The road up Sundermount was much the same as Violet remembered. They passed through the remnants of the old Dalish campsite, up the winding series of switchbacks, bypassing the old rockslide via the cave passage, and on past the old altar, troubled only by a few spiders along the way. Now she stood before the entrance to the cave on the very top of the mountain, studying the ward that lay across the door. It shimmered blue and white. She raised her hands up to it to feel, if she could, the nature of the magic.

She jerked her head around suddenly. "What was that?"

"I heard nothing," said Fenris, but he drew his sword and took a step in the direction Violet was looking. Sebastian swung his bow into position. With their eyes on the path, neither of them saw her disappear.

Violet stood on the other side of the ward, shaking her fingers and marveling at its construction. It had been woven very precisely, so that a mage would be able to shield themselves and pass through, but those without magic could not get through the pulsing cold of the barrier.

"Sorry," she whispered to her companions, guilt souring her stomach. She should have explained. But they would have tried to stop her from coming through alone, and it needed to be done. If she waited, she might lose her nerve. And if they had come with her, she knew neither Fenris nor Sebastian would be willing to talk to the abomination who waited below.

She moved down the entrance passage towards the main chamber. Talking was unlikely to help anything, of course. But still, she felt she owed Anders at least that much.

#

Violet stepped into the broader chamber of the cave and there he was. Lit dimly by a single sputtering torch, the room was high ceilinged and the corners were dark. There was a chill in the air, which smelled of damp stone. As her step crunched on the loose rocks under her feet, he moved into the light and she gasped.

He was dressed as of old, in a tattered robe with feathered pauldrons. One hand grasped a long black staff, branched at the top and bound with runes wrapped in red silk. But it was his face that startled her. His eyes were sunk deep into their sockets. No longer whisky brown, they were milky and pale and reflected the light like the eyes of a cat. His skin was pale where it was not marked, but under his eyes, along one cheek, and around his mouth his flesh was purpled with strange dark bruising. His neck and hands were also marked, she saw, and he was painfully thin. His hair looked dull and brittle.

"What happened to you?" she breathed.

The voice that answered her echoed with the deep tones she associated with Justice. "What do you know of the Darkspawn taint?"

"People who fight darkspawn sometimes are affected. Carver —" she bit back a feeling of loss and swirling panic, "Carver was about to die of it when the Wardens took him."

"Exactly," said Anders-Justice. "This body is in the process of succumbing to the effects of the taint." He gestured, and there was something wrong about it. Anders' movements had always been economical, tired even, but he'd kept a certain amount of grace. Now his arm jerked as though moved by a string, and his hand shook with palsy.

"It is the fate that awaits all Grey Wardens at the end," the voice continued, tinged with regret. "Anders is dying."

Or he was dead already, Violet thought, in mind if not in body. From all she had heard, those who succumbed to the taint became mindless ghouls. Ser Westley had asked for death rather than surviving as such a creature.

The idea of Justice — or was he Vengeance now? — trapped in the body of a ghoul was disturbing. Almost as disturbing as seeing the body of her friend so wasted and changed. She tried not to let her feelings show on her face.

"What happens to you when he dies?" she asked carefully.

Again, the thin hand was lifted in a gesture like a shrug, then jerkily dropped. "I can inhabit an empty corpse if I must," he said. "When I first came to this plane I was trapped in the body of a Grey Warden named Kristoff. I still carry some of his memories with me," he said, almost wistfully. "Though his dead thoughts were faint whispers compared to Anders'." His uncanny eyes focused again on her face. "But inhabiting the dead is not ideal."

She had no response for such an understatement.

"In time," Justice continued, "the vessel will decay and become useless." He made another jerky gesture with one hand. "But that is not precisely why I asked you here."

"I got your note," she said. "The wisp in my house was yours, I assume?"

He inclined his head. "It told me you were in Kirkwall. From there, my friends needed only to find Varric to locate you."

"Of course," she said, swallowing. He had all of Anders' memories. It would have been easy.

"It is becoming difficult to work with the mages while I am… like this." He gestured at his face. "I need two things from you, Hawke. Your name for our cause. And a new body."

A chill washed over her. A request for her to join the rebellion she'd expected. The second part… she had not.

Vengeance's attempt at a smile was chilling. "I don't require you to provide the body yourself unless you wish it. I understand that you may have some reservations. Your participation in our emancipation would be enough."

"Oh, would it?" she asked faintly.

"After all that has happened, you cannot continue to refuse to help your fellow mages achieve the level of freedom that you enjoy. The Templars would control every mage, pen them like animals, stifle their magic. The cannot bear that any should be free; even now Templars and Seekers chase even you. We must band together to stop them. As one who has escaped their corrupt institution, it is your duty to punish those responsible, and to free those who struggle." His eyes gleamed, and Fade energy sparked over his skin. "No mage could be so selfish as to enjoy their freedom while others suffer."

Violet pressed her lips together. He was truly Vengeance now. There had never been anything she could do with him when he was worked up this way, and unless she was much mistaken, any answer she gave that was not a yes would turn his fury on her. Anders had never let Vengeance focus his anger on Hawke, but she sensed that Anders' protection was gone. Her companions, who might have defended her, were locked outside the cave. She hoped they would forgive her.

"I have been calling you," Vengeance said, his voice ringing with accusation. "Surely you heard, but it took you a very long time to get here."

"Calling me?" asked Violet, scanning the room. There was a pillar of skulls off to the side that she might be able to use to deflect a spell if she ducked behind it.

"My power to bend the will of spirits in the Fade is not what it was, but surely some of my message reached you?" His eyes flickered with the first hint of uncertainty.

Violet felt like she'd been dunked in an ocean of icy water. "We're making our way back to you," she whispered.

"The words may have been slightly altered across the Fade, but surely the purpose was clear. We mages are as one. I need you. The cause needs you. You cannot ignore me any longer."

"No, I can't," she whispered. Then she stood up straighter, and felt her staff warm under her hand. "I will not be coerced. I will not be haunted into joining a quest for revenge. I have helped mages, I will continue to help them, but not on these terms. I will never approve your methods, Vengeance."

"I am disappointed," he said. Then he raised his arms and called a host of shades.

#

A flash of white hot fury filled Violet. Anders never would have — but there was no time for thinking about it. She called a storm of lightning, then dodged behind the pillar as Vengeance launched a fireball in her direction.

Behind her came a dry chuckle. She spun around. Fenris — no, not Fenris, a desire demon — stood admiring the carnage, head cocked to one side, and a hand on his hip. Was it the same demon?

"How dare you," hissed Violet. She whipped her staff forward and a stone projectile knocked the desire demon to the floor.

Before she could do more, a splash of icy cold seized her limbs and held her motionless for a moment. Vengeance had moved, and she was no longer shielded by the pillar of skulls. Once she could force her limbs to cooperate, she pushed at him with force magic, and then turned on the remaining shades with her staff while he was immobilized.

He broke free of the spell just as the last shade went down, and they were trading staff blasts when she felt the claws of the desire demon tearing at her stomach. She'd focused on the enemies in front of her for too long.

"I'll have you one way or the other, little Hawke," the demon purred in her ear as Violet struggled to free herself.

Vengeance hit them both with a fireball — Violet managed to bend and turn just enough for the demon to take the brunt of the flame. It shrieked in Violet's ear and tightened its grip, tearing at her flesh. In desperation, Violet used a blast of force to knock the demon free. It worked to shove it back, but the motion tore its claws through her abdomen. The pain was intense and she seemed to be bleeding… quite a lot, actually. In desperation, she wheeled around, using her momentum and the weight of her staff to physically strike the demon, who crumpled to the floor. Holding herself together with her left hand, she continued her turn to trap Vengeance in a cage of energy, fighting with all her power to crush him. If she didn't end this quickly, she wouldn't be the one ending it. Pushing with everything she had, she hit him with lightning again and again. When her spells finally ground to a halt, he hung suspended for a moment in the white cage of light before tumbling to the floor.

For a moment, everything went silent. Violet slid down to her knees, dropping her staff to grip her abdomen with both hands. It hurt too much even to cry.

#

Fenris was beside himself. Violet had disappeared, and the barrier prevented them from following. Sebastian had tried to scout away around and come up with nothing. To the right was a sheer drop, to the left the cliff was almost as sheer straight up. He climbed the boulders beside the trail, but he could find no other openings, not even a small one that they could use as a starting point to dig through.

Now the sounds of battle were drifting through the barrier to taunt him. He felt the tingle of magic in the air and heard the cracking of ice and the shrieks of a demon. He beat the barrier with his sword in desperation and was repelled, a cold shock vibrating through his arm. Beside him, Sebastian was shouting in frustration, shooting arrows at the barrier. They were no more able to pierce the magical wall than his sword.

Suddenly, the the barrier shimmered and flickered. Fenris struck it again; again the wave of cold shook his body.

"Wait," Sebastian called, catching him by the arm. As they watched, the barrier flickered again, and abruptly disappeared. In an instant, Fenris was flying through the door and down the corridor, Sebastian at his heels.

In the main chamber, they found Violet slumped over on her knees, awash with blood. A few feet away, a thin, disfigured body lay on its back in a heap. Could it really be Anders?

Violet looked up at them blearily. "Fenris, could you…? I don't know if he's still breathing."

He rushed forward, swinging his sword in a wide arc. He cleaved the head from the body. It rolled away with some force.

"That works," she said, with a ghost of a smile.

Sebastian knelt to support her.

"Don't try to move me," she said, leaning back against his chest. "I don't know how much time there is." She reached up to touch his cheek with her fingertips, leaving a trail of blood. "I'm sorry."

"Don't say that. How bad is it?" he asked.

She pressed her lips together. "Bad."

"Then heal it," Fenris heard himself say in a rough voice. He squatted down before her and tried to pull her hand aside to look. He felt faint at what he saw.

"I can't," she said gently.

"Don't we have lyrium?" he asked desperately.

She shook her head.

Panic welled up in him. She looked limp and pale. If she couldn't heal herself, she might bleed out before her mana returned. Fenris tore off his gauntlets.

"Take mine."

She shook her head again. "I won't do that."

He grabbed her hand in his, pushed his markings against her palm, which was sticky with blood. "Take it." But no matter how he pushed, he didn't have the ability to force it into her. She had to pull it to herself with magic.

She shook her head again. He saw Sebastian's eyes fill with tears. He couldn't lose her. They couldn't lose her.

"You have to let me help," he growled. "I don't care if it hurts. I only care about you." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Don't leave me, Hawke. I love you. Please."

Violet's eyes closed, and she gave a shuddering sigh.

He wrapped his other hand around her jaw. If he couldn't convince her, this might be his last chance. He wanted — he needed — to kiss her. He leaned down and gently brushed her lips with his, the way he'd been too afraid to, with all the tenderness he felt that he could never put into words. Slowly, she began to return his kiss, and finally he felt the tiniest buzz of lyrium song begin to hum under his skin.

Her hand shifted in his, and they twined their fingers together, mage to lyrium ghost, artist to source. Slowly she began to draw from him.

"Yes," he said softly, and pulled his hand from her cheek to lay it over her heart.

He didn't know how long they stayed so. Sebastian supported them both, as Violet drew power from Fenris to heal herself, and he grew dizzy and lightheaded from the loss. When Sebastian called to Violet to stop, he could not process it at first. Their voices came from far away. But it did not matter. She was safe.

It took them a full day to get down the mountain. To his disgust, Fenris was feverish and weak as a kitten. Violet's healing was still incomplete, and she was hardly able to walk. Clinging to Sebastian, they could each only stumble a few hundred feet before they needed to rest. When they did, they sat side by side with their fingers entwined. Sebastian fussed over them both in turn. His clothes were covered in Violet's blood but his eyes glowed with relief.

They weren't sure yet where they were going, or how they would get there. But they were together. It was good.