Dragon Age: Revengeance

ACT I

Chapter 3

Varric sighed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Slow down," he said. "Start from the beginning. What exactly happened?"

"There was an attack on the Gallows," said Aveline with forced patience. "Dozens of Templars are dead. All of the mages have disappeared. Knight Commander Cullen has turned into some kind of deranged monster and is ripping his own men to pieces. The survivors have barricaded him inside the Gallows. It's pure chaos over there, Varric!"

He blinked and shook his head to try and clear it. "Please tell me this is all some elaborate joke?"

"I wish I could."

"Maker's breath..." he muttered, struggling to wrap his head around it. "Who could have done something like this?"

"That would be me," said Hawke, stepping into the Viscount's office. She was carrying Bianca, which was locked and loaded, ready to fire. Aveline spun around and stared in disbelief.

"Hawke?! But you're...!"

"Dead? Sorry to disappoint."

Varric let out a joyous laugh and leapt from his chair. "Hawke! Thank the Maker you're alive!" He hesitated as he realised that she was carrying his crossbow, and frowned. "What are you doing with Bianca?"

Hawke smiled nonchalantly. "I'm stealing it."

Varric's face scrunched up in utter confusion. "Why?"

Aveline caught on quicker. "It was you, wasn't it? You attacked the Gallows."

"I believe I already said as much when I walked in here," said Hawke. "Do try to keep up. Ah-ah!" She aimed Bianca at the Guard Captain, who was reaching for her sword. "Honestly, Varric, you know how much I despise this bitch; she's corrupt, protects her men even when they're rapists, and is largely to blame for my mother being murdered. Whatever possessed you to give her her old job back?"

Aveline snarled. "I had nothing to do with your mother's death, you whore!"

Hawke shot her in the stomach. The bolt punched clean through her armour and buried itself in her flesh, causing her to immediately double over in pain.

"Oh, shut up," said Hawke, sounding more annoyed than angry. Varric gaped in horror as Aveline slumped to the floor.

"Hawke, what in the Void are you doing?!"

"You know, for the longest time I've wanted to kill certain people, but I could never bring myself to do it," said Hawke. "It was as if there was some invisible force staying my hand, compelling me to act out a role as if I was a character in a play." She planted a foot against Aveline and shoved the whimpering Guard Captain onto her back. "But ever since I came back from the Fade, it's as if a tremendous weight has been lifted from me. I feel free. Fate has stopped pulling my strings, and I can finally forge my own path." She gestured towards Aveline with Bianca. "Now there's nothing stopping me from killing my enemies. And to paraphrase an old saying, Varric; the friend of my enemy is also my enemy."

Varric backed away slowly, shaking his head in denial. "You're crazy."

"Don't be silly, I'm far more dangerous than someone who's crazy. In fact I've never felt so clear headed in my entire life." She advanced towards Varric, ignoring Aveline as she slowly and painfully bled to death on the office floor. "While everyone left me for dead in the Fade, you've moved up in the world, haven't you, Varric? Viscount of Kirkwall! And what interesting company you keep these days. Aveline, Cullen … see, now that's strange, because you know the kind of shit Cullen oversaw back in the day. How he was in favour of making all mages Tranquil. How he was willing to help Meredith Annul the Circle until she tried to kill the 'Champion of Kirkwall'. And then of course there's Cassandra – sorry, Divine Victoria, who undid everything I fought for. Who put my sister back in the Gallows."

"Everything's better now, though!" Varric pleaded. Hawke stopped and glared at him.

"Better?" she said slowly. "Yes, I suppose it is, if you're an Andrastian. And that's the problem, Varric. You've always been an Andrastian. You've always sided with the Chantry over the mages they oppress, torture, rape, and murder. I suppose that's why you consider a Templar, a Seeker turned Divine, and the Inquisitor-Herald of Andraste, as your closest friends. Why were we ever friends, Varric? Because you needed me to fund your expedition? Because writing about me made you rich and famous?"

"Of course not-" he started to say. Hawke took a sudden step forwards and sharply aimed Bianca at his face.

"I don't like the company you keep, Varric," she said, her words icy cold. "You sit down and share drinks with some of my worst enemies, how can you possibly call me a friend? Well I'm done calling you my friend."

Varric raised his hands and glowered at Aveline as she continued to wail in pain. "So now what? You going to shoot me with my own crossbow? Blow up the Keep with me in it, like your abomination pal Anders did with the Chantry?"

Hawke lowered Bianca. "No." She grabbed a piece of parchment and moved it to the middle of his desk. "You're a writer, Varric. I want you to write something. Sit. Write."

He gave a weak laugh and sat down. "Well that's a twist. And just what does my new bitter enemy want me to write down?"

"A message for your very good friend, Divine Victoria," said Hawke, giving him a smile bordering on a sneer. "It's a list of demands. Number one; she is to dissolve the Templars, the Seekers, and the Circles."

Varric snorted loudly as he wrote. "That's your number one? Shit, I can't wait to hear what the rest of your demands are."

"Number two; she is to sign a treaty, pledging to abolish all political influence the Chantry wields, and swear that the Chantry shall refrain from any and all political affairs henceforth."

"Yeah, that'll happen."

"Just write it. Finally, number three; she is to publicly admit to all crimes that the Chantry, past and present, is guilty of. The Exalted Marches, the Annulment of Dairsmuid, the cover-up of Knight Commander Gervasio, rewriting the history of Inquisitor Ameridan … I would be here all night if I listed them all, but that should be enough for her to get the picture."

Varric shook his head as he finished writing. "She'll never agree to any of these demands."

"I don't expect her to. I just want her to know why I'm doing what I'm doing."

"Shall I sign it, or will you do the honours?"

Hawke hefted Bianca with one hand, and with her other she drew a dagger and stabbed it through Varric's right hand, which was resting upon the parchment. Blood seeped from the wound and stained the bottom of the list.

"No need," said Hawke with grim satisfaction, "That'll do nicely." As Varric swore profusely, Hawke readjusted her grip on Bianca and aimed the weapon at his face once more. "I want you to deliver it to her in person. And Varric, if you ever write anything about me again, I'll hunt you down and cut off your hands. If you try to dictate instead, I'll cut out your tongue as well."

She backed away, her expression dark. "I'll be going now. I'm taking Bianca with me. Think I'll rename her 'Bethany'. Don't bother trying to track down the mages I rescued from the Gallows, I made certain their phylacteries were destroyed. And if you thought Anders blowing up the Kirkwall Chantry was bad? Just wait until you see what I have planned."

Varric hissed painfully between clenched teeth, his hand still pinned to the parchment on his desk. "I don't know what happened to you in the Fade, Hawke, but you're a monster now."

Hawke turned and stepped over Aveline's corpse as she left the office. The sad thing was that Varric could see clearly the crimes she was guilty of, but was blind to all the evils the Chantry had committed. No matter what she did, Hawke couldn't hold a candle to centuries of genocide, slavery, conquest, and oppression.

If she was a monster, what did that make the Chantry?