This is my first prometheus story, so take I hope you all take it easy on me. I adored the Engineer, and I wanted to try a different take on what happened inside the Engineer's ship. I could have seen the Engineer reacting a little differently when he encountered the Prometheus crew. It is a bit of Engineer x Ellie, so if that's not your cup of tea, I wouldn't advise reading further.

Enjoy!

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"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

-Soren Kierkegaard

...

A feeling of crushing terror made her leg muscles quake beneath her, the screams around her making her shudder inwardly. The fear in her heart was only matched by the stabbing pain in her abdomen. An enormous pale alien tossed her crew aside like leaves, and Ellie could do nothing.

A sickening shriek escaped Ford's throat as she was thrown halfway across the room by a backhanded fist to her right side. The sharp sound of bones cracking filled the room as Ford struck a support beam for the platform and fell in a heap on the floor. There was no other option.

Ellie had to run.

Ellie turned to get up and move away back toward the entrance to the room, but there was no strength in her limbs. She could feel blood in her uniform from where Weyland's mercenary had hit her with the barrel of the incinerator unit and pulled open her stitches. Seemingly useless gasps for air made her feel nauseous, and her steps were debilitatingly painful.

The sound of David speaking to Weyland was drown out by the sound of the Engineer's heavy footsteps. It all felt like a dream. Ellie pushed herself to run, but her body simply wouldn't move quick enough. It felt as though her feet were stuck to the floor as she walked like a newborn colt across the steel flooring. One of the ribbed supports of the platform made her trip, the terrible shock of knowing you were caught made her yelp as she fell to the ground. Ellie's lungs began to burn from the cool temperature in the room as she began heaving for air.

Her eyes teared up instantly. Thoughts of Charlie and all of their hopes for this mission flashed through her mind as she crumpled on the floor like a frightened animal. All of her muscles quivered with anxious energy, the loud footsteps stopped close behind her. She could almost feel the steel platform shake beneath her as the Engineer took his last few steps up to her.

She cried openly in heavy gasps, shaking her head and staring at the steel floor. Ellie couldn't look at the Engineer; knowing he was going to kill her. She whimpered a few unrecognizable words about Charlie and how she tried so hard to keep it together. A short prayer didn't calm her thoughts. Her body was simply giving out. After such a serious surgery, she shouldn't have even been walking in the first place, much less running. The thought of the killing blow from the Engineer overcame her thoughts of Charlie.

Ellie's heart pounded heavily in her chest as she clenched her eyes shut. The weight of death seemed to loom over her. This ancient alien wouldn't even take the time to figure out what they were doing there. He simply killed them on sight out of instinct, knowing what they were.

A powerful hand grabbed her shoulder and furiously rolled her to the left, making her gasp out in pain as she now faced the huge alien. Her wound throbbed in her lower abdomen. She had instantly forced herself to open her eyes and face him as the he leaned down and grabbed the front of her blue suit with a single hand and pulled her off the ground almost effortlessly. The yank upwards lifted her to his level and made her forget about her wound as her eyes met his. She breathed in heavy rasps as he glared at her with abyssal navy eyes.

The sudden sound of his voice made her cringe and let out a whimper. His voice was an intimidatingly deep sounding bellow, almost like a lions roar. Ellie chest rose and fell quickly as she finally got a good look at her 'creator'.

The alien's voice boomed out once again, looking at her angrily as if she should understand his words. Her lips quivered as she shook her head, unable to form any sensible words; not that the Engineer would even understand anything she said. The powerful being flinched as if he was going to hurt her, and it made her cry out, turning her head to the right and sobbing. Hot tears ran from the corners of her eyes, Ellie couldn't believe this was the end.

Just as she began to accept her fate, the Engineer then made a sound that sounded like a frustrated huff. Overwhelming curiosity made her quickly open her eyes and look up to the being, his eyes conveyed something different than before. It wasn't the rage filled scowl he had worn while he ripped the crew apart, it was something almost sympathetic looking. His dark eyes glanced down at her stomach area, eyeing the blood dripping out of the zipper on the front. Ellie had no clue what he was looking at or thinking. She hadn't even noticed her hands grab his wrist to help hold herself up, her eyes were just locked on his face.

Ellie felt her jaw drop as he took a deep breath, and the grip on his hand loosened. He dropped her onto the floor on her back, causing her to wince at the rattling of her now sensitive organs and look up in surprise at the space jockey. To her disbelief, he simply stepped around her as if she no longer existed. Ellie's whole body trembled as she yanked her head around to look at where he was going, her heart still drumming in her chest.

The pale skinned alien leaned down and typed on the master controls, and a center section of the platform opened up on the floor. The red head woman simply stared in amazement as a huge throne looking piece of machinery rose up out of the floor only a few feet from her. Her thoughts were no where near here, all she could think of was why he didn't tear her apart. Still ignoring her, the Engineer made his way across the platform and slid quietly into the massive 'chair'. It resembled a combination of a cannon and a throne.

A rush of searing pain then pierced Ellie's stomach and caused her to flail back onto the floor with a howl. Her teeth clenched together in a pained wince as the ship's engine began to whir to life. Why hadn't the Engineer killed her like the others? Did he really pity her? Or was he keeping her for other reasons?

A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts and swiftly brought her back to reality,

"Doctor-"

Ellie felt almost offended that David would dare speak to her after what all had happened, but also surprised to hear him talking at all. Her eyes opened partially to glance over at the now decapitated head of the android on her left. Her hands clenched over the waist of her uniform, trying to hold her sliced flesh together through the latex. David's expression was so tranquil as she spat a response to him,

"What David?"

Her voice cracked with exasperation as she tried to sit up to get a better view of what was happening. David calmly replied to the injured woman,

"I do not believe this ship has the ability to take off, I had a brief look into the Engine deck earlier and it didn't look promising."

"So what are you saying?"

The artificial man had a tranquil expression on his face as he half smiled to her,

"In simple terms, we are stuck on LV-223. However, I did not get a look at the other ship inside the second pyramid. So there is a chance that it also has a cargo ship similar to this one, but the chances are slim that a ship that is over two thousand years old still has the ability to take off."

No words formed in her throat, the pain in her stomach was too much. The stitches must have come apart when Weyland's mercenary struck her in the abdomen. With a long shaky breath, she leaned back onto the platform, placing her cheek on the steel beam. The cold feeling of it all being over really began to sink in. She had no energy left. She had nothing left to say to David either. There was no point anymore.

The low rumble of the engines hummed beneath the platform, but they didn't sound right. Ellie's deep brown eyes now rested on the Engineer, observing how he brought up the star maps and began prepping the ship for take off. No more tears came, her eyes were now dry; and ached like the rest of her body.

Then, a different voice called to her through her suit transmitter,

"Shaw? Shaw if you're there tell me what the hell's goin' on! The ground is opening up out here!"

Janek's tense voice made her smile slightly, she struggled to speak back to him,

"Captain… You need to go now. We- I was so wrong. The Engineer is trying to take off, but this ship won't make it off the ground, it's too old. And I won't make it out of here…Please… Go. Save what's left of the crew and go back to Earth… Tell everyone what happened here… and to never return, there is only death now…"

The captain seemed to struggle to find words, not believing what he was hearing,

"You sure there's no way for you to get out?"

Ellie smiled weakly and shook her head, even though he couldn't see her,

"No. Captain, you must go. I won't make it I'm afraid. Don't risk these weapons getting onto the Prometheus."

A long pause befell them, and Ellie felt relieved that some of the crew survived. Someone would get out and tell their story. Janek's next words were low and sorrowful,

"All right. I'm very sorry Shaw."

The world then slowly grew fuzzy, the edges of her vision blurred and her body began to relax. All sound seemed to fade away, the figure of the Engineer became one with the massive throne.

Maybe this was the end? The human doctor felt chills run over her skin, most likely from the loss of blood from her abdominal wound. Ellie forced herself to smile as she closed her eyes, there was no hope for her to get her answers now. The sound of metal screeching and some small far away explosions rumbled the ship around her, and then, she let the numbness take her body as she drifted off.

…

Motion. The world was moving beneath her. Hazy eyes opened, seeing she was moving down a hallway. A long corridor with dark ribbed walls was all she could see as her head hung against her left shoulder, loud footsteps accompanied her. She was still alive?

But, something was very wrong.

Ellie lifted her head, realizing someone was carrying her. Thick arms rested under her knees and behind her upper back. A huge, and very pale hand was just inches away from her face, clenching her upper arm and holding her steady. With a shock making it's way up her spine, her head shot toward the face of just who she had feared was holding her. The stern face of the Engineer wasn't focused on her, his eyes were looking down the hall ahead of them. Ellie felt her heart begin to race again, her body growing warm with anxiety, where was he taking her? Why keep her alive?

A bitter taste in her mouth made her furrow her eyebrows together in slight disgust. Had he given her something? Ellie felt an anxious knot form in her stomach thinking of what he could possibly have given her. What were the symptoms? Was it going to help her? Was it even medicine? That had to be it. Ellie stared down at her hands, her body becoming rigid in the alien's arms in fear of what she could possibly have in her system now. The alien then startled her and took a sudden left, entering a dismal looking room with lots of strange machinery inside. Ellie forced herself to look around the room, it resembled a medical infirmary.

Without thinking, her head shot up to see the Engineer's face. That tight knot in her stomach felt like it dropped when she saw him looking right at her. The eye contact made her shiver in his arms. However, He didn't seem phased by it, he simply kept walking and then startled her again by setting her down on an elongated table. Ellie immediately sat up and pulled her arms in to her chest, feeling her muscles start to tremble once again.

"What- What are you doing?"

Ellie shook her head for a moment realizing her words meant nothing to him. The Engineer didn't even turn to look a her as he typed on a panel on the nearby wall, only a few feet away. The android back in the main control room scared her by speaking to her through the transmitter,

"Are you awake Doctor Shaw?"

Ellie's eyes were locked on the Engineer as he piddled around with various foreign controls on the wall, a green glow appearing above some of the buttons. She spoke softly in response to David,

"What's happening?"

"You were unconscious for approximately twelve and a half hours. Captain Janek fled the atmosphere at your command, after I explained some of the details to him. I haven't heard any contact from them for over ten hours. The Engineer, as you call them, proceeded in trying to take off. One of the ship's engines failed and it seemed to fall apart. After disappearing for a couple hours for what I presumed to be for maintenance, he returned, sending out many distress signals. After getting no response for another number of hours, he then decided to come observe your injury. He had gotten something from another room on the ship, and put the liquid from the tube in our mouth, forcing you to swallow it. You still weren't moving, so he picked you up, and carried you off to what I assumed was the medical bay."

Ellie felt a rush of panic come over her as the Engineer walked back toward her, his expression rather unemotional. She fidgeted nervously as the Engineer stood beside where she was sitting, nearly solid black eyes locked on hers. His right hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder, eyes falling to her waist and the coagulating blood on her suit. Ellie squirmed as the Engineer slowly began to pull at the top of the space suit, breaking the zipper and yanking the latex down over her shoulders.

Her hands flew to his, attempting to grab him and push his hands away. The Engineer grabbed her ams and pushed her down onto her back on the long table, overpowering her easily. Ellie let out a yelp as he used one hand to hold both of hers down, and pulled down the rest of the top of the uniform with his free hand. It revealed the gauze under garnets she wore beneath her space suit, and her blood tarnished skin and open wound. She instantly stopped resisting when she saw the severity of the wound on her stomach. Only two of the staples were left on the edge of the gaping slit on her stomach. Nausea found her once again as she stared at all the blood on her lower body. The entire inside of her uniform had been filled with blood leaking out of the gash. She was too focused on her wound to focus on the Engineer finishing cutting the space suit off her legs with a small surgical knife she hadn't seen him pick up from the nearby surgical table. The suit was now cut up, bloody, useless latex, and tossed aside on the floor.

Ellie remained laying down on her back, staring down at her cut belly. The Engineer had released her hands to cut the legs off the uniform, and it allowed her fingers to delicately touch the numb skin around the wound. Her eyes moved to the side of the Engineer's face as he observed her wound himself, a look of disgust appeared on his face as he looked closely at the wound. Ellie had mixed feelings about the situation, was he going to save her? Was he going to dissect her like a laboratory frog? She wasn't sure.

The pale being then stood upright, towering over the injured woman. With a quick movement, he typed on an unseen keyboard on the side of the table she was on. A sudden metallic groan made her look up at the ceiling, panels were moving and some machinery came slowly moving down towards her. Ellie flinched as though she was going to move, but the Engineer moved behind her and grabbed her thin wrists, pulling her back. The alien held her arms above her head, holding her down as the machinery dropped down just a couple inches above her body. Ellie protested verbally and wiggled to get free. A hard grip on her wrists kept her laying down as the machine began making noises and more smaller appendages came out. Ellie froze as it sprayed her wound with a dark green chemical that leaked into the slit on her belly. She felt no pain, whatever he had given her earlier made all the pain fade away. A long pair of needle nose plucked the few remaining staples from the wound, and pulled them back up inside the machine. A larger set of arms dropped down with a thin paper looking layer stretched out between them. The sheet was rubbery and flexible looking, reminding her of a thin layer of rubber.

Ellie twisted around resisting the Engineer as the layer of thin tissue was draped over her wound by the bony looking arms of the machine. After it was trimmed a bit by some similar arms of the machine, the entire group of 'arms' retreated into the main section of the machine. It reminded her so much of the medical pod on Vickers personal capsule. Ellie's chest rose and fell as she hyperventilated, staring in shock as the rubbery flesh began to 'soak' into her own skin. Ellie flailed around as the machine completely retreated to the ceiling from whence it came, but the Engineer was far too strong for her flailing. The alien held her there with ease until the artificial skin completely absorbed into her own flesh, covering the wound and making it seem to fade. He then released her arms and walked across the room into a smaller closet looking section of the room.

She rushed to sit up, her hands flew to her stomach as soon as he freed her and nervous fingers danced across the new skin that sealed the wound. Ellie didn't understand how fake skin could possibly do such a thing? Were these aliens utilizing stem cells in some way to create a skin to heal wounds of the flesh?

When an object flew toward the table Ellie jumped and yanked her feet in towards her chest, trying to figure out what was just tossed towards her. Just a pile of cloth. A gunmetal grey colored cloth was tossed her way and now hung halfway off the side of the table. She looked down at it, puzzled. Her eyes slowly lifted to the Engineer that stood near the door he had just come out of. His stern gaze met her confused one, and a tiny nod made her stare in disbelief at the sudden direct communication. The small acknowledgement from him made her realize he was actually trying to help her, but she still didn't understand why. Ellie opened her mouth to speak to him, but he turned away from her and crossed his arms. She stared at the back of his hairless head, curious as to what his actions meant. He was still, shifting his weight to his right side and staring straight ahead of him into the small closet.

A dainty hand brushed some of her own messy red hair out of her face as she eyed the space jockey. With a small scoot she moved to the edge of her table, allowing her legs to hang off the edge of the table. After a few awkward moments, the sound of a shallow sigh escaped the Engineer's mouth as he hesitantly turned and glanced back at the woman. Their eyes met, and a confused expression appeared on his face as he looked at her staring cluelessly back at him. Ellie wasn't sure what to do now, or what he wanted. The burly alien stalked over to the table and grabbed the grey cloth and pulled a small white towel out of it. He held the white towel out to her and looked into her eyes, expecting a reaction out of her. With a hesitant hand, she cautiously took the white cloth from him and eyed it. It had an almost oily feel to it, but then it clicked what he wanted her to do.

Ellie slowly started rubbing the cloth across her dirty skin, and the dried blood came off easily. She then hopped off the table to stand up, making the Engineer take a quick step back away from her. Ellie felt a small smile appear on her lips as she noticed this, was he afraid of her?

She dismissed his tiny reaction and after cleaning her skin off with the small towel, the large alien held out the larger grey heap of cloth to her. Ellie then realized it was a type of robe. A HUGE robe, fit for an Engineer. Relief came over her as she quickly wrapped herself in the enormous robe, feeling better now that she was at least properly clothed. The Engineer nodded to her and then walked around the table, expecting her to follow. Ellie piped up as she immediately trotted after him like a child after it's mother,

"Why did you save me?"

The Engineer didn't even flinch at her words and continued walking, right out of the medical infirmary and down the creepy ribbed corridor. Ellie's head was on a swivel as she followed the Engineer through the ship. There was no telling what could be lurking here if the ship is two thousand years old, maybe the snake things that had killed Millburn had gotten out of that chamber. Scary thought. Ellie couldn't believe what was happening. This alien had just slaughtered the entire crew, and for whatever reason had saved only her. Her pace had to be quick as she followed after his long footsteps, holding the robe closed and keeping one hand on where her gaping wound had been. It still ached, but it was not near as painful as before. At least it was closed up and not bleeding anymore.

Within a few moments they reached the main control room again, and the annoyingly pleasant sound of David's voice rung out.

"You look much better Dr. Shaw."

Ellie stopped walking as the Engineer made his way over and sat in the control seat, piddling around on the keyboard. She assumed he was searching for a response from the distress signal he sent out earlier. The muscular woman cautiously made her way around the huge steel platform and over closer to David,

"He's searching for a signal?"

David's decapitated head couldn't turn to look at her as he responded,

"Yes. I see your wound is almost healed?"

"Yeah, he put me under a machine that put an artificial skin layer on top of my wound, and it just… Absorbed into my own skin. I think it may be the work of successful stem cell research on their part."

David's face didn't change from his usual placid expression,

"A predictably superior medical treatment, I would have expected nothing less. If I-"

"Ask him why he saved me."

The demand seemed to throw David off, his eyebrows lifted in surprise,

"Does it really matter why?"

Ellie huffed and clenched her jaw, he always had to question what she thought,

"Yes, it matters to me."

"Are you sure you want me to speak to him?"

Ellie sat down and held her knees against her chest, nodding as she replied,

"Ask him David, he won't understand me, and there's not much more he can do to you if you piss him off."

The Engineer seemed focused on the holographic computer before him, repeatedly sending out the same recorded distress signal. He visibly looked stressed. Ellie's eyes locked on the Engineer as David spoke in the guttural language, the dark eyes of the alien moved from the computer to the two of them. A chill ran over her skin at the eye contact, she shifted uncomfortably in his glare. The Engineer was quiet for a few moments before going back to working on the distress signal. His voice was much deeper than David's, intimidatingly deeper at that. Ellie had no patience and looked down at David for the response, the severed head spoke calmly,

"He said; He knew you were injured, appeared to be enslaved by the others, and posed no threat to him. It isn't like their kind to kill an already injured female."

Ellie shook her head and fumbled over her words,

"What about Ford?"

David made a small 'humph' sound before he answered,

"I suppose it was because she was helping Mr. Weyland, and you had a mercenary's weapon in your face. You were kneeling too."

Ellie then hopped up, feeling grateful for being alive and having someone side with her for once. Charlie had always been out for his own questions and ideas, putting hers second. That was one major issue with the two of them, Charlie was her polar opposite. He always put his own views and ideas ahead of others, and everyone else came second to his type A personality. Vickers and all of the others, except Janek and the pilots, had been out for Weyland's interests, definitely not out for her. Now that the survivors were gone, and she knew there was no way she would get off the planet, it gave her a little power. This was all her, and the Engineer. Perhaps there was a chance to have her questions answered. Might as well try. After having all of those individuals shove her aside, and basically bringing her along for almost no real purpose, it was nice to finally have someone stick up for her.

Someone had finally swooped in and saved her.

David called out to her as she crossed the platform and made her way over to the left side of the busy space jockey. Ellie ignored David's warnings for approaching the alien, she hopped down and stood to the left of the huge chair. The alien didn't acknowledge her at all as she shyly made her way up beside him. Ellie knew she couldn't say anything that would make sense to him. She owed him her life, she would not have woken up if it weren't for him. For whatever his reason, he saved her life. In her mind, she most definitely owed him.

A dainty hand reached out, and was gently set down on the Engineer's left shoulder. The contact made him freeze, and then slowly turn his head to look at her. Body language was all she could use in this situation, he wouldn't understand her words. Her small hand squeezed slightly as she half smiled down to him, he probably couldn't feel it through the thick suit he wore. Her voice was almost a whisper, because she was incredibly nervous about approaching him like this,

"Thank you."

A kind nod of her head and a smile as she motioned with her free hand toward her waist seemed to get the message across. An almost unnoticeable nod from the Engineer made her relax, and the corners of his mouth lifted out of the usual straight expression. It almost resembled a haphazard smile, he then turned back and continued working on the ranges of the signals.

Just as he went back to the computer, a loud metal slam was heard outside the the control room. Ellie gasped and whirled around to face the ominous door. The sound boomed through the ship, the Engineer shot to his feet and fixed his eyes on the door. Ellie felt her knees shake as another heavy strike to the door rung out, what could possibly be out there? Ellie yelled as the turned her head and looked back at the blond android, her eyes pleading for an answer,

"What's happening?!"

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Sorry for any mistakes,

all tips and thoughts appreciated!