This 'playthrough' Alistair stayed with the Wardens and Hawke is a mage. The Inquisitor decided to take along Jane, Cole and Dorian with him. My reasoning: Cassandra was left behind to help lead Inquisition forces with Cullen, Iron Bull lead the Chargers and Blackwall was to take charge of any Wardens that decided to surrender or change sides. Solas was best left behind at the camps as a healer. Vivienne was to help hunt down any demons that may have escape the fortress (plus she just got on his nerves) and Sera just wasn't recruited (Cole was given what was her room in the game).

Chapter 6: Fade

If nothing else, Jane had learned one thing on this little trip: the Grey Wardens as a whole suck. Not only do they blindly follow stupid orders, they refuse to think that 'hey, there might be better way than blood magic to solve the whole 'Calling' thing' or 'wait, maybe the creepy guy from the unfriendly foreign power might be up to something when suggesting using fucking blood magic!' Jane was thinking this, in some guy's sarcastic voice, as the stone floor beneath her feet was collapsing as she at the rest of the small Inquisition team was trying to run for their lives. The ground fell away from under her and then there was a bright green light.

The next thing Jane knew she was hitting the ground, but nowhere near as hard as she was expecting.

"Well, this is unexpected, "she heard Warden Alistair say. As Jane stood up, she hear Hawke say, "We…We were falling."

"No, the Inquisitor did something with the mark. Opened another rift, "said Alistair looking around, "I think we're in the Fade."

"No, no no no no. This is the Fade, "said Cole in a panic, "But I'm stuck. I can't…why can't I…? This place is wrong. I made myself forget when I made myself real, but I know it wasn't like this."

Jane ignored Alistair and Hawke's continued comments about the Fade as she walked over to Cole and said, "Calm down, Cole, everything will be alright." Cole kept pacing and refusing to stand still until Jane was able to gently grab hold of one of his arms and made him look at her. "Cole, know better than I do what I have gone through before in the past and you know what the Inquisitor can do, "she said looking directly into his light blue eyes, "we'll make it out"

Cole nodded and seem to calm a little, but took firm hold of her hand and refused to let go. Jane gave a small nod and listen in to what the others were saying.

"The first time I was in the fade, "said Dorian, "It looked like a lovely little castle filled with gold and silks. I met a marvelous Desire demon as I recall. We chatted and ate grapes before he attempted to possess me."

"It's not how I remember the Fade either, "said Hawke, "Perhaps it's because we're here physically, instead of just dreaming. The stories say you walked out of the Fade at Haven. Was it like this?"

The Inquisitor stepped forward and said, "I don't know, I still can't remember what happened the last time I did this."

"Well, whatever happened at Haven, "replied Hawke, "we can't assume we're safe now. That huge demon was right on the other side of that rift Erimond was using, and there could be others."

"In the real world, the rift with the demons was nearby, "said Alistair, "In the main hall. Can we get out the same way?"

"It beats waiting around for demons to find us, "answered the Inquisitor.

As the group walked toward the rift in the distance, Dorian commented, "My visits to the Fade are normally more pleasant. I don't usually wake up feeling the need to bathe. Usually. Sometimes…Well, never mind that."

Despite the situation, Jane had to cough to cover up the laugh that nearly broke free. The humor of the situation fled when Cole started panicking again.

"Wrong, wrong, wrong. Wringing me out, "he muttered, his hand gripping Jane's even tighter and pulled at his hair with the other, "Wrought right and rigid. Can't relax. Can't release…"

"You alright, Cole," Jane asked gently squeezing Cole's hand.

"It's alright, Cole, "said the Inquisitor, "We'll get you out of here soon."

Calming down once more and took a deep breath just before saying, "Thank you. It should be like home. It's not. This isn't me, not this part."

What seem to follow was a rather busy but not difficult trip of killing handfuls of demons, being led by the nose by a creepy old woman and hearing everyone's worse fears including her own.

"The great Commander Shepard, first human Spectre, "the voice said when the Nightmare decided it was her turn, "It would be such an honor to meet you if you weren't such a failure. Failed to convince the Citadel Counsel, failed to save the Normandy, failed in your relationship with Kaidan and failed to save Anderson who was the closest thing to a father you had. You most likely failed to stop the Reapers. How does it feel to have failed an entire galaxy?"

There was pain from his words, but it was faint and only at the back of her mind. For once she was glad she couldn't really remember her past, but it seem Cole could sense that little bit of pain and felt it was now his turn to comfort her by placing a hand on her shoulder and giving a slight squeeze. Jane smiled and said out loud, "That might have actually hurt if I knew what you were talking about."

"That's one huge spider, "muttered the Inquisitor as they neared the rift.

Jane's heart fell into her stomach; it wasn't a spider that she saw. Where the Inquisitor saw a giant spider, she saw a large, dark metallic form similar in shape to a squid with one huge red eye and multiple lights. In her ears, it roared the same as the high pitch sound that was often followed by a burning beam of light tearing through everything in her nightmares. The form standing in front of it was almost like a humanoid insect with multiple, gold glowing eyes.

For some reason, her hands started to shake. During the past few months, she has help face down dragons, red Templars and pride demons where she actually almost enjoyed the fights. Shit, she was ready to spit into the eye of that blasted, Archdemon that attacked them. But this caused her blood to run cold for some reason. She took a deep breath and steeled her nerves as the spirit that led them here flew off asking that they give a message to Leliana and then exploded in a bright light before the giant demon driving it off slightly.

Since Hawke and Dorian had more distant and area attacks, they work on keeping the smaller nightmare demons at bay. To her they looked like undead but were faster and had bluish markings that glowed slightly, almost like her biotics. She, the Inquisitor and others worked to take down the larger demon before the giant one returned.

Once the demon was down, Cole and Dorian raced towards the open rift as the Inquisitor waved them on. He was then was forced to dodge one of the giant nightmare demon's legs and it moved to block the rest of the group's escape. Alistair asked, "How do we get by?"

"Go, "said Hawke, "I'll cover you."

"No, you were right, "said Alistair, "The Wardens caused this mess. A Warden must…"

"A Warden must help them rebuild, "said Hawke, "That's your job! Corypheus is mine."

With a frustrated sound, Jane started to call up the last of her remaining energy and said, "What is it with you people and insisting on self sacrifice being the only choice." She then ran over to the side and with a loud roar sent a large flare of Biotic energy directly towards the giant demon's bright red eye. The force of the explosion knocked the demon away from the rift and it screamed in pain.

"GO, "yelled the Inquisitor as he raced over and caught the now falling Jane and dragged her to the rift.

To be continued….