Oh, Mother! I have not gotten the proper time to appreciate your return to me - how wonderful it is to see you again! I thank the Mad God for this. Even if you are... nothing more than mere bone... and you are still yet to speak... I thought this would never be! I thought I would never hold you once more.
I do not know how he procured you. Or was he spouting insanities again? Is this even you? - no. No, it is you, I know it! It has to be.
Even with you here, I am quickly doubting you care to speak even now.
But it will be another long night - Agmaer, Durak and I remaining vigilant with the threat of hidden pursuers. This may be one of the only rests I'll be able to savor - and I do so desire to spend it talking to one I love.
What a day it was! It did not let up once I ran the Mad God's course; Agmaer and Durak came soon after to tell me the leads they discovered pointing to a cave eastward. Dimhollow Crypt, as we've heard it called. And it was just as Isran predicted - the fiends were seeking an asset of great power within the depths. We cut through the vampires and their shrouded hounds, the draugr, and the spiders almost... beautifully. Like a deadly dance. And when we reached the end of the dance, in the main chamber lied what they were so bent on obtaining: another one of their kind. Serana, an ancient vampire sealed away with an ancient, unfathomable power.
Ha! It was so easy to lead her on. She promised answers once we escorted her to her home - but we knew better than to trust that. How daft could we be to give the fiends what they've sought after? To stroll into the enemy's hands?
So we feigned innocence. Waited so patiently, painstakingly, as it always is...
... And lunged when she least expected it! Hahahaha!
Unfortunately, our task only grows more perilous from thereon. We will have to make haste for Fort Dawnguard; the Elder Scroll we now possess is no doubt an item of interest, and we cannot predict how long it will be before the fiend's ilk might come across her.
Tsk, tsk... and they believed they could ambush us in their precious shadows. A shame they thought a damn fireball wouldn't make them as apparent as blood on a wedding dress. Tch! And these were the fools that were sent to kill us? Their leader truly must be as dense as Astrid...
No matter. This makes them three corpses closer to their ultimate ruin! Ha!
... Hm... Agmaer and Durak busy themselves elsewhere... perhaps I will get a small taste of irony tonight. I remember once hearing that you are what you eat...
Mommy i so afrade. were ar yu mommy? i cant see and the ground is all sqishy and i hear monsters evrywer!
I saw him, Mother.
These marshes are alive with the call of hidden threats. It is not safe. We may have advanced well ahead of any pursuing fiends in our restless trek from Haafingar - but we are still as vulnerable as ever! Unguarded from the creatures, the fog that hides them, and the muddy ground that halts our speed. I could not trust these signs. I opted to stay awake all night.
Not long! Not long, and something passed the mouth of this dark wretched hole where we rest. I thought it was a creature. The sounds had been drawing ever closer throughout the night. But no. Nonono, I was wrong! It was something far worse.
It was him, Mother.
He appeared as a light, a glint. Twice, thrice I saw it flicker and fade and taunt. It was foolish to even think of stepping out, luring myself to the beasts as I now know it wished for. But just as I passed it off as a trick of my sleepless mind - I heard a whisper. Right in front of me! And when I heard that voice... I could not stop myself, Mother. The light flared and fled but I followed it. Through the marsh, past the trees, the creatures - farther and father until the light suddenly stopped and I finally saw its shape, its face.
I saw him!
He looked at me, Mother. Looked me straight in the eyes and laughed. He laughed at me, Mother! Oh, I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help it. I tried to grab him, force him to the ground and make him spit answers but I passed right through him. And then he just disappeared! Nowhere to be seen. He didn't even lay a finger on me - no, he let the agitated beasts find me first.
They were relentless! I do not know how many I managed to slay, but as soon as I found an opening, I slipped through and fled into Morthal. So here I lay, at the inn, as if scarcely anything happened.
I'm not accepting that. I know that was Lachance, I'd know him anywhere! And that means our plight proves more fruitless yet. For is it truly vengeance if the man you lived to kill walks the world again? Tch. Of course the Void would spit out one of its most loyal lackeys... I wonder what this means, that both he and I are to live again?
Oh, Mother, I'd like to believe that means we'll just have to serve him his second death.
A/N: Don't mind this - just my story crawling out of the grave with another chapter after, like, one month short of a year. Again. I think?
So a big divergence in canon implied here, regarding Serana - and Lucien, to a (slightly) lesser extent. What is Lucien Lachance doing roaming about in a swamp? Was he expecting Mathieu? Did those Dawnguard bastards really just murder Skyrim fans' collective waifu and run off with her Elder Scroll? Things to think about.
Honestly, I've been considering giving this story a revamp, to help reignite my enthusiasm for it. Rather than restricting it to a diary/journal format, it'd be a full-fledged... well, novelization. Obviously, this would be a huge undertaking, so I've also considered the alternative of keeping the format unchanged, but writing these descriptive "chapters" to give myself ideas for entries more naturally, in a sense.
I don't know. Just something I've been thinking about.