My apologies for being unorthodox in this chapter and not following the game exactly. I hated the whole Broken Circle quest because of the Fade and also because I thought it stupid to carry out a whole conversation with Uldred, when he was still in human form (and vulnerable), thus letting him know conveniently that there would be a fight and allowing him to change into the Pride demon. I used a different approach to this in this chapter as you will see. Jinx helped me as she is an outrageous and completely unconventional character, preferring to surprise and attack when nobody expects it.

I also want to apologize for Marcus here. The truth is that he is really a very nice guy, but he has one fault that makes him a bit more human: he is competitive in nature. Extremely competitive. There is also a lot more to him than meets the eye, but in a good way, which will be revealed in later chapters.

Thanks so all of you who reviewed: megglesnake, Jinx1983, Lady Callia, PheonRen, Warrose, fifespice and Katrina-Irene. You all have no idea how much your reviews mean to me! :D

Bioware owns! :D

Chapter 8 - Weathering the Storm

The fight with Sloth had been long and hard, and if it wasn't for Wynne and her mana clash spell, they would all certainly be dead.

Jinx looked down at Niall's body and felt a lump in her throat in spite of her outward calm. Bending down, she searched for the Litany of Adralla, and pocketed it. She focused on the right path to the rest of the tower. They were running out of time. The Templars could be here any moment now, the Rite of Annulment -

Stop that! Stop that now! Focus, Jinx. Breathe in and out. That's right.

She peered ahead into the semi-dark corridor.

"Guess you mages don't like sunlight much, huh? No windows. Looks like a damn prison to me," was her dry comment as she walked forward cautiously, the rest making no comment as they followed.

She stopped in front of a door. She hated closed doors. They almost always held unpleasant surprises at the other side.

Bracing herself, she flung it open and rushed in, her sword and dagger already drawn.

"Fucking dragons!" She shouted, unable to understand what dragon whelps were doing in a place where mages and templars lived.

She was furious as she hacked into them, dancing wildly around them as they breathed out flames to her and her party. Drinx ended up with several burns that Wynne healed instantly. Alistair's shield was scarred by the flames and Marcus muttered to himself, smiling afterwards when the dragons were successfully paralyzed. He had finally mastered mass paralysis.

When the fight ended, she pushed away a damp lock of hair, and glared at Wynne and Marcus.

"Who in their right minds would keep fucking dragonlings in the place where they live? Are mages insane or do they have a penchant for danger?" She yelled.

Wynne bristled. She did not like Jinx's choice of language nor her tone.

"Dragons have great magical properties, we study them and experiment on them, in order to retrieve -"

"Listen, Holier-Than-Thou," she retorted back sharply interrupting her and Wynne winced visibly at her name-calling. "I'm not going to stand for a reasonable explanation to this, because there is none. Those dragons weren't even full grown and look at the damage they caused! Breeding them means breeding trouble, and you know it! And furthermore -" She stopped talking, her mouth open in surprise, as her eyes took in a creature that was roaring and making its way to where they were standing, a broken cage the only clue to where it had been originally kept.

It was a drake. It was big. It was angry. And it was coming directly at them.

"Fuck!" Jinx screamed and ran straight at it, ignoring both Marcus and Alistair's warnings.

They cursed behind her and Alistair broke into a run, trying to avoid the inevitable, but was too late.

The drake reared up on its hind legs and used its forearms to knock her onto the floor. It roared immediately afterwards, stunning those around it. It quickly overwhelmed her and began to tear into her armor furiously, ripping through her flesh.

Wynne and Marcus broke out of their stupor first and immediately attacked. Marcus cursed because he had used mass paralysis, and searched wildly for a lyrium potion in his pack, while flinging minor bolts at the creature as it hacked into Jinx.

But it was Alistair who outshone them all. Alistair who made a leap in the air, overpowering the beast and thrusting his sword directly into the neck of the creature, which made it stop attacking Jinx and focus its attention on him. Alistair who then unleashed an assault attack on it furiously, jaw set and clenched, his eyes dark with fury. Alistair who dealt a killing blow on it bellowing with equal fury, watching the drake fall, breathing heavily afterwards.

It was Alistair who ran back to the bloody form on the floor, his eyes wild with terror as he gently smoothed Jinx's hair from her face and turned beseeching and panic-filled eyes to Wynne who immediately began to heal her.

Alistair who finally realized the inevitable.

He was falling in love with this fiery, shockingly outrageous girl. And falling in love fast.

...

As they waited for Jinx to regain consciousness, Marcus approached Alistair. He was grinning nervously.

Now Marcus was not a bad person. He was, in fact, a very good person. He had a nice attitude about life and was optimistic. But he also was extremely competitive. Especially where women were involved. All his life in the circle of magi, he had gotten the girl and he was used to this.

So when he approached Alistair he did so with a plan brewing in his head. Something that was not entirely truthful either, but he didn't care. He only cared about one thing and that was having Jinx, even if it meant twisting the truth a little. Well, maybe not a little. A lot.

"Alistair, could I have a word with you please?" He asked politely, a smile on his face.

Alistair started. He had been watching Jinx closely with a worried frown on his face and had not heard his fellow warden approaching.

"Oh, um. Yes, of course. What can I do for you?" He smiled back.

"Well, it's about our dreams. You do know that Jinx was in each of our dreams, right? She went into each one and had to rescue us..." he trailed off, shifting. Body language was important. He had to seem like he was a bit embarrassed to speak about the subject. Truth be told, he was embarrassed. He even felt a little guilty, but he pushed all bad feelings aside, his competitive streak turning into a little imp in his brain, urging him to pursue Jinx. That was the only thing that mattered to him right now.

"Oh, yes. I thought that was the case," he replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Why? Is this leading somewhere?"

"Well, you see..." he cleared his throat uncomfortably, and his eyes flickered to Alistair's face. He knew what he would say would shock his fellow Grey Warden and had to steer him in the right direction afterwards. It would be a difficult conversation, but if it went the way he wanted it to go, it would be extremely rewarding. "my dream was a very revealing and embarrassing dream."

Alistair looked puzzled. He didn't seem to understand what Marcus was getting at. So he did what he always did. He deflected the serious conversation with a joke.

"What? Oh! I know! You were dancing the Remigold in a dress!" He glanced down at Marcus's robes, "which would be no different from what you are wearing now, actually," he added, smirking.

"Ha, ha! Very funny!" Marcus scowled.

"All right, all right. Sorry about that. What was it then?"

"Well, I was lying down. There was a bed. And...I was making love to...Jinx. Well, not the real Jinx..."

Alistair's jaw dropped. He stood there for a full minute, without uttering a single syllable.

He opened and closed his mouth several times to speak but found out that he could not. Marcus took advantage of this and continued speaking.

"Well, here's the thing. After she saw this, she admitted that she was starting to develop...feelings for me. I thought I would let you know, seeing that you seem to be...um...interested in her as well."

Alistair grimaced immediately. He turned to look at her, and felt his heart break.

"If she truly wants to be with you, and is happy, who am I to get in the way?" He said quietly.

Marcus laid a hand on his shoulder. "I knew you'd see it that way, my friend. It may even take some time for something to develop between us, you know. She keeps her feelings well hidden, and she is incredibly shy...I'm just glad that you are willing to let go. I don't want you to get hurt when she rejects your advances."

Alistair winced visibly when he heard the word 'rejects', but did not say anything. He merely nodded and kept his eyes on the ground.

"Well, that's all I had to say. Thanks for listening and...everything else." Marcus said, and walked towards where Jinx lay.

And as Alistair saw Marcus take Jinx's hand in his, his shoulders slumped and his face was the saddest in all Thedas.

...

As soon as Alistair looked away, Marcus let go of Jinx's hand and stood back. He knew that if Jinx woke up and he was holding her hand, she would beat the crap out of him, and at the same time blow his whole plan to smithereens.

He wasn't stupid.

So when Jinx did wake up, there was nobody standing even near her. She sat up and caught sight of Alistair who was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. He seemed to be asleep.

"Hey, Blondie!" She was feeling a bit dizzy. "What happened?"

Wynne was instantly on her side, her hands over her, scanning to see if she was well enough to stand.

Jinx pushed her away. She remembered the drake and looked down at her tattered armor, that revealed much more than she wanted. Fortunately for her, she was covered in bandages.

"Get off me, I'm fine!" She protested and stood up, swaying slightly.

"Alistair killed the drake. He saved your life," Marcus smiled at her cheerfully.

"Really?" She said, turning her head to Alistair, who avoided her gaze completely. He looked off to the right and shrugged nonchalantly.

Jinx's eyes narrowed.

"Well thank you, Blondie!" She called out. He shrugged again. He did not look at her. Not once.

Jinx stood up, frowning. Her anger was starting to bubble up.

"Fine! Be that way, you jerk!" She cried out and turned to Marcus and Wynne.

"Well, you seem to be doing fine," Wynne beamed at her.

"How long have I been out?" She asked them.

"A couple of hours," Marcus said.

"Well, let's get on with it! We still have a lot to do. We have to find the First Enchanter." She moved ahead of them, not even glancing in Alistair's direction.

Wynne observed all this and caught Marcus smirking.

She shook her head and stayed close.

...

Uldred was a jerk. He was also possessed by a Pride demon.

Jinx glared at him and felt like poking her sword directly into his right eye and watch him bleed.

She smiled at the thought, which made Uldred wonder what he could have possibly said that could make her smile. He seemed a bit confused for a moment.

"Listen, Baldie," Jinx began. "Ever since I entered this hell hole, I've been attacked, frozen, burned and turned into shredded meat by an annoying drake. By the way, who in his right mind would ever think about keeping drakes and dragonlings in a fucking circle tower? It's just insane!" She thrust her index finger into his face. And the mighty Uldred-abomination took a step back, uncertain of what to expect next. Clearly, this girl was insane.

Alistair stifled a giggle and she glared at him, but he returned the stare, his eyes warm. Her attitude was making him rethink a lot about things. Things he hadn't thought about while Marcus had talked to him. And what he was thinking was making him feel strangely elated.

Jinx turned back to Uldred, her brilliant eyes shooting daggers at him.

"So, forgive me if I am not impressed at all by all this bullshit," Jinx continued, her finger now poking Uldred's chest. "Because I'm sick and tired, do you hear me?" Poke. "I'm not afraid of you or the demon that possesses you. Pride has its weakness after all. And that weakness is being overly confident." Poke. Poke.

"You don't seem to realize who has the upper hand here, do you? I can very well -"

"Shut up!" She screamed loudly. Everyone, including the abominations, jumped.

She turned around, as if to face her companions, but then quickly pivoted on the spot, her body a blur as slashed into Uldred's exposed neck, neatly severing it. Uldred did not even have time to react. His head flew into the air and landed on the floor where it rolled to a stop at the abominations' feet. They stared down at it for a few minutes as Jinx turned to her companions and winked.

She was grinning madly.

"Overly confident," she repeated.

The abominations attacked, while summoning Rage Demons, and all hell broke loose.

Marcus stood behind while firing off offensive spells. Wynne did the same. Drinx howled and waited for Jinx's command, but Jinx was not paying attention to her hound.

Because Alistair and Jinx were dancing together, and enjoying themselves immensely. They had melded into one as they fought, and dispatched the abominations and demons with such speed, grace and accuracy, that the whole room had their eyes fixed on them, watching them with admiration.

Drinx barked happily when it was over, and Jinx started to laugh.

She caught Alistair's eyes, and he chuckled. And then she winked at him and blushed.

Alistair melted on the spot.

Marcus glared at Alistair, and vowed he would get her at all cost.

...