She wakes up and he's there and she can see that he's been crying, because he doesn't try to hide it.

Words he says mean nothing more than his actions. As he pulls her close to his chest, his bloody armour hard against her burning skin, but cold enough to soothe it all the same.

"I was a fool." He says it, and she wonders why he says it because it hasn't dawned on her yet that she's alive when she expects to be dead.

She expects this to be some sort of dream that she's conjured up in her dying moments, full of faceless people and muffled murmurs and things she doesn't understand. All she sees is her Alistair as she's known him, but he looks more broken and she doesn't understand it.

Then it dawns on her, but only when she tries to stand, but he has to help her when her sides burn so fiercely. When she's struck with such a pain, as though she's been thrown across the stone of the Fort a hundred times over, body crushed and broken, but working. Somewhat.

She's alive.

And it's strange to her because she had honestly thought Morrigan was lying and it was merely desperate hope that she had convinced Alistair to lay with the witch the eve before. What Morrigan had offered had been too simple, Tabris had thought, and now she feels guilty.

"I'm fine, Alistair." The voice she uses isn't her own, because it's not strong enough to have him listen as he helps her walk; those faceless people suddenly have faces and she sees all of whom she's brought together and it hurts.

But it's a good hurt.

And it takes time for her to heal, but that's okay, and she finds it strange how Alistair is always closer after that. Always there, because she had let him go. She let him go, but he's there, as if nothing happened.

"I was a fool. An idiot." He tells her, one time when she's actually awake enough to listen during bouts of unconsciousness.

(The healing process is hard, and Wynne says she's lucky to be able to breathe on her own. Tabris concedes to that easily, but refuses to promise never to do it again.)

"Stupid. How could I...? After everything...! And then...!" His sentences are broken, but Tabris understands; if only because she knows how she would feel in his place.

"But I'm here." She tells him, and it doesn't even hurt that much and she's taken by surprise when he kisses her, her face in his battle-calloused hands and any pain she feels right now is gone; only for a moment.

Alistair remembers himself, eventually, as he does, and murmurs multiple apologies while she stares at him in shock.

"...was that too rash? It was, wasn't it? Too soon? I didn't hurt you, did I? Please don't tell, Wynne." He babbles, worried about so many things all at once, and despite herself, Tabris laughs.

It hurts like hell, but she doesn't care. She laughs and he looks worried and babbles some more, but she doesn't care as she pulls him forwards and kisses him again, tears in her eyes.

"Does this mean you're begging me to take you back?" She asks.

"I- I wouldn't say begging..."

"It sounds like begging."

"You could have died." Alistair whispers, voice now crackling and eyes further betraying everything he feels and she watches him and understands because she's felt it too.

"And it would have been worth it." She tells him, because she's obligated, and because it's true.

Alistair doesn't seem to like that answer very much, judging by how he holds her hand now; as if she were about to disappear entirely from existence. She wonders if she is because this can't be real.

"I've changed my mind." He tells her days later, when she's walking and gazing out the window of the palace into the courtyard, finding subtle beauty in the gardens and the business of the outside world she still can't see.

"Changed your mind? I suppose Kings are allowed to do that once in awhile. Not that I would know, really." She quips easily and he brings himself a smile, closing any distance between them easily as he follows her gaze.

"I almost lost you. Forever." His words are as strong as the gales atop the Frostbacks, she figures as she peers up at him and those eyes of his stare back at her; determined.

"One good thing about Morrigan,then?" She offers, but he just looks disgruntled because he's trying to be serious, but now all she's doing is joking.

"I...suppose." Muttered and she laughs and then winces because it still hurts to laugh, but Alistair always makes her laugh.

Dear Maker, she loves him so much.

"The point is, that I don't care anymore. About what others think." Soft voice, tender eyes, his hands come to her face and hold it steady.

"...no...?" Her tone is much softer now, and she's not sure, but also very sure.

"I want you. I love you." He's so firm in his declaration and she smiles because that's her Alistair and she loves him; especially when he's confident.

Or silly. Or everything. She just loves everything about him.

"You'll still need to take a wife; have an heir." Tabris reminds him softly, because that much about royalty she knows.

"If it's even possible for an heir." He retorts, but he's smiling anyway.

"...We'll just figure out the details later, shall we?"

"O- oh..." She words, but inside she still thinks that he's going to be a good King and she's glad to be around to see it.

And it's still going to be fun.

A/N:

Because a love story with King!Alistair needs a happy ending. Once in awhile.