Dishonoured: Whatever it takes

Everything has a consequence

"You're getting old, Daud" Daud looked over his shoulder just enough to see The Outsider sat back in his big, leather chair.

"Have you forgot mortals such as myself tend to age with time?"

"No. I had not, although I didn't expect you to go like this" Daud knew exactly what he meant and he wished he hadn't known. He took a gulp of the whiskey in the glass he was holding and enjoyed the acidic substance burning his throat as he swallowed it.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going soft?" The question surprised Daud a little as he turned to face The Outsider.

"What makes you think that?" Daud squinted in the dark room trying to see what expression The Outsiders face carried. Ever since that day he could swear The Outsider changed. That, as he stood staring at him, he looked rather feminine one moment but very masculine the next. What was he? The question had been eating away at him for seven months.

"You haven't killed a soul in almost seven months" Daud was barley paying any attention to his words as in his mind he replayed what happened that day in the grounds of Dunwall Tower. Daud remembered driving a sword into Empress Jessamine. He remembered how it felt and he shuddered. His apprentice, Lurk, grabbed Emily and held Corvo in the air with one of the many powers The Outsider had to offer. He'd never forget Corvo's face. Dead eyes.

"Daud?" Daud jumped at the prompt but quickly straightened himself out. He didn't say a word. The Outsider stood and began to walk around the room.

"Are you scared of Corvo? Or perhaps killing the Empress and taking Emily away changed something inside you, although you seemed to enjoy it to me" Daud remembered The Outsider watching him. Just after Jessamine died he reached into her body, as easily as reaching through

air, and pulled out her still beating heart. No mark was left on her body apart from the one Daud had created himself.

"I'm getting old as you said. I can't kill with such accuracy anymore. Too risky for me to kill now"

"Yet you plan to kill Corvo when he comes calling, and I guarantee he will" It suddenly dawned on Daud that The Outsider probably paid regular visits to Corvo too. Daud slumped down in his chair and took another sip of whiskey.

"I don't plan to kill Corvo. He will probably kill me, although I had thought my death would be at the hands of one of my assassins" The battle he'd had with Lurk wasn't so long ago, maybe if she'd decided to betray him now his death would have been on her hands.

"Billy Lurk" The Outsider said aloud almost as if he could read Daud's thoughts, "A promising young assassin. It's no secret why she was the only woman you ever trained. Maybe she could sense you getting soft too" It's no secret, when Daud killed the Empress and took Emily, something broke inside him. He knew he'd pay for what he'd done and maybe he deserved to.