IT'S BEEN SO LONG! Sorry for taking so long to update my job has taken over my life! T-T (cries)

I have to be honest… My life had been hectic with work, my friends, my family, and love life taking an awesome turn! I kinda forgot about this story… that is till I actually check my email and saw the Favorites, the Alerts, and some reviews (thank you to LittleAssassinX (who was my first review!),henxu, cherry-888, ImmortalScorpio, and tmjay10. Every one of you guys helped me get out of my rut! :D)

So I finally found time to write and the muse bunnies have been running ramped in my head.

Different story ideas have been going on in my head. One that is purely an Xmen First Class story which involves time traveling! (Cue twilight zone music!) O_o

Message/review if I should go through with this idea. I'm not sure yet….

One other thing…. in the last chapter I said Vivian hid under Varric's bed…. well there is no under for her to hide…. My bad…

Same as always chapter this is not beta'd and if anyone would like to beta for me I would be very grateful!

Enjoy and please tell me what you think... that means REVIEW PEOPLE! :)

ON WITH THE STORY!

I had made up my mind. I quickly went to my house and changed. It was then I decided I was going to use the hidden blades I had been working on when I had first gotten here. They still need work but desperate times call for desperate measures.

I left and followed them as quickly as possible. When I finally caught up I could see they had a battle on their hands. Without even thinking I ran and joined in.

Using a rock as leverage I jumped at two men. I kicked one in the face and stepped on the others forcing him to fall to the ground. I rolled, got up, dodged a sword as it tried to stab me, grabbed the guys arm and finally used a hidden blade to stab him in the heart. I pulled him down and rolled over his back to my next target. Before he could react I punched him in the throat and stole him sword. I dodged another guys attack then spun around to stab him in the stomach.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw another come at me. As he swung I grabbed his arm turned it so it was backwards to deflect another man's attack. I noticed his shocked look just as I kicked him in the stomach. I twisted the man's arm I still had forcing him to let go as I stabbed him in the back.

I duck just in time as a huge sword came at me. As soon as it passed I shifted to his right, and as he tried to attack me again I forced to sword down then snapped his neck.

I was grabbed from behind but I quickly slammed the back of my head into his. I pushed him to my right and as another man tried to attack me I forced his weapon into the first. I then gave him a head butt and slammed his head into my knee for good measure. Pushing him out of the way I was faced with another man. I blocked his attack and punched him in the face.

As I went to grab my sword I noticed a man coming up behind me. Grabbing his dagger I forced it into his stomach then ducked in time to dodge another sword. I grabbed him throwing him out of the way and decided it was time to use the hidden blades.

As one after another came at me I noticed something…Garret was a few feet from me. He was fighting with such determination I couldn't help but stare… and almost get hit by a sword. I lifted my hand in time to stop it but it broke my hidden blade. As I fell a sword came at my face but stopped a few inches from it.

As I looked up something wet hit my face. My eyes widened as I saw a clawed hand sticking out of the man's chest. The man gave a guttural noise as he was thrown away. Before I could do anything I was lifted off the ground by my throat causing my face mask to fall, as well as my hood, and I found myself staring into the eyes of a very… very pissed off elf. His eyes seem to get angrier and then I realized why…instinctively I grabbed a dagger and held it up to his throat… in defense mind you!

"Fenris! Stop!"

Looking up I saw Garret moving towards us. That was when I think he saw my face because at first he looked confused then shocked.

"Maria?" I gave a pained cry as Fenris's grip got tighter. This caused me to drop my dagger and grab his wrist.

"Put her down now!" The anger in Garret's voice shocked me.

"Why should I? She could be working with them!" I began to struggle more as he drew his right hand back to strike. My vision began to fade when all of the sudden he was thrown away from me. I dropped to the ground falling on my back. I gasped as air rushed back into my lungs and I tried to clear me blurry vision. I could hear grunts and the sound of metal hitting metal. I rolled over and then looked up to see Fenris and Garret attacking each other fiercely.

"Are you alright?" I looked to my right to see the elf Mage Merrill and Varric.

"Sì, io sono belle," I said as I tried to stand up but was pushed down by the Varric. (Yes, I am fine.)

"No you are not fine!" I looked at him in shock.

"What going on? What is she saying?" I heard Merrill ask but I ignored her.

"Lei capisce me?" (You can understand me?)

"A little bit but look we have more pressing things to be concerned about!" he said pointing to his fighting comrades.

I saw that Fenris was faster than Garret expected, coming in low and fast with practiced skill. Garret barely had time to slam his staff down, blocking the blade with a force field. Almost as soon as the huge sword hit the sphere it came down again and again. Finally when he saw an opening Garret dispelled the force field and dodged left around Fenris's sword and shot fire at him, but Fenris hopped backwards and avoided it, only to lunge forward again. Before he could get close, Garret froze him with ice!

I couldn't help but stare at Garret, who was breathing heavily. He then made his way to the struggling Elf.

"Fenris calm down! It's over! We need to focus on Hadriana!" This seemed to snap Fenris out of his rage because he completely stopped fighting. Shock was his expression as he realized what he had done.

"I…I don't kn-"

"We have more important things to do," I gave a shiver at the cold tone in Garrets voice. He flicked his hand towards Fenris and the ice broke releasing him. Without a sound Fenris made his way to the cave entrance but not before stealing a glance my way as he walked by.

Garret then turned his gaze to me and I dropped my gaze to the ground. Hearing footsteps I closed my eyes dreading what was about to happen. I knew I shouldn't have come but I-

A hand lifting my face up brought me out of my thoughts. I stared into worried amber eyes with shock.

"Are you okay?" I just nodded my head not trusting my voice. He gave me a smile, stood up, and held out his hand for me.

I gave him a confused look as I placed my hand in his. "I don't understand…"

"What's not to understand? We have a lot to talk about but right now we have a job to do. And we're going to need all the help we can get." With that he let go of my hand and made his way to the cave entrance.

Merrill quickly followed him, not before giving me a strange look.

"I'm glad you came," I looked to my left to see Varric giving me a smile. I just lifted an eyebrow at him in suspicion. Throwing his hand up in defense he said "Not just for the story but like Hawke said we're going to need help we can get." With that he followed Garret to the cave.

I slowly followed behind them and hung there as Fenris talked about the Magisters and Hadriana. I was caught too much in my own thoughts to pay their conversation any mind.

How was I going to explain to Garret about my deception? That it was an accident and it wasn't how I wanted it? No that wasn't a good-

"Hey are you coming or what?" I looked up to see Varric giving me a slight concerned look.

"Yes sorry," I quickly caught up with him as we entered the cave. I felt knots form in my stomach as I looked at the place. The place just screamed death and despair. The fence that had what looked like fire behind it didn't help either.

"They're still here, good." Fenris said causing a shiver to run down my spine at how… eerie he said it. I wanted to ask how he knew but I decided not to… seeing how he almost killed me earlier.

We moved forward to the door in front of us. As it opened the smell of blood and death hit my nose so quickly it caught me off guard. I put my hand over my mouth to keep from retching. When the feeling passed I followed the others in. Right in front of us was a mutilated corpse on a table. I wasn't a religious person but… this made me want to pray for the unfortunate soul.

"See for yourself, the legacy of the Magisters." You could feel the disgust in his voice.

"They sacrifice the unwilling?" I looked at female Elf with a raised eyebrow. Who in their right mind would want to be a willing sacrifice! I mean really?

"Is that so hard to believe? You're only a step away from it yourself." I must have had a shocked look on my face because Merrill gave me a little guilty look before looking back at Fenris.

"That's not true!" but the way she said it she sounded unsure. I made a mental note to keep a good distance from her.

"Believe what you like, it's my experience mages always find a way to justify their need for power." I saw Garret give Fenris a glare but instead of saying anything decided to be the leader.

"Let's keep moving!" Garret said to keep the conversation from getting into a fight. We made our way to next chamber to see more Slavers and we got rid of them quickly but something happened that I did not expect… skeletons started to come out of the ground!

The other ran at them and attacked but I could only stare in shock at what I was seeing.

"How is this possible?" I heard myself say as I stared at the battle scene. Sudden the ground under me started to shake. I jumped backwards to see a decayed hand pop out of the ground. I slowly backed away as it crawled out and ran at me.

"fottere!" (Fuck!) I yelled at as it came at me. But before it could reach me it suddenly caught fire and fell to the floor. I stared at it in fright expecting it to get up again but it didn't. I jumped when I hand fell on my shoulder. I whipped around and pointed my dagger at the person.

"Whoa! It's just me!" said Garret as he jumped back a little so he wouldn't get cut. I eyes went wide as saw who I almost stabbed.

I dropped my dagger in shock and I could feel tears start to firm behind my eyes. I closed my eyes tight to keep them from falling. "I'm sorry… I… this is just…"

I felt hands on my shoulders but I refused to open my eyes.

"You have nothing to worry about. I'll protect you," I heard sincerity in his voice. I finally opened my eyes looked at him when I got in feeling in check. Even with blood on his face he still looked handsome. I shook my head a little bit to get rid of the thought.

"Thank you… Garret." He gave a smile, picked up my dagger I had dropped, and handed it to me.

"You're welcome Ma-"

"Vivian" I blurted out. I felt a blush form on me cheeks. "Vivian is my real name." I said as I took the dagger from him looking at the ground.

He gave a little laugh as he took a step back from me.

"Well it's nice to know your real name… Vivian. I would love to talk more but we have some business to take care of. Shall we?"

I gave a little smile a nodded my head as I looked back at him. I could feel my blush finally going away as he moved to the front of the group leading us to the next room.

"Everything okay Fox?"' I looked to see Varric who was giving me a sly smile.

"Yes." I said. I decided not to talk about what Garret did for me. "I'm just not used to seeing corpses came back to life. Our dead stay dead… it's a known fact back home."

"I see. And is blushing a tomato red a normal thing back home?" he gave a laugh as I made a move to hit him but he dodged at the last second.

"Shut up!" he just shook his head and laughed.

As we continued we fought many enemies, some living…. some dead. Every once in a while Garret would give me a potion to drink. It wasn't the best tasting but it certainly made me feel better.

During one of the battles we found a survivor it was a young elf girl. During the fight I kept close to her to make sure she wasn't hurt. It was over quickly and Fenris come running over.

"Are you hurt? Did they touch you?"

"They've been killing everyone! They cut papa, bleed him!" she looked ready to cry and a part of me wanted to comfort her but I resisted.

"Why? Why would they do this?" Fenris looked confused and I wanted to smack him for not realizing that it was most likely because of him.

"These poor people! This is ghastly!" Merrill said and I shot her a look that said 'you think?'

"The magister... She said she needed power, that someone was coming to kill her." I saw Fenris put his head down for a few seconds as it finally sunk in.

"We tried to be good! We did everything we were told! She loved pap's soup. I don't understand…"

"Is the Magister still here?" Garret asked her calmly.

"I… think so. The Magister said they were to prepare for battle. I think she's very frightened!"

"She had every reason to be!" Fenris growled.

The little girl's eye grew with fright at the idea. "Please, don't hurt her. She'll be so angry if you hurt her!"

"This has been terrible for you," I found myself saying as I looked at her with sad eyes.

"Everything was fine until today!" Tears started to slide down her cheeks.

"It wasn't. You just didn't know any better…" I felt bad for your child as Fenris said this.

She suddenly turned to Fenris and asked him if he was her master

"No!" Horrified, Fenris turned toward her and gestured in denial.

"But I can cook. I can clean. What else will I do?"

I heard a sigh come from Garret as he said "If you go to Kirkwall, I can help you."

"You can? Oh, praise the Maker! Thank you!" with that the girl ran off.

As I looked at Fenris his expression was… inexpressible. "You're in the market for a slave now, Hawke?"

"I gave her a job Fenris!" he said it as if he couldn't believe that Fenris would even say that.

I decided to intervene before they fought again.

"Look we need to get going… from what I understand this Hadriana's power is growing as we speak."

They both looked at me and slowly nodded their heads as they gave each other one last glare.

We finally started moving again but not before running into a slew of armored men. After a what seemed like forever we finally found Hadriana but she was not alone… armored men, skeletons, and… what I can only call demons were with her.

It was a hard battle for me… having never fought against things of this nature. It was quite frightening but with Garret and Varric helping me when they could, I was just happy I had survived.

In the end it was Garret who finally got her to the ground, no longer was she a powerful mage but a thin weak woman crawling toward her staff.

Fenris kicked the weapon away from her and lifted his sword to finish her off.

She cursed, and then looked to Fenris. "Stop! You do not want me dead!"

"There is only one person I want dead more," Fenris growled.

"I have information Elf, and I will trade it in return for my life." I couldn't help but give scoff at her for even thinking he would agree to such a thing.

"The location of Danarius? What good will that do me? I'd rather he lose his pet pupil." Fenris tightened his grip on the sword. I had no objection if he killed her, from what I understand it's what she deserves.

"You have a sister!" She said in desperation. "She is alive!"

Fenris froze, a shocked expression came to his face as he slowly lowered his weapon to his side.

She sat up when she realized she had a bargaining chip. "You wish to reclaim your life? Let me go, and I will tell you where she is?

"How do we even know you're even telling the truth?" I asked flatly as I wiping sweat and blood from my face.

She looked at me like I was some annoying bug. I glared back at her. "You don't. But I know Fenris. I know what he is searching for. If he wants me to betray Danarius, he will have to pay for it."

I looked at the Elf, who was staring at Hadriana in disbelief.

"This is your call," Garret said as he looked at Fenris.

Fenris sheathed his sword as he made his way over to Hadriana and kneeled above her.

"So I have your word? I tell you, and let me go!"

I didn't even realize I was holding my breath until he answered.

"Yes. You have my word." I couldn't help but be a little shocked at his answer as I looked at him.

Hadriana stared at him as well then realized she had no choice, she gave in.

"Her name is Varania. She is in Qarinus, she serves a magister by the name of Ahriman."

"A servant, not a slave." He seemed slightly shocked.

"She's not a slave. Now let me go!"

A familiar pale blue light flashed over the warrior elf and I knew she would not be let go.

"I believe you," he said, and with that drove his steel claws into her chest. She opened her mouth in shock; then blood emptied from her chest, splattering all over her dress. The magister convulsed and made gurgling noises from her throat as she died. Fenris pulled his fist back, and said without an expression as he walked passed. "We are done here."

I had a shocked expression on my face as I watched the scene before me. It was gruesome; I knew he would kill her… but not like that. Merrill looked away and covered her mouth; I could tell she was shaking. Varric looked a little green and uneasy. Garret didn't look fazed at all.

I saw Garret look at the elf. I hoped he wasn't going to say something stupid.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I had to keep myself from slapping my forehead. "And there it is!" I thought to myself.

Fenris stopped and as he whipped around to get in Garrets face I didn't not see joy or even satisfaction I saw raw anger and deep resentment, and disbelief at what Hawke had just suggested.

"No, I do not want to talk about it! This can be a trap! Danarius could have sent Hadriana here to tell me about this… 'sister.'" He sneered at the word.

"And even if he didn't, trying to find her would still be suicide! Danarius has to know about her, and has to know that Hadriana knows. But all that matters is that I finally got to crush this bitch's heart." He turned away from Hawke, his voice thick with hate. "May she rot, and every other mage in Thedas with her." I looked at Garret and saw the anger in his face.

"Don't forget who you are talking to." The pure anger in his voice made a chill run down my spine.

Rage came to fenris's eyes as he looked at Garret.

"I haven't forgotten. You consider an abomination your friend, one hunted by every templar in Kirkwall, and another one of your companions is a blood mage already! It is only a matter of time before you follow down that same path. In the end, there is always going to be some reason, some excuse..."

I stepped in when I saw Merrill starting to turn red from anger. I decided to try to stop this nonsense by changing the Subject. "Shouldn't we at least look for your sister?"

A hollow laugh came from Fenris's lips. "Even if I found her, who knows what the magisters have done to her?" His lip curled with disgust. "What has magic touched that it doesn't spoil?"

The elf gave the group one last look before saying that he had to go. With that he turned and left the room.

We left in silence after that. Merrill left to go home while Garret, Varric and I went to the hanged man. We were in need for a good drink after what just happened.

After getting are drinks the three of us sat at Varric's table in silence. After about the 3rd drink that was when Varric decided to talk.

"So Vivian, are you going to tell us your story?" said Varric as he took a swig of his drink. "I can't think of a better time than now," he finished with a smile as he saw my surprised look.

"Yes I am quite curious as to how this whole Black Fox thing started?" he looked at me with unmoving eyes.

"As I told Varric earlier I didn't even know I was called that till you and your other companions walked in looking for said Black Fox."

"So you didn't kn-… what do you mean told Varric earlier?"

Varric doubled over with laughter at my expression. I must have looked like stunned and appalled.

Opps… let that one slip.

"I'm going to let you explain this one Fox." Varric said smugly.

"Well Varric found out about my identity because I…well… I sort of… battled it out with some Slavers earlier today and Varric happened to see. He pieced it together that I was somehow the Black Fox. How I don't know, I thought I was being careful but apparently not."

"So why did you decided to use a fake persona? Was it to get close to me?" I saw Garret's eyes flash with different emotions so fast that I couldn't tell what was what.

I gave a sigh before I spoke. "I honestly didn't mean for it to happen what way. It just sort of did." I couldn't help but give a little smile to Garret. "And I have to say it was entertaining to see if you liked Maria or not." He gave me a smirk but deicded not to comment on what I said. He instead changed the subject.

"If you don't mind me asking… why are you in Kirkwall?"

"And don't say fate!" said Varric as he butted in. I saw Garret give him a curious look but said nothing.

"It's… complicated."

"Oh come on. Just give us an answer." Said Varric as I shook my head.

"It's not what you think."

"Most great stories rarely are what they appear," Varric said in a mysterious tone.

"I can hardly say mine is a great one. It's… just difficult to explain... Sometimes I just expect myself to wake up to find that this is all a dream." See the unamused looks they were giving me didn't help. "….You deserve to know the truth. But understand this… I have not told a soul what I am about to tell you. I just don't know if you will believe me." I said giving them a sad look.

"Well the only way too truly see … is for you to tell us," said Varric. I looked at the men in front of me trying to decide what to do but finally after a minute or two I did the right thing.

"Alright," I said as put down my mug. "But you must not interrupt me till I am done talking." I gave them a sharp glare. "Is that understood?"

They both nodded their heads as I took a deep breath and started my tale.

~Scene Change~

"You expected me to believe that The Black Fox was actually from a different world?" said Cassandra Pentaghast in an unbelieving tone.

"I'm just telling you what she told me," said Varric Tethras as he sat in the chair in a relaxed position.

"And you believed her?" She said in astonishment. She shook her head as she looked at him.

"I had no reason not to. Even if she wasn't telling the truth, which I believe she is telling the truth, it made for a great story don't you think?" he gave his interrogator a charming smile.

"I don't care what it made for! All I want to know is how The Black Fox was involved with The Champion!"

"The Black Fox was involved with the champion alright." He gave a sly chuckle. "People outside our little group just didn't know how involved they were…"

Cassandra's eyes widen at the thought. "You mean…"

"Now you're getting it."

"It explains only some of what happened… Tell me everything!" Cassandra said with acuteness.

"Don't worry I'm getting there," he said with a smirk before continuing.

I've got blisters on my fingers! (Quick trivia question! who said that? And why?) But it feels good! 4,309 words! Longest one yet! lol

Well I hoped you guys enjoyed it… it might be a while before I update again… sorry :( work is slowly killing me. But it pays! Yay! Anyway please review because it makes me feel like I'm not wasting my time! Love ya guys :)

Till next time ProphetOfTruthAndLies signing out!