Dragon Age 2 is owned by Bioware, as with all its characters, the story as it deviates from canon is mine however, as with the personalities of characters as they deviate from those in the game. In case you haven't noticed, I have gone decidedly off-canon. However, I that's part of the fun of fanfiction, right? ;-)
Also, in case any of you are wondering where Sabastian is... Well, I don't own the DLC's for DA 2, so I wouldn't know how to write him or include any of the events from the DLC's. So hopefully you all don't mind.
Again, thank you for all the reviews. As always, all of the reviews really do help push me forward to make each chapter better than the last. Please, if you like how things are going so far, or you have any ideas or any (constructive) criticism, please leave a review.
It is always appreciated! Thank you again!
****Somewhere in the Fade****
Hawke opened her eyes to find herself once again in her parent's old home. As the horror of it filled her, she felt like lashing out at the injustice of it all. Especially the injustice of this continual nightmare she lived everyday, yet nothing seemed to bring her away from this place. She even tried speaking to her parents of what Ser Mavrick did, yet it was like she was speaking a foreign language to them.
Everyday she woke up, the day would begin anew. It was the day people went to the Chantry, and the day Ser Mavrick claimed she forgot something and needed talking to.
Hawke's life was just a nightmare on repeat, and no matter what she did, every morning she awoke to hear her mother tell her to hurry up and get dressed for service.
By this time, no other life seemed possible. Her life as something else - as a famous rogue warrior who had friends and even someone who loved her - it all seemed like a faded dream that held no substance in the light of her present hell. Hawke was just a thirteen year old child, eldest of Leandra and Malcolm Hawke and sister to twins Carver and Bethany Hawke who were both eight years of age. And to save her sister and her family, she submitted herself to things that only the Maker knew how to end. Yet, as always, he remained silent to her pleas.
Hawke's only hope was a dream she sometimes went to when the templar touched her. It was a faded image, like something long forgotten, yet it still comforted her when she felt completely dirty and used by others. It was an image of a tall silver-haired man with piercing green eyes that promised that she would one day be safe again. When things got too much, she would imagine herself being whisked away by him, never to be hurt again.
Yet it was only a dream, and Hawke knew that. No matter how hard she wished or how hard she prayed, Ser Mavrick always awaited her at the end of services.
Wishing again for her silver-haired guardian to rush in and save her, Hawke reluctantly dressed and met her family in the kitchen.
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****Somewhere in the Fade, not far from Hawke****
Looking around, the demon laughed at how perfect things had worked out. He could feel the youth and vitality of the body he claimed, and most importantly, he felt the power that the body held. That foolish elf had no idea what he was truly capable of, or else he never would have searched for a way to do something he could have easily done himself.
As for the others, once he found that human bitch's soul, he would free himself permanently from his prison in the tower. Then this body would be his in both realms, not just the Fade! And then no one would be safe from his wrath, not the elf's companions, nor the deluded witch who made this all possible.
Laughing evilly, the demon continued his march towards the beacon that was the soul of woman that held his release.
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Greeting the fresh night air, Anders couldn't believe he was finally free of that horrible place. However, he was surprised to know that it only been a few weeks since his capture. Then again, Anders wouldn't have been surprised if this mysterious woman said he had been locked away for months or even years. Everything seemed to blend together in that dark cell. Not even the beatings from the guards was consistent.
Yet now, he was free. Breathing in deeply, Anders let the cool night air fill his lungs. However, the reason for his freedom still weighed heavily on his mind, and truly was the only reason he allowed himself to be rescued at all. Anders still knew he deserved what happened to him, yet if Hawke needed him, he would do anything to try to help.
"How did you ever manage to escape your previous tower so many times? I swear you trod along like you have weights attached to your boots. 'Tis a wonder we are not clapped in irons already from your bumbling!" the woman cursed. She still refused to tell Anders what her name was or even what was really going on. She only insisted that she came to help Hawke and needed Anders to do so.
"Oh I wasn't that bad! Besides, with the way you are dressed, I'm surprised you made it so far into the gallows to rescue me. How anyone could think you anything but an apostate is beyond me."
"Hmph. I will have you know that is precisely how I am dressed that I got as far as I did. There are two things a man is always willing to believe - one, that is she helpless and two, that she finds him attractive." the woman remarked back snidely.
"Oh I don't believe that. Men are not that stupid."
The woman then turned to face Anders, a seductive smile on her lips. Looking up at him with hooded eyes, she carefully leaned in and started curling his hair around her fingers while she brought her face close to his. Instead of kissing him, however, she ran her tongue along the edges of Anders' ear, eliciting a sharp shiver from him. Smiling deviously, the woman whispered softly into his ear "Are you sure, my dear mage?", the word 'mage' said with as much of a lustful tone that she could manage.
Instantly, Anders felt his knees go week and felt a tightening in his under-clothes. His eyes closed, and he felt like he couldn't move while his body reacted to the woman's simple actions.
Pulling away slowly, the woman smiled before she slapped Anders painfully across his face.
"OWW! What in the Void is wrong with you woman?" Anders yelled as he covered his sore cheek. He couldn't believe the woman just slapped him! Pegging her with a deadly glare, he felt like strangling the woman in front of him. "Why, in the name of Maker, did you just slap me?"
"Because, it proved a point. You believed first that I found you attractive, leaving your guard open. And because a man is always willing to believe a woman is no match for him, you didn't feel the need to keep your eyes on me. A mistake which allowed a perfect opportunity for my attack. You are just as much a fool as any other man. Perhaps even a bigger one than a templar I once knew."
"That still doesn't explain why you had to hit me so hard." Anders moaned, still rubbing his cheek.
"Oh would you keep it down? May I remind you we that still have to leave this blighted island of a prison before we can truly breath freely? Or are you willing to stand around here until my spells on the templars wear off and they come in search of us?" the woman said with venom in her voice.
Anders was really beginning to think that he just left the cooking pot for the fire as he spent more time with this confusing woman. She was infuriating and Anders was beginning to wonder how she really knew Hawke - and if she was even sane.
"Fine, but once we are free from here, you will give me some answers."
"Yes, yes, of course. However, first we must make it to my boat before some hapless fool of a guard notices it and alerts his fellows."
"You are one strange woman..."
The woman laughed at his remark, the sound reminding Anders of the cackling of ravens as they fought over food.
"You, my dear boy, have no idea how right you are."
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"Well, I'm lost. We've searched that damn room in its entirety, and all we have found is that whatever that creature was is very pissed at whoever locked him up in here." Varric stated with a sigh as he returned to the others by the camp fire.
When Fenris refused to awaken, the group thought it best to see if a little time was just needed to bring their friend back to them. So between Varric and Aveline, they managed to make it back outside the broken castle and make a modest camp. It helped that without the monster's magick, the rooms of puzzles were no longer there - and neither were the minor demons and other things that attacked them previously.
"All I found were pages speaking of some type of Architect, and the creature's mother. Most of the papers were impossible to understand, though. The writings resembled a child's drawings more than any scholarly mage."
"Did you say 'architect', Merrill?" Aveline asked as she tried to remember where she heard such a term before.
"You know what that is, Red?"
"Maybe... I remember about a year ago, a report came in from Ferelden concerning the trade with Amaranthine. Normally I pass on the trade records to the seneschal, but this once caught my eye as it had to do with Hero of Ferelden."
"Oh, you mean Riel? I remember her. Such a shy and angry girl when she lived with us. I was amazed the Keeper had so much patience, yet never did she ever get angry at Riel for the fights she started with the boys in our clan. I always wondered about that. And then there were many of us that thought she had something to do with Tamlen's death. Tamlen was a young archer in our clan before-"
"Daisy?"
"Yes, Varric?
"Focus honey. You know that thing we spoke of?"
"Oh right... sorry."
"Anyway" Aveline continued, shaking her head slowly. "Apparently, they ran into some talking Darkspawn down there. One in particular called himself the Architect. And I believe there was also mention of a 'mother' of some kind, as well."
"It that it? Talking Darkspawn and some architect are all we have to go on?" replied Isabella with a curse.
"Flames! I don't remember much else. It was over a year ago and seemed like nonsense at the time. I thought it was nothing more than ship gossip. Did the notes say anything else?"
"Not much that we could actually read. However, the books that were scattered about were on everything you possibly think of regarding blood magic. Some of them were gruesome enough to give me nightmares."
"None of it was actually possible though. At least, not from what I saw. I am not even sure that some of the things required for those rituals even exist!"
"Well kitten, something happened up in that tower, and we need to find out what it was. We are now down three members, and this is a trend that I really do not wish to see continue."
"Are we sure Broody is even still, well, Broody?"
"What do you mean Varric?" inquired Aveline. All the eyes of the group settled on the dwarf, who seemed suddenly very uncomfortable with what he had to say.
"Well, it's just something that thing kept saying. I mean, those trials were something else, I'll give you that. But you notice how our lyrium gifted friend seemed to get the worst of it? He was out for hours after that witch's attack. But what sticks out for me the most, is what that creature said afterwards."
"Something about Fenris being useful to him, I think." Merrill answered softly.
"Not just that, Daisy. It wasn't really Broody he was speaking about, but his power. Then after we confronted the bastard, did you all hear what he said? About Hawke sharing his bed? Guys, I don't think we ever were meant to walk out of that place. At least not as ourselves, but something else entirely."
"What you mean, that thing wanted to possess us? You think it possessed Fenris?" Aveline looked appalled at the notion, yet it did start to make everything seem to make sense. The way the creature tested their abilities, how he taunted them and pushed them past their limits to see just what they were capable off.
Still...
"Bad man has Fenris."
All eyes looked over to the dwarven boy who still sat by Fenris' side. Ever since what happened, you couldn't pry that boy away from Fenris' side with the strength of the Maker himself. And when they laid the unconscious elf down next to the fire, Sandal took up a spot sitting next to him. Since then he hasn't moved or even spoken until now. All he did was stare down at Fenris' face with a sad look in his eyes.
Varric got up and sat next to the boy, hoping for once to get some answers out of him. "What you mean, kid? What bad man?"
"From tower."
"Do you know where he is?"
Sandal nodded slowly before raising his eyes to meet Varric's. "The Fade."
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"I swear, I have never been so glad to be on solid ground."
"For a mage possessed by a spirit of Justice, you whine quite a bit."
"I do not!" Anders replied in slightly whiny tone. "And that is only because you never told me the boat you claimed to own was the size of thimble! I swear it's a miracle we made it to shore the way the waves were filling that thing!"
"My boat was perfectly suitable for the task at hand. Any larger and t'would been noticed by the templars" snapped the woman.
"You still haven't even told me your name."
"And as I said before, my name is of no use to you or my task of getting you free."
"It still would be nice to know what to call you, other than 'that woman'. How else am I going to tell this story to the bards? Tales of the great escape from the Gallows by two mages who walked out through the front door, no less! Now that is a tale worth retelling. And due to your insistence, all you will be known as 'the grumpy strange woman with black hair'."
"Which is how I prefer it. Trust me, your history books would fare no better to have my name imprinted in them. My purpose and destiny does not concern you or your fellows here in Kirkwall."
"Then why did you help me?"
The woman looked up at Anders, a brief look of sadness in her eyes before it disappeared behind her fiery demeanor. "Someone... has something of mine. I agreed to this task in order for it to be returned. And now that I am almost done, I shall go back to my own life far away from this wretched place."
Anders was shocked he actually got a straight answer out of her, and was tempted to continue on with his questions. Yet an icy look from her cold eyes stopped him before he could ask another question.
"That is all the answers you get from me, mage. Already, I have involved myself too much. Now, if you are done pestering me, our destination is not far. The sooner we are there, the sooner I shall be free of you and this place."
With the that, the woman turned and walked away. Anders was sure he shouldn't trust her. He couldn't sense any blood magick about her, but there was something dark and sinister about her, nonetheless. However, if Hawke was truly in trouble, then he had to follow her. He would do anything to try to right the wrongs he caused.
Climbing up the stairs into Hightown, Anders was finding it harder and harder to not question the woman about Hawke or where they were going. Yet the woman was stubborn when it came to exactly what this task of hers entailed. All she would say is that Hawke was in danger, and Hawke's other companions were unable to help in this matter.
"What is it mage?" the woman asked with a sigh. "You have been staring at me since we left that prison you people call a Circle."
"How do you know Hawke? You never answered me before. And what do you mean she is in trouble?"
"I don't know her, not personally anyway. We have a mutual acquaintance. As for how your Hawke is in danger, you will see soon enough. If I am not mistaken, her home is not too far from here."
"And who is this mutual acquaintance?"
"Someone who despises questions even more than I do, and who has less patience for those who constantly pester with endless proding."
"You are one hard woman to get to know."
"Something I worked very hard at." the woman replied before stopping in front of Hawke's estate. "Now, we are here. Thankfully in a few more moments, I shall be free of you. Now, hurry up and get inside before I decide my sanity is more important that what I lost."
Inside the estate, it was quiet as usual for this time of night. It was still too early for the servants to be up readying the house for the morning. As Anders started to head for the stairs that led up to Hawke's room, he paused as he suddenly wondered how wise it was to enter into Hawke's private room while she slept.
"This isn't right. Are you sure Hawke is in her room? I thought you said she was in danger. Won't she be slightly more than raging mad at us for simply inviting ourselves in? Plus... she and I didn't part on the best of circumstances either."
"Actually, your Hawke rests in her mother's room. From what I understand the dwarf who runs this house is finding it difficult to return her bed to its previous condition. So for the time being, she rests elsewhere. As for her being cross at us for entering her room uninvited, I somehow do not think she will even notice."
"What do you mean? What's wrong with her?" Anders' expression turned deadly. His patience for this woman's evasiveness in regards to his questions about Hawke were finally reaching his limit. "You have avoided this question since we met, and seeing as we but feet away from where she rests, I will have an answer now. What is going on?"
"Well, it seems you do have a spine after all, mage. However, anything I say will be meaningless until you see for yourself. You will not believe anything I say unless you see for yourself the mess you created when you let that spirit control you."
"How do you know about that?"
"I know many things. Such as your Hawke will not live past morning if you do not forget this foolishness you have against me, and do what I brought you here for."
"And what is that?"
"Save her."
Anders was at his limit for dealing with the woman. Her puzzling words and non-answers were driving him mad, yet he knew he wouldn't be able to leave unless he at least checked on Hawke. If this all seemed to be some trick by an insane mage, he would deal with that later. First, he needed to see Hawke.
No matter how many times he asked how she was doing, no one would tell him. The guards would allow him no visitors, and were careful not to speak much around him. It was like they didn't want him to know something. And now approaching the room that Hawke rested in, a lump of fear settled in his stomach at all the possibilities came to mind that could cause an apostate mage to break him out of the prison he was in.
Slowly, he opened the door. Inside, things looked relatively the same as Hawke's own room. Only the colors and decorations were different. Noticing that they were not alone, Anders turned to see a Chantry maiden asleep on a cot a few feet from the bed. Though it was dark, Anders could see it was the type of maiden they sent to those who were ill.
Growing more worried, Anders slowly approached the side of the bed that Hawke was in. As soon as he drew close, the candle by her bed lit, causing him to turn and look at the strange woman who brought him here. However she only shrugged her shoulders in a dismissive manner before motioning him forward.
As soon as Anders saw Hawke, he nearly buckled. Bile rose in his throat and his stomach threatened to empty its contents, which was something seeing as the only thing he had consumed in recent history was the potion the woman gave him.
Down on the bed lay his Hawke, only she looked more like a living skeleton. Her chest moved up and down, indicating she breathed, but looking at her it was a wonder how.
Her hair was stringy and thin, flowing from skin that looked stretched like leather. Her once beautiful face was sunken; Hawke's eyes could barely be seen under the dark circles and lines that surrounded them, her cheeks were hollow and thin and her lips were no longer full and welcoming. Her strong hands that once held up her entire group were folded neatly over her chest, yet now the looked barely more than skin covered bones.
How she was still alive in a such a state, Anders couldn't fathom. Even blood magick didn't seem strong enough to keep her heart beating under such circumstances.
"What... What happened to her?" Anders choked out, barely able to breathe after witnessing the woman he loved in such a state.
"You did, mage. You killed her, sending her soul into the Fade. Whatever you and that boy Sandal did may have revived her body, however her soul remained trapped. Being lost between the Fade and her final place of rest, she was easy pickings for the demons of the realm. Now they feed off her, slowly draining her of the life you gave back to her.
Normally she would have long ago perished from such an onslaught, however fate has different plans. There are things in the works that are greater than either of you can imagine, and your Hawke lies at the center of it all. To prevent history from being rewritten in a way that is not a benefit to them, our mutual acquaintance has been keeping her alive. However, even that power has its limits. Hawke's time grows short, and the only one left who can rejoin her soul and her body is you."
Anders fell to his knees by the bed as he listened to everything the woman told him. He was responsible for this. For all of it. Because of his blind rage and foolish idea that he could control Justice, he had caused of all this to happen.
"Where are the others? Why are they not helping her?" Anders asked in tearful whisper. He was even afraid to touch Hawke, that even the slightest pressure would break her.
"They are, in their own way. Now their part is over. They did what they were supposed to and placed the pieces in place for you to clean up the mess." The woman replied as she stepped closer to both Anders and Hawke. "Now there is only one thing left to do."
"And that is?"
"This!" The woman exclaimed as she summoned some sort of spell, creating a suffocating light that surrounded Anders. Immediately, Anders started choking as he felt an invisible force close around his throat. Trying to claw at the light was futile, and as he started to feel his eyes dim, Anders felt the familiar presence of Justice come forward.
"Witch!" Justice choked out from Anders' lips. With Justice once again in control, Anders body took on an etherial glow that seemed to shine forth from within his very body.
"Yes, I am. And you, are a spirit. A spirit that is needed not in some dormant, sulking part of your host's mind, but front and center. I hope you you are ready, because you're going on a little trip."
Another light started to shine around Hawke's body, lifting her slightly from the bed she rested on.
"Leave her be!" Justice screamed out, his glow growing brighter with his increasing anger.
"Good, I could use that emotion. Now, be a dear and go save your lovely friend. I have an appointment to keep." the woman replied before joining the two lights together. Instantly, Hawke's body fell back to the bed and Anders' slid down to the floor. "Remember spirit. You have until daybreak. Much longer and my mother will not be able to keep what little there is left of her still alive."
After one last glance down at Hawke, the woman turned and slowly walked from the house, leaving no trace of her presence.
