Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age or its characters, they are the property of Bioware, EA and the respective writers and artists of the series.

Hey people, anyone who had read the first few chapters of my fic Dragon Age 3: Vox Populi, know that I'm changing the plan. I'm no longer putting a three in the title and while this would technically be a Dragon Age sequel I'm establishing from Dragon Age 2 an alternate ending and alternate plot.

This fic recaps the story of Dragon Age and what kind of Hawke is going to be featured in Dragon Age Vox Populi. This is a romance based on the rivalry path with Isabella. There will be a strong lemon so if you are offended by this kind of thing don't bother reading, cause you don't have to read it :(but what are you doing looking up M rated fics anyway lol :)

Vox Populi: The Champion and the selfish pirate

Isabella was frustrated and not because of her lack of sex or booze. The hanged man never lacked in alcohol or men willing to sleep with her, but lately the pirate queen could only think of one thing. It was something that tore her away from the bar for once, Isabella was well known for always waiting at the bar. But today she sat at a table by the fire; completely sober in a way she hadn't been since before her bitch of a mother sold her to her husband. She kept on thinking about the man who seemed to be the talk of Kirkwall, champion of the city, slayer of the Arishok and the shining symbol of goodness in the city of chains. Though once upon a time Isabella called him a glorified errand boy. Or simply Hawke!

Garret Hawke, if not for his good looks wouldn't have been the kind of man who caught Isabella's eye. Ever since they had first met, Isabella had hated his do gooder attitude. He always had to do something important for the right reasons. Even when he had to raise money for his deep roads expedition he would do something out of the kindness of his heart. Yet astonishingly he'd gotten enough coin to become a partner. He took Fenris and Anders with him and while they and Varric were stuck in the deep roads for a week, Isabella had been at the hanged man listening to people talk about Hawke. How wonderful, selfless Garret Hawke had saved their brother or child, given his mineworkers a raise or floated a cat out of a tree, Isabella hated it. He was so disgustingly good, he rarely shouted and you always knew when he was disappointed and more than once Isabella found herself on the receiving end of one of his moral lectures.

But occasionally he would joke around, especially when he was in Varric's company or with Anders. He even once juggled fireballs to show off to the Dalish children. The man was by no means a monk, he had a high body count, loved to drink and he disagreed with the Grand Cleric about the Maker saving Fereldan. But he had a strong friendship with the choirboy Sebastian Vael and was open minded to the mage issue, supporting to an extent both Fenris and Anders and earning their friendships by helping them. Something drew others to him, Isabella had no idea what it was but she knew it frustrated her.

She once tried to seduce him at his estate with his mother in the next room. He didn't fall for her charms but rose to the challenge. Their banter and retorts eventually led them to his bedroom where Isabella had the best sex since Zevran. He was a goody to shoes but a tiger between the sheets. The passion of his kisses and thrusts over powered Zevran's artistic foreplay. Their struggle for domination over whom would be on top not only provided her with pleasure, but a challenging duel to push her strength. In the end she was satisfied but he started asking her about her past about whether there was room for love in her life. She knew it was foolish but she talked to him about her miserable marriage, about how she had rejected a man like him once upon a time. Then he said she was afraid of being loved. This infuriating man had figured her out, her interest grew beyond simply seeking pleasure.

Isabella hated caring what others thought about her. But no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop thinking about him and what he thought. She found herself worried when he was fighting, jealous when he was around other women, even kitten whom despite admitting to a strong crush on him was rejected.

'Then again,' Isabella thought, smirking as she looked at the roof. 'Kitten and Carver would make a cute couple, she'd have plenty of dirty things to do,' she chuckled, knowing that it was always the quiet ones that were infernos in the bedroom.

She cared for Hawke, she couldn't deny that when she left his house. She cared for him so much that she couldn't stand to see him blaming himself for his mother's death. Her view of him changed when she saw him fight Quinton, the monster that took his mother's head, sowed her onto another body and reanimated her with necromancy. She had never seen Hawke so angry; he was fiercer than Fenris that day and more terrifying than Justice. When he sat alone in his room, Isabella found herself comforting him with words and not her body. Her trust in him grew to the point when she hoped and prayed he would understand her desperation when she took the Qunari tome of Koslun. So against her better judgement she got his help in retrieving it. When he found out exactly what the artefact was, he told her that they had to give the tome back.

Isabella chided herself time and time again for her panic. When she got the tome she ran, leaving a note behind apologising to Hawke. She even shed a tear that day, because she knew that from that moment he would never love her the way she loved him. That was it; she had fallen in love with his selflessness. But she had heard the sounds of battle in the distance and knew that if he died she would never forgive herself. So she did what Hawke would have done, she did the right thing and returned to give the tome back to the Arishok. Hawke regarded her with cold indifference.

"This happened because of you," he had said.

But when the Arishok demanded that she come back to Par Vollen for punishment, Hawke defended her, even accepted the Arishok's challenge of a duel. He fought in front of the Kirkwall nobility, revealed his magic and even took a sword to the gut to keep her safe. In the end he won and was declared Champion of Kirkwall, everyone cheered, even Carver had a look of pride on his face that day. Of course that bitch Meredith scowled, though not many people saw her do it. But Hawke still found the time to pull her aside and tell her how disappointed he was, how all the lives lost were her fault. She didn't quite confess how much he meant to her, though it was close.

She told him everything had been for him, that she had only done this for him. She wanted to kiss him that day, but she ran again, this time out of the city and whenever she came back she avoided Hightown and Hawke himself. It was only this year that Hawke finally caught her at the hanged man. They went back to their bitter words of disappointment. She told him they had nothing in common anymore, that he was right about her being selfish. He told her she was just afraid of being anything else, that she was capable of good.

When Castillon came to Kirkwall, Isabella knew that it was her chance to fix her life and she knew Hawke would agree to it. Of course his humorous side showed as they tricked Castillon's men, making them think Hawke was betraying her. She never got a spoken answer (at least from Hawke) about whether he had wanted to ever hit her, his 'acting' got the point across well. Hawke followed the trail she left flawlessly and they cornered Castillon, even getting papers that could incriminate him in many illegal activities. But everything fell apart when she tried to blackmail Castillon into giving her what she wanted most, more than even Hawke.

Isabella loved life at sea and life in command. Castillon's ship would have given her that life back but Hawke had other things in mind. He said no and attacked Castillon. In the end Isabella had to kill Castillon herself, leaving her with a bunch of useless papers. She thought Hawke had betrayed her, but he had to make it so flaming complicated by mentioning the people Castillon had wronged. If she could have lived with him getting away why couldn't he? He gave his answer in a tone she never expected of him.

"BECAUSE I CANT ISABELLA! I JUST CANT!" he had roared. "I cant because I know what its like to be desperate, to be hungry and I look at others, at Fenris and Orana and I know that I cant let anyone else have that kind of life. Castillon didn't deserve to get away, the people he wronged deserved justice. You could have don't something great, changed the world for the better, but you decided to blackmail a scumbag, for a pile of wood and rope…you ask me you're bigger scum than Castillon!"

She wanted to scream at him, to yell at him or slap him for being so self righteous. But waiting for him, thinking of all the good he had done, of all the things he'd said:

"Life would be empty and cheerless if I couldn't share my good fortune and help the needy."

It gave her a new perspective, an epiphany. She didn't want to marry Hawke, but she wanted to be with him, to be loved by him. But as Hawke approached her, Isabella couldn't hide her fear, she knew that after everything she'd done he'd never forgive her for Castillon.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked, sitting in front of her.

"Yes, it's about what happened with Castillon," she said.

"Finally ready to apologise?"

"I'm not going to…all right, I am apologising, you were right I was being selfish…all this time I have been selfish," she sighed.

Isabella lowered her head, looking at the table as she spoke.

"I've done bad things to people, I thought abandoning consequences and looking the other way made me free…but after stopping Castillon, after that feeling I had, being glad that he's gone, realising the good we had done for the people he had wronged and could have wronged…I realise I wasn't free," she explained.

"You were just being a coward," Hawke crossed his arms.

Isabella looked at the champion with a hurt expression on her face.

"I deserved that, you always assumed I was a good person, that I was better than this and even now I don't know if I can be that person. But I'm willing to try," her words caused Hawke to look at her and for a moment she thought she saw shock across the champion's face. "I'm willing to be someone you'd be…proud to be with!"

"I'm making you uncomfortable, I'll just go!"

Isabella got off her chair and firmly grabbed Hawke's arm. She gripped his other shoulder and looked him in the eyes.

"If I don't say this it'll never get said, I think I'm falling for you. Just tell me Hawke, tell me if I have a chance," she said.

He looked her in the eyes and remained silent and Isabella didn't care who was watching. She needed to focus on him, to hear him say yes or no. When a soft smile crossed his face, Isabella shared that smile with him; it was her first genuine one.

"I've waited years for you," he said.

"Thank you for waiting!"

She pulled his lips to hers, grasping them with a passion she hadn't had in years. He returned the kiss with equal fury, caressing her back. They separated, a stream of saliva linking their lips together and both lovers knew from the look in the other's eye that they craved more. They had waited long enough and with the city in the state it was in, with Kirkwall and perhaps all of Thedas standing on the brink of a mage and Templar war they both knew that they perhaps wouldn't get another chance. Life was short as Isabella once said and they were going to live that night.

They went to her room, a place that paled in comparison to the Amell mansion, the shelves were decorated with empty bottles, in fact the only full bottle was the model ship he had given her as a gift/insult. The bed was un made but Isabella wasn't intending on using the bed today. She pulled off his gloves and undid the straps of his armour as he kissed her cheek and ears. Pulling the spiked and furry armour over his head, Isabella smirked as she threw it aside and ran her hands across his chest. His body was decorated by a myriad of scars, including a vicious scar on his belly, where the Arishok had stabbed him. He had nearly passed out from healing himself.

Isabella rubbed his shoulders as he undid her corset and shoulder armour. She pulled his head into her cleavage, moaning as he kissed her breasts. He squeezed the breasts through her shirt, messaging them with an affectionate but firm grip. She returned the affection to his groin, squeezing it with one hand and undoing her bandanna with another. The pirate queen smiled as the champion undid her blouse, undoing it just enough to get a full view of her well-grown Rivaini breasts. He kissed her left breast as she pulled off her gloves. Picking her up by her legs, Hawke slammed her back against the wall. The force of the impact caused the objects above the fireplace to fall on them, the model ship broke apart and the Rivaini talisman bounced off Garret's boot.

"You know," Isabella said between kisses. "We could just take Castillon's ship, get a few men, Fenris and Kitten, Varric if he wants to come, we could kill any guards there and just take the ship, sail away for simpler adventures," she smiled as he kissed her breasts.

"We could, but not tonight, not till the fight's done, and there is a fight coming whether we want it or not," Garret softly rubbed Isabella's back, as if apologisng for any bruise he had given her.

"I want to be that person Garret, the kind of person who fights for a principle, you just have to be patient with me," she said.

"I think that's the first time anyone's called me by my first name," Hawke said.

Isabella laughed and set her feet on the ground. She kissed her lover's lips, dominating his tongue as she undid his belt and dropped his trousers to the floor.

"I thought you said…"

"Patient lover, not slow, show me how much you've wanted me Garret, if you cant make me scream your name we'll leave and never come back," she let her blouse fall to the floor and undid her pants.

"Yes captain," he smiled, pulling her into a kiss.

Isabella wrapped her arms around Garret's neck, moaning in his mouth as he pinned her against the wall. He held her by her ass, pressing their hips together. Their tongues wrestled for control and Isabella gripped his hair so tightly that she yanked a few strands out. He rubbed her thighs affectionately and allowed her the dominance of the kiss. Isabella held the kiss, knowing that Garret wouldn't object to keeping their mouths locked until the climax. A small part of the champion wanted to lose this duel, for Isabella not to scream his name. He wanted to let it all go, to be selfish just this once and love his pirate queen until she no longer had a use for him. But she pulled her mouth away from his as the pace of his thrusts quickened.

"That's it Garret, that's incredible, yes work that magic," she moaned and gasped, yanking Garret's head back to keep him from kissing her.

She breathed harder and gasped with each thrust, matching the rhythm of his own breathing. Isabella hooked her legs across Garret's waist and held his face to her breasts as his hands pressed against the wall, leaving hand marks as flames danced across his fingers. He grit his teeth together as Isabella picked up where he left off.

"On the sea or on land, with marriage or without, selfless or selfish, I love you Isabella!" he took his hands off the wall and gripped Isabella's back.

She screamed in a mix of pleasure and pain as his hot hands singed her skin.

"OH YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT! DON'T STOP!" she yelled.

Finally he climaxed and she rolled her head back.

"GARRET!" she screamed.

He fell over his boots, slamming back first onto the wood. She rested her head on his chest as he kept his hands on her back, the fire replaced by the glow of healing magic. They didn't talk or even move to a place more comfortable. The lovers kissed one another, whispering the confessions of love they wouldn't say when witnessed. It was bad enough that the whole of the hanged man had heard them fucking.

Neither knew how much time had passed when they decided to separate. Isabella lied on her bed and watched her lover dress as he had watched her years ago. He clipped his belt up and cupped her cheeks, pulling her into a soft kiss. But she pulled his head in for a more passionate lip massage.

"I'll see you again tonight, this time at the mansion," she said.

"I'll give Bodahn, Orana and Sandal the night off and send the dog over to Aveline," he said.

"Whatever did you have in mind Garret?" she asked.

"If we're going to leave one day I need to show you all the best places for…intimacy at my house," he chuckled.

"So long as I get to bring whipped cream," she bit his lip and pushed him back. "Now go and be the champion, I've got some sleep to catch up on!"

"Yes captain, I've got to see Anders anyway, I promised him I'd gather ingredients for a potion he's making," Garret said.

"Let me guess, it'll cure all known diseases!"

"I love you too Isabella," he grinned.

Garret Hawke had spent the day angry, but for a small moment he smiled before going back to being the champion. Isabella however spent the rest of the morning smiling for what felt like the first time in her life. She made a mental note to see Anders later as well for morning after treatment, she loved Garret Hawke, but wasn't quite ready to have his child.

Next Dragon Age: Vox Populi

In my sequel story Dragon Age Vox Populi Isabella and Hawke are one of the main pairings, so the story of their relationship and the larger story of what happens after Dragon Age 2 (though the ending will change) will be told in that story.

The Dragon Age Vox Populi story will be an M-rated fic and will include scenes of violence and a sexual nature. Other pairings will include Merrill/Carver, Mahariel/Morrigan, Alistair/Femcousland and others, though they wont be sole focuses of the story. For other details check out my other Vox Populi one-shots.