Beckyann's gryphon passed over the putrid, diseased forests of the Plaguelands as she headed towards a distant floating spec in the sky in the far distance. She was returning to Acherus after serving a few hours of garrison duty in Hearthglen, eager to have some time off to pursue her own interests and agenda. Below her, the red-hued pine forests and spouting plague mushrooms passed swiftly, dotted here and there by lush green growth where the Argent Crusade had made progress in reclaiming parts of the land. In time, it would all return to the green rolling hills and pine forests of her youth, and the thought made her smile a little.
As she looked down, she spied figures on the ground far below her. There were two of them gathered around a wagon, and as she squinted she could make out that the people appeared to be working on the wagon, pushing at what appeared to be a bogged down wheel. Beckyann tugged on her mount's reins, circling the area for a few minutes and watching them.
"Bah, they'll never get it out like that," she murmured. "And there's beasts in the forest all around. I suppose I should help them. It'll be less undead that we have to end up slaying later when they're killed and rise again."
Mind made up, Beckyann snapped the reins and the gryphon dove towards the ground, hissing at her in anger. She ignored it, guiding it towards an open space near the wagon and having it touch down. Its claws scrambled in the soft soil as it settled itself and she hopped off, her plate armor jingling as she walked towards the group. Immediately she could see that the path the wagon had been traveling on was muddy from a recent rain, and the conveyance had become trapped halfway up one wheel in a sticky soup of diseased earth. Beckyann shrugged, moving towards the wagon and ignoring the people there who had stopped to stare at her.
She walked right up to the wagon's edge, pushing between the two people as she studied the problem, already considering leverages and angles. As she leaned down, the chain coif under the crown of her helmet drifted forward into her field of view. In irritation, she reached up and took the helmet off, placing it on the side of the wagon. She murmured and pointed at the ground, sending icy cold waves of dark magic into the soil. The mud in front of the wagon froze solid, and with a grin Beckyann gripped the wheel, using her supernatural strength to tug at it. Seeing what she was doing, one of the two people, a man looking to be in his mid-twenties, grinned and quickly ran to the front of the wagon, urging the horse to pull. In a moment the wheel had become unstuck and the whole wagon lurched forward.
Beckyann nodded in satisfaction, rising. She reached for her helmet when a voice spoke softly behind her. "B-becky? Is that you? Oh my heavens it IS you!"
Blinking in surprise, Beckyann turned around and began to respond, "Yes my name is Beckya-"
Her words were cut off as she found herself being embraced in a tight hug. A woman who also looked to be in her mid-twenties had her arms wrapped around Beckyann, squeezing her tightly. Her brown hair hid her features for a moment, but she soon released her grip, looking up at Beckyann. Her face was hauntingly familiar, and Beckyann bit her lip, trying to remember.
The woman resolved the issue right away, "Becky, it's Caylee! Don't you remember? From the Crossing? My heavens you look like you haven't aged at all except for...well, you know. They told us you were dead! I'm so happy to see you!"
Beckyann's eyes widened for a moment as the name sank in. Caylee had been one of her friends in Corin's Crossing growing up. She and several of the other girls had been a close-knit circle of friends. Caylee had left the Crossing before Beckyann had, having been engaged to an aspiring blacksmith. They'd gone to Ironforge so her husband-to-be could learn more of the trade under the dwarves there. It had been a few years before the plague had begun, and Caylee clearly had survived and prospered in that time.
"I do remember," Beckyann murmured lightly. "I'm glad to see you weren't in the Crossing when it was overrun. I've searched for some of the others over the years, but I don't know what's become of them or if they were taken by the scourge."
"Oh! Many of them weren't actually!" Caylee said happily. "A lot of them were able to retreat with the other refugees as defenders from Darrowshire and other nearby towns held off the dead as long as they could. A few of them I haven't heard anything about, but I know where like half of our old friends have gone!"
As the woman spoke, a small girl peered around from behind the wagon, curious. After a moment, she rand up, hugging Caylee's leg. The brunette smiled down at the child and looked at Beckyann, a grin on her face "Oh, this is my daughter! Her name is Becky."
Beckyann just stared at her former friend in shock for a moment before looking down to the child. Her mouth opened and closed and finally she managed to croak out a response, "Y-you named your child after m-me..?"
Caylee nodded, "Yep! We thought you were gone and well, you were missed Becky. It was hard to lose a friend like that. We thought to honor your memory. Seeing you now...it's hard to believe that I'm talking to you honestly. We were told you were dead and gone, and figured you'd be with the Scourge."
The little girl smiled up at the death knight, creeping out from behind her mother's leg to wave. Beckyann smiled at her, squatting down and waving back, "Hello there little one. It seems you and I share a name."
The little girl's eyes widened and she giggled, "You're a Becky too! Are you gonna help us get our cart to the Chapel Miss?"
Beckyann looked up and Caylee smiled at her, "Oh we're going to Light's Hope. Greg's going to aid their smiths there in forging more weapons and armor. One day the Crossing's gonna be retaken you know, and we're going to go home finally."
Beckyann nodded, looking back at the girl, "I've got duties to attend to little one, but I'm glad I was able to help with your wagon. I'll keep an eye on you until you get there."
"Oh thank you!" the little Becky said, running up and hugging the death knight. To have a child hugging her, to have the parents standing nearby, completely unconcerned, was such a surreal experience that Beckyann didn't know what to say. When the little girl was done embracing her she rose slowly, her mind whirling.
She turned back to her old friend and nodded, "You said there were others..?"
Caylee smiled and nodded, launching into details about where several of their mutual friends had ended up and what life had brought them. Although the experiences that they'd had were happy and differed greatly from Beckyann's own, the mere act of chatting about casual nothings, as if no time had passed and nothing had changed, gave Beckyann a halcyon moment of serenity. As they talked the young child played around them, unafraid of the death knight, having been told by her mother that the woman was perfectly friendly.
Time passed and the sun began to wane, and Beckyann knew her friend and their family had to move on to reach the safety of the chapel before nightfall. She had her own duties to attend to as well, so with a rather heavy feeling in her heart she urged them to continue their journey. Caylee embraced Beckyann one last time as they loaded back up on their wagon, little Becky waving at her namesake from the side of the driver's seat.
As the small family drove their wagon off, Beckyann stood for a moment, watching them. For a brief second in time, the glow of her eyes faded and her sense of self surged strongly, temporarily overcoming the curse her flesh suffered eternally. For one second, a green-eyed girl from the Crossing waved farewell to her friend one last time before the chilling glow of undeath returned to her eyes and she turned, heading towards her dead mount and back to her dead unlife.
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