AN: A short, one shot tale born from TMP's marvelous cutscene mod showing Alistair being held by his lover, the Warden, following his sacrifice, and from the discussions on the Alistair gush thread on Bioware's social boards with other fans. This scene is included in Cmessaz's wonderful IRS:Alistair mod, and so acknowledgement must be made to that inspiration for my short fic as well..
The Warden I present here isn't from any particular Origin. I imagined this is what any person would feel suffering from a loss of this magnitude.
Disclaimer: All rights and properties to Dragon Age, its world and people belong to Bioware, not I.
Echoes
She walked through the crowded floor of the Landsmeet. People clapped her on the back and called her name, their faces smiling—friends all happy. The Blight was ended, but she didn't hear them. Instead his voice echoed in her mind.
"Sanest thing I've ever done."
She walked out to the crowds and saw past them, not noticing the cheering all for her, the Hero of Ferelden. She heard only his voice still echoing in her mind.
"Have I told you that I love you?"
The bedroll where he once lay beside her still had his scent. At night she cried out, the nightmares still coming and she would reach for him—only to find his empty pillow beside her. And she would die all over again, his voice echoing in her mind.
"I'd like to say I threw caution to the wind at least once…"
She walked beside the formal procession that carried his ashes to the Anderfels for enclosure into the formal tomb prepared for him. Her head was held high, for she still had her pride, but in her breast her heart was shattered. Pride was hollow, but it was all she had left. And still she heard his voice echo in her mind.
"It's always been the Grey Wardens duty to end the Blight and right now, we're the Grey Wardens."
She walked the halls of Weisshaupt, a haunted ghost of a woman where once a hero lived-face pale, armor hanging loosely on a body now too thin to wear it properly. She knows he would be aghast, his sacrifice for her sake for naught, but her heart was dead inside her now. Her body would soon follow. And always with her, the echoes.
"So, the Grey Warden who slays the Archdemon…dies?"
And so does the one he left behind-unable to hear anything else but the echoes that were all she had left.