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Chapter Text

Silence...Exactly what she wanted to hear. All was quiet in the Sanctuary besides the faint sound of the waterfall near the entrance and the rain falling into the buckets littered around due to the disrepair of the holes in the ceiling. Very carefully, she sits up in the bed, trying to not wake the person sleeping soundly next to her.

Putting both feet on the ground, she gets up, gets dressed and grabs a sack next to the dresser and starts packing up what little belongings she had. Occasionally looking back at the sleeping figure when they would stir or make a slight noise, she continues packing up the last bit of clothing in the sack and pulling the drawstring tight. Going over to the chair next to the door, she grabs her cloak and wraps it around her back, pulling the hood up over her head. She quickly, but carefully, makes her way out of the room and down the stairs towards the kitchen. She opens the sack and starts putting whatever food she could find that would last her a while on the road inside.

"What do you think you're doing?" A deep voice coming from the shadows, low enough to not wake anyone else up but enough to cause her to jump and drop the bread she had in her hand.

"By Sithis! Nazir! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" She says in an angry whisper as she turns to look at him.

"Then maybe you shouldn't be sneaking around here at ungodly hours, I repeat again, what are you doing?" He whispers, moving closer.

"Nazir, I can't stay here, I really cannot get into the details with you right now, I have to get out of here before he wakes up." She pulls the drawstring back together and starts to head towards the exit. Before she can get too far, Nazir grabs her arm.

"Are you in danger? Have you been hurt?" Nazir whispers to you. She gently pulls her arm from his grasp

She sighs, "No i'm not hurt or in danger, at least I don't think so, but something has come up that I fear for what may happen and until I can be for certain that nothing will happen, I can't stay Nazir, so please, I must go." She turns back towards the exit and speeds up her steps to get away from Nazir before he can stop her. Nazir follows up behind her. "Nazir, one day I hope to let you know what I'm talking about, I understand i'm the Listener but I cannot stay."

"I can't stop you from going but tell me the truth, is it anything he's done? Trust me, the rest of the Brotherhood would have no issues with dealing with him if that were the case" He chuckles, keeping on her tail.

She stops in her tracks and turns to face him, "Nazir, please, i'm trying to be as nice as I possibly can be about this, I have to go, stop following me before we draw atten-" Before she can finish telling him to let her go, the door to the upstairs opens and a figure stands in the doorway.

"Olivia? Where are you going?" the figure questions, causing her to bolt towards the exit door. As she's heading for the door, she can hear footsteps fast approaching.

"OLIVIA! WAIT!" the man calls out to her, she hears Nazir say something to the man and a struggle but she doesn't look back "GET OFF OF ME YOU IDIOT! OLIVIA! COME BACK!PLEASE!"

She doesn't look back, hearing the pitiful please tore her heart out but she had to keep running and couldn't look back. Approaching the door, she opens it quickly and runs off into the woods, tightly clutching her sack and heading into dark of night, away from all that she loved and knew, the only home she's had for a long time. She gets behind a bunch of foliage to catch her breath and looks back towards the door, the man chasing her stands outside, looking around and calling out her name. Tears stream down her face as she quietly moves from her hiding place and takes back off, the man's voice fading away the farther she goes.

Chapter Text

Olivia shoots up in bed, panting heavily and covered in sweat, "another damn dream" she thinks to herself and sighs, rubbing her face and looking over at her sleeping husband, Farkas. She smiles slightly at how peaceful and calm he looks when he's sleeping, it's a nice change from his usual scowl. She leans over and kisses him on the cheek and gets out of the bed, going to sit at the table next to the window. He stirs from her movement.

"You alright, dear?" He says groggily and turns over in bed towards her.

"I'm fine, love, I just had another one of my dreams, they're getting more frequent it seems" She says as she watches the rain hit the window.

Farkas sits up in the bed, stretching, "Do you think you'll ever tell me what these dreams are about? You've beat me up in our sleep enough I think I outta know" he says with a light chuckle, looking over at her. His smile fades as he notices tears starting to fall down her cheek, he gets out of bed and walks up to her. "Hey now, what's wrong? You can tell me anything" he kneels down beside the chair, gently taking her hand.

"I believe it's time I told you something I should have told you a long time ago, my dear but I'm scared and worried to tell you," she says holding back tears, not making eye contact and gently rubbing circles around his hand with her thumb, " I don't want you to think differently of me or hate me. I don't want our life together to change." she wipes away her tears on her gown, " but I also can't keep on like this either."

He reaches up and rubs her cheek, " I promise I will hear what you have to say and we will go from there, I'll try my best here but remember I'm not the best with conversations"

She squeezes his hand, " We've been together for seventeen years, and I love you dearly, I know that i've told you in the past that I was just a simple farm girl from a family out in Riften. I am from Riften but my life was far from simple." she starts, Farkas pulls the other chair up to sit in front of her, still holding her hand, listening intently.

She looks over at him and takes a deep breath and continues, "My home life was not great, my father was a blessing but my mother was a terrible woman, that didn't care about me at all, so I ran away and I ran with the Thieves Guild for a long time, probably since I was about fifteen or sixteen to the time I was eighteen, they're good people there and they took me in."

"What about your father? How did he take you running off?" Farkas asked.

"Oh I know he was devastated to see me go, and it broke my heart to leave him, but I couldn't stay under the same roof as my mother, so I ran and I haven't been back since," she looks back out the window, "sometimes I feel like I need to go visit him, but this is beside the point. After I turned eighteen, I had to leave the guild because a robbery on a high profile person went completely wrong and I ended up killing him because he was going to kill me if I didn't." she sighs, "it killed me to have to leave the guild but it's one of the rules we had to follow. So I was homeless once again." She stops talking after that for a bit, getting nervous to continue the next bit.

"Please continue love, it's ok" Farkas says, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I decided to just leave Riften after that, as there wasn't anything left there for me, so I wandered the roads for who knows how long, trying to find a place to stay or something to work at. I would pick up an odd job here and there to have gold for food and places to sleep, I eventually found myself outside of Whiterun and uh," she pauses for a moment, " that's when I met a strange man dressed as a jester on the side of the road, transporting a large crate of some sort, the wheel had broken off and he was stuck there, he was eccentric but he asked me to try to get help to fix the wheel, I talked the farmer nearby into helping him fix it. While the farmer was fixing the wheel, in between the times this man wasn't helping him, we would talk and I learned his name was Cicero and he had traveled with this large crate all the way from Cheydinhal in Cyrodiil. I told him of my past and background and he offered me a ride and a new home with uh... with the Dark Brotherhood."

She looks over to Farkas, who looks taken back by the last bit of information," You were part of the Dark Brotherhood? I can hardly believe that with how you are"

She nods, " I was indeed, come to find out, the large crate he was hauling was the Night Mother, and he was seeking sanctuary because of the riots and the other brotherhood sanctuaries being destroyed in Cyrodiil." She lets go of his hand and stands up, starting to pace the room. "So I had found me a new home and a new family and found out Cicero was the Night Mother's Keeper and I was something called the Listener, someone who hears the Night Mother when a Black Sacrament is performed so we can do contracts for people, and I stayed there until I was twenty-four years old... during that time me and Cicero had gotten close and well, that turned into a relationship."

Farkas just nods his head, still listening, trying to keep up and retain all this new information to him, "Continue,love"

"To make a long story short, Cicero and I were together for seven years and we were very close, I found out right before my 24th birthday that uh...well that I was pregnant.. and I didn't know how that would go over and how we would make that even work with our line of work, so in a stupid panic, in the dead of night I packed a bag of my things and I ran away, he tried to come after me of course but one of the other members slowed him down. The last thing I remember from that night is hearing him call for me and hearing him fade away the farther I got. It's what my dreams are always about, it's like I'm being haunted for what I did and maybe I deserve to be plagued by this, but I was young and an idiot."

Farkas had gotten eerily quiet after hearing that, more quiet than usual, he finally spoke up, "I see, what happened to the child? What did you do with that?"

Her palms were starting to sweat and it felt like a huge knot was stuck in her throat, "She...is in the room downstairs."

Farkas looked a little puzzled but only for a moment, he stood up, eyes locked on to her, "You mean.. Lucia? I don't understand."

"W-when you and I first met after I had ran away, we had hit it off instantly, and I was worried about what you would think of everything, not just that I was pregnant at the time, but everything if I told you my real past and the truth about Lucia. I didn't want you to leave me. I'm a terrible person and this is why I never wanted to tell you the whole truth but I took these dreams becoming more frequent as I sign that it had to be done." Tears were starting to well back up in her eyes as she looked at him, trying to get a read on him.

He stands there in silence, looking down at the floor, stuck in a deep thought and trying to process all of this. " I guess that explains why she has the features she does and that fiery red hair... she never looked like me but I wrote that off as being more on your side. After all this time..if you'll excuse me, i'll be back, I just need to be alone and process this" He walks past Olivia, walking out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

She doesn't try to stop him,tears were now streaming down her face, she sits back down on the bed and weeps, worrying that she has completely screwed up something wonderful once again. She wipes her eyes and gets up, heads out the door and downstairs. She enters the hallway and carefully opens the door to the bedroom.

All is quiet and still, she walks over slowly to the bed, where her daughter is sleeping peacefully. She gently sits down on the edge of the bed, pushing some of her hair out of her face, causing her to wake up.

"Mama? what's wrong?" Lucia asks, mostly still asleep.

"Nothing at all, my darling, I was just checking up on you, go back to sleep,Lucia~" Olivia lulls her back to sleep and leans over to kiss her cheek as she falls back to sleep. Olivia lingers there for a moment, watching her sleep, deep in thoughts and memories. After a few moments, she gets up and goes to the other side of the room and steps into the room, Damian's room. She looks towards her son's bed, he's sprawled out over the whole bed, his blanket is on the floor and pillows everywhere but at the head of the bed. She smiles and goes to pick up his blanket and carefully puts it back over him, she readjusts him so he's more comfortable without waking him up, though she's pretty sure that's impossible and he could sleep through absolutely anything. After she gets his head back on a pillow at least, she kisses his cheek and looks at him, "How unfair it is that neither one of my children look like me at all" she lightheartedly complains to herself.

After checking on her children, she walks around the house, looking for Farkas, who is nowhere to be found. She sighs and figures he must have left the house, she returns to their bedroom upstairs and lays back down. After what seemed like ages, she finally drifts back to sleep with a hope when she wakes up Farkas will be back to talk.

Chapter Text

The sunlight peeked through the windows into the bedroom. Olivia slowly opened her eyes at the brightness and sat up, stretching and looking around. Still no Farkas, she thought to herself, and got out of bed. Walking out of the room and downstairs, she is met with Farkas, Lucia, and Damien all at the table with breakfast already made.

"What's all this? Who made breakfast?" She said with a smile as she walked over to the table, kissing her children on the heads and Farkas on the cheek, sitting down in her spot.

"I did, Mama! Papa said you were having a rough night and were sleeping in, so I figured I'd surprise you with breakfast!" Lucia said with pride at her work, " Damien tried to help, but he couldn't boil water, so" she giggles as she pushes her brother playfully.

"Hey! That's not fair, I made the eggs...kind of, but it's the thought that counts!" Damien retorted and pushed her back.

Olivia and Farkas both let out a laugh. "You're exactly right, my darling, it is the thought that counts," Olivia says, smiling at them both. " I did have a rough night, so I greatly appreciate the meal. Now let's eat!"

Everyone started eating the overly large breakfast. Lucia may have gone crazy on the meal making, but it was appreciated nonetheless. While eating, Olivia keeps looking over at Lucia, her mind wandering to far-off places and to what she revealed to Farkas last night. Lucia couldn't look anymore like her father, she had his fiery red hair, her's was a lot longer, of course. She has his piercing Amber eyes and his facial features, it's like she was his clone, she was beautiful. As much as Olivia loved to see him in her, it was almost like she was being haunted and punished for what she had done, a constant reminder of what was past. She wonders how he's doing now, and if he even still thinks of her, if he kept looking for her. He would have never been able to leave the Night Mother long enough to go far, being the Keeper, pretty much restricted his travels. After running off on him like that in the middle of the night, how could he possibly still even care or want to find her? Even if he found her, how on Nirn could she explain herself and this secret she's kept from him.

Lucia looks over at Olivia, noticing she's completely spaced out, she reaches out to grab her hand gently, still causing Olivia to jump slightly. "Mama? Are you ok?"

"I'm sorry, sweetie, I was just thinking about how much I appreciate you making breakfast and how good it is." Olivia smiles and squeezes her hand, "I'm alright, darling. Would you like to come with me to the market to get some things after we eat? Your father is taking Damien out to train today, so you and I can go out."

"Sure, Mama, I'd love to! It's been a while since we've gone together." Lucia says excitedly, starting to eat her breakfast quicker.

Olivia smiles at her and finishes up her breakfast, "I'm going to head back upstairs and get ready." She cleans up her plates and heads upstairs.

Olivia heads over to the wardrobe and sorts through her casual dresses, finally deciding on a simple red dress with black trim on the cuffs and neckline. She walks over to the mirror and pulls her hair back in a bun, puts on a simple gold necklace, and her rings. Once she is finished getting dressed, she heads back downstairs where Lucia is already waiting for her, dressed in a Forest Green dress with gold trim going down the length of the dress and around the cuffs, half of her red hair is pulled up in a bun and the rest of it is hanging freely down her back.

"You look lovely, darling!" Olivia smiles at her.

"Thank you, Papa and Damien already left, so we should get going! What are we picking up from the market today?" She asks, walking out the door with Olivia in tow, Olivia turning around and locking the door behind her.

"Oh, just some vegetables and some other things, I need to stop by the alchemist as well to pick up something I had made for myself." Olivia puts the house key down in her bag and heads towards the market, Lucia following behind.

"Is something wrong Mama? Are you sick?" Lucia asks with concern in her voice.

"Nothing to worry about, it's just a little cold or something coming on i'm sure" Olivia smiles at her, hoping to reassure her worries.

As they head into the market, they do their rounds from the vegetable stall, to the meat stall and finally arrive at Arcadia's Cauldron. Olivia stops in front of the door, turning to Lucia.

"Wait out here, I'll be right back out, if you want you can go up to the Gildergreen and wait for me and i'll bring us some sweet treats after i'm finished up here. I um... well I have to talk to you." Olivia says, smiling at her. "I won't be long"

"Ok mama, are you sure you don't want me to come in with you?" Lucia asks hesitantly.

"I'm sure sweety, go on now, I'll meet you up there." Olivia smiles and goes in

Lucia stares at the door for a short moment, debating if she should go in and make sure everything really is ok, she shakes her head and walks towards the Gildergreen tree in the middle of town. "Mama wants to talk to me? I really hope she's ok, she's been so off lately and i'm worried, maybe I'll stop and get her some flowers sometime" Lucia thinks to herself, arriving at the bench situated under the beautiful pink blooms of the tree, some occasionally blowing in the gentle breeze, she sits down on the bench, noticing no one else around. As she waits, she closes her eyes and listens to the breeze and the gentle flow of water that surrounds the tree, she lets out a relaxed sigh. After a few minutes, she starts to hear a faint voice, it sounds like a woman but very faint. She opens her eyes and looks around, startled to find no one around her that could have been talking.

"What was that...?" She says, looking around.

"What was what sweetie?" Olivia questions, walking up from the opposite direction Lucia was facing.

"Oh, I'm sure it was nothing, probably the wind or something." Lucia lets out a small chuckle, still a little freaked out by the voice but shakes it off for the time being.

Olivia sits down beside her and reveals two fresh sweetrolls and hands one to her. "Here you go sweetheart, don't tell your dad and brother that we've snuck little treats for ourselves.We don't want jealousy around here" she laughs and takes a bit of her treat.

"Pssh, I would never tell Damien anything, he's too annoying." Lucia giggles and also bites into hers.

They sit in blissful silence, once again only the water and wind are heard, they relax as they enjoy their snack. Olivia starts to fill an anxiety welling up in her chest as she realizes what she has to do once they're finished. A thousand thoughts and scenarios go through her mind, not many of them have a good outcome. After a few moments, the sweet rolls are gone and they both sit back and relax on the bench, taking in the beautiful sunlight. Olivia speaks up.

"Lucia, there's something very important that I have to talk to you about, it's been weighing heavy on my mind and in my dreams for a while now." Olivia says, sitting up slightly and turning towards Lucia, taking her hand.

"You can tell me anything Mama, we will work through it i'm sure, we always do." Lucia reassures her and squeezes her hand, not knowing what is to come.

"Well... I don't even know how or where to start with this, there's no good place really so i'll just say it..." Olivia takes a deep breath and swallows the lump in her throat, "I should have told you this a long time ago, darling, but... Farkas is not your father and everything i've told you of my past isn't the truth."

Lucia's eyes widened and it feels like the world around her has come to a stop, "What do you mean he's not my father? I don't understand" She says as she lets her mother's hand go but is still listening.

Olivia starts wringing her hands together and continues, "He isn't your biological father, I should clarify this, but he has always been there for you since you were a baby so please always think of him as such. Your father is... I was a young fool, honey, and as I told Farkas last night when I woke up from one of my many dreams, I am not just a farm girl from Riften. The thing truthful about that is that i'm from Riften. I was part of the Thieves' Guild because unlike you, I didn't have a good home life and caring parents, outside of my father." Tears are starting well up as she looks at the expression of shock and discomfort on Lucia's face. "I... I ended up killing someone and had to leave the guild and I found myself in the Dark Brotherhood.. You know who they are yes?"

Lucia nods, " They um.. they kill people, I've heard of them and have read about them" She staggers over her words, looking at Olivia in disbelief.

"I was 18 years old at the time, homeless, hungry and had no money and I was on my way from Riften to Whiterun, just trying to find a place to stay or a job to do for money. That's where I met your father, Cicero, stuck on the side of the road with a carriage and a coffin, the wheel was needing to be fixed."

"Cicero..." Lucia whispers, looking down at her feet, trying to process everything.

"He ended up giving me a ride because I helped him and I had nowhere else to go, and we went to the Sanctuary in Falkreath." She explains "I spent the next seven years there, I finally had a family again and me and Cicero had gotten closer, everyone else said he was mad but I found out the complete opposite from just sitting down and actually talking to him, there's a whole other world in there. We spent seven years together, going on contracts, having night time getaways, star gazing... until.." Olivia pauses, looking up at the tree, tears now flowing down her cheeks.

"until.. what Mama?" Lucia asks anxiously.

Olivia looks back down at her, a slight smile forming and she reaches out to rub her cheek. "Until I found out I was pregnant with you, my love, you look just like him... I was twenty-four at the time and I didn't know what Cicero would think or how he would react and I didn't know how the rest of the members would take it, the line of work we did wasn't exactly the safest to begin with, let alone having to worry about a baby. So, I packed up all my things in the dead of night and I ran off... Nazir, he was one of the senior members, he caught me in the kitchen packing up some food and tried to keep me from going but Cicero had woken up and realized I wasn't in bed and he came after me to try and stop me from going, calling out my name , Nazir held him back for a while, but I managed to get outside and hide in the bushes nearby... He came out and I heard him calling out my name and running around trying to find me until it faded away the farther I got..." Olivia explains, her hand falling from Lucia's cheek, covering her own face as she wept.

Lucia sat there in shock, tears forming in her eyes, trying to process all of this. "So.. you just ran off? Without telling him about me at all? Not even in letters or anything?" She asks with a hint of anger

"No, I never told him about you honey, the only letters I ever wrote were to Nazir because I was something called the Listener, and I heard the Night Mother speak to me to give us contracts to carry out and I didn't want them to fall apart because of my ignorance..." Olivia sighs.

Lucia stands up, feeling the anger start to swell up, "I can't believe what i'm hearing, I can't believe my whole life is a complete lie!" She starts walking off, Olivia reaching out to grab her arm.

"Lucia! Please understand, I couldn't contact him about you, I was already with Farkas at the time and I couldn't explain to him what had happened." Olivia frantically tries to explain, Lucia pulls her arm away.

"It doesn't matter, Mama! You've never told me! You've had seventeen years to tell me and now you do! Now who even knows if he's still alive for me to even meet! I understand Farkas has raised me, and I still love him and he is my father but I would have loved to know my real one!" Lucia snaps at Olivia, walking off. "Just leave me be."

Olivia doesn't try to go after her, sitting back down on the bench,putting her face in her hands, weeping. "I'm such a fool..."

Chapter Text

Watching as Lucia storms off back towards the house, Olivia is left with tears running down her face and a broken heart, worried that she has ruined everything and will never be forgiven, not that she deserves to be forgiven by anyone at this point, keeping such things from the closest people in her life for so long was bound to backfire on her. She puts her face in her hands and cries, the gentle wind and calm flow of water are no longer as comforting and relaxing as they were.

As she cries, she feels someone close to her, she slowly looks up and notices Olava has sat down next to her. "Whatever is the matter dear?" Olava asks in a gentle tone, placing a hand on Olivia's shoulder for comfort.

"Oh Olava, I feel as if I have completely messed up everything... my family, my relationship with my husband and daughter.. all because I couldn't gather up enough courage and tell them things I should have told them years ago.. I feel like such a fool" She weeps, " I've only ever tried to keep Lucia safe and now i'm worried she's going to go looking for her father.."

Olava hums, "Well dear, I believe it's her choice to do so if I may be so bold to say, you couldn't expect her to learn this and not have that possibility of her leaving to find him... look at me ,my child," Olava says as she grabs Olivia's hand, causing her to look up at Olava with red, puffy eyes, tears streaming down her face. "If she chooses to go, you must let her go, if you try to hold her back even more she will resent you for it, I promise you that. Now dry your eyes and pull yourself together, dear, and go home. Let things cool down for a bit and try to talk to her once more when she has had time to process this."

Olivia gives Olava's hand a squeeze before letting go and wiping her eyes, letting out a long sigh, " I can do that, I think that would be best rather than making things worse, I appreciate you sitting with me and talking to me about this." She smiles as she stands up, " It may not look like it right now but I am relieved that everything is out in the open now, but now to deal with the aftermath."

Olivia says her goodbyes and thank you to Olava and heads back down towards her home, sighing as a million scenarios pass through her mind on the walk back to the house.

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Lucia arrives back home, face red from tears and anger, slamming the front door as she enters and runs to her room, falling face down into the pillow and cries. All the commotion alerts Damien in the next room and he steps out into her room to see what's happening.

"Lucy? What's wrong? What happened?" He questions as he walks over to her bed slowly, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. Lucia sits up quickly and pulls him in for a tight hug and continues to cry into his shoulder as he wraps his arms around her tight.

"Damien, I don't even know what to think or do right now... my whole life has been a complete lie.." she says weakly, burying her face in his shirt.

"What do you mean by that? Did someone say something to you? Did someone hurt you?" he asks, gently petting her head. "please tell me Lucy."

She pulls back from him, wiping her eyes, "Our mother has informed me.. that our father isn't my father.. and that MY father is out there who knows where and has been for 17 years without my knowledge.." she explains.

"W-what do you mean he isn't your father?" Damien asks, completely taken back.

"I know it just happened but it's all a blur, once she told me that, my ears started ringing and I felt everything go numb, trying to process that. She said something about being a part of the Dark Brotherhood before and that my father is also a part of that... but who knows at this point if he's even alive anymore because she never told him about me..according to her I look just like him but how would I know that?" She explains, letting out a long sigh, wiping stray tears from her cheeks.

"I... don't even know what to say Lucy, other than i'm so sorry.. but I want you to know that no matter what, i'm your brother and i'll always have your back, even if you annoy the hell out of me constantly." He smiles, trying to cheer her up some.

She chuckles slightly, smiling at him, "I know that , silly, but I appreciate hearing that from you.. It must have taken a lot out of you to be so caring and compassionate towards me." Her smile fades slowly, " Damien, do you care to stay in here with me..? I feel light headed and have a headache after all that.. I want to lay down for a bit.." She asks, laying back down in her bed and pulling her blanket over her.

"Of course i'll stay here, don't even worry about it, I'll stay here as long as you want me to." He says, laying down next to her.

"Thank you.." she says, slowly drifting off to sleep, Damien pulling her close and falling asleep himself.