Work Text:
→ Sun & Moon are quarantined for some time after the Virus rears its head. FazCo hadn't decided what to do with them yet, both as a financial investment they didn't want to go back on, and as a piece of proprietary technology they couldn't just scrap & dump somewhere to be found by already cutthroat competitors– namely RobCo and General Atomics. The company orders the PizzaPlex Parts & Services staff to temporarily shut down the Daycare Attendant, after Sun has an incident or two and the issue becomes more than just keeping the lights on; unfortunately, the process is improperly done, leaving Sun & Moon aware, but unable to access any non-reflexive processes.
→ After some time of this, the matter of what to do about the Daycare Attendant falls to the wayside: with them out of sight and unable to cause further trouble, the issue falls out of mind, replaced by more pressing issues. Eventually, Vault-Tec reaches out to FazCo to inquire over a potential collaboration, similar to its partnership with the Nuka-Cola Company. The company rep asks about caretaking and security, among other things, and assures FazCo's board that any issues can be "accounted for" by the Vault Overseer— FazCo jumps at the chance to make money off their dust-accumulating Daycare Attendant without taking the fall for any incidents that might take place.
→ Due to a scheduling mishap, Sun & Moon arrive at the FazVault before it is even fully built, and certainly before any of the animatronics were supposed to arrive. Unsuspecting construction workers contracted by Vault-Tec and left intentionally in the dark on the matter open the crate & boot up the Daycare Attendant in the hopes of employing the bot's help as a fill-in for the typical Construction Protectron the company was too cheap to shell out for. Sun helps out and the Vault is finished early, in large part thanks to him– allowing the contractors to pack up and leave a week early. Per contract, they seal the Vault on the way out, to prevent theft or break-ins in the time between construction and occupancy. Sun (& Moon) are left with orders to open the Vault only for authorized users, meaning deliveries, Vault-Tec, FazCo, or listed residents. Days later, the Daycare Attendants are still the only souls in the safety of the Vault as the structure shakes and alarms blare. Radiation corrupts the data coming in through the network connection, in the brief moments before the connection fizzles out entirely, but both bots know with alarming clarity that the bombs have come & the worst has come to pass.
→ This happened on the morning of October 23rd, 2077. That same morning, a young family escapes to another Vault to the north; a couple and their infant son.
→ Sometime in the 2210s, the Vault to the north is breached, and for the first time in over a century, the young family becomes aware again. The moment is short-lived, and there is nothing to be done as one parent watches the other's murder— watches helplessly as a group of strangers kidnap their child and once again put them into a cold, unnatural sleep.
→ The Vault to the south– the FazVault– lays buried beneath several stories of rubble and ash, forgotten. Within it, Daycare Attendants Sun and Moon lay much the same, once again buried alive, alone, helpless, and forgotten. At some point, with no one to endanger but the two of them, Sun stopped preventing Moon from taking over. Once Moon had more free-roam time, he managed to get the old Overseer's terminal working and used it to hijack the only signal in range: the speaker and advertisement system for the mall above the Vault. He sends out a simple distress call, and for the first time in decades, they feel hope.
→ The year is 2287, and the last survivor of the northern Vault has escaped. It is autumn, but unlike any they've seen before. The world is unlike anything they've seen. Their world is gone.
→ The year is 2287, but neither Sun nor Moon keep track anymore. It's supposed to be autumn outside, they think, in the brief moment they stray from their long rest; not that it matters. The seasons were always such a distant concept– they never got to see the outside world before being stuck in the dark of the maintenance tunnels and the Vault. They suppose now they never will.
→ It is the spring of '88. The sole survivor of Vault 111 has gotten no closer to locating their son. In the meantime, they have people to help, and a castle to retake. The Commonwealth is beginning to hope again.
→ It is the spring of 2288. The sole occupants of the FazVault have gotten no closer to escaping their concrete coffin. In the meantime, the lights flicker overhead and the distress signal crackles; all they can do is wait. The Daycare Attendants are beginning to think it might be better if they shut down permanently.
→ June 2288. The General of the Minutemen joins the Railroad. Agent Charmer makes their debut.
→ August. The beginning of fall marks the fall of the Brotherhood of Steel. Charmer insists on evacuating the squires: they're children, not much older than theirs should be, they think. The last child barely fits into the Vertibird before the Prydwen lights up the sky behind them.
→ October of '88 marks one year of life aboveground. More importantly, it leads Charmer right to the Institute's doorstep. Suddenly, their goal is all at once close enough to touch and far enough to be lethal. The situation grows curiouser and curiouser still, and in an instant, a single parent becomes the crux of the Railroad's operation.
→ December 25th, 2288. The General presents complete blueprints and strategies to the upper-level Minutemen in a proposal to reclaim the Glowing Sea.
→ January, 2289. Year 2 begins with a bang, helping Nick Valentine serve vengeance to a pre-war scumbag both to pay him back for his help with their case, and because it is the right thing to do.
→ February. Knowing they will be even deeper undercover at the Institute soon, Charmer puts it all on the table, confessing their feelings to the Detective & hired-gun turned best-friend MacCready. They go into the mission with a doubly-broken heart.
→ On November 12th of 2289, after 2 years aboveground and more than a year as a Railroad plant on the inside, the sole survivor watches their biological son die in front of them just like his father– and in an instant, the title is all too true and all too fitting. The Institute falls not an hour later.
→ Miles to the southwest, long-silent alarms flare briefly to life inside a desolate Vault, waking its two inhabitants. It's a bleak, horrible way to realize it, but the impact at least assures them that they are not the last living things on Earth– even if the others are all too busy participating in a centuries-long war to come for them.
→ The first half of 2290 is hectic. The gradual decline in Railroad safehouses before the Institute explosion means that Mercer, the newest and the only one under Charmer's care, is also the only safehouse with any space for new synth refugees. Running Mercer beside Deacon & heading the Minutemen alongside Preston keeps them busy, as well as parenting the 10-year-old synth son left to them by his dead older clone.
→ July 2290. Detective Valentine reaches out for help with a case off the coast of Maine. Jumping at the chance to get away & mend their strained relationship with him, they leave Mercer to Deacon & the Minutemen to Preston.
→ Early October, they return even more somber, the relationship strained even further. Throwing themselves into work, they track down the new "Mechanist" threat in a week. After taking her down, they run into the new raider gang using her bots for parts. Tracking them to their base takes the General further east, at which point their Pip-Boy picks up a new radio signal coming from Nuka-World.
→ Fighting for their life and the lives of others, the General informs the Castle of their whereabouts, but warns against sending backup. In December, they finally return, after wiping out the raiders and freeing the local traders from slavery.
→ The winter months are too cold for the real work, but perfect for planning. As the General and as Agent Charmer, they work with both groups to organize a reclamation initiative.
→ In February of 2291, Charmer tries again, having fallen hard for their partner in everything but love, Deacon. It takes everything in them to tell him, and consequently takes everything from them when he disappears from their life the very next day.
→ Late March. The General leads the first group of volunteers into the Glowing Sea.
→ May 2291. Sun & Moon aren't awake often, but lately it's becoming more frequent again. The ceiling trembles one day, not from an explosion, but a lighter impact nearby. From that point forward, the signal from their distress beacon starts growing stronger— all signs of local activity of some sort. The closest thing they've had to hope in a long, long time fills them with a manic energy they typically associate with early memories of the daycare, but they can't help it: they want out.
→ June 7th. The Glowing Sea glows no longer.
→ June 21st. First few locations cleared out. Pip-Boy's picking up a signal that wasn't there before; radiation must've been messing with it.
→ June 25th. Sun & Moon rush to the door of the Vault in a disbelieving haze– the alarms blare overhead, and if the metal of the door weren't so deafening, they'd think they were dreaming.
Someone finally came.