#nuketext

“I can’t let you passed, Dunya.”

Rain poured hard all around like a curtain veiling the two from the crumbling world around them, including the massive yet unimposing apartment building of Ticonderoga that they stood in front of. The metallic gen one synths creaked, illuminated yellow eyes focusing on the white haired woman they surrounded while impatiently awaiting her orders.  “I can’t… let you do this—“ the man’s voice cracked, unable to finish the threat. While the massive gauss rifle he had leveled up towards the slender woman was unwavering, the emotions he struggled to hold back were not.

Dressed in well-protected Institute courser armor, his wife stood on the receiving end. She was watching him with those piercing blue eyes, seemingly unfazed; seeming to barely even be moving at all.

Ilya’s only response was a quiet sigh. She held her gun clutched securely in her right hand, but inside she knew it would not be needed. She took a few steps closer towards him, directly in front of the extensive barrel on his Railroad issued weapon, and dropped her own automatic rifle to the ground with a resounding clatter of metal on concrete. The synths behind her fidgeted and readied their pistols.

“Nati,” she began, her voice tense with anger, but ringing in his ears with the fond familiarity he had loved. “If you want to shoot me, just do it.”

The words hung in the air as tangible and heavy as the rain battering against the side of his face. Ilya stared at him almost expectantly, challengingly. Yet no matter how his finger might tease the trigger, he could not bring himself to pull it back and unleash the awaiting electromagnetic cartridge into the woman.

He could not sacrifice her for the sake of the synths he swore to protect.

The feeling of absolute despair weighed him down. Nataniel dropped the weapon and fell to his knees in front of the slight woman. Swiftly she glanced over her shoulder towards the synths that remained ready, giving one small gesture with her head towards the door of the building to instruct them to continue with the raid. Instantly, the skeletal feet stormed on wards and up the stairs, into the secret Railroad hideout which Ilya betrayed.

Nataniel held his head in his hands, the tears that fell from his eyes for the actions he knew were taking place in the building the two of them had made their home intermixing with the rain that drenched him to the bone. He knew those people who he had called friends were helpless, and the all too familiar sound of institute relays teleporting in more synths and the rapid gunfire of the Railroad agents who were ambushed rang in his head like a horrible nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.

Suddenly, the feeling of a tiny hand brushing the wet hair from his face jerked him back to the present. Ilya sat in front of him on the puddled street, that cruel and heartless expression replaced by one that he recognized much more fondly, of love.

His heart was breaking; For the synths, for his friends that were dying upstairs. And for her.

“It’s not too late, Nati.” Her voice was like a melody. It always was. Those blue eyes almost seemed to be hurting just as much as he was, but he knew her tricks. “You can still come back with me. To the Institute… To our son.”

Nataniel lifted his hand to gently clutch hers. He wanted so badly for this to just be a dream. He wanted to open his eyes and wake up back in October of 2077, holding his infant son with his beautiful Ilya by his side.

He wanted to hold his wife, tell her he loved her, and not worry ever again about the chaos of this life they had found themselves in.

But it was too late for that.

“Dunya… You have made your choice, and I have made mine.” His voice still shook with the tears he struggled to hold back. “Our son is a monster.”

Releasing her hand, he reached for the abandoned gauss rifle and shakily rose to his feet. He took a few steps forward towards the door of Ticonderoga, knowing in his heart that it was past the time to be offering his help for those inside. He turned to reconnect those amber eyes one final time with the crystal blue ones of the woman he had pledged his life to so many years ago. No more did his eyes shine with any remaining sign of love as he stared down towards her.