It had seemed more than a few mere weeks to Leliana that had just passed. Maybe it was her dwindling fear that she had stored away from all eyes to have seen. Since just as most she was worried about this War and who would come out victorious. Of course being the Queen of Kirkwall she had to believe and show this belief to the people that she thought they'd win. But with all that had happened in the past experience with Tevinter, she couldn't help but be more on the dreaded way of thinking.
With this in mind Leliana insisted she had gone with Anders and Rhy's no matter how dangerous it might have been Leliana still wanted to show the people that she would have been there aside them in such time of need. Not to mention Leliana wished to be there after what had happened to Anders the last time he left on his own.
As the day passed on smoothly without a single bump, fray or anything to preoccupy the rouge, Leliana had taken such needed time for herself to have cleaned the grime and dirt. She had just hoped she escaped without a hassle from any of the guards. As she did promise a handful of them that she would have sparred against them before the big battle in hopes they would learn a thing or two. After all it was a good addition to know that of your comrades skills so one could attack in the middle of anothers prior attack without having to worry about getting struck.
Just prior to leaving Leliana caught from the corner of her eye, Anders and Rhy's but Leliana didn't bother in chasing after either of them. Since she truly did need her escape from all this testosterone for a short while.
After reaching the more isolated spot, Leliana had draped her towel on one of the lower branches of the trees before stepping further to the opened area. With each step brought Leliana to have worked at her armlets and gloves of her attire firstly which were dropped in no set spot. With such noises of her own and the wind breezing the grass and leaves, Leliana hadn't even heard the slight footsteps nearing her from the shadows. Not even her peripheral vision caught onto such a figure. That the one was able to have practically came out to the clearing and stand right before her on her left. There he had only watched her fixated upon sight of her that he was brought to another step in her direction and with it brought a groan of pain if it was even possible for one such as him to have such.
Such a sound brought Leliana to squeal through her pursed lips and turn quickly in the direction which it was heard. Only this had brought on a more louder scream of fear to spill out of her lips. By the force of it brought Leliana to have raised her hands to her lips.
His movements weren't quick but upon hearing such a screech brought Aragorn to have stepped closer as his brittle lips parted to have spoken words. "Leliana?"
At first she wasn't aware of whom this was, since by the rotting fermenting flesh practically holding on by a thread in some areas brought Leliana to not even recognize the man. But the voice, the voice was the only thing that stopped Leliana's hesitant back steps and examine the one before her. His hair, what was left besides the few patches due to the decomposer had held some of his ebony hair and through the darkness clouding around his eyes and practically making it even possible to have seen if there was even eyes were there was his former blue tinted ones. They weren't as bright as they once were, but somehow they still held the softness that they always had. She was at a lost for words. Even when she parted her lips to have said anything, nothing came but the fear that had seemed to have building inside her and causing her body to tremble.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of me?" He questioned with a bit of a side glance and attempted a step in her direction, though when this was done it caused Leliana to step back and Aragorn to stop in his cat and mouse game. The further he looked to her the more he saw how frightened she was, not only was her lips and nimble hands shake but the tears she fought back with every fiber in her. Seeing this had only caused Aragorn to have reached out towards her in a winch of his own darkened hues. "I'm back... It's-"
"No, stay back... You're not him... You can't be him... H-He died!" She retorted in a spat. In between her shouts she reached to her belt for some kind of throwing knifes or flasks anything she could have used against him. Since she hadn't brought her weapons. She could have easily ran back to where her weapons had been lain, but in truth... If this was Aragorn and for some sick reason he was brought back just to play games on her mind then she felt it was her place to have dealt with this alone. Since she knew rushing back to where everyone else was would bring everyone to have protected her.
Rhys continued to express his concerns about the upcoming battle. Of course they were mostly brushed off from Anders's scoffs to his words. Anders couldn't remember since when Rhys had seemed so negative to the idea of going against Tevinter. Perhaps the other mage was nervous. Granted; he had every reason to have been a little shaken. Bloodmages were in general; a scary sort to go to war against. However, Anders blamed Tevinter for most of his past problems, and of course he wanted vengeance against them for it all.
"—And the resources will be in short supply—" Rhys continued in his excuses. "If the Tevinters decide to use demons against us—"
"Rhys. We're going to defeat them. I don't know why you're so worried—" Anders started to say in his light shrug while turning in a circle.
Anders's backwards walk in front of the male caused Rhys only to slow in his pace. Hearing the sudden scream from the far off distance had alerted both mages from their previous conversations. Rhys had watched as Anders had started to run ahead of him. Running as fast as his smaller legs could have carried him; but Anders was taller than him and still continued to gain greater distances than him. There was no telling of what the scream had been for, and it only caused Rhys to worry nearly as much as Anders had seemed to do.
Skidding to halt near the clearing, that had been when Anders had seen what the source of fear was given. His skin had paled slightly upon seeing the individual remaining at least a yard or two away from Leliana. Rather abruptly his arms had reached out, and Anders attempted in guiding Leliana away from the previous distance. He was going to have used himself a human shield if need-be.
"Holy—Andraste-!" Anders stammered and felt his body still remain frozen for the moment at to what he was seeing.
He tilted his head some as a calm stillness slowly passed among them. It wasn't as though Anders hadn't seen a risen dead before; that wasn't the actual issue. It was just that, this person had looked so much similar to someone he had known—Maker's Breath—even fought alongside with! He pierced his eyes as to have studied the figure still.
"…Commander?" He started to question but his words hadn't nearly been as approachable as he had wished them to be.
Rhys had finally reached them and once he realized he was rushing towards, he jumped and quickly turned back around for a few steps. He soon retraced his steps and raised his arms in preparation for a spell. "Sweet Maker's Rapture! I knew it! This was what I was talking about—"
"Rhys, don't! We- I—know this man." Anders called towards him the other mage, and had almost turned his head towards Rhy's as to to have seen what he was attempting. Almost. He couldn't seem to really shift his gaze towards the other startled mage's direction though.
"Of course you know him—That's the point!" Rhys argued back while a blast of electricity started to spike between his hands.
"Rhys!" Anders snapped at the other male and swung his left arm across the other mage's raising arms.
He smacked at them quickly in order to push the momentum back down and to cancel out the spell. Anders's eyes flashed at him, nearly in a silent warning for him to remain calm… Because Anders didn't have the patience nor really the resolve to tolerate a mage that was about spring paranoia so close to the camp.
Leliana wasn't even aware of that of Anders hasty entrance that she wasn't given the chance to have searched further for some kind of protection. Not that she needed it, but the fumbling of her hands brought it impossible to have grasped anything. That when she had felt Anders actual touch against her own skin she had shrilled to a straightened stance and almost stumble back in fear it was Aragorn's own rotting flesh that had reached her. After her stammering heart beat had calmed to as far as it would, she had looked up hesitantly to have seen it was Anders. In her own relief she had clenched at the fabric of his clothing and brought herself closer to his back which faced her so she wouldn't have to see the nightmare before her. It was bad enough having to lose him as she had the last time, that she didn't want to have done it ever again.
Aragorn didn't push further after Anders shielded stance between himself and Leliana. What was left of him had only slumped his shoulders and sighed. Only his former title brought him to raise his bowed defeated head when he heard it. "It is me… Surprise, surprise…" He attempted to have joked as he looked over Anders shoulder, or tried to so he could have caught a glance of Leliana. But only what he had seen was that of the red-heads hair before resting fully back on the soles of his feet.
"Thought you would get rid of me that quickly eh?" He pried towards Anders, though such questions were unanswered as his attention was brought to that of Rhy's and his talent. He would have brought up that he was no harm to either of them but from the corner of his eyes he caught onto Leliana stepping out of her hiding place behind Anders.
"N-No… Don't hurt him. Please, it's as Anders says… We know him." Though as she spoke these words her eyes weren't directed to the mage but more so towards that of Aragorn's own form. That she hadn't even seen much of an action of Anders smacking away the lightning ability away before it was casted towards Aragorn.
Seeing this had brought Aragorn attention to have turned towards the rouge and give what little smile he could have within that moment. Even though he had much to say to her and was given a second chance at this. This was not the reason why he was here. At least not the first reason. Once he believed it safer he approached more closely towards Anders and with a part of his lips he spoke. "I came to tell you something I'm not sure you care to hear or not Anders. But I figured you had a right to know. It's only fair as I have been given this second chance that you get yours as well…" In pausing he looked towards Leliana as if hinting at his words before looking back towards the mage. "They have her you know, Naomi…"
Leliana flinched some at the given news of Naomi, it had seemed like a rising dead party. Who was next? Anna and Alexander too? After narrowing her eyes towards Aragorn, Leliana could have helped but questioned such curiosities that lingered. "Who is this 'they'?"
"The Tevinter's, of course… Who else is your lover boy fighting?" He questioned though it wasn't much of a question since everyone had known who Anders was up against. Though as for Leliana she had specially remember that when Aragorn had been slain this was still the time Anders was beside with the Tevinter's. It couldn't help but to bring her to question it.
"How did you know… Of us going against Tevinter?" She dared to question with a perked brow. Though she didn't give Aragorn much room for response as she pointed a finger towards him almost suspiciously. "They're not the ones that brought you back are they? No… They couldn't, that's sick and—"
"Twisted?" Aragorn finished for her. "Last time I checked that how Tevinter's were… But yes… I'm here of their doing. But in truth… It's not all that bad."
"Not that bad!? How is it not all that bad? Look at you… You're a—" Leliana paused with a bite to her lower lip before finishing her own sentence. In her own frustration her hands began to wring in twisting knots into one another.
After seeing this Aragorn had only chuckled and stepped forward past Anders, to where he stood before Leliana and in a hesitant manner, he reached for her own wrought hands. "It's not that bad because now… Now we can have a proper final moment together… Before…" He stalled in his own controlled pause.
Leliana would have fought against Aragorn, after all it was almost a nightmare and a dream meshed into one. Since Aragorn was taken in such the horrid of ways and yet here he was again, in a different sense but it was still him. But from his grasp to his pause of words Leliana had glanced up from the ground and into his eyes where she had looked past all dismay in his face and in there she had seen the pain which he was desperately trying to hide from not the two of the men but her as well. Probably most likely her. Leliana didn't want to have questioned this in front of Anders and Rhy's though, since Aragorn had never liked people to see him when he was at his weakest. "Before what?" She finally questioned, in hopes to have drifted her mind from that of his pain.
"Before you have to kill me." He stated almost to bluntly that it almost brought Leliana to laugh at his own words but from the seriousness coming from him Leliana had only blinked a few times before asking. "You're not serious are you?"
"Dead serious." He responded with a nod of his head. After slipping his hands from Leliana's gentle hold he had turned where he looked to his own hands where it felt like almost like a ton of bricks hit him every time he was reminded that he was this horrid... Thing. "I can't live like this Leliana, if you want to call this living... It's more like torture since I can't even have you."
For the moment, Anders had been too stunned to have really responded much. Not even when particular sentences Aragorn had spoken to him had been made. It was as if he was learning from bits and pieces of the words he was saying; all more slowly than from what they were being said. Anders's eyes had flashed again at the sound of Naomi's name being spoken soon afterwards. Perhaps had it had been mostly that to have caused the mage's sudden tilt near his right side. Idly from the back of his consciousness, he acknowledged that Aragorn was attempting to have spoken with Leliana; and for as long as she regained her courage to face him, Anders was limped away at decent distance to have allowed it. -If that was what 'power' he had at the moment.- However, perhaps being stunned had proven greater weaknesses than Anders normally gave the sensation credit.
Had it really been a second chance? Aragorn seemed to think so… Or perhaps it was just his only way of looking on the bright side of his condition. Even then, Anders couldn't help but to have thought otherwise. While he continued to place the blame of Aragorn's death onto the Tevinters (and rather mistakenly at that) Anders had only then seemed to have felt the guilt of the entire thing to hit him like a thundering blow to the chest. He hadn't seen Aragorn's death when it occurred, and perhaps that helped him to bury it. However, it was difficult to have such things buried respectively when they were standing right in front of him and even talking to him.
Bits and pieces. Short phases and small words seemed to pass through Anders's consciousness even then. It was until Aragorn had mentioned about being killed that Anders's eyes had suddenly blinked in an abrupt awareness.
"No." He said simply once Aragorn had stated his terms. Anders felt his hands twitch slightly in a small shake before his next few stammering words. "No, no—you-are-not-placing-that-on-her… Because, you're not going to die."
Rhys looked at how pale and nearly frantic the blonde male had seemed to be. "Anders—"
"He's not going to die, damn it!" Anders quickly snapped back and raised his voice slightly towards Rhys to quickly shut him up. He then paused for a moment and then looked back towards Aragorn. "She's not—And-I-I'm not—No one in this army is going to kill you, Commander… So you just stop that right now."
Rather hesitantly, Anders started to walk towards him and raised his hands in the preparation of a healing spell. His hands started to glow in the familiar light and Anders hovered the palms of his hands over Aragorn's right shoulder and forearm in order to attempt in healing him. He stared down at the rotten flesh, only to find it staring right back at him like a taunting curse. In response, Anders tried to amplify the ability in order to have him healed.
Still, nothing… It only left Rhys to wonder from the sidelines; whether or not Aragorn was even feeling the healing spell placed over his rotting form. Rhys stared back down towards the ground briefly and he slowly started to approach Anders from behind. He reached up and lightly placed his hand on the healing mage's shoulder, in order to try and grasp his attention from where he could and as gently as he could.
"That's not going to work." He started to whisper to him in an increasing frown.
"Of course it works—it always works—it has to work." Anders mumbled under his breath and jerked his shoulder in an abrupt force to escape Rhy's grasp. His eyes continued to dart in the various opened sores and wounds of Aragorn's sunken in flesh. It was like trying to breath life-well, into a corpse. Anders narrowed his eyes and the palms of his hands started to engulf in the white healing light of his abilities afterwards. "This is flesh; just flesh. I've repaired all sorts of wounds to the flesh countless times—"
"Anders, by all definition, his body cannot be repaired that way—You're wasting your efforts!" Rhys urged more firmly.
Anders abruptly stepped back waved his right arm away; almost in an attempt that seemed as though he would have struck the other mage. However, Rhys had quickly dodged the swing even though Anders had clearly even then gave a wide enough birth for him to do so.
"Shut up! I just can't concentrate with you hovering over me like a bloody gnat!" Anders scowled at him and at last started to lower his hands. The glow in them finally died away, and as though suddenly being struck with an epiphany, Anders swiftly turned back towards Aragorn and pointed at him.
"That's it. That's the answer, isn't it? Bloodmagic…" Anders concluded from his frozen position. Though despite how stiff he had seemed and unwilling to move, his actual thoughts were racing faster than the speed of light. "I can't repair any of your wounds because bringing you back involved some bloodmagic ritual."
"Bloodmagic is not an answer to this—"
"Bloodmagic is the sole answer to this. Bloodmagic is what caused this—it's-what-brought-him-back. Only …it seemed to fix him, halfway…" Anders continued and narrowed his eyes in thought when he started to turn away.
"Where are you—"
"Going? Going—going-to-find a Tevinter. I'll make them fix this." Anders decided; feeling the growl from his throat quickly grow in volume. He only paused briefly to point back towards Aragorn fiercely. "Don't you dare die on me, Commander, or you'll really piss me off."
"I'm already dead Anders… So it won't be really killing me. It will just be like letting me go back home is all." He attempted to explain in Anders own fury to have fought him in the middle of his fit of his single request of what had to be done when everything was finished on his part. "After all, we'll all see each other again… Trust me I'll make sure to warm up on the Makers side to allow you to come sit beside me instead of the dreaded fade."
But his words seemed to be of no use, as soon he saw from the side of his Anders approaching and attempting some kind of healing on him. He knew if he wasn't going to listen the first time then trying to stop him now would be of no use, so what was the point of it then? Only a sigh passed his lips as shifting his eyes up towards the mage and speaking towards him. "Are you done?"
From beside him Leliana stepped forward quickly after seeing Anders actions. In her own worry she approached him, but seeing as how Rhy's stepped in she figured he wouldn't have wanted to be surrounded even more so than he was and anger him further. All she could have done was look down helplessly hoping that he'd give up and realize there was nothing they could have done for him but of what he asked and even though Leliana didn't like what Aragorn was asking, she'd still do right by him. They had too much of a past to have put her needs before his, if he had truly wanted to rest once more than that's what she would give him.
All thoughts were put at a halt though when the mentioning of Blood Magic was brought up. It even brought Aragorn to glace towards the mage just as stunned as Leliana was in hearing it. Since both had known how much Anders was against such a form of magic. In truth Aragorn didn't enjoy the thought of being brought back by Blood Magic nor being brought back to all his glory either by it. Everyone in Theda's thought he was dead… For what? Two and a half years now or so? He couldn't tell since no one had given him such information but still if he were to somehow could come back what would he tell everyone? Many would have looked down upon him like a plague. No matter his title. Even then he wouldn't have much to live for, when one died they were meant to stay this way.
"Anders…" Aragorn whispered in glance towards Leliana that he gave a signal of a nod of his head to her to have stopped him. It was his only hope after all since if he tried he could have injured himself and then made Anders a further wreck than he was.
Seeing this Leliana turned towards Anders and quickly lunged towards him where she grasped his hand to pull him back. "Please don't go…"
"Listen to her… Do it out of your love for her and respect for me to not go find some forbidden cure for me, because in reality there isn't one and you know it… If there was one I wouldn't take it either." He admitted with a glance down to his feet. "I wouldn't be alive anyways without her. She deserves a good life with you Anders and without complications. Going to Tevinter to find someone to fix me will just bring more hurt than its worth."
"He's right you know…" Leliana pressed in hope's Anders would reconsider his decision on leaving. "Who knows they might be hoping you walk into Tevinter just so they could do whatever they want when you get there." As paranoid as it sounded to her it was plausible since Magister's were untrustworthy and who was to say that they didn't plan all this out before hand in hopes Anders would take such bait.
Anders had felt the lunge being pushed into him upon looking down and saw that it was Leliana physically attempting to have dragged him back. He would quickly began his argument again Aragorn's rather stated intentions had kept him from it. Anders looked at them and listened between them both in their justifications. Of course Anders had loved Anna, and of course he would have wanted to respect Aragorn's wishes, but this was too much.
He couldn't believe of what he was hearing from them: Aragorn refusing his help (despite whatever form that it was) and Leliana even backing up the notion of it being a bad idea for him to have made the journey. After all, they were in the middle of a war camp. Anders didn't need to travel all the way to the Imperium to find what he needed (hopefully), but even so—even if he needed to do that, the Imperium wasn't that far away from where the camp was now.
Anders was actually close from where he needed to be. The enemy was in plain sight. It would have been an easy victory. Anders had the stomach and certainly enough hatred of it by now to torture any Magister he wanted in order to get whatever information he needed. The world soon have been in his hands, and yet here were people attempting to hold Anders back. It was as if they truly were afraid of the Imperium!
Had the world gone mad? Anders was trying to risk life and limb to raise and revive a man that has been dead for over two years! Had he been the one to lose his mind?
"Why are we here?" Anders asked, casting his rather shocked expression towards Leliana and then looked towards Rhys in nearly a moment of disgust at him. "I'm sorry… I thought we were fighting for Maker-given rights—not to come only mid-way just to fall down and cower to bastards trying to take over our entire religion and nation!—Which they are, if you haven't noticed by now…. But they can fall; they can die. That's why we are here!"
He looked as though he would have said more but the sudden drain of emotion was filling through him and numbing his senses. Anders glanced back towards Aragorn and then quickly swiveled his head away in one direction away from him. He tried to gently pull himself away from Leliana and trotted heavily towards the nearest tree to lean against.
Leliana allowed her hand to have slipped from Anders grasp after he moved to pull away. She only watched as he trailed away from each of them before sighing at how helpless she could have been at that moment. Just as Anders, she didn't want to have lost Aragorn a second time. If only he could have seen what she had then maybe he would have understood why Aragorn wished to be put back to rest once more and hopefully for good this time.
"Still moody as ever…" Aragorn said in his approach towards the rouge as his eyes fixated upon the mage and where he walked to. "I don't get how you keep up with him as he was always a handful in Amaranthine." He admitted with a bit of a nod of his head in the mages direction. While standing there, Aragorn's eyes drifted towards Rhy's and knowing this would possibly be one of their few times for needed privacy Aragorn stepped to the side and led on in hopes Leliana would follow him in an area more secluded.
"You know, you don't have to leave us again Aragorn… You can stay…" Leliana said in her close follow behind him.
This only caused Aragorn to chuckle some at the suggestion. After all he had just gotten done convincing Anders and here he hoped he already had Leliana on his side of the matter of where he stood. So he wouldn't have to be fighting against anyone when the time actually came. But he should of expected no less. With everything they had went through with one another it was understandable if she wanted to convince him otherwise. "I told you, I can't stay… I know you can see it in me that I can't take much more of this… I'm so tired… Very tired. The only reason I did go out of my way to come here was because I wanted to see you one last time."
"But this doesn't have to be the last time Aragorn, we could use your help."
"Against Tevinter? I would probably just slow the rest of you down. Plus I'd rather see your face last then some Magister's." He admitted with what of a smile he could pull to his strained face. "I know what I'm asking of you Leliana and I'm sorry. Not just for this but for having to witness losing me a second time. But I know you'll be fine, you have Anders and as much as it pains me to say, I am glad you two found each other when I left."
"You're an idiot…" Leliana retorted in a softer tone as she bit onto her lower lip just to have held back the pain swelling inside her and screaming out to have cried out her frustration. "Why'd you have to go and save me and get yourself killed in the process?"
"Because I love you stupid." He spoke back as he approached Leliana a second time, though within his hand held a dagger since by what he seen earlier she had none on her. "And if you had any love for me all those years ago, then you'll do this for me." It almost sounded like that of a guilt trip but it was far from it. Since he knew he would have done the same for her if she asked him of this request. He just hoped she had mustered up the strength he knew she had. It wasn't until the weight of the dagger was lifted from his hand that he glanced up, but this time more towards that of Anders, in his own short goodbyes to him, if they could be called as such. "You better take good care of her and make her one hell of a happy bride. If you don't I'll haunt your ass until the end of your days, you hear me mage?" After his short shout-out he turned back to Leliana giving a bit of a nod of his head to lead the two of them away from the clearing so Anders or this Rhy's wouldn't stop his long awaited fate. "So tell me, what did you have a boy or a girl? If it was a boy I hope you named him after me?" He questioned towards her was his only last few words that faded out into the sounds of the nature surrounding them as they entered a more lush and overgrown area to have hidden behind.
After only a short few minutes Leliana emerged from the wooded area and back to where she hoped to find Anders still waiting for her. Even if he was there her eyes didn't search for him as they held what she didn't want him to have seen. So she had kept what distance from them as her arms crossed over her chest and her hands buried into the nooks behind her folded arms. In fear of breaking at any moment she hadn't said a word even to neither man. As for Aragorn's body had still been where it collapsed. She didn't dare move it in fear his already decomposer would have torn him limb from limb, clearly there was someone that could have taken care of him besides herself..
Hearing Aragorn's calling to him, Anders looked towards him and reached as to have forced what smile that he could for his sake. However, he wasn't stupid. He knew of what Aragorn was going to ask Leliana to have done. He would have rather that man would have asked him. Then again, Anders was certain that he probably didn't appear to have been the best candidate due to his previous refusal of such a thing to happen. He could have asked Rhys eve, but certainly Aragorn had his reasons.
Though the two had left him and Rhys mainly to stare back towards themselves. The dark haired male leaned against one of the large boulders and sat down on top of it. He felt almost as if he was beginning to try and reason with a youth; considering how Anders couldn't seem to calm himself. He had to wonder how Anders had been able to keep control of his magic.
"You know… There are a lot of people in these camps who still have families and friends here, Anders." Rhys tried to explain.
"All the more reason that we need to keep pressing forward—"
"All the more reason we need to check our current supplies." Rhys restated more calmly and soon their exchanged glances on the matter had finally turned away.
Anders glanced away and kept staring back down at his feet. He finally sighed and spoke to break the mild tension between them. "Don't think I have no idea how you feel. Nearly everything that I hold dear is living among and it always has, Rhys."
Rhys glanced slightly back towards Anders once more, but he hadn't said anything in response this time. There was another silence and stillness that welcomed the two mages once more. Looking back up to the sound of footsteps, they had seen Leliana's slow walk back towards them. She was returning alone which could have only meant one thing.
Anders stood up and started to walk towards her. He barely had casted Rhys another glance upon his passing before reaching out towards Leliana. "Rhys, if you please-?"
"Right…" Rhys answered with a slight nod and moved into the direction from where Leliana and Aragorn had last ventured off together. It was his symbol to go and give the man a respectful burial. No one else would have probably been able to do so without throwing themselves down towards the actual grave.
Anders reached out to hold Leliana close. He comforted her in what ways he could while trying to offer what comforting words that he could. "Leliana…? If you want, I'm right here…. And I'm not going anywhere."
Leliana wasn't even the slightest aware of that of Anders approach towards her. The same scene replayed within her mind like a horrid cancerous sore that decided to never leave her be. In truth she thought she was stronger than this, that Aragorn 'dying' this second time would have been somehow easier. Since he was already dead on the outside, he was still somehow himself on the inside. As crazy it may have seemed she felt some kind of guilt for what he had been put through. Aragorn was to kind and a giving man to have put through such torture. That it fueled her anger and hate even further against the Tevinter's.
The red head had jumped at last in hearing Anders words spoken towards her; it was almost as if she was off in her own world in her head of thoughts. It wasn't until her eyes sighted Anders booted feet that she came to realize he was before her, just standing there waiting patiently for anything kind of response from her and no matter how hard she tried to fight it, she couldn't fight it. As Anders was her rock in many ways and out of the many times she did need him, it was now she needed him the most.
Almost as quickly as his words to her came to an end, Leliana had rushed into Anders chest where her head had rested and her arms wrapped behind him while her hands held firmly to his shoulders. In burying her features, Leliana tried to find the comfort in him that she needed and tried hide the hurt which would have been seen clearly in her face. She hoped such close quarters would have hidden this, but the more she held onto the mage she realized the hatred but also mixed with hurt stirred in her so deeply that it pulled out the tears she fought in holding back.
"I swear I'm going to kill them all, every last one of them." Leliana promised towards his chest. After all it was the littlest thing she could have done, not only for Aragorn but everyone Magisters had touched and destroyed.
"But first…" She said in a whisper as she turned her head some to have gazed up towards Anders. "I want to thank you for being here." Leliana finished as she leaned up to have greeted her lips with his own. Even if it was a brief meeting, it was one she needed after so much that had happened and what they had found out… Speaking of what they found out, the thought of Naomi passed her mind and brought Leliana to quickly pull her lips from his almost too quickly as her hands pressed to Anders chest where she started to push back slightly with her widened eyes. "Naomi… Aragorn spoke of her. If they have her too we need to find her. It's not right what they're doing to them and we need to stop it."
Anders looked down to her, still seeing the dismay in her expression and offered what comfort that he could in a brief smile. "I know… We'll make it right. I promise."
He guided her back to the camp to allow Leliana to relax for a while. Anders believed that after what she had been through, it would have been best for her to have rested. Though during the meantime, Anders and Rhys continued to argue about what they needed to do as a group. Of course Rhys would have wanted to regroup his supplies, but Anders wanted to strike the Tevinter's Army camp as hard and fast that he could.
However the argument had stopped when one of the soldiers had directed their attention to the campsite. They had managed to capture one of the Tevinter mages that had been lurking around the woods from around the tents. Anders could only cast Rhys a glance back before addressing the issue. The man tied up to a stake.
"I don't see what the big deal is. I thought we would have been friends after what was left for you." The Magister stated while looking down at his bound down state. "What's the big idea treating me this way—"
Anders reached back and punched solid hit across the man's jaw. He would have continued with a second but Rhys had reached up and started to pull back his shoulder. The Magister looked back down at the ground and spat out a tooth. The punch alone had hurt Anders's hand, giving him the urge for wanting to just hit him again.
"You really believed reviving the dead would help develop any peace treaties between us?" Anders scowled in disbelief. "It sounds like you don't even know why we're demanding war upon you in the first place."
"Tevinter provided your army with its supplies. We devised methods to have you escape the White Spire. We even brought back the ones you cared for the most, and this is how we are repaid." The Magister growled. "We figured you would have taken the gift and moved on. We didn't kill them after all."
Leliana didn't want to rest. Not in the least. But she had at least pleased Anders enough to believe she had done as he asked. So she had stayed to their quarters for a few moments longer, sitting at the edge of their bed with her eyes transfixed upon the ground. The face of Aragorn's was haunting her worse than she had wanted it to be and no matter how much she had tried to push the image of him being put through so much pain had only brought her more anguish.
After opening her eyes, she had quickly stormed to her feet and reached for any object which was near whether it being a vase to a bottle that she had flung forcefully in the direction of the table which had broken on impact in the moment of her fit and aspirated scream. The shattering noise hadn't even fazed her as she huffed upon shifting her heels to turn in the direction of the other side of the area. Leliana hadn't gotten but a few steps until the noise of one of the Soldiers barged in. Hearing this caused the rouge to pause as she glanced over her shoulder. She didn't give her full attention to the male and she didn't say a word, at least not first.
"W-We heard a crash… Is… Everything alright?" The Solider asked in directing his eyes to the area of the tent where the broken glass was scattered in the one spot. With his lips parting and his gaze slowly shifting back to Leliana he hesitantly and with concern in his tone spoke towards her a second time in hope she would have spoken back. "Ma'am?"
Leliana had been staring off once more after she turned back to look in front of her and at her weapons which she previously was going to take and leave to go do Maker knows what. It was probably best the Solider had come in when they had, to stop her before she had done hastily without much thought. While standing there it almost seemed as if the words of the mans hadn't fazed her a bit until his respectful term had reached her ears and caused her to jolt back some in a bit of jump that had brought the rouge to turn at least half-way to the male and had given him a bit of a nod of her head. "I'm… Fine…" She stated in almost that of a monotone voice as she stepped towards her weapons a second time and let her fingers drag across the hilt of one of her daggers.
The guard blinked a few times, allowing just the silence between them be the words for the moment as he knew by the setting and Leliana's posture everything wasn't "fine" as she tried to show. But it wasn't as if they were given any information of what happened just moments ago, but he could tell there was something eating away at her that he truly didn't want to leave until the Icon's return, that it caused him to have stepped forward a few paces towards the rouge.
Leliana heard this and almost abruptly with a quickness had turned to face the solider and held out a defense unarmed arm towards the man, as in asking the man not to step further. Her lips parted but seeing the him stop respectfully before her ceased any words from her, as her arm lowered back to her side.
"Would you like someone to come in and clean this… Mess?" He asked a bit hesitantly with a nod of his head in the direction of the broken glass… "Or perhaps—"
"Just leave…" She interrupted, Leliana would have pushed further but in truth she didn't have much of the strength to have done so.
The Solider nodded his head and turned but before leaving he turned only partially to have looked over his shoulder to the red head. "You know your people are here for you… If you need anything that is."
Even if for a moment Leliana smiled, but before she could have thanked the man he quickly left the tent and left Leliana to be as she requested, alone. It was during this time Leliana sighed and shifted her eyes to the corner of the tent where the glass gleamed enough to have caught her eyes and brought her to clean up the mess before Anders had hopefully returned and found the mess she had made and possibly asked questions.
"Look, just calm down and put down your hands for a minute." The Magister requested from Anders. When he noticed that Anders hadn't seemed to have heard him, he raised his voice slightly and tried again. "I said put them down!"
Anders finally was able to shrug off Rhys who had had been holding him back since then. It was at least within enough time for the mage to have shifted his eyes away from Rhys in an accusing glance before moving back towards the Magister.
"Try and be reasonable—" He started to say until Anders lifted the man up off the ground and braced him against one of the tent poles behind him. Though, he still continued in what annoyed tone that he could manage without panicking. "—All—rational thought shows there aren't enough people from the Southern lands prepared or even willing to support your Unified front. If you continue this, the Qunari are going to end up crushing us both."
"Qunari were never my problem—" Anders started to retort.
"But they will be." The Magister responded equally fierce back. "Attacking us is just going to reveal your position to any native conquers throughout the regent. Not to mention Starkhaven."
This had caused Anders to flinch some. He hated being reminded of any reason that he should back down. His resolve had been stretched so thin, that once he reached the point of finally acting upon it and told to back down, he could have screamed over it. Though it was true that his army wasn't built on his own; and rather it was funded by Tevinter. He owed them.
"Where is Hawke?" He finally asked and started to lower the man back down on his feet.
The Magister soon turned his attention to brushing away the stretched wrinkles on his robes and eased the sore muscles that were once pulled from where Anders had him lifted. "She's at our camp. To ensure the sworn oath that your army won't turn against us, Commander Winslor has her will shackled to his control."
"You bastards!" Rhys exclaimed in shock. He seemed more appalled than Anders at the moment; but only because Anders had predicted this course of action would have been taken. The dark haired man did everything he could to keep his feet planted still to the ground, but (like always) he couldn't seem to keep his thoughts to himself. "She defended the lands from the Qunari—if anything she's been fighting against your sworn enemy!"
"They're desperate for some sort of offering to appease me, when all its doing is pissing me off…" Anders sneered and clasped the man's throat into a choke hold.
The Magister squirmed from the surprise and reached up to try and pull Anders's hands away. He could have resorted to magic but he had been given orders not to have harmed the Icon in any way. So the Magister was stuck a little between his given commands and the need to preserve his life.
Anders continued to squeeze his neck as he continued to speak to him. "Whoever did their research on me was very accurate, but you're all forgetting a few important things. I loved her. I loved her so much that I killed her; and killing her again will not faze me in the slightest."
"D-Don't! I'm just…the …messenger." The Magister croaked in tearing and tugging relentlessly at Anders's hand.
There had seemed to have been a bright orange flash of fire that flashed in Anders's eyes as he raised up his left hand in response. He started to place his hand over the Magister's forehead as it started to glow. "Then deliver a message back for me."
The Magister's eyes widened in the confusion and later in the acknowledged fear and pain he felt. He attempted to squirm and pull away from Anders's hold, but the mage had a tight grip against him; pinning him to the tent pole. He hollered from the pain he was feeling pressing into his skin. His forehead started to smoke and the scent of burnt flesh was surrounding his scalp.
The white hot tears streaming down his face were poured in vain until at last, Anders had released his hold and dropped him. The Magister was sniveling on the ground and rather reluctant to have lifted his head. He reached up to cover the marking Anders had burned into him. No doubt, it was a word of some sort, but the Magister was keeping it covered due to how severe the injury had been.
Anders couldn't trust himself around this mage any longer either. He needed to have left, and he needed to have had the man away from his camp before he changed his mind on the matter of letting him to still live. Anders turned away and started to head back towards his and Leliana's tent.
"Get him out of here…" He whispered towards Rhys upon his passing.
He didn't look back to check and see if Rhys had actually heard him or not. He trusted that the man understood enough from just watching him. It seemed like a slow nightmare continuing in its progression for him. Anders had continued his way towards the tent and made a bee-line walk towards the separate cot that was in the room.
He hadn't even noticed Leliana cleaning up the mess that was made in the corner. He dropped his head and rested it into his hands; raking his fingers thick into the frayed and dirty blonde locks. Letting the issue sink further into his mind in order to try and make peace with it, he remained quiet and still.
To kill Naomi again; it seemed like a twisted joke Fate was pushing on him. Anders supposed that it was better that the Tevinters had chosen her as their last bargaining option then rather than the Commander. Leliana probably never would have lived it down if Aragorn ended up being the one controlled in such ways. Of course it was bad enough that they carried things as far as they did with reviving Aragorn as an extra incentive in the first place. It was a miscalculated assumption; and possibly even a clash of customs, that such a thing happened. But Anders could handle it; he was certain of it. If he could kill her over a betrayal, he could certainly kill her to bring her peace.
So much hate for the ones we love… Tell me. We both matter, don't we?
He grumbled a few incoherent words and reached up to shroud his face in a long sigh. Afterwards, he lowered his hands and looked towards Leliana who had finished in cleaning up something; although Anders wasn't certain as to what it was. His thoughts had still been consumed with what the battle was going to bring soon.
"…Leliana… Maybe it would be best if you stayed with the Main Camp when we attack. The soldiers could use the reminding morale." He finally suggested after attempting to clear his thoughts.
Leliana wasn't expecting Anders to have returned so quickly. At first she had believed it was a second solider and she was almost tempted to have thrown something near them and request they left. She would have even if she didn't check over her shoulder to have seen it was the mage. Her concentration was quickly shifted away when he hadn't said anything and she didn't think much on it as she turned back towards the spilled glass. The less he asked the better it would have been for them both or so she believed.
Though the silence was awkward, Leliana had eventually cleaned up the remnant of the glass onto a piece of cloth and slowly went to toss it away. Afterwards she patted her hands against one another and against the thighs of her clothing until she felt a tug. With only a flinch being her only reaction, she had turned her palm up to have looked to it with the curiosity of what brought this on. In the center of her hand there was a gash and embedded into the flesh was a bit of glass from earlier. The only thing that came to her mind of how she'd gotten this was when she threw the bottle across the room, or when she was picking it up. Only a bit of a sigh pushed through her lips as she glanced up from her hand and towards Anders, its when she had finally seen the mage so distraught. Leliana would have approached him then but she instead turned towards the nearest table with the aid kit at hand to have bandaged her wound.
She was lost in her own concentration of getting the glass out and gauzing her hand that she hadn't heard much of Anders dismay. That was until his words were spoken and her only reaction to that was to jump slightly erect in her chair as she quickly finished bandaging her hand and stood to her feet.
To not stir any questions, Leliana cupped her hands behind herself as she slowly approached Anders from there. She tried to put on the best smile for him then as she leaned forward. "Anders…" Leliana whispered back before standing straight once more. "The people will do fine without me…" She didn't think much on why Anders was asking this of her, she knew previously it was dangerous. But it was like all of this lifted from her mind the moment both Aragorn and Naomi were brought back from the dead like some kind of game and Leliana didn't wish to have sat idley by while the men did the fighting for her.
"But…" Leliana interrupted her own train of thought as her eyes had shifted some to the furthest corner of the room. "There is one thing I'd like us to do before we go into battle." She spoke softly in her suggestion and with it brought her attention back to the mage as she stepped forward to close the gap between them and there she reached out towards his hand to grasp with her non-bandaged one. "I'd like for us to say our vows to one another… Privately… Even if it won't be legal or might be wrongful to do in front of the Maker, I want to do this for us.. I love you and want to give you everything I can imaginable and just in case if something happens to either of us I don't want it to be before I do give you all of me in all ways imaginable."
All between during this time she felt her hand tightening around Anders' it wasn't until she noticed that she slowly started to loosen her hand and almost slip it from his as the silence from her own was slowly starting to wreck her nerves so much to the point of realizing what she was asking of Anders and even then a bit of a nervous giggle came from her lips while attempting to step back. "Or we should just wait until this battle is won… I doubt anything horrible will come of it, I'm probably just worrying myself for no reason."
Anders looked back down towards Leliana's hands; one that had been bandaged and the other that had been holding his own. It was only at that moment had he started to recognize the incident that must have occurred, but Anders hadn't said anything in the direction of it. There wasn't much time to have given it the proper attention, since Leliana had requested more of his attention towards something else instead.
She was speaking towards him about wanting to have spoken their vows. Anders really hadn't been giving Leliana the attention she had truly deserved. He had just been so busy with everything previously and still so overwhelmed. Anders knew he had to change that and to reassure Leliana that she was the only woman for him. He rubbed his hand over hers and nodded intently to her words. What comforting smile he could offer, Anders had attempted.
"Or you're impatient to what I would say…?" He laughed some reached for her other hand as well. His hands glowed in a soft golden glow that covered over his own and Leliana's as well. His healing spell was quickly in progress over her injury.
"There should be no doubt in your mind, Leliana. I love you with all of my heart. You are my best friend and my one and only. From the moment I realized how much you were willing to bare with me, I knew I could never let you slip past my grasp. You had tried to love me before I believed I could have love. From that we've been through so much already, and you've given me so much as well. I couldn't ask for anything more than our wonderful son. So, I promise to always be there for you, support you, and always make sure that you're happy. I want to show you love and to tell you everyday just how beautiful you are. I love you much that it's difficult to even put into words."
He stated and looked back down at the bandage around Leliana's hands. Anders started to unwrap the bandages and checked to have seen that the healing had taken its effect over the cuts. Anders lightly kissed her healed skin and turned the palm of her hand in order to place it closer towards his cheek before continuing.
"I feel… when I hold you, it's not tight enough. When I kiss you, it's not passionate enough. Even my most passionate kisses don't come close to show you how much that you mean to me." He said and momentarily closed his eyes before looking back towards her. "You are my Queen, my Better Half, and everything that remains good in my life. When you wrap your arms around me, I know that you feel the same as I do, and that is best feeling in the world."
"Me impatient? Never… When have I ever been?" She attempted to tease towards him in her own glance down towards their hands joined with one another. When she saw the golden aura Leliana was almost tempted to have pulled her hand back since she had wanted him to keep his strength and put it to better uses than that of her foolish clumsiness. But the magic had felt so warm and it was a sensation which had caused to bring a smile to her features as she looked back up to him.
From the moment Anders had begun speaking to the very last word Leliana had felt as if her heart could have exploded. Every few times she wished to say something in return her lips parted but nothing came forth, instead she had bit down onto her lower lip to keep silent and allow Anders to finish. Only her growing smile and the flush across her skin had shown how radiant he was making her feel inside. Of course Leliana had known for how long and how much he loved her, as she did him. But to have so much words at once was a bit overwhelming for even her that it had brought her eyes to collect tears of happiness that no other person could provide for her but him.
After what had seemed like his own ending to his words, Leliana's fingertips had danced and grazed softly against the unshaven scruff of his cheek. Her emerald hues looked towards her ring symbolizing their love for one another, until at last they shifted enough to have gazed into his own eyes. Between this time she felt the few tears staining down her cheeks and quickly she had risen her free hand towards her own features to have wiped them away before more had deceided to stream out in their place.
"Anders… When I had first met you I never ever imagined myself to go on the adventure we did and eventually fall in love with you…" She said with a pause and a growing smile in remembrance of when Leliana had first come across Anders in those snowy plains. "My life was always full of adventures, always on the edge. I've been to so many places with so many different people and if someone would have asked me a couple of years ago I would have said that would have been my life, until I met you you're my anchor… My Anchor that doesn't weigh me down, but gives me something to hold onto. Our life together is the greatest adventure of my life."
"I love you, so much… And knowing I can spend the rest of my days with my best friend and lover gives me so much happiness that I wish I could shout it to the world... I'm so lucky to have you and even luckier that I was given this chance of endless love that I believed wasn't possible until you ignited something in me that proved me otherwise." She said with a playful poke to his shoulder which lead to her wrapping her arms around him. It almost seemed as if she was leaning towards a kiss to his lips but before she met their lips by mere inches she pulled back and gave a bit of a wink of her eye to him.
"I think it's only fitting since I have a ring that you have one as well. Wouldn't you say?" She asked towards him curiously and slid her arms and hands down his chest until both of her hands joined his and she began stepping backwards to lead him towards one of the tables that held the golden band. "With this ring…" She stated in a pinch of it between her fingers to show him before slowly sliding it on his ring finger as she spoke. "I promise to love you unconditionally now and forever. To always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not. I promise to never forget that this is a once in a lifetime love. And to always know in the deepest part of my soul that no matter what challenges might carry us apart, we will always find our way back to each other."
She had already teased Anders once before when she came so close to have kissed him, but only seemed to have backed away. Anders wanted to have fought against the reaction, but he didn't struggle against her. The mage allowed her to have left him in order to retreat for something small and hidden. Anders hadn't really expected the ring she presented him; nor really the next words of vows that came with it.
There was so much from her promises that seemed to exceed his expectations. Anders had never really pictured himself as a free man before his escape from the Circle, and he had pictured himself even less of caplbe of finding someone willing to made such vows to him. He felt special because of them. The swelling in his chest had filled with the warmth and love that he had for this woman all over and entirely again. How much he had just wanted to pull Leliana back against him and to have just kissed her, but he wanted this to have been done right.
His arms had slowly lowered and he returned his hands back around Leliana's waist. Pressing his forehead towards her own briefly, Anders had started to off a smile. "Does this mean I'm going to have to start matching my vows to yours when we have our actual wedding?"
He hadn't really paused for her to have given her answer though. Anders had already pulled her close to him and started to kiss her in a fiery blend of passion of love. It had been too long that Anders's lips hadn't met against Leliana's own, that he felt his body would have ached without feeling them again. There was a hungered passion in the kiss; something of which Anders couldn't deny when his arms had slid back up her body in order to hold Leliana securely to him.
Though even then, his passion would have wanted to urge even further onward, Anders couldn't seem to allow it. He acknowledged that Leliana had emotionally been through so much already. As for himself, Anders also had acknowledged that he would soon end up having to face a similar turmoil. He didn't want to cause anymore stress on Leliana, nor himself, that was already given.
So, Anders lowered his arms gently and slowly started to pull his deepened kiss away. He had only returned quickly in some few short areas, to have left small pecks onto Leliana's lips before backing away at last.
"We will have plenty to look forward to, when the fighting is over." He promised and guided her towards the bed in order to have her lay down beside him.
Leliana started to part her lips on behalf of Anders comment of the vows and matching them come wedding day. It was a day she had thought about often, but just this was perfect enough for her even if it what as she said "legal" it was at least right in their eyes and that's all that had mattered. There was always someone that was going to be against mages marrying and having a life of their own and in truth Leliana didn't even know if they would be alive to see such a change and time come when people were more accepting of one's lifestyle or what gift they were born with.
All her worries though were quickly fleeting when Anders lips had joined her own and she didn't want to have pulled away even if that had meant catching ones breath. The remainder of her tears collected behind her eyes had silently shifted out through her lashes and closed eyes. The realization of them had brought her to step forward even closer into Anders as her arms had tightened around his neck just so she could have brought herself deeper into the kiss if it was at all possible.
After feeling Anders hold around her loosen, she had followed in suit to have released her gripping hold around him. She didn't want to have rested as that had just meant it was even closer to the War that everyone, well mostly everyone feared. But Leliana had tried to push this in the farthest part of her mind as she could and relish in their moment together. Whether it being over tears, laughter or all things possible. All she had wanted at least for this short while was peace and forget of all the bad of the world even if it was a fantasy and for a short while.
"Oh I can't wait till all the fighting is over…" She soon spoke back in a sigh while climbing into bed with him where she cuddled up against Anders' form, with her head resting to his chest as her ringed hand reached for his own just so she could have lain it across his and looked to it in amazement of how far they came along and endured and survived through it all. It was really amazing for two people to find love in this world and yet two people like them to have loved one another as they were allowed.
"You do know I can't let you go off in that warzone alone right? You'll get yourself killed out there without me." Leliana teased as she had pressed to his chest enough to have raised herself up just so she could have gazed down to him. Some of her crimson strands fell then in front of her face in her hover while one of her hands that wasn't used as a propping tool against Anders chest lifted up enough to where the palm of her hand cupped the side of his cheek where she began a little drag of her fingers across his jawline and down his neck. "I promise I'll be real safe… You won't even notice I'm there."
Anders closed his eyes upon listening to Leliana's words. It was then that he was able to piece between Leliana's past words and now her current suggestion as well. It was completely different from what he had originally expected. Even with just hearing those words, Anders had felt his chest wanting to cave in. He had waiting until Leliana had finished her offering and closed his eyes to the feeling of her fingertips running over his body.
"That's what I worry… I would rather know of where you are and that you're safe." He answered; showing still in his response towards the idea.
The battle against Tevinter was a wild and frenzied push-and-tug in claiming bases that were spread all over Tevinter's battlefield. It was an invasion upon Tevinter's Soil, after all. So, there were plenty more bases for Kirkwall's forces to have claimed to themselves. It was nearly towards the end of the battle that Commander Winslor had attempted. Within keeping true to his word, he presented Naomi who was risen from the grave.
The impact of it had hit Anders slightly a bit harder than he thought possible. She stood in her Knight Commander armor; one that rusted away along with chunks of her dried flesh and small patches of hair to the back of her head. To make matters worse; after Anders's clearly given refusal to strive for peace, and so Commander Winslor had Naomi's soul and body under his command. He forced her to fight Anders to the bitter end, and once Anders had immobilized her from his swings, he soon focused his attention towards Winslor to finish him off.
Anders looked away from the dead body and then towards the corpse that was still staggering in a form of animation. His eyes widened at the sight of Naomi struggling and he ran to catch her. "Naomi!"
She made a slight audible grunt from the moment they collided; enjoying for a brief moment—of how strong Anders's arms were around her foreign form. He was always strong; so much more than she was in many things. While Anders had the self-confidence and belief that he was a "good person" Naomi was always questioning herself about her own place in the world. She started to fall, crumbling down to her knees due to her weight becoming too heavy for herself to suddenly carry; and Anders knelt down after her.
"Naomi… It's going to be alright… You can snap out of this." He begged, cradling her into his lap and brushing back the strands of blonde hair that wasn't originally her own.
She winced some, squinting her eyes open as if to have tried to block out any sense of pain or numbness. Slowly Naomi started to smile up at him and her mouth twitched into an attempt to form words from this alien-mouth she possessed.
"Are those tears… for me?… I'm glad…" She said in a trembling voice. "There's so much…. I wanted … to tell you…before…"
"Stop talking, save your strength." He quickly said and lifted his hands to glow.
Anders concentrated on his healing magic in his attempt to try and have her healed. Though despite his actions and all of his might, his ability could not break the bloodmagic's barrier held over her. He should have taken his actions from what he attempted to Aragorn previously. However; this was Naomi. Naomi was different in her own right and surely… surely…
Okay, yes, Anders was losing his mind to his own attempts but it still was the only thing that kept him continuing.
The wounds could not be healed because of two reasons: for one, the body wasn't originally a single body—or even Naomi's own body to start with; and two, this was a spell started by bloodmagic—a spell that Anders (a White Spire Mage) really knew nothing about.
Naomi reached up to cover her hand over Anders's, as if to have signaled him to stop wasting his energy. He flinched, upon opening his eyes and finding to his shock that his magic wasn't working. He looked back down into her eyes, and saw the sad smile she was giving him. It was as if she already knew, or had known for a long time but was unable to have stated anything.
"I would have been… trapped this way, without your fortitude… Forgive me…. It was like a cloud shrouded me. This body moved without my will, but Anders… I was still so very aware." She pleaded and clasped her hand tightly for a minute and offered a saddened smile. "I swore I never would end up in such a way…. Oops… Right?"
"Stop it." Anders snarled from her bitter teasing. Even if it had been the truth at the time, he still didn't want to hear it. His eyes were still darting away while his mind raced for any other answers. "I'll find a way. I'll get a bloodmage and—"
"You've set me free… That's all you …ever wanted… Freedom...for everyone." Naomi asked while trying to control the slight shaking in her foreign hands. She wanted to be strong like him, to hold him and show the same strength; but the body she was inside of wasn't her own.
"But not like this." Anders argued and shook his head.
"Ever since you left …I've been so very afraid." She continued on, as if she hadn't heard him and admitted a hidden truth. "A Knight Commander who wasn't truly a 'Knight Commander,' a Viscount who wasn't truly a 'Viscount,' and everyone …welcomed the chaos. Everyone… Everyone was just… lying. It felt like, the whole world was… spying on us… trying to control us… and that's the world you were fighting… all by yourself, wasn't it? All alone. So that's why… why I wanted to be someone… who was at least truthful to you in something… Even if it was sometimes… what you didn't wish to hear."
"Naomi…." Anders looked at her disbelief. He frowned some, feeling the shudders of losing her for the third time. It didn't matter how many times he seemed to let her slip through his fingers, the pain of losing her had always seemed to feel the same. It was Justice's love for her—and his own—and the devastation of having her taken away from him all over again.
"I didn't care about anything else in this world. I love you … I've always… always loved you. No matter how I tried I… I simply couldn't hate you." Her voice trembled in her confession and tears started to swell up in her eyes. "Even though I pushed you away… I still fell in love with you. Even though you grew to hate me, I kept falling in love with you and I… I can accept that now."
"No, Naomi! Stop it! Don't you dare give up on me again!" He begged and reached down to hold her in his arms.
He lowered his grasp from underneath her hold and grasped her shoulders. Naomi's body was soon washed over in a sea of blue healing light. However, once it pulsed over her in another spent healing spell, again her injuries and stitched up form remaining the same as it was before.
"No matter …how many times…I curse us—I … I'll keep falling in love… because I …cannot love anyone else." She said, feeling her tears stream down her opened eyes. The slight smile twitched sadly to try and show what remaining strength she had.
"Please, don't die! Naomi! That's a direct order, you hear me?" The mage felt his tears starting to form at his own failure and he tried forcing the healing spell through Naomi's body again… and again, and again… "I order you not to die!"
"So… Is that okay with you? Anders?" Naomi asked, reaching up in a stretch to touch his cheek, but her fingertips had not yet reached him. "I'll keep… falling in love with you… over and over… my Love…"
Her eyes drifted to a close and her final breath had started to fade. Before her hand could reach up to touch the mage's face, her arm fell away to the side and landed to the ground. The blood around her splashed in a decorated display of radiance, and Anders just froze in his wide-eyed stare at the lifeless body in his arms.
"Naomi…? Naomi!" He cried and tried to shake her form a little, but the body in his arms wouldn't react to him anymore. The 'shell' she was trapped in, was now lifeless.
Naomi was dead, and this time there was absolutely no way she could ever be brought back. The mixed emotions of love and regret mingled so strong together within him that he couldn't keep back any of the swelling of feelings he had. Anders believed he could have handled it. He killed her once before; and even then, he still sobbed like a babe that lost his only familiar. This was no different; if at anything at all, it was worse for him.
A wailing sound; or more of a holler escaped his lips. It seemed so foreign and so loud. Like a house of cards crashing to the ground, Anders doubled over, laying on top of her body and simply cried. He rocked with what remained from her deceased flesh, and still he clung to it in some twisted form of lost devotion. There was so much repressed and hidden from himself for so long, it was a wonder he hadn't felt this much nearly so strongly before. Surely, it was due to his misplaced belief of it all just being hatred, when it wasn't that at all.
During the fighting eventually Leliana had been separated from Anders, but not by far. There was so much blood shed and screams that Leliana didn't even think was possible. She hadn't been in many wars like this one, she had fought with Aragorn against the Arch Demon, but that was different. At least then they were killing Darkspawn and otherwise not humans. Even if they were Magisters, hated by so many in Theda's. Leliana couldn't help but feel an anguish when she had been hit with the reality of her weapon piercing through and through a solider.
She was covered in blood in her protective armor, which also stained her skin and hair with the blood of so many and her own sweat. Leliana could practically taste the iron of their blood in her mouth. It was disgusting that every chance through her she had spat out the saliva every time she had any in her mouth. But eventually it was just her mind playing sickened tricks on her. Some of which she couldn't wait to have ended when this battle was won and done.
Most of the time Leliana had found herself using her bow and arrows for protecting the front lines of her people. But when the Tevinter's had neared in towards her, of course. She had to sheath her secondary weapons, those being her dual blades. Thankfully with the help of many of the soldiers Leliana was able to have practiced enough on her more rusty part of her fighting skills instead of hoping she'd do just fine out on the battlefield. But she wasn't as quick as she previously use to be, the gashes and already forming bruises had shown just this. But Leliana had fought through every aching muscle and trembling step to have fought on, not just for herself either.
After slaying her, what felt like hundredth solider Leliana sighed as she felt as if she could have collapsed. She would have if she didn't hear the hollering scream come off in the distance. It probably wouldn't had faded her any either if she hadn't noticed the tone of it much… From what she heard, it had sounded like Anders. And with a striking fear coursing through her veins, she had quickly darted in the direction which it came.
It was only a few moments until Leliana arrived before Anders, but he wasn't the only she saw. She hadn't seen Naomi due to Anders hold around her but what had quickly brought her bow and arrow to ready itself was the Tevinter stepping behind Anders. She knew he couldn't see the Tevinter or rightfully defend himself as of now but it still made her shout out. "Anders watch out!" But unknowing if he would hear let alone react Leliana had quickly took action into her own hands and impaled her arrow straight through the man's chest before he could have gotten any closer to him or the one Anders was holding.
After the collision of the body Leliana sprinted over towards Anders in a skidding of her knees to have stopped her in front of the two. It was finally here Leliana was able to have recognized who he was holding, or at least enough given how she was pieced together. In truth Leliana wasn't certain what to say, since she had known from experience that there were no words that could help in how he was feeling inside.
She tried to reach out towards Anders then, in hopes her touch would at least comfort him enough until she had figured out the right words to have said. But after a moment of silence she just sighed and shook her head while saying what any other person would have. "Anders… I'm sorry." It wasn't the best words, but truly if they lingered then they would have been as dead as Naomi and Aragorn… And Leliana had known both of them didn't want that for them.
"You know I'm here for you… Always. I promise. But right now maybe you should take Naomi's body back to camp so we can bury her body rightfully… I'll take care of things here… It looks as if we're winning anyways." She had tried to say as uplifting as possible as she slowly stood to her feet. "We should be fine, afterwards once your strength has returned then so can you. But right now you need to do this."
Anders hadn't reacted after all. A soldier from the enemy lines could have rushed towards him and took him out without any problem at that time. So he was very fortunate to have had Leliana near him when she approached. He heard the body hit the floor from behind him, but it was almost as if he couldn't move. Anders was still staring back down at Naomi's pale and cracked face; as though still expecting her to have opened her eyes, or to have at least breathed.
No response.
He had spent too many years trying to forget her, hating her, and plotting to have her eradicated along with her legacy. Anders had even succeeded in killing her not once, but twice—and still the most painful thing he could have ever heard from her were those three words of devotion.
Still no response…
The breeze couldn't even be felt across his face when it blew past him; carrying with it the scent of death and rotten flesh. Anders didn't feel the touch of Leliana reaching down in her attempts to grasp his attention. The mage had been nearly completely zoned out, that when he looked towards his lover covered in so much blood the coldness just never seemed to leave from his eyes.
But he knew who she was, and rather abruptly, Anders moved to his feet and pulled Leliana into tight hold. He couldn't hide the tears streaming down his face in waves any more than he was able to reframe from clinging towards Leliana in between her moment of explaining the battlefield's conditions.
"Don't leave me…. For the love of the Maker, don't leave me too…" He begged and glanced down towards the remains of the body Naomi's soul had left behind.
He looked at it with such scorn that the remembrance of Leliana's suggestions of what needed to have been done with the body had only struck something so foreign to him, that he could only signify it as an uncontrollable rage. It was knew; or something he hadn't really experienced in a long time since the time of when he was possessed by Justice; for even though he was angered, Anders was in full control of his actions. Though that didn't keep him from wanting to stop the sensation…
The fuel of hot red flames surrounded himself and Leliana like a cloak. They soon expanded into a ball of an explosion. He briefly lifted one hand and extended his arm towards the body of Naomi and fired another blast of fire from outside of inner flamed creation. He tore his somber eyes from what remained and reached down to carry Leliana more into his arms.
"There… A funeral fit for royalty…" He mumbled and paused in his path only to turn his glare towards the approaching cavalry. -Winslor's Cavalry. He placed Leliana down briefly only to clasp a protective arm across her form and extended his opposite arm outward to release large waves of fire over each of the approaching divisions. His chiseled expression hadn't changed despite the screams of burning soldiers and charred flesh seemed to permeate the area.
Leliana's eyes widened when she felt Anders abrupt movements to have grabbed her and brought her into his embrace it was one of the few things she wasn't expecting. Even then she felt every muscle in her body whether it being from her legs to her arms or even her face tightened due to the pain that had soared through her. Leliana had held back the pitiful whimper with dropping her head down more closely towards his chest.
After hearing Anders words she felt her heart sting worse than her body ever could have. In hopes her own attempts to have comforted him would have done good, Leliana had reached up with the rest of her strength to have cupped his jawline with the palm of her hand while she had tried to wipe away the tears even if they had smeared with the blood and dirt smudged on his face.
"Anders—" She started to speak softly but wasn't able to finish her sentence as his actions caused her to have looked to Naomi's ignited body. Leliana hadn't argued on it, since it was probably how many had wished to go… But in truth she believed having a monument would have been fitting since she was the Champion after all but right now wasn't the time. Leliana didn't want to push it with how broken Anders already was with losing her yet again.
Leliana would have started to drag Anders back to a more safer area, but it had seemed Anders had other ideas planned. Just when the rouge thought Anders energy was spent he had to prove her wrong. With what was left in her Leliana quickly reached up towards Anders robes and clenched at them then in realization what he was doing. It wasn't just Tevinters down there, it was their people that fought for their dreams and hopes. And upon hearing their screams, along with their enemies tore Leliana's heart in two. She would have shooken Anders then if she wasn't already so weak and had no restraint.
"Anders! We have people down there too." She reprimanded, but it wasn't much of a tone of anger as energy was called for it. But she knew truthfully getting angry with the mage would have done no good. There had to be a different tactic.
Upon biting the inside of her cheek in thought, Leliana quickly darted her gaze back to the mage and parted her lips for a more approachable attempt to stop him. "Anders… Look at me…" Leliana pleaded her reach towards him to have pushed his face gently in hopes to have a direct gaze with him. "I'm here… You're here… We're alive. I love you and dammit we won when no one thought we could. All because of you and your strength that carried us through all of this."
Anders heard Leliana's pleading to him about the mentioning of their fellow comrads in arms down below. However, his arm did not falter from its stance. He continued to burn them along with everything else that he deemed fitting to suffer at his hand; whether out of a noble sacrifice for his chosen judgment or the heathens that needed to fall under his hands.
"The world is not ready to welcome us, then it would be better to be baptized from the fear of us." Anders responded nearly coldly.
He wouldn't have reacted towards her continued pleading but Leliana had grabbed his face and turned him to look more directly at her. It was as if for that moment, his entire revelaltion had snapped three-times over: once from his decisions to overthrow Kirkwall, the second to just destroy everything that he knew himself and Naomi hated and third with having Leliana grasping his attention.
"This isn't a victory…" Anders frowned some even in Leliana's chosen words. He blinked some and looked down towards the blood Leliana had still be soaked in, at the time. "…But it is a start… You're the only thing important person I have left… You and Baelfire…"
"It's close enough for a victory for now. Killing our men with the enemy will make us no better than the Tevinters themselves." She retorted in a bit of a frown. "And I know your better than any of them down there a thousand time over." She added with a bit of a nod of her head in the direction of where Anders blaze was set to so many people, so many men she had come to known and even care for.
After seeing she had grasped his attention enough, Leliana had sought out his expanded arm blindly as her gaze was still set to the mage. There she attempted to have lowered his arm and in time join their hand in a intertwining their fingers that seemed to squeeze gently against his own. "You know I would kiss you if it weren't for all this blood covering me." She admitted quietly in a half smile. "I'm glad to see you didn't get yourself killed though. Even if the battle isn't over. At least now they what it is to feel fear."
After letting her hand slip from him, Leliana stepped back enough to where the rouge could have looked out properly into where the scorched field was. In her sigh and upon reaching back towards the nape of her neck she had gently coursed her fingertips into the tender muscle while she had gazed off into the dismay. "I guess we should check them… Will you be okay?" She asked curiously and with concern still held apparent on her face. Leliana didn't want to leave Anders, for multiple reasons but they did need to regroup and know of who was still alive among them.
"Yes, I'll be fine…" Anders responded and kept his eyes more ground for the moment.
Even if "fine" wasn't really the correct word to have used; considering of how they both knew of what he was feeling was something different. It was a feeling of emotional drainage; as if there just simply wasn't anymore tears he could possibly shed; or anymore anger for that moment. One would have thought that perhaps from his previous moments of being Tranquil, such emotions that that been stored up for a year would have suddenly exploded in waves. Perhaps it did, and nearly all too fast and too sudden.
Returning to his people, Anders had focused the remaining of his magical energy on healing those that were his injured soldiers. It left him wondering if they had seen his actions previously; or had even questioned his motives. Granted, Anders had lost it—and still was on a teetered state of something he didn't know of what anymore. It only proved more to the reasons why he wasn't ready to truly rule over Kirkwall as Viscount; or as any other ruler that remained separate from the Imperial Kingdom. In so many ways, Leliana had already proven to be stronger than him.
He tried not to dwell on such for too long though. Anders had saved as many people as he could, in between the exchanged forms of gratitude and sincerest apologies that he could give. Of course, after a while, Anders hadn't become the only healer capable of bringing other people back to their seat either. Soon the cluster had started to spread and grow in numbers around them.
After Anders left Leliana had done as she said she would. Check the bodies of their soldiers and hope and see if any still lived… It wasn't something she enjoyed to have done. Since the smell was horrific and the sight was beyond difficult to tell who was their men and who were of Tevinter. When the faces were to burned and unable to have been read, Leliana had only began looking to the attire. To pin point each and every one that was of their side and who wasn't. For every dead soul she had found she had made it part of her task to say even the smallest pray for them.
As Leliana had started to rise from her kneeling position she had heard something or more someone presay approaching her from behind. In her growing curiosity the rouge had turned thinking brightly on the situation as she had believed it might have been of their people she fought alongside. But she couldn't have been more wrong.
Leliana soon ecstatic expression changed rather hastily when she noted the armor they were wearing , they were Tevinters. Through the stains of the previous battle Leliana could recall the signified trademark confirming this. The red head couldn't help but sneer towards each men stand and creeping in towards her making it so eventually she had no escape… As if she could have escaped with five men against one woman.
"Do I even want to ask what you're doing here?" She asked towards the closest man who stepped so close to Leliana that she had to tilt her head back and his down for each of them to have the eye contact each of them wished for.
"We're here to put an end to your miserable life."
Leliana stepped back then but not out of fear but instead to have spit in the man's face that spoke to her. In retaliation, the Tevinter had reared back his arm so fast and so hard that when he released his fist made a solid connection with the side of Leliana's features. Being as weak as she already was, and refusing any kind of healing had caused the rouge to have been practically flung backwards until she hit against something hard. Only that of a whimper passed her lips silently not to have shown any weakness as she had quickly tried to start to stand back to her feet. But before she could have done so she felt a steal coated foot press to her armored chest and push her deeper into the soil.
It had felt inside her very body as if her insides were being crushed and the parts of her being forced down were trying to make any room possible to give way that she had heard snapping and crackling in the worst of ways imaginable. No armor could stop this… Leliana couldn't hold out any long from her pain as her bellowed screams came forth. The leader of the group was quickly annoyed by this and instructed one of his men to have silenced her before she drew the attention of her so call "protectors".
"Once we're done with you we're going after your beloved family next." The man taunted towards Leliana as he had crouched before her and gazed wickedly into her eyes in a squint of his own.
Leliana's eyes widened upon hearing their threats against her family. The only thing she held dear to her, the only thing that mattered most to her in this world was her son and Anders. Without those two she would have been lost. It was almost this exact time that the lingering of her strength roared to its final breaking point and Leliana had opened her mouth wide enough to have bit the hand of the man that wasn't very intelligent to have worn gloves when he shielded Leliana's mouth.
In a wail the man retracted his hand and used his other unwounded hand to have knocked his hand right over the top of Leliana's head.
Leliana had been hit so hard that she could have sworn she had seen stars. But quickly she shook this before it could have taken her over for the best and turned to have spoken yet again towards the man in front. "You won't get near my son, or Anders. I won't allow it, even in death I won't let you get away with it. So go ahead and kill me and see how quickly one woman can put so much fear into so many men… If you even have a dick hanging between your legs that is… Don't they cauterize you in Tevinter since your all bitchs?" Leliana spoke with an overly proud smirk.
The man across from her wasn't very pleased at all. Obviously doing what they had already done wouldn't have worked in their favor, so he had to think of a better tactic to have done what they set out for but also make good and sure that it wasn't some kind of game to her as Leliana tried to play it off like it was. "Kill her. But make sure it's the slowest and most excruciating kind of death possible… We don't want to disappoint our lady in red now do we?"
Blackness was the last of what Leliana had recalled before body and soul had given in. The pain was to severe that in truth all Leliana had wanted to do was die. Each man taken a turn as if it was some kind of game. Punching, kicking, throwing her down, anything possible that didn't entail the end of their blunted weapon to end her. She almost pleaded with them to have ended it all. But she didn't want to give them such power and thrill when asking for such a thing many would have called out for by now. The sad part of it all was when Leliana believed that such a time came for her end, they had stopped. The laughter had slowly came to a fade and all that was left was the linger pain that was apparent by her fetal position on the ground.
In time Leliana was found by one of the guards of her own and once he gathered a few men he and the others carried Leliana carefully back to camp where they could have properly taken care of her. But the guard who had found Leliana didn't stop at just here as he knew Anders would have wished to have known of what happened to Leliana. Hopefully though this gave the few herbalist and healers enough time to have healed Leliana before he found Anders and brought him to her.
Anders was brought to Leliana, and from there he remained. He was kneeling down, over the piles of the other deceased soldiers; most of them that remained faceless and charred charcoal remnants of their former shells. Anders hadn't cared for any of them though. Not even his own people truly had mattered to him at this point. The only person he wanted returned to him right then was the last person he thought this war would have taken from him and so soon.
He held onto her body securely, and found that for Leliana, his tears had somehow managed to return. After taking vile after vile of the placid blue liquid, Anders had started to focus his healing magic completely on Leliana. The rest of the soldiers by then could have been capable of caring for themselves. So, it left him cradling her form close slowly and still.
"No… No, no, no, don't—" He groaned in between healing her and holding Leliana close to him. "You promised me, love. You said you'd stay with me."
"Begging your pardon, Sir, but we must report back to the camp before it gets too dark." The soldier had mentioned to him as gently as he could; since he had already heard of the rumors of Anders being rather unstable and didn't want to get "branded" as well.
Anders nodded a bit quietly and started to move in carrying Leliana along with himself back to the camp for the time being. "Who did this?"
"Tevinter Mages, Sir. They were captured deserting their previous flock… So the rest of the crew await your decisions…" The man mentioned and turned with him to head back towards the camp.
"Good… I'll deal with them personally." Anders remarked in a low tone under his breath.
