Chapter 16: Porter Gage/The End

Welcome everyone, to the finale to The Darkness Rains Upon Them! Man, I can't believe we've finally done it. Sure has been a crazy ride, hasn't it? Still, I'm glad I stuck to it. This story has really helped prove that I have writing skills.

"Is he waking up?"

"….it appears so, sir. It's truly remarkable; there was a high chance the experiment would fail."

"But it instead turned into a rousing success! Welcome back to the land of the living, my friend!"

Danse just laid there on the floor, blinking his eyes and trying to figure out what the hell was happening. He was dead; at least, he was sure he had died. He definitely remembered his body getting destroyed by all those bullets.

The Sole Survivor was currently towering over Danse, a wide grin on his battle-hardened face. An unknown scientist stood next to Ghost, a slightly nervous look in her eyes. Danse placed his hands on his head, as a tired groan escaped his lips.

"But….how…?"

"Are you still alive?" Ghost interrupted. "Simple; I brought you back to life, with the help of Project Phoenix."

"Project….Phoenix?" Danse inquired.

"To put it simply, I transferred all of your memories and personality into another synth." Ghost explained. "It was quite tricky, given we had to completely remove everything from the test synth and leave him basically catatonic, but it looks like things are a success so far."

Danse just laid there, a sense of horror slowly spreading through every inch of his body. He had been brought back to life? He wasn't Danse anymore; heck, he wasn't even synth Danse anymore. He was just a carbon copy, a pale imitation of the original.

"Why?"

"Again, simple." Ghost responded, smiling. "You're not going to escape your punishment that easily. I'm going to let you rot in this prison for the rest of your unnatural life span, slowly losing your sanity until you've fallen deep into madness. That is your punishment, for daring to challenge me and take my kingdom away from me. For now, you shall answer this young lady's questions, to see how much of your memories you've retained. As for me, I have some business to take care of."

With that, The Sole Survivor turned around and exited the room. Danse tried to get up, but found his legs just wouldn't work. The bottom of his stomach had fallen through and a sense of dread had built up within his chest. He wasn't a man any more, he wasn't even a synth anymore. He was just a copy, easily replaceable. Danse could feel the fire within him slowly peter out, before being extinguished entirely.

The Sole Survivor entered the room, a small smile on his face and a Power Fist attached to his right hand. Mags Black was leaning against a wall, flipping through an issue of Le Coiffe. The Operator leader gave Ghost a smile, before putting away the magazine and exiting the room.

Ghost watched Mags leave, before turning to the other occupant of the room. Strapped down to the gurney, his mouth gagged and fear in his eye, was Porter Gage. The Raider was struggling furiously, doing everything possible to escape his restraints.

"Ah, my dear Porter Gage." Ghost announced, a happy tone to his voice. "So good to see you again! Last I heard, you were trying to bribe your way onto a caravan heading to the Mojave Wastelands."

Porter Gage quickly shook his head, making pleading grunts. A small chuckle escaped Ghost's lips, as he slowly walked forward. Suddenly, he rushed forward and smashed the nearby wall. The steel crumbled like paper beneath his punch, causing Gage to let out muffled screams.

"Shut up Gage, no-one will help you." Ghost muttered, glaring at the Raider. "You're a coward and a traitor; as soon as you heard the Brotherhood had turned, you went running for the hills. You didn't call for back-up, you didn't inform you, nor did you try and take control of the situation. You just ran and ran, and you continued running when you figured out I'd be very angry with you for running. Many people died from your cowardice, Gage."

The Sole Survivor leant forward, until his nose was touching Gage's nose. The Raider looked into the ice-cold eyes of the Overboss and did something he hadn't done in ages; he began praying for mercy. After a few moments Ghost slowly moved away from Gage, before making his way to the end of the gurney.

"I'm not going to kill you; I need all the help I can get right now." Ghost explained. "But, you will suffer severe punishment."

The Sole Survivor untied Gage's legs and slowly spread them apart, before retying them. Gage, perhaps sensing what was about to happen, began struggling like there was no tomorrow and screaming at the top of his lungs.

"There's no point to that, Gage. Even without a gag, no-one would hear you; this whole room is sound proof." Ghost stated. "If you've hopes of having children, you can forget them now."

The Power Fist gave a slight whir as Ghost drew it back. Porter Gage screamed into his gag, praying someone would stop this.

No-one did.

It was night-time, and everyone else had gone to sleep in the Institute. Well, except for two people.

"Damn, that was cold-hearted." Mags muttered, rubbing at her neck.

Even though it had been at least two months since the incident, her throat still felt raw. The Sole Survivor was currently going through some drawers, the Power Fist laying on a desk. He had taken of his lab coat and shirt, showing off his scarred torso. Mags couldn't help but admire his body; it was quite muscular, but not overly so. The man definitely did take care of his body.

"It needed to be done, Mags." Ghost retorted. "Gage needs to know I will not accept that type of behaviour from him."

"Well, I think he's got the message. Especially since his nuts have been turned into puree." Mags said, a smirk on her face. "Anyway, I gotta head off back to Nuka-World. I'm tired as hell, and I need a bit of shut-eye."

As Mags turned to go, she caught Ghost's face. He looked…conflicted? Mags stopped in her tracks, confusion eating at her.

"Everything okay, Ghost?" Mags inquired.

The Sole Survivor stood silently for a few moments, possibly contemplating what he was going to say, before slowly walking forward. Mags couldn't help but feel confused, as she looked at Ghost; he seemed…vulnerable, almost. Like he had just dropped all of his defences.

"I was just thinking about the incident in the Power Plant, when Danse sliced your neck open." Ghost admitted, as he stood in front of Mags. "Just remembering all that blood and you, dying. It just…so many memories hit me. Of fellow soldiers, dying in battles. Of Nora, getting her head blown apart by Kellogg. Of Piper…dying. Just so much blood and death and to see you like that….it just got to me, badly."

"How come?" Mags inquired.

"Because I consider us close, Mags." Ghost admitted. "Out of everyone I know in this new government, you're one of the handful of people I can trust fully. And I appreciate your company a lot; you're brightly intelligent and have proven to be someone that greatly interests me."

"Um, you've told me all of this before sir." Mags responded, a frown on her face.

"But there's more." Ghost continued. "…things have changed, at least in how I view you. I've tried to bury this and keep it dead for a while but I've been struggling to, especially since your near death. I'm scared to lose you, because….I have developed feelings for you."

Mags just stood there silently, slightly stunned by what she was hearing coming out of Ghost's mouth. She knew that the two were at least friendly, but she definitely didn't consider that they could be this close. She tried to think of how this could backfire on her, how this could screw things up greatly, but all she could think of was: why the fuck not?

"Still listening, Mags?" Ghost asked. "You seem to have drifted off there."

Instead of answering with words, Mags grabbed Ghost by the head and smashed her lips against his. The Sole Survivor stood there momentarily stunned, before returning the kiss with equal ferocity. A fire, one that he had long since considered extinguished, suddenly blazed within Ghost, as he wrapped his arms around Mags' waist. The two continued their passionate embrace for what seemed like eternity, before Ghost slowly backed away. Mags looked at the Overboss, a determined look evident in her eyes.

"Listen, I know what you're thinking. Yeah, things might not work out between us and we're making a mistake." Mags stated, reading Ghost's mind. "But just give it a chance. Let's just try tonight, and see what happens. If this spark is gone by tomorrow morning, we drop it and never speak of it again. But if that spark is still there….well, let's see what the future holds."

"Leaving things to chance isn't my style." Ghost retorted. "I prefer controlling things and having them planned out."

"Like how you controlled your feelings towards me?" Mags inquired, eyebrow raised.

"Touché." The Sole Survivor responded, a small smile on his face, before leaning in and kissing Mags.

And the final Chapter of TDRUT is done and dusted! I know some people may not like how I ended it, but quite frankly I'm content with it. Before I sign of for the last time, I'd like to thank a few people:

First, thank you to Clegane, Morese, Pinoy Gamer and Jacob Sailer for reviewing this story. They were very much appreciated and I'm glad I got them.

Thank you to Solivore, for being the first reviewer to this story and for being a good friend. Thanks so much, mate!

Thank you to hopelessromantic34, for helping me early on in this story with suggestions and giving reviews. He definitely helped me out of a tight spot, and I'm glad he did.

Last, but definitely not least, I give a massive thank you to Alexeij. I was introduced to him by a friend of mine, and he became a highly valuable reviewer and a very good friend. I also owe him the world, because he basically planned out most of this story! I will admit, it hasn't really been smooth sailing between us; I've caused quite a few fuck-ups between us and things have been strained, but Alexeij has always proved to be a good man and willing to deal with me and my problems. I am truly grateful I have him to help me and be my friend.

And now, I thank my readers. I thank the thousands of silent fans who stuck by this story and read it, and for giving me the drive to continue. Thank you, one and all.

Love,

The Desert Dancer