A/N: Sorry for the long wait for the update, spring break has been busy! Here's a longer chapter for sticking around!
Solas had been surprised at my answer, but seemed content by it anyway. He said nothing else the rest of the trip, and walked in purposeful silence.
Leliana's scouts had reached the bulk of our troops ahead of time, altering them of our approach. The scouts returned with news from the other side: Recent rift tears, troop movements, and a quickly sketched map of the nearby surrounding area.
This was some consolation to the fact that we would soon be in full battle.
What are you doing? My conscious chided. You're not a warrior, you're not even a real mage. You can't fight. Never have, never will.
I fought back at it. Maybe not, but the goal here, what's really important, is that I try.
I had always been a stubborn person, never willing to give up when the odds were against me.
It made me horrible at gambling.
Solas stayed close to me. I could tell he was becoming almost...protective over me. I trusted my safety in the hands of a stranger, I laughed. Solas looked over to me with a puzzled look, I waved my hand smiling dismissing my laugh.
The group came to a halt, and Leliana's scouts informed us that we would meet up with the rest of the army soon. The scouts had meant what they said and we arrived at the battle almost immediately.
Cassandra, Solas, Varric, and I split from the group and joined the battle at the nearest fade rift, fighting our way through the demons to weaken the rift. Well I say fighting, which stays true for everyone else, but I was more akin to fumbling with my magic than fighting with it. None the less, I stayed alive long enough to close the rift. I braced myself for the immense pain, and after the rift had been closed I found myself able to withstand the energy loss.
"Sealed as before. You are becoming quite proficient at this." Solas approached me after the rift had been dealt with.
Varric chimed in, "Let's hope it works on the big one."
A voice from ahead addressed Cassandra, "Lady Cassandra, you managed to close the rift? Well done." The man was dressed in full armor with a fur mantle covering his shoulders. He had blond curly hair, and he seemed the type to always have them brushed back, but amidst all the chaos they had become lose and blond curls fell down his pale scarred face.
"Do not congratulate me, Commander. This is the prisoner's doing." Cassandra motioned to me and I stepped forward to meet the Commander.
"Is it?" He looked at me with narrowed ice blue eyes, "I hope they're right about you. We've lost a lot of people getting you here." The Commander hid skepticism in his voice.
"You're not the only one hoping that." I said softly. I understood why he didn't fully trust me. I was their prisoner who wielded the power to save them all from the Breach, but in the Commander's mind, possibly kill them with that power.
"She is to be trusted, Commander." Solas stepped forward.
"We'll see soon enough won't we." The Commander remarked. He went back over to Cassandra, "The way to the temple should be clear. Leliana will try to meet you there."
Cassandra turned toward us, "Then we'd best move quickly. Give us time, Commander."
The Commander looked up into the sky and sighed, "Maker watch over you- for all our sakes."
Soldiers were running past us and the Commander joined them, helping one with a limping leg make his way to the closest camp.
Cassandra pointed in the opposite direction, "This way! We need to get to the temple as soon as possible."
We followed her direction into the ruins of the temple. There were bodies burned so badly they were frozen in their own ash, the same way the soldiers on the frozen lake had been. Again, I shivered and looked away from the atrocities, focusing at the task at hand.
Cassandra lead the way to the inner temple. My eyes widened as the Breach's rift tear came into view, my gut plunged into an icy cold bucket when I saw the glowing red crystals surrounding us. I didn't know what they were, but they gave me a very bad feeling.
"The Breach is a long way up." Varric said as we entered.
"You're here! Thank the Maker!" Leliana's voice came up from behind us, she was accompanied by some of her agents.
"Leliana, have your men take their postitions around the temple." As Cassandra spoke I could tell there was something wrong, everything felt distant here. Her voice echoed, but differently than when I had first awoke. It felt like a dream,
Solas sensed this too and explained to me, "The veil is thin here. The Fade is seeping through, and transforming our world around it."
I nodded my head to show I understood. Meanwhile Leliana and her men had left to take up their positions. Our task was to find a way down to the rift.
"This is your chance to end this. Are you ready?" Cassandra had asked me.
"I will try." I said. Cassandra didn't seem completely satisfied by that answer, but we carried on anyway.
"This rift is the first, and it is the key. Seal it, and perhaps we seal the Breach." Solas told me. It gave me hope even if it only was a 'perhaps'.
Varric commented about the "red lyrium" he called it. He said it drove people mad, and he expressed concern about how it got there and even more about the fact that it seemed to be growing. Cassandra reminded him to focus on the Breach, and could worry about red lyrium later.
We reached the bottom of the inner temple, and the rift. I heard a familiar voice call out, "Someone help me!"
The voices of me and the old woman echoed throughout the inner temple. "Keep the sacrifice still," The monster had said. I remembered. But I remembered so very little.
"That was your voice. Most holy called out to you. But..."
Suddenly the rift started to make noises, and we were seeing the monster hold up the old woman, and that I came across them. It didn't show me how I appeared or how I got there, I was just there. Just as quickly as it came, the memory faded.
"You were there! Who attacked? And the Divine, is she...? Was the vision true? What are we seeing?" Cassandra demanded of me, but I held no answers.
"I don't remember!" I pleaded.
"Echos of what happened here. The Fade bleeds into this place with memories. This rift is not sealed, but it is closed...albeit temporarily. I believe that with the mark, the rift can be opened, and then sealed properly and safely. However opening the rift will likely attract attention from the other side." Solas said, his voice remained calm.
"That means demons! Stand ready!" Cassandra's voice stood above the rest. Everyone took out their weapon and stood defensively. The archers readied their bows, the warriors pointed their swords, and I prepared myself. I would not die. I would survive.
I let my own self go. I let myself become a fighter, a survivor. I raised my arm to the rift and commanded my mark open it. The mark shot out energy and power at the rift and the rift exploded, releasing and summoning many demons.
A giant demon stood above me, spikes adorned its every features and six eyes maybe more, lined up on its face. Horns that conducted electricity topped its head. Its bladed arms rose, and came down, I rolled out of the way just in time. If I had not I surely would have been decapitated.
My fight or flight instincts took over and I was back on my feet. Distantly I heard Cassandra yelling orders, but I had other plans.
A few minutes of fighting had commenced and Solas had already found his way over to me, "Interrupt the rift! It may disrupt the pride demon's connection to the Fade for a split second, which will injure it greatly. I will cover you! Go!"
I did as he asked. I tumbled over to the rift, slipping past the demon, which Cassandra successfully had the attention of.
I ignored all senses of pain and blasted the rift apart for a moment, the pride demon was knocked back and gravely hurt, for a few seconds all its defenses were down. Cassandra and the others took advantage of this. When it finally regained its defenses, it roared and looked at me straight in the eyes, with all six of its eyes directed at me. I was its next target.
I heard Solas yell something in my ear and push me back, the pride demon was charging at us. Solas cast a quick spell that left strange symbols on the ground. He lifted me with ease onto his shoulder and used magic to propel himself to the side of the demons charge. His spell left me cold and shivering.
The demon ran straight over the symbols which exploded with fire and torched the demon's legs.
Solas set me down and warmed my body with another spell, he grabbed my arm and helped me to my feet, "When that rift turns back into crystal form I need you to disrupt it again, it seems the only and best way to get past the pride demons defenses."
I wondered how many more times I would need to repeat this, but I knew it was more helpful then me trying to fight and possibly getting killed, which would help no one.
Each time I disrupted the rift the pride demon focused its attention on me and made an attempt to snuff out my life. Each time it seemed to be getting closer and closer to its goals. I had a brush with death so many times during that fight that it seemed surreal I was even alive.
Cassandra and the others hacked away, until finally the pride demon was on its last leg, Cassandra hounded it until the light in its eyes gave out. The pride demon burst into green light and receded back into the rift it had came from.
I spent the last of my energy focusing on the rift, I used my mark to create a pillar of light that pulsed up to the rift. The rift sealed, and sent itself back up to the Breach. Sadly, the Breach was not gone, but it did stop the chaos. The demons stopped pouring through, rifts stopped popping up everywhere.
Solas explained to us that we had sealed the Breach, but we had not gotten rid of it, and that it can be re-opened.
The Breach was not gone, but sealed. I didn't understand what to make of it. My adrenaline had run out, the fighting was over and I was alive. I let myself go, but in different way this time.
I was surrounded by so many people, so many voices and breaths. My vision blacked out and I felt myself fall onto someone, someone with a soft fur coat and warm breaths.
IXI
The feeling of warm strong hands lingered on my back, like shallow wisps of touch. I smiled, and hugged myself, clinging to that warmth. My hands had become fists full of soft fur that prickled my fingers at the tip. I breathed in, the aroma of ceder wood and freshly dewed grass filled my lungs. I drew out the breath, not wanting the moment to end. I exhaled, leaving me feeling filled yet empty of air.
I didn't want to open my eyes, I could feel brightness upon them. It was day time, and my bed sheets were smooth and welcoming.
I heard a shuffling in the room, I was not alone. But this new fact did not worry me, I thought it was perhaps my sister sneaking into my room and "borrowing" my makeup. I laughed inwardly at this, Dawn couldn't apply eyeliner to save her life.
Then I heard a cough, a cough that was unlike Dawn. It held a deeper tone, one that was neither my father nor brother. The sweet aroma had left me, and the smile was wiped from my face. I was falling, fast. My arms flailed in an effort to balance me, my heart pounded in my ears.
I sat upright so fast that I startled the person in the room. My eyes were wide with fear and vulnerability. I looked in the room and found a man with a shocked expression, like he'd seen a ghost. I must have looked like a mummy rising from it's sarcophagus. I might have laughed, had I recognized him. But I did not. I did not recognize this room or this bed or him.
I screamed in fright at the man, who rushed over to me and held me in a strong embrace. In my panicked state I did not notice how carefully the man held me, all I knew is that I couldn't move. I saw it as him restraining me.
I screamed until my throat was sore, and I noticed that the man was not brutally murdering and raping me. I started shaking, and crying which prompted the man to comfort me and shush me. My head was forced to his shoulder and I immediately smelled ceder wood and dewy grass. I shot my head back up and looked him straight in the eyes. He held a concerned expression.
"Who-who are you?" I ask nervously.
He gives me a puzzled look and loosens his grip, "You don't remember me? We met briefly yesterday during the battle...what do you remember?"
"Battle...? What?" My mind raced, why did he say battle?
"You sealed the Breach, and stopped the chaos. Many owe their lives to you." When my only response to him was silence he asked me, "Please, tell me anything you remember?"
"I...I remember..." I stuggled to rememeber how I had gotten to this place, "I remember an old woman, she...a monster tried to...kill her? And...green light with pain, so much pain. Dead men, frozen in ash...and," A name, a single word whispered in my mind, "Solas..."
The man frowned, "You don't remember anything else?"
"No, I-" I pause, "What is Solas?"
The man's eyebrows rise, but before he can speak the door to the room opens and another man enters. The first thing I noticed were his pointed ears, he was an elf! But there was no such thing!
"I am Solas." Solas strides into the room, and relieves the man from his position, "Cullen, Leliana and Josephine wish to speak with you."
"Of course," Cullen let go of me mechanically as if his comfort from before had been an act. He took his heat and aroma out the door, leaving me with an even more strange and unknown man.
Solas sat beside my bedside, keeping a more comfortable distance, "It's good to see you've awaken and are well."
I stare at him in silence, the way he acts towards me makes me feel as though he is familiar.
"I hope you haven't forgotten too much, maybe I can help trigger your memories." He places a hand on my head, which I try to dodge but he insists. For some reason I let him and a blue light floods his hands and a warm happy feeling enters my brain. I feel calm and serene and feel my memories passing over the blockade I had built overnight. But these memories carried sadness and fear, they darkened my mood and wet my eyes with overflowing tears.
Solas wiped away my tears, "Do you remember now?"
I nod and let out cries of anguish. I burry my hands in my face and Solas takes my hand gently. I can see him grimace through my waterfall, he does not feel comfortable watching another person cry.
"I am sorry, truly." His voice breaks the silence.
"For?" I ask him, clearing my face which is left with red eyes and blotches.
"That you are not home. You remain here still, for that I am sorry."
I pull aside the covers and straighten myself out, "It's not your fault, Solas. I am just glad that you understand me."
I was dressed in a simple white nightgown, "Solas?"
"Yes?" He looks up.
"Be a lamb and fetch me something to wear?" I smile up at him, trying to be light hearted.
He laughs and shakes his head, "Sure I'll go fetch Leliana, I'm sure she'll have something for you to wear."
A/N: Now before you start assuming, I plan to have a romance but it will not be straight forward, there will be twists and turns involving other people, this is a tragedy after all! Reviews are appreciated. This is unedited (hot off the press!) so if you find any grammar/spelling mistakes feel free to tell me! Au revoir, until next time!