Archive of Our Own ^beta

Alistair watched the dragon go down after launching one last catapult volley. He couldn’t see  their companions but had no time to fear for them now. Elissa was bound to be near-by, Oghren was probably fighting neck-deep in some darkspawn pile and Wynne was somewhere on the sides, healing the troops along with the other mages.

 “So how do you like our chances?” Alistair stroked Elissa’s forehead with his thumb. He liked having her head resting on his shoulder, next to him as they lay on the bed. It gave a sense of comfort and normality, in the vastly un-normal circumstances of their relationship .

Alistair saw her run towards the great monster, roaring with fear or rage, grabbing a random sword from a fallen comrade as she passed. He followed quickly, lifting his father’s blade, burning with the embedded fire rune. She shook her head at him as tears streamed down her face.

“I think we could win,” said Elissa and grabbed his other hand. She was strong for someone so short, and even as her skin was covered in old scars and partially healed wounds, she was more beautiful than the most refined lady of any court. She looked up at him. “Don’t you?”

Elissa reached the monster first, causing Alistair to halt in his tracks. She ran the weapon along the monster’s tall neck, making it rain blood and gore. The head of the monster fell to the ground, still rumbling and spewing out blue flame. Before he could reach her, she screamed out, lifting the sword and plunged it deep into the dragon’s head, sending a shockwave that sent everyone sprawling to the ground, darkspawn and human both.

“With you leading us, I fear nothing,” he said and kissed the back of her hand.

She kissed his chin then crept up his body and straddled his lap, finding him already eager for her. “Your faith in me is inspiring.”

Alistair chuckled.

A bright light erupted from atop Fort Drakon, like a lighthouse of hope in the stormy ocean of death in Denerim. Below everyone, human, elf, dwarf and darkspawn, ceased fighting, their faces upturned towards the tower in awe and fear.

Elissa kissed him deeply and held him close to her chest, his hands hugging her hips and his legs twitching from wanting her so.

“What would I ever do without you?” he whispered with a shiver and breathed into her neck, making her quiver and give a slight giggle.

“You’ll never know,” she replied.

Alistair got to his feet and caught his breath for a moment, the darkspawn streaming past him as they  fled the field while his fellow soldiers cheered and praised the Maker. He felt someone tap his back with a fist, congratulating him, but he couldn’t care less. The one he needed to see was nowhere to be found.

There was a slight knock on the door.

“Hello?” Elissa said.

“It’s Riordan, I need a word with you,” said the senior Grey Warden. “Both of you, if Alistair is also there.”

The couple started giggling.

The large corpse was still warm, its eyes still glowed, but it was dead. It had to be, its black blood streaming out of the many wounds they had inflicted.

“Where is she?” Wynne said. She’d joined him and he hadn’t even noticed.

Riordan led them back to his room, looking serious and stern. Elissa and Alistair couldn’t stop smiling however. They were promised to be married post-war, after all. The ecstasy of knowing there was someone in the world who loved him, whom he loved back, was more than mind-blowing to him.

“I have something very important to tell you both,” said Riordan.

They held hands and awaited his news. Whatever it was, it would not be as important as they were to each other. Whatever it was, it would never separate them.

Alistair had seen her just before the beast drew its final, fiery breath. He heard dying soldiers whine and whimper, heard survivors and wounded get to their feet and walk away from the fight. But she was nowhere. She wasn’t among the dead, nor the living. Alistair wiped  the blood and sweat from his face.

It was as though the world vanished under their feet and they fell. They never let go of each other’s hands, but Alistair felt Elissa’s hand nudge his own, as if to check if he was still there. Riordan stared firmly at them and continued delivering his news

When they left his room Elissa went ahead to wash her face, but Alistair dragged his feet. If he went to sleep, then tomorrow would come sooner and with it, the battle that would likely kill one or both of them.

Flashes of sunlight broke through the smoke and clouds and somehow, as Alistair watched the fires being put out all over the city, he couldn’t understand how it was daytime. They had fought tirelessly through the night. He hadn’t even noticed the sun rise. And if he didn’t find Elissa somewhere soon, he knew the sun would never rise for him again.

He passed Elissa’s room on the way back to his own and nearly bumped into Morrigan. She shot a chilly gaze at him as she breezed  past.

He got back to his bed and sat down, rubbing his face. Ok, so one of them had to die for the Blight to end. Riordan had said it was to be him if possible. If it was that would mean Alistair and Elissa could run the country together, as they had planned. But if Riordan failed, what then? Alistair knew he had to take the blow for her. There  was no question of any other solution. She was the one with all the noble connections, she knew how to lead and unify, she was already a hero to the people and the nobles adored her. It had to be her. If the worst came to pass, he would be the one to kill the Arch-Demon, he swore it

He saw something shimmering underneath the dead dragon. A pale, silver dagger flickering with lightning. On closer inspection an arm stuck out from under the dragon’s left shoulder. He huffed and mustering all his strength, pushed the dragon with a loud scream, but he wasn’t strong enough.

“So I saw Morrigan going into your room earlier, the look she gave me …” Alistair swallowed hard. “That was icy even for her. What did she want?”

Elissa hesitated at the door, closed it behind her and locked it. “Only to say goodbye. She’s leaving. Nothing to worry about, my love.”

He wasn’t stupid, he knew there was more to her words. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

She faked a smile, but he still saw the small tears in her eyes. “I – there’s nothing. Let’s just go to bed.”

“Something Morrigan said?” he murmured. “Did she hurt you?”

Elissa shook her head. “No, Alistair, it’s nothing, I am just tired, is all. Morrigan has every right to leave. Good riddance, too. She’s stuck around for far too long.”

“Sodding beast!” Oghren swore loudlyas he and Wynne came to his aid .

The dragon slid off the body it had covered.

Alistair grabbed Elissas' arms and held her softly but firmly. “Damn you, Elissa, if you don’t tell me, I’ll ask her myself.”

“There was something she offered to do, but the price was too high,” she spat irritably and wriggled out of his grasp. “Something to help us not dying by the Archdemon soul.”

Alistair’s heart began to race. “What was it? The price?”

“It’s not her,” Wynne said. “Some poor soul that got trapped when that beast fell.”

She looked very much like his Elissa in both face and form, but the armour was cheaper, not made from the scales of a high-dragon. She clutched Elissa’s favourite dagger with the lightning rune, most likely stolen or perhaps retrieved. Alistair breathed out in relief as he took the dagger and placed it in his own belt to give Elissa if he found her. When he found her.

“Where the sod is she?” Oghren spat on the ground. “Her and I have a bet to settle.”

Alistair had to get up and leave while Elissa’s words still rung in his ears. “The price was too high”... No price was too high. She should not have held that information from him. He was furious with her. He loved her, he would do anything and everything  to ensure her survival, even if he had to tie her up and lock her in a cabin somewhere, far away from the Blight. If that meant he would see her again, touch her again, kiss her and make love to her again, so be it. No price was too high.

“Alistair?” Wynne said worriedly. “We have to go. They are looking for their King.”

“We have to find their hero first,” Alistair said, determined not to stop until hefound her. He walked around the dragon’s body, looking for any sign of her. “She is way more important. She has to live, that was the deal.”

“What deal?” Oghren said.

Morrigan blew the candle out and Alistair let her do whatever she wanted with his body , as long as it meant Elissa would live. He closed his eyes and imagined being back with his love, but the two women were so vastly different. The pleasure he found with Morrigan could never match up with what he shared with Elissa. The sensation of simple bodily pleasure was nothing compared to the connection with the one he loved. Maybe she would never be his again, after finding out he’d been unfaithful , but at least she would be alive to scold him.

“Elissa!”

The others had given up, for now. It was late in the afternoon that Alistair considered giving up too, and letting Elissa come forth herself. He hoped that she tortured him by waiting to show herself, punishing him for his betrayal. She had to have figured it out, when she didn’t die while slaying the monster. She knew he’dd gone through with the ritual without her knowing or consenting. 

Alistair went back to their room afterwards, feeling dirty and uncomfortable. But it was done. He had ensured her survival. Morrigan had sworn to protect Elissa from afar too, in case she was swarmed. But the lights were out in his room and Elissa had her eyes closed, but he wasn’t sure if she was sleeping or awake. There was a huge wet stain on her pillow. Alistair tucked her in and crept up beside her, putting his hand over her stomach.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I love you.”

The unmistakably beautiful voice of Leliana broke through the gruesome sounds of the battlefield. She sang something in Elvhen, a tune Alistair recognized from camp. At some point, the former bard must have  followed them up here.

“I’m not giving up on her either,” Leliana said when she reached him. She touched his shoulder amicably before  resuming the next verse of song.

Elissa drove her sword through the darkspawn general that had blocked their way into Fort Drakon. With the help of some Redcliffe soldiers, both she and Alistair had made it all the way here, thanks to Wynne’s healing magic and Oghren’s fierce bloodrage. They pushed the doors to the prison open, and Alistair shuddered. Just weeks prior he and Elissa had broken themselves out of jail, coming back here was unnerving to say the least. He couldn’t say he liked what the darkspawn had done to the place, but it was always going to be a haunted fortress for him.

She must have been blown away by the shockwave. Alistair and Leliana searched the entire rooftop, turning over every corpse and taking off helmets. She was nowhere. Desperation began flooding Alistair as tears  silently streamed down his face. Could it be that she was thrown off the building entirely? Such an unworthy death for one so heroic.

They fought their way through the hauntingly quiet fortress, darkspawn lying in wait behind each door. Oghren kicked each door open, swinging his blade around to attract attention so that Elissa could blend into the shadows and get them from behind. Alistair admired that about her.

“Are you alright, Alistair?” Leliana said placing  a hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged it off. “She’s nowhere. I thought I would have found her by now.”

“Unless she’s somehow survived and doesn’t want to be found, I regret to think…” Leliana trailed off as Alistair interrupted her, grabbing her wrist.

“No! Don’t you dare say the words!”

The last stride towards the rooftop had them facing two massive ogres and a darkspawn emissary, but Elissa somehow made short work of all three. He stopped her as they climbed the stairs kissing her cheek before they opened the final door that would take them out to the top of the fort.

“This could be it. Let me do it. Let me be the one to take the blow. Don’t you go near that thing.”

Elissa  kissed his lips in return. “Hardly, my love. You’re going to be King. Ferelden can’t lose another good man to this Blight.”

Alistair wanted her to know about the ritual, that neither  of them had to die. But the words died in his mouth. What troubled him wasn’t the taint but he didn’t have the heart to tell her.

“Taint or no, that thing is a dragon,” he said through gritted teeth. “It’s dangerous for many reasons.”

“Damn you, Alistair, if I have to knock you unconscious and hide you for the rest of the fight, I will,” said Elissa. “You will live if I have any say.”

As silence overtook the city and the day passed into early evening, Alistair was just about ready to drop. He hadn’t had any sleep or food all day. He stared at a genlock with a deep wound in its back. He had reached the last corner of Fort Drakon, and there was still no sight of Elissa. Leliana sat down and sighed. They looked out over the flaming ruins of Denerim, but there were still people alive thanks to them. Thanks to her.

“Alistair?” Leliana said. “We did all we could. The taint must have destroyed her.”

“I refuse to believe there is no body.” Alistair held back his tears. “She must be here somewhere.”

“How are you so sure?” said Leliana quietly. “You’ll never give up, even though the proof is…”

Alistair looked down at a  random darkspawn its armour was torn and it had a single, deep wound.  The style was unique, the reach undeniably precise and it reminded him of Elissa. The darkspawn was still warm, which meant it had died recently.

The rooftop was crawling with darkspawn. Elissa summoned the mages to help defend her while she took on the toughest of the generals. Alistair stayed close and followed her as she made her way towards the ballistae. Her plan was to rain debris over the monster until they had worn it down enough to engage it directly. The dragon was indeed a fierce and fearsome enemy. Huge, dark violet and black as it spewed crimson flames all over. The mages were quickly spent and Elissa replaced them with archers commanding them  to focus on the darkspawn while she took on the dragon.

Alistair stood up and looked around. There was still a tower, sundered and in ruin, that they hadn’t thought to search. But if she was still alive, wounded, she could maybe have crawled in there. He lifted some heavy stones and pushed the broken doors to the ground and there, under the tower’s wooden roof which had fallen over her, lay Elissa, blood covered and entirely still. He fell to his feet and tore off the debris from her.

“My love? Elissa!” he whispered and shook her slightly. He felt her pulse weak, but present. “Leliana! She’s here!”

“Maker be praised!” exhaled the bard and came running, healing potion at the ready.

After the beast fell, Elissa saw Alistair fall backwards from the ensuing shockwave, and felt the tremor thrust her back a long way. She fell close to the edge of the rooftop and almost rolled over, but she managed to drive her sword into the nearest corpse and hold on. The closest darkspawn looked at her in fear, but attacked in blind rage. She fought it off but more came. She limped towards the wall to stand up and wondered when the taint would take her. Wouldn’t it have killed her instantly? What was going on?

“Liss?” Alistair said calmly. He examined her. Apart from a broken leg and a wound in her face, she was unharmed.

Elissa slowly opened her eyes and when she met his gaze, she scoffed. “You still went through with the ritual, then?”

He couldn’t help but smile, so relieved at having his love back. “Are you mad at me?”

Elissa coughed. “Of course not.”