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Fallout 4 belongs to Bethesda Softworks.

She didn't remember Codsworth telling her to stay at the Red Rocket, all that she knew was that the dog was there with her. Keeping her mind occupied as it begged to be scratched and loved on. Her mind was completely filled with joy as she threw a piece of irradiated branch and watched as the dog fetched. Nora was okay letting Codsworth tell her what to do, he's been doing it since she was old enough to run.

So basically Nora trusted him more than anyone at the moment.

Her curiosity led her to explore the little station, and she pouted when she saw the leg of a Giddyup Buttercup. If only she could get the one from outside the vault then she would be close to getting one. Papa never let her have one, no matter how much she begged him.

Though Nora was very curious as to where Codsworth was; he had left in the early morning but it was already getting dark. She was very hungry and playing with the dog had lost its appeal very quickly. Instead she was messing around on the terminal in the station when she read that there was a little cave under the Red Rocket itself.

"Look doggie! Let's go explore," Nora cried out and the dog yipped at her happily.

It seemed like a good idea in her head to go and explore the cave, but when Nora finally found it she didn't seem as happy. Coupled with the dark and cold of the Commonwealth air and the ominous feeling from the cave; Nora didn't want to go in there any more. However, the dog was already bounding inside and Nora chased after him.

She scraped the weird brains of the walls and took a bite from one curiously before throwing away with a loud, "Bleh!" Her little shout had attracted the attention of the mole rats inside. Well, the few that were in there were shredded to bit by the dog and Nora could only scrounge around after the dog made sure it was all cleared out.

The green tinted air was making Nora feel nauseous and she kept coughing as the radiation got to her. But! There was a lot of stuff in here that Nora wanted, but she couldn't carry by herself.

"Hey doggie?" and the German Shepard perked up, "Can you get Codsworth please? I don't feel so good." That in itself was an exaggerated truth, but if Codsworth was here then she could take all this stuff with her. Like Nora needed that gold watch and fusion core. Her little backpack was filled to the brim with things as the dog ran out and Nora decided to sit down and lay against a broken Nuka Cola machine.

She kept rubbing her eyes as she waited for Codsworth and the dog, and her mouth was hurting a bit. Nora poked her gums and frowned at the bright red blood on her pinky finger. Okay, this wasn't fun anymore; she was actually getting sick and couldn't figure out why. "Papa," she whimpered out as she clutched her stomach.

Nothing she did to stop it from churning helped and the little girl finally vomited onto her cream dress. Her beautiful black hair was covered in irradiated gunk and the once laundered dress was a complete mess. If her Mommy was here she'd be having a fit; not only was Nora sick but her clothes were ruined. Her Papa would be the one that would pick her up, no matter if she vomited on him or herself, and would take care of her.

A sniffle escaped her when she heard the familiar sound of Codsworth's loud thruster and the crunch of boots on the stone.

"Oh dear! Miss Nora!" the was frantic when he took in the girl.

Her green eyes were stuck on the woman he brought in with him; her body was stiff and she looked ravaged. Her own black hair was messy and her accent funny, but Nora didn't care. All she saw was her Mommy, and she burst into tears. "Mommy!" she held her grimy hands up to the lady.

"What tha fuck is this? How in the world did you get all messy girl?" she asked but Nora didn't answer.

She couldn't answer, because if she opened her mouth one more time she would throw up again. The lady helped her by rubbing her back like Papa would and she cried silently. The hand under her backpack was comforting and lured Nora to sleep; giving the two time to double check for anything Nora may have left. Of course the woman was happy to see the various scrap that Nora stuffed into her bag.

Like really? Its hard enough to find a fusion core under normal circumstances, but a little kid does it on accident?

"Thank you Miss Long, I'm afraid that in the state Dogmeat was in I could have been able to do this."

"Yeah, yeah. Just keep walkin'."

When Nora came too there was a man in overalls standing in her room, messing around with a bunch of needles. And the best thing about Nora was that she hated needles. Seeing as he was too busy she slipped out of her bed and under it; when he turned back he was confused. "What in the heck?" and he stood there like an idiot with a weird purple needle.

"Fuck. Ahhh, hey uh? Hey Preston? Uh...Preston?" he yelled. All he got was no answer in return, "All right, just calm down. You got it Sturges," and he set the needle down before getting down on his knees to look under the bed. Nora was curled up there, looking at him with her big green eyes. "Oh fuck, heya there kiddo. You uh, you gonna come out?"

"No."

"Well alrighty then," and he waited a minute before asking, "How about now?"

"No."

"Okay, well. For this will you?" and he held out some pre-war money and bottlecaps that he found and she gulped. The young girl swiped the money from him and crawled out from under her bed. Her hair was still dirty and her dress was still covered in vomit, but he smiled at her as if that was the least of his problems. "Now, let's get you cleaned up kiddo. Took a ton of radiation in that cave Marcy got you from," and he picked up the needle again.

Nora shook her head, "No, I want Mommy and Papa; only Papa has the magic to make needles not scary."

Poor Sturges looked at her incredulously, "M-Magic?"

"Duh!" she said, as if he were dumb. Nora was amazed; he didn't know about Papa Magic! It was the only magic worth knowing about since it helped her cope with her fears. Did he not have a papa to do Papa Magic?

"I don't have Papa Magic," he said.

Nora turned up her nose, and no matter how much her tummy hurt she wasn't going to get a shot without Papa Magic. She walked over to her broken walls and looked out into what used to be her back yard. It was brown and dead and her Mommy would have a heart attack if she saw it looking like this! Sturges sighed; if she wouldn't take a nice shot to get rid of the radiation then RadAway it was.

"Fine, not shot since I can't do Papa Magic. I'm going to give you some RadAway, its nasty but it'll clean you up good," and from her dresser he took an orange looking pack. He handed it to her and said, "Remember, that shits consumable." She looked at it and tore a hole in it before sniffing it and recoiling. Sturges only laughed before leaving the girl's room; leaving her to suffer by herself.

She just knew that she would be in so much trouble, for not listening to Codsworth and getting hurt because of it. Well, even though it was nasty the RadAway helped her tummy and made her feel better. Nora grimaced when she looked at her dress at her broken vanity mirror; the pretty cream was dulled with red from the Nuka Cherry and Radroach she ate.

"I need a bath," and after a second she blushed, "and the potty."

Even if she hated baths, Nora knew when she was beat; and being covered in irradiated gunk and vomit was her limit. She went to her dresser and found one of the rose dresses her Mommy bought her, a towel, underwear, and socks. Her padded feet pittered on the floor as she went to the living room, and found the woman that held her yesterday.

"Umm, excuse me?" and she turned to the girl from her spot on the couch.

"What do you want?" Marcy asked and Nora flinched before steeling herself.

"C-Can you help me?"

Marcy looked at the little girl in front of her; clutching two hundred year old clothes to her chest like they were hers. Acting as if the house were hers, but she swallowed her grief for a second. No, she was not going to belittle her. Marcy was going to help her, and for the first time since she lost her child she wasn't bitter. "Of course, what is it?", and Nora looked nervous.

"Mommy helps me bathe, but Mommy's gone. And I need the potty too," and Marcy was familiar with the tiptoeing of children and nodded. She lifted Nora into her arms, not caring once about the dried vomit.

Nora dug her head into Marcy's neck as they passed people she didn't know and looked up when she stopped. In front of her there was a guy in a nice colonial hat that she saw with her Papa in the Museum of Freedom. He looked like on of those people about minutes, and he had a weird laser rifle on his back. She gasped and smiled at him.

"Minuteman!"

The man looked happy and tipped his hat at her, "Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minuteman. Ready at a moments notice."

"I'm Nora Williams! And I'm a ballerina in the Malden Middle School!" she said, remembering her mother's etiquette on how to address herself. Both of them looked confused as to what a ballerina was. "I'm looking for my friend Nate, have you seen him?" she asked them politely. Preston shook his head and gave her a sad smile.

"I'm afraid not, but Marcy will help you for now. Okay?" he asked.

She nodded at him and held onto Marcy as she settled Nora on her hip, "Oi Preston! I need one of them pre-war tubs cleared out and scrubbed down, then we need Sturges to bust his ass on a water pump for water. Got it?" and without waiting for an answer she trudged towards the irradiated river. Walking through houses and picking up odds and ends; like a fancy hairbrush and soap as well as a bucket.

"Its not exactly good to bathe in the river but until a bathtub gets set up its all you have kiddo."

Nora whined when her socks squelched in the mud, but she let Marcy help her out of her dress before filling a bucket with water. With a hand she covered Nora's eyes before pouring the water on her. "Here's the soap, just scrub it everywhere," and as Nora took her bath Marcy kept close. A 10mm was tucked into her waistband, ready to be used at any moment.

"Well fuck," she grumbled as she used some of the soap to clean the cream fabric. She scrubbed furiously at the stains and was happy to see that the red was coming out easier than she thought.

The rose dress was hanging off a broken fence post and some dry underwear sat with it. The towel was waiting to be used as Nora cleaned the goop out of her hair under Marcy's supervision. When she was clean she ran over to the towel and let Marcy dry her hair and body. She dressed up in the rose dress and let the woman tie her hair up after brushing it.

"Go play kiddo," and Nora gave her a hug before running up the path to Vault 111.

She needed to see something.

~.~.~.

The vault hadn't changed in the day that Nora had been gone, but she needed to know.

It hurt her a lot to walk back to the pods, to see that even when she left the pods open to her Mommy and Papa, that they were still cold and frozen. Her Papa was looking like there were still snowflakes in his black hair, and his eyes were alight in pain. The brown iris never moving again. Mommy was still pretty, even frozen Nora decided. Her brown hair was still stiff as the day that she got it done professionally, and her green eyes were closed.

Though the two were on the forefront of Nora's mind, she saw something that she thought she saw when she got released from her pod. It was Nate's necklace; the cold gold was stuck to the seat of Nate and his Daddy's pod. The Sole Survivor couldn't even look at Nate's Daddy, and quickly left the room. She walked to what looked like the kitchen/living area and took the Red Menace holotape.

It was something that she knew she would play later.

Nora sat down at the Overseer's chair and took out her Mommy and Papa's rings from her pocket; the gold glinted in the dull lighting. She undid the necklace and slid the wedding rings onto the necklace. Then she sat there staring at the golden bands and necklace; her memories of the happiness from before all this was prevalent in her mind.

The nights spent watching the Silver Shroud, or the meals that Mommy would make with Codsworth for Nora and Papa. Her Lily running around the backyard, chasing Nora around for a dog treat. Her Papa taking her to Red Rocket to buy some Nuka Cola to take to the Starlight Drive-In; the short visits to the Fraternal Post to see her Papa's friends. The freedom of speeding down the Mass Pike Interchange in her Papa's Corvega.

She took all of it for granted, and now that it was gone all Nora wanted was it back.

Sniffles followed by sobs ripped from her body as she allowed herself to grieve; her Papa would tell her that it was okay to cry. That all little girls like her cried every now and then and she didn't have anything to worry about. But that was the problem! Papa wasn't here to say that, and he had left his daughter alone in this world.

The new irradiated world of hers.

"Nora! Nora!" and she didn't look up and cried into her arms harder.

The musky scent told her that is wasn't Marcy that was down there with her, but the coat said that it was Preston. The minuteman was carefully redoing the necklace on slipping it over her head. He picked her up and held her close to him, "Oh Nora." She nuzzled her head against his neck and let the dark skin comfort her.

"Can you bury 'em?" she asked quietly, only letting his nod his head. The General was disgusted at the cryo pods filled with people, and by the looks of it they were all pre-war. Meaning that the little six year old in front of him was over two hundred and ten years of age. She stretched her legs and he set her down; letting Nora go to her Papa. "This is my Papa. He was a-a Sar-giant? Yeah, he was that in the United States Army," Nora told Preston, who nodded along with her.

The black haired girl went over to her Mommy, "She's my Mommy. She was a sciency person in Arc Jet." Then Nora went down the line; telling Preston about everyone in the once tight knit community of Sanctuary Hills. From the drug dealer (Nora didn't know what that was but Preston did) to the elderly grandparents that used to be around the Red Rocket.

Everyone had a story, Preston learned and all of the sudden Nora wasn't the innocent girl he thought she was. She was the-THE Sole Survivor from this vault; hell she was the one pre-war person that wasn't a ghoul. Nora Williams was a treasure trove of lost history. Sure the pre-war ghouls could talk about the old days, but they never talked about the rich American history.

This girl was worth more bottlecaps than he could possibly think of.

"I promise that they'll get buried."

That was all Nora needed. Some closure from her old life.

"Thank you," she said. "I want Mommy and Papa to be happy in Heaven."

"And they will be."

Nora gave him one last hug before running to the entrance of the vault, ready to find out the way to Nate. She had seen this weird mystic lady earlier and maybe she could help Nora. So she ran back to Sanctuary and lo and behold, Mama Murphy was waiting for her in her room. The old woman was holding her backpack and shoving clothes in it.

"Your energy kid, is tied to this place. But if you stay here then you can't help your friend."

Nora perked up as she took her bag with a quick look inside; there was her vault suit, the cream dress, boots, socks, underwear, hell she even had a giant coat stuffed in there. Her bag was filled with clothes, and as she put it on her back a side bag filled with supplies was thrown to her. Stimpaks, RadAways, Nuka Colas and Cherries, grilled radroach, and more.

"Go to Diamond City kid, and take Dogmeat with you. He led us to you, so now I'll lead you to help. Don't worry kid, Mama Murphy can set you straight," Mama Murphy told her.

"But, what if I get lost?" she asked.

"What if you can't find that kid?"

Nora gulped and Mama Murphy gave her one last thing; a utility belt with a pipe pistol and 10mm gun in the waistband. She took the extra ammo and put it in her side bag. "I'm scare Mama," she said.

"I believe in you Nora. And so did your parents."

The girl smiled and wiped the remains of her tears from her face; then she squared her shoulders and went to find Dogmeat. A bark alerted her to her Mommy and Papa's room, and she whistled. "C'mon boy! To Diamond City!" and he huffed as he jumped off the broken bed. She chased after him and took shortcuts through the old neighborhood.

Her little feet took her far away from the home she's lived in all her life, never once thinking that Marcy or Preston or Codsworth would miss her. All she could think was that when she found Nate; she would kill him, or hug him. Nora wasn't sure which she would do; not yet but she would when she saw him.

The first thing she noticed when she stopped running was that they didn't go through Concord, instead they went off the road and headed down the shadows of power lines. What she found in a power tower was a small family.

A family by the name of Abernathy.

~.~.~.

Lucy was sitting by her sister Mary's grave when she heard the familiar sounds of a mongrel running towards her. She pulled out her pipe pistol and reloaded quickly just in time to realize she was pointing her gun at a little girl and her dog. This was the most precious girl she had ever seen; beautiful black hair tied up with a white ribbon, a rose dress that made her look like a pre-war ad girl, and green eyes that she envied.

Those said eyes were cowering away from her as she sighed in relief. Lucy Abernathy was a lonely girl, never having a friend other than her sister. So when this tiny girl came to her Lucy was more than happy to welcome her to the farm. Happy that there was another child here besides her; well she was a teen but she was treated like a kid.

"Hey, hey. Its okay, I'm sorry. Don't worry, I'm Lucy. Lucy Abernathy," and the girl was trusting enough to make grabbing hands at her. Lucy picked her up and groaned under the weight of the girl and her supplies.

She smiled at Lucy and said, "I'm Nora Williams, and I'm lost."

"Lost? Well, where you going to?" she asked, smiling a bit.

"Diamond City, I need to find my friend Nate," Nora told her. She hooked her legs around Lucy's waist and let the teen carry her into her the farm house. Nora yawned as Dogmeat tread on Lucy's heels; she called out for her dad and mom. Her sweaty button up was dirty and everything, contradicting the cleanliness of Nora's dress. "He's been taken from my vault and I have to find him."

Lucy asked, "So you a Vault Dweller?"

"Mhm," she mumbled as Lucy pushed the door to her home open; her mother and father were sitting at the table with a bottle of beer in their hands.

Blake and Connie Abernathy were waiting for their daughter to come in from the melon patch before getting dinner ready for them. Then they were surprised to see their young daughter enter their home with a girl on her hip. "Mom, Dad; this is Nora. Can we keep her for the night?" and Lucy didn't beat around the bush as she set Nora down.

Even going as far to help Nora get her packs off and get the utility belt and weapons secure.

"What?" Blake asked so eloquently.

The black haired girl bounded up to them and smiled, "Can I get some help to Diamond City?" Connie was immediately charmed by the girl and vacated her seat, just to set Nora in it. "I got some food in my backpack, I can share if you can help me," she told Blake and Lucy jumped on that bandwagon immediately.

"Yeah dad! We can all go to Diamond City!"

Blake shook his head, "We can't just leave the farm! Lucy, it's too dangerous to go. For us or a little girl!"

Nora pouted and asked, "Can you at least tell me how to get there?"

"In the morning, but now let's get some grub," Connie said and Nora raced over to her bag and hauled it over to the table. She pulled out a purified water for Dogmeat and a Nuka Cherry. Her grilled radroach was still warm and she took four pieces out and some Instamash she found in there. Nora smiled up at Connie and nudged the food in her direction.

"I can share! Mommy told me sharing is caring!"

Blake and Connie could only stare at the little girl, both wondering how the Wasteland could spit out such a kind person like her. Their daughter was more than happy to go fetch some mismatched plates for the food Nora had. She also brought out some tatos that she helped picked earlier and her father's combat knife; slicing each tato into pieces and setting them on the plates.

The pop and slight fizz from the Nuka Cherry brought a smile to Nora's face as she went to pour some of the drink into the random ceramic bowls and coffee cups that Lucy found for her.

For once in a long time there was a bright and happy dinner at the Abernathy farm; something that had been in high demand after Mary had died. All it took was a vault dweller and some human compassion for the wasteland victims to see that the world was not as lost as they thought.

Dinner passed with happy smiles and little games that Nora made up; the Abernathy's playing along and getting the little girl all tired out. Lucy was filled with joy as she picked Nora up, the vault dweller having fell asleep at the table while the family talked about defenses and food. She rummaged through Nora's bag to find a pair of pajamas shoved in the bag.

Lucy had no problem changing her into her clothes seeing as she helped passing families take care of their children. It hurt just a little bit to tuck Nora into Mary's bed, but with one last smile she left the child. When she headed to her own bed, Lucy wondered what wonders Nora would bring in her short time with them.

It would be a damn shame to watch her leave for the long road to Diamond City.

"Goodnight Nora," and she left her alone. Her dog curling up next to her and keeping watch from her side.

Well, there was one consolation for Lucy; at least Nora had such a great traveling companion to be by her side on her way to Diamond City.

I'm glad that there is such support for this story! Thanks you guys~!

Ragehappy Mavin Fan