Anna felt like she was going to vomit. Head spinning, breathing tight, she turned in a circle, staring wide-eyed at the decaying ruins around her. Feral Ghouls hissed in the distance, their horrible cries echoing off the walls and making them that much more gruesome. Their footsteps were growing louder and louder, attracted by Anna's fear. She held up her rifle, her arms shaking. Butch was gone, along with all the supplies, and the only thing lighting her way was her small pipboy light.
All of this for a stupid book.
Anna felt shame flush through her as she was on the edge of tears, screaming in alarm as one Feral Ghoul burst into the room. It was a mistake coming here. This place was nothing like anything Anna, or Butch, have had to go through before. Anna stared down at the corpse of the Feral Ghoul she had just killed, at least it had some ammo on it. She swallowed, pocketing it and checking over her gun, trying to get her bearings. Maybe if she stayed here, Butch would find her...What if he was hurt? Once again, Anna scolded herself. Was all of this worth it? Just to get rid of some dusty, blood covered book that she barely knew anything about?
It would have been a lot easier to let the guy pay her and just walk away.
"They attacked while I slept. I... I don't expect to survive. I only pray that you haven't taken that book to Obadiah. You must take up my mission."
Anna stared at the message written in blood. 'Die Thief.' Anna swallowed as she listened closely to Marcella's holotape. She didn't know the women well, but she had liked her. Marcella actually knew what Anna was talking about when she mentioned her mother's favorite passage. Now, she was dead. Her blood scattered everywhere around the small tent, and Anna was listening to a tape titled 'Marcella's Last Words'
"There is... one way to utterly destroy the Krivbeknih, but you must take a pilgrimage, far north of Point Lookout, in the Capital Wasteland. Seek a place called Dunwich. Within is an obelisk, itself a wicked thing. It'll consume the book - you need only press the book to its surface. May God shed his blessings upon you, child. Make haste for Dunwich."
Anna took a deep breath in. Dunwich...She was pretty sure she knew where that was. She had never been inside however, she got some bad vibes from that place. When you're barely 19, and all alone in the Capital Wastes with only one gun and a handful of ammo, you're not so eager to go exploring.
"My God, I am sorry for all my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against You whom I should..."
Anna bit her lip as the Holotape ended, stealing a glance at Marcella's body. Though Anna didn't know much about her God anymore, or what kind of afterlife she believed in, She just hoped that wherever she ended up, it was someplace happy. Anna's bag where the book laid suddenly felt heavier. It was her job now to carry out Marcella's wishes. Putting her pipboy away, she made sure Marcella had a proper burial, making the small grave with a makeshift cross she was getting much too good at making.
Anna was now a mix of emotions, who was behind Marcella's murder? Unfortunately, she had a pretty good idea...
"Butch?. . .Buuuutch?" Anna whispered harshly into the darkness, creeping along the corridor. She couldn't believe she had allowed them to get separated. She wasn't sure who was to blame, Him or Her. Either way, Some Feral Ghouls had cornered them and chased them about. When Anna had killed the last one, Butch was gone.
'This Place is huge!' Anna thought as she referred to her map again. Not that she was ever gifted in the art of map reading in the first place. Butch could be anywhere. She just hoped he had enough sense to stay in one piece. She felt as if this place could collapse at any moment.
Another growl down the hallway made her jump. She readied her rifle. This time she made sure to keep her breathing calm and collected. She had always hated ghouls, the feral kind of course. They always hissed and twitched in such a way that made Anna run for the hills. Some days she'd rather take on a Super Mutant Behemoth or two rather than take on a Feral.
So what better place to get lost in all alone in the middle of the night?
She turned the offending ghoul into a pile of radioactive slim. Putting her weapon away, she kneeled down. Bullet casings...these seemed pretty new, they weren't covered in dust like everything else. That meant Butch had passed through here at some point. She rose, a little giddy at her detective skills. Butch couldn't have gone far...hopefully.
Anna stared down the pitiful old man. Obadiah Blackhall. The man who sent her out and started this crazy quest in the first place.
"The book. You've found it. Quickly, give it to me." He put out a hand, reaching for it. Anna bit back a bitter laugh, eyes narrowing.
"I haven't decided what I'm going to do with it yet." She lied. Of course she had already made up her mind about going back home and disposing of the book. She just wanted to see what Obadiah had to say.
"Surely you're not considering giving it to Marcella? Come now, the woman can't rub two caps together. Give it to me and be paid." He sounded desperate. Why would someone even want a book like this so badly? the thing smelled, and honestly gave Anna the creeps. She felt like she was walking around with an armed landmine in her pocket, ready to go off at any moment. Anna looked down, trying to control her anger.
"Marcella's dead, actually. I figured you had something to do with that."
"Can't say that I did, but that's all the more reason you should give the book to me."
Anna scoffed, shaking her head and backing away. How could someone be so heartless? She turned and ran from him without saying another word. She was going home.
Anna balanced on the plank of wood, walking across it carefully to receive the last of Jamie's recordings. The Story of Jamie, from what Anna had gathered, was a tragic one. Mind you, she hadn't been thinking much about it while running for her life from ghouls and searching for her kind-of-sorta boyfriend. Speaking of which...
Gazing down the giant hole ripped through multiple floors, Anna's eyes focused on the limp body of Butch Deloria.
"Butch!" She gasped started making her way down carefully. She nearly fell about four times, but managed to get to him in one piece. "Butch..." She said again, a bit softer, nearly tripping over some rubble as she made her way over to him, shaking him. For a split second, she thought he was dead. Thankful, he gave a small whimper, his head rolling to the side. He was bleeding from his temple, the skin around it was a lovely mash of yellow, black and purple. He must have fallen.
"Stupid..." Anna muttered, glancing up at the hole. He must have at least fell three stories. She started to dig out a stimpak. He never did watch where he was going. Butch jerked away once she stabbed the needle into him. "Easy there tiger, its me." She put a hand on his shoulder.
Butch glanced around, eyes finally landing on her. He took another moment to process what must have happened.
"You're alright!" He blurted finally, a sigh of relief. "I was beginning to think I'd be lost in here for forever."
"Don't be so dramatic." She stood, dusting herself off. She glanced around, eyes landing on another door. Part of her knew the smart thing to do was to go home...But she still had a quest to complete.
"About time you got back!" Butch punched her lightly in the arm, as if she had just come back from a shopping trip rather than disappearing for months at a time to a mysterious place called 'Point Lookout'
"Oh can it you." She couldn't hide her grin at finally seeing him again. She leaned against his side. "I figured I'd find you here." Here being the muddy rudder. Why Butch loved this place so much, she'd never know. Maybe it was the first safe place Butch found after leaving the vault. He just shrugged.
"I dunno, it got boring without you. So I thought a change of scenery was in order." He finished the last of his drink.
"Some scenery..." Anna glanced around, feeling Butch's arm shift under her as he dug out some caps.
"I'm assuming you wanna head home now?" He stood.
"Hell yeah I wanna go home." She watched him. "But..."
"But." He frowned, it wasn't really a question, he had expected it.
"Buuut there's a thing I kinda have to do before we settle in." Anna grinned as Butch rolled his eyes.
"Of course, You never change, Nosebleed. What's so wrong with just hang'n? You always gotta do that stupid goodie-two shoes act." He sighed. Well, it wasn't a no. Anna shrugged.
"I like helping people...It's the right thing to do." She did a double take as Butch leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. Oh...Right. She felt her cheeks heat up. They were sort of an item now, and Anna still wasn't sure how she felt about it. Butch saw her hesitation, but didn't comment.
"Come on, let's get out of here." Butch coughed a bit. Anna tried on a smile.
"Yeah, We've got an abandoned building to explore!"
"You sure you're alright?"
"I'm fine! I'm not the one who fell three stories." Anna glanced back at him as they made their way down deeper into the underground of the building.
"True...But still!" Butch said stupidly, jogging to catch up with her. She looked around, the set up reminding her of the subway tunnels.
"You think we're getting close to the obelisk?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Butch blurted. Anna sighed, questioning, once again, why she put up with him. "What are we gonna do anyway after we destroy that book?"
"Mmh...I don't know. What do you wanna do." She slowed down she stopped to shoot down a Feral Ghoul who was blocking the stairway. Finally Anna felt a lot calmer, now that she had backup.
"Never come back here again." Anna laughed, popping open the med kit that was hanging on the wall. "And being sober sucks, we should make sure to get a drink somewhere."
"Sounds like a plan." She pocketed the stimpaks.
"Just you and me and a bottle of wine..." Was he trying to imply something?
"You drink wine?" Anna glanced back at him again, he didn't seem the type.
"Eh." He shrugged. "Not really, but you do." She turned back.
"After surviving this place, a think a few shots are in order." Butch laughed at that.
"Yeah! Now we're talking!"
Anna hushed him as she opened another door. This one opened up to cavern. She reached back and tapped his chest lightly, signally this was it. With weapons drawn they headed down into the dimly lit cave.
The pair stared at the skeleton draped over the ammo boxes, the dried blood, and flicking lights.
"Can we leave?" Butch asked after a moment.
"I wish..." Anna muttered, hesitantly stepping inside. The door swinging shut with a loud bang behind them. Of course, the first thing Anna did was go to the towards the dead body, picking through the ammo boxes.
"You sure you don't wanna get outta here?" Butch stared down the dark hallway.
"I told you, We have this book we have to get rid off. It shouldn't be too difficult." Anna rose, going into the room. She stopped in front of the table full of holotapes. "Jaime's Personal Journal: Entry One," Anna read out loud, picking one of them up. "Through Five." She added, glancing at Butch. She tried to give him a smile, but that didn't seem to calm Butch's nerves anymore. "Let's have a listen?" Anna loaded the First One in, exploring the rest of the room as it played.
"Why the hell would he come all the way out here? Dad's been a little nuts for some time now, but not like this.
Leaving me in that crappy old hospital without waking me... Without a goddamn flashlight.
I made enough selling the meds we scrounged to have kept us both fed at the colony for weeks.
Now I'm almost out of rations, my shoes are pretty much destroyed, and I'm still chasing the old coot. By my last reckoning, he was headed south."
The start of the entry was hauntingly familiar. Anna listened with distaste slightly as she robbed the vending the machine of the last of its soda. Butch stayed quiet until the tape ended. Of course he was thinking the same thing.
"Heh, Why does that sound-"
"Quit it." Anna rolled her eyes, the subject was still a sore one.
"Sorry...Anyway, do you have any idea where to start with this place?"
"No idea...Just follow the evil vibes?" Anna shrugged, loading on the next holotape.
Anna crouched, creeping forward just enough to see the Feral Ghouls wandering down in a pitt. In the middle of the room was a gruesome looking structure. The Obelisk. Anna inhaled, her mind trying to think of a plan. She took out a hand grenade, not even consulting Butch before pulling the pin and rolling it down the steps. The Ferals of course flocked to it, excited by the noise. Only to have it blow up in their faces.
"Now!" Anna cried, jumping up and firing her rifle. Butch fumbled to keep up. The Feral ghouls gave a collective angry hiss, sprinting up the stairs towards them, giving them everything they got.
"What the hell!?" Butch yelled as He felt a bullet whizz by his head. Looking past Anna and the dying Ghouls, he saw another one but this one more human like. He wasn't a complete skeleton. This guy glared at them, aiming his rifle for a kill shot. "Anna!" He shoved her out of the way, the bullet bouncing off the wall and hitting the last of the Feral Ghouls.
"What!?" Anna gazed wide-eyed at the Ghoul before them. It suddenly clicked for her. "Oh my God I think that's Jaime!"
"Who?" Butch frowned, not sure if he had ever heard the name before. (Of course he didn't pay attention to any of the holotapes they had picked up.)
"Maybe we could just-" Anna didn't get to finish as Jaime fired again, missing Anna by a fraction.
"Forget it! He looks pretty frosted!" Ben drew his hunting rifle again, firing. Anna's shouts were drowned out by gunfire. How dare he try and mess with his girl? Jaime was going to be in for a world of trouble. He was cruis'n for a bruisin'. He was- It was actually Anna who delivered the final shot to the head. Butch did a double take.
"Thank you," She said, brushing some stray hair out of her face. "But I can handle myself." For a chick being covered in dirt, blood, and God only knew what else...She looked pretty good to Butch.
"I know." He replied, focusing on checking over his hunting rifle. "I couldn't let someone one up my best gal, now can I?" Butch almost melted at the smile she gave him.
"Yeah, yeah. Alright hot-shot." She even laughed a little, before sobering and turning towards the Obelisk. "It looked like he was worshiping this thing..." Butch stepped up next to her.
"Maybe this is the Obe-thingy?"
"No dip." Just like that, Anna was back to her old self. Acting as if He was the stupidest vault dweller to ever grace the wasteland. She pulled out the book, the Krivbeknih. The cover was scratched, and covered in dried blood. At just one glance you could tell that it was a truly evil object. Almost mirroring the vibe that came from the Obelisk. Combined, they gave the pair goose bumps. "Ready to end this?"
"Sure...but what do we do now?"
"Marcella said just to press the book to its surface." Anna glanced down at it in her hands. She was tempted to page through its withered pages, but she was too afraid of what she might find.
"How does that do anything?"
"I don't know...Something about it absorbing its power. Lets find out." Anna held up the book, pressing it to the surface. A blinding flash burst forth, the book vaporizing from her grasp. A Burst of fire and radiation came next, filling the room with a burning heat. "BUTCH." Anna screeched, his clothes had caught fire in the wave.
Butch hadn't even noticed the flames until Anna tackled him to the ground.
"Stop drop and roll! Stop drop and roll!" Anna yelled, panicking and trying to pat out the flames. Butch shoved her off, the flames finally gone.
"That...That..." Butch couldn't think of any words to describe what just happened. He quickly stood before Anna could start patting him down again. Instead, she filled the stunned silence with a small whimper, wrapping her arms around him.
"I'm sorry I made you catch on fire." She said into his jacket. Butch blinked, awkwardly patting her on the head.
"I...forgive you?" Normally you wouldn't forgive someone for that so easily, but with Anna, Butch could forgive just about anything. "You didn't know it was gonna do that, did you?"
"No." She squeaked, refusing to part from him. Butch finally put his arms around her, he hadn't realized how much she was shaking.
"Hey..." He said softer, tucking some of her hair behind an ear. "Wanna get out of here?"
"Of course...I just don't wanna go through that creepy building again...or face more ghouls...I'm kinda done with things trying to kill me for a while." She squeezed his rib cage.
"Maybe we can find a shortcut or someth'n. Come on." He pried her from him, lacing their fingers together. She gave him a small smile, following him back up the stairs and hopefully onto a path towards the sunlight.
A/N
Had a lot of fun writing this request! I Promise more fluffy things in the future.