AN: Velasco does such a good job of activating everyone's parental instincts. Now, to throw her into battle!

Word Count: 2,313

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Chapter Two - Baby Bird's Bad Day

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"I don't like how they stared at me when we left," Velasco stated, eyes straight ahead of them as they made their way through the forest. The breach was in clear sight, hanging above them all as they scouted for demons.

"They don't know what to think of you," Cassandra answered, leading the pack. "No one has ever simply fallen out of the breach before. After the conclave, some would say your entire existence is a maker-given gift."

"Some would be wrong." Velasco kicked a pile of snow with her boot.

Their party was large; with four of Cassandra's soldiers, decked out in Templar armor with their swords drawn. Cassandra and the prisoner—Velasco, took a middle position sandwiched between them, for optimal safety. Between the adults, they had silently come to the same conclusion that a child should not be up in the mountains where hey could meet their untimely death. Cassandra didn't have a good feeling about it. If the world wasn't falling apart and demons weren't falling upon the world, she would have left the child locked up and safe until they could figure something out. As it was, the breach was growing, and fast.

"Aaarrrrgh!" Velasco fell onto her knees as the breach crackled, and her whole arm engulfed in a greenish light that popped with a deadly power. She panted, holding her hand out to the snow as Cassandra's men gave them a wide berth. She hissed as Cassandra tried to help her back to her feet. "I can do it, I can walk."

"We won't make it in time if this keeps happening, the breach is only growing stronger." Cassandra purses her lips and, turning to one of her soldiers, motioned for him to step forward. "If you carry her, we may have a better shot at making it up the mountain."

"Carry me?!" Velasco squawked as the soldier nodded and sheathed his sword. She looked between him and the seeker, her face turning an angry red. "I can handle it! I'm not some—some weak… thing!"

"Perhaps." Cassandra nodded at her soldier and he knelt down and gestured for her climb into his arms. "But this way will be faster."

Velasco looked like she wanted to argue, but with another flash of light from the breach, she squared her shoulders and shut her mouth. She looked at the soldier, who was watching her expectantly. "Let me climb onto your back then. You're not carrying me bridal style."

"Right, then." The soldier turned and let her climb up onto his back. It wasn't a comfortable ride at all, but she hooked her arms around his neck and he shouldered her weight like it was nothing at all. He discarded his helmet so it wouldn't be uncomfortable, tossing it into the snow beside them, and looked back at her. "You alright there?"

"Just fine," she muttered, not meeting his eyes. The soldier laughed, and it was just enough to lighten the mood between them all despite their circumstances. Velasco muttered a string of Antivan under her breath, more likely than not, something very insulting. "Go, before I die of old age or something."

"We have some time yet before that happens," the soldier murmured, and she kicked him in the side. The other soldiers chucked.

Cassandra led them through the forest, taking point as they made their way up the mountain. It was worse than they had hoped—demons were falling from the sky at an unprecedented rate. She cut through the first of many as she ordered her men to hold back and guard the girl, but two of the four jumped in at the end before she could be overwhelmed. She wiped liquid demon off her blade as the creatures dissipated at their feet, and shot an eye at the elf perched on her soldiers shoulder, looking like she wanted to help.

"You are to stay back and refrain from fighting. We don't know what we're dealing with yet."

"But I can fight," she urged, banging her hands on her guardians pauldrons. He let out an exasperated sigh. "Tell her I can fight, Felix!"

"Excuse me?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow. She didn't know anyone by that name.

"That would be me, lady seeker." The knight carrying Velasco nodded his head. He was young, one of the new recruits perhaps? She couldn't quite place him. "We were speaking while you fought. She said she's a rather good marksman."

It took a second, but dull recognition hit her after she heard his voice. He had been stationed in the chantry when the conclave exploded—she knew his brother better than she did him. "Of course, my apologies. And I don't care what her abilities are, she's not fighting."

"But—!" Cassandra cut her off with a warning look. She shot the seeker a glare, but didn't argue with her.

They pressed on—demons crept out of the forest when they heard their party approach, but the path was more or less clear. It was when the breach crackled and spit out a solid form of writhing demons at them as they crossed a bridge that their lucked turned. The bridge crumbled.

Velasco fell from Felix's shoulders with a sickening crack sounding somewhere near her, and she tumbled onto the ice.

The mark pulsed up her arm and she held it close as she got her bearings again, and when she looked up Cassandra was fending off a horde of demons with just her sword. She couldn't see the seeker's shield as she looked around, but—

She did see Felix, lying beside her. His head resting on the ice in a puddle of his own blood.

Velasco stared at him for a moment, unblinking, before the sound of the battle came back to her. Cassandra grunted as two demons threw themselves at her, held off only by the swing of her sword. Two of her guards were penned down by a rage demon, and the third was wobbling unsteadily on the ice towards a wraith shooting spells at them.

Nobody noticed the lesser demon creep up towards Velasco, and at first neither did she, too preoccupied in checking for a pulse on her guard. It wasn't looking good for him—his eyes were half open and his face had drained of color, but with the faint thrumming of a heartbeat, she withdrew her hand from his neck and looked to the others for help.

That's when the demon struck, lunging at the two of them from across the ice. Velasco had enough time to wrench herself out of the grasp of its claws, and the demon struck Felix's thick armor with a harmless clank.

"Seeker?" She called, but already knew Cassandra was busy. The other three guards were preoccupied as well, and she grimaced to herself. "Fine then."

The demon lurched to her right, and Velasco dove low, rolling to its left hand side and coming up behind it. She dove towards the ice where Felix lay, and hastily went towards his belt where his sword was strapped in.

As the demon reared up to strike her again, Cassandra caught a glimpse of what was going on, and roared, slicing one of her foes in half before stunning a second. She made it three steps before she saw Velasco circle around the demon harassing her with a belt in her hands, quickly looping it around the demons neck and pulling.

The crow planted her foot on the creatures back and yanked, choking it until it weakened, grasping at its throat with icy tipped claws. It stumbled on the ice with her on its back, desperately trying to buck the elf off of it until finally it crashed to the ground with a wet thump.

Velasco held the belt tighter and ground her foot into its heard until its neck popped and its struggling ceased.

By the time the battle was over, the demons had been dealt with, the soldiers had gone to check on their fallen comrade, Cassandra stared at their youngest member.

"I suppose I already know where you learned to fight like that." The seeker watched the young assassin shrug her shoulders. She didn't seem at all apologetic about defying her orders, and even less upset having to fight a demon or the threat of death hanging over her shoulders. Cassandra watched her warily. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." Velasco turned her head to watch as two soldiers gently moved Felix's body off the ice and onto the snow. She blinked her eyes as they laid his hands on his chest, and turned her head away. "I can handle myself, let me fight."

Cassandra looked between her and the dead soldier. She didn't have time to think about the girl's numbness and lack of reaction towards a person dying, but it still bothered her. As she unhooked a dagger from her belt and handed it to the crow, she made a mental note to give her condolences towards Felix's brother if they all made it out alive.

Velasco palmed the dagger, turning it over in her hands until she had a good idea of its weight. She favoured the hand without the mark and swung it, once, before nodding. "I prefer using a bow, personally."

It made sense; a child assassin could put distance between her and her target without ever getting in true danger. Cassandra tried not to stew on the thought as they made their way up the mountain, fighting groups of demons and wraiths alike. Velasco was quick on her feet and calculative-she picked out the easiest places to plunge her dagger, and didn't waste time watching the demons dissipate before her as she moved into the next target. The further ground they made the more Cassandra found herself watching the elf, more disturbed than in awe of her abilities if she was being honest with herself.

They made it past several ruined cabins up a slope—there, they could hear the sound of fighting and the screams of demons. Cassandra, reunited with her shield, raised her it and instructed Velasco and her soldiers to hold their ground as they approached.

At the sight of arrows raining down on demons and ahead alike, Cassandra jolted and charged forward, slamming herself into a nearby demon before it could make a mark. Her shield stood true, and her sword cut into the side of her enemy and it melted into the snow.

"Not a moment too soon, seeker," said a stout dwarf, adding another bolt onto his crossbow. He spared a glance at her company and stepped out the way as a shade threw a spell at him before returning fire. "Don't tell me—is that who I think it is?"

"Yes," Cassandra grunted, shoving a demon to the snow with her full weight. She glanced at Velasco as she and her guards dispatched of a shade. "you'd be correct."

"Shit." Varric grimaced and moved towards a group of demons harassing the rest of their company. "I'm not the shortest one here and I can't even be happy about it."

"Why are you huddling around me for?" Velasco turned to look at the three guards shadowing her, and jerked her head towards the three bulky rage demons wailing on Cassandra and the rest of the people fighting. "I've got the wraiths—go help where you're needed!"

"But-"

"I can run faster than you and the demons," she pointed out, and she was quite pleased when they turned and actually listened to her.

The first shade was focused more on the others than its surroundings, so it didn't get a good look at her as she slipped through the bushes; only when she plunged her dagger into its side.

Cassandra had cut down the first rage demon and made quick work of the second with help. Someone had iced over the third with magic so that it shattered with a well-placed staff strike. Velasco punched a shade with her belt wrapped around her fist, but it disappeared before she could finish the job. She saw it's ethereal head poke up across the clearing, and made to cut across the battlefield to finish it off—but Varric's arrow caught it in the eye socket and it faded from view.

With a crack, Velasco turned her head to look up, up, up at a small rift of power, hovering in the air like a shard of glass. She could see something on the other side of it, but before she could get a good look the mark on her hand flared up and she stumbled.

A man with cold fingers reached down to grasp her hand and pulled her to her feet. Her vision swam, and she felt the oddest burning sensation in her hand as he pulled it up— the mark reached out and latched into the tear in the veil, pulling on it like a hook, until the rift collapsed in on itself.

Sweat dropped into her eyes and she grimaced, stumbling back on her feet as the stranger released her. She felt slightly woozy. "What… what did you do…?"

"The credit is yours," the bald elf said, staring down at her. Something in his face seemed vaguely off. He watched her carefully, as the world continued to spin around her. "...Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I…." Velasco blanched, her face paling.

For a second, she stared into his eyes, a light grey with just the barest hint of purple. She saw him reach for her, concern etched into his face, before she blacked out and fell backwards into the snow.

As she heard the adults buzz around her and shout things, the green sky above her sparkled with an unimaginable light.

She closed her eyes, thinking it quite beautiful.

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