Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The cool night lightly breezes over the deep blue sea. Water reaching out for miles and miles as with its wide expanse, greedily taking up all it could. And there, sat seemingly in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, was a lighthouse. And what a insane man once knew was that he had stated about lighthouses before completely disappearing:

“When there’s a lighthouse, there’s always a city.“

That’s why you were here now, on your small boat. It was nothing too shiny or particular to look at but you knew it could do you good. Didn’t have to be fancy to work at all. When you father Jack had left for a plane to visit family as you stayed home and house sit for him, he had stated he only should be gone for a few weeks.

It had been 2 years since his disappearance.

And as his child, you felt the needed to find him. So here you were, in your dingy boat sailing the ocean to find him. With a heavy sigh you take out your journal and started writing as the soft waves gently rocked the boat.

December 3rd, 1962

It’s been several months that since I have left home. I still feel awful for not being able to go out sooner to find him. Perhaps I would have him back if I did not think he was fine. But here I am, in the cold unforgiving sea- 

You paused before snickering. If anybody were to see your journal, they’d think you were some fancy writing smuck. No, you were far from that. You only used those words to make yourself sound much more… intelligent? It was just how you unleashed your feelings. Placing your hand on your chin, you think back to your life before you started the search. You were just some simple book shop keeper, nothing much. You lived in a relatively good house by yourself, not needing a partner for much. You never really found the time to go out for such silly things.

Humming, you bring the pen back to your journal and continue to write in it. Well, that was until a light flashed over your not for a second, making you snap out of your thoughts. Looking up, you notice that ahead of you was a lighthouse strangely. You tried to see in the dark abyss that was the cloud filled night, however you spotted no land nearby. This confused you, as clearly it had no use being here, so far from land. But maybe you should take a break for a bit, just until you rested.

Slowly you steered the boat over to the lighthouse, anchoring it near the stairs before hopping off with your bag in hand. Your survival kit all kept neatly in the bag, you rather not that go down with the boat if there was a storm. With a heavy sigh, you enter the building and lay against its wall. You had barely been sleeping with all the endless nights of sailing. So this was a very much needed break from everything. You place the bag in your lap and open it, as you were quite a bit hungry. Biting into an apple, you look up to the statue that loomed over you as if the statue of this man was higher than you.

He looked as if he was 2 decades late with his fashion sense. With thin lines that could be barely be classified as a mustache. Below the golden statue of the man was a banner, old and worn. The sea humidity had not treated it kindly, as it was old and slightly moldy which was… quite disgusting. And what followed with text stated:

No Gods or Kings; only Man

You let out a curious huh as you take another bite of your apple before looking up to see how far up the lighthouse went. There was no keeper, which was kinda strange but you knew little to nothing about lighthouses and keepers other than the basic knowledge. As your chewed and scratched your face, you looked over to your left and noticed some stairs descending downwards. Curiosity had gone into full overdrive as your finished your apple and shoved the core into your bag for now. Just until you found a trash can of course. You pick up the bag and sling it over your shoulder as you made your way over to the steps. Eyes glancing over the cement steps, too deep into examining the surrounding in front of you that you didn’t notice the doors behind you.

You had propped those open so you could go back out, but fate had other plans for you. The wind suddenly started to howl, and with an aggressive push, you were suddenly locked in. The slam making you jump out of your skin as you give out a slew of profanities. With a huff of annoyance, your breath visible from the coldness of the night, you look to your only other way out. Grabbing onto the railing, you make your way down the steps as your peaked over to see what could be down below. There, right in the middle of the room, was an orb of sorts. A mechanically contraption probably only used by marine biologists wanting to see the world below the surface. You furrow your brows.

“What’s something like that doing here?” You mumbled, the question remaining unanswered as silence filled the room once again. Well, silence in the fact that the only other living being in this fairly decent sized room was you. The thing, a bathysphere if you recalled from one of your friends who works in such area, bobbed in the water gently. You walk up to it, seeing so many contraptions and buttons that you felt a little unease by everything. It didn’t look that old, compared to what the interior of the light house looks like. This means that someone had put it here that makes you shiver just slightly. That also brings up the question of who and where? For all you know, you’re alone.

This all seemed too convenient, this had to be a trap of some sorts. So pulling away from looking inside, you make your way back up the stairs to see if you can make the doors budge. To your unfortunate luck, the doors are heavy, and it felt like something stood right in front of it making you unable to open it. The thought made the hairs on the back of your neck stand. So with defeat, you make your way back down and stare at the bathysphere. This was your only way back to the surface so you can get on your boat again. You enter into the machine and press the large button near the entrance, watching as it seals itself and you start to slowly descend down.

Sitting down in the built in bench that was in it, you noticed you didn’t have to pilot it. Your brows furrowed as you grabbed the wheel and try to move it but it wouldn’t budge. “C’mon, I can’t stay in here.” Panic started to fill your core when you realized that you couldn’t move it at all. Looking around, you tried to press the buttons but all your attempts ended in failure. Dread filled your being as your turned to see the tv (how did whoever made this craft fit a tv in the thing??) turned on, illuminating the claustrophobic space. A man sitting at his desk, the same one the statue was modeled after, with a cigar in one of his hands. Curtains drawn to fill the background as the text ‘Andrew Ryan’ displayed next to the man.

“I am Andrew Ryan and I’m here to ask you a question. Is a man entitled to the sweat of his brow? ‘No!’ Says the man in Washington, ‘it belongs to the poor!’”

You sat back down and listened, feeling unease with how things were turning out for you. How could you be so stupid? Of course you shouldn’t have just walked into a random bathysphere in a random lighthouse in the middle of the ocean without thinking there wouldn’t be consequences. You wanted to slap your face so hard. “Stupid, stupid, stupid…” grumbling to yourself.

“‘No!’ Says the man in the Vatican, ‘it belongs to God!’ ‘No!’ Says the man in Moscow, ‘it belongs to everyone!’ I rejected those answers; instead I chose something different.” 

“I need to be finding my dad not be in here!” You had stood up to pace around the bathysphere, pulling your hair slightly. Every once in awhile you’ll look over to where the tv was and listen in on whatever was saying.

“I chose the impossible, I chose…”

You watch as the metal covering over thick glass door open, your eyes widening at the sight you saw. You hands that once clenched angrily at your hair drop to your sides as you mouth slight opens in awe. Walking up to the window, the blue-green lighting reflecting from the glass onto your skin.

“Rapture.”

Through the window, pass the sea life that swam (there was a whale, school of fish, sharks, all were fascinating but not the vocal point of your amazement), was a city. “No. This can’t be. I have to be dreaming.” Disbelief filled your voice as you blinked, pinching yourself without looking away. However that didn’t work and you found that this was no dream. Closer and closer you got to the city, you could spot billboards covered in barnacles and wear.

“A city where the artist would not fear the censor. Where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality. Where the great would not be constrained by the small!”

You pass a glass tunnel being worked by a very big heavy duty diver. “Fuckin’ Christ that guy is huge… guess that makes sense. Pressure and all.” You pulled away from the window and just rubbed your face. “This can’t be real right now. I’m not entering into a damn underwater city.” You pull at your face as your hands slid off slowly in a dramatic way.

“And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well.”

The recording ended there as the bathysphere hooked onto a line and slowly started entering in.

Something staticky comes on from the radio in the bathysphere as your attention turns to it.

“A-…-one …ther-… hello!?”

You knew that voice.

Chapter Text

You grab the radio from the bathysphere and press it in order to turn it online. “Gregory! Is that you?” The craft shakes from turbulence as you keep balance. You look out the window to see you’ve suddenly stop and start head up. But your attention is turned back to the radio in hand.

“YN?? Is that you?” The young voice on the side ask and you sigh in relief. Gregory was a regular who came into the shop while you lived your life. He and his main guardian, Freddy, would come in a browse. Sometimes his other guardians would take him inside the shop too, but the kid never really browsed all to much. He would just keep to himself to the side of whatever guardian he came in at the time. So you started helping him find books he’d find enjoyment in, and in turn he started opening up to you and started talking to you.

The youngster was practically like your brother at this point. That’s why it hurt so much when you found out that not just himself, but his whole family up and left. It was one thing when  your father left, he was known to kinda say one thing but be gone for a longer period of time. But as you learned about his family from not only just him, but all the guardians you’ve became friends with, they’d always tell you if they’re leaving.

“Yeah, it’s going to be such a nice weekend next week. So I was planning with the others to head out there. So I’m sorry if we might not come in.” Freddy would bashfully informed.

Freddy was a nice guy, a father figure for sure. You considered him like another dad. But it was so easy to fluster him and get him a bashful state and you couldn’t help it. You like to tease the very little friends you did have. “Sounds like fun. I hope you and everyone has fun, especially Gregory. If he’s not having fun, I’ll make him the most boring books when he comes back: Encyclopedias.” The giant man chuckles. Freddy was a man you think to be in his late 40s, with wrinkles already creasing some areas of his face. His blue eyes look soft, as If someone just picked them from the sky.

He had darker skin, a soft brown that really made his eyes pop out. It was unfortunate how many dipshits would glare at him. You’d fight whoever for this man. He didn’t really deserve any hate that he’d receive his way. His hair pulled up into a messy low bun, it was very curly as he stated he had 3b hair type. The idle small talk the two of you was greatly missed for sure. When they first disappear, you thought that they maybe just had some family emergency but 3 months had pass before you realizing they weren’t coming back. You remember you had to close up shop early due to not being able to deal with situation.

Being pulled back to reality, you gave a sigh of relief. You may not have been looking for Gregory and his family but you were so glad to be in contact with the kid again. “Of course it’s me kid. Where in the hell are we and how did you end down here?” The bathysphere jolts with a stop and you look to the door. The hissing of air coming out of the sealed contraption made itself known as the door opens up. Hooking the radio to your pants, you step out of it and really to a minute to breathe everything in properly. One minute you were just taking a break from sailing to find your father Jack and now here you were in an underwater city.

However the condition of said city was… pitiful. It looked like a disaster. You take in the room as a whole. It’s a large room, very large. You’re assuming this is where tourists or people who were looking to move here would get into the city. There was many docking platforms, with luggage and suitcases scattered about the dirty room. That’s what you hated about in here, it was filthy. You rubbed your shoe on the ground you were standing on and could see the dust and dirt wipe away. There were stains everywhere, particularly you didn’t like the red ones. The implications of those were unsettling, the say the lease. On the ground too was posters, something about a man named Atlas. But you didn’t really give two shits to look it over honestly.

“I’ll tell you everything once we meet up in person. It’s not safe for us to stay in one place very long. Where are you right now?” You kick aside luggage as you make your way to where you would enter into the city, all the way at the end of the room. The illuminating glow of city lights made the sea’s green blue really pop out, making a room that would otherwise be dark almost… enchanting in a way. The way the sea life just meander through the city was absolutely incredible and breathtaking. However you didn’t like that, upon closer inspection, that the huge window that tower the room had some visible spider cracks on them. “I’m in the docking. Wait… what do you mean it’s not safe?”

You were concern. Gregory is still a child and if this city wasn’t considered safe to him than that was a cause for concern. “Where’s Freddy, Bonnie, Felix? …Chelsea? Hell, where’s even Roxanne and Monty?” There’s was silence on the radio, not a peep. You turn to your left to see some rubble blocked off the path in the insidiously dark room. However you can crouch to get through. So that’s what you did, not that you enjoyed it. You had to get on your hands, and the way you stood up after and look down to see how disgustingly dirty your hands were made you scrunch your nose. “… I don’t know, YN… I don’t. But I’m scared if I’m being honest, I wish I was with Freddy.” You heart tightened at Gregory’s words.

He may have not the most popular kid, so his only reliance on comfort and love from either you or his family. To be away from his family meant that he didn’t have his usual support system, and the kid only can go so long bottling up everything he’s feeling. “I’m kinda glad you’re here… I can be less scared with you around.” You look down to see a crowbar, and so with it you grabbed it. If the place is dangerous, then you weren’t taking any risks. Your facial features soften at his words as you sighed. “It’s okay kid. Once we meet up, you won’t have to fend for yourself anymore. I’ll protect you.” You didn’t need a response to know the kid felt safe knowing you were here now.

“I’m in the Medical Pavilion, but because I’m not too deep into it, I should be able to make my way back to the Welcome Lobby. That’s where we’ll meet up, capiche?” You responded with an understand captain, a tease in your voice. All comes to a halt when you hear a voice up ahead, a woman that seemed to be… crying? But something was off about her voice, it seemed so… echoey. You couldn’t quite put a finger on it. You slowly make your way up the steps and quickly look to the corner. Your eyes widen in horror when the woman on the ground was covered in dirt and blood, her hair was a rat’s nest, and most of all… her skin seemed deform.

Now you’ve seen all sorts of people, and you don’t judge base of silly looks. A part of you wanted to go and comfort this obviously distress woman but another part was giving you your flight, fight, freeze responses. Your gut was telling you that she was dangerous, even if distressed. Your hand clutched at the crowbar tightly as you take another step. However you weren’t very careful, and the woman immediately perks up. “Whose there?” Anger started filtering in her voice and before she could turn, you fight response kicked in and you absolutely slammed the crowbar into the back of her head. The scream of agony ran through the halls as she quickly grabs something: a gun.

Adrenaline kicked into full time as you kick the gun from her hand and shoved the crowbar into the woman’s neck, the sounds of gurgles from the blood ringing in your ears. Her hand twitches but goes limp as you pant. Your hands start to shake, some of the blood spurted on your clothes you look down at what you’ve just done. You killed her. “Oh my god.” You utter in complete horror with the realization of what you’ve done. You take some steps back, trying to soothe your shaken breath with calming methods. You free hand covers your eyes, you didn’t want to see the body. The dead body. The body you caused to become decease.

“YN, I may be some minutes because I’ve come across some turbulence. Just keep moving and watch out for splicers. They may look like people but… they’re not. They will try to kill you, no matter what. You can’t reason with them.” Gregory’s voice echoed, you hand falling over to your mouth as your eyes look down to the radio. Slowly they looked back over to the body. You give it a look over as your eyes go half lidded. Not human. She may look human but she would’ve killed you if you didn’t kill her first. A sigh escapes you as you move your hand to your head. “Why do I feel like by the end of this, I’m going to desensitized to killing?” You murmured. Leaning over, you dig through her pockets and found some cash you half hazardously shoved into your pockets.

Your hand brushed over the pistol that laid neglected on the floor. With hesitance, you picked it up with and reloaded it. It brings you back to when your father had taught you to use guns. The way he gently held your tiny child hands as he softly spoke what kind of form you would need to use. You remember as a child you would constantly look to his left wrist to see his tattoo; a simple design of a chain. Which brought you to another memory as you raise your own wrist. On your right wrist was a tattoo of a broken chain; at the time you thought it would be funny to get. Your dad got a laugh out of it when you showed him.

You make your way up the stairs, each step getting heavier as you placed the crowbar into you belt loop and the other held the pistol. You may not be looking for you dad right now, but you know you will be. He may have not been the best dad at times but he was your dad. And you’re his child. But right now, your priority was getting to Gregory. The tapping of your shoes when they meet checkered flooring rung, as a splicer turns to see you. But you don’t feel scared this time. Your hand may shake but you’re not going to let your feelings get to you, you got a kid to get to. You raise the pistol and pull the trigger, dodging whatever this fuck had to give you.

He had a wrench, his face covered in bandages as he grunted and yelled how he’d kill you. Quickly you swap the gun with your crowbar and shove it in the guy’s face, a war cry coming from your throat. The ends hooking into his eyes as you shove it down father and father until you jerked it upwards, a shriek escaping the man. Blood splatter on your face but you got no time to clean. Your big sibling instincts took over, and once they’re in overdrive, there was no stopping you.

Eventually you ended up in the lobby. The large glass doors showed the ocean outside to your right. You could hear a chime from a machine that was up on the patio and curiosity got ahold of you. You went to use the stairs to the left but notice that literally half the stairs were gone, reduced nothing to rubble. “Damn. Guess I’ll have to use the other side.” You spoke to no one in particular. You kept your guard up just incase there was more of those splicer people. “Hm. I could really use for a smoke right now.” You checked your pockets to see if you had your cigarettes on you but at last, you didn’t. You grumbled and frowned upon this realization.

“Well shit. Guess I have to find some then.” You get to the top of the stairs and could see that in the middle of the platform, glowing in a illuminating pink, was a machine. It had a statue of a girl in a very cute dress next to it, her left hand placed on the machine. The voice box said something but you didn’t care to listen as you go to see what this machine dispensed. “Gatherer’s Garden? Huh.”

“Those things dispense superpowers in a bottle basically.” You quickly turn to see a very dirtied and tired looking Gregory. With a quick set of motions, you had scooped the kid into your arms, hugging him. “Oh kiddo.” You laugh softly as your throat tightens slightly. He wraps his arms around you, embracing you into a hug  as you just hold him. The two of you stay like this for a while, no words exchanged as you sigh softly and pull away. “It’s so nice to see you again. Though I didn’t think it would in a place straight out of fiction.” Gregory gives only a soft nod as you set him down. Your attention turns back to the Gatherer’s Garden.

“So… superpowers in a bottle, huh?” You hummed as you moved closer to it. “Yeah. At least that’s what I think. I don’t really want to touch it since I’d have to jab my vein in order to get it. Also If I find Freddy, I don’t really want him to scold me for shoving random needles in my arm.” You give a light chuckle and pick up the blue glowing bottle labeled ‘EVE’ and just look it over. You really didn’t like the look of that needle. “That’s probably for the best. Well, one of us should have superpowers tho. It might do good in surviving.” Thinking over the pros and cons, you look over to meet your gaze with the kid. “Speaking of which, where are the others.”

Gregory’s expression falls as he looks away, grabbing his arm as if he had just done something bad. “That’s the thing… I woke up and I was alone. I don’t know where the others are.” Your eyes show comfort as you sigh. Poor kid. “I’ve been trying to find them, they’ve been leaving me hints through these things called Audio Diaries. I’ve practically been all over this city yet I haven’t found any of them. I’m thinking they’re way deeper into the city but I’m afraid to go deeper alone.” You set the bottle down where you found it and walk over to the kid, kneeling down. Placing a hand on his shoulder, determination filled your being. “We’ll find them, okay? You’re no longer alone, remember. We’re in this together from now on, got it?”

His posture changes into a more confident one as he nods, giving a small thanks for the reassurance. “Why are you scared to go deeper?” You were curious, and the kid knew the city at this point so you wanted to use that knowledge. “Okay there’s these hulking brutes called Big Daddys, as strange as that name is. And they’re guardians over these girls around my age or younger. But I’ve heard that deeper in the city are these quick agile ones called Big Sisters. But even more dangerous than the both of those? The Celestial Brothers.” You were trying to wrap your head around everything that Gregory was saying. You’re sure that you’ll probably understand as the two of you start traveling. “Celestial Brothers?”

“Yeah. So the Big Sisters and Big Daddys won’t hunt me because I’m not a girl. But, from what a woman that has been helping me out had told me, the Celestial Brothers are different. They were made not only to protect these girls, but all kids. However all the kids under their care have gone… missing. And I can’t end dead if that’s what they end up doing.” Yeesh, that sounded absolutely terrifying. You nodded, showing that you were listening. Gregory goes silent as the two acknowledge silently that this journey was going to be absolutely difficult. “I won’t let them take you.” The kid mumbles a thanks as you picked up the bottle again.

You take the needle of the bottle and line it up with your vein on your left wrist. “Are you really going to do that?” Looking over to the worried boy, you give a nod. “If I’m going to protect you, I got use any resources that I can get to. This includes gaining super human abilities.” You stick your tongue playfully at the kid who rolls his eyes at your silliness. You weren’t going to lie, you were a little nervous as you stare at it. But you just take a deep breath and shove the needle in, inserting the glowing blue liquid into your nervous system.

At first there was nothing, then it was like something was sending electricity throughout your nervous system. You screamed and tumbled back. Gregory was quick to grab ahold of you, calling your name in worry. Through blurred vision, you could see electricity move around your hand, but the pain was so much. You shook and cry out, feeling blood come down from your nostril down your lips. “IT BURNS IT BURNS.” You managed to yell out, gritting your teeth. But just like that, you limped and feel to the ground. Gregory, in his fear-filled state, calls out your name with soft sobs. Panting heavily, your eyes go half lidded as your vision goes black, feeling those hands try to shake you awake.

But the darkness overtook you and you fell unconscious.

Chapter Text

You regain your vision once more, a groan coming from you as you blink to see your surroundings. You sit up, placing a hand on your forehead as your body ached. The very first thing you noticed when coming back to reality was the lack of Gregory around. Panic fills your being as you ignore your body’s cry of pain. You stand up, stumbling a bit as you make your way over to dining area to the left of you. “Gregory!?” A buzzing sound fills your ears, which annoys you before seeing the condition of your left hand.

“Holy shit.” Bringing up said hand, a blue glow crossed your features. There was electricity that came off your hand, buzzing around your palm and fingers. It was as you were the almighty Thor, God of thunder from Norse mythology. Your attention is immediately broken away from the sound of feet as you pay attention to your surroundings. But you sigh in relief when you see Gregory coming out of a room with a first aid kit in hand. His eyes immediately lit up as he makes his way over to you. “You’re awake!” He drops the kit and hugs your legs.

Waving your left hand, you watch as it disappears before hugging the kid below you. “Of course. It’s going to take a lot more than that to kill me.” You tease lightly, but your small smile drops as you see him holding back tears. With a sigh, you pick the kid up and hold him in your arms. “I’m sorry for scaring. I didn’t mean to.” You whisper to him as he just clung on to you as if there was no tomorrow. “Don’t do that again. I was scared.” Acknowledging him, you just continue to soothe him. After some time passed, you set him down and look to him.

“Now that is all over, and I got this-“ clenching your fist, bolts of electricity spark out of your hand. “We can start on our mission. But in order for that to happen, you gotta be brave and show me the way.” The kid looks up to you, wiping away tears and nods. Tho he does pick up the first aid kit which you allowed him to toss into your bag (you kinda forgot you had a bag for a second). “We’re going to have to go to Adonis Luxury Resort. But in order to get there we have to take the Atlantic Express which means we have to go to Medical Pavillon through an employee’s only room-“ he takes a breath, moving his hands as he spoke to get his point across. “In order to get to the express.”

“Damn. Well then, you obviously know to where to go kid-“ your eyes wander as they landed on an unused cigarette pack on a table. You make your way over to it and pick it up, opening it as you looked over to Gregory. Cigarette in your mouth and currently grabbing your lighter, you give a smirk to the kid. “Lead the way.” Fire was lit and placed at the end of the cigarette. The kid leads you out to the glass tunnel that opens from someone fixing the button. Electricity sparked from it a bit as looked up above you, in awe with everything still. It was truly something out of a dream, too bad that dream was a nightmare on the inside. At some point, the ragged mess of a hair kid grabbed your hand while leading you.

You didn’t mind in all honesty, you were his safety net. But when walking further into the city when the door open, Gregory ducked. You could see why, ahead of you was something straight out a twisted mind of a horror writer. A splicer, digging into a corpse while muttering something. It was if it was looking for something but it honestly disgusted you. Looking down to your left hand, you zapped the splicer, stunning it. You went to grab you gun but notice that it was out of bullets. “Fuck me-“ something was swung at you head and in a sudden moment, you’re on the floor. Gregory sat hidden, covering his mouth as he stared, mortified. You could feel the blood move down as the splicer laughs. “Say goodnight, you scum.”

The splicer laughs as they raise their wrench and plunge it down. However. You rolled over and watch as Gregory, with a pipe, hits the splicer in the back. With the trigger happy splicer distracted, you grab your crowbar and with the force you could muster up, plunge in it into the splicer’s back. You rip it out and watch the body limp to the floor, a garbling sound emitting from it. “Fucking hell, next time I should just check my weaponry.” The adrenaline started to wear off as the pain flooded to your head. “YN! You’re still bleeding. Let me get the first aid.” You kneel down and let the kid do his thing.

“How far are we from the Medical Pavillon?” You make small talk, feeling the tension start to rise. “Not far. But there’s going to be more splicers ahead. So we can reroute-“ you raise a head and sigh. He finishes wrapping your head and takes a step back. “No need. We just need to look for supplies in here. I’m not going to make the mistake of not searching for items again.” You wipe your blood off that had dried on your face. “Are you sure?” Gregory murmured, giving a nod in response before getting up. The two of you started searching the room for items. Fortunately, you found a bit of ammunition for your weapon and reload it before putting the rest into your bag.

You look over to Gregory, who found some food that was still edible. You know you brought some snacks for yourself but it certainly wasn’t enough for the both of you. After searching the room and you searching the corpse, you deemed it good enough for you two to start moving again. The two of you walked quite awhile, you killing the occasional splicer here and there. Currently the two of you resided in a medical office that splicers couldn’t access and thus were taking a break. Gregory eating a sandwich you had made while you searched around the room.

That’s when you came across an audio diary. “They’re basically diaries people can talk into instead of write in a journal.” The kid clarified. It was by a man named William Afton as you took great interest into listen to it. After all, you two were fine for now.

“Audio Diary 1: Today was… uncertain. It seems to me that all these mechanics and scientists and such of better brains aren’t… intelligent enough to understand my achievements I’d like to complete here in this city.-“

A low, deep sultry voice came through the diary as you (and understandable, Gregory) continued to listen to the man’s ramblings.

“I’d say to them ‘I can achieve the impossible, I’ve made the mold, everything that you will know will be flipped upside down… I can create robots’ but instead of praises, instead of applauding me, they’d laugh. ‘Why would we need of such contraptions when our Big Daddys and our Big Sisters work just fine’ they’d mock-“

The man sneered lowly.

“And I told them why. ‘Humans are fragile, they have faults. Even when you modify them to be such scary guardians, they can still be killed. But robots? Robots do not go down so easily. No… quite the opposite in fact. They’d be more useful than those brutes. Watch me make a creation so terrifying that when looked upon it, a human would die purely from fear itself’ but they still mock me. I’ll show them. I’ll show them all what I, William Afton, can make with my two hands! And when the time comes… they shall coward away from my… beautiful machinery.”

It abruptly ends there and the two of you share looks. “Do you think…?” Gregory nods. “He probably did make the Celestial Brothers-“ he shudders at the thought of it. “I mean, if what he said it true and what I heard is true about the brothers… then he really did keep to his word.” The two of you fall back to silence and you take in the audio diary. Once Gregory was finished, the two of you made your way out. At some point, you took off the jacket your wore and tied it around your waist as Gregory lead you to the employee’s office. Once the kid locked picked it (he probably learned that from Monty) and went in, the speakers jolted to life.

“Two little flies… buzzing around in the city, causing nothing but being pestering little insects.”

A woman’s voice spoke eerily as Gregory hover as close as he could to you. The dark room illuminating with tvs of a rabbit’s face. Weird.

“I could excuse the child. Hehe… I would’ve captured him at some point. But you…”

The voice trails off as you clenched your left hand, the blue electricity surrounding and hugging your hand and going up to your arm.

“You need to be eradicated.”

A slam on the door makes Gregory cling onto you as you do a quick glance over to the door before back to the main tv in front of you two. Splicers. Of all kinds. They were slamming themselves into the glass as the voice continued.

“Funny little thing. You don’t know how you connect to all of this. But that won’t matter when your dead. I would send the scary guys like Big Sisters but you’re more of a threat than I previously thought. So guess what~?

I’ll be sending the Celestial three to you two. They’ll take care of you for good and I get to keep the boy.”

Laughter filled the room as you held Gregory in the room, glass break as you duck down to dodge the bullets. The kid was putting on a brave face but you knew he was scared. “It’s okay. I promised you that I’d protect you, remember?” He just held onto you when a loud creaking sound came from below you two. Before you could believe it, you held Gregory to your chest as the two of you fell down… down… down… into the abyss below, just like Alice.

Chapter Text

When you made contact with the flooring, you were sure your arm was broken. However, your arm was the least of your concerns. You sat up with an unconscious Gregory in your arms. Fortunately he wasn’t too hurt, but the scratches he did endure needed to be treated. With a hiss of pain, you move your broken arm out of the way and take your bag off. “I told you kid, I told you I’d protect you.” You muttered and dug for bandaids. You’ll make a cast for your arm, you swear you will, it’s just right now the kid was your priority.

For a moment you stopped, a somber expression sweeping your face. You always cared more for others than you did with yourself. You knew if Freddy was here, he’d scold you. Saying that you needed to love yourself a little more better than just neglecting your needs. A sigh escapes your lips as you pulled a bandaid from the bag. It was tricky putting it on with one hand, but you managed over the course a some minutes (you didn’t know how long) you had fixed Gregory all up. Meanwhile you look to your broken arm. You were absolutely filthy now, as you just noticed the water that came up to your knees on the flooring. You’re fortunate that you and Gregory didn’t land directly into the water.

You take the time to make a cast using your teeth as a second hand of sorts. The crowbar will have to go out of commission for now and be used to straighten your arm as you place it onto your wrapped arm. Then carefully, you blended the wrapping together till you could barely see the rusted red anymore. Once finished, you propped Gregory up so you carried him in your good arm, his head resting on your shoulder. “Okay. I’ve got to sneak for a bit since I can’t kill splicers like this.” You mumbled, sluggishly and slowly walking through the water. The further you went into the flooded room, the higher the water rose. At this point, it had submerged your bottom half and Gregory’s legs.

You’d feel a bump here in there walking through the water, your overalls practically feeling like weights within the water. It was uncomfortable but it’s not like you could get rid of the water within the room. Finally, you reached a set of stairs and walked up them, getting out of the water and opening the door into the next room. Now, the lady over the income had caused nothing but trouble and you hated her already. However the one good thing you got from her? Well… you were in the express station. You give out a small soft gasp. The train of sorts was hooked onto a cable, like the bathysphere, and was rounded in shape.

That was towards the right to the room, to your left was station to operate the controls to the doors and such. Benches were littered around the place as abandoned forgotten luggage laid there, gathering dust. You placed Gregory down and started searching the place for new items that got damaged due to the water. You found a wrench that you placed on your hip, a good replacement for your lost crowbar, as you dug through trash cans. Once finished, you sat down next to Gregory and started throwing stuff out (like that apple core) that you didn’t need or was water damaged and putting the new stuff in. With a jolt of surprise, your radio on your hip started to turn on, a staticky sound coming through.

“Child-“ a worn accented voice came through, you think it’s a German accent but you’re not sure. It sounds like it belongs a woman, probably around her late 40’s early 50’s but once again you’re not sure. “Can you hear me?” It clicks in your brain that this must be the woman that Gregory had mentioned as you straighten your posture (you don’t know why). “Yeah. And I’m not a kid.” You mumbled that last part as her voice echoed throughout the room. But a chill crawls up your spine, your instincts kicking in to overdrive for some reason.

You think you could feel a burning gaze watching you, like a predator.

“Very good. I’ve been trying to establish a connection with for some time now-“ she spoke, her voice sounding so tired. “However I wasn’t able to for awhile. I think that was works of that… rabbit woman.” She clears her throat. “You have bear cub, yes?” Was she… you look down to Gregory, his face soft and not as tense now he wasn’t aware of his surroundings. You brush some hair out of his face. “You mean Gregory? Sure do. But why have you been trying to get to me? To us?” She may not sound like that rabbit woman, but you’re still on edge with this woman. She supposedly tried to connect communications to you, and you were in a city where everyone wanted to kill the two of you. Who knows how safe she is.

“Because I know who you are-“ you stopped with any fidget you had, freezing as your eyes widen at the statement. “I’ve met your father. Jack, that’s his name yes?“ You’re quiet, flabbergasted and not knowing what to say or do. Your dad had been through Rapture? Why? How? Whatever it was, you wanted answers- no you NEEDED answers. “It is. How do you know him? Why was he here? … is he still here?” You just had some many questions going through your head, dizzying you slightly. A groan comes from next to you, knowing Gregory was waking. Holding your forehead to keep yourself clear, you watch as Gregory wakes up.

“I’ll answer all your questions soon, child. You play a much bigger role than you think you do here. But I cannot answer all. You must meet me halfway in Olympus Heights. There I’ll show you to my safe place.” Gregory groggily looks over to you with confusion on his face as you just sigh. “What’s your name?” The radio still made a slight noise, indicating she didn’t turn it off yet. However it takes a minute of silence for her to respond. “Brigid Tenenbaum. No need to tell me yours, YN. Your father told me your name fondly.” And with that, the radio goes silent once more. The revelation that there was a possible chance that your father was here made you even more determined.

“What’s going on? Wait… we’re in the train station! I thought-“

“Don’t worry about it , kid. We’re here now but we gotta take a detour. We’re going to Olympus Heights, okay?” He looks over your face, observing it before slowly nodding. Suddenly you two look into the same direction. Something clinked, by the train that sat idly behind the bench. Your hand lowers to your gun, making quiet footsteps. You look to Gregory and give him a look. Understanding that you want him to start up the cable, he runs off to do so. Tiptoeing, heart beating increasing with ragged breathing, you put a brave face and brace yourself. Your finger lands gently on the trigger, ready to become trigger happy at a moment’s notice.

You turn the corner and aim- you halted and put the gun down. There was nothing. Sure the car door was open but nothing. You make your way over to where the cable door was and take a peek inside. “Well. That was disappointing.” There was nothing. Absolutely no one. Maybe somehow rats made their way to the underwater city. You wouldn’t be surprised honestly, rats are sneaky bastards. You close the door and make your way round again. “I didn’t hear gunshots. Did you beat a splicer with your one arm?” You shook your head as Gregory hums. Concern graced his features as he grimaced at your temporary decommissioned arm.

“…I’m sorry.” You shush him and lead him into the front of the train, where the controls were. “Don’t be. You didn’t know. I didn’t know. We both didn’t know, besides, I’m just glad your okay.” You ruffle his hair as he grumbles. Closing the door, you make your way over to where the console was as you were a little intimidated by how it was set up. No matter, you figured it out and pushed the switch in the middle after Gregory pointed it out and pull the handle to your right. The door opened slowly, as the cable started to move. Rocking slightly, the two of you sat down in the silence.

It was a bit rocky but it was fine. You were able to find a map in one of the compartments and map out where the two of you should go after meeting Tenenbaum. You also found a pen, conveniently, and were able to mark these spots. It was nice, being able to slightly drop you guard with Gregory and not have to worry about death literally being around the corner. While still traveling, the kid looks up to you with a neutral expression.

“YN… do you think everything will go back to the way it was after finding everyone?” Eyes flickered with hope. You managed to take a cigarette out with one hand and place it in your mouth as you dig to find your lighter. What were you supposed to say? Your brows furrowed as you argued with yourself. You didn’t want to say the blunt truth but you didn’t want to have his hopes up. You lit the cigarette up and close your eyes, inhaling. When exhaling, you look to him. “I don’t know… I’m sorry.” Silence filled the cabin once again, the only sound was the cry of a whale moving through the city.

Docking again once you entered Olympus Heights, it shook a bit as it came to a full stop. You get up and hold out your free hand for Gregory to hold, which he gladly accepts. But before you do so, you do a quick scan of the area through the thick glass in the front. “Shit. Splicers, 5 of them.” Glancing over to Gregory, you hand him your wrench. “You ready to kill some fuckers?” A smirk grew on the kid’s face as you pull out your pistol. “I know how to kill someone with a wrench! Because Monty taught me.” You laugh at his comment. So when you two open the doors and were about to give out fierce some war cry, you’re both instead left stunned. The splicers, who you knew for a fact were alive when you checked, laid dead in pool of their own blood. Fresh pool of blood.

Was just killed recently… kind of pool of blood.

Your heart drops. Again, you could feel that predatory gaze on you. What the hell? What was hunting the two of you? You were kind freaked out at this point as you put your gun away and yanked Gregory as you got off the train. Confusion laced his voice as he asks you if you’re okay, but you don’t answer. Instead, your speed walking, not quite paying attention to your surroundings as you continue your speed. “YN what’s wrong?” How were you to tell him? How were you to tell him that you two were currently being hunted by something. By something that obviously didn’t like the idea of sharing its prey so much so that it’d kill any living being in the area.

In your daze of trying to get away from this thing, you bumped into someone. You immediately let go of Gregory and get out your gun to point it at what you think is a splicer. Instead stood a pale woman, worn in age as she wears a long plaid skirt and a brown suit over her wrinkled dirty white dress shirt. Her hair was pulled into a loose bun, and the bags under her eyes tells you that she has sleepless nights. “I’m sorry for scaring you, that’s not what I mean. But we must start moving if we do not want to be found.” You just nod as a quick glance shows you that Gregory’s face lights up in recognition.

“Sorry. I think I’m seeing things. Or well assuming something is following us.” You could feel Gregory’s slight panic through the grip of hand. Brigid looks back at you, a look you couldn’t quite decipher in her face as she starts speeding up slightly. “You two are in danger, let’s make haste and get somewhere you won’t be seen.” You also start to pace faster behind the German woman, Gregory trying to keep up. He looks up to you but you just give him a soft smile. However this all changes when your immediately yanked back by a yellow hand, Gregory screaming you name as you let go of his hand. You watch as Tenenbaum grabs the kid and disappears around a corner as you are thrown into a wall.

Air leaves your lungs as you gasp loudly. You try hard to breathe as an ear piercing scream fills your ears. You try to cover your ears, but because of your broken arm, you’re unable to cover both ears. Metallic iron comes out of your mouth as a liquid escapes from your left ear. You mad dash for it once regaining your oxygen intake, trying to escape and hide away from whatever the hell has decided to kill you.

But that’s when you remember what the rabbit girl told you.

“Fuck fuck fuck FUCK!” You slide into a room as something clearly crashes into the wall. That something, you assume, is one of the goddamn celestial brothers. Why you!? Why did this have to happen to you!? “Sorry shitbag, but I ain’t fucking dying today, bitch!” You snarled out as you just go through door after door, hearing it’s fast paced footsteps after you. It was one that got into the cabin. That made your heart drop all the way down to the pit of your stomach. It had ample chance to kill you and take Gregory in that moment. The both of you were vulnerable as all hell. So why didn’t it?

You find a crawl space and get in, biting back the hiss from your arm and quickly cover it. You get your breathing under control as you listen closely. The footsteps are light and fluttery, making it almost impossible for you to hear unless you were listening very closely. You could hear things break and be destroyed as it tries to look for you. But then it all stops before letting out a chirp. You would’ve giggle, such a dangerous being making such a chirp, if you weren’t currently the prey it was hunting at the moment. It makes another chirp before cooing. What’s with the switch?

That’s when it hits you.

It’s trying to lure you out by pretending to make itself harmless, as if you two were just playing a game of tag. Nu uh. No way. You aren’t giving in so easily to that tactic. For several minutes, you lay still in your crawl space as it coos, chirps, whines, whistles, and clicks… waiting for you to come out. But you don’t. The blood from your head had started again, and you didn’t realized until some minutes after hiding in the crawl space. You’d have to guess that it was from the thing throwing you into the wall. You close your eyes for a second when you hear your cover being yanked away right in front of you.

You scream, or we’ll, you would’ve if you weren’t yanked out yourself and have your mouth covered. Eyes widen, you take a look at this celestial brother. He was tall, about 7 feet tall, with an extra 5 inches to his heigh. His helmet looked to belong to a diver’s if it wasn’t for the star like rays around rim of the illuminating yellow glass to see out of. Rays, 7 of them, popped out of the side of his head with little pipes in between each ray, letting out hot steam. There was wiring coming out of the back of his head. You’d observe the rest of the body of it wasn’t for an announcement over the speakers.

“Well done. The Day Time Brother has put the rat to rest. No longer do we need to hunt the filthy human.”

The rabbit woman spoke before it turned off. You look to the supposed Day Time Brother, who tilts his head to copy you. You furrow your brows in confusion before he sets you down and pats your head, before disappearing out the door.

“What in God’s name…?”

heehoo here’s some art I did and posted on my tumblr for this au fic 

Chapter Text

You stayed in that room longer than you should’ve had, but what were you to even think of the situation? Obviously the Day Time Brother had to be up to something. Playing nice until his little mouse falls into his perfectly crafted trap. Right. That’s what it had to be, right? Right. That’s what it had to be, right? Right. You finally find a way to be able to move your limbs again and snap out of your shock as you looked around the room. It was utterly trashed though there was something odd hanging on the wall in front of you. It was a crude drawing, something perhaps a child made. And you would think that child did make it if it wasn’t for the writing.

It was in beautiful cursive, something you craved in your own writing. When you get closer and gently yank it off the wall, you read the text that is written;

‘I won’t hurt you. They trust you after see take care of the boy. Their judgement is my judgement’

The drawing itself was of the Day Time Brother holding hands with a little girl. On the other side of the little girl was you with an arrow pointed to it and small writing saying ‘trustworthy’ on it. You still didn’t know how to feel about everything but you think he did it as a show of sorts. The rabbit lady is probably watching everywhere, giving the city almost no ounce of privacy. “That… makes a lot more sense. But who is they? Why is there a little girl on here?” At last, those questions will probably go unanswered unless you found someway to Tenenbaum. Speaking of which, you decide to channel the radio in to her signal.

“Hey. Guess whose surprisingly alive after that whole ordeal.” This was worthy for a smoke, honestly. You needed one badly. “You survived the Day Time Brother’s attacks…?” Confusion was evident in her voice, but you couldn’t blame her. You were still pretty confused on the situation too. “I guess it was all a fake out, cause apparently the guy trusts me after stalking Gregory and I around the city. I don’t know how long he’s done it but… If he really wanted to kill me, he’d done so on the train ride here.” The woman is silent as you inhale the nicotine. You could hear her humming before speaking. “Fascinating. Though since we do not have all day to talk, I probably should head up there and get you to the safety of my sanctuary.”

The radio turns off and you sighed. Though that came with one more problem to add to your plate; if the rabbit woman has eyes all over the place, that would mean she could see that you weren’t actually dead. Your broken arm moves a bit- wait what. You look down to your broken arm and wiggling it; no pain. Undoing the wrappings and placing your crowbar on your belt loops, you move it. “It’s… healed. What in hell…?” You turn it around, bending the elbow. It’s as if you never even broken it in the first place. “I don’t understand, this can’t be possible.” Murmuring to no one in particular.

A deep sigh escapes you, you’ll deal with this revelation later. Stepping out of the room, the place seemed desolate. And it was no wonder. You could see fresh splicer corpses spread about. “So it was him back at the train station who killed all those splicers. Scary how he can do it so quickly and quietly.” You step over bodies as you make your way out into the main room. You really should’ve paid attention to when you were running, but at last, adrenaline does funny things like that. You looted the corpses, of course as feel very confused on where you should go.

You rubbed your head, gripping your hair and feeling the bandages on your head still. You should really take those off when you had the time. Before jumping at the sound of laughter. But when looking over to your right, it was just a vending machine by the name of Circus of Values. “Well that’s annoying.” You spat out your cigarette, stepping on it and rubbing it into the ground. Eyes bore into your back but when you turned around, it was nothing. Well, that’s if you didn’t know. It seemed that this big brother didn’t leave for good, just hiding and watching.

And like any sane person, you started making small talk as you see a cash register. Hm maybe you could get some money to pay something from the vending machine. “I know you’re there. Thanks for killing those splicers.” You open it and grab any of the cash and stuffing it into your pockets. “Do you know where I would go after I’m done with the vending machine?” There was absolutely silence. You kinda expected it tho, well until there was a looming presence behind you. You quickly turn on your heels and looked up.

Steam whistled through the little piping between the rays as the brother stares down at you. He coos, a hand brought up and pats your head with a nod. With a smile, you move around him to the vending machine. “You’re quite the sweetheart. But I kinda find that hard to believe, why didn’t you kill me?” With what you heard, he and his brothers seem to very… prone to killing anyone that wasn’t a child. And you were in your mid 20’s, and with silver already growing in your hair. You move your attention from him to the vending machine to look over what there was and scrunch your face at the prices.

“Yikes, these are terrible prices.” You turn around to see he was very much in your personal space now. His… face??? (Was it a face???) looking at you over your shoulder. He moves his attention and slams his fist on the machine. You glance back to the prices and watch as it lowered down into more reasonable prices. You give a small oh and smiled. “Thanks.” You look over the items as he still stood over you. It was pretty unnerving but as long as he wasn’t attacking you, you didn’t mind.

Well until he tightly gripped your right hand and yanked it towards him. Yelping, your left hand comes into contact with his and tries to push it off of you. “Hey! What’s the big deal! Let go!” That’s when you notice what his gaze was at. It was your tattoo, which furrowed your brows until realization hits you. “Do… do you know my dad?” He looks and stares at you, gripping your wrist harder and harder before you cry out in pain. That’s when he lets go and coos and whines, taking your now bruised right hand and rubs it. What did your dad do to upset the day time brother this much?

You’re pulled out of your thoughts takes your hand softly and starts moving. You realized he was leading you out of the room and towards your destination. You really wish he knew how to speak instead of just making noises, it would be nice to get some proper answers out of him. This was all still confusing to you. Wait if he’s here… “Are your brothers here.” He shakes his head, making you hum. It’s just him, which is good because you really didn’t want to meet his brothers. You weren’t quite sure if they’ll be as nice to you as he.

Looking at his design further and his name, you decided that maybe you should give him a nickname. You didn’t really want to keep calling him Day time brother. Maybe you should call him along the lines of Sunny? That seemed to fit him perfectly. “Hm. Would you like me to call you Sunny?” He stops and looks down at you (wow he’s really tall. Well you knew that but it still surprised you). It takes a minute before he gives a long whistle chirp of approval. “Okay Sunny-“ you notice that you were in the room you were supposed to wait for Tenenbaum in. Sweet. You look back up at him. “Thank you for bringing me here. I gotta wait for a woman and then leave with her. And I don’t think you can join me.”

He whines and gives a low sad chirp. You just pat his head (ha! How the tables turned!). “You should get going. I promise to be back. Just don’t be planning to kill me.” The brother tenses up at your joke and makes a disgruntle noise of disapproval. He lets go of your hand and makes some steps back before quietly jumping up to the ceiling. You tried to see where he went up but it was too dark. You sigh, it seemed you had a new buddy down here that meant good willed which was good. Now how were you going to explain to Gregory about this?