[fanfiction] Dragon Age ℘ Ghosts
Title: Ghosts
Rating: G
Characters: Marian Hawke
Warnings: Dragon Age 2 spoilers (All That Remains)
Summary: It's hard to be the last one left.
But for the whisper of the hearth and the creak outside of trees in the wind, the house is silent tonight. Fitting when the soundless specter of death has crept into the shadows of House Amell. Bodahn and Sandal bid good-night more than four hours ago, a welcome relief. Sandal is sweet, and he’s endeared himself to the family, but she can’t bear hearing him ask in his low voice, “Where’s Leandra?”
Nor can she sleep, so instead she sits in the cushioned armchair before the fireplace, gazing trancelike at the glow of the flames. They were stronger earlier, but they’ve died down to a low flicker now, and they’re dying still. She ought to stoke it before it goes out completely, or better yet bank it and go to bed, but her body is too heavy to move. Her limbs are lead, worse, heavier than lead, they feel fused to the body of the chair.
The estate was always more Amell than Hawke, though she never realized until now just how much her mother had made it home. Now, without her, Bethany, Carver, or Father, it feels like just a house. A shelter to retreat to at night.
She remembers when Bethany’s magic had manifested: the twins had been six, their sister twelve, and Malcolm and Leandra had been terrified. That night, after a group from the village had helped extinguish the fire consuming the barn, the proper excuses had been given and swallowed (the children had been playing and knocked over a lamp, it smashed on the ground and spread in the hay), and a hysterical Bethany had finally been calmed and put to bed, the elder Hawke daughter had crept down from her room and perched on the stairs to overhear a fervent, whispered conversation between her parents. When they discovered their daughter, rather than sending her away, Malcolm had drawn her into the room. Crouching down to meet her eyes with his own, he’d told her, “You’re the eldest. That’s more important than just being older. You must protect Bethany and Carver no matter what. Can you do that?” And with more solemnity than any other child might have, she’d sworn to always do just that.
That was when she was still Marian, and the last person who knew that girl is beyond her reach. All that remains is Hawke.
Rating: G
Characters: Marian Hawke
Warnings: Dragon Age 2 spoilers (All That Remains)
Summary: It's hard to be the last one left.
But for the whisper of the hearth and the creak outside of trees in the wind, the house is silent tonight. Fitting when the soundless specter of death has crept into the shadows of House Amell. Bodahn and Sandal bid good-night more than four hours ago, a welcome relief. Sandal is sweet, and he’s endeared himself to the family, but she can’t bear hearing him ask in his low voice, “Where’s Leandra?”
Nor can she sleep, so instead she sits in the cushioned armchair before the fireplace, gazing trancelike at the glow of the flames. They were stronger earlier, but they’ve died down to a low flicker now, and they’re dying still. She ought to stoke it before it goes out completely, or better yet bank it and go to bed, but her body is too heavy to move. Her limbs are lead, worse, heavier than lead, they feel fused to the body of the chair.
The estate was always more Amell than Hawke, though she never realized until now just how much her mother had made it home. Now, without her, Bethany, Carver, or Father, it feels like just a house. A shelter to retreat to at night.
She remembers when Bethany’s magic had manifested: the twins had been six, their sister twelve, and Malcolm and Leandra had been terrified. That night, after a group from the village had helped extinguish the fire consuming the barn, the proper excuses had been given and swallowed (the children had been playing and knocked over a lamp, it smashed on the ground and spread in the hay), and a hysterical Bethany had finally been calmed and put to bed, the elder Hawke daughter had crept down from her room and perched on the stairs to overhear a fervent, whispered conversation between her parents. When they discovered their daughter, rather than sending her away, Malcolm had drawn her into the room. Crouching down to meet her eyes with his own, he’d told her, “You’re the eldest. That’s more important than just being older. You must protect Bethany and Carver no matter what. Can you do that?” And with more solemnity than any other child might have, she’d sworn to always do just that.
That was when she was still Marian, and the last person who knew that girl is beyond her reach. All that remains is Hawke.