This story follows BioWare's DA:O story line and game play, using the characters, locations and some backstories, but not strictly as I have added bits that of my own imagination and characters that are my own. I have rated this M for mature for blood, strong language and sexual content. All comments are welcome. Thank you!

Sorry it's taken so long to post a new chapter. It's been a little busy around here but I haven't forgotten about this story!

55

"Are you alright, my love?" I heard a deep voice ask and felt several gentle pats on my cheek. I groaned as I squeezed my eye lids before opening them slowly, blinking several times to try to clear the fuzziness from my head, unsuccessfully. My body felt sore and my shoulder felt bruised. I couldn't recall how I ended up in such a state in the first place.

"What happened?" I asked as I tried to turn my head, taking in the small elegant bedroom and the cold stone floor that I was lying on. "Where am I?"

"You fainted," a female voice answered from close by and I turned when I recognized it. "We need to get you on your feet before you ruin your lovely dress, my dear. Your mother would be so disappointed after she had it specially made for you, for just this day."

"Oriana?" My voice cracked as I looked at her as I leaned forward and threw my arms around her, hugging her tightly.

"Dearest sister," she said softly and laughed. I moved back and touched her face, running my fingers through her hair to repair the damage I had caused by my outburst. I then looked down to see the beautiful white dress she mentioned and tried to recall even putting it on.

"Are you quite alright, my love?"

Duncan!

My heart stopped as I realized it was his voice I heard as I woke up just now. I looked up slowly, taking in the unbelievable sight before me. He reached his hand out to me and I hesitated a moment before reaching out to him. He gently but firmly grasped my hand as he pulled me to my feet. I moved closer to him and slowly put my arms around him, pressing my face to his chest and breathing him in. My eyes filled with tears and I clutched at the back of his tunic, unable to believe that this was real.

"Is she alright?" Oriana asked, placing her hand lightly on my back as I began to quietly sob in his arms. She pulled softly on the folds of the dress, straightening it while I pressed my face into Duncan's shirt.

"She'll be fine," he said reassuringly. "Please, just give us a moment alone. And tell everyone we'll be ready to start the ceremony shortly."

Oriana patted my back before leaving us alone, closing the door behind her. I cried in his arms for several minutes as he rubbed my back and spoke to me gently as I held onto to him tightly. Something in the back of my mind was nagging at me that this somehow wasn't right but I didn't care. The thought that I had him in my arms once more was all I cared about.

Finally I took a step back and looked up at him. Everything about him was as I remembered him. I gently reached up and touched his face, running my fingers over his eyes, his cheeks and his lips. "How is this possible?" I asked hesitantly and he laughed.

"Don't you remember?" he asked as he cupped my cheek. "We won that day at Ostagar. Our overwhelming forces turned the tide and we defeated the darkspawn. And now the King is here to keep his promise to walk you down the aisle since your father cannot with his injuries."

I looked at him blankly and he cupped my cheek, smiling softly at me. "You do still want to marry me, don't you?" he asked playfully.

"Of course! How could you ever doubt that?" I said quickly as I reached out to him. Still something he said nagged at me. "We won?" I asked as I touched the wet patch I left on his shirt.

"Yes, we did," he said and took my hand. "I was so proud to stand beside you in battle."

This time it was his words that seemed to cause me a small amount of pain, a sort of ringing sensation in my head that I could not explain. I had images of the battle at Ostagar, with newer ones overlapping my own memories what I recalled that I couldn't quite remember happening. They felt too fresh in my mind and I reached up a hand to press on my temple, to will away the pain I was feeling.

"But you sent me with Alistair to light the beacon," I started to say. I recalled my anger from being separated from the others when all I wanted to do was fight beside him. I recalled feeling betrayed at being held back from the battle below, no matter the danger of what we were about to face and that Alistair had shared that same feeling. But we had gone because Duncan commanded us to do our duties as Wardens. We had gone to make him proud of us.

"And after the two of you disobeyed my orders and joined us in the valley down below," he finished. "The two of you were reckless but you saved Cailan's life, rushing in when way you did. You saved me as well."

I looked at him, trying to piece it all together, as he leaned down and kissed me. A lovely feeling came over me that I had never stopped being here with him. His arms tightened around me and I reached up to pull at his hair, not caring that his beard was rough and was scratching my mouth and chin.

He pulled back to catch his breath but pressed his face to mine and kissed my cheek. I looked at him as I tugged at his shirt, reaching under so I could place my hands directly on his skin. "Everyone is waiting for us downstairs, my love," he reminded me.

"Let them wait," I said as I trailed my fingers down his abdomen. "This day is for us," I reminded him. I kissed him again, feeling his lips smile against mine.

"What about your dress?"

I turned and noticed the comfortable chair in the room and smiled. "We'll just have to be extra careful," I said as I looked up at him. "Surely you can control yourself for just a little bit of fun."

"As my lady commands," he said playfully.

-)(-

"I see that this is most likely going to be a common occurrence with you, sneaking away when people are waiting for us," Duncan smiled as he kissed me. "I'll go on ahead and explain as best as I can why we were late to our own wedding."

"Let them draw their own conclusions," I said as I stopped him and adjusted his shirt, wiping my palm across his shoulder. "Will Alistair be joining us later?" I asked him as I turn back to the mirror to try to fix the damage done to my hair.

"Unfortunately he couldn't get away from the Keep to join us," he said as he laid a soft kiss on my bare shoulder. "Now that he's taken over my duties as the Warden Commander, I don't know how often he will make his way here to Denerim to see us," he said, smiling still.

I stopped brushing my hair long enough to turn and look at him. "Surely he would have wanted to be here with us," I commented.

"Of course he wanted to be here," he said quickly. "He just wasn't sure exactly when he could get away."

"Alistair thinks the world of you, Duncan," I said as I turned back to the mirror. "I can't imagine you would agree to have the ceremony without him."

Duncan moved to stand behind me and placed his hands on my shoulders. "Listening to you now makes me wonder if you didn't go and fall in love with him during the short time you were together."

I blushed as I made a face at him in the mirror. "I didn't know you were a jealous man, Duncan," I said as I turned to him. "I'll have to keep that in mind if he ever comes to visit."

"What am I supposed to think when he gives you such personal trinkets?" he asked, fingering the locket I wore. I looked down at the small pendant, unaware that I had it on.

"No need to worry, my love," I said as I got up on tip-toe to quickly kiss him on the lips. "He's not the one standing beside me on the most important day of my life."

"No, he's not," he said and touched my cheek. "I'll wait for you downstairs in the main hall below us. Cailan will wait for you at the bottom of the stairs."

"I'll try not to keep them waiting much longer," I promised as he walked out the door.

I brushed my hair until I was satisfied it would be presentable and turn slowly in front of the mirror. Looking around, I felt happier than I had ever felt in my life. But for some reason every time my eyes landed on the small locket at my throat, I couldn't help but feel that something was entirely off with it all.

I walked slowly to the door and pulled it open to find a blond haired elf standing on the other side of the door holding a bouquet of roses. While I didn't think there was any reason for me to recognize her, I had kind of hoped to see Mirabelle instead.

"Your flower's, my lady," she said as she curtsied to me. I took the small arrangement from her and smelled them, recognizing them as coming from my mother's garden at Highever. Yet there was a slight hint of smokiness hidden by the floral scent that didn't quite belong. "Is there something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," I said as I looked at her. "Do these roses smell like smoke to you?"

"Smoke, my lady?" she asked as I brought them up to my nose once more only now I could not distinguish it.

"Never mind," I said slowly. "It must be my imagination."

"This way," she said and indicated she wanted me to follow her but instead I walked to the balcony railing and leaned against it.

I looked down to the floor below, spying my family seated and waiting for me. I smiled as I saw little Oren running up and hugging my mother. "They're all just waiting for me," I said softly.

"Yes, my lady," the elf said as she returned to my side. "Almost everyone you love is here."

I turned and looked at her, wondering at what she meant by that. I scanned the hall once more and noticed that I did not see Fergus or even Roderick amongst those gathered. "No, they're not all here," I agreed with her.

"If I may be so bold, my lady," she said and I turned to her. "Is it not strange that your fellow Warden is not with you?"

I furrowed my eyebrows as I thought about what she said. "No, it makes perfect sense," I said as I turned from her.

"Does it?" she asked as she reached out to touch the pendant that I wore. "This just seems too perfect to share without a man that meant so much to both you and your beloved."

I looked down at those assembled in the hall. "It is perfect," I said slowly as I backed away from the railing. "It's what I wanted."

"It's what you dreamed, is it not?" she asked and I looked to the staircase, knowing that Cailan was waiting for me to just walk down.

"It is," I admitted as I looked around me. "A perfect day with those that I…lost."

"But how are they lost, my lady," she asked as she approached. "When they are all here with you?"

"Is something wrong, Katriel?" Cailan asked as he ascended the staircase.

I turned to him. "What did you say?"

He paused as he looked at me in concern. "Is something wrong?" he asked again.

"What did you call me?" I asked as I looked at the elf.

"Kat, what's the matter?" he asked as I backed away from him.

I lifted as much of the skirt as I could and ran in the opposite direction, down a different hallway that I recalled from my childhood. I could hear Cailan running after me but even in the dress, I was faster than him in his heavy armor.

"This way!" the elf called to me and I followed her down a different hallway, deeper into the castle.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked as she paused in front of a tapestry, moving it aside to reveal a hidden door. I closed the door behind, just in time to hear several men rushing past. "What's going on?"

"Why did you run, my lady?" she asked. I looked at her and noticed that her demeanor had changed and was different from any of the palace servants I had met in the past.

"Because this isn't right," I said as I tried to make sense of it all. "None of this is right!" I started pacing in front of the closed door.

"What is that last thing you remember?" she prompted.

I stopped and closed my eyes. "Convincing a Templar that it was in his best interest to take us to the Circle tower," I said slowly. "I remember speaking to the Knight-Commander Greagoir that we needed to speak to the First Enchanter Irving, to see if he would return with us to Redcliffe."

"Then how did you end up here?" she asked, forcing me to continue.

"The tower was in chaos when we arrived," I said. "Blood mages were attacking the Templars and the Knight-Commander wanted to annul the Circle. I convinced him that it was important that we try to save Irving at all cost and we volunteered to go in ourselves. We met found Wynne once more, a mage I met at Ostagar."

"What else do you recall?" she asked and I felt her hand on my arm as a tear spilled down my cheek.

"Duncan, Cailan, and my family," I said as more tears flowed down my face. "They can't be here…because they're all dead."

"Open your eyes, Warden," the elf said.

I opened my eyes and noticed we were no longer in the castle, in Denerim. The landscape was bare and foreign, like nowhere I had ever been to before and I was back to wearing armor instead of the gown from earlier. I even carried my pack with me.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"This is the Fade," the elf said. "You were trapped here by a demon. You must find your companions and leave this place as quickly as possible, Warden."

"How can I trust you?" I asked as I turned to her. There was something about her that I found familiar yet I know I had never met her before.

"I could have just as easily left you to your dream," she said and I turned away from her.

"What would have happened to me if I stayed?" I asked.

"You would have died," she said. "You will all die should you decide to stay."

"None of it was real?" I asked slowly.

"I know you wanted it to be but the demon looked into your heart and let you see what you desired most," she said and hung my head briefly. "Your lost love would not want you to mourn him the way you do, Warden."

"But my brother and cousin…" I thought. "They were not there! Could that mean…"

"That I cannot tell you," she replied honestly. "Because you do not know their fate, they did not show up here for you."

"Where are the others?" I asked as I turned back to her.

"They're all here, scattered inside their own dreams, such as you were," she said and walked up to me. "This will help you find your fellow Warden." She gently touched the pendant I still wore around my neck.

"What about Wynne?" I asked as she walked away from me.

"It would make things easier for you if you had something of hers, or at least something that might help you think on how to find her," the elf said.

I thought about the key I got from the prisoner at Ostagar and found in still hidden away in my pack. "This might help," I said as I palmed it. "Now to figure out how to find Nicolas…" I said noticed that the elf remained quiet. "Tell me, what happened?"

"The Templar you speak of was injured badly when he came here," she said slowly. "He did not last long on his own."

"How…"

"His was not the dream you found yourself in, Warden," she said slowly. "His was a recurring nightmare he's had since he was a child," she explained.

"Nicolas," I said softly to myself. I looked at her finally and nodded. "Thank you for your help," I said finally, knowing that there was still so much left to be done.

"It was my pleasure, Warden," she said. "Now, think of your companions and convince them as I convinced you before you're trapped here."

"What about you?" I asked. "What will happen to you?"

"I can never leave here, I'm afraid," she said softly. "So I stay to help others such as you."

"There must be a way," I said and she smiled sadly at me.

"Don't worry about me," she finally said. "I'm waiting for someone. Only let me give a bit of advice: do not lose yourself in this web of deception that you have created. Remembering who you were is what set you free," she said. "Now go!"

"Wait!" I said and turned to her one last time. "Who are you?"

"You of all people should know who I am," she said softly as she walked away from me.

I closed my eyes and griped the pendant in my hand, thinking hard of Alistair, whispering his name to myself and hoping that where ever he was, he was safe and we could leave this place together.