Nightmares Should Really Stay in the Fade

Of Quirky Excellence

Summary: While recovering from an injury, Fenris is discovered and recaptured by Danarius. While new wounds are healing, old ones reopen. How far will Annabelle (Belle) go to see that her beloved escapes the magister for good? F! Rougue Hawke/Fenris possible Merrill/Anders Leliana/Jowan for later chapters.

P.S. I have Karma's Origin Companions that's how I got Jowan in my party for the first game. Kallian Tabris became Queen, (I know that can't happen in-game but isn't that what fanfiction is for?)

Fenris tossed uneasily back and forth in his bed. His forehead was damp with sweat, eyelids pressed painfully, the markings etched into his skin glowing bright blue and pulsing violently.

It had been three days since he'd had a close call with some bandits, he and Annabelle had been ambushed and he had been stabbed by their leader, nearly killing him. Had it not been for Annabelle's persuasion, Fenris would have sooner died than let Merrill heal him, as she was not as good a healer as Anders, who was not with them at the moment and there had been no time to fetch him.

Belle had not left the elf's side for a moment. She was awakened abruptly by a loud thump and a low mumble in the language of Tevinter.

Thunder shook the mansion and lightning illuminated the room, shadows of a large tree next door cast on the wall opposite the window. Belle had insisted Fenris stay at the mansion so he wouldn't be alone, and they were in the guest bedroom. She groaned, for sleeping in a chair, no matter how soft the cushions were, will make one's back hurt. She opened her eyes slowly, yawned, and looked over at Fenris's bed, only to find it empty.

Her heart skipped a beat.

"Fenris?" she whispered, trying to stay calm.

"Uggh. Down here." He groaned from the other side of the bed. She got up and walked around to where he lay and knelt at his side.

"Are you alright?" she asked, taking his hand and gently pulling him up. He winced painfully as he staggered back to the bed. "Sorry." She supported half his weight as he got back into bed and she helped him move the covers into place.

"It's nothing, Hawke." He said. He was still reluctant to call anyone who had a last name by their first, it would only make him hurt more if he lost them, he would say.

She placed her hand gently on his forehead, and he winced at the touch, markings glowing for a split second. "You're feverish, and I can tell there is something wrong. You can talk to me, you know."

He sighed. "I told you, it's alright."

His troubled looks told her otherwise. "Go on, tell me."

He nodded slightly, and took a deep breath. "It's Danarius. I try so hard to keep what has happened to me in the past, but it won't stay there. I'm a fool to think he'll stop searching…" he broke the gaze between them, ashamed he'd showed weakness.

"Are you afraid?" she asked.

"Not for me. For my memories…those I have come to know, those who have protected me, like you…Hawke…Annabelle, you must promise me if Danarius comes for me you will do what is best. He cannot harm you. It would kill me."

Annabelle was shocked. How could she just let the magister take him? Fenris, her Fenris, wanted her to stop protecting him? She was speechless, if not a little offended. "If I let him take you, anything we've worked for will all be in vain!"

"But you will be safe, Belle!" he said, raising his voice slightly. "You can do so much more than a Tevinter slave could ever hope to achieve."

"You're not a slave." She said. "You never will be."

"I cannot change what I was, but it's good to know someone cares." He lowered his voice to a gentle whisper."It mean's a lot. I remember what occurred only moments before the ritual. And I think I have kept it to myself for much too long."

"I think I'm willing to hear, if you want. I'm here for you, Fenris."

He closed his eyes and sighed. "Alright. It was about five years ago. I remember being in a small room, chained to a table so tightly I could not move at all. I was blindfolded and I wore nothing but my smallclothes. I think I has shivering because it was so cold. I remember hearing denarius and hadriana talking, just their very voices tormenting me. I don't even remember the words, but they were chanting, then I heard a scream. A blood sacrifice, I think. I remember becoming fearful when the sacrifice victim screamed, struggling, and then being slapped. Then the places were cut….where the Lyrium markings on my skin are…and the substance being etched into my skin, never to be removed while I'm alive. I felt so much pain at that moment nothing else I have felt can compare."

He paused. She placed her hand on his shoulder comfortingly. "If you want to stop now you can."
"No. I may as well finish." He said. "Then, I was unbound, and carried to a stange place. I think it was a cell. There, I passed out from the agony of the ritual. I remembered nothing but what I have told you, nobody but Hadriana and Danarius. Any family or friends I may have had in childhood were forever lost that day."

"Fenris, I'm so sorry." She said, although there was no way she could compare. "If you ever need to talk…" She lost it, and began to sob, tears streaming down her face. "I just wish I could make the pain go away!"

He placed a hand on her shoulder, reaching to touch her for the first time ever. "Just you being here makes things so much better, Annabelle."

She nodded, and was nearly asleep when he spoke up again. "You should sleep in a real bed, Belle."

"I will not leave you. I said I wouldn't and Maker knows I won't." she argued, not knowing what he had meant.

Then he took her hand gently and moved over slightly. "I will not lie here in comfort while you sit there in such a position."

She stood up, not letting go of his hand and pushed the chair aside. "Very well." She smiled whole heartedly, and she laid down in the bed next to him. He hugged her close, and they stayed that way until they were both sound asleep. In the morning Anders came to check in on Fenris, and he didn't have it in his heart to wake them when he saw them together like that. Fenris slept more soundly that night than he ever had before. Smiling to himself, Anders slipped out of the room, deciding to come back later.

Light from the newborn sun crept through the curtains of the bedroom and Annabelle's eyelids fluttered as she woke up, her gaze falling upon Fenris. He was sleeping more peacefully than ever and she gently brushed the strands of silver hair out of his face and kissed his cheek. Then she got out of bed and she browsed the bookshelf. She picked out one of her favorite tales by an Orlesian Bard named Leliana whom she'd known in Lothering and was one of the few to survive the attacks. The story was of a young elf girl who, against the odds, fell in love with King Maric's illegitimate son, Alistair Theirin, ended the fifth Blight and became Queen of Ferelden.

This would give elves in Tevinter so much hope, thought Belle as she closed the book. Fenris groaned, opening his eyes at last, glancing round the room until his searching eyes found her.

"Annabelle, I have never slept so well than with you close at my side." He said.
She blushed modestly. "Good morning, Fenris." She said, standing up and returning to his side.

"So I've been thinking." She began.

"Oh no." he said. "Last time you'd been thinking we were nearly killed."

She chuckled. This was certainly true. "If you want to start a new life, in Kirkwall,"

"Have I not already started a new life as a free man?" he asked.

"Umm, yes," she continued. "But surely you aren't happy in that old mansion all by yourself?"

"What are you suggesting?" he asked, raising a dark eyesbrow.

"Why don't you stay with mother and I?" she asked, hoping this wouldn't be too soon.

" What about Danarius? If he finds me here you are sheltering 'stolen property.'" His brow furrowed when he said the word "property."

"I'll see to it that son of a bitch pays for all he's done, to you and any others he's hurt." She said boldly. "I swear it with the Maker as my witness, that I will protect you from Danarius, no matter what the cost."

He sat up slowly, cautious of his bandaged wound, and moved closer to where she sat on his bed, and kissed her passionately on the lips. When he stopped kissing her, he said the three words she'd been wondering if he'd ever say. "I love you."

"And I love you, always." She said.

Just as she said that, there was a knock on the door.