Serana reached out with her hand from the shadow of the castle into the light. It stung her skin like a sunburn that she almost screamed, but bit her teeth instead. Her teeth felt different with the fangs. Everything felt different. She jerked her hand back out of the sun.

To her right, her mother was doing the same, but with much more resilience and tolerance. So much so, she managed to turn her attention away from herself to Serana.

"We have to do this, Serana. It won't get any easier."

"But it hurts so much," reasoned Serana.

"It will hurt for the rest of your life, dear. Nothing will change that. The more you do it, the more your body will grow used to it, and the more you'll be able to tolerate the pain."

Serana looked from her hand to her mother, who still had her own hand out in the sun. She

sighed, and reluctantly returned her hand to the light. And it burned.

~ The Present Day ~

Serana walked out of her and Nero's house in Solitude and took a breathe of fresh air, before then pulling her hood up. It was morning in the city, nearing midday, and people were going about their business as usual.

Jordis joined her behind, "say hi to the Companions for me, and have a good trip!"

"Thanks Jordis. Not sure when we'll be back."

"Oh no worries, the house should still be here when you do."

"Be glad to have it to yourself again for a bit, huh?"

"Oh yeah, I'm going to throw the world's biggest party in here while you're gone," joked Jordis.

"You know, now Nero and I are married, I can technically fire you," returned Serana playfully.

"Oh, you'd miss me too much," topped Jordis.

"Yeah, yeah. See you soon, Jordis."

Her housecarl waved Serana goodbye as she went down the steps and made for the city gate. Nero was at the stables, preparing for the trip, just outside Solitude. She passed through with ease, earning glances from passers by here and there. Some time back, no one in the world knew who she was. A lot had changed. She'd gotten used to the level of fame; being the wife of the famous Dragonborn had its attributes. She guessed Nero got many more looks, and not all of them kind. But they affected him no more than they affected her. She passed on through.

At the stables, she found him and a few other men loading a cart with chests. After he loaded one up, she went up behind him and surprised him with a kiss as he turned.

"Hello to you too," he said as soon as she pulled away.

"What's with all the chests?" she asked.

"Well now that we won't be 'living' in any of my other houses for much longer, I figured we could get some packing done a little sooner, and the East Empire Company have no shortage of empty chests."

"Oh well I'm sure sorting through your stuff in Whiterun will be fun," she groaned.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing, just that you should write a book on how to be a hoarder," joked Serana.

Nero looked stunned, "I have a lot of stuff, alright? If I didn't, the lakeview house would be pretty empty."

"I think in a few months, it will be full enough," said Serana, "all your housecarls plus me and you," she put a hand on her stomach, which had begun to broaden, "and our future little one."

Nero smiled, placing his hands on top of hers, and then around to her hips, "nothing sounds better."

He leant in for a kiss, and she wrapped her arms over his shoulders.

After finally parting, they both went around and got up onto the cart, and Nero took hold of the reins. He thanked the men in passing and tossed them some coins for their services, before riding away from Solitude towards Whiterun. As they did, Serana leant on Nero's shoulder.

"So this visit is pretty much the same as last time. Only, the chests are empty."

"Well, we left much later last time. But yeah, aside from that and the chests, pretty much the same," agreed Nero. He looked over at her.

"Are you still sure you want to leave now? We can wait until nightfall..."

She looked over at him, "you did that last time for me, now it's my turn to sacrifice. Don't worry, I can deal with the sun."

Nero looked down at her, and when Serana saw the look of unsurety, she leant over and kissed him, "anyone ever told you you're too considerate?"

"Huh, never considered that..."

Serana rolled her eyes and poked Nero who simply laughed, "do not start doing dad jokes."

He laughed, "alright, I'll save them for the little one."

"I feel bad for them already."

They rode for several hours, until evening, before Whiterun emerged on its high hill.

"Ah... good to be back," said Nero.

"How do you think they'll react to the news?" she asked.

"If I know the Companions, it'll be with a drink."

"Be nice to see Aela again."

"Yeah... odd question, but... have you told your mother yet?"

Serana looked up at Nero, "I... no. No, I haven't..."

Serana thought about that for a moment, "I should've. I should. Of course I should, I wouln't even be pregnant if it weren't for her."

"I imagine that conversation went down well," jested Nero.

"You don't want to know," topped Serana.

A moment passed, before Nero added, "also, her being your mother, she deserves to know."

Serana looked at Nero. His relationship with Valerica wasn't great, but it could be worse. Serana knew her mother wasn't fond of him, but respected her choices. At least now.

Her mother had made that potion. She'd helped Serana to have a family, despite her thoughts of Nero.

Serana would also have asked Nero why he said that, but she knew better. Though she didn't entirely understand him, she knew why he'd say that. Because he doesn't have a mother anymore.

After Nero had told her about his past that night, as much as it was, she wanted to know more. There was so much darkness and heartbreak. She wanted to hear some good part of it. She wanted to know about Nero's mother. Who she was. What she was like.

But she told herself that she knew enough. It wasn't worth making Nero relive bad memories just to sate her own curiosity. She respected him and the things he kept close to his heart.

Her thoughts went back to her own mother. Could she ever love Nero? Could she ever embrace him as a son? One thing was for sure, it would take a long time for that to ever happen.

Serana was so deep in her thoughts, she only snapped out of it when their carriage came to a stop in the middle of the road. She looked at Nero, who was staring into the distance.

"Nero, what's up? Why have we stopped?"

She followed his gaze to see something flying through the air.

"What the hell-..."

The 'something' slowly took shape and became a man, falling towards them.

"What the fff-!"

Nero put a hand on Serana and ducked as the man crashed into the chests behind them, breaking wood and sending spikes and splinters hurling here and there.

Nero looked behind them to see a large man in steel armour, with long brown hair and broad shoulders, war-painted eyes, and an expression that was either pain or constipation.

"Farkas?"

"Watch out!" cried Serana, as a greatsword shot through the air, and into the wood between Nero and Serana. They looked at the sword for a moment, before turning to see the giant who threw it in the distance coming straight at them.

"Well. Shit."

Nero helped Serana off and they went around and pulled Farkas off, as the rumbling of running rock-sized feet rang through the air.

Nero fetched his sword off the pile, and went around to meet the giant, which was nearly on him, when suddenly, the sharpened head of an arrow bursted through its head. Slowly, and quite ungraciously, it fell straight over with a mighty boom.

Behind it, with a bow and arrow to her hands, Aela the Huntress came forward onto the giant's back, drawing another to release on the giant. When she realised it was dead though, she loosened her hands and relaxed. Soon enough she looked up to see Nero and Serana with Farkas near the damaged carriage. Vilkas appeared behind her on top of the giant, greatsword in hand.

"Harbinger!?" he exclaimed.

"Ah, it's nice to be welcomed," laughed Serana.

Author's Notes

Ah. Shorter. Something with a little less commitment, and hopefully (definitely) won't take a year to get through. Welcome, my blessed readers, to Monsters, the second instalment of this story. It's more of a short story this time, as opposed to Deeds of Vengeance.

At long last, we have met the companions, if a little briefly. I wanted it to sort of mirror the first time you meet them in the game, when you're first travelling to Whiterun, and come across them slaying a giant on the road.

Characters:

Aela the Huntress: A very attractive warrior woman. A wild animal in every aspect of her life ;)

Farkas and Vilkas: the brothers wolf. Vilkas is the brains, Farkas the brute.

Dragon language:

None used