The experienced had left Noel broken. Charon had dragged her against her will and thrown her into the escape tunnel that Madison Li showed them. Charon still found Li to be abrasive as hell, but he had to give her credit for getting them out of the memorial in one piece, leading them to a manhole cover carefully hidden within the main room that they could use to escape. The rest of Doctor Li's crew had made it to the tunnel as well, only having narrowly avoided being gunned down by enclave soldiers themselves.
Noel had resisted at first, urgently trying to claw her way back into the memorial despite the science crew's protests. Charon had pulled her back and heaved her against a wall, pinning her against the slimy concrete with his body. Growling, he had moved her face just an inch from hers, baring his white teeth like an animal.
"You are not returning to the memorial. We must escape while we can. If you persist in this behavior I will have no choice but to carry you the entire way."
She had given him a look that nearly broke his resolve. Her eyes looked lost, desperate, with a depth of sadness he'd never seen from her before. She took a few seconds to wrap her mind around the ghoul's rough words, but when she did her features hardened, her eyes turned steely, and her look read venom. Charon had no doubt that she knew he would haul her, kicking and screaming, through the tunnels if necessary. She had grit her teeth and pushed him off of her, yanked her rifle back from Madison, and led them through the enclave-infested tunnels.
How they managed to make it to the Citadel without losing one of the hapless scientists was beyond Charon. The tunnel eventually wound through to the brotherhood of steel's main outpost, but was packed with enclave soldiers and feral ghouls. The ghouls were no real threat, save for the fact that their screams had the science crew near pissing in their drawers. But the enclave, on the other hand, was nothing to be trifled with. They carried new weapons that Charon had never seen. Plasma, he discovered later, and they fucking hurt like nothing he'd felt before.
But they had managed to plow through, no one talking save for Li, who would occasionally shout to the ghoul and girl which direction they needed to go next. The brotherhood wasn't exactly thrilled to see them at their doorstep, but they let them into the Citadel without too much fuss. Charon watched them warily, thankful for the reprieve, but suspicious. His prior experiences with the brotherhood had been far from favorable. Often the power armored warriors would make their rounds and scout the wastes for supermutant baddies, though they seemed not to care whether their kill was mutant or ghoul alike. Charon had seen many of his kind gunned down by the brotherhood and it had always left an acrid taste in the back of his mouth.
Now they were safely inside the Citadel and Noel's "fight" response had worn away. She hadn't looked at or spoken to the ghoul since they arrived days ago. She sat on one of the brotherhood's bunks, didn't eat or speak, and just stared ahead at nothingness, looking comatose. She responded to no one, fully enveloped in her shock at the sudden loss of her father. Initially Charon hadn't cared if she hated him for dragging her away from the memorial – he'd rather have her hate him than have her dead, but now he was beginning to wonder if she'd ever snap out of it long enough to even feel anger.
Charon stood by her side without an emotion on his face. The brotherhood acolytes were nice enough, bringing Noel food and drink at each meal that would always remain untouched. After realizing that he wouldn't leave the girl they began to bring Charon some too. He'd eat his share silently, all the while watching his master for some kind of life under her blank stare. He slept standing up, something he was well practiced at during his decades in the Ninth Circle, occasionally waking to see Noel slumped over, passed out on her cot.
After the fourth day Charon had enough. He grumbled as he woke from his sleep to discover Noel laying on the bed, eyes open but not seeing anything. He growled as he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, smiling slightly as she squirmed against his touch. At least something was getting through. He carried her outside, ignoring the looks of the brotherhood soldiers and trainees, as he brought her to the roof.
A few rads won't hurt her too badly, he thought, as he tossed her into a large trough of irradiated catch water. He watched, expressionless, as the girl floundered in the tub, spitting water as she came up. Gripping the edge of the trough she looked at him and shook her head vigorously as though coming out of a deep sleep.
Charon read something in her eyes that told him she was coming back to herself. He bent low to catch her face in his, kissing her roughly on the lips, ignoring the fact that any trainees on the adjacent roofs would have a damn good view of them right now. He needed her back. He was hoping this would do it.
She grabbed him angrily and shoved him off of her.
"Get off of me!" she cried. "I hate you!"
Charon backed away and straightened himself out, staring down at her darkly.
"You cannot stay like this," he growled in response. "It is time for you to get up and take action." He didn't care what she did, but she needed do something – eat, sleep, curse him out – anything.
Her fingers gripped the edge of the trough as the water sloshed around her. Her face broke and she began crying, her tears running silently onto the back of her hands.
"I was. I tried to." She raised angry eyes at the ghoul. "You stopped me."
Charon nodded, arms crossed before his chest.
"Why did you stop me?!" she suddenly yelled at him.
Charon answered in a grave voice. "You would have died," he said simply.
"I don't care!" she screamed back. "You should have left me there!"
"No!" Charon yelled. "I could not! I would not leave you there to die!"
Noel continued sobbing, shaking her dripping head slowly. Charon heard the heavy metal sound of armored feet climbing up the stairs behind him. He had no doubt that if he turned around he'd see a pair of brotherhood soldiers with their weapons trained to his head. Doctor Li's influence may have granted the ghoul entrance into the Citadel, but any indication that he had hurt someone inside would get him shot without question.
She continued crying in the trough, her Pip-boy's rad meter ticking like a clock. With a grumble, Charon slowly reached down and pulled her out, placing her gently down beside him. She slumped to the ground like a wet rag. He turned to give the brotherhood a glare, suddenly feeling exhausted. The soldiers watched him, their power helmets hiding any emotion they might show at the scene before them. Noel continued to sob, covering her face with her hands, and after a minute the lead soldier gave a signal and started back down the stairs, leaving the ghoul and girl alone again.
Noel's voice was a ruined whisper. "I could have saved him."
Charon bent with a knee on the ground, looking intently at her hidden face. "He was dead," he said as delicately as he could. "There was nothing you could do."
She peeled her hands from her face and looked at him through red-rimmed eyes. Her eyes held fast onto his.
"I hate you," she whispered.
Charon swallowed, the words making him feel sick. He nodded slowly. Yes, he thought. Hate me. As long as you are still here I know I have done my duty.
Seeing the ghoul nod at her words made her cry even harder. Charon waited with programmed patience, wondering what would happen to them now.
She crawled to him and clutched him unexpectedly, sobbing deeply into his armor. Her strawberry hair dripped over him, wetting his legs, but he didn't move.
"I don't hate you," she whispered in a quivering voice, her fingers clinging onto his chest. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't hate you."
Charon grunted a sigh and looked at the sky, blinking his filmy eyes in the light. He pulled her between his legs and rested his muscled arm along her back. He wanted her to be okay. He didn't know if that would ever happen.
He held her that way for many minutes before picking her up, cradling her like a child, and carrying her downstairs. He'd have her eat first, getting her strength back up before anything else. He was hoping by then she'd come to some decision about where they would go from here. Ultimately, it didn't matter. They'd be together. With James gone he was all she had left and she – she was all he'd ever really had to begin with.