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Cross The Stars

Summary:

Solas ended Thedas in ruin and chaos as he had once promised the Inquisitor he would. Cullen tried everything to save anyone he could, but ultimately he failed.

Fate is fickle, it's ever changing and molding around us. And now has brought Cullen to a war torn world he knows nothing of. Blake Shepard thinks he's funny and she wants to know more about his world before it was destroyed.

Crossover AU

Notes:

*throws confetti to distract and hides under bed*

Chapter 1: The End, Or The Beginning?

Chapter Text

          "Commander Shepard is alive! I repeat, Commander Johnathan Shepard is alive!"

 

         Blake Shepard sat next to her brother's hospital bed, holding his hand. The only thing working was the extranet and some comm buoys. The Normandy was gone, no one could locate her or her crew. 

 

         The most interesting thing to happen in the hospital was that some random person wearing some kind of medieval armor was wheeled by on a gurney. Blake sighed, it'd been three weeks and John still wouldn't wake. 

 

 ***Thedas, Three Weeks before***

 

        Solas had torn down the veil and woken the last of the Archdemons. Maxwell didn't survive and Cullen watched as the world fell into raw, unadulterated chaos.

 

         He watched as first, civilians were killed in the streets outside his home in South Reach. He couldn't protect his family from darkspawn. He couldn't do anything as the threat pushed him and Leliana, down into the deep roads. He had to keep Leliana alive. She was the Divine. 

 

         But soon, they were deep into the Deep Roads. Cornered with nowhere else to run. Until a rift opened under his feet and he fell. But not before he watched Leliana ripped apart by an ogre. 

 

      Cullen hoped death would come swiftly. He was tired of running after two years. 

 

        But death never came for him.



***London, England, 2186***

 

        Blake's Omni-Tool beeped loudly, waking her from the cot she had in John's hospital room. "I'm up! Jesus."

 

        "Not Jesus. Just mom. How are you, baby? How's John?" Hannah Shepard asked her daughter who looked at her twin brother.

 

        "Still breathing, mom." She said, looking at the clock on the bedside table.

 

         "He'll wake up soon, hopefully before I get there." Her mom was so damned assured. "How have you been, baby? What's going on down there?" 

 

         "Living on nutrient paste and I haven't had a shower in almost a month. I know you're still a couple weeks out, but most of the buildings here are destroyed, mom. It's bad. They still can't find the Normandy…" she told her mom about the four surgeries and the man in strange armor until the doctor came in and told her to shut up.

 

        "I love you baby, I will be there soon." Hannah Shepard blew a kiss to her daughter and the vid cut off just as there was a crash down the hall. Blake flicked her wrist and her Omni-Tool interface vanished as she crossed the room. The blonde man from before was thrashing and it took four doctors to hold him back. It bothered her but she didn't know why.

 

       "Hey, what's going on?" She asked, her commanding tone returned as she stood in front of five grown men.

 

        "He woke up and freaked out, Commander. Xander was trying to give him a shot of morphine." The blonde man had wild eyes, but wasn't thrashing anymore. 

 

        "I'm Commander Blake Shepard. Are you injured?" She asked, holding out a hand to help him stand. Xander was starting to argue, but she shot him her angry face. 

 

       Emerald eyes and crimson red hair in a bun at her neck. A heart-shaped face and toned but short body. Cullen couldn't speak as she commanded the doctors to release him and to put him in the Commander's room. She offered her arm, and he gratefully took it. His knee still smarted and the healer, Moron or something of the like, said he had broken ribs.

 

         She was strong for a woman so small as she wrapped his arm over her shoulder and carried almost half his weight to a closed room where a man lay, unconscious with all sorts of tubes in his arms and down his throat.

 

        "Your husband, my lady?" He croaked out and she laughed as she helped him sit on the other bed. There was a cot against the front wall as well.

 

        "I can say that no one has assumed that before." She was still laughing, "he's my twin brother. And the person who just saved the galaxy." She explained. "I'm going to go in search of a shower, and clean clothes. Stay here, dude. Keep John company." She said, talking with her hands like she was patting the air.

 

        Cullen nodded and she stayed a few moments longer, stopping to point to the room and speak to another healer.

 

*

 

         Blake stepped under the hot stream of water and audibly moaned. It had been a month since she'd had more than a quick scrub down in a sink. Thankfully most of the hospital still had running water and the boiler room was still intact. She scrubbed the last few weeks of grime and filth from her hair and body with the soap in the dispenser that smelled like leather and peaches. 

 

        She had found a clean pair of blue jeans, a black tank, dug her N7 zip-up out of her duffel bag, and clean socks. Once she was toweled off, she pulled on the jeans and tank, grabbed up her pistol and the rest of her clothing after wrapping her hair in the towel and padded her way back to John's room. She jumped when the blonde man was just sitting in the dark, looking out the window. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph! You nearly gave me a heart attack. What's your name anyway, curly hair?"

 

         The man let out a choked chuckle. "That's close to what a friend once called me. I'm Commander Cullen Stanton Rutherford." He turned just as she bent over to rub the water from her long, damp hair. A chained necklace hung down in front of her from around her neck.

 

         "So, Commander Rutherford. Why were you dressed so funny when you were brought in?" He cocked his head in confusion before she nodded to the pile of her own black N7 armor.

 

        "Ah, I am not… from this world." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "What are those." He asked when she had to pull her dog tags out of her hair.

 

        "These? You've never seen dog tags before?" She asked and he shook his head. She pulled the chain from her neck carefully so it didn't get stuck in her hair again and handed them to him to see. He couldn't read the symbols pressed into the small metal plates.

 

         "What does it say?" He asked, furrowing his brows. 

 

          "It has my name, rank, blood type, allergies and religious preference on it. all soldiers have them. And if we are killed in action, a set is sent to our next of kin, usually a parent or sibling. And at our funeral, the next of kin receives a folded up flag of our birth country." She explained in as simple terms as possible. "Okay, this plate says Shepard, Blake M., that's my name. Under it it says I was born on April 11th, 2154. That's the month, day and year I was born. It says I'm a Staff Commander, but people don't refer to me that way, it's just Commander. My blood type is O Positive, just like my brother and mom. This is just in case we lose blood and need a transfusion, they know to find someone with my blood type to donate. And I'm allergic to peanuts and shellfish. Meaning I can't eat peanut butter, or shrimp, or basically anything with those things in it or I'll go into anaphylactic shock, and could die." She answered all of his questions as they came. He was very curious about Earth, why it was in shambles and what a Reaper was.

 

        She hadn't even noticed John was awake until he chuckled at her impression of his girlfriend, Tali.

Chapter 2: Unshakable

Summary:

We're back with Blake and Cullen! Survivors from Thedas show up on Blake's ship, The USS Nairobi, but someone no one expected is also on board, sitting pretty in the brig...

Chapter Text

        Two weeks later, Hannah Shepard arrived at the Hospital. Cullen watched as the woman who'd been so kind to him ran into her mother's arms. He'd rarely been witness to such an emotional reunion. Though she didn't hug the Avian… thing she said was her dad, she saluted him. 

 

         "Any news on The Normandy? He's been asking for Tali." Blake said, and John gave Cullen an incredulous eyebrow.

 

        "I'm right here, you know." He said, but was ignored.

 

         "They should be here soon, the Normandy wasn't space worthy when we found it on a hostile planet in the Traverse, horrible monstrous things were attacking the ship." Cullen's head snapped so fast towards the avian thing it almost came off.

 

        "Monsters. They landed on my planet?" He stood, almost falling forward until Blake caught him.

 

         "Commander, your guy here is from that… that wasteland?" Sparatus asked and she nodded solemnly.

 

         "Yes. They call it a blight, but this was so bad it wiped out the planet's entire population." She said, placing a hand on Cullen's shoulder.

 

         "Perhaps not the entire populace. The Normandy crew was extracted with ten survivors local to the planet they refer to as Thedas." Her mom said, handing Blake a datapad.

 

          "A list of the Nairobi's rescued crew, Commander." An ensign handed Blake a passenger manifest on a datapad. 

 

      A Varric Tethras, Ary Lavellan, Cassandra Pentaghast, Josephine Montilyet, uhhh I don't know how to pronounce this…" Blake struggled for a moment, "Gaspard de Chalons? The Iron Bull, that's a name, does he have horns too?" She chuckled and didn't notice Cullen's face or his nod to her question. "Lace Harding, Alistair Theirin, Dorian Pavus and Cremissius Aclassi." She listed off the Thedosian names, mispronounced a few in her accentless voice. She noticed Cullen then. "Do you know any of these survivors, Cullen?" He nodded.

 

        "Yes. Gaspard de Chalons is the Emperor of Orlais, Varric is the one who called me Curly. I know almost everyone on that list, Lady Blake." He said, beginning to hyperventilate.

 

        "Hey, take it easy Soldier. Are they your friends? People that were part of your Inquisition?" He nodded as she placed the datapad on the hospital bed next to him and put her hands on either of his shoulders. "Well they're alive, the report said they were hiding in a high cave in the mountains under a ruin when the Normandy crashed. None are sick. They'll be safe here. Breathe." She was trying to calm him, Hannah watched. 

 

       True to her word, the SSV Nairobi arrived almost two weeks after the Orizaba. And Cullen was insistent on meeting them at the spaceport, though he had to use a cane to walk because of his recent knee replacement and sore ribs. Blake couldn't help but look at the man in his blue jeans, grey t-shirt and red flannel. She had also found him some hair gel, to his delight.

 

       "Maker's balls. That you Curly?" A stout, short man with a crossbow clutched to him and amazing chest hair said as he stepped off the ship, Cullen's smile widened.

 

        It was a group hug that excluded some pompous asshat Blake assumed was Gaspard and a tiny elf girl who wrung her hands on a staff. 

 

        "Thank you for keeping him safe, my Lady." A large, harsh looking woman shot a hand out, and Blake shook it.

 

         "It has been my pleasure. He kept me and my brother company. He cried when he heard people had been rescued from Thedas." Blake whispered and the woman laughed. 

 

           "We cried when they agreed to take us with them. We kept their crew alive for weeks, helped them find food not affected by the Darkspawn." The woman, who she guessed was Cassandra when Varric called her Seeker, was very thankful. And kind.

 

         Garrus helped the elven woman, who didn't leave his side. It was such a grand reunion that Blake couldn't do much but smile at the mix of medieval and modern cultures. Varric was funny, Cassandra had to be held back from punching Gaspard, Josephine was pleasant and very noble. Blake just stared at The Iron Bull in wonder.

 

         "Okay, when I asked if he had horns, I wasn't being serious." She chuckled as the eight foot tall grey beast of what Josephine called a Qunari, introduced himself.

 

         Alistair was sweet, and asked if the cheese was any good on Earth, eliciting chuckles from the human crew. 

 

         What made Blake smile was the return of nearly everyone from Normandy. She gave Tali a big hug, which also turned into a group thing when Liara joined in, then Wrex and Grunt, Miranda, Garrus, Vega, Thane, even Cortez and Javik. Her found Family. Even her mom and her stepdad, Councilor Sparatus, joined the huge throng of people hugging Blake and John. 

 

         Commander Cullen looked at the huge group of people and couldn't help but think of his friend. Maxwell had been adored by many, but especially the friends he made as the Inquisitor. They had been exactly like this at times, just grateful to be alive and able to hug each other. His good mood lasted until a couple armed soldiers escorted a prisoner off the Nairobi and stopped a few feet away from the congregated soldiers hugging their heroes. 

 

         "Commander." One of the soldiers said as both saluted Blake. "This man is a prisoner from the monster-riddled planet called Thedas." 

 

         "Solas? You killed Maxwell!" Cullen growled, nearly falling over as Javik caught him. 

 

          "Looks like you better get used to the inside of a cell, baldy. Keep him in the brig, under armed guard, until I decide to do with his murderous ass." She said, and the tall, bald elf was escorted back onto Blake's ship without question. "Why wasn't he on the passenger manifest?" Blake turned to her pilot, Lisey Blanch. 

 

          "Probably an oversight, we were at capacity on board Commander, and with no Relays and only a few fueling stations intact, we're all exhausted. He wasn't a problem, I don't think their 'magic' works off-planet or he may have killed everyone. We lost Verno and Franklin to him on their planet." Lisey looked to the rings on her own chain… Nick Franklin was her husband. "He killed Alliance soldiers, so his imprisonment is Alliance approved." Lisey began to tear up before Blake pulled her in for a hug. 

 

         "He'll pay for it, Lisey. For what he did to that planet and for killing Nick and Greg." Lisey nodded and straightened, giving Blake a weak smile. Blake glared at the bald elf, who just smirked at her before he vanished into the bowels of her ship.

 

         "Asshole." Blake mumbled before a strong arm landed on her shoulders. Cullen had the look of a broken man. His whole world was in ruins because of this one elf, it wasn't fair. But the entire Galaxy was in shambles right now. Helping eradicate the blight on Thedas would have to wait until stability was once again established for everyone else.