Goodnight sweet prince

Experimenting w art style again, I’m so obsessed w drawing these two

This is a long one, but I love Undertale.

Eighteen-years old, fresh out of their sheltered hometown and onto a liberal arts college with more diverse people than they had ever experienced in their life.  They’re nervous about school, the up in ante, the new lifestyle, the new freedom.  They found their place with some friends that they wouldn’t think about in a few years time, people that would come and go, and a couple that would stay, but the first step on their journey into adulthood.

This is fall of 2015.  Their parents dropped them off with a teary goodbye less than a month ago, and Undertale comes out today.  They don’t know about it.  At least not until Steam Train plays it not too long later.  They watch a cute game played and commentated by a duo from their favorite YouTube gaming channel.  It’s exactly their style, a cute, fun game with interesting and lovable characters.

The first episode doesn’t even span the tutorial, and the kid doesn’t bother waiting for the rest.  They load up steam and buy it, playing it well into the night, sobbing at the heartbreaking conclusion and not knowing that five years later they would break into tears over hearing “Home” for the first time in years.

I played Undertale because I thought it was cute, the designs were fun, the mechanics were interesting, the story was easy enough to follow.  I liked video games, but not enough to spend money on them only to get bored halfway through, so I watched a few Let’s Play YouTube channels to experience them without having to devote my constantly overstimulated brain to playing them.

Undertale was different.  I don’t choose the things I become obsessed with (do you think I would be thinking about It: Chapter 2 over a year later if I could?), but when I fall into something, I fall hard.

I played it through, and then I watched Steam Train, and then I watched Press Heart to Continue, and JackSepticEye, and Markiplier, and Dan and Phil, and streamers I don’t even remember the names of in order to see every single reaction and playthrough I could see.  Don’t get me wrong, I played again and again, too, even forcing my friends not to play it if I wasn’t there to watch.

In fact, I distinctly remember a friend, I was watching him play and telling him where the secrets were and the background for every little thing that wasn’t explicit in the game.  He loved it.  We played the entire game in three sessions, the first involved us going through the Ruins and saving after meeting Sans and Papyrus, the second going about halfway through Waterfall, and the third was the rest of the game in a six-hour session.

All in all, I can’t even count how many times I’ve witnessed the game, nor how many times I’ve read the Wiki pages, clicking “random page” over and over again until I had circled back around to the start.  If I had to guess, I’ve played the pacifist playthrough about ten times on my own, and watched it anywhere between 20 and 30 between different YouTubers and rewatches of the same playthroughs.  I’ve seen the genocide run a fair number of times, likely close to ten, and various neutral runs in the teens.

Not only that, I spent hours in the library with my headphones on doing homework, listening to not the OST, but the ten-hour extended versions of my favorite songs, “Bonetrousle”, “Hopes and Dreams”, “Death by Glamour”, and the ever so aptly named “NGAHHH!!” just to name a few.

And don’t get me started on the glitch characters.  The hours I spent looking up information on Gaster because I was too scared to mod my own game are endless.

So, I guess you could say I’m very familiar with the game.  It meant a lot to me as a young adult with fresh freedom, a story about a lost child finding a family of their own.  My first and only tattoo is of the delta rune (although people will try to tell me it’s from Legend of Zelda).

It’s hard to talk about, but I don’t have the best mental health, with constant long-running depression, social anxiety, and mild OCD, my brain tends to run a mile a minute, and I had a really hard time making friends in high school, which resulted in me not having any friends at all after my friends from middle school decided they were too good for me.

I spent the better part of my four years in high school eating lunch alone and not going out on the weekends because no one wanted me to.  In senior year, I managed to make friends with a few people, but nothing deep or long lasting.

Cue college, a fresh start where I could be exactly who I was supposed to be.  I came out as asexual on the second day there, not knowing that my involvement with the LGBT organization would lead me to realize that I was also nonbinary and a lesbian.  But needless to say, I was an outcast looking for a place to call home.

I found it at school, making a couple lifelong friends (I love you girls!) and finding a place in coming to my own leadership abilities and my desire to be a role model and resource for young LGBT people.  Always in the background was Undertale.

Here was this game, though with a few flaws, was the greatest game I had ever played, as I remarked on every little detail from the stunning backgrounds to the fun yet challenging fight mechanics to every little piece of witty dialogue.

I remarked on Toby Fox and his ability to create this game almost entirely on his own, coding and designing and writing music.  He didn’t do it alone, but so much of the game was him, and seeing someone accomplish something that meant so much to me was an inspiration.

I looked at this game and saw a breathtaking story, hints of the twist being woven into every pixel, parallels at every turn, tidbits that you had to play the game ten times (like I did) to catch pieces of backstory that were so vital to fully understanding a character.

Not only that, but I looked at this game and I saw me.  I saw the cute and honestly rather stupid love story between Alphys and Undyne, between a shy (presumably) bisexual lizard girl and a buff (presumably) lesbian fish lady.  They were awkward and uncomfortable and bashful and I loved every part of their interactions.  They cared for each other and their story being thrown in and accepted, not a word said about it except outside the game.  And don’t get me started on the guards.

But beyond that, I saw Frisk, a child without a denoted gender, which many people took to mean you could impose the gender you wanted, but to nonbinary people, to people like me, they saw a main character that used they/them pronouns without it being a joke, without it being asked about, without the characters ever slipping up or even having to guess.  They did it because that’s who Frisk is, and they love Frisk.

I see this game, this funny, heart-wrenching, sweet, and wonderful game, and I see found family.  I see a child who we know went up Mount Ebbott knowing that children who went up there didn’t come back find people (monsters) that loved them, cared about them, even after only knowing them for what we can assume is a day.

Frisk finds these monsters and they loved them for who they are.  The love these characters share meant more to me than I ever could have imagined they would, the background to my introduction to freedom, the meeting of my best friends, the discovery of myself, the growth of my leadership and motivation.  They were there.  They were always there for me, and now, today, on the day of the five year anniversary of my own self discovery, I listen to “Home” and I cry.

I cry for Toriel, who lived alone in the Ruins for years, I cry for Sans and Papyrus who take care of each other in more way than they know, I cry for Undyne who’s desperate to prove herself and protect her people, I cry for Alphys who lived with the guilt of her mistakes and wanting nothing more than to make amends for the monster she thought she was, I cry for Asgore who was so overcome with grief he became the worst version of himself.

I cry for Asriel for obvious reasons.  And I cry for Frisk, a child that wanted love and found it in the journey, just like I did.

I listen to “Home” and I cry because it is home.  It’s a story about love in the time I needed it the most, shaping me into the person I am today, even five years later.

Because despite everything, it’s still me. 

@lemonleafy you asked and I shall receive. I am now going to rant about the STUPID PLAYSTATION ACHIEVEMENTS FOR THIS GAME

Okay so let's set the scene. It's April 11th, 2017. I have watched Jacksepticeye's playthrough of this game and I finally got enough money to buy it myself. This game is my life. Everything about my life and personality, from the way I act to the friends I keep, were all rooted in this game. The friends from this are a story in of itself, so let's focus on the game. I'm finally getting to play it and I am having a Blast. I get through the game, I try and explore everything I possibly can, and on April 14th at 11:08, I beat my first playthrough. However, me being the greedy autistic I am, it's not enough. This game is my everything, it occupies every waking thought. It invades my dreams too. And so I keep. Playing it. Granted I took a break between my first and second because. Anyone who has played this game KNOWS how much of a wreck it will leave you. And hoo boy did it leave me sobbing for days. Genuinely think it hit me about as hard as SU:F finale which is saying a lot. Regardless, I beat the game again on May 12th. I now decide, I'm gonna get every achievement in this game! I make a list. I plan out every single day. Making sure I feed the vermin babies, talk to Selmers, talk to Lori, hang with the violinist and sax...ist. What the hell is the name for a saxophone player?? Regardless, I do that. I talk to mom every day so I can go stand in a field and cry. I think about kissing Mae. That part isn't a trophy but I did it anyway! I played Demontower and died so. Gosh darn. Much. And rage quit at least 7 times. I played every bass song perfectly. Well...nearly perfectly. I think I still messed up one note on Pumpkin Head Guy. I did everything!!

But it didn't matter

Because you see my dear friends, there is one small problem. I was playing on the PS4 version. And unbeknownst to me, the game was BUGGED. 3 trophies were impossible to get on the current version. Echoes was the first one. This one is a story progression achievement, which means you don't have to do anything extra, it should unlock just by playing the game. But nope!!! Locked out of it. The next was Make It Last. This one should proc after beating the game on your third playthrough. It might also require you to do all the extra content. Regardless, it was bugged and never unlocked. The final trophy...oh the final trophy really hurt. It was called Seriously? and it was obtained by collecting every single one of Mae's sketches. The PlayStation details for this trophy are "All sketches? We made the game and have never gotten this. Wow." Like okay Finji frick off taunting me like that. Not only is that hard as hell, it's BUGGED and won't unlock even tho I played this game like 10 TIMES THROUGH TO GET YOUR STUPID TROPHIES.

Two years later, something happens. I forgot Exactly what it is called, but the team released a new update on all platforms. It added new content, new scenarios, allowed for playthrough of the Longest Night and Lost Constellation supplement games, and, most importantly, fixed the PlayStation trophies. On March 19th and 21st, I got Echoes and Make It Last. Now, one final challenge stands in my way.

And it won't get the best of me again

Kakashi Asks-Answer

Q: (From @nyxako-writing) “So this is more of a silly question, but since the Narutoverse has everything we have (except for guns) do you think Kakashi would ever be a gamer? And if he played any of the Legend of Zelda games, which would be his favorite? XD”

A: Okay so, here’s the thing.

Nyx has the pleasure (?) of knowing me through Discord, and when I’m not geeking over Kakashi, I’m geeking over the Legend of Zelda games. I owe you a life debt for presenting me with this scenario, Nyx! I’m sitting here happy as a clam with my Beta, my Naruto Official Character Data Book and my LoZ encyclopedias.

While I was taking my own sweet time drafting this answer, the incredibly talented @roonie-doodle made my dreams come true by creating this piece of fanart featuring BOTW Sheikah!Kakashi:

Grab a snack and a tasty beverage and buckle up for ALL the geeking Hima below the cut.

In Boruto, we see the next gen ninjas behaving rather UNninjalike with their handheld gaming devices. Whether that’s allowed under the Shinobi Rules or not, it proves that video games exist in Narutoverse.

As a single dad, Sakumo would totally employ screens to occupy Kakashi so he can catch a nap between missions. It’s my opinion that the members of the Hatake household would not like combat games. Think about it: after a day of working in customer service, would you want to unwind with a game that requires your character to level up at a call center? Coupled with their predisposition to PTSD and I think that’s a great big nope. However, father and son could only play Pong, Asteroids, and Pitfall so many times before Sakumo would see the benefit of spending his ryo on the more sophisticated NES, when it becomes available.

According to me, everyone should love the LoZ series and that includes the knuckleheads of Konoha. Even without my totally biased viewpoint, I think Kakashi would enjoy some, but not all of these fantasy adventure games. After he inserts that first Zelda cartridge into the console, he’d be astonished by the colors and the music. His little masked mouth would water at the ability to go up and down, left and right.

And when he enters that fantastic cave where the wisest npc is waiting with a sword and the warning, “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this,” Kid!Kakashi would be hooked.

It’s not just the gameplay that has him running back to Zelda after killer kindergarten lets out for the day, though. I think that the first time Kakashi realizes he could’ve taken the shorter route of up, right, up, right, right, right, right, right, up, left, up, to the second dungeon (instead of his initial path of up, right, up, up, up, up, right, right, right, right, right, down, down, left, up), he’d grab his ninja crayons and draw a map of the whole darn overworld. Sakumo would totally put that shit up on the fridge too.

Then, then, after Kakashi has smashed through every breakable wall, moved every block, and beaten the OG Ganon, there’s a second effing quest waiting for him (and what a beast it is). Sakumo would be able to put the first map in his son’s baby book then because it’s basically useless for the second playthrough, and Kakashi’s meticulous approach to beating the game would begin anew.

Time to grab a tissue because this is where things get angsty. As we all know, my poor octorok-squishing bean has a very short childhood. While I’m sure that he would’ve loved the hell out of the first Zelda game, he is much too busy being a child soldier in the Third Shinobi War to play The Adventure of Link. While Nintendo offers new consoles and LoZ games to go with them, Dungeon Boss-Kishi plunges Kakashi into darkness with neither a red candle nor a blue one to help him find his way out. Between dodging Danzo and loathing himself, I can’t help but think that it’s impossible for this ANBU assassin to find time to play A Link to the Past or Link’s Awakening. Sob.

However, the Sun’s Song is unlocked and the clouds part for the early days of Team Seven. I can totally imagine Kakashi spying on his cute little genin (while he makes them wait for him) and overhears them discussing one of the best games in the LoZ series, Ocarina of Time. After all the lunches Yams has bought for him, Kakashi decides he can afford to splurge on an N64, and he attempts to recapture some of that Zelda magic from his youth.

This game does not disappoint Kakashi, either.

Like everyone, he’d consider muting the TV way before Link had a chance to verily demonstrate his courage because of Navi’s constant interruptions. However, I think after dealing with another talkative bright ball of a boy as his student, Kakashi is willing to put up with Navi out of respect for the late Great Deku Tree’s wishes.

Honestly, I think Kakashi could relate to this version of the Hero of Time. The poor kid doesn’t quite fit in with the others around him, he’s orphaned, has the expectation of saving the world thrust upon his little kid shoulders, then before he knows it, he’s all grown up and the world around him is even more dangerous than it was when he started.

Even though a map is provided in this game, I think Kakashi might still keep notes of every odd thing he encounters as he thoroughly explores 3D Hyrule (boulders, different colored trees and wide spaces that LoZ geeks know are suspicious). He’d be the kind of gamer that focuses on completing the game-not just beating it-making OoT the right game at the right time for him. He’d plant every bean (and drop bugs on the sprouts), get every weapon upgrade, collect every piece of heart and every gold skulltula. He’d be intrigued by the owner of the Happy Mask Shop (as well as Impa, the Skull Kid, that shady Poe Collector fellow, and Kaepora Gaebora), and he’d make sure that Link models each mask for the Deku Scrubs in their hidden grotto. The Water Temple would’ve driven him just as crazy as it drove the rest of us LoZ freaks when he finds that he’s one key short or didn’t move that one block before adjusting the water levels, but it’s all forgiven when he fights Dark Link.

Kakashi would use fishing as an excuse for being late to meet with Team Seven and it wouldn’t be a lie. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura would catch on to the truth when their sensei starts absentmindedly humming the OoT soundtrack (the Gerudo Valley theme is his favorite) because everyone that’s played the game is guilty of it.

By the time Kakashi realizes that it’s impossible to beat the Running Man (even with the Pegasus Boots) in that damn race to Kokiri Forest no matter how many times and how many different ways he plays OoT, Majora’s Mask has dropped.

The alternate world of Termina serves as the perfect distraction from Sasuke’s obsession with revenge, and the beginning of the end of Team Seven. Kakashi would be quick to appreciate this game from the beginning; chasing after that weird Skull Kid from OoT, which leads Link to encounter the Happy Mask Shop owner who, right off the bat, starts to prove what a creepy creep he really is.

It should be obvious without my listing all of the reasons as to why Kakashi would love this game. The world is gorgeous, the story is mysterious, the dungeons and bosses are challenging, the Garos, the MASKS fer chrissakes, and the side quests (OMG, the side quests) are an LoZ completionist player’s dream.

If you still need proof that Majora’s Mask is among his favorite games, I offer Kakashi’s boldest move as the Roku-blow-up-the-moon-daime. Fight me.

I’ve kept to the LoZ games that have been released for home consoles because I think Kakashi would avoid the handheld devices. He doesn’t need to have his gaming habit blow his cover while out on missions. He has his trusty, tattered copies of Icha-Icha books and those are plenty to keep him occupied and entertained during downtime around the campfire.

At any rate, at this stage in the Naruto series, the main hero is off training with Jiraiya and the Leaf is short on shinobi to run missions, so Kakashi wouldn’t have much time to indulge his love of LoZ games anyway. He’s definitely invested in the series by now and curious about new installments to it. He would be aware of the release of The Wind Waker, but I think his initial impression of that game would be that it appears cartoonish, and may not be enough to spark his interest in the game at the time.

However, I’m certain that the next LoZ home console release would have those tantalizing fingers of his twitching to play again. I think there’s a lot about Twilight Princess that would catch his attention. The overall dark tone of the game would remind him of Majora’s Mask, new characters and enemies… The familiar LoZ story branches off into new territory and I bet that would have him keen to explore it.

But then he starts to play it.

Twilight Princess starts off so damn slow and Kakashi is so damn busy at this point in the series that I think he saves and quits and isn’t in a rush to return to the game. He’s got a Kazekage to rescue and a Kyūbi to protect; he doesn’t have time to herd oxen and chase cradle-stealing monkeys.

After the power of friendship saves the day and Gai carries Kakashi home, the copy-nin is bedridden and picks up the game again out of boredom. His interest in it is rekindled when he meets with the Twilight Emissaries and is turned into a wolf. Midna entertains him, definitely.

Honestly, I think Kakashi would have a love/hate relationship with Twilight Princess. My headcanon is that he would enjoy another opportunity to explore the world of LoZ, but this game doesn’t present the kind of satisfying overworld journey as other games did. He would be impressed by a few of the characters, but scratch his head at most of the others. He’d have a greater appreciation of the enemies, dungeons, the Ancient Hero, the Cave of Ordeals and especially, the overall story. However, I’m convinced that Kakashi is a completionist and anyone that challenges themselves to complete Twilight Princess knows the unbearable pain of Rollgoal. Ugh.

After Kakashi finishes this game he doesn’t sell it, but he doesn’t replay it often and never through to completion again. He’s satisfied that the Kingdom of Hyrule is safe as long as Malo exists within it.

At this point in Naruto’s flawed timeline, things are coming to a boil. Kakashi faces off in his own boss fight against Pain and Konoha suffers the same fate as Kakariko. My favorite ninja dork falls in battle (and I rage-quit the series for a while), but Kishi releases a bottled fairy and Kakashi is revived to fight in another shinobi war, become the Rokudaime, and play more LoZ games.

Or so he hoped.

Being Hokage comes with more paperwork than any elite shinobi could complete in a lifetime. The position also comes with a pay raise (as I imagine), so I see Kakashi parting with some of his savings to give the gift of a Wii and Skyward Sword to his best buddy, Gai.

I think that this is an LoZ game that Kakashi would be content to occasionally watch his eternal rival play, rather than play himself. Lord Sixth would love the story, would love the presentation that this game is the beginning of LoZ lore. He would also love that he is watching rather than playing when Gai deals with the frustration of syncing and re-syncing the controllers when he flies his loftwing, or swings the Master Sword. The only time I think Kakashi would grab the controllers for this game would be to take a crack at Koloktos. I also think that would be the only break he’d get to sneak in some LoZ fun while he’s Hokage.

Of course, this means Maito would become a fan of the LoZ games and he would approach them with the same gusto he applies to everything in his life. Gai would play through the back catalog, training for when Kakashi retires and becomes available to speed-run playthrough challenges.

Gai would be the friend that convinces Kakashi that he must play The Wind Waker and distracts his rival from the eternal sailing by explaining why A Link to the Past might be the most important game of the LoZ series. Now that Kakashi has reached a point in his life that offers him time for leisure, he plays through it as well as other games in the series that he had missed out on. Besides adding A Link to the Past to his list of favorites, it would otherwise remain unaltered at this point: Zelda, OoT, and Majora’s Mask.

By the time Kakashi knows the significance of the yellow band in the various caps worn by the Hero of Time, Breath of the Wild is released and his list of favorite LoZ games grows again.

There is just so much about this game that would appeal to Kakashi. The sheer size of the overworld (I’ve read it’s 360 square kilometers) and the fact that he can explore the whole thing would be this ninja dork’s dream come true. He can progress through the game however he wants to. He’d buy that Sheikah set right away, and find Majora’s Mask as soon as that DLC dropped and roam the world to his heart’s content.

Kakashi wouldn’t be bothered by the odd trophies this game offers for completing it, because as a completionist player, he understands that completing it is its own reward. His alter-ego Sukea would love taking photos both for the compendium and for the sake of fun. Kakashi loves to infiltrate, gather information, solve puzzles, and form plans and BOTW offers all of that in spades.

He’d restart the game so many times just to try out different strategies. The first time Kakashi leaps off of Mount Lanayru, sputters out of stamina and lands on a buck that charges straight for the blue lynel in Naydra’s Snowfield (this totally happened to me btw), he’d realize he should’ve been trading those spirit orbs for stamina vessels instead of only heart containers; resulting in his first restart. The second restart would come after Gai shows off his spiffy expand-a-band-banded inventory and this time, Kakashi would plow through the Great Plateau so he could recover that pair of priceless maracas. Countless other restarts occur as Kakashi experiments with which and how many towers he should attempt to overtake before he finally makes his way to Impa.

With every restart, he learns something new about BOTW and enjoys it more. He commits locations to memory (at least 148 for the towers, shrines and captured memories). He rushes to gather the essential 441 Korok seeds in each new playthrough (he might shed a tear when he finally becomes a member of the 900 club-I know I did). He figures out how to cheat on Eventide Island. He learns that even though he could launch Link across Hyrule with Magnesis and Stasis doesn’t mean he should. He looks forward to every Blood Moon, if only to cook as many hearty durians, mighty bananas, and endura carrots as he can between 11:30 and midnight in-game time. He realizes that his greatest enemy in all of Hyrule is the weather. When the Champion’s Ballad is available for download, his excitement for playing the game begins all over again.

I’ve stated several times that I’m convinced that Kakashi would be a completionist player and out of all the games, the latest LoZ is a pleasure to complete (despite what some YouTube gamers may say). In addition, BOTW came out during a period in Kakashi’s life when he could afford to spend significant time playing it.

And this finally brings me to the answer to your question. Breath of the Wild would be Kakashi’s favorite LoZ game, hands down. He would love this game so much and would enjoy playing it so often, that I think he had a Nintendo Switch stashed in the fanny pack he rocked during the Steam Ninja Scrolls arc.

XOXO

Chapter one: 50 years? More like 210

WORD COUNT: 2313 Summary: Anne takes her last steps in vault 111, and her first steps into her new life. To Concord we go...

A/N: Am I writing a fic all about my FO4 playthrough? And breaking canon a bunch? yep. If you’re not into slightly shitty writing or a very shippy fic, then I’m sorry. If you follow my main, then the characters will be a bit more familiar. Anyways. yeah! Chapter one!

i need a tag for this story sksks

By the time Anne had grabbed up the pipboy and was standing before the vault door, watching it unscrew, she had thrown up several times. The first was when she got out of the cryo-pod. She had just seen her husband murdered, after all. Of course her guts would fail. The second time was when she saw the first giant cockroach. It was just so... disgusting. The sound it made, the way she had to crush it with her hand... It made her retch. The third time was when she saw all the skeletons. Each and every one of them made her gag, but the doctor with the pipboy was what did it. It was probably a mix of the cockroach she had to kill, and the way her hand brushed the bones before she got the pipboy itself. She blew off the dust of the screen, coughing as she accidentially inhaled some. That would probably come back to bite her in the ass, but she didn't know. It took just a couple seconds for the pipboy to boot up, and just a couple more for her to insert the plug into the vault door controls to start opening it. Anne had pressed the button, and ran over to the platform. And that is how she ended up there, and empty stomach and a gun in hand. She watched the large door unscrew with a loud screech, the rusty metals opening up. How... How long had she been in there? It had to be years... Her mind flashed back to the man, and what looked like a robotic arm on him. Maybe she was just too middle class to have seen. But she saw the bombs. No life would exist for years. No way. So safe money was on at least five decades. Fifty years. That seemed logical, right? She didn't have time to keep questioning the time, because the vault door had opened and the elevator and came to a screaming halt at the bottom. Anne slowly crept forward, eyes widening at the elevator. She was going to get out. But she wasn't sure she was ready. What... What would the world be like? Would there be life? Would people have rebuilt? Or would there me nothing left? Would it be hopeless, some desolate wasteland with nothing left? Anne swallowed, and suddenly the gun weighed heavily in her hand. What if she couldn't take what she saw? But she quickly pushed away the thought. No, she had to push through. She had to rescue her baby. She had to rescue Shaun. And besides, she didn't have time to contemplate such drastic measures; she had arrived at the elevator. She took a deep breath and stepped forward. The doors closed behind her, and the elevator started going up. Going up to the new world. To her new life. The elevator couldn't have gone any slower. It just crawled up, groaning at the lack of care and the sudden use. But it did it's job, and made it up. Anne gave a bitter laugh as it almost reached the top. What if it had collapsed? Wouldn't that be some climactic end to her journey? It didn't fall, and soon the vault door began to open. The sunlight instantly filtered through, nearly blinding her. She squinted, holding her hand over her eyes as the doors kept opening. The sun was directly overhead,  lighting up the moving platform. Then, it finally stopped, leaving her to take in the view. Everything was dead. The trees hardly had any leaves on it, and the grass was all yellow. Hardly anything had grown around the vault. Anne gasped, slowly falling to her knees. Right in front of her was her old neighborhood, standing mostly unruined. She choked back a sob, forcing herself up. She couldn't take time to pity herself. Rather than walking down the path she had traveled so many years before, Anne slid directly down. She knew those people would've died, and she couldn't bear the thought to see them. She moved the gun to her other hand, shaking out her wrist as she began to walk. Crossing that old bridge. Walking the dusty path. The neighboorhood loomed before her, the simple blue colors of the building having faded over time. She took each step slowly, taking in the views. The air was dusty, choking her out as she walked. She had to fight for each breath, but she slowly got used to it. By the time she reached her old house, her lungs were used to the unclean air. Which was good for her. Standing--or rather, floating-- before her was Codsworth, her loyal Mister Handy robot. He focused his eyes on her, in his own way of showing shock. "As I live and breathe... It's you..! It's really you!" Codsworth turned his body around, floating towards her. Anne laughed softly. Even if he didn't intend to, Codsworth filled her with some slight happiness. He was a welcome sight, for sure. "Yeah... It's me." Anne set down the gun, and opened up her arms. Less like asking for a hug, and more like showcasing her body. Codsworth seemed as happy as a robot could. "You're still here..." And then it hit her. "Then... Then that means other people could be alive, too!" "Well of course I'm still here! Surely you don't think a little radiation could deter the pride of General Atomics Internation?" Had he been a human, or even an animal, he would be puffing out his chest in pride. It made Anne smile again. "But you seem the worse for wear. Best not let the hubby see you in that state. Where is sir, by the way?" Anne's smile faded away. He was... Gone. He was shot and killed by a man with a scar. Anne clenched her fist for just a second, blinking rapidly. "They... Came into the vault. M-Maybe you saw them? They had guns... And strange outfits?" "Ah, no. Only Ms. Rosa's boy, running around in his Halloween costume, more than a week early. I swear, the nerve of that woman leaving her brat unsupervised..." Codsworth hummed, his tone indignant. "Ah, not like you, mum. You're the perfect mother. And sir is.... Oh, where is sir, by the by?" Anne bit back a sob, shaking her head and blinking again. "He's... He's in a better place." "Mum, these things you're saying, these... these terrible things... I... I believe you need a distraction. Yes! A distraction, to calm this dire mood. It's been ages since we've had a proper family activity. Checkers. Or perhaps charades. Shaun does so love that game. IS the lad... With you?" Codsworth leaned closer, like a curious kid. The memory flashed, just as vividly as when it happened. "It doesn't make sense... I just don't get it... There's no reason somebody would take my baby..." Anne held her head in her hands, trying and failing to block it all out. And to think, she thought she lost everything when the bombs dropped. How wrong could she be? "It's worse than I thought. Hmm hmm. You're suffering from... hunger induced paranoia! Not eating properly for 200 hundred years will do that, I'm afriad." Anne's legs gave out. She fell down to the ground, her arms the only thing keeping her from faceplanting. He... He couldn't be serious, could he? "200 years? W-What? Are you...?" "A bit over 210 actually, mum. Give or take a little for the Earth's rotation and some minor dings to the ole' chronometer." Codsworth lowered himself, letting Anne use him to get herself back up again. Instinctivly, she brushed the dirt off of herself. She then looked back at him. "That means you're two centuries late for dinner! Hah! Perhaps I can whip you up a snack? You must be famished," he continued. Even if Codsworth hadn't been acting strange, Anne could definately not stomach anything right now. Or ever. "Codsworth, you're acting a bit strange... Are you alright?" She asked. The fact that should could somehow managed to get some coherent thought out surprised her. Guess she wasn't as bad as she had thought. "I... I... Oh, mmum, it's been just horrible! Two centuries with no one to talk to, no one to serve. I spent the first ten years trying to keep the floors waxed, but nothing gets nuclear fallout from vinyl wood. Nothing!" He leaned closer to her. "And don't get me started on the futility of dusting a collapsed house. And the car! The car! How do you polish rust?!" "What do you know, Codsworth," Anne asked. Maybe just talking to him like he wasn't having the robot equivilant of a mental breakdown would help him out. Codsworth lowered his eyes. "I'm afraid I don't know anything, mum. The bombs came, and all of you left in such a hurry. I thought for certain you and your family were... dead. I did find this holotape. I believe sir was going to present it to you. As a surprise. But then, well... Everything 'happened'." He extended a claw hand, giving her the holotape. Written on it, in Nate's unmistakable handwriting, was "Hi, honey!" Anne, inserted it into the pipboy, but she didn't play it. Not right now. Not yet. "Thank you, Codsworth. It's something." "Well, enough feeling sorry for myself!" And just like that, his entire mood changed. Anne wished she could do that. It would make her life so much easier. "Well, shall we search the neighborhood ourselves? Maybe sir and young Shaun will turn up!" Anne knew that they wouldn't turn up. She saw Nate killed and Shaun kidnapped. But being with Codsworth would be welcome. It would help her. "Alright, Codsworth. Lead the way." Anne gave him a smile, and touched the cool steel of his body. He turned around, keeping one of his eyes on her as  he started off. "Tally-ho!" Codsworth took the lead, taking her over to one of the uncollapsed houses. He quickly located some giant bug, and burned it alive. Anne snuck past him, and one of those giant cockroaches came running at her. She shot it, shuddering. Codsworth had went down the hallway and had burned up several more bugs. "Just some bugs here... Oh wait, my sensors are detecting movement! Follow me!" He rushed out of the house, towards another house full of bugs. Anne let him take the lead on this one, hanging back outside. Those bugs would be the death of her... But then again, 200 hundred years could do some mutation... 200 hundred years. Her estimate of 50 seemed somewhat off. Codsworth came out much slower, eyes drooping. "Sir and young Shaun are really gone, are they..?" "No. Shaun is out there. He's alive. My baby has to be alive." Anne stepped forward, closer to him. Codsworth straighted up his eyes. "Then might I suggest you head down to Concord? There are some people there, and they only managed to hit my with a few rocks... Perhaps they could help you?" He suggested. If a robot could look hopeful, he was a perfect example. Anne smiled softly. "Thank you, Codsworth... I'm glad you're okay." "Of course I am! Good luck, Miss Anne! I shall hold down the fort while you search for young Shaun!" And Codsworth floated past her with a new energy. He had a purpose now. Anne watched him going, looking down at the gun in her hand. Who knew working for somebody could be your purpose in life? But then again, that is how he was programmed. Anne pushed the thought away, looking towards the bridge out of the neighborhood. She then started walking, crossing the rickety bridge slowly. There was a dead man laying on the ground, a gun a few feet away from him. Anne knelt down beside him, touching his coat. There was hardly any blood, and it felt much sturdier than her vault jumpsuit. She peeled it off the man, putting it on herself. It fit pretty well. Yeah, she was wearing a dead man's clothes, but it could be worse. She rifled through the pockets, feeling quite a bit of ammo in there. She then walked over and picked up the gun. It looked like some type of rifle, but she wasn't sure. Being married to a soldier had it's perks. As a result, Nate constantly taught her little things. One of which was how to use many guns. Anne popped out the mostly empty magazine, discarding it. She felt the belt around it, and slung it around her body with a smile. A real wasteland hero in the making. She then continued walking. A little ways down the road was an old gas station, a Red Rocket. She had to get much closer to it, however, to notice the dog. He ran up to her, sniffing her with that usual dog-like excitement. Anne looked at him, and knelt down. "Hey there, boy... How's it going?" The dog rested his muzzle in her paw, letting her tilt his head up. He then started panting, like he was smiling. Anne laughed. "Well I guess you're coming with me. Come on, buddy." She stood up, groaning quietly. She would have to do a lot of working out, now. At least she would get her dream body. Anne started walking away, and the dog trailed behind her. A little ways down the road, there were a couple huge mosquitos buzzing around. They hadn't noticed Anne or the dog yet,  so just a couple shots from her new rifle took care of them. This was her new life now. Anne looked at the city in front of her, sighing softly. She reached down to give the dog a scratch. They were going to find Shaun. They were going to avenge Nate. To Concord they go.