Everybody's waiting
Everybody's watching
Even when you're sleeping
Keep your eyes open
"Why didn't the skeleton go to the party?" I asked Charon as we walked through the metro tunnels. We had been going through the tunnels nonstop since yesterday, and we would be arriving at GNR sometime tomorrow.
"Why, Mistress?" Charon sighed; this was probably the fifteenth joke I had asked him this hour.
"He had no body to go with him!" I giggled.
"Yes, very funny, Mistress." Charon said with no amusement in his tone.
"Aw, you're no fun, Charry." I whined. "That joke was funny."
"Charry?" Charon asked.
"Ya, Charry, ya know, like the wine, Sherry. Do I still have a bottle of that at home…? I think I do." I muttered, bending down to pick up a magazine off the ground. "I figured that if I gave you a nickname, then you would call me Stella instead of Mistress."
"If you wish to call me that, then I do not mind, Mistress." Charon said, although I could detect a hint of agitation.
"Oh my God! Charry! Do you realize what this is?" I yelled, waving the magazine in Charon's face. "This is issue seventy-nine of Grognak the Barbarian! The last one ever printed! Do you have any idea how rare this is? I've been looking for this issue for forever! It's the only –"
"Hush!" Charon ordered.
"What is it? Did you hear something?" I whispered.
"No. I just wanted you to stop talking." Charon said, continuing to walk.
"Fuck you." I mumbled, following after him.
"Do you even know where you're going?" I asked after an hour of walking through the Metro Station in silence.
"Yes, Mistress." Charon answered.
"I don't believe you." I said, scratching Dogmeat's head. "Would you please call me Stella?" I begged.
"If you order it, then yes I will." Charon said.
"But I don't want to order you to. I don't want to order you to do anything; you're not a dog." I explained; Dogmeat barked at me. "No, baby, you're not a dog either."
"Then why'd you buy my contract?" Charon asked.
"I dunno. I wanted company I guess." I shrugged. "You looked like you could use a friend too."
Charon didn't reply and I pulled the Grognak the Barbarian magazine from my back pocket, reading it as I walked.
"Did you hear that?" Charon whispered.
"Hear what?" I asked, not looking up from my magazine. "Shit!" I cursed, running into Charon's back.
"Quiet!" Charon hissed.
"Is this another ploy to get me to shut up?" I asked. "If it is –"
I was cut off by Charon slapping his hand on my mouth. We kept quiet for a few minutes, then Charon took his hand off my mouth. "It's just a Radroach." He said.
"Rah- rah- Radroach?" I stuttered.
"Yes, Mi-"
I let out a glass breaking scream and ran to the nearest pile of rubble, climbing on top of it in record speed. "Kill it! Kill it now!" I screamed.
I heard one gunshot, then Charon said,
"It's dead, Mistress."
"Ah, good, thank you, Charry." I said, my voice shaking a little.
"You're afraid of Radroaches?" Charon asked after ten minutes or so, amusement in his tone.
"Ya; so fuckin' what? They're nasty." I growled.
"Never had an employer that was afraid of bugs before." He said.
"Fuck you. Bugs shouldn't be that big. Are we almost done in here? It's so dank in these tunnels." I whined.
"Sorry, your highness, but it wont be anytime soon." He answered.
"Fabulous!" I cheered sarcastically, running a hand through my tangled hair. "Hey, Charry, guess what! I took down a Super Mutant Behemoth once. It was so intense! He was so big. And gross. And his backpack thingy – it was a shopping cart! Can you ima-"
"If I promise to call you Stella from now on, will you shut up?" Charon growled.
"Yes!" I agreed, beaming at him.
"Then shut up, Stella." He ordered.
"Yessir!" I said, saluting him. I looked down at Dogmeat and gave him an accomplished grin.
"We should stop here for the night." Charon said, stopping in front of me again.
"Jesus. Would you warn me next time you're gonna do that? You're a big guy and it fuckin' hurts." I growled.
"I thought you couldn't get hurt." Charon stated, leaning against a ticket center in the Metro Tunnel.
"No, no, no. My body can heal wounds but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like a bitch when I get 'em. I feel pain just like you and everybody else."
Charon made some sort of grunt which I made out to mean, "Okay."
"Hey, Charon?" I asked as I pulled out a box of Sugar Bombs.
"Yes, Stella?" He replied and I did an internal cheer at him calling me by my name.
"Are you named after Charon from Greek mythology? He's the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead." I asked, remembering what Mr. Brotch once taught us in class.
"I don't remember. Although I do suppose it fits." He muttered.
"I always loved Greek Mythology." I murmured.
The tricky thing
Is yesterday we were just children
Playing soldiers
Just pretending
Dreaming dreams with happy endings
In backyards, winning battles with our wooden swords
"I want to be Hades, Butch!" I whined, glaring at my best friend.
"You can't be Hades! You're a girl!" Butch argued.
"So what? Hades is the best God and I want to be him." I yelled, stomping my foot.
"Fine. You can be Hades. Happy now?" Butch sighed.
"Yes!" I said, my mood instantly changing. "Thank you Butch!" I ran over and hugged him tightly.
"Ya, ya. Now lemme go!" He ordered.
"Haha, okay. Who are you gonna be?" I asked.
"I'll be Zeus." He said, picking up his wooden sword.
"Hey, Butch. If we're Gods, how come we have swords?" I asked, picking up my sword as well.
"Because we're Pirate Gods. Duh." He said as if it were obvious.
"I knew that…" I muttered.
"Sure you did. You ready yet?" He asked.
"Ya, I'm ready." I said. And so, for the next few hours Butch and I were Pirate Gods, and everyone that walked by knew not what was going on as we spewed nonsense words and things about Gods that we had learned in class that day.
But now we've stepped into a cruel world
Where everybody stands and keeps score
Hey guys! Sorry I took so long to update. School is incredibly busy – especially since it's fourth quarter. I'll hopefully update the next chapter quicker. Well, anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter and have a nice day!
Oh ya, PS to Keyz - I just read your last chapter and it as well mentioned Charon being named after Charon of the River Styx, I just wanted you to know that I didn't copy you! I had this written out before you uploaded and when I read your last chapter I was all *facepalm* she's gonna think I copied her. I just wanted to let you know that this was not the case!
Okay. Bye for real now!