It was quiet. Rook's breathing was the heaviest thing in the courtyard. Elgar'nan's body lay on the far end, seeping dark blood into the cobbled stone. His body was cooling and yet Rook kept twisting back to check he indeed was dead, even though her new target was in front of her.

Solas sounded conflicted when he spoke but his face was steeled, "I am sorry for this final betrayal." He motioned his hands up and before he could do anything more Rook launched herself towards the shimmering lyrium dagger, skidding into the ground and protecting it with her body.

"Rook," He said, "I don't want to fight you."

She couldn't see him. She couldn't see his expression, but she heard his voice cracking. Rook couldn't even string together a sentence herself. Everything that had happened till now was because of him, this man, elf, god, who'd thought he'd take the world into his hands and mold it the way he saw fit. Who was willing to get her team killed, Harding, Neve, Varric - Rook's body shuddered violently. How could he stand there and face her knowing what he'd done to her, invading her mind and feeding her false images of the man who she'd thought of as her mentor, her friend, her companion. A rough, sharp anger blurred her vision.

Solas deserved to rot in a dark prison, tormented by the souls of everyone he betrayed to get to where he was. He was nothing more than a monster. Cruel, unforgiving and irredeemable.

The anger burned away her sadness. But soon the weight of her journey burned away her anger. It was too much. The burden placed on her shoulders felt heavy, too heavy for a person to bear.

She clutched the dagger to her chest, feeling it scrape against the stone. Solas was being patient. She knew that while he wouldn't let her leave, he'd wait. The air was crackling with the electricity of the Fade, a promise of what would come if he had his way.

Rook stood slowly, her back to Solas, the dagger pressed firmly into her skin. She would not allow it to be ripped from her grasp this time. Her eyes focused on Emmrich and Lucanis, who'd both managed to stand and were hovering ahead of her.

"Are you alright dearest?" Emmrich said, his voice soft, his expression pained. Rook felt the weight of his words, what was the meaning of alright when the balance of the world was in her hands?

Lucanis stood close, his brows furrowed, "Mi amor? " His eyes flickered behind her shoulder. She knew he was watching Solas with his assassin eyes, ready for her word to strike him down.

And so much of her wanted to. She burned with anger and betrayal but she was equally burning with sadness - pure and simple. Solas had been ripped from his life as a spirit, forced into a body that was not his own, and was thrust into a war he felt like only he could win. His righteous anger twisted him into the man, god, in front of them today. He must have burned the same way she did when Mythal was struck down by the Evanuris.

She tilted her head at the two men in front of her. She would handle this part.

Rook turned around, the dagger humming in her hands.

"Solas," She said, "You don't need to do this. You can still make this right." And then, her gamble, she walked to him, close enough to smell the blood on his skin, and thrust the dagger in his direction, loose in her hand, "You can tie yourself to the Veil and keep it up. You can stop all of this."

He was slow to reach out. She understood, he must have thought this was her time for a betrayal. A mirror to his entire relationship with her, ambiguous camaraderie that ended in broken trust. Rook stayed still as his hand brushed against hers as he took the dagger. An undercurrent of electricity passed between them. They'd shared space in the Fade, they'd been connected, she knew of his flaws and regrets - that had to mean something?

He gripped the dagger firmly and blinked, almost as if he could not imagine what was occurring, "I cannot." He said slowly, "To do so would be to dishonour all those I have wronged to get this far." He bowed his head. Rook let his words wash over her, he was resistant but while he was moving towards the tears in the Veil he wasn't rushing.

"But Solas," Rook said, "Do you not dishonour them further by ripping apart everything they stood for."

His face contorted, Rook felt her chest constricting. Had she gambled wrong?

Solas' back was to her now but she could see him trembling, "But I've hurt so many."

"But what if those are the ones that are asking you to stop?" A familiar voice echoed from behind her, and both Solas and Rook turned to see Inquisitor Lavellan walk into the courtyard.

She looked worse for wear. Her face carried new scars, bloody and dripping. He rmage robes, though obviously beautiful at some point, were burned, sometimes through to the skin. Her hair was up top in a messy bun, sweaty tendrils falling into her face. She used her stave to keep her standing, using it to balance as she dragged her left leg behind her.

But even though she looked like she should be surrounded by dozens of healers around her, Lavellan's voice was sure, sharp and halting.

Rook took a step down, ready to help Lavellan but she shook her head slightly as she limped towards them. Rook turned to Solas, who had paled. The dagger was limp at his side. His eyes glittered.

"Vhenan." He whispered.

Lavellan was close enough to hear him and her mouth twisted, "You haven't seen me in ten years Solas." She stopped beside Rook and leaned against her stave, "Yet that word flows so delicately through your lips, as if we had never left each others side."

His lips were parted, he looked as if he were about to shatter, "Ir abelas vhenan. I did not want you to see me like this, I had wanted to protect your memory."

Lavellan laughed harshly, "By sending me that letter? By telling me there was a chance that you'd leave this all behind for me? Why didn't you? Was I not enough for you?"

Rook felt her own heart breaking.

"No!" Solas' voice was loud, he stepped back, face contorted, "Vhenan, ir amaasra syren'a'va. Maraa visarya?"

Rook cursed her orphan background. While the Mourn Watch had been a wonderful family to her, she never was able to learn too much about her elven heritage, including how to speak Elven.

Lavellan stirred Rook out of her regrets, yelling, "Why do you burden yourself like this?" She took a step towards Solas, her eyes blazing, "Why must you think that you are the only one that can solve problems? You've been put through so much, these burdens are not only yours to shoulder."

Lavellan knew as mch about Solas as Rook had learned. Rook had relayed as much as she could about what she had learned about Solas in the Crossroads. It was painful for them both, but she knew that information was too important to keep to herself

Solas furrowed his brows and Lavellan raised her hands, "I know Solas. I know it all." She gritted her teeth, "If only you had told me, I would have better understood you, I could have helped -"

"How could you have helped?" Solas cried, eyes wild, beseeching an impossible understanding, "You are but a mortal. You have only seen me as this, Solas. But I have worn so many other names and faces, you could not possibly -"

Lavellan cut him off this time, "What does that matter? I could have told you that there are other ways to absolve yourself. You needn't break yourself to atone for another."

Solas turned away, Rook noticed the dagger hanging limp in his hand. If she had to, she could wrench it away from him, Lavellan had given her that distraction at the very least. Rook started spinning the softest weave of magic in her palm, readying herself.

But she shouldn't have bothered because a moment later she heard the flapping of wings above. A crow swooped down, elegantly turning into the human form of Morrigan.

Solas turned back, weary of the new entrant until his eyes fell in recognition.

"Mythal." He breathed.

"I hold but a piece of her Dread Wolf." Morrigan said as she settled onto the steps. The three women faced Solas, as if they were all hunting him to the edge of a precipice.

Rook instantly understood what her next gamble must be. She pulled out the statue of Mythal, tucked safely into her satchel and held it towards Morrigan. Morrigan plucked it out of Rook's hands and held it in front of her.

The air shimmered before a figure materialized. Mythal. Rook saw her form flicker in and out, almost cycling between the many forms that she once was. It eventually settled on a hazy form of a tall woman with high cheekbones, her gaze steely.

Solas took one step towards her and fell to his knees. The dagger clattered to the ground beside him, forgotten.

"Solas." Mythal spoke, "I have placed an undue burden on you. I forced you from your true nature, twisted you into something you were not for a war that was never yours to fight."

Her words echoed through the courtyard, and also through Rook's head. The sliver of divinity that was speaking was apologetic, unsure, fallible - everything that she was taught that gods were not.

"But everything I have done - " Solas cut himself off, a choked sob forcing its way out, "I have hurt so many, I have done so much."

Mythal raised a hand towards him, her face full of grace, "I release you from my service. Please, pave your own path." She pulled her hand back, placed it on her chest and bowed. The great goddess Mythal was bowing to the mighty Fen'Harel. None would believe it. Her apparition then blurred and then burst into thousands of wisps before disappearing altogether.

It was as if the shackles had fallen off of Solas. His body heaved sharply. It felt like Rook was watching something too intimate, too personal but she couldn't step back now, not when her gamble had yet to fully pay off, regardless of how close they seemed to a resolution.

But even as the constriction in Rooks' chest began to dissipate she heard a cold scoff beside her. Lavellan was scowling, watching Solas as he got to his feet.

"So all that had to happen was you had to be told by a dead god to stop?" She spoke thinly, her words barbed, "I try for ten years to have you see reason and this entire time all it took was for her to say two words?"

She pointed at Morrigan who stepped back, allowing the two some space on the dias. Rook also took a step back, this had turned into something more than just a lovers spat. The fate of the very world hung in the balance.

"I'm a fool." Lavellan continued, tearing up through her rage, "You found a fool to follow you around a broken world, lovesick and refusing to see the truth."

Solas stood ahead of her looking helpless. He reached out but flinched when Lavellan pulled her hands away.

"Vhenan," He said softly, "I've been shackled since my birth into this world. Mythal was my mother, mentor and companion. My loyalty to her has been a shroud, casting a darkness over whatever action I have taken in my years of existence. I've never been able to stop taking action to atone, because my sin was being alive the way I was." His eyes were brimming with tears, rimmed red and raw. He turned away from Lavellan, like he could not bear to look at her. "You were a light in the darkness. The first time I was able to see past my shroud. But you are right, it was not enough. It is not because you were not enough, it is because my regrets were so powerful I was drowning. I did not want to drown you in them."

His eyes landed on Rook, "I have made too many suffer for my regrets. I have made others regret the same way I have. I have spread pain." He looked back at Lavellan, "And I loved you too much to pull you down that path. I avoided you for ten years to save you. But now I realize that I have erred."

Rook breathed out slowly. His admission at guilt, of betraying her, of making her suffer didn't assuage her pain. It did feel like a type of justice, him admitting his faults to the person he loved. It sent a hollow pang in her chest.

Solas reached out to Lavellan, who had bowed her head at some point in his speech. This time she let him grasp her hands in his. He pulled her hands to his chest.

"Ir lath sulavnin suramial." He whispered, "I have never stopped loving you. But I understand if you hate me, I understand if you never want to see me again." He paused and seemed to measure his next words carefully, "I understand if you want to end me, after what I did to -"

He cut himself off as he lifted her head, her red rimmed eyes boring into his.

"What did you do?"

Ringing thundered in Rook's ears. The one thing that she'd hated Solas for the most. The one way he had violated her. That was the one thing she had not told the Inquisitor when they met in the Divine's Mansion. It had not been the right time. But the taste of bile was thick in Rook's mouth as she watched Solas search for the right words.

Lavellan asked again, quiet and suspicious, "What did you do?"

"Varric." Solas said, "I hurt him."

Lavellan raised a brow, "What? But he's been with Rook. I hadn't heard anything from Rook or Harding about -"

"I used blood magic on Rook," Solas continued, "I made her think Varric was still alive." He had not let go of her clasped hands at his chest, "I killed him, on the day of my original ritual a year ago."

It was like a meteor had exploded. Lavellan roared, magic spinning out from her every which way. Her hands on Solas' chest splayed out and she pushed him backwards until they were on the edge of the dias, a step away from the precipice. Below them was only blight and darkness.

"Varric?" Lavellan bellowed, "Why? How?" Thick tears streamed down her face, "He was your friend Solas!"

"It does not matter that I did not mean to," Solas said simply, his hands by his sides. He did not try to push against Lavellan, even though his heels were over the edge of the platform, "I thought I was right and I was willing to use anything and anyone to get my way." His eyelids fluttered closed, his final admission, "I was wrong."

Lavellan let out a sharp cry and grabbed Solas' arm. She yanked him away from the precipice and threw him towards Rook and Morrigan. She bent down and grabbed the dagger that had been so neglected the past few moments. She strode towards Solas and thrust the dagger at him, pushing the hilt against his chest, "Varric deserved to live. I had thought you deserved to live too." She let the words hang thick in the air. She tilted the dagger so that it lay flat against Solas' chest.

"And yet with everything you've done, I can't hate you."

She tilted the dagger to the side, pressing the edge against Solas' skin, "I want you to suffer forever. But I also want you to stop suffering because you have already suffered since forever."

Solas was listening to her raptly. He didn't seem scared or worried about the closeness of the dagger. Instead he hung onto her every word, eyes dragging over her face, her eyes, nose, lips. He was drinking Lavellan in like a man who craved water and had found none - until today.

Rook blinked back tears. It was hate, love and so many other things flashing between them. Rook regretting the complexity between them. As they spoke she took another step back and looked behind her. Lucanis and Emmrich had come closer. Not so close to be crowding them on the platform, but close enough that Rook could see the tension in their bodies, their faces. They were unsure about her gamble. She turned back to watch Lavellan and Solas - so was she.

Lavellan had pulled the dagger back from Solas' chest. She held it between the two of them, a delicate tool of destruction in her thin fingers.

"Tell me what to do!" Lavellan pleaded, "Tell me how to hate you. Tell me how to damn you to a pathetic existence so I can fuck off to my own pathetic existence."

Solas shook his head, "I am sorry I poisoned your life vhenan. I am also sorry to say that I would regret it more if I hadn't met you, even though I know it would lead you to less pain." He lifted his hands to Lavellan's cheeks, thin fingers dancing upon her bloodied skin, "Leaving the life we could have had is my greatest regret."

The thickness around them seemed to crack in two. The unsaid words that Lavellan had dreamed to hear for ten years, spoken into the ether, into reality.

Lavellan heaved a heavy sob and threw herself against Solas. The dagger, once again forgotten, clattered to the floor. She sobbed, hard, and angry into his neck. He gripped her back tightly, his fingers pressing into her robes and her open skin.

Morrigan and Rook exchanged looks. Rook wasn't sure exactly what Morrigan was trying to say. Her expression appeared gentle, soft and there was a hint of a smile. She knew how this would end. Rook couldn't say that she was as sure.

Rook looked back to Lavellan and Solas. They looked like two halves of a whole, glittering in congealed blood and burns against a backdrop of the Fade breaking open. Rook wasn't sure how long they had until it fell, but something inside her told her to wait, told her to put her magic away and wait.

They broke away, but Solas didn't let go of her. He gripped her arms, "Vhenan, I cannot make up for everything that I have done and everyone I have hurt, but I can atone by not damning the world today." He leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Lavellan's forehead.

She didn't move, didn't say anything as Solas stooped to the ground and picked up the dagger. He stood and looked Lavellan in the eye as he took the dagger and sliced a thin line across his palm.

The effect was instantaneous. The crackling of the Fade, the static electricity calmed. It felt like a wave of soothing water had purged the burning fire of destruction.

"Now I am tied to the Veil." Solas said, his eyes scanning everyone around him. He caught Rook's eye and let a half smile onto his face, "The Veil will stay up as long as I am alive."

Rook couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. Her gamble had come out on top. After everything that had happened, everything that had been lost, no more death and destruction - at least not because of a god that she was tasked with stopping. The weight of the world lifted from her shoulders and in rushed a crushing amount of exhaustion. Rook staggered backwards and was immediately caught in the arms of Emmrich.

"Do not worry dearest," Emmrich said to her, "You've brought us to the end. Let us carry you wherever you are headed next."

Beside him Lucanis tilted his head, his eyes , placing his hand on Rook's arm, "You can rest now mi amor."

Rook fought the urge to shut her eyes there and then and let herself be carried down to Minrathous streets. But something told her it wasn't done yet.

She staggered out of Emmerich's arms and looked upon Solas and Lavellan, who were still standing face to face. In the time that she had let her mind wander Lavellan had taken the knife from Solas and was holding it tightly. Her lips were thin and her eyes steely.

Solas looked disapproving. "Vhenan I cannot ask you to do this. You do not know what this means. I walk a road paved in the unknown."

"You are not asking," Lavellan said, "And when is the last time that I have listened to you anyway?" She met his eyes, and though they were steely there was some softness in them, "Eternity may be a long time, but I haven't stopped thinking of you since the day you left. I hate you and love you and hate myself for loving you. I deserve this and I deserve you." She gestured around her, "I have nothing left here that others cannot pick up and do better than me."

Solas didn't move to stop her but instead watched intently as she took the dagger to her own palm, dragging until a thin line of blood sprung up.

A faint warm light pulsed against the wound in her arm before dissipating. Rook could feel it, like a warm blanket pressed against her. She watched as Lavellan passed the blade back to Solas, who stowed it in his belt. Lavellan gripped Solas' arms and pressed her lips to his.

Once they pulled away Lavellan stepped away from Solas and turned to face everyone. Solas gripped her hand tightly in his, "I cannot give the Titans their dreams back but I can do my best to soothe the blight, help as best as I can."

There was nothing else to say, nothing else to do. The night had shorn away Rook's fervour, her drive to keep going. The Veil was safe, for now being tied to two people. The first was one that she could not trust, no matter the gamble she had taken. The second was one that she trusted wholeheartedly, as she had already saved Thedas once before. It was a burden that Rook did not want to see Lavellan bear, but some part of her understood it. Lavellan felt broken, unwhole, hurt, damned and all the rest, while it pained Rook that she was walking into the unknown of the Fade, alongside the god of lies - Lavellan had made that choice. She chose love.

Rook watched as Lavellan and Solas, the deer of the Dalish and the wolf of the Evanuris, walked hand in hand towards the tears in the Veil and then eventually disappeared in a flash of blue light. The dread elven gods had been put to rest, and the last one, responsible for it all, had done what he could to make it right.

Rook took in a breath. She wasn't sure what was ahead of her. She still had wounds to tend, not all of them physical. She knew that there were those who would walk the path with her and yet she couldn't help but regret. She regretted that she had had to walk this path in the first place, regretted that she had to be the one to make final push, to watch her team put themselves in the line of fire, get hurt and even die for their cause, her cause. She regretted that she had to heft the world's safety onto her shoulders. But finally, after a year of pushing the regrets down and keeping her chin up she could rest. Tears spilled from her eyes as she leaned against Emmrich and Lucanis, letting them carry her weight as they walked away from the dias, through the courtyard and away from the Archon's palace. She wouldn't worry about what needed to be done just yet, she would give herself time to recover, to be alone, to yell, scream, cry, beat her head against the wall until she could take a breath without the fears of failure coming to haunt her. But once she had time to do that, once she could look upon the world with fresh eyes, then she would be ready for whatever comes next - and her team would have her back. Her eyes flickered to Lucanis who was helping her down the thick blight stem they had clambered up to get to the Archon's palace. Emmrich was already directing those below to bring her water, food and had a blanket slung around his arm before heading back to her.

It was time to rest. And perhaps one day she'd be able to walk into the shadows with her beloved, without being afraid of the dark.