Chapter 7

"God dammit.." Ember said under her breath.

Charon smirked as he had already predicted what was happening. Over the past few days, he found it easier and easier to reveal his emotions to her. Occasionally, he slipped out of his ruthless character for a few seconds, offering Ember a light smirk, a soft laugh, a small sympathetic expression. Shortly after, however, he slipped back into his usual self. He watched her analyze her Pip-Boy, and gaze over the small building in front of them. They had circled around it who knows how many times. She growled and cursed at her Pip-Boy, accusing it of being stupid, and other much worse, unspeakable things. Charon crossed his arms over his chest and waited patiently. Finally, she sighed and turned around slowly to face him.

"Charon. We're lost. This stupid thing says Vault 112 is here but there's no door! My vault's door was hidden deep inside a cave. Do you see any freaking caves around here? No!" She said bluntly.

"Vault 112, Miss? I've heard of it before. It's located inside of Smith Casey's Garage? I'm assuming its this building here."

Ember sighed in disgust and threw open the door of the garage. She looked around avidly and nearly scoffed when there was nothing promising to be found. She turned back to Charon. He looked around and took long strides towards an electrical switch on a nearby wall. He flipped the switch and revealed a case of stairs leading down to the entrance of Vault 112.

"Miss." He said while directing her towards the entrance with a movement of his head.

She smiled as if to say oh please and stopped on the side of the door. She curtsied and held out her hand.

"Only after you, Master." She said in a playful tone.

Charon laughed lightly and walked in first, examining the flawless condition of the vault. It had been untainted by the horrors of the wasteland, and was honestly quite mesmerizing. He quietly admired the place as Ember walked in after him. Her reaction, of course, was never quiet.

"Aw, man! This place is awesome!" She said as she ran her fingers across the walls. She turned to Charon with her eyes glistening. "Isn't this cool?!"

He smiled at her and nodded. She returned his smile and they followed a friendly robot towards a unique set of simulation pods. She could see that all were occupied but one, and looked into nearby pods to see if the individuals inside were alive. She was relieved to find that they were as the robot explained procedures to enter the simulation. She looked at Charon, who had a slightly worried look on his face.

"Maybe it'll give me clues about my dad or something. Besides, if anything goes wrong you'll be here to save me, right?" She assured him, and herself.

"You really love your dad, don't you, Miss?"

Ember nodded and sat in the chair of the simulation pod. She took a deep breath and gave a thumbs up to Charon, who stood closely to the pod and awkwardly next to the robot. She activated the simulation and let her mind be slipped into it.

She suddenly felt unprotected and vulnerable as her eyes opened. The absence of color was alarming, as was the absence of her protective gear. She quickly felt her sides and back for her weapons, which had disappeared. She instinctively looked to her right arm for her Pip-Boy, which had been replaced by a simple watch. The environment had changed and she was now in a circular neighborhood with multiple houses and civilians strolling around casually. She turned around to ask Charon what the hell happened, and was disappointed as she remembered that he wouldn't be there. Already missing him, she sulked a little and looked around for promising people to talk to. A small blonde girl motioned for her to come. She ran to the girl and immediately started interrogating her.

"What is this place? Who are you? Where are my weapons and Pip-Boy? How is this-"

"You're in Tranquility Lane. I'm Betty, and weapons? What are you talking about."

"Betty, what-?"

"If you want to play with me you have to go make Timmy cry." She interrupted.

"Make Timmy cry? Why?"

"Because you have to. If you want to play with me that is. I always make Timmy cry, it's fun."

Ember attempted to protest but Betty once again interrupted, "I'm not talking to you until you do."

Ember sighed and found a young boy at a lemonade stand near one of the houses. "Uh..Timmy?"

The boy beamed, "Hi! You're new! I'm Timmy. Want some lemonade?"

Ember shook her head, "N-no..Uh, that girl over there, Betty? She told me to make you cry. Do you two not like each other or something?"

Timmy frowned, "Make me cry? Yeah, that seems like something she would say. She's really mean to me for some reason, she always makes me cry."

Ember looked back at Betty who motioned for her to go on. She decided to get creative. "U-uh..Timmy? Your parents are going to get a divorce because of you. Yeah, I heard them talking about it. It's pretty much all your fault."

Timmy glared at Ember and crossed his arms. " No they're not. You're just saying that to be mean. Go away! I don't want to talk to you anymore."

Ember made several attempts to talk to him again but he refused to listen. Out of options, she walked up to Timmy and gave him a good shove.

"Hey! What are you doing!" He said as he tried to shove her back. He was slow and clumsy, which made it easy for Ember to push him another time onto the ground. She thought about her dad and how this was absolutely essential to finding him, even though she felt terrible doing it.

Timmy fell to the sidewalk with a thud and stayed there, his eyes welling up with tears. "Y-you're mean!" The tears poured over the rims of his eyes and Ember's heart ached. She reached out to help him up and apologize but he flinched away from her hand and ran into the house behind them. She held a sad expression as she walked back to Betty, who smirked with approval.

"I saw you push him on the ground. Nice one! I can talk to you now." She said.

"No that was mean. I wish I didn't do it. In fact, I don't even want to talk right now." Ember said, annoyed. She turned around and intended to ask other civilians on where she was. She walked up to an old woman who looked nice enough. "Excuse me. I'm Ember! Can you tell me what this simulation is?"

The old woman excitedly said, "I'm not insane! I knew it...That little blonde girl over there isn't who you think she is. This is all a false reality. The only way out is the abandoned house!"

Ember took in the information and was frightened by the woman's tone. She sounded terrified, and Ember assured her that she would look into it. She walked north to the abandoned house and stepped inside. A failsafe terminal appeared and devoured its information. She discovered that Betty was actually Braun, the scientist dad was looking for, and that this was a false reality he created for the vault occupants, in which he would murder and spawn endlessly. She was disgusted and almost immediately after, activated the Chinese Invasion failsafe. She stomped angrily out of the house and towards Betty, who held an infuriated expression.

Betty's voice was no longer of a little girl's but was of masculinity. "Do you realize what you've done?! You've triggered the failsafe! Ruined everything! The subjects will die and I'll be stuck here in this hell! Alone!"

"You're evil, Braun. How can you do this to them? You're sick, and evil, and insane."

He scoffed, "Oh please, kid. Just get the hell out; and take your stupid father with you."

Ember's face paled, "My father? Where is he, Braun?!"

"The dog, you unintelligent, impulsive witch! Now, get out!" He growled, still in his deceiving childlike disguise.

Ember turned around to find a dog directly behind her. She hesitated before speaking to it, "D-dad?" The dog barked in approval. Ember was ecstatic. A door appeared on the side of Betty and she opened it for herself and her dad. They leaped in as the civilians of tranquility lane were executed by soldiers.

Ember woke up to Charon's worried face. Her eyes focused and she swung her legs to the side of the chair.

"Miss."

She ignored him, looking around desperately for her father, who had entered the door with her.

"Ember?" The voice came from behind her, and she nearly leaped from her seat. His voice was of the same pitch and tone, with a little ounce of exhaustion. She jumped from the pod, turned around, and ran to her father, throwing herself into him. She didn't even attempt to stop her tears as they embraced.

"Ember." Her father said, partly comforting her, partly reassuring himself.


~Sorry if it seems rushed :( Just wanted to get this chapter over with so I could work on some better stuff ;D

Reviews are highly appreciated!