The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion – Lucien Lachance & Anarine Valarus – "A Single Nightshade"
The contract had been finally fulfilled: Emperor Titus Mede II was dead. But the road towards it had cost me almost my entire family, including my own life. I was grateful that Babette and Nazir were still alive though. They were headed to the Dawnstar Sanctuary, and I was going to meet them there… after I had taken care of Motierre.
Murdering Motierre was the Emperor's last wish, and well? Somehow, I couldn't deny him this. I had decided to give it to him. However, I would have to return to Whiterun… where Riesa was… and she had just found out that I was a Dark Brotherhood assassin; always have been. She must have overheard me in the Bannered Mare. I had brought this upon myself. There was no one else to blame…
However, when Lucien and I arrived at Whiterun, it was already morning. I knew she would be in the Temple of Kynareth. There was no way I was going to run into her. I just wanted to do the deed, and get back to the Dawnstar Sanctuary.
When I entered Motierre's room and shut the door behind me, he was more than elated and pleased to see me. Apparently, my payment of 20 000 gold was in an urn, in the chamber where we first met: in Volunruud.
That was all I needed from him. "Motierre, there is… one more thing…"
"And that is?" Oh, he had no clue.
Smirking, I strongly placed my hand over his mouth and he tried to pry it off him. His screams were almost silent. "Just doing a favor for an honorable man." And I swiped the dagger across his neck.
"Ah! You're back! We heard the news,"
Nazir greeted me as soon as I walked into the hall of the new sanctuary in Dawnstar. "I know. I just got our payment. Lucien is dragging it to us."
"Dragging?" The Redguard tried to look behind me. He could hear a certain Imperial grunting. "It must be quite the reward. How much did you get paid after everything that had transpired?"
"5000 gold," I answered.
He raised an eyebrow. "Come on now, Anarine. You're joking with old Nazir, aren't you?" He laughed.
And I laughed with him. "I'm kidding, Nazir! 20 000 gold. And I think it was worth it."
"It better be, since I am hefting it for you, Ana…" Lucien grumbled, finally reaching to us.
"You're a spirit, Lucien. You're not supposed to feel pain," I pointed out. "Plus you, as the beautiful and generous gentleman that you are, insisted that I let you carry it!"
"Only because I love you very, very much," He arched his back, after plopping the leather sack in front of us. "And you used that look again…"
I laughed nervously, scratching the back of my head.
"Ah, young love…" Nazir chuckled. "Well, I don't know about you, Anarine, but I was thinking of using the gold to fix this place up."
"Agreed. Why don't you and Babette work on something? I think I should tend to the Night Mother,"
He gave me a little bow. "As the Listener commands."
Smiling at him, I made my way to the Night Mother's open coffin, which was placed near the entrance. I didn't know how to react this time, or what to say. But she did.
"You have done well. Very well, Listener. I expected nothing of your talents."
"Save it," I said harshly. "You knew. You knew of Astrid's plans and you didn't tell me. Just like you knew of Mathieu Bellamont… and you didn't tell your Listener."
"Listener, I prepare nothing but the best for you and your family…"
"And this was the best?"
"You are rid of the traitor…"
"Only of Astrid! The rest…"
"Measures were taken, in order for the Dark Brotherhood to live on, Listener. The loss of some members was… unfortunate."
I folded my arms across my chest. "I could leave, you know. Right now."
"But then, where will you go, dearest Listener?"
I swallowed a lump in my throat.
"You're old friend, the priestess, despises you. You cannot return to that old life of yours. Ah, but the Dark Brotherhood? We have always been here for you, child. Forever."
I hung my head at that, pounding at my mind on what to do. So I decided. "I'll stay. But, on one condition: you will not keep any more secrets from me. I don't care your intentions are. I will deal with it when you tell me. I will make it right."
"If this… is what my Listener wants… then she shall have it. Sithis believes we owe you, after everything that has transpired."
"He'd better…" I said. "So… about recruiting some new blood…"
Nazir guided me to my own room within the sanctuary. I thanked him and sent him on his way. The one thing I noticed was there… was Lucilla's urn, sitting upon a small altar. I smiled to myself, but then it quickly disappeared. "She probably hates us right now."
"But she knows very well how much we love her," Lucien walked up from behind me, multiple Nightshades in hand as he decorated her altar with them. "And that we would give anything to make things right, if we could have. I would have gladly given everything up for her. Including the Dark Brotherhood."
That statement caused me to raise my eyebrows.
My silence was the cue for him to turn around and look at me. "I mean it, Ana. Lucilla… she's my daughter. Our daughter. And such a pure soul she was. She deserved better. She never deserved us. But we were fortunate enough to be her parents. And you did a wonderful job raising her." He smiled at me.
I smiled back.
"Ah. I only wish I could have been there to raise her as well,"
I laughed. "You would have probably taught her how to swing a dagger by the age of five!"
"And you would have taught her how to kill a man with a tankard by her teens!" He laughed back.
"Don't be ridiculous!" I said. "… You can kill a man with a wooden plate…"
He crossed his arms across his chest and arched an eyebrow, holding his smile.
I smiled. "But you're right. She deserved better. I try to justify my life, but I can't. We are assassins. We don't care about the outside world. We have a world of our own. Sometimes, I don't like our world. I wanna be in the other one, where it's… pleasant."
"Now, now, my dearest…" He walked up to me and cupped my cheeks. His cold and icy touch was rendered as comforting to me. "This is our world, and we can't leave it. We are… feeling like this because of Lucilla. We wanted to be something else for her. And believe me, my dearest, when I say I would have changed for her. Even break out of this… world of ours…" He caressed my cheeks with his thumbs. "But she's gone,"
I looked into his spectral eyes.
"And all we have left… is this world of ours."
I nodded at that. "But this world was nothing without you. I'm glad you're back."
"I've been here, Ana. I've always been." Then, Lucien pulled out a single Nightshade from his robes and handed it to me.
I couldn't prevent those tears from surfacing; thinking about Lucien's last moment with me, and Lucilla.
"I love you, dearest Anarine," Those words came as a whisper, and I hung into them as if they were never coming back.
But I knew there was more where that came from. Because Lucien was now here, with me. Not physically, but spiritually. And I was never going to let it all go. Never again. As long as I was still breathing, I was not going to let Lucien go. We were bound together. And I was going to wait until the day we would meet in the Void, where nothing could tear us apart. "I love you, Lucien."
And with that smile of his, he gently pressed his lips on mine, and I prayed for that kiss to stay on my lips forever and ever.
"You sleep rather soundly for a murderer... That's good; you'll need a clear conscience for what I'm about to propose."
"Wha-? Who are you? What is this?!" The young Breton backed up, gripping her bedroll in the process.
"You ask so nicely. I am Anarine Lachance, Listener for the Dark Brotherhood. And you? You are a cold-blooded killer, capable of taking life without mercy or remorse. The Night Mother has been watching, child, and she is most pleased…"
A/N: What's the best way to end my first Oblivion story? With Ana pulling a Lucien line xD
Thank you ever so much for sticking with me for these two months, new fans and old!
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