Binding of Isaac: Beyond

by IAmNotSmartest

Gelid

*It was cold.

Isaac sat beneath an emergency tent, erected by the empire guards just outside of the gaping hole where the school was. They’d taken his clothes, dried him off, wrapped him in a blanket. Cadence and Shining were there, both having had only a moment to confirm his well-being before needing to address the citizens and the guard.

Isaac hadn’t heard a word of it, nodding mechanically, shivering in the damp chill.

He was cold.

Cain isn’t.

But Isaac was.

…

He couldn’t stop seeing the eyes. The last moments. He’d caught Cain’s face a moment before he’d… ante mortem.

They’d been… sad. But not afraid. Regretful. Remorseful. Almost… apologetic.

Then they’d bulged obscenely in horror and agony, a scream being silenced on his lips by the splash of blood that elicited it.

‘Isaac… be safe, okay? We need to talk soon.’

Isaac shuddered. He never would know what Cain needed to say.

Ponies ran around, back and forth, expressions of fear, relief, and worry crossing their faces. Voices shouted. Screams. Crying.

But none for Cain. Nobody mourned him but Isaac. And nobody would.

It’s not fair. He never did them wrong. He saved them. He helped them live. And no monuments are made for him. No honors to his name. Isaac stared at the small flickering of the blue candle. They don’t even know it.

He’d received glares. Shouts of anger and hatred. Pitiful glances. Grateful smiles. Thank-you’s. Not one “I’m sorry for your loss.”

Isaac unwrapped the eyepatch from his grip. He refused to let go of it, even when they were taking his clothes. Crusted blood flaked off his palm.

I’m sorry. I couldn’t save you. Isaac rubbed off the blood, holding it in his open hand. I couldn’t. I wasn’t good enough.

He felt empty. He wanted to cry, but he just couldn’t. He didn’t have it left in him; there was nothing left, it felt. Isaac just wanted to have everything be still, until he could… until he could deal with this again. Until he could feel this again.

He wanted things to just stop. He felt like his heart he dropped out of his chest and fallen into his stomach. He just felt sick. No one else cared at all for the only one who had died here today. They didn’t care. And Isaac couldn’t even mourn him properly.

No tears shed over his death beyond his own.

...

He didn’t even know why he’d lit the body.

Maybe he didn’t want Cain to be buried, trapped again. His ashes would spread. He’s… he’s in the sky now.

But he still could not face the sky. He could only stare at the bloody eye cover, and the blue flame of Cain’s parting gift.

He wasn’t sure how long he would sit there. But he wouldn’t leave until his heart had thawed.

It remained cold as he eventually succumbed to exhaustion, and slept.

---

Cadence had finally finished dealing with the disaster of today.

The south end of the city had been swarmed with a veritable army of fleshy monsters, that would rise over and over from their apparent destruction. It had been a flawless invasion; the city may very well have been taken if they hadn’t stopped so suddenly.

The entirety of the guard had been required to evacuate and defend the city, which left nopony to help those trapped in the fissure where the school had been. Even Cadence herself was preoccupied with protecting the empire, striking down waves of the amorphous masses of flesh and tendons every time they began to raise.

And when they finally arrived at the crater…

They were all out, except Isaac and Shining. Several stood at the edge, looking down at them. Her husband was struggling to pull Isaac away from a dying blue flame, the child pulling himself from his grip every time with a shout of distress, broken and weakened by silent sobs. She herself had to pull them out, Isaac finally relenting only when the flame died completely.

She had talked to Shining about what had happened. It seemed Isaac had watched someone he knew be… killed. Cain. He’d burned the body.

Cadence was worried for him. But she needed to attend to the kingdom, reassure them that the city was safe, and the monsters had been eradicated. Shining had to attend to the guard. So they only had time to make sure he was okay before they had to leave him with the rest of the recovering children.

Now though, he was asleep. And she was taking him home, as the rain turned to snow beyond the empire’s boundaries. The moon shone brightly, lighting the halls of the castle as she carried him over her back. She held the azure candle in her mystic grip; she needed to study its magical properties, it had already proved to be a dangerous weapon.

She pulled the covers back on his bed, tucking him in. She noticed something in his hand - she extracted a filthy, blood-crusted eyepatch. Shining had said Cain wore one.

She thought about leaving it on the bedside table. He wouldn’t of held onto it if it weren’t important to him...

But it wasn’t right to leave him to wake up to such a crushing memory. To let him wake up to tragedy and sorrow.

He deserved at least one day without suffering, right? One morning? A moment of peace?

So she took the eyepatch, cleansed his hand, and closed the door quietly to let Isaac rest.

---

Elsewhere, a lone stallion of ebon fur trudged through the glaciers of the north, a red cloak adorning him. A child, shivering in rags, sat uncomfortably on his back.

“Where are we going?” the boy asked, holding his shoulders in a vain effort to ward off the frigid temperatures. Precariously tipping, he pulled on the stallion’s reddish-black mane to stay upright.

“I have told you,” he replied, through gritted sharp teeth. “we return to my home.”

The child brushed snow from his ginger hair. “But where is it?”

The stallion stopped, having crested another hill. “There.”

The child looked down, and saw what may have been the most beautiful thing he’d ever known; a sprawling city of shining light, purple, blue and pink sparkling dimly in the snow-choked light of moon. He slipped off the stallion, shakily standing up to move closer. “It’s so… so pretty! It seems so beautiful...! You live there?”

The stallion nodded, saying grimly, “I did, and shall again. We return there to reclaim my throne from the usurper that had stolen it from me.”

The child looked up at him. His green-rimmed eyes smoldered with anger… but softened, turning to him. “You have done well to awaken me, Lazarus. I will give you the world you deserve. The life you deserve.”

Lazarus beamed at him. “A-and we can save Isaac, too?”

“If he can be saved from their tyranny, it shall be so.”

Lazarus embraced the denied sovereign. His faint tears of gratitude froze to the pony’s fur. He could feel the boy’s body shaking in the blizzard. He unclasped his cape, and tossed it around the child’s body. He hugged tighter. Uneasily, he returned the hug.

All he deserves, thought King Sombra. And all they deserve as well.

Author's Note:

(For those using the soundtracking feature, allow the wind to continue over the next chapter.)
(SORRY I TOOK SO LONG I WAS AT THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE AND I LOST MY PHONE AND GAAAAH)

You didn't honestly think Isaac would get much of a break for his psychological trauma, did you? We all know you need a higher luck stat than that.~

I finally got it! Now all I got left is Keeper (Finished Greed, Cathedral and Heart), 'Speed!', 'Brains', 'Onan's Streak', and 'Guardian!'
... I can already see my February Break being eaten away by just the first thing on that list.
I'm gonna add the soundtrack to these past 2-3 chapters soon, sorry I keep taking so long with that!

I cannot believe there's almost 200 likes on this.
You people... I've actually run out of nice things to call you, I need to go think of more!

---

Thank you TrueGentleman, HydraLightning, and ShamelessOC for editing and proofreading for me!

Special thanks to awesomesauce4 for giving me the motive to write, rewrite, and start this story! Check their Isaac story too, it's great! |The Unbinding|

Comments

[Luna Aeterna Solutae]

>Binding of Isaac
no

[Cracked Egg]

Keep going.

[Lord Shaxx]

Congrats on unlocking Godhead! If you have Afterbirth, twice Chaos has let my buy Godhead for 15 in the Shops. It's insane.

And here's a tip for unlocking the Mega Blast: you only have to beat Mega Satan on normal. Hard is NOT required. Keeper is going to be the most challenging to do it on, because he's such an awful character before unlocking more of his starting items.

[Twinleo]

It's just getting better and better by the chapter! Keep it up!

[IAmNotSmartest]

6907570 Will do!
6907615 Thanks! I'll do my best!
6907608 I've actually just been going for Angel Rooms on my hard Keeper runs anyway. Better than devil deals I can't take. Also, I love Chaos. On a curse of the blind floor it changed the boss drop to Syntax Error. The run died on the chest.
6907569 Uhm... yes? You don't need to read it if you don't wanna!

[awesomesauce4]

6907686 Take it from me, Sacrifice Rooms are the way to go if you want Keeper to get to Mega Satan. Half the drop chances are coins...

[Bryce98]

Congrats on the Lost wins!
The Keeper is definitely harder. All I need as Keeper is Mega Satan and maybe Hush, I think, and I need it as Lilith as well.

[ErikPhantom]

Dammit Cadance, your intentions are good but that is SO going to be an issue the moment Issac wakes up...

[Scarheart]

This is a wonderfully tragic story.