Fanfiction has been giving me some troubles recently so I have put out this series on Archive of Our Own if anyone prefers that site better and I might start using that one as my main site.
It had been two weeks. Two weeks without word or a single trace of Sapphire. The pathetic den watcher had been in hysterics when Arthas came to interrogate her. Apparently she had never lost a druid before. Arthas could not even bring himself to kill her. Cerelial had assured him that they would find Sapphire, but nothing came up and Arthas did not trust any druids anymore.
Jaina never showed any signs of exacting her revenge on Garrosh or the Horde. The Alliance had attacked Ogrimmar only to be driven back but they did manage to retake Northwatch. Despite all that, still Jaina did show up.
So Arthas went to the most likely place to find her. Theramore was a ruin. Where else would a mage go but Dalaran?
It was almost comforting when Arthas stepped out into the brisk air. Dalaran still floated above Crystalsong Forest, in the middle of Northrend. Arthas took a deep breath to take in the cold air, which smelled sharply of arcane magic. Neither Keifer nor Lethumo came with her.
He told them if Sapphire did come back, someone needed to stay behind. While true, that was not the sole reasoning for leaving them behind. Lethumo would be talking the entire time and Arthas could barely tolerate him when he was in a good mood. As for Keifer, the cultist would be better off busying himself with communicating with other cultists. For now, he was the leader of the Cult of the Damned until Kel'thuzad's phylactery showed up or the lich himself did.
Back when he and Jaina were both young and had studied in Dalaran, students of all kinds enjoyed frequenting the Legerdemain Lounge. The hot drinks and sugary foods the lounge served were ideal for long nights of studying. And the rooms upstairs were used for discreet meeting between lovers. During the summer nights, Jaina poured over large tomes while Arthas lay passed out on the couch across from her.
Arthas now stood at the entrance of the lounge. He thought about renting a room and listening around for news on Jaina.
It turned out that he did not need to. Before he could enter, he saw her walking down the street. Their eyes suddenly met and it seemed that all of time stood still at that moment. He smiled at her. She looked much better. Her eyes lost much of the unnatural glow from the mana bomb's aftereffects and there were no bags under her eyes. At some point she had gotten some decent sleep. Her hair still bore the permanent bleaching, with only a single streak of gold left as a cruel reminder of her past.
Jaina moved as if to go to him, but a voice called out. Now her eyes showed a strange emotion. Was that guilt? Shame? She turned to face the person who addressed her. The man, with blue hair and the clothes to match it, came up to her and started to talk to her with enthusiasm. Comparing him to Jaina's height, Arthas realized that this stranger was taller than himself. He also seemed much too comfortable around Jaina.
During their conversation Jaina did not even glance at Arthas once. Once the conversation concluded, the blue haired man tenderly kissed Jaina on the lips. Carving his own heart out had done absolutely nothing to quench his emotions and at that moment all he felt was anger. Jaina finally remembered him it seemed for she turned to rush over to him. He noticed that she smiled before even looking at him. He could hear her quickened pulse even as far away as she was.
"Arthas, I-"
"Who was that?" He interrupted.
The shame returned. Jaina was an open book. She nervously brushed some of her hair out of her face.
"He is Kalecgos, of the Blue dragonflight."
A dragon and a blue one at that. Arthas briefly wondered what this Kalecgos would look like as a fleshless frostwyrm.
"I suppose you care about him?" Arthas asked casually, trying to keep his tone even.
Jaina sighed. She took his hand and entered the Legerdemain Lounge with him. The two of them sat at a secluded table, away from any prying eyes.
"I...don't know. Actually, yes I do. I do care about him. I think I love him."
It would be so easy to kill her for that. She was not even looking in his direction when she said that, as if to pretend he was not there. Arthas could not bring himself do it before she did finally face him.
"But I love you too. Everything is just...so much right now."
Tears started to form in her eyes. Arthas rarely ever saw her cry. Jaina kept her emotions so bottled up usually.
She continued, her voice tinged with anger. "You, you encourage me to take my revenge against Garrosh. I almost did, which would have potentially destroyed the Alliance's fleet and Varian! Kalec stopped me. I am not Garrosh. I am not you!"
That hurt. She was not wrong though. Arthas could have responded snarkily. Instead he gestured to the bar.
"Should I order some coffee or-"
Jaina brushed the tears away and cleared her throat. "I will get some."
She quickly left to go order. Arthas watched her, conflicted. Things were not going as he would have wanted. Too many things needed to be said that was going unsaid. Chief on his mind was Sapphire. He needed Jaina's help to find her, but did not know how to approach the topic. How could he tell Jaina that not only was their daughter alive and had been with him all her life in Icecrown but that she was now missing. For all he knew, she could even be dead.
No, he could not tell her so abruptly. Jaina was barely processing his own reappearance. Sapphire could take care of herself. And if she was dead...then it did not matter. Her body could wait.
Jaina returned with two coffee cups. Arthas took the offered one. They both drank. For some insane reason, Jaina had ordered coffee with ice in it. Arthas nearly spat it out in disgust. Jaina did not seem disgusted, so she at least enjoyed it.
"Do you have any good reasons why I should not lock you up in the Violet Hold with the rest of your monsters?" Jaina suddenly asked.
That response seemed out of nowhere, but not unexpected. At some point he knew he would have to acknowledge everything he had done. Every harm, every death, every atrocity that he committed as champion of the Lich King and then as Lich King himself. He would have rather spoken about it later rather than sooner.
"No, I suppose I do not have good reasons. I have regrets that I failed so miserably. I failed Lordaeron, I failed humanity, I failed you."
Jaina sighed and leaned back into her chair. "Self pity is not becoming of you, Arthas."
Arthas scowled.
"Fine then. Take me and chain me up. Be sure to do it tightly. I'm into that."
The annoyed groan that came from Jaina told Arthas she really was not in the mood for jokes. She was like the old Jaina again. Never enjoying his jokes when there was a more serious discussion at hand.
Arthas drank more of the iced coffee, restraining the urge to curl up his lip in disgust.
Jaina tapped her fingers annoyingly on the top of the wooden table. "Are you a threat to the Alliance?"
"At the moment? No. In fact, I suppose I could be a threat to a certain hostile orc Warchief," Arthas said casually.
The dark look in Jaina's eyes was enough to answer his unspoken question. She wanted Arthas to destroy the Horde for her. It puts all blame off her and onto him.
"I'm sure you want something in return if I were to suggest that," Jaina replied back coldly.
Arthas pulled out a leather pouch that he worn around his neck on a string. He opened it and pulled out the snowy locks of Sapphire. She did not even know he possessed it, but he kept a lot of secrets from his daughter. This was a minor one.
"Could you use this to locate the person it came from? Or atleast tell if that person is dead or alive?"
He had absolutely no intentions of telling Jaina at this time. Not until he knew Sapphire was alive. Jaina took the hair and examined it.
"Yes, I can definitely do that. Why? Whose is it?"
Arthas shook his head. "Not important at the moment. Just do this for me and not only will I refrain from taking any kind of offensive towards the Alliance but I will do my best to bring you Garrosh Hellscream's head."
Sapphire gritted her teeth painfully as the deathknight shoved forceps into her wound. At some point, she had passed out in Salanar the Horseman's arms while they escaped from Adalger and Thros. When she came to, she woke up on the metal table. From her vantage point, she could see other tables as well. Most of them were empty, but some were not. Chunks of flesh hung from chains around the room. Some tables held racks filled with vials of blood. All kinds of metal implements hung from the walls.
Blood flowed from Sapphire's wound, but this was not a concern of the deathknight. He merely waved one hand and the blood started to flow back in. Due to the blood red armor he wore, Sapphire guessed he was a blood deathknight, which is why Salanar handed her over to him. Blood deathknights knew much about anatomy and blood. Yanking out an arrowhead without damaging her arm required their expertise.
Salanar stood off to the side with his arms crossed and leaning against one of the occupied tables. It was covered with a wrap but one hand hung limply off the edge. Blood still dripped from it. Rot and Tanomoan huddled underneath the table. Rot seemed fine but poor Tanomoan was horrified by their surroundings.
When the deathknight tugged at the arrowhead, pain flared up. Sapphire clenched her fists tightly. Her nails cut into her palms. A tiny cry of pain escaped from her lips. The human deathknight merely grunted as he tried to extract the head.
"Most men would be screaming out in agony from this but all this little stray only whimpers."
Salanar inclined his head slightly. "She is a tough one isn't she?"
Finally, the arrowhead came free from her arm. Bits of her own flesh clung to it. A ghoul came over with a metal tray. The deathknight dropped the arrowhead onto the tray with a wet clink. The deathknight then started to mend Sapphire's muscles. It seemed to hurt even more for her arm to be fixed than it did when the arrow remained in her arm. Her muscles slowly knitted each other together. After that, the deathknight reached over to a table and picked up a needle and suture thread.
Heavy footsteps started to come closer. Sapphire tilted her head to look past the deathknight. Salanar turned to face the the newcomer, While the one currently stitching up her arm had no helm, this new deathknight wore a dark helm with spikes and teeth. Two swords were strapped to his back. Salanar and the new deathknight spoke briefly. Now the deathknight turned his head to look over at Sapphire.
Sapphire glared at him with reproach. She already guessed where she was, and it was not a place she wanted to be. Salanar briefly returned to the injured girl and the blood deathknight.
"I need to speak to the Highlord for a while. Mind feeding and watching over the kid, Lord Thorval?" Salanar asked coolly.
Lord Thorval did not turn around from cleaning his bloodied instruments. "Fine. But you owe me, Sally."
Salanar merely nodded in response. He looked at Sapphire, then pointed at her wound.
"I suggest you keep from reopening that. Try not to get any more enemies while I'm gone, yes?"
Sapphire bit her lip nervously. While she still feared him, Salanar had shown no outward hostility toward her. Neither did Lord Thorval, but this was Acherus, the Ebon Hold. Where all the deathknights that had betrayed her father stayed. If they who she was...
"Hey, you!" Lord Thorval snapped at one of the ghouls under his employ.
It jumped to attention. The deathknight gestured to Sapphire.
"Go to Corpulous and find something suitable for a living girl to eat. No moldy bread or questionable meats. Got it?"
The ghoul tilted its head and looked at Sapphire curiously. She smiled at it. It had been so long since she had seen a ghoul. She missed all of her ghoul friends from Icecrown.
"My name is Sapphire! What's yours?" She askes sweetly.
"Me is Tryg-"
Thorval snapped his fingers and the ghoul flinched before scurrying off to complete its task. Sapphire turned to look at Thorval.
"That was mean!" She said.
The deathknight gave her an odd look before baring his teeth viciously. "Its a ghoul. Try telling that to one when its gnawing off your face. Welcome to Acherus."