Moonlight's Embrace (A Skyrim Fanfic) (ORIGINAL)

The Death of a Nightingale

WBE: 413
WAE: 554

...............

((6th of Morning Star, 4E 203))

((RUSSETPOV))

I gasped for air and clutched my side, watching helplessly as Brynjolf and Karliah escaped through the tunnel. Both were apparently unaware that I wasn't with them. The wound on my side kept bleeding, a wound I was hardly aware I'd sustained. What about me? What about... me? 

They'll be better off when I'm dead. I cause pain. I don't want to live anymore. I searched for my waterbreathing necklace before remembering that I'd sold it long ago. My efforts to remain afloat were pointless.

I hadn't had energy to begin with. My ruse of health was enough to let them escape without worrying about me. There was no need for me to continue the facade of strength. I gave way to the dizzying blackness, thankful that I'd managed to save the two people who mattered most.

...

((BRYNJOLFPOV))

I searched the dark water frantically. She wasn't on the surface, that much was clear. With a deep breath, I dove in while praying to Nocturnal that the lass was alive. A faint outline of a person caught my stinging eyes, and with that in mind I rushed forward with fervor. There! I grabbed a form, only to release it in disgust. I'd managed to grab the corpse of a Falmer.

I began to run out of air, but there was nowhere to go if I didn't find the lass. Where is she? Wherewherewherewherewhere--

There.

At the very bottom of the drowned cavern was her limp body. The water around her was red with what I hoped was Mercer's blood-- but it was also something I doubted. I gave an extra burst of speed, desperate to rescue her. The lass' mask had been torn off during their battle, and the barely visible blue tint of her skin frightened me. I shot upwards, my own lungs feeling as though they were about to collapse.

I burst into the air, breathing deeply. Swimming over to Karliah, the Dunmer helped bring the lass up into the tunnel. Climbing up into the tunnel, I let out a cough and shook out my soaked hair, watching as Karliah laid the lass down. I knelt beside her and lightly shook her shoulder.

"Lass, get up! You're safe now, you'll be fine..." It sounded like I was only reassuring myself. I swallowed nervously and checked for a pulse, nearly crumbling when I felt nothing. "She's not dead, she isn't," I insisted quietly, leaning in to try to hear any breath as I placed a hand on her side.

"Brynjolf, she's bleeding." Karliah checked over the lass, and I pulled my own hand away to realize it was slick with blood. It wasn't Frey's, it was her own. Karliah tried to staunch the quick flow while I could only sit there, dumbfounded. "Focus, Brynjolf! Try getting her to breathe." There was no guarantee that she'd live, regardless of anything we might have tried. Still, for the lass, I'd have to try. I pushed air into her lungs and pumped down onto her chest.

"Come on, lass... come on!" Blood and water both poured from her lips. It seemed like the streams of liquid rushing out of her mouth would never stop. "Lass... lass... Please! Russet!"