Heaven Sent

Chapter One

Author's Note: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING THAT HAS BEEN COPYRIGHTED. I simply use them for entertainment purposes. Please enjoy :) Warning: major spoilers from here on out, so if you haven't completed the game, do not read.

'thoughts'

"speech"

Today was not going to be a good day. At all. Waking up on a stone floor, feeling like I've been run over by a truck and my hand feeling like I stuck it inside a blender, seemed to be a good sign of that.

Groaning, I sat up on my knees. Feeling a tug on my wrists, I looked down to see that I was manacled to the weathered stone beneath me. I looked up at the sound of a door opening and saw two women come towards me. As they drew nearer to me, and the door was closed behind them, I could make out their features. My jaw dropped in shock. 'Okay, still dreaming then.'

Cassandra Pentaghast, Seeker of the Chantry, Right Hand of Divine Justinia V, stared down at me with a menacing snarl on her face. Her eyes were blazing with rage just barely kept leashed, all of it -I realized- focused on me.

Leliana, Divine Justinia V's Left Hand, and one whom I'd always took comfort in her warm smiles, had none for me. Indeed her face was as unforgiving as the stone I knelt on and her blue eyes were as ice as she stared at me.

How are they here? They aren't real! All of Thedas wasn't real! What the hell was going on?!

"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you now."

Startled out of my thoughts, I realize Cassandra's started the interrogation. 'Great', I think, 'It's the Inquisition's storyline. Figures my obsession with this world would lead me to dreaming about living it.' I look up at her and my heart withers at the hate she has for me. In the game, I looked to her as an older sister, a rallying point to keep me both grounded and filled with hope. Being on the receiving end of her ire now hurts, no matter how my mind rationalizes that this isn't real and even if it were, she doesn't know the Inquisitor yet in the storyline, and she thinks that I am the one who slaughtered someone dear to her.

Taking a deep breath, I look her square in the eye, and tell her, "Well first off, you shouldn't be even able to kill me, considering the fact this must all be a dream. You aren't real, and I wish to wake up now." Utilizing what little space I had between the manacles, I maneuvered to where I could pinch myself so I could wake up, ignoring the sound of swords being unsheathed. I closed my eyes and pinched my arm hard with my nails, only to shoot them open in shock at the feel of blood rolling down my arm. Faced with the evidence that I'm awake and still where I was, only bleeding now, I could feel myself start to panic.

"Oh shit, no! No! This can't be real, it's impossible!" I pinched over and over, feeling myself start to cry. The blood was real, they were real, and their hate for me was real. This was no dream, this was a nightmare!

Leliana and Cassandra looked at me with frowns of confusion as I had my little breakdown. Then they looked at each other before Cassandra started again, pain in her face as her gaze found mine again, "I can assure you, unfortunately all of this is real. This is no dream. The Conclave is destroyed, everyone who attended is dead, except for you!"

At the end of her speech, she grabbed my left wrist and shoved it in my face, "Explain this!" I looked and saw the green eerie glow of the Anchor. I felt my face bleach and I looked up at her frantically, "I...can't!"

Her scowl deepened, "What do you mean you can't?!"

I shook my head desperately, fear crippling me, instinct forcing me to go with my safest bet, "I don't know what that is, or how it got there, I don't even know how I got-"

Cassandra gripped the front of my shirt and shook me in her fury, "YOU'RE LYING!

I flinched away from her just as Leliana pulled Cassandra away from me, "We need her Cassandra."

Her voice was always beautiful to me, just as lyrical and lilting as her name, while Cassandra's had always instilled me with strength, Leliana's had always filled me with peace. And now I remembered the whole routine they were doing, good cop vs bad cop, though I doubt it was hard for Cassandra to play her part considering Justinia's death. Very smart Leliana.

"Whatever you both think I did, I can assure you I'm innocent."

My words brought them back to the matter at hand, and now it was Leliana's turn to question me, "Do you remember what happened? How this began?"

Feeling Leliana deserved an answer, and knowing my life depended on it, I thought hard, only getting flashes of memory in return.

Running, need to run away, the chittering of the gruesome monstrosities chasing me send fear down my spine, 'Oh God, why spiders? Please, dear God, save me!'

"I remember...running...things were...chasing me I think..."

Climbing a tall cliff, have to climb faster, the spiders will get me if I don't get away! Hope, a woman cloaked in golden light reaches out for me beckoning me, 'Sweet Virgin Mary, thank you! I'm safe now!'

"...then there was... a woman?"

"A woman?" Leliana repeated, incredulous.

"She was reaching out to me...but then..I-I can't remember anymore, I'm sorry!"

I bowed my head in shame, cursing the holes in my memory that damn Nightmare demon put there, the bastard. I dimly heard Cassandra lead Leliana to the door, making mention of bringing me to the rift.

I looked up at the sound of hurried armored footsteps coming closer, only to see Cassandra crouched in front of me undoing the manacles from the floor. I couldn't help but ask, "What now?"

She looked up at me as she bound my wrists together with a small bit of rope. A precaution, I guessed, in case I decided to make a run for it through the encampment we were in. She sighed, weariness creeping into her features, "It...will be easier to show you." At that she turned around, which was an unspoken cue to follow her. Being so long in that position and so long on the ground, I felt dizzy and stumbled, falling to one knee. Cassandra turned, no doubt hearing my fall and frowned in question. I got back up and said with a small smile, "When I'm in one position for too long, or close to the ground for a period of time and I get up, I get dizzy. I'm alright. I'm not going to die on you yet."

She merely nodded, and turned to continue. I followed, and once I reached the outside, I flinched from how bright it suddenly was, though there was almost no sun breaching the cloud cover. I turned to look at the sky and I saw it. A great, swirling, green chasm with a beam of the same green light linking it to the earth below. My face bleached again and I felt nothing but fear and dread the more I looked at it.

"We call it 'The Breach'." Thankful for the distraction, I turned to face Cassandra as she continued, "It's a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It's not the only such rift. Just the largest. All were caused by the explosion at the Conclave."

I glanced at The Breach once more, before turning back and saying, "Must've been one hell of an explosion to affect the sky like that."

She nodded, looking at me with a suspicious expression, "It was. And unless we act, The Breach may grow until it swallows the world."

At that, there was a sudden intense pain came from the damn Anchor on my hand, and I fell to my knees screaming in agony. I never did have much tolerance for pain. Oh God, did it hurt. When it stopped, I looked up to notice the Breach getting slightly bigger, its connecting beam of light growing brighter and thicker. I snapped my gaze to Cassandra as she spoke, crouched in front of me, "Each time The Breach expands, your mark spreads...and it is killing you. It may be the key to stopping this, but there isn't much time."

I looked at her and asked, disbelief clear in my voice, even though I knew in my head that it was possible since that was what happened in the game, "The key to...what? Closing that thing?"

"Yes, although whether that is possible or not, we shall discover shortly. It is our only chance, however, as well as yours." She added that last with a stern glance.

Sorrow clear in my voice, I asked softly, "You still think I'm guilty...that I did this? Even if you think me a monster, you must question why I would bring a death sentence to myself, or put myself in this much agony."

Confused by my sadness, she continued, "I don't think what happened was intentional, something clearly went wrong. But even if you are not responsible, someone is, and you are our only suspect. If you wish to prove your innocence, there is only one way."

I looked to The Breach once again, knowing my odds of even reaching it were slim. Mark aside, I wasn't in good health to begin with. But when I looked back at Cassandra, seeing the mistrust there, and remembering all the times we had when I was playing the game, I prayed God would give me the strength to survive this. If I was here, I wouldn't let my friends here in Thedas suffer. Though they don't know me yet, I know and cherish all of them. I sighed and nodded, "I understand."

Relieved, and a touch surprised, she asked me to clarify, "Then you will...?

"I'll do whatever I can, I WILL give you all my best," I smiled, "There are many things we need to discuss, Cassandra Pentaghast, but they can be addressed when we aren't in danger. Or at least immediate danger. But I can tell you this much: I assure you right now, I'm no threat to any of you." She scowled at this, "Oh really?"

I laughed, "It's true. I don't even know how to fight, I barely even know how to hold a weapon." Her eyebrows raised at this, then examined me, mainly my arms and my legs. "You do seem to have a lack of musculature that would be needed for battle. But how do you know my last name? I do not recall Leliana mentioning it."

My smile turned into a smirk, "Patience, Cassandra, I will answer your questions the best I can after The Breach is sealed. I promise you this."

She nodded and gave me her hand to help me up. I smiled and accepted as best I could with my wrists bound. I stuck as close to her as I could, noticing the throngs of people around us glaring at me with very hostile expressions. Noticing this, Cassandra spoke, "They have decided your guilt. They need it. The people of Haven mourn Our Most Holy, Divine Justinia, Head of the Chantry. The Conclave was Hers. It was a chance for peace, between Mages and Templars. She brought their leaders together, now they are dead."

The gate we were approaching opened, as she continued, "We lash out, like the sky, but we must think beyond ourselves, as She did, until The Breach is sealed." Crossing the gate's threshold, she turned and sliced my bindings, giving me an apologetic look, "There will be a trial. I can promise no more." Rubbing my wrists, I smiled at her, "Thanks Cassandra, and I would not ask for what was out of your power to give." I smirked and said, "Time to kick ass then?"

She smirked back and nodded, "Come, it is not far."

"The Breach?"

"Yes. But first, we must test your mark on something smaller."

As we continued across the bridge, I heard those around me whisper parts of their Chant of Light, prayers to their Maker, and I joined with a prayer to my God. 'Lord, keep me safe, so that I might be able to help these people. Do not let them suffer, if they must die, call them to your side so that they may know peace. But if it is not their time, keep them safe and whole, so that they may fight this evil. Amen.

"Open the gates! We are headed into the valley!"

At Cassandra's word, the guards push open the doors of the massive gate on the other side, and we walked through into the snow. There were little patches of snow on fire here and there, wooden barricades torn asunder while others remained somewhat intact. Frightened soldiers retreated past us, fearing for their lives as we followed the road through two cliff faces towards the Breach.

As we rounded the corner, The Breach expanded again, making the Anchor on my hand spasm in agony, tripping me up so that I landed with a face full of snow. Well, so much for my first time seeing the powdered ice. Definitely hasn't left a good first impression on me. Oh well.

Cassandra ran over and helped me up, running her eyes over me critically. "The pulses are coming faster now. The larger the Breach grows, the more rifts appear, the more demons we face."

Jogging lightly to catch up with her, and trying very hard not to wheeze in the icy air, I asked, "How in the world did I survive that blast?"

"They say you...stepped out of a rift, then fell unconscious."

I smirked, "Can't imagine why I wouldn't pass out." Cassandra barked out a short laugh, and turned to look at me as we slowed to a fast walk as we approached yet another bridge, "They say a woman was in the rift behind you, no one knows who she was." She ended on a soft note.

She had no time to add anything else as a bolt of green lightening blasted the bridge in front of us, forcing the stone to collapse. We fell onto an iced over lake, and as we got to our feet we saw a shade materialize not far from us. Cassandra snarled as she grabbed her shield and unsheathed her sword, "Stay behind me!" and she charged off to face the demon.

I looked to the ice in front of me and noticed one of those damn pulsing spots where demons always spawned in the game and looked desperately behind me for a weapon. Unfortunately, unlike the game, there were too many types of weapons to tell if I was a mage in this world or not, so I just grabbed a sword and a shield from the crumpled pile. Just as I turned to ready myself, another shade spawned from that pulsating spot. Willing myself to move, I threw myself at the demon, sloppily slashing at it. It kept dodging until it saw an opening and tried to dice me with its claws like a ripe tomato. I just managed to duck when suddenly it tackled me to the ground. On instinct, I stabbed the ugly thing in the gut and it faded away in a shower of green and black dust. Well that was a positive with this being real, there weren't any heath bars on my enemies that needed to be drained before they could be killed.

I found Cassandra still dealing with her demon, dancing artfully with her shield and sword. I mustered up my strength and got to my feet, running at the bastard and stabbing it in the back. It screeched and faded away as the other had. My arms collapsed as I knelt, huffing and puffing as I tried to catch my breath. "Well...glad that's...over."

She strode up to me, sword still out, and ordered, "Drop your weapon. Now!" Immediately the sword dropped from my hand and I raised it up in a placating gesture, "Okay, okay! Can I at least keep the shield? That way I have a lesser chance of getting gutted."

She paused, looking at me, before sighing and sheathing her sword. She picked up the one I had dropped and offered it to me, pommel first and said, "No, keep the sword as well. You may have no form or real skill, but you need a way to defend yourself. I cannot protect you at every turn. I should remember you agreed to come willingly."

Grabbing the sword I smiled, thanking her, and we continued on. She rummaged in her pack and handed me a few small vials of a red liquid, health potion probably. "Take these potions. Maker knows what we will face up ahead."

Looking around I noticed the lack of soldiers around. "Where are all your men? Fighting?"

She nodded, "Yes, or at the forward camp. We are on our own for now."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh well that's just great."

We continued on, facing even more demons and wraiths, until we reached a stairwell that seemed to be built into the mountain. I paused and groped around my pants pocket, my wheezing getting worse, and it was getting hard to breathe. Feeling my iPod (thank God I had that with me), I also found my inhaler. Pressing the mouthpiece in, I inhaled and felt cool relief flowing into my lungs. I inhaled again and could feel my chest loosening up. Sighing in relief, I put it back in my pocket, only to notice Cassandra staring at me. "It's my inhaler, I have trouble breathing sometimes when I'm exercising too much and this helps my lungs work right again. Gotta love asthma." I mumbled the last part under my breath.

"Are you alright to keep fighting?" She asked with a little bit of concern.

Smiling I said, "As long as I don't lose the inhaler, I'll be fine. And I would hardly call what I'm doing fighting. More like flailing a sword around."

Smirking she nodded, "Indeed."

Hearing shouts and the screeches of demons, Cassandra and I started up the stairwell, "We're getting close to the rift. You can hear the fighting."

Reaching the top, I was met with the sight of Varric gutting a shade with the blade on Bianca's tip and Solas holding another shade back with his staff. I saw another shade materialze behind him, rearing its clawed hand back to skewer the preoccupied elf.

Fear lanced down my spine, knowing he couldn't see it and that I was nowhere near enough to reach him, I called out and pointed, "Solas! Look out! Behind you!"

As if watching someone else, I saw an arch of purple lightening burst from my fingertips and electrocute the shade behind Solas. Hearing it screech and fade away, I looked at my hand in panic. No. No, I can't be a mage, not in Thedas. Mage's were treated like shit in Thedas, worse than elves, which was saying something.

I was shocked from my horror as Solas grabbed my hand and pointed towards the glowing green rift, "Quickly! Before more come through!" I felt a stinging, pulling sensation in my hand and I saw a green light link the Anchor to the rift. I felt the power from the rift flowing into the Anchor on my hand, and as I continued to drain it, the rift fell apart, sealing before my eyes. I turned to look at the elf, and God the game didn't do him justice!

Pale skin dotted with freckles, elegantly kept eyebrows, brightly intelligent -not to mention gorgeous- blue eyes. He seemed to look at me curiously, like I would imagine how a scientist looks at a new specimen in his lab. I snapped myself to attention, asking the first thing that I could think of that didn't have anything to do with how handsome the elf was, "How exactly did you do that?"

His pink lips, flushed from the cold no doubt, pulled into a wicked smirk as his eyes danced with mischief, "I did nothing. The credit is yours. If I may ask in return, how is it you know my name? I doubt Cassandra has seen fit to mention it, and I haven't told you myself. How do you know it?"

I felt myself blush and looked away briefly. As I returned my gaze to him, I smiled softly, "Ir abelas, hahren, I will have to tell you that another time. Preferably when the Breach is closed and the danger is not quite as close, as it is a long and involved answer."

His eyebrows furrowed at my answer and shadow flashed in his eyes, but before he could continue, Varric cut in, "So introductions? I'm-"

"Varric Tethras. Rogue, storyteller, and occasionally, unwelcome tag-along." I smiled and turned to face the dwarf, who looked about as dumb-founded as he would if I told him dwarves were descended from nugs.

"Uh...yeah. How'd you know I was gonna say that, Brown-Eyes?" His face relaxed into his typical suave grin, while his eyes turned to calculating suspicion. My smile turned sad, yet another dear friend I had yet to win over. "I know quite a bit Varric. For example, I know where Hawke found your father's signet ring. It was at a merchant's stall in Lowtown. Bartrand had pawned it off to pay for the expedition into the Deep Roads. Am I wrong?"

His amber eyes widened in shocked disbelief. I was telling the truth, but he no doubt was wondering how I knew, considering only Hawke and he were in the room during that discussion. I smiled, "Have to say the chest hair looks even thicker in person. Hope it's been getting the attention it deserves, old friend."

He recognized the opening I gave him for the conversation to turn to something he could easily play off of, and he smirked appreciatively at me, though I could see the wary relief in his eyes, "Of course it has! All the ladies love it, even had a Chantry sister stroke her fingers through it once. Alas that story will have to wait, preferably when we aren't ass deep in demons."

I smirked, "Oh, I don't know, this seems more like knee-deep to me."

"Ah, ah, Brown-eyes, I didn't say whose ass did I?"

I couln't help but break out laughing, the fit was so hard I started coughing in the icy air, and I couldn't catch my breath and started wheezing again. Pulling out my inhaler, I took two more puffs, good thing I'd gotten my perscriptions filled before this whole mess. Hopefully they had my backpack after I had been taken into custody, if it even came with me, or I was totally screwed medicine wise.

Noticing the odd looks, I clarified, "I have asthma, medical condition that makes it hard for me to breathe sometimes. My inhaler has medicine in it that helps me breathe again. All the fighting must be triggering it."

I turned to Solas, "Ar eolasa ma, Fen. Ar ame mar falon. Tel'enfanim, Solas, ar banal dirthera." I smile kindly, even as his face bleaches as white as the snow. I slowly lean forward and grab his hand, "Ar ame mar falon, Solas, ar dirthavaren."

He steeled himself and nodded at me, "We will speak on this later...falon." I flinched at his cold tone, and I looked at him sadly as my hand slid away from his. "Ir abelas."

I turned and continued, hopping over the low barricade, as I plastered a falsely cheerful smile on my face. "Let's continue on shall we? I'd rather not wait around for another wave of demons to attack." I barely heard Varric mention Bianca being excited as I continued to trudge on through the snow, hearing Cassandra and Varric bicker as they followed me over whether Varric was needed.

Solas was right behind me, and it occured to me, he must have been the one who kept the mark from killing me. It is his Anchor after all. "Thank you, Solas." He turned to me with a neutral expression, an eybrow raised in cool skepticism, "For what?" I turned my head to face him as we walked and replied, "For saving my life. I know it was you who kept the mark under control. It can't have been very easy considering...circumstances. And though I may know you, you do not know me. For this I'm grateful."

He smiled slightly, "Cassandra would have had my head had I not done something. And I do like living." I giggled and turned so that I was walking backwards while talking with him, "So do I. And it's still an act worthy of thanks. So thank you, hahren."

He looked at me as if I wasn't what he thought I was for a moment. Then his face gentled, slightly, "You are welcome...da'len. If I may ask, you seemed surprised to possess magic, and you bear no vallaslin which would've marked you Dalish. Where are you from?" I looked at him funnily, he almost never states the obvious if he ever did in the game, "Of course, I'm not Dalish Solas. I'm human." I giggled at him. He frowned and reached out as if to touch my ear.

"Then why are your ears pointed, da'len?"

My eyes widened, and I shook my head, stopping and frantically searching for a bit of water or some reflective surface. I settled for the ice beneath our feet and that's when I saw them. Two pale ears, tapered to an elegant point. I trembled as I reached for them. They were real, I could feel them. My breathing quickened as I descended into a panic attack. "Oh God, I'm an elf?! Oh I'm so fucked!" I looked at Solas who watched me with a wary and confused eye. "I mean on one hand this is kick ass 'cause elves are better at practically everything, but on the other they're treated like absolute fucking shit here! Oh GOD! I swear the first fucker that calls me a fucking knife-ear I'll rip his nuts out through his fucking mouth! Oh God, this can't be possible, this is impossible. Oh fuck, I'm so gonna get dragged away and raped or worse! Oh fuck my ever loving life!"

I broke down and cried, actually cried, curled up in the snow and everything. I could feel the onset of a panic attack, couldn't catch my breath, every muscle in my body taught as a bowstring, tunnel vision. I don't know how long it was but I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder and saw it was Solas. He still looked wary of me, but there was compassion in his clear blue eyes. "I promise you, you will not be touched. I will not allow it."

I knew that he trusted me about as far as he could throw me (which, come to think of it, would be pretty far considering his ability as a mage), and in turn that should expect no loyalty from him. But I couldn't find it in myself to distrust him, not with all I knew of him. Not with all I felt for him, even considering how he broke things off towards the end of the game. Yeah, try going through that on a blind first playthrough. I actually cried for about an hour straight, and it still hurts when I think about it, both at the grove in Crestwood, and when we met again during the Exalted Council. Still...friendship wouldn't be too out of the question...could it?

I wiped my tears away and smiled shyly, embarrassed at my lapse in strength, and laughed it off, "Well, I did mean it when I said elves are kick ass, man. I mean, at the very least it boosts me a couple points in the appearance department, ha ha." Solas raised an eyebrow at me, with a fondly exasperated expression. "I do want you to know though, it was a good thing you did, sticking around. Not a lot of people have the courage to do that, especially a mage. Don't let anyone tell you different, 'kay?"

He looked surprised and a little of the suspicion in his eyes dissipated. "Thank you. Though I doubt Cassandra would have let me leave until The Breach is sealed. Even so, I wouldn't leave just yet. If it is not closed, we are all doomed, regardless of origin. Speaking of origins, what are yours, since we still have some time ahead of us before we reach The Breach."

We starting walking again, and I sighed, "Not from here, Solas. That's all I can say at the moment. I would rather wait until we get to Haven, that way I can tell all of you at once. It's a very long story. By the way, warning, no matter how hard I try on this first attempt at sealing it, I'm going to pass out. It can't really be helped, on my own this thing is gonna damn near kill me. But it's better to try and have a possible death, than to attempt to wait and definitely die."

He nodded and that was the end of it. We ran into a few more skirmishes, but we all made into the forward camp in one piece. Just in time to hear Chancellor Roderick and Leliana have their little tiff. Fantastic. He looked a little different than he did in the game, just as everyone else did, more real. He still had the same features though. Thick, bushy brows, very grumpy expression on his face. And I don't just mean because of the argument he was having, I mean like it was permanently engraved into his face. Poor guy, even I wasn't surly all the time. As we came closer I heard him address us, a hateful glare square on me. Well shit.

"You made it!" I turned to see Leliana come closer with a relieved smile. She turned to introduce us, "Chancellor Roderick, this is-"

"I know who she is."

Oh boy. Yep, the old bastard hated me. Shit.

Looking at me with a holier-than-thou sneer, he ordered, "As Grand Chancellor of the Chantry, I hear-by order you to take this criminal to Val Royeux to face execution!"

Looking back at Cassandra, I could tell her feathers were ruffled, and her next words only confirmed my theory, "Order me?! You are a glorified clerk! A bureaucrat!"

"And you are a thug, but a thug who supposedly serves the Chantry!"

Seeing Cassandra about to rip the asshole's throat out, Leliana stood between them, "We serve the Most Holy, Chancellor. As you well know."

That lead to his first explosion, "Justinia is dead! We must elect Her replacement and obey Her orders on the matter!"

Ok, just because I knew that was what he was going to say, doesn't mean it still didn't piss me right the fuck off, "And...what? You're just going to ignore the giant ass hole in the sky? I'm sure all the people that die from a terror demon's claws will be singing your praises while you whinge about, twiddling your fucking thumbs and waiting for a bunch of indecisive sheep to decide who's going to actually do something!"

I didn't think achieving that shade of puce was possible in a human. A Qunari maybe, but definitely not a human. "YOU WERE THE ONE WHO BROUGHT THIS DOOM UPON US IN THE FIRST PLACE!" I flinched from the anger he was throwing at me, as well as the volume of his voice. My gift was never something I took pleasure in, but I especially hated it when people around me were angry. It terrified me honestly, anger, and it also physically pained me to feel it when I picked up on it. And with the Fade and magic so intertwined with this world, it made my ability that much more sensitive. I think that might have been why I felt so much pain when I woke up here...I was feeling all the hate and anger around me.

Cassandra, surprisingly, pushed me behind her and redirected Chancellor Roderick's attention back to her. His face softened slightly, I could both see the resignation in his eyes and feel his despair eating away at him as he accepted defeat. "Call a retreat, Seeker. Our position here is hopeless."

"No it isn't."

That got both their attention, Cassandra's curiosity and Roderick's contempt brushing across my skin like the wind around us. "You may hate me, think me capable of monstrous things. But I'll tell you right now, I will not standby as those men down there give their lives while those in command would have them pull back like rats, and not avenge both their friends and their Divine. I may not have known Justinia, or any of those men, but the bead crumb trail starts in that damn temple and I'll be damned if all of us, the soldiers especially, don't deserve the truth that lies at the end of that trail. I may have practically no skill with a weapon, but whatever is decided I will be fighting my way through that mountain and I will make it to the temple, and I will try to close that damn hole even if it kills me. I'm the only one that can, with this damn mark, and if I turn away now all those soldiers' blood will be on my hands. And I really don't wanna die with that stain on my soul."

Cassandra looked at me somewhat shocked before turning to Roderick with a smug expression, "We can stop this Chancellor, before it's too late. Our men will fight, we will fight, and we have a way to close the Breach."

"How?" Roderick's expression crumpled with despair. "You won't survive long enough to even reach the temple. Even with all your soldiers."

Cassandra immediately went into soldier mode, "We must get to the temple, it's the quickest route!"

"But not the safest."

Finally rejoining the conversation, Leliana came forward and pointed towards the mountain, "Our forces could charge as a distraction, while we go through the mountains."

I followed her gaze and and saw the majestic snow-covered peak in the distance. Cassandra sounded to my right, "We lost contact with an entire squad on that path, it's too risky."I turned to her, "Cassandra, that squad is still alive. There's a rift up there, and they're stuck battling demons, but some of them are still alive."

Her head whipped to face me so fast, I was sure she'd get whiplash. Her suspicion was written plainly across her face, "And how exactly do you know that?"

I blushed and looked down at my feet. My but wasn't the brickwork absolutely fascinating? "Uhm...it's part of the explanation I told you would have to wait until after the Breach was dealt with. I promise I will tell you though." Her suspicion wasn't completely erased but she nodded at me in any case.

"Listen to me. Abandon this now, before more lives are lost!"

Needless to say, Roderick was thoroughly ignored. Especially since at that moment The Breach gave a pulse as it expanded and the Anchor spasmed painfully in my hand. I gripped my wrist as I groaned in pain through gritted teeth. God, I couldn't wait for this bullshit to just stop. Everyone's eyes were on me, and I could feel all of them, all of their suspicion, their hopes and despair. But most of all I felt a determination. A deep drive in all of them, even Roderick, to do what was right. Granted Roderick had a stupid idea on how to achieve it, but his heart was in the right place. And I felt my own resolve deepen at this.

Whatever God had planned for me, I was going to do it saving as many people as I could. This world was just as real as mine, and in this one, I could actually do something to help it.

"How do you think we should proceed?"

Cassandra's question brought me out of my musings. I looked at her with determination in my gaze, "We use the mountain pass. I'm not leaving that squad to die, and it is the safest route to temple." She didn't look very pleased, but she couldn't seem to argue with my logic. "Leliana, bring everyone left in the valley. Everyone." The red head nodded and stalked off. As we walked toward the path that would lead us to the mountain, Chancellor Roderick couldn't seem to resist to throw his last barb at Cassandra, "On your head be the consequences, Seeker."

To Cassandra's credit, her stride didn't falter, but I could see the effect the words had on her. Just before her face smoothed to stone, I saw a flash of guilt in her eyes. I turned to her and I remembered a some verses from their Chant of Light, "Within My creation, none are alone. Blessed are the righteous, the lights in the shadows. In their blood, the Maker's will is written. Don't worry Cassandra. We can do this."

She smiled softly at me as we walked. "Thank you. I needed that."

As we started on the path, I prayed I was right. For all our sakes.

Thank you all for reading. Please be gentle, I worked hard on it. Chapter 2 should be up soon, I was going to make this last until the stabilizing of the Breach, but I figured this was long enough. I hope you all enjoy :)