Hello everyone,

I really apologize for my inconsistent postings, in all of my stories. This last year or so has been an emotional roller coaster for me, and this story in particular has both been a comfort to write but also an emotional challenge.

Anyways I appreciate anyone giving my writing any time, and I would be so thankful for any suggestions or constructive criticism.

Thank you, please have a nice day. :)

"Kaheed! You bastard!" I yelled drunkenly at the argonian who had just entered the bar.

"Get your Nordic ass off your high horse; I told you I'd pay your tab next time you visited." Kaheed chuckled as he strode into the Solitude bar. It was late; the atmosphere was loud with laughter and a bard was playing a lute in the background.

I wobbled down from the bar stool I had been slouched on and felt my grin grow as my old friend approached me. His pointed teeth showed as he smiled back, and he engulfed me in a huge bear hug (lizard hug?). His scales were always softer than I expected, and I felt him sigh against me before we broke from the hug.

"You didn't have to give the bartender my name; I told you, you don't owe me anything." I smiled at him, and he slapped my shoulder.

"You saved my scaly hide last month. I couldn't let you return here without a proper welcome."

I shook my head and steadied myself on the counter, already too many drinks into the night.

"We need to catch up, but let me first introduce you to my new partner." I watched his brow rise as I looked over to a corner in the bar. Serana sat at a slightly secluded table, sipping her drink from under her hood. I caught her mouth lift slightly in a smile as the bard begun to sing a catchy tune. I grabbed Kaheed's hand and led him over to her. Serana looked up in surprise, and my two friends shared a look; Kaheed looking excited, Serana looking apprehensive. Her eyes moved to meet mine, and I smiled at her comfortingly.

"Serana, this is my old friend, Kaheed. Kaheed, Serana."

Kaheed offered his hand and Serana hesitantly shook his. "Serana, pleasure to meet you. Any friend of Nadia's is a friend of mine."

Serana nodded. "The pleasure is mine."

"Serana, Kaheed is the friend I told you about that had hired me as a mercenary so many years back. I guarded his ship of misfits as we traveled the seas and got into all kinds of trouble."

Kaheed laughed and Serana smiled slightly.

"I would be dead years ago if it wasn't for Nadia. First time we set sail together, we were boarded by a band of nasty pirates led by the goddamned ugliest argonian I've ever seen, and Nadia here takes on twenty or so…"

I lost track of Kaheed's story as I watched Serana's reactions to his retelling. Her anxiety seemed to melt away as she became more comfortable around my friend, and I felt myself smiling as I watched the tension leave her brow and shoulders and a small smile light her face. I felt a twinge in my chest, however, when I realized how close to her home we were.

Part of me wants to prolong our trip as long as I can… I will miss her.

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So far, all of my assassination attempts have failed.

The first was rash, I admit. It was the day after I was given my newfound 'freedom' of roaming around Harkon's grand room, and my anger was still high from being fed from after so long. I was still bedridden, or well, 'blanket-mound-near-the-fireplace-ridden', from my lack of muscles and having been fed from the night before. Harkon had bent down near the fireplace to stoke the flames, right next to my bed while I was pretending to be asleep, and it had taken all of my strength to impulsively tackle him while he was crouched and busy tending to the fire. It felt like I had jumped into a wall of solid rock when I hit him, and I felt him flinch in surprise as I had grabbed for the stoke he was holding. Through my struggling, I had managed to lightly scrape his forearm with the sharp end of the rod before he had my arms firmly in his grip. He had laughed out loud before pushing me away from him, onto the blankets.

"Look at that, you actually got me," he chuckled as I glared at him. "My dear dragonborn, you're going to have to try much harder than that to kill me."

The second attempt had occurred a couple days later, after my body had replenished the lost blood. For some reason that I tried not to think of too often, Serana had stopped coming every day to feed me, and Frank instead had been given that job along with the ones he already had.

I'm sure we can all guess how thrilled he was for the new task. I try not to think about how much of his spit probably makes its way into my food.

Anyhow, one of the days he had given me a spoon with soup, and the dumbass didn't even notice the spoon wasn't there when he grabbed my empty bowl. Sweet, forgetful Frank.

I didn't bother Harkon for the first few nights. He had warned me with a smirk and a chuckle that I couldn't touch him in his coffin, and for a while I didn't test it. I just waited until he was locked away in his coffin for a good while before I crawled over to my old, open cage in the corner. The piece of shit had a crooked bottom so the floor of the cage wasn't actually perfectly flat; it rose up in one of the back corners just an inch. If you crawled in the cage and slipped your hand through one of the cracks, you could fit a small, thin object, like a spoon, into the little space between the cage bottom and the floor.

It was here that I hid my spoon, and when all was quiet in the night, or, I guess it would be day, I would sneak it out and bring the piece of metal to the fire. Little by little, by holding the spoon over the flames with a ripped corner of one of the blankets, I slowly melt and shaped the metal by pressing and softly scraping it against the stone floor. After a few hours of working on it every night for a few days, I had it looking like the sickest shiv any prison rat could ask for.

I decided to strike when he was at his weakest; right as he woke up. The night I finished sharpening my weapon, I quietly slunk over right next to his coffin. His coffin stood upright, a foot or so from the wall. For the rest of the night, I waited hours crouched behind his coffin, waiting for him to wake. Finally, I heard him shift inside the coffin slightly, and I held my breath as he slowly unlocked and opened the coffin door. Right as he took a step out, I leapt up and aimed my dagger straight into the back of his neck. Within a second, he turned and caught my wrist right as the tip of my shiv barely touched his skin. His eyes blazed a glare at me, and in desperation I made to fall down and make him lose hold of me, and then my legs pushed against the ground with all my might and I pushed my dagger straight into his throat so the tip penetrated his skin by less than a centimeter. He roared then and threw me down on the ground like I was nothing but a rag doll, his hand coming up to hold his wound. I glanced up and wished I could muster more energy to try again, but my glare was only met with his wide smile.

"Brilliant attempt, my dear, I hadn't thought you would try that!" He threw his head back and laughed loudly, and I shied away slightly on the ground, unnerved at his maniac laugh. "And what is this? A melted spoon?"

He threw the shiv to the side and it clattered against the stone before turning back to me with his excited grin.

"I live for your challenges, dragonborn, and I must say this last effort took planning and intelligence. A shame you failed."

I spit at his feet.

"Fuck you! At least now I know you can be hurt!" I grabbed the side of the desk and used it to help myself to my feet, never leaving his bright gaze. I grasped around the desk and my fingers found an inkwell. I hurled it at his amused smile, and he raised an arm to keep most of the flying ink from hitting his face. In an instant he strode up to me and slapped me across the face, with enough force to whip my head around and send me staggering. I covered my cheek with my hand and glared up at him, his smile gone.

"I warned you. Do not touch anything on my desk." He wiped a few splotches of ink from his face, and while he was looking away, I reached behind me and slipped a quill from his desk. I shook my head, looking astonished and keeping my tone calm.

"Your desk? That's what angers you, not the fact that I tried to kill you?"

He sighed deeply as I tried to straighten up, my cheek stinging and my body sore from my efforts. He brought a hand up to stroke his facial hair, a habit he always did when he was thinking, and he shook his head with a small smile.

"I guess, as you would put it, 'a cornered dog will snarl and snap at its captor'." He was close to me, a foot and a half away, from having just hit me. I had studied his clothing for the last few days, analyzing the folds of his shirts underneath a thicker vest, and how there was a slight weakness in a half inch gap between the vest and the rim of his pants. "I'll forgive you this once, since I can't blame you for your-",

Mid sentence, I used the last bit of my strength to speed my hand as I rammed the point of the quill hard into his stomach.

The change in his expression was instantaneous, changing from his controlled smirk to a wide eyed expression of shock. I used his shock to shove the quill farther into his abdomen, causing him to grunt and step back, and I tried my best to run-limp my way over to where my spoon had landed on the ground. I heard his angered yell from behind me, and my heart raced as I scooped the spoon from the ground and turned. His angry eyes blazed at me as he lumbered over to me, one hand holding his bleeding side with the quill still stuck a few inches into his side.

I've seen his angry expression before. This expression held something deeper, his brows upturned slightly in almost betrayal.

I crouched low as he neared me, and I made to swipe at his legs, but he leapt back, causing himself to lose his balance from the pain in his side. I used this opportunity to muster my remaining strength and dash on my hands and knees over to his legs and ram the dagger into the side of one of his thighs.

He roared as I yanked it free from his flesh, causing the wound to squirt blood, and avoided his arms coming to grab me by slipping in between his legs. I reached up behind him and grabbed the back of his belt, and climbed up his back like a crazed monkey. I got my arms around his neck, my legs wrapped around his waist to keep him from throwing me off, and I struggled against his arms to get the dagger into his throat.

His movements got frantic as he tried to get me off of him, but some strength from within me gave me enough power to hold onto him and move the dagger under his chin. I screamed in effort and struggle as I got the tip of the dagger to pierce his flesh, and then the world around me exploded as I was hurled backwards. My head knocked painfully against the wall and I slid down it to the ground into a crumpled form, all of my strength depleted and my entire body in pain. My vision flashed black and I struggled to glance up as papers from the desk flew everywhere and the lights from the fire and the candles flickered.

My eyes widened as the man who had once been standing before me had disappeared, and in his place a giant man-beast with grey skin and giant wings reared and roared an animalistic roar into the room, shaking the walls and causing the stone underneath me to vibrate. His muscles seemed to throb larger every second; his feet stretched into hind claws and the membrane-less wings twitched to life. His roar felt like nails being hammered into my eardrums.

And then, the beast turned its head over its shoulder and locked onto my terrified gaze. Its beady, hateful eyes bore into mine and froze me into place; a hunters' spell on their prey.

I had seen his true form once before; when I had first met him. He had been across the grand dining hall, and I had still felt a chill from the negative energy spilling from his form.

Now I was feet away, and he had turned to this form as a last defense instead of calm intimidation. His arms shook with energy, and his wings twitched as he began to float a few inches from the ground. I felt him watch my every breath, my every twitch, every bead of sweat drip down my back. I couldn't blink. I couldn't even recoil.

The first time I had seen Harkon enter his true form, he was still himself.

Now, I see only hatred and animalistic…hunger…

I swallowed and clutched the dagger still in my hand, a few drops of his blood dripping down my fingers. The beast left my gaze and landed abruptly back on the floor, his body bending down and crouching on the ground. His muscles tensed and I saw him clench his hands, signs of struggle showing along his shaking form. I blinked a few times to try and make the black spots in my vision go away.

Feeling had begun to set back in to my head, and the intense pain made me realize I was bleeding heavily. This realization set in as the beast continued to struggle by himself on the floor, and fear took hold of my spine when his eyes rose to meet mine and look at me in hunger once again. Slowly, he rose from the floor, black eyes never leaving mine, and I pressed my back against the wall as he took a single step towards me. The beast wore nothing but a loincloth, with some type of ritualistic jewelry and ropes adorning his broad neck. His canines stuck out of his mouth, and I watched a black tongue lick them as he took another step towards me.

"I…I don't…think…" I rasped out. I cleared my throat and gripped my dagger, forcing my voice to sound strong and reasonable. "Harkon." His eyes widened in recognition, and I held his gaze in attention. "You don't want to hurt me anymore. I am…" I gritted my teeth. "I am your dragonborn."

That word seemed to click with him, and I watched his brow furrow in thought. A spark of the old Harkon showed in the beast's gaze, but without any warning, the door leading outside the master room burst open.

Both of our eyes flew to the door, and I felt my heart skip a beat when Serana's beautiful eyes met mine. She was wearing her traveling cloak, and her dark hair was still dusted with fresh snow. Her expression was full of worry, full of fear, but it also showed determination.

"Father! Enough!" She yelled at the beast, and he stood with his hands clenched in fists and his muscles taught with pent up energy. Serana moved to stand in between the beast and I, and I tried to sit up with my shaking arms. Harkon moved to the side to look behind her, but she moved to continue blocking his view from me.

"Control yourself!" Serana commanded, and the beast met her eyes in confusion. "Is the great Lord of our family nothing more than an impulsive monster?!"

She strode forward slowly towards him, towards her abusive father. I wanted to get up and get in between them, I wanted to yell at her to stop, but it took all of my strength just to stay conscious.

"Ser...Serana…no…" I murmured, and I reached out helplessly.

We…we have to run…

"Calm yourself." She said quietly, stopping just before the floating beast. I couldn't breathe as I waited for him to hit her. But instead, he just slowly landed on his feet, eyes locked with the determined look of his daughter. They stood there for a moment as he controlled his breathing, and then he crouched to the floor on hands and knees and began to glow. I blinked and in a second the beast had disappeared and in its place was Harkon. He was bleeding heavily from his thigh and his abdomen where I stabbed him, and he raised his eyes to look at me, bypassing his daughter.

His eyes. Glowed dimly for once, their light dimmed to match the disappointed and hurt expression on his face. I had never seen such a vulnerable expression on him before, and he lowered his gaze from mine after my brow furrowed at him and my face showed my confusion.

"Father…you lost control…" Serana broke the silence, and he looked up at her from his crouch on the ground. He cleared his throat.

"Serana. Please awake Feran and tell him I will need his services." Harkon responded in a quiet, almost defeated voice, as he held his wounds and made his way to his feet.

"…He is most likely awake, father. As well as everyone in the castle." Serana then backed away from her father after seeing he was not angry, and she turned her attention to me.

I looked up at her, relieved to see a friendly face once again, since she had been absent from the castle for more than a few weeks. I felt a tear fall down my cheek in relief, that she had not completely abandoned me.

"You…came back…" I murmured, and she rushed over to my side when she realized I was losing blood, too.

"Nadia, your head…" She looked over at her father leaning against his desk, wrapping linen around his thigh. "…What happened?"

I didn't respond, and neither did Harkon. Serana tore a piece of her cloak and wrapped it around my head, her fingers still cold from traveling in the snow. We both looked up as the Lord of the castle limped over towards the door. He glanced over at us before leaving the room, but didn't meet either of our eyes. He left the room without another word and closed the door behind him, leaving me alone with another person for the first time since I was moved to this room from the dungeon.

Serana finished tying the cloth around my head and relaxed against the wall, next to me. She sighed deeply, and she met my eyes.

"I've been away longer than I expected. Forgive me, Nadia."

I blinked and shook my head.

"You escaped this hellhole. Why would you come back?"

Serana looked at me and turned her head to look at me more directly.

"Why do think I would come back? I came back for you, of course."

My heart throbbed a resonating wave through my body. It had been so, so long since anyone had shown compassion towards me. And for the first time in a very long time, I felt tears begin to fall down my face, and before I knew what was happening, I was sobbing on the stone floor, not from the pain in my head or the terror I had just felt, but from the relief that there still existed some good in the world.

Serana moved and pulled me into her arms, and I let her, I let her put her arms around me and I sobbed into her chest, the feeling of releasing this tension letting me relax fully in her arms.

I closed my eyes and just enjoyed this feeling, one of the only real feelings I had truly missed since becoming a prisoner. She rubbed my back slowly, up and down, and I felt her rest her cheek against my head. This position brought back wonderful memories before the imprisonment, except back then, I was usually the one comforting her. It felt surreal to have her support me so, and I couldn't stop the sobbing for a few minutes.

Finally, when I had gotten my breathing under control, I stayed in her embrace and spoke into her chest.

"I've…attempted assassination on your father…multiple times."

I half expected her to pull away then, but instead she brought me even closer.

"Nadia, you've done more than just attempted. No one else has injured my father like that in centuries." She ran her fingers through my hair, now a few inches long and much cleaner since I had been keeping it. "You are the strongest person I have ever seen. And I am so proud of you."

I felt the last bit of tension evaporate from my shoulders, and I tried to keep the tears from falling again.

"I, too, have been planning against my father, Nadia. I found a group of vampire hunters."

I looked up at her then, shock on my face.

"Vampire hunters?! Serana, that was dangerous, I should have gone with-" I stopped then, realizing with a stab of fear that I am nowhere near my previous fighting ability, and with a stab of realization that it wouldn't even matter, because I am still a prisoner.

"I convinced them that there are many different types of vampires. That my father is the type they hate, and that I am the type they shouldn't."

I looked into her eyes as she said this, and I saw something new in them; a new strength that she had gained. A new determination.

She placed her hand on my cheek, her fingers soft against my skin.

"They will attack my home for the rescue of the dragonborn."

I blinked at her, trying to comprehend her words.

A group of strangers, are going to attack the most fortified castle I've seen, and fight century old vampires to save…me?!

"Is…being dragonborn really that important right now?"

"Yes. While you've been my father's prisoner, dragons have begun to ravage the land."

"What?" I exclaimed, not quite believing. Serana looked down and a frown crossed her brow.

"They kill civilians and burn down buildings. The worst part is that we kill them, but…they always resurrect." She looked up and met my widened eyes. "That is why Skyrim needs a dragonborn. The only person who can kill a dragon for good. And your blood; Nadia, there is no doubt."

I looked down from her then, trying to understand exactly what she was saying. I shook my head, the pain beginning to fog my mind, and my mind already in an emotional state. This news was almost too much for me.

"I, I understand, Serana, but I…" I looked down, ashamed. "I am not the warrior I once was."

"You will heal, Nadia. I know you will, because you are strong." Serana held my face in her hands, but I couldn't meet her eyes.

"I'm…so tired of being strong…" I bowed my head, the past struggles and efforts of the last sleepless night overcoming me. I felt her arms looping under mine and lifting me up, and I tried to help support my weight. She led me over to the blanket pile near the fireplace, and helped me lay down. The blankets were so soft and inviting, and the warmth from the fire lulled me. She moved to stand up, but I grasped her hand.

"Please…I…would you please just…" I held her hand and looked away. "Please just stay."

I felt her sit down beside me and she slipped her boots off and set them by the fire to dry. She lay down beside me and I moved close to her, comforted by her familiar scent and feeling relaxed next to her calm presence.

"Thank you…"

She reached over me and grabbed one of the blankets and pulled it over us, covering us from the smell of blood and the view of her father's room. Cocooned in this soft mound, next to a warm person whom I trusted and cared for, I slipped into sleep's embrace in peace, and could for once forget about my worries and allow myself to feel safe.