Chapter 4: Underworld Mayhem

~Mei's POV~

I called after my little sister as she ran off to help whoever was fighting off in the distance, but she didn't seem to hear me. She was being stupid, running off into a battle that had nothing to do with her, but that was Kari. She never thought of herself and what harm may befall her. I hated her for it, but she was the only person I had left besides my dad and I couldn't lose her.

I tore after her. She had just taken down a mutant, but more were showing up, possibly attracted by the sound of the guns and the smell of blood. I was constantly firing my assault rifle, praying that we would make it through the battle. One of the mutants had a mini gun, and I cursed our luck. That one pointed the gun at the ghoul, but Kari, whether knowingly or unknowingly, had stepped in the path of the bullets.

I shouted at her, but it was too late. I watched in horror as the hail of bullets pierced through her armor, blood dripping and flowing from the wounds.

Two more ghouls joined in the fight, but I was quivering with shock, anger, frustration, agony, and a deep, depressing sadness.

I pulled out my fat-man from my pip-boy, deciding it would be now or never. They were a safe enough distance away that the blast shouldn't harm us.

I heaved the gigantic gun onto my shoulder and loaded a mini nuke in it. It flew across the trench and hit the ground beneath their feet. The trench caved in and was filled with Super Mutant goo. My pip-boy read that there were no other hostiles nearby, and so I rushed over to Kari's side.

She was breathing, but barely. Her skin was much, much paler than usual, and it was cold to the touch.

"Kari," I whimpered. "Kari, don't leave me. Don't die."

One of the ghouls walked over and slowly and gently picked up Kari. I was about to shout a very long string of profanities at him until I realized that he was trying to help. I then noticed the gauze around his arm. He was the one that Kari had helped earlier

"Quickly, we need to get inside before more show up," the female ghoul that had joined stated.

I nodded, praying to every kind of god that I could think of that she would be alright. I picked up her gun and stored it in my pip-boy for later. I didn't know where they were taking her, but I had no choice to follow. We entered what the signs said to be the Museum of History. It looked pretty abandoned, but I could hear plenty of movement behind the doors that were ahead of us.

We entered the room ahead, and it was filled with ghouls, but none of them were feral. They all appeared very civil and eyed us with curiosity. The large ghoul carrying Kari led us through another set of doors ahead and into what appeared to be a doctor's office. A ghoul in a blood-stained shirt walked up to us.

"She dead?" he asked in a dead tone.

The other ghoul shook his head. "She's alive."

"Looks pretty dead to me."

"Kari won't give up fighting," I said fiercely. "Never..."

"Whatever. You got caps?"

"I've got it covered, Barrows," the shorter ghoul that had been with us stated. "She took the bullets in my stead. It's the least that I can do."

"Set her down on the table," the doctor instructed before turning to me. "You may want to leave. This is probably going to get messy."

"I'm not leaving her," I stated. "Not until she takes her last breath."

"Well, that may be sooner than you believe," he replied, "but whatever."

He turned to my younger, sweeter sister and the nurse began to assist him in removing the bullets from the holes. I was honestly surprised that she was alive at that moment, but I knew she wouldn't give up. I watched as fresh blood poured from the newly opened holes. Again, I prayed that she would live.

As he began to sew up the holes, the nurse began to inject stimpaks and med-x into her. I was surprised to see the wounds slowly but surely closing up on their own. The doctor and nurse had curious expressions on their faces.

"Did you put something in that?" I questioned.

The nurse shook her head.

They merely observed as the wounds finished closing themselves up.

"What just happened, then?"

"No idea," the doc said. "I was hoping you could answer that."

"So is she going to be okay?"

"I believe so, but she needs blood, and fast."

"We're twins, and we have the same blood type," I stated. "Could you do a quick transfusion or whatever?"

"Yeah. Lie down next to her."

I did as I was told before he injected me with some sort of chemical that made everything all hazy. When he stuck a needle in my arm, I didn't feel any pain, kind of like med-x, only stronger. The only reason I was able to tell what he was doing was by watching him. I fought to stay awake, but watching the blood drain from my arm was kind of hypnotic and made me feel even more tired. I soon succumbed to sleep and everything faded away.

~Hikari's POV~

My eyes slowly opened, the rays of light filtering rather harshly through my vision. It hurt, so I squinted. I could make out the form of someone next to me, and there was a person on a terminal in the corner of the room. I remembered fighting a horde of Super Mutants, but that was it. Everything after that was a blank.

I sat up, and a slight burning sensation filled my body. I hissed, which seemed to attract the person in the corner. She was a ghoul.

"The doctor has stepped out for a moment, but he has instructed me not to let you or your sister out of bed," she stated. "Please lie back down."

"But what happened?" I questioned.

"Well, Charon carried you in here, and you were so close to death. I've never seen a paler person other than you. Anyway, I was told that you tried to rescue our caravan and were shot by a mutant with a mini-gun," she replied. "But you were fighting to stay alive. You probably wouldn't have made it if you hadn't had a transfusion from your sister. She donated the blood that now runs through you."

I nodded slowly. That was kind of foolish of me, running into battle like that. I hadn't given a second thought about what may have happened to me. At the time, I didn't care.

"You saved Quinn, though. Unfortunately, the Brahmin and Jacob didn't make it," she said with a sigh. "None of this would have happened if Quinn hadn't hired a human caravan guard. He was warned that the mutants would attack, but he was convinced that the bandits were more of a bother."

"Who is Quinn?" I asked. "And Jacob? And... And Charon?"

"You... You don't know who they are?"

"No," I whispered.

"You... saved them, risked your life for them, and you don't know who they are?"

I shook my head, and she seemed stunned. Sure, I had risked my life for strangers because they needed my help. So what?

"You really are something," she said.

"I've got some caps to pay for whatever my fees are," I stated. "It's not much, but-"

"Quinn's already taken care of it," she said, cutting me off. "He says it's a thank-you for earlier."

"Well, if you see him, please tell him thanks," I requested. "But how long was I out?"

"About a day. You seem to have some sort of... Development that allowed you to heal right before our eyes. Your wounds literally closed up before our eyes. It was quite unusual, but fascinating."

I was puzzled and wracked my brain for answers, but could come up with none. A moment later, a ghoul with a blood-stained shirt and another ghoul with some sort of merchant outfit and rifle attached to his back entered the room. The one with the blood-stained shirt was definitely a doctor, and I guessed the other one was either Quinn or Charon.

"You're awake," the doctor stated. "I am not surprised. At the rate you were healing, I could tell that you would be waking up soon."

"What about Mei?" I asked. "Will she be alright?"

"Yes, she's just knocked out from the chemicals I had to give her when she the transfusion. She should be waking up momentarily."

"That's good," I whispered.

"Anyway, Quinn here just wanted to see if you were awake to thank you," he stated. "Go ahead, Quinn."

He approached me rather slowly, as if he was frightened of me. I stood up from the bed and held out my hand. He shook it kind of hesitantly.

"I'm Hikari," I said. "If you are here to thank me, thanks are not necessary, but you are welcome. I only did what felt right. I couldn't just leave you all there, but I am sorry about Jacob and the Brahmin."

"You jumped into the fray, not even knowing us, and me a ghoul. You got shot multiple times," he stated. "May I ask how you are still standing?"

"That's still a mystery to me," I replied. "I thank the lord that I am still here."

"So do I, but that is thanks to you," he responded. "I thank you for that."

"Like I said, think nothing of it."

He nodded. "If your sister hadn't used a mini-nuke on the mutants, we wouldn't have been able to fight them off. I have her to thank, too. If she hasn't woken up by the time I leave Underworld, will you express my gratitude to her?"

"Yes, I will."

He nodded again. "I must be on my way. Because of my mistakes, Underworld may suffer."

"We're in Underworld?" I questioned.

"Yes."

"Huh," I said curiously. "There wouldn't happen to be a Carol here, would there?"

"Yes, there is. She runs Carol's Place on the upper floor," he stated. "Why?"

"I ran into a ghoul back in Megaton, and he asked me to tell Carol that he says hi and that he's doing well."

"Gob?" he questioned.

"Yeah."

"Wow, haven't seen him in a while. Carol has been moping around since he left, and we all believed him to be dead."

"He's working in a bar, but he's pretty much a slave," I said.

"I'd keep that bit away from Carol," he warned.

"I think I know why," I replied.

"Well, I need to get going."

I nodded, and he turned to leave.

"Well, doc, am I good to go?" I asked.

"I would advise that you stay for observation to make sure that you are all right," he stated. "But other than that, yes. Quinn had already paid me for the medical costs and I have no power over your choices."

"I'll be back," I said. "If Mei wakes up, please either tell her that I'm walking around the Underworld or send someone for me."

He nodded and turned to talk to nurse graves. I took that as my cue to leave.

I wandered up the stairs and into Carol's place, receiving quite a few stares from the residents. I went to talk to the person behind the bar.

When I reentered the Chop Shop, Mei was nowhere in sight.

"Went to the Ninth Circle," the nurse said from her computer. "Said she wanted a drink. We advised against it, but she ignored us. It's up across from Carol's place."

"Thanks," I muttered before heading out and up.

I found it easy enough. The bar itself was nothing like Carol's place. It was thick with smoke and the acrid smell burnt my nose. I spotted my sister sitting by the bar, already swaying under the influence of alcohol. Back in the Vault, Mei had somehow been able to break into the overseer's private stores and steal some of the alcohol. She wasn't the best drunk, always saying and doing things she shouldn't do, or wouldn't ordinarily do. She had often tried to get me to drink, but I resisted. I was worried about how many caps she spent, though. We were running low, and we still had to stock up on supplies.

"Come on, Mei," I said rather firmly. "We need to go back."

"C'mon, Kari! Loosen up, 'n' haveuhlil fun," she slurred.

"No, Mei. We're almost out of caps, and we still need to stock up for our trip."

"Buuuut... I dun wanna. People're nice tuh me here. All-hic-all cause I saved...saved one of 'em."

"How much does she owe?" I questioned the ghoul behind the counter.

"52 caps."

I counted out the caps and handed them to him.

"Now come on, Mei," I ordered. "We have to go tomorrow morning, and things are going to be hard enough."

"No!" she shouted, and tried to brush off my hand, but missed and swayed.

I sighed. There was no reasoning with her. She was stubborn and drunk, and there wasn't a thing I could do about it. I was honestly surprised she hadn't lost the contents of her stomach yet, but glad. If one of us did, so did the other. It killed our dad back in the Vault.

I thought for a moment, but could come up with nothing to coax her out of the bar... Unless...

I could see them... All of the raiders I had killed, all of the people that had died by the hands of those merciless monsters... All of the blood that flowed out of them... All of the pain and sorrow that the once beautiful lands leaked... All of the people dying of thirst or starvation... All of the gore in the room where Mei, the ghoul, and I had killed all of those Raiders... The sick, twisting, churning sensation that I received as the bile rose in my mouth with those sights. All of those feelings that I had suppressed... The resentment and hostility I felt towards the Overseer, the sorrow I felt when I knew I was unable to help someone that had been brutally tortured to death... The fright that had been haunting me every night that I refused to succumb to... Everything that had happened since my father had left...

In a second, I was bent over the trash can, emptying my stomach of everything that I had recently eaten. Unfortunately, Mei hadn't been able to make it to the trash can, and it poured over the entire counter. The barkeeper growled and jumped back. I pulled out a bottle of water and drank it in an instant before pulling another one out for Mei. She had refused at first, but she seemed to slowly come back around.

"Out!" the barkeeper shouted. "Now! Charon!"

A ghoul that I hadn't noticed slipped out from the shadows of the corner behind me.

"Yes, Ahzrukhal?" he asked.

I knew that voice... It had called me an idiot before. It had a mocking edge that was just barely traceable. I looked over at the ghouls arm and saw slightly bloodstained gauze wrapped around it.

"I-it's you," I whispered. "The ghoul from the station."

He glared down at me, but said nothing.

"Charon, throw them out," Az instructed.

"Yes, sir."

Without another word, the ghoul lifted us off the ground with ease, but I saw the bandaged arm tremble slightly.

"Your wound will not heal unless you stop putting stress on it," I stated. "I'm capable of walking, too."

He ignored me and carried us over to the exit where he promptly threw us out. Quite literally, I should add. We tumbled and landed in a tangle on the floor, only stopped by the crumbling stone safety rails. I rarely got mad, but this was one of those times. There was a reason that people never tried to anger me back in the Vault, too, unless they were stupid, like Butch and his gang. When I was mad, I was furious. I could feel it rising up as I stood up. Sure, Mei had thrown up on his counter, and I could see why he was mad, but he didn't have to have us thrown out. I had helped the bouncer, Charon, and yet he ignored me completely and obeyed orders like some sort of dog. If Mei weren't so drunk, she'd probably be back in there in a heartbeat, guns blazing. I was more diplomatic, but he was about to get an earful.

I marched back in there. I walked straight up to the bar and stared Ahzrukhal straight in his rotting eyes, fury coursing through me.

"Ooh, she's pissed," Mei whispered to the ghoul next to her.

"You rotting bastard!" I shouted. "Why the hell did you have me thrown out of this goddamned shithole of a bar? I have half a mind to have your head blown clean off your shoulders. Trust me, I have killed Super Mutants, Raiders, and far worse, so don't think I won't do it! If it weren't for me, all of you zombies would be DEAD soon! To think that I even gave a shit about you all. It's people like you that infuriate me!"

My hand shot up and a loud slapping noise echoed throughout the bar. Everything was quiet, except for the music that played from a radio sitting on the counter until the nose of a shotgun pressed to the back of my head. I heard it cock and tried to hold still, but I was still shaking from anger.

"Who the hell do you think you are, pressing that on me when my back is turned?" I demanded in a quiet, un-intimidated voice.

"The fucking guy that protects the guy you just slapped," growled Charon. "I think it's time you and the other smoothskin left."

I knew that I should just leave, but something else kicked in, and I think I snapped. My hand was up in an instant, and I wrestled the shotgun away from the shocked ghoul within seconds. I held it up towards him, and everyone held still, waiting to see what my next move would be.

Everything was dead silent, and even the radio was turned off.

"Go Kari!" Mei suddenly shouted.

"I fucking helped you, and you try to blow my fucking head off? I don't think so. That's not how things work!"

"We are not in whatever fantasy you've created," he spat.

Suddenly, the door behind Charon burst open, revealing the doctor. I jumped, and the shotgun went off into the air. I was knocked down by the kickback, and Charon took the opportunity to retrieve his gun. He pointed it at me as I lay on the ground.

"Up," he said with a small motion of his gun.

"Charon, wait," Barrows said. "She's suffering from the after effects of the medication that we had to give her. She's not in her right mind."

He walked over to me and helped me up. I wanted to push him away, but it had been him that saved me.

"Come on now," he said. "I don't want to do things the hard way, so just... follow me back down to my office."

I was still shaking, but it was more from adrenaline than anything else, now. I complied, and everyone seemed to go back to whatever it was that they were doing earlier. As soon as we were out of the Ninth Circle, I felt something sharp pierce my side, and my body went limp, and my vision darkened.

~Mei's POV~

I still felt the slight buzz of the alcohol rush through my system even though I had already puked most of it up. I wish I hadn't have gotten drunk, but I do a lot of things that I regret. Still, it was kind of funny to see Kari get all mad. That's something I haven't seen since before we left the Vault. The first time, she was provoked to the point of insanity by Butch before she snapped, breaking his jaw at our tenth birthday party. The second time was about a year after the G.O.A.T. when Butch again provoked her until she landed a kick on his shin, actually putting a crack in it. Both times made my day. I kept telling her not to bottle her emotions until the point of insanity, but it was still funny to watch her break. She broke away from her nice streak and her morals and let loose the fury within. Honestly, if we could bottle the fury and give it to an army, we'd have quite the object of mass destruction.

The look on everyone's face when sweet, innocent Vaultie went off on Charon and Ahzrukhal was priceless. I wish I had a pre-war camera to capture it. I knew that what she did was dangerous, but I knew she wouldn't let herself get hurt. I wouldn't let them, even if I was intoxicated. No being alive, be it ghoul, human, or other kind of mutant, was going to hurt my baby sister. She was the only person I really had left in the world, and she wasn't going to be taken away.

Still, I felt kind of bad because of what my drinking caused. Kari was still down at the Chop Shop. Someone had notified Barrows of her outburst, and he immediately went up to claim something medicine-related that only he would realize was fake. Kari, of course, knew, but she played along. At least, I think she did. It was kind of hard to tell when she was insane. I would somehow make this up to her.

I watched an unconscious Kari breath evenly in and out... In and out... It was kind of hypnotic, just watching that simple, steady rhythm. I was torn out of it by a hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off, but looked up and behind me. It was Barrows, but he was upside down. Wait, my head was backwards. I was upside down. Maybe I should stop drinking altogether.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Kari got mad at that Az guy, 'cause he had his manservant throw us out, quite literally. It was kind of funny watching her go off," I stated. "She has quite the temper, as you kinda saw, so I always try to avoid making her mad. She broke a guy's jaw and cracked his shin once when we were ten and seventeen. It was pretty funny, because neither of us liked-"

"Nice story, kid, but I'm not interested," he interrupted. "She'll wake up soon, and I think you would be best to calm her down if she's still angry."

"Whatever."

He then walked over to the glass to observe some feral was glowing, but we had never come across a glowing one before. I wanted to question him about them, but my sis started to wake up.

"Heey. Look who has decided to join the living," I said as she sat up.

"What happened?" she questioned.

"Eh. Lost your temper again," I replied. "Got knocked out by doc here when he arrived and now you're here. The end."

"What?" she asked again.

"That Charon ghoul-guy threw us out of the bar. You lost your temper, attacked the barkeep, Charon attacked you, you attacked back, he attacked again, doc came in, and stopped you. We're here. The end."

"O-oh," was all she managed to say. "So that wasn't a dream. I had hoped it was."

"Naw. It was pretty funny, though."

"Mei, there's nothing funny about what I did!" she half-shouted. "I could have seriously hurt someone, or I could have caused other kinds of damages!"

I shrugged. Whatever.

"Anyways, we need to get going soon. After we stock up on ammo and other necessities, we should head out. How much do I owe you for that, doc?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. Just hurry on out. I have a feeling some people are going to be pretty mad at me."

"I'm sorry," she said.

He seemed a bit shocked. "You're apologizing?"

"Yes, because it's my fault."

He shook his head with a smile. "Should've known better. You're alright, kid. Now beat it."

She smiled and nodded. Maybe things wouldn't be as bad as they were looking out here in the wastes. I would have to make things up with Kari, and I had an idea of how. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't soft. No, far from that. I loved her, and it was partially my fault that this had happened. I would have to make it right with her.

~Hikari's POV~

As Mei and I headed to bed for the night at Carol's Place, she seemed to be acting odd. She was in thought again, and to be honest, that was never really good. It meant that she was up to something. At least, that's what it meant back in the Vault. Out in the wastes, it could mean anything. I lay down in the bed and ignored it, trying to get some non-medicated rest. We would leave the following morning.

I had split all of our supplies up evenly before we had shopped, and we had spent our caps on only what we needed, though Mei claimed that she needed the box of gumdrops and bubblegum. We had everything ready for the trip tomorrow.

When I woke up the following morning, Mei was nowhere to be seen. I began to panic, wondering if she had run off, or if she was kidnapped. I threw the blankets off and rushed out in my vault-tec jumpsuit that I had slept in. I ran to the counter and asked Carol if she had seen my twin.

"Why, yes," Carol said in a sweet voice. "Said she had some last minute errand to run before you two headed out. Didn't say where she was going, though."

That was when it sounded. Two blasts from a shotgun, and the only shotgun I had seen in the Underworld had belonged to Charon. The only thing that coursed through my mind was that she had tried to take on either Charon or Ahzrukhal and had been shot. I ran to the Ninth Circle. When I opened the door, there was blood pooling out from behind the counter. The onlookers gasped at the sight, muttering to themselves, but I didn't pay attention to what they were saying. I ran forward, praying that it wasn't my sister. I stood there, shocked, when I saw that it was Ahzrukhal. His head had been blown clean off his shoulders, but not by me. Neither Mei nor Charon were anywhere in sight. I suppressed the urge to throw up and left the Ninth Circle to look for Mei.

I went back to Carol's Place. The ghoul owner inquired what had happened.

"Someone shot and killed Az," I stated. "Head... clean off his shoulders..."

I ran to the trash can next to the counter and threw up bile. I heard someone else do the same on the other side of the room. It probably would have been better for me to just wait in Carol's Place for her to return. I had to admit, though. I was really confused as to why Charon followed her around. I shot her a quizzical look as I drank half of a water bottle.

"Got his contract off of old Az," she said with a smirk. "Turns out, Charon hated the bastard as much as we do. Blew his head off without me even having to tell him to."

She pulled a yellowing piece of parchment out from her bag and handed it to me. I read it over. Just the basics were on it:

Name: Charon
Height: 6'7
Weight: 202 lbs

Charon is completely loyal to whoever holds this contract. He will follow any combat order that he is given, even when facing death. His ultimate purpose is to protect him employer, no matter what. He does not need any payment. Any physical violence on the employer's behalf will nullify the contract.

It was pretty straightforward, but the text was fading, and I could barely make out the words. I wondered how Mei had gotten a hold of it. I went to give it back to her, but she shook her head.

"I have a feeling that you will make a much better employer than me," she stated. "Besides, I don't know if he even likes me."

"Don't think he likes me, either, do you, Charon?"

He stared at me blankly.

"Hmm. This seems like slavery to me," I stated. "It's as though he has no free will, and I don't know if I'd be okay with that."

"It's not slavery. See any collars?" Mei pointed out.

"No, but it's the principle of the matter," I replied.

I didn't like the idea of being in charge of someone like that. I felt as though he really was a slave, and in a sense, he was. He would do whatever I told him to without question. That kind of power frightened me.

"Charon, I want you to speak freely. Do whatever you want, but don't kill anyone unless they pose a direct threat," I instructed. "And nothing is an order without the words, 'I order,' followed by a command, got it?"

"Yes, Mistress."

"No mistress. Just Hikari," I said. "Will you accompany us to the Museum of Technology?"

"If that is what you wish."

"It is, but what do you want?" I asked.

"Whatever my employer wants."

I sighed. Whatever. I told him that it was up to him what he wanted, so if he came, fine. If not, fine. He would be very useful, though.

"I suggest we leave now," Mei stated.

I nodded. "I'd like to be back to GNR Studio by the end of the day."

"A practical goal," Charon whispered, as though he was unsure if he should speak.

"Well, let's get a move on," Mei said as she led the way out.

After Notes:

Ahh, yes. Charon. My favorite follower in the game. How I love him. :)

I liked writing Hikari all wild and stuff. It was different, and I can't really remember if I do it again because it's literally midnight right now.

Well, please drop me a review or PM. Much appreciated, HikariMei.