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- Although also heartbreaking, Alex's devotion to Dana's memory and honoring his promise to her. Even after learning she's dead and the world has dived even deeper into hell, he still tries not to be a monster for his sister's sake.
- Also, before he was captured and knocked unconscious, they managed to build a nice life for themselves and got five years out of it. It's nice to know they had...well, as close to peace as a world of both [PROTOTYPE] and Fallout could get.
- Really, just about any time Alex reminisces about Dana. It gives a glimpse into the life they had, and it was very normal and sibling-y—Dana teasing him about his terrible social skills, Alex driving off boyfriends, doing crossword puzzles together... Not to mention, Dana tried her best to help Alex find humanity, like insisting he try "normal food", and he'd humor her just to make her happy.
- Arcade helping Alex, when he finds him curled up and sick from radiation poisoning, would ordinarily be nothing special considering Arcade's personality...except it's the first non-Dana kindness Alex has seen in ages. Even if Arcade doesn't know all the details about Alex, the doctor's idealism still touches him (and freaks him out).
- At Cottonwood Cove, there's a nice Pet the Dog moment where Cain accidentally knocks over a slave woman, Siri, and breaks her bowl. As an apology, she gives Siri her own and herbs to replace the ruined ones. Siri's reaction makes it clear this is the first moment of kindness she's ever seen in her life.
- Then Arcade chimes in, giving Siri advice on medicinal recipes and conserving supplies. She flat-out says she'll be able to make twice as many poultices as she was, thanks to this.
- Even Alex tries to get in on the compassion! When he sees a Legionnaire whip a different slave and knock her to the ground, he starts to march over before Cain stops him. He snaps at her that he was not going to kill the Legionnaire, like she was afraid of, but help the slave up.
- Although greatly disturbed by the truth of Alex's eating habits, Cain and Arcade don't hate or turn on him for it. Granted, this is mostly because Cain defuses the situation before it escalates into something terrible, and she's only trying to keep anyone from getting killed or eaten...but once it is calmed, they still decide to stick with him. Alex is straight-up amazed.
- The night after The Reveal comes out, Cain isn't able to sleep, because she's still a little freaked out. She ends up talking to Alex, who tries his best to be reassuring that no, he's not going to eat her. By the end of the conversation, she's relaxed enough that she can go to sleep.
- In the same conversation, Cain ends up reassuring him when he bitterly talks about how many people he's killed.
- As said, Cain accepts Alex's nature faster than Arcade does. For Arcade? Alex clumsily takes the initiative to apologize for scaring him by inviting him to a game of pool. Arcade mentally notes that a game of pool could not even begin to fix things, but takes him up on it anyway. Despite his words, by the end of it, he's also relaxed and started to trust him again.
- Just like in the game, Veronica gets her pretty dress. She literally Squees when Cain gives it to her.
- Then she, Cain and Alex have a movie night. It's such an odd example of normality that it becomes pretty cute.
- Alex and Cain throughout the entire "Dead Money" arc. He reacts to her kidnapping in his usual Alex way, which is vowing to bring hell on Earth, thinking of all the ways he can make Elijah painfully die, and generally being violent. And yet, all throughout his narration, he's wrought with rotating terror, worry, and determination, far more emotion than he usually shows. When he and Cain reunite, he immediately sets about being protective—he's even willing to let Elijah put a collar on him if it means her safety.
- Cain's reaction to the reunion. She's absolutely positive she's going to die, terrified out of her mind, and certain no one is going to miss her. She hasn't even conceived the idea that someone would come for her, and when Alex does, she can't stop repeating the thought that someone came back for her, over and over.
- His response when she thanks him for coming after her? "Always."
- Alex actually smiles when she tells him she's glad he's here.
- The scene where Cain tells Alex her real name is pretty darn sweet, especially when he thinks briefly about what to call her.She'd always be Cain to him anyway. She was too soft to be the murderer whose name she carried...but Elise sounded too soft to be her.
"I think you should keep it," he said. "Cain. Maybe it wasn't yours, but you made it yours." - Alex checking on Cain after she wakes up from her nightmare. She doesn't tell him what it was about, or even that she had one, but there is a quiet concern and appreciation throughout the scene, making for a nice, if subdued, moment.
- In the same arc, Alex also seems to develop a sort of protective respect towards Christine. He doesn't trust her, of course, but he's impressed by her steel spine despite everything she's been through, and he interjects when he thinks God is threatening her.
- Despite what he did to her, Cain can't bring herself to collar Dog. Throughout the span of his introduction, she very quickly comes to pity him when she sees how broken and lost he is. By the end of it, she's promising him that he can go to sleep, "the Voice" won't make him disappear, like he's a little kid.
- When it finally comes down to it, Cain talks down both Dog and God, fusing them into a single, unnamed Nightkin who Alex and Cain both give friendly advice to and do their best to patch up with their limited medical supplies. They even tell him about Jacobstown, and the author assures that his story isn't over yet. The Nightkin, for his part, makes it clear that he regards them both as true friends, and that for the first time in a while, he might actually be all right.
- In the following chapter, Alex's Horror Hunger kicks in harder than ever as he loses more mass to the Sierra Madre's hazards, culminating in being unable to properly shapeshift his usual weapons. Cain's already been through hell. Despite this, their respective point of view segments reveal that each one is basically thinking "I'll be fine, but my friend won't" when worrying about each other's health.Alex's narration: But he could feed eventually. He could heal. Cain didn't get that option.
Cain's narration: But she had Stimpaks, braces, painkillers. He had- - The conclusion to "Dead Money". Elijah cuts Alex in half with a force field. It doesn't kill him, of course, but Elijah thinks it does, and Cain manages to lure him into the vault. When Alex leaps up and eats Elijah, Cain, who has been single-mindedly obsessed with getting her revenge, doesn't care that she didn't get the kill. What's more important to her is that her friend is alive, fed, and back to normal.
- Moments later, Cain's collar starts spinning up to go off, and the elevator isn't going to move fast enough to get them out of range. Alex forms himself into armor around Cain, tanking the explosion for her at point-blank range.
