MER MER MER POLITICAL MARRIAGE! POLITICAL MARRIAGE! Siobhan x Sebastian + ❛ it’s not for you. it’s not a favor. it’s the cruelest thing i could do. ❜ from the hero x villain prompts? 👀👀👀
POLITICAL MARRIAGE yeah I knew I would get you with that one hehehe
so like, they're rivals but they're friends? because I like to add a bit of nuance to the da2 companion approval mechanics lol
also this went a bit somfter than I intended whoops ;-;
for @dadrunkwriting and an honorary mention to @melisusthewee who sent me the same prompt for the same ship uwu
~~~
“If we do this—“ Siobhan began, and then stopped. She wasn’t sure where the sentence would end, and she didn’t care to continue like that.
“If?” Sebastian echoed. “You seemed quite certain a few days ago.”
“I am certain, it’s just” —she pursed her lips and pulled aside the curtains to gaze out at Hightown— “are you?”
His armor rasped a familiar cadence as he came to stand beside her. “And why would I not be?”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Act like I’m not clearly getting the better end of this deal.” Siobhan scowled. Her breath fogged against the glass, obscuring the servants and couriers in the square below. “The most valuable part of Kirkwall is her port. And Starkhaven hardly needs marine access.”
“The most valuable part of Kirkwall is her leader. And there is nothing more precious than one who cares for her entirety."
He leaned sideways, one shoulder against the glass, and regarded her with those damnable eyes that always pierced her soul. “As you do.”
“I’m not even guaranteed the throne,” she countered.
“Oh please, Champion.” Sebastian chuckled. “It’s only a matter of time before Elthina sees reason and restrains the Knight-Commander. Who else do you suppose the nobility will turn to when that happens?”
“You never know who’s lurking in the shadows.”
The prince sobered. “True enough. Although, in all fairness, I’m hardly guaranteed Starkhaven either. That makes us rather even, no?”
“Starkhaven is your birthright!” Her armor smacked against his as one arm snapped out to whack his chest. “The only thing standing between you and it is your damn self.”
“While I would gladly leave Kirkwall in your very capable hands” —he cupped them as he spoke, rubbing comforting circles over callouses and scars— “I would not abandon you in this hour of need.”
“Starkhaven—“
“—has not yet fallen under the incompetent rule of my cousin. I very much doubt those who pull his strings are angling for the city’s destruction.”
“Must be nice,” Siobhan muttered darkly.
Sebastian’s fingers curled around her fist and she did not stop him as he pried her fingers open. In her palm was a ring, warmed from her skin and glinting in the torchlight. The design was custom, silver chains entwined with the furred dragons of Starkhaven.
Symbolic and beautiful and—
“But that’s not your only concern, is it?” Sebastian murmured.
Her hand clenched around the ring once more and she pressed it to her mouth. “Of course not.”
With the patience of a brother who has sat through many a stilted, awkward confession, Sebastian waited, giving Siobhan the space to find her meaning.
“I am…new…to nobility,” she began, slowly and methodically choosing each word. “I know that you do not always expect to marry for love. But I—my mother gave up everything for that chance.”
She took a deep breath and forced herself to look the prince dead on. “I’m not in love with you, Sebastian. I don’t know that I will ever be. I would not ask you to share your throne with someone who cannot give you her heart.”
“Ah, I see.” Sebastian hummed and she steeled herself for his anger, his lashing out with bitter pain.
“Hawke.” One gloved hand caught the underside of her chin. They were nearly the same height, so rather than tilting back, his hand traced the line of her jaw with gentle reverence. “There is love between us, but no romance. I have always known that and I brought this to you regardless.”
“Love is hardly so simple as to be a flat coin with only two sides,” he snorted and the tension Siobhan had imagined between them snapped like a cord under a blade. “The both of us would give anything for our cities. There is connection enough in that, and more in mutual respect, for this to flourish.”
“But what if—“
“As you said, you are new to nobility. And you know nothing of royalty.” Sebastian leaned back, a bit of a cocky smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth. “Should I find a lady who could turn my attention from both you and Starkhaven, there is always room at a prince’s elbow for a consort.”
Siobhan rolled her eyes, but relief was a warm buzz through her veins. “It doesn’t bother you? To close that path forever?”
“No.” Certainty reverberated in a way that shouldn’t have been possible with just one syllable. “Don’t forget—I was to give up such earthly pleasures regardless. I have not thought of my own personal future in some time.”
“Of course,” Siobhan murmured. “But now—“
“Now I have a duty to Starkhaven,” he said firmly. “Anything beyond that is in the Maker’s hands. I will look to Him when that time comes, if it comes.”
He was so sure. It was enviable and unobtainable and Siobhan resented it as much as she loved it for him.
“Very well,” she opened her fist again and Sebastian threaded a thin leather cord through the ring. His breath ghosted over her skin as he lifted it over her head. The ring settled below the hollow of her throat and he fastened the cord with a strong knot behind her neck.
“You have walked beside me, down the paths where a thousand arrows sought my flesh,” he quoted softly. His accent shaped the Chant into something almost palatable; it pulled at the weary edges of Siobhan’s faith. “You have stood with me when all others have forsaken me.”
Her fingers found the foreign metal and played with it, staring out the window. She leaned back against Sebastian’s chest, solid, sturdy, supporting. Her rock. She was, as always, a fool to doubt.
“Though I bear scars beyond counting,” she murmured. “Nothing can break me except your absence.”
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so i did this a while back, finally remembered it, and now i'm posting it
Mass Effect x Dragon Age AU
I did one of these already, sort of, for ME: Andromeda, but this one is set in the Milky Way.
Elaborations below:
Merrill is a quarian who was exiled from the Migrant Fleet. She's looking for a way not to destroy the geth, but to bring them back under quarian control, thinking they're too valuable a resource to just get rid of. Unfortunately, this made many quarians view her as dangerous, and she was exiled for the crime of experimental geth research. Making Merrill a quarian was the first choice I did for this AU, I think it fits really well.
Aveline is an asari. I'd considered krogan or turian, or simply keeping her human, but in the end I went with asari mostly because Aveline always struck me as condescending in the same way many asari are, lol. She's a commando who later moved to the Citadel to join C-SEC.
Isabela is a turian. She's a barefaced turian, meaning she has no association to a colony. Instead of following the typical turian tradition of proudly serving in the Hierarchy's military, Isabela instead ran off to become a space pirate, specializing in smuggling. She frequents the bars around Omega and has earned herself a fearsome reputation among the mercenaries.
Bethany remains a human; she grew up on a colony world with her siblings, and had a relatively peaceful childhood, despite the Alliance constantly badgering her parents to send her and her older sister to their biotic training program.
Marian, also a human, eventually ran away from home to become a mercenary. She resented her father for forbidding her and her siblings from joining the Alliance - not because she was particularly patriotic, but she felt like her father's grudge against the Alliance prevented her and her siblings from receiving the best training possible. Her powerful biotics made her both an asset and a target, and she soon caught the eye of a certain Council Spectre...
Fenris is a drell. He was raised under the Compact, an agreement between the drell and the hanar, and his purpose was to become a bodyguard... And then his training group was attacked by batarian slavers and he was taken captive. For many years, Fenris suffered under the batarians' rule, until he finally managed to escape. Unwilling to return home, he instead roams the galaxy, taking out as many batarian slaving operations as he can.
Anders is a human who escaped from a biotic testing facility run by Cerberus. Though this left him with a grudge against Cerberus, he also hates the Alliance, whom he sees as no better and will also use biotic children as weapons. He dreams of establishing a safe haven for biotics, and is willing to go to increasingly drastic measures to see that dream become a reality.
Varric is a volus. Unlike his business-minded brother, Varric does not spend his days negotiating trade agreements or doing finance consultations. Spending his days at the Afterlife bar on Omega, he's an information broker, and a pretty damn good one at that. With his specially crafted weapon Bianca, he's not too bad in a fight, either.
Carver, much like his older sister, left home to seek out his own path, and ended up joining the Alliance against his parents' wishes. He thrived in the military, quickly climbing the ranks due to his strength and competency. He's being primed for N7 training under the wathcful eye of Spectre Sebastian Vael.
Sebastian is a human, and a Council Spectre (I'm imagining this AU as a sort of nebulous period where humanity isn't as looked down upon as they were at the start of ME1, and there are a fair number of human Spectres running around). A wild child in his youth, his parents sent him to the Alliance to straighten him out, and to their relief, it worked like a charm. He specializes in covert missions and favors sniper rifles and tech powers.
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