Okay here I am again and with a new tale to tell, Ashes of the Legion was inspired by my friend Yoshtar, (Thx Yosh) but anyway, this is set about a year or so after the events of Fallout new Vegas, Ceaser is dead, Lanius was defeated at Hoover Dam by the NCR and returned to Flagstaff a...Changed man, I'll explain more later until then let's get started
Fahim wiped his brow as he stood among the dead, such a waste, ever since Ceaser had died the legion had been tearing its self apart, this was but a small skirmish, but by Mars, it was bloody one, upon Lanius defeat at Hoover Dam, many of the Centurions began to doubt his strength and his right to lead, but they still feared him, so around the Legions territory small fiefdoms were forged by Centurions and all those loyal to them, they warred against one another like rabid savages, this was one such battle, on one side those loyal to Lanuis fought the rouge centurion by the name of Antonius on one side a Bull charged head long towards a wolfs den, many of the Centurions adopted new standards Antonius's happened to be that of a wolf.
Fahim scanned the field of the dead, many of the bodies wore traditional Legion colors, but also the colours of the new feudal lords/ex-centurions, a sea of red and gold, with blue mixed in, after a time wandering through the carnage, he began to spy feral ghouls and wolves approach, he couldn't stay much longer, he began to leave, when he spied in the corner of his eye movement among the bodies, at first he shrugged it off as a carrion bird, when he saw it try to sit up, he rushed over to the body, a Legionnaire loyal to Lanius, only a boy, no older the nineteen, his wounds were deep and many, how he was still breathing was a miracle, his eyes struggling to stay open, Fahim would have to work fast lest he die.
Sometime later
Constantine's eyes shot open as he tried to rise, the pain the followed put any thought of trying to move out of his mind, his eye's darted around as he tried to figure out where he was, last he remembered he fell at the hands of a traitorous Legionnaire, and seeing the harsh blue sky above him, now replaced by what seemed to be a dimly lit room, he moved his head, the only part of his body that wasn't paralysed by pain.
"Hold still" a voice spoke old and wise to him.
"Wh...Who ar...are you, w...where am I"
"If you do not remain still and silent, my boy you will be seeing the afterlife much sooner then you should be, now Quiet" the voice was stern as it spoke, Constantine could see near nothing in the dim light of the room, he then began to feel a pair of hands going over his body, removing what seemed like, bandages, a wad of cloth was shoved in his face.
"Bite down on this, Hard" he did as instructed, and he was glad he did, as the pain he felt now, the pain he thought had no compare, got worse, it went form a dull, agonizing and throbbing pain, to a sharp, stabbing, stinging and burning pain, he clenched his teeth harder then he thought possible, his eyes became harder to keep open as the pain went on, darkness began to creep in.
"Not losing you that easy" there was another sharp pain near his neck, that washed the darkness away, but not only that it made him more aware and awake, it numbed the pain, but only a little enough so that he could move some parts of his body, although he resisted the urge to move lest he bring on more pain.
The time seemed to blur together, he lost all semblance of time minutes, hours, seconds, none held relevance for him, all he felt, all he knew was pain, and for a small time, it was black.
Constantine's eyes shot open once again, although this time he didn't try to sit up, he turned his head, his eyes had adjusted since the last time he awoke.
"Ah awake again I see boy" Constantine turned his head to see a fairly old scrawny man greying hair and patchwork beard.
"Try to sit up" Constantine was hesitant to comply with the request, as the pain he'd felt the last time he'd tried to sit up, he managed to sit up for a time, but winced when he tried to move his legs.
"Take it easy, don't over exert yourself" he Rubbed his eyes and groaned.
"How long was I out?"
"Two days" Constantine was surprised at that he'd been out for two days.
"I'm surprised you're up this soon, what you suffered would have killed most men" the old man stood and walked over to him.
"So how are you feeling, anything still hurting?" Constantine took note of the man's accent; it wasn't anything in particular although there was an undertone of what he believed to be wisdom, like the scholars and scribes he'd spoken too during his service.
"No nothing too bad, I'll live" the old man's gaze was sceptical at best.
"Well you must be hungry" he turned and produced a steaming bowl of what smelt like Brahmin Stew.
"Is this really…"
"Yes child it is Brahmin" Constantine gladly took the bowl part due to realizing how hungry he was and part due to the fact that all he'd eaten recently was mole rat soup, he then began to wharf down the bowl, quickly emptying it, he then paused what if it had been poisoned.
"Do you really think I'd go to all the trouble of saving you, just to poison you" Constantine realised that he'd made a cautious face, which the old man had seen.
"Well, no but as I guess you know trust is a rare commodity this day and age" the old man nodded with a surprised look.
"I wasn't aware Legion grunts had understood things like that" Constantine chuckled.
"I'm not your average grunt"
"So I see, so tell me boy what were you doing among the dead" Constantine rubbed his chin.
"We were fighting a rough centurion Antonius the supposed wolf, we'd arrived at the pass to secure it and to ensure the enemy supply lines were broken, however it was an ambush a detachment had rigged up points with explosives that destroyed a quarter of our force, we managed to regroup and rally to our commander and hold out for a time, however he was taken out by a sniper" Constantine clenched his fist and grinded his teeth, he didn't like snipers, he understood their tactical usefulness, but at times he felt it was no excuse for cowardice, he preferred to face his enemy face to face, on honourable terms not hiding from a distance, he shook off his hatred.
"With him dead our troops broke and many fled, I did my best to rally who remained, but it was not good, at least they engaged us honourably, hand to hand combat not hiding from a distance, we fought as hard as we could, but to no avail, we were surrounded and outnumbered our defeat was inevitable, then the leader of the enemy so refined was his cruelty, he had me one who tried to fight back, whipped and cut up then left for dead"
"And that's when I found you"
"Right and I must thank you for that"
"Oh why's that?" Constantine did his best to try to stand
"Because now I may live on and redeem my shame of defeat" his legs buckled under his weight and he fell, the old man picked him up placing him on the bed.
"Easy boy, give it a few days before you go gallivanting off to find vengeance" Constantine sighed he hated the idea but the old man was right, he was in no shape to move let alone fight, he rested his head against the makeshift wolf fur pillow.
"So tell me boy what do you think about this whole mess"
"Pardon" He knew what the old man was on about, although he had to be sure speaking of the state of the Legion with the wrong person is a sure fire way to get killed.
"I mean the Legion boy what do, you think of the legion now"
"I'm a loyal Legionnaire to Lanius, there is nothing more to say" the old man sighed.
"You're going to be here for a while may as well fess up now" Constantine paused, he was right again, he'd be here for a while until his wounds recovered fully anyway, he sighed.
"In truth I don't know what to think anymore, Lanuis may have once been a strong and decisive leader, but his defeat at hoover dam changed him; he just wasn't the same when he returned" his face turned a little odd.
"Interesting"
"What's that supposed to mean?" he flinched almost as if he'd just seen him there.
"Oh nothing child" he turned and went for the door.
"For now get some rest, you'll need it" Constantine put his head back down to rest, the old man was right he'd need to rest if his strength was to return.
Okay ending this here, hope you like it so far if not well boo hoo, anyways I'll keep working on this and do my best to spit out more chapters and I apologize for any major Grammatical things I may have missed, until next time Bye