Chapter Text
Trapped.
Stone all around them. Dust filling her senses, stinging her eyes and filling her mouth, the stench of death permeating every gasp of air.
The walls were closing in around her. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't -
"Is this how all of your escapades usually go?" the dwarf beside her asked with what could only be described as an unreasonably chipper attitude.
It brought her focus back into the moment, at the very least, and she forced herself to grin.
"No, Varric. D'you think Isabela would keep me around if I was always getting caught in some old tosser's crypt?" she replied with a dry chuckle.
"I dunno, she's always liked a pretty girl." He shrugged lightly, as if they weren't literally trapped, with the quickly-awakening guardians of whatever the hell that nobleman had just stolen. "Though I guess if she was keeping you around for eye candy, she wouldn't send you into tombs."
Varric was decidedly grounding, she couldn't deny that.
"And let's be honest, this isn't the first time I've been stuck in a certain-death situation, and I'm doing fine. We'll get out of here with time to go visit my little hellions before bedtime, Metis, don't you worry. And then I'll take great pleasure in introducing that noble bastard to Bianca."
As she looked around, the guardians seemed to be powering up more quickly. "Damn it."
The one nearest to them straightened up, a heavy metal axe in its hands. It lumbered towards them, as hostile as an automaton could be, and raised the axe to strike.
Acting on instinct had always been her saving grace, and this was no exception. She threw Varric out of the way and tossed a handful of grenades at the machine. While they did little damage, the smoke bombs were enough of a distraction that Metis could take a moment to breathe - and that was when she saw it.
The smoke was rising, and she watched with quiet hope as it caught a cross breeze.
Airflow meant there was an opening somewhere.
"Varric!" Metis's voice was commanding, a tone she had never before taken and one she would hesitate to take ever again. "Follow the smoke, I'll distract them!"
He grimaced. "Why do I always end up with the noble, self-sacrificing types?" he asked dryly, hoisting Bianca off his back. "We can take 'em."
"Varric! "
"I'm not leaving you behind!"
"I'm not asking you to!" Metis snapped back. "I'm not some fucking martyr! I'm going to blow the damned tomb up, get the hell out of here!"
"Ah."