the tower.

[shortstraw]

It started in Novac, in that lovely Dino Dee-Lite Motel by the dilapidated gas station.

He had told her they could be found in the upper corner room, living the Post-War American dream. If not there, they had others: cabins, bunkers, safehouses, and the like. He gave her all the map points, confident in their future whereabouts. And above all, he was certain they would never be in the New Vegas, beneath the bright lights of the Strip.

The motel room had been empty. The Brotherhood safehouse and the cabin by Jacobstown also held no occupants. After traveling nearly the entire width of the Mojave Wasteland, moving from town to fucking town, she finally caught a whiff of him in Freeside.

The crier for Mick & Ralph's had seen a man matching Alex Seattle Geer's description lately, headed directly into the heavily guarded gates of the New Vegas Strip.

Judas, Sarah had thought. Blood betrayer. She then walked the road back to the Dino Dee-Lite Motel, to that cozy little upper room in the corner, and left Alex a very nice surprise.

Three days later, after finding the presidential suite of the Tops woefully empty, Sarah corners a man in the streets. Their exchange proves short, and with his pockets noticeably heavier, the guy walks the short distance to the center of the road. There, with the Vault Dweller looking on, he straightens to attention and produces a piece of paper from his pockets.

"Ladies and gentleman of New Vegas, may I have your attention please?" he reads, voice clear to the nearby bystanders and vigilant Securitrons. "It is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you a Very Important Person--" The man looks over his shoulder briefly, a quizzical look on his face. "Why is it capitalized?" he asks.

"Go on," she mouths, waving lazily at the gathering crowd.

He shrugs and continues as directed. "Someone who has traveled a great distance and sacrificed a good deal of time, bullets, and money to be here with you fine folks. She is the Champion of the Holy Thirteen, the Swan Song of the Master and His Most Unholy Unity, the Keeper of All Your Dogs, a Sometimes Friend to You and I... I present to you: The Vault Dweller!"

Comments

[goodfight]

Salty tears stick to Alex's clothes. They streak across Neil's cheeks and nose, and somehow, it grows worse. Dogmeat was the big brother, waiting all this time. It reminds Neil of--

Nine years ago. Megaton. Outside, near the entrance, they were standing together, facing each other with Neil looking down. There was something old and tired behind Dogmeat's eyes as Neil tested the fluidity of his new T-51b, all decked in white. The nineteen-year-old hesitated then. He paused long enough to reach and touch a mental-enclosed hand to the dog's ears.

"I think it's time for us to say goodbye, old buddy."

To let each other go. Neil was sure, so damn sure, that this battle was the end. This charge led by Liberty Prime and Lyon's Brotherhood of Steel would bring the Lone Wanderer to his grave, and it was time. Goodbye and--

"Take care of yourself, okay?"

--and Dogmeat had whined, in the way the teenager had recognized as a protest. As a sad refusal to let Neil go because his dog, his unhappy pup, knew it wasn't time for Neil. For them. Knew he would only have to wait until this moment, nine years later.

Neil blinks, sagging in his arms. "Letting go." He lowers his voice to a whisper. "It seems too much like leaving me behind."

[doubletap]

There is quiet after the fact. Movement and motion, and then-- Stillness. Neil speaks and Alex recognizes it as truth. "It always is," he says, almost wistful. "The ones left behind are always the ones lost. We wait or we move on, but it's always a loss. But sometimes people have to go," and he doesn't mean it as trite or cliche, he means it as it is, that sometimes people have to move on.

"And he trusted you enough," Alex says. "That he could leave without worrying about you. Because he knew that you could take care of yourself, and keep moving. You knew you had gotten strong," Alex says, and he doesn't mean strength or anything simple.

"Letting go is leaving people behind," he finally concedes. "But it's not always something selfish. And you have to remember, Neil. Just because you get left behind for now, it doesn't mean you're alone."

[goodfight]

Letting go is a fact of life. Any rational thought would lead to this conclusion. Alex tells Neil that Dogmeat trusted him enough, and Neil finds a strange kind of appreciation in the words. Gratitude that there are those who still remain with the ones left behind, enough of it there to want to express the emotion.

It is a question, however, that Neil draws from his lips.

"Do you believe he was correct?" he murmurs. "To place that kind of trust in me? To think that I can keep moving?"

[doubletap]

"Yeah," he says quietly. "I think you can keep moving and show that you've gotten stronger."

[goodfight]

There is another that sits on the tip of his tongue. It's unfair, Neil knows, how his entire being has to ask.

"And would you ever leave me behind?

[doubletap]

For some reason, this is easier. For some reason, this isn't lying. Because he finds the truth in his bones.

He tilts Neil's head up to look him in the eyes. Alex wears his affectionately amused look, as always, with an edge of weariness behind it. "Nah, I don't think so," he says lightly. "'cause you're never going to catch up to me. So I can't leave you be for a moment."

[goodfight]

Neil swallows that answer, taking it in whole, as Alex makes him look the older man in the eye. A part of him wants to reject the words, to push away the sentiment and declare it a lie, but he is suddenly tired. He yearns to sleep at least a year away and try to forget that he might one day be stuck in this shit-fucked world.

Alone.

"Alright," he gives quietly.

[doubletap]

The amusement dissipates, as Alex knew it would, because like he said, he felt the truth in his bones. "And Neil," he starts.

"I don't want to leave you. If there comes a time where I'm in trouble, I'm going to keep fighting, because I want every fucking moment with you, kid. I'm going to struggle, even if I lose everything else, because I want to get back to you. You got it?"

Understand?

[goodfight]

"I got it." He understands, more than most, that Alex would do everything necessary to keep fighting. (Even as the man loses pieces of himself.) "But I won't let you lose everything else just for me. I will make sure you come back in one piece."

Whole.

[doubletap]

This gets a grin, an eyebrow raise, and a reach to ruffle Neil's hair. "You do that. I'm depending on you."

[goodfight]

Alex ruffles his hair, an old gesture, causing Neil to stare without hesitation. "I won't let you down," he murmurs.

[doubletap]

The staring is disquieting, something that causes discomfort and relief at once. He doesn't know how to respond to that kind of intensity. He softens there, in the open on that hill, and moves to take Neil's lips in a more intimate fashion, a closer act.

[goodfight]

The pair of them have been here before, locking lips and mingling breaths. This road has often led to other acts, ones focused on tying them closer and closer together, but Neil Park doesn't know if the present qualifies for closeness. He hasn't a clue if he should have just kept quiet and mourned loss instead.

But Alex's lips taste like dusty roads and the blazing sun. They remind Neil of that ever elusive place called home, truth be fucking told, there is nowhere else he would rather be.

[doubletap]

When they come to an end, it comes naturally, not cut off or stopped. Alex touches him for a moment, trailing along his face, his eyes watching the motion. Eventually, he opens his mouth to speak, his tone one rarely heard, small and genuine.

"...I'm your family, too," is what he says. "You're not alone."

[goodfight]

Alex's hand lingers on his face, and Neil wishes he'd greeted Sarah more decently. Longs to express more gratitude toward ED-E. The other man speaks in a voice seldom heard, and Neil wants to offer more than what he is.

"I know," he returns. His hand moves upward to grasp the one touching him. "God, Alex, I know."

[doubletap]

The response gains a smile and again he lowers his head to touch Neil's, keeping his hand where it is. "And you should let me know what you need or what you want. I don't want to piss you off and make you tear off alone again."

[goodfight]

They touch heads, the contact allowing Neil to relent. To consider wants and needs. "I'll try," he says. "Right now, I just want you with me." The unspoken is that he would not drive Alex off again.

[doubletap]

"That's just what I want, too," he echoes again, staying where he is. Curled together in the middle of nowhere, some might say, but Alex knows exactly where he is.

Right where he belongs.