Disclaimer: I own neither Tangled nor Dragon Age
~The Hanged Man~
"Oh, Anders, don't be that way," Hawke pleaded, trailing after Anders. "I'm sorry, but thinking of you with really long hair just makes laugh a little!"
Anders spun around suddenly to face Hawke. "A little? You and Varric were laughing for over an hour!"
Hawke laughed awkwardly. "Yes, well, that can sometimes happen… Anyways, I really do want to hear about what happened with Knight-Commander Meredith! Please finish your story!"
"Fine," Anders sighed, annoyed.
~Ferelden Circle of Magi~
"Anders," came the voice of First Enchanter Irving, "Knight-Commander Meredith is here to see you."
Anders' jaw fell open. Sure he had tried to escape one or five times, but who's counting, really? Surely it wasn't bad enough to call in the Knight-Commander of Kirkwall, right? Oh well, he might as well try to take advantage of this visit.
Meredith threw open the doors and waltzed over to Anders' mirror.
"Umm," Anders started, "okay. So, as you've been told, tomorrow is a very big day-"
"Anders, look in that mirror," she said, pulling him next to her. "You know what I see? I see a strong, confident, beautiful, young person."
Anders smiled.
"Oh, look – you're here too!" she said laughing. Anders' face fell instantly. "I'm just teasing; stop taking everything so seriously!" She went back to admiring herself in the mirror.
"…Okay, so, Knight-Commander, as I was saying, tomorrow is-"
"Anders, Mother's feeling a little run down. Would you heal me, dear? Then we'll talk."
"Mother?" Anders questioned under his breath. "Whatever, fine." He sat her down in an oversized arm chair and healed her as quickly as he could. The second he finished, he came up close beside her excitedly. "So, Meredith-"
"Mother!" Meredith corrected. "I like to think of myself as a mother-figure to all the mages in the circle towers."
"So, Mother," he started, "earlier I was saying that tomorrow is a pretty big day and you didn't really respond, so I'm just gonna tell you: it's my birthday!" he said quickly, hugging her arm as he finished. "Ta-da!"
"No, no, no. Can't be," she said, pulling Anders away from her. "I distinctly remember. Your birthday was last year."
Anders stopped for a second, looking puzzled. "Wait, how would you know about last year? This is the first time I've met you."
"Dear, the Templars brief me before I meet with any mage and they assured me that you had already had a birthday," Meredith said in what was obviously intended to be a reassuring manner.
"That's the funny thing about birthdays, they're kind of an annual thing," he explained, sitting down across from her. "Mer - Mother, I'm turning twenty, and I wanted to ask-" he stopped trying to figure out the best way to phrase his request. "What I really want for this birthday – actually what I've wanted for quite a few birthdays-" Anders mumbled.
"Okay, okay, Anders, please," the Knight-Commander said turning to glare at him. "Stop with the mumbling. You know how I feel about the mumbling. Blah, blah blah, blah blah; it's very annoying! I'm just teasing, you're adorable, I love you," she said pinching his cheek and standing up.
Mr. Wiggums came up and nudged at Anders' back. Taking a heavy sigh, Anders mustered up his courage and asked.
"I want to leave the circle tower!"
Knight-Commander Meredith froze. "What?"
"I was hoping you would take me on a trip outside the tower."
She walked over to a window. "You want to go outside?" she asked incredulously. "Anders," she said, slamming the window shut. She came back over to where he stood in the centre of the room and took hold of his hands, spinning around in a circle. "Look at you: fragile as a flower. Still a little sapling, just a sprout," she said patting his head. "You know why we stay up in this tower."
"I know, but-"
"That's right; to keep you safe and sound, dear." She walked dramatically over to another window. "Guess I always knew this day was coming," she sighed, closing the curtains and heading up the stairs to the next window. "Knew that soon you'd want to leave the nest! Soon – but not yet!"
Anders opened his mouth to protest but was stopped by a finger on his lips.
"Trust me, pet. Mother knows best," she said, slamming the last window shut.
Anders lit a candle trying to find her or, anything really, in the dark.
"Mother knows best, listen to your mother. It's a scary world out there," she said, sneaking up on Anders.
He gave a startled shout and leapt back only to have his hair pulled from behind him. He tugged on it until it suddenly came free, sending Anders tumbling back.
"Mother knows best. One way or another something will go wrong, I swear," she said, coming out from behind to catch him.
She got a spotlight on Anders and made what I can assure you was a very intimidating shadow puppet.
"Ruffians, thugs, poison ivy, quicksand, cannibals and snakes, the plague," Meredith listed. She appeared behind Anders, the light from her lantern casting a greenish glow and making her face look gaunt.
Anders gasped, "No!"
"Yes!" she said, disappearing yet again into the darkness.
"But-"
"Also large bugs, men with pointy teeth, and stop, no more; you'll just upset me!"
Anders lit his candle again and huddled into a ball.
"Mother's right here," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him up, "Mother will protect you. Darling, here's what I suggest: skip the drama, stay with Mama! Mother knows best!" she exclaimed with a laugh, extinguishing any lights in the room.
Anders went through a line of candles, lighting each one.
"Mother knows best," she started, putting out the candles he had just lit. "Take it from your mumsie! On your own you won't survive!"
He reached the end of his candle trail a found himself facing the mirror in a circle of light.
"Sloppy, underdressed, immature, clumsy," she said, tripping him. "Please! They'll eat you up alive! Gullible, naïve, positively frumpy, ditzy and a bit, well, vague! Plus I believe, gettin' kinda chubby. I'm just sayin' 'cause I wuv you," she said, hugging his head. She pulled away and slipped back into the darkness.
"Mother understands! Mother's here to help you! All I have is one request!" A light came on over her and Anders, thoroughly spooked, ran into her open arms for a hug. "Anders?"
"Yes?"
She pulled him away and put her hands on his shoulders. "Don't ever ask to leave this tower again."
"Yes, Mother," he said, eyes downcast.
"I love you very much, dear," she said, holding his chin up.
Anders looked at her blankly.
She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. "You're supposed to say, 'I love you more'."
"I love you more?"
"And I love you most," she said, kissing the top of his head. "Don't forget it; you'll regret it. Mother knows best!"
She headed to the door a left shouting her goodbye from the hallway. "Anders! I'll see you in a bit my flower!"
And with that, she was gone, leaving Anders to wonder what the heck had just happened.
~The Hanged Man~
"I'm really glad she's out of that mother phase," Anders said, shuddering. "It really was very unnerving. So, Hawke, what do you think?"
Anders looked over to find that he had once again lost Hawke as he was over at the bar telling the story to anyone who would listen. As Anders took another step closer, he suddenly realized that Hawke really was including every part.
"No kidding," Hawke laughed, "he was really scared of a shadow puppet! Funny, right?"
"It is not funny!" Anders shouted, fuming. "It was a really scary shadow!" Unfortunately, that only seemed to make it worse for him. "I really have to rethink which stories I tell to Hawke," Anders muttered angrily.
~Author's Note~
Sorry, it's late again! This suggestion was from artemis7337 and the last chapter was written because of this suggestion as well. Later, I may also do the Mother Knows Best reprise, but that won't be next week. Anyways, I really loved writing this; I always love having an excuse to watch Tangled. As always, I love getting suggestions, so if you think of any songs or scenes that you want to see done, let me know. That's not a promise that it will get done, but I'll see what I can do.
