Disclaimer:

Dragon Age I and II belong to Bioware.

All the copyrights associated with the world and characters of Dragon Age belong to them.

Only the ideas contained within this story are my property.

This is just for fun, not profit.

Synopsis:

Set after the events of Dragon Age II. Spared by Hawke after destroying the Chantry and hunted by everyone else, Anders flees to the only place that he ever called home... only to find himself in a situation that once again gets out of hand. Eventual Anders x OC. Yes, it's one of those fics.

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Chapter 5

It was strange, looking at his mother's face again. Her face was lined, her blond hair mostly turned to white; but he knew now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he would have recognized her anywhere. Her eyes, still the same brilliant blue he remembered, were glistening with tears.

He held her close and she cupped his cheek with infinite tenderness. He realized he was crying too.

"My son," she whispered, voice choked. "My son! I was not strong enough to keep them from taking you away!"

"Hush," he said, voice choked. "We are reunited and that's all that matters."

"Your poor leg…"

"A minor wound. Nothing I can't fix, Mother. I am a healer."

She laughed a little and kissed his hair. "My Richart..."

Rhys touched his shoulder, saying softly, "I'm sorry Anders…but we need to get these people to safety."

"Yes. Of course." He helped his mother stand up, wiping away the tears on her face.

"You need to go. I will come as soon as I am able. I must make sure no one else is in danger."

She shook her head frantically. "I will stay with you, mein sun."

He embraced her once more and said, "No one will separate us again, mother. This, I promise. But I need to know you are safe. Do it for me."

"I..." She was still weeping.

"I am strong now. I will endure." He stroked her hair, marveling at how fragile she felt at his arms. "Can I trust these men to take you back safely?"

"Yes," she said. "They were caught by surprise in their beds. I know each and every one of them. They are honest people."

"Very well," Anders said. He turned to Rhys. "Can you show to the men how to use one of these weapons?"

She nodded. "Cortez can."

"As long as we take it back once they're out of harm's way." Cortez said, looking pointedly at Rhys.

She looked away. "Right," she said, examining her fingernails.

"I thought you were looking for one person, not two," Anders told Rhys.

"So did I," she replied. "I had no idea about Cortez. How did you end up here, anyway?"

"Same way you did, I assume," the man named Cortez said. "I'd rather talk about it later. In private." He glanced at Anders. "Sorry man, nothing personal."

"Very well," Anders replied. "Any signs of the last man?" he asked Rhys.

"You mean the one I tracked before? I asked the guard you knocked down. He went to wait further down the mountain, a little too far to have heard anything, apparently."
"Why did they stop here, then?" Anders asked.

"We heard them talking about preparing us." Cortez intervened. His eyes hardened and he looked at the bound guard. "He enjoyed it when some of the women cried, too."

Before Anders could stop him, he went over to the tied man and kicked him in the stomach. "That's payback, you sadistic bastard!" he spat, as the thug crunched in pain.

He turned around and said, "I'm ready to show them how to use the gun, and then I want to find the asshole responsible for all this and remove his teeth, one by one."

While Cortez was talking to the villagers, Anders asked Rhys, "What about your other friend?"

"Nowhere to be found." She said, sounding worried. "Cortez didn't see her too. God, I had no clue he had ended up in this place as well." She shook her head. "He wasn't wearing his tracing device. Only Andrea and I were."

Anders didn't understand. "'Ended up'? What are you talking about?"

She looked at him, seemingly trying to decide how to proceed. Finally, she muttered, "this is not something I expect you to believe."

"Try me," he said.

"Anders…we were brought here by accident."

"In the Anderfels, you mean?"

"No. I mean we were brought into this world by accident."

He stared at her. "You are still in shock."

"No, she isn't in shock." Cortez's voice had taken a hard edge. "She is just talking too much."

Rhys flushed. "We are out of choices, Cortez! What are we to do?"

"How about not telling the natives?"

"I am still here, you know!" Anders said, irritated.

"I know you are. That's the point!" Cortez snapped.

"Listen, Andrea is missing, this is not the place we thought it was and I just killed someone. We need all the native help we can get, otherwise we're screwed! I don't know if you enjoy the idea of looking at these steppes for the rest of your life, but I'm pretty sure the cavalry will not be coming anytime soon. So I'll talk and reveal as much as I feel I have to if it means getting anywhere."

"We came through a fucking mirror, Rhys! How the hell can anyone -"

"Wait," Anders interrupted, "A mirror? Big, heavy, ornamented, strange surface, not reflecting any light?"

Both Rhys and Cortez stared at him.

"You've seen it?" Rhys asked.

"Oh, yes," Anders replied. Andraste's sword… He tried to think.

"Sounds like an Eluvian. How do you know of it?" he asked.

"Some of our…ah…people found it. We had been studying it when the accident happened." Rhys said.

"Studying it?" Anders asked, incredulous. "Are you mad? That thing is dangerous!"

"No shit," Cortez said. "A little too late for that warning."

"If there is an Eluvian involved, these people need to get to safety now." Anders walked towards his mother, who was standing a little further away with the rest of the former captives.

"Muoter, you need to leave. Now. I will come as soon as I am able." He turned the man holding the weapon.

"Go and take the guard with you. Do with him as you will."
"Yes, herr," said the man in a low voice. "From the bottom of my heart, thank you." He heard murmurs of thanks from the rest of the group, but everyone else avoided meeting his eyes.

"You are a mage." The man said in an apologetic tone. "We will not tell anyone, but forgive us our fear… even if we owe you our lives."

"Just go," Anders said and the man nodded.

He kissed his mother's forehead and watched her go, along with everyone else. Once their steps faded away, the three of them were left standing in the cavern, facing the path that led further inside the mountain.

"Your leg!" Rhys suddenly said. "How could I forget? Let me take out the med kit!—"

"No need," Anders replied. He took out his boot and raised his breeches until he could see his wounded calf. "See? It went through."

"Still, you must be in terrible pain, and we have to disinfect it!"

He stilled her reaching hand. "No." he focused some of his energy and created a ball of white light in his hand, then he carefully lowered it to his leg. When he raised it, no sign of the wound remained. "See?" he said.

As he put his boot back on, he noticed the other man looking at him, stunned.

"How the hell…" Cortez slowly asked.

"Long story," interrupted Rhys. "There is so much to fill you in!"

"We will talk later," Anders said. "First, we find the one responsible for this mess." Best not too think about their story, now.

"Hell yes!" Cortez said. "Just a sec." He picked up the guns, giving one to Rhys and offering the other one to Anders.

He shook his head. "No," he said, raising his staff. "I will be more effective using this."

Rhys looked at the guns in her hand, her expression veiled. Finally she said, "I'll put the spare in my backpack. Can you secure it, Cortez?"

"No reason," he said. "I'll just carry both of them. You keep the other one, though."

She nodded, eyes staring far away for a while, and then, snapping back to reality, she rummaged through her satchel, taking out yet another of her strange contraptions. She turned on a small red switch and light came out of one side.

"Dude, how did you end up with all this shit?" Cortez asked.

"Half the room came with me," Rhys replied. "I take it you were not that lucky?"

"Just the clothes on my back and whatever I was carrying at the time. Ran out of cigarettes, real fast. On top of that, I happened upon the bastards as they were on their way to the mountain. What did you do with the stuff?"

"Hid it, as best as I could. Let's go."

Anders didn't bother commenting on the newest mechanical miracle the girl had produced. Instead, he said in a drawling tone, "I wonder what other things are to be found in your world. Do you have flying dogs and controllable fish, perhaps?"

Cortez and Rhys exchanged an amused glance.

"You'd be surprised," Rhys wryly said, winking at him.

Cortez sighed. "Jesus, girl, do you always have to have the last word?"

"Enough," said Anders. "Let's go. Rhys, stay close and light our way."

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She had been walking close to him, casting inquisitive glances every now and then, so Anders wasn't really surprised when Rhys' soft voice broke the silent air.

"You have been separated from your mother for a long time?" Rhys asked.

"Since I was twelve years old," Anders said.

Her perpetual surprise at everything was mildly amusing. "Twelve! But why?"

"Remember your reaction when we first met? When I first used magic?" Anders said.

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Cortez interrupted.

"Welcome to the land of Oz," said Rhys. She waved away Anders before he could speak. "A joke from our world. Go on, though."

Anders raised a brow at her as he said, "Most people are terrified of mages. Add to that the fact that we are the easiest prey for demons to possess and you'll see why the powers that be deemed good and proper for us to spend our lives in Circles." Until we finally snapped.

The footsteps behind him stopped abruptly. "Wait, did you just say demons?" Cortez asked.

"Keep walking, and yes, I did. We are the only people capable of traveling to the Fade consciously and as such, we are the ones most susceptible to its denizens." He examined his staff as he spoke, avoiding their eyes. "An abomination, which is the term used for a possessed mage, yields terrifying power."

"And what is a Circle?"

"Circles are communities, of sorts, for mages, supervised by the Templars, the military branch of the Chantry -our religion," he clarified, before Cortez had a chance to ask again. In reality, a prison of sorts where basic liberties are denied to my kind."

"That sounds terrible…" Rhys said.

"It is, but the old way of doing things is crumbling as we speak. The Circles will not be a reality for much longer."

"What do you mean?" Cortez asked.

"War has broken between the Chantry and the Circles of mages. Things may be better or worse, but they will never be the same."

"So that's the real reason you were supervised."

Anders scoffed at the other man. "Supervised? More like chained. I tried to escape seven times during my time in the Circle. Each time, I was dragged back, like an animal."

"Well, sorry to say this, but if you pose a danger to other people—"

"Anyone can become demented and dangerous when he is denied basic human liberties!"
"But not everyone can be possessed by a demon. You said that yourself." He wished the other man would let the subject drop.

Cortez apparently didn't know when to quit.

Calm, Justice! If what they say is true, he knows nothing of this world.

Voice rising steadily in anger, Anders said, "Mages turn to blood magic because it's the last resort they have against being maimed, raped, tortured! We are allowed nothing. No lovers, no families. Magical power has been used and abused, much like the people who wield it."

"Not so loud! What if we're close?" Rhys whispered.

Cortez threw Rhys a glance and nodded. "Sounds like a monastery of sorts," muttered. "Sad business, but necessary if you want to contain the magical individuals and prevent accidents. I understand it to be an incurable condition."

Anders felt a cold rage build inside him. Incurable. A curse, not a blessing. A wave of indignation rose from both him and Justice.

"Oh no, there is a cure." His cold smile didn't reach his eyes. "There is a way out of being a mage. It allows for the magical part of yourself to be cut off, so to speak."
"So? Why isn't it used on the majority?" Cortez asked expectantly.

"Because when you become Tranquil –that's the name they use, by the way- not only do you lose your magic, but you are also stripped of all emotion and real sense of self. Hope, pain, fear, love…it's all gone."

"My God," Rhys whispered. "They cripple you."
He ignored her, burning holes with his eyes on the other man. "All it takes is one fanatical Templar in a position of power for you to never feel anything again. Imagine waking up every day for no real reason, other than to serve, never feeling love or hurt or hope, for the rest of your life. Imagine being an empty vessel that walks and talks and works and that's all you can ever aspire to be." He laughed bitterly. "Why, I would have chosen it even if I was not cursed to begin with."

Cortez flushed. After a few seconds, he finally talked "I'm…Look, I'm sorry. All you have done so far is help, and I've been an ass. It's been a rough day, is all I can say." He extended his hand.

"Don't be so quick to judge my kind again," Anders said in a low voice. But he clasped the other man's hand, nonetheless. Next to him, he felt Rhys touch his shoulder and he almost leaned into her touch. Before he had the chance to reflect further on this, however, they heard a voice.

"Who-who is there? Can someone help me?"