AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those who haven't completed the entire Metro video game series, primarily Metro Exodus and its second DLC, Sam's Story, this fanfiction will contain spoilers from the source material, so read with caution! Anyways, enjoy the story!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters of this fic, except for Altena. Altena is an OC of mine.
Chapter 0: Prologue
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[Taylor Residence, San Diego]
Samuel "Sam" Taylor, the erstwhile member of the post-war Moscow Metro's Spartan Order and the Aurora Crew, finds himself in an uncertain spot after departing from the Order. He served Col. Miller as his right-hand, being a member of the Spartan Order, and later escaping Moscow from the clutches of the Hanseatic League (Hanza), after uncovering a massive conspiracy surrounding the faction itself, in regards to the existence of the signal jammers. After an intense battle, the Aurora crew later escaped through a hijacked locomotive known as Aurora and its crew including Miller.
The Aurora Crew went through a continent-spanning journey into the Far East, encountering mutants, remnants of humanity, cannibals, and later a near-death experience with death itself in the ruins of Novosibirsk, thanks to its radiation levels that were eight times higher than Moscow. It all finally culminated with Miller's burial in the shores of Lake Baikal, and with Artyom taking Miller's spot as the commander of the Order, after he was cured of lethal radiation poisoning.
But what does this take account for Sam? It was all for nothing. Ergo, his journey is still incomplete, even though the rest of Aurora Crew's journey is complete.
Sam sacrificed all of it, in exchange for his one true mission: to locate his father. He left the Order after Miller's death, travelled all the way eastward to the ruins of Vladivostok through Saul's van, then a tractor. He then travelled through the tsunami-stricken city ruins and later met up with another American arms dealer known as Tom and his second-in-command known as Klim in a war submarine known as the U.S.S. Mayflower.
After stopping Klim and betraying the Mayflower's Captain, who goes by the name of Eduard Baranov, in exchange of being brought back by Tom to the United States through the submarine, Sam has finally achieved his lifelong dream of looking for his father in the ruins of San Diego.
Yet... Despite the acts of betrayal and separation he committed, Sam feels empty. His trip from Vladivostok to San Francisco, and then to its final destination in San Diego was all for nothing.
His father is nowhere to be found in the ruins of his San Diego home, but all he sees is nothing but rubble. Ruins of his empty home right in front of him. Sam only finds himself in such a beleaguered spot that his years of journey from Moscow to Vladivostok has been all for nothing. Or is it?
"My journey was all for nothing..." Sam says in deep uncertainty over his failure. "Sacrificing everything for an empty journey is too painful to begin with."
Sam has pondered to himself how his attempts to find his father have become a fruitless, vain effort to begin with.
"..." Sam only looks at the charred wall in silence.
Sam is considered empty after his failed adventure into total nowhere, just for the sake of his father's whereabouts. He only has one thing left to do: to come in terms that his father is forever dead.
But beneath that cold emptiness is the ray of hope that has been shone upon on him.
Albeit, not in the way he expects.
Nestled between the rubble and piles of debris is a note, completely intact. Why would a note be in the middle of a war-torn area? That is something that Sam has no idea where to make sense of.
"A note?" Sam questions. "This is not possible, unless I'm seeing things."
In fact, he isn't. A tangible note is to be seen in the middle of a rubble, of all the places he has to find one. When he examines it, however, he doesn't know how to make sense of it.
"Samuel 'Sam' Taylor. I know you've been searching your father for years, but he is not of this world anymore, but a world far more foreign to the world you currently step into. I know leaving your friends in the Order must be hard, but isn't it your quest to find him? There is always a motivation behind it, and that is to do this task by yourself. I assure you luck to find him."
That only leaves Sam a false sense of hope. Foreign worlds are not something he specializes with, as he deems them fictitious in nature. Yet, whatever it was written on that mysterious piece of paper only leaves him with nothing but oblivion.
Sam can only ponder that everything written in that note is a form of Trojan horse that is masked as "hope".
Hope. Oblivion. Two things that are often immiscible and polarizing in nature.
That's what only people would expect. Idealistic people like Miller.
Sam then sits into the familiar racking chair his father used to sit before the war happened, pondering for himself, as he stares into the ruins of a bustling metropolis.
Taking out a cigarette, Sam begins pouring down all the pessimistic thoughts coming from his head. He then chucks the note into the bin.
"I know for the fact that every hour I wasted on searching for him in San Diego..." Sam huffs from his cigarette, as he spoke those painful words. "It becomes too obvious that I wasted my time for nothing but chasing ghosts that have been long gone for decades..."
After uttering the last word in emphasis, Sam then hears a womanly voice. But judging from the voice itself, the voice sounded pained, as if she has known that Sam's journey has been all bupkis. But before Sam can ponder further, a mysterious entity appears in front of him.
"What the...? Is this even real? I though the Dark Ones were too real enough, but this is something else." Sam thought to himself upon seeing this divine being.
The divine being is luminous in nature, which caused Sam's eyes to sting from the brightness that he even barely see the deity at all. He decides to turn away from her, in hopes his eyes won't be burnt out before the deity is even revealed. She has long white hair that flows straightly into the breeze. Her eyes are pure white, and she is seen wearing a white toga, which is something out of a deity in a Greek pantheon.
"Or is it, Samuel Taylor?" The deity responded.
That voice alone prompted Sam to take out his Sammy rifle out of impulse and aimed it in front of her.
"Who are YOU?!" Sam inquires heatedly.
The entity only looks in silence in front of Sam, but it is obvious that she has a trace of seething rage coming from her. But she later tones down, when she knows what the former Order member has gone through. From betraying Hanza through a failed journey, she has read his suffering like a book.
"It must have been unfortunate or you, but a lot has changed for the past 20 years since the conclusion of World War III." The entity responds with obvious signs of sadness as to whatever Sam has gone through, before she puts his gun down.
"What do you know about it?" Sam nonchalantly asked the deity's omnipresent response.
The deity only looks to Sam in utter quietness, before she responds calmly.
"I am the one responsible who wrote the letter." The goddess casually responds. "I am the goddess known as Altena."
But Sam ignores Altena's words, as he pays no attention to her trifles, in hopes of himself escaping into whatever inescapable vortex of insanity he is thrown into.
"Where is my father, and what have you done to him?" Sam inquires in a calm disposition, despite the pure, seething venom in his intonation. "Don't make me ask that question again." He concludes with unadulterated spite.
Despite Sam's venomous tone, Altena only remains herself in her usual calm disposition.
"I know you're looking for your father here, but he is not of this world anymore." Altena only responds nonchalantly. "It is best for you to see it for yourself."
Those words were enough to drive Sam into yet another bout of hopelessness, when his father was mentioned. He already knew his journey from Moscow to San Diego has reached at the cul-de-sac within the Hopelessness Road, where it was all for nothing.
And now, to add insult to injury, Sam has been told by Altena that his father's whereabouts are no longer in this world, but a world far more distant and foreign than the one he currently steps in.
"By what? Do you think me going through all that pain again would suffice to mediate it?" Sam asks doggedly, as if he doesn't trust Altena's words whatsoever.
However, Altena ignores Sam's complaints, as she creates a portal.
"By visiting the world of Girls' Last Tour universe." Altena responds.
"Like what?" Sam doggedly inquires.
For Sam, he has no idea what to expect anymore. Not only his father is nowhere to be seen in this universe, but he is now told through an unfounded rumour by Altena about his father being "alive" in an alien universe he has no idea what to think of.
By this point in time, Sam is slowly losing it, as he prepares yet another salvo of venomous tirade in front of Altena.
"Do you think I'd be falling into these bogus tricks again, like what the Invisible Watchers did to the people of Metro?" Sam responded with pure dismay.
Altena cannot understand what "Invisible Watchers" meant to her, but she knew that they were the same people who drove the people of Metro into utter hell into thinking that the war is finally over.
"I know that you are upset over the futility of searching your father, but.." Altena only genuinely responds with a sad, regretful intonation to him.
Sam, however, does not pay attention, as he continues his tirade. This time, however, he recounted every single painful events he had gone through in the past.
"Upset? Of course, I am. I left the Order, went to Vladivostok with Saul's van and a tractor, fought off Klim's army, and sold out the Captain to be executed by Tom." Sam answered venomously. "After that, I was able to visit San Francisco through the U.S.S. Mayflower and travelled all the way here in San Diego for eight hours with a still-working derelict pickup truck with a rusting engine. You know what I got instead? Nothing. Absolutely nothing." He emphasized those three words before finishing the rest of his rant. "I only find out that my search for my father was all for nothing and I ended up wasting my time." He ends his rant with pure venom seeping through his words, as he has had enough of the psychological torture that he is being subjected to.
Hearing this, Altena only looks drearily towards Sam.
"It must have been hard for you, Samuel Taylor. But, the truth is that it is considered complicated." She responds with calm tone.
"Complicated?!" Sam exclaims in annoyance. "Do you even understand what I have gone through? The pain, suffering, and emptiness I suffered throughout this empty journey? You talk as if you know what I went through."
Altena responds apologetically. "I'm sorry, Samuel Taylor..." She responds with her eyes closed. "It is best for you to start your journey into this new universe and find your father. That is all I can say. The answer lies on wherever you start your journey."
With nothing else to say, Altena then uses her deity powers to send Sam off into the portal that leads to Girls' Last Tour universe.
"What are you...?!" Was all Sam can say.
"I assure you luck into achieving your goal in this world, Samuel Taylor." Altena responds. "We'll meet again in the meantime."
But before Sam can argue further, Altena sends Sam into the Girls' Last Tour universe, where the last thing he remembers before fading into unconsciousness is him falling down to his near death, only for it to be cushioned by a thick snow.
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[Girls' Last Tour universe]
A few hours later...
After what seems to be a fall that was only cushioned by thick snow, Sam was lucky to survive such a fall that would kill a person in a matter of seconds. Had it not for the snow, it would mean his own death in the first place, an irony he was desperately wanting to make it happen.
Later on, he wakes up in what seems to be a city that is completely far-off from his own world.
"I must be losing my entire mind already, but what is this place, exactly? First, my search for my father was all for nothing, despite travelling all the way to Vladivostok, and sacrificing my ass and betrayed the Captain for Tom. Then, this so-called "goddess" known as Altena appears." Sam later stands up through the thick snow.
Instead of seeing the ruins of San Diego, he now sees a completely alien-looking high-tech megacity ruins where the only thing that stands in front of him are empty buildings covered in snow.
"Where is this place?" Sam looks around, only to find out this is no longer his own world, but a completely foreign world beyond his own. He then looks around, where he then notices the obvious difference between his previous world and this world. The obvious being that no traces of nature have been found, let alone any living being including animals.
He sees buildings in front of him. Some of them are within the same time period of his universe, but others are futuristic-looking to begin with. What catches his attention are the pillars that seem to support another layer of the city. The only thing for him to conclude is that he ends up in a futuristic world. A layered megacity that is non-existent in his own world.
Sam proceeds to put his gas mask before using his binoculars. "A megacity, huh? I suppose that's how people lived here in this world. Yet, where's the rest of them?" He later leaves his spot and decides to explore this new place he hasn't seen in his entire life. The lack of inhabitants of this place, however, makes this experience even eerier than ever before. However, he never keeps his guard down.
In case if any bandits or uninvited visitors like mutants would attack him, he proceeds to arm himself with his Sammy rifle into the alleyways.
"Show yourselves!" But to his surprise, there were no bandits or monsters waiting for Sam to attack. Instead, he was greeted with silence. "I'm done with this. Just show yourself up and let's get this over with."
Again, no one responded. Not even a single echo is to be heard but the wailing snow.
"This is ridiculous..." Sam sighed in disappointment. "I came to this world uninvited. Yet no one bothered to kill me?"
To his dismay, Sam later leaves this area. He then checks his own Geiger counter, but the readings are still normal, which is an indication that he is no longer in an irradiated area.
"I guess I don't need this gas mask and this Geiger counter anymore."
Sam later discards both the gas mask and Geiger counter, where he then proceeds to discard some more unimportant belongings from his backpack. The only thing that is left from his backpack is his Order Badge, bullets, his Sammy rifle, and his Stallion pistol, which now lightens most of his load.
Looking around the empty megacity, Sam is reminded as to how the irradiated city of Novosibirsk looked like in the past. Buildings were still intact, with the only difference is the lack of radiation.
"I guess I have to find out what this place is all about and start looking for my father here." Sam can only respond with a sigh, "This place would have been my funeral already, but I was proven wrong."
Proceeding further, Sam then finds a derelict van that is still in working condition. He proceeds to shatter the window of the car and opens the lock inside. Wiping the rest of the snow that has caked the vehicle for months, he later turns the car's ignition switch on, and a familiar revving sound plays.
"A classical car in the middle of a futuristic world." Sam pointed out, before he begins his trek into the snowy area, in hopes of him finding signs of life in this bleak world, and hopes of finding his father in such a completely foreign world.
"What is the point of doing such a task that all leads to nothing? For my missing father who was purportedly hiding in San Diego? For the Order that I left? These are the questions I have to answer for myself."
Sam's car passes through a group of abandoned buildings, as he narrates those words.
"This is the start of my journey to another end."
Sam's adventure into the Girls' Last Tour universe has just begun.
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[END OF PROLOGUE CHAPTER.]