Dragon Age 2 FanFiction :Chapter 1:

Chapter 1

Author: AriyannaxShiku
Game: Dragon Age II
Pairing: N/A

Her vision was clouded by darkness, and her chest felt like someone had placed a heavy weight inside her ribcage. She couldn't move, couldn't breath…she could do nothing. Without warning her leg, or what she thought was her leg, began burning as if someone had stuck a long metal rod into a fire before pulling it back out and pressing the searing hot edge of it against her.

She wanted to move, to run, to scream in agony at the shear pain that crawled through her body, twisting in patterns like vine tendrils that hung from the canopy of trees. What was happening to her? What was hurting her? Why couldn't she open her eyes? Questions flowed into her unfocused mind like the wall of a damn had broken loose, but the question that stood out the most to her was, Why would someone want to hurt her?

Hours past, or at least that's what it felt like, being stuck in this void of black had been messing with her mind, what seemed like hours to her could've only been minutes, or maybe it was the other way around, maybe the hours had been days. At this point she didn't care, for the agony crawling up and over her like a second skin was edging towards the brink of unbearable.

When will it end? How much more of this torture could she take? She kept asking herself, but just as she expected, she received no answers.

Voices; all around her. She could hear them, whispering in the farthest part of her mind, slowly dragging her attention away from the agony her body was experiencing as they clawed their way towards the surface. As they came closer, they became louder until eventually she could understand what the whispers were saying, but what she heard did not comfort her.

I'm coming for you...we're coming for you.

You will be mine once more…little pet.

She couldn't take it anymore as the voices became louder, circling around her head as they repeated those two sentences over and over again.

I'm coming for you…we're coming for you.

I'm coming for you…

Louder they got, until she suddenly heard a high-pitched scream that bounced violently against the walls of her mind.

I'm coming for you…They screamed, the voices determined to be heard over the wails of screaming in her head.

No…She whispered back at them.

We're coming for you…

No.

I'm coming for you…

Stop it! She screamed before she felt herself falling out of the abyss.

Her eyes flashed open as she felt herself lurch up from the ground into a sitting position. The pain covering her like a blanket suddenly retracted itself, curling backwards until it had built up in the pit of her stomach, making her feel nauseous. Her eyes stung as if she had been cutting up a whole sack of onions and her mouth felt as dry as a desert and as rough as sandpaper, which would make it hard to talk.

The blistering sun above was hitting against her shoulders with such force she thought at any moment her skin would start peeling off from the rapidly increasing heat. She squinted against the blinding rays that spread out across the land, turning the sand around her such a bright shade of white that it was almost too painful to look at it.

She groaned as she struggled to her feet, but as soon as she was up her knees buckled beneath her and she fell forward onto her hands and knees. How long had she been out here? It doesn't matter, she thought. All that concerned her right now was getting out of the sun's torturous heat.

Without a single idea of where she was or where she was going, she pulled the hood of her cloak up and started forward, pulling herself along with her hands as she dragged her limp legs behind her. Not matter how far she went, there were no trees in sight for her to sit under, so instead of continuing her search she settled for the next best thing. She clawed her way over to the large shrub to her left. There wasn't much room underneath it, but at least it provided shade.

Once reaching her destination she carefully rolled under the sharp protruding branches and pulled her legs up to her chest to keep them from burning. She moved her hand up to try and unfasten the cloak, but she found the simple task too difficult in her weak state, so instead she pulled as much of it as she could over herself in an attempt to blend into the scenery.

Night soon came, and how the temperature had changed from blistering hot to colder than ice in mere seconds surprised her. She fumbled to pull the cloak further across her, trying to tuck herself in as much as she could to try and keep the already violent shaking of her body from getting any worse. She knew that with time it was only going to get colder, but she still did not have the energy to move about. So she got as comfortable as one could under a thorny bush and closed her eyes, willing sleep to take her.


~**********~

"So, care to explain why you're dragging us out to the Wounded Coast, during the night, with all this heavy crap?" Isabela called out to Athena who was leading the group down the sandy path, whistling merrily to herself.

"Hawke!" Anders yelled to get her attention. Athena jumped at the sudden shout of her surname and almost tripped over her own feet.

"Sorry guys, did you say something?" Athena asked, looking over her shoulder at them to give a sheepish smile.

Isabela sighed in exasperation and rolled her eyes, obviously getting sick of carrying a heavy bag over her shoulder. "I asked why you're taking us out here." She repeated.

"Oh! Well that's because I have a surprise for all of you." Athena announced cheerily and she grinned before turning to look back at the path in front of her.

"What kind of surprise would that be? You're not going to ''dispose'' of us out here are you? Because I can tell you now, Bianca doesn't sit well with threats." Varric chimed in, but the light sarcasm in his voice was easy to note and it made Athena's grin stretch even more across her features.

"Nope! Even if I did want to ''dispose'' of youse, do you think one little rogue can take on all of you guys?" She said innocently as she stopped and spun around to bat her eyelashes at her friends.

"I bet you could, you rogues are good at seducing people and weakening their defences." Anders said with a smirk.

"Hey! Don't compare me to her!" Isabela and Athena shouted simultaneously, which earned them a look from the rest of the group. Both the women stared at each other for a long moment before bursting into fits of laughter.

"No offence, Kyon, but you're not exactly the type to successfully seduce people." Isabela informed her, using the nickname that had been given to her only after a few days of knowing Varric. Athena was often teased about her shortness by her friends, and Varric spontaneously came up with the name Kyon for her, which meant 'short' in some language, which language it was though, Isabela didn't have a clue.

"That's okay, Rivaini. I'd rather not be like…um…you." Athena stumbled at the end of her sentence as she tried to find the right thing to say. Isabela laughed and shook her head.

"That's probably best, all of us hear know that you can't flirt even if your life depended on it." Isabela said casually as she shrugged her aching shoulders.

"I can too flirt!" Athena protested stubbornly. "I can flirt with anyone I wish to, right, Liana?" She turned to her younger sister for support.

Liana's eyes widened as she looked up at her older sister. "Well…err…" She cut off as Athena's smug look fell from her face. "Sorry, sister…" Liana apologized, turning her gaze to the sand beneath her covered feet.

"Oh ho! Even lil one's turned against you!" Isabela cried in victory as she raised her fist triumphantly into the air.

"No! I didn't–that wasn't what I–" Liana started but Varric held a hand up to stop her.

"Its okay lil one, we know that you wouldn't turn on Kyon." He reassured her with a warm smile.

"You cannot be sure of that." Fenris argued from the back of the group, speaking for the first time since the group had travelled out of Kirkwall.

Liana felt her heart sink as she hung her head and her gaze fell upon the ground again. She knew that Fenris had a problem with Mages, and didn't blame him for hating her since he'd been treated badly by Magisters for a long time in his life, but it still hurt to think that he would turn his blade on her at the slightest indication of her being possessed. It made her feel weak, and the more she sensed his hateful glare piercing a hole through her skin and boring into her soul, the more it made her worry for her safety.

"Don't worry about that brood," Anders suddenly said, walking over to her and comfortingly wrapping his free arm around her shoulders. Liana couldn't help the blush that crawled onto her cheeks, and was thankful that it was dark so the others couldn't see.

"I believe we got off topic," Sebastian said, calling the attention of everyone towards him. "Are you going to tell us what your surprise for us is, Kyon?" He question as he turned his bright blue eyes towards her with a kind smile.

"I'm taking you all camping!" Athena announced excitedly, clapping her hands as she watched for the reactions of the others.

"Camping?" Anders, Varric and Isabela said simultaneously, giving Athena a perplexed look.

"Yep!" She confirmed, crossing her arms as if that would finalize what she had said.

"Great, I'm going camping again." Anders groaned, obviously not pleased with her surprise.

"And what's wrong with camping?" She asked, clearly not getting what was so bad.

"It's just that the last time I went camping something…unpleasant…happened." He answered slowly.

"I'm sensing a story behind this." Varric said, an eager glint in his brown eyes as he rubbed his beardless chin.

"Ooooh, Blondie has a secret! Do share." Isabela drawled as she stepped beside Anders and placed her arm on his shoulder, forcing him to support her weight, plus the bags that she was carrying.

"Oh Maker…" Anders sighed as he hid his face in his hand and shook his head. Why did he even bring it up? Now they were never going to stop until he spat it out. "Fine, I shall tell you," He said in defeat, peeking through his fingers to quickly glance at them before covering his eyes again. "When I was still with the Wardens, we'd just finished doing a job but we knew we couldn't make it back to town in time before dark, so instead we set up camp and slept there for the night. Sometime during the night I needed to…err…go…badly…so I walked off to…err…go…anyway…the other two had told me that you had to dig a hole in the ground first, but I really needed to go so I just decided to ignore making a hole. But I hadn't noticed the small bush of thorns…" He finished, feeling his face turn a deep crimson as laughter had erupted from everyone even before he was finished explaining.

"Oh Andraste's tits! That's definitely going in the story." Varric confirmed, another wave of laughter overtaking him.

"That…has to be…that funniest…thing I've ever heard!" Isabela choked out in between her fit of laughter.

"Same here!" Athena agreed, bending over and supporting herself with one hand on her knee while she wrapped her other arm around her aching stomach. Anders shook his head and frowned slightly.

"Liana, I thought of all people, you wouldn't be one to laugh at my misfortune." Anders said, giving her a sad look as he moved his hand, revealing his deeply flushed face.

"I'm…s-sorry Anders. I just…can't stop!" She said, clasping both hands over her mouth as she tried her hardest to muffle her laughing.

Anders looked behind him, to find Aveline and Sebastian laughing along with the rest, even Fenris was smirking, trying his hardest not to laugh outright. He sighed, arching his shoulders forward in defeat. "There goes the little dignity I had left." I muttered miserably.

"Sorry Anders, truly," Athena apologized, finally able to contain her laughter, but unable to wipe the ridiculous grin stretching across her face. "So, shall we go set up camp?" She asked the others after they all got their control back.

"That hill over there looks like a good place to camp for the night." Aveline suggested, pointing at the sand dune rising out of the shrubbery only a few hundred meters ahead of them.

"Okay then, let's keep going." Athena said, heading in the direction of the hill.

It took only a few minutes for them to arrive before they all dropped the bags to the ground, groans and sighs of relief were heard from everyone as the weight was off their shoulders now.

"I'm going to go fetch some wood decent enough to burn." Aveline announced before turning and walking back down the hill.

"And I'm going to set up the beds, Sebastian would you like to help me?" Athena asked, looking up at her loyal friend with a friendly smile.

"Of course, Kyon." Sebastian said, kneeling down beside her to help unpack the bags and set everything up.

"And I guess the rest of us will go help Aveline." Anders said, following the trail of footsteps back down to lower ground with Fenris and Isabela in tow.

"Is it okay if I stay with you, sister? I'm tired and don't feel like walking anymore." She admitted.

"Sure, just don't get in the way okay?" Athena said, smiling over at her younger sister before picking up a hand full of blankets and beginning to lay them out on the sand. Liana moved to the side of the hill before sitting down so she wouldn't become bothersome.

After several minutes Sebastian and Athena had all the beds made and the bags pushed to the side. "I'd say that's a job well done, partner." Athena commented, nodding her approval before high-fiving Sebastian, who looked a little awkward after the gesture.

"Kyon! I think you should come and see this!" Anders called from somewhere fairly close; his voice was full of concern and Athena's stomach twisted into knots at the thought of what they might have found, especially out here.

"Seb please stay here and look after Liana, I'll be back in a minute." She said hurriedly before taking off in the direction of Ander's voice. It only took her a few seconds to get to where her friends were, and when she saw them all crowded around a large shrub she slowly inched her way forward, curious to know what it was but afraid that it was be something she wouldn't like. "What is it?" She questioned as she came to a stop behind Aveline who was crouched and carefully holding up a few of the sharp branches to look underneath.

"Look." She instructed, gesturing vaguely in her direction. Athena slowly took another step forward and kneeled beside her companion, squinting to make out the small form that was wrapped in something under the bush.

She slowly reached forward and moved a part of the thin cloth to see what was under it. Athena's eyes widened in shock and she forgot all about her balance which ended in her landing flat on her behind. "It…it's a girl…"