The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Brynjolf and Carissa –"Stealing Hearts"

Location: Outside of Riften
18th of Sun's Height
8:23am

"Well?"

"Carissa, I know you're angry right now. But please, you have to calm down,"

"I gave you two hours, like you wanted, Karliah… Did you see Mercer… or not?"

"Carissa, I scouted the area, yes but… I didn't really see Mercer-"

"THEN LET'S GO FIND OUT IF HE'S HOME!"

Location: Ragged Flagon, Thieves Guild

Carissa Larue was not a happy Breton right now. No, she had just one goal right now: finding and killing Mercer Frey, the Guild Master. All she could replay in her mind was the day he attempted to kill her and leave her for dead.

The more fired up she was, the harder it became to ignore the throbbing in her abdomen.

But she didn't care.

"Please, Carissa, I have to redress your wound. I'm afraid you'll bleed even furth-"

Carissa fished out her Daedric Dagger from its holster and kicked open the door that took them directly to the Ragged Flagon.

"OI! Come in like a civilized human being, will ya?! That door is probably worth more than yo-" Vekel the Man, the bartender was immediately silenced by shock when he realized who was entering the Ragged Flagon and storming her way to the Cistern.

Location: Cistern

"Rune? You alright?"

"Yeah, Sapphire…" Rune nodded to at her, his face glum. "Just thinking about Carissa. It's been three days already. I'm wondering if…" He stopped himself from continuing any further.

"If she's even alive?" Sapphire finished it for the young Imperial, completely reading his mind.

He glanced up at her, nodding. "I mean, Mercer could have found them…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Sapphire took a seat next to him on his bed. "I'm worried too. I still refuse to believe she's a traitor. She just can't be…"

"That's because she isn't. And she never was," Rune assured, although he was more of correcting her. "I mean, Carissa is like the big sister I never had. You know, the one who takes care of you by any means necessary,"

Sapphire had to let herself chuckle at that. "I know what you mean. She's family, Rune. And family never lets you down. Especially Carissa…"

CRACK!

Every single member of the Thieves Guild was in the Cistern right now, enjoying their morning breakfast and or training. They all almost jumped out of their skins at the out crack of the breaking open of the only door to the cistern.

"What in the-"

"MERCER! MERCER, YOU SON OF A BITCH! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Carissa, please! You must calm down!"

"I'LL CALM down when I serve his head on a silver platter! MERCER! COME OUT, YOU BASTARD! YOU DIDN'T DO A GOOD JOB OF KILLING ME!"

All the members of the Thieves Guild gazed at Carissa, Maya the Wolf and the new Dunmer woman coming to the center of Cistern with her. "You must have more courage than I thought," Vex was the first person to interact with the two ladies, and she was not in a joyful mood either. "By the Eight. What have you done with Mercer?"

"What?" Carissa glared at Vex.

"Answer me, you heartless bitch!" Vex advanced to Carissa's position. "Where's Mercer?!"

"Watch your words, Vex!" Carissa raised an angry finger at the senior member. "I am looking for Mercer! Where's that son of a bitch?!"

"Went hunting," She answered. "For you. And you, Karliah…" She growled at the purple-eyed Dunmer, as if she was pure poison. "After you tried to kill him!"

"Are you kidding me?!" It was all coming to Carissa now - Mercer had spun them a story of betrayal. "THAT'S WHAT HE TOLD YOU? That I tried to kill him? It was the OTHER way around, Vex! The bastard tried to kill ME! He betrayed us! He's a traitor!"

"Please, you must believe us!" Karliah then spoke, trying to keep Carissa from using all her energy; the Breton's mad screaming was only draining it. "We have proof that you've all been misled!" She announced to the whole Guild.

"For Arkay's sake, Carissa!" Vex was tired of arguing. "The man is our Guild master! We've known him much longer than you have. He would never betray us!"

"WELL, YOU'RE WRONG," Carissa told her, almost straight to her face "Terribly wrong! He's been lying and stealing from you all! He's a TRAITOR!"

"Carissa, stop,"

That new voice was not entirely new. It just wasn't loud. No, it was soft… and a little sorrowful.

"Bryn?" Carissa turned around and was faced with the handsome red-headed Nord. Her handsome red-headed Nord. "Bryn! Please! You have to believe me!"

"You played me,"

Carissa did not quite catch that. "I what?"

"You played me for a fool, didn't you, Carissa?" Brynjolf was no longer giving her a loving gaze anymore. Instead, he had his massive arms folded across his large chest that said he was hurt. "Got close to me, entered the Guild, only to take us down by secretly working with Karliah,"

"What?" The more accusations they were, the more Carissa was confused. And offended. "No! No, Bryn, I wouldn't do that to you! I'm not a traitor!"

"Then why try to murder Mercer?" He questioned with much disappointment. "The way he was whacked and scarred when he came back, you gave him quite the trashing!"

"What the- I fought back!" She defended "He tried to kill me! And he ALMOST succeeded! I'm walking around with a stab wound, for the love of Mara! Can't you see I'm in pain?!"

"YOU'RE AN EXPERT ACTRESS, BITCH!" Vex almost screamed from behind her.

Carissa spun around, seething. "SHUT UP, YA OLD HAGRAVEN!"

"Vex, that's enough," Brynjolf ordered in a calm voice, but still keeping his eyes on Carissa. "Carissa, it's over. You came into this Guild like an answered prayer when we were at our worst. No, that's impossible. Good things just don't happen. And not to me, especially," He then faked a smile at her. "I can never be in love with a woman who wouldn't use me for her own gain or to destroy the Guild."

Carissa was slowly tearing up at each word that was coming out of his mouth. She could not recognize the Nord in front of her anymore. "Bryn, I never used you! I'm not a traitor, I told you! Mercer-"

"I've known Mercer since we were just little lads, Carissa!" He then yelled at her for the first time, to which she almost squealed in fear. "He's not a traitor!"

"We have proof-"

He held up two hands to silence her once and for all. "I don't care for your proof, Carissa. Just go. Leave. Don't come back, or I'll have to kill you myself," He growled at her furiously. Having just about enough, he turned his heel and was about to walk away for good.

But Carissa was determined to prove her innocence, as well as Karliah's. And she was willing to do anything. Anything. "Brynjolf, stop!" She firmly pleaded, causing him to stop and turn himself to her.

It was that moment that Carissa was going to something she had never done in her life, and with all the members of the Thieves Guild having their gazes on her. Her side was aching so badly, but she was trying her hardest to ignore it.

So, with a pained grunt, Carissa lowered herself to one knee, and then to the other. There were some gasps between the members.

She was about to beg.

"Carissa, your wound-" Karliah attempted to pick her up, but Carissa gently pulled her hands away.

"It's nothing," She assured, before turning her head to Brynjolf. "Bryn. I've never begged anyone for anything in my whole life. Not even when my brother died and I had to survive all those lonely and hungry nights," She started out, breathing heavily to try to reduce the stinging pain in her abdomen. "But now, I'm begging you to not make me leave. I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't betray the Guild and neither did Karliah!" With her body still facing Brynjolf, she pointed to Karliah who was standing behind her, and was stunned by this scene. "It was all Mercer and only Mercer! He's been stealing from the Guild for years together and when Gallus was on his way to proving it when he was murdered! Mercer put the blame on Karliah and the poor woman had to run and hide for 25 years for no reason at all! And now because I found out about it myself, he tried to kill me and leave me for dead!

"Bryn," She paused a little to prepare herself as well as breathe again. More tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Don't make me leave. I like it here. I love it here and I love you more than anything else!" She began to sob. "I was being honest about everything I told you, I swear! I swear upon Mara! I swear upon my dead brother! I love you and I would never betray you or the Guild!

She felt as if she was not getting through him. "Brynjolf, please," As a last resort, she clapped her hands together, pressing them together as hard as possible. "I'm innocent. Karliah's innocent. We never betrayed the Guild and…" She was on the verge of sobbing even harder. "And I love you. I love you very much and would never want to lose you for any reason whatsoever! So please don't make me leave!" She wept harder now; she had been broken. "Please, Brynjolf. I'm nothing without you…"

Her words were already being tears to the red-headed second-in-command. But how? How could he know to fully trust her? Her words were powerful but…

"Where's this proof you speak of?"

That was when Karliah quickly fished out Gallus' journal, now fully translated to their common tongue, and handed it to Brynjolf. "Gallus' journal. I think you'll find its contents disturbing. And while you're at it, Brynjolf, you might want to open the treasury," She turned to Carissa and pulled at her. "Come on, Carissa. Get up,"

Carissa shook her head and kept her distressed gaze on her lover. "No. I'm not getting up until he believes me,"

Brynjolf briefly locked eyes with her as he was reading the journal, having heard her state that. His guilt of accusing her was only being carried further and further as he read Gallus' journal. He was going to lose his breakfast. "It can't be… I've known Mercer for years. He can't just…"

"He's been stealing from the treasury for a very long time, Brynjolf," Karliah related once more. "Gallus had his suspicions and was on the brink of confronting him before Mercer shut him up. And I'll bet my bow that if you open up that treasury, you'll find some missing items and this time, it will be obvious. Mercer's not playing it safe anymore. I think he's ready to make a run for it."

Still unable to wrap his mind around this all, he turned to Delvin Mallory and made a bee-line for the treasury's door. "Delvin. Open the safe,"

"Wait just a blessed moment, Bryn-"

"Now," He 'kindly' requested. "I need to see it for myself."

Obeying, Delvin used his own key on the vault door and then Brynjolf used his own. That door had the best puzzle locks money could buy. There was no way Mercer would open it on his own.

Could he?

"BY THE EIGHT," Brynjolf felt like someone had just slapped him across his handsome face. "It's all gone! Get in here, all of you!"

All the members of the Guild hurried over to the fault expect for Carissa, who finally got off her knees and on her feet. Inside the vault, all of the baskets were empty and the chests were left wide open and empty. There was not even a single Garnet.

"Divines… So it's true…" Niruin gasped.

"THAT SON OF A BITCH," Vex cursed, drawing her sword. "I'll kill him!"

"Oh, so now you'll kill him? Now you'll believe Carissa?" Rune questioned, not giving two damns that she was his superior.

"Oh, DON'T give me that, Rune!"

"Hey, at least some of us have been supportive of Carissa all this time!" Sapphire argued back, backing Rune up. "We knew she was a good woman!"

"Alright, enough," Brynjolf ordered, holding up both hands. "We need to take this slow and no one needs to go all Sheogorath right now. First thing's first: we owe Carissa and Karliah an apology. And a big one."

Karliah shook her head at that. "I'm fine. But I think Carissa is the one you all need to apologize to,"

"Agreed," Brynjolf began to make his way out, calling out for the Breton. "Carissa! Lass, you were right! I am so sorr- Carissa!"

Brynjolf cried out her name in fear when he found her sprawled on the cool hard ground in the center of the Cistern. He hurried to her side and tried to feel for a pulse. There was one, but it was fading. Maya was whimpering, trying to get a response out of her owner.

"Oh dear! Carissa!" Karliah ran to her side as well. "I told her to let me redress her wound…! Alright, Brynjolf, get her to a bed! Delvin, I need a medical kit! Rune, I'll need some warm water! The rest of you, I don't care what it takes, but get me the priest of Mara from the Temple! Kidnap him, if you must!"

"ON IT!"

A/N: This is my favorite chapter in this whole story. I liked the way it turned out, especially Carissa's begging. I mean, when have we never seen or known the sabre cat to beg?

Hope you guys like it! :)