"Okay Dorian. It's confirmed. You're the only good Tevinter there is, I'm calling it now," Elissa grumbled as she waded through the disgusting waters of the dungeon cells.
"Now, now Elissa dear, we mustn't forget sweet Felix, he's not half bad when you get to know him," Dorian replied as he fought to get his foot unstuck from a particularly sticky substance.
"Okay, fine. We can add Felix- but that's it. The rest of you just- suck!" she cried out as she helped him free.
"Here, here!" he chimed, bobbing over to the very recently dead, floating guards and rifled through their pockets. "Oh look, a large set of keys. Shall we have a turnabout the castle my lady?" he asked, jingling the keys at her like a rattle to placate a crying baby. "Oh don't look at me like that, let me guess- Felix is now the only good Tevinter on your list?" he grinned, knowing that would eke a laugh out of the Herald.
"Shut up, you. You're far too handsome to completely write off... for now. Now let's get out of here and find that magister bastard," she said, dragging herself out of the water and onto the stairs. She carefully toed at the one of the guards and watched as he floated away out of view into one of the cells. "Hmm, how convenient."
"I must say Herald, you are mighty chipper considering we have no idea when we are or what we'll be facing," Dorian noted, smirking at her as he twirled the keys on his finger. "If someone had told me the Inquisition had such wonderful characters, I may have popped in sooner."
"Oh I'm a riot, Master Pavus. On Tuesdays, I perform comedy at the tavern, a pantomime every second Thursday, and then on Sundays I put on a burlesque show for the troops, you know, something to keep their morale up. Give 'em a peek at the girls to remind them what they're fighting for."
"For Ferelden?" he chuckled as he wrung out as much water out of his clothes as he could.
Elissa snorted.
"For my tits. Obviously."
"Of course. They are wonderful tits, I'm sure wars have been waged for less," he laughed heartily. Elissa thanked the Maker that at the very least, she had someone to keep her mind off what was happening around her and to help keep her spirits up as they tried to make it back home.
Unfortunately, her good mood did not last. The longer they roamed around the dungeons, the worse it got.
She did not think it was possible to be so furious, and if she could feel like that- how the hell was everyone else feeling? Coping? After living through all they had, for as long as they had, how were they even able to breathe?
Dorian insisted they check the other rooms to see what they could learn, maybe scrounge around for supplies to help them navigate -survive- the castle. In doing so, they found Grand Enchanter Fiona, more red lyrium than person. Discovered that they had been pushed forward a year into the future, a year where an 'Elder One' ascended into divine power to rule over the world and murdered all that failed to submit.
They continued to scour the cells to find Leliana, as Fiona said she had been captured and was stowed away somewhere in the castle. They needed to find her to understand what happened to the Inquisition and the world, to learn what they could do to stop it all from happening. Instead, they found Cassandra, deep in prayer and infected with the red lyrium, babbling about Andraste giving them another chance and that the end of days being upon them as the dead had returned to life. Elissa had to cut her off when she started blaming herself and citing her failures to protect her and everyone as it sounded far too similar to her own daily monologue; she couldn't bear to hear it from Cassandra too.
"Cassandra, we can go back in time-"
"Go back? Go back and make it so none of this ever happened?" the warrior asked, the first sparks of hope reigniting behind her red flecked irises. "When you died, the Elder one, we could not stop him from rising. The Empress Celene was murdered and the army that swept in afterwards Herald... It was a horde of demons! Nothing we did could stop them, nothing."
Elissa clasped her hand and squeezed it tightly as if to prove that she was truly there to the Seeker, to confirm that she was real. "I'm so sorry Cass… if only, if only I had been there to help you. Help you all."
"Do not blame yourself, for you are here now," she replied, squeezing back.
They continued to search the dungeons, filled with dead villagers and Inquisition members alike, mined for red lyrium just like Fiona. They found a cell block which seemed empty and they were about to turn around when they heard scratching at the stone walls and a familiar rasp.
"You know you guys should just kill me, if I ever make it out of here I will eviscerate you in literature. I will say you all smelled of piss and cheap wine, and all of you sexually attracted to cheese graters."
Elissa sprinted across the room as fast as she could, desperate to confirm that tell-tale voice.
"Varric!" she cried out, clinging to the bars, waving Dorian over to open the cell for him.
"Andraste's sacred knickers!" the dwarf exclaimed, seeing the two of them appear before him. "Where have you been? How did you escape Alexius?"
"We didn't escape," Dorian answered, still fiddling with the lock until it clicked open. "Alexius merely sent us forward in time."
Elissa pushed open the cells and stepped back to allow Varric to come out of his cell. He looked between them and clucked his tongue.
"Why does everything weird happen to you, Stormy? And look at me, without a quill to write this all down. Not that I'll ever get the chance to publish any of this anyways," he added fatalistically.
"If we get to Alexius, I can try to get us back to our own time, simple really," Dorian quipped, hoping to continue with their search.
"That may not be as simple as you think it is," Varric rebutted, only to pause when he saw Cassandra slowly shuffle her way to them, slowly regaining her strength. "Seeker! You're still here too! Well, now we have a party. We have a lot of catch you up on-"
"I have already caught them up on what they have missed this past year, Dwarf," she said with none of the bite it used to have.
Varric laughed with only a shadow of the mirth he once held.
"Ahh Cassandra, never thought I'd miss the day when you interrupted me with your snark. It's good to know you've managed to survive this."
"... And... it is good to know you are alive too, Varric."
A loud singular clap brought them all back to attention, everyone turning their eyes to the Tevinter.
"I do not mean to cut the reunions short, but we really should not tarry here, yes, hmm?" he asked, looking at each of them with his brows raised to question if he was wrong. "Lovely. There looks to be only one last set of cells left on this floor to look for your wonderful Spymaster, we should go and find her before this Elder One decides to come down here to enjoy this marvellous ambiance."
Varric looked up at Elissa and shook his head at her whilst another genuine smile spread across his face.
"You and Hawke, you both manage to find the most fascinating people to call friends," Varric snorted.
"Well, we're both fantastic judges of character," she chirped back.
"That... remains to be seen, Herald," Cass muttered but allowed a small smile to form on her face, enjoying the first bit of levity they had since they saw Elissa seemingly die before their eyes.
"If you want to take on Alexius, I'm in. Let's go," Varric said, walking out, determined. "Elder Prick's lackeys have taken Bianca from me, I think it's high time to get my lady back in my arms and get some payback, Stormy."
They carefully ascended the steps and slowly opened the heavy door, Dorian taking a quick peek before opening it completely to let them follow him out. Thankfully, it seemed they were still quite free to roam around the dungeons. Considering the dilapidated state of the cells, and most of the prisoners dead or dying, why would they waste the manpower?
They came to the final room and Elissa could feel her shoulders slump as there was still no trace of their Spymaster. She came to a stop at the last cell on the left, the breath knocked out of her at the sight. She could feel a cold sensation sweep over her entire body as she walked closer, trying her best to tell herself it wasn't real.
The same red surcoat. The same dark blonde hair. The same man before her- except for the red tinted irises and blackened veins that branched out under his now pallid skin. Dark circles under his sunken eyes and his breathing laboured, coming out of him in short hisses and wheezes. His once tall and proud frame, burdened with a mass of red lyrium protruding from his right arm and shoulder; forcing him to hunch forward, his arm bent at an odd angle to brace against his chest to bear the weight. He must have been in so much pain, but he made no complaint, resigned to his fate in silence alone in his cell.
"Leave me be," he whispered, his voice as warped as Cassandra and Varric's. "If the Maker has any power left, I pray he will let me remember all of your cursed faces when I turn so I may strike you down first."
"C-Cullen?" she stammered, coming out of the shadow to let him see her.
His reaction to her voice broke her heart. The instant despair that flooded his face, more painful than any spell or weapon an enemy had used upon her. The way his eyebrows creased and the downturn of his mouth as he held in his tears at the sight of her, it would have been less painful for someone to light her on fire.
"No! N-Not again, I beg you please- leave me! Leave me!" he wept, standing up with great difficulty to face the wall. "Just like the circle, you demons taunt me. Show me what could have been but never will be. I failed them, I failed her when I let her go to Redcliffe alone. I should have tried harder to dissuade her, or at least been with her, maybe I could have... saved her or... and now you all come and make me look upon her. Leave me, demon!" he begged, slamming his free fist into the wall as he cried. "... Please."
Elissa turned to the others and waved them off, to tell them to stay back as she tried to talk to their broken Commander.
"Cullen, I am no demon-"
"Said the demon," he spat back over his shoulder, still refusing to look back at her. "For pity's sake, I am already to become one of the Elder One's lyrium-addled monsters, mindless and vicious. Why must you make me endure her looks of pity? What more can you have of me that he has not already taken? What else is left?"
"Cullen please-"
"I understand it perfectly now," he snarled, spinning around with more speed than she thought him capable of in his current state. "How infuriating it must have been for Leliana to see a demon with her perfect face on it back in Haven. None before you have gotten her quite so right before. Never had the right colour for her eyes or quite understood the emotion she could hold in them. You're good, I'll give you that. Now do me a favour- and burn in hell where you belong."
"First you call me a despair demon, and now you tell me to burn in hell- a girl could start to think you really don't like her," she said as spritely as she could, anything to get through to him that she was no demon or figment of his fractured mind.
Cullen paused and shook his head, how did... How did it know that? He barely remembered, how far did the damned demon delve into his head to find that memory to use against him?
"The Herald is long dead, demon," he rasped, his momentary burst of energy waning away quickly. "You've had your fun, find someone else you can torture. There's nothing left in me to hurt."
Elissa could no longer contain her distress at the picture before her, her strong, unshakable Commander, reduced to nothing but a splintered mess of a man, riddled with a disease with no cure.
"I am not dead, Cullen. I did not die-"
"Stop it."
"I was sent forward in time with Dorian-"
"Stop it."
"And we're here to get to Alexius and go back, so none of this will ever happen-"
"STOP IT!" he roared, charging into the bars with his teeth bared like a wild animal, eyes glinting crimson as he stared her down.
Elissa pushed aside her fear as she stepped forward and met him at the bars, knowing full well he would be able to reach out and attack her if she were not careful. She slowly and gently wrapped her hand around his that clung to the iron frame and ran her thumb across his fingers, like he had done to her just a week prior. Cullen looked at her with confusion, feeling the warmth from her hand flow into him. He looked at her closely, studied her features well and breathed her in- only for new tears to pool in his eyes.
"It is you- Maker... Maker, you truly are alive and here," he said faintly, voice trembling. Cullen sank down onto his knees; he had not wanted anyone to see him like this, driven half insane and turning into one of the Elder One's cursed behemoths. Whatever shred of dignity he thought he had left was gone. He could hear her fumble the keys in her hands as she raced to open the door. He wanted to tell her to stop, to stay away and stay safe away from him, but he could not find his voice or the strength to do so.
Elissa finally managed to find the right key and pushed the door open, falling to his side instantly. She took his face in her hands and helped him look up into her eyes, almost periwinkle in the dim light and swimming in tears that threatened to flood over.
"I'm here, Cullen," she said, her voice barely over a whisper as she pressed her forehead against his.
He closed his eyes and relished in her closeness and the gentleness of her touch. He had not felt such kindness since- since they both stood on the outskirts of their camp at Haven, so long ago for him.
"You... should stay away Elissa," he croaked, moving away from her. "I am not myself anymore. I may forget who I am, who you are. You were safer on the other side of the bars."
Elissa ignored him and stared at the large spikes that came from his body. She pulled at his armour to get a better look at the site but released him when he screamed in agony. The damned red lyrium had completely fused him to his armour, his skin beneath completely encased within. She would not, could not give up. This was Cullen.
"Maybe... Maybe I can cut it off? I could try to freeze the lyrium and break it off of you? Or perhaps we can melt it down?"
"Elissa- there is no stopping this-"
"I'm not very good at fire spells, but Dorian surely could-"
"Elissa, Elissa. Listen to me. There's nothing to be done for me."
"Shut up. I can do this. I can save you. I will save you," she said, more for herself than to comfort him. She tried to pull out the shards but they stayed where they were, only causing the man more pain. She didn't know what she could do, her hands useless to save the man she...
"I will save you, Cullen."
He offered her a small smile and shook his head sadly.
"Elissa... Enough."
"It is not enough, I just need a moment," she bargained with him, her throat tightening as more tears fell unbidden as she started to panic. Cullen took one of her hands in his to try to calm her, but she pulled away defiantly. "No. You can't give up, I haven't. I'm still right here. Why bring me here if I can't... if I can't save you," she cried.
"It seems too much to ask to be saved by you more than once in a lifetime. I am content enough to know you are well, " he said as his fingertips tenderly wiped at the tears that gathered along her jaw.
"What are you talking about, Cullen?" she interrupted, agitated by his attempts to stop her. She tried one more time to pull out the red lyrium, its heat emanating through her gloves.
"You need to stop touching that, stop touching me. I'm tainted, Elissa, the longer you stay here the higher the chance of you getting sick. Do not ask me to survive that."
She sat back on her haunches and ripped off her gloves before throwing them onto the ground beside her. Elissa took his face in her hands again and let her thumbs sweep over his tear streaked cheeks, his skin colder to the touch than it should have been.
Cullen allowed himself another moment of weakness and leant into her palm, the smooth skin and calm hum of her magic beneath it a comfort he did not think he would seek out during his final days. He took her right hand, placed a chaste kiss on her unmarked palm and held it against his jaw like a lifeline to keep his mind there with her for as long as he could.
"It's funny how life works, isn't it, Elissa? How history seemingly repeats itself? When you first met me, I was stuck behind a magical barrier and now, I am stuck with this corruption. Each time. Each time you promise me the same thing. Whether it be Kinloch or Redcliffe... You promise to save me. To save everyone."
Elissa stilled at his words, she had met him before Haven? She did not remember it but wished she could, even if it caused her unbearable pain, she wanted to remember with him.
"And I did... didn't I?" she challenged with a hollow laugh. "You were there for me in Haven, so... so I must have kept that promise."
"You did," he agreed, pressing yet another kiss to her palm, his thumb caressing her bare hand. Elissa did her best to hold in the bulk of her grief; she had selfishly once wished to feel his touch without any barriers but this was not what she had wanted at all.
"Elissa?" he asked, searching her eyes, touched that the Herald of Andraste, the Hero of Ferelden, had felt him worthy enough to weep for him in his pathetic state. She made a noise of acknowledgement as she swept her thumb affectionately over his lips after he pressed another kiss in her hand. "The only freedom at this point would be my death. It's alright, it's a blessing to even know you are safe from harm. So -please..."
She recoiled from him, her hand slipping away from his loose grip, her warmth missed immediately.
"What are you asking of me?" she gasped, staring at him aghast. Cullen moved closer to her and reached over to her belt to pull out her dagger.
"I cannot do it myself. I had tried but the lyrium... my only blade was destroyed, it could not cut through it."
"-Cullen-"
"Please. Do this to save me, then get free of this place and save yourself..."
"I can't."
"You can," he assured her, folding her fingers around the dagger's handle. "It is not fair to ask this of you, I know. I am so sorry Elissa- but I do not want to turn into a senseless abomination. I have seen them, heard their screams. I ask for your mercy, though I may not deserve it," he pleaded, squeezing her hand to hold onto the dagger tightly.
"I'm going to go back, Cullen, I'm going to get back and make sure that none of this happens," she swore to him as she pressed her forehead back to his, her hand threading through the hair at the back of his head, drawing a small sigh of relief from the man as he closed his eyes. "I will save you and everyone, as many times as it takes. I swear it."
"Thank you. It was more than I deserved, to see you alive here... To not die a-a-..."
Elissa would never forget the feel of her blade as it sunk into his temple, never forget the feel of his last breath on her shoulder or the weight of him as he fell forward on her. She sat there for a moment unsure of what to do, unable to move. Her fingers lingered in his hair as she could feel the cursed wobble of her bottom lip and the twinge deep in her chest. She clung to him as best as she could, uncaring that the red lyrium was poking into her or that she was pulling at his hair hard enough to pull the strands out- he could no longer feel it.
"You're not alone, Cullen. I'm right here."
Elissa found it hard to breathe as she looked around her, begging for someone, anyone, to tell her how to fix it all. She dug the heels of her palm into her eye trying to stop herself from crying, but she could not. Her gasps for air and whimpering grew into guttural gulps and screams. She did not care if she was found by the enemy, did not care if she summoned flames that burned Redcliffe castle to ashes; she cried out from the overwhelming pain that filled her body. The heavy wails that came from the depths of her lungs bounced off the stone walls of the cell, a choir of her voice, singing back her agony in perfect harmony. She sobbed for Cullen. Sobbed for herself. Sobbed for all the people who fell victim to the world that forged on without her, sobbed for all that she should have prevented.
She rearranged herself on the floor to let him lie upon her, his entire side resting against her abdomen as she cradled his lifeless body, rocking back and forth with her arms straining under his weight. Elissa glared at the red lyrium that jutted out of him and wanted nothing more than to blast off the damned things off of him. They did not belong there. He did not belong there.
She continued to stare at the murky red shards, her mind flashing scenes of an older couple on the floor, a man bleeding out from a grievous wound to his side and a woman crying over him. The walls around them smeared with blood and endless screams resounded in the background. The woman stayed in place with the dying man on her lap as she fired her arrows to a group of unknown assailants until none remained in her quiver. She clutched onto the man's prone form, chin up and full of pride at the blade that was about to come down upon her...
Elissa screamed and tore her eyes away from the lyrium. It triggered something deeper within her and she could only handle one traumatic thing at a time, lest she truly lose control and burn the world to the ground. She took in a breath and then another, the physical pain induced by the memory fading rapidly in comparison to the sorrow that lingered within her.
She forced herself to concentrate on the man she held onto. Even ravaged by the lyrium, he looked so peaceful. She leant forward and allowed herself to cry over him, pressing kisses to his brow that he would never know she gave him. But she would, even when they went back in time and erased this future from existence, her memory would remain.
Her companions stood outside of Cullen's cell, listening on in sombre silence. Cassandra wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and Varric hung his head low, mourning for the ex-Templar he called Curly. Even Dorian, who had only known the Commander a handful of days since moving to Haven, said a quiet prayer in his mother tongue for the man who begged for freedom.
When Elissa started to cry, they could all feel their chests constrict for her. They were not blind, there was more there than the two had admitted to themselves, and she was still so young to feel this type of loss, to have to endure the burden that was always placed upon her shoulders. Varric cleared his throat in discomfort, seeing the severe parallels between Hawke and Elissa and how he always seemed so powerless to help either of his friends. Cassandra could take it no longer and moved to comfort the poor girl, but was stopped by Dorian.
"I know you want to help her, and whilst time is literally of the essence, at the very least we should give them this opportunity to be together, if only for a moment longer," he reasoned whilst Elissa continued to weep, her heaving sobs and anguished screams filling the cell block.
Until silence fell.
Elissa shuffled from under Cullen's body, only the odd hiccup and sniffle heard as she laid him upon the ground. She came out of the cell looking as if she had aged a decade, her face streaked with tears and a hand clasped around a bloodied dagger. Cassandra leapt up and wiped off the blood that had stained Elissa's hand. She was about to take the dagger to clean it when the Herald stole her hand back.
"No, he stays with me," she hissed, her grief turned to motivation. "He will be with me as I take this dagger and plunge it into that Magister's heart. He will have his justice, just like everyone else will. Come... to work," she said solemnly, her voice only cracking at the last two words, words she repeated in honour of her Commander, a reminder there was still so much left for her to do.
Elissa had opened the door just in time to see Leliana look up at her, wrap her legs around her torturer's head and snap his neck. She watched him fall lifelessly to the floor and dropped down to look for the keys to release the Sister from the chains holding her off the floor. She began to work on the cuffs around her wrists when she realised Leliana was staring at her bewildered.
"You're... Alive?" she asked quietly as she massaged her wrists. Elissa nodded, still not up to rehashing everything once again, still doing her best to keep moving after what happened with Cullen. "How... How many times must I mourn you Lissa?" she asked, stopping the mage in her tracks, the two looking at each other, unable to put words to the cacophony of feelings that rushed through them both.
Leliana looked at the party behind her, asked if they all had weapons and brushed past the Herald toward the chest that held her bow and arrows, disinterested in hearing from Dorian how they came to be there or had survived.
"Enough, This is all pretend to you. Some future you hope will never exist. I suffered. The whole world suffered. It was real," she snapped at them, but her ire directed at Elissa.
Again. You did this to me again.
Elissa reached for her but the woman had already moved out of her grasp to walk out into the hallway.
"Come, the Magister is probably in his chambers."
Their exploration of the castle revealed horror after horror that no one could muster the strength to address. Mages sacrificing themselves to become demons in service to their Elder One, the Breach expanding over the heavens, the world tearing itself apart with land masses floating in the sky. Then came Connor... Elissa had hurled herself forward when she heard him, an icy dread running through her when she recognised the demonic voice was none but his own, talking to himself. By the time they got the door open he was already ablaze, the young man's face contorted in a pained contentment as he disintegrated into nothing, his spell so strong that he left nothing she could mourn.
"Connor... no," she lamented as she fell to the place he had immolated himself. Dorian did his best to offer succour, telling her that the young mage had remained true to himself to the last and that the demon did not win- the words rang empty at the Herald's memory of the Little Lord she did everything she could to make smile.
Leliana sneered at the sight against her will. This boy she barely remembered, this boy she cried for, this boy she felt empathy for. But for her? She got nothing but a look of guilt. Leliana was desolate at the news that Elissa had died by Alexius' hand, beyond heartbroken that her friend was miraculously returned to her but stolen away before they could truly reconnect once again. The Maker's cruellest trick before setting the world on fire and leaving them with no hope to fight for it.
The year of unimaginable torture and sick experimentation she endured paled in comparison to the deep and unending pain of her regret... Why didn't she try to speak to her more? Why didn't she stop and make more time to rekindle their friendship? Why did she let another chance slip through her fingers?
And now, she was back yet again, returned to this dying version of their world, and again, there was no time to be who she wanted to be with her. Truthfully, she did not know if she even remembered how to be that woman anymore, the version of herself which she shed so many years ago in order to survive, to do what had to be done. The Spymaster stormed by the two mages in her midst and waited for them back in the hall, unable to tolerate watching Elissa mourn a boy they barely knew, over trying to remember her, her best friend.
The party had managed to track down all five pieces of the lyrium shards required by Alexius' massive door. Dorian figured out how to use all of them to unlock the monstrosity and everyone readied themselves for what they expected would be an army of Venatori behind the door as a final barrier between them and Alexius. Instead, they found a pathetic, crouched creature and Alexius standing beside it quietly.
"I knew you would appear again. Not that it would be now. But I knew I hadn't destroyed you. My final failure," the Magister said flatly, not bothering to look at them.
"Was it worth it? Everything you did to the world? To yourself?" Dorian asked, unable to hide his scorn, hoping to get some sort of explanation that could make sense of it all.
"It doesn't matter now. All we can do is wait for the end," Alexius despaired, his indifference causing Elissa's blood to boil. She clenched her teeth together at his apathetic demeanour. After everything he had done- everyone that suffered because of his choices- he had no right to be so indifferent!
"You wait for the end then, but I will undo this," she snapped, her hand upon her dagger, her mana crackling about her at the memory of whose blood painted the blade.
"How many times have I tried? The past cannot be undone."
Leliana took the opportunity whilst Alexius' attention was diverted and snuck up to the pathetic husk that he kept company by the fire. She grabbed it effortlessly and drew a dagger and held it to its throat. The strange thing let out a strangled cry, feeble and pitiful in Leliana's hold.
"Felix!" Alexius cried, trying to step forward to rescue his son. Leliana pressed the knife closer to his neck, causing a small cut to form. The blood that sluggishly oozed out, a sickly dark red against his sallow and bruised skin.
Dorian turned around and took in the sight of his friend, barely human or alive anymore; merely clinging onto life as a house broken ghoul and nothing else. A shadow of the bright and kind man he had grown up with and thought of as a younger brother.
"That's Felix? Alexius, what have you done to him? What have you done?!" he shouted, unable to understand what madness had taken over his former mentor.
"He would have died, Dorian! I did what I could to save him!" he said, trying to explain to him but knew there was no use. "Until you are a parent, you can never know the depths one would reach, the depravity one would undertake for just a chance to save your child. Please, don't hurt my son. I'll do anything you ask."
Elissa thought of Connor and his mother and squeezed the handle of her dagger once more, praying for something to help stay her hand. "Hand over the amulet, and we let him go," she said to him, willing to let the boy live if it meant they could go back home and she could kill the magister upon their return.
"Let him go, and I swear you'll get what you want," Alexius begged, his hand with the amulet extended toward Dorian. Elissa looked back and was about to tell Leliana to release Felix when she saw the determination in the Spymaster's eyes. She had tried to reach out and stop her but it was too late- the knife went clean and deep through the magister's son; to ensure no magic would be able to save him.
"I want the world back," she said simply, pushing Felix's corpse towards Alexius who caught him, pressing his hand to his neck to try to heal his wound in vain.
Alexius bawled, crying out words in Tevene, as his son's blood coated his hands. He held on to him frantically, not unlike Elissa had done with Cullen not so long before. As distasteful as she found what Leliana had done, she could not feel too much empathy for the magister. He had set this course, made his choices, and it was the world and his son that paid for it. In more ways than one.
When the Magister bitterly accepted there was nothing more he could do for his son he stood up and slammed his staff into the floor, the force blasting Leliana back off the dais; the woman landing on the steps in a bundle of limbs.
The chamber burst into chaos as Alexius, deranged and grieving, wielded his magic. With a shout, he summoned rifts that twisted the very fabric of time, his figure darting between them like a phantom, taunting the party with his every flicker. The room's walls warped and pulsed, distorting space as he reappeared in different corners, laughing desperately to halt his tears.
Elissa clenched her staff tightly, her breath coming in ragged bursts. Lightning arced from her fingertips, crackling through the air as she tried to target Alexius. Yet, each time she fired, he vanished into another rift, his mocking laughter echoing through the room. Beside her, Dorian fought with dark resignation. He had never wanted it to come to this, battling his old mentor, but there was no other choice. Dorian summoned his wisps to clash with the demons Alexius continued to unleash, whilst he sent fireballs aimed at the Magister trying to drive the man into a corner.
Cassandra charged forward, her sword flashing as she carved through and purged the waves of demons that poured out from the rifts. Her armour splattered with blood as she mowed down the enemy ranks time and again. Varric perched himself with his dear Bianca and fired arrow after arrow at anything that moved, his bolts creating temporary buffers between Alexius and the rest of his party. Beside him stood Leliana, her hands a blur as she released a steady stream of arrows beside her fellow rogue. Even endless torture could not diminish the formidable fighter that she was. Her aim remained impeccable, each shot finding its mark among the demons that threatened to overwhelm them.
But despite their best efforts, Alexius remained an elusive and enraging target. His voice cut through the din with cruel delight.
"You think you can change what is fated, Inquisition? The past is beyond your grasp just as it is mine!"
Elissa's eyes narrowed in fury as she channelled a blast of frost toward him. Ice crackled along the ground, forming jagged shards that briefly hindered Alexius' movements. Dorian's pleas were almost lost in the clamour of battle.
"Alexius, please! This is your last chance! Give us the amulet and let us undo this madness!"
Alexius's eyes flared and his lips quivered from unchecked rage. "You dare to demand anything from me? I will not be swayed by your pitiful pleas!"
Finally, two arrows hit their mark, and his defences fell just long enough for Elissa to seize the opportunity. Driven by a cold, burning vengeance, she lunged at Alexius, her eyes locked onto him. In one decisive movement, she drew the bloodied dagger from her belt, the blade gleaming ominously as she thrusted it into Alexius's chest. His eyes widened in shock as he fell, convulsing on the ground. His final breath escaped in a ragged gasp. Elissa stood over him, her heart pounding with a twisted sense of justice, mixed with profound disgust and self-loathing. The vengeance she sought had been achieved, but at a terrible cost to herself.
Dorian silently mourned the fallen mage, wise enough to understand that no one in the room would sympathise with him or feel any loss at the death of a magister who was instrumental in destroying the world. He quietly said his goodbyes to his once magnificent mentor and picked up the amulet from his hand to study it closely.
"This is the same amulet he used before. I think it's the same one we made in Minrathous. That's a relief. Give me an hour to work out the spell he used, and I should be able to reopen the rift."
"An hour? That's impossible! You have to leave now," Leliana exclaimed, well aware of the looming threat.
The ground beneath them trembled, and a screech of a dragon echoed through the chamber, accompanied by the rumbling of an advancing horde of demons. Varric and Cassandra shared a grim look, their resolve unshaken despite the dire circumstances.
"Go," Cassandra urged, her voice firm. "Fix the world. We'll hold them off here."
"Get that amulet working and tell past-me all about what happened here. Let us take care of the rest," Varric added, his face etched with purpose.
Elissa burst forward, unable to stomach the thought of any more of her friends dying, now or ever. She'd had enough.
"No, there's got to be another way, I will not allow you all to die for me!" she demanded, willing to drag them all back to her time with her, consequences be damned. Leliana scoffed at her naive friend, partly jealous that she could still be innocent enough to believe that they would all live to tell the tale, and the other part angry at herself that she wished it could be true as well.
"Look at us Elissa, we're already dead," she deadpanned, looking at each of the Inquisition members, injured and infected. "The only way we survive this now, is if this day never comes."
The rumbling grew stronger and Varric and Cassandra did not wait to say goodbye to the Herald, holding in their heart that a version of themselves would see her soon enough. They walked out of the front doors which Leliana secured after them, as if locks would be enough to keep the army out.
"You, cast your spell," she instructed pointedly at Dorian. "You have as much time as I have arrows."
As the two mages retreated to the back of the throne room with the amulet, the demons and Venatori soldiers marched forward, the door cracking open as the first wave of enemies threw themselves against it. The battle outside grew more desperate as Varric and Cassandra fought with everything they had, but it was a lost cause to begin with. They were easily overwhelmed and their fallen forms were thrown back into the hall for the rest to see, battered and unmoving to mock and intimidate them. Leliana, undeterred, continued to fight to give them as much time as she could; her arrows finding their marks even as she recited the Maker's prayer, defiance in her voice.
When her arrows ran out, she used her bow to strike at their enemies, fluttering about them in a flurry of moves that seemed unstoppable until a massive arrow pierced her chest, stalling her for but a second. Still, she refused to fall, continuing her fight with unwavering resolve. Elissa cried out and tried to run back to her, to help her however she could but she was pulled back by Dorian.
"If you move, we will all die!" he warned her, his spell slightly faltering with his concentration. Elissa swore and gripped her staff, unsure if she could continue to stand idly by.
Leliana was surrounded by the encroaching army and captured in a headlock by a Venatori guard to taunt the Herald. The swarm of enemies closed in, ready to tear her apart, hesitating purposefully to force her hand and rescue the Spymaster. Elissa's heart ached as she saw her dire plight and she started to move toward her once again, but Dorian's voice pulled her back to reality.
"Stay with me!" he shouted, "there's a whole past full of people we need to save, presently!"
Leliana's eyes met Elissa's, her expression one of poignant acceptance. "You need to undo all of this. Make this right," she said calmly, despite her own imminent demise.
"I will," Elissa promised, trembling with grief and resolve.
"And Lissa, if you can… please remember me," Leliana said, her simple request almost a whisper before the demon's claws ripped into her chest.
Elissa's scream was swallowed by the swirling energy of the spell as Dorian wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into the portal. The last sight of the doomed future was of Leliana's brave sacrifice as the portal enveloped them, the sound of the battle fading into the distance.
As the portal closed behind them, the world outside was left in turmoil, but for the hope of a different future—one where all their sacrifices might make a difference. Dorian's spell carried them back through time, into the uncertain yet hopeful promise of another chance to set things right.