Translations at end.
"It may be that the best we can hope for when it comes to utopias is that they be held at arm's length and regarded as aesthetic constructions, in which various proportions are neatly worked out, contradictions eliminated, and outside intrusions minimized. They are fictions, artifacts of culture. And we should be wary if they ever become much more."
-Edward Rothstein, Visions of Utopia, 2003
"You really think it would be that easy to leave?" Ryan asked. Lena started shaking. This was bad. So bad. How did he know? How did he find them?
"Hey, get away, fucker! This place was doomed from the start!" America shouted and threw fire at Ryan. His Splicer goon (Lena focused for a moment and get the name Rachel) shot a handful of rounds into him. He collapsed against the side of the bathysphere, breathing labored.
"Such a pity, Mr. Jones. We could've had some good business between the two of us." He looked past Lena into the bathysphere where the other three were. "And Mr. Honda, Mr. Beilschimdt. It's been an exciting few days, hasn't it. So sorry we never got the chance to meet until now." He focused back on Lena. She widened her stance in front of the bathysphere entrance. "Lena, come along," he ordered.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the three pull America into the bathysphere and Ryan and his goon did nothing to stop it. She felt a slight pull to go with Ryan, but ignored it. "Let them go."
Ryan frowned. "Why would I do that, foolish girl? So they can blab to the authorities and people would come investigate? Come now," he said, condescendingly, "you know that's what they'd do. You can't be that stupid."
Italy spoke up from where he hovered over America, who was barely staying conscious, "We wouldn't. I promise. We'll leave and never say a word to anyone."
Ryan focused back on them. "Who are you?"
"No one important," Lena insisted, bringing his attention back to her. "You let them leave. They'll keep quiet. I'll cooperate with whatever you want."
Ryan started chuckling. "You're funny. I didn't know that." He stopped and looked back at her, catching her eyes. "Kill the ones with Plasmids. Drag the other two out." Rachel handed her a pistol.
She grabbed it, almost in a trance and turned back to the group in the bathysphere. Why was she doing this? She didn't want to kill them. She just wanted them gone.
"Do it," Ryan ordered.
Her hand shook as she stepped up to the hatch. No. Fuck Ryan. She didn't want to kill them. Her hand twitched.
"Kill them," Ryan growled. Her hand snapped up to aim at Germany.
"Listen, Lena," Japan said, "I know it's hard to resist, but you can."
"Being in the middle of a Civil War makes it easier," America added, softly. "Focus on the part that isn't Ryan's underling."
Right. There was Atlas. He wanted reform. He wanted to screw Ryan over like he was screwed over. Half her citizens didn't even like Ryan's politics.
Her hand lowered.
"That's great. You're doing, great," Japan said.
Lena grunted, hand twitching on the gun in her hand. "What about when I'm free? You're still stuck here." Atlas and his dick squad were trying to make Rapture a new city, but they weren't Andrew fucking Ryan.
Italy spoke up, "You can emulate citizens' DNA."
Fuck Ryan. "What does that mean?" Fuck Ryan.
"It's…um…you kind of pretend you're them and then you're DNA changes and will be recognized as that person. It's easier to be someone you know verses a random person you've never met."
She painfully inched her pointer finger off the trigger. "So I have to fight his control while becoming him?" Why was Ryan staying silent during this? Maybe he enjoyed her pain and confusion.
"Not becoming him," Japan insisted. "Just channeling his essence as a citizen of your city to use the genetic lock."
"This is taking too long," Ryan drawled. "Shoot the American in the heart. Put him out of his misery." It was a direct order with no room for error.
She fired, hitting America in the chest and causing his heart to stop. Italy screamed, and he and Japan started crying. Germany stood up, planting himself in front of his comrades. She wouldn't be surprised if she didn't make it out of this alive.
"You can fight him. I know you can," Japan said, tears pouring over his cheeks. Germany stood his ground, ready to protect his comrades from her.
Fuck Ryan. Fuck Ryan. Fuck. Ryan. FUCK RYAN. "FUCK ANDREW RYAN!" she shouted, spinning around and throwing the gun as hard as she could at Ryan. It bounced off his head, knocking him out. She sent an Electo Bolt blast at Rachel and she yelled and ran away, still twitching. So much for bodyguards.
"Use him. Get us to the surface," Germany said, pointing at Ryan's prone body. Quieter, he said, "Practice the essence. It takes work."
Lena nodded and dragged her asshole of a boss over to the outside controls. She used his hand and entered the release codes.
"You did good," Japan said.
She paused. "I killed America."
Germany shrugged. "Most of us have at some point. He's annoying. It's hard to go against your boss."
"Thank you," Italy said, still holding onto America.
"Right." Lena nodded, finishing the settings. Only Ryan's genetic signature will be able to get this bathysphere working again, and she didn't think he was going to use it any time soon. "Please don't mention the city. We'll stay down here, and you stay up there."
"We promise," Japan said.
Germany and Italy nodded as well.
"It wasn't fun," Lena said, sealing them in. She released the pressure and they sunk into the water. It wasn't the smoothest ride, and she could see the bathysphere bob along jerkingly as it rose to the surface. Going down was always smoother than returning to the surface.
Ryan started groaning. Time to go. She dropped him, kicking him once in the ribs as payback, and escaped into a maintenance tunnel. It would be a while before she would surface to talk to anyone again.
Lena didn't see Ryan cursing at the bathysphere control panel. Lena also made it so it could only be operated from inside the bathysphere by him, up on the surface. He cursed his useless bodyguards and stalked back to his office, vowing to tighten security and protocols. She had to come out of hiding sometime, and when she did, well, let's just say, Ryan is going to have plans.
"Ahh, John, what's the news? I see we have no new guests," Atlas said, setting his drink down.
"They killed most of the men. Two Brutes like they were nothing," John said, scratching at one of his many bee stings. Betrayed by his own love.
"Where are tey now?"
John shrugged. "Not sure. Probably the surface."
Atlas looked towards the Heavens to grant him patience. "Who's alive?"
"Me, two others that took some damage, but will recover, and ahh…"
"Who else? Why ain't tey here?" Atlas asked.
"Rachel. She was working for Ryan."
"She's been playin' both sides?"
"Looks that way, boss."
Atlas turned and looked out the window. No one double crosses him and expects no consequences for their actions. "Kill her."
The rental agent would only rent Francis the boat if he paid for half a new boat up front, just in case he didn't come back. The rental agent didn't have much faith that he would, warning him that if he wasn't back within a week, he would first charge him the rest of the boat, then report him missing. Such a nice fellow. Francis knew he'd get most of the money back once he dropped the boat off when he returned, but in the mean-time, he was forced to hope his engine didn't die on him. He was able to rent a small boat, large enough to hold multiple people and make the 216 nautical mile (400 kilometer) trip there and back, but small enough to row if needed.
He headed towards the coordinates, water getting choppier as he continued out onto the Atlantic. The only saving grace was that it was a clear and sunny day. He didn't know what he was going to do once he got to the coordinates. Hopefully there was an island or something.
Three hours into his trip, the sonar, radar, and engine started sputtering on and off. Francis managed to get the radar working at the expanse of the engine going anything above 20 knots and the sonar system. This added an extra hour or so to his already long trip.
The engine died three miles away from the coordinates, so he picked up the oars and started rowing. He would get there, even if he had to swim.
The waters were not doing him any favors. They seemed to want to try their hardest to break his boat, rocking him around and getting him soaked. He now understood why the rental agent charged him so much.
On the crest of a large wave, he spied a lighthouse peaking up over the horizon and turned his boat towards it. Even if he just went in a complete circle, land was better than nothing right now.
As soon as he got within 400 meters of the lighthouse, the waters calmed, almost inviting him in. He rowed to the small dock and tied up the boat. Hopefully it'll still be there when he got back.
He was on a small island that only housed the lighthouse and nothing else. A short path lead from the dock and up to a set of large brass doors. He walked around to the front and cautiously opened the doors. What was this place? Was this the entrance to Rapture?
Inside was dark, but when he stepped in, motion sensors flicked the lights on. Towering over Francis was the bust of a man holding a red sign with gold writing that said 'No Gods or Kings, only man.'. The rest of the lighthouse was in an art deco style, towering high above him.
"Je n'y crois pas…" he mumbled, in awe and disbelief. His friends actually went into Rapture after seeing this sign. Were they crazy? If this even was the entrance to Rapture, anyway.
He continued down the stairs and faced a deepwater well. The water was rippling steadily, like something was traveling through it.
A round shape breached the water and Francis scrambled back to hide halfway up the stairs, out of site from its hatch.
It hissed open and a lithe shape stumbled out, sword aloft and ready to fight. "We're clear," he said. That voice…
"Feliciano," a deeper said, "Grab Alfred's head. Don't drop him."
"You're alive!" Francis yelled, bounding back down the stairs. Kiku spun to face him, katana out. A heavy thud banged on the ground of the ship thing and Feliciano's head poked out.
"Big brother Francis!" Feliciano yelled, leaping at Francis and hugging him tightly. Kiku relaxed and looked towards Ludwig who was now looking out.
"He dropped him," Ludwig accused.
Francis took the moment he was being squeezed to death to take in his friends. From what he could see in the dim light, they were covered in dirt and blood, and a lot of it looks like it was theirs, but not all. Bullet holes cut through their clothes, and Ludwig was limping. Their clothes looked burned in places, too.
"Feliciano-san, you either need to hold my katana or help Ludwig-san with Alfred-san," Kiku said to the still clinging Italian.
"Ve, sì, sì," he said and held out a hand for the sword. Kiku sighed but passed it over and went to help Ludwig.
"What's wrong with Alfred?" Francis asked. Feliciano flinched and let go of Francis' neck, but held onto his arm tightly. Kiku walked backwards carrying a body that was more blood than pale skin. It looked like their shirt had been ripped off to try and get to the many bullets riddling their torso. The most striking was the bullet wound right over the heart. He tried to avoid it, but couldn't and looked at the person's face and almost threw up. "Mon Dieu. Mon Dieu. Qu'est-il arrivé?"
"Rapture is not a good place," Feliciano whispered next to him. Ludwig threw Alfred over his shoulder in a fireman's carry once they were in the open. It wasn't like he could get any more hurt: he was dead. Kiku took his sword back. "So many horrible things."
Ludwig lead the way up the stairs, Alfred's head bouncing off his shoulder lifelessly. He would recover, after they got the bullets out. Sometimes they wouldn't come out on their own right away, but most of the time they weren't in vital places and you could get them out yourself.
Coming out into the twilight, Francis looked at his friends again. They were exhausted, and honestly looked worse in the dimming light. Uniforms and clothes were ragged. Francis didn't think any of them had one spec on them that was clean.
"I have a boat," he managed to choke out, pointing at the dock. They got settled in and he tried to start the engine, but no luck. "It died on me about three miles ago. We'll have to row. Hopefully it'll start once we get out."
Feliciano was the least injured and took up one of the oars while Francis took the other one. They rowed until they reached the edge of calm water. The choppy water at the edge made it almost impossible to row over the divide. They would need the engine, which wouldn't start, not for a long while still.
"What if, we clear the waves long enough for us to get through this first section?" Feliciano asked.
"How would we do that?" Francis asked. "We aren't magic."
Feliciano looked at Ludwig. "It might work," he said, rubbing Ludwig's arm.
He nodded and moved to the front of the boat. "Get ready to row."
"Que faites-vous?"
"Matsu," Kiku said, holding out his hand. "We'll go in the wrong direction. We need speed to get over, so push us from the back, then we should clear the waves."
Ludwig narrowed his eyes in thought but moved to the other side of the boat where Kiku grabbed onto his legs to hold him in the boat.
"What are you doing?" Francis asked again.
"Get ready, Francis-san."
Ludwig held out his hand and a concussive force exploded out, sending the small boat blasting forwards through the rough waves. Francis and Feliciano started rowing, trying to get further out.
"I think I can do it one more time," said Ludwig, panting. "Are we facing the right way?"
Francis looked at the radar and had Feliciano adjust their heading. He nodded and Ludwig braced himself, and let another force go. The rocketed forward again. This time when he tried to start the engine, it powered up no problem and they were able to quickly make their way back towards shore.
Francis didn't think to bring any first aid, but Kiku had found a pair of tweezers in Feliciano's bag. He had started to pull the bullets out of Alfred's chest as he laid still very dead on the floor of the boat. Kiku pulled the last bullet (the one over Alfred's heart) out and started bandaging him up. A few minutes after the last bullet was pulled, Alfred gave a gasp, his heart finally restarting.
"Owww," he moaned, curling into a ball. "My everything hurts." No one replied, letting him heal in silence. Someone had pulled Alfred's bomber jacket from Feliciano's bag and gave it back to the man. He wrapped it around his chest in lieu of a shirt and as a feeble attempt at comfort.
"What was that?" Francis asked once again, an hour later into the trip. "You couldn't do the pushing thing before. What happened down in Rapture?"
Feliciano hadn't stopped crying since they lost sight of the lighthouse, clinging tightly to Ludwig, who looked like he would rather be anywhere but here. It was not the look that usually graced Ludwig's face when Feliciano was around. Kiku looked tired, like he'd been through three wars. Alfred curled himself up against the side of the boat, face blank. This was the quietest he had ever seen the young Country.
Kiku steeled himself to tell the story, seeming to realize he was the most coherent one. "They called it a utopia, but it was anything but."
Je n'y crois pas: I don't believe it
sì, sì: yes, yes
Mon Dieu. Mon Dieu. Qu'est-il arrive?: My God. My God. What happened?
Que faites-vous?: What are you doing?
Matsu: Wait
Thank you everyone for sticking around through the years. I hope everyone enjoyed this story. Sorry I kept knocking out Alfred. I think I'm taking my hate out for America on this poor personification. Or he's hard to write for and he's dumb so he's the one that gets hit and hurt the most. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyways, ten years and a quarantine later, it's finally done and fully posted! A total of 41,100 words, 20 chapters, 126 pages on scrivener. :)
Please check out my Ao3 for current writings and things. Same name.
Until next time,
Lord Rebecca-sama