Chapter Text
Aloy looked out over the mountain where her and the rest of her group’s base was at. The cold wind rustled her hair, and made her already red skin from the sun after a hunt even more intense. She was used to the cold, after all, she was a Nora. Her eyes scanned the plains by the foot of the mountain, looking for any sort of threat. Blue lights beamed by the dried grass, but she was too far away to see exactly what machine it was. A Burrower, maybe?
Aloy’s mouth was slightly open, letting the cold air invade her lungs. It burned and forced a cough out of her. But she kept her guard. After all, Nemesis was on its way and she had to spend every waking minute looking and searching. Who knew what would happen if she looked away for a split second-
"Aloy."
Aloy’s face turned around, her eyebrows high up. A clank of metal scraping could be heard from a long distance, most likely by the plains. Just what she’d expected to happen when she lost her focus to something else.
But Zo was standing there. And Aloy would rather throw herself in front of a thunderjaw then ignore her. She’d been through enough, just solely because of Aloy’s actions, and for some unknown reason she was still respectful and kind.
"Zo, good morning." Aloy nodded towards her.
"It is a good morning indeed." Zo stepped next to her, next to Varl’s grave. Aloy’s face burned. She hadn’t even realised she had walked to him.
"I just know Varl would love to see the sunrise here one last time." Zo said, her eyes up in the sky. And she was right, Varl would have loved it. The sky was a mix of orange and pink, a sign that the day would be bright. As bright as Varl. Aloy felt a pang of anger over her loosing him. If she hadn’t dragged the others into her messes-
"Sorry, I didn’t come here to mourn." Zo shook her head to clear it and locked her eyes with Aloy.
"Oh?"
"As you know, after what you did in the Burning shores, you reunited the two split parts of the Quen. At least two of them through a focus."
Aloy nodded. She remembered her time at the Burning shores very clearly. It had only been a few months.
Londra, Waterwings, the Horus. Aloy internally shook at the thought of the metal devil coming back to life.
And Seyka.
Aloy blinked, returning to Zo’s gaze. Not the right time to think about Seyka. Yet.
"Yes, I remember that. I hope Sey- they reunited a little closer so Alva can meet them again." Aloy bit her lip hard as she almost mentioned the Quen Marine.
"That’s exactly what I was going to mention. Or rather Alva." Zo replied, a small smile visible on her face.
But Aloy’s face was filled with confusion. What exactly was Zo implying?
"Come with me Aloy." Zo walked to one of the entrances at the base, not knowing if the Nora was following her or not. But Aloy obliged, her steps right behind the woman.
When they got inside, Aloy noticed the shift in the air immediately. Alva was cautiously looking at her hands with a smile trying to break through. Beta was trying to talk to her friend, but got no response.
"Aloy!" Alva shouted as she realised who walked in with Zo. "Where were you?"
"Right outside scouting." Aloy responded, pointing behind her with her thumb.
"Not necessary Aloy, I will protect the base in case someone attacks." A dark voice said from her side. Kotallo was next to Erend with a beer in his hand.
"Thank you Kotallo, although that wouldn’t be needed." Aloy chuckled at her last words. She then turned to face Alva, who’s face looked like it had been dipped in scorching water. "Zo said you had something to tell me?"
"Me?" Alva’s eyes shot up. "Oh yeah! Yes I do!"
The younger girl leaned forwards, her face near the Nora’s. "You know how the eastern Quen expedition reunited with my part of the group?"
Aloy nodded.
"Well I was wondering, if it’s okay with you, maybe we could go check in on them?" Alva’s cheeks flushed with her request, waiting patiently for Aloy’s decision.
The outcast bit her lip. If she were to leave the base, that would mean someone could steal Gaia and the battle with Nemesis would be done before it even got down to earth. But on the other hand, she could see if anything new had changed on the way to the Quen and scout for any dangers there. And she would get to meet Seyka again..
"Well, it certainly isn’t a bad plan." Aloy blurted out. She was embarrassed of herself over how fast the replied with he thought of Seyka crossing her mind. "But someone should stay at the base, we can’t risk losing Gaia."
Alva beamed at her like the machines from the plains. "Thank you, thank you! Oh and, you’ll get to see the Quen you introduced to me on our focuses again!"
Aloy held back a grin. "Yeah"
"I will stay behind." A soft voice said. Zo had at down next to Kotallo, who was taking a sip of Oseram beer. "After all, I don’t know how far I am in." She shot a glance down at her stomach.
Aloy felt her heart fall down to her stomach. Of course, she had totally forgotten. Zo was expecting. The mere thought of bringing another person into this world was enough to send her spiralling. What if the child would have the same doomed fate as their father, all because of Aloy? She must have had one horrified face expression, for Beta had to put her hand on her sisters shoulder to ground her.
"That would… make sense." Aloy forced her mouth to move, when all she wanted it do was yell.
"Then I will stay here as well." Kotallo insisted. It was like he was trying to reassure her. "After all, I did say I would protect the base."
Aloy nodded, accepting that he wanted to protege base. But most of all, probably Zo. Although it would have been nice to have him with her.
"When do we leave?" Beta asked, her hand finally moving away from Aloy.
The Nora’s eyes widened as she turned her face to her sister. "You’re coming?"
Beta huffed, crossing her arms. "Alva is my friend Aloy, of course."
Aloy could feel her eye twitch. She had to loose both Zo and Kotallo to stay behind and bring her sister who had no idea what to do in a machine infected world. "Zo is your friend too."
Her sisters eyebrows furrowed, obviously angered. "Aloy-"
"Let her come with you." Kotallo said, his voice so strong there was no reason to go against his words. But Aloy wasn’t convinced. Her sister was still new to the world, she didn’t know dangers lurking behind every rock and every tree. "You can learn her up on the way."
"Hey! I know how to hunt!" Beta snapped her head toward Kotallo, her eyes burning into his. Alva snorted beside her.
"All right, we’ll leave tomorrow at dawn, then we’ll have enough time." Aloy announced, but a short glance at her sister made her realise she missed something. "I think."
Beta huffed.
-
Aloy took a deep breath before she stepped aside to let Alva and Beta out of the base. She had agreed to teach them some basic hunting skills. From what she knew, Alva knew the surface level whilst Beta knew next to nothing.
"You see those two machines down there?" Aloy asked, pointing to the path that lead up to their shared base.
Two Bristlebacks stood there, grazing. "They’re pests. No matter how many times I hunt them, there’s always new ones coming. So you two are going to take one of them together."
Beta looked horrified, her face more pale then ever. "What about the other one?"
"I’ll take care of that one." Aloy reassured her sister, then turned to Alva. "Why don’t you take the first shot.»
Alva lifted her bow which Aloy had specifically picked for her and aimed at one of the bristlebacks. She pulled the string and the bow went flying for its flank. The machine immediately reacted, its eyes turning yellow, then red when it spotted the three of them looking down at it. With a disturbing screech the bristleback came running towards them, with its friend close behind.
"Shit, Aloy what do we do now?" Alva yelled over the noise the machines made.
"Aim for the blaze, it will do great damage if you hit both of them."
Alva nodded and raised her bow again. The arrow shot in the air, but it didn’t hit the blaze. Instead it hit the head on the bristleback. Aloy bit her lip.
Alva tried again, but this time it went over and hit the other machine. "Aloy!" She yelled.
With a sigh Aloy raised her bow and shot directly at the blaze. The green liquid stained the metal plates and the grass under.
"Beta, now you try." Aloy yelled as she led the machine away from the two girls. One of the machines were stuck on who to chase, but as soon as it saw its friend running after Aloy, it joined in.
With a grunt Aloy pressed her focus. It shone bright at one of its stomach. "Alva! Aim for their stomachs!"
Now the plan was perfectly. Beta would go for the blaze and Alva would head for their stomachs. Aloy could damage whatever little was left.
Only, there was one problem.
Beta didn’t respond.
She didn’t even pick up her bow, which she had dropped to the ground.
Whilst Aloy’s eyes were fixated on her sisters and Alva’s missing shots, the bristlebacks saw an opportunity to attack. On the same time, they both picked up scraps as their heavy bodies were running toward the Nora and covered it with blaze.
Aloy was quickly taken out of her trance when she felt something sharp and warm hit her side. She somehow hadn’t noticed the flames getting thrown at her. She jumped away before the other machine could shove a pile of scraps from the ground at her. Aloy hit the ground with a thud and slammed her knee down on a sharp rock, causing her to slide and hit her head on something hard. It throbbed. But she didn’t have any time to focus on what she had accidentally hit, so the Nora just grit her teeth and pushed herself off the ground, and rolled away just as one of the bristlebacks ran around the rock. The other one was no where in sight. Alva and Beta must’ve taken care of it.
Aloy pulled out her spear from her back and pushed into the machines open stomach. It let out a screech only metal could make and tried to gather scraps to turn to fire and throw it at her again, but Aloy was already aiming for its horns. She tried to get up the rock behind her as she shot the arrow, and she was so glad she did. Because if she hadn’t taken the risk, the britlebacks horn would’ve impaled her. She let out a wince as her knee throbbed.
Her spear was on the ground, right behind the machine, so that was no option. Aloy reached to her back for some arrows, only to horrifyingly discover that she had no spares left.
With an irritated grunt she turned around to look at Beta and Alva, who were taking the important metal parts off their bristleback. "Alva! Throw me something!" Aloy yelled, trying to climb higher on the slippery rock as the machine slammed its hard body into it.
Alva looked bewildered, looking around frantically for something her friend could use in battle. Her eyes stumbled upon a tripcaster. Better then nothing at least.
Alva whispered something to Beta and she bent down to pick the weapon up, taking her sweet time as Aloy was about to get crushed by a bristleback. What an embarrassing way to die, she thought.
Then, a rock hit the surface close to Alva and Beta. The bristleback looked up, confused. Then another rock came, but this time it hit the machine right in its face. The already aggravated machine screeched and ran towards Beta, who held up Ayer another rock.
"Aloy!" Then a this came next to the rock she was on. Alva had successfully thrown the tripcaster to her. Before the machine could turn around to see what the new sound was, Aloy grabbed the weapon and hit behind the rock. She steadied her breathing, reminding herself this was easy. She was the saviour of meridian, after all.
She cringed thinking about it.
With a deep breath, Aloy shot with one of the points of the tripwire, then shot it down right next to her foot. She swiftly got on her feet, standing right in front of the trap. "Hey! You!" She yelled so loud, her sunburnt cheeks hurt.
The bristleback finally faced Aloy again, but this time it wasn’t carrying any scraps to set to flames. Perfect, it wouldn’t have enough time. "Get over here and fight me, you coward!" Aloy waved with her arms, trying her best not to seem frantic. The bristleback didn’t spare any time, as it came directly running towards her.
Aloy grinned as she saw the machine run straight into the tripwire and fall down, paralysed. Then it stopped moving and turned off completely.
"Is it dead?" A weak voice asked, most likely her sister. Aloy nodded. "Yeah, it’s dead."
The Nora wiped sweat off her face. She could easily take down two bristlebacks, but with less trained company it got a lot more difficult very fast. That’s why she went on all her adventures alone, it’s a lot more safer for her rand the ones that wish to join.
"Woho! Good job everyone!" Alva cheered, running up behind Aloy. The ginger turned around, giving her an awkward smile. "It certainly wasn’t the.. worst hunting experience I’ve been apart of"
Alva beamed at her. But then a scoff came from next to her, causing the girl to frown. "Are you hurt, Beta?" She asked, quickly scanning her up and down for any sign of Beta getting psychically injured. "No- it’s just that…" she side eyed her sister. "Aloy’s most definitely lying. This hunt went worse then I thought it would."
Aloy blinked, confused. The hunt was successful. Yes, it was a tad bit rocky, but it had worked out in the end. "I’m not lying to you, Beta. This definitely wasn’t on the list of one of my worst hunts."
Beta took a step closer to her, her brows furrowed furiously. "Name one time it went worse then this."
Her sister opened her mouth, eager to say something that would soothe her, but nothing came out. She quickly closed it, only to open it again when a new idea popped up.
She hadn’t really been on any ‘terrible’ hunts. Sure, some had gone really bad, but nothing she couldn’t take care of. The Horus fight almost went wrong, but she had a feeling that Beta would definitely not appreciate the reminder that her sister fought a metal devil.
"Exactly." Beta sighed. "I’m going to go help Zo, where I can actually be of use." Then, she turned and walked away hurriedly.
Both Aloy and Alva were left in a shock. The Nora outcast felt as paralysed as the bristleback when it tripped over the electric wire. What was she supposed to say? She knew that her sister wasn’t a machine hunter, and in her mind there was someways a thought that Beta would get hurt whilst trying to prove something. So Aloy just kept her mouth shut. Beta would work out whatever was going on with Zo.
"Do.. do you think we should apologise?" Alva asked, peeking over at her friend. Aloy bit her lip, deep in thought.
"No. She will work it out." Her gaze met Alva’s worried one. "It’s not your fault anyway, it’s mine."
"Yours?" Alva spit, her eyes as surprised as Aloy when she found out she had a genetic twin. "It was most definitely not! You were amazing out there, like astonishing." She was beaming, like Aloy was some celebrity.
Oh yeah.
She had forgotten.
-
Alva had somehow gotten Aloy to join them in the base with the others. She was still embarrassed over her sister’s behaviour, especially now that probably everyone knew. It wasn’t her fault that Beta wasn’t born in a machine infested world.
"I heard something happened outside." Kotallo tried to start a conversation, but Aloy was far too out of it to give any proper answer than a: "yeah"
A few more minutes of awkward silence flooded I’ve them until Aloy couldn’t handle it anymore. She forced her feet to walk to her room, where it was quiet and relatively cold. As the door opened she felt a headache build up and she fell down on her bed. It was nearly made, even though she rarely spent any time on it. It was covered with different kinds of fur. Fox, bear and even elk. It was all exactly comfortable, and if Aloy had been anyone else she would’ve fallen asleep on the spot.
But she was herself, not a nobody. She could never fully relax. All life on earth depended entirely upon Aloy. She could never fully loose focus, or else something was bound to happen.
Aloy’s eyes snapped open at the thought. The few minutes of rest was enough. Her head was still throbbing, but that was nothing some cold air could not fix. After all, she had grown up in the harsh conditions of the mountains.
So a tiny headache was nothing.
The ginger pushed herself up, and suddenly everything’s told still for a split second. Her eyesight got foggy and she felt extremely dizzy and weak. She grabbed the wall and leaned into it. She started panting. What was going on?
Then Aloy’s vision snapped back to normal. She blinked slowly, getting used to the light again.
Nothing to worry about, it was just a small headache.