DISCLAIMER: For all Chapters, I do not own Diablo

"It has been said that in the end of all things, we would find a new beginning. But as the shadow once again crawls across our world and the stench of terror drifts on a bitter wind, people pray for strength and guidance. They should pray for the mercy of a swift death... for I've seen what the Darkness hides."

The Demon Hunter walked slowly, her heels clicking softly against the stone path. It had been months since the events in New Tristram, Natasha was now traveling with the Templar, Kormac, and regretfully, the Scoundrel, Lyndon, he was a good enough fighter, but his late night activities had filled their trip with the sound of weeping women when they found out that Lyndon was, in fact, not planning on staying and getting married as they had thought, and the occasional angry outburst as they threw something of value at him, which Natasha and Kormac frequently had to reimburse them for. The regular loss of money made upgrading their worn equipment rather hard.

Natasha sighed inwardly, looking down at her ragged scarf, and simple coverings. Her armor had broken on their last adventure into an unknown cavern, and with the insufficient funds, she had yet to replace them. They gained money helping others, and a few coins looted here and there, but armor wasn't cheap.

Kormac felt a small twinge of guilt as he saw Natasha shiver, their most recent purchase had been a new set of armor for him and the money that could have been used to buy her new armor was spent on Lyndon's latest achievement, when he not so stealthily broke a rare vase on the way out of the merchant's daughter's room.

He scowled at Lyndon when he started whistling a merry tune, blissfully unaware of what his venture was putting Natasha through. Not that she would ever complain, she had shrugged it off when Kormac mentioned it earlier, muttering words along the lines of "there's more important things to do", "the cold should be the least of our worries" and "at least we bought your new armor before this happened". She had given over everything they could afford to give while still being able to buy enough food for their trip to the next town.

Kormac coughed loudly, hoping to clue Lyndon to shut up, but it didn't seem to phase him. Instead he let his pace slow so she was far enough in front of them to not notice him shove Lyndon.

"Stop it, you idiot. This is your fault," he said, gesturing to Natasha.

"No. Why should I let your foul mood spoil mine?" Lyndon said, before continuing to whistle.

"Oh for goodness sake, look at her, shes barely covered and its cold enough to snow! I hope last night was worth the price."

Lyndon shrugged, "I don't hear her complaining."

Kormac punched him before walking back to Natasha's side. She had a little smirk on her face, "I can't imagine why you of all people would want to talk to Lyndon. I thought you had plans to ignore him throughout all of our travels." She knew what they had spoken of, Kormac was sweet but not at all as quiet as he imagined. He was concerned about her and she hated to admit it but she enjoyed it, being a demon hunter, she never really had friends, after what happened to her family she was filled only with hatred and a longing for revenge. She found her frozen demeanor thawed slightly since she had met Leah, Cain and Kormac. Leah had reminded her of her sister, she had a sweet innocence about her, they way she talked of helping and how she never gave up on her Uncle. Natasha was glad she came along when she did. Though the pain of seeing Leah lose her Uncle had put a stop to that thawing. Natasha had made a silent vow to make sure that Leah did not follow in her footsteps, she wished her only to remember her Uncle in happy memories and not think of revenge; Natasha would do that for her.

Kormac kept his gaze focused on Natasha, she had spoken first but now it seemed that her mind was elsewhere. He took this moment to really look at her, it wasn't often that he found her lost in thought. Natasha had long dark raven hair, though she seemed to care for nothing other than fighting evil, she took great care for her hair. He had noticed that no matter how tired she was when they set up camp, before she slept she would carefully brush her hair. Her lips were full, a deep rosy color, and her eyes, oh how he loved her eyes, they were a dark deep blue, like the ocean as the waves crashed about during a storm. Kormac was lost in the beauty of her eyes, so much so that he didn't notice that they were staring at him.

"Kormac?"

Suddenly back in the present Kormac searched for an answer and settled with the truth, "A bad decision, yet it felt necessary. I attempted to convince Lyndon that he needed to find better . . . activities to partake in at night. Preferably less costly ones." Natasha smiled at his response, both amused at it and glad for the truth. It seemed the truth was something that was becoming harder and harder to find these days. She appreciated that Kormac was always truthful, but as much as Kormac was truthful, Lyndon seemed to make up for it by being just the opposite. Not to say that Lyndon was completely untrustworthy, he was in fact very trustworthy, as long as it wasn't your heart, or something of high value that he could sell.

The wind picked up and a rather strong gust blew towards them, making what little she had left of her favorite red scarf going flying off her neck and into the distance. Kormac watched her shoulders slump as the scarf traveled further and further in the wind, back towards the town they had left, making its retrieval a strong inconvenience. Natasha shivered violently as the wind continued, she had grown up in a place of warmth, it was rarely as cold as this and even when it was, the cold only lasted a few weeks, if that. Here it had already exceeded the amount of cold she was used to and it was only the beginning of winter. She clutched her bare arms and watched her feet as she walked, not wanting the wind in her eyes. Suddenly, as she was trudging on, trying her best to ignore the cold, the wind suddenly stopped. She looked up and realized it hadn't but Kormac was walking in front of her, his large muscular frame blocking her from the wind.

They continued this way until it was dark enough that Natasha would occasionally walk into Kormac, not seeing how close he was.

"We should make camp, it is too dark to see and too windy to keep a torch lit." Kormac said, still sheltering Natasha from the wind. They had stopped long enough for Lyndon to be within earshot, prompting him to give his opinion,"I agree, it is much too windy for my liking."

Kormac looked down at Natasha, waiting for her to answer. She didn't want to stop, but Kormac was right, and she didn't much like the thought of Lyndon complaining for the rest of the time.

"Fine," was all she said as she let Lyndon and Kormac guide the way to the best camp site.

It didn't take long before they found what looked to be an abandoned farm, they quickly set up in the barn and got a fire going. Lyndon always volunteered for first watch, knowing full well that meant he could sleep uninterrupted once Kormac or herself took over watch.

Kormac sat down beside Natasha, "You should sit closer to the fire, you're cold."

"I'm not-

"You are. I'm not arguing with you, either you chose to move closer or I will." Natasha stared at him defiantly before saying,. "and how are you planning t-eek!" Natasha squeaked as Kormac lifted her up and carried her closer to the fire. His warm body against her made Natasha realize just how cold she really was. She relaxed against him as her feet touched the ground, his arms lingering around her waist longer than they should.

When he finally pulled away she felt a cold emptiness sink in, refusing to think anything of it she whipped around and jokingly punched Kormac's arm, saying, "If you ever do anything like that again then I'll really hurt you." She crossed her arms and glared at him. His lips twitched, she could tell he was fighting a smile.

Natasha sat by the fire until it was her turn to take watch, Lyndon came in grumbling about the cold and soon fell into a deep sleep. She could hear him snoring from outside the barn and chuckled. A few hours later she heard the door to the barn creek open and Kormac stepped out. She gave him a questioning look, it was still hours before his turn to take watch.

"Couldn't sleep," he explained, "Lyndon really is a dreadfully loud snorer."

Natasha chuckled at that. He walked over and sat on the ground next to the stump she was leaning against. They sat, mostly in silence, until it was Kormac's turn to be the look out. She tried to stay out with him but had no such luck.

"Don't make me carry you again," he threatened.

"You wouldn't dare," she said, glaring up at him, they were both standing now and even with her heels on, he was good head taller than her. He stepped towards her and she hurriedly stepped back. They continued this until she felt the door of the barn against her back. He brought his hand up on either side of her and said, "I would." She matched his unyielding gaze, he leaned forward and she could feel her heart thumping in her chest. He was so close. . . too close. Natasha hurriedly ducked under his arm and opened the other door, slipping inside the barn.

Once closed she rested her back against the door and took a deep breath, before laying near the fire. Natasha rolled over and tried to think of anything but Kormac until her eyelids grew heavy and she drifted off to sleep.

Author's Note: My first attempt at fanfiction, I would love any constructive criticism that any of you have to give. :) Always looking to improve, so please feel free to review. Also I would like to apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors there may be in this chapter or future chapters.