New Plan

"Aren't you going with them?" Viraleth asked, watching Victoria rub her temple with two fingers. "Your mother is taking your sisters away, aren't you even going to try and stop her?"

"I've learnt to leave my parents alone when they set their mind on something." Victoria told her, looking over to Thal'ena who wasn't so sure. "What is it?" She asked her.

"I've known them for a decade now, maybe just a little longer, but I have to say I'm with Viraleth on this. You should stop her."

Victoria stood up from her throne with a groan and began to make her way to Sylvanas who held onto Alleria's hand whilst carrying Cedani in her other. "Mom, wait." She said loudly, quickly jogging down to her. "Don't do this. Stay until Athrodar returns and we can talk about this as a family. Don't punish my sisters because their father doesn't always think before he acts."

Sylvanas looked down at Alleria who had no idea what was going on, except being told they were going to live with auntie Vereesa from now on whilst Athrodar was busy fighting demons. "I'm saving them from Dael'Thaelas." She told Victoria, looking over to her eldest daughter and Queen. "He gets his claws in them young and manipulates them into doing whatever he wants. If we're in Dalaran and away from that evil bastard, they will be spared his plans."

"I can't even convince you to stay, can I?" She asked, watching Sylvanas shake her head and noticing the emotions in her eyes when she stopped. "Okay.." She whispered, stepping forward and hugging her, making sure to not squash Cedani and planting a kiss on her mother's cheek. "Go." She told her. "I will visit when I can, but I still have a city to run and most likely a father who won't know what to do with himself."

Sylvanas just nodded her head, knowing it was best not to speak about it any further as she knew her voice would give away how hard of a decision this was for her to make, leaving Stormwind Keep with her daughters shortly after the hug and heading to the Mage District.

"So she's really taking them and leaving Athrodar here?" Viraleth asked, shocked and surprised at how much had changed since the first days of his arrival compared to now. "I would never have thought she would leave him... ever."

"None of us did." Thal'ena told her, looking over to Victoria who sat back down on her throne, only this time she was in deep thought. "My Lady? What are you thinking about?"

"How my father could give up everything - by the sounds of it - for an army that's not even here." Victoria shook her head. "I just didn't expect this from him..."

The three of them all turned their attention to Tanadia who entered the throne room shortly after Sylvanas had left, catching a glimpse of Athrodar who also entered the throne room, but from a different direction. "Papa?" Tanadia tilted her head a little and frowned at him. "Are... Are you okay?"

"She's gone..." Athrodar muttered, pulling the ring out from his pocket and looking at it, to the surprise of everyone there as they all believed Sylvanas would be gone for a week. "She... She doesn't want to look at me anymore."

Both Victoria and Tanadia ran to their father's side, hugging him tightly from the back and front. "She will come around to seeing you again." Victoria told him reassuringly. "I mean, this is Sylvanas we're talking about. She has loved you for so long."

"She's right, Papa." Tanadia told him, being the one to hug him from the front. "Just the other day I was telling her how much I loved seeing you two together. It wasn't difficult to see the amount of love you both shared. She is just angry right now, but she will want to see you again, I promise."

Thal'ena and Viraleth bowed their heads to Athrodar who was slowly being taken away and towards his bedroom by the young priestess. "Make sure he rests." Viraleth told her, looking at Athrodar who looked far different than the Athrodar she was used to. Even in undeath he didn't look as lost, as broken as he did now.

"I will." Tanadia said with a small smile, keeping her father's arm around her shoulders as she dragged him away.

"Outside..." Athrodar muttered, stopping just at the door leading them to the Royal Chambers. "There's an army waiting outside Stormwind Keep." He said, looking over to Victoria. "Make sure they're well fed and looked after."

Victoria looked over to Viraleth and Thal'ena with a frown. "There is?" She asked them, watching them both shrug their shoulders. "Come on, let's take a look."

Whilst Athrodar and Tanadia walked into the the Royal Chambers, Victoria, Viraleth and Thal'ena stepped outside Stormwind Keep and looked down at the many, many elves standing outside the Keep. "Holy shit..." Thal'ena muttered, looking over to Victoria. "This... this is an army."

"How?" Viraleth asked nobody, looking down at the Sunblade army. "They're meant to all be dead. Even Dael'Thaelas."

"We survived." Leotheis said, walking up to the Queen, Royal Magister and Scout-Captain. "Your father is commanding us to fight the Burning Legion, something we have been training for since the Sunwell had been recaptured."

Victoria looked over to Leotheis, tilting her head at him. "So I take it you're his second? The reason why my mother has left him?"

Leotheis looked down at the army before them. "No. Your mother left him was because she couldn't see the bigger picture."

"I don't like him." Viraleth whispered into Victoria's ear. "He smells of Dael'Thaelas' arrogance and pride."

Victoria smiled a little and looked down at the army. "So what exactly has my father brought back with him?"

"Rangers, priests, mages and Spellbreakers. More than enough to hold back all the demons on the Broken Shore." Leotheis looked back to Victoria, Viraleth and Thal'ena, recognizing the Royal Magister more than the other two. "I remember you. At least, I remember your mother."

Thal'ena raised an eyebrow at Athrodar's second. "My mother?"

"Yes, Lana'thel. She helped me and a few of my rangers when we were ambushed by the Amani. You look a lot like her." Leotheis saw Thal'ena look away and smiled at her. "She would be so proud of you, she spoke about you a lot when we were returning to Silvermoon. To see you as the Royal Magister of Stormwind and close friends with its Queen? You are doing a lot more than she could ever have imagined."

Victoria looked over to Thal'ena who couldn't help but smile and look a little embarrassed. "So what do we do with you all now?"

"We can take care of ourselves. But your father insisted we wait here, I don't know what his plan is."

"How are you all still alive?" Viraleth asked him.

"Lord Sunblade saved us. He made sure as many of us could survive the attack on the Sunwell as possible." He looked over to Viraleth who didn't share his eye contact. "He didn't want that to happen, he wasn't expecting the Prince to side with the demons."

Viraleth scoffed and shook her head. "Okay. If you say so." The Scout-Captain placed a hand on Victoria's arm. "I'll be inside if you need me."


Athrodar woke up in a cold sweat a few hours after arriving in Stormwind, hugging himself as the nightmare plagued his mind and turning to his left to see Sylvanas laying there but then remembering she had left him and finding the bed to be empty save for himself.

"You promised me..." He muttered, clutching his head tightly as the nightmare continued to replay on his mind. "You would never leave me alone..."

The nightmare that plagued him was of him in Northrend, alone and surrounded by the Scourge. Every time he tried to fight them off, two of them would hold him down and forcing him down onto his knees. That was until he was stuck in the chest by a rusted blade seconds before waking up.

The two guards placed outside his room looked at each other when they heard Athrodar begin to cry to himself, not moving from their spot as they had been told by Leotheis to remain stationed outside unless they could hear he was hurt or at the very least, trying to hurt himself.

But that rule didn't apply to Tanadia who had moved into the room next door, hearing Athrodar cry and pushing the two guards out of the way and rushing into her father's room, climbing onto his bed and hugging him tightly. "It's okay, papa. I'm here, your little girl is here." She whispered in his ear, rocking him back and forth slowly.

"She left me..." He muttered into her shoulder, being held tightly by the young priestess. "She said we would never be apart..."

"Shh, it's okay." Tanadia whispered to him, placing a kiss on his temple. "Sylvanas will be back soon, papa. Okay? I promise you she will be back."

The priestess closed her eyes tightly, trying to keep herself calm as the one person she could rely on to be her rock, was crumbling very quickly before her. Other than Liadrin, she always believed he would be the one person where nothing would bring him down. But seeing him like this was breaking her heart.

"She will be back..." He muttered.

"Yes she will." Tanadia told him, stroking his hair.

The two of them held onto each other for close to ten minutes before Tanadia began to feel her father's grip weaken. "Sleep now, papa." She whispered to him, laying him down on his bed. "If you ever need me, I will be next door, okay?" She saw Athrodar nod slowly. "Sleep now and we will talk in the morning."

Leaving her father's bedroom, Tanadia looked at both the guards standing either side of her and sighed, shaking her head at them. "Some guards you are... He's suffering in there, his wife has left him and took my sisters with her and you both stand out here without even checking on him."

"With all due respect, my Lady. It's not our job to check in on him." One of the guards said.

"We are here to protect him whilst he sleeps, that's all." The other said.

Tanadia sighed and shook her head. "Fine. But if he wakes up like that in the middle of the night again, come get me. Someone has to look after him if you're only here to look at the wall opposite his door."


Viraleth watched Athrodar talk to his new second, Leotheis, as if nothing happened the night before. "Are you sure he had a nightmare? He looks to be better than usual."

Tanadia nodded at the Scout-Captain, glancing over to Victoria who stood on the opposite side of Viraleth. "He was shaking and broken. Like nothing I had seen from him before. He wanted Sylvanas to be there, but since she has left him, he is on his own."

Viraleth shook her head. "This isn't like Sylvanas at all. She promised he would never be alone again and she knows his greatest fear is being alone." The Scout-Captain looked over to the Queen who was watching her father. "Can you talk to her? Tell her what happened last night. If I know Sylvanas, it will make her see reason and come back to look after him." Her attention returned to Athrodar who had a smile on his face as he spoke to the second, both of them laughing at the same time and looking at the army before them. "He doesn't look it, but we all know he is broken inside."

"I was planning on talking to her today." Victoria told her, frowning at her father who was being shown a handful of the Officers in his family's army. "I was hoping you would join me." She then said, looking over to Tanadia. "Sylvanas loves you as one of her own, if you tell her what happened last night and what you two spoke about before then, she will most likely come back to Stormwind."

"And if she doesn't?" Tanadia asked, watching her father for as long as she could until he was out of sight. "I don't want to do it again tonight. It hurt so much to see him like that last night, I... I can't do it again."

"Don't worry. I'll look out for him tonight if she doesn't come back." Victoria told her. "I hate seeing him like this too and I can't sleep knowing they had a fight and haven't made up yet." She looked over to Viraleth who was nodding slowly, knowing she that this was the first time they had gone a day without speaking since Athrodar arrived in Undercity after Arthas' invasion. "Look after my city whilst I'm gone?" She asked her.

"I will." Viraleth said with a smile. "Would be nice to have some sort of authority back. Being a Scout-Captain only gets you so much."

Victoria smiled and kissed Viraleth on the cheek. "Thank you." She whispered to her, extending a hand out to Tanadia. "Let's go see my mother, shall we?"

As soon as they arrived in Dalaran, Victoria dragged her sister to the Violet Citadel and demanded to speak to her mother, being shown the way and knocking on her door three times, hard and impatiently. "What do you want?" Sylvanas asked from inside the room, not knowing who it was outside.

"Open up, mom." Victoria demanded, keeping hold of Tanadia's hand and looking back at her with a smile before her attention returned on the closed door. "Now."

"Victoria? Why are you here?" Sylvanas asked the moment she opened the door, looking at Tanadia who was still upset about recent events. "And Tana..." She sighed and lowered her head. "I think I know why now."

"Come home, mom." Victoria said, walking into the room with Tanadia. "He needs you."

"Desperately." Tanadia added.

"Tell her what you told us." Victoria said, turning to face Tanadia.

The priestess sighed and lowered her gaze from everyone, looking down at the locket around her neck. "He is broken." She said, taking a couple steps away from them. "He woke up last night, crying and shaking. I think he had a nightmare, but I didn't ask as he was too shaken up by waking up alone." Tanadia stopped and looked over to Sylvanas who looked troubled by this news. "He begged for you to come back, he said you promised to never leave him alone."

Victoria watched Sylvanas place a hand on her necklace, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Mom?" She asked, tilting her head a little at her.

"Did he come back with an army?" She asked, looking over to them.

"He did." Victoria said. "I have yet to ask him why, but we both know him. We know there's a good reason why."

"He said it was to protect us." Sylvanas told her, walking to a nearby door and looking inside to watch Cedani sleep in her cot. "But he made a deal with his great grandfather and he is to never be trusted."

"I'm almost certain he regrets this." Victoria told her, looking over to Tanadia who was sat down on a nearby chair and knowing she was hating every second of this. "Come home to him. Come home to us." Victoria made her way over to her mother. "We need you, but most of all he needs you."

"I.. I can't." Sylvanas told them, hugging herself. "Not whilst he is under Dael'Thaelas' influence."

"Then talk him out of it. You know he listens to you more than anyone." Victoria saw Sylvanas shake her head slowly. "Sure, maybe not now. But he will if you explain to him his mistakes and how he can keep you beside him."

Sylvanas looked at both Tanadia and Victoria, seeing their pleading eyes and knowing she was in a losing battle the moment they entered her room. "Fine... But I want to be alone with him. I want to see what you've both apparently seen."

Tanadia's face lit up whilst Victoria smiled at her. "Okay." The young priestess said. "I just don't want to see him like how he was last night. It hurt too much."

Sylvanas smiled a little at the young priestess. "I'm sorry you had to do that." Her attention turned to Victoria. "Right, come on. Let's go back. I'll leave your sisters here with mine. Vereesa has been begging to have them back alone with her for some time now."


Athrodar looked at the throne, not knowing where Victoria or Tanadia had gone and feeling a little pang of sadness creep in to his heart as he began to think they had left him too. Of course deep down he knew that wasn't the case, but after recent events, that thought had crossed his mind once or twice.

That was until they had returned with a plus one he couldn't be more than happy to see. Just as he was about to speak however, she placed her hand up to stop him. "Not here. Come."

Like a love sick puppy, Athrodar followed Sylvanas out of the throne room and into their bedroom, walking to the middle of it and hearing her shut the door behind them before pulling out the ring she had left on the beach and placing it on the bed. "Here. If you want it back." He said to start things off.

Sylvanas looked at the ring and began to feel guilty. She wasn't thinking clearly at the time of leaving it and began to regret that action. "Thank you." She said quietly, picking it up and placing it on her finger. "I shouldn't have left it there."

Athrodar stood there awkwardly and didn't know where to look. He wanted to gaze into her eyes again, but felt like now wasn't the time so he just kept his gaze off her. "I..."

"No, wait. Let me go first." She said, taking a couple steps forward and placing a hand on his arm. "I shouldn't have left you like that, or taken our daughters from you. I know that was a shitty thing to do but at the time I wanted nothing to do with you." She sighed a little and dropped her hand from his arm. "A part of me still doesn't."

"You hurt me, Sylvanas." Athrodar told her, turning his back to her and looking out towards the balcony. "We promised each other that we would never leave one another. You know how much I fear being alone."

"I know. But I wanted to hurt you at the time because you hurt me. You sold our family out to Dael'Thaelas without telling me and potentially put our little ones at risk." Sylvanas stepped towards him again, moving a hand towards him but stopping herself from hugging him when she thought about the last day. "How strong is his grip on you?"

"Not strong, at least not yet." Athrodar told her, turning back around and noticing how much closer she got to him. "What happened to us? We would never allow anyone to get between us when we were undead."

"We got soft." She told him, taking that last step forward and pressing her head to his chest. "Please forgive me." She whispered. "Tana told me about your nightmare, I didn't want that to happen."

"Only if you forgive me." He whispered back, not moving an inch until she did.

"I forgive you." She said, looking up into his eyes. "I really do."

Athrodar leaned forward the last couple of inches and kissed her softly on the lips. "I forgive you too." He pressed his head against hers and closed his eyes. "What are we going to do about Dael'Thaelas? He offered me his army and I took it because the only other options were to turn him down and risk losing this war, or to kill him and die to his army shortly after."

Sylvanas cupped his face with her hands and stared into his eyes. "We do what we should have done when he first made contact with you. We kill him for good."

Athrodar shook his head. "I.. I don't know if we can."

Sylvanas brushed a thumb across his cheek. "We can. We didn't get this far without planning an assassination or two. Garrosh is proof of that, though nobody outside this room knows it was us." She kissed him lightly, missing the touch of his lips on hers despite being away for only a day.

"How will we do it? He is a lot harder to find than Garrosh and we'll protected."

Sylvanas sighed and held onto him tightly, pressing her ear to his chest. "I don't know. But we will have to find something that will give us all we need to know to kill him."

"Let me meet up with him again." Athrodar suggested, though he saw right away she wasn't keen on that idea. "I'll find a weakness. Trust me."

"I do trust you, my love." She whispered to him. "I just don't know if he will suspect something or not."

"He won't. His guards aren't outside this room, nobody can hear us so he won't suspect anything." He kissed the top of her head and hugged her tightly, also missing the feeling of holding her in his arms despite being away for a day. "If I can get close to him, we can do it." He pulled back to look at her, knowing she was still unsure. "I don't want him to come between us again. If I can find a weakness we can exploit, then we should take it."

Sylvanas nodded her head slowly, placing her hands on his face again and pulling him towards her for a long kiss. "Deal." She whispered, going back to hugging him and pressing her ear to his chest. "I'm sorry again, about leaving you and making you having that nightmare."

Athrodar shook his head and held onto her tightly again. "No, don't feel guilty. I understand that I am to blame for our fight. I should have told you everything first, then we could be a day into our plan instead of a couple of minutes in."

Sylvanas smiled and looked up at him. "I love you."

"I love you too." Athrodar told her, pressing his head against hers. "We will kill him."

"Yes we will." She agreed.