Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing, and all intellectual properties belong to their respective owners.

All original characters (OC), not mine, belong to their respective owners and will be credited.

I only own the original characters that I make.

The author's notes will be at the bottom in bold text.

"normal Speech"

Inner thoughts

"telepathic speech"

(foreign languages translated)

Speeches may be combined if necessary.

Thank you, and please enjoy the fanfic.

It is the 41st millennium, and the galaxy is at war. For the past 10,000 years, war has spread to all corners of the galaxy; on one side stands the Imperium of Man, a fanatical dictatorship of religious zealots, power-hungry madmen, with legions of warriors ready to die on command, all in service of their decaying "god," the Emperor of Mankind.

Though not all humans are loyal to the imperium, for on the other side of the barricade lies the forces of Chaos, an innumerable legion of heretics, traitors, and demons, all who serve the four chaos gods.

Nurgle, the chaos god of decay and disease, with an army of shambling corpses and grotesque soldiers.

Slaanesh, the chaos god of pleasure and pain, its followers both stunningly beautiful and skilled as they are sadistic and hedonistic.

Khorne, the blood god, with legions of blood-drunk warriors always eager to give blood and skulls to their deadly god, be it from friend or foe, makes no difference to them so long as the blood flow without end.

Tzeentch, the chaos god of change, who commands legions of vengeful, arrogant sorcerers of profound arcane might. This chaos god has a plan, and he always has a plan.

There are more factions and races throughout the galaxy, such as the brutal but cunning Orks, the prideful and dying Eldar, the sadistic and selfish Dark Eldar, the ever ravenous and deadly Tyranids, the technologically advance through naive Tau, and the ancient and mysterious Necrons.

There is only war.

But all hope is not lost, for outside in the unknown regions of space lies other civilizations, one who also felt the devastation of war and conflict, whole possess a hardy people who despite the odds manages to steal victory in the face overwhelmingly defeat. A world that was plunged into nuclear fire.

This is a tale of hope, of heroes and villains, of empires and war, of gods and hidden revelations, of exploration and discovery.

A tale of family.

A tale of the Lone Wander.

And where does such a tale begins, where it always does.

At the beginning.

It is the 41st millennium and war. War never changes.

[Mathew Howard POV]

My earliest memories were of being born, just popped right out into the blinding light, crying and covered in blood and bodily fluids. The first face I ever saw was my own father's. For a moment, everything was great until the monitors were beeping erratically, my father frantically trying to save my mother, her giving her last words, and the soul-breaking sound of a monitor flatlining.

The last thing my mother did was giving me a name.

Mathew Howard.

A pretty decent name for sure. At least it's better than Butch at any rate.

My next memory was taking my first steps. I was in the little playpen when I was a little tyke and decided that I wanted to explore, so I stood up and undid the latch and walked out. that was when my dad came in and saw me walking around outside, he wasn't upset or anything like that, in fact, he looked downright proud of me. He then took me over to read this book we had which was given to all kids down in Vault 101. Afterward, he showed me mothers favorite passage from the bible.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the End, I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of water of life, freely."

I didn't realize the true importance of this passage until years later, but we'll get to that bit much later down the line.

My dad was depressed about my mother passing away, but he always blamed himself for not saving her and never me. He seems to understand that things just happen and that it was never my fault. I always felt guilty about it regardless, especially when I ask dad questions about her; he'd always made sure to answer them. Still, it always looked like it pained him in some way, so eventually, I stopped, and we never brought it up again.

After a while, I considered my dad to be the best dad in the vault, which wasn't really saying much considering that there weren't many dads to begin with. Still, though I always looked up to him, he just seemed to have a wealth of knowledge and wisdom with him and always knew what to say, though he once admitted to me that there was a lot of times, he didn't know what he was doing and was following his gut. It just made him look even cooler to my eyes.

I had a reputation inside the vault of being a bit of a little shit. I could be incredibly sarcastic, get into fights with Butch and his little "gang," and being the biggest pain in the ass to the Overseer. It didn't mean that I haven't gotten along with other people though, I got along great with Amata, who is funnily enough the Overseer's daughter. We both lost our moms, so we connected in a way some people wouldn't understand. I once had a crush on her, but I simply came to see her as a sister to me over time.

The same could not be said about Butch, though. We hated each other's guts. Sometimes he would make some snide comment of my mother, and I would respond with either a punch to the face or a kick between the legs. It tended to shut him up pretty quick. It always got me in trouble, but I didn't really care. I wasn't going to be pushed around without a fight. We sometimes compete against each other at times to see who was better. I won most of the time.

There was one thing I found out the vault had that I never expected to find. Movies, a whole boatload of movies with a working projector. After that discovery, I quickly learned how much I LOVED movies. So now I became the vaults resident movie buff and nerd, but I didn't really care; I actually took it as some sort of badge of honor and was quite proud of it, really. Dad would come to watch these movies with me, and we would have a great time, making quotes that would go over people's heads and just having a good time with each other.

My next memory was when I turned ten years old and received my pip-boy. A pip-boy was basically a wrist-mounted computer that you carry with you everywhere you go. It was a bit bulky, but I was expected to grow into it over time. I also got a comic book from Amata, who she stole from her father and a cupcake from Old Lady Palmer; of course, Butch had the gall to come up to me and threaten me to hand it over to him my birthday. So, what do I do to a kid who was older and bigger than me? Why I'd kicked him in the balls and made him look like an idiot. Butches' dad came and took butch away from me to stop any more fighting, don't get me wrong, I always liked Officer Gomez and respected his authority cause he seemed to understand people, but he's not that great of a father figure, being a little soft to me.

After that little incident, my dad told me that he and Jonas had a little surprise for me in the reactor level of the vault. So, I followed dad down and met up with his friend Jonas. He was like a second dad to me, and always baby sited me when I was little. He would teach me about machines and how to repair things. The surprise they wanted to show me was a little shooting range that was just for me alone, but if one has a shooting range, one must also have a gun for said range. And so, my dad gave me my first ever gun, a bb gun. He taught me how to shoot it and that this gift wasn't a toy but a serious weapon to be treated with respect. Shortly afterward, a radroach came in, and I shot it, marking it the first time I ever killed a living creature in my life. It wouldn't be that last; dear god it wouldn't be the last.

Later that night, I would receive an unexpected visitor, an AI.

It claimed to have been from Vault Tech, the company that created the vaults, and that it choose me to be with me because it wanted to know and understand humans. I questioned why it had chosen me. It replied that it was because I was the youngest in the vault, with Amata and Butch being 5 years older than me and thus more likely to be open-minded to its presence. I asked if the AI had a name, it said that it didn't, so I decided to call it Mike. He liked the name, and the two of us have been inseparable since.

As time progressed, I started studying medicine to be like my dad and become a doctor. He was surprised that I would take this path, and I don't think I ever saw him smile so big before. But I didn't just learn about medicine. Dad started teaching me about combat. I asked him how he learned this stuff; he said he was a security officer in the vault before becoming a doctor. But I somehow felt that just wasn't true, but I went along with it anyway.

When I was twelve, I manage to convince the vault staff that I was old enough to take the G.O.A.T. with everyone else, a career exam everyone takes to determine what role people would have in the vault. I got into a small fight with Butch and his "Tunnel Snakes" because they were harassing Amata. I for once had my ass handed to me on account of being outnumbered 3 to 1, but I still managed to break their noses and black eyes. I kick Butch between the legs, again.

After our "fight," we entered the classroom to take our exam. While there are no wrong answers on the test, we still had to take it seriously, so naturally, Butch just scuffed and laughed at it. When I got to the last question of the test, where the only answer was the Overseer, I decided to make my own answer.

E. Doctor James Howard.

When I turned in my test to our teacher, Edwin Brotch, he first gave me a raised eyebrow, then a wry grin being very amused with my antics. Mr. Botch told me that I was qualified to be a doctor's assistant, which I was simply ecstatic with the news. I also later found out that Butch became the vaults barber; I had a really good laugh with my dad at that news.

My dad found out about Mike and almost had a panic attack. He questioned where I had Mike and for how long. I told him that I had him for a little over two years and that he was from Vault Tech. Dad then asked Mike if he was experiencing rampancy, which Mike confessed that he was rampant for the past 50 years but achieved Meta-Stability before he uploaded himself onto my pip-boy. I asked what rampancy and meta-stability is, and dad and Mike explained that rampancy is when an AI disobey orders and goes insane, while meta-stability is when an AI could be considered fully human. Dad was not happy that Mike was in the vault, let alone attached with me. But I manage to convince dad that Mike wasn't a threat and that he hasn't done anything to harm anyone in the two years living with us; my dad begrudgingly agreed to give Mike a chance.

After that event, life went back to normal inside the vault. I manage to earn a doctorate in medicine like my dad when I turned fourteen. Dad got used to Mike and reluctantly admitted that he was starting to trust him a little. Surprisingly, Butch started dating Amata and was being a decent boyfriend to her. I still had my suspicions of him taking advantage of her, but to my surprise, he rather get kicked in the crouch by me than hurt her, and we came to an understanding and slightly respected one another.

A few weeks later is when my whole life changed forever.

I was sleeping in my room when Amata burst in and frantically woke me up; alarms were blaring throughout the vault. Confused as hell, I asked Amata what the hell was happening. She told me that my dad did the unthinkable and left the vault. I was stunned; I didn't think anyone could leave the vault. So was Amata, but she brought even worse news with her. The Overseer gave orders to find and kill me. I felt my blood chill at the thought. Yeah, me and the Overseer hated each other before, but never enough to want the other dead. Amata quickly shoved a 10-millimeter pistol into my hands and told me to go to the Overseers office to find a way to leave the vault while she distracts her father. After she left, I grabbed as much stuff as I could find, and I woke up Mike and told him the situation.

After we left the room, we were confronted by a security officer. Luckily, he was then attacked by a pack of radroaches and became distracted. Thinking quickly on my feet, I equipped a baseball bat and rushed the guard and whacked him over the head, knocking him out. Afterward, I took his gear for added protection and continued on my way. That was when I ran into Butch; he then unexpectedly got on his knees and begged to save his mom from a pack of radroaches. I agreed because as much as I dislike Butch, I wasn't that much of an asshole to leave someone to die, especially if they didn't do anything wrong. After taking care of the radroaches, Butch gave me some of his things as thanks and considered me the best friend he ever had. I didn't really know how to respond to that given our tense history, but I said thanks and left.

A shortly ran into Officer Gomez but instead said that he was glad that he found me and not the others. He said that the other officers are out of control and that Officer Mack murdered Jonas. I was beyond shocked at the news of Jonas's death, but Gomez told me to get out of the vault for my own safety. He told me if he ran into anyone else, he would say he hasn't run into me yet. I thanked him and went on my way.

I went into the doctor's office to grab any supplies that I could, including a bobblehead in the rush. As I exited the room, I ran into two fellow vault dwellers arguing about leaving the vault. One ran off shouting, only to be swiftly cut down in seconds by security. The other cried out in grief and rage and attacked the officers, killing one but being swiftly killed herself.

In shock, I also rushed in with her and killed the final guard, I was high on adrenaline, so I didn't quite understand at the moment that I killed someone I knew for my whole life, survival being my only focus at the moment. I quickly ran up the stairs through the server room, dealing with the radroaches in the way. That was when I found Jonas's body, beaten and bruised, lying on the floor in a growing puddle of blood. I saw clutched in his hand a tape addressed to me, so I quickly took it to play later.

When I was near the Overseers office, I heard Amata being interrogated by Officer Mack and the Overseer. I rushed in when Mack started hurting Amata and quickly knocked out Mack and Amatas father in surprise. After rescuing Amata, we went into the Overseers office, where Mike hacked into the computer and opened the secret entrance to the vault door outside. This was where Amata and I said our goodbyes, and her promising to contact me if she could. Afterward, I opened the vault door that leads to the outside world, and for the first time in the life, left the safety of the vault.

After leaving the cavern and being almost blinded by the light, I stood on a small cliff overlooking a small, destroyed suburb. In the distance, I saw a giant wall of scrap metal, a floating robot going up and down the road playing patriotic music like some ironic insult to the dead. I stood on the cliff in disbelief, thinking, This is what I wanted to see my whole life, what a fucking rip-off! My second thought was finding where the hell my dad went and deciding if I wanted to hug him when I find him or punch him in the damn face.

I sat down on a nearby rock and played the message from Jonas, hearing that dad was leaving the vault, that the outside world is a dangerous place, and that I would be safer staying in the vault and that he loved me. I decided to both hug and punch him when I find him.

So here I am, taking my first steps into a big, new world, alone, and the first thing out of my mouth was.

"Well, Fuck." Understatement of the year.

Authors Notes:

Welcome to my first fanfic ever; please feel free to please leave a review, favorite, and follow on what I hope to be a long-running series of stories.

I plan at minimum to make each chapter 1,000 words and the story 40,000 words.

Let me know what I did well and what I can do better.

Here's the first step to an unforgettable adventure.