Chapter Fifteen: Surprise

"A pleasant surprise seems an ironic or sarcastic statement, as few surprises are truly pleasant and the very act of being surprised is met more often with fright than frivolity."

Emily –

There was care that had to be taken in stalking someone else that was accustomed to the shadows. The same small flicker that didn't fit out the corner of an eye that had drawn my attention, could just as easily give me away to the shady person stalking my host's halls. Was it just a burglar looking for something to fence, a man slipping in to visit a lady's maid, or something more sinister? If it was just someone looking to steal something I didn't really want to get involved but as they went further into the wing of the house they had to pass several statues that would have fetched a good price. They had a mask and a hood to cover their face, which didn't exactly inspire confidence in innocence. I was considering how to interject before they became dangerous when I turned a corner and no longer saw them in front of me.

I froze.

Convinced their intentions weren't benevolent I glanced swiftly along the hall. There were three doors but only one was close enough that they could have gotten inside but even that seemed unlikely. So where had they gone? I glanced up just in time, sliding back as the figure landed hard in front of me, large hands close enough that I felt the wind brush by my skin as they just missed grabbing me around the neck. Yes, certainly not just here to whisper sweet nothings to a maid.

My first impression that it was a man got more evidence now that I had a closer look, the body was thicker and taller than most, the hands and feet large for someone with such soft steps. At first impression, I'd thought his clothing was darker, but that was the shadows and stalking from a distance I'd considered safe. The jacket was a crimson red and many of the belts on his person a dark brown. There was a mask over the lower part of his face but not his eyes, there was something about him that looked familiar…that haunted the back of my mind.

If I hadn't trained so extensively with father I doubt I would have reacted quickly enough to counter attack, but I did. I struck out at the same time he raised a hand to gesture at me. Even as I'd jumped back I'd dropped a bottle and drawn my blade. As I cut through the glove over his right hand a green light became visible and the memory cut through me as cleanly as any knife could have.

The day had been lovely, I'd just finished a game of hide and seek with father and run up to speak with mother as he let her know of his return. I didn't know yet then that he was my father, but that didn't matter, he'd always functioned in that role even before I knew he held it. The day was shining brightly, there was no darkness, none of the sinister shadows most stories of clandestine assassinations were wrapped in. There was light everywhere, and for a moment it appeared Corvo had stopped them. Mother had even started to thank him…

Then light…a new green light appeared as if from nowhere. A mockery to the concept that darkness was what should be feared. It did something to Corvo, stopped him so he couldn't act as another man appeared, this one without a mask at all. He stabbed the Empress Jessamine Kaldwin through the chest while his face was uncovered. Mother tried to push him away but all he did was backhand her, put a glove around her throat, and stab her through the chest. I only saw that face for a moment, only in a blurred way that I never expected I could recognize later after the events. I tried to run, but the one with the light grabbed me, pulled me from everything I'd ever known until then.

Now though, I knew it was the same man…that this figure I'd been stalking through the halls had killed my mother. That green light…I hadn't ever seen Corvo use it, nor Delilah and her witches…this was the first time I'd seen that same light. It had disoriented me as much as the memory and I fell to my knees despite my will to do otherwise, the second bottle of wine and my blade falling to the carpet. I couldn't even scream for help when I got the inkling to warn others…

"You…" He'd been about to bring his blade through my chest, the same way he once had killed my mother. What a cruel irony that would have been, if I would have died to the same man in the same way. Did he recognize me? As he paused I realized I knew the mark on his hand that glowed, I knew it all too well…the man that killed my mother knew the outsider? "…Emily Kaldwin."

He didn't stab me, though he easily could have as he stood there, holding me in place against my will with the same light that had stopped Corvo so long ago. He hadn't been the one wielding it then but he did so quite well now. He looked torn, as if this was a hard thing for him. Why would he? He hadn't hesitated when it came to mother. What was going on? Was it the outsider? Regardless, he waited too long and his power flickered so I took advantage, I twisted around the moment I could move, kicking his feet from under him as I swept my sword back into my hand. By the time I finished my spin I leveled the sword at his throat, discouraging him from reaching for his own blade by pulling blood to the surface. I wanted to plunge the weapon deeper, to push it through him carelessly the way I'd seen him do to my family but I stopped.

"Why are you here?" I had to remain calm, if he was here to kill the duke or one of his family I had to find out what I could. If someone was willing to hire one assassin, they would be willing to hire more. If I could stop the plot here it would be better. I needed information before I killed him.

"Well, seems you recognize me, you are a bright leader Empress." the man snarked at me in a whisper. His voice a bit manic as though seeing me had bothered him even more than me seeing him. Why on earth was he being so strange, was he just mad to begin with?

"Who is your target?" I ignored his tone, hoping I could find out what he was doing.

"The lover of Anton Van Daken, he will be waiting in one of the side rooms until he's sure none of Anton's attendants are around." He answered, seemingly unconcerned about giving me the information. "I'm not after you or the nobles, I don't kill ranking nobles anymore."

"Anymore…"

I felt myself snap, I was about to press my sword into his neck when he disappeared. I felt the displaced air behind me but I couldn't move fast enough. He slammed the hilt of his blade into my skull and the last thing I saw were dancing lights before I was enveloped by black.

The Outsider –

It was easy enough, slipping over rooftops and jumping up to the next height. So much easier than trying to walk on the ground where some human or other was more likely to bother you. Easier even at night for me as I didn't have to worry about not being able to see as any other humans that may otherwise take this route over the top of the city as opposed to on its roads. Despite my disguise I wasn't keen on making my way through too many humans. I might look human there was little reason to push my presence unnecessarily.

I already had involved myself more than I should have. I knew that at least the Captain wouldn't press me, he'd seen enough to know that there was no escaping my wrath if I willed it. He would fall in and his crew was loyal enough to follow for at least the length this trip would take. It was if he would keep the information as to my identity silent…I doubted he would speak of it but humans had a bad habit of writing down information that others got their hands on.

It wasn't long after I left that I managed to follow the feeling in my chest to a side area of the city, it was a bit above some of the factories on a natural plateau. It gave some of the cities more well off citizens the ability to stay slightly out of the smog that was curled through its alleys. I slipped along a slanted bit of roof, flickering through shadows to a balcony on the opposite side of the road. The woman was close…she didn't live far from one of the shrines a nearby coven held. It wasn't her coven, but she was hoping to change that…just as well I got here before they'd made contact.

Traveling over the city didn't take long…longer than it would normally when I didn't have a physical form but swifter than any human all the same. Even those with my Mark couldn't use the powers they pulled from me with the same skill I did. Expected of course, but I lacked the same physical body to have had the practice they did. All the same, it was more a natural extension than an added tool. Using the things that marked would have to concentrate on came as easily as breathing most of the time.

Just as a runner slows when sprinting, if I used my powers in such a way I needed to pause and let them breathe. Unlike the mortals my energy regenerated from the area around me, I lingered over the edge as I rested, staring toward the building I expected Bethany to be in. Indeed, it was advertised as a tailor's shop, more high end than I first expected but she didn't own it, she just worked for someone that did judging by the name on the outside. The lights were still on but with the chill none of the windows were open. I would need to appear inside, but first I was looking to see if there was more than one mortal breathing in the walls.

There was another one, possibly the owner as they were on a different floor in what seemed an office. They were writing something. My target was on the lower floor, she was sewing and pretending to be a normal mortal quite well for someone with some understanding of the void. This separation of the void didn't seem to reach much father outside myself or Delilah from what I could tell. Those who I'd given a mark too could still call on power, and I could still feel the occasional pull of magics from others that studied the occult. I had a target, but getting her and returning her to the boat without causing a scene was my goal.

I waited a few more minutes, observing them. When there was no change in routine I stepped between the shadows, the wash of cold as I did was not much different than the evening temperature in Driscol. I had watched Corvo, Daud, and Emily all slip behind people and choke them down hundreds of times, which was just as well since I knew as my own arm wrapped around Bethany's neck that if I let up for even a moment she likely would fight her way free. Her hands clawed against my arm as she fought for breath but I waited, her attempt to break loose going limp before I lifted her over a shoulder. Humans were heavier than they looked…

I slipped through the shadow again, though it pulled more at me as I tugged the woman through with me. Her breath went ragged a moment from the cold but then we were moving, I had to return her to the boat after all. It all had gone smoothly enough…until I felt a familiar pull from the estate, two of them…at the same time. It was enough to cause me pause. I always felt some tug from those I'd marked or other individuals using occult magics, but when I focused on where I'd left Emily I was just in time to Daud's hilt meet with the back of her skull.

The boat became a trip for later. I shifted through the shadows, ignoring the fact that the distance involved would probably drain me again. I dropped Bethany in the hall of the manor even as I caught Emily before she could fall completely to the floor. My gaze enough to stop the assassin in his tracks. I didn't hold ill will to Daud, he was doing what came naturally to him…he was making his choice…but neither did I trust him not to kill another Empress after how coldly he'd run through Jessamine.

"…Outsider?" Daud's shocked expression was clear, the normally controlled man taking several steps back from me, running himself into the opposite wall as he did. A mouse looking for a way to escape a snake, though he didn't cry out his speaking my name had been louder than he normally would. He wanted to run away, but he was trapped by my gaze. Even with the lenses I wore he knew what lay beneath them, he knew very well and for the first time in a long time he was afraid.

"Go, don't return here when you are done." I answered him. It was lucky enough that none of the estates guards or servants had found us. I didn't wish to press my luck. "You'd think you'd give up this profession for all the turmoil it causes you."

I vanished with both women a moment later, leaving Daud to kill or not kill whoever he'd come here for, letting go of Bethany – who I'd transferred on the floor by touch and setting Emily in a bed. I sighed at her…what good was all her training if she couldn't best an assassin more than twice her age? I looked her over and eventually shook her gently.

"Emily…Emily wake up…" I was glad when she shocked to consciousness, even if she stared around in surprise and reached up to hold her head. I expect after that impact it probably wasn't comfortable. "Good, I was worried after that blow to the head."

I sat next to her, my mind dizzy after exerting my power in such swift spurts, it was harder to bring humans when I moved across space – they weren't normally built for it. In a physical form I wasn't really either but it was easy alone. I was exhausted again. Was this how humans felt if they sprinted well past their normal endurance? I suppose it was the closest comparison I had. I gestured toward the woman on the floor.

"What happened?" Emily asked.

"That…is the woman we need. Can you bind her and take her back to the ship?" I asked, half tempted to just sleep through the rest of her visit to Driscol. Then, she probably would just somehow get herself killed…why had she run after Daud like that? Flashes of the scene between them had been playing in my mind since I arrived. Little wonder Corvo had so many lines…would she have me there before long just playing the part her father always did?

"No, you said I was hit on the head…did you see it?" She asked.

"I did but I was still in the city when I looked back on you. It's why I had to bring the woman here instead of return her to the ship." I explained. "I saw Daud and I wasn't sure if he would…"

She slapped me. It was most unpleasant and surprising. I didn't see it coming in time to stop her and my head snapped to the side. I scowled at the sensation…turning my gaze back to hers about to speak when I realized she was crying…tears were already on her cheeks.

"You…you killed her…" She hissed, her tone having blackened. "You killed my mother with that…that assassin."

End Chapter

A bit shorter of a chapter but that's where I wanted to end it and I've had limited time with family here. Emily has good reason to sort of be freaked out and jump to conclusions. The dude that stabbed her mom did have the outsider's mark and all. Poor Outsider, all judged for shit he didn't do. Probably won't get another chapter done til my family leaves.

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Tigerfur – Emily sort of got a bit screwed – but then Daud is a bit more experienced with his powers than Emily. The Outsider didn't have a hard time, he was more like…wtf? He has to handle his marked fighting like a mom with kids hahaha.

DickChan – I have some theory's there too but they'll come up later in the fic so I don't wanna give spoilers. I remain a fan of the Outsider either way, I'm over here like: DLC guys, chop chop get on it.

Guest – It would be cute. I ship them harder than I should.