Of course this happens. Whatever else would ever need to occur for such a thing to transpire, it does. Always.
Decimus and Serana are nudging the two of us with smirks and playful glances. I really should have taken the single, but this actually makes more sense.
Until I have to enact my plan, that is. I'm not happy about that, but I'll do it.
Luckily enough, the Arena is open during the night for late night entertainment, and new contestants can enter it much more easily if they're just looking for something to do, without necessarily getting killed. New restrictions are in place for these contests, and one of them is the battlers have to both agree to not sue the Imperial City, by their families, if they lose, or if they win. This is only in cases of to the death battles, although I know legal would advise them to make anyone sign those as the fear of being maimed is very much alive and in this particular branch of humanity, quite common.
"So, do you have any special plans for tonight?" I hear Decimus ask Bickslow, to which he responds with his old fire, tongue sticking out and a hint of a smirk evident on his face.
"Not if you don't with Neloth."
Decimus goes bright red, and I chuckle as Bickslow just laughs out loud.
Serana just rolls her eyes, but there's a slight coughing sound, and I know it reached her ears. Decimus is simply too cute to not be picked on like that, especially with my apprentice on the beat.
"Here we are, the Septim hotel." says Serana, and I frown at the change of the name. Of course, only Neloth would remember this of our group, what it was named after, besides me, but he was also locked up in his lab for ages, so that's not so hard to believe either.
"Well then, Decimus and Neloth will be on the second floor, in the third room on the right, and I'll be in the room next to theirs. You two, give the receptionist this note." she hands me a small note, folded in half, winking. I hear a chuckle from her, and I shoot a sharp glare in her direction. Nevertheless, I take the paper, and walk up to the man at the desk, handing the note to him. Immediately he adopts a smirk, handing me a key. "Top floor."
"What room?" I ask, looking at him.
"There's only one room up there." he replies, turning back to his papers.
I sigh, and beckon Bickslow to follow me, which he does.
"So what room do we have?" he inquires, and I just sigh again, not answering his question till we're past the second floor and climbing still.
"The honeymoon suite…" I growl out, and if Serana was here she would've burst into flames.
He laughs and I just walk up to the door, unlocking it and stepping inside the huge room.
"Of course…" I mutter, and he bursts into the room behind me.
"Wow." he says, and I don't even do anything in response, just dropping my bag and collapsing on the couch. It's supposed to be a sickeningly bright shade of pink for lovebirds, but it's more like a bright flag for me to kill Serana. It's tempting, I'll give it that.
"Why is it so pink?" he asks, picking up a stupidly shaped pillow, red and shaped like a heart.
"I don't really know."
"Something you don't know? Impossible!" he gasps, mockingly.
"Shut up." I say, throwing a pillow at him. He replies in kind, and soon we have an all out pillow fight, with pillows being destroyed and feathers flying everywhere.
It ends when he trips me, and I fall onto him, both of us landing on the bed.
"Why, Listener, I had no idea you had such feelings!" he laughs, and I roll off him, pushing him off the bed when I'm clear.
"In your dreams." I say, burying my face in the comfortable bed.
He mutters something, and I don't catch it. I also don't care enough to really say anything about it, I'm much too tired.
"Food?" he says, jumping on the bed and I hear a hopeful note in his voice.
I turn my face to look at him, and just look for a while, absorbing his features and seeing his personality through them.
"There's some in my bag." I say, flopping over ungracefully and trying to not give away my plans.
He nods, hopping off the bed and walking over to my bag and picking it up, rummaging through it, not easily. It's chock full of stuff. I'm a master at making everything fit in it, over years of practice.
"Listener?" he asks, and I hum in response.
"Why is your armor in here, with your Gate Keys, puppets, and weapons?" he continues, and I don't give a reaction, just sitting up and looking at him with one eyebrow raised.
"I'm not allowed to carry around the things that are precious to me?"
"You don't carry me." he says, and I reply.
"You're too big to carry like a bag, Bickslow." And flop back down to where I was before.
He laughs, and moves over to a sitting area where a table is.
I would give almost anything to have this moment last forever.
But, one of the laws of the universe is that Time flows ever onward.
I simply watch as my apprentice wolfs down his meal, going over my plan in my head quickly.
This is going to be a hell of a night.
Not in a good way.
Bickslow's asleep, and he insisted that he wouldn't take a couch, and said I couldn't either, so we're in the same bed, although this isn't much of a surprising occurrence, due to the fact that he often falls asleep in my bedroom reading.
I lie in the bed, just watching him, for a while. He's breathing evenly, in and out, regularly, and it almost pains me to know that these things are something I might never see again.
Slowly, I get up, taking my pack with me, changing into my armor. Ebony Mail, Konahrik, Ancient gloves and boots. My Keys are in my gauntlets, taking up a magical compartment woven into them. A sword hangs at my belt, a shield on my arm, and my mask in place over my face.
I open the door, taking one more look at Bickslow, before closing the door behind me.
This might be the last goodbye between us, and I don't know if I'll be able to make it right. I can make it less painful, though, in the only way I know how. By slipping away.
Maybe I don't know what I'm doing. Maybe I do. Maybe this is a mad plan that shouldn't be in existence, but it is.
I'm not sure this is a good idea anymore. I wasn't sure in the first place.
Aretino is already in the arena, waiting for me. It's closed, for a private match, as it usually is for training recruits. However, this is much different.
Puppets swarm around me, six of them, and their demeanour is sad, like my own.
"So, you decided to finally show up, did you?" he asks, standing away from me.
"Don't make me do this, Aventus." I say, regretful of what I must do.
"You killed my love. I'll kill you." he cries, turning around and releasing an attack. Aventus uses requip magic, and he's powerful under normal circumstances, but with fury and grief and rage driving his heart, it's going to be extremely difficult, to tell the truth.
I barely dodge his swords appearing at his sides with such speed I think he might be taking a magical enhancer.
"You killed Nelkir." he says shakily, lifting his assault for a moment. I've been hit several times, and it's worrying me.
"Nelkir wouldn't want you to do this, Aventus." I say, and his fury is resparked. Damn.
"You don't get to say his name!" another surge of power flows through him, and I have to use Reflector magic to avoid them all.
"No. Nelkir knew the risks. You did too. Yet you joined the Brotherhood, you joined our Family. YOU DON'T GET TO CALL YOURSELF MY BROTHER ANYMORE, ARETINO. YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE BLACK HAND AS OF RIGHT NOW." I yell out, and launch my attack, sending a huge bolt of lightning his way, summoning out Libra and Capricorn to take him down. Both obey my will without question, and pummel the man with magical output.
Surprisingly enough, he's still standing when their assault is finished. Libra and Capricorn work well together, almost like they're in total synch.
I feel a surge of energy, and force their gates closed, not wishing them to get hurt.
I'm right, and he zooms up to me, punching me down, slicing through my armor easily. I gasp, feeling blood starting to trickle down and leaving me feeling weakened.
Aretino laughs, like a madman, and readies his blade for the final blow, so he thinks. With his pause, though, I bring up my shield, Spellbreaker, and the blow makes me grit my teeth, it's so forceful.
I manage to throw him off, rolling to the side and onto my feet, unsheathing my own sword and getting into my element. I've been doing this before he was born.
"Listener! Have you no shame? Sit down and die to pay for your sins!" he cries out, and I see, glimmering faintly in the moonlight, tear tracks.
"My sins? I have never attempted to kill my superior! I am not a traitor! You will be the one to suffer in the Void with the traitors of old who died like you shall, without honor and without mercy!" I reply, my eyes sparking under my mask, magical energy building up.
He narrows his eyes, and charges me. I run to meet him, bringing up my shield and bashing him with it to interrupt him, making him stagger. While he's dazed, I sweep his feet out from under him with my own, and hold my sword to his throat.
"It's over." I say, glaring pure hatred underneath my mask.
He laughs again, bringing his feet up and using the same move to make me drop to the floor. I let out a squeak of surprise, and he's on top of me, straddling me, smiling down, raising his sword. His whole body shakes with the laughter of a madman, and I'm shuddering with terror at the feeling of the fact that I might be dead in five seconds at the hands of a traitor.
Just then, though, Aretino's hit off of me with a green blast, and my head whips around to see my Mate, Bickslow, appear through the darkness with a serious look on his face and his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Nobody. Messes. With my Mate." he says, and I smile with relief, getting up slower, wincing at my wound. I nod my thanks to him, and he nods slightly back.
I turn to where Aretino should be, and find him sobbing his heart out, yelling out Nelkir's name in agony.
He picks up his sword again, summoning fifty others, hovering around him, which launch in the general direction we're in.
"DIE!" he screams out, and he charges with the swords, looking at me with bloodlust in his eyes.
I ready a spell, releasing it and feeling it take hold. The entire place freezes, a blizzard taking hold of the arena and turning practically every surface into ice.
The swords flash freeze, and I blast them with Chain Lightning, breaking them apart. Next, I find my apprentice, and cover him with my cloak, feeling the frost freeze it in place with a vengeance.
"Listener…" he croaks out, looking at me with his green eyes glowing. I shush him, focusing on the battle with my former Brother.
The spell ends, the blizzard dispersing, and I feel Aretino's anger.
"Second Origin!" he calls out, and I curse, bursting out from the shelter my cloak made and dragging Bickslow with me, watching the deranged attacker slam into the ground where we just were mere seconds ago.
A smile is plastered on his face that reminds me of a maniac, and not in a good way.
"You won't let me get my revenge. I'll kill you, and your Mate too." he says, and I'm freaked out now, looking at my former Brother with a plan that he must think is solid as metal.
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen." I say, pulling up a power that I have never used in my entire life.
"Summon Karstaag." I speak, and the deceased Frost Giant hears me, materializing and making the earth feel like it's trembling.
Accompanying the spectral appearance towering over all of us in the arena, two Ice Wraiths dart between and about his legs the entire time he's here.
"How long will it last?" Bickslow asks, gazing at the colossal figure in front of us, swiping at Aretino's body, contacting at least a few times, the Ice Wraiths causing more damage to him by freezing him to his core, practically.
"120 seconds. I can summon him two more times, but I don't wish to." I say, looking at the giant myself.
"Why not?" my apprentice shifts his eyes to look at me, and I glance at him, back to the giant.
"Because, even though he's not as strong as he was when I fought him, I doubt anyone can survive him for long."
"Wait, you mean to kill him?" Bickslow states, his eyes wide.
"I don't want to, but I must. He has betrayed the Black Hand in assaulting the Listener." I say, drawing out my blade, before reconsidering and drawing out the Blade of Woe.
"You can't be serious." he says, catching my arm as I walk calmly towards my former Brother.
I look at my Mate, and take it in. "I'm sorry you have to see this, and this side of me, but it is who I am. My Family is the one thing that has stood by my side this entire time."
"There has to be another way!" he cries, glancing at the terrified figure opposite us, not even moving anymore, frozen to the core.
"There is none." I hiss, and break off his hold, advancing swiftly towards the man that idolized me because I killed Grelod the Kind.
Kneeling beside him, I touch his cheek, whispering softly that I'm sorry it had to end this way.
Of course, my hand goes right through him.
"An illusion…." I mumble, and I stagger back, looking around.
Aretino's sword is standing out of my Mate's stomach, and I scream. His assailant's face appears over his shoulder, letting my apprentice to fall down, shock evident in his expression.
"We're both out a partner, aren't we?" he says, and I don't even wait for him to draw a sword or a spell, just leaping at him, my restraints limiting the magic output I can create to keep a safe environment around me breaking as easily as I broke Aretino, slamming him back into the wall, hearing a sickening crack and confirming that he was knocked out, for now.
I hurry to Bickslow, pulling the sword out of his back and turning him over to look at his face.
He coughs a bit, and smiles, sticking out his tongue.
"You warned me that being around you was dangerous at some point, didn't you?" he asks, and I pull off my mask, Konahrik, looking at him with clear eyes, and for the first time, I believe, he's seeing what I really look like.
"You…. you have red eyes…" he says, looking into them, as I search his face for anything.
"I do." I reply, and consider something.
"Just….. just like…. me…" he continues, and I look at him with tears on my cheeks.
"I can bite you." I say, praying to Sithis that he'll accept it.
"Whatever….. you think…. is best…. Listener…" he coughs some more, blood this time. His eyes still hold a twinkle of his insane laughter in them, as if he thinks his death will be the greatest amusement. He closes his eyes, and I hear his heartbeat slow to almost imperceptible levels.
"Bickslow?" I ask, looking at my Mate.
"BICKSLOW!" I scream out, and bite down on his neck, drawing out the blood with my fangs and slashing my wrist at the same time, so much that I feel it nick my muscles, forcing it to his mouth and getting some in him.
I let go of his neck, his sweet blood spattered on my face, and I wait in agony over what's happening.
Nothing.
At all.
I hear Aventus laughing behind me, and I whip around, glaring at him in a way that describes pure hate and fury.
"You know how it feels now, don't you, Listener?" he spits out the name, and I Shout, sending him sprawling back, before I've paralyzed him with a spell.
With fire and fury in my eyes, I walk towards him, my blade in my fingers, twirling rapidly, grinning like a madman. I feel mad, right now. Like a proper mad god's champion.
"You should have known better than to try and harm my family, Aventus. I raised you from nothing, gave you everything, and you spit in it like it's poison. Now, now, you do know better than to mess with the Champion of all 16 Daedric Princes, Nightingale, Listener, and Dragonborn. I will make sure that your last few minutes are the worst in your entire life, and then, I will finally kill you, sending your soul to the Void and I will relish the fact that you will be hurt and wounded like Mathieu Bellamont, and every last traitor in the history of the Black Hand." I say, walking towards him, before sitting next to him, driving the blade in between his joints in his hand, tearing off the digits ever so slowly, snapping the tendons and enjoying his blood gushing over my hands, so much so that I take off my gloves, the sharp tips of my fingernails, black as night, showing off a bit of the dragon in me. I rake them down his entire arm, slicing open his armor and making him scream.
I move to his other arm, giving it the same treatment, before going to his legs and skinning his thighs and calves, then cutting them off sharply and giggling. I feel…. so…. detached, from the world.
My knife dances across his torso, slicing his armor apart, moving to his face every so often, taking an ear, or his nose, maybe his eyes as well. I don't notice anymore, and instead focus on killing him.
Finally, I succeed in ripping his heart out with my bare hands, and shoving it into his throat, while watching the light in his eyes die.
I stand up, swaying a little, and look around, seeing the rest of our team get here.
Serana takes one look with a sweep of her eyes, and rushes towards me.
The blade of Woe drops from my hand, and I brush off her hug in favor of staggering over to the body of my Mate, still lying there, his own blood spattered everywhere on the scene.
"We've got her, guys, she's right over here!" I hear shouts of encouragement, and I realize it's the Fairy Tail guild, with many more members, so I figure they've called in some favors of their own.
I don't have the strength to fight them. It's gone. All gone now.
I hug my Mate close to my chest, cradling his body. Decimus is beside me, and I turn my head slightly to him, and whisper, "Burn the traitor."
He nods, not saying anything, and murmurs in Neloth's ear, Serana simply moving off from where she was by Aretino's body, to where the shouts are closest to.
I can't hold in anything else, and while Neloth powers up a fire spell, I let out a whimper, drawing my knees to my chest, Bickslow's form in my hands, the bloodstained weapons of mass destruction tracing tenderly along the lines of his face.
The teams' shouts are louder, and they seem to speed up, before bursting in through a large door usually used for large packages. Frankly, I'm amazed they came this far from their Fiore.
The Thunder Legion is in front, and their magic hums around them, before they all stop short, finding not what they expected.
I glare at them, but don't do it for more than five seconds. The person that caused this is already dead, there is no reason for any more hatred. Right now, at least.
Our two groups stand still for a moment, before Neloth starts up another round of flame spells, perfectly combusting the body of my former Brother.
Laxus takes one step forward, and hesitates, his eyes wide.
"Is he…?"
My eyes close and I let out the loudest Shout I have ever spoken, shaking the foundations of the arena, and the entire city.
I cry to the sky my lament, all in the tongue of the Dov, and I finish with a Storm Call, because there should be no more sunshine and happiness on this day.
Or ever, for me, anymore.
C20's song is Propane Nightmare by Pendulum.