Author's Note: Hello everybody! Welcome to my first ever Dragon Age fanfic. This idea has been floating around in my brain for quite some time. I guess you could say it came about when I found out that if not romancing him, Fenris and Isabela have a 'friends with benefits' type of relationship. Having romanced him in every playthrough of DA2, I find it sad that a character with such promise for happiness will simply settle for booty calls. No offense to Isabela, I love her dearly, but Fenris deserves more than that. This is my attempt to give him better.
Title of fic comes from JES's song "Ghost"
Many thanks to MCR over at the BSN, who was kind enough to beta this first chapter for me.
As always, if you like the story, then please subscribe and leave a review for me. And enjoy.
Prologue
"Were they not satisfied where they were?" asked the little prince.
"No one is ever satisfied where he is," said the switchman.
-A Little Prince
Fenris leaned back in his bunk as the ship left port. He knew not of the vessel's final destination, only that it was taking him far away from this Maker-forsaken fishing village on the outskirts of Orlais. It did not matter if he ended up in Denerim or Gwaren.
Either way, he was going to die.
If the dangers of having been living on the run for so long weren't enough to do him in, then Danarius's men surely would. The Tevinter magister was usually quite adamant about having his investments returned to him, and Fenris bore no illusions on what would happen if he were returned to his former master. He had almost found out the eve before.
For the happiness of one little elf child, Fenris had nearly been shipped back to a man who would make him suffer even more agony than the ritual that had aided him in his escape.
Not that it really mattered. There wasn't much in this world that Fenris could honestly say he cared about.
He still wasn't completely sure why he had stuck his neck out for a complete stranger, other than the sight of the girl's bright red hair had something twisting painfully in his chest. Before he could catch himself, Fenris found himself reaching for the pack he had stowed under his bunk. His long fingers closed gently around the soft figurine nestled between a few basic necessities he had bought before boarding the ship.
It was the only time that he could recall anyone ever giving him something without asking for some type of payment.
Taking the doll out of his pack, he ran his hands over the elaborate braiding of the doll's carmine locks. They were so soft, almost like spun silk. Someone had quite clearly taken great pains to keep the toy in such great condition. In his mind, Fenris could see the little elf girl sitting by a warm hearth, brushing her plaything's hair with a quiet solemnity. She probably spent hours on this doll.
Loved it like it was her own...
"And then the Maker sealed the gates
Of the Golden City
And there, He dwelled, waiting
To see the wonders
His children would create."
The verse from the Chant of Light rang in his mind. The elfling had wasted a great deal of her time molding this doll to a state of perfection and gave it to him for merely being at the right place at the right time. More than likely, she had no idea just how touched he was by her simple gift.
"You are a fool," he muttered, crushing the toy in his gloved hand as his lips curled in a sardonic grin. "Treasuring an urchin's toy as if it were gold. For one little girl's gratitude, you've consigned yourself to a tortured existence."
Shutting his eyes, he inhaled sharply.
Truer words could not be spoken. Once more, he was going to endure countless hours of physiological and psychological torture for simply being.
"What does it matter?"
He spoke the words out loud, confidence ringing in his tone. Let them come. If they did not kill him before docking at the next port, he'd put up one hell of a fight, and a fight was always a welcome change to the monotony.
He looked forward to it.
Furious with himself and the world in general, Fenris shoved the doll back in his pack and put it somewhere out of reach.
Leaning back once more against the bunk's headboard, he shut his eyes, took several deep breaths, and tried to relax before the men on board mustered the courage to attack.
It was, after all, what they had been paid to do, and if they had any common sense they would do their jobs, because if they did not, Fenris would do his.