Stepping into the cavernous hall was like stepping into some kind of hellish dimension. Faith was forcibly reminded of Hellfire Peninsula in Outland, with its searing winds and bleak landscapes. This was much the same, with dark walls that made it look like they were all standing on the edge of a cliff, except for a furnace that was almost spitting fire on their left.

Here and there, they saw several archways that were probably other corridors leading who knew where. Just as they walked in, a group of Forsaken and gnomes ran out of one of them, looking so unusual together that Faith was tempted to laugh. She saw Sylvanas, and a wave of relief instantly came over her, so strong that she nearly cried out.

Others came in as well. Jaina's group, which had been joined with Greymane's and Varian's. Pretty soon, Garrosh and his band of orcs were outnumbered twenty to one. Even Thrall was there, looking more powerful than ever.

"Will you all fight us, then?" asked Garrosh, looking supremely unconcerned.

"We have no desire to kill every single one of your fighters," said Thrall.

"Speak for yourself," snarled Jaina. "I don't want to see any of them survive the day."

"Mak'gora."

The word rang through the hall, sending a chill down people's spines.

Faith looked for the person who had spoken, but he was standing right beside her. It was Baine, and he looked both furious and sad.

"That is how we will defeat you, Garrosh, in an honorable way. The honorable way that you denied my father!"

Garrosh began to laugh. "And who will fight me? You?"

Nobody spoke. Faith looked at Sylvanas, shaking her head minutely. Varian suddenly stepped forward, but it was Thrall who spoke.

"I was the one to appoint you warchief of the Horde. That was the gravest mistake I ever made, and the only way I can atone for it is by facing you in single combat."

Garrosh spat on the ground, "If you think that I'm afraid of any of you –."

"You should be," said Thrall, shedding his robes and stepping forward. "You will pay for what you did to Cairne Bloodhoof. You will pay for what you did to Theramore. You will pay for murdering Faith Everstone. And you will pay for all the crimes you committed in Pandaria."

The orcs that made up Garrosh's inner circle moved to be closer to the warchief, but Faith held them back with a spell. "Don't you even think about it," she said. "We will kill you in an instant."

Garrosh moved forward, Gorehowl in his hands.

"That blade had better not be poisoned," said Baine. "If it is, your death will not be swift, but very painful."

Nobody said anything as the two orcs faced each other. Sylvanas moved to stand next to Faith, unconsciously taking her hand. Faith squeezed her fingers.

"You will never beat me," said Garrosh to Thrall. "And you will die today, old shaman." He struck, but Thrall parried the blow with Doomhammer. Lightning crackled around him, but didn't strike.

Garrosh struck again, and again, and again. But Thrall parried each of his moves, not even breaking a sweat. He attacked as well, and Garrosh moved away with snarls and insults. Everyone watching was on edge, sure that something would happen, that Garrosh would cheat somehow.

"Garrosh doesn't have the advantage here," said Lor'themar in a low voice. "He won't stand for that much longer."

That statement proved to be true. Five minutes later, when nothing had happened except for the two orcs getting winded, Garrosh kicked Thrall away, hard, and ran towards a massive chest at one end of the room.

"What's he doing?" cried Sylvanas.

Faith had a horrible sense of foreboding.

Garrosh opened the chest, and something massive came out of it. Made of what appeared to be violet shadows, it suddenly engulfed Garrosh and exploded out towards them.

Acting on instinct, Sylvanas leapt onto Faith, shielding her from whatever it was. Faith screamed out her name as a frigid wind rushed over them like a huge black wave. Several others cried out. Weapons clattered to the ground, and the few people who hadn't braced themselves were flung backwards.

The darkness dissipated. Sylvanas, still lying protectively on top of Faith, raised her head, looking down at her and discovering that her lover had activated an arcane shield at the last possible second, protecting the two of them from the blast.

"Did I distract you again?" Faith asked her quietly.

Sylvanas smiled a little before getting up and helping Faith get to her feet. Together, they took a look at the scene before them. Their eyes widened.

Garrosh and his companions had grown. Violet growths had appeared on their skin, like they had on Malkorok's. They looked darker, more powerful, and definitely more dangerous.

"Y'shaarj," whispered Sylvanas.

Garrosh had somehow fused himself with the Old God, sharing his power with the orcs still loyal to him. He laughed, the sound quite unlike an orc's normal laughter. It sounded sinister, clotted with hatred.

The orcs attacked. There were only two dozen of them altogether, but each one of them was so strong that just one person wasn't able to fight any one of them alone. One of them made directly for Faith and Sylvanas, sending out bolts of freezing shadow. The two of them got out of the way just in time, both of them swinging their blades. Faith cast a spell, engulfing the orc in black fire, but to her horror, he just absorbed it.

"Oh, this is not good," she muttered. "Sylvanas, get to Garrosh. Go! We'll handle the others!"

Sylvanas nodded, joining the other leaders of the Horde and the Alliance as they converged upon the warchief. Faith stayed with the orc she was fighting, and was quickly joined by Rotvine, Haldren, and Velien.

They attacked, but nothing they did made any kind of difference. The orc snarled at them, foam dripping from his fangs. He swung an axe that was thicker than Faith's body at them, nearly catching them all with one swipe.

"Faith, you remember what we did in Icecrown against Arthas?" asked Rotvine as they all jumped backwards.

"Yes!"

"I'll use arcane, you use fire, and Haldren, you infuse Velien's arrows with the Light. We'll see if that works."

"It's worth a shot," cried Velien. "Let's do it!"

They did. Faith and Rotvine began casting their spells, just as Velien shot a light-infused arrow into the orc. The arrow hit the orc's shoulder and shattered on impact, releasing its spell, which, combined with the arcane and fire magics, was enough to kill the creature immediately. He froze in his tracks, looked at them in surprise, and exploded into dozens of shards of light and shadow.

A cry went up from the other people fighting the orcs as they saw what had happened. Less than ten minutes later, only Garrosh remained, breathing heavily as he fought off continued attacks from every leader around him.

"It seems that you are not as powerful as you were hoping you were," said Varian to Garrosh. "Stand down!"

"Never!" cried Garrosh. He raised Gorehowl, meaning to kill whoever was in front of him but everyone assembled around him reacted quickly. Velen cast a spell on Sylvanas' bow and arrows and she prepared to fire. Jaina and Thrall began casting arcane and fire spells, and Tyrande started calling down Elune's light.

They attacked.

The resulting explosion shook the entire chamber. Everyone was blasted backwards, without exception, as the arrows and spells hit the shadows covering Garrosh's body. Faith hit the wall of the chamber with back-breaking force, and might have been seriously hurt had she not had the presence of mind to shield herself.

She got up, badly shaken, but unhurt. Around her, everyone did the same, some helping the ones who had been injured, while others healed themselves with a spell.

Garrosh was down. Still alive, it seemed as though the spells had been enough to break his connection with Y'shaarj, weakening him considerably. Gorehowl lay several feet away from him.

Sylvanas was the first of the leaders on her feet. Before anybody could even understand what was happening, she had launched herself and Garrosh, kicking every part of him that she could reach. She looked absolutely enraged, screaming incoherently as she hit him over and over again.

"By the Light!"

"Sylvanas, stop!"

"YOU HAD HER KILLED, YOU WORTHLESS BASTARD!" she shrieked, making everyone wince, aiming a kick at his face.

Lor'themar and Atalo ran to her, bodily dragging her away from Garrosh. She fought tooth and nail to get away from them, and nearly managed it. Only when Faith came up from behind and put her arms around her did the fight go out of her. She collapsed to the floor, her cries turning into ghastly sobs that filled the chamber for a moment.

"Sylvanas," said Faith in a whisper, holding the queen tightly. Sylvanas turned around in Faith's arms, crying into her neck. Around her, most people looked away, not knowing what to say. A few paces from them, Vereesa's eyes were filled with tears. She took a step forward, as though wanting to go to her sister, then pulled her foot back, unsure. Faith was speaking softly to her, rubbing her back and kissing the shell of her ear. The only words everyone heard were "I love you."

It took some time, but Sylvanas finally got up. She looked fragile, unlike the woman everyone was used to seeing. Beside her, Faith also looked different, stronger, wanting to protect the one she loved from further harm.

Thrall glanced at them before turning his gaze to Garrosh, who was still on the floor. "For everything that you did, Garrosh, I sentence you to death. You will never hurt a living soul again." He raised Doomhammer, but Varian took several quick steps forward and stopped him.

"No. I should kill him for what he did to Theramore and to my son."

"You have no claim to him, Varian," said Thrall.

"Nor do you!"

Faith shook her head, pressing herself against Sylvanas' side, "If we're going to fight over who gets to kill Garrosh, I'll sic you back on him."

Sylvanas gave a watery laugh, her arm tight around Faith's shoulders. She was quickly regaining her composure, her eyes beginning to glow fiercely again.

Thrall and Varian were beginning to have a shouting match when someone walked amongst them, separating them forcefully. It was Taran Zhu, and he was looking at them with distaste.

"All of us in this room have claim to him, for there isn't a race here that he has not harmed. But we will not pass judgment upon him without a trial."

"A trial?" cried Sylvanas, her voice back to normal now. "He gave Faith no trial before sentencing her to death!"

Faith tightened her grip on her, "Baby, please," she said quietly. "Calm yourself."

Looking outraged, Sylvanas rounded on Faith, ready to scream.

"I know, Sylvanas. You need not scream how you feel about it. I know. And it's okay."

Sylvanas' eyes touched Faith's orange ones. Of course Faith knew. She was in the unique position of being fully aware of what Sylvanas was experiencing.

I'm sorry, love. I don't know what's come over me.

Faith smiled gently. You're emotional. So was I when I killed Arthas, remember? This is the first time you can actually give voice to how you feel.

Well, I don't like it. It makes me vulnerable.

"Are they communicating telepathically or something?" asked Malfurion curiously, his eyes on them.

"They do that sometimes," replied Halduron before turning back towards the group in front of Garrosh.

Taran Zhu was speaking again, "Lady Sylvanas may not feel that he deserves a trial, but that is the way of the August Celestials. Garrosh Hellscream will be tried for his crimes in Pandaria. His fate will be decided at the Temple of the White Tiger in a month's time."

Jaina sighed, "Fine," she said. She extended her hand and magical ropes tied themselves tightly around Garrosh's body.

"Thank you," said the pandaren, taking one end of the rope and leading him away from them, looking like the world's ugliest pet.

Everyone watched them leave through a portal that pandaren mages conjured for them.

It was over. They had defeated Garrosh Hellscream. Feeling oddly exhausted, Faith nearly fell to the ground, unable to believe they had survived through such an ordeal.

"There is another matter we need to tend to," said Jaina.

"What matter?" asked Thrall, wary.

"Her crimes against the people of Southshore and Gilneas!" she pointed her staff at Sylvanas.

Faith jumped, stepping in front of Sylvanas without a second thought. "What are you talking about?"

"She destroyed the village of Southshore, and invaded Gilneas without provocation!"

"Garrosh wanted us to invade Gilneas," said Rotvine, coming forward. "There was absolutely no way for any of us to refuse to do that without risking execution for treason."

"And your use of the Plague? Are you denying that she ordered you to deploy it?"

Sylvanas was trying to move Faith out of the way, but Faith wouldn't budge. "We don't deny anything, Jaina. I offer no excuses for Sylvanas' actions." She moved with Sylvanas, still shielding her.

"Jaina, lower your staff," said Varian, exasperated. "Fine, Garrosh ordered you to invade Gilneas. And Southshore?"

"Southshore is in Lordaeron, which belongs to the Forsaken."

"It belongs to humans!"

"The humans of Lordaeron are dead," said Sylvanas, finally able to step around Faith and gripping her hand hard to keep her from moving. "The ones who remain are loyal to me, and the land is theirs, not yours."

"What about Andorhal?" asked Jaina, pointing her staff at Sylvanas again.

"What about it?" snapped Sylvanas.

"You decimated the Alliance forces there using the Val'kyr!"

"The Alliance attacked us first," said Faith quietly.

"Oh ho! Are you saying that you wouldn't have attacked us had the chance not presented itself?"

Sylvanas shrugged, "I guess we'll never know that, will we?"

Jaina rounded on Varian, "Are you telling me that you're not going to punish anybody for what happened in Theramore?" she cried.

"Sylvanas had nothing to do with Theramore!" said Faith, stepping forward again.

Jaina began to cast a spell, and Faith put up both her hands, causing a shimmering shield to wrap itself around Sylvanas. "No! You can't blame Sylvanas for everything that's happened to your people Jaina! We suffered too with what happened in Theramore! I lost my mentor during that attack, and because I helped Vereesa and Shandris escape, not to mention some children, I lost my own life!"

"And the Wrathgate?"

Faith reeled back, as though slapped, "The Wrathgate?" she asked, incredulous. "You're bringing that up now?"

"Honestly, are you planning on blaming everything bad that's happened over the past few years on Sylvanas?" asked Lor'themar, coming forward with a frown on his face. "Be reasonable."

"She shouldn't be allowed to live! She's an abomination!" She cast her spell so quickly that almost nobody saw it, but Faith and Rotvine, moving faster than they normally would have done, countered it. The spell bounced off the shield, which exploded into tiny darts of light.

"Don't you dare," snarled Faith. "You touch her, Jaina… you touch her and I will kill you, do you understand? I will kill you. All these years, and I never once blamed you for what happened to us, but you were partially responsible, weren't you?"

Jaina stared at her. "For what? I didn't do anything."

"Exactly. You never did anything to stop Arthas. The Light began to forsake him after he went to Stratholme, did it not? You had a chance then to do something, to turn him back to the right path, but you never did!"

There was a ringing silence.

Faith stepped closer to Jaina, knocking the staff out of her hands, "You left him. You left him when he probably needed you the most! Instead of staying and doing everything you could to help him, you left, and in so doing, you helped damn my homeland to its fate."

A cold hand slipped itself into Faith's, squeezing once and pulling her away from Jaina. Faith obeyed without question.

Thrall cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable at the turn the conversation had taken. "This is not the place to debate the crimes everyone here has committed."

"But it is," said Varian. "We've stopped one person from running this world into the ground. There is no doubt in my mind that the Forsaken are a dangerous people. They should have never been allowed to live after the Scourge raised them."

"And that is not your place to decide," Thrall told him. "Our warchief will decide that."

"Your warchief," snarled Greymane, "is on his way to the Pandaria prisons."

"He is not our warchief," said Thrall. He looked at each of the Horde leaders assembled, and his eyes fell on Vol'jin. "Give us a moment, Lo'Gosh."

Varian shook his head, "This is ridiculous."

Thrall beckoned the leaders of the Horde closer. Sylvanas brought Faith along, refusing to release her.

"I have my idea as to who the new leader of the Horde should be."

"Who?" asked Gallywix, who had been silent this entire time.

"I should think it was obvious," he said, nodding to Vol'jin.

Vol'jin's skin paled, "No… I cannot be… I be not worthy."

"Of course you're worthy," said Baine.

"It's no contest, Vol'jin," said Faith, forgetting that she wasn't technically supposed to speak. "We'll follow you, gladly." Sylvanas elbowed her, and she looked down apologetically.

"She's right," said the queen after a moment, although her tone suggested she was skeptical.

"You're the best person for the job," said Lor'themar.

Vol'jin looked at them each, "I… I cannot lead da Horde. You know I cannot."

"We know no such thing, old friend," said Thrall. "And we're here to help you if you need it. You won't be alone."

"Well, Thrall?" asked Varian loudly. "Are you ready?"

They all looked at Vol'jin, who took a deep breath and nodded, standing up straight. The others backed away from him, bowing once. "I speak for da Horde now," he told Varian. "And we will handle our own matters with regards to da Forsaken."

The high king of Stormwind looked stunned. Faith could see at least ten different emotions playing on his face. After a few moments, his eyes hardened, "Fine. But if they put one more toe out of line, Stormwind's retribution will be swift." He turned to Jaina, "Get us out of here."

Jaina gave a nod and shot Faith a smug look before beginning to create a portal big enough to allow all of the members of the Alliance to get back to the Gates of Orgrimmar. Vereesa gazed at Sylvanas and Faith before she stepped through it, giving them the briefest of waves.

Baine gave a loud sigh once the Alliance was gone. "An'she save us, that was not an easy thing."

"Do you really blame Jaina for what happened in Quel'Thalas?" Sylvanas asked Faith quietly.

"Yeah, what was that about?" wondered Lor'themar.

Faith shrugged, "I blame a lot of people for what happened in Quel'Thalas. Jaina abandoning Arthas at the gates of Stratholme was a defining moment for him, and if she hadn't done it, maybe we would have had a chance to save our home, we'll never know."

"Okay, but to accuse her like that… you went a little far."

"I'll go as far as I need to go to keep someone from harming you," Faith told Sylvanas.

Sylvanas brushed a lock of white hair from Faith's forehead, "That's my line."

"We're going to have to find a way to get the Plague out of Gilneas," said Thrall. "If only to keep Varian out of our hair."

Sylvanas grit her teeth, but had the good sense not to say anything about it.

"I'll look into that," said Faith. "I helped make the last batch after all."

"Thank you, Faith," said Vol'jin. "I suppose we should be getting out of here as well."

They left shortly thereafter, having mentioned to Vol'jin that there were still people with the devilsaur. He went to investigate with a few pandaren, instructing everyone to take portals to get back to Orgrimmar.

"What do you think they'll do to it?" Faith asked Sylvanas as they waited to step through a portal.

"To it, nothing. But if they take your suggestion, they'll send it home, although I'm not entirely sure how they're going to do that. Just like I'm not fully sure of how you're going to end up cleaning Gilneas."

Faith looked at her, "Are you upset that I volunteered for the job?"

"No, but I think that your talents would be better spent elsewhere."

"If this keeps you off the executioner's block, I can't think of a better use of my time, Sylvanas. Your survival is paramount."

"They won't execute me, is that what you're afraid of?"

"Every day."

They stepped through the portal together, landing just at the gates. Quickly, they walked some distance away for the other people arriving.

"You have nothing to worry about. Jaina just wanted revenge for what happened in Theramore, and I made a convenient target since she couldn't kill Garrosh."

"I don't know about that. I don't like the way Varian was looking at you."

Sylvanas put an arm around her, "Varian won't hurt you. You've helped his son more than once, and I don't think he takes that lightly."

"So you're saying that everything I've done so far has helped you." Faith chuckled, "It's true that I do almost everything with you in mind, but sometimes, I do things because they feel right, whether or not you're in the picture."

"Oh, you hurt me," said Sylvanas, comically placing a hand on her chest and pretending to be mortally wounded. She grew serious again, "You have a big heart. Nobody can say that you don't, even now that you're a Forsaken. You've done a lot of things because you love me, and I'm perfectly conscious of that. But you've also done a lot of things because you care about Azeroth as a whole."

"You always come first."

A smile, "I know." She pulled Faith closer, "I don't show it as often as I should, but you always come first for me too. I love you."

"I love you."

Their lips met in passion, and in that moment, everything seemed to fall into place, a peace they had been craving for so long, just within reach.

Something to hold on to.

The End

Thank Yous

It's hard to believe that more than two years have passed since I started posting about the adventures of Faith and Sylvanas in Azeroth. I never thought that they would take me this far, although I had everything planned when I started writing.

I'm so grateful that you all stuck by me as I wrote the sequel to Fall and Rebirth. I know it hasn't been an easy journey, but I think that you enjoyed it (unless I'm no longer as perceptive as I thought I was!).

Thank you to everyone who's reviewed each chapter I've posted, and who offered me various bits of insight and advice! I've sincerely appreciated everything, even if you started reviewing and then stopped. Thank you.

A special thank you to a new friend venomRED, for the lengthy conversations, and for a companion fic that he's got going on called Heart of Ice. It takes place in this universe, so you definitely should go check it out! Plus, he's a better writer than I am, so that's a big bonus there!

Finally – while I'm obviously going to continue posting here, I wanted to let you know that I'm also on Archive of Our Own – as Lunarelle. I'm posting this series on there with an explicit rating, because the story will be a little… spicier. I'll also be adding some additional short stories for Faith and Sylvanas that you won't see here because of content. As a matter of fact, I've already put one there, should you care to take a look.

Stay tuned for the final part of this trilogy: Evermore! I'll be posting chapter one for that very soon!

Lots of love,
Lunarelle