Duplicity AU: Justice for a General

[apurrstate]

The same meeting, the same turn of events, but Anders and Alaric navigate their relationship with a righteous fade spirit as a +1

((Changes include: Hawke is female, didn't romance Anders but supported him, not a CRAU. Basically what would have happened if he'd been apped Clean-Slate and how would their CR change.))

Comments

The People Zoo

[apurrstate]

There'd been an explosion, something of fire and battered brick, the light in the street only came from the fire of the People Zoo, painting the night orange as the street lamps and building lights for a few blocks around lay dark.

The creature responsible for some of it walked through the alleys, unwilling to give up his control when rage and a need for vengeful justice ran through him. He didn't remember what had gone wrong or when, it hadn't been his plan, it had been Anders', his and that human Dean. He didn't know where the human had gone either, only that there'd been searing anger and then SIN Guards in front of him, trying to fight him. Their corpses lay behind, fuel for the fire that burned part of the building. Electricity of the Fade overran the generated electricity here and Justice found the dark of the streets far more pleasing, even as an ethereal blue glow followed his steps.

He should get their body home or the distraction would be concerned, though Justice held no concept of this plane's time, nor concern for how long it might take him, so he walked with easy purpose.

This late at night, humans usually slept, there likely wouldn't be any injustices that needed to be righted, but the spirit remained vigilant as ever. That was how he heard the heavy fall of boots, a contingent of guards that followed, though whether he'd been followed, spotted, or come across, he couldn't know. And didn't care.

They shouted meaningless things to him, orders to stop, authority they didn't hold over him. When he turned to leave again, one of them did something. A loud bang and a sharp pain in his leg that likely would have made Anders topple but not Justice. Vengeful fury whipped him around and electricity swept out from his hands in purple arcs that jumped from target to target. A moment to regain his thoughts while they stood paralyzed.

Re: The People Zoo

[haldaneprotector]

"You need to stop."

His voice is completely, completely calm - steady and quiet.

He's been looking for Anders. He had no doubt that who he has found is Justice. He does not love that, but he is not going to be stopped by it, either, not if he has a choice.

And he does have a choice.

There's a very, very faint silvery glow around him when he steps forward, but it's far closer to moonlight reflecting off water than electricity. It also doesn't really illuminate much.

[apurrstate]

Ah. The distraction. Anders was quiet in the back of his mind and Justice was glad for it. It was better if he handled this, his thoughts weren't clouded around this human the way Anders' was.

There was an energy to the man as Justice turned to face him, something that sung it's own song, different from lyrium or a mage's magic, but beautiful in it's own right. He could appreciate that, even if it wouldn't stop him from doing what needed to be done.

"They would see their injustices in practice, they would harm you and Anders. Why do you stop me from bringing justice to their victims? They should pay." His voice ran too deep, that fade-echo in the back of it as he spoke, fixing Alaric with bright blue eyes.

[haldaneprotector]

Even if this person had not referred to Anders in the third person, there would be no doubt that it was not actually Anders.

Alaric doesn't smile, and he isn't amused, but he does have an answer.

"Because it is stupid and will not work."

[apurrstate]

There's something almost...petulant in him. Something that aims to prove wrong and there's a shift of the bodies behind him as the guards begin to regain themselves.

He glances back and one of them starts to bring up the thing that had damaged Anders' leg, now aimed at his chest. Justice doesn't wait for the man to do what he will, he turns from The Distraction and throws a green glyph under the pack's feet, freezing them in place even as his other hand draws on mana to form clouds above their head, the purple lightning in them dancing as it brew to full strength.

"You will not stop me." Whether he's talking to The Distraction or the guards, even Justice isn't sure.

[haldaneprotector]

He immediately throws small cubes - two white, two black, small and for all appearances blank dice - onto the ground around them which pulls up a wavering shield of green and silver around them.

All of them, including those guards.

There is no more sound from outside the magical dome they are under, nor will any sound from outside penetrate inward.

After that, and only after that, does he throw pure, invisible, force at Justice. Vengence? Who the hell ever it is.

[apurrstate]

The shield goes up and it takes Justice by surprise, the clouds already dispersing for his shaken concentration, but break apart completely when the the force strikes him. He stumbles forward, nearly falling to his knee before catching himself and turning back to the Distraction.

"You try my patience. Anders does not wish you harmed, but you stand in the way of justice and what is right. I will not warn you again." In case the Distraction did not believe him, a blue-white glow gathered in his hands, spirit magic waiting for direction into either a bolt or a bomb.

[haldaneprotector]

"What I stand in the way of is you worsening the punishment Anders already has coming to him from your twisted idea of Justice. Which you will then declare unjust, seek retribution for, and get him punished for."

And so on and so forth and -

"How can you be this stupid." With the muffling shield in place, he is absolutely yelling. There's also a wind whipping up which has to be coming from him, since nothing is making it through that dome of silence and light.

[apurrstate]

"You do not and cannot understand. I am Justice and I will see my cause answered."

This whelp, a child in the spirit's eyes, could not understand the power and fury and burn of justice's wrath. He would be answered, the injustices righted- "The consequences do not matter."

A black swirl of energy kicked up around Anders' feet as Vengeance's power grew and pulled from him to strengthen his magic and the bolts of spirit energy flew towards the Distraction, three in quick succession.

[haldaneprotector]

"The consequences are unjust to a man who was your friend and who chose to help you." He is furious. Which is probably why his response to that energy coming at him is just to redirect them back with an excessive amount of force.

And the appearance of setting them on fire.

He is going to end up exhausted, at best, and at Justice's mercy but that will at least half be because of the energy he is burning by being enraged.

[apurrstate]

The bolts are redirected, something that shouldn’t be possible. Snuffed out or blocked, yes, but turned back is something else entirely. And set ablaze. The Distraction is powerful and impassioned and cares very much about what he’s saying, Justice can respect that, even if he is wrong. This cause is Anders’ too, their cause. It can’t be unfair because Anders’ life is second to their cause just as Justice’s is.

Which is why he doesn’t hesitate to draw more sharply from his host’s health, the black energy swirling higher and darker as he uses it to fuel a Dispell on the bolt of energy, then funnels it into a thick blast of purple lightning that arches and branches and jumps both towards his opponent and towards the hapless guards still being maintained in place in their glyph.