This story is based solely off of Dishonored and the Knife of Dunwall DLC and doesn't take anything from Dishonored 2 into account.
This fic was written shortly after playing Knife of Dunwall and Brigmore Witches. These DLC, especially in low chaos, make Daud quite interesting and nuanced. I chose to spare him in the maingame as Corvo, because by the time I confronted Daud, I was just numb and shocked that I'd been betrayed and really, really tired of Death. So, I chose to scare him, letting him know that I *could* have killed him, but didn't.
After playing Knife of Dunwall and Brigmore Witches, I'm kind of glad I let him go. Daud might have a lot of death on his hands and darkness in his life, but he did try for redemption at the end and I can respect that.
One line in Knife of Dunwall struck me particularly — when the Overseers take over Daud's hideout and capture his assassins, he makes the comment that he might have deserved what was coming to him, but his people didn't, and thus, the idea for this story was born, a oneshot focusing on Daud's connection to those he's taken in.
Told You He'd Come
"He'll come for me."
"Why would he come for you? You're weak. Got yourself captured, didn't you?" The Overseer leans down to look me in the eye. Or what would be our eyes if we weren't both wearing masks. His permanent sneer does nothing to comfort me. One of the lenses on my mask is cracked so I can't see clearly out of my right eye. I close my left. The Overseer's mask fractures. I imagine his face doing the same.
"He'll come." My head hurts. My body aches. They've tied me to the banister at the bottom of a staircase in our hideout in the Flooded District. They keep asking me questions I don't know the answer to.
Where is your master?
Can you summon the Outsider?
How do you make bone charms?
Why don't you follow the Seven Strictures?
Even if I knew the answers, I wouldn't say.
"It's been three hours," the Overseer sneers.
I shiver and try not to think about it. The Overseers are playing mind games. I know that, but it doesn't make it easy.
Daud is out, that's all. He and Billie went to take care of a Barrister in the Legal District.
He'll be back. He'll come for me. He'll find us and make the Overseers pay.
The ropes around my wrists bite into my skin. I've been kneeling in the dust so long that my legs below the knee are numb. Blood trickles from my nose and pools under my chin, leaking from the edge of my whaler's mask, staining the front of my shirt. They haven't taken my mask off. I wonder if they hope I'll drown in it. Or if it makes it easier to torture me. Without a face, I am not human.
After all, isn't that what our masks are for?
They say even Corvo wears a mask now. Lord Protector. Murderer.
I know he didn't kill his Empress. Daud knows.
The Overseers don't.
Just like they don't know that Daud will come.
"Rat got your tongue, boy?" The Overseer laughs.
If I wasn't wearing a mask, I'd spit in his face.
"Are you ready to give him up? Want to talk? It'll go easier on you if you do."
I nod as if he's not lying. The Overseer glances at his partner in the corner, the one with the void-cursed music box. He turns the crank. Eerie, bone-splitting music fills the room.
I scream. I can't stand the sound. It makes every bone in my body vibrate as if they all want to shatter into a thousand pieces. It feels like nails raking the inside of my skull, like rats churning my intestines. I want to die just to make it stop. They've used it on me so much I don't even know if I remember how to Blink.
The first Overseer steps closer, kneeling by my left side. He leans his head toward mine as if he's listening. Waiting on me to confess.
I try to speak, but I can't make my mouth work around the music.
The Overseer seems to understand and waves at his partner to stop. Mercifully, he does.
I shiver and drop limp against the rope around my wrists, straining my shoulders.
The Overseer half-props me up, his mask turned towards mine.
I cough and gather my wits.
"He'll come," I croak.
That sneering mask jerks back. The Overseer strikes me upside the head. The cracked lens in my mask shatters, heavy glass skittering across the floor. My vision goes dark.
It's nighttime again. I suppose the dark should cease to surprise me, but it always creeps up on me faster than I think it should. I scramble across broken flagstones, back to my apartment, the day's meager scroungings in a satchel slung over my left shoulder. If I don't get off the street soon, the weepers and rats will come out in full force. I hear groaning in the alley to my right and give it a wide berth.
Something skitters underfoot. I resist the urge to shout. Noise only attracts more of them. I shiver and head for a nearby stack of crates. Up. I've got to get up. It's late. The streets will soon run with blood.
I don't know where it all comes from.
Surely there aren't enough left alive here for it?
Maybe it's just water trickling over the viscera-stained streets, but I've never lingered long enough to check. I scramble up the crates and onto a low-hanging balcony. Although I still have to watch for weepers above the streets, they don't climb well or fast. So far, I've outpaced them up here. The rats too.
I know the Flooded District pretty well now. I never saw the Rudshore Financial District before the waters rose, though I heard it was almost as extravagant as the Estate District. After the flood, Slackjaw brought treasures back to Bottle Street I never would have believed existed if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes. I don't think he meant for his men to drop that sack on their way through the back alleys one night. And I don't think he'd counted on a wide-eyed teenager having a piss in the communal toilet at 3 a.m. either.
He only gave me a crooked grin and a nod and calmly told his men to pick up the sack in a voice that sent shivers down my spine.
It was only after they disappeared around the corner that I realized I'd been standing with my pants undone and my cock in my hands the whole time.
Despite myself, a laugh bubbles up my throat. What a long way from Bottle Street and Slackjaw I am now. I wish the gang leader was the worst thing I had to fear again.
That was all before Da came home coughing from his job at the factory. We tried to hide it, claiming palsy was making his hands shake too much to work. I took his place at the factory so they wouldn't care that he was gone. Then Ma started coughing too and blood poured from Da's eyes like tears. I couldn't keep up with work and them too. The neighbors found out quick enough after I caused a ruckus trying to snitch elixir from Slackjaw's bootleg still one night.
Not long after that the Watch showed up.
Ma agreed to rehabilitation. She thought it was the only way to keep us together. It did. But not in the way she'd imagined.
She was practically raving by the time they dumped us here. Da was dead. I knew it, but I don't think Ma did. She was too far gone. Last I saw her, she was sitting on a pile of plague bodies, still hugging his corpse.
I haven't been back to check on her. I couldn't bear to see her as a weeper. I hope she didn't suffer much. I hope it was quick. I hope the broken heart killed her faster than the plague.
Then I think I'm a terrible son for wishing that. It seems like something the Outsider would plant in my head. Maybe he did.
But that's all I've got to hang onto these days.
Honestly, I don't know why I'm still alive. I had the same elixir rations as Ma and Da. I haven't had any elixir in almost a month now. I don't know why I haven't caught the plague. Is there something out there protecting me? Or worse, does the Outsider have his eye on me for some evil purpose? I've decided I don't have enough time to worry about either.
For now, I spend my days scavenging and hunting rats so I can spend my nights barricaded in an abandoned apartment near the Commercial Building. The stairs collapsed during the flood so the only way to reach it is by climbing the building next door and leaping across to the balcony. The first time I did it, I nearly fell. Now, I barely think about it.
I clamber into my apartment like I do every night, preparing to spend the hours curled up in the corner, listening for groaning and skittering claws, pretending I know what sleep is and how to do it.
But tonight, my apartment isn't empty. Tonight when I come home, there's a man.
I don't see him until it's too late.
He steps out of the shadows and I know I have no chance.
I close my eyes and accept my fate.
Someone nudges my leg with the toe of their boot.
"Think you overdid it?" A voice asks over my head. It sounds grainy like I'm underwater, but I'm still breathing, so I'm pretty sure I'm not.
"Don't know. Why do we need to keep these rats alive anyway?"
"Hume says they're bait."
"You think this one's right then?" The boot nudges me again. My head rocks on my shoulders. I want to tell whoever it is to stop because I think I might vomit, but I can't make words. "You think he's really coming?"
"I dunno. You think the Knife of Dunwall cares enough about his crew to mount a rescue?"
"He certainly thinks so." This time, it's more of a kick than a nudge. I groan.
"Hey, leave off."
"Why? You feeling sorry for him?"
"No, but c'mon. He's not going anywhere. He's already down. No need to rub it in."
"You know Hume will just order them all shot once we have the Knife in hand."
"I know. Just…give him a minute to himself. Ok?"
Is an Overseer advocating for me? I thought they didn't have hearts. Just shriveled, black holes in their chests.
The other Overseer grunts, but he doesn't kick me again. It wouldn't matter much anyway because my tenuous grip on reality slips and I find myself in the dark once more.
I've never much liked the dark. Always felt the heebie jeebies in it, even though I know the dark can't hurt me. It's what's in the dark I'm afraid of. Especially with this light shining in my eyes. I can't see why it's necessary for my training. The light makes the dark darker. Anything could sneak up on me and I'd hardly be able to see it.
"C'mon, boy. Try again."
"My name's Finn." I tug at my mask so I can see out of the blasted lenses. I'm grateful to Daud for taking me in instead of killing me all those weeks ago, I really am. Living with the Whalers is better than taking my chances with the weepers, even if our hideout is slowly succumbing to the flood. I can't complain about my new coat, either, but I don't think I'm cut out for the job Daud thinks I am.
"I know." Daud smiles, the scar on the right side of his face pulling that side of his mouth higher than the other. It makes his smile crooked, like Slackjaw's. I wonder where Daud got the scar. I've never heard anyone say and I haven't asked. I assume it came from long ago. Maybe before he was an assassin.
Was there a before? He's not from Dunwall, I know that much. Somebody told me he's from Serkonos. That sounds right. He's got the coloring for it. Much like Corvo, the Lord Protector. In fact, if I didn't know better —
"Finn!" Daud cuffs me lightly on the head.
I jump.
I hadn't realized he'd moved. He's right beside me.
I shake my head. "Sorry, sir."
Daud looks more amused than angry. "Pay attention. You keep getting lost inside your head like that, you'll never make it on the streets."
"I did fine before you came along," I huff.
Daud laughs. "You were skin-and-bones before I came along, boy. The weepers probably left you alone because they thought you were one and the rats didn't think you had enough meat to bother with."
That's saying something. Because rats will eat anything with meat on it, even if it's just a knucklebone.
I grunt.
"Alright, Blink," Daud says.
I hold out my right hand.
"You don't have to point."
"I know." I grit my teeth. "But it helps."
"Why?"
"I dunno. It just…does."
"No. It's a placebo. Stop pointing."
"You do it."
"No, I don't."
"Yeah, you do."
Daud's eyes flash and I realize I'm arguing with him. I shut up quick, half-expecting him to hit me, but he doesn't. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen him hit any of the men in anger. Except Sturgeon that time he tried to harass Billie. Daud said he didn't have to, as Billie is more than capable of defending herself, but it was the principle of the matter.
I don't think I've seen Sturgeon since then. I wonder if that's Billie's doing or Daud's. Could be both. Billie is Daud's second and she knows about as much of the Whalers comings and goings as he does. She's almost as scary as he is, too.
With a sigh, I force myself to focus and put my hand down. "The light's in my eyes," I grumble.
"You're stalling."
I don't answer. I try to focus on the top of the bookshelf, where I'd like to be, instead of the floor, where I am, but my brain keeps jumping topics.
"I'm not cut out for this," I say.
"I think you are."
"Void knows why. I'm the son of a factory-worker and a seamstress. Not an assassin."
"You think my parents were assassins?" There's that twist in his mouth again.
I shrug. I don't know. I never thought about it before. And there goes my focus, down another rabbit trail.
"Finn…" Daud's voice carries a warning, an undercurrent that snaps me back to attention. It's almost like he can read my mind and tell I'm wool-gathering.
Right. Bookshelf.
I close my eyes and bunch my fists and wish with every fiber of my being that I'm on top of that bookshelf.
"You're thinking too hard."
I open my eyes and roll them toward Daud.
"I can see your eyes through your mask, you know."
"Can't."
Daud meets my gaze straight on, those blue-gray eyes boring twin holes in my soul. Maybe he can. Daud sees a lot of things that other people can't.
He runs one gloved hand over his face. "Look, Finn. I don't know why you find it so hard to open up to the void."
"Because the void is terrifying!"
Daud shakes his head. "Only if you let it be. You've listened to the Overseers too much."
I shrug. I never really went to church or sat in on their lessons, but I guess it's ingrained. They taught us in school (what little I've been to) that the void is just waiting to devour us and the only way to avoid that is to follow the Seven Strictures.
But Daud says the void can help us. Give us powers. I know it does. I've seen him and the other Whalers use them, blinking in and out of existence and teleporting short distances like it's as easy as walking. I'm pretty sure it lets Daud see through walls too, as he has the uncanny knack of appearing right beside us, even when he has no right to know where we are.
"Let go of what you know. Picture yourself where you want to be and will it so." He holds out his left hand. "If it helps, I like to envision a rope connecting me to where I want to go. I just open my hand, grasp the rope —" He opens his hand and closes his fingers in a loose fist as if he's doing just that "— and pull." He shifts his arm and suddenly he's gone. When I find him, he's on top of the bookshelf.
I sigh.
A rope.
I close my eyes and imagine a glowing silver cord running from about the middle of my body to Daud.
I reach out with my left hand and grasp the cord.
I pull.
I gasp as I feel a jerking sensation in my stomach and open my eyes just as I collide with Daud on top of the bookshelf. He staggers, but manages to keep his balance and mine as he grabs the front of my coat and stops me from toppling back to the floor.
He raises one eyebrow, but he's smiling. "Next time, anchor yourself to the shelf. Not me."
I'm too excited to be embarrassed.
"I think he's awake."
I blink. Muted candlelight strikes my face through the missing lens in my mask. It's dark. But then, it's always dark down here.
I try to move and realize my hands are still bound. I groan as the ropes cut into my wrists. I can barely feel my fingers now.
I'm thirsty.
And I have to piss.
I almost laugh at the thought. I doubt the good Overseers will give me a bathroom break.
I shift to try and get more comfortable and would have fallen over if I wasn't tied to the banister. My balance is off, but I can't tell if that's because my head's swimming or because my legs are numb.
"You think we should start up the box again?"
"Please…" My voice cracks. I try to lick dry lips, but my tongue's just as dry. I taste flakes of blood. "Don't."
"Listen to him beg. Maybe he's ready to talk."
One of the Overseers gets up from somewhere behind me and walks over to me. He squats in front of me so our faces are level. I think it's unfair because he can see my eye now, but I can't see anything of him. Can't tell what he's thinking under that sneer.
"You want to talk, boy?"
I shake my head and regret it. The pounding gets worse. "I've got nothing to say," I whisper.
"Still won't give him up, eh?" The Overseer looks over his shoulder. His companion must be back there somewhere.
His voice a few seconds later confirms it. "How do you think he does it?"
"Does what?"
"Makes 'em so loyal?"
The Overseer in front of me shrugs.
"I mean, this one's young. Can't be more than…what? Seventeen? Can't have been with the Knife that long, can he? What's he got over him?"
"You mean other than void magic?"
"Nothing," I interrupt.
The Overseers pause. The one in front of me tilts his head inquisitively.
"He's got nothing over me."
"You want me to believe you're actually loyal to that monster?"
I decide not to argue the finer points of Daud's character with an Overseer. "Yes."
"Lies!" The Overseer clenches his fists.
"Perhaps not," his partner says. "None of the others we captured have given him up, either."
The others. I think of Sark and Gin and Waylon. Are they ok? Are they tied up too? Have any of us escaped? I wince. Thinking makes my head hurt. What I wouldn't do for a flask of Gristol Cider right now.
The Overseer kicks a nearby piece of rubble at me. It bounces off my thigh. I hiss. "Lets just hope the Knife is as loyal to you as you are to him, then, shall we?"
I don't answer. Instead I close my eyes, lean my head against the banister and listen to the Overseers debate why we follow a man like Daud.
"I want you to take Finn out today, Lurk."
"What? Why me?"
I stop outside Daud's office at the hideout. Maybe it's wrong, but I duck behind the nearest bookcase to listen to his conversation with Billie. I don't think either of them noticed me.
"I've got business elsewhere today," Daud says. "You're my best assassin. I've been training the boy so far. I want a second opinion. I think he's ready."
Billie snorts. "Daud, that kid will never be ready. He's barely even killed a rat, for void's sake! You think he'll have the guts to kill a man?"
"I think he'll have what it takes when he needs it," Daud answers mysteriously.
"He's soft, Daud. Weak. It took him far longer to connect with the void than any of your other recruits."
My stomach sinks. Billie's right. From what I've heard from other assassins, I've been in training longer than any of them. But I've also heard that no other Whaler was trained personally by Daud as much as I've been. I don't know if that makes me special or stupid.
"You don't have to Blink to kill a man." Daud raises an eyebrow and looks straight at Billie, like he's referencing something she ought to already know.
Billie crosses her arms. " Has he killed a man?"
Daud shrugs. "Does it matter? Most of my recruits haven't before I pick them up."
Billie scowls.
"Look, Lurk, I'm not asking you to do anything I wouldn't be doing myself. But I've got the Braswell job today, so I'm tied up. Take Finn through the district, see what he can do. I want your honest report when I get back."
Billie sighs, but she nods. "Yes, Daud." She turns to walk away.
"Lurk!" Daud's voice is sharp, his gaze penetrating.
Billie half-turns, but she doesn't look at him.
" No surprises ."
"Yes, sir." I think I see the edge of a smirk as Billie leaves the room.
Daud waits a five-count, then looks right at the bookcase I'm standing behind and says, "You can come out now, Finn."
I step out, sure my cheeks are red with embarrassment. I almost wish I was wearing my mask. Normally I don't in the hideout as I find it uncomfortable and mine is forever slipping so I can't see, but right now, the heavy leather would be helpful.
Daud smirks.
I fidget.
"Eavesdropping's a useful skill." Daud waves a hand dismissively. "What's more impressive is that I don't think Lurk noticed you were there."
I raise my eyebrows.
"Her senses are nearly as attuned as mine."
I think Daud's giving me a compliment, but I'm not sure how to respond.
"Rat bite out your tongue, boy?"
"N-no, sir."
"Did you need me?" Daud asks.
"No." I clear my throat. "I mean, I was reporting for lessons. Sir."
Daud nods. "Well, as you heard, I'm on a job with some of the others today. Lurk's going to take you out for your final test. Do what you've been doing for me and you'll have no trouble. Mind what she says and keep a sharp eye out. Lurk doesn't like you much."
"I've gathered."
"Don't take it personal. Lurk doesn't like anybody much." Daud's crooked smile flashes across his face. "Now, see yourself out. I've got work to do."
"Yes, sir." I nod and leave the office.
Billie finds me a few minutes later.
"There you are, whelp." She comes up behind me and grabs me by the scruff of my neck. She holds me with enough force to let me know she could hurt me if she wanted to. "You're with me today."
I put my mask on before I answer, so maybe she can't tell how much she caught me off-guard. "Daud told me."
She lets me go and pulls her own mask over her head. "Good. Then I won't have to explain. Follow me. And try to keep up!" She disappears.
I grit my teeth and Blink after her.
Billie takes me deeper into the Flooded District than I've been before, testing my endurance, balance, agility, and control as she has me Blink over rooftops, balconies, piles of masonry, plague corpses, and light posts. We pause on top of a building that lost its roof, leaving the rooms open to the elements. Billie hands me a small, glowing blue vial.
Pietro's Spiritual Remedy. Though it was created as an elixir for the plague, Daud found out that it does something to re-align the spirit with the void and allows us to Blink and use other void powers for longer periods of time than we can without it.
I take the vial and tilt my mask up long enough to drink it. Immediately, I feel something inside me shift. The void flows around me more noticeably. I toss the empty vial on the floor at my feet. Billie watches me curiously.
"Well?" I ask. It's the first thing either of us have said since we left the hideout.
"Well what?"
"How am I doing?"
Billie shrugs. "You're ok. Could be faster. But I guess you should be pleased I haven't lost you yet."
I frown. As praise goes, it's very backhanded, but it's the nicest thing Billie Lurk has ever said to me, so I don't argue it.
"But now the real part of your test begins." Billie sounds like she's smiling. I don't like it when she smiles. It usually means someone is about to die.
Billie walks to the edge of the room and points across the street to a dark tower on the other side. It looks like it was an office complex in its prime. It's taller than the buildings around it by two or three stories. Banners hang off the sides, though they're so covered in mold and grime that it's impossible to tell what they once said.
"Race you to the top!" Billie shouts as she disappears.
I sigh and look for a faster way up. Billie obviously knows the tower well and has a head start. It'll take all my concentration to beat her. I see a likely ventilation pipe snaking up the apartment building next door and I Blink to it. It sits opposite a window in the tower that, hopefully, will give me an inner way up. I curl my fist to Blink again and feel the familiar jerk in my stomach, but instead of Blinking onto the windowsill, as I expect, something stops me mid-Blink. It feels like I've just collided with an invisible wall.
Instantly, everything in my body feels wrong. Like I've been turned inside-out. Bright spikes of pain shoot through my head and I feel my stomach lurch at the same time I plummet. I'm three stories up, hanging in mid-air between two buildings. I drop like a stone. This will hurt. Daud taught me to fall. He teaches all of us to fall since it's such a high risk in our line of work. But knowing and doing are two different things. I don't know if I go limp so much out of conscious desire as sheer panic. I hit the ground like a rag doll and fetch up against the tower wall, feeling something in my right side snap with the force.
I sprawl on my back in the alley between the buildings, trying to catch a breath that isn't there. My vision blurs. I feel something wet inside my mask. Are those tears?
I try to sit up, but I can't. So I just stare at the gray sliver of sky overhead. What just happened? I've never collided with anything during a Blink. I didn't know it was possible. Was this some trick of Billie's? Or had I done something wrong?
I just drank an elixir — I should have had plenty of void reserve for the Blink. In fact, I know that's not the problem. I can feel the void around me, flowing and ebbing. I've never missed a Blink like this before. What will Billie tell Daud? Does this mean I failed the test?
A groan interrupts my thoughts. Fear slides down my spine. That sound didn't come from me.
Weepers!
I tilt my head back so I can look down the alley behind me. Another groan comes from an overturned dumpster at the back of the alley. A pale hand grabs the edge of the dumpster and pulls a body into view behind it. A sickly body with hollow eyes and rotting flesh.
I sit up this time, wincing as my right side protests. If I don't get out of here, I'm dead! I try to stand, but my left ankle won't take weight. I look down. Something about the way my boot is tilted doesn't look right, but I don't have time to consider it. I put a hand to the wall and drag myself upright, fumbling for my pistol.
No. The wristbow.
The wristbow is quieter. I can't afford to attract more weepers. I can't run. I might be able to Blink once I take care of the immediate threat, but right now my head's swimming too much for that.
I hastily check my wristbow. It's loaded with simple bolts. Head shots. I need head shots. Weepers take two or three bolts to go down otherwise. I try to steady my breathing, but I still feel like I can't get enough air.
Damn this mask! I yank it off. After all, it doesn't matter if the weepers see my face. They're certainly not going to turn me in to the Lord Regent. I raise my left wrist and take aim at the nearest weeper. I trigger the bolt. It flies true and hits the weeper right between the eyes. He goes down with a gurgle and doesn't move. I feel like I might throw up again. I don't know if it's because of the weeper or the effects of the fall still messing with me.
But I can't focus on that, because there are two more weepers crawling out of the dumpster. I nail the second one before she stands up. I take aim at the third and freeze.
It's my mother.
I close my eyes. No. It can't be. There's no way anyone with the plague can stay down here for six months and still be alive. Can they?
I force myself to open my eyes and look again.
That's not my mother. It can't be. But it's so hard to tell. Ma was a small woman with dark hair and dark, soulful eyes. This weeper's stature and coloring fits, but her gaunt face and hollow stare don't.
You left her , a voice inside me says. You left her to die.
"I didn't," I whisper.
You didn't even stay to watch.
"I couldn't." I shake my head. It would have been suicide.
The weeper drags herself closer. I have to shoot her or she's going to get me.
I hear another groan to my right and jerk my head in that direction. Outsider preserve me. More weepers. Five or six of them shamble toward the mouth of the alley, all heading in my direction. I'm trapped. I need to Blink. Or shoot. Anything but stand here and cower.
I can't think straight. My head swims. My ankle throbs. My side heaves. I can't breathe.
I press my back to the tower wall, raise my left arm, close my eyes and shoot. I hear a bolt sink into flesh, a pained grunt, rattling breath.
I open my eyes. I shot the weeper who may or may not be Ma, but it's a poor shot. The bolt sticks out of her shoulder, too high to have hit her heart. She's almost within arm's reach.
"Billie!" I shout.
I don't hear an answer, not even a mocking laugh. I reload the wristbow as fast as I can and draw my pistol with my right hand. At this point, it's worth the noise. I get off three shots at the weepers on my right. Three of them go down. Two more keep walking toward me.
I put another bolt into mother-not, but she's too close for me to get a proper shot and this one goes into her stomach. Her dead hands grab my arm. I scream. She opens her mouth to bite — and her head explodes into a gory, rotting mess.
A bullet flies past so close it scores my cheek before chipping the brick wall behind me. Viscera splatters my face and chest.
I slide down the wall to the ground, feeling like my heart and stomach are trying to escape through my throat. The weeper's body collapses a heartbeat later, landing just a hands-breadth from me. I squeeze my eyes shut. I hear two more shots and then somebody walks up to me.
"Finn."
It's Daud!
"Open your eyes, boy."
I do. "I thought you were gone."
"You thought wrong." His voice sounds gruff, but with his mask on, I can't tell if it's directed at me or not. "Can you stand?"
I shake my head. I don't know if I can. My knees feel like jelly.
Daud reaches down, grabs my arm, and hauls me to my feet. I try to pretend I don't whimper. He hands me my mask. I hadn't realized he'd picked it up.
"Put this on. We'll talk later. Can you Blink?"
"I-I don't know," I say honestly. I hate the way my voice breaks. I try to wipe the blood and gore off my face, but I don't think I get it all before I put my mask on.
"Try." His simple word is a command. I can't disobey even if I wanted to.
Daud points at a spot a few feet down the alley.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, feeling the void around me. It's still there. I picture a thread anchoring me to my destination. Then I reach out with my left hand, take hold…and Blink.
Pain flares in my ankle as soon as I land. I open my eyes. "Y-yes."
Daud watches me carefully.
I swallow hard. "Where's Billie?"
Daud's shoulders tense, his body going stiff. He's displeased. With me or Billie, I'm not sure.
"Nevermind that," he says. "You need to get home."
I nod.
"Go on. It's not going to be pleasant, but Blinking's the fastest way."
I nod again.
Daud watches me and I realize he's waiting on me to make the first move. He's going to follow me back to the hideout. I don't know if that makes me relieved or embarrassed.
I Blink.
Daud follows a second later.
We make it back to the hideout without further incident, but I'm breathing hard and unsteady on my feet by the time we arrive. I limp the last of the way inside, leaning heavily on Daud, who has one arm under my shoulders.
We meet Gin just inside the door, where he's standing guard duty. He jumps up as we walk in. "Is that Finn? What happened?"
"Where's Lurk?" Daud demands.
Gin shrugs. "I thought she was with Finn."
"I'm with Finn," Daud growls. He shifts his grip to keep me on my feet.
"Yes, sir. I see that, sir." Gin makes a short bow, keeping his mask tilted down so he doesn't meet Daud's eye. Daud is terrifying when he's angry.
"Lurk hasn't come back?"
"Not that I've seen, sir."
"If you see her, send her straight to me," Daud says. "Don't let her prevaricate."
Gin salutes.
Daud takes me back to his office and upstairs to his bedroom. I've never been up here before and I feel like I'm intruding. He sits me on the bed and indicates I should take my mask off. I do. He hands me a handkerchief to clean up with.
He paces in front of me as I wipe blood off my face. Somewhere I'd picked up a cut over my right eye. It's still bleeding a little. Daud keeps his mask on, but I can tell he's not watching me.
"What happened?" he finally asks.
I take a breath to speak but he interrupts me before I even start.
"Don't leave anything out."
So I tell him everything. About Billie testing me, about her giving me an elixir, about racing up the tower, about Blinking and falling, about the weepers and how I hesitated because one of them looked like my mother. About thinking I was going to die right before he showed up.
By the time I finish, Daud has stopped pacing and leans against the wall opposite me. His head is tilted toward the floor. He has his arms crossed and he doesn't speak for a very long time.
"I guess I should gather my things, then?" I venture.
His head comes up. "What?"
"My things. I failed the test. I'm not a Whaler. I'm sorry. I don't think I was cut out for it."
Daud just stares at me so long I wish a pack of rats would appear and devour me. Finally, he takes his mask off. He looks stern, but his eyes are almost friendly.
"The test wasn't for you," he says.
My mouth falls open. "What do you mean?"
"The test for was for Lurk. Sorry I had to use you as bait like that. I didn't think she'd go that far."
My eyes widen. "You—she…" I don't know what to say. "So I'm not a failure?"
"Not by a long shot. You might not be a bloodthirsty killer, boy, but I need all types in the Whalers. Not everybody's here for blood. Some of you are my eyes and ears around the city and for that, I think you're the best man I've got."
"R-really, sir?"
Daud nods, but he looks distracted. "Now, you wait here. It's best you don't run into Billie again before I do. I'll send the Gaffer up to look at that ankle and your ribs." The Gaffer is what we call our doctor, a cranky old fellow who used to serve as ship's surgeon on a whaler.
I must look surprised, because Daud continues, "You haven't been standing straight since I found you."
I suddenly feel all the aches and pains from my misadventure and realize I'm exhausted.
Daud looks down at me and smiles that crooked smile, one side of his mouth higher than the other. He holds out a hand. I tilt my head, but I reach up and shake.
"Welcome to the Whalers, Finn. I think you're going to like it here."
"How could anyone like it here?" the Overseer grumbles. "It's infernally damp and dark. Not to mention the rats. And the weepers."
It's been a while. Maybe another hour. I don't know. Time has lost its meaning. I have a crick in my neck from leaning my head against the banister, but I don't want to summon the strength to move.
I want to point out that most of us didn't choose to live here. That the Lord Regent put us here. That we were chased out of Dunwall proper, but I don't. It's an opinion the Overseers won't share and I'm not keen on drawing their attention.
I crack open my eyes. The Overseer with the music box stands at the edge of the room, by one of the broken windows, peering out into the rubble and darkness beyond. His partner paces restlessly, glancing at me every once in a while.
"I don't like this," he finally says. "We should have heard from them by now. It's too quiet."
"No news is good news," Music Box murmurs, though he sounds like he doesn't believe himself.
"Do you see Porter or Traunch?"
Music Box shakes his head. "They haven't made a round in a while. Could mean nothing though. Maybe they're taking a rest."
"A rest? During a takeover? They'd have to be daft. Hume'll have their heads."
Music Box shrugs.
"You think he's here?"
Music Box turns and regards his partner for a while. "Daud?"
"Don't say his name!"
"Why, are you afraid?" Music Box doesn't sound mocking. Instead, he seems wary, curious.
"It might summon him!"
He didn't exactly answer the question. I decide to speak up. "It doesn't work that way."
The Overseer whips his head in my direction, black eye-holes staring me down.
"Look, if I could summon Daud just by saying his name, he would've been here already. You think I'd sit here all trussed up for fun?"
The Overseer's shoulders tense.
I lift my head and brace myself, continuing carefully. I don't want him to get jumpy enough to start the music box again. "You can't invoke Daud. He's not some sort of demon."
"You don't know what he is, boy."
"He's human," I said. "I've seen him, talked to him, touched him."
"And people have seen and talked to the Outsider!" the Overseer snapped. "He's void-cursed. You don't know what he can do! What he's shown you is only a sliver of his power."
I don't answer. After all, the Overseer is probably right on this one point. I doubt I've seen even half of what Daud can do. His powers are obviously otherworldly. But I've also seen him bleed and eat and sleep. If he were a demon, I doubt he'd bother with anything so mundane.
At the edge of the room, Music Box suddenly cries out.
"What?" His partner draws his sword, instantly on edge. "What is it?"
Music Box lifts one arm, pointing. "I thought I saw someone on the roof. Over there."
"One of ours?"
"I don't think so. He wasn't wearing a mask."
"You think it's him ?"
Music Box starts to shake his head, then stops. "I don't know." His body is steady, but there's an underlying tremor in his voice.
Had he seen Daud? I wasn't sure. Daud would wear his mask tonight to hide his face from the Overseers. Had he lost it? Or had the Overseer seen someone else? If so, who? All the Whalers would be masked tonight, too. Had he seen a weeper? Or…the Outsider? Whoever it was seemed to have scared him.
I tense against my bonds, but they don't give. My heart speeds up in my chest. Sweat trickles down my spine. I get the overwhelming feeling I'm being watched and I don't like it. I'm an easy target for weepers or rats and I don't doubt the Overseers would happily leave me as bait if we get overrun.
It's quiet. I can hear my heartbeat.
There's a slight sound to our left as if someone has dislodged a pebble from the rubble and sent it tumbling to the street.
If that is Daud, he's letting the Overseers know of his approach. If he doesn't want to be heard, he won't be.
The Overseers tense.
"Start the music box," the one near me whispers.
His companion nods and turns the crank. The discordant hum hits me like a physical force. I grit my teeth and try not to lose my mind. It feels as if someone is peeling the skin off my face while a thousand spiders crawl down my spine.
Another pebble tumbles to the right. The Overseers turn toward the sound. It comes again, this time from behind me. If Daud is here, he has help. There's no way even he can be in two places at once.
Without warning, the Overseer with the sword swoops forward and yanks my hood back. He grabs a fistful of my hair, pulling my head back to expose my throat. I hardly realize what's happening until his sword presses against my neck.
I gasp.
He angles the blade closer. "Show yourself, Daud!" he shouts. I guess he's convinced Daud is already here, so saying his name can't hurt now. The blade against my neck shakes. He's afraid.
If I wasn't so distracted by the sword, I would laugh.
"We have one of yours here. If you don't come out, I'll cut off his head!"
The music box stutters as the other Overseer notices what his partner's doing.
"Keep playing!" My tormentor hisses.
Music Box does, though he seems uneasy. I don't know if that's because he dislikes what his partner is doing or because he's worried his partner is over-stepping orders.
I groan as the music intensifies.
"You have until the count of three, Daud!"
Blood trickles down my neck, though not all of it's from the sword. My nose is bleeding again. I press back against the banister as far as I can go, but I'm out of room. If the Overseer moves his sword again, I'm dead.
Daud, Outsider, anybody…please…this isn't how I want to die.
"One!" The Overseer begins.
Everything is quiet except for the music box.
"Two!"
There's the faintest hiss, something zips past me and Music Box jerks suddenly. The music stops as the two Overseers stare at each other for a moment, then Music Box crumples. He falls to his knees first, then slumps forward over his box. I can't tell if he's dead or asleep.
The Overseer holding me jumps. Cold steel slices my skin. I turn my head, but it doesn't do me any good.
"I'm going to cut his head off, Daud! Soul for a soul!"
"Your partner isn't dead." A voice answers. It's not Daud's, but the overseer won't know that. I don't recognize it either. A shiver runs down my spine. The voice is at once familiar and foreign. "Taking the boy's life now would be…preemptive."
The Overseer looks around wildly. I can't see anyone, but my vision is extremely limited by the position of my head. The Overseer can't seem to find anyone either, though. His breath rasps harsh in his mask.
"Let my Whaler go." Another voice calls out. This time, it is Daud. Relief threatens to overwhelm me.
The Overseer whirls toward the sound of the voice, but it's somewhere behind me. His sharp intake of breath tells me he still can't see anyone. "Or what?" I'm pretty sure he doesn't mean for his voice to shake.
"Or I put a dart into your eye that's much more deadly than the one I put into your friend."
We all hold our breath.
The Overseer twitches. He opens his mouth, takes in a breath.
I swallow.
"Thre—arghghg!" The Overseer doesn't finish his final word. There's a faint click and a second dart slams into the Overseer's eye, just as Daud promised. Blood spurts from his mask as he topples backward. He half-pulls me with him before his fingers release my hair. His sword clatters to the ground and he lies still.
I sit back up, breathing hard.
A second later, Daud materializes beside me. He leans down and slits the rope around my wrists. I fall forward. He catches me by the shoulder.
"Steady there, Finn."
I cough, wondering how Daud knows it's me with my mask still on. It shouldn't surprise me. He seems to know all of his Whaler's on sight. My head is still ringing from the music. Or maybe from the Overseer's fist. I'm not sure. "I'll be ok," I finally say.
Daud studies me seriously, but he seems to believe me. He stands up and offers me his hand. I take it and he pulls me to my feet. I would've fallen if not for the banister and his grip on my arm. I wave Daud away though.
"'M fine," I mutter. "Legs are numb. Gimme a second."
Daud suddenly tilts his head as if he's listening to something I can't hear. He nods once, as if answering someone or making a decision.
I don't ask.
I don't think I should.
After I get feeling back in my fingers, I reach up and pull off my mask.
"By the void, boy, you're a mess," Daud says.
I manage a laugh.
He steps closer and puts a hand under my chin, turning my head to the light. "What did they do to you?"
"This one is more sensitive to the Undercurrent than most." A voice interrupts. It's the same voice from before, with the Overseers, the one I both know and don't.
Daud barely moves, but I jump. We both turn toward the voice. Sitting on the broken edge of the floor above us is a plainly dressed young man with short, dark hair and dark eyes. One corner of his mouth twists up in a half-smile.
Daud sounds unimpressed as he says, "It's you."
The young man nods and agrees. "It's me." He leans forward so I get a better look at his face. His eyes aren't just dark. They're black! There's no pupil or iris, just space so dark it feels like I could drown in it.
"Outsider." The word leaves my lips of its own accord.
His head turns toward me. "Hello, Finn," he says. "I've been looking forward to meeting you for some time now."
Daud sighs.
I feel something in my stomach lurch and I get the feeling I'm standing over a very large chasm, even though both my feet are firmly on the floor. I don't know how to answer. In fact, I don't think I can. Words have deserted me.
The Outsider stands up. He's shorter than I think he should be. He'd barely be my height if we stood next to each other. He looks tired and yet, there's a hidden sort of energy around him that I know would be terrifying should he choose to engage it.
"You've done well with this one, Daud. I know you don't want me to interfere. So I won't. Not today. Though I will watch with great interest. One day, you won't be here to protect him. Then where will he be, Daud? Hmm?" The Outsider looks straight at me. "You don't have to answer now. But I will listen when you do."
Then he fades away. Ashes rain down on us from where he stood. Daud brushes a few off my shoulder.
I still don't know what to say.
Daud reaches up to pull off his own mask so he can look me in the eye.
I finally find words. "Was that…?"
"Yes."
"He's…"
"Terrifying?"
"Familiar."
Daud's mouth pulls up, though it's not quite a smile. "Yes."
"Did you know he was here?"
"Of course. It's impossible not to."
"He spoke. Earlier, to the Overseers."
"He does that from time to time."
"But…I saw him." I feel like the world will never be the same again. Like I've gained some sort of forbidden knowledge and lost something of myself in the process.
"He shows himself to those he chooses."
"Then he chose me?"
"Perhaps. You'll have to answer him one day, like I did, but I can't tell you when that will be."
I nod.
Daud watches me with a calculating expression. Finally, he reaches up and wipes some of the blood from my face with his glove. "Is this from the Undercurrent, like he said?" He almost sounds like he's asking the question to himself.
"You mean the music?"
Daud nods.
"They hit me, too," I admit.
Daud tilts my head again. "Finn, your eyes are bloodshot."
I don't know what to say.
"They're almost black."
I shiver. My eyes on a normal day are dark, but they're clearly brown, not black.
Daud shakes his head and hands me his mask. "Put this on," he says. "I don't think it's wise to show your face until you've had some time to clean up."
I don't know what to say or think. Daud is giving me his mask? It's not like it's any different from the other whalers' masks we use, but there's something almost sacred about it.
"What about you?" I stammer. "The Overseers can see your face now."
Daud smiles and this time, it stretches across his whole face. It's terrifying. "Good. I want them to look me in the eye when they die. I want them to know I came to avenge my Whalers and reclaim my territory."
I take a breath.
Daud's smile fades. "Can you Blink?"
I stay silent for a moment, feeling for the void around me. Right now, I feel it like I've never felt it before. I didn't notice until Daud asked me, but I can almost hear it singing. A plaintive song, like the sounds of the whales calling to each other. Soft, evocative. If I'm not listening for it, I can't hear it. It's the void. I'm sure of it.
Is this the Outsider's doing?
I know I can Blink. I suddenly realize I can do other things, too. Things I hadn't even known about before. Things like see through walls, or pull objects toward me from across the room.
Daud watches me with a mixed expression. "He opened the void to you, didn't he?"
"I think so."
Daud shakes his head. "Get your mask on, boy, and join Sark on top of the watch platform. Don't let the others know what you saw tonight or what you can do before we talk. Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good lad. Now go."
I pull Daud's mask over my head and get it into place. I have to tighten the straps a little to make it fit. I take a few hesitant steps forward, but the feeling has returned to my legs and feet and they hold. Daud watches as I shake out my shoulders and pace a few times across the room. Then I Blink to the floor above, where the Outsider stood moments before.
Daud looks up at me and nods.
I Blink back to his side.
Daud puts a hand on my shoulder. "Go to the platform, Finn. Wait for my signal."
I give him a salute as he steps back and disappears. I feel a well of power inside me, flowing like the void. Somehow, it doesn't scare me. It feels good. It feels right.
I step over to the dead Overseer on the floor and pick up his sword, testing its weight. If we're going to fight, I'll need a weapon. My own were confiscated, but I don't know where they are now.
I have no desire to kill the unconscious Overseer. He'll have enough to deal with when he wakes. If he survives whatever happens next. I leave him where he is.
I look down at his dead partner. "Told you he'd come." I smile. Then I open myself to the void and Blink.
Although Finn doesn't know what the test Daud gives Billie is for, it could have multiple reasons — its possible Daud had an inkling of Billie's betrayal beforehand and wanted to gauge her loyalty/ability to follow instructions. It could have also been a personality test of sorts, since Billie is already known (from her backstory) to be a somewhat violent individual.
Also, Daud wasn't entirely honest when he tells Finn the test was for Billie. It was for Finn too, though Daud didn't quite imagine it would go the way it did. Obviously, Finn passes.
I don't think Daud really knows why he's so fond of Finn until the Outsider intervenes. If I remember right, there's only four Outsider-marked people in the world of Dishonored. Perhaps Finn will be the fifth ;)
Hope you enjoyed!
