I am back people!

So sorry for the extremely long wait, was going through some terrible (and testing) times and I was kinda recovering from them. I also lost my determination for continuing to write fanfiction altogether. But alas! Those brilliant men and women at Bioware released yet another trailer for Dragon Age: Inquisition and I instantly fangirled and got back into the mood! Be expecting more chapters and stuff from now on. Afterall, the Inquistion starts October 7th. ;)

"Just as I suspected all along," Meredith's words dripped with venom as she sneered at the bodies surrounding Orsino, those of his fellow mages.

Hawke couldn't believe her eyes, in fact no one could (well, maybe Fenris could). Hawke had been true to her word and did not attack any mages who did not go for her or any of her companions. But alas they have become desperate. Good mages had turned to blood magic in an attempt to escape with their lives and thus becoming abominations, which immediately attacked anything on sight. Hawke knew it would have been tough to side with the templars, and she knew that after they took down Orsino, she would be next, alongside Bianca and Blaize.

"These men and women would have died by your hands anyhow!" Orsino snapped back, not even fazed by what he had done as he chuckled to himself, "the irony is I never even turned to blood magic until now."

Meredith began to shake with anger, "Do you take me for a fool? One does not conjure such a ritual from thin air!"

"The rite belonged to a mage named Quentin-."

The moment she heard his name, the colour from Hawke's skin started to pale even more than usual, her hands balling into fists. Images of her mother's death filled her head, those dull grey eyes staring up at her as she said her final words. Hawke remembered how cold her body felt, even though it wasn't completely her mothers. The mage had killed her mother just because she looked like his dead lover. Hawke never forgave herself for that one moment; yeah she had many failings in the past, and that she and her mother never saw eye-to-eye, but Leandra was still her mother despite everything that had happened. Now everything fell into place- the letters that Quentin received from a mysterious writer named 'O' added up and the jigsaw puzzle in Hawke's mind was soon completed

Hawke suddenly felt someone's hand gently place itself at the curve of her back, her eyes instantly met those of Fenris, who knew the pain she was experiencing right this very second. The look of determination in his eyes made Hawke realise what she had to do.

"You were working with that murderer?! Are you fucking serious?" Hawke shouted, physically shaken due to reliving the memories she had tried so hard to forget.

"I kept his existence a secret; I didn't need to give Meredith anymore ammunition against us."

"The Maker has come for you Orsino," Meredith spoke coldly, unsheathing her sword with those templars who remained, including Cullen, quickly followed suit.

Orsino raised a bloody dagger to the palm of his hand with a determined frown, "The Maker has guided you to your death!"

The moment Orsino sliced his hand with the knife; a powerful force swept everyone off their feet as the sinister, swirling blood pool circled around his feet. Hawke grunted as she hit the floor, snarling as she glared up at the mage. She heard Meredith clamber to her feet, roaring a battle cry as she charged towards Orsino, but the moment Orsino glared at Meredith with yellow, undead eyes, she was sent hurtling backwards, into the pillar and was immediately knocked out.

"Pair up people!" Hawke shouted her orders, her companions immediately siding with their assigned battle partners. Fenris, in his battle stance, was immediately glued to Hawke's side, his lyrium markings irradiating fiercely. He turned to look at the love of his life; her face was twisted into a snarl, her teeth bared like a wild animal and her emerald green eyes now darkened with anger as she conjured a fireball in her hand.

Hawke gagged as the lifeless bodies of the mages slaughtered by Orsino started being pulled towards him by the magic, floating in the air as they entwined around his body, forming some sort of outer shell.

"Oh shit…" Varric gasped, all glaring wide-eyed in disgust as flesh started to mould and congeal, twist and form Orsino into a complete abomination. The creature now stood before them, limbs protruding from its head.

"What the fuck is that thing?" Hawke shouted as she started to barrage the thing with fireballs, Bianca was matching those attacks by throwing orbs made of rock and earth at the creature.

But it came to no effect.

"It's a harvester!" Blaize shouted, "Aim for the head-thing!"

"What?!" Hawke turned for one moment to look at Blaize, who was preparing one of his Embracer spells, but she suddenly felt the monster come closer to her and raised its arm to grab her. Fenris growled and instantly blocked the path, pushing Hawke back as he batted the grotesque hand away with his blade, but he didn't see the other hand.

"Fenris!" Hawke screamed in a mixture of anger and fear as she sprinted towards the harvester to rescue Fenris, but was knocked off her feet by a wave of powerful blood magic as some sort of magical barrier prevented her from moving forward.

Trinity screamed and cried out at Fenris as she was held on the floor by the blood magic, noticing that everyone else was down too. Tears of frustration poured down her cheeks in a mixture of dust and blood as she watched Fenris get crushed with one hand and thrown to one side like a piece of trash. She kept crying out for him, but felt her life being drained slowly out of her. That blasted Orsino…

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder; Blaize was standing there, completely unaffected by the blood magic and grabbed her hand. "You go and save Fenris, I'll deal with the harvester."

"But Blaize-"

"Trust me on this! He's going to die if you don't do something!"

Hawke wiped the tears from her eyes, smearing the mixture of blood and dirt on her cheeks and gathered all of her inner strength. She stumbled upright and staggered towards Fenris, who was in the other corner of the room. Orsino's blood magic was still strong since she fell over a few times, and almost had to crawl towards Fenris. Using every ounce of her strength, she threw herself at Fenris' broken body, her hands trembling as she put her hand on his heart, using up the last of her mana to get his heart beating again. She looked up to watch the spectacle before her;

Blaize stood directly in front of the harvester that was once Orsino. Without any fear in his features, Blaize sprinted towards the beast, becoming a stream of darkness before leaping up, and he directly entered the monsters body by using his new lyrium abilities.

She could see a darkness coming within the harvester as it roared in pain, clutching its stomach as tendrils of darkness suddenly exploded out of its chest, sending blood and body parts in all directions as the tentacles devoured the body of the harvester, turning it into a pile of bloody mess.

The harvester's head suddenly popped out, walking on all of its limbs towards Hawke and the slowly breathing Fenris. She grabbed his sword, struggling to hold it before slamming it down onto its head before it could get to Fenris. She laid back, exhausted as she listened to Fenris' slow breathing.

The blood magic's hold on everyone soon faded, and Meredith was the first one to get up.

"The evil has been defeated; we must purge the rest of the tower clean of this blood mage filth. Starting with this one…" Meredith started striding towards Blaize, who was coated head-to-toe in blood and was catching his breath as he keeled over, trying not to throw up.

"He just saved your knocked-out ass from becoming some other limb to that thing and you are even thinking of killing him!" Varric stormed towards the Knight Commander, blocking her from his path.

"Move out of the way, dwarf. She is Hawke's companion and she has sided with us, so she follows our ways."

Varric chuckled darkly, "My dear Knight Commander, have you even noticed after all of these years that Hawke is a mage? How would she possibly let you kill one of her friends?"

"Then we'll let Hawke decide, Hawke?"

Trinity was too busy to take notice of the quarrelling pair and was struggling to hold Fenris upright. Sebastian and Isabella ran to their friend's side to help her with the battered Fenris.

"Touch one hair on that boy's head, and I will remove your pretty head Meredith," Hawke glared, staring at Meredith as Sebastian managed to pick up Fenris, carefully placing him over his shoulder in order not to break any of the broken bones Hawke had just fixed.

Meredith just glared at Hawke's companions, especially giving her famous murderous-glare at Hawke before ordering her men (and Cullen) to meet them outside.

"Now I know what Katherine went through back in Orzammar…" Alistair sighed, rubbing his head as everyone gathered around Hawke, "will he be alright? Fenris was it?"

"He's breathing, but he needs to get back to my estate…" Hawke spoke quietly with a lack of emotion, just staring at Fenris' crushed body. I can't lose two in one day…

"Let me take him back, I owe him that much," Sebastian nodded to Hawke, showing his determination. Hawke simply nodded in agreement and watched Sebastian and Isabella lead the bloody mess of the Circle Tower's main hall.

"Now we deal with Meredith?" Alistair asked the question on everyone's mind.

Hawke simply bent down, picking up both her staff and Fenris' sword with ease and strapping both to her back. Despite both the sword and Hawke's appearance, Alistair was surprised as to how much strength Hawke showed physically and mentally. She reminded him of himself back when Katherine lied lifeless in his arms after defeating the Archdemon. So much youth, naivety and determination back then, but that always matures. Like a strong cheddar.

"Let's get this over and done with; the longer we take, the less likely Fenris will have on recovering quickly."