a/n: I battled for a bit about whether or not I wanted to include this chapter in the story, because it basically does exactly what I don't do, which is tell you about a canon in-game storyline. So I cut it up into shorter scenes, just little bits of dialogue that I wanted to write about. That's why it just jumps around. I figured that would be better than boring you with a description of the Fade, which you definitely already know about.

Sorry this is ...definitely not a week. Life happens, yeah? We'll get back to a more regular schedule here for these last few chapters. Thank you for your support, guys. I can't properly express how much I appreciate it.

t h i r. t e e n

I cannot see the path.
Perhaps there is only abyss.
Trembling, I step forward,
In darkness enveloped.
Trials 1:13

"Where are we?"

Hawke stared out into the void. She knew this place, even if it felt… different. It felt visceral and real, not like the ghostly place she feared to visit every night. She could distinctly feel the stone under her feet, on which she was definitely standing; she could hear, sharp against the dull but throbbing ambient noise, Alice's voice as she explained what had happened; she could see, clear as day, Stroud looking at her from exactly the wrong angle in space. They were in the Fade.

"This can't be good," Hawke said, considering the ground on which Alice, Varric, Sera, and Bull stood. It was nearly upside down to her own footing. "We need to find out way out. Soon."

"Agreed," Stroud said, similarly considering his position as well, which was perpendicular in relation to Alice, and sideways to Hawke. "While we are stuck in here, the Wardens are left in disarray."

"Let's go," Alice said firmly. "That," she pointed to a disruption in the ethereal sky above, out on the horizon, "must be our way out."

Stroud took a few hesitant steps forward, towards what seemed to be the actual ground on which Alice was standing. He slowly put one foot forward; as soon as it touched the new surface, he awkwardly stumbled as his point of reference changed. Hawke watched him, then sighed, looking up to see the surface she had to navigate to. "I hate the Fade," she said with a sigh.

"You hate the Fade?" Sera demanded from above. Or would it be from below? "Least you're familiar with it, yeah? Never been here before- never want to come back. Feels weird here. Like the air's alive. Not natural."

"Help me down," Hawke asked, reaching her hand up/down. "This seems like it might hurt if I try it on my own."

Sera reached up for her, but Bull stopped her before her hand touched Hawke's. "How about I handle this one," he said with a slight chuckle. "No way you can catch her."


"And Varric. Once again, Hawke is in danger because of you."

"Just keep talking," Varric growled under his breath.

Hawke frowned from the back of the group. Varric's shoulders had tensed, and his grip on Bianca was noticeably tighter. This was all a mind game- of course it was. The Nightmare was playing off their fears.

Their fears.

Was that really what Varric was afraid of? Putting her in more danger? Surely he knew by now that any danger she had found herself in was - if she was honest with herself - because of her own stubborn decisions; Varric was, overall, nearly blameless for what she had gone through. If anything, having him next her to throughout it had made her excruciating journey through life significantly less painful.

She took a few quicker steps to match pace with the dwarf. "Varric," she said gently, "you know that's not true."

"Of course it's not," he said, almost too quickly, and without looking at her.

She frowned a little. No, she wanted to make sure he wasn't blaming himself for this. She had been the one to provide the Inquisition with information that led them to Adamant; she was the one who had pointed them towards Clarel and Erimond. If anything, she had put him in danger. "You know as well as I do that I am perfectly capable of finding danger on my own," she continued. "This isn't your fault."

He looked up at her, but almost immediately averted his gaze. "You're still here because I asked you to help the Inquisition."

"And I came," Hawke pressed firmly, "because I knew you wouldn't be asking unless you really needed my help. This isn't your fault," she repeated.

Varric sighed; his death grip on his crossbow loosened slightly. "I know," he said quietly. "But I don't like that you're in this situation. You should be back in Kirkwall, watching over the Hanged Man. You know how it just falls apart without me," he said, colored by some of his usual jovial tone.

Hawke chuckled. "Don't worry; we'll get out of this soon enough, and I will personally ensure the Hanged Man is running just as smoothly as you'd like it to be, hm?"

The smallest of smiles twitched at the corners of his mouth, and Varric looked up at Hawke. "Thanks, Bubbles."


"Spread out, see what you can find." Alice directed everyone into the large open area they found themselves in. Spires of stone rose into the sky, disappearing into nothing. A sea lapped at the shore nearby, silent save for the distant sound of unseen waves. The entire Fade had seemed to breathe on its own, but this area was still.

"Found one of those Dreamers, Boss," Bull called, waving Alice over to a small table at which was seated a ghostly green figure, unmoving.

Hawke watched Alice and Bull discuss this, and turned to see where the others had gone. Sera had stuck to the wall to their left, as far from the unreal sea as she could manage. She was busying herself with examining the wall itself, her back kept to as much of the weirdness behind her as she could manage. Varric, on the other hand, had done just the opposite, and was walking at the edge of the oddly textured water that rushed forth and pulled back in a somehow familiar rhythm. He was staring out at the horizon, hands tight on Bianca. Stroud was considering the way in which they had come, since they had taken a forked path. Careful not to venture too far off, he was exploring the other path, to see if he could figure out where it might lead.

Hawke looked around the area again, and noticed a small fenced-off area towards the far end. Varric and Sera would both make it there eventually if they continued to follow the essentially ovular walls, but since she had nothing else to do, she went directly to it.

It was a graveyard.

She stopped before walking through the open gate. She knew the Fade; she knew how traps felt. This wasn't one. Yet still she hesitated before stepping forward. What lied beyond made her uncomfortable in a way she wasn't quite sure she could put into words if asked. She could just feel that something troubling was awaiting discovery.

"We're looking for a bottle," she heard Alice call. Hawke turned back to them, to see the Stroud had rejoined them in the clearing and was standing with the Inquisitor and Bull. "Or a vial or some sort."

Hawke turned back to the graveyard. Had she failed to notice it before, or had it just appeared? On top of the furthest tombstone was a glass bottle filled with what looked to be blood. She stepped forward to reach for it, but then it was on the next stone over. She frowned at it. Another trick. She reached for it again, and it jumped to the right two stones. Hawke sighed. Once more, she would try, before enlisting the help of the others. She reached for the bottle once more… and grabbed it.

"Sneaky bugger," she muttered at it. She turned to call for Alice, but then noticed the engraving on the tombstone she was in front of.

Varric Tethras
Became his parents

Hawke frowned, and looked up to find her friend. Varric was still walking along the oddly defined shore, closer to her now. Became his parents, what a bizarre thing to have on a tombstone. She glanced back at it, and noticed the one next to it.

Cassandra Pentaghast
Helplessness

"Inquisitor," Hawke called, looking away. "I found your bottle." Now she understood why she had felt such discomfort upon entering this graveyard. These memorials to signify death were engraved with everyone's fears. Fears. She wanted to get out, but the others were already nearing her.

"Excellent," Alice said, holding her hand out for it. "And… what's this?" Her eyes passed over the tombstones with little more than a cursory glance. "In a graveyard, was it?"

"Let's go," Hawke said firmly, pointing away. But the others were starting to take interest in it as well.

"Who died?" Sera asked, looking at the stone closest to her. Her curious sort of smirk turned into a frown. It had been hers.

Sera

The Nothing

"No," she said, shaking her head. "This is wrong. Bad."

"It is," Hawke said pointedly, "so let's go."

Sera didn't need to be told twice, and was spinning on her heel to leave, barely stemming the stream of curses that spilled from her lips. Alice looked over a few of the tombstones before - with an expression that matched the discomfort Hawke could still feel crawling over her own skin - turned and headed back towards the Dreamer's table where Stroud was waiting.

Bull and Varric were not so easily deterred, however. The Qunari had found his own "grave", and was considering it silently. Madness. Varric had found a grave to stare at as well, but Hawke noticed it was not his own. When he looked up at her with a slight frown and opened his mouth to start to say something that was sure to be comforting and reassuring, she knew immediately whose name was on that tombstone.

"Bull," she said, interrupting Varric before he could begin. "C'mon, we don't need to be seeing this." She put a hand on his arm, and gently turned him away, towards the others.

"Weird to see it in writing like that," he said with a little chuckle. "Always something you know, never something you think about."

"True," Hawke agreed. When she was sure he was heading away from the graveyard, she turned back to Varric. He hadn't left the grave, and was still watching her with the same pained expression.

"I don't want to talk about it right now," she said. "Don't pretend you didn't already know that about me." She walked back over to him to guide him away like she had Bull, but he stopped her, putting one of his hands over hers. She frowned.

He squeezed her hand slightly. "You won't be," he told her softly. Then he broke away and walked back towards the others.

Hawke watched him go. She knew she should follow. She knew she should keep her back to the tombstone and walk forward and never look back. She knew that if she turned around to read the words she could feel without having seen, she would only get that familiar tightness in her chest that she felt when she had to face realities she was trying to deny. She knew she should go.

So of course, she turned to see.

She had been right. Her heart skipped, her chest hurt, and her eyes closed as soon as she had seen the words. She spun around, and left.

But the engraving was now cut as deep in her mind as it had been on the stone.

Being the Last One


The Nightmare howled at them, drawing closer, shrinking the space between them and their exit with every second. The green miasma of their escape was behind it, tantalizingly close.

A decision needed to be made. If they all ran for it, there was no guarantee they'd all make it through- there was no guarantee any of them would make it through. But if the Nightmare was distracted… if there was a singular target to stop, the others would survive. Hawke frowned. Every decision she had made to reach this point was coming back to her. She had sacrificed herself time and again to ensure the happiness of others. She wasn't about to stop now.

The choice was clear.

"Someone has to stay behind to buy us some time!" Hawke shouted over the roar of noise around them. She turned to the others. The unearthly wind whipped around them. Alice was frowning at her, knowing exactly what was coming. "Go! Thedas needs you."

Hawke met Varric's gaze; his was pained. No, it said, very clearly, not like this. Not now. Not yet.

"We can't all make it," she said, looking away. She couldn't bear the silent begging, the pleading that made her heart ache. "If I stay back, you can-"

"No, Hawke," Stroud interrupted, stepping forward. "This began as a Warden matter, and it falls upon the Wardens to finish it. I will remain in the Fade. We can't lose you yet."

"I'm just one woman," she argued angrily. Why did everyone keep trying to convince her otherwise? "The Wardens need you."

"Go," he told her.

"I won't just-"

"Go!" he shouted. For a brief moment, a frown flitted across his face. But then he steadied himself, and turned towards the beast bearing down between them and the portal leading back to Thedas.

"I can't just leave him," Hawke insisted, turning desperately to the others for support. "We can't. Please, Inquisitor, take him- you know as well as I do that the Wardens will need him."

"He's right," Alice said, earning immediate disagreement from Hawke; she pressed on, ignoring the Champion. "You said Thedas needs me, but they need you just as much. All you've done so far is just the start, and Stroud knows that. Don't let his sacrifice be in vain, Hawke."

"But-"

"We need to go!" Bull called, already heading towards the portal. "Now or never!"

Alice shepherded Varric and Sera towards Bull, and turned to usher Hawke along.

Stroud had shouted at the monster to get its momentary attention. He was running towards it. Hawke had just caught his voice on the piercing wind. "In war, victory."

"Hawke, let's go!" Alice shouted at her. Hawke frowned, winced, and against every fiber of her being, every thought in her head that told her to stay, turned and followed Alice's harried gesticulations towards the others, and their way out.

Stroud swung at one of the long tendrils coming at him, and sliced it off, only to have his opposite shoulder pierced with another. He cried out, but continued. "In peace," he panted, hoisting his shield and pushing forward, "vigilance."

Hawke lingered before stepping through the portal. She could see Stroud was bleeding. But then Alice pushed her forward, and they tumbled through the Veil. Stroud's voice, ghostly and ethereal, whispered through her ears as she saw him take a heavy blow to his stomach and get lifted into the air before everything went dark.

"In death, sacrifice."