This story isn't just about Aedan and Leliana. It's going to end up encompassing their relationships with Alistair and Elissa as well, like this chapter. This is Corypheus' raid on Haven, told from Leliana's POV for obvious reasons. Unless you want it in Elissa's? You let me know if you want someone else's POV thrown in randomly. Elissa's always makes me laugh. Worse than Aedan by far.

As I'm motioning to an area on the map to Cassandra and Josephine, I feel something run down my spine. It feels like I walked through an ice-cold waterfall. I haven't felt that in months, no thanks to Blackwall, and now it hits me so hard I freeze, eyes wide, mouth open in shock. I don't know how to feel about this. There's either multiple Wardens marching up the mountainside or...or Corypheus has decided the Inquisition needs to be dealt with. If it's the latter, it'll feel like my job to kill that thing after what happened to the Temple of Sacred Ashes. That place meant everything to the Agents, to Andrastians everywhere, and Corypheus blasted it to pieces in less than five minutes. As if I needed another reason to hate that thing.

Being an Agent would obligate me to kill him. No, obligate isn't the word for it. I'd want to, but whether I did or not, I'd end up trying to. I remember that feeling from when the four of us confronted him in the Korcari Wilds. We...weren't necessarily happy to find out that the Maker was influencing our bodies. Elissa especially wasn't.

"Leliana? What's wrong?" Josephine and Cassandra are both looking at me with varying degrees of worry on their faces. I froze up entirely for a good thirty seconds, unexplained.

"I...am not sure," I say. "I just...I need to leave. I'll be right back. Bring Arin here. I'll get Cullen."

Cassandra knits her brows together. "You're sure nothing is wrong?"

"You know about my...devotion to the Agents of the Maker the best," I say carefully. "And to the Wardens."

Cassandra only knows because she was tasked with keeping an eye on the four of us while we were in Kirkwall. The less people know, the better; Josie included. I hate lying to my friends the most, but on a scale, my loyalty to Elissa, Aedan, and Alistair is at the top. If I know something about them, I'll keep it to myself unless told otherwise, and if I manage to actually get the reports Elissa tries to send me, I keep the Agents' secrets. Cassandra is the only person here that knows I'm one of them. People suspect, but then assume I'd be with the Agents instead of here, and the rumor dies. How wrong they are...

Cassandra nods, face blank. "I understand."

"You know what to do, then."

Whomever I'm sensing, they're moving fast.

"I'll find the Herald," Cassandra says. "We'll meet you here shortly."

"Josie, stay here. Please." The Antivan woman nods and Cassandra and I march out of the makeshift war room. We pass Mother Giselle while she speaks with a woman I'm almost positive I recognize, but as soon as she sees me, the stranger looks away, shifting so her back is to me.

"What is it?" Cassandra asks quietly.

I shake my head. "I'm not sure. It could be Wardens, or darkspawn. Either way, there is more than one, and if it's the latter, we'll have a problem."

"Your friend is not doing a very good job as Warden-Commander," Cassandra remarks dryly.

"Elissa does what she can," I reply. A neutral answer is the best opportunity to keep from risking further confrontation, and right now, getting into a fight with Cassandra is a bad idea. "For now, we need to alert the Herald and Cullen to the possibility of a darkspawn raid."

Or an attack from an ancient darkspawn magister that has it out for me. That's a possibility too.

I'm still working on how to explain Corypheus to the Herald and the others.

Cassandra and I leave the Chantry to go our separate ways; she turns to the left to head to the tavern where Arin is undoubtedly talking to Sera while I head to my poor excuse for a hideout. I need something better than this tent. I don't think anyone will object to me commandeering the caves in the mountain.

I need to just stop. I've been like this since Arin secured the mages' assistance. Seeing Aedan alive, even for that short amount of time, did wonders for me. I've even started talking to Varric again, and he's more than happy to let my teasing come out on him as long as I agree to tell him stories about what the four of us did after we left Kirkwall. And he is helping me work through explaining Corypheus. As it turns out, he and Hawke had fought the magister before, and they're the ones who released the menace. Varric feels extremely guilty, but when I tell him Corypheus is something the Agents should have known about and dealt with, he nods and agrees. I can tell that doesn't sway him; we talk about what we could've done differently to prevent this more often than not. I could've thrown that combustion grenade at Corypheus instead of the Archdemon. I could've let Aedan die.

No, I'm too selfish for that.

I grab my quiver and my bow before turning around and hopping off the dais into Varric's small camp.

"Never take that armor off, do you?" he asks.

"I've lived in armor for ten years," I say. "Wearing normal clothes..." I shudder and he laughs, making me grin.

"Spoken like a true warrior there, Nightingale."

"Thanks, Varric. I always enjoy being called a big sweaty idiot."

"Like Cap?"

"Yes, but Aedan's my big sweaty idiot," I retort.

"And that makes it better?"

"Maker, I hate you some days," I mutter.

He grins as I walk down to the lower level of the small town. I can only imagine the horrors Elissa and Alistair saw when they discovered this place. A cult worshipping a dragon they claimed was Andraste only to have Elissa taken and made into a present day version of her once they killed the beast. Part of me is glad I wasn't with them, but another wishes I was. Alistair says the Guardian wouldn't let them into the Temple after her, but I can't help feeling that Aedan or I would've fought our way through if we had to.

It's a foolish thought. I know we wouldn't have found her. She would've been gone before we could have gotten to her. When the Maker wants her hidden, that's how she stays. It's not hard for Elissa to disappear. She does it constantly, lately with Alistair in tow.

I brace my hands on the gates and shove them open. I can hear people arguing from the encampment Cullen trains soldiers from. The soldiers have stopped training to watch. My brows furrow as I make my way over. It doesn't take me long to recognize the voices. Slipping between the crowd's back rows, the soldiers start to stand aside so I can see what's going on. I find Cullen glaring at Elissa and Alistair while she yells at him to do something before...something?

"Elissa."

She whips furiously, mouth open to yell, but stops herself. "Oh thank the Maker. Will you tell this idiot you need to evacuate Haven? Now?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Why would we do that?"

The Warden-Commander marches up to me and grabs me by the shoulders, jerking me once. "Because shitface is on his way here right fucking now and he's bringing an army with him!"

"An army?"

"Yes! Are you insane?! He has Red Templars! There's too many for the men I left in the pass. They'll be overwhelmed soon. You. Need. To. Get. Out. Now."

Cullen sighs, massaging his temples. "Please tell me you aren't taking her seriously, Spymaster."

I frown. "Why wouldn't I?"

Cullen groans and beckons me after him. "The lot of you! Get back to work!" He walks a little ways away from the tents while the recruits return to their sparring. The two Wardens are whispering to themselves, gesturing frantically to the pass they came through. Cullen turns to me when he stops, leaning on a tree. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you believe them?"

"Because they're my friends and I trust them? Is this a rhetorical question?"

"No," he says, sighing. "I just find it hard to believe. What are Red Templars? How does...'shitface' have an army of them? Why would he come to Haven?"

I glance over my shoulder back at my friends. They're still whispering, but now it's more heated. They are both frustrated. Looking back to Cullen, I say, "Commander, Red Templars are Meredith. They took red lyrium and are now corrupted because of it. They...they are what the Agents have been battling with for the last few months. They keep intercepting reports Elissa and I send to one another, and are learning things about the Inquisition and the Agents that they shouldn't. And...shitface, as Elissa calls him, is the Elder One."

He keeps his face carefully blank, but the mounting anger is apparent in his eyes. "And you're just telling us about this now?"

I ignore the question. "The four of us have been hunting him for years now, but his Templars have been too distracting. The Elder One...he's not what you think. He claims to be one of the Tevinter magisters that entered the Golden City. I wouldn't believe it if the darkspawn didn't revere him as a god, and if Elissa didn't confirm it herself."

"You expect me to believe this, let alone the Herald? He's a Dalish elf, Spymaster. This story is far-stretched even for me, and-"

"The lyrium...it tastes like fire," a voice says. "If I march here, maybe I'll die. Maybe the pain will go away..." I turn to see a...boy standing behind me. He's wearing a hat, a ridiculous hat, and has his face hidden by it. He's looking at his hands as he plays with them. "They're coming, Inquisition. They come to burn and to bleed and to kill. You stand to fight when you should run."

I give Cullen a look and he makes a surrendering motion with his hands. "Fine, Spymaster. You do what you want with the Agents. I'll get the soldiers inside."

"Good."

Before Cullen and I start back to the camp, the sounds of the sparring die at once.

"Get down!" Elissa shouts. I run back to them, shoving past the strange kid, but Alistair grabs me by the wrist and jerks me behind some barrels. Not a moment later, hundreds of arrows rain down upon the small camp. People scream around us, Elissa included. Alistair yells at her to get over here, to hide, but she stands right in the middle of the tents, staring at the pass. "Quick, while they reload. Leliana, help me!"

I scramble to my feet and rush to her side, refusing to be sidetracked by the rapid appearance of torches storming towards Haven. She has her bow in hand, arrow at the ready, aimed at the monster stalking forward. Alistair follows me to her side, and even from this distance, I can see his sneer as he spots us.

"Guess we were uninvited," Elissa says.

I pull my bow off my shoulder and load an arrow. "Now you're invited to the party."

"Excellent!" she replies a little too enthusiastically for it to be normal. "Now let's kill this thing before he can do more damage."

Behind us, Cullen is ushering the soldiers back into Haven. "Warn Arin!" I yell back at him. Then I bring up my bow, not bothering to make sure he heard, and pull back on the bowstring. I aim it several feet above Corypheus' head to make sure the arrow gets where it needs to.

"Wait for it," Elissa says. "Wait for it..." The ground shakes under the weight of something huge. "Dammit, they didn't kill it. Ugh." I don't ask; I have a good idea of what she's talking about. I hear the sound of bowstrings being pulled back. Hundreds. Most, if not all, are concentrated on us. "Now."

I make a last second adjustment to the angle of my bow before firing. Elissa fires a half a second before I do, and as our arrows sail towards their target, the bowstrings from the Red Templars snap. A sea of fire-tipped steel flies above our heads.

"Oh shit," Elissa says. "Did not think of that..."

I feel something wash over me, but I don't pay much attention to it. I take a step back, eyes wide, as the arrows begin their descent on us. Andraste's ass! How are we supposed to survive that?! I flinch, looking down, accepting my imminent death, as I feel one hit me. But there's no pain. Scores of fiery arrows bounce off my armor and clothes, harmlessly extinguishing themselves in the snow and dirt.

"Ha! It worked! Son of a bitch."

"Nice timing," Alistair says, resting a hand on Elissa's shoulder. "I think some of it is still working too. Good shield."

On our left, the sound of fighting erupts by one of the trebuchets. My head snaps around and I take off towards it. "Leliana!" I hear Elissa and Alistair race after me. I cut through a side path barely wide enough for me to slip through, skipping going around past the blacksmith's.

My heart practically stops beating.

I skid to a stop, eyes widening, at the sight of the monster towering above the Inquisition soldiers. Red lyrium grows from its skin, its eyes radiate a red glow, and its one arm...the entire thing is covered in the Tainted lyrium, forming a rather potent weapon for it to swing. The soldiers do their best to avoid it, but even at that size, its fast. Their weapons barely hurt it.

"Oh look! Jackass is back," Elissa says, jogging up to my side. "Hey! Asshat!"

The monster turns towards the three of us.

"You are such an idiot," I growl.

Elissa laughs. "Nope, just crazy." I draw an arrow while her and Alistair run to the beast. The Inquisition soldiers run back to avoid it, dragging injured friends out of its range. Alistair takes it on directly, ducking beneath his shield every time the lyrium arm swings at him. Whatever that shield is made of...it's strong. Alistair doesn't budge when it collides with him. And while it is distracted, Elissa climbs up the trebuchet.

"Some help-" Alistair grunts, looking back at me. "-would be great!"

"Oh. Right."

I grab an arrow, but instead of firing it, I throw it. The broadhead slams into the exposed eye. Or what I suppose would be the eye, at least. The beast rears back, staggering closer to the trebuchet, and just when it's about to fall back on it, Elissa leaps onto its back with enough force to knock it forward. The monster stumbles a few feet and collapses, giving the Warden that hit it the chance to drive her sword into the back of its head.

She heaves a huge breath, looking up at Alistair and I with a grin on her face. She ruffles the back of her hair as she climbs off with her bronze weapon. "Just like killing ogres with you guys."

"Except that thing is about five times as large."

"And uglier," I add, frowning. "What is it anyway?"

Elissa snorts a laugh. "You would be the one to say it was uglier." I walk up to it, crouching by its head, when the red lyrium arm lashes out. It connects with my torso and throws me back several yards. The air is expelled from my lungs when I hit the stone outcropping blocking the trebuchet from Haven's view. My head hits the rock hard enough to make my vision turn red. I fall into the snow with a groan, holding my eyes shut to ward off the incoming headache. It washes over me with a vengeance, deafening me to the world.

Did not see that coming.

I draw in a huge breath to fill my lungs while putting my hands beneath my chest. My ears are ringing as I push myself to my knees. My bow is somewhere, but I don't see it. All I can focus on is the hand in front of my face, glowing blue, sending waves of healing energy through my body. It's a calming feeling, one that soothes every ache and hurt in the body, and I expect Elissa to be behind it, but instead, I see Solas.

"And you expect to kill me one day?"

I grit my teeth. "Not me."

"You will be there though. Undoubtedly. If a beast such as that can knock you down so easily, how can you hope to defeat me?"

I glower at him. "Go back to your spells, mage. The Herald could use the assistance."

He snorts as I stagger towards my bow, hugging my side. I bend down to scoop it up and wince. Whatever Solas did...it didn't heal whatever is wrong with my side. I inhale, but I get less air than I intended. My lungs ache.

"Liss? I can hear it!"

"So can I! Leliana?" She turns to me after finishing off one of the recent Templar arrivals. "Leliana!"

"I'm fine," I snap. I reach for an arrow and fire it to prove my point. A Red Templar falls in response, but the ache in my chest stops me from firing another. I double over, hands on my knees, as I heave for air. Maker, if this is what Elissa goes through when she has one of her attacks, I feel horrible for making her run through that forest.

"Watch out!"

I glance up to see a sword coming for my neck, and without any other options, I look over my shoulder at the twenty foot drop, back at the Templar, and flip backwards. I land on my feet a moment later only to find more Templars surrounding me. They're everywhere! It's ridiculous!

I draw in the deepest breath I can manage and hold it. In the span of time I take to exhale, I get three arrows fired off before having to retreat. I sling my bow over my shoulder as they close on me, holding my hands out flat. One man approaches, shield bent towards him at an angle, and I take my chance. I empty and fill my lungs as best as I can again. Then I run and leap onto his shield. As he pushes up to throw me off, I place my foot near the bottom and shove. He throws me well over halfway up the small cliff, but as I come down, I realize I'm going to land on my face. I stick my hands out, pushing up before my weight can settle, and launch myself back over the edge. I land on my feet somehow only to have a Templar detach from his duel with Cassandra to attack me.

"Cassandra... Potion! Now!"

I duck under the Templar's sword, get my hand around the hilt of my dagger, and tackle the man. I slit his throat, ignoring the spurt of blood, and get to my feet. Cassandra tosses me a stamina potion when the Templar she's fighting backs off, and I down it quickly, blinking several times. My lungs start to function; my muscles don't ache as much.

I notice Arin and a group of Inquisition soldiers preparing to fire the trebuchet, but then I also see a black mass swooping down on them.

"Dragon!" I shout.

Just as it fires, a huge fireball blasts it to pieces.

"I thought you killed that thing!" Elissa shouts.

"I did!"

"Well, apparently it doesn't know that it's supposed to be dead!"

I grab my other dagger to help block a blade coming for my side. With a flick of my wrist, I send the weapon flying. I kick the Templar back and advance, sidestepping his shield bash. I pass his guard and stab his chest with one dagger, and his stomach with the other.

"You're the Warden!" I retort. "You can't tell that's not an Archdemon?!"

"Oh. Yeah, I guess so. Duck!"

I drop to my knees as she throws a small knife across the battlefield. I hear a fleshy thwack from behind and spin, shoving one dagger back into its scabbard as I go. I rip Elissa's throwing knife from the Templar's throat and whip back around, throwing it into the Templar she's fighting. He cries out and reaches up to the wound, but Elissa already takes her knife from him.

"Nice shot," she calls.

"Fall back!" Arin yells. "Back to Haven! Move!"

The seven of us make a break for it, stopping the fights instantly. The Red Templars give chase, but between Solas, Elissa, and Arin, they fall behind us under several fireballs. Arin and his companions go around past the blacksmith to respond to his cries for help while the three of us continue to the gates. Cullen, the strange boy from earlier, and several Inquisition soldiers are keeping a crowd of Templars from getting in, but they're on the verge of being overwhelmed. Elissa drops a chunk of them with lightning bolts and arrows while Alistair runs one through. I don't kill any; I'm too busy looking back at the cliff where Corypheus and...Samson! Maker's blood, what is this world coming to?

"Andraste's ass!"

"Leliana!" Elissa looks shocked that I'd even say something like that. The soldiers have finished off the rest of the Templars and are now waiting for the Herald.

"It's Samson," I say, pointing. "He's working with Corypheus."

"What?!" Cullen demands. He pushes past his men, eyes widening in surprise. "Maker's blood. It is him."

"What's he doing?" Elissa says.

The dragon roars as it comes back around for another pass. "Don't care; back inside!" I run backwards a few steps before spinning and slipping through the gates. Cullen and his men follow, the Herald and his companions right behind them. The soldiers shut the wooden doors behind us and drop the bar sealing us inside.

"To the Chantry," Cullen orders. "Come on!" He takes his soldiers and races off to do just that.

"Leliana, go with them," Arin says, brows furrowed. "See if you can get anyone off this blasted mountain."

I nod, out of breath, and beckon for the two Wardens to follow. We run through Haven at a sprint and get to the Chantry just after Cullen. He closes the doors behind us, stationing two men to watch out for the Herald's return.

"There's no way out of Haven," Cullen says, squeezing his eyes shut in frustration. "We're all going to die on this mountain and the Elder One won't have anyone to oppose him."

"Actually," Elissa interrupts. "We do have a way to get the townsfolk out of here."

"You know another way down?" Cullen demands.

She nods grimly. "I used it myself after..." She glances at Alistair. "I used it, all right? But there's no way we're getting anyone out with that many Red Templars knocking. Haven will be overwhelmed too quickly for it to work."

"There's one more trebuchet," I say. "Inside the walls. If someone could fire it-"

"Yes!" Elissa exclaims. "Yes, that could work."

"This escape route?" Cullen presses desperately.

Elissa turns to me, face blank like it always is before something life-changing. "Take them into the mountain. Follow the path to the Temple, but in the cavern with the remains of the dragon, head to the north wall. Look for the eye. Press your dagger into it and tell the Guardian you are an Agent of the Maker. He'll let you pass. You should come out a day's walk from Orzammar."

"And who fires the trebuchet?" Cullen asks.

The way Elissa looks down, I know the answer. "Her and Alistair."

"Yeah," she says softly. "After all, it'll save the Herald, and it is our job to protect him."

"I'll go with you," I volunteer.

Elissa shakes her head. "Only an Agent can open the passage, Leliana. You have to go."

"I can't just let you and Alistair die!"

"Born to die, remember?" Elissa smiles reassuringly. "It'll be all right. You go with the Inquisition and stop Corypheus. Alistair and I will do what we can to help." The blond man nods, mouth set in a grim line. "You're not just an Agent after all. You're the Spymaster for the Inquisition. Far more important right now than either of us." I start to object, but she holds up a hand. "There's no guarantee we'll die, but if we do, I want you to lead the Agents. Aedan is too distracted by the Wardens to risk it. You know what needs to be done. You get out of here and make sure Thedas knows what's going on. You get a message to the Agents and tell them to mobilize. Understand?"

I just nod. How can I agree to letting one of my closest friends, my husband's sister, die? How can I let the heir to the Fereldan throne sacrifice herself like this?

Elissa hugs me. "You go because Aedan will need you. Think of him. It'll make this easier."

I hug her back. "If you live, you better tell me as soon as you can."

"Of course."

I release her, and she steps back. "You be careful," Alistair says. I nod as I hug him too.

Then they start for the doors. "May the Maker watch over you."

"May He watch over us all," Elissa replies softly. They're gone a moment later, and as of now, I could be the last original Agent of the Maker standing in this part of Thedas.

Elissa is right. I need to go for Aedan if not for the Inquisition. But how will he be able to forgive me when he finds out how his twin died?