There and Back Again Ch. 017

"Fuck off, all of you. I know what this is. I'm in the Fade. So you might as well change to demon form, stop trying to convince me. I know you're not real. I'm never going to let you in, never going to listen. So get rid of the doctor's coat and concerned facial expressions and treat me like the actual prisoner I am, or go away so I don't have to listen to you, until the real Aedan gets here."

"What made you think it would be Aedan that got here first to rescue you?" I looked up, surprised, at the voice that rang out in the room. British accent. Perfect chiselled face. Teasing grin. Amour covered in dripping...God knows what."Anyone got any cheese? I'm hungry." I'd never been so happy to see anyone in my life.

The fake Dr. Alistair and the rest of my 'family', swivelled to face this new threat. Real Alistair tossed a dagger from his belt onto the bed, and I cut myself free of my bonds faster than those around me could blink. Jumping up, unnoticed by the demons, I maneuvered myself into position, grabbed Theron from behind, and drew the dagger across his throat in one, smooth, vicious arc. A hideous noise screeched from his exposed windpipe, and then his body slumped to the ground, changing as it fell to a large, purple, vaguely humanoid corpse.Pride demon. Huh.I wondered how sloth got a pride demon as a pet.

Alistair grinned at me, raising his own sword in salute before attacking his own clone. We both assumed it would just be an animate creature, but as Alistair managed to get a surprise hit in and decapitate it, the body changed just like demon-Theron's had, only becoming a ghastly, naked, purple-ish woman. Desire demon.Two demons? What the hell?

Alistair and I both turned on the false Leliana and Aedan now. Leliana just faded out of existence, and I assumed she must have been a construct of one of the demons we had killed. Fake Aedan, obviously a demon, still looked quite corporeal, although from the expression on his face he wished he wasn't.

"Wait! Just listen to me. None of this was my idea! I got dragged into this when it," demon-Aedan pointed at the headless desire demon, "wasn't able to contain her. She kept almost getting away. It pulled in that, and then me. I have no desire to be here. Just let me go, back into the Fade, and I'll leave you all alone. I'm no threat to you!"

Alistair and I exchanged a look. While demon-Aedan hadn't actually done anything to me that I could remember, there was clearly a lot about the Fade that I didn't remember, if three demons had been required to subdue me. And regardless, it was a demon.I don't like demons.I shook my head, ever so slightly, and Alistair, understanding, sliced once with his sword and cleanly killed the demon wearing Aedan's appearance. I didn't recognise the demon shape this time - green, slightly glowing - but being surrounded by the three corpses was evidence enough of what it was, if not which variety.

I turned to Alistair, and he just held out his arms. I fell into them, not crying but desperately needing real human contact.I hate the fucking Fade.After a minute, I pulled back. Now that the demons were dead I tried again and was able to summon myself a set of light armour, like I trained with in Redcliffe, as well as another wickedly sharp dagger. I offered Alistair his back, pommel first, and he took it with a smile.

"Thanks, Alistair."

"Any time, Sierra. Listen, you don't have to, but...sometime, will you explain all this? I didn't really understand most of what I saw."

I reluctantly agreed. He had saved me; I owed him that at least. "How was yours? Goldanna?"

He nodded, almost laughing. "No matter how they tried I knew I didn't really have a sister. I just couldn't buy into it. Once I remembered, the demon showed itself and I killed it. From the looks of this, you'd have done the same if there weren't three demons keeping you under."

I smiled, glad that I'd made escaping the Fade even a little easier for him. I squelched the urge to hug him again.Don't get used to it, Sierra. He's not for you. Even in the Fade.

"So...how do we get out of here?"

"I don't know. When I defeated the demon, my...uh...nightmare just sort of...dissolved. Maybe this will just take a bit longer since there were three demons here?"

A new voice joined the conversation. "Three demons? That's weird. Everyone else just had one."

Alistair and I turned to see Aedan, followed by Sten, and Wynne and Leliana, who both looked somewhat subdued and red-faced. Aedan gave me his patented cross-eyed, tongue stuck out facial expression, and I giggled and launched myself into a hug. Prince jumped around and licked me happily, and I laughed, giddy.

"Apparently I gave mine a hard time and he called some friends."

"I'm not in the least surprised, my dear." Aedan gave me a fond look and I giggled. "And Alistair, you escaped on your own? Well done."

Alistair blushed.Poor guy. Blushes more than me.

Aedan had us all grasp hands, and then close our eyes. I suppressed a minor fan-girl freak-out when I realised I was holding hands with Alistair. I heard him talking, too quietly to hear, and barely heard Wynne mutter a response. I felt wind on my face for a moment before it stopped. I opened my eyes and found myself, still holding hands, on an island of sorts. It was grassy but dotted with huge rocks, and maybe fifty feet across. Past the edge of the island was just...nothing.Creepy.I giggled as Alistair said it at the same time that I thought it. Standing in the middle of a flat clearing was the sloth demon.

Aedan chatted with it for a moment, while it promised us whatever we desired. In my head I could hear insidious whispers, promising me things it hurt to even want. Love, family.Alistair.I wanted to believe, so badly...

"No!" I shouted, and rushed across the island towards the demon. I broke the spell that had settled on all of us, the seductive heady rush of promises. I heard Aedan swear at me, but didn't stop as I ran full speed at the source of the offending whispers. As I charged, Aedan, and then Alistair and the rest of the group stirred, readied their weapons and followed.

I got lucky - the demon didn't expect us to break free so easily, not without some more conversation at least, and I managed to get a slash in as I dove past, sticky black blood squirting out to coat my hand before it transformed into an ogre. I skidded to a stop just as I heard the gong I knew indicated Alistair had bashed the thing with his shield. Turning, I looked for an opening, but given the way I knew ogres could kick, I chose discretion and waited. Sure enough, between Leliana's arrows, Wynne's spells, and Alistair's, Sten's, and Aedan's slashes, the ogre form faded away leaving a rage demon in its wake.

Aedan was suddenly wreathed in flame himself, screaming at everyone to back away, and his burning-man form deflected the worst of the damage. Wynne cast some sort of ice spell, and suddenly the thing burst into a dazzling array of sticky, translucent pink crystals as Sten's Asala shattered it. Abomination form was next, and I finally got my chance to sprint back into the fray. I knew, even as I approached, that I should have stayed back, but I was really, really angry.You don't get to mess with my head and get away with it.I stabbed my dagger deep into the abomination's back, distracting it enough that Aedan shredded its neck with his own daggers.

The abomination gave way to a shade. Alistair actually threw himself between the shade and I, and while he held its attention, Aedan was able to slip behind and disable the thing before I got reoriented. As the shade in turn transformed into an arcane horror, I felt Alistair's hand clamp on my upper arm just before the shockwave he'd used on me the day we first met rumbled across the creature, slamming it to the ground. The only reason I was still standing was Alistair holding me up, but I knew I'd have a hand-print shaped bruise on my arm. Somehow, just through fighting together all this time, Aedan and Sten had realised what he was about to do, and had gotten out of the way.

The demon finally stayed down, and all six of us stopped to pant for a bit. Niall popped into existence, reminding us about the Litany of Adralla, before saying reluctant good-byes to Aedan and Wynne. The next thing I knew, I was awake, picking my very dirty self up off the ground. Niall was indeed dead, and Wynne closed his eyes and crossed his arms on his chest before picking the Litany up and joining us.