Anduin looking very kinglike, ready for battle while Arthas is like 'o', -.-, 'o', ;)) I drew this and then even started contemplating if I should make them gay. Because THAT LOOK, aaarrggh, I was melting. 

"No!"

I was thrown in another deep pit, where at first all I saw was a blinding green light followed by complete darkness. It felt like I was falling miles and miles through endless nothingness until something pulled on me, like a rope that had caught around my waist and yanked on it. The air was knocked straight out of my lungs, leaving me gasping for breath.

It dragged me from that darkness but put me through something far worse. Swift images of planets and cities flashed before my eyes, conversations all melding together into a disturbing mingle of screams and cries. It was like time was being sped through while I was also teleporting to every existing planet in the galaxy. Blood covered ground was followed by a sunset over the sea, only to be replaced by city lights twinkling in the dark. Deserts, mountains, oceans, everything happened all at once.

It was all too much, too bright or too dark, too loud or too silent. I closed my eyes against all of it, screaming through the noises that rang through my head. "STOP!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, tears streaking down my face as my palms pressed against my ears.

Before I knew it I landed on my knees. I barely had enough time to catch myself with the palms of my hands. I had to do my utter best not to throw up the contents of my stomach and luckily only gagged as the stars before my vision faded away. I took a few heaving breaths, trying to stop the world from spinning around me.

"Grace Timeturner, would you grand me the honour and the privilege, -" The ground beneath my fingers wasn't the one of the caves. It was sandstone, light brown and warm to the touch, which could only be found in the southern part of Valeria. The part that was once ruled by the Timeturners. "- of becoming my wife and queen, from this day, until the end of my days?"

I looked up from my position, eyes widening when I took in the sight before me. Benches were placed beside me on both sides, an altar at the end of the aisle that was decorated with bright flowers. Behind it sand dunes stretched as far as the eye could see, where the sun slowly descended and turned the sky a bright orange. Surrounded by that light, looking as if they were alight with fire, stood two figures.

Even though my vision was blurry at the edges, I could clearly make out the sharp set of his jawline, the uncountable freckles adorning his skin and the fiery colours of his hair. His blue eyes, with a coronet of golden spots around his pupils, sparkled in the setting sun, the red with golden velvet clothes hugging his muscled figure tightly. There was but a single sword hanging from his hips that had a decorative phoenix resting on its hilt.

"Father?" Mumbling, I stood up from my crouched position as my eyes wandered to the woman before him. With her dark brown hair, olive skin and forest green eyes, it wasn't hard to recognize her either. "Mother?" I watched, incredulously, as she glanced aside and away from her soon to be husband. At first I was afraid she'd heard me even through the barrier of time but her eyes stared right through me.

She was reluctant, that much was clear. Her shoulders were tensed, her hands clenched into fists and her fingers shaking with nervosity. The simple green dress she was wearing also told me that this wedding hadn't been planned for that long. Her fearful eyes searched the small crowd gathered until they seemed to spot the one she was looking for.

I quickly followed her gaze, finding Arthas sitting in the front row, showing a similar tensed posture. Even he had left his armour behind and donned a simple black tunic. In his eyes however there was no spark of fear, only of a deep rage and guilt that seemed to eat him up from the inside. He clenched his jaw as their eyes met and redirected his gaze to the floor. I didn't miss the fact that his knuckles turned white after it.

"Grace?" My father's voice snapped her eyes away from his friend. He lowered his voice to a whisper, and I shouldn't have heard it from my position, but somehow the magic making me see this also made me hear the words destined only for her ears. "You told me this was the only way."

He was sorrowful, his hands gently enveloping hers as if to reassure both her and himself. Blue eyes watched her closely, trying to spot any sign of hesitation. "It is." With that, Grace seemed to right herself. She expertly hid away the emotions that had previously been so evident on her face. "Anduin Fireheart, king of Valeria, I accept."

He shuffled on his feet and mustered a small smile, squeezing her delicate hands reassuringly. The person behind them cleared his throat. "Then let your hearts be bound in the internal, -" Even before his sentence was done, Arthas stood up abruptly, darting towards the exit. I had just enough time to see his red rimmed eyes, the pain that made his jaw clench so tightly a vein appeared on his forehead. The moment we should've collided my vision blurred and I was standing somewhere else entirely.

"The troops are ready, Anduin." Arthas spoke as he ventured to his friend's side, looking out over the battlefield. The king's red cape bellowed out behind him in the wind, his hair waving, looking like the fire he could so easily conjure. It wasn't hard to imagine that he was the first king Valeria chose to rule all the lands, all the four families.

My eyes darted to the other man standing beside him. There was a stubble on Arthas's jaw that hadn't been there previously, and his hair was getting so long a few strands now hung before his eyes. I followed Arthas's movements and came to the king's other side, looking out over a battlefield filled with corpses and blood that stretched on for as far as the eye could see. The blood desert.

I'd heard of that place before. It was where the final battle between the sith and Valerians had taken place, the one where everyone watched how Anduin came back from the dead in a blazing glory and killed every invader with the wave of fire that had followed. Even some of the jedi had been caught in the blaze, resulting in another war between them and the king's forces. The moment from which everything went downhill.

My eyes darted to his figure, to the way his eyebrows were scrunched together in determination and his fists were clenched tightly around his weapon. His eyes still showed that familiar blue, the empathy and courage so evident and familiar that I had to look away. He looked so much like the person Eric always described to me, the valiant, empathetic and honourable leader.

"Good." Anduin nodded, turning his saddened gaze away from the corpses of his people and towards the object he was holding. I gasped as I realised what it was. The orb flared in the palm of his hand as the Aether opened up to him, the red magic soon twirling around his arm. "I wish it didn't have to come to this." As the magic engulfed him, it even mingled with his voice, making it as deep and low as an ancient drum.

Arthas examined him closely. He was on edge, that much was clear. He shifted on his feet uneasily and quickly redirected his gaze away from the magic that now clung to his friend. "Grace said, -"

"- It was the only way." The king finished his sentence without hesitation. He sighed deeply and with a simple flick of his finger the Aether closed back up. The unearthly glint disappeared from his eyes and his voice turned back to normal. "I know. My wife tells me a great many things, but that doesn't mean I have to like them." Anduin looked over his shoulder when he heard footsteps approaching, his frown deepening into a glare. "Like she tells me to trust them."

Arthas followed his gaze to the Jedi coming closer. I gasped as I recognized the robes he was wearing, the collected and calm gaze most of his colleagues wore. Even the way he stood was similar to the way Obi Wan usually did. Even after hundreds of years, the jedi hadn't changed much. "Your majesty." The jedi bowed only slightly, the same mistrust evident in his eyes as he looked at the Aether in the King's hands. "The sith's army is approaching."

"Then we mustn't waste any more time." Anduin dismissed him with a curt nod, turning around and away from the battlefield in one swift move. "Valhalla awaits, brother." On his way there he grasped Arthas's shoulder, casting a smile his way. "I'll see you in its halls."

When he walked past me I felt the same sensation and closed my eyes before I could be blinded by all the memories passing by. Voices soon followed, all in a blur, until one single voice crept out of the darkness. I opened my eyes slowly to face the next vision.

"He's becoming too powerful, Grace!" Arthas appeared before me, pacing from here to there as he wove his arms through the air, talking loudly. They were somewhere in the palace of Eagle's Fall, deep in the cellars beneath. "The moment he came back I sensed something was off. It wasn't like last time, where I could feel him through the bond. This time it was only melting heat and death on the other end and it has only gotten worse!"

"Arthas, -"

"We shouldn't have helped him find the Aether; we should've destroyed it on Adrena where we found it! Maybe we wouldn't have been strong enough to defeat the sith but I wouldn't have lost my best friend and brother in the process, I wouldn't have had to watch him die slowly right in front of me, feel him fade away like some ghost and turn into a madman fighting an unnecessary war with the jedi without being able to do even a single thing, -"

"Arthas!" Grace stepped forward and placed a soothing hand on his shoulder. He stopped in his rant, trying to collect his breath and sighed deeply when he had calmed down. Her gentle but small fingers on his skin always seemed to ground him.

"We did this to him, Grace." Arthas's voice broke midsentence. He let himself fall down on one of the barrels there, his head sinking into his hands. "It is our bonds that are poisoning him, turning him mad. We are lying to him, shielding the jedi from his wrath. It won't be long until he realises it and finds them."

"Then we have to make sure we are gone when he does and take the Aether with us." Grace whispered to him as she gently tucked a strand of his hair behind his ears. Even though it was her husband they were talking about, she didn't seem in the least bit faced.

"You knew, didn't you?" I mumbled, frowning as I watched her empty expression.

Arthas looked up from his hands, studying her as his eyebrows lifted. "He's my brother, Grace. I grew up with him. I can't just betray him like that."

She sighed as she placed his forehead against his. "I know, Arthas. But the Anduin you know is long gone."

He bit the insides of his cheek as tears pooled in his eyes. "But what if he isn't? What if he still can be saved?" His voice broke at the last part, the tears freely rolling down his cheeks.

Grace took his hand in her grasp and then gently guided it towards her slightly swollen belly. My eyes widened as I took in her form, realizing she was pregnant of me. I stumbled backward and barely managed to keep my balance. Arthas seemed to realize it too at that moment, mouth falling agape and stammers falling off his lips. "Then do it for us, Arthas."

After a moment, his eyes and brows narrowed in determination. He covered her hand with his own, letting the warmth seep into her cold skin. Still, through that mask of courage, I saw the hints of sorrow peeking through. "I will."

This time I let it happen, watched the images passing past my vision, saw the glimpses of moments of her life. The running, the waiting in cold places, hiding from the soldiers in red and gold that haunted them. The cave in the North where I'd found my echo, their main hide out, now filled with refugees instead of corpses. It all sped through until they were in the exact same chamber I was supposed to be.

"Arthas!" Grace perked up from her seat where she had had her face borrowed in her hands. From the black streaks running down her cheeks it was clear she'd been crying. She quickly stood up as Arthas dashed past her, Aether in hand.

"I did as you said." He snarked as he held up the artifact. The red glow illuminated his face, showing his red eyes clearly, but also the ashes that clung to his Blackwing attire. Root made his face turn almost entirely black while the white dust in his hair made him look older than he was.

Grace shrank back when she noticed the dark blood dripping down from his hands and fingers. "What happened?" She cradled her arms before her chest, trying not to seem afraid of his imposing figure. Never before had Arthas looked at her as he did now, never before had he seemed so intimidating towards her.

"Don't act like you don't know, Timeturner." He spat the last words with as much disgust as he could summon. "You've seen every little thing he has done years before it even happened. Hell, you've probably known since the moment you could peek into the future."

"You know it doesn't work like that, Arthas." She pleaded and stepped towards him, hand reaching out for his. He, however, quickly stepped away and kept his gaze firmly locked on the dusty walls of the cave. "Please, tell me."

"He found out, like I feared. Eric saw us leaving with the Aether and told him." Arthas sighed deeply in frustration, seemingly having control of his emotions until suddenly he let out a bloodcurdling yell and threw the Aether across the room. The cave shook with the force, dust falling from the ceiling as the artifact pulsed with energy.

Arthas didn't even seem to notice. "He found out, and now my entire family lies dead above us, -" He pointed towards the ceiling as he pounded towards Grace. "- burnt to ashes, right before my eyes like they were nothing to him. Like they were animals he needed to get rid of. All of it, to spite me, because he knew I was the one who stole that damned artifact, because he knew that damned fire wouldn't harm me and that I would be forced to watch as they burned!"

He halted right before my mother, glaring down at her as his eyes flared with the new magic he'd just obtained. Around his fingers shadows played, the room darkening as his power overflowed. It streamed from him in waves, a never-ending ocean of pure rage. It was the man I'd grown to know, the man that had destroyed Eagle's Fall in a matter of hours.

"And you know why that fire didn't harm me, don't you?" He hissed as he glared. "Because I am his anchor, and he couldn't kill that what was part of him, no matter how badly it was poisoning him."

Grace took it all without blinking, looking up at him with sympathy laced through her expression. Her lips twitched as she looked down, gently laying her hand over his blood-covered wrist guard, squeezing carefully when he didn't pull away. Tears rolled down her cheek. I stood perplexed, watching the emotions pull at her lips, the first evidence that she even had them.

"I was his anchor, Grace. Which means that... that this is all my fault."

He allowed her to snake her hand around his neck, to thread her fingers through the soft hairs there. He even let her pull him down to her level to place their foreheads together. Arthas closed his eyes, breathing in deeply as his fists clenched at his side.

"It wasn't your fault, Arthas." She whispered. "There was no other way."

Blackwing nodded, letting out a deep breath as he laid his hand on her cheek, drawing her closer towards him. She didn't balk away from the blood and ashes; she didn't even shy away from the power that now glided off him. His warm brown eyes studied her closely as his finger caught one of her tears in its path. "What will happen to us now?"

"We will die, but Valeria will live on."

His towering figure evaporated into smoke. The green of her dress and her brown hair swirled around her, turning a translucent green, while the room around us seemed to be sped up through time. Vines grew over the surface and dust settled on the once clean floor until I saw the familiar chamber before me again.

I stared out in front of me, numb, lips pressed into a thin line, trying to process everything I'd just seen. The way Arthas had seemed so... human. Warm and full of hope, love. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of those images, trying to convince myself that Arthas was what had been poisoning my mind this entire time. That he was still evil.

"There was no other way." I repeated as I directed my gaze towards her.

Grace Timeturner, or the memory of her, hovered before me. Her hair wove around her as if caught in a current while she shed a green light around her, blocking the red glow from behind. She nodded sternly as she neared, her brows set in a permanent frown. Her face seemed as young as in the vision she'd just shown me but also wizened by the years and years of future she must've witnessed.

"And where does that way lead, exactly?" I had trouble containing my sneer as I stalked around her, hands folded behind my back, the urge to grasp the Aether now the last thing on my mind. "Did your vision include my father dying alone, stabbed in the back by a once trusted friend? Arthas turning into a maniac, killing half the population and me dying to stop him? Did it include me being raised on my own, in a fucking orphanage, without a mother or a father or a name which to call my own?!" I yelled the last words as I rounded at her. "Or maybe it also included the part where I was cursed, exiled, imprisoned, hunted and humiliated. Did you consider all that when choosing the only way?!"

Grace didn't show any sign of emotion. She just stood there, watching me, waiting for me to finish my rant.

"You saw all this, didn't you? You knew exactly what was going to happen and still you paved every step of the way." Tears formed in my eyes and I let them stream down my face, leaving clear marks over my root-covered skin. I took a moment to breathe, to watch her motionless face, eyebrows knotting together. "Why?! Why would you do this?!"

"Because it was the only way to assure Valeria's future." She turned her body to face mine, hands folding before her calmly. "You are Valeria's future, my daughter."

"No, you don't get to do that!" I pointed at her furiously and stepped towards her. "You don't get to call me yours, not when you haven't been there for me a moment in my life. Not when all you've done is put me through all this misery for a future I didn't choose!"

"Your choices were your own, Lyanna." Grace said. "All I did was show you the way."

"You pulled on my strings, more like. Like you did to Anduin, like you did to Arthas, all to write your own desired future. We are more puppets to you than actual human beings." I hissed as I started to pace. "All you Timeturners are the same. Always thinking you know what's best, putting other people through so much pain while you sit back and do nothing."

"We have a duty." She sat down on the altar leading to the Aether, laying her arm on her raised knee while watching me attentively. "To protect Valeria's legacy. While I understand it may seem easy, it never was. I never enjoyed watching you hurt, Lyanna."

"Hurt?" I sneered disbelievingly. "I've been through hell, and you chose that for me all for some possible future you saw?! You're my mother, your first and only job should've been taking care of me!"

She sighed and nodded, her gaze falling to her intertwined fingers. I bit away the tears that started to form, clenched my jaw so tightly the muscles were straining in the effort. There was to be no apology, not that I'd expected it. The woman before me was one with a mission, and she didn't care who got hurt in the process. All she cared about would be that her vision of the future would work out.

In the distance a loud howl sounded, and I knew I didn't have much time left before Maul would find us. "Where does it all lead, mother?" Growling, I watched her whole body tense at the low rumble in my voice. "What does your great plan entail?"

Grace stood back up on her feet, slowly circling around the altar where the Aether still hovered. It was clear she'd been waiting for the cue, to skip all the emotions that came into play. "There was a prophecy." She spoke as her hands intertwined behind her back, all business. "Crimson eyes shall awaken, royal blood shall be spilled. Streets stained in ashen paint, -" She started but I soon continued her verse.

"- when thousand innocents are killed. Something is coming to tear the earth; something is coming to scorch the ground. Valeria will fall beneath thunder and ashes, the two fates shall at last be bound. Yes, I know. I've heard it before."

Grace smiled curtly as she shook her head. "The four pillars upon which Valeria stands, will also be the ones to usher in its end." She paused, realizing she had my full attention as I glanced at her warily. All this time I'd thought I had the whole thing in my head. "A great sacrifice we must make, an eternal slumber before we can wake. The dawn of Ragnarök will come, and reborn we will become."

I stared at her, eyes wide, as the prophecy that had plagued my nightmares was finally finished. "Ragnarök." My mother repeated as she resumed her approach towards me. "That is what's coming, Lyanna, and I need you to be ready."

Ragnarök, the end of Valeria as we know it. It has long been foretold that the day would come, but I never expected it to be in my own lifetime. "Okay, then." I shrugged, trying to fight off the fear that was starting to claw at me. "Then tell me how to stop it."

She scoffed curtly, smiling despite the dire situation. "If I tell you what you have to do to save Valeria, you won't." There was sorrow in her eyes that followed but I refused to acknowledge it, afraid of what it would mean.

"Really?!" A growl came from right outside the door, only heightening the frustration I was feeling. "For the love of Freya, mother, then what are you even here for?!" The growl evolved into a yelp until the scratching of claws on stone followed. Fenrir was charging, which could only mean an intruder intended to enter.

"I can tell you this, -" She darted for me, laying her translucent hands on my shoulder as her light flared brightly. "You can't defeat Sidious, not for a long, long time but you can slow him down."

"Sidious? What are you even on, -" I rambled as the noise of battle outside only grew worse. A lightsaber joined the fight, and I knew that Maul was getting close. I could only hope Fenrir would hold him back long enough.

"When the jedi tells you it is time, I need you to listen and do as he says or else Valeria will fall before we can even safe it." She continued on, ignoring the sounds that heightened. "And when the time is there, I need you to trust Arthas. He is the last key to the puzzle, and you will need him."

"Arthas?!" My yell mingled with Fenrir's cry. "I came here to get rid of him, not to trust him."

"Be strong, my little dragon." She whispered and lay her hand on the side of my cheek. I flinched as I felt the essence, the soft caress of her magic. It was strangely warm, soothing, yet felt as ancient as time. "In the end, I promise it will all be worth it."

"But... How will I know it's time?" I sputtered, trying to comprehend everything she'd been saying. She only smiled back at me, a single tear gliding down her face and making the light there burn brighter. "Mother!"

"You are the heart of Valeria, Lyanna." She whispered softly as a loud boom echoed through the halls. "Don't forget that."

"Mother, no, -" I protested but her figure faded away before I could grasp onto her. My fingers tried to catch the last remains of the light, but the dust settled on the palms and then flickered out. "No, no, no, -" Panic rose before I could stop it, my breaths accelerating until I was full on hyperventilating, fingers dragging through my hair and almost tearing it from my scalp.

"Finally."

And just like that, it stopped. My whole body tensed and went on full-on alert, eyes darting towards the source of the sound. Maul stood at the entrance on the other side of the chamber, blood covering his body, eyes fixed on the Aether that was right between us.

When he lifted his hand to pull it his way with the force, I knew I wouldn't reach the Aether in time. I also knew that my fire was still drowning in the oceans of poison he'd pumped into me. But still, instinct made me raise my hand in a heartbeat, using the same motion as him, fingers reaching out for the ancient artifact to stop him from obtaining it. In my mind I followed Obi's lessons, the ones in which he'd tried to teach me to use the force. 

Instead of the force something else came from me. Another power foreign yet strangely familiar, one that I had seen another use countless times. This time, it didn't frighten me. It felt like an extension, a part of me that leapt out from my hand and curled around my arm for support. It felt strangely warm and comforting, a part of me that had always been there.

A dark shadow sprung free from me and darted for the Aether as it started to move towards the pull on the other end. When it had floated a few feet his way, it got caught in the dark grasp. Like a tendril it wrapped around it and pulled the other way, leaving it suspended right in the middle of the room. The shadows materialized into a dark, thick rope that I could pull on. My fingers closed around the strings instinctively, my teeth clenching as I pulled against Maul's hold.

I had but a few moments to realize what I had just done, widened eyes taking in the seidr as it answered to my commands. Even Maul gasped in disbelieve, his hold on the Aether temporarily fading. Using that to my advantage, I pulled on those tendrils with one powerful yank, breaking his grip.

The Aether flew my way and I would've caught it, had Maul not force-pushed it to the side and out of my reach. "Bloody hell, -" I cursed and was just in time to see his double bladed lightsaber swung my way. Ducking underneath the assault, I darted for the Aether that was now lying only a few feet away from my grasp. I could hear the lightsaber darting through the air as it was summoned back to its master's hold.

When I was just inches away his lightsaber cut right in between, almost cutting my fingers clean off had I not feigned backwards. "You are becoming a nuisance, doctor." Maul snarled as he took a hold of my armor at my back and flung me away, making me collide with the wall.

I landed, dazed, watching as he crouched and reached for the artifact. "No!" Desperately I jumped towards him, wrapping my legs around him from behind and pounding my elbows into his neck, landing hit after hit. Had it not been for the hard muscles underneath, he would've been struck unconscious with the first hit.

Maul snarled against the pain and let himself fall backwards. I huffed as we collided with the ground, my grip around him fading temporarily, making him able to turn around in the hold. He placed both his knees on the side of my body, practically trapping me under him. "Our deal is done." He growled as he swirled his lightsaber, pointing it straight down, aiming at my heart while I lay on the ground.

My eyes widened as I saw the tip of the blade, breath stocking in my throat. But when another familiar voice echoed through the room, my heart stopped beating all together.

"Lyanna!" Obi Wan shouted from the entrance, blue lightsaber in hand, his auburn hair hanging before his face in strands. He was standing up tall, his skin having regained its healthy colour, his muscles showing no sign of the sickness he'd been fighting last time I saw him.

"Obi." I whispered barely above my breath, a relieved smile following as I looked into his eyes, feeling like time had halted when our gazes met. He halted too, just for a heartbeat, before he grasped a lightsaber on his belt and threw it my way.

"Catch!" Obi Wan yelled as he ran after the weapon and towards us.

Maul was distracted too, having halted mid-attack, staring at the man that he'd been hunting for so long that had now miraculously appeared. I quickly kicked up, ploughing my knee into his stomach. Before he could recover I rolled out from under him as he doubled over, feet placed firmly on the ground only to launch myself up to reach for the object.

As it fell into my grasp, a jolt went through me, a power surging through my veins that went through every single muscle and drove away the fear that'd clouded them. I landed back on the ground, smiling despite everything.

"That's my girl." I looked up and saw Obi Wan right in front of me, smiling with his eyes full of admiration, his eyes narrowing as he then glanced towards our enemy behind me.

My thumb went for the button on the side as I glanced over my shoulder, my lips pulling into a smirk as Lightbringer unfurled, the golden glow soon lighting up the room. "Now, where were we?"

Hollyy shiitttttttt this part had me excited!!!

Been waiting so long to share this with you guys I'm basically shaking.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!