Chapter II

I looked up at the sky as Charon and I walked out of the metro tunnels. It seemed like we had been walking for ages in there, but my Pip-Boy said it was still the same day as when we'd entered. It always seemed like an endless walk in those tunnels, so I wasn't surprised.

I crouched in a corner, wordlessly checking my location. My Pip-Boy said I was at Anacostia Crossing. How I'd ended up here when I'd been aimlessly wandering was a mystery, but those metro tunnels were so mazelike that it was nearly impossible not to get lost anyway.

"No danger here," I said to Charon with a grin as I stood up and brushed my hair away from my face.

"I'm already aware of that," he replied from the top of the stairs, clutching the head of a Talon Mercenary in one hand and his combat knife in the other.

I frowned, then walked up the stairs and began to rummage through the dead merc's belongings. Nine bottle caps, an empty Jet inhaler, and a pair of leather gloves. I pocketed the caps and slid the gloves into my satchel. A bad haul, to say the least.

Biting my lip, I looked up at the sky and was dismayed to see that it was close to dusk.

"Charon," I began, my eyelids growing heavy already, "I've been up for a few days now, and it's extremely dangerous to be outside at night. Let's go back in the metro and find a place to sleep."

"As you wish," he replied, his footsteps heavily falling behind mine as I descended the stairs once again.

I poked my head in a few rooms, finding nowhere safe enough for us to sleep without being easy targets for any Raider who passed through.

Charon grabbed my forearm gently, his rotten skin's touch a new kind of sensation for my own. Rough, cold as death on my sunburns and scrapes, yet there was a softness behind his touch, as if he were wary of doing something so bold. He hesitantly pulled his hand away, "Why not sleep in the ticket booth? You'd be safe, and I could keep watch easily."

I nodded sleepily and unrolled my sleeping bag, using my pack as a pillow. As I closed my eyes, I mumbled, "Charon, why haven't you asked for my name yet?"

"Do you wish for me to know your name?" he replied, sitting propped against the ticket booth's doorway.

"I'm Kaori. Kaori Vance," I said, then patted the spot next to me, "You should sleep, too. You aren't any good to me without rest, and vice versa."

"That is not covered in my contract," he replied.

"This isn't about the contract, it's about my concern for my friend," I sat up to look at him sternly.

What remained of the skin on his face flushed red, "Those quarters look a little too close for comfort... Kaori."

"Or perhaps it's the most comfortable closeness we need," I giggled before rolling over. "I'm just messing with you, Charon. I thought you'd sleep better if you could lie down is all."

"Thank you, but I am fine sleeping here," he said, regaining his poker face.

"As you wish," I said, my consciousness fading a few moments later.

. . .

My eyes shot open several hours later, the world around me hazy and disorienting. I sat up and rubbed my eyes, yawning widely.

To my surprise, I saw that Charon was awake and sitting exactly as he was when I'd fallen asleep, his back against the doorway of the ticket booth. I stared at him for a minute before his cloudy blue eyes lazily rolled as he sighed.

"I was awake all night keeping watch," he muttered, his eyes focused on the shotgun in his lap as if it were more important than the world around him.

"Why did you-"

He nodded toward something outside the ticket booth, "Them."

I leaned across him to peek outside and my hands slipped in a puddle of fresh blood. I fell forward, bashing my chin on the floor with a hollow thud, feeling Charon's legs tense underneath me.

"Be careful," he mumbled, and attempted to help me up.

"Hang on," I slurred, my tongue thick and painful. I tasted blood, but ignored it as I knocked on the floor. I grinned at the sound that greeted me in response.

"What are you doing, Kaori?"

"It's a floor safe!"

Already, my hands had produced a screwdriver and bobby pin from my pockets. I began to manipulate the lock, feeling the tumblers click within a few seconds. Breathless, I opened the little door and pulled the contents out.

A little golden pocket watch greeted me, still shiny and polished despite the many years it had lain forgotten in the safe.

A wide smile spread across my face as I gently tucked the watch into my satchel, "Well Charon, looks like we're paying a visit to my employer."