A/N: I KNOW that after watching Lady Insanity's video that we more than likely encounter Hawke in the Fade, but this idea came to me BEFORE her analysis video got published soooo I'm running with it.

A/N 2: T'is my first DA fic and I will more than likely get Varric's mannerisms wrong in some parts, so be gentle please and thank you.

Surrounded, joy of joys. Maker the demons and THINGS coming out of the Fade rifts just seemed to be never ending. "Make sure to not touch anything she said! You just HAD to try to nick something!" Sera was shouting at Varric, arrows flying before she whipped out a dagger from behind her back and stabbed a crawling demon through the neck.

"Sera you wound me!" Bianca thrummed and another bolt shot home as Varric shouted in triumph. "I was not going to steal anything, I was merely examining it." Another demon fell to a well placed shot between the eyes and he ducked at Iron Bull's shout, the severed head of a Terror Demon flying a hair above the dwarf's head.

"Aye, examining to STEAL it," Sera quipped, grunting as she reclaimed her dagger from another creature's back, leaping off of it with typical elven grace. "Everything was quiet 'till you picked up that blasted stone."

"And how was I to know that the stupid thing would cause demons to fall from the rafters?" Varric lobbed a miasmic flask into a cluster of demons, who were them summarily pummeled to the ground by Bull's mighty war axe. He took a deep breath and sighted down Bianca to a rage demon that was bubbling up out of the ground. It froze mid-roar as a frost bomb exploded around it before being shattered by a dual attack from Sera and Varric.

For a moment, the trio were able to breathe and prepare for the next inevitable wave, the glowing green Fade Rift pulsing and whipping above them. Varric moved over to where he had dropped his pack to retrieve more bolts for Bianca. Despite what his tales said about Bianca's inexhaustible ammo capacity, she did have her limits. As he worked to reload Bianca, a vaguely familiar form passed just outside his vision, a tuft of black fur draped around their neck. 'Impossible,' Varric thought incredulously. 'No way in hell would she be here.'

"Andraste's ass demon, I will NOT be tricked again!" Varric growled as he brought Bianca up and focused on his target, finger closing over the trigger. As the woman turned at his shout, staff swinging around into a guard position his finger twitched and a bolt loosed. A flash of recognition flew over her face before she ducked and rolled behind a fallen rock to her right.

"Never did get that cocking ring fixed did you Varric?" Her amused lilting voice came over the stone clear as day. "I would think that you'd have gotten it fixed after Sebastian mentioned it to you."

"Don't torment me demon!" Varric shouted, ready to arch an arrow over the rock, adjusting his shot. Bianca was perfect just the way she was, cocking ring and all, no matter what that Choir Boy had said. As he was preparing to shoot, the Inquisitor called out to him.

"She's not a demon Varric!" Adaar called, putting a large gray hand on his shoulder, knowing that touching Bianca would be highly offensive. "She's human, I swear it!"

How he had not heard the large Vashoth Inquisitor returning he had no clue, though later it was said that the Inquisitor seemed to have appeared out of thin air and prevented the untimely death of Lady Hawke. Adaar tightened her grip on Varric's shoulder until he slowly lowered Bianca. "Hawke, I swear to the Maker if you even THINK about turning into a demon.."

Hawke stood from her crouch and laughed, putting her staff away. "I will certainly do my best to not offer you more glory than your brother ever had."

Varric cackled, a sound that none of the assembled party had heard but was familiar to Hawke, and slipped Bianca into her holster strapped to his back before walking up to his old friend and clasped her arm. "I didn't think I'd see you outside of Kirkwall Hawke, not after you had left with the broody elf."

Hawke smiled and shook her head, her eyebrows going up into the middle of her forehead as they always did when she was amused. "Nor did I expect to see you mixed up in all of this. I thought you confused mages and templars. What was it that you said, 'a lot of humans in skirts'?" Her eyes sparkled despite the fatigue that showed on her face. Not that anyone else knew that though, but after six years of following Hawke into trouble around half of the Free Marches, he could read her like an open book.

"Hard to tell a good story when I'm not the one in the middle of it all," Varric chuckled. "But why are you here Hawke? Not that you're not a sight for sore eyes or nothin'."

Hawke smiled slyly, "Why Varric, I thought Bianca was the only woman for you?" When Varric only winked and grinned at her she looked over to the Inquisitor. "When Adaar said that she knew a "very funny dwarf" I just had to come and see for myself. I thought she had meant Sandal when I was talking about how he enchanted my staff before he and his father left for Orlais, but when she started talking about the wild tales I just had to make sure that it was you."

Varric guwaffed. "Imitators all of them, you know that Hawke." The air crackled and snapped, the green hue that had saturated the area fading away and Varric turned to watch the Adaar shake her hand as the Fade Rift closed, the wisps of power around her hand dissipating as well. "Maker, I don't ever think i'll be getting used to seeing her do that."

"That bothers you, but a mage going all glowy didn't?" Hawke commented, smirking at Varric as he turned to face her again.

"Blondie scared the shit out of me when he did that the first time." Varric scratched his chest before giving a typical dismissive flourish of the same hand. "I'm just good enough that you all couldn't tell."

Hawke just shook her head as they all started following the Inquisitor, Sera and Iron Bull taking up the rear to watch for more demons. "If you say so."

Varric grumbled something under his breath before looking up at his old friend. "You're not sticking around are you?" Hawke's expression gave it away instantly, the mirth leaving her face as she shook her head, her armor clanking as she gestured at the Inquisitor's back.

"Inquisitor Adaar has asked me to help her by going back to Kirkwall and investigate a few things there. I don't have her talent," She raised a hand and wriggled her fingers, a poor imitation of the Inquisitor, "But I still have a talent for killing things, so I'm going back home."

"Just, don't be surprised if you find some of my stuff at the estate," Varric mentioned.

"My palatial suite is your palatial suite?" Hawke quoted him with a raised eyebrow.

"It was either that or let the looters ransack your house, though now that I'm here..." He grimaced.

Hawke shook her head and gave a relieved sigh as the camp came into sight. "Thank the Maker."

Varric saw Cassandra in the camp and he cleared his throat nervously. "Umm... just one thing Hawke, I may have been forced to tell your story to that Seeker there." He rubbed the back of his neck. "She might have a case of hero wor-"

"Varric..." Apprehension seeped into Hawke's voice. "What did you tell her?"

"The truth I swear! Andraste's tits there were so many versions going around I had to set it straight!" Hawke's cranky expression did not change as she glared at him steadily. "Okay so I embellished a few things, I'm a storyteller for crying out loud!"

"Oh Varric..." Hawke gave an exasperated huff as they walked into camp, her shoulders squaring as Cassandra's gaze fell upon her, the Seeker's eyes nearly popping out of her head.

'Must remember to save THAT expression to use later,' Varric chuckled to himself before going over to his side of the camp. Hawke would be round to verbally thump him soon enough he was sure. For now he was going to enjoy the fact that someone OTHER than him was going to have the surly Seeker's attention.

Fin