Fallout
Ch. 11 Kings Never Die
"He's…" her words getting stuck in her throat, "He's...gone." Taking a deep breath, the navigator's chest wouldn't loosen, "All I know is that he gave it his all. Cruel as he was. I don't think a devil would ever sacrifice itself for others." Fist tightened at her sides, hearing his last words replay in her ears. Stomping the cracked ground, she yelled, "That's why …" She shook her head, "That's why he sacrificed himself. He died because I asked him to fight when you guys couldn't."
The skeleton frowned at this, "So Strawhat sacrificed himself? If you don't mind me asking," he walked in front of the crowd, "What was the young hero's name?"
Hero… she pondered. "I don't know." Looking back at the settlers, she said, "Even though he isn't here anymore. He would tell you to live your lives and …"
Brook put a comforting―albeit skeletal―hand on her shoulder, "It's okay. You don't have to explain. Everyone here has dealt with hardship. Now life will be a little easier." Brook gave a boney grin, "But I don't have a life! Yohohohoho!"
She made a half-grin, "You sure don't." Despite the jokes and laughter, she still stared at the ground. "Yeah. I guess you're right." Addressing the crowd, "If you ever need help," she gazed up, "call the Brotherhood of Steel."
"The Brotherhood of Steel!" Brook took a step back, "They are still around? I thought the Enclave drove them back into hiding!"
The navigator paused. "Of course they are!" Stepping back herself, "The Enclave haven't reached the Mojave desert yet!"
Brook's light hearted grin disappeared, "You haven't heard, haven't you? The Brotherhood got forced out of the Sierras by the Enclave. They are completely cut off from here…"
"What? That's impossible!" Nami argued, checking her Pip-boy, backing away as she did. They couldn't have! The Brotherhood can't fall! She paused in her backtrack, grabbing her arm, where am I supposed to go? Moving her hand away she looked up at the skeleton, "I'll have to see for myself!"
"I wouldn't go there alone," Brook took a step forward, "trust me."
What happened to the last person she trusted? "Like hell I won't! I don't need you or anyone else's help!" Where will I go? she asked herself yet again, If I can't find a Brotherhood outpost by the time this thing runs out of fuel, I'm screwed!
Brook pointed a bony finger at the vertibird beyond recognition. "The Enclave will shoot that battered thing down like a fly! Let me go with you! I know where the Brotherhood are. I won't weigh it down, after all I am light as bones! Yohohohoho!"
"Thanks, but no thanks," Nami looked away, this time at the collapsed freeway. "I need to do this alone. After what happened."
Brook studied her distant gaze, taking off his long hat, he said, "I too know what it's like losing a dear friend. I've been looking for him since the end of the war." Staring at the ground, "That guy you were traveling with reminded me of him. But my friend would never act like that." The skeleton took a deep exhale, "He was larger than life you know. Everyone wanted to be his friend. Even in the worst of times he was our light in a sea of darkness." He thumbed a tear away, "Look at me. Wiping away tears, and I don't even have eyes! Skull joke!" Though the skeleton didn't laugh, instead frowning at the girl's apparent silence. "Go and find your friends. Don't make the same mistake I did!"
She nodded her head, wiping away a single tear as well. Waving back at the crowd she walked away, getting inside the vertibird with a tired sigh. "I'm going to have to send them a radio signal just in case." Starting up the futuristic helicopter, she gazed outside, seeing the waving settlers and tall skeletal man. "I made the right choice coming here. We ended up saving people. And I tricked that monster into going east instead of west. Plus I got out of this situation in one piece!" When the vertibird rose into the air, and she waved her goodbyes. A distinct click entered her right ear.
"So you deceived me?"
The redhead jumped, "What?" Facing the source of the noise, she met the barrel of a magnum grazing her forehead.
"Give me a good reason I shouldn't blow your brains out."
"Don't try to boss me aro―!" she yelled. A bullet hit the propellers, zipping just past her hair. Warning signals came up as the vehicle destabilized.
"I don't care that you abandoned me. I would have just hunted you down again anyways." Checking the danger signs without much care, "But the fact that you betrayed me despite all the time we've been together."
All the time we have been together my ass! she wanted to scream. Brushing the revolver aside, she said, "I didn't mean to leave you! I had no choice! Those monsters were going to kill us while I was navigating, we just stumbled upon that village is all!"
"No. I heard the entire conversation." Shooting another bullet upwards straight into the blades, the vertibird released a black smoke. "What do you plan on doing?"
She choice her words carefully, "I'm going to take you to New California!" her fake grin twitched, as the revolver locked back onto her.
"You're lying to me again. I heard everything you said coming back here. You have no intentions of ever serving me willingly."
She looked between the barrel staring her down and the devil's glare. "How is that even possible? Nothing could have survived!"
"Not everything. When you left me, I latched myself onboard. I'm not angry that you left me. I'm pissed that you deceived me. You didn't do that to save anybody. You did it to save yourself. For that I lost all respect for you," the devil put the gun away.
Her look of relief changed into a spiteful hatred the more he talked. "Who are you to determine who is respectable? You're literally the worst person in the entire wasteland! You're just a maniac idiot that loses his temper at anything that remotely challenges you! Honestly, you of all people shouldn't be talking about respect!"
The devil leaned against his seat, "Says the coward that runs away from everything. All you do is deceive and deceive. You even deceived those settlers, saying I fought for them and their freedom. Bull shit! I fought for you so we can get back on the road. But no! You led me in the completely opposite direction of the Sierra Mountains!" The devil grabbed her nearest wrist, yanking her towards him. "If you can't navigate there is no point in keeping you around." Lucifer's new grin couldn't be wider, "Betrayal is the worst sin. Take me to the Brotherhood of Steel. I know you won't go anywhere else. I know you're running out of time."
"You don't know what you are talking about! A monster like you would never understand anything! Especially what friendship and family means to me!"
"I don't know what friendship or family means?" The devil chuckled at this pulling her wrist past his head, "You have no idea who you are dealing with, do you?"
The fiery redhead continued her struggle away from him despite its negligence, "How can you be so cruel? What caused you to be like this! I thought you changed!" Her hot temper turning into squeals of pain, feeling him tightening his grip on her.
"If you saw the things I saw during the war, you wouldn't be the same either." The devil tossed her arm back, throwing her back into the pilot's seat.
Soothing the burn on her wrist, "Some soldier you are!"
"Was," the devil kicked up his feet on the panels, "I don't want to talk about it."
Watching the devil tip the broken strawhat over his eyes without a care, she yelled, "Of course you don't want to talk about it! You never wanna talk about it! Then what ends up happening is that you blow up! You get scary and start hurting and killing people!" Her clenched fist above her thumping wrist wouldn't stop shaking. After all they had been through, she knew nothing could possibly hurt him. "Just tell me the truth!" knocking over the hat, she glared into his eyes, "Who the hell are you?"
The devil glanced at her through the corner of his left eye, putting the hat back over like a siesta. "Why should I? You know your role. You know what I want. That's all you need to know."
"Because I need to know who I am dealing with!" Nothing could mask her anger, all but the broken strawhat. "Who are you?"
"Who am I?" The devil sat up, putting the busted strawhat over his head. "Tell you what," gazing over he could see the full fiery of the redhead. "I'll tell you who I am, if you tell me who you are? Sound good?"
"Fine," but her fist wouldn't stop shaking.
The devil grinned at this, "Names Luffy, that's all you need to know."
"Luffy?" she mouthed, "my names Nami, that's all you need to know."
The wanderer's eyes squinted, "Why is that?"
"You didn't continue talking about yourself, so I have no reason to continue either!"
"Suit yourself. I guess there's no reason for you to get to know me." Pointing at the distant mountains, "Take me where I need to go."
"Hold up!" Nami interrupted, "since you're too much of a moron I guess I will go first."
"Nope, I don't want to hear it. I think you heard enough," putting his dirty hands behind his strawhat.
"Hold on a minute!" The vertibird kept floating in the same position, hovering just over the town. "Can't you at least tell me why I need to take somewhere? Is it treasure you are looking for? Wh―?"
"I've got my only treasure right here."
Nami eyes widened. Stealing glances at him, her eyes furrowed. "You treat your only treasure like trash."
"Can't be helped. Tries running away all the time …" The devil smirked, "...Just like you," he lifted the hat upwards, examining the holes and wry straws falling out.
The navigator's eyes sunk, understanding what he was referring to. "Why do you keep that useless thing around?"
"Same reason I keep you around." The wanderer grinned, seeing her frown reaching a boiling point. "I'm not looking for treasure. If I wanted treasure then I would have plundered it like a pirate by now." The devil gazed at the mountains, snow starting to show. "What I'm looking for is something or someone."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see when we get there. I didn't know what I was looking for until recently." Glancing at her, "That's when I meet you."
She backed her face away, looking far in the opposite direction, "What are you talking about?"
"When I heard about who you are, I searched day and night for you. When I saw you for the first time, I realized that all that time spent hunting you down was worth it in the end. The best navigator in all the wasteland. Not only this, but you also had data mines of information from the Brotherhood, I just had to have you."
"Why me?" peeking a glance, before looking away again, "...specifically?"
The devil gave a charming grin, "I couldn't resist."
"What?" Her calm demeanor vanished. "Stop talking like some kind of stupid idiot!"
"But it's the truth." The devil shrugged his tired shoulders leaning over the panels between them, "I knew at the moment I would never give you up to anyone. After all…"
The navigator couldn't control the heat coming into her checks, mouthing, "After all?"
"After all, I don't want anyone else." Their eyes met for the longest time before the wanderer smirked, leaning back into his seat.
Taking a sigh of relief, "What are you trying to get at?"
"Nothing." The devil reclined the seat back. "For someone as smart as you are, you act stupid sometimes."
The redhead stared at him as her nose twitched, "You of all people shouldn't be talking about who's smart and who's dumb!"
"You're right. I shouldn't. But didn't smart people building bombs, and dumb people fighting wars get us in this situation in the first place?"
"You can't just simply things…" her rant came to a close as she looked at him with a bit of puzzlement, "Luffy?"
Sitting up straight, the devil glanced over, "Don't call me, Luffy."
"Why?"
"Just fly the damn thing. You ask way too many questions sometimes." After a relative silence had passed, a smirk crept in. "I'm even surprised you're awake. Then again you slept the whole time while I did all the fighting."
"I had to learn how to operate things I never piloted in my life! And besides," she pointed at him, "I'm not a monster like you!"
"Whatever." The devil glanced outside watching the settlement disappear from view. "I don't expect you to wake me up. Just realize that if you go back to the Brotherhood of Steel, I'm not gonna show anymore mercy. I needed to be in California yesterday." Tipping the broken strawhat over his face, the devil told one last adew. "I know we're going back to the Sierra Mountains. If the Enclave are there, you know I'm the only thing you got left. My services ain't coming without a price tag, especially after what you've done." Eyes sunk for the first time in a long time, "Make the right choice."
War, War Never Changes ...
The wanderer awoke from his long sleep, gazing up through the holes in his strawhat. Light came in through the tares, letting in pockets of fluorescent light. "Well?" Lifting the hat back over his head, the wanderer gazed over, "Why the hell didn't you―?" Getting up the demon checked the back of the vertibird. "Stop screwing around and get out here!" Rushing back towards the front, the headlights projected the nearby mountains across the way. Looking downwards he could see that the massive bridge from months ago had indeed collapsed. "You gotta be fucking kidding me." The devil glanced a little lower, noticing the control panel signifying signs of failure. Closer examination revealed that the fuel gage dwindled down to nothingness. "At least I know where the cat is hiding." From here, the compound looked to have taken a serious beating. "How the hell am I going to get over there?"
Just before getting out, a static transmission could be heard from inside. "Repeat Sierra has been sacked! I repeat Sierra has been sacked! All Brotherhood personnel are to retreat back towards the capitol! Be aware the Enclave have hacked our transmissions, this is not a drill! Forward base Sierra is down!" Static dragged over the message, "Do not go at any cost! I repeat forward base Sierra Mountains has been compromised!―" The radio signal died.
"Don't tell me!" The devil grabbed his hair ripping out a chunk, "No!" The devil ran outside towards the edge of the ravine. Nothing could cross between the mountain peaks for a hundred yards. "How the hell did she get over there? Did they trick her and pick her up?" The light in the demon's vision got lost in a fiery of anger and anguish. Standing still for a time, the headlights couldn't glean any light in his eyes. "No one takes what's mine. A dark and unforetelling darkness lingered inside his voice. "Not after what happened …"
The scenery surrounding the mountain tops flashed around him. The dark and desolate night turned cold and dreary. "No, no, no, no, no!" Rain pelted him and everything around him every time the devil so much as blinded. "No!" The devil shook his head watching flashes of light go across the sky and then disappear into the clear night. "Please not again!" The devil glanced at his hands slowly losing control. Flipping over his palm, thick armor appeared and reappeared with each squeeze. Turning his hands over again, thick blood covered it with each thunder strike. Spon his tattered jacket got replaced with a full set of armor in between each droplet. "No!" the snow topped mountains morphed into burning rubble. "Not again..." a single tear welling up in his eye. "Stop. Not now..." his vision got foggy, smoke covered the surrounding area from view. A presence could be felt on his shoulder. "I can't. I can't look back..." The hand's presence disappeared. The devil covered his eyes, changing between armor and his ripped sleeve.
"Luffy." The mountains disappeared all together, stuck in the raging storm. "Luffy, please look at me."
"I can't. I have something I have to do," his voice lost all it's former hatred and malleolus.
"Wait until reinforcements come. They'll be here any minute!"
Slinging a rifle over his left shoulder. "I can't let you die again."
"Again? But it's never happened. I'm still alive, Luffy."
The devil grit its teeth, "You're just a ghost then. Just wait until I get on the other side."
"What do you mean by the otherside? Luffy, hold on a minute!"
"When I'm dead."
"Luffy!" a warm presence grasped the devil's bloody hand. "Please, Brook said reinforcements will be here any minute! I should have told you this as soon as I knew. We are gonna take the fight to them. I'm sorry for not telling you sooner!"
"Brooks dead...and it's all my fault." Staring up into the pouring rain, "They want to take the fight to the mainland, huh? End this before they start dropping bombs everywhere?"
"Luffy..." the hand wouldn't budge.
Walking along the littered and abandoned streets in the dense concrete jungle, the devil gazed upwards watching the burning skyscrapers crumble.
The presence squeezed with all it's might. "Please just hold on one more minute!"
"I told you I can do this alone." Ripping the fist covered with blood free, the demon walked up to the edge.
"This is the last time I do this. After this we'll go home."
"Luffy we don't have a home. None of us do."
Gazing over the edge, "Then we'll make a home."
"This isn't a place to make one."
"Of course it isn't. It's war. People die. But you don't have to. Stay here and tell the others I'm doing this alone."
"Luffy, you can't! They have stronger power armor and technology than we have! You're turning this into a suicide mission! Just wait on a minute! Clearly you're not here at all!"
"That's because I don't want to be here. I didn't ask to here and neither did you." Strolling past the presence without a moment's glance, the devil marched back towards the vertibird.
"So you finally changed your mind? You'll finally stay?"
"No I just figured out an idea," moving inside the cockpit, the devil blocked the spirits whose face he refused to look at.
"I'm going with you! You don't have to do this alone, especially if it's for my sake!"
"No." All of a sudden the configurations worked like a charm. Seeing the thunder bellow and hearing the rain pour. "I don't want you to die again. This is my mission not yours."
"Luffy!" the scream continued, until the latches came down. "Luffy." she dropped onto the ground, realizing she had completely lost him.
"War, war, never changes." Lifting into the air, the past became the present. The endless revenue and mountain tops changed forever in the eyes of the beholder. Sputtering it's way across the wide river, the vertibird arrived at the edge of the crowded metropolis center.
What's Left of Us
AN: I kindly ask that you don't spoil anything for this chapter so that other people can enjoy :D
I've realized that my writing is less than what it should be and I'm trying to make up for it by improving. I've edited this chapter over and over again for several days now. If you have any suggestions, please tell me. It's difficult to realize what I'm doing wrong if no one says anything. All works of fiction can always be improved upon―including the classics.
And truth be told I don't know if I want to continue doing this anymore, I've talked with a couple of writers, and they convinced me to continue regardless. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I'm pouring everything I got into finishing these stories in time, and I don't know if it's better to complete the stories or just terminate them. The entire point of writing is for creative self enjoyment, and for me a love for the pairing. Unfortunately, the line between joy and writing is wearing thin. Don't get me wrong, I love the pairing, I just don't know if writing is the best use of my time, if this is what has become of it. I may never even finish any of these stories, so maybe its best to draw the line somewhere and start a new? That's something I've got to answer for myself.