Nora stood over the fallen, dead body of Kellogg, staring down at it silently. Piper allowed herself to take a glance around the room as she recovered from the adrenaline rush she had just had from the fight.
There were shut down synths strewed all across the floor, broken computer terminals and tech, and to top it all, Kellogg's disgustingly contorted face lying sideways on the ground. Nora had been lucky enough to score a shot to Kellogg's head during the battle frenzy and, after the leader had been killed, it didn't take too long to eliminate the synths working for him.
She cringed a bit at the sight of bloodied brains lying not too far from the fresh corpse. It was certainly a grim death, but she wholeheartedly believed that he deserved it. After all, he wasn't negotiable and Nora had no choice but to kill him. If the brunette didn't, he surely would've slaughtered her without a second thought.
Piper turned her gaze over to the woman standing not too far from her. Her expression was unreadable and her fists were clenched so tightly that her knuckles were turning white with the force.
Definitely not a good sign. The sight was unlike any that Piper had ever experienced of the older woman. It was even a bit frightening.
"Blue, you… wanna get out of here?" Piper worked up the courage to finally say gently, sensing the need to flee this situation as quickly as possible.
The woman turned her head suddenly, seeming afraid, and it was almost as if she forgot that the reporter was standing there. After several moments of blankly staring at Piper, she slowly nodded her head, turning away from the body and leaving it behind her.
As Piper trailed quietly after Nora, she knew something was terribly amiss.
…
Despite the tense and detached atmosphere surrounding Nora, everything had been absolutely perfect in their hike back to Diamond City. Except when they arrived at the bridge that would take them across the water nearer to Diamond City. When they got to that point, they happened to come upon a considerably large group of raiders that had blocked the road and seemed very interested in the goods that they had for them to raid.
So right about then, she was hidden behind the edge of the railing along the bridge, occasionally peeking out to shoot at a raider that dared to get too close for her comfort.
"Great. Just great. Today seriously had to go like this. As if we hadn't had enough trouble when we hunted down Kellogg," Piper grumbled as she popped another cap in a raider, getting lucky enough to shoot him in the head and immediately send him down on the ground.
Piper spared a glance at Nora, checking on how she was dealing with the group.
Nora was blasting into the raiders with a fury that Piper had rarely seen from her. The reporter couldn't help but stare slack-jawed at the vault-dweller's seemingly endless aggression.
Nora pulled a machete from her belt and hacked into one of them, successfully making a gash in his side that put him on the ground in pain. As one approached her side with a crowbar, she wielded her ten millimeter pistol and sent a bullet straight through his eye, blood spurting and him screaming helplessly with his dying breath.
As one approached her from her other side, Nora relentlessly struck the woman with her blade until it was a shiny, dark red with the blood and various bits of brains.
At her final kill, the raiders that were heading Nora's way fled to the other side of the bridge.
Nora aimed her gun and shot at a few of them, managing to land several good hits.
At that point, Nora seemed to have the upper-hand in the fight. Piper scoured the area with her eyes and scanned the battlefield, checking for any more raiders. Everything was relatively clear, save for a few stragglers that were trying to regroup and decide on a new plan.
But some unknown feeling in Piper's gut inspired her to look up. To her horror she spotted a man high in one of the nearby buildings who had a sniper rifle trained on Nora.
She looked quickly back at the vault-dweller, horrified at what she feared was about to unfold.
"Blue, watch out!"
Nora paused in her shooting, instinctively moving toward Piper, and she looked over at the reporter, a slight question in her glance.
Time seemed to slow as the bullet presumably aimed for Nora's head, launched itself deeply into the woman's arm.
Piper stared in terror at the woman's face, unwillingly noting every single bit of pain that was cruelly etched in the contours of it.
Nora turned and started toward cover, but before she could make it, the sniper's gun rang out again, effectively crippling her leg.
The vault-dweller cried out in pain, attempting to hobble quickly to her cover before the man could reload. She narrowly missed yet another bullet in the process.
Nora collapsed behind the safety of the stone railing of the bridge, groaning in pain.
"Hold on! Just hold on!" Piper shouted from her hiding spot in a desperate effort to comfort her pained best friend.
"What to do, what to do," Piper murmured frantically, assessing her situation as she glanced around quickly.
Piper felt almost completely helpless. Nora was normally the one to deal with situations like these. She had a level head in stressful, dangerous situations and she could always find a way out of them.
Now that Piper had the reigns shoved in her hands, she was at a loss. Her first instinct was to freak out, since after all, she could possibly lose her best friend and number one confidant because of a bunch of stupid raiders. But she automatically berated herself for that thought. She could never do a thing like that. Not when Nora risked her life for Piper regularly and never seemed to sweat it.
Perhaps that was the key. She needed to think and do what Nora would in this situation if she weren't the one in desperate peril.
She took a deep breath, allowing herself to calm down enough to get a true scope of her surroundings.
Before long, Piper spotted a particular area that could provide excellent cover- a thick conjugation of trees. She narrowed her eyes a bit, concentrating on one spot in the trees. It looked like there could be a way out in that direction, if she was fast enough to both snag Nora and hide in the thicket. Piper raised her gaze and peered around the corner, trying to get a total count of the raiders that were repeatedly firing in her direction.
Despite their lack in numbers, they had guns that fired more than enough bullets to compensate. Piper knew she'd never make it through the repeated onslaught of bullets without some injury and without possibly having Nora injured worse, so she looked around for something that could shield her as she went.
Not too far from her she spotted a sheet of metal that appeared to be thick enough that it wouldn't be penetrable for the first few shots.
"Here goes nothing," Piper murmured, reaching out and grabbing the metal. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for a quick dash to her planned escape route.
With a quick burst of speed, the reporter dashed out from hiding and made a break for the way out.
"There's one!"
"Shoot her, shoot her, you idiots!"
Despite the raiders' loud shouts, she continued holding the metal to her side as she ran as fast as she could. She paused for a moment when she reached the opposite side of the bridge where Nora had dragged herself.
"Wrap your arm around me," Piper commanded quickly, turning her head to see if there were any coming upon her.
Nora grunted in response, hauling herself up and slinging an arm over Piper's shoulders.
Piper waited for just a moment to get a break from the running then burst ahead, dragging a hobbling Nora along with her.
"Piper, give me the metal!" Nora grounded out, reaching her free arm toward Piper's opposite side. Piper rolled her eyes, simultaneously irritated as well as concerned.
"No, you're in absolutely no condition to walk, much less shield us both," Piper retorted, ducking her head as a bullet whizzed by her head.
Piper adjusted her hold on the metal so that it shielded both her and the vault-dweller.
After only a moment more, Piper shot through the trees and dropped the sheet so she could move faster with her handicapped companion.
"Let's skedaddle, c'mon!" Piper told her, and felt Nora noticeably fling herself forward with more force.
They hurried as quickly as Nora could manage until the gunshots were simply a faint noise in the distance.
She then guided Nora to a place on the ground for her to relax while Piper bound her wounds with cloth.
Piper reached in her pack and pulled out two old dishrags she had found the other day. She then wrapped them securely and tightly around Nora's injuries.
Piper then stood up and admired her handiwork. It'd do in a pinch. It certainly wasn't the best, but Nora would be okay.
"Alright. Take a chill right here. It's about to be sundown. I'll get some stuff for a fire and maybe get something to sit on. Oh, and take these," Piper said as she handed Nora two stimpaks. The vault-dweller looked up at her hand, and nodded her thanks as she took them from her.
"Umm… are you okay, Blue? Well, besides the fact that you've got two holes in your body," she sheepishly added, a lopsided smile fleeting across her face for a moment.
"I'm fine."
Piper stared into the older woman's face, noting that every bit of her seemed the total opposite of fine, but she let it go, turning to go and find wood for a fire.
…
"Blue, you're looking kinda… Well, blue, no pun intended. But seriously, what's up? Talk to me, would ya?" Piper asked, finishing off with a seriousness in her tone that was quite opposite of her usual sarcastic demeanor. She raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest as she analyzed the golden-tanned woman sitting in front of her. The woman raised her chocolate-flecked emerald gaze to Piper.
Piper truly didn't understand what could possibly be affecting her normally hopeful, optimistic friend. They had a lead on where Shaun was taken, they had successfully blew Shaun's kidnapper and Nate's murderer into the next life, and Nora seemed to be healing fairly nicely from her gunshot wounds. And Nora didn't seem to ever be too concerned with her own physical injuries. She was always worried with everyone else's.
Piper thought that, of all things, the vault-dweller would be glad of her act of vengeance. Piper certainly felt glad and she didn't even have a personal issue with the guy.
But, reconsidering that statement, maybe it was personal. After all, the man had hurt her best and only friend in the whole world and left a wound that wouldn't even be entirely healed when she found her baby. The woman had went through unbelievable challenges and faced devastating hardships with very little time to recover from the emotional shock of it all.
Perhaps that was why she was so often on the move. Maybe it was to take her mind off of the unfortunate events of her past. She hardly slowed down enough to eat and sleep properly. She was always quickly shoveling food in her mouth and taking quick naps whenever there was a small break between dangers.
That was part of what confused Piper so much about her sudden sluggishness and the depressed air surrounding her.
After several more moments of silence, Piper huffed quietly, slightly exasperated with the lack of response. After all, patience was never a strong point with her. And the little bit of patience she possessed was completely shot at this point. Especially since she'd already asked Nora before if she was alright with things. Piper didn't like wild goose chases and didn't enjoy Nora leading her off on one with her lack of response to her questions.
"Look, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just wanted to help you after all you've done for me. You've always been there to make me feel better about things," Piper explained herself, resigning to the fact that she'd likely not receive an answer.
Piper reached into her pocket and opened up the small container of bubble gum she kept handy. She gingerly picked a piece out, shortly thereafter returning it to its proper place on her person.
Just as she was carefully pulling the protective wrapping from the exterior of the candy, she heard the low voice of her companion sound quietly.
"It's all for nothing, Piper," Nora suddenly murmured. The reporter's inquisitive gaze shot up from the bubble gum to look at the dark-haired woman across from her.
As much as her mind was buzzing with questions, she held her tongue. Perhaps if she were silent and gave her friend enough time, she'd open up on her own without further prodding.
Nora let out a shuddering breath.
"I should've just died in that vault," she vilely spat. Piper recoiled a bit, shocked at the venom in the normally calm woman's tone.
"Blue, what's this about?" she couldn't help but question, feeling her worry grow at Nora's increasingly shaking body and angry words.
Nora finally raised her gaze to meet Piper's. She recognized the swirling emotions in the older woman's eyes. It was easy to identify since she often saw them in her own. Defeat. Sorrow. Worry. All things that were hidden just beneath the surface and something that only made its way into her eyes and expression when she was alone and without something constantly occupying her attention.
"Don't you see, Piper? Shaun doesn't know me. Won't know me. It's all pointless! Is this journey even worth continuing?" Nora demanded, rising up from her seated position in her fury. Despite the unpredictability of the situation, Piper remained settled and continued to hold Nora's stare.
It was quite a feat to keep her head and stay sitting down due to the fact that it was very unsettling for Piper to see Nora act so ferocious. She was normally very calm and rarely raised her voice.
"Is my life here worth continuing? I'm here in a wasteland full of ghouls, super-mutants, raiders, you name it. I grew up and lived in a time where life was full of white picket fences, trustworthy people, and you didn't have to constantly worry about your life being ended by some freak! This place has went to the dogs," Nora abruptly stopped her rant, and to Piper's surprise, she could see tears forming in the vault-dweller's eyes.
"I just wish everything was simple. I wish I was back home in the life I've always known," the woman choked out, clenching her fists tightly to try to keep from releasing the wetness in her eyes.
Piper felt her heart clench at the poor vault-dweller's plight. Life as of late hadn't been too kind to the older woman standing in front of her. She was worn, and tired beyond belief. Piper could see that at a glance. She didn't smile quite as often as she used to and she seemed to have lost some of the honeyed, naïve outlook on the world that she was known for.
The reporter stood up from her place on the fallen log and moved in front of the blue-clad woman.
She engulfed Nora's form in her arms and she pulled her close to her.
"Blue, let it all out, okay? It's alright to cry," Piper ground out, trying to keep her own tears held back.
Piper's heart shattered into a million pieces as a desperate, hopeless sob rang out somewhere nearby her ear. Piper then felt Nora's good arm come up to clutch the reporter to her.
Piper's own tears snaked their way down her cheeks in thin trails. She sniffled a bit, trying to get a hold of her emotions to be strong for the emotional mess of a vault-dweller that she was holding in her arms.
"I'm sorry, Piper. I'm so sorry," Nora blubbered, her voice sounding strangled.
"Shh… It's okay. I've got you," she hushed the crying woman gently, running her fingers through the rich, slightly-curled brown tresses that reached Nora's shoulders.
They sat in relative silence for a bit longer. Piper waited patiently for Nora to calm down from her breakdown.
Personally, Piper couldn't blame her at all for her sudden outburst. Nora was such an emotionally strong person and seemed to never let anything affect her. She was always saving the day and helping other people with their problems. That sometimes left Piper wondering about who helped Nora with her problems.
Piper knew that Nora was often overworked and underpaid. Sometimes she even thought that in the literal sense. One time, Nora had left to the southern parts of the Commonwealth, known for its extensive dangers, just to get a box of Giddyup Buttercup parts for some whack job ghoul who wanted to put one back together.
In Piper's humble opinion, it had been one of those wild goose chase missions, which she had already established she hated, and definitely wasn't worth the meager amount of caps that were offered to Nora. But Nora once again allowed her beautifully giving personality to shine and willingly got the parts and delivered them back safely to the ghoul with no pieces of it damaged.
"I didn't mean it… I didn't. I love you guys. All of my people. I want to stay with you," Nora said, wavering all the while.
Piper couldn't lie. It stung more than a little when Nora had fitfully proclaimed how much she hated life now and wanted to go back to Pre-War times. But it was really nice to hear Nora say that about her and the rest of the gang.
"You're my sister, you know that, right?" Nora mumbled, breathing out shakily.
Piper's eyes widened and she felt her heart flutter at the high praise. It was a huge honor to Piper for Nora to consider her family. Especially that close of family. And it was even better since she felt the exact same way about Nora.
She unknowingly held the vault-dweller a bit tighter to her.
"I know," Piper whispered in response, not quite mustering enough courage to tell the woman that she reciprocated her familial love.
"You know I need you so much in my life… You're the best thing that has happened to me since I was put in that vault. And you're the closest thing I've had to family since before the war. I love all of you, but… you were my first family in this wasteland I woke up in," Nora told her, pulling away just enough to look into the green eyes of the younger girl.
Piper took in a wavery breath. Nora and all of her emotional feels were really getting to her. She mustered enough willpower to give the vault-dweller a wobbly smile as she tried to subtly wipe her eyes.
"Well…. I'm glad that my irritating self means so much to you. Huh. Didn't know that aggravation, loud-mouthedness, and constant jokes made you part of the family," Piper jested, letting go of the vault-dweller in front of her and crossing her arms over her chest in a feeble attempt to regain control of her emotions that were currently very, very out of control.
Nora smiled sincerely at the younger girl and put her hands on the reporter's shoulders, squeezing lightly.
"Those things are just you. And I wouldn't have you any other way," the blue-clad woman emphasized.
Piper felt her cheeks heat up a bit with the compliment and she looked away, feeling a small tear slide down her cheek.
Nora then released her shoulders gently, moving her hands to her hips.
"Now, what do you think about staying here for the night and you telling me one of those famous Piper Wright stories?" the older woman questioned with a kind smile.
Piper brought her gaze back to the other woman's and saw that the usual calmness of her eyes had returned. She also saw that the vault-dweller was clearly giving her an opportunity to change the subject of their conversation to a lighter tone. And when Piper thought about it, it was likely best that she take that chance and make the best of it. After all, they both desperately needed some comic relief right about then. Especially considering the events of the earlier part of the day.
So in response, Piper nodded with a small smile, turning back to resume her spot on the log.
Once they were both settled back into their original seats and the reporter launched into her tale of a long-lost childhood that seemed so far away from her now.
But she'd never change the past. She'd never trade any of the moments that were had that lead up to the one she was currently enjoying. She would never trade the strange disjointed family she had now.
Most of all, she wouldn't ever trade the woman in front of her, even with all of her perfect imperfections.