A/N - Thank you to Dreams and Desperation for the beta read! I would still be stuck on this chapter if it hadn't been for you!

Seeing the landscape of Tirisfal Glades was similar to taking in a breath of fresh air. It looked beautiful from above, the outline of the Ruins of Lordaeron contrasting with the pale gray sky.

But for the first time, I wasn't looking forward to seeing Sylvanas. I was scared of her reaction. How was I supposed to tell her how disastrous the battle had been? How was I supposed to tell her that we had lost nearly two thousand Forsaken forces? How could I tell her about the betrayal?

"Just tell her the truth," advised Rotvine. "This wasn't your fault at all."

"It feels like it was my fault. I helped Putress with the Plague."

"You've been helping the Alliance against the Scourge for months. There's no way that anybody would think that you would suddenly commit that kind of betrayal against the Horde or against the Alliance, not during a battle against the Scourge. And you certainly would never betray Sylvanas. Nor would she ever betray you."

I knew she wouldn't. "I should have seen it. I'd always felt odd around Putress."

"Everyone felt odd around him. He was a weird character in any case."

"But it was my job to know what he was up to."

"No, it was Sylvanas' job, not yours. She's queen of Undercity."

"But she promoted me to major so that I could help her while I was in Northrend."

"You barely had anything to do with Putress. How could you possibly have known that he was going to betray all of us?"

I shook my head, not knowing what to say. He had played his hand well, Putress, because other than the fact that I had been feeling odd about him for a while, I hadn't had any vibes when it came to him. I also had absolutely no idea who he was working with. It hadn't been for the Scourge, or he wouldn't have killed so many of them.

Was he working for himself?

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't figure it out. We were getting closer and closer to the landing tower at the gates of Lordaeron, and I still couldn't think of what I would say to Sylvanas.

"What is that?" asked Carelia, who was looking over at the ruins. "Look."

I turned my gaze towards where she was pointing, and, for a moment, I couldn't understand what I was seeing.

"Is that an infernal?" asked Tarr.

"In Lordaeron?" exclaimed Rotvine. "That's not possible!"

"Incoming!"

I looked up just in time to see a ball of fel fire hurtling towards our zeppelin. I heard our captain, a male goblin named Krevyl, give a shout before he tried to steer the zeppelin away from the ball of fire, but he only managed to send us crashing into the tower as the fiery projectile exploded all around us.

I screamed out a spell to steady us as I fell to my knees, but it did no good. We were falling, and more green fire was raining over us. The attack was designed to kill us.

"We're going to crash!" shrieked Carelia.

Bracing myself, I watched as something monstrous plummeted towards us. "Infernal!" I cried.

It crashed into the ship, quickening our descent to the ground. I heard screams coming from every direction, along with the terrified noises coming from the animals below deck. I cast a spell towards them, hoping to shield them a little, but as soon as I did, the infernal loomed over me, meaning to kill me where I knelt.

"Faith! Watch out!"

There wasn't much I could do. As the ship hurtled towards the ground, I put up a protective ward to keep the infernal from crushing me, but was unable to brace myself for the horrible landing. Pain coursed through me as the ship hit the ground, my vision going dark.

I could feel heat. Scorching heat that was really close to me. Through the fog in my head, I heard cries. Someone called my name.

My eyes were heavy. I tried to open them, but my left one remained closed. A spike of pain drove itself through my temple. I coughed, feeling something burning in my chest.

"Faith!"

Someone pulled me away from the flames of the burning infernal.

"You're okay, Faith, I've got you."

"Rotvine…" I coughed again, spraying his shoulder with blood. "How… how are the others?"

"The ship's captain is dead. So are four others." He walked for a while, slowly stepping over the debris of the ship and whatever was left of the landing tower.

"I can walk," I told him weakly.

He put me down, and I only just managed to stay on my feet. In the distance, I could see Carelia and Tarr healing whatever animals they had managed to get out of the wreckage and the remaining members of my troops.

"Someone's coming," said Rotvine quietly. "From Brill."

"Judging by the warm welcome we've just received, you're not making me feel any better," I answered.

"They have a Forsaken banner."

Tarr and the others joined us. Lady was there as well, limping a little. She nuzzled me, and stayed relaxed as the group of Forsaken reached us. I recognized some of the first Forsaken I had met when I had arrived in Undercity.

"Major Everstone," said one of them, one of Sylvanas' royal guards. "Are you all right?"

"No, we're not. What happened?"

"We'll explain in Brill. We shouldn't stay this close to the Ruins, it's dangerous. Sylvanas is in Brill. She was injured, but she's recovering."

"Injured?" I screamed. "What do you mean she was injured?" I hopped onto the nearest skeletal warhorse, and began galloping towards Brill. I heard Lady crying out indignantly at my leaving her behind, but I knew she would follow me with everyone else.

And follow me they did, arriving in Brill seconds after me. The village was fuller than I'd ever seen it, with people from every facet of Undercity stationed there, from Forsaken to the living members of the Horde.

Sylvanas was waiting just outside the inn when I galloped into Brill. She was a little paler than usual, and a bandage had been tied haphazardly around her waist, dark red blood seeping through the material.

"Faith?" she asked, looking at me. "What are you doing here? I sent word to Northrend to halt all the troops coming home this way."

I tried dismounting, but instead fell to the floor ungracefully. Sylvanas walked over to me and pulled me to my feet, barely glancing at me when I gasped in pain. "What happened?" I asked her. "Syl –."

"Answer my question. What are you doing here?"

"You didn't hear what happened, did you?" I asked, my worst fears confirmed.

"Faith –."

"In Northrend… the Wrathgate." I began to shake, the amplitude of the disaster washing over me suddenly.

"Oh, you had the battle," said Sylvanas carelessly. "You might have noticed, we've had one of our own."

I shook my head, tears spilling from my eyes, "No, my Lady. We lost ten-thousand forces."

Sylvanas' red eyes bore into mine with such intensity that I backed away from her. She stepped towards me, catching my arm and pulling me to her, her grip vise-like. "What… are you saying to me, Major Everstone?"

"I'm saying the Putress betrayed us and used your Plague to kill not only Scourge soldiers, Sylvanas, but Horde and Alliance soldiers too. After that, the Red Dragonflight came around to incinerate the Plague and kill the two-thousand Forsaken who were standing with Putress. Only about three hundred of us got out of that battle alive."

Sylvanas spoke with deliberate calm, "What about Arthas?"

"The Plague affected him but… it wasn't enough to kill –."

Sylvanas struck me with all the force the could muster, sending me flying halfway across the small square. I hit the ground hard and gave a harsh cry of pain. I half-expected her to leap on me and beat me until I was unconscious, so when she advanced on me, I actually cringed away from her.

"Don't you move away from me," snarled Sylvanas. "Come here."

Slowly, I got to my feet and took several steps towards her. "I'm sorry…" I whispered to her. I had never been this afraid of her before.

"We lost Undercity to the Burning Legion, and now you're telling me that we also lost half of our forces in Northrend because of Putress, and that Arthas is still alive." She began to pace, "This is your fault, you know!"

"My fault?" I cried, outraged. "You did everything you could to keep me away from the Plague! Had you not done that, I might have been able to tell you that there was something fishy about him! But you didn't!"

"That's right, I didn't! I didn't because I wanted to protect you! You made me weak, and that weakness caused us Undercity!"

"Don't you dare blame me for the loss of Undercity! I wasn't even there! And if I recall correctly, Varimathras and I never got along! I told you long ago I had misgivings about him because of what he was, but you didn't listen to me."

But Sylvanas wasn't listening to me. I could feel the rage coming off her in tainted waves, and it was all I could do not to recoil, "This between us," she told me in a low voice, "it's done. I can't have you distract me anymore."

I blinked, "You're… what?"

"You should have died with your troops in Northrend."

"You don't mean that," I whispered. "You can't mean that. I know you're furious, but you –."

"Don't tell me what I am!" she hissed, grabbing a hold of the front of my robes and yanking me to her. She looked at me straight in the eye before pushing me away from her. I stumbled backwards, nearly crashing into the statue of her that was erected in the center of Brill. She turned on her heel, walking away from me.

"Sylvanas…" I tried going after her, but Rotvine stepped in front of me.

"Don't, Faith. Let her go for now. If you try, she'll only hit you again, and you need some healing." He led me to some priests, who immediately got to work on me. I just stared straight ahead, refusing to comprehend what had happened. Had Sylvanas dumped me?

I got to my feet. The priests tried to stop me, but I gently disengaged myself from them, and went to find Sylvanas. She was in the inn's basement, looking over a map of Undercity.

"No," I said.

She tensed immediately. "No?" she asked, not bothering to look at me.

"You can't blame me for what happened. It wasn't my fault, and I won't allow you to pin it on me because you feel guilty about not having seen it."

She turned around, her eyes furious, "You won't allow me?" she screamed.

"You heard me! I admit, I should have seen what Putress was up to, although I don't know how I could have done without defying your orders to stay away."

"You helped with the Plague!"

"Yes, I did. But don't you get it? From everyone's point of view, you betrayed the Horde and the Alliance by using the Plague that way! You designed a weapon to kill both the living and the undead! You did it! And I knew it was wrong, but I didn't do anything about it! I didn't tell you to stop, nor did I go to Thrall to tell him what you were up to, when I should have done. I have let you get away with a weapon so vile that it killed half of our forces in Northrend!"

"I gave my life to save you!"

It was a blow to my soul, designed to hurt as much as possible, "Yes you did," I said slowly. "And we haven't let each other forget it, have we?"

"Get out, before I hurt you again."

"Sylvanas –."

"Get. Out." She threw something at me, and I caught it, surprised.

"Oh, Sylvanas!" I began to cry. I was holding the silver vine ring that I'd given her before her death. The one that she hadn't taken off. Until now. "Don't do this, please…"

She raised a hand to strike me.

"Don't give this back to me. It's yours. Keep it. I gave it to you, and the gesture still stands."

"Not for me." Her tone was final, and I knew that nothing I did would change her mind. "You can leave my sight and never come back."

I looked at the ring. "You're really getting rid of me…"

"I should have done it years ago, the moment you started weakening me." She glanced at me, "Go!"

"And if I refuse to leave?"

She unsheathed the sword at her side, "You really want to try me on this point?"

"What's going on here?" asked a deep voice.

Sylvanas and I turned, seeing Thrall standing at the foot of the stairs with the other leaders of the Horde.

"I'm just relieving the Everstone elf of her duties to Undercity," said Sylvanas. "You can have her."

The Everstone elf. "You go too far, banshee," I said through gritted teeth. In one movement, I'd crossed the room to her and slapped her twice across the face.

So stunned was she by the fact that I'd hit her that, for a couple of seconds, she didn't move, just staring at me. The next moment, Lor'themar had pulled me away from her, and Thrall was keeping Sylvanas at bay, as she wanted to come after me with a vengeance.

"I promise you that whatever it is that you want to do, you'll regret it once you come to your senses," he told her.

I was struggling so hard that Lor'themar picked me up, and carried me, screaming, to the second floor of the inn. "Calm down!" he cried. "What happened?"

"She's lost her bloody mind, that's what happened."

"Faith."

I tried to take a calming breath, which was nearly impossible because I was so close to complete panic. I was holding onto the ring so tightly that I felt it cutting into the palm of my hand, "She's angry about losing Undercity, and she's taking it out on me because of what happened at the Wrathgate."

Lor'themar made a small noise, "I'm sorry about that."

"About what? About the fact that Sylvanas dumped me in the most painful way possible, or that the Wrathgate battle was an unqualified disaster?"

"Both, I guess."

I shrugged, "What are you guys doing here, anyway?"

"We're here to help you take Undercity back. You didn't think we were going to leave you guys alone, did you?"

"I don't think she wants me to stay."

"She'll calm down, don't worry. And when she does, she'll ask you for your ring back." He gently pried my hand open and took the ring away. It was bloody, so he cleaned it before picking up a nearby bandage and wrapping my hand in it.

"I won't give it back to her. You can just leave it here, I don't care."

"I don't believe that for a minute. She loves you, that's why she's so angry with you. She's angry that you made her love you." He began to lead me downstairs, even though I resisted. "Don't be difficult."

"I'm not the one being –."

He put a hand to my lips. We could hear Thrall speaking in heated tones to Sylvanas, who was replying with equal vehemence.

"I don't want her around! And you can't force me to keep her!"

"I'm stationing her in Undercity! With the fiasco that happened at the Wrathgate, you're going to need her to train new forces, Sylvanas! And we're certainly going to need her to take back your city!"

"I don't need –."

"You need her."

"Are you really blaming her for what happened here?"

"Yes!" she cried with such conviction that Thrall was momentarily quieted.

"It doesn't matter," he said at last. "We need her here for now. You can figure out what to do later."

"I already know what to do! She will no longer be welcome in Forsaken lands!"

"You're serious?" Lor'themar asked her. "You're going to banish Faith because you're in love with her and you think that she makes you weak?"

Sylvanas didn't answer. I left the inn, no longer wanting to remain in her presence. I felt physically ill, and before I knew it, I had ducked behind a bush to be sick as privately as possible. Rotvine still heard me, and I felt his bony hand patting my back as I wiped my mouth with a conjured handkerchief. A bleak future stretched out in front of me, one where I wasn't by Sylvanas' side. One where I was alone. I hated the idea.

"Come on, it'll be all right," said Rotvine quietly. "Sylvanas won't really send you away."

I didn't answer, instead walking to the very edge of the village and sitting on the ground, waiting. Everything had gone so wrong, so fast. I didn't know what to do to make her happy anymore. Except maybe kill Arthas, but I couldn't tell whether that would make her happy, or whether she'd react at all.

Carelia walked over, along with Dalzen and Tarr, and took a seat next to me. None of them said anything for a while, just taking in their surroundings.

"I'd always heard that Sylvanas' temper was volatile," said Carelia after a few minutes of silence.

"She's usually more mellow when Faith is around," replied Rotvine.

I put my head on my raised knees, "That's the problem, isn't it? She's acting like I'm the one who stole her soul."

"What are you going to do if she kicks you out of Undercity?"

"Go back to Northrend and finish the war there."

"Go back? You want to go back to that frozen wasteland?" Carelia sounded incredulous. "Why? If Sylvanas kicks you out, you won't have to fight in her name anymore."

"Despite Sylvanas' behavior, I still have a promise to keep. I want to see Arthas destroyed, and so I will fight the Scourge in Northrend until he's dead."

"And I'll fight with you," said Tarr to me. "What Arthas did to Dranosh Saurfang… killing him was bad enough, but taking his soul… do you think he's going to be raised?"

I gave a slow nod, "Oh, I think that Dranosh has already been raised and is being currently trained as a warrior of the Scourge."

"Major Everstone!" cried someone. "The warchief requests you."

The last thing I wanted was to be anywhere near Sylvanas at that moment, but I got to my feet and made my way back to the inn, the others following me. I got there in time to hear that Putress had been spotted in Undercity, plotting with Varimathras.

"So Putress is working for the Burning Legion," I whispered. "That makes a lot more sense now."

"How do you mean?" asked Lor'themar.

"The Burning Legion created the Scourge, which broke free from them during the Third War. It makes sense that anybody working for the Legion would want to see them destroyed as well."

"Was there any way to predict that they would do this?" asked Cairne Bloodhoof in a low voice.

I glanced at Sylvanas, my insides squirming painfully, but she avoided my gaze, "Had we been more vigilant, yes. I think we could have foreseen it."

"Well, that doesn't matter now," said Thrall. "Now, Sylvanas, you said that a resistance had formed, and that they're giving you updates periodically?"

She nodded, "They're executing the followers closest to me and Everstone. Two of my advisors have already been killed."

"Where's the resistance located?" I asked.

Sylvanas ignored me completely, so I looked at Lor'themar, who asked my question again.

"They're not in a specific area of Undercity, as far as I understand. Some of them are in the Magic Quarter, as far as I know."

"Whatever's left of the Magi Corps," I said out loud. "If I'm not mistaken, that'll be around fifty forces, not many, and they were the Third Corps, the ones we kept here to fight the local Scourge."

"All the others died?" asked Vol'jin, who hadn't spoken since his arrival.

I nodded, "Whoever was at the Wrathgate with me died, except for the twenty of them who returned. Of course, five of them were killed just now when the zeppelin crashed into the landing tower, so there are fifteen of us here, and maybe less than a hundred remaining across Northrend."

Sylvanas snorted, "Good job."

My temper flared, "If you had tried fighting the Scourge my way instead of worrying about your precious Plague, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

Thrall held up a hand to keep the argument from escalating, "Enough. Now, we have to get into Undercity. Do you think we can try the normal way?"

Shaking her head, Sylvanas pointed to an area of the map on the table, "According to my sources within the city, they've disabled the elevators. Jumping from that height would kill you."

"So only the Sewers remain," I said quietly.

Again, Sylvanas ignored me, so Lor'themar pointed them out on the map.

"It's the only other way in, yes," she said. "I don't think we can take Undercity with what's here, not without risking massive casualties."

"Varimathras will be in the Royal Quarter. As for Putress, he'll be in the lower level of the Apothecarium, which is close. We could send a team to neutralize them, which would be advantageous. With the leaders dead, their followers won't dare stand against her," I told Thrall.

"What if they've managed to summon more of the Burning Legion?" asked Cairne.

"We can handle that," Rotvine told him. "I think that whatever greeted us was the reception committee. Putress must have known that whatever was left after yesterday's would be coming home. I don't think they would have been able to summon a lot of others."

"Maybe not."

"We'll need to be careful when going to the sewer entrance," I told them, still looking at Thrall. "The Scarlet Crusade has a tower filled with their people who guard the entrance to Undercity."

"How many?"

"One hundred, give or take."

"We'll need to neutralize them before we go in. Major, could you take your people and see to that? You can come back once you're done."

I looked at Thrall, hoping that I'd misheard, because I wasn't in the mood to kill one hundred human beings. But the look in his eyes was resigned, so I simply nodded and went to find the others, who were already waiting for me. Wearily, we set off for the tower on our mounts, who looked at us as though we had lost our minds.

"I know you're tired," I said to Lady. "But you'll get a nice rest once all of this is over." I had no idea whether I was speaking the truth, but it was something I had to believe. I hoped Sylvanas wouldn't want her back, although I was already getting ready for that eventuality.

We reached the tower a little before dark, having had to get rid of several persistent members of the Scourge along the way.

"They received reinforcements," said Rotvine, looking at the tower. There were several tents around the tower, each looking big enough to accommodate five men.

I shook my head dejectedly, "They must know what happened in Undercity, which doesn't surprise me. The arrival of the Burning Legion is something that would have even alerted the murlocs in the area."

"So, what do we do?"

"We have our orders," I said. "Make sure to burn the bodies so that the Scourge in these parts can't raise them later."

I dismounted, and Lady went a little way away from us with the other mounts so as not to get caught in the crossfire. She knew to go back to Sylvanas if anything happened to me.

Not that Sylvanas will care this time around, I said to myself.

"I'll set the tents alight using my black fire," I whispered to Rotvine. "Hopefully, they won't be able to put them out in time. Get any stragglers, and prepare to fight."

It was utter pandemonium. I was still exhausted from the Wrathgate battle, but I somehow managed to conjure my black fire, which decimated the tents and soldiers inside them so quickly that the Scarlet crusaders in the tower barely had time to react. But they did react. Soon, curses and arrows were raining down on us, forcing me to use a spell to enhance Carelia's magical shield.

We were outnumbered four to one, but not for nothing had we managed to get out of the bloodiest battle of the Northrend campaign. I took out the Scarlet priests first so that they wouldn't manage to heal anybody, after which we used fire spells to kill most of the others. Two hours later, the ones who were left were running for the Scarlet Enclave, and we let them go. We had killed over one hundred soldiers, and we weren't in the mood to slaughter anybody else.

We rode back to Brill quickly, finding that most of the village was mobilized. Additional troops had come from the Bulwark and Silverpine Forest, along with a contingent of Sin'dorei who were already battle-hardened.

"How did it go?" Cairne asked me, handing me a bowl of food.

"Oh, it went great. They had reinforcements, so we ended up killing over one hundred of them, just like that." My voice sounded flat to my ears. "I think around twenty or thirty others ran off."

"Will you be okay to help us retake Undercity?"

I nodded, "Of course." I desperately needed sleep, but I realized that there was no time for that.

"Good. Your family sends their regards. Your brother's mending fast."

I looked at him, "My brother?" I asked, my eyes wide. "Something happened to Hamu?"

"Ah, damn," said Rotvine. "Sylvanas wanted to tell you herself, but under the circumstances…"

I glanced at Sylvanas, who was close-by, talking to Thrall. "Tell me."

"He lost an arm to the Scourge."

"He what?" my scream was so shrill that several carrion birds took flight in alarm, "He lost an arm and you were hiding that from me? When did that happen?"

"While we were in Sholazar Basin at the Avalanche site. But he's okay."

"How can he be okay?" I cried. I couldn't imagine Hamu with only one arm.

"He's beginning to learn how to use a spear," said Cairne, putting a hand on my shoulder. "According to your father, he's determined to master it."

I processed all of this, running a hand over my eyes. My vision swam before me, and suddenly, I was in Cairne's arms having nearly fainted.

"When's the last time you slept?" he asked me quietly.

I shook my head, "Dunno, sometime before the Wrathgate battle."

"You need to sleep."

"Just one hour will do, Chieftain, I promise I'm all right."

And so they let me rest. I knew Sylvanas was chomping at the bit, wanting to battle straight away, but Thrall forced her to wait for those of us who were living to regain our strength. I couldn't really sleep, but I did cry. I cried for my brother and for Sylvanas, and for a future that I knew was uncertain.

A/N (2) - I know that the zeppelin crash is very similar to the Legion cinematic. In my defense, I had that scene in mind months before the trailer came out. It was always how Faith and the others were going to be welcomed back from Northrend!