Corvo sets out to rescue Emily from the Golden Cat, but he hasn't fully recovered and its going to be a long day.

[CW: not much really? This is a pretty fluff heavy chapter]

Notes:

I hadn't planned to write a chapter for this originally cause I couldn't think of much to say about the mission. I dunno if everything works but I think I got some good ideas.

-/

Corvo shrugged into his new coat, taking it slowly since moving in certain ways hurt a bit still. He knew he'd be able to move when he needed it, that was what mattered, but in the meantime he was being careful when he could.

Cecelia had patched the hole in his old jacket and washed it as best she could, and it didn't really show against the black but it made him somewhat irrationally uncomfortable to wear something that still had so much of his own blood in it.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Piero asked him when he brought down a list of gear and supplies.

"Yes."

"Well, I can't speak for what kind of problems might come from healing as fast as you've done, but... You seem to be in decent enough shape, I guess." He was trying to avoid another argument, and it sounded like he was stretching the truth and trying to make it plain that he was doing so. "I ought to take your stitches out though, they'll be damned uncomfortable even if you don't tear any out."

Corvo grimaced. "I hate getting stitches pulled. Do it when I get back."

Piero muttered something under his breath and handed him the requested items in a whole stack. Upgraded crossbow, bolts and darts, a padded roll of cloth to keep the glass vials of elixir from breaking against one another. The side of his hand lingered against Corvo's a few moments longer than it might have. In spite of everything else on his mind Corvo smiled just a little at that, at one corner of his mouth, his head turned aside so it wasn't apparent.

"Try to take it easy then, at least." Piero said, with resignation that Corvo thought had a measure of unintended fondness to it.

Piero cleared his throat, Corvo looked away and headed for the boat with the stack of gear in hand, he could arrange it into pockets on the ride. "I'll try."

-/

It was thinly overcast and drizzling rain. A welcome change from the full heat of summer, but it did come with one unfortunate downside. The city stank horribly when it rained like this, not enough water to wash things clean but enough to bring the smell out of various nasty dried up things and puddles of murk, reeking runoff from the whale slaughterhouses, the smell from the sewers, and now all the horrors the plague had brought.

It all rose in the moist air and combined into a wicked miasma that smelled like burning hair and a hundred different notes of rot and decay.

Samuel took a winding, indirect route to the Golden Cat.

He held a shop rag over his face and Corvo hid his nose in his sleeve as they passed the rusty water at the outflow of a fertilizer plant. It processed all the whale bones and viscera no one could find a use for elsewhere and was nearly unbearable on a good day. On this one… well, no one would be inclined to follow them, that was for sure.

-/

Many hours later Corvo was laying on his back in the perfumed darkness of the Golden Cat's lobby, hidden on one of the high overhead ledges. Trying to catch his breath and thinking that Piero may have had a point after all.

Determination and stubbornness could only bring him so far, and between tracking down the information Slackjaw needed and trying to sneak around the Golden Cat without being seen or violating anyone's privacy too much with the darkvision spell, it had been a very long day.

But he had the master key in hand, lifted off the madam's belt without her noticing. And now he knew where Emily was.

He took careful measure of his remaining strength. Thought about whether to turn back for now and return later. He could leave the key on the madam's desk and go back to Samuel, lay low for a few more days and try again.

No. He could do this. He might pay for it in recovery time later if anything unexpected happened, but he'd done harder things in worse shape than this. And he couldn't really give a damn about what the Loyalists might want next or what schedule they expected it to be done in.

He got up and made his way through the top story window opening, checking that he'd be unseen with another quick sweep of the darkvision spell.

He paused at the right door, two down from the end.

All the worries that haunted his thoughts turned to fear that held his hand, made him palm the key into a fist before it reached the lock.

Would he find her well? He wanted to slip inside and drop into a crouch, call Emily to him, hold her and tell her he loved and missed her, give her whatever wholly inadequate apologies he could... But could he even know she'd come running to him? That she hadn't grown to blame him and hate him for his failures?

He thought of Emily's note from the vision the Outsider had shown him. How he couldn't be sure it was real or his own selfish imaginings.

He hoped she'd at least trust him enough to guide her out of this place.

He put the key in the door and unlocked it with a soft click, moving inside and shutting it again quietly.

"Emily." He said softly.

She turned and then drew back in obvious fear, snatching a heavy carved wolfhound from a dresser top.

He realized what it was a moment later. The damned tyska ren mask. He hardly thought anything of wearing it anymore.

He reached up hurriedly and unclipped it, pulling it away from his face. "Emily its me."

"Corvo!" Emily's frightened expression turned to one of unexpected joy, she put the carving back hurriedly and rushed forward to meet him, pulling him into a tight hug as he got to one knee to meet it.

"They said you were dead." Emily whispered.

"I'm not. I'm not." He held her close and silently wished some unspecified but terrible fate on whoever had told her that. "I missed you so much… And I am so sorry... I-"

"I know how we can get out." Emily whispered, derailing any further greetings or apologies he had in mind as she looked him in the eye and told him about her recent escape attempts.

"Good, thats good." He grinned with relief at the boldness and confidence in her words. She'd borne the fear and burdens of the last few months better than he'd hoped, certainly better than he had himself. His expression grew serious again. "We have to be quick and quiet again. Can you do that?"

She nodded.

"Okay, let's go." He slipped the mask down over his face again.

They made their way down the stairs, unnoticed, and through the VIP door. Corvo shut it soundlessly behind them.

They'd gotten about ten paces away when someone opened it again. " 'Ey there! Who's… That's the Kaldwin girl!!"

Corvo was already off running down the alley, holding Emily's hand tight. She kept pace with him easily enough but he knew he didn't have the energy to keep this up for long. Running alone wasn't going to get them out of this.

He ducked down a narrow side passage and spotted a low rooftop leaning out over the next alley. He could carry unconscious guards using the blink spell, it ought to work with Emily too.

"Hold up." He said, skidded to a stop, gathered Emily up in his arms, ignored a flicker of pain that brought, and breathed the words of the blink spell.

They landed on the low rooftop, then a wrought iron balcony, and across a few more rooftops. Just one more… He could see a good spot to hide...

But the fatigue of using so much sorcery in such a short span of time came down on him like a hammer and for a moment he almost couldn't breathe.

"How did you do that?!" Emily whispered with fierce delight in his ear as he reached into his coat and pulled out two vials of remedy, and drank them both at the same time. It gave him a sensation like there were burning electrical wires in his head more than it gave him energy, but that little bit ought to be enough...

He raised his hand again and at last he blinked through a broken window and into a long-empty apartment.

He did a quick sweep of darkvision and set Emily down carefully. It brought another sharp pain in his side and he hissed and bit back a curse. He pulled his mask free and stuffed it into a pocket, put his hands on his knees and stayed there a while, quietly gasping for air.

Using so many blinks in quick succession, on top of how tired he'd already been, had left him exhausted past the point of being able to stand much longer. Breathing hurt. Everything hurt in a faded, wobbly sort of way. It felt like his legs were about to give out from under him if he didn't stop take a while to rest. He sank down to the floor and stretched out flat. The floor was nice.

"Corvo are you okay?"

"Yeah… mmmmh." He felt under his shirt at the just-healed wound in his side, pulled his hand back and regarded the blood on his fingertips. Piero had been right, he'd partly torn out a couple of stitches. "I'm alright, just a cut I got a while ago."

Emily looked like she didn't quite believe him.

She sat down a pace or so to his right. "Can you do magic like the wizard Merloc? Is that how we got up here?"

He wiggled his fingers at her in a mystical sort of gesture and smiled. "Something like that, yeah. But don't tell anyone."

She nodded seriously. He could tell she was thinking of a dozen different questions to ask.

Corvo reached into his coat and fished a vial of elixir out of its cloth padding. Sat up a little to take a drink of it, grimaced and worked his mouth a few times, and quickly downed the rest.

He lay back down again. The room seemed to be spinning very slightly. He looked to Emily. "You had any elixir lately? Need it to keep the plague away."

"They made me drink it every day. It tastes awful."

He had to agree. "Yeah, it really does."

"I wish you weren't getting hurt all the time."

"Mmh. Me too." It wasn't that often, considering. Every few years some unavoidable confrontation with a drunken idiot or a duellist or would-be assassin had ended badly for him. But it did add up, he supposed. Between actual fights and various misadventures, not to mention his stay in Coldridge, he had more scars than he cared to count anymore.

" 's alright. I'll be alright." He said in a quiet, distracted sort of way, leaning an arm propped up on one elbow toward her. She took his hand and held it, and the quiet peace and comfort that gave him did a good deal to make him feel less awful.

He added, a little louder. "We should be safe here for a bit. but help me keep an ear out for trouble."

"Okay."

The building they were in was old, a huge high brick structure, and much of one side had collapsed and fallen away, including the stairs or any easy access to this place. It was a perfect spot to lay low for a bit.

He looked up at the cracked and spotted plaster of the ceiling and just breathed for a bit, letting the anxiety of the mission wash out of him. The fear that he'd find Emily damaged by her ordeal. Fear that she'd see him and hate him.

Rain pattered on the unbroken windows and a cool, moist breeze drifted through the broken ones. They were high up enough that it smelled fresh and wet instead of terrible.

It was peaceful here, up away from the street and the noise and much real threat of danger.

If the city watch still operated the way he was used to, they'd spend about twenty minutes frantically running around trying to find him and Emily. Then another half hour in confusion trying to get authorization from superiors to set up a more organized search effort and maybe secure the area with checkpoints. That would be a good window to make their escape.

It would give him some time to rest. The hard part was over, they just had to make their way back to the meeting point with Samuel. But he dreaded having to get up again. Between the fatigue and lingering aches and the elixir sitting badly in his stomach he felt slightly sick. The faint edge of dizziness didn't help either.

"Did you get a new sword?" Emily asked him. She tilted her head. "How does it…"

"Oh... Want to see?" He took it off his belt with his left hand and flicked it open.

"Wow." She let go of his hand and stood up. Reached out and took it carefully, one hand on the handle and one supporting the back of the blade.

She stepped away and made a few practice cuts, then started on a short drill routine. Her movements weren't polished or precise but they were far from the motions of an untrained amatuer either. Corvo watched with glowing pride as the blade thrummed through the air in her hands.

She finished the routine on a high guard, then fell into a casual stance and sighted down the sword's edge with a frown.

"Its tip heavy."

"Better for some things. You're used to rapiers with perfect balance at the hilt."

"Just like Black Berthold and the Red Raiders." She said with a slightly knowing smile.

She'd learned the truth of it on her own by now, he was sure, but years ago he hadn't had the heart to correct her that rapiers were mainly used by nobility and that pirates were more known for heavy curved sabers and Zarduks. The cover of her favorite story book had had a woodcut of a pirate in brocades and Pandyssian silks, brandishing a golden rapier with an elaborate hilt, and she'd insisted on having a sword just like it.

Emily looked the handle over and found the catch that let the blade fold in again, and tried to work it closed. Corvo sat up and reached for it, worried she might get cut by not knowing how to do it properly. "Here, let me have it back, I'll show you how that works later."

Emily handed him the sword and he folded it closed with a quick motion of his wrist. He lay back down again and set the sword on the floor next to him, too tired for even the momentary effort of clipping it back on his belt. "Just need to rest a bit first," He said, covering his face with one hand. "Then we'll go."

He hadn't meant to close his eyes, hadn't meant to give in to the risk and temptation to sleep, but...

He woke again with the sense a good few hours had passed. Things still hurt and he was stiff now from having slept on the floor, but he no longer felt like his body actively hated him just for breathing.

But he couldn't see Emily.

He sat up quickly, fear at his throat. "Emily?"

"I'm here." She called from the next room over, and came to stand in the doorway, looking like she was worried she might be in trouble. "I didn't know if I should wake you up."

"Mmmm. Its okay, you didn't need to." He sat up and rubbed his face, working some stiffness out of his jaw and yawning. "Seems like I really needed the rest."

He looked at her with some concern, she seemed more nervous about being reprimanded than he remembered. "Its okay, I'm not angry with you. There's no harm done."

He motioned her close and drew her into a hug again. "Were they angry with you often?"

She nodded under his chin.

"Then they're a bunch of den zalien kan tyska ren sa kaldanyas." He growled, earnestness in the words.

Emily giggled.

Don't tell your mother you know what that means. He would have added, such a very long time ago. He closed his eyes and his jaw went tight, and he held Emily close. The only one he had left now. The only one she had left after the world had been shattered for both of them.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you." He said quietly. "I'm so sorry that…" that I couldn't save her. He couldn't speak, and he knew it wouldn't have been right to lay that pain on her if he could have.

Rain fell against the windows. A railcar rattled and clanged, very far away. Gulls called, distant.

They'd missed the time window to slip away while the watch tried to organize itself, but by now they'd likely be getting bored with searching and manning the checkpoints. That was nearly as good.

He let go of Emily and got to his feet. Went to the window and looked down to find a good place to blink to. He offered her a hand and she took it.

"Are you going to use magic again?"

He chuckled. "Just a bit. Be hard to get down otherwise."

"How does it work? Can you talk to whales? Or cats? Merlock could turn into a swallow, can you-"

He laughed but held up his other hand. "Questions later, we need to get out of here first, meet a friend with a boat down by the river."

-/

"Are you really a pirate?" Emily asked Samuel when they reached the riverbank.

Samuel seemed to enjoy the joke. "Ayeee, a most terrible fierce one, I be." He affected a deep growl, and Emily laughed.

-/

Corvo dozed again on the ride back. Emily leaned against him, tucked under one arm.

He grumbled when Samuel shook him awake, but seeing they were back at the Hound Pits quickly got up to offer Emily a hand up out of the boat.

He fell into a familiar guard position behind her, a pace and a half back and to the left as she walked up the short space to the yard where the Loyalists waited. It almost hurt how good it felt to be doing that again.

He couldn't help but do a full formal introduction on her behalf when she reached the top of the steps, complete with a sweep of his hand and a half bow he shouldn't have risked and had trouble standing up from again.

But she'd smiled and seemed pleased by his fanciful and formalized gesture, in his mind that made it worth it.

Emily was wary of Lord Pendelton, who looked so much like her former captors, but he assured her he was pretty sure the man was on their side. It earned him a dirty look that he returned with a calm gaze and Treavor's eyes quickly went elsewhere.

When the introductions were done, Emily went inside with Callista and everyone else drifted away on other duties.

Corvo leaned against the gate pillar and felt very tired.

"Well, how many stitches did you manage to pull out?" Piero asked him.

"Couple."

Piero looked like he had a few words of admonishment ready and waiting, but then he glanced back to the door where Emily had just left, and apparently gave up on the idea. "Oh, on your own head be it. But you're getting them all out now, it'll be worse if they start to heal again." He motioned for Corvo to follow him.

Piero looked at his scowl and his expression eased. "You look like you're about to fall over anyway, I could knock you out if you like. Wouldn't take much."

"Much appreciated." Corvo took off his coat, hung it over a lever on the milling press, and started to ease himself up onto the only empty worktable.

"No, take the couch in the other room." Piero pointed. "I'm not going to move you and if you sleep there all night you'll hate yourself for it."

Corvo followed his direction, and Piero handed him a bunched up scrap of linen bandage, soaked in something volatile enough he could smell it from across the workshop.

Corvo laid back, held it up to his face and breathed deep. The world faded mercifully away, into darkness and for once pleasant dreams.

-/

Notes: I understand from a gameplay perspective why they had Emily go off on her own after the Golden Cat but it still gave me *so much* anxiety.