Author's note:
His everyone, I just finished LA Noire and am truly fascinated by it's story and characters. I wasn't very satisfied with the ending though and think that something was missing there. So I decided to write this fanfiction in which Phelps survived the terrible accident in the tunnels and has to face the decisions and mistake he has made and find a way to get along with his life. He has to clear his mind about a lot of things, especially his relationship with Elsa. The fanfic is Cole/Elsa centered but most of the other main-characters will also appear.
I want to apologize for some mistakes you may find in the text as English is not my mother-tounge. But I hope you like it anyways and find it easy to read and entertaining.
Reviews are much appreciated :-) Let me know what you think and if you wanna read more of it. Now have fun
Disclaimer: I do not own LA Noire or any of it's characters, nor do I gain any profit with this story. It's simply written for others who wished the game to have ended another way :-)
He couldn't breath.
That was the first thing Cole Phelps was aware of as his body struggled to gain consciousness again.
His eyes flung open and everything in him wanted to take a deep breath but it didn't happen. Something was blocking his lungs. He could feel his body convulse as his organs were about to fail due to the lack of oxygen. He was about to give up and send a last prayer when suddenly some kind of coughing reflex took over making him gulp. And finally there came water floating out his mouth. A lot of water. It was a terrible feeling to lay there on the ground not being able to control the own body. But when the coughing and choking stopped Cole could finally take in some air.
He remained motionless on his back and took deep and long breaths. Relief came washing over him. He wasn't dead yet. But what had happened? And where was he? He slowly sat up and immediately realized that his clothes and entire body were soaking wet. He was sitting on a stony ground in some kind of tunnel. And then all of a sudden the memory came rushing back to him. The chase of Hogeboom, the flamethrower carrier of his unit back in the war. He had kidnapped Elsa and he and Jack had entered the tunnelsystem of the canalisation to save her and bring the series-killer to justice. Jack had executed the poor man while he'd helped Elsa to make her way out but what had happened afterwards? Cole could remember seeing Biggs on the other side of a grid at the ceiling. Biggs had opened it and Cole had heaved Elsa up to him. But something was wrong. The water in the tunnel system was rising very fast. Just seconds later Jack Kelso had been standing by his side. Cole remembered that he'd looked terribly worn out with a bleeding wound on his arm. That was why he'd helped him out first. And just when he himself was about to climb out of the tunnel the water came rushing towards him and he was getting washed away by the water masses. The last thing he'd seen were the shocked faces of his partner, Jack and Elsa.
But how much time had passed since that moment? The water masses had trickled away where to he couldn't tell. Cole slowly came to his feet and almost stumbled to the ground again. He quickly supported his body on one of the walls breathing heavily. It was only now that he realized just how bad his condition was. He felt dizzy and very feeble. Something thick and warm ran down his forehead and trickled into his left eye. Cole wiped it away with a shaking hand and found out that it was blood. He seemed to be having a gash somewhere on his forehead. But right now he had to concentrate on getting out of the tunnel. He made some slow and careful steps towards the left. He'd been lying in some kind of niche and one branch of the tunnel lay right in front of him. But he had to find out that both ways were filled with rubble and rocks. A part must have collapsed during the flodding. How was it even possible that he was still alive? He had to find another way out.