Ah, your journey with me is quickly drawing to an end. I told you this wasn't going to be as long as 'The Iron Prince'… I will however, be writing two other stories in the next few months, but not for Bioshock. Now, shameless self-advertising over, time to finish the last chapter!

Delta backed up as he watched Gwendoline collapse to her knees, clutching at her head. He didn't really know what to do, if there was anything he could…

Gwendoline gasped in relief as the crushing force of the pain left her. She very shakily tried to stand up and was a little surprised when Delta helped her up. He stared at her expectantly. He probably wanted to know what the hell had just happened.

"Gamma's nearby… I can feel it… and something isn't right." Delta nodded, and carefully backed up.

"Thanks. I guess he wouldn't appreciate seeing you here… he's… well, you know. You need to go find Eleanor, anyway…."

Delta hesitated, but nodded, and strode off down in the opposite direction, His heavy, clunking footsteps echoing down the corridor, and off into darkness.

Gwendoline leant against a wall for a moment, considering what she was going to do now. She was desperate to see Gamma. He'd be so happy to see her, she just knew it… But that feeling hadn't been right…

A howl suddenly pierced the air. It was aggressive. Animalistic. It was Gamma. Gwendoline broke into a run, heading towards where she could hear the sounds of destruction, the howls of fury and anger.

She stumbled near a corner, but came to the room. What she saw chilled her to her very core. Gamma, standing in ruined room. It was his work, judging from the sounds she had heard.

Tears came to her eyes. He was alive. He was there, in front of her, after ten years, ten years of loneliness, of agony. Ten years of study, of parties, anything to keep her mind of the emptiness of life without him.

He turned to her, sharply. And stared. His helmet was cracked slightly, his suit worn, stained, covered in barnacles and other little treasures of the sea. He'd had a rough time since her leaving, evidently.

"G…Gamma…? I…I'm back. I've come back for you." She managed, in a half whisper. His silence and absence of movement was worrying her.

Suddenly, he let out another guttural, screaming howl. And charged at her. Gwendoline stared, wide-eyed; the next thing she knew she was pinned against a wall, the force of her hitting the wall sent shockwaves of pain through her spine.

She could see Gamma's sticky breath fogging the glass of his helmet, feel him grinding up against her. This wasn't him…not any more.

She struggled against him, and managed to raise her arms to his helmet, pushing against it. She had to break this…

"Gamma!" She said, in the most commanding tone she could manage… trying to keep the fear and despair from her voice.

"Let. Me. Go." She said, her hands trembling against his sheer, brutal strength. He roared, in agony, rather than fury, and collapsed to his knees, releasing her from his vice-like grip, and began to cry.

He was crying openly now, and reached up, unclipping the airlocks on his helmet, tossing it to the ground and burying his greyed, blotchy face into Gwendoline's lower chest.

Tears flowed freely from Gwendoline now too. She had him back. He was here. And now, no matter what happened… they were together.

"Gamma, what happened to you?" It was a few hours later… they had just stayed as they had been for a very long time, not daring to move in case the other disappeared, in case it was a dream. But it wasn't. They were both alive, and they were together.

I do not remember. I only remember seeing you taken away… and the sadness. Gwendoline, we won't ever be apart again. I will die before we are separated.

He'd become more eloquent… she supposed the distance had unwritten part of his Protector Programming… and had restored part of his personality.

"The same for me, Gamma… Michael. You remember being Michael, don't you?" She asked.

I do. But it doesn't matter who I am, if I'm with you I do not care.

Gwendoline smiled a little bit, and, standing on tiptoes (she'd never grown much taller than 5'6'') kissed him delicately on his lips.

"We're here now. And we'll stay together forever."

***** 1972, New York. The Apartment of Miss E. Lamb. *****

Eleanor Lamb stared at the typewriter in front of her. The last of her childhood memoirs were complete, finally. She looked over to the corner of her desk, next to the turntable she had bought from a second-hand shop.

A collection of old photographs and trinkets. A photograph of a man with a moustache in a diving suit, holding a helmet. They'd called him 'Johnny Topside'… She'd called him 'Father'. She did have a picture of her mother, somewhere near the back of the collection. She could never forgive her for what she had tried to do… but she was her mother. And she loved her still, in a way.

Eleanor was now 20 years old, and had grown into an ambitious young woman, interested in journalism. She had lived in isolation for a lot of her life, blind to the outside world. Now she wanted the chance to explore it, and to share her experiences with others. But her first writings had been altogether different. She needed to tell her own story, before she could tell others. And she needed to tell Gwendoline's.

All the 'Gatherers' had been her sisters. They were connected. All of them. She had felt Gwendoline's pain, her joy, her love. And she had to give testimony for what she herself could no longer say. She didn't know what had happened to Gwendoline and Gamma after they had been reunited. Part of her knew they had most likely been trapped in Rapture, but she liked to imagine they were somewhere out there, in the world… together. Loving each other as they always had.

She had a few things of theirs, also. A photograph of Michael Hawkeswood, in his uniform, that Gwendoline had dropped in Rapture. Gwendoline with her Uncle Albert. The drawing one of the little sisters had done of the two of them was framed on the wall.

She moved over to her window, and opened it, peering out at the sun rising over the cityscape. She had always wondered what the sun looked like when she was younger. She'd never imagined it could be so beautiful. She smiled. Somewhere, she hoped, the Iron Prince and his Maiden of Steel were looking at the same sun, too.

Well, there it is. The end… I'm sorry this ended up being so short, but I'd never intended it to be long. If you liked my story, a fellow writer and correspondent of mine, raptor red, has written a similar story called 'The Guardian'. Please check out his story, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I have so far!