What Have You Done?

"I have a favor to ask of you, my love."

"Yes? What is it Anders? If it has to do with going back out into the mountains the answer is no."

"No, no, nothing so treacherous."

"Good. I have never hated mountains more than I have these last couple months." Marian sighed. Between the kidnapping debacle, Merrill's clan, the bone pit, finding Zevran Arainai, hunting down carta dwarves that had threatened her (and fighting an insanely powerful darkspawn that still gave her nightmares), she was sick to death of running back and forth between the city and the mountains.

"I simply need you to distract the Grand Cleric for me. There's something I need inside the Chantry, but I don't want her to interfere. Or worse, try to talk to me." He joked lightly. Marian just nodded tiredly.

"Sure thing, dear. One conversation with the old biddy, coming right up."

"I love you Marian." He smiled and leaned in, kissing his tired lover tenderly.

They decided to make it a family affair, bringing Fenris and the kids along as well, to give a cover story of wanting to talk about the children's education and what services the Chantry provided should something ever happen to them. It was all bullshit, of course, Marian would never have her little ones be educated in the Chantry, and if all three parents died there was still Carver, Varric, Aveline, and all their other friends that would gladly take care of them, should the worst come to pass. But it kept the Grand Cleric talking until Anders waved from the front door, signaling that he had accomplished what he set out to do.

"Before you go, Champion, I would like to offer a word of advice."

"Oh? I'm all ears."

"Your man there is deeply troubled, you would do well to keep an eye on him."

"I... Thank you for your concern, Elthina, but I have faith in him."

-

"Hawke, things are getting out of hand! You have to come and do something." Aveline stressed, looking rather worn out herself.

"Things are always out of hand in Kirkwall, Aveline."

"Yes, but this time it's Meredith and Orsino. My guards stationed near the Gallows report that they've been arguing more and more, publicly, with threats being made."

"Fine, I'll go play peacekeeper. We'd best go grab Varric and Sebastian too, they both have a knack for calming people down. Different techniques, to be sure, but all the same." They went to the Chantry first, filling Sebastian in on their concerns, then went and got Varric, needing only to say the names of the parties involved for him to understand and join in. They left the Hanged Man, intent on going to the Gallows, when the shouts of a raucous crowd grabbed their attention. They followed the noise and found the two leaders in heated debate in the middle of the square, with templars and mages shouting at eachother all around them.

"What is going on here?" Marian interrupted them, and all grew quiet at her presence.

"She has committed crimes against the Chantry and the Circle! She's made good men and women tranquil without cause! They had passed their harrowings, what she has done is illegal. I'm bringing the matter to the Grand Cleric and You-" He pointed to Meredith, "Will not stop me!"

"Better to cut the head off the snake before it bites, Orsino! I do not like it, but you know as well as I that there is corruption in the Circle. How many have we seen turn to blood magic over the years? How many innocent lives lost because we did not take the necessary action while we still had the chance? Hawke, you yourself have suffered at the hands of those who slipped through my fingers! You know just how dangerous these rebels can be. If I had made Grace tranquil the day she was returned to the Circle, she never would have been able to harm your family."

"She didn't work alone, Meredith! There were templars involved as well, lest you forget!" Orsino interrupted. "I say a full investigation is required for both sides if there is to be any justice!"

"Oh? And what do you know of justice?" A familiar voice spoke behind her, and Marian turned to see Anders in his black robes, looking grim.

"Great, another mage." Meredith huffed.

"Meredith, your dictatorship pushes those under you to rebel."

"How dare you?!" Meredith started, before Anders interrupted again.

"And Orsino, you are meant to be our representative, but your spinelessness only causes disaster."

"Watch your tone, boy." Orsino warned, but Anders carried on.

"You want to tattle to the Grand Cleric? Unfortunately, she cannot help you now." Anders bent his head down, and the earth shook. Bright light shot up high into the sky, along with the echoes of an explosion.

"Anders, what have you done?!" Marian asked shakily.

"Both sides rest on their laurels, relying on the Chantry to broker compromise, but there can be no compromise! The issue must be confronted head on, without Chantry meddling...so I have removed it."

"Removed it?! You mean to tell me you exploded the Chantry!? IS THAT WHY YOU HAD ME DISTRACT ELTHINA!?" Marian was too focused on her argument with Anders to pay much attention to Sebastian, who had fallen to his knees and started weeping.

"Yes. I am sorry, I wasn't sure you would-"

"WE LIVE NEAR THE CHANTRY! OUR CHILDREN ARE UP THERE, ANDERS!!" Marian screamed.

"I know! I did all the calculations, the explosion shouldn't have gone any further than the Chantry courtyard!"

"And what if you're wrong?! Did you even stop to think for one second about your daughter!?"

"I DID THIS FOR HER!"

Meredith stood stoic, processing what she was seeing and hearing. Orsino was breathing heavily, holding his head in his hands.

"The Chantry is destroyed, everyone within killed by vile magic... The people will demand mage blood."

"What!? The man who did it is right there!" Orsino cried.

"You think that will be enough?! You'll be lucky if your people are lynched in the streets! You will surrender now, for your own sakes."

"Why, so you can make us all tranquil? I refuse to sacrifice my people just so you can maintain your image!"

"You are forcing this fight, Orsino, but so be it. As of this moment, I am declaring a Rite of Annulment. Any mage who does not submit now will be killed. Starting with you, Champion. Your man did this, and from what I heard, it seems that he has made you an accomplice. Choose carefully." Meredith spoke evenly, despite the horror of her words.

"What!? No! What you're planning is insane and cruel! Regardless of the circumstances, I will not go along with it."

"Then you will die with them. I hope your children, should they live, never have to learn who their parents were." Meredith sighed, then addressed her men. "Take to the streets, I will return to the Gallows to prepare the others." And with that she left.

"You have to help us fight, Hawke. We may not survive without you." Orsino plead.

"I will. Just... give me a few minutes to resolve...this." She gestured to Anders, and Orsino tilted his head in acknowledgement then went to rally the mages.

"Justice and I-" Anders started before Marian interrupted him with a slap.

"Enough out of you! We're going to have a long talk about this later, after we fix your mess. If anyone at home was hurt, I swear to Andraste that I will kill you." She hissed through her teeth.

"You should kill him now! He's a murderer!" Sebastian interjected.

"We are all murderers, Seb! We bypass the courts and kill those we deem worthy of it all the time!"

"But they're criminals! Not innocent priestesses!"

"If Kirkwall has taught me anything, it's that no one is perfectly good or evil. I will not kill Anders unless he has left me with nothing to live for. In that case, we'll die together."

"I can't believe you, Hawke. I thought you were better than this. I'm going back to Starkhaven, and when I return I will show Kirkwall the true meaning of Justice." He spat before storming off.

"You really fucked up this time, Blondie." Varric sighed after Sebastian was gone.

"I hate that you're right, Hawke. I'll stand with you against Meredith, but when this is done... Well, I think it would be best if Anders left the city."

"Fine by me." Anders quietly responded.

Marian and her group rejoined Orsino, and they prepared for the fight of their lives. They were all surprised to see Carver join them, still in his Templar armor. He ran up to Marian and hugged her tightly.

"Carver!" She gasped out as he squeezed the air out of her, "What are you doing here?"

"I was returning from an investigation when the Chantry exploded. I went to your place and you weren't there. Fenris told me you went to speak with Meredith and Orsino, and I was so scared that... Well, that doesn't matter. You're alive!" he smiled and let her go.

"You spoke with Fenris? So he's alive then. And the kids?"

"Upset by the commotion but they were fine. Fenris is a good father, he's keeping them safe."

"Oh thank the Maker." She sighed in relief. "As a Templar, aren't you supposed to be with Meredith now?"

"I suppose, but as a Hawke I should be with you. Now come on, lets go kick some ass." He smiled and clapped her on the shoulder.

-

The fighting just to get into the Gallows was quite difficult, and when they finally got to Meredith, Orsino was too exhausted to continue on, but too enraged to give up. He used blood magic to become a powerful monstrosity of conglomerated corpses, and Meredith and her men fought against him. Eventually it came down to just the two leaders. Meredith launched herself at Orsino, and drove her greatsword through his skull, but her victory had a price, as Orsino had reached out a clawed hand and stabbed through her abdomen as she came to him. Orsino fell dead, with Meredith following soon after, slumped on top of the lives she had destroyed in her zeal.

Marian, Anders, and Carver returned to the Hawke Estate. Fenris wept tears of joy and relief at seeing Marian return home, hugging and kissing her without a care for the viscera she was covered in. She explained, carefully, that they needed to leave Kirkwall due to Anders' role in what happened. Carver agreed to find Isabella and see if she could help them leave with her newly acquired ship.

"Now that it's just us: What the hell kind of insane plan was that, Anders?!"

"It was the only thing that Justice and I could come up with that would be enough to truly incite change."

"Incite conflict, more like. I love you, and I understand your intentions, but can you not see how this will life harder for mages across Thedas? The details of what lead up to this will be lost. As people share the story it's going to be focused on the fact that a mage exploded the Chantry to start a war. Meredith being cruel and Orsino being ineffectual will be lost, because they're both dead."

"I realize that! But this way mages will be forced to stand up and fight for their freedom. This will be a revolution, and revolutions are messy, difficult work."

"I just can't believe that you kept it secret." Fenris added on, "If you had given us any kind of warning, even just 'You should go on a trip this week, you don't want to be in the city.' Would've been better than what we got. I thought you were both dead, and that I was going to be raising Liz and Leto alone."

"I agree with Fenris. Until Carver showed up I had no idea whether or not our home had been destroyed with everyone inside!"

"I told you! I calculated the ingredients very meticulously so that-"

"I know you did calculations! But what if your math had been wrong? Or one of your ingredients had been more potent than you expected? Any number of things could have gone wrong, Anders!"

"I... I'm sorry." He sighed, "I just... I wanted to do what I could for the mages. I had to do something to ensure that Liz wouldn't end up like...Like Karl." He caved in on himself, his veneer of confidence crumbling away to vulnerability.

"With you as her father? Even if Meredith had come to here herself to take her, I know you wouldn't have let her be taken."

"After what happened with that whole kidnapping thing? I couldn't take the chance."

"Fair enough, love. Fair enough." Marian sighed.