God I just couldn't stop with this chapter, i was going to keep going until after the word wall, but it'd end up just ... blarg XD if it didn't already... Anywhoooo I can't decide between two songs that fit Marina better Fields of Innocence by Evanescence or Unbroken by Silentium, I'm such a nerd :3 Well enjoy this weirdly fluffyish strange chapter

CHAPTER 6: UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP

"Excuse me, Kodlak." Marina knocked on his open door, he hurriedly shoved a book into his desk before he slowly stood. He reached his arm out resting it on the oak desk to retain his balance. "I'm sorry to bother you, but it would seem the Jarl needs me to go retrieve something."

The older male gave a slight tilt of his head, obviously thinking deeply on the matter. "Where and what?"

"A stone, in BleakFalls Barrow." He gave a noise in the back of his throat and limped toward the door and Marina. She wanted to lend him a hand, but at the same time didn't want to seem disrespectful. She had done enough when the other new recruits had left, leaving only the Circle and a few others remaining in Jorrvaskr.

"I do not think it would be wise to go it alone." Marina easily agreed with him. She didn't want to go alone. It would be far to dangerous. But the mission had nothing to do with the Companions either, she couldn't expect anyone to be sent with her. "I will speak with the Jarl on this later. He should have come to me for this." He pointed her off to wait on down the hall as he went to fetch any of the Circle members.

She took in a deep breath, turned around and began walking down the hall way. Her fingers traced over the top of a table, and she leaned forward on it staring at the tapestry hanging above it. "You sure about this?" Came a rough sleep deprived voice from behind. She didn't jump or make any indication she had heard Farkas at all.

"Guess I don't have a choice. They did ask for me specifically." With a shrug of her shoulder she turned to face the Companion. Wordlessly Farkas turned toward the door, and Marina trotted off after the Nord. He had hoped to wait awhile longer before taking her for any actual combat, but the decision wasn't his to make by this point. This would either make or break her, and him if he didn't watch what he was doing. He didn't fear her, there was nothing to fear if he controlled the situation from the beginning.

Riverwood, now sat just a speck in the distance below the hill. The Nord hadn't wanted to stay in the inn, but wanted to gain more ground. Marina hadn't wanted to travel any farther in the dark. Both had clashed and butted heads with one another about their traveling conditions. Farkas grumbled to himself that he could handle anything the wild threw at him, but Marina didn't want to risk getting caught off guard. There was no use for stumbling about in the dark.

Both sat on opposite sides of the small fire, backs to one another Marina folded her arms tightly across her chest and hunched forward. Farkas, continued mumbling to himself, as he ran a stone against his sword.

"What about food?" She glared off at the dark tree line.

Huffing Farkas slowed his movements, but speed back up to his original pace. Placing her hand on the ground for balance Marina turned to face him. She opened her mouth to voice her current opinion on him, but stopped short when he all of a sudden went still. His back went rigged and head went up alert, reminding her of a frantic rabbit hearing something behind it.

"What is it?"

"Hush..." She blanched at his abruptness, and went to talk back to him. He stood dropping the stone to the ground and held his sword tightly. "Stay."

Was his only command and he vanished into the darkness. Marina tapped her fingers on the ground crinkling her nose. "Yes master..." The mountain side had become oddly silent. "...Farkas?" She stood and was immediately grabbed from behind. A hand covering her mouth and dagger pressed to her side.

"Didn' expect me a woman..." The voice said from behind; his stale mead ridden breath wafted against her cheek.

"Your men are dead, release my pupil..." Farkas ordered from someplace Marina couldn't see. She wasn't sure if it was just that dark, or if her vision was failing her again, her mind failing her.

Please Akatosh, not again... She prayed repeatedly to herself, hoping that she could keep herself under control. Her blood seared through her veins as her heart beat against her ribs. The man released her for a split second giving a screech as she sunk her teeth into his fingers. But he quickly grabbed a fist full of hair pulling her back to him.

"I won't warn you again." In an instant Marina was released once more, stumbling away from the bandit. At first she thought that the ragged looking man was about to challenge Farkas, but at the last minute he scrambled away down the path. "Were you hurt?" He asked sincerely.

Forcing herself not to spit and hold her head at the same time she looked up. "No, I'm fine." Sitting back down she rubbed at the back of her head, absentmindedly trying to fix her hair. "Why are you looking at me like that?" Clearing his throat he turned to looking around the area again, seeing or hearing nothing he sat down keeping his sword close.

The crackling of the fire was the only sound to pass between the two. The hypnotic dance of the fire captured Marina's attention entirely, as though she could understand some deep connection that she shared with it. Blinking quickly she looked about the tiny camp area, seeing Farkas tensed up in light sleep. Curling up next to the fire she decided to do the same. Knowing that he would want to be off and up before the sun rose.

However she was broken from her dreamless doze by a strange whimper. Mentally she expected to see a wounded dog, possibly a wolf, but she didn't expect to think it come from her companion. Sleepily she crawled over, hesitating placing a hand on his armored shoulder. His chin tucked down to his chest as he half lay half sat up against the mountain. Behind his eyelids his eyes danced about frantically and his lip curled up in a silent snarl.

"Farkas, wake up."

"Rrraagh!" Farkas growled, grabbing and quickly pinning her to the ground under him. He had moved so abruptly she didn't have time to process the action. All she could see were his bared teeth and wild eyes. His facial features relaxed slowly as he woke up from his dream. His lips closed over his teeth only to part a moment later to give an exasperated sigh.

The shock wore off soon after, and she wasn't sure what to do in the situation. The Imperial had never been remotely close to any man like she was currently, and it began to frighten her. "Um... Farkas, if you're awake now..." She took in a shaking breath as she began to feel dizzy from the encounter. "Could you let me go."

As soon as he was a respectful distance away she moved over farther. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you." His hand went up to rub the bridge of his nose and he shook his head.

"Bad dream?" She rubbed at her arms bringing her cloak around herself. She was thankful for Kodlak's incite on giving the warm material to her. He nodded his head slowly and went to rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"We should keep moving..." He cleared his throat and jumped to his feet. Once his sword was resting against his back he began kicking the dimming fire out. There was no reason that she should know what exactly he had been dreaming. That was between him and him alone.

"Here," Marina began picking through a small pouch on her side. "before you go to sleep, put these under your pillow." He stopped and stared down at her over his shoulder giving her a strange look. Women weren't supposed to give men flowers, or had things changed and he just didn't notice? She fidgeted with the flowers twirling the stem around in her fingers waiting for him to take the offering. "It's lavender..." She whispered feeling extremely awkward and out of place.

She began laughing in her head to herself. Here she was giving a big burly Nord flowers. Sweet Mara, I must look ridiculous... It surprised her again when he finally closed his hand over them, and placed them somewhere in his armor to maybe not be completely crushed. He continued on vaguely motioning for her to follow him.

They trekked higher up the mountain, snow began to fall and cover the ground. The cold began biting in immediately, but Farkas was unaffected by wind or snow. Being a Nord certainly had it's benefits. The sun finally began to rise, only just making the outline of their destination visible. Massive ancient arches and stair ways rose up, giving the area a completely different feel from the area surrounding it.

"Kill them!" An almost familiar voice shouted, directly after a wave of arrows fell. In the same instant Marina felt her feet fly from the ground, and Farkas once more to close for comfort. An arrow scraped by slicing into Farkas' flesh but burying itself deep into the stone beside them both. Ignoring the pain from the minor wound Farkas turned when the arrows stopped. His hand went up and closed over his sword.

Marina had never seen someone as large as him move so rapidly. Every arrow fired missed, zipping past his head body and legs. Taking the stairs three at a time he was on the first archer within a matter of seconds. His heavy sword came down on her with force enough to cleave her in two, killing her instantly.

Marina closed her eyes at the gore that unfurled in front of her. It was the executioner's block all over again. Only this time there was no dragon, at least one would hope, to interrupt the slaughter of the bandits. Even from the distance she could still hear the blood splatter, screams and the sound of Farkas' sword taring through flesh. The crunching of snow and light breathing finally replaced the screams of terror.

"Open your eyes, if you can't stomach this... then it's best to not stick around." Her eyes landed on his boots and sword hanging down by his side held tightly in his right hand. Then traveled up to the blood splattered chest plate and relatively blood free face.

Gulping she quickly turned her eyes to his arm, remembering the arrow that had sliced through. Blood openly flowed down his arm, but it seemed not to bother him. She tried to place herself into a more familiar place upon seeing a wound.

"Your arm... I can heal it." She reached out slowly when he turned his arm over to look at it.

"It's fine." She muttered a 'don't be stupid' causing him to even less want her to have anything to do with treating him. "I don't like magicka..."

"It's going to get infected." The action of grabbing his wrist with only one hand was useless, her fingers couldn't touch and he easily pulled his arm from her. "Fine have it your way." With a huff she picked up her robes a bit and all but stomped up the stairs nearly slipping on them in the process.

Farkas chuckled to himself under his breath, but was quick to return to a serious mood. He was on a job there was no time for being silly. Inside wasn't much warmer, but it was an improvement from the harsh wind. Even if it were warmer, it didn't mean that they were alone. Voices echoed in the room and the glow from a fire danced along the walls.

"Here, you take them." Farkas whispered handing a bow and a few arrows he found by a dead body to Marina. Her mouth snapped open but his hand covered it. "Just shoot." He gave her a boost to sit beside what could be a coffin.

Now she could see the two bandits clearly, but they hadn't any idea of them being seen. Let alone anyone else in the room with them. 'I've never shot a bow!' She mouthed to him fumbling with the bow and arrow, nearly dropping the arrow in her lap. Farkas rolled his eyes as he lay his sword against the stone work and nudged her arms up, and hands into the best position that he could get.

The bow gave a soft creek as he helped her pull it back. He rested his chin on her shoulder trying to aim the arrow as best he could, but Marina couldn't keep her eyes on what she was supposed to do. His hands over hers and face right beside hers.

"Pay attention." He whispered.

"I can't do this..." I can't take someone elses life again! Her heart pounded and she wanted to cry and be sick at the same time. Closing her eyes she took in a deep shaking breath, and looked back at her target. The strong hand holding back the arrow over hers vanished, and the arrow bolted from her hand leaving a burning feeling in its wake.

One of the bandits gave a yell, but was not killed. The arrow lodged itself into his shoulder, missing both heart and head completely.

Farkas' presence was gone in that instant leaving Marina to limply hold the bow. She knew the battle honed male wouldn't need her help. She wouldn't be any help at all if something were to go wrong, but Farkas could handle himself.

From the wall Farkas pulled a torch free and lit it with a piece of flint. He handed the light source to Marina without even looking her way. She took it before it could fall to the ground. The man that had handed it to her wasn't paying any attention if she was actually going to take it.

Shaking her hand off lightly she freed a sticky web from her fingers. Down the hall they came to an open area, a gated off passage way, a lever and a dead body. Farkas stared at the body for a moment and then to the lever he lay by. He walked around both and headed to the gate. With a grunt he tried to pull the gate up, but it wouldn't budge. Marina stared up at the top ledge above the gate, and off to the side. Several symbols were raised out from the stone.

"Farkas, can you move this?" He turned around and stared at the rock barely hidden in an alcove. Both stood in front of the middle statue. Bending over Farkas placed both hands around the sides of the slab and turned it as best he could. The veins in his arms all stood out as did the ones in his neck and forehead. He got it turned.

Huffing loudly he leaned over and gave a small smile and nod. "Easy enough."

"Good, now turn that one." She pointed off at the last stone. Another nod and the other was turned with as much effort. With a smile still on her face she ignored the body, and placed a hand on the lever pulling it as hard as she could. It was rusted in places, and hard to move but it moved eventually. The gate came up, and she turned back to Farkas giving him a triumphant smile.

He pushed himself away from the wall giving an inquisitive gaze. She placed both hands back on the torch, picking at it as she once again fidgeted under his eyes.

"Doors open..." She muttered under her breath nodding her head at it and lowering her eyes. He went through with his sword in hand, ready for anything that could possibly jump out at them.

Nothing however appeared to be in the room. A table and several broken pots. Nothing of real interest except the winding stairs leading below. Someone had been here, and recently; where they were currently was the problem. And if they would pose a threat.

The skeever that lunged for Farkas weren't exactly what Farkas would have suspected, but there was no real surprise that they would have found a way into the tomb. After getting to the bottom of the steps though, the scream for help is what he would have been expecting. They weren't who he thought they were, but if he needed help he may get it. So long as he wouldn't turn aid would be his.

"By the nine?" Marina stared at the web blocking the arched doorway. Farkas though seemed less impressed, and cut the web away and walked through. The entire room was almost covered in the stuff, from the tables to the walls and everything else. The room was dark, few torches were lit in the room and only one at the end burning dimly away on the wall.

"Help!" The voice screamed again. Slowly trudging through the sticky substance and barely lighting their way through they found the owner of the voice. "Quick cut me down before it comes back!" He yelled his eyes darting around frantically.

"Hold on." The man gave him an incredulous glare as he hung suspended in the middle of the archway. Farkas took a much smaller blade from his side and began to slice at the web. It held tight for the most part, catching the blade several times but eventually began to be unable to withstand the assault.

The man kept whimpering and telling Farkas to hurry, but went oddly silent. His eyes widened and he let out a small screech that would put a small child to shame. Marina and Farkas each went still as they stared at one another. A strange 'hissing' biting could be heard. Farkas spun around dropping the dagger to the ground, and pushed Marina backwards into the web.

Just seconds after a spear like leg shot out from the darkness, Farkas made sure it would never appear again. The 'thing' hissed once more and gave a scream of some form. He had heard only stories about this kind of creature, and yet he knew immediately what it was. A Frost-bite Spider, massive body and a very short temper made it a frightening opponent.

He rolled out of the way from another strike from the dark, and just avoided being impaled by twin fangs of jet. Farkas would rather face a giant right now. At least that would be something familiar to him.

No matter how hard Marina tried she couldn't get free from the web. The torch she had been holding fell to the ground, catching the silk on fire instantly. The man once again began screaming for help, save him from the spider and now fire. And her cloak now being permanently attached wasn't putting her in to great a mood either.

She couldn't scream for Farkas to help, he was far to busy trying not to become the spiders next meal, and her captive-mate wasn't going to be any help. She didn't want to die in such a horrid place. Wiggling free from the cloak was her only option. Then maybe she would stand half a chance of getting free.

It worked and she set to put out the fire before the other man burned alive. He screamed at her throwing random insults in his own native language.

"Farkas!" She ignored the other man once the fire had been put out. She couldn't see Farkas, but the sound from him grunting and the spider hissing was clear enough. He was still alive somewhere in the darkness. He was trying to lure it back into other side of the room where at least a few torches had remained lit.

She couldn't find where her borrowed bow had disappeared to in the shadow, leaving her to give a quick glance at her hands. She didn't want to do it, but she needed to help her friend. I can't let him die. Resolve set she charged into the darkness, hoping to not bump into the spider, and that Farkas was still on the winning end of the battle.

Her eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, only able to just make out shifting forms not far from her. "Stay back!" Farkas shouted, he knew if he could barely handle the beast. Then she stood no chance in oblivion.

Closing her eyes she let the Magicka flow through her, not caring if he didn't want her to use magic, if they died he could hate her and if they lived he could reprimand her on using it. She feared losing her mind, but if it saved them then she would risk it. Farkas had brought her down once after she did, he could do it again.

Stay in control Marina... She screamed in her head throwing both hands out giving a yell. The spider slammed one leg into Farkas' raised sword before turning around. The light danced across its many eyes, only to scorch them seconds later. It screeched dropping to the ground several times, giving strangled hisses and scratched at it's charred eyes. It jumped back up once slamming itself into the wall and Farkas' sword went through it's head.

Farkas let his sword clatter to the stone floor lightly covered in webbing, and gave a tremble he never knew. He never had known a fear of something so much except from when he was a child. He looked over and could clearly see Marina shaking as badly as he was. He had to pull himself together though.

"Marina," He noted that his voice came out even and calm, although a bit tired. "It's dead."

He saw her shake her head and the glow from her hands vanish. She looked around trying to place where she was once more. "Farkas!" She called out into the darkness feeling alone.

Mommy help I'm going to drown!

I'm sorry I didn't listen to you, please I don't want to die!

...