[BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN] "System Failure: Cyrostatis Chambers 1-12. Enacting Emergency Dethaw Process." [BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN]

The girl, a child really, woke with a sudden, violent jolt of cold so deep she didn't think she could remember what warm felt like. It was painful, this cold. Painful like that time she'd burned her hand on the stove, but cold too. That was the only sensation.

Then, fear. [BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN]

An attempt to breath, but no air to breath in. Breath, lost. Panic sets in, deep and dangerous. Knowing the danger of panic, but not yet able to control herself, the child instead attempted to break out of whatever was holding her in. But it was strong, and even colder than she was.

Air. Oum blessed air. [BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN]

Breathing was still difficult. The air was cold, and felt… stale, almost. But even so, it was better than nothing. Great gasps of air, this child took in. As she tilted forward toward the air, she fell outward, the cold hard material no longer locking her into place.

Pain. Head, hands, arms. [BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN]

She had tried to catch herself, but wasn't able to draw the strength needed to stop her fall. Knocked out of her fear and confusion, she suddenly remembers that she had eyes. They opened to a scene of chaos and confusion. A small, low ceilinged room made of gray and blue materials containing a number of large, partially open pod structures. 'Cryostatis units…' her sluggish mind told her. Lights flashed everywhere, an alarm was going off, and she heard an automated voice say something she couldn't understand. She groaned, remembering she had a voice too, and tried to push herself up onto her feet. Failing, she at least managed to roll over onto her back.

[BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN]

Her own pod, empty, was at her feet. Above her head, another pod, partially open, was venting steam as the supercooled air met the chilly air of the facility. 'Vault… this is a Vault… 111…' the child thought as her sluggish mind began to start moving at a reasonable speed again. She frowned. There was definitely something important she was forgetting, but what could it be? And why was it so-

"Mom! MOM!" [BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN]

The child found strength she hadn't known she possessed, and managed to crawl towards the cryostasis unit in front of her, the one across from her own. She pulled herself up alongside the partially open pod, and hammered the green 'Open' button. The pod opened, and a woman fell out. She was around 5'7", with dark red hair almost black and pale, porcelain skin. The woman's eyes were closed, her face blank. The girl partially fell, partially lunged, trying to catch the woman, her mother, but failing to do so, instead landing next to her. She reached a feeble hand out. "MOM! Wake up, please wake up!"

Cold. Too cold. [BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN BLAAAAN BLAAAAAN]

The woman didn't respond, not even a slight stirring of her eyes or body. The child remained, trying to wake her, for several hours. Long after the alarms had ended and the voice had said "Emergency Dethaw Process Complete." and noted "11 fatalities. 1 survivor." the child remained, trying to wake the woman who would never wake up again. "Mom…"

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Sitting up, no longer able to cry and now getting thirsty and needing to move for warmth, the child quietly processed how badly everything had gone wrong. They were supposed to wake up again, 25 years after the bombs fell. The world would have started to heal by then, or so Vault-Tec had claimed. So why was everyone dead except her? Was it her huntress training? But her mother had been a huntress as well, it couldn't be that. Well. These questions could wait until after she had found a drink. Tears would not serve her anymore.

The child got up, looking around herself. There, that was the exit. Walking over to it, she found the quick exit seemed to be sealed. She would need to go the long way. Looking towards the faculty area, she spotted salvation: a water fountain. Rushing over, she found that processed water had never tasted quite so excellent. As she looked around, she found a crowbar. Smiling sadly to herself, she wondered what must have become of her Uncle. He hadn't made it to a Vault, after all. The smile faded as she realized he was almost certainly dead, along with everyone else she'd ever known and loved. Hefting the crowbar, she went in search of her old weapon.

As she moved through the faculty portion, she found what looked like the remains of a scuffle. No bodies, not yet, but certainly not a peaceful situation. Maybe the staff had rushed to try and figure out what was going wrong? "Anyone here?!" Silence was the only answer… except. "What is…" A slight scuffling sound, a sort of squeak/shriek sound, and then the largest roach she'd ever seen leapt at her face.

Acting on instinct, she whipped the crowbar across the air in front of her and suckered the roach with so much force it was cleaved in half even as it splattered across the wall. Greenish ichor drained from the body, and the little warrior fought the urge to vomit. "Gross by any standard." was all she said though. Continuing, the little warrior wandered her way through the abandoned faculty part of the Vault. She found a security baton, and stashed it for later use if needed.

Then she opened a door and found the first skeleton.

Freezing into place, she stared at the skeleton. If not for the raw trauma of holding her mother's cold corpse, the skeleton and the bloodstain would probably have been sufficient for her to have a mental breakdown. As it was, it too the little warrior a few minutes to fully process the scene. The skeleton was wedged into a corner between the door and the wall, with a massive bloodstain across the wall and door, clearly from whatever had left the skull a ruined mess.

The child carefully stepped over the skeleton, calm mostly due to shock rather than self-control, and looked to the rest of the room. Three more skeletons left tribute to the firefight that had broken out in the room. "What happened here? Am I really alone?" The child shivered, but not from the cold, and moved forward. Her goal? The pistol on the table and the ammunition sitting next to it, all seemingly unused during the firefight. The skeleton sitting, head pitched forward, was probably going to use the gun but died before it had the chance. Well, their loss, her gain.

Holding a pistol made the child feel a great deal safer, but she switched back to her crowbar for now. No use wasting bullets, right? She continued seeking the lockers where her stuff would have been left. Along the way, she found several more of the giant roach things, but none of them could stop or slow her. She was, after all, a huntress in training. Something on this level didn't even reach the tier of beowolf. Then, turning a corner, she found it. The lockers.

The child rushed forward, seeking her sweatheart and hoping against hope that it was still there. Upon reaching the cage with the lockers, she promptly found the lock to be very much sealed. "Gotta find the keys…" The trek seeking out the keys would occupy her for the next hour and a half, and when she returned… Her precious weapon was locked away behind a password and 2" thick plexiglass & steel plating, along with her mother's dual warglaves, both chained with gloves and a few other bits. "Noooo… I need you, sweatheart!" Frustrated, the child tried to punch her way through the wall-mounted container, only to hear a distinct popping sound in her hand and wrist followed by agonizing pain.

"Ah DAMN!" Startling even herself with the sudden use of an admittedly limited swear word, the child fell back, holding her hand and focusing her Aura on it. She should have known that would end badly, Aura could only strengthen her existing bones, it wouldn't stop her joints from being displaced. As the Aura pushed the joins back into place and swiftly healed the damage, the child sighed with relief. "I'll be back, sweatheart. I promise. And I'll bring a hacker with me when I return." Some may find it strange to talk to a weapon, but not the child.

Looking through the rest of the lockers (only the weapons lockers had been caged), she found her red cloak, dust woven and waterproofed and excellent for sleeping wrapped inside of, as well as more ammunition, more weapons, and even a few long knives that she could definitely make use of. The child also found a backpack that was designed to ride close to her back, lower down to maintain balance. That would be incredibly useful for her, and she swiftly loaded it up with everything she could carry. Moving back through the facilities, she also sought out food and water, but found nothing but empty packets and cans of both.

No real options left in the Vault, other than slowly dying of hunger or finding out what those roaches taste like, the child headed towards to final exit. Arriving there, she found the last of the battleground. A skeleton with bloodstains leading to it, a Pip-Boy attached to the arm, left no doubts that the shootout had ensured nobody escaped the Vault. A few more of the roach things attacked her here, but she was able to easily handle them with her knives. A moment of hesitation before she tried to remove the Pip-Boy without causing any damage, which failed when the entire skeletal arm fell off the rest and then out of the Pip-Boy and onto the ground with a clatter.

"Sorry, but I need this more than you do. Uh. Rest in peace, if you can." The child turned to the Pip-Boy and put it on her arm. A few moments later, it was running and she was ready to leave. Putting the plug into the socket and turning the key, she reactivated the Vault machinery and waited for the platform to lower down to where she was. It took a fairly short period of time, but during this time she was able to change the settings on the Pip-Boy to suit her better – red light, synced to her own abilities and Aura, among other small details. Looking up, she saw the platform waiting. It was time to see what was left of the world she'd once lived in.

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As the platform rose toward the surface, the warrior child squinted. The sky still seemed more or less blue, though maybe with a slightly yellow tint that hadn't been there before. As she got closer, she began to see dead trees swaying in a wind she couldn't yet feel, and she heard a hollow whistling sound as wind passed through their dead, leafless branches. The sound alone felt dead and empty, and did not bode well for the world the warrior child was going to be living in. As the platform reached the top, the she saw for the first time the glorious devastation that was her new world…

From the top of the hill, through the branches of dead trees, the ruin of the world could be seen in full. Sprawling to the east, the once-great City of Vale could be seen. Vast leaning towers, black stained smokestacks, and dirty highrises all enshrouded in a strange fog that seemed to almost have a green tint. To the north of the city was a vast glowing cloud of smog, dust, and flickering lights, all of it resting where Beacon Academy had once stood as a symbol of pride and power. South of the city, ocean sat as a drab brown-blue expanse of water, a few ancient ships resting at angles to the waves. Closer to her, dead forests extended outward for a few miles, broken by roads, buildings, and a few towns… including the dilapidated ruins of her own hometown, Patch.

"Well Ruby… welcome home. I guess."

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A/N This is the minor update to Ch1 as part of the Rewrite of the story. Ch 2-4 were mostly/entirely redone, Ch1 just had some errors I didn't notice the first time around. Wish me luck, and as always feel free to Review and whatnot. More on the rewrite in Ch2's A/N.

Cya!