Special Thanks
The Wattpad user googlguy11new is the author of the ending poem, used by a semi-request with permission. Thank you googlguy11new for the poem!
The FanFiction user Feredes was a loyal reader, and very useful in helping me understand some things in BioShock Infinite, and reworking a chapter or two. Thank you Feredes for your feedback, corrections, suggestions, and loyalty!
I don't know if you're still reading this fanfic, but thank you BenRG for posting multiple reviews!
Very special thanks to Ken Levine, Sarah Bolger, Gary Schyman, FanFiction, Wattpad, 2K Boston, 2K Australia, 2K Marin, Irrational Games, all the publishers, all the staff, and all those involved in the making of the BioShock series!
Trivia
The FanFiction user Feredes made the idea of Comstock having another child, but who would not plagiarized any previous name, instead going for Anya. Following the user's advice, Comstock's true miracle child with Annabelle Watson became Anya, who is planned to be a main character in the sequel to my BioShock fanfic trilogy, if it'll ever occur.
Pinkerton Elizabeth's revolver, The Ambassador, is a reference to one of Spy's weapons from Team Fortress 2, as well as a reference to a Garry's Mod screenshot depicting a fierce Elizabeth wielding The Ambassador and a cigarette.
Bookerstock's revolver, a Smith & Wesson Model 29, a .44 Magnum, is a reference to Clint Eastwood's titular role in Dirty Harry, who also wields such a Magnum.
The 'sad ending' of BioShock 2 is the only video game ending to have made me cry a little. BioShock 2 is my favorite out of the series, as it left a deep impact in me. Although I don't have kids, I felt my paternal instincts kick in playing that game. Eleanor Lamb is my favorite female video game character, ever!
Eleanor obtained Electrobolt upon merging with The Thinker, something I forgot to mention.
I had plans for Eleanor to have dreams correlating with Father Comstock's prophesies. Since it is unclear if Eleanor is one version of Elizabeth or not, I decided to scrap that idea.
Originally, Eleanor was meant to sacrifice herself to defeat her evil counterpart, allowing Booker to relive his life with Anna, hence the coverart and title. I would not be able to emotionally handle such an outcome.
When a child, Eleanor mentions Ireland in a recording, in regards to capturing and escaping in a submarine with Amir. The voice actress for Eleanor, Sarah Bolger, is Irish, so it made perfect sense to have Eleanor go to Ireland.
Eleanor's birthday is February 28th, the same birthday as her voice actress.
Like Eleanor Lamb, Sarah Bolger naturally has a broad, smooth jawline and forehead, and big blue eyes, but is blonde.
Cindy mentions she made the Big Daddy doll, a mistake I forgot to fix but couldn't find. Hopefully I will find it during editing.
Originally, Delta was meant to be brought back by Eleanor and help fight against Spirry, but then die in the action, much to Eleanor's horror. In the end, I felt it was redundant and predictable, so I stuck with revealing that Delta is one version of Booker.
The ending was originally meant to be different, following the conflict between Booker and Zachary while they wrestled over the baby Anna. I couldn't figure out how to implement this, though.
A Dream is the first fanfic I finished in several years. It's essential meaning is that we cannot achieve our dreams without enduring sacrifice and suffering, while defeating our personal demons, and by the end of it all, dreams remain dreams. They are not necessarily what we really want or can achieve, but the adventures they create make us who we are.
I started the fanfic in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, and finished it in Tyler, Texas, USA, in a hotel suite. Finishing this fanfic feels like I started a new phase in my life.
My writing style tends to overwrite, overwork, and overdescribe almost everything. This fanfic allowed me to realize my redundancy and weaknesses, allowing me to develop better conciseness and clarity.
Benny Chairman is Benny from Fallout New Vegas. Since Fallout New Vegas has an achievement that is also a BioShock reference, I just had to take something from FONV. In this fanfic, the Great Khans were just a criminal biker gang, similar to Hell's Angels. The Great Khans were meant to be rivals of the Irish Mob and the Pinkertons, but I couldn't find a way to implement gang wars so left it out.
Originally, Lady Comstock was meant to play a larger role in Columbia, being more evil than Father Comstock. I was unable to implement this, and so decided to leave her a Siren.
Michael put Elizabeth into the coffin to trigger the Siren, as he hoped to learn from it by connecting his consciousness with the two. He only partly succeeded. Sometime afterwards, he Spliced to learn a short-range but powerful form of Winter Blast.
Ellie's Big Daddy was killed by the black entity when she sought out Spirry in the abyss. Originally, Ellie's Big Daddy was meant to be found stuck within biomechanical structures by Eleanor in Drained Rapture, having been converted like the other Black Sun soldiers, serving as a mini boss. Due to lack of energy and time, I had to skip this idea. He was planned to make an appearance in the sequel, if I ever get to it sometime after Close to the Sun is released and I can play it.
Ellie is a Little Sister version of Elizabeth, and Brock a child version of Booker. Ellie's Little Sister conditioning is merged with Enaedonai. She hallucinated Spirry's voice and memories in the form of a black dragon, allowing her to explore the Luminescent Biomass and find the abyss, awakening the black entity. Her Big Daddy came in time to fight the black entity, drilling the skull open, but was eventually killed. After mourning, Ellie hallucinates a hidey hole in the black entity's split skull, and enters it, merging with the black entity, who returns to its world.
The black entity is unusual in that it consists of a female Spirry's body but male Spirry's host who became one, alluding to the sexual dimorphism of black dragonfish. Whether this is incest or not is anybody's guess.
Blue Elizabeth was infected by Enaedonai, which grants ageless regeneration, but she would eventually gradually transform into a fleshy monster. I was unable to implement this due to lack of time, energy, and life problems.
Sander Cohen and Videre are rare examples of individuals who were unable to be fully transformed by Enaedonai, even after thousands of years.
Originally, Michael Vay Atar was meant to be Booker merged with Spirry, from another time and place. This would be revealed when Michael's eyes grew back and his hair and beard cut.
I had plans for Lovecraftian imagery/monsters to play the role of Spirry and his Enigma, to make the fanfic feel more retro. Monsters like Cthulhu, Bokrug, or Mother Hydra would have been cool, but I concluded I didn't know enough about H.P. Lovecraft to use his themes appropriately. For example, the black entity is similar to Mother Hydra.
When Eleanor enters the realm of Black Sun, the 'armoured soldiers' are conquistador versions of Mandalorians from the Star Wars franchise. Their foes, the Kondrikai, are an original species who debuted in Psychosis, my Mass Effect fanfic, which is set in the future of the Black Sun world.
The Conquistador-Mandalorians speak New Mando'a, my version of Mando'a with some Spanish rules and words mixed in.
The Kondrikai (the cloaking reptilian beings) speak a language I created, but it's mostly unfinished. It is also the same language Spirry's species spoke, who taught the evolving Kondrikai before Spirry destroyed his own race while Evil Eleanor and Biomech Spirry caused great chaos. At around the same time, humans were evolving, resulting in the Mandalorians. The Armanen, a Germanic race who evolved, studied the ruins of Black Sun and were eventually consumed by it, Biomech Spirry converting them into horrors for his own purposes.
The idea of a 'black sun' is a common symbol in mythologies around the world, especially Europe and the Americas. It represents the underworld and the cyclic nature of the world, alluding and foreshadowing our cast's descent into a hellish, subterranean realm to defeat evil and be victorious.
Spirry is a recurring villain in both my original works and fanfics. He was created well over a decade ago, and there is still a story in the RuneScape Stories Forum, dating to 2009, that mentions him. Although I've tried to bury him multiple times, he's always stuck with me, I never knew why.
Spirry's true name, Mikha'el, is a Hebrew name that is also a question, meaning 'Who is like God?' Spirry's last name, Va'Atar, is fictional, but also the name of the primordial ancestor of his race.
Originally, Spirry was meant to be like Fontaine's final boss form, but skinless. Spirry (as Michael) would have been extremely Spliced up by the Luminescent Biomass that drove him insane after ten years. He would have been a priestly scientist studying the abyss, but was not affiliated with Rapture, having explored the abyss beforehand.
La'seire, Spirry's sister, was created and drawn by my friend Elizabeth. Unlike BioShock's Elizabeth, my friend is tall and fair-haired, but lacks curves.
Drained Rapture was inspired by the anime Angel's Egg. It is my favorite anime, though I will admit I've only watched a few animes in my entire life.
Originally, Drained Rapture was meant to also be guarded by ancient warriors such as hoplites, Egyptian and Canaanite swordsmen, Roman legionaries, crusaders, knights, Mongols, mamluks, cataphracts, Napoleonic soldiers, and even Nazis. Their purpose was to reference Biomech Spirry's presence throughout thousands of years of history, gradually pulling people from other times and converting them into biomechanical monsters. As examples, medieval soldiers would use their own tendons as strings for arm-mounted crossbows, hoplites and knights and legionaries would have their armours nailed into their own bodies, and all these tortured souls would have been horrifically mutilated. In the end, I just didn't have time or energy to write all that out.
Biomech Spirry is unusual in that he has a uterus despite being male, meaning he is also female. He was planned to 'give birth' to a character who bursts out his stomach, but there were no characters available for that.
Interestingly enough, after Michael stole Anna, resulting in her being skinned, Spirry seems to have taken and hidden Anna from Michael sometime afterwards. This would be the reason why Michael needed to find another Elizabeth to learn more about Tears, and why Spirry and Skinned Elizabeth were somewhat friends. This allowed Skinned Elizabeth to eventually learn how to destroy the Mirror of Sin, which was an actual mirror in this world. Its origins are unknown, but seems to have something to do with a Dark Soul. Perhaps Spirry found it in another realm?
Unused Spirry Quotes
"Yes, you killed the prophet. Though, you did not kill his god." -Spirry to Booker
"Are you divine, child?" -Spirry to Elizabeth
"Yes, Rosalind, magicians levitate. Columbia fails to fall. But dragons fly..."
"You feared a False Shepherd? My God, I wonder how you'll view me." -Spirry to Zachary
"You know, Elizabeth, your mother feared unholy science. Allow me to show it to you."