Doom Upon All The World

Chapter 35: The Tribulation Of Sorrow

          Sorrow swallowed them whole that night. There was nothing. Not a single light or ray of sunshine could get in that day. So much weighed on so many and in a solitary instance it came crashing down. The world of so many children, of few men, and of a handful of women was cast into a whirlwind of destructive terror and melancholy. At first it was inconceivable. No one would believe it, not until they saw for themselves. It was a cold and treacherous night. The chill had seeped in through the floorboards and the cracks in the doors, leaving them defenseless against the wrath of winter. But one in particular was immensely vulnerable and that cold wind that swept into the compound took life without mercy. 

     The hall was roamed by agonized cries and wails and shouts and pleas of despair, heartbreak, and misery. They were given by a man that had been snapped in two. His heart broken by the loss of love and the defeat of his will to live. He lost everything the moment her eyes fluttered shut, the life leaving her ever beautiful soul and floating away to some place he could not follow. It absorbed them all, going into their hearts and shattering their hopes. The children wept as their father did and her friends they cried as well. But many did not know what to say. They had come this far, had survived and prospered because of her strength and her connection to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, it was not enough to keep her by their sides. 

     Anguish burned in their beings, tears clouding their eyes, sorrow clutching their hearts, and mourning, grief, and anger tormenting their minds as they watched her slip away. Her dear love, a man of strength and passion and honesty since the day he vowed himself to only her, falling to his knees and gripping her hand, weeping over her limp, lifeless body was destroyed. Sculpted and shaped by his great adoration for the woman who had bore his children suddenly shattered and manipulated into an ugly cringe of a creature that only knew his hurt and loss. It was expected that had this day ever come he would not return to the man he once was. He had children though. Babes of his own creation that looked to him now for guidance, for love, for truth, for comfort. But they would find none there. 

     He would not recover from her death and they could all see it. He hated himself with a raging, destructive, malicious fire in his gut. He thought to run himself through, to lean on his own sword, and let it take him to her, to see those gorgeous eyes just once more, and feel the sweet bliss of knowing he would forever rest by her side. They wept. Maeve's heart contracted in her chest as she leaned into Solas, allowing his strong arms to fold her up and keep her safe. The pain was great. There was nothing she could compare it to. To lose someone she loved so much as this man loved this woman was something she hoped she would never know. Tears were flowing steady throughout the room. No one could hold it back. It came at a great price to them all to lose her. She was a bond they all shared, one woman that had managed to connect them despite their differences simply because she had to, because it was her job to make sure they got along.

     Solas felt Maeve's sadness in his core like a stiffness in his being that could not be shaken, an arrow in his back that he could not reach, a dagger in his chest he could not remove lest he desire to bleed out. He could sense the grief in her soul, the boiling of her ever distressed blood but he could not shed the tears of loss for he had not known her as they had. Cullen let a few out, allowing them to slip down his cheeks as Cassandra clung to him. It was not like her to get so emotional but under these circumstances he understood all too well. He had considered the woman a friend and had worked more closely with her than most of them. She was a kind and graceful woman and now she was gone. Cassandra felt her loss like a knife in her chest. It struck her like pain she had only ever felt once before, that was the day Anthony had died. She had not felt pain like this in a very long time and it cut through her like iron cuts through wood. 

     Perhaps Leliana was hit the hardest beside the man at his lover's side. She did not show her tears. She simply turned from the room and left, running off to find solitude elsewhere, a place where she could cry and not be confronted by the others. The death of her best friend was one she could not have foreseen. Had she known the danger of bringing her here, she would have let her go home. Josephine laid motionless, eyes shut, skin pale, chest unmoving and empty of breath, lips as blue as frost itself. She'd passed in the night with the evening chill. When they heard Tom's cries they all came rushing but it was too late. No one could do anything for her now. 

     They surrounded him for nearly half an hour as he leaned over her body, sobbing, pleading with her to come back. It was not until Cullen made a move to comfort him that he truly snapped. "She's gone, Tom." He whispered, putting his hand to his shoulder and pulling back gently. He tried to ease Tom off of her but the man shoved him off, his gaze not leaving the woman he loved. "No!" He shouted as he flung Cullen's hand away. "She is not! She is here! She is fine!" He shouted as tears ran down his face. He held her freezing hands in his, kissing the pale flesh tenderly. "Please, come back to me. Please." He begged in hushed whispers. He continued his crying and pleading until his throat was swollen with grief and his eyes burned with the pain of over exhausted tear ducts. 

     "Why?!" He looked up at the ceiling but really searching for something more, for answers. "Why have you done this? Why have you taken her from me? Maker, I cannot do this without her! Our children, our life, you've destroyed them! Don't you see what you've done!" He was screaming now, hollering and cursing angrily as spittle and rage flew from his mouth. Maeve could not bear to watch and buried her face deep into Solas' chest. He ran his hand over the back of her head and held her to him. This day was far too much a painful one, for every one. 

     "Tom, you must stop this. She is gone, man. Nothing you do, not screaming at the Gods, not begging for mercy, not pleading for her life is going to change what's been done. She'd dead." Dorian was blunt. He got straight to the point as he shouted at Tom. Bull did nothing to stop him. He was lost in his own trance, remembering the things Maeve had told him earlier. First Krem, now Josephine. "I cannot do this without her. I cannot raise our children, I cannot be a father. I am nothing without her." He wept into her hands as he fell to his knees and slumped against the table. Cullen tried to help pull him up but he refused. He crawled away still sobbing and got up on his own, stumbling in grief as he did. 

     "Father, please. Don't get angry, Father. Mother loved you, she loved us all. She goes to the Maker's side now." Claude cried through her tears as she held Olive. Philippe was cradling his youngest brother in his arms as Pierre sat on the floor wailing for his mother, tears streaking his dark cheeks. It was heartbreaking to watch them like this. "No!" Tom shouted again. "This was their fault!" He continued as he paced momentarily in front of the children. "Had they not been born, had she not been cursed with their sodding existence, she would still  be alive! It is their fault! They did this!" He hollered through the steady tears in his face. He was mad with grief, it racked his body and tortured his soul. 

     Claude cried out louder as her father got close, screaming in the infant's face. "It is not their fault, Father. They are only babes." She whined though he would not hear it. "No, they are demons and they have taken your mother from me! I will not stand to be in a room with them! Or with any of you! Had you not involved us in this, we would be fine! We would be happy! You and your damned Inquisition ruin everything you touch!" Tom screeched in Maeve's face. Her lip quivered as she clung to Solas. 

     "That is quite enough." He told the bearded man, shielding Maeve from him with his own body. Tom went blank and he turned around, going back to his seat beside Josephine. He was quiet for a few moments. "Get out." He muttered plainly, only a twinge of disdain in his tone. "Father," Philippe protested but this only angered him. "Out!" He shouted. "Get out!" He continued and they all shuffled hesitantly toward the door. Maeve only caught one last glance of Tom bent over Josephine's corpse. He held her head in his hands and kissed her frail lips. "I am so sorry." He whispered as she shut the door behind her.