Sorry for the wait. I've been writing this during my off periods at work, so I hope the quality isn't suffering due to the change in environment. Please leave reviews and point out any criticisms you notice, as well as your thoughts on how the story should/will progress. The next chapter will feature more than just our main characters, so I plan to make it longer than the other chapters so far.
Eternal Violets: Thanks for the positive feedback. I'll try and keep up the quality and quantity on this project of mine, to really flesh out the man behind the visor.
Merendinoemiliano: I don't plan to make this any sort of Eleanor/Delta shipping. They have a wonderful platonic relationship, it was the heartbeat of the game for me, and taking it away would rip the soul from this story for me.
Enjoy!
The sun arose through the glass in the lifeboat. Sitting up with the girls sandwiching you had gotten uncomfortable, so during the night, you had managed to adjust into a lying down position. Despite your attempts to think on the past, you found nothing more than what had been revealed during your tromp through Rapture. You had made the decision, however, that if the past was lost to you forever, you needing to set your sights on the future. The future held many promises, but it also had very obvious trials for someone in your unique situation.
For starters, the entire point about your body, to the outside world, being a living diving suit presented as an obvious point of conflict. To make it worse, communication was impossible verbally unless a physician was skilled enough to modify your vocal chords to make human sounds again. If the first two could be circumvented though, things should be a lot smoother. Finding work with your one of a kind set of skills would be no problem, hopefully, and you were sure the parents of these girls would be delighted to have them back once you got to shore. Then, it was just a matter of settling in. Yeah, that was a good start to the whole "living normally" thing.
Once the sun began to shine into your eyes, blinding you and causing your eyes to scrunch up, you decided now would be a good time to wake the girls up. You gently shook the two in your arms awake, and once they had removed themselves from pinning you, you raised yourself from the floor and went throughout the room, gingerly awakening each and every little one. At the end of your spree, you came to the bed, where Fran and Eleanor still lay together, sleeping soundly even with the soft voices of barely awake girls starting to pick up as their minds shook off the drowsiness of sleeping on steel flooring. You moved the two of them from side to side, with seemingly no response aside from Fran cuddling closer to Eleanor. How sweet they were together. You hated to have to end that scene, but you now had it recorded to memory as a consolation prize. You had another idea on how to wake them up. You knelt down onto the floor, and moving your face as close to the side of Eleanor's head as possible, you blew harshly into her right ear. The sudden air pressure change seemed to do the trick, as Eleanor snapped awake, the jolt startling Fran in the process. She heaved a heavy sigh, then her cheeks puffed out like a small child, reminding you of when you used to care for her as your Little Sister.
"Father, why'd you do that? We deserve the sleep after all we've gone through don't you think?" she asked rhetorically. If you could speak, you would've come up with a witty comeback like "I've been sleeping for ten years" or something to that effect. You're not the best at snappy jokes. Instead, you resort to a smug smirk as you help sit her up on the bed.
While Fran and Eleanor are busy combing the knots out of their hair with their fingers, you set about your next task: getting this boat to land. You grab your helmet and raise yourself back up to a standing position. Just as your raise your helmet over your head, you hear a voice from behind you, another one of the former Sisters.
"Daddy, please don't put the helmet on again. You're prettier without it." she pleaded. While that was quite a charming display, you had to ignore her protests and lowered the helm over your face, and set about resealing the oxygen lines on either side of the base. Your large, clumsy hands didn't help with that step, and you eventually had to have another sister, whom you're calling Misty from now on, help handscrew the sealants back on before you tightened them up. You left the pod's interior, as Eleanor and the girls may have wanted some girl time, at least to use the restroom or something.
Standing once more upon the exterior, you stared towards the horizon, the rays of the sun like coveted gold stretching over the waters to brighten the day ahead. Each day brought its work to be done with it. Today especially was no different, not for the likes of you. Somewhere, you had a sensation, an inkling, that there was a phrase for that, some sort of saying lost to the muddied past. No matter. Work needed to be done. You set one foot back into the dazzling waters, shimmering and twinkling with the early morning light, when a thought struck you. How do I make sure I don't sink back down? I'm much too heavy to float next to the craft while pushing, and there aren't any firm handrails or structures I can use as grips. Your foot retracted back onto solid steel, and you set your sights on locating something to grip, or at least something to tie to a grip. You couldn't risk losing your girls again, trapped in the middle of the ocean. You paced the circumference of the craft at least twice, and in that time the sun had crept up a few inches, the horizon's color shifting from a deep red to a rich purple. Despite your investigative abilities, you weren't able to hand any feasible grips to the vessel. You sank down to sit on the hull and devise a plan B. Only a few seconds afterward, your ears picked up the sound of a hatch raising away, the rusted metal from the salt squeaking considerably.
A figure in a similarly styled diving suit plopped down next to you. You didn't hear any footsteps following after, so you concluded she came alone.
"The other girls are playing inside." she stated flatly. Her eyes were glued to the waters, reflecting the lights in their waves, dancing between each crest.
You grunted in acknowledgement. Man, the whole no talking thing was a real problem. You had the thought of hunting down some paper and pens, but you were almost certain your hands would crush the frail writing utensils near instantly. Besides, you hadn't written in years, and God knows if you even still could write at this point.
Silence enveloped the two of you again for several moments. Eleanor scratched her cheek, then repositioned herself to be facing you. You turned your head lazily, and stuck your arms out behind you to prop yourself up.
"Father, why did you put that mask back on? You are with family now, real family." she insisted, her hand reaching towards one of the air hoses. "Please, take that off. I want to see your eyes. They...are beautiful."
You shook your head. You still weren't comfortable with the unknown look of your face. The girls can call it beautiful all they want, but you'd have to be the judge of that. Not to mention you still had a job to do. You shoved yourself roughly up from your lounging position, ruffled Eleanor's hair like when she was little, and plodded over to the hatch to see if there might be a miracle solution inside.