Chapter 5: First Divergence

Note: Going with the Book version that just skips to Andorhal, because doing game mechanics of building a base/training footmen and such makes no sense in stories.

Jaina's eyes flickered skyward at smoke rising from the direction of Andorhal, biting out a bit of sarcasm, "Well that's always a good sign."

Arthas snorted. "As if all the undead on the way here weren't? Move it men!"

He was pressing them as hard as he had last time, a flat out run without break to Andorhal, save for stopping to clear the undead out of the way. But unlike last time, Jaina knew a few 'tricks' to keep her energy up; she had been forced to learn how to use her magic to supplement her body's weakness during the first struggle with the Burning Legion. She couldn't recall if she had gotten any sleep from when she had first met Medivh and Thrall up until the end of the Battle for Mount Hyjal. It was useful to be able to go on like that, but there would be an awful crash waiting for her when she stopped feeding on her magic to do so. Not stopping her reliance on it, or going for to long to many times wasn't an option, because that led to addiction, and eventually the same problem that had led to the Blood Elves being forced to turn to Demonic Magic to sustain themselves lest they turn into Wretched.

Arthas swore as they came upon a ruined and burning gate, coming to a stop to glower at it. "Dammit! We're to late."

"Judging by the damage, we were to late before we even set out on this mission Arthas," said Jaina, standing next to him, "There's nothing we could have done."

Arthas nodded sullenly, and strode forth. "Lets find that Necromancer and put an end to him."

"Agreed," said Jaina darkly, a savage grin spreading across her face.

She had never had the opportunity to truly kill Kel'Thuzad in her past. The Heroes of Azeroth had defeated him both times in Naxxramas. She could say she was looking forward to it. She could feel his presence, feel Kel'Thuzad. Yet, as they moved into the ruined town, something about this... tickled her as wrong. He was alone; this day had been burned into her memories, and she could distinctly remember there being a number of undead protecting the Necromancer. Andorhal was completely empty save for him and them.

Kel'Thuzad was waiting for them, sitting on a box of empty grain crates, a sarcastic smile on his, his smooth voice escaping his lips, "I'm afraid you are a bit to late to stop the distribution, my apologies, Mal'Ganis is a bit of a slave driver."

That stopped Jaina from immediately putting a bolt of lighting through him, taken by surprise as she was. Kel'Thuzad hadn't said that last time, he had sputtered on something about curiosity being the death of them.

Arthas gripped his warhammer tightly, stopping a ways from the Necromancer. "And just who is this 'Mal'Ganis'?"

"The Dreadlord Mal'Ganis, a demon who controls the Scourge," answered Kel'Thuzad.

Arthas started. "A what?"

Kel'Thuzad tilted his head. "You are not deaf, my prince."

"The Horde's Demons are dead," said Arthas quietly.

Kel'Thuzad chuckled. "So young and naive. The demons never belonged to the Horde, rather, it was the Horde that belonged to the demons. They sold themselves on a lie, and broke both their world and their unity because of it. Is that not right Lady Proudmoure? You have seen their internment camps, how the remnants of the Horde reverted to shamanism?"

Jaina was at a complete and utter loss as to what was going on or where he was taking this. "I have, your point being what?"

He had the audacity to smile at her. "My point being that demons have only ever craved one thing, death and destruction. The old Horde, and now the Scourge, are just precursors of something far worse to come. The Undead could be something far greater than they are now, an everlasting civilization to stretch on until the end of time. Instead, the Demons would use us as a blade to cleanse this world of all life and resistance."

Arthas tensed. "Why then? Why serve a Demon? Why do this?"

Kel'Thuzad frowned and pulled on his beard. "I didn't know about the demons until it was far to late. I swore myself to the damned in pursuit of knowledge and eternal life. Servitude to the demons was not part of the equation. This Plague of Undeath created on the demands of a demon, while ingenious, leaves much to be desired. Those who join the Scourge should be those who do so willingly. Mindless slaves are a bit... lacking... compared to rapt intelligence that will continue to eternally grow."

Jaina narrowed her eyes, confused, but noticing something. Was... Kel'Thuzad trying to pin the blame on the Legion, rather than himself or the Scourge?

"Is that regret I hear necromancer?" said Arthas, darkly bemused, he shifted his warhammer to the side, "As much as I'd rather crush your skull into the ground, the Silver Hand believes in redemption. If you turn from this path and help us..."

Kel'Thuzad threw back his head and laughed. "I'm afraid not my prince. I'm already damned, and my soul bound to the One True King in servitude. However... I am no ally of demons, so allow me to share a warning with you."

He grew serious, standing up, his staff thumping the ground as he used it for support to rise, "Beware the cunning of a Dreadlord. He knows of you, your hot-hotheadedness, your rage, your inexperience; he will seek to lure you into a trap by playing upon your passions. But if all else fails, and you find yourself alone in the Cold North, beware unproven rumors and leave your curiosity alone, for it will be the death of you."

Jaina stared at Kel'Thuzad, wide-eyed. What was... did he just... discretely warn Arthas about Frostmourne?! Why would he do that?

Arthas frowned. "So, stop and think? Hmph, I hear that enough from Uther, I don't need to hear it from a Necromancer. Especially one planning on 'cleansing the world'."

He hefted his warhammer. "Your Scourge wont get the chance. Lordaeron will stand fast against and be the bulwark to hold back both the Undead and any 'demons'."

Kel'Thuzad slowly shook his head. "You hear but you do not listen. But I suppose it doesn't mater. Events have been put in motion on so short a time that I never saw coming. You will find that your 'Bulwark' is pointless when the damned slipped by before it was ever put in place."

Jaina studied him. Events in motion? Did Tichondrious do something to cause this? To make the Scourge start planning to betray the Legion early? And what did he mean by 'slipped by'?

"If you wish to kill Mal'Ganis, seek him out in Stratholme," said Kel'Thuzad, flashing a grin, "You will be doing the Scourge a favor."

With that, he vanished in a puff of magic.

"That damn sneaky son of a bitch!" swore Arthas, walking over and kicking the crate the Necromancer had been sitting on, "Come on, we have to check the graininess!"

Jaina closed her eyes briefly, tiredly. "He said they had been delivered already Arthas."

He of course didn't listen as he rushed further into Andorhal, swinging one door open after the other, only to find empty boxes, little scraps of plagued grain and dead rats next to them. "Dammit!"

"Dammit!"

"DAMMIT!"

Arthas looked like he was ready to buckled after he opened the last empty warehouse. "To late... to damn late..."

"I'm sorry Arthas," said Jaina quietly as she stood next to him.

"He can preach at me all he wants about this not being what he expected," spat Arthas, rage and hate filling his voice, "But he still did it. When I get my hands on that undead-loving bastard I'm going to rip him into so many pieces no one will be able to sew him back together!"

Jaina narrowed her eyes at that familiar sensation, that hate rippling off him. Not this time.

She lifted her staff, and smacked him on the back of his head with it, causing him to stagger and turn, eyes wide. "Jaina!"

She pointed her staff at him. "You are a Paladin Arthas, do not ever forget that. The moment you let your anger and hate drive you over your love and compassion is the moment you become as vile as the undead we face."

Arthas glared, yes glared, at her. "You want me to love necromancers?"

She glared right back, oh she remembered this conversation, though it had happened later rather than now; she stepped forward and jabbed him with her staff, each word and jab driving him back until he was pressed up against a wall. "Do. Not. Twist. My. Words."

She pulled her staff away and let it's bottom thump heavily on the ground, as if to command attention. "You are a Paladin. A servant of the Light. A Healer as much as a warrior, but right now all you seem to be able to do is think with your warhammer, of how to kill. I don't like what this is doing to you Arthas..."

"Doing to me?" he snapped back, "What about what it's doing to the villagers? They're dying and then getting turned into corpses Jaina. I have to stop it, I have to!"

"You are one man Arthas," she said quietly, "Tread carefully not to pile so much weight on yourself that you break."

"I will do what I must," he growled.

"And so will I," she shot back, "And unlike you, I can teleport someone across great distances. So if I believe for one moment you've snapped, you aren't thinking rationally, or have been compromised, I am going to drop you right on your ass in your father's court, consequences be damned."

He looked positively scandalized. "Jaina!"

"Do not test me Arthas!" she warned, voice raised.

For a moment, he looked scared of her, before he cleared his throat a few times, composing himself

"Jaina... I just want innocent people to stop dying. That's all," he said slowly, trying to control his temper, smiling at her with a smile she hadn't had enough experience with last time to understand it was cracked, starting to break, "And... I admit, I'm upset that I can't seem to make that happen. But when this is all over, you'll see. Everything will be fine again, I..."

"Don't make promises you can't keep Arthas," she cut off.

She remember having such hope the first time he said that. But she knew better. "You are one person, you cannot do everything yourself. The more you try without sharing the burden, the worse it will be."

She let her shoulder's slump a bit, a sigh escaping her lips, her voice softening. "I'm not as blind about you as I was before Arthas. I fear for you, I truly do. Because as much as I hate to admit it, Kel'Thuzad is right. You're passions do drive you, and while that's something I have loved about you in the past, it will your undoing if you let it."

Arthas hesitated, a bit bewildered by her sudden change, before stepping forward and reaching a hand out to rest on her shoulder. "You don't need to worry about me Jaina..."

"Don't I?" she asked wearily, "This... this is to much for anyone's first true test. The Horde was a kinder test to your father than the Scourge is to you. The Horde at least didn't raise your own people as slaves and force you to fight them in bulk."

Arthas closed his eyes and sighed, reaching up to rub them. "It is... difficult to handle, I'll admit. But I'll be alright Jaina."

He opened his eyes and flashed her his old charming smile. "I have you looking out for me after all."

"You do," she said, allowing a brief small smile before narrowing her eyes and growling out. "Now, lets go put down a necromancer."

"What happened to not letting anger or hate drive someone?" he teased.

"Not a Paladin," she said singsong, turning and striding from the building.

The group gathered and set out north, following a trail of old corpses, empty creates, and old footprints. Yet... when they got to an empty Scourge slaughterhouse, not a single undead in sight rather than teeming with Abominations, it finally hit Jaina that something had drastically changed.

"It looks like they were directing things from here before they cleared out," muttered Arthas, glancing around, eyes narrowed, "Kel'Thuzad's not here."

Jaina swallowed heavily. Kel'Thuzad wasn't here. He hadn't waited to die as he had done before. He was still alive. Oh sweet Light...

"He... dropped of his message and ran," she said quietly, numbly.

Arthas muttered a few choice words under his breath before turning to address his men. "Forget him then. He'll get his dues one day, but we can't afford to waste time hunting him down. Hearthglen isn't more than a night's distance. If we go all night, we can reach and warn them in the morning. Strathlome is but a day out from there, we'll see about this so called 'demon' there."

They took off afterwards, and Jaina ran in a daze. Her mind was whirling in all the ways this could turn out so much worse with Kel'Thuzad still alive. He had been the most powerful Lich in service to the Scourge, as a Necromancer he would still be powerful. She played the conversation with him over and over in her mind, trying to make sense of it all. There was something going on that she wasn't aware of, something she was missing, a piece of information she was lacking...

She brooded on both it and Arthas, watching her prince as he ran, determination and focus driving him. They went for hours with hardly a break until finally Hearthglen came into view... along with it's defenders running drills.

Arthas came to a halt, eyebrows furrowed, taking a few moments to huff and puff and collect a breath. "It... looks like they're preparing for battle."

One of the footmen saw him and ran forward. "Prince Arthas! During the night, a vast army of undead warriors emerged and began attacking villages at random! Now it's heading our way."

The first true army of the damned. The first true full-scale battle against the Scourge...

Arthas gulped heavily before turning. "Damn it. Jaina, I'll stay here and protect the village..."

"I'm not leaving you," she said in a warning tone.

"Every second counts Jaina, we have no time," he argued.

"And every body counts," she countered; she had to stay, she couldn't let him face this alone, couldn't let him break, "We can hold better with an archmage here, I'll send a familiar to request reinforcements."

"Jaina," he said sternly, drawing himself upright, "As the future King of Lordaeron I am ordering you to go."

Her eyes went wide with astonishment. And for a moment, she was back in Strathlome, watching Arthas take that same tone and line with Uther.

She narrowed her eyes dangerously, energy cackling around her, making those nearby back off fearfully. She remembered the words Uther had spoken, and they unbidden rushed out of her mouth in a snarl, "You are NOT my king yet, nor would I obey that command even if you were."

Arthas looked a bit stunned, before he licked his lips, trying another route. "Jaina, please, I need you safe. I can fight better if..."

She knew it. She fucking knew it. He HAD originally sent her away because he was afraid for her. Did he not think she was strong enough to face this? Or was this some possessive fear?

She had enough of this. She flattened him to the ground with a single burst of energy, ignoring the gasps of the townsfolk and guards. "Listen, and listen well Prince Arthas. I am not some weak or meek damsel in distress. I am an Archmage of the Kirin Tor. I can take care of myself, and I am not a servant who must obey you. I am not a keepsake that is kept around to please you and then sent away when you need to focus and get serious or you tire of me."

She saw him flinch at that, at the not-so subtle reminder of the Winter Vail, and she drove it in.

She pointed her staff at him, energy cackling around it. "I have a mind and a will of my own. Do not ever forget that."

He nodded shakily.

She withdrew her staff and all but slammed the bottom of it into the ground, hissing out quietly, "You have no idea how angry I am with you right now Arthas, but there isn't time for this. You can trust me that when this is over, we will be having words, yet again, about this. But right now, get up, take command of this town, and see to it's defenses."

He nodded again, not daring to say a word, and rose to his feet, turning to go.

Jaina hesitated for a moment before softening and lowering her voice. "Arthas, no matter how hard you try to drive me away, to face this horror on your own, I'm not leaving you."

Arthas paused, his head swerving to look at her in confused astonishment. "Jaina..."

She turned and strode off, relaxing her power back into her body. "I'll need a minute to summon a familiar to send a message to Master Antonidas. I'll join you when I'm finished."

She moved behind a house and partially collapsed against a house, hand to her chest. Had she actually done that? She shook her head, she didn't have time for this. She summoned a familiar and conjured a pen and parchment, using the house as a surface to write on. She rolled up the paper when she was done, gave it to the raven, and sent it off.

"Wait-what did those crates contain?" came Arthas's voice.

Jaina blinked a few times and rounded the house, looking at Arthas stare grimly at several crates of...

Oh no...

"Just a grain shipment from Andorhal. There's no need to worry, milord. It's already been distributed amog the villagers. We've had plenty of bread," one of the villager's answered.

"Oh no," whispered Arthas, staring at the villager in despair, struggling to find his voice

Nearby civilians started doubling over, a green glow-like slime en-coating their bodies, blood rushing out of their mouths, screams and crying filling the village before the village fell silent. Arthas stared at the sight in broken horror.

"Merciful light," cried out Falric, "The bread..."

Arthas's despair rapidly bleed into fury, "The plague was never meant to simply kill my people. It was meant to turn them..."

The corpses moved, sitting up right, then standing, then throwing themselves at the town's unturned defenders.

"...into the undead! Defend yourselves!" finished and cried out Arthas.

There was pure disorganized panic as the defenders of Lordaeron fought to put down those who had been their loved ones only moments before. They were left stunned, loss etched into their features at the end of it. Arthas himself was shaking, staring down at a corpse with such loss and horror and anger that Jaina could see the exact moment that had created the Arthas that had been willing to do whatever it took, purge Strathlome, sell his soul, anything, to try and stop this madness. So she rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Shh Arthas shh, come back to me," she whispered, clutching him tightly.

He took a shaky breath, his voice cracking, "J-jaina... this... this is..."

"It's wrong," she said softly, running a hand through his golden-blond hair, "It's so unbelievably horrifically wrong."

He grasped her arms around him, clutching them tightly enough to bruise, as if holding on for dear life, but she said nothing, merely being a pillar to ground him.

"The Undead forces have arrived!" cried out one of the survivors.

Arthas suckered in a breath, forcing his way through his horror through shear necessity, and broke free of Jaina's embrace. "Hold your ground! We are the chosen of the Light! We shall not fall!"

"We shall not fall," murmured Jaina, striding behind Arthas towards the oncoming mass of undead...

Kel'Thuzad watched the battle begin from a distance, sitting ontop of a nearby boulder, gripping Proudmore's familiar in his hand, fingers brushing it absentmindedly as it nervously fluttered, wings and feathers sticking through the gaps between his fingers. "So this is the different choice you make Jaina..."

He crushed the familiar in his hand, a brief squawk of agony followed by a spurt of blood and feathers. "You will learn that all choice have consequences, regardless of your intent."

He grabbed her message out of it's twitching talons, briefly read it, before he simply let it fall to the ground. He propped himself off the boulder, landing on and crushing the parchment underfoot, grinding it in.

"Lordaeron is lost, the sooner you realize it, the better off you will be," he murmured before walking away from the battle...

Author's Notes:

I'll eventually do the Undead version of this story, but, I'm going to clear the living side first. I already have to many stories running. In the interest of not burning out / actually getting them finished, I should really stop making more.

Also, random question, does anyone know if Taelen Fordring was actually in Hearthglen for WC3? Or was his whole Hearthglen stint a WoW only thing?

Review Responses:

Gendie01: I update sporadically and when I can, don't spam for it. :/

YubeHaouJudai: My childhood, ruined, I've always refered to him with double Zs, even prenounced his name with a longer Z. V_V y do u do this to me. _

Savage Theron: They're fun and different to write ^_^. The majority of my stories (60-40% or 70-30% I think are female lead at the moment. Of course, I'm really not nice to them either, I tend to make them suffer/grow/change. I'm a horrible person.

Cinereo Cardinalem: Thanks broski. As a note, some lines are taken/modified from the book/game, but the vast majority is me. And yeah, I wouldn't do two stories in one fanfiction, that would be... weird to handle.

Chicogamer17: Thanks, and yeah, focusing on this one for now (in regards to the twin stories at least).

Fordrin: Old gods are a ways off, haven't really considered how they will factor in yet. How they go undead, when I eventually write it, will kind of be an accidental thing (at least in my head at the moment), because Jaina is doing everything she can to avert that outcome.

Zakath1: Living or dead, a lot of shit is going to go wrong. Things are going to massively go wrong from here.

Prince of Petersburg: I tried it a little bit, but... the Dragon Queen randomly showing up out of nowhere from another timestream (odd choice), not to mention Arthas glowing all the time, and some of the dialogue kind of offput me.

Rhivan: Kel'Thuzad a hero? You referring to the Lich Queen Jaina story? At best, he's going to be 'neutral-Evil' (selfish/goal oriented) in this if I keep my current idea for him.

Shini Kurogane: I will neither confirm or deny he came back with Jaina/Tichondrious. However, if he did, you'll have to try and consider how he possibly could have done so. ^_^.

Storyteller1333: Better future or not, the Bronze Dragonflight doesn't allow such meddling.