Snowflake on the Sand
Chapter 4
"Legion this far west are you fucking kidding me?" Ranger Ghost said with a frown, Six sadly nodded as he downed a bottle of beer, his head felt as if it was being split in half, so against Winter's advice he decided that the best option for him right now was to get absolutely wasted. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news" he said, Ghost simply shook her head.
"Not like you burned it to the ground, fucking Mohave is going to hell and all I can do is watch" she said exasperated, Six stayed standing finding the right words he wanted to say "There was a man, he wore this dog head thing like a hat I could see some very white hair underneath his cowl, whore sunglasses"
Ghost tensed "His voice was…"
"Smooth, scarily so, he enjoyed our discomfort far too much he looked like the leader for some reason" The ranger motioned him to get closer, she leaned to his ear and whispered "That's because he is, Vulpes Inculta is one of Caesar's most important generals, he's a monster and if he is ballsy enough to destroy a town this close to an important NCR post that means that we are fucked" Six gulped as he looked into the cold eyes of the Ranger.
"You should leave at dawn, arm a tent somewhere around here for you and your lady friend, you've done good I will be sure to spread that word around" Ghost said finally turning away from him, her eyes on the road ahead, the grip on her sniper tightening.
Six walked down his thoughts on something far away a memory from some place he could not name; legion was there so was the NCR, both swallowed by the land…
"What did she say?" Winter asked as she approached him, Six simply shrugged as he downed another bottle "That we should stay here for the night, safer to travel to Novac when there is light"
Winter nodded, she was glad she managed to trade some weapons they found on raider for some bedrolls. They picked a spot near the outpost, inside an abandoned gas station; Winter set her spot near the window while Six chose one behind the counter. Too tired to move but to worried to sleep Winter stared up at the moon, from the cracked window she saw how it shined down on her its look so alien to her.
All of this world was so wrong, with a heavy sigh she turned away from the window "Can't sleep?" came the muffled sound from the other sound of the room.
"You should rest Six, you almost passed out today" she replied, a chuckle and the sound of a bottle being shaken followed "This is helping me numb the pain for now, when it fades I will go to sleep, what's you reason?"
Winter hesitated for a moment before speaking "I miss home… I miss things just making sense"
"You said that the moon was different, are you an alien or something?" now it was her turn to chuckle "No… or at the very least I don't feel like one, but I can say that I come from a different world one where… all this doesn't exist there things make sense, people don't just heal every wound they take, they don't have to worry about if the water they are drinking is irradiated or not and…"
"And?"
Winter shook her head "I wanted to say that we couldn't destroy ourselves but that's a lie, we can destroy ourselves if we grow careless and fall to the threat of the Grimm or if we follow your path to destruction"
"War never changed huh? No matter if you are an alien or not" Winter snorted "Go to sleep Six"
"Night, don't stare at the moon too long it makes you go crazy"
Winter felt herself drift into unconsciousness as her mind finally gave in to her body's demand and she found herself drifting into sleep.
Novac was not what she had expected, the giant lizard was… unique she would say but what surprised her more was "Viktor, when did you get here?" Six said as he walked up to the robot "Fancy meeting you here friend! Just a couple of hours ago, just rolling on my spurs I guess maybe I will make to New Vegas!"
Winter eyed the robot wearily "What a coincidence" she said her tone cold, the robot unfazed turned to her "Sure is, but I am glad to see a familiar face around here"
Winter frowned, Six on the other hand looked around the place wondering where the people shot him could be "Did you see the people that shot me around here Viktor?"
"Can't say that I did, best idea would be to ask the locals and you could also get a room while you're at it"
Six raised a hand to his chin "I really could use a shower, I probably kill flies with my smell" he chuckled and walked inside what Winter assumed to be the lobby. Turning her gaze towards Viktor she glared "I don't like being followed robot"
Viktor chuckled "Like I said, all of this is a big coincidence if you excuse me I'm going to leave tell Courier Six that he better take care of himself" Viktor left leaving Winter to ponder just what was the angle of the robot what was the interest he had on Six, but for now he was gone and while she did not smell like Six she really wanted a shower too. Six walked out of the room with key in a hand and a twisted smile on his face "They were here not too long ago, some guy named Manny talked with them I'm gonna go talk to him you can go ahead and settle down on the room see if it has water or something" giving her the key he walked straight to what he had called a dinosaur and disappeared from her view.
While Six was gone Winter took her time washing away the blood from her body and cleaning some of her clothes on the sink, content with her progress she changed quickly and decided that she would just relaxed for a brief moment.
"Son of a bitch if it's not one thing is another FUCK!" felling her eye twitch, she heard six slam the door open, looking livid he gave her a sideway glance "Oh good you're done, I'm going to head out in a bit the stupid sniper refuses to tell me anything until I kill some of the ghouls that are on some REPCONN ruins or something"
Winter shook her head "Ghouls?"
"Irradiated people, deformed by radiation and time, they do not age sure but their skin falls off and their hair too, some go insane some don't" Six replied as he took off his shirt as he walked towards the bathroom "You can tag a long if you want" he said as he closed the door to the bathroom. Winter rolled her eyes and waited patiently for him to finish when h exited she literally face palmed.
"Why in Oum's green earth are you using the blue pajamas again?" Six let out an offended gasp.
"I'll have you know that this is an armored Vault Suit, perfect for this type of situation, I was saving this outfit for later but I figure I can just fix it if it breaks, you should try one someday I think it would look good on you"
Winter glared "I would rather eat worms than wear something so… impractical"
"What do you mean impractical, this feels like I am wearing nothing at all" he said as he flexed a little bit, Winter looked away not wanting to see how tightly the outfit clung to her companion.
"I bet you would like if I wore one you pervert"
"What was that?"
Winter stood up and opened the door "Let's just go deal with these so called ghouls please"
Six shrugged and walked his new favorite weapon in hand, a service rifle the NCR had gifted him for unknowingly clearing up some bugs that had given them trouble.
The walk to REPCONN test site was quiet, but it was not an awkward silence anymore, she would not say that she and the mysterious courier six where friends or something like that but they had a similar goal and he had proved that he cared about her wellbeing. In some aspects, he was just as much a fish out of water as she was, memoryless and confused he fought for the one goal he remembered and she could respect that.
"Ghouls coming up" Six said as he opened fire, Winter gasped as she saw what she could only describe as a zombie lounged itself towards them, Six grabbed him by the throat and slammed it against the ground. The creature roared but he was silenced when Six's boot squashed its head like a melon.
Winter steadied herself and when she saw a group of ghouls approach them she launched herself into the air and slammed with her glyphs the ground freezing them in place for long enough for her to cut them all down with her sword.
Six stared at her, a vein on his head popped "Where was all that fight with raiders?!"
"I would rather not kill people if I can help it, these on the other hand... are not people"
As they ventured further away from Novac they encountered what looked like to be an outpost of sorts with energy weapons and some caps, Six quickly pocketed them and handed Winter a plasma rifle "Here, if you need a ranged weapon looks like it would fit your style"
"My weapon is made to excel in all situations Six, I appreciate it but…"
"No, you can't just trust in one weapon" Six said as he placed the rifle on her hands "Even if you're not going to use it just carry it around" Winter gave a sigh but nodded and placed the rifle on her back. Six smiled and gave her thumbs up as he walked towards the main building.
"According to Manny the asshole sniper, this place used to be like a rocket science place so expect some explosions to go off"
The ghouls where dispatched efficiently and quickly and Winter assumed they would be doing more of the same when they reached inside the building but a voice over the speaker made her jump "Hey over here are you listening?"
Six looked at the speaker "Y-yeah"
"Good, go to the big room on the east side of this building and take the metal staircase all the way up and hurry"
Six turned to look at Winter who gave him a quiet thumbs up "Got it"
"Let's hope you do"
Six shook his head and looked around the room and when his eyes landed on something he felt himself pale "oh fuck"
Winter followed his gaze and felt herself take a step back "What in the world is that thing?"
"Super Mutant one of the deadliest species in the wasteland, they are… very very hostile but if we are lucky we won't need to fight them we are only here for the ghouls"
Winter swallowed nervously as she looked at the creature, when it was alive it towered over every human being and she was sure that with his musculature it could easily snap someone in half with just one arm.
They left that room as they carved their way through the building searching for the voice in they heard and soon enough they arrived at the big room the voice had mentioned, making their way up the stairs Six stopped to loot a corpse.
"That poor man, he was burnt alive" Winter said sadly, but Six shook his head "This is a ghoul, he lived as you see him with flesh falling off his skin, most people from the wasteland hate them, I just see someone who didn't have a choice"
Once they reached what looked like to be the place he knocked on a door "All right smoothskin, I'm letting you in, you better watch yourself. I'll sure as hell be watching you"
Six snorted as he heard the door unlock, he turned to Winter "Don't comment on their appearance might make them angry" Winter nodded.
"God but are you ugly! Get upstairs and talk to Jason before I throw up just from looking at you" a very human man said as he stared at them in disgust.
"What the fuck wait a minute you are no ghoul!" Six said, Winter gave him a glare "So much for not saying anything about their appearance"
"Your pranks won't work on me, smoothskin and they won't work on Jason either" the man said angrily, Winter shook her head and stepped forward.
"Where can we find this Jason?" she said making him look at her "The great one can be found upstairs"
And with that he left, Six snapped out of his shock and looked at her "That was just some dude right, I am not hallucinating from the bullets right?"
"Yes Six he was just some dude as you put it" Winter said as she patted him on the back, as they walked Winter saw how some real ghouls walked around the place looking at computers and diagrams. Some turned to look at them neutrally other with spite but none interrupted their walk upstairs.
As they looked around an eerie green glow started to approach them, a ghoul that glowed with the power of radiation smiled at them "Hello wanderers, please excuse our humble surroundings its all we have after we were so viciously attacked, but our true home awaits us in the far beyond, have you come to help us in our great journey?"
Six extended his gloved hand "You must be Jason"
"Indeed I am; Jason Bright pleasure to meet both of you"
Six snorted "Your last name is Bright"
"It has been my name even before the bombs fell, truly the Creator works in mysterious ways"
"You where there before the bombs?" Winter asked surprised, Bright turned to look at her "Indeed, the days after the bombs fell where one of the hardest but the creator used this time to test me, to see if I could handle the responsibility of taking my kind to the far beyond, the day the bombs fell is when the Great Journey began"
Six raised his hand as if he was talking with his teacher "Sorry got a little bit lost there, what is this great journey you speak of"
"We wish to escape the barbarity of the wasteland, especially the violence and bigotry of its human inhabitants. The creator has promised to my flock a new land a place of safety and healing in the far beyond"
Jason looked to the side sadly "We were almost ready; we were so close but then the demons appeared, more accuretly they never appeared at all, they struck us down from the shadows, they are invisible to the eye, we managed to retreat here… some of my followers lost their lives saving us, then one of the demons raved at us for ours none of it made sense at first but one thing was certain, if we tried to go to the basement we would be killed"
Winter looked at Six who looked troubled "I was sent here to kill the ghouls that terrorized Novac, I can see now that I did not get the full information"
"Those of my kind who appear rabid, is only because they have been subjected to horrible treatment by humans! We had them kept somewhere safe where they could not hurt anyone nor themselves but they must have escaped while the demons tried to kill us, please wanderer we only want to leave this place behind, will you help us get to the far beyond?"
"Sure, I am already here anyways"
"Praise the creator and praise both of you for doing this, here have the key to the basement you are going to need it, may the creator protect both of you" Jason turned to leave but Six coughed into his fist.
"Is there something else wanderer?"
"Yeah just one thing; what's with the human that let me in" Six asked genuinely confused, Winter snorted but looked curiously at Jason to see if he would answer, what followed could only be described as disappointment sigh "You speak of Chris, I am sure that he has described himself as a ghoul to you too, we have tried to tell him that he is not a ghoul but he has refused to accept it and… he has been of invaluable help to great Journey; the creator has clearly sent him to aid us. I hope that answers your question wanderer"
"Sure, I'm gonna go kill some demons now, see you later Jason"
Winter was quiet until they reached the basement "What are you doing?"
"Helping Jason"
"I know that, but why?" Six looked uncomfortable for a moment before he scratched the back of his head "I need to take care of the ghouls, but it would leave bad taste in my mouth if I kill some people who just want to leave this shit wasteland and I can't just try to twist Manny's arm because he has his sniper rifle aimed at my head, so here we are"
Winter chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder "I am glad that you're not killing everything to get your way, you would make a good soldier"
"Pass, but if all soldier girls are as cute as you I might reconsider"
"Flirting with a superior officer will earn you a week in the slammer, so shut up and carry on with your mission"
Six gave her a smirk and a fake salute "Yes mam"
Once inside the basement both of them found that a bleak environment, no sound could be heard and the air reeked of blood, Six pressed a button on his pip boy and it turned into a flashlight, for a brief moment some of the hallway was illuminated.
Six turned it off quickly and prepared his rifle, they walked crouching down when a noise reached their ears. Something heavy was walking, stealthily as it could but there was presence with them on the hallways. Six swallowed and stood upright his rifle on his back and machete now in hand. Six was suddenly slammed into the roof his arm and ribs making ahorrible noise.
Winter cursed and seeing that she could see nothing used her glyphs to create a frost mist, with her target now covered in frost she stabbed forward hoping to cut in half, blood spewed out but hand grabbed her throat.
Winter came face to face with a Nightkin, who growled at her an slammed her to the ground repeatedly.
"Stupid human won't break" it growled and with a powerful final slam it shattered her aura the flash of light scred the nightkin who threw her into the air and then slammed his club into her, throwing her against the other side of the room.
Winter coughed up blood as she tried to remain conscious, he nightkin prepared himself for the killing blow but six jumped on his back grenade in hand, jabbing his thumb into the nightkin's eye he ignored how it slammed its back against the wall trying to crush him.
The nighkin screamed in rage, just what Courier Six was waiting for he jammed the grenade into its mouth and pulled the pin, the plasma explosion ripped the head of the nightkin off his shoulders and blew Six away, his arm bent in an unnatural position and a gaping wound on his shoulder.
Using his only good hand, he used the stimpack to not fully heal himself but not fully, just enough to let him walk, waddling over to Winter he injected her with the remaining few that he had "There you should live now"
Winter groaned in pain as she tried to stand up "Easy there, I just managed to heal some of the broken stuff, not everything"
Winter spat out the blood and gave him a stiff nod, gritting her teeth she managed to stand up.
Six nodded and moved towards a door "Lets rest here, we need to catch our breath"
"What's that antler we have a visitor?" a nightkin taller than the other one said, Six let out a sigh as he stared at the rambling mutant "Why are you here human?"
"I ermm I was sent by the ghouls upstairs"
"A human friend with the ghouls? To suspicious would kill you if I could but antler says you could help us"
Winter looked confused at the nightkin waiting to see if another one would show up, but to her surprise the big nightikin turned to the skull of what looked like to be a Brahmin and nodded "Yes, they take care of the ghoul the one that is different from the others and that way we take the stealth boys, you heard that human get the stealth boys"
"Can you… sure, I'll do it just tell your people not to attack me and I will get the stealth boys and then all of you leave this place"
"Yes, we leave as soon as we have the stealth-boys, my boys will no longer attack you but the jailer will not listen he likes to torture humans way to much will ignore orders, now go and make antler proud"
Six felt his eye twitch as Davison threw the key to the other room at his face, Six flipped him off and exited the room Davison not knowing what the gesture was imitated it further aggravating Six.
Six walked past Winter and headed straight to the room that supposedly housed the supposed abnormal Ghoul. Winter heard the sound of gun and blood spewed out "FUCK" came the familiar shout.
Winter wobbled towards the sound "Come and get it you big dumb… wait you're not a super mutant"
"No shit" Six said as he wrapped his wound quickly, thanking whatever god was out there that the ghoul was expecting a super mutant and not a human so the bullet merely grazed him instead of blowing off his head or hit him on an important organ.
"Sorry about that I have been here for a long time, I am a little bit jumpy" the ghoul said, Six merely glared but let out a sigh "Look I just want the stealth boys and then the nightkin leave and THEN Jason can get on his rocket AND THEN all the ghouls can leave"
"Jason sent you huh, gonna admit that I never did believe in his mumbo jumbo but dammit it gets lonely in the wastes and I don't have to tell you but Jason's group has some fine looking ghoulettes"
Winter gave him a look "Yeah maybe I have to tell you that huh, but look I'm not moving… not until I know something you see I have this one friend, she got captured by the mutants and… I know she's not dead help her and I get out of here"
Six turned to Winter, who gave him a sad smile "Give us a moment we will be right back with your friend"
"Thanks I appreciate Smoothskin"
Six gave him a thumbs up as he headed towards the lowest level of the building, Winter saw him inject himself with multiple drugs and frowned but she barely could walk and right now they needed to take every advantage they could take.
The Jailer was nowhere to be seen but the smell of gasoline filled the air, Six whispered to Winter "Can you do the frost thing again?"
Winter nodded and prepared herself her glyph came out fast and with her mastery over it she exploded it making everything in the room freeze, the Jailer yelled confused as he used his flamethrower to light up the room.
Six aimed with VATS as he fired a perfect bulled to his head making the nightkin take step back, disoriented he fired wildly Winter froze his feet to the ground. Jumping she severed his arm and stopped the rain of fire.
But the super mutant was not done he slapped Winter's sword and with his one hand he grabbed her by the throat, Six shot at him over and over but the mutant refused to loosen his grip.
Winter gasped for air as she desperately clawed at the hand of the super mutant, Six tried to cut off the hand of the mutant but it's thick skin not giving away. The jailer laughed, but soon a plasma shot melted his face off.
Winter fell to the ground coughing her grip on the plasma riffle loosening "What… how?"
"Super Mutant, emphasis on the word super" Six said as he let out a sigh of relief, he waited until Winter stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder "You all right?"
"No, but we need to finish this"
Six nodded and the moved to the "prison" they searched for a couple of minutes before Six opened a door and let out a quiet "Oh"
Winter walked towards him but Six raised his hand "Best if you don't look at this, won't be able to eat for a couple of days"
"So we will be the bearer of bad news again?" Winter asked sadly, Six simply closd the door and walked back towards the room where the ghoul was "Did you find my friend?"
"I'm sorry" Six said, the ghouls eyes widened for a moment but he soon shook his head "Dammit I'm gonna miss that crooked smile of hers, you kept your part of the deal so you can come up here, but there are no stealth boys here if there was I would have used them to escape… with her" the ghoul said sadly as he ran out of the room. Six let out a sigh "I'll deactivate the traps you search for the stealth boys"
Winter nodded and began her search, she looked everywhere but she found nothing that resembled the item that the nightkin asked, tired she decided to check on the old monitor in the room.
"Shipment sent back" she read out loud and using an old clipboard and a pencil nearby she scribbled down the location that the shipment was sent back to.
"LIAR" Davison shouted as he glared at the two humans, Six tiredly rubbed his forehead the headache getting worse "Why would we lie, we even have the location they were sent to"
"Why would I… oh antler you trust too easily, fine humans give me that thing we are leaving"
Both Six and Winter felt a weight being lifted off their shoulders as they saw the nighkin exited the building, they almost ran to Jason to tell him the good new.
"Praise the creator! The way is clear!" Jason shouted as him and his flock celebrated "Meet me downstairs wanderers there is one last thing that I need to tell you"
Jason said as he and his flock descended to the basement, once they arrived at the lower levels Winter stared in confusion at the rockets.
"Six, don't you think the rockets look a little bit… silly"
"Winter as long as they get off this place their rockets could look like a fucking banana and I wouldn't comment on it" Six said as Jason approached them, thanking them and asking for the last favor. The rockets where missing pieces and they had to work with Chris the human for them.
Two components where missing one they needed to track down and the other they had a general idea of where it was "So who tracks down what?"
"I think I will go to this scrap yard, there might be some parts there as for the isotope that's more tricky because you need to track it, so here is what we are going to do" Six said as he took off his PipBoy.
"Here, use it to track it down, we will meet outside REPCONN" Six helped her put on the PipBoy and then left, Winter stared at the map and started her walk.
As she walked she started to fiddle with the PipBoy checking her stats and so foth, she had no idea why she had some points in intelligence and guns but she would not question it, seeing the history of the PipBoy turned to be far more amusing.
He was strong, with great skill in hand to hand combat, melee weapons and guns. His speech for some reason was also very high but everything else was abysmally low, when the screen showed perks she couldn't help but snort
"What type of perk is lady killer?" she wondered.
When the rockets launched Winter let out a long sigh, so much work for one little answer, as they walked back to Novac they saw a crying Chris walking to there too. Six had managed to convince him to not kill himself, head to Novac and put his skills to good use for the people there.
The sun set when they arrived, both of them walked in a straight line towards their hotel room. Not caring that they had to share a bed, the specialist and the courier rested their head against it. "Fuck this day" muttered Six, Winter felt something bubbling up in her, something that she had not felt in a long time.
She laughed, today was the weirdest day of her life, she almost died twice, she saw the silliest rockets launch themselves into orbit and she saw a bald man who really believed he was a ghoul just because he lost some hair.
"Yeah, fuck this day"
A/N: I have a real love/hate relationship with come fly with me, when I'm going legion I just kill Jason but for everything else I do the entire thing. Hope you liked the chapter!