Author's Note:

1) Got some questions about the dream sequence last chapter, so I added some notes at the bottom of chapter 3 to kinda go over what I was trying to go for. Sorry if it confused anyone!

2) Really thought this was going to be a short chapter - probably could have cut this in half but I wanted to move the story along. My interpretation of a pip-boy functions (storing small doses of certain meds and being able to administer them) might be off from others interpretation - so just giving everyone a head's up.

3) NAME CHANGE NOTICE - I just learned from the FONV wiki that the missing NCR officer from Ranger Station Charlie is actually named Stella. I had been calling her Joann - My bad! For the sake of accuracy, I corrected her name in Chapter 1 and here on in - so if anyone is trying to figure out what happened to Joann- her name is actually Stella now. Apologies for any confusion!


CHAPTER FOUR: THE PACT


While the Key Emissary traveled the Meadowsland with a resolute purpose, she soon discovered that finding the path to that goal was not easy at times. She traveled place to place in hopes of finding any information regarding the man in the checkered tunic, but mostly found dead ends and misinformation. She soon felt that her travels were little more than random wandering at times, but her determination and focus kept her going.

Amidst her travels, she stumbled upon a small town with a giant dragon standing frozen by the main gate. "That is not usual," she thought as she gazed upon it. Something so unnatural usually meant a powerful wizard of sorts lived nearby, so she kept her wits about her. She made her way through town, and found the townsfolk friendly but not so helpful. She'd ask for information regarding the man in the checkered tunic, but the townsfolk were way more interested in talking about the dragon. No one knew exactly how it got there, but the dragon was their town's call to fame. The townsfolk had built a stairwell that led all the way up inside the body of it, and a person could actually stand within the dragon's opened mouth and survey the land for many miles around. After much prodding, the Key emissary decided it could not hurt to take a small diversion from her task, and decided she would check it out.

That night, she walked up the dragon stairs and opened the door leading to it's head. To her surprise one of the town's guardians, a soulstealer, was standing there. Visitors normally did not stop by the dragon at night, so her abrupt entrance startled him. The man responded angrily, demanding to know why she was there. She explained she was just looking around and apologized for her intrusion, not wanting any unnecessary trouble. The man suggested that she leave but then noticed the enchanted gauntlet she wore on her left arm. She definitely was not from around there - and that put him a little at ease as he had grown to distrust the townsfolk in the passing days. He asked her to stay, and found himself doing something he never thought he'd do. He asked the stranger for help. He explained how his wife had been taken by Imperator's soldiers, how all the townsfolk were behaving unusual around him, and that he needed someone he could trust to help him find the person in town responsible for her disappearance. The Key Emissary listened intently and found herself torn over the request. She had not come there to help others - her goals were self serving. But even so - she felt a strange connection with him. Maybe because his old life with his wife was taken from him, as the man in the checkered tunic took her old life away from her. His goal was the same as hers - revenge. How could she expect others to help her if she wasn't willing to help someone with a similar problem? Thus she agreed to help, and that night the soulstealer and the key emissary made a pact. She would deliver the guilty party to the front of the dragon and signal him by putting on his crimson cap. He would take care of the rest.

The next morning the Key emissary made her way through town, asking the townspeople she met the day before about the soulstealer's wife. Everyone seemed to have the same story - they described the wife as beautiful but generally disliked and no one seemed to know anything about her disappearance other than she was gone. The Key emissary then spoke with the local innkeeper, which was the witch under a spell of disguise. The witch was delighted to speak of the wife, explaining how she was like a flower blossom with thorns, and no one liked her. "His wife wasn't happy living here. She wanted to live in the City of Lights. I am sure she left her husband and went there," said the witch. The key emissary found that that information oddly specific, considering his wife had no friends and barely spoke with anyone. That was not common knowledge as no one else made mention of it. She decided to investigate the innkeeper further, but now was not the right time. She thanked the innkeeper for her time and left.

Later that evening, the key emissary entered the home of the innkeeper. She looked through everything, trying to find anything that might provide information about the disappearance of the soulstealer's wife. She checked every drawer and cupboard, but found nothing. She continued searching through bottles, pots, books, anything that might conceal a hidden item denoting her guilt. She had nearly given up when her enchanted gauntlet started to glow by the innkeeper's fireplace. She moved the rug at it's hearth and found a secret compartment in the floor. She pulled back the small door, and found a scroll inside. She quickly opened it, but it appeared to be blank. She flipped the scroll over to see if there was writing on the back, but what she saw was astonishing - a thousand dots of light projecting from the scroll onto the floor. "I knew there was a magic user in town!" she thought to herself. She had heard of rumors of spells like this - you could not read the scroll by holding the writing side to the light, the light had to be behind the scroll to read it. She flipped the scroll back over and held it close to the light of the fireplace. The random dots she saw before had now changed to form words. As she read, all things were made clear - the innkeeper had indeed summoned those soldiers to take the woman away. She's the one who did it!

She pocketed the scroll, and approached the innkeeper's room, knocking loudly on the door. "MISS! Something urgent has happened! You must come immediately," the key emissary shouted. The witch was startled awake by her yelling. She sleepily answered the door, reluctantly agreeing to follow because the strange woman solely on the fact that this was a dire emergency. The Key Emissary quickly guided her through the winding town until they were both standing directly in front of the dragon. The witch rubbed her eyes and scanned the area. "What was the problem again? I don't see anything wrong out here," she yawned. The Key Emissary remained silent as she took a step back and placed the cap on her head. The witch instantly recognized that it belonged to the soulstealer, the husband of the woman she hated the most - but it was too late for her to figure out the next part to come. An arrow sliced through the night sky, penetrating deep into the head of the witch. The witch let out a horrible cry as a bright blue light ripped her body apart. The key emissary watched as the same blue light traveled upward, surrounding the soulstealer and then vanishing into his chest. The key emissary looked down to see the remains of the witch lying on the ground. At last, it was done. "Hopefully, the soulstealer would gain some peace from this," she thought.

She returned to the head of the dragon to meet the soulstealer, showing him the scroll that detailed the witch's evil deed. Even with a face of stone, the Key emissary could see the sadness in his eyes as he read it and the glimmer of satisfaction that his wife had finally been avenged. But she could also tell the soulstealer was now lost - without direction or purpose. "Maybe we're too much of a kindred spirit," she thought. She had helped him find direction even if it was momentary - maybe he could help her find hers. So the Key Emissary found herself asking the soulstealer something she never thought she'd ask - for him to join her in her travels. The soulstealer was surprised and declined at first. Then he reflected on his current situation and knew that no matter how long he stayed in the small town of the dragon, it would never bring back the life he had with his wife. Not knowing what he should do now, he only knew he did not want to stay there another night and agreed to join her. The Key emissary and the Soulstealer left the small town of the dragon, and so their journey together into Meadowsland began.


Night time, Cottonwood Cove

The PHOENIX Monocyte Breeder implant is designed to keep your ass alive, and slowly restore your health over a period of time. Right now, this is a good and a bad thing. Good in that it's keeping me alive while I'm crucified out here. Bad in that it's keeping me alive while I'm crucified out here. If I don't figure how to get out of this, I'm going to have a very long drawn out death. Overall my body feels beaten, my head is killing me, and my arms keep going numb and the implant keeps returning feeling to them. Besides mild dehydration I'm doing well considering, but a few days of this...I can't say. That is a road I really don't want to travel down.

It's night time now. I'm still invisible and glowing - stealth-boy should have worn off a long time ago. It must be feeding off my pip-boy's power supply some how. Dozens of legionaries have stopped by to take a look at me, and from their comments it's pretty clear they don't know who I am. I was put up here for decoration, overhearing a few calling me captivus stella, the Captured Star of Cottonwood Cove. Ironic that I'm here trying to find a captured NCR officer named Stella. I'm sure I'll find humor in all of this much later...if I live through it.

The hours pass by and eventually the number of visiting legion soldiers completely dwindles. If I am getting out of here, now is the time to act. The one thing that I have going for me is that I was crucified fully clothed. Not always, but typically the Legion tie people up on their crosses with no clothing covering their arms and legs. My pip-boy has a stealth-boy attached to it - maybe if I can get the two separated I can make enough room to get that arm free. I press my pip-boy wrist against the wooden board it's tied to and I start to twist back and forth, trying to pop the two apart. The rope rubs against my pip-boy - bare skin would be rubbed bare by now so another good reason I have it on. I keep twisting and very briefly the invisible glowing field vanishes then reappears. Good, I'm making progress. I keep twisting - I can feel the two are starting to separate. Again the field goes out and the two are almost completely severed... and I hear a gasp. I look down and see a Legion soldier staring at me. Oh no, this is NOT good! His expression of surprise quickly turns to anger. He pulls out a blade and yells "It's you!" The invisible glowing field kicks back on, but it doesn't matter. The solider runs up to stab me and I yell "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' Mere steps before he reaches me, I hear the faint crack of a distant rifle, and the Legionary collapses to the ground. Blood is pouring from his head, and soon he stops breathing. I look around but I don't see who made the shot. Was it...him? It couldn't be...he wouldn't have followed me out here...

Would he?

A group of legion guards run up and sees the dead soldier on the ground. One points off to the distance, and they all take off together. Guess they're going after the sniper - I just hope it's not Boone... Please don't be Boone.

I focus back on escaping - I can't do anything about that until I get out of here. I twist with all my strength and finally the two are completely severed and the invisible glowing field drops for the last time. I shake my wrist frantically, working the stealth-boy out from under the ropes until it drops to the ground. Finally, enough room to pull my left hand free!

I undo the buttons on my shirt using my free hand, and manage to wiggle my pip-boy arm out of it's sleeve. It will be easier to free my right arm now if my shirt is only half on - more room to move. I try to pull my right arm through my other sleeve, to free that arm from the ropes on that side. I twist and pull but it's no use - the ropes are too tight. This is the point where I realize I probably should have tried to free this arm first - would have had a better chance of getting out of here without the Legion knowing it was me. Too late for that now. I reach into my pocket in hopes I have a a knife, anything that might help cut the ropes, to free my right arm. I find...paper. The legion patrol notes. I had forgotten about that...I can feel the ledger and attack plans are still in the back of my pants where I hid them, the dog tags in my right pants pocket. If I get out of this, I have to make sure I don't accidentally leave any of this behind.

I move onto the next idea - I try to untie the ropes on my right wrist with my free hand but it's no use...the knot is on the back of the cross beam where I can't reach. I pull on the ropes and it feels like that may have helped. That probably tightened the knot, making the ropes slightly looser. I feel like I have a bit more moving room for my right hand now. I try to pull my hand free again, this time leaning my whole body to the left. I twist and pull, and my hand is starting to hurt and burn. But I feel it's starting to work, my hand and wrist are further under the ropes now. Operating my pip-boy with my mouth, I have it administer a hit of med-x for the pain, and I start pulling my right hand through the ropes again - this time for keeps. The pain of the rope burns on my hand are incredible, but I twist and pull with everything I have - and finally my right hand pulls through my sleeve under the ropes and is free. I hold onto the cross beam with my left arm to keep from falling completely forward. My right hand is red, burning, and bleeding. No time to look at that now...I have to keep going.

The hard part is over with, now for the easy part - the ropes are wrapped around my boots. Holding onto the crossbeam with both arms now, I pull myself up enough to wiggle my right foot out of my boot and then the left. I let go of the cross beam and fall to the ground. My legs are rubbery, and takes a few moments before I can stand back up - but finally, I am free!

I put my shirt and boots back on, and I cautiously scale down the rock side. I make my way to the hollowed out rock, grab my gear bag, and start heading back in the direction of the Lucky 38. On the way there, I look for the group of legion soldiers and the rifleman who helped me, but I see no one. I hope they never found that guy.

I hope Boone's at the Lucky 38.


10 am, Lucky 38

I arrived here an hour ago. I searched the rooms of the presidential suite, and Boone is not here. I try not to panic - there are a million reasons why he wouldn't be here especially with the Lucky 38 being on the strip - too many things to do here. Too many things I told him to go do and enjoy. I'm probably over reacting, he's probably fine. Probably wasn't him that took the shot, right?.

I take a quick bath, put on a new set of clothes, and bandage up my hand. I'm sitting on my bed checking out my gear when I hear the elevator doors open. I pull my pistol from my pocket holster and scramble to the door, crouching down I sneak a look. I breathe out a sigh of relief when I see that it's him. He's covered in sweat and a thick layer of Mojave dust. His back is facing me, but he looks like he frantically looking around, walking quickly to the doors opposite me and glancing inside. I say, "Boone" to get his attention and he quickly turns my way. We stare at each other for a second. He looks tired, and very briefly relieved as he exhales a long drawn in breath. The expression quickly fades as his face returns to it's normal straightened features and says, "Good, you made it back." He glances at my bandaged hand, and sets his gear down. He walks into the kitchen, as I holster my weapon and return to sitting on my bed. He walks into the room with a couple bottles of water, and takes a seat at the nearby desk. He starts breaking down his rifle and cleaning it.

"So what went wrong." he asked while taking a drink from one of the bottles. " Or was getting crucified part of your plan?" Ouch. OK, I guess that confirms he's the one who shot that legionary.

"No...that definitely was *not* part of the plan,"I say as I lay out the items I took from the camp across my bed. "I was there to see what information I could find - was supposed to be in and out real quick. Everything was good until some legionaries walked in and my stealth-boy malfunctioned."

"Stealth-boy malfunction? Never heard of that happening, unless..." He looks up at me, "You didn't use the one you spilled whiskey on back at the Prospector Saloon, did you?"

Damn.

"No, no - I wouldn't have used that.*cough*"

"But you forgot and used it."

"Um,...yeah, probably."

Boone smirked and shook his head, then went back to cleaning his rifle. "I didn't know that was you up there. Would have helped sooner if I did. Thought it was odd how they kept checking it out. I just thought someone strung up some lights. Caught my attention when it started flickering though. Couldn't believe it when I saw that was you up there."

I close my gear bag and set it to the side. "Yeah, thought my luck had run out when that solider saw me. Lucky you were there to take the shot. Speaking of which - why were you out there?"

"Figured you'd change your mind about finding Stella. Tagged behind in case something went wrong. This would have ended very differently if I hadn't."

I nod my head and say "Very different indeed...couldn't help but notice a group of Legionaries ran off in your direction after they found the guy you shot. "

He looks at me for a second then returns his attention to his reassembling his rifle. "I saw them coming. Tracked them for a bit but they never found me." He finishes off one of the water bottles, then says "I hung around long enough to make sure you got out safe. That was pretty impressive getting out of those ropes like you did - a lot of people would have given up. Wouldn't have even tried to escape."

"I just got lucky is all." I pause and make sure we're making eye contact when I say, "Lucky that a friend tagged along and helped me out. Boone, I want you to know that I didn't intend on cutting you out of the loop. All of this was a rash decision, not something I plan on making a habit of. I just didn't want you to put your life on the line for something you didn't agree with. Wasn't sure I was actually going to be doing anything at all to be honest - it just kind of happened. But I do thank you for following me and keeping my ass alive. "

"This one was a little too close, even for us" he says while exhaling loudly. We're still looking eye to eye as he pauses, looking hesitant about what he's about to say. "I want you to know that I almost left you there."

"Left me? What do you mean?"

"The last time I saw your position, you were at that overlook. Then...there was nothing for hours. When night fell, I kept thinking you left and I just didn't see you, that I missed you somehow. I had packed up and was walking back to the Lucky 38 when I decided to take one last look ...saw the flickering. If I hadn't..." I hear the feeling of guilt in his voice as he tells me this. I feel a cold chill race across my body - just like the day I woke up at Doc Mitchell's and learned I was shot in the head, and by all rights should have been dead. Wasn't fair for me to put Boone through this. I smile and say, "Would have been my own fault either way. Just Lady Luck on our side once again, right?"

He nods, as he wipe dust off the disassembled rifle parts.

"Did you find what you're looking for?"

"Not sure yet. Still going through everything. Found some patrol notes, a ledger, ... a collection of NCR dog tags. I did find what I think are some NCR attack plans, figured I'd drop those off at McCarran. The dog tags too. "

"I wouldn't mind checking out some of that when you're done."

"Yeah, sure. No problem."

I set the plans aside and start flipping through the slave ledger. It contains lists of names with locations, skills...and prices. With every name I read, I feel myself hating the Legion a little bit more. How can they do this to people? I force myself to keep reading, I see pages and pages of slave auction listings and then a section called 'Arena.' The arena listings are different from the slave listings - no names at all, but just vague descriptions. 'Two males taken 2 klicks southeast of Nelson on this day' kind of thing. As I skim the page, I recognize some of the locations as NCR outposts. These must be NCR prisoner listings - Boone said they only care about killing NCR so they probably didn't care about their names. I skip towards the end of the section with the newer dates and find a description of a female taken from Ranger Station Charlie. That has got to be Stella.

"Boone, have you ever heard of the Legion having an arena?"

"The arena is at the Fort. It's used for gladiator fights - two people fight with machetes until one dies. Legion soldiers will fight slaves to gain respect. Or they'll make two slaves fight just for show," he says as he finishes reassembling his rifle.

"Are there any other Legion arenas then?"

"No - there is only the one at the Fort."

I feel like I've been punched in the stomach. Almost get myself killed to find out she's at the one place I can't go - the Fort, the heart of the Legion. The home of Caesar. She could be alive, but under those conditions - looks more and more like she's not.

"Stella was taken for the arena. Doesn't sound like she has much of a chance of being alive. And even if she were - there is no way I can sneak into the Fort and get her out. No way in hell. "

Boone is giving me the hard stare again. "What now?"

I feel all the hope I had for finding Stella alive has finally slipped away. "Now...now is the part where you tell me you told me so, and I tell her mother that she's dead."

Boone stands up and says "If it matters, I was hoping that I was wrong about Stella being dead. I'm sorry you didn't find better news."

I nod at him as he grabs up his rifle and empty bottles, and walks out of the room. I hear a door shut in the background, and the faint sound of running water. I lay down on my bed and spend several minutes reading and rereading Stella's entry in the ledger, like that will somehow change things. After a while, I put down the ledger and start reading though the dog tags, and after about 20 or so I find one that has Stella's name on it. I feel uneasy holding it - am I doing the right thing? Technically, I can get into the Fort - but not with Boone. If I went, there would be no guarantees that I could get her out if she was even still alive. No, she has to be dead. She wouldn't have made it in there that long. I slip Stella's dog tag in my gearbag so I can at least give that to her mother when I deliver the bad news.

I walk into the kitchen, grab a shot glass and a bottle of whiskey. I pour a shot, raise it to my lips, then stop. I look at it for several seconds, then set the full shot glass back on the counter and close the whiskey bottle. "Probably a bad idea - been making too many mistakes lately," I say quietly to myself as I empty the shot glass in the sink and put the whiskey bottle back.

"No shame in that." I glance over and see Boone standing in the doorway. No more Mojave dust - must have taken a bath. He's wearing his white t-shirt and tan pants now, not the NCR desert BDUs he returned in. I'm slightly startled - I didn't notice he was watching. "Yeah, I suppose so." I walk up to the doorway, but before I slide by he asks "Are you alright?" I stop right in front of him, sharing the doorway space with him. We're never this close...unless we're getting shot at and we're sharing cover. I exhale a little, open my mouth but no words comes out. After a second or two of not being able to say anything, he steps closer and puts his hand on my shoulder. I look at him eye to eye, and smile. "I think I just need to sleep it off. Just get some rest." He nods, squeezing my shoulder a little before returning his hand to his side.

Before either of us has time to walk away I say, "Oh yeah, there was something I wanted to give you." I reach deep into my pocket. The second Boone turns his head to look down at my pocket, I lean in and give him a kiss on his cheek. "Thanks again." He turns to face me. I thought he'd looked surprised - and maybe he was a little. The awkward moment of us looking at each other abruptly ends with the sound of a chime and the elevator door opening.

I don't get visitors here.