they are the hunters, we are the foxes - and we run

[hastily]

the ON THE RUN meme


Sometimes, these things happen. Sometimes, you're in just the wrong place at just the right time, or you've made the wrong (or right, depending on your intentions) person mad. Sometimes it's better for everyone if you just go. Sometimes there isn't time for good-bye.

LOST
You've managed to lose yourself somewhere out there, for whatever reason it was. Maybe you took someone with you (willingly? not?), or you found someone else who needed to disappear as badly as you did. You're in your car, or a cheap hotel, or a house by the side of the road. What else can you do but watch, and wait?

FOUND
It could have been as simple as being glimpsed at the 7-11. Your phoneline wasn't as secure as you thought. You locked eyes with the wrong person across the room. Now the house of cards is collapsing, and maybe not just your life, but the lives of everyone you love could be in jeopardy now. The walls are closing in, and your arms are giving out.

RULES
- post with your character's name and canon. if you have an on-the-run AU, or scenarios you might want to play out, mention them here.
- find others. tag them.
- and then, run.

Comments

[virborassan]

[ooc: Hi there! I know I flubbed up on the earlier thread (thanks to losing every tab I had gee thanks Firefox). Interested in an AU idea I might've been pondering?]

[hilt]

[ not a problem! firefox does horrible things sometimes. bring it on!! ]

[virborassan]

[How about Corypheus won and what's left of the Inquisition was running and hiding out from Red Templars and such.]

[hilt]

[ that works for me! what a heartbreaking au. I love it. ]

[virborassan]

In the end, all the work they did was for naught. Corypheus had been triumphant, felling Skyhold as easily as Haven had fallen. Elareth had tried her best, pouring all she could into the fight but it was useless. Just before Skyhold had fallen, they'd done all they could to evacuate as many as they could before Corypheus brought the walls down around them.

There weren't many left after that.

Most of the standing army was wiped out, as was Leliana's scouts and the remaining Templars. What was left escaped through the Frostbacks with Cullen, the Chargers and most of the Inner Circle, leaving Elareth with Cassandra as they tracked in the opposite direction in the hopes that they could draw Corypheus and his Red Templars away from the fleeing Inquisition.

[hilt]

Cassandra knows this is it. She had expected there to be bloodshed when the Inquisition ended, but not like this. Not with failure. Was this truly the Maker's plan? To-- to 'wipe the board clean'? If Cassandra had a moment to spare, a second to think about this she would be infuriated, broken and she would be Wrath it its purest form. The Maker took Justina away from this world and now He leaves it to the likes of Corypheus? A false god, a false--

But Cassandra doesn't have a second to think. No, she has but two heartbeats to know what she and the Inquisitor must do and that is save as many people as they can. They draw as much attention as they can, running through the Frostback mountains and the goal, Cassandra knows, is only to survive long enough for the others to escape. There is no out for Elareth or her. This is their final duty to the Inquisition. Their last stand.

"Did they take the bait?" Cassandra is out of breath, but looking over her shoulders she cannot see the Red Templar army raging down the mountain sides after them. She can hear the yelling, the hum of the red lyrium, but she cannot see them. With the echoing, they could be following Cullen instead.

[virborassan]

Elareth had long since made peace with her own gods but part of her now wanted to rail at them, curse them for delivering her into this fate. That would be selfish, though, and she'd been anything but since she'd been pulled into this whole mess. For a long time, she honestly thought they'd prevail but now, her hope was gone.

At least they'd be able to save others. For a moment, her mind wandered to Cullen, and what ifs and maybes, but those were dangerous thoughts. She couldn't spend time on them. Not anymore. Not when she had so many others to think about.

Panting, she turned to glance back. Her ribs were screaming at her, her blood pounding so heavy in her ears that she had trouble hearing the approaching army, but deep down, she knew they were there.

"Of course they did. They still want the anchor. They can't let the Inquisitor live."

For someone talking about her own death, she sounded almost calm.

".... you still have time to get away, Cassandra. Please. Your life isn't worth this."

[hilt]

"This was my mistake as well." And this is the price they will pay for their foolishness. Their carelessness. Cassandra doesn't even stop to think about the choice she's made-- it's almost as if it had been decided for her the moment Elareth had stepped out of the Breach. Cassandra was to end with her. The Inquisition was their failure. The two mad women, it seems. History, if it survives, will not favour them. "I will not leave you to perish alone like a pariah. You are not that."

[virborassan]

"Am I not?"

For a moment, there was a flash of her old humor on her face. When the Inquisition had been strong, she'd been a joy to be around. Always smiling, even when she didn't feel it. Pulling minor pranks with Sera because damn it all, Cullen needed to smile more. Comforting the wounded herself even if some said it was above her 'station'. She'd been shit at negotiations but her people skills had been a thing to see.

With another shake of her head, she set off again, but this time, her pace was a good deal slower. Her own injuries were wearing on her now but she did her best to hide that.

"Come on, then. We have a long walk ahead of us."

[hilt]

"Where do you plan to run?" Where can they run becomes the question. A place with as few people there as possible for their end? So as little blood as possible is added to their hands before they pass on. Shortly after, Cassandra has no doubts that the death of all of Thedas will lay at their feet after they pass. They will be the women who failed. The two of them. "To civilization, or away?"

[virborassan]

"Away."

Without hesitation, she turned to head off into the densest part of the Frostbacks she knew. It was away from the remains of Skyhold as well as away from the fleeing Inquisition. She knew that Cullen would be expecting her to return and she sorely wished she could. In a way, some distant part of her held out hope that they'd find a way, but she knew it was unlikely. If she could manage to take Corypheus out while making her final stand, then she'd be happy when she passed into the Fade for good.

"... you really don't have to do this."

[hilt]

"I do. Stop saying I don't." Cassandra looks at the mountains they're heading into with a reserved look before she lets out a sigh, putting her shield on her back to stop the wind from piercing in through her armor. "If the Maker did not send you for Thedas, then you were sent for me."

The Inquisitor may not have been what Thedas required to fell Corypheus, but she was exactly who Cassandra needed at a pivotal time of her life. Who knows who Cassandra would be if Elareth hadn't stepped out of the breach, if she hadn't put Cassandra on the path she's on. "Which means I must stay."

[virborassan]

She'd never questioned Cassandra's faith. Been envious of it at times, but never questioned it. She knew she was a woman of strong convictions and it was humbling to think that she held her so highly. Elareth had never been comfortable being seen as a holy figure but when it was someone like Cassandra, she was more at ease with it than she believed she could be.

It was also an incredible amount of pressure.

As tired and demoralized as she felt, she knew she couldn't let her friend down so she let her hand tighten on her staff once again as she led them both into the heavy trees she was wanting to use to mask their movements.

"... you know, I was never comfortable with this role. Being the Herald, I mean."

[hilt]

"I am aware." Cassandra's voice is clipped but she lets out a sigh of her own, looking anywhere but at Lavellan's back. "I apologize that the title was forced upon you," Cassandra can still remember being back at Haven, arguing with Liliana about combating the rumors. It feels like a lifetime ago. How so many things have changed since then-- Cassandra's own views of the Inquisitor for one.

Cassandra did believe, she had believed that Lavellan had been sent by the Maker, by Andraste, to Thedas. How wrong she had been and how wrong so much of Thedas had been. "and I apologize for my own role in preserving it."