Through my Blood

Chapter X: A Dark Past

[Remus's POV]

I was an assassin.

I said it... I finally said it.

That was the first time I ever said anything about that to anyone for a long time. Why did I even say it? Slip of tongue?

I couldn't even lift my head to see how Serana reacted.

There was a brief silence before I heard her speak.

"Are- are you serious?" she questioned hesitantly.

She's scared. I feel it.

"Sadly, I am."

"For how long?" she asked.

I started walking as I collected my thoughts. I heard Serana's slow footsteps just behind me.

"It was... sometime after I joined the guild." I answered, before sitting down a tree. I briefly glanced up to Serana.

I saw her face with mixed emotions. I was also not sure what to feel. I'm not one to judge if she feels scared.

Even I am scared of myself... and the atrocities I was capable of doing back then.

"Do you have anymore to ask?" I asked coldly as I burrowed my face in my scarf. "You also have the choice to leave if you don't want anything to do with a murderer."

She stood there for quite a while. Then, to my surprise, she sat down beside me. She wasn't exactly close, but we were close enough to talk.

"I... I want to know about what happened..." Serana finally said. "I'm sorry, if I seemed uneasy. It's just... I didn't know how to respond..."

I would've understood it if she just straight up left. But, the fact that she's right here beside me and seemingly eager to listen... it puzzled me.

I looked up the night sky as I recounted what happened.

"I was doing a job for the Thieves Guild at Windhelm. That time, I heard there was a kid by the name of Aventus Aretino in Windhelm. Rumors say he was calling for the Dark Brotherhood. I had a job in Windhelm back then so I checked it out.

I saw the boy... doing some kind of ritual. Turns out, it was a ritual to call out an agent from the Dark Brotherhood, the Black Sacrament. The boy mistook me for an assassin from the dark brotherhood. So, I humored him... listened to what he was supposed to say. It was for fun at first... but then... he told me the name of the person he wants dead."

Serana swallowed thickly. "Who was it?"

"Grelod the Kind."

"Wait, wasn't she the headmistress of the orphanage you were once in?"

I nodded. "I never told you why I left the orphanage, didn't I?"

"No... you just said you didn't like Grelod as the new headmistress. Why? What did she do?"

"She beat up kids." I felt my teeth gritting in anger. "I learnt from Aventus that the old hag never changed, and she continued beating them. She didn't even let the kids be adopted."

"That's... that's terrible..." Serana commented in dismay.

"That's what I thought, too. I told Aventus I was going to think about it. I went back to Riften to return a haul for the Guild. That's when I saw Grelod, dragging a kid back to the orphanage. It was a girl."

I looked at Serana, and she seemed to be listening intently. So I continued.

"I sneaked inside to see what she was going to do. I saw her- I saw her hit the girl numerous times. By the end of it, she chained up the kid and lock her up in the closet. That closet was near the area where the children slept, and the others saw what was happening. Grelod made them see."