#athevad

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.

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.”

“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?

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?

And here's my favorite part, where you beg for my heart                                                                                            and I disappear.

So looks like i haven’t completely missed OCKiss week.. only have a day to go tho.. so Just gonna be doing a few sketches.. 

Kisses are both very challenging and fun to draw. :)

Top: My Yvad Trevelyan with Atheva Lavellan @thirdrailsniper 

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?

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.