Chapter 15: My Nightmare comes True
Ally's POV:

I woke before dawn, leaving without a word trying my best to ignore the pitying look that the inn keeper was giving me. One thing I hated was pity. Pity was for the weak; I wasn't weak. I wouldn't allow myself to be weak; I never did and really wasn't even contemplating starting around about now. It was a no, no a very bit no, no at that!

Walking I murmured allowed about my brother, and how I didn't believe he had it in him to actually do something to that extreme. Still, the Dark Brother Hood quest line thing had started, and I was nervous as to how far it had gone. If Baelin had been killed then there'd be a newspaper about it somewhere. So current plan was simple; look for one of the couriers and the pirate ship.

Walking slowly I allowed myself to take my time, loosing track of it as I walked a faint rumbling in my stomach. Perhaps skipping breakfast was a bad idea… people passed on horses often enough… in fact there were heaps of them, something big seemed to happen but oh well. Forcing my legs to not completely stop or slow down any more I kept walked, trailing my hand across the closest bark of the trees at the path.

No bandits… that was abnormal. With the amount of people that were travelling there would have to be enough bandits to get a good amount of money, and I doubted that the people ran off the tracks to avoid bandits like I tended to whilst playing the game. One wrong turn and you'd be lost in the forest, and here – unlike on Earth – there won't be anyone trying to find you unless you've got close friends or family that actually care that much. Sure, I might have a so called home and a so called "family" but they didn't know me. They wouldn't come after me if anything happened. I was on my own, until I found David I'd be on my own.

But even then there wasn't the promise of safety.

There never would be.

Hugging myself I tried to absorb the warmth of my cloak. Early mornings were cold; though it was surprising I woke myself up this early. I'd always hated waking early. There was something about it. Something that simply taunted me because I always seemed tired, working so slowly and often left me hungry before breakfast time.

But here I was, walking around on an empty stomach, hoping to spend the gold I'd earned on some food, though this time I'd probably have to pay for a place to stay. If I managed to stay without attracting the attention of too many people; though with beggars everywhere, I wouldn't be able to stay hidden for too long; I knew what I had to do though.

'After this' I thought to myself, I swore to myself. 'After this you'll see Padfoot again, after this you'll be able to explain everything. And then, hopefully he'll forgive you'

The looming figure of Imperial City was in front of me, the beginning of dawn giving it a tinge of darkness that made it look even more impressive, even more imposing than it should have. Even with my thoughts.

'Get over it you wuss' Matt commented bluntly.

"Oh get lost"

'What did I tell you about talking to yourself?'

"Yes, I remember but its dawn for crying out loud! Who's going to hear me?"

'Lots of people who walk around at dawn, such as those in the thieves' guild, the dark brotherhood and most likely bandits around the area'

I sighed, he was a true annoyance. Why did he have to be stuck in my head again?

Still I followed his advice, continuing to walk towards the city because otherwise I would've tried to strangle myself to get rid of him. If I'm dead, he can't exist. It's simple logic really! Although I must say I'm not exactly a really big fan of that… well rather failed and masochistic plan especially as it would fail considering as soon as I fell unconscious my grip would loosen and I'd eventually wake up again!

Ducking in through the gates, with nothing more than a nod to the two guards, I tried to stay relatively close to the alley ways to give me something to duck into in case Armand, Meredith or Padfoot were around. Hell, if I saw a beggar I'd probably duck into and alley and hide for the next 10 minutes!

I reached waterfront without… well too many problems. There was only one way that I'd be able to get to that ship without being seen though. I began walking towards the bridge, just before I saw a beggar running only a few metres ahead… he'd definitely seen me.

Sprinting after him I grabbed him by his collar by the time we were in the middle of the bridge.

"20 gold and I'm not here" I whispered furiously in his ear. The look on his face was commendable. He had an allegiance towards the thieves guild, and yet here I was bargaining with him so that he wouldn't tell what he'd already been pain to do. I saw the slight nod on his face. "Good"

I loosened grip on him and reached for my bag of gold, accidently taking my eyes off of him for about 10 seconds too much, he was already at the arch and that meant a few metres away from Padfoot's house.

Without a second though I dove straight into the water, staying under the surface of the water as I held my breath, swimming in the direction of the pirate ship, but I knew it was too far away from me. Thankfully, when we were little David taught me one extremely good thing, I surfaced quickly, much like a dolphin would as I took a large breath of air, before I let myself dive again, touching the pirate ship before I dared to resurface!

Holding onto a panel of wood I kept myself up, fighting the urge to let go as my body started going numb. Everything hurt, a stabbing pain all through me as the coolness of the water, as well as that of the breeze cut through me. Over the bridge like thing that to waterfront I saw the beggar; as well as Padfoot looking around, the beggar pointing towards the gate whilst Padfoot was still skimming the area.

Swimming around to the over side of the ship I tightened my grip on the wooden panels, feeling my fingers slip slightly anyway. My lungs were burning. The air was too cold and I was sure I'd swallowed at least 2 mouthfuls of this sickly salty water, which only made me feel like I was going to throw up!

I peeked around the hull of the ship, seeing them go through the large gate that separated them from the rest of Imperial city, the more protected part anyway. With teeth chattering and completely numb arms I moved to swim towards the shoreline dragging myself onto the sandy hills with true hopes that there weren't any mud crabs nearby.

Shivering horribly I dragged myself up to the stones, the breeze cutting straight into my skin, my soaked clothes absolutely no protection against it. My teeth chattered so loudly I was afraid I was going to break them, or at least chip them, as they ground against each other with such force the noise seemed unbearably loud, and the feeling was getting my jaw slightly numb by this point as well!

Curling myself up I just tried to keep myself warm, truly that was the only goal that I found as I leaned against the wall, trying to use it to pull myself up. I managed with a small smile, still clutching to the stones. Taking a small step forward I tried to balance myself.

Pain engulfed my entire side again. I felt like crying to be honest. To lie there on the ground, probably die of some illness and cry. Thankfully the breeze was starting to get everything to go numb, meaning that all the pain that was there couldn't be felt. Pushing myself up again, no matter how forced it was I almost screamed as I looked onto the deck of the ship.

The now available sunlight showed a thick red layer covering most things on the deck, two limp bodies strewn on odd angles, thankfully facing downwards.

The dark brotherhood quest had officially been started.