Chapter 11

"Two-Face?"

"Yes, Goraanah?"

"Do you truly believe this will work?"

The beast sighed, lifting its head off the ground to look at the Nord male. "No," it answered truthfully. "But it is the only chance that we have."

The Nord kicked at a stone on the ground, sending it several feet away. "This is my fault, Two-Face."

The beast frowned, sitting up on its haunches and flicking its tail against the ground in irritation. "No, Goraanah. Mu rolur wah dreh daar."

"Then why do I feel like this will end badly?" he snapped, turning to face the beast that towered over him. "Why does this feel like we aren't doing the right thing? By Oblivion, Loksilkun, none of this is correct." he thrust his hands through his shaggy hair and fell to his knees to the ground.

The beast gazed at him through saddened eyes. It longed to utter the words that it felt so deeply but couldn't bring itself to break him- the man that had had his heart broken more times than his ribs.

"Our circumstances have never been correct, Goraanah." it muttered, looking away from the figure on the ground. "But we must believe that this is right."

It lifted its head to gaze up at the clear sky, counting thousands of stars in endless constellations. "Tomorrow marks a fresh day. A fresh start for us both. We cannot turn back now and whisper 'what if' to the wind."

~o0o~

Seraphina despised being left in the dark, both figuratively and literally. The dark, however, isn't the thing that scared her, but rather what was hidden in the dark that did. The same went for being ignorant. She hated the thought that information was purposely being kept from her, kept just out of reach from her. It was like dangling a carrot in front of a donkey in the hopes that it'll run towards it. And Seraphina was definitely falling for that carrot.

The information hidden from her scared her more than she ever thought it would. That information could contain her fate, different possibilities for different destinies. And the thing that tugged at her the most was the fact that she had barely any word in the fate of her future.

The Cat- Aneria she had called herself- had visited the dragoness at a specific time for the past three days. She had said that this shall be a regular occurrence everyday until Seraphina had mastered the language of the dragons and her physical, mental, and emotional stability was balanced and in the green. So far they had yet to open a book, focussing instead on her physical state and mind.

Today, Aneria planned to change that.

She had told Seraphina the previous day that they would start on her literately education- or lack thereof- of the dragon language.

Seraphina laid next to the fireplace, the flames long since died out, staring mindlessly at the burnt and broken wood, and the scorch marks on the grey stonework.

She hadn't seen Alduin in quite some time. Five days to be exact. The World-Eater didn't bother checking up on his most dangerous prisoner. She felt that he barely saw her as such. She was just a caged rat. Even her lame attempt at opening the balcony door had failed. She had tugged and pulled at the wood yet it showed no signs of ever budging under her pitiful strength.

She had once been strong, lethal, dangerous.

Now she was nothing more than a dragon's amusement.

Maybe it was this line of thought that had gathered all her anger and frustrations into one solid roar.

It shook the very stones of the fortress, making shivering servants pause in confusion and fear, deterred lumbering bears in the surrounding forest, and made every being- moral, immortal, beast, or fowl- pause before feeling like a hound with its tail between its legs.

It screamed pure rage, hate, frustration.

Seraphina, with her throat raked raw, feel back onto the floor with a dull thud.

She didn't notice the Cat running in with a look of pure terror, or the thundering of heavy wings.

Or even the sun changing from its golden orange to the colour of freshly spilt blood on white snow.

~o0o~

The battlefield stilled, swords clashed to the ground from numb fingers, soldiers dropped to their knees in shock and then horror.

Imperials and Stormcloaks alike broke down amongst allies and enemies, staring blankly at the scorching ball of pure hell hanging over them.

And then the screams started.

From all directions, screams and shouts of terror and confusion filled the heavy red sky. No man could keep their eyes off the omen handing in the bloodied sky.

Hadvar was one of the few to stay silent, gazing with a tortured look at the sun. His Stormcloak counterpart- Ralof- was much the same. The two friends turned enemies fell next to each other on the battle-worn ground. Their weapons were discarded in the dusty earth, each dirty blade forgotten under the light and sound of a hundred wailing men and women.

This, they thought, marked the end.


A/N:

Yes, I realise that this chapter is bloody short- especially for the long wait- but I had trouble writing it from the first line. However short, it's vital to the plot.

Review?