Hello everyone. For those you who were reading Wrath of the Wardens, I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think I'm going to continue that story. I thought I was done writing fan fiction, but I've been having writer's block on my original story, so I decided to give this one a shot. It's an idea I've had in the back of in my mind since I first played Dragon Age 2, about what would happen if the Wardens had been there.

For those who are unfamiliar with my previous stories, the characters mentioned are as follows:

Eebon Cousland - Warden Commander of Ferelden

Kylae (Tabris) Cousland - High Warden, and wife of Eebon. (High Warden is rank I invented, and the Wardens use it to describe the six Wardens who killed the Archdemon, since none of them have served long enough to be called Senior Wardens.)

Tylis Amell - Warden Constable

Endrin Mahariel - High Warden

Roaran Brosca - High Warden

Dharr Aeducan - Warden Commander of Orzammar

Saezon - Chasind Warden, original character who became a Warden during the events of Awakening.

Well, that's enough from me. I hope you enjoy this.

For the last time, Warden Constable Tylis Amell, the second highest ranking Grey Warden in Ferelden dropped himself into the cushioned chair in his office. He was going to miss his chair, his office, the Vigil, and the entire arling. But Eebon had spoken. The Grey Wardens were finished in Amaranthine, in fact he was pulling every Warden out from all across Ferelden to their fortress at Soldier's Peak.

Tylis didn't agree with his Commander, he thought that Eebon was destroying all the progress they'd made since they'd ended the blight five years ago. But he knew that the berserker had his reasons, and Tylis partially agreed with him. He remembered only a few ago minutes when Eebon had announced to the assembled Wardens "We are not heroes. We appear when we are needed, and we do what must be done. We disappear because we must be forgotten, otherwise the people will make us into heroes, and will come to rely on us." Tylis didn't think it was such a bad thing for Ferelden to have become so reliant on the Wardens, after all, the Wardens were the ones essentially running the Anderfels. "But it's not my place to argue." Tylis mumbled. Eebon was the Commander of the Grey, and in the five years he'd been running the Wardens he'd never made a mistake. "I'll trust him…" Tylis mumbled again.

He looked up to see that Endrin had appeared in his doorway, silent as ever. Her famous dragon scaled armor was gone, to be replaced once more by her Dalish hunter leathers. "Are you ready?" She asked.

Tylis nodded. "To Kirkwall!" He took Revas, his bladed staff and moved after Endrin, the Dalish already moving quickly down the hall, avoiding the Wardens, soldiers, and servants who packed up things that were to be taken with them to Solder's Peak.

"Did you know that Kylae is already in Kirkwall?" Endrin asked.

"No, I didn't. But I was wondering why she was the only one from our original crew not here today."

"In her last letter she said that she'd found Anders."

Tylis swallowed. He remembered when he'd heard the report from Kylae and Nathaniel detailing the catastrophe that had happened in the Deep Roads while hunting one of the Mother's Disciples.

Two Years Ago – In a forgotten Thaig

Kylae jumped onto a waist-high rock and launched herself into the air, her poisoned daggers raised above her head. She grunted as she slammed with full force into the fleeing genlock archer and drove her daggers into its exposed neck. "Sodding… bastard!" She shouted as she stabbed again. She stood up and looked at the arrow still sticking out of her side, then up at the main battle. It wasn't looking so good for her side, the darkspawn had them outnumbered and were causing a lot of damage with their archers. It was strange that there weren't any spells being cast, and she looked around for Anders. She didn't see him, but she did see the glow of some magic light coming from inside one of the ruined dwarven buildings. She ran towards it, expecting to find Anders facing down an emissary, or demon, or some kind of underground monster… but it wasn't any of those things.

Anders was in the back corner, digging through a pile of debris.

"Ser-Pounce-a-Lot, come back here, come to old Anders!" She heard him say and felt her jaw drop. Kylae stomped towards him and wrenched him to his feet where she grabbed him by the solders. "You damn shem! We're dying out there! Forget the cat, get your ass out there, an' kill some spawn!"

"No!" He protested, "I'm not leaving him!"

Kylae punched him in the face, then drove her knee into his stomach and threw him towards the door. "Get out there or I'll kill you myself!" She threatened, and they both knew she meant it. Anders disappeared out the door. Kylae groaned and looked again at the arrow in her side. She'd been so angry at the genlock who'd shot her that she hadn't felt it, but with the offending darkspawn dead and Anders back in the fight it was another matter. She grabbed the protruding shaft, gritted her teeth, and screamed as she yanked it out. Still groaning and swearing from the pain she dug into the hip pouch she always carried on missions and dug out a poultice and a small healing potion. She tied the poultice to her wound and swallowed the potion. Then the daggers came back out and she charged outside.

There was an ogre fighting a losing battle against the Wardens, it would be dead in less than a minute, and the non-Warden support soldiers who accompanied them were holding against the hurlock and genlock forces, the real damage was coming from the archers that were on top of the ruined buildings. Kylae scrambled up the side of a collapsed house and threw herself into a pack of three genlock archers, cutting one's throat before it even looked at her. The second swung its bow towards her and she ducked as the arrow was released, slashing inwards with both weapons into its knees and sending it to the ground, then she dropped and rolled to avoid an arrow from the third, kicking one of its legs and coming up to her knees from her remaining momentum, she dropped her full bodyweight down and stabbed into the archer's eye. She stood and lunged towards the darkspawn that was still growling and writhing and stomped on its throat.

"Shut-up." She mumbled and looked for more archers. Two of them were on the next building, close enough to jump to, but they had already seen her and were running for cover. Kylae pulled her last acid flask from another pouch and hurled it after them. The darkspawn stopped running as it exploded and the potent acid began eating away their flesh.

With the archers dealt with, Kylae made her way to the edge of building and looked down at the rest of the battle. The ogre was down on its hands and knees, the soldiers and Wardens hacking away at it, and the other darkspawn were all running away. The fight was over.

Saezon, the big Chasind Warden caved in the ogre's skull with the hammer side of his war pick just as Kylae landed back on the street level of the long-abandoned town. "Weak!" Saezon announced as the massive ogre collapsed dead on the ground. "Barely worth fighting!"

"Be quiet, Saezon." Nathaniel commanded. "We just lost a lot of good men and women, this is not the time for your boasting."

"Apologies." Saezon said in his guttural accent. "How many did we lose?"

"I don't know yet." Nathaniel said, then called loudly, "Wardens, spread out and set up a perimeter. We'll stay here until we've healed our wounded and have a count on the dead. Venek hol, gather our casualties, we can't bring the dead back to the surface, so we'll have to cremate them down here."

Kylae smiled in spite the situation. Venek hol was Qunari insult, but it was how the soldiers of the Vigil had come to be known, due to Sten's irritation at having to train them. Then the smile disappeared, Anders was heading back into the same building to look for his cat. Kylae dashed towards him and Anders looked too late. She collided with him hard, driving her shoulder into his chest and slamming him into a wall. Anders crumbled to the ground and Kylae kicked him in the ribs, he was still gasping when Kylae grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him back to his feet, pointing his head back towards the battlefield.

"How many dead, Anders?" She hissed next to his ear, then shouted, "How many dead! And how many of them died 'cause you weren't there to shield or heal them? Jus' 'cause you had to get to your damn cat!" She threw him back the ground and pulled out a dagger.

Blue-white light shone through Anders skin and his eyes gleamed brilliantly as he pushed himself to his feet. Several of the Wardens and Venek hol backed further away, but Kylae only sneered and pulled out her second dagger. "You have no right to interfere with justice!" A voice that was not Anders bellowed.

"You don't even know what justice is anymore!" Kylae spat. "When you bonded with Anders it ruined both of you! Well… what ya waitin' for? You gonna fight or jus' stand there an' glow? I'm ready, c'mon!"

Nathaniel appeared between them and pushed them apart. "Stand down, both of you!" He ordered. "Anders, get back here!" For a moment nothing happened, and then the glow faded away. "Kylae is right, you weren't even supposed to have the cat down here! And we lost good people because of your selfishness! Now get back there and get to healing! I'll keep Ser Pounce-a-Lot with me until we get back." He looked to Kylae. "Leave off Anders." He saw the fury and hatred coming back into her eyes and cut her off before she could start. "You're right about him… completely right. But this is not the place to have it out, we still need him, he's still the best healer we have. Wait until we get back to the Vigil, and I'll make sure he's properly punished."

Kylae glared at Nathaniel for a moment, and then exhaled heavily and nodded. She didn't mind Nathaniel, he wasn't a friend, but he was practical. He was also on her very short list of shems she considered decent.

Every part of Kylae's body ached as she ran after the Disciple. She was alone now, somewhere behind her, Nathaniel and the remains of their force fought against the last of the Disciple's darkspawn. The monster half turned and pointed with its staff, Kylae folded her legs and slid towards it, just as a bolt of conjured lighting shot over her. The Disciple held out it's free hand and a stream of for poured out, still sliding forward, Kylae coiled her legs and sprang at the darkspawn, passing through the flames and digging both daggers under the darkspawn's arms where the black armor was weak. The Disciple screamed, and so did Kylae, her armor and hair were on fire.

The two of them tumbled to the ground, and Kylae pulled her daggers out, then went to work on the Disciple's face and throat. When she was convinced it was dead she rolled off the body and frantically started rolling and patting the flames out. None of the burns were too bad, her ironbark armor had protected her from the worst of it, and hair would grow back. Kylae spat on the dead creature, sheathed her daggers and started the walk back to whatever was left of the Warden's force.

When Kylae arrived, she came to abrupt halt and her jaw dropped. At first it looked like the only one still standing was Saezon, the hulking warrior solemnly wrapping bandages around his numerous wounds. Piles of dead darkspawn, Wardens, and Venek hol littered the cavern that had been the last battlefield. Eventually she saw Nathaniel sitting on a rock, his face buried in his hands, from the way his shoulders were moving it looked like he was crying. Kylae walked past the Chasind giant, and for the first time that she could remember Saezon gave no comment about his own fighting prowess, he didn't even meet Kylae's eyes.

"They're dead…" Nathaniel whispered when Kylae came close enough. "They're all dead. And it's my fault!"

"What happened?"

Nathaniel looked up and pointed at his pack. "I took it off so I could shoot, and Pounce-a-Lot got out… or Anders took him out, and then ran off. I saw him going, but he was already too far away for me to stop him."

Kylae sat down next to Nathaniel. "It ain't your fault!" She said fiercely.

"Yes it is!" Nathaniel insisted. "We lost almost half our force in the first attack, I should have stopped right there and taken us back to the Vigil! Anders couldn't be trusted, you knew that, I knew that… a blind, deaf, comatose man would have known that! But I pressed on! I got them killed Kylae, I might as well have shot my own men! It's my fault, it's—"

Kylae grabbed Nathaniel's shoulders and wrenched him around to look at her. "It's not your fault!" She glanced up as Saezon came to a stop in front of them. "You hear me? It's Anders'! He killed your guys by runnin' off… not you!

Nathaniel was quiet and lowered his head.

"What do we do now?" Saezon asked, and Kylae saw that he smaller cuts across his body were already healed. Saezon's healing powers were a marvel. When Nathaniel said nothing, the Chasind repeated, "What do we do now? Do we hunt down the shaman and brand his face? Or care for the dead and go home?"

"We can't go after Anders." Nathaniel mumbled. "This area hasn't been cleared, there are only three of us and we have no idea how many darkspawn are in the area. And we can't care for the dead because we have no fuel for a funeral pyre, and now we don't even have a mage who can burn them!" He hung his head again. Kylae and Saezon both waited until he looked back up and said, "Line up the dead shoulder to shoulder and place their hands over their hearts. It's the best we can do for them now, but check them first, there might be a few survivors who are too injured to stand. After that take down their names, they died as heroes and should be remembered as such."

None of the other Wardens had survived, by three of the Venek hol were still breathing. One of them died a few minutes after being discovered, and a second died on the journey back to Vigil's Keep, so in the end only four returned after fifty had left.

While he normally resided at his headquarters in Soldier's Peak, Eebon had come to the Vigil in order to personally oversee the hunt for the Architect's and the Mother's Disciples and with the cooperation he'd been receiving from Dharr down in Orzammar had been making tremendous progress in eradicating the self-aware darkspawn. Now he paced the width of the throne room as he listened to his Wardens report, his face somewhere between disbelief and rage. When they had finished, he continued pacing for several minutes until finally he stopped and turned back to those assembled in the throne room.

"Tylis," He said quietly, and the Warden mage stepped forward. "Send word to every Warden Commander across Thedas, give them a description of Anders and a summary of his crimes. Tell them that if he is discovered they are to hold him until we come for him, or deliver him to us."

"Yes, Commander." Tylis said.

Eebon looked to the lone surviving soldier. A mage-healer had tended to his injuries and brought him back from death's door. "What is your name?"

"Corporal Thames." He answered. "I'm in the scouting division."

"No one should have to go through what you have. If you can still serve then we welcome you back, if you feel you cannot, then we will see you away with full honors and you may choose whatever life you want."

"Well that's an easy enough choice." He said. "Whatever life I had was destroyed in the blight, that's why I'm here sir. Serving in the Venek hol is my life now!"

Several of the Wardens and soldiers around the room stomped their feet or pounded their armor in applause. Eebon smiled and nodded. "Very well, and thank you. Take as much time as you need to recover from your injuries and return to the ranks." More pounding applause sounded, and Eebon waited for it to die off before he said, "We have killed another Disciple, but this should not be viewed as a victory. Too many died, and we were betrayed by one of our own. It gives me no pleasure to give these orders, but… Roaran, Sigrun."

The two dwarves stepped forward, Roaran took a swig from his flask and slipped it back under his armor. "Yeah?" He asked.

Eebon rolled his eyes. "You're going back into the Deep Roads, take however many Wardens and Venek hol as you need, and bring our fallen brothers and sisters back. Maker allow that the Disciples have not harvested the fallen Wardens blood."

Sigrun saluted and Roaran took out his flask for another sip. "Sure thing." He said as he replaced it again.

"Wait!" Kylae shouted as she stomped into the middle of the room "I knew that bastard was rotten, but I let him go! It will not happen again!" Kylae yanked a dagger out of its sheath and held it poised above her opposite hand. "I will kill Anders…" She grimaced and brought the dagger down, slashing her own hand. She groaned and closed her hand into a fist. The blood still flowed freely and dripped off her knuckles. "I swear it, on my own blood!" She raised her fist and threw it down, opening so that the blood splattered at her feet.