Author's notes : I had originally planned to follow the lore slightly but that is proving to be more difficult than I thought for where I want to go with this so I'll follow it only slightly from now on. As for the suggested Illidan Maiev pairing I've decided that it would be a little weird so this is the closest I'm willing to come.

Illidan

The cell was dark and cold, he had been locked up for about a week now he assumed. He was judging his assumption on the number of meals that they had brought him, there was no sense of time other than when they brought him meals in the darkness of the dungeon. Illidan could not tell if it was day or night outside or whether it had really only been a week since they'd locked him up or far longer. There was nothing to do in the cell but sit and wait. The guards coming to bring him food or to check on him, was the only contacted he'd had with anyone since being locked up. Most of the watchers that guarded his cell were female. Illidan had taken to hitting on all the female prison guards of lack of anything else to do. It had at least been amusing to see the look on their faces. Illidan sat up as the door to his cell was opened. One of the guards stepped in holding a tray of food which she set down in front of him.

"Thank you beautiful" Illidan said to amuse himself. She didn't reply. Instead she headed straight for the door. As he followed her retreat he saw Maiev standing just outside the door. She was the only one of his guards whose name he knew, he had asked the others for their names but they had never given them. Illidan had actually taken to making names up for the guards, just to give him some way of identifying which one he was dealing with.

"Would you stop hitting on all the guards Illidan. It's getting very annoying" Maiev told him

'It's annoying, how wonderful' Illidan thought he was going to tell her no, but he had a better idea how to do so than just to say it. "What are you jealous? You must know I don't think any of the other guards are as pretty as you Maiev"

She glared at him "See that's what I'm talking about, it's starting to get hard to get people to bring you food when you hit on them all"

Illidan grinned "So? If you're interested we could play a game of Prisoners and Wardens, I'll play the prisoner and and you can be the warden punishing me for being a bad boy" he said.

The look on her face just about made him laugh uncontrollably.

"You're disgusting" she told him.

She headed for the door and quickly locked it behind her.

As soon as she was gone Illidan started laughing. Her disgust amused him and he was in need of amusement while he was staying in the dark cell. He knew she would eventually be back, She was the leader of the watchers so she couldn't keep avoiding him. As Illidan continued to laugh he heard a loud boom noise somewhere outside the prison. The ground beneath him shook. Illidan headed over to the cell door and looked out through a barred hole the size and shape of a window that they used to check on him.
"What's going on?" he called out but nobody answered him.

Malfurion

Fireballs rained down from the sky as the demons descended upon them. Malfurion was hurrying to give everybody orders.

'This is all Illidan's doing. How did I get stuck with such an idiot of a brother' Malfurion thought to himself as he ordered the troops to get into position and prepare to battle the Burning Legion.

"Malfurion, We need to free Illidan. We'll need his help to defeat them" Tyrande called out to him.

Malfurion thought for a moment. It was true the Illidan was a skilled fighter and his help would probably be of great uses but Malfurion was still mad that Illidan had caused all this trouble in the first place and he didn't want to give him the chance to make things any worse.

"No. We'll leave that monster where he is" he told her. He knew it was a harsh way to speak about his brother but he was too annoyed at the moment to care.

"That monster? Malfurion he's your brother" Tyrande said sounding shocked.

"Yes he is" Malfurion said as he headed away from her to battle the Burning Legion.

Tyrande

Tyrande thought and considered her options carefully. She could join the rest of her race in the fight against the Burning Legion, in the fight for their survival. However she was sure that they would never beat the legion without help. She knew what she needed to do and that Malfurion wouldn't like it.

Tyrande hurried to the prison where they were holding Illidan. Already there was a lot of damage from the attack. Seeing her home being destroyed was unsettling but it made her sure she was making the right decision. Her sentials followed closely behind her.

"We must hurry" she told them as she lead them in the prison.

They hurried through the prison by they didn't get far when they were stopped by a group of watchers guarding the prison.

"What are you doing here?" one of them asked.

There was no point in lying, it would only take more time and that was something they were short on.

"We've come to free Illidan and take him to help us fight the Burning Legion" She told them.

"I haven't received any orders from Maiev" another replied.

Tyrande sighed "We don't have time to work that out. We are going to let Illidan out and you're not going to stop us"

Their was a moment of silence before everybody went for their weapons and fighting broke out between them.

It didn't last long, Tyrande and her sentinels killed the guard relatively easily. Tyrande regretted that it had come to bloodshed but freeing Illidan was the most important thing. At that moment they heard a bell ringing.

"That's the alarm bell, We must hurry" Tyrande told her sentinels.

They continued moving through the prison, hurrying to reach Illidan's cell before they were overrun by prison guards. Much to Tyrande unhappiness they ran into several more guards that they were forced to kill along the way.

They were almost at Illidan's cell when they ran into more guards. Tyrande recognised one of them meaning he was probably important. His name was Califax.

"You're here to free Illidan the Betrayer?" he asked

"Yes, We need his help to defeat the Burning Legion" she told him

"Illidan was the one who caused this mess, freeing him will doom us all" Califax told her.

Tyrande ignored him. Why couldn't he see that they needed Illidan's help to win, why couldn't any of them see that. Illidan may have made a mistake but now was his chance to make up for it.

"Let us have Illidan and you won't be harmed" she told the guards

"We will not abandon our duty by letting you take him" Califax replied.

Her sentinels and the guards battled again. They defeated the guards but Tyrande couldn't help but thinking what a waste it was. With the guards defeated there was nothing stopping her from freeing Illidan. She hurried to the door and opened it.

Illidan

The door of his cell was opened and Illidan looked to see Tyrande standing in the doorway.

"Tyrande what are you doing here? What's going on?" he asked her

"The Burning Legion has returned and we need your help to stop them" she told him

"You need my help? What makes you think you'll get it? It sounds to me like I'm safer in here" he told her.

"Illidan please, you caused this mess now you have a chance to fix it. Our people are dying out there" she begged him

"Very well I'll help you but only because I care about you and not because I want to help our people. They stopped being my people when they locked me in here" he told her.

They left the prison quickly, Apparently there was no time to waste. When they reached the entrance Illidan felt the strong breeze blowing past him. His dark cell had been without things of nature such as the wind. In his time in the cell Illidan had almost forgotten how the wind felt against his skin. He had only been in prison a week, he hated to think how strange the world would have felt if he'd been locked up for much longer, he'd probably be completely crazy if they'd locked him up for ten thousand years.

As they left the prison and headed towards the main battlefield where they came across Malfurion. Illidan had little else to do but think over the last few days and one of the things he'd thought most about was how much he hated his brother.

"Tyrande what is he doing here? I told you to leave him in prison" Malfurion said angrily

"It's good to see you too brother" Illidan said his tone full of venom and sarcasm

"And I said we needed his help to win. I am not going to leave our people to suffer and die because you are too proud to ask your brother for help" Tyrande said.

"Fine I guess if you feel so strongly about it he can help us, but I don't trust him" Malfurion replied.

'Of course he doesn't trust me. Well I hate him, So much for him saying he wanted to work things out between us before I left' Illidan thought to himself. Their relationship could never be fixed, they could never be brotherly again.

"I'm doing this for Tyrande not for you or anyone else, but I will not betray you" he told his brother.

Malfurion looked at him "Forgive me if I don't find that reassuring"

Illidan ignored his brother comment and accepted his weapons from one of the sentinels preparing himself to fight alongside the rest of the night elves.

Arthas

Since destroying the troll mercenaries Arthas had had no reason to continue staying at the Alliance base, it did not help him reclaim Lordaeron. However upon deciding to leave the outpost commander had decided that since Arthas was the King he needed to be protected. Arthas had refused his protection but the commander had been rather insistent and Arthas couldn't continue to refuse him. The guard that had been sent with him had been ordered to guard Arthas and get him on a ship back to Lordaeron and perhaps they were even to go with him. On the positive side, Arthas had run into an old friend Muradin Bronzebeard. Muradin and Arthas had known each other for years. He had taught Arthas much about fighting and they had been on many adventures together. Muradin had also tied at one point to convince him to continue training to be a Paladin, like everybody wanted him to be. However Arthas had let everybody down by choosing not to be a Paladin, a warrior of the holy light that fights for justice and is often helpful to other people just really didn't sound like his kind of thing. As Muradin was a friend Arthas had been able to convince him that they needed to stay in Northrend and eventually they had won the guards over.

"Do you still have that evil sword you found last time we were here?" Muradin asked him

"You mean this?" Arthas said holding up the sword he had used to kill his father "I was hoping to get a matching armor set made but I didn't have the time"

"So how's that lovely wife of yours?" Muradin asked in an attempt to change the subject.

" I hope she's miserable, We got divorced. It turns out we couldn't stand each other" Arthas replied as they made their way through the snow.

"Oh, well perhaps the divorce was for the best then lad" Muradin replied "should we make camp here?"

Arthas nodded "We will continue at first light"

The rest of the camp fell asleep relatively quickly but not Arthas. He kept thinking over what he would need to do and eventually he decided to take a walk to clear his head. It was very gently snowing as he walked, the stars were veiled by large clouds covering the sky. It was dark, If not for the flaming torch in his hand Arthas would have struggled to see even a meter in front of him. Arthas kept moving despite the darkness around him. As he moved through the dark gloom a large castle appeared out of the darkness. As Arthas moved closer he saw that the design of the castle was much like his sword. There were large spikes that were on the outside of the building. Arthas could only think how badass the castle looked, if only he could make his castle in Lordaeron look like that. He walked up the long steps towards the entrance of the awesome castle. The castle was huge but empty as Arthas made his way through it. He reached the top of the citadel and saw a throne of ice at the top of the frozen stairs, Arthas was about to climb the stairs to the top when he suddenly realized he wasn't alone. He drew his sword and whirled around, behind him stood a large red skinned being with hoofed feet. Arthas was sure he had never met one of his kind before.

"You? You're the Lich King?" the being asked staring at Arthas sword

Arthas was confused "No I'm the King of Lordaeron"

"You mean the former King of Lordaeron" the being corrected him

"It's mine by right! I'll take it back one day soon and what would you know about it" Arthas snapped back.

The red skinned being paused for a moment "What if I were to help you get it back? I'm Kil'jaeden of the Burning Legion" he told Arthas

Arthas through for a moment, he wanted to take back his kingdom but he didn't think he'd heard of the Burning Legion before, not that he had ever paid much attention to anything that might ever have been said anyway. Still a 'Legion' implied a huge army, something that he could actually use at the moment.

"The Burning Legion? Is that suppose to mean something to me? I mean it doesn't sound very scary does it? What is it? a group of.." Arthas stopped here and considered his words carefully, he very nearly said 'ugly things' "People going around burning things" he finished.

Kil'jaeden looked annoyed and Arthas could tell he was testing his patience.

"I didn't choose the name" Kil'jaeden began "We have the ability to crush this world. I came here looking for the Lich King as an ally against the forces of this world. The person who wields that sword has the power to raise the dead, to create an army under their control, if you want to join us we could use your ability at Mount Hyjal"

Arthas thought about it, he had a feeling that Kil'jaeden wasn't asking, that if he said no he would kill him and find somebody else to be the Lich King. Also if he used the Burning Legion to get what he wanted then it was possible that not just Lordaeron but the whole world was within his reach and Arthas intend to take it if the opportunity arose.

"I'll join you, but can we please consider a better name than the Burning Legion" Arthas told him

"There's a graveyard not to far from the base of the citadel. Head there to get your first troops".

Arthas did as he was told but he hated feeling like he was a subordinate. He used the swords power to rise the dead from their resting place. As the corpses rose up for the ground Arthas laughed quietly to himself. His own army that would follow his orders without question, nothing could make him happier.

Dawn quickly began to fill the surrounding atmosphere and Arthas hurried across the ice with his few undead troops looking for more bodies to create undead with.

"Arthas? What are you doing lad?" Muradin asked him and he and the Alliance guards moved towards him.

Arthas stopped and through for a moment, he through about who and what he was and what he wanted to become.

"Arthas Menethil is no more. I am the Lich King now and nobody will stand in the way of me getting what I want!"

"And what do you want?" Muradin asked sounding shocked and confused

"The world" Arthas replied with an evil grin "and every world in existence"

"What's happened to you Arthas?" Muradin asked "When did you become so evil?"

Arthas laughed "I didn't realise that the world should belong to me until now"

"Arthas we can't let you do such a thing!" Muradin replied glancing at the undead following him and raising his hammer.

"Very well" Arthas replied raising his own sword "Kill them" he commanded his undead followers.

The fight began between them, Arthas decapitated an Alliance guard relatively quickly. However two of his own undead were down quickly as well. Arthas moved towards Muradin and his blade clashed against the dwarf's hammer.

"Do you think your father would be proud of you Arthas?" Muradin asked as he blocked one of Arthas blows.

"I killed my father!" Arthas replied furiously as he avoided a return blow from Murdin "He stood in my way".

As the battle between them raged on Arthas noticed a cliffs edge near where they fought and came up with an idea. He started a series of quick attacks against his opponent designed to overwhelm him and drive back. He managed to break through the Dwarf's defences and give him several small cuts. Muradin backed up a bit exactly as Arthas had planned and the two of them continued to battle along the cliff's edge. Arthas created a false opening to his left and Muradin swung his hammer quickly trying to take advantage of his opponents weakness. Arthas blocked the blow knowing that it could easily become a massive probably for him and leave him vulnerable. He quickly brought his knee up and into the side of Muradin's head. The Dwarf was pushed back by Arthas's kick and fell back over the cliff. Arthas brought his sword round to finish him off but the Dwarf had already fallen away into the fog. Arthas looked down the cliff but the fog was preventing him from seeing the bottom. Muradin had been a friend to him and his family for years and now he lay dead somewhere at the bottom on the cliff and Arthas was not bothered in the slightest. Like his father he had gotten in his way and Arthas didn't mind removing those that did by force. He turned away from the cliff's edge and returned to the task of creating his army.

Author notes: Just thought I'd add a little explanation here. There was a pervious Lich King who build the Icecrown citadel but that's not really important to the story, originally I was going to have Arthas order his undead to build icecrown citadel and just met up with the Burning Legion in Northrend but in the Drafting phase I realized that it didn't really make sense. To be honest I was really stuck with the Arthas section so if you think it a bit weird that's why.

Firedragon99: Thank you for reviving my story! As to your questions I hadn't considered putting a conversion between Anduin and Varian about his father but I'll see if I can put it (or something similar) in somewhere. I don't have any plans to have consequences of the one night stand between Sylvanas and Varian.