Dark Wanderings

by ed2481


Day 3 Part 1

Day 3 Part 1

Ethan woke up to the odd feeling of someone watching him. His eyes shot open and he found himself looking into the dark eyes of Obadiah Blackhall. The old man was sitting in a chair in front of Ethan’s bed with a dark look on his face.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Obadiah said simply. Instead of answering or replying Ethan pulled out his magnum and shot Obadiah in the face. The bullet passed through and impacted against the back wall of the room without so much as scratching the old man. Obadiah raised an eyebrow.

“It was worth a try.” Ethan replied with a shrug.

“Always so quick with the trigger, where is it?” Obadiah asked going straight to business.

“Where is what?” Ethan asked innocently.

“The book, you know very well what I want.” Obadiah said his voice hardening. “I have sealed us in and made it so that no one will think it odd that you aren’t where you should be. You are alone in this room with me until you reveal the location of The Krivbeknih. I will not harm you but I can wait a very long time.” Obadiah told him staring into Ethan’s eyes.

“If it lasts longer than four hours then you should call a doctor.” Ethan replied with a smirk.

“Ha, you have a surprising amount of knowledge about things you shouldn’t.” Obadiah told him with impassive gray eyes.

“Do I now, I have got to stop hanging out with the Pizza Lord.” Ethan replied with a grin.

“Ah, I see, that would explain much.” Obadiah said calmly. “You will give me The Krivbeknih.”

“No.” Ethan replied simply.

“You will give me The Krivbeknih”

“No.”

“You will give me The Krivbeknih”

“No.”

“You will give me The Krivbeknih”

“No”

“You will give me The Krivbeknih”

“No”

“You will give me The Krivbeknih”

“No”

“You will give me The Krivbeknih”

“No!”

“You will give me The Krivbeknih!”
This went on for what felt like hours, of course it could’ve been seconds, or minutes, or centuries and Ethan would never have known.

“You will give me The Krivbeknih!” Obadiah said.

“I’m not sure what you’re trying to do here Obadiah, but whatever it is it won’t work.” Ethan told him.

“Just tell me where The Krivbeknih is!” Obadiah said calmly. Suddenly with a flash of light Twilight Sparkle appeared, to Ethan’s considerable surprise her eyes were glowing purple as was her horn.

“Ethan, thank Celestia I thought you’d died!” Twilight said casting him a sideways glance.

“Thanks Sparky, I’m fine. This is Obadiah Blackhall.” Ethan said gesturing towards the old man sitting in the chair in front of him.

“Get away from Ethan.” Twilight growled (Ethan was rather shocked that unicorns could growl).

“He is in position of something that I hold very close in my heart, you trouble me little unicorn.” Obadiah told Twilight calmly.

“I am Twilight Sparkle student of Princess Celestia Goddess of the Sun, you are not welcome here dark one.” Celestia told Obadiah her eyes flashing.

“That doesn’t matter to me, he has my book.” Obadiah told Twilight not flinching in the least as the purple unicorn stared him down.

“What book?” Twilight asked slowly.

“The Krivbeknih; the thing that keeps the dark ones on the outside and keeps the swamp under control.” Obadiah replied simply.

“Explian.” Twilight said; her body was quivering with magical energy that was just waiting to be unleashed on the old man in front of her.

“I am a member of the Blackhall family. We’ve lived in Point Lookout for centuries minding the land and keeping the people of the land safe from the land. He stole The Krivbeknih, the book that we use to keep the land in check.” Obadiah told Twilight.

“Why do the people need to be protected from the land?” Twilight asked.

“Because Point Lookout has a very powerful and malevolent Genius Loci.” Obadiah told her, Twilight gasped and turned to Ethan in shock.

“Ethan do you know what you’ve done?!” She shouted.

“Not really?” Ethan said with a shrug.

“Exuse me for a second.” She politely told Obadiah who looked on in bemusement. “Ethan a Genius Loci is a place that is physically alive. To put that in perspective let’s say that the Capital Wasteland has a Genius Loci, every time you take a step the land senses it. Every time you kill something the land is aware that you killed it. And that isn’t all, a Genius Loci is capable of actually controlling the land that it inhabits! It could crush you with a building; it could summon a swarm of deathclaws. If it was really angry it could materialize in front of you and eat your soul!” Twilight shouted at him.

“I’m not giving it back?” Ethan told her calmly.

“Why in Celestia not Ethan?” Twilight asked in frustration.

“Only the fact that you’re agreeing that I should give an intensely powerful magic book back to a man who sacrifices live human beings.” Ethan replied calmly. Twilight turned to regard Obadiah again and her eyes narrowed.

“Are they necessary?” She asked simply.

“If they were not then I would not commit them.” Obadiah replied calmly.

“Ethan give him the book.” Twilight said turning to give Ethan and intense magical stare.

“Sparky I can’t believe this!” Ethan told her in annoyance.

“Ethan I believe him, he’s old, he’s tired, and most obvious is the fact that he’s guilty.” Twilight told Ethan calmly.

“How can you say that Twilight, look into his eyes!” Ethan said gesturing at the grey spheres.

“Ethan who is the magic unicorn?” Twilight asked him pointedly.

“You are, but Sparky he’s evil.” Ethan replied in frustration.

“He’s not, and you’re just going to have to believe me Ethan.” Twilight said gently. Ethan’s face twisted in indecision for a few minutes before he reached into his duster pocket and withdrew The Krivbeknih.

“I don’t trust you no matter what Sparky says, but I’m going to trust her on this.” Ethan said before he tossed The Krivbeknih to Obadiah. A look of serene pleasure washed over the old man’s face and he seemed to lose several of the years that had been weighing him down.

“Thank you.” The old man said simply before he vanished.

“I hope that you’re right about him Sparky, otherwise you’ve just handed an incredibly powerful dark wizard a book of immense power.” Ethan told Twilight who nodded.

“Ethan do you know where you are?” She asked him.

“Sitting in my bed?” Ethan asked.

“Actually no, you’re in the Citadel hospital, more specifically you’re inside your own mind. I awoke this morning to find you in a coma, it took four hours for me to breach the defenses that he’d put up around your mind. Ethan let me be very frank with you, if he was evil he would’ve had you hand him the book the exact second that he entered. Then he would’ve destroyed your mind with a thought and left you a mindless animal.” Twilight told him quietly, Ethan raised an eyebrow and scratched his chin.

“Are you sure Sparky?” He asked.

“Trust me.” Twilight replied.

“Okay then I trust you, now how do I wake up?” Ethan asked.

“You just do, see you in a few seconds Ethan.” Twilight said before she vanished in a flash of light. Ethan shrugged and lay back in his bed before shutting his eyes.

***

Ethan awoke to the comforting sounds of a heart monitor ticking next to his head. To be honest the fact that the sound of a heart monitor was comforting was a bit disturbing, then again if you were hearing the heart monitor that meant that you were alive.

“Welcome back to the world of the conscious my friend.” Elder Lyons said with a small grin on his face.

“We have got to stop meeting like this Owyn, it’s beginning to become a habit.” Ethan replied with a matching grin.

“So what is your next move?” Lyons asked Ethan as he helped Ethan to his feet.

“Twilight and I are going to be paying a visit to the mall, there’s an old friend who I need to talk to. He’s a good ferry man.” Ethan replied with a stretch.

“Are you sure that it is a good idea to take her into the Wastes?” Lyons asked with a frown on his face.

“No, to be honest it isn’t, but besides the mutants I’m also looking for a way to return her to her home and I can’t do that without her help.” Ethan told Lyons with a shrug.

“Do as you will then, keep in touch.” Lyons said with a sigh.

“Where is Sparky by the way?” Ethan asked.

“Standing impatiently outside the door pacing frantically no doubt.” Lyons said with a bemused smile.

“Hey Sparky stop wearing a hole in the floor and come in, I’m fine.” Ethan called. Twilight rushed in and gave Ethan a flying hug. “Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve been glomped.” Ethan said with a chuckle as he returned Twilight’s hug before setting her back on the ground.

“Heh, sorry but you’re one of my few friends here and I was worried that Obadiah had done actual damage to your mind.” Twilight said with a slight blush developing.

“Well I do have the sudden urge to have a pizza, but that’s unrelated.” Ethan said with a grin at Twilight’s absolutely bewildered expression. “Okay Sparky get your plasma rifle we’re heading out.” He told her with a smile.

“But you just…” Twilight began before shaking her head with a sigh. “There’s no point in arguing about this with you is there?” Twilight asked.

“Nope, now get your rifle and I’ll meet you out front.” Ethan replied with a grin. Twilight sighed and left the room.

“Take care of that girl Ethan, I like her.” Lyons said and Ethan smiled at him.

“She’ll be fine trust me, by the way I should be back within the next two or three days so keep a lookout.” Ethan told the older man who nodded and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

“I don’t like this Ethan, I don’t like it at all and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.” Lyons told Ethan with a weary sigh.

“Cheer up; at least your chapter didn’t waste dozens of lives on a pointless war like the ones out west did.” Ethan told the Elder.

“Yes at least our war hasn’t been pointless.” Lyons said dryly.

***

“So where are we going?” Twilight asked as they set off from the Citadel.

“We’re going to visit a ferry man, but in order to do that we’re going to have to take a walk through the metro.” Ethan told her as the concrete of the bridge crunched underneath his boots.

“A ferry man?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“Well that’s what I call him, he’s set up his own mercenary company and they might have a bit more info about the supermutants.”

“Do you have any idea how to get me back yet?” Twilight asked as she looked at the clear water of the bay.

“I’m working on it Sparky, don’t you worry I haven’t forgotten about you with all the excitement.” Ethan reassured her with a chuckle. “By the way Twilight you did read the Wasteland Survival Guide section on ghouls right?” Ethan asked her and she nodded.

“Yes, although I’m not really looking forward to meeting any.” Twilight replied.

“Well we’re going to be encountering both types, in other words we’re going to be shooting zombies in the face in the metro.” Ethan told her with a grin as he unslung his shotgun. To Twilight’s surprise it was a different shotgun then the one that he’d used earlier when they were clearing out the raiders. Its barrel was much longer and it lacked the circular drum.

“What happened to your other shotgun?” Twilight asked.

“I feel better killing zombies with this one, it’s my boomstick.” Ethan replied with a smile.

“So what makes it different?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“Well to be honest it’s a lot stronger but it takes longer to reload, it’s a lever-action shotgun meaning that it has to be reloaded manually feeding each shell into it instead of a magazine.” Ethan explained.

“I think I’ll stick with my plasma rifle.” Twilight said running her magic over the metallic beauty lovingly.

“Wow Twilight you’ve been here two days and you’re already attached to a gun, that’s good to hear.” Ethan told her with a grin. They were nearing the end of the bridge and they were walking down a street that seemed to have large foot like impressions driven into the concrete.

“Ethan why do I have the feeling that something large stepped here before us?” Twilight asked.

“Because this was one of the streets that I escorted Liberty Prime down on the way to the purifier.” Ethan told her with a chuckle.

“Liberty Prime?” Twilight asked in confusion.

“Giant robot who could throw small nuclear bombs like footballs and shot blue lasers out of its face capable of taking down a vertibird.” Ethan told her with another chuckle as he remembered tearing down the street next to the robot as it stepped on Enclave soldiers.

“You’re joking right?” Twilight asked.

“Nope, I miss that metal bastard.” Ethan replied with a sigh.

“What happened?” Twilight asked.

“The Enclave did the sensible thing and destroyed it from orbit.” Ethan told her. “Then I had to go and kill every last one of them so that they wouldn’t get away with killing my father.” Ethan said with another sigh. Then they came to around a curve and a new bridge came into sight, past the bridge sitting on a small clump of land was a ornate round building that seemed to be covered with pipes.

“What’s that Ethan?” Twilight asked as they walked along the bridge.

“That’s Project Purity…” Ethan said trailing off; his voice was both happy and sad.

“What does it do?” Twilight asked.

“It purifies the water in the bay and helps keep us all alive.” Ethan replied with a far off look in his as they step off the bridge and began to walk around the island.

“So why do you sound sad talking about it?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not sad, it’s just this is what my father lived for…and died for.” Ethan told her with a small shrug. “He never got to meet Cassie; he never got to see how much the Wasteland was changed for the better because of him. No instead he sacrificed himself in an effort to stop the Enclave that eventually failed.” Ethan said with a touch of bitterness entering his voice.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Twilight asked and Ethan laughed.

“You remind me of Cassie Twilight, she’s always asking me stuff like that, always trying to get me to move on. She’s a bit of a therapist.” Ethan told Twilight with a note of longing filling his voice.

“Why aren’t you with her more often?” Twilight asked and Ethan sighed.

“Because we both have responsibilities to our respective regions Sparky, she’s needed to run Vegas and I can’t bring myself to abandon my dad’s dream.” Ethan told her sadly as he waved at the leader of an outbound caravan.

“So you’re both stuck between an Ursa and a dragon?” Twilight asked.

“We say a rock and a hard place but I’m pretty sure that that sums it up nicely.” Ethan told her with a chuckle. “By the way we’re going to be passing Rivet City, try not to shit yourself.” He said as they rounded the final turn.

“What in Celestia?” Twilight asked as she looked at the old aircraft carrier.

“That’s Rivet City, I’d take you but we’re on schedule here and we’d get to many odd looks.” He told her as they walked past the giant ship.

“Since when has that bothered you?” Twilight asked but Ethan chuckled.

“You’re learning fast Sparky, but I’d rather not be interrogated again, not that it worked mind you, but I think Harkness is still kinda mad at me for breaking his man’s ribs.” Ethan told her.

“You broke a man’s ribs while he was questioning you, they must not be great a security.” Twilight said disdainfully.

“Well they had me handcuffed to a chair with my hands behind my back and my legs cuffed to the chair legs. To be honest if their guy hadn’t been stupid enough that he allowed me to get my teeth around his crotch…” Ethan said trailing off and spitting to the side at the memory.

“And here I thought your stable door didn’t swing that way.” Twilight said with a giggle.

“Har Har har Sparky. Anyways he had to get stitches along with the five cracked ribs so I don’t think that they’ll be too eager to try again but you never know.” Ethan replied with a shrug as they neared the entrance to the metro. “Okay Sparky this isn’t going to be all that fun for you, but keep close and blast anything that moves and you should be fine.” Ethan told her as he pushed open the chain link gate open and stepped inside.

***

“This was a terrible idea!” Twilight shouted as she shot a ghoul in the face with her plasma rifle.

“I can’t hear you over the sound of how much fun I’m having!” Ethan shouted back as he sent a ghoul flying with a blast of 20
gauge to the chest.

“They just keep coming; we must have killed eighty of them!” Twilight shouted back at him.

“Don’t worry they’ll run out sooner or later.” Ethan said with a chuckle as he reversed his grip on the shotgun and smashed a ghoul in the face which exploded in a shower of eyeballs and teeth. Twilight had backed into him and was currently firing repeatedly into a ghoul that just wouldn’t die.

“Ethan help me!” Twilight shouted over the din of combat. Ethan looked over his shoulder and saw that she was facing down a reaver.

“I got this one Sparky, watch my back.” Ethan said switching places with her and blasting the reaver in the chest.

As expected this didn’t cause the ghoul any actual problems. With an almost animalistic shout of excitement Ethan charged it holstering his shotgun and drawing a flaming sword. Ethan swept the flaming sword out and chopped one of the ghoul’s arms off in an explosion of blood and heat. The ghoul swung at him with the other arm but Ethan expertly blocked it and cut off that arm as well. The ghoul charged again but Ethan cut off its legs with an almost casual backhand cut. Still the ghoul came at him.

“What’re you going to do, bleed on me?” Ethan asked before he decapitated the silly ghoul. Twilight who had watched this had the odd urge to hit him but she didn’t know why.

***

“Ah still don’t get why we can’t find anythin.” Applejack said with a scowl as the five friends (plus Spike) rode the train back to Ponyville.

“Darling if neither Princess is capable of finding anything how were we supposed to?” Rarity asked rolling her eyes at her friend’s naiveté.

“Girls can we not argue?” Fluttershy asked softly.

“Sorry Shy, ah’m just frustrated that’s all.” Applejack said with a frown.

“It’s Twilight I’m sure she’s off exploring or helping someone save the day, you know the usual.” Pinkie said with a shrug (she didn’t know where Twilight was but she knew that if she died then her part in the story would most likely include being sad all the time so she had hope that the author wouldn’t kill Twilight to make the story more dramatic). Then Pinkie winked and smirked at the odd looks on her friends’ faces.

“Pinkie do you know something we don’t?” Dash asked.

“Nope.” Pinkie replied with a shrug before she pulled out a bag of popcorn and began to munch on it.

“You’re so random.” Dash said with a dismissive shake of her head before she turned back to the others and they restarted the conversation.

***

“Luna I just thought of something.” Celestia said at the breakfast table.

“What is it Tia?” Luna asked.

“Well you can travel into dreams right?” Celestia asked.

“Yes…” Luna said before hitting herself in the face with a hoof. “By Faust I’m in idiot.” Luna said with a sigh.