Author's Note: First, I obviously don't own Oblivion; that, and all things Elder Scrolls goes to Bethesda. Second, this is just a little story I got in my head while playing Oblivion. Follows the main quest, like a lot of these tales seem to. Title subject to change. Read. Review. Enjoy.

Fate

Awakening

Images flickered to the rhythm of the candlelight, bringing memories of the past to the surface…

…A copper-curled girl, 9, with brilliant blue eyes, reading a thick book aloud to parents and friends, beaming proudly as her audience remarked how wonderful she sounded…

…The same girl, a little older, standing over her mother's deathbed, tears pouring down her face as the woman closes her eyes one last time, and her father howls in grief…

…Lost in his cups, the father waves off the girl as she tries singing a song to comfort him, and she curls up in a corner to cry as well as he walks out the door to pray some more, store and child forgotten…

…She screams and struggles against the Redguard soldier as he grimly holds her back from the blazes coming from her home, while others try desperately to put out the flames consuming her father, and the soldier holds her to him and tries to comfort the newly made orphan…

…A chapel Primate speaks for the dead while she stands and watches, numb to the world, and when the words turn to the compassion of the Nine, bitterness and anger steal across her features…

…Traveling merchants taking her along, to share her voice in taverns for coin, to trade with them, a new home, for now, unwanted by old friends and bad memories…

I struggled to rise, to rouse from the wine-induced slumber, not wanting the dream to continue, but unable to fully awaken now that the nightmare is taking hold…

…County Leyawin, far from the salty air of Anvil, singing in the taverns there, reciting bard tales, an adolescent now, accepting her fate as bard and merchant…

…Bandits attack and her traveling party flees, leaving her victim to their cruelty, and later, bruised and hurting and ashamed, crawling away from their drunken stupor…

…Bravil now, a cesspit, in a stupor herself now, one of wine and skooma, enjoying the high and the numbness…

…Traveling further, kicked out of town, in the stone city and wine and cheese country of Skingrad, she remembers it only by the jail she finds herself in, and the Pale Lady who visits her while she fights her lack of drug and alcohol, the fear, the pain, and begging the guards to let her out…

…Sober now, turning to the capital, the Imperial City, stealing and pick pocketing and learning to con people out of money to survive…

I finally rose and held my aching head, staring at the drip drip driping of the rainwater from the storm that had passed through, leaving a puddle near the window. The moon shines through it and I grimaced at the pain the light brings. I sit up fully, standing, and looks at the bars, and the irons on my wrists. Prison. The last time I'd been in a prison, the Pale Lady had… But no, this was a different place. I am in the Imperial City, and thus, it's prison. What had caught me this time? I frowned, trying to recall what had led me here.

I'd been in the King and Queen Tavern, that was it. I'd learned that if I flirted and pretended to drink, men wouldn't notice my hand stealing into their pockets for gold. My last target had been very rich, and while I normally drank just enough to get a buzz and appear drunk, I rarely allowed myself to be that way. Not anymore. But he'd ordered a vintage bottle, and it had been so very good…

I'd been sliding my hand into his pocket, and he thought I was reaching for something else, when a guard Captain, of all things, had entered the damn place. I'd been caught, and I remembered being dragged here. Yes, that's right, and I'd hit my head when they shoved me in here. I must have gotten knocked out in the process, and the wine hadn't helped.

Well, damn. I walked to the bars, eying the Dunmer across from me as he moved closer to investigate. I reached into my hair as he spoke, taunting me.

"Oh, look, an Imperial in the Imperial Prison." I rolled my eyes at his sarcasm. "I guess they don't play favorites, huh? Your own kinsmen think you're a piece of human trash. How sad," he said. I gritted my teeth and blocked out the flashing memory of the bandits. I looked up a smiled.

"I'm sure your own kinsmen don't think too well of you, either; the smell coming from your cell would offend them," I replied with a smile as I pulled out the lock pick I always stashed, hidden in the bun twist I kept my hair in. He scowled, but wasn't done with his taunt.

"I bet the guards give you 'special' treatment before the end. Oh, that's right. You're going to die in here, Imperial. You're going to die!" he mocked, cackling. "Imperial scum like you give the empire a bad name, you see. You're an embarrassment, best if you just… disappeared." I shook my head; I had every intention of disappearing, once I got this lock opened.

"At least death would get me away from your voice, darling. And that god awful smell. You sure you aren't rotting away to nothing in there? Sure smells like it." He fumed as I tried working the lock, then cursed under my breath when I realized it was a more complex lock than normal, and would need a specific key…" I paused as a sound reached both our ears, and he grinned again, thinking he had the upper hand.

"Hey, you hear that? The guards are coming… for you! He he he he he!" he cackled insanely. I stepped back from the bars, listening intently and hiding the pick back in my hair. I heard a sharp woman's voice speak.

"Baurus, lock that door behind you!"

"Yessir."

"My sons… they're dead, aren't they?" an old man's voice asked as footsteps approached.

"We don't know that, Sire. The messenger only said they were attacked," the woman responded. I frowned. A noble by the sounds of it, and possible murder. I wasn't sure what was going on, but it couldn't be good. I took another step back, stand in center of the cell, holding myself erect and calm. Panic and seeming dangerous wasn't wise.

"No, they're dead. I know it," the old man said.

"My job right now is to get you to safety," the woman said as a group of four stopped in front of my cell. The woman, and two of the men with the group, were dressed in armor, more ornate and heavy than any I was familiar with. The fourth person was dressed in royal clothing, fur around the neck, red and purple vivid against his pale face and white hair. A massive red jewel hung from his neck, and I struggled not to gape. I was sure I knew who this was, but what was he, of all people, doing at my cell? "What's this prisoner doing here?" the woman, who seemed to be in charge, demanded. "This cell is supposed to be off-limits."

"Usual mix-up with the Watch. I…" one of the guards said, a different voice from the one who'd answered her earlier.

"Never mind. Get that gate open," she ordered and the guard worked the keys into the lock. "Stand back, prisoner. We won't hesitate to kill you if you get in our way," she informed me. I bit back a retort, an urge to tell her that she needn't be so rude with the request; I wasn't stupid enough to try anything. I stepped back to the wall.

"You! Prisoner! Stand aside. Over by the window. Stay out of the way and you won't get hurt," the gruff guard told me. I gritted my teeth, narrowing my eyes on him. I was already back, he needn't order me so.

"No sign of pursuit, sir," the first guard's voice said, a younger Redguard than the other male guard. His voice held the sound of one used to mirth and humor, but made grave by a situation turned bad.

"Good, let's go, we're not out of this yet," the woman responded. They were all inside now, with that young guard at the door.

"Stay put prisoner," the gruff man told me and I bristled. As if I'd moved!

"I am staying put, sir," I responded, catching the attention of the noble. He turned to me.

"You… I've seen you… Let me see your face…" he exclaimed. I blinked in surprised and turned towards him. How could such a famous and royal man know me? "You are the ones from my dreams… Then the stars were right, and this is the day. Gods give me strength…" he breathed. I frowned, not understanding. Dreams? His eyes were startlingly familiar, but how had I entered his dreams? I was a nobody, meaningless, worthless.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Assassins attacked my sons, and I'm next." I gasped at the severity of what he'd just said. "My Blades are leading me out of the city along a secret escape route." I turned my gaze to scan the three guards; it made sense, the ornate armor, the gruffness, the urgency. "By chance, the entrance to that escape route leads through your cell," he told me. I started to ask what he meant, when the woman pressed a brick on the wall, and the entire structure over what had been the bedroll suddenly moved, revealing a pathway. I gaped, then turned to him.

"Who are you?" I asked. I thought I already knew the answer, but I had to be sure, had to hear it explicitly said before I could get this shock through my hungover and aching head.

"I am your Emperor, Uriel Septim." Good, I was right, and there it was, straightforward and no mistaking. "By the grace of the Gods, I serve Tamriel as her emperor. You are a citizen of Tamriel, and you, too, shall serve her in your own way." I bit my tongue, wanting to tell him that I didn't do anything to serve anyone, most especially the land I lived in. The most I did for it was stealing whatever struck my fancy and making gold for myself. But if he thought I'd do anything for the Empire, then why did he think I was here, in a cell? I asked him. "Perhaps the Gods have placed you here so that we may meet." I inwardly rail at him, as I did any worshippers: the Gods don't do a damn thing for anyone. "As for what you have done… it does not matter. That is not what you will be remembered for." As if someone as insignificant as I would be remembered. No, us mere mortals were candles, extinguished as quickly and easily as we are lit.

I shook my head. "I go my own way," I told him. He nodded sagely.

"So do we all. But what path can be avoided whose end is fixed by the almighty Gods?" he asked. Again, I wanted to scream. My path wasn't determined by the Gods. I went where I wanted, and meant as little as the dirt on the floor beneath our feet.

"Please, Sire… we must keep moving," the woman interrupted. They moved towards the tunnel. "Better not close this one. There's no way to open it from the other side."

"Don't try anything. I'm watching you," the gruff Blade told me as he followed them out. The young one passed me, flashing a wry grin.

"Looks like this is your lucky day. Just stay out of our way," he said. I smiled back, then turned towards the gate. Still locked, but the Dunmer was still watching. I blew him a kiss.

"Bye, love. Guess I won't die in here. But I bet you will," I winked before entering the escape route.