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

A False Illusion

Note: I HATED WRITING ALL THESE DAMN RHYMES!

WBE: 752
WAE: 849

((1st of Midyear, 4E 205, 11:12 a.m.))

"You're not real!" I cried out.

"You can hear me breathe. How could you not believe? You know I'll never leave."

"Stop it!" He stayed in place while I struggled at the gate. "No more!"

"Why do you cry? I do not lie." I yanked at the bars, trying to tune him out. My arms burned with pain.

"You're a liar," I screamed. "You're a goddamn liar!"

"I am no liar. No liar, no crier."

"You won't keep me here!" I wailed.

"Why wouldn't you stay? I won't run away."

"If this is a dream, wake me up! Wake me up, dammit!"

"I'm no threat. I'll take you yet."

"Leave me alone!" A blast of force burst from my lips and made the false Brynjolf stumble.

"Don't make me cry, I don't wish to die."

"You can rot in Oblivion," I hissed, salt on my tongue. "You fake bastard!"

"Without you, I'm never awake. Doesn't the pain prove I'm not a fake?"

The pain woke me. The pain would wake them. I took a deep breath and forced a Shout towards my Companions, aiming for them instead of the bars. A wave of blue energy crashed into the slumbering Nightingales, who woke with a cry.

"Why are you--" Karliah blinked, glancing around. Her lavender eyes met my own, filled with panic. "What have you gotten yourself into?!"

"Help me!" I pleaded, pulling at the bars once again despite knowing it would be fruitless.

"I have her, she's okay. So go on, stay away."

"Gallus?" she murmured incredulously. Gallus?

"I am here, Karliah dear."

"Come to me, Gallus!" she cried, holding out her arms.

"I swear I would, if I could."

"Karliah, it's a trick!" I reached through the bars, waving about wildly. "It's not Gallus!" She ignored me.

"Leave this hall, beloved one," the memory urged. "I promise you that I will come."

"You... you'll come with?"

"Lass, what's going on?" Brynjolf-- the real Brynjolf-- looked at both me and the... thing.

"I wish I knew! Just get me out of here!"

"But... how am I supposed to get--"

"Kill the imposter! She's trying to imitate me!" I heard my own voice come from the memory specter, though it still had the form of Bryn to me.

"Lass, who's... what..." He seemed dumbfounded.

"Gallus, come with me!"

"Lass, who are you?"

"Stay with me, Russet!" The false Brynjolf spoke to me with his voice before turning to the real one. "You can tell who is true! I want you to know that I love you!" My voice. Brynjolf stepped closer to the gate.

"Lass, you're not--"

"Gallus, come with me!" Karliah reached through the bars and held the imitation's hand. To me, I saw Brynjolf. I heard the voices of Gallus, Brynjolf, and myself coming from the same source. However, Karliah's eyes were clouded over. She was completely under the thing's spell.

"You bastard! Stop it!" I tackled it to the ground and slammed my fist down.

"Russet, what are you doing?!" Karliah wailed, scratching at the bars in an attempt to get through. "You're killing Gallus!"

"Get to your senses, Karliah!" I snarled. "Gallus is already dead!"

"Help me please, I can't breathe!" it choked out.

"Russet, step away from him, or else I'll kill you!" Karliah warned, desperation filling her voice.

"It's not re--" Unfortunately, I realized just how serious the Dunmer was when an arrow whizzed past my face.

"Now!" I obeyed, fearful for my life. I was trapped, and they would kill me.

"Lass?" Brynjolf put his hand near the bars. "Which of you... is the real you?" I stood hesitantly. "Please!" I didn't know whether or not to trust him, or how to answer him even if I could. What if he was an illusion?

"I knew you'd know, Bryn! I knew that you'd let your heart win!" The memory leapt off the floor. The image flickered, and I saw myself rushing at the man outside of the cage. "Save me, love! From my pain! Over there is the chain!" Brynjolf walked slowly to a column where a barely visible hook hung from metal rings. With a slight tug, the gate swung open, and I ran out.

Everything froze in place, other than us. Karliah stopped in midair, and a pebble that I'd flung in my haste stopped its trail, an inch off the ground. The memory took on my full aspect, abandoning the guise of Brynjolf.

"Thank you for saving me! I had feared I'd never be free!" Brynjolf's eyes softened as he looked at the image of myself.

"Come here." It walked closer, and I grabbed Brynjolf's arm.

"She's fake!"

"Don't listen to her, she's clearly an imposter." Brynjolf glanced at me with hostility.

"I know." He unsheathed his blade faster than I'd ever seen him move. I crumpled to the ground, and from another plane, I watched my head roll on the ground.

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I am never rhyming again.