A/N: If you've made it this far in, I just wanted to say thank you. And sorry, for the extended absence. I've had to leave this project on the back burner for a long while but I'm hoping that's over with now. I'm really excited to come back to this so let me know what you think.

Zevran had foolishly insisted on interrogating the last karasten to attack them. He'd hoped to gain some useful information. The typical questions, Hawke had figured. Why were they doing this? What were they hoping to gain? How had this even been allowed to happen? Hawke tuned most of it out to be honest. Once this bloodlust got going it was nearly impossible to stop. She only caught bits and pieces of the conversation; it was hard to focus on something so boring as an interrogation when all she could think of was how lovely that Arishock's head would look mounted above her mantle in the hall. She heard Zevran threaten the qunari with becoming a blood thrall if he continued his silence. A masterful move on his part, so far as Hawke was concerned. The Qunari seemingly feared blood magic above all else. The soldier squealed like a stuck pig after that. A victory, perhaps. But his information was disturbing, enraging even.

The soldier claimed to know very little about the details, being able to only relay what he was told. Plausible enough. How often do you spill secrets to the lowly ground-pounder? Letting the cowering soldier go had even crossed Ashley's mind now that she had calmed herself enough to drown out the murderous impulses for a moment. But unfortunately for the soldier, he had no good news to share. His information wasn't the strategic upheaval Zevran was hoping for. The very moment the words spilled from the soldier's quivering lips; his voice turned to an utter shriek of terror only to be silenced not a moment later as he choked violently upon his own blood.

Danarius had made some sort of a deal with the Qunari, this much was publicly known. The people of Kirkwall were largely content to assume it was simply an uneasy truce or alliance. But the soldier told a different story. The Archon has the qunaris' precious tome of Koslun, a tool for him to make good on a promise he made to the Arishock: Danarius pledged to restore the lost island of Par Vollen. An impossible feat for any lone mage, but the Qunari were blissfully unaware…until recently when Danarius sent word that he was breaking their terms. The Arishock wasn't satisfied with simply walking away. He instructed his soldiers to conquer the city, and bring him the head of the Archon's scion. The scion they were meant to retrieve and bring back safely, before the deal went sour.

Fenris. The Arishock was going to kill Fenris…

Was he truly alive? Was this all a game? Perhaps Danarius was simply paranoid, making deals just in case Fenris came back…but it didn't matter right now. If Fenris was alive…the qunari would come for him…Ashley couldn't let that happen, and Hawke could do something about it.

All as one suddenly became a distant memory once again. It wasn't long before the screams of terror and agony became nothing but background noise. Each and every Qunari that fell before her blurred into a non-descript, nameless enemy. They had nothing unique about them. They were nothing special. Just more obstacles in her way. Ashley wasn't even convinced that she was truly in control of Hawke anymore. The sheer compulsion to tear down everyone and anything that crossed her path was absolutely overwhelming. There was no room for mercy or doubt when Hawke was in control.

Hawke carved a path through the Viscount's keep with terrifying ease. The qunari were in fact terrified by her magic, she learned. It made decorating the walls with their blood so much more fun.

A charging Sten suffered the consequences of attempting to attack her in the midst of her downward spiral. He was thrown against the nearest wall and impaled against the massive statue adjacent to the inner hallway doors. Another soldier attempted to throw a spear at her, but her dutiful hound ripped it from the air as if it were her fetching stick. The offending soldier was rewarded with a swift slice across the chest. She meant to finish him off but she became momentarily distracted by a group of Qunari attempting to ambush her from behind. They meant to corner her in the hallway.

She glanced down at her faithful companion to find her gnawing on the now dead soldier's neck. A truly sinister chuckle escaped her throat as she turned her attention back to the ambushing Qunari. As soon as they crossed the threshold into the hallway, the doors slammed shut behind them. She waited until they got just close enough to give them just a small amount of hope. When she was certain that they were confident enough to become careless, she threw up a wall of piercing red fire.

The Qunari stopped in their tracks. Each of them looked to the others for some kind of orders. But all they received was a deadly glare from this horrific, monstrous Sarebass. One of them tried to jump through the fire, only to be reduced to ash the moment he made contact with it. The others were very clearly unnerved. They looked around frantically now. Their fear only served to further fuel the sadistic thoughts that had overcome Ashley now. The soldiers backed into the doors and desperately tried to open them to no avail. She simply smirked as she extended her hands out towards the soldiers. They cried out as the fire began to move towards them, leaving a scorching trail behind it.

Terror seemed to completely overcome them. One even tried to throw himself from the window in a desperate escape attempt. The effort only served to further amuse Hawke. How foolish could they be? Sending a handful of soldiers to trap her? Hopefully the others in the throne room will be smarter, or this whole endeavor will turn out to be dreadfully boring.

Hawke grew tired of tormenting the soldiers, sending the wall of flames to finish them off quickly. The doors reopened slowly with an elongated creak once her immediate opponents were nothing but a dusty pile on the floor. Giving an unsympathetic shrug, she casually strolled up to the throne room doors. But before her hand could touch the handles, a distractingly heavy thump came from behind her.

A qunari laid dead just behind her. Hawke recognized that one, she had assumed he had died when he jumped from the window. He must have clung to the windowsill, hoping to assassinate her when she thought the danger was over. Clever. A familiar dagger was driven into the back of his skull. Hawke's red eyes lifted from the body to the hallway doors. Upon noticing an exasperated Zevran, she gave him an acknowledging smile. Her voice dripped with venom as she spoke to him. "She will remember your loyalty, spymaster."

Zevran regarded her carefully, giving only a smile nod in response. But it was enough for Hawke. She wasn't one for conversation. Let Ashley be the one who talks, who schemes, who plots and negotiates. Let Hawke be the violent one, the one who ends the conflict and destroys her enemies.

There was a deafening boom of shocked gasps and frightened shrieks when Hawke threw open the throne room doors. The qunari had apparently rounded up nearly everyone important in the city. Magisters, Nobility, Priests, they were all bound and collared on the floor. Hawke only vaguely registered the enraged shouts of the Qunari as they readied their weapons. She'd deal with them in a moment, but first…

It was the work of an instant to pick out the magisters openly loyal to Danarius. Pity that there was only a handful left. With a small gesture, she rose each one of them from the floor. Their chains rattled as they struggled against her magic, but those pesky collars weren't going to be any help with that matter. They screamed, of course, as they all do when their blood is drained from them. It didn't matter, they would serve their purpose soon.

A hail of spears descending down upon her. Their fear must have made their aim severely inaccurate. Only one spear managed to strike her. The qunari roared when she was hit. It was over for her; they were sure of it. But their hope faded away quickly when they heard her laugh. She locked her unholy gaze on the Arishock as she pulled the spear from her torso. Blood swirled around her in a large, expanding circle.

The Arishock's eyes bulged, making them stand out against his vitaar. Hawke scoffed at the foolish notion of it. Arming himself with poison face-paint wouldn't be helping him tonight. The strangely hornless qunari staggered backwards for a moment. But in the time that it took Hawke to take a single step forward, he steeled himself once again.

He shouted something in Qunlat to his troops. Hawke didn't understand it of course. But seeing the other qunari uniformly return to their original positions, the order didn't seem so mysterious. He wanted them to stay out of the fight. The Arishock drew his weapons, roaring as he charged at her.

Everyone in the throne room was locked onto this conflict. Ashley might have been disturbed by the notion of a hundred eyes watching her, but Hawke reveled in it. It was time to put on a show. The remaining hostages gasped in anticipation as the Arishock neared his assumed victim. Hawke was unnaturally still. The only movement she made was an ever-growing smirk on her lips.

The moment he was in range, the Arishock swung his weapon. Hawke's arms snapped suddenly in front of her. The Arishock grunted as he was stopped instantly. In a mere blink of an eye, red magic swirled around his shoulders. The magic formed an enormous pair of hands, it's nails stabbing directly between the weaknesses of the qunari armor. The Arishock howled in pain, kicked and thrashed in vain to remove himself from the magic's grip.

With her prey captured, Hawke leaned in close enough to speak only to him. "Any last words?"

The anger on his face slowly hardened as his breaths grew ragged. "Spare my men."

"Yes, so they can rise up and attack her again. Although that would be amusing…no, better just to be done with this." She began to expand her hands outwards, ripping his arms slowly from him. But his next desperate words caught her attention.

"They will…serve you."

She wasn't expecting that at least. It was enough to get her to pause. She ceased the pulling but didn't relent otherwise. There would be no escape for him, she couldn't allow it at this point. But her curiosity demanded that she hear the end of this. Taking her pause as permission, the Arishock continued with strained breaths.

"I am the last…of the Triumvrate. Kill me. Take my place."

"Your people despise mages. They'll revolt the moment she turns her back."

"The will of the Qun…is survival. The Triumvrate…is the Qun."

That was something to consider, perhaps…wouldn't Danarius just shit himself if he were to find out that she had conquered the Qunari? The possibilities, oh, the possibilities…the thoughts were enough of a distraction to cause her would-be assassin to go unnoticed. Tallis nearly had a blade to her neck when Sadie began barking and growling her warnings. Hawke could only manage to turn her head, she was locked in place unless she freed the Arishock. She was vulnerable, compromised. She hadn't had a plan for this. What the fuck was she going to do now?!

Tallis's blade grazed Hawke's neck but before it could manage anything more than a nasty little scratch, it dropped to the bloodied tile unceremoniously with a clang. The shocked elf stumbled backwards, clutching her chest. Zevran caught her, stilling her long enough to pull his dagger from her back and plunge it back into the base of her skull. He wiped his dagger clean along her armor before dropping her body near the other dead hostages.

Anger returned to the Arishock's face. Perhaps that was his plan all along, but it seemed his last chance had been spent. He screamed in pain as his arms were ripped from him. When he fell to his knees, he began shouting out to the Qunari. Qunlat again, of course. Hawke wasn't having it this time. She gestured towards the dead bodies, making them glow with an eerie red light. Their eyes all simultaneously opened and with a flick of her wrist, they immediately stood right back up and lunged for the Arishock. There was nothing redeemable about the noises that he made then. Pure terror took over him. But in just a brief moment his screams became distorted. The bodies became disformed, it was increasingly difficult to tell where which body ended and the other began.

The Harvester that formed casted a large shadow over the hostages. All seemed terrified of course. Each of them expressing it in their own way; screaming, crying, retching or pissing all over themselves. No one was looking pretty now by any means.

The head of the Harvester resembled the Arishock's remarkably. It was an unexpected but certainly not unwelcome outcome. One look at the Qunari told her that it frightened them immeasurably as well. The Harvester lifted it's amalgamated arm towards Hawke, carefully forming a finger to point at her. As unnerving as the sound was, Hawke was delighted to learn that her Harvester could speak. Just another testament to her superior skill.

"Sataareth say Ariqun."

The qunari seemed oddly comforted by it's words. The anger and despair on their faces softened considerably. One by one they knelt to the floor, sheathing their weapons and bowing their heads. Hawke couldn't help but gloat a little bit. But her momentary high soon fell flat into boredom when she realized there were no more enemies to kill.

Ashley's eyes receded to normal once again. Her gaze darted around the room, trying to make sure everything she witnessed had happened as she had thought it did. She glanced back to Zevran, who dutifully awaited her orders. Right…the blood had been shed, the battles were over. It was time to take control again…time to lead, it seems.

"Zevran, free these people from their shackles and send them home."

He gave her a faint smile with his nod before he set to his work. Locks were never quite his strong points but he had plenty of time to fiddle with them for the moment. Ashley would have to remember to thank him. She would have died twice tonight without him. He proved his loyalty beyond question…even when faced against Tallis…

She looked involuntarily at the Harvester beside her. Thankfully, there was no real discernable sign of anything that remained of her former friend and ally anymore. That would have been too much to take in at the moment. Why would she attack her? Was she working for the Qunari? Had she always been working for them? Was this why she was gone tonight? Had she been spying on her? Betrayal was a truly nasty pill to swallow. It was degrading and enraging all at the same time. The conflicting thoughts swirled viciously around her head until she had nearly forgotten where she was and what she was meant to be doing.

"Hawke?" Zevran whispered harshly.

Ashley startled indignantly, but schooled it down quickly. She wanted to speak but the words never made it to her mouth. She was still grateful he had pulled her back to reality, although it was a harsh landing.

"What do we do with them?" He gestured to the Qunari casually, but kept a hand rested on his dagger's hilt just in case.

The hostages had all cleared out by now, thankfully. They weren't here to witness her messy, raw emotions she was barely containing. The qunari still kept their heads down, remaining still as statues. She actually had to take a good look at them to ensure that were actually still breathing, living beings. Summoning all the commanding presence she could muster, she approached them. Stopping well out of arm's reach of the front line, she spoke to them. "Stand."

The Qunari obeyed immediately, rising much faster than she would have expected them too. Zevran gave her a questioning look as he gripped his daggers just a little tighter. Ashley gave him a gesture to calm him, but it didn't seem to do much good. As she looked over the soldiers, she noticed that they all stared straight ahead. Not looking at her, or Zevran, or even the Harvester, but somehow through all of them at once. Only one stood out from the otherwise uniformly outfitted crowd. Upon inspecting him, he seemed an odd sort of Qunari from start to finish. His horns had an abnormal shape, they heavily resembled a bull's horns. He stared directly at her with an odd sense of calm in his gaze. When she locked eyes with him, he didn't falter.

"You. Step forward."

Zevran shot her a disapproving look. He drew his daggers out, readying himself to end the threat should it present itself.

As the seemingly brave Qunari emerged from the crowd, he drew his weapon slowly. Zevran was about to relieve the man of his insides but instead of attacking her, he laid the battleaxe at her feet.

"What do they call you?"

"Hissrad."

"What does that mean?"

"I am a liar. A spy."

She scoffed. "You can't be much of a spy with horns like that. You stand out too much."

"That is why the Arishock sent Tallis."

She sneered at the thought of it, but schooled it back down quickly. This wasn't the time, not the place. "Is that why you aren't as obedient as the others? Because you're not a soldier?"

"I do obey. If I am to spy for you, I need to know you."

Ashley narrowed her eyes at him. At least he was honest. Intrusive but honest. "And what if I have no need of a spy?"

Hissrad glanced down at his discarded weapon. "Then I shall fight."

"Tell me what the Arishock said to you." She commanded.

"He declared you our future, our leader. You are now the Qun. We follow your will."

"And I'm just meant to trust it? Just like that?"

"I am no longer a liar."

She glanced down at the weapon herself for a moment, solidifying her thoughts. "No, I suppose not." With a measured effort, she picked up the battleaxe and hefted it back into Hissrad's hands. "The Qun will be making some changes then. Starting now, with this. I want unique names for each and every Qunari under your command."

There was a genuine shock in his otherwise stoic expression. It seemed as though he wanted to argue the point but resigned to accepting it quickly. "How shall we name ourselves?"

Ashley shrugged. "Anyway you want. Each of them can decide for themselves."

Hissrad looked down at the weapon again, his voice was quieter now. "And if we do not know what to name ourselves?"

"Then begin simply. Your weapon is made of iron, your horns resemble a bull. You could call yourself Iron Bull."

His eyes seemed to light up at that. "The Iron Bull?"

Ashley gave him an acknowledging nod. "It's good to meet you, Iron Bull. I look forward to working with you." She stepped back from him to address the rest of them properly. "Your Arishock gifted your loyalty to me but I promise you I will prove worthy of it. Serve me well and when I take my proper place on that throne, I will do for you what Danarius could not. I will give your people a home again."

Their thousand-yard stares just about all ended with that. They were by nature a pretty emotionless bunch, but she could have sworn there was a measure of hope in their expressions now. The Iron Bull turned to them with his battleaxe raised high above him, "Anaan esaam Hawke!"

The rest of them followed his actions, shouting the words so loudly the stone around them seemed to shake. Iron Bull turned back to her with a prideful smile. "I will lead them back to the dockyard if that's acceptable?"

She nodded in response. "Allow your people to rest for the night but report to my mansion at noon. We have much to discuss."

The Iron Bull bolstered the soldiers with more qunlat words and marched them out. Many of them seemed to feel comfortable enough to look at her now. It was a small thing, but it gave her hope that she had perhaps done the right thing for once. Once the soldiers were gone, the room felt unnervingly empty. Far too quiet. Even the Harvester wasn't making a sound, which truly just made the thing all that much creepier.

Zevran sighed heavily. "Dozens of extra soldiers under our banner who I now have no names or proper identities to connect them to. Do you have any idea how much work that is going to be?"

"Just make sure you do it properly this time." The moment she said it she regretted it. It had been a long night already. So much happening so quickly. She had thought she was only going to be sorting through political machinations tonight. Now Hawke had toppled an invasion and gained the loyalty of what remained of the Qunari. She lowered herself to the stairs, rubbing her hands down her face. "You don't deserve that. You saved me."

"Three times." He replied with a smug smile, taking a seat next to her.

"I only counted two."

"You miss a lot of things when Hawke is in control."

He wasn't wrong. But talking about Hawke always seemed to leave a raw spot somewhere. It was still too new, she reasoned. This dark side of her only manifested after suffering so much tragedy recently. Ashley was still figuring out the intricacies of it. It would get better when things got better…right? But did she even want that? Look what she was able to do now.

Zevran nudged her shoulder playfully. It served to pull her away from her thoughts for a moment, but that wasn't enough yet. "Well, look at it this way: at least we didn't die."

A faint but fleeting smile crossed her lips for a moment. "At least Fenris is safe from them now."

He chuckled a little. "I don't see any of the qunari trying to test your luck after what you did to the Arishock." The Harvester grunted as if in response. It continued to stare down at her with it's soulless eyes. There was an eerie amount of sentience in them, it made Zevran's skin crawl. "Yes, speaking of the…monstrosity, what in the actual void are you going to do with it now?!"

Ashley huffed a laugh. "Send it down to the Bone Pit for the next dragon nesting season?"

"Ah, yes, a worthy and entertaining battle to be sure. But, see, just one problem…It won't even fit through the doors!"

Ashley puzzled that around in her head for a moment but quickly decided that it was too complicated of a problem for her tonight. "That sounds like a him problem."

"That sounds like a you problem." Zevran corrected. "It's going to follow you until it dies…again."

"Well it's not like I can bring it home. Sadie would get jealous."

Zevran shrugged. "She seems content enough to chew on that poor karasten for the rest of the night. Really, she acts like we don't feed her."

Ashley sighed, resting her head in her hands. She was tiring quickly, her thoughts requiring actual logic were becoming slower by the minute. A sudden, but morbid thought quickly spiraled into a truly devious idea. She picked her head up, regarding the Harvester and the throne.

"Uh-oh." Zevran muttered.

She stood up, addressing the Harvester directly. "You are to remain here and guard that throne. If anyone tries to sit on it but me, eat them."

Zevran struggled to contain a shocked, incredulous laugh. "Oh what I wouldn't give to see the look on Danarius's face…Well, we've worked hard tonight." He offered her a hand to help her back to her feet. "And I'm ready for a drink or twelve, let's get back home."

"Danarius didn't show up."

"He probably ran from the city, screaming like a bitch and soiling his silky undies. We can figure it out tomorrow."

He was right, no matter how much she didn't want to admit it. There wasn't anything else they could do tonight and the Harvester would give him a proper greeting when he returned. She reluctantly took his hand and stood up again, cradling the residual ache from pulling the spear from her. "I don't like it."

"Yes, well, you still won't like it tomorrow." He gestured down to the wound in her side that was still bleeding. "Besides you'll need to be patched up before you anything else."

The throne room doors creaked loudly as they pulled them closed. Ashley nearly stumbled over the qunari that nearly assassinated her earlier. She couldn't help but stare at it for a long moment.

"Hawke?"

"I'm fine, just…Thank you."

Zevran gave her a knowing smile. "You could always give me a raise. That Wonder from the East at the Rose is quite the expensive whore."

"Right." She replied with a huffed laugh. "I'll consider it."