Nightmares Re-Write

Chapter 7

By Of Quirky Excellence aka LyriumGhost18

It wasn't long before Orana came back below deck, and even though Hawke was initially relieved to see that she carried a tray with bandages and salve, rags and a bowl of water, the rogue's heart sank when she realized the little girl was not alone. Danarius followed closely behind the young elf, carrying a ring of keys. Hawke frowned when she saw him, and she was biting back tears.

Danarius' expression could not be read, as he motioned for Orana to put the tray on a nearby barrel. As the girl carried out the magister's orders she was silent, her composure low and submissive. Danarius opened the door to the cell and the guard who had flogged Fenris stood aside, keeping watch. The magister knelt at Fenris' side across from Annabelle and the blonde rogue glared at her captor in disgust. What was he going to do? She worried. Her stormy eyes gleamed with unbroken spirit but her posture told a different story. Her breaths were shallow, ragged, and the weight of the chains binding her wrists caused almost every part of her to ache. The ship had been moving since Fenris had been whipped, and Hawke was pale with seasickness and grief. Fenris turned his head to face Danarius, but the elf's sadistic captor placed a hand on the back of Fenris' neck and squeezed roughly.

"I did not tell you to move, my pet." Annabelle spat in Danarius' face. The one lesson her late brother had taught her that now could be put to good use. The magister slapped her hard across the face, leaving a big, red mark, and a metal ring he wore left a small cut below her eye. "You should mind your manners, missy. I only have so much patience for shenanigans!" he sneered.

"And you are a fool if you think what you are doing will go unpunished!" She said boldly. Fenris elbowed her side harder than he'd intended, wincing himself when he did so.

"Hawke, you're making it worse…please, stop."

"You see? My pet has learned his lesson." Danarius said smugly. "My guard has played a satisfactory part in this lesson." The guard outside the door gave his master a curt nod.

"Thank you, master." He said with little to no emotion evident in his voice. Was he a slave as well? Annabelle thought, with slight confusion mixing with all the other feelings she had.

The magister turned back to face Hawke and Fenris. "Bring me the tray, little slave." Orana then took the tray off the barrel and handed it to Danarius, who nodded once she had obeyed his order. "You are dismissed. Go and see if Hadriana needs something."

Annabelle closed her eyes and shuddered at the thought of that poor little girl, catering to that wretched woman's every whim. Just the image of the woman's face made her sick to her stomach.

Orana was gone when she opened her eyes, and watched helplessly with wide eyes as Danarius began to examine Fenris' injuries more closely. The whiplash wounds, fresh though they were, could barely compare to the tooth marks from the high dragon that had mauled him and nearly killed him. Then Danarius began to run his hand lightly down Fenris' arm, which caused the elf to thrash wildly. "Impressive!" the magister exclaimed. "This young woman has kept your physique in remarkable shape!"

"Get your hands off me! Do not touch me again!" Fenris cried, causing Annabelle to start to cry again.

Danarius pulled his hand away, and with a pouting, mocking tone he asked, "What's the matter my pet? Believe it or not, once upon a time you had feelings for me." Fenris' eyes widened, as if in disbelief. "Yes, you would have leaned into my touch…" The magister smiled gleefully at the thought.

"NEVER!" Fenris roared furiously.

"How I missed you, my pet!" Danarius moved his hand to Fenris' face now and he caressed the elf's cheek lightly. Fenris then turned his head and bit his captor's hand as hard as he could! Annabelle's blood boiled now, this man was tormenting the man she loved and there was nothing in the world she could do to stop it.

Fenris tried to hold onto Danarius' fingers but the magister pulled away, sending a seemingly small lightning spell to the elven warrior's nose, shocking it with much more power than it appeared to have.

Fenris writhed in pain on Hawke's lap, causing her heart to race and her face to get red with rage, almost as red as the blood that now stained the magister's hand. Once Fenris stopped moving he looked up at Danarius, satisfied, despite the pain that resulted, that he'd shown Annabelle the magister could be defied, but only so much.

"Oh how fun it will be to break you, my pet. How very fun."

"You sadistic bastard!" Hawke accused. "You leave him alone!"

"And as for you, my little bird of prey, you will be molded into the perfect slave…"

Fenris tensed up, but Danarius saw that the elf was about to speak, and he hand-gagged him. It was more of a punch in the mouth than actually preventing speech though, and it earned the magister another set of tooth mark's across his knuckles. But with his other hand Danarius yanked Fenris' head up by a large chunk of his silvery hair, twisting his neck painfully. As quickly as the magister's cruel treatment of his captives began, it was over, and Danarius let go of the elf's hair and waited a moment until he could hear his own words over Hawke's sobs.

"Now," he said, gathering himself. "If I take those chains off, you will allow your lady friend to tend to your wounds, won't you, my pet?"

Fenris looked almost puzzled. "I…I will."

Danarius smiled, showing his ugly teeth. "Good. I shall unbind you both then. But I only have to shout and my men will be here to pry you off me if you try anything. And if you do, you will be punished. Harshly."

Annabelle and Fenris glared at Danarius, both unsure of what to think or say.

Finally, Fenris nodded. "Understood." Hawke hated the way he spoke. He sounded defeated, broken. It was good enough for the magister, though. He took his ring of keys off his belt and Fenris allowed him to remove the heavy restraints from his wrists.

Hawke had to move to let Danarius unbind her hands. Fenris sat up slowly and painfully, and held himself up just long enough for Annabelle to be unbound. Then without a word Hawke wrapped and arm under his shoulder to support him, trying not to irritate his wounds further. He cried out as one of the fresh gashes accidentally brushed against her and her face contorted with a pained expression. Danarius left the cell, locking the door behind him and then making his way above deck and leaving the elf and his Champion alone, save for the one guard stationed outside their cell. Hawke let Fenris lie down slowly and gently. Then she placed a hand on his arm, trying to gather her composure while he gathered his. He turned onto his side and weakly lifted a hand to her face, his emerald eyes widening as his fingers brushed past the cut from Danarius' ring when he'd slapped her.

Hawke saw the worry in his eyes and shook her head. "It's nothing, Fenris, I-"

He cut her off abruptly by placing a single finger to her lips. How could he let this happen? Hawke, his beautiful Hawke, caught in Danarius' hopeless abyss of malice and strife. It wasn't fair. And the worst part was that he felt he was to blame.

She sighed and dread and sympathy took over her tone of voice when she spoke up again. "We're going to have to take off what's left of your armor, love." She truly did not want to cause him any more pain but his wounds needed attention. He nodded. He wore a leather shirt under his breastplate, the latter of which had already been removed by Danarius outside of the cell. The magister had also unstrapped the upper part of the leather shirt from the back so his bare skin alone faced the whip. Annabelle carefully and tenderly removed his shirt, neither expecting nor receiving much help from the elf. She did not blame him at all, his body was already so weak.

Now only his trousers remained. She then gently guided him into the most comfortable position she could think of, lying on his stomach, with his head turned to face her. She dipped the cloth from the tray into the bowl of water and she dabbed it as gently as she could onto a large laceration just below his shoulder blade. He hissed, his facial features contorting with obvious pain and discomfort. She pressed the cloth firmly against the wound, and he screamed.

Hawke flinched and took the cloth away for a moment. "I'm sorry, Fenris, I'm just praying it doesn't get infected. I have seen what happens when wounds go untreated."

After she finished cleaning that gash and a few more cuts, welts and bruises she turned her attention to one of the dragon's tooth marks, a large puncture wound that had thankfully not gone in deep enough to cause damage to his organs, but still caused a great deal of pain. The bandage that had been wrapped onto that injury and the flesh around it were torn because of the whip and she slowly and gently removed the destroyed bandage, and cleaned the wound, much to Fenris' discomfort.

She then took the new bandages from the tray and she helped him sit up so she could wrap them onto his torso to protect his injuries, new and old. Now that she was finished she'd expected him to lie back down but he didn't. She scooted closer to him. He was hugging his knees and his head was down. She placed her hand on top of his and he looked at her as he took her hand, stroking her knuckles.

"I'm sorry." He said softly. "You don't deserve to be pulled into this."

Hawke moved as close as she could to him and wrapped her arm around the top of his shoulders, where there weren't any injuries. "I care too much about you to let you go, Fenris, I…I love you. Don't you ever forget that!" Tears trickled down her cheek and he let go of her hand to bring his own hand up to wipe away her tears.

"No matter what Danarius says…or does, I want you to know…I…" He paused, questioning his own definition of 'love,' and then he continued, in a fierce, yet hushed voice, "I'm yours."

Then they both turned slightly to face each other, and stared into each other's' bright eyes, and she moved to let their lips meet again. Then just for that moment, he was hers and she was his. The kiss was short but passionate, and neither one of them wanted to pull away, but it was a mutual movement between the two of them when the kiss ended.

Then they fell asleep in each other's arms, waiting to face the days to come.

A/N: My inspiration was "As Long As You're Mine" from WICKED. Especially towards the end. Sorry for such a long wait, and thank you so much for reading!