.xxxvi.
"That was very foolish, my little bird," Danarius reproves as he leads her through a part of his estate she's never seen before. It's dark, sparsely lit, and unfinished. It reminds her of the Deep Roads, red light barely piercing the darkness.
"You called me by my real name. Hawke. Why?"
"Because it is the last time you will ever be referred to by that name. When I am done, you will truly be my little bird. My Ava."
"You can't do this," she guarantees him, working in vain against his spell as they move down the constricting corridor. "You broke the agreement. I know that you're trying to find Fenris again and I will kill you for it. You have no hold on me!"
He shoves her into the room at the farthest end of the hall. Danarius slams the door behind them, bolting it shut.
"You must forgive me, I didn't read the fine print on that."
She lunges for him again, no weapon but her intense hatred. He uses her chain to restrain her, smiling down as she struggles to keep upright. "You fight just like he did when I performed the ceremony on him, so desperate."
She jerks in his grasp, fingers going for his eyes. He tosses her across the room effortlessly.
"He didn't know what was coming. He said much the same thing, 'This wasn't part of the agreement!'" Danarius laughs, circling her as she lurches to her feet and attacks again. He easily avoids her, and throws her into the ground again, painfully. She's almost sure she heard a bone crunch under the weight of her fall, but it doesn't matter, if she can just...
"He fought so hard. For his life. He begged for freedom. Begged me not to do it. That made it so much better. I want you to beg, Ava. Beg me for your life."
Hawke pulls herself up, breathing heavily. "No."
"You will. They all do."
"All?" she repeats, "What do you mean 'all'?"
He smirks. "You can't think I've only performed this once. There were many test runs. Much trial and error. Fenris was the last. It was difficult to find subjects who could bear the burden of lyrium."
Enraged, she hurtles toward him again, only to be lifted clear into the air, legs swinging as he catches her up by the neck.
"Oh, but he could, and I was very pleased. He did everything that I asked, unquestioningly. Everything."
She digs her fingers into his face, drawing forth a roar, and gets tossed down yet again for her efforts. When she gets on her feet yet again, Danarius flings his arm at her, slamming her back into a levered table. Unseen hands buckle her to it, straps around her arms and legs while she is too dazed to respond.
"Everything," Danarius sneers, his face in hers. "He poured my wine and guarded my life and when I told him to he bent over an-"
She roars, so loud it startles Danarius mid-speech.
"You bastard! You filth, vile maleficar! I don't care if I live or die but I will see you pay for all you've made him suffer! I will see your death if it is the last thing I do! I will personally escort you to the Void and I will laugh as you suffer!" Hissing and writhing she tries to strike out at him but she is firmly bound.
He unlocks her collar, though when she tries to blast him with something- anything, her magic is still inaccessible.
"I will see you burn!"
"I think not, little bird; we have people to impress soon. I do love how riled you get in defense of the one you love."
Her heart is beating deafeningly in her ears as a tattooed man approaches the table, laying equipment on a small table nearby.
"I'm going to kill you," she swears, yanking against the restraints. "I'm going to kill you!"
"My dear, you won't remember making that promise when we're done here," she says, brushing her hair aside, and gagging her. "And when my little wolf comes to rescue you, I will make sure you are the one to subdue him. You will be the one to hold him down when I re-brand him." He laughs as she thrashes, screaming muffled curses through the material of the gag.
Hawke can't look away as the tattooed man lays out his instruments: needles, sharp, slim blades, and finally, several glimmering phials of lyrium.
"Maker!" she beseeches, managing the words around her gag. "Maker-"
"He's not here, little bird. Just me."
The tattooed man dips a needle in lyrium, and Danarius begins to recite some arcane spell she wouldn't be able to understand even if she could hear him over the rush of blood in her ears.
The needle descends.
The world flashes white for a moment. And then she hears screaming, faint and far away. Dimly, she wonders who it is until it begins to grow louder and louder and realizes it is her voice, she's screaming. Why-
Scorching fire roars through her left arm. It is pain unlike any other she has ever known before. Burning, blinding, white hot pain and it doesn't fade, doesn't stop, jest get hotter and hotter. She screams and thrashes; bites her own lip in the process and blood spills out of her the gag and runs down the sides of her neck. Nothing exists any more but her and the pain, radiating from her wrist, but equally intense all over.
She screams until her voice no longer works and keeps screaming she thrashes until she can't move anymore, forced to stare at the needle as it descends again and again pressing the luminous lyrium into her inflamed skin, replacing her blood with torturous fire.
In the light she sees something move. Easy to miss in the bright white light, but it comes into focus. A form. A person. They reach out to her, a hand she struggles to grip.
"Maker," she moans hoarsely, until the fire is too much to bare and she slips into unconsciousness.
Author's Note: Sorry I've been a little slow with the updates guys! I've been working hard (read: agonizing over how to not make the upcoming chapters suck) to make sure everything is as polished as possible before posting. I have no beta, so please excuse the errors. Feel free to point out any you see, I greatly appreciate it!
SecretCompanion: Your wish is my command;3
Knifeinthedarkness: I feel you, man. I want to strangle him to death, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to touch him with a ten foot pole.
Avatarfan444: So close, yet so far! It couldn't be Hawke to deliver the killing blow. I think we all know who gets that honor.
MC: Ah, I know, I kind of wanted to make him gloat a little more, maybe even recognize Hawke's companions, but I had already surpassed word threshold, and didn't want to slap too much into one chapter. Which I end up doing anyway so oh well. Ah yes, Tevinter nobility, with no concept of the rights outside of themselves, though, as Fenris said, there are sure to be some good ones. Of course we know Danarius wouldn't associate much with the good ones.
AmberJF: I'm actually recieving a surprising amount of people asking me to end it on a heart breaking note. It had been my intent to line up the ending with canon so that the events of the game continue once the story is over, but you guys really love pain, so I might have to divert from that!
IDRKIt'sme: I was twisting the ends of my handlebar mustache when I typed that. Like I said, I really did want to end this with everyone being more or less okay, but I might have to forgo that in order to bring on the pain!
Tanith'scrazytwin: I know exactly what you mean. With two separate endings, it will be so much more like the game, and everyone gets to choose which eventuality they'd rather see.
Soon to come: We're drawing to the conclusion of this story! What will happen to Hawke? And will Danarius pay for his evil? Is Anders still wearing that chest exposing robe? We just don't know! Stay tuned!