She had stayed in the chantry for almost a week and Angelle couldn't bear this suspension much longer. Why didn't he go through with his plan? What was he waiting for? How long was she to wait for her execution? She lay in bed tossing and turning, until she finally was so exhausted she fell asleep.
She was walking through a meadow with yellow and red flowers. She began to come closer to a little farm house. Two little girls where running towards her laughing. The eldest had impossibly long brown hair and brown eyes to match. The youngest, curled red-blonde hair and green eyes. They stopped a few feet from her turning around running in the other direction, cheering on her to follow. In front of the house there were two adults. A man and a woman she'd never seen before. They both got up and went towards her. When they came close they held her close and the woman whispered: "Our little girl has become so strong. You have always made us so proud."
Suddenly is all disappeared in an ocean of fire. A large dragon was flying in the sky, setting fire to trees and the house. Angelle was terrified. Then she saw Anders, covered in blue markings, walking through the flames without being burned. She ran to him and held him. He whispered: "Hush love... Without and end there can be no beginning."
"Anders!" Angelle sat up and thought she saw him out of the corner of her eye. She was bathed in sweat and tears were running down her face and then further down her neck. She started sobbing as she cradled herself rocking forwards and backwards.
"Anders, love... Please Maker, save him... Do with me as you please, but save him. Take my life in return for his."
The last few days there had been rumours that the Knight-commander and First Enchanter were having more and more arguments. It would only be a matter of time before the world would crumble. It had been raining the entire day. Angelle had spent most of it just starring at it, while wondering if Anders had given up his plan. She walked down to the middle of the chantry hoping that talking with Sebastian and Elthina, would keep her mind of... well everything really. As she approached them the entire chantry was beginning to fill with a green gas.
"EVERYONE OUT NOW!"
People where running and screaming. Angelle waited at the entrance ensuring all the cilivilians, she could see through the fog, had left. As Angelle ran down the stairs she saw Orsino, Meredith and Anders standing at the chantry square. Anders was glowing. Most of the people in the chantry had only just reached the square when Anders pounded his staff in the ground. A loud thundering noise sounded as a big red light filled the sky almost dragging the chantry bit by bit into the air and then exploding several hundred meters in the air.
Angelle didn't have to ask. She knew Anders did this. She knew he had meant to kill people inside. As far as she could tell most people had made it out, but there was undoubtedly still several casualties. He had waited to the moment she was in a safe distance from the chantry to blow it up. Sebastian was standing next to the Grand Cleric who was in shock. Angelle looked at Anders. He looked depressed. This was not a man rejoicing his victory, but a man overpowered by his own desperation. This was the man she had first met in the Gallows years ago.
"You did this!" Sebastian growled as he pointed at Anders.
Orsino looked at him with disbelieve.
"Why? Why would you do such a thing?"
"I will no longer stand by while you treat all mages like criminal! While those who would lead us bow to their templar jailors! The circle has failed us, Orsino! Even you should be able to see that!"
"This monster should be executed immediately!" Sebastian demanded. Meredith nodded and as her cold eyes glared at Anders she said her judgement.
"Agreed and with him, the revolutionists and Libertarian fraternity!"
"You can't do that. This man acted alone, you can't punish others for his crime!" Orsino argued.
"How do you know this First Enchanter? If we allow, but one of them to walk free others will follow in their footsteps."
"But..."
"But nothing! Would you rather that we invoke the rite of annulment?"
"Thats enough, Meredith. This demeans us all. Do as you wish, but I will not agree to invoke the right."
Elthina could barely stand as she said it. Meredith reluctantly agreed and added.
"Then this mage is to be executed immediately."
"No."
Everyone starred at Angelle and seemed unable to grasp what she just said. Sebastian finally broke the silence.
"Surely you do not wish this monster to walk free, Hawke?"
"No, but I am not sure making him a martyr will help the situation. I propose we imprison him and the fraternities in question. Then we send word to the Divine and await her judgement."
Meredith looked at Elthina and nodded in agreement.
"Very well. Escort the prisoner to the Gallows."
Angelle didn't look at Anders. She couldn't. The Knight-commander stayed in the city to try and keep order as well as sorting out the casualties. Angelle and Cullen were asked to escort the First Enchanter back to the circle. When she arrived at the Gallows she saw mages kicking and screaming as they were dragged to the dungeons for a crime they didn't commit. Perhaps justice was not something that existed in the mortal world. Angelle started to wonder why people feared demons so much, since the events of the past few years would suggest that people were just as cruel and manipulating. But right now she had her own demon to face... her beloved demon. She waited until nightfall before she went to the dungeons. She couldn't bear the thought of being there while people were still getting dragged into cells.
She walked through the dark with no light. Normally this would have made her uneasy, but after the events of the past week, nothing could terrify her anymore. She heard people crying and others whispering as if in agony. About thirty mages had been dragged down here for something they did not do. They were either to be executed or made tranquil. She reached Anders' cell and just stood there starring at the wall. She couldn't look at him.
"There is nothing you can say to me that I haven't said to myself. I took a spirit into my soul and change myself forever to achieve this."
"How is killing innocent's justice? What you have done today is what you say templars have been doing for centuries. You have killed five templars, six priests and two civilians by last count. You have proved to the world that even mages, who are not consorting with demons and doing bloodmagic, are an enemy of the chantry."
"I thought you of all people would understand. The world fears what we can do. They can't imagine a world with room for all of us... maybe their right."
"And now you have started an avalanche of vengeance."
"This is the justice all mages have awaited. Revolutions do not happen peacefully."
"I just can't understand how you could do it. This is not the actions of the man I love."
"I told you I would break your heart. Just know it breaks mine to do it."
They remained silent for a while. She didn't want to admit it, but she did understand. She didn't want him to right, but he was. At this moment she didn't want to love him, but she did... so much.
"Was this your plan all along?"
"Yes... No.. I was forced to change my plan when you wouldn't leave the chantry."
"You were going to blow it up with people inside it?"
She didn't know why she asked. She already knew the answer. A part of her hoped it wasn't true. As he remained silent she knew that she was right. He had meant to kill the grand cleric and everyone else. If she hadn't been in there, no one would have been given the change to escape. Was she so blinded by love that she could not see what he had become? Or had he always been this way and she had chosen not to see it? Maybe she had always known. Could it be that she agreed with this extreme measure? That she didn't stop him on purpose. She was as capable of committing this crime as he was... for freedom... for love. But this was about so much more than just their love. It was about the right to love for any mage in Thedas. As her mind was racing Anders finally broke the unbearable silence.
"If I pay for this with my life, then I pay. Perhaps then it will be Justice and not Vengeance who rises from my corpse."
"We are waiting for orders from the Divine. It is likely that you won't be executed. They will do what they can to prevent you from becoming a martyr. They would sooner make you tranquil."
"Maker, no! I would rather die. I have always feared being made tranquil... now more than ever."
Angelle never understood how a heart that was already broken could still break. If this continued, there would be nothing but dust left. She couldn't stay there any longer. As she turned and began to walk away Anders' whispered:
"For what it's worth, it was nice to be happy... for a while."
As she went passed one of the cells, she noticed a mage-girl sitting there. It was the girl she had seen being raped two years ago. She couldn't take it any longer. She ran.