bwa ha ha. the number of reviews makes me very happy. happy writer (and a green eyed white kitten named leto,) will go work on next chapter now.
The trickster sprawled languidly on the stone bench, contemplating the sundial's markings, the carved beads braided into his long dark hair clicking in an unfelt breeze.
"Where is Lupa?" Fenris asked, the growl in his voice barely hidden as he tried to control the sudden rush of anger and panic that flooded him at the sight of the Dread wolf in his lover's place.
"Well, what you've found of her is safe somewhere else. I couldn't very well have her keep trying to cheat, could I? This game is between you and me, mortal. And finding the rest of her is really your job, so I'm not telling."
"If you have harmed her…" Fenris snarled, reaching back for his sword. Fen'harel just smiled and flicked a long fingered hand contemptuously. The weapon vanished from the warrior's grasp, and the god arched an eyebrow at the elf's furious expression.
"You either have no sense of urgency or very odd priorities, mortal. Considering how little time you have left in our little wager, do you really want to spend it all arguing with me? I merely removed her shade to somewhere she can't try to interfere from. I should have done it before she came back enough to try communicating, but no harm, no foul." He smiled at Fenris again, displaying entirely too many fangs for easy comfort as he did.
Fenris growled, glaring at the trickster, but stalked towards the last door, the lush grass softening the impact of his footfalls. On the other side of the light, he found himself in a subtly wrong version of Lupa's home.
Assorted papers were strewn across every available surface, with books marked in arcane sigils piled in easy reach of the only clear spot on the divan. Fenris leafed idly through the nearest stack, muttering mild imprecations at the fact that all of them seemed to be in the abomination's hand. Here and there, Lupa's delicate script added notes, comments on phrasing.
From upstairs, he heard Anders's voice, speaking low, and the melody of Lupa's laughter in response. He growled at the sound of it, and stalked upstairs. A distinctly unhappy looking mabari lay sulking at the end of the hallway, barely glancing up as the warrior walked by. He kicked irritably at the pair of staves leaned against a doorframe, before stepping into his mage's bedroom.
The warden mage was seated in a cushioned chair, nibbling along the neck of the redhead curled in his lap. At the sound of footsteps, he glanced up, and sneered. "Hawke, I thought we had agreed to keep the mutts out of our room."
Lupa shifted, looking back over her shoulder curiously, and sighed. "What is it now, Fenris?" she asked in a near exasperated tone. Anders slid a hand further under her robe, causing her to squeak and bury her face into his shoulder. "Really not a good time, Fen," she gasped, even as the blond smirked smugly over her head at the elf.
"Shoo, dog. Your betters are busy. Go keep wolf or whatever she named the other mongrel company, and she'll deal with you when we're done." The ex-warden waved dismissively at the warrior before tugging Hawke further onto his lap. Lupa glanced back at him again, almost apologetically, but was pulled down into a kiss.
Fenris growled under his breath, his markings flaring involuntarily with anger. "Hawke." His fingers dug into the wood of the doorframe as he glared at the mage manhandling his lover. "Come with me. I need your help." He gave her his most pleading look, trying to keep the fury out of his voice as he tried a new tactic.
Lupa tried to lever herself off of Ander's lap, giving the other mage a regretful smile. "Duty calls, sweetie. I'll see you at dinner." Ander's hands locked over her thighs, holding her where she was.
"He can wait till we're done, Hawke." He told her, and glared at the elf in the doorway. "Just because she was stupid enough to sleep with you once does not give you free claim on her time. I don't know why you hang around her."
"Because I love her, and was a fool to ever leave her side. Doubly so if it drove her to you, abomination." Fenris retorted, unable to keep the snarl out of his voice any longer.
Anders surged to his feet, dumping Hawke unceremoniously to the floor in the process. "I have had enough of your interference with my business, elf. Begone, or they won't find enough pieces of you to identify." Magic sparked around the healer, his golden brown eyes gone hard and cold.
"Anders! That is enough." Lupa snapped, scrambling to her feet and placing a restraining hand on the blond's wrist. "Get ahold of yourself. Now. " she ordered. Anders glanced back at her, then yanked himself free of her grasp and backhanded her heavily, sending her sprawling into the bedframe.
"Stay out of this, Hawke. I've had enough of you protecting that feral beast!"
Hawke whimpered, gingerly bringing her fingers to where her head had impacted the wood and pulling them back bloody. "Anders? Fen?" She looked up at the two circling each other, one sparking with magic and the other with brands flaring.
Fenris looked up at her voice, seeing the red trickling out of her hair over her cheek. The abomination threw magic at him, something that burned against the lyrium of his brands, but nothing stopped his forward charge as he phased. His hand twisted inside Ander's chest, fingers settling around the beating muscle just long enough for the look on the warden's face to go from rage to pained fear before his fist clenched.
The former warden dropped, dead before he hit the ground, and Fenris rushed to his mage's side. "Amica mea, are you all right?"
"As well as I'm likely to be," she responded, wincing as she brushed testing fingers across the split in her scalp. She looked between him and the corpse bleeding on her rug, and leaned back before running healing magic over the wound. "You killed him."
"He hurt you." Fenris sat on the bed next to her, surreptitiously wiping the blood off his hand onto less obvious patches of her bedspread. "And you are mine." He added, watching her from under rough cut bangs. Something flickered behind her eyes at that, some tiny grain of recognition, but it was fast buried back under the wary expression this dream wore.
"You left." Came the flat toned reply. "Why would I want anything to do with you?"
"Because no matter how many times I have this nightmare, of losing you to that monster, you were always mine. And when I needed you, you gave everything for me. I'm not leaving you behind again." He moved deliberately closer to her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, letting her lean back against him. "Because this is a dream and we need to wake up, amica mea."
For a moment, it was completely, entirely her staring back at him, and he smiled. Then the world shimmered into nothing around him, and he found himself in an empty garden. All the doors had vanished except for the one leading back. The sundial still stood in the center, the shadows sliding slowly along the edges.
"But I went through all the doors! I… Seven nightmares, not six." Fenris remembered, and lunged for the door back.