Fallout: Born Unto Trouble

26. Lonesome Road

Rattlesnakes and Datura were nothing compared to the heat of the Mojave at midday. Elizabeth wiped at the sweat on her brow, glancing back at Cass who was in the same situation as her, fanning herself with her hat and sighing in frustration.

Primm was still quite a ways away from New Vegas, and the Divide further still.

 This was something she had to do alone

The canyon wreckage and graffiti on broken down busses and cars caused a pang of guilt to shoot through Elizabeth's chest. "Lonesome Road", "Courier Six?", and "You can go home, Courier!" didn't deter her from wanting to go inside and find out exactly what drew her here.

She was nervous again. She looked back at Cass who was staring at her, worried and curious at the same time.

"Go back to the Lucky 38," She said.

"I'm going with you," Cass stepped forward towards her.

"Cass, please. I need to do this alone," She placed her hands on the other's shoulders, "I'll be fine."

"Elizabeth," She was about to argue, but she quickly kissed the other on the lips, "Don't be too long," She whispered. Elizabeth hugged her, then turned back toward the wreckage.

She didn't look back at her, she didn't move until she couldn't hear her footsteps any more.

She stepped toward the wreckage, and opened the door slowly, then stepped into the Divide.

The voice over the tiny speaker on Divide ED-E told her stories of her past, the history of Hopesville, the people setting down roots there, and the missiles that destroyed them—

Because of her. Because of a message she brought through the Divide.

She brushed dust off of the scarf covering her nose as the man on the speaker, Ulysses, ended their conversation as quickly as it started. His words caused a bitter feeling in her stomach, threatening to spill out on the ground in front of her. She surprised the urge to vomit and continued on through the canyon.

The end was almost as anticipated as it was anticlimactic. Ulysses gave up on his revenge, whatever it was, and peacefully stood down as Elizabeth disabled the missiles he was going to unleash on the Mojave.

The Divide erupted in fire as the flame trail of the two Couriers' last message arced into the sky...

...missiles fell on the East and the Legion encampment at Dry Wells... where the Twisted Hairs had allied, then been betrayed by Vulpes and Caesar. Legion soldiers died, their silhouettes blasted into the ground and earth, the last word of the last of the Twisted Hairs.

It was an ending to things - a way of erasing the road that had led to this point and the history that had walked with it.

Elizabeth felt... melancholy as she watched the East erupt. She could see the mushroom-shaped cloud from here. She spoke a silent prayer for her parents, and for her hometown.

It was nighttime. The moon was shining brightly, and reflected off the footlocker by her feet. She knelt down and opened it, and pulled out the contents inside.

She inserted a holotape entitled "Ulysses' Final Message" into her Pip-Boy and played it.

"Last tape, last message. In case... you best me. If you're hearing this, you have, through blood or word. This message, and all that lies with it - it is for you, Courier. If you want to know the... why of things. This world, I've walked a good part of it... I stopped only because of you. What you did - gave me pause. Long ago, I crossed the Colorado, the first among to Legion to see Hoover Dam in all its glory... and Old World wall, yet bridging two sides. And beyond it, a symbol of a two-headed Bear, an idea great enough to challenge Caesar himself. Might kill him, taking it, whether he won or lost. The Bull needs to fight, needs the challenge, without it... it falters, dies in the dust. Might be a lesson there, in you and me. Leave the thought behind the message to you. My message is this - the destruction that has been wrought, at the Divide - or elsewhere, if you couldn't stop me... It can happen again. It will keep happening. If war doesn't change, men must change, and so must their symbols. Even if it is nothing at all, know what you follow, Courier... Just as I followed you, to the end. Whatever your symbol... carry it on your back, and wear it proudly when you stand at Hoover Dam."

The message stopped, and the air was filled with silence again.

(It was done.)

Ulysses was sitting on a rock overlooking the ruins of Hopesville when Elizabeth visited him the next morning. He didn't look up at her when she walked up next to him.

"I got your final message." She said, looking over the Divide.

"Didn't think I'd be breathing to hear you say that. Message isn't important, meaning is. Had to speak of it, in case the words got lost in paper, ink, or other's voices. Maybe even yours, in time. Still, meant for you. Courier to Courier. Belongs to you now, or history. Doesn't matter."

"I'm heading back to the Mojave to settle some things." she said.

"Can hear the weight in your feet - you're bound for that Old World wall. Hoover Dam. Maybe not now - in time. Bear and Bull shed too much blood there to let it go. Can't stop you going, wouldn't. A warning, though - the Legate, Lanius. Whether Caesar stands or not, Lanius will come."

"He's just one general, I can handle him."

"Lanius carries all the terrors of the East with him. He's the myth, the weapon the Legion needs. When he arrives, he'll fall on Hoover Dam like a hammer, break the Bear in two."

"If he crosses me, I'll break him."

"Nineteen tribes could not do it. All the lights in Vegas cannot. His strength lies in his title - and it is his weakness. He will not fight a losing battle and destroy what he represents. Put the idea of loss in him. Convince him the Bear will not be the twentieth tribe beneath his heel, it will make him pause like nothing on earth. You do not need to convince him alone. Draw upon history. The past of other Legates are not filled with victories. Remind Lanius of this."

"Other Legates?"

"There are other Legates, and the one before Lanius couldn't take Hoover Dam for Caesar. That Legate's mistake is he didn't die trying. His name was Joshua - Joshua Graham. Answered for his failure - twice, some say. Caesar had him burned and cast into the earth, into the largest canyon you've ever seen. Watched the flames trail all the way to the bottom. Somehow, Joshua walked away from that, went beyond Caesar's gaze. His footsteps trailing fire, walking from one hell - maybe to another. When one is ruined like Graham was... sometimes home is the only place left. If so, he went to New Canaan, Caesar's anger written on him like a book. Caesar's orders to the Frumentarii were to watch for him, find Graham. Kill him. Didn't try. Couldn't. No good would have come of it. Graham earned his life, and his nature... it'll kill him more surely than any blade of the Legion. So if you've heard word of it or seen sign of him, let it keep. Let his history keep."

"We'll leave it to history, then."

"Then there is nothing more to be done. The Mojave awaits."

She walked a few steps away, then turned back and stood by him once more.

"My... hometown..." She began. He didn't say anything, but she knew, somehow, that he wanted her to continue.

"My hometown. It was Legion territory. Cranston. In Arizona. I hope it was destroyed."

"And why is that?"

"I realized that through rebirth, I was able to let go of my past. Terrible things happened there. I wouldn't care to tell the whole story, but..." She sighed, "Never mind. Ah, by the way, my name is Elizabeth."

He looked up at the rising sun, "I know. Soon everyone will know, too."