Hello all! This is something that has been sitting at the back of my computer, gathering dust, for around a two years. I had to stop writing it because of school, and as a side effect of that, I've gradually lost interest in it because I think I've completely forgot what I where I was planning to go with this. But, I got bored today, and as a reult of my boredom, I've decided to upload it just to see if anyone would be interested. It follows my Lone Wanderer, Nathaniel, and James throughout their journey in the Capital Wastelands. This story follows the main plot, mostly, but there is some mention of the other side quests that Nathaniel does along the way as well as the path I think James takes leading up to where he gets a bit...stuck.

As you might've noticed, this story can and will mention lots and LOTS of spoilers. So don't kill me if you read one.

Also, if anyone would want to beta or offer some advice to how this could go, please, don't be afraid to review or PM me :D

DISCLAIMER: I do not own, and will never own, this magnificent game. Unfortunately.


"I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.

I will give unto him what is athirst of the fountain of the waters of life, freely"

-Revelation 21:6


Holotape dated: August 17, 2277, 7:36 PM, Megaton: My Megaton House

Nathaniel

My first holotape recording... a strange achievement, but it's one, nonetheless. I record this for myself, but I could've always typed it on my Pip-Boy. I guess there are some things that have to be said out loud. Perhaps I record this to remind me what I'm after, to not lose myself in a world that had lost everything, and to remind myself of what once was. Perhaps, when this is all over, it'll be something to show Dad...Perhaps.

I record this to show the story of Nathaniel, known now to many as Hawkeye and The Lone Wanderer. He existed in this broken world to hopefully bring some good into it.

My life hasn't always been my own. The Vault, no matter how flawed, was my home, and yet we weren't allowed to leave, or live our lives as we pleased. The Overseer, no matter how many times he chanted, "This is where you were born. This is where you will die"...I have never really believed it. I have always wondered what it's like outside. A word and its meaning, so foreign in our lives that there's always a strange feeling within me when I say it. All my life up until I was nineteen was spent in the safe, dull, place known as Vault 101. Where my childhood days passed without much worry or diversity. Where the Overseer struts around like a demented peacock. Where Butch and his gang, the Tunnel Snakes, didn't let one blasted day pass without breaking the rules or picking a fight with someone. But even the most dreary of places and the most wretched of days had a ray of sunshine in it. Mine's was Amata.

Amata... she was my friend, a person I could confide with, and at some point, my self-declared future fiancée. The only one other than my father who can make me laugh when I'm sad, and the only one who can make me dance when she's happy. (laughs sadly) But now... I know that some dreams, no matter how hard you fight for it, just isn't meant for you.

And then there's my father. The only family I have.

Dad has always been there for me with a warm smile, a check-up or two, and some advice to give. I have always seen him as everyone else sees him; a doctor, a scientist, and a loving father who lost his wife while giving him a child-me. I...I find it strange to think that I even had a mother. All I have to know her is a couple of pictures and the stories Dad told me.

When he left that fateful day, with no warning of any sort, not even a goodbye to his only son, I chose to follow him. Out into the unknown, to the outside, called by its inhabitants The Capital Wasteland. An apt name for the broken land that was once the center of human industry. Now, the former areas that was once called D.C, Arlington, Annandale, Bethesda, Springvale, Germantown, and Olney are places that hardly resemble the busy streets filled with life. The tall, majestic buildings of long ago. The places that children can run freely, laugh, and play. Now, these places hold not even a shadow of the freedoms that the people of the past took for granted. Now, these places are where dangers lurk at every turn, and death can be but a step away. Where greed flourishes like no other time in human history. Where betrayal is common, cruelty thrives, and selfishness is almost essential for survival.

This is the world my father chose to go to.

I want to know why.

Holotape ended on: August 17, 2277, 8:03 PM, Megaton


Holotape dated: August 16, 2277, 6:52 PM, Megaton: Common House

James

I don't know why I'm recording this. Maybe it is to remember what has gone by, or perhaps this is just the ramblings of an old man, the dreaming of a dream he threw away for his son...but...I know now. That abandoning the project, mine and Catherine's dream, has led to more innocent lives lost, more families torn apart...

(humourless chuckle) What am I saying? I knew that. I knew that all those years ago, but I wasn't able to complete the project... not without her. I was too much of a coward to do so, too weak to finish what we started. "But," I reasoned, "the baby must be protected. The child of my beloved wife must be raised safely. When Nathaniel is old enough, I will leave him in the safety of the Vault to go to the Wastelands so to finish what we started." So, with that thought, that illusion, in mind, I left the project with my son and a friend, much to the frustration of my peers, to go to a place that, against all odds, took me in as a doctor, and helped me raise my son.

Heh, I am rambling like an old man.

The Wastelands...hasn't changed since I stepped into Vault 101. It's been almost twenty years since Catherine's death. Twenty years since we - I - stopped the project. All for my son. My son, who Catherine died giving birth to. Catherine, she... she was the very first who held Nathaniel. For ten minutes... for ten happy, blissful minutes before she died. (weary sigh) God, I miss her... I miss my son. But he's a grown man now. Strong, handsome, and intelligent. Just like his old man. Stubborn, determined, and confident... Just like his mother. And as much as I don't want to admit it, he doesn't need his "daddy", anymore...

I stopped by Megaton for the night. Moriarty's was still open when I came in, so I got some scotch from Gob. Poor guy's still trying to buy his contract from Moriarty, the old bastard. Asked around for some news, but it's more of the same. Raiders around the town, rumoured to have their base somewhere around Springvale. The Brotherhood of Steel still fighting Super Mutants in the D.C Ruins. Slavers still getting richer and richer over in Paradise Falls. The Wastelands haven't changed for the better. It seems to be progressively getting worse, which worries me. No sleep for me tonight, I leave to see Three-Dog for more news. To see if it's still standing. I have to hurry to finish what I-me and Catherine- started, all those years ago...

Holotape ended on: August 16, 2277, 7:22 PM, Megaton