Lavellan hit her knees outside Cassandra's cell and was already working at the lock with shaking fingers before she remembered that she and Dorian had found a key on one of the guards they had killed earlier. She threw her picks away, only half listening to Cassandra and Dorian's conversation above her, and pulled the key from her belt, shoving it in the lock with more force than necessary. She was having trouble making her hands work properly, but the sight of Cassandra was almost more than she could handle.
When Fiona had told them Sera, Cassandra, and Leliana were still there, being held prisoner, Lavellan had nearly broken into tears. Seeing Fiona unable to even lift her head had put a dreadful fear in Lavellan's heart. A fear that would only be assuaged when she had her arms around Cassandra.
The lock clanged heavily as it opened and she shouted her triumph as she threw the door open, knocking herself back on her ass and nearly hitting Dorian with the door. She ignored his squawk of outrage as she lurched forward, not even making it to her feet before she had her arms around Cassandra's waist.
Perhaps she was a silly child, becoming so attached to another person so quickly, but something in Cassandra drew Lavellan to her like a moth to flame. She would gladly accept any burns as her due, just for more time to bask in Cassandra's radiance. And it was all worth it for the moments when Cassandra would, often with visible confusion, return the affections that Lavellan heaped upon her.
Cassandra hesitated a moment and then put both her hands on Lavellan's shoulders and, instead of pushing her away, patted her awkwardly. Lavellan took what she could get.
"As sweet as this reunion is," Dorian interrupted, perpetually amused, "we still need to find Sera and Leliana."
Knowing he was correct and hating him for it, Lavellan released Cassandra and stood. "We're going to fix this, I swear it."
Cassandra nodded tiredly and then seemed to pull from some hidden well of strength as she stood at full height, proud and strong despite her pitiful state. "I'll need a sword."
They liberated a sword and shield from one of the dead guards and continued their search for the others.
It was horrible.
Every second was a torture, every word Cassandra spoke rang with the echoing hollowness, and every blow she struck against an enemy was also a blow to herself, the red lyrium making every move pain filled to the point that she could not always stifle her cries. Lavellan felt every cry as well. Her chest felt tight, compressed under the weight of this horror. She felt bile sitting sickly at the base of her throat, only sheer willpower keeping it down.
It was only made worse by the way Cassandra threw herself into conflict, more violent than ever, aching to throw off a year of disuse. She yells and taunts and throws her entire body, shield first, at their opponents, creating openings and viciously ending lives. It's the same sort of dance that Lavellan has become used to but with an added edge of desperation.
They find their friends, Sera in equally terrible condition and Leliana even worse off. They fight and fight and fight until finally there is no more fighting to be done. Lavellen falls to her knees again, this time beside Dorian as he methodically goes through the dead Magister's pockets looking for the amulet.
"Ah! Here it is. It looks to be the same one we made in Minrathous. Wonderful." He threw it in the air and caught it again, beyond pleased. "Just give me an hour or two and I'll have us back in the present, or that past. Whichever."
"An hour! There's no time! You must do it now. The Elder One is coming." The sounds of an approaching hoard was drawing steadily closer outside the throne room and Lavellen's heart picked up speed in anticipation.
"We'll hold them off as long as we can," Leliana assured them, but Lavellan would not be calmed.
She grabbed Cassandra's hand in both of hers. Their eyes locked. Lavellan didn't know what Cassandra could read in her gaze, fear and desperation certainly. But could she see just how much Lavellan cared for her? Cassandra's normally dark eyes were lit from inside with red flame and Lavellan could see nothing but determination staring back at her. "You can't do this!" she begged anyway. "There's too many of them."
"You'll die!"
Cassandra smiled sadly. "We're already dead. Better to go out in battle," she placed her free hand heavily on Lavellan's shoulder, "giving you a chance, than to waste away."
"What she said," Sera agreed, bumping Lavellan with her hip. She grimaced even as she threw an arm around her waist.
"We have to go," Leliana insisted. "You have as much time as I have arrows," she directed at Dorian.
Sera pulled away and darted for the open door, cackling as she nocked an arrow.
Lavellan forced herself to release Cassandra and took a step back. It was the only way, she knew that, but it tore at her heart regardless.
Cassandra inexplicably brushed Lavellan's cheek with her thumb, the rough leather of her gloves somehow a comfort, and then she too turned and strode way. The throne room doors slammed shut behind her.
It probably would have been fine if she had been able to keep her eyes off the door. But she had watched and listened entirely too intently and when the doors burst open the first thing she had seen was the tall screeching demon throw Cassandra's lifeless body away as though it were trash. And then she had seen only red.
Lavellan was screaming. Her rage couldn't escape any other way. Dorian was holding her tightly, preventing her from running from back through the portal. Her eyes were unmoving from where the demon had dropped Cassandra's lifeless body and, incapable of any other reaction, she simply screamed. She was still screaming when they exited the portal back in the present. The first thing she saw was Alexius falling to his knees in front of her. She tore herself from Dorian's grasp and, not even bothering to reach for her weapons, lunged at Alexius, striking him at the temple. And then at his chin. And then his opposite cheek. He raised his hands to protect his face. She pushed them away and bloodied his nose.
She felt hands at her back, at her shoulders, at her upper arms. She shrugged them away and continued to beat Alexius. Her throat hurt from screaming but she couldn't stop. She couldn't stop. She couldn't-
Gauntleted hands took her firmly by the wrists and she was jerked backwards, her back hitting a breast plate, the rivets bruising her on impact. Her arms were then crossed in front of her and the hold was too strong, she could not escape no matter how she bucked and fought.
"Herald, control yourself," Cassandra barked in her ear.
Her screams died but her vision remained red. She continued to buck and roll, trying to loosen Cassandra's hold.
"She has gone mad!" Cassandra held her all the tighter for her fighting. "Or she has been possessed."
"Nothing so sinister, I assure you," Dorian interjected, jovial even in the face of Levellan's fit. "People handle grief in different ways, Seeker. I prefer to drown my feelings in copious amounts of alcohol, and the Herald of Andraste sinks into seething blood rage." He was suddenly in front of her, blocking out the sight of Alexius being propped up by his son. Dorian took her face between his hands and squeezed just hard enough to get her attention.
"Greif?" Cassandra echoed. Dorian ignored her, instead staring intently at Lavellan. She sagged in Cassandra's arms and he let her go. "What have you done to her?"
"Nothing," Lavellan interjected. Her voice was rough from yelling so long; she cleared her throat a few times. "I'm fine. I," she paused, "apologize. I was momentarily overcome." She shivered violently and stood up straight, no longer resting her weight on Cassandra. She looked over her shoulder, hesitant to see Cassandra's face, almost afraid that the skeletal visage of the future would greet her. Instead she looked just as she always had, only more wary that usual.
Cassandra let her go with careful slowness, ready to grab her again at any sign of instability. Lavellan didn't approach Alexius again, she turned to Leliana instead as she appeared from the shadows.
"Clap him in irons, or whatever it is you do. We've got a cell waiting for him back at Haven."
As Leliana and her agents saw to Alexius, Levellan thought very favorably on Dorian's suggestion of drowning her sorrows later. And if she couldn't look at Cassandra until she'd erased the image of her dead body from her mind at the expense of her liver, well, she just hoped the woman didn't take it the wrong way.