Fenris only had a few precious moments to breathe before the gravity of the situation hit him.
The stone door of the dungeon had closed unexpectedly just as Hawke and Varric ran through, and the impact with which it collapsed had sent dust flying in the elf's eyes. They stung, and he made a gesture to protect them with his gauntleted hands, though it was a bit too late for it.
Sometime during the one minute span time it took him to straighten himself and readjust his vision, he also realised -to his horror- who else had been with him when the door closed.
Anders- the abomination had been right behind him.
His first reaction was to reach for his greatsword, only to remember it was lost in the other side of the room during the earlier fight with a rage demon.
'Venhedis!' Leave it to him to lose his weapon when the possessed mage could decide to attach him any minute.
Channelling the lyrium into his fists, Fenris carefully turned, ready to rip Anders' heart out if necessary. Except it seemed he might have been too late.
The man was splayed down on the ground on his stomach, motionless and silent, having been hit in the head by some of the debris that fell once the heavy door descended.
Fenris did not allow his fists to unclench, did not approach the body. A wise decision, it proved, when dim blue light started to glow from under the mage's skin only moments later.
The elf cursed loudly in Tevene again and let the lyrium flow more hotly through him. Whatever that demon was going to throw at him, he was ready.
The Abomination groaned an unnatural groan and slowly lifted itself up, staring blankly through Anders' eyes at Fenris- whose body was tense and only became more so with each passing moment.
"He is hurt… absent." The voice that was once Anders' spoke for the demon. "Why was Anders hurt?"
Fenris simply watched on with a hard expression on his face, not about to humour the abomination, not about to lose ground.
Suddenly, as if it finally realised what had happened, it turned his attention fully onto Fenris, regarding him strangely. "I know you." It said, and dread settled into the elf's gut like a heavy meal. "You are the one who calls us 'abomination', though we are no such thing." It approached, strangely calm for a spirit Fenris knew could to be so extremely destructive. "Anders does not like you."
Fenris could not help but let a brief laugh leave his throat at hearing that, though he knew it betrayed his growing panic. "The feeling is mutual, I assure you."
"Why?" The abomination grew ever closer. "Surely you can see the injustice in what is done to the mages, can you not? They are little better than slaves in the Circle, and you can not think that just."
It reached out a hand, aiming for Fenris's neck with a strange expression on its face, and the elf quickly moved back, hissing dangerously
"Stay back, demon!" He warned, eyes darting rapidly around the room for ways to escape, dread growing as he saw there were none.
"I am not a demon. I am a spirit. I am Justice- that and nothing else."
Fenris was not about to believe that, and he lifted his glowing hand in warning once the possessed body tried to approach a second time.
'Justice', as it called itself, frowned, his aura growing threatening in turn. "I am no demon. You should-" The voice that was so loud and harsh one moment broke off the next, replaced by a low whine Fenris could not make out.
The very next second, Justice had Fenris by the neck.
Before the elf could even comprehend how the demon managed such a feat, Fenris's head was unexpectedly tugged to the side, exposing his jugular more fully, much to his horror.
"What are you doing, abomination?" Fenris hissed, more than vaguely alarmed.
Justice just pulled at the collar of Fenris's armour to bring him closer, that same mewing sound passing Anders' lips, and Fenris went very, very still once he realised what it was he was saying.
"Lyriumm…" It whined lowly. "There is lyrium in your blood."
….
Outside the stone door, bets were being made.
Varric had managed to convince Hawke it was the only fun they were going to get out of the mess they were in, and Hawke managed to pretend he wasn't really that interested, if only to save face, but failed.
Once they heard Justice's booming voice from behind the stone, he was pretty sure the dwarf was going to lose a nice amount of gold in the end, yet Varric didn't seem that disappointed.
"Broody has some neat magic of his own, I'm not that worried."
They heard the elf muffled shouts next, and they both shared a slightly startled look.
"Well, at least I think I'm not."
….
Fenris cried out and struggled with all his might, panic having already won over.
The abomination was…cuddling him, and it was the most horrific experience he had had to go through in all his years in Kirkwall. It was saying something, since Kirkwall was not exactly known for its peaceful, friendly streets, especially towards elves.
To Fenris's growing disbelief, Justice not only pushed Anders' shoulders harder into his, effectively pushing the elf into a corner, but he also brought his nose to the other man's neck and sniffed.
Rather loudly, really. It was freaking Fenris out.
"Get off-Fasta Vaas!"
"Lyriumm…" The monster groaned- no, it actually purred!
The former slave swallowed thickly, his eyes wide with agitation and his arms flexing in an attempt to loosen the demon's grip on him, to no avail. Desperation was starting to get to him, especially since it was clear Justice was much stronger than anticipated. "You are embarrassing us both, you-"
Before Fenris could even finish that sentence, Justice hissed and pulled roughly at the collar of the elf's armour again, and just like that, things went from bad to mortifying.
The Abomination brought its-Anders's-whoever's- mouth to the elf's neck and actually licked the lyrium infused veins there.
Just…mortifying.
Fenris was sure no amount of scrubbing the skin of his neck would wash the indignity away.
"Sweet-singing-cool-" It licked again, dragging Anders's tongue lazily across the side of Fenris's neck- 'Don't think about it, don't think about it- do not think about it!' The elf chanted to himself, over and over again, willing the moment to be erased from time.
By everything that was holy, but he would need to burn the skin there as soon as possible, not to mention cut Anders's damned tongue off and crush it before feeding it back to the mage. The fool had just had to go and invite a demon into his body, hadn't he?
Fenris would have scoffed, were he not so horrified.
"Soft, warm, full of lyriumm-" Justice mumbled almost intelligibly, but Fenris was too preoccupied- sick to his stomach to care, since the bloody abomination had just palmed his hip to keep him still.
It was, without question, the most horrific day in all his memories. There was simply no competition.
As the possessed body of a man he loathed proceeded to hug the fear of gods into Fenris and kiss his neck- inconceivable, someone kill him there, anyone, if only he hadn't killed that rage demon-, the elf had but one bitter thought.
Of all the poisons in the world, why did they have to put lyrium in his blood?
Bloody, depraved mages- the emotional turmoil left by years of slavery would heal faster than this.
….
When they finally figured out how to get the door to open, neither Hawke nor Varric really expected to find both of their friends alive.
They knew Justice had somehow resurfaced, and heard Fenris's mildly horrified voice before it died down.
Varric refused to pay the bet until they saw the carnage, but Hawke was fairly confident he won.
Except he didn't. No? Maybe? Yes? Well, he wasn't really sure.
But really, in what sort of distorted portion of the Fade would Fenris allow the scene they stumbled upon happen- while alive?
The only sensible explanation for the fact he'd let Andres get his arms, let alone his lips anywhere near the elf - and yes, yes, those were Anders's lips sucking on the Fenris's neck, no doubt about it-, was that he was dead, right? It had to be.
Well, then, why was Fenris breathing? And why was he furiously mouthing the word 'Help!'?
The world made no sense anymore.
Justice- Hawke realised that was not Anders, after all- only let go of the elf once Varric's insanely loud laugh startled him enough to snap out of whatever daze he'd been in.
The spirit took two steps backwards in confusion, an unnatural smile on his host's lips- much to Fenris horror and Varric's delight.
Fenris took the chance to stumble away from the corner he'd been pinned in and run like mad for the opening in the great chamber they've first came through, not even stopping to pick up his sword.
Hawke just continued to look on with wonder and one lone, confused voice rang over Varric's fit of laughter. Anders's voice.
"Hawke, what-? Wait…wasn't that door about to close a moment ago?"
Hawke nodded dumbly while Anders looked around with narrowed eyes.
"My head and hands tickle strangely." The blond mage uttered slowly, as if he was just getting a hold of himself. "Did Justice come out? I could've sworn-"
Varric, who for one brief moment had seemed to stop to breathe, burst into laughter again. "Oh, he came out alright." He snorted, almost choked on his tongue. "I bet Fenris could tell you all about it."
Any attempts to talk to the dwarf after that were useless, and Anders eventually gave up. "I don't even want to know."
For some reason though, the next time he happened to see the elf, Anders couldn't explain the strangest urge to stare at the lyrium lines crossing his face- or how eerily excited Justice got.
"The world gets stranger and stranger."
Still, the elf did have a nice, strong jaw. 'Delicious, too.' Justice supplied, and Anders pretended not to hear.
That, he really did not want to know where it came from.