A/N: The main game is completed through this chapter. I do plan on writing through Trespasser as well, so there's definitely more to come. Thank you all so much for reading all all your positive feedback for this story. I hope you continue to read and enjoy!

Evelyn

The world was dark and everything hurt. She tried to move, but she didn't feel any strength left in her limbs. What was the harm in staying here? Laying here and letting Andraste take her? Then the pain would go away. She could be at peace at the Maker's side.

She thought of the last things she had said to her friends, to Cullen. She and Cullen had the sweetest goodbye. Holding each other as though they didn't want to let go. They'd made love that morning, wanting to savor each other for what could be their last time. She remembered the feel of his hands along her skin, and it wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

Even though Dorian had gone into the final battle at her side, they had said their goodbyes the night before as well, though theirs was bittersweet. Sharing a bottle of wine that loosened their lips while sitting out on her balcony wrapped in furs as they looked out over the mountains, Evelyn confided in him about the anchor, how the pain was becoming unbearable, about her fears and worries.

"You don't expect to survive the fight?" he'd been appalled, horrified even, at the revelation. When she made no move to correct him, he'd been swift in his assurances to the contrary. "Have you talked to Cullen about it?"

She shook her head. "He has enough to deal with, and I don't want him making decisions with his views tainted like that."

Dorian scoffed. "You could give our Commander the benefit of the doubt."

"Cullen would do whatever he could to protect me, and it might make him make decisions he wouldn't otherwise. We have to be smart when we fight Corypheus. I won't risk losing because he's afraid of losing me. I know what purpose I serve."

"Your purpose," Dorian said as reached over and took her hand in his, squeezing it not so gently to get her attention. "Is to defeat Corypheus and come back to us. You are more than your anchor."

"Tell that to my adoring fans," she'd huffed, looking away from him.

"To the people that matter, we only care about you. And trying to make sure the world doesn't end," he added with a smile. "You happen to have the tool to help do that, but you aren't the tool."

"Thanks, Dorian," she smiled at him. "If I don't come back, will you watch over him? Make sure he eats and takes breaks?"

"You'll be able to do that all yourself when we get back," Dorian told her, shaking his head.

"Dorian," she said his name firmly, making him look back at her. "Promise me."

He looked into her eyes for several moments but relented, promising. Evelyn shifted so that she could lay her head on his shoulder. "You'll need to help him move on. Tell him I want him to be happy." Tears sprang to her eyes at the thought. She didn't want to leave him. She hoped above all else that she'd be able to walk through these doors again, but fate had a funny way of taking that hope from her.

Even now, as she lay in the rubble, feeling as though her body was broken, she couldn't quite believe she'd survived. Corypheus had taken the chunk of land they'd been fighting on and brought her into the air, cutting off her, Dorian, Bull, and Varric from the rest of the group. The whole inner circle had shown up to fight only to be cut off from each other. Morrigan had been able to fight off the archdemon dragon in her own dragon form. And she'd been able to get close enough to Corypheus to use her anchor and send him to the fade, a place he wouldn't be able to escape.

Once Corypheus had vanished, the magic holding up the land in the air went with him, and they fell back to earth. She didn't know how she made it; everything in her told her she wouldn't. Yet here she was blinking against the sun.

Her ears were ringing, but she could vaguely hear someone calling her name. Dorian was scrabbling through the rubble, searching for her. She tried to speak, but she couldn't hear her own voice through the ringing, but Dorian must have heard her because he ran to her side, plopping to his knees at her side.

"I knew you'd be too stubborn to die," he told her as he started assessing her for injuries, using his magic to heal any cuts and bruises he saw. "Where does it hurt? Can you move your legs and your arms?

"My head," she groaned.

His hands flew to her temples, massaging her gently as he poured his magic into her, fixing her up. "Healing is more your specialty than mine," he reminded her. "Apologies if this isn't a hundred percent fix."

When the ringing stopped and was replaced by a throbbing headache, she made to sit up, grimacing as she did. "Are Bull and Varric okay?" she asked.

"We are," Varric said from behind her. "Don't worry about us."

Evelyn noticed Solas kneeling over something. She hoped the rest of the inner circle was okay, that the mass of land hadn't crushed anyone on its descent.

"Help me to my feet?" she asked, and Dorian stopped healing her to help her stand.

Once she was righted, she could feel the exhaustion, the bone deep aches, all of which overshadowed her hand for once, the anchor eerily quiet, not real pain pulsing from it. This was truly over?

"I'm sorry about the orb," she said as she came to stand by Solas.

"So much was lost," he shook his head, truly distraught about the broken orb. It was an old, elven artifact that she always assumed he wanted to learn more of because of his heritage. "It was not supposed to happen this way. No matter what comes, I want you to know you will always have my respect."

She wanted to ask him why he was making this sound like a goodbye, why he sounded so sorry, but Cassandra's voice cut through. "Inquisitor! Are you alive?"

She turned and Dorian was at her side, helping her move through the debris and rubble, and when she got to the top of a set of stairs, she saw the rest of her inner circle waiting below. When she turned back to Solas, to ask him to come with them, he was gone.

When they went back to Skyhold, the entirety of the fortress was out to welcome them, cheering for them. It was an audience she still wasn't quite used to. They were all looking at her, thanking her, blessing her. Her steps faltered when they reached the stairs leading up to the keep.

The advisors stood waiting for her on the steps leading into the main hall at Skyhold, and Evelyn would present herself, dirty and bruised, to show the people that she was a force to be reckoned with. She'd asked for her whole team to make the entrance with her, after all, none of this would have happened without them, all of them. They all shook their heads, urging her to go on alone.

Dorian smoothed down a stray strand of her hair, tucking it back into the rest of the mess on top of her head, her hair braided back into a high ponytail by Dorian. Cassandra had asked for fierceness, and he delivered. Or so they all told her. She felt like a puppet, acting as a hero."One foot in front of the other," Dorian coached from behind her.

She glanced back up, her eyes catching and holding Cullen's. Each step would take her closer to him.

As Evelyn climbed Skyhold's steps, her eyes on Cullen with every foot forward, she couldn't believe she was here, that she was alive. She had been prepared to give her last breath to this cause. It had certainly felt like the end as they fought Corypheus and his dragon, traversing the ruins as they fought.

Her muscles ached, her head hurt, but her hand was quiet-for the moment. The breach in the sky was closed, and it was over. All she wanted to do was sleep for about a millennium. But they were still the Inquisition with an image to upkeep.

Soldiers lined the stairs on either side of her as she made her way to her advisors, to Cullen. Each soldier put their fist of their hearts in shows of respect she still didn't quite feel she deserved. But when she got to the landing and looked back at the soldiers, she wanted to cry. They'd all put their faith in her, and for once, she'd followed through.

When Evelyn reached her advisors, they bowed to her, which felt silly and embarrassing. Without them, she wouldn't be here. So she bowed back before Cullen stepped forward, his arms reaching for her as she launched herself into him. She could hear the cheer of the crowd grow, and Leliana and Josephine chuckled beside her, but she didn't care.

After everything, Evelyn had been able to keep her promise. She'd found her way back to him. The futures they had discussed, it was now real, attainable. Evelyn had spent so long not believing she'd get those futures with Cullen, that she'd never really put her heart in it, she'd never believed they'd truly happen. Now that they could, she thought her heart might explode.

Reaching up on tiptoe, she kissed him. She couldn't not. It took him by surprise, and she could feel him smile against her lips. He tasted like coffee and his arms felt like home. She could stay there all day if the world would only sit still. When Leliana cleared her throat, Cullen pulled back. "I am so proud of you," he whispered before taking her hand in his and leading her to the edge of the platform, to look out at their people.

They roared, fists pumping in the air, calling out to her. Everything she'd gone through, all the good and the bad led to her being able to protect them, to save them. This is what everything was for, and she couldn't stop the tears from forming. She made eye contact with Dorian below and mouthed 'thank you' to him. He nodded to her, his smile growing.

After a while, Leliana and Josephine called for everyone to join them in the great hall for a feast and celebration. As they made their way up the stairs into the great hall, Leliana reported that Solas had in fact left and that her spies were still searching for him. Evelyn wondered where he went, why he left without saying more of goodbye, or giving her any sort of explanation.

She was soon unable to think about that once she entered the great hall. Nobles were flooding in, all eager to speak with her. Josephine grabbed her and promptly helped her make the rounds. She met with so many people, she thought her head would spin right off.

Several hours later, as people were leaving, Evelyn made her way around her inner circle, stopping to speak with them, to see what they would do now that their goal was complete. They'd all decided to stay for a bit longer. There was still more the Inquisition could do. More people to help, still some rifts to close.

When she finally found her way to Dorian, who was leaning very drunkenly against the table beside Bull, deep in conversation, Evelyn launched herself at him. Her face snuggling into his chest. "Thank you, Dorian," she said so only he could hear. They very nearly toppled over if not for Bull's steadying grip on Dorian's arm keeping them upright.

His arms wound their way around her back, gripping her tightly. "That's me, ever the optimist."

She planted her feet safely back to the ground, stepping away from him. "Please tell me you aren't going to go back to Tevinter yet, that you'll stay for a while?"

"How can I leave when the job is not quite done?" he asked with a knowing look. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me for a while."

As Evelyn grabbed the bottle of wine and was about to make herself comfortable to talk with the two, Bull reached for the wine bottle to take from her. "Boss, I don't think your rounds are quite done yet."

She frowned at him and glanced around, seeing Cullen waiting for her at the door that led to her chambers. Her eyes lit up, and she released the wine bottle to Bull. "Thanks. See you two later." As dignified as she could, she hurried to Cullen's side.

"Have fun," Dorian called after her.

She giggled as she stepped up to Cullen.

"I thought I might claim more of your attention after all," Cullen said. "But I can gladly wait until you've had your fun."

She shook her head. "I did my rounds. I am happy to be finished.," she smiled up at him.

He returned her smile, his voice low as he said, "Good." He gave her a knowing look as he moved to be in front of her, backing her into the door.

She reached behind her and turned the knob, and the two disappeared from the party.

As they get to her room, Cullen said, "The battle's over, there will be a new divine, and yet I don't care about anything other than you being alive." Pulling Evelyn back into him, he wrapped his arms under her butt to lift her up into him so that she could look down on him for a change.

"Cullen!" she squealed, laughing, before leaning down and capturing his lips with hers.

"I don't know what will happen after this," he told her.

"Neither do I," she told him. "But we have plenty of time to figure it out."

Backing up so his knees hit the edge of the bed, Cullen sits, and Evelyn shifted so that her knees straddled his legs. Cullen's hands trailed across her leather clad skin, his fingers kneading the flesh of her ass.

"You came back to me," he whispered into her neck, his lips nipping and licking along the exposed flesh.

"I will always find my way back to you," she told him, as her hands cupped his jaw and moved to his scalp, alternating between running her nails gently over his scalp and tugging on his hair.

She didn't know if she truly believed in fate, but it certainly seemed that her entire life, getting tossed into a circle, then getting chosen to go to the conclave where her entire world as she knew it exploded all happened for a reason. It was so that she could find Cullen.

Maybe Andraste had been looking out for her. Maybe Cullen and Evelyn had a red string of fate tying them together so that no matter where life took them, they'd be able to find their way back. Because she knew she'd never be able to live without him; she couldn't imagine a future where he wasn't in it.

"What are you thinking about?" Cullen asked.

"Just about how for the first time in my whole life, I feel like I have a future to look forward to."