They found Ahzruhkal in the back room of the 9th Circle lying on his bed, throwing and catching a dirty baseball. Charon stood to attention, head held high and back straight, as instructed. Charcoal glowered at Ahzruhkal through narrowed eyes, slouched and looking worse for wear. Ahzruhkal continued throwing the ball into the air and catching it in cupped hands periodically, making Charcoal flinch with irritation every time the ball landed with a soft clap into his palms. He didn't even look up.

"What?" Charcoal eventually hissed, making Ahzruhkal glance lazily at her. A serpent's grin flicked on his lips.

"I have a little proposition for you."

"I thought we were done with making deals, Ahzruhkal."

"Yes, we are. Proposition is a bad word to use, I apologize. It makes it sound like you actually have a choice," He scoffed, and resumed throwing the ball. Charcoal envisioned herself tearing it out of mid air and jamming it down his windpipe. The fantasy only made the reality a little bit more bearable.

"What are my orders?" She half growled, half sung the last word. Ahzruhkal let the ball drop to his lap and sat up, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, propping his chin up with his hands.

"That's more like it, Smoothskin. I've managed to trace down an...an old friend. He's a ghoul who goes by the name of Fairgrieve. I assure you, he is not a good person. Probably makes Satan himself hang his head in shame. Which is why you must kill him pretty quickly,"

"Why?"

"Because he's fucking good with a minigun."

"No, I meant why do you want Fairgrieve dead?"

"Asking questions is not your job, it's mine. Never you mind why I want him dead, I just do. Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do an die, after all. And if you don't do it, Charon here won't be so slow when trying to kill you." Charcoal's eyelid twitched involuntarily and Ahzruhkal's smile slithered over his face.

"There is, however, one problem."

"Which is?"

"I've only pin pointed where someone is who knows where he's hiding. An old friend of Mister Crowley's, Dukov. I think you've heard of him?" Charcoal pursed her lips. Mister Crowley was a bitter, angry, and undeniably depressed ghoul who'd only changed about a decade ago and had, after only a few conversations, asked her to murder Dukov as well as Tenpenny and others whom he deemed worthy of death and collect their keys. Despite his homicidal tendencies, Charcoal felt bad for him and often found herself wondering what kind of a man he was like prior to ghoulification when the stream of her thoughts ran dry.

"He'll tell you where he is."

"What makes you so sure?"

"People talk when they have two guns aimed at their head."

"Ahzruhkal, Dukov is known for being a gunslinger. I can't ensure that I...we...will get the information before we're forced to kill him," Charon felt uncomfortable using the term "we." It felt foreign on his tongue and left a strange after taste. Ahzruhkal's eyes traced the delicate line of Charcoal's body up and down, running a tongue over his chapped lips and finally rested his eyes on hers.

"Then she can use her feminine charms," He laughed and Charcoal creased her nose at him.

"When do you request we leave?" She said through gritted teeth, concentrating too hard on not punching the smirking bastard in the face to move her jaw when spoke.

"As soon as possible. In the next hour..."

"The next hour? I can't do that! I've got to get my armor back first! If it hasn't escaped your notice, it's not on me at the moment," She remarked.

"Oh trust me, it hasn't escaped my notice," He chuckled darkly and lay back on the bed. "Fine. As soon as you get your armor back, leave with Charon. And you will get your armor back in the next twenty four hours and so leave in the next twenty four hours," He commanded, a threat woven into his words, and waved his hand towards the door.

Charon nodded curtly and slunk out of the room, Charcoal following behind him, grumbling to herself.

.

When they left Underworld, Charcoal let a deep, growling sigh quiver out of her lips.

"He is such a dick," She snarled, as Charon walked slightly ahead of her. Charon grumbled an agreement but never articulated his thoughts.

Charon didn't like this. He was better off alone. All he'd do is run after her and stop her getting them both killed. He liked being on his own...or at least he convinced himself he was better off that way. He felt his thoughts grind to a sudden halt. Did he actually like being on his own? Or had that just became what was comfortable because he'd been forced into it by the institution and the contract? He couldn't recall the last time he'd truly enjoyed someone's company without the other person being shredded to a bloody mess by his bullets or was having their face pummeled by his fists.

"Oh, hey, hang on a second," She called as she ran from his side. Charon rolled his eyes. And so it begins. Charcoal ran up to a blackened tree and, giggling, hugged it. Charon frowned. He'd been landed with a nutcase after all. She ran her palms over its blackened bark, and then using her fingers painted the black soot onto her eyelids and cheeks. She let out a satisfied purr and ran back to Charon, who kept his mask free of emotions.

"You don't know how bad it is to get sunburn, man. Seriously, by the time I'd found Megaton I looked like I had no skin left," She faltered at the end of the sentence. Poor choice of words.

"Sorry," She stuttered and nodded ahead of her. "Shall we then?" She smiled awkwardly, and set off in front of him cringing at her own stupidity, and whispering to herself how much of an idiot she was, thinking he couldn't hear her.

Charon, having long since came to terms with his affliction, actually found the way she stumbled over her words in panic amusing. Perhaps he could feign offence and watch in satisfaction as she flapped and stuttered. He caught up to her, his long strides out pacing her so she had to move her small legs twice as fast just to keep at the same speed. She was nearly jogging.

"Er, you didn't take offence to that, did you? I mean, I'm sorry if I speak to much it's just that-well, erm," She trailed off and looked up cautiously at him, looking like a kicked puppy. Charon snorted in response.

He couldn't understand why she cared so much in the first place, nobody else did. In fact, why did she care? The only reason she was here was because she wanted to get his contract and nearly die in the process, or as she said, "free" him. Indeed any other employer besides Ahzruhkal would be at least some sort of freedom, but what were her motives? Why was she doing this? Charon was determined to root out the reasons for her lies.

Charon had grown particularly exemplary at reading other people, which is why he was so good at hiding emotion. The institution had hammered into him emotion was weakness, and so Charon had become a walking biological light switch. Emotion on, emotion off. On, off. As easy as blinking. The only other thing he found more fun than killing was puzzle solving, and he was determined to figure out this strange woman.

"Sorry, my name is Charcoal, by the-"

"What is your real name?" He demanded in his low voice.

"People out here call me Charcoal," She smiled, though it was slightly crooked, and pointed to the black stains on her face. Charon only stared unblinking.

"If I tell you, you'll start calling me it then everyone will. I like being anonymous," She sighed, ruffling her tied back hair which made a loose strand curl like a winding staircase down the side of her face. He continued to stare, his eyes unmoving.

"Okay, fine. Just...do not tell anyone. My name's Viola," She mumbled tightening her grip on her combat shotgun. Charon rose an eyebrow, and before he could register it, a memory bubbled to the surface of his mind.

"Come away, come away, Death, And in sad cypress let me be laid; Fly away, fly away, breath, I am slain by a fair cruel maid."

Charcoal's mouth fell open.

"What?" She said, her voice barely audible. Charon shrugged. It was a long shot anyway that this silly girl knew anything about the origins of her name. He continued walking, taking a mental note to keep a better hold on his memories of before the war.

"Hey, no wait a minute, what was that?" She smiled, bemused and happy she'd encouraged him to speak.

"You wouldn't know it."

"Come on! Tell me! Tell me what was that! Was it from a song, a poem or something else?" She said eagerly. Charon ignored her, and looked into the horizon filled with even more buildings destroyed by the nuclear bomb he in his youth had feared and that time gnawed on over the centuries.

She continued pestering him, and once again Charon felt a spark of mild amusement flicker in his chest, though no evidence of it was shown on his face.

"It was beautiful. Come on I just want to know," She reached out her hand laid it on his arm. Before it could rest there properly, Charon seized her wrist in his mechanical grip and flung it back to her chest. She winced and stared up at him in shock. No anger, no agitation or fear, just shock. Charon swallowed hard. Old habits die hard. Charon had rooted himself to the ground, and glared wide eyed at her. The thought of apologizing crossed his mind, but he dispelled it before it had time to flourish. It wasn't his fault whenever something tried to touch him in the Wastes, it was trying to kill him.

"Sorry, I'm a bit handsy," She laughed uneasily.

"Come on Smoothskin," He shrugged and nodded. Charcoal followed after him and started to speak.

"I wanted to ask you something, by the way. I was wondering-"

"Get down!" Charon snarled and barrelled to the floor behind some sand bags crowned with barbed wire, dragging Charcoal down with him who landed awkwardly on her arm.

"What the hell was that for!" She hissed in pain, and she was answered by a stuttering minigun fire and the yells of Raiders. Well shit.

"Stay down, I've got this," Charon grumbled. Killing raiders may as well have been classed as an official hobby in the Wastelands. Fun for the entire family. He pulled out his shotgun and leapt over the makeshift parapet.

"You want some of this? Come on then!" He roared, firing two shots with perfect aim, decapitating two Raiders including the one that was far too trigger happy with his minigun. He spun behind the remains of a brick wall taking cover, the rush of the kill boiling the blood in his veins. He heard a woman swear and a man yell at her.

"Did you see the size of that bastard?" The woman's voice hissed, and Charon grinned. He heard another yell and more firing. Before he could poke his head around the brick wall to see what was happening, Viola skidded through the dirt and stopped just short of crashing into him.

"I thought I told you to stay where you were?" He spat angrily.

"It wasn't fun where I was," She complained, pulling a childish pout. She leaned around the broken brick wall and fired a few shots. Charon winced.

"You're firing it wrong."

"What?"

"I said you're firing it wrong!" He yelled over the noise of more screams off Raiders coming in as back up.

"It's shooting bullets isn't it?" She growled, ducking as she heard something crash on the other side of the wall/

"The butt is meant to go into that bit," He jabbed her just below her collarbone, "not into your actual fucking shoulder!"

"I'm new to this okay!" She whined, "I've only just started using a shotgun!"

"How quick are you at loading the cartridge chambers?" He asked. Viola's face was blank.

"It's the-for fucks sake. Hang on," Charon stood and pinpointed three more Raiders off, one through the skull, the other through his throat and the final one through the center of his chest. He dropped and knelt back down.

"It's the place you load the gun, where you put the shells," Charon scowled. Why was he even bothering to ask? He snorted. It was better than having her kill both of them because of her shitty shotgun and her shitty shotgun skills.

"If I wasn't quick I'd be dead," She flashed a smile, and threw herself on the floor and swung the barrel of the shotgun over the side of the wall, letting four shots off. The first two missed, the third hit a Raider in the lung, causing him to spit up a fountain of blood which splattered on the floor in front of him, and the last bullet drilled through a raider's shin bone, crippling his left leg and conjuring a sickening howl of agony. She let out a cry of triumph, shuffled back behind cover and, sitting back up, beamed at Charon who suppressed a smile.

"Better." Charon growled and pulled out a frag grenade and threw it over the top, without even having to look where he was throwing. He heard screams, a blast and then silence. He peaked over the top, and straightened himself up. Viola also stood up and surveyed the Raider camp painted with the deep shade of blood and burnt black. Her eyes brightened up. She let out a gleeful squeak and Charon stared at her in confusion. She shuffled quickly past him up to the remains of the corpses and began scavenging. As she crouched huddled over, picking through the blood and guts, she looked rather like an odd, featherless vulture.

"Ooooh, pretty gloves!" She chirped and began peeling back the grey leather gloves that had spikes imbedded into the knuckles off of still warm dead hands. She tried them on and flexed her fingers, admiring them from different angles by gently turning her wrists.

"How do I look?" She smirked, wriggling her fingers at Charon who decided to not grace her with an answer. He rolled his eyes, and strode over to her, and pulled out the ammo from the dead raider's pockets.

"This is what we are looking for," He said, holding shells up in front of her face. She batted his hand out of the way and rolled her eyes.

"I'm not an idiot. I'd be dead if I didn't know that." Charon sniffed and got up and continued to raid the corpses. He walked up to a male raider with an electric blue mohawk and crouched down. He ran his thumb over the small, neat entry bullet wound that lay perfectly between his eyes. Nothing made him feel better than the perfect shot. Then he looked at the back of his head that was no longer there. The skull cracked open like a nut and its contents emptied.

Suddenly a thought began to surface. Nothing ever was as what it seemed. With a start he realised she enjoyed killing. Nearly as much as him or so it appeared. So why was she trying so desperately hard to act as a martyr for his freedom when she merrily skipped into battle blowing the brains out of raider's skulls? He looked at the rest of the corpses, tossed up like flotsam and spread about like broken shards of waste wood. Who was this woman and why was she trying so damned hard to get his contract?

"You okay there, big guy?" She asked, her head at an angle and concern written on her face. Charon mentally cursed himself. It'd been a long time since he let slip of his inner emotions and let them show on his face. He grunted. Viola frowned.

"Listen," She began, getting up and standing in front of him, hands clasping her hips.

"I want to know what's wrong. I mean, if you're always like this, then fair enough but...you're acting like you want to ask me something. I don't bite Charon, if you want to ask, ask. I'm an open book. I even told you my real name, didn't I?" She looked serious, but she smiled warmly at him. Reassuring. Charon let out a rattling sigh. Well, she asked for it, and there was no harm in asking out right.

"I am curious as to why you want my contract so badly."

"There are a few reasons."

"Tell me."

"I hate slavers, I hate Ahzrukal and I hate what he does to you. What he makes you do for him...it just sickens me. Ever since I got out of this vault, all I've seen is people treating each other like shit and...and..." She began stuttering, and then took a moment to compose herself.

"I made a decision. A moral code, if you will. I decided if I was able to help, I would help. When I saw you...when I saw him...I just had to do something. If I didn't...then I'd be as bad as every other fucker out here." She looked down at her feet. When Charon didn't answer, she continued.

"And...I'm scared," She whispered it, as if she were embarressed that people could her, and her white face coloured with the rush of blood. Charon frowned in miscomprehension.

"Of what, Smoothskin? You took out those Raiders...probably could have done it on your own too." Probably.

"Of being on my own."

"What?"

"When I got out of the Vault," She said slowly. "The sight of the sun petrified me. Seriously, I collapsed to the floor and screamed. I didn't even know what it was. Well, the books I read in the vaults told be about what it was but...it was so bright and strange and it hurt my eyes and I later on found out it hurt my skin. Everything terrified me. I'd never been out in the open, and I'd never been further than a short walk away from another person. Then suddenly I was flung into this world I never even knew existed and it was so large and I was so small and all alone and anyone I did meet tried to kill me on sight, "She laughed, and continued.

"Then I found Megaton. Tried to convince some people to travel with me, hell I'm a coward but I didn't want to spend the rest of my days hiding. The world's scary, but it's beautiful too, in its own little way...you know? So as yet I haven't found someone to share in an adventure. I didn't want to tell you this so early on when you can easily label me as some weak, cowardly psycho chick who needs supervision...but I thought that you might want to be my companion...stupid I know. I hope I can be at least a little better company than Ahzruhkal." She finished with a deep gulp of air and refused to meet his eye.

Charon was at a loss for words. It turns out he was right. She was mental. But in a strange, kind of fucked up way, he enjoyed the idea that she wanted him around for a reason other than using him as a weapon. A ghoul too. At best smoothskins were polite to ghouls, even figured out a way not to wince if one touched them, but never in all his years had a smoothskin wanted a ghoul companion, not since Herbert 'Daring' Dashwood and Argyle at least. The thought nearly made him laugh in her face. At least she'd been honest, but he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed that the puzzle had unraveled itself before he had a chance to.

"You should have seen it before the bombs fell." He told her.

"Sorry?"

"You said the world was beautiful. You should have seen it before the bombs fell." Viola lifted her head to face his, and a grin splashed itself across her face. She shook away her nervousness, and gave him a wink.

"Let's go, Big fella."

...

-So chaps, are there any literary enthusiasts amongst you who know what play and who it was written by where Viola's name comes from? If you do, you'll also probably understand why I chose the name. If not, you're just going to have to find out when Viola does! Also the name Ozymandias has been chosen for a specific reason that will be made clear, trust me. I hope the whole Charcoal/Viola thing isn't as confusing as it might come across DX

-I seriously can't thank people enough for keeping coming back to read this, and I'm over the moon with the reviews, you guys are awesome and I give you all virtual hugs. To Guest Z, I'm so happy you think I've got the characters of Charon and Ahzruhkal right, it's great to hear I'm doing okay and your reviews are always so flattering and make me grin ear to ear! It'll be great to have you on Fanfiction when you get an account.

To MistressMira and Drunken-lullabies, I completely agree with you about Charon's character, he has been brainwashed, been used and treated as a weapon and a tool rather than a human, so he's not going to be all fun and games at first not to mention a little socially inept through lack of friendly communication. Drunken-lullabies, you will find out why she's good at fighting in the next chapter, promise!

Jenivere your virtual cookies were delicious, and thank you so much for the review, glad you like how I've written Ahzruhkals character!

Missmagnificent I can't stress how pleased I am with your review, I do tend to go into a lot of description which can be quite off putting for some, so it was worrying me a little and so I'm happy someone is enjoying it! I'll try to steer clear of the purple prose though!

Codus I'm very grateful for the favourite and review, hope you stick around.