???: Kill them…

 

Trace stared down at the flames gathered in her hand and a realization came to her head.

 

Trace: I said that that they didn’t deserve mercy, and yet… Killing them painlessly is as merciful as I can get… Not again… NOT AGAIN!!!

Agent: What the!? There was another one!?

 

Having alerted the agents to her presence, Trace decided to give them a taste of their own medicine; literally fighting fire with fire.

Trace: Shit…

 

One of the agents had gotten way too close to her and swung his blade at her head, causing her to lose concentration and disperse the flames in her left hand. The agent then tried to split her head open, but the former Dark Sister easily avoided his blow and countered with a vertical slash of her own…

 

Trace: I could end it here… But I’d rather do this!!

Once again Trace gathered magicka in her hands and after seeing the remaining agent rushing at her, she threw the incapacitated agent at him and them engulfed the pair in an unending torrent of flames…

???: Yes… More… I need, no, YOU need so more!!

 

As Trace watched their bodies slowly burn into cinders, the smell of their singed flesh invaded her nostrils and she was reminded of before Festus had trained her, and how she used to be so afraid of fire… However, when Festus finished training her in the arcane arts…

Trace: To think that out of all the schools of magicka, I’d resonate the greatest with destruction… And not only the school of destruction, but with flames as well… (…Thank you Master Festus. You’ve done so much more for me than I could ever try to repay you for… in this life and the next… I wish… I wish I could have—)

A deafening roar filled the Sanctuary, causing Trace to once again break her concentration. However, it wasn’t the roar itself that startled her, but rather, what it entailed…

 

Trace: (She didn’t even give her own husband forewarning!? Astrid…)

 

Trace blasted the two Penitus Oculatus agents once more with her flames before he entered the next area. There she saw even more agents whose attention was preoccupied by something other than the screams of their fallen comrades…

???: Take your time… Savor each kill… Let it digest and—

 

Trace’s body acted quicker than her brain, and she had already begun burning the agents before her to ashes before she even noticed that that strange voice in her head was already trying to entice her again.

Rushing past her recent kills, she caught sight of what she feared. Arnbjorn, stubborn fool that he’d always been, seemed like he was trying to guard the passageway to somewhere; to where Trace had no idea. Though that may had been his agenda at first, the Nord-turned-werewolf currently found himself in a rather perilous situation…

Trace began to run toward her fellow Dark Brother, but something about the situation didn’t sit right with her…

 

Trace: (Why hasn’t he torn them to shreds by now? When he transforms, Arnbjorn’s usually as tough as something out of legend, but he seems to be having a lot of trouble with these—) ARNBJORN!!! BEHIND YOU!!!

Trace saw that Arnbjorn, who usually had impeccable reaction time, was taking much too long to turn on the man about to ambush him from behind she decided to eliminate the threat instead…

However, Trace didn’t know that by alerting Arnbjorn to the danger behind him that he would have been caught unaware and slain by his original target.

 

Archer: Damn mutt. Silver’s your weakness my ass! Almost took half a quiver-full of silver arrows to take the bastard down. Fucking murdering dog…

 

The duo seemed to notice Trace and they were less than pleasant.

 

Archer: Dammit all, they just keep coming! Luckily it’s just another woman this time. Handle this Rookie.

 

Agent: Heh, with pleasure Si—

Trace didn’t need any voice or additional motivation to guide her along with this. Instead she relied on something more primal and ended their lives with a rage filled onslaught of flames before either of them to take another step…

Trace: ‘Luckily it’s just another woman this time.’ Look what looking down on a mere woman has gotten you!

 

With the agents disposed of, Trace turned her attention to the fallen werewolf and couldn’t help it as a smile came to her face.

Trace: Part of me wants to be sad that you’re dead… Sad because these bastards killed another Dark Brother. But you… You were nothing more than an animal, lower than even Lis. Honestly, who ever heard of a Companion turned assassin? You were a dog following his master… Following Astrid…

His carcass both relieved and angered the Imperial.

 

Trace: *sigh* To think that I had secretly hoped for this day time and time again… You were amongst a select few in the world that I personally wanted to die. But seeing as things turned out… It seems like a dog was the perfect companion to a traitorous bitch like her… So you don’t have anything to worry about. I’ll make sure you’re reunited with her real soon…

Trace continued to look for more survivors, but with the flames devouring everything in their path—partially due to Trace’s help—many areas were inaccessible either because fire was impeding her progress or because the Sanctuary’s structure had begun to collapse.

 

Trace: Dammit all… Several of them are still missing… If I can’t save them because I was wasting my time here—

 

Trace heard a familiar scream coming from the direction of Lis’s pit… which is exactly behind where Arnbjorn was killed…

 

Trace: I thought it was incidental… There’s no way he was trying to—

The screams filled the air again, and Trace immediately started off towards it…

…But when she arrived, she wish she’d have reacted much faster than she had.

 

Trace: No… Nonononono!!! Not you… Not you too!!!

Before her laid the corpse of yet another Penitus Oculatus agent along with that of another… The Dunmer assassin Gabriella…

Trace: How… How could this happen? Sure she wasn’t the biggest, fastest, or strongest amongst us… But she wasn’t a slouch! She was the second person in the Brotherhood that had witnessed me… Who had ordered me to take a life… She shouldn’t have been here… None of them should have been!! NONE OF THEM!!!

Tears were falling freely from Trace’s face and the Imperial didn’t even make a move to obstruct them.

 

Trace: Gabriella… You… You were the only person I ever felt that I could call my Sister. That’s… how deeply I cared for you… And you knew that.

 

She took a deep breath and wiped away her tears in an attempt to get her head back on right. She didn’t need all of the strong emotions that these deaths were bringing out of her. They were doing much… MUCH more harm than good…

 

Trace: Niyleen, Bryn, Vex, Mjoll, Master Duraza… You were the only one that I had opened up to completely other than them, and I knew you for much… Much less time… You always had my back… You defended me from any and all criticisms that the others had, and yet…

Trace: No…

 

The Imperial gathered magicka in her left hand and again prepared herself mentally for whatever was to come.

 

Trace: Gabriella… Yours will be the last life claimed by the Penitus Oculatus. By Sithis, you have my word on that.

Trace heard the sound of swords clashing and immediately rushed to where they were originating from, only to have her jaw hit the floor.

 

Trace: M-Master Nazir!!!

Ever the tenacious one, the Redguard found himself wrapped up in battle with the fiercest Penitus Oculatus agent Trace had seen as of yet… And he was more than handling himself.

However, with Festus, Arnbjorn and Gabriella having all fallen to these agents, Trace wasn’t about to sit back and hope that Nazir could handle this man on his own. No, she was going to take the fate of her Master’s life into her own hands…

Trace: MASTER NAZIR!!! Are you wearing my gift?!

 

Nazir took a quick glance at Trace, saw the flames gathered in her hand waiting to be released, and then returned his attention to the enemy before him.

 

Nazir: Let it rip girl!

 

And so Trace happily flung torrents of flames at the pair, and felt her heart soar when at the Redguard’s joyous laugher and the agent’s vocal confusion and frustration at her actions.

 

Nazir: Hahaha! That’s the reckless abandon that that I tried to beat in your head! Thanks for the forewarning though!

Nazir: And as for you…

 

Nazir used a bit of magic he picked up from Festus and wrapped Trace’s flames around his blade, and then slashed the agent across his chest as the flames dispersed…

The result? A wound that would cause someone, in this case the Penitus Oculatus agent, to have his body coated in flames and for them to die a slow painful death… However, Nazir wasn’t one for tolerating people’s death throes, so he simply slit the man’s throat once he wasn’t a threat anymore.

After gaining his composure, Nazir looked at Trace with a smile she’d only seen once before… When she killed her first contract…

 

Nazir: So you were alive. I was starting to wonder.

Although Trace was elated that she could help him survive this ordeal thus far, she couldn’t look him in the eye… Not with what she knew to be true…

 

Trace: Master Nazir… We were betrayed. I…I was informed, through sources I can’t disclose, that Ast—that a ‘high ranking’ Dark Sister informed them of the Sanctuary’s location.

 

Nazir: Considering most of us are now dead, I assumed as much. And before you ask, no – I don’t think it was you. Well, maybe I did considering how you didn’t return after slaying that clown, but you saving my sorry hide just now sort of erased any doubts. So thanks. But a Dark Sister…

 

Trace: (I… I should tell him…) L-look… M-Master I—

The pair heard the distant collapsing of the Sanctuary and both their little reunion was swiftly over and done with.

 

Trace: Shit… We need to get out of here!

Nazir: You’ve got that right. From the sounds and feel of things, it’s only a matter of time before we’re roasted alive. Come on!

Nazir took point as the two of them began to search for a way to escape the rapidly collapsing Sanctuary…

However, a voice that wasn’t the one insisting on her killing everyone and anything in her path spoke to her, making Trace stop in her tracks.

 

Night Mother: Listener… I am your only salvation…

Nazir: Move your ass Imperial! The whole place is coming down around—damn!!

 

Trace woke from her stupor and immediately rejoined Nazir only to find him engulfed in battle with two more Penitus Oculatus agents. However, they were nothing like the last one the pair faced and with her joining the fight it took but a few moments for the battle to be over and done with…

Night Mother: Come. Embrace me…

 

Listening to the Night Mother’s words, Trace found herself in a trance like stat walking towards the room where the Night Mother resided. As soon as she entered the room, she came out of her daze and the door to the room suddenly closed shut behind her.

 

Trace: H-huh!? Master!? NAZIR!!!

Nazir: Dammit… Looks like I’ll have to find my own way out… Don’t worry about me! Just make sure that you get yourself to safety Trace!

Trace: NO! I’m not leaving here without you! I think I can get the door open if I just—

 

Nazir: Trace, NO!! Stop it!!!

But it was too late. Trace let out a painful shriek that was all but drowned out by the collapsing rubble around her…

???: Trace… Is… Is that really you?

Trace turned and upon seeing who it was that was calling out to her, her brain blocked out everything except for one thing… Pure unadulterated fury…

 

Nazir: Trace!! Are you okay!! Speak to me dammit!!

 

Trace: Sorry, I was just finding myself a way out of here. Don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine… I just have something I need to finish up before I leave…

Trace stepped away from the door and drew her weapon… The only thing filling her mind and her vision being the woman before her… And the utter betrayal she had enacted…

 

Trace: For you to have been here must mean that this little plan of yours backfired. What was it? Did you get the date and time wrong? You’ve never been this sloppy… this careless before, Leader.

Astrid: *cough* *cough* Alive.... You're alive... Thank Sithis...

Astrid took a step forward, but upon seeing Trace drop her weapon and then reveal her hidden dagger, the very one that Astrid had given her when Trace was fully inducted into the Brotherhood, Astrid stopped dead in her tracks.

 

Astrid: Jalena.... Please. There is much... *cough* much I have to say. And... not much time... I'm sorry. So very sorry. The Penitus Oculatus... Ma—

???: Don’t heed her words… Strike… KILL THE BETRAYER!!!

 

Unable to endure any lies or possible excuses that Astrid might have come up with, Trace didn’t hesitate to plunge her dagger right through Astrid’s chest.

Trace: You… Did you actually think that I’d believe… that I’d want to hear you out for what you’ve done!! This is a mercy, for Sithis will rip your soul to shreds in the Void you traitorous bitch!!!

Astrid looked down at the blade lodged just beneath her bosom not with surprise, but with understanding.

 

Astrid: *cough* This… I knew it could only end like this… *cough* *cough* Jale…na… I… I really did… lo…

Astrid fell to the floor and Trace watched as her blood spilled everywhere as she slowly began to bleed out entwining itself with that of the agent she had fallen next to as she slowly crept towards her demise…

 

Trace: *pant* *pant* It’s… it’s over… But why do I feel so empty? This… this is what I wanted, what I told myself I’d do… Then why—

Night Mother: Mother: And yet, by the blade of one of my children… Another innocent shall fall…

Trace dropped her dagger as realization suddenly stuck her. The Night Mother had said that she may have to kill both Astrid and the Listener, both of whom were two ‘high ranking’ Dark Sisters as Cicero put it. And that fool didn’t specify whether it was Astrid who had done this or not, she simply put emphasis on the word certain and Trace, knowing Cicero’s disdain for Astrid, simply pieced together her own record of that had transpired…

Immediately Trace began casting both Healing Hands and Cure Disease on Astrid, two skills that Festus had forced her to learn just in case she was on a mission with a fellow Dark Brother and things went awry. Although Restoration wasn’t a school of magic that she particularly was fond of, she was sure of her proficiency with the two spells…

…But her confidence quickly waned as the seconds went by and nothing changed about Astrid’s condition…

 

Trace: No! I… I won’t—

 

???: You can’t have everything… Let her go… Let the Void claim her…

 

For a second Trace almost succumbed to the voice’s, but then she remembered the words Astrid spoke to her when she joined the Brotherhood, “We are a family, and family will always protect and never turn their backs on each other…”

 

Trace: NO! I WILL SAVE HER!! I WILL!!!

As much as she wanted to believe this, Trace wasn’t so sure that she could make it happen, and as the fear set in that she wouldn’t be able to save one of the women that she loved, in crept the self-blame at her situation.

 

Trace: Why did you apologize… Why did you look like you were to blame? And then your last words… ‘I knew it could only end like this,’ what did you mean? *lets out a frustrated scream* AAAAAAAAHHH!!! I can’t lose you Astrid! I just can’t! You opened my eyes to so many things in life, gave me a second family, you gave me a new outlook on life… Please… Please open your eyes once more so I can be the one that apologizes… So I can make up for this… Please… Sithis please don’t take her from me!!!

But her please fell on deaf ears, and with the flames around her intensifying in heat, it didn’t take long for her to become exhausted herself to the point where she was unable to cast either spell…

Night Mother: Come my child… Embrace me…

 

Trace dropped to her knees in defeat. She’d heard from the Listener that the coffin was only big enough for the Night Mother and one other to fit inside, and even if it could hold the two of them the Imperial was sure that Astrid would die before they were ever found.

 

Trace: So is that it? All of this and it boils down to my survival and Astrid’s death? And it was due to a mistake… A FUCKING MISTAKE!!! I… The Brotherhood doesn’t need me Astrid, it needs you! *beings sobbing* It’s… like Grelod said… all those years ago… I’m useless… It’d be… better if… if I would just disappear… If I just go away from everyone—

And then Trace remembered, Vex’s gift, the Coveted Amulet of Apparition. Quickly she put around Astrid’s neck and began shouting out random places like Falkreath, Whiterun and Riften in the hopes that she would be magically transported there, but to no avail…

Having no idea how this was supposed to work, Trace put her faith in the Divines. She was never one for prayer or the Aedra or Daedra, but with everything she’s seen recently the Imperial did believe to some degree that a higher force had to be at play.

 

Trace: To allow me to be here, at this very moment… To have given me the tools to save a woman who I loved very dearly and yet not the method… I don’t know how you all work, I wouldn’t dare say that I did, but… If you didn’t want Astrid to be saved, then why have Vex stop me? Why have her give me this amulet? Why did the Night Mother tell me that another ‘innocent’ was to be killed? I am not questioning you all, far from it. I am asking, begging, pleading with you all… Divine and Daedric Prince alike… Please save her… Please guide her from this place…

She wasn’t sure that such a speech would even be considered as a prayer, nor did she know if any of them had heard her, but upon opening her eyes and looking down, she knew that her prayers had been answered…

Satisfied with what had happened and with the flames becoming way too much to bare, Trace got to her feet and started walking towards the Night Mother’s coffin…

Trace: (Now here’s to hoping that this ancient spirit knows what she’s talking about, and that I don’t get crushed by the rubble….)

The coffin closed itself, causing Trace to be much closer than she intended to be to the Night Mother. She tried to reposition herself, but there was really nowhere that she could go to her misfortune…

 

Night Mother: Sleep…

And so she did. Trace didn’t want to, especially with what could be happening to Astrid and Nazir as she hid away in the coffin, however seeing as there was little she could do for either of them now, she eventually succumbed to her slumber…

Sometime later, Trace was awakened by the sound of rubble moving around her and a pair of rather familiar voices.

 

???: Hurry, Nazir! I’m telling you, she’s in there!

 

Nazir(?): I’m going… as fast… as I can, you stupid she-devil. I don’t see you… helping…

 

???: I’m not exactly built for manual labor. Now come on, you’ve almost got it.

 

Trace: (Is… is that Nazir and… Babette!? By the Divines, she truly is a tough little thing!)

 

Nazir: One more… pull… Yeeaahh! There.

 

Babette: Can you get it open?

 

Nazir: I think so. Just hold on a moment.

 

Night Mother: You must speak with Astrid. North, in the Roadside Ruins… When you return… The Emperor… Must die…

The Mother’s coffin suddenly opened and Trace spilled out of it, falling directly into the arms of the Redguard Nazir…

Not having been in this kind of situation before, Nazir didn’t exactly know how to deal with Trace, so h tried his best to simply orient her and lessen the Imperial’s mental burden.

 

Nazir: Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. You’ve been through a lot. Maybe you should just sit down for a bit. You’ve been buried under all that rubble for a few days girl…

Trace: A… A few days… !! (Astrid!!!)

 

Nazir: Now, about what you told me before, we haven’t seen either the Listener or Astrid since that day—

 

Trace immediately released herself from Nazir’s grip and forced her way past the two of them…

Babette: We should probably just leave her be Nazir… You know how she felt about Astrid…

 

Nazir: I don't know, Babette. Looks like she may have suffered a head wound. Best not let her out of our—

 

Babette: No… I think this might be what’s best for both the Brotherhood… And Trace herself…

Trace sprinted from ruins of the Sanctuary, ignoring the stiffness in her body and her joints, and headed north to where the Night Mother said Astrid would be…

…The Roadside Ruins…

Trace stopped before the ruins not only to catch her breath, but her nerve as well.

 

Trace: (Okay… This… This will be easy. Just say, ‘hi glad to see you’re alive.’ Yeah… That’ll work to break the ice…)

Trace: No… I… I tried to kill her… I blamed her for the assault on the Sanctuary… If she’s here… If she’s still alive… I hope that she can forgive me for what I’ve done…

Trace: I… Staying out here won’t change a thing. I just hope she won’t be too mad at me for what I’ve done…

 

Steeling her heart for the worst, Trace entered the ruins…

…And although she should have been happy at what she saw, Trace’s mounting guilt didn’t allow her to.

 

Trace: Hello Astrid.

Trace: I see that you’re doing well.

 

The Nord was sitting on a chest surrounded by multiple corpses, both human and Spriggan alike. Astrid’s strength and battle prowess were revered within the Brotherhood, however for someone who was close to death just days prior it came as a bit of a shock to Trace to see her so well already.

Astrid: So this time it’s one of my own… Heh, you know… If I wanted to, even as I am right now I could end you with minimal effort… But it would be a waste of the life that survived that… that tragedy…

Astrid: So take my life instead! I’m not going to run from the Brotherhood! As its leader, I was responsible for you all, so yes… I’ll take full responsibility for everything that’s led up to this… But if this is truly the end… If Jale—if Trace is still alive—could you tell her…

 

Astrid looked up and Trace was surprised by her miserable looking face that was quite unlike the normally cool and confident Dark Brotherhood Leader.

 

Astrid: Could you tell her that I shouldn’t have treated her as I did… That I was wrong for sending those assassins after her and her lovers… That I lov—

Astrid: W-wait a second!

 

Astrid took a moment in order to readjust her blurry eyes and Trace could see that she almost instantly wished she hadn’t.

 

Astrid: T-Trace!? So you survived the fire?

Trace: *nods* But what’s more surprising is that you actually were able to make it out yourself. I… Look Astrid, back there I was just so angry… Our family was being slaughtered like dogs and I thought—

Astrid: I… I know that you’re angry…

 

Trace: Astrid, I know that you—

 

Astrid: No Trace, let me speak. I… I caused this… Not directly, but… I should have… By Sithis, I was such a fool. All of this... it's all my fault. I just wanted things... to stay the way they were. Before Cicero, before the Night Mother, before the Listener... I thought I could save us. I was wrong. So deadly wrong. I’m… I’m not fit to lead them anymore…. But you… there's still a chance. A chance to start over, rebuild.

Trace: (Why is she talking like she conspired with the Listener? Could it mean that she…) What are you talking about? I know that you didn’t contact them… Did you?

Astrid: No… But… I inadvertently helped the one that did… And thus, I deserve any… every punishment that the Brotherhood wishes to deal out.

Astrid: I was too caught up in MY self-preservation, MY way of life… I should have put the family, the Dark Brotherhood first… If I could start over right now, I would for I know that the Night Mother’s ways are and should have always been my ways… I was drunk with power, but the Divines… no, I can’t blame them for this… I destroyed everything! I destroyed my way of life… my husband… my family… And now I ask you Sister, as a mercy for all the time we’ve shared…

Astrid threw a blade at Trace’s feet and knelt before her.

 

Astrid: Please… My time as a Dark Sister… End it.

Trace picked up the dagger, Astrid’s infamous Blade of Woe, and walked over to the Nord.

 

Trace: There’s so many things I could say to you… So many things I could do to you… But there’s only one thing I want to say and do… So look up at me you worthless bitch!

Astrid looked up and upon seeing the crazed look Trace wore, couldn’t help it when she averted her eyes.

 

Astrid: S-so what is it? What do you from me?

Trace dropped the blade, dropped to her knees and claimed Astrid’s lips for her own. At first Astrid was hesitant and didn’t know how to respond, but soon her mind fell into agreement with her heart and she gave in to Trace’s passion seeing as part of her that she’d ben denying for months now yearned for this as well…

As Astrid was coming to terms with the sudden development with her own heart, Trace was reliving what happened in Winterhold…

…What happened back at the Sanctuary…

And without sharing a single word between one another Trace knew. The way every little thing Astrid did with her tongue made her feel like she was melting… The way it seemed like somehow, even though Trace had initiated the kiss, Astrid was the one who hungered for more… The way neither of them held back how strongly that needed, how strongly they lusted for the other…

…The Imperial knew that Astrid had finally opened her heart to her. It took everything Trace had to tear herself away from the Nord’s juicy, irresistible, luscious lips. However, seeing the glazed over look in Astrid’s eyes more than made up for the emptiness Trace felt at their parting.

Trace gazed into Astrid’s eyes with a carnal look and grinned.

 

Trace: You asked me to ‘end it,’ to end your ‘time as a Dark Sister.’ I won’t do it, not yet, and probably not ever. You’re the best assassin that I’ve ever seen, and if you were to die we’d never be able to right the wrong done to the Dark Brotherhood, to OUR family. So let’s go back, not to how things were, but to a family that respects and follows tradition, but also has room for new faces, new heights, new… desires… Come with me Astrid. You, Nazir, Babette and I can rebuild the Dark Brotherhood… Together.

Trace stood up and faced away from Astrid, her face filled with embarrassment.

 

Trace: (Oh. My. GOD! Why did I say all of those embarrassing things? I’m so dumb! Did I come across as arrogant? By the Divines, she probably—)

 

Astrid grabbed Trace around the waist pulling her close.

 

Astrid: Alright then Imperial, I’ll sink my teeth into you and this idea of us rebuilding the Dark Brotherhood together. Just know though, now that I’ve got my eye on you…

 

Astrid rubbed Trace’s stomach making her giggle.

 

Trace: H-h-hey! S-stop! That t-tickles!

 

Astrid: Like I was saying, now that I’ve eye on you Jalena, don’t expect things to be like they were before.

 

Trace: (Heh, that’s exactly what I hoped for…)