Death Becomes Her

9 Guardian, 9:37 Dragon
Captain Isabella's boat
Somewhere between Kirkwall and Ferelden

Kirkwall couldn't hold together for one more day, could it? Just one more bloody day!

Yesterday, Cricket and I had gone to the library in the morning, instead of our usual afternoon trip. I don't really know why I changed our schedule. That afternoon, I received two letters. One bore the seal of the First Enchanter, the other the seal of the Knight-Commander.

Both essentially said the same thing: "Champion, you've supported us before, come to the Gallows at once, things are going to shite." Neither actually used the word shite; Orsino wrote that Meredith had gone too far, and Meredith wrote that dire events were under way. In other words, things were going downhill, fast.

I showed the notes to Cricket and Fenris. Cricket said, and I quote. "Mom, if anyone can stop them from doing something stupid, you can." I hugged him and sat there for a minute just holding our son, wishing with all my heart that this was just a bad dream.

It wasn't a bad dream; it was a living nightmare.

Armed and armored, I stepped out the door and heard Meredith's unmistakably strident voice (I'm sure that half of Hightown heard it). Surprised, I looked around the corner: instead of being at the Gallows, Meredith and Orsino were having a heated argument in front of the Viscount's Keep.

Fenris, who had also heard the commotion, was standing in the foyer as I ducked back inside. I asked him to go with Cricket into the cellar in case things went badly, and then I left. I really hoped I could stop the Knight-Commander and the First Enchanter from doing something colossally stupid.

I saw Cullen there (I've seen him accompany the Knight-Commander frequently in the last year) along with several Templars. Orsino was accompanied by three enchanters.

Meredith wanted to search the Circle "top to bottom" because she was positive that Orsino was harboring blood mages. There was absolutely no room in her mind for any other possibility. I was trying to figure out what had finally pushed Meredith off her rocker; it was then that I noticed her sword. The pommel was much larger than I remembered. But what really caught my eye was the red glow emanating from where the hilt met the scabbard.

I caught Cullen's attention – he was behind and to the side of the Knight-Commander, and looked back to Meredith's sword. His eyes grew wide; clearly the sword was new to him too. I found that disquieting, to say the least.

When I made my presence known, Meredith welcomed me, clearly thinking I was on her side. Then I asked Orsino if there were blood mages. When he said no, I told Meredith that she presses the mages too hard. She didn't take that well, at all.

After more pointless arguing, Orsino said he was going to get Elthina. That was when Anders made an appearance. He said that the grand cleric could not help them. He told Orsino that the Circle had failed and accused him of bowing to their templar jailers.

It was Anders, but there was a ferocity in his voice that I'd never heard from him, even in his most vitriolic rants. Then I saw the unmistakable blue light of Justice briefly flare as he said (I will remember his words to my dying day): "The time has come to act. There can be no half measures. There can be no turning back…"

I was about to ask what he meant, when the ground shook under us and the chantry exploded.

I heard Anders say softly, "There can be no peace."

The massive explosion was clearly accomplished with magic, because the chantry broke up into its individual building blocks, which were drawn into the sky where they were turned into a paroxysm of dust and ash that spread across Hightown.

We were all in shock. I looked at Anders and all I could think of was Cricket. If we'd gone to the library in the afternoon …he and I would have been in the chantry.

Cullen was able to drain Anders' mana and put on a magic-inhibiting collar. That man moves fast! Justice, or Vengeance it would seem, didn't have time to react. Cullen calmly told Meredith that the mage responsible was now in custody.

Meredith ignored him. Instead, she invoked the rite of annulment! She said that every mage in the Circle was to be immediately executed. Then she demanded that I stand with her! Cullen asserted, again, that he had the mage responsible. Meredith didn't seem to care.

I tried to reason with her. I told her the Circle had nothing to do with this explosion. That it was solely perpetrated by an apostate, Grey Warden-deserter, who was already in custody.

Then she said she could not stay her hand because the people of Kirkwall will demand blood. I told her that the people of Kirkwall will demand justice. That it was she, the Knight-Commander, who was demanding blood. I told her we can give the people justice without shedding innocent blood.

That didn't work either.

Cullen reminded her that while she could invoke the rite, she was not allowed to carry it out without Chantry approval. Word must be sent to Val Royeaux.

Meredith insisted that she had to act now, and then asked me to choose my fate. All I could think about were the acts of abuse perpetrated by her templars with her explicit or implicit approval. How the people of Kirkwall had suffered because of her usurpation of the Office of the Viscount. I thought of each job I took to protect a city ruled by a tyrannical Knight-Commander.

My patience was gone.

In a last ditch attempt to stave off the rite, I drew my sword and then asked the Knight Commander to show me her new sword. I think what I actually said was "Show me your new sword you, crazy, sanctimonious, bitch."

Furious that I'd threatened her, she pulled out the glowing sword. The idol was clearly visible within the hilt! Meredith said she bought it off a dwarf. The dwarf had to have been Bartrand. Varric, who had just arrived with Aveline and Merrill, muttered something about Bartrand and a slow death.

I told the templars around us that contact with red lyrium drives people insane, just as it had with the dwarf who sold the idol to the Knight-Commander

That's when Cullen put his sword in between me and Meredith. He ordered her to stand down because she was clearly under the influence of a dangerous substance.

Enraged is too light a term for Meredith's reaction. She declared that everyone, save her, had been infected by blood magic and that she alone would protect the city.

She was as far gone as Bartrand had been.

I told Orsino to keep the mages safe (he left his enchanters with me before heading back to the Gallows. I noticed, too late, that he was followed by a templar) then I attacked the Knight-Commander as quickly and as powerfully as I could. It was a brutal fight, made worse by Meredith, somehow, animating the falcon statue at entrance to the Keep. It was like fighting while trying to avoid a solid metal dragon. Fortunately, Cullen fought with me.

After a seemingly endless amount of time, I had injured her enough that she tried to draw more power from the red lyrium. I guess she tried to draw too much power, because the sword exploded. She is now another surreal Kirkwall statue, only this one is made of red lyrium.

Varric looked at the smoldering statue and quipped, "That's a good look for her."

I knew that there had to be trouble at the Gallows, Orsino, or that templar, would have said something by now. I began to move toward Cullen. He had two of his templars practically dragging the semi-conscious Anders with them (Cullen's mana drain was incredibly strong).

Cullen stopped me. He looked at the dead Knight–Commander and told me to get out of Kirkwall as fast as I could. That any templars loyal to Meredith would attack me on sight if I went to the Gallows, and any that were already here will try to hunt me down. I told Cullen, that I can handle myself. He told me that he didn't doubt that, but my presence would hamper his ability to restore order.

I thought about asking what was going to happen to Anders, but my mind couldn't reconcile the Anders I met all those years ago, and this…abomination in front of me. I still can't.

Merrill healed the worst of my injuries, allowing me to get back to the estate. The first thing I did, when I ran into the house, was hug Cricket. I tried not to cry, but then he said, "It's okay, mom. We're okay. That's all that matters." It was the wisdom born of his early suffering and it touched me deeply.

According to Fenris, shortly after the explosion, Izzy (who knew about our afternoons at the Chantry library) was worried about me about me and Cricket and came to the estate. When no one answered, she broke in. She was headed to the cellar, when Fenris almost took her head off, thinking she was an intruder. Fenris sent Izzy to ready her boat in case we had to flee (which turned out to be the case).

Thankfully, Cricket and Fenris already packed what they could, and we left. To avoid notice, we left through the lower cellar into Darktown, and took another shortcut to the docks. Fenris told me he would work with Varric to make sure the rest of our things made it to Ferelden.

As the boat sailed toward the harbor mouth, I looked towards the Gallows. My heart broke as I saw that the mages and templars were fighting. Even though Meredith was dead the templars loyal to her were trying to carry out the Rite. I pray that Cullen's templars got to the Gallows before they succeeded.

My world has gone insane.

~oOOo~

AN: Credit for the title of this chapter goes to Martin Donovan, David Koepp, the writers of the movie Death Becomes Her. Thank you to for reading! Special thanks to Melysande and Jud for their reviews. Big thanks to my Beta ElyssaCousland, whose suggestions have been invaluable as spin this tale.