a/n: Just a little thing that came to my mind as I was playing Dragon Age 2. WHICH I MUST MENTION IS THE BEST GAME EVA!

Enjoy and please review :)

Disclaimer: I do not own this characters. I do own a copy of the game though...because I PREORDERED IT LIKE TWO MONTHS EARLY! Two months of painful waiting. Oh well, SO WORTH IT!

The sodding Champion of Kirkwall

"You punched me!"

Hawke looked around her room, finding herself helplessly alone with the very pissed pirate. "You told me to make it real!" Hawke said in her defense.

"Yes, but not so bloody hard! You seemed to almost enjoy it!" Isabela inspected the mage closely, "You enjoyed it didn't you? Flaming hell! You got a kick out of punching me!"

Hawke kicked back her covers and got up from her bed. A thought occured to her as she wondered how the pirate had managed to sneak into her estate and into her room without alerting anyone, but of course this thought was fleeting as she realized it was Isabela she was talking about.

Isabela stood defiantly against Hawke as the mage tried to stare her down. Nobody yelled at Hawke like that. The sodding Champion of Kirkwall who would make a storm of fire fall upon the unlucky soul who dared raised their voice at her, even those who traveled with her like Fenris. Especially Fenris.

As the anger in Isabela's eyes burned, Hawke had to look away. She knew this conversation was coming, Isabela not being one to stay quiet about anything, much less about what had happened. She had actually been surprised Isabela had waited so long to say anything. "I'm sorry, I-"

A sharp sting crossed across Hawke's cheek as Isabela's palm flew through her face. "Not only did you punch me, but you made me lose my damned ship! How could you do that to me?"

Now Hawke's blood boiled.

Screaming was one thing, slapping her was a whole different issue. With her staff out of reach, Hawke pushed Isabela across the room with ease after catching the woman by surprise. After pinning her against the way, her anger flared, "You have nothing to reproach me. I did what had to be done. I bought that bastard to justice, my justice. If you are too selfish to see that, it's your problem." Even as the left her mouth, Hawke couldn't help but think of the hypocrisy of those words.

Isabela pushed Hawke off with a huff. "You bloody traitor. After all we've been through, you turn against me."

Hawke chuckled bitterly, "All we have been through? All I've done is try my best to be a descent human being for you and all I get is a lay while you sleep with random strangers every other night. I see nothing we have been through, and if anyone is a traitor, it wasn't me who left my so-called friends at risk of them being killed!"

"But I came back!"

"Why! Why did you come back? You could have been too late! You had no way of knowing how things would turn out! You left us to rot in the hell you had created!"

Hurt now replaced the anger that had filled Isabela's eyes mere seconds before. "How could you- Why bring it up now?"

Hawke turned to look away from Isabela, finding the flames of her fireplace to be more bearable to look at than Isabela, "Because you broke my heart when you left. Coming back only made it worse because seeing you so close yet so far away is killing me."

Isabela was left speechless.

She had been aware of the other woman's feelings for her but hoped that over time she had given up and moved on. She had even made an effort of having Hawke know of her sexual escapades in order to encourage Hawke to forget about her. Isabela wished for Hawke to find someone who truly deserved her, not a pirate wrench like herself.

Not being able to mutter another word, Isabela turned and left the room as soundlessly as she had entered. Once isabela was gone, Hawke released a quiet sob and returned to her bed.

-

"Mistress Hawke, Captain Aveline is here to see you." Orana said softly as she looked at her mistress who was lying in bed under her covers.

"Tell her to piss off!" Hawke's mumbled in her signature bitchy tone.

"I heard that Hawke." Aveline's voice revealed her presence in Hawke's room. Hawke quickly came out of her blanket cocoon, "What are you doing in my room?" Aveline shrugged, "I'm here to see you. Obviously." Hawke glared at her, "Out. Now."

Ignoring Hawke, Aveline sat on the edge of Hawke's bed as she dismissed Orana with a wave of her hand. "Three days Hawke. Three days without hearing anything about charbroiled bodies of criminals found in lowtown. Three days of increased crime rate. And three days of more Meredith and Orsino drama. I need to know what has the Champion of Kirkwall so down."

Hawke raised her brow, "Have you seriously come all the way here to tell me your guard is useless? If so, I already knew that." Aveline ignored Hawke's comment, as she did most of the woman's sarcastic comments. "Whatever it is Hawke, you can tell me. You need to get out of your blanket shell and face the world. This city needs you." Aveline was reminded of the weeks following Leandra's death. Hawke had been an angry, rude, crude, blunt and sarcastic person before, the epitome of what a true bitch should be, but after her mother's death, her anger merely increased and she shut everyone out. After growing up being chased for being an apostate mage, her father dying, her sister dying, her mother dying, and her brother practically abandoning her, Aveline could see how a woman would become angry at the world for her fortune. Even though she was rich and powerful, Aveline knew that Hawke felt alone. Even though the two had had many conflicts in the past, Aveline could not help but care for the younger woman she had known for so long.

Hawke returned to her cocoon, "Everyone needs me." She felt tears coming back, and although she tried to keep them from spilling, she was overwhelmed, "Everyone except the one person I wish did."

"Isabela." Aveline stated matter-of-factly. She had a feeling the pirate whore, as she liked to call her, had something to do in all of this. Isabela was the only person who Hawke had ever been different with her. Around Isabela Hawke didn't seen as angry, was more relaxed, and for the maker's sake, she even made jokes! No matter how much of a problem Isabela was to Aveline, she had to admit that Isabela made Hawke a better person. She was sure that if it hadn't been for Isabela, Hawke might have never left her estate after Leandra's death.

The mage looked up in confusion, "How-"

Aveline chuckled lightly, "Everyone knows Hawke. The way you look at her when you think nobody is looking. The subtle ways you find to touch her, be it a simple pat on the shoulder or a lingering caress, and the way you always manage to keep her out of harm's way when we battle, even though she is capable of taking care for herself." Hawke looked away, a blush creeping to her cheeks. Aveline continued, "You try to be tough and rude, but with her, you are different. You are better. One would have to be blind not to notice Hawke." Aveline recalled the incident with Zevran, "You even spared her ex-lover's life just because she suggested it! If she hadn't been there you would've frozen him to death!"

Hawke smirked, "I did manage to send him a little spell that would cause horrors in his head once he was farther away from us."

"That's the Hawke I know!" Aveline declared with a laugh. Hawke sighed, "She hates me Aveline. I ruined it all." Hawke went on to explain what had transpired the night Isabela had visited her three days ago.

"So," Hawke concluded, "As you can see, she must hate me."

Aveline remained quiet for a while. It all made sense now. She had received several reports since that night about a woman fighting repeatedly at the hanged man and also received various complaints from residents of lowtown about illegal dueling in the street. She had hoped it wasn't Isabela, but now she was sure. "Hawke, you have to talk to her. If you just stay here thinking of all the ways she hates you, you won't ever know. Besides, you aren't the type of woman to stay groveling in her room."

Hawke pondered this for a moment. Whilst she had not much prior experience with relationships since most people annoyed her, she knew that Aveline was right. If she was going to get a chance to win Isabela back, she had to go to her. She also needed to apologize since deep down, she knew she had gone too far with punching her. She had never been one that could talk about her feelings easily. That was Bethany. She was the "let's-talk-about-our-feelings" type while Carver was the "emo-I-hate-me" type. She, Mari Hawke, was the "I-will-kick-your-ass" type. Isabela had hurt her feelings, ones she was unaware of having, and the only way she knew how to handle it was violence. She could have slammed her against the ground with a force spell or something, so it wasn't as bad she it could have been...then again, she doubted that telling Isabela: "Hey I could have slammed your skull into the ground or thrown a massive fireball at you, you got off easy," would help her cause. Yep, definitely would not help.

"You know what?" Hawke said with new-found confidence as she got up and walked to her dresser, "You are right. I am the damn Champion of Kirkwall. I am Hawke. I do not run away from my problems. I will show Isabela that I am better than that."

Aveline grinned, "That's more like it!"

Hawke stopped in her trail and turned to Aveline, "Now leave, I need to bathe and you are so not my type,"

Aveline rolled her eyes, "You will never change, Hawke." As she approached the door, Hawke called out to her once more, "Oh and please send Orana to my room." Aveline turned back to meet Hawke's smug smile, "What?" Hawke asked unimpressed, "I am important enough to have someone bathe me you know."

Aveline merely shook her head and left.

a/n: This is supposed to be a one-shot. If you guys want to see what happens when Hawke goes to meet Isabela, let me know and I will post a "sequel" to this one with what happens and (what I think) is the real reason Hawke kills Castillon. Review Please :D