Back Into Hell

"Two weeks since my sister lost her mother, just over a week since my aunt tried to kill my father and now we have to drop everything and head to the island where my General and lover was killed." Victoria placed the missive down and looked over to Thal'ena, Viraleth and Cyndia who were all by her side as council today.

"I have to return to Halduron if that's the plan." Viraleth told her. "I'm still his Scout Captain after all. Though it won't be until we get to the Broken Shore, so I am yours to command or at least talk to until we're there, my Lady."

"Who's going to tell your parents?" Thal'ena asked.

"I will, in about ten or so minutes." Victoria told her, turning her gaze to Cyndia. "Find Emma and tell her to prepare what remains of the fleet. We are leaving tomorrow. Once she is told, inform your Captains."

Cyndia bowed her head to her Queen. "Right away, my Lady."

"Thal'ena, I need you to inform the council and find Alina. She will be acting Regent until we return, I trust her."

The Royal Magister smiled, knowing she was going to be by her Queen's side in this next assault as she wasn't being left behind to run the city. "I'll inform her, my Lady."

Victoria was left with Viraleth whilst her other two council members began to do the tasks that was given to them. "I have missed being here." The Scout Captain said, standing beside the Queen.

Folding the missive in her hands, Victoria smiled a little and looked over to Viraleth. "Then ask to be transferred here. I could use your expertise."

"Just my expertise?" Viraleth asked with a smirk.

Victoria smiled a little wider. "Well... You do bring other interesting and useful qualities."

Viraleth walked over to her slowly. "Like..?"

Watching the Scout Captain walk slowly and seductively towards her, Victoria began to feel.. Worried? At least that's what it looked like to Viraleth who stopped the moment she saw it. "I... I have to inform my parents on our new task."

Viraleth frowned and watched her walk away. "O... Okay."

When Victoria made her way to her parents' bedroom, she opened the door slowly and began to smile at Alleria laying in between them, though not noticing Raven was behind Sylvanas, also asleep. "Dad." She whispered, making her way over to him and crouching down beside her father who was still sleeping. "Dad." She whispered again, shaking him lightly to wake him up.

"Hmm?" Athrodar rolled over onto his back and looked towards Victoria who smiled at him. "What's up?"

"First thing, I'm a little jealous you're sleeping in and with my sister between you and mom." Victoria saw movement behind Sylvanas and looked behind her the best she could, rolling her eyes when she saw Raven move her arms around Sylvanas. "Of course there's another party in here with you."

Athrodar chuckled, sat up and stretched. "It was a last minute thing. So again, what's up?"

"We are leaving tomorrow for the Broken Shore." Victoria told him, looking off into the distance for a second before looking back at her father. "So make the most of this with my sweet little sister. She will miss you all once you leave with me. We both know she's getting to the age where she understands what we do and gets worried when we're not back when we say."

Athrodar looked back to Alleria who was being held by Sylvanas. "She is, isn't she? Tahnir sends letters to your mother every week and a few of them told her he was worried when we were on the Broken Isles looking for you." He looked back to Victoria and smiled at her. "And you. He asked if we found you yet as he was incredibly worried about his big sisters."

Victoria smiled at Athrodar. "Remind me to visit the Farstrider Academy when we're done, I want to give him a big ol' kiss from his sister."

Athrodar chuckled and nodded his head slowly. "I'm sure he would love it and not be embarrassed by you in front of all his friends."

"Hah. Now that's even more incentive to do it." Victoria's smile began to fade when she remembered why she was here. "We're going back to where Sera was killed."

"Nobody else will be killed." Athrodar told her. "Your mother will make sure of it, I will make sure of it. We promised each other nobody else would be killed, but then we lost Thal..." Athrodar's gaze became distant this time, still not over the loss of such a close friend and someone he loved. "After that, we knew that we had to all stick together to make it through this war. If we do that, we won't lose anyone else."

Victoria looked over to her mother who was sleeping through their conversation. "So you're sticking with me and my company?" She asked.

"I suppose we are." Athrodar said, smiling a little at her. "I know Tanadia would love to fight as a family."

"I would love it if you did." Victoria told him, getting up to sit on the edge of the bed and hugging Athrodar who moved an arm around her. "I want my Papa there if we get in danger." She muttered, feeling weak and less like a Queen and more like the young ranger that was first introduced to them again the moment his arm went around her. "I'll feel safer then."

Athrodar noticed the change in mood to the normally mature and strong Queen to the scared little ranger he fell in love with the moment she hugged him. He didn't say anything about it and instead just continued to hug her. "We'll stay with you, don't worry. I couldn't let anything happen to our first child."


"Take good care of them." Sylvanas said, hugging Raven and then Ruby, her other two servants holding on to either Alleria or Cedani.

"We will, my Lady." Raven said, smiling and bowing her head at her. "Be safe." The raven haired woman said just as Sylvanas began to walk into The Windrunner.

"I don't know how it happened, but we are close to pushing back the demons off Azeroth." Athrodar whispered, standing beside his wife who was at the wheel of the ship. "If we clear this island, we will have them off our planet."

Sylvanas sighed and leaned back against Athrodar who hugged her from behind. "You know, I have a feeling once we clear them out of the Tomb of Sargeras, we will have more to deal with. This Argus place Velen told Khadgar about, I have a feeling we aren't done with them after we clear out the tomb."

"No, you're probably right." Athrodar whispered, kissing her on the cheek. "We'll know shortly after we clear it." He kissed her on the cheek again. "And we will clear it."

Sylvanas looked over to Tanadia who was training with Victoria on their way to the Broken Shore. "Shouldn't you be down there with her?"

Athrodar looked over to his daughters and smiled a little. "I told Victoria before we set off that she should train with her sister. Make her work on her blocking and parrying." He saw Tanadia hit two of Victoria's swings away but missing the third and having the training sword land on her arm. "It's going to take a lot of practice, since she has never used a sword before. But she wants to learn to protect us when we're out there so I suppose she will work hard to get to that stage."

"I want to protect her more than anyone." Sylvanas told him, looking over her shoulder at Athrodar who looked surprised. "I know she's not mine, but I feel like I owe it to Thal... I stole you from her, had the family I know she wanted from you and on occasion I had Tanadia all to myself instead of her being with her mother." She began to feel a little sad and looked away from Athrodar. "She's not mine and I understand that. But I want to protect and care for her as if she was. She needs a mother figure in her life now. Liadrin will always be her fun aunt, but I don't want that to be me too."

Athrodar placed his hand on her shoulder, turning her a little so he could look at her in the eyes. "Then be that mother figure for her. Titans knows she thinks of you as one, just not as her real mother like Vic does." He kissed her lightly on the lips and pressed his head to her temple when she turned back around to look down at Victoria and Tanadia again who were sparring on the deck of the ship. "It's been over a month since Hallow's End. You said the next day it wasn't a safe day for you." His hand moved to her belly and saw her head move down a little to look at the action. "Do you know...?"

Sylvanas smiled and looked forward once more. "I don't know. I have a feeling I am, but I haven't had the time to get things confirmed. If I am carrying your fifth... I will need to do something about you and your ability to knock me up."

Athrodar chuckled and kissed her on the neck. "I hope you are. But at the same time I don't." He saw her frown and look over to him. "If you are, I don't want you to fight. Which means we will be without a strong fighter."

"Then I won't get check until we are done here." She told him, leaning forward and kissing him. "Forget we had this conversation for now. It will only make things worse."

Nodding his head, Athrodar looked back at the ships following them and noticing many Sin'dorei Warships carrying his family army that Dael'Thaelas gave him. "We are going to have to put them all to good use." He muttered.

"We will find a good use for them. Although they belong to your Great Grandfather, they are still very useful to us." Sylvanas held onto the wheel of the ship a little tighter. "I just wished we got them under different circumstances."


Liadrin ran to Tanadia the second she walked off the ship, jumping at and hugging her tightly. "My little Priestess." She whispered, holding onto her tightly. "I'm going to strap you to my hip whilst we're here. I don't want to lose my best friend's daughter. I promise to protect you."

Tanadia closed her eyes and buried her head in Liadrin's neck. "Sylvanas and Papa said the same thing." She told her, letting out a small laugh before feeling her heart begin to ache. "I just hate that it took my mother to die for people to be over protective of me."

Liadrin shook her head, pulling back a little to look at her apprentice. "I have always been overprotective of you. I've just not been here recently and I am so sorry for that."

"No, Li Li. Don't be sorry for doing your job." Tanadia smiled at her a little. "Papa and Vic have been teaching me to use a sword. I want to be a Paladin like you, to protect my family."

"Okay." Liadrin said quietly, smiling at her. "I can teach you too, if you want?"

"I was hoping you would ask." Tanadia said with a smile that lit up both her face and Liadrin's. "You are my mentor after all."

Athrodar, Sylvanas and Victoria walked passed the Paladin and Priestess, though not without Athrodar kissing his daughter on the temple. "We're going to meet up with Khadgar should you want to join us." He told her, watching her shake her head. "Okay, just don't get into trouble." He added before heading towards the main camp.

"Lady Moon." Vereesa said with a smile, though it was wiped off her face when she saw Athrodar. "I'm sorry for what happened." She muttered, bowing her head a little. "I shouldn't have lashed out at you."

Athrodar smirked and stepped forward towards his sister-in-law, hugging her when she least expected it. "Don't worry about it. I understand why you did it, I would have done the same in your shoes."

Vereesa let out a long sigh. "Damn it... Stop being such a good brother. You make it difficult to hate you."

"Now why would you want to hate him?" Sylvanas asked, raising an eyebrow after overhearing her.

"Have you seen your kids?" Vereesa asked, looking over to her sister. "I want to hate him for giving you beautiful children that make me question mine..." She widened her eyes and pulled back from Athrodar's hug, pushing him away. "Y-you didn't hear me say that!" She exclaimed, staring at her sister who had a grin on her face. "Don't tell Rhonin."

Sylvanas laughed at her sister. "Don't worry. I won't tell him anything."

They made their way to the main camp that was being run by Khadgar, Rhonin, Illidan, the Warden Maiev and Velen, the latter of which suddenly made Athrodar remember something he told Tanadia a few days ago. "Prophet." He said, making his way over to the Draenei. "Can I borrow you for a couple of minutes?"

Victoria watched Athrodar walk towards Tanadia with Velen, turning her attention back to the Tomb of Sargeras in the distance and the back half of the air ship that crashed on her first attempt to land on this land. "Sera..." She muttered, having the sound of fire, clashing steel and the screams of her guards that were being cut down around her. Her eyes were closed as she tried to drown out those memories, but it only fueled the fire.

"My Lady?" Thal'ena asked, slowly making her way towards her Queen who was beginning to breathe erratically. "A-are you okay?"

"I'm back in hell." She muttered, looking over her shoulder and towards her Royal Magister. "This is where Sera died... I..." She closed her eyes again and shook her head. "I can't..."

Thal'ena quickly closed the gap between her and Victoria, hugging her from behind tightly. "I'm here, my Lady." She whispered when Victoria began to cry, being constantly reminded of that day. "Let it all out, I'll be here for you no matter how long it takes."

"I thought I had moved on..." Victoria muttered, slowly sinking down onto her knees and being pulled in close by Thal'ena who dropped to her knees too, stroking the Queen's hair. "I thought coming here would... Would be easier.."

Thal'ena kissed the top of her head. "It was always going to be difficult." She whispered softly to her Queen. "You loved her and never got to say goodbye. But we are here now as a united front, on the Broken Shore and ready to kill every last demon on Azeroth."

Victoria had her head pressed against Thal'ena's chest, hearing her heart beat in her chest and having that constant sound begin to calm her down a little. "I.. I think I get why my mom... loves this." She moved her arms around her Royal Magister. "Why she loves to hear my... my dad's heart in his chest."

Thal'ena began to smile. "Why?" She asked her quietly.

"Because it calms her. I can see that now." Victoria began to take a few deep breaths, listening to her heart and trying to keep herself calm. "It does work."

"Good, I can't have my Queen being on edge all the time." Thal'ena kissed the top of Victoria's head as it remained pressed against her heart, smiling a little more mischievously when a thought crossed her mind. "You know... Once this is all over and I finally convince you to make me your lover... We could have the type of relationship your parents have when it comes to their bedroom..."

Victoria raised an eyebrow at the change of topic. "And what do you have in mind?"

Thal'ena began to chuckle. "Nice to see you're not opposed to having me as your lover, I'll tick the checkbox." She heard Victoria's exasperated sigh and smiled wider. "Anyway, we could bring a guy back with us, or a girl if you only swing that way."

"I don't mind either. It's just the women in my life seem to be making the moves to win me over... Plus my mother had a lot of women in her Dark Rangers and my Captain was a woman... And you're a woman... You can see why it was an attractive option." Victoria pulled back a little to look up at Thal'ena who continued to hold the Queen against her. "But on my three years away, I slept with a few men. A couple didn't satisfy me -"

"Like that Orc you told me about." Thal'ena said, grinning at her Queen who rolled her eyes. "Have you even been in contact with his wife?"

"No... I should really offer her a place back in Stormwind, that way we can both have fun with her."

Thal'ena's heart began to race a little. "Oooo. I would love that. I have heard orcs are very controlling in bed. Especially the women, so to have her use and abuse me..." The Royal Magister shivered. "I am already excited for it."

Victoria began to chuckle now. "We don't even know if it can happen."

"I reckon we can win her over." Thal'ena told her, gazing into Victoria's eyes who looked back into her own. "You know... This is very difficult for me, having you look at me like that."

Victoria began to smirk at her. "You want to kiss me, don't you?"

"You have no idea." Thal'ena whispered, leaning forward a little more and having Victoria close the remainder of the gap to plant a kiss on her lips.

"There you go." Victoria whispered, planting another kiss on her lips.

Thal'ena went red a little, not expecting her to make the first move and looking around to make sure they were alone. "If we weren't on this island that wants to kill us, I would have taken advantage of that kiss." She whispered, looking her in the eyes again. "And believe me, I would have taken advantage of it."

"Even if I said I want to wait until we have finished this war?" Victoria asked all too innocently.

"Especially if you said you wanted to wait." Thal'ena told her, making them both laugh. "Though I have to change subject before I cave in to my desires." She looked back to the camp behind them a short walk away. "Your dad is almost hitting his second century. Do you have any plans? I am certain I know what your mother is getting him."

Victoria let out a short laugh. "Yeah, herself and whomever she can find on such short notice." She looked over to the camp in the distance now. "As for me... I don't know. He isn't really one for taking gifts, he gives them." She shrugged her shoulders. "I think just being there with him when he reaches his second century will mean more to him than a gift."


"Ahh, Tanadia Dawnstrider." Velen smiled at the priestess who bowed her head deeply at him. "Your father tells me you have something to ask me?"

"Y-yes." Tanadia smiled a little at the prophet, unsure of how to ask her question other than straight forward. "Who is Saa'ra?"

Velen narrowed his eyes a little at the priestess, trying to read her face. "How do you know that name?"

"Who is she?" Athrodar asked, placing a hand on Tanadia's arm and looking over to Velen.

"A Naaru in a place called the Netherlight Temple. We teach a lot of priests there and those that are there rarely leave as there is no need to." The Prophet looked over to Tanadia who seemed surprised to have heard of such a place. "So I ask you again, how do you know that name? I would have been told if the daughter of someone so famous was to join us."

Tanadia looked away, rubbing the back of her neck. "I had some sort of... vision. A voice spoke to me, it was calm and soothing... She showed me a possible future of mine and showed me being a Paladin, with Liadrin and leading soldiers. After a few minutes the vision began to fade and the voice told me to find the Prophet and ask for Saa'ra." She looked back to Velen who didn't seem surprised, shocked or anything of the sort about her story, just neutral.

"So she has spoken to you?" Velen eventually asked.

"I.. I guess so?" Tanadia shrugged her shoulders and looked over to her father who just looked confused. "I only saw her that once, she said her power was fading and to find you. I didn't think much of it until my mother died... Now I suppose this is all I have left."

Velen saw the sadness in her golden eyes, watching the glow dim a little and placing a hand on her shoulder, using the power of the light to calm her. "I can take you to her, if you want? It's not every day that a Naaru speaks to someone. It happens, to a few of us, but never outside of the temple."

Athrodar saw uncertainty in Tanadia's eyes, especially when she looked over to him. "I think you should go with him." He told her softly. "This could be what you need. A place surrounded by like minded peers. Speak to this Saa'ra and see what she can offer you." He looked over to Velen who smiled warmly at Tanadia when she looked at him too. "I've only been near one Naaru in my lifetime and that was A'dal. From what I remember, they had a calming nature to them."

"Aunty Li Li did say the Naaru are a symbol of the Light... That it made her see the error of her ways and begged for forgiveness." Tanadia began to smile and looked over to Velen. "I want to see her. This Saa'ra could help me with some of my questions, she could teach me to be an even better priestess."

Velen smiled at the eagerness of this young elf, looking over to Athrodar who smiled at her too. "We'll take good care of her. The Netherlight Temple has many priests and priestess' who are safe there."

Athrodar nodded his head. "I'm almost certain she will be fine." He stopped forward and hugged his daughter. "Just don't do anything you're unsure of." He whispered to her, feeling her hug him tightly and kissing the top of her head. "I love you, my little Priestess."

"I love you too, Papa. I will be on my best behavior and I promise I will learn a lot." She pulled back to look at him. "Tell Sylvanas I love her too. And Li Li... Oh! And Vic and Alleria -"

Athrodar laughed to cut her off. "I'll tell them all that you love every single one of them, okay?" He kissed her on the forehead. "Go with the Prophet. He will take you to this Saa'ra."