*Hey! So sudden inspiration hit to finally start writing a beautiful fanfic about Fallout: New Vegas after becoming obsessed with the game! As of now, I haven't decided on the finally pairing but do know it with be something involving both Boone and the gorgeous Vulpes Inculta (what can I say? I love bad boys with a smooth tongue). Hope you enjoy the introduction!

Destroya

Chapter 1: Look Alive, Sunshine

When she woke up, she had no idea where she was. The air was stale and it came through her lungs in gusts of dirt and dust. She coughed as some got congested in the back of her throat and made to sit up but a worn, tan hand pushed her back into her lying position. Where was she? She didn't remember a thing.

"You're awake!" A voice to her left exclaimed. "How 'bout that!"

She blinked a few times, recognizing the pattern of speech. She tried to form words but her mind only held discombobulated phrases and words that were not an appropriate response. She raised an arm to grasp at her head lightly. Apparently that was enough of a reaction for the person.

"Why don't you relax a second? Get your bearings." The voice said again. This time she forced herself to sit up and take a look at where she was. Sitting in a stool was an older man in a wasteland doctor outfit. His clothes brought a flash of memories into her mind but they were so blurry it has hard to connect anything. She grabbed at her head again. "Whoa easy there. You've been out for a couple days now."

"Where am I?" She choked out. Her voice dry and rusty from the lack of use. The doctor held out a bottle of purified water for her.

"Welcome to Goodsprings." He replied cheerfully.

She tried to recall anything that would tell her why she was here, but she was met with the same blankness.

"I hope you don't mind but I had to go prodding around your noggin. I pride myself in my needlework but you were a real mess when you got here. But why don't you check it out? See how I did?"

He held out a mirror in her direction and she took it with shaking hands. She didn't even remember what she looked like so it probably wouldn't help any. But she took a look anyways. Staring back at her was a young girl, possibly around her late teens or early twenties. Her skin was tan, probably from spending days in the sun. Her cerulean eyes were almost haunting and her auburn hair was the deep, lustful color of rust. It stuck to clumps of blood on her face. She pushed the mirror away instantly, feeling sick to her stomach of how little she recognized. What had happened to her?

"I did the best I could." The doctor said in response to her reaction. "I'm Doc Mitchell. You got a name?"

She had to think for a moment. Who was she? No name popped up in her mind, no memories of anything from before this moment besides a distinct picture of the barrel of a polished gun.

"I don't-." She choked out.

"Amnesia." Doc Mitchell remarked, studying her closely. "Very common with head wounds. Hopefully you're memory will slowly start to come back in a few weeks."

Tears threatened to slip out of her cobalt eyes and she sipped on more of the water until the rusty taste in the back of her throat vanished. She set down the bottle and took time to observe the rest of her body. She was in her undergarments, a thin tank-top that exposed the tight skin of her stomach and a pair of shorts that barely covered the tops of her thighs. There were no wounds on the rest of her body but her head was pounding. She raised a hand up to stroke her forehead lightly. Her fingers caught on to a couple of stitches. Pain flushed through her body and she instantly pulled her fingers away.

"You had a pretty nasty bullet wound to the head." Doc Mitchell explained. "It's a good thing Victor brought you in when he did. Otherwise you might not be sittin' here."

"Who's Victor?" She asked, ignoring the obvious question of why she had been shot in the first place. She figured the doctor didn't have the answer to that question anyways.

"We can get to introductions later." He said. "No sense in keeping you in bed anymore. Why don't you walk to the machine over in the corner?"

The lithe courier managed a nod and stumbled to get up. Doc Mitchell came to her aid, grabbing her elbow and keeping her steady. Her basic motor functions seemed in tact still. She managed to make it over to the machine.

"Good. Steady." The Doc praised. "Why don't you give the Vig-O-Master a try. Get to know your vitals."

She did as she was told but the light of the machine gave her a headache and blurred her vision. She didn't even make out her scores.

"Yup, that's a pretty standard score." Doc Mitchell filled in for her. "But considering what you've been through, I'd say that's great. But that's only your vitals. Doesn't mean that bullet didn't make you nutters. What do you say you take a seat on my couch and I'll go through a couple questions?"

Doc Mitchell went through a series of questions with her that she answered vaguely. He complimented her motor skills once more as he had expected one she woke up she wouldn't remember how to walk or speak. Given her state of attire, he had let her clean up before he gave her a jumpsuit from Vault 21 and sent her on her way. He mentioned that she might visit someone named Sunny Smiles in the saloon to teach her how to survive the wasteland.

As soon as she stepped outside, the sun bare down on her face. It was a sensation that she recalled almost instantly. With a pang in her heart, she fought back tears. Why couldn't see remember anything? A chunk of metal drifted by and she realized this was probably the "Victor" Doc Mitchell had told her about. Wanting to remember anything about the night she got shot, she chased after him. His sensors picked up her presence.

"Howdy Partner!" It exclaimed in a programmed Southern accent. The screen glitched and exposed a cartoon cowboy.

"You're Victor." She state bluntly, still observing the robot.

"That would be me, little darlin'." He replied back. "Didn't expect to see you walkin' around so soon."

She shrugged in response, "Do you know anything about the guys who attacked me?"

"Didn't get a real good look at them." Victor answered. "One was wearin' some fancy suit. He looked all hat and no cattle if ya' ask me. Might wanna check in with the lady that runs that Saloon over there. Saw them leave from there couple days ago."

She nodded her head, glad he offered some assistance, but she was still curious, "What are you?"

She could faintly remember other robots she encountered, but she couldn't place them.

"I'm a Securitron, RobCo security model 2060-B. If you see any of my brothers tell them Victor says howdy." Victor replied cheerfully before rolling off.

"Wait!" She called after him and he whirled around. "Do you…Do you know who I am?"

"Courier Six." He said automatically. "On her way to deliver a package to New Vegas."

And then he made his leave for good.

So she had been a courier, she pondered as she walked towards the Saloon. The job title rang in a sense of familiarity. She could briefly remember carrying packages around the desert, working for the Mojave Express. But she couldn't recall anything past that. And she still didn't remember her name. She didn't quite know where she would go from here but she figured she might as well re-learn how to defend herself. And get more information on the people who shot her too. She felt immense anger as she thought about the group of guys who had jumped her.

Once she walked inside, the cool air struck her instantly. She let out a breath of relief and her shoulders relaxed. But not for long. A growling dog caught her attention and she pressed her body against the door.

"Cheyenne, stay." A redhead next to the dog shouted. "Don't worry, she won't bite unless I tell her too."

Her comment did little to ease the courier.

"Hey, you're that girl Doc was fixin' up." The girl exclaimed. "Most of us reckoned you didn't have a fightin' chance. Good to see you out and about. And healing nicely."

Her hand subconsciously rose to stroke the stiches on the side of her forehead.

"You wouldn't happen to be Sunny Smiles?" She questioned.

"That's me." Sunny said. "Though I didn't get your name."

"I don't quite remember it." She replied before going straight to business, not wanting to hear pity. "Doc Mitchell said you might be able to teach me some before I go out into the Mojave."

"Doc mentioned you might need something to kick start that noggin of yours." Sunny said. "Alright, meet me out back in about ten minutes. I got to go grab my other rifle."

The courier thanked the girl before she traipsed out of the Saloon to get her gun. With ten minutes to spare, she figured she could get a word in with the owner of the place, see if she knew anything about the people who shot her.

Trudy gave her all sorts of information about the Legion and the NCR before she told her where those guys had run off too. And after a couple lessons with Sunny that brought back memories of shooting and learning a new recipe, she had given her a route to get to Primm, which she would eventually leave for.

She had visited Doc Mitchell again to check of her wound and he told her it was probably best if she stuck around Goodsprings until he could remove them.

She agreed and in the weeks spent here, most of her time hunting geckos with Sunny. She had also managed to sneak into the schoolhouse and break the safe. The terminal had been easy to hack but instead of unlocking it through that, she tested out her lock pick skills. Because of her newly found skills with a gun and a knife, the townsfolk had come up with a name for her.

They had taken to calling her killer, but because of their accents, it had come to be Killa. It was her new identity. Killa, the courier who got shot by a group of men and left to die only to be saved with no memory of her past life. She had taken to sitting by the un-dug grave where Victor had pulled her out. She hoped it would spark some memory from her life. Instead, all she could recall was the same image of that polished gun and something about a game being rigged.

But everything took a turn when a man named Joe Cobb showed up and demanded Trudy to hand over Ringo, the caravaneer hiding in the old gas station on the top of the hill. After everything Goodsprings had done to help her, she knew that helping them get rid of their Powder Ganger problem had to be her parting gift. After enlisting Sunny to help, getting some extra medical supplies from Doc after she impressed him with the little knowledge she had managed to grasp from the books he gave her (her least favorite one being about the reproduction methods and why every month she would have to find some sort of thing to absorb an unusual bleeding), and swaying Chet with her natural charisma into giving them some leather armor, the ghost town gunfight was success. Ringo and Sunny had managed to do away with the unprepared Gangers, leaving Joe Cobb in Killa's attention.

She had knelt before him, a previous gunshot to the side keeping the bitter man from moving. He had been delirious, asking her why she looked like a rose when she was the Grim Reaper herself when he stared at her coppery hair glittering in the Mojave Sun. She couldn't stand the sight of someone in so much pain, accepting the death that was coming for him. So she had kissed him on the mouth. Just a lingering kiss that for one second, took him to another time and place, a separate reality. And in his bliss, she had pulled the trigger and he had fallen against the hot asphalt.

Sunny had watched the whole thing and came up to Killa's side a moment later, questioning the abnormal behavior.

Killa's only response was that she had read in one of Doc's books that kissing could be a pleasant experience. So she had kissed him before killing him because she wanted him to have one last pleasant memory before he went. And then she had left Goodsprings with a happy good-bye and promises of returning.

And in the weeks it took to reach Primm, she had developed a reputation around the Mojave Desert from taking out Powder Gangers and raiders on her way.

The Kiss of the Rose. It marked each of her kills.

And people began to associate her warm, soft lips with the mark of a dead man.

Author's Note: So kinda slow beginning and such but this was more of an introduction than a chapter if anything. Next chapter should cover Primm and Nipton hopefully and things will pick up. Thanks for reading! Please drop a review and let me know what you think!