Alistair

Whatever he'd expected to find when they'd finally torn down the barrier to the house, it was not this. He couldn't comprehend it. Anders must have felt it, or at least heard the ruckus when Cullen had broken down the front door. Why hadn't he barricaded himself in here, why had he just let them find...

Alistair didn't know which urge was the strongest – to throw up, to rip Anders' head off or to just take Ashe and get her out of here. Cullen had told them that she was injured, but nothing could have prepared him for seeing her like this. She was pale as a ghost, blue and purple bruises covering her skin, defenseless underneath that filthy whore-son who was defiling her.

But he didn't let the shock paralyze him for more than a moment, his battle instincts kicking in quickly. He moved slowly towards the bed, hugging the wall on one side while Hawke worked a spell under his breath and Cullen covered him by standing between him and Anders.

Cullen's face looked exactly like what Alistair felt inside. A snarling mask of rage, eyes filled with a promise of blood as he inched closer to Anders.

Anders himself did, shockingly, not stop moving. He kept on violating Ashe in front of their very eyes. Either he had a death-wish or he had something up his sleeve. Alistair could barely focus on anything other than seeing red, the anger was so intense he couldn't keep his blade steady in front of him.

"Get off her, right now, or I'll gut you," Cullen growled at Anders. Alistair crept closer, agonizingly slowly, afraid to alert the mage of his movements.

Anders finally looked up. "Why do you even care, Knight-Captain? Can't you see she's chosen me over you? Do you think she would have let me near her, otherwise?" He sounded shaky, desperate.

Lying.

As if it would matter even if he was telling the truth.

Cullen voiced Alistair's thoughts a second later. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Did you actually think we were going to leave her here just because she'd decided to sleep with you, even if I hadn't seen what you did to her earlier? Now you get the fuck off her before I..." he silenced and stopped his advance when he heard Ashe whine and gasp. They all looked down and saw how Anders squeezed his hand around her throat, cutting off her air.

Cullen lowered his sword. "Fine, fine, I'll back up, just let her go, you're killing her, Maker's breath!"

Alistair saw Hawke move in the corner of his eye and something invisible struck Anders square in the chest.

"Get him, now Alistair, it'll only last for a few seconds!" Hawke called to him. He wasted no time moving and lunged forward, slamming the pommel of his sword into the back of Anders' head. The mage sagged and Alistair tore him off Ashe and threw him to the floor. Cullen dropped his blade and rushed forward to help Ashe, while Alistair pulled a small blade out from his boot and held it against Anders' throat. Hawke leaned against the wall, completely exhausted after all the magic he'd worked.

Just like Hawke had predicted, the effect of the spell he'd hit Anders with wore off quickly and the blonde man opened his eyes and blinked. Before he could do anything, Alistair pressed him down into the floor, his knee on his chest and his knife pressed so tight against his throat that he drew blood. Anders stared at him and said nothing.

"Just give me a fucking reason," Alistair hissed at him.

"Maker, she's half-dead! Hawke, heal her, please!" Cullen said desperately.

"I can't. I'm out of lyrium, I can barely stand, just... give me a few moments, I'll try to muster the last of my strength..."

"We may not have a few moments!" Cullen yelled. "That fucker never patched her up after what he did to her before, she must have lost so much blood, Andraste... Stay with me Ashe, please," he begged while wrapping her pale body in the covers from the bed.

"I-I will," she whispered. "I won't die now, not before I get to see that bastard bleed for what he did," she said and turned her head weakly towards Anders, who was still pinned down by Alistair. Alistair almost sighed in relief when he saw the fire in her eyes. She may have been weak right now, but she'd recover.

"Just say the word and I'll paint the floor with his blood, Ashe," he said, digging the knife a little deeper into Anders' skin.

"Don't." Alistair almost lost his grip on Anders when he realized that Ashe hadn't been the one to speak. That voice – he must have been hearing things.

"Alistair, drop your blade. You can't kill him."

No, no, no.

"What kind of trickery is this?" he hissed and plunged his knife into Anders' shoulder. The man screamed with pain but Alistair didn't care in the slightest. "Stop your sorcery right now, or the next cut will be across your throat!" he yelled.

"Alistair... you might want to look behind you," Cullen said. Why did he sound so shocked?

Satisfied that Anders was too injured to do anything to him, Alistair got to his feet and turned around. What he saw made him stumble backwards.

There, in the doorway, looking strong and very much alive, was Mahariel. Alistair looked, bewildered, to Hawke and Cullen, who stared at her just like he did. So he wasn't the only one seeing this.

"I buried you," he stated flatly, not sure what to think or feel. This couldn't be real.

"So I've been told," Mahariel said.

She was wearing a traveler's cloak, her hood down, her golden hair cascading down over it. Just as he remembered her when she was alive.

He shook his head in disbelief. Whatever this was, it would have to wait.

Ashe.

He turned towards the bed and walked up to her. He sat down beside her and took her hand gently in his.

His flower. His future queen.

"You came for me," she whispered.

"Of course I did, love. I'm only sorry we weren't here sooner."

Cullen, who were sitting on the other side of her, thankfully said nothing.

Mahariel approached them and both men tensed.

"Relax, I swear it's me," she said. "I need to help her, or she'll die."

"You're not a mage," Alistair stated suspiciously.

"I know that, Ali, but I am a rouge and I know my potions. If you just let me give her this," she waved a vial of red liquid in front of them, "she'll feel better in no time, and I can apply some salves to her injuries."

"I don't like it either, but I don't think we have a choice," Cullen said. Hawke also grunted his approval from where he sat on the floor.

"It's okay, boys. Just let her give it to me. Please, watch Anders while she works on me. I won't feel safe unless you do," Ashe said, her voice a weak, cracked mess.

Cullen and Alistair both got up and walked over to him. He was still writhing on the floor from the blade stuck in his shoulder. Cullen held him down while Alistair looked at Hawke who understood his question without him having to voice it.

"He won't be able to cast anything after the spell I hit him with and as long as he's in too much pain to concentrate. So I guess it's like Satanalia for you two, 'cause your job will be to keep him in that cloud of pain until I've recovered enough to incapacitate him a little more permanently," Hawke smiled.

Cullen grinned and shot his elbow back before landing a bone-cracking blow in Anders' face while Alistair twisted the blade in his shoulder. The blonde mage roared in pain before coughing blood that landed in Cullen's face. The Commander seemed like nothing could make him happier.

"You stop that right now or I'll stop treating Ashe!" Mahariel yelled from over by the bed.

Alistair snapped his head around towards her. "Why? What the fuck are you doing here, anyway? You think you can just walk in here, back from the dead, without giving us any reason to trust you? Why should we listen to a word you say?" he snarled. Maker, he felt so angry, so cheated. He'd greived for her, for Andraste's sake. All for nothing, apparently.

"You can yell all you like, like you always do, Alistair," she responded coolly. "It's not going to change anything. You have to listen to me, and I promise to tell you everything when our primary concern has been taken care of: Ashe."

Alistair grudgingly let go of the knife he'd been twisting.

He'd play her game, but only for Ashe's sake. And then, his old love had some bloody answering to do.