From the Ashes- Afire Love part 2

all that remains

Your dreams had turned to nightmares.

The little time you had for rest was plagued with gunfire, screams. Then for a moment, quiet, before the final shot rang out.

You would wake up, sweating and panting, on your cot. You'd step outside your tent, see your squad sleeping on their cots under the hazy green sky. Two knights guarded the camp's perimeter. They probably had the same dreams you did, but none of them were awake and on the verge of tears. You would go back to bed, stare at the ceiling of your tent, cursing the weakness under your surface. You could never seem to fall back asleep when this happened.

Tonight, it was different.

"Great job, soldier," you praised Knight Green.

Maya Green had joined the Brotherhood not long after you'd put an end to the Institute. There was a surge of recruits looking to join after it was destroyed. Normally, it was a paladin's job to train the initiates, but there were so many of them you accepted to take one on. She was a Knight now, but Elder Maxson had told you to form a squad for a reconnaissance mission in the Glowing Sea. Of course, you picked her.

"Thank you, Sentinel. What should I do now?" she asked, tucking a worn out folder in between the plates of her power armor.

"I'll call you a vertibird. We can't risk keeping those here and losing them. Take them straight to Proctor Quinlain when you return," you ordered. It still felt strange, ordering people around, even though you'd been a Sentinel for nearly a year now.

"Yes, Sentinel," she responded. "Thank you."

You cracked a signal flare open and tossed it a few yards from camp. Ruddy red smoke rose into the air, drifting around with the wind. The sky was darkening. It was nearly nighttime.

The camp was busy. Two stood watch, armed with miniguns. Scribe Haylen was sorting through a collection of files. The rest of the knights wormed to the restock food and ammo from a recent shipment. You walked to the front of your tent, at the north end of camp, and stood outside it.

"Everyone!" you yelled to grab their attention. Their heads turned, all eyes were on you. "We've had a long day today. We should all get some rest. Knight Young, Knight Thompson, take first watch. The rest of you, get some sleep."

As you retired to your cot, Haylen approached you. "Hey, Y/N," she said, making you turn.

"Scribe Haylen," you greeted warmly. "What's up?" You were tired, but a part of you was glad she had stopped you.

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm so proud of how far you've come," she smiled. "I mean, last year you were some Initiate we had pulled in from off the street. And now we're taking back the Glowing Sea." She laughed lightly. "I'm just happy for you."

You smiled. You found yourself thinking the same thing sometimes. "Thank you," you said. "You know, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here now."

"Don't mention it. You're probably tired, go on to bed. Big day tomorrow." She placed a hand on your shoulder before walking away.

You stepped into your tent and took off your power armor. Zipping up your tent, you slid out of your black Brotherhood of Steel jumpsuit and put on a tattered tank top and shorts. Sitting on your bed, you reached for a little lockbox under it, opened it, and took some Rad-X. Camp was far from the constant radiation from the south, but you still wanted to be safe.

While you fell asleep, you wondered how the Brotherhood could manage to keep back the radiation from an entire population in the future. Your thoughts wandered to learning about NASA's plans for colonizing Mars. Those times were long gone.

Cold, gray walls surrounded you. You stood in a long corridor.

There was a light at the end.

Slowly, you approached it, gunfire echoing through the hallway. You quickened your pace. A silhouette appeared in front of the light. "Y/N," a man's voice called. The gunfire grew louder as you broke into a sprint towards him.

You stopped in front of him. There was silence.

"Paladin Danse?" you choked out. The light shifted, shining onto his face. A bloody handprint held his cheek. A streak of blood ran from his lips, the scar through his eyebrow was fresh again.

On his chest, his orange uniform was stained red. This was how he was when you had last seen him. It drew tears to your eyes. "Danse, I-" You struggled to find words. "I'm so sorry."

The smile that formed on his lips was all too familiar. The blood from them dribbled down his chin, and the blood from his wound spread farther across his jumpsuit. He reached towards you, a box in his hands. The same one that had carried his final gift to you. It was open, you could see the rifle inside.

"Wait," you said, looking back up at him. "Please, stay." you begged. You pressed your hands to his chest, only to draw them away quickly. They were coated with a thick layer of blood. "Danse, please, no..."

He crumpled to his knees. For a moment, his dark brown eyes held yours before turning crimson. He grasped your hand.

You woke with a start. "Wait," you mumbled to yourself. You started down at your hands. Clean. "No, I..." Your mind went blank. You shifted so that you were seated on the cot and folded your face into your palms, trying to sort through what had just happened.

Ten minutes later, Scribe Haylen found her way into your tent. "Sentinel? Are you feeling alright?"

You rocked back and forth at the edge of your bed, fingers laced through your hair. You mouth parted slightly. "Haylen, I..." you started to say, still processing your thoughts.

"What's the matter?" She looked genuinely concerned as she made her way to your bed.

"I had the strangest dream," you explained slowly. You raised your eyes to meet hers. "And Haylen, I think that Danse is alive."