AN: I haven't currently got a pairing in mind for this, although I do want to have one. Any suggestions about who I should pair Sirius with would be appreciated.
Cassandra commanded the guards to open the gates and Sirius followed her down a mountain path that led to the valley. He could not help but notice how beautiful this strange place was. The mountains towering overhead were covered with snow, which fell down to dust the path at his feet. Unfortunately the burning carts scattering the path and the huge, green breach in the sky rather ruined the tranquility of the image.
Suddenly, pain shot through Sirius' hand. Pain so intense that even the cruciatus would have been preferable. Dropping to his knees, Sirius cradled his hand and tried to hold back the tears collecting in his eyes.
"The pulses are coming faster now." Sirius looked up into Cassandra's deep brown eyes. He could see the sympathy within them, but could not bring himself to care while the pain remained.
When the pain subsided, Cassandra hauled Sirius to his feet. He could not help but be impressed by her strength; most witches were rather frail as a result of relying on magic for anything particularly strenuous.
"So, how did I even get here, anyway?" Sirius asked as they resumed their journey.
"You… stepped out of a rift," Cassandra replied. "They say that there was a woman behind you, however you were the only one to make it through. No one knows how you survived. Everything else was laid to waste, including the Temple of Sacred Ashes."
"What's the Temple of Sacred Ashes?" Sirius enquired. Cassandra rolled her eyes at his continuing ignorance, but began to explain. Suddenly, the bridge they were walking on collapsed from under them, and they tumbled in a heap onto the ground.
Sirius would have been quite happy to lie there and assess his injuries, but Cassandra jumped to her feet, panicked. She drew her sword and slid into a defensive posture, her shield raised in front of her.
"Demons! Stay behind me!" Cassandra shouted, gesturing with her sword at the creatures before them. Sirius looked over and froze. A pair of dementors was gliding towards him, and only Cassandra stood in their way. While Sirius admired her bravery, he had little faith in her ability to keep them at bay armed with only metal.
Reaching for his wand, Sirius realised that he had left it pinned to the cell wall by the redhead's arrow. He cursed loudly and looked around for anything that could possibly work as a weapon. Spotting a long wooden staff, he grabbed it, intending to at least get a good couple of hits in before the dementors took his soul.
A strange feeling overtook Sirius as soon as his hand connected with the wood of the staff. It reminded him very much of the feeling he got at Ollivander's when he got his first wand. Almost without thinking about it, Sirius pointed the staff at the dementor and channelled his magic through it.
"Stupefy!" Sirius shouted, and to his surprise a small chunk of ice materialised at the end of the staff and flew through the air at the dementor.
"Well, that wasn't supposed to happen," Sirius thought to himself. "Impedimenta! Petrificus Totalus! Tarantallegra!" Nothing seemed to be working, until…
"Incendio!"
Instead of a small flame, the incantation produced a huge fireball, which hurtled towards the dementor that had slowly been advancing on Sirius. It was engulfed by the flames, leaving behind nothing when they eventually burned out. Having dispatched the other dementor, Cassandra whirled and advanced on Sirius.
"Drop your weapon! Now!" Cassandra was clearly angry. As much as Sirius wanted to keep the only implement he had access to, he decided that it would make more sense to cooperate. He laid the staff on the ground.
"On, second thought, you should keep it," Cassandra said, shocking Sirius. "You should be armed. I cannot guarantee that I will be able to protect you. I should remember that you chose to come willingly."
Sirius grinned widely and snatched the staff up once more, feeling far more at ease with the situation now that he knew he could throw fire at anything he didn't like.
"Take these potions," Cassandra said, holding out a collection of vials filled with what looked like the generic healing potions that Madam Pomfrey used to feed him while he was at school. Cassandra showed him how to attach the vials to his belt and informed him that they were indeed to be used for healing.
As they continued up the path, they started to see more and more bodies scattered around. Sirius swallowed hard. While he had been involved in both wizarding wars, he had never been this close to a dead body before. Trying to take his mind off it, he let his thoughts drift back to the earlier encounter. The creatures certainly looked like dementors, but Sirius realised he had felt none of the ill effects he had come to associate with their proximity. Cassandra seemed unaffected, too.
"Hey, Cassandra, what were those creatures back there?" Sirius asked, hoping that she would confirm that they were, indeed, not dementors.
"Those were demons," Cassandra replied. "They have come from the fade, through the Breach. They are corrupted spirits. Those were relatively weak, but it is only a matter of time until the stronger ones begin to invade."
Cassandra bent down to examine a body on the ground. For a moment, Sirius hoped that she had spied signs of life in him, but it soon became apparent that she was simply looting his corpse. She rose and handed Sirius a leather helmet.
"I can't wear this!" Sirius yelped.
"Why not?" Cassandra responded. "It is not doing this soldier much good now. It might be the thing that stands between you and death from a nasty head wound." Sirius grumbled but obediently strapped it around his head.
"There is a rift ahead," Cassandra informed him, drawing her sword once more. "People are fighting. We must help them." With that, she ran on ahead, leaving Sirius to brandish the unfamiliar staff and charge into battle behind her.
Ahead, Sirius could see a much smaller green rip in the air. It was surrounded by more of the demons overwhelming a pair of fighters. One very short man with a crossbow and one bald man in what looked like pyjamas fighting with a staff similar to Sirius' own. Sirius threw a couple of fireballs and hoped for the best.
The next thing Sirius knew, the bald pyjamas guy was stood next to him and grabbing his hand, holding it up towards the green thing that Sirius presumed was the rift Cassandra had mentioned. Green light streamed from the mark on his hand and reacted with the rift, causing it to flare suddenly and then blink out of existence.
"What the fuck did you just do?" Sirius shouted, rounding on this strange man who was willing to take such liberties with Sirius' hand. He may not have asked for this mark, or even known what it was, but by Merlin it was his.
"I did nothing," the bald man replied. "The credit is yours."
"No, clearly you did do something," Sirius replied, a little less angry but still rather irritated. "You held up my hand and it did… something… and that rift thing vanished!"
"I theorised that since the mark on your hand came from the Breach that perhaps it may contain the power to close it again. It seems as though I was right."
"Ok," Sirius said. "I'm glad I can help and all, but please don't go around grabbing me and using my mark like that."
The man nodded, and Sirius noted that his ears were rather large and pointed. He wondered for a moment if he were the product of an unholy union between a human and a house elf, and then tried to stifle his sniggers.
The shorter man stepped up, holding out his hand to shake Sirius'.
"Varric Tethras, at your service. Rogue, storyteller and occasionally unwanted tagalong."
"Sirius Black. Nice crossbow," Sirius replied, glancing at the rather formidable weapon slung across Varric's back.
"Isn't she?" Varric replied. "Bianca and I have been through a lot."
"And I am Solas, if there are to be introductions," the bald man said, although he did not offer a handshake. "I am glad that you still live."
"What he means," Varric interjected, "is 'I stopped that mark from killing you while you slept'." Sirius looked at Solas, who appeared to be suddenly very interested in his feet, which Sirius noticed were bare.
"Thanks," Sirius said, feeling like it wasn't quite enough, but unsure of what else to say, exactly, to a complete stranger who has saved his life.
"Thank me if we can close the Breach without killing you," Solas replied, leaving Sirius feeling slightly less overwhelmed by gratitude.
"Let us leave," Cassandra ordered, drawing the attention of the group to herself. "There is another rift left to close and we must still meet with Leliana."
Solas followed after Cassandra with a nod to Sirius. Varric fell into step beside Sirius and raised an eyebrow at him.
"Well, Bianca's excited."
Sirius grinned, relieved. Hopefully he had found someone he could relate to. While Cassandra seemed like a decent person, she was rather uptight, and Solas was just plain weird. Varric, however, had a sense of humour, and that was all Sirius needed in a friend. Feeling a little happier about his situation, Sirius vaulted over some inconveniently placed wooden planks and followed Cassandra and Solas down the mountainside, chatting with Varric as they went.
"So, are you innocent," Varric asked, too quietly for Cassandra to hear. Sirius considered that this could be a trap, but instinctively felt that he could trust Varric. Besides, his answer hadn't changed since he had told Cassandra.
"Dunno. Can't remember what happened."
"Ah, that'll get you every time. Should've spun a story. It's more believable, and less likely to result in premature execution." Sirius gulped, but Varric only laughed and elbowed him in the hip. "I'm only shittin' you."
Soon enough, they came across another rift outside a large pair of gates. Rather than throwing fireballs, this time Sirius mimicked what Solas had done with his hand the last time. Stretching it skywards he felt the unusual magic connecting it to the rift. Soon, the demons were felled and the rift was gone. Solas smiled and nodded at Sirius in what Sirius hoped was approval.
"The rift is gone," Cassandra shouted. "Open the gates."