The Lost Love Above | Elizabeth x (m) Reader!

Closer to the End

  "It's July."

  "It was July."

  "When was it last July?"

Booker and I ran as fast as possible to catch up with Elizabeth and her songbird. I was so caught up in the moment that I initially didn't feel the cold wind or snow melting against my exposed skin.

Even as we stared at a monster stone house with three statues out front, the changes and effects of the new weather surrounding us almost didn't register with our physical atmosphere. Booker was making the same loud thoughts as I, looking nearly as astonished as I felt while we glimpsed at the accumulated snow on the steps.

There were candles lit out despite the cold and wind, but honestly, neither of us was keen on exploring the exterior of this place. We were much more focused on freeing Elizabeth. We drew near to a tear that had her voice in it. "Get your hands off of me!" She shouted, but there was no reply.

My stomach knotted with guilt. I don't have the words to describe the pain I felt hearing her voice and not being able to help her. Worst of all, somehow, this sensation of being powerless in assisting someone. "We gotta find her, Booker," my head was still reeling.

  "I know, damnit! I KNOW!"

We legged it up the stairs, ignoring everything– throwing even combat caution out the window as we burst through the double doors at the top of the flight of stairs. A small corridor greeted us past the entrance. More candles were lit here, but their flames did nothing to warm either of us. Besides the candles, another tear was in here, carrying an echo of Elizabeth's voice. "Just take me back to my tower. Please...please!"

Another pair of double doors shielded the next room. Unable to use the tear, we kicked up those ones, too, and ran inside, almost certainly expecting another firefight to unfold. Instead, we're alone in a massive room with pillars flaking on either side and a tall statue of Elizabeth. The ceiling was in pieces, so snow cascaded down inside, making it look like ruins in a forgotten place.

In the center of the room was a stone pool, and beyond that were pictures and flowers adorning the powdery tiles. The flowers seemed recent, off-putting to the rest of the environment. Elizabeth's statue was highlighted by a window slightly above it.

  "OUR LADY," the outline of the words on the window panels could be read as a harsh light shone through it. "ELIZABETH. GODSPEED. THEY JUDGEMENT."

Cold struck me then. I looked around us. It was a hollow interior with no clues, only questions I could never hope to answer on my own.

A PA system buzzed to life, and instead of Comstock, Elizabeth came through to speak to us. "Some men dream of money. Some men dream of love. My father dreamt of a flood of fire."

  "We were given Eden, and we turned it into Sodom," she continued. "Why do we deserve salvation? The Lord gave Noah a fish in the form of a flood. But he was not so easy on me... He said Prophet, I want to train a nation of fishermen."

I struggled to find the words and judging by the silence Booker greeted this newfound discovery with, I had a feeling he was, too. I sniffed as my nose started to run. I wasn't bleeding, but I felt my hand splitting with how many questions were filling it with.

The PA system's buzz faded. Now, all that kept us company. In a depressing howl, the chamber pushed us forward to the next room that was again blocked by another set of heavy set double doors. A tear split down the middle, however– Elizabeth was still the sole actor presented in these tears. "What is this place? What are you planning to do to me?" She sounded more like herself, which I guess was good but also not. The fear in her voice as she spoke was unfamiliar to me. Even after all the fighting we went through together, I had never heard her sound so...powerless, weak...so out of control, and unable to fend off the situation.