Snowflake on the sand

by AllHailTheEmpire

Courier Six is ready to leave Good Springs, track Benny down and make him regret shooting him but before his adventure can begin a hole in space and time drops a pale soldier on a world that is not hers, now both are taking the long way to New Vegas. One for revenge the other with hopes to get back home.

37. The Lonesome Road

Snowflake in the Sand

The Lonesome Road

---

There where times when patience was one of the greatest weapons a man could have, patience to see the world change around you and know when to strike. If you saw patterns and knew something or someone inside out the more damages your blows would do and in a way it was fitting that he waited in a place as dear to him as this.

A place where his home was buried, where the hope for something more… something greater than the Bear and the Bull could rise from the ashes of America, but alas that was not what happened. The actions of one, the creator of the nation itself, plunged Hopeville into the depths of the worst hell the world had seen since America was put to slumber. And with that simple action, the Divide was born. The earth cracked open as nuclear fire consumed the lives of thousands. All of them gone, all his hopes for something better too.

As he stood to his full height and looked down from his temple, a monument to all that had past in his life he looked beyond the sands, beyond the fire and towards the shining light of Vegas and as he saw the city of sin he could only feel disgust. To think that HE now called that place home, but it did no matter because across the river the light of torches could be seen for miles and than only meant one thing, the bull had come once again.

He could feel it, feel the presence of the symbol of the legion made flesh; Lanius the butcherer of the east. A symbol so powerful that Caesar could not replicate it no matter how hard he tried and now that symbol would go down like a hammer on Nevada, scorch the sand until it became glass, strike at the bear and follow it all the way back to its home, then by his sword the Bear would be put to rest.

And if he were to succeed here in the Divide, if he pulled off what he was planning to do, Lanius would arrive to find a starved bear, a shadow of its former self. Then the bull would burn itself away too.

The end to everything, a reset back to zero.

America was to be finally put to rest, its corpse once again merely history. But still, patience was to be exercised even at this stage. The final piece had walked back into the world he had created, killed and then abandoned. Courier Six had tripped off the alarm, part of him thought he would never show up but there was only way history could end. He returned to the place one wanders when you could wander no more.

Home.

Ulysses descended from his temple as he tracked the signal and prepared to greet the most important guest he would ever receive. Maybe his last, but it hardly mattered to him now.

All that mattered was the message that all this brought. The last breath of The United States of America would be taken here, as the last missile leaves its breast the body of America would grow cold making the nuclear fire to come burn the brighter.

---

Coward

That was the word that resonated on his head over and over again, Winter's face, Veronica's tears it all made him run. He could not do it anymore, so he ran he hid his gear in the abandoned schoolhouse in Goodsprings the only thing that showed he was there was a note he left on the door of the Saloon, he did not care if Sunny or Easy Pete found it, he just needed them to be ready if someone came looking for him.

Sarah would do it, but he hoped she was tied down with things from Vegas, Winter would also be busy he hoped. The war for Vegas was reaching its end and here he was, too much of a coward to move towards it.

Monster

The second word was also in his head, the small children of the brotherhood hugging their parent, the knights falling to their knees as their world ended. There was nothing, nothing he could do to stop them from assaulting his head, the images where there every time he closed his eyes, he had killed a family. He had ended a group of people not for House, not for the future, not even for love. He did it all for revenge, revenge that wasn't even his to claim.

Six let out a long sigh as he shook his head, he had planned to simply walk into the wastes, maybe head to the Frontier. He heard that people where needed there, but as he left Goodsprings he walked without thinking and so he found himself face to face with a familiar metal door, the wreckage of the past and it all came to him, the Divide. The message that was always on his head, over and over again "You can go home Courier".

Home, he had no home. The vault he had called home was a radioactive hole with nothing but burnt memories, but… as he opened the door he expected something to change. To see something that was not there, his heart sank as he was greeted by the crack in the earth, a manmade canyon filled with red dust and embers flickering in the darkness bellow. The sniper was no longer there but there was more graffiti on the rocks and pieces of bent metal, the number six painted with a red so vibrant that he could almost use it as a mirror. The message was clear to him, someone was here. Someone that knew who he was and wanted him to go deeper into the hell bellow.

"What are you going to do?"

Six jumped in fright and prepared to fight but there was no one there, he lowered his fist slightly as he looked around for the voice. There was no sign of anyone being there, but the wind was too loud there was no way he could know for sure if he was being followed Six took the first step into the Divide as he prepared himself for what was to come.

"Maybe you should turn back? I don't think you have a place here anymore" Six this time launched a brutal blow that connected with the metal next to him, the voice was so close but there was nothing there. Six let out a shaky breath as he realized what was happening, he had seen ghost. When he was dying, his brain made it possible for him to remember those who had died a long time ago. But he did not feel like death, why was this happening then? As he concentrated on that fact he saw it, the pale and small frame of long dead figure. Playing the guitar as she sat at the corner of the world, she seemed unfazed to be hanging by a single piece of metal, all that was separating her from the red hell bellow.

Six approached her as he carefully tried to study her, the guitar playing was choppy. As if it was being practiced, not played; but that hardly mattered what mattered was what he knew her "Mandy" the guitar stopped as the orange haired girl looked at him fully, she looked like she would shake him awake at any moment, tell him that he needed to get ready for his big game that day.

"Hello, I missed you" the apparition said as she smiled, his artificial heart could not be stopped but Six felt pain on it, Mandy tilted her head to the side "Why the long face, is it because I died? I don't think that was your fault"

Six gritted his teeth and closed his eyes "Stop, you're just something in my brain. Something from the bullets, stop giving me this shit brain… I don't want to see her anymore" he opened his eyes and Mandy was still there same carefree smile that she always whore, his little sister. The one who that had made him a cake for his birthday, the one that came crying to him when her first boyfriend broke her heart, the one he held and promised that it would all be ok, that he would always love her… and the one he had wanted to keep safe the most.

Mandy laughed at him "Coward"

"Stop it, fuck off you're not real I know that STOP FUCKING WITH ME!" Six said as he stepped on the metal pipe that was holding Mandy. There was no yelp, no sign of fear only the same smile, so Mandy returned to playing her guitar the crack on the land bellow slowly becoming illuminated "Yeah, we both know that huh? I died that day, when the vault exploded, the explosion was pretty strong. Part of me wonders why you did not die, but then again maybe they wanted me to die so that you would be fueled with rage. I am only offended that you did not do more to check if I was alive"

Six looked down in shame "How? I knew what happened I knew…"

Mandy walked up to him and Six jumped back in horror "Because I looked like this?" her white eyes looked at him as her arm fell from its place, Mandy's face lost its charm. Her cheek seemed to have been grinded leaving disgusting marks of flesh and bone visible to his eyes. As the arm fell the grotesque sound of flesh tearing made Six nauseous but the worst part was the hole in her stomach the one where a large piece of wood had almost cut her in half. Mandy looked down at herself "Bragg really wasn't playing around, you were lucky that only some splinters cut you, you big baby"

There was a loud shot that resonated in the Divide as Six fired Maria at the abomination with the form of his dead sister, but the thing only looked down at where the bullet was supposed to land "Really, we both know that I am not real. Why are you afraid?" the courier merely glared, as Mandy did a twirl her organs barely staying inside of her, Six could not tear his eyes away.

"What the fuck is wrong with me? Why now?" he muttered, Mandy giggled and looked down towards the Divide proper "You already know that big brother" the monster then dropped the guitar to the abyss and with one last look towards him she threw herself to the abyss.

Deeper, his answers lied deeper in the Divide.

Six laughed, he was going mad. But what the hell if not was like he had anything better to do, he was dammed to hell anyways might do his soul good to serve his sentence here, so with that on his mind the walk became easier. Mandy was nothing, he had seen it before, he had felt the pain before. It was funny how his mind worked nowadays, ever since he exploded the pipboy from his past life bits and pieces of his life settled in and only a phantom pain remained, sometimes in his dreams he was back in the vault but those vision all stopped to one point. The point where his Vault was attacked and then destroyed, his memory stopped there he knew what happened but he could not picture it. His last clear memory was running towards a gas station as the reactor of the Vault exploded behind them, the large explosion nearly destroying the long abandoned facility.

His memory trip was cut short as he arrived towards a large metal door, a faded logo made it clear what it was. A military bunker and a large one at that it was his only way inside the divide and he cracked his neck and began to open the door. Centuries of rust did not stop the courier from prying open the door as he slammed the doors wide open and the darkness inside greeted him. To his surprise his boot was stained with water, the interior wet and cold. It almost seemed to be a sort of cave, his time in Zion telling him that his eye would adapt to the darkness in time. No need for a torch when biology would do the trick. The tunnel was inclined, making it hard to step without slipping, Six slowly descended towards another door that stood in his way, but this one was cold he could tell by the bits of frost on it. When he opened it he found himself on a small room with a console on it, Six grumbled as he tried to do something with it but it all seemed to be dead.

Looking around the room he noticed how many of the cables lead to the central console except for one which came from a room to his right, confused he opened the door and came face to face with an almost frozen laboratory. His breath was visible as he slowly walked towards a large cylinder on the right side of the room, Six pushed a few a buttons as nothing happened. Frowning he looked down as none of the lights flickered, Six grinned as an idea came to mind so he smashed his fist into the console and as spark flew the cylinder opened.

Frost made him cover his eyes, Six glared as a familiar sight appeared before him, a painful reminder of the one he left behind because he ran away. The robot was not focused on him the clicks inside of it audible to him in the silence of this tomb but as soon as the machine rebooted an audio log played one that he had never heard before.

"Go Ralphie!" followed by cheery music, the machine then turned to Six and chirped happily at him. Six grumbled as he looked around and then to the machine, the thing of its front looked like it could activate the machines (that and the commissary had a small picture of an eye-bot). Six let out a sigh and nodded at the machine. "You ermm like the music or something boy?"

The eye-bot did a small spin as if to show that it had no idea what the hell he was talking about, Six snorted seems like this one had more personality than Winter's companion. "Yeah I figured it was just your… whatever you call it boot up nonsense and all that technobabble"

The eye-bot chirped at him and even if he was not great with machines Six got what he meant "I got that you know you bucket of bolts, but even if you think I am a dumbass I think we need to work together to get through this place. What do you say ED-E?"

The machine was quiet for a moment before it chirped happily like a bird that had just been fed and moved next to Six, the courier nodded at it as he began to rummage through the abandoned facility for anything useful. He had simply ran with only a couple of things on him, he had left the stealth suit behind along with most of his weapons but Maria. It had been stupid but he felt like he needed to strip himself of everything to get a clear picture of what he had done, come back stronger for the battle of Hoover dam.

"Of course you wouldn't abandon her, you love her? But you never could love me brother" Six frowned as he stared at the frozen face of his brother, it came back to him as she chuckled without feeling happiness. Ah that's right he had a brother, Shawn if he remembered correctly.

Seemed fitting that he appeared in a place like this, he felt as cold towards the apparition as he felt towards his long dead brother.

"You jock bastard always…" Six simply punched the ice that the illusion was on and proceeded to grab the first real weapon he could see. A small nail gun, Six hummed as he studied the weapon and took a practice shot towards the ice. It shattered the ice with blinding speed and Six could only grin as he placed it on his hip "Oh I like you"

For his part ED-E had found the commissary and the universal repair unit, with a small flick of its mechanized parts the machines came to life, Six walked over and whistled "Not bad boy, let's see what we have inside and oh man what the fuck is this?"

As Six took the caps he had earned and… borrowed from across the wasteland he couldn't help but feel excitement, the first thing he bought was a shotgun and the second was new armor. Six placed the dessert ranger neatly on one of the tables and patted it "I'll be back for you I promise"

But for now he figured that this so called Riot Gear would be better, as he put on the armor he felt good. "Now this is GOOD armor baby! And it even goes with my shotgun thank you ED-E you're cool… for an eye-bot"

The machine looked at him up and down and then chirped a question "Helmet? Nah I got a thick skull don't worry about it and besides I like people to see who I am"

ED-E rolled it metaphorical eyes at him and then looked towards the door "Yeah it would be best if we get going, I think I remember a place you can use you thingy to fix the other thingy"

As they arrived at the main room Six walked to the main console and found a half opened machine that looked like the commissary "One second" Six grunted as he pulled the frozen machine for ED-E to use "All yours eye"

ED-E wasted no time and activated the machine sparks flew as the lights began to flicker as power diverted to the massive gate, Six took a couple of steps backs as he could only stare in awe at the sight before.

As ice fell the spear that ended the world was unveiled, an intact missile hosting the power of atom inside. Eye-bots circled the machine as they repaired bits and pieces with broken metal it seemed incomplete but this was on the edge of the divide so it could only mean one thing, deeper into hell fully repaired and equipped nuclear weapon where ready to explode.

"Again" the ghost of his brother commented but Six pushed onwards; the door to his left had opened and now he could get a closer look at the weapon that had ended the world. ED-E began to vibrate as they walked up the stair towards the top of the silo. Six gave him a look as the machine did a click and an audio log began to play.

Data and numbers that made almost no sense to him until the clear voice of scientist was heard "Yes! It worked now we only need to make some adjustments ED-E and…"-"Ah Whitley I see that you have made some progress with your project" another voice cut the male scientist, from what he got from the following argument the female was either a soldier or a scientist with ties to the army. Seems like she was not a very ethical person, it would hurt the AI and in a way hurt the robots from what he understood.

"Fine its your lab I will leave, but I will have to inform General Autumn of this" the woman said as the sound of a door closing was heard "Don't worry ED-E, I won't let anyone hurt you" the audio log ended, the only thing cutting the silence where the other eye-bots that where repairing the nuclear weapon, ED-E looked downcast.

Six never thought he could feel bad for this type of machine after all they did to him, but Six did feel something for the machine "That woman sounds like a disaster waiting to happen" the machine chirped and nodded as it let out a string of curses, Six chuckled. Seems like this little robot had more personality than he expected more than a tool "Sounds like your dad really cared about you guys huh?" this made ED-E chirped happily.

"Yeah sounds nice, but we need to get going. If that thing breaks we're going to get irradiated to hell, well I am going to be you might just melt or something" this made the machine nod and behind his back. As the energy flowed back into the facility machine gun turrets snapped back to life and began to fire at Six, the riot shotgun made short work of them but this only made the alarm activate and a familiar noise reached his ears.

Six could only curse "SON OF A…"-"Unknown identity detected, lethal force authorized" A giant sentry bot smashed the door opened and pointed the missile launcher towards his head, ED-E launched electricity momentarily pushing the machine back towards the wall. The courier emptied the remaining shots into the head of the machine but the army sentry bot slapped them both away.

"Critical error" the machine said it began to fire wildly towards them. ED-E barely managed to avoid the missile as it exploded behind them, the eye-bot launched another heavy stream of electricity that shattered the outer shell of the robot. "Gotcha!" Six screamed as he landed a lucky critical hit on the torso destroying the power source of the sentry bot. The machine exploded allowing Six to relax for a bit, the door that the robot had destroyed seemed to be an open tunnel towards what looked like an office. Six hummed as he walked towards the flickering lights, the cold returned as Six realized where he was standing.

A corpse was sitting on a chair a handgun to his side, Six gulped as he realized that this well preserved body was wearing something he had only seen in magazines and old history books. A general of the U.S Army and he had been in charge of the Divide before it was… something different, a home for him and those who had followed him. But now that the divide had been cracked open the truth was bare to him, Six could see that he had written down a note for the future to see.

"God forgive me" was something he could read, Six could not bring himself to read more than that. The general deserved better than having the courier read his last thoughts so he respectfully moved the body to the side and looked into the terminal. Open the bunker was one of the options and the path to take was an easy one "ED-E stay close to me, this is going to get ugly"

As he activated the option the alarms ceased and on the monitor he could only read one thing "Bunker opened, beginning security sweep" Six looked to the side as he crouched down and moved towards what he assumed was the exit. His PipBoy had a hard time in getting a read on the place, Sentry bots scanners messed with the interior system he assumed. As he sneaked his way outside the facility he reached a part of the bunker that had already been breached battle torn sentry bots noticed how the door opened and prepared to fight.

Six took advantage of their damaged state and launched shots at their weak spots of the machines, as he walked towards he realized just how deep his boot was on blood and oil. As the fighting ended and his eyes focused on the walls the sense of uneasiness only grew as he looked at a pile of bodies that was stacked near the entrance of the bunker, the visible muscles torn by machine fire or burnt by the powerful laser fire. Six walked towards the exit as the deaths became less and less civilized stabbed by spears and stuck to the walls as blood poured to the ground. His awakening of the facility had attracted this poor bastards.

ED-E emitted a worried noise as Six nodded nervously "Yeah, this is recent. How did they skin them so fast?" the courier wondered as he began to see the dim light of the outside as a powerful wind knocked sand to his shoes. The air became hotter as he walked outside the bunker and even if it was filled the sentry bots Six felt the urge to run back and leave. An overwhelming feeling of dread filled as he took his first steps into the divide proper and he could gaze into the world bellow him.

Red sand covered the land and an otherworldly wind moved with unnatural speed almost blinding him, fire burned on the distance as the land itself seemed to fight itself. In the distance he could see movement from people "Holy shit ED-E there's people down…"

ED-E had begun to twitch as something took control over it at first it seemed that nothing happened but static made it clear that a message was coming through, what came from the machine was not the voice of the scientist he heard before but a deep voice.

One that made him feel like he had heard it before.

"There's your signal… faint but there just like the flickering lights of the city of ghosts and sin. A voice without fire, without strength, sick. Heard tales of you walking the Mojave again. Of your friend giving the two headed bear strength, giving hollow men like Kimball, like Crocker half the life Hanlon has. And you aiding the city of ghosts, the city from the old world covering for its weaknesses. But now let's test that strength, that… conviction Courier" an challenged was launched towards Courier Six who glared at ED-E as if he had said those words to him.

There was silence before Six found his voice again "Look I also don't like the NCR either pal but I quite frankly don't care about that, who are you? And what do you want?"

This seemed to amuse the man speaking through ED-E "I'm a courier. Courier Six… was courier six. Like you and not like you in all the ways that matter. Spent too many years looking for you… now, letting you come to me. Thought carrying that chip would end you, no… you got lives in you, hard to kill. Storms, bullets… sand and wind, yet still you walk. For now"

Six narrowed his eyes "We never spoke before, I would have remembered your voice and yet you know me?"

"Words aren't the only way couriers meet, sometimes it's the paths they walk. But no we've never spoken before now. You may not know my voice but walked the same places. The Long 15 to Primm… that wasn't the only place you walked either. I've been to you home" the voice said as Six laughed.

He pointed at the machine "I have no home"

"The place you keep returning to… may not be the place you were born, was the place you gave life to, same thing" the voice said completely ignoring what Six said as the man continued to speak "People forget that couriers can keep communities alive… until the day they're gone and their breath catches in their throat"

Gave life to? Just who was this guy? Six looked down at his pipboy and the radio had picked up a signal. The signal coming from ED-E had a name "So you're Ulysses then, could have told me that first you know"

"Not my given name" Ulysses replied "Close enough, took it from history. Found it in a book. It's an old world name" so he also had a name before Six thought as he felt uncomfortable with the similarities. But he took comfort in that his given name had been taken from him while Ulysses had chosen his, it distanced them in that department at least. "Ulysses lived a long time ago, long before the old world set fire to itself he made a mark without being a myth"

Ulysses said as he recalled why he chose that name "Had to fight in time when his world had two flags, and he had to make them one" so it all led back to the two super powers of the Mojave dessert the NCR and Legion.

"You brought me here to talk huh? If you wanted to kill me you could have just waited until I came for the chip… seems like Benny beat you to that plan" Six said as he tried to figure out the angle that Ulysses was going for.

The response he got was almost robotically said as if he was remembering something someone else said "No… no I couldn't. And I'm thinking you can't kill me either. If you did you'd answer for it just as I would. Let the lands do the killings for you, that one of the many things you taught me. Killing is personal so is vows, promises. Last bit's more important to me than the first" Six frowned at that.

"I didn't teach you a thing, how the fuck are you even talking through ED-E?" at this Ulysses went quiet for a second. "You've got enough distance ahead of you save your breath for the road, don't waste in words. America sleeps ahead of you its nightmares filled quakes, storms. You'll need to find your own path. That means waking America's spears up from their slumber. There's ways-warheads set off the collapse, warheads could open the gates again"

Six frowned "Fuck me more nukes then"

"You're resourceful. That machine, robot with you can help you find the warheads you need to destroy… and their trigger, the detonator. The way ahead is below. The tools are there. The rest-up to you" Ulysses said as he prepared to cut the signal off. "If we share history, then before going forward I would like to know the past"

This comment made Ulysses pause for a second "Who are you, who do not know your history? From what I heard from you all you wanted is to forget… things change with time. You came all this way for answers. Only currency I have, nothing else to be gained-could turn around, walk away at any time" Ulysses said and Six did not know if he was speaking to himself or replying.

"If history matters to you that much now… you'll need to earn it. Any logs of mine I have already cast away in the divide, they're lost to you. For now find the trigger for the warheads, buried in Hopeville. Use it to keep moving… and keep alive"

"Fine I will find this trigger and then… I'll find you" Six said but the threat did not face Ulysses he simply moved the robot towards the edge so Six could see what awaited him "The Divide will send its worst against you it may break you. We'll see if you are stronger. Road gets rougher from here courier. Left marks for you, colors that'll tell the way… if you're smart. How will you fare without HER to rely on?"

Six gritted his teeth "You'll see son enough"

Ulysses hummed as he cut off the feed and relinquished his control over ED-E. The robot seemed confused for a moment as it turned to Six for answers but he was only met with cold look "We need to get you checked when we leave this place, seems like you have some windows open. How good are you at tracking radiation boy?"

The machine chirped as it did a spin and moved towards the other side of the cliff, there at the bottom of it stood a lone warhead. The spears of America as Ulysses had called them "and the detonator should be around here too right?"

ED-E let out a long string of beeps as he moved closer to Six and pressed on his PipBoy "We got quite the walk then" Six said as he began to descend towards the marker on his map, wrecked cars and bones helped him stabilize himself on the descent. The wind picked up again as a giant sandstorm ravaged the lands, the sand cut his cheek, Six cursed as he felt the small trail of blood fall down his face. ED-E had been right, the helmet was needed in this place but now he did not want to turn back all he wanted was to get to Ulysses and his answers.

Something was going on here, something he was responsible off he could no longer run away when things got bad. When he solved the problem here he was running back to Vegas and he was going to end the war with Mr. House's plan, get Winter home and… maybe see this new world. But now he only needed to keep on walking towards the detonator. Buildings became clear in the distance and Six moved his head towards them "We'll wait for the sandstorm to pass there! Come one!" he had to yell in order for his orders to reach the robot.

As he got closer to the building a familiar smell reached his nose, something was burning. Meat to be precise, what type of meat he could not tell but he was sure of one thing they had reached a camp, Six spotted movement and prepared to talk himself out of whatever fight came but to his surprise the disfigured form of an NCR solider met him eyes. Like those in the tunnels it was an abomination, a mockery of humanity.

Stripped of flesh, muscles exposed to the cruel sands of the Divide this soldier glared at him and screamed as he fired his weapon into the air to call the attention of others. Six wasted no time in firing a nail into his eye but the Marked Man did not stop instead pain gave it focus, gave it strength to challenge the mortal wound. The assault rifle's bullets bounced of the Riot Gear bruising Six in the process. Grabbing a led pipe Six smashed it against the head of the man, the brutal blow tore the muscles the tendons slowly peeling away as the skin was no longer there to hold it together.

Blood poured from the metal pipe as Six went for another strike and in the last seconds in the life of the creature he saw something, relief.

The skull shattered as brain matter spilled all over the ground "Yet another life to add to the long list" he muttered as more marked men arrived. Dressed in ragged armor, bent metal from whatever they could salvage Six saw the true face of the Divide. Monsters that had once belonged to the NCR and Legion, their flesh red with blood and in their eyes nothing but madness and pain. The one that rushed at him with melee weapons where once former legionaries. Their swords large and caked with dried blood from whatever hunt they had, the ones that stayed behind to fire at him had once being NCR their weapons cutting through the sand and the wind.

Six wrestled one of the swords out of a marked man and brought it down against the group while ED-E burned away their flesh with lughtining that shot from his tiny metalical frame. Bone, metal and blood flew into the air as one by one the marked men fell, Six gasped as a well placed bullet almost pierced his riot gear. Grabbing the nearest helmet he could find he put in on, the metal mask that was fashioned in honor of a symbol that could not be erased from the mind of the former legionaries, the Monster of the East… Legate Lanius. The metal mask fit him perfectly and he could feel the desperation in the shots of the soldiers, charging towards the building he tried to find a way to get up there but found no stairs or anything to climb.

"How the fuck?" he wondered as he looked around and spotted a car that was on the side of the building, it could help. He ran towards the car and jumped to the building barely grabbing the edge as he tried to pull himself up, one of the marked men tried to shoot his fingers, ED-E quickly intervened allowing Six enough time to get there. The massive sword cleaved through them and the fighting ended on this side of the Divide, Six took deep breaths "T-That was a lot harder… than it had to be, fuckers didn't want to die… only four of them two damn" Six tried to not look at them as he walked inside the building to take refuge until the storm passed, bones and organs where stuffed in shopping carts the makeshifts barracks thick with the smell of death.

ED-E made a noise as he found something, Six walked over and picked up the small stash of logs, Ulysses they read, the marked men might have gathered them here. Placing them on his PipBoy, Six rested against the wall as he listened to them to understand the situation better.

Log-Y-17.15:

…back again. Left that crater behind. Got a few holotapes left, ones from the medical center. The woman... she fixed the recorder. Said it wouldn't last, repayment for me fixing her. She doesn't like debts, can respect that. Payment enough, just to hear someone who believes in the Brotherhood of Steel. Not Elijah. Different view. Same madness. She answered me on their philosophy, their way of seeing - the roads they walk. Dead-ends. Empty... as if technology can solve anything. Big Empty's proof where that road leads. Just like the Divide, and all the roads that lead to it.

Log-Y-17.16:

Big Empty - there's something hidden there, a crater, past wind and sand - so deep in the desert, there's no turning back. Finding the crater was an accident, was following the weather patterns - the Divide sky torn like that, man's violence, not nature's. That violence in the sky, had a source. Tracked it. Like following a river current. Left the colors to mark my way, like always, case someone finds them, learns the pattern - the Courier might. When I thought sand and wind would never end... came to the crater. And there... there was an Old World facility, a weather station, at the edge, still raking the sky with electricity and generators. And beyond it... saw the rest of the Old World hell there, all carved up like garden plots. Had to see what was there, couldn't leave it be. Things sleep in the Big Empty, the Brotherhood woke them up - can't move quiet, any more than the two-headed Bear can. And when they woke up, it was like all of history waking up at once. Almost didn't make it out. Almost. Left with answers I never intended.

Log-Y-17.1:

Have you ever wanted to speak to history - just to know the why of it? I don't. Not any longer. There's old stories about gods and men, past history, into myth - where the gods, they're like children... petulant, cruel. Those were the voices of the Big Empty, the past. Couldn't leave well enough alone, had to ask. Had to ask the why of it. Their answers were madness. And power, stronger than me, would take a hundred Elijah's... someone tougher than him or I to best them in their Dome. They didn't know why they were there, what had led to that point, their names - like serpents devouring themselves, cannibalizing their own thoughts. When all seemed lost, thought it was the end - my anger gave me strength to ask them my last question. "Who are you, that do not know your history?" And they awoke. For... a short time. The flag you wear, they said. We remember. America. It wasn't just a flag to them... it was a place, an idea they had cared for. Once. They told me what it was like to grow in that world... all they had done to lift it up... protect it. They... didn't know it was gone, that... ...yet they had cared once. Before forgetting their history. As they were talking... kept seeing the Courier's shadow behind them, giving each their words weight. History cast aside... a home, left behind. I listened. I asked. Was there anything left? Anything that still carries America's voice? And they told me I had already been there. I and one other, walking right out of history deeper than we knew. They told me what lies in the heart of the Divide, what can be found there. And the words to awaken it - and the one to speak them.

Six stood up as he slammed his fist against a nearby wooden wardrobe "Fuck! The brains?! How the fuck did Ulysses even get to the big MT. Talked with Elijah too huh… both of them bastards no wonder they go along" he put the tapes on hold for now as he heard the sandstorm dissipate for now. Moving outside the wind had slowed down significantly but the sand still covered the land, guess it was just how it was always here.

More marked men walked tried to stop their advance but a combination of hiding near the rubble and using the silent nails as weapon made it possible for him sneak into what looked like a small town. "Up on that building, shit… ok be quiet we don't want to"

"DIE!" the gargled scream came from up above as the marked man that had taken refuge in that building mounted something on his shoulder, Six ran as hellfire rained from above and everything shattered behind him. Barely getting to the building in piece Six cursed as he felt the first tear on his armor, a stray piece of debris had managed to cut him. The firing stopped as footstpes where heard in the abandoned building, Six prepared his shotgun and aimed at the stairs, the marked man surprised him by dropping from the top of the building and fell behind him. The snap of the bone alerted him but it was too late to doge the missile. Six was blown back against the wall as the missile exploded next to him disorienting him, the impact knocked off the metal mask.

The clinking sound made the marked men distracted as he stared at the mask of the one he had once served, the voice that told him to kill was quiet for a moment as memories came back to him. ED-E noticed it and poured down electricity on the downed enemy while Six recuperated, bones became visible as electricity cut and burnt the enemy. Pushing itself upright the marked men slapped the robot away and tried to grab his weapon, Six beat him to it and gave him a grin "Boom"

The missile destroyed the enemy, leaving nothing but a red paste. Six lowered the weapon and gave it a look, the Red Glare it said on the side. Six hummed as he put it on his back. It was not that heavy but Six had a feeling that I ate missiles like a starved ghoul at the Ultra Lux, ED-E made a noise as it floated towards the top of the building. The Courier let out a sigh as he began to walk up the stairs, when he got to the top ED-E was hovering over a small laser pistol. Rockets littered the rooftop, perfect for his newly acquired weapon.

"Give me a second boy I just need to have this thing all filled up" Six commented as ED-E tilted his head to the side "Afraid? No, cautious is what I would say. This people don't care about anything anymore, they only have one thing in their eyes and that is killing me or anything that is not like them can you blame me for being cautious?"

ED-E simply let out another string of beeps "Hahaha maybe… but cowards survive don't they? Now let me see that thing" Six studied the weapon as he took aim at something in the distance. As he pulled the trigger an almost invisible laser could be seen shooting off somewhere into the divide. Six whistled as he put it on his belt and looked at his companion "Not a fan of the noise but man that thing reaches far"

ED-E made a worried noise as flares lit up the sky and the roar of gunfire filled the night. Six prepared the Red Glare as the shadows of the marked could be seen walking towards them, rockets from the Red Glare illuminated the night sky as Six rained down fire on his enemies. Taking cover from the assault behind a destroyed building the marked men began to fire and thro grenades at the building they were in, the structure shook as Six realized that he was dead man if the building fell looking to where his attackers where he noticed how a military truck was on the middle of the road near them, one that was carrying quite the dangerous cargo.

Six lowered himself to a crouching position and took aim, the laser fired and it hit the nuclear warhead again and again, it began to burn and in the blink of an eye the powr of atom was unleashed. Six watched in awe as the explosion rose from the sky as it engulfed everything in its path, the explosion made the Divide silent. For some time there was nothing as Six felt himself returned to the day where his home had been rendered into nothing but dust.

"It would not be the first time you know, it happened to you twice kid"

Denial, he had been in denial for quite some time. The trauma caused by the bullets allowing him a new life, but now some things where coming back and now he could see the face of the ones from before. Six ignored the voice and kept walking forward he had no time to hear what Doctor Rossman had to say to him, he preferred that wound to stay closed.

"Come on ED-E with this we can carve our way deeper into the Divide. Maybe you and I can get some answers from this place" Six said as the machine chirped happily and played the Ralphie theme.

Across the Divide, explosion and gunfire could be heard as Six and ED-E carved their way to a collapsed tunnel, the marked men kept coming in waves and Six could only wonder just how many of this tortured souls where on the divide. As another nuke went off and he and ED-E made a run towards the collapsed tunnel Six noticed something "They have stopped?"

The marked men stared at them as they refused to take another step into the tunnel, Six looked behind and then at them. Too many Marked Men all of them armed to the teeth with assault riffles and explosives at the ready, whatever was inside there couldn't be worse than staying out here. So he entered the dark tunnel the light on his PipBoy serving as his guide, the marked men dispersed when the light of the courier's faded and glimpses of glowing eyes began to surround the tunnel.

---

Log: Y-17.21

Emptiness here - like the sands of the Great Salt Lake, echoed. The beating in the Divide sky... like storm drums of the White Legs. Ran with them on the salt beds, at Caesar's command - cut the throats of the two-headed Bear, cut all communities off. Use storm, sky. Disease. Fire, starvation... and the violence of the ignorant to ruin all who could... might stand against him. But the White Legs... they couldn't live on their own, like most scavengers. So gave them purpose - turned their hunger into a weapon. The wall of New Canaan... too high for Caesar. Too proud, maybe - or maybe something there, from his past, that needed killing. Memory of Graham. Helped them dig out Canaan supply caches, and other secrets the sands hid - bunkers, filled with powered weapons even the Brotherhood might desire. They called these new weapons "storm drums" in the firing of shells. Taught them the power in the casings... to channel the spirits in their guns. Me... they called me the Flag-Bearer. Glory in my hand, in my staff that still bore the weight of the Old World just as the symbol on my back did. I learned their weapons as a means of respect. And when it came their turn to pay respect to me... history came rushing back. Can't escape what's been done. History's there... no matter how far you walk.

Log Y-17.22:

I walked the Great Salt Lake as Caesar's eye, then his hand. Mongrels there, two-legs and four. Saw the walls of New Canaan the scavengers circled... hadn't the strength or fire to take. Too high, too strong. White Legs, they were born for war, they run to it, hungry for battle... yet their hunger is to be a part of history, something larger. Like the Legion. As always, brought them a message - from Caesar. If New Canaan burns, Caesar might see them. "Might." Even the chance was a lie. To honor Caesar - destroy the history of New Canaan, and the way they carry it - in their generations and family. Caesar respects such strength, I told them. That - that was truth, even if "strength" wasn't the word. Obedience. You must be willing to kill anyone, children, mothers, the weak, elders... if these New Canaanites value the generations, that is what you must kill. It was like Vulpes was speaking through me. Use the night, silence, and fire to change their words to pleas, to screams. No need for bombs when hate will do. I... asked the White Legs to destroy a people with ancestry, going back thousands of years - another death of history, lost to time. The New Canaanites... they supplied medicine. Food, traded with others. Civilization, a hand from the past, not history... ...but maybe a past deeper, farther than that to a place where this... God really exists. If so, his handiwork and people belong elsewhere, not in this place. Another symbol, like Bear and Bull, with no meaning in the present.

---

Six frowned, so he was the one that killed Joshua's family and thought the White Legs how to use the weapons of the old world. The long shadow of Caesar seemed to be everywhere in his journey, his eye had been lost to the machetes of the slave army and many poor tribes had their culture, their ways crushed underneath the mighty fist of Caesar and he did not even want to think just how women and girls lived under the tyrant.

The PipBoy did a small beep as it presented him with a way out, the area had been mapped and he could begin moving again. He had to climb through the rubble to get out, ED-E had remained quiet by his side he seemed to be repairing more of his memory banks. "Fucking imperialistic bastard and that Legate is bringing the rest of the army… fuck me just how many lives are they willing to throw away for the fucking dam?"

But then again, was NCR any different in that regard? Six began to climb on rocks to seek a way out of the tunnel his finger felt cloth and as he shone the light he saw the petrified scream of a skull with armor belonging to the two headed bear. Six simply shook his head, the words of Ulysses rang on his ears "No need for bombs he said" the NCR had rallied so many to this war with hate, their hate against the Great Khans, against the brotherhood and now against the Legion.

How long will that hatred burn, how long could the money of Brahmin barons keep the republic afloat? And went things go south would the hatred of the people turn on their own country? Six could only wonder as more and more corpses of NCR soldiers could be seen in the rubble of the collapsed tunnel, some were clutching their guns and others seemed to be trying to heal their wounds. The last two soldiers he saw actually broke his heart, two soldiers held each other as the enjoyed their last moments together.

Hate, he did not hate the NCR. He resented how he had been treated, the corrupt bastards at the top that wanted nothing more than to fill their pockets while the people in their always expanding borders suffered. General Silverman had wanted to change things his own way and all that had gotten him was a prison sentence and Six for helping was moved to bum fuck nowhere in. Six stopped climbing for a moment as it came to him, a small smile on his lips, phantoms played across his eyes as he remembered the happier times, a blonde girl, another girl with purple hair and some of his friends.

They had put everything into this new place, a change to begin again "Here… in Hopeville"

Six reached a destroyed bus and waited as he sorted his thoughts out, but how did it all go to shit? What happened in the Divide? And… why did he run away? These thoughts where put in the back burner as Six spotted something moving in the rubble. Six shut off his PipBoy to not alert the thing of its location it sounded like it was big. A loud roar echoed in the caverns as Six finally saw the creature that was stalking the caves.

"Deathclaw" Six cursed as he lowered himself and spied on the mighty monster of the wasteland. Cazadores avoided them, Nightstalkers ran when they smelled them on their territory and only the bravest of super-mutants took them on. The Deathclaw snarled as it smelled the air, its mighty claws cutting through solid rock and metal. Six felt cold sweat fill his brow as the creature looked at his direction, reaching for the Red Glare Six prepared to run but to his surprise something jumped to the left of the Deathclaw a small and green looking creature.

A reptile he had never seen before.

The Deathclaw almost roared as it launched itself with ferocity towards the small reptilian, the creature hissing at the larger beast. Six watched in awe as the creature jumped on the Deathclaw leaving bloody marks on the apex predator of the wasteland, a massive claw grasped the body of the green reptile and brought it close to its massive jaws. The Deathclaw took a bite out of the head of the creature, green blood and brain spilled on the ground as the Deathclaw took the life of the creature, but a slow rumble filled the air.

The ground itself opened as more and more of those creatures attacked the Deathclaw, no matter how many it took down the smaller creatures began to rip apart the mighty beast. Skin began to tear and blood began to fall, it didn't matter how many the Deathclaw took down every small inch of the leathery skin they cut the other tore it open more. In just under a minute, the Deathclaw fell dead as the vicious creatures began to feast on its innards bickering as they fought for the best piece of meat, there was no way around them the only way to progress through the tunnel.

Six aimed Red Glare and took aim at the biggest one, it dwarfed its small brethren by a lot. "The hulking one then the small ones" Six muttered as he pressed the trigger. The cave was illuminated as the projectiles flew towards the creatures, blood and guts flew into the air as Six fired rocket after rocket into them their limbs flying everywhere as the light made run in fear.

"Sensitive to light got it" Six said as he tried to fire more and the machine clicked in response. Out of ammo, ED-E flew close to him as there was only one thing they could do right now as noises came from bellow "Run!" the duo sprinted across the dark as Tunnelers from all sides tried to stop their progress. A green claw from bellow tore through the ground and grasped Six's leg ripping the protective fabric like it was wet paper Six reached for the sword on his back and brought it down severing it from the body.

ED-E let out a long set of noises, something akin to a scream. That attack had allowed the creatures to catch up to them and now they were surrounded on all sizes. Six used the light of the PipBoy to try and see from where the monsters would come, he could hear movement from the darkness but there was nothing, only hungry eyes watching from the distance. His robot companion hovered above the ground as it picked something up and then returned to an elevated position Six reached for the nail gun but something from the darkness ran past him and cut his hand as he moved to fight that creature something bit him on the leg ripping some meat off it.

Six screamed as he looked to where he was supposed to go, a massive creature blocked the exit. Daring him to run towards him, Six looked at ED-E and then back at the creatures; whatever the robot had picked up was their gamble to get out of the cave alive.

There was a tense silence as the creatures began to close in on them, Six hear the sound of a pin drop as something flew through the air and he ran for the exit. A loud flashbang exploded as Six covered his eye from the light, the tunnelers attacked each other in confusion but a small one clung to Six's back as he finally reached the end of the tunnel. "Get off me you stupid thing!" Six screamed as the creature cried in agony at being in the sunlight. A claw sank deep into his cheek as it attacked confused and scared. Six threw it off him and now that he could see he aimed his shotgun at its head. The skull was shattered on the first two shots, the third one ripped its head off.

Six touched his cheek and felt his finger get coated in blood. Not deep to be of worry but deep enough to make him fear this things, a small one probably an infant that was scared out of its mind had scratched its armor and put up quite fact.

"Tunnelers, death will come from bellow. In the Divide, need to watch the sky and ground the Mojave will be easy pickings when they leave this place. Seen them hunt in groups and reproduce fast, once they draw blood… seen them tear apart Deathclaws" ED-E had once again being overtaken by Ulysses, his voice monotone as he explained what had just attacked him.

Six snorted "Yeah, just saw it too. What the fuck kind of mutant is that?" he stared at the corpse, five elongated finger. The shape of a primate, but it had scales and… no. it was an abomination and that was all he needed to know. The bridge stretched across the land and bellow only sand and wreckage could be found.

"You went quiet for a time… thought you might have returned to Vegas, its comforts. Maybe you took that machine with you. There's a lesson here in the divide. Old world history about holding on to something so tightly it breaks… or falls apart. May have seen the cracks in Vegas walls already with how fiercely you fight for it. They'll grow, in time, no matter how much you back House" Ulysses said as Six gave him a glare. So he wanted to talk again, more time to squeeze information out of him and learn about this place.

Six leaned against the wall and looked at the worn out construction "Look at you all concerned about history and the past. I don't know why you think you can judge me or House but here's the thing the past is already gone, the future's what I prefer"

"Your future with House has two roads. The road the tribals in Vegas walked… their spirits crushed or your face on a robot servant, smiling forever in a dead casino. There's future in neither" Ulysses said, Six let out a sigh. The robot servants, right. He was no hot actress to get that treatment and he was not a sentimentalist to think that House would do that because he was his buddy. The man was genius only concerned with the future.

At most he would get a small mention in history, as the man who helped the city of sin, but he was fine with that.

"Tribals? Please the families are better off as they are now. Civilization will always triumph over cannibalism and needles ritualism" Six said.

Ulysses was quick to respond, as if expecting this response "Got drunk on the Vegas lights, the spirit bled out of them. Old World history under a different flag, whatever traditions or rituals they had, most likely squeezed out of them by now, turned into something else"

"You say that as if it is bad thing"

"… and if not, then I am afraid of what's going to happen when they come creeping back" Ulysses said completely ignoring Six, his argument not important for the picture he wanted to pain. The courier narrowed his eyes at him "To me everything you have said just makes it sound like you just hate Vegas"

This made Ulysses pause "Vegas is Old World, filled with Old World ghosts and ghosts need the living to their work. That's why the families are there, why the Bear stumbles there to lose itself, why YOU are there. It's a dance, I don't know its purpose… you've been, you've seen the wall. Its inside that worries me"

Six snorted "A dance?"

"That's the wrong word. Theater is better, the families, the bear all on a stage while House he is the one watching. The why… you'd know better than I would and I you don't you will" Ulysses said.

Six nodded his head "Yeah, I know. And I also know that you have the wrong picture, by no means am I here to tell you that everything in Vegas is perfect. The inequality is visible with my only good eye. But House is more pragmatic than you think"

Ulysses hummed as he absorbed this information "Believe that. Vegas runs, I've seen what it's done to those who oppose it. And I've seen its messengers and they all tell me the same thing, Vegas speaks of someone who can't let go. House takes a shovel to history's graves, props up the dead then puts then puts words in their mouth. The tribes don't even know how they were broken, it is not a world I want to be a part of, going through motions until we're all smiling faces on some robot's screen"

"I won't argue with someone who doesn't want to see Ulysses. There's hope in Vegas and that's all I need to know, a future for Winter, a future for me and a future for humanity, it is safe place" Six spoke with conviction, Ulysses seemed to let out a sigh at this.

"You've been, you've seen the Wall. Safe? No… its what's inside that worries me" Ulysses repeated. "Inside, Old World's waking up. No facts or history I've heard tells me that city ever went to sleep, and that makes me think. The blue of the Mojave skies isn't like the rest of the world. Don't hear a Geiger ticking there, more to fear from predators than rads. The city, the whole Mojave wasn't hit by bombs. Been my call Vegas would be one if the first pieces of the Old World to burn but someone protected. Wasn't chance, wasn't luck… something larger and yet they let the rest of the world to suffer. And they'll do it again"

Vegas had been saved, preserved. The words of Mr. House ringing in his ears, the platinum chip had been the key to save one city from destruction. But wasn't that a miracle? To save even just one city?

Six knew that if he could save his home, he would do it in a heartbeat. He understood Mr. House as selfish as it might be it was better to save just something than doing nothing and saving yourself. But there was more to this, Ulysses spoke with reverence to history, of the Old World and yet he wanted it gone.

Saving himself the headache Six raised his hands "Look, the Mojave is behind us. I want to know what's ahead… for now"

Ulysses made ED-E turn to gaze at the miles of road ahead. The bridge extending from side to side of the cracked surface of the land "The high road… not the Divide yet, many more miles to walk. But you got this far. You and that machine that shadows you, wasn't sure if both of you'd make it above, then bellow the underpass. You should be familiar with this road, breathed life into it. Bridged east and west, creating something new. But the Old World ended that, you ended that showing me how to create or kill even nations. The bear saw the life you created, tried to claim it and where the Bear goes the Bull is not far. That day you hurt more than you could ever imagine, but this time you carry the burden, keep walking where the sun dies and then… keep walking some more"

ED-E fell as he was given control of his body back Six there to catch him, the courier gave a soft pat on the head of the machine "Thank you for saving me back there. You okay?"

Soft beeps where his answer as ED-E took flight once again. It seemed embarrassed of what had transpired, but it wasn't his fault somehow Ulysses was taking control of the eye-bot. "That man sure likes the sound of own voice doesn't he? Come on ED-E he have to walk… like a lot"

Marked Men where the first things that they came across a massive man that looked more like a Beast than he did a man spotted them first. He fired his flare into the sky and reached for a massive minigun, putting it over his shoulder the marked man shot with glee at them roaring even above the sound of his weapon of destruction.

Six used cars, cement and everything to get close to the man that seemed to never run out of bullets. When it was time to recharge Six ran towards him, shotgun blasting him directly in the stomach and face, this made him stumble back as ED-E rained electricity down on him the robot let out more power as the electrical current exploded the eyes and melted the brain of the enemy as he fell dead.

"Jesus" Six said as he looked at the modified eye-bot, that scientist really did have favorites. ED-E as is showing off moved to the commissary that Six had not spotted and activated it. "Yeah yeah, you're still a showoff" Six repaired his weapon and traded the now empty Red Glare for more ammo and to repair his suit. Taking a look at the Shoulder mounted machine gun Six hummed as he looked at what he had on him.

The nail gun was not going anywhere, neither was Maria. The Red glare had no ammo so he sold it and the shotgun he could deal with but that thing look heavy as all fuck. He did have a strong back and his new spine could take it but he debated with himself if it was worth the trouble carrying around, but then again he did have a lot of bullets for it.

"Fuck it" Six said as he picked up the thing and put it on his shoulder. He snorted and then put it on his back, ED-E gave him a look. "What? I'll save it for later, you never know when we might run into something big" they began their walk towards where the sun dies as Ulysses said. In the distance Six spotted an ambush set up by the marked Men their weapons aimed at where the flare had been launched. There was no way for him to jump off the bridge without dying and he doubted he could sneak past the wall of guns but there was something he could do.

The divide was home to the powers of Atom, the marked men remained unaware of the power the tiny laser gun on Six's hip was and close to the ambush there was a remnant of the old world. "Time to show them what those things can do" small rays of red began to hit the nuclear spear as it heated up over time by the time they realized what was happening it exploded. Six lowered the laser as he stared at mushroom cloud that was forming over the bridge, raw power.

It scared him in a way, how much power he held with a simple glorified laser pointer. Six walked back to the commissary and bought the riot helmet to ED-E's silent approval, the road they walked was a long one. The radiation from the lone spear still high in the air, ED-E made a worried sound as he looked at the horizon. Deathclaws attracted by the explosion walked the destroyed highway looking for something to feast on the marked men not enough to satisfy their hunger. Another spear was his answer, the Deathclaw was near the edge but it will attract the other one.

Another gamble with his life, but he was willing to take it. The Deathclaw roared as the explosion sent him into the abyss bellow the other looked at the horizon and spotted the lone courier. Licking its lips it ran towards the courier, the bullets from the shoulder mounted machine gun not bothering the mighty beast as it raised its claws and dealt a massive blow to Six.

Groaning as he felt his ribs crack and the air coming back to him he saw ED-E distract the creature long enough for him to shoot at it with the Riot Shotgun. It took off a bunch of flesh but it made the Deathclaw give him its full attention. A massive swipe from its claws ripped the armor and drew blood as Six ran for his life and into a nearby destroyed school bus. Six entered as the beast behind him ripped it open, the metal unable to stop it but it did slow it down and that was all he needed.

Time.

.S was not something he discussed that much with his friends or Winter, in theory it was a injection of adrenaline to his nervous system via the PipBoy but thanks to the time on Big MT it was as if time slowed to crawl he could see the slow moving claw of doom coming towards him, he could land three shots to its face before he could even move and those shells packed one hell of a punch. The first one tore through the outer layer of the hardened skin around its neck, the second one cut all the way to the bone and the last one severed the head.

His artificial heart felt like it was going to explode out of his chest, his head felt heavy as adrenaline left his body, he had bested a Deathclaw. Running and using everything he had and just one false step would have turned him into a bloody mess on the floor.

"I could turn back" he muttered to himself, he could always run away. There was nothing here to stop his trek back and the marked men would even loose his trace. Back to the lucky thirty eight and back to Winter where… but then again, it would be just postponing reality like he always did. The wind poured sand into his wounds, the beast had cut through the armor like it was nothing. ED-E remained quietly by his side as he tried to piece together more of his memory banks.

Six sat and observed the edge of the world, nothing but barren nuclear waste bellow the bridge.

ED-E chirped at him "No ED-E I just got sand in my eye that is all, I remembered how this looked" Six pointed at the distance "See right there, there was a group of squatters who made the best radscorpion casserole I ever had. Oh and if you walked towards the… a little closer to hope… damn my head. Let's just keep moving, there is nothing down there"

The robot would have narrowed its eyes at him it could, the man ran from his memories towards the divide. The road filled with marked men didn't stop him. The claymores and bombs they had set up eliminated by bullets from Maria, there was nothing more behind them as they tore a bloody path across the highway.

Ashton missile silo was their reward.

The console that greeted them was nothing out of the ordinary, but it felt like it was ominous for some reason. An aura that repelled Six, ED-E broadcasted another memory.

Running too, for Navarro.

"There is no other way forward, can you activate this console? Maybe it has something useful information" Six commented as ED-E quickly followed the roder that was given to him. As the machine came to life and words became clear on the screen there was only one thing that mattered on the screen.

Fire.

He was not stupid, he knew what he would fire if he pressed the big red button. It was almost comical how similar they where. "Well soldier? Are you going to fire that missile? Damn this place forever, rid the world of its filth for God and country. Come on star player pull the trigger, what is one more nuke for you"

A phantom, one he had murdered long ago. There was nothing here to save anymore, the Divide was a grave left open for the world to see, so it was only fitting that he was the one to finally close it.

"Coordinates" Six chuckled a bit "Right fucking here" Doomed to repeat it, again and again for the rest of time.

Six watched as the great destroyer flew into the sky and then exploded into a great mushroom cloud that could be seen for miles and miles. Here at the edge of the world, the fate of all those in the divide had been sealed once more "The door unlocked" his voice was clear, loud even but he could not help but feel small. ED-E confirmed this as he moved towards the now open door, he numbly walked back to the door.

ED-E chirped as he recognized the symbol in the floor, the bald eagle and a flag with stars and stripes that no longer had meaning. Or at least that was how his mind saw the flag like, everything around him began to explode as his ride down to hell began. Beneath the mighty wheels that drove deeper into the divide tunnelers where crushed like bugs as desperate ones jumped to the elevator to save themselves.

Bullets, fire and green blood that seemed to spill everywhere where the only things that he could see. ED-E fired electricity everywhere, the chain fence around the elevator becoming a death trap the bolts of lighting burning the long fingers of the tunnelers.

Six ran out of bullets and had to rely on the massive sword on his back it was a crude weapon that had lost its edge a long time ago but if swung with enough strength it shattered bone. A large explosion shook the tunnel as they finally began to reach the lower depths of the silo, one of the tunnelers stumbled towards them its skin melted off as Six stared at the creature with pity "Don't move" he said as he crushed its skull with the blunt sword.

"I know ED-E but they are just doing what is in their nature, enemy or not I pity the fuckers. I… don't think this is an irradiated animal" Six said as he swallowed and looked away from the tunneler, five fingers creeped him out enough the first time. The destroyed silo was full of radiation but the rad-x and RadAway that he had saved kept him safe for the moment, another welcome find was an auto-doc tucked in a corner of the ruined facility. The machine cut his skin and removed the debris from inside him, Six slowly came back to reality as he realized something with a chuckle "I'm tired"

Six felt his augments and implants pulse as they were given a second wind by the Auto-doc, the fogginess in his head cleared as they began to the leave the facility. ED-E hummed softly as they walked in silence only interrupted by the occasional scream in the distance. As they stood atop of another tower Six closed his eyes and felt the wind whisper nothingness to him.

"Figured you would take control of ED-E again, do you need us to be in high places to get a good signal?" Six asked as Ulysses took control of ED-E once more. The other courier simply studied the surroundings.

He seemed to be lost in memory for a moment "Hopeville, High Road they are nothing compared to what lies ahead. Before you stand the edge of the world, the place that made you into a killer and me into a witness"

"Do you hate me that much for what I did?"

Ulysses scoffed at him "No, I do not hate you nor do I blame you for the Divide. I hate what you made me see… what you taught me that day, that messaged that you passed from one courier to another"

"Then… this doesn't end even if I run away. I will come find you Ulysses and put an end to this" Six said as Ulysses relinquished his control over ED-E he too tired of words. Six looked at the destroyed land and noticed the many undetonated nukes lying around, the laser detonator did the job as he gifted the marked men with the word of atom. ED-E nuzzled him as it pointed towards one wedged in a building, the explosion would send it down into the unsuspecting marked men bellow, so he pulled the trigger and watched as the massive structure fell and cracked the ground open.

The marked men scattered in fear as a massive cloud of dust enveloped the land, but Six also noticed something peculiar. Tunnelers poured from the ground as they ran in fear and fought the marked men in confusion, believing them to be the enemy.

They were like ants defending their nest and right now they had left their home to defend it. Leaving the way open for him to run towards it "ED-E stay close to me, we're going to have to this quick!" Six yelled as they ran, across the dust. Across the endless fighting, bullets and angry howls cutting through the air.

And all-out war had begun, the marked men and the tunnelers bled each other, the nest unguarded. Six ran in the dark tunnels.

His footsteps echoing in the large cavern as the dark seemed to swallow all, the light that did reach into the caves painted the picture of buildings frozen in time. A time where the economy began to fall, a time long since forgotten by the very beings that inhabited the dark caves.

Cave of the Abaddon was the name given to it by Ulysses, the home of the tunnelers. He of course had never set foot there, but he assumed it was there. Six was the first human in centuries to set foot on the land, even if he did not know its name or history he would be the las one to witness it. Loud hissing came around them as ED-E fired at the dark.

"Oh God" Six muttered as he saw briefly what ED-E was firing at, the largest tunnelers he had ever seen walked towards them flanking a grotesque creature. Its engorged belly filled with its young its mouth dripping with venom.

The queen had come to defend her territory.

A roar from the queen drove her warriors into a frenzy as they launched themselves at Six, the Riot Gear barely holding on as it was attacked from all sides. Six screamed in pain as he felt himself being torn apart bit by bit, throwing a flashbang into the ground to buy them time Six ran to the other side of the cave trying to run away from danger.

ED-E screamed as a tunneler jumped into the air and caught him, its teeth began to sink into the metal tearing it apart, Six looked around and spotted the exit. He could run, he could leave and find Ulysses on his own.

"Coward" Six muttered to himself as he left.

ED-E tried to free itself from the tunneler the Queen arrived and pressed its grotesque hand on the machine, the venom that poured from her mouth burning even the rock bellow. ED-E did not know fear but it did not wish to fail his mission, fail his creator… and the kid. But he had been abandoned so all the ey-bot could do its play the audio-log of his creator, his first memory and the moment he became ED-E. The Queen of the tunnelers was not bothered by the sound coming from the machine, her sons and daughters might but she was not scared.

All that mattered to her was if she could eat ED-E in one bite.

Her massive jaws unhinged as her putrid breath burned through the air, ED-E wished it could have closed its eyes because no one deserved to see this in their final moments.

The venom began to melt the outer layer of its metal, only the expecting noises of the tunnelers echoing in the dark. The Queen hissed as she slapped away one her children, the sensation of a sharp pain unusual to her, her child confused looked at its mother. What did it do to deserved punishment?

The Queen looked down at her leg as green blood began to reach the ground. A single nail had pierced through her skin, a tunneler screamed as he was hit in the head by a nail that reached the brain.

A large explosion shook the ground as some tunnelers where sent flying away by it, their eyes that had evolved to see in the dark spotted their enemy soon enough. Six grinned at them as he flung another grenade at the creatures. The Queen tossed ED-E aside as it zeroed in on her new enemy, Six felt his hand shake as he stared at the abomination running towards him but he was in a way happy.

He had come back this time.

Six gasped in pain the final piece of his armor fell to the ground and his naked torso was exposed. The queen spat venom towards his way, the flesh making a horrible sound and letting out an even more horrible smell. Six fired a nail into her eye making her roar in pain smacking him away, the strength of that slap send Six rolling into ground as the tunnelers began to attack him while he was down. Like the Deathclaw before, he felt how they ripped apart his skin and took off chunks of his flesh.

Pain.

Everything he felt was pain, Six tried to fight them off. In the back of his head he lamented the people he would leave behind, his new family and the one he had wanted to save. A flash of light blinded him and he thought that maybe his time had finally come. But that changed as he felt himself being shot by lightning. ED-E hovered above him as he fired electricity at everything bellow him, he had given him a window. Six forced himself to move, to fight.

ED-E had not given up, so why should he? The Riot shotgun tore through them as he put some distance between him and the confused creatures, Six was breathing heavily as he watched the last of the queen's guard fall. The large creature simply glared at him, she let out a roar as she charged to him once more and Six kned that this one would hurt.

He felt his hand shake as he grabbed his weapon, the queen broke his arm as it landed a blow on him. The queen screamed as she took steps back holding her large stomach, a nail stuck to her side. Six fired again and again into her felsh the queen screaming in pain as she tried to push him away, ED-E tanked one of the strikes to give him time. The nails had cut the flesh of the beast and all he needed to do was apply the same tactics that the tunnelers used, a simple cut would become her doom, Six punched with all his might towards the small hole that the nails had carved on the skin of the beast, the flesh tearing as Six felt his hand burn with the venom inside her, grasping as much as he could Six ripped out her insides as the queen fell to the ground the pain stopping her moving.

The thrashing stopped as the loss of blood became too much and the queen twitched one last time before she left the earth, Six looked down at the mess he had made. Organs, sacks of venom and unborn tunnelers all laid before him. ED-E hovered next to him trying to see if he was still alive. Six looked at the machine and gave him a weak smile, using his burned hand he held the machine and pulled him into a small hug.

"Don't worry, I won't let you die buddy"

ED-E gave him a happy beep as it helped him stand. Six used the last of his stimpaks to more or less stabilize himself into a walking condition and fix his broken arm. The bones snapped back to their place and the flesh healed as he stumbled outside of the cave, there was a peaceful silence as he walked the stairs of the destroyed building. Then why would his hands not stop shaking? Why when he blinked he was back at the cave?

As he opened the door and was greeted by the dim light of a fading sun Six could only feel relief, not in the dark anymore. "I… I don't know how the brotherhood can live like that, trapped away inside… hehehe but I guess I… fuck me I feel like shit ED-E"

ED-E simply floated silently staring into nothing ness.

Six frowned "Oh, its you"

"Thought that explosion… that building falling deep into the Divide might have been your work. Wouldn't kill you… maybe close, but you did survive. No need to go any farther, you have brought me what I need. That machine with you, sealed in the Hopeville Silo. Needed someone to unlock it, to bring it here. But now the signal is strong enough, there is no need to carry it anymore"

Six felt his jaw drop "What?! You brought me all this way to show me whatever the fuck you had planned! You said you learned from me… did you not send the message because you wanted me here? Why ED-E?"

Ulysses seemed amused "You gave it a name, what was IT to you? Companion, slave, weapon or all of that? Nothing compared to its primary function, it's a messenger like us and it shares our history"

"You're not taking ED-E"

"If you feel it's lost, just remember. You could have turned away at any time, gone back home and none of this would have happened. But you had to make one last delivery and that's why I knew you would come Courier, couldn't stay away it's who you are. The machine you brought, is mine now. It's coming home, ill reduce it to parts just enough to function, just enough to be aware of what's happening"

"NO!" Six jumped as he tried to grab ED-E, Ulysses moving it away in time. The courier raised his gun and pointed it towards the small robot. His hand trembled as he lowered it. "You don't need to do all of this, just download the data!"

Ulysses scoffed "What's inside that machine, is all that matters. All the machines here, made from wreckage from the divide. He is special, not from here but carrying the message your brought here and it will do what it was programmed to do. The giants here will listen to it, I will bring the Divide to your home, your nation. I will let your flag burn, like you let the Divide burn"

Six could only watch as Ulysses activated the last protocol "Big mountain access code, Ulysses. Comand Override… Navarro"

ED-E fired at Six momentarily blinding him, by the time Six could see again the eye-bot was long gone. His destination: a giant temple to the old world. Six gritted his teeth as he slammed his fist into a wall "FUCK!"

One more delivery, one more mission. It always was one more.

Six looked down at himself and then at everything around him. Why did he not run? Why cant he just turn away? Why… did he always had to play the hero? Bred in a lab, maybe it was in his nature. Maybe it gave him direction because other than that he had nothing going on, Six shook his head as he ran towards the temple. Climbing down and using the metal around the building to reach the ground, he ran towards the temple only one thing on his mind "Rescue ED-E, stop the launch"

As night fell Six forced himself to smile, it was a simple plan.

"DIE!" the marked men rained fire towards him as he tried to advance, assault carbines tore through metal and wood as they fiercily defended their position, missiles and rockets where fired his way. Six felt his hand begin to shake again, it was fine he could still win. There was an undetonated nuke near them if he could only fire at it…

The marked men ceased their firing as they threw flares into the sky, Six watched in horror as the flares briefly made two giant figures jump back in fright. But when the light faded two Deathclaws ran towards him completely ignoring the marked men for now. Six ran for his life as he tried to reach the safety of the building he had first come from but he was no match to the speed of a fully grown Deathclaw, grabbing him by the leg Six was flung into a destroyed car. Glass and metal digging into his skin, barely dodging another blow from the creatures Six stabbed the closes Deathclaw in the neck with the sword he had taken from marked men. Blood poured from the creature falling into him, but as he was killing one the other flanked him and used its claws into his side. Six screamed as the beast sank its teeth into his shoulder only letting him go when he jammed his finger into its eye, the marked men surprisingly came to his aid as they fired at the beast.

Fresh meat to eat he assumed.

The Deathclaw in its panicky, ran back towards its nest grabbing Six along with him to not come back empty handed. A missile exploded its head making both Six and him fall into the cave that was the home of the creatures, Six struggled to pick himself up. His ears ringing from the explosion, his eye could not focus on anything but he did see something in the distance, something big was coming his way and he needed to move.

Six groaned as he began to crawl away, to anything that would give him a semblance of cover as heavy footsteps began to approach him. Barely managing to squeeze himself beneath a destroyed bus that was in the cave Six watched the biggest Deathclaw the wasteland had to offer sniff its surroundings as it searched for its prey.

Blood was in the air and Rawr could feel it, grabbing with one hand the dead Deathclaw it took a bite out of the creature cannibalizing his own kind. Leaving towards a more open area of the cave Six had a brief moment to look at his surroundings.

There was another nuke, just for him to destroy.

But if he did, the entity of the cave would collapse on top of him. It would be suicide, Rawr finished eating but still hungered for more. Smelling the air and following the scent it found what it was looking for, trying to aim with his injured hand Six noticed Rawr coming for him.

The laser detonator did its job as the cave collapsed and giant rocks fell from the ceiling Rawr tried to avoid them but her mind never left her pray, Rawr sank her claws with all her might on the back of the courier. But it was too late, a large rock crushed her head as Six stumbled towards the exit.

He did not make it in time.

A rock hit him on the head sending him to the ground followed by cascade of dust and smaller rocs all trapping him. Six groaned as he desperately tried to move but at most he could wiggle his arm, the courier began to hyperventilate as he pushed everything around him to gain some breathing room, to give him hope of survival. As he moved his arms and legs in the dark he managed to move into a better position but he was still stuck in the rubble. The light of the outside flickering out of view.

"No no no no no, please move" Six pleaded as he tried to push the giant Boulder blocking him from freedom, but it did not move an inch no matter how hard he pushed it only mad more dust fall on top of him. He was burying himself alive and there was little he could do about it, Six looked in hopelessness as the moon faded behind a cloud and his last source of light faded.

His eye took time to adapt to the nearly pitch black surroundings, but by the time it had done so. Six had given up he rested his head against a rock and cried. Silently sobs escaped his mouth as he slammed his fist again and again against his tomb, and this time there was nothing to distract from his demise.

No hallucinations from the long dead, no evil monologues from father Elijah.

Just him.

Him and the endless darkness, his fist had begun to bleed. The skin tearing away, as he tried to do something. "Winter… I'm so sorry" he felt alone and cold, like he had done that day. The day he crawled out of the divide alone, his family buried beneath rocks and nuclear hellfire while the others had long left his side, spurred by his actions. He was no hero, he just wanted to help those he was close to and that was why he always fucked up.

Six closed his eye and hoped that it would all just end.

"There there, it's not like we didn't give it a go!" Six found himself face to face… with himself. A younger version of him, two eyes bright smile and vault suit on. "Fucking fantastic"

His younger self snorted at him "Don't be like that, you locked me away for so long. I just want to talk that's all"

Six looked at the Star Player and rolled his eye "Fine"

"You know it's fucked up that you came back, I remember that I was so grateful when the bullets killed me. You got control and wandered off without a care in the world and yet… here you are and worst of all I am back. So I guess that means that I get control again, not cool but eh. You already begun to clear a path so thanks for that"

Six lowered his head as he let those words sink in "And what will you do when you get control?"

"Duh, let us die. You're fighting against the inevitable. I guess I am only back because you wanted to run so bad you summoned the dead, as a way if justifying yourself"

Six gritted his teeth "It's not over"

"YES IT IS! You bastard! IT WAS OVER THE MOMENT WE LEFT THE VAULT! I wanted to run away for so long and now here we are our chance to end this once and for all. COWARD!"

Six slammed his fist against the rock, the moon had come back. "You are the coward. I don't remember what made us that, but it doesn't matter. I am not you and I have a job to do. I have someone I want to see again… I want to see that broken moon"

"We both know that when the time comes, you will fuck it up"

The boulder did not break, but it had begun to move. Six kept slamming his fist over and over again, the bone visible to the naked eye. But those punches had given him more room to use his full body. Pressing his back against the rock he managed to free himself, Six stumbled towards a lake nearby and fell to his knees before it.

"Stay there, buried. This time for good" Six muttered as he looked at himself, a mess of scars and blood. Deathclaw blood, tunneler blood and his own blood all mixed into a horrible painting atop his broken body, a light began to shine across the Divide as the silo began to open.

Stumbling to his feet, nodded to himself. He was no hero… but he was a selfish gabling man, who loved to drink and take chems just a bit too much and for that reason he would selfishly save ED-E because to him the road had not changed. Six ran in the night, using his bare hand to kill whatever stood in his way. The marked men hesitated to fight him now, confused if he was one of them.

"DIE!"

Blade screamed as he fought against the courier on top of a collapsed building, he was the last of the marked men to remain and then only the temple remained. Six barely dodged the strike and pushed Blade off the tower, the marked men screamed as he fell towards the darkness heard more noise come from the temple as the massive facility came to life. He was running out of time and he knew it, so he moved faster than he ever had before. Ignoring the marked men that pursued him he pushed onwards and entered the facility. The PipBoy took its time mapping the area but Six never stopped moving, he needed to find ED-E even if it was just for closure.

His heart sank when he found destroyed eye-bots in the disposal facility, the cylinders where obscured by ice and the terminals gave no information. Activating them triggered an emergency protocol, but if even one of them held ED-E it was worth it.

"Come one then" Six muttered as the alarms activated and he could hear the threads of a sentry bot roam the facility but it did no matter in the long run. ED-E fell from the cylinder his body still rebooting. Six held it in time and gave him a smile "Hey there buddy, good to see you"

ED-E gave a soft set of clicks and beeps as it got all his systems back online "You don't look better than me you know… Ulysses is the only thing that's left, well him and the giant fuck off robot but I got a gun and a dream baby lets go"

Six spotted an auto-doc on the other side of the room. Time was not on their side, and he knew that whatever Ulysses was doing was about to begin. So he nodded at his machine companion and ran towards the end of the Divide. The Sentry fired missile after missile at them its armor on peak condition, but one lucky critical hit its optics momentarily stopping it giving Six enough time to run to the door, he spotted more ammo for his assault rifle and a chainsaw in peak condition.

A gift?

As the door opened Six spotted Ulysses admiring the large instrument of destruction, a massive nuclear missile, with detonator in hand. Six quickly fired at the detonator out of his hand and into the darkness bellow, Ulysses merely turned around unfazed by this. His long coat with the flag of the commonwealth, of America, now facing the missile.

"Your city, Vegas, lies in the other direction… with the rest of its slaves. Or is it just you courier? Without the lights and ghosts" Ulysses looked at ED-E and shook his head "Judgin by your shadow, maybe you cant let your machine go. Doesn't matter now. Either way the divide giants are awakening, the missiles here, on their way home. There is no way to stop them"

Six glared "All of this just for something that is long gone"

"You destroyed something larger than the Bear, greater than the Bull. And even when you could have turned away, you brought it again, in that machine. You destroyed a nation taking its first breath place that could have been my home, because you had to make another delivery, because you followed the marker… because you wanted to feel like a hero. So now ill destroy your home"

Six pointed his weapon at him "Kill me if you want, not my home. What I did was a mistake I know, but I didn't know then what the package was, what it would awaken! Kill me if you want"

"Kill no couriers, Caesar's words. Other couriers could have been legion- like me. The truth is you serve nothing, believe nothing. Killing you… meaningless. That accident you made now there is purpose to it. I believe you when you say you were… careless. The Divide, the Chip, the machine you brought here. Many messages can be taken from that, intended or not"

Six saw him turn around once more to admire the missile.

"What I do now is an act of conviction. I don't blame you. Learned from you. Both the weapon to kill a nation and the strength to do it, you showed me a road. A way to carry my message."

Ulysses looked down at Six all bloodied, with rags the only thing covering his body. A marked man he was too. So as he retrieved Old glory, a golden eagle, a symbol and a weapon; he nodded at Courier Six "You've already answered for what you have done. Now the flag you follow will answer for it"

"Not on my watch" Six said as he took the shot, blood erupting from Ulysses side. Ulysses stood still for a second, medical eye-bots flying to his side repairing the wound

"A gift from the old world"

Six gritted his teeth, and grabbed the chainsaw "Then lets end this like in the old times, let's see who is the last one standing" Six jumped at him bringing the chainsaw down on Ulysses. Old Glory deflected the strike and Ulysses used a 12.7mm submachine gun to put holes in the courier. Six gasped as he felt his skin being torn by the fire. But he also saw an opening, firing the nail gun at the feet of Ulysses he managed to nail him to the ground, Ulysses grunted as he felt Six slam the chainsaw at him.

Blood erupted like a fountain from the wound, Ulysses merely let out a sigh. Six on the other hand laughed like a maniac as he raised the chainsaw over his head. "How the fuck did that feel huh?!"

Ulysses replied by striking him on the head with Old Glory ripping his skin to move, ED-E killed one of the eye-bots that were aiding Ulysses. Time was running out for both of them.

Six grinned at Ulysses with bloody teeth "Ready for more"

Ulysses spotted how marked men breached the premises and chuckled softly "Let see who history favors courier" The marked men threw grenades at the tow of them, the explosion shaking the metal beneath them. Six pushed Ulysses and punched him in the face to gain some distance. The laser detonator did its work as Six used the undetonated warheads around them to cripple and kill them. Ash and smoke clouded his vision, but he could see how ED-E downed the last eye-bot-

"Nowhere to run" Ulysses said as he appeared from the smoke and slammed Old Glory on the head of the Courier sending him to the ground. He beat him over and over again with the blunt weapon until gold had turned read and Courier Six was left gasping for breath.

Ulysses spotted how Six reached for his last stimpack and kicked it out of his hand, grabbing a nearby anti-material rifle Ulysses pointed it at his head. Six struggled to move as Ulysses put his boot on his throat and the barrel of the riffle on his forehead.

Six's smiled "… the machine asshole"

ED-E rained a current of electric power that almost fried its own systems but Ulysses was blasted back dropping Old Glory, Six jumped to grab it slammed it against Ulysses. A marked men tried to interrupt them but Six killed it by crushing its skull, he dropped a Riot Shotgun.

With the weapon now in hand Six fired round after round into the downed Ulysses, until his chest busted open and his breathing became labored. He was down for now. "WARNING, please leave the area. Launch imminent" a voice came from the speaker as Six cursed. He moved to a console as he watched how the missile was aimed at the NCR territory, Six tried his best to hack it. To stop it but he did now know how, he could only accelerate the launch or target it against the legion.

Nuke the legion, kill the bull and let it rot on Arizona.

Six's hands trembled as he tried to make a choice, there where innocents in the legion. Slaves, women and children who did not ask to be born on that side of the river, who could do nothing against the oppression that Caesar brought to the wastes.

"Experiment log 369248/A- Eyebot Duraframe universal interface override system. This is Dr. Whitley presiding. Initial tests of the override system are promising. Against unsecured or lightly-encrypted targets, the Eye-bots have a ninety-eight percent success rate. More heavily protected systems are problematic. Military-grade encryption presents a very real possibility of critical overload of key systems. We've stopped tests before any eye-bot is destroyed, but if we don't address the problem our Eye-bots will fry themselves hacking military networks"

An audio log played, deep from within ED-E's memory. Six stared at him as he pieced the words together. "You can… stop the launch"

A small nod from the machine.

"But you would die! I won't let you sacrifice yourself like this… there has to be another way… I can save them dammit… I can do it this time" Six said as he looked at the terminal for any information.

ED-E simply played a small audio, the tune Six had heard before when they went into battle "Ralphie… you want to play the hero huh" ED-E confirmed this as he moved to the console, Six placed his hand on the robot and stopped it for a second.

This robot, it held meaning to Six. It was the personification of what he wanted to save, not everyone… just those he cared about, but how could eh deny the want to be something more than what your programming said.

"ED-E… thank you"

The robot chirped sadly at him as it nuzzled against his chest for a brief second and in that time the machine was more human than anyone in the room. ED-E played the audio from the show one last time as he exploded in a shower of lightning. Spark fell on six's hand as the missile slowly sank back into the Divide. But Six felt no victory, only a hollow pain in his chest.

He turned to Ulysses who was coughing blood, the same fire that had been lit inside him when he killed Benny burned brighter ever before. This man had killed ED-E, threatened his new home and those he loved, his grip on Old Glory tightened as he approached the downed courier, one courier the weapon high into the air to squash the head of another.

But he couldn't do it.

Six grabbed his last stimpack and injected it on Ulysses side, healing some of his ailments. Ulysses looked at him in confusion "Why?"

"Even if you have no faith in Vega, I do… and my actions have proven it." Six replied as he put Ulysses on his back as he escaped the exploding temple. Ulysses coughed "If the ghosts of Vegas have come from behind their wall to speak, I'll hear their words. We might both still die after all"

Six chuckled "I barely shot you come on, but… yes I believe in Vegas. Not because of House, not because of the families but from what I seen we can do there. Not just me, but Winter, Cass and Sarah. Breathe new life into the old town, change the established order and make it so that it bends to OUR will. Mr. House might have not realized it, but he changed because of us… for the better"

Ulysses simply hummed.

"You told me, that I gave life to the Divide. I can do it again, and give life to Vegas"

This made Ulysses stir as if life was coming back to him "History has proven this. Our history. And you think you have the strength? Enough to hold up NCR, long enough so that Vegas may live again?"

Six smiled at gave him a small smirk "Not my strength alone"

The two couriers walked for miles in silence, both injured and tired. No marked man nor Deathclaw stopped them as if respecting their rite of passage… or maybe simply out of far once they reached the las stretch of the Divide both collapsed as they rested Six looking towards the Mojave and Ulysses towards the Divide.

Six grunted as he felt his strength leave him, Ulysses merely looked at the sands.

---

"..S….Wake up… SIX!"

A voice was calling to him, he forced his eye to open.

White, something pure. A promise of chance and to begin again, Six felt himself being pulled into a hug as Winter sobbed into his shoulder "Not…dead…"

"Oh God, what were you thinking?!"

Six felt himself move as he looked at ED-E… the real ED-E hovering next to Winter, the specialist noticed this and looked at him in worry "What… is something wrong with ED-E?"

As he looked around for Ulysses to back him up in the conversation. Six spotted Old Glory stabbed neat the edge of the Divide. Ulysses was long gone, Six wondered if he had jumped into the abyss or if he now roamed the wastes.

"Nothing… ED-E is just fine"

Winter placed a hand on his cheek as he managed to smile "He is a hero after all"

---

A/N: A long chapter this time because I love ya. The battle for the Mojave and the fate of New Vegas has come and I cant wait for you to read it. See you soon!