The Shadow of Dunwall

Disclaimer: I don't own Dishonored (the video game or etc.). I also don't own any other book, movie, song or character I may have mentioned along the way. I just so happened to use it for non-profitable fun in my spare time.

Author's Note: For the most part, the dialogue that you've heard in the game has been untouched by my keyboard tickling hands (except obviously when my character gets involved) because I really want to respect that game and how well it was made. However, that's not to say that there won't be a few little changes where I feel they are needed and I hope the game's script writers won't mind.

Furthermore, I hope those of you that have come to find my OC/Corvo Dishonored fan fiction really enjoy both the OC that I've created for the world of Dishonored and the way that I've written her into this incredible story. Thank you for reading and I hope that you review. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 – Caught In A Trap

Robyn crouched low, keeping her hood pulled down low while her scarf remained anchored by her nose to cover the lower half of her face. True, it was better to not be seen at all but it could hardly be avoided sometimes and she much preferred that they see a figure than her having to kill them to keep her face a secret. She'd been sneaking around in the shadows and skittering across rooftops since she could walk but every person had limits to their skills, hers was with the gangs or places with intense guard activity. However, these were the places that usually had the good loot which made the long hours of sneaking well worth it.

When her parents had died when she was eleven, she'd been starving and depressed for weeks until kind survivors had taken her in. It had been by the kindness of those people that she'd understood why she was still alive while everyone else had perished around her; she was meant to help others. Since then she'd dawned her armor and hidden in the shadows, stealing from those who could afford it and use the currency to buy food and elixir to give to the survivors of the plague that still were trying to get by. Usually she snuck her way into the Estate District or the Legal District to steal from the nobles which tended to be safer for her despite the large amount of guards but sometimes she'd go to the gangs whenever she felt especially annoyed with them. She never killed unless she absolutely had to, which wasn't often, but it didn't mean that she wasn't so confident not wear her cowl or carry her weapons. She was still human. Mistake happened.

However, she was currently sneaking into a place that didn't take kindly to dead guards or even knocked out guards. Incapacitated guards in Dunwall Tower meant that there would be alarms and an inflow of activity that she didn't need. She'd learned that the first time she'd managed to weasel her way into the Tower, loosing access for a few months before she could manage to find a new way back in. It was better to never be seen at all, sneak through the rafters and in the shadows of the rooms as she slipped different items into her pockets.

However, she could only do so much when she had a Tail trailing behind her. She never worked with other people, much preferring to keep her identity a secret, but this time was different.

"Why look who it is…"

Robyn jerked back, her eyes meeting the strangers as she drew her sword on him. He gave her a bored smiled and drew a gun from his coat, aiming for her head.

"… the Shadow of Dunwall. Never thought that you'd be a female,"

Robyn glared, silently berating herself for being so lazy to have let this stranger get the best of her in her own hideout. She'd been foolish to think that no one ever traveled by rooftop except the Whalers, local assassins headed by a dangerous man named Daud. Though, to be fair, very few people nowadays had the capability to get up to the roofs and jump between the buildings anyway. So Robyn traveled this way and had made her makeshift home only accessible from the rickety balcony on the top floor of her building. She's never had to worry about trespassers before and had simply slipped off her off her hood and unwrapped the scarf from her face that kept her from being recognized.

"How did you find me?" Robyn bit out, thoroughly annoyed at this ass.

"Followed you, of course. Wasn't easy,"

"And what do you want?"

This made him smile, pulling at scars on his face that she hadn't noticed before. "I hear that the Shadow of Dunwall can get into Dunwall Tower unseen… but refuses to take anyone with him,"

Robyn shifted uncomfortably. "That's true,"

"Well that's about to change… unless you want to be handed over to the Watch,"

Robyn glared at the man behind her as he tumbled out of the metalwork to crouch behind her, making her wince at the noise. He wasn't the best at sneaking though she'd been doing it for years and couldn't exactly complain at his inabilities. The only real issue she took with him was that he was here at all but she had no choice unless she wanted to be given up to the guards and end her days of thieving to help the survivors of Dunwall.

She took a deep breath in before slipping behind one of the guards and two workers, falling into the shadows behind some crates. She kept her position until her Tail followed behind her, his breath hot on her shoulder as the guard turned with a frown, looking around. Robyn watched the guard with careful eyes, noting his body language before he finally turned back around and continued on his way. She let out a breath and motioned with a finger for her Tail to follow.

It took them a good long while to get across the different levels of the courtyards and into Dunwall Tower which held all of the good loot. Robyn slipped through the rooms with her Tail behind her, occasionally motioning for him to pick things up for her. He seemed bored, much to her annoyance, as they traveled through the rooms, scooping up what they could. Why had he wanted to come with her if not to steal as he'd said?

Robyn and her Tail were in the middle of looting a new room when an inflow of guards had her grabbing the collar of his coat and yanking him down. She forced him under a table, following close behind as the room grew silent and new footsteps entered the room. She felt him shift next to her, his hand in his coat as he eyed the newcomers. She glared at him, tapping his cheek to get him to focus on what they were currently trying to do; stay hidden.

"What is it, Corvo?"

Robyn froze instantly, her back stiffening at the sound of that name. She'd heard of the mighty Lord Protector many times and knew that it was never a good idea to be on the other side of the law when he was around. He was a man from Serkonos which might be known for its artistry but he was a harsh man that could take on a number of men in a fight and win with no trouble.

Shit.

"Corvo?"

A hand suddenly gripped Robyn's ankle, ripping her out from under the table and out into the light of the room. She let out a gasp of surprise through her scarf as her hands tried to grip anything they could, even the sleeve of her Tail's coat. However, it did no good and as soon as she was out in the open she regained her composure and kicked the inside of her capture's elbow, forcing them to let her go. She came up in a crouch, pulling out her sword and crossbow at the same time everyone in the room pulled out their swords and guns. Her capture, the Lord Protector himself, pulled out his sword and gun as he pushed the Empress and Lady Emily behind him, his eyes hard as he looked down at Robyn.

Robyn's eyes flashed around the room from under her hood, taking in the large number of cocked pistols aimed at her. She cursed herself internally and frowned beneath her scarf as she let out a heavy sigh. This was the end for her it would seem. There was no way that her long years of sneaking and thievery would get her out of this situation. Even if it was only the Lord Protector, she knew that she wouldn't be able to fight her way out of there. And she didn't want to chance harming the Empress or the young Lady Emily. She was already going to be headed to Coldridge for damn's sake.

"I'm not here to harm anyone," Robyn spoke quickly, her scarf only barely muffling her words whilst her hood still hung low over her face. "I'm a thief-" Assassins for the most part were killed on sight. "-I'll put down my weapons when you the guards do. The Lord Protector may keep his stance,"

"And we're supposed to listen to the prisoner?" one of the guards snorted haughtily.

But Robyn kept her eyes on the Lord Protector, speaking to him. "I'm not here to harm anyone. I just don't want to get killed by a trigger happy guard,"

The Lord Protector frowned down at her before he nodded.

The guards grumbled as they lowered their weapons, only a few of them actually sheathing their swords and replacing their guns into their holsters. However, it was enough for Robyn as she sheathed her own sword and raised her hands above her head as she stood. She kept her eyes on the Lord Protector throughout this, hoping that if he and her maintained their understanding then there was more possibility that she got out alive.

Robyn tilted her head down towards the table. "Are you coming out now or are you going to wait for them to find you?"

The Lord Protector's mouth twitched into a frown as his eyes flickered towards the movement Robyn could hear coming from underneath the table. Her Tail was muttering angrily to himself before came out from under the table with less grace than a drunken sailor. He came up to stand next to her with a frown on his face, his hands tucked into his coat pockets as he glared at everyone in the room.

"Hands up!" one of the guards shouted, lifting his gun from his side.

When her Tail didn't move, Robyn glanced over at him with a frown. If he planned on doing some daredevil move to try to escape, it would get the both of them killed along with a whole lot of the guards who would get caught up in their own crossfire. Robyn wasn't a fan of death.

"Don't be stupid," she snapped at him, watching him twitch. "What the hell are you doing?"

"It's time for a new order!" he suddenly explained, pulling his hands out of his coat. "Death to the Empress!"

An explosion blinded Robyn for a moment before she realized that the explosion had been a mixture of a flash bomb and a smoke grenade set off at her feet. She blinked as the smoke burned her eyes, thankful to the scarf still around her face as she heard coughing surround her. Robyn instantly lunged forward, unsheathing her sword as she heard her traitorous Tail grunting and shouting as he fought someone. It would have been easy for her to leave the room and escape the way she'd come, leaving the Empress and her little girl behind to whatever fate befell them, but that wasn't Robyn. She was a person that tried hard to protect those she could when they couldn't protect themselves.

So she dodged wild swings from swords through the milky smoke, listening to the desperate screams of the guards, the cries of Lady Emily or the growls of the murderous man. Robyn was spurred on when she caught the distinctive smell of sulfur and sewer water in the air. It was a smell that Robyn had long learned to associate with Granny Rags and her house down near the Bottle Street Gang's hideout. She wasn't stupid enough to not recognize the shiver that ran down her spine as she listened to the confusion around, the touch of the Outsider.

Robyn came in contact with the Empress and the Lady Emily as the smoke began to thin, she took hold of Lady Emily's shoulder, instantly getting the attention of the Empress.

"Don't you touch her!"

"I don't mean to harm her," Robyn instantly snapped at her. "You need to leave before something happens to you,"

The Empress gave her a confused look as Robyn led them towards the doors. "And why are you helping us?"

"Because this is not what I came here for," Robyn told her as she forced them through the doors and down the hall, away from the fighting. "I came here to steal from you and give it back to the people of Dunwall. I don't want deaths on my hands,"

"Oh, Shaaa-dow!" a familiar voice sang.

Robyn spun on the spot, stopping the sword inches from her face. She put her weight on the hilt of her sword and watched the traitor teeter back before he swung at her again. She blocked him at each attempt, keeping him off balance each time his left hand glowed with an eerie darkness that Robyn recognized from her dreams. She kept herself between the man and the two females at her back, forcing him back down the hall before he turned and disappeared.

Robyn didn't question it, just turned and ran back to the two to keep them moving.

"You're the Shadow of Dunwall!" Lady Emily suddenly gasped tugging on Robyn's sleeve. "I've heard of you from the guards. You rob from the rich and give to the poor like thieves from the old legends… but they were all boys,"

Robyn snorted. "Sorry to disappoint,"

She led the Empress and her daughter into the arms of some approaching guards before she heard a clatter coming from behind her. She turned to find the Lord Protector running towards them, coming to grip the Empress by the arms.

"Are you harmed?"

The Empress shook her head. "No, Corvo. We're both alright. This woman got us out and protected us,"

The Lord Protector nodded before looking to the guards. "The man has disappeared but I don't trust that he's gone. I want every inch of Dunwall Tower searched,"

"You'll want to check the boat entrance," Robyn suggested. "That's how we got in. If he were smart he would have fled after his failed attempt… though I doubt he will,"

The Lord Protector frowned over at her, a look that might have been confusion, before nodding to the men who spread out.

"Death to the Empress!"

Robyn turned as dread trickled down her spine like ice water. She watched as the man, touched by the Outsider, appeared from the shadows with a gun in one hand and the other glowing darkly. The scent of sulfur and sewer water practically permeated the hall, as if the hall itself was an illusion and they all stood in the sewers of Dunwall. The darkness surrounding the man almost seemed to dampen the light coming from the candles that lined the hall, a chill working its way down the hall towards them.

Robyn could hear Lady Emily coughing behind her whilst the Lord Protector stepped forward, gun and sword raised. The man grinned at them before he suddenly disappeared in a flash of black that left behind the smell of sulfur and a chill.

"Mother!"

Robyn heard the Empress scream, spinning to find the man directly on the Empress with the gun aimed at her forehead. Robyn instantly stomped down on the back of his knee, bringing him down to his knees before the gun could go off. She slammed the hilt of her sword down on the side of his neck as she tied to rip the gun from his hand, fighting him for control of the weapon.

She gasped with wide eyes, as the man fell unconscious, leaving her to stand over him with the smoking gun in her hand. The muzzle was angled up her body so that she could feel the sting of gunpowder burning her skin and clothes, leaving her breathless. She'd been shot at many times and a few had hit home, leaving her with several scars across her body, but this hurt more than all of those times combined.

"We need help!" she could hear the Empress yelling as Lady Emily stared up at her with wide innocent eyes. "The Royal Physician! Bring him here at once!"

Robyn frowned, dropping the gun to place her hand against her wound.

"Corvo, please! She needs help,"

She hadn't realized that she was on the ground until she felt intense pressure on her wound that pressed her down into the cold granite floor. She groaned as the large hands pressing against hers, blood oozing through her fingers.

"M-mother?"

"Shh, my darling. We are alright now,"

"W-why did that man do that?"

"I don't know,"

"Will she be alright? The Sh-shadow?"

"I hope so, darling,"

"Can you hear me?"

Robyn frowned, tilting her head to look up at the Lord Protector. "Yes,"

"Good," he nodded, his expression not changing. "Tell me when you can't,"

"Alright,"

Things were growing dark and fuzzy as events began to happen around her. She didn't really register anything that was happening though she still could see and hear it. It was only when things started to get too dark that she realized that her eyes had closed. She tried to open her eye, groaning as she felt pressure around her middle and around her shoulders that was making it hard to breathe. She shifted and opened her eyes to find she was looking up at a ceiling, it wasn't one that she recognized nor was it one that she expected to see. She frowned, looking around until she realized that she was in a small room, laid out on a cot.

"Welcome back,"

Robyn frowned, her eyes moving to the Lord Protector himself leaning against the stone wall, his masculine arms crossed over his equally masculine chest. It was hard not to notice such a thing when it made up so much of his person, adding to the intimidatingly harsh bravado that he exuded even as he simply stood. She supposed that it was his job and not his lineage that had frozen his features into an unemotional mask and left his eyes cold and hard, given that he'd original been from Serkonos, a place of merchants, food and art. His black hair was cut short around his head though it was longer than those of the guard that surrounded him, remaining out of his dark colored eyes that might have been brown if not for the dim lighting of the room that made them appear black. His features were too regular to be considered truly handsome though his strong jaw line and straight nose did much for his appearance. Even his jaw had a masculine line to it that made him look harsh as he stared at the ground.

Robyn shifted uncomfortably as the silence in the room grew heavy and long, leaving only the sound of her breathing to fill the space. He seemed to sense it as he dropped his eyes to his boots, cleaner than most things Robyn had seen in her lifetime.

"Lady Emily tells me you are what the people of Dunwall call 'The Shadow,'"

"At your service," Robyn breathed, raising her eyes to the ceiling. "They give me too much credit. I'm just a woman robbing from the rich to get the plague survivors some supplies… A shadow is much stealthier than I could ever hope to be,"

He made a sound that was neither here nor there.

"I am a thief who got caught," she reminded him, glancing over.

"Maybe they are giving you too much credit,"

Anyone else could have taken offense but Robyn could hear the lilt in his voice that led her to think that he was using sarcasm. Anyone else would have missed the twitch at the corner of his mouth that made her think he was amused.

"You could have slipped away when your Tail dropped the smoke bomb, instead you stayed and protected the Empress and her daughter," the Lord Protector stated without looking up at her. "You could have kept your secret entrance into Dunwall Tower a secret to exploit another day, instead you told us so that we could block it off,"

"You wonder at my intentions," Robyn breathed, not bothering to sit up. "Why would the Shadow of Dunwall, a thief and sneak, be a good Samaritan?"

"I might have thought you saved the Empress for the reward," the Lord commented, lifting up her coat which had been lying over the back of a chair. He reached inside one of the inside pockets to reveal a handful of coins and an expensive looking necklace. "A reward that would mean your freedom once you had healed,"

Robyn snorted. "I'm not stupid, Lord Protector. Surely the rich and powerful advisors won't let me go even though I've saved the Empress' life. That's a black eye to their egos that they couldn't stand to have been given by a street rat like I. I'm not getting out of here either way,"

"But you saved her anyway…?"

Robyn shut her eyes, feeling the ache in her stomach. "Maybe I did it for the possible reward if I lived, maybe because I have an innate need to protect others, maybe I had a sudden spurt of patriotism for my city and loyalty to my Empress, maybe I'm just suicidal… You decide, Lord Protector,"

There was a long silence between them and Robyn was beginning to drop off to sleep when she heard him push off the wall. Her eyes popped open as he walked to the door, ready to leave her alone in her room… and not a cell.

"And so what has the Empress and her advisors decided to do with me?" Robyn questioned, raising her voice to stop him from leaving. "Like I said, I'm not likely to be released but yet it would look poorly if you were to lock up the Empress' savior. Maybe I'll just disappear from existence like so many others in this city?"

He remained at the door, his hand on the doorknob as if he were frozen in time between walking to the door and opening it. But she could see the tense muscles of his shoulders through his coat, the way his head was lowered as he thought about something.

"The Empress has displayed her distaste of sending her savior to Coldridge," he told her after a moment, his voice almost inaudible with his back turned to her. "And Lady Emily has taken a shining to the thought of having a legend walking around the Tower," He turned to look at her with a frown, his face an emotionless mask for her to read nothing from even if she knew him well enough to try. "But perhaps sending you to Coldridge would be best for everyone,"

Robyn glared at him, feigning anger and indifference even when her heart was pounding.

"After all, you are a thief, as you say. Not to mention you brought a Tail into the Tower that meant to kill our Empress… perhaps this was what was meant to happen? That you would be welcomed into the Tower with open arms after saving the Empress? You would make a perfect double agent for whatever group your Tail came from,"

Robyn didn't even blink. "That I would,"

The Lord Protector watched her for a moment before he sighed, dropping his expression to drag a hand down his face. "But it'd be a waste," he said more to himself than to her. "I've decided to make you Apprentice Protector… Perhaps even make you the Lady Protector one day,"

"You can't be serious," Robyn frowned up at him, shocked by his words. "I'm a street rat, Lord Protector, not one of the soldiers from the upper districts. I can say with certainty that you could find others with more skill- hell, with more loyalty- than I,"

"You have natural skill and special abilities that the soldiers from the upper districts will never possess," he told her with more honesty than she expected. "You also have bravery, loyalty and selflessness that I see in few others that would ever possible lead me to trust them with the Empress' life. Just because your loyalty isn't necessarily to the Empress does not mean that you do not hold morals and justice in high esteem," He stopped, forcing her to meet his eyes before he continued. "So which is… A life of servitude to the Empress as a protector or death in Coldridge?"

Robyn frown up at him.

"… When do I start?"

Author's Note: Review?