Got a pretty long chapter for you today, so I hope you enjoy it.
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Courier Six POV
…
I opened my eyes, yet I only saw darkness.
For a second, I thought I might have gone blind. Luckily, that theory was quickly disproven when I held my hand in front of my face. However, another problem arose from It.
I wasn't wearing my armor.
I quickly reached down to touch my face. Instead of cold metal, I was met with the feeling of flesh.
Not only that, but that flesh felt smooth, which is not usually how scars feel.
I began to sit up and examine my surroundings. Or I would, if there were any surroundings to examine.
When I looked left and right, I simply saw more void expanding into the distance. Then, I noticed something else.
I was wet.
I stood up and looked at the ground beneath me. It was all water, and that water extended as far as the void itself. It was only up to my ankles, but it completely soaked my back.
I looked back into the water and noticed that I could see my reflection. I quickly kneeled and examined my face.
The first thing I noticed was that almost all of my scars were gone. The only remaining ones could be found on the left side of my head. Two long & slightly cylindrical lines that started at the side of my forehead and ended slightly past my temple and above my ear.
Benny. Those were from Benny.
The second thing I noticed was my slightly shorter hair. It soon became clear that I was looking at the younger version of myself. Specifically, right after I left Goodsprings. I could also see that I was wearing a simple Brahmin Skin outfit.
I felt around on my face a bit more before finally looking back up. I immediately fell back on my ass, because I saw something I wasn't expecting.
Joe Cobb and his group of Powder Gangers stood about 10 feet away from me.
"W-What the fuck!? Cobb? What the hell are you doing here? I fucking killed you!" I immediately stood and tried to draw a weapon, but I had none on me, and I didn't have my Pip-Boy either.
Cobb just stared at me, and so did his gang.
I walked forward and grabbed his collar. The moment I did, my vision went dark.
It stopped a few seconds later, and now I was laying in the water again. I instantly stood up, but I then felt something off. I looked down to see that I was now wearing leather armor. I knelt down to the water again to see a few small scars dotted across my face, as well as a cowboy hat atop my head.
I blinked, and noticed the reflection of another person appear a few feet away from me. I looked up to be met with one of the first people I killed without a second thought.
Vulpes Inculta.
He was backed by his merry group of legionaries. I noticed Joe Cobb and his group now standing a bit farther away.
"You... You piece of shit!" I reached down to my hip and felt the grip of a .357 Magnum Revolver. I pulled it out of its holster, took aim a Vulpes' head, and fired.
Everything went dark again.
I once again opened my eyes on the floor. When I stood, I was now wearing the Desert Ranger Combat Armor, previously owned by Randall Dean Clark. I took off my helmet and examined my reflection once more. This time, the scars were much more apparent. I also had a bit of a beard growing, though it looked weird due to a large and thick scar running from my cheekbone to my chin, likely caused by a Ripper.
When I looked up this time, there were quite a few more people.
Driver Nephi, Violet, Cook-Cook, and Motor-Runner were the first ones I saw. They were surrounded by large groups of fiends. Next to them were Jessup & company, who died at Boulder City. I looked around and examined some of the lone people.
Jeannie May Crawford, Salt-Upon-Wounds, Father Elijah, Christine Royce, & Orris were a few that I noticed. I also saw a bunch of different raiders and wastelanders scattered about.
However, one person stood out from the rest. An unforgettable mixture of black & white topped with a smug grin that was seemingly stuck on his face.
Benny.
Fucking Benny.
"... What the hell do you want from me?" I didn't address the question to anyone, but rather the void itself. Unsurprisingly, I got no response.
Or, I thought I didn't, until I began to hear something. It sounded like rising voices, slowly getting louder and louder.
I soon recognized the voices to be those of the people surrounding me.
Jeannie's final shout before Boone took her head off.
Salt-Upon-Wounds begging me to convince Joshua to let him live.
Elijah, slowly rotting away in the Sierra Madre's vault.
Cook-Cook, screaming as I pulled him limb from limb.
But one voice was louder than the rest. It echoed throughout my ears, and covering them wouldn't stop it.
"...Maybe Khans kill people without lookin' them in the eye, but I ain't a fink, dig?..."
"...You've made your last delivery, kid. Sorry you got twisted up in this scene..."
"...From where you're kneeling, it must seem like an 18-carat run of bad luck..."
"...Well, truth is..."
"...The game was rigged from the start..."
**BANG**
Darkness.
I awoke again in the water. I could tell what I was wearing before I even looked down.
My Elite Riot Gear.
I repeated the actions of removing my helmet and viewing my reflection, though I already knew what I would see.
My face looked horrible. I was covered in scars and burns, and my skin had been stained red. I almost looked like a ghoul.
I traced some of the newer scars, remembering each one. A few from Deathclaws, one from a Tunneler, and a whole slew of bullet scrapes and knife cuts.
I put my helmet back on and raised my head, expecting another large group of people I killed.
Surprisingly, I didn't see anyone at first. Until I turned around, that is.
Three figures stood in front of me. Three figures that I had not seen for a long time, and had hoped to never see again.
Veronica, Boone, and Cass.
"I... No, no... I didn't..." I couldn't form any words. I stumbled backwards.
The voices rose again, but they were much clearer now.
"Yeah! An adventure!" Veronica.
"Well, Six? Are we gonna get going or not?" Boone.
"Y'know, friends like you make this wasteland that much more bearable." Cass.
"S-Stop... Please..." My body and voice felt weak. I felt tears forming in my eyes.
"Hey, Six!? Are you okay!? What's going on with you?" Veronica.
"Please..." I fell onto my knees.
"Six, what the fuck are you doing!? Stop!" Boone.
"Stop..." I used my hands and knees to support myself and stared at my reflection in the water, but it seemed redder than before.
"Six... Why? What did we do...?" Cass.
"I SAID TO FUCKING STOP, GOD DAMN IT!" I rushed forward and reared back my fist. Just milliseconds before it would connect with Boone's face, I was engulfed in darkness.
…
…
[Human Village]
Expecting the feeling of the cold water, I instead was gifted the comfort of a bed. That comfort didn't help with the aftereffects of what I just experienced, though.
I slowly raised my body, the bed creaking under my weight. I immediately clutched the sides of my head, as it felt like my skull was trying to split itself open. "Damn, Miss Keine hits hard."
I waited for the pain to subside before I stumbled over to the door of the room I was sleeping in.
I opened it and was greeted by the hallway of the school. Judging by the light shining through the windows, it seemed to be around noon. Checking my Pip-Boy, I confirmed my suspicions, as the clock read 12:46pm.
I slowly walked down the hallways, keeping my hand on the wall to support myself. Eventually, I could walk on my own and picked up the pace.
I eventually came upon a sliding door that I remember leading to the lounge that Keine KO'd me in. I heard voices behind the door. I could recognize Keine's, along with two others. One sounded a bit like Marisa, and the other was familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint it.
I slid the door open and now identified the people behind it. There was Keine and Marisa, like I had guessed. The other voice I recognized was revealed to be that Reimu girl. There was also a fourth girl, Mokou, but she didn't seem interested in the conversation the others were having. They were all seated on their knees at a small table near the center of the room.
"Oh, hey, Six!" Marisa was the first one to greet me. "Uh, you feeling okay?"
"Nope." I answered dryly.
"O-Oh... Uhm..." Keine stood up, walked over to me, and bowed. "S-Sorry for hitting you so hard... I got a little mad and wasn't thinking before I acted."
"Don't sweat it." I waved her off. "Think of it as an achievement, because you're now one of the 3 people in existence who have been able to knock me out like that." I chuckled.
Keine raised her head. "Oh, uh... T-Thanks?"
"Wait, Keine knocked you out?" Reimu spoke finally.
"I-It was an accident!" Keine turned to face her and waved her arms. "I was mad at him, and headbutted him a little harder than I should have..." She looked flustered.
"If that was just a 'little harder' than you should've, then I'm afraid to see what happens when you're serious." I laughed a bit. The events of my "nightmare" still lingered in the back of my mind, but talking to people is helping distract me from it. "So, what're ya'll talking about?" Keine and I walked over to the table, and while she got back into that odd kneeling position, I simply squatted.
"We came over here to question Keine about some weird developments around Gensokyo recently." Reimu answered.
"Yeah, some weird creatures have been showin' up around the place lately. Especially in the Forest of Magic." Marisa cut in.
"...Really? What kinda creatures?" I questioned.
"We were able to subdue and catch one earlier. We're keeping it at my shrine." Reimu answered again.
"Ya mind if I come and take a look? I have a little suspicion on what might be going on." I didn't really want this to be the reality, but I had to make sure.
"I mean, sure. You should probably start going now, since we'll be done in a few minutes." Reimu waved me off.
I stood and walked over to the front door. "Yeah, sure."
Keine spoke up. "Are you sure you'll be okay, Six?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine. You seriously don't need to worry about me so much. I can hold my own." I gave a small wave back at them before I shut the door. "See ya'll later."
I made my way over to the front gate, where I was once again greeted by the old guard.
"Leaving so soon again? Are you sure you ain't trying to get killed?" The man raised his eyebrow at me.
"Relax, I ain't going too far, just to the 'Hakurei Shrine' or whatever."
"Heh, alright, that isn't very far away." He signaled for one of the other guards to open the gate. "Still, stay safe out there, brother. And come back soon; wouldn't want Keine to actually kill you this time." He chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm well aware." I walked through the gate and waved back at him. "Seeya soon."
"Seeya." He waved back before the gate fully closed and I could no longer see him.
This trek will be a lot shorter than the other ones, so I'm not too worried.
…
…
5 Minutes Later
[Hakurei Shrine]
"Who... put down... all these... fucking stairs." I panted as I climbed the steps to the Hakurei shrine. The trek was not long, but these stairs certainly are.
I fell down onto my hands and knees after I reached the top to catch my breath. When I recovered, I looked up to see the moderately sized shrine sitting in the center of a small clearing surrounded by trees.
"Finally..." I walked over to a large tree sitting next to the shrine and sat down next to it to rest.
At first it seemed fine, but then I noticed something odd. Every 10 or so seconds, I'd feel a little thud on the top of my helmet. I looked up to see something I wasn't expecting.
There was a little girl with long orange hair sleeping on a branch above me. The first thing I noticed was that she had two large horns coming out the sides of her head. She also had an odd set of chains connected to a belt around her waist.
The thing I felt dropping on my head was, in fact, her drool. I wiped the top of my helmet with my glove. "Gross..." I flicked it off.
I stood up and looked at her for a few moments. Good thing I did, because I noticed something else.
She's about to slip off the branch she's on.
A few seconds after I realized this, she fell off.
"Oh, shit!" I quickly ran over and caught her body before it hit the ground. "Whew, that was close."
After I caught her, she began stirring awake.
"Huh... Wuh, Reimu~... Is that you?" She slowly reached up and grabbed my collar.
"Uh, no. I'm not Reimu." I pulled her hand off, but it required way more force than it should've for a child this size.
"Awwwwww~. Who're ya then?" She slipped herself out of my arms and landed on her feet.
"Name's Six. Are you... uh... Are you drunk?" She definitely didn't seem sober.
"Yup! My name's Suika Ibuki~!" She held out her hand to shake, but it kept wobbling left to right. I eventually caught it, and she gave a very firm handshake. "So, what're ya doin' here?"
"Waiting for Reimu and Marisa to get here." I released her hand.
"Really? Why?" She took a moment to drink out of a weird container that was attached to her hip
"Said that they've been having a problem with weird creatures showing up around Gensokyo. Thought that I might be able to help." I shrugged. "Also, what's in that thing you're drinking out of?" I pointed to the container she carried.
"Sake!" She held it out to me. "Want some?"
"What's 'sake'?" I scratched the back of my neck.
"What?! You don't know what sake is?!" She yelled. "Ok, now you have to try it!" She grabbed my hand and yanked me onto the floor.
"Woah!" I faceplanted. I quickly picked myself up and kneeled next to her. She was strong.
"Here!" She held the container in front of my face. I grabbed it out of her hands and uncapped it. "Come on, don't be shy~!" She tilted the thing a bit in my hands.
"Alright, alright, I know." I lifted my mask to reveal my mouth and placed the thing to my lips. Almost instantly, a strange liquid flowed out of the container. It burned my mouth and felt suspiciously like alcohol. I quickly pulled it away and coughed repeatedly.
"Agh, fuck!" I wiped my mouth with my sleeve. "Is this alcohol?"
"Yep!" She replied enthusiastically.
"Are you even old enough to drink this?" I gestured to the alcohol container.
"I may look young, but I'm way older than you think, cause I'm an Oni! Thought the horns would give it away, but I guess not." She shrugged.
"I'll ask about it later..." I sighed before trying again. This time, I didn't cough and let it flow freely. After the initial burning subsided, it didn't even taste half bad.
I pulled the thing away. "Huh, this is actually pretty good." I pulled my mask back down. "What's this thing it's in though?"
"Uhh, a gourd? You never seen one before?" She took the "gourd" back from me.
"I'm not really from around here, so no, I haven't." I stood back up from my kneeling position.
"Wait, then where are you from?" Suika looked at me quizzically.
"Outside. Or, I think I am. I need to discuss that with Reimu when she gets here." I walked over and sat on the porch of the shrine.
"Really? You're an outsider? You don't look like most of the ones I've seen. Well, at least that explains why you don't know anything!" She laughed and sat down next to me. "So, when did you and Reimu meet?"
"Like, two days ago." I pulled my leg up to my chest and rested my arm on it.
"Seriously? And she's already accepting your help? Things must be pretty bad, then." She laid back. "Speaking of, I think that's them." She pointed her finger into the sky. I looked up and saw two figures flying through the sky.
Damn, wish I could do that.
Soon after, Reimu and Marisa landed in front of us.
"Hey, Six." Marisa was, once again, the first to greet me. "I see that you already met Suika."
"Hey, listen to this: Six didn't know what sake was! I let him use my gourd and he said he liked it." Suika leaned forward.
"Wait, really?" Reimu spoke this time. "Six, where exactly are you from?" She looked at me.
"I was gonna discuss that with you in a minute. First, show me this creature you captured." I stood up.
"Hm, okay, follow me." Reimu began walking around the back of the shrine. I promptly followed her, as did Marisa and Suika.
When we got to the surprisingly large backyard, Reimu led us over to an object covered by a tarp.
"This is the cage we're keeping it in." She grabbed the edge of the tarp and yanked it off, revealing the creature inside.
The creature itself looked like an amphibian. It had two large fins behind the sides of its head, and two large orange eyes. It stood on two legs and held its arms slightly in front of its chest. Its skin was scaly, and looked to be a mixture of blue and purple, with a brownish color on the front of the torso. It was hunched over, slightly fidgeting.
I immediately recognized the creature as a Gecko, commonly found around the Mojave. This one seemed to just be a normal weak Gecko.
"Holy fuck..." I walked up to the cage. When the Gecko saw me, it rushed forward and tried to scratch at me, but I was out of its range. It resorted to just biting at the bars it was stuck behind.
"Woah! Six, do you recognize it?" Reimu questioned me.
"Yep, I recognize it all too well. This here..." I pointed to it. "...is what we wastelanders call a 'Gecko'." It finally settled down and sat down at the edge of the cage, looking dejected. "Is this the only creature you've seen?" I asked Reimu.
"No, there's a lot more. This one's just the only one we captured."
"Hm. When exactly did they start showing up?"
"Around two weeks ago." Reimu answered. "Why? Do you know something?"
I sighed. "I believe I might." I took the tarp and covered the cage. "Come on, you're gonna want to sit for this." I walked over to the back porch, and heard the others following. I took a seat, and soon the others sat next to me.
"What's got you all serious, Six?" Marisa asked me a question when she sat down.
"I... I don't believe that I come from the same outside you guys are thinking of." I decided to just be blunt.
"Huh?" Reimu had a questioning look on her face. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that whatever is 'outside' of this barrier everyone keeps talking about... It's not my home. I don't think I've ever been there."
"What? How is that even possible?" Marisa looked confused now.
"Well, here, let me ask you a question: What year is it?"
"Like, in Gensokyo?" Reimu still looked confused.
"No, on the outside."
"Last time I checked, we should be around 2020 or so. Why?"
I sighed and put my head in my hands. "Last time I checked, it was 2284."
"...What?" Marisa spoke.
"Over 200 years ago, a war broke out between China and the United States. It escalated more and more, until the bombs fell. The world went up in flames, and hardly anybody survived. It happened long before I was born, so I don't really know any specifics."
"What do you mean by 'the bombs'?" Reimu questioned.
"Nukes. We're in Japan, so surely you must have learned about Hiroshima & Nagasaki. Instead of just two cities, they dropped them across the entire world."
"...By the gods, that sounds horrible!" Reimu almost shouted. "How did anybody survive?"
"Vaults, underground bases, luck, you name it. I guess humanity just really doesn't like fucking off and dying." I chuckled dryly.
"Does this mean the creatures we've been seeing are...?" Marisa started speaking.
"From the wasteland I come from. The Mojave Desert in Nevada, to be specific. Of course, there might be other creatures from other wastelands, but that Gecko is definitely a Mojave staple." I pointed to the covered cage.
"That brings up another question..." Reimu started speaking again. "How did you get here, Six?"
"Some hole full of eyes swallowed me up and spat me out in the middle of the forest."
"...Yukari..." Reimu sighed. "Did she bring these creatures here too?"
"Yukari? Who's that?" I questioned.
"A thorn in my side..." Reimu sighed again. "You've been a big help, Six. Now, we at least have a lead on who to interrogate." She stood up. "You can head back to the village if you want."
"I'm gonna do just that." I stood, along with Marisa. Suika somehow fell asleep. "If you ever need help with anything, come and get me, yeah? I know quite a bit about the many monsters of the wasteland." I stretched.
"We'll probably do that. In the meantime, just stay safe, okay?" Reimu smiled for once.
"Yeah, you too." I began walking off to the front of the shrine. "See you girls later." I waved.
"Bye, Six!" Marisa waved back at me, but Reimu already went inside her shrine.
I reached the large red arch-thing that had the stairs below it. I looked back one more time before I began my descent.
…
5 Minutes Later
[Human Village]
I made it back to the village and was once again greeted by the old man. We simply exchanged hello's and I continued walking. I decided to have a walk around the area before I headed to Keine's place.
I passed by a multitude of shops. I saw bookstores, food stands, restaurants, and many niche stores. I thought about buying something, before I remembered that I had no money.
"I forgot to get my payment from Keine..." I sighed.
I continued walking until I came upon a store that stood out from the rest. It was a brightly colored flower shop, and it seemed to be the only one in the entire village. I walked up to the glass and examined the flowers on display.
"Huh, maybe I'll come back here." I'd always liked to read pre-war books about the nature and wildlife.
As I began to walk away, I heard the door to the shop open. I turned around out of curiosity, but I immediately wished I hadn't.
I was met with a familiar parasol and set of short green hair.
"Oh~. Fancy seeing you here." Yuuka smiled at me.
I sighed. "...For fuck's sake."
So here we are, and finally with an actual conflict.
I'm not fully versed in the Fallout lore, so if you saw any inconsistencies or incorrect things in Six's explanation, please let me know. Also, if you can think of any characters I should've mentioned during the nightmare, tell me.
That's all I got to say, so see you later.
Adeus