Quick Note: If you haven't read Hikari and Mei, I suggest you do so, or you will be quite lost. This one takes place about a month after the other one ended.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout 3 or anything else mentioned other than Hikari and Mei. The rest belongs to their respective owners, etc. etc.
Chapter 1: Regret
I stared up at the grey, cloudy sky. The sun still shone brightly through, making sweat drip down my face, mingling with the tears that fell. I missed my sister terribly, and regretted not going in to start the purifier.
After her death, the Brotherhood doctors finally showed up. They had to pry her away from Charon, who had no intention of letting his former employer go. They managed to restrain him and they took her away. They wouldn't even let me bury her body. They claimed that they wanted to study her because of her odd ability to heal at a rapid pace, but they had no right to take her. She was my sister, and just because she died doesn't give you the right to experiment on her. I fucking hate the Brotherhood. They were busy doing God-knows-what while one of the leaders demanded their medics for my sister, but they were five minutes too late. Maybe they wouldn't have even been able to save her, but I don't know...
Charon still followed me around, even though he held his own contract. I know he loved my sister, but there was no way I was going to be able to bring her back. He might as well go on with his life. I can't, though. She was with me since the day we were born, and there's this... hole where she was before. I knew I was letting myself fall into that gap, but I couldn't stop myself. She was the only person that I had, and she's gone.
I didn't want to go anywhere, I didn't want to talk to anyone. It was my father's death all over again, only worse. She had been with me through the hardest times of my life, not him. She had watched my back when taking on Super Mutants, when we killed raiders... I tried to protect her from the harshness of the wastes, not only her physical being, but her innocence as well. She still hated killing when she died, and she still got sick at the sight of the dead bodies that we traveled by.
Charon stood in the corner of the room as I entered our house in Megaton. He stared me down, a stern look on his face. It seemed he had returned from his latest escapade. He had been going off by himself every few days, bringing back supplies and caps with him. I didn't care, though. He had his own contract.
"You are not yourself," he stated. "This whole week you have been moping around town. You need to get out."
"I don't need to get out," I snapped. "I'm fine, and I don't need you to fucking tell me otherwise."
"Your anger, resentment, and depression need to be vented," he replied, still as calm and controlling as ever. "I hear Lucas Simms needs the raiders of Springvale Elementary cleared out."
"I don't give a damn about this town," I lied.
Truth be told, it had meant so much to Kari. It was her home, and she cared for the people here. Then again, she cared for everyone, but something was special to her in Megaton. I don't really know what that was, but I knew she would give her life to protect these people. She already had, to save everyone.
"You should not lie," he told me.
How was this... this... ghoul able to tell when anyone lied? He was able to read emotions off of people so easily. I guess it must have been living in the wastes for as long as he has. But, he did have a point. I wanted to kill something. I didn't really care what, but the feelings that I had bottled up were trying to get out.
"Whatever," I said. "I'll clear out the raiders, if it makes you feel better."
He nodded, and I went to find my assault rifle. I hadn't used it in over a week, so I had to make sure it was in working order. If it jammed up during the fight, I may as well have just jumped off of a cliff. There were a few parts that needed replacing, but I had a very old, beat up one that I had picked up off of a raider during one of my travels. It had nearly been stripped apart, but there were still a couple of useful pieces in it.
After my gun was repaired, I packed some cooked mole rat meat and some water before I headed out to Springvale Elementary. It was barely a half-an hour's walk away, and the sun was starting to decline. I guessed that it shouldn't take me more than an hour or two to clear the place out, but I was rusty, so I could take longer. Charon didn't follow me, which didn't surprise me. I don't even know why he followed me around, anyway.
As I entered the dark building, blood dripped down from the ceiling, but I ignored it. I could smell rather than see the pile of dead bodies in the middle of the room, but it didn't make me sick as it once had. I pressed on, hearing voices up ahead. The raiders hadn't spotted me yet, so I took aim in V.A.T.S. to catch them off guard before my first assault.
I killed the first one with a spray of bullets to his torso, and the rest began to look around for me. I relished the feeling of the kill, remembering how much I used to enjoy dispatching a raider or two from the world. One more fell before the rest spotted me, and I was forced to take cover from the fail of bullets that came my way. I took the opportunity when they were reloading to kill another. I kept firing, but more and more seemed to be attracted by the sound of the firing bullets. I reloaded so many times, and the mess of desks I was using as cover was beginning to wear down. The bodies began to pile up by the door, and I wondered just how many raiders had gathered in the school.
They finally began to slow down. Either I had killed most of them, or they were growing smart, trying to lure me out. When no more came into the room, I slowly crept out, my gun pointed towards the door in case any more were waiting for me. I killed one that seemed to be a bit slow on the uptake, but other than that, there didn't seem to be any more. I looted the bodies, taking what I saw as worthwhile. That included ammo, food, medical supplies, and junk I could sell to Moira. I stored it all in my pip-boy, which desperately needed to be cleared out. My back was straining under all of the weight, but it was making me stronger, all the same.
I continued to search the building, taking anything I could use. I swear I heard a noise and saw a shadow at almost every corner, but I guess I was just seeing things. There was some pretty decent stuff stashed by the raiders, and I took it all. Anything that I wouldn't use, I could sell to Moira or the caravans. I exited the building, taking all that I had scavenged with me.
Upon reaching Megaton, I told Simms about the cleaning out of the school, and he told me to follow him back to his house so he could pay me. I did, and my reward was a hundred caps. I went over to Moira's shop and took out everything that I didn't need and sold it to her. She was delighted to have new junk, and she wanted to write another book, but the first one was more than enough for me. I took my caps and headed back to my house. Wadsworth informed me that Charon had left again, but he didn't say where.
The robot puttered off to the kitchen to make some food for me. I told him not to worry about making anything for Charon, since he would probably be gone for the next couple days. Maybe this time he left, he wouldn't come back. There was a part of me that wished he wouldn't, but a part that wished he would. I slept alone in my room as usual. Without Kari, Charon had never entered the room unless it was necessary. I don't know where he slept, but I didn't care.
The following morning, my muscles were sore from disuse, and my skin felt really warm and tight, and it hurt to touch. I looked at my reflection on Wadsworth, and my face was all red. I was worried, but Wadsworth called it a, "Sunburn." He said it happened when someone spends much too long in the sun. I didn't spend any more time than usual outside yesterday. I wondered what was up. Charon probably knew more than Wadsworth about the subject, but he was still gone. Still, Wadsworth gave me a weird cream that was from before the war, and he told me to put it on. I felt relief almost immediately, and I wondered if there would be any side effects of the product.
I sat around for most of the day, but I was itching to get out. I wanted to do something. My killing spree helped to take my mind off of things, and there had to be something. By the end of the day, Charon still had not shown up. Even if he was back the following morning, I would leave. I remembered when Kari was recounting her journey to find the G.E.C.K., she said something about regretting being able to free the rest of the slaves at Paradise Falls. Maybe... Maybe I could do that, for her. I could free the slaves, as she was not able to. Paradise Falls sounded like a big deal, so I guess someone would know where it was.
Well, the night came and went, and still no Charon. Whatever. I could find free the slaves without him. I asked Simms, who showed me exactly where it was. I guessed it would take me about a day to get there. I would come up with the rest of the plan later. I ignored Moira's questioning of where my sister was and purchased some more ammo for my old assault rifle. My sojourn to the school had dried me of all of my magazines.
I set out into the morning heat and blocked out the noise of the Protectron that greeted me in his programmed voice.
I had never really traveled alone, knowing that nobody was a call away. It sent chills down my spine, and I felt as though I was being watched, even through there was no indication of someone on my radar. I turned on the radio, hoping to fill the silence. I listened to the end of Anything Goes before Three Dog started to talk.
"Kiddies," he said, "I'm afraid I have some sad, sad news. You know how I've been reporting on how the angels from one-oh-one have been combining forces with the Brotherhood? Well, I just received some terrible news. It seems that the whole reason for this is because of some purifier that now cleans the water. It is all thanks to one of the twins that we have this clean water. There was a huge battle, as I'm sure a lot of you heard, and the Brotherhood won! 'Well, Three Dog,' I'm sure a lot of you ask, 'what's so bad about that? We won pure water for all!' Well, I'm afraid this victory was at a cost. Someone had to go into the irradiated control room and turn it on. Deadly amounts of radiation fill that room, and one of the saints from one-oh-one was the one to go in and start it. It seems that they were not able to save the poor girl. She, unfortunately, had to give her life for the good fight. Let us all have a moment of silence to remember her."
I stopped in my tracks, ignoring the tears that threatened to overflow. The whole wasteland seemed to stand still. Even the light breeze that usually blew through stopped.
"Well, that's it for the news today," the radio picked back up. "Now, let's listen to some music."
The next song to play was one of Kari's favorites: Maybe by The Ink Spots. I pressed on, though. I wanted to do good in the memory of Kari. I wanted to finish what she was unable to.
The sun soon began to set. I had only killed a feral dog or two by that time. Off in the distance, I could make out the statue of... something. I saw a man sitting by a makeshift cover. I looked at my pip-boy, and I was almost directly on top of Paradise Falls.
"Ah," the man said as I approached. "Haven't seen you here in a while. Come to do more business, eh? I see that ghoul fellow is no longer with you, nor are the kids."
"Sold them to a rather high bidder," I played along.
"Good to hear. We just got another shipment of kids in, if your interested in replacing them. I'm sure Eulogy would be more than happy to sell them to you for a modest price."
"I'll go take a look at them," I said, eyeing the guns that all of the other slavers held. "But, it's been a while. Where can I find the slaves?"
"Over in the pens," he stated with a chuckle. "Think Eulogy's busy, though. He and Clover are becoming more and more... well, closer. You'll have to wait if you want to buy them."
"Yeah, yeah," I dismissed before heading inside.
I found the slave pens easily enough. I would have to find some way to get a key of some kind. The lock seemed secure enough that I wouldn't be able to pick it.
"Hope you're not thinking of breaking into that."
I turned around and was faced with a woman with almost no hair, and the little that she did have was spiked into two devil horns near the back of her head. She had a combat shotgun strapped to her back, and she leaned against the metal fence.
"Nope," I replied. "Just making sure the locks are secure. Don't want any break-outs, now, do we? Don't think that'd fly to well with Eulogy."
She smirked. "See you haven't changed a bit. You thinking about doing more business?"
"Thinking about it," I stated. "Heard you got some more kids in?"
"Yep," she said. "Jotun and Ymir just got back with them. Don't know how they got them out of Little Lamplight, but they did. They're in the back. I have a spare key."
She proceeded to carefully unlock the door before shutting and locking it behind me.
"Inner gate combination is 34-23-09. Don't let a single one of them escape."
I nodded and headed to the back. It was such a pitiful sight, and I hoped that I would never become a slave myself. It made me see exactly why Kari wanted to free them. I saw that the pens were divided into two parts, one for the kids and one for the adults. I went over to the kids, first. There flew into the back room, and I followed them in. There were five in there, and they all cowered in the corner.
"Come over here," I instructed. "You wanna get out or not?"
They slowly approached, and I got a better look at them. They were all covered in dirt and grime, and they looked as though they hadn't had a good meal in a few years. I wondered how often they were actually feeding these kids.
One came up to the front of the gate and squinted, before she smiled. "Hikari!"
"Wh-what?"
"I remember you! You're Hikari! You rescued the others!"
"Sorry, kid. I ain't Kari," I replied.
"But you look just like her," she stated.
"We're twins, but Kari is a lot nicer than me," I told her. "Now, are there really five of you?"
"Yeah," she said. "And there are three more over on the other side. Are you really going to get us out?"
"Yeah, but keep your voice down. You don't want me killed, do you?"
She immediately shut her mouth, but opened it again. "Where's Hikari?"
"Dead," I replied. "Died to give out pure water to the wastes."
"O-oh," was all she said. "What about the ghoul that she was traveling with? What happened to him?"
"Dunno, now enough with the questions. I've got to talk to Eulogy about price, then maybe I'll kill the rest of the slavers to free the rest of you."
"But what-?"
"Enough questions. I have to go."
She pointed to the collar on her neck. Admittedly, I had forgotten about those. They posed a problem, but maybe I could find some way to take them off without harming the slaves. One of the kids was brave enough to let me take a look at it. I bent down and began to take a look at it. It was a lot like the nuclear bomb that I had disarmed in Megaton, only smaller. I made quick work of it, and began to work on the next one.
"I knew it," a feminine voice said from the other side of the door. "You are not Hikari, are you? You're the saint form the Vault. Good luck getting out, because Forty, Eulogy, and I have a key. Nice knowin' ya."
I went up to the door, but there was no handle. It appeared that it could only be opened from the outside. I swore under my breath and leaned against the wall. The kids stood around me, looking curiously as I ran a hand through my hair.
"Now what?" a girl asked.
"Dunno," I replied. "I guess I could finish taking the collars off, but I don't really know what that would accomplish without a way out of here."
"But you have a gun," she said. "So if one of them tried to come in here, you could just kill them and we could leave."
"Yeah," another one agreed. "I'm sure you can get us out of here."
I sighed. It wasn't like I had anything better to do. "One of you get over here, so I can get the collar off."
One sat in front of me. It came off a lot easier than the previous one. When I was working on the final one, I heard a, "Click," and the door started to open. I held my gun up, but the person standing there was not the one that locked me in. He had blond hair that was blown back and he was a lot more muscular than Charon. He wielded a super sledge and motioned for me to follow. I looked at the kids, and nodded to them before entering my pip-boy and making sure I still had the Fat Man from when we first killed the gigantic mutant. I had a couple of mini nukes left, but they would only be used as a last resort. I followed him out, the kids in tow. As we approached the gate, the girl that had locked me in approached us.
"She was planning on freeing the slaves," she said. "Surely you're not letting her go? Or the kids?"
He just stared at her for a moment before responding, "Yes."
"But why, Jotun?" she questioned. "She's not who you thinks she is!"
Again, there was a delay in his response, and his speech was slightly broken. "She is... kind. I can tell. I will... help."
"Eulogy won't be pleased, and neither will your father."
"I... do not... care."
My rescuer, Jotun, didn't seem too intelligent, but he looked pretty powerful. The girl also seemed to have some kind of crush on him, as the look she was wearing was a lot softer than when she was talking to me earlier. I had seen that look on Kari's face when she talked to A3-21 and Charon.
Suddenly, I heard gunshots at the front gate, and the other two took out their weapons. I pulled mine out, as well, and the children cowered behind me. More gunshots followed before the front door came open.
"Charon!" I called.
He wore an angry look before disposing the slavers to his right, who had immediately tried to attack him. He approached me, the rest of the slavers looking rather frightened.
"What were you thinking!" he shouted. "We are going home, now."
"That's all fine and dandy, but not yet," I replied. "There is still something I need to do."
"And just what might that be?"
"I'm going to shut this place down," I replied before firing my gun off at a group of on looking slavers.
As the blood spattered against the ground, I couldn't help but smirk. It felt good to kill, and I was doing a lot of that lately. Charon joined in and began to fire upon those that dared to charge us. The slaver that had gotten me out of the slave pen just stood there, an odd look on his face. The other slaver that I had been talking to turned to attack me, but my savior suddenly jumped in the way of the knife she had brought out. He threw her off in an instant. She was shocked, but got back up and fought back. To be honest, she didn't really stand a chance against him, so I wasn't surprised when she slumped to the ground.
The three of us kept shooting, but I felt a weird sensation in my head. I reached my hand up and felt blood flowing down my forehead. Everything began to fade to black and I fell to the ground. The sounds of the guns firing off were muffled, and I lost feeling in my body.
After Notes:
Chapter one is done, but I haven't even finished editing chapter eleven... ^-^*
I'm writing this now because I've finished the chapter and just want to get it done so it's ready to go when it's time to post it. Did you know that shorter chapters take a lot less time to proofread? I think I may write shorter ones from now own...
Anyway, I was really kinda depressed after I killed Kari, but I have plenty of plot for the next couple chapters. It just sorta came to me one boring period of psychology. I just have to get it all typed out, which is the hard part. As of this moment right now, I have but one more weekend of drumline, and I'm really hoping that we do the best we have done for this final competition. I'm really excited. :)
So, if you like the story, find it interesting, or have anything at all to say about it, please drop a review or PM. The emails I get about it make my day. :)
Much appreciated, HikariMei. :)
