3/1/15
As Carver walked up the steps, he felt his hear pounding faster. Entering the room was no better: death, destruction, angry qunari. He had to force himself to breathe, wondering if this is how Marian felt when she'd confronted the archdemon. He didn't envy her now. He felt like throwing up, like running, but forced himself to take strength from the sword and shield at his back.
When the qunari rampaged and Bella took off, Carver had known. By now she was in Ostwick. He hoped. Maker let her be safe.
"Hawke. I was expecting you," the arishok greeted in respect. "You alone are basalit-an." The arishok spoke to the crowd, and to Hawke, in pieces at that point. Carver just kept repeating his prayer and hoped Bella was far away, safe. He latched eyes with Merrill briefly, and knew she felt the same.
Kirkwall couldn't be defended. And Bella had the relic. It was gone. Carver's mind raced...
Marian. Bethany. His mother. His father. Isabella. He couldn't protect them...but he could Merrill, and the rest of Kirkwall besides. He would go, he decided, to make up for Bella's mistake.
Then she was there, with the book, handing over the single biggest find in her life. Because, Carver realized, she knew. She knew him and what he would do. Of course se made light of it, called it his influence, but he saw it clearly. She cared.
But so did Carver. When the arishok suggested taking Bella, Carver couldn't bear it. "She stays with us," he demanded.
"Then you leave me no choice. I challenge you Hawke. You and I will battle to the death."
"No!" Isabella would hate how pitiful her voice sounded. "Let me fight my own battles. Don't make him..."
"You are NOT basalit-an." The arishok spoke plainly but curtly. "Only he is."
Isabella started to protest, but Carver took her hand. "It's alright Bella." His voice was low, calm. "After what he just did, it's my fight too. And I..." He looked into her eyes, and she stalled.
"He'll kill you," she stated, not quite flatly.
"Maybe." Carver shrugged. "Maybe not. A wise person suggested this might be where I am at my best, though." Please let Marian have been right.
At that, Carver took off the sword and shield he had been carrying and reached to his belt for something different. Larger. Isabella looked at it oddly: a great, two-handed sword. "Carver?"
"I've been studying. And practicing."
He tested it a bit in his hands. "Shield isn't going to do me much good with him anyway. I need the extra power."
Isabella considered a moment then pressed forward on her toes. She kissed Carver, deeply. As he turned, Merrill bounced up and kissed him as well. "Fight from your heart ma'vhenan," she whispered. He locked eyes and nodded before heading for the arishok and the fight for his life.
There were a few close calls. Carver could never sugar-coat that. Yet as it got bad, he let go of his uncertainty and tapped into his newest abilities.
The Templars had offered trainng, but Carver couldn't handle the thought of becoming what Bethany hated most. When he had been at his cross-road, about to accept the offer, another option appeared. The path of ravaging. And he accepted it, freely.
Now he used it, abandoning his senses for fury. Carver didn't care how it looked or who saw, he was fighting with the rage open to protect the woman- no, women he loved. And he couldn't back down or they would take her with them. He was a frenzied beast, wild, and the more the arishok landed the fiercer Carver became until the qunari was dead in the center of the floor.
Carver wanted nothing more than collapse at that point. He felt Anders nearby, sending over a healing strain, and Bethany from the crowd of mages doing the same. Carver looked towards Bella and Merrill...only to see Isabella had left. Merrill looked at him, sadness and pain mirrored in her eyes.
It didn't matter that Carver was named champion. It still hurt. Yet the pain drove Carver closer to the elven woman, and her to him. The only bright point was her deciding to move in with him. So while it stung, it wasn't as bad to think of the love he'd lost when confronted with the love he found.