Dun da Dun! A new fic. I've been off in la la land being bombarded with plot bunnies recently and I've finally fleshed them out enough to start writing. This is the first of this multi-part story. Some readers will be excited that this takes place after "Haven" but some might be disappointed. The title is satyrical - this is NOT the fairytale ending for our heros. Don't worry thought, I have that one in the works. That one is written more like "Haven", with a series of flashbacks. This one on the other hand is darker and it AUish.

Background that you need to know (much of this will be told later on, but didn't want you guys to be too much in the dark):

This is set after Awakening, with some of the plot being tweaked a bit, two years after the end of the Blight.

Alistair left the Wardens after Loghain's life was spared, but still agreed to be king. He married Anora and Noel left to be the Commander of the Gray Wardens. As for why she did what she did, I'll go into that later.

I also made up some characters, but I'm sure you'll enjoy most of them.

Alright, so here's the prologue. It's short and sweet, to wet your appitites! Enjoy!

Disclaimer - Bioware owns everything.

Fairytale Ending: No Sleep Tonight

Sweat.

It always made her feel more at ease.

Growing up she had exercised every morning just so that she could keep up with Fergus and Gilmore during their training. It later became more meditative, allowing her to think through problems and relax. Now it had become a way to forget. When her body was tired, her mind was silent and so were her dreams.

Noël slashed violently at the air, her body slick and her face flush. She ignored the burn of her lungs and the ache of her muscles. She wasn't there yet; her thoughts still rang in her ears.

Two years, it whispered, did you expect him to welcome you with open arms?

Angry, she threw the dagger at a straw dummy, not surprised that it struck it dead center. Noël had always been good, but ever since her time in the Fade, she had gotten better. Six months of non-stop fighting would do that to a person.

The last year had been horrible – The Architect, The Mother, The Fade – and what was bringing her out here in the middle of the night were memories of Alistair.

Growling she stripped off the sweat soaked shirt and threw it as hard as she could, which wasn't very far. The summer night was cool and welcoming against her heated skin. Slowly she walked up to the discarded shirt and sighed. The poor shirt hadn't done anything to her, nor would ripping it to shreds ease her. The only thing that would was talking to Alistair, and that was not going to happen.

Her body ached softly and she wondered if she should attempt sleep tonight. General Akin had requested her to train with the troops tomorrow after Michael had run his mouth off at dinner about her teaching skills. Ah, she thought turning towards the stairs, but sleep meant dreaming and dreaming meant…her thoughts trailed off as her eyes set on the figure at the top of the stairs -the phantom of her dreams, the center of her thoughts as of late - Alistair.

He was dressed simply, like her – leather pants and a simple shirt – and looked as if he had just awoken, or perhaps, he had never gone to sleep. Slowly, he descended the stairs, and not once did he take his eyes off of hers. It was stark difference to their time two years ago, when he could not even look at her.

Noël felt her heartbeat speed up as he stripped off his shirt and walked over to the rack of weapons in the corner. He chose a broad sword and the proceeded to walk over to the straw dummies. He pulled her dagger from the target and tossed it at her feet.

"Pick it up," He said, his voice and body tense with anger. It was a challenge and Noël was not going to back down from it. If he wanted a fight, then she would give it to him, and she wasn't going to pull any punches.

Two years ago she had broken him and he her, but tonight, perhaps, they would settle this.

Ahh angry Alistair. I would probably be angry too if I were him. Anyways, this is going to be darker and angsty, but nothing too emo, I hope. I know that people have seen this done before, but it's always been one of my favorite story lines to read. I'm going to try to bring a new twist to it and of course my own personal flair.I hope people will enjoy it as much as I'm enjoying writing it.

Til next time

-Galexz