Don't Let Me Go.

Epilogue; A Baby Is Born.

The sharp wails of a newborn baby echoed throughout the dimmed room mingled with  the deep intakes of breath that came from the mother, reaching forwards the babe was gently caressed into the  arms of a middle aged woman. "Let's see...are you a boy or a girl?..It's a girl?...A girl! We've got a daughter, Catherine! A beautiful, healthy baby girl!" A  masculine voice sounded throughout the room followed by the shaky reply of the Mum. "Oh...oh James..We did it! oh a daughter! Oho a beautiful daughter!" She exclaimed with a voice of pride and warmth, after 9 months of waiting her long awaited baby was finally born and she couldn't wait to create many memories with the small being. "You've got a bright future ahead of you, Sweetie, I'm sure of it." It was James' turn to hold the baby, picking her up with joy his eyes shone with pride. "Look at you...look at you!" he cooed with a small laugh, never taking his gaze off of the child before continuing. "Hi there! I'm your Daddy, Sweetheart. Daddy. You're going to need a name, aren't you? Your Mother and I have been talking..what do you think about Cynder? That's a good name, don't you think it fits you perfectly? It's a big world out there, Honey, filled with all sorts of people. What kind of person are you goi-" Suddenly Catherine's distressed call cut off the male midsentence. "J-James..." "Catherine?!" "James...James...!" "She's going into cardiac arrest! Move Move!" He yelled out, his full attention going to his Lover, someone quickly took the baby out of the room in order to give the doctor the space he needed. "Come on...hang on, Catherine! Hang on..." Was the last thing heard as they left down the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*10 Years Later.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cynder's POV;

"Surprise!!!" The yells of multiple people called off with a  blinding light that made my vision blurry, rubbing my eyes with the sleeve of my Vault Suit I groaned lightly at a volume that only I could fully hear "Gah..".  "You turned on the light too fast, you blinded the poor kid." "Happy Birthday!" "Can you believe it? She's growing up so fast!". Too many people were talking at once for me to figure out who said what, Old Lady Palmer's voice was the easiest to make out, she had said the last of the three things. Finally my gaze moved to the left to greet the smile of my father whom wasted no time in speaking; "Happy Birthday, Honey, I can't believe that you're already ten. I'm so proud of you..If only your moth-" Once again James was cut off, this time by The Overseer himself. Everyone knew that if The Overseer wanted to speak then you best let him speak without any hesitation for if he deemed you rude or unfit of the Vault her could easily banish you with the blink of an eye. I held a great respect for him although he could be quite intimidating, today he was portraying a sheen kindness as he walked forwards to stand in front of me. "Congratulations, Young Lady, I don't have to  tell you how special this day is, do I?" He paused for a second allowing me to shake my head no. "Down here in Vault 101 when you turn ten- well..you're ready to take on your first official Vault responsibilities. So here you are; as Overseer I hereby present to you you're very own PipBoy 3000, get used to it.". Removing his hand that was previously behind his back he held out the PipBoy to me which I graciously took, my eyes widened at the device..every child anxiously awaited the day that they received their very own PipBoy! Quickly I adjusted it around my arm, glancing over at my Dad with an excited smile. "You will be getting your first work assignment tomorrow." The Overseer spoke once more ending with a deep laugh, turning back around he headed into the small crowd. "Enjoy your party; You're only ten once so have fun." Mere moments after my Father had finished what he was saying I was greeted by the excited face of my best friend Amata. "Happy Birthday!! We really surprised you, didn't we? Hehe your Dad was afraid that you were onto us, but I told him not to worry. You're to easy to fool." Chuckling softly I nodded with a playful growl"Indeed you did, Amata! and look who's talking, wasn't it just last week that Butch convinced you that a Mole Rat was loose in your room? Anyways, thanks for the party, Amata, I really appreciate it.". Rubbing her arm softly her hazel eyes rolled at the mention of Butch. "Oh come on, Cynder, you know that Meanie can be quite convincing at times! You're welcome, but really your Dad did most of it..I just helped with decorations and stuff. Hey, I bet you can't guess what I got you for your Birthday. Go on, guess!". "Hmm..I don't know, maybe a date with Freddie Gomez." I joked with a playful wink earning a disgusted shriek from my friend. "Ew! You seriously like Freddie Gomez?! No, It's Issue 14 of Grognak the Barbarian with all it's pages and no tears! I know that you're practically obsessed with the comic series.  I found it in a box of my Father's old things, believe it or not.  Imagine /him/ reading comic books.  I guess everybody really was ten once. Well I'd better let you get back to 'mingling' with your guests, we'll talk later okay? Happy Birthday! " . Giving Amata a tight hug I gave her a thumbs up then delved into the small group of people, Old Lady Palmer being the first person to greet me, she gave me a homemade Sweet roll! About twenty minutes rolled by whilst I had polite conversations with everyone that had showed up, Butch being the last person in which I needed to do so. Butch liked to insult me a lot and exclude me..I never could figure out why, maybe it was the way I looked. But unlike him I always treated the young boy with kindness for it was just who I was..I couldn't ever bring myself to be rude, not even to someone whom truly deserved it.  "Hi Bu-" "I'm hungry, and that stupid robot destroyed the cake, give me that Sweet Roll that you got from Old Lady Palmer!" Butch sneered in a snobby tone, not wanting to start a fight I quickly thought up a compromise "Maybe we can split it in half..that's fair right?" " 'Maybe we can split it.' what are you, five!? Hand over that sweet roll before I pound you!" "I'm sorry, Butch..but either we share or you're not getting any.." "Oh yeah!? We'll see about that!" He snarled jumping out of the booth which he had previously been seated in, gasping softly I backed into the counter leaving me pinned as Butch began to punch into my chest. "Butch, what are you doing!? Hitting a girl?! And on her Birthday for heaven's sakes!"  Officer Gomez, one of our security guards scolded the boy with a look that said 'I will punish you if needed.' . Amata ran over to me, an equally angry look plastered on her usually calm features. "What's Butch's problem anyway? I can't believe he tried to start a fight at your own Birthday party..what a jerk!". "It was kind of my fault..you know how easy it is to make him mad..-" Before I could say anything more Amata growled lightly "Don't you dare say that, the bully had no right to do that to you." Shaking her head slightly she walked off leaving me with my father whom was sitting on a chair at the counter. "Are you alright? Is Butch giving you a hard time again?" His voice was laced with concern, his worried gaze scanning me up and down for any  injury. "Actually I was the one that started it..it's easy to make him mad." . "Sweetie, once you let bullies start pushing you around there's never an end to it..I- we will address this later. Go now; I'm sure that there's someone else with a preset for you.". Instinctively my head hung at my Fathers' grave words, I'd trade all the presents in the world for Butch to be nice to me or at least leave me alone.  Walking towards the exit of the small room I was stopped by the strong arm of The Overseer who pulled me aside "I really hope you're enjoying the party..Amata worked really hard to put this all together. She really seems to like you....for some reason.". Obviously out of it at the moment I replied with a tad bit of sarcasm, thankfully he didn't seem to detect it. "Of course she likes me, /everyone/ does." "mm..that's not what I hear, but perhaps she will set a good example for you. There's still plenty of time for you to make something of yourself here.". Narrowing my eyes at his rude comment I prepared to answer, hadn't I already 'made something ' of myself? Was I really a meaningless nobody compared to everyone else in the Vault..? No. I wouldn't let myself be nothing, 'someday in the Future I'll do something to be appreciated amongst my people.' I vowed to myself in my head. A staticy noise intruded my thoughts, to the corner of the room the intercom went off, from where I was I couldn't quite made out what was being said for my  had beat me to it and was chatting away, only about a moment had past when he called me over. "Hey, That was Jonas on the intercom. He and I have been cooking up a little surprise present. he's waiting for you down in the Reactor Level, go ahead. I don't think anyone will mind if you slip out for a few minutes." he explained quickly, not wanting anyone else to hear due to reasons unknown. Waving goodbye I headed out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*6 Years Later.*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sitting on a Medical Bed my Dad waved some kind of gadget in my face, I had a large frown tugging at the corner of my lips; today was the day that I'd take the dreaded G.O.A.T Test in a big dark room surrounded by the other teens of Vault 101. "You seem like a perfectly healthy young women meaning that you'll be taking the G.O.A.T today along with the other's." My father's voice had a sharp edge to it meaning that he wasn't pleased with my lie, groaning loudly I hopped down and walked out of the infirmary nearly crashing into Jonas whom was entering. "Oh, hey there Cynder! Popping in for a visit before the G.O.A.t , eh? It's been awhile since you last stopped in! Well I'll let you be." "Bye, Jonas!" I said with a friendly wave. As I approached the classroom I heard a few voices that I knew all to well..Butch and his Gang.  "You think you're special because your Daddy is the Overseer?  I'll show you a real Tunnel Snake." "Haha, tell her Butch!" " Get away from Me!" "Let's go into the store room, Amata, I'll show you a good time.~" "Help!". Butch and his goons were circled around the teen, trapping her at every angle. Snarling I whipped around to grab a knife that I had seen in the medical bay, I'd only use it if absolutely needed.  "What's going on here!?" Now Butch's attention was on me, his eyes dark and full of malice towards me. "None of your business Kid, get out of here before you get hurt. If you mess with the Tunnel Snakes you're asking for it, got me?". My own eyes rolled at his threats "Leave her alone or you'll answer to me.". It was my turn to make the threat, my eyes locking with Butch's creating a stronger tension between us "and who are you? Her Girlfriend!? Ha! Should've known." . By now I had enough of this, standing up tall I narrowed my eyes and and spat at him like venom. "So what if I am? It's not like she'd ever love a dick like you anyways, go shove a stick up your ass.". Butch grunted, charging forwards he landed a sharp blow to my cheek causing the coppery taste of bloody to flood my mouth, between the sounds of us aiming punches at eachother I could hear Amata yelling words of protest. "Stop it you guys! This isn't proving anything! Stop!" The female pleaded to try and get the Gang off of me, but alas it was to no avail. Then everything went black.