Outstanding

Chapter 8

The road to Sanctuary stretched out before me. Familiar vacant buildings loomed, the shadows they casted threatened to engulf me whole. With each heavy step, my pulse galloped, and my heart jumped. It wouldn't be long now till we reached Sanctuary, until we reached Vault 111... and Nate.

My breath caught painfully in my throat as I coughed to clear it. Don't break down, I warned myself. We weren't even in the vault and already I wanted to turn tail and run. How much of a coward was I that I couldn't even keep my composure before even reaching the vault? I had to remain calm.

Easier said than done obviously. How could I do that when with each step I took, my heart felt like it was being crushed by a semi-truck.

Damnit! I hadn't planned on coming back here, not anytime soon. So much for that plan.

Damn Maxson to hell! He has to be playing me! I could feel myself fuming and knew it had to be showing on my face. He had to know I came from there, why else would he withhold that info and just have Danse inform me of the mission? God damn that little prat.

Gazing up, my eyes caught sight of the Red Rocket Station followed but the familiar yet, ominous mountain top that hovered menacingly over the landscape. My breath caught in my throat once more as my eyes stared transfixed on the mountain and what it contained deep within. My eyebrows knitted, I couldn't do this, I can't go down there, but I had to. Not because of the mission, but because I needed proof. Physical proof of what I was. To show Danse.

"Y/N?"

Oh god, would he even believe that? What if he did? What then? Would he cast me aside? Hate me for being a part of the generation that destroyed the world? My throat constricted forcefully, and my breath came up short as my heart thundered against my chest.

"Soldier!"

Danse's calls broke me out of my reverie like a rock thrown through a window. Jostled and suddenly out of place, I looked around surprised that I hadn't moved. I glanced up at Danse whose face was awash of unmasked concern. "Danse?" I asked blinking, trying to train the emotion out of my face. It hadn't seemed to work, Danse's brows etched deeper with concern. "I'm sorry... I wasn't paying attention."

His brow raised ever so slightly as he glanced off to where I was staring. "Is everything alright?" He asked as he turned back to me.

"No, I mean yes, I..." I let out a sigh as I pulled on my hair. "No, not really."

"Is this because of your vault?"

"Bingo." I said as I walked to sit down on the guard rail. "Of all the places Maxson could have sent us, it had to be that vault."

I watched his face scrunch up at the informal way I called his Elder. I could just see him try and hold back his thoughts on how I wasn't showing proper respect, but he held his tongue-surprisingly enough. "How long has it been since you left?"

I looked back up at the mountain, my heart feeling like lead as my eyes landed at the top. "Seven months." I said turning back to him. "Though I've been back to Sanctuary from time to time during those months."

Danse walked over to where I was sitting. "Sanctuary, that's the main settlement for the Minutemen." He said. "I forget sometimes that you had dealings with them."