Starting Life in Another World


Episode Summary

When Hana leaves the convenience store, the last thing she expects is to be wrenched from her everyday life and dropped into a fantasy world. Things aren't looking good for the bewildered 25year old, however: not long after her arrival, he is attacked by wolves; armed with only a bag of groceries and a now useless cell phone, she is quickly beaten to a mauled. Fortunately, a mysterious elf named Lavellan happens upon Hana and saves her. However, before she can recover, Lavellan and Hana are brutally murdered.

However, Hana immediately reawakens to a familiar scene—confronted by the same pack of wolves, meeting Lavellan all over again—the enigma deepens as history inexplicably repeats itself.


AN: I'm stealing a lot from the anime Re:Zero, but I've never actually seen the series, just grabbed some ideas from the wiki, so it's not a true crossover.

The main pairing will be Male Inquisitor Lavellan/Solas (reasons for non-game pairing will be discussed in later episodes) Hana is gay, and I haven't quite figured out if she will even have a romance.

There will be a lot of injuries and dying because Hana is a normal modern girl from our world with no special training or skills beyond what are useful in a modern world and completely useless in the medieval world of Thedas.

Will be trying to update episodes weekly. We'll see how it goes.


Episode One: The End of the Beginning and the Beginning of the End

Stepping through the sliding door, the warm air rolled over Hana, flushing her cheeks a rosy pink under her thick purple knit scarf. The call of "Irasshaimase" came from behind the counter. Hana looked up and met the tired eyes of "surgical mask" guy. She lowered her scarf and gave a big smile and head nod before shuffling towards the refrigerators in the back. There, she pulled out a tall kirin before walking up to the counter. "Will that be all?" surgical mask guy asked. Hana gaze fell on the cooler next to the register "one more thing…" she said snatching a couple salmon onigiri from the cooler next to the register.

She paid for her purchases and walked back out into the frigid night, wrapping her scarf tightly over her nose and chin once more. The cut of the wind was the only noticeable noise as she approached the crosswalk that was only a few steps from her apartment building. The convenience store was less than a 5min walk from her door and she still only knew the workers by her own monikers (Nice-to-meet-you lady, smiley-guy, and surgical-mask guy).

An icy gust of wind cut through her and she paused at the crosswalk to shove her hands deeper into her pockets. As she looked both ways, she felt her vision darken and blur. Her gut clenched as she thought she was about to pass out, but there was no wave of nausea or dizziness, just darkness and a sense of foreboding (like when a really creepy guy is staring at you at the bus stop, only x200). Shaking in fear, Hana took a deep breath as she prepared to scream for help- only for her vision to come back. She looked at the shadowy sidewalk, her stance set like she was ready to attack…. Only there was nothing and no one there. The streetlamps were illuminating the streets and the seven-eleven behind her was just as bright and illuminated as ever.

"- I guess anyone's eyes would be tired after holing up in their room gaming all day…." She muttered raising a hand up to rub frantically at her eyes. As she opened them, however, the sense of foreboding was back and her eyes were met with a blinding light this time. Blinking frantically and rubbing at her eyes harder, her vision returned, only instead of the sidewalk across the street from her apartment building, she was surrounded by trees.

"What on earth~" she muttered, "Am I… Hallucinating?" her hands stretching to touch the bark of the tree in front of her. "This has to be a telephone poll… I'm seeing things…" It was rough. Not the roughness of a poll, but the course roughness of … tree bark… Hana's gaze traveled up and took in the tall canopy of a fir forest.

Leaning forward she pressed her face against the tree, wrapping her arms around it in terror. "WHAT IS GOING ON!?" She cried into the bark, her eyes shining with unshed tears as her knees gave out and she collapsed to the ground. Her arms still wrapped around the tree in an awkward hug. Was she hallucinating? Having a seizure? Teleported and kidnaped by aliens?

Hana wasn't sure how long she sat sobbing into the tree, but eventually, her growing discomfort in the soggy wetness seeping into her clothes overwhelmed her terror. Sniffing, slightly embarrassed, she looked about the snowy forest and felt foolishly grateful that no one appeared to be there witnessing her break down… Or maybe they were observing her somewhere unseen… her face screwed up in disgust as more crazy thoughts flooded her mind.

Using her new friend, the trusty fir tree, to pull herself up and took inventory of everything she had on and around her. Trusty tree, check. Her plastic bag with her onigiri and beer was still bound tightly around her wrist. Her frumpy knit cap was still on her head, and her scarf still wound tight around her neck. Black Nike running shoes still on her feet, check (though cold wetness was seeping through from the snow). Black and purple track pants with matching jacket were warm enough for a short trek to the convenience store, were soggy with melted snow from her small breakdown.

She reached into her pockets and pulled out her wallet, a bundle of knit gloves, and - her cell phone! Pulling it out she swiped at it frantically, pulling up the phone icon and dialed 119. She held the phone up, feeling joy rushing up to her throat. Only to pull the phone away from her ear when there was no sound of ringing. "No service" She thumped her head against trusty tree…

"Owe…" and now she had scratches on her forehead. She pulled her hat down to cover the scratches.

Standing on tiptoe and waving the phone about in an attempt to get a signal met with no luck. Looking beyond her trusty tree, she looked around the wood for any idea of where to go. It was gray, but light enough for Hana to think it had to be sometime in the afternoon, despite her phones proclaimed 11:38pm.

Trees' and shallow seemed to stretch beyond sight. But behind her tree, the ground seemed to slope up. The potential hill and the possibility of a better cell phone signal prompted her to trudge her in that direction. The slope didn't become a hill, so much as a cliff. Hana picked her way through the slush and mud along its edge, giving a few meters distance in case of falling snow or rocks.

She had been walking for a few hours, her feet were numb with cold and her body shook with uncontrollable shivering, when she noticed a small hollow in the cliff. The sky was a darker gray, and she was beyond worried about what the night would bring more cold and less chance of rescue.

The cave was small, going only 6 or 7 meters back, as she peered into the darkness she. As she took a step forward was brought to a fearful halt at a sound. What on earth?- her eyes widened and she was about to take a slow step back when something - pink?- came terrorizing out of the cave. Chirping it's weird cry. The creature bound away, weaving in and out of the tree's and it fled. "A… pig?" She mused, her face froze in a look of confusion. She had never heard a pig make THAT sort of noise… Though she hadn't seen that many pigs in real life…

A deep frown marred Hana's face as she leaned cautiously back into the cave opening. No other strange noises or weird pigs, so she ducked inside. The entry of the cave was covered with mud and slush, but the cave was dug upwards into the rock, soft and smooth as if worn away by something over time. Best of all, it seemed to be dry and mud free.

Hana gave a tentative sniff as she entered and was relieved that there didn't seem to be any… Relieve-ings… from the creature. Stopping by where the sandstone rose above the mud-level, she toed off her wet Nikes and socks and curled down over her cold, white toes. Her hands felt like fire as she rubbed warmth back into them.

Curling up against the wall of the cave, she wrapped her scarf around her feet and reached into her bag and pulled out one of the Onigiri. She ate quietly her mind blissfully blank as she just let her body relax against the stone.

When movement at the lip of the cave caught Hana's eye, she turned and saw a flash of pink once again followed by that weird chirping fading away as the creature bolted once again. Probably the same once as before... She had probably just kicked it out of its home… And it was almost night. Would the pig freeze without his shelter?

Feeling a stab of pity, she looked down at her Onigiri and pulled apart a chunk of rice and crawling back towards her shoes, she tossed the rice just beyond the slush puddle. It landed nicely on some snow just off the entrance, and she pulled another chunk of rice off and tossed it along the opposite side of the cave that she had claimed as 'hers'.

Satisfied that she had done enough to tempt the pig back into the cave, she crawled back to her side of the cave and focused on finished the rest of the rice ball. This time, when she caught a hint of movement she didn't react. Snuffling and eventually, the little pink pig-thing crawled into view.

It was NOT a pig… In fact… It looked a lot like… A nug? Hana stayed frozen still as the snuffling creature found her second rice pile and scarfed it up. It's bald pink ears swiveling about as it's beady black eyes stared at her as if SHE was the imaginary creature from a fantasy video game.

'No… You're the one that doesn't exist…' Hana thought petulantly at the bald creature, her face scrunched as she struggled to not burst into hysterics again.

The NUG shuffled further back into the cave and out of sight, leaving Hana alone with her thoughts of impossible creatures and really, how she MUST be dreaming, or in a comma, because people DON'T just pop into fantasy games on their way home from the convenience store.

"Goodnight Piggy." she murmured softly. Silent tears falling down her face as she closed her eyes and in minutes, she had fallen into exhausted slumber.


When Hana woke slowly, her shoulder and hip ached from sleeping on the hard ground. She blurrily opened her eyes, a hand rubbing away the sleep dust. Focusing on the ground around her, she was definitely still in the cave. Waking thoughts of waking passed out on the street, or maybe in some kidnappers layer were dashed and she stiffly rose into a sitting position, only for something to move.

Looking down into beady eyes, Hana had the abstract thought of 'huh, that's why I wasn't so cold…' before she opened her mouth and screamed. The Nug-thing bolted, kicking her in the chest as it fled out of the cave once more chirping and meeping the whole way.

Hana was thrown back against the cave wall by the force of the kick and her breath stolen from her chest. Gasping, and clutching her bruised bosom, she leaned back against the cave wall, grateful she didn't bang her head. A concussion on top of everything else would just be her luck right now. Fuck you Piggy. She lay there wheezing arms wrapped around her aching chest until her stomach decided to growl.

Reaching for the plastic shopping bag, Hana held it up only to reveal a lack of onigiri and a large hole chewed in the corner. Eyes widening, she frantically felt around for the second Onigiri only to find a small corner of the plastic wrapping. Hana's search also found her can of beer, which had rolled away in the night and was now at the bottom of the slope covered in mud. The little beast may have saved her from freezing, but now she could very well starve. Fuck you Piggy. This was going to be her new mantra.

She grumbled darkly under her breath, unwrapping her scarf from her feet, and wrapped it loosely around her neck. She then pulled on her socks, eyes widening as she took in the chewed hole in the heel.

"Great…" She muttered, her shoes making gross squelching noises as she shoved her feet into them. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and she turned to the cave entrance to curse the little creature out- only that was not a pink pig-nug thing… Deep growling that echoed through the cave and reverberated in her chest.

A black snarling wolf was peering into the cave, its eyes shining in the dark and looking straight at her.

Hana stumbled back, sliding along the cave wall, eyes never leaving the wolf as she tried to put some distance between them. The cave smooth walls offered no place to hid, no rocks or debris to use as a weapon… All Hana had was her seven-eleven plastic bag still clutched in her hand.

She stood up tall and waved the plastic bag back and forth, trying to make herself look as big as possible. The bag crackled loudly and the wolf seemed to tense. Hana cheered and shouted loudly "HEELLLPPP! GO AWAY! I AM NOT FOOD! SOMEONE HEELLLPP!" continuing to wave the bag.

The wolf took a cautious step back and Hana felt hope rise above the fear in her chest, only for terror to replace it as a second and third wolf approached the third.

Frantically waving her bag and now just screaming "AHAHAHAHAHA" as loud as she could, the wolves started edging for her. Terror took over as she swiped her hat off her head and threw it, the wolf it landed closest to flinched back, but it made no difference. The first wolf lunged and Hana threw her arm out and screamed in pain as its jaws locked on her forearm. On her back, screaming, the other wolves descended on her, grabbing her leg and ripping fabric and flesh.

Suddenly there was a searing heat and the smell of burnt hair, and the wolves were off of her and yelping in pain. She could hear a scuffle and shadows danced across the cave ceiling, but she couldn't move. Her body was throbbing and bleeding and all she could do was clutch at her wet dripping arm, not daring to even look at the wound she knew would be beyond anything she had ever seen or felt, and sobbed.

"Hey!" A soft voice with a musical lit called out, "Are you alright?"

Hana tried to respond, but sobs choked out any words that may have come out.

"Oh dear, that is quite nasty." the voice was closer and Hana felt a timid hand on her leg.

She couldn't stop the scream that ripped from her throat at the touch. The hand jerked back and the voice returned; "Sorry! I'm so sorry! Shit, ok… I need to pick you up, alright? I have supplies at my camp, it's not far."

Hana still couldn't stop sobbing, but she managed to jerk her head up in down in a sort of nod. She felt hands pull her knees and she let out another scream, but they didn't pull away this time. A hand slid around her back and griped her under her arm.

"Ok, now, it's ok. On the count of three, I'll pull you up now; One… two…" She was pulled up, her leg and arm jarring with the movement and Hana's consciousness fell into darkness.


Hana awoke suddenly, terror gripping her in a nightmare unremembered. Her eyes wide as she stared up at a face she knew as well as a mother knew their child.

"Sorry, to wake ya." His voice was different, a soft Irish or welsh lit instead of the British accent she had given him. "You were having a nightmare."

"Sorry." She rasped. This was her Levellan. The elven inquisitor she had spent all afternoon making, right down the cropped hair she had downloaded a mod to get. She hadn't played the game for months, the urge to start a new game coming after her Fallout game had crashed for the 3rd time. She had spent all day looking over mods and character sliders to get his eyes to have just the right tilt, his nose long and straight with just a small sharp angle.

"How are you feeling?" he asked his hand reaching down to touch her arm and the words, "This is crazy." left her mouth before she could even think to hold them back.

His brow furrowed into a look of confusion.

Still dazed, Hana lifted a shaking hand out to touch his cheek, and to his credit, he held still and allowed the touch.

My child. The thought was random and LOUD and seemed to echo in the emptiness of her mind that was stuck on the fact that she was physically touching the face she had created- with a video game-

"How long were you in that cave?" came the bewildered response to her inappropriate touching.

"- Lindir?" She said, still confused but now slightly curious if the elf in front of her had the same name she had given him (blatantly stolen from Tolkien, it was her 5th elven playthrough, she had lost all creativity when it came to naming them).

His face turned from amused bewilderment to suspicion. "Where did you hear that name? Have you been following me."

Hana shook her head and tried to sit up, only to be hit with dizziness and pain in her arm and leg, which had previously been a barely noticeable dull throbbing.

"I'm sorry! I just.. I'm so confused." she shuttered, blackness rolling around the edge of her vision.

"Right…" He muttered and moved away from her.

Hana blinked back tears and watched him walk away. Taking a moment to gather herself, Hana turned her head and looked about. Trees surrounded them, but a few boulders marked a small clearing in the trees. Lindir was hunched over a fire. Well, technically the fire had a large flat stone settled around the flames with a pot of something that he was hunched over.

"I'm sorry…" she said again, with a frown. She hated apologizing. 'Stop saying sorry, just do better' her elven child's back seemed to hunch further over the pot. "Thank you, for, you know… saving my life. It was pretty amazing."

He turned, to look at her, face set in a serious frown. "You haven't answered my question." He stood and walked back over to her, his short frame still managing to loom over her just fine. In his hand was a bowl of something that smelled heavenly. He raised the bowl to his lips and took a long slurping sip of the contents. Hana's stomach gave a soft gurgle.

"It's complicated…" she muttered, she was starting to salivate. Her stomach gave a louder gurgle and Hana brought her unwounded hand across it as if to sooth away the hunger.

Lindir's ears fell back and his face gave a frustrated sigh, "Stop looking at me like that! You can have some food as soon as I'm done. I only have one bowl."

"Oh…" Hana winced "Thank you… I didn't mean…"

"The Dalish aren't like the stories they tell." He muttered darkly taking another gulp of the contents of the bowl.

Hana just nodded miserably. Slowly, she pushed herself up into a sitting position using her good arm, her injured one throbbing as she tensed.

The elf hummed at her once more before taking the last chug from the bowl and returning to the pot by the fire and pouring more of what looked like a meaty stew into the bowl.

Accepting the bowl when he returned with it, Hana muttered "itadakimasu" under her breath before slurping up as big of a mouthful as she could, the vegetables were something like beets, but they tasted more like carrots. The meat was a puzzle, though. Would it be too ironic to say it kinda tasted like chicken?

"It's really good, thank you." she swallowed thickly and bobbed her head in a small bow before taking another mouthful

"I was out hunting before I heard you." He shrugged, "Lucky you were so close to our dinner, or I might not have known you were in trouble."

Hana's head nodded in understanding as she took the final mouthful of the soup only to freeze when her mind connected a few dots. She swallowed her final mouthful with a touch less enjoyment than the last, "Nug?" she asked looking up at him, her lip quivering.

"Ah… Yes?" Lindir was thrown once again by this strange girls words and attitude.

"Oh... Piggy…" Hana looked down at the bowl as if the remaining broth stuck to the sides held some likeness to the damnable creature that had been her unknowing cuddle partner and Onigiri thief the night before.

"Enough." The elf took the bowl from her, "How do you know my name."

Hana looked up at him with tears in her eyes, "You're not real. None of this can possibly be real. It's all just a story, a video game." her voice cracking as tears started to freely flow down her cheeks. "You're Lindir Lavellan, a character in a game that I was going to play. You go to the conclave, it gets blown up, you get the rift-mark-thing and people call you The Herald, and... and... you seal the breach and Corypheus comes. It's just a GAME!"

Lindir had taken a few steps back from her in the course of her mad ranting and looks to be about to say something when a bright light blinded them both and brought the elf to his knees

Hana fell back, dazed and confused as three armored figures were suddenly in the camp. A red sword emblazoned on their Packards. "Filthy Dalish" the voice was muffled behind a shining helmet, but clear enough in the silence that had struck the camp.

"Fucking Shem" Lindir snarled, struggling to rise, but whatever the light had been it seemed to be holding him back. The Templars, for Hana knew that is who they must be, walked into camp and with a slash of a sword cleaved the elf in two. His body thudded to the ground, steam rising as organs exposed spilled hotly to the ground.

Hana couldn't look away, she couldn't move, or run or even scream. The Templar was in front of her and he didn't hesitate to raise the bloody sword once more and Hana was pulled into darkness.


AN: Thank you for reading! See you next Episode!