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Temperance by allisondraste
Fandoms: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age - All Media Types
30 Mar 2020
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Summary
Nathaniel and Elissa were childhood friends, but time and distance tore them apart. In the aftermath of the Fifth Blight, and Ferelden's Civil War, both Elissa and Nathaniel must attempt reconstruct their tattered lives. As a series of events lead them to be reunited, both are reminded of so many years ago when things were much simpler.
Series
- Part 1 of Temperanceverse
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 143,458
- Chapters:
- 42/42
- Comments:
- 1,127
- Kudos:
- 220
- Bookmarks:
- 70
- Hits:
- 5,620
Bookmarked by lenanew
16 Nov 2025
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Summary
Thirty years since first contact. Thirty years of war between the turians and the humans. Shanxi, a human fringe colony in the Traverse, has been the epicenter of the fighting. And humans are in the eleventh hour, about to lose not only their colonies, but their way of life. The only hope they have left is a Prothean beacon found hidden beneath labs-- a beacon which could, if given to the salarians, turn the tide of the war. The problem is: the turians want it just as badly.
Commander Roni Shepard wears her uniform more comfortably than her own skin. But a traumatic injury from the batarians, a client race to the Hierarchy, has left her unsure of everything she used to be secure in.
Lieutenant-Commander Garrus Vakarian thinks outside of the box, much to the chagrin of his commanding officers, his father, and the very establishment he fights for. When he uncovers a dark secret embedded deep within his own military, he holds on to the hope that others can put a stop to it, even if it destroys everything.
When both of them are tasked with securing the Prothean beacon, their lives will intertwine, and everything they thought they knew flies out the window when a mysterious ship also comes to collect.
Bookmarked by lenanew
16 Nov 2025
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The Consequences of Our Actions by Fiber_Punk
Fandoms: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types
20 Dec 2025
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Summary
The First Warden hasn't had a reason to visit the arling of Amaranthine since the Hero of Ferelden, Zukal Tabris, became its Arlessa five years ago. When he finally arrives for the fifth anniversary of the end of the Darkspawn Civil War, inviting King Alistair Theirin to meet him there, an investigation begins that may see Zukal demoted from Warden Commander and sent away from Ferelden. Alistair and Zukal are forced to work together after four long years of silence to try to prove her defeat of the archdemon without revealing Alistair's part in the dark ritual that saved her life. But Zukal's closest friend and overprotective Constable, Nathaniel Howe, doesn't trust that the King's motives are as altruistic as they initially seem. Nathaniel doesn't want to admit it, but something about the King's presence makes it hard for him to leave Zukal alone while he does everything he can to keep the woman who changed the course of his life in the role she deserves. Will friendships reach a turning point, will old hurts be forgiven, or will their past choices result in ruin?
This work is complete.
Series
- Part 17 of Warden Tabris World State
Bookmarked by lenanew
16 Nov 2025
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Summary
Wilda Cousland, the Jewel of Highever, comes of age into a world of intrigue, turmoil, and really awful parties. The one bright spot in her life is the oldest son of her father's dearest friend. But when war, duty, and betrayal rip her world apart, does she have the strength to hold on to their unlikely bond? Or will her heart and her drawing arm lead her to safer shores?
All Origins exist in the world of this series (not both genders, though), but Female Cousland is the Warden. All others either die during their stories or are just normal folks that might show up later. This leads to some canon divergence, obviously. Sometimes MAJOR canon divergence.
This story's title and general feel is inspired by "Moments Before The Storm" by Poets of the Fall. The individual chapters are named after a poem by Dante Alighieri from his Vita Nuova.
Series
- Part 1 of Every Blighted Heart
Bookmarked by lenanew
06 Nov 2025
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The Road Less Traveled by speshulduck
Fandom: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
24 Dec 2025
Summary
Cadet Jane Shepard elects to do an exchange program with the turian officer training program during one of her summer breaks from the Alliance Naval Academy. She's partnered with Officer Candidate Garrus Vakarian, and it does not go well. He's got the prickliest attitude she's ever seen, and he clearly hates her.
Fortunately, the hatred only lasts until they discover that humans and turians can work out their differences in some exceptionally creative ways. They also discover that a turian sniper and a wrecking ball masquerading as a human biotic make one hell of a team on the battlefield.
A mostly canon-compliant AU in which Shepard and Vakarian become fiercely loyal friends long before Saren finds Sovereign and launches Shepard's career as a Spectre.
- Words:
- 177,061
- Works:
- 2
- Bookmarks:
- 33
Bookmarked by lenanew
02 Nov 2025
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Ownership of the Land by caleo
Fandoms: Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age: Origins
12 Jun 2025
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Summary
Being a Grey Warden was a miserable job—but serving as the Ferelden Warden-Commander was the only home she had ever carved out for herself. Who could even guess that after returning to his occupied family estate with the intention of killing her, Nathaniel Howe would become her most reliable ally?
(Warden-centric, set Awakening through Inquisition)
Bookmarked by lenanew
23 Oct 2025
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Daylight by Nairiofthemoon
Fandoms: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
15 Aug 2024
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Summary
Alyssa Amell and her wardens are on a quest in the deep roads but things don't go as planned. This ordeal makes her and Nathaniel realize what they mean to each other.
Bookmarked by lenanew
23 Oct 2025
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Shadows in the Dark by Seabirdsong
Fandoms: Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types
11 May 2020
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Summary
Solona Amell has a deathwish. It's seven months after the death of the Archdemon and the Hero of Ferelden longs to join her beloved Alistair at the Maker’s side. The fact that the darkspawn continue to swarm the land surrounding the Warden's new base means plenty of opportunity to make that a reality. While an old crush from the circle provides a powerful temptation, it's the broody archer who just might change give her a real reason to go on.
A note: After I was well into this fic it was brought to my attention that another fic already exists that is based on the exact same premise and sharing many of the same ideas. Please know that this similarity was an honest coincidence and be sure to give some love to the author who did it first: Cousland is Alive, by Turbo Nerd.
Bookmarked by lenanew
18 Oct 2025
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Duty & Desire by TrillianNSeven
Fandoms: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age (Video Games)
28 Nov 2025
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Summary
The Fifth Blight had ended and Ferelden was beginning to rebuild. With Alistair Theirin crowned as king and Caitriona Cousland as his queen, the nation celebrated a union fit for legend of the two Grey Wardens turned royal lovers. Yet, behind the facade of royal splendour, their marriage was forged not from love, but from duty and sacrifice.
Determined never to fall in love, Caitriona had resigned herself to her fate as Alistair's queen. At least, until a fateful journey to Vigil’s Keep to assist the Grey Wardens. And Alistair, having spent his whole life under the orders of another, begins to learn that being king allows him certain freedoms he never would have expected.
Beneath the weight of expectations and loyalty to the throne, desires and temptations arise that will challenge the foundations of their lives.
Series
- Part 1 of Duty & Desire
Bookmarked by lenanew
10 Sep 2025
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Summary
Spotting a deviant disguised as an android is hard work. But a human disguised as a deviant? Good luck.
Bookmarked by lenanew
13 Aug 2025
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He doesn't know what love is. All he knows is hunger.
He'd learned to live with it. The hunger had been his most faithful companion over the years, and he had long since given up the ghost of self-denial. He knew what he was. At least, he'd known before he'd woken up on that ravaged beach, blinking in the too-bright sun and you'd come stumbling down the dirt-worn path, covered in blood of questionable origin.
You play the part of the amnesiac hero with charm. None of your other companions seemed to detect there was something deeply, deeply monstrous within you. But he smells the blood your short fingernails draw from digging into your palms when you choke out pleasantries and diplomacy. He recognizes the glint of bloodlust in your eyes.
He watches you and he can just tell.
You know hunger, too.
Bookmarked by lenanew
12 Jul 2025
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an indentation in the shape of you by interventionsandlullabies
Fandoms: Mass Effect Trilogy, Mass Effect - All Media Types
26 Aug 2025
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Summary
“Oh no,” Garrus said. “I know that face. That’s your problem solving face. That’s your I think I can fit through this air vent and drop down behind their reinforcements face.”
“What if we do it first?”
He stared at her. “Shepard. I fear the consequences of the next four words immensely. What do you mean?”
A smile lifted the corner of her mouth. “What if we find you a mate before your dad gets here?”
“Spirits,” he said, the word half curse, half exhalation. “That’s what I was afraid you were going to say.”
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They survived the end of the world. They've had a few (relatively) normal years with no catastrophies. But with Garrus’ dad breathing down his neck about finally settling down, they've only got 48 hours to produce a suitable partner.
Garrus has just the girl in mind. If only she wasn't the one trying to set him up.
Bookmarked by lenanew
28 May 2025
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Summary
"Formula 1 was never an if with Shepard, not even in karts. When we make it. When we’re fighting for wins. When we’re the greatest racing drivers the world has ever seen.
However often those sentences ended with I’m going to kick your arse, it was impossible not to get pulled along, impossible not to believe they might really be the two kids out of tens of thousands who make it. Shepard and Vakarian, together on top of the world."
Slow burn rivalmance shakarian. Updating bi-weekly.
Zaeed enjoyers, proceed directly to CH.17
Series
- Part 3 of Flashpoints
Bookmarked by lenanew
09 May 2025
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Loyalty and Limerence by Serendipity001
Fandoms: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
31 Dec 2023
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Summary
Garrus' thoughts and feelings regarding Commander John Shepard were easy to understand and explain: He respected and admired the human Spectre and would follow him into hell in a heartbeat. His feelings regarding his crewmate and friend, Lieutenant Jane Shepard, however, weren't as clear cut. She'd taken up residence in his head and wouldn't leave.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 446,989
- Chapters:
- 76/76
- Comments:
- 969
- Kudos:
- 797
- Bookmarks:
- 161
- Hits:
- 46,044
Bookmarked by lenanew
02 Apr 2025
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A Dream Within a Dream by Serendipity001
Fandoms: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
11 May 2025
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Summary
"You’ve seen the tattered edges of the veil they’ve thrown across your eyes. You’ve found the dark corners that they can’t hide. But understand this before you enter: Once you step through these doors, there’s no going back. Once the veil has been ripped down, you can no longer return to hiding behind it.”
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Shepard lives out her life on the Citadel as she struggles to make sense of a warped reality. Her understanding of the nature of the universe is upended by a message from someone named "Archangel" who promises her precious answers, if only she can evade the monster hunting her in the shadows. But how deep does the rabbit hole go?
The Truth can be a dangerous thing.
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(It's the Matrix, but make it Mass Effect)
Bookmarked by lenanew
01 Apr 2025
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Summary
Her own personal Noverian peak. That’s what it was supposed to be. Nothing but the discovery: no distractions, no comfort, no windows looking out—no familiar faces. But it's starting to look like her winning streak might have ended in that pile of Citadel rubble, if it ever extended that far to begin with.
In which Shepard doesn’t want to be found, and Garrus, of course, has other ideas.
────
One polished pauldron bobs. “How does the Earth idiom go? No use beating a dead—” A long-suffering sigh. “What was it again?”“A dead horse. And yet, you’re here. Beating it.”
Pot, kettle. She wishes he’d just fucking say it.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 106,057
- Chapters:
- 13/?
- Comments:
- 418
- Kudos:
- 321
- Bookmarks:
- 152
- Hits:
- 11,485
Bookmarked by lenanew
29 Jan 2025
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Summary
Shepards behaviour on Therum becomes more extreme, and when Garrus tries to talk her down on the Normandy later, he discovers just how much of a menace she is.
The fourth time he says, “Right behind you, Shepard,” is when she goes to deal with Major Kyle.
Series
- Part 4 of Are You Kidding? I’m Right Behind You.
Bookmarked by lenanew
26 Jan 2025
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once upon a time, the planets and the fates and all the stars aligned (checkmate) by Supernova_Sage
Fandoms: Mass Effect Trilogy
10 Apr 2024
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Summary
She reaches for her braid to play with it. A nervous habit she’s never quite been able to quit. The turian reaches at the same time, though, and their hands meet. The moment she feels his calloused fingers brush against hers, she knows it’s over. She knows she needs to leave with him. She needs to know how the rest of him feels.
The dilated look in his eyes reflects her own musings.
“Ditch your friends,” she says, voice low.
Novella is walking away before the turian even has a chance to react. If he hadn’t intended for the conversation to go in this direction, then she doesn’t want to be facing him for the rejection. She’d rather wait and realise on her own that he won’t be meeting her. She puts some distance between her and the bar. Tries not to pay attention to just how long she’s been waiting.
Soon enough, there’s a three-fingered hand on her shoulder, heavy and warm. She turns to see that piercing blue gaze set on her. His mandibles are fluttering again. “Your place or mine?”
~~~~
AKA, a minor retelling of the series based on if Shepard and Garrus had met years before the Saren mission and how their relationship progresses over time
Bookmarked by lenanew
17 Jan 2025
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Summary
Jane Shepard, the heiress to Normandy House, has always and will always regard marriage to be nothing more than a sham. She'd rather live the life of a spinster than the life of a wife. But when the future of Normandy House is thrown out of her favor, she begrudgingly enters the marriage mart. After months of failure, a sliver of hope presents itself in the form of Viscount Garrus Vakarian, known playboy, rake, slut, and all other like terms. He proposes a daring plan: pretend to court and marry for a span of four months, before Garrus fakes his death and abandons the Citadel for good. It secures Shepard's claim to Normandy House and offers the benefits of widowed life, while favoring Garrus and his all-too secretive plans he shares with no one, including Shepard. But through the fake longing gazes and fabricated dates and the tense waltzes in balls, Shepard begins to fear the one thing that could scare her more than the prospect of marriage.
That through it all, she was falling in love with the Viscount.
Bookmarked by lenanew
15 Jan 2025
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Summary
“Garrus,” she tries.
He chirps. A trilling sound. His lips barely move as he does it.
“Oh,” she says, pushing herself up into a sitting position. “Translator must be fucked.”
Bookmarked by lenanew
01 Jan 2025