Cearbhail:

First off, before we begin anything... we need to address the elephant in the room. I played Nuka World DLC and... the first thing I encountered was a raider named Nisha. Yes.. Nisha. Is this a coincidence or was it planted? A reference to either myself or Badlands? Possibly. It could also be a reference to the name itself: Nisha: meaning 'night' in another language; and she does wear a giant blinding helmet. Eh, who knows. Could be coincidence. Be kind of awesome if it were a reference to my Nisha though. Anyway, I killed her (all the gangs actually (I really hated having Preston hate me)) and read her diary entries... she had them. Tales of her growing up from a raider group that killed her parents and then killing the raider that raised her and becoming their leader. That's... kind of parallel to Ruby's past, right? Anyone want to question that at all? I sure did; and I loved it. But anyway, we'll get into that part of the story later. Like, possibly 30 chapters later, maybe. We'll see.

Anyway, so... yeah... back to this story.

Enjoy ^^ ...

[Nate Brannon]

Dear diary,

Today is the 26th of October, 2087. The past two days have been mostly everyone settling in. By the time John and I got everyone settled in, Nora was already returning to Sanctuary Hills with a full crew of people behind her. And with a fresh treaty with the current residents, the Centuriant tribe of Northern Wastes, you'd think we'd have a long day ahead of us. Nope. Once Nora and everyone settled in, every family pretty much claimed any house that still stood, the Centuriants returned to their massive anthills off near the hilltops, and we all… spent the day in silent shock as to what just happened. Nora and I were in shock as we returned to our old house. The interior had been destroyed, our bed returned to rubble; our kitchen… still fully functional somehow…

It was a long night of Nora and I rebuilding our bed, testing it out a few times, rebuilding it again and again… and then finally having a bed that can handle the two of us bouncing on it. By the time we went to sleep, it was already mid-afternoon the next day. We spent that day gathering whatever food we had left, as well as planning for the future. This was our home again, and everyone knew what needed to be done: water and food. Fester Addams, our chief engineer, worked on a few projects with Sturges, a seemingly intelligent builder, and Bill Russel, another engineer. The three of them took what resources we had and started getting to work. Luckily we found some old generators down in John's basement. John had planned on some kind of blackout situation and had water-powered, wind-powered, and solar-powered generators down in his basement. Three of each. That's weird, but… I'll gladly accept their help now that we don't have gasoline anymore.

On the 24th, we spent the day setting up our generators while Fester, Bill, and Sturges created water purification systems. Morticia, Natasha, and Nora spent the day with Codsworth hunting for vegetables and fruits: any vegetation edible really. By the end of the day, we had fresh water (not from the purifiers, but by steaming collection and boiling), a bunch of weirdly mutated fruits, and power. On the 25th, we started planting whatever small trees of fruit we could. Somehow… lemons weren't affected by the radiation. It's weird, but… eh, whatever. I'll have some lemonade. We also were able to pluck up some tomato-looking things. Taste like of like oranges. Weird. Also some Graples (grape-apples). I guess those are a thing too. Codsworth called them mutfruit though. We spent the day making sure we had our water purifiers working as well as our garden growing too.

On the 25th, yesterday, we decided that the best way to protect ourselves is to build a massive wall. Yes… we built a wall around Sanctuary. Amazing what you can do by cutting down some trees, tearing apart stuff built from steel, and then somehow getting them to form straight walls will do. We traveled back to Concord and gathered as much bags of cement and whatnot as possible, even going back to the Vault for things we could use. The Centuriants were pretty useful here. They're really strong; they were able to bend metal to the point that it was straight, bury more than enough of it underground to keep it in place, and to top it off… their saliva is like a bonding agent. They made us a nearly impenetrable wall for us. They even helped us build armored towers around the wall. Now… we can defend this place. We have food, we have water, we have security.

And now… what were we supposed to be doing again? Huh… I forgot.

…

Nora backhanded me. "We're supposed to be looking for our son!"

I rubbed the back of my head as I looked back at her. "Oh… right. I totally forgot about him. I was so caught up in making this a place we could live at."

She nodded. "No, I totally get that. If we don't have supplies and a steady place for us to live at once we find him… chances are we won't last long anyway. This is a new world, and we need to make it on our own. Dependence of currency, grocery shopping, hell even clothes made for us… we don't have those luxuries anymore." She shook her head. "Now… we really do have to take care of ourselves. Farm land, purify water… great jingzu… I'm not sure we're up to the challenge."

I looked up at her, running my hand against her cheek. "Honey… we'll be fine. The whole town is pretty much advanced degrees of doctors, engineers, fashion designers, and… us… the survivors. And we have electricity already! Only three days and we have lights!" I pointed to the lightbulb powered over us. I pointed to the computer right in front of me. "And computers! I'm writing a history entry! Just like you thought we should be doing! We're doing fine, we just have to take it one day at a time."

She nodded. "Sorry, I was just remembering my time in China. I didn't want to have to repeat it all over again. But… you're right. We're already on a good start. We have graples, we have lemons… and hopefully, we'll have meat soon. Preston says that we still have domesticated cattle: brahmin. He'll start getting us some brought to this place. Once we get a farm set up, we'll start populating our home with them… and hopefully, we'll have a sustainable life here."

Just thinking about that brought me hope. Even so… we could sit here all day and think of ways of getting this place up and running, but we needed to get out and look for our son. I pushed 'save' on my journal entry. "Well, I think we should get going." I looked at my beautiful wife. "We have a son to find."

She smirked back, patting me on the shoulder. "Just give me a moment to change into my agent clothes."

And while she was getting dressed in that, I was changing into my old combat fatigues. Much like Nora's agent armor fitted with small layers of bulletproof Kevlar, my own combat fatigues were outfitted with a similar blend. It cost me a pretty penny back in the day, but when you're in the thick of war… you didn't care about the price of freedom… or survival. You paid that price to make sure you could come home to your family. Or… if you wanted to have one like I did. As I placed my combat fatigues on, I grabbed my old soldier armor plates, sliding them on as well. I'm surprised most of this survived the war. Between Codsworth and the Centuriants, nothing from here was raided. We still had plenty of supplies within the town that we could use to help us rebuild the town. Natasha's nano workshop was still somewhat functioning. Apparently she and John had a nano workshop in their basement. Gotta say… I'm jealous. I don't even have a basement. I guess Russia had a pretty extensive research team working on nano technology. Natasha got to sneak out of Russia with one of their experimental sheets of nano tech. That's how she defected to America.

Still, I know enough to know that she knows nothing about nano technology; neither did her husband John. It's been a bit of a pet project for them, to learn how to make nano technology. Once they figure it out, they're going to try to create some kind of armor system that will make our power armor look like a cheap toy. My hat's off to them, I hope they learn how to make this technology. I don't know if it will help us any, but it would be nice to say that we've achieved a new kind of tech.

I kept running mental drills into my head as I made sure my plates were strapped on correctly. I didn't want to risk forgetting anything I had learned over the few days talking to Preston. He was an educated young man, something I thought didn't exist anymore. He managed to educate me on a great many things including the Gunners: a militarized mercenary group that preyed on the people in the Commonwealth; Ghouls: zombies, pretty much. And other than that, there were Super Mutants. Boy was John surprised when he heard they were still alive. The Super Mutants were pretty much a constant threat; like raiders and ghouls. Anything beyond that was a shrug. He mentioned the Institute as well as the Railroad, and how they were at war with each other. There was a lot of stuff going on, but even Preston didn't know a lot about the Railroad or the Institute. Only that they existed and people were afraid of them both.

There was a light knock on the wall. I turned to see Nora standing there, eyeing me up and down. "Well, don't you look like a blast from the past?"

I couldn't hide my smile as I walked over to her. "Another reference? Don't you think we've done enough of those this week?"

She arched her eyebrows. "Huh? Reference? What reference."

I was about to tell her about the movie: Blast from the Past, but… I didn't feel like explaining how we were kind of like the main protagonist; coming out of bomb shelter and the world was suddenly changed. The only difference was that our world was destroyed… maybe. And I'm not voiced by Brendan Fraser.

I shook the thought away. "It doesn't matter. So, you ready?"

She nodded. "Sure, but… I should really upgrade these pistols Natasha gave me."

"I need one of those." I said to her. One of the main things we didn't have were our old guns. I found them… and time was not on American-built sidearm's side. They were completely rusted shut. One pull of the triggers and the whole thing fell apart.

Nora tossed me a small rusty pipe thingy. "There you go."

I caught the airborne weapon, looking it over. It was light, really light. But… it had a muzzle, a barrel… a stock, and a feeding chamber as well as a well-built firing mechanism. But… it looked like it was built out of a lead pipe. I looked up at Nora. "What is this?"

She shrugged. "Preston calls it a pipe rifle. Thought you might want to… you know… soldier that thing to your specs."

I shook my head. "I can't build a rifle… I just know how to take one apart, clean it, and then put it back together again."

She rolled her eyes. "Follow me." I glanced down at the small disappointment of a rifle before following behind my wife. "And to think, I was impressed with you back in Canada when you correctly identified the weapons the Canadians were using and how to exploit their various weaknesses."

"M16s… very easy to jam for any reason. Water, mud… anything really. Yell at it; it will jam." We shouted as many insults at their guns as possible when we were being shot at in Canada. Eventually, ever gun jammed to the point of breaking.

She nodded. "It was so bad they had to come after us in vertibirds." Man, we were being so nostalgic today. I guess we had to hold onto something, because this world was nothing like the one we left.

As we headed for the door, we were stopped by Preston, who was actually waiting for us by our doorway. He looked slightly distraught. "Nate, Nora… I have a situation."

I nodded to Preston. "A situation? Like… not having a peanut butter mutjelly sandwich for lunch situation, or… I can't find any toilet paper to wipe my butt situation?"

His eye twitched as he looked at me. "Um… neither. I've just received word via distress channels on the radio. Old Minutemen frequencies. Someone's asking for help. I thought you two would be able to help."

I glanced at Nora. We were both thinking the same thing. We wanted to get out there and start looking for our child. If we started running around and helping out other people… we might get too distracted and never get around to actually helping anyone.

"Well…" I started to say, but I was interrupted by Zhanna.

"I'll go!" She expressed as she ran up to us. The blonde woman looked excited as ever. Knowing her ever since she moved to Sanctuary Hills… I'm noticed she's a pretty fun-loving person. I have no idea what she's like though, or what she actually did in the army.

"By yourself?" Preston turned to her. He looked her up and down. "Are you even a fighter?"

She shrugged. "Well… I did some sharp shooting when I was a little girl. I was a medic in the army, so I know a thing or two about a thing or two when it comes to guns."

Preston seemed to nod, if only to himself. "I can't send you by yourself." He looked at Nora and me. "Can you two help her?"

I glanced back over to Nora. She looked at me and then sighed, looking over to Preston. "Preston… we were about to go look for our son. We've already given three days to help this settlement stabilize. We don't know how long we were even refrozen for. We need to get to Diamond City as see if we can learn anything about Shaun, or where he might have gone."

Preston seemed to consider that. "Ok, I guess that's too important. There are plenty of people here in Sanctuary Hills that might be able to help." He looked at Zhanna. "Ok, Zhanna. I'll go with you, but let's see if we can get at least one more person to come with us."

"Yay!" Zhanna exclaimed, jumping into the air. When she landed, she wrapped her arms around Preston, hugging him close to her. "You'll see, I'm a good shot."

Preston seemed sullen. "Yeah… sure." He glanced at us. "Are you sure the two of you…?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, but we really shouldn't. Try the Smiths. John is just as good as me, and Natasha…" I looked at Nora.

She nodded. "She might not be as fast as me, but she has a way with long distance shots."

Preston nodded. "Yeah… sure. I'll try that."

Zhanna started pulling Preston away, "I think I know someone else that wants to join us!"

Before Preston was pulled away, he glanced back over at me, saying, "If you don't know where to start looking, just talk to Mama Murphy! I don't like her using chems but… if you think it will help, I'll only be marginally upset at you for allowing her to do some!"

Nora smiled. "I'm ok with that." She quickly grabbed my arm, pulling me to follow her in the same way Zhanna was pulling Preston to follow her. "Let's go." Both Zhanna and Nora screamed at us as they pulled away in separate directions.

I sighed as I turned my attention back to Nora. "Ok, so… we'll grab some of that jet we found in Concord and shove it in Mama Murphy's mouth! Get her bent!" She glanced back at me. "That's a word meaning heavily influenced by alcohol or narcotics, right?"

I nodded. Sometimes Nora asks me specific definitions for words that weren't taught in spy school. Tiny little phrases like that she learned while attending college and often asks me if she's using them correctly. "Yeah. Spot on."

Nora nodded, pulling me even faster as she picked up the pace. "So bent that she'll be seeing stars for weeks; grab a tape recorder and record everything she says. And that's how we'll find Shaun!"

I sighed. There was no stopping Nora now. And she continued on and on like that until we found Mama Murphy sitting in her favorite chair petting Dogmeat, Nora's favorite dog. And the one I hated the most. The damn thing tried to rip my junk off. He was disappointed to find out it was already missing, thanks to Nora.

Nora let go of me, crossing her arms. "Hey, kid. Got you a present." She tossed Mama Murphy a small dose of jet.

"I dislike that!" Preston screamed at us as Zhanna pulled him across the road.

"Nobody cares!" Nora screamed back. "Saving our son takes precedence over your feelings."

"Fair enough." Preston replied. "Zhanna, you can stop pulling me. I'm following right behind you."

"I know, but this is more fun." She said with a laugh.

Mama Murphy glanced at the hit of jet and then up at us. "Let me guess… you want me to fall down the rabbit hole and find your son, right?"

Nora nodded. "Willow Wisp?" She spoke to my Pip Boy.

My Pip Boy blipped to life. "I'm here." My Pip Boy said with a light British Accent. I'll never get used to that.

"Get ready to record everything Mama Murphy says. We're getting everything." Nora tossed down three more doses of jet. She bent down to see Mama Murphy in the eye. "Are you ready? And after this… you're quitting."

"I really dislike that!" Preston screamed from the other side of the settlement. Jeez, how can he even know what's going on over here? I can't even see him now!

Mama Murphy sighed as she ran her eyes through the doses of jet. "You think I'm impervious to death or something? This much jet might kill me."

Nora shook her head. "I've done plenty of weird crap in my youth. If I can handle 16 doses of some Chinese knockoff cocaine, you can handle three doses of brahmin shit."

I glanced up at Nora. There were more and more things I was learning about her these past few days. "You did cocaine?"

"And mentats." She shook her head. "Anything to get me through the day and through my tests. Man… college was fun." She looked back at Mama Murphy. "Well? Are you willing to help us?"

She nodded, picking up her first dose. "I hope you are ready." She slammed the first dose in through her leg. "Oh… yeah…" Her eyes dilated. "I'm seeing… I'm Seeing…" She squinted, and it's at times like these that I see how deformed her face is. I've been trying my best to ignore it, but she's clearly broken her nose a few hundred times and had her face gnawed on by radiation. I hear about these ghouls and Mama Murphy fits the description pretty well.

Nora nodded. "See what?"

"I can see… the Steel Brothers… the Red Fog… Land consumed with living radiation… Land consumed with bottles… the common's diamond… a lost key abandoned by time… a man without hope, without honor… a girl lost in time… a boy trapped in a fridge.."

I shook my head. "Um… are you sure about that last one?"

She continued on like I wasn't talking. "I See the Railroad's glory turning from a white rose to a bloody one: a choice to save a life… or lose it all. I see a old room and an old man… only he's not a man… or is he not old? I see a refuge for those confused about their constructed identities…"

"What?" Nora shook her head, looking at me.

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"Atom's glory will fall upon his graced, and the port far away will stand tall in the face of destruction, all lives hang on one to make the choice…"

"Our son! Tell us about our son!" Nora almost screamed.

Mama Murphy's eyes darted around. "I see him… in the diamond."

Nora nodded. "Yes, Diamond City. Where?"

"Second floor… house owned by Kellogg … Nick Valentine knows the way…"

"Nick Valentine?" We both asked. That was very specific. That was someone we both knew. And Preston mentioned that some people survived the war: becoming ghouls. Was Nick still alive then? Was he a ghoul?

Nora nodded. "Nick Valentine in Diamond City. He'll lead us to Shaun." She looked over to me. "I think that's all we need."

"Before this land can come to peace the shroud will fall; the Overboss will bring her fury; the boy will have his ass kicked, the girl will be hit; the independent fort will flood, the rice men screaming for it to end; the Steel Brothers' ship will sink, their iron giant saluting the wrong flag… the Railroad will be derailed… and the Father will laugh as everything burns around everything he's built. All will hail our new overboss with her disciples behind her. And Nisha will be referenced many times…"

Mama Murphy's eyes returned to normal. She reached for her head, grabbing it like she had a splitting headache. "Oh… that was a trip."

"And finished." I said to Willow. She blipped back out to nothing, sleeping on my Pip Boy.

Nora smiled, sticking out her hand to shake Mama Murphy's. "You're amazing! I didn't think it would actually work, but… you said a lot of stuff."

"I saw a lot of stuff." She shook her head. "And… I'm begging you. Please… don't leave Sanctuary. You'll only lead us all to more chaos."

That caused us both to pause. Nora glanced at me. "Nate?"

I shook my head. I looked back at Murphy. "What do you mean?"

She looked up at me and right as she was about to say something, her head rocked back. She let out a small groan, slinking into her chair. And she stayed like that.

"Um… did she just die?" I looked over at Nora.

She nodded. "I think so…"

Well… shit.

…

[Preston]

"So, I was talking with John and Sam. They both served in Anchorage… well, we all did, but still. I was only a private; Sam Aldrich was a Staff Sergeant, and John Smith was a captain so… yeah… anyway, I bet Sam and John will both join us." Zhanna said, dragging me with her to where the two officers lived.

I could feel that both Nate and Nora were doing something I hated, and I couldn't let them get away without knowing how much I detested their current action. "I hated that!" I screamed to Nate and Nora.

"I still don't care!" Nora screamed back.

I turned my attention back to where Zhanna was leading me. I had to admit, the settlement was shaping up nicely. Fresh water, defensive towers were set up, fresh food. Everything we needed to survive. Good. Perhaps I could leave now that I know that this place is on its way to becoming a nice home to the survivors of the Quincy Massacre. I could almost remember the screams of everyone I lost reverberating in my ears; the sound of fat mans going off. Having to duck and hide behind the crumbling walls of the old church, holding my own breath as the ground underneath me shook; power-armored raiders taunting me as they looked for any survivors… holding Isabel Cruz in my arms as she slowly died. The love of my life… slowly dying in my arms…

Before I knew it, I was brought back to reality with Zhanna shaking her hand in front of me. "Yo! Wake up!" She waved her hand at me. "You back?"

I quickly nodded. "Yeah, I'm here."

She motioned to the two older gentlemen gathered before me. "So, I talked it over with Sam and John…"

"You will address us as Aldrich and Smith, private." The older gentleman with a groomed mustache said.

Zhanna waved it off. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, they're excited to help you out. So… are we good to go then?"

I glanced at the two men. I guess having two trained soldiers would be great. "Ok, so… there's this settlement to the east. They're requesting help. I don't know what to expect, but they were talking about raiders. Bad guys with guns. Do you still want to help?"

The man with the mustache nodded. "I joined the army to help people. I won't let some lowlife robbers push people around."

The other bulkier bald guy nodded. "Aldrich is right. I can't turn a blind eye to anyone being treated like crap. I guess we're both coming with you."

"Yay!" Zhanna jumped for joy again. She grabbed me by the arm, pulling me towards her. "Looks like we're a squad now!"

"Not without me, you're not." I heard a thick accent and turned to see Natasha walking up to us, still carrying around the laser musket I gave her. I could see that it was augmented with a newer scope, a longer tubing installed, and the cranking system was replaced with a fusion core. A fusion core? How did she even figure out how to do that? We use fusion cells for a reason.

"Babe, you're joining us?" John Smith asked as he turned to look at her.

She nodded. "You can't leave me here alone with the Addams… and Bill. Nora's leaving with her man to go find their son, you're leaving to go help people. I sure as all hell not going to sit here on my thumbs. I'm one of the best snipers the war's ever seen; and I still want to gather more intelligence on this apocalyptic world of ours."

As I looked around at the faces of the soldiers standing around me, I suddenly had hope again. I was the last of the Minutemen… and I thought that I was going to die in that museum. I was ready to die; I was ready to rejoin my friends on the other side, if there was one. I thought that there was nothing more I could do to protect this home of mine… and now… I see these faces, these… soldiers from another age. All of them fighters in the old war, experienced soldiers. I've seen what Nora and Natasha could do; if these three others were half as good, I had my own personal army right behind me.

I couldn't help but crack a smile. "Well then… let's get geared up and ready to go. I'll message the settlement, see if they can tell me their location. If we hurry, we might make it before the sun falls."

Zhanna looked up at the sky. "It's barely even afternoon."

I nodded. "We still don't know how far away they are, and we still need to get ready. That's at least an hour or two."

John Smith scoffed at the idea. "Give us two minutes. And Private…" He looked at Zhanna. "You better remember the fundamentals. Rules on Light and Sound specifically."

She nodded. "None, sir."

"Exactly. So, while we're out: we're on patrol. And that means if we make too much noise, we'll attract trouble. We don't want any trouble that we don't start. So, all that yelling: stop it."

She nodded again. "Yes, sir. Sorry."

I found myself smiling. It was like being back in the Minutemen again. "This is great. I'll go call the settlement; let them know we're on our way." Maybe my luck was beginning to turn around again. Perhaps… perhaps I could rebuild the Minutemen. Now, that was a thought.

Cearbhail:

So... Nisha might become a character in this book... maybe. And you can BET that I will throw Cecilie in here for that one scene to puff up her face when she hears the name "Nisha" like she did for "Erandur". And then get all pouty when she finds out that she's not related to her Nisha at all.