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.

Enslaved: Marks of the Past.
Chapter Thirteen: Underground.

Monkey paused as he scrambled up the next pile of rubble and looked down at the bloody handprint. It didn't belong to him, and it didn't belong to Trip, who was climbing behind him. He looked up at Core, who was closing in on the summit of what used to be a building and gave a barely perceptible sigh. She had always been like this: never stopping when she had her mind set on something, even when she was injured. When he focused, he could see the blood on her hands and arms and feet. They had been moving through the rubble for two days and it hadn't been easy to get her to stop last night.

"You're getting soft," he yelled up.

"Fuck you," she called over her shoulder before continuing to climb.

Trip had appeared at Monkey's side and she looked down at the handprint. Then she looked at Monkey and then up to Core, her eyes wide. "Core, you're bleeding!" she called.

"I'll get it looked at when I'm home." Core looked back at Trip and then dropped down the other side of the pile of rubble.

The group fell into silence again as they continued to climb over the rubble. There was a road somewhere up ahead, and the going would be easier from there but so far, it had been a lot of climbing up and down. Core was sure she knew where they were and how to get to her colony, but Monkey and Trip were being cautious. She had sent up the dragonfly several times, to check their progress and to look for mechs. Core had remained ahead of them since they'd entered the city, sometimes far enough to almost be invisible. When she had vanished behind a chuck of rock or around a corner, Monkey had run ahead, yelling for her to slow down.

Eventually Core stopped moving so quickly. Eventually she stopped. She stood in front of what looked like just another pile of rubble, blood dripping from her fingers and pooling on the concrete around her feet; she had a deep gash on one foot. Trip and Monkey caught up with her and stood to either side, staring at the same thing Core was.

There were children crawling over the rubble, laughing and calling to one another as they climbed.

Core laughed and the children turned towards the new noise. One of them called out a name and three young men climbed out of the mess, disbelief on their faces; disbelief that turned to surprise and then relief and happiness. The tallest one ran towards them and Trip was alarmed until she saw that Monkey wasn't freaking out and Core was smiling. The three men had to be her brothers.

"CORE!" the tallest one yelled. He swept her into his arms and hugged her tightly. "How are you still alive?"

But Core couldn't answer. She was being passed from brother to brother and then they were all hugging her at the same time, Core's blue and blonde hair vanishing beneath a pile of leather, muscle and the brightly coloured hair of her brothers.

"Was the bright hair a family thing?" Trip asked; the sarcasm was dampened by the bright smile on her face.

Monkey just gave her a small smile.

After all the greetings had finished, Core's brothers—whose names were Pike, Badger and Twist and who had purple, green and yellow hair respectively—led them towards the rubble. Pike, the oldest and tallest of the three, revealed a hidden doorway at the end of a twisting passage. It opened onto an expansive room filled the remains of cushioned seats and a stage at one end. There were people sitting in circles and there was a fire on the stage; the smoke curled up towards the ceiling of rubble and dispersed through many holes. The smells of cooking meat reached their noses.

"You arrived just in time for dinner sis," Badger jibed.

"Although I don't know if we'll have enough for Monkey." Twist's smile spoke volumes about the past.

They settled themselves near the big fire and an elderly woman attended Core's injuries and then saw to the others to make sure they weren't suffering more from their long journey than they showed. Monkey went off with Core's brothers to explore and see the colony, leaving Core and Trip alone.

Core couldn't stop smiling. "I can't believe I'm home," she said.

Trip smiled at her. "I'm glad we found it. What are you going to do now?"

The older woman reclined onto a sloped piece of rock behind her and crossed her arms over her exposed stomach. "I don't know. Stay here, hunt with my brothers again…"

A sudden thought struck Trip as she listened to Core go on about her brothers, who were evidently in charge of the colony now and as she watched Monkey across the space. She had never seen him around people, other than herself and Pigsy, but talking to the other warrior-like men, he looked almost… normal. Maybe he would want to stay there, with others like him. With… Core.

"What's that look on your face for?" Core asked.

"What? Oh." Trip shook her head. "I was just thinking..."

"That Monkey might want to stay here." She couldn't keep all the emotion out of her voice, as much as she didn't want Core to hear.

Core smiled and almost laughed; a few giggles did escape her mouth. "Trip, you have nothing to worry about." The blonde pushed herself into a sitting position, groaning slightly as she did so; the pain was finally getting to her. "Even if Monkey did want to stay, he would ask you to stay to. This place doesn't have everything for him anymore. Trip, Monkey and I… as much as I want it to happen again, it won't. We were a long time ago, a lifetime ago. He doesn't want me anymore."

"You… you…"

"Don't believe me, but it's the truth. You enslaved him, but you made him care about you. He wouldn't have stayed with you cross-country with you if he didn't, and he wouldn't have let you leave that headband on him."

Trip opened her mouth to say something else, but they were interrupted by Badger bringing plates of food. Soon, they were surrounded by people, young and old, all gathering to eat. The conversation was loud and full of laughter, people excited about the return of Core and the news that Pyramid was gone, and all thoughts of the future were pushed from Trip's mind.

Author's Note.

So I've had some serious thoughts about my fanfiction. My original writing is becoming increasingly more important to me and I've been spending more and more time with it, and fanfiction seems to be less and less important. I don't know what it means for my fanfiction yet, but I'm going to at least try and finish everything I have on the go right now.

Maybe I just need to focus on one project at once? That's what most people do. What most SANE people do. How I ever got up to five fanfictions at once, I will never know.

Anyways, hopefully you will enjoy this. Two chapters left!

By the way, can you guess what building Core's colony is in? I'll reveal the answer in the next chapter!

Next Chapter: A Private Moment.