It was just a vacation. Nothing was supposed to actually go wrong on this vacation. Right? Alexandria Verand was a twenty year old college student, her trip to Scotland was never supposed to end up this way, not that she was complaining, her life was boring. She played video games and went to class. She didn't believe in fairy curses and magic rocks.
If it hadn't been for that strange Gaelic book she purchased, she may have never felt so free or so terrified in her life.
Why did she follow the directions to the Wishing Stones? What force pulled her there? She didn't know as she stood in the center of a perfect circle of standing stones. It was just superstition! That's all it was supposed to be!
In the early morning light, she couldn't help but trace the smooth carvings in the ancient stone in the center. And then everything turned dark.
When Alex woke the next morning, the room she found herself resembled her apartment back in New York. Her oversized bed, complete with the plush pink bedding, bright blue couch, even her video game posters.
This confused her as she rose. Her parents had purchased the opulent penthouse for her, but this room was different somehow. When she went to the balcony, there was no city, no noise except morning birds singing somewhere close by. "What the hell?" She whispered before rubbing her eyes. She still wore her usual pajamas; the green tank top had the Dragon Age Inquisition symbol on it, matching the black shorts she wore along with mismatched socks.
That's when she burst through her bedroom door into an oak paneled hallway, stopping as she saw five closed doors on either side. Her apartment was not this big.
She chanced a peek into one of the rooms and immediately closed the door, her back flush against the wood. "What the actual fuck?" She whispered as to not wake the man she saw in the room.
"This is not happening! Ok, Alex. Calm yourself and go inside!" She gave herself a pep talk before steadying her breath and re-entering the room. Her eyes hadn't deceived her; that was definitely who she thought it was. The pointy ears gave it away, "Solas?" She asked quietly, touching his hand to make sure he was corporeal. Suddenly, indigo eyes met sapphire ones as his eyes shot open and Alex almost stumbled backwards.
"Who are you? Where am I?" The Dread Wolf asked and Alex was frozen in place.
"I'm… um… Alex, Solas. I don't know where we are, I just woke up here also." She said, obviously shifting her eyes elsewhere. She was shy on a good day with normal men, this… this was ridiculous!
"You know me?" He asked, sitting up and placing his bare feet on the cold hardwood. He was wearing his infamous tan tunic and breeches, no foot wraps, and his jawbone necklace was also missing.
"Aye, I know you, Fen'Harel. And this shouldn't be possible." She said, not realizing she had backed up to the wall as she began sliding down it. She sat there, gawking at the elven god as he took in his odd surroundings. The dark green walls were bare save for a television. The bed was as big as hers, but the bedding was a deep amber color. The dark, ashen dresser matched the bedframe. If she saw this room she would think of someone who loved Solas. And that's when she remembered there were nine other doors in the hallway as she scrambled up and almost tripped over her own feet when she stood and almost ran out of the room.
"Wait!" She could hear Solas call after her as she took a steadying breath and opened the door across from Solas' room. Lying on top of a navy blue duvet in sweats and a loose cotton shirt was Joker, the disabled pilot of the Normandy.
A laugh escaped her then, before she could cross the room. She knelt next to the bed and took hold of his hand.
"Not every morning I'm woken by soft hands and a beautiful woman." The cheeky pilot said as his green eyes found her and he smirked. He looked around the room and the confusion was immediate. "Um, this isn't the Normandy, where are we?" He asked, quickly standing and realizing he wasn't in any pain. He looked down at his legs. "How… did you do that?" He asked, he didn't limp when he walked, he stood straight and it was as if he hadn't been disabled since birth.
"I have no idea where we are, Joker. That's Solas, he can be a bit… much. There's other rooms I need to check. Come on." Alex said, pulling her long, red curls out of her face and up into a mess of wildfire on top of her head. Determination was now her goal as she crossed the hall once more, almost frightened to who she'd find behind door number three.
Behind the next door, was not who she expected. Laying on the bed was "Geralt?"
"This is madness!" She said opening the next door to find Cullen Rutherford asleep atop a crimson bed.
The next was Thane Krios, and when she saw him, her blue eyes filled with tears. "But, I watched you die." She said, slowly crossing the room where the Drell slept on his side. She put her hand in his, expecting there to be no reaction as she held his hand. His eyes opened slowly and carefully as they found her, he smiled. No words, but she was relieved.
"This is absolute insanity. Why are we here?" Geralt asked when he looked for his sword that wasn't there.
"I don't know why any of us are here, I have more people to wake up, however." She said. "I'm Alex, I just woke up here too."
Cullen nearly jumped across the room when he saw Solas, but could anyone blame him? She didn't know who could be behind the last few doors. She had played a lot of video games in her life.
The next door revealed someone she didn't expect: Garrus. He wasn't in his armor, just loose white pants. When she touched his hand, it was almost like watching him take a rocket to the face again. The gasp for air when he saw fire curls was kind of amusing until Joker waved at him.
She woke Dorian next, and he was not so happy to see Solas. Nearly throwing the elf down the stairs.
Behind the next was a giant pink Alien she knew well, Jaal lay sleeping peacefully. She touched his hand tentatively and he nearly pushed her across the room.
Reyes was easier, he just flirted when he got up. She rolled her eyes and blushed but continued on
The last door was even more interesting, Varric lay on a dwarven bed like the one in his room at the Hanged Man. She touched his hand and was surprised when the eloquent dwarf smiled at her. His smile faded when he saw Solas as well.
Alex was barraged with questions before she turned on her heel silently to find the kitchen. She found it on the ground floor, and coffee. "Oh my God will you all be quiet and let me think!" She shouted at the bickering men.
"I'm Alexandria Verand. I don't know why we are all here, but I know each of you. And I love each of you." That got them to shut up as they gawked at the lithe woman who sat on the marble counter with a cup of coffee in her hand. "Now sit down, and speak to each other like men or I will make you all sleep outside!" She said as a crack of thunder echoed outside.
"You know us?" Garrus asked as he sat at the counter island. Alex nodded.
"Garrus Vakarian, Archangel. One of the original ground team of Commander Shepard. Jeff "Joker" Moreau, Pilot of the Normandy SR-1 and SR-2. Thane Krios, Assassin, part of Shepard's Collector suicide mission. Jaal Ama Daraav, Pathfinder team in the Andromeda galaxy. Born on Havarl, you have five mothers." She began, taking a healthy drink of coffee in between. "Reyes Vidal, the Charlatan. Possible King of Kadara depending on Ryder. Solas, Fen'Harel. Elven God of betrayal and Fade Expert of the Inquisition. Dorian Pavus, son of Magister Halward Pavus, Minrathous native and friend or lover to the Inquisitor. You also prefer the company of men to women. Geralt of Rivia, Witcher, half human. Cullen Stanton Rutherford, former Templar, Military Advisor to the Inquisitor. Varric Tethras," Alex cracked a smile before using his own words, "rogue, storyteller and occasionally unwelcome tagalong." That made the dwarf chuckle.
"I like you, flames. You're cheeky." Varric laughed heartily.
"And you love all of us?" Geralt asked, his white hair had fallen over his shoulder. Alex nodded.
"You also said that it should not be possible that we are all here. Where is here exactly?" Solas asked and Dorian gave him a death glare.
"I do not know, Solas. I don't even know what time it is, my phone apparently stayed in my apartment. I've noticed that our Normandy friends do not have their omnitools." That's when Thane, Garrus and Joker looked at their bare wrists.
"I do not feel the fade in this place, we are not in Thedas or anywhere close to it." Solas said before Varric threw a pillow at him. Alex rolled her eyes as she went to the refrigerator and was shocked to see it fully stocked, the freezer as well. But there were eleven people to feed. While the men bickered and chatted, she pulled out eggs and bread. There was also strange food that she didn't recognize, it was an assortment of colors.
As she went to cooking, the bickering stopped and Joker and Dorian began to help without being asked. Thane found plates and silverware and they set the long glass table. Why were they here? What had she done?
Eggs, toast, bacon and her mom's southern biscuits and gravy was what breakfast consisted of. The silence as everyone ate was deafening. Alex began to feel anxiety creeping along her brain and she left the table abruptly, Solas, Dorian and Varric standing as she stormed out into the rain.
The anxiety attack lasted for about half an hour as she sat on a paved pathway in a torrential downpour.
Why is this happening? What did I do when I touched that stone? Her thoughts flooded her, she was just a small town country girl who rode horses and played video games and went to college in New York. She looked through the glass windows and the men seemed worried about her. Jaal was arguing with Reyes, Solas was in another room, and everyone else was still eating. She took a deep, grounding breath before standing. When she entered the huge house again, she found a laundry room to her right, under the stairs. It was then she grabbed a pair of blue jeans, a clean, dry camisole, a pair of socks and a set of black cowboy boots that sat next to a long line of shoes, both men's and women's. The bathroom was towards the back of the house and was state of the art. The shower was heaven, she brushed her teeth and her hair out and braided it, once she was dressed in familiar clothing she felt more like herself. She almost ran right into Joker as she left the bathroom and his eyes raked over her.
"You look like a 21st century cowgirl, Alex." He jabbed.
"I guess I am. I had some time, and I am sorry I didn't mean for any of this." She said, the words falling out too fast. She pulled them from their worlds, their realities, and she didn't know where she was.
"Who was Shepard?" She asked put of nowhere as they stood in the hallway.
"He was a hero." Joker said, the question taking him aback.
Garrus said his Shepard was a woman, ruthless and calculating. Almost mean." Renegade, romanced Liara. Chose to control the Reapers.
"Did he destroy the Reapers?" She asked, Joker nodded.
"He did, we found him the next day, Liara was thrilled." He said. So three different Shepard's. All three possible world states.
"Thank you." She said, her shyness taking over as she rushed up the stairs. Her room was a sanctuary, a reminder of home. She sat at her desk and did her makeup. Her hats still lined the place in her closet and she grabbed her SR-2 hat, the one she got with her N7 hoodie, which hung in the closet. A knock at her door had her tossing the hat on her four poster bed.
"Dorian?" She asked and moved aside for him to come in.
"So you love all of us?" He asked, his voice was velvet to her ears.
"I do, but you are special. I explained that to me, you're all fiction. Stories where I'm from. A video game character, to be more precise. The story of the Inquisitor. Can you tell me about your Inquisitor, Dorian?" She asked. She was comfortable with him already, and he chose to believe her.
Dorian's Ellana Lavellan was a just Inquisitor. She helped people, and loved Blackwall. She died after the Exalted Council, in childbirth with Thom Rainier's son. She had been Dorian's best friend, his soulmate.
Alex spent her day asking everyone except Geralt, who she couldn't find, about their worlds.
Solas' Inquisitor, Maxwell Trevelyan, was a cruel man. Saw Tranquility as a fix it for mages, took lives carelessly. Had even punched Solas. They were not friends.
Varric's Inquisitor was Hanaa Adaar, a female mage Qunari who loved Iron Bull. They married after the Exalted Council and had five children. She was exceptional, and a good friend to everyone but Solas, who she didn't trust.
She didn't blame the Inquisitor for their distrust of the elf. She knew what he did to a romanced Lavellan.
Jaal's Pathfinder was Scott Ryder, a silly man who cared about everyone, especially his sister. He was hunting for the Quarian ark when Jaal woke here.
Reyes Vidal's Pathfinder was Sara Ryder, she was in love with Vetra and they had just defeated the Archon. Turned out he was the King of Kadara and had a momentary relationship with the Pathfinder.
Geralt had refused to be a part of this harem as he called it and decided to stay in a house across from the one they woke in.
She didn't know what she had gotten into, and then she found the Gaelic book, sitting casually on the desk in a giant library.