I do not own Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. I do own Core and her back story and the parts of the plot that aren't in the game. This fic spawned largely from my dissatisfaction with the ending of the game. It was an awesome game and I didn't want it to end. So I decided to write a fic. It's rated for language and violence mostly, but also for some sexual scenes.

Enslaved: Marks of the Past.
Chapter One: Pyramid Memories.

This place sucks. This place sucks. This place sucks.

Core heard the same thing every time her feet hit the ground, the words taking on the rhythm of the quick pace she'd set for herself. She'd been stuck in the world of Pyramid's memories for almost two years and she wanted out.

At first, she'd tried to be optimistic and see the opportunities available. She'd tried to adjust to the world, to become one with Pyramid's memories, to be happy like everyone else. It really was a nice place. It was calm and quiet. At one point, Core thought she might have been happy. She'd met someone, tried to have a real relationship. That'd failed. She was too cynical for him, too concerned with what she had had before she'd been enslaved. She was on her fifth job. None of the jobs made her happy. None of her employers wanted her around, bringing down the mood of the place. Things had rapidly deteriorated for Core and she hadn't bothered to try and rebuild them.

The only thing that kept her sane was thinking about the world outside the memories and trying not to focus on how ready everyone around was to believe in the shiny, happy memories of Pyramid.

This place sucks. This place sucks. This place sucks.

Core missed the danger, the fighting of the real world, of her old life. Pyramid's memories were incomplete. He'd just put the happy and good memories into this world. Since Core had arrived, there had been no war and hardly any crime. It was boring here in the New York of Pyramid's time. She missed running through the ruins of the old cities, climbing, exploring, fighting mechs. She missed the people she'd known, her family, her colony, the ocean.

This place sucks. This place sucks. This place sucks.

Core reached the steps of her apartment building and came to a stop. She doubled over, braced herself with her hands on her knees and sucked in deep breaths, trying to bring her mind out of the dark place. Running was the only thing that kept her focused. She ran every day, in the morning, before the sun came up, before the world started and she had to face the fact that she might be stuck in the Pyramid memories forever; before she had to face the shiny, happy people in their shiny, happy world.

Once her heart rate was suitably lowered, Core jogged up the steps, unlocked the front door, checked her mail and then jogged up to the top floor where her tiny little apartment was located. It was rather dingy and dark, since it located on the edge of New York and on the edge of Pyramid's memories of the place, but it was her sanctuary, the only place she was really happy in the Pyramid world anymore.

There was one large window on the wall beside the bed and a smaller window over the kitchen sink. The walls were the only place that showed anything about the personality of the person who lived there. They were plastered with sketches she'd done of her memories of the world she'd left behind: her mother and her younger sister, both of whom had died in a slaver attack; her father, who had taken her and retreated to an underground colony away from the danger of said slavers, a man determined not to lose his last remaining family member; her older brothers who fought to protect the colony; the places she'd grown up in, places she'd seen. And, on the wall beside the window, was a sketch of Monkey, the man who had taught her how to fight and the person she missed the most.

Core gazed at the sketch of the angry-looking man for a few moments before stripping down and walking into the bathroom and turning the shower on almost as hot as it would go. She stepped into the steaming water and let it soak her hair and relax her down to her bones. Core stood under the water for a long time after she was clean. When she had started to prune, she pulled herself out from the water and wrapped one of the fluffy white towels around her body, pausing as she did so to concentrate on her scars—she had learned a long time ago that if you didn't remember yourself the way you were, you could physically change. Core had watched several people she'd met shift, become what they thought was more beautiful. It freaked Core out. She liked her scars. They were a map of her life, of her own memories. She liked the way she looked.

After she had dried herself off, Core pulled on a pair of black pants and a bright blue tank top that made her blue-green eyes stand out and offset her blonde hair. She pulled her waist-length hair back and braided it to keep it out of her face while she was at work. Since she was currently a bike messenger, doing just that was a challenge. The wind was always blowing her hair all over the place and tangling it; she missed when most of her hair had been done in dreadlocks and impossible to mess up.

Outside and out back of the apartment, Core slung her bag across her chest, pulled on her fingerless gloves and unlocked her bike. She took off towards the dispatch office, the sound of her bike tires taking up the rhythm her feet had earlier that morning.

This place sucks. This place sucks. This place sucks.

Just as she did every morning, Core rode to the diner at the intersection before the dispatch office and got her eggs and bacon and toast. After she had eaten, she rode to work and started her deliveries for the day. Core played the part—smiling and waving and doing the small talk—and she played it well, but her mind was always, always, always back in the real world. She moved through the deliveries, through her day without much thought, until she could return home eight hours later and be by herself; the way she liked it.

Core was well aware of how depressed she was and knew that she could work harder to get herself out of the hole, but she didn't want to. She just wanted, more than anything, to go home. To go back to her family. Her life.

"Go on, put the mask on."

Core jumped as the voice echoed through her mind. She looked around, cocked her head sideways, trying to locate the source of the voice; she didn't want to believe it was just in her head.

"See what it is you have come to destroy."

Core jumped again, spun around, still looking.

"It's... beautiful."

After hearing that voice, Core could no longer deny that it was in her head. The voices were coming from outside the Pyramid world. Core didn't know why she could hear the voices and she didn't really care. All that mattered was the owner of the second voice. "Monkey," she breathed; she was having trouble finding her breath. She'd never thought she'd hear Monkey's voice again. It had been so long...

The world suddenly went white. Core couldn't see. There was nothing to see.

Incredible pain shot through her back, along her spine and outward through her nerves. She was on fire. Core screamed and knew no one would hear. She felt as if she would explode.

"Monkey... Did I do the right thing?"

Core had the sensation she was falling, but it was distant, something she noticed in addition to the pain of having all of her nerve endings spliced with a knife. She kept screaming, loudly as she could. She screamed until her throat hurt and until she couldn't scream anymore. Images and faces started to flash by her eyes as she fell and Core was sure she was dying. That whatever was going on with the Pyramid World was going to kill everyone inside, everyone attached to the source. All the slaves were going to die.

She slammed into something hard and the intense pain vanished.

Core gasped, fresh, warm air flooding her mouth and lungs. She coughed, choked and rolled onto her back. She couldn't get a good breath. She started to hyperventilate. Somehow, she managed to climb to her feet and remove the helmet that had connected her to Pyramid, but she still couldn't get a good breath. Her vision was starting to go—sparks of light were dancing across her view. Someone slapped her on the back and she coughed up a hunk of black goo. Finally, finally, she was able to suck in a satisfactory breath. But she still didn't feel right. She tried to take a step and fell to the ground. She tried to focus on something, anything in the room but couldn't.

A flash of bright red caught her eye.

Bo, her younger sister, she had had red hair.

But Bo was dead. Wasn't she?

After spending so much time in the world of lies, Core wasn't sure what was real anymore. It could be Bo. It had to be Bo. Core righted herself and moved towards the red thing, coughing up more of the black goo as she moved. She stumbled, shoved some of the other slaves out of the way and pushed herself to run. Bo was walking with someone else. Core had to catch her. Core ran faster and started to cry.

She was back in the real world and her sister was here.

Author's Note.

So, interesting fact... Core is my only character with blonde hair. Huh. Wonder why that is.

For the record, the chapters in this fic won't be that long.

Enjoy!

Next Chapter: You Again.