week 13

[baptizer]

[ She wants to go home.

That's all she wants.

But she can't. She saw the datapad display her world as nothing but some wicked fulfilled prophecy. If she can just ... reset everything to what it was... to bring people back before the project, all would be right. She could go back to Columbia. Booker would be alive. Hancock, Jason, Luke, Yuno, Jack - ... even Rhys, they'd all be safe.

It's simple to her. A tear is a door to another world and she wants so desperately to do that.

So that's how she offers herself. That's how she views this can pan out. Being the subject of an experiment...? A specimen...? It's not unusual and oh how her heart pains coming to that conclusion.

Maybe that's all she is, in the end.

She lies in her bed, clutching at her pillow and looking at the datapad. She could bother the boys but no... she can't. They're all suffering.

If there was any solace it was that the Nuwa was safe. If they could revive the dead, that means the Nuwa could too.

...Booker could be alive. ]

...I wish you were here, Booker.

[ Elizabeth croaks out without thinking, feeling her breath catch in her throat. ]

I wish we made it to Paris.

Comments

[baptizer]

I guess I was always destined to, if Comstock had his way.

[ Weight on her shoulders? Laughs, that seems to be all she has in her future. She doesn't want to die. Elizabeth doesn't want anyone to dismiss her idea because of this. If it happens, it happens, but the fear in her voice when she speaks is obvious that she's terrified. ]

This is my path..I think. If it brings everyone back, so be it. I just want ... I just want it to bring me back to you. To save you, for once.

[ It sounds so stupid when she says it out loud, honestly. She had just met him and even with the slip of his tongue earlier - she values him more than he'd ever know. The man who gave her freedom when she had none... ]

Booker... I'm sorry that you died... I'm sorry that you were stuck here too.

[herds]

Pretty sure even Comstock didn't have all of this in mind. Isn't it funny? You wouldn't be in the position to help everyone if it wasn't for him. Even monsters are able to provide a parting gift.

[ not exactly a fact that Elizabeth would happily chew on, no doubt, but a fact non-the-less. if she didn't have her body experimented on, she would be a normal woman that had been killed, helpless to watch on as everyone alive fought for their lives or gave up. maybe she wanted nothing more than to be normal, but right now, it was important that she wasn't. ]

It's okay. We're all bound to go at some point. 'm sure you're aware I was just being an idiot. Didn't have you there to keep me in check.

[ and it was his urgency to get back to his world that probably got him killed in the first place. Booker never likely realized how badly he wanted to return to the Elizabeth that he assumed was still on Columbia, to ensure she wasn't left alone in the middle of a war only to inevitably be snatched back up again. if only he knew there was somewhere else he needed to be at the time... ]

Elizabeth. You know already, don't you?

[baptizer]

Don't say that. Comstock would have thought of something worse.

[ She's pessimistic in her odd bursts of hope. When it comes to Comstock, she always is. She wouldn't ever get to tell him how much she hates him - how he's a vile stain on mankind. ]

Booker... don't... don't say that.

[ They didn't have aliens on their ship. She's not sure how he died or what circumstances... but she knows it was his own doing or he was killed. Both options pain her. He tries and reassure her but she starts crying again, knowing the first man to show her kindness was dead. And she was helpless. ]

What? What do I know...?

[herds]

[ he doesn't respond to anything else that she says. Booker listens to her as she starts breaking down into a fit of tears ago, studying the sadness expressed on her face. she wasn't in a situation that carried a guaranteed good ending except for the one that ensured she would live a false life, blissfully ignorant of how she got to the fake version of Paris that she was hungry to see again. none of the options presented would bring Booker back. it was yet another reason as to why she had to keep trying.

but it was clear that she was deeply upset over the fact that he was dead, not unlike that of Elizabeth herself. if only they could have at least died together, but no; they were both killed before they were even aware of each other's nearby existence. even Booker would be upset with that knowledge. ]

So you don't.

[ it would come as all too clear for her in retrospect, when this conversation was over and done with. all of the enigmatic responses, the uncanny composure in Booker's voice that never faltered, the constant hypothetical's regarding his own opinions.

he stares through the datapad and into Elizabeth's eyes, seemingly holding her gaze as he gives her one last smile. it was the closest thing to genuine as a hallucination could possibly get. not a second later, the screen begins to glitch and the image fades, bringing her back to whatever she had been previously looking at before he had appeared in the first place. all she'll hear is one last set of words. ]

I'm not actually here, Elizabeth. But... maybe we'll run into each other again.