Updated: 6/6/2012, grammar fixes (hope I got all of them), fixes for when Vizyn magically changed gender (oops!), changed some lines, added some extra lines.
Charon looked at the two women before him: Sarah Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel, and Vizyn "Viv" Nielson of Vault 101. Both stood straight, jaws clenched and hands fisted at their sides. Blue eyes stared into each other, filled with the same determination—the same fear—as the alarm echoed through the Jefferson memorial.
Vizyn took a deep breath and fixed her hat, pushing it forward slightly and puckering her lips in what Charon had come to know as her "it's now or never" face.
"I'll do it," Her voice was steady but Charon saw her knees shake. He hadn't quite registered what she had meant until she took a step towards the airlock.
His hand enclosed around her wrist before he had a moment to think. The vault girl jumped and glanced up at him in question, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. He couldn't even think with the alarms blaring in his eardrums.
She smiled sadly and stood on her tiptoes, brushing a shy kiss against his jaw.
"This is what I have to do, big guy," She whispered. With a feral growl Charon lifted her to his lips for a crushing kiss. Her surprised squeak melted into a moan as his tongue brazenly entered her mouth, kissing her as though it would be the last time.
A wave of dread washed over him as he realized it would be.
"Another way," he hissed as they parted.
"No time," was her dazed response. She stared up at him for a moment before pushing him gently away. "I have to do this. This was my dad's project, it can only be me."
Charon noticed that Sarah had turned her back, whether out of modesty or disgust he didn't care to find out. He focused on Vizyn, her messy champagne-blonde hair peeking out from under the dark grey hat she shoved it in. Her deep blue eyes—so bright and full of life—stared into his milky ones.
"I can't let you do this."
Her brow furrowed and she stood tall.
"Charon," she tried to make her voice sound authoritative. "I don't want to have to order you to stay here," at his scowl, her features and voice softened. "But I will if you try to stop me."
With one last, quick kiss, she turned and stepped into the airlock. She nodded once at Sarah who typed into the keypad and the doors slowly began to close behind her.
Vizyn looked over her shoulder and flashed the ghoul that same cock-sure grin she had as she held his contract in front of his face.
"Bet you're sick of this place!" She exclaimed, waving the paper like some sort of prize. A grin was spread across her face and the corners of her eyes crinkled merrily as she held the document out to him. "How about you come with me? I have a house! Well, it's kind of like a house…uh, it has beds and stuff!"
"So long as you hold my contract, I shall follow you." He had answered reflexively, not caring much for what she said. Her smile faltered and she made an unsure sound.
"Does putting it in my bag count?"
Charon stared at her. His new employer was a moron. Brilliant. He almost preferred Ahzrukhal.
Almost.
"Yes."
She breathed a sigh of relief and slipped the paper into her bag.
He inspected her further. Her face was smudged with a thin layer of dirt but underneath he could see pale, unblemished skin. Her nails were neatly manicured and her hair was shiny and looked soft to the touch. Her azure eyes were wide and…innocent.
Shit, He thought. She's not a moron, she's a kid.
Upon closer examination, her armor was a modified vault 101 suit.
A vault kid.
"Well, let's get this show on the road!" She cheered, grinning up at him. When he didn't immediately follow she turned and looked up at him, cocking her head to one side in question.
"Please, wait outside. There is something I must take care of first."
After a confused blink she smiled again.
"Sure thing! Take your time, you can meet me at Carol's when you're ready!" She stepped out of the ninth circle without a care in the world, jabbering about getting them dinner before they left.
She was innocent. She probably had never killed anyone. The fact that she had even made it so far into D.C was probably pure luck.
As he unloaded his shotgun into Ahzrukhal, he couldn't shake the thought that this new employer wouldn't last long.
Vizyn stepped calmly into the irradiated chamber, her face twisted into a grimace and she glanced at her pip-boy. Charon heard the tic-tictic-tic of the Geiger counter and felt sick.
No. This isn't right. It should be me in there, I can take it!
He ran to the window and smacked his fists against it. Maybe it wasn't too late and they could switch places before the memorial exploded!
She glanced over at the sound and shivered as the radiation seeped into her skin. He could practically see it cloud the chamber, swirling her in a toxic mist.
She wouldn't waste time to switch out. He knew it just as the thought crossed his mind. She, who had never given him an order in the eight months they'd been together, had threatened to give him the order to let her die.
Vizyn walked over to the control panel and began humming a song he had heard her sing so many times that he knew the words by heart.
You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine…
"…you make me happy when skies are grey," Vizyn sang happily and pulled the last dish from the sink, wiping it with a cloth before setting it on the shelf with a twirl and a smile. Charon watched from his seat in their "living room," his shotgun disassembled on the table in front of him so he could clean it, but he was distracted.
Doing the dishes was an ordinary enough task, but Vizyn had been making quite the name for herself across the Capital Wasteland. It seemed odd to see the Messiah of the Wastes doing something so normal, singing while she was at it as though she were a pre-war housewife.
The thought made him shake his head and go back to his weapon.
If Vizyn was the wife, what would that make him? The idea made a bitter laugh escape him.
"Hey!" Vizyn called from the kitchen. "I heard that laughing! No joy and merriment! Stoic, grumpy ghouls have to remain stoic, grumpy ghouls!"
"While smoothskins sing and dance in the kitchen?" Charon replied.
"The kitchen is the fun zone! No room for party-poopers!"
"You're just upset because I out-shot you today, just like every other day."
Vizyn stuck her tongue out and threw her dish rag at him, which landed pitifully a few inches from her feet with a flop.
"You didn't see that."
"Not a thing."
Vizyn picked up the rag and tossed it in the sink while Charon finished cleaning his shotgun. She grabbed "Paradise Lost" from the locker and sat on the ghoul's lap, snuggling into his chest with a content sigh.
Charon lifted her and repositioned her slightly so that they were both comfortable and wrapped his arms around her to keep her from sliding off of him in the small, pink chair. He buried his face in her champagne hair, for once free of the cap she had gotten for her sixteenth birthday.
"What was that song?" He asked, closing his eyes. It had seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't remember when he had heard it. Vizyn paused for a moment and nuzzled her head against his.
"My dad used to sing it to me every night," She fiddled with her pip-boy for a moment then hit "play."
A voice that he assumed was her father's sang softly and clearly over the speaker.
"You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine,
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take
My sunshine away."
Vizyn quietly sang along, the song she had been singing so happily a few moments ago now brought tears to her eyes, hearing her father singing along with her.
Charon pulled her to him a little tighter in an embrace.
"We'll find him, smoothskin." He promised.
"I know."
Vizyn's fingers trembled as she punched in the code, her humming beginning to grow shaky. Charon watched helplessly as she swayed back and forth and struggled to remain on her feet.
The alarms stopped going off and Charon wished they were still blaring in his eardrums. The silence of the memorial made time go slower and made everything all the more real.
He looked over to Sarah Lyons, who was happily reporting the success to the other paladins of the Brotherhood. It was as though Vizyn—her friend!—wasn't slowly dying behind her. He noticed that even after they disconnected she refused to turn around.
The sounds of Vizyn choking snapped his attention back. The vault-girl stumbled to the window and collapsed to her knees. Tears streamed dirty rivers down her cheeks and she pressed her hand against the glass, nails scratching against the smooth surface as though she were trying to claw her way free.
He remembered leaving her father in a similar position.
She hadn't spoken in days. Not to the Brotherhood, not even to him. During the day she sat in the room the Brotherhood of Steel had offered them, playing back the recording of her father singing, over and over, not eating unless Charon sat down with her and forced the food into her hands. At night she had nightmares. She thrashed about and screamed and only awoke to Charon's arms pulling her to him. Vizyn's normally vibrant eyes would stare blankly up at him for a few moments, as though questioning which was the dream and which the reality, before she clenched them shut and sobbed into his chest until sunrise.
One night, after listening to the recording for the last time, she finally spoke.
"I'm alone," Her voice was soft and hoarse from disuse, but it caught the ghoul's attention. Charon put down his shotgun on the table and kneeled before her, taking her petite hands into his larger ones.
"I'm here."
"Not for long," She refused to look at him. The ghoul shook his head and squeezed her hands in his.
"I will always be here, Viv," He swore, "always."
"Everyone I love leaves me."
"Not me."
Finally, her eyes met with his.
"What would make you so different?" She asked, daring him to back up his promise.
"Because you have a part of me I could never leave behind," His answer came without a second thought. Vizyn looked down at her knees.
"Right, your contract."
Charon scowled and cupped her cheek in his hand, lifting her face to look him in the eyes.
"No. Not my contract," He brought his lips against hers, slowly but ardently. It was far from their first kiss and it quickly became heated as she began to mirror his actions.
Charon laid her back on the bed and hovered above her, kissing and nipping her lips and jaw-line, and intertwining their fingers. He brought her hand to his chest and flattened her palm against the leather armor over his heart.
"Right here," he hissed between kisses, "I can't go anywhere without this so keep a firm hold on it."
Vizyn blinked her eyes to stop the tears and pulled Charon's other hand to her own chest.
"You too."
He attacked her lips once more, their tongues practicing a dance they had only recently discovered. She arched against him, wrapping her legs around his waist and digging her nails into the leather on his shoulders.
As things began to escalate, he tried to pull away, not wanting to take advantage of her grief despite the protests of his tightening pants.
"Wait," Vizyn grabbed a strap of his armor and held him in place, breathless. She licked her kiss-swollen lips and Charon felt a pang in his groin. "I don't want have any more regrets," She said quietly.
"Regrets?"
"I'm learning the hard way," she tightened her hold on him and bit her lip. "I'm not some hero from a fairytale, like I thought. I'd hear Three-Dog talk about me, see the way people became hopeful and I thought…I thought everything would work out perfectly, because I'm the hero," Vizyn stifled a sob before continuing. "But, I've learned that I'm not. This is real life and just because I'm trying to make a difference doesn't mean I'll have my happily ever after. I lost my home, my dad…and now I feel like I'm going to be losing even more," Her hands snaked up the back of his neck into his hair. "I don't want to miss out on anything and wonder 'what if?'"
Charon stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers and nodded, leaning to kiss her softly, slowly.
Her life had been easier in the vault, sheltered and safe. She wasn't made for the harsh reality that was the Capital Wasteland, yet she had been thrown out into its sands with little more than a battered baseball bat.
But, despite this strange world she found herself in, she had persevered long enough to make it to Underworld. She worked for two months around the ghoul city until she raised enough to buy his contract. She knew she couldn't take on the world alone and for some reason she wanted him by her side.
Forever.
That night was filled with her embarrassed giggles, hesitant touches, and restless exploration of the other. Charon treasured each soft gasp, each brush of her smooth fingers against his skin. In the morning he awoke to Vizyn humming the song she loved, while trailing her fingers along his hard muscle. When she met his eyes, he saw a spark of fire being rekindled.
As they stepped out of the Citadel that afternoon, she programmed her pip-boy to lead them to the town of Little Lamplight. She turned towards him and held out a hand, a small smile tickling the corners of her mouth.
"For good or ill?"
Charon smirked and took her hand in his.
Vizyn's fingers continued to scratch against the glass and her eyes screamed out to him.
It hurts! Help me, please!
Charon placed his hand against the glass, as though he could touch the skin of her palm on the other side. He was enraged. He should have offered to go in her stead and now he couldn't do a thing to help her.
Vizyn's eyes rolled up into her head. Her hand slid down the window and dropped limply to the floor, along with the rest of her.
He saw her pip-boy flashing red.
Radiation reaching critical levels!
The ghoul clenched his fists.
There was still time.
"Lyons!" He barked, causing the woman to jump and turn towards him, "Get this fucking door open, she can still be saved!"
"Are you an idiot?" She asked, sweeping her arm towards the chamber. "If we open this door the entire memorial will be filled with radiation!"
Charon gave her his fiercest glare and saw her retreat a bit.
"Then you'll have to run pretty fucking fast after you unlock it," Charon could hear the beeping of Vizyn's pip-boy growing more frantic by the second. "We don't have time to argue, this girl saved your sorry ass from a Behemoth! You're going to repay her by leaving her to rot?"
Sarah seemed to deliberate for a moment and Charon felt the urge to shoot her. Finally, she nodded and rushed over to the door control.
"I'll have a medical staff outside," She said, then ran as the door began to open.
Charon ran inside the chamber and scooped Vizyn into his arms. She was completely limp but he could feel the faint thumping of her heart through her shirt. The ghoul sprinted out of the chamber to the main building, his long stride propelling him easily over the corpses of Enclave and Brotherhood casualties.
"Cha-ron?" Vizyn croaked. Her barely open eyes stared at up at him, but they didn't seem to be able to focus.
"We're almost there, smoothskin. Just hold on."
Charon burst through the double doors to the outside. As promised, a medical staff was being collected and they hurried over once they caught sight of the massive ghoul carrying the frail girl.
Charon held Vizyn against him as the medics slipped an IV needle into each of Vizyn's arms and held two bags of Rad-away above their heads. Charon watched her pip-boy, but the Gieger counter made no move to lessen.
"It's not working," he panicked, "why isn't it working?"
"Charon, I'm scared," Vizyn whispered, her body growing limp once again.
"Stay with me smoothskin," He held her and rocked her gently as the medics began arguing about what to do. "Don't be afraid, you're going to be ok."
"Promise?"
Charon felt a burning lump in his throat and he squeezed his eyes shut.
"I promise."
"Liar."
Charon didn't know what to say. He caressed her face and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Y-you," his voice was thick and off key, but at the moment it was all he could think to do.
"You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy,
When skies are grey."
Vizyn squeezed his biceps weakly, tears started to stream down her face and she struggled to sit up in his arms.
"You'll never know, dear,
How much I…" The words caught in his throat. "How much I…"
Vizyn sobbed and gently put her arm up to his head and tugged his lips down her. He kissed her deeply, willing it to relay what his words could not.
How much I love you…
Her lips slowed to a stop. Her head dropped back against his arm and her arms fell to the side.
"V-Viv?" Charon heard the life monitor on her pip-boy flat-line.
He held her tight against him, shocked and shaking. She was his one ray of light in this fucked up world, and she was gone. Her curled over her and screamed. He couldn't remember the last time he had cried, he hadn't even thought his tear-ducts still worked after his ghoulification. He rocked her against him, tangling his fingers in her hair as his tears wet her face.
He didn't even care about the Brotherhood soldiers gathering around, removing their helmets in a final salute to their lost hero.
Please don't take my sunshine away.
This story was written by taking the last chapter I wrote for my original idea (I always write the very last chapter to my stories before I even post the first one) and taking key points I had listed for the series and inserting them into the one-shot as flashbacks. Fun Fact. I'm also thinking of making a sequel or two to this...since I can't stand unhappy endings...if I get enough reviews/favs.
I hope you enjoyed it, please leave your reviews! Even if you're just telling me that I misspelled something or how your foot itches from your new socks!