Had it been any other night he wouldn't have been there. Normally he spends his nights in the Flagon with Thatcher playing cards and drinking the night away. Tonight however, tonight he decided he needed a break from the pungent smell of the Ratway and get some fresh air. He picked up some mead from the inn and walked along the lake admiring the crisp fall air and moonlit lake before him. He plopped himself down not too far from the docks and began to drink and scribble away in his journal like he normally did in his downtime. He heard the distinctive sound of twigs crunching between the light foot of an expert thief who stepped on the wrong spot. It cracked ever so lightly, and then dead silence. He turned his head to the direction he heard it coming from and had his hand on the hilt of one of his daggers. He watched an almost familiar mass of red hair scurry past him and onto the trail to the city. It couldn't be...he had to be sure though. He jumped up and stayed behind, watching carefully. He stepped on a twig and quickly scurried behind a nearby tree, the figure turned into his direction, and the moon hit their face just right that he could make out it was exactly who he thought it was. He quickly ducked behind the tree again and he felt his heart pounding a little harder. He waited until they had vanished into the city gates to retrieve his things and head back to the Flagon.
When he arrived he saw Delvin and Thatcher playing cards laughing like the drunken idiots that they were about something Gallus had said to Karliah earlier that was just so corny. Thatcher noticed his arrival first, "Bryn! Whatsa matter you look like you've seen a ghost!"
"I think I might have" he confessed as he pulled up a chair to their table.
"What are you talking about?" Thatcher asked as he leaned his seat back.
Brynjolf sighed and asked the bartender, Cypress for a mead. To which Cypress asking if Brynjolf has a pair of working legs. Brynjolf reluctantly walked and grabbed his booze before sitting back down "I...I mean I'm pretty sure I saw...her"
Delvin furrowed his brow in confusion "What're you on about?"
Thatcher slammed back down in his chair with his jaw ajar. "You don't mean..."
Brynjolf nodded.
Thatcher slouched back in his chair "I don't believe it, after all this time..."
"Oh c'mon don't leave me outta this!" Delvin whined
Thatcher knew Brynjolf didn't have the guts to say it, if he even realized it himself, so he filled Delvin in "The only girl Brynjolf will ever love"
Brynjolf shot Thatcher a nasty look, Delvin looked at Brynjolf "You? In love? I'll believe that when pig's fly" the Breton laughed.
"I don't love her she's...she's my best friend"
Thatcher gave him a look of offense "What am I? Chopped skeever?"
"Oh give me a break, you're his damn wife" Delvin scoffed, Thatcher smacked his head into the table, to which Delvin pushed him out of his chair.
"Will you cut it out you two? She's in this damn city, I don't think I could face her again..."
"Oh please she's your best friend what are you fussin' about?" Delvin said once he finally got back into his seat.
"He fucked up with her big time" Thatcher remarked, once again knowing Brynjolf wouldn't admit to that.
"What'd you do?" Delvin asked.
"I don't want to talk about it" Brynjolf shot at him "And don't you tell him" he directed at Thatcher.
"Bryn that was 5 years ago at least, you gotta learn to let it go"
"5 years exactly" Brynjolf said as he buried his head in his hands.

"I'm telling him"
"Whatever" Brynjolf mumbled. He thought about it all the time, it was a constant reminder of how big of a screw up he is, and always will be. He didn't want to hear it again. "Just don't go telling people"
"On my honor" Delvin said crossing his heart with his finger, before turning to Thatcher like he was getting gossip from the barkeeper.
Thatcher sighed "Well I'll tell you the whole thing so you understand. And because if Brynjolf tells it he'll muck it all up."
Brynjolf kicked his shin from under the table, "Don't be such a baby, Bryn. Go back to repressing this." Brynjolf shook his head before resuming his head in hands position.
"Okay so this is from first person experience, Brynjolf, myself and this birdie, Malora were friends since we were still whelps living in Honorhall together. We escaped after a few years and started thieving to get by, eventually trying to pickpocket Gallus and failing" Thatcher laughed and shook his head "Well we were lucky Gallus is so nice because instead of getting mad at us rascals he takes us under his wing. He hones our skills to a point for years before we hit 18 and we're in the Guild. This is where it gets tricky." Delvin was watching intently with his head cocked to the side and resting on his hands, completely dazzled by this story. Thatcher had to laugh "Anyway so Brynjolf goes and kisses her one night when he thinks I'm not watching and she ended up letting him bed her. But we all know how Brynjolf is, as soon as he noticed her start to be more affectionate towards him he pushed her away until she ended up in my arms one faithful night. I didn't bed her or nothin' but she kept going on and on about how she loved him and how she thinks he hates her now and whatnot. Brynjolf hears all this and starts bugging out telling her that she's crazy for loving him and that he would never love her back because like I said, we all know how Brynjolf is..." Brynjolf hated this part. "So shes still around after this, she's still drifting further away from him and closer to me since I was Brynjolf 2.0 for her." Thatcher laughed at that part "Well one day me and Malora are getting all cozy and he comes up and starts getting in my face, eventually starts beating on me, probably one of the worst of my life, actually it gave me this scar" he paused and pulled his messy brown hair out of his face, revealing the long scar that went straight down his face from his forehead to his chin tucked away almost by his ear. "Remember that Bryn?"
Brynjolf lifted his head up and shot him a dirty look "Anyway he's wailing on me and she of course tries to interfere, now seeing she grew up around the 2 of us she would get into fights with us too but we'd go easy on her of course cos she's a girl, so she thought she could step in and as soon as she did POW!" Thatcher smacked his fist into his palm "Right in the kisser! She goes flying back and four of her front teeth don't come with her. So of course Brynjolf doesn't realize what he did and keeps wailing on me until she starts beating the PISS outta him givin' him that" Thatcher reached across the table trying to lift Brynjolf's head up so he could show Delvin "Bryn c'mon this is vital to the story"
Brynjolf shook his head and lifted his head to show Delvin the small, but deep scar that ran from his chin almost half way up his jaw bone. Thatcher thinks it's such a cool scar "That scar! Ahh isn't that cool? I ain't never seen no lady, hell no one ever clock someone that hard across the face That damn ring of hers really did ya dirty, Bryn!" Thatcher chuckled a bit before continuing "After that she vanished from Riften promising to never come back" Thatcher looked at Brynjolf with a devious smirk "Until now I guess"
Delvin looked confused "Thatcher it kinda seems like you're to blame here" he remarked.
"No, Delvin it is my fault. I've never forgiven myself for that night. The way she looked at me afterwards...she was so hurt. And I did it to her." Brynjolf said solemnly. "I was so fuckin' stupid!"
"Easy Bryn, you can't keep beating yourself up over this"
"I'm going to bed" Brynjolf stated flatly, disappearing quickly into the cistern.
He fell onto his bed, most of the guild was passed out already or still in the Flagon, he stared up at the ceiling with a million thoughts running through his mind, all containing the same thing; her. He tossed and turned all night trying to calm his anxious nerves. Why was she back in Riften? She swore she wouldn't step foot in this city again as long as he was still here. He was completely disgusted with himself as usual. trying and failing to fall asleep.

When he did finally manage to fall asleep it was only for a few hours, he woke up groggy and miserable. His head was pounding from his drinking last night and probably from not being able to sleep it off.
He splashed his face with some water, tied his messy bed head into a ponytail and changed into actual clothes instead of the armor he never took off yesterday. He decided to pay his respects to his parents who were buried along side each other in the cemetery right above where he laid his head every night for sleep. He was never able to console himself, he was so young when they died. But he remembered so much about them, he remembered hearing his mother died in a bandit raid, and his dad drank himself to death. He remembered going to both of their funerals, somber and alone. He remembered crying every night in that cursed orphanage until one day a young girl crawled into his bed with him and told him stories to get him through the night. He can't think about her right now. Not while she's somewhere nearby, lest he lose him composure.
He always talked to his parents, always told them what was going on in his life, in the world. But now all he could do was cry. He missed them more than anything, and needed their guidance so much throughout life and it was stolen from him. He wasn't a religious man, because how could the gods let so many children become orphans in this unforgiving land?
The sun started to peak over the horizon, so Brynjolf wrapped up his sob session and dragged himself to his market stall. He sat there for a while by himself scribbling away in his journal until the people finally started to populate the streets. He kept peering over at the inn to see if he would see her leave. But he wasn't too sure what he would do if he did see her. He was scared out of his wits and almost closed up shop until she finally did walk out, donning a loose fitting tunic that looked very familiar to him and leather trousers and her trusty boots. Her flowing red hair tied into a loose ponytail that fell to the side. Brynjolf swore he fell in love with her all over again right there. He shook himself out of it and watched her looking at different things in the market, and snagging some things from the distracted shopkeepers. He had to laugh to himself, she hasn't changed a bit.
She made it all the way to the stall next to his when she noticed him. He stared at her staring back at him, both of them completely frozen in...fear? He finally decided to get up and approach her, to which she backed away from him. "Lass, please..." he started
She flashed him smile, showing him the four fake teeth she had in that were so obviously fake. He winced a bit seeing them, knowing he was the reason she needed them in the first place.
"Lass I'll reimburse you...whatever it takes"
"I don't want your money Brynjolf" She spat at him, her words dripping with venom. "I've spent so fucking long being angry with you and the first thing you do is try to offer me money! Some things never change..." she went to walk off and he grabbed her by the shoulder "Give me a chance to apologize, please"
She pulled away from him violently "You lost that chance" and with that she disappeared outside city gates, leaving Brynjolf standing there with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He closed up the shop, he never made any money anyway, and followed her out of the city. When he finally caught up with her she shot around, tears streaming down her flushed face. "Get away from me!" She begged.
He fell back, taking in her expression. He will never forgive himself for hurting her back then, now, and all the years in between.
"Malora..." She sniffled a bit and looked at him, he only used her real name instead of the pet name 'lass', when he was being 100% serious. "Malora I haven't forgiven myself for what I did to you, and I don't think I ever will...I don't expect you to forgive me either but I want you to at least hear me out"
"What could you possibly have to explain to me?" She asked through her sobs.
He fumbled for the right words, he wasn't sure what he wanted to explain either. He just wanted her time, he wanted to try and redeem himself in her eyes. He couldn't bare her lack of presence in his life anymore.
"Malora...Malora I love you. I've always loved you, even when I said I didn't. I just didn't fucking know it until you wised up and left this rat hole of a city" he paused and looked for her reaction, and he got none. She stared at him blank faced, tears still streaming down her face.
"Then why did you tell me you didn't? Did you want to hurt me, to scare me away?"
He stared at her for a moment. "I was scared. I didn't know what I was feeling and it fucking terrified me! I realize now how stupid I was and I have never forgiven myself for it. I hated seeing you with my best friend, I hated that the only reason you did it was because I was too stupid to realize what my feelings were!" He nearly shouted that last part, she continued to stare at him with a blank face. "Can you please say something?" he shouted at her out of frustration.
She stared at him with those deep green eyes that always reminded him of the lushy grass meadows he used to play in as a child, only the warm feeling he normally got when he looked at them was replaced with hurt. Her eyes were pained; glossed over and puffy from her crying. He almost couldn't bare to look into those eyes that used to provide him such comfort.
She was whimpering a bit still, but had stopped and collected herself to utter the last thing she said to him before she disappeared into the Riften wilderness.
"You're a fuckin' liar."