Chapter 19: The Dark Brotherhood

It took some time to get ready, but the group was heading back to Whiterun to inform the others of the assassination plot on them.

"How should we break it to them?" Patches asked his black-haired leader.

Subaru thought about it for a second. "Erik will probably be the most worried, if I'm being honest."

"Huh? Why him, specifically?" Solaire asked.

"Well, Aela's a skilled hunter and warrior, Seigmeyer's an Undead, so good luck with that, and Seiglinde can probably handle herself pretty well, while Erik's still technically a rookie." Subaru explained his opinion.

Patches nodded. "Right, he is a crybaby."

"Patches!" Emilia scolded the bald undead.

"What? It's the truth!"

Subaru decided it was time to change the subject. "Anyways, I've been doing some thinking... we need a name."

Emilia raised an eyebrow. "A name?"

"Yeah, a name for our team," Subaru said with a smile. "How about... The Avengers!"

Patches merely gave a "Really?" look.

"What? It's technically not taken in this world." Subaru tried to defend.

"No. Just… no," the bald Undead simply said.

Subaru groaned in annoyance. "Fiiinne. I'll think of something else."

"Comrades, we have arrived," Solaire said, grabbing everyone's attention.

Subaru snorted. "'Bout time."

Making their way into the village, they head straight for Jorrvaskr. They head around back and find Aela sparing with Erik, both using wooden swords.

"Erik! Aela! Hiii!"

"Huh?" Erik looked up to see who was getting him. "Oh, hey guys. What's up?"

"You're gonna die, that's what."

SMACK!

Subaru smacked Patches before elaborating. "What he meant is "We have a problem"."

"And your death, while highly more likely than ours, is not guaranteed," Solaire added.

While Erik was panicking, Aela simply sighed and said, "Out with it. What is the problem?"

Subaru got serious. "Assassins. Dark Brotherhood."

"What?!" Erik screamed in a higher pitch.

Aela's eyes widened a bit. "The Dark Brotherhood? Are you sure?"

"Had a letter and everything," Patches said.

Seigmeyer just looked confused. "Uh... I'm a bit out of the loop. What's the Dark Brotherhood?"

"Guild of assassins currently run by the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop of Lust," Subaru explained.

"Oh... that bad, huh?"

Subaru nodded, before saying, "Goes by the name of Capella Emerada Lugnica, and she has some sort of shapeshifting power. Needless to say, she's not gonna be easy to deal with."

"Indeed, she isn't."

The more experienced members of the group, Subaru, Patches, Solaire, and Aela, immediately drew their weapons and turned to a Dark Brotherhood assassin sitting on the roof of the porch, looking more comfortable than she should have.

"Who's the fancy lady?" Sieglinde asked.

Patchee instantly recognized the armor. "You're from the Dark Brotherhood? Poked a hole in a guy wearing that outfit, so I'm safe in assuming."

"Close, but not exactly," the woman said.

Subaru just looked confused. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Call me Astrid, and I'm here with a... proposition." The assassin went on.

"Subaru's already taken, sorry," Patches said, catching everyone off-guard.

Astrid, meanwhile, merely chuckled at the joke. "Heh, clever. I overheard you mean to kill Capella, is that right?"

"Apparently… yes?" Siegmeyer said.

Astrid merely smirked. "Good, then I suppose you'll need help in that endeavor. Tell me, do you know where the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary is?"

"Umm… no?" Erik answered honestly.

"Well, fortunately for you, I'd be all too happy to provide that information for you." Everyone looked at each other in uncertainty.

"Why go against your organization?" J'zargo asked.

"Oh, don't mistake my generosity for kindness. We merely have a common enemy."

"Let me guess… we kill Capella, and you take over the entire assassin guild?" Subaru asked, already having a good idea what she wanted.

"Clever, clever. I used to be the Dark Brotherhood's leader, until that bitch came in and ruined everything. I want my control back, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get it."

"She didn't execute you?" Patches asked.

Astrid chuckled again. "More like she couldn't. Being an Undead certainly helps giving the middle finger to death."

"Mood," was all Subaru said to that.

"So, what do you say?" Astrid asked the group. "I give you the location of the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary, and you can kill a Sin Archbishop and claim a Daedric Artifact she has."

That caught Emilia's attention. "Daedric Artifact?"

Astrid shrugged. "I've only seen it once, some kind of long blade, but Capella never lets anyone touch it."

Subaru sighed, then said, "We'll take the job."

"Excellent. I only have... one request."

"And what might that be?" J'zargo asked.

"Try not to kill anyone besides Capella. After all, what would be the point of leading a guild if everyone's dead." Astrid explained.

"Well, we can certainly try," Patches said.

"In exchange, I'm willing to give information about some of the guild's top threats." Astrid explained.

"Great, my notebook's already out," Subaru said, ready to write down all the important details.

"First, you have Cicero. A complete and utter madman devoted to the "Night Mother". Don't be fooled by his cheering demeanor, he'll put you in the ground in a heartbeat," Astrid explained.

"The Night Mother?" Seiglinde asked.

"Our "Patron", so to speak," Astrid explained. "It's some old woman's corpse in a casket, and I'd rather not get into that."

Everyone was just weirded out, so they didn't say anything.

"Next, there's Meili, and her best friend, Babette. The "children" of our little group," Astrid said.

"Weird way to phrase it," Patches pointed out.

Astrid tilted her head to the side. "Well, Meili's the only real child. Babette's a three hundred year old Vampire who was infected at a young age."

Patches grimly nodded. "Ah, yep. There it is."

"They get along thanks to their Divine Protections. Meili can control Mabeasts, while Babette can control predators like wolves and spiders."

"Mmm… nope, nope, nope, nope…" Erik tried to walk away, only to be pulled back by Aela.

"Anyone else should be easily dispatched. They're best for surprise attacks and stealth. Melee combat isn't their forte," the assassin explained.

Siegmeyer added, "Nonviolently, of course…"

Subaru hummed at that. "Sounds easy…"

"So, where is this "Sanctuary"?" Emilia finally asked.

"East of Falkreath. You'll find it in a ditch under the road," Astrid explained. "The password to enter is "Silence, my Brother"."

"So it's underground?" Erik asked, to be sure.

Astrid smiled. "Of course. It would be foolish to put it above ground for all Gusteko to see."

"Yeah, Erik." Patches mocked the youngest member of the group.

"Hey! It's a legitimate question!" Erik attempted to defend himself.

"Both of you, knock it off," Subaru growled.

Astrid stood up and prepared to leave. "That should be all. Capella shouldn't be home for a day or two, so that should give you enough time to clear everyone out, and prepare a "Welcome home" for her."

"We'll bring presents!" Patches cheered.

"Best of luck to you. I'm looking forward to watching that wretch die." That was all Astrid said before she took a huge leap over the wall of the city and left.

Subaru nodded. "Yeah, same here… same here."

"Let us make way to Falkreath at once," Aela said, looking back at the others.

Solaire pulled out his sword. "Time to go on a bloody crusade."

"They won't expect the Spanish Inquisition!" Patches joked, pulling out his spear.

"The what?"

Subaru sighed. "I'll explain on the way…"

"This shall be quite the journey," Siegmeyer said.

The Group made their way to Falkreath, entering through the west gate and coming out of the east, but a guard stopped them.

"Hold on, have any of you seen a dog?" the guard asked.

Erik tensed up, thinking he was an assassin, saying, "Umm… Silence, brother?"

"What?"

Subaru quickly cut in before it got worse. "Sorry about that, he suffers from stupidity."

"NOT YOU TOO, SUBARU!"

"Oh, sorry, I thought that was Patches." Subaru realized his mistake. I must be more tired than I thought.

"HOW COULD YOU MISTAKE US?!"

Emilia, meanwhile, tried to de-escalate it. "Ahem! Sorry, Ms Guard, none of us have seen a dog. Wolves and Wolgarms, yes, but no Dogs."

J'zargo crossed his arms. "However, why the interest?"

Guard began to explain. "The Blacksmith saw one a few days ago outside the village. He's gonna pay for whoever can bring it to him so he can have a guard dog. If you see it, please bring it back here if you can."

"Okay… sure thing, buddy," Subaru said.

The group continued on their quest, making their way to the Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary.

Aela hummed in deep thought, pondering over something.

"Is something on your mind?" Sieglinde asked.

Aela shook her head. "No, it's just... when we were in Falkreath, I got a whiff of something... a familiar smell. It was faint, but there."

"Like an old fart, or something?" Patches asked.

Aela groaned at the bald undead's stupidity. "Ugh, no. More like... another like me."

"Another lycanthrope?" J'zargo asked.

Aela nodded. "Yes. Like I said, I only got a whiff of it, but I could recognize it immediately."

"That's amazing…" Erik's eyes widened.

"Well, we'll investigate that later. Right now, we have a Sin Archbishop to kill." Subaru spoke up, reminding the group of their mission.

The red-haired girl nodded. "Right."

"Hmm... What do you think that Daedric Artifact was that Astrid mentioned?" Erik asked.

"Could prove useful," the werewolf said.

"She said it was some kind of blade, right?" Subaru recalled.

Solaire nodded at that. "That is correct, Subaru."

Erik mentally went through his knowledge of Daedric Artifacts. "Could it be "Dawnbreaker"?"

"One can hope, Erik," the sun-loving knight said.

"Guess we'll have to see when she gets here." Subaru shrugged, readying himself whatever they had to face.

Author's Note: Big things coming soon, and dead men tell no tales…

Sorry, I've been rewatching Pirates of the Caribbean. Anyways, all jokes aside, Capella is gonna appear soon, and with her comes the Dark Brotherhood, (As those of you who have played the Dark Brotherhood storyline can tell… we are not doing that. Especially since Capella is running it. Instead, this will be more along the lines of "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood". Also, Astrid is an Undead this time around who seeks to gain control of her organization again after Capella stole it from her.) Now, it's comment time!

5queso: I actually liked the insanity that was post-Season 13 of Red vs Blue, but I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority on that one. (I wish we got a whole season of the Reds and Blues on that moon after Season 13.) Well, except for RvB: Zero, that one was just mid. People almost dying in cartoons isn't treated like that big of a deal since those guys can survive just about anything that isn't the plot. And yes, Capella will be here… soon. Trust me, she's coming. Very soon. Anyways, hope you stick around! See you later!

Naracta: I'm sorry, what are you referring to as hilarious? The entire chapter, a certain scene in it, or the entire story so far? If you think it's rude, I think it might be the latter.

Kifhjoofff: Al final todos aparecerán, pero resulta que Capella es la primera.

And now for the last bit of shilling…

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- Ernalore & Infinite the Celestian