"Runnin' up that roadrunnin' up that hill…"

Olivia strolled into the creaky metal enclosure, stepping off the wide metal platform before it even came to a full stop.

She strode into the vault with ease—large headphones fixed onto her head, her short strawberry-blonde hairs draping around them, eyes narrowing interestingly at everything around her.

Vault 111 hadn't been touched since the 70s—the 2070s, when the bombs first fell—yet now, here she was, sauntering about within its decade-old walls.

The 80s were a wildly different time—a time of anarchy and raiders, a time of dodging radiation and foe-militaristic organizations that fashioned themselves a sense of power. Yet still, society pressed on—people still tried—and the culture just began to advance before it all came crashing down yet again.

Because—with the 80s came a new wave of apocalyptic horrors, as the destruction of the world finally caught up with those who'd survived the Great War.

Mutations began to spread—monsters roaming about rather than animals, burned corpses walking the earth rather than men—and now, with the second downfall of society, Olivia knew that the long, painful game of the apocalypse was still, for now, far from over.

She slowed to a stop in between every cryo pod, turning and eyeing the one that most harnessed her interest.

This pod was empty, as was the one directly across from it, and she knew perfectly well why. Her best friend had told her the story long ago.

Just then, she heard the faint humming of his nuclear engine slowly growing on the air, turning and spotting the robot just as it hovered toward her.

Codsworth adjusted his bowler hat, slowing to a stop before her and making a muffled sighing noise from somewhere within his metallic shell.

"Olivia," he said gently. "Are you… sure about this?"

Olivia placed her big headphones around her neck and stared at him, her crystalline eyes shining beneath the vault's fluorescent light.

"It's not safe anymore," she shrugged in response. "I thought everything was getting better. I thought everything was… kinda… crawling up the right path. But now it's just… it's just constant war out there. The world's ending all over again. So… I think I'd be better off waiting some of that out."

"Right… and far be it from me to disagree," Codsworth remarked, his eyes swiveling, seeming to fixate on the open pod. "But I simply don't trust these things very much. Some of this vault's inhabitants couldn't even survive the cryo process. Cryo technology is a shoddy project at best, and there's a reason it only existed in science fiction before now. It hardly works…"

"Well… it seems to work for them," Olivia commented, nodding down the aisle at the frozen people farther away. "None of them have died yet. I mean… a couple of them are empty now, for some reason… but…"

Codsworth stared at her, his big shiny eyes seeming to glisten with the utmost of concern.

"This is all I've got," Olivia said at a loss, sighing and wearing an empathetic visage. "God… we had new shops opening up, and new music coming out, and new… everything. Everything was climbing up… and now it's all just… falling back down…"

"The repercussions of such a drastic war could hardly disappear over the course of a single decade," Codsworth said disdainfully. "Though, I did share the same optimistic hope as you. It was quite nice to see that little light of hope in the world… while it lasted…"

The two of them paused, Olivia giving him a warm, sad smile.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. "I would've been totally lost without you."

Codsworth seemed to tilt slightly, as if cocking his head, placing his metal hand over the area containing his nuclear core.

"I was lost… until you," he told her genuinely. "You've no idea… I…"

Olivia nodded mildly, her smile fading—as she knew full well what circumstances had left Codsworth all alone on the dawn of the Great War.

"I… couldn't know what to do," Codsworth said softly. "If my family had just… gotten here a moment sooner… then they might've survived. But… watching over the horizon, and seeing them both… get wiped off the platform… just before they'd reach safety…"

Olivia said nothing, feeling a pained tug in her heartstrings.

"I know," she murmured. "Nate and Nora were the only people in the neighborhood who even treated me like a human being. And Nora just… she just made sure I became part of the family. I loved her like a mother…"

"Yes," Codsworth uttered, voice giving a shake. "And she'd only just become a mother… before they all…"

"Codsy," Olivia said intently, stepping closer and planting a hand on his outer shell. "I love you… and your whole family. I'm not gonna forget that they took me in… and I'm not gonna forget that you did, either."

His hard hand gently rested atop her soft one.

The two were so lost and forsaken, a pair of misfits against a holocaust—and they'd been together since the start, since the bombs fell and Olivia's adoptive family was killed, the same family that Codsworth had become a part of as well.

In such a time of deep, drastic tragedy—a lonesome orphan and an abandoned robot could only have each other.

And now—after facing the harrowing changes of the apocalyptic 80s—it seemed clear that the world was not ready to start anew.

Mutants, ghouls, monsters, and men—they all waged war somewhere above their heads, right this very moment, destroying the neighborhood, the county, the state, and presumably everywhere else far beyond.

The hope of the world she called home—it was gone, vanishing in an instant like the light of a dying flame.

The only chance she had now was to step into a world entirely anew.

But, as she glanced down at her overstuffed satchel bag, strapped tightly around her large flannel jacket—she sighed, frowning, as every memory of her world flooded through her mind all at once.

"I can't believe…" Olivia mumbled, releasing a pained little laugh. "God, I can't believe… the last time I talked to Nora, we were just making babysitting plans for Shaun…"

"Yes… and the last I talked to her, she instructed me to go to General Atomics with you," Codsworth agreed, raising his other metal hand. "We had to keep that appointment to switch my flamethrower for another appendage, now didn't we? Can't have a one-handed butler trying to care for a child…"

Olivia giggled and nodded. "Man… they were a well-off family. I still don't know why they decided to take in a homeless nobody like me…"

"Oh… my dear," Codworth mumbled, giving her a look. "You are certainly not a nobody. Master Nate knew better than anyone what you were going through. He was a man of combat himself, and you'd lost your parents in the war. Of course he was going to show you compassion."

"Yeah, well… when you're a homeless kid scavenging around a suburban neighborhood, you don't expect compassion," Olivia laughed, shaking her head. "I liked living through the 80s better, to be honest. It was fairer. Nobody stuck their noses up at me. Everyone was on the same desperate playing field… until… now."

Another brief silence fell, Olivia glancing up at the metal ceiling, feeling another touch of mourning for the world she knew coming to an end above.

Her hand tightened around the strap of her satchel bag, and she looked to Codsworth again.

"Codsy," Olivia said. "Don't let anything happen to my bag, okay?"

Codsworth's three eyes seemed to fixate curiously onto her.

"Quite a strange thing to prioritize right now," he remarked.

"It's my music," Olivia told him, placing a hand on her bag. "It's my books, and my comics, and all my holotapes of music. Everything from this time is gonna be lost on the rest of the world… except what I've got on me, right here. I wanna have it when I wake up. Okay?"

"Of course, dear… of course," Codsworth agreed with a sigh as she handed her bag off to him. "I'm just more worried about you."

"Well… don't be," Olivia told him firmly, grasping his hand and clutching it tight. "We're not doing anything bad, here. We're making a survival move."

Codsworth made a nodding motion with his eyes, though he still seemed somewhat reluctant.

"And y'know what," Olivia smirked. "I'm gonna be the only product of the 80s in that whole entire world… and that's pretty fuckin' cool. One-of-a-freaking-kind."

Codsworth stared, making a faint laugh. "Indeed, you will…"

"If God gives any second chances—then this is it," Olivia stated, patting the cryo pod. "This is my deal with God. Right here."

"Yes… I suppose it is," Codsworth replied, a single silver finger craning out above her fingers, grasping her hand as tightly as she was his. "And I'll be right here with you… from start to finish. I'll be here."

"I know," Olivia smiled, pulling him into a hug. "I love you, Codsy."

Codsworth sounded as if he was releasing a massive cloud of breath, fighting not to show how he felt—though the uncomfortable squirming deep in his biogel made it difficult, as he felt a great festering worry growing inside.

"I… love you, too," he managed. "Do be careful. Don't make any sudden movements inside, and just… be still… until it's all over."

"Okay," Olivia agreed, stepping back and giving his hand a final squeeze. "Go into sleep mode, and stay that way until my cryo thingy is over. And after that…"

She sighed, giving him a conclusive smile.

"After that… we start all over," Olivia resolved. "One more time."

"One more time," Codsworth affirmed, clutching her hand once more.

And then—the two released each other.

Olivia stepped into the pod, pressing her back to its inner wall and inhaling a bracing breath.

Codsworth lingered just outside of it, his hand hovering over the controls of her pod, still staring at her with hesitation.

"I'll set an internal alarm," he told her. "So if any danger comes while you're put under, then…"

"Do whatever you have to do," Olivia replied with a nod. "Let's just get the hell out of the 80s."

"Of course," Codsworth agreed, slowly lowering his hand—and finally pushing the lever. "Godspeed, my dear."

Olivia sighed, glancing up at the ceiling for the last time, just as the door began to lower.

Codsworth observed her. "I can't believe it came to this, either."

Olivia nodded, faced him, and gave him a final smile.

"Yeah, well…" she said with finality, placing the headphones firmly back onto her head. "War never changes."

At last—the door sealed shut around her, enclosing her in, a slow, steady stream of air beginning to fill the tiny space inside, chilling her to the bone, goosebumps shooting up and down her, and the process steadily begun.

And as it did—and as the world she knew slowly faded from around her for the last time—her headphones continued to play soothingly, the glass fogging, blocking out the world that she'd never see again, the gentle, comforting melody in her ears her only company as darkness easefully took over, and reality began to vanish from all around her.

"If only I couldmake a deal with God…"