hey there peoples! i had a burst of inspiration and typed up a couple chapters of a new bioshock story! i dont know about you, but atlas is my favorite character. just... that brogue... i mean... ugh. but you already know about him if you've layed bioshock 1 or 2 (maybe they talk about him in infinite as well but ive never played it? ive watched my brother play it though) but he's not the focus of this story. no the focus of this story is something else... see, i see a lot of people pairing up jack with atlas, and it never made much sense to me. i mean... spoilet alert, he's a bad guy. (he's still my favorite though c:) and i get the alternate reality thing that some people use but i just can't get over it. so i've asked myslf, if i could pair jack up with anyone in boshock to make a good couple, who would fit with him? i soncidered tenenbaum, sander cohen, and augstus sinclair (cause that drawl) but nothing worked. then, i remembered something: the last time i sat with my brother when he played infinite, there was a poster depicting a big daddy as a hot hunk. suddenly everything fell into place. i wantd to write a story about jack falling in love with delta. well he's already fallen in love with him in the story but they're the main couple. so enjoy, the first and second chapttrs are going up to night. OH AND ALSO! i've been talking to my friend whop wrote when my magic meets your science with me about joining me for future projects, so we'll see how that goes! she's really talented so i hope we can work more together! and now, without further ado, i present: starfish-crossed. :D
starfish-crossed
chapter 1: lonely fatherhood
jack had felt nothing but elation as he rose to the surface in the bathyspehere alongside 25 ex little sisters. after struggling through the horrors of Rapture, the body horror, killing his own father, the uncountable attempts on his life, nothing felt so good as finally leaving the awful place behind and approaching safety.
in his mind, he could feel the sun of his skin, the wind in his hair, the cries of astonishment from the children as they took in the real expanse of the world, and he would show them how wonderful it was. give them the love and great lives they deserved, that they never would've received down in the depths.
then... something happened to turn all his joy to dust.
looking out the bathyspeher window, jack saw through the window of a building they were passing, and saw, staring back at him, subject delta.
his heart felt like it was going to explode. how could he have left him here?! how could he have forgotten?! jack waded through the sea of girls to slam up against the window, gazing back at his lover.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed, the girls confused as to why he was so upset.
delta could only set his hand on his own glass, in a comforting gesture. "it's okay, jack," he thought, because he was unable to speak like a human after his big daddy trnaformation, "i still love you. and i always will love you."
and so he watched him float away, as jack kept himself togteher for the girls' sake. when they bobbed up beside the lighthouse and the sunlight shone in on the pale troop, his happiness was stifled, however, mixed with the heart-wrenching feeling os loss.
ten years later, jack had become a proud papa to all the girls, working hard to make their lives better to fill the aching void in his heart. and in return, they loved him like he biologically fathered all of them, which is terrifyingly biologically possible, but he hadn't actually done that with anyone but delta, so no one had to worry. but dang, you gotta be desprate to chase the tail of a splicer.
(i don't want to think of that anymore moving on)
jack's girls all loved him and no one ever questioned the fact that jack had nearly 30 girls living under his roof, in a multitude of races and builds, and if anyone ever did well... the girls still hadn't gotten over their violent tenedencies best displayed during their attack on fontaine, and they would murder anyone who questioned their paternal lineage. jack was trying to get them to stop doing that=, because the neighborhood was getting extremely thinned out, and suggested maybe they hypnotize the neghbors instead. the girls were still trying to shift to this new way of handling things though.
despite how happy jack was with his gigantic family, the girls could still see a pain hidden behind his brown eyes, whenever they mentioned anything about their old prison. at first, they'd thought it was because he didn't like thinking about Rapture... then, as they got older and had their hearts broken themselves, they realized it was from thinking of subject delta.
no one had been back to Rapture in the decade since they left, not even brigid tenenbaum, who lived with them for a short time but left out of guilt from her treatment of the grils, so jack didn't have any updates as to the conditions down there as time went on. he could only assume the worst, as despite subjrect delta being a big daddy, he too could fall to the cruelties of that world. and it was ripping him apart. the girls eventually stopped saying anything oceanic in front of him, just to spare his feelings.
"have a good day at high school girls" he said, handing each of them bagged lunches he bagged himself as they walked out the door.
"thank you dad" they said x25, each giving him a kiss on the cheek as they walked in a long line.
when all the girls were on the bus, jack waved and smiled as t drove off, but as soon as they were around the corner, his face fell into a sad frown. oh, delta... you would've been such a good father to them.
Jack thus began crying. focking darn it, delta... he started punching the plate glass that framed the door, punching through it on the fifth strike. his fist went straight through anfd his hand was ground intpo ham burger.
"OH JEEZ!" jack said, bolting into the bathroom. "I'M BLEEDING! BLEEEEEEIIIIIIING!"
this was leftover conditioning from his plasmib use. you see, plasmid use warped the brain of the user into shrieking things like "OH THE BLOOD" or "IT BURNS, IT BUUUUUUURNS" when on fire. it a;lso programmed the user to seek out first aid kits, and only first aid kits, for wound care, even with faced with a mortal gunshot wound. jacks mind was still a little screwy.
in fact, jack tore open the medicine cabnet over the lavatory to find a first aid kit, and bandaged up his hand, without even washing it. afterward, he lifted his hand to the light to observe his handiwork, smiling. "that oughta do it!"
the girls returned home from school later that day. suddenly, a stomach rumble echoed aomong them.
"Jule," Holly chided, "are you seriously hungry again?"
"i can't help it!" jule said, upset. "fran sat on my lunch bag and ruined my sandwich!"
"i said i was sorry!" defended fran.
"fat ass" murmured laura, annoyed.
"well, dad will probably have something for a snack," said patricia with a smile. "he's always taking such good care of us."
all the girls agreed, but the group grew quiet. "do you think he hates us?" asked a tiny voice in the back. the girls turned around to look at their most petite sister, ethel.
"why would you say that, ethel?!" jule asked. "he loves us ery much!"
"its just... hes all alone taking care of us" ethel said, looking away, her eyes brimming with tears. "maybe he feels like we take advantage of him... i wouldnt blame him for feeling that way..."
holly held ethel's arms and smiled. "ethel, you know that's not true. dad loves us and only wants us to be happy. and we help him with everything, anyway."
ethel shut her eyes. "... maybe he thinks he should've just left us in-"
"DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" Bonnie snapped, making ethel jump and start crying loudly.
"bonnie!" holly snapped. "don't talk to her that way!"
bonnie folded her arms and turned away, flipping her black hair. holly sighed. "i know you don't like remembereing that place - none of us do. but that's no reason to take it out on ethel." holly set her hand on bonnie's shoulder. "what we endured down there will likely stay with us the rest of our lives... but that doesn't mean we need to make our suffering our identity. we have to move on and heal ourselves."
bonnie looked at her sister for a second, but looked away shortly after. "maybe i am healing by expressing myself in anger. ever though of that?"
holly was silent for a few moments before turning to the other sisters. "personally, i find healing in spending time with dad."
"i'm happiest when we talk about trains together," beamed ophelia.
"and i'm happiest when he plants flowers with me!" cheered vivian, hopping excitedly.
"well, let's hurry home and do those things and make ourselves happy," said holly, before turning to smile warmly at ethel again. "and i'm sure doing that will make dad really happy, too."
slowly, ethel smiled back. bonnie, on the other hand, scoffed quietly.
the girls hurried down the siewalk and up to their large house, and threw open the door. "we're home! x24" they called out happily.
"i'm in the kitchen, girls!" jack called.
the sisters followed their adoptive fathers' voice before coming to a sudden stop in the kitchen doorway, and ethel let out a piercing scream. jack was cutting up some fruit with a rubber knife and his left hand was bandaged and bloody, dripping over the countertop and by extension the fruit.
"hi, girls! anyone hungry? i've got some fruit slices here!" he said, glowing.
"yeah, i could go for some of that," said jule, but thea held her back.
"DADDY?!" ethel cried.
"oh, ethel, did you have a bad day at school?" jack asked, concerned.
"dad...?" fran asked, "did you cut yourself on that knife?"
"heavens, no!" he said, holding it up. "it's rubber! you can't cut flesh with rubber, silly girl."
"so, then... what happened to your hand?"
"oh, this?" he lifted his damaged hand. "i had a, uh, incident. but don't you worry, i've got it all taken care of, so i'm ready to do whatever it is you need!" suddenly, he looked confused. "hey, is there a gas leak in here? girls, you should get out! i'm already feeling..."
jack swayed on his feet before collapsing to the floor in a pool of his own blood, unmoving, and ethel's scream rang out through the whole neighborhood.
jack woke up in a hospital bed with all of his daughters surrounding him. the first thing he heard was ethel's bawling, the next was holly reassuring her that he was alive and would be fine.
"where am i" jack thought, then he turned his head and saw a snack-sized cup of vcuum-sealed rice pudding on his bedside table. "oh no i'm in hell."
ethel wailed in sorrow, and the other girls whipped around to look at jack. "dad! you're awake!" said patricia with a smile.
"girls... why are we here?" jack asked. he suddenly felt a searing pain across his hand, and looked at it. it was properly bandaged and his eyes went wide. "my hand...!"
"you cut yourself on the glass around the door, papa," said greta. "you passed out from blood loss und we called 911."
"oh, girls," jack said, upset, "i'm so sorry - i didn't mean to make you worry! gosh, what was i thnking?!"
hannah walked up to her fathers bedside. "dad... what happened back there?"
jack was silent. he wanted to tell them how much he missed delta - how he knew the alpha series would've been an alpha dad to them - but he couldn't. not only did it hurt too much, but he couldnt bear the thought of reminding the girls of their underwater prison. so, he forced a smile. "i was just... being clumsy, that's all. you know me! always tripping over my own shoes!"
the girls looked at each other. ethel sniffled. jack motioned for her to come over and he gave her a hug. "well, why don't we call the doctor in and see about signing out? i'm ready to go."
"dad, you lost an immense amount of blood. you can't just get up and walk out of here!" argued bridgette.
"well, aren't any of you hungry? it's getting close to dinnertime," jack said, looking up at the conveniently placed clock.
"but there are vending-"
on cue, jule's stomach growled again. jack got out of bed. "yep, time to get out of here." the girls were hopeless to stop him.
after all, he'd pulled himself through rapture... pulling himself out of a hospital was a snap.
END OF CHAPTER 1~