Author's Note: Inspiration for this scene drawn from Dragon Age: Origins cinematic trailer. Recognisable dialogue comes from Dragon Age Origins.

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"There is a reason I agreed to travel with you and the idiot," Sasuke admits, watching her reaction.

"I thought so," Sakura says, tone soft. No doubt she recognised long ago that if he wanted to leave them, he could have done so with ease. That she never asked him his reasons suggests she wanted to hear them from him.

He deliberates a further minute, wondering where to begin, and decides on the facts.

"Travelling with two Grey Wardens opens doors," he tells her. "I could not have entered the Circle of Magi otherwise."

"People aren't keen on the Dalish anywhere, but that's one of the harder places to get into," she agrees. "And Iwa isn't fond of outsiders either. It wasn't until I mentioned having the Warden treaties that you seemed keen on staying."

"Hm."

"You're looking for something," she determines. "Or someone."

There is a pause where they study one another, both waiting for the other to speak first. Though her face suggests innocent interest, she won't ask.

"I have a brother," he confesses at last.

It's been so long since he said those words out loud that they taste foreign on his tongue.

Surprise crosses Sakura's face, along with curiosity, but she doesn't interrupt. It's as if she senses the precariousness of this truth, perhaps even the gravity in it, but won't push him to speak of it unless he wishes it. Sasuke intends to leave the matter alone, but the unexpected relief he experiences at his own confession is disorienting.

To deceive her, even through omission, feels wrong.

"I will find him and kill him."

He can see she was not expecting this, but to her credit the only shock she displays is the infinitesimal widening of her eyes. He waits for judgement to replace curiosity, or even disgust, but the only change he detects is concern.

"Why?" she asks.

Sasuke takes a deep breath through his nose, willing his voice to stay even.

"He massacred my entire clan," he explains. "Not only did he take them from me, he spilled elven blood. We are a rare and diminishing people, and to cut short our lives, in particular amongst our own, is the greatest sin of our kind. He has to pay for it."

"By...spilling more blood?"

Her question is uncertain, as if she is trying to understand the logic for this and seek something beyond simple, petty revenge. Most people would accept such a premise without question, but she is always so damned determined to see beyond the veneer facades of her comrades.

He finds he doesn't want her to see him only as an avenger.

"Itachi is no longer considered Elvhen," Sasuke says. "He is cursed. His continued existence poisons the world around it and everyone he comes in contact with. I have a duty to my family, and to my people, to avenge our loss and remove his stain. Only then can my clan be at peace in the Beyond."

Sakura is quiet at this, thoughtful.

"If this is so important to you...why haven't you asked us to look for him while we travel?" she asks delicatly. "If stopping him is as important as you say, nine pairs of eyes are better than only one?"

Sasuke's jaw clenches, as she hits upon the conundrum he has been wrestling with for weeks. He could lie about it, pretend to be noble and that personal revenge doesn't matter in the face of the disaster she and her Wardens are trying to overcome. He knows she would pretend to believe it even if she didn't.

But if there's anything he's learned in his life, it's that there's no way to overcome a weakness without acknowledging it.

"I am...not yet strong enough to kill him," he admits grudgingly. "But in helping you end this Blight and facing this insurmountable task ahead of you, I can become strong enough."

"I think killing a bunch of darkspawn and killing your own brother are two very different matters. One is much harder than the other."

"Hm."

He can't argue with that.

"Did you...did you ever ask him why?" she ventures after a pause.

"No," he replies, curt. "He used magic to trap me in an illusion for days, leaving me as prey for demons in the Fade. I was lucky another clan found me, and their Keeper freed me."

Sakura swears. "No wonder you don't like mages."

He nods once, uncomfortable admitting such a vulnerability.

He doesn't want to talk about this anymore. At the same time, he doesn't want to turn his back on her and return to silence, and so he asks instead, "Do you have any siblings?"

It's the first time he's outright asked her a personal question of his own volition and not to analyse something she has volunteered. She seems startled by this, and replies, "No...just my parents. Assuming they're still live."

She speaks the last bit in a somewhat quieter tone, and her shoulders hunch a little in sadness.

Sasuke regrets his question. "You need not say more."

"No, it's...it's nice to think about them," she assures him. "I miss them, but they're with me wherever I go. They're the reason I'm still alive. My mother taught me the skills I needed to survive on my own, and my father taught me to fight." She nods to her axe. "He taught me to be strong. And he was the strongest person I knew. He gave up everything to be with my mother. Even though she couldn't give him a son and he'd lose his position in the caste..."

"There are few who would sacrifice their own comforts for such a reason," Sasuke remarks.

"Yeah." She smiles, wistful, and then shakes her head. A serious look comes into her eye. "If you don't mind me asking...what were your parents like?"

The question is one which has caused him anger and defensiveness in the past, a quick dismissal and need to occupy himself with other things.

But this time, as he considers his answer, he comes to a horrible realisation.

"I don't remember," he confesses, throat tight.

Sympathy suffuses her expression, before morphing into determination. She inches over to sit closer to him and reaches for his hand. For reasons he can't explain, he doesn't pull away, but allows her to thread her fingers between his. Instead of empty words, she squeezes his hand; he grips it back and doesn't speak anymore after that.

Several hours pass, before Sakura pulls away, murmuring about getting ready to leave again. Sasuke nods and gathers his gear. He toes Naruto awake as he passes, and at the other side of the cave, Kakashi relaxes, going from unnatural stone stillness to animated once more.

It's a quick matter to gather the rest of their things, and though Sasuke isn't as rested as he could be, it's better than nothing. His muscles still ache, but it's bearable, and he knows he won't notice it once they're outside again and facing the cold.

The trek back to the large, ornate door in the hallway is easier than before, with no cultists left to challenge their progression. Sakura fits the key into the lock, and after confirming that the others are ready to venture out, twists it into place.

Once again, ancient gears turn and iron hinges grind against the stone. The dimly lit hall is bathed in brilliant white light that makes Sasuke's eyes water, as the snowy mountain top materialises before them once more. Far ahead, only an outline within the shroud of cloud-cover, he sees the final cavern. Though almost hidden by dark rocks and snowdrifts it's clear that's where they must go next.

And it's fucking snowing again.

The habitual trudge upward begins, and before long Sasuke's toes pinch with cold and his clothes sag with heavy snow. He tells himself that it's just a little farther, and as long as they don't stop he can endure it—

His ear flicks as it senses an out-of-place sound. Beside him, Sakura notices him freeze, and comes to an abrupt halt. She raises one hand in warning, the other bracing against her forehead as if it will help her see better in the blowing snow.

Sasuke only catches it in time to snap, "Sakura!" when an axe flies out of the fog, forcing them all to dodge.

Before any of them can recover, a dark shape materialises in its wake. A shout echoes across the swirling snow: "For Lady Kaguya!"

"More cultists!" Sakura cries, hauling her axe up as the man in red robes swings a sword at her. She deflects with her shield, and as he recovers, charges forward, using the shield and his forward motion to leverage him over her head. As he falls, Naruto brings his sword down to behead him.

Sakura slides forward, into the range of the next man coming after her, throwing him aside as well. One of Sasuke's daggers pierces his neck, and when a third comes at her they lock axes before she headbutts him, knocking him back with her shield.

"More incoming!" she yells, shoving the top of her axe into the face of another cultist.

"Already on it!"

Kakashi braces himself, hauls back his staff and a giant rock explodes from thin air, barrelling past his companions and into the line of oncoming cultists. Confused and unable to disengage from each other, they are shoved over the cliffside by the invisible force of Kakashi's magic.

Sasuke darts forward then with the rest of his companions as the snow clears, revealing a dreary, flat outcropping in the side of the mountain. Jagged rock structures jut out of the ice, offering paltry cover as fire explodes from above them.

"Another Void-damned mage," Naruto complains, as more cultists approach. Sasuke shifts to peek around his stone shield, noting another red-robed lunatic with a staff.

"Sasuke?" Sakura's voice is neither question nor command, but he nods.

With a growl, he darts forward, drawing daggers as he dives between two oncoming cultists. Before they can turn on him he tucks into a roll, slicing the blades across their bellies as he goes. The scent of blood and viscera fill the frosted air as he keeps running, dropping the daggers and drawing his bow from his side. He continues his fleetfooted advance, shooting one cultist several feet away. As the woman staggers to the ground, Sasuke jumps and uses her body as a stepping stone to achieve lift. After flipping into the air, he lands on another stone outcropping that gives him the higher ground.

"Dirthara-ma," he hisses as he draws his bow, aiming it upward before letting the arrow fly. It's one of the enchanted projectiles he found earlier, and it soars much farther than a regular shaft wood, ramming into the mage's eye with a squelching thunk.

Sakura and Kakashi are back to back now, the mage using his staff as both a cudgel and a way to channel his magic. Bursts of flame and ice engulf the enemy at random intervals, while Sakura swings her axe out, cutting across unguarded limbs or lopping heads from shoulders.

Kakashi ducks one cultist that comes at him, hooks him around the neck with his elbow and then presses his hand to his head. A blistering, bloody symbol burns into his skin. The cultist screams in pain, cradling his face as he staggers towards his brethren, before going rigid. Before his comrades even know what's happened, he has exploded into a mess of blood and bone that rips through the other cultists.

"Okay, so I might be a little uncomfortable around mages now too," Sakura mutters, twisting a remaining cultist's head to one side until it cracks.

"That was disgusting," Sasuke informs Kakashi.

"But effective," the mage replies, brushing what appears to be bits of skull off his mask.

"Looks like that's all of them," Naruto calls out from several yards away. "I think we can—"

An ear-splitting, piercing screech fills the air and a giant shadow darkens the painful brightness of the day. Something moves overhead, stopping the snow from falling on them as thunderous bursts of air echo around them.

The rush of impending heat is the only warning they get. The four of them scatter in time, skidding to one side as a voluminous burst of flame expands across the space where they all just stood.

Up above, the dragon howls as though in victory as it swoops past, veering to one side as it turns to swoop back down at them.

"You had to open your blighted mouth, didn't you?" Sasuke growls at the human.

"It's not my fault!" Naruto protests.

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Translations:

Elvhen – elves; "our people"

Dirthara-ma – "may you learn"; used as a curse

Fade – a metaphysical realm separated by the waking world by the Veil; a place of spirits; most races except dwarves visit it in their dreams