Chapter Text
The first thing she noticed was the mark.
Cold shackles clinked around her wrists as she woke up, trying to make sense of her surroundings. Her gut wrenched as she tried, in vain, to remember what had happened. The last time she had fallen asleep for an undetermined length of time hadn't been great, and she wasn't keen on anything like that ever happening again.
Not after she got Shaun back, in a sense.
The mark interrupted her train of thought as she groggily stirred, sitting up. Her first thought was Shaun. He had wandered off and she followed, through... she didn't remember where, and then they were running. God, where was Shaun? She couldn't bear lose him. Not again.
She looked down at her left arm, the arm on which her beloved Pip-Boy rested, trailing down to the hand, from which a sickly green glowed in the center. It burned and stung like a motherfucker is all she knew. Her first thought was radiation, or that she was turning into a Glowing One... something that she hoped wasn't true. But the geiger counter on her Pip-Boy was silent. She gasped as the mark flared, and she bit her lip.
The Pip-Boy, however, was still glowing, and working, as far as she knew. She pulled her head up and looked around herself. She was in her Minutemen General Armor, as she frequently wore around the Castle. She was shackled, still, the left shackle awkwardly placed above the Pip-Boy. Men stood around her in a circle, swords drawn, in medieval-esque armor. She sucked in a breath; fantastic. Cultists, probably.
Oh, God, where's Shaun?
The door opened, and the guards sheathed their swords as two women approached her. She didn't wait for them to start speaking.
"Where the fuck is my son?! Where's Shaun?!"
Cassandra scowled. "Tell me why we shouldn't--"
"WHERE IS MY SON?!" she shrieked, red in the face. Her chains rattled and clanked as she tugged forward desperately. Cassandra drew her sword and held it at length, making the prisoner back up. Tears prickled the corners of the survivor's eyes. "I'll do whatever you want, just tell me where my son is! Where is my baby?!"
Leliana frowned. "Do you mean the little boy that fell out of the rift with you? About ten years old?"
The Sole Survivor bobbed her head up and down. "Yes! Yes, please, just tell me where he is! Is he okay? Oh, God, I can't lose him, I can't--"
"Your son is fine. He is in the custody of the Chantry." Cassandra interrupted, eyes wide by the outburst. "The Conclave is dest--"
"I want to see him. Bring me my son!" she yelled, straining at the shackles.
"You'll see your son if you cooperate." Leliana said calmly. "He won't be harmed; he was a little bruised when he came out of the rift, but he has been cleaned up, though he was crying for you earlier. We will reunite you, but we need you to answer our questions. Okay?"
The woman shuddered and nodded her head. "Okay. Just... just keep my baby safe. He's the most important person in my life." She shuddered again, trying to compose herself. "What do you want to know? What do you need me to to?"
Cassandra picked up her wrist, pointing to the mark, then the Pip-Boy. "Explain this. And what is this?" she demanded. The General of the Minutemen huffed.
"I don't know what the green mark is. Maybe radiation. God, I hope I'm not turning into a Glowing One. And this thing?" she said, nodding her head to the device. "It's called a Pip-Boy, the ultimate in personal computing devices."
Cassandra briefly gave her a quizzical look before snapping back to attention, glaring at the woman. "You're lying!" She threw her hands on her, pushing her back. Leliana hurried forward and pushed the seeker back.
"We need her, Cassandra." she said stonily. The spy turned to the woman in chains, who was still breathing heavily.
"I'm afraid I don't know where I am, or what's going on." she said shakily. "I'll do everything I can, but I need to know what's happening."
"Do you remember anything?" Leliana asked. The Survivor shrugged.
"My son was fiddling with the old teleporter to the Institute and... I..." She winced, closing her eyes shut as she tried to focus. "I followed him, and then we were running from... things that looked like radroaches. And then... a woman?"
"A woman?" Leliana asked, uncrossing her arms.
"She reached out to me, but then..." The prisoner shook her head and opened her eyes, looking back up at the others dazedly. "That's strange. I can't remember what happened-- it's just like a giant blank spot."
"Neither can the boy. We asked him the same thing and he can't remember either." Cassandra muttered. "Go to the forward camp, Leliana. I will take her to the rift."
Leliana nodded and headed out, while Cassandra approached and began to undo the shackles. The prisoner's forehead wrinkled in thought. "What did happen?"
"It... will be easier to show you."
The seeker took the woman outside, who made no move to protest. Her eyes lifted to the sky and she shielded her eyes as she took in the Breach for the first time. She blinked at it in complete and utter shock. "What in God's name is that? A nuke gone wrong? Well, I mean, there's no right way for a nuke to go, but giving the sky an asshole is a bit unusual."
"We call it the Breach." Cassandra said. "It's a massive rift into the world of demons that grows larger with each passing hour. It's not the only rift; just the largest. And unless we act, it will grow until it swallows the world."
The prisoner raised an eyebrow. "I'm... I'm sorry, did you say demons?"
"Yes."
"Demons don't exist. What the fuck is happening? Where am I?"
It dawned upon her that this world was... surprisingly intact. No signs of irradiation plagued the landscape, and healthy green grass-- something she hadn't seen since the Institute-- poked out through some of the shallower patches of snow. Not a modern weapon was in sight, not even her gun, Deliverer. She wanted her gun back, but she doubted that now was a good time to be asking for it.
Cassandra scowled. "Where are you from? Your armor, your clothes, your... devices, your technology... everything we found in your inventory was far beyond the technology of anywhere in the world. Your son has been talking about a place known as the Commonwealth. Boston. America. Earth..." She huffed. "You are in Thedas, in the Valley of Sacred Ashes in Ferelden. Do you even know where that is?"
The woman on the ground breathed out quietly. "Shaun was telling you about home. No, I don't know where I am. I... I sincerely hope this isn't some fucked up vault experiment we wandered into giving us bizarre-ass dream on a terminal." the prisoner said, sounding dazed. Cassandra crossed her arms.
"This is no dream or hallucination. I don't know how you came here, or why you did what you did, but we need you. That mark may be the key."
"To closing that gaping asshole in the sky?" She huffed. "I didn't do whatever you're accusing me of. I don't know shit about any of this... demon-y 'magic' crap, but I'll do what I can."
The seeker's eyes widened. "Then...?"
"I'll do what I can," the prisoner said, looking up, black hair falling back, brown eyes staring up at the mark, her ochre skin tinted green briefly as she turned the hand with the mark over, "whatever it takes."
The other woman looked surprised but seemed to appreciate the promise to help, and pulled the other woman up. They carried on through the valley, while the prisoner ignored the shouts and grumbles from the crowd, and simply listened to the seeker. She spoke little until Cassandra pressed her for a name.
"My name," she said, "is Alexandra Jones. Alex is fine." Alex was silent, her thoughts all to her son. Even as her mark flared, causing Cassandra to pull her up, she continued, eyes forward, to somehow undo that hole in the sky to get back to her son and go home.
Once they reached the next bridge, it collapsed from under them, sending them tumbling to the ground. Alex barely had enough time to pull herself up before a demon-- an actual demon or something-- fell from the rift, a blobby overgrown slug, as it appeared to her, sprang up.
"Stay behind me!" Cassandra ordered, charging forth with her sword and shield. Alex backed up as another demon began to pull itself from the ground before her, eyes darting around for anything that could help. She spied a staff lying to the side and bolted for it. As soon as she grasped it, she wielded it like a blunt weapon, bashing the demon over the head with the hard metal top.
"Get back, you shitbag!" she cried, swinging awkwardly, just hard enough to keep the demon a good few feet back. She was too used to pistols, and was no good with melee weapons. Cassandra came to the rescue in the form of a sword plunged through the back of the demon, which earned a grateful smile from the prisoner.
"Thanks, I--"
"Drop your weapon! Now!" Cassandra snapped. Alex sighed but nodded, moving to set the staff down.
"Alright. Take it easy, I'm not here to hurt you."
"Wait." Cassandra stopped her. "You don't need a weapon, but you should have one. I cannot protect you... are you a mage?"
Alexandra raised an eyebrow. "No. At least, not that I'm aware of. Magic doesn't exist. Or... at least where I'm from? Ahem. Nope."
"... Then why did you pick up the staff?"
"I thought it could make for a good blunt weapon to defend myself."
Cassandra exhaled sharply, running a hand over her own forehead. "Do you have experience with any weapons?"
"Pistols. Or rifles. Guns, generally, but I prefer pistols." she said simply. Cassandra opened a bag at her hip and pulled out Deliverer, and Alex's eyes lit up.
"Is this a pistol? We couldn't tell what it was, but it was on your hip."
"Yes! Oh, thank you. This will go so much faster." she said, gleefully taking the gun. The seeker's head cocked to the side.
"What exactly does it do?"
Alex pointed the gun to the side and shot it. Cassandra nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound and the bullet flying out of the gun, and gawked as Alexandra examined the ammo inside.
"Maker have mercy!" she cried. Alexandra looked completely unaffected as she looked over the gun.
"Did you happen to find any 10 mm bullets on me?"
"Quickly! Before more come through!"
Someone grabbed Alexandra's hand, one of the people fighting with them that she hadn't had a good look at, and thrust it towards the rift. Alex gasped as it pulled and strained every muscle in her hand as the mark reacted with the rift. Her pain did not last long; the rift closed, and she pulled back, pulling her hand close. Her eyes turned up towards the man who grabbed her wrist, about to inquire what he did...
Solas smiled slightly as the woman took him in; namely, his ears. "Are... are you an elf?" she blurted, blinking. Solas chuckled.
"That I am. Do they not exist where you're from?"
Alex shook her head. "Uh... no, they're considered fantasy creatures. As fictional as magic. Or whatever all of this is. Or whatever you were doing back there."
Cassandra looked from the mark to her. "Solas is an apostate mage."
The Minutemen General's eyes widened. "As in... an actual mage? Wizard? Magic?" she asked, staring at Solas. The elf laughed.
"That is correct. I imagine this must be a very confusing day for you, considering you are not of our world."
The woman breathed quietly, sighing. "I... another world? It's true, then? My son and I..."
Solas nodded. "If my suspicions are true, and your son speaks the truth. We are not certain where you are from, but you are in Thedas; magic exists here. This world does not obey the rules you are used to. I can explain more to you about this later, but we need to focus on the Breach. Once this is over, I would be happy to help you and your son." he reassured, though his eyes went to the mark. The prisoner cocked her head at it.
"This mark's connected to the rifts. Somehow. I don't know how I got it. This means it could close the other rifts." Alexandra surmised. "Weird, but useful."
"Meaning it could also close the Breach." Cassandra added.
"Possibly." Solas said calmly, holding his hands together. "It seems you hold the key to our salvation."
"Good to know! And here I thought we'd be ass-deep in demons forever."
Alexandra turned at the sound of another voice, no doubt belonging to the short man she had glanced at during the fight. The dwarf approached her, though she looked far less shocked by him. "Varric Tethras. Rogue, storyteller, and occasionally unwelcome tagalong." he said, winking at Cassandra. The seeker glared at him coldly. Varric smiled at her. "You don't seem nearly as shocked to see me. Do they have dwarves from... wherever you're from?"
"Um, well, there are people who have a genetic condition known as dwarfism, so they're shorter than most people. I just figured you had dwarfism." Alexandra shrugged. "I've seen a lot of weird shit in the last year. You're low on the list of shocking things. In any case, it's good to meet you, Varric." she said politely with a nod of the head.
"You may reconsider that stance, in time." Solas said slyly.
"Aww, I'm sure we'll become great friends in the valley, Chuckles."
"Absolutely not," Cassandra snapped, "your help is appreciated, Varric, but--"
"Have you been in the valley lately, Seeker?" Varric interrupted. "Your soldiers aren't in control anymore. You need me."
The seeker let out a disgusted noise and turned away. Solas cleared his throat and got Alexandra's attention. "My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions. I am pleased to see you still live."
"He means, 'I kept that mark from killing you while you slept.'" Varric added. Alex turned to the elf, eyebrow raised. She shrugged off questions that came to her mind, for the moment, deciding to ask later. It would just waste precious time.
"Thank you, then, for saving my life so far. I can't abandon my son, not so young. My name is Alexandra Jones, but Alex is fine."
"You are welcome." Solas said with a grin. "Your son was quite insistent on helping me. He's a very gifted young man, and he worried about you greatly."
Alex smiled for the first time she had woken up. "He did? Oh, I hope he didn't-- I mean, he-- oh, Shaun..." She bit her lip. "Let's... let's keep moving. The sooner this is over, the sooner I can get back to him."
"As you wish." Solas said with a shrug as he turned to Cassandra. "Seeker, your prisoner is no mage, but it's hard to imagine any mage wielding such power." Solas' eyes turned back to her, looking her up and down. "Alexandra does not even possess a connection to the Fade at all... or did not, prior to the mark, and neither does her son."
"Understood." Cassandra said tiredly. Varric came up behind the prisoner, smiling reassuringly.
"Well, Bianca's excited!" he said with a glance to the crossbow. Alex nodded, eyeing her Pip-Boy for any injuries, turning the dials. The others stopped to watch in fascination.
"What are you doing?" Cassandra demanded, narrowing her eyes. Alex displayed the screen with her health status to them.
"The Pip-Boy can tell you how badly you're injured and where, and even deploy healing items, if you rig it right. It keeps showing my hand as crippled. See?" She pointed to her left hand on the screen, which was flashing repeatedly. Her health was in a bar, at about seventy-five percent full.
"Fascinating!" Solas remarked. "I would very much enjoy getting a better look at that device when we have time. It seems to have detected your mark as an anomaly."
Alexandra smiled tiredly. "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours, Solas. But we should keep moving."
"Whatever that thing on your hand is, it's useful." Varric remarked. Alex nodded, jugging one of the health potions Cassandra had given her. It tasted like thick, syrupy medicine with bad cherry flavoring, but it worked well enough-- not quite on the level of a stimpak, but close-- so she drank it. They had reached the next bridge, and Alexandra closed the rift outside of it. Leliana and an unknown man in Chantry clothes stood, bickering behind a table, but both stopped to look up at the group when they approached.
"You survive! Thank the Maker." Leliana praised. She turned to the man behind her. "Chancellor Roderick, this is--"
"I know who she is. And as Grand Chancellor of the Chantry, I hereby order that this prisoner be taken to Val Royeaux to face execution!" he snapped, jabbing a finger at her. Alex was about to protest when Cassandra stepped in, glaring at the chancellor.
"Order me? You are a glorified clerk! A bureaucrat!"
"And you are a thug, but a thug who supposedly serves the Chantry!" Roderick argued.
"We serve the Most Holy, Chancellor. As you well know." Leliana snapped grimly.
"Justinia is dead! We must elect a replacement and obey her orders on the matter." the chancellor protested. Alexandra groaned.
"Listen to me," she snapped, "I'm sorry that this Justinia is dead. I see that it weighs heavily on all of you, but we don't have time to argue about this. You can decide what to do with me and give me a trial once the Breach is sealed; it must be our priority."
"You brought this upon us in the first place!" Roderick cried. Alexandra huffed.
"I don't remember what caused this, Chancellor, and I'm willing to help in an investigation, but it does no one any good to point fingers now. We need to muster whatever forces are on hand and get to the temple where the giant rift is, and we're wasting time right now bickering about it. I will be damned if that thing endangers my son."
Cassandra gawked for a moment, surprised, and she nodded. "I agree with the prisoner. We need to keep moving."
"There is a mountain path," Leliana pointed out, "we could have forces charge as a distraction while we go through the mountains."
"We lost contact with an entire squad on that path. It's too risky." Cassandra argued. They silenced as Alex gasped, the mark flaring again. She bit her lip and inhaled sharply. Her Pip-Boy flashed, showing her health meter drop a few points. Varric winced.
"That can't be good." he remarked. "You okay?"
"I've been through worse." She looked up to them. "I think we should charge with the soldiers. If the mountain path lost an entire squad, we don't have the time or odds to risk it. We'll make it. We have to."
Alexandra had met Cullen, and he seemed a stern but good man to her. Not bad on the eyes, either. Her mind still remained focused on closing the Breach to return to her son, and had little time to chat with him. Upon reaching the Breach, Leliana caught up to them, and they continued through the ruined temple.
Glowing red pieces of rock caught her eye, and even before Varric could speak, she saw he was visibly uncomfortable. She was about to speak when her Geiger counter in her Pip-Boy began clicking upon approaching the red rocks, and she quickly retreated from any pieces, jumping over them until the counter began to silence. "Whoa, whoa, watch your step and keep away from this crap. It's radioactive. My Geiger counter's going nuts." she said, grimacing slightly. So much for no harmful radiation in this new world...
"I have no idea what that is, but it can't be good." Varric grumbled. "This is red lyrium. It's evil. Whatever you do, don't touch it."
Alex carefully inched as far away from a large outcropping of them as she could. "No shit."
"Is your counter what's making that noise?" Cassandra asked, frowning. "And you say this red lyrium is giving off... radiation?"
"I'll explain in detail later, or as much as I can. I was a lawyer, not a nuclear physicist." Alex said quickly, as Solas continued to curiously eye the Pip-Boy. "For now, let's deal with the Breach."
"A lawyer? You're a lawyer?" Cassandra interrupted. Leliana smiled slightly.
"Is that why you were at the Conclave?"
Alexandra shook her head.
"Yes to Cassandra, no to Leliana. I went to Harvard Law School, passed the Bar with flying colors, and I was a prosecutor until the bombs fell. However, I don't know how I got here, and I haven't worked as a lawyer since the bombs. No one has use for a law degree in a lawless wasteland." She paused. "I think Codsworth said he saved that scrap of paper known as my now-useless degree somewhere. If we can get contact from where I'm from, I can get it from him and prove this."
"The... bombs? What bombs?" Cassandra asked, baffled. Alexandra sighed, memory flashing back to the sheer terror of the day of the Great War, of her family scurrying into the Vault with barely enough time to spare...and waking up two hundred years later.
"Long story. One I'll tell you all about when this is done."
Solas tapped his chin. "If it weren't for the fact you appear to be from nowhere near here, that would explain why you were at the Conclave. I'd imagine the templars, mages, and Chantry would have use for an attorney."
"Ooh! Got any courtroom drama to share?" Varric pressed, smiling. Alex laughed.
"Being a lawyer isn't as exciting as you would think. A lot of it was plea bargains and--"
"Now is the hour of our victory." A disembodied voice interrupted, echoing from the Breach. It was a very striking voice that cut into the listener as they heard it, deep, serious, and made them shiver just listening to it. "Bring forth the sacrifice."
The group stopped for a moment, looking toward the rift, where the sound came. Cassandra frowned. "What are we hearing?" she asked as they slowly continued on, listening. Solas shrugged.
"At a guess, the one who created the Breach."
"Someone, help me!" an Orlesian woman's voice came. Cassandra gasped.
"That is Divine Justinia's voice!"
"Keep the sacrifice still." the voice continued.
"Run while you can! Warn them!"
As they reached ground zero of the Breach and jumped down, Alexandra peered up at the rift, befuddled. Just as she was about to speak, she heard her own voice.
"Shaun, get back!"
"Mom--"
"That was you and your son-- your voices," Cassandra breathed, "Most Holy called out to you, but--" Her eyes were pulled back upward as the rift flashed and crackled.
The Fade twisted itself into a vision above them. A mysterious, darkened creature with red eyes stood over the image of the Divine. Shaun and Alexandra appeared, the mother quickly pulling her son behind her as they stared up at the creature in complete and utter terror. "Shaun, get back!" she barked and pulled him by the wrist. Shaun had frozen like a deer in the headlights.
"Mom--" He silenced and allowed himself to be pulled behind his mother as he gawked up in wide-eyed terror. Alex grit her teeth in the vision as she slowly began to back away as she stared, unblinking, at the scene.
"We have intruders," he said, extending a gnarled hand, "kill them. Now!"
With that, the vision flashed and faded. Cassandra spoke up again, walking around the prisoner to meet her eyes. "You were there! Who attacked? And the Divine, is she-- what are we seeing?"
"I don't remember!"
"The Fade bleeds into this place," Solas remarked, "spirits clamor to reenact--"
"The Fade? Spirits? What the fuck is even happening anymore?!" Alexandra snapped, eye twitching. She'd had enough of this bullshit. She just wanted to go home with Shaun and let this all be a bizarre dream from radiation sickness. With briefly closed eyes, she tried to will herself to wake up, but upon opening them, she found she was still in a dream. Or what seemed too strange to be anything but one.
Solas frowned and briefly considered jumping into an impromptu lecture about the Fade to this newcomer, but decided against it as he turned his eyes to the massive rift. He was about to speak when Varric intervened, who gently put a hand on the prisoner's arm.
"Alex, I know you're scared, and that you want your son. We're going to get through this, you'll close that, and you'll see Shaun. He misses you as much as you miss him. Just hang in there a little longer." he reassured. "Chuckles can give you a long explanation about magic and the Fade and shit later." Something about his voice and tone reassured her, and her shoulders dropped.
"I-- you're right. I'm sorry. I will try my best to close this."
"No apology is necessary," Solas replied, eyes still on the rift, "you should know that the rift is sealed, albeit temporarily. I believe that with the power of your mark, you can open it and reseal it safely. However, opening the rift will likely attract attention from the other side."
"That means demons! Stand ready!" Cassandra yelled. No sooner than did she give the word did soldiers scurry and arrange themselves around the rift, ready for the onslaught. Weapons were drawn, and a silent, affirmative nod was given by Solas. Without wasting another moment, the Sole Survivor thrust her marked hand forward, connecting to the rift. She gasped as she felt every nerve in her hand being tugged, feeling her muscles clench in that arm.
Her pain did not last long. The rift crackled and flashed green, knocking her back briefly as a pride demon spawned alongside shades. Alexandra pulled herself up, backing away from the pride demon in horror. "The fuck is that?!"
"A pride demon!" Cassandra replied hastily. "Interrupt the rift! We must strip its defenses! Wear it down!"
Not sure what else to do against an onslaught of demons, Alexandra scurried below the rift and threw her hand back at it again, charging it, readying to interrupt it. With her free hand, she wielded Deliverer, shooting at any shades that drew too close. A few bullets popped through the face of one was enough to kill, and they dissipated into blobby piles of goo and demon dust.
It worked until she had to reload.
The mark disconnected from the rift as the pride demon recoiled from the shock of its interrupted rift, making the fight for the others easier as its guard trickled away. Unfortunately, two more demons appeared from the rift, and the next several minutes of the fight was composed of Alexandra screaming and running in circles around the rift while she reloaded her gun with bullets she had to pick out of her belongings. Cassandra caught up with her and slew one of the demons with a precise jab through its center. The other was finished off with a bolt from Bianca.
Which, of course, came right after Alexandra was done reloading Deliverer. Instead she turned her attention to the pride demon and began taking shots at its face. One bullet through one of its eyes, and the demon roared in outrage, reaching for its eye. Alexandra hurried back to the rift and connected her mark to it again, following the same pattern of shooting with one hand, closing a rift with the other.
The rift was weakening. It was soon down to just them and the accursed, stubborn pride demon. Alexandra poured every bullet she had into the demon's guts, but it stayed up. She wasn't even sure how much damage she could do to a demon, but she had managed to kill a few already, so she reasoned she couldn't be doing too bad.
When finally it fell, from blade and bolt and magic and bullets, Alex turned back to the rift, throwing her hand at it. It would close, and she could see her son again. The mere thought of losing him again was enough to...
Cassandra's voice was getting faint. She heard the woman yell something to her, but it was getting so hard to focus. Scratches from demons were still bleeding, and bruises decorated her body. How much blood had she shed that day? Since the bombs fell?
Pain throbbed through her as the Breach reacted to the rift, to her. The health bar on her Pip-Boy trickled down. When her hand finally was free of the rift, she very ungracefully fell flat on her face and into oblivion.
"I'm coming, Shaun. Mommy's coming..."