The Silver Queen [AU]

[Carver Amell]

"Don't you start," he snarls. 

[Tethras Clan]

"Carver Hawke! You are better than that!" Zevran snaps. "Be angry with Isabela, though she has right to be cross with you, but Helene has done nothing to deserve your ire. You are loved, you are family, but you are not the center of the cosmos and sometimes you're not the first even or even tenth thing one of us will consider. Isabela, you cannot evade and ignore the others- or me for that matter- when things get hard. Helene, believe in yourself more and believe in your right to be here, with us, much, much more. Zevran, grieve for the dead but put the living first. Act and stop being so damn passive."

[Carver Amell]

Carver stares at Zevran, blinking. Uh..... 

[Isabela]

"I didn't leave," says Isabela, her voice a bit cold. "Shout if you want, but you're shouting at me over nothing. I thought about it and I decided to stay. That's all there is to it."

[Tethras Clan]

"Thoughts and feelings matter, ma'bela," Zevran says softly. "And you did do things as well. I own a ship for one."

[Isabela]

"My thoughts and feelings are not -- He has no right to judge me for my own private thoughts he found while snooping."

[Carver Amell]

Carver scowls, his hand tightening on Hunter. "I wouldn't have to snoop if you'd talk to me! Bela..."

[Tethras Clan]

"You're both right," Zevran cuts in. "Carver should not have snooped, nor should I have let him with only a half-hearted rebuke." Though your point is somewhat undermined given you wanted me to snoop and find them. "But on the other side of the coin, there has to be more communication between us as a family. Actual, useful communication, not just evasions, masks and banter. He loves you Isabela," he finishes softly, gently. "I will not ask you if you love him back yet, but... gods, he cannot lie about his heart to save his life. He loves you and you leaving hurt him as much as it would if I vanished in the night with naught but a goodbye letter to Helene."

[Isabela]

"I didn't go," she whispers, seeming somewhat ashamed of herself. "I-- I like you a lot, Carver. We're family, regardless."

[Carver Amell]

"You will, someday," he says, half-over her latter sentiment. "You'll leave me alone. Just like Marian did."

[Isabela]

That's a low blow. Isabela pushes back from the table, needing to be further from him, viscerally hurt by his words.

[Tethras Clan]

"Mari-" Zevran's eyes close for a moment, just long enough to take a breath. "Fuck you for that, Carver," he says softly. "Say what you feel, but do not use it as a weapon to gut us." Another breathe, eyes open this time. "If you cannot... if you cannot accept that will we die, then leave us now. Marian did not choose that. Nor did Merrill or Varric. Aveline. They died Carver. I am sorry your father was a callow, feckless piece of shit, but stop hurting your loved ones for his sins."

[Carver Amell]

"Maybe I should," he snarls, but his face twists in pain instead. "I should never have come with you. I should have known better than to think I could keep some small piece of happiness in my life, without the gods ripping it away from me!" 

[Helene Dakesh]

"Do not blame the gods. Death is the fate of all mortals. They are not punishing you."

[Carver Amell]

"So what then, it doesn't matter? None of it? I may as well go and jump off the top deck, because I'm only a mortal, only short-lived, I may as well?"