Past Honor

The Outsider was not the only one Watching.

Effie could taste blood. So could Adelaide.

They lay there, blood pooling around the two limp bodies. The Outsider cocked his head. It was perhaps a fitting end. To watch them both bleed to death here. But they were not alone. The soft smell of cigarette smoke hung about them. 

Gerard River gently rose their heads, one by one, and fed them what little of the red elixir he had left. He sat back, letting the elixir do its work. He chewed his lip, that ugly smile on his face as he wondered if they would survive. He took a long drag. He needed to be calm. 

Dunwall was always rushing. 

He needed to not. 

The sounds of combat had faded long ago.

But the effects of the battle lingered.

The smell of blood. The acrid smell of spent whale oil. The moans of the wounded.

Effie and Adelaide awoke to that world.

"Don't move too fast – the wounds could open again." Gerard said calmly. "And you two are in no state to keep killing each other." He looked from one to the other.

The anger in their eyes were all the reply Gerard got.

He looked back wearily. He was sick of Dunwall. "If you two wish to keep killing yourselves don't do it with each other's hands." He stood up abruptly and turned away. Angry. Hurt. Remembering his face in a mirror. Remembering himself, laying bleeding, and angry, and cruel, and scared.

Neither Adelaide nor Effie said a word.

But some hurt, cowering part of what one would name humanity in each other them - that part no longer felt alone. If for just one moment.

"Here..." he sighed "I know neither of you think well of the Overseers." He fiddled with the badge of his office on his coat. "I have no illusions what would happen if I brought you back to the Abbey..." He looked away. "I came to find your father's work. We want to finish it."

Adelaide looked back.

"I can't let Dunwall keep tearing itself apart. There's too many good people here to let it all burn to ash. Even if those good people are the torches." His voice cracked. He was immeasurably sad. "Please..."

"We don't owe you anything." Adelaide said standing slowly. "The Abbey is fond of high minded words – and dark deeds."

River nodded.

Effie looked down at her hands.

"Are you going to stop me from leaving?"

River shook his head.

Effie felt the splintered guitar on her back. It dug into her skin. 

"Are you?" Adelaide's voice sounded strong – but it was weary. Worried that someone would say that they would stop her. MAke the decision for her. 

Effie shook her head. She thought she could taste ash. 

Adelaide left. She and Effie shared one last glance. They both knew how the fight in the hallway had ended. A truth that neither of them would ever share. The feeling that, for the first time in a long time, they both felt that it wasn't just Dunwall or the Outsider watching them. That far more familiar eyes were watching them. Watching and praying for them. Even there - in their darkest moment. Effie's eyes broke away first. Adelaide was gone.

She had a boat to find.

She would find it – and find Lucian and Vitiline. The siblings were stitching back up Lucian's binder from where it had been ripped clawing his way through the wreckage.

However, before she would go and find that boat she would tell River. "My father? His work was destroyed." She said softly. "Burned in an Overseer raid. It all turned to ash. I'm sorry." It was a tragedy she had not spoken aloud for a long time.

River nodded.

Effie felt an old scar bleed anew.

Adelaide was gone.

Effie slowly stood.

River just sat there, dejected.

Then he stood up abruptly. The stench of death clung to the place.

Effie backed away, reaching for her dagger.

It wasn't there.

Gerard nodded to her, and gently laid her dagger down where he had been sitting. "Damn the Void." he said. "It was all done once – it can be done again. Better." He looked back at Effie. "I'm sorry." He turned and left as well. The badge of his office lay on the ground. "Just one last question... do you love that woman? Deelia?" 

Effie looked up, she felt her heart in her throat. It was choking her. She angrily tore a few tears off her cheeks. 

Gerard looked back and for a moment saw a very different woman standing there. He took a deep breath. Part of him wished Effie and Delilah would not turn out like he and Yen had. He ignored the part that told him to despair for them. 

Then he left.  

And Effie was left alone.

She dragged herself down to the docks.

The ship was long gone.

She clawed her way to the pier side anyways.

She sank to the ground, and drew out her journal.

Some long-forgotten notes were etched on a well read page.

She began to sing. "Hey there Delilah / what's it like outside the city? / I'm a thousand miles away / and I can't escape the fray / except with you... my fires don't burn as bright as you..." she trailed off.

Her fingers were drumming on her side.

She grabbed her fingers and held them tight. Trying to stop them.

Off at the horizon she saw a whaleship slipping out to sea.

With her back to the city she let herself cry.

Her tears were no longer angry and burning – just tears.

Just her own.