{Narrator POV}
Footsteps thunder down the hallway, heralding the arrival of the reinforcements sent by the now-dismantled group.
"-arghh…"
And to make matters all the better, the Void-corrupted person starts to recover from his self-imposed bout of unconsciousness.
""Shite!""
The two men mutter in unison as they observe the mess in synchrony.
Bending down, Luke grabs his dagger from the freshly made corpse's head and turns to the man beside him.
"G-"
"I know what I need to do, fucking idiot. I'm you, remember."
The man, whose eye colours even now still swirled until they were dominated by the colour of Luke's own, rubs his neck irritably, like he was in pain.
"Ugh… why does this body have so little resistance to pain?"
He turns, looking towards the group of advancing soldiers while cocking his gun.
Though not hearing any of the footsteps he should be hearing, Luke 2 turns around and glares at the original.
"Well? What the hell are you waiting for? I won't be able to stall for long, so just clear off already."
Breaking out of his stunned silence, Luke gives… Luke a nod of understanding before barging through the heavy door and into the room of his target.
…
..
.
After a good while of playing cat and mouse with the soldiers, Luke manages to escape their grasp by fully utilising his experience as an assassin.
Though despite working as an assassin for months, as well as having inherited the memories of Corvo's stealth training and childhood during their days together, Luke never managed to become much better at the art, leading him to nearly getting caught multiple times.
The only reason he excelled in the art previously was because of the power set he had in Dunwall… something that largely remains inaccessible to him currently.
After escaping, Luke went to the gang's base of operations to report his success and drop off the 'package'.
Inside the sealed paper was a familiar object.
Made out of pure bone, carved with various runes that, if you looked at them too long, seemed to 'writhe' and 'breathe' as they moved back and forth. Then there was the jarring, high-pitched noise that only one attuned to that side of the world could hear.
And it gave him quite the shock when he opened it up, causing him to wrap it up tighter so nothing could track him down. That wouldn't have been much of a surprise after tonight.
After receiving that package, Josh had a disappointed look on his face as he looked up and down at Luke. Did he expect Luke to come out of a fight with the Void equivalent of a Void Head unscathed?
But other than the quiet look of disdain, the gang boss looked quite pleased with himself, dismissing Luke with a wave as if shooing him off.
And so, with a roaring fire of negativity shimmering inside his heart, Luke went home.
…
..
.
Sneaking in quietly through his window, Luke manages to avoid making enough noise to wake up his family… or at least, that's what he hoped.
Stripping down out of his ruined clothing, right down to his boxers, he headed to the bathroom to wash away all the blood, a mix of both his own and a variety of other people's, staining his body.
creeeaakkk
"Fuck…"
Misplacing his foot caused a loud creak to echo around the upstairs hallway… right next to his mother and sister's room.
'Should've just found a hotel or slept outside. Fuck! Somebody's going to wake up now.'
And as if to confirm his thoughts, a haggard and tired-looking version of his mum stepped out of her room.
Initially, a determined look was set on her face. Something that melted away instantly.
"…Luke…"
Water rapidly escaped her eyes, clouding her vision and joining up with the tear stains already present on her face.
With heavy steps, she walked up to him and threw her arms around his chest before quiet sobbing joined in with the tears.
"…what have they done to you again, Luke… how many times are they going to hurt us like this?"
"I'm sorry."
With visible effort, she pried her face from Luke's bloodstained chest, a good coating now covering her face.
Reaching out, she touched the giant hole in his cheek that let you see more teeth than skin.
Seeing him not flinch at her touching the raw skin, she grabbed a cloth from her pocket and held it to the quickly scabbing skin.
"…does it hurt?"
She asked with a tremor in her voice as violent trembling replaced the sobbing.
Grabbing her hand gently, he nodded quietly while desperately avoiding her quivering gaze.
"Mum… please go to sleep. I don't want you to see me like this."
At his words, the pressure of her hand on his cheek grew slightly stronger as anger started to make its way into her grief and sadness.
"SLEEP?! How could I sleep when me and my baby are locked up here with explosive dog collars attached to our necks?! While the people responsible use my baby as a tool for their sick games?!"
Her breathing picked up, and tears started to fall once again.
Eventually, the exhaustion got to her as she lost all strength and fully collapsed into him.
Luke picked her up and, after briefly going into the bathroom to wash the blood that stained her face, navigated through the dark and entered her bedroom.
In the corner of his eye, Luke caught a faint bit of movement from under the covers that went suspiciously still when he set his mum down next to it.
"I know you're awake, Kathryn. No use pretending now. You've got to get to bed."
"…are you okay, Luke? I heard Mum saying you're hurt… I'm scared, what's going on?"
He stilled slightly, a pained look that was obscured in this darkness crossing over his face. He forcefully squashed those feelings deep down and put a confident edge to his voice.
"Oi, don't you worry your little pea head about any of this. Leave the worrying to the adults, like your big bro! Now stop being stubborn and get your head down, alright?"
He reached out, using his good hand to ruffle the girl's hair lightly.
"..I do not have a pea head, thank you very much."
A miffed, pouty voice was what answered him. But as he was about to further insist on her sleeping, the rustling sounds of someone getting comfortable in bed told Luke all he needed to know.
"Good night, Luke."
"Night, Kat."