~Forgive! It's a deviation from humor! :O I know it's terrible of me but it's really just a something-something so you don't need to read it; next chapter gets back to business.~

He was back in the darkened, bloodied halls of the USG Ishimura, or what was left of it anyway. Could barely call this space-bound hell a ship anymore...

The only sound was that of his own footsteps and his low, shuddering breaths. He kept a firm grip on the Plasma Cutter he'd affectionately started referring to as Marty as he made his way deeper into the dark, all the while bracing himself for what he knew must surely lie beyond.

Waiting, watching...

He felt their eyes on him as he progressed, the eyes of the many reanimated dead.

The remnants of what had once been a crew of healthy, living persons.

They were waiting for something, all of them. He could feel it.

Knowing them, it wasn't hard to guess what it was they were waiting for. Somehow he held the strange notion he was walking into a trap, but as is the way of dreams, he was not in total control of his actions. While his brain screamed at him to stop, to go back, his body kept moving forward as if of it's own will. The only thing he felt in control of right now was Marty; Marty always listened and did as told.

Marty knew the dangers of this place just as much as he did.

He continued on until he found himself at a door drenched in a dark liquid that could only be one thing, and despite all the warning alarms sounding off in his head he still pressed forward; opening the door and proceeding without a backward glance.

The sputtering, dying light of the overhead fixtures illuminated the usual grisly scene: bodies maimed beyond recognition heaped against a wall slathered in blood and gore; parts of those bodies strewn about the floor, everywhere red...just, red...

So much horror. Too much for most humans to take. Why he hadn't succumbed like the rest of them he didn't know.

Maybe his time was upon him now.

Maybe that was what he was going towards...his fate...

Another door, this one leading him to...wait, this couldn't be right...

Passing through this door, he found himself back on the colony, the planet's dusty winds whirling about him in a lonesome manner. Before him lay the gaping hole the Ishimura had punched into it, and somewhere deep within it must surely be the beast of the Marker: the 'Hive Mind', as Kyne had called it.

Was it dead, or was it lurking in the depths?

He didn't know.

The wind picked up, temporarily blinding him as he put up a hand to shield his eyes. When the gale tamed down, he found himself at the Marker pedestal. There it stood, in all it's wretched glory, and before it...

"Nicole?" he heard his voice call out. It sounded so distant...or maybe that was the wind playing tricks on him. Carrying, dragging away his words just as they left his mouth...

There she stood, just as she had so long ago now, smiling at him, like as if nothing was wrong. Like as if this were all just a hellish dream...oh how he wished it were. But these things were real, and no amount of- well, anything- could make him forget them.

Or her.

"Isaac," she said gently, striding away from the seemingly dormant rock toward him. "What's the matter, Isaac?"

"This, these things...everything! Why'm I here, Nicole? I don't want to be here..."

She shook her head, smiling as if he'd just said something stupid. Perhaps he had, but he meant it no matter how stupid it sounded. He didn't want to be here...couldn't she understand that? She was the only person who had ever understood him before. Couldn't she still, now?

"Isaac, Isaac, Isaac," she tutted, before meeting his eyes again with hers.

"You'll never understand the meaning in the end." she said suddenly. Behind her, the Marker began to shine with that other-worldly light that stung his eyes and forced him to squint.

"What?" he asked as she turned and took a few steps back toward the Marker.

"We're standing at the gate, Isaac. You'll meet the darker fate..."

He didn't understand what she was saying. 'He'll meet the darker fate'? What did that mean?

He didn't get to ask her, because just as he opened his mouth to speak she was suddenly right there in front of him again, only this time so much closer than before. He barely even remembered blinking, let alone seeing her move. Her closeness was slightly unsettling, but her voice -and her next move- helped bring him to ease.

"Your purity and rage, your passion and your hate," she murmured, drawing closer still. "You promised more than bliss, with your God and with your-" she quickly pecked his cheek, "-kiss." Her eyes glittered with a strange mischievous light. One he was all too willing to follow...and that was when things started to get, weird.

She dropped to one knee then, confusing him as she continued right along, "I'm on my knees. I beg your mercy-"

He dropped to kneel as well, taking hold of her shoulders in a light but firm grip. "My soul is my loss," he said over her, shaking his head. "I'm well hung from your cross-"

"Then take me!" she cut him off, the fierceness of her voice and the devilish light dancing in her eyes catching him off guard as she shrugged off his grip and swiftly took his hands in her own. "Take me in your arms my love and rape me-!"

"Nicole!" he cried out, pushing her away at those words. What the hell-?

"Don't hide behind your rage," a wry smile now crossed her lips as she regarded him with an almost disappointed look. "I know you love me."

"And always will," he found himself saying as that dread feeling of hopelessness began to creep in.

"You're my possession," she continued, still wearing that same expression as she slowly rose from the ground to stand over him. "Of that, my love, there really is no question..."

"Don't hide behind your rage," he found himself saying curiously, knowingly repeating what she'd said just a moment ago. "I know you love me-"

"And always will." This time she said it with him, grinning as he rose to stand now, too. Something seemed off about all this...but how or why he couldn't seem to put his finger on. As the winds of the ruined planet swirled around them, and the Marker continued to glow brilliantly against the dreary backdrop, he knew his time with her was drawing to a close, but not yet done. In a way, he truly didn't want it to end, but something in the back of his conscious not only called for such, it demanded it.

She seemed to catch on to his inner struggle, and so pressed on with her words, only this time she dropped both her gaze and her tone so that she was almost whispering, "My better half, it's true, has seen the darker side of you. Innocence stripped away..." she raised her eyes once more, her expression now one of sorrowful apology. "At least I've the brighter fate..."

"Take me," she held out a hand as behind her, the Marker grew brighter, it's light seeming to draw her into it.

"Rape me." That she said sarcastically, throwing a wink at him as he struggled with his own inner demons. For as much as he wanted to take her hand, he just couldn't do it!

The light only grew stronger and more powerful, blotting out more of her figure as she still reached out to him in the hopes of taking his hand. As the light around her silhouette cast her 'inner' features into shadow, he noticed that they became bloody, making her look more like she had on the shuttle...no...

"I know you love me..." her voice began to fade away, and then, in a burst of white light-

"-ISAAC!"

"-AH!" he yelped as the 'dream' abruptly ended, leaving him dazed, confused, and momentarily frightened as the doctor in front of him clicked off the small light he'd been shining in his eyes.

What the fuck just happened? Where was Nicole? Where was he? H-Had that been real?

"Third time this week," the doctor sighed grudgingly as he returned to his desk, watching with a slightly raised eyebrow as Patient Four wildly scanned the room in an effort to get his bearings. When he finally seemed 'back', the doctor continued.

"So, what did you see this time, Isaac?" he asked, almost boredly.

"I saw...her."

"Your lover?"

"No, my mother."

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"I saw Nicole."

"Right, your lover. And what did she say to you, Isaac? Anything?"

Isaac paused as he considered what he'd just seen. What he'd heard; said. "She said-"

"...and always will..."

"-nothing." he replied at last. The doctor frowned, marked something down, and strode out to call for someone to take him back to his room. As the door shut behind him, Isaac sat quietly in his chair, eyes closed.

A smile slowly, deliberately spreading across his lips as he remembered...

"...and always will..."

Yes, Nicole. 'And always will'...

~Whoa, did it just get dark here (uh, again-ish?), or is it just me? Well, ok, 'dark'-er; I don't think Dead Space could ever be called 'bright' (even if you turned the whole Ishimura into a giant Lite Brite and pegged pretty-color ponies all over it's walls; still, just no). This is my first time combining a fic and music in this such way, but while I was writing up what actually would have been this chapter, 'Kiss' by London After Midnight came on so I fit it into another 'dementia' thing. I personally think the song fits well with Isaac and Nicole...in that creepy way that only those two could share.

Yes I did the dastardly deed of turning the lyrics into a conversation, but I only 'tweaked' them a little bit! -That outta be enough to ward off an angry music company claiming 'shenanigans', right? :P

ANYWAY! Again, hope you enjoyed, as well as didn't mind the short detour from the regularly-scheduled crack I have the nerve to call a fic. XD ~