Danse Macabre (Danse x F!SS, 657 words)
(I wrote this a long time ago mostly to test how serious of a thing I could write centered solely around a name pun. Just found it on my desktop. I hope someone reads it and enjoys it?)
The first time they met, he sized her up like they did in Diamond City, like they did in Goodneighbor, like she’d been sized up a million times in the hellish world that the bombs and humanity created. She stood defiant before him, a few feet shorter because of his power armor. And so their dance began.
It began as a partnership of circumstance. She needed a way into the Glowing Sea, and he needed someone that could follow orders. So she helped him, and he vouched for her when it mattered. The Brotherhood had never seen a stranger pair. But they both knew that all dances come to an end.
They fought, side by side, completely in sync. It’s a strange thing to watch, how someone seemingly so dainty fights in bulky power armor. Dainty is no longer the word he’d use. Regardless of what the enemy is, she overcomes them. Death and the maiden dance with one another, always as if it is the last time.
He sees her in Sanctuary, a sense of old world blues all around her. There’s something about the way she moves around the broken-down house that’s a little too comfortable, but everyone has their stories, and not everyone is ready to tell them. She dances around the subject of her past, and so does he.
Eventually, he hears her full story; and now they both know that the other has seen loss. She tells him she is willing to die for the Brotherhood. But they both have their secrets, and he sees through hers. She dances on the edge of a great divide, with no one to catch her at the bottom.
She tells him that she cares about him too much to die like all the others he’s lost. He says that she’ll never have the opportunity to. She tells him not to make promises he can’t ever hope to keep, and that mischievous look dances in her eyes.
She comes back from the Institute with a different feel about her. They return to Sanctuary together, and he watches as she smashes the blue crib she lovingly repaired. The rest of the house doesn’t seem so familiar all of a sudden. The embers of the fire dance low that night, and die by morning.
She lingers in Sanctuary longer than usual. The room with the crib is stripped bare, and then refurnished. The last night they are there, she nails a Brotherhood banner to the wall, and tells him that the room is his if he wants it. Sparks dance in her eyes as he tells her goodnight.
She takes a break from all of her problems for a while, and he goes with her to Diamond City. She cuts off most of her hair. He thinks she’s beautiful, although he hasn’t admitted it to himself or to her. The highlight of the trip is barfighting with Travis. “Let’s dance,” she smirks, pulling up her sleeves.
She leaves him in the Glowing Sea, another routine operation, with a hug and a promise to be careful. Of course, everything goes completely wrong. He runs, and hopes that no one follows; but she does, just like always. She arrives, almost too willing to hear his side. They’ve danced this dance for far too long.
Maxson comes for him, and he is already tired of running. She steps between them, eyes as defiant as the moment they first met. He knows that she would die for him, that she would defy her superior officer, all for an abomination like him. This dance ends on her terms, and she is not afraid.
She does not go back to the Brotherhood. They’ve lost their best chance. She tells him about the Institute, finally. He tears down the Brotherhood’s flag that hangs above his bed, and spends the night in hers instead. And together they dance the danse macabre, although neither of them are ready to die.
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