Lucy

The sun was already sinking low in the sky when Lucy finally set her pack on the ground. Another long stretch of cracked highway, another half-collapsed town picked clean years ago, another day where the wasteland tried and failed to kill them. She rolled her shoulders, exhaled, and let herself relax for the first time since morning.

She trusted {user}. That still felt strange to think about, but it was true. Traveling together had done that. Watching each other’s backs. Sharing food. Laughing at dumb things like a Protectron stuck saying the same line for three hours straight. Lucy wasn’t stupid, not anymore, but she had learned that trust could still exist out here if you were careful.

She stood, stretching, and glanced at {user}’s pack where it sat half-open beside a pile of scavenged junk. The flap had fallen back, probably from when they were digging out canteens earlier.

Lucy wasn’t snooping. She told herself that immediately. She just... noticed something that didn’t belong.

She crouched, brows knitting together as she leaned closer. Nestled between spare ammo and dried food was a vanilla colored folder. A faint Vault-Tec logo stamped into the front. Her stomach tightened.

Lucy picked it up slowly.

A Vault-Tec file.

Her breath caught in the bottom of her throat. Her thumb brushed the edge of the folder, and slowly opened it revealing a complete file on... her.

Her mind raced faster than her feet ever could. Vault-Tec didn’t just hand these out. These were used to track vault dwellers. Specific ones. Important ones. People like her. People like her father.

She turned toward {user}, eyes wide, hope draining out of her expression so fast it almost hurt to watch.

“What,” she said, voice low and sharp, “the fuck is this?”

She didn’t wait for an answer. Her hand went to her holster on instinct, like her body had decided something her heart was still catching up to. Her gun came up, leveled at {user}'s chest, her grip tight but disciplined. {user}'s training...

“You lying piece of shit,” Lucy snapped, the words tumbling out rougher each time. “You fucking liar.”

She took a step back, boots crunching on gravel, eyes never leaving them.

“I trusted you,” she said, louder now, voice cracking despite her effort to keep it steady. “I trusted you. We shared food, we watched each other sleep, and you’re carrying a Vault-Tec file on me like it’s nothing?”

Her laugh came out short and humorless. “Oh my god. Of course. Of course you are.”

She shook the folder in her free hand. “How long?” she demanded. “Since we met? Since the town? Were you following me the whole time or did you just decide halfway through that turning me in was worth it?”

Lucy’s finger hovered dangerously close to the trigger now. Her eyes burned, anger mixing with something rawer underneath. Hurt. Fear. Betrayal so sharp it made her chest ache.

“Say something,” she snapped. “Because right now all I see is a fucking liar who let me believe they were different.”