This started as a question posted on Twitter: "If you were stranded on a desert island with two DA characters, who would be the best and the worst to be stuck with?" The characters of Anders and Fenris are from Dragon Age 2 but they will be different for this story. Mage Hawke has abilities that are not from the game as you've noticed so far. I'm trying to see how this goes and decided to post a few chapters anyways. My partner in crime for this is KrisJFern. All comments are welcome.

Fabulous art for this chapter is called simply Dragon Age by Notickleelmo on DeviantArt.

Stranded

The Heart of What We Believe

My body doesn't respond as quickly as I want. It feels heavy as I strain to sit up and immediately, I'm dizzy from the effort.

"Lay back, Inara!" Fenris said, and was quickly on his feet, leaning forward to push me back onto the bed. "Anders demanded to be informed the moment you finally woke…"

I want so badly to reach out to him but I can barely lift my arms. Instead I watch as he starts to move away from me as I lie here, still unable to speak. There was so much I needed to say, but right now I struggle to come up with something, anything, that would stop him from leaving. I find it difficult swallowing past the lump in my throat as tears well up and threaten to spill. The best I could do is tighten my hand in his and immediately he stills, looking down at the bed briefly before looking back up at my face.

"Inara," he whispers softly.

"How long…" was all I can manage to say before he reaches out and wipes at the tears that fall.

"A few days," he answers quietly. "You needed your rest."

I looked away, clutching the bed sheets, certain that there was something important I need to recall upon waking when I feel Fenris gently remove his hand from mine and back away. He wouldn't meet my eyes when I look up at him. This time I find the strength to sit up on my own but doing so causes me to shake uncontrollably. My body feels cold and my muscles clench and it feels as if my heart is being ripped from my chest.

"Wait," I pleaded. "Please, Fenris, just wait."

I watch as he hesitates for a moment before sitting down on the bed facing me, close enough to me that if I just reach out, I could finally touch him. But I struggle not to and the want I feel pains my heart even more. He keeps his eyes averted from me as I swipe at the hot tears that sting mine. When I'm ready, I take several deep shuttering breaths to calm myself before continuing.

"Please, just let me have my piece," I plead when I am able to force the tears down. "Hear me out this last time. Then if you go, I won't stop you. On my word, I will never bother you ever again."

He looks at me through his hair that I so desperately want to brush back so that I could see his face. To see the green of his eyes that I have missed staring at when he was deep in thought and the small smile that were only for me. I wanted to memorize everything about him as if this was the last time I would ever see his face. Because if I what I said failed to reach him, it truly would be. There would be nothing left for me in Kirkwall without him.

Or Anders.

He made it perfectly clear the last time we spoke that he didn't…

"Years ago, after I admitted to you that I was a mage, I made you a promise to always be truthful to you. It wasn't always easy to keep that promise, even when I knew that my actions would hurt you or others," I said, looking away when I see him flinch and spot the rune, half hidden in the folds of the bed sheets. I reach out for it, to help keep my hands occupied so as not to touch him like I yearn to.

"I promised myself to never use my magic on you, to never let what I am hurt you, yet I broke that promise again and again," I said as I clutched the stone tight in my hand. "And you let me, never knowing what it was doing to you…" I took a shuttering breath. "But how could you know?" I wipe the tears from my eyes before taking another deep breath to continue.

"Anders saw. Back on the island - the effects of what my magic did to you. He was trying to help me discover what I am but how could he when I kept that part of me a secret, just between the two of us? At first, I didn't think of what it was doing to you: of how much you craved my touch…or how I needed yours," I pause as his shoulders tense and I finally reach out, stopping just short of touching his hand. "Somehow, he saw that because of you I didn't need the lyrium. You gave it freely but at a cost! I know you think that it was his way of keeping us apart…and maybe there was some small selfish part of him that did. But what he said then opened my eyes and I was just so scared that I would lose you!"

I swallow painfully as I stare out into nothing.

"He was right," I admit softly, rocking gently back and forth. "I knew I couldn't live with myself if I hurt you. I had hoped that I could learn to control it…"

Finally I turn back to him.

"So I tried to stay away. I didn't know how to tell you, of what being with me was ultimately doing to you," I admitted. "And I hate myself for being just another mage who hurt you."

"Inara, you alone proved to me that not all mages are alike. The first mage who has ever shown me love," he said simply and gently brushes his knuckles on mine. "For years, I believed I didn't deserve love. To Danarius, I was merely his property, at his every beck and call. To Hadriana, I was merely someone else to torment. And to my sister…"

My breath hitches when he twines his fingers with mine.

"But you made me feel that I was worthy of being loved. Not because of the lyrium in my skin or because of the sword I wield, but because of what you feel for me," he said and looks up at me hesitantly and continued slowly. "I know I haven't always made it easy for you to love me. When I pushed you away years ago, you could have walked away. There were always better choices for you, someone who was worthy of you…"

"But they weren't you!" I couldn't help but interrupt him.

"Instead you gave me space to figure out what I felt. To realize that what I had come to feel for you, of what I never wanted to lose." I brush my thumb over his fingers and he looks down at our hands before continuing.

"Anders came to me several times after we returned to Kirkwall, to discuss what had happened back on the island. Countless times, he tempted my wraith, stubbornly refusing to leave me alone. He risked my anger, trying to get me to listen to all he had to say."

It's now my turn to tense and try to pull my hand back from his and at first he refuses. Finally he lets go and I cross my arms over my abdomen.

"At night, I still get small flashes of what happened that night," I said softly, shutting my eyes tight. "On losing all control of my body…of what she would have done to either you or Anders, to make me give into her." I shuttered and squeezed my arms. "With every image she gave me, I gave up a piece of myself."

"But you fought her, Inara!" Fenris pointed out.

"Only with Anders' help," I rasped. "The things she said to me, about how my magic and her powers were similar…" I pause when Fenris reached out and placed his hand gently on my chin to make me look up at him before continuing. "It made me doubt myself. And that gave her almost complete power over me."
"Never compare yourself to a demon, Inara," he demanded gently and I finally look into his eyes. "Demons lie. They use your fears and desires to get what they want."

Fenris must have still seen the doubt in my eyes as he leaned forward and put his arms around me. I began to sob gently against his chest. I let the gentle beating of his heart, along with him whispering my name repeatedly against my hair, soothe me.

"I couldn't fight her alone, Fenris," I said as moved back from him finally but held onto his hand gently.

"You did what few others would have had the strength to do, Inara," he said softly. "You are the most remarkable, stubborn woman…"

I laughed, feeling hope in my heart. "Could you forgive me? For all that I've done?" I asked, looking up into his eyes. "I never meant…"

"Inara," he said softly as he stroked my hair and I shivered at way he said my name. "The only mage I have ever loved."

I couldn't stop the slight tremors I felt as my face lit it.

"Truly?"

I can't help but hold my breath as I wait for his answer.

"Always."

I didn't know how to react. It as if a tremendous weight was lifted. So I laugh, even as I wipe the tears that fall, then yelp as a slight kick catches my attention. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the concerned look on Fenris' face. I smiled and reach out to take his hand, placing it gently on the swell of my abdomen. I was never more delighted than the look on his face, his eyes went wide when he felt the next kick.

"I think she's happy as well," I said as he leaned closer and now placed both hands on my expanding belly.

"She?" he asked, looking up briefly as me before turning his attention back to the now softer movements beneath his hands. "How are you so certain?"

"Anders said it was something he learned from a mid-wife," I recalled. "I find it strange that he would bother to learn something not involving magic but if it's true…"

"A daughter," Fenris said softly to himself, with a slight smile upon his face.

And she'll have his eyes, I thought happily.

Wait, how do I know that?

I look up past the bed and can see the smiling image of a child, one with Fenris' green eyes. The more I thought about it, the clearer the image became. Somehow I could feel her heavy in my arms, hear her laughter, and could even smell the subtle scents of lavender and honey in her hair…which will be dark, just like mine.

"Are you alright, Inara?"

It's then I realize that I've been holding my breath and my forehead is furrowed. Fenris has moved closer to me now, his fingers brushing my cheek lightly. I look past him again but the image is gone and I try to relax once more.

"It's nothing," I say as I take his hand in mine. I sweep my fingers lightly over the lines of lyrium on his hand and I smile as something occurs to me finally.

"Why are you smiling?" he asks and I look up at him.

"Your skin," I said as I pull his hand up and rub my face on the back of his palm. "All I feel is your skin."

Thanks to everyone who has been following this crazy story. If you have any questions about this, please be sure to have your PM's enabled so I can answer back!

Sorry for the delay. Real life has been crazy.