Oh wow, I actually managed to write another one. Wow. Anyway. This idea was stuck in my head for a few days now so I finally decided to write it down. Hope you guys enjoy- well, as much as you can enjoy bawling like a baby.

Lavellan was striding through the abandoned battlements, humming merrily and thinking about happy things when she heard a noise.

She usually came here because it was always peaceful and quiet, so the noise made her suspicious and jumpy. She stopped and listened to it for a minute, trying to understand what it was and where it came from; the last question was answered first. She followed the sound until she was close enough to realize it was a sob. A very painful one at that.

Slowly and as quiet as she could, she opened the door to the dusty room, trying to find the owner of those painful sobs. It was a hard task, considering that the room was crowded with broken and weathered furniture. But then she saw him; hidden behind a rotten end table, his knees clasped to his chest, his trembling hands gripping so tightly to his hair that his hat had fallen off.

Obviously, the image of Cole crying like that shocked her, and then filled her throat with tears. Sure, she had encouraged him to be more human, but she had never thought she'd see him like this. If he had noticed her, he didn't show; his light blue eyes still staring at the wall on the other side of the room. She came close to him and crouched, carefully touching him in the shoulder. He flinched and turned his head to her, his reddened eyes digging deep into her soul. She took a deep breath to keep herself from breaking down with him and firmly placed her hand in his shoulder.

"What's wrong, Cole?" He sobbed once more and hid his eyes behind his hands. She stroke his back to calm him down, but he still trembled a lot. After attempting to breathe deeply, he looked at her again, frowning in confusion.

"I don't know, I don't know, I can't read my own pain but it hurts, hurts so much, like drowning but there's no water," He managed to explain to her. She sighed, deep in thoughts; it was the first time he needed help and she wasn't sure how to do it. He sniffed, trying and failing to control his sobs, and lowered his head. "Can I place my head on your chest? I think I want to," he told her, and a sharp pain once again crossed her chest at the fact that he thought he needed to ask. She nodded energetically, fighting back her tears now proving to be a harder task than before. He quickly jumped into her arms and pressed his head to her chest, his pale hands clawing at her back as he cried. She held him, stroking his pale-blonde hair, and that's when she broke. His sobs and her sniffs drowned out any other noise.

After a few minutes that felt like hours to both of them, he managed to stop crying and she dried her tears and then his, absently noticing how blonde and wet his eyelashes looked. He pulled back and stared at her frowning again, eyes still red.

"Why did I hurt?" He asked, his voice now rough. She took another deep breath to steady herself and shrugged, her hand stroking his face.

"I don't really know either, Cole." He lowered his head with worried eyes and she pursed her lips. "My best guess is that being human and feeling for yourself was overwhelming and it made you cry." He sniffed, scratching his eye.

"Will it hurt like again?" She stared at him with sad eyes, guilt filling her as she thought this was all her fault. If she had done as Solas had told her and let him be a spirit, he wouldn't be hurting now.

"I don't know. I'm sorry, Cole." Obviously he had read her thoughts, because he shook his head furiously and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"No. Don't be. It hurts, and it might hurt again, but I want this. I want to be human. I want to see the world as you do, as the real Cole did. And the pain… it can help me understand other people's hurts better. So don't feel guilty. You helped me, you made me stick. Thank you," he whispered to her. She broke down again and this time he held her, and she wondered just how much of an emotional mess she had to be to burst into tears like that twice in a day.

Cole affected her more than she had ever imagined, but as vulnerable as it made her, she would never stop loving him.