Chapter Text
After having been cooped up in the stifling small corridors of the Vindicaar for what felt like far too long, Illidan had lost count of how many times he had banged his horns or his wings against a doorframe, it was amazing being outside finally able to do something. Pushing further into Nath’raxas Hold was just the perfect cure to prevent going completely stir-crazy.
The large buildings of the Hold were looming all around him the spikes of the towers mixing with the sharp edges of the mountains surrounding the Hold promising dread and despair for all who stepped into this bastion of terror. The dry and abused earth crunching under Illidan’s hooves as he was anticipating the next wave of attack. He did not have to wait for long.
Another demon charged at him lifting its giant blade roaring a battle cry. Illidan smiled lifting a glaive to parry the attack, shoving the demon back before slicing it almost in half with his other glaive green blood spilling all over the ground as the demon sunk to its knees and collapsed. It had been a satisfying kill but there was no time to relish it, as three more demons were already ready to take their fallen ally’s place.
With a single quick movement, Illidan sliced the throat of the closest demon, its blood splattering his hand. The two other demons appeared to be a bit smarter attacking at the same time from two different directions. Illidan charged towards one of the demons slicing up its arm not killing it but incapacitating it long enough for him to dispatch of the other demon stabbing it in its gut with both glaives before finally slicing the head of the first demon.
For a moment there appeared to be a small pause in more demons flooding in to defend the Hold giving Illidan the opportunity to move deeper into it. Here he found himself in what must be the place where the prisoners were being taken, the Legion trying to get their hands on as many of the Krokul hiding on Argus as possible to gain even more fuel for their sinister designs.
Heading directly for the closest door to a prison cell Illidan smashed the door open with probably a little more force than what was necessary. He was met with the frightened eyes of eight Krokul prisoners that was all staring at him in terror most likely fearing that it was just some new demon coming to finally seal their fate and not a rescuer. Illidan was used to this happening by now stepping back and out of the doorway leaving plenty of room for the Krokul to leave without getting too close to him.
“You are free,” Illidan said in as calm a tone as he could muster.
The Krokul looked confused at him, then at each other before slowly getting up from the dirty floor they had been sitting on slowly shuffling out of the prison cell. Illidan didn’t wait for them to get out but was instead headed to the next prison cell. Most of the Krokul he had freed used the opportunity to flee but a few of them followed him picking up weapons from fallen demons and taking part in freeing as many of their brethren as they could. After some time Illidan had gathered a small group that made freeing prisoners a much quicker task.
Another door to a prison cell was splintered as Illidan smashed it expecting to find even more Krokul.
“Illidan?”
Illidan nearly drooped his weapons in sheer shock. He stared in helpless disbelief at whom he found in the cell. He was filthy, his hair a tangled mess and he was dressed in dirty rags but Illidan would always be able to recognize those eyes no matter what. Eyes that were looking at him with hope and joy.
“Kael’thas,” Illidan croaked.
“It is you,” Kael said smiling widely getting up from his corner and before Illidan could completely comprehend what he was seeing he found himself in the embrace of what looked completely like Kael.
“I knew you would come,” Kael said hugging Illidan tightly.
“Of course,” Illidan mumbled awkwardly patting Kael’s messy hair.
How could this be? Prince Kael’thas was dead. He died after betraying his people, after betraying Illidan. After breaking Illidan’s heart.
Was this some exceptional cruel trick by the Legion? But this looked so much like Kael, felt like him, smelled like him and Illidan wanted it to be real so badly. He used all his senses to examine the being holding him and found nothing that indicated that this was not in fact Kael.
“It’s not safe here,” Illidan said assessing that it was safe enough to bring Kael with him still wary of this might be a trick perhaps to get a spy in the midst of the Army of Light.
Kael let go of him looking up at him expectantly.
“Come with me,” Illidan said keeping a close eye on Kael as he led the way.
The group of Krokul had grown to a size that was somewhat efficient enough to hold the demons that had started to arrive through newly opened portals at bay and as if on que reinforcements from the Army of Light appeared. The combined strength of these two groups would make it possible for them to hold their own for some time. They could do without Illidan for a while.
As they walked the somewhat lengthy path to the safe point the Army of Light had made at the outskirts of Nath’raxas Hold Illidan was trying to find some sort of explanation as to how it could be possible for Kael to still be alive. There had been a brief period of time where Kael had gone missing after an expedition to some of the more isolated parts of Netherstorm where he and some of his soldiers had vanished. The only thing that had been left where a few traces of their last camp. There hadn’t even been any signs of a struggle.
Kael had appeared again shortly after and all had seemed to be normal at first though slowly Kael had begun acting strangely. In fact Illidan had not even seen him in person after he had vanished. At first Illidan had not thought any of it as they spend most of their time apart being too occupied with their respective work to have much time to spare. Particularly Illidan was guilty of this prioritizing his work to fight against the Legion above everything else and there was rarely any time for Kael no matter how much he missed him. But as time had passed Kael had started making excuses for not meeting at all even in regards to the defense of Outland always sending a representative and the word amongst his people was that his behavior had turned hazardous to the point where many of them defected.
Could it be that the person responsible for all that chaos was not actually Kael? Illidan had never confronted Kael about any of his irrational behavior. Kael had just refused every meeting and after the attack on Shattrath and the rumors that Kael had joined the Legion Illidan had just assumed the worst. Had just seen it as another loved one who in the end had left him. It was just rubbing salt into the wound that Kael would join the Legion knowing who they were and what they had done, knowing that Illidan’s sole goal was to see its destruction. In the end Illidan had just assumed that the Legion had found some way of manipulating Kael to their side. No one knew the allure of power better than Illidan and Kil’jaeden’s promises could be so tempting.
Illidan gave Kael a sidelong glance. The Verdant Spheres that usually were present most of the time were gone and Kael had clearly lost a lot of weight. His skin was bruised several places and he was very pale.
How Illidan now wished that he had actually tracked Kael down instead. Had been able to look into his eyes to ask what was going on and not just hiding in the Black Temple trying to mend his broken heart with even more work in an attempt to distance himself from any emotions. Maybe, just maybe, the reason Kael had kept away from Illidan, from the Black Temple and all its demon hunters, was because they would be able to see through any demonic illusions and reveal an imposter.
“This way,” Illidan instructed as they finally arrived at the safe point where Illidan guided Kael to the beacon that would send them to the Vindicaar. They were met with the curios gaze of the draenei soldiers stationed at the post, none of them knowing who Kael was and probably wondering where Illidan had found a stray blood elf on this planet.
Soon they found themselves in the relative safety of the Vindicaar, Illidan leading Kael directly to the infirmary. Here there were more curios gazes from those who did not recognize Kael and some completely other looks from those who did. The blood elves aboard the Vindicaar were all looking at him, some with confusion and shock at seeing him here and alive. Others who had moved past the initial shock was staring, their gazes filled with fear, with rage and disgust, with hate.
The leader of the Blood Knights Lady Liadrin stared at Kael as they walked by with complete and utter disbelieve before she glared at Illidan as if he had dragged an Ur’zul into the Vindicaar. Illidan recalled the dramatic tale he had heard about the Blood Knight matriarch tearing up the banner of house Sunstrider as she renounced it. Kael, sensing all the harsh looks, moved closer to Illidan in a vain attempt to hide behind him.
With the steady influx of wounded the infirmary was a chaotic mess, injured soldiers laying on the blankets that was scattered all over the floor in something that slightly resembled rows. Still Illidan managed to find a vacant blanket that was far enough away to give some resemblance of privacy.
“Why are they all staring like that?” Kael asked his voice faint and insecure. “I thought they would be happy to see me but they are all looking like I murdered their entire family.”
“Honestly,” Illidan began before taking a deep breath. Could this really be his Kael? If so this would be difficult to explain and possible very painful to hear. “I never searched for you.”
“W-What?” Kael’s voice was barely audible, hurt and confusion clear on his face.
“I didn’t know that you were missing,” Illidan quickly added though that did nothing to lessen the hurt and only added to the confusion.
“And the reason the blood elves are looking at you like that is because they thought that you betrayed them and were killed after you… joined the Burning Legion.”
“What?!” Kael shouted loud enough to make those of injured soldiers that were closest by to look at them with startled expressions.
“How could you, any of you, possible think that I would do something like that?” Kael said confusion giving way to rage. “After all we have been through together!”
“I…” Illidan managed to say suddenly feeling very small in the face of Kael’s well-founded fury.
“After what we had together,” Kael said quietly as he looked away blinking rapidly several times.
“So how did you get the idea that I joined the Legion?” he said looking at Illidan once more his voice trembling slightly. “Did I just announce it during breakfast one day?”
Before Illidan had any opportunity to answer, he was interrupted by the steady rhythm of hooves moving slowly over the tile floor.
“Illidan,” Velen said in a tone that was calm but still very grievous. “We would like to have a word with you. Now.”
“I’ll be there in a moment,” Illidan said quickly keeping his attention on Kael.
“I’ll only be gone for a short time,” he promised. “You’re in good hands. Lysara is a very skilled healer."
With those words he followed Velen feeling Kael’s gaze bore into the back of his head. Illidan wanted this to be true so badly. That Kael had never betrayed him. That he had been here all along but if it was true that also meant that Illidan had left Kael in the claws of the Legion and he hadn’t even thought about it and that realization made him feel sick and disgusted with himself.
Every important figure on the Vindicaar were gathered at the bridge talking hastily in urgent voices with expressions ranging from confusion and concern to outrage and anger.
“What was that?” Lady Liadrin demanded.
“I believe that is Prince Kael’thas Sunstrider,” Illidan said calmly.
“That is impossible,” Liadrin said. “He is dead. He died after selling his own people to the Legion. This is clearly some ruse.”
“I know how it must look,” Illidan said. “And I have thought about how this might be a trick by the Legion and I can assure that I will take every precaution in getting to the bottom of this but I do think that there is an explanation.”
Illidan explained his thoughts about a possible kidnapping and the person leading the blood elves into a civil war being an imposter.
“If this really is true,” Liadrin began. “Then why would an imposter go to such great lengths to appear at the Sunwell after the defeat at Tempest Keep if The Legion already had access to the Sunwell.”
“They needed something that would divide us,” Aethas said. “And it worked. There were many that despite all that had happened that still wanted to follow Kael’thas and that nearly tore us apart. It was a smart move, it made us weaker.”
“But someone was killed at the Isle of Quel’Danas,” Khadgar said thoughtfully. “That must mean that there should be a body.”
“Yes he was buried on Quel’Danas,” Liadrin said.
“And if this body belonged to an imposter,” Khadgar continued. “Then it would be possible to determine with the proper examination?”
“It will,” Illidan assured. “I will go myself bringing some of my best demon hunters with me to confirm what I discover.”
In honesty, Illidan was just as much bringing his demon hunters because he didn’t trust his own judgement on this but he did trust the judgment of his demon hunters.
“You are not going to let this… person stay here,” Liadrin started. “This whole reasoning sounds absurd. This is more likely a Legion spy and...”
“I take full responsibly for all he does,” Illidan snapped. “He will not be left alone and I will personally keep an eye on him as soon as my business on Quel’Danas is done.”
Liadrin eyed him skeptically and was about to say something though Aethas beat her to it.
“I can conjure a portal to Quel’Danas,” he offered. “If you would be so kind to announce our arrival,” he added addressing Liadrin.
Liadrin nodded stiffly.
The sound of footsteps coming closer halted any further protests or opinions.
“What did you find?” Velen asked Lysara as she came closer.
“He is severely malnourished,” she said. “And have some minor bruises but other than that he appears to be a completely normal blood elf. You can talk to him now if you want.”
“Well then we should try listening to what he has to say,” Khadgar said resulting in the small gathering moving slowly from the bridge to crowd the infirmary gathering in a half circle around Kael who was sitting on a blanket and looking very uncomfortable as the many faces starred down at him. Illidan wondered how many of these faces Kael even knew. Khadgar seemed to notice Kael’s discomfort as well. Thus, he sat down cross-legged in front of him bringing them face to face.
“Prince Kael’thas,” he said calmly. “Never thought I was to meet you again. Certainly not here of all places.”
“I never expected to see you again either, Khadgar,” Kael said.
So there at least was a few faces that were familiar to Kael among these people.
“As you might can guess,” Khadgar continued. “We are very interested in hearing how you came to this place and what has happened to you. Would you mind telling us your story?”
“I was…” Kael began making a small pause to clear his throat before continuing.
“I was leading an expedition to the southern part of Neatherstorm. We had scouted the area and it appeared to be as safe as it could get in that region. We set up camp but in the middle of the night, a force beyond anything we had anticipated ambushed us. We barely even got the opportunity to try to defend ourselves. The demons brought us here.”
He paused, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself as if he was reliving something terrible.
“They… Tortured me… For information. They…” he said his voice breaking and the next sentence was forced out with obvious effort. “They killed my men in front of me.”
He looked down before he spoke again.
“But I couldn’t tell them any of the things they wanted,” he said quietly before looking up at Illidan. "Because I was never informed about those plans they wanted to know about.”
Illidan felt a pang of pain at those words. He had never told Kael about any of his plans hoping that it would keep both safe. At least his plans had been safe he thought bitterly.
“After that,” Kael continued. “They made me sleep. Made me dream. Very vivid dreams about just my ordinary life. I didn’t understand why. After all they had done this seemed like a kind thing to do.”
“Dream observing,” Velen said thoughtfully. “A way to see how someone would behave in certain circumstances. A great tool for someone who would want to infiltrate a place by taking the place of someone else after having learnt their behavior.”
This seemed to be a sufficiently satisfying answer to all that were listening and after a short pause, Kael continued with the last part of his story.
“And finally they just left me in that cell. I don’t know why they didn’t kill me. If they kept me to use later or simple just forgot about me. I didn’t see anyone except the demons that occasionally brought food. Not that those encounters were pleasant but they were short, other than that I was left completely alone.”
Having finished speaking Kael looked from Khadgar to the many faces looking down at him with pleading eyes anxiously begging them to believe him.
“I believe he is telling the truth,” Aethas said.
Kael looked up at the masked mage with a surprised expression.
“Sunreaver? Is that you?”
“Yes,” Aethas said in a genuine welcoming tone. “It’s good to see you again Prince Kael’thas.”
Many things then happened at once, most of them involving going to the Isle of Quel’Danas as quickly as possible. Illidan reached out to some of his most trusted demon hunters asking them to meet him on Quel’Danas and it was not long before a portal was ready to send him and Liadrin who insisted on accompanying him on their journey.
Quel’Danas was a beautiful place despite having been invaded by both the Scourge and the demons of the Legion and Illidan could understand why the blood elves treasured it so.
“Follow me,” Liadrin said guiding the way to the grave.
When they arrived several blood elves were exhuming the corpse having been notified well in advance. Inspecting the digging were two male blood elves one of them Illidan recognizing as Grand Magister Rommath who had been a good friend of and adviser to Kael. The other Illidan assumed by the descriptions he had heard was the Regent Lord. Both of them turned in their direction as they finally arrived at the grave.
“Is it true?” Rommath asked and despite the best efforts, he wasn’t completely able to mask the hopeful tone in his voice. “It wasn’t really him?”
“That is what we are here to try and determine,” Liadrin said. “Now we’ll just wait to hear what the demon hunters have to say.”
It wasn’t long before the demons hunters that Illidan had sent for arrived as well. Vandel, Kor’vas and Kayn all three of them having proved their worth and reliability time and time again.
The atmosphere was tense as the casket was unearthed and with great solemnity it was opened. With much difficulty Illidan kept his face completely impassive as the content of the casket was reveal though his heart was hammering wildly.
“That certainly is impressive,” Kayn commented a hint of admiration in his voice. After all the Legion was exceptionally skilled at deception.
“Can someone explain to those of us who do not have demonic eyesight what it is,” Liadrin said clearly annoyed.
“It’s a demon,” Kor’vas said. “One that was exceptional at imitation. Even after having been dead for so long the body has not reverted back to its original state. And it is an impressive illusion it has created. I’m not sure anyone except demon hunters would be able to detect it maybe except for a very skilled warlock that knew what they should be looking for. To everyone else this still only appears as an ordinary elf.”
Kor’vas explained further how demons were able to create such illusions and imitations but Illidan had stopped listening to caught up in his own thoughts.
It really was Kael he had found on Argus. He really had gotten his Kael back. Kael had never betrayed him. Had never left him but had stayed just as loyal as ever and had patiently waited for Illidan trusting him to rescue him. Illidan felt horrible at the thought that he unknowingly had abandoned Kael. It was not an excuse that he hadn’t known. He should have known! The sense of dread mixed oddly with joy and confusion all of this combined made him feel light-headed and almost dizzy. He might have Kael back, and for that, he was indescribably grateful, but would it ever be the same as before?
When Illidan returned to the Vindicaar there was hectic activity. He could barely even see Kael as he was surrounded by a smaller army of demon hunters, warlocks, mages, priests, druids and even a single shaman. All of them were investigating and inspecting him to determine if there was something hidden behind the surface and all of them came to the same conclusion. That what they had before them was nothing more than an ordinary blood elf.
“Well?” Khadgar asked when all again were gathered at the bridge and Liadrin passed on the information Kor’vas had provided.
“It really must be him no matter how hard it is to comprehend,” she said.
“This leads to the next question,” Khadgar said. “Do we let him stay?”
“Of course!” Turalyon said instantly. “Any victim of the Legion is welcome here.”
“I don’t trust him,” Vereesa said. “It might be the real Kael’thas but that does not mean that he haven’t made a deal with the Legion. For someone who has been on Argus for so long he looks suspiciously well.”
“You call that well?” Illidan asked trying his best to keep the anger out of his voice and not succeeding completely because Kael did not look well at all.
“Compared to how others of the Legion’s prisoners have looked then yes,” Vereesa said crossing her arms.
“I will take the full responsibility for him,” Illidan said once more this time not bothering with trying to keep the anger out of his voice at all.
“We don’t have that much space,” Alleria argued. “He can’t stay in the infirmary. Where is he even going to sleep?”
“He can sleep with me,” Illidan said. With everyone giving him odd and confused looks, he quickly added. “I mean in my room. There is sufficient space on the floor.”
Illidan tried to ignore the feeling of heat rising in his cheeks his façade rapidly crumbling. He would not be able to bear having Kael taken away when he had just found him again.
“He really means a lot to you, doesn’t he?” Khadgar asked his voice warm and sympathetic.
“He does,” Illidan admitted finally giving up on any last attempts to still appear as the stoic lord of the Illidari that cared for nothing but ending the Legion and killing demons.
“Then I vote for that he can stay,” Khadgar said.
“As do I,” Liadrin said. “It was hard for me to believe at first but I think a miracle has cleansed the name of house Sunstrider.”
When the final vote had been cast, Kael had been allowed to stay.