A/N- Hi! The sequel to Legendary is here. This first chapter's song is Dead Flowers by Demon Hunter.
"The door is right over there, Navina. You can choose to get out of here, once your debt is repaid, but why stop there? I believe you would make a wonderful addition to the Dark Brotherhood."
"I- I don't know. I know some magic, but I'm nothing compared to the other guildmates of mine. And I'm not the best at sneaking around and being undetected, like you guys. I don't even know how you found out about that accident." the dark woman replies, glancing back at the body of the person she killed, out of three. "It's not something I would have done, honest!"
"It doesn't matter, Navina. You have an aptitude for it, and I want you in our organization. You'll be family, and you've been rather down on your luck, haven't you? Your guildmates hassling you for the money you owe them."
Her gaze shifted downwards, and she scuffed her feet on the floor. "Well, yeah, but I'd still need to repay them. I still have some morals."
"I'm not implying that you don't. We can give you a way to meet the demand for your skills with your aptitude, and you are easily a person who can make others laugh and like them, then instantly dismiss them as suspects in a murder case. Your magic is strong, powerful, and you may ply a blade, too, if you wish."
"When you put it like that…"
"Here. Have a lacrima." The magically charged ball lands in her hands, just barely catching it before it shatters against the floor. "Contact us when you're ready, good enough to take the next step to join our Family."
"O-okay…" she says, and the figure moves from where she was, leaning against the wall in a shadowy corner, all but the barest trace of an outline visible, to the door, unlocking it for her guest.
"You may go. And- don't tell anyone about this little meeting. I would hate to have a potential Sister killed on account of clumsiness."
The frightened girl walks out of the shack, and once she exits it, the figure locks the door once more, leaving us alone.
"How was that?"
"Silence befits the dead."
She nods once, and turns to the remaining captives, though they cannot see anything and are bound, hand and foot. With a quick knife thrust, the person lies dead, and a silent spell makes the other's brains splatter on the opposite side of the skull through the eardrums, the noise too much to take.
Both of them lie dead before her feet.
My daughter's.
I'm so proud.
My name is Listener, and my daughter, Luna Laila, is my protege.
~This is set 15 ¾ years after the events of Legendary~
Once small and pitiful, the Black Hand, the Dark Brotherhood, has expanded, into every nation on this plane of existence. But the stage is set for my next plan, and I will see to it that it comes to fruition.
I walk out onto my balcony, overlooking the city of old called Cheydinhal, and I smile at the fact that I honor Lucien Lachance's memory by making his former residence my own home here. There are many advantages to this- there are denizens that protect my home, and the trapdoor is unlockable only by key- and I check the Skeleton Key's place in this world quite often.
The old fort has been expanded enough for my liking, and banners hang about the place, displaying the Black Hand symbol. The library has enough knowledge to make a scholar die of excitement- if I ever show this place to someone besides Luna. It is our personal Sanctuary.
Over the past years, I have recruited new members, tutored them, trained my daughter in the ways of murder and lies, loyalty and innocence. Several have proven themselves quite valuable, including Racer, Cobra, and Midnight, all from the Oracion Seis. They've been good to the organization, and have risen up the ranks, though it has slowed down some, as Silencers, Speakers, and Listener are all filled. However, I have been reviewing more plans for expansion, across to Akavir. Even I do not know what lies over there- I have been tied to the Night Mother here, where I can hear her voice.
Luna is quite the prodigy, casting spells by one and complex incantations by two, beating out old Festus Krex. He would have been so… so proud to see her here, even perhaps tutoring the girl to enjoy the glory of the Destruction school, much more than I have time to. I know she would have loved him as a teacher as well, the cranky old uncle to reprimand her then tell her exactly what to do. (1)
Reminiscing, I must stop doing that. The past seems to get in the way more often, now that the Black Hand has, well, a hand in nearly everything on this continent.
I smile, sipping my coffee. I still remember how to grow Moon Sugar like the Khajiits did, or, a close enough approximation.
"Mother, what does this say?" a familiar and comforting voice rings out behind me, high and clear. I turn about, gladly giving up my view of the city in exchange for my daughter.
Her blue-black hair almost reaches her knees, almost as long as mine (2), and her sharp, angular face plays up her pointed ears and tan skin, with her eyebrows slanted and her eyes sharp, although she did not like them. They are, she thinks, the least attractive thing about her.
They're actually quite beautiful. Where there should be white, there is a deep, blood red, and where the iris is is a vivid green, a reminder of her father's magical power. (3)
Her form is tall, and her bangs hurriedly brushed past her ears, showing eagerness in learning through books. She's slim, but built like an horse, powerful when she needs to be, and with an affinity for magic that would impress Festus, as stated before, and even Neloth is somewhat impressed by her, as she comes up with new spells often enough for him to start getting angry about it, calling it 'nothing but dumb luck.'
The way that she takes after me is evident in her magic, and her ears, basically everything about her. I cannot, however, claim her eyes. Most of the time, she uses sensory magic, and, just her regular senses, mainly because she blindfolds herself so that she isn't reminded.
As for me, I changed too. New armor has given me a sleeker, more streamlined approach to killing targets, and especially when intimidating people. Skeletal wings sprout from my back, as I had to feed so that Luna could survive, no longer halting the spread of the dragon demon inside me (4). However, I seem to be able to control it, and every time that it flares out, I send it to my back, providing extra protection and allowing the wings to grow out and up even more. Right now, they reach to my mid thigh, but if I continue feeding enough, they'll be good enough to fly me anywhere I wish without additional magic required to aid staying aloft.
Still have pale golden skin, as I am still a High Elf, every feature the same, except the fangs have grown, too. Like I've said before, it's fun to intimidate people without needing to actually harm them. Much more fun than ever before.
I turn to the book she's holding out to me, her confused by it's contents, and I smile in familiarity. "The book, it's Sithis, is it not? It speaks of how the people of the world are easily fooled by the reality of the situation around us, when it in itself can be bent and made to conform to the will of the spellcaster. Think of it like casting a sensory spell onto someone else, in combination with an illusion spell, making them believe, truly, that they are in Solstheim, or Vvardenfell, or anywhere you wish."
Luna nods, smiling now. "I understand. Is that truly what Sithis is?"
I turn back to the view, and take it in. "Sithis is the Void, He is darkness, He is comfort, He is emptiness, He is… everything, and nothing, at the same time. Some people may believe that He is a skeleton, to represent His relationship to death, but it is just a simple understanding of something so interesting it's almost sacrilegious. Sithis is silence, He is noise, He is all and none."
"Why do we follow him?" she asks, approaching me and leaning on the railing in a secure way, knowing that if she fell, I'd catch her.
"He gives us His power through the Night Mother's voice, and we return it with sending souls to Him. Our fallen brothers and sisters are able to live again, at His side, and are able to be summoned, here, to Mundus, to know what they know, and hear what they sense."
She nods again, and smiles at me, closing her eyes in the process.
"Thank you, mother. When are we going to enact your plan?"
I chuckle at her eagerness. "Soon, my little nightshade. Soon."
~At Fairy Tail~
"Another!" calls out Cana, with Bacchus at her side.
Mirajane calmly pushes her another beer, and slides the next to Cana's lover, giggling at the pair of them, before turning to the other patrons at the bar.
"Master, you should really slow down on those. You're not as young as you were." she says, happy nonetheless. Wendy could cure him, her powers had advanced by a lot since the final battle with Listener.
"Shaddup, you hot blondie. Say, why do they get more booze?" Makarov stated, dizzy even sitting on the barstool and struggling to keep his balance even more. Without another word, he falls off of his chair and passes out, his empty mug just being caught by Lucy.
"Hey, Mira-nee. Can I have a strawberry milkshake?"
"Of course, Lucy. And what will your man meat have?" the Demon woman winks at the Celestial mage, and she blushes a bit, before ordering for him as well.
"The number 6 for him."
Mira chuckles. "Of course. When are you two going to have kids?"
Just then, Laxus sits down beside his girl, putting his arm protectively around her and growls at Mira with her questioning attitude.
"When we want, Mira. Now I believe you have something to do."
Lucy sighs at the retreating back of the barmaid, and Laxus sighs as well, though not of relief. She glances back at where he was for a moment, finding nothing, then scans the rest of the guild to spot a figure, getting smaller now, walking out of the guild hall, on another SS class mission.
"Couldn't talk him out of it, could you?"
"I don't think anyone can these days. He seems determined to do everything dangerous for some reason." Laxus mutters, and Lucy stirs the straw in her milkshake that Mira delivered only a moment ago.
"You can't really blame him. That… woman was… is, still, a big part of his life. Of everyone's life here. I don't think he wants to be reminded of that with all the couples around here, among other things."
"I still can't believe that he was so attached to her…. She wasn't exactly the nicest person." quips Mira, ambling over and joining the conversation, welcoming the chance to discuss their friend's problems.
Lucy continues swirling the straw in her glass, while Laxus manages to fit an enormous amount of food into his stomach, and Mira cleans the glass of a mug.
All is calm, all is quiet as can be in the Fairy Tail guild hall.
A fight breaks out in the corner, escalating quickly as a chair almost hits Lucy, instead getting deflected by Laxus' magic, drawing him into the brawl.
A normal day for all, except for a retreating figure, ten dolls floating above his head, on his way to a mission.
~Back with Listener~
The orders come easily to my mouth now, flowing out of it as wonderfully as blood comes in. The Night Mother's orders, are, above all, key to this operation, and to be followed without delay, but mine, mine are second, and since I am the Night Mother's communicator, they are just as important.
"Noctus, Nightshade, Fukuro, Killian, Cobra, Midnight." I call out over the assembled crowd of murderers in the room, looking up at me. I'm sitting on the edge of a balcony with no railing, one leg hanging off and swinging, the other with my hand resting on it.
"You are the team to take down the guilds in Fiore." I say, the last piece of my plan falling into action.
"Decimus, Ortelloth, Racer and Erigor, you will be with me. Everyone here has a part, see the group leaders, listed first, for the specific assignments. May you walk always in the shadow of Sithis."
The group below me, before breaking up, mumbles "Sithis guide us." and turns into the little groups that are meant to help enact this plan.
"Decimus, you take the lower levels, I want you to release any and all prisoners, cause as much chaos as you can. Ortelloth, distract as many city guards as possible, start fires, burn bridges, do whatever, but don't let them catch you, or even see you." I say, leaning over the plan on the table before me. The rest of my team is beside me, learning their specific jobs.
"Racer and Erigor, if any of the Wizard council should come, or any wizards at all, you will take care of them. Kill them, knock them unconscious, eviscerate them, I don't care, but don't let them warn anyone else."
All of them nod, and no one smiles, knowing my sinister plan is not exactly going to be reversible in the event we fail.
We won't. (5)
It's nightfall, in Fiore. Noctus is stationed outside Fairy Tail, Nightshade staking out Saber Tooth, Fukuro on watch with Raven Tail, Cobra looking after Lamia Scale, Midnight with a powerful dark guild that has something to do with revenge, and Rustyrose nearby to help me here- after taking down Blue Pegasus, of course- I want to do some designer work later, on my new palace.
I lick my lips, thinking about biting into the neck of the Princess Hisui, and taking her blood, just enough for her father to feel threatened.
It brings such a smile to my face. A demented, twisted smile, but a smile, nonetheless.
Speaking telepathically, I call out to my team to start.
"It's time for the light to become dark."
The palace is swarming with guards, but with two summons of Storm Thralls, they're gone, most dead. I kneel by one surviving guard, only superficially wounded, and pull out a needle, testing the point and jamming it into his forearm, injecting some of it's content into him. His eyes turn red, then black for a moment, then fade normally, making him pass out.
I smile- the tests were most certainly a success.
Magical armor glinting on my skin, I pull out my best weapons, Spellbreaker and a Daedric enchanted sword, wading into the combat while the battle's sounds roar around my eardrums. Once more, I smile.
The smell of blood and the screams all reach me through my helmet, and I laugh hysterically as the guards' fear and terror is evident on their faces. So easy to terrify, to make them afraid. I'll send their souls to Sithis.
The first level is easy, letting me work back into my warrior's grove, baring my fangs and gritting my teeth when the soldiers land a good blow on my person, before knocking them back with either a shield bash or a single word. It sounds like a storm in here, courtesy of my atronachs and the calamity that I'm making without worry.
Everyone here is trapped, exits sealed, and with nowhere to go.
Coming together perfectly.
The elite ones now, from the King's personal honor guard, are coming at me now, and it slows me down a bit. Not much, in the grand scheme of things, but it doesn't matter.
Most people, right now, should be blissfully unaware that their ruler is about to become a puppet of mine, someone easily controlled and held under threat. He'll do anything to protect his daughter- and once I have control over his daughter, that threat is complete.
"FUS RO DAH!" I Shout, sending the guards back and knocking most unconscious, or at least, dazed. I sidle up to them, taking out more needles filled with the liquid that allows me to control them remotely and eagerly, injecting them one by one and opening their eyelids to make sure that it's taking hold. The elites here are now mine, or close enough.
One more doorway, and I'm in the King's private chambers, gaudy and dripping with wealth from every angle. The two terrified royals stand together, hugging each other close, while cowering behind a wall of guards, with weapons drawn.
I smirk, and dive into the next battle.
The last soldier is down, and I reanimate two of the more unfortunate ones that foolishly attacked me first, instructing them to knock the royals out. I would like to do this interrogation of sorts here, of course, but I wish to get these elites together while I can, giving them the Dark Light injection. With that taken care of, I throw off the bodies of the reanimated elites before they have a chance to disintegrate on the floor. It's hard to clean up.
"Now, then. Time for business." I smile nastily to myself, pulling out the syringe and flicking the tip to make sure that it was adequate. The steel glints in the light, making my plan seem more sinister than it is- and it's already fairly sinister. (6)
The princess, Hisui, is first, and I get close to her, stepping over the bodies with a grace and practice that I haven't employed in quite a while. It feels good to reinstate its service once more.
She murmurs a bit in her unconsciousness, and I smile like a girl named Kessie smiles- creepy, with very real, very cruel amusement hidden behind it. It's a lovely smile.
The syringe slides into her body as easily as ever, and I gently raise her eyelid to see the blackness start and recede.
It shouldn't do that so quickly. I frown, and pull out another, sliding it in directly after the other, which had emptied its contents into her bloodstream. Her eyes flow with black, and a little tint remains behind- only enough for one to tell with very good eyesight. Even then, it's slight.
Too much, perhaps? We shall see. It doesn't matter- the king wouldn't dare question me.
As I think this and smirk, Princess Hisui's expression changes, from one of horror, extremely briefly, to one of joy and serenity, complete with a tiny smile.
I go around to the other guards, to make sure the elite guard is officially mine, and only mine, making their bodies and minds mine to command and control without question. This gives me more than enough joy to light up my face.
My business with the guards done, I walk swiftly back over to the king, shaking him roughly, but not touching Hisui.
"Wake up." I snap at him, and finally, his eyes flutter open, then he panics momentarily, his brain grappling with the idea that his elite guard, the ones trusted with protecting him, his daughter, and his kingdom, are down and out, and he's as vulnerable as a kitten.
Sadly, I like kittens.
"You are the king of Fiore." I state, and he nods yes, terrified to not answer a question that wasn't one.
"You are the person that does things haphazardly with the government." he nods again, and I sigh.
"And you are the one who is so easily manipulated into hunting down my Family." he hesitantly nods, with much less enthusiasm.
"Brilliant. I want something from you."
"Why should I give it to you?"
"You want a reason? I assume you love your daughter; most fathers do. With the grace of a panther and the ease of watching a feather flutter in the breeze, I can do the same to your daughter as I did with your guards, but much, much more lethal. Do you honestly want that for her?" I ask, indicating his still-unconscious daughter.
He stammers and stutters, finally shaking his head no. "I'll do whatever you want."
"Wonderful. I want you to be a puppet. I will give you orders through either myself, or another member of my Family, and you will follow them, to the letter. Some may be open to creativity and new ideas. However, if you do something that even slightly displeases me, your daughter's life will be forfeit. Do you understand?" I ask, my expression maniacal under my mask.
"Y-yes. Just- just don't hurt her. Please." he asks of me, and I scoff at him.
"You are now a man without power. Any move you make will be monitored, and every phrase you utter will be searched and sifted through for treasonous thinking, against me, my organization, and what we're doing. Any hint that is evident here or there will be crushed, drained of content, and destroyed. You are nothing if not replaceable. Remember that." I say, and promptly exit the door, striding from the room and waiting as I summon the infected to me, telling them to bring me a comrade, as many as they can find.
I check the supply, strapped to my thigh, and sterilize the needle with a flame spell. The guards with the king and his daughter remain there, as I don't need to or want to tip my hand yet.
This is a fun game to play. I'll be playing for quite a long time, yet.
The men assemble in front of me, and I smile, as each of them has at least two unconscious individuals with him, more than doubling my sleeper force. Most of them have fresh wounds on the head, and I grin, looking them over. The syringes are sterile once more, and I stab them into the new recruits eagerly, ensuring their subordination and their compliance, their obedience and their loyalty. All of them are mine now.
All mine, this is. All.
One more thing I wish to do is to view my new realm, so naturally, I climb to the highest room in the tallest tower to get a picture of this tiny island that was once my place of birth. A high honor for such a small country.
The tower reflects in the moonlight, cold and harsh, yet beautiful and lovingly created and molded by some creature thousands of years ago. I remember when there were two moons, both sacred to the Khajiit. Their time, however, has passed long ago.
I approach the balcony, thinking of one of my daughter's favorite songs, about a spurned princess who controls the moon, and is always in her sister's shadow. She finally overcomes her, and lets her dark night wash over the world she dwells in, and the world is cased in eternal shadow and moonlight.
A fair place and a wonderful dream. I wonder if the Void looks like that.
With no words but a few muttered, in gratitude, to the bright orb lighting up the sky, I leave the tower and move to the throne room, calling in Rustyrose.
"I'd like this place to be appropriately decorated for it's new Shadow Empress. After this, I would like you to visit as many palaces and mansions as you can and update them like this. The Dark Brotherhood is no longer in shadow, and will rule this land, forever."
He smiles at this, and moves off to complete my wishes. After this, he'll be promoted to the Overseer of new relations. I believe his past will be beneficial to his involvement and dealings with our new friends.
I smile sinisterly, and exit the palace of my last base of power, the rest, all on Tamriel, are already within my might.
It's good to be the Empress.
I'm lounging on my new throne, taking in the wonders of my new realm, and I laugh, high and loud and sharp, thinking how easily it worked, my plan, this realm! It's mine. All mine.
The Dark Brotherhood has gained such a foothold, it'd be criminal not to reward each and every one of them.
I clap my hands in delight, and reach into myself, calling up ebony and rubies from my pack, hewn from a spell I created to turn the afflicted one's blood into rubies, thousands of them, cascading out of them when you make a slash. Diamonds, bathed and sanctified in blood from the weak and the pitiful, a tribute to Molag Bal, and sewn together with scales of dragons, sliced so thin you can see through them, to better view the gems. All of these elements combine into a crown, covering my nose and depicting a dragon clearly there, while the rest function as part protection and part show. My ears are on display, holding up piercings of jewels and gems with pure silver and gold strung together. The crown is more of a circlet, and I smile when it settles on me, glad to release the heat spell that I had to maintain to keep in until I wished it like it is now. The metal cools suddenly when put in contact with my skin, and I realize that I haven't eaten in days in preparation for this.
I know the perfect target.
My fangs flash out, pearly white, and I feel as though my skin is translucent, creeping up to the now sleeping king, the moonlight radiating into the grand room and making me reflect myself across the chamber. I dip slowly to his side, and move his hair out of the way, before taking a delicate bite of the royal and sucking it out. It feels like the blood are modified, like diamond blood, and it bites back at me, burning my throat, stinging my eyes like always.
I finish my drink, almost coughing and sputtering like an idiot, but I do not, for fear of waking the sleeper.
My hands, in front of my face, flush with color, back from their translucent state a few seconds ago, this time, now with his blood in me. I tremble a bit, startle at my own weakness, and exit the room, walking through the halls as if I own the place, although this is a facade, something so cheap and fake that I expect the first person I see to yell at me, scaring me out of my palace now.
I haven't been able to enjoy blood, my only sustenance, since…. since almost sixteen years ago.
My eyes close as my fists clench and I hope to Sithis no one is around to watch the newest leader of the country, albeit from the shadows, cry and empty her soul of her feelings, so that she may start afresh on the morrow.
No one does. It makes me cry more.
(1)- Perhaps I can convince Sithis to grant him the power of becoming a specter, like Lucien and Cicero.
(2)- Mine is to my feet, and a little more. I never cut it as a child- there were no scissors in High Hrothgar, for good reason. Someone might lose control of their Voice and accidentally send it flying across the room, hurting, or even killing, another Greybeard. So, no sharp objects. Ever.
(3)- Her eyes are practically the only way she looks like her father, besides her hair, and she hates them for it, wanting to be like me instead. A cold blooded murderer, and that's the way she likes. I have no qualms against it.
(4)- It resurged as... the events of a decade and a half ago occurred. My thinking that it was gone was... false.
(5)- Red swathes over my vision, and I see the bodies of my comrades, broken and bloody, most dead, lifeless with their armor torn, ripped, legions of guards dead around them, but it's apparent that they were overwhelmed. Magic can only do so much. I shake it off before it affects my judgement.
(6)- No telling now, not now. It's no fun with spoilers. You'll have to wait and see.