Title: Ghosts
Author: May Chang
Warnings: general, adventure, AU
Pairings: M!Shepard + Ashley, M!Cousland x Zevran
Disclaimers: Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect are the property of Bioware
Author Notes: Shepard is a Paragon/Earthborn/War Hero/Infiltrator.

Ghosts

Part Five

It had only been two weeks and Fergus missed Shepard's presence. The commander had been a distraction to him so that he hadn't thought about That Room. Now that Shepard wasn't here, Fergus was slowly noticing That Room again. Fergus wasn't sure what to do as he had ignored That Room for a good six months, helping Shepard get acquainted to the castle, the people, the town. And then he also had his own business with rebuilding Highever.

So That Room had the door closed for half a year.

Fergus stood before the door of That Room and stared at the door knob. His heart was pounding, his hands were sweating and he drew a shaky breath. He reached for the knob, but he couldn't touch it. A few minutes later Fergus dropped his hand and stepped away from the door. He just couldn't open the door to That Room.

"Your Grace?" Fergus turned to see his seneschal Calum walking towards him. Calum glanced past him towards the door and back at the teryn with a troubled look. "Are you alright?"

"I'm... I'm fine," Fergus replied and took a deep breath. "What is it, Calum?"

"I came to give you my reports, Your Grace," he said. Fergus nodded and started walking towards his office with Calum at his side. "The rebuilding of the Chantry is going well and should be done by the end of next week. Captain Eoin has been doing well in keeping the peace, and his recruits are having no problems with the townsfolk. The alienage is also almost done though Elder Kegan would like more security; it looks like some humans have been harassing the elves."

"Do we have any elven guards?" Fergus asked.

"No sir."

"Perhaps Eoin should recruit a few, it would make the elves in the alienage a little more comfortable," Fergus said. "For now if Eoin has any guards to spare send them to the alienage. If they catch the harassers, give them a talking to for now. Any more is up to Eoin's discretion."

"Yes, Your Grace. This year's harvest is doing well despite Howe's attack – they didn't do anything to the farmland, thank the Maker for small things," Calume continued. "Trade between us, Amaranthine and Gwaren are doing well. Also Bann Guerrin of Rainesfere has sent word he will be arriving here by the end of the week."

"Teagan?" Fergus smiled. "It'd be good to see him again."

"There's just one other matter." Calum hesitated and then continued. "It's about Shepard." Fergus stopped and turned to look at Calum, feeling concerned.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Well, it's not about him, but what was on his person. A merchant was trying to sell something that looked similar to what Shepard had on him when we found him," Calum reported. He reached into his bag and handed over what looked like a gauntlet over to Fergus. "Perhaps you can return this to Shepard when he returns, Your Grace."

"Thank you, Calum," Fergus said as he took the object. He examined it and noted it did look a lot like the items Shepard had on him at the time. "And the merchant?"

"We have him in the dungeon, awaiting your judgment."

"He didn't steal anything else, did he?"

"I checked after Captain Eoin looked through it the first time. We think that's the only thing he had that didn't belong to him. All of his goods are legal, Your Grace."

"Just have him pay a fine of ten sovereign and release him," Fergus said with a sigh. "Hopefully that will make him understand that selling things that are not his will be pricy."

"Yes, Your Grace. I should let you know as well that the area where Shepard was found, there has been reports of... spirits there," Calum informed the teyrn, his brow furrowing. "Not many people go there to start with, but since Shepard arrived those who pass that area have reported strange things." Fergus frowned at that; the templars had taken a look at Shepard and had stated that the man was just a man.

"Did you ask the Chantry to send someone to look into it?"

"Yes, Your Grace," Calum replied. "I am expecting to hear from them in few days."

"Alright then. Anything else, Calum?"

"No, Your Grace."

"Thank you, Calum."

"Your Grace." The seneschal bowed and took his leave, and Fergus entered his office. He went straight to the chest, and unlocked it to place the gauntlet inside. Closing the chest and locking it, he then sat down behind his desk and sighed at the sight of papers on his desk.

That Room will just have to wait another day.

Shepard bolted upright in his bed in a cold sweat. It had been a long time since he had that dream, and he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hands as he tried to stop his heart from racing.

The warning. Saren. The geth. Sovereign and the Reapers.

Ashley.

Shepard swore softly under his breath as he dropped his face into his hands. He dreamt of all the missions he had with her, taking out geths and test-tube krogans. He dreamt about Virmire, with her volunteering to work with the salarians. He could still hear her yelling at him to save Alenko over the sounds of gunfire. And then that decision, to save the woman he came to fall in love or his second-in-command.

Had he been wrong in leaving Ashley to her fate that day? It was a question he'd been asking himself ever since.

He got out of bed and padded over to the window, starring up at the sky. The stars were still out as dawn was starting to break, though Shepard didn't recognize any of the constellations. After a moment he noticed templars and a few mages going towards the temple. Shepard leaned forward, watching the procession curiously before he turned to pull on some clothes and walked to the door. Opening the door, the two templars by the door started as Shepard stepped out.

"Are people going to morning prayers?" he asked. "Is it alright if I joined?" The two templars exchanged looks before one of them nodded.

"Of course," the one who nodded replied. "Please follow me." He turned to go and Shepard followed after him, hearing behind him the other templar following them. Walking down the halls of the Tower was eerily quietly; apparently templars got up even earlier than the soldiers at Castle Cousland or even himself.

The temple was warm in comparison to the cool morning air outside. Shepard opted to taking the seat in the back, not willing to disturb the templars' morning prayers. His two guards joined their brethren and Shepard was sure that it was due to the fact that he was surrounded by people who were more than willing to take him out should he so much as sneeze. Shepard was glad that he wasn't a biotic or they'd had run him through the first time he'd use any biotic powers. Idly he wondered what Alenko would do if he'd come along.

Shepard wasn't a religious man, being agnostic by nature, but sitting in the temple let him feel more at peace. He didn't listen to the priestess talking - how strange to see a religion with only women as the religious authority, seeing as most were men on Earth - but reflected on Ashley.

Joker had been pretty broken up about Ashley after the Virmire mission. Shepard was sure that his pilot had blamed him for letting Ashley died, and still did even though Alenko had reassured the commander that Joker understood the reason why and didn't blame him. Garrus, Wrex, Alenko and most of the crew had all gotten pretty drunk the night they made off with the Normandy against orders, telling stories about the chief and giving toasts to her. Liara was pretty sad despite her and Ashley's differences, taking her drink in the cockpit with Dr. Chakwas and Joker. Tali stayed hidden in Engineering reminiscing with Adams and the other engineers.

Shepard himself had stayed in his cabin with a bottle of whisky alone, telling himself to continue with the mission, to find Saren, stop the Reapers. He wasn't sure how he managed to get through Ilos and the creepy Saren-husk-monster after polishing off the bottle by himself.

He blinked when a shadow fell over him and Shepard looked up to see Greagoir towering over him.

"Good morning, sir," Shepard said, blinking owlishly at the Knight-Commander. He glanced towards the pew and realized that the service was over. Greagoir seemed to be scrutinizing him for some reason, and Shepard wasn't sure if he'd done something wrong.

"Join us for practice," Greagoir announced and Shepard started; he'd been practicing alone at the Tower when the courtyard was empty, mostly with the bow. The problem with using the crossbow was the load time so Shepard had started practicing with the bow. He was getting the hang of it once he figured out the basics and taking account to the weight of the arrow with the wind. Still he would have like to work with the knife in case he had to fight face-to-face with an enemy so Greagoir allowing him to join their practice was a surprise.

"Of course, thank you," Shepard said. Greagoir just grunted and left, followed by three of his men. Shepard stood up and waited as the others passed before he too left the temple. He was looking forward to practice.

At the end of the week, Bann Teagan of Rainesfere arrived to Highever. Fergus went down to the courtyard to greet the bann, eager to see the man. Teagan had been popular before the Blight to the people, a man who treated the commoners as equals instead of someone below him. After the events at Recliffe though, he became something of a hero particularly in Redcliffe as he had pulled everybody together to fight against some evil force.

Fergus was amused by the sheer amount of people trying to get into bed with Teagan when he met with him after the Blight. The man was known to be quite flirtatious in the past but now he was doing his best to get away from them.

"Bann Teagan! How are you?" Fergus called out with a smile when he spotted the bann as he entered the courtyard. "Castle Cousland welcomes your presence."

"Teyrn Cousland," Teagan greeted, returning the smile and holding out a hand which Fergus took and shook. "It's been a while since I've been to Highever, it hasn't changed a bit."

"That's actually a good thing," Fergus replied with a chuckle. He and his people had done their best in returning the castle to looking like it was back in the past. Fergus made a gesture for Teagan to walk with him, and the two entered the main hall together.

"Ah, yes, I nearly forgot. Here." Fergus turned as Teagan pulled an amulet from his side pouch and handed it to the tern. He stopped in the hall, and looked the amulet with some confusion before he turned his gaze up at Teagan.

"It's a nice amulet," Fergus said slowly, "but—"

"It was Aedan's." Fergus looked back down at the amulet, still not reaching for it. "Alistair had it. Apparently Aedan left it in Alistair's room before the battle."

"Thank you," Fergus said softly as he reached for the amulet with a trembling hand. Taking it, he examined the amulet. The amulet was rather non-descript, very simple with a rune of the Chantry in front. When Fergus turned it over he thought he saw the face of someone familiar in the mirror on the back, but in an instant it was gone. Fergus mentally shook his head; perhaps he was just seeing things.

"Thank you," he repeated before he slipped it into his own pouch. "That was kind of His Majesty. How is he doing, by the way?"

"Not bad," Teagan replied. "I would never have thought Alistair had such a keen mind with politics. It turns out our king is almost as devious as Anora. In fact Eamon says that Alistair may be even better than Anora."

"I'm surprised," Fergus said, shaking his head. The two started walking again, Fergus leading Teagan to the guest room. "I had assumed he'd be more unrefined when dealing with politics due to his history." Teagan chuckled, nodding in agreement. They finally stopped before the room and Fergus turned to look at the bann.

"I shall see you at dinner then, Teagan," Fergus said and smiled. "It'd be good to have company for dinner. Until then please make yourself at home." Teagan nodded and Fergus left for his office. Paperwork was never done, and hopefully Calum had some news about the "ghost" area.

Dinner was a quiet affair, but Fergus appreciated the fact that rather than eating alone, Teagan was there. They discussed trade, politics and the state of the people in Denerim, Redcliffe, Gwaren and more. After a while when they retired to the main hall, they turned to talking about Eamon, Conner, Alistair... and Aedan.

"I've heard some...rumors recently," Teagan began slowly. Fergus raised an eyebrow as Teagan picked up his glass and took a sip of wine. "People are saying that, well, your brother is back from the dead." Fergus's other eyebrow shot up in surprise.

"The rumors have spread that far?" he voiced, unable to hide his surprise. "Maker, I thought it'd stay just in Highever and Amaranthine."

"Pardon?" Fergus leaned back, rubbing his forehead as Teagan frowned at him.

"The rumor is... half-correct," Fergus started to explain. "A man who looks exactly like Aedan arrived about six months ago. His name is John Shepard, and from what he had on him and his explanation, he is from another world."

"Another world?" Teagan asked, brows furrowing. "He's not some spirit from the Fade, is he?"

"No, no, he's human," Fergus replied. "There were templars milling around the castle for a week to make sure about that while the healers were keeping him alive. Although with the stories about the area he was found..."

"How there are now some spirits lurking around?" Teagan said. Fergus nodded.

"Calum told me that the templars who were sent to investigate came back. They reported that the Veil there is surprisingly weak, and it wasn't so before Shepard arrived." Fergus leaned back in his chair, giving the fire a thoughtful look. "Perhaps when Shepard arrived he broke through the Veil, though the templars said nothing about a tear. Still these spirit are a bit... unsettling."

"Have they done anything against the people?" Teagan asked, concerned. Fergus shook his head.

"No, it looks like the spirits are just... there," Fergus said. "They haven't tried to communicate with anyone, moved anything, nothing. The templars are rather confused by this but as the spirits haven't done any harm nor don't seem intent on it, the templars are fine with just leaving them alone." Teagan nodded as he took another drink of wine.

"Then I suppose I should warn you that sooner or later Zevran will be here," Teagan said. Fergus blinked, feeling confused. He was sure that he'd met all the people who had traveled with Aedan – Alistair, Leliana, Oghren, Wynne to name a few – but Zevran was a name he hadn't heard of.

"Zevran? Who is Zevran?" Teagan tilted his head and gave the teyrn a crooked smile.

"That is whole story itself, Fergus," Teagan said.

Have a happy Thanksgiving people!