Epilogue: The Cursed Boy

"Humanity must never become complacent during the good times, for the night will eventually fall on even the brightest day. The opposite is also true, and admittedly a more positive outlook; that even during the blackest nights, humanity must hold onto its hope, for the sun will shine again.

Sokolov said that. I do love to hear that man talk.

Such wisdom was demonstrated in it's fullest in the time period of the last twenty years or so. During that time rose empress Jessamine Kaldwin, a strong, caring woman with nerves of steel and an entrepreneurial streak. It looked as though she would be a true successor to her father, bringing a new age of glory and joy to the isles.

Which was precisely when the night fell.

Of course it was humanity that caused the problems, for what else but humanity can possibly exhibit such whimsical self-destruction? The rat plague first, and then it's empress' assassination. Her last thoughts were 'oh, my dear. Please, do not suffer for this.' even as she was impaled on a blade wielded by her own daughter. That was the blade Emily used to fight Corvo, funnily enough, retrieved by the whalers after the assassination. It remains in her possession to this day.

And oh, Emily Kaldwin. Perhaps more unique than any marked before her. A naivety thrown into the direst of straits, not to be lost or broken, but instead refined by the experience into an ironclad sense of hope and responsibility. Such was the spirit required to bring Dunwall out of the darkness, and show it the light of day again.

This was made most obvious by her actions immediately upon reentering Dunwall tower, when, after a rapid boat and train ride…"

._.

The large doors opened with a creak and a bang. "All hail Emily Kaldwin, Empress of the-"

"Yes, thank you, enough pomp!" The girl's heels clacked on the floor as she strode tirelessly into the entryway at four forty five in the morning- "Royal scientist Anton Sokolov and his partner Pierro Japlin, are they here?"

"Y-Yes, Ma'am." One of the guards stammered. "They arrived last night. We directed them to-"

"They are on the verge of curing the rat plague, and I want them given every possible resource required to do so successfully. Get them food, board, servants, and weepers from the streets, take Corvo for the retrieval if you need to. If you directed that, remain here. Otherwise, scarper."

The man whimpered, and scarpered.

"The others." She called out, to the guards and servants still in the hallway. "The scientists should have come in with a few other men and women, what happened to them?"

"S-Staying with them, your majesty." One of the servants replied. "They, well, they're technically in custody since we weren't sure what-we'll have them moved!" Emily gave that servant a look, and she scarpered too.

"They weren't treated poorly, ma'am." Another guard filled in the sentence. "I knew Geoff Curnow, and I recognised his niece alright. They're all pretty banged up, but doing alright. The boy though, well, the two scientists took him to the infirmary. I couldn't say what happened to him."

"Good enough." Emily allowed. "Next order of business, I want to know what happened to-"

She paused, as the man's words caught up to her. "Wait. The boy?"

._.

"Isn't power a curious thing? There are so many varieties. The tangible, the intangible, the immediate, the potential, the perceived…so many ways to exert one's will on the world.

Emily learned many lessons about power during her adventures. I wonder, Thomas, how many lessons have you learned?"

"If you're about to make some point about how you have power over me, please don't."

"Ah, but Thomas, I hold your life in my hands."

"Ugh…" Thomas chuckled, and strangely enough, the Outsider did too. The void echoed around them.

"It's true." The man with the black eyes continued, after a moment. "You should be dying. The plague has taken hold of you completely."

"Is it magical?" Thomas asked, looking out into the nothingness.

"The plague?" The Outsider replied. "What an odd question…yes and no. The Void leaks best into the world through the thoughts of men. It began as a completely heartless contagion, but as it began to touch people…as Granny Rags, and her ilk, began to twist it to her will, and it's effects spread throughout thousands of lives…yes, then the two became linked."

"Makes sense…" Thomas looked down at himself. He had seen it before, when he had looked through the dark vision he could barely manage. The void swirled around his midriff, seeping in and bursting out at random. It had been a relatively simple injury, really. A lethal one, for someone of his age and size, but nothing this special. Not until Granny Rags had gotten her hands on it.

"Does that mean you can affect it?"

The Outsider turned to look at him.

"I'm not trying to blame you for it all. I know how you work. But…do you have power over it?"

"Ah, now there's a real question." The man sat down on a rock, fixing Thomas with his empty stare.

"What if I told you that I could influence the plague…the plague in you?"

Thomas looked up, surprised.

"What if I told you that you will be doomed to death in the next two hundred seconds." The Outsider continued. "And that shortly after those two hundred seconds, the good doctors Sokolov and Pierro will administer a final version of their remedy to your unconscious body.

In one version of your future, the remedy is insufficient. Your condition continues to worsen, and the scientists quickly realise a small alteration they need to make, and upon applying that changed remedy to you, the plague is cured. But it's too late for your ailing body, and you pass out of this world.

In another version, I reach out to lovely old Vera, and pluck her struggling soul from existence. Before those critical two hundred seconds, the void maintained by her recedes from your wound, and the plague dies on it's own. Now when the doctors apply the first, imperfect remedy, you recover. They celebrate, and try to spread their cure as quickly as possible. Their ineffective cure. Oh, they discover their mistake quickly, but with their prime subject now clean…who knows how many will die?"

Thomas' knuckles whitened on the stone underneath him.

"A binary choice." The man simplified, smiling calmly. "The known quantity versus the unknown, the individual versus the anonymous. On the one hand, an unknowable number of people, perhaps good, perhaps bad, probably some murky grey. On the other, the threat of your greatest enemy is snuffed. Your own life is spared…and you get to see Emily's smile again. She's coming in to visit you soon, you know. Imagine, to find out that you had had another chance, only to see you-"

"Stop." Thomas said, quietly. The Outsider stopped, and waited.

"You cheeky git…" The boy sighed, putting his head in his hands. "You know damn well I'd die for her, so you didn't even bother offering. No, you just twist it and twist it all up…"

There was no reply.

Thomas stood. "You know my past." He stated.

"I do." The Outsider replied.

"I grew up with no parents and a brother who didn't give a damn about me. I watched people in power spit on people without it, I watched people lie and cheat and steal and kill each other to live. The kids I played with? I never liked them. We got on because I knew they were just as wretched as I was. If you'd asked me this question a few months ago? My life, and the happiness of someone I care about, versus the lives of strangers I knew I would hate? I wouldn't have thought twice."

Thomas wandered over to a ledge, looking out and down into the infinite nothingness before him. "Now though…It's Emily again. That wonderful, wonderful human being. She believed in people. I went out with her, waiting to protect her when the people inevitably let her down…and they didn't." He couldn't help it, he started laughing. "Crazy, crazy girl. Damn right 'harmonising'. Emily stayed resolute to her tune, and the world started singing along."

He turned back to the Outsider. "She made me believe in people too. And I won't let those same people die for me." He stretched his arms out. "Do whatever you have to. Just promise me you'll tell her I…I'm sorry we didn't get another chance to play together."

The Outsider nodded, unmoving.

Thomas exhaled, and waited.

And waited.

And when death didn't come, he cracked one eye open. "Uh, do I just stand here for another minute, or…" That was when he noticed. At his stomach, the darkness began to fade away. The murky black tendrils drew themselves one by one out of his body, and fled out into the darkness. "W-What-"

"Oh look at that. The plague's going away." The Outsider remarked, calmly.

"No. No, I told you not to-"

"Told me not to what? I'm not doing this."

"You're…" Thomas blinked. Looked down, then up again. Slowly, the Outsider began to smile. "Did you just prank me?"

The man in the brown suit leaned backwards and laughed. Not a low, wry chuckle, a genuine laugh.

Thomas scowled. "I'm not dying, am I?"

"No." The man replied. "Time may flow oddly in the void, but I cannot see the future. Pierro and Sokolov administered the correct cure to you two minutes ago. Granny Rags told you that your infection would pass once the plague does; you'll be perfectly fine."

"You…" Thomas couldn't help but smile, too. "You know I always imagined the Outsider as some dark, looming, bearded old guy. But you're a kid too, aren't you?"

"Of course I am." The Outsider replied, easily. "Every God is a child. What adult could have thoughts this large?" He stood up, as the void began to fade around them both. "This chapter of your life ends now, Thomas, though the book continues. I doubt we will ever speak again, but it was fun to play with you for a while."

"Honestly? Same." Thomas grinned up at him. "How about I make a little shrine for you, out of footballs and decks of cards?"

"I wouldn't say no." The Outsider's form began to tear away like paper into his surroundings. "But live as you will. Goodbye, Thomas Moray."

Everything went dark.

And then his eyes opened.

"-mas! Thomas! Can you hear me?"

"It's hard not to hear you." He mumbled, tasting blood and sick in his mouth as he blinked against the light. "Morning, your worshipfulness. How-Oof!"

Emily Kaldwin's form collided against him as she wrapped him up in a hug. His sides burned, but she was warm, and real, and he would never try to move her away.

"I thought you'd died." She said, through sobs. "I thought you'd died for me-"

"Aww, come on, it's me!" He replied, hugging her back. "Think I would leave you alone? Outsider knows what you'd get up to!" Or he doesn't, but, ah, whatever.

"Thank you." She sniffed. "For everything you've done for me."

He chuckled. "Emily. I would have died for you."

"But you lived for me, instead." She brought her head up, and smiled. "Thanks for that, too."

"…Coin of ten says they kiss."

"Sokolov! That's disgusting!"

The two children broke apart, blushes on their cheeks, tears in their eyes, and laughter on their lips.

Oh come on, I wasn't going to kill him. Okay, maybe I might have, but he did a character arc you can't kill someone after that. Yeah, his last name was very much deliberate.

Epilogue was looking a little long, so I split it into two parts. Next should wrap everything up pretty nicely. But how will you possibly know when it comes out unless you follow~

Yeah I just want to move up in the rankings I'm like the seventh most followed Dishonoured fic and one more will make me the fifth. Sue me.

See y'all!