Note: This is assuming you already know the Dragon age 2 story arc rather well and the romances involved therein. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Bioware owns all. And to my incredibly awesome beta reader Enchantm3nt-this story would not be the same without you!

Chapter 1

Darkness…nothing but darkness. I swing my hands out in front of me blindly, feeling for anything. But there is nothing. Panic starts to set in and make my hands tremble. A peculiar sensation skitters across my skin and I shiver uncontrollably. There are voices, whispers in the dark, all around me..

"She is the one. I can feel it. Feel her power. She will be the one to set us free."

Another deeper, more doubtful voice intercedes. "She carries no lyrium, none at all. She is just another null. There is magic in her blood but there is no lyrium flowing through her, no way to harness her potential."

The first voice huffs in annoyance. "You admitted it though, it is there, the potential is there."

The second voice spoke again, clearly frustrated, "Perhaps," it concedes, "but like so many others, she will not live up to it."

Unbridled fear turns the blood in my veins to ice and I halt my movements. It is as if I stand on the edge of some great precipice with nothing but the void before me. The vision around me clears and I find myself in an unknown cave perching on the edge of a cliff, surrounded by darkness. I have been here before, many times, as the darkness below beckons to me. Heat flares out from my chest as I take the smallest of steps forward and look down into the abyss. Multiple breaths that do not belong to me inhale sharply, as if waiting. But I cannot jump, I can't even breathe. The tingling becomes stronger spreading slowly through my limbs, synapses misfiring, as I stretch a hand over that great chasm, feeling the dank warm air swirl. It feels right somehow, but I also know that, should I jump, there will be no coming back. Backing away slowly at first, I turn and run as fast as I can.

"You see," the second voice says again, trailing after me as I run, "They never live up to it. Not even her."

A whining sound breaks through my awareness. I swing in a circle listening again for the source. Something wet nudges my hand and I wake with my heart in my throat, a small gasp breaks free from my lips as I bolt upright. Quickly becoming aware of my surroundings, I let out a relieved breath and fall back on the bed. A puff of dank smelling hay wafts around me from under the threadbare sheets, my mabari whining at my side. I glance over.

"You always know when to wake me don't you?" I ask him, a smile playing on my lips. He sits back on his haunches; an ear perked and yips in reply. Knowing that sound as a confirmation I reach out and scratch him behind the ears. His eyes close momentarily until I hear my sister mumble from across the room.

"I am still trying to sleep, you know." There is a shifting sound then a sigh of exasperation, "My god, it isn't even light out yet?" She yawns. "Don't you sleep at all?"

I laugh lightly. "I'll sleep when I'm dead." And knowing the way my life is going, that will be sooner rather than later, I continue silently to myself. I rise from the bed and walk over to the only chest of drawers that we both share. I hear her sigh and even with that single sound I know she is rolling her eyes. I pull out a clean pair of leggings, light leather, for ease of movement stained a dark brown, and a loose white tunic that I'll wear under my leather vest. Pursing my lips in thought, I put the tunic back in the drawer. Leaving the tunic off wouldn't hurt and it would be a whole lot cooler in this oppressive summer heat. I pull off my nightshirt in one smooth motion while my sister watches and slip into the leather pants.

"I wish you knew how you got that scar," she mutters, her voice containing a small thread of anger. Smiling halfheartedly at her I let the comment stand.

I know which scar she is referring to. Just below the bottom of my left collar bone sits a dark, pink scar in the shape of a sun. A sign of those made Tranquil. Except I'm not, or at least not in the way mages are and I am not a mage. I don't remember what happened or why. I was too young to remember, my mother says, and my father refused to comment on it, saying it was only a trivial thing. But how the burning sun of Tranquility can be trivial is beyond me.

Bethany only recently found out when we had moved to Kirkwall and were sharing the same room. Trying to explain something I didn't even understand myself was a bit of a problem. How do you explain a scar like that, especially to a mage? She is not angry at me, I know, just at the unanswered questions that seem to linger over our heads. Lying has never been one of my fortes, even if I managed to come up with a believable lie for her sake. To my surprise, she had accepted it at face value, only asking a few questions that I wasn't able to answer and has never said a word to anyone.

I button the vest where it ends just below my navel, leaving a small gap of bare skin between the edge of the vest and the beginning of my pants and admire this more comfortable if slightly revealing outfit in the mirror. My scar peaks out the side, only showing the tips of the sun's flames. I frown, wondering if this outfit is all that advisable. It will raise eyebrows and questions from my companions for sure, especially Varric. Bethany turns on her side and I hear her chuckle lightly to herself.

"What?" I ask, turning to her. Her eyes are lit up with humor, the last comment forgotten. She never could hold onto her anger for very long. My sweet little sister, she was too good and I didn't deserve her.

"You are going to catch a few eyes in that getup, especially that of the mage and former Warden that I won't mention."

I turn back towards the mirror and smirk back at my reflection. "If only that were true." I sigh rubbing the bare skin of my midsection. "Do you think I should put the tunic on? To cover up," and gesture to the area of my scar, "this?"

"I don't think anyone will be looking at that." she says, chuckling again. Turning back at the mirror I purse my lips. "Trust me," she says, "You will get more leers than Isabela." I raise an eyebrow in disbelief at the mirror, like I could ever compete with that curvaceous pirate. I go back to the drawers, intending to get my tunic back out. It would be better this way anyway. Bethany must see what I intend on doing because she speaks up again. "Just leave it," she prompts, "I'm curious to see their reactions." I sigh and close the drawer, going back to the mirror to start combing out the braid I put my hair in last night. It falls in a long ebony wave down my back.

"Well it will raise questions if nothing else," I admit, grinning back at her reflection. I start braiding my hair tightly to my head to keep the long tresses out of the way.

"He does watch you, you know. Especially since Fenris joined the group," she points out, her expression becoming serious. I scowl at her mention of the elf. He was nothing but a nuisance.

"Anders has no interest, even if he does watch me like you say. He made it abundantly clear to me in our last conversation. I flirt, he immediately shuts me down, that is the extent of our romantic interactions. He doesn't want me anymore than the elf does," I mutter sadly.

"Oh will you stop whining," she snaps. "You know I hate the woe is me attitude. He is besotted with you, more so since Fenris arrived," she insists.

I frown. "Why do you keep saying that? Why would Fenris matter? Anyone can clearly see we don't get along."

The amused tone is back in my sister's voice. "So you keep claiming but I think that all the arguing you two do aggravates Anders, because, while you deny having an inkling of fondness towards that elf, you sure do pay a lot of attention to him."

Turning towards her and cocking a hip, my irritation with both my sister and the elf flares, "It's only because he has this incessant ability of getting under my skin. I swear he enjoys pissing me off, like it's his whole purpose in life," I complain, stamping my foot like a three-year old child. "He never stops criticizing mages or sharing his opinion on them, it is infuriating. He needs to learn how to shut his pie-hole."

Bethany is now smirking at me, "And you keep rising to the bait."

"I do not," I whine.

Her smile is now wide enough to show her teeth, "Yes you do. I think you actually enjoy it."

I open my mouth to give her a scathing remark but pause before the words come out. Do I actually enjoy our arguments? There is a small part of me that actually gets off on aggravating him, but do I really do it on purpose?

I think back to our argument yesterday when I had decided to let the apostates in the cave go even though their leader had clearly been a blood mage. For once, he had actually stayed quiet even though his disapproval was blatant, like a father scolding his child, with me being that child. But the fact of the matter was, he remained silent, I did not. I picked at the subject like picking a scab off his skin, wearing away what little restraint he had shown until we were shouting at each other again. While it hadn't exactly been hard to do so, I had continued long after it was necessary.

My face falls and she laughs, "I do, don't I?"

"You could do worse you know," she teases.

Jerking my head back in confusion I reply, "What is that supposed to mean? I have no interest in him in that way." I tilt my head to the side in thought and admit to myself that such a thing isn't entirely true, "well, other than an intense desire to beat his ass in the ground that is. He is arrogant, irritating, completely nonsensical," I mutter, ticking off his faults on my fingers. "He's a liability in battle as he insists on charging off every time, he is angrier than a shaved cat on an almost daily basis, and insists on inviting himself on all our expeditions." Bethany still watches me with a small knowing smile on her face. "And don't you look at me like that," I snap at her.

She shakes her head and lies back on the bed to stare at the ceiling, still smiling. "I wasn't referring to any romantic interest you had towards him but the fact that you would jump to that conclusion is most interesting."

I stand there for a moment slack jawed. Shit, why did I assume that? My mouth always has ways of getting me in trouble.

"Do we have enough money yet?" she asks, changing the subject.

I stutter for a moment at the switch then frown, thinking. "No, not yet, we're still six sovereigns short," I answer around a sigh.

She chews the inside of her cheek, deep in thought. A family trait since I do it as well. "Did we get anything yesterday?" she asks and glances over at me, "My nerves were shot after the Templars finally left."

I shrug, "Only a sovereign."

"Better than nothing I suppose," she says. I merely grunt in assent.

I see the sky is lightening outside and hurry over to grab my boots and pull them on. Bethany stays silent while I do so. Zeus, my mabari, rises to his feet again. He must have lain back down during our little tirade. His tail wagging as he knows I'll be going down to the docks now.

"Come get me before you go see Varric," she says and turns over onto her side away from me.

I nod, realize she can't see it and say, "Ok, see you soon."

Walking silently through the desolate streets of Lowtown, I reflect over the last two months. Somehow, we had managed to go from a party of three: Bethany, Varric and I, to a party of …I count on my fingers…eight? Wow, eight people, not bad, I muse. Amusingly enough, most of them had joined within a week of each other…well, except for Fenris, he was the last.

I never thought he would actually join us when I had offered it to him, especially not after the remarks he had made towards Anders and my sister, but for some reason, that I couldn't fathom, he was willing to tag along. Why he was willing, I still didn't know. Oh wait, that's right, he just wanted me as a means to an end to help kill his former master. Once that was dealt with he was as good as gone. How long that was going to take was another question entirely.

Until then, I would be stuck with the nonstop brooding, dark calculating looks and cretinous remarks that he just couldn't keep to himself. Carver would have gotten along with him swimmingly. I laugh to my myself, I could just see my brother unknowingly instigating a fight between the elf and I by harping on my opinions of mages and other subjects the two of us disagreed on, which was pretty much everything. On second thought, maybe it is a small blessing he wasn't here anymore. My heart gives a pang for the little brother I will never see again. While we may have never gotten along all that much when he was alive I still miss him. Carver was a pain in the ass, arrogant yet in constant need of approval, self righteous yet subordinate. My thoughts take a turn, Fenris and Carver have disturbingly similar personalities, completely different pasts for sure but a great deal of what I see in Fenris, I saw in Carver to a point. Curious, I ponder, is it possible that the elf is capable of anything but indignance?

The air is stale and oppressive as I walk to the docks. Once the sun is fully up it will be stifling but for now, it is tolerable. I glance down at Zeus who is trotting along silently at my side. He is a constant shadow at my heel, protecting me when I need it, being a quiet support when I don't. His eyes scan the streets, taking in every single person and action they make. I don't remember exactly when he made himself a part of my life, for as far back as my memories go, he has always been at my side. Frowning to myself I wonder, not for the first time, how long mabari actually live.

The sound of the waves lapping at the shore reaches my ears. Letting out a long sigh I get to the end just when the sun starts to peak its way over the horizon. I sit on my folded knees and begin my morning aubade, emptying my mind of all my thoughts and letting the first rays of the sun bathe my skin. Smiling as the last of the notes trail off in my voice, Zeus's bark brings me back to the here and now. I turn, at first thinking someone was attempting to sneak up on me but then it registers that the bark was that of greeting. Relaxing at the thought, I realize he must have seen someone he knows. Glancing around, I see no one at first but then a dark, lithe figure comes out of the shadows and the flash of white hair catches my eyes.

Fenris. What is he doing here?

I cross my arms in front of my chest and shift my weight to one foot. "You can't hide from a mabari. Especially not from Zeus," I call out, half-jokingly.

He smirks and I feel my breath catch. I've never seen him smile before, even this half- smile that he gives me now. It softens the sharpness of his features; makes him seem more humane than the arrogant uncaring façade he so often wears. His eyes pierce mine and his expression is hauntingly familiar of the way a cat approaches something it must investigate but ready at any moment to bear claws if need be. The effect is startling and leaves me speechless. Suddenly I begin to notice things about him that I somehow missed before. The simple symmetry of his features, the way his markings gleam in the dawning light, or the sorrow that his eyes carry. So much pain. There is a depth of knowledge in those eyes of the depravity the world can cause that I wonder for the first time if he remembers ever being happy. I have always seen the anger and hatred glare out of him brighter than any beacon that is must eclipse every other emotion except his need for revenge. I frown at this sudden shift in my emotions, completely unsteadied by it. Fenris stares for a second, and the smirk disappears. Any sense of empathy I read from him is gone, making me wonder if I even saw it at all. But I can't unsee what I observed and the knowledge is…unsettling. How have I never realized how beautiful he is? My breath comes out in a slow and steady exhalation and I push the ridiculous thought away. He comes closer; approaching me, I tense… no he is approaching Zeus.

He stoops down, coming to the mabari's level. "How very foolish of me to forget the skills of your kind," he says to my dog, scratching him behind the ears. "You have a talent unmatched and a wit as clever as any human." Zeus barks happily in reply, hopping on his front paws.

I can't help but smile. Fenris glances up at me, taking in my outfit, scrutinizing me, the way someone might study a map, leaving me somewhat bereft from his lack of emotion. The sun makes the green of his eyes bright again and I feel a tug in my stomach that I don't recognize. I blink once, then twice as he rises back up again. We are only a foot apart. He is so close that I can feel the heat emanating from his body… Or it could just be the sun heating the already dense, oppressing air as it prepares to cook us like meat on a skewer. Get a grip Cassie, I berate myself, scowling more at my idiocy than at him.

"So what do you want Fenris?" I ask a little too belligerently. "Are you stalking me now? Or are you just trying to frighten me?" I say, not waiting for a reply, "Because I have to warn you I don't scare easily nor do I really care if you are following me."

His eyes narrow as he studies my face, then my jaw, my neck, my collarbone, and there his eyes stop, fixed on the place where my scar peaks out. Tingling from some unknown feeling that races through me, my skin breaks out in goose bumps and I can't stop the flush from creeping up my cheeks. Gods what is wrong with me? He's not even doing anything other than regarding me like I'm some kind of experiment gone awry. Shifting to my other foot, I raise an eyebrow when his eyes come up to meet mine again. Anger…yes anger helps.

"Well?" I prompt, letting the irritation show in my voice. His eyes look confused for a moment then the curiosity emerges and I groan to myself. Great now he was curious. And we all know what happened to that cat.

"How did you get that scar?" he asks, uncharacteristically calm despite my prodding.

I almost laugh. Did he really think I was going to answer that question? Not that I could anyway. The scar begins to tickle and I scratch it without thinking, his eyes following my movement. The only thing I do remember is the pain, fear and helplessness that came with it, nothing else. I shiver uncontrollably and I can't help but look away from his intense gaze. His head cocks to the side still waiting for my reply. Through clenched teeth I say, "I don't know."

He watches me a second longer than necessary, then looks away backing up a step. "I didn't mean to be intrusive," he says almost apologetically.

I raise my eyebrows and snort, "You didn't? Since when has offensive ignorant remarks or questions been on your 'do not do' list, because I remember some nasty comments about my actions only yesterday." His eyes flash back to mine and the slight apologetic look is now gone, a scowl taking its place. Now there's a look I recognize, I think to myself.

"The decision to release those blood mages was ill advised. I can only hope your stupidity with that venture does not come back to bite us in the ass," he snaps back.

I glare at him. "If it does come back to bite us in the ass then you are more than welcome to beat me into submission next time." His eyebrow quirks momentarily at my words, "But it won't," I continue, "Not all mages are as screwed up as your master was." Making sure I put particular emphasis on that word master. He hates being reminded of what he was and what he is still running from. His face contorts into something hateful and a small pang of guilt hits me in the chest. I am not normally so vindictive but he just brings out the worst in me.

"And not all mages are as sweet as your little sister!" he all but shouts. "When will you realize the corruption you surround yourself with? The abomination is already harvesting a demon in him that he conveniently calls a spirit of Justice. The fact that you actually believe that rubbish continues to confound me."

My arms fall to my sides, hands balling into fists. "Leave Ander's out of this," I hiss through my teeth.

He ignores the warning in my voice and begins to pace back and forth in front of me, hands clenched. "Then of course there is the blood mage that shows no remorse in conversing with demons and accepting their help. She is as blind as she is stupid and the fact that you continue to welcome her company proves to me just how completely heedless you are to the danger they all possess."

His scornful words finally get the best of me. I think on yesterday's argument and it only feeds the fire, making my blood hum and my fingertips tingle. I welcome it, letting that heat expand from my chest out through the rest of my body. He abruptly stops his pacing and looks at me strangely. For some reason I cannot fathom I close the distance between us so that there is only a mere six inches.

Our breaths mix as we pant out our frustrations, the tension radiating off of us in the confined space. I look up at him, memorizing his facial features like it's the last time I'll see them, as I fully intend on beating him to a pulp. His green eyes burn into mine, dark brows narrowed slightly, his white hair looks almost silver in the morning light, and his markings glisten like the ripples on the water. I am struck again by just how stunning he is. Being this close is intoxicating in a way I had never experienced before and that weird tugging sensation is back, insisting that I touch him, demanding that I close the distance between us completely.

I don't understand it, this adverse reaction. One second I want to punch him and the next... Puzzled, I raise a hand to graze it against his jaw; I expect he will back away before I can touch him. He does not disappoint me. Coward, I think to myself. I sneer at him, both pleased and disappointed at the same time. He now looks as confused as I am by my actions.

The words pour from my mouth before I can stop them, "Does my touch disgust you so?"

He backs up another step, still giving me that wary, bewildered look. I think he isn't going to answer but the word "No" comes out in barely a whisper, as if it is still strangled in his throat. We are silent as we both try to decipher this sudden shift in emotion. The air between us is charged with electricity, taking the place of the rage that existed only moments before. Somehow, I know if I touch him it will awaken something I may not want. I realize I am staring at him with my arms crossed in front of my chest, like I'm already trying to stop myself from doing just that. I begin to think I must look ridiculous just standing there like I am bewitched by this elf, but then again, he is staring right back at me, his eyes never wavering. So I don't look away. I am not sure how long we stand there like that. Seconds? Minutes? Suddenly, he shakes his head as if coming out of a daze, then scowls at me, turns and leaves. I stare after him, baffled.

Snorting in derision I shout after him, "Well, bye then."

He doesn't respond, not that I thought he would. Zeus, having trotted away somewhere during our argument comes up to my side, nudging my hand. I look down at him. "Do you have any clue what in the void just happened?" Zeus whines back. "Yeah, me neither," I reply and start walking slowly back home.