Anders had done a good job of healing the elf while they were protected by the shield of fire that Nero had made. He had spent most of his power healing the internal wounds and bruising and when he reached the outer wounds he found himself weakening and he had been unable to heal the tissues completely and ended up leaving scars.

Fenris had lost a lot of blood and they had been forced to carry him back to Hightown because he was still unconscious. For most of the walk home the group was surprised to find that Nero's eyes weren't purple, but a dark blue. Nero had explained that he had used so much power from the river that his bodily reserves were empty. Anders was fascinated to learn that Nero's eyes were purple because of his strong connection to the river and had asked many questions about it, but unfortunately Nero didn't understand it very well.

Anders had followed Sebastian and Nero as they carried Fenris to his room. After the elf was settled in bed they left Sebastian to watch over him so that Nero could change and find Fenris some clean clothes. Anders followed him out and waited outside Nero's room while he changed, when Nero opened the door and jumped when he caught sight of the mage.

"Maker's Breath, Anders. What are you doing here?" Nero asked.

"I need to talk to you, I need your help for something else, and I can't tell you why."

"If it involves sewers or dragons I'm going to have to decline."

Anders chuckled, "Not quite, although that depends on how you view the Chantry."

Nero sighed, "I'm not going to like this."

"I must get inside the Chantry, without being seen. Will you talk to the Grand Cleric for me? Distract her long enough for me to do what must be done."

"And what, pray tell, must be done?" Nero asked suspiciously.

"You would not thank me if i told you. If you support freedom for mages, help me. That's all I can say." Anders said grimly.

"What would I even talk to the Grand Cleric about? I don't like her much more than you do."

"Food? The weather? What does it matter? No, talk about mages. Give her one final chance to hear what we have suffered. To pick a side. Perhaps she'll be more inclined to listen to you."

Nero snorted, "cause that's believable." he sighed again, in frustration, "what is it you don't want me to see?"

"I would not tell you my plans, Nero. You have made it plain where your sympathies lie. I will ask you straight then. Has nothing you've seen changed your mind? Will you help me free the mages of Kirkwall, or would you stay at the side of the knight-tyrant?" Anders accused.

"This again? Andraste's tits, Anders! I have been tortured by mages and templar sympathizers, I'm fairly certain i was going to raped by a templar. I don't have a side, I'm beginning to think the lot of you are just fucked up as a whole."

"But you will not stand and fight for people that have had their rights unjustly taken away from them, is that not something you can sympathize with?" Anders spat.

Nero laughed without humor, "from what i see, circle mages still have rights. You will not understand the gravity of what its like to have 'no rights' until every breath you take and every drop of blood you shed are owned by someone else. Don't talk to me about rights." Nero, unable to face the mage any longer, began to pace angrily.

Several minutes passed before Nero walked up to where Anders was watching him with his arms folded and a scowl on his face, and said, "is there even a potion? This has nothing to do with you separating from Justice, does it?"

"I lied, there is no potion." Anders admitted with a small shrug of his shoulders, "but what we have gathered will bring freedom for more than just me and Justice. It will help mages throughout Thedas. In the face of that, one lie means little."

"Except that your now asking that person you lied to to help you further. That's just idiotic."

"Fine. Don't trust me, but don't expect I'll ever trust you again after that. Is this what you want Nero?"

"You have got to be kidding...you aren't kidding." Nero laughed again, "how can I trust you if you wont trust me enough to tell me what your planning? The shit your trying to use against me is the same garbage that is being used against you! You're being such a hypocrite that i think my brain might explode with the idiocy of it all."

"I want to tell you, I do, but you'll probably try and stop me. No, I know you will." Anders sighed, "I didn't want to lie to you, but you wouldn't have helped me otherwise. Why only go halfway, you might as well stick with me till the end, right?"

Nero narrowed his eyes, "no, I wont help with this. This entire situation is making me sick to my stomach. If you wont trust me anymore, that's fine, our friendship crumbled apart years ago. I'll still worry about you, and what your doing to yourself, but there is nothing i can do to stop it. I'm sorry i couldn't live up to your expectations."

Anders stared at him for several minutes, his anger rising by the second, before he snorted and stormed out. Nero sighed and watched him go, wondering what in the void he was accessory to.

...

By the time Fenris woke up Sebastian had gone to a spare bedroom to sleep and Nero had fallen asleep in a chair by the bed. Fenris looked at the canopy in confusion, why was he in his room? Why was he alone? For a moment he wondered if maybe he had dreamt that he and Nero had gotten back together, and made to get up. The new skin, the scar tissue, tightened with his movements and he quickly remembered what happened.

He was almost eaten by a dragon.

Venhedis.

He let himself fall back to the mattress with a groan and pushed down the blankets to look at his chest. He had a red line going across his stomach and chest, and another going across just his stomach, to end at his side. He realized, with no small amount of terror, how ...central the scars were, and quickly sat up and pulled up his sleeping pants. He had just reassured himself that he was still intact when he heard a snort from the chair and looked over to where Nero was stretching in the chair.

"I made sure you still had your bits before Anders healed you. I figured if it was gone you would rather bleed out and die." Nero smirked and sat back in the chair, cracking his knuckles.

Fenris grunted and let himself fall so that he was completely on his back again, and continued to inspect his scars. There were several places where the scars had crossed some of his lyrium burns, it was interesting to see the lyrium interrupted in such a way. He wondered what happened to it, did it flow out, like blood? Or was it just torn and pulled apart to allow new skin in? He chuckled, Denarius would be absolutely red with rage, if this had happened while he was still a slave.

"How are you feeling?" Nero asked, slightly concerned that the elf was laughing for no discernible reason. He wasn't sure he would laugh if he woke up covered in scars from a Maker forsaken dragon.

"Fine. Nothing seems to hurt." Fenris told him.

"Fine for almost being eaten by a dragon, you mean."

"Yes, that."

"Maker." Nero muttered and looked away, losing himself in his thoughts. It had struck him hours before that he had almost lost Fenris, that the elf could have died. He had had a minor panic attack about it once he realized it. He tried to imagine his life without him, but he couldn't, and he wasn't sure what he would have done had Fenris not made it out alive. It had been shocking and unpleasant, and he had been so grateful for Anders that he could have kissed the man. But then Anders had gone and had his little shit-fit, but Nero was still grateful all the same.

The whole experience had brought along with it a frightening realization. He didn't just want or need Fenris, he loved him. He loved that stubborn, white-haired, dangerous bastard in a way that he would never have dreamed possible. He loved him so much that it hurt. He realized that he had loved Fenris for a very, very long time, he had just refused to put the term to it. He had once thought he had loved Arsenio, and it was only now that he truly realized that he hadn't.

"Why aren't you in bed?" Fenris asked, pulling Nero from his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Why are you sleeping in the chair?"

"Oh," Nero said, "i didn't mean to fall asleep in it...but i hadn't quite made up my mind about whether or not i should sleep in the bed. I didn't know if you would be sore or...whatever."

"I'm fine."

Nero smiled, "I know that now, but you have told me I kick sometimes when I sleep, and i didn't want to kick you in one of your new scars."

Fenris looked back down at his chest and grimaced, "they aren't very ...attractive, are they?"

Nero laughed and got out of the chair to straddle the elf on the bed, "their kind of sexy, I think."

Fenris raised a skeptical eyebrow, "you have strange ideas of sexy."

"So you've said. Try to think of them as new lines for me to trace."

Fenris couldn't help himself, and he smirked, "with what?"

"Whatever you wish."

"Interesting."

Nero chuckled and pulled the blankets back on the unoccupied side of the bed and rolled off of Fenris to get under the blankets with him. He lay on his side and shuffled closer to the elf to wrap one of his legs around Fenris' before resting his head on the pillow. Fenris turned his head to look at the other man and pushed away a strand of hair that fell in Nero's face. Nero was watching him, closely it seemed, and his expression slowly grew more serious till finally he spoke.

"You almost died." he said.

"I could have, yes." Fenris agreed.

"After I realized the gravity of what happened, it...terrified me."

Fenris frowned and turned onto his side so that he was facing the other man and dug one of his hands into Nero's hair before pulling him into a short kiss.

He let his forehead rest against Nero's and said quietly, "I'm sorry."

Nero shook his head, "it's not your fault."

"I should have been more careful."

"You couldn't have foreseen that happening."

"I could have raised my sword and stopped it."

"You didn't have time."

"I could have jumped out of the way."

"It still could have caught you."

"It shouldn't have happened."

"Its not your fault that it did."

Fenris didn't speak again for several more minutes, he simply listened to the other man breathe and let himself absorb Nero's body heat. He felt...not guilty for being caught by the dragon, Nero was right , he couldn't have foreseen that happening. But he was troubled by the fact that he caused Nero to worry, that he had frightened him. He wrapped his arm around Nero's waist and pulled him closer, so that there wasn't any space between their bodies. He lowered his head so that he was between Nero's head and the pillow, and squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't understand why frightening Nero, even though he didn't mean to, made him want to cry. He wasn't exactly prone to crying.

"I'm sorry I worried you." He whispered.

"It's alright, its not your fault, I-it's just, I...I was just stressed. If you died, I can't-I don't...I love you, and I don't think I could handle it if I lost you." Nero said quietly. He tucked his chin closer to his chest, so that he could raise his ear from the pillow and hear anything the elf said. He hadn't expected to come out with his realization so soon, but it came out, and he felt his heart start pounding in anticipation of the response.

Fenris took a while to respond. At first he was so stunned by the confession that he could not think. It had never truly occurred to him that Nero might love him, he had hoped, sure, but hearing Nero say it gave the notion a depth that blew his mind. How did he end up so lucky? What were the chances that he, a slave and a monster, would escape his torment to find someone whom he would fall in love with? And to have that love returned...

He pulled away and watched Nero carefully, trying to see if there was any hint of deception. He knew Nero's face and expressions well enough that he was sure he would be able to detect it. But he was wasting his time, he knew that. He did not recall ever hearing a lie come from those lips, and he knew that Nero was telling the truth.

"I love you as well." he said.