Sithis Sometimes is, but Not Usually

[b]And here's the last chapter of the fic, done by The Doctor and me, with some minor edits by Gregzilla.[/b]

[size=4]Chapter 7: Sithis Is Not[/size]

Mary stood inside the Sanctuary of the Dark Brotherhood. It was time for her to start the mission. The ninja looked back at Zero, who had followed her inside into the Sanctuary. "Let us go and finish the job you started back in Cyrodiil."

With that said, Mary walked ahead silently, keeping the ornate dagger she had claimed from Astrid's corpse in her hand. From speaking with Zero, she had learned that the dagger was called Blade of Woe. It was a weapon given only to the leader of the Dark Brotherhood and the higher ranking members. The Listener and the Speakers. The ninja pushed any further thoughts from her mind as she walked through the empty room and into the next one.

In the next room, Mary saw a man with long blonde hair and beard wearing a short sleeved version of the same armor Astrid used to wear. He didn't have either the gloves nor boots or mask and cowl like she herself was wearing. Still, the Nord looked very strong and if he found her, then the ninja would have quite the battle on her hands. And worse, it could bring the attention of the other members and she had no idea how many there were. It was a good thing for Mary that she was wearing the mask and cowl. It would make it difficult to identify her if she had to retreat.

Mary shook her head and simply snuck past the Nord man. She would deal with him later.

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[Zero's section part 1, looking around, narration, seeing Arnbjorn, possibly recognizing him from monitoring the Companions.]

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Walking into the next room, she saw an Argonian wearing the Dark Brotherhood armor looking away from her, toward a fireplace. On his right hip, she could see a pretty big axe, on his left, a Dwemer Glass Sword. The ninja could tell that he wasn't paying attention at his own back and figured he'd never think someone could enter the Sanctuary. Well, she was about to prove him wrong.

Mary managed to sneak behind the Argonian and stood up. She grabbed one of his horn and pulled it down, slicing the Argonian's throat open the Blade of Woe. The ninja let the dying Argonian fall to the floor and then silenced him for good with a stab into one of his eyes. Cleaning the blood off the dagger with a piece of cloth she had brought with her, she snuck out of the room and into the next one.

In the next room, Mary saw a woman in the distance. She knew it was a woman because of the figure shown in the robes the woman was wearing. It had the same color scheme as the Dark Brotherhood armor the ninja was wearing. She couldn't see the woman's face due to the hood she was wearing, not to mention the fact that the latter was working on a cauldron of sorts. This gave the ninja the perfect distraction to move behind the woman. Mary repeated the same maneuver she used on the Argonian with some variation, covering the woman's mouth and slitting her throat. She saw the hood fall off as she dropped the woman's corpse and saw that it was a Dunmer.

Mary began looking around for ingredients. Or would've if it wasn't for a giant spider suddenly climbing out from a nearby pit and spitting poison at the ninja. She managed to dodge away in time and thrusted her hand forward, launching a Scorching Embers spell at the spider and lightly burning it with the live ember filled cloud. The large sized arachnid shrieked in surprise and the ninja charged, plunging the Blade of Woe into one of the spider's eye. She drove the dagger deeper into the arachnid's eye as it raised its fangs to bite her. The spider couldn't finish though as the dagger had been driven straight into its brain. The arachnid's body went still and then slumped. Pulling the dagger out, Mary took out a bottle and using the dagger, extracted the spider's poison. Placing the bottle away after corking it, the ninja checked the room for any ingredients she could use later after the mission. Once she was done, she walked into the next room.

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[Zero part 2, fighting Arnbjorn in human form, who smelled Astrid's scent and was going to go look when he heard the commotion with Lis. Knocked back, and growls and drops his axes.]

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Mary had passed through a hallway quietly, sneaking around and took a right turn. She saw two doors, one on each side and went through the right one. It led to a room that had a bald, old man wearing a robe that had the Dark Brotherhood color scheme. Keeping her dagger out, the ninja began walking quietly towards the old man, only for him to suddenly turn around, extend his arm and launch fire from his hand, in a similar manner to a flamethrower. She managed to jump away in time, the flames licking the armor and barely singing her. "Ahh!"

The old man charged a ball of fire on his left hand and launched it at Mary, hitting her head on. The ninja grunted as she retaliated with a Scorching Embers spell, surprising the aged Dark Brotherhood mage with a cloud heavy with live embers burning him. She tried to charge at the old man but he motioned his hand, dropping blobs of fire on the floor in front of him. As the ninja took another step, she was engulfed in a fiery explosion that weakened her. Mary continued her charge as the aged mage waved his other hand, surrounding himself in a wall of fire. She managed to stop her swing in time and launched another Scorching Embers spell at the Dark Brotherhood mage. That didn't stop the old man from charging another bolt of fire, this time using both hands and launched it at the ninja.

Mary jumped to the side, rolling on the floor and landing on her feet as the bolt of fire missed. The Dark Brotherhood mage tried again and got a similar result. After the second try, the old man dropped more blobs of fire on the floor in front of him and resumed using the bolts of fire on the ninja. She continued dodging, surprised at both the ferocity and strength of the old man's spells. Mary knew she would lose in this battle of attrition if she didn't do anything quickly. Scorching Embers was her only attack spell and it didn't do much damage and Smokescreen would work, considering the old man's defensive spells. That only left her most recent spell, one she still didn't know what it did. The ninja had nothing to lose except her life though so after another dodge, she charged at the Dark Brotherhood mage as the wall of fire surrounding the latter dissipated. Just as the old man prepared to conjure up his defense, Mary stopped before she got close to where the blobs of fire had been dropped, thrusted her left arm forward and yelled. "Volcanic Ash!"

A blast of ash shot out from Mary's hand, hitting the old man's face. The latter began to cough as he resumed trying to raise his defenses while attempting to launch a stream of fire at the ninja but found that he couldn't. Seeing the effect her newest spell had on the Dark Brotherhood mage, she grabbed the collar of his robes and pulled him towards her, ignoring the explosion she had set off and stabbed the old man straight into his heart. The ninja pulled out the Blade of Woe once the aged mage had gone still and let him fall onto the floor.

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[Arnbjorn turns to a werewolf for final stage of fight, faster and stronger with his own skills.

Animation of transformation found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6JEgbESMp4&t=06m27s]

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Panting, Mary searched her pockets for a Hi-Potion, pulled out the healing item and drank it. She couldn't remember the last time she had a battle that tough and challenging. The ninja leaned against a wall as the healing item did its work, healing her wounds.