The Daughter of Tethras
Disclaimer: Don't own Dragon Age
A/N: Okay I'm forgetting some scenes, I'm also doing some moving downstairs in my apartment building, so if you see updates slowing it's because I'm both getting ready to move and redoing Bianca's playthrough and with a more authentic feeling. (This story was inspired halfway through Bianca's playthrough, my game Bianca romanced Blackwall-for one example of the differences-and went to save the Templars. I also have a Lantos playthrough for shits and giggles, he's romancing Harding, she's softening him up and Varric hates him). Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 15 (Alexius's Hell)
In answer to Alexius's request to meet and negotiate with her, Bianca travelled with Varric and Cassandra. Because they were joining Dorian and they wanted to keep attention low, it was best decided that Solas hung back as Dorian was a mage.
He would lay in wait to spring the ambush on Alexius at the right moment. With Cassandra and Varric at her side, she felt the most secure. Though a feeling of panic could be felt growing from deep within, she told herself there was nothing to fear.
"Alexius asked for you alone," stated the guard. He was firm in his stance and appeared ready to attack if needed. Bianca looked at Varric, then to Cassandra. She didn't like being alone with anybody, so even if it was an option, there was no way in hell she was leaving them behind.
"If he wishes to talk with me, my associates are to be present. Where I go, they go." She narrowed her eyes and hoped the plaintiveness of her voice would come across to the guard. "Besides…" She crossed her arms and motioned at them with her head. "Look at them, do you honestly think either of them are going to let me walk in there by myself?"
As expected, the man simply stared for several seconds before turning and guiding them to where Alexius waited. The room was a typical large throne room and guards stood in rows of three on either side of them.
Alexius's right cheek was perched on his right knuckles and his eyes stared down in annoyance at Cassandra and Varric. The man mustered a smile as if he didn't think she saw the disdain on his face.
"Ah Herald, so good to see you and your associates again."
Varric's head tilted to the side and he raised his voice above a scoff. "You must be insane if you think I'm letting her around you when you ask for her 'alone'." He stepped forward and pat his chest with a closed hand. "Whatever you have to say to her, you can say to us as well."
Alexius stared back and began to chuckle. "And Felix calls me a mother hen." He stood up and took a step down towards them, spreading his arms out into the air. "I'm glad you decided to come…I'm sure you have some questions."
"I do." Bianca closed her hands and took a step forward, moving past Varric. "Why are you so damned interested in me? You and everyone it seems."
"Because of the mark on your hand, the one you use to close the rifts." She opened her hand up and looked down at it with a grimace. The pulsing in her hand was barely noticeable when she wasn't focusing on it, but when she did focus, it seemed much more vibrant than it truly was. "You harbor a power that you know nothing about, it does not belong to you but to the master."
"Master? Who is this master? What is your plan?"
Alexius didn't offer much more through their conversation, but she got the gist of it. He wanted to see her destroyed, but then, she couldn't help but wonder what else was new. "You, this 'master' of yours?" She walked forward, spreading her arms out. "If you want me dead, you may as well join the list, because I'm sure there's plenty of people racing to be first up…my ex, for that matter."
"Then I would be happy to oblige him."
"Something tells me he wants to be the one to finish me, if he even gets close enough." Her shoulders rose and fell as she heard a series of grunts from behind. "Your plan is pretty much kaput, whatever it may be." Alexius looked up with a start, gasping as Dorian made his way to the group.
"Sorry to keep you all waiting, but I couldn't help not to make a grand entrance." Dorian smirked and bowed. The act brought a smile to Bianca, no matter how small it was, she felt a bit more comfortable. "This thing you've got going on Alexius, it is madness."
An argument broke out between the two men, but Dorian seemed to be handling the situation well enough. That was, until Alexius started to tear open another rift.
Bianca felt a sharp pain in her hand and began to feel a violent wind pushing her towards the rift. Varric called out from behind her; his voice was laced with terror. Dorian cried out as well and used some magic to try and counter whatever was happening.
Her limbs flailed and her mouth opened for a scream, but only air escaped. Her eyes were blinded by a flash of light, and her body was thrown about like a ragdoll.
When it was over, she tried to adjust her vision to look around for the others. Numbness penetrated her body and the panic she felt earlier was now flaring out of control. "Dad…" Her eyes adjusted and she could see she was trapped in a cell that was flooded with water. "Cassandra? Dad?"
Her heartbeat was vibrating out of control and when she thought she was alone, she began to scream at the top of her lungs. Sweat ran along her face and she looked left and right, trembling with fear and confusion.
"No need to scream." Dorian's voice snapped her back to reality and she twisted around, demanding to know where they were. The man stood up and craned his neck. "I am not sure where is the question, but when. Alexius tried to open a rift, but I tried to deflect it…it may have sent us through time."
"Time? What?" The quivering of her heart quickened and her eyes frantically scanned the area. "No that…that can't be." She refused to believe they were lost in time, even less so that they may not be able to get back. "What about the others? Varric, Cassandra, if we came through-"
"Then they would be with us. Since I don't see them…" Her hands flew over her mouth and she struggled not to let her panic show. Dorian paused for a moment and furrowed his brow. "A second ago, you were calling out for your father. Why?" She lowered her hands and shook her head.
"It's nothing."
"No. No it's not nothing. You're panicking, and one of the first people you call out for is your dad. Was your dad with us?"
She remained silent. She closed her fists tight and bowed her head. Dorian studied her closely and started to reach for her shoulder, but she pulled away at the last minute. "We'll find them, we'll find a way back."
"What if we don't?"
"Let's not focus on that."
She ran her hands over her throbbing head, groaning at the horrific visual of Varric and Cassandra being hit by the explosion. If they weren't here, then it likely meant they didn't survive.
The more she thought about it, the more she quaked with fear. "I am certain the rift only pulled us in," Dorian said calmly. She pulled her hands from her face and choked on a breath of air. "It is probable they survived, I am sure lady Cassandra and your father are alright."
"You misheard…I didn't say 'dad'." Dorian raised an eyebrow and gave her a skeptical look. She turned away and ignored the fact that he clearly didn't believe her. It was more that she didn't want to talk about it, not now. "Please, let's just figure out what to do."
"Agreed."
They raced through the castle, horrified by the red lyrium that was growing throughout the area. Eventually they found Fiona, who was glowing red from the lyrium and clearly on her last leg of life.
Alexius and the mages had been using her to farm red lyrium, and it was highly likely they used others to do the same. Fiona mentioned Leliana was alive and captive somewhere, which was a great relief for her, and she furthered that relief by saying the two that were with her a year prior were around as well.
With that she raced through the lower halls, calling out Varric's name in hopes he would hear. They managed to reach a hallway where she could hear someone humming a soft tune, it was deep and sounded like her father.
"Dad!" She rounded the corner and froze in horror when she saw Varric. He was seated with his back against the bars of a cell, he had a reddish glow around him and looked to be incredibly weak.
Bianca trembled as she walked forward, her chest began to constrict around her heart and she felt her knees beginning to give out beneath her.
Varric stood up and turned around. His eyes were red and full of pain. "Bianca?" He shook his head in disbelief and started to mutter. "No, it can't be. That-That's impossible. You-You're-" His eyes slammed shut and he started to shake.
Bianca gripped the bars and peered through them. A whimper fled her quivering lips. "It's me. I promise you it's me."
"I can't bring myself to say it." He reached through the bars, taking hold of her hand. "I must have fired a million arrows the day I lost you. A million one wouldn't have been enough…." His eyebrows rose in the center. "I am so sorry that I couldn't protect you. There are so many things I wanted to tell you, so many things that needed to be said."
Unable to stand any longer, her knees caved and she dropped to the ground. Dorian placed a hand to her shoulder and she looked up at him with her vision blurred by frantic tears.
Varric leaned his head against the bars of his cell. His hands curled around them and tears flooded his dry and cracked skin. "I see your ghost every day, I have for the last year. You…told me you were scared of magic, I should have done more to protect you. I should have done more for you." Her heart stopped and her eyes shot open.
Did Varric know she was his child? Was he talking like he'd lost his daughter and not just a friend or an acquaintance?
The trembling in her hands started to slow as she turned her head towards him, but her throat was too dry for her to speak. "We didn't die," Dorian replied calmly. "We were pushed forward in time. All of this isn't real."
"That's what you don't understand." Varric's eyes narrowed and he looked up at Dorian. "It was real for those of us that went through this nightmare. I saw her die that day." Varric's hands closed tight and he smacked the bar with an angry growl. "I failed her, I was there for a short time in her life and I couldn't protect her. What kind of…"
On the other hand all of this could be a realization he'd come to over the year, or at the very least the minute she wound up calling him 'dad' without even thinking. She was in such a frenzied state thinking that she'd lost him before she could even get to know him that she was spouting off without thought.
"We're going to reverse this," Dorian said firmly. "We're going to find Alexius and go back, to stop this from happening."
Varric huffed and crossed his arms. "I put a scar in his chest and on his cheek that day, barely missed his heart. My shots won't miss their mark this time."
They let Varric out and found Cassandra nearby, who also spoke in shock and disbelief over seeing them. Bianca felt responsible for the state they were in and hardly said much to them because of her own reservations. She hadn't gone a year without Varric, and even now she was scared.
What would it matter if she said anything to him now? He was dying and she would be going right back to the time when he didn't think of her as he does now.
Finding Leliana made the pain almost unbearable. The woman was horrendously scarred from the torture she'd experienced over the year, and she was bitter and cold-much different from the warm girl that held her in the deep roads.
Several Venatori agents scoured the place with pits of the key to Alexius's throne room, so they fought through the Venatori as much as they could. The castle looked like a pile of debris in every room, and the courtroom revealed a broken and scar torn sky that looked far worse than the breach itself.
The more they travelled, the more stricken with grief she became. She had her doubts that Dorian's plan would work, but she prayed that it would, and the first thing she wanted to do when she got back was hold her father close.
She hardly cared about anything else that was going on: Whether it was this 'Elder One' that had been mentioned or the assassination of Empress Celene in Orlais.
They did confront Alexius, and they fought him to the death; but just as the nightmare seemed to be coming to a close, a horde of demons were waiting for them on the other side.
Leliana removed her bow and Varric turned towards Bianca. "You guys finish the spell to go back." Her muscles tensed and the ache in her chest flared up without warning. "We'll hold them off."
She shook her head, unwilling to watch her father die. "They'll kill you. I-I can't…" He placed his hand in hers and cast a reassuring smile.
"It'll be okay."
"We're already dead," Cassandra said. Bianca gasped once and looked into her father's pain filled gaze. Over the duration of this nightmare, he'd been cringing from the pain of the lyrium in his body, and every moan he made she was certain she felt.
"I finally found you, and you're going to die?" She closed her hand around his. "I'm trying to be strong, but I can't. I-I've never been strong enough in my life."
He pulled her into a fatherly embrace and spoke with a gentle whisper. "But you are." He heart pulsed out as a warm feeling came over her. "You've been through enough, you are strong. You just have to believe in yourself."
"But I need you."
"The world was chaotic before all this, and when you go back, I will be there. You could make it even if I wasn't there."
"It's too hard."
"No it isn't." He pulled back and her eyes slid upwards into his. A smirk curled on his face, and his shoulders rose partially. "You're a Tethras, there's nothing we can't handle."
A sob stuck in her throat as she took a small step away from him and cupped her hand over her mouth. "We haven't much time," Dorian shouted, "We must hurry or we're all dead."
"You're going to die…"
"I suppose." Varric spread his arms out and grabbed his crossbow. "But I made the decision long ago that I would die before anything happens to you. Now go on…"
Cassandra grabbed Bianca from behind and pulled her to Dorian. She reached her hand out and held back a scream as she watched her father charge madly into the oncoming horde of demons.
Cassandra, who had already become one of her closest friends, was next. By now she'd been crushed underneath the weight of grief and could hardly take much more.
"Go now," she heard Leliana utter, "You have as much time as I have arrows." She raised her head with a whimper as Leliana stepped before her. "I helped ensure you lived in those deep roads, and I will ensure it here today. Go back and make sure this world never is."
"So it was you, I only ever suspected…"
"It was." She heard the twang of the bow as Leliana fired a shot into the head of the nearest demon. "Now go!" Bianca took a step forward, watching Cassandra fly to the ground. Varric leapt over Cassandra and landed with a painful shout on his right knee. He grabbed it and raised his head, letting out a blood curdling scream as the demons descended on him.
"Dad." She lunged forward and a cry echoed from her lips as Dorian grabbed her from behind and pulled her towards an open rift.
You're a Tethras, there's nothing we can't handle.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, steadying the heaving before she could begin to hyperventilate. When she opened her eyes, she watched her last hero fall. "I will make sure none of this happens."
She pulled away from Dorian and followed him through the rift. Her muscles tensed and her glare turned sharp as they stepped out in the familiar room where Alexius and the others were waiting.
Varric's crossbow was drawn and his face covered in sweat, much like Cassandra who was standing above somebody. "Alexius." The man saw her and fell to his knees. Varric and Cassandra cried out upon hearing her voice and instantly ran up to her. "Is that all you got? My ex could do better…"
If by better, she meant creating a hellish world and successfully killing her father and closest friend as well as one of her personal heroes, then she would be stretching the truth just a bit. Still, Alexius didn't know that and she wanted him to feel like the failure he was.
Either way, Lantos likely survived even that hellish year. The man was slick and resourceful enough to survive the conclave and almost every disaster, as well as sneaking past the Inquisition security points. It would be hard to believe he wouldn't have managed to live out Alexius's hell.
"No," Alexius said with a groan, "It's over. I've failed. I…could not save my son." She'd seen Felix in the future, and the man had become so disfigured and sickly that he wasn't the same person. Alexius's entire plan had been to alter time to try and save his son, but things went too far out of hand when the Elder One wouldn't give him what he was promised.
Felix turned away from his father, shaking his head. "We all die eventually, Father. You must learn to accept that. You spent my final days obsessing with trying to find a way to cure the uncurable when all I really needed was a father."
His words chilled her core, haunting her as she turned her eyes to Varric. Seeing him standing there, alive, filled her with such a state of bliss that she wanted to hold onto him and never let go. There were things that needed to be settled first with Alexius, however.
Before she had time to say much else, the doors flew open and the royal guard of Ferelden entered. Bianca's heart stopped and her jaw fell open as she watched the mighty King Alistair following them in.
"Oh my god," she whispered, "I'm in the presence of the King of Ferelden?" She hoped no one heard her, but wasn't surprised when she saw Cassandra smirk. Alistair stopped before her and cast a smile upon her.
"Bianca Cadash, is it? Leliana sent me a letter recently…it appears you're the young girl we rescued from the darkspawn. Impressive that you should be here today, I'm honored."
"No." She stuttered and cleared her throat to try and clear up the stuttering. "I'm honored." She moved her hand over her chest and felt the blood rush to her cheeks. "I-I don't know what to say."
"You've recused the mages from Tevinter grip. Had I known the girl my friends rescued would become a hero, I would have joined them in the Deep Roads." He chuckled and shook his head. "Unfortunately I was ill the day they went in, and Oghren wished to go as they were in pursuit of his wife." Alistair closed his eyes and sighed. "A long story nevertheless. You'll forgive me, I didn't come to reminisce."
"It's okay."
"I'm sure Leliana will be taking good care of you. That woman was worried about that family they put you back with, but it appears you've turned out well enough."
"Uh…" She glanced sideways and shrugged. "Sure." She didn't want to worry him by saying the family wasn't good, and Leliana had been right to worry. "So the um, the rebel mages."
"Right." Alistair turned to Fiona and his serene expression changed almost on a dime to that of great anger. "You kicked my uncle out of his home, made a mockery of Ferelden hospitality. There is not much I have to say." Fiona started to protest, but the King wasn't hearing of it. "You and your people are banished from Ferelden."
"But we haven't anywhere to go," Fiona complained. Alistair crossed his arms and looked down his nose at her. Dorian spoke up, suggesting that the Inquisition could benefit from their help-a reminder of the reason Bianca came in the first place.
Alistair lifted his gaze to her. "Ah yes. I'll leave what happens to you in the capable hands of the Inquisition, perhaps they will show you more mercy than I am feeling at the moment?"
In that moment she could feel all eyes in the room turning onto her expectantly. A great fear seized her as she realized this was her decision to make. "What will you do with them?" Dorian asked. "Will you punish the mages for their rebellion, or take them as allies?"
"I-I don't know, I…" She looked around the room and rested her gaze on Varric and Cassandra. She could take the mages as prisoners of the Inquisition for the rebellion they started, but what good would it do to shackle them up? "That nightmare…the horror we saw in there…was because of abusive magic."
"Let us ally with you," Fiona stated, "And I will ensure my people are kept in check."
"I say penalize them," Cassandra snorted, "But in the end I'll leave it up to you. You're a friend, you're capable, I will stand by you."
When Varric smiled at her, she felt a wave of warmth and euphoria flood through her veins. She remembered his advice from before, and knew what the best decision would be.
"You can come as allies to the Inquisition, not as prisoners, but you are to be on a probationary period." She looked at Fiona, hoping the decision was best. Fiona nodded.
"I understand, and I thank you. I hope you will not regret your decision."
King Alistair said a few more words before giving a farewell, and Fiona took the mages to follow the scouts of the Inquisition. Dorian also gave his leave, saying that he would meet up with them at Haven at some point, since he was interested in closing the breach in the sky for good.
Cassandra left with him to show him the way, leaving Varric and Bianca by themselves. "I knew you could do it," Varric said with a smile, "You doubt yourself too much but you're capable of making your own decisions and finding your way through trouble."
Bianca's eyes welled up with tears and she watched him turn around to start heading back to Haven with her. She wanted to tell him everything, but even now she was scared that the way he was in the nightmarish world was something he'd arrived at later.
Even now, she was scared of so many things. So she called out to him and he stopped to turn, but without saying a word she threw her arms around him in a tight hug while letting her tears flow down her cheeks.
Varric hugged her back. Her body began to tremble and she refused to speak for fear of stuttering or being unable to form any coherent sentences, but speech was unnecessary in this moment as she was just happy that he was alive and one nightmare had been averted.
"I'm here, Bee. I'm here."
"You died. You died trying to buy time for me to get back…"
"Yeah." Varric tightened his hug and chuckled. "That sounds like something I'd do."
So was that every bit as intense as you thought? There's a lot that happened here, and unfortunately for as intelligent as Bianca should be her doubt and insecurity clearly causes her to be oblivious at times...Future Varric essentially told her he knew her to be his daughter. I'm torn now though, I thought about the balcony scene of the Palace being where the reveal is, but maybe it should be earlier than that.