1 Year Later...
I am in an abandoned building in the outskirts of the commonwealth. I stopped to rest here 1 year ago today, and I never left. For some reason, this little shitty shack in the middle of nowhere was a blessing. Maybe it was because there was an abundance of crops, plenty enough to sustain myself. Or, maybe it was because the furniture has stayed pretty decent, even after all these years. But I think it was because it was secluded, and peaceful. There is no one to bother me, and nothing that will cause me to worry. I feel as if I belong. But at the same time, i'm still lost.
Even after a year of telling myself that it's okay to stay here for the rest of my life, I still catch myself wondering what's missing. All this time and I still feel as if something is missing. I have come to terms with my husbands death and my son's. I know both of them will always be in my heart no matter what and that nothing could have prevented them from dying. But even with that in mind, something is still missing.
I break out of my mental monologue and get up from my seat on the porch. I walk over tho the garden and pick some produce and head inside to cut it up. I eat my lunch and walk over to my bed and start to clean my armor. I was recently in a shootout with raiders when mirelurks showed up and after a while, I finally eradicated those monstrosities. I decide that my armor wasn't going to get too clean when I hear one of my noise traps go off. I grab my plasma castor and carefully go to the door. I open it with my gun raised when a bright light blinds me. Then, I get shot in the leg with a laser rifle. A fall to the floor and grip my leg and groan in pain. Fire courses through my veins and I scream in agony. I look at my leg would and see burned flesh covering my leg and smoldering. I look up and see a brotherhood knight exit their power armor.
As quickly as I can with my now injured leg, I get up and grab my plasma-castor and load a cartridge in it and point my gun at the brotherhood knight. His headlamp on his armor is still on so his body is cast in shadow impairing the image of his face from me. My squinted eyes watch him carefully as he lays his rifle on the ground and stays crouched to the ground. I can see his face a little more clearly now. His face is angular and he has a goatee and mustache. There is a long scar that starts just above his left eyebrow and reaches down his eye and cheek and stops just under the center of his bottom lip. His brown hair is cut on both sides and is kept long but combed back on the top as is the standard hair cut in the brotherhood for men.
His eyes study me just as mine study him. We both are careful not to make any sudden moves as the other might attack on an instant. However, he takes a move toward me, something I would never do. I may love the brotherhood with all my heart, but i'm not stupid. I've been out too long. If I make a wrong move, he will kill me out of fear if nothing else.
I watch him as he slowly makes his way towards me, calculating every move, careful not to make a mistake. He finally reaches my gun and I am as tense as someones ass cheeks when they see a super mutant suicider. My finger instantly goes to the trigger and he stops. He takes a breath and holds it as he lifts his hand to the end of my gun and makes me lower it.
I let out my breath that I was holding in and lower the gun to the ground. I cannot kill him. I will not. He is my brother, not matter how long i've been out. What kind of a person would I be if I murdered him anyways? He gave me no reason to kill him. Each move he took was non-hostile. I sit down on my butt and take a few breaths to slow my heart rate.
I hear him let out a breath as well and he gets to his feet. I look up at him and he acts as if he wants to walk to me but quickly moves to his power armor and enters it before speaking.
"Are you the sentinel?" He asks.
"I'm sorry but no. I'm only a paladin. You must be mistaken." I say.
He stomps over to me in his power armor and takes out a stimpack and some medical tape and wrap and hands them to me. I gratefully take them and inject the healing medicines from the stimpack around my burn before wrapping it carefully and precisely. I try to stand but have a hard time. The knight helps me up and I nod my head to him in appreciation.
"I'm sorry." The man says.
"Yea well, next time you'll have to kill me. Because I won't hold back from killing you." I say seriously.
"Yea, sorry about that. I thought you were a ghoul for a second. I never meant to hurt you." He says with sympathy and with a caring tone.
"Yea well, just look next time youngin'. Looks like you got a lot to learn." I say sitting down on the bed.
"What the hell are you doin' up here anyway?" I ask him.
"Well I was on a mission to find you. You may not know it but you are the sentinel of the brotherhood now. The day the institute fell was when you were supposed to be promoted but you went home and after that, no one could find you." He says trailing off and looking away.
"Yea well, there were some things I needed to think over." I told him picking up my armor and cleaning it as I was before he came.
"Oh? And you couldn't tell anyone where you were going?" He asked with annoyance in his tone.
"Well what the fuck does it matter to you?! Were you there? Did you see what I saw? Have you done the things that I've done?!" I yelled looking at him and taking my attention off of the armor.
"No, I wasn't, and I haven't. But I should have been there." He says with a hint of regret in his tone.
"Yea well it wasn't something you necessarily want to witness. We lost a lot of good men that day." I say trailing off. I shake my head and return my attention to the armor. "But never mind that. Go tell maxson that i'll return when I feel up to it." I tell him.
"And when will that be?" He demands.
"I don't know! Maybe never! But that's for me to know and for y'all to find out." I say.
"I can't accept that. You have to come back. There are people back there that miss you...more than you'll ever know." He says almost silently.
"Yea? Like who?" I demand from him.
He hesitates before answering, "well, you have your son. He's been at the predwyn for the year you've been gone. He sure does miss you ellie." He says with sadness in his voice.
"How in the fuck do you know my name?" I ask him.
"Oh, uh, it was in your file." He said nervously.
I eye him up and down knowing that he was lying. "I'm calling bullshit on that one." I say.
"Well look, never mind that, all I'm saying is that you have people who love you with all their might that want you home. You need to stop running from your problems and come home!" He yells in frustration.
I sigh in frustration, "Fine, i'll go, but i'm going to see my son again. Not for anything else. I still have things I need to sort out." I tell the knight.
He lets out a breath he was holding in. "Okay, grab your things and lets go." He tells me.
"Okay, just give me a minute." I tell him.
He nods and leaves the house.
I gather all my things and put on my brotherhood uniform and armor and load my plasma-castor before I go outside to meet him. My limp easing up because of the stimpak.
"Ready?" He asks.
"Yup." I say walking away and him following close behind, "but if you ever talk about my son again, then I will kill you." I tell him.
"Well, that's nice to know." He says.
I smirk but don't allow him to see it. We then begin our long journey back home.