Beautiful Insanity (A Skyrim/Oblivion Fanfiction) ((ORIGINAL))

Epilogue

I update my last chapter in the full moon, crying as hard as I can. Thank you all for taking this journey with me, for feeling Russet's joy and pain. Thank you for bearing with me during my own hurts and hiatuses, for commenting and voting, for enjoying and reading. It's too soon to say goodbye... but everything has its end.

Thank you.

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BRYNJOLFPOV

I'd never felt so much pain as I had right then. I could feel my lass already growing cold, and no matter how hard I had begged, it was not a dream I could wake from. I'd cried, I could not stop. I'd doubted I would ever truly be able to leave the guilt behind.

Nocturnal had held to her vow and released my little girl. Regina had
shared in my guilt, but relied on her Prince to ease her troubles. Kary was more than upset. She distanced herself from me.

In that moment, I'd lost them all. My lass, my princess, and my warrior. When I'd opened my love's journal, I'd nearly ruined the pages with tears.

I hadn't left without one last gift. Jyggalag stopped me from exiting the doors with my fallen wife's body, holding out something I knew all too well on a chain.

It was the dragon, the charm I'd given to my lass. The symbol of our love.

"I managed to reclaim it from Sanguine," the Daedra had said. "I'd thought you might want it." However, I could not find words to thank or condemn him. All I could do was pocket it and carry her away.

When I reached Skyrim, on foot and never stopping for rest, I brought my Dragonborn to the Throat of the World and laid her to rest. Eventually, as the years passed, I was able to fulfill my lass' last request. 

"As I watched my wife fall, one child leave to some crazy land and the other with some monks, I realized one thing." I poured myself more rum, ignoring the drips on my long gray beard as folks in the Ragged Flagon watched. "Life's a damn crazy thing. Sometimes, living it might just be the end of it."

...

REGINAPOV

I knew that my father forced no blame upon me. I'd seen the look in his eyes as he lifted my mother's unmoving body into the air. He blamed none but himself.

Somehow, I knew he would accept no comfort from me. As for myself, I could only bury my face into Jyggalag's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me, and though they were cold and rough with his armor, I needed it. I needed him. We watched my father leave with Kary trailing behind, the latter offering me one more sorrowful look, and I finally lost myself once more.

All my life, I'd berated myself for being weak and emotional. However, I had no way whatsoever to prevent the tears this time. For once I felt as though they were necessary. Jyggalag was there throughout my fit.

We returned to the castle, nearly completely wrecked from the Daedra that had poured out. However, I couldn't bring myself to give focus to anything but my mother. Was she in Sovngarde? I'd damned her in the past few months, damned her to Oblivion. Now that she was gone, I knew with all of my heart that none deserved Sovngarde and eternal bliss as much as she.

No matter what, she had sacrificed it all for me. We'd never gotten to reconcile.

The last words my mother had heard from me were full of hatred. I regretted every second of it. As for Jyggalag, I was glad I'd finally gotten him back, that we'd returned to the living world. I needed him with me. But my mother was dead, and I...

I wished I could see her one last time. To spend one day more at her side. One day more and I'd force myself to be satisfied. When my father had left, he'd gone to bury her and pay his respects. I couldn't bring myself to attend, despite that my mother had deserved it. That only added to my guilt.