Ad Victoriam (Danse x reader)

Valentine

We had killed all the mutants in the fort. There was one who had knocked me down on the ground and was about to put a bullet through my head when Danse put one in his first. It was awkward, because I didnt want to say thanks but I needed to be mature. He muttered a "you're welcome" and we walked on separate sides to the door where a new team was arriving. The flight to the Prydwen was long and quiet, I was glad to finally get back on the landing strip and go report to Lancer-captain Kells and Elder Maxson.

"Good job soldiers, whenever you're ready, I'll have some smaller missions for you to do while we wait for an update." We turned around and start walking towards the door, Codsworth was already up and collided into me.

"Oh! Forgive me, mum, but good morning! Where to today?"

I smiled. "Diamond city, to see Valentine."

He lit up, "do you mean it mum? Are you sure? Oh I'm so delighted to hear you say so?" He began spinning his legs around and I walked into the Prydwen to return the power armor, Danse following behind.

"Diamond city? That's pretty far for some Valentine." He mumbled, I closed my eyes and sighed.

"We've already met, about a day or two before I found you. Hes a detective." I started walking away but he asked another question:

"A detective? What do you need that for?"

"You can find out for two lad snacks and getting right out of my ass hole." I quickly walked away, agitation building up inside of me, and walked right through the door, brisk air hitting me immediately. It was true, I did meet Valentine before I met Danse, but it was because I was saving his ass, the mission was a breeze until I actually met Nick Valentine and found out he was a synth. What made me feel worse is that he wasnt surprised by my reaction, but he didnt attack me, so I assumed something was wrong with his programming. The walk to Diamond City was brutally quiet with him, but by the time we got to the gates I was comfortable with him, he had a nice voice and was pretty charismatic.

"C'mon, Cods, they can drop us off at the edge of the city." Codsworth follows behind me to the Vertibird. I checked behind me before stepping on, Danse hadn't come out. I didnt know if I should be upset about it, or glad.

Just leave it alone. That's how you deal. We leave it and hopefully it goes away. Everything does eventually.

¤¤¤¤¤

I thanked the knight as we hopped off the bird and watched them zoom off before heading into town. We passed the Hardware Town shop, I remember when some girl was running past me crying for help, saying someone had been kidnapped and dragged into that place. I was stupid then, and fell right into a raider trap, nearly died too, had Codsworth not been there to help burn and slice em all up.

"You ready, Cods?" I could hear his gears whirring behind me and smiled slightly.

"Mum I'm so glad you're going to see Mr. Valentine! I believe this is going to help us immensely to find little Shaun!"

He hovered up to the gate and I called in, watching the giant door open. I walked past the guard and up the walkway into the giant baseball stadium now turned into the biggest settlement around. It's crazy to think of this thing that used to be just for baseball, is now housing about a hundred people in what's called Diamond City.

"Hey, Blue!"

I turned around and saw Piper, the Newsgirl with her little sister, Nat. They both had the same curious spirit that's gonna get them both in constant trouble. Piper was there for me too when I first walked out of the vault, although she was more worried about publishing my story at the time, shes a good friend, and a better sister.

"Piper, any new stories?"

She smiled, "Just the same old mayor-is-a-synth-and-is-gonna-kill-us-all stuff. Your story is pretty popular too, still, after what, five years?"

She knocked my shoulder and I laughed, waving her goodbye and making my way to the heart of diamond city. There was the Japanese robot who made noodles... Wata... I dunno, some name. I never ask for it becuase I'm worried I'd mispronounce it, so whenever he speaks to me I just give him caps for noodles. Walking further in and past the first set of shops, there's an alleyway where Nick's agency is, he even had his own neon light sign to light the alley up. I walked in and the faint smell of cigarettes and old paper wafted up towards my nose, tickling it slightly.

"Welcome! Welcome! Sit right down and I'll get to you in a moment pal." A voice called out from up the stairs, it was Nick. His assistant, Ellie, was busy, nose-deep in a filing cabinet.

"Ah, y/n! Ain't you a sight for sore oculars! What brings you by?" Nick walked down the stairs, shot glasses and a bottle of whiskey in his hands, he's your average detective, what, with your long coat, tipped fedora and whitty remarks.

"I'm looking for someone, so get ready for a long story, Nick." I sighed and he leaned back in his chair.

"I'm all ears- well, one at least, the other one fell off about a hundred years ago or so." He smiled and poured another glass, pushing it in my direction.

I took a deep breath and a sip from the drink, and begun the story, starting with how old I was. He looked shocked at first, but his expression went back to normal quickly after. I told him about the man with the scar, how he took Shaun, that's when he stopped me and asked me to describe the man.

"Where's his scar? Over an eye?"

"Y-yeah," it was getting harder for me to talk, my throat was burning like I was going to cry. "Over his eye, he was bald to, I think he was in his forties or something. Codsworth can I... can I get some water?"

I finished the glass Nick gave me long before I started talking about the man. Codsworth handed me a half-full carton and I drank what was left of it, tossing it in the bin next to Nick's desk. Ellie was digging furiously through some papers and handed one to Nick, he thanked her and turned back to me.

"Is this the guy you saw back in the pod?" He handed me a paper with a sketch on it, my stomach flipped and twisted, tying several knots.

"Yeah. That's him... Kellogg? Who the hell names their kid after some damn cereal?" I grinded my teeth, wanting to shred the paper to bits. Nick must have known because he took the file away and handed it to Ellie.

"Kellogg's been on my radar for quite some time, he's got a long record of big bad things he's done. But he's gone off the map for a while. He had a house here in Diamond City, come back in a day or two-or whenever you're ready-and we'll see what's in there."

"What are we gonna do, break in?"

He gave me a smile and a wink, "leave it to me, doll." And led me out the door. I thanked him and waved goodbye, my heart was beating all kinds of crazy. It's a miracle I can even walk right now, but I'm just so exhausted, I dont know if I'll even be able to make it back to Sanctuary to rest.