DISCLAIMER: I don't anything in this story except for my Warden, I suppose. I mean, I made her, right?

Chapter 1: Prologue

"The Keeper… she's dead. Marethari's dead." Hawke looked over to Merrill, still processing everything that had just happened.

Hawke, Merrill, Anders, and Varric climbed to top of the Sundermount, planning to work with Merrill's demon and restore the eluvian. It was Merrill's idea and even she wasn't sure it work. Demons can't be trusted… or at least that's what everyone told her. She could handle, she thought. Everyone but me knows how to handle demons. It wasn't a surprise to anyone but her that a Pride demon had been pulling the strings the entire time. And now… Marethari was dead.

"That was the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone do," Anders said. "And the world is worse for having you in it instead of her!"

"Now isn't the time, Anders." Hawke said, trying to keep the team together. "We'll have to tell the clan about this."

"We sure they aren't going to just shoot first, ask questions later? They haven't exactly been the most welcoming group we've ever met." Varric quipped.

Hawke shrugged. "It can't be helped. Let's just go."

The party exited the cave and were immediately met by a group of Dalish hunters investigating the cave.

"Where is the Keeper, shem?" Fenarel asked.

Hawke stepped forward and spoke for everyone. "She's dead. Keeper Marethari is dead."

The hunters immediately drew their weapons and aimed right at Merrill. Hawke would again step between Merrill and certain death as he had since the two first met. "Look, Marethari was possessed. She… became an abomination."

Hawke didn't know what would happen next, but deep down inside he knew that was the wrong answer.

"Whatever happened that traitor is at the center of it, isn't she?" Fenarel asked. "We won't suffer her anymore! Attack!"

"Damn it," Hawke thought. "They aren't leaving us any choice."

Hawke's group made quick work of the initial wave of the Dalish, although Fenarel managed to escape. "Uh-oh. He's going to warn the others." Varric observed.

"Are we really going to slaughter these elves when we're the ones wrong?" Anders demanded to know.

"They aren't leaving us a choice, Anders. I don't plan on dying here today and I can't imagine you did either." Hawke responded.

"Give them Merrill! You know she's the one they're really after!" Anders insisted.

By this point, Hawke had grown extremely frustrated with Anders and it wasn't because he disagreed with anything he said. However, Merrill was his friend. And he'd fight anyone to defend his friends. "No one gets left behind, Anders."

Hawke and his friends stood in the middle of remained in the Dalish camp. Bodies and blood everywhere. Aravels set ablaze. The scene was completely chaotic. Hawke looked over to Merrill who, after fighting and killing her own clan, had completely broken down by this point. "Merrill," Hawke said as calmly as possible, "we have to go. Now."

Varric went back to his suite at the Hanged Man while Anders and Hawke accompanied Merrill back to her home. When she reached her bed she finally spoke. "This is my fault, isn't it? I never wanted this to happen, I-"

After what only seemed to be two seconds of her speaking, Anders had already heard enough. "Of course it's your fault! How many storied of Tamlen and Mahariel have we heard? How many demons and blood mages have we killed? How could you not have seen this coming?! You're such an idiot… of course this is all your fault!" Anders stormed out of Merrill's place before he could say anything else.

Merrill only sat there, crying. Deep down, she knew that everything Anders was right. Tamlen and Mahariel… what would Vaela Mahariel think of all this? She hadn't seen her friend in almost ten years. "She'd hate me, wouldn't she?" Merrill asked quietly.

Hawke took a seat next to Merrill. "Who?" he asked.

"No… it doesn't matter. How do I make this right Hawke?" She always looked to Hawke for the right answers.

"I don't know if you can, Merrill. I just don't know."

After a moment of silence, Merrill finally knew where she could start. She walk towards the eluvian, the same mirror that killed Tamlen and stole the Hero of Ferelden, two of her best friends, and smashed it.

A/N: Hey, thanks for reading this fanfic. I hope you guys like it, it's my first attempt at this kind of thing. Review, like, and fav. I hoped to get this out before Inquisition, so that's one mission accomplished, right there. A couple of chapters didn't make it past the post-production stage, but I think it turned out alright.