[Disclaimer: I own neither the the Dead Space nor the Prototype franchises. All characters from both are property of Activision and Electronic Arts (EA)]

(Most of the events taken from the base game of Dead Space 2 are from a walkthrough from a YouTuber named Zevik. That's why Isaac is so damned good at killing Necromorphs. Hopefully I haven't signed my own death-warrant from telling everyone this. But even if you all hate me forever, please, at least watch Zevik's content- he's makes nothing but quality walkthroughs of any given game.)

Once again, with the boring stuff out of the way... let the nightmare continue! *Cue evil laughter... again*

Prologue

His mind faded in and out of static for what seemed like ages. From the insane and incessant whispering to the deafening shrieks and shouts that resounded throughout his entire conscious, it all felt terrible, other than the sweet bliss of mindless oblivion, and that was only because he never felt anything during those times.

Sadly, this was not one of those times.

The static came again, changing in and out of focus until it finally formed into the image of- no, not an image. It was a video of a woman, showing her smile and curiosity if the person she wanted to speak to was going to appear.

"Isaac, are you there?", she asked. "Come in Isaac."

As she was speaking, a smaller video appeared in the top right and revealed the bleary face of the man looking at her and blinking the sleep out of his eyes while in his bed. The woman gasped and apologized.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry Isaac", she said, "... the time difference... I'll call you back later."

Isaac shook his head and replied, "No, no, it's OK. It's OK. How you doing?"

The woman had a short laugh and smiled. "Good. You were right, Isaac! The Ishimura is a great ship! I am so lucky to be aboard her."

Isaac smiled back and stated, "Well enjoy it while it lasts. You know they're going to decommission her next year."

Still smiling, the woman simply said, "Isaac... thank you."

"For what?", Isaac asked. The woman replied, "For... just pushing me to do this. I mean, if it weren't for you, I never would have made it this far, because you made me stick with it..."

Isaac reminded her, though his voice was beginning to fade, "Well, just remember, I'm giving you up six months for you to do this."

The woman mentioned, "You know what, we must be getting out of range of the relay."

As the screen faded to static, she tried to say, "Isaac? I... Isaac, can you hear me? Look, I'm gonna call you back as soon as I can, alright?"

And as the screen faded, so did the barriers around the man's mind. He found himself sitting in a chair, and in front of him was a man sitting in another chair behind a desk from which the message was playing. Upon the desk were many things- a puzzle cube with an important symbol on all the sides; several sheets of ink blots, and the most important thing... a small-scale model of a ship, that being the Ishimura. The memories of those things began to fade as the man said, "Isaac, Isaac!"

When Isaac snapped back to reality, the man explained, "You were drifting away for a moment there, Mr. Clarke. I believe you were telling me about your nightmares that you've been having- about your dead girlfriend. What was her name?"

Struggling to stay lucid, Isaac just barely replied, "Nicole...", and another one of his memories came to light, but this one was far less pleasant. In the darkness all around them, he saw her sitting in a chair like before, but now she held something to her arm... something that would kill her.

"I didn't want it to end like this", she said somberly, and yet holding back all the misery in her mind. "I really wanted to see you again... just once. I loved you. I always loved you."

As she stuck the needle in her arm and faded away, the man callously questioning Isaac impassively continued, "Yes, Nicole Brennan. She was a senior medical officer stationed aboard a Planetcracker class vessel..."

Isaac finished, "The Ishimura..."

The man continued, "The USG Ishimura, yes. Part of a mining operation on Aegis VII. I understand communications went down shortly after their arrival..."

Isaac nearly faded into madness again, his mind wandering the blood-covered halls of the cursed ship. Shadows of monsters and whispers calling Isaac's name stood out in the distance, filling him with a kind of dread that was only experienced there.

The interviewer continued, "You were a part of the repair mission- a mission for which you volunteered, am I right?"

He then asked, "What did you find aboard that ship, Isaac?"

Isaac could only reply, "They found something...", as that something far inside his mind appeared. There was the unholy relic hiding in the darkness... and someone right in front of it.

The man asked again, "What did they find aboard that ship, Isaac?"

Isaac struggled to get out the words, "The Marker", seeing the horrific thing even closer than before, and the person he did not want to see again closer as well. The man continued to question, "Did you have contact with this... Marker?"

As Isaac was going to reply, the shadowy figure walked forward into the light and revealed itself. It was Nicole... and yet not Nicole. Her face and clothing were all wrong, bloody and dead. Her face was the worst part; as the man further questioned, "It made you see things, didn't it? Things you didn't want to see?", she came into full view.

Nicole pulled herself onto the table and crouched down to see Isaac's face, with dried but still crimson blood poured from the top of her head downwards, and her eyes and mouth opened to reveal an unearthly orange glow.

Isaac said, "It spoke to me...", and the man asked, "What did it say, Isaac? What did it say to you, Isaac?"

Nicole slowly said, "Make... us... whole..."

The man asked, "Isaac! Isaac! Can you hear me? Isaac?"

Finally Isaac's mind exploded again as he shouted, "MAKE US WHOLE!", and faded into unconsciousness again. Light blinded him as he once again faded into nothing but oblivion... sweet, sweet oblivion...