That night, Galyan and Cassandra were in her room, and Galyan was explaining everything to her, how he had been warned about the disaster at the conclave and why he had to keep it a secret from her. "I hope you can forgive me for not telling you that I wasn't going to die…" He said, worriedly.

"Given that you had no choice and you risked your life to save Avexis as well… I forgive you." Cassandra said and kissed his cheek. "I just can't believe you did all that for me."

"Of course I did. I love you." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Cassandra." He lifted her head a bit and kissed her, and she responded, but before the kiss could go too far, they suddenly heard crying from Anthony's crib. "I'll get him." He kissed her forehead and went over to the crib, picking Anthony up out of it. "Hey, hey, hey buddy. What's wrong?"

"He's probably hungry; he hasn't eaten in a few hours. Here, bring him to me." Cassandra said, and Galyan did just that as Cassandra took her shirt off.

"Uh… what are you doing?"

"About to feed my baby, now can I have him?"

"Oh, right!" Galyan replied, rather sheepishly, and handed Anthony over gently. Cassandra took their son and held him close, and he almost immediately stopped crying as he started feeding. "Anthony is lucky to have you as a mother!"

Cassandra smiled back at him and said, "He's also lucky to have you as a father!" Galyan chuckled and kissed her forehead again.

The next morning, Cassandra woke up and found the other side of her bed empty, and she briefly wondered where Galyan went before getting out of bed and checking on Anthony, but he was gone, too. That's when she started to get worried, and began looking around the room for a note or something that Galyan may have left, but there was nothing; she quickly ran outside to find all her friends and companions waiting for her. "What's going on?"

"Don't ask us, we're just as much in the dark as you are, Seeker." Varric said.

"All we know is that Galyan woke us all up this morning and told us to stand here and wait for you." Snow explained, and Cassandra saw that she was holding Anthony.

"What could he possibly be planning…?"

"I can answer that." Galyan said as he walked over to them.

"Alright, how about now, then?"

"Gladly." He got down on one knee in front of Cassandra and smiled up at her, taking her hands into his. "Cassandra, I love you more than life itself and you make me so happy. So, will you let me spend the rest of my life trying to make you as happy as you make me? …Will you marry me?"

Cassandra just stood there; she couldn't think, she couldn't even breathe! After a moment of silence, Galyan was looking more and more worried that she was about to reject him, but he calmed down when she gave him a smile and tears welled up her eyes. "Yes!"

"You will?!" He asked, excitedly.

"Yes! Yes, I will!" She said with a nod and he jumped up, giving her a kiss excitedly.

A few hours later, Avexis was in a room upstairs with Cassandra and Galyan, and watched as they played with Anthony… in a way they had never done with her. She just sighed and began reading one of the books that was lying on the table in front of her when Galyan said her name. "Yes?"

"Could you hand me that box of sock puppets next to you?"

Avexis looked at the box before picking it up and bringing it over, dropping it next to Galyan, "Puppets, sure…"

"Avexis, is there something bother-" Cassandra started to ask, but then noticed she was already gone. "Avexis?"

When Avexis left the building, she made her way up onto the battlements and sat herself on the ledge, looking out over the mountains. 'They never used to give me that kind of attention… no, why would they? I'm not their real child! Maybe I've just been fooling myself all these years by telling myself that they see me as their daughter, when in reality… they don't. Now that they have Anthony, I'm… nothing to them, just some girl that they know.' She thought sadly as tears welled up in her eyes.

That night, after Cassandra and Galyan went to bed, Avexis snuck up to their room and went up to Anthony's crib, holding a small stuffed bear; it was a small toy that Galyan had personally sewed for her when she was a kid. She placed the bear with a note on it in the corner of the crib and smiled down at him before turning around, leaving the building, and leaving Skyhold.

The next morning, Galyan got woken up by Cassandra, who seemed panicked. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Galyan cried as he sat up and pulled her close to comfort her. "What's wrong? What's got you so worked up?"

"Avexis is gone!"

"What?! What do you mean she's gone?! Gone where?!"

"I don't know! I just woke up this morning and checked on Anthony, and I found this in his crib!" She handed him the bear and the note.

"This is the teddy bear I made for her…" Galyan said, sadly, and read the note. The first thing he noticed was that she didn't address it to "mama and papa", she addressed it to "Cassandra and Galyan".

Dear Cassandra and Galyan,

Thank you for everything, for putting up with me for all these years, and I want you to know that I always have – and always will – be grateful to you two for rescuing me from those blood mages when I was little.

I'm writing this to let you two know that I am leaving, and by the time you do read this, I will be long gone. Despite whether you two ever thought of me as your daughter, I have always thought of you as my parents. Now that you two have Anthony, though, I know you don't need to pretend with me anymore.

Goodbye,

Avexis

"I…I can't believe it." Galyan sighed. "Avexis thinks we've just been pretending with her?"

"That must've been why she was upset yesterday."

"I thought she knew that nothing could ever replace her."

"I thought so, too…"

"We have to go find her!"

"My thoughts exactly, but who's going to watch Anthony while we're gone?"

"I'm sure Snow wouldn't mind!"

Cassandra nodded, "Then, let's go!" She went over and picked up Anthony before leaving with Galyan, and they found Snow in the main hall, talking with Cullen, Luna, Fenris, Amanda, and Alastair. "Snow!"

"Hm? Oh, hi Cassandra." She saw the look on her face and frowned. "What's the matter?"

"Avexis left, and Galyan and I have to go look for her, but we need someone to watch Anthony for us, so we hoped…"

"Of course I will! I'd be happy to!"

"Great! Thank you so much!" Cassandra said with a slight bow of her head and handed him to Snow. "His stuff is up in our room if you need anything!" She looked back at Galyan, "Let's go!" He nodded, and they left in a hurry.

A few hours later, Cassandra and Galyan were still walking around, trying to find where Avexis had gone, and they found a trail that very well could be hers; they followed the trail through the mountains and ended up at a cave. "Are you sure this trail belongs to Avexis?" Cassandra asked, and he nodded.

"She must be in there somewhere."

Suddenly, there was an ear-piercing scream from inside and someone came running out; it was Avexis. She didn't even seem to notice them, though, as she ran passed, and they looked back at the cave to see an ogre walking out.

"Run!" Galyan cried to Cassandra, and they did. "Avexis!" He called when they were close enough to her.

"What are you two doing here?!"

"Sightseeing!" Cassandra replied, sarcastically, before saying, "We came out here to look for you!"

"Why? You two have Anthony! You don't need me anymore!" She suddenly jumped away when the ogre came crashing through the trees and tried to crush her with its fist. The ogre then tried to crush her with its other fist, but Galyan quickly knocked her out of the way before it could.

"Avexis, what do you mean "we don't need you anymore"?! You're our daughter, and we love you!" He said, and Avexis eyes flashed with a mix of happiness and regret.

Just before the ogre could attack them, Cassandra had run over, climbed partway up a tree and ricochet herself off of it to jump on the ogre's back and stab it in the shoulder. The ogre roared in a mix of pain and anger and reached behind him, grabbed her around the waist, and tossed her like a ragdoll, and she almost fell off the side of the mountain, but managed to grab hold of a root that was firmly dug into the ground; she was dangling off the side, though.

"Cassandra!" Galyan cried and ran over, grabbing her arms and pulling her up. He held her in his arms as the ogre stomped over and roared, raising its fist to squash them when another loud roar came out of nowhere and a small dragon came bursting through the trees and pushed the ogre right over the edge of the cliff before just going back the way it came. "Thank you, Avexis!" Galyan said to her and looked down at Cassandra. "Are you alright?"

She nodded, "I'm alright." She got up and walked over to Avexis. "You had us both worried sick about you, you know? Why did you run away?"

Avexis bowed her head sadly, "I just got… jealous, I guess. I mean, when I saw you two with Anthony, I just thought that you two never used to give me that kind of attention. Then, I started thinking that you two didn't need me anymore… that you didn't love me anymore."

"Avexis…" Cassandra kneeled in front of her. "Of course we love you! It's just that, Anthony is a baby, he needs more attention than you do, or ever did, but he's not replacing you." She lifted Avexis's head up to look at her, "No one could ever replace the spot for you in our hearts."

Avexis's eyes swelled with tears and she hugged Cassandra. "I'm sorry, mama! I shouldn't have been so jealous and started thinking that way!"

"I'm sorry, too, Avexis." Cassandra said as she hugged her back. "I should've been more sensitive to your feelings."

"So, you two forgive me?"

"Of course we forgive you!" Galyan said. "Just as long as you promise to never run off on us again!"

"I promise!"

"Good! Let's head back to Skyhold, then, shall we?" He asked, and they both nodded.

When they made it back to Skyhold, they met up with all their friends in the tavern. "Hey! The two lovebirds are back!" Bull said.

"And I see you two found Avexis!" Snow added.

"Yes. Where's Anthony?"

"He's taking a nap upstairs."

"Okay, and thank you again for watching him."

"Nah, it was nothing!"

"So, why don't you three join us all for a drink?" Bull suggested, "After all, we haven't gotten a chance to formally congratulate you two on your engagement!"

"Sounds like fun!" Galyan said, and they found places to sit down and had a couple drinks handed to them.

"Alright! Here's to Regalyan D'Marcall and Cassandra Pentaghast!" Snow cheered, lifting up her mug, and everyone clanked their mugs together and drank.

After about an hour, Cassandra started to feel dizzy, and she shook her head and rubbed her temple. "Are you okay?" Galyan asked, concern lacing his voice.

"I…I don't know." She replied, feeling nauseous all of a sudden, too.

"Cassandra?" He asked, and her eyes suddenly turned a milky white and she collapsed. "Cassandra!" He picked her up in his arms and started shaking her gently. "Cassandra, come on! Wake up!"

"What happened?!" Avexis cried.

"I don't know!"

"Is she alright?!" Snow asked.

"I don't know!" He cried again. "I don't know what happened, or what's wrong with her!"

"I do…" Amanda suddenly said as she walked over.

"You do?! Then, what is it?!"

"Yeah, what's wrong with my mama?!" Avexis begged.

Amanda kneeled down and opened Cassandra's eyelid to see if her suspicions were correct, which they were. "She has the Blight."

"What?! How is that possible?!"

"In the mountains, she fought an ogre, remember?" Avexis said.

"Yes, but she's fought darkspawn before and never gotten sick!"

"It doesn't happen every time!" Luna said. "If it did, I'd have died a long time ago!"

"What do we do?!" Galyan asked, clearly panicking.

"What can you do?" Varric asked with a shrug, but sounded genuinely sad. "There's no cure for the Blight…"

"Actually… there might be." Amanda said.

"What?! Where?!"

"Here." Amanda got up and went to her pack, and rummaged through it a bit before pulling out a vial of purple colored liquid, and showing it to them.

"Well then, give it to her!"

"I can't! I mean, I don't even know if this will work; it hasn't been properly tested yet!"

"Then test it on her!"

"It could kill her even faster! Like I said, I don't know!"

"Please!" Galyan pleaded with tears running down his face. "Please, you have to try! I love Cassandra, I can't live without her!"

"Well…" Amanda said, her blue eyes shifting around the room as she thought before looking back at him and saying, "Alright." She opened the vial and set it down before taking out a dagger.

"What do you need that for?" Alastair asked.

"The last piece of the formula calls for the blood of a tainted creature, and since there are no darkspawn here, the blood of a Grey Warden will have to suffice." She held the dagger to her hand and sliced it open, dripping a few drops of blood into the vial, and to everyone's surprise, the blood caused the potion to turn from purple to white. She then grabbed the vial with her uninjured hand and handed it to Galyan, who then quickly opened Cassandra's mouth and poured a bit of the potion down her throat. Cassandra had been breathing shallowly the whole time, but as soon as she swallowed the concoction, her breathing ceased.

Galyan's expression turned to one of pure horror. "Cassandra!" More tears fell down his face and he sobbed, holding her close. "No, no, no, no…" He muttered.

"I'm so sorry." Amanda apologized.

"It's not your fault, Amanda." Alastair comforted and pulled her into an embrace.

"Mama!" Avexis sobbed and clung to Galyan as they both cried. Galyan put Cassandra's lifeless body down gently and hugged Avexis back, trying to comfort her. "I can't believe my little brother is going to grow up without a mama! How is that fair?!"

"It's not, but there's nothing we can do now…" He sobbed again.

Everyone in the room was now looking mournful at what had just happened. A happy occasion had suddenly turned into a funeral, and Snow buried her face into Cullen's neck as she cried, and he comforted her.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a chocking cough was heard, and everyone immediately looked back at Cassandra as rolled over, pulled herself up a bit with her arms and vomited blood all over the place.

"Cassandra?!"

"Urgh!" Cassandra groaned, sticking her tongue out in disgust. "The blood in my mouth tastes like bile!" She wiped her mouth and looked up, her eyes were back to their normal brown color, and she looked quizzically at everyone. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"We thought you were dead!" Snow said.

"Huh? Why would you think that?"

"Because you were completely motionless and you stopped breathing!"

Amanda suddenly kneeled next to her again and gave her a look over. "I can't believe it…" She breathed, "The taint in you is gone!"

"The taint? Wait, I had the taint in me?!"

"Yes, from fighting that ogre!" Galyan said and pulled her into a tight hug. "Oh, Cassandra! You have no idea how happy I am that you're alive!"

"Do you know what this means, Amanda?!" Alastair said, excitedly, with a huge smile on his face.

"That she's going to be alright?"

"Well, there's that, but what I'm trying to say is that you discovered the cure for the Blight! This is huge!"

"It is!" Luna chimed in. "For hundreds of years, people have been trying to discover a cure, and you finally found one!"

Amanda chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of her neck. "Well, I tried my best."

"And you did it!" Alastair said as he picked her up and twirled her around. "You're amazing and I love you so much!"

Amanda kissed Alastair and replied, "I love you, too!"

"Thank you!" Galyan said, still holding onto Cassandra as if she was about to slip away again. "Thank you so much! You have no idea what this means to me!"

"Galyan… I can't breathe." Cassandra said, and he quickly pulled away.

"Sorry, sorry!"

Cassandra chuckled. "You don't need to apologize, just take it easy." She hugged him again, and he returned the gesture as Avexis joined the hug as well.

Everyone started cheering and started celebrating anew, for it was now happy occasion once again.

A couple months passed, and on a warm (well, as warm as it can get up in the mountains) day, Cassandra was in the main hall with Snow and Avexis, getting dressed in her dress for the wedding while the doors were closed. Her dress was a plain white, strapless one that hugged her upper body and loosened up at her hips.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Avexis said and ran over, grabbing something off the table, and ran back holding a flowered headband. "I made this for you, for yours and papa's special day!"

"Thank you, Avexis!" Cassandra said and let her put it on.

"You're welcome! You look beautiful, mama!"

"You do!" Snow agreed.

"Well, you two better burn the picture into your mind now, because after today, you will never see me in a dress again!" She joked, and they all laughed.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the big doors, and Snow called, "Who is it?"

"It's me." Cullen said.

"Come on in."

Cullen pushed the door open and stood there. "I just came to let you know that there are a lot of people here, and their all waiting."

"I know, I know. We'll be there shortly."

"Isn't that what you said five minutes ago?"

"Curly, have you figured out what the hell is taking them so long?" Varric asked as he walked into the room. "Whoa! Nice dress, Seeker!" He smirked and tried not to laugh.

"Don't make me angry on my wedding day!" Cassandra growled with a glare.

"Okay, okay… bridezilla…" He said the nickname under his breath, but Snow still heard him and whacked over the head. "Ow!"

"Thank you!" Cassandra said.

"Anytime!"

Cullen sighed and grabbed Varric by the back of his dress shirt and pushed him out. "Anyway, people waiting, so tick-tock!"

"Yes, Mister-Time-Master!" Avexis said, her tone verging on sarcasm, as she saluted, and Cullen just groaned before leaving.

"You ready?" Snow asked them both.

Avexis nodded, and Cassandra said, "Ready to get married? Of course!"

"Good! Then, Avexis, since you're the flower girl, you'll go first, and then I will, and then Cassandra!"

"Got it!" Avexis said and walked to the door, grabbing her basket of flowers on the way out. She paused at the doorway briefly to take a deep breath before walking out and down the stairs to the courtyard where all the guests were and Galyan was waiting with Mother Giselle on the altar. She threw flowers down the stairs, down the aisle, and up to the altar before taking her place right below it; Snow had not been far behind her, and she took her placed up on the altar, behind the bride's place.

Then, Cassandra came out and everyone looked at her as she walked down the steps and down the aisle. When she got up to the altar, she took her place there, and Galyan leaned in, whispering in her ear, "You look beautiful."

"Thank you." She whispered back, not being able to help the blush on her cheeks.

Mother Giselle smiled and started, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are here to celebrate the union of Regalyan D'Marcall and Cassandra Pentaghast in holy matrimony!" She continued, saying all the mandatory things to wed couples, before she finally got to the end. "Regalyan D'Marcall, do you take Cassandra Pentaghast to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love, to cherish, and to care for, now and forever?"

"I do, now and forever."

"Cassandra Pentaghast, do you take Regalyan D'Marcall to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love, to cherish, to care for, now and forever?"

"I do, now and forever."

"Then, in the name of the Maker and his bride, Andraste, I declare these two to be wed! You may now kiss your bride!"

Galyan and Cassandra looked at each other before leaning in and kissing gently, and everyone clapped and cheered. After the ceremony, everyone watched as the couple had the first dance, and they all chatted amongst themselves for the rest of the time, but, of course, gave their congratulations to the happy couple.

After the reception, Galyan and Cassandra had a carriage waiting for them outside Skyhold to take them to Val Royeaux for their honeymoon, and everyone waved as they left.

"So," Galyan said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "How does it feel to be Mrs. Cassandra D'Marcall?"

Cassandra smiled and kissed his cheek. "I've never been happier!" She wrapped her arms around his waist and placed her head against his chest. "And when we get back, how about we start planning on choosing a permanent place to live with Avexis and Anthony? Being settled down and raising our family, just like you've always wanted?"

"I would love that, to spend the rest of my life with you and our children!" He kissed her gently. "I love you more than anything, Cassandra, and I thank the Maker every day that we're together!"

"I love you, too, Galyan!" She said, and they kissed again, both of them completely ready and happy to start their new lives together.

––

Hey everyone! Well, this is it, the last chapter! I hope you all enjoyed this story, and thank you so much for reading! I put a lot of time, effort, and love into this one! I have to say, at the part when Cassandra died, I actually started making myself cry, so I've also put tears into this one!

Nice reviews make me happy!

See you next time!