A/N: This story is a special gift for my friend Nicole, who wants to see this story written as much as I do.

This will be mostly Farkas-centric. For now it will be focusing on Farkas and Vilkas' childhood but it will eventually have a Male!Dragonborn/Farkas romance.

In The Dark

His arm hurt from where his mother's hand held him like a vice.

Farkas threw a wild eyed look at his twin, who was being dragged by their frantic mother as well, and received an identical look in return.

What was happening? Why was their mother afraid? Or had they done something wrong?

Their mother led them to the fireplace. She let go of their arms and, with visibly shaking hands, yanked the rug off the floor to reveal a hidden trap door.

Farkas threw another look at his brother. Had that always been there?

Vilkas shrugged, looking just as bewildered as his twin.

Their mother grabbed hold of a loop of rope and heaved the trap door open, then turned to look at her children. For a brief moment, her fear and anxiety were replaced by love and sorrow, she looked like she was about to cry. Seeing their mother close to tears was was the most frightening thing to Farkas. Their mother was a proud woman and a strong shieldmaiden, she never cried. Why was she about to cry now? What was happening?

Her hands smoothed their hair away from their faces and the corners of her lips twitched upwards in an attempt at a reassuring smile but her attempts were foiled by her tears. She kissed their foreheads and pulled their heads to her shoulders roughly and squeezed them in an embrace.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and a chorus of squeels from the horses outside. The sound made their mother hastily pull them away from her.

"You must hide." She whispered urgently, "Go down the steps, quickly. Do not make any sound and do not come out until either someone you know comes for you or everyone leaves. Stay down there and stay absolutely quiet no matter what you hear. Do you understand?"

When they did not respond immediately, she shook their heads slightly from where she still held them, "Do you understand?" she repeated, more urgently this time.

They both nodded, even though Farkas was sure neither of them understood anything that was happening.

Their mother stood and herded them towards the stairs and they ran down into a dark cellar. There was another bang and they turned to look up at their mother. She attempted another smile and she whispered a quick but heartfelt "I love you both so much." before she quickly and quietly pulled the trap door shut and returned the carpet to cover the hidden door again, shutting off most of the light in the process.

Farkas turned to look at his brother, who looked just as confused and frightened as he felt. There was a loud bang that could only have been the front door slamming into the wall and both their heads whipped back to stare at the wooden ceiling.

"Finally found you!" singsonged a man's voice. The voice was not deep but something about it sent shivers up Farkas' spine.

"Why are you doing this? I'm retired now, i have no part in your schemes." came their mother's reply, her voice cold and sharp like a blade, so different from the warm tone she used with them.

Vilkas moved towards the steps but Farkas grabbed his arm, worried about what might happen to his twin if he went too close. Vilkas shook him off and sent him a glare before quietly walking up the steps. Farkas cast a worried glance at the ceiling before tentatively following his brother.

"People don't retire from our line of work, my dear Brynja."

Vilkas leaned on the railing of the steps and peered through one of the gaps between the floorboards. Their were no other gaps big enough to look through, so Farkas settled for listening and anxiously watching his brother's expression.

"There's a first time for everything."

"Not this time, I'm afraid."

Their mother suddenly let out a battle cry and then there was the stomping of running feet heading in the direction of the front door. There was a crackling sound and a flash of light followed by a cry of pain from their mother and a thud that made Farkas jump and a hand fly to cover Vilkas' mouth. Farkas stepped onto the next stair, his small hand finding his brother's other hand and leaned forward to try and peer through the gap as well.

Their mother groaned and the man chuckled, "That was rude, Brynja. Does this mean you won't change your mind?"

"May the Daedra take you!" Their mother choked, her voice filled with pain.

"That was rude too." Light flared through the cracks in the floorboards and then their mother was screaming.

Farkas jolted and was about to shove his twin out of the way to look through the gap but the hand that was on his brother's mouth was suddenly covering Farkas' eyes and Vilkas' voice hissed into his ear, "Don't look, Farkas! Don't look!"

He could feel his twin shaking and Farkas felt the dread he'd been feeling since their mother started dragging them around by the arm settle into his stomach like a heavy stone. Why shouldn't he look? What had the man done to his mother? Was she dying?

His blood chilled as his mother's scream trailed off and the light died out. Everything was silent for a long moment and Farkas stood holding his brothers hand and wished with all his might that the man would go away and his mother would make a sound.

The man tsked, "It's a pity. I actually liked you."

There were footsteps heading out the door and Farkas heard the man's muffled voice shout "We're done here, lads. Take any gold you can find and let's go."

Vilkas wrapped his arms around him and Farkas returned the embrace and they both sank to sit on the step. Farkas could feel his twin's limbs shake, his tears soaked the shoulder of his tunic and he found himself crying into Vilkas' shoulder in return.

Vilkas did not need to say anything for Farkas to know his mother was dead.

There was rummaging in the house above them for the next few minutes. Things fell and crashed to the floor, making the twins jump every time, but they continued to hold each other, trying not to make a sound as they grieved their mother in the dark.