Her body reacts before her mind does and Diamond is running out the Cistern, blaring through the Flagon, into the dark Ratway. Moisture from the sodden stone soaks the soles of her boots and she's aware of the different lefts and rights, but she doesn't stop. Where? Where to go?
Anywhere but here.
Diamond makes it out of Riften, bursts through the front gates and her feet guide her all the way to Shor's Stone; a small village in eastern Skyrim near the Velothi Mountains. It is a community of miners led by a local blacksmith, Filnjar, in the northeastern portion of The Rift.
The next thing she knows, she's on her hands and knees in the deep recesses of Redbelly Mine. Faint shafts of moonlight come in through the shafts high above her head. Diamond is cold and wet and winded, but her escape has done little to subdue the hysteria rising up inside her. It will drown her unless it's released. She balls up her shrouded glove, stuffs it in her mouth, and begins to scream. How long she continues, she doesn't know. But by the time she's done, her voice is almost gone.
She curls up on her side and stares at the swells of land filled with ebony ores just waiting to be mined.
Libby is dead.
Dead.
They'll never go on missions together again, she'll never be there to catch Diamond's tears when they fall, she won't be there to comfort and listen to Diamond whenever she feels alone or underappreciated.
The truth is too harsh to touch, and Diamond shies away from it before it sears itself into her brain and becomes real.
If I can't feel, I'm not alive, I'm not real.
There's some kind of sheeting, a tarp used for the miners to place the ore on. She pulls it over her like a blanket. The night has given the crickets the stage for performance, and they click and chime. The sheeting is stiff, but it holds warmth. Her muscles relax, her heart rate slows.
She finds a quiet place within herself where the Guild or Brotherhood don't exist, and her best friend is still intact. Maybe if she tries hard enough, she can leave her broken world behind. The harsh kneeing inside Diamond's head becomes muted – the grief of some other girl. Not hers. Diamond rocks, holding herself as she'll fly into a million pieces if she lets go.
The memory of Libby, holding Diamond in an embrace and kissing the crown of her head is more than Diamond can bear.
They're last embrace, and Diamond spent it focusing on Mercers' words, and leaving Libby to worry about her.
Fresh tears fill Diamond's eyes, causing the room to swim. She blinks and they fall searing the skin of her already raw cheeks. Shutting her eyes tight, Diamond wills the tide of despair welling up within her to subside. A sob rises from the depths, but she catches it before it could escape. She swallows hard, forcing it down.
It feels like drowning.
Grief is a yawning pit of darkness blooming at Diamond's core. She can hardly stand beneath its weight.
I can't bear this. I can't.
The piercing pain of loss is a double-edged blade Diamond can't bear to touch. How can she grieve for her? Cry for her? Bleed for her inside when it won't change anything? It won't change anything.
She's gone.
She's gone.
All the words Diamond never found time to say. All the things they never found time to do. Ripped from her with merciless finality. Gone. Deep inside, Diamond can hear the anguished wailing – the wordless kneeing of unbearable grief. She can't stand to hear it. To feel it. To let it live.
She wants to die too. Just stop breathing and hope she finds her on the other side.
A yawning pit of darkness within her opens wide, whispering promises to take the pain. Swallow the loss. Make it possible to draw a breath without choking on the shattered pieces no one will ever fix.
Loss is a gaping hole with jagged teeth, and she can't bear it. The hope that blazed within her floats like ash into the darkness. The wall of grief inside her slowly subsides into a well of icy silence – deafening and absolute. It rips Diamond in two, cutting her off from everything she can't stand to face. Diamond doesn't try to stop it. If she feels the loss, it will break her.
Diamond stays curled up like this, huddled into herself for an unknown amount of time. There are moments when she shivers, but she still doesn't move. Voices float above her as she lies on the cold, unyielding ground. She imagines sinking beneath it. Letting it take her under.
Finding peace.
I should've been there, she thinks. I should have gone.
Would it have made a difference? Mercer's words infiltrate her mind and torment her.
"She's just a child. She's inexperienced!" Diamond clamps her hand over her ears, but Mercer's words still ring loud. "That last thing I need is some kid, blundering around the tomb!"
"I'm not a kid. I'm strong." Diamond mumbles to herself. She was stronger than this, knows she is, knew she had to be. But now, her voice lacks its confidence and assurance she's known to have.
Diamond curls tighter into herself, her arms binding around her middle and squeezing as a sort of embrace, but it's not the same. What is she to do? The only other person in this entire world that cared about her, is gone. Diamond would always go to Libby for her problems, she remembers telling Niruin how Libby . . . was, all she had to talk to. Libby would help her grief. Help her cope.
What is she to do now?
She has no one.
The Guild will probably open up to her, but it'll be out of pity; not as genuine as what Diamond had with Libby.
She needs to go back. She still needs to deliver the amulet to Delvin, but she can't bring herself to move. Her muscles locked in an iron grip; clutched against the cold. If a pack of Frostbite Spiders were to appear at this moment, the odds of killing everyone without getting poisoned are not in her favor. She should get up, move around, and work the stiffness from her limbs. But instead, she sits as motionless as the quarries beneath her.
Only when dawn begins to lighten through the crevices of the mine does Diamond need to leave. The miners will be coming soon. She needs to leave. She can't fight the sun, and it persists in rising.
Diamond slides the tarp off, and makes herself stand. All her joint complain, and her legs have been asleep for so long that it takes several minutes of pacing to bring the feeling back. There must have been a time when she fell asleep, because she feels different than before.
Not better, just hollow.
The icy silence has swallowed everything, leaving her numb. Guess a fire that burns so bright is not meant to last. A heart made of stone; callus and bone.
Diamond makes it out of the mine, and onto the main road just as the first miner leaves his house. He seems about to greet Diamond, but it must've been a look on her face or just her body language, because his smiles fades instantly and he watches as Diamond saunters through the town. She can't go back to the Sanctuary, but she doesn't want to go to the Guild, not even Riften. The place just screams about Libby, but she needs to see Delvin; sell the amulet, then she can return to the Sanctuary, and complete her new job. Perhaps it'll even be good for her; keep her mind off . . . things.
Diamond makes her way through the town, and when she gets to the mausoleum, somehow, the entrance this time is open. She had meant to enter through the Ratway, but it's out of habit.
Climbing down the ladder, Diamond finds the Guild at its usual. Members are scattered around; shooting arrows, sharpening weapons. It would be the same as always, if it weren't for the unnerving feeling of dread and sorrow that thickens the air in the Cistern. The members move different, slower, their faces are blank, placid, and no one is talking. Rune, who was by the food cabinets when Diamond enters, looks to her and opens his mouth, but quickly shuts it.
What can he say? It can't change things, Diamond doesn't even think it can make things better. Diamond is bleeding inside where no one will see. Where no one will ever know to look.
She's about to pass him when she feels his callus hand brush her fingers. Diamond looks to him, and he keeps his gaze to her as his hand intertwines their fingers; but Diamond can't feel it. Diamond doesn't retract. Rune gives her hand a reassuring squeeze, as if to let her know she's not alone.
He's wrong.
Diamond has never felt more alone.
He can keep his sympathy. His quiet understanding.
Diamond doesn't want it.
She doesn't need it.
She waits until he lets go before walking away, but she doesn't make it far when Cynric walks up to her carefully. Diamond feels a spark of rage in her chest. If everyone was going to offer their sympathy, Diamond might as well leave Riften now. She hates it when people feel bad for her.
He doesn't say anything. Diamond can feel a small faint flutter in her chest, but the silence takes it from her. It's already gone. Slipping into the emptiness before she can grasp it, and leaving her numb.
He takes her hand and she lets him lead her into the training room, where Diamond last talked with Niruin. Cynric leads her to a small table in the back corner of the room and Diamond sits without him needing to tell her. He leaves, and then comes back with two tankards with steam billowing up out from them.
"Here you go." He says. He hands Diamond the steaming tankard and it smells like peppermint. Diamond holds it with both hands, her fingers prickling with warmth.
Cynric sits down across from her. Somehow having him here, quietly present and without offering judgment, makes the ragged edges in Diamond settle just a bit. Libby would be proud.
"Drink it," he says. "It will make you feel better, I promise."
"I don't think mead is the solution" Diamond says slowly. Her voice sounds distant, as if it's been a while since she's used it. But she sips it anyway. It warms her mouth and her throat and trickles into her stomach. She didn't realize how deeply cold she was until she wasn't.
"'Better' is the word I used. Not 'good.'" He smiles at Diamond, but the corners of his eyes don't crinkle like they usually do. "I don't think 'good' will happen for a while."
Diamond stays quiet. She clasps the tankard between her wrists as the warmth leeches into the air.
"I had a lover, you know." Cynric suddenly says. Diamond snaps her head up in surprise. "She was a beautiful thing. Met her while I was on a job for a client. She was imprisoned for a murder she was framed for. I swore it was love at first sight."
Diamond takes another sip, keeping quiet as Cynric tells her this random story; knowing surely there must be a reason behind it.
"When I broke her out, we spent a lot of time together, only to have me find out she was engaged." He continues. "She gladly left him for me, but he wasn't too happy about it. I came home one evening and found my brother, in a pool of his own blood; the dagger still impaled in his chest."
Diamond chokes on the tea and coughs a few times. She didn't know Cynric had family; let alone a brother. "Pleasant." She croaks.
"I spent years tracking the bastard down, but he was powerful man, with friends in high places. But I wasn't going to let that stop me." Cynric says. "I went into jailbreaking to raise enough money to have him assassinated, but that was when I got caught and imprisoned in High Rock. And then you know the rest."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I want you to know that I get what you're going through."
"I don't need your pity."
"But you need someone to talk to. To understand and to listen."
Cynric's words find their mark.
Diamond bites her lip. "How long . . ." she struggles for the right words. "How long did it take for you to be okay again, after your brother . . .?"
"Don't know." He shakes his head. "Some days I feel like I'm still not okay. Some days I feel fine. Happy, even. It took me a few years to stop plotting revenge, though."
"Why did you stop?"
His eyes go vacant as he stares at the wall behind Dia. He taps his fingers against his leg for a few seconds and then says, "I don't think of it as stopping. More like I'm . . . waiting for my opportunity."
"And is there some kind of underlining message I'm supposed to get here? Because, I don't want revenge. At least I don't think so, not yet." says Diamond.
"I just want you to have a comprehension of pain." says Cynric.
"And that would be?"
"The way I see it, healing from pain is like getting over a fear. You don't really get over your fear, it just has less of a grip on you. With pain, and even loss, you don't ever fully heal; but rather the pain is what you make it. It can make you stronger, or it can break you. The choice is yours." Cynric explains.
Diamond looks back down to her tea, halfway empty, and crowing cold. Diamond likes cold tea better. "I don't know what to do."
"Have you ever experienced loss?" Cynric asks.
Diamond shrugs. "Never really knew my parents, and didn't care enough to find out. I'm an assassin for the Dark Brotherhood. I kill people, and I'm happy about it. I'm not supposed to feel any emotions."
"You're too tough to need help."
"Whatever, maybe." When Diamond lifts her hands from her tankard, she realizes that she's shaking. Not good. Her hands usually shake before she starts to cry, and she can't cry in front of Cynric.
"Or maybe too tough to admit you need help." says Cynric. "I understand. You're an assassin. You're not supposed to have feelings of sadness or vulnerability . . ."
Diamond springs from her seat, slapping her tankard on the table. "You don't know what I feel!" she snaps. Diamond goes to leave the room.
"Diamond!" Cynric calls.
"Just leave me alone!" she yells. Cynric stands up after her and grabs her wrist before she could head for the door. "Let go of me!"
"Diamond, you don't have to be like this." Cynric says in a stern, quiet tone. "It's not your fault. And burying your emotions of guilt won't make it go away."
"I know that!" Diamond stops trying to wrench her wrist free.
"But still you keep your emotions bottled up. Diamond, it's not a sign of weakness to open up to your friends."
"Except the one friend I ever did open up to, is now dead! There is literally no one else in all of Skyrim that I trust!" Diamond screams.
Her eyes water and her nose congests. She stifles a sob, but it escapes her lips. Still, she speaks through.
"The Brotherhood doesn't even accept me as a true member! I'm just the new kid who won't make it past the apprentice phase. I barely remember my old family, and my new one doesn't even like me."
She sniffles.
"And now, the one person who was always there for me and who always treated me as an equal, is gone! And it's all my fault!" Diamond wails, and Cynric doesn't quiet her down. He merely pulls her in to his chest. Diamond presses her forehead to his shoulder, bawling.
"It's not your fault."
"I should've gone with her." Diamond weeps. "I feel like it's my fault."
Cynric presses his hand to Diamond's cheek, and she turns her face into it, keeping her eyes closed. "I know, but it's not. It's not." He says, keeping one arm wrapped around Diamond's torso, a hand at her cheek.
"I could've saved her." She whimpers.
"Maybe. Maybe there's more we all could have done," he says. "but we just have to let the guilt remind us to do better next time." His voice tightens, and Diamond can feel him swallow. He must be fighting back as well.
Perhaps Cynric has a point. Guilt as a tool, rather than a weapon against the self. But how does that stop it from eating you alive?
"How do I get past it? How do I live with myself? If I had gone, do you think she would be alive now?" Diamond asks, inhaling a shuddering breath.
She feels Cynric touch his lips to her crown. It doesn't feel the same, but offers some comfort. "I don't know; and I don't have any easy answers, Diamond. But one thing's clear, admitting it, is the first step."
Diamond looks to him, and Cynric touches his lips to her forehead, right between her eyebrows. She closes her eyes. She doesn't understand this, whatever it is. But she doesn't want to ruin it, so she says nothing. Cynric smells distinct – sweet and fresh, like sage and lemongrass. He doesn't move; he just stays there with his mouth pressed to her skin, and Diamond stays there with her arms wrapped around his strong torso, for a long time.
The icy silence cracks within her, and she feels something like comfort float out of it, and she grabs it with desperate fingers.
Her talk with Cynric has certainly lifted a small amount of weight off her shoulders, but Diamond knows better than to think she's better. She thought being in the Guild would be unbearable, when really, it's all the tangible connections she has back to Libby. She would spend all her time down here, memorizing the entire façade like the back of her hand, training, and mingling with the other members.
As Diamond enters back out into the Cistern, it's around noon judging from the position of the sun's light. Diamond's eyes glance around the Guild and the members all seem to walk around with the same placid look on their faces; shielding their grief. No one other than Cynric have talked to her, and Diamond feels, at peace. Opening up was something she only did with Libby, to do ti with someone would seem, wrong.
Diamond wanders over to Libby's bed and sits down at the edge. Most of the members are sleeping, now. So Diamond leans down to her side, and matches her inhales to the inhales of the other members, and her exhales to their exhales. It doesn't matter.
It only brings up the scent of Libby's bed. It still smells like her. A mixture of salt water and lavender. It wafts upwards, and it fills Diamond's nose, fills her entire head with Libby. Diamond clenches her hands so hard into fists that her fingernails dig crescent shapes into her palms. She lets the scent of Libby numb her insides, allows it to help her forget all the trouble, and give her a clear head.
Diamond doesn't know how long it takes for her to realize that she is gone. But when it does she feels all the strength go out of her, and she curls into a ball, tucking her knees to her chest and she thinks she cries again, or at least she wants to, and everything inside of her screams for just one more hug, one more word, one more glance, one more.
Diamond gathers the pillow around her ears to block out the noises of the Cistern, and falls asleep with a circle of moisture pressed to her cheek.
It was four years ago during the spring season when Libby and Diamond first met in Rorikstead.
It is the farthest settlement from Whiterun along the western border near The Reach. The settlement consists of two cottages, an inn, and a manor.
Diamond was on a mission to assassinate a shop keeper, Libby was given a job to steal some valuable. Little did both girls know that their jobs were for the same merchant.
Libby was fifteen years of age, Diamond twelve; both just starting to get used to the routine and methods of their factions.
This was Libby's first burglary job given by Vex to break into a home and steal a golden bejeweled dragonfly. She was too cautious with keeping to the shadows, and she constantly looked over her shoulder to see if she was being perused, or observed by Vex. Diamond had been struggling along in earning the respect of the other members of the Brotherhood for a few months before Astrid gave her a first job.
It was on a Sundas of the Last Seed, the air cool and perfumed by the scent of the smoke from the blacksmith. Libby arrived just as night was beginning to settle over the hold. She had dressed in a belted tunic, but kept her steel dagger – given to her by Brynjolf – strapped across her right thigh, and her iron sword on her left. She wasn't supposed to kill, but if it were to come to that, her payment was forfeit.
Once a guard finished patrolling by her, she had a total of thirty seconds before another one would come. She had hidden a satchel in the early hours, packed with her Guild Armor and extra lockpicks and a Potion of Invisibility. She dressed in less than a minute, and tucked away her hair. At the time she had kept it down and in her hood.
Diamond was assigned a merchant that was the ex-lover of the client, and it was said he deserved to die because he was caught cheating. It was one of the reasons why Diamond didn't want to fall in love; and she didn't think most of the men in Skyrim were attractive. She slinks along one wall behind the houses, keeping a tight grip on her dagger, and making sure it doesn't reflect off the moonlight.
Having spent too much time timing and calculating the position of the guards, Libby hurried off to the home of the said merchant and rounds to the back door. She had already surpassed the Novice level of lockpicking, so the lock wasn't a challenge. She heard the click and snuck inside.
She had walked right into the kitchen, a pot of stew brewing over the fire, shelves filled with cheese rolls, raw meat and fruits and veggies. Libby pressed close to one wall, listening for footsteps. She heard one pair going up the steps to the upper level, and she swore. If her thinking was right, normally a person would keep their valuable close to them. As in, in a bedroom. And in this house, the entire first floor was just for the shop, all personal home editions are upstairs.
Libby sighed and took a deep silent breath. She crept out of her hiding place and rounds up to the stairs. Still no sign of anyone else, and the footsteps have gone quiet. He must've gone to bed. Libby crept up the stairs and stays in toggle crouch as she approaches the bedroom.
Diamond stayed behind the houses, keeping an eye on the guards as she approached the house. When she went up to the door, she merely placed her hand on it before it swung open. She nearly fell but caught herself on the frame.
"What the . . .?" she whispered.
That was red alarm number one. If the back door was unlocked, either someone else was inside, or the contract was expecting her. Without fear, Diamond perused further, but with caution.
Libby opens the door to the bedroom, and both the merchant was asleep in bed. In the bedroom, there was a table along one wall next to a bookshelf, and a door leading further back into a study with a table and another bookshelf. Libby finds the dragonfly on the bookshelf by the desk, and carefully picks it up by the tail.
She then heard the sling of metal. The sound it made as it cleared its sheath made Libby shiver. She whirled to find the merchant had awoken and had drawn a steel sword. He stood over Libby, who was frozen as the gleam of the blade seemed to have blinded her, even with the limited light.
"Well what do we have here?" he taunted. "A little cockroach. Now you must be lost, little girl."
Libby didn't say anything, but the way he provoked her initiated a snarl to crawl across Libby's lips. Without speaking a word she glared at him, her hand reaching the corner of her back pocket. Her fingers shaking with anticipation. She ordered herself to wait for the right moment, when he was closer.
She focused on the mechanics of her breathing, imagining air filing every part of her lungs as he inhaled, then remembering as she exhaled how all her blood, oxygenated and unoxygenated, traveled to and from the same heart. Air in, air out. Blood pushed all the way to her extremities – the heart is a powerful muscle, the strongest muscle in the body in terms of longevity.
Libby didn't really want to kill him, at least not with a knife, up close where she could see the life leave him. Killing was one of the reasons she joined the Guild. It was forbidden unless given permission.
The man leans closer, and Libby can see a two bottles of skooma on his bedside table, empty.
"You are pretty young too. Young, and beautiful." He slurred, moving closer still; words slurring. All the murkiness of the skooma gleamed in his empty eyes. "Just beginning to develop the contours of a woman."
Libby pulls out her sword, knocking aside his blade and whirling to slash his side. But the man blocked her, and shoved her off harshly. Libby's back slammed against the bookshelf, and when she slides down, she grabs the dragonfly, tucking it away in her uniform.
The man raised his blade, and Libby spun out of the way, grabbed his wrist and went for a punch. The man caught her hand with his own; it swallowed Libby's, and throws her over him through the door, near the stairs. Libby recovered by somersaulting backwards, the balls of her feet sliding along the wood, stopped just at the edge. She felt a throbbing at the back of her head.
For a drunkard he was still strong and aware.
Libby spun the blade of her sword out. The man charged forward and as he went to swing, Libby stepped to the side, grabbed his wrist and flipped him over. His back crashed into the floor, the sword skittered out of his hand. Libby kicked it hard in the side – feeing the air leave his lungs, then back flipped back. The man rose and readied his fists. Now hand-to-hand combat was something Libby was good at. She sheathed her sword and took a fighting stance.
The man charged again, and Libby front flipped over him, dodging his fists as they swung back, and then kicking his feet out. His back slams into the floor again.
"And here you thought I was just a pretty face." Libby taunts.
The merchant then pushed up and charged forward again. And when Libby dodged, he was ready. He punched her right in the jaw, then again higher on her cheek. It sent her back, slamming into the wall, and crumpling to the ground, just at the top of the stairs.
Diamond closed the door silently behind her as she snuck through the kitchen. "Okay, where are you?" she whispered.
She snuck through the main floor of the shop, to the upstairs; when suddenly a huge crash startled her. Diamond jumped back several feet as a girl crumples to the floor.
What the hell?!
The girl was in light leathered armor, a hood concealing her face; but Diamond could still see streams of blood on her cheekbones. A man, her contract approaches with his knuckles bloody. Diamond settled back behind the counter. She watched as he kicked the girl in her side, and she tumbled down the steps.
Following her momentum, Libby rolled, then pushed off her hands and landed on a crate. She blinked a few times to rid her vision of black spots, and felt another strike to her jaw. She tumbled into a pile of sacks, barely cushioning the blow.
She sees the man go for another punch, but she stopped his hand and shoved him off with her feet. She rolled back on her hands and pushed off, landing on the floor a few feet back, a little wobbly as the room was settling. Diamond stands in amazement. She seemed quiet agile and nimble.
"Not bad for a little girl." the merchant provoked, wiping his jaw. He now had a cut on his upper lip, small drops of blood leaking out.
Libby readies again, and Diamond was dumbfounded as to why she didn't just pull out a weapon. She could not have been enjoying it. Libby's head turned and she spotted Diamond.
In unison, both girls' hearts skipped a beat.
Libby's distraction cost her and she just missed the fist of the man. It scraped her ear throwing her off balance. She jerked to the side and kicked him in the stomach, then raising her elbow and driving it between his shoulder blades, then as he's stunned, she loops her arms beneath his armpits in a headlock.
She thought she had him, but she felt him shift and leap back, and Libby's spine slams into the floor. A crackling pain spread its way up her spine like a fissure. Within the minute she held the man still, she glanced to Diamond who did nothing but watch.
He headbuts her, and Libby lets go; the pain in her jaw and nose making her eyes fill with tears. When he stands, Libby scrambles back. Blood trickles from her nose now. She swallows it, ignoring the coppery taste.
Diamond had half the mind to stop them, but at the time, she figured it would've been better to have him kill the girl, then she kills him. If word got out that there were two people dead, Diamond might earn favor of Astrid.
Libby shifts to the leg with the knife is on the floor, and pretended to act cowardly, pity, pathetic.
"You know, I might be willing to overlook this. If you were to do something, special for me." He said. Libby could feel her limbs grow cold. "You know I used to be an adventurer, I explored a lot of . . . areas."
He reaches out a hand.
Libby closed her hand around the knife handle and squeezed.
She lurched forward, pulling her hand out. She closed her eyes as she thrust the blade upward towards the man. She didn't want to see his blood. She felt the knife go in and the pulled it out again. The man chokes and slumps to the ground, then silence.
Diamond instantly springs up from her spot. "Hey!"
Libby looked to her and glared. Diamond had half the mind to step back; afraid the challenge the girl who just killed her client. But that was the problem; she killed Diamond's client.
Diamond was about to open her mouth again when she felt a stab to her jaw. The pain crackles along the inside of her skull and she tumbles back into a chair. The girl had struck her. Diamond rubs her jaw and shakes her head, then hears the back doors shut. She forces herself to stand and barrel after her.
Outside, the girl had practically vanished. "What the hell?!" Diamond hissed.
Libby quickly kept to the shadows as she ran to the north end of town. Even though no guards had heard the commotion, she needed to get away from that girl if she were to escape with the item at least. The thought of the man lying in his own pool of blood made Libby want to gag. Her first mission and she mucked it up. There would be no excuse now; they'd never give her another job. Rather than feeling like screaming from the man, Libby wanted to cry at the thought of not getting to help out the Guild now. Forever stuck being treated as a child.
She continued to sprint down the road, her arms pumping at her sides. She watched her breathing carefully as she turns back to the town. No one was in pursuit, but she knew better than to let her guard down.
Suddenly there was a shout. "Hey!"
Before she even had a chance to look back, Libby was tackled and rolled along the ground with another body before being pinned on her back. Libby blinked her eyes open and finds the girl from the shop. Her sandy hair had tips of pink on the end. Her blue eyes were swimming with rage, but if it weren't for the fact that she had merely watched Libby fight, Libby would've been scared. Her armor was that of the Dark Brotherhood; that much she knew, but she wasn't at all scared by the girl.
If she had merely stood by while watching Libby fight, she either isn't good at fighting, or she was waiting for the right moment to strike. Either way, Libby wasn't afraid of her.
"You killed my contract, bitch!" the girl snarled. "That was my case!"
Libby's fingers gathered a handful of dirt carefully as she spoke. "What's the big deal? He's dead anyway; you can just say you did it."
"What does it matter?!" Diamond snarled.
"Oh, and thanks for the help!" Libby bitched.
Without waiting for the girl to counter, she threw the dirt in her face and punched her in the jaw. Within a blink, Diamond felt a fist smash her temple, followed by a swift kick to her groin. As she staggered to one knee, there was another punch to her nose.
Diamond took the girl's wrist and kicked her legs out from under her. Libby sent her fist flying to Diamond and landed it into her jaw. Diamond caught Libby's wrist before Libby could pull her fist back. But Diamond was not prepared for the sudden maneuver the girl made. Her fingers wrapped around Diamond's own wrist, Libby's body twisted, and then Diamond was down on both knees, wincing as the bones of her arm protested in pain.
Any delusions Diamond had of this chick being a normal girl vanished with her muffled shriek of pain. Diamond's fingernails dug into Libby's skin, but Libby didn't seem to care. Face-to-face they stared, and Diamond could see that with her well-controlled moves, her eyes are full of amusement. Libby let go of Diamond's wrist and tried to kick her in the chest. Diamond ducked under the kick, spun around Libby, and then jabs Libby's throat with her elbow. When Libby collapsed, she rolls her body, avoiding the next two blows from Diamond's foot. Libby caught Diamond's heel on her third kick and then shoved it upward. Diamond somersaulted with the push, snapping Libby's chin with her feet, drew two daggers from her belt, and hurled them across the room.
They stabbed into the ground barely an inch to either side of Libby's feet. Libby backflipped, still with no weapon in hand.
"Why don't you just go home?!" Libby shouted. She drew the blade of her sword. "He's already dead, just say you killed him!"
"It's not the same!" the girl countered. She chucked more daggers to Libby who drew her sword and blocked them all. They ricochet off and stab the ground around her. Diamond goes for more.
"Bet you run out of daggers before I run out of sword." Libby chuckled. "Unless you want to call one of your Brotherhood friends for help, then you might stand a chance."
"How did you . . .?"
"You're armor speaks for itself." Libby cuts her off.
"Then you have me at a disadvantage. You know who I am, but what about you?" Diamond said.
"Sorry, little girl. Just because I know your secrets, doesn't mean I tell you mine."
Diamond snarled and sheathed her dagger before charging. She ducked under a punch Libby threw, then kicked her in the stomach before leaping back and back flipping on her hands.
"Well then, since you killed my client, I need to settle the score!" Diamond barked.
"What?" Libby felt her pocket and her heart sank when the felt the dragonfly gone. Looking up, Diamond held it in her hand.
"No! Don't you dare!" Libby sneered.
Diamond smiles devilishly and tosses the dragonfly back and forth between her hands; faking to drop it a few times. Then she lets it fall to the ground, where she crushes it beneath her foot.
"No!" Libby shrieked.
"There! Now we're even!" Diamond hollers.
"Are you insane?!" Libby screams. "What's wrong with you?! That bastard had little sense to his name! That was worth 10,000 gold!"
"Oh, so you want to fight now?!" Diamond challenges.
"What?!"
"You want to fight? Let's go!" Diamond repeated.
"Hmph, you don't want to fight me." Libby growled. She fisted her hands so hard from the anger; small crescent shapes impale into her palms. "I could beat you in seconds. I was holding back this time."
Diamond fidgets at the predatory look in Libby's eyes, and she could tell Libby was being truthful. But Diamond draws a blade while Libby takes a stance.
"No weapon?"
"I won't need one to beat you." Libby retorts.
Diamond sneers and charges forward raising her blade above her head. Libby steps out of the way, spins and pins Diamond's weapon down with her foot; then twirls and raises up kicking Diamond in the jaw with her other. Diamond stumbles back crashing to the ground. It wasn't even three seconds before she feels the harsh kick in her ribs, then being pulled up by the scruff of her hair and punches her left and right in the face.
Diamond rolls back and adjusts her chin. No doubt she now had deep bruises. But she had to admit, this girl could fight.
"Not bad." Diamond murmurs.
"You should see me when I'm trying." Libby pesters with a sly smile.
This starts a viscous burn in Diamond's chest and she barrels forward again. Libby raises her fist and goes for a punch. This time Diamond managed to block with her forearm, but Libby spins down and kicks Diamond's feet out. Her back hits the ground flatly.
Diamond pushes up again and readies her blade, but Libby spins and knocks it aside, then rams her knee into Diamond's diagram. She drops to her knees and Libby doesn't wait to kick her in the head. Diamond still rises to her feet, heaving for breath with a stream of blood dripping at the corner of her mouth.
"You've got guts." Libby compliments.
Before Diamond could reply, Libby's the one who charges this time, and she snatches a few of the daggers Diamond had thrown earlier. She spins the blades out and matches the swing of Diamond's sword; blocking, parrying and thrust. Then she spins the blades in, and pounds the hilt against several pressure points along Diamond's side. Diamond grits her teeth and groans in pain as Libby kicks her feet out again.
As she's about to get up, Diamond feels the pressure of someone on top of her. She looks and finds the girl pinning her down. She spins the daggers between her fingers and presses the tip to Diamond's cheek and the soft skin of her throat. Diamond's heart beats faster.
Libby's face is emotionless, though her eyes show a deep murderous intent. Diamond gulps.
"You know, I could kill you right now." Libby hisses.
She presses the tip harder to Diamond's cheek until a single drop of blood permeates Diamond's skin. Diamond is about to plead, her entire body aching and throbbing, when the girls pulls back, stabbing the daggers on either side of Diamond's head.
"But you're not even worth it."
Libby the got up and turned walking away. Diamond rose to her feet, when suddenly her ear stung. She touched her ear, and blood tickled her skin. She nicked it. And judging from the way she acted, she did it on purpose.
Diamond gazes at her, mouth agape.
She watches the girl's black hair sway side to side. Who was this chick? She practically kicked the ass of a man twice her size, and she didn't show the slightest fear when she realized Diamond was in the Dark Brotherhood. Then she had the chance to kill Diamond and spared her. She was, strange, yet intriguing.
Diamond decided to follow her as she exits Rorikstead. Diamond slinks to the side of the road keeping to the shadows. The girls didn't seem to notice her, and Diamond snickered. She followed the girl for about a half hour before she suddenly stopped. Diamond remained huddled in foliage. They had reached the town of Riverwood.
Suddenly the girl broke into a full sprint and darted off the road. Diamond was stunned for a moment before she sprints after her. Damn, she's fast, she thought. She watched as Libby darted through small alleys, cutting back and forth as if to lose a pursuer. Her path remained steadily eastward, regardless of how crooked and curved.
Where are you taking me? Diamond wondered.
She climbs a tree to get a view of where the girl is going, but as she reaches a top branch, an arrow sticks to the trunk, inches from her hand. Diamond squeals and falls down, managed to cushion some blows with her reflexes. She hit the ground and groaned. The girl walks up with a bow in hand.
"Knew you were there about a minute after I turned my back." She boasts.
Diamond sits up and brushes blades of grass out of her hair.
"Why are you following me?" the girl demands.
Diamond opens her mouth, then closes it. Why was she following her? She was interesting, but that didn't mean she should endanger herself.
"I don't know." She admits.
The girl rolls her eyes and turns her back, continuing her walking. "You should go home. Back to the Brotherhood." Libby says.
"I would, but I was so busy following you that I don't remember where I am." Diamond retorts
"Don't you have a map?"
"I don't travel a lot. This was my first case. I was lucky to find the town on my own."
The girls sighs and rubs her head. "Well, I can't nor will I help you."
"Come on. You could've killed me, but you didn't. Why?"
"I don't know, maybe because you look so pathetic." Libby sneers.
"Or because you care." Diamond persuades. "Look, even if you don't, I can't find my way back; but you, you seem to know you're way around, enough. Help me out please?"
"Why should I? You didn't help me." Libby reminds.
"You looked like you handled yourself."
"No thanks to you."
"Come on! Please? Look, the sooner you help me, the sooner I'm gone." Diamond persuades. "And I know you want to be rid of me."
The girl looks to her, and glares, but she then sighs. Diamond can see her weighing her options. Finally she sighs. "Fine."
"Yay!" Diamond squeals. "Thank you!"
She goes to hug the girl, but she's stopped. "I'm not much of a hugger, and don't get too attached. Not like we're friends."
"Not yet." Diamond smiles.
"Yeah," the girls coldly snickers. "Like that could happen."
"So . . . what's your name?" Diamond asks as she matched Libby's pace.
The moon begins to nestle on the horizon as the girls walk through Riverwood.
"Yours first."
Diamond rolls her eyes. "Diamond. My name's Diamond."
The girl smiles, and instantly she looks like someone you'd want to be friends with. "Mine's Libby."