Title: Settling Old Debts
Chapter: 2/3
Chapter Warnings: Uh just cursing I think. It's 2AM. Too sleepy to remember what I wrote, really.
A/N: I'm outing myself to the Dragonage Kink Meme over at Livejournal. I got hooked to the blasted thing reading another author's stuff on FFnet and had to mosey over to LJ to see what was up. This is a response to the promt: " After Anders'... unusual departure from the wardens as seen in the romance thread on the BSN, I'd love to see them meeting again a few years down the line and it to be angsty and tragic and all that fun stuff. " I'm posting it here because it's short, sweet, and to the point and LJ won't let me post the chapters as I have intended them to be read.
Disclaimer I forgot on the first chapter: Dragon Age belongs to Bioware. I make no money off of this. Just entertainment.

"You sure took your time," a familiar voice growled in the dim light of the cellar.

Anders let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding as he glared at the pallid Warden. "I should have known you wouldn't die in the Deep Roads, Nathaniel."

"Nor you, apparently," Nathaniel Howe growled low in his throat as he stood from the wall. "I'm surprised you were still in Kirkwall. I thought for sure you would have betrayed Hawke by now, as you betrayed us."

Anders had been about to open his mouth to argue back when an equally familiar voice spoke up, "Enough. The both of you," it snapped, strong and commanding and full of no-bullshit attitude.

Feeling the hair on the back of his neck rise again in paranoia, Anders turned slowly from the black-haired Grey Warden to address the rest of the cellar. And sure enough, there she was: the Hero of Ferelden.

"We did not come here to argue," the Warden continued, her eyes still focused on the cards in her hand. Another rogue sat across from her—a dark elf that Anders wasn't all too surprised to see.

"And Zevran is here, too? Well it's a royal party, isn't it," he replied with his usual dose of sarcasm.

"Really? You thought that Nathaniel and I would both be in Kirkwall and not say anything about you to our lovely Warden?" one of the elf's eyebrows lifted in a curious gesture before he laid his hand of cards out on the table. The Warden let out a slew of curses as the Crow collected the pile of coins between them, his eyes never leaving Anders as he did.

The cellar door slammed shut behind him and Anders jumped, surprised to see that Nathaniel had somehow snuck behind him to close the sodding thing. There went his only escape route. "So what do I owe the pleasure? Need a tour guide to the fair city of Kirkwall? Perhaps a healing or two?"

The Warden put down her cards, suddenly grave and solemn as she looked up at Anders. He felt his breath leave his lungs as those bright, unnerving green eyes of hers stared at him. Her flaming red hair was pulled back out of her face into a tight ponytail, exposing the Dalish clan tattoos on her hard face. The years had been kind to the Warden—as they were to all elves—but the trials she had faced in Ferelden and in rebuilding the Grey Wardens was starting to take its toll.

She looked tired. So, so tired.

"Do you know how much trouble you have been to protect from the order?" she started slowly, her voice low and deceivingly unthreatening. But Anders knew better. He had seen her interrogate his fair share of law-breakers and ne'er-do-wells to be deceived. There was a quiet threat in her voice, an undertone that had his hackles rising and his magic tingling in his fingertips.

"I suppose they've still got their panties in a twist, eh?" Anders snipped.

And then she did it: she scowled. Those delicate eyebrows of hers drew together over her eyes, her full lips going taught with all her disapproval. It was like being five all over again and having his mother looming over him, telling him she was disappointed in him. It was the worst feeling in the world. "I'm being serious, Anders."

And that one sentence was enough to deflate his sarcastic asshole defenses. He hadn't traveled with her terribly long, before he came to the Free Marches. But the whole time he had accompanied her, he had been a snarky little arse ready and willing for a fun time. And she had always played along, her elven playfulness making the two of them a rambunctious duo to be dealt with. But seeing her now, after all these years…there were no mischievous smiles to be shared.

"Four deserters were executed after you left," she continued, leaning back in her chair in a show of nonchalance. That act didn't fool him, either—her sword was at her hip, and he knew how fast she could draw the thing and have it at his throat. "And unrest stirs still in fortresses across Thedas."

"Did you really expect me to stay, Hero?" he sneered, anger turning his typically rugged good looks ugly. "What you forced upon me all those years ago was hardly any better than the option of returning to the Circle!"

"They would have killed you, Anders—"

"And you sentenced me to death the moment I drank that Maker's cursed blood!" he shouted, his power rising to send tiny crackles of lightning between his fingers. Zevran had a dagger in his hand in an instant, his wary eyes tracking Anders' hands in case the little bolts decided to turn into balls of electrifying death.

But there was no need, as the Warden was on her feet and across the sparse distance in a few fell steps. She shoved Anders—hard—and pinned him to the wall as she snarled in his face. "Better to die in the Deep Roads than at the mercy of the Templars, simply because you think yourself above the law."

"You forced me from servitude to the Circle to servitude of the Wardens, Mahariel," he growled back at her. "Either option offered ended with me being chained by some faction I didn't believe in! Being a Warden is no worse than being made Tranquil!"

She scoffed at him and pounded a gauntleted fist into the stone wall behind him. "Tranquil? Tranquil? How can you even compare the two, Anders? Making you a Warden not only saved you from the Circle, but from the fate you mages fear worse than death!"

"And I'd rather be saved from both!" he retorted. "Oh, yes, I may have been safe from the Circle and Templars while under your command, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't forced into an early grave that could have been entirely avoided if you had simply let me run."

"I can't even believe you're trying to blame this on me!" she shouted, turning away from him with her fury. She stormed a few steps off, before turning sharply on her heel to face him again. "I can't believe that you even left," she replied, much quieter.

Anders felt his heart break a little as he looked at her, the fury dying in his breast as quickly as it had come on. There was no avoiding the hurt in her voice—or in her eyes. It was there for the world to see, as plain as day and displayed right along with the heart on her sleeve. "Mahariel, I—"

She shook her head. "What's done is done, Anders," she grumped, her face turning hard once again. "You're a Warden whether you like it or not and there are no undoing the transgressions you or I played against each other."

He stood up straight from the wall and planted his staff in the dirt by his foot. Leaning on it for support, he simply waited.

"I'm here," she began slowly, looking back to her two rogue companions for a brief moment before continuing, "because I need you, Anders. I understand that you have commitments to your friend, Hawke, and that you and I may not be colleagues any longer, but… There are things going on that I cannot face alone, and not without a crew of reliable companions at my side."

Nathaniel snorted in derision. "Not that he has been all that reliable…"

Both the Warden and Anders chose to ignore his quip. "Return with us when your business here is through. And when all is said and done," she paused to take a deep breath, releasing it with a huge sigh. "When it is over, I will annul any vows or commitments you have made to the Grey Wardens. You will be rid of us, and not have any worry to fear repercussions."

Anders smiled grimly. "You are too late for that, Mahariel."

"Would you not like to have the Wardens off your trail, Anders?" she asked quizzically, genuine curiosity in her voice. "You have been hiding for a long time. But we know where you are now, and it will be hard to shake the tail we have pinned to you."

"Love, in a few hours Hawke will have me dragged between the warring factions of Kirkwall and, I'm sorry to say, the Wardens will be the least of my concern," he admitted truthfully.

"Then leave with us now," she insisted, he green eyes pleading as she stepped towards him again, this time out of desperation rather than fury. "Alistair has given me a ship, it's waiting at the docks ready to sail in a moment's notice—"

He shook his head, cutting her off short with a defiant hand held up to silence her. "What's going on in Kirkwall tonight is bigger than whatever you have to offer me, Mahariel," he spoke softly, gently. He looked at her with equally pleading eyes, hoping that she would understand. She had to understand. "We're talking about a conflict between the Circle and the Templars. Mage freedom versus Chantry tyranny. You know how much this means to me."

He watched her heart break in her eyes. "Anders, involve yourself tonight and there will be no freedom from any of the chains that weigh you down."

"I would rather fight them all than bear the weight of even one chain, dove," he replied simply.

"So you choose to get yourself killed fighting Templars and the Chantry rather than get yourself killed fighting some great, looming evil threatening to destroy all of creation again?" Nathaniel asked blandly.

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," Zevran chimed in.

"Oh the both of you can just shove it," Anders snapped. "And why don't you wait upstairs while Mahariel and I finish our little debate?"

"There is nothing left to finish, Anders," the elven Warden replied quietly. She gave him one good look over before shaking her head sadly. "I will give you twenty-four hours head start, Anders. After that, we will dog you until you are returned to the order, do you understand?"

"I doubt you will have to do even that," he replied gravely.

The Warden's eyes narrowed sharply as all her senses went on high alert. With a wary look, she turned to eye him out of the corner of her eye. "What makes you say that?"

He shrugged nonchalantly, returning his staff to the clip on his back. "Are we done here, Mahariel? Hawke will be looking for me."

She was outright scowling now as she watched him cross to Nathaniel, who still stood guard at the base of the stairs. "Whatever trouble you're getting yourself in to now, Anders, make sure you watch your back."

He gave her a soft smile over his shoulder as he took in one last look at her. She was a beautiful woman, to be sure. Tall, slender, but corded with lean muscle that her armor hid. She was tough, rough, wild, and fierce. Everything an elven warrior was and could be, compacted into one hero that saved the world. She had been a good friend and companion, and honorable ally that he had never wanted to abandon.

"It's not my back I'm worried about, sweet heart," he laughed softly, watching the worry in her face. He loved that look, and hated it, all because of what it meant: another loved one that cared for him that he was defying—yet again. "Take care, Mahariel."

She nodded at him. "Twenty-four hours, Anders. Get gone, fast."

"I'm sure I'll be long gone by then," he murmured and slipped past Nathaniel, his boots heavy on the hollow wooden stairs.

A/N:

I'll be utterly honest: I've never finished Dragon Age: Awakening. I think I had just finished getting Nathaniel and Justice and lost interest. So I don't really know what all happened. I suppose I'll go play it now in order to write better fanfiction...lawl.

Also, the Warden I wrote here is my favorite one that I played in DA:O, being a female Dalish warrior. For those of you that don't remember, the cannon surname the game gives Dalish elves is Mahariel, hence why I refer to her as that. I didn't give her a first name, mostly because I don't remember the default first name.

You'll also note that I left out any reference to Hawke's gender. I'm leaving it that way, since this fix has nothing to do with him/her.