Fandom The End of the World (closed)

[HoneyedHopes]

Victoria's shot set her free, but only gave her enough time to stand up before the explosion of the car threw her back again. Ruby laid on the ground, breath stunned out of her, until she heard the damned beast still roaring off to her right. With a grunt, she pulled herself up, grabbing for the now well-worn minigun.


Even without its arms, the deathclaw still tried to right itself, snarling savagely in Ruby's face. Before it could snap any closer to her, she emptied the last of the bullets into its carcass. Then she tossed the gun away and ran towards the building that housed Victoria, stripping off destroyed pieces of suit as she went.


"Oi, chica, Donde estàs? Victoria!" She called out, picking through the rubble with care. She spotted the woman on the second floor, beneath the debris of a fallen dresser. Ruby rushed forward to pull the pieces off.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

It was with a groan that Victoria started to come to. She couldn't have been out for more than a few minutes as she felt pain come crushing to her as weight was removed from her body. Her skin felt hot and dry, her lips tasting like dirt when she ran her tongue across them. The worst of it all was the gunshot wound, that alone was on fire and she thought she could feel the blood starting to ooze once more.


"Careful, careful." She wheezed, squeezing her eyes shut for a long moment. "If you ever want to recreate how a hangover feels, this is how you do it."


She assumed the beast was dead if Ruby was there helping her. Whatever had happened, they were both still alive and, well, moderately safe. One hand grabbing her side, she pushed herself so she was sitting up, letting out a slow, shaking breath. She was trembling, adrenaline still pumping through her veins as she tried to absorb what had just happened.


"Think you can help me up again?"

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Ruby thought about laughing at Victoria's joke, for she certainly found it an appropriate joke. Instead, she held her ungloved hand for the smaller woman to grab. "Sí, amiga, anything for you," She lifted her onto her feet, and carefully draped her arm around her shoulders, stooping down so as not to stretch Victoria farther than she was able with her wound. Together they made slow work back to the museum.


Preston greeted them with a short cheer before helping Ruby situate Victoria in a comfortable place on the floor. Afterwards, he clasped his hands together with Ruby's in gratitude. Ruby shifted, wishing suddenly for her husband. He knew how to speak to people.


"We can't thank you guys enough for helping us out there," He gushed, "I've never seen someone take on a deathclaw like that!" Ruby resisted the urge to remind him that none of that had been a positive experience for the two of them. Preston dug around in his bag and produced a hefty handful of bottlecaps. he held them out to her, grinning like a quite normal individual. "I'm sorry it isn't much, but I figured you earned some pay after that display," he said when Ruby did not immediately take the offering. She stuck out her hand slowly.


"Why bottlecaps?" She asked. Judging by the look of their faces, she'd asked the wrong question.


"What do you mean? Everybody has used bottlecaps for currency since after the war." Right. She kept forgetting just how old she was. Though, her forgetfulness was just as astounding. She just nodded and packed the bottlecaps away without saying more.


"Anyway, Mama Murphy tells us there's a place up the road that we could settle down at called Sanctuary. You two are more than welcome to join us. I figure it's safer for all of us."

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Bottlecaps.


Victoria wouldn't have expected that. Nor did she expect their next destination to be Sanctuary. Still leaning heavily on Ruby, or as heavily as a woman as her stature could be, Victoria focused on breathing as though that alone could make her feel better. A day in to it all and she was already starting to feel as though she were dragging behind compared to everyone else.


"Sanctuary is a good place." She resisted the urge to say she had lived there for a while. Telling them they were pre-war debutantes wasn't exactly the best idea in the world.


"Oh it is, but it wasn't good to you was it? Oh child, you have to be more careful." Mama Murphy moved, stepping closer to the women. "Both of you. You've lost so much."


It was with a weak chuckle that Victoria shook her head. "I'm sorry I'm fairly tired after surviving a mutated gecko and an explosion, I'm afraid I don't catch your meaning...nor do I much care to."


Perhaps it was harsh, but she'd said worse before and, after everything that had just happened in less than five hours, she figured she was in the right to be grumpy.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

At Victoria's outburst, Ruby refrained from scolding her as if she were a child, though she felt the need to. She squeezed the woman's shoulder instead, and agreed to travel back with them with a quick nod. But as the walked backwards, Ruby's heart sped up to an unsteady pace, reminding her that she didn't have time to backtrack.


Yet, she had no other options. She had no plan, no direction. She only had a dog and a friend made by circumstance. With every step, she felt the bridge beneath her feet crumbling.


So she chose to focus her energy on caretaking. She used to do the same back before the war, when she and Nathan would have a tussle. She would always storm away in a huff, and many times she'd even left the house, merely out of spite. She'd always ended up at Concord's emergency clinic. Before security had tightened with the impending war, they'd allow volunteer help with patients.


She put that knowledge to good use, as she played doctor on Victoria and the other in the dim light of the lantern. As she used the last of the medical tape to cover up a particularly bad burn on Victoria, she spoke.


"I am planning on leaving here in the morning. To find my son," she spoke in hushed whispers, unable to confide in their new acquaintances. "If you want to, amiga, I could use your aim." And the company. Though her facial features never shifted, she hoped her eyes displayed more than she had said.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

She was still as she let Ruby take care of her small wounds. She stayed a little quiet through the process, only wincing now and then as the worst of her burns was taken care of. The flickering lantern kept things soft, like nothing existed outside of the two of them and Dogmeat. She was tired and yet, she couldn't help but Ruby had the worse of the situation. She had taken the brunt of it all, she had everyone expecting things from her already, and more than that, she had actually lost things she cared about.


"I remember your little boy." She mumbled the words, looking down at the burn that had just been patched. She had always been a fan of reading those home improvement books with natural beauty remedies. She'd have to see if she could find anything to make a mock up of those recipes to keep herself from scarring too much.


"If you'll have me, though, I'll gladly tag along with you. I don't think staying here would be good for me."


And she saw in Ruby's eyes what was in her own. Neither of them wanted to be alone.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

It relieved her to to be accepted so quickly. Victoria had no ties to her or her problems. Yet she agreed anyway. Ruby was beginning to believe she could actually trust this woman.


"Gracias, Victoria," she murmured, before tucking away the last of the bandages and moving on to the next patient. She left the lantern on.


Mama Murphy sat herself in a moldy armchair, rubbing the edges of her hands against her bony knees. Ruby crouched beside her, looking her over silently for wounds and confirming she was well. The older woman stared back, her gaze glazed over but smiling nonetheless.


"You won't find what you're looking for here, dear," she murmured suddenly, startling Ruby out of her medical mindset. "You need to head to the Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth. Diamond City. You'll find answers there." Her words had Ruby gripping desperately at her the sleeves of her jumpsuit.


"My son, is he there? Can you tell me?" Her shoulder quaked. The old woman shook her head. Mama Murphy might've said more, defended herself or offered further insight, but Ruby couldn't hear it. That was enough disappointment for now.


After spending several hours listening to Victoria toss and turn in her sleep, haunted by nightmares both familiar and unknown to her, Ruby got up at the crack of dawn to search for food. Dogmeat followed her obediently, only a passing whimper to let Ruby know: he was as hungry as she was. She'd never gone a day without a meal before.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Morning came and with it came the realization that it wasn't all just a fever dream. Victoria lay on her back, hands resting on her stomach as she stared up at the broken ceiling above her. Her sleep had been restless, leaving her aching and feeling like no matter how she turned she couldn't get comfortable. So, with great reluctance, Victoria stat up and ran her fingers through her tangled mess of hair.


She'd need to find a brush.


Ruby was gone and no one aside from Preston felt the need to talk to her, though he seemed to be easily distracted by the needs of others. She dug around her old house again, searching desperately until she found the tarnished silver handle of her brush. Codsworth, it seemed, had kept most looters out of the area.


It was amazing what a little bit of pampering could do. With her hair brushed and pulled back, she felt a little more alive, a little more like a human. She shoved it in her pack for future use and stepped outside.


"Preston." She called his name, hands finding their way into her pockets as she walked across the street to speak with him. "I hate to be a bother but as lovely as Sanctuary is, it doesn't exactly come with a Super Duper Mart. What were you all planning on doing for food? Or water, for that matter."


"There's plenty of wildlife in the area. I think your friend set out early this morning. As for water, I'm sure we can build a few pumps...after that we can start farming."


"It's a shame we won't be sticking around long enough to see that." Victoria turned her head, scratching her neck as she tried to see if she could spot Ruby. "I'll see if I can do something to be helpful for when she returns, though. Thank you, Preston."

 

[HoneyedHopes]

A few minutes later, Ruby returned, tapping Victoria lightly on the shoulder to get her attention. She held up one of Victoria's backpacks, which she had filled with an assortment of canned foods that had survived the days. The idea of eating food two hundred years expired made her feel a bit queasy, but it beat eating wild animals, if the rest were anything like that deathclaw.


"Vamos, amiga?" A moment ago, Preston had given a vague description of where Diamond City was located, but without a map or roads, the trek would no doubt take longer.


She turned back to the settlers, and gave a short wave. "Gracias, your help was appreciated. See you around." She made a silent vow to herself to check up on them, once she got better settled in this crazy wasteland.


They set out.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

It was a relief to see not only that Ruby was okay, but the backpack had come in use. She smiled, her shoulders relaxing a little. They had food, maybe even water, and Victoria was okay with that. Sure she hadn't been able to lounge around in her silk house coat as she sipped on too hot coffee out on her porch, she wasn't able to soak in a hot bath as she ignored the sound of her husband trying to get up and ready for work, but in a way this was better.


There was a sense of freedom that came with not knowing what was going to happen because that meant anything could happen. They could do whatever they wanted and no one was there to tell them no, or that they were too stupid to go out on their own.


Leaving Codsworth behind to watch over her old home, promising him she'd be back soon, Victoria kept pace with Ruby and Dogmeat, feeling the cool morning air on her skin and the weight of her rifle in her hands.


Of course, it wasn't all enchanted. Small sounds made her jump, like at any moment they'd be attacked by another monster, or find themselves at the wrong end of a gun. Her feet, unaccustomed to walking long distances, were starting to hurt and the sight of abandoned cars and tipped over cargo boxes reminded her that they weren't out on an all girls hiking trip. It was eerie, leaving something deep inside of her unsettled. The feeling didn't fade with time, rather, the long shadows cast by the sinking sun seemed to make things worse.


It was almost as though she were in one of the horror movies that came on the television late at night, the ones she never watched because they made her squirm. She was faint of heart and it was almost a joke that she, of all people, were one of the two to survive.


The thought made her chuckle.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Ruby and Victoria ran across only one other person on the road before nightfall crept up on them. "Trashcan Carla" offered an array of gently used wares, as well as precious insight on surviving to Diamond City. "Don't get shot." Ruby would do her damnedest to follow that advice.


Finally, when the lack of light would allow them travel no further, Ruby picked a spot she hoped would be defensible enough and laid down her backpack, rolling a tired hand over her aching shoulders.


"Stop for the night?" She asked, even though she had already laid out her belongings. Even Dogmeat had laid down, panting quietly as his ears stood alert.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

"You know, that has to be the best idea I've heard all day, darling."


Victoria shrugged her own pack off of her shoulders and let it hit the ground with a dull thud. She followed her pack on the way down, sitting down next to Dogmeat. She removed her boots, rubbing her aching feet until the pain started to subside. Everything was hurting now that they had finally stopped moving, her joints aching and, suddenly, she felt much older than she was.


"Just think," she mused, "if the others could see us now. God I bet Donald would lose it. He'd never believe that I could even carry this weapon yet alone use it." And the idea made her laugh a little, shaking her head.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Ruby grunt a short response as she tried and failed to get a fire started. Smoke sputtered in her face trying to cough itself to life, and Ruby sat back instead of breathing life into it. She looked over to Victoria and Dogmeat, already cuddling up for warmth.


"Nathan would rip the gun out of my hand. be 'fraid I'd shoot my leg or something." By God, if she didn't wish she had the huge bear of a man to protect her now.


"But, how are you holding up? About your husband?" She had loaded the question. She already surmised that some bad blood existed between her and her ex-husband. Ruby, feeling more and more akin to Victoria, just wanted to know more about her newest friend.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Victoria had reached over, gently scratching the spot behind Dogmeat's ear as she watched Ruby try to make a fire. God they really weren't fit for survival were they? Or, at least, she wasn't. Who knew, maybe Ruby loved camping and would be the soul reason they survived any of this.


The question distracted her from her thoughts and she still felt the need to lie, to close up and keep Ruby out. She'd done it for long enough, kept up the image of the American Dream so no one would talk, so they never knew. She had hosted dinner parties and book clubs, had doted endlessly on her husband in the public eye but, behind closed doors, things couldn't have been more different. They had been amiable at first, hell, he'd been smitten with her on their wedding day, but things had changed.


How much did she have to hate someone to find that their death made her happy?


"Honestly, I'm fine. The only thing that hurts about all of this is the hole in my side." She frowned a little, her hand resting on the dog's neck. "Does that make me sound cold?"

 

[HoneyedHopes]

So the pesky rumors of Sanctuary Hills spoke the truth. Ruby wondered if that meant the whispers of violent arguments and fist fights were right too. But Ruby found it satisfying enough to know that someone had found freedom and relief from the whole tragedy.


"Cold as when you harked on the Madre, chica." Her next grunt was an attempt at a chuckle. She never had gotten that whole laughing thing down. "I'm the same. Never enough to say." Friends would likely be in short supply. As if they weren't already, with the incredible lack of population.


"Did you grow up here?" Ruby asked, trying to edge away from idle chitchat.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

She chuckled, a dry, quiet sound. She had been harsh with Mama Murphy hadn't she? The old woman hadn't seemed too upset, though, and it was hard for Victoria to feel guilty over her reaction. They didn't understand. Her and Ruby weren't some battle hardened whomevers, they were just unlucky survivors. Still, Ruby didn't seem to judge her too harshly and that was all Victoria could really ask for right then.


"No." Her hand went back to scratching the dog. "I was a military brat actually, grew up on different bases all over the States. It was kind of nice to see everything actually, but mom hated moving houses so much, it was hard to keep up appearances when you were always packing and unpacking."


Another faint smile appeared on her features. "Ah, but what about you? I'm afraid I don't actually know that much about you."

 

[HoneyedHopes]

A background like that gave reason to Victoria's aloof nature, and why she never seemed a part of the neighborhood. It also explained why she handled a gun so well for a housewife. But the worst that it revealed was the obviousness in her choice in men. Everyone knew Donald was a rough looking man with even rougher insides. Ruby hoped Victoria could find happiness in someone new. Though it sounded silly when she so much as glanced towards the horizon.


Ruby blinked, caught off-guard by the inquiry. "I'm the wife of Nathan Esparza. I met him on the streets of Tucson when he almost by robbed by a car salesmen." The memory actually pulled a smile from the corner of her lips, genuine and soft, enough to make look five years younger. "I threw a couple punches, he asked me out."


She smiled for a second longer, realizing that wasn't exactly what the woman had asked for. Everyone in the town knew that story, because Nathan never stopped telling it. But Ruby couldn't imagine her old self, the person she was before she met him.


"Lo siento, mi amiga. That wasn't what you were asking for. I was never the talker of the two of us." She took a deep breath.


"I came here from Mexico when I was three, and lived in the Arizona area my whole life. We moved a couple times, when the family grew." She drew in a deep breath, cutting off that part of the story. Her childhood had been neither the best nor the worst of times, but she happily left those memories in the back of her mind. "We moved here after Nathan's station in Prague ended." Just like everything else about her, it ended with Nathan.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

The story had her giggling. It was too easy to imagine Ruby as the kind of girl that would knock a guy out and then be asked on a date. Victoria had never spoken much to Nate outside of idle conversation in passing, but he had always struck her as the good kind of sort. He hadn't seemed as sleezy as some of the other men in the neighborhood, though, considering some of the men in question, the bar was set pretty low.


Still, one thing Ruby said stuck with her. I'm the wife of Nathan Esparza. That was it, that was how she defined herself.


"God I should have known you'd be the girl to get asked out after helping in a fight. You're tough." That was, tougher than Victoria was. She didn't let herself linger on the thought, nor did she let herself linger on something Ruby apparently didn't want to talk about.


"So what was it like?" She let herself lie back, folding her arms back behind her head to cradle it. "Your first date with Nate? I mean, if you want to tell me that is." Victoria tacked on the last bit quickly, giving Ruby an easy out. It had to be harder for her, she had been the one who had lost someone she loved, someone who probably loved her.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

"I would love to share," Ruby said, her earlier smile returning. "It went awful. He took me to a tex mex restaurant, the food sucked, and el idiota couldn't talk without stuttering." As if it was out of a fairytale. Looking back, the entire night sparkled with the couples' nervousness and desire to please. "Then he took me driving down Broadway, and hit every single red light. While blaring mexican pop songs from the twenties. Embarrassed is too mild a word.


"I told him not to call me back," she continued, moving to cuddle up to the other side of Dogmeat. He grumbled over the sudden jostling, but settled back down quickly. "But he did anyway. After the third phone call he finally started acting less a regular guy, so I agreed to a second date." And she had even gone as far as to plan the whole thing. It turned, they had more in common than either thought. "We got married about a year later, before he left for his tour."


She arched an eyebrow at Victoria. "È tu? Have you had many boyfriends in the last?"

 

[Interstellar Bun]

Victoria settled down, staring at the inky black sky above them as she listened to Ruby speak. The smile in her voice was audible, making the air around them seem lighter. Smiling back, she giggled now and then through the story, shaking her head.


"He must have really had a thing for you to be that smitten." Which Victoria could understand. If Ruby was a bombshell now, she could only imagine what she'd been like then. "That's cute, though. It's always the silly ones that charm their way into your life isn't it?" Or, it seemed that way for most people.


"Ah, but me? Now that's a long list, there wasn't a time when my dance card wasn't full, actually." Another giggle. "Oh you must think terribly of me, but the boys on the bases were attractive and it was easy to fall for them when you knew it wouldn't last long. I think that was always the charm of it, you know? Knowing the relationships would never last and enjoying it all the more for it." She shifted, resting her head against Dogmeat instead.


"It's like a firework, hot and bright and over just as fast as it started."

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Was that the charm? As she thought about it, she realized how little time she actually spent with her husband. She'd spent more time wishing after him than actually being with him. She shook her head. No, they had loved each other. Really and truly.


"I feel that, amiga," she agreed with yet another coughed out chuckle, "So then why did you marry at all?"


The real question. Ruby wondered if she'd buttered her up enough. She never expected friendship to feel like tip toeing about rattlesnakes.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

There was a long beat before, finally, Victoria sighed.


"Dad was discharged after he got shot in the knee and needed a cane to get around. He was always mean as dirt but it got worse after that. I never had a college education, I'd only ever been raised to be a house wife and getting married was really my only way out." She shifted, shutting her eyes. "And in came Donald. Handsome, wealthy, and enamored with the idea of me."


She frowned, shutting her eyes. "I don't think I ever really loved him, and maybe he resented me for it, but I don't think he ever really loved me either. We were just...convenient for one another. It looked good for him to have a wife, a home with a white picket fence, you know? It's funny, I wanted to get out of that cage so badly and I just found myself in another one. I think we took a sick joy in making one another miserable by the end of it."


Why she was sharing with with Ruby, she couldn't really say. Maybe she was tired, or maybe she just needed to tell someone before she screamed.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

Vicky sounded so small when spoke. As her voice grew more defensive, it curled into itself, until she sounded like a child speaking words far beyond her comprehension. It made Ruby ache more for the woman, knowing that she did know, too well. Ruby could never imagine living a dissatisfying life with no way out.


She reached over and patted her shoulder, before moving to rub her back carefully. "aprovecha el día, my amiga. Let's find you happiness." She snorted. "Wasteland's got to be good for something, sí? Killed off all the pendejos,"


With a yawn, Ruby slumped down and nudged her freezing nose closer to Dogmeat's warmth. He smelled like decaying bodies and feces, but already Ruby found herself getting used to it.

 

[Interstellar Bun]

The touch was welcome and Victoria found herself relaxing into it almost like a cat. She wasn't starved of a gentle touch, no, she'd found that in others when she was with Donald, but she was starved of one that came with no desire behind it. She was starved for friendship.


"Bombs have a hell of a way of breaking cages, huh?" Her own voice trailed off into silence, sleep starting to cloud her mind. Maybe that night she'd finally be able to rest without tossing and turning into the early hours of the morning. Knowing she was on the cusp of sleep, she mumbled out one more phrase. "Night, darling."


With that, Victoria was out. Exhaustion stilled her, silencing her mind from any nightmares that lurked in the corners of her imagination. Running around without any sleep had a way of wearing people out.

 

[HoneyedHopes]

The next morning, Ruby awoke with a stronger sense of self, and more determination to move forward. She greeted Vicky with as much gusto as she could muster–little wave and all–before they picked up their things and headed towards the city skyline. After an hour passed, they happened upon a old pre-war diner. Shouts rose into the air. Ruby jogged off the road and toward the altercation.


"Pay up, granny. You owe us." A rough looking man shouted, waving his shotgun wildly towards the building. Through cracked window, Ruby spotted a greying woman with her middle finger pointed towards the sky.


"I ain't givin' you scum anythin'," she called back, "You fuckers got my boy addicted to jet!" One man loaded his gun and cocked it.


"Hola!" Ruby shouted and rushed forward, and thye paused, turning their guns on the new-comers.


"What do you want, scavvers?"