Comeuppance
When she woke, she did not know where she was.
The room was spacious, with an extraordinarily high ceiling and large windows, through which just enough of the day's first light shone for her to see by. She was in a bed, one of the few pieces of furniture in the room. There was a desk, a small dresser, and another bed to her left. And sitting on that bed was a woman.
"Good morning, Lady Emily," the strange woman smiled at her, putting down the book she had been reading. "Did you sleep well?"
Lady…?
By the Outsider, it had worked!
Delilah's grin could have lit up all of Dunwall. "Very."
She marvelled at her high-pitched voice, the sound alien to her, but the woman nodded contently at her answer. "I thought so. You weren't tossing and turning as much."
Probably because the girl's soul had become trapped in the Void halfway through the night, Delilah thought with vicious glee. "I guess I was tired."
The woman's smile weakened a little. "Of course you were," she said gently. "You probably can't wait to return to Dunwall Tower. If only Corvo would hurry back so we can leave."
Corvo. The Royal Protector who had recently put a sword through the Lord Regent. Considering the soft, pitying tone of the woman's voice, Emily cared much for him. "Don't worry," Delilah remarked in her most chipper voice. "Corvo will be back soon. He's probably just making sure everything is safe and ready for me at the Tower."
"That would be just like him," the woman agreed, but Delilah could tell she was still worried. Having manipulated people for years, she could easily read the woman's body language, and it simply screamed discomfort. Considering she was harbouring the Empress of the Isles, Delilah could not blame her. She had probably caught a healthy bout of paranoia since she started watching over Emily.
In retrospect, Delilah should have taken her worries much, much more seriously.
For when Delilah and the woman – Callista, she'd learned by peeking at a notebook in the Tower – went down to a pub to eat breakfast, they were intercepted by three men. A nobleman, an Overseer, and an Admiral, all of whom reeked of fear.
From what Delilah understood, they had been the leaders of the conspiracy against Hiram Burrows, working closely with Corvo to eliminate those who opposed Emily's rightful rule. To be perfectly honest, she didn't understand why they were so erratic. The Lord Regent was dead, she would be put on the throne, and all would be well. She was not all that concerned.
Until they put a bullet through Callista's head.
She'd screamed, then, partly in shock and partly in rage, and attempted to turn her offenders into stone.
Nothing happened.
The Outsider's Mark did not adorn the body of Emily Kaldwin, and Delilah found herself powerless. In the body of a child, without her arcane abilities, she could do nothing to stop the trio from whisking her away to their fortress.
For the first time since she'd been a little girl in both body and mind, Delilah was truly scared.
She couldn't believe she had failed to account for her lack of Mark once she switched bodies. Her powers were such an integral part of her being that she'd never considered them being taken away. Now that they were gone, it was as if she had lost a fraction of her very soul.
She tried praying to the Outsider from the small bedroom the Loyalists had locked her in. She tried screaming at the Outsider. She tried cursing his name. She tried pleading. She tried begging. She even tried sobbing, though that had not been intentional.
The deity did not answer her.
After two days, Delilah reconsidered her options. She was still alive because the three cowards needed a legitimate Kaldwin heir by their sides to solidify their rule. Even without her powers, she could take them out easily with a weapon and proper timing. All she had to do was wait for an opportunity.
Unfortunately, that opportunity never came.
Nearly a week after arriving at Kingsparrow Island, Admiral Havelock threw open the door to her little room and dragged her out forcefully, despite her struggles, threats, and cries. None of the Loyalists had interacted with her beyond bringing her food and other necessities, and even then it had almost always been the Overseer who came into her room. This was a desperate move on the Admiral's part, Delilah could tell.
And it terrified her.
She resisted, of course. Tried to bite his hand, stomp on his foot, stab his leg with her hairpin. He backhanded her so hard it split her lip.
He took her outside, despite the pouring rain, further up the lighthouse, despite the nearby claps of thunder. Closer to the ledge, despite the howling wind.
She stopped struggling, then. The water was a long, long way down, and she couldn't Blink to safety if she fell. If she could, she'd have shoved Havelock to his death without a second thought.
They stood there for what felt like hours, at the top of a lighthouse in the middle of a storm. Havelock had taken out his sword, and smacked her with the flat of the blade whenever she attempted to ask why he had taken her here. Delilah trembled, and she told herself it was from the cold. She was lying.
Then, finally, someone came for her. He materialized from the shadows, his skull-like mask making him look like death itself. She could feel the Outsider's magic in him.
Corvo, Delilah thought in relief. The Masked Felon had come for his charge, for his Empress, for his daughter. The Outsider must have heard her prayers after all.
For if the Royal Protector could not save her, then who could?
No one.
He was upon them in the Blink of an eye, his elegant sword folding from his sheath in one fluid motion. Havelock did not even have time to look surprised before the blade was embedded in his stomach. The Admiral stumbled, his hold on Delilah slackening, and for a brief, wonderful second, she believed she could get away. But he did not let go, and when he fell, he took her with him.
An arm reached for her, the Mark of the Outsider clearly visible on the back of its hand despite the glove that covered it. It was the last thing Delilah saw clearly before she plummeted downwards, her tiny arms just not long enough to cling to life.
She was unsure at what moment she entered the Void. The impact from the water, the lack of air, the bites of slaughterfish? Delilah could not recall what had caused her death.
In fact, there was preciously little she could recall, less and less every moment. How had she gotten here? On what day had she been born? Did she have family?
What was her name?
Before long, the Outsider lost interest, and Delilah Copperspoon became one with the Void.
A/N: Since Dishonored 2 features Delilah as the main antagonist, it got me thinking on her first plan to become Empress, and how the Isles would have suffered if she had succeeded in taking over Emily's body. And I realized – in the High Chaos ending of Dishonored, it is possible for Emily to die. And thus I had to write this, because the irony is utterly delicious. Thank you for reading; any feedback is much appreciated.