I do not own Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The only things that I do own are my own characters, and the storylines that I place them, and characters from the original game, into. TES V has served as inspiration.


Reviewer Responses:

Guest: Brynjolf will be okay, I think. In this timeline, anyway, he was destined to be the Guild Master, so... he should be able to handle it. And we'll learn Hainin's fate shortly, so be on your toes!

Manu: Thank you. I tried to write the Guild the way I thought each person would react to Ziris's death, especially Delvin and Thrynn. Hopefully they all can come around, including Brynjolf. Everything should be able to come together in the end, for everyone.


Sorry that this chapter is kind of late. I had a busy day on Friday, and then on Saturday, practically my whole family went to the Arizona Science Museum to see the Pompeii exhibit. It was very interesting, although my grandma and mom and aunts said that the one that was in Cincinnati was a lot bigger and better. Still, it was cool, to actually go to a museum and see something history related!


The End: Poison


"She called it what?" Babette asked, her eyebrows drawn.

"Frost Venom," Vilkas said again. "It makes sense, doesn't it? He's been shivering, according to Hafjorg."

"I've never heard of it," Babette said under her breath. "Are you sure it wasn't Frostbite Venom?"

Vilkas shook his head. "Just Frost. Do you think that spider venom is a component?"

"It could be," Elgrim said. He glanced at Babette. "I've never heard of poisons being combined, but… perhaps that would explain why it isn't being extracted; it needs two separate extraction spells performed on it, because it is two poisons!"

"Do you really think that's it?" Cry had come over, and her eyes were bright as she looked at the alchemist. "Can you save him?"

"We might be able to," Elgrim said. "This is good, Companion," he went on the Vilkas, and then he turned to Babette. "We'll need to make a mixture that includes the counter for frostbite spider venom -"

"We don't know what the other half of it, is, if it's even a half," Babette said. "I don't want to start throwing mixtures into him without knowing for sure what else it's mixed with."

Elgrim exhaled. "What choice do we have?" he questioned, quietly, and Babette glanced down at the floor.

"I guess we don't have one," she muttered. "Could we at least try and extract just the venom, first? Perhaps that's all it is."

"Babette, we'd know if it was frostbite venom," Elgrim told her. "We'd recognize the symptoms. This is more severe than a poisoning by frostbite spider venom."

Babette fixed him with a look. "We need to try, at least. I won't do anything else before then."

Elgrim looked ready to argue, but he didn't attempt to. Instead, he merely nodded to her, and Babette nodded back. Elgrim headed towards where Hainin still lay on the bed, while Babette returned her gaze to the floor, her eyes narrowed in thought.

"Mother, we're going to attempt to extract frostbite venom from the lad," Elgrim said to Hafjorg, who nodded in agreement and grabbed one of Hainin's arms. Elgrim looked at Vilkas, who moved forward to take Hainin's other arm.

Elgrim moved into position at the side of the bed. He pressed his hands together for a moment, eyes closed. He then pulled them apart, a red light emanating from his palms. He pressed his palms to Hainin's injured shoulder.

Almost at once, Hainin gave a violent jerk, almost pulling his arm from Vilkas's grasp. Nazir's fists clenched, and Cry moved around the bed to his side to hold him back, in case he decided he needed to punch something.

"Hold him, please," Elgrim said, sounding rather calm. There was a sheen of sweat on his forehead.

"What's happening?" Vilkas asked him, tightening his hold on the Imperial's arm.

"I'm using a fire extraction on the venom, since its effects are to cause ice damage to a target," Elgrim explained. "We've attempted something similar before, and it didn't work -" He cut off as Hainin jerked again; this one was accompanied by a moan of pain.

"Maybe you should stop, Father," Hafjorg said, glancing at Elgrim.

The alchemist lifted his hands, and Hainin fell limply to the bed. Almost at once, Nazir broke away from Cry and hurried to the opposite side of the bed. He pulled down Hainin's shirt, and Vilkas's eyes went wide at the burn marks on the Listener's shoulder.

"What did you do?" Nazir growled, glaring at Elgrim.

The alchemist was frowning to himself. "Babette," he said, and the vampire walked over. He gestured to the burn marks. "What do you make of that?"

Babette frowned at the marks, and then looked at him. "Aversion to fire?"

"My thoughts exactly."

"Do you think that's -?"

"The other half?" Elgrim nodded, grimly. "I'd stake my life on it."

"What does that mean?" Vilkas asked, looking between the two of them. "If the poison is one half ice and one half fire, then…"

"Then there's no simple way of countering it, because he'll react violently to whatever counter we give him," Babette concluded for him, glancing up at Elgrim once more.

"What counters fire and ice?" he asked, mostly himself, and everyone was silent.

"A combination of both." They looked at Nazir, who'd been the one to speak. He looked pained. "If the only thing that can fight one is the other, then shouldn't a cure poison potion made of both fix him?"

Elgrim and Babette exchanged a glance. "The measurements would have to be exact," Babette finally said, "and without knowing the original measurements of the two poisons…"

"We'll have to try," Elgrim said. "It's the Imperial's only chance."

"We could kill him," Babette said, softly.

"Babette." She turned to Nazir, who shook his head. "You won't. You couldn't."

That seemed the startle her, because she blinked at him several times, before she dipped her head.

"All right," she said, "it's your decision." She turned back to Elgrim. "We need to start mixing."

"I should have everything here in the shop," he told her, and then he looked at Hafjorg, who nodded and shuffled off to the front of the store.

Vilkas moved over to Cry as Nazir walked away from her to be closer to Hainin. He slid an arm around her, and she hid her face in his neck.

"This is all my fault," she whispered to him. "If… if Hainin dies…"

"Shh," Vilkas soothed, tightening his grip on her. "Don't think like that. He's going to be fine."

"Vilkas…"

Before she could finish whatever she'd been about to say, however, Nazir let out a yell, and they both turned in his direction. Cry covered her mouth with her hand as her eyes settled on Hainin.

The Listener has gone a deathly pale, and there was a layer of sweat coating his forehead. The burn marks, still visible because his shirt hadn't been pulled up, were burning an angry red. His face was twisted into a grimace, and he was shivering, violently.

"Hainin," she started, moving away from Vilkas towards the bed. "Elgrim!"

"We're moving as quickly as we can!" the old man returned from where he and Babette were at the table. Babette was crushing something in a wooden bowl, while Elgrim added other ingredients to a pot that was heating over a small fire.

"Then move faster than that!" Cry shouted, and she washed the sweat from Hainin's face with a damp rag. "Hainin, listen to me. It's Cry, and we're all here with you. You need to hang on."

Nazir was gripping the Listener's hand tightly in both of his, his own face twisted in a grimace. Cry looked at him in confusion, and the Redguard panted, "He's burning up!"

Cry pressed the back of her hand to Hainin's forehead, and hissed. "His face is cold as ice," she said, looking at Vilkas, whose eyes were wide.

"Elgrim, we need that potion now!" he exclaimed.

"It's brewing!" the alchemist retorted, angrily. "We cannot speed up the process, so you'll kindly stop yelling at us!"

Cry looked across the bed to Nazir, who was watching her. His eyes narrowed when they met gazes.

"If I lose him…" He didn't complete the sentence, but Cry gathered the meaning well enough, and she returned her attention to Hainin's sweating face, wiping away more of it.

"Please, Hainin," she whispered, "stay with us."

Hainin responded with another body-jerking shiver, and she risked touching his face again. This time, his skin burned the tips of her fingers, and she yanked her hand away, closing her eyes tightly.

"We've got it!"

"Move!"

Cry was suddenly shoved out of the way as Elgrim and Babette moved to the bed, and Vilkas grabbed her arm gently, pulling her to him. They watched as Elgrim forced Hainin's mouth open, and then as Babette slowly, carefully, poured a small bit of purple potion into the Imperial's mouth.

There was a moment before Hainin went still, but he did. After another moment, there was a change of expression on Nazir's face.

"He's cooling down," he said, and then he tightened his grip on Hainin's hand.

"Give him a bit more, Babette," Elgrim suggested, and Babette nodded. She poured an even smaller amount of potion into Hainin's mouth, and then she backed away from the bed. Elgrim made sure the Listener swallowed the potion before doing the same. Cry waited, her heart pounding, for something to happen.

Several tense moments passed. Hainin's color slowly began to normalize, and he seemed to relax into the bed. After a time, he inhaled, his chest rising, and then exhaled, and it fell, steadily. Another moment, and his eyes were opening. He blinked up at Nazir, who was standing over him, and grinned slightly.

"Guess my mood swings got the better of me," he said, his voice hoarse, and Nazir let out a watery chuckle.

"I told you that you need to work on that," the Redguard said, and then he leaned down and kissed Hainin, soundly. "You stupid idiot. I love you," he murmured against his lips.

"Love you too, Red," Hainin whispered back.

Cry collapsed in relief back against Vilkas, who held her snugly to his chest, his eyes closed. Elgrim and Babette exchanged a pleased handshake.

"Good idea, adding that bit of fire salt," Elgrim said to her, and Babette shrugged nonchalantly.

"I thought your addition of crushed ice wraith teeth was great."

The two moved away from the bed, discussing their creation and the odd purple color. Cry approached it, meanwhile, bringing Vilkas with her. Hainin glanced up at her at their approach, and his grin widened.

"Did ya notice? I was saving your life, again," he said, "and I almost lost mine because of it. Seems like it's about time you did something for me."

Cry laughed weakly. "Whatever you need. You just have to tell me." She settled down on the edge of the bed and took his hand in hers. It was still a little cold, but not shockingly so. She squeezed it between hers and met his eyes. "Thank you, Hainin. So much."

"I thought you'd be mad at me," Hainin responded. "I know you don't really agree with killing."

"No, but it's what you do," Cry said, and Hainin winked at her.

"That's exactly it." He caught sight of Babette, and his eyes went wide. "What are you doing here?" he asked her, sounding surprised.

"Saving your life," she replied over her shoulder as she pushed ice wraith teeth back into a jar. "You're lucky Nazir is very persuasive."

Hainin smiled to himself, and looked up at Nazir. "She also likes me a little bit, right?" he whispered, and Nazir nodded in response. "Knew it."

"How do you feel?" Cry asked him, and Hainin adjusted a bit on the bed.

"Warm, but not in a bad way," he said, "but also kind of chilly."

"Well, that's not surprising, considering what you had inside of you." Elgrim approached the bed, holding several bottles of ingredients, and grinned at the Imperial. "Now I know how to counter a mixture of fire and ice poisons, so I should thank you."

"I… I guess you're welcome?" Hainin asked, looking up at Nazir in confusion. In a rather loud whisper, he asked, "Who's he?"

"This is Elgrim," Nazir told him, nodding to the alchemist. "He owns the apothecary in Riften, which is currently where you are."

"Oh." Hainin glanced around the room. "Interesting."

"Why?" Vilkas asked, and the Listener shrugged.

"I don't really know what happened after I killed Ziris, but I'm almost positive someone came and carried me off to the Temple of Mara," Hainin answered, frowning slightly.

"Then you weren't completely out of it, after all," Cry said, and Hainin glanced up at her. "Aela was the one to carry you to the Temple. When the priests and the court mage couldn't help you, she brought you here instead."

"Oh." Hainin's expression softened. "What was Aela doing in Riften?"

"I sent her after you as a backup plan," Vilkas explained, "and I suppose you're lucky I did."

"I'll have to thank her," Hainin said after a moment's thought. "Is she still here? Of course she is; everyone is probably here, because you're here." This was said to Cry, who smiled slightly in response, and nodded in agreement. "Yep."

Hainin had seemed to remind Vilkas of something, because the Companion's expression changed. He glanced at Cry, and nudged her with his shoulder. "I need to speak with you," he said, softly, and Cry frowned, but nodded in agreement.

"Wait, wait, speak about what?" Hainin asked as they started to leave the back room. "I want to hear!"

Vilkas looked at Nazir, and the Redguard started at the Companion's expression. Apparently, Vilkas knew about Nazir's assassination attempt, and he also knew who one of the other conspirators was.

Nazir glanced at Hainin, who was frowning as he gazed up at him. "What?" he asked, and Nazir let out a breath, before looking at Vilkas and Cry once more.

"You can tell him," he said, quietly. "He'll find out eventually."

"Tell me what?" Hainin demanded, glancing between him and the two Companions. "What are you talking about?"

"So they were the one who hired you?" Vilkas asked Nazir, who nodded in agreement.

"We met when I came to Jorrvaskr while looking for Hainin last year," the Redguard explained. "Later on, they contacted me again, with the plan."

"Who contacted you? What plan?" Hainin shuffled on the bed, doing whatever he could to get their attention. "Tell me!"

Nazir looked at Cry, who let out a breath and returned to the bedside. "Nazir was going to try to kill me while we were in Solitude," she told Hainin, quietly. "He didn't, obviously, and the only reason he even considered it was because they threatened you, too, and the Brotherhood."

Hainin looked confused. He slowly shook his head. "No, that can't - that isn't true." He looked up at Nazir. "Right? It's not true?"

Nazir had his eyes closed. "It's true," he said, softly. "I… I didn't want anything to happen to you, so I… I planned to kill her right before the final Moot decision, but… I couldn't do it, because I knew that you'd never forgive me if you'd found out it was me." He opened his eyes and met Hainin's. "You know I'd never do anything to hurt you, and I didn't, in the end. The only reason I even considered it was because they told me they would do something to you, and I couldn't… I can't lose you, Hainin."

The Listener didn't say anything for a long moment. Everyone waited, silently, for him to speak. After a time, Elgrim cleared his throat.

"Perhaps we should let the young men speak in private," he suggested.

Babette was the first one to scurry out of the back room, Elgrim quickly behind her. Hafjorg, who'd been peering into the room from the front of the shop, retreated back around the wall. Vilkas and Cry remained behind a few moments longer, glancing between the two assassins. Cry only moved when Vilkas gave her a nudge on the small of her back, and led her from the room.

There was still silence, even when Nazir and Hainin were alone. Nazir waited at the edge of the bed, not watching Hainin, but he could feel the Imperial's gaze on him.

After some time, Hainin inhaled, slightly, and Nazir risked glancing at him.

"I just… I appreciate that you didn't kill her," he said, slowly, "but… I don't understand how you could even consider it, knowing how important she is to me, and to a lot of other people. Do you know how much pain you would've caused, had you gone through with it? I never would've been able to forgive you, and you would've lost me, anyhow."

"I know that now," Nazir said, his voice soft. "I… I regret ever thinking that killing her was even an option."

Hainin was silent again, and Nazir waited, not knowing what else there was to say.

"Red, you… you mean the world to me," Hainin began after some time, "and… it hurts that you would consider killing my best friend, because that's what she is." He glanced at the Redguard. "I can't help but feel like that might be another reason you considered it, because you were jealous."

Nazir didn't respond, and Hainin released a pained breath. "I knew it."

"It doesn't matter," Nazir started, "because I know it was stupid of me to ever feel that way. I had no reason to be jealous of Cry, because of multiple reasons, but the biggest one is the fact that I know that you… you…" He trailed off, not knowing how to phrase it, and bowed his head. "I know that you'd never pick someone over me, if that makes sense, and so I wasn't going to pick someone over you, and that's why I didn't kill her, because I weighed my choices, and I decided I'd rather protect you from wannabe assassins than lose you forever."

"But that's the problem, Red!" Hainin sighed in exasperation. "The fact that you'd think I'd ever leave you willingly is ridiculous. The fact that you'd think I'd let some idiots kill me without putting up a fight is ridiculous. I'd never leave you. That's what I was talking about when I said I was in love with you."

Nazir didn't know what to say to that, and so he didn't say anything. He merely gazed at Hainin, who reached for his hand. Nazir allowed him to take it.

"I'm pissed at you," the Listener told him, quietly, "but that's also a part of being in love, because I'll get over it, eventually. You're incredibly lucky that you didn't actually kill her."

Nazir released a relieved breath. "I know," he agreed under his breath, "but I've never thought that I'm an idiot, so -"

"Oh, cut it out with that arrogant attitude of yours," Hainin said sternly. "That's my staple."

Nazir smiled, slightly, and leaned down when Hainin beckoned him to. The Listener pressed a kiss to his lips, and then whispered against them: "Who was it?"

Nazir pulled back. "Who was what?"

"Who was the one to talk to you about killing Cry?" Hainin elaborated, and Nazir exhaled.

"Her name is Ria," he said. "She's part of the Companions; from what she told me, she was in the Companions even before Cry was, but Cry was made a true Companion before her, and she didn't appreciate that, for lack of better words."

"Ah, so it was jealousy on her end, too?"

Nazir tilted his head as he settled down on the edge of the bed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Ziris wanted Cry dead because she was jealous of her," Hainin explained. "It sounds like Ria wanted her dead for the same reason."

"She told you that?"

"Well, no." Hainin rolled his eyes. "She ranted about how she hated love, how it made everyone weak. She said she was tired of how much love Cry has, but I think she was actually jealous that Cry has so much love, and that she's able to return it."

"I see." Nazir smiled slightly. "I assumed that was the case."

"Yeah, well… that's how it is, usually. Someone's jealous of someone else, wants what they have, or wants them dead. Maybe both, if they can manage it," Hainin said with a shrug. He then shivered. "Ooh, chills."

"That'll probably happen until you get rid of whatever poison is still inside you," Babette said as she walked into the room again, cradling a few things. "I told Cry and Vilkas to go to the Bee and Barb. You should join them, Nazir, when you can."

Nazir snorted, which told her exactly what he thought of that: if Hainin couldn't go, he wasn't going, either.

"Thank you for helping me, Babette," Hainin said, and that seemed to bring the vampire to a pause. "Really. I know I usually make jokes about this kind of thing, but I'm being genuine. I really appreciate it."

Babette was quiet for a moment, and then she snorted. "You should thank Nazir," she said. "He was the one who came up with the counter-poison."

Hainin looked up at the Redguard, who shrugged one shoulder. "I wasn't about to lose you because no one could think of the obvious," he said, and Hainin grinned.

"I love you," he said, and Nazir smiled back.

"I know, and I love you, too."

Babette gagged, and the two of them laughed.


Well, Hainin's fine, and that's good! And he knows that Nazir was going to kill Cry way back in part one, but he didn't, and that's also good!

Some foreshadowing in this chapter. We'll see if anyone catches it later on, when this whole thing is over.

If you haven't already, go check out that new story I uploaded to A Collection of Stories. It could use some love.

Next time on A Story's Conclusion: The End, Cry and Vilkas find out it was Ria the whole time, and they decide how best to handle this information.