Present Time
Rapture: Elizabeth
.
The splicers were closing in, it was only a matter of time. She'd triggered an alarm foolishly while trying to hack a Circus of Values. And as unstable as her tears were becoming lately, she feared there was only one way out of this. Eleanor had warned her of the costs, demanded for her well-being that she avoid it, but she was running out of time. She was out of her depth, but losing Eleanor was not an option.
Elizabeth dug through her pack, blood pounding in her ears, alarm blaring, loudly, deafeningly. Nowhere to run. She grasped the glass syringe and swallowed, stomach turning at the thick red material inside. She didn't have another choice.
She curled her fingers and jammed the needle into her wrist.
..
Two Nights Ago
Columbia
..
Elizabeth added yet another book to the growing stack perched precariously at the edge of her desk. Growing up in a tower led her to become somewhat of a voracious reader, though there was never a reason apart from a way to pass the time.
She didn't know what else to do. She hadn't seen Eleanor in months, and each time she tried to open a tear, something always seemed to go wrong and she'd get knocked off her feet, breathless and coughing and weak. It was as if she simply couldn't find Eleanor. As if one or both of them lacked the strength.
How quickly Eleanor had slipped from her. She had gone from sneaking into her room almost every other day to…. This? Now, what was she to do? Continue to burn away the days in the tower knowing Eleanor was out there and just out of her grasp? She couldn't let herself think about it, but nothing in any of her books took her mind away from the girl. Not The Principles of Quantum Mechanics, not Lock Picking & the Art of Subterfuge, nothing.
Simply put, Elizabeth missed Eleanor quite acutely. Desperately so.
So when the dust-coated radio tucked away in her bookshelf crackled and came to life behind her, she filed it away as mere wishful thinking. The thing didn't even work!
But when the noise didn't stop, she got up to investigate. Once she got the thing in her hands, the static fluctuated horribly. The connection was weak, but it seemed to be working.
"-zibeth! Elizabeth. Are you th-"
Elizabeth fell back against the bookshelf. She had waited so long. "I'm here," she shouted over the static, unsure just how the device was working.
"Please, come quickly... I-I'm trapped in a cage… something's wrong!"
The radio crackled once more then fell silent in her hands, lifeless.
..
.
Rapture
.
"It's been what? Five, six months? Eleanor, you're better than this. You cannot possibly believe she is coming to 'rescue' you."
Eleanor turned away from the Mother's monitors defiantly. They had been playing the same recording along with various clips from Mother's speeches on a loop since she had woken up in this… cell.
It was beyond a miracle she was even able to reach Elizabeth. Mother had been giving her such heavy doses of sedatives, lucidity was so rare to her. She wasn't even sure how much time had passed. But she felt it, the ADAM in her mind. She almost felt like she had someone else's thoughts inside her own head, and it ached.
Elizabeth was coming for her. She could feel that, as real as the blood in her veins.
..
.
Rapture: Elizabeth
.
Elizabeth forced the wisp of a tear open with all her might, willing, praying, begging it not to detonate on her like so many had before, and by some kind of dumb luck it actually worked. It was small. She had to force herself through, and when she made it, she nearly collapsed from the effort of it all. She leaned heavily against the wall of Eleanor's room. She closed her eyes and pressed her cheek to the cool window.
She didn't see the figure rising from the bed halfway silhouetted against the flashing red light on the far wall.
"I have done all I can," a stiff voice began, "and this is how she chooses to repay me."
Elizabeth backed away from the woman who towered over her in more ways than one. Her blood ran cold. The clinical gaze and hardened eyes. She knew who this was.
"The girl from the sky," Lamb said bitterly. "What could you possibly know of this place to make you so willing to tear it down? Eleanor is through with you, child. She is my daughter, my life's work, and you will not stand in the way."
Lamb grabbed her harshly by the arm. She felt a sharp pinch in her neck before the woman shoved her back through the tear.
..
Ten Hours Later
Columbia
.
Elizabeth blinked a few times and tried to sit up. Her head was throbbing and her muscles ached. She was back in her library, sprawled out on the floor, and judging from the strength of the sunlight, it was around noon.
She stood slowly feeling dizzy, feeling sick. She worked so hard for that tear, only to get thrown right back by a preachy, self-righteous tyrant. She wanted to cry or scream or something because Eleanor was still trapped down there, forced into her mother's experiments, and Elizabeth was her only hope.
Something filled her then, white-hot and angry. She didn't need to find a tear, not this time. The ground quaked beneath her, glass shattered. She could hear Songbird screeching in the distance, coming for her. Rage surged through her.
The world ripped apart at her hands, wavering and bending with instability. Elizabeth squared her shoulders and stepped through. She did not look back. There was nothing left for her there.
..
Present Time
Rapture: Elizabeth
.
"You will die down here, child."
Elizabeth sprinted around the corner, trailed by two pipe-wielding thuggish splicers. Lamb had armies coming after her. She couldn't keep this up much longer.
She tore through doorways, shoving debris out of her way wildly, but she didn't know where she was going, and eventually, the strung-out splicers herded her to a dead end.
"You comin' to laugh at me, too?" the one on the left muttered as she backed against the wall.
She thrust her hands out in front of her, spiked with shards of ice. It was still jarring, the feeling of the frost shooting from her palms. The splicers froze mid-swing. Elizabeth wasted no time prying a lead pipe from one of them. She swung with all her strength, shattering the splicers like glass into hundreds of bloody pieces.
She tossed the pipe aside and kept moving, uncapping a fresh EVE-hypo as she ran. How quickly she had learned down here that mercy was something that got you killed.
Elizabeth nearly crashed into a wall as a bright light tinged with red seemed to cloud her vision.
"Come to Persephone. Oh, god Elizabeth, it hurts."
..
.
Rapture: Eleanor
.
"... by force or guile, he makes it so. To the tyrant, the whole of creation is held in the relative- the sun and moon revolve for him alone."
Elizabeth was close, Eleanor could feel it in her chest. Mother would try to stop her, and so far Eleanor had helped Elizabeth the best she could by having the girls smuggle out health kits and money. It wasn't enough, she knew, but Elizabeth was smart. She would find a way.
Eleanor could no longer move, but she didn't have to look to know Mother had entered the quarantine chamber. She could smell the cigarette smoke as Mother sat in the chair beside her bed, waiting.
Eleanor's eyes fell shut.
..
.
Rapture: Elizabeth
.
Elizabeth rode the elevator from Lamb's hideout down to Outer Persephone. The Little Sisters had helped point her in the right direction, but now she knew she was on her own.
The elevator let her out in front of the entrance to Persephone Detention Facility. The lobby office was long abandoned and nearly picked clean, and the long glass tunnel hallway leaked salt water on her head and shoulders as she ran toward the Control Room.
The doors slid open slowly, but she didn't wait. She shot into the room, breathing hard. She could see the quarantine area straight ahead. Eleanor was so close, she could feel it plain as the heart in her chest.
Elizabeth rushed to the glass door and nearly cried out at the sight of her. She looked to her left at the door control box and threw the switch. "Eleanor!" she shouted, knocking on the glass, but the girl was sleeping fitfully and couldn't hear her.
Lamb's voice came through the radio attached to her pack. "How will she remember you after this moment, child? The trail of blood you've tracked in here? What will she say when she smells the ADAM on you?"
She looked down at her hands, their icy foreignness. She felt ashamed, but without the plasmid, she would have died long ago.
"I've placed my pieces on the board, as expected- as have you. Is this what she hoped for?" The radio popped unexpectedly. "Goodbye, Elizabeth, and take heart, you have proved me wrong thus far… but no longer."
The radio cut out along with most of the lights. Shrill, metallic cries filled the room as two figures dropped from the ceiling. Elizabeth recognized them from Eleanor's stories. Grown up Little Sisters, ruthless and aggressive.
She willed them not to see her.
..
Elizabeth hid beneath a set of stairs, exhausted and completely out of EVE. Not that freezing the Big Sisters seemed to do anything but slow them down a bit. What was she supposed to do? Beat them to death with a lead pipe before they got to her with their drills and fireballs?
It was only a matter of time before they discovered her hiding place. She took one last glance through the gaps between the stairs. If this plan didn't work, she would die down here just as Lamb designed.
She slipped out of her hiding place just in time to dodge a chunk of stone pillar one of the Sisters had thrown at her. She rounded the room, desperately clawing her way toward the pool of water in the right wing. She scrambled up the steps just as the Sisters dropped down from the walls. They splashed in the water gaining on her.
..
Elizabeth bent at the waist and put her hands on her knees. The thick smoke made her cough twice, but she recovered quickly, the deadly aftermath behind her growing quiet. The Sisters were trapped in the pool of water with by the thick electrical bolts of a Tesla Coil. Their bodies fell limp as she closed the tear, returning the coil to… a world where it was there in the first place.
She limped into the entrance of the quarantine chamber. The outer door closed behind her followed by a hissing sound as the seal started to break. Some kind of mist filled the small room for a few seconds.
"So you survive, child."
The mist started to clear, and Elizabeth could just make out Sofia Lamb sitting in a chair beside Eleanor's bed.
"Fifty seconds remaining," the robotic voice chirped, announcing the time left until the seal was broken.
"This may come as a surprise, Elizabeth, but I have always known about you. You were never a secret kept only by Eleanor. I have tracked your movements ever since the day you killed Subject Delta, and Eleanor has done just the same, exalting your every act as gospel."
Smoke billowed out of Lamb's mouth. She shook her head. "You don't care about the Rapture Family, you would sooner see it die than contribute even the small amount of ADAM in your veins, and Eleanor feels the same. The girl lying on that bed is no longer my child, nor my life's work. She is a monster, shaped by you alone. Just as she wanted."
"Twenty seconds remaining."
Lamb tossed her cigarette aside and stood. "You are an obstacle, a disease threatening to take the Family, just like you have taken Eleanor. There is only one cure. Eleanor… forgive me." The woman took the pillow from beneath Eleanor's head and held it forcefully over the girl's face.
Eleanor struggled, her legs kicking wildly as Elizabeth pounded on the door with both fists, screaming. Her heart was beating too quickly, she couldn't breathe, couldn't see. The door lifted slowly, and Elizabeth fell to her knees reaching for Eleanor.
Elizabeth collapsed on the rug. She couldn't hear anything, the world spun and spun. The last thing she saw was Eleanor's limp body falling to the floor beside her.
..
.
Eight Hours Later
Rapture: Eleanor
.
Eleanor couldn't move or open her eyes, but she could still contact the Little Sisters, even in this near-comatose state. Relief flooded her as she felt that little tug in her chest signifying that Elizabeth was still near. Mother had not killed her. At least not yet.
There was still time.
..
Five Hours Later
Rapture: Elizabeth
.
Elizabeth followed the Little Sister closely, keeping guard as the child climbed through vents, stuck corpses with her needle, and collected pieces of a Big Sister suit. The girl cheered for her as she froze splicers as they tried to attack the Sister.
"Unzip him, Miss Elizabeth!" the girl laughed, "X his eyes out!"
Elizabeth ushered the girl along, pushing her away from the bodies that seemed to keep piling up around them.
"What Mother did to me left me very weak, or I would do this part myself… To get us out of here, I need to become like them, the Big Sisters."
Lamb had confiscated her radio and her pack, but somehow Eleanor still managed to contact her. She suspected they never needed the radio anyway because Eleanor was speaking inside her mind, clear as day.
"I know it doesn't make sense to you, but please… I'm so sorry I got you into this… The Little Sister will guide you. Keep her safe, Elizabeth."
The little girl tugged her hand, "C'mon, Miss Elizabeth. Clear as rainbows. Time to find the angels!"
..
Elizabeth ran back to the quarantine chamber with the parts of the suit under her arms and the Little Sister clinging happily to her back.
"Almost home now, Miss Elizabeth." The doors slid up as she approached, and once she was inside the room, the Little Sister dropped off her shoulders and ran for the nearest vent.
Eleanor was lying there just as she had been the last time, before Dr. Lamb smothered her, nearly taking her life.
"Eleanor?"
The girl's eyes opened halfway, a hint of a smile on her lips. "Hi."
Elizabeth dropped the suit parts on the floor and hugged Eleanor tightly. It had been so long, she had to fight so hard and even watch her almost die to get here. She felt Eleanor's arms return the hug slowly.
"I missed you," Elizabeth said as she sat up, wiping a hand across her eyes. "I'm glad you're not dead."
Eleanor smiled, "Me too." She started to sit up, "Did you get it?"
Elizabeth nodded and held up the parts of the suit. She set them down on the bed and helped Eleanor sit up. She looked so drained, hollow, weak.
"I knew you'd find it. Here, help me put this on."
It was strange, this Big Sister thing. The more she put on, the more Elizabeth realized how much Eleanor already resembled one even without the suit. Rail thin and tall, really, the only thing she was missing was the insatiable bloodlust.
Elizabeth was reaching for the helmet when Eleanor gasped.
"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked, checking behind her, "Eleanor."
"Y-your hands. Oh, no." Eleanor grasped her hands. The spikes had been knocked off in combat, but they were still freezing and radiating a small cloud of frost.
Elizabeth pulled her hands back and folded them tightly in her lap. "I-I'm sorry. I… I was so scared, I didn't know what else to do."
"No… Hey," Eleanor touched her shoulder with her own, "it's not your fault. I should have- It kept you safe. That's all that matters."
Elizabeth rested her head on Eleanor's shoulder. She looked out at the splicers starting to trickle into the next room."This is a mess, isn't it?"
Eleanor hummed in affirmation and pressed her lips to Elizabeth's forehead. "Let's get out of here."
..
.
Rapture: Eleanor
.
Mother was going to send Rapture into the trenches, flood them with the Family, and kill everyone in one fell swoop, but together she and Elizabeth were an army. Elizabeth with her tears, and Eleanor with the abilities she had gained from the ADAM over the years. They made quick work disposing of the waves Mother sent after them. And even when she tried to sabotage the lifeboat, they pressed on.
They rescued the sisters from the pediatric ward, taking out Alpha Series and Elite Brute Splicers with the help of the objects Elizabeth could pull into the world. They tore through Rapture's halls trailed by about a dozen Little Sisters, and anything that stood in their way didn't live to tell the tale.
Eleanor and the Sisters boiled away the water as Elizabeth stood guard, fighting off the horde. And when the room began to flood, Eleanor grabbed Elizabeth in her arms and boosted her into the lifeboat with the Sisters.
"Wait, where are you going?" Elizabeth curled her fingers around the metal netting of her helmet.
"Don't worry. I'm right behind you."
If Mother lived for her precious Family, then she would die with them too. And when the bombs detonated, and Rapture began to fall apart, Eleanor disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.