Thank you for all your reviews and comments - I really appreciate them! I corrected the mentioned mistakes in the previous chapter and finally managed to write another one, yay.
I apologise beforehand if it will take some time to update this fic as well as for any grammar mistakes you will find - life's been hard on me lately with the uni, stress and whatnot so please be patient, I'm doing my best.
I also decided to check out other works on other fandoms to see how I should improve my writing, so I'm still improving and figuring this out.
Anyway, I already said too much - welcome to the chapter 2, hope you'll enjoy your stay!
xXx
It took the Outsider at least half of an hour to finish eating one of the fruits, silencing the growing feeling of emptiness in his stomach he felt proir to entering the building. He took his time to explore the rich sweet taste of the meal, mulling over the new sensations.
He then stood up, slowly making a way around the place and exploring what has changed since his last not quite real visit here. He immediatelly noticed a very old blood trail on the wooden floor that was stretching from one of the rooms on the second floor to the stairs. The door of the said room was tightly sealed with wooden planks and he could distinguish slight buzzing sound on the other side .
"Bloodflies. Of course," he mused and turned to go downstairs, recollecting the events of what happened to this household when he observed it from the Void.
It was a middle-class family of three – a married couple with small daughter. They had a business of their own in creating a home-made wine that was successful enough for the rich nobles of Karnaca to pay personal visit themselves, buying a stash of the drink for their upcoming feasts. They had a simple happy life, far from poverty and troubles.
...Until one of the rival traders broke in at night and left a bloodflies-sealed nest in the child's room.
The Outsider shuddered slightly at the memory of the Overseers dragging out completely mutilated body of infested girl out of the room along with her screeching, trashing mother who would not cooperate easily so she had to be knocked out and dragged as well.
By the time he finished his reminiscence, he reached the first floor and approached the exit to the inner yard.
The sky was slowly turning darker in shades and he could see stars starting to appear. The Outsider sat down on the porch and kept his gaze on flickering lights, trying to recognize some of the constellations.
He frowned upon thinking of a small boy who would turn his eyes skywards in silent prayers for better life and wishing that his mother would be among these stars, watching over him. Only after becoming a god-like entity in the Void he realised that the dead had a different destiny after crossing the bridge of mortal world. Some were ultimately reborn, less fortunate were stuck in the dark place of his residence for centuries cursed by all the sins and unfinished business they carried with them.
He sighed deeply, closing his eyes, remembering the voice of the last person he expected to hear and save him from the eternal nightmare.
Daud.
The assassin, who dedicated the rest of his life trying to find a way to kill the Outsider for all the crimes he never caused to happen. For simply being an observant. And yet, despite his principles and ideas he held upon for so long, Billie changed his mind, being the only person the mercenary considered as a family, leading him to the path of salvation.
"Fascinating," he though and turned his head in the direction of the sound of soft footsteps, approaching the fence. He tensed for a split second, thinking of hiding back inside until he saw the flash of red, jumping over the brick wall and landing few steps away from him.
"Feeling better I see," Billie murmured quietly, raising a brow and throwing one of the bags to his feet. "Here are some spare clothes for you to change into. We don't need any unnecessary attention in case someone sees us. Especially you, of all people."
He stared her down for a few seconds before looking inside the bag to see a couple of spare jackets, pants and boots, along with industrial-looking googles.
"Thank you. Where did yo-"
"I stole it from one of the closed stalls down the street along with some more food," she interrupted him before he could finish the question and pulled out a small bag of tobacco and smoking pipe from the inner pocket of her coat "Tell me – since you are no longer a part of the Void, does that mean that the people you marked lose their abilities, or not?" She lit up her pipe and breathed in the air deeply. After releasing a reach cloud of smoke she frowned and continued "You never marked me and I can still use magic."
"You're different, Billie. The powers I gave you did come from me and as I said earlier, the Void has always been a part of you. Not to mention that you can still use your abilities because you poses a very strong magical artifact by your side," he nodded slightly to the Twin-bladed Knife fastened to her belt and immediately looked away. "The only Marked person left alive is the Empress herself and I suspect she might have felt...something at least."
He then started fidgeting with his hands nervously, avoiding the eye contact with his companion as he proceeded to explain: "When I chose a person and Mark them, they are initially bound to me. Through our connection they gain the power from the Void and after their death their spirits sometimes end up being stuck with me forever. Of course, if I happen to be... taken away from the Void one way or another, they are set free and have a chance to be reborn or find peace at last."
The silence that followed after was palpable with tense. Billie hummed in thought, processing everything he told her, before smirking and casting a sideway glance at the man. "What about Granny Rags? Did she stay in the Void with you as well?"
The mere mention of the woman's nickname made the Outsider shut his eyes tight, fighting the urge to cringe hard but failing miserably. The ex-assassin's burst of sudden laugh at his reaction didn't help at all and he had to turn his head away, blushing madly.
"Oh come on, was it that bad? I always knew she was a big fan of yours, but I can only imagine..." Billie hold her breath for a second to try and stop another wave of laugh, before leaning in slowly and whispering mockingly into his ear "Black-eyed groom."
He groaned and looked back at her, frowning "I would really appreciate if you won't joke about that matter. It was uncomfortable enough for me when I was a mere-human. She would always try to get my attention any way possible and we are not discussing it."
The smirk she had on her face was wiped away immediately after hearing his implicative tone and she shook her head instead, trying to get rid of the pictures her imagination started to provide her with.
"Anyway," she continued after a few awkward seconds of silence, "what should I call you? You do have your name back after all, but I never got the chance to know it."
The Outsider froze in place and considered her question for a moment before answering "You won't be able to pronounce it. The language has been long lost to the time and forgotten, so even if you try to say my real name, I doubt you'll succeed."
"Can you say it at least, so I may be the judge of it?" she raised her eyebrow sceptically.
He then proceeded to say a single word that did not sound like anything she heard before, leaving her more confused than anything. Although she did try to find a similar-sounding name from the ones she's heard so far in her life.
"In my mother tongue it meant "The chosen one". I'd rather change it to the more common name to better fit in my new acquired life, as well as avoid any recognition among people," he said after seeing her expected puzzled reaction.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, each lost in their own trail of thoughts and ideas, until Billie spoke up again.
"I have one that think might fit you just fine. I used to know one man from my childhood, an older brother of Deidre. He was the one to provide us with shelter until the day his sister was murdered by Duke's brother. Never saw him since..." she hummed thoughtfully, eyes filled with renewed sadness "his name was Adrian."
The Outsider smirked knowingly, before looking back at the night sky now fully covered with stars "a fitting name indeed."
He noticed the growing feeling of weakness in his body and realised just how tired he was from everything that happened to him today, but he still had some questions to ask before turning in for the night.
"What now? Where should we go? After all, I never thought of a single possibility to walk among people once again and I have no family left, respectfully. I have nowhere to go. Nobody is waiting for me."
"I have just an idea," Billie smiled, looking him over and taking out the map from the second bag that was laying next to her "we are going to Dunwall. To the Empress. I need to pay her a visit anyway and thank her for everything she's done for me," she then emptied her pipe from the ash and tucked it back into her coat "She may help you as well, I'm sure of it."
He smiled at the sentiment and closed his eyes thinking of possibilities that may arise after his arrival to the Tower.
"Oh how the roles changed. Now you are truly my superior, Emily Kaldwin, and I will be at your mercy..."
xXx
P.S: the original name I picked for him would have been Eloi (lat.) "The chosen one" in reference to his future fate.
P.S.2: Adrian (lat.) - "Dark one".