"Solas?" Artemis frantically looked around the small courtyard. Everything here felt so real, indistinguishable from reality, if she hadn't known she was in the Fade she could easily believe the potion had only knocked her out temporarily and she'd now awakened in the real Skyhold.
Where was Solas? Why hadn't they awakened in the same place as they fell asleep?
"Solas?" she called out, noting how her own voice seemed to be the only sound in all of Skyhold, strange. It dawned on Artemis that Solas hadn't said that they could be certain they would see the event they wanted to see, or from the perspective they wanted. Skyhold was ancient, who knew how many memories they could visit here.
But the memory I'm seeing now must be recent, Artemis thought to herself because she could now see the Inquisition's heraldry on the walls of the fortress. She wondered if Solas had guided them to the right event. Perhaps he knew techniques he wasn't sharing with her.
"Inquisitor!" Solas appeared from the main doors of the fortress, behind him the great hall seemed to be completely dark. "Come, we must hurry," he gestured towards Cullen's office, Artemis could see nothing there but she assumed Solas had spotted something important. Rushing up the stairs, through the doors (the hall was dark, not a single fire lit), Artemis followed Solas through the rotunda. Solas opened the door to the walkway just in time for Artemis to see the door across from them open as well. It was one of the doors leading to Cullen's office.
Cullen pushed through the door, he was half-naked and carrying a half-naked woman in his arms. Artemis had trouble recognising herself at first, this being such an unfamiliar angle to see herself from. Her face was covered in blood, and there was blood on the cloak – Cullen's cloak was wrapped around her – more blood than she thought there could have been, considering she wasn't seriously injured. Artemis noticed there was blood on Cullen's chest as well, red streaks across his bare skin.
There was a sudden swirl of black ash in front of them and an assassin appeared, a blade in each hand. Venatori, Artemis thought. Cullen dropped Artemis and she landed on the stone ground, hitting her head and causing a sound louder than actually possible. Blood started to pool around her head.
Artemis turned to Solas "I wasn't that badly wounded was I?" she asked, her hand automatically reaching for her head.
"No, you were not." Solas looked at the Artemis lying on the ground, a red halo framing her head. "You have to remember that this is not an objective place, it is built from memories, and memories are not always to be trusted."
Artemis looked back at the scene unfolding in from of them. Cullen was fighting the assassin. Cullen wasn't armed, instead he was simply trying to dodge the assassin's blades, Artemis wondered why he wasn't running for help or weapons, but then she realised why: Cullen didn't move because he was standing in between the assassin and Artemis lying unconscious on the ground, and he couldn't move without leaving her vulnerable to attack.
The assassin lunched forward, a blade stretched out, ready to strike. He leaped for Artemis' chest, but Cullen managed to step in between them, the blade missing him by mere inches. The assassin tried again, but Cullen shoved him, the assassin staggered. Cullen threw his weight against the smaller man, using his own body as a battering ram to get the assassin where he wanted him, up against the ledge. The assassin lost his balance and toppled over the ledge.
Cullen immediately rushed over to where Artemis was lying on the ground, dropping to his knees next to her, his hand reached out… But before he could touch her, check on her, another assassin appeared, seemingly coming out of thin air. The assassin swung his blades, the first one missing Cullen, the other barely scrapping his shoulder: a thin red line appeared on Cullen's flesh. Cullen tried to retaliate, but before he could reach the assassin Cullen collapsed. Artemis gasped, even though she should've expected something like this. Artemis' and Cullen's eyes simultaneously moved to the small cut on Cullen's shoulder, the red wound now turning green, spreading over his skin. The pool of blood around Artemis' head started to spread again as well.
"Poison," Solas said. Artemis nodded, but kept her eyes fixed on Cullen. She had to stop herself from walking over to him. She wouldn't be able to help him anyway, she doubted she could even interact with him at all, he was just a memory, an image of Cullen, no more the man himself than the reflection in a mirror. Still, she felt the urge to help him, real or not.
The second assassin lifted Cullen on his shoulder, walked over to the ledge of the walkway, climbed up the ledge and then confidently jumped from it. Artemis let out a small shriek, and rushed forward. Leaning over the ledge she could see Cullen and the assassin were unharmed by the drop and there suddenly seemed to be a scout with them. The scout's uniform was odd, where it would normally be green, this one was black.
Next to her Artemis saw Solas step up on the ledge himself. "What are you doing?" she exclaimed. Heights were not something she enjoyed. "Going down there," Solas answered. "By jumping?" Solas looked at her with a small smile. "It is the fastest way," he answered before stepping off the ledge. Artemis let out the smallest shriek.
She briefly glanced at the stairs, but her pride would not allow it. Instead she quickly threw her legs over the ledge and then pushed herself off it. Artemis landed on her feet without any effort or pain and found Solas looking at her, slightly bemused.
In front of her Cullen was being lifted onto a horse. The two Venatori agents were talking but it sounded like random sounds vaguely resembling Tevene (Artemis knew a little Tevene), not actual Tevene.
Suddenly the horse, the agents, and Cullen all disappeared.
"Where are they?" Artemis asked, looking at where they had just been.
"I suspect this is where the commander's memory stops," Solas said.
"You think this was Cullen's memory?"
"Certainly. It seems most likely."
"I agree," Artemis said. She looked up at Cullen's office. She wondered if maybe there was more to see.
Solas seemed to guess what she was thinking, because he answered her before she could speak: "I'm not sure we can return to the commander's memory." Solas pointed at the bridge that led out of Skyhold. It took Artemis a few seconds to see what he was pointing at: in the distance, at the far end of the bridge there were tiny figures struggling with each other. It was impossible to tell from here, but Artemis felt certain it were Venatori agents struggling with the Inquisition's agents who'd been guarding the bridge.
"We're looking at someone else's memory now," Artemis said.
Solas nodded.
There was a noise coming from above their heads. Artemis guessed the noise was coming from Cullen's office. "We have to get up there, see what we can discover," Artemis said before rushing for the stairs. Artemis felt like she was almost floating above the stairs with the speed she was using to rush up them.
Artemis basically threw herself through the door of the office. The office was empty, odd considering the noise was clearly coming from this empty room. Artemis looked around the room, it seemed cleaner, or emptier than it normally was. Everything seemed slightly different than it normally looked. Solas entered the room. "Empty," he said surprised.
Something flashed above Artemis head. She jerked her head up and at the top of the ladder Artemis spotted something. Almost in the same second she did, two figures appeared in the room with her. Appearing out of thin air were herself and Cullen, both of them partially undressed as they were pushed up against the door. Artemis felt her cheeks flush and she desperately hoped Solas wouldn't say anything. Artemis couldn't help but look up at herself, curiosity getting the better of her. The scene was different from how she remembered it happening. And there was something scary about watching this couple. She and Cullen were kissing each other, but it looked… mechanical.
A flash of light filled the room and the two people stopped kissing and both fell to the floor. There was no noise, no thud as the two bodies crashed to the floor. Actually, there was no sound in the room whatsoever. Artemis remembered the screeching that had brought her to her knees, but it wasn't just that sound that was missing, there was absolutely no sound at all. She guessed that whoever was hiding in Cullen's bedroom – the person whose memory they were sharing – had used something to protect themselves from the debilitating sound.
The two people lying on the floor disappeared. Artemis was about to ask Solas where they were, but thought better of it as he wouldn't know that any more than she could. Instead Artemis opened the door to the walkway, hoping to find them there.
Some time seemed to have passed, as Artemis opened the door to find herself lying on the ground, and Cullen protecting her. Artemis and Solas went out onto the walkway. The assassin was moving around frantically, trying to cut Cullen. Artemis suddenly disappeared; the floor where her body had been was now empty. Cullen dodged the first few attacks of the assassin, but then the assassin managed to stab Cullen in the chest. The blade didn't cut deep but when the assassin pulled it out Cullen collapsed. Again Artemis felt the instinctive need to go over to Cullen, but she stopped herself. At any rate she couldn't have, as Cullen and the assassin now disappeared, once again Solas and Artemis were left alone.
Artemis rushed over to the ledge, her instinct was right as she spotted Cullen being lifted on a horse. This time there was no hesitation as she immediately jumped over the ledge. Artemis hoped to be in time to catch some of the Tevene she'd heard spoken before, Cullen's memory of it had been morphed by his inability to understand it, but she hoped this memory would hold the real words.
Again her instincts were right, the Venatori agents were speaking to each other and even though Artemis could hardly understand any of it, she did recognise it as being actual Tevene. The agents were discussing something to do with traveling and she was pretty sure one of them spoke of bandaging Cullen's wound, or at least something to do with healing him. Artemis felt some relieve at this, even though she had already known the Venatori would want to keep Cullen alive. Unfortunately that was all she could puzzle together. Her Tevene was weak at best and most things she did understand were useless. "Did you understand what they were saying?" Artemis asked, turning to Solas after the men left across the bridge.
"Some, yes, but nothing that would tell us where they have taken the commander. I do believe they intent to keep him alive however, but I believe we already knew that."
Artemis nodded. Looking around her Skyhold seemed empty, no signs of another memory starting. She felt her heart sink. I haven't learnt anything yet, she thought, despair setting in. Artemis looked at Solas. "Do you think there will be more?"
"More memories? Impossible to say. There might be, but I cannot predict how long we will have to wait to see them. It takes a lot of effort to focus on a specific event, especially this one as it is small and short; it is easier to seek out memories that have a bigger impact on the world."
Artemis let out a frustrated breath. This had been her big hope, and now it seemed she had only wasted time. "How do we wake up?"
"You decide to."
"That simple?"
"Why, do you normally require more help from waking from dreams?"
Artemis pursed her lips. "Only if I have to wake before the dawn."
How do you decide to wake up? Artemis wondered. As she did, her head started to feel cloudy.
Artemis jolted upright. She was back in the physical world, she was still on the floor, as was Solas. Solas opened his eyes as well, his awakening looking a lot more peaceful than hers. Artemis felt grateful for Solas' help, but she couldn't help but frustrated with their failure.
Cullen found himself sitting on the edge of his bed, the day seemed to have flown by. Even though he couldn't think of a single thing he had done to fill the day. Except for fixing the roof. He seemed to always be fixing that roof. But what else have I done?
Cullen guessed this was just what happened when you retired to the country, you lost track of time. He couldn't say he would miss the life of a soldier. But when did I stop being a soldier? We must have stopped Corypheus, but… It seemed impossible, but at the moment he couldn't recall how they'd defeated Corypheus... Cullen shook his head. It wasn't important anyway, as he had decided to stop lingering on bad memories from the past.
Still, when did we fight him? How did we win? It seemed so desperate for so long.
Cullen looked around the room. It seemed… empty, there was nothing there that was clearly his or Artemis'.
How did she get rid of the mark, Cullen suddenly wondered. Did she get rid of it? He couldn't remember seeing it play up here like it had before. Un uneasy feeling started to settle over Cullen. He felt like he was standing on a ledge, staring down into an abyss, considering to jump, needing to see what was in it.
The door to the bedroom opened and Artemis entered. She looked stunning in a long white dress. She'd never worn dresses during their time in the Inquisition. Cullen shook his head, trying to clear it. Why did he keep focusing on that horrible time when he had everything he wanted right here. Artemis walked over to Cullen, she leaned down to kiss him. Cullen smiled up at her, the uneasy feeling gone. Now he felt content.
