Chapter Text
Countless people were arriving to see the Conclave. The temple was filled near to capacity, yet people still attempted to squeeze their way in through the only entry way, pressed up into each other leaving no gaps between them. Those not inside yet, continued to push, poking their heads above the crowd, seeking nonexistent space to move into. And that was only the commoners, who had been afflicted by this ongoing war for years, praying they would hear but rumor that it would be reaching its end today.
Templars and mages were gathered at the front of the temple, each side dividing themselves seemingly less interested in a peaceful solution than to be at each other's throats as they glared at each other from across the room. Every movement measured as though one wrong step might ignite the spark to bring the war right into this very room.
Varric let out a long breath, eyes fixed on the floor below the balcony where he sat. He’d seen this scene before far too recently and the outcome hadn’t been good. He turned his attention to the woman sitting to the right of him. The Seeker sat with hardened eyes watching every move made by those below the balcony. Despite her confident posture, Varric could see beneath the surface the nervousness as she tapped her fingers against the hilt of her blade.
He cleared his throat louder than necessary. Cassandra snapped her head in his direction, her face twisted into a snarl and he couldn’t help the smirk that happened upon his face. She absolutely despised him and it amused him to no end. It served her right for kidnapping him and thrusting him back into this war after everything he had already been through in Kirkwall.
Pushing his own anxiety down, Varric leaned back into his seat, nodding his head back in the direction of the crowded floor below them. “Don’t suppose there are any Seekers in that crowd for when this gets messy? And it will indeed get messy.” Varric confidently emphasized.
There was a brief moment where Cassandra’s confidence wavered at the statement. Her snarl turned into a frown, before she redirected her attention to the crowd. “I am the only Seeker here.”
Varric could feel his heart thudding against his chest at the implication. There was no crowd control. The events of Kirkwall flashed before him. Templars gutting mages, mages turning into abominations, children crying for their parents, the smell of all that smoke and blood. He couldn’t live through that again. Every instinct in his body was screaming at him to get out of there. But where would he go?
There he sat between the Left and Right hands of the Divine, two of the scariest and most powerful women he had ever been on the wrong side with. They brought him there for a reason and he doesn't think they will let him go until they have what they wanted. His eyes fell to the empty throne in the center of the end of the room. The seat for the Divine, who had yet to make an appearance. There were no other Seekers and the only hope for peace was one old woman who had yet to show up.
A gentle hand was felt on his left shoulder, a gentleness he had not expected to feel from Leliana. He feared her more than Cassandra. The Seeker was easy to read. He knew he had successfully fooled her into thinking he had no knowledge of Hawke’s whereabouts, but the Left Hand? There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind telling him, he knew she knew the truth and that was the exact reason he was in this mess. Varric swallowed the lump in his throat giving her a nervous smile which she returned. “I know this is not ideal, but we must have faith in Justina now more than ever.”
Varric remained silent, simply nodding in agreement. Removing her hand, she reached beside her revealing Varric’s beloved crossbow which had been confiscated from him for nearly a month now. “I trust we can expect you to aid us if things turn ‘messy’ as you claimed.” Leliana nudged the crossbow closer to him, encouraging him to take it.
He slowly reached for his crossbow, grasping it before tugging it towards him. At the corner of his eye he saw a brief reaction from Cassandra as though she suspected he would turn on them and for a moment he’d considered it, but he knew he wouldn’t get far between Nightingale’s spies guarding the doors and the templars. No it wouldn’t be long before he was slapped right back in chains by the Seeker. Instead he lifted Bianca into his lap, assessing her for any damages and making sure she was properly loaded with bolts. Not many, but enough to at least get them out of there if needed. “Not sure what you’re expecting one dwarf to do against the Chantry’s best, but sure. I’ll help if I can.”
He glances at Cassandra from the corners of his eyes watching her release a breath she’d been holding, her fingers hovered ever so slightly above the hilt of her blade as if she had considered drawing the sword. She still didn’t trust him and he couldn’t blame her. The feeling was mutual.
“Seeker Pentaghast!” A young man hurried to them from the hall. He stops at the entry bowing his head out of respect. It wasn’t clear if the man was a spy or perhaps one of the men tending to the Chantry, but Varric suspects the former. Leliana tended to hide her people in the most overlooked positions. “There is a quarrel out front. A templar and mage.”
Well that didn’t take long Varric thinks as he slumps further into his seat looking between the women on each side of him. Cassandra was up in an instant while Leliana took her time. She redirected her attention back to him, lifting her hood back over her head. “Will you be alright here?”
No. He wants to say the thought of staying in this temple another second makes his skin crawl. But he wasn’t going to deny himself the opportunity to be free of the Seeker’s clutches. In fact, this was the perfect chance for him to escape. If he was lucky he’d be in Denerim waiting for the next boat out of Feralden before they caught onto him. So he nods, resting his arm over his crossbow and staring into the crowd once more. “I’ll be here.” He lies waving them off to go.
Leliana leads and Cassandra follows lingering behind for a moment as she turns her head over her shoulder. “Varric…” She says his name, causing him to look towards her once more. “Stay safe” she finished with sincere concern that caught him off guard.
It seemed the tough exterior had faded and he could see the fear and anxiety he suspected her of having on her face. He thought to say something witty to at least turn her fear back into anger, but he held his tongue. Instead Varric nods his head giving her a reassuring smile. “You too, Seeker”
A slight smile appears on her face before she follows Leliana and the young man to the location of the quarrel. He watches her leave, almost feeling guilty for thinking about running off. Almost…
The second they were out of ear shot, he stood up from his seat, swinging Bianca over his shoulder and made his way to the hallway. He took a peak on both sides making sure neither of the Divine’s Hands were there. When he was sure it was clear, he turned to the right and made his way down the hall of the temple.
He'd memorized the route back to the entrance of the temple, plotting his escape, but it was likely his captors were at that exit. A temple as large as this one was bound to have other exits, a servant’s door or an opened window if he was desperate enough.
Varric moved quickly through the hall passing a few Chantry sisters eyeing him suspiciously, but he flashed a charming smile and pressed on, giving them no reason to doubt he was supposed to be there. Turning through another corridor, he pressed his back to the stone walls. “This is probably far enough from the entrance.” He whispered to himself hoping he'd reached the opposite end from where Leliana and Cassandra would be. He remembers Cassandra’s smile wishing him safety despite everything he'd put her through. It was the first time he'd ever seen her smile the whole time he'd been forced into her company.
What was she really hoping from bringing him with her to Fereldan? She couldn't have possibly thought he'd hand over Hawke now after seeing this mess, after admitting the Seekers hadn't shown up for the council. Hawke would be killed and maybe not by Cassandra but by someone and he couldn't risk that. But that smile…he was lying to her and she was putting faith in him.
She's just another Chantry thug. He reminded himself, easing the guilt away as he gazed at the large doors in front of him.
A spark of green light was visible at the foot of the door and Varric eyed it curiously. There was the mumbling of voices from the other side. A woman and a deeper familiar voice. Creeping to the door he pressed his ear to it, listening as best he could through the wood.
“Bring forth the sacrifice…” The deep voice said and Varric was certain he'd heard this voice before. A voice that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to rise. For a moment he thought about opening the door, just to take a peak.
“Why are you doing this?! You of all people!” The woman spoke again. A desperate older voice, Orlesian accent. Could that be the Divine?
Varric backed away from the door, his morality being tested. He was so close to escape, so close to being away from all of this but now… now a woman was in trouble, not just any woman either, but likely the Divine and he couldn't just leave her.
He’d thought about running to tell someone to get the Seeker. But that might take too much time. For all he knew, Justina would be dead before Cassandra was even aware she was in danger.
A bead of cold sweat slid down the right side of his head as he stared at the doors knowing he was going to regret what he did next. Taking Bianca off his back, he undid the safety mechanic holding the crossbow in front of him before kicking the door open. “What's going on here?” He shouted
All eyes in the room turned to him. The Divine was trapped in some kind of magical prison with a tall all too familiar figure hovering over her, one arm stretched out to her and the other holding a green glowing orb. “Corephyus?!” Varric barely got the name out in a single breath as he choked back his surprise.
He was supposed to be dead. Varric had been with Hawke when they fought him and there hadn't been any reason to believe they left the dark spawn alive.
Justina snapped Varric out of his surprise. “You have to run! Warn them!” She pleaded knowing Varric was likely the last hope to get a message out.
But he was outnumbered. Several what appeared to be Grey Wardens lined the room, drawing weapons as Varric lingered in the doorway. Corephyus snarled at him, daring him to attempt to escape. Varric’s heart was thudding hard against his chest realizing this was a bad decision and he likely wouldn't make it out of this alive. Oh what he wouldn't give to be back at the Seeker’s side now.
“Kill the dwarf” the darkspawn commanded with the tone of irritation as he returned his attention back to the Divine.
The Grey Wardens began to approach and Varric did not hesitate to shoot knowing he'd have enough bolts to at least take them out. Varric's success led to another snarl from Corephyus as he returned his attention to the dwarf.
Seeing an opportunity, the Divine used the distraction to knock the orb from his hand causing it to roll just between them and Varric. Both Corephyus and Varric lunged for the orb but Varric got to it first.
Pain hissed through his arm as it became engulfed in the green light. He held back a pained scream as the room began to fill with green light before going black
—--------
It was unbearable watching two grown men bicker like children. Cullen tried reasoning with the templar while Leliana approached the mage, but the shouting was not coming to an end as both men continued pleading their cases over the shoulders of their peacemakers.
“Enough!” Cassandra shouts over the squabbling stepping between both parties. “We are here to resolve this matter, not encourage it any further!”
“Seeker this mage-”
“I said enough!” Cassandra would not hear anymore of it. Truthfully she understood the complaints of both sides. The templars feared what the mages could do. The mages seeking their freedom. It has been this way as long as she could remember. But quarreling right before a summit in which both parties are promised to be heard was not the answer. And perhaps she could have eased the tension if she actually had an answer to provide them.
The Seekers were supposed to be that source of peace, the resolution to prevent conflict like this, but they had failed. Somehow, they were completely blindsided by how badly the circles had actually gotten and it wasn’t until she had spoken to Varric that she had actually seen how badly they had failed. That was why she could not agree with the Lord Seeker’s decision to side with the Templars. Why she refused to simply accept only mages were the problem. The Divine was their last hope now since she failed to sway the mind of the Lord Seeker.
An explosion of green light erupted from behind them, the blast of the aftershock sending bits of debris their way. Cassandra instinctively reached for her shield, pulling Leliana behind it to protect the both of them. Shock washed over them as they stared at the Temple of Sacred Ashes now engulfed in flame and green light. The blast of light shot directly into the sky causing some sort of rift in the clouds appearing to tear it open.
“Justina…” Leliana painfully whispered the name from behind the safety of the shield.
Cassandra shared her concern as her hope was beginning to fade away watching demons beginning to fall from the rift in the sky. Shaking her head, Cassandra snaps into action. “Cullen, we have to get everyone to safety. Have your men stationed at the temple clear a path for the people to return to Haven.”
He nods repeating her orders to his soldiers, drawing his own weapon to join them in the rescue. Leliana pulls her bow from her back as she watches Cassandra direct soldiers to Haven to guard the gates. As the Seeker returns to her side she asks “Do you think…do you think she made it out of there?”
Cassandra frowns, unsure how to respond. In her heart she wants to have the faith that the Divine did escape with her life, but as she stares at the collapsing building doubt sinks in further. “I will scout the temple if it's possible. Order your spies to assess the situation with the demons. Taking the mountain path may be the safest option. Keep mages away from there. The last thing we need now is abominations.” The Seeker orders trying to deter her friend from grief at this moment. They needed to remain level headed if they were going to stay on top of things, Cassandra most of all.
Leliana nods in understanding and does as she is asked, watching a small group of scouts hurry to the mountain path. Taking a deep breath, Cassandra marches back to the temple praying the Maker would grant them a sliver of grace and she would find the Divine alive.
Cassandra blinked, her eyes stinging from the smoke. She covered her mouth and nose with a gauntlet to keep from inhaling too much of it as she approached what used to be the temple entrance, stepping over the bodies of civilians and chantry staff to get closer. The smell of charred flesh made her want to vomit as ash filled her hair with grey. Steeling herself she placed a hand to the door pushing it open slightly only to be greeted with more smoke causing her to burst into fits of heavy coughing. She would not be able to enter the building and she doubted anyone could have survived being in there this long. Tears slid down her cheeks as the realization of reality hit her. The Divine was dead and now there would be no peace. The templars no doubt would blame the mages and vice versa. There would be a full scale war, worse than what they were seeing at the moment and there would be no one to stop it.
Cassandra wiped her tears as she made her way back towards the barracks, her breathing harsh as her lungs took in fresher cold air.
“No survivors I take it?” An unfamiliar voice asked.
She drew her blade and turned to see an elf holding a staff. A mage. Suspicion began to rise in her and she had to kick down the impulsive instinct to hit first and ask questions later. Varric probably would have had a laugh at that.
Varric!
In all the commotion she had forgotten about the dwarf. They left him there. Maker, she had brought him to his death. He irritated her. Managed to worm his way under her skin every damn day they were forced into each other’s company, but he wasn’t a bad man. He hadn’t deserved this. No one had.
But she set aside her guilt, gripping her sword tighter as she lifted the blade towards the throat of the elf. He drops the staff and raises his hands to the air attempting to keep his innocence “Who are you?” Cassandra questioned.
“Forgive me. I did not mean to startle you. My name is Solas, an apostate if you will.”
An apostate? That was hardly unusual given the circumstances but it did nothing to ease her suspicions. Solas continued “I saw the explosion on my way here to view the summit. The rift, while I do not know it's origin, I may have some ideas on how to strengthen the Veil.”
“The Veil?” She echoes.
Solas nods. “The tear in the rift is too large for my own, well, most mages' levels of magic, but we may be able to heal it slowly to stop the demons from coming from the Fade. It is old magic, one that is not often studied due to it being less flashy than the elemental forms of magic, but I pride myself on my studies of the Fade and such rifts.”
Suspiciously convenient for this elf to just turn up with knowledge of how to settle an unheard of occurrence, but she didn't know any other mages with such knowledge. Her list of options was thin. Cassandra lowers her sword, sheathing it with a hoarse sigh. “You have knowledge of this rift as you call it? I suppose I have no choice but to accept your help. But you will be closely guarded and you will report directly to me.” She cleared her throat and attempted to rub the soreness out. “There is a rift our commander is dealing with at the moment. I don't know the situation there, but it could be your best opportunity to study the rift and let me know the best way to seal them”
Solas nods again bowing slightly towards her. “Thank you, Lady…” he gestures to her with a hand.
“Oh. Pentaghast. Seeker Pentaghast.” She corrects, not fond of the title of Lady.
“Seeker Pentaghast.” Solas retrieves his staff from the snow before standing straight once more. “I shall do that then. I thank you for trusting me in this difficult moment. And I am sorry for anyone you may have lost in this.” He bows again before making his way to aid the commander and his soldiers.
Varric. She thinks again of the dwarf, tears welding up in her eyes again. He shouldn't have been here. She shouldn't have let Leliana convince her he has been lying to her about where Hawke was. After all, what reason had she had given him to lie? She had told him what was at stake hadn't she?
Cassandra sighed wrapping her arms around her feeling the sudden chill of the winter air as she proceeded back to the barracks. There was nothing more that she could do here. Perhaps when the embers cooled she would see if they would be able to find Varric in the rubble. The very least she could do now was return his body home to Kirkwall.
—------
Varric opened his eyes slowly, groaning as he pushed himself up to sit on the cold stone floor. He had fallen but from where? And to where?
He looked around at the floating rocks and eerie green light surrounding him “What the fuck?” He muttered.
This was definitely not the Temple of Sacred Ashes anymore. There was a vast amount of nothing, a fog tainted green by the light tainted the air. It was foul. It was the Fade he realizes.
He stood up, his muscles stiff. How long has he been out? There was a crack of lightning sound and then a bolt of pain through his left hand. He winced gazing at his hand. A mark glowing green, similar to this very place. “What the fuck?!” Varric says again.
That orb must have done more damage to him than he thought. Given his history with creepy artifacts, he should have known better than to touch it.
Varric inspects the mark on his hand bringing it closer to his face. It pulsed like a heartbeat and sent waves of what felt like electricity throughout the arm.
A screech from behind him snaps his attention away. He turns quickly to see several large spiders approaching him. Varric reaches to his back for his crossbow only to find it was not there. Panicking, he quickly surveys the area seeing Bianca resting not too far from where he had fallen.
Varric picks the crossbow up, shoots one…two…click. “Shit!” Out of bolts. Varric returns Bianca to the holster on his back as the spiders continue to approach.
He runs, legs feeling heavy as he begins to feel the floor behind to incline as though running up a mountain. Slowing with every step, the spiders were approaching faster. Panicked, Varric begins using his hand to help pull himself forward, the incline now fully resembling a cliffside.
A woman reached out a hand to him from the top of the cliff. Varric recognized her immediately as Divine Justina and he was thankful to at least have a friendly face in this hellhole. He climbed as fast as he could, the spiders seeming to be gaining on him, and he reached a hand out to her.
Justina pulled him on top of the cliff and the two quickly moved away from the to get away from the blighted demons. Varric looks ahead. There is a green light before them, a portal of some sort displaying what looked like Haven. With his luck, it was just an illusion of the Fad, but the choices were this or the demons. He pulls the Divine to her feet and guides her forward hoping they could reach it before those demons reach the top.
His body felt slow and still stiff, tired from the climb but he was so close. Just as they reached the portal, he felt Justina’s hand release his. Varric snaps his head back to see her pulled back by the demons. He attempts to run to her but she shouts. “Go! Go to Leliana and tell her…tell her I am sorry.” That was all she said before they succeeded in pulling her over the cliff. Varric could only hope the fall ended her life as being stuck in a place like this seemed a nightmare worse than death.
He grimaced seeing the rest of the spider demons turn their attention to him. There wasn’t time to dwell on it and he turned his direction back to the portal a mere inches away, hurling himself through it.
—-------
When Cassandra had returned to the barracks, she found Leliana arguing with a man from the Chantry. A chancellor that Justina frequently butt heads with. Chancellor Roderick stood scolding the Left Hand for the chaos surrounding them despite how quickly they took to handling the situation.
“Justina’s plans have gone up in flames!” Cassandra hears him tell Leliana as she gets closer to them. He glances in her direction as he hears her footsteps approach “Call a retreat, Seeker. There is no point in losing more lives to this madness.”
Leliana turned to look at her. There was a weariness in her eyes Cassandra related to. They were tired, grieving, their hearts were wearing as heavy as the armor she was desperate to be rid of. But calling a retreat now would be a mistake. At the very least, they could defend the civilians, buying them enough time to escape to safety. “We can not do that. Fighting is our only chance to keep the people alive until we figure out what to do next.”
“What to do-there is a hole in the sky, Seeker! Even with all your men, you couldn’t find anything to do about that!”
“And what then! We just give up?! We are doing the best we can, Chancellor. We could probably do better without people like you barking at us about the obvious.” Cassandra shouted back and it startled him.
Chancellor Roderick looked between both of the women, neither having much else to say. He returned attention to Cassandra. “On your head be the consequences, Seeker.” His words were much less a warning than they felt a threat, as he left the Divine’s hands to much needed quiet.
Leliana sunk her head down,staring at the map laying before her, hands placed on each end of the crate where it rested. “Is it too much to hope you-”
“I am sorry, Leliana.” She didn’t let her finish that question, the failure to protect the Divine still stinging too much to think about. “And Varric…”
“Oh” Leliana bit the inside of her cheek trying to keep herself from crying as well.
Cassandra was unsure what to do now, every turn they took, every idea they had, it was all moot. Perhaps the Chancellor was right. Perhaps a retreat was their only option. Could she give up that easily? Could she just turn tail and hope someone else would take up the challenge? No, Cassandra was stubborn. She always had been and she could not, would not lay down her sword while there were still those who needed her even if they did not know it yet.
“Seeker Pentaghast!” A soldier shouted to her
An angry growl threatened to come out of her mouth as she whipped her head behind her expecting more bad news. “What is it?”
“Serah Tethras was found near the temple. He is unconscious, but alive.” The soldier reported through a salute.
Her jaw hung open. That wasn’t possible. She had just been at the temple and all she saw were the charred forms of what used to be people. Varric could not have survived that.
“How? Where is he?”
The young man shrugged in response and then answered. “Adan has him in his quarters back at Haven.”
Cassandra and Leliana both leap at the words to hurry to him. If Varric had survived as impossible as that seemed, then perhaps he had the answers to the questions they had. But the soldier stopped them again. “S-S-Seeker there is something else!”
What more could there possibly be? Cassandra halted giving him back her attention. “Serah Tethras h-he appears to have fallen out of one of those rifts. He bears a mark on his hand resembling the rifts as well.”
Impossible. She thinks again. Dwarves did not wield magic and she hardly thinks Varric would be the sort of man to be capable of such a crime. Petty theft sure, but not mass murder. Then again he had been friends with the mage responsible for the Chantry explosion in Kirkwall. Though when he had told her that part of the story, she could see the pained expression in his face. “There is an elven apostate I sent to assist Cullen. Get word to them and have the elf meet me at the apothecary. Do not leave his side until he brought there.” She orders.
“Understood, Seeker Pentaghast.” He bowed before retreating to complete his orders.
“An elf?” Leliana crossed her arms as Cassandra rejoined her.
“I shall explain on the way. We have a dwarf to question…again.”