Author's note: So…I've completely run my material for The Subject dry, but I'm not abandoning it just yet! Once my Naruto muse comes back, I'll write more chapters, but right now writing what's next would require actually…watching the show and I'm not really in the mood to do that right now. So instead! I'm going to write a similar story with a world I'm currently obsessed with. Yes, folks, we're going to Thedas with our new friend Ana (who, sadly, is Marie with a different name and less social skills) The beginning will rely heavily on in game dialogue, but after she's established as the Herald, I'll be weaning away from all of that.

Anyway, let's get all of this out of the way

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age Inquisition. There is in game dialogue that I use in this story which I didn't write. I'm not profiting off of this. If I was I wouldn't still live with my parents at the age of 26.

My head is pounding like a hammer this morning. Hell, my entire body is throbbing like crazy. It must be early.

I keep my eyes closed as I curl myself into a ball of throbbing pain. Sometime during the night I must have rolled out of my bed and onto the ground, since the surface under me feels hard as a rock. It's freezing too. Thank God I slept in my clothes last night.

Wait a sec. My floor is carpeted. My eyes fly open and I gasp in shock at my surroundings.

I'm in a medieval style prison cell, dimly lit with torches and a nasty dirt floor, which I had apparently been sleeping on.

I roll into a sitting position and shake the dirt out of my hair, groaning while I observe my surroundings. Well, it's a cell. Not really much to observe. The door is probably locked so the logical thing to do is to scream for someone to explain all of this shit.

"Hey! Anyone there? I'm pretty sure imprisonment without cause is against the law, so I'd let me out of here if I were you." I yell.

There are muffled voices and loud footsteps and then silence. Guards must be getting the big boss. I shiver and huddle into a ball for warmth. I was only wearing a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants with socks. Thank God I wore socks to bed last night or else I would probably have frozen feet by now.

A few minutes later, the footsteps return, with more force and number. I hear them as they run down the hallway as if the building were on fire.

The prison door flies open and a dark-haired woman steps through and glares angrily at me.

I gulp. If looks could kill, I'd be dead right now. She pulls out a rope and unlocks the cell door.

The dark haired angry lady pulls me to my feet by my collar and binds my wrists with the rope. After that she pulls me out of the cell and into the center of the room.

I whimper in fear as I fall to my knees in pain, the throbbing in my body intensifying.

I notice another woman in the doorway. She's wearing a purple hood, and she stares at me with the same intensity as the other woman. As if I murdered a bunch of people or something. All of this seems familiar, but at the moment, my brain is too much in shock to even register anything but the current situation. I'm scared, and everything hurts so much. I just want to go home.

The dark-haired woman starts to walk in a circle around me.

"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you right now. The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead. Except for you." she snarls. Her eyes never leave mine as she speaks. Her accent sounds…German.

"W-what? I didn't even leave my house yesterday!" I say weakly with a sniffle. The throbbing is getting worse and it suddenly moves from my head to my…right hand.

The dark-haired woman scoffs and grabs my bound wrists. "Explain this."

Then, my hand glows a bright green, the throbbing suddenly turning into a vibrating sensation.

I scream in shock and pain as I attempt to rip myself away from the woman's grasp. The vibrating slows to a slow throb as my hand darkens as if nothing happened.

"W-what the hell? What did you do to me!?"

"Don't you DARE play the victim!" the dark-haired woman snarls as she raises her hand to slap me.

"We NEED her Cassandra!" the hooded woman pleads. Wait. That accent…it sounds familiar.

I look at both women in shock. I knew where I was now. At least, I knew where my brain thought it was, thanks to my obsession with all things Bioware.

I'm in Thedas. And apparently, I'm the Herald of freaking Andraste. Lovely.

I stare at the ground. "Look…I just woke up here. Before that, I was home. In bed. Asleep."

"So, you're telling us, you have no memory of what happened?" asks the hooded woman. Leliana. That's Leliana.

"None whatsoever."

"Why should we believe you?" demands Cassandra angrily.

I sniffle. I'm crying now. "I swear to Go- the Maker I'm telling the truth. I just want to go home."

Cassandra sighs in frustration. "Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take her to the rift."

I stop staring at the ground and star at the door as Leliana nods and walks away.

I wipe my nose and my eyes. I probably looked pathetic to these women.

"Um…take me to what?" I say, as if I didn't know this entire game by heart.

"It will be easier to just show you." Cassandra helps me to my feet.

She leads me outside and I wasn't prepared at all.

The sky was torn apart. To be honest, it was quite beautiful, in a world ending sort of way. I stare at the sky in awe.

"We call it the Breach. It's a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It's not the only such rift, just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the conclave."

I open my mouth to say something but realize what I had to say might sound stupid, so I just nod in acknowledgement.

"Unless we act, the breach may grow until it swallows the world."

As on cue, the Mark starts to throb into a painful flashing vibration, the shock of it throws me to the ground. I clutch my hands under me in agony.

"Each time the Breach expands, your mark spreads… and it is killing you. It may be the key to stopping this but there isn't much time."

I nod slowly. "Well…I'm not sure how much help I'll be…but I'll try."

Cassandra nods in approval. "Alright. Let's go."

"Um…Before we go can I get some proper shoes? I have really bad feet…"

After grabbing a pair of ill-fitting boots from a chest, Cassandra leads me outside. My hands are still bound, and I can feel the eyes of the people around me.

"They have decided your guilt. They need it. The people of Haven mourn our Most Holy, Divine Justinia, head of the Chantry. The Conclave was hers. It was a chance for peace between mages and templars. She brought their leaders together. Now, they are dead." Cassandra explains as we walk towards the gate.

"It doesn't seem logical that only one person is responsible for all of this destruction." I murmur, mostly to myself.

"And you are right. But in their grief, they lash out, like the sky. But we must think beyond ourselves, as she did. Until the breach is sealed."

Cassandra pulls out a knife, and cuts the rope from my wrists.

"There will be a trial. I can promise no more." she states grimly.

No, there won't.

"Come. It's not far." Cassandra motions to the soldiers guarding the gate to open and begins the trek.

I follow her.

"So…where are you taking me?" I ask.

"Your mark must be tested on something smaller than the Breach. I'm taking you to a small rift caused by it."

I gulp. "Lead on, then."

We barely make it past the gates when my mark flares up again, causing me to fall down face first in the snow.

I contemplated just lying there and dying of exposure, but I had a world to save. I roll over and accept Cassandra's offered hand to pull myself on my feet.

"The pulses are coming faster now. The larger the Breach grows, the more rifts appear, the more demons we face." she says as I shake the snow off of my body. I shiver. I was only wearing sweatpants and a soft purple t-shirt that said "Psychoanaleses for everyone" (an: bonus points for knowing the reference) in white lettering surrounding a cross. I wasn't even wearing a bra, which made me self-conscious as my nipples were poking out of the fabric. It wasn't extremely cold, but I could still feel goosebumps on my arms. I rub my exposed arms for warmth.

"So…was I actually at this Conclave when it exploded? You'll have to refresh my memory."

Cassandra nods. "They said you… stepped out of a rift, then fell unconscious. They say a woman was in the rift behind you. No one knows who she was. Everything farther in the valley was laid waste, including the Temple of Sacred Ashes. I suppose you'll see soon enough."

"Yay." I mutter.

As we walk, I try to come to terms with my predicament. I knew we were about to encounter the first demon and I had no combat training whatsoever. I look over at Cassandra. She was going to have to defend the both of us because God knows if I tried to defend myself against freaking demons, I'd get myself killed. So, when the time comes, I'm going to cower behind her like the out of shape lazy bum that I am.

Ah, well. Cass can handle it. She's badass like that.

We're crossing a bridge when a fucking flaming meteor falls from the sky, destroying the bridge, knocking us on our asses on the surface of a frozen lake.

Cassandra recovers quickly, readying her sword and shield for battle.

"Stay behind me" she yells, as she charges towards the shade that was attacking us.

I went and found the closest crate to hide behind. There were several weapons in said crate, but I didn't reach for any of them. I'd get completely slaughtered and I highly doubt that whoever dropped me here gave me any magic and if they did, I wouldn't know how to use it or even know what it felt like.

So, I hid there in the fetal position until Cassandra killed it. Like a champ. Ana McDirmid: Herald of Andraste, everyone.

"It's dead. I'm surprised you did not try to escape or arm yourself."

I stare at the ground in shame. "I…don't know how to use any of these weapons."

Cassandra's eyes widen in shock. "Truly?"

I nod. "If I tried to use any of these, I'd make myself a liability."

Cassandra purses her lips in thought. "Stay close to me and run where I tell you to run. Do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am."

We're ambushed ten minutes later. I find a good tree to hide behind while Cassandra slaughters all the glowing bad guys. It really pains me that I can't even defend myself in this world. My jaw clenches in frustration as I curl myself up in a ball. The throbbing was getting worse, and I felt a constant vibrating hum in addition to the throbbing and shivering. I'm from the South. We never get temperatures like this and I'm not wearing a jacket which makes the wind bite that much harder.

After the fight Cassandra finds me so we could move on.

"I feel so useless." I mutter pitifully.

"Be thankful you've never had the need to learn how to fight. It means you've lead a peaceful life up until now." comments Cassandra. "We're getting close to the rift. You can hear the fighting."

Ah, yes. Time to meet Varric and Solas, the man who inadvertently caused this mess.

"W-what do you want me to do?" I ask nervously.

"Stay out of the way."

I smile weakly. "I can do that."

We approach the battle cautiously. The two men were holding off the hordes rather admirably on their own all things considered.

When Cassandra charged into the fray, Solas looks over in my general direction while Varric focused on killing whatever was attacking him.

When Solas notices me, he erects a barrier around himself and bolts towards my position.

He reaches me and firmly grabs my wrist.

"Quickly, before more come through!" he says urgently, pulling me towards the tear in the Veil.

When we reach the Rift, he thrusts my hand towards the thing. The strong vibrations come to a head, and then dissipates.

Solas lets go of my wrist and smiles.

I nervously return the gesture, since I was rendered speechless by his presence. My first (and only) Inquisitor was an elf that had her heart (and my heart) torn to pieces by this man.

Plus, y'know, he's the Dalish Loki and it's his fault that the Breach is in the sky to begin with.

Words…I need to say words.

"Uh…. thank you for that." I say, trying not to meet his eyes.

"No need. I did nothing. The credit is yours."

I could feel my cheeks warming my face in a blush. "You were the one who aimed the mark." I mumble.

"Whatever magic opened the Breach in the sky also placed that mark upon your hand. I theorized the mark might be able to close the rifts that have opened in the Breach's wake – and it seems I was correct."

"Meaning we could also close the Breach itself." Cassandra interjects.

"Possibly. It seems you hold the key to our salvation."

My blush gets warmer.

Varric comes to my rescue. "Good to know! Here I thought we'd be ass-deep in demons forever. Varric Tethras: rogue, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong." He smiles at me and winks in Cassandra's general direction, to which she responds with one of her famous 'disgusted noises' paired with an annoyed scowl.

I grin, the awkwardness of meeting one of my many, many fictional crushes forgotten.

"I'm Ana McDirmid. It's nice to meet you, Varric."

Solas chuckles. "You may reconsider that stance, in time."

"Aww. I'm sure we'll become great friends in the valley, Solas." says Varric.

"So…um… What now?" I ask. As much as I'd love to go through the rest of the conversation, I'd much rather get to safety. Y'know. Away from demons.

"Now we go meet Leliana." says Cassandra.

"What a great idea!" chimes in Varric cheerfully.

"Absolutely not. Your help is appreciated, Varric, but…"

Varric rolls his eyes. "Have you been in the valley lately, Seeker? Your soldiers aren't in control anymore. You need me."

Cassandra scoffs in frustration and Varric grins in triumph.

"My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions. I'm pleased to see you still live."

Inwardly I'm kicking myself for being so easily flustered around this man. But I couldn't help it. His very essence oozes sensuality and it's very distracting and…ahm. Arousing. But I must control myself. Even if this was a dream of which I'm about 75% certain that it is not. The physical pain I've felt feels very real. But even if this were a dream, I must not let myself get too infatuated with him.

Hopefully he won't look twice at me since I'm a dirty dirty shemlen.

Varric knocks me out of my thoughts yet again. "He means, 'I kept that mark from killing you while you slept.'"

I turn to Solas with a smile. "Thank you."

"Thank me if we manage to close the Breach without killing you in the process. Cassandra, you should know: the magic involved here is unlike any I have ever seen. Your prisoner is a mage, but I find it difficult to imagine any mage having such power."

My mouth drops open. "I'm a what?"

Solas eyes me doubtfully. "Did you not know? I find that very difficult to believe. I could sense your magic before I even laid eyes upon you."

My brain was completely useless at this revelation, so I just stare at him blankly in disbelief.

Cassandra gives Solas a Look (you know the one). "If she were a mage, I would have known."

Solas returns her Look with a Smug Look of his own.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Seeker, but your sensing abilities only work when a mage is using their power. Judging by the look on Ana's face, she had not known of her abilities, therefore she could not have cast any spells."

"Guys, I think we could probably postpone this discussion when we're not being assaulted by demons." interjects Varric, readying Bianca for the push to the forward camp.

Solas nods. "Agreed. We must move quickly."

When we approached the other frozen lake, we were ambushed by demons again. I froze in fear. We were in an open space and I couldn't find any structure that wasn't on fire to hide behind.

Solas moves towards me and casts a barrier around the both of us, while Varric and Cassandra push forward into an attack.

"Stay close behind me and you'll be safe." he orders.

While they fight, I study Solas, whom was otherwise occupied in keeping the barrier around us, and shooting fireballs and lightning bolts at demons. His movements were fluid, and graceful. His eyes were focused on the targets with such intensity. Occasionally, he'd stop and renew the barrier protecting us with a wave of his hand. It took a ridiculous amount of control to not swoon as I watched him fight.

Stop. No. Bad Ana. It's not sexy. It's dangerous. He's dangerous. Solas is not a man you should be swooning over. Remember what happened in the game? Remember Trespasser?

My thoughts were interrupted by the Mark flashing and sending yet another jolt of pain that brought me to the ground yet again.

Solas stops his attack and focuses all of his energy on the barrier while Varric and Cassandra finished off the demons.

He takes my hand and helps me to my feet.

"We need to move. Now." he says to the rest of the team.

Onward we go.

"So, I take it you're from the Free Marches?" says Varric conversationally.

"Um..what?"

"Accent. I'm from Kirkwall but you're from… further east, maybe?"

"Quite the ear you have." I say dryly, wincing at the pain in my hand.

"I'm all kinds of impressive." Varric says in confidence. Cassandra snorts and rolls her eyes.

The mark flares again and I fall flat on my face in the snow for the fourth time for those at home keeping count.

Varric rushes towards me and pulls me into a sitting position.

"Shit. You alright?"

I shiver at the cold and sniffle. "No. No I'm not." And then I start to cry. A lot.

Cassandra stops and gives me a Look. "We must keep going."

"I-It h-hurts!" I stammer between sobs and shivers. "I w-want to go h-home."

"Don't we all…" Varric mutters under his breath, shrugging off his coat. He hands it to me.

"Here, you need this more than I do."

"T-thank you." I say, wrapping the coat around myself. "It's been a rough day."

"It's been a rough day for all of us, though I think you've got the worst of it, especially if you're innocent in all of this mess. Are you?"

"Am I what?" I ask.

"Innocent."

"I…actually don't remember."

Varric chuckles. "That'll get you every time. Should have spun a story."

"That's what you would have done." states Cassandra.

Varric shrugs. "It's more believable, and less prone to result in premature execution."

When we reach the forward camp, we are thrown into chaos. The Rift swirls above them, expelling demons from it at a steady pace. The Mark lights up like a Christmas tree in response, and I hiss in pain.

Solas grabs me and erects another barrier around us.

"We're going to fight our way to the center. Once we're clear of demons, use the mark to close the Rift." he orders. I nod, and they begin the push.

Solas and I move towards the rift. I grab onto the hem of his shirt with my left hand, in an effort to not separate myself from him and his barriers. I raise my right hand and somehow the Mark connects itself to the Rift, interacting with it and causing disruptions.

I hold my hand high, wincing at the connection. It's uncomfortable, but apparently, I was chosen by God to do this, so I must endure. Thanks God.

Finally the Rift dissolves away in a blinding flash of light.

"The Rift is gone. Open the gate." shouts Cassandra.

As the gates open, Solas gives me a small smile.

"We are clear for the moment. Well done." he says.

"Whatever that thing on your hand is, it's useful." comments Varric.

I blush and stare at my feet as we enter the forward camp. "Thanks…I suppose."