For the first time in a long time, I felt relaxed. Almost happy.
Faith was in my arms, sleeping peacefully. She shivered on occasion, as my body's temperature had dropped again, but she didn't want to let me go. I moved slightly to pull the covers over her, and she made a sound, holding me tighter.
"Shh, Faith," I whispered to her.
"Don't go…" she opened her eyes. "Please don't leave me."
"You silly creature," I said softly. "I'm not going anywhere. But you're cold."
"No I'm not."
I smiled and kissed her, moving away from her for a moment and grabbing the duvet, draping it over her and getting back into bed. I had brought the reports I'd gotten from Outland to Faith's room, and I picked them up now as Faith curled up into my arms again, kissing my cheek.
The reports were extensive, and I read them long after she had fallen asleep again. There was nothing unexpected in them, except Eliza's mention of the poison she and Faith had collected for me.
She tensed against me. I looked down, and saw the expression on her face change. Quickly, I put down the bits of parchment and ran my fingers over her cheek, "Wake up, baby," I whispered.
She heard me, and opened her eyes, which were wide and terrified. A sob escaped her throat and she held onto me tightly, beginning to cry.
"Oh, Faith… come on, my darling, it's all right."
"No…"
"Yes. It's fine."
"I don't want to be scared, Sylvanas…"
What could I say to that? I held her.
"I think that part of you is always going to be scared, Faith," I told her after a while. "I'm scared too, you know. Sometimes, I think of what might have happened to you if I hadn't gotten you out of there and to Silvermoon, and I get terrified."
"You have no idea how much I wish you had come with me, baby."
I had a pretty good idea. "Even if I could have…"
"I know. As Ranger-General, you wouldn't have done it. Let me be selfish for a while. I'll go back to being proud of your sacrifice later."
"You're proud of me?" I asked her. "You never told me that."
She nodded, "You sacrificed yourself for your home. For the people you loved."
"For you," I clarified.
"For me," her voice trembled minutely, and she pressed her face against my side for a moment. "And I am proud of you. For everything that you did. My general."
I waited a moment for her to compose herself before answering, "It was my job, Faith."
"Most people would have run away, and you know it, Sylvanas."
"Mmm, no I don't. I was there, remember? I saw how hard people fought at the Sunwell. They fought for their home, same as me. You fought too. You wouldn't have gone anywhere had I not forced you to."
She didn't respond to that, instead taking my left hand and stroking my wedding finger, where I wore the ring she had given me. A tear splashed upon it as I watched, a symbol of everything that we had lost.
"We're together," I told her. Inwardly, part of me shuddered at that.
"You said we couldn't be, because you're dead and you'd rather I be with someone alive."
"For yourself, yes, I think that you should be with someone who's truly alive. But since you're insisting on being my lover, I won't push you away."
"You don't want to be tied down."
That was true, I didn't. But the alternative was being without her, and I couldn't. As an answer, I kissed her deeply, pressing her body to mine.
"I'm still going to find that druid," I said later.
"Sylvanas, you don't have to."
But my mind was made up, "What kind of a girlfriend would I be if I didn't protect the one I love?"
"For one thing, my love, I don't need you to protect me, not from this, although I appreciate it. For another… girlfriend?"
I grimaced. I wouldn't even have used that term before my death. "You know what I mean."
"Sylvanas Windrunner, former Ranger-General of Silvermoon and Quel'Thalas, Banshee Queen of the Forsaken… and Faith Everstone's girlfriend."
"Stop it." I was trying to sound murderous, but only ended up sounding amused.
"Why me?" she asked.
Why? I didn't have an answer for that. Not anything specific. I fell back on something I'd been told decades ago, "You're Faith. I'm Sylvanas. We just are."
One of my captains had told me that one day, when I'd been missing Faith so much that I'd felt pained with it. I'd been sitting at the base of a tree, looking up at the stars overhead, feeling empty because she hadn't been near me. The captain had come to me, offering me some dried meat, which I'd taken from him and chewed thoughtfully, unable to satisfy a hunger that went deeper than my stomach.
"It's difficult to miss someone so much," he had said. "She's a lucky girl to have you, General."
I'd chuckled without much humor, "Am I that obvious?"
"She's Faith. You're Sylvanas. Nobody in the kingdom who knows you both can think about either one of you without thinking about the other one too. You just… are. Together. An entity. Even if your families refuse to see it, even if they force you to marry other people someday, you will always belong to each other."
"In sickness and in health," I had whispered. I'd seen it then. The two of us getting married. Faith in a long white gown, while I wore my formal Ranger-General uniform.
I groaned and wrapped myself around Faith, and she responded to me, her arms around me, her head tucked under my chin, and her legs tangled with mine. We had lost so much. Too much. The chance at the perfect happiness that we should have been allowed to have.
I love you, Faith. I love you so much.
She didn't verbally respond to me, but I knew what her answer was by the way she trembled against me.
The clock on the wall told me, a couple of hours later, that it was morning. Faith and I hadn't moved from each other's embrace, our limbs still intertwined.
She hadn't gone back to sleep, and when she felt me moving, she tightened her grip on me for a second. I waited her out, until she released me, kissing my neck.
"You should try to get some sleep," I told her. "You're exhausted."
"I can't sleep without you near me." Her voice was almost inaudible.
"Of course you can sleep without me. It's barely five o'clock. Nap for a couple of hours, then come join me."
I got out of bed, feeling her gaze on me, and picked up my clothes from where we'd dropped them in our passion. I couldn't remember now how Faith had taken off my boots.
"What?" she asked me.
I shook my head, clearing it, "Nothing, I'll see you later. Sleep well, Faith."
"Sylvanas?"
I turned to look at her, raising my eyebrow.
"Thank you for last night."
A smile twitched at my lips, "Go to sleep."
Evidently, she did, because she didn't follow me to my chambers, where I changed into my customary black leather armor, the one that left part of my torso exposed. By the time I'd finished getting dressed, I had devised a plan.
I found Rotvine a few minutes later in the magic quarter, looking over the new recruits. They were a diverse bunch: new Forsaken, trolls, orcs, elves, and tauren. And they all had one thing in common: the need to see the Scourge destroyed.
"There's something I need you to do for me, Rotvine," I told him, nodding to the others.
"Anything you wish, my lady. It would be an honor."
"I need you to find the druid Shaladyn for me, and bring her here."
He froze and looked at me, "Your Majesty?"
Had I stuttered? "You heard me. Is she still in Outland?"
He shook his head, "No. I heard her saying that she was going to be redeployed to the Plaguelands."
"Well, that's fortuitous," I said. "Take anybody you need and bring her here. She'll probably be with the Cenarion Circle."
I could tell he wanted to argue with me, but he had the good sense not to. He bowed to me and left, and Eliza took over as trainer for the new recruits. I approved of this, and went about my business after watching her direct them for a short while.
Faith joined me in the throne room at seven-thirty. She had taken a bath and washed her hair, putting on a black wool dress that was tight enough for me to stare at her for a second or two as she arrived.
There was no reason for me to feel a sudden burning need for her, not after what we'd done the previous night.
She stayed with me throughout most of the day as I listened to reports from various parts of Tirisfal Glades. The Scourge was on everybody's tongue. I dispatched a warrior unit to the Blasted Lands, and they came back that same evening, telling me that it was indeed quite bad down there. The plague had even reached Stonard, where orcs had been dropping dead and had risen after a few minutes.
"How did this happen, Sylvanas?" Faith asked me after the last person had gone. I was still sitting down, rubbing my left temple, feeling pressure behind my eyelids.
"I don't know, Faith," I said to her. "I honestly don't know."
"But you have to... you're -."
"I'm what exactly? I used to be part of the Scourge, so I should know exactly what they're planning? Because I don't." I felt horrible about the look on Faith's face. I didn't want to see it there. I didn't want to see her scared and worried, wondering what was going to happen next.
"Look... I was thinking about something while I was in Outland."
"What's that?"
"I'm going to take a team and go to Hearthglen. We need to join the Argent Dawn."
"The Argent Dawn? What are you talking about?"
"They're dedicated to eradicating threats to Azeroth, including the Scourge. This is exactly the kind of organization we should join. We need help, Sylvanas."
"I know we do," I told her. "But they're probably going to turn on us. We are undead after all."
"You may be undead, but you're not planning on slaughtering the entire population of the planet to create a Scourge nation. I think that if we were to join, it would really help us. We'd make new allies, and show them that we're dedicated to this cause."
"We don't need to prove anything to anybody," I said, hating the idea of having to do that.
"No, we don't. But we need help here. I know that the Argent Dawn is really busy with what's going on in the Plaguelands, but if they could help us, at least at the Bulwark, it would free more of us to deal with more of these fiends."
I looked at her, seeing that she truly was serious about joining them. "It would really mean a lot to you, wouldn't it? Joining the Argent Dawn?"
She nodded, "Yes, Sylvanas, it would mean a lot to me."
"Well then, if it does, I suppose I'm all for it. Grab the people you need - not just mages, but anybody else, and go to Hearthglen. Why don't you ask for volunteers?"
She walked to me and hugged me, kissing my cheek, "Thank you, my love."
"I'm not fond of having you go out into Scourge territory, you know. Not so soon after you've gotten back from Outland. Try to stay away from Andorhal, if you can." I wanted to hold her hand, but there were still enough people there for me to control myself.
"Oh, I'm in no hurry to face thirty-thousand members of the Scourge, thank you."
I smiled grimly, "Just be careful, okay?"
"I will be. I'll leave as soon as I've gotten enough people to join me."
Faith began to get ready immediately, washing her clothes first, then calling out for volunteers all over Undercity. More people than I'd anticipated decided to join her, perhaps feeling that they would be a part of something bigger in the Argent Dawn.
I already felt myself getting irritated because she was going to be gone for a while. I didn't want her gone. I wanted her home with me. Forever.
My ridiculous feelings caused me to be more short-tempered with people than usual. The day after Faith told me she would be going to Hearthglen, I exploded in anger over something that was very trivial. Had she not been nearby, maybe I would have done something crazy.
She came to me and led me out of the throne room, taking me to my chambers and closing the door behind us.
"Tell me," she said.
"I'm fine, Faith," I snapped.
"Even you don't blow up over that small, Sylvanas. You're angry, and it has nothing to do with someone spilling a vial of poison on the floor."
"Don't test me," I told her. I moved away from her, going to my wardrobe and pulling out random things until I found what I was looking for. A long black hooded cloak made of heavy velvet, a material that was rare for Undercity, and lined with silver. "Here. I had a feeling you'd be leaving me again." I handed the cloak to her.
She took it slowly and looked at it, letting the material slip through her fingers, "It's gorgeous, Sylvanas. Thank you."
I fastened it around her neck, pulling her to me so that her back was against my chest.
"You don't want me to go," she said quietly to me.
"Ah, don't mention that. I'll get angry again."
"You think I want to leave you? I don't, but I swore that I would serve you until my dying day."
"No. You swore that you would never leave my side."
"Sometimes, we have to make sacrifices for the greater good. You told me that once." She turned around in my arms and kissed me, "It was never easy for you to leave Everstone Village, was it?"
I shook my head, "It was harder every time I had to do it. I'm beginning to understand how you used to feel when I was gone. You didn't know where I was or whether or not I was safe. How did you do it?"
"I had to trust that you would be okay. You were Ranger-General, Sylvanas. Killing you would not have been an easy thing."
"Funny... Arthas seemed to find it a piece of cake."
"Oh, my love." She held me closer, and I put my forehead on her shoulder, closing my eyes. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so sorry. I should have been there."
I shook my head, not needing to say what I had told her a dozen times already. I just wrapped my arms around her, selfishly wishing I could keep her with me. My ray of sunshine.
She left a few days later, with several tauren shaman, parts of the magi corps, druids, warriors, and a couple of Forsaken rogues who wanted to try their hand at something new.
On the same day of Faith's departure, a young Sin'dorei paladin ventured into the Ghostlands, on a simple mission for the Blood Knights, one that was only supposed to take a couple of hours, no more. She had been tasked with reporting on new activity in Suncrown Village and report back to the people of Tranquillien.
But she never made it to her destination.
Ambushed by members of the Cult of the Damned, she was quickly subdued, and brought to the border between Quel'Thalas and the Eastern Plaguelands. She awoke from her poison-induced stupor to find herself in a floating necropolis, surrounded by hundreds of members of the Scourge. The hammer she had once wielded was gone, and she felt cold. Sick. Scared.
"What is this place?" she asked the only living being she saw near her.
The being laughed, but the sound wasn't natural. It had a deadly undertone that chilled her to the bone. "Welcome to Archerus," he told her. "Your new home."
The next moment, he had driven a sword straight through her abdomen, and she gave a broken scream, spitting out blood. She collapsed to the floor and began to convulse, knowing what was coming and praying to the Light to save her soul.
It did no good.