Yvad Trevelyan x Atheva Lavellan | Atheva returns to Skyhold | 958 words | For @slugette
She had honestly forgotten how cold the wind could be in the Frostbacks.
“That’s why they’re called the Frostbacks, teldirthalelan,” she muttered beneath one of the numerous scarves she war.
Atheva’s clan had made sure to give her as many as she could carry before she left, knowing that her new home was one of the coldest places in Thedas. One wrapped around her neck, almost melting down from the one wrapped around her mouth and nose. Another covered her ears and hair from the wind.
Why hadn’t she gotten to do this when they first escaped from Haven? Why had nobody thought to even wear scarves there? Humans were weird.
It had been a year since she had last seen Skyhold due to the sudden illness of her only parental figure. She had sent letters ahead so they would know of her unexpected delay, and she could only hope she hadn’t missed anything important.
The spires of the hold appeared as she finished her trek up yet another mountain, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The sight may spark fear in a few, but for her it held a promise of warmth and comfort.
After a few more miles of walking through snow (she was thankful for the boots a traveling merchant had sold her), she was finally on the bridge towards the gate.
The fixed gate.
When she entered the courtyard, she was welcomed with a warm breeze to her face. She breathed in the fresh air, something similar to her home in the Free Marches, and sighed. She pulled the scarves from her head, draping them over her shoulders before running her fingers through her shortened hair.
Hopefully he wouldn’t mind the somewhat drastic change.
Atheva wasn’t sure if the warmth in her cheeks was from the sudden change in temperatures, or if it was from thinking of the Inquisitor. Surely he had missed her, right?
She stared up at the main tower of the hold, knowing he would be there. He would either be judging a prisoner, discussing situations over the war table, or doing other Inquisitorial things in his chambers.
‘Perhaps it would be best if I got settled first,’ she thought to herself.
The elf walked towards the dungeon, eager to be by herself for a bit longer. Her thoughts were trailing in, wondering if he had even noticed she was gone. Did he ask for her letters? Did he miss her like she had missed him?
Too many thoughts, all focused on the same person with a mish-mash of dread, longing, adoration. Too many feelings, far too little subjects.
Once she had her things stashed away in her hidey-hole, Atheva took another deep breath of the hold’s air. She would have to face him at some point to let him know his missing rogue had returned.
Her steps echoed as she walked back up the stairs towards the green courtyard.
Last time she had been at Skyhold, the main area had been in disarray. Sure, people could find some rooms to claim, but there weren’t nearly enough for everyone in the Inquisition. Sera had been stuck in a tent next to the dungeon, Vivienne was staying gods knew where, and Blackwall was probably just sleeping on the ground.
Now they were nowhere to be found. Atheva heard Sera’s laugh coming from the pub, however, and figured that’s where the other elf had taken shelter. There was a barn far down on the other end of the hold, and she felt that Blackwall would fit in there. As she walked to the main hall, she spotted some luxury items on the balcony. There was Vivienne.
The groups inside the hall had grown in number and gossip. Too many nobles for Atheva’s liking, but she knew she would never have a say in the Inquisition’s following.
Overall, the hall had cleaned up nicely. No more uneasiness about when the walls were going to collapse, and the eerie spike throne had been replaced with a throne depicting the burning of Andraste.
Why.
Atheva closed her mouth and eyes, shook her head, and continued with her mission to report her return. Not wanting to disrupt a war table meeting, if there was one, she went to the Inquisitor’s chambers.
She knocked on the door three times before entering. Each step up the stairs was nerve-wracking. “Yvad?” She said as she peeked over the stair railing.
He raised his head and his quill paused on its parchment. His violet eyes widened and he pushed his chair back.
“Atheva!”
His lips curled into a smile and his tone was one of pure joy. He met her halfway across the room and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.
Atheva returned the gesture, closing her eyes tight as she took in the feeling of him. “I’m so sorry for being gone for so long,” she whispered, “I just had to look after Tryla like she did for me.”
“It’s alright! Don’t apologize, Atheva,” Yvad said, pulling back to look her in the eyes. “You cut your hair! It looks...” He paused before continuing, “I have so many things to tell you! We’ve done so many things and you need to be all caught up.” His cheeks were a light pink, and she noticed that his excitement had been covered with a serious air.
She nodded, walking towards his desk. There, in the far corner, was a piece of paper with her terrible handwriting. He’d kept her letter.
As he sat down to brief her on everything, she saw his smile and gaze soften.
“Before we begin, I just want to say welcome back,” he said.
Drabble prompt: "I had to see you again." Athevad :) thank you
The dungeon was cold and wet, thanks to the broken wall and waterfall. She remembered sitting on the edge of the floor, legs hanging down and toes pointed towards the ground far below as she thought of him.
She wished she could relax as she had before, feel the wind against her face at her leisure and the spray of the water against her skin instead of seeping through her trousers. The guard was nice enough to give her a blanket to protect herself from the elements at least.
Ten days had passed since she had turned herself over to the Inquisition. At least a month since she had seen Solas and received his help. She had kept time on the floor with her nails, leaving her index fingers bloody from the cruel treatment.
Atheva’s ears perked up at the sound of footsteps. Unfamiliar, not as heavy as the guards’ steps but not light enough to be the servant who brought the food down. Her fingers curled around the bars as she peered outside of her cell.
“Yvad,” she breathed.
He hadn’t seen her since she had left Skyhold. She remembered the commander and the spymaster agreeing it would be best to keep her locked away until the Inquisitor had returned. And apparently he had.
She could see the fear in his eyes, the concern that lined his face. Creators, had he always looked so tired?
“Yvad, I’m sorry.” Already tears began to fall. “I had to see you again. Solas came and… and I don’t like what I’ve become,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be like that again.”
The metal was cool against her forehead and cheeks, something she was unable to enjoy. “I’ve asked to be judged. I begged for it. Please don’t…. don’t spare me.”
@thirdrailsniper I wrote a thing to answer to your amazing and sad drabble.
“Atheva!” Yvad called out once more, filling the snow covered valley with the echoes. It had been hours since he saw her last, fighting off the red templars through the blizzard. His party had fended them off as best as they could, waves after relentless waves of them. Now the sun hug low over the mountains, still no sign of her. But he trudged the snow, clutching at a thin strand of hope despite the dread that was slowly filling his mind.
“Atheva!” Yvad managed another hoarse cry, no longer even able to make his voice carry. Useless! He should never have brought her here. He should have known he would fail to protect her. Because he always did. Fail. Specially when it was someone who truly mattered.
Yvad put the thought on the pause as he spotted something far off. He swore loudly, wiping moisture from his eyes. He ran towards it. Red against white. Blood on the snow. Please Maker, let it not be her.
“Atheva…” his voice shook as he fell on his knees. Her dead eyes stared into nothing, tears frozen around them. One hand clutching her wound, and the other… Maker, she had drawn a heart on the snow. The heart, that was meant for him.
He reached out to touch her, but couldn’t bring himself to, too afraid then this would become real, not just an illusion, or a dream. Yes, a nightmare.
“Atheva…” he called the name like it would bring her back, wake him into reality, where he would call her name, and say he loved her. It was too clear now, how he felt. Why hadn’t he said that to her before?
Yvad sat in the snow, staring at the heart on the snow, waiting to awake from the nightmare that would never end.
Death prompt: "Dying slowly while able to see other characters, but unable to call out" Athevad - Darth Slug
It was unbearably cold on the ground. It numbed the pain of the sword through her belly and the wound on her head. Her view was tinted red, the blood enough to blur certain colors together but not blind her to the scene across a hundred feet away. Every few seconds the trees swirled enough to block the action, but they would quickly straighten out when she tried to move. The pain kept her awake.
“Yv-!” It took everything to keep from coughing up an entire lung. It felt like a hand was wrapped tight around her throat.
She was voiceless, left reaching out to a far away hero that hadn’t even noticed she was missing because he was too afraid to leave her alone in life. His hair caught the falling snow so perfectly, making it look like hundreds of stars in a moving night sky. The lightning that flew from his hands definitely helped the lighting.
He looked like a god. One of her gods, no matter how hard his father tried to deny it. He was a sight that would be welcome in any dying man’s eyes. A final happy note.
But he didn’t know. Not yet. He didn’t know how she felt, how scared she was of telling him. She had no way to tell him and she didn’t want to leave until she had. Her fingers fumbled uselessly in the snow, none of the letters she head learned sticking in her mind.
What was that symbol? The one she had seen the young human children draw with the quills and paper borrowed from Varric?
A heart, she recalled. It didn’t look like the ones she had cut from the beasts she had hunted, but it was nicer to look at when explaining your feelings. Nicer than what he would find next to it.
Atheva Lavellan x Yvad Trevelyan | 1158 words | Modern!AU where Atheva and Yvad met over an MMO and finally get to meet | Yvad belongs to @slugette (happy early birthday!)
Yvad checked his phone once more, making sure that he was in the right spot. She had told him the Starbucks across from the old EZ Mart, but he still wasn’t sure if he was across from an old EZ Mart. Factor that with the number of Starbucks in the town and each minute that ticked by without her arrival, it was obvious why he was afraid he had messed up.
In the time he had been sitting there, he had watched five cars pull into the parking lot. Two had been driven by girls, and his heart raced each time they stepped out of their car. But neither of them had been her. ‘At least she sends selfies,’ he thought to himself as he looked back to her phone.
A sixth car pulled up. He glanced up once more as the driver stepped out of her car. Shit. It was her. She was real and she was there. She was really there! ‘Holy shit, hoolllyyyy shit.’
When she entered the shop he immediately stood up, almost knocking his chair back in the process. He turned to catch and steady it before it hit the ground in an attempt to keep from embarrassing himself in front of her. When he looked back at her, she was standing right in front of him.
“Yvad?” She asked, sending his heart racing. She’d said his name before, but this was different. She was actually in front of him. He didn’t have to associate her voice with her in-game avatar.
“Atheva!” He smiled and opened his arms in an offered hug that she quickly took. She was smaller than him, which he honestly hadn’t expected. It was nice, feeling her cheek press against his chest. She smelled nice, too. Strawberries?
When she finally stepped out of his hold, she smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry I’m so late! I got stuck behind an old lady who thought the speed limit sign said twenty-five instead of fifty-five,” she sighed before glancing at the counter.
“Don’t worry about it. If you want to order your coffee, go ahead. Oh!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ten dollar bill. “I’m paying.” He watched her expression shift from surprise to embarrassment as she took the money.
“Thank you,” she said with a nervous smile before walking towards the counter.
He watched, rapt with everything about her. They had known each other for almost a year now and he thought he knew her. But the way she looked… She didn’t have a webcam and hadn’t been able to buy one since he first asked her, so he had never gotten to watch the way her lips curled into a smile, or the way she nervously pushed her hair behind her ear when she asked for a frappacino. Hopefully he would be able to travel more often or gift her a webcam.
When she finally had her drink, she took a seat across from him and held her hand out. “Here’s your change,” she said, “You really didn’t have to pay for me.”
“Hey, I’ve been thinking about how to make a good first impression and paying for a three dollar drink seemed like the best way to do it,” he joked. Her laughter made him relax, remember that they’ve been talking for what felt like forever. He didn’t have to impress her.
“The best first impression would be not begging for help while trying not to die to a low-level grub.” The smug grin on her face made him roll his eyes.
“It was my first day and I couldn’t help myself when I saw a level-capped archer run by. And look where my crappy first impression got me: a date.” He watched her cheeks redden and he knew he was right where he wanted to be.
Hours had passed since they had finally met in the coffee shop. Yvad knew he had to head home soon, but he also knew that he wanted just one kiss before he left. But every time he leaned in for one Atheva grew flustered and looked away. He wasn’t going to force her to do anything, no matter how badly he wanted it.
They were situated on her couch, curled up beneath a blanket while playing a game. Well, Yvad was playing. Atheva was content to watch and play with her phone. Her head was on his shoulder, her arm pressed against his. Even if he never got his kiss, he could die happy with the memory of this.
“Get wrecked,” she said with a laugh as his ship was shot down for what had to have been the fifth time that game.
“Oh, and you think you’re any better?”
She snorted and looked up from her phone. “I own the game, so I have more practice. Therefore, yes I think I’m better.”
Yvad smiled and went back to playing the game, not really noticing when she shifted to face him. He did feel her hand on his knee, though. He looked over at her in confusion, not really caring that he got shot down immediately. “E-Everything okay?”
Atheva nodded and leaned forward until her lips met his cheek. “I just… felt a little bad for turning you down so much earlier,” she said. “I did want to kiss you but I was just so nervous.”
“Don’t worry about that,” he whispered, looking at her lips and then back to her eyes. “It’s totally fine.”
“Yeah but now I want to kiss you more than anything.”
“Oh.”
They sat in silence for a moment before she finally leaned forward and kissed him. He could have sworn that this was just like a fever dream he had in middle school: meeting a girl over a video game, falling for her, meeting her in real life, and then getting to kiss her. But this was way better than what middle-school-him could have imagined.
Yvad slid his hand into her auburn hair, only inches at a time in case she pulled away. But she didn’t and he dared to go one further. His other hand slide down her side and around her back to push her closer.
He could have sworn that it would last forever, that it had lasted forever. But when she finally pulled back and he glanced at the clock by her tv it had only been a minute. “I’m… really happy we met,” he breathed, unsure of what else to say.
“Don’t talk like you’re about to die,” she laughed, “Just… stay another day. I’ll pay for your coffee tomorrow morning.”
Now it was finally Yvad’s turn to blush. Was he willing to take this so fast? They’d only been together for a few months and already she was asking him to stay the night.
“I’m going to get the most expensive thing on the menu.”
“Don’t you dare!” She whispered before pulling him closer for another kiss.
1: Who spends almost all their money on the other?
Yvad does. He is an impulse buyer of the worst kind. He’d see things that’d remind him of Atheva, or something that he thinks would look nice on her, and just buy them.
5: Which one tries to make food for the other but burns it all by accident and which one tells them that it’s okay and makes them both cookies?
Atheva burns the food by accident, and Yvad would tell her it’s ok, and suggest that they make cookies together.
10: Which one does the posing while the other one draws?
Yvad does the posing.. Yvad is not good at drawing at all.. stick figures at best. He doesn’t have patience for it, but he’d love to pose for Atheva, not without complaint of course. Like 5 minutes into the session, “Are you done yet?” “Can i see?”
21: Who gets attacked by a bully and who protects them?
Atheva would get attacked by a bully, and Yvad barges in tring to protect her, but turns out he isn’t that good with fighting anyway and Atheva is more than capable of handling herself, so she would end up beating the bully up on both of their behalf.
