A/N: Sorry for to those expecting an update on the next day, I have forgotten to discuss my update schedule! Anyway, it will be on Monday to Friday (it may seem like Sunday to Thursday if you live in America), about a chapter per day unless something crops up. So, to my 2 followers, enjoy the story!
All characters, place settings and other items belong to their respective copyright holders, Bethesda/ZeniMax Media Inc.. Characters that do not appear in the original content of The Elder Scrolls (OC, or original character) that bears a name similar to other popular story character names and/or character behaviour and attitude are purely coincidental.
Chapter 1: The Blades Extinction
On their way back to Lakeview Manor, Alduin and Janice the Dragonborn were sorting out their differences.
"What do you mean by not hogging all the food? I eat whatever and whenever I want!" Alduin demanded.
"I am not saying you can't eat whenever you please, I am just asking you to leave some for us." Janice explained.
By now, it is around evening and they had just reached Whiterun. Janice had decided to stop there to purchase some food to bring back home, without a regard for all the pale faces staring at them. Carrying her heavy sack of produce, Janice barged into Breezehome, still wondering if Lydia still gives a damn about helping her with some of the load when she is not following her.
Chucking the sack into a random corner, she motioned for Alduin to get inside. Alduin had never been welcomed into another person's home before. She mostly had been summoned to a temple in the past, not so much into a person's personal living space, so she does not know how to behave. Landing at the door, she walked inside. Awkwardly closing the door with her hind legs, she made a beeline towards Janice, her tail bent downwards in a submissive way.
"What's the matter with you? You were acting so brave in almost all situations we met in, but now you are acting like a puppy who is awaiting punishment for doing something wrong." Janice asked.
"I… I just never experienced something like this before, I had never been welcomed by a mortal into their dwelling before." Alduin stammered in nervousness.
"Just relax, it isn't a castle or anywhere formal, just act like yourself. Now, what do you like to eat?" Janice assured the dragoness.
"Are there any beef?" Alduin perking up once she was assured that it was alright to be loose.
"Who is that?" Lydia exclaimed from her chair upstairs, interrupting Janice before she could answer.
"Umm, would you come down? I seriously don't know how you could possibly guard the house from up there!" Janice shouted.
"Lydia's a weird one. For one, she sits in my room 24 hours all the time. She doesn't sleeps and I didn't even see her taking any food I had prepared when I was taking a break after saving Winterhold from Ancano. She just had a mysterious, never ending piece of bread and a mug that does not need refilling with her. I don't know what kind of magic this is, it just ain't normal." Janice explained to Alduin who is now walking about, inspecting the place.
"You know that I haven't break my personal record for sitting right?" Lydia exclaimed.
"YOU HAVE BEEN SITTING THERE FOR THE PAST MONTH, HOW YOU STILL MAINTAIN YOUR FIGURE IS STILL A MYSTERY! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW OR I WILL USE THE MOST PAINFUL WAY POSSIBLE TO REMOVE THAT BUTT FROM THAT PIECE OF WOOD!" Janice screamed, though it was mostly muffled by the helmet.
"Fine, don't get your sweetrolls in a twist." Lydia muttered as she went down.
"Come here Alduin, I've got someone to show you." Janice beckoned after the dragoness who is now looking through her potion chest.
"Some collection of poisons you have, though I don't see any healing potions. Shouldn't you have one in case of emergencies?" Alduin asked Janice as she walked towards her.
"Didn't need them, this armour has protected me against any injuries since I found it in a chest inside Saarthal." Janice explained as she eyed Lydia climbing down the stairs.
Upon spotting the dragoness, Lydia nearly brought out her glass sword given to her by Janice when she was forging weapons and armour for her followers. "My Thane, stand back! I will deal with this intruder!" Lydia announced as she got into her battle stance.
"No need for the hostilities Lydia! Stand down now!" Janice demanded as Alduin curled up into a ball, nearly frightened by the somewhat intimidating facade of the housecarl and the fact that she can't do anything to protect herself other than a good bite from her jaws.
"Give a good reason for me to not kill you now, worm!" Lydia proclaimed as she begins poking Alduin in her flank, blatantly ignoring her Thane's orders.
"Stop this nonsense Lydia!" Janice exclaimed as she tackled Lydia to the ground, nearly knocking the chair closest to the stairs over.
Before Lydia could retort, Janice spoke again, "she was Alduin; Akatosh wanted to punish her for her disobedience by making her my pet."
Getting to her feet, Lydia finally puts her sword away and gently pat Alduin on the head, saying "I am sorry about that just now, I won't hurt you again unless you attempt to hurt her. Is there anything I can do for you?"
Uncurling from her position, Alduin said "I could do with some beef steak."
"Right, I almost forgot, here you go", Janice said as she fished out a cooked steak from somewhere and handed it to Alduin.
As Alduin eats up, Janice said, "Lydia, I would need you to follow me to Lakeview Manor tomorrow, help me carry this sack of produce would you?"
Lydia just nodded before returning to her seat upstairs. Janice sat down near the fire and drink a potion of blood and ate some venison stew. Looking up at her 'master', Alduin saw the bottle of blood and asked, "Is that blood in that bottle?"
"No, it is a mixture of tomato juice and carrots. Of course it is blood, shouldn't you already know from your experience in killing hordes of humans before?" Janice exclaimed with a mouthful of meat in her mouth.
"So you're a vampire? We are probably more alike than we care to acknowledge", Alduin said, smirking.
"Probably, I just enjoy killing those who deserve to die, you know, villains and bandits. You probably kill just because you can; come to think of it, killing you would not be enough to atone to the crimes you had committed in the past. The only time where I killed an innocent is when Boethiah wanted me to kill one of my many friends on her shrine." Janice grimaced at the last thought.
"Just curious, but exactly how many Daedric Lords do you owe allegiance to anyway? I see you have Mehrunes Dagon's gift as well as Peryite's and you mention Boethiah…" Alduin trailed off.
"All of them, somehow I was hearing a voice saying that he needs me to collect all the artifacts for some Steam achievement or something, I don't know. All I do know was that this voice has guided me to where I am now. Come to think of it, I had found that it was getting rather quiet in here without the voice, where could it have gone to?" Janice explained the reasons behind her weird obsession with the Daedric artifacts.
Alduin just stared at her wide-eyed, she couldn't believe that she was to travel with a person who is not only known throughout the land as a very important figure, but also serves all the Daedric Lords as their Champion, one more so than all others. Hermaeus Mora had certainly found a good replacement for Miraak. But how is he going to get her soul if she is immortal due to vampirism? She thought.
"There was a good reason why I wanted to be a vampire, having seen how helpless the people of this land was, I think I should stick around to help them. Besides, it can only mean greater adventures in the future." Janice said as if reading Alduin's mind.
Without another word, Alduin just walked off to entertain her own thoughts about the 'mortal' she once thought of as weak. Tossing the empty bowl and bottle away, Janice picked up Alduin and went upstairs.
Snapping from her thoughts, Alduin fidgeted against the iron grip of the Dragonborn. Janice just said, "Just relax, you can sleep with me on my bed tonight. If you want, you can take Lydia's bed since she doesn't use it anyway."
"Okay", was all Alduin muttered before returning to her thoughts as Janice set her onto the right side of her bed and then slipping in next to her from the left. Lydia just looked on.
[Time skip]
Lydia was panting under the load of food as the trio left Whiterun. Apparently, Janice had decided to buy more food before leaving and now Lydia has to carry all the food on her back.
"Can... we... rest... up... in... Helgen?" Lydia said between breaths.
"Help me kill the bandits there and I may consider it." Janice said dismissively from the back of Shadowmere.
"Yes.. mdm", Lydia muttered.
"You are an incredibly cruel woman", Alduin said.
"Just because I don't kill innocents does not mean I can't be nasty to them", Janice retorted.
As they reach Helgen, Janice dismounted from her horse and drew her Ghostblade out, ready to fight. "Put the sack on Shadowmere and follow me Lydia. Stay with Shadowmere, Alduin, he will protect you." Janice commanded with a smirk knowing that Alduin has became weaker than Shadowmere in terms of combat.
"Have fun while I get my ego bruised by a horse", Alduin said sarcastically.
"So, you are Alduin the World Eater? Why are you so… small?" Shadowmere said. (A/N: Only Alduin can interact with animals. I think I will focus on this conversation than the battle, it serves more humour than the battle itself.)
Alduin explained what transpired to the horse as the horse just stared at her, piercing, glowing red eyes meeting cold, deathly black irises surrounding an intense red pupil. "So you are saying Akatosh punished you and that you can't use any powers what-so-ever? Wait till my friends finds out about this, hoho." Shadowmere laughs in the face that once meant certain doom.
"You pathetic horse, I should have had one of my dragons kill you when I had the chance!" Alduin threatened.
"Don't you know who I am, dragon? I am Shadowmere, the steed of the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, an undead horse that can come back from the dead, how do you kill something that is immortal?" Shadowmere retorted nonchalantly.
"Why you… you…" Alduin stammered in defeat. Shadowmere just laughs.
Perking up at the sound of a shrill whistle, Alduin took off from where she was fluming beside the horse and followed the sound. Shadowmere, having recognised the signal to move into the once thriving settlement, followed suit.
"Recognise this place? She said that this was all your doing when we were chasing after a telepathic dog named Barbas." Shadowmere asked the dragoness.
"Yes, I remembered clearly that I saved her from getting executed on that block." Alduin said as she jabbed a wing at the block Janice had almost died on.
"I guess you are regretting that you saved her, eh?" Shadowmere asked.
"What do you think, stupid horse? If it wasn't for her, I could have been enslaving mankind once again!" Alduin said just before a firebolt slammed into her.
"Ow! what do you do that for?" Alduin questioned the source.
"For calling Shadowmere stupid and you still wanting to enslave humanity again." Janice shouted from where she was resting.
"Okay, I get it. Anyway, you still haven't told me what you were doing to get yourself captured by the Imperials back then." Alduin said as both of them headed to where Janice and Lydia were resting.
"I was stealing food off Ulfric's desk in his camp when I was caught by the Stormcloaks. I had never knew that the Imperial Legion was preparing an ambush along the circumference of the camp. They captured me along with the other soldiers and a horse thief who was trying to steal a Stormcloak horse. I kept screaming that I was not one of them but they just knocked me unconscious to shut me up." Janice explained while she pry off one of the bandit's head to fill a bottle with blood. Lydia was too busy relaxing on a burned chair that she didn't notice it.
"I see, well you still haven't thank me either. Also, why did you try to kill me when I saved you?" Alduin demanded.
"Well, you were busy trying to revive your dragons and trying to kill all those who wants to oppose you. That makes you more of a villain in my book than a saviour. But now that you are not, I suppose I should thank you for saving me." Janice said as she gently patted the dragoness on the head.
[Time skip]
It was evening when they arrive at Lakeview Manor, Lydia had asked that they went slower so that she could keep up. Janice dismissed Lydia and told Alduin to wait outside as she quietly brought the sack in. Apparently the reason for it was to not have to deal with two problems at once. Once that was done, Janice threw open the doors and went back inside with Alduin.
"Hey honey, what took you so… long?" Derkeethus said as he went from wife to pet dragoness.
"Is that Alduin?" Derkeethus said as he prepared for a fight.
"Don't worry about her, she was cursed by Akatosh to be our pet", Janice stated monotonously.
"Why aren't you surprised?" Alduin asked the Argonian as he put his Daedric sword down.
"If you have lived and travelled with her for more than a year, you would find that she has a knack for finding strange things and circumstances. Like how she was once sucked into a special soul gem once to uncorrupt it." Derkeethus said.
"Did someone say PET?" Two childish voices sounded from inside the main hall.
Two blurs rushed into the small house and started cuddling the dragoness who was muttering all kinds of profanities in both languages.
"Aw, how cute!" Sofie exclaimed as she pinched Alduin's checks together like one would do to a dog.
"Alright, get off her!" Janice said as she pry Sofie off Alduin's face and Derkeethus trying to do the same with the much stronger Blaise off the back.
"But mom!" Sofie said as she throws a tantrum.
"She is not a pet like Meeko is, she was a fire breathing dragon that had tried to enslave humanity before your mom stop her!" Derkeethus shout over the protest of Blaise.
"Ah! Dragon!" Sofie and Blaise said in unison as they started to run around in circles. Janice just facepalmed.
"Don't scare them too much, honey. Do you think you can tolerate their nonsense Alduin?" Janice asked.
"If they don't ride me like the boy did, then I suppose gentle cuddling is fine." Alduin said as she looked at the chaos the kids are causing.
"Alright, come you two, let me set some ground rules." Janice screamed at the two children.
"Kill it mom!" was the response she got as the children continue to run in circles.
Regretting her next action, Janice grabbed both of them by their hands and yelled, "she is not going to harm you two! So just calm down already!"
"Yes mom", both said as they calm down.
"I don't want to see you two mistreating her, okay? And no riding on her. If you want to have a ride around the estate, ask the steward to let you ride on the horse." Janice said authoritatively.
"Okay", both said again in unison as if they were twins.
They both went up to the dragon and said their apologies, hugging Alduin gently to show sincerity. "So, what's for dinner?" Alduin asked.
"Is your mind always on food?" Janice glared, though it wasn't really visibly due to the helmet.
"Yes it is." Alduin just stated.
[Time skip]
Next morning, a courier arrived looking for Janice. "What could it be?" Janice said absentmindedly as she stretched herself.
She usually wore some simple clothes while sleeping, clothes that was not designed to combat cold weather. She shivered slightly as she opened the door to look at the courier standing in the rain. Being undead means that she isn't as susceptible to the cold, but that does not mean she enjoys freezing weather like this. As she quickly snatched the letter from the courier and dismiss him with a quick wave before slamming the door, Alduin, who was sleeping on the bed in the small house (A/N: the small house is the first building you build when you start building the house in Hearthfire.), stirred and walked towards the still quivering Dragonborn.
"Who is it for?" Alduin blankly asked.
"For me, let's see what it says." Janice said as she opened the letter.
Dear Dragonborn,
Delphine and Esbern here. We remembered that we wanted you to kill Paarthurnax for the crimes he did in the past, why haven't you? Go kill him now and you can become a Blade like us, slay all the dragons in Tamriel.
"Oh great, its them", Janice groaned.
"The Blades?! They want you to kill Paarthurnax, my brother and traitor, and want you to join them to slay my kind? You better kill them first Dovahkiin!" Alduin yelled in frustration.
"That was what I was planning to do… Wait, you don't want me to kill Paarthurnax for you?" Janice asked in astonishment.
"Revenge is best when you do it yourself." Alduin said menacingly.
"Okay then, I will get my things ready, you just stay here until I get back from killing them." Janice said as she walked off to put on her Dragonscale armour.
As an added emphasis on killing them, Janice pulled out two vials of poison that she concocted a while ago using some Jarrin' Root she ordered through the trading centre in Windhelm. Coming out to the small house, Alduin just looked at her with a shocked expression seeing her wear the scales of her deceased brethren.
"How could you?" Alduin said, nearly crying.
"This isn't just all that I have you know, Derkeethus has a set too and I give my housecarls armour made from dragon bones. I used to also have a set of Dragonplate armour, but I left it in Solitude after getting my hands on the Daedric set." Janice said in an offensive tone.
"Did they die... well?" Alduin said between sobs.
"No… They didn't inflict a lot of damage before I killed them." Janice said as she left, leaving the dragoness to cry in misery.
[Time skip]
Janice sneaks along the stairs towards the bunkers inside Sky Haven Temple, noting that Esbern was still sleeping and Delphine is no where to be found. Seeing her chance, she sunk her teeth into Esbern's neck as she slide a bottle of poison into his pocket. Pulling her teeth out, she broke the vial and watched in satisfaction as the old man writhe around the bed before falling silent, the incredibly toxic poison doing its work quickly.
Sneaking to the backyard, she saw Delphine practising her marksmanship. Digging out her Mehrunes' Razor, she poured the other bottle of poison on it and return it to its sheathe. Taking out her bow, she sneaks to a place above the target Delphine is shooting at, noting that Delphine is missing the bullseye by a mile. Drawing the Daedric bow to full length, she aimed for Delphine's right eye and let loose the arrow. The arrow struck Delphine in the eye, blinding her. As she stumbles around, Janice saw her chance and landed another shot in her other eye. Taking out Ghostblade and Valdr's Lucky Dagger, she tackled the blind Blade and stab her in the shoulders with the two blades, securing her in place as the two weapons sunk into the stone ground.
Feeling a weight on top of her and two burning injuries in her shoulders, Delphine screamed "Who are you?!"
"Hello Delphine, or should I say, a Blade in the literal darkness?" Janice said as she pinned Delphine's legs down with the axe and pickaxe.
"Janice?! I thought we told you to kill that dragon, what are you doing here?" Delphine said as she tries to struggle with her restrains.
"He helped me during my quest to become the Dragonborn, I will not so easily betray him!" Janice expressed as she toy with the poisoned dagger, not really caring if it cuts her as she was immune to poison.
"Why would you turn on us then? You could have said 'no'", Delphine tried to reason.
"This dagger is dipped in poison that can kill a hundred men a thousand times over", Janice begun, "you might want to come up with a better reason than that."
"We would have left you alone!" Delphine said, quivering from fear.
"As if! I know that you wouldn't and would have tried to sneak past the Greybeards to do it yourself once you got the manpower. It was only a matter of time!" Janice shouted at her and pressed the tip of the dagger against her throat.
"Any last words?" Janice asked as she put more force on her stomach and chest.
"May Talos have mercy", Delphine muttered before Janice sunk the dagger into her throat, killing her.
Janice removed her Blades armour as a keepsake before throwing her body off the side of the cliff with the Unrelenting Force shout and cleaning the two daggers she used. After that, she rode home on Shadowmere, not caring that there was someone dressed in noble clothes with imperial guards dragging a posh looking wagon following her as she past by Old Hroldan.
A/N: I skipped lunch to finish this, hope it is worth it :). Don't forget to R&R! See you guys tomorrow.