Fenris opened his eyes to a rush of activity.

Donnic was doing something with the length of rope, retying it around the stalagmite the way Fenris himself had done earlier, and Aveline was shouting something into the pit.

He watched them both, trying to make sense of the situation. Then he tried to sit up, and was hindered by a crashing wave of dizziness and pain resounding through his skull.

Fenris tried to activate his lyrium brands for an extra burst of strength, but for the first time in his memory they did not respond.

He could not worry about it now. Something was happening.

"Aveline?" he said weakly, rubbing at his temples.

She turned to him excitedly. "Fenris! Are you all right? Can you stand?"

"I believe so. Give me a moment."

Aveline jumped to her feet and ran to Donnic. The two conferred quickly, and then Donnic was tying the rope around Aveline's waist.

A plaintive voice was calling from somewhere nearby. It said: "please hurry..."

The sound raised a lump in Fenris's throat. He was hearing things. Things that could not possibly be real.

Donnic was clamoring to the edge again, looking down. "I don't know if we have enough," he was calling back to Aveline. "But I don't want you climbing without the rope. She'll just have to make it a little farther."

His head hurt terribly, and Fenris knew he had done something harmful to himself. The markings on his skin burned and itched and refused to light. And he was hearing the voice again. The voice he missed so much that it brought tears to his eyes.

"Perhaps I am losing my mind after all," he said, holding his painful head. "I could swear I just heard Hawke's voice."

Donnic stopped suddenly and looked up at him. "Come here," he motioned, with a strange expression.

Fenris was suddenly very nervous, although he couldn't think why.

"You were right, my friend," A smiling Donnic said as Fenris reached him, and clapped him firmly on the back. "Look."

He looked down into the crevasse where he had stared for hours to see only darkness, and he now saw a light. A tiny light, orbiting like a halo around a familiar blonde head.

He saw shaking hands grasping at the bare rock, and a dirty, bloody face looked up to him, still some distance away.

"Little help?" Hawke croaked up at him.

The elf's heart froze in his chest.

Aveline was shouting to Donnic about tightening the line and he was answering her but it was all a distant echo for him now. His vision telescoped into one sight, and only one.

"Sadie?" Fenris whispered.

No matter how long he looked, she did not disappear. It was really her.

"Hawke needs help!" Aveline shouted at him, and jolted him out of his inaction.

In a sudden whirlwind of joy and terror, Fenris rose to aid them. Hawke was alive but not safe; he would not believe it until she was out of the pit and in his arms.

He approached the couple with wide and determined eyes.

"Give me the rope," he hissed. "I must reach her."

Aveline secured the knot around her waist and onto her belt, in the place where her discarded sword would rest.

"I won't. You can't go down there. You will drop her and she will die and it will be your fault," Aveline said bluntly. "I will do it."

Aveline pulled no punches; it was the thing he most respected about her. He scowled at her. But he knew she spoke truly - right now she was stronger than him.

Relucantly, he nodded. There was no one he would trust with this more than Aveline.

Aveline would climb down the side of the cliff while Donnic and Fenris held the rope tightly, should she fall. When she reached the bottom of the rope and grabbed Hawke, the two men would pull them up again.

Donnic kissed her lingeringly at the side of the cliff and helped her over the side.

Fenris was stationed farther back, watching the point where their rope was anchored, to warn them when they were out of line.

"She's still climbing down," Donnic reported, peering over the edge. He sounded tense as well. However capable his wife could be, he was only too aware that tragedy could strike at any time.

His heart pounded frantically in his chest. It made sense for Donnic to watch his wife progress, but not being able to see what was happening was agony. It seemed to take hours. Every second scratched painfully across his awareness, because he knew each moment was another chance for Hawke to fall and perish. Unable to stand still, he paced fretfully and stared at Donnic, watching for any reaction that might signal her fate.

He did not know what he would do if they lost her now.

Aveline took her time going down, not wanting to take the chance of breaking the rope should she fall. She was not a climber, but she was strong, and she could hang onto both the rope and the cliff with very little trouble.

She came to the gap that Fenris had pointed out to her. "Lower me down!" she shouted up to Donnic, and she felt the line tighten.

Reluctantly, Aveline let go of the cliffside and dangled unnervingly in midair.

Below her she could see Hawke's eyes closed and her face frozen in pain and fear. She hoped Hawke had a little more strength in her.

"Hawke?" she said, a little more sharply than she had intended.

"Took you long enough," the missing woman answered her in a small, raspy voice, and with a pained smile.

A little at a time, Aveline was descending. Hawke was not directly below her but off to the side, to Aveline's right and down.

"THAT'S IT!" Donnic shouted down to her. They were out of rope. This was as far as she could go.

Hawke was still about twenty feet away.

"Sadie?" Aveline said gently. "This is as far as I can come. You'll have to climb up a little more."

Her eyes closed again, and she took several long, painful looking breaths. Then Hawke's right arm reached up, her left hand clawing inefficiently at the wall to hold her in place. Both hands shook convulsively, and the warrior's face twisted in pain as she pulled herself up. Very slowly.

Aveline found the sight so unnerving she had to stop watching. She looked up at Donnic instead, who was watching them avidly, holding her rope steady.

It took so long. Aveline cringed at the cries of pain that came from her friend, and prayed that she would last long enough for their rescue.

Hawke came up level with Aveline, but still she was not within reach.

"You'll have to jump!" she called to her.

"You're kidding," Hawke croaked.

"I'll swing over, but I can't reach you. You have to jump into my arms."

Hawke nodded tiredly, lacking the energy to argue.

Aveline called up to Donnic. "I'm going to swing the rope to get close enough. Hold on tight! I don't want to break our anchor."

The guard-commander she swung her legs, building up some momentum to get her closer to Hawke. Back and forth she swung, the thick rope creaking at the effort.

Hawke watched her dazedly. Aveline worried that at any moment she could drop, and rushed to get closer. "Get ready!" she yelled at her. "When I'm coming over, jump as far over as you can, and I'll catch you."

That sounded about as plausible as anything else in this situation. Hawke nodded shortly and braced herself. She scrunched down into a crouch, painfully, ready to push off with her legs and jump out into the air.

Aveline swung about as close as she dared. "Get ready!"

"Okay," Hawke said softly.

"Now!"

And she jumped.

As far as she could jump from the wall turned out not to be very far at all. Aveline just barely grabbed her flailing wrist, in midair.

Hawke dangled limply from Aveline's arm.

"Sadie! Grab my legs! Sadie!"

Hawke did not respond. She was out cold, hanging in Aveline's one hand.

Aveline tried desperately to pull her up, to get a grip on her torso, but it was no use. She was slippery with sweat and it was all she could do to hold onto her arm with both hands.

"Wake up," she hissed frantically. "Sadie! Wake up!"

Hawke did not respond. A trickle of blood ran from her mouth.

"Pull me up!" she shouted up to the men. "Hawke's passed out! I don't know how long I can hold her!"

Hawke jumped out into thin air with the very last bit of strength in her and then everything went away.

The next she knew, she was going up. Slowly, haltingly, she was being hauled upwards. A tremendous pressure on her arm told her she was being pulled up by her wrist. She caught a glimpse of empty space under her feet and was out again.

In flashes, she saw Aveline being battered against the cliffside as they both were pulled up, trying to shield her from the rocks.

There was a lot of shouting, and she was too tired to care.

A tremendous yank that nearly pulled her arm from its socket hoisted her up abruptly, in a flash of pain that made her howl.

Then she was being moved again, but the hands upon her were gentle. They lifted her up like a ragdoll and Hawke couldn't seem to raise her head to see what was going on.

She must have used up everything she had to get here. Now her entire body felt impossibly heavy and throbbed with pain.

The moving stopped, and strong arms supported her, and there were more hands.

Somebody was saying her name. Several somebodies.

Who was there? Aveline, she heard Aveline before. Was Anders here?

"Where does it hurt?" someone was saying.

"Ev'r'where..." she told them. Talking hurt too. "arms broke..."

She managed to open just one eye; the other was stuck again.

She saw who was holding her. A blurry person who was not Anders. White hair, green eyes.

Fenris.

"Hey," she managed to say. She summoned a few deep breaths, sending stabbing pains through her chest. "I made it," she told him.

"You did," that familiar, wonderful voice said. "We are taking you home now."

It wasn't a dream, that was definitely him. He was picking her up and holding her against him, and everything hurt but at least she didn't have to move anymore. Fenris was there. He was carrying her and she was going home. It was okay to rest now.

She laid her head against his shoulder and went to sleep.

Author's Note: Nope, we're not done yet. I'll be back to update on Monday.