Emily had died. The Capital Wasteland's Paladin, Vault Legend, and Hero of the Wastes could no longer protect the weak and innocent, but worse was the feeling of the most important people in her life not having a clue about it. Her father was God only knew where doing important science stuff that would save the world and a ten foot thick steel door separated her from her best friend Amata and Charon-

Charon…

What would he do? How would he feel? His contract was folded neatly in one of her pants pockets but would it have been destroyed by the blast? Her entire existence in the Wasteland had changed the day Emily had walked into the Ninth Circle and bought the wrinkled piece of paper that would forever connect her and the ghoul until the day she died. Which, she thought wryly, I expected to be a bit further down the road.

Grasping at fading memory of her last moments, she thought that he might have cried out for her just moments before she felt a searing heat and her body go airborne. She couldn't remember if she had lived long enough to feel the impact of her body meeting ground but she could vaguely remember seeing Charon's milky eyes staring into her own with an emotion she didn't recognize. Then there was darkness.

The relief started to settle in as the seconds passed. There would be no more blood or cruelty or despair. Emily would never have to worry about scavenging for supplies and running into a house full of blood and chopped up body parts. No more Raiders, Slavers or freaking Death Claws to watch out for either. And I'll be able to see mom. That was perhaps the best thought of all.

A dull ache in her chest started as the young girl imagined being welcomed into heaven by the woman who had given birth to her and had never met. But even the thought of finally meeting her mother couldn't drown out the pain that suddenly started to stab at her very being. Like that wasn't enough she also started to feel hot. What's happening?

Then the silence that had engulfed her was shattered and a bright light chased away the darkness. The fact that there wasn't any air in her lungs became painfully obvious and she choked a lungful of air and dirt like a fish out of water. The sound of what was possibly a breeze screamed through her eardrums. The pain coupled with the harsh sensations had bile rising up her throat.

When her stomach was empty Emily wiped the mess from her mouth with a shaky hand and slowly opened her blood shot eyes. She shut them immediately and her body braced as another wave of nausea rolled through her. Only when she was sure that her stomach had settled and she wouldn't be blinded by the sun did she carefully open her eyes. Dirt and rock surrounded her on all sides and the sky above was as blue as it got in the Wastes.

There were no Talon Company mercs and more importantly there was no six foot, red skinned ghoul to be seen. Don't panic, she thought and fought to remain calm. She blinked at the screen of he Pip Boy but her blue eyes were still a bit fuzzy and the bright green screen was blurred. Instead, she searched the surrounding area for any sign of disturbance but there was none. No bullet casings or explosion marks marred the Wasteland surface.

"Charon?" she called out but there was only silence.

Glancing down, she noted that her armor was shredded and dried splotches of blood covered what remained. Beneath the armor her skin was unmarked. "Impossible." She clearly remembered feeling the hot white pain of the metal shards cutting through her shoulders and legs. Even her guns were missing and, to her horror, so was Charon's contract.

Emily fell to her knees and this time she overturned every rock, dug through inches of dirt until she was sure that the folded paper wasn't anywhere within a ten foot radius. Then she panicked.

"Home," she muttered. "I have to go home!" She'd get more supplies then go looking for Charon. But when she tried to set a marker for Megaton the map turned blank. All of the places she had marked disappeared and the notes she had taken were missing except for her dad's recording. "No…" She shook her arm and slapped at it to get out any dirt but the only thing that came up was a blank map canvas and a blinking arrow that showed her location which was, to her Pip Boy, in the middle of no where.

It was too much. Losing Charon, losing his contract and now losing all of the information she had gathered throughout her time in the Wastes gone in the blink of an eye. Dots danced in front of her vision and in the back of her head she knew what was about to happen, but if blacking out had done it then maybe doing it again would reverse it. So she let herself go and fainted.

Sometime later (an hour if her Pip Boy was to be believed), she woke with the sun shinning down and the sound of gunfire in the distance. Emily scrambled to her feet, dirt clinging to her short brown hair and bolted without a second thought toward the noise. The light leather armor she wore let her be quick and practically noiseless except for the dirt that crunched beneath her feet and prayers she muttered. Her scrambled thoughts hoped that it was Charon but in the back of her mind she knew it couldn't be. The bursts of gunfire sounded like it came from a rifle; not the shotgun her friend carried.

She followed the gunfire and stopped dead on the border of a decrepit town. Graditch…She would never forget the first time she explored near the Super Duper Mart and a little boy begged her to help him. He had been crying and she didn't hesitate to help him find his father's body or figure out the source of the Fire Ants that had killed the town's residents. She'd even found the boy his aunt in Rivet City and escorted him personally to the inn keeper.

She was so lost in a distant memory that Emily didn't notice the gunfire getting closer or the voices that mixed with it until they were practically beneath her feet. It was the flaming red hair that caught her attention then the horde of creatures that followed her. Fire Ants…Her brown eyes widened as she counted them. Seven in all.

The woman's armor was too heavy. The coat she wore was like a sail and caught the small drift of wind, effectively slowing her down and whatever was on her back needed to be dropped. "She's not going to make it." Then, forgetting that she was both weaponless and partner less, she jumped the ten foot drop of the makeshift wall and landed behind the crowd of ants.

It was stupid and foolish but whenever someone was in trouble Emily felt compelled to help them. She had been like that in the Vault, always sticking up for Amata whenever she needed it but it had grown almost a thousand fold since then. When Emily found out that Moriarty had information about her dad, she never expected him to have her work for it. In her mind, the Wasteland was already hard enough so why wouldn't people want to help each other out? No way did she have the money he wanted and when she'd turned to the town's sheriff Simms he'd only turned the other cheek.

The pain she'd felt had been like nothing she'd ever experienced before. It was then that she'd promised herself that she'd never make anyone feel that way, ever. So even if the stranger with the red hair didn't ask for her help she didn't think twice about jumping to their rescue and possibly her own death.