Note:

Hey guys! I just wanted to thank you for sticking with me (even during my little hiatus here) I appreciate everyone who's taken the time to read this and hope you enjoy this chapter!

Varric had tried his best to help aid Hawke in whatever way possible since her return to Kirkwall. Much to her disfavor, he even got Aveline to drop by at her estate from time to time. Aveline no longer had the compassion for Hawke like she used to. This made every conversation more difficult than the last. Still, she showed up on the third day of every week. Aveline wasn't sure whose mind it put at ease more; hers, or the dwarfs.

"She's not herself. I need you to just be there. Strange shit happened in the fade, and it affected her." Varric tried to reason, but without a lot of the details, it was a difficult feat.

"I just don't understand why she's here. She left. She left us. If that doesn't scream guilt, I don't know what does." Aveline spat, clearly upset. After the chantry explosion, there wasn't much conversation between any of them. Not for a while, anyway.

"She didn't have a choice." Varric argued. He'd defend Hawke until he was blue in the face.

"Yes I did." Hawke interrupted. She placed her hand on the door and shut it behind her. It'd been her first time back here. Aveline's office still looked the same, which relieved her in a sense. She continued to look around while both Aveline and Varric caught their barring's. "She's right, you know? I did have a choice. I chose to leave." Looking from Varric to Aveline, Hawke propped herself up on the desk and swung one foot over the other. "I know what's on your mind Aveline."

"I don't think you do Hawke."

"Sure I do." Hawke spat back. Varric could only watch the exchange between the two. "You think I left because I knew this was going to happen. I knew what Anders was doing all along. It's why I let him live. It's why I helped him gather his mysterious materials. Why I went after him."

"I..Ye…"

"Well I must have. Why else would Fenris abandon me during all of this? Why wouldn't I come back to Kirkwall and face judgement."

"Hawke." Varric whispered softly, maybe staying silent wasn't the best thing he could do right now.

"It's okay Varric. Let her speak." Aveline scolded. "Do not think I am a child Hawke. I have cared for you like a sister. If you would have only told me…"

"If I had only told you, you wouldn't have believed me. I helped Anders destroy your home. I helped him kill Ethina. I helped him. It never ends. Merrill and her damned evil mirror; Isabella and her tome. Should I go on or…"

"Why did you come back?" Aveline's arms were now folded across the chest and Hawke stood to match her.

The way Aveline spoke her name was cold. It was barely recognizable. Maybe the damage Hawke had caused was far beyond repair here. She let the question process for a moment and bowed out of the conversation graciously.

"Not for this." Hawke whispered; her eyes tear filled. "I just wanted to come home."

"You no longer have a home here in Kirkwall." Aveline shot back, still standing firm.

Varric, worried looked from one woman to the next, defeated by the exchange. "Hawke." He cried out when she left the room. "Aveline!" He called out when she too left him in the room by himself. "Shit."

"So that's it then. You're just going to run out, again!" Aveline called out after Hawke, who'd already made it half way out of the building. "Coward. You're a coward Hawke."

Those words made Hawke stop in her tracks and she turned back around and marched right up to Aveline and pushed her as hard as she could. "Take it back!"

Aveline pushes her harder, making the former champion stumble backwards. The guards didn't know what to make of the exchange and an exhausted Varric watched on in pure disbelief. "I will not!"

"I said, .BACK!" Hawke pushed, her blood now boiling to the point she takes a swing at Aveline and makes contact with her face. It takes mere seconds before the both of them are fighting with one another on the floor; both screaming obscenities at the other. Aveline manages to keep Hawke at bay and sits on top of her to keep her down. "GET OFF OF ME!"

"NO HAWKE."

"GET OFF OF ME!" Hawke cries out, but Aveline pushes her down harder making it utterly impossible for Hawke to move. The ginger warrior keeps her pinned down, even after noticing Hawke's real tears falling. "Please…I want to die… just let me die!"

"Hawke." Varric whispered before motioning to the guards that the show was over and to get back to doing whatever it was they did. He placed a hand on Aveline's shoulders and she was still relentless and wouldn't let up.

Aveline's heart nearly shattered in her chest at the words. It wasn't the words though that had struck a cord, but the emotions that backed them. Hawke wanted to die. This wasn't the woman she knew after their final battle together. This was someone else. "Why did you leave?" The question was more of a statement. Parting words on Aveline's behalf before she let up on the weight she was pressing against Hawke's body to let her up. Aveline looked around and she could only imagine how this must have looked. Guard-Captain in a full on punching bag fight with the former Champion of Kirkwall. She looked to Varric and then back at Hawke who was still lying on the ground in tears. The first time Aveline had been able to finally see her. What was left of her, at least?

Varric had moved to help Hawke up and sighed. This would have probably been more effective three years ago. "Come on Hawke."