A/N: This one is by special request after Thandrin read my Sjyrim backstory. Before I start, I would like to thank all of you for staying with me and reading my stories. If you haven't already, I have a Mass Effect oneshot, and a Teen Titans story I have in progress, and soon I will begin my pokemon story and eventually a collab I have with a friend in the Soul Eater universe, so look forward to that! Special thanks to Thandrin for actually making my first ever request! I'm open to suggestions and requests guys!
The Journey Back: After Dragonborn
Dragons circled overhead, shouting and roaring at me in Dovah. While they respected my strength and the power of my Thu'um, I knew most of them would still fight me. Paarthurnax would give me advice, though, and Odahviing had sworn his allegiance, but I wouldn't be making much use of his help. I still couldn't believe how my innocent trip to Skyrim to visit my deceased love had turned out.
A dragon stopped my execution at Helgen, I joined the Stormcloak Rebellion, and they welcomed me with open arms in spite of the fact I was Khajiit, the Dark Brotherhood had contacted me again, and been subsequently almost completely wiped out, and it had been learned I was the Listener, After a disastrous stint in the College of Winterhold, some Psijiic Monks had appointed me the Archmage, I was leader of the Thieves Guild, and Harbinger to the Companions, who had given me lycanthropy. On top of all that, I was a Dragon Born, the first in several centuries apparently. And don't even get me started on my trip back into Morrowind territory and my involvement in the Dawnguard. But all in all, Skyrim, and Solstheim, were safer and more stable, and Talos was back in Skyrim, something I cared about deeply, but my latest trip had nearly broken me.
Sovengarde. The afterlife for those who believe. The hall of Shor, where the faithful feast and make merry for eternity. It painfully reminded me why I traveled to Skyrim in the first place; to visit Silvia's grave. I never got the chance. And when I went to Sovegarde to kill Alduin once and for all, She was there, in the Hall, laughing and dancing and eating right beside Ysgramor.
Flashback: a few hours earlier
"Silvia?" I called weakly, lifting one arm out to hold her. She turned to me quickly and her eyes lit up. She was as beautiful in death as she was in life, and it hurt to see her, but also sent a jolt of joy into my heart. My love had made it, and I would join her eventually.
Silvia rushed over to me and hugged me tightly, and I vaguely noticed she was the only Dark elf. Everyone else was a Nord.
"Ausmidious..." she whispered into my chest, holding me close. "It saddens me you are dead, but I am overjoyed that we are reunited." I felt a pang in my chest as Ysgramor barked out a laugh.
"He's not dead, girl. He's here to end Alduin's reign." Silvia snapped back and looked at me.
"You are..."
"Dovahkiin, yes. I found out when I slew a dragon near Whiterun," I explained as tears rolled down my cheeks, soaking through my fur. Silvia gasped and covered her mouth.
"I watched that battle! I knew the Dovahkiin was Khajiit, but I never knew it was you!" I nodded sadly, and was quickly slapped on the back by Ysgramor.
"Cheer up, boy! Being of the Dragon Blood means you are guaranteed a place here in Sovengarde!"
"There is an issue with that... you're companions have gained the power of Lycanthropy, and on top of that, I'm a Nightingale for Nocturnal, and the Listener to boot. My soul seems to be going in three different other directions before I can come home, Lord Ysgramor."
Ysgramor's face grew outraged. "My companions have turned to Hircine?!"
"Not exactly," I interrupted, "A Harbinger a couple hundred years ago was tricked by Glenmoril Witches, and none since have figured out how to cure Lycanthropy, until Kodlak Whitemane, who is lost in the Fog." he calmed and nodded.
"Then soon, we shall lead a crusade on the Hunting Grounds to rescue those who wish to come home to Sovenngarde. And as for you..." he looked at me with a critical eye. Silvia held me tighter. "I believe since you are beholden to so many, you will be able to decide where you go, which oath to uphold."
"I'll keep them all," I said defiantly. Ysgramor looked skeptical. "I'll serve my stint as a Nightingale guard, then I shall hunt with Hircine for a time, then serve in the Void, and when all is done, my final resting place shall be here, in the Hall of Shor." I felt in my bones it would be allowed, for all I had done.
Silvia nuzzled her cheek against my armor, and slid her hands under it to feel my fur.
"I will have to wait longer..." I could hear the sadness in her voice, and it nearly killed me right there. "But I know you will find your way back to me... and Ausmidious? I know it has been five years. You are allowed to move on, it won't kill you."
"Silvia, I know it won't kill me, and I have loved a few, bu t never as I love you. The nearest I can come is Serana, but still she is not you." I hugged her tightly. "The only good news I have is that I found the Morang Tong bastard who killed you..."
"What?"
"I was on Solstheim, and I overheard a few of them trading stories. When one told of how he killed the Telvanni heir right in front of her cat lover, framing him, I knew it was him."
"What did you do?"
"Your uncle is on Solstheim, dear." a small gasp, then she pulled back and looked at me, laughter in her eyes.
"You don't mean..."
"I do, the only member of your family who enjoyed my company and approved of our relationship. He recognized me too."
"Oh Uncle Neloth... is he still sure he's the greatest wizard ever, boasting about his staff enchanter, and so demanding his apprentice nearly quit?"
I laughed and nodded.
Flashback end.
I knew, somehow, that I could keep my promise to return to Sovengarde, and I knew that Silvia was watching over me now. Serana looked at me, her eyes agleam for the details of my visit to the afterlife.
"Where to now?" she asked instead, seeing I didn't want to talk about it.
"There's a grave I need to visit, then I'm leaving Skyrim," I said quietly. Serana's jaw dropped, showing off her vampiric fangs.
"You're LEAVING?!" I nodded and sheathed the bow I had long ago crafted from dragon bones.
"Yes, I'm leaving Skyrim. There are things I need to take care of somewhere else, friends I need to check up on."
"But what about all your responsibilities here? What about...me?"
I moved forward and wrapped her in a protective hug. "You're welcome to come with me, Serana. And as for my responsibilities, I'll just send an illusion to each place and tell them who will succeed me. The only one that will cause trouble is the dark brotherhood, but they'll make do."
Serana sniffled and returned my hug, then nipped my neck with a small fang kiss. "I never thought I would say this, but I love you... I'll go anywhere and do anything for you. You not only freed me from that crypt, you freed me from that prophecy, and my father, asking for nothing in return. You are the best thing that's happened to me in a long time, Ausmidious. But are you sure my being a vampire doesn't make you scared?"
"Serana," I said, holding her at arm's length and giving her a stern glare. "I already know you won't feed from me, as my wolf blood would kill you. I know you won't feed off of someone without making sure they stay human. You being a vampire is part of your being, and if you removed your vampirism, you wouldn't be you. I love you just as you are." she nodded and hugged me again, a contented sigh escaping her lips,
"So where are we going after this grave? And whose grave is it?"
"Daggerfall. We're going to Daggerfall. And the grave is..." I trailed off, trying to stop the tears and the lump in my throat before it got bad. Serana and I seperated and began heading down the mountain. When we reached the base and began heading East, I sighed.
Might as well tell her. You put a carved stone on it anyway. I thought to myself.
"The grave belongs to my first love, and who would have been my wife had she lived..."
"Who was she?" Serana asked delicately.
"She was the heiress to the Telvani house of Morrowind." her eyes widened.
"They're still around?" I nodded and continued.
"Her name was Silvia. She was killed by a Morang Tong to frame me. I was in the Brotherhood at the time, and was the best assassin in Morrowind by all accounts, so the Tong decided to get rid of me."
"That's horrible!"
"It is what it is." we fell silent as we rode Shadowmere double past Riften. The guards saluted me silently and I nodded at them. A few hours passed in silence as Serana digested my words. When we reached the Eastern mountains, I turned Shadowmere north and followed them almost to Kynesgrove, then dismounted.
"We have to go on foot from here. The passes are too narrow for him," I explained as I patted the horse soothingly. He nickered and nosed my back, asking for incentive to not follow me. I pulled out three apples and showed them to him. "If I give you these, will you stay here and wait for us Shadowmere?" he snorted and bobbed his head, then reached out to take one of the apples. I set the other two down within easy reach, then turned and began climbing the mountain, Serana following me quietly.
She finally spoke about an hour from the grave.
"How long ago did you lose her?"
"Five years. One I spent in Blackmarsh, three in Daggerfall, and the last here in Skyrim. I originally came here to visit her, but got side-tracked by everything that happened."
"...you really loved her, didn't you?" she whispered. I faltered slightly and sighed.
"Yes..." I said quietly, my ears falling back against my head. "and I still do. But she's in Sovengarde, and I'm not, so I make do."
"So am I just the fill-in?" I could hear the hurt in Serana's voice, and quickly whipped around.
"No! I didn't mean it like that! Serana, I love you. All I meant was that I do my best to stay happy. You do more to help with that then you know." she looked at me with watery eyes, a question clear on her lips.
"Before I met you... I stayed too busy to care about happiness, or to think about anything in particular past my next mission. When I ran out of things to do... all the crippling sadness came back. I was ready to bleed myself out when Isran contacted me."
Serana's eyes widened considerably and her jaw dropped. "You don't mean..."
I nodded. "I was going to kill myself. But then Isran got word to me that he was reforming the Dawnguard, and needed me. He sent me to Dimhollow, because the vamps were interested in it, and woke you up. The rest you know. You actually cared about me. You did your best to make me happy, and do what was best for me, even at cost to yourself. When we went to the Soul Cairn together, you hated the idea of having to turn me into a vampire, even if it was so I could pass through unharmed. When we faced your father, you openly admitted you trusted me over him. You even went so far as to tell him to fuck himself when he demanded you kill me."
She smiled slightly through her tears, nodding slowly. "You're the first person since I became a vampire to care about me, Ausmidious. You did more to help me than anyone else ever had, asking for nothing. You always asked my opinion, or checked if something was okay with me before you did it. You do it for everyone else too, but it just made me feel special. You can make anyone feel special. Is it really any surprise I fell in love with you? Along with most of Skyrim?" I barked out a laugh at her rhetorical question. I couldn't say anything about the amount of people she said loved me though, considering it was true. I'd had both men and women of every race, married, engaged, single, in a relationship, whatever throw themselves at me, trying to get me to notice them.
Some were drawn to me when I showed a politeness and wit that hadn't been seen in Skyrim since Talos' day. Some were attracted to the fact I was Khajiit, because it made me exotic. Some to the knowledge I had traveled all over Tamriel since I was three. Others to the dark person I became when I was on a mission, wether to slay or seduce. Aela wanted me because I was so drawn into the wolf blood I made her seem tame by comparison, and she envied me. My first change, I had slaughtered fourteen guards, three mercenaries, and a merchant, and when I woke up, I saw Aela looking at me with hunger in her eyes. Then I had noticed I was naked, lying in the snow, with several animal corpses surrounding me.
But through all of it, through all the suitors and the seducers, I had just kept a business mentality. I slept with those my mission required I sleep with, and occasionally a few other people when I had too much stress built up, but I never got attached. Until Serana appeared. It wasn't sudden, like it had been with Silvia. Silvia, I knew, was my soul mate. But as we traveled together, my love for Serana blossomed and grew. But I said nothing and made no advances toward her, deciding she would approach me if she wished. And it ended with a small, gentle kiss over a campfire a week after we slew her father.
I turned and continued climbing, huffing under the weight of my dragon bone armor.
"If it's heavy, take it off," Serana giggled from behind me.
"I've worn this armor through Skuldafin, Sovengarde, and the Soul Cairn. I climbed the Throat of the World in this. A small hike won't kill me," I puffed out.
"Love. Your sweating. You aren't meant to sweat. The exertion, combined with the heat you naturally put off, and the extra heat from being a werewolf, is going to kill you. Just take off the damn armor." we reached a level area, big enough to make a campsite with room to spare. At the far end, a large stone poked out through the snow, facing West.
Here lies Slivia Telvanni.
Heiress to the Telvanni House
and holder of my Heart
The first truly free Dunmer
May you dance with Talos in Sovengarde
I choked back a sob and bowed my head as I read the inscription I had carved all those years ago, and I felt Serana place a hand on my arm, comforting me in the least invasive way possible.
I stood like that for what felt like an hour, trying not to cry. Finally, Serana moved forward and placed a Nightshade on the headstone. A show of respect and honor for the dead.
"It will be night soon. What do we do?" she asked. I moved forward, removing a Nightshade of my own from my bag, and placed it on the stone next to hers. Then I stepped back and cleared some snow.
"We're camping up her tonight."
"But it's freezing, and we have no...fire wood..." Serana trailed off as I pulled wood from my bag and began stacking it to make a fire. "I always forget your bag is enchanted to carry as much as you can fit in it."
"Most people do. That's usually why they're so surprised when I suddenly pull a sword and shield out of it and stab them in the gut," I said, only half joking. I ignited the wood with a small spell, then sat back on my heels. Feeling the heat, I quickly removed my armor and stored in in my bag. I crouched in the snow on a mountain, wearing only a pair of pants.
"I will never understand why you don't wear a shirt and boots when you're out of your armor," Serana said musingly. I sniffed and poked the fire with a small stick.
"I lived the first half of my life a poor street urchin. I could only afford pants. So I grew accustomed to it. Shirts and footwear feel constricting and make me uncomfortable."
She nodded and sat next to me, resting her head on my shoulder. I leaned my head onto hers and sighed.
"The stars are beautiful up here..." she said as she leaned back and looked at the sky. I nodded and laid back, putting my hands behind my head. She lay down next to me, resting her head on my chest amd her hand on my stomach. "Are they this bright everywhere else?"
"No," I said sadly. "Light dilutes them and makes the dimmer ones all but invisible. The sky is only this clear out in the wilderness, and up high on mountains like this one."
"You know so much. How old did you say you were?"
"I've traveled a lot. Lived in cities and out in the wild. And I'm twenty-two in..." I looked to the moon and tracked it's progress, and noted it was almost ten o'clock. "Approximately two hours." Serana snapped up and looked at me.
"Your birthday is tomorrow?" I nodded. "oh... I don't have anything to give you!" she began biting her lip.
"You don't have to get me anything, Serana. Just being here with me is enough. Besides, I'm not used to receiving gifts."
"Why?" she sounded like it was a foreign concept, which considering her upbringing, it probably was.
"I've never gotten any. I never stayed in one place long enough, and I never told anyone my birthday. I only know what it is because the city in Elswyr where I was born kept the official record of my time and date of birth. Birthdays were never a big deal for me."
"Well, maybe I can change that..." she said quietly, an odd lilt to hr voice. I opened my eyes and looked at her, to see her eyes filled with love, and a lustful gleam. That night we slept very little.
The next morning, we set out for Daggerfall, to see how Nikai was doing as street master. Serana smiled the whole way.