A/N: yesh, part two! XD can't wait for this, I love this and next chapter with a freaking passion. Little bit... Lots... of angst coming, it's gonna be great!
Btw, SKYRIM IS SEXY AS SHIT!
...
Raminus smiled when Aryvis' breathing evened out and the soft snoring began.
He had been afraid the Dunmer wouldn't get to sleep, with whatever had happened to him, but here he was, laying on his stomach with the covers yanked up around his hips, fresh scars sticking out in dark lines on his back. His hair was flung out behind his head in a long cloud of black; the Master-Wizard couldn't help it, he ran his fingers through the raven locks, long digits catching briefly on little knots. Aryvis took in a soft breath and a little smile spread across his face.
Raminus sat on his bed and opened a book, one he'd randomly picked off the shelf to the side. A page and a paragraph went by before he heard a long, loud sigh that seemed to echo about the room; at first he wrote it off as Aryvis, but he had to look up, just to appease his curiosity...
Oh, by the Nine.
...
A wave of cold air hit Aryvis' bare back just after he'd fallen asleep, pulling him out of the soothing abyss and back to that frustrating half-awake state. He frowned, not even opening his eyes, and grumbled out something along the lines of, "Close the door, Raminus..."
But nothing happened, nobody moved.
And something was... breathing, really loud...
So with a slight growl he sat up, thoroughly pissed because he was so close to getting some rest, and he was looking straight into the face of a wraith.
It was safe to say the Arch-Mage shrieked, scrambling backwards off the bed and letting out a string of curses that may or may not have invoked a few gods and goddesses. Raminus, however, was a bit frozen in shock; what was this thing doing in their house? And, if it was possible, his eyes widened a little bit more when it opened its huge mouth and spoke, "I'm disappointed in you, Dunmer... you showed such promise."
The mer in question let out some sound between a sigh and a whimper. "I don't... I - I can't-"
"No matter... your death is come."
Aryvis' eyes narrowed and he growled; honestly, how many things were going to try to kill him today? This was ridiculous, he'd survived his ordeal with the Listener and company, the Wrath of Sithis would be no different. 'Your death is come' his ass.
So when the Wrath swung his sword down on the Dunmer he had just enough time to reach over and grab his dagger block the blow. He spun around, standing in the process, and caught a glimpse of Raminus' awe-struck expression - a shard of guilt rammed its way into his heart - and he thrust the small elven weapon up into where the Wraith's belly should have been.
And it started laughing.
"Foolish mortal, you should know this by now," the Wrath chortled, "Normal weapons can't hurt me, you'd be better off with your magic. Then again, I could just silence you again, and you wouldn't like that, would you?"
Aryvis expected that his expression was somewhere between frightened and enraged.
The Wrath grinned. "I expected as much. Don't be stupid."
With the hand that wasn't armed, the wraith reached out and scratched Aryvis with the force of a punch that made him stagger back a few steps and fall on his ass. The cuts were so cold it burned, and he barely had enough time to growl out a curse before a wave of cold consumed his entire body. The freezing temperature bit into his skin, digging so deep that his insides felt it, and all he could do was curl up into a ball on the floor and shiver.
This broke Raminus out of his shock; his worried golden eyes flickered between the wraith and his freezing lover before they narrowed under a furrowed brow. A spell slipped from his lips and before he knew it the wraith was on fire. It let out a shriek but the flames were gone soon, and it turned to the Master-Wizard with a frown.
"This is not your battle, mage." It rumbled, unamused, and Raminus had only blinked before a silence spell was hitting him in the chest. He fell backwards off the bed, landing hard on his back, and he groaned as he felt the magicka drain from his fingers. His hands felt so... empty. Not three seconds after he felt the effects of some other spell, though; his hands fell limply to his sides and decided from then on not to move. The rest of his body did the same.
"Leave him be," Aryvis growled darkly, having gotten over his period of cold. "This doesn't concern him."
"If he chooses to intervene, so be it. I have no qualms about killing your lover. You'll meet in the Void, anyway. What say you about it?"
"I say he is not to be harmed," the Arch-Mage repeated, voice dropping even lower as he stood to meet the Wrath's black eyes. He was certain of two things - one, he was not going to die today, and two, Raminus wasn't either. The Wrath would just have to understand that; it wasn't an option.
But, somehow, it found that incredibly funny... "You've got gall, Dunmer, I'll give you that. It won't help you in the end though, and your end is now!"
The Wrath forsook his long sword and took Aryvis by the neck, casting a strong frost spell that weaved its way into his body. He began to tremble almost immediately, his joints and muscles and very bones violently protesting the inhuman amount of cold he was forced to endure, but no, this needed to end now. So his hands were around the Wrath's neck as well, teeth chattering around a spell. Waves of fire flowed throughout the wraith's ethereal body, much like the cold winding around the Arch-Mage's limbs, but the creature didn't relent. Instead it grinned and cast stronger, forcing Aryvis' to stop casting for a moment to grit his teeth.
"You think you can best me, boy," it growled, "I've lived so much longer, killed so many before you. You are no different."
"I'm v-very d-d-different," he chattered, "I w-won't l-let you h-h-hurt R-Ram-Raminus, and I-I'm n-n-not d-dying eith-ther."
"Your logic is flawed."
Instead of stuttering through another reply he stuttered through another spell, changing his tactic to lightning because that was his forte. The bluish-white bolts cut through the translucent creature like its natural relative, wild and untamed. "M-M-My log-gic is-s sound."
The combined flames and lightning seemed to be working; the Wrath was beginning to ripple and fade, and green smoke was rising out of his body. But Its spell was wearing down on him as well - his entire body was shaking, the continuous spell's words coming out in multiple syllables. His bones felt like they were going to crack from the cold and his lids were becoming heavy... he wanted to sleep...
No, no he couldn't.
The Wrath would be out of their house. He'd explain the entire situation to Raminus, beg for the Master-Wizard's forgiveness, and submit himself to a few rounds of glorious punishment-sex. Yep, that sounded just about right... But first he had to get rid of this wraith that had its hands wrapped around his neck. His magicka would be exhausted soon; he had enough for a pretty strong spell, but then he'd be over. So out came another string of words, bitten through at odd intervals by his shivering, but the words were spoken well enough...
And he cast a full-on Electrocution.
The room went entirely white, so much so that Aryvis had to shut his eyes tight against the glare. The wraith between his fingers wailed, shuddering, and a cloud of something awful shot into the Arch-Mage's face. He was still trying to blink the black spots from his eyes, cough that death-stench from his lungs, when the Wrath dissipated into a pile of ectoplasm.
Aryvis sank to his knees, gasping in large gulps of air, trying to still the shivers still wracking his frame. Once they settled a little - just a little - he wrapped the cover from the bed around his body and shuffled around to Raminus.
"Are you alright?" he asked, voice hoarse and low once his teeth stopped clicking together. The Master-Wizard's eyes turned his way, but nothing else; Aryvis got it and looked around for a potion of dispel because his magicka was gone. He reached for the one on the bookshelf in front of him.
When Raminus finally sat up, magicka thrumming through his veins once more, he barely had time to take a breath before the Arch-Mage was rambling.
"Raminus, I'm so sorry, please don't be angry, I didn't want you to be involved in this at all, it's all my fault, I can't believe -"
The Master-Wizard shut him up with a kiss.
He pulled the Dunmer close, comforter and all, kissing him softly because he could feel the upset coming off of Aryvis in huge waves. He was shaking a little; he could understand why, waking up to a wraith and all, and he just wanted to comfort the mer because he needed it. His hand came up to cup Aryvis' cheek, and he wasn't expecting the blood that lay under his palm.
"It scratched you," he murmured against Aryvis' lips, pulling away just enough to whisper a healing spell and trace his fingers lightly along the scratches. When he saw his lover's sad expression he had to ask, "Why would I be angry about this? None of it was your fault. I'm sorry I didn't help you." There was a silent pause, and then... "Wait, involved in what?"
Aryvis flinched. "It... ah, it came for... me."
'You disappoint me, Dunmer... you showed such promise.' "... Why?"
With a sigh Aryvis shuffled around a bit, getting comfortable, and told Raminus everything. He began with the murder of that mage in his quest to find Carahil, through his reluctant admittance to the Brotherhood and all the way down to the issues he'd faced when he quit. He mentioned Fadril and his relation to the elder mer, but not Alix; there was no need to get her involved as well. Suleri's name went in there somewhere, and Aryvis' eyes shone with pride when he spoke of his late uncle. Of course he said why he'd even gone to the Brotherhood in the first place, to get the lab and pay for the materials to make the amulet, and that's where Raminus stopped him.
"How many people did you kill." It didn't even come out like a question, and Aryvis knew he was in trouble.
"Um, I think it was five... six, including that mage."
"And you never felt any sort of remorse?"
Ouch. "Of course I did!"
Raminus looked at him, like really looked at him, and blew out a long sigh as he stood up and walked around him. "My Gods."
"You act like I'm a different person, Raminus."
"I don't know who you are anymore."
This pissed him off a little, because Raminus had no business acting all high and mighty now. He stood up as well, hands folded over his chest. "Well, let me tell you. I'm the same mer you were pining over for months, the same one that kissed you for the first time on that stool," he acknowledged the alchemy lab, "the same one who missed his first Council meeting and was late for the second. I tease you about your love for sweetrolls daily, I wear the bruises you leave on my skin like medals, I clawed those lines in your shoulders. You know exactly where to touch me to make me melt, that I can't sing to save my life, that I snore a little and hog the covers. You've always known who I am. This is the only thing I've kept from you."
"Quite a secret," the Master-Wizard mumbled.
"I know, I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" oh, damn, he was in trouble. "Aryvis, you killed one of the Guild. She had family in Cheydinhal, friends, all people that will never see her again."
"I know, Raminus." his voice was almost pleading now; he felt terrible all over again, and he hated that the Master-Wizard was the one reading him the riot act. "Could you just listen to m -"
"Aryvis, I'm done listening." he growled, and the mer in question shrank back a little. "I've been here this entire time, what is it, seven months? Yes, I know what makes you tick, and cringe, and moan and everything else. But don't you think that maybe you could've mentioned that you were a Gods-damned assassin?
"I've been here for you; when you killed Fadali and I found you crying on the floor I held you all night, and when I asked what happened you didn't tell me. When you came home this morning looking bloody horrible I asked and yet again, you didn't tell. I didn't push it, either; I just cleaned you up and healed your wounds and sent you to bed. But I deserved to know, why did it take a damn wraith to attack us for you to realize that?"
"I didn't want you to be upset," his voice came out tiny, "Or to get hurt because you were involved with me. Besides, I was saving the money to make your gift."
"What, you mean this?" he picked up the amulet from the bookshelf, "I don't know if you knew this, but jewelry isn't worth five lives, Aryvis."
"It was for you, seemed worth it to me."
"Stop glorifying me, I don't want to be your excuse."
"You're not my excuse, you're my reason."
"I don't care, there's quite a few things of yours I don't want to be."
And Aryvis' heart dropped to his feet.
Raminus went over to the side of his bed, pulled on his boots, and went out of the door. The sound of a portal went off not two seconds later.
The amulet was left on his bed.
...
A/N: *tear* :'(
