Alright guys, I actually had a vaguely valid excuse this time sort of- In the past three weeks I have had four choir concerts, the showcase choir concert, three projects, a crap ton of homework and those stupid new tests that the state is doing this year, which, lucky us, our class (2015) gets to be the guinea pig for, and I had a play that I'm a pretty big part of.
The bad news about that: First off, we did High School Musical. Secondly, our "Troy Bolton" refused to take time at home to memorize his lines, work on his songs, actually sing, or really put in any effort, and he constantly hid behind his excuse of having a job, which, by the way, he only works two freaking days a week, he works for his dad and mows lawns. That's his only reason. And that description pretty much sums up how all of our guys and a good portion of the girls were treating this play, just with different excuses (I wanted a different part, I don't feel good, People are gonna make fun of me, I can't dance, ect.). As you can tell, the people in my choir irk me.
The good news: I was Ms. Darbus, which is pretty much the most fun role in the entire play. I get to be the insane and eccentric drama teacher. Of course, I'm going to be a younger Ms. Darbus without a doubt, we're knocking about thirty or fourty years off of her, b/c some of the things are creepy when I say them as a young teacher, they would be unbearably cougar-ish if I were to say them as an old lady. I totally hit on Coach Bolton, by the way. I'm not even kidding,
I really am creepy in some parts. Another good thing was that since no one else really gave too much of a crap, that only made me look better, and since I'm such an attention whore, that's great for me.
But whatever, you guys don't care about my life, you just want me to update, don't you? Well, lets get on with this then!
So, I finally got around to checking my reviews, and I got one that asked me if I was still updating, and I've gotta say, I laughed at that for a good while. For anyone here who's read any of my other fics or payed attention to me as an author for any amount of time, you guys know my habits. For those of you who don't I should probably say that I'm probably one of the worst people people about updating on this site, the only people worse than me are the ones who altogether abandon their fics! So, yeah. But, I figured that if someone was actually thinking that I was just going to leave this story as it is and abandon it, then it's probably time to stop being lazy and write the final chapter, especially considering it's finally summer!
For this last part, I had three different endings that I could have done, two extremes in two different directions and one in-the-middle-ish one. But I can't pick, so I'm just going to see what the story wants to do. So, without further stalling (not that I haven't already done an excessive amount of stalling already), I give you the fourth and FINAL part of "Better Than The Night Mother"
Begin!
I nearly jumped a mile high when I heard Astrid's dark, sultry voice address me with a familiar "Welcome home, dear Sister", as I returned to the sanctuary after another of several missions from Nazir. After that little incident from when Cicero first came to our sanctuary, I initially tried to avoid her, and it worked shockingly well for the first two days. Then, I heard Babette mention that she had been on a mission since the day after Cicero's arrival, and I realised that my not seeing her had nothing to do with my mediocre "avoiding-skills". It had been about a week since then, and she had been gone the entire time.
And that, my dear, is why I was so surprised to see her leaning against the archway like she normally did before... whatever it was that happened, happened, and to hear her actually speaking to me in the tone that she normally used- It felt almost as if what had happened a week ago had simply not even occured. Not knowing how else to take this, I simply lowered my gaze from the shocked stare that I had been giving her for a split second and replied "It's good to see you Sister. I trust you mission went well". Yeah, it wasn't particularly interesting or useful, but it was the only thing that I could think of when my mind kept trying to race back to the Encounter (caps intended) that we had had the day of Cicero's arrival. Well, actually, I suppose I could have asked what exactly that was last week and how she can just act like nothing even happened, but I've got a feeling that that might not go over so well at this given moment, especially after last week, so it's probably best that I said that instead.
There was a very short silence as I admired the pattern of the stone used to make the floor, feeling like if I looked up, I would become trapped in he gaze and be totally at her mercy one again. A small part of my mind, the part that had taken over that day informed me that I definitely should look up and let myself get trapped because I obviously hadn't disliked it last time. The larger part, namely the sane part, which had been overpowered in that particular moment but was in charge once again, told me to just keep looking down. I listened to the sane one. Finally, of all of the responses that she could have given me, she merely laughed! Laughed! It took all of my willpower to keep a pout off of my face at that, which worried me a bit.
Once her short laugh died down, she replied, her tone betraying her amusement in a way that her eyes probably would have if I had let myself look at them. "Yes, it went wonderfully, though I must tell you, my dear, that I've actually been home for the past three days." At that, I couldn't help but jerking my head up to look at her in shock.
"What?" I asked intelligently after a moment when she didn't elaborate and merely looked back at me through brown eyes that were surprisingly sweet looking. A smile flitted briefly across her lips at my reply before her eyes narrow and her lips pulled down into a frown that almost had me taking a step back, though I managed to control myself somehow.
"The fool of a jester, Cicero," She growled in answer, "I decided to use the extra time that I had before I absolutely had to be home to do some spying of my own. I've been sneaking around the sanctuary for the past three days to see what he's up to. Babette and Arnbjorn both know because they could smell me, and now you know as well, but to the knowledge of the other assassins I've only just returned this morning." She didn't need to tell me that I should not inform any of the others.
"But why all of the secrecy?" I asked once she finished, both of us still staring eachother down, though I must admit that, had this been a proper staring contest, she probably would have won, "I can understand wanting to keep an eye on Cicero," And, looking at things from her perspective, and even from my own, I could understand easily, "But why would you hide from the others?"
Her gaze sharpened as I said that, and I suddenly felt like I was under Madesi's magnifying glass, being observed and examined, not for imperfections or flaws but for dishonesty, deception and betrayal, causing me to freeze and analyse what I had just said to determine what I had said that had set her off. Her eyes continued to search my expression for whatever it was that she was looking for before she relaxed minutely, though she remained still partially guarded as she replied, "Sister, either you are incredibly loyal to me or you are incredibly naive. I'd have to say that you are probably both." My eyebrows raise at that comment.
"What do you mean by that, Astrid?" I slowly questioned, still trying to figure out what I had said that had alarmed her in some way. At my question, or perhaps at my use of her name rather than simply calling her "Sister", I can't be sure which, she smirked characteristically and replied.
"You may not realise this, dear, but, though I have little doubt as to you're loyalty towards me," Her smirk widened and I was pretty sure that she and I were both thinking of last week, particularly my declaration of loyalty at the end of a dagger, "There are some members of this sanctuary who would easily choose the night mother over me, should a situation in which they had to chose so arise. I needed to determine who those specific members were..." She trailed off there, breaking the eye contact to look slightly off into space, lost in thought for a moment with an expression on her face that, as usual, I was unable to read.
"But that is something that we can discuss later." She continued, pulling herself out of her thoughts and looking back at me, her eyes as penetrating as ever, "Right now, Dragon, I have a mission for you." My name rolling off of her tongue had me hanging on to every word she said, not merely in spite of but perhaps because of the serious tone that she was using.
"I am your's to command, Mistress." I toned immediately and easily, glad when her eyes, if nothing else, expressed her pleasure at my words.
"Good. Now, I'm heard Cicero speaking to someone in the room where we are keeping the night mother..."
Thisismypagebreak,youlike?Thisismypagebreak,youlike?Thisismypagebreak,youlike?
A small amount of time later, I found myself standing in front of the night mother's Iron-maiden-like crypt, wondering how long I would have to be in there for. It was sure to be uncomfortable, especially since I wouldn't be the only one in there... I wondered if, perhaps, there was any way that I could find somewhere else in the room to hide so that I wouldn't have to get in it, but even if there was somewhere else in the room to hide, I wouldn't have time, seeing how I just heard Cicero's voice from the large chamber holding the training area and the small pond. I sighed, giving myself only one or two more seconds of mental preparation before I sucked it up and pulled open the large metal doors, glad that Cicero was thorough in that respect so that the hinges didn't creak as I pulled them open. I didn't even let myself take a look at the ancient, preserved corpse and I just stepped into the sarcophagus and pulled the doors shut behind me just as quickly so that I wouldn't get a chance to examine the remains of the woman who's tomb I was undoubtably desecrating.
There I stood, as far from the corpse as I could get in there without being stabbed by the spikes, because, as it turns out, her crypt really is an iron maiden. As it was, I knew that I was just barely not touching her, and I prayed that Cicero would hurry up and meet with whoever the traitor is so that I can get out of here. Luckily, I didn't have to wait for very long before the door to the room finally opened and then shut. Within seconds, the cursed jester began to speak, surprisingly not to some traitor within our ranks but to the Night Mother instead! I must have waited for fifteen minutes, at least, just listening to the fool ramble to the Night Mother, waiting for whatever operative it was to enter the room as well when it finally dawned on me that perhaps this is what Astrid had heard- Cicero speaking to the corpse, rather than to some traitor who was planning on taking her down.
"Poor Cicero... Dear Cicero..." A voice spoke up in my head- not my own voice in any way, but the voice of an old woman, ancient, wise and powerful. It also scared the living hell out of me, nearly causing me to jump forward into the preserved body... Which I suddenly realised that I could see due to some unearthly glow that I hadn't realised until now had started to eminate from it.
"Such a humble servant, but he will never hear my voice, for he is not the Listener." The voice in my head paused, getting stronger as it spoke and the glow brightened even more as the Voice, which I think it might be safe to assume is the Night Mother, continued. "But you, my child... you are my Listener.". It took every single ounce of willpower that I had as well as clasping both of my hands firmly over my mouth for me not to gasp or speak back or do something in reply, thus giving away my location to the insane jester outside of the coffin who continued to ramble on as if he could hear nothing. Which he couldn't.
"Yes, you, you who shares my iron tomb, who warms my ancient bones, I give you this task. Journey to Volunruud. Speak to Amaund Motierre." Outside of the Tomb, Cicero continued to grovel to the Night Mother, completely ignorant of what was occuring inside of the iron maiden.
"Tell Cicero that the time has come. Tell him the words that he has been waiting so long to hear, "Darkness rises when silence dies.".
Without any warning at all, the doors to the tomb fell open, causing me to stumble out, despite the fact that I hadn't been leaning against the doors, and I would have run into the shocked and soon to be enraged jester had I not caught myself.
"WHAT!" Shouted Cicero the second the shock left him, which was surprisingly probably less than a second after I steadied myself. "WHAT TREACHERY IS THIS!" Immediately afterwards Cicero reached to his side and pulled out an excessively sharp and wicked looking dagger and continued to scream, "DEFILER! DEBASER AND DEFILER! YOU HAVE VIOLATED THE SANCTITY OF THE NIGHT MOTHER'S COFFIN! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" He screamed as he advanced towards me, wielding his wicked looking dagger in a way that I was very surprised he was capable of, a way which actually made me worry of I would be able to defend myself from him, or if I would even be able to pull my own dagger out before he could use his. None-the-less, I knew that if I were to pull out my own dagger now, that would be taken as some sign of guilt and he would immediately attack. Hoping to somehow stop this situation from turning bloody, or at least to stall long enough for someone else to come bursting in, preferably Astrid, as I would rather not fight him alone,I held up both of my hands and exclaimed back to him.
"Hang on, hang on, wait a minute. The Night Mother spoke to me!"
That gave him pause for a few seconds and his expression changed from fury to puzzlement for a second as he processed that information. "She... She spoke... to you?" He said in a dazed tone, and I thought that I might be in the clear for a second, until, suddenly, his expression went from puzzled to even more pissed off than before.
"LIAR! The Night Mother will only speak to the Listener, and there is NO LISTENER!" He continued him advance upon me, and I backed up as he came forward, surprised that he didn't absolutely lunge at me.
"She told me to tell you "Darkness rises as silence dies!" I blurted out in a final attempt to get him to back off, though as I said it I prepared myself to grab my dagger to defend myself. What shocked me is that, as it turns out, I didn't have to. He froze right where he was, staring at me for a second before the hand wielding the dagger suddenly fell to his side as he asked, "She said those words... Darkness rises as silence dies.. to you." I nodded in confirmation, at which he suddenly jerked around to face away from her and began muttering to himself, though she could still hear what he was saying. "But those are the words, the binding words... Written in the Keeper tomes... The signal so that Cicero would know... Mother's only way of speaking to poor Cicero..." His muttering got so quite that I couldn't hear for a moment before he suddenly spun around to face me again,l startling me quite a bit.
"Then.. It's true!" He cried happily, "She's back! Our Lady is back! She has chosen a Listener! She has chosen you! All hail the Listener!" And with that, the fool broke into a long bout of mad laughter, until Astrid burst into the room from the door opposite to them, dagger out and glowing green with what was obviously poison.
"Alright, reveal yourself, who are you talking to!? Who is the traitor?!" I suddenly found myself being pulled by my wrist away from Cicero and defensively behind Astrid as she bared her sickly glowing green elven dagger at the insane man who was still laughing, though not quite as hard.
"Oh, I spoke only to the Night Mother!" Cicero shot back excitedly, hopping up in down in a way that was very reminiscient to a young boy who needed to use the restroom. "Cicero spoke to the Night Mother... And Night Mother spoke to her, she spoke to the Listener!" Cicero spoke more quickly and with more energy as he went on.
Astrid scoffed, then glanced back at me for a moment, before interogating the fool, "What? The Listener? What is this madness?"
I knew the question was meant for both of us, but Cicero beat me to it by saying, "Not madness, it's true! It's true! the Night Mother has spoken, the silence had been broken, the Listener has been chosen!" The Jester squealed annoying.
Astrid glared at the man for a moment more before turning to me, ignoring the jester in favor of looking me over for a moment to check for any injuries, then grasping my chin in a vaguely gentle way and speaking. "When Cicero began screaming, I knew that you'd been discovered. Are you alright?" Despite the circumstances, I couldn't help the fact that I blushed slightly at that, cursing my pale skin as I knew it was very visible, especially when she smirked ever so slighly in a way only I could see from being so close to her. The stupid blush took on a even darker shade when Cicero suddenly felt the need to comment.
"Astrid and the Listener, sitting in a tree" The jester began to sing, and probably would have finished the song if not for the Astrid suddenly letting go of my face and, without a word, flung the dagger in her hand at his head, purposely missing I assume, though it could not have been by any more than a hairbreadth at most. It was close enough, at any rate, that the mad man stopped with his stupid song and just giggled to himself. Personally, if I had been her, I wouldn't have purposely missed. Just saying.
"Then what have you to tell me about this? And what is this maddness that fool is spewing about you being the Listener?" She asked in a more professional tone than a second ago, not tooking me this time, but still standing not more than a foot away from me at most.
"I'm afraid what he speaks is not complete madness for once, Mistress." I replied, "As it happens, he truly was speaking to the Night Mother alone." Astrid scowled, looking at the fool who was currently in the corner of the room doing some insane, awkward happy-dance and totally ignoring us for the time being.
"I should have known that he would do something so foolish." The nordic woman scoffed, then turned back and pinned me with a look that I couldn't decipher, and then asked me in startlingly calm and slow voice. "But what of this talk of you being the Listener?"
I froze at that point, realising that she would definitely not be even less pleased about this than she was last week when Cicero first came here. None-the-less, I would only make it worse by hesitating, so after a mere second I collected my thoughts and replied, carefully, monitoring and assessing my every word.
"That... would appear to also be true. She spoke to me while I was hiding in the crypt. She said that I'm the listener... And she also told me to go to Volunruud to speak to Amaund Motierre." As I spoke, I stared up into Astrid's eyes, trying to determine what she felt, but again, she was unreadable to me.
"I see." Her words cut off anything else I could have said. "Come with me. We will discuss this somewhere more... private." She looked to our right and my gaze followed hers and I saw that basically all of the other Assassin's beside Cicero, who was now by the Night Mother's coffin, still dancing like an idiot, were all standing in the doorway opposite the one Astrid had entered through, some sheathing their weapons, some already having them put away, all with various expressions on their faces. Babette, unsurprisingly, looked extremely amused. Veezara looked slightly worried for me. Nazir and Gabrielle looked pretty much indifferent. Festus looked completely pleased about the whole "Listener" thing. Arnbjorn's expression had me worried that he was about to go werewolf on me and kill my oblivious ass (no shocker there). Cicero was still dancing like an idiot.
After maybe two seconds, I realised that Astrid was no longer standing next to me, and was not striding down the stairs. Like a puppy, I followed, totally unsure about what was going to happen, but it's probably going to be something very much like what happened next week. The sane part of the me, the part that was slowly shrinking as that soon-to-be-if-we-kept-it-up-like-this familiar and definitely less sane part of me grew, screamed at me as Astrid entered her bedroom to run, to get my stupid self out of there and leave, not just the Dark Brotherhood, but Skyrim as well, to change my name, my look, and make a new life for myself where Astrid and the other Assassins would never find me. I had gotten oddly good ignoring that part.
And besides, even if I did run, I remember what she said last week, "Know this- if you try to run, or if you try to leave me, I will find you, and you know I will with little trouble." So running away was kind of out of the question, even though, besides that every shrinking part of me, I can't honestly say that I actually wanted to.
Astrid opened the plain wooden door, and I expected myself to regret not running when I had the chance, but surprisingly, that feeling of dread actually lessened inside me... Perhaps it's because now I no longer had that choice and I had to follow through.
I followed Astrid through the dark entryway and experienced a surprisingly pleasant feeling of deja vu as the door, again, swung shut as soon as I was clear of it, immediately followed by all of the air rushing out of my lungs as I was slammed roughly against the door, this time managing not to his my head on it, and a larger body slammed against mine, sandwiching me against the door, her hands pinning mine to the door. She lean forward so that her mouth was right next to my ear.
"So the Listener then... Tell me, what does this mean for us?" Though there was no dagger against my throat this time, I knew that I had to answer carefully regardless.
"It... it changes little, Mistress. The Night Mother may have founded the dark brotherhood, but you are the only Mistress I serve, none come before you." She laughed at this, but it was a cruel sound in comparison to earlier.
"Of course that's what you think, especially right now... But opinions and ideas can change." She pressed against me even harder, slowly reaching a point where the pressure was almost painful.
"They'll try to take you away from me you know. Cicero, the other traitors to this Sanctuary, and especially the night mother. Now that she has chosen you as her Listener, she especially will try to lay claim to you now, but none of them can have you, especially not her." The dark, possessive tone in her voice became more pronounced as she went on, pressing me so tightly against the door that I could scarcely breathe.
"And do you know why they can't have you, my sweet? It's because you already belong to me. None are permitted to touch what is mine and you are mine. Mine! You understand that, dear, don't you?" Her question felt like a trap, but as it was, I could barely get enough oxygen in my lungs not to pass out then and there, so I had no choice but to answer.
"Yes, yes Astrid, I know, I'm your's, I belong to you!" I gasped out, unable to tell if that was the correct thing to say since I couldn't see her face, but knowing that what I said was the truth.
"Hmm... I don't think you truly understand though. I think it's time I showed you what it means to belong to me be, because I don't think you truly do understand." Suddenly, she yanked back and the room was spinning around me for a moment, then I found myself lying onto the fur-covered bed that she had thrown me upon. I couldn't move for a second as I tried to pay off my oxygen debt and reorient myself with the room, but that second cost me any chance of escape, because in that one second that I took to reconnect myself with the world, the assassin with the enchantingly dangerous and sexy voice had time to come over and pin me down to the bed.
"It's time for you to learn, pet, what it means to be mine." She drawled with a smirk as she stadled my waist and held my wrists down above my head with one hand while the other hand trailed down to the first clasps in my armour, just above my breasts.
"Wait, Astrid, stop-" I started, realising what might be going, and finally I began to struggle, but I didn't get a chance to continue as her lips suddenly brushed against mine for the second time ever, stilling my entire body with just one action. She moved away for just a second, before sweeping back in for real kiss that completely stopped me from struggle and made me give in to her fully as her other hand finally undid the first three clasps on my black and red armour and began to pull it away.
Thisismypagebreak,youlike?Thisismypagebreak,youlike?Thisismypagebreak,youlike?
Afterwards, we lay under the covers of the bed, spooning, her arms holding me in a way that made me feel trapped, caged. I normally would have hated it, but for some odd, sick reason that I don't totally understand, it was pleasant because it was her who trapped me. I think I understand what she meant by belonging to her. One of her hands lazily but possessively stroked my stomach, and the other was entwined with one my hands. My other hand lay there, doing nothing, and I was currently staring at that hand for lack of anything else to stare at.
"Are you okay?" She asked me, startling me out of my staring contest with my own hand. Her voice was probably the most gentle that I had ever heard it, and I could even detect some concern in it. I though about her question before replying.
"Yes," I said after a moments silence, "I'm fine, I think." I could feel her nod and then the kiss she placed on the back of my neck before the hand stroking my stomach stopped and curled around me, pulling me closer to her, her chin settle on one of my shoulders easily and naturally, and I marveled at how oddly perfectly we fit together in the back of my mind.
"And are you mad at me?" She asked, her lips right next to my ear, and I shivered ever so slightly at the smooth, seductive alto tones, causing her arm to tighten around me minutely. That question I actually had to really think about.
"No," I finally said after a much longer silence, "I'm not angry with you right now. I'm might be in the morning, though." I let my grin flow into my tone a bit to show her I was kidding about the last part. Luckily, she understood, and laughed a bit at it even.
"Good, then I shall get to sleep before I suffer your wrath then." Her tone was lighter now, seeming relieved, so I continued the trend.
"It would appear so, lucky you." I smiled, though she couldn't see it, when this got another laugh out of her. Then there was another silence, this one more comfortable than the last, until I had a thought. "Wait, so... Astrid, what happens now? I mean to us and with the whole thing about the night mother and all." I stopped trying to explain what I meant when her arm tightened around me, not tightly enough to hurt but enough to cut me off.
"You belong to me now, completely. You're mine, that's what happens now. As for the night mother... Well, tell me, how do you feel about her?" She asked, and I felt that this was a question that I could actually answer honestly, which, after a lot of squirming so that she would get the message and let me turn to face her, I did.
"I know you didn't believe before, but you have to believe me now when I say this," I started, staring straight into her eyes so that she could see my honesty, "The night mother started the dark brotherhood and she's the reason we're all together, but for me, it's always been you Astrid. You're the real reason I wanted to join the dark brotherhood and you're the reason I've stayed, and when I said that I belong to you, I meant it, because I do. For me, Astrid, you are, and you always will be, Better Than The Night Mother.
Thisismypagebreak,youlike?Thisismypagebreak,youlike?Thisismypagebreak,youlike?
Well, kiddos, that's it. This story is over. I might dabble in this pairing a little more later, perhaps a few one shots or maybe even a sequel, but for now, that's it. Thanks for sticking with me and reading this, and I'll see about updating my other stories soon. You know, I'm kind of sad that this story has ended actually, but whatever, I'll live.
On a lighter note, I (and probably any long-term readers I may have that know me even vaguely well) am very proud of myself for finishing this! Even if this was just supposed to be a quick-fic, it had turned out to be my longest story on this sight, and also the first fic I've ever finished that is more than a oneshot. As it is, I should probably go update my other fics to, so maybe some of you who may have read some of my other fics will get to see more from me tonight, but as usual, don't hold you're breath for it.
Also, I'd like to thank all of you who have favorited, story-alerted or even just read this story, I appreciate all of you're support. Thanks to all you guys who have updated or will update in the future, and a special thank you to TheOtherLachance, who has reviewed all the chapter before this and whos review of chapter 3 was the one that got me to stop being lazy and and finish this fic.
Love you guys, Inuyashagirl2015