Chapter 38
Through Death We Are Reborn As One
"One who can see that all activities are performed by the body, which is created of material nature, and sees that the self does nothing, actually sees."
- B.G., 13.30
Isaac was overwhelmed by the painful throbbing inside what remained of his skull. He felt Kendra's blood across his body, still warm and running in thick, heavy trails, and he could think of nothing but the fact that he had just destroyed his only chance to possibly escape the Hive Mind's hold upon him.
Shit. Oh, shit. Kendra, I'm so sorry.
Though he was not wanting to readily admit it, Isaac had subconsciously been aware of his own intention to draw his adversary back to him in the hopes of unloading his burden upon her. He recalled the many dreams he had had of Kendra, though obscured with age and denial; how he had spoken to her across vast folds of space, folding parsecs between them into inches, how he lured her in by continuously filling her heart and mind with the premonitory awareness she needed to find her way back home to him, all through the agency of the Marker's great power. But now, even after so many years and so much effort on both their parts to bring their dramatic rift to a close, Isaac had completely destroyed within just a few minutes everything they had so methodically planned together.
There truly seemed to be no hope for him now, and the only thing left for him to do was the one thing that he did not want to do. He dragged one of his twisted, mangled feet towards the Marker.
"Isaac."
He looked up as he barely heard Nicole calling out to him from somewhere nearby. Almost unable to hear it against the bawling winds, he at first mistook it for just another one of the strange, whispering voices inside his head and he paid it no heed.
"Isaac... come here."
He suddenly heard her voice more clearly, and he glanced up again. The evening desert heat seared his infected skin and scalded his eyes as he looked head on into the wind, trying to find her.
"… I have something to show you."
Isaac was terrified of arousing the suspicion of the hawk-like Hive Mind, and he did his best to ignore Nicole. However, the Hive Mind apparently had no clue of Nicole's presence – again, the one advantage the poor girl seemed to hold over the Marker. But knowing how perceptive and intelligent the Hive Mind was, this seemed almost too good to be true to Isaac; her capability as a flawless performer made him nervous to think whether she was truly ignorant of Nicole's interference now, or was simply acting as if she was. He thought it best to continue on towards the Marker, uninterrupted.
"Isaac..."
Nicole's trilling, almost playful modulation caught him strongly, and he had to wrestle with himself to keep from going right for her. Instead he focused on the Marker, and the moment he stepped into its deadening field he immediately felt the intolerable heat that emanated from it's every surface. The burning this time was far more intense to him than it had been before, for the degeneration of his body was making him less and less capable of withstanding it. It was literally burning him alive.
C'mon, hurry up!
The Hive Mind's voice clubbed Isaac's brain from behind like a splintered wooden plank. It literally shook him, and he stumbled forward out of fear of her, raising one of his long, mutated appendages in a futile effort to shield himself from the Marker's energy as he came closer to it. Breathing became difficult and he started to gasp, frantically searching all around the base of the Marker.
Where... I can't...
A very brief glimmer, like the scintillation of incarnadine crystal, caught his eye from the shadows of a small clutch of rocks near the crater pit's edge. He was able to recognize the small, fragile figure of Nicole among the shadows of the rocks, and he saw that the captivating red glimmer was emicating from a small object in her hand.
"You know, Isaac, it really wasn't so bad."
Though he could not see her face within the darkness, the glowing pinpoints of her eyes conveyed everything to him. She tilted her wrist and slightly opened her fingers – revealing the object in her hand to be a long shard made of dark, red stone.
"The needle... it was so cold at first. During those first few seconds, after I actually put it inside me, when I knew for sure that I was going to die... I thought that I had made a mistake. But, in the end... I know that it really turned out for the best."
Isaac stared at the glimmering red shard in her hand, noticing that it appeared to be a very tiny part of something much larger than itself. He could see fractions of familiar runes, chiseled into its smooth polished edge.
The Marker... But, how did you...
"You did it, Isaac."
I did it?
"Yes. Don't you remember what happened, the very first time?"
Isaac looked down, and suddenly realized that he had grown several additional arms. He glanced over these strange new appendages, each one completely unique from the others like a ghastly conglomeration of different species of necromorph; some of them were bony and bladed like slasher's talons, and others were tipped with awkward digits like the underdeveloped fingers of a premature newborn. He tried to move them, but it took him several concentrated attempts to gather the coordination in order to manipulate one of the fingered appendages properly.
What're you doing, Isaac?
Isaac ignored the Hive Mind's berating call, whose interest in his behavior had piqued with ripe concern while she watched him flex the fingers of his newfound hand. He turned around and slowly headed back towards Kendra's partially consumed body on the ground behind them, and the renewed sense of purpose in his stride riled her.
Hey! Answer me, goddamnit!
Isaac approached Kendra's remains upon the ground, and he reached for the plasma cutter still at her feet. He gripped it in his gnarled, fused fingers and then turned back around just in time to see the Hive Mind stomping up to him, ready to explode.
So, what the fuck is this shit?
As frustrated and angry as she was, the Hive Mind was still very much desirous to see just how far Isaac was prepared to take his fruitless crusade. She stopped just feet from him with arms crossed, seeking to provide him the opportunity to explain himself, and Isaac just stared upon her with the doleful expression of one looking directly into the open mouth of a titan. Nicole's words echoed in the back of his brain.
"Sacrifice is inevitable, Isaac."
Though he had heard those words so many times before, to Isaac they had never seemed more real than now. With no other possible option to turn to and no one compatible left alive to help him, Isaac knew that there would be no end to his suffering unless he saw to it himself. Looking at the plasma cutter in his mutilated hand, Isaac slowly raised it and pressed the firing face of it to the side of his head.
Sacrifice is inevitable.
Still, even while threatening to take his own life, Isaac perceived little more than unfeeling indifference in the Hive Mind's mocking response.
You're acting like a fool. Think of the risk.
Isaac would not back down. Recalling what Kendra had said to him earlier, he only shook his head and clutched the trigger a little tighter.
Risk is a part of every decision. You can't fucking use me if I'm dead...
His words fell short upon the blade of her chiding, sardonic laughter.
Killing yourself won't work.
Isaac's finger on the trigger began to hesitate, as the dark, condescending smile chiseled into the Hive Mind's porcelain face was almost frightening to look at.
I will not let you die, Isaac. I will never let you die.
She took a step toward him, closing.
There's nothing you can do. If you kill yourself, I can use the Marker to bring you back. And if you destroy the Marker, well... I can use you to bring the Marker back. Either way, your ass is mine.
Isaac tried to remain steady, to convince himself that what she said was all lies, but the Hive Mind had inevitably sowed the seeds of doubt throughout his entire conscience. Seeing them take root upon the expression of his bloody face, her demonic smile spread wider.
And once I finally have you under my control, the first thing I'm going to do is find that pretty little mindfuck of yours. Then, you will know what it is like to live as my slaves – not from the superior position of a Maker, but just like all the others. Then, you will see the real suffering that I have been so kind to protect you from. Perhaps that's what you need to humble you down.
Isaac finally lost his grip on the trigger, and he dropped his arm.
Stop! No... Goddamnit.
It was obvious that her patience with him had worn extremely thin, and Isaac fretted to think that Nicole really had no chance of coming out of this intact whether he complied with the Hive Mind's demands or not. Seeking to minimize his loving mental projection's suffering as best he could, Isaac dropped to his knees and raised his talons.
Ok. You win. I'll finish this. Just, please... don't, you know... hurt her. Please.
The Hive Mind stared deep into Isaac's eyes, searching out his deepest, most intimate thoughts. Seeing his dwindling resolve, the skin of her cheeks flushed pink and she smiled with a loving simper. She completely repealed all of her anger in the swift pace of a breath, and she gently took one of his slimy, disfigured hands in hers as she saw her own victory reflected in his eyes.
Come on, sweetheart. It's going to be ok.
Isaac calmly took her hand and she helped him up. She watched the blood cascading down his body as he stood to his feet, and aroused by the gory sight she proceeded to lead him towards the Marker. Again Isaac was forced to cringe at the radiating heat of the Marker's energy, but the Hive Mind prompted him to put his hand upon it.
Go ahead, Isaac. It won't hurt you. I promise.
Isaac reluctantly raised one of his many hands upon her command, afraid to make contact with the Marker's burning surfaces, but he was compelled by her influence to place the tips of his fingers upon it. Fully expecting the burn, he was surprised to feel cold rock.
Now... move the Marker. Move it to the pedestal.
Her touch was so addicting. Becoming absorbed in her healing energy, Isaac began to forget all about his longing to escape this evil creature. Lost in her hypnotic trance with eyes closed and jaw agape, he slowly began to drift autonomously towards the pedestal just down the way. He seized a hold of the Marker through his telekinetic bond, and it's transport cage started to grind along the tracks of the bridge next to him.
"Sacrifice is inevitable."
Isaac thought he heard Nicole's continuing pleas as he weaved in and out of consciousness, but knowing Nicole's existence to be nothing more than a phantom of his own psyche that served only to distract him, he considered it a waste of time to continue dealing with her. The Hive Mind trailed along next to him, doing all she could to keep him alive, and the closer the Marker came to the pedestal the wider her malevolent smile grew.
Yes. Make us whole. We are so close, now. After all this time..
Isaac felt the weight of his feet to be as cumbersome as concrete blocks. Expending the last of his life's energy to move the Marker, he knew that once he reached the pedestal he would not be able to walk away from it. He had already started eying the area surrounding the Marker's final resting place, in search of a desirable spot upon which to die.
Make us whole, Isaac. The Makers must be absorbed.
In his state of total disconnection, Isaac forgot everything. The pedestal was now just feet away, getting closer with every second, and all he knew was...
The Marker.
He locked his eyes upon the Marker at his side, convinced that this ominous obelisk was his final destination, the very last thing he would ever see, hear, touch or otherwise experience in any way. It would be forever burned into his memory, his heart, his...
"I can't believe you, Isaac! You stupid shit... how can you just give up like this?"
Isaac was startled by Nicole's intrusive whisper, coming from somewhere very close to him. He opened his eyes and saw that he had come close enough to the cliff edge to see down into the dark, cavernous depths of Aegis7's planetcrack crater.
Ok, tell me something, then.
He glanced off to his right and suddenly saw Nicole, crouched among the shadows of the nearby rocks and peering down into the crater with burning red eyes. Twisting the long, dark red shard of stone still in her hand, she motioned gracefully towards the crater pit.
"We don't have to stop at the pedestal."
Isaac was speechless, lost upon the heavenly sight of her as the arid desert breeze tossed her hair all about her almost glowing face. Nicole suddenly extended her arm, and dangled the red stone shard over the cliff.
"I have a very good plan. A plan for you, me... and the Marker."
Upon her final word Nicole opened her hand, and the red sliver silently fell from it like a heavy crimson raindrop. It descended rapidly into the darkness far below, and Isaac took a quick, panicked step toward Nicole as he watched it disappear, instinctively driven to protect the Marker and everything about it.
Hey..!
He stopped just as chips of rock and sand beneath his feet gave way and spilled over the edge, and he stared down into the pit, trying to find the fallen shard. However, it had disappeared miles below.
The Hive Mind closed the gap behind him as she noticed he had become suddenly distracted by something.
What are you waiting for, Isaac?
Isaac turned about and was met by her poisonous, malevolent beauty; a paper thin mask that was just barely enough to conceal the evil seeking to break through from beneath, that only served to unsettle him all the more. He looked back at Nicole – which to the Hive Mind, was nothing but a small, empty spot near the crater's lip.
We're going to make it through this together, Nicole.
With the Marker still in his grasp, Isaac pulled it forward until it gently slid into place upon the pedestal.
That was my promise to you.
As the Marker connected with the pedestal and established its bond, the Hive Mind inhaled deeply in shock. She had been waiting for this moment for so long, the moment where she and her collective would be made whole – a moment which seemed to be lifetimes in the making.
And I'm going to keep that promise.
In her shock, she was helpless to comprehend what Isaac's intentions were. Seeing his chance to act beyond her awareness he dragged the Marker even further until it slid off the opposite edge of the pedestal and once again disconnected from its base. The Marker's bond suddenly broke and the Hive Mind fell back, throwing her eyes open in anger. She realized that her communion with it had been severed, and right away knowing who was responsible she bore her rage down upon him.
You fucker!
But Isaac no longer feared her, or even heard her. His eyes were focused solely on the one destination he was determined to reach. As he neared the cliff edge, he felt as the Marker slipped entirely off the pedestal and was now grinding over the desert rock. He smiled madly to himself as Nicole whispered into his ear.
"Maybe we can stop her by destroying all of us. Together."
Isaac dug the metallurgic claws of his foot into the dirt and heaved the Marker forward. Just as a portion of it's base slipped out over the edge, he stopped and turned around to meet the Hive Mind with a dark, confident glimmer in his eyes. The Hive Mind sensed his challenging aura, and knowing exactly what he was threatening to do to her she clenched her fists and stepped forward. By this point she was undoubtedly irritated, yet still somehow amused by his relentlessly disobedient nature. The spectral illumination of her eyes intensified as she stared at him.
Go ahead, Isaac. Toss it right off the edge. Destroy it. That's what you both want, isn't it?
Isaac kept his grip upon the Marker.
At this point, what do I have to lose? I'm a dead man no matter what I do. You said so yourself.
Her curt, heartless laughter chipped at his confidence with the brutal efficacy of an ice pick.
You just don't get it, do you? You can't defeat me, it's impossible. You can destroy the Marker, but I'll just use you as my Marker until you build me a new one.
He shook his head.
No – there's got to be some way...
Isaac shot his wide, wild eyes about in search of anything that might help him now – and he suddenly saw the massive gravity tethers that surrounded the crater pit on all sides. He followed the tethers up, which were still active and bound to Aegis7's massive extracted cork floating high above, and he suddenly had an idea. The Hive Mind licked her lips, detecting as he began to cloud his consciousness in an effort to block her.
It is time for you to die, Isaac. And that's all there is to it.
Isaac stepped back away from her approach, clutching the plasma cutter at his side as he heard Nicole's gentle, tingling laughter in the back of his head encouraging him on.
"Do it, Isaac. You know what to do."
The Hive Mind took another aggressive step toward him, but Isaac remained fearless and resolute in his determination as he stared down at the tool in his hands.
It... was all my fault. I should have never touched her. I just... I want everything to go back to the way it was. I know I can never save Nicole now... and I'm not running from you any more.
The Hive Mind stopped her threatening approach and stared at him.
Isaac...
None of us deserve to exist. Let this be done.
He quickly raised the plasma cutter and took aim at the first gravity tether engine several hundred yards away, firing directly upon it with a long range blast of superheated plasma. The large metal chassis sparked and exploded into flames, immediately cutting the power and shutting down the engine. The long, aqueous span of illumination stretching up into the nighttime sky flickered momentarily and then vanished as the system was brought to its knees, and the sudden loss of support immediately sent the remaining engines around the crater into emergency safe mode. Alarms set off for miles around, carried across the desert wind in latent, dampened echoes, and as Isaac shifted his line of sight to the second gravity tether engine on the opposite side of the crater over a mile away, the Hive Mind screamed at him.
Have you lost your goddamn mind!
Isaac put everything he could into keeping her out of his mind as an aggressive tussle over his consciousness ensued between them. She was shocked by his ability to, even now, somehow repel her efforts to fully control him. As they were so close to finishing their mission, to see the inevitable anomaly in their bond rearing its ugly head now was completely unacceptable to her. She exploded with rage, tearing savagely at his mind.
You, you motherfucker! You really think you can stop me still, do you?
He completely ignored her and fired upon the next gravity tether engine. As it ignited into flames its tether gave out seconds later, leaving the colossal planetcork hovering just above the atmosphere precariously teetering on the last two tethers still bound to it. He felt the Hive Mind prying her sharp, metal nails deep into his brain, managing to break in through the hairline cracks in his weakening defenses, but he held her at bay long enough to witness as the last two gravity tether engines lost sync and finally collapsed under the suddenly unbalanced burden of the planetcork. Almost immediately, the white hot effulgence of the landmass's descent toward the planet could be seen as it was released from its hold and began to sink back into the atmospheric layer.
The Hive Mind briefly paused and looked up toward the heavens along with Isaac, seeing that he had set the giant landmass free, which now surely doomed Aegis7, the Marker and everything else on it, to imminent destruction.
The end of all things, just as he had seen once before, so long ago. Only he would not be escaping this time.
Isaac now turned to the Marker at his side. He knew that he had to act quickly, before the Hive Mind could stop him, and drove forth with his final burst of energy, dragging the Marker forward until the sheer weight of the massive red obelisk caused it to topple over the cliff's edge.
The Hive Mind, still unable to intervene due to Isaac's mental block upon her, had to take the moment to register what he had done; the Marker's fate had not become apparent to her until she caught the glimmer of its twisted spires emicating in a streak of crimson red as it disappeared over the edge. Her eyes widened and she dashed toward the cliff.
No! Oh, you bastard...
With no other recourse now left, the Hive Mind turned hatefully on Isaac. The thought of having to start everything over yet again with him in his collapsing mental state thoroughly perturbed her, knowing that to invoke the Marker's epochial timeloop would cause everything to become more convoluted, difficult, and dangerous for them both.
I don't fucking believe you... I mean... is what we had really so bad, that even now you spit in my face?
Isaac took a single step backwards towards the cliff's edge, and glared deeply into her eyes.
There was never anything between us. You're just a bad memory. That's all you are.
He pushed the Hive Mind, the Marker, even himself – all out of his head, until the only thing he knew was the only one he ever truly loved. He smiled at Nicole as she stood upon the crater lip's edge next to him, with wide, eager eyes and arms raised in triumph.
"I love you, Isaac. I've always loved you. You stayed with me, to the very end."
Upon her words and compassion Isaac felt complete in his final moment, fully satisfied in knowing that he would now end the Hive Mind's reign of terror by destroying her last and final haven - himself. He relinquished all of his energy and life, and his limp, lifeless body pitched forward over the cliff's edge with the momentum of a boulder. The necromorph quickly descended into the darkness of the crater pit towards his final resting place, to share in the Marker's fate of total annihilation.
The Hive Mind could only watch his suicidal magnum opus in complete astonishment. She looked down the cliff face and searched the crater pit with her eyes, but she could no longer see Isaac. However, she could still feel through her connection with him as his body was dashed to pieces against the sharp, jagged rocks far below, and she cried out in a burst of agony as his consciousness was finally forced from his irreparably damaged body - and herself along with him. For the final few seconds she still had to remain manifest in her naked ethereal state without Isaac's physical body or the Marker to protect her, she stood at the crater's edge next to the barren pedestal and sighed in defeat.
Stupid fuck. What did he think he would accomplish, anyway?
She shook her head in disappointment and pressed her hands to her hips, feeling the world around her beginning to slip away. As a sudden, inescapable exhaustion began to overtake her, she stumbled back from the cliff's edge and fell upon the ground, awaiting the inevitable moment of rebirth for them all.
There was no escape... no matter what.
She happened to glance at the Marker's empty pedestal in that moment, and saw that there was some cryptic, handwritten text smeared in human blood across it's pristine, polished surface. AS she looked at it she right away recognized the handwriting, and a single dark tear fell from her eye as she read the Marker runes. Though the hastily scribbled symbols seemed so small and unassuming, in total they came together with perfection to form the most beautiful poem that she had ever known; one whose very words were filled with a tragic, bittersweet love and devotion that she enviously knew she would never come to know from the object of her own obsession... Isaac Clarke.
if you are here and you are in love
know that i was here
come back at night and you will see
that love was always there
"Isaac... hey, wake up! Time to get up."
Isaac opened his eyes upon the sound of Nicole's melodious call, and was met by blaring overhead artificial lighting as it flooded his vision. He raised a hand to shield himself from it until he could acclimate and he slowly sat up, coming to recognize the cold, stainless steel architecture of the USG Ishimura all around him. He glanced about, still a bit in shock and confused as to how or why he found himself back on this ship, until he saw Nicole standing patiently at his side. Judging by her posture she had apparently been waiting for him for some time, and seeing him come back to life she gave him a warm smile that concealed an underlying concern. Isaac continued to stare upon her for a few moments, taken away by the breathtakingly beautiful sight of her, until it occurred to him that he must have overslept - and fallen victim to one of the most common symptoms of such a condition.
Wow, what a fucked up dream that was.
Isaac pressed a hand to his head, wiping a layer of cold sweat away as he recalled the last few moments of the rather disturbing dream he had just awakened from - a flash of the Red Marker disappearing into the darkness, followed by the ice cold, suffocating grip of death. But he was alive and well now, and very glad to see that Nicole was okay. Still, the unshakable visions of such a horribly vivid nightmare kept him from being able to completely relax in her presence, at least for the moment.
Nicole paid no mind to the fear and discomfort that briefly seized his facial features, and she nudged his shoulder.
"C'mon... get up. Some more people just arrived. They're saying that its a repair crew this time. We need to help the others."
Still feeling a bit disoriented and perplexed Isaac did not quite understand what she was talking about, but he complied with her order without question. He felt stronger as he stood up - it was a sense of rejuvenation almost, a feeling that he could not remember having experienced for such a long time. Wondering how long he had been there, he looked down behind him and saw that he had been lying upon a gurney in some familiar room within the Medical Deck. He started looking around in order to figure out where specifically he was, but his wandering eyes eventually met Nicole's and he stopped upon her, breaking a small, elated smile that inspired her to do the same. They gazed upon each other, transmitting amorously admonishing messages silently through their eyes.
I knew you would come back to me.
That was a lucky guess, Isaac.
No, it wasn't. We were meant to be together. Forever.
He briefly recalled the sweet, naive little child he had once fallen in love with... the one he had chosen, marked to be his and his alone, so many forgotten years ago.
You'll always come back to me. You are my lovely little anomaly.
Nicole responded with cheeky laughter tucked behind her eyes and smile. Isaac wearily smiled along with her, trying to enjoy her presence, all the while making frustrated attempts to recall anything about the dream that kept nagging at him. Though he was certain that his horrifying journey had only been a sinister fabrication of his mind's eye, still the fleeting memories seemed to carry far more weight than that of merely inconsequential hallucinations. He simply couldn't figure it out - why he was there, or how he had managed to even find the time or sanctum to sleep... or why Nicole's words seemed to spark something so hauntingly familiar.
... A repair crew?
Isaac felt that something was plugging his brain with a constant, static broadcast of dead space, an intruding chanting that kept breaking his concentration. After a few moments of watching his shifting facial expressions, Nicole started toting him along through the Medical Deck, engaging him in conversation to help put him at ease.
"You looked so peaceful lying there... were you dreaming?"
Isaac followed along at her side, hugging her closer to him, cradling her hands in his as they walked arm in arm.
"I dunno... It's all a little hazy..."
He stared distantly ahead, trying to find the right words to describe it as Nicole was held rapt in attention.
"I... I... was a Maker."
Nicole blinked.
"A Maker?"
"Yeah."
He fell silent, gradually recalling some of the strange events as they inundated him like ocean waves.
"It was all so real. She taught me how to move through other people's bodies, to control things, to build things, like she does..."
Nicole listened intently, becoming disturbed the more he described his dream - and the subject of his explanation.
"Who's 'she'?"
Isaac glanced up at her, a little surprised by her question.
"Who do you think? The Hive Mind."
Nicole suddenly started to laugh - a response that puzzled him.
"The Hive Mind? Are you kidding? Riiiiiight. As if we would ever condescend to speak to any of us little underlings."
Isaac flashed her a queer look. He had no idea what she meant by 'underlings'... or 'we', for that matter.
Had all of it just been a dream?
The more he tried to reconcile his past memories, the more difficult it became to make any sense of it. Feeling troubled, he hugged Nicole a little closer and took note of how warm and inspiring she was to him.
"It all just gives me a... a bad feeling. I can't help but feel like, like I've forgotten something."
Nicole did not seem to be moved by Isaac's anxiety. She instead remained positive, gently seeking to reassure him.
"Don't worry, dreams don't mean anything. This could be a dream, for all we know."
Her statement struck him profoundly, and he eyed her harshly for a long moment in shock. She paused to return the stare, until she was uncomfortably driven to look away.
"Geez... I was just joking."
THey both fell silent and continued to walk arm in arm for several minutes before Isaac timidly spoke up again.
"I'm... so sorry, Nicki."
"Sorry? Sorry for what?"
The expression upon his face sank with humility.
"I'm sorry about everything. It's all falling apart here. I can't believe what's happening. It's strange... such a... a little thing..."
Pained to see his grief, Nicole gently nudged his chin with her hand and looked into his eyes.
"Stop it. There's no reason to blame anyone. We are together. You're here, with me. Nothing else matters."
He finally looked back up at her, barely able to break a tiny smile.
"You're so right, Nicki. This is the way it always should have been. I love you, you know that? You always know what's best."
Again they paused and gazed into each others' eyes, madly in love, then they leaned in to embrace one another. Just as they did so, Nicole's arm brushed over his shoulder and she felt a small prick against her wrist.
"Oh... oh, no."
She peered down over his back and saw that she had accidentally dislodged one of the poisonous barbs jutting from his skin.
"Damnit, I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean to do that."
Nicole's face folded dolefully as she clutched at the fallen extension with a pair of her own disjointed claws.
"You're just coming apart at the seams, aren't ya, you poor old man?"
Isaac looked up to her with the utmost devotion for her in his burning red stare.
"No worries. It'll grow back."
Their smiles slowly faded and Nicole sighed. Isaac also sighed along with her, becoming depressed by an impending anguish that she seemed oblivious to as he looked her over. He so desperately yearned to kiss her, to hold her, to love her, but cruelly denied the fulfillment of his desire by the wholly unaccommodating formation of his twisted, rotting necromorphic body, he could only swallow back his longing with painful rejection. The only remedy he could resort to in order to relieve his unbearable aching for her was through incessant physical contact with her, and rarely did a moment pass when he was not somehow connected with Nicole - whether touching her, marveling over her, cradling her between his blades, digging into her flesh with his many claws and teeth or wrapping himself around her to absorb every ounce of irresistibly provocative energy she tossed his way. He would do anything that he could to find a means to enter her, to invade her, to devour her, to make her his entirely as he had always dreamed.
Her touch was so addicting.
He loved her now more than he ever had, but he was helpless to express his boundless affection no matter how close his depraved, physical condition allowed him to get to her, and the strange irony of his cursed affliction tore him apart inside.
How did things come to be like this? Why was the precious fruit of his love kept just barely beyond his reach like the bars of a steel cage holding him back? What had he done to deserve such punishment?
Sadly, Isaac looked back up at Nicole. But as he looked at her, everything about her appearance suddenly changed without warning. He blinked in disbelief as he saw now someone else entirely - though the mysterious identity eluded him like a vaporous cloud, it was an ecliptic silhouette framed in shadow that now stared at him through luminescent spotlights for eyes and a tight, mocking grin that revealed a line of ivory white teeth.
No hard feelings. Even after you betrayed me... again... still, I have given you what you have been asking for. Am I not a kind and tolerant friend?
Isaac could only stare at this alluring but obscured siren before him, barely able to recognize her voice and even less of her face. Still, the bile of fear crept up the back of his throat as she closed in, framing the sides of his skinless face with graceful hands, and he knew right away that this creature was one to be feared. He could feel her contaminating him, poisoning his conscience the longer he stared at her, and he was forced to shut his eyes in outright terror.
This is what happens when you fuck with the Marker, Isaac.
He was reluctant to respond or even move out of fear of her, but he eventually looked back up - surprised to find Nicole, just as she was, staring at him with a look of puzzlement upon her face.
"Uhh... you okay there? You kinda zoned out on me for a second, sweetie."
Isaac, unable to believe what he was seeing, widened his eyes with suspicion. However, Nicole's serene and peaceful countenance seemed encouraging enough, so he eventually let it go. He was slowly becoming aroused by the erotic spell of her presence, and this made him sick with the craving of unbridled addiction for her touch from which he now desperately sought relief. She raised one of her long, scythe-like talons and he rested his head against it, and he endearingly ran the side of what remained of his face against it.
How he loved her. He could not live without her.
Isaac cherished the cooling sensation of Nicole's freshly exuded blood as it gathered in layers upon the cheek and forehead of his exposed skull, temporarily quelling his endless, ravaging fever, and tears of steaming blood shed through ecstatic relief and sorrow fell from his dark, sunken eye sockets like trails of heated magma. He extended several bloody tipped tendrils from the barbs lining his spine and wrapped them around Nicole's hips and thighs like countless little arms, holding her hostage in his grasp so that he might seek out her inner warmth. Isaac was driven by an insanely passionate lust that, agonizingly, he could not fully consummate, and in his endless search for distraction from the pain of his plight his eyes fell upon Nicole's right shoulder. He frowned with heartbroken sadness at the sight of it, gashed deeply and seeping thick, black blood.
How's your arm? Is it okay?
Nicole just smiled. At least, her brain autonomously acted to trigger the muscles that might have served to execute such a feat, had those muscles still been intact. But with most of her face having decayed and fallen away long ago, leaving nothing but the skull beneath and the split, mutated joints of her fanged jaws, she was unable to express herself through her decomposed features. Still, despite her lifeless, almost mummified appearance, her eyes were always wide and vibrant in contrast, revealing the spirit of life that dwelled delicately within her.
"It's okay. It was one of those goddamn P-Sec fuckers earlier. But I got him back, real good."
Isaac, eager to praise the love of his life, raised his head with a sense of galvanized delight and responded awestruck.
Yes! Yes, I saw that. You made quite a mess of him. Good girl.
Isaac and Nicole's private moment of communion was interrupted by the sound of someone trampling down the hall towards them, and they both darted their heads up at it. Isaac took a defensive position in front of Nicole, and they both immediately stopped as someone rounded the corner - someone who appeared to be very frightened, confused and hostile. Isaac smiled aggressively as he tasted his own blood seeping from between his bladelike teeth.
Ahh, chapter one. New arrivals.
Though unable to determine who this intruder was due to their being concealed behind an armored miner's worksuit, Isaac immediately picked up on a highly familiar aura. He fell back a step in hesitation as the silent, armored figure suddenly lifted a plasma cutter in their hand, taking dead aim right at him.
No...
Isaac's eyes instinctively shot towards a nearby open wall vent, then right back at the dark, armored figure. As their opponent tightened the grip upon the plasma cutter and shifted aim at Nicole, Isaac quickly became enraged at the thought of her in danger.
You fucking lowborn... human!
Spurred by his anger and desire to protect Nicole, Isaac spread his stance before the armored stranger and extended his claws and talons in a terrifying display. The long, bladelike tusks that encircled his elongated cranium and protected his many eyes glimmered like sharp daggers, and he splayed a menacing array of jagged, acid-injecting barbs all across his body in a perfect wave of synchronicity, like a deadly lionfish on the defense.
show me how much you love me isaac
He opened the gaping, centralized hole of his mouth to bare rows of sharp fangs with all the predatory dominance of a great white shark and he roared fiercely, shaking the halls and shattering the heart of the armored stranger. Isaac's snarling warning was followed by the maniacal wielding of his long, talon bladed arms, which he held outstretched like mighty javelins, and he spat noxious, corrosive blood as he ushered Nicole towards the safety of the ventilation system.
make us whole
Standing bravely by Isaac's side Nicole flashed her own frightening set of fangs. She then started edging wildly like a hungered coyote towards the open cieling vent, and watched as the armored human desperately fought to avoid Isaac's swift and venomous projectiles. The human fired upon them in an effort to stop their escape, but Isaac and Nicole were far too swift upon their mutated limbs. Within seconds they both disappeared, flawlessly as ghosts, into the ventilation shaft.
As they crawled their way down through the insides of the Ishimura's walls, Isaac kept revisiting the armored stranger they had just encountered. The distinct familiarity he had felt stirred a eerie recollection of his dream, and while he trailed behind Nicole through the darkness of the inner shafts, he couldn't stop puzzling over who it might have been.
Together, Isaac and Nicole traveled for some time before they tired enough to slow their pace. The two necromorphs finally came to rest in a small, dark, angled bend in the shaft. There they nestled together there like wasps, catching their breath and basking in each others' warmth as they realized they were safe again... for the moment. The resonance of Isaac's deep, dehumanized breathing echoed throughout the shaft, and in their peaceful isolation together Nicole finally relaxed enough to stretch herself across his chest. Isaac hugged her close, running the deformed hands that extended from his abdomen across her face and neck with exalted sweeps, and watching as the flakes of her corroded flesh fell between his fingers like the dust of dried leaves.
Let's just rest a minute, okay? I just... I have to hold you for a little while. It feels like it's been so long.
Nicole smiled warmly and tucked her face deep into his chest.
"I knew you'd keep me safe, Isaac. I'm not afraid of anything when you're around."
He cradled Nicole's head, relishing in her seemingly healing touch. Though her entire body was decayed, dehydrated like crushed tree bark, it felt nothing like that to Isaac. To him, she was as soft, supple and full of life as he had always remembered her, and lost in his fondest memories he gently wiped the bloody, matted hair from her face, staring into the deep, empty sockets of her skull. Nicole lovingly stroked his sides, equally failing to detect his degenerating flesh and seeing him only as the mysteriously handsome man he was once was to her. All she saw, felt and knew of the world in which she lived was her age-old lord and safekeeper, the only one who loved her enough to give himself entirely to her... the one with whom she was damned to eternal Convergence aboard this haunted ship.
"I love you, Isaac. I've always loved you."
Nicole closed her eyelids, and what remained of them disintegrated into ashes. She failed to notice, however, and as she became aroused by his touch she entwined her twisted talons around his neck. Lifting her head and opening her mouth, Nicole sank her teeth deep into the thick plated skin of his chest, drawing his blood and slowly, delicately feasting upon the flesh of his body with ravenous delight.
I give myself to you again and again.
Isaac reveled in the joy of Nicole's bloodthirsty carousal, so eager to give anything of himself to please her. He began to reciprocate with her, parting his jaws and gently biting into the bloody muscles of her shoulder until he tapped into her bones. Watching his own blood as it spread across her mouth and stained like viscous, black oil, Isaac enveloped her entire body within his array of serpentine tendrils. The words on the tip of his tongue effortlessly slipped out.
I love you too, Kendra.
Nicole paused, and glanced up in surprise.
"What'd you call me?"
Suddenly realizing what he had just said, Isaac immediately lowered his gaze from hers out of shame. He then felt her tender, reassuring touch, and he looked up to see her smiling at him in a way that drove him mad to consume her entirely. He closed his eyes and began to drive his talons deep into her body in lovesick rapture.
Nevermind, baby. Nevermind. She was just a bad dream.