The next morning had come rather quickly, or so she thought. The moment Anders had left her side she immediately felt it and began her search blindly with an outstretched arm that patted the empty spot next to her. Next a pout of her lip began protruding and with a peak from her eyelids rising she looked behind her to see that her sensation of not feeling Anders there was true, and that he had left. "Dang mage." She whined with a small hint of a tease in her tone.
The rouge didn't really want to get up, but something inside her had pulled her up once she had finally came to a long stretch accompanied by a groan and lastly a swing of her legs off the edge of the bed. As she stood she trailed about the room picking up her belongings scattered about and pieced together everything until each layer had fallen down to her once nude frame and covered her once more. But before leaving rather quickly out the door she had rushed to any form of a mirror she could find in the hut in her groggy state and fixed her features lastly. "…Alrighty." She whispered to herself as she spun and twisted as strand of her crimson hair around her index. "Time to cause some havoc."
With that Leliana quickly neared the door and opened it rather quickly and right away before her, or more so ahead of her but still in sight, she saw Anders along with Izzy and Lasher. A rather bright smile smeared across her rosy lips, as she hadn't really had taken notice, yet to the barrier and the mages which had encircled around them to keep them there. As she walked out the door she closed it behind her to then trail up as closely to Anders as she could, seeing the barrier which was put up, she hadn't passed but she had tried to make it noticeable to that she was there.
"Miss me?" She joked lightly with a sway of her body to the left to take a better look at the pirate and knight. "I hope I didn't sleep in through all the fun… … What did you get yourself into this time Izzy?" She asked curiously with a pointing finger to the barrier.
Anders quickly reached out towards Leliana's fingers and laughed a little nervously before pulling her hands back into his own. "No touchy, now… I don't know what they've done to this spell."
"I tried to leave." Isabela blinked a couple of times and offered back her still worried look. "Leliana, tell Anders it's alright to release us. He knows we're not a threat here."
"To the Blight, I'm not!" Lasher scowled after struggling a few times ended up needing to rest briefly. "When I get out of here I swear he won't have legs to walk!"
"How is hurting 'me' going to help with the situation involving Tempest?" Anders asked with a big nervous smile back at him.
"It'll help me feel better." Lasher retorted.
Anders looked as though he would have responded once more but another guard from the outside rushed down the steps towards the barrier. He stopped short at seeing this and looked towards the others before speaking.
"They're going to execute a Grey Warden!" The peasant called out.
Soon an uproar began speaking to one another as the group started to look around. The only thing Anders could think at the time was Aragorn—since he was the only known Grey Warden (other than himself) around at the time. He waved his hand towards the other mages, signaling them to take Isabela and Lasher back to their rooms in order to lock them up for the time being. Anders didn't like the thought that he had to use force, but he was running out of options…
Leliana had looked rather curiously to her grasped upon hand from Anders and blinked a few times until lastly bringing her eyes to Anders. "Well your no fun." She joked. "Here I was hoping to get a jolting excitement moment." Next her attention was brought to Isabela and her pleading towards her. Clearly the pirate should have known she would do anything for her, well almost anything nowadays. But convincing Anders would take a lot of persuasion. That she wasn't sure if she even had enough under her belt to do. "He's kind of stubborn, you know that. I'll see what I can do though." She reassured with a single wink of her eye towards the pirate.
After hearing Lashers words of hurting Anders had brought a slight sly smile to her lips as she shook her head. "But if you break his legs then how will he ever be in control again in our alone time—" She began to question, though it seemed as if her joking questions would be unanswered as her hues and cranium shifted over her shoulder and she looked over to the rushed guard closing in on them.
It hadn't hit Leliana as quickly as she hoped when the guard had annocened that there was going to be an execution, let alone of a Grey Warden. But after a moment her heart stopped, as she processed that the only two known Wardens were of Aragorn and Anders. She tried to shake her head of any passing thoughts. It couldn't be true. Could it? Aragorn was one of the strongest men she knew, he couldn't easily by executed, let alone what for?
But after a moment of silence had come around them and she watched as the two friends of theirs were taken away and put back to their holding places she had turned her attention back to Anders. The fear in her face was prominent and shown clear as the day, even though she had tried to hide it with all her strength.
She raised a hand to her chest, as she clenched the area bundling a small amount of the fabric in the palm of her hand to still her racing heart from the fear swelling inside her core and causing her to be numb all over. "We… Need to go." She stated with as still words as one could in such a state. "I need to know if it's Aragorn... And know you'renot stopping me from going." She confirmed with a wag of her finger as she didn't even wait for Anders okay on the matter and began with haste towards the exit. There was little Anders could do to change Leliana's mind, and sadly even if he somehow kept her from going to the surface she would have eventually found her own way up herself with or without him, but she had wanted him by her side in such a moment as this.
Anders hadn't really said anything against the argument of allowing Leliana to venture off on her own—at least not this time. It almost seemed as if the mage didn't have an say over her at all, but Anders knew that she would have every right to se what was going on (in a situation as this) as he certainly would. So he followed in pursuit without a word.
Reaching the top of the surface, they headed towards the crowded center of Hightown, where the Cathedral once had stood. For at the moment, it was still a pile of rubble, now the building site was turning slowly into a main attraction for a public execution.
The platform itself was a large slab of solid stone, surrounded by a sea of villagers and townspeople to witness of what was to happen. Though on top was the man tied and currently stretched on a table. He was stripped of his armor with only his small-clothes for all to have seen. From the far left side, Naomi and Fenris were both being held back. While it took obvious magical restraints in holding them both away at the moment, it was still a struggle for the Starkhaven Templars to have done.
"You know this wrong!" Fenris shouted in his struggle to have broken free.
"As much of it as wrong to be harboring bloodmages under our very feet!" Sebastian called back from the opposite end of the stone slab. He rose up from his throne and raised a hand to calm the rioting crowd at the moment.
Naomi jerked forward but one of the templars holding her back reached down to the soft leathered connection of her armor and punched her side to calm her struggling. She grunted some and hung her head, staring down at the stone slab in her moment to try and regain a bit of her breathing to speak.
"My men—will hunt you down…!" She swore; feeling at the moment of her desperation since the only well equipped templars that followed her were slowly being over-run and locked away by Starkhaven's group. "Think about what you're doing. This a Grey Warden! You'll make this entire city war-zone!"
"It already is a war-zone, Knight Commander." Sebastian retorted and looked away towards the crowd. "Or should I say 'mage?' It is time for true justice! To see this city for what it is with clarity! To show you, and everyone within these stone walls that we will not tolerate chaos in what defines our true leaders!"
Leliana was relieved to find that Anders didn't argue with her on the matter. Seeing as how crazy it must have been up there on the surface right now if there was and execution going on. Then it was probably was one of the least places either of them needed to be at. But if it was true what the guard said, and Aragorn was going to be killed then she needed to stop it, somehow.
As they finally reached the surface Leliana had shifted her gaze from left to right and back again until her hues had dropped to the forefront, where she could of swore she heard cheers and shouting ahead. And with a point of her finger she darted off into the direction which she heard them.
As the duo had entered into the hordes of citizen's Leliana had tried to jump up multiple times to catch a better view. But all she could see was a small glimmer of male and then what seemed like the guards of starkhaven and others tied up. She looked back to Anders and parted her lips as she spoke out towards him. "I'm going to get a better look." With that she pushed and shoved her way through the crowd, until she was in the front of it all and was able to see the gruesome sight before her.
Aragorn not only declothed and tied up. But his once perfected chilsed chested was covered in his blood, of new and old crusting brown dried up blood that seemed to be fermenting there for possibly hours if not a day or so. His wounds were what most caught her attention, the gashes were as deep as a few inches. It looked as if the guards had went on a frenzy on his body and slashed him possibly hundreds of times, that it made her wonder how he was still breathing. Was he still breathing? She looked to his chest to see any kind of rise to it. And saw none, that she had shot her attention to the closet guard. "You're killing him!" She shouted as she felt her chest tighten, her chest being to pound and the swelling of tears forming in the sockets of her eyes.
"That's the point." He responded back with a devious smirk coming to pull at his lips as he drew back his arm that held the whip in hand and instead of turning it back to Aragorn his actions seemed to be drawn to Leliana "Now get back—"
"NO!" Aragorn managed to holler out towards the guard. Which had brought the guard to turn his attention back to the Warden and with his arm still drawn he threw his force towards him, and all that was heard was the cracking of the whip along with the excrugating pain which bellowed out of Aragorn's lips. Leliana closed her eyes afraid to see the sight, and the glistening of tears were all that could be seen streaming down her cheeks. As for Aragorn and this moment of pain, his head thrashed to the side, his back arched as much as it could extend as the felling of the sharp yet dulling blade slicing through his skin on top of cutting along older wounds had almost brought Aragorn to lose unconscious. The guard had trailed up closely enough to Aragorn that he used the end of whip to turn the males head towards him and questioned. "You know her, don't you?" Aragorn had said not a word, but instead shifted his gaze away from both the guard and Leliana. The Guard scoffed as he pulled back his armed hand once more. "Fine if you want to play that way—"
Leliana rushed closer to the guard and Aragorn or as closely as he would allow her as she shook her hands frantically. "Y-Ye-Yes he knows me…"
The guard smirked as he dropped his arm and stepped towards the rouge and grasped her by the fore arm and tossed her near Aragorn's side. "Then you get a front seat view."
Leliana hadn't paid much attention to the guards words, as her attention was now completely on Aragorn. She could no longer stop the streaming of tears as she was almost to afraid to touch him. Now that she was closer she could see he was bleed out of other Orpheus, his scalp, ears, nose, mouth. Even his body was trembling and it was far from cold, she knew his body was shutting down. But knowing of him, and his strength still gave her hope. If he held out this long then maybe since Anders was here they could save him?
"A-Aragorn?" She muttered, as she leaned in and brushed a hand through his ebony locks.
"Hey there… You gonna take me up on my offer?" He joked with chuckle which rasped into a bloodied cough.
Leliana had to think for a moment on his words, as she blinked a few times. "Oh, you mean me running away with you." She attempted to chuckle back. "I'm not sure how that would turn out with you being tied up and all." She admitted in a joking tone.
"Excuses." He muttered back. "You were always the committed one."
"And you were always the brave one." She replied.
"Leliana?" Aragorn began to question, in which brought Leliana to hum back a questionable 'hm' in return. "I'm sorry I ever left. If I could redo it I would. But you deserve someone who would be around longer. After all I was planning on going to the roads after all these quests, its better this way."
"How is it better!?" She exclaimed in a surprised tone of voice.
Aragorn smiled briefly as he felt his strength draining and just talking this much was bringing him to a more exhausted state. "Anders has a few more years on him. You're having his child. And you love him, and he you. As I will always love you. This right here is just a road block, we'll all be reunite again."
Anders couldn't get close enough to them in time, and he could hear Sebastian's orders to have had Aragorn killed quickly. The Starkhaven Templar raised his sword high; leaving Anders little time to think on his situation. He looked towards Naomi and Fenris and lifted his arms above the crowd. His magic focused on a spell to have restrained the Templar's around them –or at the very least have them startled enough to release them.
From his magic, fire shot from his hands and into the Templar's eyes. The men hollered as the scorching heat clouded over their helmets and bright orange flames flickered their way into the men's eyes. Though from there everything had simply happened way too fast to hardly even keep up with in order…
This had at least loosened Fenris and Naomi who quickly took to that advantage. Fenris's body was glowing quickly from the lyrium, and he put his quickly reacting body to use by physically fighting off the Templar's who dared approached them. He was sinking his arms in their chests and ripping out hearts and left and right to try and keep the area he and Naomi were at cleared enough for her own attacks.
"Anders?!" Sebastian looked towards the direction that the flames were coming from and he stood up from his chair of judgment. He pointed in Anders direction after spotting him in the crowd. "Kill the Grey Wardens! Kill them both!"
The crowd started to disperse in fear, pushing back Anders away from the stage. The executioner slammed the curved sickle into Aragorn's chest to pierce his heart. Fenris was climbing over men and throwing people out of his way in an attempt to get closer towards Leliana and Aragorn, but by the time he had reached there, it had already been too late. Naomi used her magic of ice, and sent the shatters of spikes sailing Sebastian. The freezing shards of ice moved like daggers, pinning Sebastian's royal clothes against the thrown he was standing in front of—which would have left him vulnerable for any death.
"Anders, run—for Maker's sake!" Naomi shouted when she saw the Starkhaven Templar's from around the bottom slab of concrete pressing through the crowd in their attempt to reach him.
Anders didn't see much of a choice that he had, other than to take Naomi's command. There were just too many people and the panic was too high for him to push through. So, he ended up turning away, trying to gain as many of the remaining Starkhaven Templar's as he could in his diversion. He wasn't certain if Naomi was going to help him in this moment, but he was going to pull a wager that she would try. That, and that Fenris would guard Leliana with his life as well…
The restrained Templars had only caught Leliana's attention seeing as Aragorn was not only capable of looking around that well but also was too weak to do so. But she could of sworn she noticed the magical abilities, that it brought the rouge straighten her stance, and look off to the hordes of civilians and in the muck she saw Anders. A tight swelling feeling filled her core that her arm had even retracted and wrapped around her gut in a nerve wrecking manner.
From the screeches of the falling Templars and on top of the hollering of innocents, running for cover had brought Leliana to then look over, and see Fenris and Naomi freed. All around the was turning into chaos, that when she happened to amazingly hear over all this Sebastian's voice of wanting to kill Anders next, a frantic look had come over her and she shook her hands in attempt to grab Sebastian's attention. "Sebastian, please stop this madness! Look at what you're doing!"
As she took a few steps away from Aragorn's tied form, and towards Sebastian is when she noticed Naomi frozen him in place, this of course stopped Leliana in her tracks and she glanced to Naomi, and gave a brief smile.
But from what filled her ears next had caused Leliana to hastily turn around and her expression which what was once partly relived turned to horror, as the mutilated cries of Aragorn echoed throughout the area and filled the crowds ears. "Aragorn!" She shouted in a cry as she stumbled in her turn around to run towards the Warden, and with an outstretched arm she had brushed her fingertips along the blade which pierced him. As she did this she saw one long rise of his chest, where it paused almost seemingly as if he was holding his breath, until it collapsed down to its final resting place. Leliana had to force herself from not falling to her knees as her nimble body seemed to be trembling like a leaf, as warm crystal clear beads streamed down her cheeks falling down to the cobblestone floor below.
From the corner of her peripheral vision she saw the guard which stuck him, and from behind her she felt the incoming of a soul approaching her. Without a warning Leliana shifted around and when she had done so she saw Fenris, knowing now he wasn't an enemy drawing near, and with this in mind she reached to his side pocket and grabbed two throwing knives. One which she was quick in throwing towards the guard that happened to be turning away as she did so, and the blade stuck right to his jugular vein. With the other dagger in hand she trailed towards Aragorn's abused body and cut away at his bindings to at least free him.
From there, and seeing as he could no longer feel a single thing any longer she grabbed the blade which stuck out him and yanked it out in one quick pull upwards. She attempted to hide her features as she turned around to face possibly both Fenris, and Sebastian. Her emerald hues almost seemed fixated upon the tip of the blade which was drenched in Aragorn's blood. It wasn't until she took an inhale in through her nostrils and released it from her lips that she begun to pace toward Sebastian, and with the blade which stuck down Aragorn, Sebastian's guard's blade. She drew a guide line with the Warden's blood along the rouges neck. "This is for Aragorn and for the mages which you hate." She muttered, but clearly loud enough to pass through the males ears as she gazed within his cold ones and swung the blade across the males neck slicing through and through.
With a turn of her shoulder, Leliana dropped the blade to Sebastian's fallen body, and trailed back to Fenris and seeing as how she didn't use his other blade she attempted to hand it towards the elf, but her emerald set of hues seemed glued to Aragorn's lifeless body. "Once this madness is over, we should see he gets to Alistair." As she sighed she shifted her gaze away and began her search for Anders, even though Naomi had told him to run, she still didn't catch the words in the action. "I hope Anders is alright… If I were to lose him as well… I-I…" She paused and shook her head momentarily; knowing from all these events which had happened of course brought her to be more emotional and worryful. But not to worry was unlike her, but clearly this was neither the time nor place for such things. "We need to find him Fenris."
Fenris only had a brief glance from his side to have seen a flash of blonde hair run past him. He turned towards the direction to have seen the backside of the Knight Commander's armor shining back at him upon the moment his hand retracted from ripping out a Starkhaven Templar's heart. His clawed hands clutched at it, squeezing it shut when he called out for the stubborn woman rushing off on her own.
"Knight Commander!" He called the title, for multiple reasons at this point.
However, it seemed Naomi didn't hear, or maybe she didn't listen. Her metal armor clanked in loud movements and with every step she took the platform shook beneath her. She leaped straight into the crowd with no warning to the panic below her. Pushing and shoving; not just for her benefit but also to keep the flying arrows from hitting others. If Naomi had used magic, she would have continued to give away her position and never shake off the Starkhaven group.
Sebastian was seeing everything slip from his fingers yet again. It was a disaster just as it was when the Chantry had fallen. He didn't even have the gift of final words since the only sentence that remained in his ears was a woman's strong urge for vengeance. Vengeance, or was it justice? Either way the demand was clarified and it was Sebastian's eyes of anger and tortured sorrow that remained to stare back Leliana. This was done so at least until the final cut of her blade slicing across his throat. He couldn't move his arms due to the ice shards pinning him down. However, Sebastian did struggle and gargled a little over the blood curdling in his throat before his head drooped in his life's defeat.
When Fenris had taken care of the last Starkhaven templar, he noticed Leliana walking back towards him. He frowned at Aragorn's body, feeling just as responsible for not reaching the man in time. Though there was little time to dwell on the remorse, it was still there. His eyes glanced down to the weapon that Leliana was attempting to hand to him and paused a moment at his blood-covered gauntlets before retracting them briefly and finally cradling the weapon back into his possession. He really shouldn't allow his blood-rage and panic to overwhelm him this often….
"We'll find him." The elf reassured, since giving words of remorse was never really his strong suit; or so he had felt.
Besides, the time for such talk was slipping from them, and there were still more troubling priorities to attend to. Fenris motioned with his hand some in order to guide her away from the current scene, at least. The sooner she had gotten away from it, the better. The city guards could handle the body-count for the moment. So the hunt to find Anders and Naomi was sprung upon them.
Anders was still running with a handful of Starkhaven templars still chasing after him. The arrows the were shooting into his back were piercing closer and closer through into his feathered robes. There was the idle thought of why they have yet to really aim for his head—until the steeled tip of one whizzed past his hair, causing his head to duck. He couldn't turn around and use his magic in the middle of the streets, where other people were running in a panic, so Anders darted for an alley to lead them away.
When the templars had followed after him, that was when the mage turned around in the clearing. His hands were covered with the magic of fire and spiritual energy surging around and through him. The minute he saw the helmets of templars, Anders struck his attack against them. The ambush had lasted quicker than he expected due to a surprised attack from behind the templars' backs.
He looked to see the Champion of Kirkwall tucking away a large and unnecessary warrior's blade behind her proper back's holster. It wasn't the original one that she normally carried, so Anders could only assume that she had picked it up off from one of the dead guards or templars. He never understood why she relied more of such power into a weapon. It would be her downfall…
"Hawke." He addressed with his chin held high.
Anders normally would have reached for his staff that rested behind him, but he didn't want to give away anything to alarm her about. In fact, for the brief moment, even his magic from his hands had died down. Anders started to walk towards her—at least until the delayed pain from the arrows in his back began to remind him of where the objects were.
"Still a thorn in my side, I see… When I said 'run,' I figured you would have escaped them or killed them by now." Naomi responded quickly on the defensive in her attempt to hide what relief she secretly had to see him alive. However, she hesitated and glanced down at the dying cracks from Anders's hands. "Is this Anders I am currently addressing, or possibly the demon?"
"You know damn well—i-ah!" He winced and quickly quieted once pain became a factor to his dulled attention. Anders began to double-over towards the ground.
"Anders!" She called to him and quickly her footsteps raced to catch him from hitting the floor.
From the instant of seeing him hurt, caused from an injury she didn't commit, the harsh look in her expression had softened with concern. He fell into the bulkiness of Naomi's armor; close to contact and yet still not able to feel the warmth of her heart. She was caged within that armor and obviously preferred that protection. She looked down at the arrows sticking from his back and lightly reached up to one of the wooden end before taking a firm grasp of them.
"They don't look deep. Hold your breath." She warned and then quickly moved through each one to pluck them away.
Anders hollered from the pain, of course; his body arched and tensed to prepare himself for the rest of her healing treatment. It was harsh, but even he knew of it to be necessary.
"Damn them! Damn them all!" Anders shouted to the passing shudders of the passing pain. "Every templar—every last one of them!"
Under any normal conversation, Naomi would have been quickly snap back at him; or even tease him of 'overreacting,' but this was clearly not the time for it. There was a death of a Grey Warden holding its fault over the Starkhaven templars, and with Anders currently shaking from recently given injuries, she had chosen to remain silent. She didn't know Aragorn beyond his title, but he deserved a higher respect and recognition than of what Kirkwall had given him. Sebastian's actions were clearly unforgivable beyond any measure, and if the Vael family would prepare themselves for a war because of all of this, Naomi would have felt forced to carry out a defense against it.
"Sebastian is dead by the Nightingale's hand." She announced firmly and rested her right hand lightly over Anders's injuries to infuse a healing spell into him. "I don't know if that's anything for you to take comfort in, but what's done is done."
"Nightingale—Leliana…" He breathed for the moment, relaxing a little once he felt his strength returning. He pulled back slightly and looked back at the blonde woman who almost firmly started hold him at an arm's length. "…Why are you…? ….What are your plans to this?"
Naomi paused for a moment and closed her eyes. She took in a deep breath and released him before turning away. "I'm going to do what I've sworn to have always done. Maintain the peace."
"There is no peace… There never will be peace. Not for Kirkwall—not for any corner of Thedas, Hawke! Did you not just see what happened?" Anders recoiled and quickly turned his venom loose in his scowling at her. He marched around her to cut Naomi's departure away. "Hawke! A Grey Warden was killed by a nation's King, estranged from his own lands-!"
"Yes, I know perfectly well what's to come from that!" Naomi raised her voice briefly at him and folded her arms. Her eyes narrowed in a deadlock against his own once her tone lowered into a slightly quieter volume. "King Alistair will have every right to take this as a personal threat just as much as the Vael family will for the deaths here..."
She sighed and shook her head as she started to walk past him; bracing her hand against his chest to push him out of her way in her continued speech. "Knowing Starkhaven's close relationship to Orlais, I can imagine a Templar entourage at the front gates of Kirkwall."
"Join me." Anders demanded and spun on his heel fast enough to snatch her wrist. He tugged her arm, even after her jolted reaction to try and break free from him. The surprised look in her eyes only prodded him to continue in his plea. "Andraste's flaming knickers, Hawke! Join me! You've fought for the Templars; just this once fight for the cause you meant to!"
Naomi hesitated before at last jerking her arm free from him. Why she hadn't used any spells against him to push him away was even beyond her own knowledge at this point. All the same, it still raised a panic in her voice momentarily. "You—You didn't… plan for this… to happen, did you?"
"No!" He quickly answered, but Anders did stop himself in a moment of truthful revelations. Even the lost expression on his face could have given himself away at that instant. Anders didn't want Aragorn's death no more than he wanted Naomi's, but if something wasn't done…
"You've gone mad... Know this clearly; I am not—nor ever will be—killing Templars for your doomed cause!" Naomi continued and her voice began to slowly rise into anger once more. Her back stiffened and she tilted her wrist towards the shadows of the alley once she scowled at him again. "I plan to settle this matter as peacefully as I possibly can before taking any drastic measures. So, for the last blighted time: Go! Take your bloody templar-mage war out of Kirkwall. This city has been through enough!"
Leliana's hues had never left Aragorn's abused body. She was most likely still in shock, seeing him laying there, dead. A part of her believed he would just pop up and act as if nothing had happened. Sure he was human and mortal, but she never thought she would be around to see his body be put through such harsh trails. Let alone by the Starkhaven's hands, ones who she grew to know, and then Sebastian, one who she grew to slightly know by stories, yet she was one who took his life, thanks to the help of Naomi keeping him in place. Still the rouge was even frightened to think what was to come of her now, if word got out she was the one that slit his throat.
Thinking of this brought the rouge to shift her attention back at Sebastian and blink a few times. Seeing him dead also was a reality hitter as well. If it wasn't for Fenris' reassuring words spoken to her she possibly wouldn't have been brought back to glance over to the elf but she hadn't said a word right away.
Her eyes held no more tears, as the burning sensation of it had subsided. All that reminisced was the puffy redness that was left behind around her sockets. She had nodded her head lasly towards Fenris, as she scrunched up her nose and took a quick breath in through her nostrils to clear her airway and throat.
"One thing though." She whispered with a wave of a single finger towards Fenris as she stepped over towards the Wardens lifeless body. From there she began working at each of his wrists and ankles, unbinding him. It was the least they could do, since she knew it was humiliating enough for him and anyone called a Warden to have him displayed in such.
"Let's go." She confirmed as she dropped her hands to her side and turned back around to face the elf. "We shouldn't dwell here any longer I doubt Kirkwall people will bother his body." She said, in a reassuring tone, more-so for herself than the elf. She had to lighten at least one aspect of this city, and she hoped they wouldn't disappoint with this one hope.
Leliana had allowed Fenris to lead the way. Her emerald hues had mostly kept to the ground fixated onto the lines and carvings into each slab of stone placed down. But after sometime, Leliana had glanced up and to the corner of her sockets she saw what seemed like Anders, and the Champion Naomi. She halted quickly in her pace as she reached out towards Fenris in a tap on his shoulder and with her other free hand she pointed in the direction of which the two stood. "There they are." She whispered with a step towards the two in cautious manner.
As she stepped through the fallen Templar's and drew closer all what caught her ears was Naomi's final words to Anders. Of course a part of her was 'partly' on Naomi's side due to after all the current events which occurred, who would want more fighting after seeing what all happened today. But still she even wanted Justice for Aragorn's sake, even if he wouldn't want her to fight for him, she still couldn't fight the urge to want to take away from the Templar's what they had taken not only from her but so many.
Still their bickering wasn't her place and she had stilled herself a few good feet away from the two as she wrapped her arms around her abdomen as a forced smile came to her lips as she cleared her throat in attempt to catch the duos attention. "Anders?" She called out in a soft whisper. "Are you alright...?" She asked curiously with a quick glance around the alley filled with Templar's.
"Leliana… Oh, Leliana." Anders swallowed hard at the words when he saw her standing there.
The rogue remained cautious with a smile still to grace her face. She was trying too hard and too soon in order to stay positive, from what he saw. He walked towards her; not even taking the slightest hint of a notion to what she had questioned. Worrying her or upsetting her anymore over his health right then wouldn't have been the wisest thing to have done.
He walked towards her and held her in his arms. He was doing his best to comfort her, while keeping a slight paranoid eye on the lookout for anything Fenris or Naomi would try against him. After all, in that crucial moment Anders was clearly vulnerable. Though for some lucky reason, neither Fenris nor Naomi moved into any provoking actions. The Knight Commander lowered her arm down and looked to Fenris, who merely shuffled near to her side instead.
"The City Guard seems a bit lost now." The elf announced, more-so towards Naomi for her benefit than the others. "But I did manage to see Aveline and Donnic in a hurry to straighten out the confusion-"
"Maker..." Naomi seemed to have almost complained, but stopped herself quickly. She paused for the moment and then turned towards Fenris, who almost seemed to have awaited orders. "At least the streets will be cleared. Let's see to it this doesn't happen again."
"Ever." Fenris added in his recalling of previous shame. He in his moment to give Leliana a departing nod and started to turn away to lead Naomi away from the area.
"As for you two, I think – for the moment, it would be wise for you to remain back in hiding somewhere." Naomi started to lightly hint towards Leliana and Anders.
It was hardly a suggestion that needed to be said, but because it was mentioned it revealed enough from her that she was remorseful or concerned over everyone within the recent events. If she wasn't, she would have had the both of them arrested on the spot—or worse in some twisted fashion to have somehow sided with Sebastian earlier. However, it was rather clear to Anders by then that Naomi had a weakness, and it was "peace;" something of which he believed to have been manipulating from her for some time until now.
"We will not hide any longer." Anders retorted, though kept at least one protective arm around Leliana's shoulder. He raised his opposing arm in her direction and carefully the cracks along his sking began to light up.
"I don't care for your words, Anders. Only for your actions of staying out of this city and out of my sight." Naomi had barely enough time to retort before she felt a sudden spiritual's magic push her.
There wasn't even enough time for her to have shouted or scowled when her metal armor crashed against the stone slab of a nearby wall. The sudden action and commotion immediately shifted Fenris to return to the Knight Commander, but before he could step close enough to see if she was alright, Anders shifted his arm towards Fenris's direction for another spell. He hollered for Naomi's name but it quickly exchanged into a grunt the minute the elf's body collided into the opposite wall. Gravity pulled him down and caused Fenris to slide to the cobbled stones below him.
"A-A-Anders!" Naomi started to scowl his name as if it were a curse word. She squirmed against the wall in her attempt to turn around, but something red began to surround her body. It was heavy, constricting her movement and eventually stilled her efforts completely.
"I have tried reason and begging too many times." Anders proclaimed before briefly shifting his eyes towards the source of the new magic walking towards them. "You leave me little choice for any other option, Hawke."
Naomi started to laugh a darkened chuckle that seemed to have promised a growing hate for the other mage. "Oh, I swear—"
"I knew I should have killed you the moment I laid eyes on you." Fenris seethed and started to reach for his smaller knife.
However, a red swirling aura began to surround him just the same and a heavy weight was instantly forced against. It didn't seem to have grasped into the elf's mind as quickly as it probably should normally have, of what it was. Perhaps that was because he was use to seeing only a particular practice of magic from Anders. Though it all because clear when the sight of Alexander came strolling down the alley. The tall man's feet stepped on the Starkhaven Templar's chest-plates in a purpose to attempt at crushing each corpses' bodies inward from just his weight alone.
"A Tevinter?" Naomi started to question from her growing shock.
"He's a bloodmage Magister-!" Fenris was quick to scowl, knowing who Alexander was—far more than she.
"Traitors!" Naomi's voice harshly scowled from her struggling, but there was little one could do against a bloodmage. Each spell of immobilization –or rather "puppet slave" – did have it's given time limit, and since she was not prepared for it the only solution against this surprised attack was to wait it out.
"Traitors?" Alexander asked at the word in surprise and started to laugh softly once he walked towards her. "Why, my dear, one would have to assume correctly that both parties were on the same side first before such an accusation, don't you think? So, then… This is the Champion of Kirkwall."
"Keep talking out your ass." Naomi jerked at her limbs away from the wall; but after a moment of struggling, she paused to catch her breath. She turned quickly towards him and snarled even worse than from any look she had ever given to Anders or Justice before bestowing to this stranger. "The minute I'm free I'll help in shoving your head to where it belongs."
Alexander merely smiled briefly to her. He raised his hand and briskly slapped her across the face. From the force and the echo it gave, caused Naomi to turn her head. Though she couldn't fight against him currently, she still didn't give any satisfaction of a scream or a yelp. Dissatisfied, Alexander lifted his available left hand to grasp her chin and force her to look back at him.
"Stop it!" Fenris demanded and tried to struggle, but still couldn't get free.
"You see? " He spoke to her in a responsively low tone. "That's the kind of ignorant; barbaric racism that'll get a pretty little harlot like you in big trouble with other Tevinters, Champion. Who are you to speak of such filth to me? A mage who hates mages…? Hah! You're just a disgrace to your own kind. You're so sickening that your existence doesn't even make sense. If you really want to do the Templars such big favors then just join the tranquil wagon?"
"And let my death be a simultaneous gain for people like you?" She questioned and quickly spat near his eyes, causing Alexander to wince and slowly rub his face clean.
"Alexander, you're not to hurt her." Anders spoke rather firmly once he felt that he couldn't take the display any more.
Leliana had blinked a few times the moment her name was spoken out through Anders lips, causing the rouge to glance up from her dragging feet and set her optics on the male mage. She smiled briefly as her arm reached up towards Anders in a gentle hold as his arm wrapped around her. As she had done this her fingers brushed across his back feeling the tears in his robes, that it brought Leliana to lean back slightly as her digits worked at one hole in his clothing until her fingers met his skin underneath. Her eyes widened as she pulled back quickly and placed her free hand on his chest and dropped her hand behind him on his hip. "Anders you're hurt." She said with a concerned yet shocked tone. But as she pulled her arm from behind him and looked down to her hand and saw no blood on her fingertips, brought a sigh of relief to fall across her as she shook her head and stepped back in towards the mage as her arm re-wrapped around him and her temple rested on his chest.
Leliana knew she shouldn't have worried herself so much. Seeing as how much they all went through, not only her. And she was thankful to see Anders wounds healed, by Naomi, she wasn't sure. But she had a large assumption it was her. Since she doubted highly that some random person came along and healed him and then left among this chaos.
As the moments passed Leliana glanced up to both Fenris and Naomi in their departure, and smiled to give a quick nod of her head. She had to admit she was grateful she wouldn't have to see another cell again, at least anytime soon. That she had begun giving a slight push to Anders chest in hopes to make their leave even quicker. But from his tightened grasp around her shoulder and then his harsh words to Hawke and Fenris brought the rouge to halt, and glance up to the mage in his sudden, unstoppable actions.
"A-Anders!" She called out in a reach out for his arm to direct the magical abilities to be pushed elsewhere beside in the direction of the other two. "What are you doing, there letting us go, there's been enough fighting for one day." She pleaded, in which seemed useless and only passing through his ears.
Her vision was shot from one direction to the next, watching in dismay as she was useless to stop this on so many levels. That all she could do was withdraw herself from Anders hold. No matter how little she knew of Hawke, and how much she knew Fenris and Anders despised one another. She wasn't going to sit by and just watch as Anders tossed the woman he once called lover, and her comrade. That she stood herself straight in front of the mage, as a barricade of from the other two behind her. "You need to stop."
From the crunching sound was the only thing to bring Leliana to take her glance away from Anders and look in the direction of which she heard the noise. Her emerald hues fixated upon the figure that walked up on them, that made her believe it was another Templar, thus bringing her to stand back to Anders side once more.
As Naomi's words filled her ears, Leliana had leaned in to take a better glace. And as quickly as she drew in she slunked back and sighed. "Alexander." She whispered with a pinch to her brow, shaking her head in shock to even see him. She was almost tempted to ask what he was doing here, but from Naomi's unexpected traitors comment brought the rouge to dart her eyes back up to the action.
Leliana winched the moment the slapping noise echoed though the alleyway. A part of her wanted to pick up and fallen Templars helmet and slam it in Alexander's head. But on so many levels Leliana hadn't done this. Seeing as how her last confrontation with Alexander wasn't all pleasant as she wished.
"Only cowards hit women." She began to state out with a shift her head to the side as she crossed her arms over her chest and shifted her posture away from the group.
Quickly Leliana's cranium shifted back over her shoulder as Anders commented lastly to Alexander. Not only a sigh of relief passed her lips, but also a turn towards him as she stepped towards the mage. "Does that mean you're going to let them go? Please tell me you're going to let them go…?"
Alexander glanced from over his shoulder slightly towards Leliana once her words had been directed at him. Though when he spoke, his own words in return were meant for Anders. "Your woman is speaking out of turn again, Serrah. It was my understanding she was to remain below ground."
"We've had a few wrenches in the works lately." Anders answered and looked towards Leliana for the moment. "Please don't stand in my way again, love. My path has been firm since the beginning. It shall not falter."
"Are you going to listen to this repetitive crap? He's betrayed Naomi's trust; he'll betray yours too!" Fenris scowled from the other side as he continued to struggle in his restraints.
"Leliana, if I have ever needed your devotion more, now would be the time." Anders retorted, though in a midst of ignoring Fenris's obvious scowling. "You have sworn an oath of love and faith to me; I am begging you to keep it."
Alexander boasted a little as he turned on his heel towards Fenris. "I can just collect what's owed to me, from our prior arrangement, and let you two lovebirds work this out on your own. If you don't mind… I do have a city to conquer."
Anders rolled his eyes briefly upon receiving a glance of Alexander walking by. "Yes, take him. Storm the troops through the Circle but steer clear of the Viscount's Keep."
"As you wish." Alexander smiled brightly and reached for the magical restraining chains strapped to his belt loop. It took him no time in tying up Fenris since he wasn't able to much against the spell coursing over him in the first place. "Come long, now. You've played with the nice Ferelden's long enough."
Leliana glared in the direction of Alexander as she'd turned her gaze away from him for the meantime. Knowing if she were to still look at him she would possibly attempt to hurt this man no matter how more powerful he may have been. "Well I know I didn't miss your cherry face." She muttered with a soft scoff under her breath.
With Anders spoken words Leliana glanced up him as her head was somewhat still slunkened. She didn't want Fenris nor Naomi in any danger, and knowing how Alexander handled things had made her wonder what he would possibly do with whomever he took. So instead of speaking another word she nodded her head a single nod to give Anders go ahead, even though it was clear he would have done what he set out to do anyways with or without her approval.
From behind she heard Fenris and flinched some, to hide this she extended an arm up and began to carsses the back of her nape and allow a small sigh pass her lips. "Thank you for your concern Fenris. But I'll be alright." She responded back, with a slight smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she expected a lash back from the elf.
After her steady look in the direction of Fenris was shifted back to Anders, she had smiled warmly to him as she reached out towards his hands in a firm grasp. "Alright." She began in a soft whisper as she leaned in. "I won't stand in the way anymore. Just don't hurt them?" She began to ask in an uncertain tone. "I mean they helped us after all. Its only right to return the favor."
Looking back over, and with a turn of her heel she stepped in the direction of where Anders went. Her emerald hues went to Alexander as he tended to restraining Fenris. As quickly as her eyes went to the elf's wrists, they retreated. Thinking deep down inside her if she didn't see this, then it wasn't happening, or hopefully the memory wouldn't stick as long.
"A city to conquer?" She began to question right after Alexander as her orbs shifted towards Anders. But it seemed her question was unanswered at least for the moment, but this hadn't stopped her in pursuing Anders in a grasp to his forearm.
"Is this what you weren't telling me when I asked what you were doing?" Leliana asked with a lean in. "All along you've had this planned?"
Anders looked towards Leliana while Alexander had fastened the restraints on the elf. The blonde mage reached behind his back for his staff and held it in his left hand for the time being.
"No." He answered and glanced down towards the pebbled ground. "But this is the start of it… My plan is to force Thedas to assimilate the society of mages freely within their lands—this much you already knew. My methods; however, are of everything you would stand against, and I didn't tell you because I knew how you would react. I don't expect you to forgive anything that I do any more or less of understanding it. All I wanted was for you to wait for me until it was all over."
"Typical. A mage using others as a doormat—" Fenris scoffed just before Alexander kneed him in his calves to cause Fenris to buckle a little before walking forward.
Though by then the blood-spell had worn off and Naomi found her body to move freely once more. She opened the palms of her hands and in response a large ice shard spell was sent in Alexander's direction. Anders had seen it coming across his way—of course, since he and Leliana would have been able to view the action plainly—and lifted his staff to point at the ice shard. Fire emitted from his staff, which quickly melted the ice into a large puddle of water on the ground.
Fenris quickly started to jerk at his chains and attempted to punch at Alexander in order to have been free. Though this fight hadn't lasted long since Alexander did have the easier flexibility to fight back and he proceeded to soon drag the captured elf away. When Naomi's hands started to spark with elemental powers of electricity, Anders had struck the ground with his staff. The Gilf of Paralysis appeared under Naomi's feet and froze her in place once this time. It wasn't the spell of the "blood-slave/puppet" but it was still just as annoying in it's curse of immobilization.
"And you—" Anders frowned towards Naomi and tightened his grip on his staff. "You dare to settle the cries of Freedom from your people with a bitter answer of Complacency."
"I cleaned up your mess!" Naomi scowled just as fiercely back at him. "Open your damn eyes, Anders! You're no better than the Qunari if you do this."
Anders stepped towards her quietly. He reached up and lightly caressed her cheek for the moment; feeling the odd familiar warmth he had for her so long ago. Though such a feeling brought with it memories and worse things that left a bad taste in his mouth, and Naomi's angered glare never shifted from his in return.
"The only thing the Qunari and I have in common right now is our choice of using force when our backs are to the wall." He responded almost in a drifting tone; nearly as if his gaze was for the moment lost in her eyes. "You have been sad and angry with yourself for too long. Such a beautiful soul twisted and marred by hatred for your own kind, and letting the free world fester your thoughts. Of all the people I have met in Kirkwall, your approval had always seemed to be what mattered to me the most. Yet, there is nothing in my nature or your own to prevent how deeply I will continue to disappoint you."
He lowered his hand from her and stepped back. Turning towards the arches of the Viscount's Keep, Anders's staff began to glow a bright yellow ray. The energy shot out like a beacon to the stone building, and in a mimicked nightmare from what was seen done to the Chantry, the Viscount's Keep began to shake and crumble in between an explosion. A mushroom cloud started to form around the building and chunks of stone from its structure began to fall.
Naomi looked at the building in horror as she saw it crumbling to its defeat. She paled and her body shook with an increase of fear. Naomi couldn't take the sight of it. She had seen the Chantry fall once before; she couldn't see another structure filled with innocent people inside- turn to dust yet again. The only thing Anders seemed to see when he blew up buildings, was of what the building represented. Though to Naomi, it was always the lives he took with that cost.
"No… No! Aveline—Donic—Maker! No!" She cried and felt her knees buckling from underneath herself. The only thing keeping her up at that moment from then onward was the spell steadily keeping her limbs in place.
After Anders explained things further to Leliana she had sighed. A part of her wanted to know more of what he planned on doing. But if Anders knew what he was doing would upset her, then that small part of her really didn't want to know what was going to come next. But it was too late now to think of such things, seeing as how she was out here to see it all unfold before her eyes.
She could have taken Fenris' advice and just left, but to leave after their relationship she had grown consisting with the ups and downs with Anders, just seemed a bit senseless to leave. But she knew in the long run she would get flak from others for staying by his side. But in the end it was worth it, at least to her.
Leliana glanced to Fenris in his interrupted sentence and flinched as he was slouched over. "Do you have to be so rough?" She questioned towards Alexander with a shake of her head, after all he did have him in restraints now.
Before Alexander had the chance to departure Leliana raised a hand up to catch his attention. Since she had really wanted someone to tend to Aragorn's body, and put it in safe keeping before sending it to Alistair, before Kirkwall-ians got to it. But from Naomi's sudden movements, her attention was brought to the mage and her casted spell to Alexander. Which had brought Leliana to quickly drop her arm in hopes that Naomi could succeed at this task where she couldn't. Clearly Leliana could find someone else to do her task if he'd fallen. But when Anders offensive attack occurred it brought Leliana to almost pout. And think to herself 'so close'.
Leliana shifted her gaze back to Fenris and Alexander and their short lived brawl. "Hey do something with the commanders body when you go out there, and by do something I mean put it somewhere safe." She called out towards Alexander with a waved hand.
After a moment Leliana turned to look to Naomi and Anders. The rouge stood there watching the argument and nothing more. That it happened to make the rouge to take a few steps to the side and lean against the alleyways wall. She could have easily defended Anders in her accusations of him being as the Qunari, but she wasn't about to get in the middle of the two.
"Let me know when two are finished—" She began to state, but from the sudden trembling emitting from under her feet had caused Leliana to shift her posture and glance about her surroundings. It wasn't until the light filled the skies that Leliana glanced up to it. Her eyes had widened and just as Naomi but not as expressing, Leliana was just as shocked herself. She was never in Kirkwall the first time the Chantry was blown to pieces, so to see a building before her from the same city light up like a torch and fall apart into a million pieces was a sight she never thought she'd experience. And for Naomi to experience it twice was practically torture.
"Anders…" She began to whisper as she reached out for anything to grasp onto and use as a leaning prop as her eyes shifted down along with her cranium to glance towards the mage. "Did you just do what I think you did?" She questioned, unsure to be at least slightly happy since she knew that was where some of the Templars resided, if for a short time in the day. And even she was starting to despise Templars to a point.
Lastly her eyes shifted over towards Naomi as she spoke of Aveline. That was the second time she had heard that name this day, and it sounded so familiar. "Aveline as in Lothering, Ferelden Aveline?" She questioned but then shook her head to show she didn't need to answer. "If it helps at all I think I remember Fenris speaking of her and the other you call Donic out and about the city."
Naomi sobbed out loud after hearing Leliana's words. Although the action wasn't entirely clear if it was from a moment of mild relief or still a display of shock. The spell underneath her feet began to fade away and Naomi's body suddenly fell hard against the ground. She felt heavy, and for the first time in a long while, weak to hardly even move. So many people had relied on her and believed that she could protect them, and in one foul swoop (xD) Anders shattered their hopes and crushed their bodies.
"…That changes nothing…" She spoke quietly and clenched the pebbles and sand underneath her fingers. "Most of these people don't even know why they are being slaughtered, and you brand your butchery like it's some sort of prize. How many more innocents will pave your paths from the crossfire?"
"As many as it takes!" Anders quickly snapped back at her and aimed his staff down in her direction. "It didn't have to be this way. You should have joined me-"
"I'd die first! Before you close your eyes to sleep, or awaken from a dream, do you even see the faces of those that you've killed? Because, I do." Naomi questioned quickly to avoid any more of Anders's accusations. She braced her hands against the ground upon standing up and looking at him. Her tears streamed down her face and stained her cheeks. "It's a sickness. The faces of the innocent and the bewildered, staring and accusing to the point that my eyesight is not clear and food has no taste…"
"Then you are already dead." Anders's eyes shifted slightly towards the Gallows for the moment and then back towards Naomi, watching as her strength seemed to rise like a phoenix. Anger and bitterness seemed lap and lick around her form like the fires of the Fade. "Go to your people and prepare them, Hawke. This war will not be pushed aside anymore."
She closed her eyes, feeling of what was left of her heart seep with poisonous hate. Giving a slight nod to finally acknowledge Anders's fight, Naomi moved past them and left. Anders shook his head some and then looked back to Leliana. He reached down and pulled her close to an embrace.
"First thing's first… We'll collect Aragorn's body –hopefully before the City Guard or someone else draws any attention to him—and move him back down into the Special Zone to prepare for his burial." He reassured her. "I'm sure that the Tevinters can handle their own for the first half of the battle."
Leliana stepped a pace back as Naomi's cries began to fill her ears. She wasn't all completely sure how further she'd act on this seeing as how this place crumble before her every eyes. It wasn't only a place she lived but her home. She knew if her home was being taken apart, building by building she would be a total mess as well. Which made it even more difficult to try and figure out a way to console her. That all that seemed to be emitting from her lips was a nervous yet uncertain chuckle pass her lips as she reached back with a bent arm and caressed the back of her scalp when Naomi's words were given to her. "I'm sorr-" She began to state in a remorseful tone, which had been suddenly cut short the moment Anders next reply was heard.
Leliana turned her cranium to the side, as she dropped her hand from her nape and gave a sudden smack with the back of her hand to Anders gut. She would have added a 'be nice' in the middle of the action, but it seem unnecessary at this point seeing as how Naomi was quick in her lashing back out.
Lastly all Leliana did was stay silent through the argument between both Naomi and Anders. Maybe just a sigh had passed her lips, but this was all that was heard out of her the whole time. Until she began to watch the Champion take her leave.
As it was just the two of them once more Leliana had glanced up to Anders in a questionable manner, and then back in the direction of which Naomi left, that she began to point to where Naomi headed off too. "Are you sure about this?" She began to question with a curious tone peeking in her tone. "I mean, fight Naomi, the great fearless Champion... I don't think it will bring you any good karma."
She began to shake her head as her first two digits rubbed across her brow in a repeated movement until she had glanced back up, but through her digits and to Anders. "Not that I am against this war. I rather see some Templar's fall then Mages... But if Naomi does fall won't that affect you even in the slightest?" She asked, as her hand fell to her hip and her brow quirked in curiosity. Through her silence she thought further, and as she did the emotions of Aragorn's death radiated through her once more."I never thought." She started with a short pause. "...Aragorn would die, and it would affect me as it did. I just don't want you to go through what I had and have to."
"It's wrong enough that you haven't been given your chance to truly mourn the loss…" Anders answered and looked down the alleyway. "I can't stop what's already been put into motion here in the city, but perhaps I can accelerate forward enough to give you that moment of peace."
He turned and started to lead away, even though his thoughts of Naomi were haunting him due to Leliana's questioning from before. They tended to echo in his mind and he eventually spoke to answer even himself for the moment. "Naomi has been dead to me for a long time, Leliana. Her actions constantly have proven that she is no ally of mine or to my cause. The only feeling I have for her is anguish, and I intend to stop it."
Upon reaching the place where Aragorn's body was last seen, Anders eyes shifted towards a group of people who were carrying it away from the streets. He had little choice than to follow and question them, only to have found out that Alexander did at least grant Leliana's previous request after all. It was a relief for the moment as they headed down to the Special Zone below. Anders did at least wanted to let Leliana have the funeral for Aragorn that she wanted. It would give her time to properly mourn her loss while Anders could focus back to the war above him.