Quick note to say a great big THANK YOU to everyone who has read this story. Also and apology because I am a lazy hoe, and didn't update for like a million years. Sorry, my bad, cyber cookie as an apology? *offers*

Anyways, hope you like it and think it's awesome. BLESS YOU ALL.

*EDIT- I changed my description for the Halo of the Sun because the first one sucked so bad it gave me nightmares. Anyways...

"Well now, Butch De-lor-e-ya, what's the story? And start from the beginning if you would" Butch chuckled,

"Which beginning? The day I was born, or the beginning of my story?" the courier laughed and found herself sitting more comfortably in the barstool beside him. He had sass, she liked him already.

"The birth, if you would. Though, if you wanna just skip past all the bloody, close-up on your mom's genitals bit, you're welcome to" Butch smiled as he laughed, his shoulders shaking,

"I like you kid, you got spunk"

"Thanks, now then, story?" Butch nodded and took another shot,

"Yeah, right. Well then, was born out east. Little slice of irradiated rubble some arrogant bastard named the Capital Wasteland." Butch took the whiskey bottle and began to pour himself another shot,

"Was born in a vault too, you know what a vault is?" when the courier nodded, he poured her another round,

"Yeah, good 'ol 101, with its creaky bed frames, bad lighting and asshole overseer. It was like livin' the dream" he scoffs and stares at the shot glass, some memory playing itself across his mind.

"Wasn't all bad though, had a friend, Alice, her name was. She was a whole lot of strange in an itty-bitty package." He laughed suddenly, shaking his head, "I remember the first time she told me to fuck off. I'd tried to take her birthday sweet roll from her" the courier giggled,

"Sounds like my kind of girl. How'd you take it? Being told off I mean"

"Not well. We got into a little scrape. I gave her a bloody nose, she knocked two teeth out. And we both got ourselves in deep with our parents. "

"Well I do hope you learned your lesson Mr. Deloria. You're friend Alice sounds like the kind of gal whose always ready for a little spat now and again" he gave a gruff laugh and ran a hand across his coarse stubble, "I learned somethin' all right, don't know what that is just yet, but I'll work it out eventually" the smile Butch had been wearing slowly fell from his face. He stared into his shot glass for a moment, looking like he was about to scream, or break into tears. With a loud sniff, he turned towards the courier, and pushed his shot glass away,

"This story's about her you know, or, in a way, I suppose it's her story" the courier said nothing, she nodded and leaned into the space between them, listening intently.

"It all started with that god damned dare…"

The sun fell across the Capital Wasteland like a blanket of punishing heat. Butch swore he could see steam rising from his arm if he looked hard enough, "remind me again how you got me out in this damned heat?" Alice giggled, leaning forward to pick up the red ball Dogmeat had discarded at her feet, she pulled her arm back and threw it before turning to look over her shoulder, "adventure Butch, the call of the unknown, a great big mystery!" she threw her arms in the air and she twirled, laughing.

Okay, maybe that was part of it, maybe a little adventure got his gears a-grindin', Butch could admit that, but he figured it mostly had to do with the way she had looked that morning when she'd asked. Nothing but her thin underwear and his tunnel snakes jacket on, how was a guy supposed to say no to that? So here they were, 2 days later, and neck deep in the hottest, emptiest part of the Capital Wasteland. Him, her, the mongrel, and Alice's ever stoic companion, Charon. The ghoul in question was walking just behind Alice, seemingly unaware of the conversation happening around him. Alice crouched down and petted Dogmeat between the ears, the small patch of exposed flesh on her neck glistening with sweat beneath her short chopped black hair.

Butch sat down in the dirt next to her, huffing loudly, "It's hotter than the devil's ass out here, can't we find some cave to hole up in for a while? I'm 'bout ready to become a puddle of tunnel snake" Alice smiled at him, and cocked her head, looking at him like a curious bird, "Alright B-man, we can find a place to cool off for a while, probably would be a good idea anyway, I'm not seeing anything interesting out here" as she stood, Charon cleared his throat loudly and pointed off in the distance, Alice held a hand above her brow and looked off in the direction he was pointing. A moment later she laughed a loud "HA" and clapped her hand on Charon's shoulder,

"Looks like we've found ourselves a cave, you're in luck B-man, no tunnel snake soup today" Butch cheered sarcastically and stood, following her towards the jumbled rock formation. As they approached, they found a small path carving through the rocks. They squeezed through one at a time, Dogmeat barking happily in front of them, until they pushed through into a small, dusty clearing. Butch figured it couldn't be more than 4 yards wide, with nothing but a big, dirt caked vault door staring them down from the other side.

Dogmeat bounded happily towards the door, then back to Alice, barking a happy little bark. Butch stopped next to Alice and glanced over at her, she was scrolling through her pip-boy, a look of confusion painted across her face. "What's with the face doll? We found a place to cool off, and explore, a new vault is always good fun right? 'Cept maybe if was like 106, that place had been like a whole lot of bad touching you." Alice lowered her pip-boy and stared cautiously at the vault before them, "it's not that Butch it's" she paused a moment then turned around, facing both Butch and Charon, "It's just that this vault doesn't exist. I have the most extensive list of existing vaults straight from Vault Tec, and I'm telling you, this place doesn't exist" she turned and looked at the door, a small hint of fear showing on her lips. Butch walked slowly towards the door and ran a hand across the plate, the dirt and dust coming off in a slow sweep. Etched into the door was a strange symbol, carved in red. A large circle encasing three smaller ones. Butch took a reluctant step back, the symbol felt strange, unnatural, and in all their adventures, he'd never seen anything like it. His heart thundered with joy.

He turned back to Alice grinning, "c'mon Alice, it's new and exciting. Who knows what we'll find in there. We're here for adventure right? What's better than an unknown vault huh?" Alice wrung her hands nervously and glanced at Charon, Butch took her hand and winked, "I dare you Alice. Dare you to come in the vault with me" her eyes lit up at the challenge and she grinned, walking with him towards the door. Butch grinned and slung his arm around her shoulders "What's the worst that could happen?"