About a week earlier...
Hawke was overlooking the battlements of Skyhold when the Warden, Alistair, came up beside him.
"So, can you believe it? The damn world's coming to an end. And I thought I had seen everything..." Alistair said.
Hawke sighed, "Yeah, I understand."
Alistair was silent for a moment, "You have a family?"
Hawke chuckled slightly, "Of sorts," he said, thinking about Fenris. "You?"
"My wife and I have two mabari, she threatened to eat them if I didn't come back," Alistair said humorously.
Hawke nodded, "Romantic partners am I right? Fenris has already written me three angry letters demanding that I come home."
"Ha!" Alistair laughed.
"What's going on over here, not plotting escape I hope?" Evelyn asked, from behind them.
Both men jumped, "Plotting?" Hawke asked, confused.
"Yes, plotting," Alistair said with a grin. Evelyn held out a letter to him, "For me?" Alistair asked.
"From Elissa," Evelyn said.
"Oh... the wife," Alistair said and chuckled nervously.
Hawke grinned and clapped him on the back, "No so fast Hawke," Evelyn said. She handed him a letter as well, "From Fenris, and Varric wants to talk to you."
Hawke groaned and Evelyn laughed at the grown men in front of her being brought to their knees at the hands of their significant others.
Present...
Max lead Evelyn, Varric, Cole, Blackwall, Hawke and Allistair into the main courtyard. They were a moment too late for one Warden, who Max recognized as Jana, from Crestwood. She had told him that seeing Blackwall and Alistair had inspired her to join, and now...
"Stop them! We must complete the ritual!" Erimond called from his raised position.
"Clarel!" Max called, "If you complete this ritual you're doing exactly what Erimond wants!"
"What? Fighting the blight? Keeping the world safe from darkspawn? Who wouldn't want that?" He shouted back. "Yes, it requires blood sacrifice, hate me for that if you must, but do not hate the Wardens for doing their duty!"
Evelyn looked around them cautiously, she could see the rest of the Wardens preparing to fight, Max would have to decide, talk or fight.
"We make the sacrifices no one else will! The Wardens die for a world that will never thank them!" Clarel cried.
"And then your Tevinter ally binds the mages to Corypheus!" Alistair shouted.
Clarel's eyes widened, she turned to Erimond, "Corypheus? But he's dead."
"These people will say anything to shake your faith Clarel," Erimond spoke.
Clarel looked back to the group lead by Maxwell, and then back to Erimond. Finally, she called, "Bring it through!"
The mages standing around what looked to be a crack in the fade, poured magic into it, opening a rift.
"Please! I have seen my fair share of blood magic!" Hawke shouted from behind Evelyn. He walked forwards, "It is never worth the cost!"
Erimond chuckled as Hawkes warning went unnoticed, "This demon is truly worthy of your strength Clarel."
The Wardens began to advance on the group, "Enough!" Evelyn shouted. She turned to the Wardens. "I've seen Corypheus, I know his power, and I know his people," She turned to glare at Erimond before turning back to them, "You're being used, and some of you know it."
"The mages who've done the ritual aren't the same. They were my friends, but now they're like puppets!" One of the Wardens stepped forwards.
"You cannot let fear sway your mind, Warden Chernoff!" Clarel shouted.
"He's not afraid! You are! You're afraid that you've asked all of your brave Waren to die for nothing!" Evelyn shouted back.
"I honour your bravery, all of you!" Alistair spoke, "By this is not the way! You've been lied to."
The Wardens looked up to Clarel, and she looked uncertain.
"Clarel, we've come so far, we can't turn back now," Erimond said.
Clarel swallowed, "Maybe we could test the charges, to avoid more bloodshed."
"Or perhaps I should bring in a more powerful ally!" Erimond said angrily. He unsheathed his staff and knocked it on the ground, "My master thought you might come here! He sent me this to welcome you!"
Suddenly they heard the enormous beating of wings in the distance, by the time Evelyn clued into what was going on, Cole had tackled her to the side, out of the line of fire. Literally.
When Evelyn looked up she saw that Clarel was now realizing what she had done, but Evelyn was surprised when Clarel began to attack Erimond. She was even more surprised when she attacked the dragon as well.
"Help the Inquisitor!" Clarel commanded the Wardens before taking off after Erimond.
Max looked at Evelyn, "Go after them, we can't let Erimond getaway! We'll deal with the demons."
Evelyn looked uncertain but took off after Clarel and Erimond.
Max and the others quickly dealt with the demons, they then turned to the dragon. It growled, but instead of fighting them it flew off towards where Evelyn had just run after Clarel and Erimond...
"Quickly!" Max shouted and started to run in the same direction.
Eventually, they came to the partially destroyed bridge where Evelyn and Clarel were confronting Erimond.
Evelyn had cast a barrier around the two of them, so even though Erimond was firing powerful spells they were protected.
"You destroyed the Grey Wardens!" Clarel shouted at him. She summoned a fade fist and threw it at him, Evelyn grinned.
"You did that to yourself you stupid-" Evelyn cut him off with a small lightning bolt. "Ah!" He writhed for a moment. "All I did was put power in front of you and you couldn't wait to get your hands bloody." Erimond gestured towards Evelyn, "Corypheus tortured her and she didn't even speak to him."
Clarel glanced at Evelyn, who then summoned a large lightning bolt. She threw it at Erimond, the strength of it caused him to skid back across the bridge.
"You could have been all-powerful, you could have served a new God."
"I will never serve the blight!" Clarel spoke with conviction.
"I wasn't talking to you," Erimond said.
Max and the others then stepped forwards, Evelyn glanced up at them and so did Clarel.
Suddenly, the dragon landed right behind Evelyn and Clarel and snatched Clarel up in its jaws while swatting Evelyn away. She flew a few meters over towards Max and rolled to his feet.
"Evelyn!" Max shouted in concern. She groaned and grabbed his shoulder to pull herself to her feet.
"You alright Shorty?" Varric asked her.
"I'm fine," She replied.
The dragon lept up onto a nearby turret, Clarel still hanging from its mouth. It then jumped down beside them, releasing Clarel from its jaws. It started to move menacingly towards them, "I can hold it," Evelyn said.
"Just wait, wait one second," Max said, seeing Clarel.
"In war, victory. In peace, vigilance." Clarel created a massive explosion of lightning.
The dragon tumbled over the edge, just missing their group. Unfortunately, the explosion caused the bridge to begin to collapse. Everyone quickly began to run, but Evelyn ran backwards to help Alistair who had stumbled. But she was too late, a scream escaped her throat as the ground beneath her feet disappeared.
"Evelyn!" Cole shouted while running backwards, jumping over the edge. Not that he would have needed to, quickly the rest of the group was also falling.
Max found himself falling directly above his sister, he reached out his hand to her and prayed to the Maker that somehow they would survive. Like it knew what he wanted, the Anchor sprung to life and opened a rift right under Evelyn. She fell into it, and soon enough so did Max.
Max fell into the rift and closed his eyes, then he felt himself stop falling. He opened his eyes and realized that he was hovering just off the ground. He reached out with his hand to touch it, but then he suddenly fell onto his face.
Max let out a slight scream followed by a moan. He got to his feet and looked around, it was the fade, like really the fade. Max was starting to regret not bringing Solas along.
"Well... this is unexcepted," Alistair spoke from beside Max. He wasn't standing beside him exactly, Max turned and saw that he was perpendicular to him.
They both stared at each other in shock for a moment. Before looking over at Hawke, who was also standing against gravity.
"We were falling..." Hawke paused, "Is this... are we dead? If we are the Chantry owes me an apology, because this looks nothing like the Makers bosom."
"No, the Inquisitor did something with the mark... I think we're in the fade," Alistair said.
Max was still trying to wrap his head around what was going on. His brain felt like mush.
"The fade looked a lot different the last time I was here," Hawke commented. Blackwall walked beside Max, looking equally shocked. Varric still handn't moved, he was still freaked out.
"I've seen my father in the fade, I've seen a demon pretending to be my sister in the fade, but I have never seen this..." Alistair said.
The mention of Alistar's sister quickly lead Max's mind to Evelyn, "Evie!" Max called. He also noticed that Cole wasn't there and a sinking feeling appeared in his stomach. What if they hadn't fallen into the rift.
"Help!" Max heard Cole call.
Max's eyes widened and he ran in the direction of the shout. He rounded the corner of a large rock and saw that Evelyn was leaning against it, one hand was pressed against her nose, which was dripping blood, and the other was gripping Cole's shoulder.
"Evelyn are you alright?" Max asked.
Evelyn nodded, "I'm alright, just a bloody nose."
"We need to get moving, remember that giant demon just on the other side of Erimond's rift?" Alistair asked, seeing that everyone was alright.
"Maybe we could leave through that rift," Evelyn suggested, "No one but you can close them, so it should still be open."
Varric looked at Cole, who was staring at Evelyn with a mixture of fear and sadness.
"You alright Cole?" Varric asked.
"I wasn't. It was hot and horrible, but then she helped me, what did you do?" Cole asked.
"I tied you to me, as long as I'm okay you're okay," Evelyn said.
"So I feel what you feel?" Cole asked.
"No, not really, it's just so your... soul doesn't wander off," Evelyn explained.
Cole looked at her strangely, "What's a... soul?"
Evelyn chuckled slightly and a pained expression briefly crossed her face before disappearing. Max must've missed it, but Varric didn't. He looked at her with concern, he was unconvinced that she was alright, but the group needed to move.
They began their march towards the rift in the distance.
Varric looked around with both fear and amazement, "So Shorty, is this what it's like whenever you go to sleep?" Varric asked Evelyn.
"Sometimes, it depends," Evelyn replied.
Blackwall shook his head, "This place is dangerous. I will gladly fight the demons, but I have no desire to see where they come from."
"Remeber when we were in the fade Hawke?" Varric asked his friend.
"Oh... how could I forget?" Hawke asked, dripping with sarcasm. "My closest friends showed such loyalty in the face of temptation."
"Well... we got better... sort of," Varric said.
They walked along, Blackwall, Alistair and Max were talking at the front of the group, Cole and Evelyn were walking in mostly silence in the middle, and Varric was chatting with Hawke at the rear.
"So, how's Fenris and Anders living under the same roof?" Varric asked.
Hawke sighed, "Some days I swear I'm going to murder both of them before they can murder each other. But... sometimes it's sort of hilarious."
"Hilarious?" Varric asked.
"I walked in on Fenris braiding Anders' hair a few days before I left, it was very strange," Hawke said and Varric chuckled.
It was about then that they came upon... the Divine.
"Maker... could it be?..." Alistair nearly whispered.
"I greet you, Warden, Champion, and Inquisitor," Divine Justinia spoke.
"Isn't she... you know... dead?" Varric asked.
"I think so yes, I fear we may be facing a spirit or a demon," Alistair said.
Evelyn was looking at the Divine curiously. Evelyn had been in the fade many many times, and usually, she could tell if what was in front of her was a spirit or a demon. This time she had no clue.
"You are so sure I am dead yet to stand here in the fade yourselves, alive," She spoke. She took a few steps forward and was standing in front of Evelyn. "Drink this," She said and held out a bowl of water to her.
"What's this?" Evelyn asked, her voice wavering slightly.
"You are hurt child. This will help," The Divine.
"I'm-" Evelyn started to cough violently. She coughed blood onto her arm and her nose continued to bleed.
"Evie, what's wrong?" Max asked, coming to her side.
"Something's wrong, deep. The dragon, it hit her," Cole said, "There's only one healing potion left unbroken, she didn't want to use it, just in case..." Cole spoke quickly and softly.
Max looked at Evelyn with alarm, and Evelyn, sensing that a lecture was soon to follow quickly grabbed the bowl from the Divine and drank it.
"Evelyn!" Max shouted.
"Ah!" Evelyn grunted and gripped Cole's arm tightly.
"Ow," He said quietly.
After a few moments, Evelyn relaxed her grip on his arm, she stood up straight and took a deep breath, no pain.
"Are you alright?" Hawke asked, interrupting Max's concerned motherly glare.
"Yeah, that was-"
"Just a potion I had with me," Justinia said, "As I was saying, proving my existence would take time we do not have."
Alistair looked up towards the rift, "What was that thing we saw in the rift?"
"It was a nightmare, a demon that feeds off memories of fear and darkness. It has grown fat upon the terror Corypheus has unleashed. It serves willingly."
"So how do we escape?" Hawke asked.
"You must fight through the memories of fear..." Justinia said before slowly disappearing.
"Well that was vague," Alistair said disappointedly.
"What were you thinking?! Max said to Evelyn, "Why didn't you tell me you were hurt? We could have-" Max suddenly stopped.
Evelyn was looking at him with a raised eyebrow, "Because you are such a mother hen."
Max wrinkled his nose, "Yeah... I'm working on it."
Evelyn laughed, "Come on, I think we've got some demons to kill."
Authors Note: Okay this chapter is pretty blah I know. It's mostly just set up for the next few chapters which will not follow what actually happened in the fade very closely. So hopefully I'll have that one up within the week so we can move on from all this boring dialogue that we've all already seen, I just couldn't see a way around it this time.
