Fate's Games
(A/N: Second up today. First thing that came to mind when these two speaking in Riften.)
Save Me
To this day he didn't know what had possessed him to go to her for money. Sapphire was not one to be trifled with. He supposed it had been a young man's desire. She was pretty, beautiful, and she had been quick tongued. Desire gave way to horror on realizing what he'd done. What had he done? Now she came to him, demanded payment. In fact, if not for the Dragonborn he doubted he would be alive today.
He saw her race from Riften, tears in her eyes. "Give me a horse!" she ordered him simply.
"Sapphire?" he questioned, alarmed and worried.
"Give me a horse!" she screamed. He handed her over one in shock. Nimbly she swung up onto its back and galloped away.
ES
To this moment he didn't know what had possessed him to follow her, but he had. He swung onto his own and galloped after her, weapon at his side. He watched her reign in the animal and leap off, racing to the edge of a cliff. His heart skipped a beat. She was going to jump! All at once, however, she stopped herself and looked out over the land. All at once she sobbed. Silently he slid from his horses back and snuck towards her, terror gripping his heart. She wanted to jump, he sensed it, saw it.
She closed her eyes tightly and stepped nearer to the edge. She had nothing here, nothing. She didn't want this life, she wanted her pain to end, the memories to leave. She had opened up to the Dragonborn and it had torn old scars open once more. This time… This time she didn't know if she could handle it. To die… Oh death, sweet death, sweep her away. She was worthless, trash, nothing… She felt herself leaning forward. This was it. She would fall, this would end, no more pain, no more suffering. She didn't hear the footsteps racing up behind her. She didn't hear the voice cry out, "Sapphire!"
ES
She sighed as the air began to pick up, but all at once there were arms around her waist pulling back, tearing her from death's grip. "No," she gasped in terror, regressing back to then… The bandits, the murders, her family dead. They dragged her from her home as a captive. They violated her, oh Deadra, please, not again, please! Nocturnal, help me! Mistress, rescue me! "No!" she screamed, trying to fight back, trying to reach the safety of the edge. She took her dagger, stabbed back at whoever held her. There was a cry of pain but her attacker wouldn't release her, he wouldn't! "Help!" she screamed, sobbing helplessly now as he seized her wrist and squeezed with such force the dagger fell from her grip.
She was on the ground now, sobbing and clawing, calling out to any savior. "Sapphire, Sapphire, stop it!" the man was calling desperately to her. She knew that voice, she knew that voice… She opened her eyes in terror and met his own, dark brown and terrified.
"Shadr," she gasped out, choking on her sobs.
"Please, Sapphire, stop this. Please," he pled. Why? Why did he plead with her? Why had he stopped her? Why wasn't he taking his vengeance on her, for she knew she was at his mercy. He was by no means a fighter, by no means a warrior, but he was strong, she felt his strength as he pinned her; strength she'd never begun to imagine he had.
"Oh divines!" she cried out, leaning back helplessly. "Do what you will," she hissed venomously.
ES
He stared down at her in shock. Do what he would? What did she fear? What did she think he was… He paled on realizing, felt sick to the stomach. He gasped and quickly released her, moving back. She lay there sobbing, still. There was silence. Finally he asked, "What made you think I would harm you?"
She suddenly recovered, sobs stopping, and she glared at him in fear, anger, misery, shock. After a moment she got to her knees and hugged her body tightly looking ashamedly down. "Nothing," she answered.
"Don't lie to me!" he shot.
"Why do you care?!" she demanded.
"What was I supposed to do?!" he yelled. "You were about to throw yourself from a cliff! The moment I stopped you, you began to scream in terror. You thought… you thought I would violate you."
"You're no different than any of them!" she vehemently replied.
"What?" he asked. His eyes widened as he thought this over. He looked at her in disbelief. "Sapphire…" he began. She looked slowly up at him, tears in her eyes. Finally she told him. What choice did she have? She told him everything.
ES
He held her tightly to his body, hardly aware of when he had taken her into his arms. She sobbed into him helplessly, terrified. What could he do? "It's over," he quietly murmured to her.
"It will never be over," she replied.
Before he could think it through he said in a hollow and dark tone he himself never knew he possessed, "Any man who raises a finger against you will die at my hand." He didn't know what drove him to speak those words, but he had no intentions of taking them back. She tried to laugh, because surely this stable hand had to be joking, but it became a sob as she buried herself deeper into his arms. "Any man who speaks so much as a crude word about you… he will lose his tongue."
"You couldn't fight to save your own life let alone mine," she hissed.
"Lady, you underestimate me," he replied.
"Do I?" she challenged.
"I will die before I let such harm come to you again," he answered.
She wanted to laugh, so why could she only weep? She wanted to belittle and insult him, to tear him down until there was nothing left of his dignity, so why instead did she try to disappear into his arms and will the world to pass away around them? "Save me," she pled weakly. "Save me…" she repeated, shaking her head in denial.6
"Then trust in me," he whispered to her, and never since childhood had she felt so completely safe and protected. Never since childhood had she ever trusted a man like this.
(A/N: Quest References: I don't know the name but if you talk to Shadr after his scene with Sapphire he'll give it to you.)