AN: Oh my god, I know this took super long to get out. I am so sorry, but I really had to prepare for finals and just didn't have the extra time to write. Now that finals are over I was able to finally type this up. It's a tad bit rushed, so I apologize for any misspellings or other errors. I really wanted to get this out as soon as possible without wasting another minute. I'll take my time on the next chapters, but hopefully, I'll be able to update more frequently now that school is over. Anywho, I hope you enjoy. This is the second part to the alternate ending. No, this is not how it ends. Booker and Elizabeth will be united again soon. I was just trying to add in some dramatic storytelling. Oh, and I hope you guys like the little bit of the Lutece twins that I added in there. Sorry, I'm pretty dense and not the best when it comes to scientific topics other than Anthropology. So, if Robert's little comment doesn't make sense then my apologies! It should though, I researched it before I typed it, but hey, not everything on the internet is correct! ;) haha. Enjoy!
child who is cool: Thanks, I tried. :)
Lone Reaper-068: Aw, yeah. He sure did get the bad end of the stick. ;( Oh well, things will start looking up for him!
Alyx: More to come!
Dreamsong83: Bingo! Smart cookie. :) Haha, thank you so much! That means a lot, but I honestly don't think I could ever live up too, or come close to Ken Levine's style of storytelling. He's just so fricken amazing. It's an honor though, that you would thinks so. Thanks again. ;D
Armaras: Thank you so much. And here I was thinking that people would hate it. Boy, did you guys prove me wrong. :)
issac0suarez: Thank you so much. It means a lot. Wow, I would really hope so too!
iCraft: Thank you. I hope you like the rest.
DrayoHyrus: More coming your way.
The worst had yet to come for dear Mr. Dewitt. He wasn't emotionally prepared for the upcoming experience, but he knew that there was no turning back. Elizabeth intended on dragging him through to the end. What deeply worried him was the final result. Whatever was in store for Booker could be greatly troubling.
Tension built up in his muscles as Booker stumbled into the tear. His sight was uncomfortably locked on Robert's hideously colored raincoat. That raincoat soon began to morph into multiple bright colors, eventually washing out Booker's entire sight. Everything then faded to white. A static rim buzzed at the edges of his vision. Gravity pulled Booker's body to the ground, holding him there as if someone dropped weights on top of his chest.
"I told you it would work." Robert's familiar voice announced.
"We already know it works." A hint of annoyance could be heard in Rosalind's words. "The question is..."
Her voice withered away amongst the high pitch screeching and static filling Booker's head.
"Anna." Booker moaned, his mind in a fumbling daze. "Anna." He managed to mutter the name again.
"I suppose he branded himself as some sort of penance." Rosalind lifted Booker's hand, observing it like it was some kind of fresh discovery. "What's done is done, what's done will be done."
The rest of the conversation was mixed with Booker's own mindless mumbling and that high pitched noise. Flashes of the environment would appear here and there and at other times Booker would see nothing but an empty white sheet. His back ached from the sensation of being dragged against wood. Every now and then he would catch what the twins were saying while they pulled his body along.
"Wipe away the debt...bring us the girl..." He groaned. His words staggered and unclear. "Wipe away the debt..."
"See!" Robert piped in. "He's starting to put his story together." He sounded fairly impressed.
"You're quite fond of this theory of yours." Rosalind playfully rolled her eyes up, preparing for Robert to his express his satisfaction on the matter.
"He's manufacturing new memories from his old ones." He elucidated.
"Well, the brain adapts." Rosalind shrugged, her eyes set on Booker when she spoke.
"I should know. I lived it."
Robert's final words were ceased when the white sheet had completely consumed Booker's entire being. He was able to move again, but that feeling of being trapped stayed with him; surrounded by white emptiness, nothing more, nothing less. Booker was in utter disorder, even more so when he was confronted by what appeared to be a young woman. She could have possibly been Elizabeth's age, maybe even younger. The paleness of her skin matched that of her white dress. Familiar blonde hair draped down past the girl's shoulders. Her hair was golden, much lighter then Lydia's. Lydia...that's who this young girl reminded Booker of. She resembled his wife in so many ways and yet, she contained many of Booker's own features. There was one thing that was most certainly Lydia's and those were the girl's eyes. They were emerald eyes that could bedazzle anyone with the tiniest glimpse.
There was pure silence for a good half-minute before the girl spoke. Her voice had the loveliest touch to it. It was soft like velvet, yet high like the chime of a small bell.
"Father..." Just that word alone, from the mouth of an angel, brought tears to Booker's eyes.
"Money was your defeat, your downfall."
"Love was your weakness." Elizabeth added. She now stood beside the girl.
"You let it destroy you." Lydia said this with a look of sadness in her eyes. She slowly came up behind Anna, placing her hand on the girl's shoulder.
"Your greed harmed those in your path." Johnathan hissed, his hand now placed on Elizabeth's shoulder.
"Until you were offered redemption." The Lutece twins spoke in sync, the two of them appearing between Johnathan and Lydia.
"Wash away your sins and help my daughter. Help her destroy Comstock; the monster that you created." A pale, brown haired woman reached out to Booker. Her blue eyes burned holes into Booker's own eye sockets.
Pain, despair, regret, loss, heartbreak, grief, every ounce of emotion ripped violently at his soul. His inner self screamed for escape. The oxygen left his body, causing him to gasp for air, to desperately cling onto life. That high pitch noise came back and flooded Booker's ears. His eardrums rang in pain. The sound finally toned down and instead a softer voice woke Booker from his stupor.
"Booker wake up." Booker slowly came too. Pain in his forehead had restricted his sight for a second too long.
"Booker wake up." Elizabeth repeated, her head bowed in concern.
The ocean breeze was enough to bring him back to a regular attentive state. He trembled, horrified from that vision. He was emanating sudden concern, not for himself, but for Elizabeth. It was now clear what had to be done. Comstock would never harm Elizabeth again, not in her world, nor in any other universe. Silently, he made a promise to Elizabeth's deceased mother, a promise to protect her daughter from harm, especially Comstock. It was time that Booker fixed his own mistake.
"This is where it started." Elizabeth's gaze wandered about the blackened waters.
"I Sold you...I sold you. I took away your chance for a normal life. I created him." It was spoken in disbelief. Even now, it still seemed impossible to Booker, but truthfully, he knew what he had done.
"To your credit, you did try to weasel out of the deal. Then again, she wasn't really your daughter; you weren't supposed to have her in the first place." Rosalind interrupted.
"This isn't only Comstock's fault, but it's mine too." He restated. There was a dead, miserable tone to his speech. "What if I went back, killed him before he did any of this?"
"Things get set in motion." Rosalind reminded him.
"How would one know how far back to go?" Robert leaned over to address Booker. His hands continued to push the paddles against the rough waters.
"That's the only way to do it. Go back to when he was born and I'll smother the son of a bitch in his crib." Booker concluded.
Elizabeth stayed quiet, her arms were glued to her chest. Booker had it in his mind that he could put an end to all of this. It was Elizabeth who was destined to set things right, not Booker. Elizabeth cringed, the outcome was looking grimmer by the moment, especially for Booker. He still had an important part in all of this. A part that Elizabeth didn't want him to claim. Her feelings for him were restraining her from letting him go. Unfortunately, losing Booker might just be inevitable.
There was another round of deja-vu as the boat pulled into the dock. Booker relived the climb of the ladder and this time he didn't fool himself into thinking Elizabeth was still behind. There she was, on the deck and already headed for same damn lighthouse. This replica lighthouse had such a different feeling to it. It certainly wasn't a good feeling either.
Booker placed his palm on the wet wood. The veins in his arm pulsated before he even prepared to shove the door open. A smaller, gentler hand rested beside his.
"Booker." She stopped him.
He turned to her, his energy faltered. The pair of distressed eyes watched him with anxiety.
"Are you sure...this is what you want?" Elizabeth didn't even know if she wanted this. She was scared. This could be it, the end for both of them. There was no way of telling what may happen after this final journey. She wasn't even sure if she could go through with it anymore.
"I have too, it's the only way to undo what I've done to you." His words came out in a long sigh.
Tenderly, Booker grabbed Elizabeth's hand and moved it away from the door. It dropped down to her side, hanging there like a rag doll's limb. The door opened and Booker only needed to take a single step in before his legs were deluged with water. He was met with the back side of a gentlemen. This man faced the priest, the two of them prayed silently in the center of the river. The priest raised his head and threw his arms up in the air.
"Johnathan Wells! Are you ready to be born again?!" He shouted.
"What is this?" Booker asked in confusion and faced Elizabeth. "Why are we back here?"
"The baptism, Booker." Elizabeth frowned.
"I-I don't understand.."
"Johnathan excepted the baptism. He was reborn into another man."
"Comstock." Booker hissed the name.
"I thought it would be enough to...to stop him before he could be baptized."
"We'll drown the bastard, right here, right now. It has to end then, right?" Booker angrily gestured to the man behind him.
"No, it's not enough. Comstock will cease to exist, but Johnathan will never live a happy life with his daughter. It has to go back even farther,... back to the beginning." Hurt built in her expression as she uttered the last part.
"Back to the beginning?" Booker blinked.
Elizabeth closed her eyes shut. There was a look of pain amongst her. Opening her eyes, she turned her head to the right. A large tear opened in the direction she had looked. Booker flinched away by the sudden static-like electricity that danced at the edges of the tear. Inside, he could see the hospital. He could see himself. A clone, a duplicate, a Booker from another universe stood within that tear, gazing through a viewing window.
"This is wrong. I'm supposed to take you back and stop you, but I can't lose you. I'm weaker than I thought." She choked, tears filled her eyes.
"Elizabeth! What the hell is going on? What are you talking about?" Panic was loud and clear in his voice. Sweat had drenched him from head to toe as the adrenaline and fear pumped through him. He readied himself for disaster.
"I'm going to try. I have to try this. Maybe, maybe I can still save you. I can save a specific Booker Dewitt. I can still fix everything. I'll just end it with another Booker from another universe. That way you might be safe."
"That or you'll cause a paradox." Robert Lutece chimed in. His head peeking in from another tear behind Booker.
Booker jumped back, startled by the unexpected intrusion.
"Risks are meant to be taken, brother." Rosalind added.
"Even if those risks involve destroying the very existence of the universe?"
"I suppose that could be a problem, but she'll do what she wants. This could end up being a very fascinating hypothesis to test."
"No, a fascinating hypothesis would the attempt to explain the existence of the various chemical elements through a hypothesis regarding the internal structure of the atom. That's fascinating. The end of existence itself? Not so much. "
"If you're going to be a poor sport then I shan't take you along again."
"Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on?" He yelled out, interrupting the sibling's banter.
"Go with them, Booker. In that world you should be safe. I can prevent you from taking me in another universe. Johnathan never becomes Comstock and he goes home with his daughter." Elizabeth sounded dead. It was as if this whole adventure had finally took it's toll on her. There wasn't a single trace of life or excitement in her voice.
"Come with me." Booker whimpered.
"I can't. After this, I won't 'exist'. Elizabeth won't exist. Not in this form. Goodbye, Booker." The tear with the hospital grew wider and practically swallowed her up. She turned back one last time to lock eyes with him, tears glistening in her own.
"Elizabeth!" He shouted, desperately trying to reach out for her.
A force from two pairs of hands clutched his shoulders and yanked him back into the tear behind him.
"Time to go, Mr. Dewitt." Rosalind urged, pulling him away.
The tear closed and Booker found himself flinging his body at the stain covered wall. His fists slammed against the hard surface as a sound of defeat pushed past his lips. She was gone.
Booker chocked on sob after sob, letting himself stumble back from the wall. The sight and smell of his dirty apartment was all too familiar. He was alone. The twins, Elizabeth, everyone and everything had vanished. Booker dropped to his knees. His eyes never left that empty wall.