Before we begin, I just want to say that this is the first time I post fanfiction in general. I've got a low opinion of my writing but I'm still posting this and welcoming all reviews/criticism.

Other things to keep in mind while reading this:
1) Gwyneth is an OC from an AU fanfic I'm working on. Not a warden
2) I feel like I might have written the one person actually in the game OOC but yeah.
3) Ambiguity is there for a reason.

ENJOY! and BioWare owns all.

They would be waiting until he was healed for the coronation. Gwyneth was happier about that fact than she should have been. She supposed that the delay would make it easier for her to slip away from Denerim. Gwyneth just wished she didn't have to leave.

She didn't have to leave. That was an exaggeration, but she felt he had to. Gwyneth wasn't going to just stay and have to see them together. Continuing their relationship once he married Anora was out of the question too. Gwyneth could never do that to someone, even Anora.

She could also just go to Highever and help rebuild. They were even considering making her teyrna, a thought that made her as uneasy as Alistair had been about being put forth as king. That possibility made Gwyneth want to run even more. She would not only be taking over the home of the family that took her in but she would be required to see him whenever a Landsmeet was called. She didn't know if she could handle that. So she decided during that quiet, anxious time before the final battle in Denerim that she would leave Ferelden.

Now with the battle won and recovery underway, Gwyneth was going to vanish on them, just like Morrigan had. She didn't have shapeshifting at her disposal but her skill in stealth would do just fine.

Gwyneth was quiet as she gathered her things and set them into her pack. She was glad to have a room to herself. Had she been roomed with Leliana or Wynne, they might have noticed the slight noise she made as she worked.

It didn't take long for her to be ready. She didn't have much and was leaving her armor behind. She probably should have taken it with her and sold it but she didn't feel right doing so.

A lot of things weren't feeling right as she went forward with her plan but she wasn't going to stop. Not now, when it was likely the easiest and best time to leave.

She grabbed her cloak, put it on, walked out of her room and toward his.

The palace made Gwyneth feel very uncomfortable. This was where he was going to spend the rest of his life with her. She had no real qualms against Anora. Yes, she could be a bossy bitch but it wasn't as if Gwyneth hated her. She just hated that Anora was going to marry the man she loved. Her Grey Warden. Her King.

She opened and closed his door as quietly as she could when she entered. When she spotted him on his bed, sound asleep, she found herself getting nervous.

He looked so calm now. There were no dreams of darkspawn to haunt him, not for a good while anyway. She stood next to him and watched him sleep. Gwyneth was tempted to touch him, to tell him her reasons for saying goodbye, but held back. She didn't want to chance waking him up, alerting him to what she was up to. He might be able to convince her not to leave if he did. So she stood there, silent and unmoving.

'I'm sorry, my love,' she spoke to him in her thoughts, 'If only I were strong enough to stand seeing you with her. If only I had the strength to stay. Then, maybe I wouldn't cause us even more hurt as your being King already has.'

She felt she needed to leave something behind as a gift to him. One last gift. She knew it would be cruel to do so but she had to leave something personal for him. She grabbed a small griffon statuette from her pack. This griffon had been with her for so long. She'd taken it with her the first time she ran from Denerim. Now she was leaving it behind in Denerim for him.

Tears were starting to roll down her cheeks as she set the griffon on the chest by his bed. She took the tears as her cue to leave. With one final look at his sleeping form, she crept out of his room and out of his life.

Gwyneth had managed to remain unseen as she stepped outside of the palace or so she thought until she heard a voice call her. Zevran.

"So you're leaving?" He didn't sound surprised.

"Yes. And don't try to stop me, Zev."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Gwyn. But does anyone else know you're leaving?"

"I didn't tell anyone. I wasn't expecting to have to talk to anyone before I left."

"I see."

"Goodbye my friend," she gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek, "I'll miss kicking your ass when we spar."

"And I shall miss admiring yours." he laughed.

"Zev?"

"Yes?"

"If you happen to stick around in Denerim, take care of him will you? I don't want news to reach me wherever I end up that the King was assassinated."

"Of course."

Gwyneth walked away from Zevran. She wondered how the others would take her departure. Sten and Shale would likely be indifferent or seem to be so, Gwyn could never tell with them. The others would be saddened by it. Then she thought of his reaction.

Would he be broken? Would he take it in stride?

More tears were starting and she pushed away her thoughts of him.

This was it. She was leaving everything behind. It wasn't like the first time, when she was just running away from Denerim.

She had to leave Ferelden. Just so she would have no chance of ever seeing the King and Queen together. So she would not feel her heart breaking when she saw them because she felt she should be the one standing by his side.