Ravens Song

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age, or anything involving the game except my Player Character: Raven Trevelyan.
Rating: M [Sexual Content]
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance
Title: Ravens Song
Pairings: Cullen[x]Trevelyan
Songs Used/Inspiration: My Last Breath - Evanescence
Author's Note: This is my first Dragon Age story. Please be gentle if you comment, since I'm still not used to writing with these characters.
Information: Raven Trevelyan is a mage on the run from the tower of Ostwick. She got as far as Haven where the Divine found her near death and offered her Santuary. Leliana and Cassandra both know Raven from her time with Divine Justinia. Raven can also turn into a raven...I know it's cliched. This follows some story line but it also has some of my own story line. Duh...yeah it's been forever since I've written.

-o-
I'll miss the winter
A world of fragile things
Look for me in the white forest
Hiding in a hollow tree (Come find me)
I know you hear me
I can taste it in your tears.
-o-

.:Prologue:.

She's running through Ostwick's Circle of Magi tower, trying to escape from the two Templars who are chasing her. She needs to get out of here before they kill her. The pain is throbbing through her body where they beat her again, though she knows it was her own fault. She knew the warnings of the First Enchanter and Knight-Captain about using her powers to turn into the raven.

They're afraid of her because of her ability to turn into a bird, since usually only Hedge Mages or Apostates can use magic like that. She is also a healer, which scares them because her healing can even bring people on the brink of death back from the fade.

She looks over her shoulder as she runs and sees Ser Draven and Ser Edwin close on her heels. She makes a sudden decision and turns into her namesake, flying out the window through a hole in the bars just big enough for her to fit through.

'Now is our hour of triumph.'

Images of the Templars raping and beating her flash through her mind as she flies faster, her wings growing tired quickly. Her fear is pushing her to keep going, so she pushes on and on. She flies for awhile before perching on the top branch of an apple tree. She finally takes a good look around and notices the green hole in the sky.

'Bring forth the sacrifice.'

Blackness surrounds her, she's in the Temple of Sacred Ashes. How did she get here? She glances around frantically and rushes out of the small room, looking for the one person she has come to trust in such a short time. Divine Justinia isn't anywhere to be found. Oh yes, today is the Conclave. The Divine must be with the audience at the moment.

'Hold the sacrifice still.'

The voice sends a shiver down her spine, causing her to shudder. Perhaps she should go check to make sure the Divine and others are okay. Just a peek in the room and then she'll take a little walk in the forest. Maybe spread her wings and fly without anyone finding out her secret.

She opens the door slowly and gasps as she sees the Divine being held up by some kind of magic.

'Kill the mage!'

Suddenly she's running and climbing, things chasing her. The place feels so familar but so strange. She looks behind her at the monsters chansing her, changing forms between spiders and Templars.

She sees the woman as she climbs quicker, the skittering behind her sounds louder as she reaches that last ledge. A hand, pale and slightly wrinkled reaches out and grabs hers, pulling her up.

They're running towards an errie green light, similar to the one in the sky. She gasps as the woman beside her stumbles, a monster grabbing at the robe the figure is wearing. She reaches out, trying to save the woman but the woman yells at her. 'You must go! Warn them!'

She is shoved through the green light, and suddenly all goes black.

-x-

"Raven?"

I gasp and sit up quickly, almost banging my head against Leliana's. I glance around the small cabin and try to calm myself down. My hands are clenched in the blanket that is covering me and I know that Sister Nightingale can see the fear in my eyes. "Where am I?" I ask softly, not remembering anything but the strange dream I just had.

"Raven...you don't remember?" Leliana murmurs and brushes a hand down my hair, frowning slightly when I shy away from her touch. The red head has such sadness in her eyes that I can't help the fear that bubbles up in my stomach.

"Leliana?" I question as a sharp pain goes through my left hand, causing me to gasp and grip it with my right. I see a green mark gracing my palm and theres a faint nagging in my mind. There's something familiar about all this, but I can't seem to remember.

"Raven, Divine Justinia is dead...you are the only survivor of the explosion that happened at the Temple of Sacred Ashes." Leliana glances up as the door to the small cabin opens and Cassandra, the dark haired Seeker of Truth enters the room.

"Ahh, Raven! You are finally awake. I feared the worst, but it seems Solas has worked his magic with you." Cassandra sends me a small quirk of a smile and then it disappears behind a mask of complete sadness.

I try to wrap my head around what Leliana said about Divine Justinia, but I can't seem to make sense of it. The mark on my hand, my missing memories and the death of the Divine is all connected. I can tell it is all connected in my heart and I feel dread building up inside me. I glance down at my hand and gasp as the pain throbs through it again, the mark expanding slightly. "Di...did I kill her?" I can't help but ask, which causes both women that are sitting on either side of me to gasp softly.

"Of course not, Raven." Cassandra glances into my eyes and I can see a bit of confusion in her hazel orbs. "We're not sure what happened, but you babbled a lot in your sleep." She sighs and looks at Leliana who is staring at the mark on my hand. "The people here, they seen you walk out of the Rift...there was a woman standing behind you. The people are calling you the Herald Of Andraste. Do you not remember?"

I shake my head and glance out the window to my right and that's when I see it, the tear in the sky. The green of if it matches that of the mark on my hand so I know that I am somehow involved with what is going on. "How long was I asleep?" I ask softly as I stand up to pace the small room, suddenly agitated.

"It's been three days since you've stepped out of the Rift..." Cassandra mumbles softly, concern evident in her voice. I blush slightly, not used to people actually caring about me. "Raven, we must ask a favor of you." She glances at Leliana who sighs softly. "Solas believes the mark on your hand can close the Breach."

"We need you to try..."

I glance from Leliana to Cassandra, throwing my hands up in the air in frustration. "I don't have much of a choice, do I?" I mumble as I stride past the two women, wrenching open the door. As I step outside, I gasp softly because of the slight shock that goes through my body. It feels almost like static and I know that its a reaction that I'm having to the huge tear in the sky. "It's so big..." I whisper softly to Cassandra and Leliana.

"Come, we must hurry to the temple." Cassandra nods to Leliana and places a hand on my shoulder. "Cullen is waiting at the gates for us."

"Cullen?" I ask softly and follow the two woman towards a large, closed gate.

"Commander Cullen is an ex-Templar..."

I stop walking as soon as Cassandra mentions that, because I can't stop thinking of my time in the Circle. I start trembling and I have to clamp my teeth together to keep them from chattering. I sigh and tug my hands through my hair, pulling it away from my face. "Oh." I finally mumble as I glance up and see the question in Cassandra's eyes. I just shrug and glance up when I hear footsteps approaching and watch the two people who are walking towards us. I tilt my head slightly, as I size up the dwarf and the elf.

Cassandra makes a disgusted noise when the dwarf winks at her and rolls her eyes. "This is Solas, an Apostate and Varric...a pain in my ass." She mumbles when the elf chuckles quietly.

"It seems you have finally woken up." The elf sends me a small smile and I nod at him in greeting. "I am Solas and all mages are now Apostates, Seeker." Solas looks at the Seeker and smirks slightly before he glances at my left hand and then back up at me. "I am glad to see that you are unharmed."

"What Chuckles is trying to say that he kept that mark from killing you while you slept." The dwarf grins at me when I quirk a brow at Solas. "I'm Varric. Rogue, story-teller and occasional unwanted tag along."

"Thank you Solas..." I whisper softly and turn towards the dwarf. I send Varric a small smile when Cassandra groans beside me when mentions that he's an occasional tag along. "Pleased to meet you, Varric."

"You'll probably change your mind about that after awhile." Solas grumbles at Varric who just rolls his eyes.

"And here I thought we were getting along great, Chuckles."

"I'm Raven..." I just shake my head and sigh softly at the playful banter between the dwarf and elf. "We...should probably get going." I murmur softly and start following Cassandra and Leliana again.

"Leliana, gather your people and meet us at the temple entrance, take the mountain pass. We're going to rush in with Cullen's troops. There's a rift blocking our way in so this is a chance for Raven to test that mark on her hand."

I glance at my hand and flex my fingers a bit trying to ease the numbness out of them as we walk up the hill towards the now ruined Temple of Sacred Ashes. I gasp and can't keep my eyes from watering because of all the people who have been burned alive. "All those people..." I whisper softly as we slowly make our way towards the sound of people fighting. I see a staff laying on the ground, so I kneel down and pick it up, feeling the pull of magic. I didn't see my staff in the cabin so I assume I've lost it in the explosion and frown at the one in my hand, feeling guilty for using a weapon made for someone else.

"There's the rift!" Solas draws my attention and I see the green tear in the sky, smaller then the Breach with demons spilling out of it. I wince slightly when the mark on my hand burns, almost drawing me to my knees. I fight the feeling when demons start falling from the green hole even faster. I cast Winters Grasp at a Wraith and rush forward towards a man surrounded by Shades. I notice that he's losing a lot of blood from a wound on his side so I send a Chain Lightning spell at the demons and kill them with the help of Cassandra, Solas and Varric.

Once the demons are dead, Solas grabs my hand and holds it out towards the rift, the power of the mark closing the small tear. "What did you do?" I glance at the elf and lock my eyes on his in question.

"The credit is yours." Solas sends me a quirk of his lips and looks at the green mark on my hand again. "It seems you hold the key to our salvation."

"Maker's hairy ass! Here I'd thought we'd be ass deep in demons forever." Varric pipes up behind Solas and earns a glare from Cassandra which causes him to wink at her.

"So I can help..." I murmur and glance at the man who was a moment ago surrounded by Shades and see that he's struggling to sit up. I rush towards him, and quickly kneel beside him, feeling the familar powers of a Templar though it is weaker. "I can heal you..." I whisper softly as Cassandra kneels on the other side of them man. I swallow my fear and rub my hands together in an attempt to warm my frozen fingers.

"Commander Cullen, this is Raven Trevelyan." Cassandra introduces me and I can't help but blush as the blonde haired man locks his eyes on mine. "It seems that Raven can close the Fade rifts with the mark on her hand..."

The Commander gives me a nervous look as I hover my hand over the wound on his side, since I'm afraid to touch him. He watches intently as I send some healing magic into him, causing him to groan as the wound knits itself together, glowing a soft blue. I gasp and pull my hand away quickly as if burned when he shifts and our skin touches, my palm against his right side. "Thank you, Raven." The man glances at Cassandra and then at me again, and I can tell that he has questions for the Seeker. "I hope Leliana and Cassandra are right about you." He mutters and I see a flash of distrust flash in his eyes for just a moment. "We lost a lot of good people in there."

I lock my fingers together and look down at them, not wanting to look at the Commander. "I hope they're right too..." I whisper and turn my back, making my way towards the entrance of the Temple. "Lets get this over with."

I don't know why I suddenly have a sinking feeling in my stomach, but I push it aside as we meet up with Leliana just inside the Temple.

Leliana sends us a relieved smile and rushes towards us, her scouts following behind her. "You made it! I was worried!"

I glance around at more of the burned bodies and sigh sadly as Cassandra and Leliana talk stradegy. 'I hope you all find peace at the Maker's side.' I think as I glance around at all the bodies again, and shake my head as our group makes our way towards the big area where the Conclave was held and suck in a deep breath as I watch the huge rift in the middle pulse.

"Andraste's perky tits..." I mutter which causes Varric to laugh softly and Cassandra to suck in a breath. "Sorry..." I mutter softly and glance at the two women who are once again talking quietly.

Solas steps forward and frowns slightly. "This rift is closed but not sealed. Maybe if you open it and seal it correctly, it will close the Breach." The elf sends me a look of sympathy as he shakes his head in slight confusion. "When you open it, there could be demons waiting to come through."

"Lets do this." I glance over my shoulder at the people who currently have my back. I watch as people spread out and wait for me to open the glowy green tear. I take a deep breath and hold my left hand in the air, feeling the power of the Fade tingling through me, growing stronger and stronger. The green light shoots from my palm and into the closed Rift, causing the tear to grow bigger until it opens and a Pride Demon falls out. I gasp and shoot a glance at Cassandra who is beside me. She draws her sword and lets out a battle cry as she rushes at the huge Demon.

I start casting spell after spell at the Pride Demon and glance up when I see it drawing power from the Rift. I hold up my left hand and use the mark there to pull power from tear, causing it to disrupt and the demon to weaken for a few moments. As it stands confused, I start blasting it with lightening spells until I feel myself start to weaken, knowing that if I don't take a Lyrium potion soon, I'll black out.

I don't know how long it takes us to fight the Pride Demon but just as I'm ready to give up hope, the demon is pulled back into the Fade. I rush towards the Rift and hold out my hand, pooring all my power into it.

"Seal it!" Cassandra rushes to stand beside me, as I grip my left hand with my right, trying to keep it from shaking. "Do it now!"

'Really Cassandra...what do you think I'm doing? Drinking a cup of tea?' I shoot the Seeker a glare and suddenly feel light headed as the tear finally seals itself. Before I can even turn to look at Leliana and Cassandra who are talking excitedly, blackness surrounds me.