We have to flee.

The desperate pleas of her mind try to reach past the pain that is all around her, that is invading every corner of her body. The thought stabs at her again, but her battered and beaten frame will not obey it. She leans gratefully against the cool stone of the wall in a half sitting, half sprawling position and closes her eyes for just a moment. Her hold tightens on the warm hand that is resting in her own, and she absently moves her thumb up slightly to rest over his radial artery, as if to reassure herself that his heart is still beating, that he is still here beside her.

She hates herself for thinking it, but in some small part of her mind she desperately wishes that he had died on that cold and dirty floor, so that perhaps her pain could have died there as well. In the dark silence of her own mind she realizes that there will be no future here now, that her life in Kirkwall as she has known it these past few years is over. She had watched it die, had seen the raw truth of it in his eyes in those first few moments after the explosion.

She slowly resurfaces to the present as she hears the slight rustle of movement and the soft soothing words of the nearby mages that are healing the wounded. She glances over at Anders to see that he is pale and shaking, but awake. He lowers his head to his chest in exhaustion, and his blond hair completely slips out of its restraint and tumbles over his eyes. There is a healer next to him now, accessing his injuries. From where Hawke is sitting she can only see the abrasions and bruises that he received from his impact with the stone wall, but she knows from her experience in battle that the more dangerous injuries are hiding out of sight inside of him. She hears the sharp hissing intake of his breath as the mage moves him slightly and a thin trickle of dark red blood runs from the corner of his mouth.

The pain is intense, red hot needles of it that stab into his body. He senses more than sees the healer as he kneels down beside him. He knows he is bleeding inside, he can feel the blood as it wells up in the back of his throat making him want to gag with the sensation of it. He has never been so badly injured before and it scares him. The first tendrils of the healing magic curl around his body making him gasp. He has experienced this sensation many times before, but never has it felt so invasive. His body starts reworking itself from the inside out, bones knitting themselves back into place, the blood flowing back into his damaged organs as they are correctly positioned again. The crawling, itching sensation that accompanies this makes him want to scream. He feels the pressure on his hand increase and he tries to concentrate on the fact that Hawke is sitting next to him holding his hand. The pain slowly starts to subside leaving him feeling exhausted and shaking. The healer leaves his side assuring him that he will heal completely in time.

It is Hawke's turn now as the mage moves on to her. She is almost glad that it is not Anders who will be healing her. The healer holds onto her damaged hand firmly as she instinctively recoils from the touch trying to rip it away from his grasp, to protectively thrust it under her good arm. She knows he is only trying to help her and she tries to make her mind go blank to escape from the pain. The healing power as it touches her is warm, but she still experiences the same horrible itching sensations that Anders has just gone through. It feels like there are a hundreds of worms crawling underneath her skin pushing and prodding her bones and flesh back together. She bites back the scream that is trying to escape from the back of her throat. The healer quickly finishes with her hand and moves on to the assortment of cuts and punctures on the rest her body healing them to mere bruises and scars in a matter of minutes.

Anders watches out of the corner of his eye as the healer busies himself with Hawke, relief flooding him as he watches the pain withdraw from her eyes. She relaxes into a more comfortable sitting position as the healing mage leans in to softly ask her something. Anders cannot hear what is being said but sees Hawke nod her head in assent as the mage prepares to move on. "We have to leave soon" she says to Anders as she lets out a great sigh of relief that the worst is over for now. "It will not be long before they send in trackers to come after us, and we are sitting ducks if we stay here" she continues. He nods his head in agreement.

The time has come to leave Kirkwall.