Hawke Family Values

By: Adrienne Valentine

Summary: Twins run in the Amell family, it seems. What would happen if the infamous Champion had a twin? What if both of the younger siblings had lived? [A "what if" fanfic.]

Chapter 1

She stared at the beast in front of her. All grey muscle and power, towering above her, yellow eyes glaring at her hatefully. She pushed her foot out along the ground, daggers held firmly in her hands, waiting. He roared, and she knew what was coming as he lowered his head, great ebony horns like a bull's as he charged.

Her body responded to the noise, her foot pushing her into action as she surged forward to meet him, blades flashing. As she came to him in their headlong rush to meet each other, she leapt, using one massive arm as a springboard to get over him, she slashed at his back with her daggers before rolling down his back. His growl shook the ground beneath her as she pulled out of her roll into a low crouch; one leg nearly tucked under her knee, and the other spread to the side.

He turned, the same hateful gaze in his eyes, and charged again. She moved to meet him when her eyes were briefly taken elsewhere. To Bethany, who, she noted with a frown as the girl screamed, the beast had changed direction towards. She shouted as he veered slightly to one side, avoiding her, and ran to catch him. Throwing one dagger into his thigh, he slowed. Enough that her mage sister could duck out of the way. She ran up as he reached empty air at the end of his charge, looking somewhat confused. Grabbing her dagger by the hilt and pulling it out of his leg, she scaled his massive back. Bringing her daggers to bare, her eyes spent a moment too long looking for her sister, ensuring her safety.

His head turned abrutly, knocking her from her place on his shoulders, and she fell to the ground with a painful grunt as air escaped her lungs. She groaned as she reached for her daggers, ignoring the pain in her chest as she took in a deep breath. She felt her hand touch the smooth leather lacings of one hilt as the beast roared and turned to face her. His head lowered, and she stared at his gruetesque face as she stretched her fingers for her blades. Grasping them firmly in each hand, she planted her feet on the ground as he surged forward. She was upright, mid-flip, when he reached her.

Pain exploded in her side as one great horn went through her body. So intense that her grip on her daggers loosened for a moment. Her eyes caught the sight of her sister in the distance, fighting darkspawn, and her grip tightened best it could. Sucking in a deep breath in an attempt to ignore the pain, she brought her daggers rushing forward, still hanging lamely from one massive horn. As the blades sunk hilt-deep into the tender flesh of the creature's flesh, she realized this had been a better position. The beast let out a yell, reaching for her and pulling her off of it's horn with a roar, leaving her daggers buried in his now bleeding neck.

He stumbled only a few steps before he collapsed forward. She lay there for a moment as the sounds of battle quickly died around her and she pressed her hands to the great wound at her side. Sucking in sharply, she noticed her siblings rush over to her. Two mages, and only one was even decent at healing. Her sisters soft hands pushed aside her own, probing the wound. This time she screamed.

"It missed anything vital." She answered softly, her voice paniced. "But it's bleeding so bad..."

Her brother reacted, reaching a bare hand to the wound and calling forth flames from the fade. She screamed again, as the pain wracked through her side, threatening to take over her. He removed his hand from her stomach, placing it on her back when the horn had emerged and doing it again. Her whole body was swimming with pain, and she could feel herself slipping away as her head spun. When her brother removed his hand slowly, it was Bethany's turn to place a soft hand on the wound.

Ophelia felt the soothing feeling as the wound begun to mend. The fuzzy feeling in her head remained, pounding painfully behind her ears, but the danger of death had passed.

The scene swirled behind her eyes almost painfully as she stood beside her brother and two of their companions, staring down the large Qunari leader while the dwarf, Javaris, tried to explain their negotiations to the Arishok. She winced slightly as the memory brought a ghosting pain to her side as it sometimes did. She would later swear that his eyes had flickered to her briefly when she had winced, but she forced herself to wipe the pain from her face quickly, standing straight despite the pain in her abdomen.

The words were fuzzy and out of focus. She almost always ignored the negotiations, letting the noise flow past her as her brother, the one who had become famously known as 'Hawke' angrily told the Arishok that they had been promised a piece of his future profits. She swiftly came to attention when she saw the movement of the Arishok's men as they drew their weapons. Her own hands flew to hers, not yet drawing them, but shifting her feet so that one step would bring her directly in front of her brother.

Instinct, it seemed, made little difference as he stood and spoke, his tone holding all the threat in the world. "Then you will pay on my behalf."

The dwarf, terrified, hurriedly handed a pouch of coins to her, shoving them into her chest and giving her only a moment to react before he fled the compound, grumbling about oxmen and dog lords.. Her hand grabbed the purse tightly as she realized what had just happened. Relaxing, she handed it to her brother, stepping back and out of his way. She had already faced down one giant horned beast, and she was grateful not to face down another as he sat.

"Leave, human. There is no more coin for you here." He said, his voice almost weary. She nodded and, with a hand on her brother's arm, turned and followed Hawke out of the compound, giving only one backwards glance towards the giant Qunari. And knowing that this wasn't going to be the last time they saw each other.

As they left the gates, her brother opened the small purse and peered in, pushing around the contents with one finger, counting.

"One, two... four soveriegns." He counted before turning his attention towards her with a lopsided grin. "Only ten more to go before we can go on that Expedition!"

She smiled in return, but said nothing. She wasn't sure how she felt about the expedition yet. She knew that it probably was one of the best ways they could make a decent amount of coin and move their family into a larger house. She didn't mind sleeping on the floor of the small room they shared, or on the occasion when the rain had seeped into the floor, squeezing into a bed with her sister while her two brothers snored loudly. She'd never been bothered by the small spaces they often had slept in growing up. But her mother was often sad about the situation, lamenting that she wished she could provide for them. Were this a farming town, she would have been able to easily find a job mixing herbs or baking and she would not have felt so useless. Here, however, especially with the refugees, there were more people than there were jobs. Except, she thought wryly, the jobs her mother couldn't do. Fighting, killing, and stealing.

She sighed, and realized with a start that someone was talking to her. Fenris, the elf that had barely joined them and had helped them with the Arishok.

"Sorry, say again?" She said sheepishly as she looked over at the elf's handsome face. He frowned a little bit, staring at her before he spoke.

"You were ready for them to attack, weren't you?" He asked. Her movements in the compound had been small, and she knew her brother had likely not even noticed that she had even flinched. But Fenris was a warrior. Of course he had noticed. She nodded in response.

"For a second there, I thought my brother had said something else to get us into some sort of trouble." She answered, her tone a mocking amusement to her brother, who heard her and responded with a 'Hey!' She chuckled and waved him off as he continued to talk to Varric about what else there might be to do in this city to get the last ten sovereign.

"You are quick to defend your family." Fenris said knowingly. She nodded with a small smile as they walked up the steps to Lowtown district. She kept a careful eye as she watched their surroundings for any hint of danger. Their trek to the hanged man was uneventful. Not even a pickpocket attempt this time. (Though she suspected that Fenris' presence especially had put a firm stamp on that thought. He certainly made for an intimidating figure next to the group.)

They entered the Hanged Man and were assualted with the noises and smells that came from within. She wrinkled her nose slightly as she realized that someone had thrown up by the door recently. The sawdust they piled on the floor did nothing to hide the stench and she was reminded once again of how much she hated visiting the tavern. The group made their way towards the back of the tavern, shouting at the bartender for their usual. She slid into a seat next to her brother, who turned his conversation to her suddenly.

"Think you could take him?" He asked, grinning widely. She raised an eyebrow at the question, though she knew what he was talking about. She chose not to answer, leaning back into her seat. "Oh come on, sure you could! You took out that Orge, can't be too much different."

"You took out an Orge?" Varric asked. She gave a very short nod, but said nothing.

"We should have kept the horns." He said, giving a small pout, acting like a small child as he took another sip of his ale. "Imagine making something out of those."

"Horns?" Varric asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah!" He said, spreading his arms in front of him to show the size of them. "This big. Impaled her right before she killed it."

Varric looked at her, impressed. She never spoke of what she did. Unlike their brother Carver, she prefered to be out of the limelight. She would much rather have her accomplishments be tagged to any of her other siblings than have her name attached to them.

"Him and Carver insisted that I keep them and turn them into something." She said with a small hint of a smirk before she shrugged, "We didn't have the time to saw them off, however. Too busy running from the horde."

"You're full of surprises, Ophelia." Varric teased lightly. She smiled at him, but shrugged.

a/n: Actual first chapter here. Sorry it took so long.