Hello Dear Readers!

I am so sorry for my absence! I honestly got caught up in a combination writer' block, Fallout 4, finals, and the holidays. I'm back now, hurray! Anyway, thank you all for the continued support and reviews. I promise to update soon.

Russianbear27

Chapter 16

It seemed the day of Garrett's return came far too soon. In the days since her rendezvous with Cullen in the Fade, Kali had come to the decision she couldn't stay with Garrett. She could not be what he wanted her to be. Although, she still felt that being with Cullen was an impossibility, she couldn't continue on with Garrett with her feelings in doubt. In her head she knew what she was doing was stupid, but her heart knew it was the right thing to do. She couldn't lead him on.

Of course nothing could ever go as smoothly as Kali hoped it would. She found Garrett waiting for her at her apartment one evening after she returned home from Harel's shop. He sat waiting for her outside her humble home, but stood up and hugged her when she approached.

"You're back," Kali was genuinely surprised. As Garrett pulled away, Kali could see his pained expression. "What's wrong?" a feeling of dread pooled in the pit of Kali's stomach.

"He took her." Garrett spat, "the bastard took Bethany."

Kali's eyes widened in horror, "quick, come inside." She pulled Garrett in off the street and sat him down at her flimsy table. Garrett sat with his head in his hands, Kali reached toward him, "tell me what happened."

"I hadn't been home an hour, before they barged through the door. The damned Templars found her."

"So she's…"

"Yes, she's gone to the Circle. Cullen made sure of that."

Kali let his words sink in, "I'm sure Cullen didn't…" she spoke softly, but Garrett cut her off again.

"You're defending him?" Garrett couldn't hide his frustration.

"I was just trying to explain..."

Garrett's emotions were running high and Kali couldn't stop the tirade that was imminent. "You of all people should understand, Kali. He's taken from me what I hold most dear and locked it away. How can you be okay with that?"

"I never said I was okay with it," tired of being cut off and ignored Kali fought hard to control her emotions. "You've decided to single out one man and place the blame of an entire institution on his head. I know you're upset, I am too, but this is bigger than you or me, and it is not the fault of one man."

"That man is the Knight-Captain. He is the embodiment of the Templar Order and their twisted ways."

"He is a good man, Garrett," she said calmly.

Garrett took a deep breath trying to calm himself, "you still care about him, don't you?" He seemed to see right through her.

"This isn't about me," Kali couldn't look at him. She braced for the anger that was sure to come.

Instead, Garrett just shook his head and stood up. "I can't believe this," he headed towards the door. The door slamming behind him struck deeper than Kali ever thought it would. That was not how it was supposed to go. It seemed all she could do was hurt those closest to her. Now it was her turn to sit at the table with her head in her hands.

Taking a few deep breaths to clam herself, reality slowly set in. Bethany was gone. The Circle here wasn't like Kinloch in Fereldan. Knight-Commander Meredith was a powerful force in the city and she kept the mages under close watch. Their day-to-day lives were much more restricted than those in Kali's home Circle.

Grabbing a cloak from her room, Kali prepared to step out into the twilight lit streets. She couldn't stay here, she need to find out for herself what had happened. The only way she could do that was to go to source and talk to Cullen. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head as she headed out the door. As she headed towards the Gallows, Kali knew what she was doing was crazy there was no guarantee she would even be able to speak to him. That didn't stop her feet from leading her through the streets to the gates of the Gallows.

The streets gradually become more and more empty as she got closer to the seat of Templar Power. Merchants were packing up their wares and closing for the night. They took no noticed of the cloaked elven woman who passed them by. Finally she reached the gallows as darkness encroached on the city.

A few guards were preparing to close off the gallows for the night. She was too late. Then she spotted him across the courtyard, overseeing the night's operations. After watching for a moment, Cullen finally looked and took notice of her. He crossed the courtyard towards her as soon as the other Templars where busy with their task. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out her chest as he reached her.

"What are you doing here?" Cullen couldn't hide his concern.

"Where is Bethany?" Kali knew there was no time to be subtle.

Cullen's shoulders dropped betraying his exhaustion, "if you're here, then you already know the answer. You need to get out of here," he pleaded with her. Kali gave him a look that said she wasn't leaving till she had an explanation. Cullen sighed, "please, Kaliana. I promise we can talk about this later, but you need to leave." He glanced over his shoulder to make sure the other Templars had not taken notice yet.

Knowing he was right, Kali pulled her cloak closer around her. "You know where to find me."

Standing outside Kali's door, Cullen was working up the courage to knock. It was the middle of the night and she was probably asleep, but it was now or never. He took a deep breath, raised his hand, and knocked softly. He waited silently, and was about to knock again when he heard the lock turn from the inside. The door opened slowly and Cullen saw half of Kali's face peering out at him. She said nothing, but opened the door and let him inside.

Locking the door behind him, Kali looked at Cullen await his explanation. Cullen had no idea where to begin, there was no good answer for this situation. He had done his duty, but the way Kali looked at him, he felt he had committed the greatest of transgressions. "I don't know what you want me to say," he admitted.

"Why," it was more of a command than a question. "Tell me why you took Bethany."

Cullen looked at her strangely, he had expected her to be upset, but not with him specifically. "What do you mean?" he asked trying to understand where this was coming from. "I was doing my job, doing what the Chantry demands of the Order. She is in the custody of the Templars, I only did as I was ordered."

"You are the Knight-Captain, you could have stopped it," Kali sound a bit desperate as if she were trying to find answers that weren't there.

"We both know there is nothing I could do. She is an apostate. At least now she can get the training she lacked to control her powers."

Kali's eyes burned into him as they never had before, "yes, she is an apostate, but she doesn't need to be locked away in a circle." Cullen could hear the anger in the shaking of her voice.

"The Chant demands…"

"I don't care what the Chant demands, it's not right."

Cullen stared at her, feeling as if the world beneath his feet had suddenly become unstable. Normally, such words would not hold as much sway over him, but when Kaliana spoke it seemed as if Andraste herself would heed her words. Everything he knew to be true had been overcast by a doubt infiltrating the foundation of his soul, and it scared him. He knew what she was saying at the very least was blasphemy, but somehow part of him felt she was right.

"What would you have me do? I cannot rewrite the Chant of Light, nor reform the Templar Order," he tried to reason with her.

Kali's eyes softened and she sighed. "I know," she relented, "I shouldn't be putting this all on you. I already lectured Garrett for the very same thing." Cullen couldn't hide his contempt at the mention of Garrett's name, but Kali continued. "I just wish there was something we could do," she sat down her head in her hands.

It was impossible not to notice how small she seemed now. Part of him marveled how such a little elf could speak with such passion and persuasion. It was only a year ago this woman was a soft-spoken mage of the Circle. Now it seemed she had found her voice and a direction, and Cullen prayed it would not lead her to trouble.

"I don't believe there is anything we can do to free Bethany," Cullen knelt before her, taking her hands in his, "and I know the situation for the mages here is not… ideal, but for now we have to trust it is for the best. Knight-Commander Meredith knows what she is doing. In the mean time we just have to do the best we can with what we have."

Cullen could tell she didn't quite buy into his advice, but she chose not to push the issue further. "What do we have?" Kali asked instead.

"I don't know, but I know that I can't keeping running from this, from you. I can't seem to figure out the chaos in my life, but you, in some twisted way, are the only thing that makes sense." He reached up and gently caressed her cheek, "I cannot give you everything I would like to, or a normal stable life."

Kali laughed, "nothing about my life now is normal or stable."

Cullen smiled, knowing she was right. Her life as an apostate was more likely to endanger him than he was to endanger her as a Templar. Right now that didn't seem to matter, all he knew was when he was around her everything felt right. There was nothing the Order or the Chantry could do to change that.

He stood up, and gently pulled Kali along with him. She folded into his arms as if she where made to be there. He felt the nagging guilt, doubt, and fear of surrounding world fade away. Instead a sense of warmth he had not experienced in years washed over him. Softly resting his cheek on the top of her head, he breathed in the familiar scent of her hair. The world could burn down around them right at that moment and he would not care.

Kali pulled back, but did not break the embrace. She looked up at him with her wide emerald eyes. Cullen brushed a few strands of her hair from her face. For a moment they didn't say anything, not wanting to break the silence. Instead, Cullen leaned in and caught her lips with his. She didn't pull away, instead she wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer still.

It felt as if no time had passed between them, that the previous year apart had never happened. Their kiss softly broke away, and Cullen became subtly aware of his surroundings again. He almost expected her to disappear like she did so often in his nightmares, but she didn't. She was real, and they were together.

"Will you stay with me?" Kali asked him, almost a little fearful. "Please don't walk out again."

His heart sank, the last he had been here he'd walked out without so much as a goodbye. Pulling her into another kiss, he answered her question. When they broke apart again he spoke, "I don't know what the future holds for us, but I promise that I will never leave you again."

They both knew he would have to leave before morning's light, but for now, they had each other.

Hello again!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

This is a major turing point in the story, as the second game going into a three (at least I think it's three) year break that it skips over. I'm deciding how/if I want to write about the next three (or whatever number it is) years of the story. I'm thinking snapshot for the next chapter, but I guess we'll see what works. If you guys are fine with that or with me just glossing over it like it did in the game let me know in a review.

Also, I wrote some saucy bits for Cullen and Kali... I couldn't decide if I wanted to post it or not. I'm rather new to the world of smut writing. Plus, I didn't want to catch readers unaware with such scenes. If you're interested in reading it let me know. I can post it here, send it to you, and I've also considered posting it on Archive of Our Own, which has a broader rating system.

Leave me a review and let me know what you guys think. Its really the only feedback I get.

RussianBear27