Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Jessica Ginevra Lucci! Get down from there!”

Jessy flinched as she heard her mother yelling from the ground below. Mom used her full name… She was in so much trouble. Her hands tightened on the metal of the old pylon and she glanced skyward. It’s not like she was very high up. She never made it very far. Today had been a personal record - thirty feet, maybe.

She could see over the tops of trees. Over rooftops. Over everything. What would it be like from even higher? Eyes fixed on the sky, Jessy pulled herself slowly upward another two feet.

“Don’t you dare! Get down here!” Her mom was so mad. “Joseph! Go get your sister!”

Dang. Jessy sighed and hugged the vertical steel support next to her. Once Joey was sent after her, the climb was done for the day… Probably the entire week since she’d be grounded for almost ever. A week stuck in the house pretty much felt like forever, anyway.

He pulled himself up next to her and put an arm around her small waist. “You’re gunna give mom a fucking heart-attack, Jess.”

“Sorry…” She glanced up briefly, “I just wanna see what it’s like up there.”

“How bout I take you for a ride in a vertibird?” He smiled.

“Really?! Yes!” Jess bounced excitedly on the metal and he tightened his grip around her.

“Okay… But you gotta promise to stay off the pylon.” He raised an eyebrow.

“Yup!” Releasing her grip with one hand, she gave her brother a hug before carefully climbing back down with him.

Months had passed before Jessica got to go visit her brother at the base. She’d been there once before, back when Joey was still an apprentice. She loved it. The soldiers in power armor inspired a sense of awe and seeing them gave her goosebumps every time.

But the vertibirds… Those were amazing.

She’d been in them before, but Joey wasn’t allowed to leave the ground with her. He’d land in the field with some other higher-ranking Knight with him and that other person would always put a quick end to her begging. Those guys had some sort of cute kid puppydog-eye repellant or something. It wasn’t fair.

But now he had his own bird. Also, something about paperwork, regulations and permission… But whatever, she got to go for a ride! Finally!

Jessica stood on the airfield and stared at the aircraft out in front of her while a higher ranking Knight rambled on endlessly to her brother about rules or some such. Don’t do that, don’t do this, you can’t do all these things, don’t have any fun and remain serious at all times. Something like that.

A kid approached them with some gear and he stood quietly until the Emperor of Rules and Regulations finished talking. Well, he was a kid, but probably like eight years older than she was. The Emperor stood with his arms crossed as he watched Joey take a vest from the boy and help Jessy into it.

“That’s the smallest we have.” The Emperor laughed as Jessica held her arms out and glanced down at herself.

It was too big for her tiny frame, but it stayed on alright. On top of being short for her age, Jessy was also ridiculously skinny. Joey plopped the helmet on her head, which fit better, and she grinned up at him as he rapped his knuckles against it. It was a kid-sized version of his own gear.

“Kay, can we go now?” Jessy quietly asked him as she tried to hold down her excitement. She didn’t want to appear too eager, they’d never let her go anywhere if she started hopping around like a crow in a room full of shiny. Stay professional. What was the word? Decorum. Show some decorum.

After the most boring pre-flight inspection ever, Joey let her turn the vertibird on and she nearly died from excitement as the switch made a satisfying click beneath her finger and the rotors kicked on. That sound was soul-gripping and brought her entire body to life. Her heart raced as she felt the vibration of the aircraft all around her.

The bird was a living thing and the sound of those rotors was like the metal beast had just woke up and took a breath.

She could feel the very second the wheels left the ground. Felt the lift. The sudden strange weight of being in the air as if she were the bird itself.

Jessy leaned to the side of her seat and stared out the window as the ground fell away. All the people below shrunk, even the Knights in their huge power armor. She watched her parents turn into tiny little mouse-sized dots as they watched with worry. Insignificant. Everything below became insignificant as they ascended into the sky. The people, the base, the entire earth. All ties cut. This was the freedom only birds knew.

Sitting her between his knees on the edge of his seat, Joey showed her how to tilt the wings and let her do it. One of the bajillion things the Emperor had told him not to do. She could feel them move. He chuckled quietly as she gasped.

He let her take the stick and Jessy didn’t even hesitate. She asked about a million questions and listened intently as he explained everything to her. Even when he talked complicated physics, she drank it all in. This was something that fascinated Jessica.

She tilted the bird to the side so she could see the ground below. “How high can it go?”

“Bout twenty-five thousand feet…” Joey put a hand over hers and held her in place before she pitched too far.

“Can we?” She couldn’t put a visual to the number. What did that height look like? She couldn't even imagine it.

He took his hand from hers. “Go for it.”

...So that’s what twenty-five thousand feet looked like.

Jessy could see the tops of clouds. The tops! Of clouds! The topside of a cloud didn’t look like the bottom, or even the side. Her brain had been confused about being above the clouds and it made everything seem so weird. It was indescribable. And the horizon was curved. Round like a big ball and almost smooth where the horizon was even though she saw trees down below. She could actually see the curvature of the entire Earth! And the ground! Buildings that were once enormous were now just strange bumps and jagged shapes like rocks in broken asphalt. It was strangely beautiful.

“How fast can it go?” She wanted to test all the limits. Defy them.

Joey hesitated. He wasn’t going to tell her... He knew her all too well.

Nudging her off his lap, he took over and grinned, “You wanna go fast?”

“Heck yes!” She eagerly sat and gripped the seat to keep from bouncing excitedly.

He dropped the aircraft lower in a sweeping motion just like a bird diving and gliding along the horizon. She --was-- the vertibird. She swooped over the land, picking up speed until she could feel everything inside shift. Her stomach did flips and it felt like it was full of feathers for a moment. Weightlessness, then the force of gravity against her as the ground below zipped past in a blur.

“Can it go faster?” Her smile couldn’t have gotten any bigger.

“Yeah…” Joey didn’t speed up any, “But we’re not gunna.”

“Awe…” Her disappointment was only momentary as Jessy was pulled back into the rapture of flight.

Joey was allowed to come around more often and he didn’t have pesky puppydog-eye proof soldiers with him any longer. It was awesome! Whenever he came home to visit for a few hours or a day, he’d take Jess up in the bird. Mom disapproved, but most times would give in. She’d tell him to fly slow and low and come back in thirty minutes… He’d fly high and fast and they were always gone for hours.

He showed her all the best spots in the Wasteland. Places no feet could walk upon… Earthbound creatures could only dream of seeing such wonder. If he could land on it, they’d be there. And Joey could land in some really cool places!

Jessy practically pulled her brother toward the edge of one of her most favorite places. He walked slowly, holding her hand tightly in his to keep her safe as she tugged excitedly.

He stopped her three feet from the edge of the broken overpass and held her firmly there. Always three feet from the edge. She’d stand with her toes right off the very edge of the broken pavement if she could. She liked to sit or stand up high and view the ground far beneath her feet… Even if it did give everyone big panic attacks.

The overpass was so high up… birds flew below them. When the breeze blew, Jessy would face it with her arms spread and eyes closed. Sometimes her imagination turned her into a bird to leap off the edge and open her wings… Gliding over the earth with the sun washing over her and the wind rushing past her body.

After too long, the bird was caged.

“Stop encouraging her crazy obsession,” mom raised her voice as she leaned over the kitchen table and pointed angrily at Joey. “It’s bad enough my only son is taking risks and dancing with death… But you leave Jessica out of it, you hear me?!”

Ooh… ‘my only son’. Mom was bringing out the big guns. Jessy slumped in the chair, head down, and silently fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. Mom had enough of the stress. Every time Jessy spoke about flying, vertibirds, or the Brotherhood of Steel in general, her parents visibly tensed up. They had never liked it that he joined the Brotherhood. It actually took dad a little more than a year before he would even talk to Joey… Or about him. That hurt. Jessy was just barely five when he joined, but she was so close with her brother that having dad ban his name from the house had been the worst thing ever and she didn’t understand any of it.

Mom had said it was because they loved him. It didn’t make sense to her. If they loved him so much, then shouldn’t they be happy that he was happy?

If they loved her so much, why were they taking her happiness away now?

“Stop worrying so much, let her have fun.” Joey rolled his eyes and slouched back in the chair rather casually. “You’re over-exaggerating everything.”

“You think you’re immortal, Joe?” Dad had been leaning against the counter with his arms crossed in silent irritation. “Think bad stuff won’t happen to you? Let me tell you something, boy…” He pushed himself away from the counter and leaned on the table in front of Joey, “The world is a rough place. People die every day out here from simple things. And you… Those Brotherhood bastards are more to blame than anyone for all the--”

“I --am-- one of those Brotherhood bastards!” Joey slapped his palms on the table and stood from his chair, knocking it to the floor in a loud clatter that made Jessy flinch.

Dad took a step around the corner of the table and stood right in Joey’s face. “That’s right... You are… And I’ll be damned if you drag your sister into it.” He lowered his voice dangerously, “Stop putting it into her head that what you’re doing is glamorous and fun like some sort of party. The Brotherhood is nothing more than a cult of militarized thugs who do whatever the hell they want. Taking lives as they see fit… And it gets them killed.” His fists balled tightly at his sides. “It’ll get you killed one day. You made your choice, but I swear to God, Joseph… If you take Jessica down that path--”

With a growl of rage, Joey shoved him away. “Fuck you! The Brotherhood is working to protect the very fucking land you live on and all the people you know and care about! If I die, I’ll die fighting and I’ll die with pride, happiness, and freedom. I’ll die knowing it was for a greater cause.”

Mom started crying.

Jessy chewed her bottom lip and drew her knees up, hugging her arms around them tightly.

The two men stared one another down in silent anger for several agonizing heartbeats until Joey finally turned and stalked out of the kitchen, slamming the front door behind him as he left.

He didn’t come back.

Not for a long time.

Months had passed and Jessy spent every day missing her brother more than anything in the world. Mom had finally stopped crying and dad had finally stopped yelling about him. They didn’t fix the front door frame. Every time dad looked at it he’d get angry all over again.

Jessy sat down on the cold metal frame of the pylon, roughly sixty feet up from the ground, and she stared out at the field Joey used to land in.

The field remained empty.

As it had been every day since he walked out.