Chapter Text
*Click*
My name is Nick Valentine, though I suppose I wasn't always such. You can't tell it from looking but I wasn't always a Synth and no before you ask, I wasn't some Chicago cop either.
My name was.... *Static* and I don't belong here.
I don't mean it in an 'I'm a lost person seeking Faith' sort of way, but in an honest, 'I don't belong to this Multiverse' sort of way.
No, I'm not crazy *Statics* no wires are crossed either. I honestly wasn't meant to be in this Multiverse, but God, the utter bastard he is, made a mistake. You see, he let the *static* Nick die...Permanently, while he was still N1-K3.
So here I am, cleaning up the ba*static*ds mess.
And he never even asked if I wanted to. Instead, the Bastard had me killed in a Hit and Run while walking home from my part-time job at *static*.
I was twenty-*static* and everywhere I went Lady Misfortune always seemed to be laying in wait with a glass of vintage wine, a seductive smirk on her blood-red lips, and a special pair of silk panties twirling on her fingers. So my life wasn't perfect, but it was still my life.
And he *static* me.
I died alone on the side of a street like yesterday's garbage with the house I shared with my older sister in plain view from where I crash-landed.
He let me die ALONE and then *static* bastard had the nerve to *static* my Soul from its paradise in Death's Domain, just to fix HIS mess. He NEVER even gave me a choice if this was what I wanted or if I wished to stay dead.
Then again, had he done so I *static* chosen to stay dead. Especially seeing the Multiverse he needed *static* for is a living hell known as 'Fallout'
Radiation. Ghouls. Death Claws. Killer Robots. Raiders. Synths. *STATIC* Super Mutants. Need I go on? How I'm not dead yet is *static* not even I understand.
The only thing that confounds me more, is how God expects me to become the *static* Nick Valentine from the Fallout 4 game. *Statics* Just because we're Reflective Souls of each other, *Static* doesn't mean we're the same *Static* people.
-From the Audio Journal of Nick Valentine
Chapter One
Dead, but Still Alive
No one wants to die, its a fact of life; but it's also a fact of life that we rarely get what we want out of life.
Me? I didn't want much:
A good home, a steady income, a loving family, and the most basic of desires: To live. For the most part, managed to acquire everything I wanted:
I was raised in a good home by my Grandmother alongside six of her other Grandchildren, who I grew up to know as my sibling. In the terms of money, we weren't the richest family around, though it never really seemed to matter as we always had food on the table, land to explore, and each other so it's not like we were missing anything besides maybe a sense of entitlement.
I was sixteen the first time Our Grandmother took us from the Nine point eight aches of Country Land that had been our whole life and brought us to a house in the city, While it wasn't an endless land of forests where one's nearest neighbor was a good mile down the road, it was unique in its individual form- though a bit crowded seeing how close the houses were to one another- that I grew to enjoy.
When I turned eighteen, everyone except my oldest sister and myself left our home in favor of seeking out their own place in the world. The house had never seemed so empty before.
I was twenty when my Grandmother became terminally ill. I dropped out of college and sold my plane ticket to Europe to become a full-time caretaker. And for the next four years, that would be my whole life until my grandmother passed away in the dead of night.
Three months later, I acquired a part-time job where I would work ten hours a day doing the most repetitive tasks possible Monday through Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, I would work as a part-time librarian while being tutored for college once more.
I kept up this schedule for two years and while things weren't perfect, I was happy.
I had a job, I had my family, and was finally going back to college after all these years. Of course, this was when God decided I needed a giant 'Fuck You' with both fingers in the form of a sleek black car in the dead of night.
To this day I could still recall that night:
It had been half an hour after midnight when I finally left work. I had turned down an offer for a ride in favor of walking as I didn't live that far away from my workplace. It was a quiet night without a shred of traffic as far as the eye could see.
Halfway home, I stopped at a gas station and dropped off some food I had been carrying around for a homeless woman who proceeded to share gossip about what was going on around the city while I purchased my older sister a pack of cigarettes. We parted as we always did: She kept repeating her usual saying of 'Bless You' while I would make a joke about how one day she would end up bless the wrong person and cause them to burst into flames.
It was...
It was just another night.
I remember walking down the street with those damn lights that always cut off the moment someone got close to them which the city never seemed to get around to fixing. I remember throwing some leftover dog treats I had discovered within the bottom of my jacket pocket over a fence for Butch, one of the neighbor's overfriendly pit bull, and I remember relaxing as I spotted my home.
Then it happened.
I don't know where the car came from, only that one moment it wasn't there and the next it was speeding around the corner like a drunken maniac was behind the wheel. At the time, I had thought nothing of the matter- why would I? In my mind, it had been just another late-night driver on their way home- as I moved off the side of the road and into one of the neighbor's yard, but it must not have been enough as one minute I was standing on perfectly cut grass and the next I was lying on cold concrete. I remember seeing my shoe laying on the ground near my head and my phone shattered beyond repair.
I distantly recall hearing a voice screaming as someone to 'drive!' followed by a loud screech of tires, the scent of rubber burning, and the agonizing pain that coursed through my body. I remember having been able to see my home due to the angle I had landed and thought if I could somehow make that last five feet I would be safe. I remember how I tried to move, but my body wouldn't listen and the despair I felt as it started to rain.
I remember fighting to stay awake and hoping desperately that someone- anyone- would just come outside as they usually for cigarettes, private conversations, or just to have a breath of 'fresh' air as they did every other night.....
But wouldn't you know it? This was the one night everyone chose to stay inside.
When I finally closed my eyes, accepting that no one was coming, the streets were halfway flooded with rainwater and my body felt as though it had become stone itself.
And Just like that, I was dead.
The transition between life and death wasn't quite as I thought it would be. There where no angels or demons like the good book preaches, there was no pearly stairwell leading to a shiny gate, there no deity waiting to guide me along. One moment I was laying on the ground and the next I was standing before a dark-haired man who claimed himself to be Death.
Call me crazy, but I believed him. So it didn't bother questioning it as the other beckoned me down an old dirt pathway while he started giving something he dubbed his usual 'This is what happened, Weclome to the Afterlife' speech.
According to Death, even had someone came I would have died due to internal damage- the only true difference someone else being there would have been the fact I wouldn't have died alone with only an invisible Grim Reaper for company- and while dying wasn't something I ever wanted to experience, being dead wasn't so bad.
There was no pain, despair, or sorrow to burrow into one's soul. There were no hidden tears in the rain, no blood on your lips, or desperately chocked breathes searching for oxygen. All Death offered was a soothing sense of peace, safety, and a unique 'paradise' costumed to each Soul that entered its domain.
This place, Death had spoken as he gestured around the seemingly never-ending road traveling through the thick forest, was Mine.
To be honest, for a moment there I had been concerned my Afterlife was somehow a remix of some bad horror movie where the deranged hillbilly would be lying in wait around the nearest corner with an ax or a chainsaw, but when we finally rounded said corner there was no hillbilly waiting to chop me into pieces. Instead, My Personal Afterlife wasn't the road, but rather the land and home I and my siblings had been cultivated in by our grandmother which said road leads to.
Home.
Gods, I hadn't seen this place in years and it had been even longer since I had seen it so well cared for seeing as no one ever had the time to go down there and look after it while I was still alive. I found myself hesitating on the edge of the property line, but a gentle nudge in the back was all it took for me to regain my nerve and follow Death to the door.
The first step I took inside the old house left me feeling as though I had gone back in time as I was practically engulfed by the scent of My Grandmother's favorite perfume followed by the mouth-watering scent of her special homemade holiday feast.
To be honest, I don't think I've ever moved so fast in all my life as I found my feet rushing towards the kitchen. I practically launched the door clear off its hinges causing the magnolia structure to bounce off the wall where it proceeded to try smacking me in the face, yet I couldn't bring myself to care as there, shuffling a deck of cards at an old oak table was the one woman I never thought I would ever see again.
"Mom."
Thankfully my eldest brother wasn't there with us or I would never have lived down the 'Cry Baby' title he was constantly trying to pin onto me in Life as I found myself bursting into tears only seconds later at the gentle smile on my Grandmother's face.
~X~X~X~
I was dead for all of a week before I finally meet God and while I wish I could say it was everything the Good Book tells you it all.....It wasn't.
The man was pretty, I would give him that. Despite his brightly colored clothing, the other could have been an otherworldly model with his too perfect sun-kissed skin, lucent blonde hair, and unnatural sky blue eyes. Then there was his personality....
To be honest, I was half certain the other was an insane lunatic who someone escaped from their own personal paradise- which probably was a nice white room with comely white clothing to match- and tried to humor the other as he rambled about making some type of mistake in another Multiverse until Death could show up to escort the other back to their Afterlife.
Had I know the Lunatic was just waiting to throw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, I wouldn't have humored him as I did. I would have gone home before locking all doors and windows, but I didn't and it was a bit late for that now.
"-a complete accident. All I did was turn away for a moment and proof, no more. So I needed you, but you have Lady Fortune in your corner most of the time so arranging an accident was harder then it looked-"
Wait, a moment...
"-you kept getting past them without a clue they were even meant for you-"
Did he just say.....
Had he just said....
"-Things were so much easier back in the old days when people willingly offered themselves-"
he arranged the accident?
"-You Valentine's have become the source of endless headaches for me as of late-"
"Did You MURDER ME?!"
The Fucker, as I lovingly grew to call him, didn't even have the decency to look embarrassed as he paused for a moment and give me a look I had only seen once on my niece after I caught her getting into the cookie jar before dinner, "I wouldn't call it murder... Just a sudden recall."
I would like to think my next course of action was completely reasonable as I tried to ignore my eye twitching in favor of drawling back my fist and breaking God's nose.
Strangely enough, it was the most satisfying sensation I had experienced since the day I died.
~X~X~X~
"Would you agree to it if I told you there was a Boon involved? "
"Absolutely not."
"But why not?! It'll be fantastic. Just think of it, a whole new life full of adventure instead of wasting away an eternity sitting around Death's Domain."
As it turns out, God does not take rejection well.
"I told you I don't want to reincarnate! I'm dead, let me stay dead and leave me in peace!"
"I can make it worth your wild!"
"I'm not interested!"
"But you already won it."
Nor did he seem to understand the concept of 'No, thank you' and every time someone tried to explain it to him, it seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Who cared if he offered a Boon to help adjust to a new life. I still didn't want either it or the 'new chance at life' the other was all but trying to shove down my throat.
"Then give me a damn refund!"
As I watched the Deity seemed to slump into himself with a soft murmur that sounded suspiciously as 'Why do they always want a refund?' before huffing softly and speaking as though reciting something he had spoken many times before, "New Lives are non-refundable, nor are they tradable. "
I could practically feel the flat expression forming across my face as I granted the other my best 'I've seen what you have to sell and I'm not impressed' look.
This...
This was God?
This was the One True God? The Almighty people had dedicated their whole lives to? The one Saints had written about in the Good Book? What had he been doing all these years: Smoking some sort of divine weed like a holy hippie from up high?
"I have the strangest feeling you're thinking ill of me."
"Would you rather I break your nose again?" I couldn't help but deadpan, not even bothering to hide the fact my thoughts were less than considerate when it came to matters concerning the other.
For some reason, the other just smiled as though pleased by something before a hand gently rested atop my shoulder, "Don't ever lose that fire. As long as you have it, you'll live a long fulfilling life, My Child."
Wha-
And just like that, there was a flash of white and instead of being somewhere within Death's Domain, I found myself laying in a white room surrounded by people in strange uniforms speaking rapidly to one another about something I couldn't quite hear-
Then another flash of white and I was abruptly standing in front of God once more, who looked just as surprised to see me as I was to see those strange people. For a moment there was a tense silence as blue eyes looked from me to well-toned hand and then back again.
"Did you just try-"
I started to speak only to be cut off as the world around me flashed a bright white once more.
The first thing I noticed was the fact I was no longer in the large white room with the strange uninformed people, but rather I was in a small room with one other person...
Or at least, I believed it to be a person.
It was tall and humanoid, though obviously not quite human enough considering its unnatural pastel white skin lined with slight indications and glowing golden eyes that seemed to be staring into the distance. It looked familiar, but it was a distant sort of way: Like watching a movie as a child then years later attempting to describe a side character as an adult.
I must have stared too long for the other suddenly shot to attention upon finally noticing it was the center of my attention. Though I didn't want to admit it, the sudden movement surprised me to the point I almost jumped clear out of my skin.
"N1" It spoke with a soft masculine voice, so I mentally changed its labeled from 'it' to 'he, "Are you-"
The world flashed white again. This time I had the pleasure of watching God's brow furrow in confusion, "Strange, Usually, this works by now. Maybe if I-"
And once more the world flashed white.
And just like that, I was back in the small white room through the humanoid robot- was that seriously going to become a thing now?- was no longer standing, but rather sitting next to the bed the body was inhabiting
. "N1," The other spoke softly, reminding me of how an adult would speak to a scared child, "Do you know who I am?
For a moment, I just stared- somehow I just knew he was speaking to me, that I was this 'N1'- unsure how to respond. On one hand, he; so I answered in the only way I could, "No."
The other's eyes dimmed slightly as though he was about to just shut down right then and there before he smiled a soft smile though there was a tint of sadness and despair clinging to its edges, "That is alright. I am D1-M4. You are N1-K3. We are prototypes created by the Institue to-"
Whatever we were made for, I wasn't about to find out as the room vanished just in time for me to throw up all over God's feet. The other didn't even seem to notice as he stared intensely at me.
"Maybe if I-"
Another flash of white and I found myself staring at the face of D1 once more.
Something was off this time as not only did the other look a bit dinged but seemed intent on keeping a certain pace of distance between us instead of being up close as he had been the other times before.
"N1," he spoke as though he didn't really want to ask, but had to for some reason, "Do you know who I am."
The longer I stared without answering the more his discomfort seemed to grow, before I finally forced myself to nod slowly, "D1."
D1 must have been bipolar as just like that, almost as though someone had hit a switch, I found myself engulfed tightly within the other's arms.
...It was a strangely warm place to be.
D1 must have agreed as he only tightened his grip when my unease reared its head causing me to try moving away.
"N1, what the last thing you rememb-"
Have you ever gotten on a roller coaster, only to want off the moment it started moving? If so, then you know exactly how I felt as I staggered in front of God once more. Scowling at the so-called 'Almighty', I tried to force down the nausea building in the back of my throat, "Touch me one more time and I'll break your hand."
My only answer was a sheepish smile before the world went white once more.
To be honest, I can't tell you how many times we did this: Him trying to throw me into my new life only for me to be sent right back after a few moments; but it must have happened at least a few hundred times considering D1's calculations. That poor robot (?), Android (?) was likely to need therapy considering how many times he saw me 'die' and then 'resurrect' as though life was a change of clothes I couldn't decide if I wanted to wear.
Had I actually been given a proper choice in the matter, I would have given up by now and thrown in the towel as it was obvious that Multiverse didn't want me in it to the point it was outright ejecting my Soul.
Unfortunately, God was rather stubborn on the matter and it showed.
"This time for sure," the Deity said with a sense of certainty that would have filled anyone with confidence, but not me. He had been speaking with that tone for the last thirty minutes and so far each 'This Time for Sure' had ended in failure as the body he was trying to shove me inside kept rejecting me just as I rejected it.
"I have a better idea, how about we just drop this whole matter so I can return to My Afterlife and you can do whatever God does. I'm sure that Multiverse doesn't really need a Nick Valentine."
And nor did I want to be it's Nick Valentine. I may have been a lot of things in life, but a Masochist wasn't one of them.
"Nonsense. Nick Valentine's existence- You're existence- plays a vital part of every multiverse."
"...Then why the HELL did YOU MURDER ME?!"
And better yet, why did he even need something the other called a 'Reflective Soul' to replace that Multiverse's Nick Valentine if he was so important?
"....In my defense, there really was no other option. Your counterpart's soul was completely destroyed-"
"WHAT THE HELL?!" I shrieked at the other as my mind registered the Diety's words, "Are you seriously telling me, My Counterpart's Soul was DESTROYED so you MURDERED me just to send to the SAME EXACT HELL HOLE that DESTROYED HIS SOUL IIN THE FIRST PLACE?!"
If I could have done so, I probably would have broken God's nose again and it must have shown on my expression as the other wisely chose to convey several subtle steps backward so he was further away from me.
"...Would it make you feel better if I told you I now have a system to keep a better track of your soul then I did with his?"
"NO!"
Why in the Nine Realms of Hell didn't he have this method set up from the start, to begin with? Nick Valentine's Universe was literal Hell on Earth, so it only made sense to keep an eye on him if he was so important instead of letting his Soul get Destroyed- How did that even happen? A Soul wasn't something one could just squish underneath their foot like an annoying little roach- and grabbing a Counterpart from another Multiverse to fill the void. Which left another question:
If all Nick Valentine counterparts are so important; Who was going to fill the void I left in my Multiverse?
Unfortunately, that was one question I was going to have to keep wondering as that Bastard once more used my distraction to try shoving my soul into the engineered body of N1-K3 once more.
~X~X~X~
When I finally woke up and wasn't automatically rejected from my new found body, there was no small cell of a room, a white room full of people in strange uniforms, or D1-M4 as far as the eye could see. Instead, I was discarded on top of a trash heap beneath a sickly looking sky.
For a moment, I just laid there while my mind tried to piece together what exactly had happened while my head spun in circles as memories of a life I know I didn't live cycled through my mind.
On one hand, my mind was convinced I was a cop by the name of Nick Valentine, who was currently in Boston as a part of a Special Taskforce to bring down a Mobster by the name of Eddie Winter. Eddie Winter, according to my memories, had somehow caught word on my involvement and had the one true love of my life- a woman with a kind smile by the name of 'Jennifer Lands'- murdered. In the end, after everything we had done and lost, the man had walked by cropping up a plea deal with the backstabbing bastards that had hired us to begin with.
But on the other hand, My name wasn't Nick Valentine; though God, himself, claimed I was the man's Counterpart of another Multiverse. I had never been to Boston in my life and while I wanted to be a Detective, I wasn't. I was a part-time worker at a normal job; who was still working on their degree needed to be a Detective. And last I checked I wasn't engaged to anyone.
So on one hand, we had Nick Valentine, who actually managed to get somewhere in life, and on the other hand, we had me, who was murdered before they could even begin walking a path that would lead anywhere......
Sighing softly, I raised a hand to my face so strive off the headache I could already feel beginning to build behind my eyes. I wish I could say I took the sight of what should have been my hand well. After all, this wasn't my first time waking up in this body-though it did seem a bit more damaged than usual- and God had at least taken the time to explain a bit before ignoring my wishes and dragging me to my new life; so I should have known what to expect.
Right?
Wrong.
With the newfound memories of Nick Valentine running through my skull, the only thing I managed to register was that the gleaming metal shaped like a basic hand was NOT MINE.
So, it goes without saying: I panicked.
I'm pretty sure it was my deranged screaming which brought the pack of junkyard dog to my location. Though they were more than happy to try helping my deranged self remove the artificial hand I was screaming about. The poor things probably got whiplash from how swiftly I went from screaming about not wanting this hand and demanding to know where my old hand was, to screaming at them after they sink yellowing teeth into my forearm. Strangely enough, it didn't hurt like I knew it should have and that seemed to set off Nick's Memories once more as I tried to pry their teeth away from my arm.
While I finally managed to pry them off and put some distance between myself and the pack of starving K9s, I ended up losing even more of the artificial skin which made the beginning of my forearm leaving the gleaming metal 'bones' visible for all to see.
"That cannot be good," I mumbled to myself even as I wrapped a dirty cloth around the bare arm as though trying to bandage a wound I didn't have.
I wish I could say things got better after that. That I picked up a gun and became a gunslinging Legend of the Wasteland; but let's be realistic here:
One, I was from another Multiverse, a peaceful multiverse- or as peaceful as one could be- where the biggest danger I had faced to that day was my College Entrance Exams.
Two, I had never held a gun before. Sure, I knew how to use throwing knives as I took it up as an exotic hobby, but a gun? Sorry, but I wasn't in the academy just yet and I preferred hunting with a bow and arrow over a shotgun.
Three, my current body. Before God had decided to be a dick and murder me, I was A.) a woman, B.) of only 5 foot eight inches weighting a hundred and twenty-five pounds, and C.) flesh and blood. In this body though, I was a six-foot man-shaped being made of false skin, circuits, and some type of steel.
In other words:
I got my assed kicked; repeatedly.
Embarrassingly enough, it wasn't even by some wasteland creature; but rather due to the fact I had no idea how to use this body; so, I kept tripping and stumbling into piles of garbage containing sharp bones, glass, and metals that seemed to be constantly laying in wait for me.
So by the time I finally managed to crawl my way out of the junkyard- Yes, I mean that literally as I no longer trusted my legs to hold my weight- I had looked as one would expect from a person who had gone several rounds against a Death Claw with only boxing gloves for a weapon. Honestly, I probably would have been better off with the Death Claw for at least then I knew it wasn't anything personal and My Pride wouldn't be anything but ashes in the radioactive wind.
~X~X~X~
Learning to use this body wasn't easy.
Matter of fact, it involved a great deal of learning how to do so involved falling flat on my face, drowning in nothing but sheer frustration, and curses directed towards God himself for putting me into his position.
I know, one would think I had already learned how to properly use this body seeing how many times I had already awoken inside it. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as every other time I had woken in this body it had been A.) Strapped to a Table, B.) In a bed or C.) Trapped within D1's rather impressive grip.
So this was the first time I had actually tried to walk. Had I been eatable, I probably would have been the easiest meal to ever grace the surface of the Commonwealth.
Fortunately, someone up there must have been on my side as nothing seemed to stumble across the beaten up Synth- who couldn't even pick up a God Damn Glass, let alone defend itself properly- in a run-down gas station.
Maybe it was God trying to make up for his mistake? Maybe it was Lady Fortune? Or maybe it was some other diety entirely, but in the end, it didn't matter who it was. I was thankful for the sense of safety, even if I knew it wouldn't last.
And just like I knew it wouldn't, it didn't last.
A week after I had 'moved in', my sense of safety crumbled around me. Literally. There had been a massive Rad Storm- a bad one with winds that were practically blowing shells of empty vehicles down the ruined streets- caused the whole building to collapse and it was only by some miracle I wasn't crushed into a Synth sized pancake.
So, with a basic mastery over my new body, I did the only thing I felt I could do: I left the ruined gas station and went searching for somewhere new for 'safety'.
Had I been thinking straight, I probably would have realized what a horrible idea that was. After all, the Rad Storm had taken down a thousand-pound building- ruined or not- so what chance did a robotic being weighing far less, stand?
A snowball would have had a better chance in Hell then what I did; but being the scared fool I was, I didn't see it. Instead, I stumbled down the broken road like a drunken idiot, clinging to bending lamp posts for support as I tried to avoid being hit by flying rubble. I stumbled around like that for half an hour before finally noticing a building that wasn't trembling or losing pieces of itself to the harsh winds a good distance up the street.
Safety, my mind whispered to me, at last.
...Heh, I was a fool back then. I never once considered the fact that I might not make it up the street or what could possibly be lying in wait inside that building.
In the end, that never really mattered. I made it halfway up that street before the lamp post I was using for support was torn from the ground.
My feet followed it's precedent at abruptly determining how to fly a few moments later.
I don't recall much of what happened after that, just a brief moment of pure fear and the screaming of wind in my audio receivers; but I must have hit my head at one point at another for the next thing I remember was waking up on a half-broken bed in a room I had never seen before.
'Well, at least it beats the garbage heap,' I couldn't help but think to myself even as I pushed my body into a sitting position while my optics scanned over the room for any clues as to where I was or how I got there.
It was then that I first met him.
He was a strange young man with pale skin in a tan trenchcoat with a fedora resting upon ahead of light brown hair. To be honest, he didn't look all that impressive, though there was something about him that sent off silent alarms in the back of my head that had nothing to do with how he was hiding in a corner that managed to overlook the whole room.
"Hey, Kid," I watched as an alarmed expression cross onto the other's face as though he honestly didn't expect me to speak to him, "I don't suppose I have you to thank for getting me out of that storm?"
To this day, I still haven't figured out how I possibly worded that question so badly it sent the other all but jumping out a window and onto a shaky fire escape and though I tried to follow, yet by the time I had managed to untangle myself from the dirty sheets and poked my head outside the other was long gone. Frowning, I pulled my head back inside the window as my optics scanned over the room once more in an attempt to figure out if maybe something else had driven the other off.
Besides a pile of folded clothes resting at the foot of the bed, there was absolutely nothing that could have possibly caused such distress one out throw themselves out a window to escape it...
Except me.
"What the Fuck?"
I always knew I didn't have the best 'Social Skills' in my family, but to send someone running with just a simple question was a new level of 'Socially Awkward' even for me.
~X~X~X~
It seemed the next time we crossed paths, I was going to owe that strange kid a favor.
Not only were the clothes he left behind in perfect condition,- where he had managed to find a perfect white button-up shirt in this Hell Hole was beyond me- but they fit as though they had been personally made for me...Which, all right, was a bit creepy; but seeing how I had been walking around naked before he left said clothes, I could overlook it just this once.
Then there was the surprise hidden inside the tan trench coat's pocket:
A gun.
According to the Orginal Nick Valentine's memories, it was a slightly modified .44 caliber. A weapon he had used an innumerable amount of times before and it was only due to those memories that I had barely managed to keep from shooting myself in the foot.
As it turns out, having memories of knowing using a gun and actually knowing how to use a gun are two very different things.
Which was another thing I owed to the Original Nick Valentine, as unlike myself he had actually gone through the Academy and acquired memories on how to teach a newbie all the neat little tricks that came with properly shooting and caring for a gun.
Learning wasn't going to be easy, but I offed a few giant roaches while leaving the building so to get a feel of how the gun felt in my hand. Everything else in the building- mole rats, super mutants, and ghouls- which were already dead when I staggered across their corpses on my way out the front door.
Omake: The Complications of Being Death
Part 1
There was a Soul missing from its personal afterlife...
Again.
Closing his eyes, the deity known as Death, tried to force back the headache it could already feel building behind its eyes, "Damn it."
That was the Sixth Soul to just up and disappeared without a trace and there were only two things these six souls had in common was one factor:
They all came from the same Multiverse and His Oldest Friend- the one known as God- had personally visited each and every one of them right before they disappeared.
It didn't take a genius to figure out this pattern though Death had tried to grant his friend the benefit of the doubt as a sense of respect to what the other had been like in the olden days, only it became harder and harder to do with each misplaced soul he discovered missing from their well-deserved peace.
Maybe he could have turned a blind eye to one or two Souls being wiped out of existence their multiverses and two being misplaced to fix the issues, but six?
What were the chances that Six Souls had been wiped out of existence in separate Multiverses only for their sole counterparts to be within the same Multiverse?
The answer to that was simple:
There wasn't one.
The Reincarnation Cycle was called a 'Cycle' for a reason. None of those Souls should have been in the same Multiverse within the same era- as their counterparts had all been born in separate eras and therefore they should have been born in the same eras in this Multiverse and don't even get him started on how two of those Souls shared the SAME Damn Counterpart. How anything thought it was being subtle enough that he somehow wouldn't notice the same undead prison guard had managed to reincarnate twice within the same Multiverse and Era was beyond him- but somehow they had broken the unspoken rules.
So, despite how peaceful- to downright boring- that Multiverse seemed, something was obviously going on there. He hadn't put those Souls in the same era and from his understanding neither had God, which indicated either an Outside Source had done it or the Multiverse itself.
Neither thought was appealing as an Outside Source meant something rivaling not only his own powers but Gods within this Multiverse's Domain and the Multiverse...
He really didn't want to think about what type of disaster would cause that Multiverse to need an assassin/teacher, a spy, a special ops agent, a master thief adopted by the Abyss, an intelligence officer, and a future detective who had been unknowingly stalked by a Supernatural Killer.
No.
Just No.
He didn't need to think about- or the endless nightmare he would get from doing so- when all he had to do was pay a visit to his old friend and demand answers. Despite how God had taken to acting these days, his old friend wasn't an idiot. Everything the other did had a reason behind it, even if you didn't understand said reason until all was said and done.