Author's note:
Oh my gosh, I'm back again!
Happy belated new year, everyone! I'm so so sorry that I haven't updated this sooner! I meant to, I promise! No excuses, other than having been really sick with strep throat and a virus for about a month at Christmas, and feeling whatever I feel over the holidays. I will do my best to update a lot more consistently from now on!
I hope you like this chapter!
Lunarelle
The vault was lit periodically by flickering torches that cast Faith's shadow upon the walls as she walked inside. Carvings upon the floor depicted vrykul history along with the history of the val'kyr. Faith was surprised when she came upon a carving of an undead val'kyr, unmistakable for what it was. She hadn't expected to come across any mentions of the Scourge here.
A faint scent of undeath permeated the air, one Faith knew well. A rotting corpse, mixed with the smell of long-decayed spices and roses, and an undercurrent of lavender, whatever remained of the spell Faith had cast upon her.
She hurried down the corridor, wanting to see Sylvanas and wondering what in the world she was doing there. Coming across a massive chamber, she stopped in her tracks, blinking.
A val'kyr larger than Faith had ever seen was there, kneeling on the stone floor, her golden wings appearing wilted behind her. She was struggling against some unseen force that was keeping her from getting to her feet, murmuring under her breath. A prayer.
"Traitorous banshee!" she snarled. "You know not what you are meddling with!" she gasped in pain, recoiling from something. From someone.
Sylvanas.
Sylvanas who was standing there, holding up a lantern from which an eerie blue light shone, wisps of it curling around the val'kyr.
"Eyir," whispered Faith, stunned. "Sylvanas! What the fel are you doing?"
"Stay back, Faith!" Sylvanas looked at Eyir, walking closer to her. Eyir gave a pained cry, trying to move back but unable to. "Submit. The val'kyr are mine."
Eyir cried out again.
"Sylvanas, by the grace of the Light, stop!"
Sylvanas shook her head, and even from where she was standing, Faith saw the tear running down her face. "No, Faith. This is the only way. I need the val'kyr. They alone can help you."
"Help me?" called Faith, taking several steps closer. "Help me do what?"
Their eyes locked, and Faith was devastated to see the naked grief on Sylvanas' face. "Survive," she said. "I will not fail you again."
"By the gods, Sylvanas, is that what you're after? You want more val'kyr to make me and the Forsaken immortal? Have you lost your mind?"
"You cannot die again, Faith. I won't allow it."
"This isn't the way to do it!" cried Faith as Sylvanas thrust the lantern towards Eyir causing her to tremble. "Sylvanas, that is a titanic watcher you are trying to subdue! None of us asked you to do that!"
"You never have to ask. I told you, I will not lose you again."
Faith started crying, "Oh, Sylvanas, my love, not even you can stop what's going to happen to me. Greymane poisoned me because he knows that this is the one way to get to you, the one way to hurt you above all else."
"You are not going to die. Need I decimate every population on Azeroth to save you, Faith, I will do it."
Shaking her head, Faith reached Sylvanas and put a hand on her face, "No, my darling. No, you won't do that. It's not something you should do, and more to the point, it's not something I want you to do. Don't you understand? I love this world, and I will die defending it if I need to. I will die defending you the way you died defending me."
"No!" screamed Sylvanas.
"Yes," said Faith gently. "Look at me. You are going to release Eyir now, and you and I are going to go home and talk about the best way to save Azeroth in the time I have left here."
"No."
"Sylvanas, I'm dying. Whatever the Sunwell did for me, it's not lasting. The poison still courses through me, it's why it hurts so much for me to cast a spell. Hurting Eyir like this, trying to force her to submit to you, that's not going to help the situation. You –."
A howl echoed through the vault, followed by low laughter.
"Sylvanas…"
Sylvanas raised the lantern, looking around slowly. Faith too looked around, but saw nothing, although that didn't mean in the slightest that no enemy was there.
"Your quest for you and your wife's immortality has left you vulnerable."
Faith knew that voice. Pain laced her body as the poison in her veins inexplicably reacted to it.
Just in front of her, Sylvanas stowed the lantern at her belt and slowly nocked an arrow Both of them braced themselves for the attack they knew was inevitable.
It came from behind Faith.
"Vengeance will be mine!" snarled Greymane as he launched himself at them.
Both Faith and Sylvanas ducked out of the way as Greymane leaped at them, snarling. Faith ended up on the floor near Eyir, Sylvanas landing several feet to her right. The wolf laughed again, his eyes focusing on Faith. He growled and prepared to leap again, but just as he did, Sylvanas collided with him, sending them both crashing against the wall.
"Get off me!" he yelled, pushing at Sylvanas so hard that he practically sent her halfway across the room. Jumping, he landed on top of her and began to punch her.
The sound of his fists hitting Sylvanas' skin was enough for Faith to give a cry of outrage and grab one of the small throwing daggers she kept in the lining of her cloak. A second later, she had thrown it and it had embedded itself in Greymane's hip.
He gave a howl of surprised pain, rolling off of Sylvanas, who got up immediately, her lip bleeding. Faith ran to her.
"Are you all right?"
A nod.
"No!" growled Greymane. He pulled the dagger out of his hip and threw it at Sylvanas, who batted it away easily with her bow. Jumping again with amazing speed, he landed behind Faith and grabbed her neck. "Don't move, Sylvanas, or I swear I'll rip her head right off her shoulders."
Sylvanas froze. Faith could practically see her mind jumping from scenario to scenario, trying to find one where both of them survived.
"You are going to suffer, Sylvanas, the exact same way you made me suffer when you killed my son."
Faith cried out as a burning pain suddenly pierced her side. Her cry, however, was drowned out by Sylvanas' shriek when she saw the king of Gilneas pull the knife from Faith's skin. He stabbed again, and again, reverting into his human form. He kissed Faith's cheek and threw her to the ground.
Faith's vision blurred as she hit the floor. Blinking, feeling the new poison already beginning to course through her, she saw Sylvanas attacking Greymane with renewed savagery. After firing a toxic arrow at him that hit him in the right shoulder just above his heart, she jumped on him, beginning to pummel him. Blood flew, but Greymane was laughing.
"Sylvanas!" cried Faith.
"You've lost, banshee," said Greymane, holding something in his hand.
It was the lantern Sylvanas had used to subdue Eyir. Before either of them could do anything, he smashed it to the ground and it exploded, releasing the bonds that had kept the val'kyr tethered to the floor.
The creature towered over Faith, looking down at her, and Sylvanas got off Greymane in a hurry, sprinting towards Faith and covering her body with hers.
Greymane laughed, slowly getting to his feet. "You took away my future," he said. "And now I have taken yours." He walked out of the vault without a backwards glance, his wobbly footsteps echoing back to them.
Sylvanas paid him no attention, busy trying to staunch the flow of blood pouring from Faith's side. She could smell the poison, the same one he had used on her before.
"Damn it," she said. "Damn him, I will end him. Faith, stay with me."
Eyir floated above them, looking wholly unimpressed by the scene in front of her. She raised a hand and Faith's eyes widened. With all the strength she had left, she switched her position with Sylvanas, shielding her instead.
"No! Eyir, don't!"
"You are in no position to stop me," said the val'kyr. "Move aside."
"Never. Look, I know that what Sylvanas attempted to do is abominable. I take responsibility for the way she behaved." She raised her voice as Sylvanas began to protest. "She's not herself when it comes to me. She loves me too much, and she doesn't think straight when something happens to me. She's trying to find a way to cure me and to keep her people from dying out. She's going about this the wrong way, I know, but please understand that it comes from a good place."
Eyir just looked at her.
"When Sylvanas was alive, she was a paradigm of good. She sacrificed herself to save me and the people of Quel'Thalas. She was warped by the Scourge, but still managed to break free. And she learned to love again when I came back to her. Please, Eyir, don't kill her. I beg you not to." Faith looked up at her, tears streaming down her face, "Take me instead."
"Faith, no!"
"If you have to kill someone, Eyir, kill me, because it's my fault. I'm the one who made Sylvanas like this."
"Faith!" Sylvanas tried to scramble to her feet, but Faith was holding her down, making sure she couldn't move.
"You would die for her," said Eyir. "Even though you know that she is an evil being now."
Faith shook her head, "She's not evil. She's done evil things, but she still has love within her, Eyir. Evil beings cannot love, not that way. She can."
Eyir looked at them, at the way Sylvanas was trying to get up to shield Faith from whatever might happen, and at the way Faith stood her ground, determined not to let anybody or anything hurt the one she loved.
"Never return to my vault," she said. "Never return here."
She disappeared.
Faith waited a while, making sure that no other attack was going to come. The colors were washing in and out of her world, and she swayed. In a flash, Sylvanas got to her feet and put an arm around her.
"Say something, Faith."
"You're an idiot."
Sylvanas blinked, "Pardon?"
"I mean, I love you, but you're an idiot. I can't believe you did this." Her knees buckled, and Sylvanas caught her, picking her up. "Can we go home now? Please?"
The warchief said nothing, securing her wife in her arms and beginning to walk out of Eyir's vault. Nathanos and the others were waiting for them and didn't make a sound when they walked by, following them out.
"Sylvanas, wait," said Faith quietly.
"No. You're trailing blood everywhere."
"But I need to say –."
"You've said enough."
"Sylvanas, please. I'm serious."
She stopped walking. "What?"
"I need to say goodbye to Ingra and the other aspirants."
"We're right here, Faith," said Ingra, stepping out of the shadows. "I understand that Eyir wasn't favorable to you."
Faith shook her head, "I'm sorry it ended the way it did."
"As am I. It would have been nice for us to be allies in the fight against the Burning Legion."
"Maybe we can still be," Faith told her. "I will pull the Horde out of the immediate vicinity, but if you need anything, you'll be able to find us."
Ingra gave a nod, "We will send some of our aspirants to fight the demons. We cannot let them stay in Stormheim."
"I hope we will meet again."
"Odin willing, it won't be on a battlefield."
The members of the Horde took their leave a few minutes later returning to their camp not a moment too soon for Faith, who was honestly feeling vile. She was shivering, which was an unpleasant experience as an undead.
"What happened?" asked Nathanos the moment they were alone.
"Greymane happened, that's what," answered Sylvanas through gritted teeth. "I will rip him limb from limb."
"Does that mean we're at war against the Alliance?"
Sylvanas looked at him, "At war? Of course, we're at war."
"He means officially," Faith told her. She winced and tried to sit up, but Sylvanas put a hand on her shoulder to keep her down.
"Officially or unofficially, we're at war against the Alliance."
"More so now, being as I'm considering Greymane's latest attack as an official act of war against the Horde. It's just that we can't afford to fight them right now. We have got to worry about the Burning Legion, or the Alliance will be the least of our worries."
"You want us to officially be at war against the Alliance?" Sylvanas asked her. "You?"
"Want us to, no, not at all. But I've had enough of the worgen attacking us left, right, and center, and the Alliance not doing anything about it. I told him we'd have a problem if this went on, and he obviously didn't do anything about it."
"Do you want to write to him again?" Nathanos asked her.
"No. I warned him. I'm not giving him another chance." She hissed as Sylvanas pressed down on her side.
"If it's not too much to ask, Nathanos, could you please go get a few healers for me?" She looked down at Faith, "How are you feeling?"
"In all honesty, Sylvanas, I've had better days…"
The look on Sylvanas' face was hard to read, but Faith knew that look in her eyes.
"It doesn't hurt that much," she amended.
Sylvanas closed her eyes briefly, "Baby, you've never been able to lie to me. Please don't try to start now."
"I don't like to know that I'm causing you pain."
"You're not causing… would you please worry about yourself instead of worrying about me for once? Why did you follow me?"
"Because it's my job to make sure you're safe, that's why. And it's a good thing that I did. Ho knows what you would have done had I not arrived when I did?"
"I had the situation handled."
"Did you? Is that what you were doing in Helheim? You went to make a bargain with Helya in order to get that lantern from her?"
"The Soulcage, yes."
"So you wanted Eyir's soul. To do what, force the val'kyr to work for you? You were going to force them into your service just like Arthas did for you?"
"Don't bring up Arthas to me, Faith."
"I will bring up Arthas, because you're becoming more and more like him. Sylvanas, this has to stop. Do you realize what you're turning into?"
"I'm doing what's best for you."
"What's best for me? I'm not worth you becoming a soulless tyrant, Sylvanas! I don't care how much you love me, I'm not worth that!"
"You don't care how much I love you? That's new."
"You know what I mean."
Faith shook her head, "Honestly, Sylvanas, I can't follow you down this path."
"I'm not asking you to."
"Of course you're asking me to. What are you going to do, leave me behind? We're married now, in case you haven't noticed, which means that whatever you do affects me too." She squeezed Sylvanas' fingers, "Especially when you're doing things like this in order to keep me alive."
"You do realize that your life is more important to me than anything else in the world, right?"
A nod, "I do. However, my love, that doesn't give you the right to act the way you have been. You are warchief of the Horde, which means that you have a responsibility towards all the people under your rule, not just me." She held up a hand, closing her eyes as pain shot through her body.
Sylvanas, absolutely hating to see her in pain, took her into her arms, "I'm so sorry, my Faith. I'm sorry. I would have never done… if I'd known that Greymane would have been waiting to ambush you…"
"Honey, Greymane will stop at nothing to hurt you. Nothing. If that means hurting me over and over again in order to distract you, he'll do it. I just want you to keep that in mind."
"What would you like me to do, act like I don't care about you? We're married, I think it's a little late to play Let's Pretend."
"Just cool it, okay? I'm not dying today. Even this last attack didn't poison me as badly."
"I think your body's in shock, Faith, because you look like you're about ready to keel over." She took a mirror from the table and held it up to Faith's face so that she could see for herself.
Her face was a weird ashy grey, her hair streaked with blood from the battle. She could see the veins on her neck and was alarmed to note that they were colored a dark red. She traced one of them with her finger.
"The poison's doing that," Sylvanas told her gently. "I have no doubt that whatever magic is inside you from the Sunwell is fighting it, but if we don't find an antidote soon, you'll die, and I will not let that happen."
Faith smiled gently, "Baby, I started dying the second Greymane stabbed me. Maybe this new wound will hasten my death, I don't know. But before I die, I intend on doing some good for the people of Azeroth. You understand."
Sylvanas shook her head, "Maybe a long time ago, I understood. But now I can't figure out why you want to play the hero. You need to get better before you can help others."
Nathanos walked back into the tent, followed by a couple of tauren shaman, who immediately started working on Faith. "I have to say, Your Majesty, I agree with the warchief. You want to help the people of Azeroth, which is commendable, but you have to take care of yourself first. You won't be of any use to us if you're dead."
"These braves will tell you now," said Faith quietly, "that my days are numbered."
"Well, I refuse to believe that. I will prove to Greymane that he can't kill you. I don't care what it takes, but I will do it, need I give my own life again to make it happen."
The Apothecarium of Undercity was busy in the best of times. If the people there weren't looking for ways to perfect the Blight, they were busy making potions for the Forsaken, working on severed limbs for the soldiers returning from battle, or performing experiments that were best not talked about.
It was a dark place beneath the Undercity throne room with many hiding places that Sylvanas had kept secret even from Faith. The smell in there would have been completely unbearable for any living creature, and not even rats scurried down there. There were maggots, though, plenty of them, crawling over rotting flesh and on the floor. Twice a day, two lowly apothecaries who were responsible for the cleanliness of the Apothecarium collected the maggots and put them in a bucket. The bucket was brought to the overnight market once a day and returned to the Apothecarium by the following day.
That evening, the place was busier than usual. No less than twelve apothecaries worked continuously while their apprentices checked notes and books or travelled throughout Lordaeron to find whatever missing ingredients their masters needed. Around them, people were constantly sweeping and mopping, keeping the place spotless and making sure not to disturb anything.
They had heard that the warchief was on her way.
"What do you think she wants?" asked one of them, a woman by the name of Jaymin Graveside. She had been raised from the dead without any eyes, but enough magic had been used when raising her to allow her to see something, even if it wasn't one's traditional way of seeing. That day, she saw that Master Apothecary Lydon looked troubled at the thought of Sylvanas' visit. His forehead was creased with worry as he examined a green substance closely.
Lydon glanced at her, "The same thing she's been wanting for weeks: a way to cure Faith."
"We haven't been able to get a pure sample of the poison Greymane used against Faith. How are we supposed to find an antidote?"
"By working with what we know," he told her.
"Which is?"
"Not much," he admitted. "Get back to work, Jay. Please. If she finds us talking –."
"She'll wonder what you've been doing all day," came Sylvanas' smooth voice.
Everyone in the Apothecarium stood at attention at the warchief's sudden appearance. One of the apprentices dropped his broom in surprise, which made several people jump.
Happy to know that her presence was still sufficient to scare her subjects, Sylvanas slowly walked around the laboratories, nodding in approval of how clean it was kept. Potions simmered on burners and several diseased animals in cages made pitiful sounds as they waited for the next round of experiments to begin.
"How is it going?" she asked.
"We haven't had any results yet, Warchief," said Lydon with a bow. "But we're confident that we'll find something… sooner or later."
"Maybe this will help," she said, pulling a wrapped dagger from the folds of her cloak.
There were some murmurs from the people around her. A thrum of a fear echoed through them.
"Relax," she told them. "You were saying, Jaymin, that you didn't have a sample of pure poison to work with. Greymane used this dagger against Faith a few hours ago. I daresay that the poison coating it is the same."
"Greymane attacked Faith again?" asked Lydon, outraged. "Are you kidding me, My Lady?"
Sylvanas merely looked at him.
"Is Faith all right?" wondered Jaymin. "She's not… she's still alive, isn't she?"
"Jaymin, if Faith had died because of Greymane I can promise you that the Burning Legion would be the least of the Alliance's problems," said Lydon.
Sylvanas almost smiled at that. "Anyway, I was hoping you'd be able to use it in your research to find an antidote."
Lydon nodded, taking the dagger from her, "We'll get on it right away."
"It smells like Nerubian venom," whispered Jaymin. "Which, of course, it would, because everyone knows that Faith is susceptible to it."
"Yes," agreed Sylvanas. "But that's not the only venom there."
"No, there are other components at work."
The apothecaries and their assistants all crowded close to the blade. Someone brought over a dropper to collect a sample of the venom that had been undiluted by Faith's blood, placing it in a crystal vial.
"We will have something for you in a few hours, Warchief," Lydon told her with another bow. "We would be happy if you waited here with us."
This time, she did smile, "You would be terrified out of your wits if I lurked around here while you worked. I will return at midday to see whether you've made any progress." She tried to keep her tone neutral so as not to scare them, but she couldn't help but let a subtle note of urgency creep into her voice.
She hoped they would find something.