A/N: I'm sure many out there will disagree with me, but I have always hated Anders/Justice. He's a big stick in the mud, and by the end of DA2, with the explosion of the chantry, in my mind he's dead. Anders no longer exists. So, I wanted to create a story where Anders has been influenced by Justice's words but they are not sharing one mind, one body. More of the smart-aleck womanizer from Awakenings and a lot more control. This is my idea, hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: Dragon Age is owned by Bioware, I just hang out.
When the wardens left at the Keep by Elissa, their Warden Commander, began to feel the darkspawn presence, Nathaniel and Anders volunteered to check out the darkspawn horde bearing down on the Vigil to find out just what they were dealing with. With Nathaniel's tracking skills and Anders' healing, the two had discovered they were a very lethal combination. So they set out through one of the underground passages that led under the keep's walls and would hopefully bring them out of the way of the bulk of the horde.
They emerged from the underground passage in a grove of trees behind the horde. Using the trees as cover, they watched the horde moving towards the vigil. It was the usual sight for a darkspawn horde, with the exception of one of those new disciple darkspawn giving them all directions, the talking ones that still made the Elissa shudder when brought up in conversation.
"Looks like he's leading them," Nathaniel stated. "But are they the architect's forces…"
"Or the Mother's?" Anders finished. "It's really too bad they don't wear signs that says 'hey, I'm with the architect!' It would make this whole business with new darkspawn a lot easier."
"I doubt most darkspawn can read, let alone make signs," Nathaniel whispered.
"Oh, don't be such a twat," Anders sighed with exacerbation.
"I am not a twat."
"You are! You never smile, you don't make jokes, and I'm honestly surprised Elissa puts up with you."
"I smile," Nathaniel said, getting defensive.
"I have never seen you smile."
"I smile when it's appropriate. Not when we're supposed to do a job, like assess the number of darkspawn bearing down on our keep."
"Fine, fine. Back to assessing then."
"You two argue like an old, married couple," a third voice said from behind the warden duo.
Anders and Nathaniel turned around and were greeted with the sight of a group of templar hunters smiling very wickedly at them.
"Bloody void, not now," Anders spoke first.
"Anders, you are an escaped mage from the circle, we are here to bring you in," the leader of the group spoke.
"I'm a warden, you can't take me. The king allowed my conscription."
"That is not for me to decide, our orders are to take you back to the circle."
"Like the void you are," Nathaniel spoke finally, releasing an arrow in one smooth motion and killing one of the templars through the eye slit on his helmet.
Anders was grateful for Nathaniel sticking up for him, but he knew they wouldn't have long against this many templars. He cast a glyph of repulsion around the two wardens' feet and instructed Nathaniel not to move until the glyph expired or was cleansed. Nathaniel nodded once, and then used an archer ability that rained down arrows on the enemy. Anders and Nathaniel's surprise attack against the templars didn't last long; they finally took out their weapons and charged the two ranged wardens, thinking they had the upper hand. The first three templar hunters to charge the warden duo were thrown back across the grove before the leader noticed the green glyph and cleansed the area of magic.
One of the templars, who was thrown back across the grove, hit a tree sideways and didn't rise to fight again, his back broken by the tree. Anders knew there wasn't much time left before the templars incapacitated him. He glanced at Nathaniel, still shooting off arrows in quick succession, with the occasional killing blow. There were four templars left, but they didn't stand a chance. Once they remembered to smite him, Anders was done since he wouldn't have access to his spells anymore.
"Sorry my friend," Anders said, earning a surprised look from Nathaniel before bashing him on the back of the head with his staff. Nathaniel crumpled to the ground, knocked unconscious from the blow causing Anders to grimace slightly. I hope he can forgive me; it's for his own good. Anders thought to himself as he cast a rejuvenation spell on Nathaniel before throwing his staff to the side and raising his hands in defeat. The four remaining templars surrounded Anders, smited him, and placed restraints on his hands.
"Get the item," the leader ordered. Anders noticed one of the templars kneel before the one who broken their back on a tree and pull out a slim red vial before pocketing it.