Hey, I know that some of you are used to it when I uploaded once a week, but now that I'm a good writer(Forgiven? was just so damn bland), I take pride in my work.
Songs: Without You by 3 days grace. Your Betrayel by Bullet for my Valentine; I will die trying by Art of Dying. Undying love by Two steps from Hell. BTW: If you haven't figured it out yet, you open a new tab, then play the song on youtube. I just got a review. I covered this in "Fogiven?", Godammit!
O
Al began the long walk to Tenpenny's. It was slow, boring, and rather uneventful. Well, as uneventful as a raider encounter can get. Al heard the bullets hit that sand first, forcing the grains to explode upward. Al was almost suprised. Okay, he was fucking shocked. Raiders using stealth tactics? Damn, what a world.
Al rapidly took cover, unhindered by his Combat Armor. It was a perfect mix of mobility and protection. He pulled out his rifle, and looked through the sights. Four of them. The leader had Painspike armor and a Hunting Rifle. This was a new band. AKA: They were fucked when put up against the machine of expierience, know-how, and comedic relief that is the Lone Wanderer.
Al fired the 10mm round, and it whizzed directly into the skull of the leader, however, they didn't disperse, or even seem to care. The hell? Al thought, cocking his head in confusion. He shook his head, and took aim again. He fired at the far left Raider, holding a 10mm pistol and Sadist armor, firing blindly. The small round buried itself in her fully exposed chest, killing her instantly. Once again, no response from the advancing two. This time Al paused.
For a second too long.
He was sent back, twisting through the air, a bullet in his shoulder. Al's eyes opened in shcok, feeling the blunt force of it. Damn it! He was caught off gaurd! His rifle lay on the ground a few feet away. Al quickly regained himself, but was stopped short after the barrel rool, a boot pinning him down.
"We got the motherfucker now!" The Raider pinning Al down shouted happily, exited for his chance kill. Fuck...I'll have to die like this? A rookie fucking mistake? Sarah...I love you. Please forgive me. What if she had to live without him? What if he had to die without her? What if he had to love her, without her loving him back? He coudln't go on. Al thought, as he accepted his fate.
O
Sarah sat up. She couldn't go to sleep, nor could she think of anything but Al.
O
Al woke up first. He got up slowly, eyes hazy with memory loss. Then it hit him like a Super Sledge. "SARAH! Is she alright?"
"Yes, she's fine. It's alright. You're in the Citadel."
"Good, good. But is she okay?"
"Yes, she is stable, but unconscious. I'd like you to report to Scribe Rothchild, we are going to hunt the rest of the Enclave down." Al simply sadly nodded in response and walked reluctantly to the doorway, but stopped, placing something in the Elder's hands then closing them around it.
"Keep it." He said, running out. Elder Lyons looked at the parcel. Then he smiled, looking up.
O
As Al walked back into the Citadel, he was weighted down by two things. One: Liberty Prime being destroyed. Completely fucking destroyed. Rothchild frowned in supreme dissapointment at Al, who was giving the Scribe the report. Al knew that this just gave one more reason for the crochety old bastard to despise him.
"YOU DOLT! YOU LET THE BIGGEST FIND THE BROTHERHOOD HAS BE OBLITERATED? I knew we couldn't trust an outsider!" Rothchild yelled into Al's face. The Paragon didn't pay attention. His thoughts were less on the chasing of the Enclave, and more on his Commanding Officer, Sarah. She was still probably out cold. Al should've just told her to fuck off, at least then she wouldn't die not knowing what he ahd felt for her. Fawkes stood intentfully behind Al, waiting for his friend to even look like he was listening. This only infuriated Rothchild even more, and he fumed his rage onto the man in Tesla Armor.
"Why are you even here? You should assist in the transport of Liberty Prime's rubble, the rubble that you caused! Your not worthy of being here!"
"ROTHCHILD!" Elder Lyons boomed. The Scribe turned to his superior. "How. Dare. You. How fucking dare you." He snarled, but with a silenced voice. When someone with wisdom is angry, they never, ever raise their voice. They lower it, forcing the recipient to listen to them. "Hasn't Al gone through enough lately? His father dying just a few months ago, his potential wife exiling hime from the place he called home for nineteen years? Now, you have the audasity to insult him. For shame. I know you may resent him, for reasons I can't imagine, he's a good man. But at least keep you opinions to yourself. Al is probably holding back no end of animosity towards you, but he his holding his tongue. I heavily suggest you do the same. For your sake."
Rothchild looked around, embaressed to no end. Being the Head Scribe and being reprimanded was a very heavy blow. He glared at Al, who had finally started paying attention, returning the glare with an unheard of intensity. Rothchild blinked rapidly, then moved away, giving the hero much needed space. But this would really do nothing for his mood.
Al undetectably smiled at his victory against the self-righteous old bastard. It was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by a look of worry for Sarah. He made his way to the infirmary, all the way trying to recall everything that he had learned in his years of patching himself up.
"Good day, sir!" Exclaimed the Mister Gutsy that served as a medic for the Brotherhood. Al didn't like it, nor trust it, as it had malfunctioned and gave Al a nasty scar that the man can still see today. Al frowned as he saw Sarah's almost naked, unconsciouss form sprawled on the bed. He blushed harshly as lustful thoughts entered his mind from seeing her so...exposed. He shook them off, not even wanting to think of taking advantae of her.
"You too, scrap heap." Al said half-heartedly, moving past the medi-bot. He placed his hands on the bed, leaning against it. He sighed, then figured he should try something to help her up. He pulled out a Stimpack, and injected it very carefully into the meat of her shoulder.
Nothing.
"Damn it..." He cursed. She had left his that day. That dreadful day. He simply didn't feel right without here comforting face, her harsh but caring voice. She was his everything. Without her, he has nothing. He is nothing. Nothing at all. But if it takes him forever to revive her, then he would die trying.
"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, my friend." Fawkes commented, trying to ease his friend's pain. "You are only one man."
"Yes, one man who took down the Enclave's secret base, survived being locked in an irradiated chamber, and all of that as a Vaultie." Al said, pressing his fingers into his eyes. It was one of the few things that stopped the aching. So much was happening. He had new feelings for Sarah, and still had to hunt the Enclave.
Fawkes sighed sorrowfully.
"He is right, Knight Al." Remarked a wise, old voice. Al turned his head to face his superior. Al sighed loudly, in frustration of being completely helpless to raise Sarah to the land of the living. "She is stable. All we can do now, is wait and hope for the best."
"I know she's stable. That's what's pissing me off." Al stated, squeezing his eyes until he saw patterns. "I think it's time for me to go now. I'm not doing anything here. No harm, but no good either. If I could change places with her, my life at risk, you know damn well I would." Fawkes and Elder Lyons frowned. As strong as Al is, sometimes the weight is just too much to hold. But if that man wanted something done, then by God, it would be done. Even if it took forever, he'd die trying.
"Al, don't use the work to hold off on problems."
"I'm just trying to get by."
"...Well, we are working on an expirimental weapon, similar to the one Liberty Prime used. We're calling it the Tesla Cannon. We need you to go to Old Olney and find a Tesla Coil."
"You're kidding me right? You've got to be fucking kidding me! Deathclaw Central!"
"I know, that is why we are sending you. You are the only one who can do this, Al." Elder Lyons said, attempting to bolster the Lone Wanderer's spirits in his wanderings in the shadow of death.
Al's eye opened, and he looked up. "Thanks...it means a great deal to me." As Al walked out, knowing someone else believed in him, he couldn't help but smile.
"You." Al instantly frowned as he heard the Scribe's voice. "I see what you did there. The Elder's daughter is not some...plaything for you to toy with. She is a Sentinel, you are a Knight. If anything, she would be looking for a Paladin to even think of making a child with. Not an Outsider." Al's blood was boiling inside of his veins. As an evil feeling attacked Al fantasized about simply pulling out his emergency 10mm pistol, slamming the crochety old bastard against the wall, gingerly placing the buisness end against his temple, and pulling the trigger. Watching the Scribe's world fade to black.
Al had enough. He picked up the older man, pressing him to the wall. "You listen to me. You're telling me to stay away from somethign I care about. Those words I cannot obey. I will not obey. I've cared about so many things, then have to let them go. I'm not giving her up. Not for every cap in the world." Al growled lowly, wanting the man to scream his name in mercy. Rothhild held a scared, frightful look in his eye. Al kept his eyes blocked by the hat, and he only slightly lifted his hat, showing a glare that could make a Deathclaw quake.
Rothchild quickly nodded, and Al let him down.
O
Cerulean eyes fluttered open. They groggily looked around, trying to figure out where the owner was. An over hanging light shone unbearably brght overhead, and the sounds of drills pounded her ears. Still, a fuzzy memory of what passed.
"Sarah?" A familiar voice asked. It was strong, wise, and aged. Her father!
"Uhn...father...what happened?"
"You-" He began, but was ignored as memories of what happened flashed before her eyes. Al being close to her, being pushed, Al going into the chamber...Al dying.
"AL! Whe-ARGH!" She tried to say, but was cut off by her abdomen burning in response to her sitting up. A gentle yet firm hand pressed her back down.
"He's alright!" Elder Lyons said comfortingly. "He's at Adams Air Force Base now, fighting the Enclave Remnants. They are at their wit's end. We are winning"
"Great...But Al was highly irradiated...how'd he survive?"
"Fawkes dragged you both out after a malfunction knocked you out. He saved both of you."
"But how did Al survive in there? It was lethally irradiated..."
"Ah, yes. Al wanted me to give you this." He said, handing Sarah the parcel Al had given him. Sarah opened her palm to look. She smiled softly seeing what it was.
An empty bottle of Rad-x.
O(Play two steps from heaven)
Al stumbled out onto the platform on tehe Mobile Base crawler, injured. His chest hurt, he knew he had a few broken bones, so did his arm, and he was amazed at what Sigma Squad could do. They were the Enclave's Lyon's Pride. And in better armor. They had managed to break his metal-covered bones.
Al put his hand on his Hellfire armored knee, holding his weary form up. He hadn't slept in days, running errands for the Brotherhood. He was battered and bloodied, but if the Enclave showed up on the helipad, they would see a last stand like no other. Beyond this place of wrath and tears is a haven and yet the menace of the years finds, and shall find, him unafraid.
Even in the clutch of death's cold, black harvest, he has not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance, his head is bloody, but unbowed, and with a fiery resolve. With the destruction of the Enclave Remnants, Al could finally come out of the night that covers him, black as the pit from edge to edge. He thanks whatever Gods there may be for his unconquerable soul.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a Vertibird preparing to land. He pulled out a small 10mm pistol, and aimed weakly upwards, trying to hit a propeller, sending it in a burning ball of flames into the concrete. But his broken arm hindere his aim. As it landed, he tried to reload, but clumsily dropped the clip, he stooped over to pikc it up, and was about to fire when normal Power Armor hustled out of it. His jaw dropped as he saw his Commanfing Officer.
Sarah Lyons.
The Lone Wanderer felt like he was two steps away from Heaven. Ironic, seeing as he was two steps from his love as twenty-one year old man felt his knees weaken from under him, serene joy course through his veins. An exhilarating mix of relief, disbelief, and calm flood over his mind. Unshed tears welled in his eyes, as they scanned her soft, pleasent features. She was smiling at him. Him!
Al's eyes locked on Sarah's warm, azure eyes, and they stayed like that for what seemed to be hours. Little by little, he felt his heartbeat stumble, skip, and accelerate, and he felt as if he were falling in love all over again. He stared at her as if this would be the last time he saw her. She opened her slender, crimson lips to speak. Oh, the very thought of being spoken to simply overwhelmed him in anticipation.
"Suprised?" She cockily asked.
"No, I completely forgot about you." He said jokingly, and his overyjoyed expression completely betrayed his joke. He weakly smiled, and Sarah smiled back.
"we'll help you with your memory later. Now, get your pale ass on the Vertibird." Sarah ordered.
"Eh. I don't quite feel like it."
"Don't pull this shit on me." She told him in anangered tone. Then she remembered that he was part of her squad. "Now it's an order."
"Fine, fine! Yes, oh Warrior Goddess Sarah." Al said, raising his hands in false praise. Sarah smiled.
"Your Warrior Goddess? I can live with that." She said, following Al onto the ship. But just before he passed he, she rifle-butted him hard in the abdomen. He groaned in sheer agony, and looked up for an answer. "That's for pushing me in Project Purity." Al gave out a weak, pained laugh, and climbed onto the bird.
Once they landed, they filed out of it. Some of the Pride just leaned against the rails, other stood at attention. Al and Sarah stood side by side. As the shell covered the Mobile Crawler in obliterating fire, Sarah stared in awe at the spectacular sight. She unconsciously slipped her hand into Al's.
Al noticed her, and looked at his hand locked with hers. He looked at Sarah lovingly, smiling warmly. She glanced up at him, glanced back at the show, then returned his loving gaze. They both nodded slightly, then shifted their auburn and cerulean eyes back to the flaming Mobile Base.
Al shook slightly, then dropped to his knees, his hand staying with hers for a long as he could. Sarah looked down at him and gasped. The other Brothers investigated, and looked up with helmet hidden shcoked expressions. Sarah glanced at most of them, then hardened herself.
"I want Al back to base yesterday!" And they were sent scrambling, hauling Al back onto the Vertibird, and off to the Citadel.
O
Sarah sat on the bed, next to Al's prone form. She simply sat, looking at his body. Would he be alright?
"Sarah, darling, he'll be fine. He's been running himself across the Capital Wasteland all month. He's just exhausted, and his body finally gave out from under him. It's just exhaustion. That's all." Elder Lyons reassured his only daughter.
"I guess..." Sarah said disdainfully, frowning. She simply wanted to be alone with her Al. She nodded to her father, and he quickly left, respecting her wish for space. She smiled, knowing that there would always be someone there for her. Liek her squad. She had a special purpose for them all. Gallows was the person she went to if she needed any information on anything.
She would turn to Colvin, or Dusk, if she wanted something taken out incognito-style.
She'd rely on Glade if she wanted something blown to Oblivion.
Vargas if she wasn't up to it on a day. Which was rare as her showing her femenine side.
Kodiak if she needed someone who could adjust to the situation.
But, no matter what, Al was the most unique. Why?
He could do most anything. Need to be patched up? He's gotcha covered. Morale low? He's the comic relief. You need a man who'll run into any situation, a situation that'd make any other man shit a brick, and with a grin on his goatee'd face? He's all to happy to oblige. You need him to be versatile? He's skilled with most any weapon, melee included. But for Sarah, he had one extra purpose. What could that be?
Eye candy.
She smiled, knowing that she had a perfect squad at her disposal. She gazed at Al. He was definetly her eye candy, all right. They had taken off his armor, and put a blanket over his bottom half. But not the upper. She gave in to her attraction and lightly traced a finger over the ridges of his muscles. He was warm. Not dead. Thank God.
Her finger moved slowly down from his chest to his stomach, moving over each abdominal bulge. While she did that, her eyes stared at his arms, neck, and surrounding areas. Gunny's training worked pretty fucking well. Chances were, Al could carry four or five full suits of Power Armor and still be able to run full speed, and for a damn long time. She spotted the light blue tatoo on his left right shoulder. It was her squad's emblem. She smiled, realizing how much it meant to him.
"Hey, Sarah, are you alright?" Sarah jolted up, suprised at Star Paladin Cross's intursion. Not quite mad, but a bit embarrassed.
"Yeah! I'm fine..."
"You like him, don't you?"
Sarah sighed, deciding to give in. Only to Cross, though. She was a trustable consultant. "Was it that obvious?"
"What, with you oggling over every sensetive part of his body? Not that hard to find out."
"I'm just not sure what to do. I have a reputation to uphold. Do I start something, or do I just tell him I'm not interested?"
Cross looked disdainful. "You know damn well I can't answer that for you."
"Damn..."
"But, as a small..." The Star Paladin paused, looking for a word. "Oh, I don't know...tip, I suppose, a man like that doesn't come up very often. I'd personally wreck that."
Sarah and Cross let out a small, hushed chuckle at her joke. Al's eyes fluttered open, unbenkownst to the women. His first sight to his auburn eyes was his love. Partially delirious, he blurted something out. He coughed twice.
"If this is Heaven, it looks good so far." He groaned, looking up at Sarah, her head blocking the light overhead, giving her an Angelic aura. Time slowed down as she turned, her hair whipped around, revealing other features. Her smile windend as she saw he was awake. She blushed as his comment registered in her mind.
"It'-" Al tried to say, before his Death Valley dry throat hindered him from doing so. He coughed violently, and Sarah hastily grabbed a water bottle. She twisted it open, then held it gently to his dry, parched lips. As the liquid flowed down his throat, he coughed again, suprised at the feeling. Sarah tried to pull it away, but his hand stopped her. He lifted his hand onto hers, holding it in place.
The blonde woman could feel his body heat through his left hand on hers. She smiled, blushing again. After he downed the bottle, he looked up gratefully.
"As I was saying, it's nice to see you. How long have I been out?"
"Three days."
"Damn...So, anything happen?"
"No. Just buisness as usual."
"Good...hey, how long have you been sitting here?" Sarah paused, unsure of actually how long she had been there.
"She barely left." Elder Lyons answered for her.
"Really?" Al said, looking up expectantly at her. She looked down, nodding. "Well, I should get going." The Lone Wanderer said, attempting to get up, but stopped short, a Laser Pistol at his chest.
"You sit your pale ass down. You passed out becasue you ran yourself to the point of collapse. That's not happening again."
Al looked up, then smiled, figuring out a way to retort. "If it is what my Warrior Goddess wishes, then I shall comply."
O A/N
Pretty good, right? A nice 3800 words, and what will happen to Al? Captured by Raiders? You'll have to wait till next time.