After playing Bioshock Infinite I just knew I could not help but write some stories about these two amazing characters. I've liked other fandoms before but never have I found one quite like Infinite. The story, the characters, the setting, despite all its science its pure magic. So here I am writing and posting my first ever fanfiction story.
So therefore please let me know how I've done with a review or two. Enjoy.
And to those who are curious the lyrics are from 3 Doors Down's Here Without You. Which the story is named after.
It was a bright moonlit night in Paris, the city lights spread on for miles in all directions. For the famous city of love it was a quiet night. The kind that lovers would want so that they could savor each other's company and forget the world.
For the single lone figure standing on the top level of the Eifel Tower it was a beautiful sight. Her whole life she had wanted to see this city, the sights, the sounds, everything. It was just as she expected and hoped. At the same time though it felt... hollow. Like something was missing.
Looking around she saw that she was completely alone. There was no one else here on the Eifel Tower. She already knew this but that did not stop her from hoping that maybe she would just look up and find him there. That he would defy the odds like he always did and just be standing right there enjoying the view with her.
Without even thinking her fingers reached up to her neck and slowly ran over the metal of the bird pendant he had given her. Well he did not give it to her himself but he chose it for her. In her eyes it was all she had of him.
She heard the quiet drips before she felt them. Reaching her fingertips up to her eyes she could feel the moisture falling down her cheeks in torrents. She knew she had no chance of stopping the tears she tried so hard to hold in. So instead she gripped the rail tightly and just let them fall. Quiet sobs wracked her body as all of her bottled grief, guilt, and sadness came rushing out.
"Booker... I'm sorry..." She cried out between sobs as she gripped the rail so tightly her knuckles began to turn white.
What had she done? Killed Comstock once and for all? She had thought it would make her feel better to know she had stopped him once and for all but what was the cost? She was so angry... So focused on vengeance against men she had never met that she was blind to what she was doing. She had murdered the only man who had ever cared even a little for her. All the times he had protected her how did she repay him? By drowning him.
Looking down at her hands she remembered when she had murdered Fitzroy, she had done that to save a young child. Fitzroy had proved herself just as much a monster as Comstock. She did not have it in her to drown Booker but it was still her, it was still these hands.
She now understood the guilt Booker always carried with him. It ate you alive from the inside out. He was right though, you really do just learn to live with the things you've done.
When he had discovered the truth and remembered his own mistakes Booker had been willing to do anything to make up for it. He did not care about how he felt, how the world felt, he only wanted her to forgive him for selling her to Comstock, for being the one responsible for all the pain she had lived with. Allowing her to drown him was that forgiveness. He did not even attempt to struggle for he knew it was what she wanted.
Things had changed though. There was nothing she wanted more now than to have him here with her here in Paris. Just like they had planned when they finally got the First Lady back. She had not had the chance to say anything about it but she saw the coordinates on the controls of the airship just before Songbird attacked. It was Paris, he had really been going to take her here just like she been hoping since the beginning.
Closing her eyes she tried to imagine how things could have been different. Strong arms wrapped around her waist as she felt his chin on her head.
"Everything you imagined Elizabeth?" That voice, his voice, whispered in her ear. Elizabeth could only smile as she leaned back into the embrace. "Even better," was her only response as she tilted her head back to look up at him. She had never seen his smile so widely as his eyes stared down into hers.
Suddenly the delusion faded just as quickly as it had arrived and Booker was gone. There was no smile, no strong arms, no voice, he was still gone.
Unable to stand on her feet anymore Elizabeth fell to her knees in front of the rail. The ground cold and hard even through the velvet of her blue skirt. She pressed her forehead to the cool metal of the rail.
Being a trans-dimensional being time had a different meaning. Elizabeth could not tell if she sat there for hours, or just minutes but she had no desire left to move.
Just like her pendant she was as free as a bird. All of the world and all other worlds were hers to explore. She could do anything, be anybody. No longer was she bound by anything, Songbird, Comstock, Columbia, her tower, none of it existed anymore. She should be relishing this freedom she never knew her whole life.
The more she thought about it the more she realized it. This was not life. There was no world beyond the walls that once held Booker and her together. All that was left was purgatory.
Elizabeth could not find the will to go on any further. There was nothing else left for Elizabeth in this world or any other. What was the point of eternity when there was no one to spend it with?
She had explored a few tears before making her way to here. Back in Columbia there had been some red colored tears that played music she had never heard before, neither had Booker. It was in one of these kind of tears she heard a song. Elizabeth did not know when or where it was from but the words suddenly came back to her. Before she even realized it she had started to sing.
A hundred days have made me older
Since the last time that I saw your pretty face
A thousand lies have made me colder
And I don't think I can look at this the same
The words had reminded her so much of her and Booker it was scary. They had both warmed her heart and shattered it to pieces at once.
I'm here without you, baby
But you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you, baby
And I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you, baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight, boy, its only you and me
Everything I know, and anywhere I go (oh whoa)
It gets hard but it won't take away my love (oh whoa)
And when the last one falls
When it's all said and done
It gets hard but it won't take away my love, whoa, oh, oh
Slowly standing on shaky legs, Elizabeth grasped the railing again looking out across the expanse of Paris. Elizabeth did not know what comes after, some things even she did not know, but if there was even a chance of being reunited with Booker... She was ready to take it. Elizabeth closed her eyes as she began to lean over the rail.
Elizabeth did not get very far before two different hands grasped her upper arms puling her back from the rail to solid ground. Elizabeth did not even look to see who had stopped her. Instead she completely broke down into loud wails and sobs. The same hands that had stopped her rested on each of her shoulders. Their owners made no other moves, choosing instead to let the young woman simply cry it out until she was ready.
After her sobs died down a little bit she looked up to see who it was that had pulled her from the edge. Elizabeth recognized two very familiar heads of red hair looking down at her.
Robert and Rosalind Lutece.
The same "twins" that had a hand in all this from the beginning, but they were the same ones who brought Booker to her. Elizabeth did not know whether to give them both a hug or to push them over the edge.
All of a sudden a small white handkerchief appeared before her. Elizabeth took it from Robert's hand and slowly dried her eyes while her body still trembled from barely contained sobs.
For a long while neither of the redheads said anything. They simply stood there, but Elizabeth understood what they were telling her without words. She was not completely alone, despite not being what she wanted they were here.
"Mr. Dewitt would not want you doing this to yourself," it was Robert that broke the silence.
Elizabeth could not look up at them. He was right. Booker would want her to live, to enjoy her new freedom. She could almost hear his voice in her ear again. "Try Elizabeth, try for me."
Slowly standing Elizabeth moved to give Robert's Handkerchief back but instead she only found them both to be gone.
Moving back over to the rail Elizabeth let out a soft sigh and let the small piece of cloth flutter away in the wind.
Turning around Elizabeth closed her eyes. She could do this. For him she could do this. Opening a tear to another world, another place she took a deep breath.
"I will try Booker, I will try for you," after whispering the words the young woman stepped through.