TITLE: Mercer's Battle
WORDS: 2,766
COMPLETED: 1/13/21

Rugged breaths were going in and out of my lungs as I quickly glanced around the large room that we were trapped within. As my heart hammered in my chest, I felt my grip tightening on my weapon. My eyes were narrowed down, searching around quickly in an attempt to spot Mercer Frey.

When Karliah explained that we were going to a Dwarven ruin, I figured that it wouldn't be that bad. However, the fact that the Falmer were the least of our concern seemed like a red flag. Sure enough, this was absolutely awful.

"Lass!" Brynjolf screamed from up on the ledge behind me, where the staircase had broken. Karliah and Brynjolf had both been bewitched by Mercer, and were currently fighting one another. They were aware, too, which made it worse. The two of them kept apologizing to one another when their bodies would forcibly strike and hit each other.

I didn't turn to look back at him. Taking my focus off of Mercer would end in my impending doom.

"Sweet little (Y/N). Who knew that deciding to join the Guild would end with you here?" Mercer's voice chimed as I quickly glared in the direction that his voice was emanating from.

Killing Mercer Frey wouldn't be too difficult. That is, if I was capable of seeing him. Due to his invisibility, I had to be extremely cautious. If I lose him, it could be detrimental.

"Brynjolf always taught you to never kill. That it wasn't your job. But I know you've met with Astrid. I know you have another job which is to do nothing except kill. Only a heinous monster would—"

"Would kill? How ironic. Killing people unknown to them for pay is the job of an assassin. Killing people who care for them just for the sake of doing so is the works of a psychopath... And what was is that Gallus had done to you, again?" I hissed at Mercer, gritting my teeth angrily.

His words were true, however. And I knew he only spoke them for no other reason than to provoke Brynjolf. Rupturing our close relationship would, hypothetically, get Mercer an escape. But I wasn't a fool. He wasn't escaping. One of the two of us was going to die in this room. No one was running.

"(Y/N), what is he talking about?" Brynjolf asked in a demanding tone. I ignored him.

"C'mon, Frey... Don't attempt to justify your actions by bringing up mine," I seethed at the invisible man, glaring at where I believed he was standing.

An arrow whirled past my ear from my left, causing me to jump and whip my head to that direction. He'd managed to get out of my gaze. But I wasn't going to let him get away with it again. And, thankfully, he had terrible aim.

I didn't hesitate to draw my bow, nocking one of the steel arrows that I'd grabbed off one of the deceased bandit corpses from the main room within the ruins. Dried blood was still caked to the feathered fletching, splatters covering the shaft, and the arrowhead was coated.

"If you didn't have anything to hide, then I wouldn't have anything to bring up," Mercer's voice echoed off the walls, causing me to point the aim of my arrow towards the direction of his voice. I caught a glimpse of distortion, releasing the string and sending the arrow flying. I heard him grunt, watching him reappear for a short moment, grasping his shoulder with a pained expression on his face. The arrow jutted out of his skin, thick blood leaking from the hole in his shoulder.

  I dashed up the staircase on the opposite side of the room, standing near the large statue located within the room. This is what Mercer had been here for. For the Eyes of the Falmer. But that wasn't what concerned me at the moment. I was worried about getting a vantage point so I'd be capable of seeing the whole room.

"Lass! Look out!" Brynjolf shouted as I glanced around, not seeing anything. But then I was locked in a headlock, having Mercer Frey at my back. He'd managed to sneak up behind me. Somehow. He grabbed at my armor, making me growl in anger. I was quick, knowing what I would need to do. I needed something sharp.

  From the way I was positioned, I was unable to get to the dagger that was placed in a sheath that was located on my thigh. However, a glass sword dangled from Mercer's belt directly in front of me. I was fast, my hand snaking out of his hold to grab onto the handle of his sword. I shoved the blade up towards him, watching the blade scrape up against his side.

  He howled in pain, doubling over onto the ground and letting go of his hold on me. I began swinging the sword at him, watching him stumble away from me. Then there was a loud sound, and the whole cavern shook. Everyone kept fighting, though none of us knew what was happening. Not until water began falling in streams from the ceiling.

  My heart raced as the water began flooding the room. Suddenly, Mercer and I were fighting in ankle deep water.

"Lass! Hurry up! I can't lose you! Not now!" Brynjolf shouted at the top of his lungs as I felt my heart lurch within my chest. I attempted to force the feeling away and focus on Mercer, but he'd already noticed my reaction.

"Ah, you fancy Bryn, then?" Mercer spoke with a cackle. My cheeks heated up as a fire grew within my stomach. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, and suddenly I was more angry than I had previously been.

"Too bad he could never love a heartless killer," Mercer spat at me as I pulled back my bowstring, shooting another arrow at him. And it hit his left thigh, which made him grunt in more pain.

"Don't be too hard on yourself. He cared for and respected you at one point," I growled at Mercer. Suddenly, the water was waist deep. And I knew we couldn't keep going on like this. Someone had to finish the other. And they had to do it now.

  I was quick to shoot another arrow, watching it fly directly into his heart. And he didn't even get to react. He was dead immediately. His body collapsed and began floating in the water, which was still rising. I was quick to wade over to him, grabbing anything of value off of him and then looking up at Brynjolf and Karliah.

"You did it!" Karliah beamed with excitement. The door behind them was sealed shut and the water level was rising even quicker. I gave the female a weak smile, nodding. Exhaustion had settled over me, but I knew I had to keep going.

"We can't go back the way we came! We have to find another way out!" Brynjolf loudly explained in order to be heard above the deafening noise of the cavern being flooded with water. Finally, it was to the point that I couldn't touch the floor any longer. I began treading water in order to keep myself afloat.

  My eyes were quick to dart around the room, looking desperately in an attempt to seek an alternative way out. Large rusted piping ran up near the ceiling. Hopefully, we would be able to find one without a grate in order to get out.

  Finally, the water was up to the platform that Brynjolf and Karliah had been standing on, forcing them to begin swimming as well. They were rather quick to make their way towards me, and I wasn't complaining. My main focus was making sure that the three of us got out of here alive.

"Look! Up there!" Karliah yelled as I quickly looked up, squinting my eyes and attempting to see what she had spotted. Grinning widely, I caught a glimpse of the opening to a cave. And it looked like a promising way out.

"Stay close! As soon as the water reaches the cavern, climb out!" I demanded as they both abruptly nodded, the three of us swimming near the wall that the cave was in.

  And we patiently waited for the water to fill up the cave. Finally, once the water level had risen high enough, Brynjolf and I helped push Karliah out. Then I aided Brynjolf in clambering out of the water. He was quick to spin around and firmly grasp one of my hands, practically pulling me up out of the water.

  Then we were sprinting practically as fast as our legs would take us. We didn't stop running, either. Not until we'd successfully made our way out of the damp cavern, finding ourselves outside in the freezing cold dead of night. However, I was more than happy to be out here. Anything seemed better than that damn cave.

  After silent minutes of the three of us just attempting to catch our breath, the adrenaline began wearing off. Suddenly, we were all freezing cold. Not only from the frigid atmosphere, but also the fact that we were all soaking wet.

"We'll head to Windhelm for tonight. We need dry clothes and something to eat. Since it's just right there, it's our best bet," Karliah explained as I nodded, inhaling a deep breath of the icy air.

"Are you okay, (Y/N)?" Brynjolf asked, turning his full attention towards me and my wellbeing. I thought for a moment, looking down at myself.

  I was bleeding, but all three of us were. Sure, I'd gotten the worst out of all of us, but we were all in need of medical attention. I just looked back up at him and nodded, attempting to ignore the sword gash that had been cut into my side.

"No you're not," He muttered huskily, grabbing onto my left hand and lifting my arm, causing all three of us to look at my side. Sure, it hurt like hell, but it looked so much worse than it felt. Even my own eyes popped wide open as I looked down at how much blood I was losing.

"Shit..." Brynjolf growled, pushing me down onto a snow-covered rock and looking back at Karliah. She was in the process of sorting through medical supplies while Brynjolf pulled his white undershirt off, wrapping it tightly around my torso in order to place pressure on the wound.

"Drink this," Karliah demanded, handing me a small red glass bottle. I took it in my trembling hands and drank all the liquid in the bottle. It had a syrupy consistency and tasted strangely of wild berries and ale. Once I'd finished drinking all the liquid that was within the bottle, Karliah took it from me and Brynjolf swiftly picked me up.

"Bryn, it's fine. I can walk," I muttered as he shook his head sharply.

"Not nearly as quickly as we need to be walking," He murmured as I weakly nodded, watching Karliah lead the way. He was correct, however.

  It only took a few minutes before we had made it to Windhelm. Quickly, Karliah went into the inn while Brynjolf took me to a small infirmary that was located within the Gray Quarter. Once he'd taken me inside, they laid me down and got me some more healing elixirs.

"She'll be better soon. We'll take care of the flesh wound while the potion works on manufacturing more blood at a quicker pace," The Dark Elf man explained to Brynjolf, who nodded gratefully.

"Thank you," Brynjolf replied to the man, who nodded and walked back to the front of his small office. Then Brynjolf turned his attention back to me.

  The two of us were silent for a long moment. Brynjolf was also given an potion for his smaller injuries, so he was sipping from that at my bedside.

"I'm sorry that all of this happened to you, Bryn. I know you trusted Mercer," I muttered softly, looking over at him as he abruptly shook his head.

"You're the last person who needs to be sorry. None of us knew the terrible things that Mercer had done. Not until Karliah brought them to light, using you to do so. If anything, I should be apologizing to you," He explained as I shrugged my shoulders. He smiled kindly back at me.

"You're too humble," He explained as I looked over at him and smiled.

"Are you actually, y'know, in the Dark Brotherhood?" Brynjolf asked as I nodded slowly, not being able to help but break eye contact. I found myself looking around the room, being unable to meet his eyes.

"Yeah..." I breathed out, worry in my voice.

"Don't be ashamed. We've had connections with the Dark Brotherhood for a long time. Having our Guild Master being a member of the Dark Brotherhood practically gives us the advantage to get away with many different things," Brynjolf spoke up with a small chuckle. I looked up at him, arching an eyebrow.

"So, Mercer was just lying?" I asked softly as Brynjolf fixed me with a sarcastic look.

"Name one time Mercer Frey told the truth," He responded in a confident tone as I laughed and nodded slowly.

"He spoke the truth at least once..." I breathed out as he carefully grabbed onto one of my hands. I took it gratefully, thankful that he was here with me. I was just glad that I wasn't alone.

"Oh yeah? And when was that?" He asked as I felt my cheeks flush.

"Back in the cave. When he said..." I trailed off silently, feeling like a complete fool. I had enough courage to kill those who I didn't know and steal from some of the richest families in Skyrim, but not enough to confess how I felt about Brynjolf? That seemed absurd.

"When he said that I fancied you..." I whispered, my voice hardly audible. I almost felt ashamed of what I had said. How childish was I? Clearly extremely if I believed I could ever settle down in Skyrim. If I believed that there would ever be a happy ending for me, then that was evidence enough that I was being unrealistic.

"Really? You fancy me?" Brynjolf asked, sounding completely shocked with this new information. However, I just nodded, becoming fully prepared for him to ridicule me.

"Oh..." He whispered as I slowly nodded once more, my eyes going over to the fireplace that was ablaze on the opposite end of the room. I couldn't bring myself to look over and meet his eyes once again. I felt embarrassed.

  The next thing I knew, Brynjolf had placed a delicate kiss to my cheek, which caused my entire face to go blazing red. My organs all twisted up within my body, causing such a strange feeling to spread throughout my being. I was rather quick to look over at him, seeing his cheeks were a light pink as well. He smiled.

"Who said I didn't fancy you, as well? Anyone would be a fool to reject you," He assured me as I smiled weakly, letting out a soft laugh. He smiled back at me.

  Carefully, he caressed my cheek and brushed his thumb over my skin. Then he leaned in close to me, sealing our lips together. And I can't recall a time that I've felt happier. So much joy flooded my body, causing my organs to do more gymnastics. Once our lips had separated, he placed his forehead against mine and we spent a few moments just breathing in the same air.

"Lass, can I be honest?" He asked as I weakly smiled.

"Yeah..." I breathed.

"I've wanted to do that since the day we first met..." He quietly promised me. And I felt my smile widen as I gingerly cupped one of his cheeks. He was smiling as well.

"I'm glad..." I breathed out as well.

  The door opened, making the two of us jump apart from one another. Karliah stood in the doorway with more healing potions and dry clothes for all of us. She looked skeptically between the two of us before smirking.

"You two aren't very good at being secretive," Karliah joked with a small laugh. The two of us went red as she placed the clothing on the foot of my bed. Then she sat next to Brynjolf, elbowing him in a teasing manner. He simply rolled his eyes at her.

  I laughed, looking between the two of them. And I just felt happy.