Anders

They had all returned to Fenris' shortly after I had managed to get Merrill inside and in bed. Merrill was going to be fine. She just needed to rest. Fenris was going to have to deal with having her under his roof for a while. Not that I blamed him for disliking Merrill. She was a blood mage after all.

Abby was banged up a bit and devastated with what the templars had said to her. I cast a healing spell on her and left her curled up in Fenris' bed with Bandit. She didn't want any of us anywhere near her now. Her sobs were breaking my heart.

I even felt bad for Fenris who leaned against the wall outside his room. With each sob he looked smaller somehow. Curling into himself, shame and misery clearly written all over him. As much as I disliked him, no one deserved that sort of pain.

"Let's leave her alone for a bit. I would cast a sleep spell on her, but I don't want to frighten her anymore. She'll be alright. Eventually." I sighed. "Let's go and see if Rona remembered anything."

"We can't leave her alone." Fenris protested.

"I'll stay with her. You three go on. Aveline, you probably need to return to the guards. I would imagine Meredith is going to be furious." Isabela said.

We descended down into the basement. I went and opened Rona's cell. She hurried to sit up. "What was all that screaming? Is Hawke alright?" She asked frantically.

Fenris glared at the woman. "No thanks to you."

"Fenris, don't scare her again." Varric warned.

"Rona, have you remembered anything? We can't leave Abby like this. The templars are after her. They nearly managed to get her. We have to undo this."

"She's…she's in danger?" Rona asked worriedly.

"Yes. They have plans for her. Please Rona, try and remember." I pleaded.

"I…I don't know. It was so fuzzy. I was so scared." She said fidgeting with her robes. The heavy chains keeping her small hands from reaching up much. "I might could remember if you brought her to me. And took these chains off. They are so heavy."

"Why would you need us to bring you Hawke?" Varric asked narrowing his eyes at her.

"It…she might help me remember. And the chains hurt so much. Please." She asked looking at me hopefully.

"She's lying." Fenris suddenly snarled and shoved past me.

"What?" Rona looked at him frightened.

"Fenris, you're scaring her." I protested. "Let her go!" I yelled as he jerked her to her feet.

"No." He said and drug her out of the cell.

"Fenris, this isn't the way to make her remember!" I called and hurried after him.

"We've tried your way, mage. It isn't working. This ends now. One way or another." Fenris snapped and drug her up the stairs. Rona protesting and crying the whole way.

We could hear Abby and Isabela as we drew near to Fenris' room. "Abby, angel, it's going to be alright." Isabela pleaded.

"No! I want my daddy! I want to go home!" Abby shrieked.

"Angel…" Isbela pleaded.

"No! Stay away from me! You lied to me! You all lied to me! I want to go home!" Abby finished in a strangled choking noise. It was followed with a low growl.

"Easy, Bandit. You know I would never hurt her." Isabela said soothingly to the angry mabari. "Abby, we love you. All of us. We didn't want to hurt you. Honey, we're going to make this better."

"None of you can. Nothing will ever be right again. I'm all alone. They're all gone. You should have let the templars take me." Abby sobbed.

Rona stumbled and Fenris' grip on her was the only thing keeping her from the ground. "What have I done? It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was going to help her. We were going to help each other. I was going to make it all better for her. For me. We were going to be happy." Rona began rambling.

"What?" I asked horrified.

Fenris jerked her around so he was towering over her. "What did you do, demon?"

"Not a demon. Just the promises from one. She was supposed to help me. She said it was the only way for me, for us to ever be safe." Rona said and turned to me, pleading with me to understand.

"What have you done, Rona?" I asked feeling sick.

"What I had to. You know how bad it is, Anders. They are doing things. Horrible things. They took her from me. I couldn't find her. I couldn't help her. But I could Hawke. She's so sweet and pretty. So good. She doesn't deserve so much unhappiness. They keep taking everything from her too. We were going to be a family. I was going to make it better. But you interfered." Rona said angrily and looked at Varric, Fenris, and me.

"Who did they take from you?" Varric asked looking as sick as I felt.

"My baby. They created her in me. Then they took her from me. So she came to me at night. Told me that I could have my baby back. She told me what I had to do." Rona said, her eyes were unfocused as she spoke.

"Who came at night?" I pressed afraid I already knew.

"Don't know her name. She doesn't speak it to me. Just a voice in my mind. Showing me things. Telling me things. We saw Hawke one day from our room. We knew she was what our baby would look like someday. She was helping a mage there. She was good. We knew all about her. All mages do. She was so sad, but still she came. We could make her not sad any more. We could make her whole again. Give her a family." Rona then focused on me. "I told you not to come, Anders. I told you it wasn't safe for you. I didn't want you to get hurt. All I needed was Hawke. The demons would have finished the others off. You distracted me. You weren't supposed to be there yet. We were going to come to you later. Complete our family. We had to protect you from them. That's why it wasn't finished. That's why she's scared. Let me fix her. Let us be the family we are supposed to be."

"What are you talking about?" I asked growing scared. Rona wasn't Rona anymore. She had a demon in her. This is what the templars drove us to. If she had been allowed to keep her child none of this would have happened.

"We were going to be a family, Anders. You, me, and Hawke. We would have been happy together. We could give her the childhood and family they took from her. And if they got too close we could undo the spell and have Hawke as our protector. I was going to make you both happy. But it went wrong. Undo the chains and I can fix it."

"And how will you fix it?" I asked waving Fenris off as he snarled. I wasn't stupid. We couldn't let her out. But we had to know what the spell was. If I knew, I could undo it.

"I'll finish the spells. Make her a baby. Erase her memories of this time. Don't you see, Anders, it can still work." Rona smiled at me and held her hands out.

"You are so powerful if you could do all this, Rona. I never realized how much power you had. What spell did you use to do this?" I asked trying to smile at her. I needed her to trust me. We had to find this out now. Rona wasn't going to survive much longer.

She looked at me coyly. "I've been studying up so I would be worthy of you. I want to protect you too."

"And you will. We will run off. We'll find a way to save all the mages. No other mage will ever lose their child." I promised her. She smiled at me, tears filling her eyes.

"I knew you would understand." She reached up and touched my cheek and it was all I could do not to shove her away.

"The spell, Rona." I pressed moving closer.

"It was so simple really. A time spell."

"A time spell? They don't work like this." I said looking at her shocked.

She smiled and laughed. "It takes a bit more fuel than a normal one. And a change of a few words, but yes, a time spell. My notes are in the tunnel where you found me. After I've fixed her, we can go and get them. I'll show you. Then we can be a family as we were meant to be."

I took a step back from her. Rona had been one of the mages from the underground movement in the Circle. We had known each other from Ferelden. I hadn't known she had feelings for me. This poor girl had such potential. Templars ruined everything.

"Where did you hide them in the tunnels?"

"Why?" She asked looking at me confused.

"I don't want you and Abby down there again. If you tell me, I can go and get them." I said giving her a smile again.

"Oh, Anders! You are as sweet as I thought you would be. In that room you found me, the back wall has a hollow spot where the bricks come away from it. All my stuff is in there. That's the room I do all my rituals in. I've tried to find my real baby, but she's gone. So Hawke will have to work for now. You love her anyway. So she will be our first. Once we're safe we can have more." She smiled at me. I turned and looked at Fenris and Varric.

"Do you have what you need?" Varric asked. I nodded and turned to Fenris.

"Do it quickly." I whispered. I closed my eyes and turned my back as he began to glow.

"Anders? What is he…no!" Rona cried. I heard her gasp of pain and then the chains hit the ground.

"You alright?" Varric asked me.

I nodded sadly. "She was a good kid. They did this to her. Drove her to this madness. They have to be stopped."

"Now is not the time for Anders' personal agenda. We need those spells. You can undo this, right?" Fenris growled at me.

"If she really left notes, then yes. If she didn't, it could take some time. Time spells are tricky." I sighed. "We need to get rid of her before Abby finds her."

"I'll handle it. I don't want to leave Abby again. I'll get Isabela to go with you." Fenris said.

"I think Blondie shouldn't go. The templars are crawling all over those tunnels now. Hunting her. And if he was caught now…" Varric said.

"They would kill him without hesitation." Fenris sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Varric and I will go. You two stay here with Merrill and Abby." Isabela said coming out of the room. Abby's cries were still echoing through the doorway. "We'll swing by and grab Big Girl."

"You two don't kill each other. Remember we need Blondie alive to reverse this." Varric said frowning at the two of us.