I do not own Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. I do own Core and her back story and the parts of the plot that aren't in the game. This fic spawned largely from my dissatisfaction with the ending of the game. It was an awesome game and I didn't want it to end. So I decided to write a fic. It's rated for language and violence mostly, but also for some sexual scenes.

Enslaved: Marks of the Past.
Chapter Nine: Rescued Again.

When Core woke up, Trip had her slight body lowered over hers, like she was trying to protect her. The situation confused Core, but she didn't move, lest there was some reason to be protected; she couldn't be sure since she couldn't really hear anything aside from the ringing in her ears. Her head hurt too, which couldn't be anything but bad. Against her will, a small groan escaped her lips.

Trip looked down then and a small smile flashed across her mouth. "Thank God you're alive, Core. I was beginning to think we were too late." The red head shifted so Core could roll onto her side and cough; some of that black goo from Pyramid splattered onto the sand. "Are you badly hurt?" When Core shook her head, Trip sighed will relief and knelt on the sand beside Core. She moved her hands to Core's stomach, where the blood seemed to be originating and moved her shirt so she could get a better look. "This wound isn't too bad," she said after looking up to see where Monkey was. At least, that's what Core assumed she was doing. "How did you fight these mechs and not get worse injuries?"

Core rolled her head around to try and look at the fight which she could now hear going on around her. All she could see were a couple piece of metal plating. "I dunno," she told Trip. "Practice, I guess. This isn't the first time I've fought mechs in a weakened state."

Trip didn't respond to that, just slipped an arm under Core's shoulders and helped her sit up. "Come on. We've got to get to that river over there to get you cleaned up. I want to make sure these wounds aren't any worse."

Core nodded and tried to stand up on her own so Trip didn't have to bear all her weight. The young woman was smaller than Core. Together, they hobbled across the sand towards the bright green plants and their rainbow of flowers and made it through the foliage to the clear waters of the river. It wasn't that wide, but in the middle of miles of sand, it was wonderful. Core, once free of the support Trip offered, fell into the water and dunked her head under it. Trip followed, if a little reluctantly and knelt. When the water soaked through her clothes however, she laughed.

The world of the river felt so far away from the fight.

Not that that lasted much longer. Monkey appeared a few moments later, a little bloodied himself but not really much worse for wear. He sat down on the river bank and stuck his bare feet in his water. Even he seemed to relax a little.

Core was stretched out across the river, head and arms on one bank with her feet on the other and Trip had started inspecting the wound on her middle. Once all the blood had been washed away, it became clear that the injury was not that bad and the collapse had probably come from heat exhaustion or dehydration; states Core seemed intent on curing as she drank handful after handful of the water and closed her eyes to doze once Trip had finished. She promptly fell asleep.

Trip looked from Core to Monkey and gave him a small smile.

"She is… resilient," Trip said carefully.

Monkey nodded. Clearly, his mind was somewhere else, in the past. Trip knew he was thinking about the day Core had "died." Likely, he was wondering if he should have stayed with her, if he should have dragged her off and saved her. Trip wanted to say something, but she had spent enough time with Monkey to know that there was nothing she could say that would make him feel any better. So, instead of racking her brain, she climbed onto the bank and sat beside him, leaving Core to sleep half in the river.

"Do you think we're safe here for now?" Trip asked. "I like it here."

"I didn't hear any more mechs and your dragonfly didn't see any more while it was flying. We should be safe here for at least tonight."

Trip nodded and stretched out on the grass, her feet sliding back into the water. "So are we going to take Core back to her colony? I've never seen the West Coast."

Monkey shrugged. "I guess. We'll have to ask her if she wants to go back there when she wakes up, but that seems like what she'd want." The enslaved man also stretched out on the ground beside Trip and folded his hands behind his head.

"How did you two survive fighting those mechs all those years ago?" Trip suddenly asked.

"Core's younger sister Bo, the one she mistook you for when she first got out of the Pyramid machine, was a medic. She could heal almost anything, although she spent most of her time yelling at us for risking our lives every day hunting mechs and slavers that might stumble upon their colony." Monkey sighed in a way that said whatever he was thinking about was a happy memory. "Bo looked up to her sister more than their three older brothers who Core bonded with."

"They sound like an… interesting group."

"They were."

Trip stared up at the green leaves and blue sky above her and sighed, a small smile working its way onto her lips. She shifted a little closer to Monkey and, for the first time since Core had tackled her back at Pyramid, she felt content. She was still worried that Core might hamper the building relationship between herself and Monkey, but at that moment, it didn't seem to matter as much. They were safe from the mechs, no one had died, Pyramid was gone, they had a goal to work towards and they had freed all the slaves that had been confined to the bizarre world Pyramid had created.

Trip closed her eyes and fell asleep almost as instantly as Core had.

Author's Note.

Seriously, I can NEVER have five fics on the go at once ever again. It's just too many fandoms to try and switch between. My muse is getting tired of it and she's kicking my ass. I think that's why I haven't been able to face the page for a while. Trying to do too much. Also, I've been trying out some new techniques. We'll see how those go.

Anyways, enjoy.

Next Chapter: Surrendered Choices.