Chapter 2
The Sentinel and the Vault Dweller
When Clarke left the elevator, she caught a glimpse of a large group of Brotherhood of Steel members walking toward what she assumed was an exit. She couldn't see Lexa, but she imagined the brunette must have been at the head of the party. She stayed there, staring, until they disappeared from her field of vision. Then, she walked around the pond. She found more people there, cleaning things up, or taking a break. A small stand had been opened with chairs and tables spread in front of it, and people came to buy food and drinks before going back to work.
Clarke followed the pond back to the entrance and made a first stop at the arcade. When she pushed the door open she felt like putting her hands over her ears. The loud sounds coming from the machines, all working at the same time, was deafening. But among those sounds were also children laughter, a whole lot of them. Though the light was soft and kept most of the place in darkness, she could see many children running around, talking animatedly and queuing to play some of the games. A few adults were there too, some playing and some keeping an eye on the children.
After a bit of searching, she found Madi and Aden in one of the adjacent room, playing a game with a few of the other kids. At first glance, it didn't seem to make much sense to Clarke, but after watching a round, she understood. The children were sending water inside a tube which was pushing the bottles upwards. It was a race. She waited until Madi had pushed her bottle to the top to approach.
"Are you having fun?"
Madi's eyes were shining even in the relative darkness of the room.
"This place is awesome!"
A bunch of blue tickets began to be spat out by the machine, and Madi picked them up, stuffing them in one of her pocket, which already had a bunch more of these tickets.
"Aden said with all my tickets I can buy a prize later! Do you want to play?"
Clarke shook her head.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I'll come to pick you up later, I have something to do."
Madi nodded.
"Okay. I'll see you later."
She walked toward another game, Aden behind her, and Clarke was stunned for a minute. Madi didn't seem bothered at all that she was leaving her alone for the day. Clarke wasn't sure if it was because the girl had sharper instinct then her, and knew instantly that the place was safe, or if she should teaching her a bit more about not being too trusting of strange people and strange places.
Clarke exited the arcade and tried to follow Lexa's instructions. She went back to where the market was, but she quickly found herself lost and started to turn around the marketplace, unsure of where she was going. People were taking down a barricade on her right, giving her the full view of what had been hidden on the other side. It looked like a party had gone very wrong, but the decoration was exactly what she expected from a weird raider clan, with mannequins wearing animal masks and cages and colorful streamers hang everywhere.
After continuing on her way, she arrived at the entrance once again, and she knew she'd gone the wrong way, so she continued again. Finally, when she made it to the large construction site she'd seen earlier, she decided to ask for directions. She approached one of the power armored men and asked:
"Excuse me... I'm looking for someone named Raven? Lexa told me she could help me?"
"She's right over there." the man pointed, his voice slightly distorted by the helmet.
She thanked him and he lost his relaxed position, strengthening his grip on his minigun and straightening his position slightly as if he'd returned to his watchful position.
Clarke followed the direction he'd pointed her toward, on the side of the arena. She had to walk around a pile of planks, which they'd probably gotten from dismantling all of the raiders' work. She walked through what must have been some kind of parking, and soon enough, she found a large office hidden in the back. Tables had been placed to form an L, with a terminal placed on the smaller side, and many tools and broken pieces of robots resting on the larger side. A white and gold protectron was standing in the middle, and a young woman was standing in front of it.
"Primary directive," the protectron started, "Protect Nuka-World. Destroy all threats to the guests. Secondary directive: Deliver ice-cold Nuka-cola to the guests."
The woman sighed.
"That's what I thought. Some idiots gave you a nukatron protocol. You're a galactron."
"Am I not equip to deliver ice-cold Nuka-cola?" the galactron asked, as confused as a protectron could be.
"Nope. Alright."
The woman hopped on her chair and began to type on the terminal.
"Let's shut you down and update your protocols."
As she spoke, the protectron shut down, half of its body falling forward, though fortunately, it stayed on its feet. Clarke decided to make this the right moment to approach.
"Excuse me?"
The woman looked up from the terminal.
"Lexa said you could help me."
The woman, Raven, smiled and rolled her chair away from the table, so she could face Clarke.
"You're the one who brought Anya back?"
"News travels fast around here."
Raven shrugged. She was wearing a red mechanic jumpsuit with the name tag 'Walsh' on it. Her left leg was strangely trapped in a power armor frame, and Clarke wondered whether it was intentional. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she was all smile.
"I guess I should thank you. Anya's the only one who ever brings me interesting stuff around here. Anyway, Lexa sent you?"
"She said you may be able to fix this?"
She showed the Pipboy on her left wrist, and she swore stars had passed over Raven eyes.
"I've never fixed a Pipboy, but if it has circuits you can bet I can fix it."
She quickly stood up from her chair and took a hold of Clarke's wrist, quickly taking a look at the portable computer. As she did, Clarke noticed a red mark on her neck, as if something had been irritating her skin for so long it had yet to heal.
"I see the problem. I think I can fix it, but it's gonna take a bit of time. Can you stay here the night? I think I'll be done by tomorrow."
"Here, here?"
Raven chuckled.
"No, not here. In the park, I meant. I'll just take it off."
Clarke was about to withdraw her arm but Raven held on too strongly. She picked something up on her table and began to work on the Pipboy's locks.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea... I've heard people saying you can't take these off without taking the arm as well... unless the person's dead..."
Just as she was done talking she heard a clicking sound and felt a weight being lifted off her wrist. It felt so strange. She'd had her Pipboy for such a long time she didn't even remember what it felt not to have one. Her skin there was actually paler than the skin of her hand, which looked kind of weird.
"And here you go. Come to pick it up tomorrow, I should be done by then."
Clarke was still staring at her wrist with shock.
"How did you do that?"
Raven smirked.
"Same electrical system as the shock collars. It's just a bunch of magnets easy to scramble."
At that, Clarke frowned and looked at Raven.
"Shock collars?"
"The only thing the raiders could make and maintain on their own. Everything else they were too lazy. They were collars they put around their slaves' necks. You could still come into the park, but as soon as you tried to walk out..."
Clarke grimaced.
"Yeah, exactly. I knew how to take mine off ages ago, but I didn't want to risk it, with my leg and all, they would have caught me in a matter of minutes."
Clarke frowned once again.
"Wait, you were a slave here?"
"Yep. In charge of maintaining the train and their precious Gauntlet. When Lexa and the Brotherhood arrived I showed them how to take the collars off and make a few more things around here work. Lexa made me the Head of engineering but the others call me Proctor now."
She laughed.
"Me? A Brotherhood of Steel Proctor. At least they know if they don't treat me right I'm not fixing their toys."
Raven rolled back to her terminal, and she plugged the Pipboy to it.
"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow. If I can't get a breakthrough I'll send someone to warn you."
"Thank you."
Clarke walked away, feeling strangely light without her Pipboy.
Clarke went back to find Madi at the arcade once she was done, and Aden proposed to give them a larger tour of the place. Since they didn't have anything better to do Clarke agreed. Aden took his job very seriously, which was even funnier when he kept his deer mask on for the rest of the day. He explained to them the other zones in the park and what Lexa's plans were. How when they weren't busy chasing raiders most of the knights were still taking care of the bloodworm infestation in Dry Rock Gulch because she wanted to turn the place into a large farming area. He talked about all of their scribes who'd settled in the Galactic Zone, but they sometimes walked across to the World of Refreshment to do more research.
He showed them where most of them lived, the Parlor, because it was the easiest to clean up. It was also where Lexa held the meetings for now, but once the arena was cleaned they would move their beds there. They had a quick dinner at one of the few dining locations still opened, Cappy's cafe. When Clarke tried to pay the woman behind the counter said it had already been paid for, and Clarke was slightly confused. She still left a few caps on the table after they left.
At the end of the day, he led them back to Fizztop Grille and showed them inside. The place was rather sparse, and Aden explained Lexa had thrown out most of the raider's decoration. Besides a few containers and some workbenches, there was a kitchen which probably didn't work anymore and a few beds had been placed in the middle of the room. Aden explained it was meant for the squires but he and the other squires wanted to be with the other children, so Lexa let them sleep with everyone else.
Madi was absolutely exhausted at the end of the day, and she fell into bed very quickly. She'd won a souvenir toy sloth at the arcade, and she'd passed her arm through its arms and legs, keeping it close. When Clarke came to put her to bed, Madi was already drifting, her eyes fighting to stay open.
"This place is awesome... Can we stay forever?" she asked with all the enthusiasm she could muster.
Clarke sat down beside her on the bed and began to pass her hand through a few locks of hair, pushing them away from the girl's face.
"I don't know. Don't you think Abby and the others are going to be worried if we don't show up?"
"So we go to the vault and we tell them we're going to live here now, and then we come back."
Clarke smiled. Madi's plan seemed too simple.
"Sleep. We'll take about this tomorrow, alright?"
She placed a kiss on Madi's forehead, and it was just what the girl needed to fall asleep. Clarke stood up from the bed and was about to walk to her own, but she didn't feel like sleeping at all. She placed her riffle on the bed, and after a few seconds of reflection, she took off her belt, leaving her pistol in its holster, and placed it on the bed as well. She sent one last look toward Madi to make sure she was asleep and walked out of the room.
The air was a bit colder now that the sun was fully set, but Nuka-world glowing in the night was quite a sight to behold. Clarke began to look around. Lexa had yet to return, but she assumed it wouldn't be long before the group came back.
There wasn't much to find around here. Lexa didn't leave anything in the open, except an old suit of power armor. It was different from the other ones she'd seen around the park. It was bulkier, and the helmet looked strange, like the face of a monster. This armor had seen better days. It was scared all over, with bullet impacts on the front and back. A large claw mark had taken a big part of the right shoulder, leaving exposed circuitry. Clarke placed her hand on one of the marks, an indentation on the arm. The metal was cold under her fingers, rugged. The paint was falling apart under her skin.
"Careful."
The voice behind her had been faint, but it made her jump anyway. She turned around. Lexa was standing near the elevator platform, holding her arm. She was covered in blood, though Clarke knew for sure some must have been hers. She walked slowly closer to the chair they'd been seating in previously, and she let herself fall there, bleeding on the dirty faded yellow cousins.
"I don't want the armor falling on you, it's a bit heavy to pick up," Lexa warned.
Clarke walked closer to the Commander until she was standing by her chair. She definitely looked like she'd been run over by a Yao Guai before she'd actually killed the beast for good measure.
"Shouldn't you be at the infirmary right now?"
"They have people far more wounded than me to take care of." Lexa simply replied.
Clarke sighed. She didn't know why she knew she should have expected such a reflection coming from the brunette.
"Let me at least clean you up, alright?"
Lexa didn't say anything at first, and Clarke was expecting her to protest. Instead, she stood back up.
"Alright."
She began to take her armor off, heavy pieces of bloodied metal falling one after the other at her feet until she was left in her black uniform. She came to sit on her bed, and Clarke followed her up the dais.
"Do you have anything I can..."
"In the wardrobe."
Indeed, Clarke quickly found pieces of cloth and a bottle of antiseptic in the drawer.
"No stimpack?"
"Others need them more than me."
Clarke held in an 'of course they do'. She sat down behind Lexa, intending to take care of the shoulder wound first, but she found herself hesitating. She couldn't well clean the wound through her uniform.
"Can you take your uniform off?" she asked, her voice slightly trembling.
"The zip is on the back."
Just as Clarke was about to place her slightly trembling hand on the zip, Lexa added with the hint of a smile:
"Don't worry. I have something underneath."
Clarke only nodded and pulled the zip down to Lexa's waist. She was glad to find a dirty tank top underneath. With a bit of help, the brunette managed to take off the top of her uniform, and let it pool on her lap. She had quite a few scars already, and a few more bleeding scratches and cut that Clarke had anticipated. She started to work on a scratch on her shoulder blade, probably from a knife which had grazed her.
"Why haven't you used your armor? It could have saved you from all these cuts." Clarke asked.
"It doesn't work anymore," Lexa explained, her voice barely wavering under the pain of the antiseptic.
"I've never seen an armor like that."
"It's an X-01. Only paladins and high ranking officers are given such strong armors."
"Oh, so you were a Paladin."
"I was a Sentinel, actually. It's the rank above."
Clarke nodded. She had no idea whether she should be impressed or not, but considering Lexa's tone of voice and the slight pride in her posture as she spoke, she decided she was.
Clarke finished cleaning up her shoulder in silence and shifted to take care of the bullet graze on her left arm. She stayed slightly behind Lexa. Under the light of the nearby lamp, she quickly noticed the scar of a claw mark on her shoulder.
"I'm a Vault Dweller." Clarke declared.
Lexa turned her head to look at her.
"You wondered about the Pipboy earlier. I come from a Vault. Vault 81, near Diamond City. My jumpsuit is just so full of holes I've stopped wearing it, I never bothered to ask for another one."
Lexa waited after Clarke had placed the cloth on her arm and the initial pain had passed to ask:
"So how does a Vault Dweller ends up becoming a caravaner?"
"Boredom, I guess. I just wanted to leave and see the world, and trading seemed like the better option. Plus a few things happened and I just... wanted to get away, I guess."
Clarke discarded the bloodied cloth and took a clean on. She shifted to Lexa's side and began to clean a bite mark, probably from an attack dog, on her forearm.
"And Madi?" Lexa asked. "Is she from your Vault too?"
Clarke shook her head.
"I found her three years ago. Her family was killed by raiders, she was the only who survived. I thought I could bring her back to the Vault and they would take care of her there but she wouldn't leave my side, so I took her with me."
Lexa nodded.
"You would do anything for her, I can tell."
Clarke feigned focus as she finished cleaning the bite. She stood up and came to sit down in front of Lexa, to take care of the knife cut on her other forearm.
"She's like a daughter to me." she declared without looking at Lexa, her attention on the cloth she was dipping in antiseptic. Only when she placed the cloth on Lexa's skin she felt the brunette's hand gently taking her own arm from underneath. Clarke looked up, and her eyes found Lexa's.
"You're under my protection for as long as you'll stay here. Both of you."
"I know. Aden told us about how you've protected everyone."
"I try."
"It must be exhausting."
"If I don't do it, then who else will?"
Clarke left the cloth on Lexa's arm, unsure of where the brunette had received other wounds. As if she could read her mind, Lexa showed her the inside of her left hand, where a pretty deep cut was starting to dry. Clarke said nothing, only took Lexa's hand in hers and began to clean it with the other.
"Aden is my favorite squire."
Lexa's voice cut through the silence, and Clarke looked up at her. Lexa had a small smile dancing on her lips.
"I know I shouldn't say that but it's true. He was the only one I would take on patrols with me. I always thought he'd make an amazing paladin one day."
Her voice broke slightly when she spoke, and she cleared her throat before she continued:
"When I saw the Prydwen exploding my first thought was 'what is going to happen to Aden now?' He's like a little brother to me and I'd do anything for him."
"He seems happy here, so I'd say you've succeeded."
Lexa sighed.
"Everyone is expecting me to become the new Elder, you know? To start leading what's left of the chapter here, and start a new one. I don't want to. I want to help people and protect them, and it was never what the Brotherhood of Steel was about."
She let out a shaky breath. Clarke took the dirty cloth off of Lexa's hand and studied her face for a minute, then the rest of her body. She had a halo of blood on the side of her tank top and Clarke hesitated a moment before she asked:
"Can you hum... raise your shirt?"
Lexa seemed confused for a second before she looked down at her shirt and finally obeyed with a nod. She raised it enough on the side for Clarke to clean the small cut, but not enough for Clarke to see her entire belly, and only a hint of her abs. As she applied the cloth on Lexa's side she declared:
"I walked around the park today, well, this side of the park, and everyone seemed happy. You did a lot of good things here, and if that's not enough for them, then just let them leave."
"I wish it was that simple."
"It is. You just have to accept that you can't help everyone."
Clarke pulled the cloth away, her eyes never leaving Lexa's, and for a moment Lexa forgot to pull down her shirt.
"All clear?" Lexa asked, her voice so low it was almost a whisper.
"Almost."
Clarke came to fetch something from her back pocket. They were so close now their knees were touching, and Clarke knew it would take almost nothing for her to land on the brunette's lap. Quickly, she stabbed Lexa's thigh with the needle and pressed the button. Lexa yelped in surprise and glared at her when she saw the stimpack being pulled out of her body.
"It'll stop the bleeding. You're welcome."
Lexa let out a long sigh and passed her hand on her cheek, only to find blood on her fingers. She frowned. She still had a cut on her cheek that needed cleaning.
"I think you forgot one."
Clarke leaned forward, looking more carefully at the cut on her cheekbone. It mixed so well with the rest of her facial scars she didn't even notice it. She dabbed one last cloth with antiseptic and leaned forward until she could feel Lexa's breath on her cheek. She passed the cloth over the cut, once. She hadn't even noticed she'd placed her other hand on Lexa's thigh for support.
"And here you go," she whispered, so only Lexa could hear.
She pulled away just enough for their nose to brush. Clarke's sapphire eyes found Lexa's emerald ones. She was completely leaning toward Lexa now, one hand still on her tight and the other coming to rest on her shoulder.
"Do you trust me?" Lexa asked, her voice breaking over the silence.
Clarke couldn't find the answer for a moment. How could she trust her when she'd just met her. Sure, she'd given her no reason not to trust her, but still.
"I do."
Lexa closed the gap between them, her lips finding Clarke's softly. She was about to pull away, but Clarke followed her, fueling their kiss and pushing Lexa on her bed. When her leather jacket landed on the ground, she didn't say anything, just started to take her shoes off, without ever breaking their kiss.
Clarke was woken up by something soft brushing her nose, and a small giggle when she tried to brush it away. After it happened a second time, she groaned and tried to roll away. Something was wrapped so tightly around her she couldn't move. So instead, she opened her eyes, slightly confused. It took her a few seconds of flitting about until her eyes finally opened. Madie was seating beside the bed, her sloth plushy in her hands, both of them barely picking over the edge.
"Madi? What's up?" she asked, her voice still sleepy.
She could feel Lexa shifting behind her, holding her more tightly and moving closer to her.
"I didn't find you in your bed this morning so I thought you might be here." Madi declared in a hushed voice. "Aden and the others are going back to the arcade this morning. I guess you're not coming with me, so I'll see you later!"
Before she could protest, Madi stood up with a happy smile on her face and quickly jumped on the elevator. As it cricked its way down, Lexa finally opened her eyes and shifted to stand on one elbow, her other arm still around Clarke's waist.
"Was that Madi?" she asked, still a bit sleepy.
Clarke sighed and rolled until she was facing Lexa. Lexa stretched and rolled onto her belly, her head resting on her crossed arms. Clarke was glad to see the cut on her shoulder blade had already closed off, leaving only a thin red line.
"She just wanted to warn me before she went back to the arcade."
"And she's okay? With..."
Lexa's words seemed to escape her tongue, so she only gestured at the two of them.
"I guess she is? She somehow knew I'd be here when she didn't find me this morning."
Lexa chuckled.
"She's very perceptive."
"I guess."
"She must have noticed us staring at each other yesterday."
Clarke blushed. She'd completely forgotten about it. She started to study Lexa's body once again, passing her fingers over every scar she could find. The bite mark on her forearm was almost gone too, and the cut in her hand had started to close off too.
"So, doc, am I good to go?" Lexa joked.
"Depends. Are you going to go fight again today?"
"Well, I was supposed to go help with cleaning the arena today, but somehow, I don't really want to anymore."
As she spoke, she leaned toward Clarke, until she could once again press her lips to hers. Clarke kissed her back almost on instinct, and soon enough she found herself on her back, Lexa lightly straddling her. She bent forward, to kiss Clarke once again.
"So, what do you say?" she asked between kisses. "Just you and me? All day?"
Clarke really wanted to say yes, but she knew she had other things to do.
"I wish I could."
Her hands wrapped around Lexa, fingers dancing on her scarred skin.
"But I have to go back to the Vault. They'll be waiting for me. They'll start to worry."
Lexa still wouldn't listen.
"It can wait. You can just write them a letter. I'll find someone to deliver it, I promise. Stay with me."
Clarke was about to protest, but Lexa started to nibble at her ear. Lexa was probably right. It could wait.
A/N: And that was part 2, I hope you enjoyed it! I wanted to keep this story short so I could post it before going on holidays, but I really want to write more of this AU if I can. Anyway, once again, I hope you enjoyed and have a nice week!
