Work Text:
“So…” Vex panted, putting her bow back over her shoulder and staring at the now-dead guards before them. “You’re saying your old mentor managed to blast us to the nearest concentration of magic, is that it, then?”
“It’s probably not what he intended.” Dorian replied, examining their surroundings.
“Last thing I remember, we were in the castle hall.” Kerah replied.
Vex had seen a lot of things. She had done a lot of things. She had traveled through doorways magically made in trees, she had become mist more than once, she had been to and returned from the Feywild, she’d even died and come back from it.
Somehow none of that compared to the bizarre sensation that had come with being sucked through an arcane rift and blasted who knew exactly where, to be met by an attack from a small number of guards and an incessant red glow from… Something around them.
“Let’s see… If we’re still in the castle, it isn’t. Ah! Of course. It’s not simply where. It’s when!”
“I’m sorry, what?” Vex blinked, staring at Dorian.
“Alexius used the amulet as a focus! It moved us through time.”
“Did we go forward in time, or back?” Kerah asked, using the key she’d found to unlock the cell door keeping them locked in. “And how far?”
“Those are excellent questions. We’ll have to find out won’t we? Let’s look around, see where the rift took us. Then we can figure out how to get back.” Dorian paused. “If we can.”
“What was Alexius trying to do?” Vex asked, wishing she wasn’t up to her calves in water.
“I believe his original plan was to remove the Herald from time completely. If that happened, she would never have been at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, or ruined his Elder One’s plan. I think your surprise in the castle hall made him reckless. He tossed us into the rift before he was ready, I counted it. The magic went wild, and here we are. Make sense?”
“No.” Vex shook her head. “But if it does to you, then we can get out, at least.”
“There were others in the hall. Could they have been brought through the rift?”
Kerah’s question made Vex look to Dorian, alarm crashing over her.
“Yes, my brother was there. Where is he?”
“I can’t rightly say. I doubt it was large enough to bring the whole room through. Besides, Alexius wouldn’t want to risk catching himself and Felix in it. They’re probably still where and when we left them.”
“Good.” Vex nodded. “That’s… That’s good, right?”
“Let’s hope so.” Dorian said, giving a nod in her direction. “Shall we carry on then?”
“You have a plan to get us back, I hope? Kerah asked.
“I have some thoughts on that,” Dorian replied, starting off and gesturing them to follow. “They’re lovely thoughts. Like little jewels.”
They splashed their way out of the dungeon, Vex fiddling with Raven’s Slumber at her neck, debating whether or not to bring Trinket out. After having to squeeze over some rubble in tighter quarters than she’d anticipated, she decided against it. Instead, she brought up the rear, keeping eyes and ears open.
“Hang on.” She said after a few moments and several staircases and turns. “There’s something this way, someone moving in the water. Breathing.”
“I don’t hear anything.” Dorian said, a bit incredulous.
“You’re a magister. I’m a hunter.” She replied, gesturing down a hall. “It was that way.”
Kerah moved in the direction she gestured and, after a moment, Dorian followed with the same air of incredulity that he had taken on when she’d pointed out a noise in the first place.
When they found the source, Vex almost wished they hadn’t.
The elven mage they’d spoken to before, Fiona, was in a cell, and she appeared… stuck to the menacing red material. Or was it… growing out of her?
“You’re… alive…” The woman rasped out as they approached. “How? I saw you… disappear… into the rift…”
“Is that…” Kerah approached the bars, placing a hand on one as she leaned forward. “Red lyrium growing from your body? How?”
“The longer you’re near it…. eventually, you become this… Then they mine your corpse for more.”
Vex felt nausea rise in her, but she forced it down. Gods, that was vile on so many levels…
“Can you tell us the date?” Dorian joined Kerah at the bars. “It’s very important.”
“Harvestmere. Nine… Forty-two dragon.”
“Forty-two?” Vex turned to Kerah. “We left in forty-one, didn’t we!?”
“We’ve missed an entire year.” Dorian confirmed, shock overtaking his features.
“We have to get out of here, go back in time.” Kerah glanced at her companions, voice firm.
“Please… Stop this from happening.” Fiona spoke in the same exhausted voice, but there was an urgency to it now. “Alexius serves the Elder One… More powerful than The Maker… No one challenges him and lives.”
How did you become more powerful than a God? Vex wondered, thinking of the gods she knew, of paladins and clerics, of Pike and her own brother. It just didn’t seem possible.
“I’ve never fought a God before.” Kerah quipped, one corner of her mouth lifting.
“Should be memorable.” Vex added with a nod.
“Our only hope is to find the amulet that Alexius used to send us here…” Dorian was obviously preoccupied in thought, he almost seemed to be speaking to himself as he planned. “If it still exists, I can use it to re-open the rift at the exact spot we left.”
“Good…” Fiona slumped against the wall, eyes closed.
“I said ‘maybe’.”
“There’s really no need to remind us that we might be stuck in this future, Dorian.” Vex said, her voice a tease that walked a sharp, poison edge.
“All I’m saying is that it might turn us into paste!” He shrugged. “I’ve always endeavored to be honest.”
“You must… try. Your spymaster, Leliana… She is here. Find her. Quickly, before the Elder One learns you’re here.”
They turned to leave her cell, Vex’ahlia lingering.
“Is there nothing we can do?” She asked, both of her companions and of Fiona.
“There is… nothing… That I have found.” Fiona shook her head. “But you can stop this… from ever coming to be… Go.”
Vex nodded, letting her hand slip slowly from the bar as she followed after the two mages.
It was Kerah that stopped them next, flinging out an arm to stop them. “Do you hear that?”
Vex and Dorian paused, listening.
“No?” Dorian glanced to Vex.
“Yes!” Vex nodded, the soft stream of curses reaching her ears. “That’s-”
“Sera!” Kerah took off down a hallway, Dorian and Vex splashing after her. She burst into another room full of cells, turning to see the elf sitting and shaking her head. Upon seeing them, Sera stood, looking terrified.
“No, no, no. You can’t be here. You’re dead, and they don’t come back!”
Her voice had an odd timbre to it, like it was layered. Red tinged her eyes and skin, and there seemed to be some energy surrounding her. Vex’s gut clenched as she recognized a state very much like Fiona’s, but obviously much earlier on. Sera was dying.
“It’s alright, Sera.” Kera said, fumbling to put the key in the lock with desperate fingers. “It’s hard to explain. We time traveled, it’s really me. Alexius sent us through time, I’m not dead.”
“Talk sense or shut it! I can’t think about him…”
“It’s really me, I promise.” Kerah swung the door open. “I’m here to stop this.”
“You might not know… There were so many. I ran out of arrows, making them pay. Her brother-” She stopped to nod at Vex, “He didn’t stop neither. Not till Alexius did something to make him stop stabbing… Then it didn’t matter anymore. The Elder One killed the Empress, then invaded. With a demon army. Demons everywhere. Everything is gone, or red. And I just… I want them to hurt! If you’re really here, I’ll friggin die to spit in their faces.”
“Let’s go spit at them together, then. Without you needing to die for it.” Kerah said, extending a hand. Sera ignored it, pushing past her.
“Let’s go. Don’t want to be down here anymore. Gives me the creeps. I hate it.”
Kerah frowned, but nodded, leading them on.
“I think there’s more cells along this hall.” She commented, opening the next door. They strode in, almost missing the tiny form in a far cell. They would have, had she not cried out.
“Vex!”
Vex turned, gasping as she saw Pike.
“Pike, oh my God.” She ran to her, kneeling to grab the gnome’s hand through the bars. Her stomach sank as she noticed the red surrounding her, coming from her. She looked like Sera did…
“I thought… Vex, you died. We thought you died. I… Vax almost… Vax and Sera both almost went mad in that hall, it was…” She stopped, shaking her head, voice thick. “It was awful…”
“Is he here? Is my brother here?”
“I think, in some other cell. Last I knew, they still had him. But…”
“We’ll find him.”
Kerah unlocked the door and Vex released Pike’s hand to let her step out though the bars.
“How are you here?” Pike asked, shouldering her mace as she joined the group.
“It’s actually quite fascinating, we-”
“Time magic, apparently.” Vex cut Dorian off, looking at Pike. “This… This thing, with the lyrium. Can’t you… Is there anything…?”
She trailed off as Pike shook her head.
“No. This is… beyond me.”
“Can’t you… Can you ask for Sarenrae’s help?”
Pike let out a sound that was either a sigh or a snort.
“I can’t remember the last time Sarenrae answered me, not once the Elder One came.” She shook her head, and for the first time, Vex noticed that her Holy Symbol was gone. She’d never seen Pike without it, and it made her seem somehow smaller. “Now? Now, I don’t even know if she ever really answered me at all.”
Vex stopped, staring at her for a moment.
“Has it been that bad?” She whispered.
“Demons walk the earth, Vex’ahlia, alongside the foul creature who rules it.” Came the reply. “It’s that bad and so much worse.”
They walked in silence to the other side of the dungeons, finding other holding cells. The first they found was the Iron Bull, pacing as much as his confines would allow. He stopped as they approached.
“You’re not dead. You’re supposed to be dead…” He narrowed his eye as Kerah unlocked the door. “There was a burn on the ground and everything.”
“Alexius didn’t kill us.” Dorian replied. “Alexius sent us through time. This is our future.”
“Well, it’s my present. And in my past I definitely saw you both die.”
“I’m no more dead than you.” Kerah crossed her arms.
“Uuurgh.” Bull threw his hands up. “Now ‘dead’ and ‘not dead’ are up for debate. That’s wonderful.”
“Just come with us.” Vex said, very nearly snapped.
“We’re going to fight Alexius.” Dorian added.
“Why?” Bull stepped out of his cell, ducking so as not to hit his head. “You want to see what other tricks he’s learned?”
“If we find him, we might be able to get back to our own time and stop all this before it happens.”
“Kill Alexius? Sounds good. Let’s go.”
They set off once more, making their way to the final block of dungeon cells. Vex investigated each, knowing and dreading who she would find.
“Vax!”
He was sat in a corner, eyes closed, looking even more haggard than the rest. Dark circles showed prominently beneath his eyes, and beneath them were hollowed cheeks. He opened his eyes, giving a cautious smile when he saw her.
“I had wondered.” He said, ruefully, rising. “When the Raven Queen refused to tell me where you’d gone, refused to take another life for you again… I wondered if you were really dead.” His face fell. “It… still feels like you were really... It feels like I watched you die all over again, Vex’ahlia.”
“God, brother…” Vex took the key from Kerah, voice barely above a whisper while she unlocked and opened his cell, hands shaking. “You look… I mean… You’re…”
“Like shit, I know.” He reached for her, hugging her tightly to him for a long time. “So you really are here, or this is a very, very convincing dream,” He finally spoke again as he let her go, pulling back with his hands still on her shoulders to look at her intensely. “How?”
“Time magic.”
Vax snorted. “Makes about as much sense as anything else.”
“Want to kill the man who did it?” She asked, arching a brow.
“Fuck yes, I do.” Vax’s voice was nearly a growl. “I really fucking do.”
“Vax… Are you…” Vex looked him up and down, expression worried.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re dying.”
Vax looked at her levelly, gripping her upper arms tightly.
“I was dying before they put this shit in me, Vex’ahlia. I have been dying since you left. Go back to when you left, fix this, make it so this never happens.”
Vex blinked at him, brow furrowed and the corners of her eyes pricking. “Okay… I promise.”
He nodded, giving her a smile she could only describe as grim before turning to Kerah.
“Well then, Herald. What’s our plan?”
“We find Leliana. Fiona said they were holding her here…”
Another nod from Vax, his expression hardening. “I know where.”
“How?” Dorian raised a skeptical brow.
“I’ve been there.”
“So where is she?” The mage prodded again.
“Where would you have a spymaster?” Vax replied. “The same place you make the rebellious ones spend some time.”
“The torture chamber.” Kerah said, in a tone so matter of fact Vex wondered if it really sank in for her that Vax had obviously been tortured by these people.
At the thought, Vex retched. Nothing came of it, but she felt Vax’s hand on her shoulder.
“Make it so it never happened.” He murmured to her, and she nodded, straightening and blaming the tears on her cheeks on the gagging.
They carried on, moving quickly and quietly through the castle, following Vax. As they neared the room in question, they could hear the sounds of what seemed to be a brutal questioning. Kerah motioned for the others to stay back, drawing her staff and squaring her shoulders before she opened the door.
“You will break!” A helmed man was shoving a knife under Leliana’s throat as they entered, the spymaster herself hung from the ceiling by chains around her wrists.
“I will die first.” Leliana hissed, and for the first time Vex got a good look at her. She looked as though she’d aged a decade, maybe more. Her face was sunken, wrinkled, and looked nearly terrifying. Vex couldn’t help but gasp, a sound that made the man turn around. “Or you will!”
Leleiana wrapped her legs around the man’s neck, using his struggling to grip more tightly, strangling him. He moved then, just the wrong way, and she twisted at the waist. A muffled, crunching snap was heard, and the man dropped.
“You’re alive.” Leliana said, sounding more matter of fact than shocked as Kerah undid the manacles at her wrists.
“Well. That was impressive.” Kerah murmured, trying to lighten the unbearably dark room.
“Anger is stronger than any pain. Do you have weapons?” A nod from Kerah. “Good. The Magister’s probably in his chambers.”
“You aren’t curious how we got here?” Dorian asked.
“No.”
“Alexius sent us into the future.” Dorian replied regardless. “This? His victory, his Elder One? It was never meant to be.”
“If we get back to the present and stop Alexius, then you’ll never have to go through this.” Kerah said, voice urgent and sincere.
“And mages always wonder why people fear them. No one should have this power.”
“It’s dangerous and unpredictable. Before the breach, nothing we did-” Dorian cut himself off at a look from Leliana.
“Enough! This is all pretend to you. Some future you hope will never exist. I suffered. The whole world suffered. It was real.”
Without realizing she was doing it, Vex grabbed her brother’s hand. He might be assuring her that this need never be, that he would never really live it. But he already had. The Vax beside her had lived, had nearly died, had suffered, had seen the suffering. So had Pike. She hadn’t asked about the others, but she assumed they had fallen. She didn’t dare ask, because she may well break if she had to hear that truth.
“Let’s go.” Leliana led the way from the chamber, not looking at any of them.
“What happened while we were away?” Dorian asked as they walked, seemingly to anyone who they had found.
“We-” Pike started to speak, but was cut off by Leliana.
“Stop talking.”
“I’m just asking for information!” Dorian spluttered.
“No. You’re talking to fill silence. Nothing happened that you’ll want to hear.”
“That bad?” Vex asked her brother, though she knew the answer.
“Probably worse…” He replied softly, his hand still in hers. “Don’t think about it, Vex’ahlia. Keep moving. I’m here, I’ll be there when you get back. Healthy and whole and wondering where the fuck you went this time. Yeah?”
“Yeah…” Vex breathed, not really believing it yet.
“Look at what you’ve done, Alexius.” Kerah started speaking as soon as they entered the throne room, voice tight with emotion. Sadness, anger, confusion.
Vex brought up the rear with her brother, bow ready, practically glued to his side. She’d stayed near him as they’d traversed the castle, never letting him out of her sight. She could tell her was doing the same with her, and she recalled his words from when the Conclave had attacked.
“Do not go far from me.”
How far she must have gone, in his eyes, over the course of a year she’d never see.
“If you are out of earshot, you are too far from me.”
Alexius faced a roaring fire, a figure crouched beside him. Yellow magister’s robes, a close shaved head, a face that looked more like a skull than anything belonging to a living human being.
“For my country. For my son. But it means nothing now. I knew you would appear again. Not that it would be now, but I knew I hadn’t destroyed you… My final failure.”
“Is that…” Pike whispered, looking with horror at the crouching figure.
“Can’t be.” Vax breathed, but Vex knew he was lying to himself. Hell, she wanted to lie to herself. There was no way any person could become the thing that was beside Alexius. Was there?
“Was it worth it?” Dorian asked, imploring and incredibly sad. “Everything you did to the world. To yourself.”
“It doesn’t matter now. All we can do is wait for the end.”
“It does matter!” Kerah stepped forward. “I can undo this.”
“How many times have I tried? The past cannot be undone. All that I fought for, all that I betrayed, and what have I wrought? Ruin and death, there is nothing else. The Elder One comes. For me, for you, for us all.”
As Alexius spoke, Vex watched her bother and Leliana exchange looks, a glance to Felix –she had to finally admit to herself that the figure was him, was the man she’d seen talk with such fondness to Dorian, the man who’d wanted to help them- then back to each other, then a nod. Leliana slipped into the shadows and emerged again behind Felix, standing him up and placing a blade to his neck.
“Felix!”
“That’s Felix!?” Dorian stepped forward, anger overtaking his features. Either he truly hadn’t realized, or he’d managed to convince himself that he was seeing someone, or something, else. Vex’s heart lurched for him. “Maker’s breath, Alexius what have you done!”
“He would have died, Dorian. I saved him.” He looked to Leliana. “Please… Don’t hurt my son. I’ll do anything you ask.”
“Hand over that amulet and we let him go.” Vex called, chin raised as she stared Alexius down, fury in her gaze.
“Let him go and I swear you’ll get what you want!”
Leliana stared at him from over Felix’s shoulder, eyes narrowed.
“I want the world back.”
The blade flashed and Felix dropped, blood spilling over the floor. Vex wasn’t surprised, rather she was relieved. Whatever Alexius had forced his son to become, he was free of it now. He deserved that much. Beside her, she saw Vax nodding, a hand coming up to rest at the skull pendant Percy had once given him, a token he’d taken to using as his own Holy Symbol.
“No…” It was a whisper the first time, then it came again as a shout. “No!”
Magic burst from Alexius, knocking Leliana back.
“Be ready!” Kerah cried out, taking her own staff from her back.
Vex and Vax vanished to opposite sides of the room, ducking behind pillars. Daggers and a flaming arrow flew at Alexius in unison, hitting their mark. Two daggers to the shoulders, one arrow to his middle. He cried out as Sera ran at him, slashing with her own daggers, Bull close behind with his axe.
Though it started with Alexius highly outnumbered, it became clear very quickly that he had power they hadn’t anticipated. He walled himself up behind an arcane barrier, summoning rifts that spewed forth demons that they had to contend with. One after another, demons fell and, one after another, rifts were closed with a clench of Kerah’s fist. Vex and Vax flitted though shadows and kept their distances, watching the backs of their allies.
Finally, after what could have been ten minutes or an hour, Vex couldn’t tell, it became clear that Alexius was weakening. With a dash forward, Vax extended his hand with a shout. A dark energy, much like what Pike summoned from Sarenrae but in an opposing color, gathered at his palm. Though the color was dark, the light it produced was nearly blinding. The energy burst forward from his hand, the Smite spell striking Alexius square in the chest and knocking him back several feet. He didn’t get up when he crumpled to the floor.
“Do not ignore the will of the Raven Queen,” Vax murmured, “Those meant to die should be permitted to die.”
“He wanted to die, didn’t he?” Dorian murmured, kneeling next to Alexius’ body. “All the lies he told himself. All the justifications…. He lost Felix long ago… He didn’t even notice. Oh, Alexius.”
“This Alexius was too far gone,” Kerah put a hand to Dorian’s shoulder. “But the Alexius in our time might still be reasoned with.”
“Why reason with a man who laid a trap to kill you?” Vex spat, but when Kerah held up a hand, she begrudgingly held her tongue.
“I suppose that’s true.” Dorian murmured, rising to his feet. “This is the same amulet he used before. I think it’s the same one we made in Minrathous. That’s a relief… Give me an hour to work out the spell he used, and I should be able to reopen the rift.”
“An hour!?” Leliana scoffed.
“That’s impossible.” Vax’s voice was cool. “You need to get out of here, now.”
As though to emphasize this point, a roar echoed through the castle and the very walls shook, bringing down debris around them.
“The Elder One…” Pike murmured, hand clenching her mace tightly. “You can’t stay here.”
The five they had found looked to each other and nodded as one.
“We’ll hold the outer door.” Bull rumbled. “When they get past us, it’ll be your turn. Kick his ass.”
“You’ll die!” Vex grabbed her brother’s arm.
“I won’t let you commit suicide!” Kerah agreed, looking at Sera imploringly, then to Leliana.
“Look at us, Herald.” Vax shrugged. “Like I told my sister… We’re already dead.”
“The only way we’ll live,” Leliana said, turning for the door. “Is if this day never comes.”
“Brother…” Vex tightened her grip, meeting Vax’s eyes.
“Hey, Stubby…” He gave her a sad smile. “You’ll see me a year ago, looking better than ever. It’ll be alright. Get back when you belong for me.”
“I… Okay.” She hugged him tightly, burying her face in the feathers at his shoulder.
“Sera…” Kerah was looking at the elf, face a mix of sorrow and guilt.
“Go on, you.” Sera said with a fierce fondness. “I’ll be waiting when you get back, ready to steal some sweets.”
Their companions left, with only Leliana staying behind to face the door, standing in the middle of the hall. “Cast your spell. You have as much time as I have arrows.” As she spoke, chains rattled, and the massive double doors shut.
“Get on it.” Vex said to Dorian, wiping her cheeks.
“Once I begin, we cannot move.” He said, climbing the stairs, demeanor uncharacteristically serious. “The spell will be disrupted and we will never make it back, is that understood?”
Kerah and Vex nodded as they followed, Vex trying to ignore the sounds that had started beyond the door. Dorian started his spell, working with a feverish intensity, brow furrowed and sweat beading on his nose.
“Though darkness closes,” Leliana began to speak as the sounds beyond the door grew in volume. “I am shielded by flame.”
The doors slammed open, more easily than objects so massive had any right to. Vex turned her head, braid whipping around.
“Andraste, guide me.”
A demon screeched as it threw her brother’s lifeless body into the hall before it. Vex screamed and covered her mouth with both hands. Her keen eyes caught the sight of Pike lying in a pool of blood, of the Iron Bull being held up on the claws of a demon before it dropped him to the ground, of Sera backing away as a guard slashed at her, falling when the blade struck true.
“Maker, take me to your side.”
Arrows flew and guard after guard fell to them, blood staining the carpet beneath them. An arrow caught Leliana in the chest and Kerah stepped forward, reaching for her staff.
“You move and we all die!” Dorian shouted, grabbing her arm to stay her. Vex let out a sob behind her hands, still staring at her brother’s body.
There was a sound like rushing wind as the portal behind them opened, nearly drowned out by the sick wet sound of the claws of a terror demon finding Leliana’s middle. Kerah gripped Vex by the arm and pulled her closer, then all was black for a moment.
A flash, and for a moment Vex didn’t think they’d gone anywhere. They were still in the castle’s throne room, a fire still lit, but it was different. It was clean, it was whole, and Alexius was there before them, backing away as Kerah strode toward him.
“You’ll have to do better than that.” Dorian quipped.
“He’ll never get the chance!” Vex took her bow from her back, an arrow at the ready before anyone could blink. “I’ll make sure of it!”
“Don’t!” Kerah turned to her, gaze hard. “He is mine to deal with. I will do what I see fit.”
Vex stared her down for a few long moments, taking in slow breaths and ignoring the track of tears down her face.
“You saw what he did.”
“He hasn’t done it.”
“He’s going to!”
“No.” Came a quiet voice behind them, sounding immeasurably old. Kerah turned and Vex looked behind her to see that Alexius had dropped to his knees.
“So is that the best you’ve got?” Kerah hissed.
“You’ve won. There’s no point extending this charade…”
Felix passed in front of Vex and Kerah both, and Vex lowered her bow with a disgusted expression aimed at Alexius.
“Felix… You’ll die.”
“Everyone dies.” Felix knelt next to Alexius as Vex returned her bow to her back, noticing Vax bolting up the stairs to her.
“The fuck happened?” He muttered, grabbing her arm. “You were here, then gone, then… back. In a matter of seconds!”
“Later.” She murmured, looking at him and nearly bursting into tears all over again. Pike had followed close behind Vax and now had a hand on Vex’s thigh, an expression just as curious and concerned as Vax’s on her face.
“Vex’ahlia… What-”
The doors at the end of the throne room opened and several guards entered, taking up places up the length off the hall. Every head turned and every voice fell silent as the man who had followed the guards spoke.
“Grand Enchanter! Imagine how surprised I was to learn you’d given Redcliffe Castle away to a Tevinter Magister!”
“Who’s that?” Vex muttered, earning shrugs from both Pike and Vax.
“King Alistair.” Fiona stepped forward, not replying in answer of Vex’ahlia but instead addressing the man before them. Vex heard a muttered “Oh, shit.” from Vax and her lips twitched up without her thinking about it.
“Especially since I’m relatively sure Redcliffe belongs to Arl Teagan…”
“Your Majesty…”
“Dammit.” Vax muttered, ignoring the conversation at present. “I was hoping for a quick exit.”
“So was I…” Vex ran a hand through her bangs. “It’s been… Shit, it has been an incredibly long day. I want to get some sleep.”
“Wait…” Pike tapped Vex’s leg, her gaze still on the King. “They want to banish the mages…”
“How?” Vax furrowed his brow. “Don’t we need them?”
“Shhh.” Vex and Pike shushed him in unison, earning an eye roll.
“It seems,” Fiona was saying, “That we have little choice but to accept what you have to offer.”
“You will come with the Inquisition was our allies.” Kerah stated, looking down at the King from her frankly impressive height.
“Good, that’s settled.” Vax said, quietly so that only Vex and Pike would hear. “Can we bloody go now?”
“Seconded.” Vex nodded. “I say we just leave now, just walk out the doors.”
“I think they’d notice that.” Pike gave them a gentle smile. “It seems a little rude.”
“I really can’t care right now, Pike…” Vex said. “I’m exhausted…”
“All the same. Wait for Kerah?”
Vex sighed, but gave her a smile in return. “I can’t say no to that face.” Pike always had a way of convincing her friends to do what was best. Part of her charm, either as a gnome or as a cleric or… simply as Pike.
With the exception of Dorian attempting occasionally to make inane chatter, they were quiet as they left Redcliffe castle. Kerah had instructed members of the Inquisition forces to take Alexius into custody and escort him back to Haven, a move that earned a disgusted noise from Vex. They should have just killed him in the hall, in her opinion. After what they’d seen him capable of, she didn’t want him lose in the world for a single second, shackles or no.
There was some debate as to whether or not to stay in Redcliffe for the evening, but Kerah wanted to be back at Haven before the mage forces, so as to greet them. The journey was nearly a week’s walk, but Vex took solace in the fact that the soldiers with Alexius had gone ahead on horseback. She never wanted to see him again.
“What happened exactly, Vex?” Pike asked as they made their way out of Redcliffe. “You looked so… upset when you came back. You and Kerah both.”
“Would you believe time travel?” Vex asked, giving her a smile that didn’t meet her eyes.
“If you didn’t look so serious, I’d say it wasn’t possible.”
“So he, what? Magicked you through time?” Vax asked, brows high.
“That’s about it, yeah.”
“How far? What was it like?”
“A year into the future.” She paused, lips pursed. “It was… Well, I don’t want to do it again, to be honest. Ever.”
She could tell they had questions. Hell, she still had questions. But for the first time, she really understood why her brother had that damned tendency that he did to simply walk away. She wanted to walk away, to get back to Haven on her own, to spend her time in the woods with her bear and her arrows and to hunt something to keep her alive. Just for a couple of days.
“I’ll fill you in later.” She said, cutting off the questions before they began. The looks on their faces told her that they both knew it was highly unlikely she’d do any such thing, but she picked up her pace and walked on. Vax did the same, walking not quite next to her, but not allowing himself to fall so far behind as Pike did. He didn’t say anything, but he was there. Like her shadow. The thought made her smile, but it rapidly faded with the memory of his body rolling across a scarlet stained carpet in a world that would never be, a future that would never come to pass.
Sighing, she removed her necklace and willed Trinket out of his crystal stasis, grabbing a handful of his fur as he walked beside her. He snorted and gave a grunt, pressing close and nuzzling her face before giving it a lick.
“Did you understand anything that happened, buddy?” She asked, using the ability Keyleth had taught her.
“Not really. But we’re all okay now, right?”
“That’s right.” She nodded, hand gripping his fur tighter. “Trinket, darling, I need you to understand something. My brother… What you saw happen to him that didn’t really happen. You can never let him get hurt like that, do you understand me?”
“Yes.”
“Just like you do with me.”
“Okay, Vex’ahlia.” He sounded so very somber for a bear.
“Even before me. You need to keep Vax safe before you keep me safe if we are both in trouble. You need to understand that, too.”
Silence.
“Trinket…”
“I’ll keep you both safe.” He replied resolutely.
“Good boy.” She scratched behind his ear, carrying on conversations about better things. About Haven, about the smells, about the berries he found in the Hinterlands, about the strange mounts that the Herald kept bringing to their stables.
They had arrived at Haven three days ago and, to Vex’s knowledge, nothing had happened to Gerion Alexius. He was still sitting, safe in a cell below the Chantry, and it seemed that he was to remain there for the time being.
Vex had had enough of that. Truth be told, she’d had enough of it the day they arrived back, but she’d allowed Kerah time. It had been enough time.
Shoulders squared, she knocked on the door of Kerah’s home, waiting for a response. It came quickly, the qunari opening the door with a look of confusion, then a smile as she saw Vex.
“Vex’ahlia. Anything I can do for you?”
“Alexius.” She said simply, eyes cold.
“Ah…” Kerah nodded, stepping inside and gesturing to Vex that she was welcome to do the same. Vex followed and shut the door behind her, eyeing Kerah.
“It’s been three days, Herald.” She snapped. “Something needs done about him. I don’t like… He’s sitting in a cell, that’s true, but he needs judged. What he did needs answered for. Sooner rather than later.”
“I do intend to judge him, make no mistake.” Kerah began, still standing. “But you need to understand, this is a difficult scenario.”
“Don’t make it difficult, then.” Vex said, raising a brow in challenge. “I’ll help if you like: Kill him.”
“And for what crime, Vex?”
“Are you joking!?” Vex waved a hand. “You saw what he did! To our friends, to my brother, to Sera! He destroyed the world and he acted like he didn’t even care he’d done it! He brought forth whatever the fuck the Elder One is. He poisoned people with Red Lyrium. He imprisoned them. He enslaved the mages. After all of that, after the things he did? Kill him.”
“But he didn’t, Vex.” Kerah’s voice was soft.
“Bullshit.” Vex stepped forward, chin high. “That’s… No, that’s bullshit, Kerah. You saw what he did.”
“I saw what he wanted to. What he intended to do and the consequences of that, some of which it’s clear he didn’t want. But none of that actually happened. Regardless of his intent and what we saw… It never happened. It will never happen.”
“You just said yourself he wanted to! That he was going to unless we stopped him! That has to count for something.”
“Does it count enough to kill him, then? Would you kill a man for a thought, for a plan?”
Vex was silent, jaw clenched and her hands in shaking fists at her side.
“You see my problem, then.” Kerah said, after the silence had been allowed to sit and steep.
“So what can you judge him for?”
“For what he did to the mages. For wanting my life. For making an attempt on it. But beyond that? Nothing.”
“Fuck.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Kerah rubbed her forehead where her horns met her skull.
“It’s not… I can’t kill him. Believe me, Vex. I would like to kill him, and if he had done anything that we saw? If that had even begun to come to pass? I’d kill him. But he didn’t. He never had the chance. I’ve been talking to my advisors. Our options seem to be to force him to work for us, to hand him over to the mages, or to keep him prisoner until his life ends.” She looked at Vex. “What would you do?”
“Are you asking me because you’re curious or do you want my input?”
“The latter.” Kerah smiled, a tired smile but one that was sincere.
“I would…” Vex paused, rubbing at her chin with her thumb as she thought. “I… would keep him prisoner. He is too dangerous to be freed, I think he may be too dangerous to have even the scant freedoms forcing him to work for the Inquisition would give. Giving him to the Mages… Who knows what would happen. They might try to kill him, and if he resisted? He and Fiona have enough power between them to level this place if they really went at it.”
“Agreed on that. I will not give him to them, so much as they might wish to deal with him. Should I do that, he is out of my hands. It’s simply too risky.”
Vex nodded, looking at the floor.
“I’m sorry.”
“What for?”
“For… shouting. For acting like I had any right over this, and for being angry that you hadn’t done anything yet. It… I hadn’t considered how difficult it would be to actually do something with him.”
“Apology accepted, but I completely understand. It’s not easy, processing this with what we saw and lived, then coming back and judging him for a completely different set of crimes. And thank you for your input, it’s appreciated.”
“When will you judge him?”
“After I close the rift. We plan to do so with the help of the mages today. Would you like to accompany us? You and Vox Machina are welcome.”
“I might. It’s quite a sight, watching you work that rift magic. I’ll ask the others, but don’t be offended if my brother says no.”
“He seems a bit… out of his depth with magic.” Kerah smiled.
“He calls it ‘a lot of complicated bullshit, but helpful bullshit’.” Vex laughed. “I… Thank you, Kerah. Those of us that will be willing will meet you at the Chantry.”
“I look forward to it.”
“Good luck getting the sky to stop shitting demons.” Vex waved as she made her way out, feeling sheepish and relieved and far less angry than when she’d come here, but certainly more pensive.
Closing the rift went well, which in truth surprised her. It was afterward that everything went to shit.
In the rush of everything that followed -evacuating Haven, the Herald’s act of heroism in the avalanche, her appearance after her assumed death, the rough trek through the mountains to Skyhold- Alexius was largely forgotten in Vex’s mind. It wasn’t until, mere hours after being appointed the Inquisitor, Kerah judged the Magister that the events in Redcliffe dominated her mind again. Vex watched, her brother at her side, as Kerah decided that Alexius would be made to aid in the Inquisition’s efforts.
It should have had a bigger impact on her than it did, she thought. It should have left her angry, or satisfied, or something. Instead, it simply… was. As Alexius was removed from the main hall, Vex turned and wordlessly made her way through some of the ruined rooms, climbing what staircases she found that were still intact, and eventually found her way to a balcony off of the library. The Spymaster’s ravens cawed behind her while the chilled wind of the mountains tousled her hair.
The only reason she heard Vax approach was, she knew, because he wanted her to. The scuff of his boot in the doorframe, the ruffle of the feathers on his armor, and finally a gentle clearing of his throat.
“Get off the rail, the wind’s fucked up your hair.”
Vex turned and gave him a wan smile, shifting from the railing to sit cross legged on the stone of the balcony. Vex settled behind her, taking the tie out from the base of her braid and shifting through her braid with nimble fingers.
“Stubby…” He spoke softly, teasing a knot out gently. “What happened?”
She was quiet for a few moments, picking at her nails, frowning.
“You died.”
Silence, though his fingers froze for a moment. They picked up their movements again, gentler now than they had been, slower.
“The thing… That portal we went through. We went forward a year, and we found… We found you, and Bull, and Pike, and Sera. You had this… They were… That red lyrium we’ve seen?”
“That shit the dwarf doesn’t trust.” He said in recognition, separating her hair.
“Yeah. They’d… It was… In you. Growing from the inside. But that wasn’t… You were dying, but that didn’t kill you.”
Another long pause as Vax tugged at her hair, threading the sections over each other with practiced ease.
“The Elder One had taken everything. There were demons and Venatori everywhere. Once we had killed Alexius -you did it, by the way. Fucking… Paladin of the Raven Queen and all that.” She sniffed, the corners of her eyes stinging. “You all kept the demons out while Dorian worked the spell to bring us back to the right time. And they… You died. I watched it happen.”
Vax’s hands had stopped again, but they resumed as silence fell between them once more.
“I get it, now.” Vex said, impossibly quietly. “How it was, after the tomb. I didn’t… It wasn’t real to me, not like it was to you. And… It isn’t real to you. Not like it was to me, or to Kerah, or to Dorian. So you don’t know, but I do. I saw it. It’s… Fuck, Vax, it’s so hard.”
Vax tied off her braid and cleared his throat.
“C’mere.”
She turned, throwing herself at him and shoving her face into the feathers at his shoulder.
“Gods, it was… It was bad.” She sniffed again, crying now.
“S’all right.” Vax said, arms around her, his own voice thick. “I’m not going anywhere. Not because of some demon, that’s for sure. Not any time soon. I… Shit, I wanted you to get it, what it was like. But not like that… I’d take you being oblivious about it again instead of this…”
She nodded, sighing and closing her eyes tightly.
They stayed that way a while, ignoring the chill of the breeze and the caw of the ravens behind them. Tears run out, Vex sat up, poking at Vax’s chest.
“You need to eat more, Scrawny.”
“I would have, but I’m up here with my stubby sister and the birds!” He pushed her shoulder.
“They should be your favorite birds, you know.” Vex said, rising and extending a hand to him. He took it and she hauled him up. “They’re your whole motif now.”
“Yeah, just like bear stink is yours.”
“Trinket does not stink!”
Vax laughed, doubling over.
“Gods, you’re more worried that I think your bear stinks than if I think you stink!” He wheezed.
“Baronesses don’t stink, that’s why.” She held her chin high.
“Can Baronesses race their brother to the kitchen for food, then?” Vax asked, straightening and wiping tears of mirth -and perhaps a little more than that- from the corners of his eyes.
“You bet your skinny ass they can.” She said, taking off and hearing him shout as he gave chase after her.
It was childish, really, the way they dashed through the castle. Her path carried her past Solas as he examined a circular room, Vax’s taking him on a near collision course with Vivienne as she carried books to a nook above the main hall. The two mages said as much, with scoffs and disapproving voices. The twins answered with laughs, because wasn’t that the point of this? To feel like children for just a few moments again? Vex certainly thought so, and she was going to soak up every second of it.