The last Gulpers slumped to the ground with a heavy thud. It had surprised the Grand Zealot to see the creatures quite so close to the hallowed Glowing Grove, but then again these creatures were as much blessed by Atom's fog as the Children. He had an odd respect for the fog creatures, though certainly no love for them. Especially when they made pilgrimage more hazardous.

He saw Sister Hannah walking the parameter of the grove, weapon ready, occasionally losing sight of her to the fog. Richter was sure they had probably taken care of the monsters, none the less he was happy to know someone was keeping watch as he knelt down next one of the gulpers. Whispering a small prayer of thanks to Atom he traced his fingers over the moist skin, feeling for the soft spot where the knife would sink in easiest. Pressing the blade in, he made a long strike down the beasts belly, a slurry of organs spilling onto the floor. The smell of mud and fish and blood invaded his senses and he had to stop himself for gagging. Even after years of doing this, the smell of an old Gluper never improved. He looked around once more, catching the sisters figure walking the grove before he continued the butchery.

Sister Hannah was the newest member to the islands order, joining only within the last week. She had come from the Capital under recommendation from Mother Curie after serving there for around a year. Friendly to everyone, always lending a hand and devout to Atom she had easily won people over. But there was something about her that bothered the Grand Zealot and it came when talking about her life before Atom. What little he had leant was that she had grown up in the old capitals wastes as a farm girl later running with a raiders gang. After an incident with a mininuke that had killed most of her unit, she had found the Children and converted. Nothing particularly special, but it he could help but listen to his instinct, which told him that her words were just a veneer. She had a certain rigidity about her mannerisms, a certain way of carrying out orders that he recognized. Her calling her raider companions a 'unit' only confirmed his suspicions. It both frustrated and intrigued the Grand Zealot.

So today he had specially requested she accompany him so that he could observe her. He had yielded little from small talk, it apparently didn't come naturally to either of them and the veil of secrecy still remained. However, when they had begun to hunt the Gulpers, it was her actions that spoke to him. She constantly observed, assessed and reorganized her attack. Her gun fire was not the sporadic, quick panicked fire of a wastelander that many of the other children showed. It was slower, calmer and often right on target. Few bullets and fewer stimpaks, keeping light on her feet, but rarely truly giving up ground. Richter had come across few raider group that taught any level of combat operation, certainly none in the capital wastes.

He mulled the images of her fighting style in his head, as he ripped the last of the gulpers guts out of the cavity. It took a few minutes of carving flesh, before he deemed he had enough and packed the meat into a lined bag, taking care to avoid getting excess blood on him. At least there would be a good helping of food for everyone tonight.

Sister Hannah appeared for the corner of his vision. "The area has been secured Grand Zealot, there appears to be no other threats to the pilgrims."

"Good work sister" He said as he poured a small amount of water on his hands to remove any remaining blood. Standing up he noticed their surrounding had changed. The fog was thickening and the ominous yellowing and closeness of the air told him a storm was about to roll in. A thin strike of yellow electricity somewhere high above them confirmed this. "We should rest up for the moment and let the storm pass."

"But will Atom not protect us as we travel to the radiant shrine?" She questioned as he began to head off in a different direction.

"Atom protects and loves his children, but it is not our place to test his power or will-" he turned "-and besides I need to repair my weapon." holding up his gun she could see the barrel had been damaged when a gulper had tried to charge him, blocking the beast jaws with his gun. She nodded and followed him away from the grove.

There was an old world road not far from the grove, a bus sitting in the middle. The back half had crumbled long ago, rust fusing it to the tarmac. Richter climbed the stairs with some care to avoid the holes and found a seat near the front where he placed the broken gun down and sat in the opposite chair. Hannah took a seat diagonally opposite from him, placing her own gun before her and taking out a small repair kit, tinkering with the firing mechanism that had become 'sticky'. Richter took up his own gun, turning it over in his hands to inspect the damage. The dents in it where deep enough to have flexed the metal inside the barrel and the gamma array simply crushed beyond repair. Gulper teeth, though needle like, had enough power behind them to make a good mark on metal, though likely broke off in the process. Richter's gun bore this evidence with a fine pointed tooth lodged into the barrel near the main body. This was going to take a workbench to repair. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Hannah looked over at him before offering to take a look. He handed the radium rifle too her, curious what she could do if anything to fix it. Another test.

She spent time dislodging the tooth and handed it to the Grand Zealot, disassembling the rest of the gun to inspect for more internal damages. Unfortunately she concluded similar, it would require a workbench and some serious repairs before the gun could be of much use again.

"I remember seeing one of the men in the harbor selling combat rifles. I could go down and get a few to stock up for spares and repairs. Your gun need a new recoil spring as well as its barrel and I need a new magazine catch and to find the fault in my own gamma array, it keeps making an odd humming sound."

"I know the man you speak of, you must be careful of him. He is a dangerous heretic, blaspheming us and Atoms name."

"But if we are to only ever point our guns at those who have not seen Atoms divine light, then how may we show them his way?-" She questioned "-and how are we to repair your weapon?"

Richter allowed a small smile to show, the woman had clear spent a lot of time with the prophet Father Cornwell. "You ask many questions, but worry not sister, Atom will show us the way through Confessor Martin. As for my gun, I will get by." Showing her that he still had a combat knife on him. "Though we will have to head back to the Nucleus before the shrine." She nodded and returned to her own weapon, reassembling the parts. He watched her for a few moments, before decided that now was as good a time as any. "Sister, I now would like to be the one asking questions. You seem to know a lot about guns, how come?"

She concentrated hard on the spring in front of her, avoiding looking at him "Just the kind of thing you pick up as you go along. I repaired some of the Children's weapons in the Capital."

"The same with the way you stand when you fight"

She again avoided his hawk like gaze, though curt tones were beginning to sound in her usually calm and light voice. "I wouldn't have survived so long in the wastes if I couldn't fight well."

"So have the other children here, but when they fight it is with the stance of a wastelander. Yours is not" He pressed on with his inquisition.

"Like I said, I ran with raiders for a while."

"A farmer to a raider?"

"They killed my family and took me captive. I had little choice"

"How old were you?"

"I don't really... 13 or so."

"Who were they?"

"They were-" There was a pause in her answer "They were lead by a man called Guts"

Richter put a firm hand on her gun and it was the first time she looked up at him. Her breath was had shortened, defense clear on her face. "Sister, your lies would work if I had not also once come from the Capital wastes. I remember hearing about a Raider called 'Guts' but he was a slaver, didn't keep children in his gang unless he was going to sell them at Paradise falls. On the one time I did come across members from his group they were no different to any other raiders. A ban of heathens, high on drugs and easy to kill. I am a patient man, Sister, but I will not have people lying to me. The skills you show have not come from a raider ban." He leaned closer to her soft voice lowered and laced with danger "I recognize a solider when I see one, so tell me who you were?'

There seemed to be a change in her demeanor. The rehearsed lies were replaced with her own lowered tones. "Does it matter?"

"It matters if I feel you are a threat to the Nucleus. I cannot trust you if you can't even answer a simple question. Who were you before Atom?" It was now his own personal curiosity taking over more than the mask of security he was using. But he hated not knowing and wanted the answer.

Both could feel their grips on the one working gun increase. For a good few moments they simply stared at each other, the air thick from the storm. With some gall Hannah finally replied "You have clearly been a solider too, Grand Zealot. If you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine."

Richter seemed to weight this option up. The trade of information was trivial for him, the other children knew his past. "I was Lieutenant Brian Richter with the Enclave, Capital division." To this Hannah immediately let out an odd stifled laugh. Her mood changed again, though despite the laughter she now looked ultimately defeated, disappointed and beaten. Richter could feel a sting of annoyance "Is something funny?'

"Funny? No. No, not really. Ironic though. You'll understand if I were to tell you..." She paused, shoulders slumping and let out a deep sigh. Her hands slid from her weapon and leaned back into the bus seat, an air of fear at finding herself trapped. "I suppose you would find out eventually. I knew one day this would catch me up. I'm tired of running anyway but... I just hoped… for a bit longer. You would understand why I laughed when I tell you that I was once called Paladin Hannah Erikson of the Capital Chapter."

Richter indeed understood and now also understood why she had lied. A former enemy of Atom and of the Enclave. There was only one organization that would be ridiculous enough to name its soldiers with titles like Paladin and Knight. "You were Brotherhood of Steel."

Silence fell as the two stared at each other. Hannah had an odd, also defiant smile on her face, though it was a thin mask over her fear. Richter could feel his body tense in readiness for a fight, though the woman seemed to be making no such preparations.

The Enclave had descended from the old government of America, pure and untainted. The Brotherhood was descended from dissident soldiers who abandoned that same government, though ironically also valued their own pure of blood and hated the tainted. The two factions had fought bitterly and now the Enclave simply existed as a whispered memory while the Brotherhood grew ever stronger. He would have once called her enemy, but he called her a sister. The conflicting feeling inside him stayed him from taking up arms against her, though his hand remained firmly on her gun. But past this he was at a loss as to how he should react. He knew she was hiding something, but this had not been what he had expected and he certainly wasn't prepared to meet an old foe from a past her swore he had buried.

The rain beat hard on the roof above them, drowning out any sound from outside. They were isolated together. Simply staring at each other in silence, each waiting for the other to make a move, each unsure how to processed past this stalemate.

"Were you there?" Hannah eventually broke the silence, the smile faded.

"Where?" He replied taken a little off guard by the question.

"Adams Airforce base?"

Richter could feel his throat dry. It seemed like another life time, another man with the same name. Though it had been less than a decade ago. "Yes, I was there."

Hannah let out another strained laugh and looked away from him. Watching as trickles of water started to stream their way down window frames. Her voice was oddly light, when she spoke, almost joking. "I remember seeing that huge crawler you guys had, couldn't believe the size of it. Paladin Tristian had a right go at the scouts, but he was so loud that I was amazed he didn't give away our position. Though Tristian was always known for having a stick up his ass and shouting even when he was in a good mood."

Richter couldn't stop a faint smirk at the familiar description "We had a guy like that too, Sargent Dornan. He was an old man when I first met him, but he could still shout at you from across the field. Story's about him chewing out new recruits were around long after he had died."

"Guess it's not an army unless you have at least one man running his mouth." She propped her arm up on the back of the seat and rested her head into it. The Grand Zealot relaxed a little seeing that she appeared to have no intensions of fighting. The war would be in words, though it would be a fight with their pasts as much as with each other. Hannah look tired and beaten, she knew how the conversation would likely end and it was Richter who had his hand on the gun.

" But the thing I remember most about that day were the Hellfire and Tessler power armors you had."

Richter allowed memories he had long thought lost to surface. He watched as puddles in the road outside hummed with ripples. "After the scientist had fun trying to control deathclaws, they decided to build the Tessler and Hellfire suits. But the reality was those thing could shock you as much as they would the enemy. I remember the first time I got in one of the Tessler suits. Accidentally touched the shock switch before the suit had properly sealed and it sent me flying back a few feet. Burnt out a bit of my hair too."

"No different to how you look now then." Hannah joked and he found himself chuckling.

"The worst part about the wearing the Tessler suits was if the armor lining got damaged it was likely to start shocking you inside of it."

"That sounds awful" Hannah said sympathetically. " Our scribes were always pestering us to retrieving a full suit but those things seemed to always be active so we didn't go near them. We were scared of them."

"So were we." Richter said laying his head back into his shoulders and thinking back to that time. Both found themselves opening up old wounds, thought oddly it wasn't uncomfortable in the presence of another who had known the same fights, the same life, the same feeling. "We had the suits but I remember the Brotherhood had that giant robot."

"What liberty prime? That thing was a walking disaster. I mean it's powerful and all when you get it going. But throw a spanner at it in the wrong place, which is just about everywhere and the thing just falls apart. The Elder, the last one I was with before I left, he loved that thing. So much so I heard rumors about it's reconstruction"

" I thought we destroyed it?" Richter said a little disappointed to hear the sacrifice of his comrades in the air strike had not been entirely successful.

"Oh you did a number on it. So much so that many thought that was it for Liberty, but it seems that he maybe coming back online soon."

"Why?"

"I don't really know. I had already left by that time, but I think that boy wants war down south with the institute." There was a bitterness that hang in the air and Richter could sense the disillusion. He wasn't sure if he should press on, but the question seemed to have already left his lips before realized.

"Why did you leave?"

She took a deep sigh before answered "I didn't like what we were doing." There was a darkness in her eyes as they wandered to look out at storm swept land, a cool breeze passing.

"I… When I was out in the wastes, I remember picking up Eden's signal. He talked about helping the people and making America great again. At the time I thought it was all just propaganda and it was, but at the time it was so clear that what we were doing was the right thing. Lyons, our Elder at the time made helping the people a priority. It earned him the abandonment of the Western Elders, but we were OK with that- most of us anyway. Our objective was clear. Project purity and GNR. Help the people and it will help us.

But then after Owen and then Sarah…I don't know. It all just got way out of hand so fast." Her voice began to break a little.

"I started purposely spending more time on patrol to stay out of the political mess at the Citadel. There was infighting for years over the leadership and we were in chaos. You didn't know what you could say to anyone. I'm surprised we didn't collapse. It was awful but I stuck by it, y'know. They're family and you love them even if they hurt you. Finally the boy took charge and things got more stable. We had a direction and purpose, but…" fine line appeared around her eyes, lips thinning to a pale line "it wasn't about the people. Not really, not anymore. I had friends outside the brotherhood, people I had met while out on patrol, people who trusted me and I called friends but now they were angry at me because of what the 'new brotherhood' was doing. At first, I defended them, they were my brother and sister after all. But we were- Rivet city…what happened there... It wasn't right.

I had fought so hard, I dedicated myself to the Brotherhood. I was born into it, it was all I ever knew, but it wasn't anything I recognized anymore.

I was lost.

Then one day, I tuned into my radio and heard President Eden again, talking about bring back the values of the old world and purging all who were not pure. I heard Eden, but he was speaking through my Elders mouth!" Hannah's hands had balled into fists, the last words were almost spat in bitterness.

"Atom finally found me and showed me the true path with the mininuke. It killed the rest of my unit while we were quite far from the Citadel. I had no way to radio for help, was badly injured and passed out. But Atom saw fit to save me. A farmer found me a few days later and took me to Megaton where I met Confessor Cromwell and Mother Maya. I didn't join the children at first, but the two of them were so kind to me even though they knew who I had been. Importantly they were truly helping the town out, treating everyone with respect, even when people told them they were crazy. The two of them showed me Atoms light. After that Mother Curie took me on. I don't want violence per se' but I am a trained solider and I wanted to use that training to help the people."

"I remember reading Mother Curie's reports about you. She was very favorable of your performance and your dedication to Atom" Richter said though he betrayed little emotion.

There were tears at the edge of her eyes as she curled over into her lap, head between her knees, ashamed to look at him as she talked. "I know what you thinking. That I'm unworthy of being here with such disloyalty. That I might show that same disloyalty to you, or worse revert back to my roots. I'm not brotherhood anymore and you're not my enemy. You're my Grand Zealot and I will bow to your and Atoms judgement. I have sinned and I am prepared to pay for my deviations from his holy light."

He looked at the woman before him with some pity. The Brotherhood had been known to kill the Children on sight and to have one before him now… As a child of Atom, as a former Enclave, he should hate this woman. The back of her neck a clear target before him, vulnerable in her rags. She had confessed and he had had Children kill each other for lesser crimes. It would be easy to take the gun and place it on the back of her bowed head. She wouldn't resist. She expected this end.

The Grand Zealot close his eyes, asking Atom to guide his decision.

Instead the gun remained on the chair and he found himself feeling no animosity. He had sensed true remorse in her words, pain in her past that she had been honest enough to tell him despite knowing the likely consequences. The pain resonated with something deep inside himself. It was a past he had worked hard to bury and the woman before him was going through the same process. She may once have been an enemy but the two had more in common that he would ever have had with his command.

The sound of the clasps on his armored gauntlet confused Hannah before she felt the touch of his bare hand on the back of her head. "I gave my life to the Enclave. It was all I had known. I was convinced we were right, yet we had no allies to agree with us. We had the best tech, the best amour and the best training. Importantly we had a strong leader and yet we lost time and again. Our leader turned out to be a computer and the path we were walking was only leading us to defeat. I know the feeling of betrayal from the people you have put your life into and I appreciate the candor which you have shown. Not many would have the strength to confess to having once been such an enemy of Atom. You, like me, were simply doing your duty. Your past has brought you to us here and now. Atom has given you a second chance to atone. I have been in need of one with your background to help our brother and sister who are falling. I find it… hard to train everyone as well as keep ministration. Atom has given you these skills and this chance to help the people. Just as I am no longer a lieutenant, you are no longer a Paladin, you are a sister of Atom and I am glad to have you as one of us."

She rose from her lap, face red and bleary eyed.

"Do you trust me?" He asked

"I trust you Grand Zealot"

He nodded and picked up the Gulper tooth and his combat knife. Fine tuning the tooth to a sharp point he leaned forward to her, cupping her check in one hand while he pressed the point into her forehead with the other. She winced and let out a stiffed cry, but did not resist. He pulled the tooth out seeing blood trickle, before he did it again just next to the first puncture. He proceeded to keep doing this, marking out a pattern on her forehead. He could feel her teeth grit each time be pushed the sharp tooth into her skin, but she made no comment nor flinch as he continued. Warm tears trickled over his thumb. When he had finished he leaned back to see her blood covered forehead, the pattern visible.

"As the Grand Zealot of this commune, I mark you with the 'Eye of Atom', may you see through him the light of his way and the darkness which would sort to bring us down. You are marked with his glow and you are truly one of us now, Sister Hannah Erikson"

The smile on her face now was not the same fearful or defiant smiles from before. This one showed true and genuine happiness "Thank you, Grand Zealot."

He returned the smile, mentioning something about black dye to make the marks more permanent and to look as he and the other Children did. After the moment, he looked back at his broken gun before him. Maybe it had been a good thing it was so damaged, otherwise the conversation may have ended differently.

As they waited for the storm to pass Richter worked on his amour as Hannah when back to playing with her guns firing mechanism, exchanging more stories about the battles they had fought and the lives they had lived. Some on the same field and other they had only heard about. They shared stories about their previous families and how something didn't change. Secret that they had once been sworn to them were now trinkets of information for their new family. They talked about the people they had been, carefully resuming those identities and healing them instead of burying the pain. The was an odd comradary in the talk, finding they could share experiences that other waste landers wouldn't understand. Sharing tears that they were too proud to show before others.

In time Hannah would tell others in the nucleus of her identity, slowly finding acceptance with them and in herself. Richter too found that he was more able to reconcile a past he didn't know he had been running from, because in an odd way, the two forgave each other even if the words where ever said. Old enemies had become allies and friends and old wounds had begun to finally heal.

A/N So this just kind of came out of no where after I played the far harbor DLC. Long time getting round to it but I was waiting for the GOTY edition...Anyway, I kind of liked this idea, of ex-Enclave and ex-BOS meeting each other. Not sure if I pulled it off, but I enjoyed writing it and hope you enjoyed reading it.