When Braelyn arrived in Orgrimmar, she felt like she was about to die. Not from the fighting that raged all around her, but from the fear that paralyzed her.
Burning hair.
That's all she could smell, and it conjured up memories of Warsong Gulch that she'd been trying to bury for almost a year. For those first terrifying minutes, she couldn't actually tell whether she was in Orgrimmar or Ashenvale, as everywhere she looked, she saw both Alliance and Horde bodies lying in the dirt, limbs missing and clothes smouldering.
"Braelyn, move!" Odariah yelled, grabbing her cousin's arm and dragging her after Ellysan and Jasper, Andorien at the rear. Braelyn let out a startled gasp and, coming back to her senses, began running.
Her mother's portal brought them up to the gates of the city, and the fighting was intense. Braelyn could see Tyrande Whisperwing herself leading the Silverwing Sentinels in battle against the Kor'kron army. They were doing well; well enough that she didn't feel guilty about not stopping to help. Her priority was finding Rommath, and there were no blood elves here.
So they kept moving.
The advance parties of both the Alliance and revolutionaries had done a great job on clearing a path to the central part of Orgrimmar, the section of the city that looked like a trading hub. There were a few Kor'kron Elites left to deal with, but between the four of them, they weren't much of a challenge.
"Where should we go?" Andorien asked. Braelyn shook her head in frustration. Her parents knew a few of the King's plans, but not any of the smaller details like the location of Garrosh Hellscream and his champions.
"I think I can find out," Jasper said suddenly. He walked over to where some injured pandaren were being healed by a draenei shaman and night elf priest. He lent them his limited healing abilities, engaging the Alliance healers in conversation as he healed the wounded as best he could.
Braelyn could tell that he must be asking about the Sunreavers or Lor'themar Theron; it was the only thing that could explain the healers' looks of confusion and suspicion.
"Dad, we must hurry!" she called out, and the group surrounding her father turned their eyes on her. They looked even more confused to see an Argent Crusader standing in the middle of Orgrimmar during the middle of a siege. They spoke with Jasper once more, the conversation causing her father to tense up. He said something under his breath, and the healers looked stunned.
Braelyn started to walk over to her father, but Andorien grabbed her arm. "Do not go over there," he warned. "Your father just told them why you seek Rommath. They are not... pleased by the information."
Braelyn sighed, amazed by how sensitive Andorien's hearing was, but also disappointed by the Alliance healers' reaction to her father's words. Here they were, Alliance and Horde, working somewhat in tandem to bring down a common enemy, and a couple of soldiers were getting sidetracked by the idea that a human could love a blood elf.
It made her realise just how much work she had in front of her.
"For the Light's sake, just tell me where they went, man!" Jasper yelled, grabbing the draenei by the front of his robes. The draenei protested for a while, but when the paladin yelled at him some more, he gave in and supplied the much-needed information.
Jasper put the shaman down, then stalked over to his wife and child. "The shaman says they all headed to a place called the Cleft of Shadows. It's this way," he said, he pointing down a street littered with corpses.
Most of them Kor'kron, fortunately.
It was a slow and dirty journey. As impatient as Braelyn was to find her beloved, she could not bear to leave survivors of either faction trapped under rubble or lying injured in the street. She and her companions did their best to ease the suffering of those around them, and get them to places of relative safety.
It brought her so much happiness to see her family working so hard to save so many, Horde or Alliance, especially her parents. Her father had even exchanged weapons with a tauren paladin that he'd pulled out from under a partly collapsed building; a symbol of friendship and respect universal to all of Azeroth's races.
It was enough to wipe away the memory of those judgemental healers.
When Braelyn was old and grey, she would often laugh about how the hardest part of the siege for her was getting past the wreckage of some demolishers that had been stationed around the entrance to the Cleft of Shadows. But it was true. That was the most difficult part.
There were four of them, and it must have been a nightmare for the advance parties to deal with them. There would have been no time for strategies, just a mad rush to take them out, dodging the explosives as they did so.
Unfortunately for Braelyn and her group, the demolishers now lay in smoldering ruins that blocked every path leading to where she needed to be. Worse still, the advance parties hadn't killed all the Kor'krons manning them. She could only assume that those that went before her thought their enemies had died during the fighting, and the resulting explosions.
Most of the survivors were in no position to fight, and her father insisted on showing them the ultimate mercy of a good, clean death, free of suffering. One or two were well enough to attempt to repel them, but were so weak that Bitey and Violet were able to deal with them on their own, while Braelyn and the others began trying to clear a path.
Thank the Light for frost mages, Braelyn thought as she watched her mother freeze one of the burning demolishers. Now it was just a matter of either shattering large pieces of wreckage, or moving smaller ones out of the way.
They were making good progress, but Braelyn was getting antsy as the time crawled by. She knew Rommath was near by, she could feel him in her bones, and she felt a sudden rush of desperation surge through her as they cleared the final obstacle.
Braelyn was about to charge into the Cleft when her father grabbed her by the arm. "Don't just rush in there," he cautioned. "I've heard disturbing rumours about this place." She nodded her head, allowing her parents to take the lead.
The Cleft of Shadows was a horrible place. Braelyn could feel the shadows around her, pressing against her like an unseen force. Behind her, she heard Andorien swear under his breath, and Odariah began to pray softly.
It was so dark, that Ellysan went back outside to grab a torch, and even then the flames did little to pierce the gloom. "Be careful, move as silently as you can, and keep an ear out," the mage said in a whisper. "Gods know what's in here with us."
They moved forward cautiously, and Braelyn shuddered as her ears picked up the sounds of a battle raging not too far from their location, as well as critters slithering about nearby. Bitey let out a low, warning growl, and she stopped, calling for the others to stay still.
Braelyn lifted her arms and grabbed for her bow and an arrow. "Odariah," she whispered, "you nearby?"
"Yeah."
"Grab a flare, and throw it near my mother. Aim for the torch," Braelyn instructed, holding her breath as she felt her cousin detach the flare from her belt. There was a loud crack, followed by a sharp hissing sound as it was activated and then thrown forwards.
The flare hit the ground, illuminating her mother's surprised face. The mage went to question her daughter, but Braelyn cut her off.
"Mum, duck!" she yelled, and as her mother hit the ground, rolling awkwardly to one side, Braelyn's arrow buried itself in the neck of a Kor'kron assassin. The male orc grabbed at his throat, blood pouring from the wound, and made a gurgling sound as he toppled over. He was dead before his body hit the ground.
"Ellysan!" Jasper cried, moving to his wife's side. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Ellysan replied. "Brae..."
"Everyone inside the flare's radius, now!" Braelyn ordered, running to her mother's side. She dropped another two flares on the ground; one slightly ahead of them, the second an equal distance behind them. "Bitey, find them."
The lynx went into his prowl mode, slinking off into the shadows to sniff out any more rogues.
"Thank Elune for flares," Andorien said, arm about Odariah's waist.
"I'll say!" the priest replied.
Behind them they heard a loud growl followed by a scream, and then the sound of something being dragged along the ground unwillingly. Bitey soon appeared, pulling a second Kor'kron assassin behind him by an arm. The orc was snarling and attempting to free herself from the lynx's grip.
"Good boy, Bitey!" Braelyn cried, wincing as her father finished the orc off with a blow to the throat. "Any more out there?" She watched as her pet disappeared again, Denaria trotting off after him this time. The pig let out a disappointed squeal, which Brealyn recognised as a porcine all-clear signal.
"It's clear," she told her companions, smiling in relief. Her mother squeezed her shoulder, whispering her thanks. "It's okay, Mum."
They proceeded through the dark tunnel, their eyes searching for any sign of the enemy, Rommath, or the way through to the battle. They soon found themselves standing on a ledge that acted as a ramp down to the furthest depths of the Cleft of Shadows. A part of the rock jutted out, forming a kind of platform, and a few burning braziers provided some much-needed illumination.
There were several bodies scattered about the ground, most of them looked like orc warlocks, and perhaps a dark shaman or two. In the centre of the platform lay a monstrous form; it looked like some kind of demon.
Did they summon that thing? Braelyn thought with horror.
Behind her, her mother gave a strangled cry of terror, and she spun around to find the mage leaning on a mailbox, her hand clasped firmly over her mouth. Her eyes had widened in fear.
Following her mother's gaze, Braelyn felt herself tense up as she spotted the body of a young woman lying on the ground. "Dear gods!" she gasped.
"Holy shit, Braelyn!" Odariah exclaimed. "She looks just like you!"
It was true; the woman did look a lot like Braelyn, with light brown hair, and blue eyes. She was even a hunter; her pet wolf was lying dead beside her, and a wicked looking crossbow was still clutched in her hands. The only differences Braelyn could see were that the other woman's hair was slightly darker, and she was taller and thinner. Her eyes, open in the never-ending stare of death, were also lighter, and more almond-shaped.
It was unnerving to say the least.
"It looks like this man fell trying to protect her," Odariah said, pointing to the prone form lying near by, a mage from the type of armour he was wearing.
Braelyn felt the skin on the back of her neck begin to tingle as she looked at the man.
"That's a blood elf!" Andorien muttered in surprise, and a feeling of dread pierced Braelyn's heart. She took a few steps closer to the body.
It was indeed a blood elf. Her breath quickened as she saw the long, blue-black hair pulled up in a ponytail. Her eyes welled with tears as she took in the red and gold robes, and the all-too-familiar staff.
"Braelyn?" her father asked, reaching for her, but she avoided him, stepping to the side.
"Rommath!" she cried, and threw herself on the ground by the blood elf's side. "Andorien, help me!" she begged, trying to roll Rommath over.
The Druid complied, helping Braelyn ease Rommath over on his back. She started crying when she saw her lover's face, bruised and covered with blood that seeped from a nasty head wound. There was a Kor'kron dagger still lodged in his chest, perilously close to his heart.
"Rommath, please open your eyes," Braelyn pleaded, running her hand over his cheek. "Come back to me." When nothing happened, she shook his body, and lowered her head to kiss his blue-tinged lips. "It isn't supposed to end like this," she cried.
A ragged, tortured breath.
Braelyn gasped as Rommath's lips parted to suck in air. His breathing was shallow and slow, but he was still alive. She cried out in relief as she saw his eyelids fluttering. "Adorien?" she said.
"I can heal some of his wounds, but we will need to get him someplace safe as soon as possible," the night elf said, preparing to remove the dagger from Rommath's chest. "He stands on the very edge of death."
When the dagger was pulled out, Rommath gave an agonised moan. For a moment his eyes shot open, and Braelyn was horrified to see how dim they were. They were nothing like the way she remembered them, blazing brighter than any star.
As Andorien, her father, and Odariah set to work healing Rommath, Braelyn turned to mother. "Mum," she said desperately, "can you open a portal back to Hearthglen? We can take him there to finish healing."
"I guess... yes, dear, I'll do that," Ellysan replied, and immediately began the summoning ritual. "You'll have a lot of explaining to do when we get back, though."
"I don't care," Braelyn replied, caressing Rommath's brow. "All that matters now is getting him to safety."
"All right," Andorien said, "he's safe to move. Jasper, you grab his legs."
As the two men carefully lifted Rommath off the ground, Odariah collecting his staff, the portal to Hearthglen popped into existence. Odariah and Ellysan went through first, Braelyn walking along side Rommath, holding his hand.
"Hold on, my love," she whispered. "Hold on."
Rommath never expected to wake up. To be honest, he wasn't sure he'd wanted to. There was no point; not when waking up meant returning to a life he'd stopped living over six months ago.
He'd tried so hard to save that hunter, the one he'd thought was Braelyn. Confused the daylights out of the woman in the process, too. In the end, though, he'd failed. Just as he'd failed to do the right thing by Braelyn.
When he'd seen the hunter fall, his own defences crumpled. He was angry, and got careless, and ended up being stabbed by a rogue. A rogue... the humiliation. He'd decided to let go then, not even trying to reach for the health potions stashed in his robes.
When he felt himself start to go cold, he smiled, looking forward to the chance to watch over Braelyn from the afterlife. He was genuinely ready to die.
But then he heard her voice, and felt her soft lips on his once more, and his body reacted automatically. He'd desperately sought the oxygen needed to keep him breathing, opened his mouth to call for her.
The pain was too great, and he once again lost consciousness. But he knew she was there, and so he held on.
When he woke up, he expected to feel pain once the initial fogginess wore off, but he didn't. Instead, he felt the same sense of serenity he'd experienced the night he'd spent with Braelyn.
The night he realised he loved her more than he had ever hated her race.
He felt something light tickling his nose, and he gingerly moved his head to look down at the warm weight pressed against his side. He could only stare in wonder as he saw Braelyn, the real Braelyn, curled up against him, her hand resting over his heart, and her head on his shoulder. Her hair was slightly obscuring his face.
Rommath didn't believe she was real, not until she stirred slightly, mumbling something in her sleep. The sound of her voice, quiet as it was, was enough to convince him that she was truly with him, and that he was alive, and not trapped in some weird death throes fantasy.
He laughed softly, and raised his arm to touch her hair.
"You wake her up, and I'll kill you," a male voice growled suddenly. "This is her first real sleep in seven days."
Rommath's arm froze, and he directed his gaze towards the voice. His eyes widened as he saw an Alliance paladin leaning against the wall, sword in hand. He was human, and an older man by their standards, though far from elderly and infirm. He had a thick head of greying hair and a neatly trimmed beard.
Rommath needed no introduction to discover who this man was; it was Braelyn's father. The way the man stood reminded him of Braelyn when she was preparing for a fight.
"You're her father?" he asked, simply to break the ice. The man nodded.
"Jasper Hawke," the human replied. "And you're the one who broke my daughter's heart."
Rommath winced, not wanting to discuss this so soon. He wanted only to be with Braelyn.
"I did what I thought was best," he ground out, trying to maintain a sense of calm. "I thought I was keeping her safe. Do you disapprove of my actions?"
Jasper eyed him, his eyes narrowed in concentration. "At first I didn't," he replied, "but then I saw how distraught she was when she thought you were dead, and fully realised how much she'd been suffering during the past six months."
The paladin began pacing around the room. "My daughter loves you with an intensity I never thought possible for someone her age. She will only ever be happy with you," he said, "but you pushed her away. Trust me, if I didn't know that it would destroy her, I would tear her away from you right now and put my sword through your heart."
Rommath's arms tightened around Braelyn automatically, and he growled at the other man. But Jasper surprised him by sheathing his sword. The paladin's lips curled up in a cold smile. "I can't say that my wife and I are too happy about all this," he said. "There is so much that can go wrong."
"I already know what can go wrong!" Rommath snapped. "That was all that I ever seemed to think about! But I won't let her go again, not if being apart causes her as much grief as it causes me." He stopped, his outburst draining his energy. He took a deep breath. "And as to what you and your wife think... I don't care. I will keep her safe, I will make her happy. As long as Braelyn's with me, I couldn't care less about your disapproval. Just as long as you don't force her to choose. I won't let you upset her."
"Are you threatening me, boy?" Jasper growled, ignoring the fact that Rommath was a hell of a lot older than him.
"Yes," the mage replied. "I won't be this weak forever." To his surprise, the human man laughed.
"I'm glad to see that you're prepared to fight for her now," Jasper said. "I may have my doubts about this relationship, but I'm willing to put them aside since you've decided to make her happy."
The paladin walked to the door. Before he stepped out, he paused, looking back at Rommath. "When she wakes up, the first thing you're going to do is beg for her forgiveness," Jasper said. "Then you going are to promise to never hurt her again. And, Grand Magister Rommath, know this; if you break that promise, you will pay dearly, and it will not just be my rage that you need to worry about."
"Rommath, stop that right now!" Braelyn commanded as the blood elf apologised again, placing a soft kiss beside her ear.
"I'm only doing what your father told me to do," Rommath replied.
"I know, but you've said 'sorry' about thirteen hundred times now," she protested, "and in the creepiest, pleading voice I have ever heard. It's not natural. You're supposed to be stern, or angry. Keep doing it and I'll begin to think you aren't really Rommath at all, but some weird, Rommath-shaped succubus or something."
"Then say you forgive me," Rommath whispered in her ear.
"You know I do," she said, shivering as he kissed her again. She was fighting not to blush, not just because of Rommath's actions, but also because Andorien and Odariah were both watching.
"I need to hear you say it," Rommath growled.
"For the Light's sake, cousin, put the poor man out of his misery!" Odariah exclaimed, giving up her attempt to mind her own business. Andorien groaned and shook his head.
"Your cousin is a most compassionate woman," Rommath said, smiling against Braelyn's throat.
Braelyn pulled back, and took the mage's face between her hands. She looked him in the eyes and said, "I forgive you, Rommath. Don't ever doubt that." She kissed him softly.
When she raised her head, Rommath was smiling at her, his relief clear in his eyes. "You better memorize this, guys," Braelyn told her friends. "You'll probably never see him smile again."
Rommath laughed at that, and pulled Braelyn to rest against him. "Enough of your teasing, wench," he said. "Why don't you tell me what happened in Orgrimmar?"
Between the three of them, Braelyn and her friends managed to cover everything that had happened while he was unconscious. Hellscream's defeat, Vol'jin becoming Warchief, the tentative truce between Horde and Alliance. They also reassured him that Lor'themar and the others had made it safely back to Silvermoon, and knew about Rommath's survival.
"A truce?" he asked, rubbing his thumb over Braelyn's hip. She nodded.
"It's fragile," she warned, "but there's..."
"Hope?" Rommath supplied with a smile.
"Yes," she said, "and it promises great things." She smiled when Rommath hummed noncommittally.
"It is good enough to take the risk," he said finally.
"What kind of risk?" she asked, and Rommath heard the hope in her voice. In the background, Andorien had to grab Odariah to stop her from throwing herself on the couple.
"A cross-faction marriage," Rommath said, and then let out a huff as Braelyn crushed him in a hug.
"People will still be upset," she said, running her hands down his back. "There will still be people calling me, us, traitors."
"I know," he replied, "and I will always be afraid for you. But I will no longer let that fear dictate my behaviour. If people do not approve of us, then it is their problem, not ours. As long as we're together, I can deal with anything."
He looked at Braelyn's friends, a question in his eyes. Andorien just nodded at him calmly. He could tell the night elf had reservations, but that he was also willing to put them aside for Braelyn's sake. Her cousin surprised him with the warm smile she sent him. It seemed the priest's initial anger at him had been cooled by his behaviour towards Braelyn since he woke up.
"It will be difficult, and I can't promise that things will turn out the way we want," he said, "but I can promise you two things; I will always love you, and I will never push you away again."
He pulled back, looking at Braelyn, who had tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She was smiling, her lower lip trembling. He kissed her freckles. "What do you say, Miss Hawke?" he asked. "Are you stubborn enough to put up with me for the rest of your life? Will you marry me?"
Odariah's excited squeal almost drowned out Braelyn's enthusiastic "By the Light, yes!"
He kissed her, not caring they weren't alone. When they finally parted, Braelyn looked up at him with a smile. "Where will we live?" she asked. "I still have a year to go on my contract with the Crusade."
"I'm sure I can convince Lor'themar to let you teleport to Silvermoon at the end of your shifts, if Highlord Fordring approves."
"Really?" Braelyn asked skeptically. "That might ruffle a few feathers."
"Crusaders are welcome in Silvermoon," Rommath replied. "Besides, every day for the past few months, a little girl named Allysandra has come to the Spire, demanding that Lor'themar bring you back to the city. He might be glad of the chance to appease her."
Braelyn laughed. She'd no idea she'd made such a positive impression on the young blood elf.
"You know, Halduron is going to be unbearable when he hears the news," she teased. Rommath groaned.
"Then we have no choice but to elope to Shattrath," he groaned. "I refuse to have him at the wedding, he'll laugh through the entire ceremony. Boxer, too."
Braelyn laughed softly, pressing a kiss to his shoulder.
"You could always get married here," a new voice said from the doorway.
"My lord!" Braelyn squeaked, attempting to stand, but Rommath refused to let her go. She blushed furiously as her superior officer grinned at them.
"At ease, child," he said warmly. "You're mother told me that a proposal of some sort could be in your future, so I've come to make you an offer that might make life a lot easier for you and the Grand Magister.
"What kind of offer?" Rommath asked, eyes narrowing. Despite his love for Braelyn, his distrust of the human race would not disappear overnight, and he did not know Highlord Fordring very well.
"Well, Rommath," the paladin replied, "I have a plan to boost the Crusades' ranks, and Braelyn could be just the person I need to make it succeed..."
AN - I'm hoping that people aren't too disappointed that I didn't cover the whole of SoO. I struggle with fight scenes, and I also didn't really need to involve our brave heroes in it too much, as they were only there to look for Rommath.
And no, Feff, boosting the crusaders' ranks does not involve Braelyn and Rommath having 30000 kids.
At the end of this story, I will be tacking on a bit of info about the Agents of Light and other characters within this story. This is so other authors here can use them in their own stories if they wish. I'm happy to allow this, as long as due credit is given, and I know about it so I can read it.
At the moment I am debating whether to write the sequel first, or the what-if story. The sequel is probably going to win out, mainly because I am still thinking about alternative love interests for Braelyn in the What-if. I have someone in mind, and I still like the idea of using him, but he may be too similar to Rommath. Suggestions are welcome, though they MUST be Alliance, and have a good/believable reason to be in/visiting Stormwind, especially the Keep.
Next Chapter: it's the final one! We find out what Fordring's great plan is, and Randall pays a surprise visit to Silvermoon, and he isn't alone!