"Join us brothers and sisters,

Join us in the shadows where we stand vigilant,

Join us as we carry the duty that cannot be forsworn,

And should you perish,

Know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten,

And that one day we shall join you."

-Warden's Oath

Cool night air surrounded me as I looked out into the forest, right on the edge of camp. I wasn't in my armor, but a robe set that had been given to me by Queen Anora to help with setting into a calmer lifestyle. I guess she felt bad for me, after everything that happened. I didn't let myself think of that last battle often. Too much trauma. I heard rustling and looked around me, readying a spell to fire if there was a hostile about to attack. Then out came Alistair, stepping from behind a tree.

"Well, well, someone's on edge. You would think that you would be calmer, now that the Blight is over." He came over and sat next to me, in that all too familiar armor with that goofy smile of his. I smiled back, but only slightly, then looked back out towards the woods.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to put my guard down, to be honest. After all we've been through… I'll always be concerned there will be a knife about to be stabbed into my back. I have to be prepared, you know?" He laughed, shaking his head.

"Well that's a way to live, huh? But I understand what you mean." He continued to look at me, right at my eyes, but I didn't make eye contact. I couldn't. "How are you ever going to settle down after all of this?"

"Settle down?"

"Yes, settle down, meet someone, start a family." I laughed softly. Alistair, always the optimist.

"I could never settle down…" I look down, forcing the tears in my eyes to stay in place. I'd never cried in front of anybody except at the…..no, no, I wasn't going back there again.

"Why not? Strong, independent woman like you, not intimidating at all." He joked, making me laugh.

"Oh, yeah, every man's dream." I said sarcastically, side-smiling.

"But seriously, why not? When we talked about settling down back in Denerim, before the final battle, you agreed that after this was all over you were thinking of settling down. What happened?" I look away, the words on the tip of my tongue but I was holding it back. Or trying to.

"I….. I just can't."

"You can't… or won't?" Then he gave me that look; that sweet, soft, sincerely worried look of his and I had to meet his eyes. The second I made contact with those gorgeous eyes of his… Something inside of me broke. The wall I had up to keep everyone out from my true feelings… it broke down.

"I won't settle down, not without you. Alistair, I never really got to tell you, but…."

"I know." He interrupted softly, putting his hand on mine. "I know. But you can't keep holding on forever. I…. I love you too, but you have to let go. You can't keep doing this, Annabeth. You say you've moved on, and you tell everyone you're fine, but I know you aren't."

"How can I be? Your sacrifice…. it was amazing, touching, astounding, heroic, the greatest act of love…. but I wish it had been me. No, I wouldn't want you to suffer with this loneliness either. I wish I had listened to Morgain…. I should have listened….." I shook my head, again refusing to cry, though one rouge tear streamed down my face. Alistair wiped it gently away with his thumb.

"Hey, none of that, I'm just a bastard Templar I'm not worth crying over. Especially not your tears, which I know are never shed. Plus, you did the right thing. No regrets, you know that would have ended badly for everyone. I'm sure you saved the world-and yourself, no doubt- a lot of trouble." I sighed and smiled, shaking my head.

"Always right, in that silly way of yours. Well, there was one thing you were never right about. Your worth. You're more than just some bastard Templar, Alistair, and you know it. You defeated the Archdemon! That's a great accomplishment!" He laughed and shook his head.

"Yes but I died, and everybody is going to remember you, the great Warden who gave a great name to mages by defeating the Blight. I'm just a tool, a weapon used to finish the dragon off. But hey, I bet my funeral was great. They go all out on those things, you know. War heros are like super stars, they get the most elaborate funerals. How was it?" I laughed again.

"Oh trust me, it was great. A dove was released for each of the darkspawn you killed, and 100 for the Archdemon. Although, they all got lost on the way there so we ended up recreating your greatest moments, the part of you played by Oghren. He was… a bit more angry then I remember you." I joked back, winking at him. He laughed back and it made me feel a bit better that I was able to make him laugh like that.

"Well that sounds brilliant! Although I always wished that Whynne would play me in a reenactment, she looks just like me don't you think?" I laughed and shook my head, smiling at him. "Really, though, you deserve to be happy Annabeth. I've loved talking with you, I really have, but it's time for you to move on. I'll still visit you, but you have to promise you'll move on. For your own good. Okay? No more pretending. Actually be happy for once okay? You deserve it." He punched my arm playfully and smiled at me. "Plus I'll never be truly gone. I'll be right here," he put his finger on my chest where my heart was. "forever with my cheesy pick up lines and bad puns."

I then wrapped my arm around his neck, pulling him into me as I kissed his lips passionately. After a moment of shock he kissed back, then pulled back and smiled at me. "I have to go. You do, too, Miss Warden -Commander. Now go, you have a job to do." He handed me a rose, the same rose he handed me in Haven when we were looking for the Urn of Sacred Ashes in what seemed like forever ago. I took it and smiled, looking down at it. "Goodbye, Alistair."

I looked up, and he wasn't gone like I expected, and what I saw was anything but expected. I was back in Denerim, on top of the tower facing the Archdemon. Covered in blood as we stood over the Archdemon, he turned to me with a serious face. "Wait. Let me. There's no need for you to die. This is my duty. I should be the one to kill it."

I wanted to tell him no, that I couldn't live without him, that I needed him, but the words wouldn't come out. Instead, my mouth moved on it's own, as if the words were being forced out of my mouth. "I can't let you do that."

"Why not? This is my duty. If I was going to be king, I would have wanted to be a good king. And this right here, this is being the best king I could be. It could be my first and last act, stopping the Blight before it ever really starts. No one could blame me for that, could they?"

"That's not the only reason and you know it." I said, the words once again forced out of my mouth. He sighs.

"You're right. I know how I feel about you, and I can't let you die. Not if I can do something about it."

"No," I insisted. "I won't let you die either, Alistair." He smiles and laughs softly.

"You say that as if I'm giving you a choice." Then he grabs his sword and rushes forward, going in for the final blow.

"No…." I murmur, breathless, and Oghren has to hold me back from rushing to stop him as he reaches the Archdemon, stabbing in his sword with the final blow, a beam of red light shining into the air.

"NO!" I scream as I quickly sit up clutching the sheets of the bed my breathing heavy and uneven. I look around and swallow, taking deep breaths. Just a dream just a dream…..

I then hear a knock at the door. "Warden-Commander? There is someone here to see you." My eyes adjust from being asleep and I answer back, "I'll be right out have them wait outside my quarters." I slip into my armor and step outside to see no other than Whynne standing before me. I smile at her, going over to shake her hand.

"Whynne, it's been so long…"

"Come now, Annabeth, I believe we've gotten past simple pleasantries like that. Give me a hug, I'm sure you need one." She wraps her arms around me in a warm embrace and I accept it, hugging her back ,smiling.

"Thanks, Whynne. I do."

"Is everything alright?" She asks, pulling away with a concerned look on her face. "I've been told that you've been having frequent night terrors, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Whynne." I reassure her, smiling. "The medic says they're normal, and can you really blame me for having nightmares after everything we've been through? You can't tell me you don't get them occasionally, too. But I'm sure you didn't come all the way here from the Circle just to ask me if I'm alright. Is everything okay with you? Why have you come?"

"I suppose that's true." She releases me and the worried look on her face seems to diminish a bit, replaced with a warm but tired smile. "Of course, you always know when a person is in need. I know you must be busy here, but…. a small group of darkspawn has been terrorizing villages around the Circle, and it still hasn't quite finished healing from the corruption so we are in no place to build up armies to fight them. I was wondering if there was any way you could help, send some Wardens in to clear up the darkspawn."

"Of course, Whynne, I'll get on that right way."

"Thank you, Warden. Now, honestly, are you alright? What have your dreams been about? Nothing unusual, I hope. They haven't taken you back into the Fade have they, child?" She looks at me worriedly and I smile trying to change the subject.

"I'm fine, like I said. They've mainly been about Alistair, and what happened with the Archdemon…. I don't go a night without it replaying in my head, but before hand it's almost as if…." I trail off, shaking my head.

"Almost as if what?"

"Almost as if I'm actually talking with him, that I actually am having a conversation with his ghost or something, but not a ghost. It's him that I'm seeing, it's physically him, but I know he's gone so it can't be….. It just must be my imagination creating weird dreams. Nothing to be worried about Whynne, truly." She gives me a concerned look but nods.

"If you continue to dream about him this vividly, please let me know. I hate to say I must depart now, but feel free to visit me any time at the Circle alright? I'd love to catch up."

"Me too, Whynne. Safe travels." I give her one last hug before she leaves, heading back to the horse-drawn carriage that brought her. She must have been starting to get old enough that traveling by foot was too much of a strain ,but they needed the help for the Circle, and she must have volunteered to come talk with me.

I set out an order for a troop to head out right away to defeat the darkspawn around the Circle and then head down to where I was in my dream, sitting in the grass. I sit in silence for a few moments before my head starts pounding in incredible pain. I begin seeing strange visions, of a place that seems like it was another universe. There are people of many different races, including Humans, but they aren't like Elves or Dwarves. They have strange skin pigments, body structures, and face structures. They are as different in look to Humans as Qunari are, however these creatures are even stranger. Some have tentacles on the back of their heads, others looked like they have horns inside of their skin on their heads, but their skin was scaly, and others have indescribable faces.

Then I see one clear Human. She looks incredibly similar, but it's hard to put a finger on who she looks like. She has short, red hair of a seemingly unnatural color, with bright blue eyes. She looks like someone of important rank, wherever she is. She holds in her hand a strange object, that looks like a weapon but nothing like anything I've ever seen. Then everything around her became suddenly hectic. The building-or, perhaps, something else?-around her bursts into flames and there is mass chaos everywhere. Then, there's a voice. "Shepard!" A woman rushes towards her, one with blue skin and tentacles on her head. They have a conversation that I can't quite make out, but the woman-apparently called Shepard by her companions-rushes into another part of the… well, I'm not sure what you'd call it. She pulls out a man from his chair, which is sat in front of some large area I can only describe as a counter with strange looking portals all over it. She gets him into another chair located in a different room and he's sent somewhere else, I can't exactly comprehend what's going on. Except that the next thing I know, Shepard is being pulled out of the room by a mass force, into what looks like the night sky, as she floats away in this infinite sky and stars.

Then the vision ends, and I'm left with all of these questions and a lot of confusion. Who was that person? Where was she? How did she get sucked into that infinite sky and where was she headed to? Another question riddles my mind as well…. was I going crazy? Or is what I just saw actually… real?