Slowly, Nate stiffly sat up. His whole body ached, but he was too stunned to think about the pain. He just couldn't believe it. They had done it. They had killed Alduin. Looking to Jack, he felt a bit of distress. Jack was still laying down and not moving. Nate looked to Mark who was wincing and writhing a bit on the ground. They had not come out of the battle unscathed. Removing his wine skin, Nathan toasted to their victory and downed the Daedric Wine. The flavors burst over his tongue and his body felt a bit better. Even as he emptied it, upon lowering it from his lips, he felt it refill. From the bridge, the tall guard slowly made his way over to Jack. Nathan tensed but the man took a knee, telling Jack with a warm grin and pride in his voice. "The eyes of Shor are upon you this day. This was a mighty deed. The tomb of Alduin encompassed at last. And cleansed is Sovengarde of his evil snare. They will sing of this battle in Shor's Hall forever. But your fate lays elsewhere. When you have completed your counted days. I may welcome you again with glad friendship. That you may join the blessed feasting." The man then reached out for Jack's hand. Weakly, Jack accepted it.

Nathan felt the magic in the air as the man casted something without a word. Jack's strength seemed to return as he sat up with sudden ease. Pulling him up to his feet, the man announced in a bellowing voice that could be heard throughout Sovengarde. "All hail the Dragonborn! All hail and give him praise! The World-Eater is dead!" Nathan raised a weak fist with half-hearted joy. Nathan leaned back on his hands, trying to recover slowly. Unable to do much more than watch Jack run to Mark with Tiidgein dashing after him. Jack healed Mark and the two conversed a bit with lovey-dovey talk, before Nathan forced himself up onto his feet and strained out in a slightly disgruntled tone of voice. "Oh, don't worry about me... I'm fine. Alduin only tried to kill me." Nathan regretted saying the words, but his jealousy of the love they shared was a bit much for him right now. Mark gave him a narrowed look, but Jack was too sweet for his own good. Chuckling over Mark's shoulder, Jack playfully shot back. "But aren't you already dead?" Seeing Jack smile took the heat from his words as he transformed back into his human form, and chuckled out through a fanged smile of his own. "Yes... but it still hurt."

Dusting his clothes off, Nathan moved closer to them. His smile fading a bit as he thought about what he should do next. Part of him wanted to rationally talk Jack into coming with him to see Harkon. While another part of him thought it might be easier to just take him by force now. He wasn't a fan of the latter, but he doubted he was going to get Jack to do anything if Mark was back in his life. Reaching him, Nathan was undecided, but Mark read his face and tensed up. Just before Nathan decided to act, Jack hugged him. Stiffening up, Nathan slowly wrapped his arms around him feeling confused and torn. Against his shoulder, Jack told him in the sweetest voice. "Thank you, Nathan. I couldn't have done this without you." Nathan felt his words like a stake through the heart. He felt like such a monster. Rubbing Jack's back a little, Nathan bowed his head in defeat. He couldn't hurt him. As hard as he tried to keep his distance... He liked Jack. He was a better friend than he felt he deserved. Stepping back from the hug, Nathan mumbled out in an innocent childlike voice. "I know..." Jack's attention drifted to the tall guard that went to collect Felldir's soul off the ground. Allowing Nathan to look at Mark. Mark practically stared right through him but said nothing.

That was almost worse than him scolding him. Mark was no fool. Being part animal, Mark could sense the danger he was imposing on Jack. Yet, unlike before, Mark didn't lash out at him. He just stared him down to let him know that he was watching him. Jack gestured for them to walk over to the guard, but Nate hung back long enough for Mark to step up next to him. In that briefly moment, Mark leaned close to him, uttering out in a low voice for only him to hear. "I'm just starting to like you... Don't give me a reason not to." Nathan sighed lightly, turning to follow Jack without a word. He didn't have anything to say to him. He was lost in his own thoughts. When they reached the guard, he warmly told them all. "When you are ready to rejoin the living, just bid me so and I will send you back." Nathan raised an eyebrow but wondered if Shor was behind this turn of events. After all, didn't Sanguine say that he'd have to take them back because he was undead? He'd even given him a soul gem to take Mark back in. Jack glanced back at them and both himself and Mark nodded to him. He was happy to let someone else waste their energy.

Jack smiled, his hand drifting back to hold Mark's hand before telling the guard. "We are ready to return to Tamriel." The guard's eyes drifted to Mark with a look that said he was going to tell them that Mark couldn't go. Yet, Nathan jerked his head up when he heard a voice whisper in such a low voice that he almost missed it. "Allow it with my blessing, Tsun. A life for a life. The lad has earned him." Bowing his head a little in acknowledgement, Tsun gestured to Mark and told Jack with respect. "Return there now with this rich boon from Shor, my lord. A champion hero from Sovengarde. May he serve you well." The relief and tears that brimmed Jack's eyes, almost made Nate cry. Tsun then turned, snapping his fingers to form a shimmering white portal beside him. Tiidgein climbed up Jack and back into his hood. Jack took a deep breath, then to Nathan's surprise. Jack reached back with his free hand to take Nathan's. Walking up to the portal together, Nathan told them through a light nervous chuckle. "See you guys on the other side." Then with one last inhale, they all steeped through. The white light of the portal was blinding and the wind that rustled his clothing was a bit annoying, but they passed through easily.

Nathan wasn't sure where they'd come out. Or if they'd be together, but he tried to stay calm. The light from the portal faded little by little to reveal a snowy mountaintop. Nathan had certainly never been to this place before. The portal closed behind them and Nathan released Jack. While Jack gasped in horror. Mark was no longer with them. He was gone. Nathan wanted to worry about that but out of the corner of his eye, he saw something far more unsettling. Tugging a bit on Jack's sleeve, he mumbled out in a fear filled voice. "Um... Jack? Are they friends of yours...?" Jack reluctantly went to look with distress on his face, before calming down a bit. Hovering all around the mountain peak were dragons of all sizes that stared down at them with blank intimidating expressions. However, the largest and most frightening among them was a white dragon that sat before them. The white dragon's lips curled into a smile that showed off sharp white teeth, before its deep powerful voice said. "Welcome back, Mal Dovah." Nathan gulped, glancing behind them to see a large red dragon creeping closer toward them. When the dragon sniffed Jack's back, Jack jumped, causing Nathan then jumped because he did. Were they friendly?

The red dragon snorted lightly, before saying aloud to the others. "I expected... someone else. He's so... small." Jack crossed his arms and Nathan couldn't stop himself from chuckling. Even the large white dragon chuckled softly with amusement. It was slightly comforting to know they were calm enough to have a sense of humor. He'd thought they had stumbled into a trap. He'd never seen so many dragons in one place. He didn't even realize how many there were that were still alive. Jack's mind was elsewhere though, blurting out to the white dragon in a distressed voice. "Mark?! Where is he?!" The white dragon's wing stretched out on one side to point. Nathan moved a bit to get a better view of a younger looking light brown dragon with their wing held over something to keep the falling snow and wind off it. Jack ran over calling Mark's name as the dragon lifted the wing away to reveal Mark's body. The dragon carefully shuffled away to give Jack space as he dropped beside him. Nate listened closely, but all he could hear was the heavy breathing of the much larger dragons around him. Jack touched Mark's cheek, trying to wake him as he whispered out in a desperate broken voice. "Mark...? Are you with me...?"

Hearing the pain in Jack's voice was heartbreaking. He was losing him all over again. Inching closer toward them, Jack shook his head and started to mumble out to himself. "No... Not again... Mark!" Walking around to the other side of Mark, Nathan dropped to his knees to see if he could help. Jack looked up at him with tears streaming down his cheeks as he said shakily. "I don't understand... We brought him back! Why isn't he awake?!" Nathan looked him over briefly before seeing the problem. Mark's body had been preserved but the body was inactive. It was a common thing for any Necromancer to see. Lifting his hand, Nathan casted a spell that made his hand glow a soft blue, then told him calmly. "I can't hear a heartbeat. His body is dead, but I can sense his soul is here. We'll have to restart the heart." Jack sniffled but straightened up with newfound hope as he blurted out in a rush. "You can feel him? What do I have to do?! Name it!" Nathan moved his hand over Mark's eyes and tensed internally. He could sense Mark's soul alright... and the wolf spirit. Trying to keep calm, he told Jack seriously. "This won't be easy... To restart the body, we'll be awakening the wolf in his blood. Give me your hand and touch him. We're going to combine our efforts for this to hold the wolf. The wolf is quite strong though..."

Nathan accepted Jack's free hand and waited for him to position his other hand on Mark's chest. The wolf spirit was slightly calmer with Jack close. He thought about telling Jack the risk of doing this... but he doubted Jack would change his mind anyway. So, he started to speak out the words to the strongest reanimation spell that he knew. Normally this would be easier, but the werewolf spirit in Mark's body was not going to enjoy this. Reanimating was painful and he was told that it felt like being slowly crushed but in reverse. The body hadn't been dead for too long though. Which he had been told was an important part to this. It meant the brain was still functional. He just had to give it a little jolt. He'd never tried this spell on his own and within seconds his magic was depleted, but the vampire in him tapped into an endless well of magic to pick up the slack. He noticed that some of his vampiric features were starting to show, but he did his best to stay focused. After a minute or two, Jack let out a gasp as the ghostly wolf spirit rose from Mark's body.

Despite the wolf snapping its ghostly jaws at them, Nathan didn't flinch. The spell was working. He just had to keep the wolf spirit separated long enough to get Mark's soul settled. The werewolf curse was such a pain to work around because the wolf spirit was bonded to the body and without Mark's soul to give it rational thought... it was just a daedric animal craving the pull of the hunt. He could feel the wolf resisting the spell, trying to gain control of over the body. At this point, if he did let it go, Mark's body would transform. Nate gripped Jack's hand tighter, hoping that he saw the opening that he needed to help him. He did. Jack quickly used a much simpler reanimation spell to help with the last bit that Nathan was having trouble with. The wolf was only getting more angry and restless. It could feel the body starting up again and wanted to change and lash out. The wolf snarled angrily as Mark's body suddenly jerked, but the heart didn't start. Shaking his head to Jack, he kept chanting. Jack rolled his shoulder to loosen up, then tried again. Another pulse of power went through Mark, this time restarting Mark's heart as the body jerked again. Nathan began to struggle to hold the wolf now as it fought to retreat back into the body, causing Mark's nails to grow out into claws that pieced into the snow aggressively.

Even for the untapped well of magic that he had, he had never done this before and it was starting to show as his focus began to weaken. It took a strong mind and unfortunately... he was getting a headache as his mind reached its limit. Jack checked Mark's heartbeat, then blurted out with excitement. "He's alive!" Nathan felt his focus fail and stopped chanting to breathlessly utter out in fear. "Oh shit..." Jack locked eyes with him briefly, before the ghostly wolf fell back into the body, causing Mark's eyes to shoot open and reveal his wolf eyes with a loud growl. Nathan tensed, watching Mark's body rapidly change into a large werewolf. Fearing for Jack's safety, Nathan made a split second decision. Mark's hand rose to go for Jack and Nathan acted. Shoving Jack away so hard that he slid a few feet across the snow. The dragons around them grunted and growled at his actions, but he didn't know what Mark would do to him in this state. Necromancy was dangerous because the revived person tended to wake up doing whatever had happened before they died. If Mark had been killed violently, then it was possible that he'd come back fighting. Him being a werewolf only made that worse.

His action against Jack had the opposite effect though. Having shoved Jack, Mark whirled on him with teeth bared. Nathan was so winded from his headache that he didn't dodge in time, causing Mark to get the drop on him. Mark's canine teeth sank into his shoulder and Nathan let out a sharp scream of pain. Pinning him down into the snow, Mark snarled and tried to tear at his flesh with his teeth! In his weakened state, Nathan thought he might die, until a snowball smacked Mark's face. Releasing his shoulder, Nathan laid still as Mark shook off the snow and turned his attention on Jack. The pain in Nathan's shoulder was blinding, causing him to whine a little as the snow under him turned red. Nathan was going to tell Jack to run or ask the dragons for help, but Jack raised his hands calmly and asked Mark soothingly. "Mark? It's ok. You're safe now... You're home." To Nathan's surprise, he watched Mark stop baring his teeth to let out soft confused whines. Jack inched a bit closer, lovingly telling Mark. "It's ok. It's over... We can go home. Mark?" Mark's hackles lowered and his ears fell back, causing his eyes to take on a more puppy like look.

Approaching him, Jack ran his hand along Mark's head. Mark's body trembled a little, but Jack was able to hug him. The two hugged a bit, before Mark's body slowly and painfully popped back into his human form. When he was fully changed back, Mark hugged him tightly and whispered in a strained fearful voice. "Oh, Jack... Are you ok? I had the worst nightmare..." Jack chuckled and cried tears of joy, but Nathan was pissed. Tiidgein peeked up over Jack's shoulder, prompting Mark to ask uneasily. "Jack...? It was a nightmare... right?" Staggering toward them, Nathan's anger flared. He'd saved his life and with one bad bite, Nathan had bled out too much. He was getting weaker by the second because of him. Upon approaching, Nate sourly snapped out in response. "No. And you aren't in Kansas either!" Mark got up and the second that he turned to face him; Nathan punched him back off his feet with his good arm. Out of all the things he wanted to do to him, he felt like he'd let Mark off easy. To Be Continued...