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 Eleven: Farther West.

By the time Trip had awoken and they had set off again, the sun was high in the sky and the heat was approaching unbearable. Luckily, they had the river to follow, and it was much more enjoyable walking beside the water than trekking across the hot, unrelenting sand. For a long time, they walked in silence, all of them glad to have a purpose, a goal to work towards. Monkey and Trip had both secretly been wondering what was to become of them after defeating Pyramid and Core had just wanted something real to work for; something real that she could actually obtain. The more time she spent with Monkey, the more Core was realizing how hard it was to put the past behind her, especially when those memories were all that had kept her sane when she had been living in the artificial construct of the Pyramid world. As they walked, Core fought to keep her eyes on her feet, on the grass, on the water—on anything except Monkey.

In her mad attempt to keep her eyes to themselves, Core found herself staring at the bizarre circular scars her and Monkey both had been rewarded with when fighting mechs and slavers. She had never been able to pinpoint the exact source of the wounds, but she remembered them hurting like a bitch when they'd been fresh, more so than any of the other injuries and there had been about a million of those. She remembered a particularly nasty fight when she'd been hit with some sort of energy weapon and left unable to use her entire left side. Core had fallen flat on her face, trying uselessly to drag herself out of the line of fire as Monkey and her brothers had battled on; in that moment, she had been sure she was going to die. Until Monkey had come out of nowhere and saved her ass.

He had done that a lot, actually. People called him reckless and rash, but that had really been Core's area of expertise. She had run headlong into every situation without thinking, and that was exactly how she had almost got herself killed two years ago.

"Core?"

The sudden intrusion of a voice jolted Core from her thoughts and she looked around, blue-green eyes wide. It took her a moment to realize Trip had spoken. "Yeah?" she asked as the moment of panic passed.

"What was it like inside Pyramid's world?" Trip asked, voice timid, like she was afraid of Core lashing out.

The blonde considered doing just that, but after a moment, she inhaled deeply and reminded herself that Trip was probably just curious. Who wouldn't be? "It was... uncomfortable. For me, anyways." Core stretched her arms back as far as they would go, her back cracking in response. "It was too perfect. Too peaceful." She took the look trip was giving her in stride, the edge of a smile creeping into face. "I know how weird that sounds, but for me, from someone used to chasing mechs, to looking for a fight—" here, her eyes drifted to Monkey's back, several steps ahead of them and she sighed "—someone who isn't used to peaceful days, it was dreadful."

If Trip caught Core's wandering eyes, she didn't say anything. Instead, she asked, "How did you deal with it?"

Core shrugged and was surprised to find herself rather comfortable discussing the topic. Perhaps she should have shared the story earlier, perhaps she should have explained why she was so happy to be free; again, her eyes drifted unbidden back to Monkey and to the gleam of the slave headband that she could see near the nape of his neck. He wasn't free. But he had made that choice. "At first, I tried to blend in, to have a normal life. I tried to want what everyone else seemed to want, but it was no good. The people I met were perfectly nice and a few them really tried to help me adjust, but I guess I was just too stubborn." At that, Trip smiled and so did Core. "I clung to what I could remember of my life out here, of the life I had left behind and just… somehow pushed through every day, hoping that one day I could return to my actual life and…" Core let her voice drift off, shrugging to cover the lapse.

"You were hoping you could return to everything and… everyone you had left behind, weren't you?"

Core sighed. So much for trying to be delicate about the whole thing. "Yeah, I was."

For a moment, Trip looked like she was going to say something, but she clamped her mouth shut and shook her head slightly, her red hair bouncing about her shoulders. "I'm… sorry that you lost so much, Core."

Core shrugged again. "Don't worry about it. I'm alive, and that's more than I'd started to hope for locked up in there."

Trip nodded and gave Core the biggest smile she could in the slightly awkward moment. "Aren't you tired of always fighting? I would have thought some peace would have come as a nice break."

"That's what Pyramid thought, too, and for a while, the quiet was nice. Until I got bored. Sure, there was lots to do, but nothing could replace the rush I got from fighting, and I tried to find something, I really did." Core coughed, the sensory memory of the black goo the Pyramid machine had left in her lungs coming back. "When you pulled the plug and we were free… I'm pretty sure I was just about to go insane in there, so thank you Trip. Thanks for destroying Pyramid."

Trip gave a bitter laugh. "You seem to be the only person who was thankful for it."

"Yeah, well I think we've established I'm not exactly normal."

That got a laugh from Trip, a real laugh. When the moment had passed, she ran her fingers back through her hair, pulling some of it over her shoulder. "Monkey mentioned something about your sister…"

"Bo. Yeah, I thought you were here when I first go out. Sorry for attacking you like that, by the way."

"It's okay. I wasn't hurt or anything. You just scared me. Is your sister…?"

"Alive? No. She was killed when a group of the kids at the colony decided it was a good idea to go outside and play. They wandered too far from the colony and were attacked by mechs. None of the kids survived."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Core shrugged once more, afraid to test her voice. When she had managed to put the thoughts of her dead sister from her mind, she said, "I was so delirious when I got out of the machine that I thought you were her. Your hair is the same colour as hers. She wanted to have red hair as bright as mine was blue." Core picked up the end of her hair that was still twisted into a dreadlock and still a bright cerulean colour. "That was so long ago."

Author's Note.

Voila, another chapter! Only four more to go in this one.

I think this is the first fic I've written that has stuck to the actual planning. Normally, I end up changing things. Huh.

Enjoy.

Next Chapter: The City by The Bay.