@writingnodule was gracious enough to participate in @shannaraisles‘ fundraising and I am so grateful for that. THANK YOU!!! They had an interesting proposition: What if Bethany and Carver were the survivors, and Bethany became the Champion of Kirkwall? This is just a little interaction between the twins :)
Carver & Bethany Hawke || Words: 623 || Warnings: None
For his part, Carver had lost the number of times he had cursed out Hubert’s name and his fucking Bone Pit disaster area. If it wasn’t for Bethany and her desire to help every person in Kirkwall, he would have abandoned this entire endeavor and called it a loss. Alas, his twin was a lot more sensitive to the plight of maligned Fereldan workers, so their group ended up finishing their quest and cleared out the whole place anyway. Now they were slowly crawling back towards Kirkwall, a little worse for the wear and exhausted to the core.
“You don’t have to carry me,” he heard Bethy mumble into his neck.
Carver scowled before he remembered she couldn’t see his face. He had insisted on giving her a piggyback ride home, and while his tiny twin normally weighed almost nothing in comparison to his sizeable muscles, he was starting to feel it.
“If you think I’m going to let you walk on your injured leg, you don’t know me after all,” he grumbled over the shoulder. “Yes, I know Anders healed you, but you should let it rest either way.”
She chuckled. “I’m glad to know you still care about me, brother,” she said.
He rolled his eyes. Bethany was incredibly caring, selflessly giving every part of herself for everybody else’s benefit without ever stopping to breathe or rest herself. Ever since they had arrived in Kirkwall a year prior people had been approaching her for help, knowing she would never say ‘no’.
“Somebody has to care for you when you won’t do it yourself,” he grumbled back. “What possessed you to rush that dragon anyway? You should have left that to me and Fenris.”
Bethy was quiet for a moment and Carver though she had drifted off when she finally spoke again.
“I just wanted the battle to be over sooner,” she admitted quietly. “I hated having to kill a dragon. They are such majestic creatures.”
“And they’d majestically roast you for dinner,” Carver pointed out.
“Well,” she said, sounding very indignant, “it’s not their fault that human greed caused deep mountain exploitation where the miners ended up disturbing the dragon’s lair and paid the price with their lives. If it wasn’t for Hubert, that momma dragon would have raised her babies just fine and everybody would have lived.”
Carver sighed and shook his head.
“I should have known you would feel bad for the blasted dragon.”
“There’s nothing wrong with showing a little compassion to the creatures around us, Carver,” Bethy pointed out. “I’m really trying to do my best since… since… since, you know.”
--since Garrett, Carver wanted to finish, but didn’t.
Their oldest sibling’s death at the ogre’s hands had hit Bethy the hardest, the crushing guilt and their Mother’s nagging making grief that much heavier on her heart. She had taken on a lot of responsibilities in the following year, determined to show that she wasn’t just a soft flower meant for finery, but also a fierce warrior and a capable mage.
“I think you’re doing just fine,” he told her gruffly, not wanting to let her think poorly of herself.
He felt her shift against his back and her arms wrapped tighter around his neck in a somewhat awkward hug.
“I love you, too,” she whispered in his ear.
If anybody had noticed the goofy grin that briefly showed up on Carver’s face in that moment, they didn’t say a thing. For his part, Carver felt a new wave of motivation to hold onto to his twin even harder, her weight no longer a conscious issue. He knew deep down that he would carry Bethy to the ends of the world if only it meant his sister could find happiness at the end of the road.
