Work Text:
Once Rose knew the truth about the man she married she took her daughter, Lucy, and her son, Norman. She ran and ran with her children who were too young to understand the monster their father was. Eventually she stumbled upon the beautiful town of Shady Sands.
Rose was found by a lady by the name of Lee Moldaver. She helped her and her kids. For that she was enterally grateful.
Although this peaceful time wouldn't last long. Eventually Hank found her and her children. He tried to make her come back to Vault 33 but she refused. He tried to take Lucy and Norm but she fought him. He did leave but not after that monster took her baby boy back with him.
She still had her Lucy though.
Her little girl Lucy. Too young to understand all of this. She could still give her a life without having those rose colored glasses she had on her whole life.
Leaving was still worth it. For her and for her Lucy.
That was until that monster dropped those bombs upon Shady Sands.
Little Lucy MacLean sat crying right outside the radius of the blast. Crying for her mom.
Her mother never came back but soon men made of steel found her and picked her up from the edge.
The one that carried her to her new home was a man by the name of Quintus. He told her that he was a knight. Even if he wasn't, he was still a knight to her.
Max kept that refrigerator door closed until he heard voices outside. To that he opened the door to see a massive crater. His house was gone and more importantly his mom and dad. All of Shady Sands was gone.
"Hey! Kid! Are you alright?"
He stared at a woman in a blue and yellow outfit. He had seen these outfits before.
The woman and a group of people in the same outfit came to him.
She kneeled down and looked him in the eye. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. She held out a hand, "Come on, come along with me. We'll make sure you are well taken care of."
He looked at the crater that was once his home. The woman spoke again, "We can stay here for a while longer if you want. We won't leave you here though." He turned to face her and took her hand. She smiled at the boy.
"You'll love your new home. There's a bunch of kids your age and toys and you'll learn a bunch of things! It's amazing."
Lucille
Aspirant Lucille part of the most sacred The Brotherhood Of Steel. More specifically the Knights of San Fernando. After the bombs fell on the town of Shady Sands all those years ago she had been taken in by the Brotherhood and given a new name. Lucille.
Her knight all those years ago was now head of the Knights of San Fernando. Elder Quintus.
She was taken care here and was taught everything she would ever need to know. The pre-war technology she would have to identify and how it was useful.
Sure it was difficult being one of the few girls in this part of the Brotherhood but she survived so far. She learned how to fight, how to survive, when she first arrived.
Thaddeus made everyone gang up and beat her when she first arrived. It happened a few times before she finally decided to fight back. She didn’t do a good job but she clawed up Thaddeus good enough for him to leave her alone.
Now years later she is one of the best in her class and often not attacked. Lucille watched from a far where Thaddeus and his minions were beating the shit out of some random kid. Then one of the petty officers scared Thaddeus and his minions off. The kid laid on the ground as her closest friend, Dane, walked past the kid to her.
“Hey Luc.”
“Hey.”
Dane scoffed as they looked at the kid still laying on the ground. They nudged Lucy and yelled to the kid, “Flesh is weak, but steel endures!”
Lucille laughed at the stupid saying while the kid on the ground muttered pathetically, “I know.”
"God that saying is such bullshit." She rolled her eyes, "Can you believe that some of them actually believe it?"
Dane put their arm around Lucy, “Come on, let’s go.” They weren't going to have that conversation again. She'd complained about the "important" sayings of the Brotherhood before. They weren't about to start long winded rant from her.
The two started walking to one of the hangars to start school for the day. Lucille and Dane slid into desks right next to each other.
Cleric Felix was once again teaching today. “It is the duty of the Brotherhood of Steel to secure the Wasteland. One day as squires, you will help knights find and identify prewar tech.”
He looked at all of the students before calling out, “Aspirant Lucille.” She straightened in her seat as he came closer to her. He showed her a page of the book he was holding and asked, “Can you identify this relic?”
“It’s a circuit, sir.”
“Correct. Some of you can take an example from Aspirant Lucille.” He walked through the aisles of desks, “We are the finders and the preservers. Unless you know what to find and preserve, you are more useful as a corpse.”
Before Cleric Felix could continue the light from the windows became dark and everyone, including her, turned to see one of the airships. Disregarding the lesson everyone rushed out of their seats to see the airship.
Lucille messed with her dog tags as she saw the beautifully massive airship. Surrounding the gorgeous airship was multiple Vertibirds. She pushed her way through her fellow “brothers” to the front next to Dane.
“Yeah, look at that shit.” Thaddeus. Of course.
A group of Knights in power armor drew closer to them and some other Aspirant asked, “What kind of model is that?”
“It’s the T-60, idiot.” Lucille constantly wonders how any of these dumbasses will ever become anything other than Aspirants with their lack of knowledge. Except Dane of course, they were smart enough to be something of themself.
Dane looked at her and asked, “Imagine getting to put on one of those every day.” They smiled and she did too. It would be amazing but a lingering question stayed as she looked back at the Knights in power armor.
“Why are they here?” Dane shrugged at her question.
“Bound to find out soon enough, Lucy.”
Max
All those years after the bombing of Shady Sands, Max was living the life of an upstanding model citizen in Vault 4.
He yawned as the Vault Boy themed alarm awoke him to another beautiful day in the Vault. He slipped on his slippers and stretched before walking off to the bathroom. After getting a warm shower he threw on his robe with a little blue Vault symbol embroidered on it.
Leaving the bathroom and he entered the kitchen to make some eggs and toast for breakfast. Max watched the pan cooking up scrambled eggs occasionally mixing with a spatula. The toast popped from the teal toaster and Max carefully grabbed the hot toast and put it on a plate. His now fully cooked eggs were also put on the plate. Making sure he turned off the oven before opening the fridge searching for butter to put on his toast.
Max frowned as he couldn’t find it. He double checked the fridge but still found nothing.
He’ll ask if his neighbor has any butter to spare.
He opened his dresser and pulled out one of his many Vault 4 uniforms. Once dressed appropriately he pressed the button to open the door to his home and knocked on one of his neighbor’s doors.
One of his lovely neighbors opened the door and saw him. They smiled as they said, “Good morning Max!”
“Good morning,” Max flashed a smile, “I don’t mean to be a bother but see I just ran out of butter. I was wondering if I could borrow some from you.”
“Oh yes of course! I’ll grab a stick for you!” They turned around and grabbed a stick of butter from their fridge.
“You are a life saver. I’ll bring it back in a few.” Before Max could go back to his kitchen his neighbor spoke.
“It’s no problem, it’s what neighbors do. And don’t worry about it.”
“Thank you again. I hope you have a wonderful day.”
As Max was walking back he heard, “I hope you have an even better day!”
He chuckled, “Thank you!” He was going to make something for his neighbor after work today. He's thinking a pie of some sorts. Yeah a pie was a good idea.
He buttered his toast and cut both pieces into triangles. He placed the stick of butter into his fridge and sat at his table quickly eating his breakfast.
After breakfast he put the dishes in the sink then walked to the bathroom to brush his teeth before leaving for work.
He walked through the halls of Vault 4 waving to his neighbors and exchanging pleasantries. Soon he entered his classroom. A few students were already there but most of the desks were empty.
“Good morning class!”
The kids replied, “Good morning sir!”
Max sat at his desk and pulled out his lesson plan for the day. Reading through it for the little kids they were learning basic math today and they were going to learn about Shady Sands... It wasn’t a topic he enjoyed talking about but it was an important one to learn. They must learn to not repeat the mistakes from before.
He continued reading his lesson plan. For the slightly older kids they were going to learn about physical and chemical changes plus some pre-war history. Then for his eldest kids he was going to teach Calculus and talk about the book they were covering, Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
As the clock ticked closer to the start of class children started to fill the once empty seats. One of the students came up to him.
A little voice said “Sir?” and there was a little tug on his suit.
He smiled at the little girl, “Yes, Sophie?”
“Mama told me to give you this,” she held out a deep red apple for him to take.
“Thank you very much,” Max placed the apple on his desk, “Now go sit with your friends.” Now dismissed Sophie ran off to talk to her friends before class started.
The bell soon enough the rang and Max stood up and headed to the chalkboard, “Alrightly kids, settle down. We are going to start school for the day.” The children stopped their chattering to face their teacher, “So we are going to start with math today. Who can tell me what five plus three is?”