A/N: I have been trying to force myself to escape my comfort zone and I have decided to do a mystery romance. I was apathetic about the mystery genre until I saw a particular show and I may give mystery more of a chance in the future but I was never a fan of romance (and still looking for a romance that could change my mind on the subject (I still give it a fair chance)) and I don't enjoy OCxCanon like I used to, but what the hell. That's it. Although this story was more inspired by the first Fallout game atmosphere out of all them, I just like the constant fear behind the first one. It does mention other Fallout games though.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Fallout franchise, I just own Patty Cunningham and the works of this story. Now if you can excuse me, I need to rip out more bible verses for this pretentious story.


"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

Revelation 21:4


Nothing but a bright sense of the future ahead for the Commonwealth, at least in the warm beating heart of Patty's there is. Hope, she thought, hope there would be a better future than now for children to live and never face the horrors that lie out there. No more wars, no more guns, no more fighting. Only endless happiness and joy like He attended it to be, there would be light from the darkness and returning the Earth to its' formal beauty that He imagined. Although this light she has dreamed about came with many awful acts that were frown upon God surely, but she knows that He forgives her for those actions especially her misjudged actions—that she now regrets—towards synths that is nothing more but her trying to do the Lord's work and making the world a safer and better place to be.

One of the hardest things she has done in this new world was giving up on her own flesh and blood elderly son and his Institute. She loved him even when she was in disbelief regarding him at first. Her own son outgrown his own mother, that didn't sound right to her at all. However, he and the Institute gave her a sinister image in her distorted mind and while it pains her of every day, every minute, and every second about outliving both her own son and husband—she must continue onwards with her life since that pain of hers gives life and affection towards many others around the Commonwealth wasteland. She follows a faction named The Minutemen as their general and while it has its' troubling times with Preston can be rather frustrating from time to time, she enjoys helping as many people as she can in the world regardless.

The wasteland has been quiet as of lately since the fall of the Institute and in her heart, she felt that the Commonwealth was becoming a safer place to live with her takedown of raiders and Super Mutant camps. It always pleases her that she can make a big change for the world despite her ways. With her new founded heart towards synthetic beings, she personally helps with The Railroad on whatever they needed and slowly drove away from a faction she once thought was necessary to the wasteland, The Brotherhood of Steel. To see their attitude in such a way only gave her bad memories that she wants to forget. As she wanders around the lands on her Railroad errands, she always smiles at her old self about how she originally thought they were a threat to humanity because they made by the hands of man and not God. However, the old thought still crawls in her and sometimes she thinks she was right along but God gave her the gift of sight and sense when she returned to the surface world, the gift of seeing bits of the past and the future as well senses that are out of this world. Not even Vault-Tec can make such holy power.

She tries her best every day to not think about the negative things she has done and tries to look forward to nothing but the golden future she dreams. The gloomy thoughts that flow in her head would only seek an opportunity for the Devil to manipulate her and sinks into her darkest desires and then an eternal burning at the end of her journey. She would not satisfy what the Devil wants in any regard! Yet, she can hear the wedding bells, her lovely husband, Richard's soft moist lips against hers, her breathtaking, pure white dress, the people she knew and loved, and the sweet smell of her favorite flower: tulips. Those were her glory days.

The day they met was rather an odd one, she went after she thought was a human detective to look for her son in Vault 114 and turns out to a synthetic detective. She wasn't angry, more surprised really by the fact Diamond City would rather have something she thought a dangerous robot over ghouls that was once human in their life and gave them her blessings more than these machines. However, Nick was different from the other ones to her even then with his confidence and friendly gestures. Instead of the usual passive-aggressive attitude towards these "smarter" machines, she was genuinely confused at the man and attempted to be kind of friendly before she congratulated Nick to the usual attitude towards the machine.

He smiled at the old memory in his office, that was definitely how Patty was like all right. The one thing that gave him the hint about her aggressive behavior although never called it over was how she holds onto her silver necklace shaped like a cross whenever they spoke to one another after leaving Vault 114 and letting him walk back to Diamond City isolated. If he can recall from the human Nick Valentine, the cross represented a fallen out once famous religion around the globe, Christianity. She was no doubt a religious woman before the war and possibly became heavily into her god ever since the war for the sense of hope.

The moment she wasn't so closed off from him was whenever it was about her son and she was willing to give it her all to get her son back. She was crying when discussing what happened and for the moment, he tried to comfort her in his best ability. After that, they visited Kellogg's place and founded what she needed to get her son. She had no interest in his further help and quickly ran out in the wasteland with only her dog. He couldn't understand why she behaved this way to him when he only wanted to help but he wasn't going to get in her way since she looked more than capable to deal with the wasteland. It was only then when Ellie hinted the fact about the elephant in the room, she looked at him as nothing but a machine.

Behind that small smile of hers, her arms and legs were always crossed and hunching forward him with those narrow eyes it became clear how she really feels even if she was aware of it or not. Although in his surprise, she returned to him eventually with a new pair of eyes. Instead of the narrow eyes, she always gave him, her eyes were full of regret and try to smile at him without staring at him for too long with her new looks. Instead of a long ponytail, her hair shortened to her shoulders and a small scar on her upper lip with small bruises around her face. He wanted to question her whatever happened to her when working on a case about a couple missing their kid when Ellie told her before he can return, but decided to focus on what matters more and took their separate ways to Goodneighbor for Doctor Amari.

Patty was a little late again even though she told him she knew where Goodneighbor was, she looked a bit genuine that she actually appears late by asking how long has he been here and if he was hungry and willing to share of her food to only slap herself in the head about that question. He laughed at the poor woman who appears to actually appear nice and told her it was fine, it was a nice change of pace for him instead of the closed-off attitude.

The spark that started it all was when he volunteered to help out using the cybernetic brain augmenter in him, there was heavy risk doing so but despite her bad attitude, she was clearly alone and scared and her son was the only beacon of hope for her. Plus it was indeed his job to help people. His compassion actions was a complete surprise to her as if she was expecting he wasn't going to help, but for the first time she truthfully thanks him for what he was doing and seems very open to herself as soon after the experience. Before heading to look for Virgil, she turned to him with a heartwarming smile and ask him to join her.

It still amazes him that went from barely wanting to be in the same room to good friends who help one another (especially when Patty is drunk and has no idea what's even going on), he nodded to himself and agreed that the suffering from all that was well worth it at the end when she was the one who helped his troubling memory of the old Nick can haunt him for a bit. Her optimistic and uplifting words and advice always brighten his day, a refreshing change than the usual sarcastic, dry answers he gets from people.

He lifts up and admired the framed photo of an old photo of her that she gave him as a present, this photo meant a lot to her. The photograph was taken by her mother when her father was finally released out of prison from an eight-year sentence being accused of sexual assault towards a minor. At least she believed that he was falsely accused, more evidence started to show on his side and was eventually released from prison but no one knows the truth behind that day. Patty had the biggest grin on her face as hold on to her father with another red-haired man beside him, her husband Richard.

Her smile was probably one of his favorite things about her, it made him for hopeful and always look forward to the future in which he has been missing around five weeks. Haven't heard even a whisper about her and she has always been the talkative type even when he wasn't listening. He knows that she could be focusing on her tasks for the Minutemen or possibly the Railroad, she can be easily distracted like that but she always come back here to see him again.

Or she remembers what he did on that drunk night? He was so sure of himself, she won't remember what he said especially when she was passed out. It almost scared him what would happen if she remembered.

"Try not to worry yourself to death, Nick." Ellie responded, "She'll be back in no time, remember that one time she hasn't come for a week?"

He chuckled, "It took literally a week for her to make that table and just gave up on it and had someone do the table for her."

Ellie raised her voice high and sit the way as Patty usually do, she batted her eyelashes, "'I didn't quit on making that table! I was just given a vision by God to let someone else do it! There's a total difference!'"

He laughed, "If she knows we're talking about her behind her back like that, she'll go on a rampage."

"Except she'll spare you, you'll just get mean looks instead and quote something from her bible." He continued to chuckle, "Overall, don't sweat yourself. She'll be back in a minute, you really like her, do you?"

He brushed himself, remembering a painful memory of his, "Maybe."

"Aw, you got a crush! Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. It'll be our secret." Ellie grabs a folder from the cabinet and looks through the notes, her smile begins to fade, "It seems like a couple called The Davis wants to speak about this case, it looks pretty serious."

"When a case was never serious?" Ellie handles the folder to him, "Let's check it out."

From reading all of these notes, it seems to be about some women being kidnapped from a mysterious possible gang. "Could it be Skinny's gang again?" He thought, "Then again, why kidnap some women? For what purpose?"

"I'll be going now. I got to see what's this case about, plus have you seen any Patty's friends or at least hang around Patty?"

"I actually saw Cait hanging around here, why?"

He shrugged, "I thought this case may interest her plus she has a good eye despite having some mad talks and knowing some things coincidentally sometimes."

She frowned a bit, "Are you sure? You did stop her jumping off the building to see if she sees her own death for the third time in a row and I don't know, I mean yeah it's been a while since the whole Shaun thing but still, it must affect her to this day."

He smirked, "It's not the same without a little bit of her craziness, Ellie. It makes more unique and at this point, I think I can handle her now."

Ellie shrugged as she process on her task, "Alright, your funeral."

He left out of his office and begin to walk around Diamond City, it had flaws just like every other place but it was probably the best place for people to live normally. At least as normal as it can possibly be in a world of raiders who steal and kill people's lunch money, super mutant steals people to turn into one of them, and feral ghouls who just steal people's lives. Of course, there was a settlement that Patty deeply cares about that turning out to a decent place, doing local trades and all that goodies but Diamond City was his home, not Sanctuary.

When Patty and he start traveling together, she usually likes to stop by the chapel to pray for a minute. It usually gives her a peace of mind she always says, but she usually ends up crying every prayer she does. Either she does intense prayers or there's more behind that comforting smile of hers. Occasionally, he prays aside her for moral support. He wasn't against the idea of God, but what type of God lets their own creations suffer like this he sometimes ponders about.

Funny, he never really thought about religion at all until Patty came along in his life. He became interested in what was in the holy bible even said before the war since he has many questions about his existence, does the creator of the whole world also planned the original Nick Valentine to be stuck into a robotic man? Anything at all about his own existing as a synth or is he just concerned about humans only? The only time, he really learns about it was from Patty's memory and even she can't remember every single thing that the book says. Sometimes, he searched around the wasteland to look for it, knowing that Patty would be thrilled about it and seek answers on his own.

Although she told him there are many religions in the world, so how could she knows what God is the true one or rather all of them are true and just fighting over another for power just like humans do on this Earth? What if none of the Gods they worship is the right one? None of it made too much sense then again, Patty said it was always about faith and trust, it was never about reasoning and logic which it is why it's so hard to convert people into spiritual things.

Would he count as a man to her god or just another object by man? If he was just another object to her god, why make him so human-like in the first place? She always says prayer is the answer to his questions, but he wasn't too sure about everything that comes out of her mouth. He still remembers when Patty thought she saw a tall figure staring at her outside of the witchcraft museum despite taking care of the Deathclaws there.

Regardless of her crazy talks, every time he takes a look at her, he can't help but admire almost every little detail of her human facial structure and how the hair compliments around her face. Sometimes, having her relax on top of him as she sleep was comforting, almost human-like when feeling her warm body and feeling her heart beating every second. She was the closest thing that made him feel human.

Nothing he should probably wonder about right now though, he needed to see what the couple wanted about this case.

He visited the residence area of Diamond City and knocked on the door, waiting for someone. He saw a young man opening with a stressed-out expression on his face, "Thank you for coming, Nick. My wife has been driving me insane as of lately."

"Did she say anything that would be in use?"

"Not anything that I think of, maybe you can make some sense in her." He walked inside and saw a red-haired disturbed green-eyed woman sitting down on the rusty couch, she was staring at the wall from a distance and trying to calm herself by hiding herself with a blanket.

He approached the frightened woman, "Hello, Ms. Cassie, how you're feeling?"

She started blinking at him rapidly, holding onto her blanket tightly, "I'm feeling like there's going to be a thunderstorm coming."

He nodded, could've been a worse start, "Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions about your disappearance? We can stop at any moment you wish."

She nodded, "I can only tell you there's nothing but pain and suffering, I can try though."

"Great, what happened on the day you were kidnapped?"

"I was looking for something, I can't remember, my memory has been foggy lately. All I can remember was the men with weapons and knock me out."

"What did these men looked like? Were they buff or something off about them?"

"I-I don't know. All I know the tall figures were shaped like men."

"What happens after?"

She holds onto herself, looking up in the ceiling as she heavily breaths, "I couldn't breathe or see or hear or anything! I felt trapped in a coffin, unground, buried alive! I felt dead but I was clearly alive! I yelled at the top of my lungs but I couldn't hear my own voice. Then I heard a voice, it was a male gentle voice."

"Do you know whom that voice belongs to or anything you can remember?"

"No, no idea who that man is but the man always mocked me and him always in control of everything that was happening. I went to hotels, vaults, houses, all kinds of locations I didn't even know about. Then..." She paused and looked at the window nervously, "There's a thunderstorm coming by."

"I'm sorry?"

She turned her head to him, "Sorry, it's just...I remember thunderstorms. I always hated thunderstorms, still do, and yet there was always one every time. Every strike I felt being thrown at me was him! Him hitting me every time and hearing him laugh every time! Every time I try to escape from it, he throws me another storm! It never ends! It felt it rained for years! It probably was years of rain! I sometimes can hear others screaming, he sometimes makes me watch to see what would happen. I saw a couple of them died from those lightning strikes, they're always so deadly.

"Then one day, there was no rain but cries of others. I suddenly see light again with four other women aside of me but I have no idea who they were. Before I can stand up from the ground, I saw two women trying to kill each other the moment they saw the light. One grabbed a gun and shot the other and we quickly ran as far as possible to get away from that lady. I have no idea what happened to that lady. There was only three of us now. As we walked around in this realm, I was the only one who made it back to here, I think. One was drinking the radioactive water and ended up killing itself while the one became nothing but metal parts by the hands of death. I don't know how I found myself back here again or if this all just a game but I'm here and scared what he has prepared for us."

"A woman becoming into metal parts? Probably talking about a synth being killed by a deathclaw. However the rest, I don't really understand what she's saying. Did they just take them into different locations and torture them?" He mused over the information given to him, "I don't know how I am going to get a clear answer from her or maybe even other victims if they all going to be driven crazy like this. Maybe he's using some drugs on them to make them hallucinate all over the place to the point they lost their sense of reality. I may have to look around some more, maybe someone part of the click."

He returned his focus to the woman, "Thank you for answering, is there anything else you want to say?"

She paused for a second, "Is there a thunderstorm coming?"

He shrugged, "I don't know, Mrs. Davis."

"That means it will soon, it always does. It never stops raining and if it does, he's coming."

There was rain around the wasteland, of course, however, it wasn't raining all the time so he can't understand what's going on in her head. Whatever they did to her, he was sure that he would put them down. Almost reminds him of his fiancee, the woman he loved, the woman the original Nick loved. No one deserves to suffer the same pain as he had. "Mrs. Cassie, I'm sure I'll find this man and put a stop to this crime. Anything to make you feel safe again. Whoever did this to you, they will pay."

She started sobbing, "Just please, please leave me alone. I need to prepare myself for the thunderstorm, I heard he was going to throw a big one tonight."

He bobbed his head whatever she had to say, there was nothing he could say to save her from her own mind. Whatever they did to her, the damage was too big to repair. He can only hope for the best for her now.

The man walked up to Nick, "Did you get anything from her? Are you going to catch the bastards who have done this to my wife? Please, I'm trying everything and all she wants to do to hide from storms and stuff! I don't know what to do anymore!"

"I'm sorry, but I barely got a thing from her. All I can tell is that they let five women go for whatever reason but they were all already going insane, one of the women being possibly a synth. Your wife was the only one who made back alive. It seems like they were traveling around as they torture them, maybe they were electrocuting them as they go as she watches for some sense of pleasure or whatever which is why she seems to be worried about thunderstorms very often. Otherwise, I have no idea where to begin."

The man drops to his knees, "Please, oh please find them! I need some salvation, something to know that my wife's suffering was not all for nothing! Just find them, ok?"

"I will don't you worry. Try to relax a bit as well, don't go insane as well."

The man got off the floor and smiled, "I'll try."