If there ever comes a day when we can't be together,
keep me in your heart. I'll stay there forever.
~ A.A. Milne

.

The sound of screaming broke through the fetid air, blood and fire raining across the open space between the disjointed walls. Demons died, most of them badly, caught in the crack of ice, the swelling heat of fire, or pinned by a swiftly turned arrow. It was over almost as soon as it began, leaving the Inquisitor to slide her half-drawn, unbloodied blade back into its sheath while she and Dorian simply stared around at the carnage. The Warden, Leliana, and the Champion were already making their way further into the Fade, none of them winded and their armor intact.

The Inquisitor and Dorian glanced at one another, their expressions almost blank with surprise. "No wonder Cassandra was so desperate to get either of those two to help with the Inquisition," Ashe muttered. "We are hopelessly outclassed, my friend."

"I wouldn't say that," the mage answered, though his eyes had gone a little wide. "Though it was undoubtedly impressive."

Solas, who hadn't even bothered to cast through the fight, simply chuckled and shook his head. "It takes time to build such skills."

"Right," Ashe glanced over her shoulder at him and shook her head. "I just wish we had that kind of time. They're already where we need to be."

"And when they were becoming the Hero and the Champion, they were where you are now," the elf said comfortingly. "I suggest we continue before they leave us behind."

He was in the garden at Skyhold again, this time walking the pathways at night as the stars glimmered overhead. The bard from the tavern was playing in the gazebo, and the sweet sound filled the air around him. It all seemed clearer now, and he looked for Ysri, passing through the greenery and into the Great Hall, unseen - a ghost among the masks the Orlesian guests wore. But he did not find her there.

As he paused in the center of the room, the Commander strode by, his face set into a growling expression that Alistair found familiar - even comforting. Fereldens were given to action and this was a man who had found himself stymied. He followed along in the lion's wake, back through the door to the garden and through it, to another door Alistair had not yet noticed.

"They have not returned," Cassandra said from her place beside the door. "Morrigan claims she does not know how long it will take, given the nature of traveling to the Fade."

"We should have gone with them," Cullen replied, his voice sharp.

"They have the Hero and the Champion with them," the Seeker answered. "And Leliana, as well. We would have been superfluous, and you know it."

He did not hear what they said next. In his elation, Alistair found himself waking in the Fade, groaning at the pain in his arm as he climbed slowly to his feet. The creatures who had been nearby when he had hidden himself were gone now, only the distant sound of them left to remind him they had been there at all. Leaning against the canyon wall, holding his arm against his chest, he gave himself a little room to hope.

They broke through yet another line of demons, and, this time, everyone was caught up in the battle. There were no all-knowing voices speaking out of the sky, and no strange vignettes that required solving - it was simple, bloody battling through line after line of demon. The bone-rattling, exhausting kind of work that made up the bread and butter of Warden work. Within a few hours they'd hit a clear patch and jogged along the pathways, looking for signs of real life. When the giant spiders began to crawl over the walls to descend into the open space, everyone groaned, though likely more from boredom than fear.

"This is beginning to remind me of the Deep Roads," Surana called out to Leliana as they worked their way through the biting, hissing creatures, magic flaring on all sides as the four mages worked together while Ashe killed anything that kept moving afterward.

"Long, boring, and terrifying?" Leliana asked, a brow lifting. "I see the resemblance now."

They made their way down another passage, and the Champion, who was walking to one side, paused, nudging something metal over with the toe of her boot. It rolled across the ground and clanged to a halt near Surana's feet, the griffon on the front of the shield glittering wetly up at her.

"Alistair," she gasped, dropping to her knees beside the shield. "He can't be far."

"There's blood here and ..." Hawke moved forward and around an outcropping. "And a dead demon. Several dead demons. We're on the right track."

"If he's lost this, perhaps he was injured?" Leliana suggested. "He would try to go away from the monsters, don't you think?"

"We dare not separate here," Surana answered. "If he is still alive, I should know as soon as we're in range of him. Wardens feel like darkspawn to other wardens, you know."

"Well, that's not at all comforting," Dorian muttered.

He sat down to eat, knowing he had little food left but too drained and hurt to deny himself the rest of the bread and cheese, which he ate last. It wasn't good cheese. Good cheese came from Orlais and tasted of herbs and spices, rich cream, and ... he stopped thinking about it with an effort of will. Good cheese was making the current cheese taste like darkspawn spit, and it might possibly be the last he'd ever eat. Sighing, he took a slow bite and chewed it carefully, thinking instead of his wife and her hair, the way she called his name in certain ... uh ... he felt himself blushing and smiled as he chewed the rest of his food. Maker, how had he made it this long without her?

His shield would be somewhere down the pathways, he thought. If they came that way, they'd know he'd been there, so he thought to go back and stay near to it. The demons seemed far fewer now - a good sign that help was nearby or a bad sign that the big finale was nearly upon him. He'd always found that demons in the Fade seemed to have a tendency toward the operatic. Not that he required anything dramatic and over-powering to finish him off at this stage. He felt like an old man as it was, the injuries tiring him out to the point that his sword seemed remarkably heavy.

There were voices nearby. He could hear them clearly over the sound of his suddenly thudding heart. Holding his arm tightly to his side, Alistair limped along the passageway and back the way he had come before. There was a blind corner ahead and he took it carefully, edging around to see what lay beyond.

There were footsteps along the passage ahead of them, loud and heavy. A rattle began that lead into a growl, deep and ominous as it chuckled, the sound shuddering through the ground at their feet . Leliana dropped to a knee and drew her bow while Surana and Hawke readied their spells. What came through the break in the rocks was not a pride demon the size of a small dragon, broad shoulders and many-eyed gaze sweeping over them as it laughed and laughed. Dorian automatically cast a warding over the group and the Inquisitor stepped forward, blade already free of the scabbard.

"Well, this will undoubtedly be a delight," the Tevinter mage said, voice carrying through the damp air.

"Nothing like a little demon mutilation before breakfast," Hawke answered, hands gleaming with scarlet energy as magic began to well around her.

It would have been a difficult battle with only two mages, but four rather evened the odds, especially for Ashe, who was having to keep the damn beast's attention away from Hawke and Surana - both of whom made it rather difficult to ignore them. Heat and ice flared and crashed around her as she crashed again and against into its armor-tough hide, grateful when it began to stagger beneath the blows she dealt to its knees. It was so tall, that was the highest she could reach.

And then a fireball crashed into its head, followed by a bolt of lightning and she threw herself out of the way as the demon wobbled and came crashing down to lie still on the rocks next to her. Panting, she lifted her head to smile at the others, her expression turning to one of horror as something large and gleaming pulled itself from the ground behind the Warden and swept her aside with a gesture. The fear demon cackling as it lifted its hands and began to cast.

He ran forward, lifting his blade with one hand as he saw Ysri go flying to the side. It didn't matter that his left arm was useless or that he'd likely broken ribs somewhere along the line. After so long apart, he would be damned if he let this be the end of it now.