Authors note: Hello everyone and anyone who reads this. I'm a returning writer! With the sudden uptick in interest in fallout because of the show I decided to hop on the bandwagon and write a fic for the female sole survivor and maccready. I couldn't find one that really hit all the marks for me, so here I am. i would like to note PLEASE read my bio before you check out my other stories. Chances are they aren't for you. They were written very long ago, by a much much much younger, more immature me. I don't know what f*ck she was on, but please don't judge present me for past me's actions i'm not her lmao
Sole stood on the steps of her sanctuary home, her back pressed against the door frame of her designated house. It was her old one, from before the war, before the vault. It had been hard, but in her mission to rebuild and settle Sanctuary, she gutted and rebuilt it. Except for Shauns room. She built and put in a new door, and kept it sealed shut. The settlers here were kind and respected each others living quarters. She knew nobody would dare go through her things, but still.
She watched them now, as she leaned, going on about their day. The various farm plots were thriving, and she took in their chatter, the brahmin calls, and the banging of tools. It was a comforting chaos to her. It was the closest she had been to peace in a long time. A small smile made it's way across her face. It was the first time she smiled in a few weeks.
"Evening, General." A voice called, snapping her out of her thoughts. She turned her head to find Preston. He tipped his hat, and offered a smile. "Are you sure you should be up?" He rushed over to her and looked her up and down.
"Evening Preston," She said, "Yes, I am sure. How was your patrol?"
"To be honest?" He huffed, "Pretty boring. But boring is good. I've walked the entirety of Sanctuary and there's not a disturbance to be seen."
"That's good, that's really good." Sole sighed. Sanctuary wasn't perfect, nor was it close to be being complete. Though they had the twenty something odd settlers, a farm, water, and even traders and caravaners, the work here never stopped. There was always something that needed fixing, supplies or building materials that needed scavenging. It was endless. But it was to expected.
"How is your recuperating going? We've still a bit worried about you y'know."
"Well," She started, "I can actually move my body without pain now, so I think I'm all healed up." She gave half smile, because it was the half truth. The full truth was she was still in pain, her wounds still tender. But she was tired of laying around. She was restless and eager. She wanted her son.
It wasn't normal for Sole to stay in Sanctuary this long. And she only usually stayed for more than two days when she needed a serious rest or the settlement really needed her. But this time she had come in clinging to life. The scouts had found her coming in from the east, she could barely hold herself up and had been walking for at least a day, maybe even two. She had a run in with synths, a bad run in. Nick Valentine had helped her find the man who stole her son, he even helped her track him down, and he wanted to be there with her when they traveled to Fort Hagen, but she wanted to do this alone. He fought her on it, but the wasteland had hardened Sole, and she was as stubborn as she was determined. She made her way to Fort Hagen on her own, but was ambushed. A group of synths had been following her, led by a courser, and quickly overwhelmed her.
She had fought synths before, they were pretty easy to take down. For the most part they were always older models, sort of like Nick. But the courser was different. He was unexpected. She was able to dispatch the older ones easily, as they were the ones she saw first. But the courser came out of nowhere, and he fired with incredibly accuracy only to disappear again. It took her a while to realize he cloaked himself. Their firefight lasted a long time, with her ducking behind cover and him evading her. He shot her three times before she even landed a shot, each time she stabbed a stimpack into herself before aiming again. Looking back on it, she realized the courser probably grew tired of her healing herself and that's what might've led to his decision to rush her.
He had been on her in an instant. His strength was overwhelming, and he quickly overtook her. He could remember the way he lifted her up and slammed her back down. He had delivered devastating blows to her sides, cracking her ribs without much effort it seemed. He had beaten her bloody, and broken many parts of her. Reminiscing on it made her chest tight and her breathing rapid. It scared her just to think about.
"I'm eager to get going again." She said, shaking the thoughts out of her head.
"Don't tell me you're already thinking of heading back out there?" Preston raised an eyebrow, "You are, aren't you?"
"Mmhmm," She nodded, "You know I can't just stay here and do nothing. The wasteland needs taming. Besides, I need to re-up my supplies. I lost a lot of things out there."
"Is there any way I can convince you to stay longer? And perhaps even to get back into bed. I ju-"
"Preston." Sole said, sternly. "I have to find him." She knew he meant well. It was a big scare for them, when she showed up in that state. Basically dead. He wouldn't let her get up even after her bones were healed. She had to argue with him just to sit up.
"I guess I should be worried if you didn't want to get back out there." He looked to the ground, and then again at Sole.
"I knew you'd understand" Sole offered him a smile. "I'm thinking of heading out tomorrow. I've got my back up supplies ready and have some stuff I've stored up to sell. Diamond city is gonna be my first stop. I'm glad you found me after patrol though, means I won't have to try and wake you up to say bye when I go this time."
"You still have to know, I always walk you to the bridge before you leave." Preston gave her a smile and she returned it before waving him off and turning to go back inside. Normally he always did see her off, but tomorrow was one of his only off days from patrol and she had no intention of waking him up before sunrise just to say bye.
Once inside, she closed the door and headed to her room. She had taken inventory of most of her things and did have a lot to sell, mostly to Arturo. He was always excited to see the weapons she collected out there. Most usually had decent mods on them and fetched her good prices.
All she really had left to do was kill time and sleep until the early hours of the a.m so she could arrive in diamond city at a good time.
She had the trek to diamond city down to a science. It wasn't a short walk by any means, but she knew how to make good time and what areas to avoid, all by trial and error. There had been many times she had wondered in the wrong direction and had barely made it through by the skin of her teeth. She went around concord, and headed down to the drive-in, stopping only to say hi to some of the settlers before sticking close to the main road. The hardest part was once she reached the river, as some raiders liked to gather on the bridges and use them as choke-points. Luckily, she and Preston had helped a settlement not too long ago called Oberland station and she usually could cross there easily. Their defenses weren't as strong as Sanctuary's, but they were usually left in peace. From there, she was usually home free, aside from the occasional odd scavenger or mutant or two.
This time, her trek was very oddly peaceful, and she had the luck of only running into a few raiders holed up in an apartment. She could deal with raiders pretty easily, as they were hardly ever uniformed when they were in the small groups of three's like these ones were. She decided not to engage, and had continued on instead, sneaking past them pretty easily. The city was just within reach, and it wasn't long before could see the familiar painted arrows leading her to the entrance.
The commotion of Sanctuary was nothing like Diamond city. It was bustling, and the shopkeepers were always shouting, trying to bring attention to their wares. It was a trading hub, after all. And this time it was filled to the brim with people. She maneuvered through them, into the town center to try and finally recover her losses. She had too much to offer Arturo, and he not enough caps so they settled on an exchange of ammo for her weapons. She had taken the rest to Myrna, and after much back and forth, was finally able to sell the rest of her things and get some much needed stimpacks and rad away. She had turned a nice profit, before the stimpacks and Med-X. She was extra paranoid about them, and but as many as she could. She only had enough caps left for a room and maybe even a meal. She decided to head out to the dugout to grab herself a place to sleep for the coming night.
"Ah! Yefim look who it is!" Vadim cried, outstretching his hands
"Hello Vadim," Sole smiled, laughing to herself. Vadim had always been a bit eccentric, and very loud.
"So tell me, have you come to say hi? Or do you come to share drink with old friends ah? Come, come!" Vadim motioned her to the counter, where he pulled out two glasses and began to pour some whiskey in them.
"Both actually," Sole replied, taking a seat and pulling her glass to her. "I'm gonna need a room too, just for the night."
"Bah, you always need room when you come. Tell me, how have you been? We have not seen in you long time." He raised his glass and waited for sole to do the same, and he clinked them together before tossing his head back and downing his shot.
"Well, I almost got blown up." She started, knocking back her whiskey. She decided a white lie would be easier to explain to the Bobrovs. She didn't feel like telling them a courser almost killed her. "It took me a long time to recover, I was in and out for the better part of two weeks. I was lucky to have been found. But other than that okay!" She smiled.
"You are resilient as ever!" He laughed. "Good to hear you are okay, and even better to see you. Yefim thought you were dead!" She turned her head and eyed Yefim, who only shook his head.
"Do not believe my brother," Yefim sighed, not looking up from his newspaper.
"Poor Yefim. He was heartbroken, truly." Vadim grabbed the bottle and held it up, asking if she would like another drink. Sole nodded. She hadn't had a drink since before the incident. Preston was adamant about it.
"Fill 'er up Vadim. I'd like to sip on something while I read the paper. Is that newest issue of the Publick?" She asked, pointing to a stack of papers at the far end of the counter.
"Yes, Piper has been doing good with paper ever since your interview. Come, here is your drink. On the house this time. For surviving explosion." He offered her the cup. She took it, rising from the bar stool to grab the newspaper and sit comfortably on the couch. "Oh, and check board if you're feeling up to it. People have complained about ghouls at the cemetery. There is bounty but no one has come back to collect. Perhaps it would interest you?" Vadim asked coyly.
"Vadim!" Yefim shouted, scowling at his brother, "She comes back and tell you she was blown up and you want her to do bounty? Ridiculous!" He threw his hands up and shook his head, and both brothers began to argue. Sole laughed and tuned them out, along with everyone else at the dug out. It was very common for them, and nobody paid them any mind anymore. Instead, she sat back on the couch and threw up her legs before reading the newspaper. It reminded her of her early mornings before the war, when she would read at the kitchen table, although back then she would drink coffee. It was as peaceful a conclusion to her night as she could ask for in diamond city.
When she finished her drink and her paper, she rose and took both to the counter. She eyed the bulletin board and quickly went back and forth in her head before snatching the paper off it quickly, and headed to Yefim to get her room for the night.