The Autumn Tree

"Journal entry, 1-0-1. Date, 24th of October, 22-77.

"It's been quite a while since I last did a journal entry, and it makes me feel bad considering I had made 100 of these before now. However, during the large expanse of time that I've left out, a good deal of events have unrolled, and now, here I am, the daughter of somepony with great ambition.

"And no, he isn't my genetic father. James died a while back, and I am more than happy to say, 'good riddance'. Cruel, I know, but not as cruel as the wasteland I've found myself forced into. So, yes. I'm no longer a part of Vault 101, of which makes this journal entry rather strange, with it being number 101.

"So, even if James died, I still have a father. This one, however is far better than anything my old one could ever offer. I'm kinda thankful he left the Vault, because otherwise I would never have found Augustus.

"Probably best to start at the beginning, and get everything off my chest. Sometime in August, I was asleep as usual in 101 when Amata came into my room and desparatly tried to wake me up. As I did, she proceeded to tell me that James had left the Vault, and that the Overseer had killed Jones, and I was next. It was clear that the only option was to leave my home, so I did. It wasn't easy, considering that a radroach infestation had broken out, but when I left the Vault, I was handed the Capital Wasteland.

"Now, truth is. I had no idea what to expect. It had been 200 years since the bombs fell, but the landscape was still ruined. While it was going to be hard to take it in, I quickly accepted the wasteland as my new home, as it was still good old America.

"My instincts told me that I should probably find my father, of whom I was still fond of at this point. The nearest settlement was one that I was more than happy to leave, as some idiots had thought that it'd be a great idea to build a town around a live atomic warhead. Worse still, they worshipped the damn thing. Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long for it to explode, thanks to yours truly and a couple of friends I met.

"So my wasteland reputation had already started on a downslope, but that didn't stop me pursuing my father. During my time out there, my reputation had allowed me to become a slaver, which I thought was entirely wrong at first, but hey, it got me good money. Bottle caps is the currency we use out here.

"Now, because of my Pip-Boy, I managed to pick up and tune in to some radio stations that were available. The one contained good tracks, but a DJ that loved to insult me, but the other was one that I never turned off. Enclave radio, blasted out the best patriotic music whilst President Eden spoke to the country. I will admit again, I was surprised to find that the USA still had a President, but it was his motives that inspired me; to start again, the American Dream. I guess I can say that I quickly became a fan and follower of this Enclave.

"Moving on, a month later I found my dad. Trapped in a virtual reality simulator in Vault 112. I risked my life to save my dog father, but the adventures I had with Betty were beyond enjoyable. It wasn't real, so killing the citizens of Tranquility Lane sure was fun. Eventually, Betty let me and my dad go, and we were released from our tranqulity pods. His reaction was... mixed. Angry, yet delighted to see me as I set him free, but leaving the Vault was one thing he never wished on me.

"After we were reunited, he explained to me why he left the Vault. It wasn't his home, just as much as it wasn't my birthplace. All the lying, and yet I still believed him when he mentioned Project Purity.

"Project Purity was a project that he and my mother and a few other friends of his worked on before I was born. He left the Vault to continue work on it, and so I left Vault 112 joining him in his project.

"It was set up at the old Jefferson Memorial. A huge water purifier, capable of cleaning gallons of water at once. After James had gotten the old crew back together, we started work on bringing it back together. That same day, was when he died, and also when I met him.

"The Enclave, who were suspected to not actually exist, prooved their existence by coming to Project Purity and demanded it to be passed over. Clearly, the Enclave were the remnants of the US government, so I would've happily passed it on. But, stupid dad didn't hear a word of it. He was soon killed quickly by him committing suicide, but to put it blankly, I didn't actually care one bit of him, because my eyes were locked on to the Colonel of the Enclave, and my ears took in the beautiful accented words that he spoke. To my complete horror, James had also killed him in the process of suicide, by flooding the rotunda of Project Purity with crazy high amounts of radiation.

"Dr. Li, who was James' lab partner, suggested we make haste for the Brotherhood of Steel. The Brotherhood, being complete jerks who loved to steal technology. It turned out that Project Purity was under their protection, but clearly they weren't doing a very good job of it.

"I was then forced to work with these 'knightly' assholes, but they did tell me how to get Project Purity to work. I was more interested in the Enclave to be fair, so of course my grudge exploded when they said that the Enclave were their main enemies.

"I was told to recieve a GECK from Vault 87, so I headed there along with my dog companion, Dogmeat, to retrieve it. I did, with help from a friendly super mutant, but that's when he appeared again.

"I was knocked to the floor by a blow from a pulse mine. Two Enclave soldiers entered the room, and made sure that I was okay. I wasn't too bad, just loosing my conciousness. But I tried to stay awake longer when the Colonel entered the room. I strained to hear what he said, but eventually he took the GECK, and that's all I remember.

"I woke up inside Raven Rock, the Enclave's main base. I was in what I would call an Enclave prison cell, held tightly behind a strong wall of energy pretty much preventing me from moving at all. I had been stripped of everything I owned, save for my Pip-Boy which wasn't removable and a basic Enclave prison jumpsuit that they had kindly provided. I soon expected interrogation, or just plain out a bullet to my head, but instead I was met with something that I wouldn't have dreamt up of.

"Colonel Autumn entered my cell, stared at me for a good minute with a serious, stern look on his face, when finally he decided to deactivate my energy barrier, and took me in his arms. I stared at the wall, wondering what was going on, when I realised that I too had those feelings towards him. I lifted my legs up, and returned the hug. And soon he decided to speak to President Eden about me.

"Approval was given that I was to become Colonel Autumn's adopted daughter, and I soon followed and accepted all the rules of the Enclave, and eventually I fitted in like I was always there. I became friends with a good amount of Officers, making a really strong friendship with one by the name of Jettison. I had a new surname, and a new father, as well as a new family, and I really couldn't be more happy.

"I'm now the rank of Officer, like Jettison, and me and the Colonel are trying to come up with a way to take out the Brotherhood of Steel. It will take time to come up with a flawless plan, but we'll be getting there, I know it."

*Sigh* "This is Anna Autumn, signing off."