My Random Skyrim Stories

A Simple Dragon Fight (Vilkas) 3

Kirstrid had been expecting to wake back in Sovengarde, to find Gormlaith laughing at her for falling to a lesser dragon after she'd slain Alduin. But instead she found herself drifting in and out of consciousness, cradled with surprising gentleness against Vilkas's steel chest plate. She could feel his cold, calloused fingers gently brushing the hair out of her face to bring a potion bottle to her lips. His voice was soft, almost pleading as he tried to coax her to drink the potion. She didn't remember his words, but as her dreams began to replay moments from her adventures over the years they seemed to focus on Vilkas...

His unimpressed scowl when they'd first met... his flippant comment about his sword being worth more than she was when he'd ordered her to take it up to the forge for sharpening... his sheer irritation when she'd taken her sweet time doing it— going after a bounty from the Jarl to get the dragon stone tablet from Bleakfalls Barrow first...

She'd actually killed her first dragon with his sword... and she remembered now how he'd tried to pretend he wasn't impressed by that when she'd finally returned. She'd found that wonderfully amusing at the time.

She remembered so many, many months later, after she'd become Harbinger, when he'd actually asked her to go hunt a dragon with him... he'd said something about her being worth at least a dozen soldiers in battle and she'd quipped back at him about his claim that his sword was worth more than she was. His face had been clearly sheepish and chastised about that, but as opposed to admitting it, he'd joked that that sword was priceless now since the Dragonborn had killed her first dragon with it.

...He'd killed his first dragon with Wuuthrad...

She remembered how happy he'd been after that fight, she'd told him he did Ysgramor proud wielding that axe. He'd said something equally complementary about what a good team they made... she wished she could remember what it was now...

Her dreamed memories were all beginning to blur now... she just saw Vilkas's face, his smile— the rare, genuine smiles... they'd been much more frequent since they'd cured their beast blood, but still rare. Usually Vilkas was serious and stoic... except when it was just the two of them, when he'd make some retort or joke, usually accompanied by a smirk or a subtle smile... even more rare was his laughter... but that was more common when it was just the two of them as well... when she'd quip back at one of his retorts with one of her own and his subtle smile would break into an amused laugh.

Then there were his proud, happy grins after a hard-fought battle... the way his furrowed brow would relax into relieved happiness when his eyes found hers after all their opponents had fallen still...

But... what was her mind doing to her now...? Why did those memories make her heart flutter? He was attractive, sure, but... he'd never wanted to be more than her friend and shield-brother...

Her mind was twisting her memories now... she would have surely noticed such a tender, longing look on her best friend's face if it had been real... right?