A/N: This chapter has undergone minor revisions since the release of the final chapter of this story. Note revised chapters may be inconsistent with reviews and with author's notes from unrevised chapters.

Sun's Height 7, 4E1

(Fights-up-close): Hero Hill

I knew I wouldn't be sleeping tonight. I had to wonder what all this information would feel like once I had slept and processed it all. It felt horrible enough now, and I feared sleeping might only make it worse.

Chances are it was technically morning already, though the night was black as could be. Without night-eye, it made no difference if my eyes were opened or closed; just blackness or darkly colored static could be seen ahead.

Their last moments kept playing in head. Gogron's surprise fall. Ocheeva's writhing in pain. Telandril's last words. Antoniette's sobs. Vincenti's neck being pierced. Tienaava's bleeding. The guilt stabbed me each time an image entered my head. All I could do was wince wait for it to finish its discipline. What a monster I must have looked like during their last moments! But I had been under orders. I just would have liked for them to know that.

At last I was next to the moss covered rock. Apparently there was a hollow area in it.

I began to feel around for this, even though my thoughts were elsewhere, and my reactions were slowed. I would be living without a family now. With that knowledge, I didn't feel like I could take comfort in anything.

Finally I found the hollow area. In it was a piece of paper. The new stage my life's "dark journey". Certainly it felt like a journey. All the trials, the devastating epiphanies, the way my view of the world was constantly getting reworked, the exhaustion. There was a sense of progress, but progress towards something frightening. The rough edges of my personality had probably been smoothed by all this, but what lessons I learned would be of no use by now.

I looked over the dead drop, though I had trouble focusing, and only took little of it in:

Silencer,

You are now reading...which proves to me you were well-appointed to the...ahead.

Your first assignment requires you to eliminate not just one target, but five. An entire family, in fact. The unlucky siblings are... The locations of most of the family members are unknown, so you ... resides at the farm called Applewatch, a farm which should be...

You must discern...and find out if she has any valuable information on the whereabouts of her children, before ending her life.

When ... Chorrol for your next dead drop. At the foot of the Great Oak, hidden in the bushes, is an old sack. Inside ... information regarding your next contract.

Serve me well, Silencer, and there's no telling just how far you might advance.

No telling how far I might advance? It gave me more of a sense of hated-duty than promise of glory. Then again, accomplishing anything no longer made me feel glorious. It was just another frustrating reminder about what being a loyal servant of Sithis really meant, and to the dead family members, I looked like quite the opposite. Their last moments only saw my nastiness.

I had to read the contract again, because the first time through I didn't take much of it in.

I read the contract once more, trying to decide exactly what I was going to do:

Silencer,

You are now reading your first dead drop note, here on Hero Hill, which proves to me you were well-appointed to the tasks that lie ahead.

Your first assignment requires you to eliminate not just one target, but five. An entire family, in fact. The unlucky siblings are Perennia Draconis, Matthias Draconis, Andreas Draconis, Sibylla Draconis and Caelia Draconis. The locations of most of the family members are unknown, so you should begin your search with the family matron, Perennia, who resides at the farm called Applewatch, a farm which should be visible from the North-West corner of the city walls.

You must discern the locations of all the Draconis family members and then systematically eliminate them. I suggest you first speak with the mother and find out if she has any valuable information on the whereabouts of her children, before ending her life.

When every member of the Draconis family lies dead, journey to the city of Chorrol for your next dead drop. At the foot of the Great Oak, hidden in the bushes, is an old sack. Inside you will find your reward for killing the Draconis family, as well as information regarding your next contract.

Serve me well, Silencer, and there's no telling just how far you might advance.

Oddly, I noticed the name "Caelia Draconis" wrung a bell, but I couldn't remember where I'd last heard that.

For once, I felt like I had a choice about this contract. That's the last thing I wanted, though: more calculating, more abstract thinking. Now that the question had come to mind, though, I knew I had to give it further consideration. To do otherwise would be weakness: damnable weakness, weakness of the soul. Should I really continue to follow the man who'd ordered me to kill the entire sanctuary, including two Shadowscales?

It seemed like so much work to think like this, but it was wrong to keep following blindly.

I tried to remember when all this questioning started.

It was with Goes-in-heavy's betrayal. That opened the doors to bitter enlightenment, or perhaps malicious insanity. I needed to find out which:

He told me the Dark Brotherhood would take any contract that was backed up with money. He told me the Argonian Royal Court had deceived me, that we didn't protect or serve the tribals. He told me they shielded us from the world because knowing too much would cause betrayal. And it got to me, but the target of the contract I received right after hearing his case clearly deserved death. But what about Primo and Dovesi? They seemed to have sacrificed themselves for me, proving they had hearts for justice. Then I was nearly killed carrying out the assignment against Philida. Then the Purification came. Three times in a row it seemed the assignment I was given was...questionable. But was that a valid reason to betray? Oh how I hated these thoughts! It was happening again. My mind started out fluent, then the questions began to dominate the answers the longer I thought.

But what about the contracts before that? The pirate? He likely deserved death. Valen Dreth seemed to have been plotting something as well. Baenlin...I wasn't sure about.

It was three to three. If I had trusted these people my whole life, that should be sufficent.

I pledged to carry out the contract, shaking off the nagging doubt that proceeded the decision, because that seemed to come after every decision I made these days.

I'd made my decision. I tried to block out any other thoughts about it.

Now that I was done with that though, it brought me back to the blunt truth that I was going to be living without a family. Even so, it was a truth I had to face and, perhaps, eventually desensitize myself to it. But I knew it would be a while before I could do that when it proved so saddening right now.

I put the contract back in its original resting place, figuring the hiding spot was concealed enough, and the letter was ambiguous enough. Off to Bruma.

I turned to the North-West.

I thought I heard a faint male voice in the distance. It was just on the threshold of inaudible. It sounded familiar, but it was so subtle, I concluded I could have imagined it. Maybe staying up this late was taking a toll on me, even when I felt perfectly awake.

(Learns-fast): Approaching Hero Hill

I thought back to my days as a Royal Guardsman as we ascended the steep hill with my torch lighting our way. My dream of ascending to the top of the Shadowscale program so that I would be permitted to retire to the Royal Palace was now seeming less believable. It felt like I'd stumbled into a nightmare instead.

I could feel nothing but discomfort with the two Shadowscales trailing behind me. I was totally baffled as to what I should tell them. Lucien Lachance, no doubt, was like a father to both of them. And Fights-up-close? I didn't know what to tell them about her either. She was under orders, so her behavior was, ironically, exactly what the Argonian Royal Court encouraged in its subjects, yet I felt like I couldn't tell that to either of the boys, especially when Cleaver just saw his sister die by her hand.

I'd let them think what they wanted about her for now, but I knew I had to make sure they didn't hurt her. Even so, I had a feeling I'd be seeing some ugly aspects of human nature soon enough. Worse, these were things I felt no eagerness to deny them. It would be tough to muster up the nerve to tell them to let the agent who'd killed the Cheydinhal sanctuary go unpunished. Not so much for Survey's-from-above, but for Cleaver. He was going through much worse than his younger counter-part: in his condition, I knew this journey would be strenuous, and I'd only given him a few minutes of rest and extra water to compensate. I was demanding a lot from him even though he was no longer in my possession according to the pact I signed with the Dark Brotherhood. I just had to hope the two Shadowscales realized they needed to hold back from the temptations that would be nagging at them and that they were strong enough to do it.

I had to hope we made the right move by avoiding Fort Farragut and heading straight to Hero Hill as well. Already I could tell Lucien had become the enemy. We were already planning against him, not just planning to gather information on him.

Slowly a moss-covered rock was coming into view. It was likely the one Tienaava was talking about, and held promise to further our investigation, bringing us closer to a surreal goal; to find and possibly kill Lucien Lachance.

Our climb was almost about to end. As I got closer I could see the rock looked a bit abnormal. It was odd to think a hollowed rock on a hill I was surprised even had a name could hold answers to one of the greatest mysteries I'd ever faced, but it seemed to be the case. Either way, it was far from the only wonder the night held.

When I finally made it to the top, I noticed the rock seemed to have a "lid" on it, moss covered as well.

I removed the covering on the rock. It was certainly an interesting hiding spot, and it was things like this that made the Dark Brotherhood fascinating. That fascination was what caused me to make the mistake of taking up a position in the Shadowscale program, though.

Inside was a note, completely alone, pointing all significance at a mere piece of paper. Just like everything in this business, it was small and light, but held great power when used intelligently:

Silencer,

You are now reading your first dead drop note, here on Hero Hill, which proves to me you were well-appointed to the tasks that lie ahead.

Your first assignment requires you to eliminate not just one target, but five. An entire family, in fact. The unlucky siblings are Perennia Draconis, Matthias Draconis, Andreas Draconis, Sibylla Draconis and Caelia Draconis. The locations of most of the family members are unknown, so you should begin your search with the family matron, Perennia, who resides at the farm called Applewatch, a farm which should be visible from the North-West corner of the city walls.

You must discern the locations of all the Draconis family members and then systematically eliminate them. I suggest you first speak with the mother and find out if she has any valuable information on the whereabouts of her children, before ending her life.

When every member of the Draconis family lies dead, journey to the city of Chorrol for your next dead drop. At the foot of the Great Oak, hidden in the bushes, is an old sack. Inside you will find your reward for killing the Draconis family, as well as information regarding your next contract.

Serve me well, Silencer, and there's no telling just how far you might advance.

I froze after I finished the letter. Silencer. I'd heard of that rank. Fights-up-close had become Lucien's personal assassin...yet it was odd that the two of them were still using Black Hand rankings. How much did the Black Hand know?

The rest of the letter brought up even more questions than answers. My heart rate increased. Why was he targeting the entire Draconis family right after exterminating the Cheydinhal sanctuary? I only recognized one name: Caelia Draconis. She was a Leyawiin Guard Captain. He's planning on assassinating her right after Philida? He's sending Fights-up-close to do the job again? What if she is spotted again?

I wanted to forget about this all, but obviously I couldn't. Waves of dread were coming over me as I realized the next course of action was not obvious. I knew I couldn't ask either of the Shadowscales for advice, especially not Surveys-from-above; that would send the wrong message.

I hated Lucien Lachance for his arrogance. It sickened me, and it was hard to think with that on my mind.

I stood staring at the paper, pretending to still be reading it. What should we do?

The best course of action was to head to Applewatch ourselves, I decided. Maybe, just maybe, we could find Fights-up-close there. But we couldn't sleep. Not tonight. We needed to further our mission.

I turned back to the Cleaver and Surveys-from-above.

"I read it. We need to go up North-West, to a city called Bruma"

I began walking in that direction, expecting them to follow. I tried not to show all the bizarre emotions that were going through my head at the moment. They probably had enough of their own.