If you're reading this, then that means two things.

Either you've read the entire new story and I greatly congratulate you about it! Or you're one of the old fans and just got the story alert, which means I will suggest you read the entire story from the beginning, yeah, the rewrite is over!

In both cases, a new chapter is going to come in about a month, so stay tuned!

I will release another a new chapter for Dead Man's Apology when I finish with this one.

Thanks to all my fans for following this fiction!

[0956 hours, Pina Co Lada's palace, Imperial Capital, Empire, Special Region]

"How dare you leave our princess in the hands of the enemy ?!"

Both Hamilton and Grey received a slap on the face from an enraged Bozes as greetings for their long tiring journey from Italica. Both knights looked down in humiliation without speaking a word as the blonde woman continued yelling at them.

"I-I deeply apologies but it was her orders, she sold herself for our safe passage…" Muttered the tall veteran knight, having difficulties to retain a calm tone in such a tragic event.

"We tried our best to save her from them! But she didn't let us do… They just took her away…" Followed the brown-haired girl next to him mumbling before she collapses on the ground weeping between her hands.

Bozes backed away from the two, forcefully gritting her teeth in anger as tears began forming around her hazel eyes, and her voice starting to stutter.

"Wh-What do we do now…"

Beefeater who was behind her gave the blonde a pat on the back, looking at her with much regret, next to her was Panache sharing the same look as her.

"We have to stick to each other; this is what Princess Pina would want us to do…"

Bozes narrowed her eyes at the purple haired knight, giving her a shivering stare.

"No… We're going to save her! I'll go call our troops and find a way to attack the enemy!"

Bozes violently shoved both the women behind her and was intending to leave the room before she was called out by a startled Hamilton.

"No don't do it!"

Bozes looked back at her with a deep frown. "What do mean ?!"

"You don't know what these people are capable of! They will banish you from existence without moving a finger!"

"That's true! The amount of power their army has is nearly infinite! You should have seen what they've done in Italica!" Followed the tall old man with a panicked tone, sweat drops filling his face.

"Nonsense!" Screamed the blonde in a wide shout, she was then interrupted by Beefeater looking at her with worry as she tries to resonate her.

"You should probably reconsider your choice Bozes… I mean those two have seen what these people from another dimension are capable right? Why would they leave the princess there if they couldn't stand a chance?"

"They have destroyed the Jee-esS-Dee-eFf forces like they were flies; do you really think we could do something? You're being unreasonable!" Followed the white-haired female knight, trying to stop Bozes from this madness.

"Cowards…" Muttered the blonde between her teeth as she glared at all the persons present in front of her before turning heels and walking away.

"If you don't want to help me with this, the others will!"

"Bozes don't!"

The blonde violently slammed the door leaving the rest completely silent.

[1005 hours, West-C HQ, Empire, Special Region]

Pina was sitting on the old mattress inside her cell, looking at the steel cuff tied to her left leg. She soon realized the feeling of the many prisoners sealed inside the Capital's dungeons, something she thought she would never experience in her life, worse than that is that she was trapped by the very last people she wanted.

For the moment she can't fear much since she was somewhat of a valuable hostage, however, what would happen when she will be useless for the West Commonwealth? They will probably take her to slavery or turn her into a sex slave for the soldiers to share, or even worse, she would be forced to marry one of the warlords who will probably use her as a concubine, as the Courier for example.

As she mentions the name of the Courier, she quickly remembers the discussion she had with him yesterday. She appeared quite perplexed as the Courier admitted to becoming her protector, the most influencing member of the West Commonwealth as her bodyguard was something that completely stunned her, and in some way genuinely honored her, why he was chosen from all the goons swarming this place?

Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted as the bar doors of her cell slid open, two guards wearing the uniform of the 'EeN-Cee-arR' were awaiting her outside in the corridor, the two looked at her a bit dazed as they wondered how to speak with a non-English person, however the princess immediately understood what was happening and stood from the mattress, but as soon as she decided to move, her leg suddenly got yanked back.

She then looked down at the chain warped around her foot and gave a dull stare at the two men before one of them immediately came and freed her with an embarrassed face, but in exchange of her leg cuff, she got two warped around her hands which didn't ameliorate her miserable expression.

The two guards escorted the princess out of the interrogation quarter, there she saw the camp lining up their horseless cart in front of the giant vault in the middle of the base, who soon turned out to be where the Gate was encased in.

She suddenly gasped and backed away in shock, her eyes froze at the massive construction expecting the worse as they were going to take her inside their homeland. Soon she was pushed by the two guards and dragged along with them under her tearful protests, screaming and crying as she tried to flee from the two men's grip.

"No please don't take me! I'm ready to give you anything you want! My tongue! My mind! My body! Just please don't take me away! Please! Help! Somebody!" Unfortunately for her, nobody in a mile radius could distinguish her yelping.

Suddenly she was tossed inside the back of one of the vehicles, her body lying on the metal floor covered in sand, somewhat of a foretaste of what's coming next, she lied there with tears coming from her burgundy eyes as she lamented about the horrible fate that awaited here.

Soon after she gathered herself up and wiped her tears, here she found herself surrounded by a group of beige wearing soldier sitting on the benches during all this time, they were silently looking at her quite perplexed which made the Pina's face blush in embarrassment, she then silently decided to take a sit between two soldiers goggling at her.

Another person entered the caravan which caught the redhead's attention, it was the Courier, wearing his trademark menacing helmet covering the entirety of his face, the mere look of it gave chills down the woman's spine.

The man kept standing looking at all the persons present in the vehicle before his eyes rested on the princess, she looked at him as she felt his intimidating stare on the top of her skull with a confused look, suddenly she was started by the weird object the Courier was trying to shove on her mouth, she started twitching around trying to avoid the Courier which started to make him grow annoyed, so the Courier tightly grabbed her jaw and pushed the object on the redhead's face.

The woman cried in disapproval before realizing what was on her mouth, it was a small mask of a strange transparent material covering her mouth and nose, the mask was then connected to a small pouch of air resting on her lap.

"It's a gas mask…" Flatly muttered the Courier adjusting the elastic band holding the plastic mask around her head "The air in my hometown is a little bit harsh for newcomers like you, so this will help you breathe while your lungs get used to the environment, so don't take it off whatever happens…"

The princess didn't reply as she found no excuses to not listen to his advice, she somewhat distinguished in his eyes a genuine sense of care bewildering her, the Courier finally backed away from the woman's face and took a seat on the other bench directly facing her and kept quiet.

The soldier next to her glanced at her for a brief moment before talking to the Courier in a mocking fashion, the princess didn't know what he said to him but it seemed like it wasn't something pleasant for the Courier as he fiercely scolded him and threatening to smash his ankle with his boot, the soldier bluntly gulped in terror and looked the other way.

The roaring sound of motors began vibrating the interior as the trucks began moving, the Courier glanced from one of the many holes filling the depraved cloth covering the back of the truck. There he saw the giant vault door rotating to the side in a slow captivation manner with the sound of steam and machinery accompanying the whole event.

Soon after, the Gate appeared from the darkness all ruined by the pollution of both sides, he looked back at the princess as she also sees the whole thing from her side, her jaw dropped in astonishment as her pupils kept gazing at the show of machinery and technology she was spectating.

The Courier didn't have the chance to go back in the Wasteland since the beginning of the conflict, not like he missed such a fucked up place, to be frankly, he really was getting used to the Special Region and its majestic locations, its friendly and colorful people, and the thrill to beat up gookers and Imperial scum!

However on the plus side, he will be meeting his old pals back in the Mojave, even he thought he suspect it to not be the case since he will be stuck with the princess over there, on the other hand, he's the one who chose to become her bodyguard anyway so he had to suck it up.

The trucks began moving one by one inside the gloomy Gate, soon the trucks were covered in pitch black darkness which suddenly frightened the princess, the only things glowing in the obscurity were the truck's headlights, some small lights coming from the electronic devices inside the truck and two red glowing eyes that would have terrorized the woman if she didn't know that they were coming from the Courier's helmet.

The Courier stayed calm as he gradually started to feel the usual rash in his throat, the hot hellish atmosphere sticking on his skin and the scent of metal overcoming his tongue, all symptoms that made him aware that he was approaching the end of the Gate.

Welcome back home.

[1423 hours, Searchlight Airport, Mojave Desert, West Commonwealth, Wasteland]

The truck finally came out of the tunnel as the light sudden shined and the sun rays gradually pierced through the holes of the fabric like sharp swords, at that point Pina felt a sudden surge of heat striking her face, her sweat began accumulating on her skin to the point where her jumpsuit stuck to her like glue. She also found difficulty to breathe even with the gas mask like she was aspiring fire through her nostril and throat.

She was very accustomed to great heat due to her multiple travels to the desertic regions of the Empire, but even in the hottest days of the year she never felt a fraction of what she was currently enduring, it's like she was getting cooked alive in this cart!

The redheaded princess then decided to peek outside of the truck wondering if she just drove into hell itself, while the heat was hellish the rest wasn't really, the little hole she looked through didn't reveal much but the same grotesque beige helmets walking on a wide concrete pavement surrounded by piles of scorched landscapes, and like that wasn't enough that repulsive smell from that pigpen of a base camp only doubled in intensity.

By the gods, even the poorest districts of the Imperial Capital weren't that putrid!

"Welcome to the Mojave Desert princess…" The Courier's voice caught Pina's attention, somehow his tone was slightly welcoming or some sort. "What do you think?"

"Disgusting." Bluntly replied the redhead narrowing her eyes at him which made the man chuckle. "I couldn't agree more..." His response prompted the princess to widen her eyes.

The trucks crossed the wide airfield of the airport, the Gate it was a stroll in the park to go around since all you had to drive around were the radscorpions, but now that it turned out into a typical NCR dump it was now a freaking maze to go through. Fortunately, the convoy found its way outside the airfield and headed to the road, which turned the princess uneased.

"Wh-Where are we going?" She startled in a panic with a drop of sweat flowing down her face, the Courier gave her a slight wave to relieve her. "Don't worry, we're getting you in a nice place by the river a bit far to the east, you'll like it I promise… Maybe…" This didn't calm the princess' mood.

Her eyes set again to the horizon, a scorched desert stretching as far as her eyes could perceive with rusted debris scattered around her view like if Armageddon struck these lands, the minimal vegetation they passed by seemed harsh and dry and just looking at it made the princess' throat dry up.

But then her eyes caught something stretching towards the sky, it was a tall tower with a pointy end overlooking a gigantic city, how could such tall structure exist in this backwater world made of sand?

Suddenly her daze was interrupted by the sudden stop of their cart, the Courier stood up alarmed as he wondered why did the truck stop.

"What the hell just happened?!" His voice was cut short by the sound of screams and gunshots coming from the front of the truck, followed by roars and crashes rampaging around the convoy "Shit! Somebody sees what's happen- "

Suddenly some unrelenting force overthrew the truck to the side of the road with its passengers still inside, Pina was violently launched through the clothed celling and raised a good yard from the ground before slamming on the sand with fierce, she weakly raised her head while still lying on the ground stunned from the hit, her vision was blurred and her head spinning.

She weakly raised her torso from the hot sand and laid her back on a nearby rock just before a strange individual started approaching her, she looked up and saw the blurry figure of a man wearing the usual outfit of the sand army, limping with one leg while dragging the other one who seemed to be broken, he kept moaning and groaning in what seemed to be in great pain, he probably was critically wounded due to the crash.

However, under further investigation, Pina concluded with fright that the being in front of her wasn't a man but a ghoulish undead person with a green glowing tint.

The princess gasped in fear as she rolled to the side of the rock and dragged herself back away from the monster slowly approaching her, kicking the sand at him as a desperate attempt to stop while her screams resounded everywhere calling help.

Suddenly she found a huge rock blocking her from escaping the ghoul, she looked at the monster with terror as she had no way to go and with just mere inches before the ghoul would turn the poor woman in his dinner, a silhouette stormed inside Pina's point of view and blew up the undead's brain off with a small weapon in his hand, the person soon revealed to be the Courier looking at her with a concerned gaze towards her

"Princess!" He screamed while stretching a hand to help her get up "Are you all right?"

The princess looked shocked for a second before taking his hand and standing, for some reason she was extremely glad that he came to save her, even as far as to give him a hug if she could, however, the Courier seemed too panicked to accept any embrace for the moment.

"We have to take you to safety, stay close to me!" He ran up the road and across the devastated trucks while still holding the redhead's hand and not wanting to leave it at any cost.

The place was a mess with the ghouls from Camp Searchlight overcoming the convoy, not only that but a much dangerous predator the Courier didn't dare to warn the princess about it was lurking the road for its next target.

The two kept running between the burning debris of the convoy, the sounds of screams and monstrous roars coming nearly everywhere, the only thing the princess was focused on was to stay as close as possible to the Courier, as him being from out of all expectations the only person she trusted in these endangered landscapes.

But their reunion was quickly short as the truck they were going to escape it has been suddenly crushed by a giant monster, the princess didn't have time to describe what it was before she was met by a strong massive palm violently sweeping her and the Courier on the floor, her face slammed on the concrete floor more brutally than the previous fall.

She raised her head again but something was strongly odd, she could feel some strange gas coming inside her mouth choking her, she soon realized that the gas mask broke in pieces leaving her mouth and nose exposed to the dangerous environment she was so forbidden to breath.

She started dry coughing while dizziness started to fog her brain to the point where she could pass out at any moment, she gathered all the force she had to roll over and face the bright blue sky, a sky she somehow found beauty in it.

The clouds were soon cast by the silhouette of giant scaled monster, his sharp red reptilian eyes looked down at her from his tall posture, the redhead froze in terror as the creature lowered his head at her sniffing her sweating body.

It was some kind of terrifying mutated reptile similar to a dragon of some sort, his scales were colored like the sand, with strong muscles filling his massive body and especially his giant arms with sharp sabers at the end of them, his wide strong chin was filled from beginning to end with huge fangs sharp like razors and his skull was horned by a couple of wide horns so pointy that they could perforate even the toughest piece of metal with a swift headbutt.

Pina could fell the horrible smell coming from his mouth as she closed her nose in disgust, but that didn't stop her from coughing as her mind began to drift away due to the poisonous air, however this didn't please the monster as he roared at her with a deafening sound and was preparing to give her a strong slash.

She couldn't help but close her eyes expecting a quick painless death, but what she got, however, was something covering her from the monster's attack and a sharp long grunt of pain coming from whoever took the hit for her.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw the blurry mask of none other than the Courier saving her life once again, she couldn't help but feel blessed to see him again, however, her emotion quickly shifted to fear as she sees the face he was making through his red lenses.

The feeling of pain trembled his brown eyes while he tried his best to sustain it, not only that but the princess soon saw with horror the blood spouting everywhere from his back and leaking on her body. The monster gave a second attack to the Courier's back which prompted him to emit a shrill cry of pain, fortunately enough, the monster was immediately scared off when a burst of Gatling Laser hit him.

A moment passed before help could arrive, during that time the Courier and Pina stayed in eerie silence starring at each other's eye, the princess couldn't dare to even imagine the wounds that pierced the man's back or how he was still alive after all this.

"Sh-Shit I just realized that your gasmask was broken…" He weakly muttered between his deep painful breath, his words dumbfounded the redhead, even in such state and he's still concerned about her well-being?! "P-Please hang on for a moment, help is coming ou-our way…Princess…"

The Courier's breath began to be deeper and slow-paced before collapsing on her, in the same time Pina's attention began to drift away as her lungs were filled by the harsh atmosphere blocking her breathing tubes, her view began to be extremely blurry, barely seeing the Courier's figure on top of her.

Soon enough some muffled sounds of men screaming surrounded her and her protector, she saw the silhouette of several persons around them lifting the Courier from her and spreading his unconscious body on the ground, the men began regrouping around him taking off the armor plating on his chest and his helmet to help him breath, her eyes focused on the Courier's face with extreme shock, seeing blood oozing from his mouth and nose while his eyes looked at the sky completely lifeless.

On the other hand, she felt her broken mask on her face getting replaced by a brand new one quick enough saving her from near death but too late to keep her conscious, the last thing she saw before slumbering down was the men around him proceeding all kinds of medical procedures but none of them seemed to give results.

Pina's eyes slowly opened to the ceiling of the tent she was in while sleeping on a bed of cloth, she rubbed her head with a slight grunt while trying to recall the past events before looking around her new surroundings.

She was completely alone inside the tent, for a brief moment she thought that she was back at her home but as soon as she saw the crude furniture her hopes were crumbled, she looked at her right arm and saw some kind of tube injecting some weird orange liquid inside her body, she soon immediately removed it and stood up from her bed.

Suddenly she felt something odd, she reached her hand at her chin and realized that she no more had any mask on, which meant that she can breathe freely as much as she wants, she headed toward the rug served as the tent's door and wiped it away.

Here she found in front of her bewildered face some kind of beach resting on the side of a river, three wooden beach houses seemingly recently built were resting on the coast all supported by plenty of pieces of timber, on her left she saw a couple of benches and chairs probably for a picnic area, giving the place somewhat of a more relaxing feel despite being in a desertic land. The place was filled with dozens of men in beige setting up different kind of objects and devices unknown to the princess, supposedly for their stay.

"Uuuh Princess?" A man's voice caught the redhead's attention, she turned at him and saw a man from the beige army wearing a red beret talking to her, however as she narrowed her eyelids at him as she suspected him to be the very same man who confronted her back at Italica, which turned out to be true since he seemed to try his best to not make any eye contact with her.

"I have been tasked to lead you to your new home, please follow me…"

Without any complains the princess followed the colonel toward one of the chalets, they climbed the small wooden stair separating the houses from the sandy ground and headed toward the far-left house of the three.

The man opened the door and let the princess come first, she entered the room and saw a large interior made of wood, a large king sized bed was placed on the left corner of the room with a sliding door towards a terrace overlooking the clear blue water and the orange rocky canyon on the other side of the river, there was also a turned off fireplace and different kinds of decoration scattered around the room.

"Showers are outside, but don't worry, we've reserved one spot solely for you…"

This doesn't seem like a prison cell, quite the opposite, it looks like a vacation resort.

Pina silently walked inside the room inspecting it, not believing that all this was given to a prisoner on top of that, she rested her bottom on the bed caressing the white sheets, all this seemed wonderful to her but there was still something else that was bothering her, she gave a concerned look at the beige wearing man, asking about the state of her bodyguard.

"Wh-Where is the Courier? How's he doing?"

The man wasn't expecting her question but still replied: "He's in the medical center, he is in a critical state but he will make it, he should be standing up in no time…"

The redhead sighed in relief at the news, somewhat she was appeased to know that the man was alive. The man followed with a small grin. "Don't worry about him, the Courier has been through a lot worse than this, this like a bug bite for him…"

Before closing the door and leaving, the man muttered. "I suggest you sleep, the sun is now going down and the nights in the Mojave can be quite chilly…"

At his words silence filled the room once again as the redhead stayed alone, she couldn't admit it but yes, deep down inside her she was greatly worried about the Courier which made her bit her lips, she felt sympathy to the biggest enemy of the Empire and that was a huge betrayal on her side, on the other hand the Courier showed her in these short hours, courage and bravery she saw very little of it within the Imperial forces.

And he saved her life on top of that…

Wait, was she…? No, no way.

Later that night…

Pina's couldn't sleep, whatever how much she twitched around her bed she wasn't feeling the sense of it. With a sigh she stood up from her bed, her long crimson hair loosely waving around her shoulders and down her back, she was wearing a modest nightgown provided by them reaching down her slim thighs and she even had the chance to wash herself inside the bathrooms outside of the cabinet, it was a nice little sauna equipped with everything she needed to remove the stink she gathered the past weeks.

This wasn't right, this place looked more like the most prestigious hotels than a prison, all this hospitality made the redhead completely perplexed as she thought there must be some mistake somewhere.

She decided to take some fresh air and headed to the terrace, she slid the door to the side and proceed to walk on the wooden floor barefoot, the feeling of the warm lumber tingling her feet.

She lied on wooden barrier fencing of the terrace and started contemplating the moon's reflection on the pure water, the buzzing sound of bugs and the flow of the water was music to her delicate ears while the many dragonflies flying on the river were like small bulbs of lights levitating on the clear river.

The princess was baffled to see such fantastic environment in such hellish land, while this world had its shares of deathly monsters and harsh environment, it seems it also had places like this where even her own world doesn't have.

Maybe these people aren't demons living in the underworld, maybe they're just normal humans who just had the hard luck to leave in unforgiving earth…

Suddenly something caught her attention as she just realized there were strange noises of horns and drums energetically echoing far away in the distance, she turned her head toward the source of the sound and found with her eyes wide and spread the giant metropolitan she saw earlier filled with beautiful eye-catching lights.

She stood speechless looking at the game of light and sounds erupting from the massive city while the grand tower in the center emitted the largest amount of light, this was another thing she never thought she would see in these lands.

"Liking the view?" A familiar sound whispered at the woman's ear, she turned toward it and gasped in shock as she sees no other than the Courier.

His face showing the exhaustion from all the medical procedures he had, his black hair was messed up as well as his beard and giant bags formed below his eyes, still, that didn't stop him from radiating a small smirk to the princess.

He was using a crutch to his right to help him stand up, his wide muscled torso was filled with bands and plasters covering entirely the top of his body while he was wearing nothing but a pair of black baggy pants.

"Cou-Courier?!" She startled with great relieve in her voice, not realizing the wide emotional smile she gave him. "Are you alright ?!" The man was a bit surprised by her enthusiasm but simply replied with a slight shrug.

"Eh, just a scratch… A Deathclaw like this one isn't going to bring me down…"

What does he mean by a scratch? All the flesh from his back was torn off by the giant monstrous creature to the point his spine was exposed.

He slowly joined the woman and lied his arms on the fence, Pina slightly blushed to see the man but mere centimeters next to her, her eyes caught the Courier's face looking down at the river and she simply couldn't take off from looking at him, like there was some kind of magnet between the two.

A brief silence filled the place with only the slight sound of crickets from time to time.

"I hope you like your room, it may be nothing compared to the luxury you got back at your palace, but this is the best thing we could provide in our world…" Stated the Courier, the princess looked in surprise at his statement. "Wh-What?"

"Everyone in a mile radius has been tasked to guard this coast, the whole personnel of this place are under your service and your service only."

At his words, Pina couldn't believe this, all this security just for her?! An enemy of their own nation treated with luxury even their own citizens can't afford to.

"You are a person of great value for our benefits in this war…" The Courier continued as he backed from the barrier. "We've heard people of ill intentions targeting you, so our duty is to make you the most comfortable and safe in these troubled times we're living, orders from the president herself…"

He then walked away but then he shortly glanced back the woman. "If you need anything princess, I am in the house just next to you, have a good night…"

He then entered in his respective chalets and slowly closed the door without realizing the dazed state of the princess.

She never felt so much privileged as this, since the very day she was born, she was always considered a second class princess given by her birth from a concubine, added to the fact that she was the youngest and last member of her family to ever consider sitting in the throne and she barely had the worth of a small-time lord.

It's because of this lack of importance that she formed the Rose Knight Order with the help of her noble friends to make herself useful and to serve her empire, but despite that, despite all her efforts, she never was looked upon other than being a spoiled child with too much time to spend.

And out of nowhere these people that supposed to be her sworn enemies are giving her so much care, so much attention to the point of taking away their most skilled combatant from battle and gave him the task to protect some lousy worthless princess.

This realization brought her into tears as she humbly entered the cabin and slept through the whole night.

In the morning…

Pina sat on her bed stretching the muscles of her arms with a slight yawn, surprisingly the bed wasn't as stiff as she imagined but still was a bit dusty for her taste, however, she wasn't in place to higher her standards.

She stood up and changed her nightwear with her ordinary outfit, the blue and yellow jumpsuit started to feel more comfortable the more she kept wearing it.

The princess left her cottage and decided to scout the surroundings, there were no chains keeping her and the wall and the Courier told her that she was freely able to wander around inside the camp.

She began walking around giving a very attentive look at all what was happening around her, she looked like a small child visiting a zoo as she walked around the many unknown structures, she wanted to know more about these people's culture their talent for mass destruction.

She approached a small construction of metal that seemed like a stable given by its wide entrance, as soon as she entered a strong smell of oil caught the princess' noise with surprise.

She gave a slight peek inside and saw a very messy place filled with different type of metal junk which only increased the redhead's disgust, she then glanced at an old fat man searching inside a pile of black metal junk, his top half was literally inside the pile of garbage while his bottom was wiggling around giving a clear look of his butt crack in his tight blue jeans, much to the woman's disapproval.

Soon her eyes caught the sight of weird machinery standing in the middle of the stable, the thing looked like a piece of metal in the shape of a horse, however, the machine's casing was in a bad shape with different pieces of steel gushing from everywhere.

Suddenly she was startled by the old man shouting at her as soon as he saw her approaching the machine, which immediately made her back away from it and immediately leave the place under the intelligible insults of the old man.

However, as soon as she turned back her face slammed inside the muscular torso of a tall man; she backed a bit before looking up to the face of said man her eyes widening.

"Doing a bit of walking?" Asked the Courier looking down at the redhead with a slight grin, now wearing a light tank top covering his banded torso. "I guess you should stick close to me, come on let's eat breakfast."

Pina kept looking at the man with a dazed face before finally nodding clumsily, the Courier took her hand and led her to the small cantina settled in the coast.

The two entered and headed toward the buffet set inside the cantina after taking a plate, the redhead followed the man very closely as she mimicked every single movement from her bodyguard, taking the same portion from the same plates of food as he did and the same cup of coffee.

The two sat next to each other and started eating, the redhead glared down at the food she gathered: a piece of bread, a small portion of cheese, some dried ham and a cup of coffee on the side.

This wasn't as majestic as the large feast back at the capital but it's still far more decent than she expected, in comparison the prisoners of the Empire only had the rights to eat one wet piece of bread a day, these people have a sympathy for prisoners that even the men in green don't seem to have.

"One year before, and you would be eating raw radroach meat and messed pieces of Cram…" The Courier's voice caught her attention as he was smearing a bit of cheese on half of his bread. "It may sound embarrassing but proper food started to be provided since, like, last year. Before that, we were only eating scavenged wastes left by our ancestors when our world was not a dangerous wasteland…"

Pina widened her eyes in surprise. "Are you implying that your world wasn't always like that?"

The Courier nodded. "Two hundred years ago, this world was once upon of time a stable world, maybe not as beautiful as yours thanks our ancestors who dried our land from all its resources, however our world was living in great prosperity and reached as state of futuristic technology that you wouldn't believe, maybe even more advanced than the gooks, however…" He took a brief pause then continued. "While our world was living in its prime time like never before, wide tensions between nations spread across the continents, their hatred boiled down and reached such a state of pressure that one day, they've decided to make a final ultimatum and rained all their arsenals on earth in a matter of two hours, a total annihilation that reshaped the face of the planet for generations to come, for some reasons the gods gave a second chance to humankind and our species miraculously survived this tragic event, but soon enough we found out that it was more of a curse than a blessing… As he left us to fend for ourselves in a dead world."

The Courier's tone was surprisingly calm and indifferent while he was narrating the story to his jaw dropped listener, he wasn't feeling hatred or dread about the Great War, he didn't care at all and just thought it was a plain part of history, like the crusades or WWI, shit happens and trying to hold a grudge against a bunch of megalomaniacs who died in their own madness would serve nothing, what mattered for him was the future he tried to preserve for his kind.

Night…

Pina merely waved at the Courier as both of them entered their respective home, she immediately jumped on her bed in exhaustion after such an intense day, since morning she's been sticking with the Courier showing her around the encampment, she kept an attentive look at everything her bodyguard was showing her and feeding her hunger for knowledge. Like the strange artifact called a 'Tear-Mine-nal'.

However, even though she was tired, the sense of sleep was nearly no apparent in her whatever how much she rolled over her mattress. With a sigh she decided again to stand up and head to the terrace, the appealing sounds of the flowing water would probably relax her like yesterday.

She looked at the flowing river with an appeased smile while the bright lights of 'New Vegas' reflected on it, the sound of the water mixed the far echoes of trumpets and drum hummed in her ears leaving the woman in trance.

However, her minute of enjoyment soon stopped as she noticed something strange to the other side of the river. There was a strange man standing on the shore, because of the darkness she couldn't describe how he looked but it looked he has two red glowing eyes staring menacingly at her which gave chills down her spine.

Suddenly the strange man echoed some strange noises and dived in the river, approaching her position at great speed as she sees his movement in the water getting frenetically intense.

Startled, she took refuge inside her room and locked the door of the balcony before slowly backing away, a sinister silence filled the room, suddenly, the window next to her bed shattered in pieces and the man bounced inside the room.

The light from the moon shined on his monstrous body giving to the scarred princess a clear look of his body, this was no man, this creature was hybrid between a person and sea monster, his skin was filled with fish scales and different type of fins scattered around his body, with a view of his putrid green teeth on his stoic-looking face.

The princess tried to make an escape to the front door but the monster was faster than her and bounced toward the woman, slamming her on the ground and grabbing both her arms to prevent her from getting up, he was on top of her staring at her eyes delightfully preying on her tears, the terror chocked the voice out of her throat, the creature approached his mouth to her face and slowly breath out in a somewhat creepy fashion, the odor of fish and seafood retracted the woman's traits in disgust.

He then widely opened his mouth as he prepared to attack, the moment his mouth was going to take a big chunk of flesh from the redhead's throat, a strong arm warped around his neck and lifted him up from the princess, giving her a chance to crawl away while looking at the scene occurring in front of her.

The Courier wrestled the monster to the ground and held him in a submissive position, the monsters kept growling and twitching around while the Courier tightened his grip around his neck, soon a sharp 'crack' was heard coming from the monster's neck as he stopped resisting and all his body fell completely numb.

The Courier kicked off the dead carcass of the monster and began recovering his breath.

"Damn Lakelurks… I thought they would be no more after that we destroyed all their nest around her… Jeez."

He gave a quick glance at the redhead who cowered before the door and warped herself around her arms, trembling in fear while staring at the man.

The Courier gave a sight, then stood up and dragged the dead Lakelurk outside and threw him off the terrace, he then came back to the princess' room and stood to the sliding door with a reassuring smile.

"I'm really sorry about what just happened, sometimes critters slip up our patrols… Nothing will cause you trouble, for now, princess, have a good night…"

"Courier wait!" He came back with a surprised face, looking at the redhead giving him a startled look as she was stretching one of her arms toward him, she then slightly looked away, her cheeks slowly blushing in the embarrassment of what she was going to say next. "Can you… stay here? With me? I don't think I'm going to sleep all alone…"

The Courier starred at her eyes surprised at her request, which only made the woman even more embarrassed, a moment passed before he finally complied and shut the door behind him.

"Ye-Yeah sure…"

He slowly walked toward the small chair next to the bed while the redhead crawled inside of it, the Courier then crossed his arms and guarded the princess covering herself with the white sheets, silence filled the room again as only the ticking of the wall clock was heard, just before Pina turned toward the Courier and glanced at him in embarrassment.

"I-I sorry, I hope you don't mind…"

"No-No I don't, don't worry princess…" He stuttered the feeling of the woman's silk skin giving him spasms all over his body.

"Please, you can call me Pina."

"Al-Alright, I'll stick with Princess Pina." The Courier simply couldn't drop the formalities, even though he calls everybody else either by their own names or with a playful nickname, he even sometimes calls his own boss 'Edwin' or 'Rob'.

The redheaded lifted an eyebrow as she noticed a tad of embarrassment, she never thought someone like him would possess.

And to be honest, neither did he as all this touchy-feeling thing was brand new to the man, people searched many things from the Courier, a quest to be done, somebody to be killed, a raid inside the Fiends' vault base and its dead leader's helmet, deliver a platinum chip, a witty companion of road or just simply a leg over.

But nobody ever wanted to find comfort in him, he wasn't the type of guy who doubled as a psychiatrist in the first place, nor did he look like he knew about feelings and other boring shit either…

The two stayed silent, giving a slight grunt of disgust from the fish scent they both shared until Pina looked up the Courier's face and asked.

"I hope I don't want to sound rude but I wondered what was your name…" The Courier looked at her in stunned like she demanded his foot size.

"My-My name?"

"Yes." Nodded the redhead intrigued to know what the gods named this legendary warrior. "I assume that 'the Courier' is nothing but a title given by your people, I was wondering if you could give me your name as I gave mine."

He looked down with a slight grin drawing on his face and chuckled in a way the princess found somewhat very sad. "I wish I could, but I don't have one, the sands of the Wasteland wiped it off like my origins…"

"What do you mean?" Said the redhead confused, she then looked in great horror as the Courier lifted the scalp of his hair, showing her two rounded scars carved deep inside his skull.

"Don't know if those bullets still are inside my head, maybe they're still there, keeps me focused…" The Courier lowered his hand, letting his hair concealing the scars. "I tracked down the prick who did this to me, found him getting buttfucked by some Roman travesties, but I didn't choose to shoot him on sight as he did to me, no, I dragged him to the arena and fought him like a real man. I'll be honest, I left my rage take over and turned him into a literal shishkebab, they couldn't differentiate his head from his leg…"

The princess gulped at how graphical the last portion of the story was, but soon found pity in him, no memories to recall, no family to go to and love, no true identity other than a simple courier…

"Nobody even asked about me… Guess I didn't have much of a life before… That's all changed when Mr. House took me under his wing and invited me to New Vegas…" His tone then turned mocking, but his mused face was still here. "Heh, as I care about the past, I only see the future and what fate have in store for me, I am far satisfied with the life I have now…"

After this the Courier stayed silent, his mind finally appeasing while he felt something soft touching his lap, he looked at Pina giving him a small attractive smile as she stretched her hand towards him, the Courier smiled back and rested one of his hands on top of hers, his fingers interlocking with hers send a tingling sensation through his body he never felt.

"Courier…" She caught the man's attention with a weak warm voice. "How is this city you call… 'Niou Vaygas'?"

"You're talking about New Vegas, right?" She slightly nodded. "It's an alright place, I mean, as long as you got the caps and all, I can't count you the amount of NCR soldier who threw their whole pay on the casinos…"

A moment past before he realized something and looked down at the woman giving him puppy eyes, which made his eyebrows frown.

"No, no effing way. I can't get you out of this place…"

"Come ooooooooooon~~~~~" Pina moaned while approaching the man and resting her head on his shoulder "I can't just stare at the desert and a river when there's a big city just around. That would drive me insane! Aren't you my sweet heroic protector?" She gleefully declared while showing off all her talent in seduction.

"Heh, when was that?!" The Courier mockingly puffed, but her round looking eyes genuinely had an effect on the Courier that no amount of radiation ever did to him, finally, he looked away quite annoyed and exhaled through his teeth.

"God-fucking-Dammit!"

In the morning…

"Are you sure this thing is drivable now?"

"Good as new!" Said the fat old man running the garage as he rubbed his black filthy hands on a towel even more black and filthy than him.

The Courier kept a skeptical eye at the motorcycle in front of him. If he recalls perfectly, they called this model the 'Lone Wanderer' back in the day, it was a broad looking cruiser motorcycle that was surprisingly well conserved after a nuclear holocaust. The Courier won the beauty in a bet against its former owner, he said that he retrieved it somewhere in the far lands of the East Coast.

At first, it had a red paint that he didn't like, so he changed it to dark blue and added some flames in the back, he also tuned the motorcycle and added two new exhaust pipes to the already existing and powerful one bursting flames at every gear shift.

Since then the Courier only traveled with it, until the fateful day when he crashed through a loose Brahmin, he had to make the road back home on foot and a Brahmin horn stuck on his knee.

Now finally the vehicle was back on its wheels, added to that a little seat of leather he strapped behind his in case somebody would ride with him, which is nearly improbable since he never let anyone touch his beauty.

He sat on the seat and turned on the motorcycle, he then gave a quick spin to one of the handles of the vehicle delightfully hearing it roar like a Deathclaw.

"Well… Okay, I'll take that, thanks and goodbye ol' man…" He gave a quick wave and set off, the old man waved back. "Tell to Old Lady Gibson and her dogs that I said hi!"

Yeah, he forgot to mention to him that after he snatched the brain from one of her dogs, she doesn't like him that much anymore.

He then headed toward the entrance of the camp and stopped in front of the wide fence blocking him to leave, his glare turned toward the two NCR troops guarding it.

"Oi open up! I have a quick delivery to New Vegas, can't wait!"

"Ye-Yes of course!" Stuttered one of the two, he then glanced at the big cart the Courier has strapped to the back of his motorcycle and asked. "What's inside of the cart?"

"None of your business punk! RobCo private affairs reserved for Mr. House and Mr. House only! Open up the goddamn barrier or I'll tell him that you're the reason for me being late and to send you a couple of Securitrons to carve you another butthole!"

The poor soldier immediately complied and ordered his pal to open the gate, before the Courier set off, he gave one last glare at the two and bitterly said.

"Princess Pina is in her room and doesn't want nobody to disturb her if I hear any of you messing with her, I'll be the one to carve one you another butthole myself!"

The two could do nothing but merely gulp as they nodded, at this moment, the Courier finally took his venture aboard his motorcycle toward the city of light.

After a couple of miles passed, he stood up from his motorcycle and headed to the cart where he lifted off the iron cover and talked to the person hiding inside of it with a sarcastic glare.

"I never said I accepted transporting illegal migrants with me!"

The redhead ignored the man's joke as she peeked around with a worried look. "Is it safe, can I step out?"

"Safe and sound…" He stated while helping the princess step out of the cart.

"Wouldn't you get in trouble for that?" Asked Pina with a worried look while she was wiping the dust from the pants of her jumpsuit. "I mean you've helped a high-value prisoner escape…"

"Heh, ain't big of a deal really…" He shrugged carelessly. "Also, as long you're with me you are somehow still under custody…"

He then opened the strap between his vehicle and the cart and kicked the cart leaving it to roll away aimlessly, Pina looked at the cart going in the distance before giving a look at the Courier wondering why he had done this. "Uuuuh… Aren't we going to need it in some way or another?"

"Nah…" Replied the man with the same careless tone while he was searching for something in one of the bags strapped around the motorcycle. "I have everything I need here: You, me, and my bike."

Somehow the princess felt flattered by the Courier mentioning her before she was suddenly caught off guard by a helmet tossed toward her and grabbing it at the very last moment, she looked at the red vertical line with confusion.

"Can ya put this on? It's for safety reasons…"

The princess blinked a couple of time before beginning to untie her ponytail and let her crimson hair flew with air, she then put the helmet on and adjusted the belt of the helmet around her chin before giving a thumb up to the Courier.

"Alright, everyone aboard!" He said as he sat on his seat then tapped on the one in the back waiting for the princess to come, which she didn't look appeased to ride such a grotesque and frightening horse. "Do-Does he bites?"

"Only if you feed him after midnight!" He playfully joked; it didn't convince the princess but she had no choice but to ride the beast, she sat behind the Courier and warped her arms around his waist, the Courier displayed a huge smile and twisted the accelerator.

"Alright let's go! New Vegas! Here we come!"

And the two set off on the trashed road of the Wasteland, leaving nothing but a trail of dust and smoke…