"So…uh," Varric said to me as we walked through the darkened courtyard of the Chantry, "why are we not at least bringing Aveline?"
"That, my dear friend, is because Aveline," I replied watching the shadows carefully, "is up for promotion, and if she gets caught up in this mess, what do you think might happen?"
"Good point," Varric sighed, "why couldn't you leave me at the Hanged Man too then?"
"Because we're partners!" I said gleefully as we walked up the chantry steps.
"That looks like Blondie, over there." Varric said pointing at a silhouette near the chantry door.
"Blondie?" I asked, "isn't that a bit…common?"
"Good, you're here," Anders said spotting us, "I saw Karl go inside a few minutes ago. No templars so far."
"We didn't see anyone suspicious out here," I nodded, "let's get this over with as soon as possible."
"All right," Anders replied, "I'll handle the talking, you watch for templars."
We entered the darkened chantry, the only source of light coming from the flickering fire dancing on the red candle wax that lined the walls as we walked past.
"He should be up these stairs." Anders said pointing to the right stair case leading up to the balcony.
Dread filled the pit of my stomach as we followed him up. Not a good sign.
"Anders, I know you too well," a cold even voice said, "I knew you would never give up."
Shit. Even I knew what kind of emotionless voice that belonged to. Shit. Shit. Shit. Well, Carver, I guess it's your show.
"What's wrong?" Anders asked in disbelief, "Why are you talking like—."
"I was too rebellious, like you," Karl said turning around, earning a gasp from Anders, "the templars knew I had to be… made an example of."
"No!" I heard Anders shout as I watched the shadows behind us.
I could see the flickering of movements. Yep. Stupid shit should have listened to me.
"How else will mages ever master themselves?" Karl asked, "you'll understand, Anders. As soon as the templars teach you to control yourself."
"This is the apostate." Karl as templars moved out of the shadows.
"No!" Anders cried in anguish, causing me to turn around and glance at him.
He was on the floor, doubled over he started to glow.
Great. More surprises.
"You will never take another mage as you took him!" he shouted in another voice getting to his feet and glaring at the templars with glowing blue eyes.
Why am I here again? Right. Maps. Not that it'll matter if we get captured.
We fought in the dark. Varric using the light of flung spells to help him aim at a target. We waited for a moment after we heard the last templar fall. When we were greeted with silence, we finally allowed ourselves to relax out of our battle stance.
"I…Anders?" Karl said suddenly, emotion crept back into his voice, "what did you do? It's like…you brought a piece of the Fade into this world."
"I could stand to know what you did too," I said surveying the mess, "not the Fade bit, the angry glow-y bit."
"It's like a gateway into the Fade inside you," Karl said looking at Anders searchingly, "glowing like a beacon."
What the hell are we going to do to these bodies in the Chantry? They're templar bodies, so…ugh what mess have I stepped into this time? Should I burn them? How has no one heard any of that fighting?
I sighed and rubbed at my forehead trying to think of a way to deal with this mess.
"I have…some unique circumstances, yes," Anders admitted, "but Karl, what happened? How did they get you?"
You daft bastard. You're really asking that? You told me not six hours ago that the templars knew of your plans to free him what did you seriously expect to happen?
"The templars here are far more vigilant than in Ferelden," Karl explained, "they found a letter I was writing you… You cannot imagine it, Anders. All the color, all the music in the world, gone. I would gladly give up my magic, but this? I'll never be whole again."
"Hawke, I'll get some of my contacts to get rid of the bodies, before anyone finds out," Varric whispered watching me sigh heavily," so don't you worry about getting found out here."
"Please, kill me," Karl begged, "kill me before I forget again! I don't know how you brought it back, but its fading!"
"Karl…No…" Anders said sorrowfully.
I'm not going to say anything here; I was more than a little peeved about this whole mess.
"I got here too late," Anders continued, "I'm sorry, Karl. I'm so sorry."
"Now! Quickly! It's fading…" Karl's voice lost its emotion again, "why do you look at me like that?"
I watched Anders walk up to Karl, sorrow and pain contorting his face as he killed Karl.
I let out a deep breath and smoothed my hair back, "a witch once told me this: 'Without an end, there can be no peace.' She told me this after I killed Aveline's husband, I suppose she meant it to comfort me, and even though she was a dragon morphing scary witch, there is some truth to those words."
I sighed, as I recalled the moment, it didn't exactly help much when she had continued it with 'It gets no easier. Your struggles have only just begun.' So I deigned to leave that bit out.
"Anyway, we should leave." I said after a bit of awkward silence.
"Yeah…" Anders replied softly as we started to silently slip out of the Chantry.
"So, let me guess," I said as we returned to his clinic, "this is the part where you tell me where you're an abomination?"
"You're wrong," he replied, "but not far wrong. I… This is hard to explain"
"Well it's also hard to explain that a dragon swooped out of the wilds roasted a few darkspawn, turned into a witch, and saved my life," I said crossing my arms over my chest, "so try me."
"When I was in Amaranthine, I met a spirit of Justice who was trapped outside the Fade," Anders said looking down, "we became friends, and he recognized the injustice that mages in Thedas face every day."
"Let me guess then: you became his host so he could live outside the Fade?" I asked raising my brow.
"We were going to work together, bring justice to every child ever ripped away from their mother to be sent to the Circle," Anders continued, "But I guess I had too much anger, once he was inside me…he changed…"
I bit the inside of my cheek, hard. Fighting the gut reaction I carried that would have blurted the word 'hot' from my mouth.
"That really didn't look like a happy, benevolent spirit from where I was standing." I said still fighting against myself.
"Since when is justice happy?" Anders countered, "Justice is righteous. Justice is hard."
"Justice is also a concept that everyone views differently." I replied flatly.
"But my anger…" Anders said electing to ignore me, "when I see templars now, things that have always outraged me but could never do anything about... he comes out. And he is no longer my friend Justice. He is a force of vengeance, and he has no grasp of mercy."
"So I take it you can't really control it?" I asked raising brow.
"No, he comes out only when I've lost all power over myself," Anders frowned, "it's a madness, a frenzy. I only find out after what I might have done."
Wonderful.
"Here, these are the documents I have for this area," Anders said handing me a few papers, "I can understand if you would rather me not join you personally, I cannot control my need for vengeance. I would not ask anyone to take on the danger of travelling with me. I will be here in my clinic if you have need of me."
"Thank you," I said offering a soft smile, "well Varric, I'm sure we have something or other to do tomorrow, so what do you say we head back now?"
"Way ahead of you, Hawke." Varric said over his shoulder, he was already half way to the door.