Author's Note: Thank you all again so much for your patience and encouragement! I hope you enjoy this chapter - I'm a bit nervous about it and the ones to come since action isn't my strong suit, but I'll do my best! :D

"Me. And you, two in one, almost, almost…"

The man hovered over me, pinning down my arms, eyes feverishly bright. Face familiar. The man - the man who'd been staring at me, at the meeting of the Black Hand. I searched my mind for a name, shuddering as he stared before hissing and trying desperately to throw him off with a shriek. Shadowmere screamed, lurching up on her back legs before the man threw a spell, making her crumple. I gasped as he turned his stare back on me.

"Shh! Enough." I froze as the tip of his dagger nipped at my throat, cruelly sharp. "Don't make me hurt you, sweet Maria, not again. Soon enough it'll be over, soon…"

"I'm not Maria." I spoke softly, my words severed by the sharp edge of his blade. "You've got the wrong person, I'm not - my name is - "

The man moved abruptly, making me cringe. He stared at the ceiling, face contorted in - anger? Disgust? He spoke above. "Dust, that's her speaking, she will be nothing but ash and dust, my sweet. All the impure will be burned away, and you'll come back to me…"

"You're mad." I spat and twisted furiously as he forced me down again, far stronger. "Who are you?" My eyes fell to his blade. Ebony - with the sprig of nightshade. "…You're of them, too. The Dark Brotherhood. You're the traitor."

"Lies!" He lashed out at my suddenly, his hand closing around my throat. I choked, eyes open wide as he leaned in to hiss. "I wear their mask to stop them, to avenge all they've hurt. My sweet mother, my Maria." He pulled back, hand slowly loosening, to hold my gaze instead. "You see, Maria?" He spoke past me, somehow, to something beyond me. "They force my hand. But someone must take up the sword of justice, someone must…"

"You think killing me will bring - justice? Bring this girl back?" I half insulted, half pleaded, praying my voice didn't betray my fear. "I'm - I'm sorry if they killed her and your mother…" I choked on a sudden lump in my throat before regaining what little composure I had. "…But this won't fix it, this won't…"

"Oh, but it will." He stood, smiling sweetly, baring unnaturally sharp teeth. Jagged and filed, like the teeth of a rat. I shuddered. He moved his gaze upward again, mumbling. "The girl will bring her own mother, and I'll kill her, too, like she killed mine, yes. And the filthy mother-killer will come, and we'll kill him slowly especially, my sweet, slowly and bittersweetly…" He turned his gaze on me once more, eyes bright. "Abelle, and Lachance. You'll stay here, for now, and the Dust girl can listen, listen to them scream as I flay their flesh from their bones, and I'll return for you…"

Mum. Lucien. The fear I'd never understood before, the fear they shared, rose jagged in my throat and spilled through my lips as white hot fury. "Stay the hell away from them, you son of a bitch!"

He spoke on, speaking quickly, eyes shining. "I'll have Maria back, and we'll run away, and we'll have the family mother always wanted, make her proud, avenge her…"

"You're rambling again, Bellamont."

"Ah." The door creaked open behind us, and his - Bellamont's head perked. I craned my neck to peer past him, trying to make out who had spoken as my breath rushed from me in panic. I could see no one - until the door closed, and the shape materialized, idly gazing at a ring before walking towards us. "You're back. Are you ready?"

"Yes. But I'd prefer not to be here for your revenge exacting and all that nonsense. I shall wait out here, and prepare." That voice, I knew that voice. A distant memory that wasn't so distant at all. My skin crept, eyes open wide and seeing, not comprehending. Robes, dark skin, red eyes cool and careless, attention turned to Bellamont. "Do try not to die, I'm rather interested in finishing this little experiment."

Experiment, I thought wildly. Experiment…

Footsteps, and he moved towards me, kneeling slightly, head tilted. Dark bangs over his face, eyes slitted.

"Bolor."

He spoke, though kept his gaze on me before inclining his head. Impartial and cool. "Good evening, Dust."

This. I sat petrified, breath frozen in my lungs. This is unreal, this can't be real, Bolor here and…

"Stay here, then," Bellamont breathed as he approached the door. "The battle won't last long." An eerie grin. "Abelle, I can kill. Quickly. But Lachance - Lachance will suffer. I will take my time with him, and you can prepare the ritual."

I screamed, an inhuman sound, trying to rise only to have Bolor stun me with a spell, forcing me back. "Leave mum alone!" I strained, my voice cracking as Bolor knelt beside me. I froze as Bellamont turned, eyes fixed on me like a beast on its prey.

"You'll know." He whispered, slowly and softly, as though telling me some dark secret. "You will know what it is to lose your mother. But then, then we'll be…" He trailed off before casting a spell, cloaking himself in invisibility as he left, muttering to himself and fingering the blade on his side.

"Better to let him alone when he gets like that, I find." I stared dumbly at Bolor as he spoke, gazing at the door, seated lazily in the straw. "I wouldn't suggest running. The mountains are cold, dark and treacherous. You'd likely be eaten by bears, and I've put too much effort into this for something so trivial to stop me." With long fingers he pulled something from his robes - a scroll, scratched with writing and strange symbols. And a soul gem.

"Can't run. I have to help them." I spoke without emotion, as though reciting a lesson. "Bolor…" At last weakness crept into my words. "What's happening?"He eyed me calmly, my throat dredged as I gazed up at him. I thought I should feel something for him, anything - hatred, affection, love - but only confusion stayed with me, confusion and fear. I didn't dare try to escape, or fight. Stay calm, a part of me whispered. Find out what's going on. Plan. "Why are you doing this?"

"Knowledge, of course. And curiosity. Isn't that what's damned us both, time and time again?"

"…Yes."

"And still, you want to know more."

I looked up again, a cool calmness settling in me. "Yes."

He raised a brow and stood, pacing like a wolf by the door. "There is little left to say. I left, made way for Morrowind, but caught word of something better. I found a clan of Necromancers in a cave nearby. That man - " He pointed his chin to the side, to the cottage - "Came by and requested our services. He wanted us to repair the body of his dead lover. From what I observed, he tried to cremate her and regretted it." As I shuddered at the image, he shrugged. "The body was beyond repair. But he had captured her soul, in a gem. And he made an interesting proposal."

"Maria," I whispered to myself. I remember now. The missing girl, the Sister. "He killed her. He's the traitor."

"I pay little mind to their affairs." He shrugged. "But his proposal - to try and revive the girl's soul in another body - was interesting. He needed a young, dark-haired woman. With blue eyes." He focused on me, frowning. "And considering our little relationship, I thought you were suitable to suggest. As I understand it, that Speaker he's always babbling about was to kill you, and to give your body to me. As a favour, to Bellamont, to me." He gazed calmly, too calmly.

You were my first love, I whispered inside. My first dear friend, my teacher. And now I'm your experiment. I tried to speak, but couldn't muster the energy. All that seemed so long ago, now.

What matters now. The voice spoke again, strangely different from mine. Focus on now, Dust. Mum, and Lucien. Bellamont must be taking his time, or must have silenced them… I shuddered at the thought. Please be safe. Please.

"So I am to attempt to transfer the girl's soul into your body." He interrupted my thoughts. "It will be a complex ritual, but fascinating for me to attempt."

Because of me?" I finally spoke, forcing sound from my lips. "Did you want to kill me so badly all this time? Because I would have betrayed you?"

"…No, Dust." His eyes softened, and for a moment I thought I saw the man I'd known before it vanished. "Because I value knowledge above all else, and because my art is my first love. I would have liked you by my side, once." He stood upright, a hand against the door. "But that was some time ago."

He chose. Mum chose. I dragged a hand over my face before jerking, startled by a sudden crash. Mum. Gods, mum, please...

"Ah. That will be them, I suppose." He sighed and leaned back once more. "I am sorry, you know."

I nodded and stood as well, brushing strands of hay that clung to my robe away. He raised a brow.

"…Why J'adore?"

He stiffened, inhaling through his nostrils, closing his eyes. After a long, still moment, he spoke. "It was Bretony. To love, to adore someone deeply. I thought it was suitable."

"Not anymore."

"No."

I gazed at him, lips pursed. "…But not hate, either."

"…No."

"My mum is out there," I whispered. "My - " My friend? My partner? My infuriating Speaker? "…I can't let them die. I have to help."

A breath, through his teeth, tinged into a silvery fog. "Your compassion always was your folly, you know. You could have been brilliant. But it infected all of your work - in my classes, in your progression. With my creation at the university, because it was in pain." He moved, walking towards Shadowmere still paralyzed on the ground, raising a brow and stroking down her side - dispelling?

I cringed at another sound, a hoarse shout. Lucien, or Bellamont? I couldn't tell. "I'll burn my way out, if I have to." I stared at him hard, croaking. "I'll kill you, if I have to."

"Hah." A laugh without mirth, but without cruelty. He sighed. "If you'd paid attention in my lessons, you'd know I resist fire, being Dunmer." He looked upward again, speaking as though to himself. "But this old barn - it would crumble and burn like tinder. You would need to watch for the rafters, but a good Alteration spell would protect you from the flames.."

A shiver moved up me as I stared. "…Bolor?"

"And I, of course, would disappear. I am rather good at that. Should that madman live, I'll be long gone by the time he realizes I survived." Another spell moved from his hands - command. Shadowmere, once baring her teeth as he reached for her, suddenly went dull-eyed. He moved easily, sitting astride." The fire would destroy any evidence I could have left." He threw aside the scroll he'd held, the soul gem, and gazed at me mildly." I believe I shall borrow this fine mare for the journey to the cave, though I'll send her back." A raised brow - critical and sharp and reproving and kind. Teacher. "Well. What are you waiting for?"

There was nothing to stop me. Pressing myself against the wall and squeezing my eyes shut, I spoke a single word that licked flames along my tongue and singed my lips, and set the world ablaze.