This is the sequel to Hawke's Night Off : s/9698246/1/Hawke-s-Night-Off
Thank you Eb0ny Dragon for co-writing and being my beta. Here's a link to her page: u/4513987/Eb0ny-Dragon
Disclaimer: Everything is owned by Bioware except for my Hawke character and Valkyrie belongs to Eb0ny Dragon.
Hawke swung the front door open to Fenris's estate with a speed that unsettled the nearby dust, causing Isabela to cough as she entered behind her. Hawke climbed the old staircase with long strides, her fists clenched so hard that her nails drew blood. When she got to the top she didn't bother announcing herself but strolled in with heavy footsteps. Fenris, sensing a dangerous presence, tensed and took a battle stance, ready to draw his blade to strike down the intruder.
"Oh, Hawke, it's just you." Fenris relaxed, his hand slipping from the hilt of the greatsword strapped to his back. His eyes were slightly red and puffy, and he looked like company was the last thing he wanted.
Hawke slowly made her way to stand in front of Fenris, her head bowed and her dark bangs concealing her eyes. Isabela waited at the doorway, not wanting to intervene with Hawke emitting such an unusually dark aura but unable to look away.
Hawke punched him square on his pretty nose, successfully breaking it with a sickening crunch and leaving what was sure to be an angry bruise on her fist. Fenris staggered backward, his eyes widening and a curse leaving him.
"Fasta vass! Festis-" Without leaving any time for him to recover Hawke stepped forward and drove her foot into his stomach, knocking him onto his back with a sickening thud. She swiftly straddled him so his couldn't escape and began to repeatedly slam her fists into his face. His jaw, cheekbones, eye- every strike was harder than the next. Fenris' hands clenched, but to Isabela's surprise they remained firmly on the floor.
"Jennifer! Stop! You said yourself we need to whole gang, everyone needs to be able to fight! For the sake of Kirkwall!"
Hawke stopped and her grip loosened at Isabela's unusually reasonable voice. Fenris took opportunity of Hawke's distracted state,his tattoos flaring as he shoved her off him with an angry grunt. Hawke slumped to the side of him in defeat, panting and shuffling back as he quickly bought the lyrium markings under control. Her mind regained the ability to comprehend words other than 'punch!'
"Bastard!" Hawke growled.
"I don't expect you to understand. I -" His voice cracking as he spoke.
Getting on her knees, Hawke grabbed him by the collar and looked down on him, barely resisting the urge to shake him.
"Shut up! There is nothing you can say to explain this! What you did was selfish and cowardly, did you ever consider how she must have felt?! If you truly cared for her then you would have at least tried to work things out instead of running when things get tough! She's better off without you, you don't deserve her!" She shrieked, her voice going so high Isabela was surprised the windows didn't shatter.
Frustrated, Hawke let go of Fenris, angry tears staining her cheeks.
"You know nothing." Fenris said softly, his body still in shock as he tried to stem the tide of blood from his nose.
"Shut-up!" she repeated. "Mess with Valkyrie again, and next time I'll gut you like a pig." She snarled.
Isabela intervened again before things got worse, "Enough! We have a mission to complete, everyone's probably waiting for us at Hawke mansion. Are you in or out Fenris?"
Fenris spat out blood, looking up at her balefully. "As long as Hawke doesn't have any problems with my help."
"No, it's for the greater good. Can you walk?" Hawke asked coldly as she got to her feet and walked to the door, not caring to glance over her shoulder to hear his answer.
With an outstretched hand, Isabela helped Fenris up and he managed to take a few steps by himself without falling.
"I can manage." Fenris answered with equal detachment.
"Good."
Anders, Aveline, Varric, Sebastian and Merrill stood next to the great fireplace in Hawke mansion, waiting for their leader to return. Anders shifted uncomfortably in his corner- so far he has been fortunate not to have crossed paths with Leandra since this morning. Leandra was probably at the market but he hoped that Hawke would return soon, as he didn't want to face her mother without her. There was a knock on the front door and Anders began to fidget more as Bodahn went to answer it, sending a silent prayer to the Maker that it was Hawke. Everyone turned their heads towards the doorway when they heard Bodahn gasp.
Hawke was the first to come into view, blood dripping from her hands and her face scrunched into a frown that didn't suit her. Anders' nervousness was replaced with concern and he rushed to her side. Grasping her hands in his gently, he examined them and healed her raw knuckles and cut palms. He caressed her knuckles with his thumb as the blue glow healed her flesh, and he gave Hawke a half-smile in hopes to comfort her as she looked like she was about ready to cry.
"Are you alright?" Anders asked and Hawke nodded weakly.
"Don't worry, most of it is not my blood." she said, giving him a tight smile.
"What? Then who-"
Anders' half-question was answered as Isabela and Fenris walked in the door. The whole group made a muffled gasping sound as they saw Fenris' face- or what Hawke had left untouched of it. He had what looked like a white rag pressed to his nose, but the blood pouring from it had stained it a dark red. Both his eyes and cheekbones were bruised and pink, and as they watched he pulled the cloth back and spat a glob of blood into it.
Hawke pulled a gaping Anders to the side, cupping his cheek so that he would face her.
"Anders, I know you and Fenris don't have the best relationship but I'm going to need you to heal him for the sake of the mission. Please, I'll explain everything to you later." Hawke pleaded with the eyes of a wounded puppy as she stroked his cheek. Anders relished the thought of leaving Fenris to deal with his injuries, but was powerless against Hawke and her pleas.
"Ok, fine. I'm doing this for you, not him." He agreed with a sigh.
The cold, salty air of the Wounded Coast whipped through Valkyrie's hair as she tromped down one of its sandy paths, making her skin sting and her eyes water.
Yes, that was it. It was the wind that was causing the thin dribbles of water to fly from her cheeks.
Valkyrie rubbed her eyes furiously and continued loping down the path, her teeth set in a pained grimace as her eyes roamed the coastline for what she needed. What was going to make her feel the tiniest bit less pathetic after her hellish morning.
Finally, after rounding yet another corner of the jagged coastline she saw what she was looking for. A haphazard group of raiders, clustered around an overturned cart and the sad corpse of its owner. The familiar, almost comforting feeling of battle began to stir in Valkyrie, and she quickly began to assess them. Two archers. Two dual-wielding rogues. A mage, and two warriors, one with a sword and shield, and the other with heavy plate armour and a greatsword. A greatsword. Like-
'No. I'm not thinking about that.' She thought grimly to herself. Steeling her thoughts, she pulled her blades off her back and spun them menacingly as she began to stride purposefully towards them. One of the archers twitched and looked up at her, quickly pushing his fellows to get their attention and pointing at her eagerly. Valkyrie increased her pace as the raiders began to move towards her, drawing their weapons and yelling insults at what they perceived to be some sort of wannabe-hero type. She heard the one with the greatsword, apparently their leader, roar to his fellows,
"Slice her good lads! Try to keep 'er goods intact!"
Valkyrie's gaze turned murderous and she began to run towards them, her vision turning red.
"You want a fight?" she screamed. "Try me!"
The walk back to Hightown was... interesting, to say the least. After shoving her blades through the chest of the blubbering raider leader, Valkyrie had felt a wave of exhaustion not only from the battle but also from her lack of sleep. Suddenly, her warm bed in the Hawke mansion seemed incredibly appealing. So now she loped through Hightown, not caring as the precious nobles screamed, gasped and sometimes retched at her blood-covered appearance. Gore was dripping off her as she left a bloody trail of footprints behind her, through the marketplace and past the Dwarven Merchants Guild. She had sculled her health potions after the battle and so was uninjured, but unfortunately they didn't do anything about her state of the Hawke estate came into view, Val broke into a clumsy jog and almost fell through the door as she reached it, slamming into it before remembering she needed to turn the knob. With a tired but angry growl she stumbled through the door, expecting to perhaps see Orana or maybe Bodahn waiting for her. What she wasn't expecting however, was the crowd that was there to meet her as she entered.
The whole group was there- Aveline, Varric, Isabela, Hawke, Merrill, Sebastian, Anders and- oh. Valkyrie's blood turned to ice as she saw Fenris standing next to Anders, who had his hands extended and was healing the elf. For a split second, almost instinctively, concern began to form in her as she took In Fenris' bloodied appearance- but then it turned to a dead feeling of absolute nothing. She looked at them all stonily, silently daring them to comment. When no one did, she shuffled into the room and called up to where Orana was standing.
"Orana! Run a tub of hot water for me- I need a bath." Orana nodded and moved off to the master bathroom to start running the hot water.
"Valkyrie, I'm-" began Isabela quietly, but she stopped as Valkyrie gave her a stony glare and stomped past them into her bedroom down the hall. They watched in silence as she limped away and disappeared, and it was finally broken by Aveline.
"I'm not going to go into the details yet without Valkyrie, but what I will say is this- Fenris, it seems you've seriously offended Valkyrie. But I need you to work with everyone on this mission- your knowledge of the qunari language may be of use."
Fenris, who had now been fully healed by Anders, stepped away from the mage and looked at her stonily.
"Then let us pretend it never happened. I will act as you need me to, Aveline- we shall speak no more of this."
"Pretend it never-?" began Hawke, her voice rising in anger, but she shut her mouth as Varric nudged her meaningfully.
Valkyrie strolled down the staircase with her head held high, looking refreshed in a new suit of silver rogue armor. She saw that everyone was still standing where she left them not 20 minutes ago and it annoyed her to no end. She had no desire to be around anyone at the moment, especially not him.
"Ok, let's get this over with." she sighed. "We'll talk in the library." Valkyrie walked into the library and browsed the contents of the nearest bookcase, making sure not to make eye-contact with anyone. 'If this is a bloody intervention, I'm going to send Hawke to the Maker.' She thought angrily whilst trying to keep a cool expression.
Hawke followed Valkyrie and the rest of the gang filed in after, unknowingly creating a rough semicircle around the two girls. Not wanting to upset Valkyrie further, Hawke chose her words carefully. "Val, Aveline had an important mission for us so I'm going to need you to give us your full attention."
Wordlessly Valkyrie dropped her hand to her side and turned around to face Aveline, her face back in its usual stoic expression. Aveline took this as her cue to speak and stepped forward. "According to a trusted source of the Arishok, the Viscount has asked us to intercept a pirate ship before it arrives and sacks the docks. Secondly, it's important that we find out who hired these pirates and deal with them to prevent them from trying something like this again. If we fail, the Arishok will have no choice but to retaliate on anti-Qunari groups which could wipe out half of Kirkwall, as his source claims that the pirates are acting under anti-qunari orders. The Viscount has prepared a special ship with a small crew for us to borrow for this mission, however they will be there only to control the ship, not fight the pirates with us. Also-"
"Wait a second." Interrupted Isabela, her eyes widening. "Did you just say that the Viscount is giving us a ship? With a crew?" Aveline scowled at her.
"Did I mention it is a temporary lend? You do not get to commandeer the ship afterwards Isabela. Now shut up and listen." Isabela scowled and pouted, but Aveline ignored her and continued.
"Also I will need to report back to the Arishok when we are finished- anyone who wishes to join me is welcome. We will need to leave within the hour- any questions?"
"Just one." said Varric, raising his hand. "Not everyone here- and by that I mean myself and Daisy- are that great on ships. Sure you want us coming along?"
"Yes." said Aveline sternly. "I told the Viscount I would get this done without using my guardsmen, so I'm going to need everyone on board for this." She turned to Anders. "Anders, is there anything you can do to combat their seasickness?"
Anders 'hmmd' for a second, then nodded.
"I can probably mix up something to delay its effects for the duration of the mission, yes."
"Good." Aveline nodded. "Anything else?" When no one said anything else, she crossed her arms. "Right then. Everyone prepare here, then meet me in the foyer in ten. We march for the docks!" She walked out to wait, and the rest of them milled about for a few seconds before splitting up. Anders turned to Hawke, who immediately smiled upon meeting his eyes.
"Do you have any herbs I can mix up? I need to make something for Varric and Merrill." Grabbing his hand spontaneously, Hawke grinned and pulled him out to the main room and over to Valkyrie's crafting desk, which contained decent-sized samples of all the crafting resources she had collected over the years.
"Can you make something with this?" she asked. Anders' eyes widened as he took in the carefully-ordered pockets of herbs, liquids and ores.
"Who- does Valkyrie use this stuff? I can't imagine you making poisons or poultices..." Hawke smirked and walked away, running a hand across his chest as she left.
"That's what I have you for, isn't it?" Anders chuckled but got to work quickly, picking out small amounts of Valkyrie's resources and grinding them together with a mortar and pestle she had there.
Valkyrie sat in front of the fireplace, legs crossed and Hawke's Marbari warhound, Pup, resting its head lazily in her lap. She sharpened one of her blades that had dulled in her previous bandit battle as she waited for everyone to prepare themselves. Hawke plopped herself next to Valkyrie and stretched her arms and legs by the fire.
"I feel sorry for that poor sod who's going to be on the receiving end of your dagger." Hawke smiled and indicated to her handiwork.
"Pfft. Sod? are you turning into a dwarf now?" Valkyrie lifted an eyebrow in Hawke's direction.
"Don't act like you haven't spent your fair share of time around dwarves. C'mon you should get up, you wouldn't want to be left behind." Hawke stood up and brushed herself off then offering a free hand to Valkyrie.
"Thanks Jen." Valkyrie said as she regained her footing.
"It's not a problem." Hawke flashed her a grin, happy to see that Valkyrie was now in a more stable condition.
"I mean it, thank you for being there."
"Hey, that's what family is for." Hawke patted her shoulder before rejoining the group that had gathered in the foyer.
Giving Pup one last pat on the head, Valkyrie followed her friend and shortly after everyone left for the docks together.