Yo! *Dodges hale of weaponry* Wait, wait! I got a new chapter for you! *Sighs as it stops* So, hopefully we won't go almost a year between updates again, that bit with Korbin was a bitch to get out.
- X Line Break X-
Blake pushed down the smile that threatened to spread on her face. Her father's gobsmacked expression was amusing, and alleviated some of the tension she felt as her hands pressed against the gun hidden beneath her jacket at the small of her back.
Technically, she shouldn't have it. It had been agreed upon that nobody was to bring weapons to the meeting, but Rose had insisted, as she handed out the break-action revolvers, that was political talk for 'everyone has a weapon, and if you think otherwise, you're an idiot who's not long for this world.'
Blake wasn't sure if that was true, or if Rose just had spent so much time around Orlais that she was paranoid. If it was paranoia, considering what she had heard about Orlais, she couldn't blame Rose, even if everyone knew it was a useless gesture as the guns weren't of a high enough caliber to break through Aura.
Blake scanned the room, the training Leliana and Rose had given her before Beacon kicking in.
Rion was seated behind Sienna Khan, Argent was behind Jacques Schnee, Katari and Krem were next to Whitley, and Belinda and Korbin were next to Team RWY.
Blake could practically hear Rose whisper in her ear, despite the fact that the Inquisitor was seated in front of her, slouching in her chair, with her head resting on the glove hiding her missing hand. What had they stuffed that with? 'Good, you found the clues, now put them together.'
Leader of the SDC had an assassin behind him, his son had two of the Inquisition heavy hitters. A mage behind the leader of the White Fang, with a templar across from him to stop collateral damage. Not assassination, Ruby and Leliana would keep that as the last resort, and never so obviously. Insurance, then. But why? Adam. They were lucky to have gotten the leaders of the SDC and White Fang in one room, revealing that Adam had intended to destroy Vale risked setting off the powderkeg.
"I'll start," Sienna spoke up, eyes locked onto Ruby, "You've been attacking the Vale branch of the White Fang for months. Why?"
"Maybe I don't like the White Fang?"
"If that was true, you'd have been harassing the Vacuo branch. You have more power there, people say you can't go into a town in east Vacuo without running into Inquisition forces. So no, it's something about the Vale branch in particular. What?"
Rose raised a Scroll.
"You won't like the answer."
"I'm used to disappointment."
Everyone watched as Rose placed the Scroll on the panel next to her, connecting it to the holographic projector on the center of the table.
A train showed up.
"This model was only used on one occasion," Rose said, "Mountain Glenn."
"So?"
Rose taped the scroll, and the train shrunk down to fit into the model of Mountain Glenn.
"When Mountain Glenn was abandoned, the subway system was left mostly intact. They only had a series of walls built over them. Roman Torchwick, with assistance from White Fang members supplied by Adam Taurus, intends to use this train to deliver several bombs along key points between Mountain Glenn and Vale proper."
Here, Rose tapped the Scroll, and the holographic train started to move down its tracks. As it did, the cars decoupled and exploded.
"They intend to use this to unleash Grimm into the city, damaging trust in the Huntsmen. Especially because they intend to do this during the Vytal festival-"
All the blood rushed from Rose's face.
"Son of a- Korbin, take Cillian, Pala and Luka, grab as much money as you need, stock up, and then ship off to Mountain Glenn. That's fine with you all, right?"
Blake watched as the train rammed into the wall, before reverting to its starting point and doing it again. Through it, she could see General Ironwood lean over and whisper something into Ozpin's ear, a serious look on both faces as Ozpin nodded his consent.
Sienna looked through it, "And you have evidence of this?"
Rose held out a hand, Josephine handed an envelope over, before Rose handed it to Blake.
What? Oh, right.
Blake walked around the table, completely aware of the fact that every set of eyes in the room, plus several cameras, were following her.
Finally, she stopped between Sienna and her mother. Resolutely not making eye contact with her mother, she handed over the envelope.
As she turned to return to her place behind Rose, her mother caught her hand.
Blake steeled herself and pulled herself free, trying to ignore the lump in her throat. She didn't look back, knowing that if she saw the stricken look on her mother's face, her resolve would crumble.
She hadn't even made it half a dozen steps before Rose held up her hand, stopping Blake next to her father. The message was clear.
Blake looked back, to where her mom was half-risen from her chair. Blake felt her breath hitch as she walked back towards her mom.
Her mom stood, rushing to meet her.
Blake's resolve cracked completely, tears running down her face as she hugged her mom for the first time in over two years, her dad coming to join them.
Unfortunately, the moment was broken by Sienna slamming her hand to regain attention.
"Who the fuck is 'Cinder', and why is she ordering my men around?"
-X Line Break X-
Silver eyes rolled back towards Sienna, red bleeding into them.
"Not one for touching reunions then?"
Rose couldn't keep some of the blistering sarcasm from leaking through.
The Tiger, for her part, didn't flinch. Rose could respect that.
"She's the one in charge of this. She browbeat both Torchwick and Taurus into work for her. Don't ask me how, I don't know."
"Who is she, what does she want?"
Rose shrugged, breaking eye contact with Sienna to look at Ozpin, "She's just a Maiden who thinks that Vale and the CCT are a Relic of the past."
Ozpin's eyes widening, his hand gripping his cane tighter.
"She's after the CCT?" he asked despite knowing the answer, drawing attention away from how Rose had phrased it, his eyes asking a different question, 'you know?'
"Yes."
That caused an explosion of whispers, every group arguing with each other.
"What's your lot in this? The Inquisition clearly isn't from here, but you seem to know quite a bit," Ironwood finally asked.
"I have an old debt to repay Cinder. She wronged me fiercely, and I have every intention to see that wrong payed back with interest."
"So revenge," Rose tightened her grip on the table as Jacques Schnee started to speak, "You aren't half as noble as you pretend you are."
"Funny, because you aren't half as noble as you think I am," Rose sent back the barb at him, before focusing on Ozpin, "Did you know Merlot is alive?"
Ozpin's grip tightened further.
"Is he working with her?"
"Not that I know of. He might be though, they're both good with Grimm."
"Where is he?"
"An island, I don't know it's exact location, but I can give you a rough estimate. I'd eliminate him quickly if I were you, we shouldn't have any distractions from Cinder."
"Where's Adam?" Sienna growled, baring her teeth and letting her nails dig into the wood, "I'm going to gut him like a fucking fish."
"The Inquisition captured him a week back, that's where we got those," Rose nodded to the paper, "but we can't account for any other rogue agents beyond the ones listed in those files."
"They better start running," Sienna's eyes were running across the paper, drinking in the names, "there's going to be a purge when I'm done here."
She threw the paper at Ghira's seat, lips curled into a snarl of disgust.
The Chieftain walked over, picking up the page and reading the names.
"I know some of these people. They're so young," his eyes met Rose, "do you think they might stand down if we make it clear Adam was working outside the White Fang's goals?"
"I don't know," Rose admitted softly, "but I doubt it. When we arrived, we had to do our own investigation into rogue agents in the Inquisition. We managed to convince some of them that the path they were going down wasn't in anyone's best interest, but others," Rose shook her head, "others were so convinced they were doing the right thing, we had no choice but to stop them."
"Kill them, you mean," Jacques accused.
"Yes," Rose turned to look at the CEO, "We killed them. I took no pleasure in doing it, but the ideology they were working for was terrible. We do what we must to save the world, no matter how much we hate it. I have worked with people and organizations that disgust me for the good of the world, thrown away deeply held beliefs for it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat."
Cullen reached up, and Rose realized she had stood up at some point.
Jacques appeared to be trying to keep a sneer off his face.
"Enough," Ozpin slammed his cane into the ground, "we are here to hash out an agreement about how the Inquisition and the governments of Remnant will cooperate, not throw blame. Inquisitor, might I suggest stepping out to calm yourself?"
Rose did so.
-X Line Break X-
Blake walked out, feeling her parents gaze on her as the door slid shut.
Ruby was seated on one of the benches, head between her legs. As Blake approached the Inquisitor, she saw something bright red pulse through her veins.
Blood was brown in the veins, Blake remembered reading somewhere, due to the lack of oxygen. Even in the arteries, blood didn't glow red.
Blake sat next to her leader, trying to find something to say. In the end, she went for the easiest, and most insensitive, route open to her.
"You alright?"
Of course she wasn't.
Ruby gave a hollow chuckle, a deep, otherworldly tenor having added to her voice.
"Just angry at myself. I'm normally better at controlling myself, you know? 'All of us can be tempted to harsh conduct.' But, I've pictured what I would do, what I would say to that-" Ruby gestured with her left arm, "and now I'm here, and I can't! It ticks me off, you know?"
"Yeah."
"And then he has the gall to act better than me!" Ruby tightened her right hand, and Blake noticed the tinkling of metal against metal.
Looking down, Blake saw the long chain clenched in Ruby's hand, her fingers pressed against one of the links.
"What's that?"
"Huh? Oh, this?" Ruby held up the chain, allowing Blake to see that each link had a red name carved into it. The oldest ones were heavily smudged, but Blake was just able to make out the names on the first three. Seggrit. Felix Alexius. Roderick Assignon, "It's something I had made after Haven. It's a silly little trinket, really."
"Can I see it?"
"Yeah, sure," Ruby handed over the chain, causing Blake's eyes to widen as she realized just how long the chain was.
There were about two hundred links, and even though each link was less than inch long, it made Blake wonder where Ruby had hidden it.
As she went down looking through the names, Blake wondered who they were. Until she reached near the bottom, where a familiar name sat.
Raleigh Samson.
"These are the names of everyone you executed?"
Ruby jolted back, "Maker, no! Do you think I'm a barbarian? It's the names of everyone who died because of orders I gave. Whether on the field of battle or otherwise. It happens, bad info, accidents, we lose people. That's why I always dread sending you on a job," her voice dropped, "every time I send you out of Skyhold, I could be sending you to your death. I've always been afraid of adding a name from the Inner Circle to the chain. I don't want it to be you."
Blake felt oddly touched, "I'm not going to go anywhere."
"I hope not," Ruby smiled, a blush on her cheeks, "I'm… I'm happy to have you here again. Now," Ruby coughed, storing the chain in her jacket, "Let's get back in there, eh? Doesn't make the Inquisition look good if their leader isn't there for these things."
- X Line Break X-
Iron Bull leaned over to Varric, feeling quite worried. "Hey, uh, you don't think Boss is confessing to Blake, do you?"
"Why?"
"Because it's still in Josephine's month. I already owe her more money than I really want to think about, so…"
"Oh. Well, shit. So do I."
"I'm losing money either way, I just don't want to owe her more."
"When did you bet?"
"I didn't think she would last a month," Bull shrugged at Varric's look, "What? We could all tell she was head over heels for Blake. She's read that book more times than I care to count, and we know it's not because she likes it."
"That doesn't mean she was 'head over heels' for her. She is, of course, but reading a book doesn't mean that. She clings to that locket, and she isn't in love with Princess."
"You have a point. But come on, Boss doesn't tend to break from a path once she starts it, remember when she nearly killed herself training after Haven even though we all told her to stop? She hardly argued with Cole about Blake before giving up."
"The Kid and Nightingale also went behind her back to drag Kitten to Skyhold, what was she supposed to do? Let Kitten go and say 'Sorry, I had no plan for this to happen, bye now!'? That would have looked really bad. And you know how Petals feels about making the Inquisition look bad."
Read: Ruby was almost cripplingly terrified of making the Inquisition look bad. While people supported the Inquisition, she was able to throw her weight around in Orlais, but the minute they lost it, they ran the risk of having to fight off Celene's army.
Bull wondered how Ruby felt about the Empress of Orlais rewarding the Inquisitor reuniting her with Briala by constantly trying to undermine her power. At some point, he would need to steal her diary. Even getting Ruby drunk (a task that involved spiking dragon blood and distracting her long enough for her to ingest it without realizing you had done so) tended to see her ramble on about rumors going around Skyhold than anything political.
It was funny, yeah, but wasn't helpful in gathering information.
Bull felt like punching himself when he realized what he had just thought. Gather information for who? He was Tal-Vashoth. The Ben-Hassrath wouldn't be calling anymore. He wasn't Tal-Vashoth, Tal-Vashoth was a Qunari concept, and he didn't follow the Qun anymore. He wasn't a Hissrad, he was The Iron Bull.
Still, he supposed some habits die hard. Katari still used his "name".
"They're coming back."
"Do you think they hooked up?"
"Petals is blushing, but I don't think so."
Iron Bull wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, he wanted his Boss to be happy, on the other, he really didn't want to owe Josephine any more money.
"Calmed down?" Ozpin asked.
"Yeah," the Boss stretched, cracking her neck, "Sorry. I don't appreciate being accused of enjoying killing my men."
"Understandable. Hopefully," Ironwood shot a look at Jacques, "we won't have a repeat of that."
-X Line Break X-
Ghira watched Blake and the Inquisitor walk in, still trying to decide how he felt about that particular revelation.
While he was certainly glad that she had left the White Fang, given the path Sienna (and, as it turned out, Adam) was dragging them down, it was clear just by the way they were dressed that they were a paramilitary organization.
A rather old fashioned one too, he noted, as Blake pulled out the Inquisitor's chair. Ruby, in turn, bowed. The antiquated gesture was fluid, like she was used to it. One arm behind her back, and the other at her front. Then she stood, taking her seat and looking at the Valen council members.
At least they seemed to treat faunus fairly, if the fact that two of the people who had entered with the Inquisitor, one of whom was his daughter, were faunus was any sign.
"Do you want to go first? We do operate in Vale quite a bit."
The man raised one eyebrow, "Then shouldn't you extend the same offer to Vacuo? You spend just as much time, if not more, there."
Ruby's eyes flickered to the Vacuo council representative, before jumping to the headmistress of Shade, Sauda, and then back to the Valen councilor.
"I'm not worried."
Ghira heard Sauda stifle a laugh, the dark skinned woman bringing one hand up to her mouth. The leathery skinned man beside her had suddenly taken the same expression one would see on someone who had come across the rotting carcass of an animal.
It was a well known fact that the council of Vacuo was little more than a group of figureheads, and that what little power there was sat with the headmaster of Shade. Or headmistress, as the case was. It was equally well known that there were members of the Vacuo council who were incredibly unhappy with that arrangement.
"We don't want you in our kingdom," he spat.
The grin on Ruby's face didn't shrink. Sauda's laughter grew worse.
"And what does the Headmistress think?"
"Oh," Sauda's eyes twinkled, "I'm fine with it. We only have so many Huntsmen, and I've never been picky about where we got our support from. I've been keeping an eye on your operations, and you haven't done anything to make me suspect you're lying too much."
Ruby nodded, before looking back at the Valen councillor, "So? What do you want?"
-X Line Break X-
Korbin stepped forward, smashing his shield into the White Fang member's leg. He heard Luka give a slightly mad laugh as she threw a vial over his head.
"Cillian!"
A spark followed after it slowly and a transparent blue shield sprang to existence in front of Korbin. Just before the spark struck a young man ran up, pounding on the barrier and mouthing something.
Pala reached out, dragging him into the shield just in time.
"Thank you," he gasped, "thank you."
The cave shook as the spark hit the gas, rocks falling down on several of the smoking Faunus bodies.
"Need I remind you that we're trying to stop explosions here?"
"Sometimes you need to start what you're trying to stop to succeed in stopping in!" Luka defended herself.
'I hope she realizes that doesn't make any sense,' Pala signed to Korbin, the Silent Sister taking advantage of the fact that nobody else could tell what she was saying, 'you'd think she would be more careful, after years in a cave in.'
"Apparently not," He grunted, joining Cillian in moving the rocks. Together, the arcane warrior and dwarf moved the stones so they could get through.
The other two dwarves, and the faunus, slipped through the hole, followed by Cillian, who had to duck to get his willowy frame under the rocks, and Korbin.
"So," Korbin said, "you sure seemed willing to change sides. What's that about?"
"This isn't what I signed on for. I wanted rights for faunus. Not to be a terrorist."
Same as Blake.
"well, you sure are lucky we came along," Luka cut in, grinning widely.
That probably wasn't quite true, Korbin thought as he toed one of the charred corpses, seeing as they had just killed people he probably knew.
"Come on," Korbin grunted, "we need to keep moving if we want to stop them."
"How did you even find us?" The faunus was following them, "we haven't been allowed to have contact with the out-"
"Faunus," Cillian cut him off, and Korbin drew his axe as Pala and Luka did the same with their weapons.
Four of the five faunus had guns, while the last had a huge sword with a serrated blade on it, a motor moving it.
"Stand down," Cillian said, "and we'll let you leave peacefully."
"Shouldn't we be saying that to you?" the leader growled, revving his blade.
"No," the arcane warrior said calmly, "I'm not the one in danger. Shoot me if you dare," Korbin saw a slight shimmer around Cillian, "but you will regret it."
"He asked for it," the leader jerk his head towards Cillian. The roar of the guns came after the bullets were already hanging in the air an inch from Cillian. The bullets dropped, heavy thunks for each one as the noise of the guns continued to echo through the halls. If Cillian was disturbed by the noise, he didn't show it.
"I see," he closed his eyes for a moment, "I apologize for what you're about to feel."
Cillian lifted his right arm up, his left holding the staff behind his back before swinging it back down.
The Faunus, as one, were forced into the ground as it shattered and cratered. Korbin saw a couple of chipped teeth fall as Cillian grabbed his staff, swinging it down in a arc.
Flames consumed the faunus, a unstopping pillar of flames raining down on them. After ten seconds, Cillian broke the torrent, leaving four incinerated bodies and one angry swordsman standing up.
"Did you thin-"
Before the faunus finished his sentence, the roar of thunder echoed over him, the lightning from Cillian's hand blasting him off his feet. Korbin winced as he saw the metal wrist guards of their opponent melt, the man's Aura the only thing keeping the metal from fusing to the flesh.
Cillian drew a empty hilt from inside his long robes, a blade springing from it as he span it in his hand.
"Do yourself a favor," Cillian said kindly, "stay down."
The Faunus forced himself to stand with a roar, throwing aside his broken mask and revving his sword.
"You really don't have much in the way of self preservation instincts, do you?" Cillian's dark skin glimmered with bluish-white light, before he launched himself forward, icy after images following his path as the blades met.
The motorized sword groaned as it struggled with Cillian's lightning coated sword. Cillian didn't look fazed as he struggled with his larger opponent.
"Thank you," the arcane warrior's voice hadn't lost its serene quality.
"For what-?" the faunus's question was cut off as Cillian's other hand appeared through his back, a pulsing piece of muscle clenched tightly as Cillian pulled his hand back.
"Ewww," Luka said with a grin, "why don'tcha do that more often, Cil?"
"You want him to do it more?" the faunus on their side gagged.
"It's not normally efficient," Cillian said as he dropped the heart, "it just happened to be in this case. Come, we still have a train to stop."
- X Line Break X-
Kali sighed as she sat down at the table, eyes drifting towards the side of the room to where the Inquisition was gathered. Including Blake. They had decided to break for now, reconvening tomorrow to continue the painful process of finding a relationship between the Inquisition and everyone else that both sides were content with. Vacuo had been easy, it was borderline lawless anyways and Sauda was right about them lacking Huntsmen. Everyone knew how bad it was there, so Shade was rarely anyone's school of choice and flying in huntsmen from other places cost more money.
Despite huntsmen being advertised as complete free agents, it wasn't quite true.
As if on cue, Ghira gave a deep, rumbling noise, somewhere between a growl and a sigh.
"What's wrong?" she asked gently.
"I… I'm not sure how to feel about that," Ghira pointed with his chin at the mass of people.
The Inquisitor was still in her chair, resting in it like it was a throne as she discussed something with the woman wearing a gold and blue version of the outfit and the woman with red hair. Josephine and…?
Despite her sitting at the main table, she had barely joined in the negotiations, leaving that to her four peers, merely looking around the room with dark eyes and occasionally leaning over or back to speak quietly with the Inquisitor, the blond haired man, Cullen, or Blake. None of them ever responded beyond nodding or shaking their head, at which point she would make a note on the Scroll in front of her.
Josephine was looking at her own Scroll, which was nestled in the crook of her elbow. Judging by her gestures, she was scrolling through a list. Occasionally one of the others would say something, where she would mark it on the Scroll.
Blake was talking with the blond haired boy, the giant faunus man, and the short man. Occasionally the boy would reach for his carefully parted hair, at which point his hand would be batted away by Blake, the other two or, in one memorable instance, the red headed woman, who did it without looking away from the conversation.
"Do you think they're-?"
What, worse than the Fang? Using her? Kali didn't finish the question.
Once it had become clear Sienna hadn't been involved in Adam's plans and that the Inquisitor had a very valid reason for harassing the Fang members in Vale, it had become even more clear that the duo were shockingly, and slightly worryingly, similar. Both were slightly cynical but still focused towards what they believed to be the greater good, both were quick to anger and just as quick to calm down, both were (or at least, Kali suspected for the Inquisitor) Faunus, and both held thinly veiled disdain for Jacques Schnee.
"We need to talk to her," Ghira said, sounding tired, "about the Fang, at the very least."
Kali nodded.
At the same moment, the Inquisitor stood, stretching. The Inquisition started towards the door, before the Inquisitor looked back at Blake, saying something. Blake turned around, walking right towards them.
Once she was there, she raised one hand, coughing into her hand. Her eyes flickered back to where the Inquisition was before back to them, "The Inquisitor formally requests that you join us for dinner."
What.
Behind Blake, Kali saw the Inquisitor's head jerk back, before she looked at Josephine.
Kali stood up alongside Ghira, who's lips had pulled tight. Kali could already tell he had just ticked off several strikes on how long he was willing to give the Inquisition the benefit of the doubt.
As they approached, however, the Inquisitor called out, "Dear Maker in the Fade! Did you actually use the 'formal request' bit?"
"Yeah," Blake said, drawing the word out, "it's what Josephine drilled in during training."
"Yeah, for people you don't know! Those are your parents, not foreign dignitaries!"
"Well," Cullen coughed, "technically…"
"Ok, so they're also foreign dignitaries, but they're your parents first! How hard is it to go up to them and go 'Hey Mom! Dad! It's good to see you after so long! Hey, me and my friends are going to get a bite to eat and we wanted to know if you wanted to come with?'"
"Blake would never talk like that," the black haired woman, Cassandra, pointed out.
"You get the point!" The Inquisitor said with an explosive sigh, "It makes us look like we brainwashed her like we're the bloody Qunari, no offence Bull," the last part was directed to the Faunus.
"It's what happens," Bull shrugged.
"Right," the Inquisitor sighed, "let's go get Drei and some food, ok? I'm starving and I want to eat as much as possible."
-X Line Break X-
Rose immediately fell into her trademark slouch as they sat, once again giving the airs that she was hardly worried, or cared, about what was going on.
In truth, it had been a deliberately cultivated image. Ruby had been sixteen when she became Inquisitor, they had needed to create the idea that she wasn't intimidated by posturing nobles and angry criminals.
She smiled across the table, towards where Blake was seated with her parents, "Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna, it's nice to finally meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too," Kali said, smiling calmly as she folded on top of the table, "but I'm afraid you have us at a disadvantage. We know almost nothing about you. How did Blake come to join the Inquisition?"
"Mom!" Blake hissed, bow moving back.
"Blake was…" Ruby hesitated for a second, "A close friend of mine, before I became Inquisitor. I offered her a position when I got a chance."
Not technically a lie. Ruby had been friends with Blake, and she had offered her a position in the Inquisition when the chance arose. That said chance came from Cole and Leliana taking matters into their own hands while she was busy bringing most of the Inner Circle to Vacuo and showing them how life worked in Remnant didn't need to be said.
"That's…" Kali trailed off.
"You'd make her your bodyguard that quickly?" Ghira inserted himself, "Blake's skilled enough, I'm sure, but that seems rather fast."
"Isn't that what you do with friends?" with someone you love, "Trust them with your life?"
Ghira nodded, "I se-"
There was an explosion in the distance, followed by warning sirens and Ruby's Scroll going off.
"Inquisitor," Korbin's gruff voice came through the device.
"Report," Ruby said.
"We weren't able to stop the train," the legionnaire said, "there was this silent bitch in our way."
Ruby knew who he was talking about, her face still haunted the Inquisitor's dreams sometimes, a sadistic smile replaced with a look of shock as the wind ripped her away, "The four of you couldn't beat her?"
"She retreated eventually," Korbin grunted, "messed Luka up something awful."
"Do you need medical support?" Ruby asked sharply.
"Not at the moment, ma'am. We stopped to patch her up. Probably not the right choice in hindsight, but…"
Ruby didn't comment either way. There was nothing wrong with making sure a friend survived, but she understood where Korbin was speaking from.
"So Grimm are in the city?" The Inquisitor hid her dread under a barrier of calm.
"Yes, Ma'am. I'm sorry."
"You did your best. I should have thought to raid it before now," That was her job, to think of these things, "Can you hold your position?"
"Did I hold off an assault of Darkspawn for two days?" Korbin laughed, "Ma'am. We can hold for as long as it takes."
"It shouldn't be too long," The Inquisitor said, "I'll bring a team to you and the Huntsmen are probably already gearing up."
The Inquisitor could hear the nod in Korbin's voice, "Then you and the Huntsmen should hurry up, otherwise there'll be nothing for you to fight! Cillian, pour some fire on the bastards!"
The Inquisitor stored her scroll, "Bull! Cole! Dorian! With me! Drei, come on, boy!"
"What's wrong?" Cullen asked, half risen from his chair.
"The team failed, there are Grimm in the city. The five of us will buy time for you all to get back to Beacon and get your gear. Come on!"
"Wait!" Blake had stood up, "What about-?"
The Inquisitor looked down at their missing arm. Slowly, a red aura bled down the remaining flesh, then over the glove. It twitched, then opened, the bloody aura making it look less like a human hand and more like a set of claws.
"Blake," the Inquisitor gave a fanged grin, aware her eyes were the same bloody red as her hand, "Even a crippled Dragon has claws."
"Darling," the Inquisitor looked over at Vivienne who threw something at her, "Catch!"
The Inquisitor caught the thrown hilt, spinning it while another memory rose up.
Ruby pushed herself up, stretching with a yawn. Reaching over, the newly made Inquisitor grabbed a book from her bookcase, walking out onto the balcony and sitting down with it. Only then did she actually bother to check which book it was.
Mortalitasi: For the Living, the Dead.
Opening the book Viuus had given her upon their first meeting, Ruby began to read with a zeal more akin to Bla-
Ruby's grip on the book tightened until the leather creaked, before she forced the thought aside to focus on the book in front of her. As she did, she listened to the sounds of the troops sparing and men repairing Skyhold.
"Put it on the table, Dustin," Ruby called as she turned the page as the door to her room opened, "I'll eat it later."
"When the porridge and tea has run cold, and you're rushing around getting ready to train with Lord Chancer," a voice that was most certainly not Dustin spoke, putting down the tray and easily moving the table until it was between the two of them.
"Cullen!" Ruby smiled at the Inquisition's commander, shutting the book, "What are you doing here? Do you need supplies? Tell Josephi-"
"Eat," Cullen cut her off, pushing the tray towards her. On it was a steaming mug of tea, a bowl of porridge, two pieces of toasted bread and a small jar of honey, "I insist."
"That's not important right now," Ruby pushed aside the tray… or tried to. Cullen held the tray firmly in place, "Cullen?"
"Ruby Rose," Ruby sunk slightly at the tone Cullen's voice had taken. It reminded her of what her dad or Qr- Ruby slammed that wound shut- would sound like when she was in trouble, "You will eat your food, now."
"Ok?" Ruby said reluctantly, reaching out to add the honey to the other three.
"So," Cullen's voice kept the tone.
"So?" Ruby asked.
"I came in here last night," Cullen said, "You wouldn't believe what I found."
"Uh… why'd you come to my room?" Ruby asked.
"I had a feeling I was needed. Guess what?"
"You weren't?"
"Quite the contrary. I found the Inquisitor passed out in a chair, again. Imagine that."
"I was in my bed when I woke up!"
"Yes. I recruited Leliana to change you so we could move you to your bed. Again."
"Ok…?"
"And then we found a tray of food, uneaten-"
"I wasn't hungry," Ruby defended.
"-So this morning," Cullen continued on, "I stopped by the kitchen to speak with your manservant-"
"I hate that phrase," Ruby cut in.
"-and said manservant," Ruby got the feeling Cullen was doing it deliberately, "Said that, not only is said lack of eating at night common, but when he came to remind you of whatever training is first on your itinerary, half the time you had not eaten your breakfast either."
Ruby squirmed in place, "I'm normally busy-"
"So me and Leliana went around to each of your trainers, including Josephine, and they all said that it was far from unheard of for you to skip lunch either," Cullen folded his arms, "explain."
Ruby frowned, "Explain what?"
"Why," Cullen said, "You seem determined to starve yourself to death."
Ruby frowned, "I'm not trying to starve myself."
"Then why have you all but stopped eating?" Cullen asked.
"I'm just," Ruby squirmed again, "I'm busy. Training."
"When I had suggested getting you a specialized trainer, I had meant one," Cullen said, "Not six. You're training at all hours. If you're not, you're either in the war room or up here reading."
"You're always working too," Ruby argued.
"I also take breaks. I eat, or play chess with Dorian-"
"-You like chess?" Ruby asked excitedly, "Why didn't you tell me that? Chess is gre-"
"I sent you an invitation to play half a weak ago," Cullen's rebuttal took the wind from Ruby's sails, "I'd assumed you didn't care for it, seeing as you never gave any form of response."
"Oh," Ruby said, "I- oh…"
"Ruby," Cullen said, worry in his voice, "You've been acting strange ever since we got to Skyhold. Is," he searched her face, "is something wrong?"
"I-" Ruby looked away, blinking back tears, "My life's not mine anymore, Cullen."
"What's that supposed to mean?" The worry had gotten worse.
"The- the Inquisition," Ruby said, "They need me. We were destroyed at Haven, Cullen. I was nearly eaten," A broken sob forced itself forth, "Seggrit burned to death, Assignon was stabbed."
"That's not anything any of us could have changed. Corypheus had an army and an Archdemon."
"And how's that going to change because we're in Skyhold?" Ruby asked, "I need to get stronger. No matter what it takes."
"Because a sixteen year old girl suffering from starvation and a lack of sleep will stop an Archdemon," Cullen rebutted, standing up.
"We needed to find some way," Ruby argued.
"And we're looking," Ruby froze as Cullen pulled her into a hug. Maker, when was the last time someone hugged her? "But you running yourself into the ground training isn't helping. I'm not asking you to stop, just…" Cullen sighed, "just take better care of yourself. For all of us."
"I-" Ruby stopped, returning the hug and trying to hide her tears, "Ok."
"Goo-" there was a knock on the door, "Come in!"
"Madam!" an Orlesian girl pushed open the door, "Commander Helaine has requested to see you!"
"Yes," Ruby nodded, pulling out of the hug, "Thank you."
The Inquisitor smiled as she spun the spirit blade, a white blade springing from the hilt before her Aura rushed up it, bloodying it, "Thanks. Come on, you lot!"