Denis slowly rolled around inside his bed, groaning under his breath as his eyes slowly opened, squinting as the bright florescent lights molested his sensitive eyes, like a nocturnal or a cave dwelling creature surfacing for the first time.
He groaned heavily as he rolled out of bed, furiously shaking his head, with a heavy sigh as he furiously rubbed at his face. His finger tips dragged over the smooth surface of his cheeks, his hand caught the tuft on his chin, prompting him to gasp as he felt around...
This... Is a new one... He thought, slowly rising up and shaking his head, wandering over to the nearest mirror and looking his face over, narrowing his... surprisingly not so tired eyes, constantly prodding his face as if he was expecting half of it to fall off and reveal the tattered, scarred and aged face that he was so accustomed to.
He glanced down and noticed that his collar had a bright yellow number on it.
'101'
Denis shook his head and sighed heavily, looking over to the door as his concern grew. Whoever set this up knew him and whoever it was wanted to make this personal. Why else would they go through the trouble of recreating the Vault and setting him up in his old jumpsuit or at least one like it?
The Regulator turned towards his front door and sighed once more, shaking his head in frustration as he stepped on through, staggering out into his hallways as the nostalgia overwhelmed him.
What's... What is this!?
Everything was as he remembered it, hell, some of it wasn't, some of it was even more precise than he remembered. Items that he left out in the open before he was forced to leave the Vault.
Denis heard the front door to his room open, as the doors parted, he saw a familiar figure stood before him. A rather short, African American man with thick framed glasses in a lab coat. He slowly stepped inside, adjusting his pipboy 3000A as he entered.
"Good morning sport, hope I didn't interrupt anything important."
Denis looked at him, freezing on the spot, this... this wasn't possible. Jonas, he couldn't be stood there, Denis saw his body, he saw him lying there, half dead on the floor.
How was this possible?
"Jesus, you look pale as hell boy, is something... Denis!"
The Lone Wanderer staggered over to his couch, falling onto it, clutching his head. Everything seemed featureless, the room had lost all detail for him or, more accurately, he lost the ability to take note of the detail before him.
Jonas quickly rushed around and knelt down before him, looking him in the face.
"Just stay like that for a moment, you probably stood up too fast." Jonas said, looking him over.
"How... Can you be standing there?" Denis asked, his eyes slowly fell on Jonas as he relaxed in the chair.
"Well, I have these things called legs, y'see. They keep me upright..." Jonas said, with his usual smirk. The smart Alec comment just frustrated Denis more, Jonas, he was so... lifelike.
With a heavy growl, Denis lunged forward and snatched Jonas' collar, shoving him forward and pinning him against the wall, staring into his eye.
"Cut the shit, 'Jonas.' I saw you die! So you're quite clearly some sort of... imposter!
Right cut to the dog's dick, tell me what's going on!
Now!"
By this point, Denis was holding Jonas two or more feet off of the floor, pinning him to the wall by his lapels, it was the first time in his life that he'd ever lifted another human being like that but Jonas didn't exactly weigh much, due to his small stature.
"Christ, kid! Settle down before one of us gets hurt! I'm not dead, Denis, I've never been dead! You're acting crazy here!"
"Crazy!?" Denis snapped, throwing Jonas down to the coffee table, knocking it over in the process.
"You're telling me! This entire situation is fucked, beyond belief!
When I find out who or... what is behind this, you'll see how crazy I am!" He snapped, marching towards Jonas, practically towering over him as he grew more and more enraged.
"Denis." Jonas groaned, slowly pulling himself away from the tipped table.
"I don't know what's gotten into you but you need to calm down, if you're going to-" Jonas' plea was cut short by a boot to the face, sending the Doctor's glasses flying across the room and skidding along it's porcelain surface.
"Cut.
The.
Shit!" He growled, marching over to him.
"What are you? Robot? Synth? That it? Is this a simulation? A reconstruction!?" He yelled, tightening his fist and pulling it back.
"Answer me, you son of a bi-"
Denis' threats were cut short, he received a heavy blow to the head, with a loud wooden 'donk' sound, everything instantly cut out.
Denis' eyes slowly opened, looking straight up at a florescent light. He immediately regretted opening them, prompting him to shake his head, firmly as he slowly sat up, pulling his hand over to his face but finding that he couldn't move it at all.
He heard the sound of metal scraping against metal, it was rather light, prompting him to look up and see that his right hand had been handcuffed to the bed.
"Oh shit..." He grumbled, tugging furiously at it.
"You're fucking kidding me..." He added, obviously irritated from the small surge of pain that he felt as the cuff pinched the skin on his arm.
"It's alright, they'll take them off you, once I leave the room." A voice said, a voice he knew all too well. It was soft, yet confident... it commanded authority and was so... warm.
It was the sound of home...
Denis slowly looked up and saw an older man, who looked a lot like he did. Similar facial structure, similar trimmed beard. Other than the civilized hair cut, it was like looking into the future. Though it would be more accurate to say that it was like looking into the past.
"It's alright Son... I know that you've... Taken a strange turn, Jonas doesn't blame you for what happened, we just want to help."
Denis stared at the apparition for a brief moment, sighing heavily as he hung his head, feeling a sharp sting in his nose as his eyes slowly welled up.
"Why you?" He whispered, to no one in particular.
James just watched, pausing for a moment as he looked away and sighed.
"Well, you hospitalised Jonas... And I thought it would be best if Amata didn't know about this yet, if not at all." he explained, moving his chair closer.
"Do you... know? Is that why you did it?
Because of the baby?"
Denis furrowed his brow, quickly looking up to his father and meeting his gaze for the first time since that day in the rotunda...
He felt himself shiver a little...
"Baby? What're you... What's going on?"
"Well, Jonas came down to tell you that... Amata's pregnant, you're going to be a father..." He paused, giving him a faint chuckle, a product of nerves, to break the tension.
"Congratulations."
Denis paused, glancing down to his Father as he fell back against the wall, letting the 'reality' of this situation sink in for a moment.
"Dad... Can I ask you something, seriously?
Is this real?" He then paused, sitting up, to cut his Father off.
"Is this... reality, are you real. Is this..."
"This is it, I'm afraid. If you didn't want to be a Father, you should've been more careful. Though it's a bit late for that, now."
"No, not... I mean this! Everything! You, this... Thie Vault! How is it possible!? How is any of it possible?
You left the Vault, how'd they let you... us back in? How is Jonas here... how are me and Amata...
What happened? Before? To me, to... this place.
To the Wasteland?
I have to know!"
James paused, falling silent as he thought on his answer, it was obvious that Denis' mind was all over the place at this moment in time.
"Jonas said that you kept saying that... you saw him die? Was it a... dream? Did you dream everything you said? Or... do you believe it happened?"
"It happened." Denis said, firmly.
"You... Left the Vault, went up to the surface to work on Project Purity."
"Project Purity?" James asked, his confusion was quick, genuine. Much to Denis' dismay...
"I know that we weren't born in the Vault, Dad, I know that you want to give water to the Wasteland, that's what Revelation 2:16 was about, right?
Alpha, Omega, the waters of life? That's what it... all lead up to."
"I... Know that you have reason to doubt me, about what I've said to you, over the years. But I've never lied about you or your mother.
We were all born down here, in Vault 101, none of us have set foot outside of the door and none of us will be able to for a hundred years. Outside is an irradiated green cloud, that will kill you in minutes.
Water is the least of their concern, right now..."
Denis shook his head, resting it in his free hand, there were only so many levels that he could chase up on before he sounded completely insane. This whole thing just seemed... Bizarre, insane even, yet the scary part was that it... made sense.
Or at least, he wanted it to.
"Can I...?" James began, pausing for a brief moment to reconsider before going through with it anyway.
"Maybe you're... Suffering from delusions, created by a desire to escape life in the Vault. Maybe your life down here is so, ordinary and routine that you created a world to escape to, a fantasy that became too much and blinded your perception of reality.
I mean, what kind of person are you, in this... Wasteland of yours? Are you a... hero?"
Denis paused, normally he'd deny being a 'hero' but given how often he came across as a 'white knight' and how often he threw himself into danger, to save others. He'd be nothing but coy if he tried to do that now.
"More or less..."
"You wish to do more, for yourself and for those around you. Vault life just doesn't seem like... it gives you many opportunities to do this, right?"
"I... Suppose." Denis shrugged, looking away.
"How did me and Amata become a thing, anyway?"
James chuckled, bringing his hands together with a smile and a faint laugh.
"Well, that was me and Jonas' doing. We got you to be her stand in consultant, she was having trouble and we figured that a friend who was qualified to help her with those troubles was the best of both worlds.
You ended up giving eachother a... thorough examination."
Denis smirked, chuckled even as he shook his head , sighing heavily as he lay back.
"Isn't there a law against that? Pretty sure that Doctors aren't allowed to get... frisky with their patients, not during a medical session anyway."
"Pfft... That's why we don't tell Alphonse." James pointed out, with a faint smirk.
"Is this... all starting to come back to you?"
Denis paused, eventually shaking his head, with a sigh.
"I wish it was, Dad, I really do... This whole thing is...
I don't know, I just don't know how I should feel about it, about you or us or Amata or anything. My life was... This life, it was destroyed. This just doesn't seem real, I can't remember anything that happened."
"You might have blocked those memories out, you and I can work on it. Until then, do you think that you can keep yourself under wraps?" He asked, slowly rising to his feet.
"Heh, I'm sure I can.
I'm sorry, for everything...
I didn't..."
"I know Son, it's fine. Nobody is holding anything against you."
"What about the Overseer?" Denis asked, finding it difficult to believe that Alphonse would look such a thing over, though, then again, he was his potential son in law.
"I've taken care of it." James assured him, slipping a small key into Denis' hands.
"You just, take care of yourself, okay?" He added as Denis released himself, rubbing his wrist.
"I erm... Will, thanks Dad."
"Take your time, when you're ready, you can head back to your room."
With that, James left the room, stepping through the mechanical door, where Officer Gomez immediately awaited him, their eyes met as the door shut and James was able to step around to the observation window.
"I appreciate you doing this for us, Gomez. I know the risks of putting yourself forward like this... I appreciate it."
"Heh, don't worry about it." Gomez shrugged, stepping in beside the Doctor, with a sigh.
"Denis is a good kid, I honestly didn't believe it was him until I got a look at his face. I thought it was one of those tunnel snake punks, shaking Jonas down for coupons.
That and... I know the Overseer, he'd probably have Denis detained, isolated or worse, treated like a criminal. Kid's got enough on his plate, clearly."
"That he does." James agreed, glancing over to the Officer.
"He believes that the last two... maybe even three years of his life has been a lie. I had no idea that he was losing his grasp on reality like this."
"It's always the one you least suspect." Gomez shrugged, keeping his gaze fixed on the Wanderer as he slowly rose to his feet and wandered over to the door.
"Somehow, I think that something else is going on here." James said as the door opened and Denis stepped inside, prompting the Good Doctor to give him an affectionate nod and a soft smile before walking away, leaving him and Gomez alone.
"C'mon, let's... get you home.
Your coffee table survived, by the way."
"Oh thank Christ." Denis sighed, sounding almost genuinely relieved.
"For a minute there, I thought I wouldn't have anything to rest my feet on."