Target: Havelock

Samuel pulled the boat up to the dock in silence. All eyes were on the large tower looming up in the distance. Bright lights shone from searchlights, tallboys could be heard clanking from inside the defensive walls. A wall of light could be seen across the only visible entrance, and Overseers with their music boxes patrolled alongside senior armed guards.

It wouldn't be enough. It never was.

Emily made sure to temper her confidence; some of the enemies could pose a serious threat to her. Could. But by this point, the fear that had pervaded her early romps through bottle street and the Golden Cat…it wasn't there. At this point she was more inclined to simply get on with it. She acknowledged that probably represented significant mental instability, and resolved to consult a psychiatrist. If she could find one that didn't care about her being an agent of a demon, that was.

Samuel coughed from behind her and she shook herself, stepping out. Corvo lent her a hand, and for his peace of mind she accepted it. "Thank you, Samuel." She told the boatman. "I suppose I'll…see you soon?"

"Aye, miss." He chuckled. "I'm sure we will. Good luck."

With little else to say, Sam pulled back away from the docking platform. She could tell his eyes never left her, even as he vanished into the distance and she walked up towards the complex with Corvo.

"How do you want to play this one?" He asked, taking up a position just behind and to her left without thinking about it.

"As an Empress should, Corvo." She replied, slipping the veil down over her face. "With no small amount of flair."

._.

They were noticed almost immediately as they walked, perfectly calmly, towards the front gate. Four or five (very scared) guards formed a semicircle around them, gradually backpedalling along with them as they moved closer and closer to the gate. Eventually, one in a red coat had the courage to shout "Halt!"

They halted.

"I believe you all know my moniker," Said the Void Singer, "and I have little interest in learning your names, so I will keep this brief. I have business with the three leaders at the top of that lighthouse. Do be kind and open the door for me, would you?"

The captain gulped. "It is our duty to protect our charges. The young Empress Kaldwin, the Admiral, and his compatriots are within that duty, we cannot allow you to pass."

"A man of duty." The Void Singer remarked. "So good to see that that remains in today's constabulary. Rest assured that the little Emily has nothing to fear from me, and I doubt that her protector here means her much harm either."

"Her prot-Attano?" The man looked up in shock.

Corvo removed his whaler's mask, and regarded the captain with a tilted head. "I remember you from the tower guard. Not one of those paid off by Burrows, however, which I'm glad to see."

The captain was looking more and more distressed by the second. "As much as it's good to see you alive, sir, my stance can't change. There are warrants for both your arrests. May I please advise that you both either surrender, or leave immediately."

"Music box on the left." Corvo said, obviously enough that the guards could see his lips moving, quiet enough that they couldn't hear his words. "If I freeze time now I can take him out before he starts playing, then-"

"That won't be necessary, but thank you, Corvo." The Void Singer said, equally quietly. "Never take the simplest route when a much more convoluted and entertaining one will do."

She looked back to the captain. "Very well. We surrender."

"You…what?"

"Your first piece of advice." She smiled beneath the veil. "We surrender. The good Admiral will no doubt want to see me immediately, no? I would feel safer with an armed escort." She leaned in conspiratorially. "I hear that there are witches about."

"This is the next empress. Dunwall is doomed." Corvo muttered to himself.

The captain shifted his attention to Corvo. "Your escort-"

"Goes where I go. Unless you would rather he followed from where you couldn't see him?"

"You'll have to be handcuffed."

"Well, if it makes you feel better."

"I'm not being paid enough for this…" The captain sighed. "Alright. You are under arrest under charges of…" He paused.

"Yes, what have I actually done that's illegal again?" the Void Singer mused.

"…Under suspicion of assault on members of the Dunwall guard." The captain finished. "Corvo…I think we can take that outfit as evidence of collusion with the Whalers?"

"Good enough." Corvo held out his hands. "Does 'dismantling' come under collusion?"

The Captain shook his head. "This is the end of my career, isn't it? I can tell. Alright, boys. Cuff 'em."

._.

Havelock stepped away from the phone. Paused. Took a breath. Stepped back towards the phone. "They WHAT?"

._.

History books would be written about the strange procession that walked through the island fortress that evening. The Void Singer had been a myth up until then; a ghost story, or even a joke. But on that incredibly important night, she allowed herself to become fully visible. The guards who were supposed to be watching out to sea turned inwards to gape at the witch as she made her way towards the elevator. Overseers jostled their companions and wondered aloud what twisted mind would take the form of a little girl, or what the Royal Protector, lost for weeks, was doing walking proudly alongside her.

But there she stood, picture perfect in every moment, with a straight back and a calm stride, regarding her surroundings with an air of vague interest, all from behind an impassive white veil that shimmered lightly in the night sky. Steel handcuffs linked her arms together, but the whole ordeal seemed more like princess' entourage than a criminal's escort.

There was a lift, thank goodness, so they didn't all have to walk the whole way. It was too small for the whole escort to fit, leaving Emily alone with only three guards. The captain, and-

"Oh it's you two!" Emily smiled up to them. "How have you been?"

"Uh." Geoff glanced awkwardly at his squadmate. "Not bad. Got, uh, promoted. We're both," He gestured to his uniform, "in the red now, so, you know."

"Good! I'm glad for you."

"You know each other?" The captain asked them, surprised.

"This…isn't the first time we've encountered lady K-The Void Singer." Jack stepped in. "Or the third. Or-" He squinted down at her. "Why do you keep letting us get away unhurt?"

"Because you're both adorable." She answered, frankly.

"Oh."

The lift continued in silence.

They reached the top with a ding, and the door opened. More guards were waiting at the top, and they were all led across a series of half-finished catwalks. Emily started to shake, slightly, and Corvo placed his hands firmly on her shoulders as they walked. Nobody dared to call him out on it. Not even Emily, though she was perfectly confident she could survive the fall. She had other reasons to be shaking, and was happy to have the support.

Eventually, the rattling of grate was replaced with the clacking of smooth stone tiles, and they entered an interior that was significantly more glamorous, if unfinished. Certain areas were carpeted, some weren't, there were statues proudly erected in some places but no wallpaper on the walls. There was probably a metaphor there, if Emily looked hard enough, but she was more focused on what lay before her. What she'd subtly checked for with her sight before entering. The procession walked up a long, spiral staircase, then into a relatively small room with a table at it's centre. Sat at that table was Admiral Havelock, Treavor Pendleton, and High Overseer Martin. They all stood upon seeing Emily.

She did not, however, walking up to the table and pulling a chair out for herself. She had to jump a little to get into the seat. Then she looked up at them all, sighed, and removed the veil, setting it on the table with a soft clack. "I have not slept in some forty-four hours." She admitted, slumping. "I am very tired. So I would much prefer if we did this quickly."

Some of the guards recoiled. The three 'Loyalists' before her stiffened. "So." Havelock started. "Here we are."

"Are you alright, miss?" Treavor asked, more gently than she'd ever heard him.

"Unharmed." She replied.

"I think I should preface," Martin said, dryly. "that if you'd remained to ex-"

"I am here to explain myself now." Emily interrupted. "And I don't think we should have any more distractions."

There was a silence.

"Miss Kaldwin." Havelock said, jaw locked. "You…you are the Void Singer."

"I am." Emily confessed.

"You made to deceive us of this fact."

"I did." Emily confessed.

"You consorted with the Outsider for powers. You used those powers to brand the previous High Overseer, condemning him to become a weeper."

"I did." Emily confessed.

"You kidnapped and manipulated Sokolov."

"I did." Emily confessed.

"You made Lady Boyle out to be mad."

"I did." Emily confessed.

"You cut a path through the guard of this city multiple times, all with the hopes of claiming your position as Empress of the isles, fully intending to act as though those crimes never happened. And then, when your identity was revealed…you fled."

"I did." Emily confessed. Her voice was hoarse. Her eyes were red.

"Hn." Havelock nodded. "Very well."

He drew and aimed his pistol.

There was a flurry of movement, as the guards all pulled their own weapons, and Corvo snapped his restraints like they were nothing and teleported and batted Havelock's gun aside, and the other Loyalists scrambled to the back of the room, and guards were shouting as they were viciously but nonlethally disarmed, and "Jack! I love you!" "I love you too-wait what?" and then a music box was playing and then gunfire happened and the music box stopped and more shots were fired and Corvo was roaring like an animal and throughout it all Emily sat in her chair, unmoving. Havelock raised his gun up again, aiming for her, and with a roar of her own she felt everything shift. The light at the top of the room darkened as her form elongated and grew, darkness shrouding, no, becoming her as her handcuffs fell uselessly to the floor and she screamed at the top of her voice "ENOUGH!"

Predictably, everyone stopped. Their eyes were all on the shadowy form stood on the table, blackness swirling around it in spikes and shadows.

"At this moment, I possess ultimate power in this room." The shadow-walker spoke, voice somehow occupying five octaves at once. "A strange feeling. There are many things I could do, at this point. I could kill you all in moments. I could sing you all into insanity. I could use the domino power to link the fates of everyone here, and see how you act. I don't doubt I could find some way to control all your minds."

At this point, everyone there was shaking. Even Corvo, knuckles white on the sword he'd just taken from one of the guards.

"I was that helpless once." The Void-Singer continued. "In the moment I'm sure you all remember well, even if not all of you were present. A group of supernatural assassins came in to take my mother's life, and I was powerless to stop them. In my blind, foolish attempts to act, I ended up doing the deed myself."

"Emily." Corvo muttered, grimacing.

"For so long, I desired the power to change things. The power to restore stability. The power to get justice. Vengeance. And I got it. And here I am." What might have been it's head looked between them all. "And what I suppose I have put off learning so far…is that power cannot solve every problem. That sometimes, the more power you bring to bear, no matter how careful you are, it can only fracture things further. In cases like this…one instead has to show weakness."

The shadows fled to the corners of the room. Emily, herself again, slowly climbed down from the table and stood in front of Havelock. She took the hand he held the gun in, brought it up, and placed it against her own forehead.

"Emily!" Corvo shouted, but she held her hand out to stop him. The look she shot him in that moment…he wanted to call it a Jessamine look, but it wasn't. This was Emily through and through.

"The void does not increase my speed overmuch." She told Havelock, looking up the barrel of the gun towards him. "If you pull the trigger now, I'll die." She wasn't even afraid, anymore. Wasn't that strange? "If you want you can crack it over the back of my head and knock me out. If I wake up in prison I'll stay there. If you demand that I sit in my room and exist only to legitimize your rule, I'll do it. Or, if you want, you can lower the gun."

Emily held her hands out to either side. "That power is yours now, Admiral. If you give it up, we'll both know neither of us really want to hurt each other. If you exercise it, nobody will stop you. You don't have to worry about the execution; weighing up your options, what is it you really want?" She smiled a genuine smile up at him. "Anything you want, you can grab it. Whatever you need, you can have it. Just like that. So what will it be?"

Havelock's face was frozen with indecision. He looked tired as well, she realised.

"I should say," Martin spoke up, "that whatever you do to the girl, you'll have to do to me too. I've made my choice."

"Same here." Treavor agreed. "I've done too much in life for selfish reasons. I'm full. My life is in Emily's hands, so by extension, yours. What do you want to do with it?"

Havelock looked at both of them, then back at Emily. "I'm an admiral." He said, softly. "I've directed battles. It's not the first time I've had peoples' lives in my hands. It wouldn't be the first time I've decided to sacrifice them."

Emily didn't speak, content to let him continue.

"I actually wanted to spare you that responsibility. For as long as possible." Havelock admitted. "But it looks like you've already had your fair share of lives in your hands, hm?"

Emily nodded, silently.

"I was afraid of you." He admitted. "That's what it was. Your persona terrified me. Her cryptic comments, her power, and finding out you were her? I didn't know what to think. Nobody did. I just kept going and going, even as everything I'd valued fell further and further behind me. But now, with hindsight, once I take a moment to stop and think…" Admiral Havelock let out a heavy sigh. "It's time I stopped. You're a much wiser person than me, Emily. Emily Kaldwin, Empress of the Isles." He let the gun drop to the floor.

Corvo almost fainted right there.

The other loyalists rushed in towards her, paused awkwardly, then she laughed and held her hands out, and they both immediately fell into a hug.

Jack and Geoff looked at each other, shuffling awkwardly, before Geoff offered "Um…Hail Empress Kaldwin?"

"Hail Empress Kaldwin." Agreed Jack, chuckling a little.

"Hail to the Empress!" The rest of the guard echoed.

"Hail empress Kaldwin." Corvo smiled, sadly. "It's been far too long since I've said that…"

"Hail me." Emily coughed politely. "And my first unofficial decree as empress…is that the biggest bed in this lighthouse is henceforth mine. Corvo, you're sorting out the rest."

Amongst laughter from those around her, she flopped back down into a seat with a sigh.

The Void Singer finally closed her eyes.

She was out like a light.

Ooh boy. This was hard to make myself write. I imagine many people wanted a complex, stealthy infiltration using all of the powers ("We just wanted you to update!" "Shut up!") but I just couldn't imagine anything being much of a challenge for Emily at this point. Daud, Corvo, Vera were boss-fights, but terrestrial defences really weren't going to do much by this point. Even in the game, if you've unlocked stop time and have a big enough stockpile of remedy, you can basically just sprint through unmolested. No, in good Dishonoured style, Emily's final challenge is getting the bloodless ending she wants, and she has to do that as an Empress, not a witch.

Obviously, there's a conclusion that needs to happen. I'll try to get it out rapidly. To those who've been here from the start, don't worry! The end is near!