ROGUE🖤 (Cole x OC! Lavellan) ✓ [COMPLETED]

Ch. 9 *A Touch of Comfort*❣️

COLE
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Its been a week since the visit to the Hinterlands, a week since she has talked to me.
I didn't mean to do anything wrong, was mentioning her clan not the best idea?
I should've made her forget, that always seems to work in the past.

Night time has fallen over Skyhold. There's a party going in the tavern, Iron Bull and Sera are having a drinking contest. Varric watches, Dorian rolls his eyes, but the other party members aren't there.

Solas locks himself in his room, Vivienne sits in her fancy chairs on the top floor, Blackwall sleeps on hay in the stables, and Cassandra is outside, practicing her fighting against a straw stuffed dummy.

Nalia isn't here either...it's unlike her. She's usually always with her members, why not tonight?
I sit on Skyhold's battlements, listening to the wind blow softly, like a whisper in my ear.

Gently, I step onto the rail, balancing. With one slip, I'll fall very far, but I keep my balance, arms outstretched as I slowly place one foot in front of the other. I'm like a child in this moment, playing a dangerous game, but it's better then being around the others.
I don't feel wanted among them, or welcomed.

Varric is kind, understanding. He calls me 'kid', like I'm the son he's never had. Iron Bull calls me kid as well, but not like how Varric does.
Dorian asks me many questions, about myself mostly, but lately I've been asking him questions back, but he's been shutting me out more and more since I began.
It has to do with something about his father...his past...

I jump down, following the steps upwards. When I'm at the top, I notice something white leaning against the railing, humming softly.

I stop dead in my tracks, and stare at her.

A head of long black hair blows elegantly past her shoulders, her face tilted upwards as she stares into the moon. Her eyes are sad, and teary as she struggles humming an old lullaby her Mother would sing to her.

Her thoughts are wild, but if I listen closely, I hear some of them.

"Mother, Father, I beg you to forgive me. I'm so sorry I left you all that way. I didn't mean to hurt you. I was so angry, and in pain...I wish I could go back. Tell you I love you, that I need you."

Then, I realize.

Something happened in her past with her clan. A fight. A bad fight, where she left in fury, leaving behind her saddened parents. Now, her clan has been murdered, and she feels regret.

I quietly walk to her, afraid that any sudden movement and she'll run like a scared deer.
She's so sensitive lately...

She lowers her head, sighing as she squeezes herself, arms wrapped around her, her only little bit of comfort.

I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out. What should I say? The others call her Inquisitor, but then there are some who call her by her true name, Nalia. Her friends...

I bring my hands together. "Inquisitor?"

She looks at me, her eyes widen at my sudden appearance, but she's starting to get used to it. She doesn't jump like she used to, doesn't squeak out of fear. Instead, she nods at me. "Hello, Cole. What brings you out tonight?" She asks softly, her eyes going back to there normal state. Happy, but faraway.

I walk until we are arms length away from each other. "It's too loud in the tavern..." I whisper.
"Oh, Iron Bull's throwing another party?" She laughs softly, shaking her head. "The things that man does..."

She's trying to cover up her pain by making conversation about any random thing.

I look at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"You're lying," I point out. Why does she need to lie? She knows I can see people, see there pain.
It makes her sigh loudly. "I have to remember that nothing is ever private around you." She pushes herself off the railing, walking away.

I almost let her go, because that's what she wants, but something inside of me makes me run to her.

I throw my arms around her.

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NALIA
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I feel a pair of arms wrap around me and it stops me dead in my tracks.
Instinct has me struggling for just a moment, until realization hits that this is Cole whose doing this.

"Cole?" I ask, looking over my shoulder at him. "What are you doing?" My throat tightens out of nervousness, making my voice crack.

"Helping," he states, "you want this. You want someone to hug you, to tell you that it's alright, that you're appreciated." He squeezes me tighter. "Let me help you..."

My heart beat speeds up.
It's been so long since anyone has last hugged me in this way. I almost push him away, but something in my heart begs me to stay like this. Just for a little while longer...

I bring my hands to his arm, loosening them so that I can turn and stand face to face with him.

He's close...closer then he should be. And yet I don't pull away.

I only stare up at his face, his eyes, his blond bangs that hides away his blue eyes.
"When did this happen?" I ask myself. When did I like seeing him look at me? When did I feel this tingle every time he says my name? When did I...

I close the distance between us, letting my head rest against his chest, his arms still wrapped tightly around me.

I don't know how long we stay like this, minutes, an hour? But it didn't matter. I was lost in this feeling of safety...this touch of comfort that this strange man is giving me.

It's strange...he was this thing stuck in my head, helping me through the Envy demons horror maze.

Now, he's a physical being, and he's holding me, helping...

The next thing I know, my eyes open, only to see that I'm in my quarters in my bed, the blankets pulled up to my chest and the sun shining right outside my window.

I sit up in an instant. Was it a dream? What happened?

I look around, only to notice that there's a little flower placed beside me on my bed.
It's one of the Honeysuckles that's growing in Skyholds garden.
I bring the flower up to my nose, breathing in it's sweet smell.
It's my favorite flower... because it reminds me when I was a little girl, when I would roll in flower fields, not a fear or care holding me back.

He knew...didn't he?
He doesn't just do things randomly, he does them for reasons that has to do with something about someone's past, or present.
He knew about my past, just a little piece of it.

"It wasn't a dream..." I think. He really did hug me, leaving behind a Honeysuckle flower to remind me of the good memories as a child.

When the day starts, and I'm walking around, helping Cullen, Leliana, and Josephine, I find myself thinking about what happened last night.
A smile forms on my lips, and a warm feeling fills my chest.

After hours go by, I find myself entering the Tavern and going to the top floor.

Cole looks at me.
"I hope it helped," he says.

I smile softly.
"More then you can imagine," I whisper.