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The sky flashed a deep, foreboding red, before pieces of the Chantry building began to rain across the city of Kirkwall. Katherine felt completely numb, frozen in place where she stood in the Lowtown market as her brain tried to catch up with everything that had happened in the span of mere seconds.
After what seemed an eternity, she tore her emerald gaze from the blood-colored sky and stared out into a dim and dusty room. Impossibly tall bookshelves filled her vision, and as her gaze continued to travel down, she let out a gasp–almost more of a shriek–and took a few steps back. At her feet, littered across the Circle tower of her mind’s eye, were the bodies of Templars and mages alike, the floor slick with their blood. She swallowed the lump in her throat, and picked her way around the bodies, two thoughts on her mind.
Bethany.
Anders.
Continuing down the halls, her surroundings became dimmer with every step she took, her footfall echoing into the emptiness. After a while longer, Katherine tripped over seemingly nothing, and found herself hurtling through the darkness. She let out another gasp and squeezed her eyes shut as she fell.
When she chanced to open her eyes again, she found herself standing at the door of Anders’ Darktown clinic, just outside of the pool of light given off by the lone lantern he kept outside. Breath hitching, she pushed her way inside. Sitting on one of the few cots he had smooshed into the space was the apostate healer himself, his lanky formed bowed forward over his hands, which were covered in blood.
“Anders…” she breathed and wasted no time in crossing the room to his side. She placed her hands on his shoulders. “What happened?”
He tilted his face up to meet her gaze, and she saw that his eyes looked horribly sunken and devoid of their usual luster. “I’m sorry…” he murmured. “The Chantry…I didn’t have a choice.”
Katherine shook her head. “I thought I told you to stop apologizing for that. Yes, there may have been a better solution, but nothing can change by wishing we had done it another way.”
“But my actions have ruined your life, Hawke.”
“Nonsense. I still have you. I still have my sister. Even if no one else agreed with my decision back then, all that matters is that I still have the two most important people in my life at my side.” She kissed his brow. “I love you, Anders, and I will remain with you.”
“I can’t ask you to keep doing this,” he continued, seeming deaf to her words. He reached for the dagger at his belt and held it out to her. “Please, Hawke. You’re the only one I trust to do this. The man you fell in love with…I’m not sure he can be saved, especially when I have failed to control Vengeance.”
She stepped back from him and vehemently replied, “I can’t. I won’t.”
Before she could protest further, she felt the heavy and familiar weight of a dagger in her hand. She blinked and the blade was buried deep in Anders’ chest, her hand still wrapped around the hilt, his lifeless body slumped against her.
“No…No, no, no, no. No!”
Katherine awoke with a start, heart beating a wild taptoo in her chest. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked over her shoulder, seeing Anders still curled up on the cot, one arm still somewhat draped over her waist. His chest rose and fell with his gentle breathing…still very much alive. She let out a shaky breath and slowly settled back against his warmth. It had been nothing more than a nightmare.