A Fallout Tale (Venturian Fanfic)

Chapter 10

The mercury chill of Venturian's influence crawled down Cywren's wounded spine. She kept taking Stimpacks but the wounds were still obvious so Vahl began to apply bandages. How would she tell him? How would she tell Vahl? Her silent treatment toward Vahl was already rude enough but if she did the same to Venturian, he might panick and think she was ill.

"Hey girls," Venturian's young voice called into the world. "Uh...Vahl? Why is Cywren covered in blood and wounded?"

Vahl opened her mouth to answer but held her tounge to form the words. "Timebomb detonated the nuke in Megaton so we went back in time to stop him. We didn't know he did it until we saw him running toward the nuke. He had allies try to kill us so I killed them off. He was about to choke Cywren to death so I killed him, too. I think I might've overdone it though..."

Her voice trailed off as though the mere thought of performing the kill was a major crime against humanity.

"Cywren? What is Vahl talking about?"

This was it. Time for the big news. She has to include an apology somewhere in there but that'll have to come later. For now, honesty must shine out brighter than the fear that motivated this topic.

"Venturian... I... I don't want to go on adventures anymore..."

Silence. Vahl dropped her bandages. Cywren felt the dam holding her tear spring a leak.

"Wh-why not? Don't you like going on these crazy adventures?"

"Not if it means killing someone!" Her anger, triggered by the replay of Timebomb's true death, took control of her and nearly choked her with tears. Quasar jumped behind Vahl. "All this time... you have been helping me kill countless lives, both animals and humans alike. You thought that killing them was fun... that it strengthened me. All it did was make me think murder was okay as long as it was the murder of someone who seems dangerous! Have you ever put any thought into how I felt about murder since we left the Vault!?"

"I... I did... but I thought-"

"Thought what!? That murder was okay with me!? I just watched Vahl knock Timebomb's head off with the butt of her battle rifle! His body fell on me and his blood spilled all over me! I never thought about the consequences of murder until I watched him die! Why can't we just leave my dad's dissappearance a mystery and live a comfortable life in Megaton or Big Town!?"

"Cywren," Vahl began, "There is always a reason wh-"

Cywren pulled off a stunt that no one would've seen coming. Even Cywren was amazed at what she accomplished. She never thought for a minute that she was willing to punch her best friend in the face to shut her up. Now Cywren shivered in fear of herself. The world's voices fell silent to her. She stared at Vahl in shock. Vahl's mouth moved but no sound came out. Cywren knew she was dead, she knew she was now on Vahl's hitlist.

She closed her eyes and let the darkness consume her for a minute. When she opened her eyes, Venturian's presence was gone and she stood in the cave hiding Vault 101.