Disclaimer: The BioShock franchise belongs to 2K Games. I obviously don't own it. I do own the fanfiction idea and OCs that appear within. Sticky fingers will be eaten with Nutella.

Eden Dissolved, Innocence Lost

By Lady-ID

Chapter I: Send Me an Angel

It was well past midnight. She was supposed to have been asleep hours before. But she couldn't keep her eyes closed, and all she had done that day was listen to her mother periodically lecture her on Freud's structural model of the human psyche, so she didn't get to finish the book she had been reading. She believed she deserved a bit of respite.

Eleanor Lamb, age seven, sat upon her bed – humming to herself as she fiddled with an Acu-Vox. She had taken it from her father's study, and her mother would be furious if she found out. But she had been so busy lately between social work and tutoring her; Eleanor had concluded that she wouldn't notice if just one of the collection of tapes went missing for a while.

Eleanor at first could not fathom why this was so, as it did not make sense that her highly perceptive, earth-bound mother had become… so detached from reality. It was unusual. She had then noticed that when her father was brought up in a conversation or when she glanced at his photograph on the mantelpiece, her mother's careful, studied face would waver in expression for the slightest moment before the topic was changed or she busied herself with something else.

Doctor Aden Lamb had been gone for a little over a month now. He had left for work one morning, but not before promising his daughter that he'd bring home "contraband" for her in the form of something he called a "fairytale book." "A secret between us from your mum, Nellie. Study it closely, and it may save ye from the wee folk," he had said with an easy grin, tapping her lightly on the nose. That was the very last time she saw him.

Eleanor had thought him to be busy with work as well, like mother. Her father was a surgeon, one of the most competent in Rapture, her mother had told her. Maybe there was an accident somewhere, and a lot of people depended upon him to help operate on them so they could get on with their lives. 'Yes,' she had thought, 'that has to be it.'

Five days passed to become a week… then two, then three. That assumption had then become unsettling with her. Every day, when she was certain that her mother was in a somewhat favourable mood, Eleanor would ask her the same innocent question: "Mother, when will Papa be home?"

Her mother would give her a long, blank stare, and ignore the root of the question with a blasé answer of "Soon, my dear." Finally, today… her mother had sat her down after her noon lesson and told her that father was now "amongst angels," in a much better place than where they were now.

"Your father was taken from us, Eleanor, because he made the choice to go against the tyrannical method and help his poorer patients without taking pay. He is gone because he believed strongly in supporting those who were impoverished because of class oppression, and were in need of a guiding hand. His sacrifice in the name of altruism is a true testament to our beliefs, and is why we must keep progressing onward." She had said all this in a calm, low voice, though her knuckles were clenched white to the tendons upon her knee.

Regardless of her mother's words to be strong and feel not sad for his departure, Eleanor missed her father terribly. So much in fact, that she had resorted to stealing one of his audio diaries. If not to listen to the results of Plasmid misuse and the effects of ADAM on the human respiratory system, then just to be able to hear his voice.

"You should have seen mother last week, Papa," she said to the quasi-responsive voice. "She was very cross with me because I hacked her new cameras to go out and see the other children again. Amir and I were playing on the swings, and then his friend, Molly, came along and asked if we wanted to play something called 'hide-and-go-seek' with her. It sounded like ever so much fun, so I wanted to try it." She sighed, swinging her little legs up onto the white, lacey covers.

"I went to go hide in the rose tea gardens. You know? The one you like to take mother to sometimes for breakfast? I ran into mother there while she was having a session with one of her patients, and she was angry because she had to leave the poor lady in hysterics and take me home. She scolded me too." Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she furrowed her brow, crossing her arms stiffly over her chest.

"She said, 'Eleanor Lamb, I cannot take my eyes off of you for one instant, can I? Once I leave you alone, you decide to pick apart every security device I have just to go out and play when you can be doing much more productive means with your time. You are becoming more and more stubborn like your father every day!'" Eleanor paused for thought.

"Then… she got very quiet, and left. It's because of you, Papa… she misses you. She won't admit it, but I can tell. I miss you too… you didn't mind at all if I snuck out to play with other children as long as I stayed in the Park…" Eleanor blinked, staring at the Acu-Vox. The gadget was making small, metallic clicking noises, signifying that it had reached the end of the reel.

"Papa, I want a friend – no, I want… I want a kindred spirit. That's much better than a normal friend, don't you agree? Someone who will stay by my side, and never leave me, and keep me company. Will… will you send me one?" Eleanor leant close to the audio diary, her lips so close that her breath created a fine mist on the metal surface.

"In that case, Papa… send me a kindred spirit… maybe an angel. The nicest angel that you can find…"

A/N: I know it's never mentioned in BioShock 2 as to whom Eleanor's biological father is, so, I suppose this could be as good as any explanation out there. I also wanted to do something with Sofia for the introduction. As much as I disliked the woman, I still found her to be an interesting antagonist, and wanted to explore how she might react to something like this. I just hope I kept her in character enough.

This is planned out to be a multi-chapter story set during and the events leading up to BioShock 2. As observed in the rating, there are going to be things that are considered unsavory for some. I have an idea of how things will play out, but, it's sketchy as of now. So please be patient and work with me.

Anyway, the next chapter will hopefully be up soon. Feel free to offer constructive criticism, as it is much appreciated by this author.