Choice
Rating: PG/K+
Genre: Family/Friendship
Summary: Robert's ultimatum for Rosalind explored.
Author's Note: FIRST BIOSHOCK FIC EVAR, I am excite.
Disclaimer: I don't own BioShock. It belongs to Irrational Games.
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"My brother has presented me with an ultimatum: if we do not send the girl back from where we brought her… He and I must part."
[-]
"Sister."
They almost never referred to each other by their given names when speaking to one another. Robert only had one sister, and Rosalind only one brother.
"Yes?"
"We need to talk."
"We are talking."
"But not about the subject I would like to discuss."
She set her pen down, clasped her hands on her lap, and turned on the stool so that she was facing him completely. "And this subject is…?"
Robert's eyes narrowed slightly. "You know what it is."
"There are a number of subjects to which you could be referring, and I very well cannot read your mind." Rosalind's expression wasn't very expressive at all, despite the fact that she already knew what he was getting at.
"Don't be cute, sister. You know precisely which of those many subjects I'm referring to, and I'm not in a mood to banter about it."
Rosalind sighed. "Very well: Comstock, DeWitt and the girl. What about them did you want to discuss?"
"I am… Displeased with the outcome."
"I sensed as much."
"I believe perhaps we acted in error."
"And which part do you believe to be erroneous?"
"The part where we took a child, and then set into motion events that will eventually lead to the destruction of a major American city."
"And?"
"And that's about it, I don't believe we've done any other remarkably destructive things as of late."
"Actually, I was prompting you to elaborate one what your point overall is."
"As you so concisely stated, sister, I cannot read your mind, so deducing that would be difficult."
A ghost of a smile rested on Rosalind's lips. "Touché, brother. So did you simply mean to express your displeasure, or do you mean for us to do something about it?"
"The latter, preferably."
Whatever trace of a smile that remained disappeared, and Rosalind's mouth tightened. "It's already done, brother. Was, is, and will be."
"Could be. When last I checked, we had about eighty years to fix it."
Rosalind outright scoffed at that. "We have about eighty years?"
Robert rolled his eyes. "My point is that we have time, almost a full lifetime, to do something. Anything."
"Why is this so important to you?"
"I could just as easily inquire as to why it is not important to you."
Well, he certainly had her there.
[-]
"Where he sees an empty page, I see King Lear."
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It wasn't that Rosalind was uncaring, per se: Rather, she simply didn't see a point in intervening. What has happened is happening and will happen; there is nothing to be done for it.
Robert, on the other hand, wasn't content with such a declaration- and he never had been.
It had been curious to note that their respective raisings had produced two remarkably similar human beings, who yet also had key differences in their approaches to the world. They had compared, meticulously, their lives and formed dozens of hypotheses on why they had the differences that they did. Naturally, their views towards the past, present, future and how one might manipulate them being a distinct point of focus.
Needless to say, in moments like these those views tended to clash.
"There is no point."
"We don't know that."
"The damage we do could far outweigh what we've done."
"Or it could reverse it entirely."
"New York could, alternatively, be destroyed some other way as a result of our attempts at rectifying the situation."
"Or we could save it." He shrugged. "And if it does end up being a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario, then we won't know for certain until we try."
Rosalind took in a deep breath. "We've already looked, brother. Every time we did, it ended-"
"-Precisely the same way, I remember. But we hardly know all the answers."
"We know enough."
"Never enough, sister. We haven't been around nearly long enough for that, and you know it."
Rosalind watched his expression carefully, and- yes. Yes, there was something else there that wasn't being said.
Another notable difference: Where she was blunt and upfront with her words, Robert tended to be softer, to hold back; whether it was for fear of offending someone else or fear of retaliation remained unconfirmed, though Rosalind strongly leaned towards the former. She had never really seen the point of padding her words- being strategic about her choice of words and when to speak them, certainly, but never beating around the bush.
"What is it? Just spit it out, brother, you know it takes quite a bit to upset me."
"This will." Robert sounded troubled, though not sheepish.
Rosalind coolly crossed her arms and raised a defiant eyebrow at him. "Give it a go, then."
Robert sighed softly, but then straightened up and became as impassive as she, folding his arms behind his back and lifting his head. "If we're not going to look for a way to fix this," He said with an air of finality, "then I'm leaving."
Rosalind's eyebrow slowly descended as the weight of that statement sunk in. "Pardon?"
"I'm leaving."
"Leaving?"
"Yes, leaving. As in, going away and never coming back."
"Brother-" Her tone consisted of disbelief and a slight hint of uncertain amusement, because there was certainly no way that Robert could seriously be considering-
"I'm serious, Rosalind."
And then she believed him.
[-]
"But… He is my brother. So I shall play my part, knowing it shall all end in tears."
[-]
They were siblings.
They were twins.
They were family.
They were closer in many ways than any of those could be given that they were, in essence, the same person. To find someone that, the vast majority of the time, operated in such perfect sync with oneself was rare and magnificent, and something that Rosalind cherished beyond all other things. The idea of Robert leaving stirred something deep and painful in her, something that she hadn't felt in a very, very long time.
Rosalind was not ignorant to the value Robert placed on their bond- it equaled her own. There was conviction in his tone and a muted pain in his eyes, and she knew that the decision weighed on him. He was not making this threat lightly.
Frustration rose, but the unpleasant feeling that reared up in her squashed it back down. There was no point. Elizabeth- Anna- whoever she was, she was destined to grow up and destroy New York. Insofar as Rosalind could see, what they had both seen together, was that that path was set in stone. One way or another, it would come about and there was nothing that either of them could do to stop it.
As far as we know, a little voice in her head tempted. It was the whisper of optimism that usually kept its peace at the back of her mind. Robert was one of the few people who could get it to speak. We don't know everything. We could… Experiment.
Yes. Experimentation was often productive.
Potentially pointless and, more likely than not, would lead to even greater catastrophe than what they had achieved thus far, but productive still. Whether it confirmed her beliefs or Robert's, they would learn something.
And if it kept them together, she would do it again and again and again and again.
Rosalind contemplated these things with no more than a faint expression of displeasure on her face. She sighed.
"Very well, brother. Although, I go on record saying that I don't very well see the point in this."
Robert smiled, and Rosalind quietly bemoaned the fact that she had become so horribly attached to another human being so completely. Still, that he was happy was a point of satisfaction for her; possibly the only one, in this case.
"Chin up, sister," He said, and she relaxed a bit when she did not hear her name, "you do love to experiment." Rosalind sniffed, promptly turning around and picking up her pen again.
"I do. But prepare yourself, brother: Because you'll be doing all of the heavy-lifting."
-End