Chapter Text
In her head, she replayed it over and over again. The temple remains rising at His command, the Dragon infused with red lyrium, the final battle. And the moment of His demise at her hands. The burning agony as her left hand threatened to tear itself apart and take her with it. The smooth feel of the orb as she held it in her hand and closed the Breach once and for all before creating a Fade rift around the creature that had ruined her life and that of Thedas. Solas, picking up the broken remains of the orb, cradling them to him in despair.
“The orb….”
“Are you sure? We could take the pieces… Try to…..” She trails off.
“That would not recover what was lost.” He replies. She steps closer, looking down at him.
“There’s more, isn’t there?” she states. Solas stands and looks at her.
“It was not supposed to happen this way. I just want you to know, no matter what happens, I will never forget this” he says, smiling at her sadly.
“INQUISITOR!” Cassandra shouts from below. “Are you alive?!”
She turns her back on Solas and walks in the direction of Cassandra’s voice to find a congregation as she walked down the steps to greet them. The people who stood by her side in her quest, people she had come to call friends. Stopping a few steps from the bottom, she stood looking at each of them, as they did her.
“Then it’s over?” Vivienne is the first to speak. “How lovely”
Cassandra regards the Inquisitor with a small grin and a nod before remarking:
“And you survive. Thank the Maker.”
“And the sky is healed, healthy. Whole. There’s just that left to remember.” Cole says, looking up at the darkened sky.
She glances at him and smiles. “It looks that way.”
“What do we do now?” Cassandra asks her. She looks away, frowning. Looking behind her, she sees no evidence of Solas. The ruins of the Temple are quiet, empty. Ash swirls around them in a macabre dance before settling on the ground. She picks up what remains of the orb, making a mental note to give it to Dagna to study. Turning to her friends and companions, she gave them all that determined, steely glance that they’ve all become so accustomed to seeing, accompanied by a slight smile.
“We go back to Skyhold.”
In her dreams, she runs. Tears burn her eyes and run down her face. Fear threatens to overwhelm her. She searches for him, needing to find him but can’t. He cannot be found, no matter how hard she searches and looks for him. She screams his name into the Fade, willing him to hear her, to come back to her. She is greeted only with silence. And then she hears something. A whisper, from across the Fade.
“Ir abelas, ma vhenan”
“Ir abelas, ma vhenan”. The words ring in her ears as she wakes up with a start. Outside, birds chirrup and squawk. Shaena slides off her bed and walks out onto her balcony. She WILL find him, she vows. No matter what happens, how much he’s hurt her, she won’t leave him now. And nobody can stop her.