Snowflake on the Sand

Chapter 1

Doc. Mitchel had seen a lot over his life, from his days on the vault and through the journey, he took from New Vegas to Good Springs he had seen much of what the Mojave wasteland had to offer. Bandits roamed every corner, beasts that feasted on all unsuspecting prey and the fearsome depths of depravity that the old world had to offer. "But I got to say that is new" he said as he stood next to the doorframe of his home staring at a blue whirlwind above in the sky lightning erupting from it as it burned away the clouds that surrounded it.

It was not a natural disaster that much he was certain, he had read enough of his history to know that maybe it was a piece of technology back when humanity though they could manipulate their very planet. The good doctor heard the sound of a shotgun and turned around with a raised eyebrow at his latest patient and talk of the town.

Courier Six shrugged "Can never hurt to be prepared"-"Not that I doubt your abilities or anything, but I doubt a normal shotgun will do much against a tornado"

Courier Six snorted "I am not that dumb, but look at how the bloatflies are circling it maybe it will attract some cazadores, they are curious and territorial by nature"

"Huh look at that, you know a lot for someone who can't remember his own name or past"

Six shrugged not caring about the specifics he was just going to rest for the nigh in Good Springs before heading to Primm and find more about the man that shot him, rage and determination burned within him but before he could hit the hay this shit showed up. Six was taken out of his thoughts by a large explosion on the sky which made some of the people of Good Springs scream, but the tornado soon disappeared and a screaming girl literally fell out of the sky.

"Well someone is going to have to clean that" Six remarked as he looked with morbid curiosity fully expecting a splat, but what followed was a golden light and the sound of shattering glass, confused both men took a step back, this was just bizarre. "Stay here doc, I'll go check what all this brahminshit is about"

Courier Six walked towards the location he had seen the girl fall, to his surprise a huge crater was formed outside the saloon, Easy Pete was there staring at the crater "Yup, that was some explosion all right"

Six felt his eye twitch at that one, but ignored it as he had bigger fish to fry in the middle of the crater, waiting for the smoke to clear a little he entered VATS and saw that there was indeed someone there. A tiny person it would seem.

"All right you know how this goes hands up or I blow your brains all over the sand" he said not really expecting a response his finger already on the trigger, what he didn't expect was for a blast of ice to hit him on his right arm and freeze together with his new "acquired" shotgun.

"What the fuck" he said and entered VATS just in time to see a kick fly towards his face, thinking quickly he grabbed the foot and with all his strength he swung the person against the concrete and for good measure he slammed his frozen hand against the ribcage of his opponent. He raised his shotgun again and locked eyes with his opponent, green met blue and his frown deepened "So missy, will you surrender or am I going to need to put you on my swallow grave"

Winter spat blood to the side and frowned "I yield"

The courier smirked and took a step back "See no need to be hostile, I am Courier Six welcome to Good Springs"

Winter held her ribcage and glared at him "What kind of name is that and what in the world are you wearing"

"I will ignore both of those questions" the courier sad as he took the bits and pieces of frost off his Vault Suit, Winter tried to stand up came face to face with the barrel of a shotgun "Easy there friend, wouldn't want to worsen your injuries now would you best if you stay on the ground for now"

With a frown winter sat back down "I need to get back to atlas civilian you have no idea how important this is, General Ironwood needs to be informed of a threat that could destroy all of Remnant and that includes you"

The raised eyebrow she got made her frown deepen even more "Well guess I am not the only one with a messed up head, what in the fuck are talking about"

"Atlas, the kingdom you ruffian, our whole world is at peril didn't you see the storm!?" she asked him "Sure did, we all did, saw you fall out of the sky blasted thing blocked out the moon that I love to see"

"Then you would now that…" Winter stopped as she stared up at the moon as if to prove her point but with a gasp, she stood upright ignoring the barrel on her temple she stared flabbergasted up to the sky "What, no no no this can't be right what happened to the moon!?"

The Courier looked up at it and shrugged "Is a full moon, what's wrong with that?"

"It's not shattered!" Winter replied hoping that someone, anyone would pinch her awake, she must have hit her head when the storm swallowed her one of the members of her team would wake her up anytime soon in the med bay. The courier seeing her pained expression and confusion not to mention he could hear her accelerated heartbeat new she was not pulling his leg, she really believed the moon was shattered before.

"Damn it and here I thought I was insane, well missy sorry but it looks like…" the Courier stopped when he heard the sound of wheels and a familiar cowboy showed up "Howdy partner, how is your girlfriend"

"Viktor you asshole I thought you were going to help us with the powder gangers" the courier said as he kept his eyes on the strange lady that was still staring up at the sky as if it would change at any moment.

"Sorry partner must have gotten distracted with something, but I knew that I needed to get back home when I saw that thing in the air almost looked like a wormhole I say. And besides people tell me that you didn't need that much help, you dealt with those ruffians just fine… even if a little brutally in the words of the more squeamish folk"

"Wormhole?" the courier asked curiously "Dimension travel partner something from before the war people thinkered with" came the robotic reply, almost as if someone was controlling Viktor to say it, but the Courier didn't care about that "What the fuck is dimension traveling you are losing me a bit Viktor"

"Ah you know just the idea of other worlds and junk like that but Missy here looks a lot like people from New Vegas, with her fancy suit and all"

Winter had been eavesdropping on them and felt her dread grow the more the robot talked, she was no stranger to the theory of different dimension she had to sit through awful movies with Weiss when she was a child but she didn't think that she would ever see a machine like that and in Vale no less.

"Well shit, looks like we started on the wrong foot lady" she heard the so called Courier Six say and he offered her a hand, she grabbed it hesitantly and when she was up he offered her a smile "Sorry for breaking your ribs and all but you have to admit you did try to freeze my ass, how the fuck did you do that by the way? An ice grenade or some shit like that? New Vegas must really be the city of the future or you know the past"

Winter saw him give her a bizarre needle making her frown "I don't take drugs"

Snorting the courier grabbed another stimpak and stabbed her with it, making Winter flinch "What is your…problem?" her pain was gone and she swore she could hear some of her bones popping back into place.

"A little miracle of the old world, call it an apology if you'd like" the courier took the stimpak he had given her and walked towards the bar "You should go to the doctor house is the big one over the hill, get your head checked I am leaving to New Vegas tomorrow, feel free to tag along"

Winter stared at the house and looked around the place, this was not home, if she was being honest she was quite scared but her pride as a soldier would not let her loose her cool she needed to find a way back home.

The courier did not return to the doctor's home choosing to crash with Ringo for the night, leaving the couch free for Winter. But sleep did not come easy to her and instead she decided to exit the house it was almost dawn anyways. Her thoughts remained on her home and her mission but more specifically her family. She wondered how her mom would react to her disappearance. She would no doubt drown herself in even more alcohol, Whitley would be sad no doubt about that, she doubted her father would even care but what broke her hearth the most was the thought of her little sister.

She had been so close to see her again after all the time that she had spent on Beacon, she was eager to see how much her sister had progressed on her dream and display her skills in the festival.

It was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission on an abandoned warehouse in Vale, one of a disgraced Atlas scientist, they needed to recover all documents and objects of importance and then leave. She was not expecting a portal to destroy most of the warehouse and then swallow her, shattering her aura and leaving her defenseless in the middle of… another world.

She let out a sad sigh when movement made her raise her weapon, the tip of the sword scratched the pain of Viktor but to her surprise the robot remained still its creepy smile still in place "Howdy there lady, little bit early to stare at the stars don't you think"

Winter frowned "State your intentions"

"Sounds like you are a little tense my dear, why don't you take a drink of this Sunset Sarsaparilla who knows when you will have a drink next" it mechanical claw handed her what looked like to be a bottle of soda, the doctor had been kind enough to give her water and some food enough for her to sustain herself for a couple of days, so the offer did not appeal to her, maybe it was poisoned. Grabbing the drink she nodded "I'll save it for later"

"Great idea partner you will need everything you can get if you are going to New Vegas"

"Who said I was going to this New Vegas?" she asked confused, Viktor had the decency to move away as if embarrassed "Well I simply assumed that you would want to go there, after all it's the only place in the wasteland that you look like you belong"

"…robot, what happened to this world? Why does it look so dead?"

"Oh boy you really are not from around here are you partner, what you see it's what remains of the great USA a country so advanced that back in the old days robots flying cars and everything that you could imagine was yours as long as you could purchase it, but I think that humans got cocky and forgot that the world could not sustain their way of living, soon resources ran dry and then the fights began, country against country, eye for an eye"

Winter swallowed nervously knowing what came next "They destroyed themselves" she said out loud.

"Total nuclear annihilation, centuries of progress wiped out in the blink of an eye only one city remained safe from the bombs and that's New Vegas a little piece of the old glory"

"Do you think New Vegas has a way to… to get me back home?" Winter asked letting a little bit of desperation reach her voice, Viktor only rolled away "Is your bests shot partner"

Winter remained quiet as she stared into the horizon rays of sunshine starting to illuminate the land "Look at you all ready to go so what do you say missy ready to go?"

"Winter, my name is Winter, until we reach New Vegas we will work together" Winter rose from where she was sitting and extended a hand to the Courier, they shook hand and Winter got a good look at her new companion. Not too young not to old with dark hair that almost reached his shoulders, green eyes and a tanned skin, he looked like a very fit man but what caught her attention the most was the two bullet wounds on his face. One on his temple and the other one bellow his left eye, they looked recent and they were very intimidating.

If only he would get rid of that ridiculous blue thing that he wore, she would feel more confident that they would make it to this so-called New Vegas.

A/N: New Vegas has become my favorite game so I wanted to write a story for it and Winter is a good character with very few stories so that's how this story was born. Feel free to correct me if I goofed something up or you just want to give your opinion. Au revoir!