As I knelt next to Kodlak's body, Vilkas tapped me on the shoulder. He had a scowl on his face. A scowl so harsh, it scared me. Was he still angry with me? "Where have you been?"

"I... I..." I was at a loss for words. The recent events had left me speechless. "What happened here?"

His voice cracked then, and his scowl melted some. "One of the fiercest battles I've ever seen. The Silver Hand. They finally found enough courage to attack Jorrvaskr. We fought them off, but..." He looked away for a moment. "The old man... Kodlak... is dead."

I bowed my head. "I can see that," I mumbled.

"Come with me."

I jerked up. "What?"

"You heard me. Come. Now."

"But, Vilkas—"

"Now!"

Stunned into silence, I grabbed the sack of witch heads—gods, that sounds weird—and followed Vilkas downstairs. When we passed my room, I quickly set the sack down beside my bed, then jogged to catch up with Vilkas.

He led me into his room, holding the door open for me. I raised an eyebrow, but I didn't question him. I ducked under his arm and stepped into his room.

"Vilkas, what's this about—"

I couldn't finish. Vilkas stopped me by wrapping his arms around me and hugging me close to himself. His grip squeezed the burn I had on my side. I whimpered, loud enough for him to hear.

"Oh, gods, are you hurt?" Vilkas asked, pulling away a little. "Where? How badly?"

"Vilkas, what are you doing?" I asked him, confused. "When I left, you said—"

"Don't remind me of what I said, please. I was wrong. I shouldn't have let my anger control me. But tell me. Are you all right?"

"I was fighting some Hagravens, and one of them clipped me with a fire spell."

"Does it hurt?"

"Like dragon fire, but I'll be okay."

His face softened with relief. "I've been so worried. When the Silver Hand attacked, I didn't know where you were. I looked for you in the fight, but I couldn't find you. And then they killed—" His voice caught. "They took all the fragments of Wuuthrad, and I thought they'd made away with you, too."

"You've... you've been worried about me?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You were so angry with me before. I wondered if you would've cared if I'd just walked away."

"Of course I would care."

Then he took me by complete surprise when he pressed his lips to mine.

If someone had asked me how I would imagine Vilkas's lips would feel, I would've said rough and dry. But that wasn't the case at all. His lips were warm, smooth, wonderful.

I gasped, eyes widening. But then, something warm stirred in my chest, and I kissed him back. I loosened up, halfway melting into his embrace.

When he pulled away, I instantly missed the pressure of his lips against mine.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

I shushed him. "Don't be."

"Will you forgive me, Ylva? For everything I've done?"

"Of course, Vilkas. Please forgive me for all the lies I've given you."

"What lies?"

I chuckled a little, then rested my head against his chest.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

I nodded. "Physically, yes. But Kodlak..."

Vilkas rested his chin on top of my head. "We will all miss him, Ylva. He was a friend to us all."

"How can we avenge him?"

"By taking the fight to his murderers." Vilkas pulled away from me completely then. His eyes hardened, and his signature scowl returned. "You and I must go together. Attack their chief camp. Slaughter all their members. And retrieve Wuuthrad. Bring it back home, where it belongs."

I nodded. "Yes, we must."

"But first," He pressed a hand over my injured side, making me wince. "We need to take care of this."

"Vilkas—"

"I need you at your best. We're going into the jaws of a dragon, and I can't be worried about you. Please, Ylva. For me."

I nodded, reluctant.

"We should go to the Temple. Then we'll leave for the Silver Hand camp after."

I nodded again.

He pressed his hand to my cheek, concern crossing his face for a moment. "It'll be okay, Ylva." He gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead. "Come on. We need to get some things before we go."

"Vilkas, what about the others? Won't they ask where we're going?"

"If they do, we'll tell them the truth. I doubt anyone will stop us."

He was right. If he and someone else were going, and they told me where, I wouldn't even try to stand in their way. I would hold the door wide open for them.

Vilkas nudged me, then led me out of his room and down the hall to mine.

"Grab what you'll need." His gaze drifted to the bloodstained sack by my bed. "What's that?"

"It's nothing," I said, grabbing a satchel. "Just something the old man wanted me to retrieve."

The old man. Kodlak. My mentor. My friend. One of the best men I had even known. And he was dead.

I clenched my jaw and kept packing my satchel. I couldn't let my sorrow get the best of me. I had to keep moving forward. There would be time to grieve. But Vilkas and I had a job to do.

With a hard swallow, I slung my satchel over my shoulder, then secured my sword to my belt. "I'm ready," I told Vilkas.

He gave me a nod. "Then let's go." He led me out of my room, arm draped over my shoulders.

"I doubt Danica is going to me happy to see me again so soon."

Vilkas chuckled. "Probably not. But she'll understand."

"We adventuring types tend to be a little more reckless. Especially the ones with dragon blood coursing through their veins."

"Now, who would you be talking about, hmm? There are so many of those types of adventurers."

I leaned into him for a moment, laughing. "Oh, stop it."

When we reached the door leading upstairs, Vilkas took his arm off my shoulders, then opened the door for me. We walked upstairs, where everyone was gathered. They all turned to look at us as we walked closer to them.

"What are we going to do?" Ria asked, glancing back at Kodlak's body. "They took everything we hold dear."

"No, they didn't," I said. They need a leader right now. Someone to hold the torch and light the way, I thought to myself. If no one else will take it, I will. I squared my shoulders, ignored my pain, and climbed onto the table, where everyone could see me. I made a mental note that Athis and Njada were missing. They may have gone to the Temple, where Athis could be healed.

"Those bandits made off with the fragments of our most sacred artifact, and they killed our Harbinger. They took a lot from us, but they didn't take one thing."

They all looked at me with confused expressions.

"They didn't take the fire in our hearts. They can't take that from us so long as we don't let them. We are Companions! We are legacies of the greatest fighter's guild in all of Tamriel! Are we going to let this stop us? Are we all pitiful whelps who turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble? Are we all just pathetic milk-drinkers?"

"No!" they all cried in unison.

"No, we aren't! We are Companions! We will fight! And in the end, we will bring honor and glory to our name!"

Farkas pumped his fist. Aela nodded in approval. Torvar and Ria looked at each other, then raised their fists and shouted. The only person I couldn't see was Vilkas, and that was because he stood behind me.

"What will you have us do, Ylva?" Aela asked.

"Vilkas and I are going to take the fight to those cowards. We are going to retrieve the fragments of Wuuthrad, and we're going to restore Kodlak's honor. While we are gone, I want all of you to work and get this place back in order. When we return, we will give Kodlak the funeral he deserves." I climbed off the table, stretching my burned skin too much. I ignored the pain that flared up.

"Brilliant speech," Vilkas whispered to me as he helped me walk towards the door. "You inspired them all."

"I hope so," I said with a wince. "We need as much inspiration as we can get right now."

"Kodlak would've been proud of that."

That brought a smile to my face.

"You are right. We will restore his honor. And we will bring glory to the Companions' name. The mountains will tremble with our call." He gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder. "And maybe when this is over, you'll be the one to stand at our head, guiding us down the path of honor."

"We can't talk about that now." I pushed the doors open. "We have work to do."

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A/N: AHHH!!! I actually wrote some Ylvkas (I owe the ship name to Emerald_Parrish. Didn't she do a good job with coming up with this one?!) fluff! I hate having conflict hanging over everyone's heads, so I really wanted to resolve it. The fluff just... kinda happened on its own. Hahahahahahaha

Love and sweetrolls!
~WG 💙