Dragon Age 2 Revisited: Revisited
A.N. I have been reading a superbly awesome DA2 fic called Dragon Age 2 Revisted, focusing on the romance between Anders and a F!Hawke named Faith, written by one alyssacousland. This will be a two chapter fic.
SPOILER ALERT FOR BOTH GAME AND FICTION!
We all know by now that Anders asks for the players help to sneak into the Chantry so that he can plant the explosives to blast the Chantry to kingdom come, and doesn't tell the player what he was doing. The same happens in this fic. I am, with alyssacousland's permission, writing a little alternate history, wherein Anders DID tell Faith what he was planning to do, and Faith, due to an action on Elthina's part in kidnapping of Faith's cousin Rilka Amell, agrees to help him anyway.
"Maker, Anders." Faith teased. "You have a flair for the dramatic, don't you? I'm here and alive, thanks to you. Stop this brooding at once, or I will have to call you Fenris from now on."
He scowled at that, and this made her laugh. "So, what is it that you have to ask me now?" Her eyes twinkled at him.
"Oh, that," he looked utterly miserable for a few moments, but then braced himself before speaking again. "There is something I must ask you to do. And I can't tell you why…"
At this, Faith's eyes narrowed. Pushing Anders off of her, she rose to a sitting position. "What did you promise me earlier, Anders?" Her voice was cold as ice.
Anders, realizing he had just stepped into a very deep pile of mud, swallowed, and whispered, "I promised that I wouldn't leave you out of my plans for freeing the mages from the Chantry."
Faith's eyes narrowed still further. "Why are you going back on your word, Anders?"
Anders swallowed again, then, with the sense of walking on very thin ice, said, "Because what I am going to do will be horrible, to say the least. I don't want any backlash from what I am going to do to come back on you."
There was no warning, only a flash and a sharp pain in his jaw to tell him that his wife had just punched him. "I AM YOUR WIFE, YOU ASS!" Faith shrieked. "ANYTHING YOU DO AUTOMATICALLY COMES BACK TO ME!" Shaking her head in disgust, she got out of the bed. "I'm going to sleep in one of the guest rooms tonight."
Springing up, Anders blocked her path. "Please Faith; this is something that I must do on my own." Faith looked at him with eyes filled with fury and snarled, "You can't do anything on your own anymore, Anders. I am your WIFE; whatever you do, wherever you go, I WILL be there, beside you. And if you cannot accept that," she sobbed, pulling her wedding band off her finger and shoving it in his face, "then leave, and never come back here again." She was on the verge of breaking down completely, her eyes overflowing with tears.
Slowly, Anders took Faith's hand, lowered it, and slowly slipped the wedding band back onto her ring finger. Then, he looked her in the eye, and with the sensation that he was standing at the edge of a massive cliff, said, "Very well, Faith. If you are this adamant on this, I will tell you. Just remember, you asked for this."
Anders closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "There is no potion to separate Justice and me, Faith. A month ago, I ran into an old friend from Vigil's Keep, Dworkin Glavonak. He developed a new type of explosive thanks to the Commander's funding. He gave me the formula for his explosives."
"And you want to plant them in the Chantry, in order to provoke open war with the Templars," Faith finished for him.
Anders nodded, staring at the floor, waiting for Faith to scream at him, hit him, or simply tell him that she wouldn't allow him to do this.
Instead, she embraced him, and whispered, "Thank you, love." Anders blanched. "Hawke, why are you thanking me? I just told you that I plan to do something that will forever label me a terrorist and you with me!"
"I am thanking you," Faith explained, "for being honest with me. And as for the terrorist part, any plan that ends with Elthina's head on a pike is a good plan to me; I don't care if she is Grand Cleric, the Divine, or even the Maker, no one stabs me in the back and turns on my family; she will die for what she did to Rilka."
Anders was downright scared by the sheer hatred and contempt in his love's voice. Deciding to head her off before she decided to grab her daggers and go stab the Grand Cleric to death, Anders said, "We'll worry about this later, love. I had….other things in mind for tonight." "Hmph," Faith grunted. "That's too bad, love. The hypocrite is firmly planted in my mind, and I challenge you to try and get her out."
"Challenge accepted," Anders whispered huskily, reaching down to stroke Faith's thigh, while at the same time preparing to send small bursts of electricity from his fingers…..
oo-00-oo
Faith and Anders walked up the stairs leading to the Chantry. As they climbed, Faith whispered "So, what am I to discuss with the Grand Bitch whilst you 'do what must be done'?" "Food," Anders replied. "The weather? What does it matter?" He paused, and then whispered, "No, talk of mages. Give her one last chance to support us." "I'm not holding my breath, dear," Faith muttered. "Neither am I, but we must at least try," Anders insisted. "That is what separates us from mindless murderers." Faith nodded, and then opened the large, heavy doors that lead to the Chantry interior.
Once they were inside, Anders kissed her, saying "Thank you, love. I'll come and find once I'm finished," and then walked off. Squaring her shoulders, Faith walked up the set of stairs that led to the central platform of the Chantry, where stood Grand Cleric Elthina. Fortunately, Sebastian was not present at the time. Good, Faith thought. It would be inconvenient for me to have to castrate that pompous ass. Hearing Faith's footsteps, Elthina turned, smiled, and said "Maker's blessing Champion."
Faith stood seething at Elthina, fists clenched and jaw working furiously. Then, she slapped Elthina in the cheek.
The Grand Cleric staggered backward, holding her face, then stood up and calmly asked, "And what did I do to deserve that, Champion?"
"How about when you and that son of a bitch Veal tipped off the Templars that my cousin, Rilka, was living with me," Faith snarled, "So that Meredith could drag her off to hold her hostage, and get me to round up any mages who try and throw off their yoke."
"I did not inform Meredith of your cousin's location or status, Champion," Elthina insisted. "Then how," Faith whispered menacingly, "did she find out about her?" Elthina paused, and then continued. "The Knight-Commander was here in the Chantry when Sebastian told me of Rilka. It is possible that Meredith overheard our conversation."
Faith scoffed. "And you, of course, let her run off and use her to drag me around by the nose, in the name of the Chantry, which you will do anything to advance the power of." Elthina bristled. "I only want what is best for this city, Champion." "No, you don't," Faith snapped. "You only want what is best for the Chantry, for yourself. You just play the neutrality card so that none of the backlash comes back to haunt you."
Elthina sighed. "What do you want, Champion? I do not believe that you came here merely to assault my character." "No," Faith muttered, "I came here to give you another chance to support the mages. I would have thought that with what Meredith is doing you would finally have to get off your ass and actually DO something."
Elthina sighed, and then said, "I FEEL for the mages, I REALLY do. I certainly would not wish to be locked in the Gallows for all my days. But magic allows for abuses to be committed beyond the scope of mortals."
"ENOUGH!" Faith bellowed at the top of her voice, loud enough that everyone in the Chantry heard her. "I am SICK of being fed the same canned excuse by EVERYONE in this back-assward excuse for a religion. Very well, Grand Cleric Elthina; if you will not do anything for the mages, then I WILL! I WILL free the mages, and then I will wipe out the Templar Order, and finally I will rip down your precious Chantry brick by brick."
For a moment, there was absolute quite, as Faith glared at Elthina with unrestrained contempt. Then, the Champion of Kirkwall heard footsteps coming from behind her. Turning, she saw Anders walking up to her, his explosives obviously placed. Smiling, he put an arm around his wife, saying "I've been looking everywhere for you, love. Your voice carries quite a bit, you know." He then turned a gaze of barely contained hatred toward Elthina. "Your Grace," he spat.
Elthina looked at Anders with a pitying expression. "Your soul is troubled, child; may you find a balm for it here." Anders flinched then raised his voice. "And how, Your Grace, do you propose that I find a balm for my troubled soul in the very place that is the reason why my soul is troubled to begin with?" And with that, he led Hawke down the stairs towards the exit.
As they made their way to the doors, Sebastian entered the Chantry in front of them. Faith reached for her daggers, but Anders grabbed her by the wrists and pinned them to her sides so that she couldn't attack the would-be prince.
He could do nothing to stop her viscous glare, however.
