Snowflake on the Sand
Chapter 1: Redux
Doc. Mitchel had seen a lot of things, one did not travel the Mojave Wasteland unharmed or without two or three stories to tell. From his days on the vault and through the journey he took from New Vegas to Good Springs he had seen much of what the Mojave wasteland had to offer. Bandits roamed every corner, beasts that feasted on all unsuspecting prey and the terrifying depths of depravity that the old world had to offer. "But I got to say… this is new" he said as he stood next to the doorframe of his home staring at a blue whirlwind above in the sky lightning erupting from it as it burned away the clouds that surrounded it.
It was not a natural disaster that much he was certain; he had read enough of his history to know that maybe it was a piece of technology back when humanity though they could control their own planet and reality. The good doctor heard the sound of a shotgun and turned around with a raised eyebrow at his latest patient and the talk of the town.
Courier Six pointed at the tornado lookalike and frowned, this did not seem like something normal. Even with scrambled brain he could tell that this was not something that happened every day in the (now) peaceful town of Goodsprings. Reaching into his bloody Vault Suit he put more ammo in his weapon just in case, sensing that the doctor was looking at him funnily he shrugged and gave a small grin "Can never hurt to be prepared"-"Not that I doubt your abilities or anything, but I doubt a normal shotgun will do much against a tornado" the doctor replied.
Courier Six snorted "I am not that dumb, but look at how the bloatflies are circling it maybe it will attract some cazadores, they are curious and territorial by nature."
The doctor nodded as he could not help but feel impressed at the newcomer's knowledge of what could be argued to be one of the most dangerous creatures of the wasteland "Huh look at that, you know a lot for someone who can't remember his own name or past"
Six shrugged, not caring about the specifics of why he knew what he knew. Amnesia might be fucking with what he remembered but did not need memories for his next step.
He was just going to rest for the nigh in Good Springs before heading to Primm and find more about the man that shot him, rage and determination burned within him as he faintly remembered how he was shot and buried in a swallow grave.
'Bastards' he thought to himself as he briefly forgot about the tornado of energy above the town. He let out a sight, 'No, right now is not the time for this' he needed to rest after his fight with the Powder Gangers but before he could hit the hay this shit showed up. Six was taken out of his thoughts by a large explosion in the sky which made some of the people of Good Springs scream, but the tornado soon disappeared and a screaming girl literally fell out of the sky.
"Well someone is going to have to clean that" Six remarked as he looked with morbid curiosity fully expecting a splat and a small volcano of blood, but what followed was a golden light and the sound of shattering glass, confused both men took a step back, this was just bizarre. "Stay here doc, I'll go check what all this brahminshit is about."
Six walked towards the location he had seen the girl fall, to his surprise a huge crater was formed outside the saloon, Easy Pete was there staring at the crater "Yup, that was some explosion all right."
Six felt his eye twitch in annoyance at that but ignored him for the moment as he had bigger fish to fry in the middle of the crater, waiting for the smoke to clear a little he entered VATS (something he recently learned he had the ability to do) and saw that there was indeed someone there.
A tiny person it would seem. But he rather not take any chances with this person, they did fall out of the sky after all.
"All right you know how this goes hands up or I blow your brains all over the sand" he said not really expecting a response his finger already on the trigger, what he really didn't see coming was the blast of ice to hit him on his right arm and freeze it along with his newly "acquired" shotgun.
"What the fuck" he said and entered VATS just in time to see a kick fly towards his face, thinking quickly he grabbed the foot and with all his strength he swung the person like a hammer and slammed them against the concrete and just for good measure he hit them with his frozen hand against the ribcage of his opponent. He raised his shotgun again and locked eyes with his opponent, green met blue and his frown was replaced by a small smile "So missy, will you surrender or am I going to need to put you on my swallow grave?"
The girl in white spat blood to the side and frowned "I yield"
The courier smirked and took a step back "See no need to be hostile, I am Courier Six welcome to Good Springs"
Winter held her ribcage and glared at him "What kind of name is that and what in the world are you wearing?" the Schnee said as she could not believe that she had been bested by someone in blue pajamas.
"I will ignore both of those questions" the courier said as he took the bits and pieces of frost off his Vault Suit, Winter tried to stand up came face to face with the barrel of a shotgun "Easy there friend, wouldn't want to worsen your injuries now would you? Best if you stay on the ground for now."
With a frown Winter sat back down "I need to get back to Atlas civilian you have no idea how important this is, General Ironwood needs to be informed of a threat that could destroy all of Remnant and that includes you. Just tell me where in Vale am I and…"
Seeing that her only response was a raised eyebrow made her frown deepen even more "Well guess I am not the only one messed-up in the head, what in the fuck are talking about?"
"Atlas, the kingdom you simpleton, our whole world is at peril… didn't you see the storm!?" she asked him as Six nodded "Sure did, we all did, saw you fall out of the sky blasted thing blocked out the moon that I love to see"
"Then you would now that…" Winter stopped as she stared up at the moon as if to prove her point but with a gasp, she stood upright ignoring the barrel on her temple she stared flabbergasted up to the sky "What, no no no no this can't be right what happened to the moon!?"
The Courier looked up at it and then shrugged "Is a full moon, what's wrong with that?"
"It's not shattered!" Winter replied hoping that someone, anyone would pinch her awake, she must have hit her head when the storm swallowed her, one of the members of her team would wake her up anytime soon in the med bay after a bad hit to the head.
The courier seeing her pained expression and confusion not to mention he could hear her accelerated heartbeat knew she was not pulling his leg, she really believed the moon was shattered before.
"Damn it and here I thought I was insane, well missy sorry but it looks like…" the Courier stopped when he heard a slow buzzing sound and a familiar robot cowboy showed up "Howdy partner, how is your new girlfriend doing?"
"Viktor you asshole I thought you were going to help us with the powder gangers!" the courier said as he kept his eyes on the strange lady that was still staring up at the sky as if it would change at any moment.
"Sorry partner must have gotten distracted with something, but I knew that I needed to get back home when I saw that thing in the air… almost looked like a wormhole I say. And besides people tell me that you didn't need that much help, you dealt with those ruffians just fine, even if a little brutally in the words of the more squeamish folk."
"Wormhole?" the courier asked with genuine curiosity, this was not something that he had heard about before, well not he would know in all honesty "Dimension travel partner something that people before the war people tinkered with" came the robotic reply, almost as if someone was controlling Viktor to say it, but the Courier didn't care about that "What the fuck is dimension traveling you are losing me a bit Viktor"
"Ah you know just the idea of other worlds and junk like that but Missy here looks a lot like people from New Vegas, with her fancy suit and all"
Winter had been eavesdropping on them and felt her dread grow the more the robot talked, she was no stranger to the theory of different dimension she had to sit through awful movies with Weiss when she was a child but she didn't think that she would ever see a machine like that and in Vale no less.
"Well shit, looks like we started on the wrong foot lady" she heard the so called Courier Six say and he offered her a hand, she grabbed it hesitantly and when she was up he offered her a smile "Sorry for breaking your ribs and all but you have to admit you did try to freeze my ass, how the fuck did you do that by the way? An ice grenade or some shit like that? New Vegas must really be the city of the future or you know the past if you can do stuff like that!"
Winter saw him give her a bizarre needle making her frown "I don't take drugs"
Snorting the courier grabbed another stimpak and stabbed her with it, making Winter flinch and jump back "WHAT IS YOUR… problem?" her pain was gone, and she swore she could hear some of her bones popping back into place.
"A little miracle of the old world, call it an apology if you'd like" the courier took the stimpak he had given her and walked towards the bar "You should go to the doctor's house just in case, it's the big one over the hill get your head checked I am leaving to New Vegas tomorrow, feel free to tag along Old World Gal"
Winter stared at the house and looked around the place, this was not home, if she was being honest she was quite scared but her pride as a soldier would not let her loose her cool, she just needed to find a way back home. If she got here there must be a way to go back too.
So starting with small steps she slowly began to walk to the house that this courier fella had pointed.
Said courier did not return to the doctor's home choosing to crash with Ringo for the night, leaving the couch free for Winter. Doc Mitchell even if wary of her had welcomed her inside and listened to what she had to say, she could see it in his eyes. He thought that she was insane, and it was not like she could blame him. She could hardly believe what she was seeing all around her, robots that talked, a moon that was not shattered and people dressed in blue pajamas. The doctor recommended that she get a good nights sleep before she headed out back to her home.
But sleep did not come easy to her and instead she decided to exit the house when it was almost dawn so that she could think, think about her home and her mission but more specifically her family. She wondered how her mom would react to her disappearance. The matriarch of the family would no doubt drown herself in even more alcohol, Whitley would be sad no doubt about that, she doubted her father would even care but what broke her hearth the most was the thought of her little sister.
Winter had been so close to see her again, after all the time that she had spent on Beacon, she was eager to see how much her sister had progressed on her dream and for her to able to display her skills in the festival.
It was supposed to be a simple reconnaissance mission on an abandoned warehouse in Vale, one of that had belonged to a disgraced Atlas scientist, they just needed to recover all documents and objects of importance and then leave. She was not expecting a portal to destroy most of the warehouse and then swallow her, shattering her aura and leaving her defenseless in the middle of… another world.
She let out a sad sigh when movement made her raise her weapon, the tip of the sword scratched the pain of Viktor but to her surprise the robot remained still its creepy smile still in place "Howdy there lady, little bit early to stare at the stars don't you think"
Winter frowned "State your intentions"
"Sounds like you are a little tense my dear, why don't you take a drink of this Sunset Sarsaparilla who knows when you will have a drink next" it's mechanical claw handed her what looked like to be a bottle of soda, the doctor had been kind enough to give her water and some food enough for her to sustain herself for a couple of days, so the offer did not appeal to her, maybe it was poisoned.
Grabbing the drink she nodded "I'll save it for later."-"Great idea partner you will need everything you can get if you want to survive a trip to New Vegas"
"Who said I was going to this New Vegas?" she asked confused, Viktor had the decency to move away as if embarrassed "Well I simply assumed that you would want to go there, after all it's the only place in the wasteland that you look like you belong"
Winter looked at the desert under the light of the moon, destroyed houses, cars and death all around her. it dawned on her that maybe this world was worse than her own "…robot, what happened to this world? Why does it look so dead?"
"Oh boy you really are not from around here are you partner? What you see it's what remains of the great USA; a country so advanced that back in the old days that robots, flying cars and everything that you could imagine was yours as long as you could purchase it, but I think that humans got cocky and forgot that the world could not sustain their way of living, soon resources ran dry and then the fights began, country against country, eye for an eye"
Winter swallowed nervously knowing what came next. "They destroyed themselves" she said out loud.
"Total nuclear annihilation, centuries of progress wiped out in the blink of an eye only one city remained safe from the bombs and that's New Vegas a little piece of the old glory."
Winter closed her eyes as she began to formulate a plan "Do you think New Vegas has a way to… to get me back home?" Winter asked letting a little bit of desperation reach her voice, Viktor only rolled away "Is your bests shot partner."
Winter remained quiet as she stared into the horizon rays of sunshine starting to illuminate the land "Look at you all ready to go, so what do you say missy; going my way?"
"Winter, my name is Winter, until we reach New Vegas we will work together" Winter rose from where she was sitting and extended a hand to the Courier, they shook hands and Winter got a good look at her new companion. Not too young not to old with dark hair that almost reached his shoulders, green eyes and a tanned skin, he looked like a very fit man but what caught her attention the most was the two bullet wounds on his face. One on his temple and the other one below his left eye, they looked recent and they were very intimidating.
If only he would get rid of that ridiculous blue thing that he wore, she would feel more confident that they would make it to this so-called New Vegas.
A/N: Small changes and corrected some grammar.