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I Am the Alpha	By : LadySephiroth Category: +A through F > Dragon Age (all) > Dragon Age (all) Views: 2363 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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I Am the Alpha
Thank everybody
“My lady, if I could just have a moment of your time…”
She turned around and growled, making the stranger yelp. He’d been in their camp since they came back from Lothering. Every time she walked past he would ask if he could have a moment of her time. Normally she would ignore him, but after her “conversation” with Alistair, she needed something to gnaw on.
Or someone.
She stalked towards him, watching the fear in his eyes envelop his pupils. He was trembling by the time she reached him, his voice shaking and stuttering.
“I...D-duncan mentioned m-me didn’t he?” he asked hopefully.
That name made her mood change considerably. “Why would Duncan mention you?” she asked.
Suddenly she was cool, calm, slightly indifferent. He didn’t trust it. He did his best to tread carefully. Deep breath. And, “I’m Levi. Duncan said he would help me recover some evidence that my great-great-grandmother, Sophia Dryden, was a hero.”
“Why does that matter?”
She hadn’t gone off the deep end yet, so he continued. He explained who Sophia Dryden was, and why it was important that he find the evidence that he needed.
She seemed to understand completely. By the time he had finished his tale, her face had softened considerably. She looked human. She looked sad.
“I’ll help you,” she agreed.
It sent a thrill through him so powerful he almost hugged her. “Oh...thank you my lady. Thank you so much. I’ve mapped the way to Soldier’s Peak. And it would make a good base for you Grey Wardens, since...since...well it was already your base to begin with.”
She blinked, clueless. “Why do we need a base?”
“So you can have a place to rest, my lady,” he explained. “And you can probably find a lot of Grey Warden artifacts, learn more about your history. And you can store things you don’t need, so you won’t be carrying around so much in your pack. Plus, if you ever go to war, it makes a marvelous fort.”
She didn’t seem to like that last idea. An emotion flashed across her face that immediately put him on edge. But it was gone just as quickly as he recognized it. He decided to assume he imagined it.
Or did he? He thought he saw...tears? Yes. Tears. They were unmistakable. Those big, brown doe eyes with thick eyelashes rimmed with crystalline pain overwhelmed his instincts. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder in comfort.
She seized up. For a second he thought she’d shrug him off but she just stood there, small shoulders tense, eyes lowered to the ground. Her tears were caught on her bottom lashes. Like bugs in a web, they struggled to fall, but it was all in vain.
“My lady,” he started softly, “whatever the matter is, I’m sure that…”
She started to lean towards him. The poor thing was distraught. Her face displayed such agony that she couldn’t even sob it out. She covered her mouth, covered her silent wail, covered her pain, but it still emulated from her. She was trembling, shaking, threatening to collapse.
Levi wanted to hold her and tell her it was okay, even though he had no idea why she was so upset. She looked nothing like a Warden, and everything like a lost little girl who just wanted to go home.
The amount of pain she was in was obviously unbearable. If he had a little girl, and she’d come to him like that, he’d melt just like he was doing now.
“Warden…”
“Look, there she is!”
He looked up with surprise to see her companions coming around the bend, back to camp. He withdrew from her quickly, rubbing the back of his neck. He was trying to think of a way to explain why she was standing there crying but he didn’t have to. She cleaned herself up rather gracefully. By the time they approached them she was back to looking cool and indifferent. It was like nothing ever happened.
“Anara, you can’t just run off like that,” Alistair scolded gently. “Look, I realize that I probably shouldn’t have…”
“It’s ELENA,” she hissed, turning to face him. “Call me Anara one more time and I will impale you.”
Her eyes were threatening to kill him, her body tense with the desire. Levi expected her to draw her sword and run him through any second.
Alistair mock-saluted her. “As you say, my lady.” He wouldn’t stop, of course. He’d just wait until she was far less pissed off before he tried it again.
“Levi is going to lead us to Soldier’s Peak,” she announced, drawing her dagger. They all watched as she flipped it and caught it by the handle again and again. It was rather unnerving. At any second she could throw it at one of them. They all hoped their reflexes were quick enough to deflect it.
All except the qunari, who was extremely indifferent to everything. And the dog, who barked his approval.
“Soldier’s Peak,” Alistair repeated, daring to speak. “You mean the old Warden fort?”
Now Sten showed a little bit of interest.
“A fort would be an excellent asset,” he agreed. It was probably the most interesting thing they’d proposed since he joined up with them.
“I agree,” she nodded, balancing her knife on the end of her finger by the tip of the blade. “We’re going there now.”
“Now?” Alistair sputtered. “But we’re right here at Redcliffe! Arl Eamon…!”
“I’d think you wouldn’t care, Prince Alistair,” she smirked, a wicked edge in her tone. “You seem to enjoy following orders and dodging your responsibilities. Why the change of heart?”
Alistair’s next words were more gritty than sarcastic. “Lead the way then, my queen.”
CAN’T∙LIVE∙WITHOUT∙IT
She was a frigid thing.
Leliana was glad that Alistair volunteered to go into the fort with Elena. She was wickedness in a pretty package. She even made Morrigan’s hair stand on end. Or so she assumed. Morrigan had been largely quiet since the first time she met her.
“Do you think they’ll be alright in there?” she asked the witch.
“I could not care less,” Morrigan replied haughtily. “Twould almost be preferable if they did die in there. I wouldn’t have to hear Alistair, or smell the dog, see the qunari or deal with Elena’s glorious sense of entitlement.”
“I don’t think she means to be,” Leliana said softly. “I think she’s just in a lot of pain.”
“I think she’s spoilt,” Morrigan countered. “She was a noble. Alistair said her entire family was slaughtered. Now she’s treating us like her servants. As if we are somehow beneath her.”
Leliana just looked at Morrigan. The witch didn’t really have room to talk.
SO∙IT’S∙SENSELESS
There were ghosts.
They were reenacting their last days at the fort. It was a fascinating story. Apparently the Wardens had been barricaded inside Soldier’s Peak, forced to run through their resources until they starved to death. It made her shudder to think about it. But they pressed on.
Alistair had commentary, as always. Sten largely remained silent. As they slaughtered their way through the living dead and stopped to indulge Levi every now and again, Elena got the distinct feeling that there was more going on than they all knew.
As it turned out, she was right.
As they walked into the Warden Commander’s office, she saw Sophia Dryden in the flesh, standing there waiting for them. Her armor was impressive. Her body, not so much.
Sam barked fiercely at her.
“Quiet!” Sophia snapped in a voice that confirmed she was possessed. “This one wishes to speak to you.”
Sam growled, but Elena silenced him with a hand on his head.
“Why should I listen to you?” she asked.
“Because this one can help you retake the keep. Let this one go, and in turn, this one will close the opening to the Fade.”
“Do you really want to make a deal with a demon?” Alastair said in a low voice as he stood behind her.
For once, he was right. “I think I’ll take my chances,” she smirked, pulling out her sword. “Get her Sam.”
“Fool!” the demon shouted angrily.
The room filled with the skeletons of the walking dead. Sam’s path to Sophia was suddenly blocked, but he did not back down. Instead, he attacked the skeleton in front of him, tearing, breaking and crushing his bones.
Three skeletons surrounded Elena. Beyond them she saw Alistair fending off his own skeletons, while Sten battled it out with Sophia. She doubted the girls would have been half as useful in this battle.
She had learned a thing or two since she had become a Warden. She was still a flurry of instinct with basic training but she had held up well enough against a tower full of darkspawn and a troll in Ostagar. Three skeletons were hardly a challenge.
The first one got a nice kick in the ribs. She liked kicking things. She heard it crack, but the creatures felt no pain. That was bittersweet for her. She would prefer it if they screamed when she ran them through and cut them down. She liked the sound of slicing flesh. She liked to feel the blood spraying all over her in victory and death.
Violence had shaped who she was. It was an innate part of her existence. She may as well enjoy it.
She swung her sword around and beheaded it, then moved on to the second. It was a chore to dodge all of their attacks while only focusing on one at a time. Sometimes they landed a blow. She felt more than one knick and poke at her ribs. Fortunately her armor protected her from the majority of it, though she was feeling blood running from her body. It didn’t stop her though. Every battle she won was a lesson learned. It only made her better.
There were archers firing at them from near the doorway. She dropped the last of the skeletons and headed for them, hoping that the boys didn’t need her help. She managed to whirl around one and take him out from the back, cutting his head clean off. The other turned on her, but she threw poison at him. His bones began to literally melt. Before he could aim and fire she had sliced him up and left him in a gooey puddle of liquid bone.
She turned just in time to see Sten hit Sophia in the face with the hilt of his sword, stunning her. Taking advantage of his opening, he cut off her head.
Sam’s triumphant barking signaled the end of the battle. Elena put away her weapons and walked over to the qunari, stretching her limbs as she went. She still wasn’t used to the constant movement of battle. She was aching already and they hadn’t even been here for an hour.
“Nice armor,” she said as she leaned over Sophia’s headless body. She looked up at Sten, then back down. Yeah, it would fit.
WANT∙TO∙CUT∙IT∙OUT∙OF∙MY∙SOUL
Avernus was a slimy old thing.
He was older than he should have been. She was surprised he was still alive. He had to be hundreds of years old by now. And for every year he had aged he gained another layer of evil. He was amoral and unapologetic about it. He had experimented on his surviving Grey Warden companions in horrible, unspeakable ways. She wanted to kill him simply on principle.
But she’d made a promise to Levi. Unfortunately this blood mage was the last living person who could help her fulfill that promise. So for now, he could stay alive.
Sensing a sinister motive, Avernus told Elena that it was her family that had betrayed the Wardens. When she exclaimed her distaste for the matter, he told her that the then-teryn had been butchered and displayed on a table with an apple in his mouth. That sent her into something of an emotional frenzy, one his old reflexes were not prepared for.
She was on top of him with a knife to his throat before he could even exhale. Who knew the little thing could move that fast?
“Tell Levi what he wants to know about Sophia,” she growled, “and then I’ll slit your throat ear to ear.”
“Don’t you mean or?” he countered calmly.
Something hard flickered in her deep brown eyes. “No.”
Oh, so she meant it. That bloodlust in her eyes, that pain, that hurt was what drove her, what gave her strength, endurance. He admired it. Truth be told, he would love to dissect her and see exactly how those emotions worked in conjunction to make her so strong.
“You can’t kill me,” the mage informed her. “You need me to mend the tear in the Veil.”
“He’s right,” Alistair agreed, though it pained him to do so. The mage heard it in his voice.
“Pashaara,” said the qunari, folding his arms across his chest. “This is why we cut the tongues out of our mages mouths.”
“...That is...an unpleasant thought,” Alistair said slowly.
“Enough!” Elena hissed, silencing her party. They snapped to attention like obedient mabari hounds. It was impressive, but Avernus also noticed how much it grated on them to follow her command. She was a harsh mistress then.
“Tell Levi what he wants to know,” she commanded him as she stood up. “Close the tear in the Veil. Then I’ll kill you.”
“For revenge?” Avernus guessed. He tried to get up without the aid of his staff. “Do you feel my crimes are beyond redemption? Are you disgusted by my research, by the things that I did?”
“I’m disgusted by your existence,” she answered, kicking his staff across the room. “You have nothing to offer me. After you close the tear in the Veil your usefulness will cease. I’m not going to let you go. Neither will they.”
Oh dear.
He stood up, sighing and brushing off his robes. Well, there was no use delaying the inevitable. “Ask your question, young Dryden.”
He was nervous, probably because of the unstable bloodhound leading the party. “Ser mage, is there any evidence that my great-great-grandmother was a hero?” he asked humbly.
“I’m afraid not,” he sighed, shaking his head. “But she was the best of us.”
He looked at Elena as he described the former Warden Commander: a fierce and fearless being who would do anything for survival and would only surrender in death. The only acknowledgement he received from her was a flash of raw emotion in her brown cow eyes.
AND∙JUST∙LIVE∙WITH∙A∙GAPING∙HOLE
The last demon was a pretty thing.
A Desire Demon, she said she was. That was right before she tried to tear them to shreds. But with all of them together, they made quick work of her. She was in pieces before the ritual was finished.
“We work rather well together,” Alistair said pleasantly.
Elena just snorted. She wanted no compliments from that weakling, well-meaning or otherwise.
“It is done,” Avernus sighed, turning towards them. “The Veil is sealed once more. Now, what will you do with me?”
“Should I let you live?” she questioned coolly. “You’re no longer convenient.”
“Now, wait a moment,” he said quickly. “I can continue my research, as I had been doing. Finding ways to make the darkspawn taint work for the Wardens, not against them.”
“And you think we’re just going to let you gather new victims to experiment on?” Alistair countered.
“Well, I would need new blood...”
“No you wouldn’t,” Elena objected. They all looked at her, curious as to her next words. “I’m sure that you can find a way to continue your research without bringing anyone else into it.”
Avernus balked. “But...without blood I can’t…”
“I said no, Avernus!” she snapped. “If you want to live you’ll agree to these terms. Otherwise I’ll happily let Sten tear your tongue out or run you through. Maybe both.”
The qunari enjoyed this idea. His eyes said so.
Avernus sighed in defeat. He wanted to live, so he had no choice. “Very well. If I get any type of results, I shall inform you, though it may take some years.”
He promptly went back into his tower.
“You let him live again why?” Alistair wanted to know.
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. She didn’t want to explain herself to that wretched man-child. “Didn’t you tell me that Grey Wardens only live 30 years?”
He blinked owlishly. “Yes…”
“Does he look like he lived for only 30 years? He can extend our lifespan. The darkspawn taint doesn’t have to be a death sentence. Let him continue his research. He’s literally not hurting anyone but himself.”
Alistair seemed confused. “But that…He used blood magic...”
“Do you really want to die an inevitable death from a slow, methodical poisoning?” she snapped.
He hesitated. “Well...not really…” he admitted. “But we don’t actually die like that. We just go into the Deep Roads and...”
“Do you actually want to die like that Alistair?” she asked, cutting him off.
He shook his head.
“Then shut up and let him do his work. We’ll worry about controversies later.”
Alistair decided to just drop it. He may not have agreed with it but there was no arguing with her.
“I am grateful, my lady,” Levi announced, swiftly changing the subject.
She turned towards him, suddenly relaxed. For once she wasn’t a shrieking harpy on the verge of losing her mind. When she spoke to Levi, she seemed almost normal. It was amazing how fast she could change moods. It was almost like flipping a switch.
“But we haven’t restored your family’s honor,” she protested.
“It does not matter,” he said with a smile. “I was so busy living in the past that I couldn’t move forward. Now I can. It doesn’t matter what she did. It only matters what I do with my life now.”
He bowed to her and bent to kiss her forehead. Though bloody and sore, she felt the sentiment crawl across her skin and down her spine. She wished she could feel the same way. She wished she could be free of it all.
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I Am the Alpha