AN: So...here is the start of a multi-chapter fic for DAI. (looks over at FAR) *whispers* I'm soooooo sorry. *cries*
This is a collab with a lovely friend of mine on Tumblr, Littleblue-eyedbird who you should totally follow if you have one because she is a sweetie-pie.
Rating M: this chapter is pretty safe, but this is mostly for safety's sake.
Disclaimer: BioWare still owns Thedas and I'm not getting paid. *weary sigh*
The desert wind howled through the wide open passages of the Still Ruins, whipping Sulenera's golden hair into her face as she lifted her left hand high above her head. Time roared back to life as she released the spell that had held it frozen in place for so long. All those who once had been enchanted were freed. Chaos erupted all around Sulenera as the demons and Venatori swiftly began moving again. The giant rift in the middle of the atrium burst back to life, feeding the demons with renewed energy from the Fade. Dorian and Solas made quick work of the Venatori as Varric began raining down arrows on the demons in the hall.
Sulenera faced the newly invigorated rift. She thrust her mana towards the jagged fissure hanging in the air a few feet away and felt her mark connect with its magic. She began the process of sealing it; quieting her mind, focusing on healing the tear by emptying her mana into the wound in the veil. The green lightning that spanned between her and the tear suddenly began pulling at her, dragging her closer to it. She had fought the raw magic of the fade numerous times before, but it had never felt like this. For the first time, it was fighting back.
"Something's...wrong..." She called out to her companions through gritted teeth, but between the sounds battle as they fought off the rage demons surrounding her, and the loud crackling of the magic pouring from the torn sky, no one seemed to notice. She dug her heels into the sand, but it had no effect. It dawned on her that she was being dragged underneath the rift. Despite her struggles, it was slowly drawing her in, inch by torturous inch.
'Not again,' she thought as she began to panic internally, still trying to tug herself away.
"Dorian-Solas-hel-" Her cry was abruptly cut off as a magical surge cut through the tear in the veil, exploding violently with hundreds of green wisps and a powerful shockwave of raw energy.
A thunderous crack echoed off the stone of the high vaulted ceiling, and Sulenera found herself staring up into the gaping maw of the rift where it hovered directly above her. Her throat tightened in fear, ready to make one last desperate plea for aid, when the sky above her darkened and a scream that was decidedly not her own rent the desert air like a knife.
Sulenera's pale green eyes widened in horror as a body dropped out of the rift, directly on top of her. The interloper toppled into the world gracelessly, landing heavily on Sulenera in a fit of flailing limbs, pining her to the floor. A sturdy boot slammed into her face and she felt a sickening crunch as her nose gushed with blood. With a cry furious pain, she lashed out in vengeance, kicking her attacker away. There was a muffled feminine whimper as the person rolled away, clutching their face with both hands.
"Sulenera!" Solas' voice rang out in concern as he rushed forward, preparing his mana to erect a barrier around her. He was a moment too late as the rift ejected three more people before collapsing in on itself, two of them burying the first intruder, while the third crashed into Inquisitor Lavellan where she was still sprawled on the floor.
Sulenera groaned, reaching up with one hand to staunch the blood still dripping from her injured nose and found herself looking up into a familiar face.
"Vhenan?" She asked thickly, her head spinning slightly in confusion and mild agony. Hadn't he been behind her a second ago? Had he Fade stepped? If so, she needed to have a word with him about his aim. It was one thing to light is coat tails on fire every now and then, but she really didn't need to be body checked every time something surprising happened to them, though she appreciated the sentiment.
The man on top of her frowned at her with furrowed brows, clearly perplexed at the name she had called him. She had used the endearment before, so there was no reason for him to seem as taken aback by it as he clearly was.
"Solas?" The question came from a few feet away, where a rumpled-looking elven woman was trying to escape from the crushing weight of a tall dark-skinned human and a dazed beardless dwarf.
"Elgar'nan's ass, would you two get off?!" She grunted, shoving the small dwarven man with her shoulder. She crawled a few feet away from them before attempting to stand, swaying dangerously. She looked down and noticed that the blood dribbling thickly from her nose and down her chin had left a long splattering trail down her shirtfront. She heaved an aggravated sigh.
"Not again," she grumbled, wiping the blood from her face with he back of her hand. "My ears are still ringing from Josie's last lecture on how much these shirts cost."
"Well, that was certainly entertaining." The dark skinned man noted in a thick Tevinter accent as he hoisted himself up off the ruined floor with a groan. He meticulously began brushing off his elegant mage robes. "Might I suggest never doing it ag—"
He stopped speaking the moment he made eye contact with Dorian. The mage in question was gaping at him in wide-eyed astonishment, and with good reason. The man who fell from the rift was the same height and build as the Inquisition's swaggering Tevinter pariah. He had the same curling mustache, the same dark sweep of carefully mussed hair, the same wide gray eyes, and the same look of complete bafflement at the sight before him. Outside of the newcomer's somewhat disheveled appearance from his impromptu fall through the Fade, they were identical in every way.
Sulenera's head was reeling from the impact but when she finally tore her lingering gaze away from Solas laying on top of her to glance at the commotion going on, it sent her head spinning again. She was literally seeing double. Dorian was facing off with himself, as Varric scrutinized the Varric that was still sitting slumped on the floor. Sulenera fixed her attention on the elven woman that had fallen through with them. The stranger had tan skin, a petite frame, and a mane of pale blonde hair which was currently pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. Though it was a bit of a mess from where she had been kicked earlier, the woman had a soft oval face which barely looked old enough to bare her vallaslin, and she stared back at the Inquisitor with curiosity gleaming in her bright violet eyes. Far from being her twin, Sulenera realized that she had never seen her before in her life.
"Vhenan…?" Solas' voice came from a few feet away, his staff drawn and his mana visibly pooling in wisps around him, preparing to take a defensive stance. She did a double-take, Solas was standing a few feet away from her, while also hovering above her.
"What.. the.. hell.." Sulenera started as the Solas who had landed on her bounded over to the other elven woman who had fallen through on top of Sulenera first. She felt her Solas appear at her side and erect a barrier around them. Varric and Dorian immediately broke away from inspecting their counterparts and appeared on either side of Sulenera, crossbow notched and stave raised. The intruding party mirrored them.
Sulenera rose to her feet, frost dancing at her fingertips as she watched the elven woman summon a plume of fire in her palm.
"Who are you?" She called out
"Funny, I was just about to ask you that," the woman replied tightly.
"I think you owe an explanation, considering you were the one who just fell out of the sky," Sulenera pointed out.
"It's a bad habit," the other elf with a wry smirk. "I'm trying to quit, I swear."
"Inquisitor—" Both Dorians said simultaneously.
A mixture of shock, curiosity, and realization spread across the many faces in the ruined temple.
Silence reigned for a few minutes as both groups tried to make sense of what was happening. The most obvious conclusion seemed too mad to be true, and no one seemed to want to be the first to voice the thought aloud.
The unknown elven woman was squinting her eyes as she gazed at Sulenera, apparently studying her features. After a few moments of examination, her eyebrows shot up in an expression of disbelief and recognition. She knew those cheekbones, Mythal's branching vallaslin, piercing green eyes, …
"Ma as'lin?" she asked, taking a half step forward before the Solas at her side grabbed her elbow to stop her. She turned around and looked at him in amazement. "She looks just like my aunt, Mythilani."
Sulenera went rigid.
"Mythilani?" Saulenera gasped. "Mythilani of Clan Lavellan?"
"You know who she's talking about?" Varric asked, lowering Bianca a fraction of an inch.
Sulenera swallowed the lump in her throat. She hadn't mentioned that name in front of her inner circle before on purpose, she knew her past was bound to come up at some point. She just didn't expect it to be now.
With a faint, tight lipped smile that didn't quite melt the pain her eyes, Sulenera answered her dwarven rogue, "Mythilani Lavellan was my mother. She died when I was young." Clearly uncomfortable with where the conversation was headed, she added with a note of finality, "And that's all I wish to say on the subject."
"You...You're Sulenera?" The woman sputtered, the color draining from her face. She took another step forward, her hand reaching out as though to clasp her arm or touch her shoulder. She seemed to think better of it when she saw the obvious suspicion on Sulenera's face.
"I'm Aili," she told her as though it should mean something, "Aili Lavellan. Ina'then's daughter. I became First to Keeper Deshanna six years ago, and right now I'm in charge of leading the Inquisition against Corypheus."
"Ina'then Lavellan has no daughter," Sulenera informed her bluntly, crossing her arms, "And I am First to Keeper Deshanna as well as the leader of the Inquisition."
"How is this possible?" The Dorian beside Sulenera asked, shooting Solas a questioning look. Solas, lost deep in thought, was staring down his counterpart who bore the same expression.
"This is a strange place," he began pensively, "The veil was thin here long before the rift formed, and the peculiar blood magic we encountered which halted the flow of time must have had some effect on it, altering its nature somehow. When Sulenera attempted to seal the rift, her magic must have interfered with its stability. Her mark, much like the amulet Alexius used to alter the rift at Redcliff, must have manipulated the rift's unique capabilities into something truly extraordinary... not linking it to a specific point the future…or past for that matter, but to someplace entirely new and wholly unexpected."
Dorian mulled this over, hand stroking his face in concentration.
The other Dorian answered, obviously flustered. "If you're saying what I think you're saying…ah... What you're suggesting is impossible."
The other Solas nodded in agreement. "It was not a portal to the future nor fade. It was a portal to an alternate reality."
"Whatever it was, it's gone now." The Varric who had arrived with Aili noted, looking up at the empty space where the rift had been. "It looks like we might be stuck here."
"Indeed," Solas commented, crossing to meet his twin the middle of the room. He gave the man a curious glance, "You suspect it is Dimensional Magic? A possible subset of Time Magic?"
"Just when I thought shit couldn't get weirder." Varric announced and his twin laughed in agreement.
"It is neither safe nor wise to assume that our world has run out of secrets, Master Tethras," The Solas who had arrived with Sulenera informed the dwarf sagely, approaching the Inquisitor who had just fallen from the sky. Her comrades quickly closed ranks around her, and the mage held up his palms in a halting motion.
"I mean her no harm," he assured them. He fixed his gaze on Aili before continuing, "I am simply interested in examining your left hand. If what you say is true, you should understand why."
Aili gestured for her friends to back down, stepping up to the elven mage with her hand outstretched in offering. The Solas behind her muttered something low and sour in Elvhen. She gave the man standing before her a lopsided smile.
"Your friend back there is going to give me a stern talking to later about trusting people too quickly," she informed him conspiratorially. Solas smirked.
"He has a point," he said as he began inspecting the glowing mark on her palm. He sent a pulse of mana into Aili's hand, sparking her anchor, testing it. "All evidence to the contrary, we could be a pack of clever demons trying to trick you into lowering your guard."
"Our elven friend knows a lot about demons and the Fade," Aili told him with a wink. "I doubt you could pull one over on him."
"And what about you?" Solas asked curiously, his eyes flicking up to hold her gaze.
"I'm not too bad," she grinned. "This doesn't feel like the Fade, but that doesn't necessarily mean much. However, none of you have tried to tempt with us anything, or really threatened us in any way beyond Sulenera planting her foot in my face. I suppose I had that coming though. An eye for an eye and all that."
Sulenera scoffed. She had managed to get her nose to stop bleeding, though it was still swollen. She began working on removing the blood from the front of her armor with magic.
"It...does not look too serious," he said cautiously, taking in the heavy bruising across Aili's cheekbones and the odd angle of her nose. "Are you in a great deal of pain?"
"That's Solas-speak for 'it looks awful and you should let me heal it immediately'," Aili laughed.
"You...know me quite well," he admitted, his eyebrows raised in astonishment.
"Not as well as I'd like," she quipped easily, intention sparking in her eyes.
Sulenera loudly cleared her throat, causing the temperature in the room to suddenly plummet, a light layer of frost spread across the floor of the ruins.
Aili seemed to realize what she had said and who she had actually said it to a moment later, as her whole face instantly ignited in bright red embarrassment.
"I m-mean, not-"
"Excuse me?" Sulenera pursed her lips, striding over to place herself between her Solas and Aili, towering over the smaller elf.
"I didn't mean him," Aili protested, shaking her head and retreating half a step. "I don't want to know him. Well, I mean...I do. I'm sure he must be very nice, since you like him. And who wouldn't like him? I like him! I mean- not him- not like that! Oh Mythal'enaste, this is such a mess..."
"Enough!" The Solas who had arrived with Aili demanded, stomping forward to join them. "Vhenan, kindly stop flirting with...me."
He pinched the bridge of his nose and heaved an aggravated sigh. "Fenedhis, that is quite possibly the most idiotic thing I have ever been forced to say."
"I wasn't flirting!" Aili insisted. Her Solas frowned, one eyebrow arched in obvious incredulity. "All right, maybe I was, but it wasn't on purpose!"
She made a sweeping gesture to the Solas standing opposite them.
"Look at him!" She exclaimed. "He looks exactly like you. He sounds like you. He talks the same way you do. He is you!"
"Is he?" Solas replied, unimpressed. He straightened his posture and let his face go blank, visibly drawing away from her.
"You know that's not what I meant," Aili said firmly, seeing the distance he was trying to create and stepping closer to him, taking his hands in hers.
"You know I've never sought the attention of anyone else," she told him seriously. "In my eyes, there is only you."
"I would not have it any other way," he responded warmly, relaxing slightly. "Though I would prefer that you did not try to win the affections of every version of myself you may encounter."
"Two isn't enough?" she laughed.
"You lead a strange life, Vhenan," he reminded her with a playful grin, "and I am a selfish man."
"I'll do my best," she promised, still giggling, "but old habits die hard, Ma sa'lath. Perhaps I'd have an easier time if you'd stop being so handsome."
"Maker's Breath," The Dorian standing behind them complained loudly. "I swear, one more word from either of you and I am going to be physically ill."
"You should see these two when they get started," his counterpart quipped, jerking his thumb towards Sulenera and Solas.
Sulenera fixed him with an icy glare, "Creators, Dorian if you would keep your nose out our business for three seconds you wouldn't witness our private moments."
"In my defense, it's not that hard! The rotunda is hardly the place for private moments." He shot back.
It was Sulenera's turn to blush as seven pairs of eyes settled on her. "Dorian!" She hissed.
"Can we not discuss what the Inquisitor and I do in private? There are more pressing matters at hand." Solas snapped, returning to Sulenera's side. The human quickly held up his hands in surrender, smirking all the while.
"You are an adorable pair, truly," the Altus laughed, "but you have a tendency to be..."
"Disgusting?" The other Dorian supplied helpfully.
"Just so."
The Varric beside Sulenera snickered noisily, drawing everyone's gaze.
"What?" The other Varric asked eagerly, "I know that look and whatever you've thought of must be good. Care to let us in on the joke?"
"Look at them," the first Varric snorted. "Chuckles has a thing for blondes. Tan elfy mage blondes to be specific. What are the odds?"
Aili and Sulenera eyed each other, shifting uncomfortably as both Solases heaved a grating sigh. The second Varric snorted in the same manner while the Dorians laughed raucously at their expense.
"We have such nice friends," Aili grumbled irately.
A sudden realization hit Sulenera.
"Two Varrics," she groaned, rubbing her temple. "Cassandra is going to have a fit."