I swear I will eventually finish Family Ties. It's in the works I SWEAR! In the meantime this has been nagging me since playing Mark of the Assassin. Have fun.

The gentle rapping on her door jostled Marian Hawke out of her sound slumber. The faint lightening of the sky barely outlining Hightown's mansions and estates indicated that it was not yet dawn, causing the irritated woman to groan. Andraste's ass, who wanted what now? And why in the Void couldn't it wait until the day had begun? As she rose and began to dress she noticed Anders was already gone, causing a small smile to grace the woman's lips. One of the few things upon which she and her willful lover disagreed: mornings provided an opportunity to sleep longer, not begin the day sooner.

When she opened the door Hawke was unsurprised to see Bohdan still dressed in his night clothes. "I'm so sorry my lady. But you have a visitor and he insisted the matter could not wait."

"It's alright Bohdan, I'll handle it. Please, go back to bed." The dwarf bowed slightly before hurrying back to his room. When Marian looked over the balcony banister she was surprised to see Templar armor. Any panic she instinctively felt was overridden when the man turned and recognition superseded the long practiced and active impulse to flee. "Knight Captain?"

Cullen seemed startled as her voice broke the silence. "Hawke! I am sorry about the hour…" His eyes shifted uncomfortably as she descended the stairs.

"It's alright. What can I do for you?"

"Listen, Hawke, I… I thought you ought to know…" She raised an eyebrow at his hesitance. She had never known Cullen to be at a loss for words. The thought did nothing to ease her mind.

"Cullen, what is it?"

"It is no secret that you and the Ferelden healer in Darktown are… involved. I thought you ought to know…" The blonde man sighed heavily as dread formed a weight in the pit of Marian's stomach. "My men brought him in late last night. They caught him helping a group of circle mages out of the Gallows."

Oh dear sweet Maker…

"Is he alright?" she managed through her constricted throat.

The Knight Captain winced at the evident distress in her voice. "He was put in a cell to await Meredith's assessment. But the moment the spirit showed itself… The Knight Commander ordered the Right of Tranquility be performed immediately."

Marian was certain this would kill her. She certainly felt like she was dying… Her arms and legs had gone completely numb and all the horrified mage could feel was the shattering of her heart in her chest. "You made him tranquil?" The whispered words resonated through the empty living space as Hawke's pulse hammered in her ears, waiting for the confirmation that her love was gone forever, that his worst fears had been realized, that she would never see him smile again. A vision of Anders' face adorned with the blazing sun brand manifested in Marian's mind; visualizing his vacant expression and impassive gaze nearly drove all breath from her lungs. Plans quickly began to take shape: plans that all ended with Anders' death. Her dagger gliding tenderly over his throat, Fenris' fist lancing through his ribs and tightening around his heart, perhaps a bolt from Bianca…

"Hawke, did you hear me?" Cullen's voice broke the mage's grief stricken trance as her tear filled eyes met his concerned ones.

"What?"

The man sighed sadly and put a hand on her shoulder. "The rite has not been performed yet, but it won't be long now. It takes time to-"

She didn't hear the rest. With those few words Marian, the gentle soul who did not feel entirely safe unless curled against Anders' side, was set aside. Hawke, the hero from Varric's stories who could slay demons and rock wraiths without incident, emerged from the shell of that grief stricken woman as she hurriedly scribbled a note to her mother. There was time to save him. By the Maker it wasn't much but she would take anything she could get.

"Where will I find him?" Hawke demanded as she pulled her staff onto her shoulders and frantically hurled potions into her pack.

"Hawke, I-"

"WHERE?"

Cullen's eyes widened at her raised voice but there was still sadness behind them. "The Rite of Tranquility is done in a chamber deep within the Gallows. You'll never-"

"Thank you Cullen."

"Hawke, what are you-"

The hurried woman stopped at the door and turned to face her bewildered guest. "Please do me a kindness Knight Captain." The man was disturbed by the blistering wrath that burned behind her sapphire eyes. "Make yourself scarce for the next couple of hours. If you were ordered to stop me...I do not want to be responsible for the death of a friend."

Hawke, Varric, Isabella, and Fenris slipped through the shadows of the Gallows silently to avoid detection. The courtyard was still silent in the wee hours of the morning, populated by only a few lethargic Templars idling around their posts, all tired and looking forward to the end of their watch. The small group of infiltrators knelt safely out of sight behind an abandoned merchant stall as Varric risked a worried glance at Hawke.

"You sure you want to do this?" His friend had been steadfast in her purpose, but the dwarf remained troubled by the subtle hints of fear peering out from behind the barricade of certainty she normally exuded.

"I can't leave him in there Varric." Another fissure in the barrier, this one far more apparent than the others, splayed across her face. For a moment it was Marian, not Hawke, kneeling beside them. "I can't let him be made tranquil. And if we're too late…" She didn't need to explain, Varric knew. He had been present when Anders had confronted Karl. And the dwarf knew Hawke would never leave Anders to suffer a fate worse than death.

"You do realize that if this doesn't work you will never walk out of here," Fenris seethed quietly. "If the abomination is already gone there is no need for you to risk your life only to end his." When Marian did not respond the elf put a gentle hand on her arm. "They may do the same to you if you're caught."

The distress behind his words seemed to surprise the woman. Marian's eyes widened slightly before she cringed and covered his hand with her own. The gentleness of her touch was tainted by the desperate despair that she wore openly for a moment. "Fenris, please. I can't leave him. And if they do catch me I hope you will do me the same kindness."

Marian did not wait to see the elf's feral horror or hear his objections as her mask of conviction slipped back into place and she turned her attention to the Templars. The next shift of sentries had made their way down the steps of the Templar Hall and had almost reached their tired brethren. "Are you sure you can take them all?" Hawke asked her pirate friend worriedly.

The Rivani woman rolled her eyes at the absurdity of the question and flaunted a grin. "Oh please Kitten. Leave them to me." Lurching from their cover, Isabella staggered toward the group of men that had gathered in front of the circle tower steps. "Oh piss and blood!" she bellowed noisily, her words slurring in a flawless drunken imitation as she stumbled into the nearest armored figure. "This is NOT the docks! I swear on my mother's knickers that drunken bugger couldn't row his way around a bathtub." The four Templars shared looks of confusion as Isabella burrowed her face into the neck of the man she leaned upon, causing the young knight's face to redden. "Hhhmmm… I'm so glad I found some good company," the pirate purred in his ear.

"Let's go!" Hawke, Varric, and Fenris, made their way past the thoroughly preoccupied sentries into the Templar Hall. Once inside the main gate the small group was stopped by another armored man.

"Hold! What business do you have here at this time of day?"

Without hesitating Varric cleared his throat and gestured to Hawke who, he was grateful to see, had the good sense to look terrified. "So glad we found you! I've got a runaway mage caught by the Knight Commander herself. Says she's to be given the Right of Tranquility immediately."

"You bastard!" Hawke yelled through tears as Fenris held her arms at her sides. "You told me you were just taking me back to the Circle!"

"And you believed it? Wow. Don't they teach you anything in the damned Circle?"

The Templar chuckled at the sight of the apostate's tears and frantic pleading. "Well done. I will escort her to the ritual chamber."

"Do you mind if we tag along? The commander says we don't get paid until she's nice and compliant."

The man hesitated for moment then nodded. "Very well. The ritual chamber is down the main corridor. Follow me."

"Thanks for the help. This one's given us a hard enough time already." Varric gossiped happily with their guide as Hawke memorized the route, observing the various passages and antechambers where she saw them. While the plan had progressed efficiently thus far, the mage had not given much consideration to escape in her haste to reach Anders.

The Templar led them at a large wooden door where he stopped. "There is already a ritual in progress. You'll have to wai-" The unfortunate warrior was unable to finish speaking as Hawke's dagger found its way into his throat. Taking no notice of the stunned looks from her companions the mage turned and heaved open the doors. Fire and ice overwhelmed the room's occupants without regard in a maelstrom of power Varric had never witnessed his friend convey. The dwarf and elf joined the fray, easily slaying any straggling opponents before Hawke cornered the chamber's last living occupant.

She pulled the horrified man up by his tunic and shook him forcefully. "Where is the mage?" The small man appeared to be a clerk of some sort and shuddered under her seething glare, his eyes wild with panic. When he didn't respond she shook him again, harder this time. "Where?"

He pointed a trembling finger across the sea of blood and carnage toward a small door that stood in the corner. "In the next room," he stuttered fearfully. "B-but he's well-g-guarded…" Hawke released his tunic and rushed toward the door, leaving the terrified man dazed and staggered.

"Get out of here," Varric grumbled, tossing a few gold coins in his direction. "You never saw us." The man nodded scrambled away from the gore littered room.

A discharge of bitter ice brought forth from Hawke's staff blew the wooden door off its hinges and into an unlucky Templar standing nearby. For a heartbeat nothing moved as Marian took in the sight before her. Anders had been stripped to his waist and lay chained to a stone slab. His dark amber eyes were wide with panic and terror she had never thought to witness in their depths. He struggled against his restraints desperately as the red hot lyrium brand descended…

The sight of the sunburst inches from her lover's face sent waves of frenzied rage through the mage as she pulled blazing wrath out of the air. Fire rained from the ceiling as Hawke assaulted the man holding the brand, the weighted end of her staff concaving his skull with a repulsive crunch. She did not know where Varric and Fenris were, did not see the faces of her opponents; all she saw was Anders' bewildered stare as the battle passed in a red haze of fury and blood. Only when the last Templar fell and silence echoed throughout the chamber did Hawke allow her rage to subside. Quickly Marian surged to Anders' side and sought his face, looking for any sign of hurt or injury. His eyes seemed to stare past her and for a moment the apprehension was so crushing that she could not move, but simply stood over her love and gently brushed stray locks of straw colored hair away from his face.

Anders blinked slowly, her touch dragging him back from oblivion. "Marian?" his voice came out as a strangled whisper. Her name on his lips broke whatever fear had held her as desperation fueled her movements. Furiously she spread brittle frost over a few of links binding her mage to the stone surface and shattered them, easily removing the rest with Varric's help. Anders sat up and Marian caught his face in her hands, cupping his cheeks and forcing his eyes to hers, searching frantically for undeniable evidence that he was still with her. But when a relieved smile split his face she let her own tears fall as she pulled him to her.

"Oh sweet Andraste thank you," she breathed into his hair as she held him tightly, slowly rocking them both as tears coursed down her face.

"Marian," Anders pulled back and looked at her with wide eyes, "what have you done Love? You've doomed yourself as well. They'll have us both…"

"Over my rotting corpse," she whispered fiercely as she pulled him to his feet. Only then did she see the dark bruises that decorated the left side of his body and notice the way he swayed on his feet. Casting the only healing spell she knew, Marian said a desperate prayer that it would at be enough to keep together until they were away.

"We must leave this place," Fenris murmured.

Varric unwaveringly agreed. "We can't go through the main gates. It'd be suicide after they saw us walk in that way."

"There is a hallway that leads to the Circle tower," Anders suggested. "That's how they brought me in." Not seeing any alternative Marian nodded and helped Anders down the stone corridors as he directed their small ensemble of fugitives. They reached the Circle without incident, only happening across a terrified apprentice who was easily convinced to return to her quarters.

Fear had slowly given way to hopeful optimism as the four of them reached the tower's main gate; however their progress reached an abrupt standstill as they reached the Gallows courtyard. Isabella was gone and in her place a dozen Templars had assembled. Marian closed her eyes against the hopeless tears that threatened. She was still weakened from their assault on the Templar Hall and knew she would be of very little use. Anders was in a far worse condition, suffering from not only from his physical wounds but also from whatever they had done to keep Justice under control.

"I'm so sorry," Anders whispered. His eyes were wide with sorrow… and panic. "Please Love," he uttered frantically, "don't let them take me again."

She knew what he was asking and nodded. Marian turned to Fenris whose face had become a horrorstricken mask of comprehension. "Don't let them take us alive."

"Hawke, you cannot ask me to-"

"I know. But I am. Please."

But before the argument could progress any further the large group of Templars moved away from the stairway, following the crisp commanding directions of a tall armored figure.

"Cullen?" The group stood silently in the shadows as the Knight Captain ordered his men to search the Templar Hall for the escaped apostate, to kill the fugitive on sight. The group of armored warriors surged forward leaving the courtyard abandoned save for the young commander.

They reached the bottom of the stairs warily. Cullen looked to Hawke and nodded stiffly before moving off to join his men. "I'll be damned," Varric chuckled. "Looks like I owe the Knight Captain a drink."

Marian watched over Anders' slumbering form from her chair next to the fire. Sleep remained elusive, the Fade haunting her with visions of her lover's branded brow. Each time she closed her eyes Hawke was forced to kill the man she loved as he had been forced to kill Karl. She felt his dying breath brush her cheek, his warm blood cascading over her hands, lifeless eyes that…

"Marian?" Anders' voice broke her horrified reverie. He rolled slowly to face her as she moved to seat herself on the edge of their bed. Maker, he was still so weak… "What is it?" he asked quietly.

Tears flooded her eyes as Marian knelt forward and gently kissed his unmarked brow. "You frightened me," she whispered brokenly.

"I know. I frightened myself." Anders pulled her down to lay next to him as he folded her gently in his arms. Curled into the warmth of his chest and listening to the song of his beating heart, each note a comfort of its own, Marian finally allowed her tears to escape. "Shh, it's all right," he murmured into her hair soothingly. "I'm here. I'm so sorry my love."

"Don't apologize. I'm just… I'm so thankful we made it in time. If I had been a second later…"

"But you weren't. That is all that matters." Anders pulled away just far enough that he could force her eyes to his. "I love you Marain."

A sincere smile pulled at her lips. "And I love you."

The couple lay in silence for some time, each taking comfort in the warmth of the other's embrace. Eventually Marian felt Anders' breaths become deep and even, adding notes to her song of comfort. Eventually it was his life's melody that lulled her into her own peaceful slumber.