The Cure For Curie (Complete!)

The Long Way There

"Are you sure there are no more?" She asked Shaun as she searched through the now nearly empty shelves.

"Yes, mother. The heads are all empty." Shaun answered.

"Damn. I need another brain. I have to test the new theory, I was sure we had more." She spoke more to herself than to Shaun.

She pulled jars filled with all sorts of body parts, searching for the brain she knew had to be here. They had harvested thousands of spare parts from the autopsies, had they really run out of brains? She knew she would have to venture out to find more on her own.

The vault above had been abandoned. Sacked by raiders from Nuka World. She hadn't heard from Preston or the Minutemen in...wait...how long had it been? She couldn't be sure anymore. Judging by the state of her ragged clothing, a long while. She had to go. They needed to finish the research. She would find a ghoul nest and harvest some organs as fast as she could. She'd be back in no time at all.

"Shaun, I need to leave. I have to go harvest more feral ghouls or we will never cure John."

"Can I come? I've been practicing with the guns. I'm getting really good at it."

"No. I need you stay here and protect your father. If those raiders return while I am gone, this place has to remain a secret."

Shaun nodded and hugged her goodbye. Once she had suited up for travel, Curie restored power to the elevator. The ride to the top made her anxious. She hadn't left John's side in so long. It was killing her to leave him but it was what the situation demanded. They were on their own now.

The lift thudded in to place with a bang but the doors wouldn't open. Curie waited, hoping it was just slow from the damage the vault had taken. When they wouldn't part, she tried to pull it up manually.

A loud scrapping noise screamed into her ears as she managed to get the door up. She huffed with effort as it finally clicked into place. She then went to enter her password into the lock on the faux wall. The buttons were not lit up as she tried to enter the code anyways. Nothing. Damn those raiders.

When they tore the vault apart, power must have been lost. Without power running through the main vault the exit would not open. She tried to look for a seam to pry it free as she had the lift, but there was none. They were trapped down here. She was filled with a stomach of regret that she had chosen not to help those people. If she had, she might have been able to stop this from happening.

"We are trapped down here." She said with venom as she stormed off the elevator back into the lab. "Without power upstairs, the door refuses to open."

"What will we do now, mother? We need to get out to continue the research."

"Don't you think I don't already know this?" She yelled at the synthetic boy who winced at her words.

She moved to take off her armor and took a cleansing breath. She calmed herself before turning to face him again.

"I'm sorry. I know it's not your fault. I just don't know what we need to do now."

"We might be trapped but at least we are together." He said hopeful.

She pulled him close to her, and kissed the top of his head.

"Yes. I suppose you're right. That's all that matters now. Why don't you head to the lower level and practice your shooting some more? I'll be down in a moment."

Shaun nodded excitedly as he bolted down the stairs. Curie stood there on the balcony next to John's cell, watching him. He had been dormant in his cage for almost a full year now. His primitive brain now used to the sounds they made in the lab, he never stirred from his place on the floor. She could see him breathing every now and then so she knew he still lived. There was that atleast.

She missed him so much. The sound of his voice haunted her. His kind words, his gentle touch. The way his gaze met hers, it had been so pure, so glorious. She didn't want to face this world any longer without him. There was no hope now. She would never be able to cure him.

"How dare you, you bastard! I told you this plan was crazy and you went through with it anyways." She shouted into his cage. "And now you're trapped like this. You're here but you are not the man I love. I need you to be him. I need things to go back to as they were. Why? Why have you left me this way?" She screamed as she slammed her fists in the bars of his cage.

He stirred then, his dead eyes opening to look at her, look at the foreign noise. She stood against the bars, reaching out to him. Not caring in that moment if he tore her to shreds. His black eyes blinked but he never stood, never made a sound. Curie's heart shattered when he closed them again.

"Damn you, John! This was supposed to work. This fucking world does nothing but take! Take our lives, our homes, our loved ones. We keep hoping for a better tomorrow that is always out of reach. You are out of my reach. I'm afraid you always will be. I'm afraid this is it." She said as she swept an arm behind her. "There is no sunshine here. There will always be another war, another tyrant. I'm done. I'm done fighting for the tomorrow that will never come. The tomorrow you promised me."

The silence was suffocating now. She had no more left to give. This room was her future, Shaun's future. They could have no real life here. Was she expected to play house now? Be a synthetic mother to a robot boy next her dead soul mate? It all seemed like such a cruel joke. A small hand reached into hers pulling her away from her torment. Shaun's sweet hopeful eyes looked up at her.

"We should sleep, mother." He said in a cold unfeeling tone.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"This world is not for us anymore. We could sleep like father. Until the world can make us whole again. It can't be this dark forever."

He was right. It was the light at the end of the tunnel. A tunnel of madness, sure, but it was something. They could go into sleep mode, just like John. Hopefully, they could awake in a future with peace. A future that could help them. It was a long shot, but she had to try. Anything would be better than this.