The cheers rose around them as each member of the Veilguard descended the blight stalk. Rook felt a tired smile tug at her bruised face as she stepped onto the paved street.
Her gaze flickered from person to person, feeling relief flood her mind when she saw Ashur, his eyes no longer red, at the edge of the barricades. Tarquin was just a few steps ahead of him, moving towards her.
Rook remembered the anger in Tarquin's eyes and venom in his voice when she'd saved Treviso first and not their own city. She saw no trace of those emotions now. Instead Tarquin wore a tired smile of relief as he walked towards her.
The muscles of her face hurt as she smiled. She felt the heaviness in her limbs. Blood felt wet and tacky against her skin where Elgar’nan had stabbed her with his red lyrium dagger.
She let out a sigh as she staggered forward and Tarquin's expression turned from relieved to worried. He caught her before she could fall.
Rook met his familiar brown eyes and smiled brightly. "Tarquin. Bring the Light."
Her body fell limp against him as she took one last small, shuttering breath.
Personally I think that if you save Treviso there should be a mandatory quest in Dock Town where you have to go around and cut down all the bodies of the lynched Shadow Dragons, find out their names, and notify their families.
Camris' apartment in Treviso is on the top floor of a three story building that borders the art district.
The wall the entry door is on is lined with mirrors and is equipped with a ballet barre, while every window is heavily warded, along with his door when he isn't there(and sometimes when he is).
A large open living space with high ceilings and soft lighting, there is a welcoming L shaped sofa with a table centered in front of it that sits just slightly back from the central area of the room and rests on a rug that doesn't quite cover scorch marks. To the left is a long counter that separates a small well stocked kitchen area from the rest of the room.
Everything in shades of deep blue, black, and accents in grey. The apartment is minimally decorated, with a few shelves of books, and one or two large paintings on the walls. The balcony is warded and set up for his pet crow, Tasi, with the warding on it attuned to Tasi so that the bird can go in and out at will.
The apartment has two bedrooms, though one has been turned into a work space. A desk sits just shy of the center of the room, stacks of books, files and a variety of quills and neatly organised stacks of parchment are placed off to the sides, while broken quills and several letters in varying states of completion are crumpled up in the center of the desks surface while others are ashed in a small metal bowl. The wall behind it holds a selection of weapons on it, the center spot glaringly bare.
The wall across from the desk has a long work table that spans the length of it, rows of books filled with formulas and recipes lining the shelves on the wall space above it, along with several books on anatomy. A carefully arranged alchemy set-up sits in the center space of the table, while the table space farthest from the door holds an array of meticulously labeled supplies and vials. The room is warded at all times, attuned to allow only Camris in.
In the bedroom a large bed is the focus of the room. Lightly weighted blankets covering it. The lighting is dim, with the windows showing a view of Treviso when the curtains aren't pulled closed. The fireplace that provides the main light source for the room is centered on the wall across from the bed and is flanked by two armoires. On the center of the fireplace mantle is a strangely bare spot that held something, but is now conspicuously empty.
Between the bedroom and office is a wet room, the tiling in it matching the rest of the colours the apartment is done in. A -very- large tub sits along one wall, with a ceiling mounted showerhead by the other wall. On the wall farthest way from both the tub and shower, is a cabinet filled with towels, soaps, lotions, a variety of herbs, and serums.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Video Game)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: Emmrich Volkarin, Neve Gallus, Rook (Dragon Age)
Additional Tags: Shadow Dragon Rook (Dragon Age), Minrathous/Treviso Choice - Treviso Saved (Dragon Age), Murder, Blood, Shock
Series: Part 1 of Blood and Blight
Summary:
An alternate/additional scene where Rook, Neve, and Emmrich discover what has become of the Shadow Dragons after the blighted dragon attacked Minrathous. Shaken by the horrors before them, Emmrich guides the two Shadows back to the light.
@woundedsoul12 has let me contribute to Thursday Bangers this week :)
It's Neve week! Many thanks to the mods @datvcompanionweeks for putting it together.
Rules for your Copy and Paste: Free form a blurb or drawing based on the weekly lyrics prompt. It doesn't have to include the prompt just whatever you're inspired to write, write it! Then tag some friends so they can play as well. It doesn't have to be finished on Thursday just post it whenever you can (you have a whole week between Thursdays).
This week's lyrics:
"I stumble in the dark, tripping on a heart It's gonna leave a mark, maybe we can stay and wait it out" - Can't Help Me Now by Rob Thomas
Lucia winced internally as she watched Neve stalk out of the Lighthouse and towards her office. It was fairly clear the detective hadn't forgiven Lucia for going to Treviso first instead of Minrathous when the blighted dragons had attacked.
The looks of betrayal on Tarquin and Neve's faces were burned into her mind.
"This is your city," Neve had bitten the words out like even saying them hurt.
Even though Rook had sent Davrin to Minrathous, hoping a Warden would be enough help against a blighted dragon, it hadn't made much of a difference in the end. Now her fellow Shadows hated her, her city was in ruins, and one of her friends was blighted.
Had she made the right decision, going to Treviso? She'd hoped with the city's defenses that they could have warded off the dragons, but those defenses hadn't done a damn thing. She'd kept the dragon from blighting Treviso and spreading blight through the canals, protecting the civilians, but..
She'd made a shot in the dark, and now the woman she was falling in love with couldn't even look at her.
She shook her head. There was too much to do for her to wallow in self pity right now. Squaring her shoulders, Rook went to talk to Davrin about heading to Lavendale.
****
Neve couldn't even begin to fathom how much it hurt right now. Rook was her friend...had been her friend, and her fellow Shadow, and when Neve, when the Shadows had needed her most, Rook wasn't there.
Ashur was blighted, dying and Tarquin was completed wrecked by that fact.
She'd been foolish to let her guard down, to start letting Rook in.
Neve closed her eyes against the tears, remembering the Shadows that had died in the dragon attack. They were her neighbors, her friends, and now they were gone. Even after all the work she and the surviving Shadows had done before she'd returned, there was still so much damage.
Neve pressed her hands over her mouth as she bit back a sob. She'd started to let herself fall for Rook, and that was perhaps the one of the things that hurt the most.
She forced herself to take a deep breath. Rook's team still had the best chance of anyone to defeat the gods, and Neve wanted payback for what they'd done to her city.
But whether her aching heart could heal from the hurt of knowing Rook hadn't been there, she didn't know.
Rook could feel the anger simmering through the bond, the feeling of betrayal that burned as hot as the dragon's fire.
"You've brought nothing but trouble since you came back," Tarquin's voice was low, angry trying to hide the hurt in it." It was buried in his gaze, though, the heartbreak.
"It's not Rook's fault," Ashur murmured, wincing as he twisted on his side. "I chose to engage it."
"Because it was going for a safe house. Because half of us were already dead," Tarquin argued.
"I'm fine," Ashur replied, though Rook could see the pain in his expression.
"You're not fine. No one is fine." Now it seemed Tarquin couldn't even look at Rook.
Rook slammed her shields up, not even sure if Tarquin even noticed. If he'd felt her guilt and anger before she throttled the soul bond between them, he didn't show it. Her hands clenched into fists as she turned to go at Neve's words.
Leaving once after the mess in Nessus had cracked Rook.
Leaving Minrathous now shattered her.
She knew in that moment, no matter what she did, no matter if she killed the gods and saved the world, she would never had a person or a place to come home to again.
"Rook?" Lace's voice was soft as she walked beside the Shadow Dragon, one hand on Rook's arm.
"Soulmates aren't always soft. Sometimes they're the thing that breaks you open," was all Rook said for the rest of the night.
