XxXxX

Grief, numbness, despair.

Despite her best efforts she couldn't help but feel those things at this moment.

It all happened so fast. At least for her.

Not even a day ago she was preparing for a nice picnic in the woods with her family. They were going to go there with her husband and daughter after he delivered his speech at the Veterans Hall in Concord.

Then the sirens started to blare, all of the neighborhood running to the nearby vault. She only could focus on carrying her little bundle of joy, her husband running after her with a small bag of memorabilia they kept packed just for such eventuality.

The blinding flash of light in the distance, the approaching shockwave.

She fell to her knees and covered her daughter to protect her but thankfully the elevator was able to lower in time before they got blown away.

Then the supposed decontamination turned out to be nothing more than a series of human freezers. At some point she gave their daughter to her husband, too tired after sprinting for so long to get to the shelter.

The moment she regained consciousness, trapped in that steel coffin as that bastard…

"We still have the backup." The memory of the grating voice of that murderer sent a strong shiver down her spine…

A sudden noise of clanking metal and the humm of a General Atomics patented silent thruster garnered her attention, her family's trusty robot butler arriving back in their home after patrolling the surroundings.

"I finished patrolling, Mum. Nothing to report." Codsworth's British voice announced, bringing the slightest sliver of hope into her heart.

And to think that she was against buying it when Tai suggested it. Now this clunky little robot was all that's left of her family.

"Mum? Are you alright? I do believe that you should rest. I'll stand guard over you like a true Mister Gutsy would!" The spherical robot announced with gusto, somehow his programming allowing him to act like a truly sentient being.

"Thank you, Codsworth." The sole survivor of the family replied, hugging herself closer under the moldy blanket she managed to scavenge in one of her neighbors houses.

"No problem Ma'am! It's a pleasure to serve you again!" The robot replied, clumsily saluting with one of his claws.

The antics of the robot did help a little, bringing a slight smile to her tired face.

When she emerged from the vault, after fighting off giant bugs, she couldn't move from her spot for quite a while.

The overlook at which the elevator was located showed the devastation of the Commonwealth in full. The vegetation barely started to regain its life, most of the trees just standing as black, carbonized remains of the once lush suburban area.

The ruins of the once great Boston were visible too, most of the skyscrapers in the city still standing but even from miles away she could see that they were heavily damaged.

The memory of the sight only caused her to sigh.

"Mum. I know it's not much but you do need to eat. I do hope that this is still edible." Codsworth said suddenly, bringing her a box of Sugar Bombs. It was clearly old and weathered but still sealed tightly.

Taking the offered box she took out a switchblade she found earlier and started to open the packaging.

It was unbelievable that over 200 years had passed when she was frozen. It was like one of those radio plays about aliens or robot uprisings.

Pure fantasy.

"I recommend that we try to go to Concord in the morning. The people there were only chasing me away with sticks the last time I tried to travel there." Codsworth continued with a small laugh after she started to chew on the overly sweet food. Maybe it was better that the sugar drowned all other flavors. She really didn't want to discover how those cornflakes tasted two centuries over their expiration date.

Looking outside of her home through a broken window she saw that one of the street lamps on the street sputtered to life, it was a miracle that anything was even working.

Bundling herself a bit tighter she reached to and closed the sliding door to the bathroom, the only room that was still relatively intact and didn't let in the cold winds from the outside.

"Let's search the neighborhood first… maybe we will find something useful." She replied after a few minutes, finishing the nauseating meal.

Suddenly, a loud thunderclap shook the whole house. As if an explosion went off somewhere in the sky.

It took her completely by surprise, even Codsworth remained still as he tried to process what could cause such noise.

Before the two of them could react, an impact shook the house once more, this time much louder as something definitely crashed into the roof and probably fell through it.

Covering her head with her arms she was glad for the company of the robot who valiantly situated itself between her and the doors. Even if Codsworth was only a civilian model, his titanium saw and the strong manipulators were better than her own shaky hands and the dozen or so bullets in the old 10mm pistol she had.

After waiting for nearly fifteen minutes the two of them couldn't hear any more noises from outside, making them more nervous.

"I'll check what it was ma'am. Please stay put and alert for any dangers." The robot stated calmly, his British accent giving him the air of professionalism that she really appreciated right now.

Opening the doors with its manipulator, Codsworth let out a grumble about the large amount of dust everywhere, causing her to smile slightly.

She observed as the family robot carefully hovered over to the bedroom area from where the impact sounded, vanishing from her field of view.

She waited for a few seconds, nervously palming her pistol.

"Ma'am! You better come to see this!" Those words caused her to panic a little, being the same words Codsworth used to alert them about the nuclear attack.

Scrambling to her feet she quickly jogged after the robot, entering her bedroom where a large amount of dust was still in the air.

Coughing a few times she raised her undershirt over her nose to at least somewhat prevent the dust from choking her.

Upon entering the room she immediately saw a young man sprawled on the wreckage of the roof, ceiling and her bed.

Her breath hitched as she saw his features. Strong jawline, a bit unruly blonde hair in nearly exactly the same stupid haircut she couldn't help but find adorkable… if he had blue eyes he would easily fit as her husband's younger clone or close relative.

His outfit was strange. He wore a black undershirt with white armor trimmed in bronze, the shirt on his abdomen was destroyed and the visible skin heavily scarred, looking as if he took a blowtorch and just sat there with it for a few minutes. There was even blood on his clothes, dried and clearly not his.

"Is he alive?" She asked, looking up into the night sky, the rusted over roof of her home now sporting a new skylight vaguely shaped like a human. He had to fall from quite the height to punch through everything like that.

Cough.* The young man suddenly coughed, it wasn't clear if it was because of the dust or if he suffered any damage from the impact.

"I think he is, ma'am." The robot unhelpfully replied, still holding out his circular saw at the intruder, the soft whirr of its motor promising pain.

With this being her first human contact since exiting the vault she cautiously walked closer, gently poking the man in the arm with a finger.

She would forever deny that she let out a frightened squeak when he suddenly gasped in more air, entering into a coughing fit just after.

"A-are you alright?" She asked, gaining his attention. He barely could open his eyes, squinting heavily.

"R-Ruby?" He asked, just before falling unconscious.

She stood there in a daze after hearing that name.

The name of her daughter.

How could this stranger know her little baby girl?

Her face hardened slightly as she chewed on her lip, coming to a decision.

"Codsworth. Let's drag him somewhere safer and secure him. He may know something about Ruby." She ordered her robotic butler, going for his arms while the robot used his manipulators to latch onto the man's legs and started dragging him back to the bathroom they were taking a shelter in.

XxX

Jaune didn't expect for himself to open his eyes again after what happened.

Yet still, here he was, sore all over and staring at rusted over ceiling panels, letting through a bit of sunlight into the small room he was in.

It took him quite a bit of time before he managed to stop his coughing fits, he felt as if he inhaled a whole Grimm in its dust form.

Now laying on the hard ground he groggily tried to look around.

He was in a deteriorated room that once was a bathroom. With the rust, paint peeling off and the all around state it looked as if it wasn't used for decades.

When he tried to move it took him embarrassedly long to realize that his arms and legs were bound with rope, making him confused.

Flexing his still recovering Aura he strained his muscles, the poorly aged piece of rope giving out nearly instantly at his augmented strength.

Doing the same to his legs he shakily stood up and moved to the doors, slowly sliding then to the side after he tried pushing and pulling.

If the room he was in was deteriorated, then the rest of the house was totaled. Whole panels missing from the walls revealed the skeletal structure of the building. Paint was basically non existent, peeled away by the elements that had full access through the broken windows.

It all reminded him of the abandoned villages they encountered during their year-long trip, only even more deteriorated.

The architecture was totally wrong, though.

He could see that the building he was in was supposed to be a home, made of metal sheets and panels like one of those communities in upper Atlas he saw a few times, but looked ancient. The row of other houses he saw through the broken window confirmed his thoughts, a few of the houses even collapsed on themselves, now only large pieces of wreckage.

The scenery was looking post-apocalyptic even, with the charred black trees visible nearby and the brownish grass that only in places looked green, if barely.

"I'm sure this new weapon will help you, mum. With a bit of practice you will be shooting like a pro!" A posh voice suddenly came into focus, barely audible in the distance but clearly coming closer. A soft hum and clanking of machinery were in the background, reminiscing Jaune of the damaged robots and bullheads in Atlas.

"I'm not sure, Codsworth. I don't think I'm strong enough to use this more than once… I saw this on the television before, it looked like it had a lot of kickback…" A second voice, this time clearly female, replied to the first one. She sounded more subdued than her companion who sounded chipper.

Looking around, Jaune couldn't see his weapons or any of his belongings that he usually had on a tactical belt around his waist. Thinking quickly he grabbed a thick piece of pipe visible through the hole in the wall and using his Aura enhanced strength ripped it out of the wall.

Grimacing at the loud noise it made he swiftly moved to the back of the house and hid in a backroom, pressing himself into what looked to be a wardrobe at some point, now nothing more than a recess in the wall big enough for a person to fit in.

"Mum! Let me go first! I'm more than capable of defeating some no good doer!" The posh voice announced as the clanking of metal and soft whooshing of air grew much louder.

"Codsworth, wait!" The female one called out, stopping the clanking noise.

"Hey, you! In the house!" She called, clearly apprehensive. "We don't mean any harm!"

Looking for any way out, Jaune seriously contemplated just crashing through the wall as it didn't seem to be offering that much of an obstacle. He did have to consider what would happen next though.

He didn't have his weapons nor supplies, he didn't know where he was either. Palming the hole in his undershirt he could feel a large scar, still throbbing with pain. Whatever Cinder did to him had to scramble his senses something good.

"Why was I bound then?!" He decided to ask, peeking out from his hiding spot. Then he saw them both through a hole in one of the ruined walls.

A young woman, maybe five or seven years older than him, eerily similar to Ruby. She held a bulky handgun but it was clear that she barely used such a thing before with how awkwardly stiff she was hiding it. It was pointed down and away from everyone, clearly prepared to be used if such need arose.

The second one was a surprise though. A hovering metal ball with three eyes and three arms. Each of the arms were ended in different tools, each seeming capable of doing harm. Especially that spinning saw, dangerously gleaming in the midday sun.

We didn't know if you were friendly or not!" She replied as the robot easily zeroed on his location after he asked the question.

That…did make sense.

Dragging an open palm down his face, the blonde knight let out a sigh.

"Alright… I'm going to go out. I'm warning you though, I'm a huntsman." He called out, starting to slowly move to the entrance of the home.

It was clear that the woman felt nervous, the robot seemed to pick up on it too as it hovered slightly between her and the blonde, as if he wanted to protect her.

"Who are you?" Both Jaune and the woman clad in blue jumpsuits asked at the same time, followed by an awkward silence.

"You first." They both spoke again at the same time, clearly feeling awkward.

"Mum, may I?" The robot asked the woman, getting a nod.

Then he floated a bit closer to Jaune but still remained a respectable distance away.

"I am Codsworth. A proud Butler of the Rose family. This is my master, missus Summer Rose." The robot introduced them, gesturing with a clawed arm to the woman behind him. *Now, if you would be so kind, good sir, to introduce yourself."

"I'm… I'm Jaune Arc. Did you just say Summer Rose? Mother of Ruby and Yang?" Jaune replied, clearly taken aback.

It was clear that something was wrong the moment he asked that question, the woman in front of him flinching and moving forward.

"Do you know where my baby girl is?! And how do you know her name?!" The woman exclaimed, stepping beside her robot companion who in response turned its circular saw in his general direction.

"The last time I saw them they were safe in Vacuo with the rest of her team… Wait… you are way too young to be her mom… and you were supposed to be dead…" He replied, before he could stop himself. Seeing the reaction of the two he readied his Aura to defend himself, brandishing the pipe he held in a defensive stance.

A short standoff commenced, the woman with her robot staring at him as he stared back.

"Team? What team? My little girl isn't even a year old!" Summer replied, clearly agitated.

"The Ruby I know is seventeen! She's a huntress like me and she is in Vacuo now." Jaune replied, trying to not agitate the woman.

"Vacuo… what the fuck even is Vacuo?!" She asked angrily, pulling by her own hair.

That clued the blonde that there's really something strange going on.

Firstly, the strangely deteriorated landscape and this little town. It was like nothing he had ever seen, including even Kuroyuri.

Secondly, the strange robot the likes of her never saw. Especially with the fact that it looked as ancient as the town itself and it should be nothing but magic that it still was operational.

Thirdly, the angry woman wearing a blue jumpsuit in front of him, looking exactly as his friend. The supposed Summer Rose who died around fifteen years ago was in front of him, raving about someone kidnapping her one year old baby girl, Ruby…

"Mum, I don't think he's lying. His pulse and breathing indicates that he is telling the truth." The robot said to the woman, gaining only another colorful set of curses that would make a pirate blush.

XxX

It took nearly three hours to talk everything out. Surprisingly the robot kept playing the negotiator, especially when Summer started getting emotional.

"You've got to be joking." Summer said, sitting on a moldy couch they pushed against a wall, a fire barrel before them to keep them warmer during the coming night.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked, dragging a second couch from a nearby house to make himself more comfortable.

"That whole magic thingamajig you supposedly have." She gestured vaguely in his direction.

"You mean Aura? Didn't I show you already that it works?" The blonde asked, collapsing tiredly into the couch which creaked ominously under his weight.

He did show her how he was able to easily bend a solid pipe, something she and even Codsworth were unable to even budge.

"Yeah… but that could be anything… even some pre-war, experimental, super soldier serum or something… There were actually rumors about stuff like that before… you know.." She replied, poking the fire in the barrel with a long piece of rebar.

He in fact didn't really know. Anything more than the fact that there supposedly was a war 200 years ago that returned humanity into the stone age, apparently.

"You can believe what you want." Jaune deadpanned, laying across the couch and trying to ignore the moldy smell or the few broken springs that were slightly digging into his side where the armor didn't cover.

Hey, I'm just saying that it sounds bonkers…" She replied, shrugging. "So what… you claim to know another Ruby Rose in that made up country of yours?"

He rolled his eyes, looking at Codsworth who dutifully returned, carrying pieces of deadwood sand half rotten furniture to burn during the night.

"Yes, I do. And it's not made up." He replied, trying and failing to get comfortable.

"Once again, Mum. Mister Jaune isn't lying about anything. Or he's one of those filthy commie spies and can perfectly mask all his natural indicators." Codsworth interjected before once more floating away to gather more supplies.

"It's official… I went crazy in that freezer… I'm probably now dying and this is all made up by my dying brain." Summer said, continuing to stoke the fire.

"... You okay there?" The blonde asked, hearing the small edge in her voice.

"You are asking…if I'm okay? No, I'm not okay." She replied sharply. "In a few days my life did a quadruple backflip and didn't stick the landing."

"I can…somehow understand you." He replied, letting out a tired sigh.

"Oh yeah? In a few hours I survived a nuclear Armageddon, had to watch someone kill my husband and abduct my baby girl and then woke up in a freezer over two hundred years into this hell hole of a future…" Summer shot back, scowling at the younger man.

"Yeah… I fought to death with a fire witch on a bridge in the space between worlds. I'm not exactly sure if I actually won or if I'm in some sort of a limbo… * He replied tiredly with closed eyes.

"You have to be joking… are you serious?" Summer asked dumbfounded. "That sounds like something you read from Manta Man or Grognack…"

"From what?" Jaune asked, opening slightly one of his eyes to look at her.

"You know… comic books."

"Oh… Yeah… It does sound like that. Your story about being frozen is just like from X-ray and Vav too…"

A small silence grew between the two, only interrupted by the crackling of fire and wind howling in the background.

"So… what did you do before all this? You were some kind of soldier? Police woman? Security guard?" Jaune tries to start another conversation. It was clear to him that this wasn't that super mom that Ruby talked about. At least not yet.

"I'm a lawyer." Summer replied tiredly.

"A…lawyer?" He asked tentatively. " That would make sense… you did hold that weapon really awkwardly." The blonde mused.

"Tai took me to the shooting range a few times." She replied defensively.

"Yeah, but you know… knowing how to operate a gun doesn't equate to skill with it…" He continued. "Do you know what kind of dangers there are out there?" The blonde knight gestured to the outside.

"Well… In the last two days since I woke up I had to fight dog sized cockroaches and football sized flies that shot their larva like projectiles from their asses…" Summer said, shivering at the thought of the last one. It was good that Codsworth was still operational and took care of those bloated flies or she would have a really bad time.

"That's disgusting…" Jaune shivered at the description too. "Do you have a spare weapon? Mine disappeared somewhere and I seriously don't want to even touch such nasties with bare hands."

"Actually… we did find this before." Summer replied, reaching to a nearby box and taking out a worn out gun. A simple side by side shotgun with a really sturdy construction. She even had a handful of shells for it. "It has too much kickback for me but you should be fine."

"A shotgun? Yeah… it's probably a good idea. I only shoot guns at a range too." The blonde knight agreed, accepting the weapon and inspecting it. Despite the grime and dust it looked serviceable enough, the break action working without issue and even still oiled.

"... We're totally fucked then, aren't we?" Summer asked, chuckling to herself mirthlessly at the situation.

"Nah… it always could be worse. You said you wanted to go to the nearby town tomorrow?" Jaune asked after a short chuckle.

"That's what Codsworth suggested… The town of Concord is a few miles south east. We should be able to track there in an hour or so." Summer replied, wrapping herself tighter with the moldy blanket she found earlier.

"That's a plan, at least. You can go to sleep if you want, I'll stay awake for the first shift just in case." The blonde knight said, stretching.

"First shift?" She asked, confused.

"Yeah… you know… standing guard during the night?" He replied, confused at her confusion.

"But Codsworth will do that… And he doesn't need to sleep." She pointed out, making her new friend visibly uncomfortable.

"Well… I just thought it would be a good idea to maybe not rely on him for this. What if he malfunctions or gets hacked?" The blonde knight asked, remembering how easily the Atlesian Knights were made into enemies during The Fall.

"Also… you barely know me. Aren't you afraid to sleep with me nearby?" He continued to ask.

"... I wasn't before, thank you for that." She glared at him for that.

He chuckled, looking outside the window at the barely visible moon in the sky. It was hidden behind sickly looking clouds, but it was still there.

It was there, whole.

He didn't know what to think. Since waking up all of this felt like a strange dream.

But if it wasn't and he somehow wasn't dead…

He needed to find a way home.

In any way possible.

XxXxX

Author's Note: A surprise crossover with fallout 4 is surprising.