So I actually made it. And with an actual backstory, even, wow.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age in any way shape or form.

/Prologue\

My story starts with two words:

I died.

It's...not a particularly good start to any story, really.

In fact, I would very much like a refund of my life, if possible, considering that there were also flesh-eating cannibals, way too archaic people and handsome men with fabulous hair. Not that I particularly regret the handsome one with gorgeous hair but I digress.

So! I died.

It wasn't particularly memorable, well, to me at least. I know my brother mourned me but that was about it.

I think we'd better step back and look over what happened again.

The day I died was a Friday. No, it was not a Friday the thirteenth kind of thing, I really just happened to die on Friday. I think that would be really cool though if it was a Friday the thirteenth. Kind of superstitious. See, I'm giving myself the chills.

Anyway, I distinctly remember it was a Friday simply because my brother was supposed to pick me up from school. Yes, I am still in high school, and yes I am smart enough to be in all the advanced classes. Not that I'm rubbing it in your face, you haven't done anything to me. I'd love to rub it in everyone else's faces though, that would be nice. Yes, my bro already has a family of his own. We're eleven years apart in age but it doesn't really bother us unlike some people who think of it weird.

Now about my brother picking me up: he didn't. That kind of ruined my happy Friday for me. I'd missed his call during class about not being able to pick me up because of his children getting into some kind of trouble. His wife was apparently busy in work and he was the only one available to pick them up ASAP.

Friday was usually our pizza powwows at my apartment. We also go on a serious food binge and play some hilarious video games for our weekly bonding. I seldom see him nowadays, with his familial responsibilities and all, and I didn't really have any friends at school who comes over. Fridays were usually all the time we had to ourselves so it kind of pissed me that he wasn't able to come over.

I couldn't begrudge him his responsibilities though. I knew he had new problems beside taking care of his estranged little sister living alone in an near-empty apartment.

I've been living alone at that apartment after some paperwork was filled out about my turning into an adult. I liked the silence and the peace most of the time, but my brother was still a constant presence in my life and despite the horribly short moments we have left to ourselves, we still bond and stay together as much as we can.

Him ditching kind of hurt but I understood. Didn't mean I had to like it though.

So anyway: he didn't pick me up. I was pissy. I was sulky. I was like a child with a tantrum as I walked—stomped—home.

Now, you might think that I might have been too sulky and caught up in my woes that I didn't look both ways when I crossed the street which led me to my car crash death.

Don't be silly, I was angsty, not stupid.

Nah, I didn't die until I got home.

I'm not entirely sure if it was my fault for my carelessness or if it was the robbers fault they got sloppy with the break-in but I think I shouldn't have entered my apartment when I saw the so-very-obviously broken door hinges. I had just blinked at it and decided to enter like my door wasn't broken.

I suspected a break-in. I knew there was a break-in, my door couldn't have been busted like that otherwise. It was just that it was so unlikely to happen to me—me in the middle of a heavily populated suburban area where everyone can hear everything, I mean, oh good lord the gossips!—that I just entirely dropped my guard. I also did not really expect the robber to actually be still in the apartment. You'd think that he would have been finished already, the idiot.

Well, I guess I really am stupid. We—the robber and I—both are, I guess.

That was really the final coherent thought I had. Next thing I know, I'm on my back on the carpeted floor from getting a wooden frame to my face thanks to a robber that had magically appeared on the corner.

The next thought processes I could manage was predominantly painpainpainPAIN—and squinting my eyes in the dark and seeing the robber pointing a gun at my face.

And well, after that, you can guess what happened next.

No I didn't die yet, don't get so excited.

In panic, I kicked him in the balls. I actually didn't aim for that spot, my leg was just conveniently in between his so I just kicked up, up and up and—bam! A solid hit.

My brother would be so proud.

And kicking balls are actually hard, my toes actually got hurt at that and I was wearing sturdy shoes. Or maybe its just the natural resilience of the human body? Well, I didn't really have time to ponder that at that moment, I was too busy scrambling back to my feet and avoiding the groaning man who had collapsed against the wall clutching his family jewels. I managed to grab the frame he had hit me silly with on the way to standing on my feet and using my not-that-impressive arm and back muscles, I raised the wooden thing and thumped it solidly on his head. He goes down like a balloon missing air.

Now, you might think I had saved myself and was actually not going to die on that day. Sadly, I still died on that day. I thought there was only one robber. There was actually two.

The second robber I didn't know was there shot me in the back. I go down on my front on the carpet and struggle for breath, trying not to think about the pain which isn't really working since I was too out of it to actually try to control it. I was still running on adrenaline high when I got shot in the head.

He actually double tapped me, that offensive little idiot!

Yeah, I really had no time to contemplate my regrets in that situation.

So, that's how I died. Kind of action movie worthy, don't you think?

I didn't actually know at the time that I had died, only that I heard two gunshots before everything was black.

I only made that realization myself when I opened my eyes to blood and all sorts of fleshy bits surrounding me everywhere.

Well shit.

Hi guys~~ So this is the official rewrite of The Female Vanguard, and look there's a backstory now! I don't have much to say right now really, other than to declare that I haven't found the rest of the snippets I've promised to post up on the original fic so that one probably won't be updated unless I find that file (which I still can't find after weeks of searching, what galaxy did it go through?), so yeah, that's really it.

Question time! Do you think I should change the title of this fic? And if yes, do you have any suggestions?