Chapter 10

The Beginning, and the End

The morning had faded into an early afternoon by the time Sandra reached the Citadel.

Sarah Lyons and the Lyons Pride were gathered in a large group inside, standing in front of the shadow of what appeared to be a gigantic humanoid robot. After Sarah finished giving orders to all of her men, she turned to Sandra.

"I've talked it over with my father," Sarah said. "After everything you've done... I think we're ready to consider you an honorary member of the Lyon's Pride. That's not a title we hand out to just anyone. You're something special. Now, we're about to move out and work our way to Project Purity. I have Recon Armor to spare, if you'd like some extra reinforcement."

"No thanks. I wanna stay in my armor." Sandra stroked the shoulder of her adventurer outfit, remembering when Charon had stitched on the armored parts. "I appreciate it, though."

Sarah nodded, giving her a troubled look and falling silent.

Sandra turned away, wandering around mindlessly and slipping out her walkie-talkie, gazing down at it vacantly.

It was one of the walkie-talkies that she and Charon used to use to communicate during emergencies, or whenever they would get separated. Sandra had been tempted to try using it the last few days, especially during the nights, when she'd find herself a place to sleep all by her lonesome, with no friends to talk to, nobody to keep warm with at a campfire, and nobody to watch her back if she overslept.

But Charon deserved his freedom. It wasn't fair of her to force him into a friendship that he didn't want...

And besides, the moment he actually took her advice, the moment he actually did decide to think for himself and throw his contractual obligations out the window—that was the same moment Sandra exploded at him, pushing him away and casting him aside, just for doing the very thing she always wanted him to.

She hadn't been thinking clearly in that moment, of course—but nevertheless, that was a terrible thing for her to do.

Even if he did want friends—he probably deserved a better one than her.

Elder Lyons and one of the scribes were arguing about the use of the giant humanoid robot, Liberty Prime, and afterwards, Sarah got into a spat with her father about taking the front lines in the assault.

Liberty Prime began to ascend into the enormous opening overhead, and Sarah led her men up the stairs and out of the Citadel. Sandra followed them.

One of Liberty Prime's monstrous legs tore off a chunk of the Citadel's protective wall when it was lifted out of the Citadel and placed at the beginning of the bridge outside.

Sandra gazed up at it, somewhat in awe, though mostly in apathy.

Brotherhood soldiers and independents swarmed the bridge and entered the city in clusters of firing squads; Liberty Prime spoke in a bellowing, robotic voice as he marched over the bridge with his giant footsteps.

The Enclave soldiers didn't stand a chance.

Liberty Prime made short work of them, stepping on some of them and crushing them like bugs while the Brotherhood assault eliminated the rest.

As the force pressed on, Sandra carried on along with them, and more and more Enclave soldiers emerged within her sight. She would have to join the fight herself before long now.

The beginning of the end had finally arrived.

Gob hardly paid any attention to his customers. He remained occupied by Three Dog on the radio, and listened anxiously for updates on the lone wanderer he always talked about—the one he had befriended.

Sandra had been acting strangely, and her rushing off with a Fat Man without telling him anything didn't put his mind at ease, not to mention selling almost all of his chems to Mr. Burke.

Hopefully, her friends would catch up to her before she could get hurt...

As he leaned on the counter with his cheek resting in his palm, gazing thoughtfully into the radio—he didn't notice a familiar figure venture through the saloon door.

A tall ghoul in leather armor approached the counter. He tapped the countertop twice in order to grasp Gob's attention.

When Gob looked up—he came face to face with Charon, who looked even more intense than he remembered.

Gob practically read all of the questions off of Charon's face.

"She went off to fight some war for the purifier," he told Charon. "The war Three Dog's been talking about on the radio... I think Sandra's a part of it. She left without her friends. Burke and the kid followed her, I think. They were both armed to the teeth. Three Dog's been saying that Brotherhood and Enclave have been fighting it out all day. If Sandra's getting involved, then she'll be in the middle of the fight somewhere between the Citadel and the Jefferson Memorial."

Charon nodded and headed for the door.

"Hey," Gob called after him. "Do me a favor. Burke told me that her dad died. She ain't thinking straight. So if she won't come back—then just drag her ass back by force if you have to."

Charon gave him another nod, then pushed the door open and departed the saloon.

He'd have to travel at top speed in order to reach the city in time.

The end began.

Her father's voice rang in the back of her head as Sandra pressed forward alongside the Lyon's Pride.

Here we are. Where it all began. You remember your mother's favorite passage? Revelation 21:6. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life, freely. Don't you see? This is what it all means.

"I do see," Sandra muttered. "I do now…"

The water, the purifier. THIS is the water of life. Your mother's dream. No point in wasting time. Let's get to work. There's much to be done.

"And I'm doing it now."

Sandra gritted her teeth, raised her revolver, and headed toward the front of the group.

Liberty Prime's booming voice thundered the concrete beneath everyone's feet, even more than his harsh, thundering footsteps.

Watching the Enclave soldiers fall like dominoes was far too pleasing, putting her at ease in a dark, primal way she didn't understand.

But when members of the Lyons Pride began to fall to the pavement farther ahead, Sandra's anger hit its boiling point—and she lost herself once again.

Feeling rushed, Sandra rifled through her satchel and found her medical bag.

She inhaled a puff of jet and took a shot of med-x—then continued forward, holstering her gun and placing one of her mininukes in the fat man on her shoulder.

Making sure none of the Brotherhood members were in the way just before, she fired it off—and the mininuke soared through the air, launching across the scene and whizzing above the heads of enemies and allies alike.

They'd crossed the bridge at this point, and the bulk of the Enclave opposition was down a long hill now. The mininuke shot down the hill and landed in the heart of the enemy army—and it erupted in a magnificent explosion of fire and debris.

Sandra laughed at the sight of the Enclave bodies and limbs flying into the air.

The chems hit her all at once—and she felt wholly invincible.

Her blood seemed to ignite like a stream of gasoline. Everything in her sight seemed to brighten, vibrant, alit with the fire of life and vibrating electric blue—and onward she marched, onward and onward toward victory.

And as she did, she tried to ignore her father's voice as she ventured deeper into battle.

I've heard about some things you've been doing in the wasteland. I heard you disarmed the bomb in Megaton. Is that true? Oh, your mother would be so proud of you...

Sandra suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to see the Enclave explode in a nuclear blast again. She began reloading the fat man as she jogged to keep up with her Brotherhood allies.

I never wanted a life like this for you. A life in this radioactive, godforsaken hellhole...

Without warning her allies—Sandra fired off a second mininuke.

Another great blast occurred just a rock's throw away from Liberty Prime's gigantic metal feet—and another great cluster of Enclave soldiers were suddenly ripped to shreds, their shrill and mortified screams forever imprinted upon her mind.

Sandra didn't realize she was releasing a series of faint, breathless, and maniacal little laughs as the battle raged on.

Revelation 21:6. I am alpha, and omega... the beginning, and the end...

"Shut up," Sandra growled to no one. "I'm busy…! I am the end…!"

The Enclave had set up an electrical force field with two enormous poles on either side of the final bridge—but Liberty Prime grasped them and began to destroy them,

The robot couldn't handle the electroshock—and it seized up and hunched over, ceasing to function any longer.

At the very least, Liberty Prime had managed to destroy all of the force fields and shoot down the vertibirds before breaking down. That was more than enough—and the foot soldiers could take care of the rest.

Sandra and the Brotherhood started to cross the final bridge.

The Jefferson Memorial—the purifier—was directly in their sights now.

Just when Sandra was sure that the purifier was won—another wave of Enclave appeared on the opposite end of the bridge.

The laser fire was rapid, and it blasted and blinded, whizzing about from almost every direction.

Sandra wasn't sure how many times she was hit—her wrist burning as she hit her knees and reached for her gun—

And gunshots suddenly broke the sound barrier.

Not lasers or plasma guns—ordinary gunshots.

A small yao guai shot passed Sandra and headed towards the enemies, baring its teeth and snarling as it did.

Thrash?

"Watch out!" Bryan's voice echoed from somewhere from behind.

A grenade flew over Sandra's head and landed in a small cluster of Enclave.

The soldiers were blown away, and many of the rest stopped advancing at once.

Bryan appeared by Sandra's side and began firing at the opposition.

"Up we go, my dear."

Mr. Burke grasped Sandra by the hand and pulled her to her feet, yanking her backward and out of the immediate range of fire.

"Are you all right?" he asked, scanning her up and down. "You're burned all over."

"I'm fine," Sandra replied, ignoring the searing pain on what little of her skin was exposed. "What're you doing here?"

"Hm. I wonder." Mr. Burke looked her up and down again, his face now caustic.

Fawkes the super mutant was a few yards behind Mr. Burke, marching forward steadily and unleashing lasers from his gatling gun like hellfire.

Sandra glanced between her friends and the memorial, suddenly conflicted.

"Just... just be careful, and don't get killed!" she ordered her friends before running ahead, pistol drawn and adrenaline still pumping.

"Tch. Hypocrite," Mr. Burke smirked. "Whatever you say, my dear…"

Mr. Burke, Bryan, and Fawkes all joined the Lyons Pride; together, they effectively mowed down what remained of the Enclave outside.

Sandra could have sworn she'd heard a familiar sound somewhere amidst the gunfire - the sound of a combat shotgun—but when she looked around, she noticed that Mr. Burke was using a hunting rifle, while Bryan had his revolver.

Nobody was carrying a shotgun.

Perhaps she was just having flashbacks... Charon's gun, exploding at the muzzle and making that little 'clink' noise every time it fired... God, how she missed it...

But Sandra forced the thoughts away and rushed up to the door of the Memorial.

"Stay out here," she told her friends. "Make sure no more Enclave come inside after us. Okay?"

Mr. Burke, Bryan, and Fawkes all nodded.

"Thanks," Sandra disclosed, smiling at them. "I love you guys. Now stay, and don't die!"

At that—Sandra opened the door and entered the Jefferson Memorial, followed by Sarah Lyons and her men.

And at the rear of the building—the ringing of the combat shotgun stopped.

Charon finished killing everyone who'd been guarding the back entrances. He then made his way around the Memorial—and he spotted Burke, Bryan, and Fawkes standing outside of the entrance.

"Oh… you fuckin' idiot," Charon grumbled to himself, frowning at them from afar. "You can't let her go alone, Burke… should know that by now…"

He set off and stormed toward the entrance at once.

And inside—there were far less Enclave soldiers for the Brotherhood to kill.

Most of the inhabitants in the building were simply scientists, and Sandra left them alone. They weren't a threat, so there was no reason to kill them.

When she saw Colonial Autumns standing at the purifier, however—that face, that hair, that overcoat and that presence—Sandra opened fire at once.

The bullet ripped through the side of his head, making him jerk back and crumble just outside the glass wall.

The Colonial hit the floor before he had a chance to utter a word.

Sarah Lyons marched past Sandra and Autumn's body, and she moseyed up the stairs, and a voice spoke from the intercom near the purifier's entrance.

"You need to get in there and shut the thing off—the system's going critical. The entire thing is gonna blow if you don't shut it off now!" Doctor Li's voice yelled urgently from the speaker. "The entire thing is still flooded with radiation. You've got to shut it off!"

Sarah's victorious smile faded away in an instant, slowly wandering up to Sarah and sighing with disdain.

"Well... so much for celebrating." Sarah mumbled, turning to Sandra. "One of us has to go inside and shut it off... and whoever does isn't coming out alive."

Sandra, who had been examining a very severe burn on her wrist, looked particularly grim.

After a long, grave moment of reflection—a heavy breath escaped her, and she found the deepest of her resolve before meeting Sarah's eyes once more.

"My friends are outside," Sandra told her. "Tell Mr. Burke to assume the role of Megaton's mayor. I think he's witty and cunning enough to fend off trouble for them, and Fawkes can be the town's bodyguard. Bryan can stay with his aunt, or he can take my place in the Lyon's Pride if he still wants to learn how to fight."

"What're you talking about?" Sarah asked.

"I'm telling you what to do with my friends. This is my dying wish," Sandra replied seriously. "I'll switch the purifier off, but you have to promise to deliver the message to my friends. And there's one more. One more... his name is Charon. You remember him. He'll probably be somewhere in Underworld, where the ghouls live. He's taller than most people, with reddish skin, and a constant scowl on his face... always wearing leather armor... always carrying a shotgun... and I need you to find him, and… tell him I'm sorry for sending him away. Tell him that he can live in my house, and he can have any of my stuff that he wants, and he... and..."

Sandra's eyes began to water, emotion fighting to break free of her. She forced it all down best she could, though it was growing more and more difficult not to cry with every word she spoke.

Any other day, she'd choose life over death—just as anyone would—but now, here, standing before the threshold of her father's death, after losing her best friend—life simply didn't feel worth preserving anymore.

Better to sacrifice it for something more worthwhile.

"Tell Charon I… love him," Sandra stated with hard, painful finality. "Tell him he's my best friend, and… I love him."

Sarah wore a grim, pained expression now. She wrapped her armored arms around Sandra and embraced her in a long, close hug.

Then, Sandra broke away from her and marched toward the entrance to the purifier—what she expected to be her final walk, her last task to ever complete before she flickered out of life forever.

Her wrist hurt so much, she couldn't bear it; even the slightest movement made the skin feel like it was going to tear off. Her ankle and her side were both hurting aching as well, and she began to hurt all over, as the height of the chems was finally beginning to wear off.

But—it wouldn't matter for much longer.

In a few minutes, she wouldn't feel a thing ever again.

She took a deep, bracing breath, reached out to the door, and stepped toward it—

And someone grabbed her uninjured wrist—yanking her back and halting her mid-step.

Sandra spun around and met eyes with her leather-armored bodyguard.

Charon, who stood a couple of steps lower than her, was glaring up at her with a heated leer.

"Revelation 21:6," he said, his raspy, ghoulish voice sounding softer than it ever had.

Sandra's heart could have stopped.

Nothing could make her last moments more precious than this, feeling that familiar tight grasp on her wrist, staring into that grumpy damn face of his...

Tears rolled down her cheeks, and the emotion finally began to win over her.

"I don't recall this being part of the plan," Charon stated, eyeing her intently. "You willingly fucking killing yourself, I mean."

Sarah stood behind Charon with her arms folded, a faint grin forming on her face as she watched.

"H... how much, ahm..." Sandra sputtered. "How much did you hear...?"

"Everything," he replied.

Then, something outstanding occurred.

Charon smiled.

It was a true, genuine smile, honest and almost warm in a way she'd never thought him capable of before now.

His hands cupped her cheeks, and he pressed his dry lips into her forehead, giving it a soft, tender kiss.

"I love you too, kid," Charon said sincerely. "Now stay here. Rads ain't a problem for me… so just stay here, and clear the door. All right?"

Then, Charon stepped past Sandra and approached the glass.

It was surreal; Sandra never imagined that he'd follow her across the wasteland to save her, smile at her, show her such care—and even love her.

It seemed that everything, all the good she suspected was inside him all along, truly was there—just as she'd always felt it to be—and it shone brighter now than any atomic blast ever could.

Sandra and Sarah backed a safe distance away from the glass door before it opened.

The door then opened, and Charon walked into the purifier. The glass door closed behind him, sealing him off from the girls.

He strolled inside, gazing down at the console, and he punched in the code, 2,1,6. Then, he simply crossed his arms and examined the rest of the machine, waiting patiently for it to power down.

Sandra moved closer, and she pressed her face against the glass, watching him anxiously from the outside—

And something happened that none of them could have prepared for.

The machine on the inside exploded with a deafening boom.

Charon was flown back—as were Sarah and Sandra—and Charon's neck snapped the moment he slammed into the glass.

Everything went dark—and amidst the fire, the ringing, and the distant hollering of the Brotherhood members' voices, Sandra's senses ceased to work. Her consciousness abandoned her, her eyes drifting shut, and she suddenly knew no more.

In retrospect, it really was a victory.

Sandra and the Brotherhood had secured Project Purity, and after the men repaired the machine best they could, they utilized the GECK and finally began distributing fresh water, which they named Aqua Pura.

Sarah Lyons was lying comatose in a nearby hospital bed when Sandra finally came to, and Elder Lyons was the one to inform the lone wanderer of Charon's demise.

So, of course—it didn't feel like a victory at all.

Nothing in the world mattered now, no matter how many people now had access to purified water, no matter how successful she'd been at enacting her revenge on the Enclave.

Charon had sacrificed himself to save her.

And now—people were smiling at her, shaking her hand, and thanking her for being the legacy of the Capital, the savior of thousands. Some people were even referring to her as the messiah of the wasteland—but Sandra didn't want to hear it.

It was infuriating to think that those dumb, ignorant wastelanders were worshiping her now—as Charon was the one who'd made the real sacrifice. Charon was the reason that the wasteland was saved, not her. He had saved her life, saved the entire wasteland—yet nobody even knew his name, a nameless ghoul bodyguard who would never get the same attention as James's daughter.

But in reality—Charon was the legacy of the Capital.

Not Sandra, not Sarah, not anyone else in the war.

Charon was—and that belonged solely to him, no matter how many people thanked her for his incredible success.

But, eventually, she couldn't even hear the thanks anymore—couldn't even hear their voices, as everything was fazing together in a steep, hazy blur.

Everything seemed to run together. Time was on fast-forward.

Elder Lyons was kind enough to put together a funeral for Charon.

Sandra wasn't sure how long she stood at the coffin and stared blankly into Charon's motionless corpse. It could've been days, weeks, or even two-hundred years, long enough for the world to rise and end all over again.

Her cheeks were tearstained, but she wasn't sobbing, whimpering, complaining or speaking. Regardless of the all-consuming sadness in her—she simply didn't have the energy to sob, to scream, or to punch anyone out of anger.

Everything in the world, every care or feeling, was entirely gone from her now.

Maybe her father was right. Maybe she should've never left the vault.

It was all good fun for the longest time, running all over the wasteland and starting adventures wherever they went, making friends and enemies and saving each other's lives on countless different occasions.

And if not for Charon, Sandra most assuredly wouldn't have made it this far.

But this—this, here and now—was the hard, merciless, and dark reality of the world, the one freshly and painfully imprinting itself on her, the one Charon had known all along.

After the funeral, Elder Lyons began talking about rebooting Liberty Prime and sending another assault to take out the remnants of the Enclave, but Sandra didn't want any part of it.

She walked out of the Citadel without saying a word. Mr. Burke, Fawkes, and Thrash all followed her back to Megaton, and she didn't speak to any of them the entire way.

Bryan stayed behind, after having expressed a lot of interest in joining the Brotherhood of Steel, intent on killing all of the Enclave soldiers left in the Capital. He wanted to avenge those lost.

But Sandra didn't care anymore.

With Charon gone, nothing mattered.

"What're you doing?" Mr. Burke asked after they reached Sandra's Megaton home.

Sandra packed only her essential belongings, then headed for the door.

Mr. Burke blocked her path.

"You can't go out alone again," he told her. "Please..."

"I love you guys." Sandra gave him a weak, one-armed hug. "You and Fawkes look after this town."

Then—she nudged Mr. Burke aside and marched out of her home for the final time.

When she left Megaton, she didn't bother looking back, nor did she skim over the map on her pip-boy.

Usually, Charon would keep track of where they were going because Sandra would often forget to. But now, she'd just have to go wherever the wind would take her, and she'd just have to hope she didn't run into too much trouble along the way.

Sandra took a last glance at the ominous Capital Wasteland from afar.

From the inside, it always looked adventurous, captivating, and even beautiful in some places.

From the outside, however, it appeared as bleak as ever.

This place, despite the many adventures had here, was the end result of a senseless war, a war that had ended with many people dying meaningless deaths—and now, she knew about war all too well, and she felt as if she was seeing the wasteland clearly for the very first time.

There were probably plenty of unnamed heroes back then, too. People who had made a difference, people who did something wonderful for humanity—but because of the Great War, because of their dying before their time, and because of someone else's greed or lust for power—many nameless heroes of that time died before anyone could thank them.

Just like Charon.

The Enclave had started a war with the rest of humanity, and Charon fell victim to that war—much like the entire world fell victim to the Great War two hundred years ago.

It simply wasn't fair.

Sandra lost the two most important people in the world to her, all because of the pointless, horrible wars that were waged around her, by the Enclave, by the super mutants, by the raiders... and it never seemed to change. No matter which war it was, who it involved, what weapons were used or what reasons it was waged—not a single thing about it ever seemed to change at all.

Inevitably, each time—the ending was always like this.

Sandra wandered into the unknown wasteland outside of the Capital, mulling over her terrible thoughts as she did.

Her father and Charon were gone forever, just because of war...

And war never changes, Sandra knew. So I guess I have to change instead.