So, this is my second fanfic for Binding of Isaac! Like with the last one, this contains spoilers for the entire game, including the finale at the end of Afterbirth +. If you do not wish to be spoiled, then consider passing on this fic.
It's also worth noting that this fan fiction has depictions of character death on screen. If this does not appeal to you, turn back.
As always, see the author's notes at the end for details, I do not own Binding of Isaac, and enjoy!
Lost Soul
No one saw me, yet I was always there.
Every time, the light engulfed the boy. And every time, my wispy white form ascended.
As I ascended, I read the notes the boy left behind.
Dear Diary, today I died. I was killed by this thing. In some place. I leave all that I own to my cat Guppy. Goodbye, cruel world.
Even though some of the words were different, the message was always the same.
I knew, because I was there every time the will was made.
Always when the boy's body hit the ground… Always when last shred of hope faded from his eyes… Always when he took his final dying breath… I was there, and I ascended.
Yet there were others, friends of his.
I was there with them as well, and like the boy, they had no idea.
The orange haired woman… The blindfolded one… The betrayer… The man who cheated death… The person with the eyepatch… The black demon… The destructive angel… The being that fought with coins… Even the blue creature that no one knew the name of…
Eventually, they all died, and I was at their sides.
Fitting, considering I was the one that started them on their journey.
That woman… She'd been so easy to convince…
Her son was an evil devil, right? So the easiest way to correct that was to get rid of the son…
And as my voice floated from the attic, the woman remained oblivious to my existence.
Just like everyone else.
Luckily, she welcomed me, eating up my suggestion like a delicious treat. And so the others began on their journey, hoping to find safety from the one many had known almost forever.
Little did they know I could follow them.
That, however, was not easy.
I couldn't make my presence known immediately; the group would figure out who I was. They might find out that I'd started their arduous trek, and then what would they do?
So the best way was to continue to hide, woven into something the group could see.
And there was something they all recognized.
After all, who wouldn't act when children went missing?
Yet for a while, nothing changed. I was still always there, in the dungeons the group explored. And as before, they were blissfully unaware of me.
Until the day the boy picked up the poster that bore his face. I didn't pay attention to his reaction.
However, I did take note of his lifeless body hitting the ground shortly thereafter.
Like so many times before, I ascended.
Yet when I read the Last Will, something had changed.
In the corner of the document was a puzzle piece. The design was faint and incomplete, but it could still be seen.
If I could've smiled, I would've.
Even on a missing poster with someone else's face, I was still present without anyone knowing.
Thanks to the poster, I could truly travel with the group while they remained none the wiser.
But that also required waiting for the other pieces.
What else could a poor lost soul do?
Within time, the boy and his friends collected all the pieces. They now knew they could find something with them, and carried vague clues on how to find it.
Yet they didn't have any idea what that "something" was, or what it could do.
The plan for following them was going to unfold right in front of their noses, and the group didn't even realize the implications!
And so I remained hidden from view, yet always watching.
While the group obliviously yet madly pursued their "something."
The pink puffy monster relentlessly pursued the boy, wounds covering the latter's body. In the monster's head was wedged a bomb, glowing like a beacon. The boy sprinted, salty tears covering his face.
Yet it was not enough.
The monster backed him into a corner, and the boy whimpered in defeat. In the next second, all that could be heard was a large explosion.
The monster could no longer be seen, but the boy's body lay on the ground.
Again, I appeared and ascended.
Still, not much had changed. I had to be patient.
Patient as I watched a death by stupidity.
The woman with the orange hair entered the foreboding caves. In her hand she carried a bunch of bombs. Without warning, one slipped from her grasp, fuse alight. There was just enough time to see her shocked reaction before the object exploded.
Like with the last death, my wispy form left the living world.
Yet things refused to change. I was still there but never seen.
And so I watched with interest as many more of the group met unfortunate fates.
There was the betrayer, getting crushed into the ground by the woman they all had learned to fear.
And then there was the black demon, similarly defeated as the devil above him destroyed one of his own.
The group was mere moments away from having me follow them. Very soon, I could finally let myself be known. Yet there was one more task that lie ahead of them.
The boy entered the ominous room cautiously. In his hand was a poster with his face, the words "missing" scrawled upon it.
He scanned the center of the room, seemingly searching for something. Yet the only thing that lined his vision was a sea of spikes. The boy's eyes narrowed as he focused, seemingly staring at nothing.
Yet after a while, the reason for his search was revealed.
There, in the center of the room was the faint outline of a chest.
It resembled an illusion, yet the boy did not care.
A smile reached his lips as he sprinted towards the bounty.
In that moment, the boy had forgotten about the danger in his path.
At least until the spikes stabbed him the instant he stepped on them.
It was just a warning strike, enough to deter most travelers.
Yet the boy was unlike most travelers as he rushed towards the prize. Once again the spikes loomed, but the outline of the chest grew clearer. With each stabbing from the spikes, more details of the sought-after prize appeared.
At last, the chest completely materialized, just waiting for someone to unlock its contents.
The boy could barely move, multiple wounds covering his body. His hands reached out, feebly trying to grasp the treasure for which he'd risked his life.
Instead, he collapsed on the ground, and with a single shuddering breath, lay still.
The boy's search for treasure they have been futile, but my own search for his group wasn't.
They had pieced together the puzzle, and figured out the clues.
Now I could finally follow them, and be seen.
I would truly always be there with the group, and they would know who I was.
Yet while my first wishes were granted right away, the last two never came to light.
The boy and his friends didn't ask who I was.
Never once did they question why I was there, even though there's no way a lost soul floating alongside a ragtag group can't be suspicious.
There were no inquiries about what I had done. The boy didn't even recognize my voice.
How hopelessly foolish they all were!
The foolishness wasn't limited to outside of combat, either.
I brought so much to the group, yet they didn't have the slightest idea of how useful I was to them!
No objects stood in my path, as I possessed the ability to soar straight over them. Nothing blocked my attacks either, as they shot through anything that tried.
My other tools were a die that could transform anything, and a shield that loyally offered infallible protection. More ways to stay alive, and all the better.
With all the dangers they were facing, the boy's group would need everything I could offer.
Yet after only a few battles, the group tossed me away like an unwanted toy.
After all I had done to follow them!
And now was like I didn't exist, again.
The group never exactly told me why they discarded me, but I suspected it was because I couldn't take even a glancing blow.
I couldn't help that, though! After all, I was simply a tiny, wispy, lost soul!
Yet the group rejecting me didn't change the fact that I was always present.
Yes, present until the very end…
The end that none of them could have foreseen…
And like almost everything else on the journey, I watched it play out in front of me.
The boy took his last gasping breath inside the stone-cold chest. His delusions, and the journey they created, faded away. As the boy's body went limp, I ascended.
As I prepared to depart, one thought from this world still remained in my head.
No one had seen me, but I'd always been there.
Author's notes:
-So I've always found the Lost to be an interesting character, which is why I decided to do a character study on it. For those who don't know, the Lost is character introduced the Rebirth expansion. The Lost is unique in that dies from one hit and cannot increase its health any way. It's also unusual among the characters because it's one of two that does not have any obvious biblical reference (the other being a cameo from another project done by the same creator).
-The idea of the Lost appearing every time someone dies has to do with death animations in Rebirth. For Rebirth onwards, the Lost could be seen quickly rising from a dead character after they were defeated. After that, the player would see the Last Will (which is why this fanfic has The Lost being able to read it). In the original Binding of Isaac, Isaac simply stopped and was surrounded by light before dying. I chose to combine the two death animations.
-The text on the Last Will is from the game itself. However, the text changes depending on who dies, where they die, and what items they have if they die. I chose to keep that ambiguous, so the text here omits everything that can change.
-In the early days of the game it was unknown whether the people Isaac traveled with were actually people, or just different versions of the same people. In keeping with that his delusions, I decide to go with the interpretation that they actually were different people (or least, they were in Isaac's mind).
This is also the reason why the journey to escape from Isaac's mother is treated as though it is real. Isaacs dying delusions make that journey real, at least, until the last minute or so of the game.
-The idea of The Lost speaking to Isaac's mother from the attic comes from a scene in Afterbirth. In this scene, the voice that Isaac's mother hears before the game begins is revealed to be the Lost speaking from the attic. It's unknown if this actually happens or if it's just a part of Isaac's delusions. However, since this fan fiction treats those delusions as real, this scene is also treated as real.
-I chose to take a villainous approach to The Lost because of the above scene. If the scene above actually happened, and the character speaking was The Lost, then it is responsible for the entire game. This also makes it undeniably villainous, because it is responsible for all the suffering Isaac endures throughout the game.
-The different deaths and battles the characters have has to do with unlocking the Lost. Originally, The Lost had the most complex unlock process in the entire game. It involved dying to certain enemies with certain characters in a specific order. One mistake, and the player was forced to repeat the entire process over. In gameplay, the deaths would be done on purpose. However, I thought it would be difficult to write different characters constantly killing themselves for no foreseeable reason. Therefore, the deaths are not on purpose in this story.
-In the Nintendo Switch version of Afterbirth, the unlock process for the Lost was simplified. I decided to combine the two by having it be the last step in the original unlock process. In this version, the Lost was unlocked by holding a Missing Poster while dying in a Sacrifice Room.
-Sacrifice Room themselves have been altered a bit in this fanfic. In the original game, characters have to run on a field of spikes and damage themselves. After enough damage has been taken, a chest with items will appear. I changed that slightly by having the chest be visible, but not able to be collected until enough damage has been taken. The reason for this is to make the death in the Sacrifice Room more meaningful, and to avoid the aforementioned difficulty of writing a character killing themselves without any reason.
-The mention of the puzzle pieces has to do with an event that took place when the Lost was first inserted into the game. In Rebirth, when a character died with the Missing Poster in their inventory, there would be a puzzle piece on the Last Will. If enough puzzle pieces were collected, players could see how to obtain the Lost. However, the puzzle pieces were not required to unlock The Lost if players already knew the criteria.
-The reference to things such as flying, a die, attacking through objects, and a shield was based off of things that the Lost could actually do in combat. The die and shield were a reference to the D4 and Holy Mantle, items that The Lost could start out with. The idea of eventually being discarded is also a reference to how many players choose to play The Lost. The Lost unlocks a lot of good items in-game, but is so difficult to play that many players choose to discard it after the items are unlocked.
-Finally, the name Lost Soul refers to The Lost itself. It's unknown what The Lost represents, but some people believe it to be a reference to the lost souls of Limbo. I decided to use that interpretation for this fan fiction.