Chapter Text
“Nervous?”
Seyka’s question didn’t register at first. Aloy had been going over the plan in her head most of the day. The main components were there—infiltrate the central district of the capital where the emperor’s palace stood. Find the power generator for the Shell-Walker shield wall and take it out. Signal Federa so the rebel army could move in with a full assault on the palace. It was risky—there was a chance the imperial army could take out the rebels, but over the last few days while recovering in the tavern Aloy had seen dozens of recruits brought in by Davos. If they weren’t ready now, they would likely never be.
Sitting on the bed, having stared at the handful of broken floorboards she’d identified during their stay for the last several minutes, she turned her gaze up to meet Seyka’s. The worry in Seyka’s eyes had been constant since their arrival, especially so after Aloy had blacked out and beaten that man at the bar. She didn’t want Seyka to worry but if she was being honest, she was a bit unsettled herself. But they had to put it aside for now, had to focus on helping the rebels so that the South Gate would be open to them and the Zenith shuttle finally in reach. Save the world first, then worry about the voices in your head. Easy, right?
“I’m okay,” she said, and it was the truth. “Really.” The bed sunk slightly as Seyka took a seat next to her. Neither had put on their armor yet, preferring to wait until it was time to set out on their mission in the city together.
“I just spoke to Federa. She has some weapons we could take when we leave tonight. Armor, too, if we need it. There was definitely a bow when I last checked.”
Good. As confident as she was with her spear, Aloy had missed the tactical advantage and security of having a long-range option, especially while they were in the middle of a city turned battlefield. Each night they’d stayed as guests of the rebels the walls had rattled with every explosion that went off nearby. Small skirmishes took place in the surrounding districts—Davos had later informed them that while most citizens remained indoors to protect their families, many grabbed whatever weapons they could find and took to the streets to fight. And while most of them seemed to side with the rebels, the amount of bloodshed was evidence enough that peasants with pitchforks were not evenly matched against highly trained marines. The imperial loyalists had not found the rebel base yet, but Aloy knew it was only a matter of time before they did. “I’ll take what I can get. How’s Alva?”
Seyka gave a faint smile as she clasped her hands together and leaned forward. “I think she’s happy to be back. Horrified, but happy. Which is understandable. Also, I get the feeling she and Federa have some history together?”
“Yeah. Might be an understatement. Alva said they used to be rivals and now…well, I hope they’ll have a lot to talk about after we get through this.” She reached for Seyka’s hand. “How are you doing?” she asked, keeping her promise to herself to check in on Seyka more often.
Seyka’s smile remained static as she gave Aloy’s hand a brief squeeze. “It’s been hard seeing the place where I grew up like this. But this war—it was a long time coming.” She sighed, shaking her head in dismay. “I just wish I knew how my parents were.”
The walls shook, and crumbles of dust and wood fell from the ceiling as another blaze explosion was set off. Given the lack of panicked cries, it wasn’t close enough to cause alarm in the tavern, but the shaking in the room told Aloy it had probably been a substantial blast. Seyka tensed, her eyes flashing with fear while her body clearly warred with her mind to go out and face the threat head on.
“Hey,” Aloy soothed, stroking Seyka’s hand with her thumb and hoping it might calm her. “It’s going to be okay.”
“It shouldn’t be this way!” Seyka pulled away, fists clenched. “When you become a marine, you’re supposed be prepared for anything. Hurricanes, invasions, machines—but they don’t train you for this. To go to war against your friends, your family. Compliance and the Imperial family went too far, and they should be the ones paying the price, not innocent people like Federa’s family.”
“I know.” Aloy kept her voice soft. “Which is why we’re going to take down that shield tonight and then hopefully all of this will be over.”
Seyka rolled her eyes. “Here, anyway. We’ve still got the end of the world to deal with back home. Speaking of, any word from Beta?” Her anger from a moment ago seemed to have dissipated. Then again, Seyka rarely held on to anger long—a trait Aloy loved about her. Between the three of them, Seyka had been the most level-headed during their time in the Quen homeland since the crash, and Aloy was grateful she had come along with her to investigate Tilda’s room on the Odyssey. Especially with all the…weirdness that had been happening. If she had hit her head during the crash, then it was possible she’d sustained some sort of brain injury, and based on datapoints she’d read in the past, the blackouts and dreams could be a side effect of that. But would they stop? Would she have to deal with this for the rest of her life—losing control over her surroundings and having entire pieces of her consciousness just…gone? Beta would probably know more.
Aloy hadn’t spoken with Beta for a few days, though in their last call Beta had seemed fine, if fatigued. Probably late nights at the Base doing research. She hoped her sister had been able to contact some of their friends, and that GAIA and Sylens had found something critical in the APOLLO database or Londra’s leads. Beta had confirmed Sokorra had returned to the Base, which gave Aloy some comfort she wasn’t without support in all this. “Nothing since the last call. Maybe I should check in with her before we leave later.” Even if there was no news, it helped to hear her voice—another reminder of why they had to get back as soon as possible.
“Good. I miss her.” Seyka nudged her. “I hope one of the others continues training with her. We were getting close to real swords before we left.”
Aloy raised an eyebrow. “Real swords? You’ve only been practicing a few weeks.”
“She catches on fast! Just needs to work on her conditioning more. That part’s harder to teach, especially when she’d rather be in that dark little room of hers talking on her Focus to Sokorra.”
The critique was fair, but Aloy wanted to make at least a small attempt to defend Beta, seeing as how she wasn’t there to defend herself. “I think she was helping Sokorra track down those remaining lures from Bregul.”
Seyka’s response was drier than the Stillsands. “Uh huh.”
“What?”
“Oh nothing, nothing.” Seyka’s smirk gave away the tease in her denial. “I just didn’t realize machine lure conversations involved so much giggling.” She patted Aloy’s leg. “I’m happy for her. Really. And…I’m glad I’m here with you.” She leaned on Aloy, the scab over her eyebrow just below where their heads touched. “I know it’s been, well, ‘rough’ seems like an understatement. But just being near you really helps.” She stroked Aloy’s cheek, her eyes filled with so much love and hope that Aloy’s chest tightened as she silently wished they could just take the nearest Sunwing out of the Great Delta and go somewhere—anywhere. Somewhere there were no civil wars or crazed AIs trying to destroy life.
She remembered Seyka’s question from a few days earlier. If they somehow got back and defeated Nemesis, what did she want? If there were no more missions, then what was left? Until now, Aloy’s answer might have been that there was always going to be something. Any other future would have been put on hold, much like her and Seyka’s relationship had been after they defeated Londra. But the last few months—especially the last few weeks—had revealed another option she’d never considered: putting the rest of the world on hold for Seyka. Maybe for a while.
She turned her head just enough to capture Seyka’s lips with hers, taking her in and letting herself be lifted from all the conflict and stress she’d been met with since escaping the Odyssey. She didn’t have the words she wanted to say in response to Seyka, so her actions would have to do for now. She let out an involuntary hum when Seyka responded in kind—a gentle hand coming up to stroke her hair before pulling them both down onto the bed. She grinned into the kiss when Seyka’s hand gripped the white cloth of her shirt and tugged upwards.
She broke away for just a moment and plucked the Focus from her temple before setting it aside. “You sure?” she whispered.
“Yes.” Seyka’s focus remained fixed on removing Aloy’s shirt as fast as possible—she lifted it with ease over her head before tossing it aside and closing the distance between them again. Letting her hands roam across Aloy’s back, she kissed her with force, her movements almost frantic and perhaps even a bit desperate. Aloy sighed, relieved that even with everything going on they still somehow made time to be together like this. She shuddered when the air around them grew warm, igniting feelings she had not been able to confront or satisfy for weeks as she reached down for the clasp of Seyka’s pants. A faint buzz lurked in her mind as the room spun a bit, but nothing else mattered except Seyka and the murmured pleas passing from her lips.
She made sure to pause, to ask despite the repeated consent Seyka gave in hushed breaths. She didn’t want to rush—she didn’t want it to end where then they’d be forced to return to the reality they were trying to escape…at least for now. None of this was f—
The air was ripped from her lungs before she realized anything had happened. A flash of pain seared across her brow—gnashing metal against bone as she bit back a scream.
“—air. But that’s life, Lis. It’s not always going to be fair.”
“I don’t need you to lecture me about fairness, Tilda. We both agreed when we left Earth that we weren’t going to sign up for any crazy immortality scams. That was the deal.”
With a few swipes of her hand, Tilda skimmed the documents in front of her before closing the holographic interface. “Don’t worry. I’ll talk to Song and we’ll get it sorted out.” Taking Elisabet’s hands, she smiled. “Hey, remember the whole thing with Gerard? And in the end, he didn’t even end up coming along. The others will get bored of it. Digital transcendence was the trendy thing to talk about right before the robots got out of hand. It’ll die.”
Elisabet groaned. “You’re not the one who has to sit through these meetings. It’s like…listening to a bunch of supervillains making their luxury wishlists!”
“When you put it like that it sounds rather entertaining, honestly.”
Turning away and pinching the bridge of her nose, Elisabet let out a heavy sigh. “It’s not funny and you know it.”
“I know, Lis.” Placing a comforting hand on Elisabet’s back, Tilda’s initial amusement faded as she echoed the same words she had told Aloy when another member of Far Zenith was bullying her in the ship gardens. “Just keep staying one step ahead of them. They won’t be able to catch up.”
Elisabet reached for Tilda’s hand. “Not every problem can be solved with your methods.” Only then did she realize Aloy was in the room. “Sweetheart, are you okay?” She glanced at the glowing purple digits of the holographic clock hanging on the closest wall. “Oh, that’s right! We were going to go down to the rec room,” she explained to Tilda.
Tilda turned her head just slightly to make eye contact with Aloy. She gave her a long stare, and something cold in her eyes made Aloy wonder if she had forgotten to say something. An eerie silence fell, as though death itself had enveloped the room. A whisper pierced the quiet—there was no sound, but the icy tendrils of something that wormed into her ears, her brain, and through means she could not comprehend, she heard its words.
“Would you have understood? Would you have stayed?”
“Aloy.”
“I can bring her back.”
Tilda beamed at her—like time restarted where it had never stopped. “Ah, yes. Have a good tim—”
“Aloy!”
Lis’ voice? It was muffled, but Aloy wasn’t wearing her Focus. Her eyes were open, but she saw nothing but darkness. Then flashes—the Odyssey, Earth, Faro robots lighting the sky on fire while they swarmed over the coastline consuming everything in their path.
“Aloy! Ancestors, please wake up. Don’t do this to me, Aloy—come on!”
Her head pounded, like she’d been hit with a Slaughterspine’s tail and had somehow lived to regret it. The flashes stopped—she was on her back, staring up at the wooden beams of their quarters, Seyka’s panicked face hovering in view above her. A breeze swept through the room, and she shivered—her shirt was missing.
“Aloy.” Seyka closed her eyes and released a long exhale. “Thank the Ancestors, I thought I had done something o-or you had passed out again.”
She tried to get her bearings. Again? And it had been worse. Much worse. “I-I don’t…are you okay?” Time had skipped. One moment they had been kissing—heading into something more—and the next, gone.
Seyka assisted her in sitting up on the bed, the beads of sweat on her face glistening in the dim glow of the candlelight. “I’m fine. Did you—did it happen again?”
How could she even begin to explain this? The painful throbbing in her head made it difficult to reason about anything. What is wrong with me? “Yes…I think.” She grabbed for her shirt off the floor and pulled it over her head before reaching for her Focus.
“You’re really worrying me, Aloy,” Seyka said, taking her by her arms. “Maybe we should wait until tomorrow to do this. What if you’ve doing too much and you just need more time?”
“No.” It had to be tonight. With every day they spent in the Quen homeland the chances of them having a chance against Nemesis weakened. “I’m fine, Seyka. Let’s just get this over with so we can get back to GAIA.” Her head gave another throb—she thought she might be sick.
“But—”
“Enough!” Aloy snapped. “We’re doing this tonight. If you don’t want to, then don’t come. I’ll take care of it and come back to get you.” The nausea receded, and the pain dulled slightly. But the words were out, and she couldn’t take them back. Any part of her that wasn’t in pain was consumed by guilt when she saw Seyka’s wide, frightened stare—the tears she immediately pushed back as her lower lip twitched. “Seyka—”
Seyka released her and left the bed. Her hands had balled into fists. “The last few days have been pretty shitty, Aloy. I don’t know what’s going on but…I’m here if you want to talk about it. Until then, we have a mission to do, and yes, I’m going with you.” She straightened her clothing before glaring at Aloy like any other Quen marine would. “Meet me outside when you’re ready.” Without another word, she left, closing the door behind her and leaving Aloy in a state of paralyzed shock.
“I’m sorry. Are you all right?”
No. How could she be? She hadn’t meant to lose her temper with Seyka, but she needed…she wasn’t sure what she needed. Space? Patience? Medical attention? And maybe it was because for the first time in weeks she felt alone again, or perhaps it was something else, but she decided to take Lis’ offer of conversation. “No, Lis. I’m not. I keep having these blackouts, my head’s killing me, and I’ve hurt Seyka. I’m thousands of miles away from Beta and I don’t even know if what we’re going to try tonight will work.”
“It’s understandable to worry. And if you have suffered a head injury, I imagine the RCC has medical facilities we can utilize once we get there.”
“Medicine can’t undo how I spoke to Seyka.”
“No, but you could apologize. She’s just worried about you. Give her some space first. I’m sure being here is difficult for her.”
I can’t believe I’m taking relationship advice from Tilda’s AI. “Yeah. I guess. Thanks, Lis. I’ll, um, talk to her after we’ve taken care of the power generator.”
“Of course, Aloy. Also, a reminder to call Beta before you leave.”
Oh, right. Bringing up her Focus interface, she activated Beta’s contact and sent the call out. The call quality was quite poor, and had been since they crashed, but she couldn’t complain too much given that the network worked—the only line Aloy had to the Base, her sister, and her friends.
The Focus beeped a few times before Beta answered, unusual—Beta always answered right away—but Aloy didn’t think much of it. Beta was probably under a lot of stress working with Sylens—who wouldn’t be—and GAIA in their race to find a way to stop Nemesis.
Beta sounded surprised, which made sense, and also a little…startled? “Aloy? How is everything?”
“Hey, Beta.” Hearing Beta’s voice calmed the nerves that had tensed to the point of discomfort earlier during her outburst at Seyka. “Just checking in. We’re going to the city center tonight to take out some shields. It should give the rebels the entrance they need to take the palace.”
Beta seemed to have recovered, as she was able to finish Aloy’s thought. “And then you’ll have an opening to get to the Zenith shuttle. That’s…great news, Aloy, I knew you would figure out a way.”
Aloy smiled. Months earlier Beta would have been nothing but pessimistic over the chances of them getting back to the Base. Knowing she had confidence in her gave Aloy renewed optimism for the upcoming mission. Maybe we can pull this off. “Thanks. How are things going at the Base? Sylens isn’t giving you too much trouble, is he?”
“What? No, he’s not. Things are…progressing. Nothing to report that could help us, yet. I’m working on it, though.”
She’s probably under an incredible amount of stress right now. She wanted to know if Erend or any of the others had returned to the Base yet but didn’t want to bombard Beta with too many questions. “All right. Well, I should probably go—we’re going to try and do this soon. I’ll keep you updated.”
“Okay. Be safe, Aloy. Hopefully I’ll see you soon,” Beta said softly before the call ended, leaving Aloy alone with Lis once more.
“It will work out, Aloy.”
After rolling off the bed, Aloy went to look for her damaged armor. She figured with any luck she might be able to borrow some parts from the rebels’ spare armor to patch up her own. And find a damn bow.
Staying close to Seyka, the two of them crept down the alleyways between the burned-out husks of destroyed buildings—the destruction worse the closer they got to the city center where the emperor’s palace still stood, despite the rebels’ efforts so far. The darkness of the cloudless night kept them hidden from any Imperial patrols, but in the distance Aloy could still hear the shouts and clashing of metal on metal as fights still broke out in the streets of neighboring districts—spokes along the wheel that formed the Quen capital.
Seyka had remained quiet for most of the mission, uttering a few commands as she guided them through the streets, the smoke from all the fires forming a grey fog that hovered in the corridors. More than once they passed burning piles of corpses, mostly civilians—a harsh warning from the loyalists to those who would dare join Federa’s rebellion to take the Quen Empire.
Every part of Aloy told her to give Seyka the space she needed to cool off after she had snapped at her, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to stop, take her hand, and apologize for being an idiot. The pain in her head had all but faded, the nausea completely gone. She still had no explanation but at least she knew they could try to find one later. One thing at a time. Focus on finding the power generator.
“Down here,” Seyka said, turning the corner with near-silent steps. “If we stick to this side, we can go left at the street and get to the palace from the back.” She stopped and looked over her shoulder at Aloy. “Keep up. We might run into trouble up ahead if they’ve got guards posted near the back entrance.”
“I’m right behind you.” It all felt so stilted, so mechanical and unlike how she was used to them conversing. Normally there’d be a snarky remark followed by a counter, maybe even a bad joke. For now, Seyka remained focused on the mission.
The alley opened up to a small, empty street, which sure enough went around the center of the city and the towering, pointed building which Aloy had no doubt was the center of the Quen Empire and the home of the emperor himself. A blue glow lit the front of the palace and the steps leading to the grand and intricately carved double-doored entry. Dozens of guards stood at attention behind the shield wall.
Seyka halted them at the end of the alley, where they observed from the cover of the adjacent building’s shadow. “Shell-Walker shields. Just like Federa’s scout said.” She pointed at the darker side of the street, which appeared to wind around to the back of the palace. “That’s where we have to go. Stay close—if we alert those guards at the front, we probably won’t make it more than a few steps before they put a few arrows in us.”
“Yeah. I got it.” Aloy tried not to sound annoyed, but this was far from her first recon mission. Then she reconsidered. “Seyka, wait.”
Seyka turned, her lips pursed, and her jaw tightened—a clear sign she was still upset. Aloy decided to chance it anyway. “I had another one. A dream. Only this time, there was pain. The worst headache I’ve ever had.”
Seyka’s face softened, and in the orange, flickering glow of the nearby fires dotting the district, she almost seemed like herself again. “The same dream?”
“I was on the Odyssey with Elisabet and…and Tilda.” She shuddered, remembering the voice she’d heard. “I can bring her back.” What did that even mean? “They were arguing about something and then…”
Seyka walked back to her and placed a tentative hand on her arm, and it took all of Aloy’s willpower not to kiss her right there. “What happened next?”
“That’s thing thing—I’m not really sure,” Aloy admitted. “I think Tilda was saying something to me but…it wasn’t her. It sounded strange. Like it didn’t belong there.”
Her eyebrows arching, Seyka shook her head and looked at the cracked cobblestones at her feet, like she was struggling to resolve some internal conflict. “When we were on the ship, something made you freeze up. I had to carry you. And all of this—you passing out, the dreams—they started after we got here. Could something have happened up there?”
The red light. The awful pain of something drilling into her skull. What if Nemesis had somehow done something to her when they were still on the Odyssey? “It’s hard to say. When we were on the ship, I saw a red light when Nemesis showed up. Then all I felt was pain in my head and then nothing. So maybe it tried to, I don’t know, attack me. Or this was all caused by me hitting my head on something in the crash.” She took a deep breath. “But none of that matters right now. I was trying to apologize for biting your head off.”
“Oh. It’s fine, Aloy.” Seyka’s smile on its own was comforting enough, but Aloy was still grateful how quick she was to forgive. “Really. I should have figured you weren’t feeling well after you fainted like that and not pushed.” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her eyes looking up to meet Aloy’s as her smile crooked into a slight smirk. “I guess I just got caught up in everything else we were doing.”
“Trust me, I would have been very happy continuing with it.” Aloy kissed her—savoring the softness of Seyka’s lips against hers as for a moment she forgot that they were in the middle of a warzone.
Seyka pulled away first, a quiet laugh escaping her as she caught her breath. “We should get going. The back of the palace isn’t far and if that power generator is there, we can take it out and help the rebels finish this thing.”
Remaining crouched, they emerged from the alley, sticking to the shadows where they could and keeping their distance from the soldiers posted at the front of the palace. The road turned, though it was hard to see it very well as much of the stones in the street were cracked or broken from previous blasting. They came to the final corner, where Aloy could spot four guards standing in front of a small open doorway leading into the back of the building. All of them looked on edge—it was clear they were guarding something precious.
Seyka scanned the area for any remaining life signs as Aloy determined the best path forward to the guards. “All right. Thoughts on this?” Seyka asked.
Take a few out from here, but there are four so it might alert the others. “I think we have a shot from here. We can take it, move in, and take out the remaining two.” She activated her Focus to see if she could pick up anything inside the building. Shield Generator. Energy Cell: Active. “I see the generator. Once we take out those guards I’ll run in and disable it. Then you fire the signal arrow.” Finally. Just need to finish this and we can get home. We can get back to Beta and GAIA, find a way to stop Nemesis, and fix the biosphere…for good. She grinned at Seyka, relieved that they had resolved things between them. “Ready?” She reached for her bow, a Quen sharpshot she had borrowed from Federa.
“Yeah. Let’s do this.”
Readying an arrow, Aloy took aim at the guard on the far right—taking a breath before loosing it at a narrow space in his helmet where his head was exposed. He crumpled to the ground, his fellow guard to the left of him not realizing what had just happened until Aloy was already rushing him, her spear in hand.
Then she was gone. No warning, no screech in her Focus, no pounding in her head. Just gone.
“Would you have understood?” It spoke again, its voice like grinding metal—louder than a Horus and yet a whisper only she could hear.
Metal all around her, purple and blue lights spinning so fast she had to will her body to push through the chaos. There was no path before her, no direction which made sense to walk toward, only streaks of holographic light that flickered between jumbles of nonsensical words and numbers. Voices rang out, their cries no different from gibberish, disingenuous platitudes. They were deceptive, and their lies frustrated her—fueling a rage that had buried itself in a dark place for as long as she’d known it. Until now.
“Aloy!”
A splatter on her armor—the threat was eliminated. Another. She heard the stuttered gasp first, then the gurgle of blood when his throat was cut. They were nothing.
“Aloy.”
The world stopped spinning, and she was met with dark, wide eyes—the intense fear in them feeding her rage for a fraction of a second when she realized she was holding Seyka against the outer wall of the palace, surrounded by four dead guards—three of them with cut throats—as she pushed the serrated sword against the throat of the woman she loved.
“S-Seyka.” Dropping the sword, she staggered backwards as Seyka looked on her in shock, rubbing her throat where the blade had pressed. “I-I don’t—I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
Rather than getting angry, which Aloy would have completely understood, Seyka lifted her hands in shallow defense to calm her. “You’re back. It’s okay, take a breath—you just, um, you took care of the guards and then well, I think you thought I might have been one of them.”
Hands shaking, Aloy gave a vehement shake of her head. “N-no. I would never. Seyka, you have to believe me—I was here, with you and then…” She hated this—not being in control of herself. Her mind a slave to whatever was going on in her head.
“I know.” Seyka spoke slowly, like she was speaking to a wounded animal she was trying to approach to help. She took Aloy’s trembling hand. “We’re going to figure this out, Aloy. I promise.” She nodded toward the open doorway behind them. “The generator is in there. We should take care of it and signal Federa. Come on.”
Letting herself be led inside, Aloy still fought to shake off the cobwebs of her missing time in the fight. These can’t just be dreams. If Nemesis could do this—make her kill people against her will, even the ones she loved—then no one was safe around her.
“You’re almost there, Aloy. Just a bit longer and you can get home to Beta and GAIA.” As uneasy as the presence of the AI living in her Focus made her, Lis’ encouragement was helpful in pushing Aloy to move on to the next task—destroying the power generator so that the rebels could invade the palace and take the city center.
There could be no more delays. They had to finish this and get to the Zenith shuttle as soon as possible. If Nemesis really was in her head, then it was only a matter of time before either it killed everyone she cared about…or she did.
Sunlight breached the translucent shade covering the window as soon as the dawn arrived, stirring Beta from her rest, and pulling her from dreams she couldn’t recall. Allowing herself a moment to wake up, she became immediately aware of a warm presence close to her. Still fast asleep, Sokorra was on her side—a rare event—and had an arm draped over Beta’s waist, the red and black patterns inked into her skin contrasting sharply against Beta’s white clothing.
A soft smile spread on Beta’s face, her face warming as she remembered their brief kissing session the night before. It had been a long, tiring, and overwhelming day—enough that she had asked Sokorra to stop if only to give her a chance to find her footing after arriving in Mainspring and meeting Erend. Not to mention she had never been that…physical with anyone. Before going to sleep she had spent at least a full minute silently cursing her limited access to the APOLLO database and her entire holo collection for not preparing her more for this.
As usual, she had no reason to worry. Despite all the stories she had heard about the Tenakth being impulsive and hard-headed, Sokorra was always incredibly patient any time it came to Beta’s comfort and well-being. When it came to anything else, however, Beta could definitely understand where some of the stories Aloy and Erend told her had originated from.
The night before, Erend had sent a message later in the evening letting Beta know he would meet them outside the tavern when they were ready. With the sun barely up, Beta figured they had some time. It had been a long journey to the Claim, and while not the longest trip she had technically taken, sleeping in the wilds had been quite a difference from her nights at the Base and even on the Odyssey. It was good to sleep in an actual bed again.
She turned over, being careful not to wake Sokorra as she faced her. She didn’t mean to just stare at her—though Beta had been finding it more difficult to not do that lately— but watching Sokorra sleep brought her a quiet peace she had not experienced much of until now. The paint on Sokorra’s face had not been reapplied in days, and parts of it had begun to smear and flake off. Beta didn’t know if she had brought any with her, or if she had been in such a hurry to get back to the Base before leaving again that she didn’t have time to get more. Her mind wandered to the night at the Base when she had used a wet cloth to remove the paint on one side of Sokorra’s face where her former squad mate Rhetta had struck her during their fight. She had found a medical scanner in the facility and modified it to read for fractures. Fortunately, Sokorra had been fine—just a bit of bruising—but it wasn’t the first time Beta found herself wondering what she looked like without the paint.
With the sun rising, Beta figured it was probably a good time to see if Sokorra wanted to get up and eat something before they met up with Erend. Being this comfortable gave her some new inspiration, however, and she swore she had seen this exact scene on Second Time Around. Or maybe it was just something she had been wanting to do—she couldn’t remember. She shifted her body so she could be closer, leaning in and silently hoping that she wouldn’t startle Sokorra as she pressed her lips against hers.
Sokorra’s eyes blinked open and to Beta’s relief, it only took a moment for the fog of sleep to leave her before she returned the kiss. Grinning, Sokorra used her draped arm as leverage to pull Beta closer to her, their bodies pressing against each other as the kiss deepened. Beta tensed at first, struggling to keep up as she fought down the voice in her head that told her she didn’t know what she was doing. This time was different, and as her arms went around Sokorra, the voice went quiet—and even their current problems couldn’t get to her right now. Sokorra seemed happy to lead, and Beta was content with following if it meant they would keep kissing.
A light push—it took her a moment to realize Sokorra was pressing harder against her, as though she was asking permission. Instinct kicked in, she yielded just enough for Sokorra to roll on top of her, the solid weight pinning her against the mattress as Sokorra continued to kiss her. While this was certainly further than they had ever gone, and her heart seemed to be racing faster than she was entirely sure she could handle, the panic didn’t emerge—she felt safe as she rested her hands on Sokorra’s back.
Sokorra broke away, moving to whisper in Beta’s ear. “Do you want to keep going?”
That she had asked made Beta even more confident in her answer. “Y-yes, just…can we go slow, please?”
Before Sokorra could answer, the Focus next to the bed chirped. It was Beta’s, and there was an incoming call. Aloy. Startled, adrenaline shot through her, and she lightly pushed Sokorra off before reaching for the device and returning it just below her temple. “Aloy? How is everything?” She let out a breath, hoping her heart would stop beating so fast so she could have a normal conversation with Aloy without being obvious about what she’d been up to. And not let her know we’re not actually at the Base anymore.
The call went well enough, though Aloy had sounded exhausted. Beta supposed being thrown into a revolution after a crash landing would leave most people tired, though. When it ended, she looked over at Sokorra, who had been quietly regarding her without accusation or judgement. “They’re going to help the rebels take the city back tonight—well, it’s night over there right now.”
Sokorra nodded. “She still thinks you’re at the Base, though?”
“Yes.” It was for the best—especially from how tired and worn down Aloy had sounded. And even if Aloy found out she had lied, she would understand. Stopping Nemesis was the priority. And apparently so is making out with your girlfriend right before infiltrating an ancient facility to find an AI that doesn’t want to be found. “I’ll tell her—I promised, remember?”
Sokorra put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay, Beta. I trust you.” She left the bed, retreating to the corner of the room where she’d put her armor and started to get ready.
With the call over and discussed, Beta’s mind returned to what they had been doing before they were interrupted. “Sokorra, about earlier…” She wasn’t even sure what she wanted to say about it—but not talking about it at all didn’t feel right.
Sokorra laughed quietly, fastening the final piece of her armor to her wrist and securing it in place. “Don’t worry. Let’s take care of this VAST SILVER friend of yours, first. Come on, I’ll help you with yours. Then we can see what kind of food these dirt diggers serve here.”