A/N: The muse is spewing out. Lol I appreciate all the reviews, the alerts, the favoriting, and all that jazz. You guys are wonderful, but I'm sure you already know that. Warning, this chapter is dark and really has some M content in it with controversial topics. It even made me uncomfortable writing about it but I will defend it by saying that I feel this had to happen and you'll see why. This will definitely make it a comfort fic. –sighs- Don't hate me too much.

"Blank Shell"

You could be my someone
You could be my scene
You know that I'll protect you
From all of the obscene

-"Blurry" by Puddle of Mudd

It was the heat of flames that woke her up. Raina gasped for air and rolled in the opposite direction of the fire. Mindless chatter filled her ears and she couldn't make out a word. She winced as she tried to heal herself but it didn't work. It only made her throw up. Acid worked its way up her throat and she spit out bile. Laughter echoed around her. The ground swayed in her vision. She knew what happened, she had been poisoned.

"Make sure she's going to live at least until we get her to a healer."

"We should have just knocked her out."

"She would have fought us."

"Yeah, we'd be dead."

"But did we really have to poison her?"

Could they just stop talking? There were so many voices. Her fingers dug into the ground. She needed to get it out of her system, so she made herself throw up again. Her chest heaved and her body shivered. Laughter erupted again and someone touched her. "Ah, get up," the man said. She pointed her hand at the man and casted a fire spell. Thanks to the swaying ground, her vision and aim had been a little off. "You missed me."

Raina sniffed the air. "Not by much," she growled. She was going to kill them… all of them. "Would you like me to try again?"

A blunt force hit her in her ribs. She swore she felt something crack. A small groan escaped her. Pain rushed to her in waves. She could feel her powers slowly draining from her from a trick the Templars had up their sleeves. Would Isabela know she was missing? Would Fenris? Would he even care? "You're lucky," that was a voice she recognized. Ser Kerras loomed over her. "We need you for an example for the mages, otherwise you'd be dead."

"Why?" Raina managed to get out. "I sided with the Templars in the end!"

Fingers gripped her hair and her head jerked upwards. "Only because your lover turned against you," he spat at her, "You are not a friend to either side. No one will save you. No one."

Scenes like that repeated during their travels. She had several attempted escapes but they always caught her. They mocked her. If she was the great Champion of Kirkwall, couldn't she escape a handful of Templars? If she could defeat the Arishok, couldn't she cast one tiny spell correctly? Unlike them, the Arishok respected fairness in a battle. If they hadn't poisoned her, she would have taken them to the Void and beyond.

Where were they going? Where were they?

Raina pushed herself away from the Templar holding her and spit out more bile that had worked its way up her throat. The poison was still lingering. She couldn't walk without aide. Frequent blanks had entered her memory. Where were they taking her? Days had faded from her memory. She still felt sick to her stomach. "We are here…" Why was he speaking to her again? Kerras grabbed her by her hair again. Her hands shot up to his. She set fire to his flesh to give herself a moment. The smell of burning skin was putrid but necessary. Satisfaction hit as she heard him scream. She tried to run but someone else grabbed her. That's when she saw where they were. The view of Ferelden's Circle of Magi hit her like a brick.

"No," she protested. Fear struck her. That was the last place she had ever wanted to be. Any Circle was the last place she wanted to be. "No!" She was pushed toward the small pier. She saw the boat. "No!" She cried again and struggled to get away. She attempted to put up a force field but it didn't work. She attempted mind blast but it only gave her a headache. The Templars threw her onto the boat. She knew they had defected from the Chantry. She wondered what the Divine would have said seeing her men fall so far. Then again, the finger of blame might have been pointed at her for that one. Hot tears streamed down her face as the boat pushed off from the dock. She wondered what would happen if she flung herself off the boat. Would they attempt to save her just for their plot? Would they just let her drown? Maker let it be so. She was too weak, too sick to keep herself from not drowning. She just knew that she would have died if it was her choice instead of go inside of the damned tower. They were going to make her tranquil. She was sure of it.

Death was welcomed. She moved to fling herself off the boat but she was pulled down. "Oh, no you don't," Kerras said. His fingers dug into shoulders as he set her down in front of him. She wouldn't cry again. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction. The boat pulled to the coast of the island that the tower had been built on and they moved her out. She fought to escape again and one of them hit her. They would see her beaten and bruised before they ever let her go. Did Carver know what they were doing? How could he possibly have known? He was in Kirkwall. Then again, Kerras had been from Kirkwall as well. How long had she been followed?

Raina felt herself be thrown on the cold stone floor of the tower. "Please," she begged for it to end.

"Men, leave me," the Templar ordered. The door shut behind them and she scooted away. She ever heard the latch lock. He came after her and pinned her to the floor. She tried to push him away, using every ounce of energy that she had to use any spell to get him away. Her hands clawed against his face and she pressed one against his cheek using a flame spell to burn him in hopes that would make him stop. No. It only made him angrier. He hit her again, over and over until she couldn't see.

"Coward!" She spat at him and he pushed her face against the stone as he turned her over. Cloth ripped. "Get off of me!" She screamed. He pulled her hair back and smashed her head against the ground. So much for his Templar vows… she felt him push himself inside of her. She cried out in pain. The vile creature let out guttural sounds as he moved in and out. The act in itself was ugly and she would forever be scarred but it had been quick. Several moments of forcing himself into her and he was done. Kerras pushed himself off of her and cleaned himself. Raina curled into a ball. She felt like her innards were going to explode. Bile left her again. It dripped out of the corner of her mouth and she didn't bother to wipe it away.

A small laugh escaped Kerras. "I've always wanted to know what that was like," he said. She didn't care. The door opened and she listened as he walked out of the room.

"What happened?" One of the Templars asked.

"Call a healer." Couldn't they hear the screams?

The door shut again and she cried. She cried until the tears refused to come. She didn't hear when the door opened again. "Makers Breath there's so much blood," it was a new voice.

"No," she begged, "Leave me be. Please…no more."

"I'm here to help you…" It was a womans voice but she found no comfort in it.

"Just let me die."

The woman paused. "I can't," she told her. The Templars would kill her. She felt hands on her again and she flinched. "Ssh. It's ok. I'm just going to heal you. Make it better."

"Nothing will make this better," Raina replied. She didn't even want to look at her face. She didn't want to see who was helping her. She refused to associate any act of kindness in that tower. She recognized the warm sensation of healing from when Anders had helped her so long ago.

"Oh my…" She heard the woman whisper. "Did you…did you know?"

It was then that Raina finally looked at her. There had been a striking resemblance to her but she refused to acknowledge it. Nothing good would come out of it. "Know what?"

"You were… I don't know how to tell you this but you were with child…" No. She would have known. She was a liar. The woman was a demon sent to taunt her in this Maker forsaken place. She pushed away from the healer.

"You lie," she hissed. Her breath caught in her throat as a lump formed. She choked on it as she tried to gasp for air. She gave in to crying again. Oh Fenris… How could he ever forgive her? "I…You said were…"

"I'm sorry," the woman told her, "What they gave you…what he did…There's nothing that I can do." Raina understood. The mage offered her herbs. "It will stop the poison." Did she have anything to stop the pain? She chewed on the leaves and swallowed before she curled into a ball again. "May I ask you something?"

"Why not?" Raina countered bitterly. She was going to die anyways. "What more could you people want out of me?"

"Are you really the Champion of Kirkwall?"

"Yes." What was the use of lying? "Please. I don't want to talk more of it."

"I'm your…"

Raina's head whipped around to look at her. "I said I don't want to talk more of it!" She screamed. The womans eyes widened. If she was smart, she wouldn't say anything else. Raina figured that she should have thanked her for her help, but she didn't. She couldn't bring herself to. The healer walked away and she was alone again. It was an empty feeling. She wanted her mother more than anything. It had been years since her murder but those wounds were still fresh. She wanted Carver, just to have someone to argue with. She wanted… Raina closed her eyes.

She didn't enter the Fade that night. She slept a dreamless sleep. She slept the type of sleep that when you wake up, you feel like you hadn't slept at all. That had been the case when someone busted into her room. She let out a small cry. Not again, Maker please, not again. She wouldn't survive it. The poison had yet to make its way fully out of her system and the knowledge of her loss… She had no words to describe how it made her feel. Where there words that could help one say such a thing? "Sister!" No… Someone scooped her into their arms. She didn't want to be touched. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know it was you. I didn't realize…" She curled her hands into fists and pounded against his breast plate. "Raina please…"

"You bastard!" She cried. She didn't know if she was yelling at him or just to yell for the sake of yelling. "This place is playing tricks on my mind. This isn't you! It couldn't be you! Get away from me."

"Please believe me, I wouldn't have let this happen if I had known it was you…" He had a pleading look in his eyes. The Carver she knew wouldn't have approved of such acts. She knew he had been Knight-Captain which meant his vows had gone through. Wasn't he supposed to be in Kirkwall? Wasn't he supposed to be rebuilding? There had been so many questions that ran through her mind but she couldn't articulate any of them.

"Let go of me," she demanded. It was the only thing she could say. "You are no brother of mine." Well, and that too.

Carver looked like he had been slapped in the face. "Ray…"

"Stop!" She yelled. Raina covered her ears with her hands. "I will hear no more of you!" He touched her again and she kicked him. Could he understand she didn't want to be touched? "How could you let this happen? You…do you really hate me that much?" He was crying. She had never seen him cry before. Slow tears rolled down his skin. Betrayer, she wanted to yell. She wanted to hurt him like she had been hurt. "That healer told me that I was…" She couldn't say it. "I lost…" Still couldn't.

"Who was it?" He asked. His voice had become stone cold.

"Carver…"

"Who was it?" He demanded again. Raina put a hand over her mouth and slowly let it drop.

"What do you care?"

"Who was it?" He was going to leave her. She didn't want Carver to leave. She'd be alone again.

"Ser Kerras," she told him.

She watched as her brother pulled out his sword. She scrambled to her feet but fell back to her knees. The door had been swung open and her brothers' heavy footsteps echoed in the halls. Still bloodied and broken, she made her way to the doorway and peered around the corner in time to see her brother run his sword through the bastard. Men shouted. Blood came out in spurts from Kerras's mouth. No healer would save him. No man moved to strike against her brother. She wondered if Justice was smiling down upon her in the Fade.

A/N: I didn't mean to have Carver come out that way. It's just… he seemed more assy to me when he joined the Templars than he did when he went to the Wardens. Well, at least he got justice in the end?