The sun rose over the mountains of Skyrim and the light rode down the sides, shining over the rolling tundras and bouncing off of Lake Illinalta brighter than ever.

Beside the lake sat Dragons-bane Manor, a large house that could easily be mistaken for a castle with several wings that stretched out across the land. An alchemy tower reached into the sky and a balcony stood facing the lake.

Inside, through the multiple trophy rooms and armories, past the alchemy tower and smithy, and beyond the rooms of the Housecarls and finally down the hall from the master bedroom was a smaller bedroom. Inside slept a young girl who's sky-blue eyes opened to the light of the morning sun flowing in through the window.

She sat up, stretched, yawned, rubbed her eyes a few times, brushed some strands of her brown hair out of her face, before finally she realised.

"It's today," she said excitedly.

In an instant, she threw the covers off, jumped out of bed and raced out the door. She crashed into the master bedroom, where her parents were sleeping peacefully, and she went around to her father. Strands of his long brown hair fell down over his faded scars and growing beard.

"Daddy, wake up," she prodded her father, who groaned but didn't move.

"Daddy, you've gotta get up," she prodded again to which he slightly opened his eyes.

"5 more... hours," he groaned.

"Daddy, you promised," the girl argued.

"You did promise, Nero," chimed in her mother on the other side of the bed.

Her father didn't move for a moment, but then finally pushed his head off the pillow looking at the girl.

"Okay, okay. I'll be down in a minute, go and get dressed."

The girl nearly couldn't contain herself, barely holding back a "yay!" before turning and leaving the room.

Nero, shirtless, sat up in bed and stretched, giving a long yawn at the same time. It stretched the scars across his body, the marks along chest and muscle; the worn body of a warrior. The retired warrior who was now a husband and father.

He looked down to beside him, where Serana was sleeping peacefully. He kissed his fingers and planted them on her soft dark lips, which curved and formed a smile.

"I'll go down and start breakfast pretty soon," said Serana, "don't stay out too long with her."

"Yes my lady," said Nero who got out of bed and went to his dresser, from which he pulled out a long-sleeve grey tattered tunic, black pants and a pair of brown boots and put them all on.

He sat on his side to put his boots on, after which he leant over and placed one final kiss on Serana's cheek, who opened her emerald-green eyes and smiled at him.

"I love you," she said softly.

"I love you too," replied Nero before he then stood up, picked up his bag, went to the door and left the room.

Nero queitly walked down the hall so as not to wake any of his Housecarls, and went downstairs into the main hall where the large dining table was spread. From there, he went to the main doors, where his daughter was waiting, dressed in pants, boots and a sleeveless tunic which was her usual clothing.

From a closet, Nero pulled a pair of wooden swords. They were small for him and quite big for Julia, but that way it was fair.

"Are you ready, Julia?" asked Nero.

"Yes Daddy!" she replied.

"Okay, great, let's go then," he said and they both ventured outside into the cool morning air that was matched by the heat of the summer sun.

Nero took a deep breath of that cold air before leading them both down away from the house and towards the woods beside the road. Nero remembered he had set up a training circle on a small clearing at the top of the hill where the view was excellent.

"I can't wait!" cried Julia as she followed along with a spring in her step.

"I'll bet you can't," smiled Nero, "but don't get too excited, you've got to take this seriously, remember?"

"I will Daddy!" she promised, to which Nero raised an eyebrow, not convinced, but smiling.

Secretly he was happy at how excited Julia was, he wasn't surprised either; she'd been wanting to train for years. Whether it was from Nero or Serana they weren't sure, but she'd developed a love of adventure and excitement. She was a kid, but nothing stopped her wanting to get out there and enjoy the world.

On some of her early birthdays, they had gotten Julia what they thought she would like, only to realise soon enough that she was not a fan of dolls and dresses. Nero recalled one amusing birthday where her grandma Valerica had brought her a black and red dress; Nero would never forget his daughter's face. Valerica blamed the Nero-side in her for that, but it was still a hilarious sight. On her 6th birthday, the twins and Aela had brought her toy swords and a bow; she played with them all day until sundown, and the day after that, and the day after that.

Nero reflected on days when he and Serana pretended to be evil monsters who she would have to defeat, and other days when Nero pretended to be a villain who had captured Serana, and Julia would have to defeat him and save her.

Nero remembered Serana reading her an old book of hers, a tale about a brave warrior who roamed the land, and it became Julia's favourite storybook that she begged they would read her every night.

Over the years that had also meant making sure the armories were child proof and she couldn't pull any of the weapons from the displays or hurt herself in any way.

She was seven years old now, and after a lot of pleading, Nero agreed to begin giving her some training lessons with the condition that it was for her to learn to protect herself and so she would have to take it seriously, to which she instantly agreed.

And so, at 6am on a fine summer morning, they had gone out to start training.

And it made Nero smile.

They made it to the top of the hill where there lay a circle of stones centrally in a clearing. Nero had made it just like his mother had done years ago. Once by it, Nero put the swords down and tied up his hair.

Over the years, Nero had decided to grow his hair out like most other nord men, and it now sat at his shoulders. It was a bit more maintenance than his shorter length days, but Serana thought it looked good. She wasn't a big fan of his beard that he was going for, but he liked it. His scars had faded somewhat as well, but gave way for some lines that had begun to form on his face. He tied the top and sides of his hair back though to allow for him to see clearer, along with Julia who did the same. Her hair was a shade darker than his, probably from Serana's side, but she had his blue eyes. Eyes that showed her excitement to begin training.

Nero rolled his sleeves up and picked up their swords and he tossed one to Julia who caught it the first time.

"I caught it!" she cried.

"Good job Julia!"

Nero was surprised; it had taken him some time to get the hang of that, it seemed Julia was more talented than he was, at least at catching.

"Alright, well a good start, but it takes more than being able to catch a sword to be good at swordplay," lectured Nero, "are you ready to start?"

"Yes daddy!" she almost shouted.

"Okay," smiled Nero, "now, the first rule of swordplay, do you know what it is?"

"I stick them with the pointy end!" she answered.

Nero smiled, "yeah that is pretty much the long and short of it, but you've also got to make sure that you don't get stuck yourself, so first you need to get into stance. Try and do this."

Nero got into an easy stance for Julia to try and copy. She watched and then slowly tried to mimic him.

"Very good," said Nero, "but we're not just gonna be standing still the whole time. You've got to move carefully around your opponent. Here, watch me and try and copy."

Nero moved his feet slowly in a noticeable manner, and Julia did the same.

"Good! You've got the hang of it!"

Julia smiled as she moved in line with her father.

"Now, I've seen you spend whole days playing with your swords, so let's see what you can do!"

Nero came in closer and, when they were shy of a metre apart, he raised his sword.

"Get your sword up and hold it," he said, and Julia raised her sword to meet his.

He tapped it a few times, before then swinging his sword at her leg fairly fast but not too fast. She blocked it almost instinctively. Each swing was slow enough for Julia to work with.

He went for one towards her head which she blocked beautifully.

"Good Julia!" congratulated Nero, "now let's continue sparring but moving around."

So Nero began slowly moving in the same manner as his stance, and Julia began moving around too, blocking his attacks and keeping her mind on where she stepped. She was good at this. Nero smiled and began to move faster and Julia smiled as she kept up with him.

Finally, Nero went for a fast strike to her body which was a bit too fast for her and Julia missed it and caught the sword in her belly. She dropped her face and held her stomach, and Nero instantly recoiled.

"Oh Julia! Are you alright?"

Then she immediately followed up with wacking Nero every which way.

"Agh! What!?" Nero yelped as his daughter killed him several times.

"Got you!" she laughed.

"Hey! No fair!" he cried before she then jumped on him and they spun around before he fell on his back and Julia landed on top of him.

"I win," she smiled.

Nero scoffed, "oh you win this time little miss, but I know that move now, you'll have to try harder next time."

She smiled, and Nero laughed with his daughter. Then he stood up and brushed himself off.

"Alright, that's enough training for today, we should get back. Your mom's probably got breakfast waiting."

"Okay daddy," said Julia, and she gave her sword to Nero before they both headed back towards home.

Halfway down the hill, Julia asked,

"Daddy? Could you give me a piggy back?"

Nero smiled, "alright then."

He knealt down and she clambered onto his shoulders, then he stood and continued walking back home.

"Go dragon!" she cried, and Nero laughed and began running, swaying around and between the trees like a dragon while Julia laughed.

Soon enough they got back to Dragons-bane Manor and Nero continued up the hill to the front door, where Serana, dressed in white and red, was waiting.

"There you two are, I was about to send Lydia to go and find you, breakfast is ready," she said.

"Sorry mommy, me and daddy were having a lot of fun," explained Julia.

"Fun huh," said Serana as she looked from Julia to Nero, "I thought it was serious training."

"It was," said Nero, "at first."

Serana glared, but seeing how happy the pair of them were, she relented.

"Oh okay, well breakfast is nearly ready, go inside and help set the table."

"Yes mommy," said Julia before Nero let her down and she ran off inside, leaving Nero and Serana at the door who crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, to which Nero smiled.

"I think you're just jealous," said Nero.

"Jealous? Me? Never. I'm just curious how much she actually learned today."

"You know, she was much better at it than I thought, I think she taught me some moves actually."

"Oh really? Like what?"

"How to get picked up by a dragon!" said Nero as he scooped Serana up in his arms and walked into the house, all to Serana's laughter.

"Oh, you are a crafty dragon," smiled Serana, to which Nero smiled and winked.

They came to the main hall and Nero put her back down, "so, shall we eat?"

She smiled and planted a kiss on his cheek, "we shall, come on."

In the main hall, the Housecarls were all setting the table, bringing plates of bacon, sausages and eggs and placing them on the long table. Julia brought in mugs and a flagon of coffee, before they all sat down to their food.

"So, how was the training?" asked Lydia.

"Good," answered Nero as he ate some bacon, "we've done some basics, we'll keep at it."

"Are you gonna win next time?" asked Lydia with a smile.

Nero looked from her to Julia who was smiling.

"Next time will be harder, Miss Dragons-bane," said Nero, "I won't go easy on you again."

"Neither will I," smiled Julia to everyone's amusement.

"Oh it's on," returned Nero.

Everyone gasped playfully, and Lydia looked to Nero, "she's definitely a cut off the old block isn't she?"

They all laughed before they continued eating. Suddenly however a knock came to the door.

"I'll get it," said Nero who stood up from the table and went to the main entrance, openeing the door to a young courier.

"Hello?" said Nero.

"M-Mr Dragons-bane?" the boy stuttered.

Nero nodded, and the boy opened his bag and took out a piece of parchment.

"Jarl Balgruuf the Greater has invited you and your family to the annual Whiterun festival as the man of honor," said the boy as he handed the parchment to Nero, "we're to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the slaying of Alduin."

"Thank you, young man. Here," Nero tossed him some coins and he went on his way.

Nero closed the door and returned to the main hall with the parchment in hand.

"What's that?" asked Serana.

"An invitation to the Whiterun festival," said Nero," apparently I'm the man of honor."

Suddenly, Julia went ecstatic, "really?!"

"When?" asked Serana.

"In a week," answered Nero, before Julia chimed in loudest.

"We're going aren't we daddy!?" she asked.

Nero smiled down at his little girl, "you really thought there was a chance we wouldn't?"

Julia burst out a Thu'um like cheer to everyone's delight, "I can't wait to see my friends again! And Aunt Aela! And Uncle Farkas and Vilkas!"

Lydia looked up at Nero, "does that mean you've got to give a speech?"

"Ohhh you could be right," said Nero, "there'll be a lot of people this time too..."

Serana looked up at her husband, "come on, I think if you managed to improvise a speech to an army of Thalmor years ago then giving a speech to ordinary people should be a piece of cake... oh cake! There's going to be a big cake this time right?!"

Nero smiled at his wife, "yes I gave your request to Balgruuf last year, so unless he's forgotten it, this time there should be a very big cake."

Serana resigned to a happy little grin thiking about it.

"He's gotta provide a lot of food too," said Nero, "more people have been coming each year, last year they couldn't even fit in the city, had to put up tents outside."

"Who're you planning on inviting?" asked Lydia.

"Well, I think if it's been ten years... everyone."

Everyone around the table stopped for a moment, "everyone?" they all asked in unison.

"Well I don't imagine that literally everyone I've met in Skyrim will come, but I've made a lot of good friends over the years, and I haven't seen a lot of them for a long time so why not? It would help the Jarl too; the more people that come, the better the festival gets! Maybe even Queen Elisif will make an appearance one day," said Nero.

Nero saw that Serana was still grinning and had zoned out, to which Jordis tried to click in front of her and bring her back to reality, and the others laughed.

"I think someone was busy thinking about that cake huh?" goaded Rayya.

"No, no, that wasn't it... I was planning how I'm going to steal most of it."

Everyone laughed and continued with their breakfast. Not too long later, Nero stood atop the balcony with a mug of coffee in his hand overlooking the lake; it looked as beautiful as the day they moved in.

He began thinking of words to say; it was a celebration of ten years since he had slain Alduin. Even that was weird to think about.

'Gods' it's been ten years?' thought Nero, and he tried to recount all that had happened.

After slaying Alduin it was not much longer until he had joined the Legion to stop the Stormcloaks which had taken a few months. A year later, he had met Serana when he and the Dawnguard worked to stop the vampire threat. About a year after that, he and Serana had gotten married, and another year after that Julia had been born.

What a crazy time that was. In the seven years since, things had been peaceful. The time had flown as he and Serana had retired from adventuring to raise Julia, during which Nero had not been summoned once by Tullius, which he summised was half because there were no real problems that needed his help and half because Tullius was decent enough to give him time with his family. That and word was that Tullius and Thrandonir were working together quite well, cooperating much better than Elenwen ever did. The embassy had been rebuilt, and Northwatch was practically empty most of the time. The tension that had once ravaged Skyrim into a civil war had now for the most part dissipated.

Nero had also not heard from the Blades; where he had once been anxiously awaiting word of anything from Brelyna, all now was quiet; he'd gotten the same news he had seven years ago, that the dragons were no longer fighting and had seemingly disappeared. That worried Nero for a time; he expected a retaliation from the so-called 'Vulthuryol' and his band of dragons, but nothing. For seven years, it seemed that Skyrim had actually known peace.

His thoughts were interrupted though as he felt hands wrap around him from behind, and Serana perched her head on his shoulder.

"Hey you," she said softly.

"Even when you're not a vampire, you're sneaky," said Nero.

"That and you're just too good at daydreaming," argued Serana.

Nero laughed, "oh you're one to talk, you're telling me now I gotta compete with a cake?"

Serana grinned that grin again, and Nero rolled his eyes.

"Well, it'll be good all around, the Jarl's also bringing in mead with juniper berries mixed in," smiled Nero, "I loved that stuff."

"It sounds like it's gonna be a really great day," said Serana, "so, any thoughts on the speech?"

"Not much of anything that's not boasting. I mean I assume he wants me to talk about slaying Alduin and maybe how peaceful everything's been recently..."

"It's been peaceful for the last seven years," said Serana who tilted her head, "that's weird to think about now I say it out loud."

"I thought so too," agreed Nero, "can't believe how much time has passed."

"Well, with a new festival every year, I look forward to the twenty year annivrsary, and the thirty year."

Nero smiled, "me too."

He planted a kiss on Serana and the pair of them looked out across the lake. It was just as beautiful as the first time she laid eyes on it, after Nero had been awarded the land. That reminded her, and gave her a very good idea.

"Hey, how about we throw our own celebration too?" she asked.

Nero looked at her quizzically, "our own celebration? Like what?"

"Well, you remember when you were awarded this land for all of your many services to Skyrim?"

Nero thought for a moment, trying to recall what Serana meant, until he did, and he went red.

"You mean-"

"Mmmhmm," she winked.

Then Serana turned and did a nice little strut back inside. Nero silently thanked the gods and whatever deities had led him to meet this woman before he smiled and followed her inside to their room and locked the door behind them.

Author's Notes

Hello my blessed readers! It's been quite a long time! I've not uploaded anything since October of last year! What a while. In this time I've been busy finishing my university degree. All done now and I can at long last divert my attention back to the story of Nero and Serana! Let me say it's good to be back.

I also got a chance to speak to the author SS3DJ again who gave his blessing for me to write an ending to this story. I've got one last arc to give! Well 2 technically, but it's all one connected story that I will present in two parts! The first of which: Dragon War

There wasn't a lot that happened in this chapter but I wanted to reintroduce the Dragons-banes and their lives after all these years. We have Nero, now retired from adventuring and living a peaceful life as a husband and father, Serana who has also settled down to a calm life with her family, and their daughter Julia who is now seven years old and already wants to be an adventurer! Along with the Housecarls who are living with them. And now they've been invited to a festival in Whiterun, an annual event that has seen more and more people come each year. Wonder what will happen there...

I can't wait to begin releasing these chapters and get this final arc out there! Once again I will emphasise how this is not the canonical ending and I only write this as a fanfiction of a fanfiction, but I'm happy to see all the people who have followed my stories thus far and are still reading :)

Characters:

Julia: The daughter of Nero and Serana. Has brown hair slightly darker than Nero's and has his blue eyes, though she looks like Serana. Seven years of age, Julia views her parents as heroes and wants to be an adventurer herself when she grows up.

Dragon language: None used.

Thank you very much for reading. I'm not sure when the next chapter will be released but I plan for it to not be too much longer. Please be sure to leave a review and point out any grammatical errors I may have (almost definitely) made.