24th of Firstfall, 9:41 Dragon
"Are you ready?"
Hawke nodded, having returned just an hour or so ago with the rest of the lyrium they needed. He offered no further insight into where or how he procured the lyrium, just insisted they hurried before they lost Runa to the demon.
"Then let us begin."
While the others were on standby in case things went wrong, Hawke closed his eyes and took a deep breath, going into a meditative state. After a few moments, he opened his eyes and found himself in the Fade of Runa's dreams. He looked around, seeing he was in a large stone building of some sort that sang with magik.
'She's powerful, whoever this Runa is.' He thought, feeling the mana surging around him. But his thoughts were interrupted when a scream of pain came from down the hall. 'Runa!'
Hawke rushed down the hall towards where the next scream came and stopped just outside of a large torture chamber. Within, a woman in tattered clothes and deep blue hair unlike any he had seen before hung limply by chains from the ceiling, a man standing before her with a hot iron poker. The man cackled as he stuck the woman once more with the poker, finding great glee in her pain and suffering. When the man turned, Hawke's chest tightened.
'That bastard!' he thought, his anger rising at the sight of the demon using such a familiar face to torture the woman with. He looked at the woman, feeling her strength nearly gone and her mana all but faded. 'Runa...'
"Come out of the shadows, stranger."
Hawke looked at the man, the demon, as he looked towards where he was trying to conceal himself. Knowing there would be no further point to hiding, Hawke stepped forward.
"And who might you be, to come to this place and interrupt my fun?" the demon asked. "Or are you here to add to the entertainment?"
"I'm here for Runa." Hawke stated, looking to the woman as she raised her head with great effort to look at him. "Who I am matters not, nor will I be doing anything more than freeing her from your clutches."
"I see. I must say, I am rather amused by your confidence. Do you really think you could defeat me? Me, Zakkon of the Everlasting Inferno?"
"What, give yourself that title?" Hawke sneered, amused by the demon's arrogance.
Zakkon's brow furrowed and eyes that were not his own narrowed at the comment. "Cocky brat, aren't we?"
Hawke shrugged. "It's part of my charm." His smirk faded as he became more serious. "Now, will you release Runa or is shit going down?"
"Is everything alright?" Varric asked, looking at Hawke with a very worried expression.
"He will be fine." Cullen said, trying to ignore his own unease. 'He has to be...'
It had been nearly an hour since Hawke went into the trance and there was no sign of him coming out of it any time soon. But just as everyone really started to worry, Hawke suddenly came out of his trance and stumbled over himself as he tried to regain his balance.
"Hawke!"
Leliana caught him, having been the nearest to where he was standing, and steadied him. "Are you alright?"
Hawke nodded, trying to catch his breath and reorient himself. "Ya... that demon is a fucking brute..."
"Did you defeat it?" Molly asked. "Is Runa free?"
Hawke nodded, thanking Leliana as he stood on his own. "Ya, but it was far from easy. That demon had nearly drained her of everything she had left to keep her fighting." He looked up. "There's something else, too." He noticed Cullen was no longer present. "Where's Curly?"
As soon as Hawke had returned from his trance and said that Runa was free, Cullen had left the room and rushed to the infirmary to see her. But he was not prepared for what happened next.
Runa opened her eyes, feeling more drained than she ever had but somehow also lighter than she had in years. As her eyes adjusted to the light and her vision cleared, she took in her surroundings and found herself in what looked like an infirmary. She struggled to sit up, but once she had she found herself covered in bandages. Her memory a bit foggy at first, she began to recall that she had started receiving physical attacks from Zakkon- who was tired of waiting and took advantage of her even further weakened and vulnerable state. She pulled back the covers and tried to stand, stumbling forward and catching herself against the wall- her legs very weak.
"Runa?" someone called. "Runa!" Whoever it was, it was a man and he rushed to her side to help her. "You shouldn't be up yet, you need to rest!"
It took Runa a moment or two before she realized whose voice it was that spoke to her and she scrambled away in fear.
"Runa?"
"Stay away from me!" Runa screamed, cowering in the corner as she put as much distance as she could between them.
"Runa, it's me, Cullen."
"Stay away!"
Cullen stepped back as a blue fire erupted around her, providing a protective barrier. "Runa..."
Hawke and the others joined him, staring in awe and worry as the fire swirled around Runa as she curled up as small as she could in her corner.
"What happened?"
"I-I don't know..!" Cullen said, so confused. He watched as Hawke motioned for the others to stay back and he approached Runa. As a fire mage himself, he was able to pass through the barrier- though not entirely unscathed.
"Runa? Can you hear me?"
Runa looked up when a new voice called to her, seeing a man she knew she had seen before but did not know. "You...?" The fire shield faded upon seeing him.
Hawke knelt next to her. "Do you remember me?"
Runa nodded. "You saved me..."
"Do you know where you are?"
"Infirmary?"
"Good. Do you know who those people are?"
Runa looked at them, nodding.
Hawke watched the fear grow in her eyes when she looked at each person, it reaching a high point when they settled on Cullen. In that moment, he knew it wasn't just Cullen's face that Zakkon had used- even if it were the one used most. "I know you're scared, but you're safe now. No one is going to hurt you. Do you understand?" He hated talking to her like he would a child, but she was still so terrified.
Runa nodded, taking his hand when he offered it to her.
"Let's get you back into bed, you need to rest." Hawke led her to her bed and helped her back under the covers, making sure she was settled before stepping away and herding the others out of the room.
"Would you care to explain what just happened?" Cassandra asked, sounding more angry than she had intended.
Hawke sighed as he looked back at Runa, who had passed out again but this time into a much needed slumber rather than the comatose like state she had been in. "From what I could gather, Zakkon had been torturing her and to add to her suffering he wore the faces of people she knew." He looked to Cullen. "When I found her, he was wearing your face. And judging by her reaction to you, I am almost certain that that was the face he used most to torment her."
"So she cannot yet discern reality from her dreams?"
"It will take time for her to adjust." Hawke said, nodding. "I would just give her space and let her come to you." He meant that more for Cullen since he would have the greatest impact of her recovery, by no fault of his own.
"Thank you, Hawke." Molly said, the worry as heavy in her voice as it was in everyone's.
"Of course. Now that we've freed Runa, though, we have to get going on finding my contact."
"Agreed. Rest for a day or two before you leave, Hawke, you need to recover, too."
"I know." Hawke noticed Cullen's sullen expression. "Cullen, it'll be alright. Even as weak as she was when I found her, she was still holding on. She didn't give in, she didn't break." He looked at Molly. "It's good that you asked me to do this for her, she's incredibly powerful. Probably more than she realizes. Give her time to heal, then ask her to fight with you on the battlefield. You could use a mage with her abilities and strength at your side."
Molly nodded, knowing he was right. She looked behind him at the sleeping Runa, hoping she would be alright. Whatever that demon did to her, it was enough to nearly kill her from the looks of her wounds. It was amazing that she held out for as long as she had, but now she was free and could rest.
As Molly motioned for everyone to leave, Cullen was raking his brain for any reason why the demon would use his face the most to torment Runa. They never really spoke, after all she did avoid him like the Blight because of his Templar background and general disdain for mages. But why did he have the greatest impact on her? Why him?