A/N: This is a bit of a reload but a head's up: copious amounts of alcohol ahead!
The streets were familiar to Gordon as he, Alyx, and Barney trekked through the ruins of what was once Vienna. The smoldering remains of architectural masterpieces recalled younger times, even before Black Mesa. But what were those times he could barely remember? The memories seemed to have a haze to them…
Of course! It was here that Freeman had done his post-graduate studies! Not quite in Vienna but Innsbruck but this had been his home for three years. His eyes immediately lit up, and for a moment, he was back in the sprawling metropolitan city, circa 1996. The physicist could smell the pastries and snacks in the air, hear the white noise of commuters and tourists talking in the crowd. He was dressed in a long coat and beanie hat for this mirage, it got bone-chilling cold at this time of year, the inbetween of fall and winter. All he had on him were not guns and explosives, but books, notes, and his Thermos full of-
"Holy shit," he murmured, snapping out of his daydream; there was a chance that his personal treasure was still intact! Both Barney and Alyx turned around as their comrade disappeared for a second.
"Gordon? Where are-" Vance was cut short by the sound of a hotwired car coming to life.
"Get in the car! I need to check something out here!" Both were surprised by how eager Freeman was about this, and by the way he drove like a madman through the city.
The door's hinges had long since lost their structural integrity, so Gordon simply kicked his way in Room 42. Barney let out a whistle at the luxuries the space beheld. The apartment was just as Freeman left it when he finished his studies, even after all those years. The colors faded with the passage of time and the furniture was different, new people came after him but the piano remained, just as he remembered practicing on it between cram sessions. It was a beautiful mahogany instrument, that only needed a quick tune-up and clean to play as it would've almost thirty years ago. But this wasn't what he was looking for. Neither Resistance fighter could keep up with the man as he searched every room in the place.
"He's nuts," Barney had to say it until he heard Freeman yelled, "JACKPOT!"
Alyx was startled out of her admiring of the piano and ran alongside Barney to what was once Gordon's bedroom. Said scientist was overflowing with glee as he broke down the mold infested wooden panel.
"Need some help?"
"Only if you want to get completely wasted!" Freeman replied, beaming as the dull luster of an intricate vault shone with the fragments of light shining through.
"What the hell is that?" Barney asked, touching the high relief artwork. Gordon had been loaded before he came to Black Mesa, where he gave it all up to be in a research facility. No wonder the man went through no wants!
"My personal collection," the good doctor answered as he opened the door. Inside was a myriad of bottles, each containing priceless vintage wines and spirits. Alcohol of this caliber was reserved for those who gained the Combine's favor, those who exploited the world's misery for their own survival and greed. It made Calhoun question just what was Gordon hiding under his unassuming nature. Whatever Freeman was, Barney was glad he was on their side.
"Holy shit-face Batman, we're getting drunk today!" Barney laughed as he went to grab a lovely bottle of absinthe, only to get a slap on the wrist from the impromptu barkeep.
"Nuh-huh, this one is for papa Gordon. One gulp of this stuff will kill you and bring you back to life. Sit down wherever and I'll be right back," Freeman said as he picked out a few bottles, feeling a reprieve was in order. He couldn't quite get the cocktails he would've if the apricot tree had survived, instead serving the wine on some glasses Alyx found through her own rummaging for supplies.
"To the Resistance," they toasted, all three enjoying the private moment. That first sip was as perfect as any drink Barney had consumed in his life, he could taste the care the physicist had poured into it. He looked at Gordon, red from the intimacy and the booze. Alyx, on the other hand, had never tasted such a delicacy in her life and had to blink to make herself remember this was all real. Her neck and head felt warmer, lighter, was this what getting buzzed felt like? Not beer-buzzed as she learned when some of the Resistance shared some homebrewed beer, but decadence in a bottle. It had to be one of the milestones she would've enjoyed had she lived a normal life.
"Guess the aging analogy applies to drinks, huh?" she heard Barney blurt out.
"The older you are, the more flavors you get. You're one to talk."
Not matter how lightly inebriated Alyx was, she could hear that low chuckle between Gordon and Barney meant she was watching her friends talk in some secret man-language. The young woman smiled against her drink, observing the two verbally dance around a thinly veiled attempt at flirting. Twenty years hadn't killed whatever they had, if they had anything. She had a twinge of jealousy; she wished she had met Freeman at his prime, like Barney had. Then again, she was a child when that was going on, making things a little strange for what she was feeling. He saw her as a little girl and now she was an adult with a developing crush. She grew up with the myth of Gordon Freeman and in a way, he lived up to all the mysteries and then some.
Aside from the twenty odd-year disappearance, this excursion to the apartment revealed many more questions:
How did Gordon afford these drinks in the first place? How was he able to live in this apartment? Why did he give all this up to go to Black Mesa?
By the time Gordon realized Alyx had gone silent, she waved her hand and began studying the furniture. He served himself a glass full of absinthe and took a sweet gulp. The immediate effect was enough for him to exclaim in surprise. "Brrrrwah! This thing still packs a punch!" he exclaimed, gladly refilling his drink. "Alyx are you all right?"
"Yeah, I'll check the perimeter, you guys take a load off, all right?"
Alyx never let her guard down as she explored the rest of the apartment while her two friends drank their livers away. She had to give it to Gordon; he had good taste in college. Not to say he didn't have good taste now, he just seemed to be indecisive about certain things. Particularly his infatuation with a clearly buzzed Civil Protection officer. In fact, while she was tipsy herself with this vintage with just a glass, she could tell that something had happened between. She tried to dismiss these hyperattentive thoughts in her attempts to focus and avoid a terrible mentally distanced herself so far that she started to hear a sound she hadn't realized she missed earlier: a music box. As muffled as the melody was, it was a melancholic little ditty, and it seemed to echo in the mostly empty flat. Curious, Alyx began to track the notes down, heading deeper into the worn down halls and away from her friends.
Raised in the Rebellion, the rational part of her mind scolded her for making such a rookie mistake. But this was a secure enough location, a little scavenging never hurt anyone, right? Right. She'd be back before she was missed.
The closer she got to the sounds, the more she was reminded of...her parents. She hadn't thought of her mother in years, not since her father and Barney hid her away in the first Combine wave. The lullaby was touching her heartstrings, bringing back Azian's perfume from the depths of her memory. Her mother used to make her family cheesecake at the end of the month, always slightly burning the crust to keep it sturdy. She remembered her father telling her stories of Black Mesa, of the times before all this mess. Dad...By the time Alyx came to, she found herself in one of the unlit guest rooms, standing in front of a simple box. Lacquered blue paint gave it color but a small ceramic disk on the lid surprised her. A black lamb was painted on the small plaque, carved on the side was the phrase: Perché quando si ottiene nostalgia, cara pecora nera.
When she clicked the clasp open, the young woman was treated to the sight of a small but intricately detailed figurine of a silver haired angel with golden eyes. Her white robes were almost overshadowed by the volume of hair, her hands reaching out towards her audience. Alyx couldn't shake off the fact that the tiny woman wanted someone, but who it was-
"Alyx?" Her reverie was interrupted when she heard Freeman's voice from the hallway. "Gordon! I didn't hear you come in!" Instantly, the young rebel closed the music box and put it in her bag, pretending she hadn't found a thing. It was a worthless trinket in the grand scheme of things but she was curious. It'd been so long since she held a toy, she had to tinker with it when she got home.
From deep within the bowels of the earth, on the other side of the ocean, systems came back online, and a map of the world pinpointed a location to Innsbruck. A voice, broken but content in this misfortune, muttered the words "...you're alive...good. Late as ever."