It was as if time stood still as the echoes of thunder slowly faded away. Everybody stood, blinking away the spots in their vision as they tried to process what had just happened.
Quentin still stood next Fenris, his mouth hanging open in surprise. Blood tricked down his chin from his mouth, and he looked down slowly at the fist-sized hole that had just appeared in the middle of his torso. The edges of the wound were singed and glowing like embers, and the smell of charred flesh wafted over them all. He looked back up at Hawke with his one good eye. The maleficar tried to speak but nothing came out. Then he crumpled to the ground, dead.
The pride demon let out a pathetic squeak; the lightning had struck it too, and it had a hole in its chest to match its summoner. It stumbled back , dropping Fenris into an ungraceful heap, then collapsed, also dead.
Hawke bolted over to Fenris, falling painfully on her knees. Dimly, she could hear Anders and Varric talking loudly, demanding to know "what the bloody hell" was going on. She rolled her lover over onto his back, and his head lolled limply.
"Fenris, talk to me," she said urgently. She held his face between her hands, his blood coating her fingers and making them slick. "Oh fuck. Wake up. Shit, please wake up…"
The elf's eyelids flickered, and he stared dazedly up at her. "H-Hawke," he mumbled.
"Thank Andraste," she breathed. "Do you know where you are? Do you remember what happened?"
"We…Quentin. We fought Quentin. And you-" Fenris' eyes widened as he realized what happened. "You used magic."
Hawke gave a watery smile and wiped her eyes. "Yeah, I did," she chuckled. His eyes softened in wonder at the sound of her laugh.
"But, what about this?" His hand reached up, and he lightly touched the Tranquility brand on her forehead. She took his hand in hers and kissed his palm.
"It's fake," she reassured him. "I mean, I assume it's real, but Orsino told me he could remove it."
For the first time in the four years she had known him, Hawke glimpsed a glimmer of tears in his eyes before he reached up and pulled her down on top of him in a crushing embrace. She wrapped her arms around him and held him just as tightly. In that moment, she wasn't sure which of them was trembling more.
Hawke looked up to find Anders kneeling beside them. "Here, let me mend that wound," he said, gesturing at Fenris' still bleeding head. To Hawke's amazement, Fenris accepted the help without complaint. Soft blue light emanated from the mage's hands as he began his work.
"This was some act, Hawke," Varric commented. He dusted dirt of his coat and gave her a crooked grin. "I'm glad an act is all it was, though."
"You and me both," Hawke admitted.
Meredith approached them now, sheathing her sword. The Knight-Commander's expression made her heart sink; from the look on her face, Hawke guessed that she might be about to be made Tranquil for real.
Hawke stood to greet the Templar. "What do you think, Knight-Commander?" she asked cautiously.
"I wish to congratulate you on a job well done," the blonde replied. "Even if I would've preferred for my Templars to handle it."
"And what of me?" Hawke regretted asking the question as soon as the words left her lips. It felt like everybody present, Templars included, held their breath waiting for the answer.
"I trust you will keep to your own, and continue holding yourself and your friends," here, the Knight-Commanders eyes flicked to Anders, "to the same standard to which I hold you. This is an opportunity. Do not disappoint me." She turned and began walking away.
Hawke let out a surprised breath. Knight-Commander Meredith, willingly letting not one but two apostates go free? "Seriously?"
Meredith turned back with a glare. "Serah Hawke, you really ought to learn to recognize when you have been given a gift, and not to question from whence it came."
"Yes, ser."
Minutes later, everybody except Fenris helped the wounded Templars over to the Gallows' medical facility. Then, with Fenris's arm slung around Hawke's shoulders, they made their way back to the boat to Kirkwall. Varric carried Fenris' sword, the size difference between the two absolutely comical.
"You said you were going to 'explain everything' once this was over?" Anders prompted as he examined Fenris' head for any sign of more serious injury.
"Oh yeah," Hawke laughed lightly. "Well, this was 'everything'," she said, gesturing at herself. "All there was to explain was that me being Tranquil was a trick, I already told you everything else."
"I wish you'd just been honest with us from the beginning," Varric groused. "We could've helped."
"The whole point of it was that everyone's performance had to be believable."
"What, you think I can't act?" Varric pulled his best mock offended expression. "I'll have you know, back in the Merchants Guild I had a poker-face that could've bluffed the royal underpants off King Cailan."
The whole time Hawke was joking and laughing with Varric, Fenris kept staring at Hawke, still in shock and awe at seeing her whole. Their hands stayed entwined the entire ride home.
Anders bid them goodnight at Kirkwall's docks, saying he'd been away from his patients for long enough. Varric accompanied them as far as the Hightown market, then said his farewells. Hawke and Fenris walked slowly, relishing the time alone.
"Are you sure you don't need to find a doctor? Your head took quite the blow," Hawke asked. Fenris waved a hand dismissively.
"I will manage fine on my own," he replied. "But thank you for your concern. Should anything arise, I'll let you know. I know you've been studying some healing magic, and I trust you with it."
"I'm nowhere near as good as Anders is, though," she sighed. "I'll need more practice before I'm able to handle anything besides minor wounds."
Fenris smiled, and they walked in silence for a ways more.
"I'm glad that a trick is all that was," he said eventually. "The world would've been a poorer place without your smile."
"Fenris, are you flirting with me?" Hawke teased. The elf chuckled.
"Perhaps," he mused. His smile slipped away and he looked at her somberly. "Hawke, I know what I said back then, after we made love. I cannot apologize for needing space after that, but I know I hurt you, and I can't take it back any more than I could take back a blow from a weapon. But when I thought you had been made Tranquil…I cannot describe the heartbreak I felt. I cannot stand to lose you again," he said, stopping and staring her in the eyes. "Is there any way you can find it in yourself to forgive me?"
Hawke smiled softly and kissed his cheek. "You foolish man," she said tenderly. "You already know the answer to that."
Fenris' eyes widened, and a broad, genuine smile stole across his face. His mouth crashed into hers, and her hands wound into his hair, carefully avoiding the still-tender wound on the side of his head. She sighed into his mouth as his hands tangled themselves in her hair. The tips of his clawed gauntlets scraped gently at her scalp, sending goosebumps erupting over her skin.
When they finally pulled apart, they were both breathless and a little pink in the face. "I love you, Fenris," she whispered.
"And I you," he whispered back.
"Do you…I mean, I assume you'll want to sleep in your mansion like usual," Hawke said haltingly, not wanting to overstep these new boundaries.
"Actually, I was planning on sleeping in your estate," he replied casually as they continued walking. He squinted over at her. "Assuming that was alright with you, of course."
"Yes, of course," Hawke grinned. When was the last time she'd felt this lighthearted?
They finally drew up to her door, but before she could reach for the handle she felt Fenris' hand on her arm.
"One last thing," he said. "Never do that to me again. I could not bear it."
"I'm sorry," Hawke said softly. She kissed his cheek again, and opened the door for them.
No sooner was the door open than her mabari, Kitty, leapt through the doorway barking wildly. He knocked Hawke backwards onto her rump. "What on earth has gotten into you?" she demanded, pushing off the enormous wiggling canine. Kitty bolted back inside, still barking.
Hawke and Fenris followed warily, seeing what had riled the warhound. Standing in the middle of the room, fending off the leaping dog, was none other than Carver.
"Brother?" Hawke exclaimed, astonished. "What are you doing here, you're supposed to be in Weisshaupt!"
Instead of replying, Carver marched towards her, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. "What am I doing here?" he repeated loudly. "What I'm doing here is trying to find out why the fuck I received a letter saying you were made Tranquil! Of all the reckless bullshit you have ever pulled, confronting the damn Knight-Commander of Kirkwall has to be the-"
Carver cut of suddenly, staring at her. Realization dawned across his face. "You're…not…Tranquil. You're smiling!"
Hawke was unable to stop the giggles from escaping. "I always knew you cared, Carver," she gasped between snorting laughs. She clutched her stomach as the cackles continued, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. Carver shot a questioning look at Fenris, who shrugged with an indulgent chuckle.
"Come, brother," Hawke chortled, waving Carver towards the study. "We've got a lot to catch up on."