An: It's been a long hard summer for me and school is going to start in a while and updates will become few and far in between. Enjoy!

Arya sat on the ground looking toward the deep blue sky, her face blank of all emotions. She closed her eyes and let the memories come to her…

Again she stood at the edge of a balcony, waiting. It had only been a week since the kiss and she had hoped eagerly for it to happen again. She closed her eyes and sighed, Brom was where her love lied, not in someone else. She loved no one but him. She heard the familiar footsteps approaching her again. She whipped around in earnest to greet him.

"Arya…Such a surprise to see you here." Brom said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why do you wait for me here?"

"Last I checked it wasn't wrong to stand here." Arya huffed in defiance, her soft gaze suddenly became firm.

"Cool it hot head. I never said it was wrong, but you've been here every day since…well…that day…"

"And your point?"

"I won't do it again…Your love lies in someone else…"

"Well who is that then?! I love no one but you!"

"A boy."

"You. You are a boy. My love lies in you."

"No…it doesn't."

"Then who?" Arya begged to the retreating back of Brom. "Who?!"

"Not me." Brom called back to her. "A boy."

Arya stomped her foot and called him words unspeakable to the Varden. She turned heel and stomped the other way, fuming in her arrogance. When she returned home she lay on her bed and let a cascade of tears flow onto her pillow. She knew her love was in him. She loved no one but him. Then it hit her. Who said he was born yet.

Arya winced at the painful memory. She had snuffed it out the day she had set eyes on Eragon, only then did she get the meaning of what Brom had told her. Murtagh moaned and Arya went to his aid.

"What hurts?" Arya asked, with care in her voice.

"My head… It's killing me…" Murtagh moaned as his hand went to his head.

"Relax. I'm here to help."

"N…NO! Don't touch me!"

Arya withdrew and looked at the writhing form beside her. His body was covered in a light sheen of sweat, and his fingers clenched his head over and over again. He moaned and then fell into a fitful sleep. Arya reflected on the incident that had happened not too long ago,

Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light and a low hum surrounded them. They soon found themselves in a chilly stone room. There was a large chair in front of them. Suddenly they landed with a soft thump on the cool floor.

"Are theses the people I have heard so much about in these last few years?" A deep and dark voice echoed through the room.

"Yes, my lord. They are yours for the taking." The changer said.

"Thank you, my faithful servant." The voice said as the changer bowed. Suddenly Eragon found himself being lifted up by what was left of his shirt. "Let me test you."

Suddenly Eragon felt a presence in his mind. It was rooting around his memories as if he was looking for something.

"Ah…no fear except for what…Ah…yes"

"N…NO!!!!!!" Eragon yelled as the unbearable pain from his injuries returned at the flick of his captors wrist. As suddenly as it had come, the presence, left. Eragon's vision returned. Then the pain hit him head on, and he collapsed. As he fell Arya ran to intercept him. She grunted at the force of his fall and lowered him to the ground."He is we…" The voice began, but never finished. There was a loud roar so joined by another one. Then two large shapes burst into the room. Arya looked up. Her eyes full of tears. The changers face, once full of hatred, was now a mask of shock. There in the once wall, now hole, stood two dragons. One and iridescent red and the other a brilliant blue.

"Saphira! Thorn!" Arya cried as the changer and his master fled from the scene. Saphira began to go after the changer but Arya's words stopped her, "They can wait! I need your help!"

'Let it be so.' Saphira said as she turned around. 'Let it be so.'

Arya loaded Eragon and Murtagh's bodies to Thorn and mounted Thorn.

"Hurry!" Arya cried "Find a Clearing!"

Arya tried, with all her might, too figure out what had happened. As far as she knew there had been no successor of Galbatorix. Was the changer lying? Suddenly Arya felt a presence behind her. She turned around and looked into the calm eyes of Eragon.

"E…Eragon!" Arya stuttered. "You scared me!"

"I'm sorry." Eragon replied.

"How do you feel?"

"Better."

They sat in silence for a while, and once more Arya found herself looking into the eyes of moved closer, their noses almost touching.

"May I?" Eragon asked, want in his voice. Arya was stunned. She wanted it so badly. She began to move her head and suddenly there was a loud sound. Eragon moved his head away in the direction of where Murtagh was supposed to lay but found nothing. Only a receding dot in the sky. "NO! Murtagh!"

"This is never good." Arya muttered.

"We need to go!"

They left their belongings and mounted Saphira. She took off with a great leap, and she snapped her wings open. Lord, how he missed this feeling, of soaring through the clouds.

"ERAGON!" Saphira yelled. "Do not reminisce on old times! Keep focused on the present!"

"Yes, Saphira." He replied. "How I've missed you."

"Same have I."

"How are the eggs? May I see them?"

"Not now you…fool! Murtagh is getting away!"

"Oh…right…" Eragon muttered, his cheeks blushing. Saphira broke the connection.

"Eragon!" Arya yelled.

"Huh?"

"What is Murtagh doing?!"

"I…I don't know…"

At the castle of the changers…

"Ah…" The deep voice murmured. "My servant is returning."

There was a crash and a disheveled looking Murtagh entered the room. He brushed away the hair in his eyes and he greeted him.

"Good…good…" The changer mumbled as he walked in. "You did well, Murtagh."

"I work only to please." Murtagh answered.

Another crash resounded in the large room and Eragon and Arya entered.

"What on Earth do you think your doing!?" Eragon yelled.

"Eragon…" Arya whispered. "The changers are here…"

"Oh…No …"

"Murtagh! Run! The changers are here!"

"Oh…I know that…I've known all along." Murtagh sneered. "How do you think they found us so easily?"

"It was you." Arya accused.

"Yep."

"But you swore…"

"I lied." Murtagh laughed.

"If I can't trust myself…what made you think you could trust me?"

"I thought you'd changed." Eragon muttered.

"Those nights…"

Again he woke to his brother's sobs and tonight he wasn't going to sit and listen. He was going to take action.

"Eragon…I'm so sorry…" Murtagh said, tears rolling down his face. Suddenly he felt the weight of Eragon's hand on his shoulder. He gasped and his barriers collapsed. Suddenly he felt pain beyond that of any he'd ever felt rack his body. He lifted a hand and place it on his head. Suddenly the pain receded and he was left with a terrible feeling. "Is this, brother, what you feel all the time?"

"No. This is worse." Eragon gasped. His arm was killing him.

"Move your arm." Murtagh commanded.

"No. I don't want you to run away."

"But…"

"Tell me why… you ran before, brother."

"Cause…I was afraid that…you…"

"I would what?"

"Not accept me as your brother."

"You will…always. . .be my brother… no matter what you've...done."

"Those nights are over!" Murtagh yelled. "I lied!"

"No…you didn't." Arya muttered. "The day you tried to kill yourself…"

As they neared where Murtagh was he was just beginning.

He slowly slide the noose over his head. As he secured the knot in it. His eyes were blurry with tears as he slowly moved the stump away. He moved the stump from under his feet and was dangling. A gruesome sight. His breaths were shallow and he was losing air. He just hung there. His eyes began to close as Eragon ran towards him. He shut his eyes, not believing the sight before him. Eragon couldn't move. He was too injured. It suddenly became dark and he gave up. Eragon took Zar'roc from its sheath on Murtagh's belt and sung at the rope he was dangling from. He hit his target and flung the sword away as he caught Murtagh.

"NO!!!" Eragon screamed. "NOOO!!!!"

Murtagh's body lay limp in his arms. His chest not rising. Thorn sensed death and left to die away from Eragon, to save him the pain.

"NOOO!!!" He cried again. Burying his face into Murtagh's chest. Tears were overflowing as he half sobbed, half talked into his chest. "N…o…d…d…don't die…I …I need…you… You… are my…brother…n...not…a traitor… Not to me. N…not...to…anyone…D…don't…die!"

Again tears overflowed and Murtagh's chest was wet with his tears.

"Again! All part of our plan!" Murtagh yelled, becoming flustered he held out his fist with the mark of a dragon rider on his palm. And yelled out a destructive spell. Eragon had no time to react. As the walls collapsed around him he yelled out to the retreating forms of Murtagh and the changers,

"You've become the very thing you swore you'd never be!"

And Murtagh just sneered, and then everything went black, blacker than the night sky outside.

"I'm going to die…" Eragon murmured.

An: So evil aren't I? Almost letting them kiss, a betrayal. What next? Hope you enjoyed. This took forever to finish!