Night Terror Traps

(A/N: I wrote this in response to a prompt on the dragon age kink meme, and I liked it so much I'm posting it here. ^_^ The general premise is that instead of the dinky Fade sequence we got in DA2, it was more like Broken Circle, with "helpful" Torpor sending our merry band of adventurers into their own Fade dream bubbles. Enjoy! And comment! I3 comments)

The voice is faint, "Sister…sister…" it gradually grows louder and louder, now the voice is calling her name, angry now,"Andraste's flaming sword Marian!" ,something small hits her square in the forehead. A pea? "Pass the rolls you twit!" Hawke blinks a couple times and looks around, momentarily bewildered.

"Carver! No name-calling!" Leandra gives her son her most scathing glare. Marian looks at the faces sitting around the table with her. Mother, Father, Carver, Bethany; they're all there. That's right isn't it? Why wouldn't they all be there? Still a bit befuddled, Hawke passes the basket full of steaming hot rolls towards her annoying younger brother. She must have been having one heck of a daydream, Maker knows she's prone to them, but it is odd that she can only remember the barest bits and pieces.

The family, used to their eldest daughter's tendency to daydream, continues on with the conversation that had been taking place. "So, Bethany, what were you saying about the wedding?" Their mother can barely contain her joy at her perfectly normal daughter marrying the Arl's youngest son. Not a glamorous life, but a comfortable, normal, one.

As Bethany happily chatters about floral arrangements and such, Hawke still can't shake the nagging feeling that's she's forgetting something…someone…important. Something her mother says catches her attention, "Now if only Marion could find a nice man to settle down with…" Hawke snaps to attention, an answer flying out of her mouth before she can even comprehend the words.

"I do have someone!" Four pairs of eyes stare at Marian, Bethany's jaw slightly agape, it was no secret that the eldest Hawke sibling was notoriously picky with men. In fact, she was one of the few young women, Bethany another of that prestigious group, who hadn't been associated with some sort of playful roll in the hay with a strapping farm lad or two. "Wait, do I? Yes, I do…" Carver is the first to break the shocked silence.

"Well? Out with it! Who is it? You can't just leave us hanging…" Pieces come to her, slowly but steadily…

"He's…a mage. Like me and Papa…" Hands, healing. "More specifically, he's a healer, a very good one. He runs his own clinic." Where, though? She couldn't remember. How queer. "He also loves cats…" She giggles to herself as a pieced-together memory presents itself. " He used to have a cat named Ser-Pounce-A-Lot, as a matter of fact, his sense of humor is just as strange as mine is I guess." A furrowed, serious brow, "At least, when he lets it out, he's obsessed with…something…and it makes him painfully miserable, but he can't let it go, not just for himself, but for…"

Suddenly she stands and slams her fist on the table. "He's also infuriatingly stubborn! He gets so wrapped up in his blighted cause that he forgets to eat! He also has this maddening habit to pout at me until I give into whatever he wants!" His name, why can't she think of his name? "Not to mention…" Something's wrong…Hawke looks up and her family is still there, but now she can feel the wrongness of it. Ah, there it is…

"Anders has been the greatest support I could have asked for, if not for him, I'd be all alone, crushed under the weight of the grief I bear from losing all of you." Hawke smiles as the tears run down her pale cheeks in icy rivulets. Maybe it would have been better not to remember; maybe the lie of having her family, even just one of them, back would have been worth living in this illusion. But, this was a game that she would not let some demon best her at.

As the shades shed their human appearance, Marion reaches for her staff, and is filled with bright, burning resolve. "I shall not let some third-rate spirits take him from me!" Marion Hawke will find her mage, and she will bring him back. Even if she has to burn the entire Fade to do it.