Just so you know... This is not my first fanfic and I have others in progress, so bear with me when I say that I am working on other ones as well. For those of you who do in fact know this please be patient.
These are the fanfics that only need to be edited before publishing:
A Path Paved In Ice
Fics that are halfway done or more:
Breaking the Cycle
After that I'm going to be updating Saving Venom as I've neglected that one for months because of the lack of progression and not knowing where to take it. I have ideas of my own but if anyone wants to give a suggestion go ahead and PM or leave a review.
(This story is based upon the concept of another and I have received permission from that particular author to let me use it: "Thank you, Uniquely Amazing." Check out her profile for the story!)
On with the show.
Rapture. That was the name that they lived. A paradise. No longer. A city where there is no gods or kings. Only man.
Above in sanctity, a ghostly sea of hued blues sifted, clouded, shrouding a once marvelous city. Now dark. Bleak. Vile. Little monsters made from humanity scuttled along those tubes connecting waterlogged buildings. Windows connecting surface scrapers screeched in horror of their leaking barriers.
Tearing children ran from Splicers. Blood gorged the halls and giggling was common. Oh so "precious" A contradiction, but not when those cute little murmurs belonged to the soul of a Little Sister. The gatherer. Then to protect that cute little murmur a bellowing moan would echo. The protector. The Big Daddy. And contrary to belief and what some would consider... er, outside opinions, they weren't just a gatherer or protector.
No. It was never that simple.
Adam was the gain the gatherers would scuttle around to find, though the Little Sisters found great joy in their luxurious worlds they would often scamper through. Playing hide and seek, plunging their needles into 'Angels' to take out the Adam for them to drink and deposit, and when they were done they would say their goodbyes and scamper off leaving the Angel to sleep.
See, the world of Rapture, once embraced in the epiphany of science and new ideal corrupted just like everything He didn't want. They fell. Blood spilled. Skulls cracked. And damnation seemed all too sweet.
Under the sea, connected and deprived, Rapture was a brink of lovely new ideals, that's why Roan's parents came there. To escape the disgusting and putrid world above the sea. They wanted to escape religion, where genocide was common and welcoming, they wanted to escape the limitations on science to message a world of peace and prosperity.
Now as Roan looked on at his parents corpses he could only wonder where it all went wrong. Though that was four months ago... and a giggle saved his life along with the moan of it's Big Daddy.
Down the hall from where his parents once lived a telltale giggle entered his ears. None would have believed him if he had said it. But that giggle was a friend. One who had saved him and made it easier for him to get by. Roan was 11 and the girl who had saved his was 10, as for her guard, well, frankly Roan had no clue.
"I've brought some apples for you, lucky! I was just walking through the hall outside and I found a bag full of them!"
Roan turned from the porthole in his room to face the girl standing in the doorway with a bag in her arms. Her eyes glowed amber as he smiled back. Roan nodded and pointed to the table beside him and he watched as the girl placed the bag on the table, careful to not track excessive amounts of blood from her shoes. Yes, blood splotched on her in different places on her dress. One in particular on her cheek though it didn't bother him. Not in the least. To him, this was normal.
Eve was normal. She became the normality.
Her bodyguard groaned from the outside and he could see the porthole on his helmet turn green while he lumbered through the door to face outside as if he were playing a barrier.
"Thanks, Eve. What did you do today?" Roan said, eying her dress.
When she spoke there was a double pitch to it, like someone was speaking over her, but with the same tone. "I found a lot of Angels and today they were so beautiful! Their skin felt so soft, and oh my goodness, I loved the taste of their Adam!"
No she wasn't afraid to speak with him. Over time and a lot of persuasion she finally managed to get him to talk with her. Albeit it took her giving him food to seal the deal.
"Would you like to taste some?" She held up her little pacifier, needle thing she oh so treasured towards him but he leaned away to nicely reject.
"Sorry but you know I don't like Adam. As far as I'm concerned you can go ahead and keep drinking that stuff all you like but I for one will not have that. Angels are not something I want to become and you know it!"
Eve merely stared at him in contemplation before giggling.
"I'll get you to drink it one of these days!" Eve paused and looked to the blood-stained ground as she sighed. "Well, maybe I should hold off on giving you it. We're holding a competition to see who gets the most by next month!"
Eve bounced as she danced a little at the thought. For as long as Roan knew her he couldn't help but let himself become enraptured with her almost psychotic way of thinking. Skipping down aisles with little care other than to plunge her needle into the body of a Splicer she claims to have a shining core, though that was a sight he never cared to see again, even the bouncer agreed with him in a way... or, that's what he thought he did? But he just loved to see her happy regardless of what she thought she was doing.
Roan shook her head and pinched the bridge of his nose, a calm smile on his face.
"Good luck with that," Roan began. "But I'll need to head over to the Fontaine District to see if I can find something to eat."
"Why would you need to eat? I already brought supper!" Her dance stopped and she leaned in close like a puppy asking for a pat on the head.
Roan merely rolled his eyes with little stopping him. This was the norm.
"I have to find something regardless if I have food right now. I would rather be set and know I will have food next week than stay here and wait while food is being eaten by the Splicers," Roan explained.
Eve seemed to think about that before she relinquished, "Will you eat an apple with me before I go?" He looked out the window of his room and noticed the ocean get considerably darker, even by sea standards, meaning night time.
Eve eyed him and smiled sadly as she nodded.
The two opened the bag and sat at two of the rooms stable chairs while they ate a few of the apples. Normally, Little Sisters wouldn't consume food unless it was Adam but for Roan's sake, he guessed, she was eating with him—although she found the notion strange.
As they ate, Roan made sure to keep his eyes down on the table respectfully, so not to seem rude, one of the many things his parents taught him before their deaths. One of many lessons, he reconciled. So many so that if time rolled back he could remember many things about the lessons they taught him. About common sense and right and wrong.
He looked around the room and he flicked his gaze to different places he could almost see the original furnishings and garnishing adorn the walls and floor. Something they had only acquired a week or so before Rapture's fall.
Roan returned to his apple in hand. Bruised and a little dirty with a smidge of blood dripping from the stem. Now, his life stood on its haunches, slashed, burned, in some ways raped and left for dead all black and blue. He frowned as he contemplated, not for the first time, everything that went down.
"Is something wrong?" Eve eyed him curiously, setting down her apple.
Roan shook his head and finished his apple in silence, careful to not dirty what little cleanliness the table had. When he finished Roan eyed Eve before he motioned for the door. At the moment his foot stepped out of his room the Big Daddy's porthole glowed a cautious yellow as he abled himself with his drill before picking up Eve on his back. He walked down the hall with the two following him, dancing over corpses here and there, shells lining the floor, some with crimson painting them, though make no mistake it wasn't beautiful. None of it was. For Roan this was just another example of the fall and he for one hated it.
Splat!
Roan turned to stare at the Big Daddy with a deadpanned glare. Under the beasts foot the remains of a Hoodini Splicer cracked and splattered everywhere with his monstrous foot being no exception.
"One of these days you're going to not watch where you're going and you're going to be caught in a situation you won't want to be in, no doubt," Roan admonished.
The Big Daddy merely looked at him with little understanding actually being made. As if to accentuate his point, Eve felt the need to lean over her protectors head and block his view as she spoke. Why she did that, Roan would never know.
"Yeah, Mr. Bubbles! You have to be more careful!"
Roan rolled his eyes as he kept walking, though as he walked he continued to hear the Big Daddy step on corpse after corpse while he continued to exit and if it weren't for the blockade stopping him from exiting the building on one way Roan was sure he would be able to walk in peace, but as of yet, due to Eve, Roan was going to be haunted by the ghosting figure of the Big Daddy courtesy of Eve's ever caring nature, sarcasm intended.
Fake lanterns lit the halls while doors opened and closed for him—some working better than others—as he strolled through the streets, keeping his senses active the gentle giggle of his friend sung like a bird. Though none of that mattered he supposed. By now he was stepping into the Farmer's Market to find someone to trade with and if trade wasn't possible. Well, dumster-diving was always a close second. Plenty of food could be found if he looked hard enough. The place screamed green mist and the occasional moss crawling on the wall with lanes of shops lined to serve, though they were less than they were before. If it wasn't obvious enough. Roan started finding vendors, some of which he hacked with small variations of difficulty, he started diving around and scavenging for anything worthwhile. Money high on the list of grab it and go! It supplied always his favorite fresh food.
Though as the minutes turned to hours something became painfully obvious... Eve and her Big Daddy were still following him.
In response, after a lot of waiting and patience, Roan stopped, turned, and stared to Eve, who by now was fully enjoying her ride around Rapture.
"Why are you following me this far? There was a whole point to eating together then leaving," Roan chastised. "I bidded you a farewell so I could go scavenge in peace, without having Mr. Bubbles here get me caught!"
Some would think that Eve would get the hint and move on to find more angels, despite their friendship, so she could win her contest. If there were a poll running for what the girl obviously considered more important than he was ahead by a mile. This wasn't her first time doing this, and although he was grateful for the company sometimes he couldn't afford to keep having her Big Daddy play watch when he sometimes attracted the attention of Splicers, who thought they could take him.
After a moment in thought Eve replied. "It's fun! I know I was supposed to go to Dream Land but I really wanted to stay with you! Besides! All those big meanies won't come if Mr. Bubbles is with us!" Eve pouted.
And just as Roan was about to reply, he stopped himself and pivoted on heel. He really didn't want to deal with it today. Granted, he would deal with it most days and he appreciated the thought of her giving him food, yet the dangers that came with remained blissfully unaware to the girl.
He peeked back with the corner of his eye to see her pure black hair shuffle, a single strand falling down over the tip of her brow in an attempt to escape. Her sisters were dangerous, and not for those pokers and bottles they carried with them either, but their guards. Most times Big Daddy's were men with hulking armor fitted to look like a diving suit equipped with a large drill capable of bludgeoning any target until their bones smashed until they tore and drilled into the midsection of their unlucky victims, strings of muscle tearing and splitting at their seams from the bone, mountains of blood splattering everywhere. Though contrary to this a Big Daddy would play ignorant and luck out on most fights since their lack of Little Sisters, however when that Little Sister was missing and they were roaming around they were like magnets to a fridge or a bee to its queen. They simply didn't give up.
They would search and kill until they either found what remained of the girl, or found no suggestible evidence of her living. Or she went home, it was that simple. And that had happened with them when they were walking and scavenging for food. They came and took her back, kicking and screaming to let her go back to him.
If she wasn't so dangerous he would've been heart-broken.
So as of now he needed to get her back into one of those holes she needed to crawl to—perhaps he could scavenge along the way.
"Yes, they won't, but if they do try to take you they could try their luck on me when they separate us. Remember, Mr. Bubbles doesn't allow me to ride on him, so it's not easy for him to protect me when you tell him to!" Roan crossed his arms as he went into an abandoned building.
"But..." Eve didn't know what to say, her hands came close to her chest and her chin came to meet her collarbone, what could she do? She wanted to help her friend so he wouldn't become an Angel but all he did was insist that he didn't need her help, so... did he want to be an Angel? Was that it? Eve scrunched her nose in thought, her hands suddenly clasping onto the railing set for her while the Big Daddy adjusted himself to a clank off in the distance; his porthole turning yellow.
"Then would you like for me to make you an Angel?" Eve asked tilting her head. She honestly didn't want to make him one... but if he wanted to become one she would do so, if only to make her friend happy.
Picking up her 'toy' Eve eyed the red contents on the inside deciding whether she should even do it if he says yes. But thankfully his head shook and he pinched the bridge of his noise, sighing.
"No, I don't want you to make me an Angel. I've already seen enough of that nonsense with your sisters." Roan crossed his arms as he stepped over shattered pieces of glass littering the ground. Exiting the building Roan gestured for Eve to follow before coughing a bit at the fumes.
Over his time there anyone could tell the odd colors of the mist weren't good however at the moment Roan couldn't give a damn less than right now. All that mattered was finding a hole for Eve to crawl into... then time for scavenging.
He rose a finger to his lips. "Be quiet."
As they walked from hallway to hallway the sounds of splicers gaggling to themselves became more apparent the closer the holes he knew of came to be. Blood splashed the hallways with messages flickering under sparks from fallen powerlines and zapping lights overhead. Blades and guns laid scattered on the floor while the unintelligible nonsense only got louder.
It seemed they were preparing for another assault on a lone Big Daddy.
Quickly, dodging another Splicer infested Hallway Roan waved back to Eve, who had descended from Mr. Bubbles, to peer over towards one hidey-hole with plenty of vegetation growing around, a flourescent light that Roan was sure was supposed to have been an attraction sign shining above.
"There it is." Roan crouched low, his hand touching a small puddle dripping from the wall next to him.
"You need to go. I'll be where I was before so when you're done with dream-land you can spend as much time either with me or the Angels as you want, got that?"
While he spoke to her kindly and with as much softness as he could Roan knew the consequences of his actions. The first time they met were under such circumstances and when she left he invited her back, thinking she could be a valuable asset, which, she was, but in the end it had always been a risk.
Nodding Eve peered around the corner as stealthily as a 10 year old could before scampering to the port and climbing up moments later she disappeared into the pipes.
Sighing to himself Roan sat against the wall. Time for some rest, he told himself. But then again his luck was never that good.
"Well what do we have 'ere?" A voice cusped out. Gulping Roan kept a calm face, though inside his thoughts raced.
Why was it always when Eve left the damned Splicers came to play? It was like they were purposely fucking themselves over so they could have a reason to beat him up.
"Eh, you gonna answer little fish? Oer you gonna make me chop yer little cock off so I can 'ave a convesation with ya, eh?" As if to accentuate his point the Chopper showed his blade, touching his rabbit masquerade mask, and chopping another jagged jut out of his mask.
The Splicer wore a tux meant for a ball with the ends coming down to meet his ankles. It would've looked nice if not for the look and smell of blood, piss, and shit coming off the guy.
"Heh heh, you sure you don't want to answer little fish? I'll be real nice if ya do?" The Splicer crackled, waving his chopper knife to his side and taking his eyes off him to laugh to the sky. Now, he thought, he had to do it now! Even though Roan was scared he wasn't stupid.
In that moment, Roan pushed off from the wall, spearing the Splicer to the ground, one hand on the handle of the knife before he ripped it from the Splcier's hand, and swinging down. Next marred Roan's memory for what would seems years. He plunged it into the screaming Splicer's gullot, a mass of gas exiting the Splicer trailed the air. Roan roared before cocking his arm back and delivering another strike which damned the Splicer further as his muscles struggled to fight back and his fluids decorated the ground around them and Roan's jacket.
Raising his hands in the air the Splicer attempted to fight back, the two gashes in his body weaking him every moment. Outstretching his hand he lucked out when the boy's throat came into reach. Though in that moment it was in vain.
Black. Chop.
Pure bliss. Chop.
He gasped and sighed in relief as he felt the pain stop.
Walking back into his apartment Roan gravitated towards the toilet before emptying his stomach. Somehow, he hadn't killed anyone before, despite living in Rapture. But of course, having the Houdini power made it so he didn't have to... but then, he had no choice, he rationalized. He really didn't! Every other hallway, every single one, crammed inside were Splicers galore! No place would've been safe to jump to and what then?! Keep running until he leads them back to his home?
Shaking his head he tried to throw up, trying to forget that man's crimson mask and deformed face smile as he wrenched what little humanity he had left in him as he had his guts promptly removed. All with that smile on his face... that damned smile!
Clenching his stomach he coughed harder than before, yet nothing came out.
He'd seen death. Barring it was so much different when he watched Mr. Bubbles do it he never imagined it actually being so difficult.
Closing his eyes, and setting himself down next to the tub just next to the toilet he turned it on and started washing the blood off as if he were cleansing himself of the deed, except without luck, no kindness entering him and relieving how cold and utterly disgusting he felt.
Roan coughed and nearly vomited as he kept washing his face while his hands shook from the act itself.
"Are you ok, Roan?"
His eyes widened. Eve? Turning his head to her voice he saw her standing in the doorway with a look of pity crossing her face. How did she even get in without him knowing?
Cautiously, Roan turned back to washing himself after sending a nod to her.
"I'm alright," he answered.
"You know. It's morning. You don't have to keep washing yourself." Eve knelt down next to him.
From the look she gave him she knew what happened. How he didn't know but she did. She took him into her hold and held him close, her chin touching his forehead affectionately.
"It's okay," she cooed. "I won't let you become an Angel."
Roan coughed but nodded. He was glad she was there.
"Are you sure you're alright? You look a little pale." Wiping her hand just under his chin Roan felt her cool breath kiss his lips with every moment that passed. Shaking his head and holding her back a little as to alleviate his nerves Roan let his brain function for a moment.
It had been a little over an hour since he had spilled his guts in the toilet and apparently morning from what Eve said so did that mean he had spent the majority of the night washing his hands? He shuddered to think yes but it must've been true.
To relieve Eve and stop her from worrying too much he nodded and smiled a little. "Yes, I'll be fine. Though I think we're going to need to search for food and along the way you could search for Angels?" The last part he uttered with a little less enthusiasm but Eve smiled nonetheless.
She giggled and went to grab his hand as she darted for the door.
"Think Mr. Bubbles will let you ride him today, Roan?"
Roan eyed the Big Daddy leaning against the wall, drill in hand, and he knew that answer.
"No. You climb on and I'll walk alright?"
"Ok!"
Roan chuckled lightly as he took the same path out of the building as yesterday. Only when Eve passed him to go into the street he couldn't hold out anymore and in a fit of coughs he dropped to the floor, scratching the walls with his hand and scraping the tips of his fingers he left trails where wallpaper once was. He eyed the ground as he heard the Big Daddy continue on it's trek. His nerves were shot and he felt more anxious the longer her was idle.
Picking himself up Roan walked on to catch the Big Daddy.
Though he was mindful to wipe the blood in his hand away along with the trail of blood slipping from his lip before he pointed to their next destination.
Go to my profile and vote on the poll.
I don't care whether you REVIEW or not but it sure as hell is a motivator to write the next chapter quicker!
OTHER FANFICS I HAVE WRITTEN OR AM WRITING:
A Path Paved In Ice: Naruto/Haku/Tenten (Romance)
Saving Venom: Naruto/Anko (Romance)
Breaking the Cycle: OC/Azula (Romance)
Dying in Love: Naruto/Tenten (Tragedy)
Left in Silence: Naruto/Kurotsuchi (Romance.)
See ya.