new guests soon disappeared on the second floor and the only sound that remained was of Tong doing his chorus.
Well…that was disappointing.
/-/-/-/-/-/
As he found out some days later, Anduin Wrynn's actions when they first met where not entirely her fault.
Apparently the potions she was taking to alleviate the pain from her wounds put her on a way too good mood and made her have hallucinations. Which would explain why she'd tried to catch butterflies that weren't there.
So after knowing that, Wrathion was ready to start anew with the princess. The only thing that was missing right now was for her to stay conscious long enough to do so.
"Hn" Wrathion growled. He was unamused by the current situation. More than a month has passed since the human came to the Veiled Star, and he hadn't even had one chance to talk to her.
On one hand, Sunwalker Dezco, who was in charge of taking care of the girl, did not allowed visitors.
The Black Prince has a great deal of charm and persuasiveness, but the tauren was unswayable. He could spend hours upon hours trying to convince Dezco to let him see the young Wrynn, but he would just stay there looking down on Wrathion with a stoic expression, rigidly posted before the door separating them from the blonde princess.
And on the other hand, whenever Dezco was away and there was no one to forbid him from entering Anduin's quarters, she was never awake.
Like right now for example.
"Hn" Wrathion growled again at the impotence he was feeling, while frowning down at the sleeping human from his spot crouched on the headboard of her bed.
Compared to before, Anduin looked a lot better.
Bandages no longer covered most of her body, her legs were still on casts but her left arm was free from it, her skin has gained a more pinkish color and just a few bandages lingered on her forehead. And her breathing wasn't as elaborated as it used too.
All in all she was making good progress, every now and then a painful expression and/or moan would contort her features, but she was mostly resting peacefully.
It pissed Wrathion off.
It shouldn't take this long to greet somebody. He had expected to have the princess fully on his side by now, or at least be way on his way to convince her.
But no, nothing has happened. For all he knew, Anduin Wrynn was not even aware of his existence.
He was at the end of his patience, if one more day went on like this, he would be forced to order either Left or Right to shake the princess awake just so he could talk to her.
While Wrathion analyzed what would be the best way to wake the human up without encouraging her guardian's ire, what he had waited for so long finally happen.
Anduin slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times to clear them. The first thing she notices was a dull pain and a drowsiness sensation coursing through her body, and she had the feeling that more time has passed than she could remember.
When her gaze got more focused, she noticed the roof of a place she didn't know and a strange boy above her mumbling angrily while on deep thought. It took a while to sink in that she didn't know where she was, what day it was and who this person was or what he wanted with her. And there was nothing there to assure her that she was not in danger, especially when the stranger looked down on her with scorching-red eyes.
Wrathion found himself staring at the pale face of the human, whose eyebrows were raised in wonder while a feeling he couldn't quite recognize flickered inside her stormy-blue eyes.
It was the most beautiful shade of blue the dragon has ever seen.
"Good evening, you majesty" he said after some minutes of silently staring at each other, relieve that finally they could be introduce to each other, and gave the princess his most charming smile.
He hadn't expected her to yell like that, or the force of holy light that pushed him away from the bed, slamming him against the wall then the floor.
The commotion caused got the attention of their guardians. Dezco tried to calm Anduin down, who was doing her best to get out of the bed –which was hard considering both her legs were impeded- while Left and Right immediately rushed to his side, helping him to get on his feet.
A hit with the holy light hurt like a hammer and burned like fire, it was like getting hit by a hot iron –and no, that had never happened *cough*-. It was not pleasant.
This was not going well.
"Is that…" Anduin's voice broke through the chaos in the room, surprise and mistrust mixed on it, while she held tightly from the tauren's clothes to keep straight, gaze focused solely on the Black Prince "is that a…black dragon?"
Her words made Wrathion smirk in satisfaction. So rumors appeared to be truth and the girl was quite a deal of smart, or at least smart enough not to be tricked by his human form, and her surprise could merely be due to finding out that there was still a black dragon in the face of Azeroth –which was only a prove of how good he was at hiding his existence from everyone else.
The mistrust was due to, well, it was obvious, wasn't it? After Onyxia every human was mistrustful of dragons, especially those of the black flight, and the Wrynn family even more so. But it was alright, he had expected the mistrust to be there, it was, after all, what he had set on to erase since day one.
"Greetings, Anduin Wrynn" Wrathion bowed respectfully, and he tried not to show so much fangs in his smirk, but guessing by her expression, he must have failed miserably.
"I am, indeed, a black dragon. The last one of my kin, in fact" he took two steps forward, and she tried to back away. It wasn't fear per se, what he could read in her body language, but it was close. Animosity, mistrust and caution mixed together with something that wasn't caused by him, but perhaps by memories he brought to the surface.
"My name is Wrathion" it was unsettling to see someone/something else reflected in a person's eyes when they were looking at you, and know that there was a great chance they won't try to see the real you, see past what you reminded them off.
But he has hopes, that she would be different. That no matter what had happened to her on her past, what she and her family had to go through at the hand of his relatives, Anduin Wrynn will be able to see him for who he was.
"And it is an honor, to be your acquaintance" he finished with a courtesy, an honest smile, albeit a small one, curling his lips.
He had has so many expectations for this meeting, and it had gone nothing like he had planned. But what's done is done, and he has said his part, now it was just a matter of seeing how Anduin Wrynn would respond.
She passed out.
To be continued...