I do not own nor do I gain any profits from Dragon Age or this fan-fiction. I do notown the characters, I just use them to make stories.

Derezzed

A Sister's Smile

Onyx sat in her new living room, her mother was in the kitchen. She was surprised when her mother had taken her home to...this! This estate, the Amell Estate. About ten bedrooms, filled with family and people she had yet to meet.

She let her eyes closed as she remembered walking into the house...her home.

The house was made up of a creamy stone, with vine running up and down it; flowers of various colours bloomed in various spots. Around her was other mansions, but tall walls gave privacy. The outer garden was beautiful, trees and shrubs were cut to perfection and the flowers were scattered around, bringing colour and life to the outside.

The entrance inside the house was a simple room, with benches on either side, but when you walk in, the foyer was amazing. A large room with two grand staircases on either side of the entrance to the living room. There was a door on the left wall in the foyer that leaded to the library and study. The door on the right wall in the foyer lead to the dining room and kitchen.

The living room was painted a wine red with dark wood flooring. Red plush sofas were parallel to each other with a simple coffee table in the middle. Pictures of family members decorated the walls. She looked at the fireplace in the middle of the front wall, before looking at the painting above it. It was a painting of her family, all of them.

The painting was painted - her mother didn't want a photograph - on top of a hill, overlooking Lothering. Her father was hugging her, his right cheek pressed to her left one, a wide grin on her ten year old face. Her mother hand her arms around her brother and sister - who were four at the time. Carver was smiling, his front two teeth missing at the top while Bethany had a shy smiled on her face as she hugged her mother's hand to her chest.

Her mother's black hair was in a simple pony tail at the base of her neck and she was dressed in a simple white dress. Her father's black locks were pushed back out his face and he had the faint trace of stubble on the lower half of his face, and he was dressed in a simple shirt and leggings. Carver and Bethany were wearing matching outfits; Carver wore a white shirt with brown leggings while Bethany wore a white shirt with a brown dress over it. Carver's hair was messy while Bethany's was in pigtails. Her younger self wore a white tank top with faint brown strips with a pair of brown shorts that stop just below her knees, her left arm wrapped around her father's neck while her right held onto the brown straw hat upon her head.

She let a soft smile bloom on her lips as the eyes stared back at her, three golden-brown and two crystal blue.

She heard footsteps. Turning she saw her mother with a tray that was filled with cakes, tea cups and a teapot. She placed the tray down on the coffee table, before seating herself on the seat across from her daughter.

"It's strange..." Leandra looked at her daughter, who was cupping a cup of tea - four sugars with milk - and looking into it, her lip spread into a fine line. "...Being here...in person"

Leandra stood up and walked towards her daughter, sitting beside her on the three-seater couch.

"My darling, you are home now, there is no need for you to continue wearing this mask"

Leandra gently ran the back of her hand over her daughter's cheek, hoping the mask her daughter wore would crumble at her touch, but she just started at her, her blue eyes glazed over with a dull shine...the once bright twinkle in her eyes gone.

"Oh...my child. I cannot begin to imagine what you went through...what horrors you had to see and endure just to survive. But I promise you this. You are home now and I make it my mission for you to understand that you are safe now"

She pulled her daughter to her bosom. "You spent five years taking care of your family, now it's our turn to take care of you"

Bethany walked home from the Academy. It was her last day and she had spent it with her friends, laughing and taking pictures with their P.C.C's. She had passed all her classes with high grades. Carver had left with his friends to go out - and she knew that he meant the Blooming Rose, Hightown's very own whore house.

Looking into her purse, she saw that she had enough to get a cab home instead of walking all the way. She hailed a cab that was going along the room.

"Were you off to darlin'?" The woman asked, her Starkhaven accent prominent as she brushed stray blonde hair away from her hazel eyes.

"Amell Estate please"

The cab driver smiled, before putting the hover-cab into drive.

After waving goodbye to the cab driver, Bethany walked up the path to her house before opening the door.

"Mother, I'm home"

The house was a tad quiet, but she could hear music playing from the kitchen.

'She must be cooking or preparing dinner, since its Friday'

Every Friday, without fail, her mother would send the house help - she never did like calling them servants - home, the only ones that stayed was Orana; and elven girl with blonde hair and green eyes, and Bodahn and his son, Sandal, two dwarfs that had big hearts, and that was because they lived with them in the estate.

She put her bag on one of the living-room armchairs before heading towards the kitchen to see her mother.

"Hey, you should have seen it today, everyone...was...going...crazy"

Bethany's eyes went wide, as she stared into the blue eyes of her older sister, who was leaning against the preparation table in the kitchen, a faint smile on her lips.

"O-Onyx?"

Her sister walked towards her, standing in front of her.

"Hey, Beth"

Bethany reached her arms out, and pulled her sister into a hug. She nuzzled her head under her sister chin, tears falling silently down her, now slightly rosy, cheeks. She smelt the faint scent of firing smoke and copper, but she didn't say anything. She only cared about being held by her older sister.

Leandra watched the scene in front of her; bringing her hand up to her mouth, trapping her sob before it was voice. But her happiness soon diminished as she saw the look upon her older daughters face.

While Bethany was hugging her sister, a large smile on her face and tears falling from her eyes. Onyx had no emotion on her face, it was void of anything. Her eyes were dull and hazy, as if she was ready to give up at any second. Her eyes had dark circles under them, showing that she had not been sleeping, and if she had, it was for a few hours.

It was at that moment that Leandra realized something.

This was not her daughter, merely a look-a-like shell, posing as her daughter.

But, she knew, that somewhere...somewhere deep inside of this shell, behind the mask, her daughter was hiding...and she would be damned by the Maker and his bride Andraste if she didn't bring her back.