"What a bleak world this is..."

This was the only line of coherent thoughts that crossed Celestia Hawke's mind. Having endured an arduous life, journeying from her family home of Lothering she had to fight tooth and nail to see her family barely survive. Her sister, Bethany, was murdered as the Darkspawn crushed his body into a bloody heap, leaving her behind as they had to cut down the fiends. Even after being rescued by a timely arrival of a Witch of the Wilds, Flemeth, they hadn't seen the last of their troubles.

Arriving in squalor of Kirkwall, the old family home was led to ruin thanks to her uncle and smuggling into the city she had to sell herself off to work for the underground with her brother. Barely making it through, they found the opportunity to regain their title and wealth, timely within a crackdown on mages within the overpopulated city; something that was a problem for herself personally, given she was a magically affluent since a young age.

Risking everything, her brother sought to accompany her, if only to keep from seeing her die and do nothing to stop it she relented upon his insistence. The thick air of stench, decay and dust filled her lungs every step she took on an expedition she hired on with a smooth talking Surface Dwarf, Varric, and his brother who helmed the operation. It was a difficult trek, one that took numerous detours to get to the place described in the maps they had gained through the acquisition of a third member to their tribulation into the Deep Roads; Anders, a fellow apostate mage and former Grey Warden.

Battling through ambushes of creatures of the dark, the hellish forces of Darkspawn and even animated golems long since out of control, it was both terrifying and exhilarating to be sure. Once they found an artifact made of a bizarre lyrium of crimson color, they were betrayed by Bartrand, the brother leaving them to die in the Deep Roads as he escaped with the rest of the expeditionary force. It was a miracle to find an alternate route that led to a treasure trove, defeating the monster that guarded its boon with maddening vigor.

However, that's when Celestia had found her own horrid fate.

"Even here, I can't escape the Blight..."

Her breathing began to rasp, the edges of her fingers and corners of her lips turning pale and almost blue. As she fell to the ground through exhaustion and bare control over herself, her colleagues surrounded her in fear and concern. They could see the faint film of white was spreading across her eyes, a telling sign she was becoming infected by the taint of the Darkspawn; especially from how much blood had covered herself, despite her caution, doing little to prevent its poisonous touch.

"No! No-No-No, not you too!" Carver cried out with desperation, his hands gripping the sides of her shoulders, already feeling only half responsive to his trembling grip. His green eyes shimmered with anger and grief, with his dirtied face grimacing, framed by the bangs of his messier black hair. "I can't have you die here! Think of what this will do to mother-!"

"I'm," Celestia began to say softly, a flicker of realization dawned across her creasing brow along her forehead. "Going to end up like Wesley, aren't I?"

"I won't let that happen! I can't!"

"Take it easy," Varric tried to soothe the young man's emotions, patting on his back while tenderly releasing his hands from her shoulders. Conveying with only a somber look to the grieving sibling what he was doing, he successfully urged him back long enough for the dwarf to kneel next to her and lean her gently against the Deep Road floor. His shaven, broad jawed face sagged as his dark eyes shown her a calm understanding of her situation. The guilt was plain on his expression as much as it hung on every syllable of his voice. "I'm sorry, Hawke. I didn't mean to get you into this."

"Can't help what's done," She let out a raspy chuckle, coughing exasperatedly as she did. Stifling her breaths, she turned to look around to Anders, his own form seeming a little more distant than the other two. He was covered in blood, just like the rest of them, but he seemed to almost unfazed by it all. It only occurred to her that his being a Grey Warden may have something to do with it...

As if reading her mind, Anders bit his lip before proffering to the squatting pair of men surrounding the tainted woman, "There is a way to save her."

"Really?!" Carver choked out, his bleary eyes on the verge of releasing tears as he turned his armored person to face him, standing straight up to his impressive height. Seeing him avert his gaze nervously, he took a step forward, almost threateningly as he growled out with fists balled up at his sides. "Well?! What is it?!"

"Save may be a bit of an exaggeration but...well...given your condition," He spoke cautiously, looking to Celestia in particular as he tried to explain the prone woman of her situation. "This may be another curse. But the alternative is that you die a slow death of the Blight, unless we give you a mercy killing."

"No need to dance around the issue, Anders," She hoarsely spoke, grinning halfway despite how awful she felt. Turning her gaze up to him, she nodded with affirmation. "It's the Grey Wardens, right? It has something to do with you people?"

"I can't speak of the how, but I can tell you that they're the only ones capable of taking what you are and give you a chance of survival," He soberly explained, gesticulating with his right hand with an open palm that slowly closed into a fist. "In exchange, they will make you a Grey Warden for life."

"But they can save her, right?!" Carver barked, taking a stomp forward, his plated armor clanking noisily as his breath had softened with the slew of information he was given. Anders looked at him with a grimace, causing the young man to visibly grit his teeth. The anger in his body swelled at how much time they were wasting, almost enough to grab the cowardly mage by his collar and-

"I understand," Celestia quietly spoke, nodding as she found the strength to stare hard back up at the light brown head of the apostate guide of theirs. "Take me to them."

Despite the looks she was getting from Carver and Varric, the pair knew that the woman had made up her mind. Wrapping an arm around the prior's shoulders, the siblings made their way forward while the dwarf covered their backs and Anders led the way. Finding out that the maps were stolen from a group of Grey Wardens that had traveled to Kirkwall from Fereldan, it was uncanny luck that they were close at hand to rescue Celestia from her fate.

"Huh...the Deep Roads look like a tomb when you look at it close enough..."

Celestia's eyes could barely keep open, seeing the traces of the dimly lit underground tunnels like some sort of decrepit mausoleum. Ugly browns and rusty reds colored the spirals of dwarven carved pillars, traces of masonry trim and cracks on what was massive stone walls. Turning around one corner and marching long down to the other, it felt like they were going in circles, but that may have been just the fever she was feeling develop across her cold, clammy skin.

"Hm. I think they're close by," Their guide piped up, lighting up an inkling of hope in her brother's posture. Then, a series of snarling growls let loose into bellows and roars, causing the mage up front to twist around his staff in hand, sighing as he raised his voice to the three behind him. "Nope! Just more Darkspawn!"

"Oh for the love of the Maker!" Carver cried with molar grinding anguish. With one hand unsheathing his massive sword, he placed his sister in a sitting posture near the wall. Taking up a spread legged defensive stance, he waited for a pair of hurlocks to rush past Anders, the mage busying himself unleashing a pyre of flames towards a trio of genlocks squealing in pain from his magic. Varric spun around from behind Carver, unleashing a pair of bolts to the leg of one hurlock and the crotch of the other, allowing Carver to drive his blade diagonally through one's chest cavity before bringing the pommel of his weapon into the face of the other.

Splatters of deep burgundy sprayed over the young man's armor and face, washing away the crusting black flakes that had formed from prolonged inattention from previous repetitive battles. Even as the stunned hurlock fell to the ground with a gurgle, he drove his sword in a bifurcating smash over its skull, cutting as much as crushing the head into a gory mess. Turning to look back up ahead, the pair would see that Anders wasn't alone in fending off the ambush of deformed fiends.

"HRAAAAAH!" A bellowing guttural yell was heard, causing a massive Alpha Hurlock to stagger back as a double-headed ax clang and cracked against its own jagged greatsword. With broad strokes, the heavy plated fighter revealed his small stature, onyx dyed plating with the emblem of a blue winged griffon on the pauldrons to the backplate. In a surprising move of dexterity, the pole handle was twisted around in the small hands to catch the Alpha by its heels, pulling with a violent yank that made it fall onto its head and back with a choking gargle. Spinning about, he'd leap up forward and drive the forward face of the ax straight through the protective plating of the Darkspawn helmet, earning a meaty crunch for his effort.

Twisting about to smash his staff into another approaching hurlock, Anders turned the corner in time to see a wooden shaft of an arrow whiz by, impaling itself into the off kilter creature's throat. As it choked on air, the mage threw a follow up swipe of his blunt weapon against the bleeding wound, forcing it to cough its last breath as it'd spin around to the ground in a dying heap.

The sounds of fighting was dying off as the figures made their way forward, allowing Carver enough space to clean himself on exposed skin and haul his sister back to her feet.

"Anders," The stoutest member of the assembled company of strangers walked forward. Before the mage could get out a word, a short metal foot came with a kick straight into his shin, causing the man to cry out with a shrill scream the likes of which none of the three behind had heard. If the situation they faced wasn't so bleak, they would've laughed heartily at the man's misfortune as he began to hop on one leg and hold the other with comical horror.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! What was that for, you walking pile of tavern shit?!"

"That's what you get for running off, ya frilly feathered coward!" The dwarf snarled back, shaking his frayed red head and braided beard with equal anger as there was disappointment. Jabbing an armored digit forward, he hefted his massive weapon with ease over one shoulder, growling in a way only someone with a degenerated throat could muster such a noise. "We wondered where you gallivanted off to since Amaranthine! You and Justice just disappeared and fer what?! Don't ya know the concept of loyalty?!"

"Oghren! You didn't need to kick me, you know!" Anders whined, applying a dose of healing magic over his affected limb as he gingerly attempted to stand upright.

"Shrill as always, I see," A brooding voice ebbed from the darkened corner of the hall, revealing a chiseled featured man of darker fatigues of leather armor interwoven with black fabric. With a quiver of the same dye strung over one shoulder, a thin sword on one hip and a thin knife on the other, the man walked up to look with almost approval of the mage's sight. A wry grin emerged on a usually cold face, a gloved hand placed on a hip as he spoke freely to him. "Good to see you didn't die like everyone else believed."

"Missing is what I'm good at, Howe. Dying has yet to stick," The mage replied with a cheeky grin, feeling more like his old self now than he had in years.

"Well I'll be the Maker's cobbler," A lighthearted, jubilant voice kicked in as the broad shouldered of the group walked ahead with a humored smile on his face. This man didn't make Anders look as appreciative of being reunited, but nonetheless, nodded at him with an expression of gratitude; which didn't deter the dark blonde's approach with a toothy grin armed on his face. "Anders! In the flesh! I mean, I might have expected you with less flesh when we couldn't find you at Vigil's Keep, but still, wow! Fantastic to see you here after this whole time!"

"Likewise," Anders curtly replied, looking at some of the armor plated individuals with full helmet covered visages. They numbered up to six, including the head exposed three. With a wonder, he turned his head left and right, leaning forward with curiosity. "Is this all of you?"

"Are you meaning all of us Grey Wardens or are you meaning the Commander?" Alistair mentioned with a raised brow. Seeing the man back up with a hiccup in his voice, he shook his head and thumbed over a shoulder at the three behind him. "We split up to cover more ground. These three are some newer wardens minted out of Amaranthine. The losses we incurred at Vigil's had to be made up for something, you know. As for the Commander, he's returned to Court," He added with a wolfish grin and a metal plate clinking shrug. "Ball and chain, as you know, never lets him stay away from Denerim for long."

"I see," He nodded, the mage looking a bit relieved as his face resumed its normal color and ceased a tension he didn't know he was creasing across his features.

"Don't worry," The senior Warden replied with a raised metal covered digit up to his own lips. "I won't tell. I'm sure you have your reasons for leaving when you did, as messy of a situation that ended up being. A bit of a shame, but I'm in no place to pass judgement-"

"If you two are quite done," Carver's voice suddenly cut through, causing the assembled group to turn to see the young man hauling his sister over one shoulder, barely keeping her upright. As she hacked up foul looking liquid from her mouth that oozed grossly onto the floor -something even the red bearded dwarf blanched at- as her sibling looked up with impatience molded with his desperation. "My sister is dying. I heard that only you Grey Wardens can save her life."

"Oh no," Alistair breathed out with recognition of Celestia's condition. Even as she weakly raised her face, her eyes couldn't meet his, just looking in the wardens' general direction was all she could manage. Pursing his lips, he turned to look at Anders with a shake of his head. "Look, Anders, I know what you may be thinking but that's not how we do things. We take on recruits as a last recourse or who desire it. Taking in someone based on illness isn't merciful, it's purely pity."

"She's not a pushover," He insisted, the mage turning to nod in her direction as he commented on her. "She is a woman of impeccable character and solid virtue. She's also a gifted mage, and quite resilient. She's lasted this long after cutting down all sorts of beast and Darkspawn alike. I don't know of anyone more qualified to be recruited," Turning back, he stared hard at him with hands held tightly to his sides. "I know you need the manpower, even though there is no Blight. And I'm sure you could use another mage since you're down one."

"Who's fault is that, I wonder?" Alistair inquired with a hint of a glare, the humor having all but drained from his face. The mage could tell that the Grey Warden had the potential to bring him down if he tried to be too aggressive over the matter, and he had the authority to deny this request.

Turning to look at Carver and Celestia, he sighed, his shoulders lowering as he released his upright posture for a more resigned one.

"Fine. She can attempt the Joining," He began to say, looking to Carver with a stoic stare to intone the seriousness of this offer. "But she has to leave now, and she may not return."

"I guess," Carver began to say, his voice ebbing into a quiver as his eyes met his sister's. "This is goodbye."

"Only...for now," Celestia forced a smile, despite herself. "I'll see you again. Either in this life or with Bethany."

Pulling her into a tight hug, the young man stroked her scalp tenderly as she weakly patted his head and back in return. Withdrawing enough to meet each other in the eyes, he leaned his head against hers as he stroked her face and gingerly pulled apart. A pair of the quiet wardens approached, hauling her up to her feet and began to lead her up with the rest of the wardens in their company.

"Thank you," Anders bowed his head to Alistair, his voice truly sincere in his meaning of it. "I owe her this much, at least."

"Don't thank us yet," Alistair shook his head grimly, nodding to the others as he began to leave. "She has to survive the Joining first."

"The Joining? What does that mean?"

Celestia's memory of what came afterwards was slim. She drifted in and out of consciousness, her body all but writhing in agony from the effects of the Blight that coursed through her veins. It was hot, like fire, yet her skin felt cold and damp. Vision blurred and her orifices clogged with horrible sludge she hacked and heaved out like bile. It was the worst kind of punishment, yet she had no idea what this ritual the Grey Wardens spoke of.

Here, at their camp, they held the ritual. A hym of sorts was echoed in a hallowed speech, a goblet filled with a vial of magically attuned blood and slowly it was pushed into her weakened grip. Given the go ahead to drink, she pressed the cool rim of the silver cup to her lips and drank a foul ichor much too thick to be wine and not hearty enough to be alcohol.

All at once, her body spasmed. Her mind filled with images of tainted things of flesh, bone and sinew, and the voices of hideous, dark things spread in a cacophony in her ears. The haunted ceremony felt like a lifetime as it overcame her being, and her eyes rolled back as she fell unconscious.

Unbeknownst to her, a grimly satisfied Alistair takes the goblet off the ground and states to her with a nod, "Congratulations, Celestia Hawke. You are a Grey Warden, for better or worse."

A/N: And this is the beginning of perhaps a new AU story of the Champion of Kirkwall...not becoming the Champion of Kirkwall. Instead, she's the one to become infected by the darkspawn taint instead of her sibling and becomes selected as a recruit for the Grey Wardens. But instead of them just being a bunch of faceless nobodies and a guy we never really like (Seriously, who likes seeing STROUD as our Stand-In Grey Warden face?) we have a bit of an Awakening reunion. Oghren, Nathaniel Howe and Alistair! I had fun writing their interactions with Anders, almost making me wish I wrote an Awakening story but that's not the purpose of this fic. Who knows, maybe I'll throw in some more Awakening or Origins characters if it works out that way but for now, I like the idea of Hawke being a Grey Warden as it takes the story back to its roots.

Shorter than I'm used to with story beginnings but I wanted to get straight to the point of what this is all about. Let me know what you guys think in the Reviews or PM me for more details. Until then, I'll see you in the next eventual update!