They made their way through the Soul Cairn mostly in silence, though Sirius got the feeling Balthazar wanted to ask him something. He found it somewhat difficult to breathe there, though he couldn't quite decide if it was because of the chill, heavy air, or a result of the soul trapping. Possibly both.
They weren't too surprised to discover more than trapped souls there- of course the Soul Cairn would have its 'guards', mostly in the form of blackened skeletons armed with bows and arrows. They weren't difficult to destroy by any means, but their sheer numbers made them a nuisance.
Finally they reached the fortress, making their way around the outer wall as they searched for a way in. After several minutes they came across a wide set of stairs leading to a courtyard of sorts, though it was blocked off by a wall of magic. "Mother?" Balthazar called out. They were kept waiting only a moment before a woman made her presence known. "Mother!"
"Can it really be...? Balthazar?"
"I can't believe it! It's really you!" Sirius stepped back, feeling somewhat guilty for intruding on their moment. "How do we get inside? We have to talk."
"Balthazar, what are you doing here? Where is your father?!"
"He doesn't know we're here. I don't have time to explain."
"I must have failed... He's found a way to decipher the prophecy, hasn't he?"
"No, you've got it all wrong! We're here to stop him! To make everything right."
"Wait a minute." She frowned and turned to Sirius, just taking notice of his presence. "You brought a stranger here? Have you lost your mind?!"
"No, you don't-!"
"You. Come forward." Sirius bristled at the order. "I would speak with you." He glowered at her, but stepped closer anyway. With the wall between them, she would be unable to do him harm. "So how has it come to pass that a vampire hunter is in the company of my son? It pains me to think you'd travel with Balthazar under the guise of his protector in an effort to hunt me down."
"First of all, I am not a vampire hunter," Sirius corrected, narrowing his eyes at her. "Second, he seems quite capable of protecting himself, he hardly needs me to do so. What I am here for is to help him stop his father, as that is not something he's capable of doing on his own. And that's why we're here for the Elder Scroll."
"You think I'd have the audacity to place my own son in that tomb for the protection of his Elder Scroll alone? The scrolls are merely a means to an end. The key to the Tyranny of the Sun is Balthazar himself."
"I know that," Balthazar interrupted, speaking softly. "Father didn't say it in so many words, but... I kind of gathered, from the way he behaved toward me upon my return. It was why I left."
"I find it quite fascinating that in the three minutes I've known you, you've treated him like he's either helpless or stupid, when in the week or so that I've known him, he's proven himself to be quite the opposite." Balthazar gave him a grateful smile. "Are all mothers like this?"
"Don't act as if you care anything for Balthazar or our plight! I have no reason to trust that you would not turn on my son and slay him like an animal the moment he fulfilled his usefulness in stopping the prophecy."
"He's done more to help me in the brief time that I've known him than you have in centuries!" Balthazar snapped.
"How dare you! I gave up everything that I cared about to protect you from that fanatic you call a father!"
"And you forced me to do the same, never once asking me how I felt, whether I thought it to be the best course of action. You just expected me to follow you blindly. Both of you are obsessed with your own paths! Your motivations might have been different, but in the end? I'm still just a pawn to you, too. So I chose my own path. I'm going to stop him, before he goes too far. And to do that, we need your Elder Scroll." He drew in a shuddering breath. "I wanted us to be a family again. But I think we've all long since passed the point of no return."
"...I'm sorry, Balthazar. I didn't know. I didn't see. I've allowed my hatred of your father to estrange us for too long. Forgive me. If you want the Elder Scroll, it's yours."
"So you do have the Elder Scroll with you." She turned to Sirius, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Yes. I've kept it safely secured here ever since I was imprisoned. Fortunately, you're in a position to breach the barrier that surrounds these ruins."
"What do we need to do?" Balthazar asked.
"Find the tallest of the rocky spires that surround these ruins. At their bases, the barrier's energy is being drawn from unfortunate souls that have been exiled here. Destroy the Keepers that are tending them, and it should bring the barrier down."
"We'll return soon," Sirius said.
"Be careful, and keep my son safe."
"I'm sorry you had to bear witness to that," Balthazar sighed once they were some distance away from the fortress.
Sirius waved him off. "Don't be. I'm glad I was there, if only so you didn't have to go through that alone."
"I suppose it was naïve of me to hope that would be a happy reunion."
"...No," Sirius decided after a moment. "No, I don't think it's naïve to hope that your parents actually give a damn about you. I get what that's like. My experiences aren't the same as yours, of course, but... similar enough."
"Your question, earlier. Did you not have a mother?"
"No. Mine died giving birth to me, and I would never deign to call my father's wife 'mother'. She hated me with every fiber of her being, and I can tell you I gave as good as I got, with her."
"...I'm sorry to hear that."
"Enough about that. We've got some Keepers to kill."
YOU ARE READING
Murphy's Law
Fanfiction[Skyrim Crossover] As if Skyrim wasn't already hectic enough, with its inhabitants fighting both the Aldmeri Dominion and the Empire. Now there's dragons, too, and Emmet finds himself unwittingly roped into the whole mess. What else could go wrong?
