That nagging feeling of being watched couldn't be escaped. No matter how far or how fast Elissa ran, it followed her. Through every street they reclaimed, every house she searched for survivors, it followed her. She fled it, ran south after Loghain and Riordan instead of north with Aedan and Alistair. She was desperate to be free of it. Perhaps it was just the Archdemon unnerving her at every turn, or perhaps it was the sheer number of darkspawn in the city. It seemed for every one of them, there would be five or more darkspawn waiting for them.

Thankfully the darkspawn weren't quite intelligent enough to use that to their advantage.

Elissa didn't remember when she got separated from the other Wardens. It had to have been ages ago. She hadn't seen Loghain's silver plate amongst the sea of bodies for at least an hour—or it felt like an hour. She wasn't sure how long this had been going on. For all Elissa knew, an entire day could have passed and she would have been none the wiser.

This…it was exhausting. No battle or fight she had ever participated in had ever lasted as long as this. Her arms burned and ached from overuse. Every sword and axe she caught on her shield sent pain lancing through her muscles. Every duel she engaged in threatened to knock her sword from her hand. Her thighs strained from her own weight, but when someone or something leaned on her, it wouldn't take much to knock her off her feet.

Elissa had expected this to be as bad—or worse—as the Deep Roads. No amount of mental preparation would have prepared her for this. Even her breaths were strained. She could feel it in her shoulders; it reminded her of Fenix and his breathing problem. Truth be told, his issue had been worse, and she was just grateful she did not have to experience it again.

Ideally. Whatever had drawn her from her own dreams and into him, she would likely never know, but she was content to stay here, in her own body. Achy as it might be, this was who she was, and she liked it that way.

A sense of sadness welled up within her as she dodged a genlock's daggers. The elf. Had the thought made her sad? It must have. Elissa didn't think such things would upset herself. Knowing that voice, feeling, whatever the elf was, was still with her was strangely comforting. She had been quiet for a while now. It was good knowing if Elissa got herself into a hole too deep to save herself from, she had some form of backup.

As she ran, chasing after a swarm of bodies, people and darkspawn alike, Elissa began to recognize the streets. The boy had ran down this very road at his father's behest. It was the one he'd almost collapsed on, and if she tried hard enough, Elissa was sure she would be able to return to the Alienage from here.

She swallowed as she realized that feeling wasn't one of being watched, but a pull, dragging her after him. She could still see the sewer pipe and the rope that held every hope he had held, still felt the anger and pain knowing he would be trapped here.

But if this feeling was truly pulling her towards him, that meant he was alive, and she could get him out of here, couldn't she? She had to. Not that she particularly felt obligated, but something told her she needed to. Was it that stupid elf?

Elissa did not argue. Instead, she simply went, diverting her path from that of the soldiers, and began to retrace Fenix's path. It was short and straightforward for him, but now there were darkspawn around every corner, and it felt like it took her ages just to cross a street.

Overhead, she heard the dragon roar. It flew towards the sea, hugging the walls of the city, and faintly, Elissa thought she saw someone leap off a tower and onto its back. The dragon strained in surprise, threatening to fall out of the sky, but in the same instant, it bucked. To their credit, the person didn't lose their grip, and managed to ride it until Elissa couldn't make them out any further. Another buck, however, and the dragon dislodged the figure. In a valiant attempt to stay on its back, they swung their sword out and missed its hide by mere inches. Rather, the weapon caught the beast's wing, and as they inevitably fell back to the earth, the dragon's wing was ripped open wide. The screech that left its maw was almost louder than the cries the army had made as it charged the city.

It spiralled for a moment, flapping desperately to regain altitude, but it didn't make it very far, and after a few fruitless attempts, it fell. A roar split the air as it crashed onto Fort Drakon.

It was grounded. There was no escape for the thing, and she was sure it knew it.

Something in her chest gave and Elissa felt her heart leap with a bitter excitement. The Archdemon would die today. It would be impossible to escape them, so long as one of them could make it there. She didn't doubt they could, either. The darkspawn were something they had all been accustomed to fighting. If they managed to stick together, she was sure Aedan and Alistair would reach the dragon.

Not that she wanted them to. Elissa was determined to be the one to kill it. Ferelden needed her brother, and as much as she hated to admit, it needed Loghain as well. The Wardens would need Alistair and Rirodan, and unfortunately, that left her as the lone one capable of making the sacrifice.

Elissa didn't want to die, but it had to be her, and she had tried to make her peace with that. Eventually she gave up. No part of her would ever be ready to die, but she hoped, prayed, that Leliana would be able to understand. She hoped she would forgive her. Leliana was the one—the only— thing that made Elissa doubt this choice, but not even the bard could change her mind.

A Cousland always did their duty, and this was hers.

She took a step forward, eyes locked on the fort, but a scream drew her attention away. Only a street over, or maybe two. She could be there in seconds if she really tried, so she did. Shrieks tried to stop her, but Elissa barrelled through them, ducking and rolling beneath their claws.

The ground shook. Somewhere, between her and that scream, was an ogre. She could hear its massive footsteps, hear it as it smashed through a wooden shack.

If that leash wasn't pulling her this way, Elissa would've turned around. She had one job to do, and this person and that ogre weren't going to stand between her and fate.

Unfortunately for her, the person it was chasing just so happened to be the boy she was looking for. How convenient!

Elissa fought the urge to roll her eyes. Rather, she stood a little straighter, tensed her muscles so she could move a little faster, and shouted, "Hey!"

The ogre turned, teeth gnashing in anger, as Fenix ran behind a wagon.

Elissa, by the grace of the Maker Himself, had never been on the opposite end of one of these things' charges. It was always Alistair, without fail, and he had gotten damn good at baiting them into Sten's greatsword.

It was so large. She had avoided them in the past, always unsure of how exactly to kill it, but the boys made it look so easy, so she should probably be able to handle it.

Right?

It lowered itself to the ground, so Elissa did as well. Her body screamed in protest. It bellowed before rushing, and at the last possible second, Elissa rolled to the side, hopping up on her feet just in time to watch it ram into a building.

Wood splinters the size of its arm flew everywhere. Elissa fell to her knees and ducked behind her shield. A rather large piece of wall slammed into her, but she kept her footing.

And no less than a second later, Elissa was launched off her feet, slapped aside like a ragdoll by the ogre's fist.

All of the air in her lungs was expelled by the force of her back slamming into stone. As her head snapped off the brick, she saw stars, and when she fell, she heard thunder in her ears.

Something in her chest hurt, bad. She couldn't breathe. She was stuck under a slab of Maker knows what.

And just as quickly as the weight fell on her, it was lifted off. Faintly, Elissa heard it fly into another shop, but that was the least of her worries. She felt the ogre's hand lock around her leg and lift her into the air. It dangled her at head level, beady eyes inspecting her face as she tried not to scream.

It roared, spitting disgusting saliva all over. Higher she went, now high enough to probably break something if dropped at the wrong angle.

Past its shoulder, Elissa could see the boy, staring at them in horror, and something in her clicked.

He was just like she was. Trapped in a body that wasn't truly hers, and yet was. She had known he was a mage, but seeing him… Elissa wasn't sure how to explain it. She could see it with him, just like she could see it with Wynne. Wynne was a little different, but in Fenix, she could see herself.

This ogre was going to kill her. She could see its bulging muscles preparing to throw her again, probably harder than the first time, probably hard enough to crack her skull. And if that didn't kill her, there was a good chance she would get impaled on one of the wooden panels.

She heard it before she saw it. One single arrow, so dangerously close to the side of her head, but it would miss its mark. The ogre had moved a fraction of a second too fast for it to strike anything but its horn, and without hesitation, Elissa shot her hand out to grab the shaft.

In that same second, she drove the arrow into the ogre's wrist, and it released her, crying out in pain. She hit the ground after readjusting herself and took the brunt of the blow to her back.

Perhaps landing on the same thing she'd just broken wasn't the brightest idea, but hey, she didn't break an arm, at least.

Another arrow, this time at a normal speed. It didn't miss, sinking into the ogre's throat, and the next thing Elissa knew, there was a hand around her arm. It yanked her upright.

"Have you lost your mind?"

Elissa blinked. The world was spinning and she couldn't really see very well, but it would be hard to mistake that fiery hair and that stupid accent.

Leliana released her to fire another shot and Elissa staggered away, vision still coming in and out of focus, to search for her sword in the rubble. Lifting the stone it was under was impossible with her shield on her arm, and she hastily removed it, fingers fumbling. It wasn't as fast as she thought.

Elissa heaved, managing the strength to throw the mortar aside. Her sword, thankfully, looked to be undamaged aside from a few scratches along the blade.

A guttural cry sounded from one of the alleyways and Leliana redirected her fire there. Another cry, this time of surprise, and the next thing Elissa knew, the ogre had slapped Leliana with as much ease as it had herself.

Elissa scrambled in a panic. She could feel that pool of energy swirling in her belly, and as quickly as it came, it was gone. She formed a solid ball of flames and shot it into the alley at the approaching darkspawn.

With whatever willpower she had left, she launched herself at the ogre, begging for her body to do as demanded. She jumped, extending her arm back, and then drove it forward as she collided with the beast. It howled as it toppled over backwards, fists reaching up to pull her and her sword off of it. Elissa pulled the blade back out and felt it twitch, and she brought it back down again, this time driving it into its skull. Black blood squirted over her sword and face. She had to resist the urge to vomit.

Elissa sagged, arms heavy, as the pain in her side redoubled. It was probably a rib. There was no way she hadn't broken something.

Across the street, Leliana was slowly standing. She looked dazed and there was a long scrape on her arm, but she looked okay. Elissa let go of a breath she wasn't aware she'd been holding. Relief.

Her hand instinctively went up to her injured side as she looked around wildly for Fenix. He was in his original hiding spot, hand wrapped cautiously around a wagon wheel.

His eyes were so wide as she staggered over to him. He looked frightened. It was understandable. If Elissa was his age and just watched two people get slapped around like ragdolls by a monster, she'd probably be scared too.

She knelt in front of him after sheathing her sword. He regarded her heavily, inching back a little.

"It's okay," she said. "You're safe now."

His eyebrows furrowed together. "It was you, wasn't it?"

Elissa didn't have to ask what he meant. She just nodded, and while she thought that might help him relax a bit, recalling the relief he felt when she helped him breathe, all it did was make the suspicion in his eyes redouble.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Elissa said. She extended a hand. He just eyeballed her, shrinking further back behind the wagon. "I'm a Grey Warden. We protect people."

He still looked unconvinced, so she tapped the griffon on her chest. She had to focus to refrain from wincing.

"See?"

"You could be lying like all the other shems," he snapped.

Elissa sighed as her hand fell from her chest. "I won't hurt you. If I wanted to, I wouldn't have helped you catch your breath, remember?" His eyes narrowed and she got to her feet, looking back for Leliana. The bard had managed to stand finally, doubled over to catch her breath. Elissa looked back to Fenix. "Where's your father?"

"Gone," he said, and she saw the faint beginning of his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed. "That...it…" His eyes went to the ogre's body as tears welled up in them.

Elissa shook her head. "You don't have to say it." He looked back to her, suspicion still shining brightly in his damp eyes, as she reached into her pack. She pushed aside her canteen and found her small purse. There wasn't much coin in it—little more than two sovereigns, but it was better than nothing, and Elissa wouldn't need it after today.

"Take this," she said, placing the pouch in one of his hands. "Go back to the dock and swim around the walls. You can swim, right?"

Even if he couldn't, Elissa knew that thing inside of him would make him. It was awake now. She could see it looking at her from behind his eyes, feel the thing inside of her looking back.

He nodded.

"Go north, to Amaranthine, and take a ship. Find the Dalish. They'll take care of you."

Probably teach him how to use his powers, too. It was more than Elissa could have ever dreamt of.

He started to back away as Leliana joined them, bow planted in the dirt. They regarded each other for a moment, Fenix in nervousness, and Leliana in curiosity.

"Do you hear them, too?" Fenix asked. He tapped his temple for emphasis.

Elissa nodded. "It'll keep you safe."

He looked at her again, truly. "It likes you."

And with that, Fenix was gone, ducking and darting between the houses with a speed Elissa only wished she could muster.

Leliana put a hand on her shoulder. Elissa looked back at her. She could see the exhaustion in her eyes, in the way she held herself and leaned on her bow. Her eyes fell, though, to where Elissa's hand was shielding her body.

"Are you all right?"

Elissa just nodded, gritting her teeth. "Don't have much of a choice, do I? There's still an Archdemon."

Leliana looked over the houses to Fort Drakon. Smoke was rising from the top now. Elissa could hear it roar, see brief flashes of light as it spit fire. As her gaze returned to Elissa, she thought she saw a twinge of sadness there, but it was quickly gone, replaced by a masterfully blank expression.

This wasn't easy for either of them.

"Come on, then," Elissa said. She inhaled deeply, forcing what little energy she had into her side in a feeble attempt to heal whatever damage was there. "We'll have to face that thing soon enough. What's the point in keeping it waiting?"

Leliana hesitated, looking like she had something to say, and Elissa felt her heart stop for only a brief moment. But just like that, the urge disappeared from Leliana's face, and she nodded.

"After you, Warden."

Something in the empty tone of her voice, normally filled with laughter and amusement, made Elissa wish she could just have this over already. She supposed, however, the faster she got to the Archdemon, the less time she had to feel guilty.