Title: Dobluth Orb "Outcast Spider"

Category: Forgotten Realms

Genre: Drama/Action Adventure

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: I do not own Drizzt or anyone else you recognize.

Summery: Drizzt falls victim to a mysterious illness...but not all is nearly what it seems. (AU)

Author's Note: Whelp...I feel that this has moved well beyond apologizing for the wait...so...uh. HUZZAH! Look what I did! hahaha...ugh

Questionable Heritage

Drizzt tried to take in everything they were telling him about the time he was out while sipping at his glass of water. He'd had several already. He was starting to feel sick from it but he still felt so painfully thirsty. They'd brought him food as well but he wasn't hungry. Just the smell of it turned his stomach. So it sat, forgotten on a table nearby.

The entire time he couldn't help but notice that Alustriel hadn't spoken a word since he'd woken. Her expression was analyzing, a frown pursing her lips.

"-but ye going ta be fine now." he was pulled out of his thoughts when Catti placed her hand on his arm. He took a look at her relieved and hopeful gaze and sighed, shifting his weight and looking back to Alustriel. The one she sent back to him told him all he needed to know.

"But I'm not...this isn't over, this is going to keep happening...isn't it?" he asked her, his tone was to the point. More curious then fearful.

All eyes in the room turned to her and she straightened, holding her head up rather then letting it droop down in response to the situation which was more grave then the others realized, "Give us a moment alone please."

The others left as asked but Catti looked as if she might protest. Alustriel sent her a gentle smile, "It's alright, only for a moment. I wish to discuss something in private with him."

She huffs, gives Drizzt one last comforting pat, and reluctantly leaves. He gives her a nod and a slight smile that fades instantly once she's gone. He doesn't look back right away, lingering on the door she'd left through.

"Am I dying?"

Alustriel looks somewhat at a loss for words at this question and moves to sit in the chair Catti had been occupying only seconds before, "Truthfully? I...do not know. Would you have died if I had not come when I did? Yes. That is for certain."

He turns back, confused, "Then how can you not know? If this keeps happening...then surely I will die."

"Perhaps. It is difficult to say when I do not fully understand the nature of what is...troubling you."

His eyebrows go up slightly at that, "Troubling?" he chuckles despite himself.

She smiles though the mirth doesn't reach her eyes, "Drizzt, my friend, I need to ask you some things. You may not like my questions but they are important."

He gave her a surprised, if somewhat baffled, look. He wasn't sure what she was about to ask that would be considered upsetting for him, he'd always been open in their conversations,"Ask."

"Your parents. You told me of them before. Are you certain that your father was who you said he was?"

He was completely taken aback. Whatever he'd thought she would ask...it wasn't that, "Zaknafein?"

She nods, "Yes. Are you certain he was your father?"

His eyes narrowed, "What are you suggesting?" now he understood what she'd meant when she said he might not want to hear it.

"I know that in Drow society, lineage is tracked through the Mother with little or no thought given to the father. Is there any way you, and he, may have been mistaken?"

"No!" he exclaims, perhaps a bit louder then he meant. He forces himself to calm down, "Malice confirmed it."

She looks surprised, clearly some assumptions had been made...though he couldn't figure out why she'd be so determined to convince him he was wrong, "...both of them?" she paused a long moment to think this over, looking more and more confused, "And he was pure Drow?"

"Of course."

"You are completely cert-"

"Yes, Malice would never have taken a half breed to her bed, no matter his sword skill. Now tell me what this is about."

She sighed and took a long moment to collect her thoughts, "What is happening to you...it is not some malady to be cured. It is no illness, or curse, or outside attack of any kind. This...thing, it is a part of you. For some reason beyond my understanding it was kept hidden from you. Tucked away inside you, only to be glimpsed in times of your greatest need. The battle fever you described to me, you call it The Hunter...it was only a small taste of what this is. Whatever was keeping it at bay must have faded. I have put my own barriers in place but they will not last forever."

He tried to understand exactly what she was telling him. When he thought back on it...it had felt similar...though far more intense then his times under The Hunter's sway. He sank back against the pillows, "...what is this?"

She gave him a pleading look, "It felt like a demon."

That had him sitting forward again an angry retort on his lips, "I am not a-"

She placed her hands on his person, claiming him before he could truly begin his protest, "I am not suggesting anything quite so dire as that, my friend. Never, but I believe there is more to your heritage then you may know."

Her questions suddenly made sense to him and he gasps with realization, "You think I'm a Draegloth?"

She mouthed the word. This was not something she was familiar with and he noticed her confusion, "A child created when a priestess...couples with a demon." he explained with a grimace, thoughts dragged back to the one time he witnessed such a thing.

She nodded, "I did not know the Drow had their own word for it. We know them simply as Tieflings here."

"It is a willful union."

It was her own turn to grimace, "They submit themselves to such a thing?"

He simply nodded, he had no desire to speak of it in depth.

"Could your Mother have done this and hidden it to save face?" he was shaking his head even before she had finished speaking.

"Never."

She was starting to look annoyed, "You seem awfully certain."

"I am. Even if she had done such a thing, if she had known I was as I..." he paused unable to say 'as I am'. He swallowed hard and decided to move on, "She would never have tried to hide it. Draegloth's are considered blessed. It would have gained her status."

It was her own turn to sit back and consider the information given to her. They were back at square one it seemed. None of it made sense to her. If his parents were who he said they were and both were pure blooded Drow...how did he possess the blood of a demon...and who would have tried to hide it? Who would even have had that kind of power? Not in all of her years had she ever heard of such a thing being done before. To keep half of ones true self so fully hidden for so long...

But then when she considered his age...he WAS an adolescent by his races standards, it certainly made sense that it would become too strong to keep so fully controlled. Whoever had thought to spare him this must have assumed they would still be around, which just brought up more questions and even less answers.

They sat in silence for a long time, both too lost in thought to say anything out loud.

When the silence was finally broken it was Drizzt who spoke, "...can you help me?"

She thought about how to respond to this very carefully, "Drizzt...as I said, I have placed a barrier to save your life...but it will not last."

"Could you not simply replace it as it fades?" there was the slightest edge of desperation in his voice.

She shook her head, "It is too strong...even now it is beginning to fail."

"Then I am dying."

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "There...is a chance. Perhaps if I could slow down the process...enough to let the two halves merge gradually instead of all at once as it was...then there is a chance you could survive it."

He swallowed hard, uncertainty and fear showing through the cracks, "...do I want to?"

"My friend, you have nothing to be ashamed of...you are still you. You are as you ever have been and I believe that you will be strong enough wither this storm. I have known Tieflings who could be good...just as I have known Drow who could be good, despite all expectations." She said with a comforting smile.

He nodded trying to take courage from her words, "...what will happen to me?"

Her smile faltered, "...that I cannot say, but we will be here with you, you will not go through this on your own."

He sat back again, laying his arms across his middle, "How am I even going to start to tell them of this."

She shook her head, standing, "You have been through enough of an ordeal. You do not need to do this, I shall explain it to them." she saw the look of worry flash across his face, "Trust in your companions, Drizzt Do'Urden, they shall not abandon you."

He watched her turn and leave the room, could hear the muffled voices through the thick wooden door. Taking a shaking breath he reached up and tightly clasped the Unicorn pendant hung around his neck. He'd never been much for believing in the actual physical presence of the gods...but at that moment...he hoped that at least one in particular was listening. He needed it.

TBC...

Sorry for the wall of dialogue if it was boring...the real fun begins now hehe...and no that was not the bombshell...it has not yet dropped