Little Do You Know
Words: 3,877
Fandom: Dragon Age
Characters: Derek Hawke & Bethany Hawke. Briefly Sebastian Vael, Fenris, Cullen Rutherford, & @jellyfishlovesloki‘s Kenrick Lolani.
AO3 Link: Here
Prompt: “Hawke is finally allowed to see Bethany after years pass with her in the Circle. They don’t really believe the few letters she sends. Is she okay? Do the Templars hurt her? Is it worse? Hawke hates her being there but surrounded by Templars at the gallows they have to piece truth from her tales.” [x]
Author Note: This takes place in an AU I have with my sister and friend, thus the mage Hawke. This is also the outfit Derek’s in. This takes place during Act 3.
Mentions @bxtgrl‘s Vera Hawke.
Most under the cut.
Just being near the Gallows was unnerving. Actually being in them? That made him very uncomfortable. There was a part of him that thought this was a trap. That Meredith was finally tired of dealing with him. That she had snapped and decided to throw him into the Gallows under the disguise of visiting his sister. Honestly, if there was a Hawke sibling Meredith was most likely to grow tired of, he would have thought it was his twin, Vera. At the very least, he had helped the Templars from time to time. He, while expressing wishes for the Circle to be better, for Meredith to relinquish her iron grasp, also advocated for a peaceful solution.
There had been enough bloodshed in his life. He didn’t want anymore.
And while he desperately wanted to see his younger sister, he wasn’t a fool. No, he hadn’t told Vera where he was going. The only person in the manor he’d told was Kenrick. He’d left under the pretense of running an errand with Kenrick, though like usual he’d taken his staff and the other man had grabbed his sword. Even if it was under the disguise of a simple errand, Kirkwall wasn’t a place to walk around unarmed.
He’d met up with Fenris and Sebastian in Lowtown, trusting all three of the men he traveled with not to go running to his twin. He trusted Vera and knew if she found out, she’d kill him for keeping it from her, but… But he already had one sister in the Gallows. He didn’t want to get his other one anywhere near that Maker-forsaken place. That was also a reason behind him not requesting any help from any of the other mages he knew. He didn’t want Merrill or Anders anywhere near here. He also didn’t want to approach the Gallows with a small army. Three seemed like a good number of companions to bring.
However he knew he couldn’t bring them into the Gallows. If he did that, the Templars would think he was trying to break his sister out.
“Are you sure about this, Derek?” Sebastian asked when they arrived at the Gallows.
Derek pulled his eyes away from the prison turned Circle to his companions. Earlier Fenris had made his unhappiness with the plan clear. Now he could tell from the looks on all three of them that neither of them liked the idea of him going in there alone.
“Mages go to the Circle,” Sebastian pointed out, “They don’t come back, especially apostates.” He was stating the obvious, but he felt like it needed to be said. He felt like Derek needed the reminder.