Ghost Story

[Marian Hawke]

Emma turns to go, but the mabari is sitting in the doorway behind her, preventing her from leaving. She winces, hanging her head as she turns back to Varric. 

"...glad you're alive," she mutters. 

[Varric]

"So am I," he snaps, stare heating to a full glare. "I told you to get to safety! I needed you to be safe!"

[Marian Hawke]

"And what about me!? Am I supposed to just, just sit here and pray?" she asks, tears springing to her eyes once more. 

[Varric]

"No need to pray," Varric scoffs bitterly. "I offered to train you how to defend yourself, you turned me down. That makes you a civilian, which means when danger comes around, the biggest help you can give is to get to safety."

[Marian Hawke]

"And what if you died?!" she shouts. "What if you died and left me all alone again! How am I supposed to carry on?! You think the next person to buy this place is going to put up with some worthless wastrel squatting in their library?! Fuck no! I can't -- I can't lose you."

A gale picks up outside the window as the temperature in the kitchen begins to steadily drop.

[Varric]

Varric tenses, the ceramic handle of his tea mug in his hand dangerously close to shattering. "Everyone loses everyone eventually." The anger in his voice is gone, snuffed out by grief. "You just keep going."

[Marian Hawke]

"I can't!" she shouts, over the rattling window. "Don't make me, please don't make me!"

To Varric's side, Bethie appears, translucent and sad. "You may want to run," she says quietly. "He's coming back."

[Varric]

He? What? "The spirit." Fuck! "Emma! Calm down! I'm right here, I'm alive!" Need to calm her down! Moving quickly, he floats over to her and snags her wrist. Ignoring the almost painful coldness of her flesh, he tries to lock eyes with her. "Emma, look at me. Please."

[Marian Hawke]

She looks at him, her eyes too pale, as if the color is washed out of them. There's despair and pain in them, and she looks through him, seeing something else. "Please, don't die."

[Varric]

"Too damn stubborn to die," he says softly. "Even when I didn't have a reason not to, I couldn't."

[Marian Hawke]

The room twists and warps around them, blood covering the floor, the walls pulsing with a ragged heartbeat. The mabari growls, turning to face something behind Emma, something approaching. Emma keeps focus on Varric, ignoring all the haunting around her. "Stay with me. Promise you will."

[Varric]

"This is my home. I'm not going anywhere; and you're welcome to-- no. You're not my guest. This is your home too. You can stay as long as you like, with me. I promise." He doesn't look away from Emma, though Bianca appears in his free hand. His body is tense, his senses screaming, but instinct warns him not to break off with Emma. So he places some trust in the mabari ghost and gambles.

[Marian Hawke]

Emma takes a deep breath, and then another. "Okay," she whispers, then bows her head, pressing her cool, clammy forehead to his chest. "I was so scared," she whispers, somehow audible over the wind. "I was so scared I'd never see you again."

[Varric]

Varric takes the opening to look past Emma in the direction the mabari is growling. "I'm here. I'm here. I came back."

[Marian Hawke]

The mabari has gone now -- but there's no monster there, either. Perhaps the canine lead it away? No sign of Bethie, either, and the bloody floor is fading, the tile re-asserting itself.