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Kirkwall was in tatters, Meredith had been killed, Orsino was dead and the Kirkwall Misfits were hiding out in the Wounded Coast, trying to catch their breaths. Evangeline had put her ‘Hawke face’ on when this all started, she kept it that way when the Chantry exploded and when she took Anders’ life, she didn’t flinch when she fought Orsino and she stayed strong in the battle against Meredith. Alone. But now, as she stood at the edge of a cliff on the coast, tears flowed freely down her face as her mind was focused on only one thing: her twin sister, who had gone to the Chantry that morning to gossip with the Sisters. Evangeline barely registered the arm wrapping around her shoulders and tugging her a few steps back, she wasn’t considering anything stupid but Fenris’ protectiveness was welcomed.
“You need to rest.” He ordered but did not force her to move any further. Evangeline just shook her head and leaned against him.
“I shouldn’t have let her leave this morning.” She muttered, closing her eyes in a failed attempt to stop the tears, “I had a bad feeling but I still let her go to the Chantry. Why didn’t I try to keep her at home? I’ve done it before.” Fenris sighed, it was an unusually patient sound, and he tightened his grip on her.
“You cannot change the past. Only move forward and decide the future.” Curse Fenris and his effective counselling. It did nothing to improve Evangeline’s mood, however, and she just sobbed harder, clinging to elf like her life depended on it.
“I can’t. Not without her.” She cried into his shoulder, “I can’t do this without Elia. After ten years of trying to keep Bethany and Carver safe, of keeping our city from falling into ruin and trying to keep everyone alive, she can’t just be-” Evangeline dissolved into sobs before she could finish the sentence. She didn’t even want to say the word even though she knew it was probably true. No one survives getting a Chantry dropped on their head. Fenris pulled her to arms length and gently placed his hand on her cheek, pulling it away just as quickly when Eve hissed, the fresh lightning burns on her face were still very tender.
“You can’t blame yourself for this. There was nothing-”
“Evangeline!” A new voice called, as a woman came running up to the grieving group. Eve quickly sidestepped Fenris to run up to her cousin and hug her tight.
“Charade! Oh thank the Maker you’re alright.” Eve wasn’t about to ask into Gamlen’s wellbeing, she couldn’t take that hit. “What are doing out here?”
“You need to come with me, quickly.” Charade began tugging her cousin away before she stopped to think, “You might wanna bring those two as well.” She pointed to Sebastian and Fenris.
“Guys? I don’t want to ask you to come back to Kirkwall if you don’t want to.” Eve let out a breath she didn’t realise she was holding when the two nodded and followed after the two women, “We’ll be back shortly.” The group ignored Aveline’s protests as they made their way back to the city they just destroyed.
It had only been three days but Kirkwall was a resilient place, at least the people in Lowtown were, and many were starting to pick up the pieces. The unlikely group stuck to the shadows as they walked a familiar path and ended up in front of a familiar house.
“Charade.” Eve stopped her cousin with a hand on her shoulder, “Don’t tell me that Gamlen is dead. I can’t take that right now.”
Charade shook her head, “No, he’s fine, come on.” She dragged her cousin and friends into the small house and straight through the back room.
Evangeline started crying as she collapsed to the ground next to her sister, bruised and battered but most definitely alive.
“Sweet Maker, Elia.” She sobbed, brushing some of her sister’s flaming hair out of her bruised face, “How the hell did you get out of this one?”
“One of the guards found her in the rubble and brought her to me, Maker knows why.” Gamlen grumbled as he stepped into the room, a damp cloth in his hands, “I’m surprised she hasn’t died yet.” Eve choked on a scoff as she faced her uncle with a grin.
“She’s a Hawke. Hawke’s don’t die.”
“Evidently not.” Gamlen sniffed and shoved everyone, save Eve, out of the room to give the twins some privacy. Elia coughed, her eyes fluttering open as she groaned and a hand flew to her side.
“Evie?” She asked quietly, her throat felt like sandpaper. Evangeline was by her side again in a second and grabbing her hand.
“I’m right here.” She smiled through tears as Elia managed to keep her eyes open this time. “How do you feel?”
“What?” Elia was speaking louder than she normally did, watching her sister frown for a moment before speaking again. Or at least, she assumed Eve was speaking, her mouth was moving but there was so little noise. “What are you saying?!” Elia was nearly shouting as she tried to sit up, only to collapse heavily onto her back when her injuries made themselves known. Tears began to form in her eyes as a thousand thoughts raced through her mind. She had been in an explosion, she was hurt bad and should probably be dead and the icing on the cake, she can’t hear. Eve’s hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality but once again, she could see her sister speaking but couldn’t hear her, “I can’t hear you!” Elia was starting to hyperventilate, this was awful. She relied on her hearing so much in battle and she didn’t want to think about never hearing Bela or Merrill’s voices again. An unintentionally painful tap to her cheek pulled her focus to her sister. Eve was watching Elia in concern, a familiar look, she motioned for Elia to take a deep breath. The redhead nodded and tried her best to follow the direction but it was hard to swallow down the panic. Eve pointed to her eyes and then to her mouth, Elia nodded, trying to calm herself enough to pay attention to her sister. Eve’s lips started moving again, slowly this time, and Elia focused on the words she could see.
“It is going to be okay.” Eve said and Elia shook her head, still feeling tears running down her cheeks.
“How do you know?” She could still barely hear her own voice but she was sure her voice was louder than she thought.
Eve shrugged, “We need to leave soon.” Elia tried to sit up too quickly again, groaning even as her sister helped her remain upright.
“Why? What happened?” She was looking around the room like someone was about to jump out and attack. It took Eve actually moving in front of her for her to pay attention again.
“I’ll explain later. Can you stand?” Elia didn’t even need to think about the answer when she shook her head. She saw Eve sigh and turn to the door, that’s when she heard it. “Sebastian!”
“Wait, did you just say Sebastian?” Elia asked and Eve turned around so quickly, she almost headbutted her. She started speaking but it was too quickly for Elia to see what she was saying, “I don’t understand.” Eve took a deep breath and slowed down again.
“You heard me say Sebastian?” Elia nodded, briefly looking up at said Prince when he walked into the room, “So you can still hear loud things?” She shrugged, still trying to comprehend the situation.
“I guess so.” Eve turned away from her to talk to Sebastian, they were speaking too quickly for her catch anything. After a moment, Eve turned back to Elia and hugged her, being careful not to aggravate her wounds. When she sat back she smiled warmly at her sister.
“I love you and I am so happy you are alive.” Elia almost started crying as Sebastian picked her up, piggy back style, and grabbed on to Eve’s hand.
“I love you too.” She sniffed, “Everything’s going to be okay right?”
“I promise.”