Felt the whole world change

A/N So I am officially obsessed with Solas, I just can't stop writing about him. It's just so much fun. I love it. So this fic takes place before the game.

She was lying there on a makeshift bed, stable but still asleep. She was compelling, she had all the marks of a warrior, scars, muscles, weathered hands but she had a delicacy about her, the way her braid was knotted, the softness of her skin. He felt her cheek with his thumb; she seemed to smile as he did so. He wondered if anyone had touched her like this before. He shook his head violently as he took his hand away. How could he think of her like that? He had to leave Adan would take care of her. It hurt to leave though, the pain in his chest was strange and foreign.

He grabbed his staff and headed out the door determined to have another go at closing these damn rifts. It had to be done or at least tried but he had to admit, he had no idea how to close these damn things. His pride was wounded at the admittance, his orb had caused this, and he should have been able to fix this. As he walked he found Varric and Cassandra, she was yelling at him, "Dwarf, how dare you leave my side!?"

"Seeker" Varric spoke with his usual calm and unflappable demeanour. "I merely left your side for a couple of moments whilst you talked to the commander."

"You cannot just come and go as you please, dwarf" She said angrily, it was clear to both of them that she wasn't really angry at Varric. They knew she was angry at being helpless and they were right. She'd always had orders, she followed them and all was right with the world. Now for the first time ever, she was forced to come to terms that she didn't have orders, she was in charge and that terrified her, especially as the world was falling apart. Varric was a convenient form of stress relief which he accepted was one of his new roles. Not that he had a choice. Solas had grown fond of the dwarf; he didn't seem to conform to what he knew of dwarven history. The contradiction was fascinating and the dwarf had gone out of his way to show kindness towards the apostate elf.

"Seeker" Varric said his voice low and husky "If you want I can tie a bell around my neck and you can find me whenever you want." Solas laughed at his attempt at flirtation at someone who was clearly furious at him. Unfortunately this laugh meant that Cassandra's ire was now aimed at him. Varric grinned at him as she turned.

"Where have you been?" she demanded furiously.

"He's been making soft eyes at Ivy." Varric said mischievously but a second later he wished he hadn't as Cassandra turned back towards him. "Why can't I keep my mouth shut?" he thought to himself.

"Who is this Ivy?" Cassandra asked her voice was thick with exasperation and fury.

Not wishing to further her ire, Solas answered her "I believe he is referring to the girl."

"Not another one of your stupid nicknames." Cassandra said deflating slightly.

"My nicknames are chosen in the best possible taste, isn't that right Chuckles." He said winking at the elf.

Solas nodded "I'd have to agree Master Tethras."

"This isn't important" Cassandra insisted, her voice however was calmer and more rational which caused relief in the two men. It had been a small miracle that neither of them had been executed with their heads on pike. "Do you have any idea how to close the rifts?"

"If the answer was yes, you would have known before now." Solas said wryly.

Varric's sensing the seeker's anger rise interjected "We should probably go out and find one; you're not going to figure it out standing around here." Cassandra looked at the dwarf and weighed up the pros and cons of throwing them both in cells but she grudgingly admitted that he was probably right. Besides she wanted to keep a close eye on this elf, she still wasn't entirely convinced that he was helping. He could be a maleficarum, keeping the rifts open, so he could flood the world with demons.

They set of together through the snow and ice of Haven. They went towards a rift that they knew were near some ruins. It was the closest and it seemed that the demons had learnt to stay away from this one mainly because there were always at least 5 guards posted opposite it. Cassandra stopped to give a briefing to the guard that had tagged along as they walked toward the rift.

"Good luck Chuckles." Varric said.

"Why would I need luck?" Solas asked.

Varric lowered his voice as much as he could without causing suspicion, he didn't want the seeker to think he was conspiring "She thinks you're a blood mage and you started all this, you need to have some progress, closing one of these things or she's going to have you tortured for information."

Varric's concern for Solas was touching but Cassandra didn't frighten him. She was just a soldier floundering about in the cold besides he couldn't really be offended by her suspicion, they were both true. "Thank you Master Tethras but I fear they key to closing these rifts is beyond our grasp."

"You think it's her?" he asked.

"She is clearly connected to these rifts, she has the same power, and if the energy could just be directed then she could be the key." Solas said with desperation.

"Adan says she's recovering" Varric said with his characteristic optimism.

"She is, she will wake up, but it may be too late by then." Solas looked up at the breach, with shame on his face "The world may be long gone by the time she wakes up."

They walked along sullenly, "You know I heard this story once about this girl she slept for a hundred years and she woke up after being kissed by a handsome prince."

Solas rubbed his chin thoughtfully "Handsome prince, that is one form of medicine we have yet to try, you wouldn't happen to know where we could find one."

"Yes I would" Varric said remembering Sebastian and his vow to destroy all of Kirkwall "But they're not all they're cracked up to be" Varric's voice was filled with melancholy, his memory taking him back to his home. All his friends were far away; he couldn't help but miss them and perversely wish they were here. That wish didn't last long he wouldn't wish being here on anyone.

"That's a shame." Solas said quietly, not wishing to interrupt his companion's thoughts.

Varric just smiled then he said cheekily "You know it probably doesn't have to be a handsome prince."

"I doubt she'd appreciate being kissed by a complete stranger." Solas said blushing, the idea had some appeal. The girl was so beautiful with her golden hair, her fine freckles, her soft skin even her eyebrows which had at first seemed comically fuzzy, seemed to fit her. It didn't matter what she looked like, he wasn't going to kiss a girl he hardly knew.

"I don't know if it was being kissed by a stranger or waking up to find the world gone." Varric considered "Then again I think deep down beats the heart of a romantic."

"I have no doubt Master Tethras."

They'd arrived at the rift; Solas tried his spells, more out of obligation than hope. The rift seemed to almost be belligerent in its refusal to close. Cassandra had made them stay out there for two hours despite how useless it was. Eventually Solas told her that he could communicate with some spirits and hopefully achieve some insight into the rift. She wasn't happy about that and she had no right to be. It was a complete and total lie. All the trustworthy spirits had been driven off long ago by the breach. But even Cassandra had to admit that this was pointless so they headed back to camp like failures.

Cassandra dismissed them both as they got back to Haven. Varric went to the tavern, he invited Solas but he politely declined. He watched Cassandra go; he knew what she was going to do. She was going to recommend to Leliana that he be imprisoned. He wondered what form of torture, these human favoured, hot pokers, starvation or tranquillity. Humans had proven to be quite brutal but he couldn't blame them, they were desperate. As he walked back to the girl he saw eyes turn to him, they whispered to each other. Cassandra wasn't alone in her views; he could hear the names blood mage, maleficarum, and demon.

Adan was gone, leaving her alone, surprisingly there were no guards. There must have been an emergency somewhere, a group of men reporting back from a rift, more refugees, there was always something. She was exactly where he left her. He smiled at the thought. It had been a long time he'd returned anywhere and have a friendly face there to greet him.

"How have you been?" he asked "It's good to see you, I've had a terrible day, the mistake I made is spiralling out of control and these people are going to turn on me."

There was a still silence that filled the small room, he chuckled slightly and pulled up the chair next to her "Forgive me for my rambling, dhalen, it's just I don't think, I'm going to be able to help you for much longer" he took her hand "Adan is a capable physician, he'll be here when you wake up, I wish I could have helped you but I need to leave."

She groaned, he picked up the damp cloth and dabbed her forehead "I wanted to help you, I wanted to put my mistake right but it seems that will be impossible, it's silly though, I don't even know you really, maybe you're just like the rest of the dalish, an arrogant fool." she frowned at that, he knew it was just the pain but "I'm sorry, lethallan, I don't really believe that, I've been trying to help the people for so long but everything I do is wrong." She moved her little finger slightly on one hand. It was a good sign.

"There is hope for you, but there is none for me." He stroked her forehead "Varric said something funny about a girl being woken by a kiss, it's silly but I guess if I'm going to leave I guess I should try everything." He looked at her almost as if he was asking for permission, he wondered if this was her first kiss, she deserved much better if it was. He was about to give up on the idea and leave but as he got up, she raised he hand it was only a centimetre, maybe not even that. It was arrogant to think she was asking him to stay, she didn't even know him. He sat down though.

"What do you want from me?" he asked gently, he touched her lips with his fingers, they were soft beneath his touch, and she smiled. Her lips curving mischievously, he wondered how aware she was of him. "If you keep smiling at me, I will kiss you." Her smile stood firm, bright and defiant. He kissed her gently and remarkably her lips seemed to react to his. As he backed away she groaned again, "I'm sorry lethallan." He stepped out of the room "One last attempt to fix this, for you then."

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Tauriel was annoyed, the last thing she knew she was at the conclave, listening to windbags puff hot air at each other. Now she was being escorted to a big hole in the sky by a shemlen. Her hand hurt, the mark glowing brighter, the power pulsing beneath her skin. Apparently the only way she was going to survive was if she used this mark to close the breach. She looked ahead and she saw a dwarf and an elf. They were being surrounded by demons; she lifted her newly acquired sword and rushed to help them. Cassandra followed and soon they were all dead, but she saw the rift pulse, more were coming through, she gripped her sword tighter.

"Quickly, before more come through" the elf took her hand and she felt the power in her hand twist in his grasp, she fired it like an arrow into the breach. The power formed a glowing green line connecting her to the rift. She could see the power fluctuate, twist and turn but if she could just hold it steady. The rift burst into light and then miraculously, it was gone. She looked at her own hand in wonder, how could she have done that. She turned to the elf who had guided her she wanted to thank him, for whatever he'd done but all she managed was a goofy smile. As Solas looked her awake at last, he felt the whole world change.

A/N So that was a lot of fun, I hope Solas didn't come across as too stalkerish but I just got this image in my head of Lavellan being a bit like sleeping beauty and I liked the idea of Solas being the handsome prince. So I wrote this story, it was also fun to explore the world before the game and just focusing on how screwed everyone is.