Chapter 00: Prologue.
Disclaimer: I do not own Dishonored.
A/N: The sections in Italics are from the Outsider's Perspective.
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The day had started just like most days in Dunwall, at least that was for outsiders trapped in the city, but for those few true citizens who had survived the Lord Regent's culling the day was filled with a certain sadness.
For young Lady Marian Shaw, a girl of twelve, the day would become doubly so.
Six months had passed since Empress Jessamine Kaldwin was murdered and the disappearance of their dearly departed Empress's daughter Emily both perpetrated by the Lord Protector, Corvo Attano. There had been rumor after rumor as to why the ever loyal Lord protector would ever do such a thing: but none were remotely believable… well except for one, but even then it took a stretch of imagination to even consider the thought.
As a lady of a nearly destitute House, Marian had been expected to overcome her family's financial short comings, as such she was forced to learn every dirty little rumor and help spread them when necessary. This particular rumor, had begun as an off handed comment made by Lydia Boyle that had propagated faster than the Rat Plague.
She claimed that the dearly departed Empress was romancing her very own Lord Protector, and while he was away she had found comfort in another. Feeling guilty, the Empress admitted her affair to the recently returned Corvo… and he murdered her with his own blade.
"Pure lunacy," her father had said when she first mentioned the rumor. "Corvo wouldn't have had time to hide the girl if it had been a crime of passion."
Marian had smiled upon hearing that her father agreed with her, as it was an all too rare occurrence she dared not ask him to elaborate on the matter.
Lord Montgomery Shaw had always been a proud and more often than naught emotionally distant but that was to be expected from the man who was barely keeping his family above the water, but all of that could have changed if not for one small note.
Like some nobles, Lord Shaw took exception to the Overseers tightening grip in the city and the Lord Regent's ever looming, ever growing, shadow. He had come to fear that one day his enemies would make their move and she would be left alone… or so the whispers told her.
As such Lord Montgomery searched for men who could be of service and once he reached the Flooded district, he had found them. she had been instructed by some of the best blademasters outside of the Abbey's control, the Whalers.
Daud had lent him Lurk for an exorbitant fee but it had been well worth it, at least in the eyes of the lord. The assassin taught Poor little Marian how to dance with a blade and move in the shadows, more often than not scolding her for mistakes and her highborn status. Though Marian never saw her face she had come to believe that Lurk, on some obscure level, cared for her… just like her father.
Truth was Marian could scarcely believe that he cared anymore, she had been prohibited from attending hundreds of gatherings, she had even been barred from attending the lady Emily's birthday. She was like an ill kept secret and now… her father could barely look at her.
It had all come to pass after her mother fell ill to the plague. Marian took after her Pandyssian mother, you see, and her darker skin offered her little room for error amongst the nobility.
Though some servants had mentioned that she looked rather stunning since she had inherited her father's steely blue eyes and her grandmother's features.
She was just a sweet innocent girl and nothing would ever change that.
Or so I thought, and now you're here.
All it took was a note and a well-placed bullet to make you all so interesting.
Do you remember that day?
Do you remember being her, Marian?
No? Then allow me to refresh your memory, old friend.
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Marian walked calmly around the Boyle Estate searching for other children whose parents were either didn't care where they were or were too drunk to keep track of them. Adults never noticed what children did.
She was carful to avoid her father, who came with a rather ugly wolf mask, and his guard.
She dressed in a simple black coat and a raven feathered bird mask the covered the entirety of her face. It was just enough to be seen but not enough that she was noticed.
Her short sword was kept at securely on her hip.
She marveled at the beauty hidden in the gardens of the Boyle estate. They had been like a mazes of flowers and statues that both fascinated and terrified poor Marian.
She wasn't used to so many people in one place, but all their stories were either disinteresting or common knowledge.
Corvo Attano's escape from Coldrige Prison…
The High Overseer was marked as a disciple of the Outsider. Dumped in the Flooded District.
The Pendleton Twins disappearing from the Golden Cat…
Whispers of the gang leader, Slackjaw, disappearance…
The death's surrounding the infamous Granny Rags…
And the topic on everyone's tongue, the identity of the masked assassin. Some say, he's the Outsider himself; others, that he's a wraith out to punish those in service to the Lord Regent.
There was nothing useful in mere speculation, so Marian simply filtered them out.
It wasn't until she passed Lord Ramsay did she find something of note.
"Did you hear that Old Monty received a note from Pendleton?" Lord Ramsay whispered into Lady Timsh's ear.
"Really?" She said with no small amount of shock. "Didn't he go into hiding after his brothers disappeared?"
"Yes, but he sent a messenger in his place." He said a bit more loudly.
"What did the note say?"
"Well. I don't know, but I bet, we'll see it after the duel." Marian didn't hear anymore as broke into a wild sprint. She ran past the guards and the party guests searching for any sign of her father.
While she ran her mind entered a state of panic.
'Without him, they'll all leave!' She mentally screamed at herself. He was her only real connection, if he died the servants would leave and Lurk would surely never return… she'd be alone, without a penny to her name nor a roof to sleep under.
That's when she saw them.
Her father in blue over coat and a brown, feral wolf mask his back was turned to an imposing figure. The man was clad in in a worn black and red coat with golden accents and his mask was unlike anything she had ever seen, it inspired a primordial terror that she thought only the Outsider was capable of.
He was Death.
…1…
…2…
…3…
BANG!
The thunderous echo of the guns was drowned out by the cheers of the gathering crowed and the explosion coming from the tall-boy's exploding bolts that echoed from behind the large fences and high walls of the Boyle estate.
For a precious instant, Marian thinks that her father had escaped death. He stood there, tall and strong but that was before his body realized that a bullet had entered his heart.
She stood apart from the world she had grown up in, knowing full well that it was going to change.
Without her father the youngest of Pendleton's would take her home and with it everything else in her family's name.
She was suddenly very thankful for the ornate mask that hid her face. True tears had no place amongst the nobility of Dunwall, it was like throwing chum at Hagfish. Fear soon filled her as the embodiment of Death walked in her direction, undeterred by the life he had just taken and unaware of the other he had just destroyed.
The man moved like a specter, his footfalls unnaturally quiet as he glided through the celebrating spectators. When the hooded figure passed by her she let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding but her heart still wanted to tear itself free from the confines of her chest.
But as frantic as her body had become her mind ran quickly and tried its best to overcome the fear that was slowly eating away at her rational train of thought.
The realization that she was going to die if she stayed in the plague ridden city came quickly and without mercy, and with it an overwhelming idea spread in her.
She needed to escape…
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And what an escape you made!
Like a desperate animal trying to claw itself free from a trap, you predictably tore through Dunwall in a way only you could.
You put your training to work, stealing clothes from the dead, stabbing a guard who tried to help you, and killing a sailor that spotted you creeping onto one of Charlington Ludd's smuggling ships.
You were lucky that your former teacher found you before the captain had your hide… another unexpected twist, Daud might have killed her and where would that left you?
Would you be the woman that you are today?
A servant to the prince and princess of Wynnedown, just another mask for you to wear as your birds gather more secrets.
Allow me to give you a warning, old friend. Things are going to change again. Your actions or inactions will affect the Empire in ways you couldn't comprehend.
And here I'll be…
In the Void…
Watching you with unusual attention.
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A/N: This has been an idea I had floating around in my head since the first issue of The Wyrmwood Deceit.
I wrote this chapter mostly from the Outsider's perspective because I felt it was the best way to introduce this Original Character. I purposefully didn't give Marian any dialog for two reasons; the first: as a small reference to the first game where Corvo was a silent character. The second: The Outsider never seems to have conversation's with any of the protagonists he only monologs as if knowing what their response is going to be.
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