A/N: I've already written a couple of chapters, so i'll post them in one sitting. I'm lazy.... tired, and have midterms bulldozing my way like a tidal wave.... doesn't make sense, but i don't feel like making any sense at the moment.
Chapter 2: It never ends
Her world had gone black after all that. And she thought she had died. It was obvious what was the outcome of the decision that she made. She had accepted it, though maybe not embracing it. Yet, her mind seemed to find it odd how she can still manage to form articulate, and profound deductions when she was suppose to be dead. Maybe in the afterlife, everything would be clearer. But what she did not expect, was a dull pain that she was feeling practically everywhere on her body. It was a pain that she could clearly feel, yet not make out what it was exactly. And soon, more sensations began to wash over her. Stiffness, exhaustion, she could hear sounds, people talking, and a strange constant beep.
And she could feel herself being heavy-... wait. Feel? She knew at that moment that something was wrong. Feeling was not exactly part of death, was it? She never faced death, maybe stared at it straight on and give it her finger, but she never actually experienced death. And with all of this mental processes still going on debating about theories of death, she couldn't actually be dead, could she? That was when she forced her eyes to open, and surely, they did.
Though she closed them almost immediately when a glare was staring down straight into her pupils. But slowly she grew accustomed to the light, and opened her eyes. She seemed to be looking at something grey in colour. She wasn't exactly sure what it was at first, till her mind slowly began to to recieve information from her other body parts and put those information together. She was lying down on a bed, not a very comfortable one, but a bed nonetheless. The beeping sound was a machine next to the bed, with a whole bunch of long wires dangling down and attached to her.
The grey that she saw at first was recognized to be the ceiling. But where was she? And how did she get here? As if on cue, she heard the footsteps of someone walking towards her. Those footsteps sound heavy. Then, a rather familiar face appeared before her. With rose coloured cheeks, and her blonde hair tied up into a bun, Sarah Lyons smiled down on her.
"Hey there."
She tried to open her mouth to speak, but her throat felt dry and coarse.
"Try not to do much. You've gotten yourself pretty banged up good this time. Personally, i would be screaming at you on what the heck were you thinking, but the doctor made sure i cooled my head before i came in here. Said something about not stressing you out."
Sarah gave a wink, and all she could manage to reply, was to form a smile.
"Well, you might want to know how you managed to survive, and i would like to know the answer to that as well. After you collapsed, that big friend of yours barged in and pulled you out before too much damage was dealt. I don't know how your friend knew, but he said that he was told that you were in danger, so he came barging in. After that, we treated you immediately for severe radiation sickness, and brought you here. The doctor said you would have some damage to your kidneys and stomach, most of which he tried to repair, though he remarked that you were extremely lucky to survive at all."
She managed another smile, though this one was more tired than the first. Exactly, how did she survive?
"You're one lucky girl, you know that? The doctor said you would recover within three weeks after you awake. Oh yeah, you've been out for a whole month. Doctor Li was so stressed and frantic that i thought she would pull out all of her hair. And she has paced around in circles outside your door enough times that there was a permenant mark on the floor. Well, she's going to be happy that you're awake now. You worried all of us, and i nearly had a heart-attack when you did what you did. At least you're still with us. You've got a lot of fans waiting, you know. Shouldn't disappoint them with you suddenly giving up on us."
Sarah noticed that her eyelids were getting heavily, and the Sentinel smiled.
"I'll let you get some rest then. The next time you wake, make sure to stay awake."
Maybe she would do that. A month asleep is more than what a body can handle, though just a bit more wouldn't hurt. With that, darkness engulfed her once more.
It wasn't clear how long she stayed unconscious, as everything seemed to happen within the next second. Her eyes groggily opened, and she came to see the same grey ceiling. Her body was still feeling heavy and numb, but at least she could figure that out. She closed her eyes, and tried to force her mind to reestablish nerve connections to the rest of her body. Maybe she shouldn't be doing this, but she didn't want to be helpless. Nothing good came out of being helpless was a lesson she learnt from the wastelands. Soon, she could feel her fingers and toes, though it would seem that most of her muscles were dead, or non-responsive. She opened her eyes once more, and this time tried to coordinate her hands to push herself up. Once more, her muscle responses were somewhat flat. After struggling for awhile, she gave up trying to get herself to sit up.
"Don't push yourself."
She turned to the voice, and saw another familiar face. It wasn't Sarah, but the other Paladin. Star Paladin Cross, if she remembered correctly. The older dark skinned woman tenderly helped her up.
"You certainly do know how to push yourself too far. Reckless, very much like your father was."
Paladin Cross had a rather complex expression on her face. Part of it pained, and the other was relief.
"I should let the others know that you're awake."
Just as the paladin was about to leave, she stopped and turned back to her.
"I'm glad that at least one of the people i've sworn to protect is still alive."
Paladin Cross left the room, leaving her to her own thoughts. While she knew that she was being unreasonable, and extremely reckless back then, she did not really think how much others would be affected. Soon, a whole bunch of people came into the small clinic, over-crowding the place. Most of them were Brotherhood of Steel members, but there were a couple of surprises. Like Three-Dog, the disc Jockey from the Galaxy News Radio.
Most of them wanted to say thanks, slap her back, get her autograph, and all sorts of other weird things. She received five proposals for marriages as well, though she wasn't really listening. Soon, Doctor Madison Li chased everyone who wasn't really involved out. All who were left, were Doctor Li, Sarah, Fawkes, the Brotherhood's doctor, and Elder Lyons. Dogmeat was there as well, though Sarah was trying to keep him away from jumping onto her bed and licking her senseless.
"How is her condition?"
Doctor Li asked the Brotherhood's doctor, who was checking on her vitals, shining lights into her eyes among all sorts of other things.
"Hmm, well, she looks fine. But i don't think she should be jumping straight out just yet. Let me run a few more tests before i can safely discharge her."
"Alright."
As the Brotherhood's doctor moved aside, Doctor Li took a seat by her bed, and held her hand tightly. Clearly the doctor hasn't had a good rest as evident from her face. Worn and weary, Doctor Li had definitely seen better hair days. She opened her mouth to speak, but her voice would not come to her. Her throat was too dry. Sarah sensed what was wrong, and took out a canteen from her belt.
"Here, water. Is it alright, doctor?"
Sarah turned to the Brotherhood's Doctor, who nodded.
"It should be fine, though her body may reject it initially."
Sarah helped place the canteen against her lips, and soon, she felt the cooling sensation wash into her mouth. But the moment it tried to go down her throat, she felt sick, and threw up on the otherside of the bed.
"There we go.... i just had the floor cleaned yesturday too."
The Brotherhood's doctor sighed. Madison Li took a hankerchief and wiped her mouth clean.
"Take it easy. You don't need to rush anything."
Madison said. It felt strange to her though, since the first time she met Madison Li, the doctor was not all too happy, or kind. While she wasn't stupid not to notice that something happened between her father and Madison, she didn't really know the entire story. And so when faced with the current Madison Li, she felt rather confused, and disturbed. Madison seemed to notice her uneasiness, and sighed.
"I know that i was harsh, and tried to push you away in the past. But... after we lost James, i thought that all would be lost. I mean, James was an important person to the project, but he was an important person to me personally as well."
Now it made sense to her.
"... Yu... You..."
She managed to get a word out, but it still felt odd. She cleared her throat, and tried again.
"You.... loved... my father... didn't you?"
Madison closed her eyes for the moment, before she nodded.
"Yes, i did. I... i felt envious of your mother, Catherine, when James chose her. Of course, i never really expressed my feelings to James, so he wouldn't know. That man was denser than a Murlurk. Still, i loved him, yes. But i also hoped for his marriage to Catherine to be a success. Catherine was my best friend, and so you, the child of Catherine and James, came to represent... my jealousy. I tried to push that thought away initially, and when Catherine died, i was devastated. I kept thinking that i was such a horrid friend to bear ill will towards her.
And so i pushed your existence even further, not wanting to face my guilt. I thought i didn't have to deal with it any longer, till you came back, looking for James. While you look alot like James, i could see Catherine in you, and so i was scared... Tried so hard to push you away. James's death woke me up, that now you have nobody. That maybe my own jealousy had caused all of this."
She held onto Madison's hand, shaking her head.
"No.... you weren't... wrong."
"I know that, but the guilt would not stop tormenting me. And then when you nearly died, i thought my world would collapse. You are the child of two of the most important people in my life. I should never have abandoned you, never asked you to do such dangerous things. From now onwards, we will stay together... as a family."
She cocked her head sideways, unsure of what that meant.
"I may not be able to replace Catherine or James, but i hope that you would allow me to take care of you like how your parents would have."
She stared into Madison's eyes and she knew that Madison was determined. While she did miss her parents, she did not know what to expect from this offer. She was already a grown women, or at least in the eyes of the Vault dwellers. But she did miss the comfort of having a parent around. Someone to talk to when in doubt about anything. Maybe her parents wanted this. Who knows. She smiled, and nodded.
"Alright... Madison."
"Thank you... though i would have preferred being called 'mom'. Maybe that was asking too much for now."
Madison laughed weakly, wiping away her tears. Elder Lyons then gave a slight cough, turning all of the attention to him.
"While i hate to break up a tender moment, i'm afraid that time does not allow us to sit here in comfort. If i may, Madison."
While Madison shot Elder Lyons a look, she stepped aside. Elder Lyons stood before her bed, standing in a rather formal position. She knew immediately that something was happening, or at least going to happen.
"First off. I would like to congratulate you on your bravery and dedication in ensuring the survival of the human race. From discovering the source of the Super Mutants, to creating your father's dream. I'm sure he would be proud of you. However this isn't over. During the month you were unconscious, many things had taken place. Firstly, though we have started Project Purity, and ensuring it works properly, we lack the soldiers to have an efficient parametre secured. The Enclave are still trying to push their luck by launching skirmishes and sneak attacks. So far we've been lucky, but our troops' morale are wearing thin. It wouldn't be another two months before the entire basin of water is pure enough to drink, and till then, we cannot allow the Enclave to get their hands on it."
Elder Lyons gave a pause, allowing all of that information to digest in her. Once he was sure she got it all, he continued.
"We have other problems as well. Although we know the source of the Super Mutants, we do not have enough people to launch an assault to storm the Vault. Your friend Fawkes has provided us with a very detailed map of the Vault so once we get inside, it should be no problem. Though another question arises from this, and that is-"
"Why are there more Super Mutants than the records can account for, right?"
She knew what Elder Lyons's concerns were. She too had felt that it was too awkward and strange. Elder Lyons smiled and nodded his head.
"You are indeed your father's child. Smart and well-learned. Indeed, we cannot find the answer to how the Vault alone can produce so many Super Mutants, especially since the Vault is no longer operational."
"When i was inside the Enclave base, the Enclave seem to be experimenting with many different life forms. I wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to create an army of Super Mutants to fight their battles for them. They've already made mind-controlling devices for the Death Claws and Yao Guai."
"That was what i thought as well, and if it is true, then we must find this additional Enclave base. While i do not wish to trouble you any longer, after all that you have done for the people of this place, i'm afraid i cannot turn to anyone else."
At that moment, Madison decided that she could tolerate it any longer, and taking up her 'gaurdian' role, stepping protectively before Elder Lyons.
"I won't allow her to go through any more hardships by herself! You said it yourself that she has done alot, and you know that the people of the capital Wastelands now owe her a dept they can never possibly repay!"
"Madison-"
"No! I will not allow it! I will not allow you to just send her off to her death-!"
Madison stopped when she tugged at her sleeve. Madison saw her shake her head slowly, and it greatly pained her to see that.
"But-"
"It's alright, i know how to take care of myself. Besides, i am the only one who can do this. I have the skills and experience, not to mention the knowledge of what to expect and find. Please... mom."
Madison bit her lip, and felt her resolve weaken greatly. Finally, she sighed, bending down to her eye level, brushing her bangs away from her face. Madison stared sadly into her eyes.
"You have to promise me.... promise me that you'll return, no matter what. You, the child of James and Catherine, must survive at all costs. You hear me?"
"Yes, i promise."
"Good."
Madison got back to her feet, and glared at Elder Lyons, before stepping aside once more. Elder Lyons smiled at the angry Madison, before facing her once more.
"Well, now that everything is clear, we need you to go out and scout out all possible places. We took the liberty of installing your Pip boy with a communicator, so you can contact us at anytime, using the GNR relays. Here."
Elder Lyons presented her with a familiar item. It was like a wrist computer, though somehow more useful than that. The memories flooded back to her. Her father, Amata, the Vault, her adventures. Everything came back so suddenly, she felt herself sway. Now wasn't the time for doubt, or reminiscing. As Elder Lyons said, there was still much to do. She took the PIP boy and put it back on her hand. It gave a familiar beep as she activated it. Exactly like before.
"Good. Looks like it still fits. Well, this is just the beginning. We're going to put you back into shape. Starting tomorrow, we will try to force your muscles to be active once more, so be prepared for the worst."
"... Bring it."