Mathias felt as light as a feather, and had the impression of floating in the air. He was out of thought and time. The stars circled around him, and every second that passed was as long as an hour. While he allowed himself to be carried by the temporal waves of space, his mind remembered all the things he had lived ..... His commitment to the army ..... The sinking of the ship and The death of his friends ..... Columbia ..... Songbird ...... This man and woman who helped him..... The battles, pain and blood ..... Cornelius ..... The Vox Populi ..... . Zachary ...... And in the middle of it all, there was ..... His angel, Elizabeth. His thoughts wander further into his mind, showing him dark sea bottoms, and in the distance, lights rising from giant foundations that he fails to see well....

(Elizabeth): "Mathias? ...... Mathias?"

The sweet voice of the young lady brought the young man out of his torpor. When he opens his eyelids, Elizabeth is leaning over him, beneficent and caressing his face by the soft palm of her hand. He straightened up, the joints a little sore, and realizes that he is shirtless, his shoulder is covered with a bandage. He guesses that it was she who did this, and thanked her, then put on his jacket while standing up, to know where they are. The sea is the first thing he sees, as well as a large beach of white sand stretching as far as the eye can see, and behind, a peaceful forest filled with life. The storm and the black clouds had disappeared, leaving the place for a clear and calm weather. Mathias also notices the giant bird Songbird, standing a little apart and watching the surroundings in silence. His mechanical body carried several impacts and several small parts were missing, and its wings had been slightly touched as well, but it does not seem to be too damaged. His eyes are yellow, perhaps indicating a sentinel mode.

(Mathias): "I remember the zeppelin ..... From our fall in the void ...... What happened?"

(Elizabeth): "Songbird saved us. During the flight, you fainted because of your wound. Songbird brought us here, away in a quiet place, so that I could take care of you."

This giant monster that all along was their worst nightmare, had finally become their savior and a hero.

(Mathias): "And .... And Columbia?"

(Elizabeth): "Zachary is gone. His army has surrendered, and Vox Populi has taken control. Freedom can exist again."

Mathias smiled at this happy news and admired a little the beauty of the ocean dancing before him. Elizabeth stands at his side, and their hands touch, then intertwine. Elizabeth not wanting to reign over Columbia, she thought she had nothing more to do here. As they admire, the giant bird's big footsteps are heard, coming to stand behind the couple, as if to watch what Mathias does with Elizabeth. The couple looked at him and laughed amusedly and not mockingly, seeing Songbird watching over them as a babysitter watching children.

(Mathias): "Thank you for saving us, big boy." He said to the bird, and for the first time Songbird looked at Mathias with his green eyes. Elizabeth comes to give a little kiss on the beak of Songbird, followed by caresses, and the bird emits a small metallic sound of affection.

(Elizabeth): "You're maybe a machine, Songbird, but you are far from being a monster ...... Thank you, my dear friend."

Songbird made another little sound, as if he were answering the lady. This connection between her and the creature would never cease to astonish Mathias, but he was happy and smiling to see them thus, again gathered as friends, and not as a guardian and his prisoner. Elizabeth joins Mathias again, and hand in hand, continue to admire the ocean together. 

(Elizabeth): "This time we are really free."

(Mathias): "Yes, and the future is now waiting for us."

(Elizabeth): "But, although my father disappeared ..... I'm still afraid to become, one day ..... Like him ..."

(Mathias): "You will never be like this. Because unlike him, you know exactly how to recognize good people and to make the difference between good and evil." He said with sincerity, to reassure her.

Elizabeth smiled at this. The couple intertwines, Mathias hands touch Elizabeth's back, and she blocks her hands around his neck. Again, they kiss, but a kiss longer and more passionate than all the others before. Without stopping the kiss, Mathias caresses Elizabeth's back, and his embrace tightens a little more, without hurting her, as she passes her hand through the soldier's brown hair. The kiss lasts several minutes without interruption, becoming more passionate over the seconds. The couple interrupts the kiss for a short moment, their foreheads touching each other, and savoring every second of that moment, then their lips meet again. After the kiss, Elizabeth, curious, looks at the silver key hanging to the belt of Mathias.

(Elizabeth): "I did not ask you before, but how did you manage to get that key?"

(Mathias): "By this man and this woman we met and who gave you the badge of the bird. I think they were the famous inventors Zachary was talking about ... the Luteces. We should thank them for their help."

At the words of Mathias, strangely, Elizabeth seemed puzzled, intrigued.

(Elizabeth): "But, Mathias ...... It's simply impossible ...... The Luteces died several years ago."

At this moment, Mathias remains stuck a few moments, lost and not knowing what to say.

(Mathias): "W-What?"

(Elizabeth): "It was when I was still a baby. According to what my father told me, they had died in an accidental explosion of their laboratory, but I think it's not the real version, after what he revealed to us."

A shiver ran through Mathias' back as he realized this rather amazing truth. While he scratches his head to try to think, with the wind, something, a kind of folded paper that was hanging on Mathias' belt without he realizing it, falls at the feet of the couple. Curious, Elizabeth picks it up and open it. What she sees then, leaves her speechless, eyes round like marbles. Mathias, seeing her thus, comes to see what this paper contains, and he, too, remains open mouth without being able to articulate words. In the paper is a picture of the Lutece Twins, in front of a strange machine, like two metal pillars covered with electric diodes, and in the middle of the machine, a sort of vortex like those of Elizabeth. With the letter, there is a small radio, which Mathias takes and presses the button to listen to the last recorded message. Cornelius' voice is heard.

(Cornelius): "I think I'm going crazy. They are dead for years, and yet the Lutece twins visited me yesterday night. In addition to have invented the incredible technology of Columbia, would they have invented a serum of immortality?...... They told me that the soldier and the lady would soon be there, and that the era of violence would soon cease. I don't know what they are talking about, but I feel something very important will happen. Vox Populi must be ready...... I did not believe to ghosts and prophecies before, but now .... I'm not sure anymore."

Above the letter, some worlds are written: Thank you Mathias and Elizabeth. The couple doesn't know what thinking. From the beginning, the Luteces knew everything and planned everything ..... By their dimensional machine, they had seen their own death and the plan of Zachary Comstock, but knowing they could break the future, they decided to let their death coming as planned, but also after saw the arrival of Mathias in Columbia, and what was the true destiny of Elizabeth ..... The young woman smiles sadly, the photo in the hand. The Luteces were, so to speak, the true prophets of Columbia, not Zachary.

(Elizabeth): "They gave their lives, as expected, to allow us to live ours ..... As expected."

Mathias is also surprised by this revelation, but also thankful to the Luteces for their help. A sound of thrusters is heard in the air. A shuttle of the Vox Populi arrives in sight, shaking the water of the ocean under its wake. Songbird was ready to attack, seeing them as enemies, but Elizabeth quietly calmed him down. The shuttle landed on the sand, and from the ramp descended a procession of rebels, rifles in hand. In the middle of the procession, four men carry a wooden coffin, decorated with a medal of honor, on which is written a name: Cornelius Slate. One of the men approaches the couple.

(Rebellious): "Cornelius would have liked you to be present for him. He always said that at his death, not wanting a burial in a cemetery, but to be in a free place in the open air."

The couple understands and agrees to attend the funeral of the fallen leader. The coffin is carefully placed in a small white boat, then gently pushed by two men. Cornelius' personal belongings, like his cavalry saber, and his rifle, were also deposited in the boat alongside the coffin. To accompany his friend into the other world, Mathias placed his only medal on the coffin. Elizabeth had also deposited something, a white rose. The small boat begins to go slowly, offshore, under the gaze of all, silent and saluting one last time the memory of Captain Cornelius Slate. With his heart tight, Mathias imitated the other soldiers and made the military salute to honor his deceased friend. On other boats or shuttles, hundreds of people from the Vox Populi, men, women, and even children, all holding a candle in hand, greet with respect and sadness the departure of their leader. As the boat moves offshore, carried by the eddies of the water, Elizabeth begins to sing a little funeral song, which she improvises, with her angel voice. 

(Elizabeth):"In the light of the mighty lord

May he find the way of peace

Oh fallen soldier, brave leader

Lord, take care of him

Give him the path to your kingdom

Oh fallen soldier, brave leader

You stay in the memories

For new generations

Became a symbol of freedom."

The soldiers of the Vox, after the song, shoot in the air with their rifles, as the military tradition wants. Then, everyone remains silent, until the funeral boat has completely disappeared on the horizon, taking with it Cornelius Slate towards more peaceful shores. Elizabeth being the legitimate heiress of Columbia, decides by herself not to want this title, considering that she has chosen her own way. She decides to leave the people of Columbia to elect a new leader, wise and open-minded, who will be able to lead the people fairly. For this, she decides to address the people of the Vox Populi, men, women and children, all assembled on the shuttles bridges, and attentive. The surviving citizens of Columbia are there too, having been spared by the rebels. The Handymens also came. Elizabeth stands beneath these hundreds of looks on her, but sees Mathias stand by her side, to support her morally. Songbird stands behind the couple, like a huge bodyguard.

(Elizabeth): "Citizens of the nation of Columbia. For too long you have been deceived by leaders eager for power and ignorant of the world around us, but this time is now gone. No matter our skin color, our religion.... We remain above all human beings. Those who wish to leave Columbia and return to the world from below can do so if they wish. For my part, I do not claim the throne of Columbia and end the reign of the family Comstock. From now, it will be up to you, the people, to elect your own leader."

She had spoken, firmly but fairly, without fear, in front of all these people. Even though some did not seem to agree with her, the majority applauded this speech, despite the astonishment of such a decision. The hand of Mathias comes to take Elizabeth's, and he smiles at her.

(Mathias): "Well said, my lady." He said, and she thanked him by a smile. 

Few minutes later, Mathias and Elizabeth are ready to leave this place, and hoping never to return. Songbird comes to them, having now taken the young man in affection, and leans to let him ride on his back. Meanwhile, Elizabeth looks at the silver key in her hand, and lets it on a small mound of sand where she buried the metal flute, judging that henceforth, they will no longer need it. After that, she joined Mathias, who held out his hand to make her go up with him, and the couple on his back, Songbird straightened up, his wings outstretched, and flew over the water, heading for the open sea, And the future that now awaits the young couple in a vast world full of mysteries, leaving behind them their pain and bad memories. From her pocket, Elizabeth takes out a small picture, representing her being a child, in a pretty lace dress, smiling and happy at Columbia, with Zachary, like a true father with his daughter. Having decided that this life no longer existed, Elizabeth dropped the picture, and watched her fly away to the wind, eventually falling into the water of the ocean. Mathias, seeing her do it and seeing her pensively with sad eyes, puts his hand on her shoulder, to comfort her. They smile and kiss with love, while Elizabeth unfolds her power, surrounding herself, Mathias and Songbird, with a halo of shining energy.

When the silhouette of Songbird is far on the horizon, flying towards the twilight sun, two silhouettes emerge from the forest, and one of them picks up the key in the palm of his hand, and smiling to see the couple flying towards their future, and entering into a vortex that Elizabeth opened in the sky, towards an unknown destination.

(Robert Lutece): "The key is not necessarily the one we believe."

(Rosalind Lutece): "But this is like freedom: it's enough to believe it, to make it real."

And on these words, the man and the woman disappear again without leaving traces, in front of two graves, on the edge of the forest, hidden by the luxuriant vegetation, where are engraved on the stones: Robert and Rosalind Lutece.

THE END

Bioshock became one of my favorite franchise of all time, I fell in love with the character of Elizabeth Comstock at the first time I played the game, and she's in my heart since, and forever. I wanted so much to write one fanfiction (or several) about this great and complex franchise. All the characters, places and creatures are not mine, they belong to the Bioshock franchise (except Mathias Booker, who represents myself). Thank you for all of you who read this story. Hope you enjoyed it, tell me what do you think of the story, and for those who didn't know Bioshock before, hope you made a great discovery. :)

Cast:

Courtnee Draper in the role of

Elizabeth Comstock

Mathias Poupinais (me) in the role of

Mathias Booker

Charles Dance in the role of

Zachary Hale Comstock

Ewan McGregor in the role of

Robert Lutece

Jennifer Hale in the role of

Rosalind Lutece

Bill Lobley in the role of

Jeremiah Fink

Patrick Stewart in the role of

Cornelius Slate

Derek Mears in the role of

a Handyman

Ian Whyte in the role of

The crow zealot

And I don't forget the great metal bird and best creature from Bioshock franchise, Songbird!

Credits song of the story (at the top of the page):

The Reckoning - Within Temptation

If you want more, you can read my Bioshock sequel, "The Infinite Truth".

Bonus pic : the back cover of the story