The Templers fell mercilessly to Bethany and Merrill's magic after Hawke had signaled them with the tilt of her head. It was cruel, to not even allow them to defend themselves, even if they were the enemy. Varric knew the look those Templers saw before they died and it chilled him to the bone, it was the cruel smirk that Hawke wore like a predator. She was laughing at them with her eyes as they fell, he knew that. Maybe Hawke was tired, that this was why she did not wait for them to attack, or even give them warning. Maybe Varric was just trying to justify why Hawke now seemed to be so vicious. Maybe Varric had just grown too accustomed to the cynical Hawke that snapped jokes at the nobility and laughed over ale. Hawke had reason enough to be vicious, but it seemed like the Champion of Kirkwall was being stripped before his eyes as she started to walk to the outside with the Circle burning at her back.

The air was heavy with the Circle's cinders just like the rest of Kirkwall was drenched in the remnants of the Chantry. They had reached the staircase leading down when Hawke stood frozen in place. He had never seen her so still, not even when she was carrying out an assassination. The group's eyes fell to where Hawke's sharp blue eyes were staring. Fenris. His voice was wafting through the courtyard as he walked with three Templers.

"Look at them. Backed into a corner, they show their true colors." Fenris knew Hawke was there all along as his eyes met hers, his face contorted by some mixture of hatred and disgust. "Why you're defending them, I'll never know. This is an old story that always ends the same way."

Varric could see Hawke's hands trembling before she clenched her swords tight to walk down the stairs. "You of all people should know what it means to be a slave." Her voice was dripping venom.

"You have never been to the Imperium. There, the mages spit on us. They keep people like me as pets. You think I won't fight to stop that from happening here? Think again."

"I see why you always think the worst of people, but they are slaughtering these mages like cattle… What would you have done in my shoes, Fenris?"

Fenris scoffed, looking away for an instant before meeting Hawke's gaze. She seemed frustrated, and tired. Even more she seemed alone though she was surrounded by all of her friends, all of his friends. He could not back down; he could not support her in this. If he had to kill her to stop the Imperium from spreading, he would do that. He would do anything to stop the Imperium. "You die or I die. Either way the story's done, Champion."

There was a heavy silence. Fenris seemed to have spoken the words with such conviction, but his nerves seemed to betray him as Hawke gripped her swords. No one survived Hawke. The Arishok fell before her. High Dragons fell before her.

"What are you two doing? You care about each other." Varric screamed out from behind Hawke. Perhaps this was the only voice of reason on that night, but it seemed drowned out by what had already been said.

"You heard him, Varric. It is me or him. Fenris does not change his mind." Hawke was starting to circle slowly, sliding her heeled boots across the stones to make a scraping sound. Varric remembered her toying with her victims like this. Was she going to make him suffer like the mercenaries on the coast? Like the blood mages?

Hawke slid past the Templers who rushed at her. The others were torn away from Hawke and Fenris as the Templers focused on them. Apparently even they feared the Champion of Kirkwall.

Fenris brought his blade down at what he thought was the perfect moment to catch Hawke, but it was met with the smokescreen she often used to confuse her foes. He swiped his sword around to his back to be met with a clash of her swords. She wasn't playing, she was trying to kill him.

"Does it feel weird to use that sword against me when I gave it to you?" She kicked Fenris away to hop back into a defensive position as she circled him again.

"If you would lay down this ridiculous cause I would lay down my sword." He rushed at her to only be met with the sparks as her swords slid his away. She was dancing, toying with him. It was infuriating him, making the blood rush to his face. Fenris was already seething that Hawke would betray him in this manner, choose the mages over him, but now this slight against him…to toy with him.

"I will not let my sister die because you fear mages." The smokescreen again as she disappeared behind him. Fenris knew all her moves, there was nothing she had that he hadn't seen and memorized.

"This isn't even about saving the mages; it is just about saving Bethany? How selfish are you to plunge a city into chaos because of your love for you sister?" He swung around meeting her blades again for her to push him back with her blades. She wasn't afraid of him, even as his arm started to glow. "Why not just run? Run like you always have"

She stared at his arm to move as he went for her chest. She swung one of her blades out slashing his other arm as she rolled away. There was something colder in her eyes, recognition that this was not practice in her courtyard. There was no high noon sun above them, no drinks set out on the table to cool off. Hawke knew Fenris was serious, but she could not give up, not now. Hawke was not about to have her heart ripped out like Danarius' second in command.

"Someone told me that there is a time to stop running. If I run I let these people die. If I run what do I have?" Maybe it was the smoke making her eyes water, the soot in the air as they stood defensively, circling each other. Fenris was seeing her clearly as the smokescreen was dissipating, she was tired. She was wounded. She was weak. Hawke was weak to him. Hawke was weak willed to him for this choice of hers. The Champion of Kirkwall was not something to fear.

"Me." The word fell creating the shock expression on Hawke's face he loved, if any other time he would have chuckled at her, but the tears falling down her face made him remember the night her mother died. Hawke had let a lot of things fall off of her skin like water, but he seemed to be piercing her more than any weapon could. Why had Hawke always allowed him in so deep while she kept others at an arm's length?

"You will not sacrifice your beliefs for me. I will not sacrifice these people for you." Her face was contorted; her face was contorted the same way when she had watched the Arishok decapitate Dumar.

Fenris was rushing at her before she had time to collect herself. Perhaps she would allow him to kill her… that would be the end of this chaos. She would get to sleep, rest with her parents and Carver. That would leave Bethany alone though. She couldn't leave Bethany alone. She brought her swords up in a flash driving them forward. His blade made contact with her side as she drove her swords into his chest.

Recognition and horror merged in such a quick instance she could not grasp them. Blood was spilling over her hands. He was choking on it, as he dropped his sword to reach for her swords. His hands gripped at her blades. All of his weight was on her. They slid down together. Did she speak? The words seemed mumbled incoherence. There was so much blood.