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booburry · 8 months

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Madison's Folly// Part 3 // a Gale Dekarios Fic // WC 7.5k // Part 1 / Part 2 / Series Complete

Series Summary: Madison did not have a life of substance nor a life that invoked jealousy of the passing mind, but the few good things she had, she held dear. So when the man she loved unequivocally was left heartbroken by a goddess and a magical curse within his body, Madi found herself searching for any means to rid him of his life threatening burden, no matter the personal cost.

For all magic, no matter the greatness, comes with a cost to match.

AKA Madison does something foolish to prove her love for Gale without seeing the stark irony of the situation until it's far too late to step back.

A/N: Thank you all for waiting! Part 3 got a bit ahead of me, I felt like I needed to add more meat so it didn't feel like a constant info dump. I hope you enjoy and further A/N at the bottom to avoid spoilers for Part 3 ♥.

Tags: Angsty, Emotions, Unrequited Love, Established Friendship/Connection, Dialogue Heavy/Driven, Gale is moody and desperately in love, so much so that the guy isn't entirely thinking straight, spoilers for Act 2/3, Gale likes to see you sweat, they like to kiss cause they can't do anything more, they both have a flare for the dramatic, Companions are present (looking at Astarion & Karlach...), minor Tav x Astarion mentioned/in background

“She said we would find her in this land!” Gale argued as they stood outside the entrance to their party’s last point of interest.

“We’ve searched everywhere Gale, and she isn’t to be seen. Have you maybe thought that she changed her mind?” Shadowheart hotly argued back, Raphael having vanished ten minutes ago yet they still stood outside the stone doors because Gale refused to enter.

“I may not live to see past this bloody mess, so the least you can give me is being reunited with the woman I love!” Gale almost yelled, feeling his anger rise and spark to a boil the moment he heard Astarion’s ‘tsk’ of disagreement.

“Would that be Mystra or Madi? Or another mysterious lover with an M name…oh, is it Mizora? You dirty boy—”

“Shut. Up.” Gale growled as flames balled in his fists, Astarion simply sighing and showing no fear of Gale’s temperamental threats.

“Fine, have your no-fun tantrum but when you’re finished, I might ask you if your genius brain ever thought your little girlfriend might be in there?” He fixed Gale with his well-mastered ‘know it all’ smirk while shooting a thumb in the direction of the stone doors.

“Well…” Gale started to try to defend himself but found he was lacking the words, for, in truth, he hadn’t thought of that at all. He had been fixated on the word ‘land’, never thinking it would be under it. He felt quite foolish, and in his silence, Astarion continued with his point.

“The same place, mind you,” Astarion slowly sauntering towards Gale, “where I have a very personal matter to handle and where Shadowheart has her…thingy.” Astarion pouted at Gale, pausing a moment before straightening his expression and turning away from him. “I thought not. So let’s go, and if she isn’t in here then we search the whole bloody cursed lands a second time while taking the scenic route.” He concluded before turning on his heel to look back at Gale. “Is that agreeable? Or are you set to have another tantrum about it?”

Gale grumbled, displeased with the way he was being spoken to yet not being able to argue it wasn’t well deserved on his part. Silently, he walked towards the door, Astarion sighing into a smile and slinging his arm around Gale’s broad shoulders.

“Ah, a quiet Gale. My favourite.” He teased.

“I wouldn’t mind if you were quiet every once in a while, too,” Gale snarled as he shrugged Astarion’s arm off him, finding himself in no mood for his banter.

~X~

Madi sat in silence as she continued to wait another day for Gale and his companions to arrive. They were capable, surely—Gale alone should be able to complete Shar’s trial, so long as the tadpole didn’t do anything funny to his ability to cast his magic. She frowned at that thought, wondering if she should go searching for him, but every time she tried to leave, she was glued in her tracks.

She couldn’t walk further away from the destination of the deal she made with Shar, to kill the Nightsong, so now that she stood before the entrance into Shar’s domain, all Madi could do was wait and not move an inch closer or further from where she was destined to go.

She used this time to constantly run through her plan, rehearse the things she would tell Gale before they entered and then the other things for right before she made her ‘final act’—for she could only refer to it as that, even in her thoughts, until she was in a place where Shar could not have eyes on her.

The sound of grinding stone from behind her had Madi almost leap to her feet, immediately turning on her heels as the large stone disc that separated this entrance from Shar’s temple rolled to the side. Gale's head appeared within the first visible crack made by the moving seal, Madi immediately letting out a relieved smile before it faltered with the heaviness of the situation ahead.

However, a genuine laugh escaped her as she watched Gale shimmy his body through as soon as he could, practically shoving himself into the stone until it moved and made way for him, seemingly not wasting another second—quickly proving that point by running towards her the moment he could.

“You can have your lover’s reunion after I meet with my Lady,” Shadowheart called out, far angrier than Madi thought she should be, but perhaps their lengthy journey here had waned on her patience. No matter the reason, Madi couldn’t risk them going into Shar’s domain without speaking to Gale and the rest of them before they entered.

“I have waited for a long time,” Madi argued, fury behind every word, “the least you can—” Madi’s words were cut off as Gale thudded into her and clasped her within his arms, hugging her most fiercely.

Everyone, except for Gale, saw how Madi reacted. First, her arms froze in the air, her eyes wide and blank with fear, only to slowly close with a pained expression of regret before she clung to his body with every ounce of strength she carried, desperate to never let go yet holding onto him like it would be the last time she ever did.

“Whatever you need.” Shadowheart quietly whispered, all hostility lost in her tone as everyone but Gale felt the heaviness of an unknown moment slowly filling the room.

“We searched everywhere for you.” Gale breathed a large exhale as he told Madi, stepping away from his hold on her yet keeping his hands rested on her shoulders, only an arm's length away.

“Truly.” Astarion quipped from the back, Gale immediately rolling his eyes before closing them to take a deep, calming, breath.

“I’m glad you found me,” Madi softly told him, rubbing her hands along his robed arms, “but we should talk.”

“I am yours to command.” Gale was quick to reply, an enthusiastic smile on his lips.

“Well…in that case, I need you to cast Silence and Hold Person on me and then drag me to Lights Inn no matter how much I protest—is that in the realm of you being ‘mine to command’?” Gale smirked before drawing a hand up to scratch his beard, studying Madi who felt her focus cracking at the idea of commanding Gale under less dire circumstances.

“You have a strange way of flirting, you know that?” He paused, his smirk lingering before a prompt shake of his head and a wave of his arms. “Nevertheless, I wouldn’t be the gentleman I am if I denied my ladyher every desire.” He bowed to her with a flourish, Madi smiling and blushing at his antics and attention, forgetting what was truly ahead of her for only a moment.

But a moment was enough.

Enough to briefly envision a future where they walked away from this, together.

A vision that steeled Madi’s will to follow through with her plan. It was the only way she saw them having a chance at that future. Not walking away together, but just…any future together. It may come with slightly more risk compared to what Gale’s path had ahead of him, with Mystra’s request and what it would mean to defy her, but with a lot less calamity.

Out of the two options though? Her or Gale? Madi knew it had to be her to take the risk, to take the Karsite Weave within herself and stabilize and sustain it with her connection to the Shadow Weave and Shar’s magic that nested within her.

It also helped Madi wasn’t prone to the blinding ambition Gale historically demonstrated. She didn’t entirely hold it against him, the only exception being the obvious, however, she empathized and grew up seeing the effect of always being told you were the best or of the greatness you would attain had on Gale. How it nurtured his drive for power, for being better than he was the day before, that his magical abilities were all that mattered, was the only thing to focus on.

Among many other matters, Madi was also determined to make him see otherwise, but, for now, the power Madi would gain would be safe in her hands; safer.

Plus, this way, this short journey ends with Gale alive and free from Mystra’s clutches and that’s what mattered most to Madi.

A flash of Gale’s purple magic and she was frozen in place, her eyes remaining closed, but she felt the power within her creep up from her belly and through her throat; like a snake slithering to escape. Shar didn’t like this, didn’t want this to happen, and was manipulating the power she gave Madi to command the shadow weave placed within her, acting like strings for a puppet.

Madi felt her mouth open, unhinge itself almost, as a painful green flame festered and formed at the back of her mouth and at the perfect time Madi saw a scroll being read and silence suddenly cast upon her, the flame immediately evaporating, the weave nestling back into its slumber.

Without waiting, Karlach walked up to Madi and lifted her, set to carry her as they walked back to Light’s Inn.

~X~

Gale lightly brushed the hair away from Madi’s clammy forehead, worry growing roots within the pit of his stomach as he continued to wait for her to wake up.

“I’m sure things will be fine, Gale.” Astarion, uncharacteristically, tried to cheer him up. “You worry too much about it.” He paused a moment before glancing at Gale’s chest. “Besides, you have to be careful otherwise…‘undue stress’, I believe I heard you call it?”

“Thanks, Astarion,” Gale grunted, not caring for the reminder that he carried a bomb in his chest, a volatile orb that was not only at the center of his body but all of his troubles, too. His fanged friend just sighed and sat next to him on the bed.

“Look, I’m…no good at these things,” Astarion admitted with a frantic flourish of his arms, “and neither is Tav, but they are worried about you…and…well, I care what Tav cares about.” He finished with a huff, drawing Gale’s attention to his sudden vulnerability, knowing very well with a look at Astarion that it wasn’t just Tav who brought him here with concern. “Things weren’t exactly going super for you before we ran into her and every day since, well,” Astarion paused, pinching his expression as if trying to think of a way to not sound insulting, “you’ve not looked well, darling.” Gale smiled, a small huff of air leaving his nostrils as he looked back towards Madi.

“I haven’t entirely felt the best, truth be told,” Gale admitted, glancing back at Astarion as if to solidify his friend’s sincerity in his concern before continuing. “Surprisingly I think, without her, I would be a lot more indignant and intolerable than I already was.” Gale sighed deeply before his eyes fell back to Madi who was resting peacefully despite the horror it was getting her here and the fever that would not leave her.

The spells they had cast in the temple hadn’t lasted long once outside. Something managed to counterspell them despite their blessings and protections from the shadow curse, something far more powerful was at work here—a realization that had been the source of Gale’s nausea and unease since it crossed his mind.

He had watched as Madi’s eyes had become black the moment their spells were removed, immediately speaking in a tongue Gale did not recognize but from the way her whole body began to glow, they, collectively, knew it was not good.

Astarion was the one with the quick reflexes and reaction, knocking her out cold before Madi could finish her spell, whatever it had been. She was fine, despite being unconscious, until they walked into the barrier at Light’s Inn. Then she took a fever, her whole body shaking before they even got her into an open bed, unable to be awoken.

Gale desperately needed to understand what it was that she was dealing with, what stupid thing she did because of him, and by how much pain he saw her in, how changed and terrifying her powers had grown, he knew it was not good. He knew she reached for powers far greater than she should have, thinking that power was the only thing that could make a difference, that mattered.

Just like Elminster had said, if Gale took the moment to truly look closely at what she had done, he would see his very own actions.

Which only made him conclude that her power source was now directly entangled and connected with the very curse they sought to purge, the very curse Halsin, at the least, would fight to the death to end, and that was not someone Gale wished to face.

With this new perspective, Gale also now understood why Madi didn’t believe him when he said he would save her from this. He didn’t even understand its true nature but just from the power he saw, from the parts he could already gather, Gale knew it would be difficult to devise a plan.

“At times, I think there are things only you and I can understand out of our little group.” Astarion’s softer tone lightly carried Gale away from his thoughts, the elf’s expression pursed in sombre contemplation. “What it’s like to go from being surrounded by people to being alone yet never quite feeling the difference despite the company.” He offered, Gale lightly shrugging his brow in agreement. “Not needing the company of others yet striving to always be the best when you are.” Astarion offered a less favourable similarity, Gale having a harder time agreeing to it, but only because of his pride.

Astarion hesitated a moment before offering his third, his gaze finally acknowledging Madi.

“Lastly, I think I more recently than you, have found a single person who matters more to you than you could have ever imagined possible, despite the…problematic situations they’ve dragged us into.” Gale smiled, thinking of the precarious situations Tav had dragged them all into so far.

“I’m glad you have them.”

“I am too.” Astarion agreed with a soft smile, pausing a moment as he obviously thought of some memory or moment with Tav, before composing himself and returning his attention to Gale with a soft laugh. “I’m glad you have her too, but that is my point, Gale. If she has willingly done all of this,” he waved his hands dramatically in circles towards Madi, “to save this,” he waved his hands towards Gale, “then you have a chance. Besides, I haven’t met anyone who has made you act so foolishly and I can’t risk losing such entertainment.” Astarion lightly patted Gale’s shoulder. “So I’m invested, and you can count me in when it comes to saving your damsel.”

Gale tilted his head with a light nod, a smile spreading across his lips slowly in his bewilderment at how Astarion was talking to him, helping him, and Gale could truly tell it was authentic, it was truly him comforting Gale in this moment.

“You are a good friend, Astarion.” Gale warmly told him, a soft hand resting on his shoulder before he let out a soft chuckle. “I admit I—”

“Gale?” Madi weakly whispered, Gale immediately dropping to the side of her bed to take her hand into his, Astarion, without hesitation, got up and started walking towards the door saying how he would give them a moment before getting everyone, his tone nothing else but deadly serious.

“I’m right here, my love, you’re safe.” Madi breathed a weak smile, her chest rising with her unregulated panting.

“We made it?” Gale kissed her clammy hand as she struggled to get the three words out.

“I dutifully did as was commanded of me.” He told her, placing another kiss on her knuckles as he watched Madi close her eyes, her breathing becoming more laboured. “Tell me how I can help, Madi—please. I—”

“Nothing…not yet.” Madi groaned, almost hissed, at the pain inside her. Gale knew it was this new power she attained that caused this pain, caused this reaction, but he still couldn’t fully understand it until she told him! Gale found himself, quite honestly, growing impatient with continuously being left in the dark on the matter.

How was it that she was meant to help him, in all these grand ways he was kept in darkness over, yet he couldn’t do a simple thing for her? It was remarkably and unnecessarily unfair.

“You’re becoming more cryptic than Elminster,” Gale grumbled, not finding it in himself to be more cutting than that.

“I rue the day,” Madi whispered with an attempted, weak, playfulness before patting the bed with her free hand. “Help me move and lay with me. I will tell you everything I can.” Gale was quick to move, pulling from his robe a scroll of telekinesis they had found within a bookshelf in some place or another. He had been wondering when best to use such a spell, with it having so many uses, but ensuring Madi could be moved without pain, discomfort or Gale’s weak arms dropping her seemed like a just cause.

Quick and with a flourish, Gale cast the spell and gently repositioned Madi within the bed, allowing enough space for him to slide in. He held her suspended for a moment so that as she rested back into her pillow and mattress, it was also within Gale’s embrace. Madi smiled, her feverish sweat making her skin glow with all the candles and firelight flickering within the room.

“You are breathtaking,” Gale whispered to her, unable to stop himself from putting aside all other matters to just relish in this moment of being able to hold and love her. Madi’s finger slowly rose to boop the tip of his nose.

“You aren’t too bad yourself, handsome.” Gale watched as Madi’s soft and playful smile faltered into an expression of discomfort and fatigue. “I will be back to how I was once we return to the temple, nothing else that can fix this.” He ran a hand over her hair, clearing the stray strands that were in front of her face, before lovingly running a thumb over her cheek. It was taking every ounce of his energy to not panic, to not demand answers of what was going on. It helped to constantly loop through thoughts and reasons of why he loved her, of what she was enduring for him, what she had sacrificed, and that always reinforced his patience.

“And what, may I ask, is ‘this’ referring to?” He slowly, warmly, asked her, Madi smiling a little as if expecting such a response from him. However, Gale could hardly think of a more pressing question to ask, he just ensured to ask it with his decorum in mind.

“I have to kill the Nightsong,” Madi admitted after a small pause, Gale immediately turned from his thoughts, finding himself hanging onto her every word. “In exchange, Shar gave me the power to free you of your orb.”

“That’s who you made your deal with?” Gale immediately asked, purely out of shock as the answer was obviously ‘yes’. “Gods are not ones to seek favours from.” Madi was silent as she thought of how to respond, yet her silence was the only answer he required. Despite how profoundly Gale wished to lecture Masi on how diabolically hypocritical she was currently being, one wince of pain from her and Gale could only be left with worry.

“It was a deal I did not wish to make, but I was left no choice.” Gale felt immediately broken at her words, shattered from the weight of his guilt and shame of his action, that by stonewalling Madi he forced her down a dangerous path alone. “I found out what Elminster was instructed to tell you and I feared to my very core, Gale, that you would think yourself unworthy of living without Mystra’s approval and, quite frankly, kill yourself.”

Gale immediately wiped away the tears that started to form as Madi obviously sat with the thought of losing him while Gale couldn’t avoid empathizing with how deep the fear of losing him must have been for her to take such drastic measures. However, something told him that there was more to Madi’s deal to make it in Shar’s favour.

“I didn’t exactly give you any reason to believe otherwise, did I?” He asked, knowing the answer. “With being a shut-in within my tower, with how cruelly I ignored you…how desperate I was up until a few weeks ago to gain Mystra’s forgiveness.” Gale didn’t try to hide the contempt he held for himself being presented through his tone.

“Tara told me why you did it,” Madi was quick to tell him, her voice soft and full of compassion he did not deserve, “that you didn’t want to endanger me, that you had no idea what would happen with its volatility.” Gale just scoffed and shook his head at her justifications, it was hardly a reason to cause so much strife. Selfish.

“It doesn’t make up for it—”

“It doesn’t have to.” She cut him off again, seemingly impatient with his self-doubts and self-judgements. Madi had, however, been one to illogically against Gale’s standards while always finding the good in every poor choice made or quality had. As such, her opinion on the matter was quite biased—a point Gale felt necessary to keep telling himself. “You have plenty of time ahead to make up for it all. Promise.”

The reference to ‘time ahead’ had Gale immediately hit with thoughts of what that future was, with Madi, without the orb, and he felt desperate to have it. Yet something gnawed at him from the inside, like that future was just out of his reach from keeping.

The feeling struck fear in his heart—fear he would lose Madi, fear he would lose someone who saw only the best in his worst qualities, fear of losing the one person who seemed to make him better.

His heart sank to the bottom of his stomach, realizing that he risked losing all of this because of actions he drove her to take and he couldn’t allow her to carry that burden any longer.

“You don’t have to do this, we can find another way, a better way.” He begged her.

“No, Gale—” She tried to dismiss him but he wasn’t backing down, he had to fight for this, for her, for them.

“I’ll get stronger, better, I can figure a way to use this orb and save you—I am sure of it.” He promised her with all the honesty, sincerity, and desperation his heart could muster and carry.

“You don’t need to be ‘better’, Gale, please,” Madi begged him as she lightly stroked his cheek, “you don’t seem to understand how you have already been the best thing that is in my life, and it was never about your magic.” Gale chucked, lightly kissing Madi’s clammy forehead before cradling her closer to his chest, this not being the first, or probably last, time Madi had told him he was too reliant on his craft.

“I recall you being quite annoyed with me anytime I did cast magic for you.” He felt Madi smile against him, her finger bending and scratching against his chest.

“Yet you still can’t figure I don’t want you for your magical prowess.” Gale laughed with more force than he probably should have at the thought.

“Of course!” He told her. “What else could I possibly have to offer?” Gale felt Madi tug on his hair to make him look at her, her gaze looking so devastatingly serious he felt his breath hitch.

“I am not some goddess you need to impress. You could be a poor farmer with cursed crops, but so long as you were the devoted, doting, generous, caring, endearing, and intelligent man that you are then I would have everything I needed to be happy and fulfilled.” She drew her lips to his as Gale watched her with absolute shock, glazing over her comment of Mystra to focus on the way she described him and that Madi was serious with her convictions and not simply being playful with him.

He was so shocked he barely kissed her back but thankfully Madi did not seem to mind. Instead, she smiled at him with a weak but loving expression.

“I need no status, wealth or power Gale—”

“I know you don’t but I want to give that to you, a life where you are without wanting,” Gale confessed, still finding it absolutely preposterous that he, alone, as a simple commoner, could be enough for a woman such as her. Madi just lightly shook her head, tapping a finger into Gale’s forehead.

“We were so close,” she stressed with two taps, Gale letting out a small, soft, and shocked chuckle, “don’t get thick on me now.” She said, almost to Gale’s head or brain rather than himself, a notion he found both endearing and silly, but he listened to her words all the same.

“I guess I could try to understand.” He slowly admitted, instead shifting his focus to how he felt about her rather than thinking about what he deserved, as Madi was making it abundantly clear that he was no expert on that matter. He duly noted how she was pointedly telling him it was best to take her advice, and, despite how difficult it may prove in action, accept that her bias may be more deserving than he wished to accept.

A fact he could not ignore was how he had always been better off when taking her advice on matters, so despite his great reservations about such notions, all logic pointed to him resigning in this debate. And to think…the last time he disagreed with her was when he had just become Mystra’s lover and had foolishly run to tell Madi with immense pride at his triumph and elation—what a stinging realization that memory provided on multiple levels, Gale once again trying to pull his thoughts away from self-judgement and loathing.

“Sorry,” he apologized, noticing Madi’s playful expression slide into worry at his silence, “got lost in thought, but I say I should understand because when I think of the idea of a…future of this, of us, I do not picture anything but being with you and that is enough for me. More than enough, really.” He smiled, softly, fighting the constant berating he felt on the inside, the deprecation his mind begged to unleash.

Madi’s giddy laugh broke him out of those trenches, his excited and eager attention immediately making her tuck her face into the pillow, keeping it there until Gale scooped a finger under her chin and lovingly brought her shy and blushing gaze to his.

“Sorry—”

“I would happily hear that noise for the rest of my life,” Gale whispered, feeling an overwhelming, desperate, need to fiercely love and protect the woman he held in his arms.

“I don’t wish to say how long I have waited for this moment…not even knowing if it would ever come…I love you.”

“I love you too,” Gale spoke softly, “and never apologize for it. I would much prefer if you told me what I did to cause,” he drew his lips to her exposed ear, “such a heavenly sound.” Gale whispered, feeling his deep desire force his body to lean into his urges until he felt how hot Madi’s skin was, becoming instantly reminded of why he needed to be restrained.

“My appolo—” Madi placed a finger over his lips, Gale’s eyes drawn to look at her, seeing her breathe heavily, her skin glistening from the sweat of her fever—a detail Gale was trying very hard not to pay attention to so he could maintain his restraint.

“When we return to Waterdeep, we can nest within your tower and not leave the bed or balcony for a week, and we can live a lifetime of you whispering naughty things in my ear.” Gale huffed a laugh, caught off guard once more by her promises and how they made his heart and mind race. Stealing another moment for himself to look upon her beauty, admiring what he had foolishly overlooked for years, he couldn’t help but speak his regrets.

“How different things would have been if I had stopped searching elsewhere for the meaning I was lacking in life.” He thought out loud, knowing perfectly well he wouldn’t have this orb orthis tadpole, and Madi wouldn’t be in her current condition; facing whatever peril lay ahead of her. Madi simply shook her head in response and disbelief.

“You always had a flare for the dramatics.” She teased him, Gale smiling, knowing he had no defence to such truths. “Besides…this way we can save each other and have a story worthy of being written about.” Gale frowned, knowing Madi meant to be lighthearted but the notion only reminded him of three important and serious things: what he suspected the magic and power that festered within her was, how it connected to whatever she had planned with his orb, and how he was utterly terrified he wouldn’t be powerful enough to help her, stop her or save her.

But for right now he needed to be strong for her, needed to show her that he would save her from whatever peril she had ahead of her, whether he believed it himself or not. Gale smiled, drawing his face to hers once more.

“Then let us make sure it’s a gloriously romantic tale with a happy ending for the intrepid lovers, shall we?” He proposed to Madi, a small peck to her lips, pulling back to only see her lovingly smiling at him, a newly seen brightness behind her eyes.

“I like the sound of that.” She told him before tugging on his beard to pull his face back to hers.

~X~

They had managed to get back to the temple without issue, Karlach carrying Madi out of the protection of Lights Inn while still weak and sickly but, as previously stated, Madi’s fever was gone within an instant.

No longer was Shar trying to take control of her, to steal her mind and leave her body an empty husk of a follower—another to join the shadows, and a detail Madi ensured to withhold from her companions.

On their journey there, Madi explained how the Nightsong was not an idol but a person, an immortal, a daughter of Selûne and who is the source of Ketheric’s immortality, and how his reign allowed the continuation of the curse. She also informed Shadowheart that her goddess would task her with the same thing she tasked Madi with—to kill the immortal.

The fact that Shar had requested this task of more than one was not lost on many of their companions, or that Madi seemed to understand a great amount of intricate details related to the curse, Ketheric and the Nightsong. Within this explanation, it was understandable that Shadowheart was quick to dismiss the coincidence that would make her mission unimportant, claiming this was her destiny and that her lady called out to her here.

“Your lady calls to all in this land that will listen, ordering them all to do one thing: Kill the Nightsong. Ketheric demands it, her shadows hunger for it, you hear it.” Madi had told Shadowheart, seeing immediately a splinter in her belief and faith. It was not something Madi relished in, coming between someone and their god—despite what her past with Gale may attest.

But Madi heard the whispers of the shadows, heard the tales that the souls carried, and she knew Shadowheart was no more special to Shar than the next follower seeking her gaze and favour.

Thankfully she was able to convince Shadowheart of this truth long enough to temper her need to act hastefully upon meeting the Nightsong, long enough to allow a conversation between the immortal and Shadowheart that left her doubting and defying beliefs altogether.

It felt wrong to be grateful for such a thing, but it made what Madi had to do next a lot easier.

“Now, we free you,” Shadowheart announced, walking towards the immortal but Madi stepped in her way.

“Before that happens, there’s…one last thing,” Madi told the group yet she looked at Gale.

“I suspected as much.” Gale calmly explained which gave reason as to why he had been acting so strangely up until now, like every word or action of Madi’s was to be observed and added into an equation he was running in his mind. All this truth did now was beg the question of what he had figured out this far.

No matter what it may be, Madi felt that she needed to act as if he had not figured out her entire plan, yet.

“I knew you wouldn’t let me get to this point if I had told you.” She admitted to him, wracked with the guilt of her lies yet she knew it was the right thing to do. Gale only nodded, accepting her words, reaffirming that being a truth he had already established. “Please just listen Gale—I know I don’t have the right to ask…” Madi’s speech slowed as she watched Gale’s gaze soften.

“You have every right, you waited long enough for me, I can exercise patience.”

“That’ll be a first.” Shadowheart said with a bratty sneer before there was an audible thud and ‘oof’ from her, followed by a hushed ‘shut it’ from Karlach.

“I read the texts that your orb came from…” Madi continued but hesitated at how much she should tell him, “I know what it is Gale and it will destroy you…one way or another, its power will destroy the man who stands in front of me. I couldn’t leave it to a goddess who asks you to blow yourself up to fix it.”

“She does it—”

“I know why she does it, Gale!” Madi interjected, Gale immediately dropping his head into a shallow nod of agreement, his habit of defending his goddess a hard one to still break. Madi sighed, calming herself before continuing, “I understand her reasoning better than you do.” She pointedly cut at him, trying hard to hold her tongue at the real reason Mystra wished the orb to be destroyed and how she cared not about Gale’s life to do it—to remove the threat.

“Elminster explained to me, unintentionally, how Mystra was planning to use the Weave to sustain your orb and…theoretically, to destroy it, so—”

“You theorized what could be done with the Shadow Weave.” Gale completed, his eyes and voice carrying the shock of a lifetime until his expression twisted into one of fear and pain. “Madi…no! Nothing good could—”

“It’s too late Gale, I made my deal and she will kill me if I don’t make my end of the bargain happen. Either it’s the Nightsong or I that are leaving this place, Gale, but not both and…I, uh…” Madi’s voice quivered as she hesitated to say the last truth she needed to say, the truth that would cause her to act quickly before being banished from the realm of the goddess she was about to cross and betray.

Gale reached out to Madi who flinched at his touch, both of them shocked at her response.

Madi was scared, scared of what she was about to do, scared that a single touch from the man she loved would dissolve her courage and have her back away from the corner she had walked herself into.

“I need you to promise me a few things, right now Gale.” She hotly demanded, knowing she had to just rush into the perilous end she faced. Madi just needed to hear from him the words that would fortify her nerves.

“Madi, I—”

“Promise me, Gale!” Madi closed her eyes, unable to look at Gale’s twisted expression of concern and burgeoning distress.

“Okay!” Gale exclaimed, clearly wishing to calm her panic while his own continued to rise. “Whatever you ask.”

“Promise you won’t abandon me, you won’t forget about me…that you will try to save me.” Madi’s eyes opened to finally look at him, glimmering as her silent tears reliably returned to her. Gale softly took a step towards her, lightly reaching a loving hand towards her cheek.

“Madi—”

“Promise me!” Madi forcefully continued, knowing that she couldn’t stop, that she was growing weaker by the second out of fear of what she was about to do, what she was about to endure, but knowing she had to do it to free Gale from Mystra’s grasp. “You’ll return to me as you are,” she gripped onto his robes, her eyes frantic and wide as they searched Gale’s, “not Gale of Waterdeep, not Gale of something else, just Gale Dekarios the mortal man whom I have recklessly loved for far too long.”

Madi sputtered a laugh, her tears spraying from her mouth, Gale's cheeks glistening their tear trails as he silently watched Madi, waiting until he was sure she was finished.

“I promise you all of that and the world,” Gale whispered, seamlessly cupping her entire face within his hands only to bring them so close to each other their noses almost touched. “You will never leave my heart for a second. Every step I take, every thought I have, will be to get back to you, I swear it.” He promised, sealing his words with a kiss that was meant to hold a thousand love letters, a thousand moments of professed feelings of longing and sickening want, a promise of a thousand moments and more to come after their time apart. Madi’s whole world shook with the weight and the force behind his intentions, behind the way Gale held her, kissed her, and promised her an endless amount of devotion.

“Elminster has the other one of these,” Madi told Gale through a snotty inhale as they finally parted from the other, “or, well, had the other one. Here,” she added, dropping the ring into his hand, “I won’t be able to respond but I will be able to at least hear you.” Gale slowly clasped his hand over the ring before looking up at Madi.

“I will tell you about my every day.” He swore to her before his eyes softened and he slowly gave her a sad smile. “I promise.” Madi couldn’t help but return the smile.

“Very good, then, with that matter settled…there is just one last part that I need you all to agree upon,” Madi announced, opening herself up to stand in a space where she could look at everyone, Gale, his companions, as well as the Nightsong. “I can’t have you lift the Shadow Curse—”

Voices erupted from all sides, immediately drowning her out. Shadowheart getting heated as to why she sacrificed her faith, Halsin booming his immediate disagreement, Nightsong furious that she wasn’t going to be released.

“Let her speak!” Gale boomed, silencing them all into a hushed stillness before he turned to her with the softest smile of encouragement.

“I can’t have you lift the Shadow Curse right away. I need some time but I promise this land will be allowed to regrow and flourish, Ketheric will not be left immortal and you will be free, Nightsong.” Madi finished, turning to the immortal. “I just…need a few minutes between you being freed and when you can leave…and protection from whatever may come to try to stop me but once I—once I do what I need to, I will be able to protect you.”

Madi waited a moment until she saw Tav, Karlach, Halsin, Wyll and Gale nod at her, enough for her to know she would be safe to proceed. Sealing her fate, Madi reached back and placed a hand on the Nightsong, the seal holding her immediately releasing, while Madi just smiled at Gale weakly, pulling him towards her with her other free hand.

“I understand why Mystra made her rules,” Madi softly told Gale as she brushed some of his hair back behind his ear with the hand that had just freed the immortal. She could tell by the way Gale watched her that it was too late for her to be deceptive, he knew what she planned to do, but by how closely he stood to her, it was evident he didn’t know how. “Power like this shouldn’t be left to mortals who act upon the heart and not the mind.”

Madi brought her lips to Gale’s one last time, lingering in the touch as she slid one foot backwards and over the ward on the floor. Slowly her hand traced his scar from his eye, down his neck and only when her hand rested over his heart did Gale pull his lips away from hers yet found his body bound to her hand.

“The good thing about people like us, Gale, is that we are born sorcerers with a wizard’s training,” slowly the space around them lost the black and purple hue to fill with the pale green that Madi’s magic now appeared in. “We’re blessed with the ability to house, hold, comprehend and create terrible amounts of power,” Madi added, her eyes remaining closed.

The flame that was seared into Gale’s skin floated off of him only to slowly coil around Madi’s flesh, snaking up her arm but, unlike Gale, the lines continued to swirl over her entire body. Only when there was just a circle in her chest left of unmarked skin did her eyes fly open, glowing the green hue of her magic, demonic incantations sprouting from her lips.

Shadows appeared around them, the glyphs that once held Selûne’s daughter now filling with Madi’s magic. Gale’s friends sprung to action alongside the aasimar to protect Madi, as she had requested. Yet Gale could only watch in horror, even after the bond between them was severed, even as he watched the blindingly bright orb she held in her hand get placed into her body.

He could not think, could not move, only watch, slack-jawed, as he observed the woman he loved let out an infernal roar until the ward flared with magical energy and the shadows around them disappeared in an instant.

Silence lingered for a moment, Gale’s friends and the Nightsong looking around before turning to the two of them, Gale still watching Madi while looking completely helpless. Madi panted, trying to recover for a brief moment as she knew barely had a minute left.

“It was the Karsite Weave, Gale—Mystra wanted you to destroy yourself so she could destroy it,” Madi called out to him, feeling the final stages of her spell take effect. She knew she didn’t have enough time to explain it all and could see by the way Gale watched her, he had far too many questions.

“How—”

“No, Gale, listen! I—agh!” Madi groaned out in pain as her entire body went stiff and the feeling in her legs was completely gone. By the shock on everyone’s faces, she knew she was starting to turn to stone. “I combined it, Gale—listen!” She commanded his eyes back from her stoney form. “Shadow and Karsite, inside—ngh!” Another sharp pain and she felt nothing below her neck. “Check your tower! Tara—”

Madi was frozen, cast in stone, yet still conscious only by the magic that now commanded this pocket realm within Shar’s Domain, that coursed through her chest and the ward that kept her in place. Pale green magic still pulsed and illuminated in the swirls that creased her stone form. Unable to move or respond, she watched as Gale looked at her, absolutely gutted by what he saw.

She watched as his companions scurried behind him, pleading with him to move quickly to get back to Ketheric, but he shrugged them off while slowly putting on the ring Madi gave him, raising it to his lips to send a short message.

“I love you…never forget that, okay?”

Even encased in stone, Madi was flooded with pain at the inability to say it back to him, yet so happy to know he was finally without chains to Mystra. Those surges of emotions resulted in a swell of magic flaring up from the ward on the floor, a tendril licking under Gale’s chin, leaving him with a lighthearted chuckle.

“I’ll take that as a promise.”

And then he left, not to return for years, but that wasn’t something Madi was aware or knowledgeable of at this moment. All she could do, and would do, was wait, stuck in her stone form, feeling the aching pain of this morphed weave she bastardized for her singular purpose using her body as a conduit.

Yet she would grow immensely grateful for every short message of ‘I love you’ or ‘thinking of you’ that Gale would send frequently throughout every day leading up to their reunion, along with the nightly recounting of his day, even the ‘disastrously mundane’ ones—as Gale would come to call them.

Those became her favourite to hear about.

Tag list: @fangbangerghoul, @bearlytolerant, @endersnailz ♥ Hope you all enjoyed ♥

A/N:I have it planned to do short little ficlet, 1 to 2k fics of Gale's recounting to Madi as he continues his adventures in the main storyline and then him finding his way back to Madi. It will be slightly on the backburner and will be for when I just need some fluff and Gale silliness as I was blessed with an absolute brain rot of a Professor Dekarios PwP series that I am about to obsessively dive into ♥

#gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #gale x oc #gale bg3 #gale romance #baldurs gate 3 #gale fanfic #gale dekarios fanfic #booburry writes

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