Her hand gripped the red dagger as it was pressed to Gortash's neck. She looked right into his eyes and for some reason she felt tears fall down her cheeks. His eyes stared back at hers…and it felt like her she was swimming in a black void where it was just the two of them. Her hand trembled and she bit her lip so hard that blood trickled down her chin. Why was she hesitating? She never hesitated.

"…Maeve…"

Her name sounded raspy…almost pleading. She couldn't tell if he was begging her to finish him quickly or to spare him. She could hear her companions speaking behind her and yelling asking why she wasn't ending it. Ending the man who had tried to DROWN her in an underwater city. She should hate him. Feel anger towards him for ending their alliance. But instead…she almost felt amused. He had to have known that wouldn't be enough to kill her. Had he…wanted her to succeed? To free him from the Hell he had created for himself in her absence? Had he realized the Elder Brain had no intention of letting them rule it?

"What are you doing soldier?! FUCKING end him!"

The tears didn't stop as she straddled the man before her, her one hand yanking his hair and baring his neck to her, the other pressing the lash of bhal against his unmarred flesh.

"…I…wish…" he choked, his hand gently reaching up and cupping her cheek. "It could have ended differently, my dear…"

"W-What…" she whispered.

"One night…you will remember…just how much…I loved you…"

Her heart throbbed and before she could react, his lips pressed hard against her own. Her hand faltered but she returned the kiss. The taste of iron and something sweet mixed on her tongue and she tried to remember more of why she felt what she felt for this man.

But before she could she gasped as Gortash pressed harder into her dagger and blood began to gush out over her hands.

"N-No…no no no!" Maeve sobbed, holding her hand against the wound. "Enver please… don't leave me. Don't leave me again."

Tears fell from her eyes and gently dropped onto his cheeks as his hand reached up for hers. Maeve clutched it close to her face. Begging this dying man to stop bleeding, to forgive her.

"I love you…I'm so sorry…I will always love you, Enver. Always."

His blood remained on her hands, her armor, and it was only when Astarion had gently placed a hand on her shoulder did she snap back to the present. Her voice came out choked.

"You…I'd like to be alone…please."

"Maeve-

-GET OUT!" she roared, a surge of magic pulsing through her fingers.

She watched her friends recoil and as soon as they left, Maeve laid down beside Enver Gortash, his blood pooling around both of them…she looked into his eyes. She remembered looking through those onyx gems once before...feeling breathless.

Several tears slid down the bridge of her nose as she pressed herself to his chest, tugging his lifeless arms around herself, and breathing in the familiar scent of oak, vanilla, and amber. She sobbed until all of her tears were spent and all she could manage was a sort of pathetic whimper. How could she miss this man so much when she barely remembered him?

His body was cold…stiff…but she couldn't bring herself to leave him. Only when Astarion returned late in the evening did she realize how long she had been sitting there. He sat behind her and with a shaky breath, Maeve sat up. She couldn't look at him.

"Astarion…" she sniffed. "I…you came back…"

"Of course I did…" his hand moved through the air and as it did so, she felt the crust of the old blood whisk itself from her body as well as Gortash and the floor.

"…I can't leave him…I…I don't know why, but Ive never felt…such a pain before…"

She looked down at her own hands.

"If I had to wager a guess, my dear. I'd say you were in love with him."

"I don't remember any of it. I…shouldn't I?"

"Love buries deep…deeper than any tadpole…"

Maeve let out a sad laugh and placed a hand over her mouth as more tears burned at the corners of her eyes.

"If love hurts this much…I want to take you up on that offer to cut my heart out."

Astarion frowned and knelt in front of her. Gently he tugged her into his arms and gripping the front of his shirt she closed her eyes tight.

"You deserve love, Maeve. We all do. And you showed me that no matter what evils we have committed in life...we are worthy of redemption. We are worthy of second chances. And I believe your past love would have been worthy of one too."

"I…I didn't kill him, Astarion. He leaned into the blade. Why…why would he…"

She felt her friend's hand smooth down her strawberry-blonde hair.

"Perhaps he knew you couldn't do so…but knew you had to. Maybe he wanted to spare you having to kill who you love. Or maybe this was his way of freeing you of who you were."

A choked sob was all Maeve could manage and she held onto Astarion like her life depended on it, because at the moment it did. If she let go of her friend, she was certain she would slip into the thralls of her own grief and never return. But she couldn't stay where she was…there was still work to be done.

Moving over Enver's body, she leaned down once more and gently kissed his lips. She didn't know why she said the next couple of words, but they felt right in this moment "Dorn ssinssrigg dos ka usstan neitar kyorl dos sohna, lueth dorn ssinssrigg dos ka usstan kyorl dos ril tenday."

She folded his hands over on themselves before joining Astarion at the door.

"What did that mean?" he asked.

"…it was undercommon for, I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every tenday…"

He smiled sadly, and with a slight nod, latched arms with his companion as they left the archduke's office to return to camp.