For a month now, it has been the same dream. Nearing every night now, over and over, until Libitania Desidenuis can see it in her waking hours.
Libby sprints through the darkness of a secret passageway, her breathing ragged. She glances over her shoulder to find Mercer Frey grinning at her, his eyes like burning coals.
No matter how fast she runs, his stalking gait easily keeps him just behind her. After Mercer flows a wake of glowing green arcane marks, their strange shapes and symbols illuminating the ancient blocks of stone. And behind Mercer, its long nails scraping against the ground, lumbers a daedra.
Libitania stumbles, but remains upright. Each step feels like she is wading through mud. She can't escape him. He will catch her eventually. And once the daedra gets hold of her . . . Libby doesn't dare glace again at those too-big teeth that jut out its mouth or those fathomless eyes, gleaming with the desire to devour her bit by bit.
Drawing her father's Nightingale blade, she whirls and slashes, not even caring where it is she sliced, but she keeps running. She glimpses only a flash of withered skin and jagged, stumpy teeth before she slices her blade across its chest.
It screams – screams like nothing she has ever heard.
She keeps running, but she's suddenly tackled from behind. They tumble across the stone floor and Libby growls, following the momentum and pinning the person-thin creature beneath her. Spinning her blade, she drives it down without sparring a look.
There's a gag of chocking on blood and it splays across her face. When she opens her eyes, Libitania screams her throat raw and it tossed back off of the body.
Diamond groans as Libby shoves her sword up through her ribs and into her heart. There's laughing, a mocking chuckle. Libby looks up and finds a gleaming mirror with an ornately carved border. In it she sees herself, her reflection laughing manically at her. She embraces the beautiful assassin like a lover, but when Libby gazed over at herself, her eyes were dead. Hollow.
The dream shifted, and Libby could say nothing, do nothing as the platinum blonde hair darkens to black and the agonized face wasn't Diamond's but her father's. Gallus.
A scream claws at her throat. She can't control herself; and cries helplessly as she stabs her own father with her hands.
The Guild Master jerks, and Libby held him tighter, twisting the dagger one final time before she let Gallus slump to the grey stones of the street. Gallus's blood is already pooling – too fast. But Libitania still can't move, can't stop the blood from pooling.
The wounds on Gallus multiplied, and there is blood – so much blood. She knew these wounds. She knew of the detailed records that described what she had done to her previous Guild Leader Mercer Frey. The way she had chopped him up into literal bits and left his body in front of the gates of Riften.
Libby lowered her dagger, each drop of blood from its gleaming blade sending ripples through the pool already around her. Libitania tipped her head back, breathing in deep. Breathing in the death before her, taking it into her soul, vengeance and ecstasy mingling at the slaughter of her enemy.
The dream shifts again, and Libby looks up towards the mirror again. She feels the urge to vomit. In the reflection is not her . . . but Mercer Frey. And beneath him is her father.
Libby dares to look down and finds her hands coated with blood, her blade gleaming. She looks back and finds the blood splattered in the same exact spots on Mercer as it is on her. Looking back at the body beneath her, Libitania sobs hysterically as Diamond's body pools blood with multiple, mutilated wounds all over her once beautiful face and body.
Looking back up at the reflection, Libby finds herself pinning her father to the ground, and then her reflection leaps towards her. Through the mirror and grabbing Libby by the shoulders, pinning her to the blackness that surrounds them.
Libby desperately tries to fight her doppelganger as the assassin writhed above her, her head still thrown back, that same expression of ecstasy written across her blood-splattered face.
Enemy.
Friend.
Assassin.
There's a chuckle, the sound grating on the stone walls. It's not Mercer. It's male, it's deep, and it is close. Close enough that his fingers rake against the nape of Libby's neck.
He whispers her name, her true name, and Libitania screams as he –
She awakens with a gasp, clutching the hilt of her Nightingale sword pressed to her chest. Libby scans the room for denser shadows, for glowing eyes, for signs that Mercer Frey or the daedra were not in the room. There is only the flickering of the lantern's light on the wall. The twilight of the day seeking in through the window to indicate the day is new.
Libitania sinks back into his pillows. It was just a nightmare. Mercer Frey is gone, and no weird mythical creature is bothering her. It is over.
Still, Libitania Desidenuis rolls onto her side and sobs into her pillow. She clutches the blanket close to her body despite it being moistened with sweat. Her silk nightgown clings to her body, and her throat is dry. From screaming or the heat, she doesn't know.
It is over.
It's been three days since Libby's attack in the marketplace. All of which the Companions use to regain enough strength to walk around without having to cringe against their sore muscles. Diamond personally needing to stay in bed for one day to recover. Every time pain lances her limbs, she swears colorfully to Libby's name for inducing the wounds on her in the first place. Still, it would be denial if Diamond didn't say she wasn't afraid. If that was how Libby was going to fight now, or how she had always been able to fight, Diamond was certainly in for it.
From the information that was gathered, it was figured that Libby had to be hired by someone to annihilate the Companions, or at least torture them in her own means. If she was hired to kill, she would've done it that day. But since she's gone, it would seem she's drawing it out, but for what reason? Besides her client hiring her, Libby has no personal connection with the Companions; as is expected with Thieves and Warriors.
So far, most of the citizens of Whiterun haven't even bothered to approach the Companions, all keeping themselves locked up in their homes. The guards had been able to clean up the mess in the town's square, but with most of the marketplace closed, it is fair to say that the entire hold was on lockdown.
But that doesn't stop the Companions from continuing on with their mission to search the city and then search the entire hold itself. After breakfast that morning, they each spoke to one another, casually, throwing in bits of their missions here and there, acting as if the brutal attack had never happened. A part of Diamond would've been upset about how nonchalant everyone is, but she mostly felt relived, wanting things so badly to go normal for the time being.
Once their breakfast was finished, she went outside to the backyard and waited for Farkas and Torvar. Once they finally appeared outside, Farkas went ahead to speak with his brother. Torvar taking the time to approach Diamond. "You seem quiet lately. Are you okay?"
Diamond sighs through her nose. Sometimes Torvar is too observant for his own good. "Just thinking too much."
"Are you going to be okay?" Torvar asks. "It's honestly a little weird. Just three days ago you were smiling and bragging about how you kicked my ass."
Despite the fear that's encaging her heart, Diamond gives a small chuckle. "I think I'll be fine. Now that I know who we're dealing with, I won't freeze up I promise."
"I doubt we'll get into any trouble. We're just scouring the city."
"When it comes to assassins like Libitania –" Diamond's mouth permeates with a sour taste speaking Libby's full name. She had nearly forgotten her full name she had grown so used to calling Libby by her nickname. "– trouble will always come."
"You sound as if you know her."
"Well, she is Skyrim's Assassin."
"Are you sure you're alright?" Torvar peruses.
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
"Then stop looking." Without giving him a chance to go on, Diamond turns away from Torvar and approaches Farkas in time as he finishes speaking with his brother. After pats on the shoulders, he turns towards Diamond and Torvar. "Alright, so who has an idea on where we can begin?" he asks.
"The marketplace seems logical, since it was the last place Libitania was." Torvar suggests.
"Fair enough. Seeing as how she'll hide in plain sight, as Kodlak said, browsing around with the citizens should be a good start." Farkas says. "Diamond?"
"That's fine." She says with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders.
They gather their weapons and pack some potions in their pockets. After Diamond fixes her gauntlets and slings her Warhammer securely onto her back. As she leaves Jorvaskrr with Farkas and Torvar, Diamond takes a deep breath and follows them down the steps. They scour their way around the city, most of the market stalls still closed in fear. They ask whoever they can, and each citizen still seemed confident enough to speak to the Companions about Libitania instead of simply waving them off or ignoring them entirely.
Soon Diamond, Farkas and Torvar make their way to the slums of the city. Even if Whiterun if s prosperous city, it is still a capital city and it isn't hard to find its underbelly of slums, and brothels and filthy taverns.
Sewage and puddles of excrement lay beneath every window of the slums, and the cobblestone streets are cracked and misshapen after many hard winters. The buildings lean against each other, some so ramshackle that even the poorest citizens have abandoned them. On most streets, the taverns overflow with drunks and whores and everyone else who sought temporary relief from their miserable lives.
Diamond had scoured this place when she had first arrived to Whiterun three years ago; back when she needed an easy access to the wine without the barkeep asking if she was old enough to tolerate alcohol. It's not a story she likes to share, and thankfully no one questioned her as she led them towards it.
Her throat tightens slightly as she recognizes the guard standing outside. With his bald, scared head, and his one blind eye, his tattooed arms are folded and there's an Orcish sword strapped to his waist. His one eyebrow rises as a smirk crawls across his face, and diamond fights the shiver that trails up her spine. How many times Diamond had bribed him with her coin to get him to allow her entry. But it was when Diamond had given him that scared eye did he learn to never question her again. Still, it disturbed Diamond when she had figured out that her tantrum was a bit of a, turn on for him.
And as expected, he lets Diamond and her group inside without even sparring her a word but he did wink at her with that scared eye she had given him, nearly making Diamond convulse on the floor right there.
Slinking their way inside, one can find the cutthroats, the monsters, and the damned of Whiterun Hold. The filth come here to exchange stories and make deals, and it is here that any whisperer of the attempted assassination of the Companions will be found.
She remembers that Libby had brought her to places like this a few times back when they were younger. It had scared Diamond deeply, as even she hardly dealt with the putrid filth of Skyrim; they didn't pay as well as the nobles. But Libby had always walked in with her head held high and proud, even if it she too wanted to be somewhere else.
They head down the steps into the speakeasy, the reek of ale and unwashed bodies hit him like a stone to the face.
The main chamber is strategically lit: a chandelier in the center of the room, but there is little light to be found along the walls for those who sought not to be seen. All laughter halts as Diamond, Farkas and Torvar strode between the tables. Red-rimmed eyes following their every step.
She moves towards the bar counter, the two men in tow. The barkeep is already pale, his sparse hair sticking to his forehead with sweat.
"Well, this is certainly a surprise. I didn't expect the company of the esteemed Companions to be all the way down here. If I did, I would've brought out the expired brandy. What happened? Get lost on the way to the Jarl's lap? Or are you starting to finally accept your raking as low lives?"
Muffled laughter and snickers ripple through the space. Diamond feels her anger easily boil how could they have so easily forgotten her or so easily dismissed her now that she was a warrior of honor? Especially after that had all witnessed her stab their guard's eyes out with her dagger; or when she had nearly destroyed the entire tavern when the barkeep himself denied her another drink.
When she hears Farkas shift for his broadsword, she knew why.
It's because they have honor. Anything they do risks that, and everyone here knows it. Now that their reputation hangs on the balance, if word gets out about the Companions getting into a fight, in the lowest and filthiest parts of the city, it will surely send the wrong kind of message towards the citizens and the people of Skyrim. Especially Kodlak, and Diamond will not disgrace his treasured guild anymore.
So she quickly flings her arm back, snapping like a viper and grasps Farkas' wrist and gives him a look of warning. He meets her gaze, but he sighs, exhaling slowly and lowers his arms.
"Drink?" the barkeep asks. Everyone in the bar is still watching them, either discreetly or outright.
"No." Diamond says. "We need information."
"How can I be of service?" he asks, picking up a glass and starting to clean it with a dirtied rag. Diamond's lip curls in disgust.
"Skyrim's Assassin." Diamond bluntly says. And immediately there's a clink of dropped cups and all eyes are intensively on them; a nervous vibe fills the air. "We're looking for her."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Look," Diamond growls. She has one plan in mind, and through whatever means, she will execute it. "It's no secret that we've been attacked, by a Nightingale. You can make the connections. Have you seen her?"
"No, I haven't." the barkeep immediately answers, a little snap in his tone. "Now, unless you're going to buy something, get out before I call security for disruption of my bar."
If she was smart enough to bring gold, she would have. It would take a massive handful to get him to talk. But a Diamond is about to use more 'persuasive' methods, she hears the knob to the door hitch, a slight gasp of a customer. That is all she needed to hear before grabbing Farkas and Torvar, ducking them in the shadows of the room in an instant.
The door opens and Diamond can hear the on-eyed guard from outside mumble. "Allow me."
And cloaked in darkness, she stalks inside. She makes no sound as she passes through the threshold. Donned in her Nightingale uniform, she steps into the bar. The cape billows behind her, her face remaining expressionless beneath her obsidian mask as she moves towards the bar counter.
It makes no difference how many see her. None will bother her tonight.
The barkeep is already pale, his sparse hair sticking to his forehead with sweat. He tries to peer beneath peer beneath her cowl as she halts at the bar, but the mask and hood keep her features hidden.
"Drink?" the barkeep asks, wiping sweat from his brow. Everyone in the bar is still watching him, either discreetly or outright.
"No." Libby says, her voice is contorted and deep beneath her mask.
The barkeep grips the edge of the counter. "So it's true. You – you're back" he says quietly, as more heads turn. "You escaped."
So he did recognize her, then. Libby spins the glass in a circle in her hand.
What did he mean "escaped?" What does he mean? But still concealed in the shadows, the three Companions take advantage to listen in before Libby attacks; because Diamond knew Libby was aware of their presence.
It is strange, Diamond had known Libby her entire life. She had taken in every detail of thief so she would recognize her anywhere, and she still does. But this time, Libby looks as different as she is. Her body is much more muscled, she seems to have gotten taller, the curves of her body are more pronounced nut not too noticeable. Gods, it would seem that the Daedra have blessed her with more exquisite beauty details than she lets on.
Everything she wears is an enhancement of the killing potential that lies beneath. It is present in her strong jaw, in the slope of her eyebrows, in the perfect stillness of her form. She is a honed blade made but the Daedra for their own profit. She is a predatory animal – a mountain lion or a dragon – and her markings of power are everywhere.
Libitania leans on the bar, crossing one ankle of the other. The barkeep mops his brow again and pours her a brandy. "On the house," he says, sliding it to Libby. She catches it in her hand, but doesn't drink it. He wets his lips. "How – how did you escape?"
People lean back in their chairs, straining to hear. Let them spread rumors. Let them hesitate before crossing his path. She hopes that Brynjolf hears, too. She hopes he hears and stays the hell away from her.
"You'll soon discover that," she says. "But I have need of you."
His brows lift. "Me?"
"I'm sure by now you've heard of my recent appearance towards the Companions." Libby purrs. "I've heard they're looking for me. So I'm assuming they've come in here?"
Diamond can feel Farkas and Torvar tense up behind them, but with her practiced control, Diamond exhales softly and steadies her heartbeat. She slowly draws the slenderest dagger in her belt and grips it into her palm.
"This place might've taken up their interest. They certainly made themselves at home with their approach." The barkeep squeals. And just before that Diamond sees the flick of his eyes. In their direction.
Diamond barely manages to bring up her forearm – protected with her steel vambrace – to block her face as Libby's dagger readies to slice at her nose. Diamond's free hand manages to grab a second dagger from her belt and parry Libby's next stab for her eye. The people in the tavern squeak and scramble out of the way as the brawl begins. They cower in the corners and the barkeep ducks behind the counter. Farkas and Torvar ready their weapons, even if it's clear Libby only wants to battle with Diamond. But Diamond tries her best to try and lure Libby into the three of them.
Libby pulls forth another dagger and she sidesteps out of the way of Diamond's oncoming kick and slices a cut along Diamond's calf before spinning and goes to slash at her side. But Diamond blocks it with her two daggers and their metal clangs against one another before Libby's fist plows into Diamond's jaw.
Pain crackles along the side of her face, traveling up her temple and around her skull. Her back slams into the wall but she keeps her sense in check as she ducks under the next punch armed with a spiked knuckle brace. But the next one comes striking like a viper at her side and Diamond stumbles back, clashing with a table set. Blood dribbles down her chin and Diamond sense the throbbing pain of her split lip.
As Libby charges Diamond, sheathing her daggers, Farkas grabs a chair and swings it towards Libby as she draws a spiked mace. The collision sounds with a bone-shaking rumble and they each can feel the power of Libby as they're sent flying backwards, through the closed tavern door and into the street, the chair flying next to him. Diamond's stomach clenches as she catches the waft of charred wood and her back aches with the feeling of splinters impaling her spine.
On your feet, Diamond commands to himself.
Pushing to her feet, Diamond looks over her shoulder, and her eyes wide as she finds Libby's mace glowing. The head of the weapon flickers and spits with fire.
"Why so quiet, Diamond?" Libby mocks. Diamond simply clenches her mouth shut and snarls.
Torvar comes up behind Libby, but the assassin spins and strikes him with a roundhouse kick. Stumbling back, Torvar blocks Libby's coming punches and kick to the shoulder. "Aren't you the drunk of the group? I'm surprised you haven't fallen flat on your face by now!"
Libby then spins under Torvar's blade and kicks him in the stomach. Torvar is sent skipping back, but he's on his feet before he even finishes rolling. Libby stabs her sword into the flame, turns it once, and then swings. Fire explodes as if from the mouth of a dragon. The fire swarms over Torvar's clothes, setting it aflame.
He wastes no time, jumping backwards and rolling along the dirt to extinguish the flames.
As Diamond plows for Libby, the assassin takes two long strides before leaping up and kneeing Diamond in the jaw, then kicking him in the neck. He's sent twirling in the air and crashing into a wooden crate of a wheelbarrow.
Libby this time charges forward in a sprint as Diamond groans and struggles to his feet. Libby crosses her arms and hurls forward. She feels the air leave Diamond's stomach as her arms hit the Companions' sternum. The force jerks the wheelbarrow forward and down a slight incline of the road. As it gains momentum, Libby punches Diamond left and right before pushing off her feet, leaping into the air as the wheelbarrow crashes into an open-ended carriage of cabbage and potatoes.
Drawing two needle-point daggers, Libby spins and dives down like a bird of prey. She spins downwards, but only slices at a sack of spuds. Then Diamond's foot swipes like a snake, knocking out Libby's feet. Libby doesn't even hit the ground before Diamond's knee rams into her stomach and then she locks her hands together and whacks them at Libby's face like a mace. Pain crackles along her cheek, shattering her thoughts, and black dots fill her vision. Warmth dribbles down her chin and Libby knows her nose is bleeding. Her back aches and throbs and the urge to vocalize the pain grows more.
She rolls along the stone, sliding to a stop at the base of a street oil lamp; citizens taking attention. Libby summersaults backwards as Diamond comes running now with her glass warhammer. Libby stands, spits blood onto the street, smiles, and steps out of the way. The two of them dance down the street. As the head of Diamond' hammer go to stab for his face, Libby grabs both of her wrists and swings her to the ground.
Some of the town's people gasp and scream, quickly evacuating the area the moment Libby's eyes spot them. Libby whirls as Farkas comes swinging, his blade whining. When she manages to disarm him, she swipes out his feet with the blade and pins him to the ground. Still he pulls a couple of daggers from his belt.
Wrenching the daggers away, Libby slices off two of the armored belts on Farkas' waist and as she goes to stab the Companion in the chest, Farkas grabs her wrists and spins swinging Libby into the lamppost, denting its shaft. Whacking her to the ground, Farkas raises his foot and goes to stomp in Libby's face. But crossing the two blades of her ebony swords, Libby blocks both attempts and brings her legs up kicking Farkas farther down the street.
He crashes into a flower stand and they sprinkle all around and on him. He growls as he staggers to one knee. Libby finds her flaming mace on the ground and quickly sprints, gripping it and raising it above her head. She manages to make it to Farkas before he pushes to his feet, and Libby swings it once, twice . . . as she goes for the third swing, Farkas' arm whips out and whacks at Libby, sending her back and crashing into the wooden post of a clothing store.
Libby stifles a cry of pain and opens her eyes to find Diamond there again and the next thing Libby feels is her back crashing through the wooden post and sailing through the air and plunging into the fountain located in the main Square. Throwing her head back, gasping for breath, Libby can see the water stained with red from the blood seeping into her mask.
Taking the risk, Libby rips away the cowl and hood and jumps, pushing it against Diamond's face as she goes for another close attack. Libby swings herself over the Companion with the cowl and hood, swinging her over and into the cobblestone. Even as Diamond quickly gets to his feet, Libby delivers an uppercut to her face before spinning and kicking her in the chest; giving her more distance of her dropped Warhammer.
"You're staggering a little, Diamond." Libby mocks with a wide grin. "Have you gotten that weak or are you still that scared?"
Diamond snarls and draws the slenderest dagger from her belt and goes to deliver the deathblow, but Libby grabs her wrist and pushes her away. Punching Diamond left and right, she dodges her swipe of her daggers and goes and elbows the blonde Companion. Libby then spins and swings her leg into Diamond's head, taking the woman's arm as she falls and whirling her up through the air and into the upper level of an abandoned warehouse.
Libby huffs his breath as she carefully treks towards the building. She makes it through the threshold and finds it vacant; small glints of moonlight leak in through the crevices of the wooden building and its limited windows. The place was already slated for demolition. Holes in the ceiling, the walls were weak; not even the floor was stable enough to withstand weight no bigger than a hundred pounds.
Farrkas pushes off a few boards of wood and grunts as he feels his arm throb with heavy cuts. To be honest, he hopes the assassin fled. His body is sore, his head positively aches, and at any moment Farkas fears he will pass out from exhaustion. He is afraid to even lean left and right in fear of snapping his spine.
And now with her mask and cowl gone, she needs to try and keep the battle within the shadows. Most of the citizens had fled the scene once they knew of the dark battle taking place, but he can't rule out a few stragglers who possibly stayed to watch.
Just as Libby looks up and notices a hold in the ceiling, a dark figure comes crashing down and she rolls out of the way, but into a table of shoes on display. As Diamond barrels towards her, spinning dainty daggers with dizzying speed, Libby lifts swings the table only to hear it get sliced in half. Diamond not even stumbling. Libby brings forward her Nightingale Blade and feels the air ridding impact of their collision and she's once again pinned to a wall.
As Diamond lifts her one arm to deliver a deathblow, Libby snaps out her hand to grab a long heeled shoe over her left shoulder. She then jabs it into Diamond's eye and the Companion screams and bolts back, snapping the heel from the shoe itself.
Libby pushes off of her and whacks Diamond with a kick, and in a smooth motion, she sheaths the daggers, draws her bow and aims an explosive bolt straight at Diamond's chest.
Releasing the string, the arrow launches and lands true at Diamond, exploding on impact and sending the Companion crashing into another stack of wooden storage crates. Libby runs forward and beats Diamond left and right with the bow itself and sending her crashing through one of few windows of the building.
They both fall from the second floor and Libby lands on his feet atop of Diamond, intending her further into the gold and white carriage that awaited them below.
Diamond's eyes struggle to open, and she feels irk ass he sees the assassin smirk. "Not bad. At least you've learned to control your temper better."
Diamond snarls. Libby then spins his dagger between her fingers and raises it high. Will she really do it? Is there even a point to capturing Libby alive anymore?
The guards won't be able to contain Libby even if they bring her to them. If escaping whatever prison held her before was less than mere child's play for her, for Libitania, Whiterun's dungeons won't be much of a challenge. "You know if you beg for your life, I'll let you live. It'll be just like old times."
Diamond feels like screaming, but she merely glares at Libby in the eye. What has she become? Diamond can see nothing in Libby's eyes, and the more she sees, the less she likes. Libby coldly smiles and leans her face in close enough to the Companion to kiss her. "You always were a stubborn child."
Faster than Diamond can react, Libby flips over her and jabs her dagger down into the chest of a man. Diamond quickly pushes on her elbows and finds it to be of a man who owns a store she always shops at.
None can look away as they watch Libby raises her sword. With one vicious stroke she cuts off his head.
One blow from that mighty sword.
That is all it took to sever the man's head. So hot is the flame on Libby's mace that the man's body never bleeds, the flesh and veins cauterized by its heat.
His wife would make the best dresses and he always had the nicest clothing. Diamond stares wide eyed as his wife screams lie a teakettle in horror. It is bone-shattering.
The assassin watches his eyes grow distant as she twists the dagger before yanking it out. The body has barely finished falling before Libby makes four strikes: three to sever the emaciated torso in two, and a fourth too stab through where his heart would be. Diamond's bile rises up again as Libby angles her blade a fifth time, prying open the chest cavity of the man.
Diamond is too stunned to do anything other than watch the rest of the man's body topple to the ground. She watches the assassin let the body fall and casually wipe her blade on his pant leg. The woman falls to her knees, sobs wrecking her body and screaming sobs of agony and horror and pain.
Libby loots the body for extra weapons and supplies – including that a hundred coin – and then disappearing into the shadows before the citizen in the threshold of their cottage home call the guards on patrol nearby.
And then the wife, still screaming, is scrambling through the blood towards it – towards her husband's head, as if she can put it back.
As if she can piece him back together.
Farkas and Torvar run to the scene, Torvar making his way to Diamond and helping her out of the carriage. But the moment her feet find stone, her knees rattle with pain as she collapses to the ground.
She stares at the couple, at the massacred body Libby had created, and the screaming and crying of the wife that Diamond could have prevented.
She had failed. She had failed, again. Against Libby.
Hands grab her shoulders, and Diamond reflexively yelps and tries to jerk the hands off, until she sees it is Torvar, with his bloodied face and bruised jawline. She relaxes, but her breath is still ragged. Farkas lets the guards take over as he walks over to Diamond as Torvar helps her to her feet. Her knees buckle, but Diamond will be damned if she doesn't walk away with at least the remaining dignity she has.
Oh gods, what is Kodlak going to say? What will the Companions say? Oh gods.
Farkas makes it to the group, his face just as bloodied and bruised, dents in his steel armor and his blade already set with kinks in the blade. He sighs and offers another hand. Diamond only takes Torvar's and hoists herself to her feet.
"Are you alright?" Farkas asks.
Diamond swallows, and takes a couple breaths. She exhales slowly and tries to hide her shaking hands. "Yeah, I'll be fine." She tucks a few strands of hair behind her ears. "But, what do we do now?"
"Well, Kodlak is sure to have gotten wind of the situation. Or perhaps they will." Farkas sighs. He runs his hand through his hair and sighs. "I don't know what we can call this mission."
"We were set out to find the assassin, and we did." Torvar says,
"Silver linings, Torvar. Silver linings." Diamond mumbles aggravated.
"Look, we'll just have to go to Kodlak and tell him what happened." Farkas says.
"But what about the citizens?" Diamond asks.
"Not much we can do. The guards have it under control, and what else can we do anyway?" Torvar asks.
"But, what about –"
"Diamond, look, you can find out details on your own, but we need to get back to Kodlak and give our report." Farkas says. "I'm sorry if you feel like you failed, we all feel like that, I promise you're not alone. But we need to focus on what we can do in the future to prevent this from happening again."
Diamond looks to Farkas and nods. As Torvar hands her the glass Warhammer, Diamond slings it to her back. But it takes both men to pull and guide her away from the crime scene. Even when she's sheltered within the walls of Jorvaskrr, Diamond can't escape the grueling scream of the woman as she tries to piece her husband back together.