Imprints in Stone [AU]

[Varric]

"Then I'll just have to cover the gap," Varric murmur, rising to his feet. "Ready, apprentice mine?"

[Marian Hawke]

No. "Of course."

[GamesMaster]

They walk out of the room -- the nurse has vanished, and there's nobody here to stop them. Nobody here at all except Marian, now. Isabela and Zevran are huddled in the common room, and whether they've been crying or fucking, neither Varric nor Marian bother to ask. They join up, and the four walk out the front door of the sanitarium. 

Outside the front door, in the darkness, there's an island. Somehow, despite it all being dark, they can see the walkway is solid darkness, and the circular island beyond, while the darkness around that is airy darkness, unable to be walked on. In the center of the circular island there is a mirror: a cracked mirror, and inside, they can see the form of Cindy, arms tied above her head, eyes blank, empty, sagging a bit against her bonds. She wears a simple dress of silver, and there's blood dripping down the front, from the chest, flowing out of the mirror and pooling on the ground below.

There's no sign of Silver. Not yet. Marian holds up her hands, cupping them, and light shines from them, but it only lights a small area around them.

[Varric]

"That's great," Varric murmurs to Marian. "If you can keep that up, that's enough. She's an in-close fight so... Zevran, can you give Cindy over there a look over?"

[Tethras Clan]

The merikos drow nods silently, taking care to never get near the edge of the light despite his darkvision. "Should I... get a new vantage?" he finishes in auran, knowing Varric will understand. 

[Varric]

"Flicker in and out, don't linger. Can't afford to lose track of you for long," the dwarf replies after a second or two of thought.

[GamesMaster]

Pulling darkness over his eyes doesn't change anything here: there's no comforting lies to dispel. It does make it easier to see, but only a little: he can see further with his darkvision, but there's endless darkness around them, no walls as far as he can see. 

As a small group, huddled around Marian, they inch forward along the walkway, out to the island. They're close enough for Zevran to see that Cindy breathes -- and that she shouldn't, that's a kill shot she's bleeding from.

Marian sucks in a deep breath as she realizes this, and the light wavers, just for an instant. Just long enough. The Scale drops on them from above, stabbing Isabela in the gut before pulling back.

Seeing his twisted face, his glowing red eyes, the suggestion of horns, Marian screams, a pure, terrified sound. She flees back the way they came, taking the light with her.

[Tethras Clan]

As if practiced, both men work in unison- Zevran rushes the Scale, attempting to pin him down and get him off Isabela even as Varric gets into reach to use a healing wand on the hopefully still living pirate.

"Marian!"

[Isabela]

Isabela's a little harder to kill than Helene; she brings up a dagger, gritting her teeth as Varric manages to stabilize her. "Thanks. Careful. Some kinda magic in that strike," she stammers. "I resisted."

[Coquette Blacquin]

The Scale takes Zevran's hit, melting back into the darkness as he escapes the grapple, leaving them stranded in the darkness. They can hunt him, or he can hunt them -- and they have other, ulterior objectives.

[Varric]

"Marian, we need you!" Varric calls out, almost absently using his wand to heal the pirate again. "Back to back, move towards Cindy," he adds in a mutter.  

[Tethras Clan]

The next minute or so is... agonizing. Four more times the Scale attacks, four more times one of them is hit, the Scale hit in turn and then gone again like smoke. Isabela takes another hit, this one lesser, to her leg. Zevran takes two, both on his right arm, that nearly cripples him. Varric's is to the face, a shallow graze that just missed his eye and notched his ear. As for the Scale... it's hard to tell. He doesn't seem to bleed. He doesn't cry out in pain or even upset at the blows. Are they even making progress? Can the Scale be killed by simple attacks in this place?

[Varric]

Wand won't last forever and we can't be sure we're making progress with the Scale (crazy shit). Need to change things. "We need Cindy. I'll heal, then Zevran you talk to her. Isabela's on overwatch contant."

[Marian Hawke]

Marian presses herself against the locked doors, desperate, sobbing, eyes wide, heart pounding, all thoughts of creating light gone. Get it together! They need you! she tells herself again, but the room is so big, too big, darkness going on forever, anything could be out there, demons, anything, and her friends need her and she can't, she just can't.

"Weakness," she hears, and she whimpers, covering her head. this is it, this is the end, this is where I die, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I couldn't help.

Then she feels cold steel pierce her flesh and she screams into the darkness.

[Varric]

Just for a moment, then a pale gold shadow whose feminine outline is somehow familiar is healing her. Above her, a steel and gold color outline of a male, tall and broad shouldered, swipes at the Scale with wicked looking claws. They only last a few seconds, but it's long enough for Varric to cover more than half the distance to them, putting him well within range. "Get the fuck away from her!"