Chapter Twenty-One: A Maybe Murderer

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age 2.

"It's so nice to see all of you again," Emma said once everyone had been assembled in the courtyard leading to the Chantry.

"I saw you yesterday," Isabela pointed out.

Emma nodded. "That's because I like you. I haven't seen some of these people since I gave them their share of the treasure from that expedition."

"If you don't like us – and the feeling is more than mutual, I assure you-" Fenris started to say.

"I don't understand," Merrill interrupted. "How can something be more than mutual?"

"It's just a figure of speech," Fenris ground out.

"Well I don't like it," Merrill said.

"As I was saying," Fenris said disgustedly, "if we don't like each other, why are you making us accompany you on your various misadventures?"

"I'm not making you do anything," Emma countered.

"She's right," Carver agreed. He took a second to marvel at that before continuing, "Why are you still here, Fenris?"

"Danarius hasn't come back to try to kill me yet so I'm getting bored just squatting at his mansion," Fenris confessed. "I could try to move on with my life, I suppose, but frankly I'd rather do this. It's a nice mansion, anyway. Though, technically, it's not his mansion but some other Tevinter Magister's that he killed.

"Maybe he's given up," suggested Varric. "Would that really be so bad?"

Fenris considered it. "Surprisingly, yes."

"Why?" Carver asked incredulously.

Fenris shrugged sheepishly. "We all want to be wanted."

"Not by people like that for reasons like that," Carver disagreed.

"Says the man who is still sulking about not making it into the city guard," Fenris shot back.

"I am over there!" Carver cried out.

"I really wish you wouldn't wish for more disorder in the streets," Aveline said, sighing.

"Especially since you're not actually going to do anything about it," Carver muttered.

Fenris snorted. "Yes, definitely over it."

Aveline's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying, exactly?"

"I haven't noticed any increase in public safety since you took over. At least the other captain had his corruption to explain his inefficiency," Carver said accusingly.

"You have no idea what I'm up against here," Aveline bit out.

"Neither, evidently, do you," Carver said coolly. "And it can't help that you're constantly dropping everything to run off with us."

"Emma is looking into business of mine," Aveline said stiffly.

"Which, if I remember correctly, you assigned her so that you wouldn't have to do it," Carver said pointedly.

Aveline said nothing.

"To answer your question, Fenris, I'd like for you all to be here so killing things takes less time," Emma said belatedly. "Also, I kind of like complaining about you guys."

Varric nodded his head. "Ah, Schadenfreude."

"Is that some kind of dwarven word?" Isabela asked curiously.

Varric nodded again. "Noble caste, really. It means happiness at the misfortune of others."

"That's not very nice," Merrill said frowning.

"But not at all surprising," Carver added.

Emma wheeled on them. "That reminds me…Merrill, are you really dating my brother?"

Merrill blushed. "I…yes. Es I am."

"But why?" Emma demanded, absolutely flummoxed.

"I like your brother a great deal," Merrill said, her voice surprisingly steady.

Emma waved that off. "Evidently. I just mean…you're a Dalish, right?"

"Right…" Merrill confirmed, not knowing where Emma was going with that.

"You're all about preserving elven culture and restoring it to its former glory. You're inexplicably proud of being an elf and you're just going to throw all that away by shacking up with a human?" Emma cried out.

"Hey, I'm not trying to sabotage your relationship," Carver complained.

"I'm not dating a blood mage," Emma said virtuously.

Anders nodded his agreement.

"No, dating a possessed fanatic is so much better," Carver said sarcastically.

"I don't understand how dating a human is at odds with my Dalish pride," Merrill admitted.

"Any children you have with Carver will be human children. You will be contributing to the destruction of your people," Emma explained.

Carver started choking. "We are not even remotely there yet! And don't try to pin a future genocide on me!"

"The elven race won't go extinct if I have human children," Merrill said reasonably. "I'm just one person."

"It's thousands of elves feeling they won't matter that will ultimately doom your species," Emma warned.

"Stop it!" Carver ordered.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I don't really care if they do go extinct."

"Can we do what we came here for?" Anders requested. "Justice is crying for blood…"

Varric shuddered. "Good idea. The doing what we came here part, not the blood bit."

They quickly located Emeric and walked up to him.

"What?" he asked sourly. "Did you bring more people to laugh at me and call me crazy, Aveline?"

"That's not up to me," Aveline said simply.

"Before I even consider helping you, promise me that this won't even vaguely hurt mages," Emma instructed.

"I suspect one of the victims was a mage," Emeric told them.

"What can we do to stop this foul murderer?" Anders asked urgently.

"In my investigation, I encountered a man named Gascard DuPuis who I believe to be the murderer or an accomplice," Emeric confided.

"Why?" Varric inquired.

"Well, I found him standing over one of the bodies on four separate occasions and expressing his dissatisfaction that they had died too soon," Emeric replied. "He said it was just a coincidence but, well…"

"Wow. You'd have to be an idiot to believe that!" Isabela exclaimed.

"I believe it," Aveline said darkly.

"Oh, do you?" Isabela asked, vaguely.

"If you know all of this then why do you need us?" Emma asked.

"He took out a restraining order on me and Meredith threatened to fire me if I didn't drop it," Emeric admitted.

"If you were really dedicated-" Anders started to say.

"I really don't know what to do, even if I could keep going," Emeric admitted.

"We raided his house and found nothing," Aveline informed him.

"He got two days notice!" Emeric burst out.

"It's a common procedure for dealing with nobles," Aveline said, unabashed.

"At that will likely benefit us," Carver reasoned.

"Can you break into his house after dark tonight?" Emeric requested. "There should be less witnesses then."

"I don't know, the streets are almost more crowded at night with all of those criminals," Varric argued.

"Whose side are you on?" Aveline demanded.

Varric blinked. "The…side of acknowledging what happened?"

"Mine, then," Carver said smugly.

"Less reliable witnesses," Emeric amended. "Less living witnesses, even."

Varric smirked. "You know us too well."

"We'll do it," Emma agreed.

"Can you not discuss breaking and entering in front of the captain of the guard?" Aveline requested.

"Is that your way of saying you won't come with us?" Carver challenged.

Aveline just glared.

They turned to go and, when they were almost out of the area, they heard the thundering of footsteps on the steps.

"Emma!" Sebastian cried out.

Emma winced. "See, this is why I didn't want to come here."

"And the templars, right?" Merrill asked.

Emma shook her head. "Nah. I can take them."

"You haven't seen me in the past three years," Sebastian said, breathing hard, as he finally reached them. "None of you have."

"That's because we all hate you," Fenris said bluntly.

Sebastian laughed merrily. "Oh Fenris, how I've missed you."

Fenris' marks glared ominously.

Varric looked around nervously. "Not here."

"I thought that killing all of those members of the Flint mercenary company would bring me peace but it didn't," Sebastian said mournfully.

"I killed them. You couldn't be bothered," Fenris said pointedly.

"And we may never forgive you for it," Anders told him, annoyed.

"My vows prevented me from doing so myself, alas," Sebastian explained.

"You are such a hypocrite," Fenris spat.

Sebastian ignored that. "But now I found out that, after lord Harriman was violently and randomly killed three years ago, his jealous wife had my family killed because, despite the fact that she did not benefit from this in the slightest, she couldn't stand to know royalty."

"crazy bitch," Isabela said, shaking her head. "There are so many more benefits to being friends with royals than to killing them."

"Harriman…" Emma said slowly, tapping her chin. "That name seems strangely familiar…"

"That's the name of that noble who convinced the viscount to send aid to Ferelden after the Blight but you killed him anyway," Carver reminded her.

Emma blinked. "Did he really? I thought he was making things up. Huh."

"You really don't care, do you?" Carver asked rhetorically.

Emma shrugged. "It was three years ago."

"So wait…I have you to blame in part for the murder of my family?" Sebastian demanded, aghast.

"Join the club," Aveline said bitterly.

"Oh, don't pretend you really are about Starkhaven," Varric told him, annoyed. "It's been without a leader for three years while you've been messing around in the Chantry and they've had to turn to your idiot cousin."

"I cannot break my vows," Sebastian said flatly.

"You already broke them," Emma pointed out. "And Elthina won't let you retake them."

Everyone stared at her.

"What?" she asked defensively. "I pay attention sometimes."

"Your Maker would understand!" Varric exploded. "You have other responsibilities and you can do more as leader of Starkhaven then you can as a not-brother in the Chantry."

"I must protect the Grand Cleric," Sebastian insisted.

"She has her guards that are difficult but not impossible to get past," Anders spoke up. "And she's trying to get rid of you, too. But maybe she just doesn't like you, either. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest."

"Her guards didn't protect her from those evil books or the demons that came out of them," Sebastian sulked.

"…What goes on in that Chantry of yours?" Varric demanded, his eyes wide.

"I'm planning on invading the Harriman mansion and demanding answers," Sebastian announced. "It has occurred to me that this might turn violent. Will you guys come with me?"

"No," Emma said flatly.

"I will follow you around until you change your mind," Sebastian threatened.

"Okay, fine," Emma snapped. "But only if you go away now."

Sebastian smiled pleasantly at her. "I'll let you know when I'm ready to go."

"So tell me, Aveline, is this legal?" Carver asked innocently later that night as they wandered through the DuPuis mansion. "This doesn't feel legal."

"I am not here in my capacity as head of the guard," Aveline declared, glaring at him.

"So when you're off-duty you're fine with turning into the very kind of criminal you're supposed to catch when you're on-duty?" Carver inquired. "Interesting…"

They walked into a room where a woman with a very annoying and high-pitched voice was on her knees and begging for help.

The man at the center of the room, presumably Gascard, turned around with fire in his eyes. The light faded as he took them in. "You're not the killer."

"No, that's you," Emma told him.

"I'm not the killer! The killer killed my sister a few years ago and I've been obsessively tracking him ever since. I even managed to figure out his next victim was this woman and abduct her myself to wait for him to show up," Gascard explained. "Unfortunately, I am really not good at this."

"I'll say," Aveline agreed. "And kidnapping is a crime."

Gascard raised an eyebrow. "How did you get into my house uninvited again?"

"Please continue," Aveline said respectfully.

Gascard nodded. "That's what I thought. He sends a bouquet of white lilies to each victim shortly before he abducts them because he's a narcissist who thinks he will never be caught. Alessa here was to be his next victim so I…interceded."

"Why not just keep an eye on her and follow him when he showed up so it would be less obvious this was a trap?" Carver suggested.

"…That might have been a better plan," Gascard continued. "But it's not like I've had years to plan this out! I mean…"

"He's lying! He hurt me!" Alessa wailed.

Instantly, the women of the party all had their weapons raised.

"He what?" Emma asked dangerously.

"Not like that, not like that!" Gascard insisted, waving his panicky hands. "I just gave her a paper cut."

"And it hurt!" Alessa cried out.

"I had no choice! In case you get away, I need to be able to track you later to try to save you from your killer!" Gascard insisted.

Alessa stumbled to her feet. "I don't believe you. I don't need to take any protective measures at all! And I'm just randomly going to run away now even though I tried nothing earlier and there are a whole lot more people to stop me if they're not on my side."

Gascard just watched her go. "Damn! She will ruin everything now by running to the city guards!"

"You did literally nothing to stop her," Varric pointed out.

"It all happened so fast," Gascard claimed.

"It really didn't," Varric told him.

"And trust me, if she's going to the guard then you'll be fine," Carver assured him. "I mean, you've got Guard Captain Aveline here with you right now and she's doing absolutely nothing."

"Even if that's true, I'm also a mage so Meredith would get involved and – whatever else you say about her – you can't claim she's incompetent," Gascard pointed out.

"Sure I can," Emma argued. "Just maybe not on the killing mages front."

"Can you prove you're not the killer?" Carver asked suspiciously.

"Carver, you heard that he's a mage," Anders reminded him.

Carver nodded. "So I did. I just don't have your faith that that makes him a good person. Besides, he's a blood mage."

"We really don't judge," Anders claimed.

"If I were the murderer then Alessa would have already been dead and I'd try to kill you now," Gascard claimed.

"Not if you didn't have time to kill her before we showed up and if you're not stupid enough to take on eight people by yourself," Carver told him.

"Well murderers are always stupid so I must be innocent," Gascard reasoned.

"He's got a point," Emma agreed.

Carver threw his hands in the air. "No he doesn't!"

"Look, are you going to kill me or not?" Gascard asked impatiently.

"We never kill mages. Ever," Emma declared.

"Fine then, I'm leaving," Gascard announced. "I'll be in Darktown if you discover anything. If you find any blood of a new victim then send it to me and I'll track her."

"Wait, why can't we work together? We have a much better chance of solving it that way and we both want the same thing," Emma pointed out.

"We could except that I don't want to," Gascard said casually. "You're right that that is a good idea but…well…Sorry, I'm trying to think of an excuse that doesn't involve me wanting to find my former master on my own and to beg him to take me back but I'm drawing a blank."

"What if we don't want to outright kill you but still don't want to just let you wander free because we still don't trust you?"Varric asked. "I mean, I'm not sure what it is but something about you seems…off."

Gascard shrugged. "Sorry, you must pick one or the other. I either get to walk out of here with no strings attached right now to possibly never be seen again and to do Maker knows what or you're going to have to kill me right now with very little provocation in my own house that you broke into. I won't even resist to make it look extra bad."

"The guard will never catch us," Carver said seriously.

"I guess we'll have to let you go, then," Varric said reluctantly. "You will make sure to keep an eye on Alessa and make sure she doesn't get herself killed since you took her blood, right? You may even be able to catch your sister's killer this way."

Gascard merely laughed and shook his head. "Oh, Alessa. I've decided that she's a lost cause. The moment she walked out of here her life was forfeit."

"But it was literally five minutes ago," Carver objected. "She can't possibly be dead yet. Abducted, perhaps, but not dead."

"She ran away from me when I was only trying to protect her even if I did not go about it in a remotely sane manner so she no longer deserves to live," Gascard said darkly. He then turned and strode from the room.

"I really don't feel good about this decisions…" Carver said worriedly.

"You're such a worrywart," Emma complained. "It'll be fine."

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