Chapter 2, in which Sebastian is a chantry-boy and Anders can't keep those emotions in check…

Okay, so my assumption in this chapter is that the Chantry consider being made Tranquil a good thing, like some kind of mercy so they don't have to kill the mage. Obviously mages see it differently but they're not going to share this with their captors are they? Herp.

Read and Review, I always appreciate it :D

Last Rites Chapter 2

Sebastian wouldn't say he hated the Gallows, he was after all a firm supporter in the Templar Order and the belief in keeping mages in Circles for their own protection… but there was something about the Gallows that didn't sit well with him.

He had been reluctant to agree to the task of giving an unfortunate mage his last rites, but he knew that all things happened for a reason. If he could give solace to one lost sheep, then the Maker would look favorably upon such an act, despite how unnerving it was for him.

"Good morning Brother." He was greeted warmly by a Templar at the wrought-iron gates of the Gallows, and Sebastian responded in kind, trying hard to avoid looking at the weeping statues that loomed above him or the blank faces of the many Tranquil that wandered the courtyard doing menial jobs and selling their wares. He reminded himself that it was all in the Maker's name.

"…So you see we've put him in solitary with the wards up, so you'll be perfectly safe from his magic," The templar was talking, but Sebastian had been a million miles away. He nodded along before being lead to a small corridor, right in the centre of the Gallows. A line of thick-walled cells ran down the length of the corridor each with a heavy wooden door held in place with 2 metal slats. There was little chance of breaking out for a normal person, and now that's exactly what the mages behind these doors were.

"This mage, I would like to be left alone with him. A man's confession is his between himself and his priest." Sebastian stated, and when the Templar began to protest he held up a hand. "Regardless of this maleficar's crimes we must act as an example no? It is a man's right before he meets his end to have a chance to repent. As you said, he is without magic and physically weak, whereas I am not. Do not fear." The Templar looked like he wanted to say something, but Sebastian's very presence commanded respect, it was a poorly kept secret that this Chantry Brother was really the Prince of Starkhaven.

"Very well Brother, I shall open the cell for you now. Just knock on the door when you are done." The Templar handed Sebastian a candle from the supply on a table at the beginning of the corridor. "You'll need this. There are no windows in those cells." The other man's brow furrowed at that, but the cell door was now opening.

"Hey mage. You've got a visitor." The Templar called into the darkness. "Brother." He nodded before stepping back to allow Sebastian to enter the tiny room, before shutting the door behind him with a loud clang.

"Oh Maker, they would send YOU wouldn't they?" The groan that came out of the darkness was undeniably the voice of a particular acquaintance of his.

"Anders?" Sebastian held his candle aloft to be greeted with the exhausted and drawn face of the mage squinting away from the concentrated light.

"Yes it's me. Hello Sebastian, I'm just taking a nap in this wonderfully comfy Gallows-bed before heading home for a hard day's work healing the people the rest of Kirkwall forgot about." Anders spat venomously. Sebastian tried not to flinch at the anger in his words, remaining composed.

"So they caught you…" Sebastian muttered, more to himself. "What of Hawke? I can't see how he would have allowed this?"

Anders raised an eyebrow "Surely you know he's currently not in Kirkwall, or I wouldn't be sitting here." He sighed "He has no idea."

There was a long silence, Sebastian set down the small stool he was carrying and placed the single candle down on it, using the light to take a proper look at the other man.

It was clear Anders had not slept, his blond hair loose from it's usual tie, messy and hanging in clumps, his chest rising and falling in catching breaths that suggested he had been in great distress before Sebastian had arrived, and the tips of his fingers were red and bloody where he had been biting on the skin around his stubby nails. Now that the wards were in place there was no chance that Justice could make an appearance, and for the first time Sebastian was in the presence of Anders, and only Anders.

"So tell me Sebastian…" Anders broke the silence, and the archer's eyes flew up to meet the mage's, almost black in the candlelight, "Am I to be executed tonight? Made Tranquil? Which is it?" His voice had lost the earlier rage, and Sebastian felt a twinge of…something.

"Anders…" Sebastian sat down on the low bed beside him, putting what he hoped was a comforting hand on the blond man's shoulder, "I'm afraid they've decided to execute you. They don't believe that you are deserving of the mercy of Tranquility." The man prepared himself for anger, perhaps for tears as Anders shoulders began to shake, so he was thrown off-guard by the sudden burst of laughter from the mage.

"The mercy of Tranquility?" Anders gasped through his mirth. "Oh Maker Sebastian they have got you good. How can anyone call having your entire being stripped away a mercy? No. I'm glad, glad that I am facing death and not being made into something worse than death." His laughter faded, and there was another silence as Sebastian struggled with what to say in response to such an outburst.

Once again, Anders was the first to break the quiet, and once again his demeanor had changed. "Still… ideally I would wish I wasn't facing this at all." Sebastian stared over at the other man's face, the dark circles under his even darker eyes suddenly misty with the realization of what would happen at sunset. He didn't even know when that sunset was, stuck in this dark room with now only a lone candle that probably wouldn't even last the hours before his time.

"You know Anders, I was sent here for a purpose." Sebastian said quietly, though the other man did not respond or move. "I am to give you your last rites, a final confession…" Anders snorted in response; clearly the idea of such a thing was ridiculous. "Then perhaps you would just like to talk?"

"Talk?" Anders turned to look at Sebastian, causing the other man to instinctively move his head away, "When have you ever wanted to talk to me before? We're not friends Sebastian, not even close. I have made no secret of my beliefs, and you have made no secret of your disagreement. Even now we are sitting here when you could help me get out!" There was a twinge of desperation in the man's voice as he stared at Sebastian, who shifted under the intense gaze.

"Anders… You know I couldn't." He said quietly, "It wouldn't be possible. You're being held in the very centre of the Gallows. There are Templars everywhere, anti-magic wards, walls, and iron gates, it'd be impossible. You'd just die faster." The very small, suppressed part of Sebastian's mind brought up the question he hoped Anders would not: But even if there HAD been a chance of escape, would you have helped him? He felt a sudden sharp pang of guilt… he couldn't answer that question.

The silence descended again, both men lost in their own thoughts.