Chapter 11

I woke up snarling, my head hurting and the screaming silent.

What the fuck hit me?

I looked around, eerily reminded of the Naxxramas, and for one horrid second thought the last two days had been a dream-

"You're awake."

I jumped, staring at the...woman in front of me.

Her eyes glowed red, like Sylvanas, but her skin was stark white, black hair falling over her shoulders. She was an elf.

"Who are you? Where am I? What happened? Where is that bitch-." I snarled, but she merely looked on, a severely emotional look on her face.

"Stop looking at me like that!"

She jerked back as if slapped, and the she-bitch herself walked into view.

"Morning to you too, Teir."

I snarled, perfectly sane rage filling me, "How do you know my name, Windrunner?"

She sighed, looking at me hard, "He really did a number on you, didn't he?"

I reeled from what she said. How would she know what he did to me?

My question must've shown on my face, "Leave us," she said softly to the woman, who was dressed in all black, with a bow and quiver on her back, and she left, casting one more hard look at me before leaving.

We were alone, and she sat down on the opposite side of the bars, nodding for me to do the same.

I sat cautiously, glaring at her.

"It was rare for him to take memories from his soldiers. I retained all of mine, as did most of my Forsaken." I stared, blankly and somewhat hostile, "Those innocents you murdered in Brill were not Scourge. They were...once, but after I stole Lordearon from him and purged the loyalists, all who remained vowed to follow under my rule. We call ourselves the Forsaken."

"There are undead among you not raised by him." I snarled, "I can tell. Don't lie to me."

She nodded, "There are indeed. But we do not use a cursed blade for such things. We do not bind their will. I use the Val'kyr-they left him after he went into the ice, if you remember."

I did. I nodded for her to continue.

"We raise the dead, and give them the option to follow me as Forsaken, return to rest, or strike out on their own. I do not force them into servitude. I wouldn't take away someone's will. I wouldn't wish such punishment on my worst enemy."

I stared at her, assessing. Her pulse-which was in fact steady-gave away no lie.

"How do you know my name." I finally said, still not trusting her.

She sighed, running a hand through lanky, colourless hair that may have once been blonde, "I knew you before."

Before-?

I curled into myself, growling through gritted teeth as pain hit me from all sides-

Sunlight poured through a window. It smelled rank. A blue eyed woman with sunny blonde hair smiled at me.

I gasped for breath, my heart beating erratically, and I felt hands moving through my hair soothingly, and I jerked away.

Sylvanas withdrew to her side of the bars without a word, watching me. I rubbed my temples.

"You...had...blue eyes." I said faintly, and a smile lit her features that made me almost proud to have guessed that.

"So he didn't mean to steal your memories, if you have fragments." She said, a determination filling her voice.

"I don't care." I snarled, and she looked taken aback, "Let me leave, I won't harm your people. Let me find the scarlet fanatics."

Her face hardened to practically stone, "No."

I bared my teeth at her, and was startled when she bared them right back.

"I'm not giving up on you, Teir."

"You should!" I yelled, standing, and she met me eye to eye, "You know what I've done! You know how many I've...I've slaughtered! I'm a monster!"

"You had no control-."

"I was perfectly aware of what I was doing!" The screaming had come back with a vengeance, and I turned on her, stalking to the bars and putting my face right up to them, "I enjoyed it! I got off on it! What does that sound like to you?!"

The screaming faded as I heaved deep breaths, still pressed against those bars, staring at Sylvanas. She looked...deep in thought. Sad.

"Give me a year."

I cocked my head to the side. What?

"Give me a year," she continued, "let me show you how to live again, how to get past those horrors. How to chase off the screaming. If after a year, you still want to give yourself up, I'll...I'll put you down myself." She didn't like saying that, I could tell, but what got my attention was-

"How did you know about the screaming?"

She stopped, eyes widening, "What?"

I looked at her, suddenly desperate for an answer, "How did you know about the screaming? The screaming that-." I searched for the words, eyes burning, "it haunts me."

She looked so sad that I almost took back my question, "This...this madness. It was not a product of your death."

The world froze-he didn't cause this?

I must've said that out loud, because she answered, "No, no he didn't...this is actually thanks to your father."

I Reeled-I had a father? A real life father?

Wait-

"I had a locket once, when I woke up," I clutched at my bare throat, longing for it and the woman who had it, "It said my daughter...I had a mother, too?"

Sylvanas looked like she wanted to say so much, but she simply nodded.

I jumped up, hungry, "Where are they? Do I have other family? What-?"

I stopped talking as soon as the sadness in her eyes turned to pity.

Oh.

I sat down hard, not sure why the realization hurt.

They're dead.

"Why shouldn't I just slam my head into a wall now?" I questioned her, both desperately wanting a chance to live and desperately fearing it.

"Because it won't work. The only thing that kills us is dismantlement. You know that." Sylvanas sneakily reminded me of the...the innocents I've killed in the last two days, and I bit down my horror.

"What if I don't want your year?"

"Then you sit down here and wonder for the rest of eternity what you lost."

Oh, that didn't sound very fun. I looked at the little cell-I knew we were underground, and the bars looked like they could hold even my strength.

I looked at Sylvanas, a big question springing to mind, "Why?"

She flinched, so minimally that I almost didn't notice it.

Almost.

"What was I to you, that you would risk your people to keep me alive?"

She looked to be deep in thought, red eyes flickering as she thought of what to say, "Before...before, I was the one who kept you fed, kept you in clean clothes and with a place to sleep. In the end...I failed you. I... I will not fail you again."

This ending she said with such determination that I jerked back, a terrifying thought in my head, "You're not...you're not my mother, are you?"

She huffed a laugh that tasted so bitter I almost wanted to take it back, "No, no. I'm not your mother, but towards the end...I might as well have been."

She stood, and I watched her, a myriad of emotions circling through me, "Stew on that. I'll be back. I must go calm my people and make sure they've done clean up."

With that, she left, and I was alone.

I stood and paced, thinking on everything that I've learned in the last two-is it three? I had no idea down here-days.

I had parents, but they were dead.

Sylvanas Windrunner had been a mother to me, but had failed me-was she why I died?

Was she how?

I felt pain go through my skull, and realised-How did I die?

That's a question for when she returns.

Now I have to count.

I took up a small shard of rock, which thankfully left a mark on the walls, and counted out the lines of people I destroyed under his influence.

Then I began to add those I've killed since.

When I was finished, there was very very little shard left, and most of one of the walls was covered.

I sat opposite it, staring at it, horror sluggishly rolling through me.

I...I enjoyed killing all of these people.

Wait...not all of them.

The five. The first five since I've woken up in the woods. I didn't enjoy killing them.

I did that out of fear.

As small a number as that was, in comparison to the gargantuan amount of lines on the walls, it made me feel better.

Maybe I wasn't an entirely stone cold monster, if I didn't kill only out of enjoyment.

I put my chin to my chest and pulled my knees up, curling into a ball.

I'm so fucked up.

I don't know how long I sat there, staring at the floor or the wall, but when the door opened and Sylvanas returned, my body was extremely stiff and my throat felt like rough stone.

She slid a tray through the bars, which bent around her hands-a ward tied to her, I expect-and I inspected its contents.

A glass, with accompanying pitcher of water, meat so rare it was bloody, and some sort of green stuff.

"The dead don't eat." I looked at her, confused.

She smirked, "Don't doesn't mean can't. Eat up."

I took the water first, the cool liquid surprisingly nice on my throat, and I didn't feel it leak out of me at all-a common issue when the ghouls would consume, their meals came out at random points.

I actually felt...better, after drinking that, and I took up the fork-dulled, purposefully I presume-and took a bite of the bloody meat.

Oh, yeah.

My bliss must've shown, because she laughed, "I know the feeling, don't worry."

She smiled, and we sat in silence as I proceeded to inhale the food-the green stuff was mint, I think, if my out of tune tongue could be trusted, and poured myself a third glass of water, taking the time to sip instead of chug.

"How did that feel?"

I looked at her, confused, "Huh?"

"How did it feel to eat, for what must feel like the first time?" Sylvanas asked, and I thought about it.

"It felt...like a gap was being filled." I said finally, and she nodded.

"I noticed when we found you that you look severely malnourished. The herbs will help with that, as will the meat. The water is just nice," She smiled, and I felt...odd.

"Now, have you considered my offer?"

Ah, back to this then.

"Are you going to keep me down here until I agree?" I asked, and she nodded, looking not even a little sorry.

"I want to give you the chance to live again, and if it takes a couple centuries of debate to get there-well, there's a perk to immortality now isn't there?" She gave me a smile that both amused and unsettled.

I looked at the wall, with all of its lines, "How can I make up for that?" I asked softly.

She looked, and her next words warmed me to the core, "You kept count, you've already begun to atone for it."

I looked at her, and I knew she would keep me down here in this dreary box for centuries if she had too.

I sighed, studying the lines, "I want to make a grave. A... a mausoleum, for them."

She stopped breathing for a moment, "I can have one constructed-."

"No," I stood, "I want to build it. No magic, no help. I want it to suck, I want it to be grueling and slave work. I want to do it."

"You believe such a, how did you put it, sucky experience will put on the road to atonement?" Sylvanas asked.

"I don't...but if I had to pick somewhere to start, honoring them would be a good place." I said quietly, looking at all of those lines-did I even know all of their names?

"Very well. May I at least have my masons gather the stone for you? To give them the best of the best."

I nodded, as long as the actual work was mine, I could live with that.

"Teir,"

I turned and looked at her, and saw a bunch of my emotions mirrored on her face, "Is this you agreeing to the year?"

I opened my mouth, closed it, and thought.

A year of paying back for what I've done. Trying to get past it. Owning it and trying to rebuild.

Could I do it?

Was I worthy?

"It'll suck. I won't lie. Such a trauma is hard to come back from, especially with no memories of a time before. But if you agree...we can give it our best shot."

I looked at the lines on the wall again.

It would honor their deaths.

I took a deep breath.

In...

Out...

I opened my eyes and stared right at her, "One Year."

She smiled.