While I was happy that Cullen played a slightly larger role in DA 2 than in Origins, it still wasn't enough for me. So an idea wormed its way in my brain that if there was ever an opportunity to ally with Cullen, it would have been at Wilmod's camp, since Hawke did sort of help him not die there. As it is with every good fantasy, it grew.

If you have not played through DA 2 yet, there are spoilers ahead. I have included enough detail from the game to give back story, but what I've omitted may lead my story to not make a whole lot of sense if you haven't played through at least once. One last disclaimer, DA characters, geography, lore, etc. are property of Bioware. I'm just playing with it all.

Rated M to reflect the game's rating, and for the likelihood that this will get naughty at some point.


"The Knight-Commander sticks her nose in city affairs enough as it is, Hawke. I will not give her cause to come sniffing around my barracks."

"Aveline, there is no one else to help her. The templars won't tell her anything about her brother and wouldn't it be nice to find out if this Meredith really is bat-shit crazy as the rumors say?" Destria Hawke flashed a wicked grin at her ginger-haired friend.

"Then you can help her and find out on your own. I'm sorry, Hawke." Aveline's shoulders appeared to slump beneath her metal pauldrons. "I'm being watched from all angles since Jevan was arrested and I was promoted. A promotion you are highly responsible for, I might add. I've only just begun this job and I can't risk any interference from the Order. Besides, she has you to help her."

"Right. A mage investigating the disappearance of a templar recruit. Most wise."

"Then tell her you can't." Destria gave her a knowing look and Aveline sighed. "This is one of those times where I can't tell if you're just desperate for coin, or if your concern for this missing boy is genuine."

"Maybe both," Destria's gaze dropped to her lap, idly inspecting her fingernails, "maybe another reason entirely."

Aveline's face fell. It was all too recent that they witnessed the deaths of several templars at the hands of someone they knew and kept it secret. "You don't have to atone for what he did. You did nothing-"

"That's right, I did nothing, Aveline." Destria stood quickly from her seat and began pacing. "I just stood there and watched in horror as that thing inside him went glowy and murderous."

"If you didn't need his Deep Roads knowledge, would he still be walking around free?"

Destria stopped pacing and turned to her friend, "Was that question meant for me, or for us both?"

"I'm sorry. Please don't be angry with me, Hawke."

Destria shook her head and managed a sad smile. "I'm not. You're right to question my motives. Maker knows I've been questioning them myself, given my predicament." Predicament was the most gentle way of putting it. Anders was a means to an end, and she would not let herself become part of his war for Justice. His recent actions in the Chantry both terrified her and made her doubt her previous beliefs on templar necessity. The mere fact that he allowed himself to be a host for a spirit of the Fade gave her gooseflesh. Though, Aveline was right to question her. If she didn't need his blasted maps, despite what he had done, she'd rather forget they ever met than send a fellow mage to the Gallows. Her insides hurt from all the moral confliction. "What is the right thing to do? Is there a right thing?"

Aveline sighed and nodded in understanding. "Find the boy. Maybe that will put your conscience at ease for a time."

Destria nodded and turned to the door.

"Just, don't go alone, Hawke. Can't you ask someone else to accompany you?"

Destria laughed. "Sure. I'll take Carver, even though he's a breath away from pledging the Order just to have an excuse to turn me in. I suppose I could take along that strange Dalish mage, Merrill, but her lack of concern for blood magic use wouldn't exactly be prudent for this task."

"Hawke-"

Destria ignored Aveline's interruption, "Maybe Fenris, the mage-hating Tevinter slave, would like to rescue a templar. It would be efficient, he could then promptly report my magic abilities to him."

"I-"

"Varric is useless right now. He is nursing a hangover from the diamondback tournament last night at the Hanged Man, and Isabela, despite being a thief, is about as subtle as a nug in heat."

Aveline pinched the bridge of her nose with armored fingertips and muttered, "Point taken."

"Doesn't it hurt to do that while wearing your gauntlets?"

"Hawke..."

"I'll be fine, Aveline. I'll take the dog."


Destria wasn't sure she would ever grow used to living on the coast. The salty breeze off the sea was refreshing in its own way, but the sand was annoying. It somehow managed to get everywhere. Duke ran circles around her legs as she walked up the path, nearly tripping her twice, and kicking sand in her direction.

"I know you're happy to be out, pup, but please don't make me fall." Duke whined and reared up on his back legs, his front paws flinging sand in her face as they came to rest on her chest. Destria sputtered and wiped her face, but it was futile as Duke was happily licking her cheeks in apology. She laughed, "All right you're forgiven! Just no more jumping until we're back in the city, ok?" Duke barked his reply and trotted a few paces ahead of her on the path.

After a while the sand gave way to something more akin to the Ferelden dirt she was used to. Dark, heavy, and less likely to find its way inside her boots. Duke stopped several paces ahead of her, his ears first pointing skyward, then north. His large head rotated from side to side as he tuned-in to the noise only he could sense.

"What is it, boy?" He let out a low wuff so quiet she barely heard, his danger signal. She looked ahead up the mountain trail, but it was too winding, too obscured by rocks and vegetation to see any sign of life, dangerous or otherwise. She took a step forward, but Duke crossed her path and pressed into her legs, barring her movement. Another low wuff and her hand dropped to his head and she scratched behind his ear. "Ok, we'll be careful. Lead the way."

Another twenty minutes of hiking and the steep angle of the trail finally began to level out. Duke paused again and this time she heard it too. Voices. Two men, but she couldn't make out the words, only their angry tone.

Wilmod and Knight-Captain Cullen?

Destria crept quietly, trying to remain hidden amongst the larger rocks and trees that lined the path, wary of what she would discover. Or wary of being discovered. She chided herself mentally again for agreeing to look into this disappearance. What was she thinking? She managed to avoid suspicion when she questioned the recruits at the Gallows, but they seemed just as scared as any mage of Kirkwall's Order and the dark rumors surrounding it. Now she was afraid she was pushing her luck. Mages, no, apostates, are not supposed to traipse about the mountains in search of missing templars, especially with a seasoned templar knight-captain on the same path.

Mages weren't supposed to kill templars in Chantries either.

She shook her head and leaned against a boulder for support, breathing slowly to try and calm her thoughts. Duke thrust his head beneath her hand and Destria automatically gave him a reassuring pat. The voices were louder now, but the words still garbled. Another deep breath and she was moving again, steadier now, and growing more curious the closer she came to the voices.

She followed the winding path and finally sighted a camp. The sudden clang of metal against metal startled her and she ducked low behind some loose brush with Duke pressed close against her back.

"Andraste be my witness, Wilmod, I will have the truth from you now!"

A boy, no more than eighteen, fell backward to the ground with such force that he slid along the dirt. His arm came up protectively over his chest, "Mercy ser, mercy!"

Knight-Captain Cullen came into view and grabbed Wilmod by his arms, lifting him back to his feet effortlessly. "Were it that easy."

Wilmod closed his eyes, "Please do- don't hit me." Cullen delivered a nasty sucker punch to Wilmod's gut, tossing the boy backward to the ground again, and then drew his sword.

"I will know where you're going, and I will know now." Cullen pressed the tip of his sword against Wilmod's throat.

Destria tried to wrangle her thoughts together. This isn't a rescue, it's an interrogation! To the Void with this, now they're beating their own soldiers? She began to straighten from her hiding place, but froze when Wilmod began to laugh. No. Not laugh, this sound was different, evil. Behind her Duke growled.

Wilmod floated back to his feet. "You have struck me for the last time you pathetic human. Come to me!" His arms raised in the air and morphed into long, gangly limbs; his fingers into claws. Destria brought a hand to her mouth as she watched, horrified as Wilmod's skin fell away from the shade demon protruding from his former self. She thought she heard Cullen utter a prayer, but she doubted the Maker heard him over the chaos. The ground trembled beneath her feet as five figures clawed up and out of the ground at the shade demon's command. The figures were grotesque, with spiked limbs and tentacles cascading from their bulbous heads. They reeked of blood and death. The abominations her father warned her about.

Cullen charged into the lot of them, slicing his sword through the air to sever one of the abomination's heads and bashing another's with his shield. She wanted to move, wanted to help him, but Maker, she was scared. Scared of revealing herself to one who could end her life of freedom, scared of doing nothing and watching yet another life end. Duke pawed at her leg, eager to join the fray, urging her to move.

She heard a sickening crack as Cullen pummeled an abomination's head with his shield. The demon folded in on itself and crumbled to the ground in a pile of ash. He spun to his right and thrust his sword through the chest of another only to pull it up, effectively slicing the demon in half. Just as Destria thought her help wouldn't be needed, the shade demon lunged at Cullen. He managed to block the blow with his shield only to be knocked backward and off-balance. The shade lunged again, claws connected with flesh and Cullen fell to the ground.

"Shit," Destria said as she pulled her staff from its tether on her back. "Let's go, boy." Duke howled and charged at the shade hovering over Cullen. He leapt over the templar's body and snagged the demon's arm in his mouth, his jaw closing tighter when the demon screamed. Cullen scrambled to find his footing during the distraction, but could barely see through the blood streaming down his face. Just as he made it up on one knee, he felt a hand clamp down on his neck and he was shoved forward to the ground again. "Stay down!" he heard a woman yell.

What in the name of Andraste?

Cullen pulled himself up on his hands and knees and crawled away from the clamor until he bumped into a rock. Cursing, he pulled off one of his gauntlets and wiped the blood from his eyes. Turning his gaze back to the noise behind him, he was not prepared for what he saw.


So there is the beginning. Let me know what you think! Chapter 2 is in the works, just finishing up the details. Updates will be slow-ish since I do work full time and attend school, so bear with me.