Chapitre 37: Breaking up?
Veronica and Christine hug for a few minutes in tense silence before the former begins speaking again, "You... Want me to come with you, where?" she asks hesitantly.
"Somewhere I can't tell you about, I can only show you... Its for your protection Veronica..." Christine says, keeping a tight grip on her lover.
"What about our family? Our friends?... Afton?" she asks, not knowing if she could truly leave them all to follow Christine.
"We have to give up people we love eventually. You're only getting the choice of when to do it now." she says slightly callously, though Veronica could see Christine herself was struggling with the decision.
...
"I can't leave... You know what's happening right now, I'd never be able to forgive myself if something happened to them because I wasn't here. I want to protect them, I want us to protect them." Veronica says as she finally comes to a conclusive answer. With the NCR aggression slowly getting worse, there'd be large scale conflict eventually, she didn't know if she'd be able to help at all, but perhaps if she and Elder Elijah found whatever he was looking for it'd completely solve their problem.
Christine had a single tear flow down her cheek as she heard her lovers answer, it hurt that she wasn't her top priority, but she understood... She admitted that within herself, she wanted Veronica to stay and protect everyone, even if it hurt more than she'd like to admit. She slowly nods and hugs Veronica tighter, "I see... Let's not keep them waiting then, when you wake up, tell my parents and Afton, I'm sorry."
Veronica is momentarily surprised by her words when she feels a prick on her neck, "What do, you mean... Wake-" she passes out as the drug she'd been injective with takes effect.
Christine drags her lovers body away from the cliff and props her up against a rock, slipping the discarded holotag into Veronica's hand before laying a kiss on her lips one last time. "Goodbye Veronica, I-... I love you." she states as she turns and leaves.
Afton was starting to freak out, he'd not seen hide nor hair of Veronica or Christine for hours now... He didn't want to report anything as they'd undoubtedly find out that the two women were romantically involved.
His worry for their lives only increased every moment they hadn't returned, had they been captured by the NCR? Raiders? he shivered at the prospect, raiders didn't treat women well, particularly those as beautiful as Veronic and Christine.
As morbid as it sounds, he'd prefer them torn apart by a Deathclaw than captured, it'd be swifter and more merciful.
In the end he decided to trust in the two for a couple more hours and wait, if they didn't return then he'd speak to his father about getting a search party for them. Fortunately, that didn't seem needed as the doors to the facility slid open and revealed the slightly dirty figure of Veronica, her face twisted in immense sadness and despair.
His body moved on its own and he hugged her tightly, clearly feeling how distraught she was, "Veronica? Are you okay? Where's Christine?" he quickly asks, only then realising that he'd asked the wrong question.
She began crying and slowly mumbling things, and Afton dragged her into a vacant room to avoid attracting attention, putting her down on a sofa and sitting next to her with her hand in his.
"She's gone." she states miserably.
"She's gone? Where? The only place we know or belong is the Chapter... Where could she have possibly gone?" he asks incredulously, wondering if Veronica was lying to him.
"She wouldn't tell me where, only that she had no choice... She drugged me and left." she says, looking down at her hand before opening it and revealing the holotag belonging to Chistine. Afton noticed that it was missing the Brotherhood rank records but perhaps she planned to do something with it?
...
"Did she say anyting else?" he asks, not really knowing what to do in this situation.
Veronica nods, "She wanted me to tell you that she's sorry..." she says, causing him to tighten his grip on her hand.
Why would she leave? Had someone blackmailed her? Perhaps someone had found out about the two's relationship?... Afton wasn't able to think straight, the sudden loss her felt didn't quite seem real yet, he was struggling to process he'd likely never see Christine again. The only thing keeping him relatively focussed was Veronica's obviously distressed state, she needed him, and he wouldn't abandon her like how Christine had.
"Veronica, we'll find her one day... I promise, we won't let her get away with such a shitty goobye." he states with determination. For now, he'd keep his eyes open for anything that might give him an indication of why she'd left...
The two stayed there for the rest of the day, eventually falling asleep still holding hands, Afton had missed all of his classes for the day, but he likely wouldn't get in trouble due to how far ahead he was.
In the morning Veronica jolted awake as if she was having a nightmare, her face twisting into a scowl. Christine really had just left like that, huh... She was about to get up but felt something holding her hand, looking down she spotted it was Afton. Her expression softened, the hollow feeling she'd had since Christine had left was a little less harsh knowing that Afton actually cared.
Taking in a couple of calming breathes, she fixed her expression before waking the boy up, flicking his forehead and causing his eyes to flutter open. "You have classes sleepy head, and Elder Elijah will probably want to know where I was yesterday." she states as cheerfully as she could manage.
Afton rubs his eyes and slowly gets up, "Are you okay Veronica?" he asks, knowing that she was just putting on an act.
Veronica nods, "I am... Let's get busy, there's still much to do." she says before leaving the room without allowing Afton to get another word in.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Niggross
Niggross Hope you guys enjoy the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
Chapitre 38: Rumours
It'd been a couple days after Christine had left, and most of the Brotherhood had heard of the incident. Due to Afton and Veronica having obviously been involved, they received many question and inquiries from the superiors about it, but both remained tight lipped... This was mainly due to the fact that Christine would be actively hunted down due to her "betraying the Chapter", she'd not decided to leave when given the choice, which by the Codex meant that her life belonged to the Brotherhood.
The constant attention on them had clearly been fraying Veronica, she was struggling to keep herself together as it is, but with never-ending questions concerning Christine Afton could see her breaking point in the distance.
Whether it was due to her no-longer spending time with Christine, or Veronica working to try and forget her, she spent significantly more time working with Elder Elijah on their "Project". Though, she still had no idea what it actually was.
Afton made it his personal duty to pull Veronica away from the Elder and have her relax for a while to prevent her overworking herself. These were the only times she actually had breaks anymore, which had Afton struggling to keep himself from walking up to the Elder and punching him as he was clearly taking advantage of her emotional state.
He was beginning to become even more disillusioned with the Brotherhood the more time he spent thinking about why Christine left, and why they were treating Veronica so poorly... There was a rumour going around that the two had been lovers, which only caused the more "devout" members to constantly pepper he with veiled insults.
Afton had been walking through the halls when he picked up on Veronica's voice, he stalked over and glanced down the hallway to see what was happening...
"Just leave, I don't have time to be dealing with you idiots again." Veronica states as she turns to walk away from the three men acousting her. Afton didn't know their names but knew they were all relatively knew Knights.
"Yeah, that's just like you isn't it Veronica? Following in your girlfriends footsteps and leaving, pathetic." one states, causing her to stop and grip her fists in anger.
They continue mocking her, ignoring the tell-tale signs of an incoming fight, "Yeah, It's a shame too, she was pretty good looking, I would've made her my woman if she didn't swing that way. Maybe if we catch her outside I'll still get the chance?" he says before laughing obnoxiously.
"She'd be good though wouldn't she? Never having had a coc-"
*PUCHI!*
Veronica whirls around and punches the one talking so hard in the face that teeth rocket out of his mouth like projectiles. They fall to the floor unconscious as the others jump into action, having expected her to retaliate.
One throws a kick at her which forces her to move, the other throwing a wide punch that misses completely, Veronica has her fists raised and her posture low in a kind of boxing stance. She blocks another punch and palm strikes one in the face before grabbing him and sweeping his feet out from under him.
His head collides heavily with the metal floor below, blood starting to pool out from the injury, Veronica is stunned momentarily at potentially killing a Brotherhood Knight, not being able to react as the last one attempts to attack her from behind.
Afton had already been moving when the attack started, and tackles the man before he hits her, struggling to hold the man against the wall due to their wide age disparity. He recieves a couple harsh uppercuts to his ribs before Veronica slams her own fist into the mans nose, breaking it and knocking them out completely.
Afton lets go of the unconscious man and falls backwards, sitting against the opposite wall while holding his ribs, "Are you already Veronica?" he asks through rough breathes, ignoring the pain reverberating throughout his body.
She glares at him, "Am I alright? Idiot! I should be asking you the same thing!"
"Who cares about me, you're the one who got attacked." he says, more worried about her mental state than his physical one.
Veronica bends down to examine him, applying pressure to his ribs which causes him to wince, "You've got a broken rib, come on, let's get you to the med-bay." she says as she helps him up.
"What should we do about these guys?" he asks, not liking how much blood is flowing from one man's head.
Veronica shrugs, "Someone will find them, I doubt they'll tell anyone about this... Getting beaten up by a woman and a twelve-year-old wouldn't be good for their pride." she says with a smirk.
Afton glances at her while they walk, "Do you get that a lot?" he asks tentatively.
Veronica sighs and nods, "I do... Don't worry about it though, they're just helping me get better at fighting." she says, not acknowledging how exhausted she was getting at having to deal with it.
"You know, if you're having trouble you could always talk to my dad, he'd be able to sort the problem out. I know he doesn't think the same way as those guys do."
Veronica shakes her head, "I don't want to bother him, its not serious enough to need him to intervene." she says, leaving out the obvious "Yet".
They arrive at the med-bay where Afton gets examined and treated, Veronica staying to make sure he's alright... Thirty minutes later the three men that'd attacked her were brought in on stretchers by other people.
It was kind of amusing to see them awaken and see the duo on the other side of the room, they tried to put up a tough front, but the man who'd lost most of his teeth was having a mini-breakdown at the fact he couldn't get them replaced. Serves the bastard right.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS
Niggross
Niggross
Hope you guys liked the chap, if I missed anything please let me know.
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