Moonlight's Embrace (A Skyrim Fanfic) (ORIGINAL)

Moonlight's Demise

WBE: 390
WAE: 713

Nocturnal made no noise, simply crumbled into black dust. It was whisked away into the Ebonmere, leaving no trace of the once-honored Shadow Mistress. However, it was still hardly the time for celebration. Karliah put the sword back on the ground and stepped closer to me, commiserating with me.

"Please..." I didn't finish my sentence. Karliah let out a sigh, knowing what I was going to say anyways.

"If there was anything I could do, I would have already done it."

"I needed him," I croaked, the sobs choking me. "And I don't think I even knew it..." A gleam of silver caught my eye, and I reached out to grasp it. It was a chain, on the end which was a small amulet. My heart skipped a beat when I recognized the pendant.

It was the dragon, our dragon. "By the gods..." I started to sob once more, clutching it tightly between my fingers. Blood had become stuck between the tiny scales, his blood. It mingled with that already on my murderous hands.

Not even my tears could blur out the next sight, however.

The Ebonmere portal glowed brighter than a thousand suns, and I had to shield my stinging eyes to stop myself from going blind. After a moment, the light disappeared, and the liquid within the circle formed the likeness of a full moon. Hundreds of crows burst from within, screeching desperately as they flew around the small area. They swooped in and out, eventually surrounding Karliah. 

She let out a cry of fear, and her form was entirely blocked off by the black birds. I could only stare, unsure of what was happening. Almost a full minute passed before they disappeared in a black fog-- save two. One had alighted itself on her shoulder, the other on her forearm.

"What is this?" The fog curled around her. When it too faded away, the odd dress Nocturnal donned hung loosely on her body.

My brain wasn't quite in the best performing state, but it wouldn't have taken a genius to figure it out. "You're... you're Nocturnal," I gasped, my breath catching after all of my sobbing. Karliah glanced at her body and swirled her hand. Stars and shadows danced on her fingertips, and her eyes widened in shock.

"Russet..."

"When-- when you killed Nocturnal, you..."

"For on Earth she shall erase, russet blood to spill and replace..." she quoted. I didn't know exactly what she was talking about, but there was a spark in her eyes that I hadn't seen in years. With a wave of her hand, the blue outline of Gallus appeared once more. Instead of the hurt I'd seen when I faced the former Nocturnal, he was full of joy. "My love..."

"Karliah... I mean, Noctur-"

"I am still Karliah," she reassured him, tracing his ghostly cheek with her fingers. "I always will be." The new Daedric Princess glanced at me. I hadn't moved at all and was still huddled over Brynjolf's dead body. My breath caught in my throat as the words dead body ran through my mind. His blood was already darkening, hardening in the icy air within the Sepulcher. "But I recall making a promise. If I'm... as he was a Nightingale, I have sole rights to his life, then." I stared at her uncomprehendingly, my thoughts still fogged with the despair of my loss. "Russet, I will give you the chance you never had." Her fingers trailed blue wisps into the air, forming strange runes that I barely recognized as Dunmer writing. The clouds swirled around and entered Brynjolf's chest.

I understood what she was doing, and adrenaline began to pump through my veins. My nails dug into the ground as I waited anxiously, holding my breath so as not to miss anything. When he still didn't move, the despair returned in full force. "What you've given me isn't Brynjolf," I whimpered. "You gave me something I shouldn't have gotten. Hope." I pounded my fist onto the stone floor. "Useless hope that destroyed me the second it was given." I slumped down on his body, whispering the three words I'd saved in my heart that 'til now had been left unspoken.

"I love you."

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump.