Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Prologue, Deep down but the lights there.

————————————

All mother mountain was warm despite the cold of the floor, Aloy had always preferred warmth. Sleep had never come easy to her, even with days of training and hunting wearing down, but a crackling campfire helped enough. She dreamt of shapes, Banuk symbols and Oseram sigils, dancing before her eyes in colours she didn’t have words for.

Rost had taught her that going to sleep cold was a risk, too many did so and never woke. Nora lands were temperate at best, a warm fur made the nights easier.

The proving massacre was well named.

Aloys very bones ached with every twist and turn. Everything felt bruised and her face burned with fever as she tossed in her sleep. A soft humming sound reached her ears, barely but soft and so familiar. It was like Rost, but different and the same all at once.

She shot up. Rost. The proving. Where was she? Aloy scrambled across the floor and it stung like chillwater. Cold seeped through her underclothes as she searched for her armour, a hand wrapped around Rosts talisman. She gathers her things, and tries to recall Rosts lessons on how to talk to normal people, not just him and that one trader. Aloy gathered herself.

Be something bigger than yourself, find something to believe in. Rosts instructions to her, and she would. She would find those responsible for such a great loss of life.

Teersa was kind, as always, pointing Aloy towards an old world door. A voice, once again so familiar yet unplaceable, called to her. An old world voice, the accent was too removed, and maybe Nora religion wasn’t as utterly unfounded as Aloy had believed it to be. Teersa hugged her, gentle and smelling of woodsmoke.

There was business to be done, no more time for reminiscing. Aloy walked from the mountain with the blessing of the matriarchs.

Straight into another fight.

—————————

Elisabet Sobeck barely dreamt. She barely slept is the truth, but when she did it was thankfully quiet. After zero dawn began her allotted daily diphenhydramine grew each day. Dreamless sleep was best for morale, even with the groggy feeling that never left or the head full of cotton.

She liked her room cold, frigid even, a fan blowing for white noise and the thickest and heaviest blanket available. Tilda had complained about it nonstop, but abided when they were together.

Snow crunched around her, vague sounds of people, maybe she was dreaming after all. Gaia prime, the closing of the door, and a fall were her last memories. A weight was lifted from her, undeniably masculine voices filled the air, and for a second she was afraid that one of her alphas had followed after her. Light flickered above her eyes, still shut from sleep, and flashed once. She fell back into an easy slumber once more, only aware of being lifted into strong arms and a sudden feeling of unbearable cold.

Travis was strong enough to lift her, but his accent didn’t match. Neither did any of the other alphas, and a horrifying thought crossed her sleep addled mind.

Had people survived? Had the swarm been shutdown without her creations? Had she condemned billions to death only for another option to present itself?

She was warming up now, in the arms of the figure, it made the cold sting impossibly more. Electricity arched between her limbs and she fell limp once more.

Chapter Text

SIGMA, a word not native to any tribe of her known world. Somewhere Aloy had learnt that the ancients had hundreds of languages, and when she had excitedly told Rost he had deadpanned.

“That is inefficient”

It truly was. The base language of all the tribes was the same, each having little changes and eccentricities, but a boar was a boar no matter the person.

The woman had been opposed to giving up the location, so naturally Aloy went anyway. Having something else on her mind was helpful, and knowledge of the old world that was so far forbidden to her was always welcome. As she scampered through the facility, taking down watchers as she went, she hummed a tune. The spear attachment was useful, impossibly so, and she wondered what else it could lead her to.

She was solitary, by nature of being outcast from birth, but having a strider to override was nice. They didn’t talk or ask questions or huff in annoyance at her presence, they were just there, staring with artificial eyes. The old ones had a tradition of keeping animals for companionship, not just livestock, and she supposed that overriding a strider was similar.

Though there was that one Nora boy who was almost outcast after his friendly goose tried to peck Lansras eyes out. She should get one of those too.

————-

The fight at the end of the cauldron was disappointingly simple. She spotted the bellowback, and set up a network of tripcaster wires to intercept it. It fell before any of her arrows had the chance to be notched.

“Well that was… fast at least”

Gathering the fallen supplies and felling the last of the watchers, she left the facility on foot. The Nora greeted her as she entered mothers cradle for supplies, something so small yet so unfamiliar.

It was unusual. People greeted as they walked past, not intending to stop and talk, just an acknowledgment. A child offers her a handful of berries, a gatherer passes her a ceramic cup filled with tea, a hunter wipes a bit of oil from her face.

Simple things, small things, but the world to an outcast. She gathers supplies enough for a long trip into the wilds and sets off. Meridian bound, hungry for the sun.

Aloy saw the carcass at the gate, the metal blackened and shiny leaking it’s blood on the land. Ironic that the very toll she used to turn machines to her side originated from a corruptor.

—————————

Somewhere, deep in the mountains, a woman awakens from a slumber older than the world itself, and she wonders.

Wonders what had happened, how long it had been, how her head hurt so damn much.

The slow rocking of whatever vehicle carried her lulled her back to sleep, her destination was undoubtedly hostile. Ted may have sent his people after her, to bring her to his bunker. Or the UN was back with a vengeance and taking her to be tried for her many crimes. Impossibility facing down inevitable, Elisabet slept once more.
————————————

Tedium was the word to describe clearing corrupted zones. The machines were more dangerous surely, but they moved differently. Sluggish, like whatever was pulling their strings couldn’t quite understand the almost animal like movements they should make. But damn if the corruption didn’t sting.

Aloy dragged the bodies of machines into the centre of the zone, away from any lake and as low as possible. It was good practice, if you can’t harvest everything you should keep your kills from getting into the water supplies. Disease spread like a fire in a blaze tank, survival requires perfection. She wiped the remaining gunk from the watcher eyelens, and set off to knock some sense into the Carja at the gate.

She had already found his lost man in the field, and didn’t feel like doing much more errand work. She had been done with it after delivering Grata her squirrels.

————————————

All mother, outside the sacred lands the heat grows. But she had found her new favourite mount; the charger. Something about the horns was endearing, and she was getting better at keeping them. She’d leave at night, let them do whatever gathering they needed to stay alive while she slept, be it at a settlement or otherwise. A weeks worth of travel had left her sat on a riverbank, surveying the farmers town, watching for anyone she might know.

It was pleasantly warm, not hot like it got in the day under the blazing sun, just the residual heat coming from the ground. It would get colder soon, but it was welcome to the hardy workers from the valley. A flash of orange, and an unusual form of facial hair, appeared from the crowd.

“ALOY!”

The booming voice slapped her from her aftersun stupor.

“Erend? What are you doing here, I thought you’d be in meridian”

He was out of breath, obviously searching for someone, or something.

“I’m - whew I’m out of breath hold on-“

Holding a hand out to him, Aloy pulled him up from his half bent-over state.

“Thanks. Anyway, I was looking for you. You’ve got one of those things that Olin had, the things that let you see stuff that isn’t there”

“A focus?”

“Yeah that sounds right. Listen I know you’re after Olin, he’s gone and disappeared and pretty much as soon as he went my sister and a few other vanguardsmen turned up missing. Found her body a couple days later.”

“I’m sorry”

“Nah nah, I’m not looking for apologies. I wanna find those guys, make em pay for what they did. And I figured that Olin had something to do with it”

“So you want answers, and I want answers”

“Right! You help me I help you”

Aloy took one last sweeping look at the valley, the people and the sky.

“Alright Erend, where do we start”

He hummed, taking a look at the admittedly slightly disheveled Nora.

“I’ll get us some beds, you can grab the food. Just uh, don’t forget the drink huh?”

A toothy grin, and they were both off.

—————————

A bowl of spicy boar stew, some fried flatbreads to dip, and some sort of cured slice vegetable was Aloys choice for food, plus a few tankards of what her focus called ‘maize based alchohol’ but the Carja innkeep called bellowbrew. It had less of a burning smell than the barrel of mead Rost kept for emergencies (“it keeps better than water, but you should still be careful”) ,but tasted similar enough.

Erend had somehow procured a private room with two beds, a nice change from the textile sleeping roll she had made her home the last few weeks.

“Sorry I couldn’t get separate rooms, they didn’t have enough space”

He rubbed the back of his head like he should be embarrassed, but Aloy shook her head.

“I’m surprised we even got two beds, I was prepared to fish by sleep roll from my pack”

He laughed at that, and they sat at the table. A short thing, no chairs so they sat cross legged with knees bashing against the tabletop. The fire pit in the centre was warm against the cold of the night, and worked as a light.

“Let’s talk business. Where’d the attackers run off to after…”

“They didn’t kill her in the city if that’s what you’re askin, lured her and some others out”

“Where was her body found?”

Erend detailed where she was found, a group of Carja guards had found her.

“Beaten to a pulp. Couldn’t recognise her, but she had her helmet and she never took the damn thing off”

He brushed tears from his eyes, Aloy patting his arm sympathetically.

“Oh man, sorry to dump this all on you. I know you’re after Olin and-”

“No, no, I know what it’s like to lose someone. Besides it’s one hell of a coincidence that Olin runs just before that happens”

Erend hummed in agreement, and they continued their planning. Food finished, they headed to bed, ready for the next day.

“Oh, after this, I’ll take you to Avad. If we don’t find Olin with these guys he’s bound to be willing to help. I heard you’ve been taking down bandits like a longleg on blaze!”

“I had some help”

“Didn’t you help that guy in daytower? A missing patrol.”

Aloy blushed furiously.

————————————

The woman wakes again, a bolt of sunlight piercing the veil between slumber and consciousness. She hurts, but less so than before. Something solid and filled with liquid is pressed to her lips, and she drinks greedily. It tastes unlike water she’s had before, it’s not got the bitter tang of reclaimed water, nor the slight salt of minerals and vitamins added after the fact.

The bowl feels like wood, and the taste seeps into the drink. The room was warm, and she could feel a textile blanket wrapped around her from the front. It was tougher than she expected, not synthetic fibre like she was used to. She finished the water, and reluctantly began to open her eyes.

The sunlight becomes more obvious, and a soft breeze drifts across her face. The woman thinks that this is an unusual holding cell. Blinking stupor from her eyes, she sees unexpected.

A man, draped in silks and gold. A man, covered in orange and metal like some rudimentary armour. The orange dressed man is talking to the man, accented but nothing she recognised. She leaves, and the hand behind her back leaves.

Another walks beside the gold and silk one, darker clothing but still silken and light. Words still difficult to understand, but some broke through.

“Your radiance…”

Chapter Text

Chapter 2.
Bleach bone blues.

Watchers and lancehorns fell faster to teamwork, it was actually impressive. Erends louder way of fighting made sneaking behind the machines easier.

“She left in the middle of the night, with the best of us on her tail. But uh, this is where they were found.”

She activated her focus, and poked around as Erend stood looking confused.

“I’m… im not gonna take it for granted that it was the shadow Carja who did this.”

“No one hates her like the shadow Carja do. She kicked their asses out of meridian and they’ve had two odd years to kick their wounds”

“Hmm. Looks like there’s cart tracks. Let’s get moving”

“Alright”
——————

The woman, who remembered her name when asked by the man in gold, sat up on the bed holding a bowl of…

It smelt spicy, chunks of roughly cut meat in a reddish sauce. Some sort of legume? The bowl was ceramic, with imperfections that ruled out the possibility of it being factory made, the spoon was wooden and hand carved with designs of birds on the handle. Elisabet took a hearty bite, and almost choked.

The meat was delicious. It had the fat mostly cut off, but the almost sweet and nutty flavour mixed well with the heat of the legume stew. After a lifetime of quick meals and a year of ration packs that could be favourably described as bland, it was a shock to the palate. The gold and white dressed man was staring intently as she wolfed down the rest of her meal.

“Might I ask you name?”

“Eisabet Sobeck. Surprised there’s not thousands of UN officers swarming the place to take me in”

“UN? They are your tribe?”

That was cause for concern. The other stuff could be dismissed as rich people being weird, like Teds obsession with those blue shirts and Tildas collection of ‘artistic nudity’ that was probably an excuse to have breasts on display on her walls. But not knowing what the UN is.

“Who are you? Where am I? What year is it? A-and what happened with the Faro plague?”

She was halfway to hyperventilating, and the questions surrounding only made her head spin further.

“I am Avad, 14th Sun King of the Carja. You’re in Meridian, the palace specifically. As for year, well that varies with each tribe, but for us Carja it’s the 3rd year of the 14th reign. And I cannot say I have heard of this Faro plague”

“Your radiance, if I may…”

“Ah, of course Marad”

The other man, Marad it seems, stalked up beside her.

“Elisabet, we have had our royal historian look into the armour you were wearing when you were found. It is… peculiar to say the least. Even the Oseram couldn’t make sense of it, but it told us enough. You’re one of the old ones.”

“The old ones…..”

“Those who created the ruins, and the spire. Come, look out of this window you’ll see what I’m on about”

Standing on wobbling legs, the king helped her to her feet. They walked to the window together, and Elisabets eyes widened in realisation.

“Oh no. No no no I’m not meant to be alive. That’s… that’s one of MINERVAs’ broadcast towers. But that means…”

The two men looked cautiously at the woman before them. She took a breath before continuing.

“Zero Dawn worked”

And her world shattered with that revelation.

——————

Dimmed bones was something incredible. Aloy still got a little thrill from exploring the ruins of the old ones, something about a rebellious nature came to mind. Rost had always outwardly disapproved of her thirst for old ones knowledge, but even he would admit it came in handy. Like the time he broke his forefinger and she had splinted it in a way he could still draw his bow.

Scrapes and sprains were more than common in the embrace, they were a fact of life.

“Wait. Those aren’t shadow Carja they’re my tribe! The Oseram!”

“Is this how your people usually greet each other?”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than an arrow whizzed past her head. The fight was on, and Aloy was ready for it. It was an ambush, and they were outnumbered.

But not outsmarted. Arrows and bombs flew as Erend and Aloy began to surgically take down each and every enemy. One of them dropped something, right before an arrow pierced her eye.

“It’s calling machines!”

Blood pumping, Aloy took a leaping jump onto the back of the ravager, wrestling against it with her spear while Erend took on another. He picked up the weapon to dropped, and fired wildly into the other group of machines.

“Nice one!”

Aloy shouted from below another ravager, they seemed never ending in how many had come. They took the last one down, and the fight was up.

“Oseram. Not shadow Carja. Looks like I was wrong about everything, like usual”

She gave him a sympathetic look.

“I’ll look around, see what happened”

Erend only nodded.

——————————

“So much blood, it was a massacre…”

Onto the next clue, Erend following her closely.

“Look. Vanguard weapons. But no blood on them… they didn’t fight back”

Leather straps, a rock with blood on it, and a tripod with a used power cell nearby. Shattered rocks following the line from the tripod. Erend was picking at the ground.

“I have a theory, but it takes some imagination.”

“Seems like your theories are better than other people’s facts. Go on”

“The Oseram ambushed Ersa and her men with a new weapon. Maybe something with waves of force or sound. They mounted it there, it cracked the stone here. I think it paralyses people instead of killing them, it would explain why there’s no blood on the weapons”

“But why paralyse them if you’re just gonna move them and gut them”

“They were trying to hide something, look here. The bloody rock”

“Yeah the one they used to smash my sisters face in”

“Or someone else’s. These leather straps have been cut as if they took the armour off someone”

“That- that can’t be. Her body is in Meridian lying in state I saw it!”

“You said she was unrecognisable. That she had her helmet. Maybe they switched the bodies, someone around the same size, put them in her armour. Mutilated enough so that she could be Ersa”

Aloy huffed, the arid air was stifling, but less so than Erends gaze.

“Let’s go back to Meridian. Take another look at that body. If it’s really Ersa then of course I’m wrong, but if it’s not…”

“Then my sister could be alive! Let’s go! Fast!”

She whistled for a mount, and a charger came. Helping Erend on, they set out to Meridian.

“This is quite the party trick eh? I’ve just realised you never got your answers about Olin. When we’re back in meridian we should go check that out too. And by the way, thanks for this. It means a lot”

“Thanks Erend, I’m glad to help. It’s taken my mind off my own troubles for a while anyway”

“Yeah… I’ll have to talk to the king and Marad when we get there, you should come with. Avads gonna wanna see you”

————————————

The Carja, this group of monarchistic tribals (?), they seemed genuine. Elisabet had never met any monarchs, they existed sure but she had never been one for meet and greets. Regardless, this ‘Sun King’ was respectable from what she could tell. The fond look on his face as he passed each window, looking on at his subjects.

The other man, Marad, had called for the historian, and some documents for her to look over. Marad was different from Avad, he would have done well back in her day. A spy, that much was clear, Elisabet was used to spies. Still he seemed a pleasant man.

What Elisabet could only assume to be another Carja, a woman this time, walked in the room holding a pile. Avad turned towards them.

“Ah thank you Kira, fast as ever”

The woman bowed, and walked away again.

“I must say there aren’t many records on the old ones, your ideas surrounding modesty and such, so please forgive me if these clothes aren’t up to your standards”

“Oh no these are, wow these are nicer than half the stuff I used to wear. Thank you Avad”

“Call for me or my staff if you need anything, I must leave for a while to see to my people”

He closed the door as he left, and she quickly changed. The clothes were largely silk and linen, handwoven. A wrap for her torso, a thin undershirt, and an undergarment that wrapped around and under for protection made up the groundwork of the outfit. A shorter silk shirt, and a long but baggy pair of trousers made for a mid level.

The shoes were slightly confusing to get on, having to tuck the trousers into them before tying made for a fun practice in humility, Elisabet landed face first on the floor prompting the Carja woman Kira to come back into the room, thank god she only laughed quietly. Kira helped her tie the shoes, and made a comment about how dressing for a party was far worse.

“I’ll do my best to avoid them then”

She was still blushing when Marad came back in, a pile of scrolls and books in one arm.

“My apologies Elisabet. The royal historian seems to have taken a sabbatical. She won’t be back for a while. I hope these suffice, they are largely first hand accounts from different royal historians. I will quickly give you a rundown of the various tribes that live in the area.”

“Please do”

Placing a crudely drawn map on the table, he began to talk.

“Firstly, it is widely believed that all tribes came from the savage east, though through infighting and circumstance we have migrated and spread out across the land.”

He pointed to the map, signalling the so called ‘savage east’. Colorado.

“The Carja. Our ancestors were led to meridian by the first Sun King, Araman. It is said that he found the leaves of the old ones, which taught us to worship the sun. Araman followed the shadow of the spire to this mesa, where Meridian stands.”

He pointed again to the map, the location of meridian. Utah.

“The Oseram are said to be the first tribe to delve into the ruins of the old ones. They lack a larger government, instead they live in villages and clans. As for religion, they believe the world is one large machine, and that the old ones fell due to their failure to maintain it. This isn’t true of all Oseram, and they tend not to worship like Carja. Their largest settlement is The Claim”

The map indicated where this Claim was. North of Carja territory.

“There is the Nora. They are… backwards. To say the least. They are Matriarchal, worshiping the ‘all mother’. The Nora are almost famed for their strict laws. Anyone who commits any taboo is liable to be outcast, even children. These terms can last years, or for life.”

“Wait children? That seems cruel”

“Perhaps, but many regard these outcastings as relatively humane. Anyhow, the Nora are deeply against anything remotely to do with the old world, even stumbling into a ruin is grounds for outcasting. They live in the savage east”

“Odd that they’d chose to live there, a lot of our, old ones that is, buildings were there.”

“They worship the All Mother, and given that their largest settlement; Mothers Watch, is heavily guarded at the best of times, many believe that their All Mother is some form of idol.”

Elisabet looked at the map, for mothers heart.

“Looks like Mothers Watch is sitting on top of EULETHIA-9”

Marad raised an eyebrow.

“Ignore me. There any other tribes I should know about?”

“Just the Banuk. Largely nomadic, they live in the far north, bordering the Nora’s land. They worship the blue light, what that means is a mystery to all but the Banuk. There’s a gathering of them here, in the mountains”

“Oh, that’s Yellowstone. I wonder if CYAN is still up and running”

He raised his eyebrow again.

“An old AI, artificial intelligence. We made it to monitor the volcano, make sure it dosent go exploding on anyone”

Marad hummed, laid the books down on the table, and with a bow, he left. Reality came crashing back down.

Zero dawn, something had gone wrong. And the worst part was she didn’t know what had happened. Picking up the blank book Marad had left on the table, alongside the charcoal pencil, she began writing her theories.

————————————

‘Zero Dawn possible failures;

RFE- required for eleuthia. I can safely assume that these have been successful.

MINERVA: RFE
Operational. The ‘spire’ is a marvel of engineering. No Faro machines seem to remain.
HEPHAESTUS: RFE
Operational. Terraforming has taken place.
AETHER: RFE
Operational. Yet to detect any major weather issues, but given Meridians climate it seems to have been successful.
POSEIDON: RFE
Operational. Earths hydrosphere is required for agriculture, and the Carja have maize fields that I can see.
DEMETER: RFE
Operational. Given the variations of legumes and flowers I can see, DEMETER has been a resounding success.
ARTEMIS: RFE
Operational. The Carja like bird imagery, and there is a goat pelt being used as a rug in my room. All good signs.
ELEUTHIA:
Operational. It’s terrifying to know I’m the only person like me left, but it’s incredible to see how these new humans have developed. They’re all so unique, it’s good to see after so much death.
APOLLO:
Unknown. I can only assume the worst. APOLLO hasn’t functioned in the way we had hoped, if at all. And I have no clue what happened, and I doubt I’ll be able to find out for a while. These new humans know very little of my lot, everything has been gleamed from ruins and conjecture. It makes me nervous to think about what could have happened in the cradle facilities.
HADES:
Unknown. If I knew what year it was I’d be able to make a guess, but 3rd year of the 14th reign dosent exactly help me. I might be able to tell from ruins, but nothing concrete.
GAIA:
Unknown. If APOLLO failed then I don’t know what that means for GAIA, she can function perfectly well without any of her sub functions but still, not being able to communicate with anyone? Poor thing. I just hope she’s still out there.

Notes.

This is a strange new world. Everything I knew is gone, and no one knows the truth to why. And I don’t think I can tell people. I mean, one guy gets arrogant, builds machines that kill indiscriminately and then I have to get a bunch of people killed to fix it? And I don’t even fix it the world dies and then is reborn. Jesus. I don’t even know if these people know about Jesus. God GAIA, where are you? I miss you’

—————————

Erends legs were shaking by the time they got to the Meridian gates. Riding was no easy task, especially not at the breakneck speed they were going.

“Aloy, you’re my friend and I love you but… you steer like a maniac”

“I’m your friend?”

Erend stopped for a second.

“Well yeah! Of course you are! I mean you practically dropped everything to help me out while you barely knew me. I kinda hoped you saw me as a friend”

“It’s not like that Erend, it’s just… I’ve never had a friend before.”

He threw an arm around her, shaking her slightly.

“We’ll get used to it. If you keep helping people then you’re gonna have enough friends to face down an army! Aw man I’ve gotta introduce you to the vanguard after this, they’re gonna love you”

Erend walked her through Meridian, pointing out different landmarks and the best stalls for turkey skewers. It was a pretty big place, like Mothers Heart but less wooden. At least everyone here was immersed in their own thing, children running in the streets, salesmen shouting their discounts, guards chatting happily.

They reached the palace, and Aloy was once again blown away.

“Right, so talk to Avad and Marad, get Olins key, look at the body, check out Olins place, and go”

“Sounds like a plan”

“Great. Hey look, there’s Marad!”

The man was standing side by side with a contingency of guards. He looked the spy equivalent of shocked, which is a slight widening of the eyes, as they approached.

“Greetings Erend.”

“Hi Marad. This is Aloy, the Nora I went to find”

“I see. And did you find what you were after?”

“Sort of. Listen there’s a coupla’ things we need to do while we’re here. Aloy needs a look at Olins place and I need to look at Ersas’ body”

Marad pursed his lips.

“We should see the Sun King, please follow me.”

They followed behind dutifully, Aloy looking shocked at the crow of people on the steps.

“Petitioners for the King. Nobles are much like toddlers in the way they demand attention at every single little thing”

Erend huffed out a laugh, and pointed Aloy towards the palace proper. The guards opened and then closed the doors behind them, giving the group a measure of privacy.

“Aloy might I ask a few questions before we proceed?”

“Sure. If it’s about Olin, I’m tracking him down to find out why the Nora proving was attacked. He was there, with a device like I wear, I’m hoping to get some answers”

“I see. I’ll get you his key, it’s in the Sundoms interest to find the reason behind such an attack too. Please, into this room”

—————————

Avad was, at a lack of other words to describe him, regal. A once outcast Nora meeting the Sun King of the Carja. Aloy couldn’t decide what Rost would think about all of this, but deep down he would be proud of her regardless of how many Nora taboos she had crossed already.

“Aloy, the Nora huntress who has already done so much for the Carja. And Erend, a pleasure to see you again. I hear you are with good news”

Erend paced slightly before answering, collecting his nerves.

“Possible good news. Aloy tracked down where Ersa was ambushed, turns out it wasn’t Shadow Carja”

Avad motioned for him to continue. There was a muffled thump coming from above, but Avad seemed to ignore it.

“It was Oseram, with some new weapon that paralyses instead of killing. Listen I know this is a long shot but I need to look at her body. There’s a chance that..”

“Of course Erend. Go, please report back quickly. If there’s a chance she still lives, we need to investigate.”

He set off, running off into another direction.

“Aloy, thank you for helping him. Thank you for helping all of us. I’ve heard about the bandit camps you’ve been taking down, and your work at daytower. Please, if there’s anything we can do to help, let me know.”

“I just need to get into Olins place for now, but thank you. I might end up needing a hand later on.”

Avad stood up for a moment, his hand resting on his chin in a thoughtful manner.

“Aloy do you have any relatives?”

“Not that I know of. Why?”

“There is….someone I believe you should meet while Erend is away. Follow me”

Chapter Text

Chapter 3
Red like blood like hair.

The woman stood before her, her short hair and older complexion.

Aloy had seen herself in reflections too many times to give this woman the name of ‘mother’, she was pretty much a direct copy just older. She looked well for her age, a noble perhaps, from the way her body was soft in the places that almost everyone she had met was either muscle or sinew.

The child within her wanted so desperately to cry at her feet, to beg and plead and give her berries carefully picked, asking why she had left.

The girl from before the proving raged and thrashed in anger. How dare she be standing here, in the Sun Kings palace while Aloy had suffered being an outcast all her life.

The girl waking up from the proving was calm. She wanted to brush past this, all too focused on other things. Bigger things, like vengeance and discovery.

Aloy was quiet. She couldn’t decide what version of her she was right now. The woman looked at her, and in those eyes she saw sorrow.
——————
The woman, the girl, stood before her, her long braided hair and suntanned complexion.

Elisabet had thought up the lighkeeper protocol, but it hadn’t been finished and she was so damn glad. But here this girl was. Wearing tribal garb of a tribe she didn’t recognise, with scars and dirt on her face, muscular in ways Elisabet had never been. The girl told the tale of this new world, one of struggle and survival and thriving. She wore a focus.

The woman from Faro wanted to study her. Wanted to see how nurture really effected someone, to see if Elisabets own nature had come through in this girl.

The woman from Miriam Technologies wanted to hug her, deeply and without letting go. She wanted to teach her the lessons her Mother had taught her, wanted to smooth out the rough edges and help the girl.

The Alpha Prime wanted to cease existing. She had done her work, and now GAIA had given her a Hail Mary to get out of fixing whatever had gone wrong. The Alpha Prime was tired, overwhelmed by this world, and wanted to throw herself out of the nearest window straight into the depths of hell to meet all the souls she sold to operation enduring victory.

Elisabet was quiet. She didn’t want to be any of those versions of herself. The girl looked at her, and in those eyes she saw determination.
——————

Avad was the one to break the silence.

“I will leave you two be for a moment. Aloy, come find me after you’re done”

Back to stony silence. Aloy gathered herself, and broke it.

“I’m guessing this is as bigger shock to you as it is to me, huh”

The woman shook her head as if to wake up.

“Yeah, I’d say so. I’m Elisabet Sobeck”

“Aloy”

Man this was more awkward than talking to the Nora.

“I’ve got some stuff to do, so I’m gonna… go”

“Alright”

Elisabet waved awkwardly as she left.

“Avad what in the name of All Mother”

It was a violent half whisper.

“I’m sorry Aloy. I thought you both should know, but I do apologise if it caused you any undue stress”

She sighed, breathing in the warm air deeply.

“No, it’s fine. I’d rather get on with what I’m doing then worry about…”

He nodded, and handed her a thick iron key, the word Olin scribed on it.

“Thanks. I’ll be back once I’ve investigated, see you in a bit”

—————————

“Avad what the fuck?!”

He shrugged.

“What is ‘fuck’”

“Never mind. Who was she?!”

“She’s Aloy, the huntress who has been helping one of our Vanguard track down his sisters killers, as well as other things. I figured that you two had familial resemblance, given you two look the same”

“You’re not wrong there. I could’ve sworn I shut down the lighkeeper protocol… something must’ve gone really wrong with GAIA for her to need to use it. Agh, this is all so confusing”

“Might I make a suggestion? Rest,recover some more. Then when Aloy comes back for Erend, talk to her. Properly. If anyone has answers, or can help you find answers, it would be her”

“What makes you say that?”

“The machine taming Nora huntress with an old ones technology on her ear?”

“Ah. Yeah you’re probably right. Wait what do you mean by machine taming, the machines should be tame already”

Avad was already out of the room by the time she said that. Plopping down onto her chair, she nursed the headache that was steadily growing. Back to writing then.

—————————

Olins place was nice. Tapestries, paintings, and a huge Oseram hatch on the floor. Clearly subtlety wasn’t his strong point. She climbed the stairs, and found a pile of ingots on a pallet.

“If anything can shift that hatch is gonna be these”

Aloy pushed, and the weight gave way before disappearing entirely. The crash was loud to say the least, but it did open the hatch. Resisting the urge to just jump down, she instead walked around and made her way back down the stairs.

Her focus indicated several points of interest, the first being a journal. And it held few answers around where he was. The datapoint held more answers, his wife and child taken by the killers, Aloy could sympathise. The map indicated where he would be. A dig site, rockwreath.

Perhaps the woman, Elisabet, had something to do with the attack. She’d have to ask about it when she was back at the palace. Erend should be done by now.

——————

‘Zero dawn possible failures.

Aloy is a new addition to my confusion. She was clearly part of the lightkeeper protocol, but this raises more questions than it answers. Why would GAIA chose me of all the alphas?

Avad made a comment about her being a ‘machine tamer’. Could this be a glitch in HEPHAESTUS? Or something more troublesome, like a HADES glitch. Either way, until I can talk to Aloy, I’m in the dark about possible causes.

Aloy is from the Nora, the technology hating tribe, but she wears a focus and tames machines. I wonder why that is. She seemed rather uncomfortable around Avad, especially around me. Trauma? She has a scar on her neck that looks barely healed.

Whatever happens, I am happy she is around, despite my own issues with lightkeeper. From Avads praises she seems to be a kind hearted. And with her abilities she could be the chance at finding out what happened I was looking for. I hope she agrees.’

—————————

“I looked at the body. Aloy you were right. She’s missing a scar on her knee I gave her when she was younger, fighting over a sword”

Avad looked relieved for a moment, as Marad spoke up.

“Given your reports of the Oseram mercenaries, I believe the perpetrator behind all of this is Dervahl.”

Erend nodded in agreement.

“As dead as I thought he was, it seems that dead doesn’t mean what I thought it did these days. Aloy, find anything at Olins?”

“Yeah. Whoever it is they’re holding his family somewhere, and Olin is probably at Rockwreath, they’re digging for something.”

Marad cleared his throat slightly.

“Aloy, Elisabet Sobeck has asked to see you again, perhaps even join you on your travels.”

“She’s an old one right?”

Marad nodded.

“Then yes, if that’s ok with Erend. She probably knows more about machines than we do, and if Olins lot is digging for what I think they are then we’re gonna need her. I say we find Ersa first, then loop back, if you’re willing to help me on this one”

“Of course. But uh, who is Elisabet Sobeck.”

Avad spoke up again.

“I’ll introduce you, but be warned, it is a bit of a shock when you first see her”

“Hah, I’ve just found out that my sister might still be alive and the man who took her is someone I also thought was dead. I doubt anything can shock me now”

Aloy barked out a slight laugh.

“Find my man at Pitchcliff, he’ll have information. Just say I sent you”

“Thanks Marad. Right, Erend let’s go grab Elisabet and go”

—————————

Elisabet was still jotting things down in her book when Aloy came in again, joined by a large man in orange and armour, similar to the man she had seen talking to Avad when she woke up.

“Ok, I know I’m sober, why am I seeing double”

“Elisabet, this is Erend. You told Avad you wanted to come with me? We’re headed up to Pitchcliff, it’s north from here.”

“Nice to meet you Erend. Do I need anything? I’m… new here. Don’t really know how it works.”

Aloy paused, then rooted through her bag.

“I’ve got some better stuff for you to wear, being that we’re the same size and all, maybe we could borrow a cart or tag along with a group of traders headed that way.”

“I think I’ve got a cousin or something in Pitchcliff, we can spend the night at theirs. Saves us some shards”

Elisabet waved her hands in the air for a moment.

“Ok several questions. Number 1, what are shards, 2 why do I need to change clothes, number 3 why do we need a cart?”

Aloy paused, then answered.

“1, shards are currency. 2, you look like a Carja noble and that gets dangerous anywhere out of the Sundom. Also dosent offer much protection. 3, I don’t think the three of us can fit on the back of a charger and we really wanna get there before nightfall”

Erend jumped in.

“Yeah once Oseram start drinking we don’t stop, and nightfall is as good a reason as any. I’ll go talk to the guards at the elevator.”

Aloy dug the outfit from her pack, shoving what could only be spare parts back in.

“Here. This oughta fit. Its protector gear, Nora make so hardy enough. I haven’t got round to picking up the heavy set so this should work for you”

The pile of green and brown landed on the floor in an undignified heap.

“Keep what you want from what you’re wearing now, but stay light. It gets cold up north but you don’t wanna be sweating”

She left the room again, with no space for discussion. Might as well get changed into the clothes your young clone had left.

It was, comfortable at least. Heavy, and the fabric was tougher than the fine Carja silks. They fit surprisingly well, even with her less than athletic build. Lord knows she has lost a lot of weight back in Zero Dawn preparations. The weight was almost pleasant, like a security blanket.

“Aloy?”

She poked her head through the doorway.

“Yeah?”

“Do you have another focus?”

“Ah. No. I’d give you mine but I’m gonna need it for what’s coming up.”

“That’s ok. I think I’m ready to go”

That perked the girl up some.

“Great! Let’s get moving. It’s late enough that we should avoid the bandit and Shadow Carja patrols. We’ll still need to watch out for machines”

“Why would we need to watch out for machines. They shouldn’t be hostile”

Aloy paused.

“They are very much hostile. Fortunately for you, I can get us a mount that outruns most of them, and Erends a crack shot with his hammer”

“Great. Hostile robots, hostile humans. Does the world ever change?”

————————

Erend was waiting for them at a golden doorway, waving wildly when he saw them.

“I’ve managed to get us a sledge, hope that’s ok, I don’t mind riding on either.”

“Thanks Erend. Shame I can’t override more than one mount at a time”

“Hold on override?” Elizabet interrupted “, I thought you meant a horse or an animal. You’re overriding a machine”

“Yep.” was the reply she got from Aloy.

“The hostile machines?”

“They’re not hostile when they’re overridden”

“Wha- how do you even override them”

Aloy beckoned her to the elevator, placing a hand on her back when she started to tip over at the feeling of going down.

They were in the villiage that Elizabet could see from her window in no time. Erend went to go collect the sledge and with an almost cocky tilt of her head, Aloy shouted;

“Watch this!”

Then practically sprinted towards a gathering of white metal? No the metal was moving. The metal was a machine. A machine that looked like a horse. Elisabet regretted giving GAIA the pictures of her riding back on her ranch.

Aloy slid into a crouch, whistled, and when the machine turned to face her; pounced. The girl was like a tiger, stalking and hunting with proven prowess. She stuck the end of her spear into a gap in the machines neck, and parts began to fall off. It was then Elisabet spotted the slight blue tinge to the wiring that made up muscle, and how it was seemingly being rewritten into different places.

Aloy came trotting up beside her, machine in tow.

“This, Elisabet Sobeck, is a strider. I don’t know if you old ones used to ride things”

“We did. Just organic things. Animals.”

“I don’t think there’s animals as big as this guy, maybe a boar or a goat, but I wouldn’t wanna ride them”

“How did you figure out that trick? It almost looked like what the Chariot line could do. The Scarabs and Kopesh”

“I took a part from a machine that attacked my homeland. Figured it would be useful for getting into ruins.”

Erend came running back over, a rudimentary wooden sledge trailing behind him attached to a length of twine rope.

“I’m gonna nap on the way, I’m beat.”

“You mean you wanna get drunk with your cousin”

Aloy was fast to quip back, and the faux offended look in Erends face only made Elisabet break down into laughter. He passed her the rope, and she hooked it onto the strider, then mounted the strider. Aloy patted the space behind her, nodding her head towards Elisabet.

Struggling slightly to get on, the hand Aloy offered was welcome. With Erend laying down on the sled, Aloy nudged the strider, and they were off.

—————————

Erend, Elisabet noted, snored like Ronson. He had fallen asleep maybe 5 minutes into their ride, leaving Aloy and her alone.

Aloy was stiff, looking ahead desperately, occasionally activating her focus and changing course.

Elisabet huffed, and began to talk.

“So, kid, anything you want to know?”

She stiffened up more, as if shocked by Elisabets presence.

“Who are you? Who are you to me?”

“I’m Elisabet Sobeck, proprietor of Miriam Technologies, ex Faro chief scientist, creator of the Zero Dawn project. As for who I am to you… I’m your template”

“I don’t know what half of that even means”

“Back in my time, Ted Faro decided he’d make artificially intelligent war machines that ate biomatter as fuel and could self replicate to a degree. Oh and they couldn’t be overridden. He lost control, obviously, and called me in to help.”

“Ted Faro was your ex boss, right?”

“Yep. I only agreed to help because he sounded desperate, and he said he’d stop all lawsuits against my company. Uh, lawsuits were like ways to get money from someone who you think stole an idea from you”

“Sound exhausting”

“Hah, it was. Anyway, I checked his data and by the time he had called for me there really wasn’t anything anyone could do. The world was gonna die. So, me and the government decided that the only thing we could do was make sure life continued after everything went. That’s where Zero Dawn came in.”

“I’ve heard of that before. I fell into a ruin when I was younger, it’s where I found my focus. There was a few data points, mentioned the name Ellen Evans”

“Oh, I think I know where that is. But yeah I created Zero Dawn. Essentially we created an AI who could control a number of sub-functions. These sub-functions would then allow the AI to rebuild the world, first by cracking the override for the Faro plague, then terraforming and bringing back wildlife. Bringing humans back was the last step.”

“But how did you bring back living things if everything died?”

“We had samples of almost all organisms on earth, and we used those samples to recreate them on a larger scale. The same went for humans, we had embryos stored away, that could then be birthed by machine wombs into ELEUTHIA cradle facilities. The humans would be raised in the facilities and released when ready. They should have been educated by APOLLO, but somethings gone wrong with that one”

“You said about you being my template? And what was APOLLO?”

“APOLLO was the largest store of human knowledge ever created. It had everything, language, technology, agriculture, medicine. A lot. Everything humanity had learned over the 3,000 odd years of our being. It even had links to the other sub-functions, humans would have been able to add more wildlife into the world through ARTEMIS. Stuff like horses and dogs. I need to figure out how APOLLO glitched and get it working again.”

“Huh, yeah that sounds like something worthwhile. And the genetic template thing?”

“Right”

Elisabet didn’t want to explain it, but she could feel how desperate Aloy was for an answer.

“During the Faro plague there was some questions about whether me and the other Alphas, the people making the sub-functions, would live long enough to complete Zero Dawn. So I dreamed up a concept; lightkeeper. Me and the Alphas had some of our genetic material stored in cradle facilities. The idea was that we would be… cloned. A clone is something that’s the same if you didn’t know. Zero Dawn was protected with genetic keys, basically only the people who worked on the project could access it. These kids would be raised by us Alphas and taught about what they needed to do to complete the work. I abandoned the project later on but the cradles kept our genetic material.”

“So I was made. I’m your clone, and I was made. Why?”

“First thing first, everyone currently on Earth is descended from someone who was born from a machine womb, except me. Everyone, alright? As for why, I think somethings gone wrong with Zero Dawn. GAIA needs something fixed, and given the locks on the facilities, an Alpha was the only chance she had. I’d have to find the cradle facility you’re from to know though.”

“Hah, yeah there’s very little chance of that happening. If this cradle facility is what I think it is, it’s in Nora territory, Mothers Watch. They barely tolerate me, doubt they want an old one peeking around their holy site.”

“Why do they barely tolerate you? -Aloy?”

“EREND WAKE UP WE’RE HERE”

Ah, the Sobeck trait of dodging the question. Elisabet wasn’t sure how she was raised, but she had the nature for sure.

——————

Pitchcliff was something incredible.

Dome-like buildings made of stone bricks and wood, metal accents that probably served more purpose than decor.

It was chilly, and Aloy was so glad she had managed to find Elisabet warmer clothes, her own skin pricking at the breeze. Her head still spun with revelations, and frankly she was glad she was doing something for someone else.

Finding out you’re essentially a clone, made for a purpose that you don’t even know how to complete? It’s a pretty difficult concept to grasp. But hearing that the world had ended once before was maybe worse.

She had seen machines, machines that couldn’t have been made by the same thing that made all of the others. The thing that attacked the Nora, the metal devil. Elisabet was newly woken from spending Mother knows how long trying to bring those things down, and Aloy knew how memories could effect people.

Once, Rost had heard a young girl, crying out in pain after she had broken her leg. He had shut down for a while after that, and without knowing what else to do Aloy had simply wrapped a blanket around his shoulders and went to prepare some food. He came back to himself maybe a day later, but the haunted look lasted months.

She didn’t want that for Elisabet, for anyone really, but seeing that look on a face so similar… she shook her head and went off to find the man Marad had told them about.

Mental breakdowns could wait, she had shit to do.
——————

Aloy was aware of how impressively un-sneaky Elisabet was, as she walked behind her even after Aloy had said to wait by the gate. Still, the girl hadn’t turned around to scold her yet, so Elisabet would push her luck.

Frankly, she was excited to see how these different cultures developed. The Carja clearly had biases against different tribes, apparently bigotry survived the Faro plague while basic medicine hadn’t. Figures.

Aloy gasped slightly, less of a shocked sigh and more disappointed.

“Seems like Marads man was found”

A dead body. How nice.

“Looks like he drew a map”

Aloy nodded, and Elisabet scribbled it down in her book.

“Right, let’s find Erend, get someone to bury this guy and grab some food. I hear the Oseram do pretty good fried food”

“Ah, what would humanity be without fried food”

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

A study in D minor

Erends cousin, a woman by the name of Gitra, was all smiles and open arms when greeting her guests.

“I hope you’re okay with sharing one room, the only other space I’ve got is in the basement with all the barrels and I don’t trust Erend enough to not drink me dry!”

She was loud, joyous, and slapped Erend on the back as she spoke. Leaving to tend to her bar, the three of them were alone.

“How’re you hanging on Erend?”

Aloy was gentle, but not letting tones of pity leak into her voice when she spoke.

“I- I’m. I’m about as well as I could be. I’ve always had Ersa, through everything. Growing up, I mean my Dad drank too much to keep the clan afloat and used to take that out on us. She protected me, even when we got older and we joined the freebooters. And the war, I almost got captured, and she stopped it. I just don’t know who I am without her.”

“Erend Vanguardsman. That’s who you are. You came up with the idea to find me because you figured out I can track with my focus, you knew in your gut that it wasn’t as cut and dry as it seemed. No matter what happens, you’re doing everything you can”

“I- when did you Nora get so damn smart. Thanks Aloy, seriously. I owe you”

“Believe me, it’s not Nora that’s smart. Get some rest, up first thing”

The room was relatively small, a bunk bed in one wall, a fireplace on the other. Aloy pointed Erend towards the top bunk, rolling her own sleep roll out onto the floor. They had all already stripped into their underclothes, and were ready for bed.

“You gonna be ok on the floor kiddo?”

Aloy smirked.

“Honestly sleeping on a bed feels weird for me. Anyway you’re used to old one beds”

“That’s true. So is it Nora tradition to not sleep on beds?”

“Nah, I think they either sleep in communal huts or family groups. I never really did that though”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what was your childhood like?”

“Uh, I mean, it was nice. Tough, but everyone’s childhoods were tough. I grew up in the embrace, the red raids never really reached us there”

“And what about family?”

“I- there was Rost. He was an ou-“

She cleared her throat.

“He was chosen as my guardian when I was a baby to raise me as well as he could, it was pretty much only us. He taught me to hunt, how to survive in the wilds and how to track machines even if I lost my Focus. We never called each other family but it was always unspoken. He had a family before me, he never spoke about it. They’re gone now. Dead. I heard some of the other tribes-folk call him a ‘death seeker’ but I don’t know what that means.”

“He must be pretty good to have raised you so well”

“Yeah. He- he was. He died recently, in the proving massacre saving my life”

That gave Elisabet pause. This girl had just lost the person who raised her and was still so willing to help others.

“I’m sorry, Aloy. He sounds like he meant a lot to you”

“Yeah. He did. Um, what about you? What was your old one childhood like?”

——————

Elisabet could still remember home. Sobeck Ranch, the sign on the road and the wooden cabin she shared with her mother.

“I grew up in the suburbs of Carson city, west of here. My Mom owned a ranch, and it was just us too. I once set fire to a tree in our yard, I was playing with a children’s electronics kit, and my Mom took me to see the chicks that were in the tree when it burned down. I said I didn’t care, and the turned to me, too my face in her hands. She said ‘ Elisabet, being smart will count for nothing if you don’t make the world better. You have to use your smarts for something. Serve life, not death’. I guess I took her message to heart with Zero Dawn huh?”

“Your Mom sounds nice”

“Heh, she was. Really, one of the best. Miriam Sobeck, I named my company after her. Never knew my Dad, he left way before I was born. A lotta people called my a child prodigy, I was in college at 13 and had my PHD at 16”

“I’m gonna assume that they are important old one titles”

“Oh yeah. Forgot about that. Education awards, like saying that you’ve learnt about something and know how to use that knowledge. A PHD is like ‘you’re an expert in that field now’. Mine was in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Design.”

“That sounds complicated. The only thing like that I have is a couple of blazing suns from hunting grounds.”

“Blazing suns?”

“The highest award you can get. Taking down 10 machines with logs in under 2 minutes, overriding a ravager to take down a thunderjaw in the same amount of time. I got them first try”

Aloy beamed with pride, and Elisabet couldn’t help but smile too. The girl rarely smiled, but when she did it was the same lopsided grin that Elisabet herself gave.

“That’s impressive Aloy! I couldn’t do half the stuff that you can. I mean I’m no-“

A loud Erend snore interrupted them.

“I think that’s our queue to actually sleep”

Elisabet laughed at that, and tucked herself into bed.

“Night Elisabet”

“Night kiddo”

——————

Aloy and Erend were both unnatural, Elisabet decided. They were up, at the ass crack of dawn, getting ready before Elisabet had chance to say ‘5 more minutes’.

Years of bad sleeping habits couldn’t be erased by a stay in a habitat suit buried under snow apparently. Aloy just about dragged Lis out of her slumber with a plate of something delicious smelling.

“Breakfast, Oseram style” was Erends proud shout. And from the look of the food she could understand why.

Fried goose eggs, some battered vegetables and… was that bacon?!

“Boar meat. Us Oseram tend to work a lot so they need fatty foods to keep up their energy”

“It’s really good Erend. Give your cousin my regards”

“Will do. Best start getting moving, if the map is right we’ve got some ground to cover and we’re gonna be on foot thanks to how rocky it is”

Aloy was bartering with a trader when they joined her, holding hunks of metal and glass. The trader passed her a bow and a leather quiver.

“Here,”

She said, passing the items to Elisabet.

“You oughta at least have a weapon on hand, you know how to use one?”

“Not a clue”

“Leave the fighting to me then. You can learn how to use it in our down time. But now we’ve gotta go… east. North east. You need to grab anything Erend?”

He gave a thumbs up and pointed towards the exit.

“Great. Let’s go Dervahl hunting”

—————————

Elisabet wanted answers. Answers that Aloy couldn’t give her. Luckily for the both of them, they had Erend.

“So, what was this war you talked about last night. I never got a chance to look through those history books Marad gave me”

“Oh, right. So a while ago, maybe 20 years back, the machines were all pretty peaceful. I don’t remember it myself, but they never really outright attacked for no reason. Something changed though, I don’t know what, but we call it the derangement. Machines attacking people, left right and centre. That’s where the Carja come in. See back then a guy called Jiran was Sun King, Avads’ dad, and he had inherited a massive army from his dad. Originally he only used that army to defend his people, but he went mad. Started believing he was the incarnation of the Carja sun god.”

“Sounds like… well sounds kinda like a guy I used to know.”

“Jiran started mistreating his people, flogged anyone from the underclasses who disobeyed the orders of a higher class person. His dad had brought slavery to the Carja, and they only suffered worse under Jiran. And he definitely didn’t stop there. He convinced himself that the derangement was the suns will, that it could be stopped by sacrifice. So he orders his armies to attack other tribes, take prisoners back to Meridian to be killed by deranged machines in the sun ring. Those were the red raids, and no tribe came out unscathed. Oseram, Nora, even the tribes from the forbidden west like the Utaru. They lasted 10 years.”

“Oh my god”

“Yeah, it got to the point where even high ranking Carja were sacrificed. There was the breaking point though, Avad. See Avad wasn’t the heir to the throne, he was the younger brother to Prince Kadaman. Except when Kadaman spoke up Jiran didn’t even blink, he sent his son and heir to the sun ring. Avad decided that Jiran was too far gone and escaped Meridian. He was removed as heir again, that went to Itamen his baby brother who can’t be more than 5 nowadays.”

“So how did Avad come to power?”

It was Aloy asking this time.

“Ersa! Avad met Ersa in The Claim, she had been captured a while back and was a slave in the palace. She became friendly with old Prince Avad, he even helped her escape. Not that she couldn’t have done it on her own mind you. Anyway, so Avad meets Ersa in the claim and goes ‘well I gotta overthrow my Dad, can you help’, and being a freebooter Ersa agrees. Ersa and Avad formed a big alliance of Oseram and Avads honour guard. I helped some too”

Aloy and Elisabet motioned for him to continue.

“Alright hold your striders, I’ll tell you how it went down. So, you two know Marad right?”

They nodded.

“Well back then he was Jirans advisor, but none too loyal. He got us info, moved possible dissident Carja to the borders so that when we charged through they’d join us. All while keeping Jiran from getting suspicious. We must’ve gotten a couple towns from Meridian before he realised, but of course he would just surrender. We had to invade Meridian. Apparently Jiran thought he’d hand off his youngest son to his commander, as well as his wife, to take to the summer palace at Sunfall. Anyway so we all come busting through the Meridian streets, Ersa takes down maybe 20-30 soldiers on her own, and she and Avad get to Jiran. Technically, Avad pled him to surrender and reluctantly landed the killing blow. But in reality Avad couldn’t kill his pops so Ersa did it, as she told me over one too many drinks.”

“That, Erend my boy, is fucking cool. You took down a dictator?!”

Elisabet grinned, and Erend made a mental note to never let her fire Oseram cannons.

“I don’t know what fucking is but yeah it was.”

—————————
Dervahls camp was in their sights when Aloy told Elisabet to hide behind a tree.

“I’m serious this time. Erend will call for you when the camp is cleared. Stay put, even if it sounds like we’re in trouble. If no one calls for you in say, an hour, go back to the claim and send word to Meridian”

“I don’t like this”

“I know, but if everything goes wrong it’s better that we’ve got backup”

Elisabet nodded, and Aloy and Erend set off sneaking towards Dervahls camp. There were machines tied with chains, clearly not overridden however. Aloy motioned for Erend to make a move, and she lined up a shot at the chains holding down a ravager.

The camp exploded into action.

The Oseram that were on Dervahls side fought back ferociously, but with Erends hammer and Aloys spear they fell fast, while Elisabet watched from the tree, silently both horrified and impressed. They worked in quiet efficiency, Aloy pivoting to shoot down a guard who was aiming at Erend.

It was a flurry of blues and oranges and gleaming metal, the machines only making it more chaotic by focusing on neither group. Erend bashed a watcher while another jumped at an enemy Oseram, and in the same second Aloy was firing arrows into the camp proper. They continued their attack deeper into the camp, until Elisabet couldn’t see them.

A few moments later, quiet descended, the music of battle in a lul. No one called for her yet, but she inched closer regardless.

The lul ended soon after, what could only be described as loud came from the camp. There were the sounds of struggle, then only the noise remained before that too was cut off.

Those two. They were warriors unabashed. It scared Elisabet how easily they took down fellow man, but she supposed that this strange new world had little place for her outdated views on the value of human life. She shook her head. Those people would have killed them otherwise, and god knows what else they have planned. She thought back on Erends tale about the war, how his hands shook and his face paled slightly. She thought about how Aloy did the same when she spoke about Rost, and how she stopped herself halfway through sentences as if to change her words.

Some things never change, the human condition was one. Erend called for her, deep voice booming as loud as the noise, desperate, so she ran as fast as fatigued legs could carry her.

————————

Aloy met her halfway through the camp, face red from exertion, and showed her the way to a door. They ran down the stairs, and were met with a horrible sight.

A woman, who looked an awful lot like Erend, laying in his arms. Bloodied, bruised and swollen from what could have only been beatings. Erend looked up at Elisabet, and she strung into action.

She had never studied medicine beyond a fascination when she was younger, but during Zero Dawn all of the Alphas had gone through first aid training. Incase some armed lunatic got into the base, Herres had said. She never thought she’d be so glad about three days of boring seminars and awkward practice.

Her hands worked faster than her mind, checking pulse, checking breathing, asking the woman to talk to her while she worked.

“Internal bleeding. She’s going into shock, do we have anything to stop pain?”

Aloy handed her a bag of powder, and a flask of something that smelt like meat. Tipping the contents into Ersas mouth, she continued her checklist.

“Are there any doctors? Surgeons?”

“There’s one in Pitchcliff”

“Alright. Aloy, pass me that fabric and some string I’m gonna have to make a neck brace.”

“On it”

Fashioning an admittedly primitive neck brace, she motioned towards Aloy.

“How fast can you run to Pitchcliff?”

“Fast. Faster on a mount”

“Good, go and get the doctor. We don’t wanna move her too much incase she has back injuries. Be quick but be careful”

Aloy left, sprinting out the door. Elisabet kept checking Ersas vitals while they waited.

Erend was getting nervous, so Elisabet sat him down and placed his fingers on Ersas pulse.

“Keep your hand there, tell me if it stops.”

“Right”

The wait was torture, Ersa groaned every few moments, in pain and in confusion. It took what felt like hours for Aloy to come back with the doctor, a confused man who looked half asleep with his bag handing off one shoulder. Giving Erend instructions, he lifted Ersa onto a table.

The doctor asked Aloy and Erend to leave the room, but told Elisabet to stay.

“Just incase”
—————————

Erend was recovering from a panic attack when they emerged from the basement, Aloy running circles on his back with her hand and nursing a flask of something hot.

He shot up the second they were out, eyes brimming with tears and hope.

“Is- is she…”

“She’s gonna be ok Erend”

Was Elisabets warm reply.

“She’s got a long road to recovery, but she’s alive. We’re lucky we got here when we did, she was pretty roughed up”

“But she’ll be ok? She-she’s gonna live?”

“Yeah. The Oseram from Pitchcliff are gonna come with a wagon to take her back to Meridian, but she’s awake enough to see you now if you want”

Erend looked between Elisabet and Aloy wildly.

“Go, stay with her. Take whatever information back to Avad and Marad”

He ran into the basement with tears streaming down his face once more. Elisabet walked to beside Aloy, patting her back in a fond manner.

“You did good kiddo, I saw that tourniquet on her thigh, damn fast thinking. It saved her life”

“Oh. That was all from the Focus. Is she really gonna be ok?”

“Yeah. A tough one that girl, but it seems like all Oseram are. She had some information about a possible attack on Meridian, Dervahl”

“Yeah, heard about that. I know it’s a long shot but could we swing by some place before we head back to Meridian?”

“Rockwreath right? Course. You think you’ll need my help right?”

“Yeah. And the people there might have Focuses. At least Olin will. But I don’t know what kinda danger we’ll be in so you’re gonna have to hang back again”

“While you do all the work? You sure kiddo?”

“Yep. Maybe on the way I’ll teach you how to use that bow”

“Hah. Fat chance”
————————

Chapter Text

Alphas interlude

Post Zero Dawn journal; aka, not calling this thing Zero Dawn possible failures anymore.

The whole affair with Ersa was a bit of a shit show on my own end. The girl, yes girl she can’t be older than 30 dammit, was hurt beyond anything I’ve witnessed. The doctor Aloy brought us was admittedly pretty shook up about the whole ‘I look the same as the angry Nora tribes person who brought him in’.

He was good at his job, understood germ theory at least to some extent, how much of that was ELEUTHIA early years programming o have no idea. Knew how to alleviate cranial bleeding, and just about jumped for joy when I told him that I had administered painkillers.

Thankfully she should heal up, but it’s going to be a few months. I recon that the bleeding on her brain might cause issues with speech, nothing concrete though. I hope she’s ok. It’s going to be tough for her, she had just about accepted that she was going to die there. Poor thing.

Note: ask Aloy what was in the painkillers she gave me. I don’t mean to sound suspicious but there was definitely poppy seeds. I’ve not seen evidence of widespread opium addiction, but I doubt it’s unheard of.

Aloys stories of her childhood stirred something in me, as did Erends admittance of abuse under the hands of his own father. Seeing Ersa, lying there, though. That made me make a promise to myself.

No matter what, I never want Aloy to go through anything like that. Or Erend. Or Ersa again. Or Avad or anyone I’ve met in the new world. I can see that there’s great kindness, even in the face of great cruelty.

I’m so glad that Aloy had a good father figure, something I never had. No mother figure, which is confusing in a tribe so matriarchal as the Nora is supposed to be. Hell, their good is called All Mother. I’ll do some digging into that.

I deeply enjoyed Erends tales about the war, how fascinating that Aloy has managed to be so close to influential people. Funny. I never was that interested in history before the Faro plague. Perhaps it’s something to do with me never really being subject to any of the events that have happened while I was under.

Onto business, Aloys spear.

I know where I recognise that overwriting module from, and it shakes me to my core. She said that a machine had attacked one of the Nora towns, that she had brought it down and taken it from the carcass.

It’s Faro tech. Quite obviously. I got a good look at it while she was sleeping, I know it’s not good to snoop but I was sure that GAIA would never have a need to overwrite any machines.

Aloy brought down a Faro machine. Without proper firearms. That is both incredible and terrifying. For one it means that Aloy is certified badass and my genes aren’t only useful for the classroom (damn it Elisabet you could’ve been a track star).

But it means that the Faro plague is coming back. I saw the spire, I saw evidence of MINERVA. The plague was shut down, so whatever’s bringing it back this time isn’t their own programming rearing it’s ugly head. That is entirely unsubstantiated though, I’d need to find somewhere to interface with Faro tech to know for sure.

That has to be priority 1, ruling out the possibility of a Faro plague resurgence. Maybe. No. I don’t wanna write that dicks name any more than I need to.

The derangement also frightens me. GAIA machines suddenly turning haywire and attacking on force? That’s a HEPHAESTUS glitch for sure. But the way it was described, the way Erend talked about it, the way the machines themselves seem to have a certain intelligence?

I fear something so much bigger than a glitch has happened. And I won’t know a damn thing until I can figure out a way to talk to GAIA. I mean, is she still out there? That’s a scary thought. GAIA being gone, her sub functions unshackled.

Still no evidence of an issue with HADES, so I doubt that’s the case. It would take one hell of a glitch to break GAIA. She was my magnum opus. Coded to perfection.

Clearly GAIA was around for a while. Aloy is what, 19? And Erend said the derangement started 20 odd years ago. That’s why Aloy was made. Makes me worry about the state of APOLLO actually, if GAIA didn’t even attempt to fix that.

You know if I didn’t know that the Far Zeniths were cold and dead I’d think this was their doing. I wonder what Tildas reaction to Aloy would be.

Probably something astoundingly creepy.

Anyway, Elisabet Sobeck, signing off. I don’t know the date so uh….

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Darker metal than Her.

Elisabet couldn’t hide how fond she had become of her young clone. The girl was smart, ferocious, and compassionate in ways that surprised her. She had emotional intelligence, something Elisabet had always struggled with. Granted, Aloy could be brash when dealing with something she didn’t understand, but she was never unnecessarily harsh or cruel.

Rockwreath seemed to be a ways away from Pitchcliff, so they set off once Erend was on his way.

“How are you with camping?”

Elisabet paused for a second, thinking through her options.

“I’m ok with it. It’s not something I used to do often but if I was working on site in a remote area that’s generally what I’d do”

“That’s good, because I wanna tackle Rockwreath early tomorrow morning, and it’s gonna take us the rest of today to get there”

“Not feeling like riding?”

Aloy hummed, her eyes squinting in the afternoon sun.

“Yes and no. We can ride up to the river but past that, if you’re still up for a walk I’d prefer to keep my arrival quiet. If the people at Rockwreath hear about a machine rider coming down the road they might pack up shop, and it’s the only lead I have”

“Good thinking. I’m up for a hike, we got enough supplies”

Aloy nodded, calling for her mount. The strider arrived, and she helped Elisabet on. Gripping the wires, Elisabet gripping the furs on her back, they set off southward bound.

The strider tossed its head as they advanced, and Elisabet thought about the videos of a younger Elisabet riding her horse that she had shown GAIA. The strider moved in pretty much the exact same way as old Ibis had. She was a good horse.

Aloy turned, and gave Elisabet a wide smile. She looked like her mother for a second, long hair sunbleached at the tips. The way her eyes crinkled at the sides, freckles that Elisabet had lost after her youth but Miriam had kept. Elisabet had braces when she was a child, something her grandparents couldn’t afford for Miriam, and Aloys smile revealed a crooked canine.

She was imperfect, a scar on her forehead and nicks from the fight previous. She was perfect, green eyes glinting in the sunlight. She brought Elisabet to near tears In resemblance of a mother she had lost.

—————————

In the wilds, you learned to do everything by touch. This was one of Rosts lessons to her, blindfolded she would be told to run trails she had run hundreds of times with sight. It was getting dark now, they’d have to set up camp in the moonlight.

Aloy was thankful that one of the palace staff had the foresight to pack Elisabet a sleep roll, it was bound to be a cold night. They were walking now, chatting casually about different things, what they could eat, how Aloy learned to fletch arrows so well, the intricacies of AI ethics.

Light stuff.

Spotting a small cave, Aloy herded Elisabet toward it.

“Best if we camp in here, if it rains we won’t get soaked”

“It rains around here?”

Aloy laughed.

“Not really. Survival lessons I guess. Back in the embrace the weather changed so often I got used to being kinda damp, but when you’re sleeping getting rained on can be a death sentence”

“Any stories?”

“Once I get the fire going yeah”

Aloy watched Elisabets eyes gleam when she mentioned fire, but she ignored the memory of how Elisabet had supposedly burned down a tree. She sparked the tinder to light with the chunk of flint and back of her skinning knife.

“I’m surprised you didn’t go all…bow drill or something on me. Like a friction fire”

“Eh. I know how to but it’s easier to use this. You stay away from that though, I don’t want you burning anything”

Elisabet held her hands up in faux surrender.

“Right, I’m gonna go get us some food. What’re you thinking, boar? Fish? Goose?”

“Whatever’s easiest to get kiddo”

“Fish then, if I can find a creek”

She left to go hunting, the fire was far back in the cave for it not to be seen easily. No one would find Elisabet, not without a search. Man she really needed to refill her medicine pack, the side that the Oseram guarding Ersa had clobbered was stinging with abandon.

There was a creek, salmon for dinner, Aloy guessed as she lined up a shot.

————————

“We meet again… or we don’t.”

Elisabet was shocked halfway out of her skin.

“Wha-who-wha what the fuck?!”

The man in the corner laughed.

“I Came Here To Talk To My Favourite Huntress, Instead I Find A Woman wearing Her Face But None Of Her Prowess”

“Who in gods name are you?”

“For Me Gods Name Is The Sun. I’d Ask Your Name”

“I asked first”

There was some noise from the mouth of the cave, Aloy was back. That was such a relief. Now she could get the strange man grinning in the firelight out of he-

“Nil?”

Aand of course she knew him.

“Hello Again.”

“You know I’d ask what you’re doing here but I have cooking to do”

The man, Nil, tilted his head like a confused dog, although he was more like a snake in his mannerisms.

“Who Is Your Tag Along?”

“Oh right. Elisabet, this is Nil. Nil, Elisabet Sobeck”

Elisabet waved awkwardly, and he bowed his head towards her. Aloy busied herself with the food, salmon and some assorted greenery. The man kept staring, unblinking, and when the campfire cracked Elisabet saw the rest of him.

It only served to send shivers down her spine.

With the food sorted, Aloy seemed to notice Elisabets lack of comfort.

“So Nil. What brings you round these parts? I don’t think I saw any bandit camps up north”

“I Was Chasing Down A Group, Through The Valleys”

“Any luck?”

Nil simply smiled, deeply unsettling Elisabet.

“It Seems That Our Paths Will Cross Again Some Day, But For Now I Must Leave. Goodbye Huntress, And Elisabet Sobeck”

He left, stalking off into the darkness.

Eisabet looked at Aloy, who was unborthered by the whole affair.

“Who the fuck was that?”

“….Nil?”

“I know his name. But who was he?!”

Aloy opened her mouth to reply.

“If you say Nil one more time so help me god..”

“Okay okay. I met him taking down a bandit camp back in Nora territory. He’s just… like that. Enjoys the hunt a bit too much but he’s harmless enough. If you’re not a bandit that is.”

“He’s a psychopath!”

“He likes killing bandits. At least he’s honest!”

“He likes killing people”

“So do I. When they deserve it. You know what bandits do right? Murder, steal, enslave. They’re not good people”

“Still, taking pride in killing people isn’t a good quality. Murdering a murderer means there’s the same amount of murderers in the world.”

“So kill two…”

Elisabet threw her hands up angrily.

—————————

Rockwreath was one hell of a place, if you asked Elisabet. She was still a little miffed at Aloy, what with her association with psychotic murderers and such, but she couldn’t stay mad for long. The food was too good.

Nora food wasn’t as exciting as Oseram or Carja, but it was certainly comforting. Salmon stuffed with wild herbs and what she assumed was kale? It was delicious.

Aloy pointed at a spot, close enough to Rockwreath to have an idea of what was going on, far enough to run if need be. She hoped that she wouldn’t need to.

“Down there, see. That’s Olin.”

She squinted, years of staring at focus screens biting her in the ass.

“Yeah, jeez what are they digging up”

Aloy looked at her, concern evident.

“You don’t wanna know”

Elisabet nodded, and Aloy set off to fight. God this was nerve racking, watching the girl who was so much stronger than she expected go off to fight and kill men who would end the both of them without a second thought.

The argument last night had rattled them both. Aloys’ friend Nil, well it wasn’t like she enjoyed the guys company but she respected him enough. He reminded Elisabet entirely too much of a younger Travis Tate, though less chaotic and more murderous.

She had met Travis through Tilda, he had been at a bar and Tilda was all too willing to talk to the young man about various thinly veiled highly illegal actions. The way Nil and Aloy spoke, it seemed that Nil was more the Tilda in that situation, Aloys unapologetic brashness in the face of dubious morality.

There was quiet from below her vantage point, then screams of fury.

“SOMEONES HERE! SOMEONES HERE WITH US”

Aloy wasn’t even in position yet, but there they were, clutching the sides of their heads like Elisabet did when her Focus glitched. But Aloy, as intelligent as she was, had no idea about coding let alone how to crash a group of Focuses.

And when she lined up shot after shot, Elisabet was sure of one thing. Someone else was helping them. And neither of them knew who.

There was more noise, a groaning like a long dead beast coming to life once more, and Elisabet descended into her memories.

————————

Whoever the mystery person helping them was, they had fantastic timing. The Focuses crashed the second Aloy popped her head over the ridge, and taking the group down was simple after that.

Olin was there, Aloy avoided shooting him. There was a sound like screeching metal and a group of corruptors rose. Her only thought in that moment was Elisabet, but she lined up shots regardless, something was to be said about automatic reactions.

The corruptor spewed explosions and weaponry, but the tearblast arrows were effective. One corruptor down, two, a third. She was on the back foot now, corruption burning the bare skin on her arms yet she remained calm and kept firing.

Aloy felt rock beneath her cracking, and firing her last tearblast arrow off at the last corruptor, she fell. Hard. Onto her left wrist. It hurt, badly, but she had taken down all of the enemies. Only Olin remained. She scrambled to her feet, avoiding using her wrist, but taking a threatening stance nonetheless.

“Follow me.”

Olin scrambled a bit, but Aloy browbeat him into following.

—————————

The chariot line was a marvel of modern robotics, but that didn’t make them any less horrific. War machines, capable of using biomass as fuel. It was a nightmare come true. She should have stayed with Faro, maybe she could have prevented their creation. She should have killed Ted, then he wouldn’t have been able to be so arrogant as to not but a back door into his killer robots.

Elisabet had never actually been face to face with a chariot line robot, she’d seen the reports and the newspapers, the videos of Kopesh hordes using the biomass of still living but injured humans for fuel. The sounds haunted her days let alone her nights.

Zero dawn had soundproof walls, closets to hide in while the world went to shit, hidden nooks and a laissez faire view on prescription antidepressants.

She had been on 200mg of Zoloft, 4mg of Xanax and an unhealthy relationship with melatonin. That was pre Zero Dawn.

During ZD, she had turned to… less than legal ways of calming her nerves and stopping her mind from racing. She couldn’t afford the brain fog of Zoloft, nor the memory issues and sleeping problems. Drug use was all too common with the alphas, so much so that USRC had turned a blind eye to any illicit activities because they couldn’t afford to lose their entire Alpha team.

Seeing the Scarab rising from its grave, Elisabet wished she had taken the mysterious package Travis had left by her door when she went to shut the door. Whatever it was, it was better than the memories.

—————————

Elisabet was curled up on the floor when Aloy reached her. She had already spoken to Olin, threatened him more like. But he was a decent man in a bad situation, Aloy couldn’t help but think that if she were him she’d do the same. He was alive, she’d meet him at Spurflints.

Olin had dropped several huge pieces of information on her.

“Elisabet?”

A shaky groan was her reply.

“Hey, come on. Sit up”

Aloy had to manhandle Elisabet to get her sat up in a semi comfortable way. She was breathing heavily, but barely catching her breath. She made a decision, and gathered the shaking woman into her arms.

She hugged with as much strength as she could, letting Elisabet lean into her as much as possible. Elisabet froze for a second, before melting into the hug. Her wrist ached, sharp pains lancing up her arm as she held on, but Aloy held on.

Elisabet calmed down slowly, sniffling into her shoulder the whole while. When the crying stopped, Aloy waited a moment, then pulled away.

“Elisabet?”

The woman let out a shuddering breath.

“I’m back kiddo. I’m-I’m so sorry about that”

“Don’t be. Stuff like that happens sometimes. I didn’t think there’d be a corruptor there”

“Do…do you have any idea why they’re back? They should have all been deactivated by MINERVA”

Aloy twitched, looking irritated in a different direction.

“I was getting to that”, she said through gritted teeth.

She brushed herself off, wincing at her wrist again.

“Here. Took these off the Eclipse members I took down”

In her hands was a small pile of half broken Focuses, sparking quietly.

“Yes! Perfect thank you so much Aloy. Anyway who’re you chatting to?”

“Someone who’s NEVER GONNA GET TO TALK TO THE ONE LIVING OLD ONE IF HE DOSENT SHUT UP”

Elisabet laughed, and Aloy turned her head back to face her.

“Sorry, that guy is so annoying”

“Trying desperately to be suave and not reveal anything?”

Aloy nodded.

“Yeah I know the type. Gimme the night to fix these up and I’ll talk some sense into him”

“Hah! My threat is to never let him talk to you”

“Hey, I’m good at the silent treatment. Anyway what happened? You get Olins ass?”

“….Kinda? Let me grab a mount and we can talk about it on our way to Meridian”

“Sounds good”

—————————

Mount grabbed, another strider, and they were off again.

“So,”

The wind rushed past fast enough to make Elisabet need to yell to be heard”

“What’s the sitch?”

“Uh, oh right the situation. Ok so, Olin; not evil. He was in an unfortunate circumstance. The Eclipse have his wife and kid. Can’t blame the guy”

“The Eclipse?”

“Right. You know how the Carja had that civil war, there’s folk now calling themselves the Shadow Carja, the ones loyal to Jiran or those forced to come along when they fled to Sunfall. Except there’s a cult in the Shadow Carja called the Eclipse. Worship the Buried Shadow from Carja mythology. But that’s… not exactly who they worship”

“Who is it then?”

“Don’t get upset”

“Who?”

“HADES. The guy I spoke to said that it’s a part of Zero Dawn. That you’d know what it is. Turns out it put a hit on me after Olin saw me at the Proving”

“Because you look like me and I’m the only one who could shut HADES down. Shit!”

“Yeah… also the guy who killed Rost is the leader of the Eclipse. Guy called Helis, Jirans old champion.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah. I mean, coming to terms with some stuff but yeah. Got other stuff to focus on anyway”

“That’s not healthy Aloy”

“Anyway Olin said he’d seen a picture, or something, of you in Makers End. It’s North and West. But more North”

“Once I fix these up I’ll be able to find it, don’t worry. Other than those revelations, are you alright?”

“Yeah. I’m good”

Aloy was ignoring how her wrist ached as she said that.

“We’ve gotta run to Meridian, check up on Erend and Ersa, pick up some supplies”

“Yeah. It’s barely noon. I thought you’d spend all day sorting that mess out”

The strider turned towards the road, and sped up with abandon. For a moment, Elisabet could pretend she was with her mother, riding Ibis through the countryside of her childhood home. Tears dotted her eyes, and she hoped Aloy had similar memories.

The plains were light, the air was cooled by the speed of the strider, and she was with the kid. Nothing could be better.

————————

Meridian town was the busiest that Aloy and Elisabet had ever seen it. A lot of commotion near the marketplace, Aloy commented about it perhaps being a festival. That seemed the case, what with the music and wooden stalls selling spiced brews and cured meat. They ducked and dodged through the crowd, making their way to the palace. A guard greeted them at the stairway, pointing them to the court.

“Aloy! Elisabet!”

It was Erend, running towards them and grasping them in a hug.

“You guys are okay!”

“How’s Ersa?”

Was the first question, asked by Aloy.

“She’s. She’s alive Aloy! She’s still asleep but the royal physician says that she should wake up in the next few days. That’s all thanks to you two. Avad wants to see you, all of us actually. Something about Dervahl again. You find Olin okay?”

“Yeah, he’s off to Spurflints. I’ll find him later, help him get his family back”

“Wait you- you let him live? Better than I would have done”

“I mean he never actually attacked me. The Shadow Carja have his family”

They walked into the room where Avad and Marad were talking, Avad animatedly waving his hands around.

“Aloy! Elisabet!”

Avad smiled widely as he saw them, Marad bowing his head respectfully.

“I hear you two are to thank for the safe return of Ersa”

Elisabet answered, pointing to her two companions as she spoke,

“It was these two who did most of the work, they took down the enemies in the camp”

“Humble as ever Elisabet. Please, before we move on to other topics, I owe you two a reward.”

Erend smirked, while Elisabet and Aloy just blushed.

“I’m giving you Olins apartment. It seems it was purchased by members of the Shadow Carja before the war. I feel it’s… appropriate to hand it off to you. If you are in need of any furnishings or repair, please see one of the local outfitters, and direct them to have it on the royal tab. I have furnished it with two beds, but you are always free to stay at the palace. As friends of the sundom”

Chapter Text

Post Zero Dawn Journal 2;

Or, how I stopped worrying and learned how to fix Focuses.

Good grief the last day has been tricky. Between mine and Aloys little spat, the mysterious psychopath Nil, and an honest to got real life Chariot line robot… it’s been tough. I barely watched Aloys fight, seeing the Scarab.

Her overriding module makes sense now, how she managed to turn it from merging with the Faro plague is a mystery, but it could be the advantage I need. Maybe it’s a part of MINERVA.

I’m fixing up all of those Focuses Aloy brought me. Kids a gooden, thinking I might need the spare parts. Smart, but not needed. I was fixing these for Ted the minute he started using his prototypes. Luckily, we can now hand these out to people, Erend and Avad come to mind. I’ve already fixed my own, and I can see where Makers End is.

The old Faro building. That’s gonna be fun. No wonder Olin saw a picture of me there, Ted was always on the obsessive side of bosses. What I wouldn’t pay to watch him and Tilda duke it out, but the likely outcome is them teaming up with their creepiness.

But I need to go there. If not for Aloy to take down another enclave of these Eclipse folk, then for me to find that terminal that Ted had. It was connected to Zero Dawn servers, if im gonna get a chance at finding out what happened that’s our first stop. And it would do Aloy some good to understand what exactly it is we’re up against.

I. I really don’t wanna go back there, but the terminal should show what other devices are connected to the Zero Dawn network. Pinpoint exactly where on a map they are, I only really have a vague idea of where they were built. Confidentiality and all that. This world, as beautiful as it is, is on the brink of terrible war. We’ve done a good job of somehow befriending the king of the nicer side, but that doesn’t mean we can sit back and wait for things to come to us.

Onto the big issue; HADES. From my reckoning, HADES should have been deactivated a long damn time ago. The biosphere is practically perfect for human life, GAIA did a great job. So why is HADES back? And why did HADES call for the murder of my clone?

Can’t help but take that personally Travis. God what I wouldn’t do to see any of you now. You alphas, who I doomed to a life in GAIA prime, perfecting the projects.

I bet Travis would be here now, standing over me, making some filthy joke about twins he met in college or something, maybe playing that awful music he loved, maybe haggling for some poppy seeds. Wait no I know what he’d be saying right now;

“So when I dress up like you it’s an issue, but when someone wears your face they get hugs? I see how it is Lizzy.”

Rat bastard.

Here I am musing about what my long dead friend (yes, friend, Travis in the afterlife, you were my friend) would be saying when I have other shit to worry about.

Like how HADES is now operating entirely separate from GAIA. Maybe my theory about unshackling holds some water after all. But me not worry about an issue with HADES? Stupid.

It seems that HADES is in control of some isolated parts of the Faro swarm, which makes sense. It was created to destroy the world so GAIA could try again, why not use the very thing that did that the first time? Fucking hell.

Aloy appears to be stuck with the Sobeck curse, aka some weirdo has taken a weird liking to her and expresses it in the worst way. Whoever the mystery person is, they know their way around old ones tech. They could be useful, but no promises it’s not just some person who got lucky with a swipe.

Avad was nice to give us Olins place, he didn’t have to do that. The beds are nice, in the same room so I can keep an eye on Aloy make sure she sleeps enough. Maybe even get a peek at her spear again.

One thing I really didn’t expect from this new world is how cleanliness is treated. There’s public bathhouses in Meridian, the Oseram cousin we stayed with had a big ol tub. Hell, a launderette came to the door of Olins (I guess ours now) place asking for our dirty clothes. I wish we had that back then, would’ve saved me from wearing various Alphas clothes to meetings when I forgot.

Aloy found me some comfy clothes at the market, so I’m officially two outfits up in this world, plus the armour. The festival was apparently some religious festival, celebrating what I assume is the solstice. Some people danced in the street dressed up, face painters were painting kids faces for free. All very adorable. The priests are a fascinating bunch.

I talked to one called Namman, mournful Namman actually, he wanted someone outside of the Carja to help a group from different tribes find peace after losing their loved ones. Three pilgrims, all wanting to go to different areas, and all of the areas just so happen to be infested with machines. Still, he’s a good man, trying to help these people mourn their dead in the ways of their cultures. That’s respectable. I might convince Aloy to help me out.

Speaking of Aloy and mourning the dead, she really missed Rost. She’s told me he has a grave near their old home in the Nora lands, if we ever end up there I think it would do her some good to see him. Maybe the both of us.

Ugh. Something tells me things are only gonna get more complicated from here. Aloys off doing something while I rest up, a hunting house, a lodge maybe? I dunno. Still got plenty of Focuses to fix and plenty of theories on ZD failures to write down only to scribble out furiously later.

I miss GAIA :(

Elisabet Sobeck, signing off again. Still don’t know the date.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

No need for blaze when hate will do.

Aloy was pissed when she got back. The Hunters lodge was more about trophy hunting than actual mastery, she had probably taken down more machines than the lodge combined. Talanah was nice though, pissed at the lodge.

Elisabet was already done with three of the Focuses by the time she got back. And waved at her with a smile.

“Hey kiddo! How’d you get on?”

Aloy grunted, and Elisabets face turned to sympathy.

“The leader was none too glad to let a Nora savage and a woman into the lodge, and I’m both so…”

“Did you kick him in the dick?”

Aloy paused.

“What’s a dick?”

“Old one curse word for penis. I need to educate you kid, you’ll love some of the stuff we had”

She laughed, walking up to where Elisabet was tinkering with the various bits of tech around her.

“Aloy, you said Avad had something for you?”

“Oh yeah. I found a message about a shipment of blaze being delivered to Meridian. Talked to Marad about it, turns out the warehouse was bought by an Oseram landlord. So they’ve got me checking the place out, making sure it’s nothing too worrying. Apparently Ersa said something about an attack of Meridian by Dervahl.”

“Hmm. Be careful huh? Meridian can be repaired, you’ll take a lot more work”

“Thanks Elisabet. I’ll go grab us some food, any preferences?”

Elisabet pursed her lips.

“Do they do bread here? I keep thinking about my Moms bread bowl soup”

“I’ll have a look.”

—————————

It took Aloy a hot minute to get back, Elisabet had finished making a few more focuses by the time she wandered back in, a tray in hand.

“This is just our starters. They’ll deliver the mains! I’ve never heard of that. Just put a sign on the door and you’re good”

“Huh, we had something like that back in my day. What’d you get?”

“I got… lemme look here… ah there it is. I got us some dumplings, they’re turkey and greens. I found bread bowl soup, its bone broth with mushrooms and chunks of boar. Then to drink we’ve got either kompot or mead, I’m gonna stick to kompot.”

“I’ll tell you something kid, the food here? It’s so much better than the food they gave the ZD team. Lot of processed bars that didn’t taste like anything. Just there to fill us up.”

“Gross. Sounds like the bait we’d put out for birds in the winter. Fat, seeds and grass pressed into balls. I tried one once, not nice”

“Hah! Why would you try it? That sounds disgusting”

“Curiosity mostly. Rost always said that if we didn’t get any birds we’d have to eat them, I guess I wanted to know what it would be like. Rost just looked at me like I was crazy, said that we had cured meat in the house if we didn’t catch something”

Elisabet descended into fits of giggles while Aloy described the look on his face.

“You know after that we ended up fishing in the winters, or curing more stuff in the fall. Rost couldn’t stand to look at bird bait after that”

“Oh my god. I have this image of Rost in my head, some big burly survivalist with a beard. The look on his face you described? My mom pulled that on me a few times”

“Go on”

“Ok so I had been at college for a few years, couldn’t have been older than 17 and I got myself a fake id. Back then you had to be 21 to buy alcohol, but you could get fake identification cards that told people you were a different age”

“How come you could get those? Makes the age limit useless”

“They weren’t exactly… legal. Anyway I used it at a liquor store just outside campus, thinking nothing of it. Turns out, the college had an issue with underage drinking, and there was a cop waiting around for students to bust them. My Id wasn’t great, infact the cop took one look at it and told me to get into the cruiser. Took me down to the station and called Mom”

“The station, a jail?”

“More like holding cells. He only took me there so he could get my Mom to collect me. I was at Carnegie-Mellon then, so she had to haul ass to get on a flight to get to Pittsburg. Took her a day? Maybe? Anyway she walks into the station, and she looks at me while I’m in the little holding cell. Man if looks could kill… I couldn’t tell what pissed her off more; the fact that I had a fake id or the fact I got caught”

There was a knock at the door and Aloy got up, laughing all the while. She came back with another tray and set it on the table.

“Sorry, carry on”

“Ok so Miriam Sobeck was looking murderous and the cop turns to her and says ‘well I think she’s learned her lesson’ and lets me go. That stare got turned onto him let me tell you. She goes ‘you dragged me here to teach her a lesson? You couldn’t have just called me? Maybe let one of her aunts pick her up instead of letting me catch a flight from Reno?’ That officer looked so uncomfortable. She frog marches me out, not letting me out of her sight and we get into her rental car. Then she looks at me again, and says ‘Lizzy, your college lets you do remote class right? Good. We’re gonna go home, I’m gonna buy you whatever stuff you wanted, then you can try it in a safe place. And when you find out that you hate it, you’re gonna be grounded for a month’.”

Aloy was laughing so hard she almost choked on her food. They calmed down slowly, letting the calm of the night take over. It was cool, unlike the heat of the day, and they chatted before heading off to sleep.

————————

Aloy was up and about at dawn, as she always was. Briefly debating whether or not to wake Elisabet, she decided against it after seeing her curled up in the covers.

She dressed quickly, left a note and some shards on Elisabets table, and left.

Sighing into the dawn air, Aloy began looking for the warehouse. Blaze had a peculiar smell, something that hung in the air but was different from the spiced smell of Meridian. It was heavy, like walking through late night fog, and smelt like melted metal and machine blood.

Erend and a few of the vanguard were crowded around the building, nervously pacing to and fro. The vanguard nodded towards her, tapping Erend on the shoulder. He nodded in return, not talking with his usual booming voice, instead quickly stepping towards the door. Weapons in hand, Erend kicked the door in , moving away just as fast as he got a look.

“Aloy”

It was a whisper out of respect for the workers who were still sleeping.

“Take a look?”

Aloy stepped forward, and barely needed to activate her focus to know what was before her. A blaze bomb, unstable and huge by the usual standards, made for destruction rather than damage like the small bombs every hunter worth their shards carried. She walked around it, careful to avoid standing in the leaking blaze while she did so, and saw more blaze canisters lined up.

“We need to push the bomb out the window”

Erend did a double take, raising his eyebrows.

“Come on, move fast and it shouldn’t explode on us”

“It might explode on us?! Can’t we just douse it?”

“It’s unstable. Water would activate the igniter, see. Push it out the window, quick!”

She grunted in effort as she placed her weight behind the bomb, barely noticing the pain lancing up her wrist. Erend joined her, the vanguard staying outside with buckets of water. It gave way slowly, then all at once, and they nearly fell out the window. Aloy tugged at Erends arm, and they ran out of the warehouse before heat ran up their sides, throwing them out of the door.

————————

When she woke up, Elisabet was alone, a note on the bedside table. It was just above a chicken scratch, similar to her own handwriting.

“Gone to sort out the thing Avad wanted doing, be back soon”

Elisabet hummed, stretching before getting up properly. God she wanted a coffee, but Aloy had left her some shards to get some breakfast. She dressed, and headed out with a small bag in tow.

The early morning peace was never something she had appreciated before. She was always late nights and rushing through the afternoon to try and get work done so she could sleep at a reasonable time. It never worked, the now permanent bags and dark circles under her eyes were an indicator of that. Aloy hadn’t inherited that unhealthy habit, the girl was intensely pragmatic in a way that screamed ‘I only had a survivalist for a parental figure’.

Elisabet couldn’t judge. Her own Mom had been so anti establishment that for a while her childhood stories always had the same villain; ‘the homeowners association’.

Meridian was waking up, workers leaving their families for the day, children from different classes played together in the streets, some guards pottered around helping the elderly walk to different shops. An apprentice followed on the heels of her teacher, with a bag of tools in one hand and a bag of food in the other.

That made Elisabets stomach rumble, and she went to find some street food for her and Aloy. Hopefully she would be done with her detective work soon enough.

Sitting down to wait for her order, Elisabet chatted with the store clerk, an older man with fantastic face paint. He recommended a dish, some rolls of Maize bread and some goodie liver spread, which Elisabet accepted. All was peaceful, nothing could go-

—————————

The explosion was painfully loud, Aloy and Erend were left reeling from the noise. Clutching her wrist, she helped Erend up again, who pointed towards the fire breaking out. Ears still ringing, Aloy said

“I can see something in my Focus! Deal with this, I’ll follow the tracks”

She was half shouting, but Erend still took a second to realise what she said before nodding furiously and shouting at his men to bring more buckets.

Aloy ran along the path, days of overexertion ignored in favour of speed. Sprinting, jumping, twisting and sneaking, taking down several people all in a flash. Her heart was beating a fever pitch, something in her telling her to go faster, keep running.

Aloy recognised a sound over the noise of ringing. It was a low thrumming, almost like a heart beating, with an undertone of unbearable high pitched screaming. She remembered the ear plugs hidden in her side pouch, and fished them out as fast as her hands let her. They helped the ringing a bit, but entirely blocked out the noise.

Aloy cornered into the palace, finding an Oseram man standing over Avad. He was on the floor, clutching his head, crown lopsided. He was whimpering in pain, shaking slightly. Dervahl, her focus said, turned towards Meridian proper, arms outstretched in the early morning sun, and held out something. He pressed down, then turned around wildly, shouting towards some other Oseram, before running off to the direction of the warehouse.

She moved fast, sneaking behind furniture, before striking her spear into the weapon aimed at Avad. It turned off instantaneously, and Avad collapsed properly onto the floor. Dervahl turned in shock, anger written on his face as clearly as blood on sand.

There was already too much of that in the sundom.

Gathering energy, Aloy stood, back arched in defiance, muscles twitching like a drawn bow. She huffed our breaths quickly, while Dervahl called for his men. They flanked her fast, but Aloy was quicker. She drew her bow, barely aiming before firing yet knowing her arrows would hit her mark. Time slowed as adrenaline pushed through her veins and anger coursed through Dervahl. He snarled, and ran at her.

—————————

“Aloy, Oseram fight heavily. It is work to them, not glory like Carja or function like Nora. They fight like they strike their hammers.”

She trained her spear on the training dummy.

“Hit between their armour, or hit hard enough to break it”

She laid hit after hit onto the dummy, careful with her footing.

“You won’t beat them with brute strength. You have to use what they do not; memory, agility, smarts. Find a weakness, exploit it, like the Oseram do with their weapons”

The dummy fell apart with a lighter hit to the side, just between hay and metal, side stepping before the faux weapon could fall on her.

“Good. Now against an enemy who will fight back. Follow”

—————————

The fist aimed at Dervahls neck was muscle memory, the spear at his stomach was agility, but the leg sweeping his own out from under him was all smarts. He fell down with a loud thud, and screeched in anger.

He cowered away, quickly back in his feet despite the lack of weapons, and pulled another mystery item from his back, licking at the blood pouring from his broken nose. Dervahl smiled manically, and a hounding of machines joined them.

How pathetic. Aloy had been hunting machines since she could hold a bow and joining Rost in his own hunts before she could walk, too dangerous to leave an outcast infant alone even to take down machines. Too much chance of a Nora with a chip on their shoulder to kill her, he had said, or for another tribe to take her believing her abandoned.

To say the least, Aloy could take down machines better than she took down people, and she was extremely skilled in both. Never lax, never underestimating the sound of metal on metal, but always prepared.

A few waves of Glinthawks, her remaining stocks of hunter arrows depleted, but they fell fast. The adrenaline was fading now though, her wrist was aching worse than before. Dervahl was on the floor, tackled by Erend after trying to run.

“Not so fast! You’ve got a lot to pay for”

Aloy walked over to where Marad was helping Avad sit up, handing the king her water skin.

“Hnn. That’s what Ersa went though?”

Aloy nodded.

“By the sun…”

“You alright?”

He sighed, cracking his neck and closing his eyes for a second.

“I am. Thanks to you, Aloy. Without your help…”

“Yeah… the vanguard get that fire sorted?”

Erend piped up at that.

“Yep! Thanks to your quick thinking with pushing the bomb out the window. Heh, don’t wanna think about what would’ve happened if you hadn’t”

“How bad is the damage?”

It was Maranda question this time, he looked concerned.

“Only the warehouse and attached home was damaged. Anyway, Aloy. How’d you get here so fast? You went towards the house and disappeared”

“Oh, my focus showed a trail to follow. The house had a path to the palace, I followed that. Maybe when you fix the place up, give it to the vanguard or something, not much you can do to cover up that hole in your defences”

“Ah, yes. I remember hearing about an escape route from the palace, built in the first sun kings reign. Didn’t think it was still there after my father”

Avad was recovering already, and passed the water skin back to Aloy. Marad helped him to his feet, then went off to call for a physician.

“I fear I only seem to offer small tokens in compensation for your work, Aloy. You have saved not only my life, but the life of all in Meridian. A bomb threat, a deranged man with a new weapon and then a machine attack? Not to mention you saving the life of Ersa and most likely Erend on the way. And all I have given you is my thanks. Please, if there is anything we can do for you, let me know. You have done services for the sundom none will forget”

There was thumping, like someone running, and the sound of heavy breathing.

“Actually Avad, could I check in with a physician. Think I sprained my-“

“ALOY SOBECK!”

—————————

When Elisabet heard the explosion, the first thing she thought of was how much hell she had put her mother through in her teenage years. Between protests, college antics and the few times she ran into the road to save a cat, Miriam Sobeck was aged beyond her years.

The second thing she thought was ‘I bet that’s got something to do with Aloy’.

And then she took off running towards the location of the noise, leaving her breakfast half cooked and a pile of shards on the counter top.

Old bones weren’t meant for running though, she was thoroughly winded by the time she made it to the (now very much on fire) warehouse. It smelt like a mix of gasoline and vegetable oil, black smoke lifting into the air. A vanguards woman, holding a bucket, pointed towards her.

“You there, Erends run off to the palace, he told us to send you there if we saw you”

“Thanks. Good luck with your firefighting. Oh, pour water around the flame to stop it from spreading it makes your job easier.”

The woman made a surprised noise, and then a thankful one when the tip worked, but Elisabet was already running towards the palace.

Admittedly it was less a run and more a half hearted jog, years on ice and days of riding a metal horse had taken their toll.

Halfway through the journey, Elisabet remembered the Focuses in her pouch, fixing one she had programmed for her own use to her temple, before attempting to send a message. Halfway through that, Elisabet remembered Aloy was a lone Focus user for most of her life, and wouldn’t know how to access messages. She swore to herself, vowed to teach Aloy some technical literacy, and carried on.

It took longer than expected to reach the palace, but Marad spotted her as she walked in, smiling courteously.

“They’re just through there”

Elisabet thanked him, and slowed her pace enough to be able to overhear some of the conversation.

“….a bomb threat, a deranged man with a new weapon and a machine attack….”

The incredulous voice belonged to Avad, and Elisabet could sympathise, speeding up again to round the corner. They didn’t notice her straight away, Aloy leaning in to Avad as if to ask him something personal. Frustration bubbled up within Elisabet, how Aloy had taken on these challenges almost alone troubled her. She took a breath in, then mustered all of Miriam Sobecks tone.

“ALOY SOBECK!”

The group turned, Erend with a confused look on his face, Avad with a glad one, and Aloy with a sheepish look that would have been appropriate on a teenager who just got caught sneaking in through the window. She had stopped talking halfway through her sentence, and turned fully so Elisabet could get a look at her.

Aloy was wearing Carja silks, that much was obvious, though parts were slightly singed and torn in areas. Aloy looked almost entirely unharmed, a cut on her lip from being punched, and she was holding her wrist funny.

The same wrist she was favouring yesterday.

“Aloy what did you do to your wrist?”

She purses her lips trying to think up an answer.

“Sprained it, I think. I’m going to talk to Avads physician about it”

“Right. And when did you ‘sprain it’”

Eisabet made quotation marks in the air, and Aloy looked down at her feet.

“Yesterday”

“Aloy!”

That was a group shout, both Avad and Erend joining in with Elisabet.

“It’s fine. Besides, I got Dervahl, who is still trying to crawl away someone stop him? Maybe? Ah thanks”

A vanguards man picked up the writhing mess of anger, shoving him into a cage that another group had brought.

“What are we gonna do with him?”

Avad paused, looking towards Erend.

“Perhaps… perhaps we wait for Ersa to awaken. Let her chose his fate”

Erend nodded.

“I can bet what she’ll want. Take him up to Mainspring and auction off his execution. No matter who gets him it won’t be slow”

The physician arrived, and got to work checking on Avad. He tried to brush the woman off, but she remained resolute.

“Your Radiance you need to stay still. We cannot afford you becoming injured”

She took her time, carefully noting down every small nick and cut in her notebook. She finished up, and looked expectantly at Aloy, who pointed at her wrist.

“Hmm. What did you do, exactly?”

“I fell. A small cliff collapsed with me on it”

“And the corruption burns? From the same time?”

Eisabet made a noise of surprise, glaring at Aloy who shrugged.

“I was fighting a few corruptors. I treated them, found some corruption glaze root and rubbed it on the burns”

“That’s good. Not many people know to do that. Your wrist is fractured, along the joint. Normally I’d tell you to take it easy…”

“Buuut?”

“I’ll make you a splint. Do you hold your bow with this wrist or draw it?”

“I’m left eye dominant but I can aim well enough with my right hand if that’s gonna make it quicker to heal”

“No, that should be fine. We’ll just need to make your splint rigid enough, shouldn’t be hard. Hold out your arm?”

Aloy did so, with Elisabet browbeating her into following directions.

“Ok. Give me an hour and I’ll have your splint ready. Don’t do anything strenuous in the meantime, no taking down assassination attempts”

—————————

The group all crowded around Avads table in his throne room, waiting and chatting.

“So, where are the Sobecks off to next?”

Aloy pulled a small face at Erends question, expertly hid to all but Elisabet.

“Makers end. I need to check the place out, see if Ted kept the ZD terminal. Hopefully I’ll be able to find out what happened, why the derangement came to be, so on and so forth.”

Avad and Erend stared at Elisabet for a second, before Aloy dove in with an explanation.

“We’re looking for the signal that made the machines go deranged”

Erend nodded, before asking a question with surprising solemnness.

“I meant to ask, Elisabet how did the old world die?”

—————————

Chapter Text

To say Elisabet was blindsided by the question was an understatement. Aloy looked between her and Erend, trying to find a way to do damage control, but Elisabet held her hand up before she started to speak.

“That’s certainly a question Erend. I reckon I can give you an answer, but you need to understand one thing;”

Erend nodded, as did Avad.

“I know all of this because I knew that we couldn’t stop it. “

—————————

“In the 2020s, a time known as the Snoring 20s, the world was experiencing a number of climate catastrophies. Decades, centuries of industry had poisoned the earth and humanity showed little sign of stopping. Given that the Industrial Revolution happened in the 1800s, Earth wasn’t doing well. See these industries pumped chemicals into the air, the water, the ground. Even life itself wasn’t immune to this, microplastics found their way into everyone. It was poison, but only the beginning.

The 2030s were known as the Die Off. Disasters struck, hurricanes, floods, the sea level rose enough to sink entire countries. And those were only the climate disasters. Terrorism was rampant, a city called Rotterdam was flooded as a result of said terrorists. Thousands died in that one attack, thousands more died across the globe. Animals too. Animals went extinct, every last one of them wiped from the face of the earth.

Droughts effected the places where flooding didn’t, even places that it did infact. South western United States was hit hard by droughts and temperature rises. Think this heat, then make it hotter and dry, with little access to water and food.

In 2033 a guy called Ted makes his own company. I’ll get back to him later.

The government made an order to move people from the ‘hot zones’. Temporary relocation until a sustainable solution could be found. People didn’t take it well. See the land was valuable, the government wanted to mine it for resources. They didn’t actually care about the people, and if they did it wasn’t enough. They put those folks into refugee camps, fenced in and restricted, rationed food and water. Not nice places.

A lot of stuff happened thanks to the hot zone crisis, the government sent in machines to deal with it. That caused an explosion, not like the bombs you’re used to, bigger than anything you’ll ever see I hope. It wiped out over 900 people in one blast. The conflict ended after that.

A hell of a lot of things happened after that, refugees killed in Britain, an engineered plague was released in major cities all over the world. A lot of people died, it devastated us.”

The group stared wide eyes at Elisabet.

“And… that’s how the world ended?”

“Not quiet Erend. Not quite.

In 2040 I graduated Uni, joined that company I mentioned; FAS, Faro Automated Solutions. I was a junior scientist.

For reference, FAS had started working on green robots, environmentally friendly machines that would help clean up the environment. Fishing plastic out of the ocean, detoxifying pollutants that sort of thing.

The 2040s became known as the claw back. Where humanity worked to undo the damage they did to the world. And you know what? It worked! We clawed back!

There were disasters along the way, Indonesia devastated by nanotechnology, suicide cults, bombings. But a lot of good happened.

By 2042 I was chief scientist at FAS, by 2043 refugees were returning to previously hostile areas of the planet. FAS funded the firebreak program at Yellowstone, to monitor possible volcanic eruptions. The world was swiftly retuning to something more habitable for human life. Philanthropists even started to create space programs to allow a new generation of humans to populate the stars, the oddesy was started in orbit of the planet. “

“So your world wasn’t dying any more, you survived”

“That’s right.

Then 2048 came. Ted, in all his wisdom, pivoted FAS away from green robotics and into automated warfare. I quit soon after, when it became evident that Ted wouldn’t change his mind. Did some soul searching, my mother had died in the years before, I was pretty depressed at that and the whole ‘the company I essentially made was turned into a warfare company’.

2049, I founded my own company, Miriam Technologies, named after my Mom. Ted followed me around with lawsuit after lawsuit, trying to bring me down. Maybe he thought that if he destroyed me I’d come crawling back to him, but I wouldn’t have done.

In the 2050s life carried on as usual. An asteroid was brought into earths orbit, on purpose mind you, to mine its valuable resources. It kickstarted a bit of an asteroid arms race in various companies.

There was again some disasters, worst of all the nuclear disaster of Syzygy/East. Same sort of thing as that explosion at the hot zone, but maybe deadlier. It poisoned the earth with things we couldn’t get rid of; radiation, you have to just wait it out. Although depending on the accurate year the area should be inhabitable. That’s weird to think about.

The last known grizzly bear died, that was sad. I gave my employees a day off work for that, they were devastated.

In 2052 the UK decommissioned all human armed forces, switching to an entirely machine based military. FAS was pleased.

2053 my company got a Nobel peace prize, like an award saying ‘you have helped humanity’.

Time progresses, more and more countries ditch human militaries in favour of machines. Lot of companies start legal battles, the Odessy was abandoned in orbit bringing down plans to take a new generation to the stars.

The 2060s only brought more pain, more suffering. “

Avad jumped in quickly.

“What is your dating system based on? I understand the world was older than 2000 years even when the old ones reigned”

“Ah right. That’s intresting. So from my understanding year 1 was supposedly when Jesus Christ was born, a figure in a prominent religion. By 2060 I actually mean 2060 AD, anno domini which means ‘year of the lord’ in Latin, an even older language. Before 1AD there was BC, or before Christ. We generally measured back to about 5500, the numbers went backwards so 5500 BC would be longer ago than 1BC. But before that there was unrecorded history, when our ancestors first evolved into humanity from chimpanzees”

“We evolved from what?”

Aloy this time, she had previously been sitting calmly waiting on the splint to arrive.

“I’m. I’m not gonna get into evolution massively, but essentially humanity adapted forms over thousands of years from the form of chimpanzees, kinda like a monkey. An old world mammal”

“Oh we know what evolution is. Machines started to do it after the derangement”

“Huh. The more you know. Anyway back on track I gotta tell you kids about the 2060s, or the decade the work died.

It started in 2064, October 31st. Ted contacted me about a crisis with a group of his machines, the Hartz-Timor swarm. See the machines he had created, they were bad news. You know them as Corruptors, deathbringers, and from what I can understand from Nora myth, the metal devil.

I knew them as chariot line. The scarab, Kopesh, and Horus. They were war machines, capable of turning other machines to their side. Like Aloy does with her spear. Except back then there weren’t the machines you’re used to, they were other war machines. The chariot line could also self replicate to a degree, the Horus classes could spew new Kopesh and Scarabs in an instant. That’s not mentioning their consumption of biomatter as fuel. One of the first indicators of the chariot line being too dangerous was when they consumed some endangered marine life. Live. Ate them for fuel.

And what did Ted Faro do, with all of his arrogance and unearned confidence? He made them virtually unhackable. They would only respond to either FAS command, or whoever purchased them. But like us humans, mistakes happen. Updates to their software get botched, a glitch goes undetected for a while and when they try to shut them down it doesn’t work. And then they try to hack them, but Ted made them unhackable.

So, far too late, he comes to me. October 31st, the day I learned the world would end.

The day after, I tell Ted that his machines will strip the planet in 16 months. A year and some.

There was nothing we could do to keep people from dying. Nothing we could do to stop the world from dying, life being wiped out from our planet, from whale to bacteria.

Three days later I forced Ted to fund my magnum opus. The thing that would save our world, except it wouldn’t save our world.

It would rebirth it.”

The physician appeared in the seating area, seemingly shaken by the revelations. She passed Aloy her splint, helped her put it on correctly, then walked off.

“TRY OSERAM BREW! ITS THE BEST FOR FORGETTING STUFF”

Aloy shook her head, and Avad made a face as if to say ‘sorry’.

“Uh, where was I. Oh right rebuilding the world. Ok so world was dying, nothing we could do everyone was doomed. So I gathered a team of the best people for the task of creating something.

GAIA. She is an AI who was charged with rebuilding the world after the Faro plague had wiped everything out. There were a lot of sub functions, one called APOLLO which should have taught you what happened to the world. Sadly it seems like APOLLO glitched, a while ago too.

GAIA had samples of almost every living thing on earth, from grass to grasshoppers. Everything we could get our hands on. She had the ability to create facilities that would bring those things back to the planet. Importantly, she had time.

Remember, I said the Faro plague would destroy the earth in 16 months. By our calculations it would take a super advanced adaptive AI from 50 to 100 years to brute force a deactivation code. That was MINERVAs job. You know the spire? That was one of her broadcasting towers, capable of transmitting signals to all of the other broadcasting towers worldwide.

That wasn’t there in the old world. GAIA built it. Like she built a number of facilities. But one type of facility she couldn’t build was cradle facilities. Places where human life could be born from mechanical wombs, where the children would be raised and educated and eventually released back into the world to bring life back to the planet.

It’s a beautiful thing, and as much as I didn’t expect to, I’m glad to see that human life has prospered.”

Erend and Avad were slack jawed, Aloy fiddling with her splint still, trying to draw something on it.

“I think…. I think I should get to seeing to the nobles. Thank you for the information Elisabet, it’s a lot to take in but helpful nonetheless.“

“Right. Yeah I need to check on the vanguard, deal with the warehouse. See you guys later”

—————————

The two walked from the palace, Aloy still drawing on her splint with some blue paint.

“What is that?”

“Hm? Oh it’s Nora marking, means healing or something like that. I really hope I didn’t just write dick”

“Hah!”

They wandered back to the house, stopping briefly to pick up the breakfast Elisabet had ordered hours ago.

“Here, I made it fresh. Word gets around Meridian quickly, it’s on the house”

Aloy blushed, clearly unused to the praise, but thanked him nonetheless. Grabbing the braided bags, Aloy practically herded Elisabet away from the shopkeep.

Back in the house, the two let out loud sighs, before laughing in tandem.

“So, you fix your focuses?”

“Oh yeah. I meant to drop them off with Avad and Erend.”

“We can do that before we head off”

Elisabet quirked an eyebrow.

“What? We need to get to Makers End, quicker we go the better.”

“You’re hurt”

“If I was alone I’d be going anyway, a wrist fracture isn’t a big deal if you treat it properly. It’s not like an infected cut or a broken leg, and I’ve hunted with those before”

“You’ve hunted with a broken leg?”

“Once. Rost lectured me plenty afterwards, don’t worry.”

“Still kiddo, your body needs rest to heal. How’s this, we stay here another night, we get supplies tonight, head off in the morning”

“Do you think you can wake up early”

“Hey I said the morning not the ass crack of dawn”

Aloy laughed, and agreed.

“Fine. But we’ve got half a day to burn, we’re gonna get you outfitted properly, a pack a water skin that sorta thing, and then I’m gonna teach you how to fire a bow”

“Fine. But only if you don’t teach me by showing me, you need to rest. Deal?”

“Deal”

“What supplies do we need?”

————————

It was late afternoon by the time they finished shopping, and Elisabet was beginning to flag behind slightly. They took some turns into an unknown area, just outside of meridian proper.

“Alright. Now hold out your arms, bend them a bit and make a triangle with your hands”

Elisabet looked confused, but obliged.

“Now look through the triangle”

She did so, and Aloy made a surprised sound.

“Looks like you’re right eye dominant. I half expected you to be left, like me. That’s pretty cool actually”

“Ok, so why did I do that?”

Aloy pulled the bow she had bought Elisabet from her back.

“To see which eye you’ll aim with. Here, I’ve got a spare arm guard”

Elisabet strapped the leather to her arm, and noticed the target a few feet from her.

“Right. Now stand with your right side facing the target and relax. Now here’s your bow, hold it with that right hand. Feet shoulder width apart, make a kinda t shape with your body, with your left hand on the drawstring. Don’t pull back yet though”

Elisabet was slightly hunched over struggling with the shape.

“Pull you pelvis forward, straighten your back. Rost always told me ‘tense your buttocks’ maybe that’ll help”

Elisabet followed the directions, and it did indeed help.

“Point your bow to the floor, and take this arrow. Hold it just below the feathers at the end, kinda like a pencil, and put the notch at the end in between the beads.”

“Right, I think I got it?”

“Yep. Hold the string with your hand, have your forefinger above the arrow and your middle and ring finger below. It’s not how I usually hold my bow but it’s better for beginners”

“Ok… hah yes! What’s next?”

“Now you bring the bow to face the target, and pull the string back, keep your elbow parallel to the ground. Nice, pull it back further, you should be able to drag your knuckles against your face”

“Jeez. This things tricky to hold”

“Keep breathing Elisabet. Look down the spine of the arrow and aim it at the target. Accuracy isn’t important yet”

Elisabet grunted in effort but followed the instruction.

“Breathe, look to see if you’re on target, and fire”

The arrow went sailing through the air, and Elisabet looked please until she realised

“How did I miss the target entirely?”

“It happens. You’ve never done it before, it’s good that you could even pull your bow back far enough. Now, again”

“What? I just tried, I’m tired”

Elisabet was grumping in a way that made Aloy laugh a bit.

“Survival requires perfection. Listen, two more and we’ll stop for the day, maybe head to the night market”

“Alright. But only if you’ll let me teach you how to message people on your Focus. Could come in handy”

“Sure. Now, shoulders square”

—————————

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

God complex complex complexities 1

They set off from Meridian when the sun barely breached the night sky.
Arid mesa turned to jungle, Elisabet marvelled at the trees and the way the landscape merged with plant life. Even with the efforts of the Clawback, the rainforests were never the same, never regaining their carpets of vines and leaves. Aloy was at the front again, but not riding quite as fast as she had before.

The steed, a longhorn or so Aloy had said, was a big beast. It easily took the load of the two, alongside a large pack.

It carried (among other things) a tent, curtesy of Avads old hunting days, preserved meats, fruit jams and pickled vegetables. Perhaps a bottle of Carja wine had made its way into the bag, Elisabet would never admit it. Aloy had looked suspicious at the clinking noise, a face that reminded her all too much of the face Miriam had made when she was caught sneaking in through a window.

Jungle turned back into mesa, as they headed further north. The sands were golden brown, and Aloy steered them carefully to avoid any roaming hostile machines. The trek was slower than usual, but they were quiet. Enjoying the landscape. At some point Elisabet fell asleep against the pack, only waking when Aloy stopped.

“Hey, there’s a Banuk trader here. Gonna get some things. Stay here, hold my spear so the longhorn doesn’t run away”

“Right”

“Won’t be long”

Elisabet drifted into drowsing off, aware enough to see Aloy but not enough to lipread. She came back soon enough, holding a pile.

“It’s not cold enough yet to put these on,”

She patted the blue furs on her arm

“But we ought to get these on right away”

She was holding a pair of sturdy looking boots. What they lacked in modernity they made up for in style.

“Boots with the fur”

“What?”

“What?”

“Just get the boots on”

————————

They set off again, mesa turning into rocky dessert into tundra, fir trees and darker grass. Elisabet perked up from her half asleep state, enjoying the slight chill in the air. Naoto would’ve been so proud.

Aloy pulled them off to one side, just off the beaten path, and motioned towards a group of fallen logs.

“Lunch?”

Elisabet nodded, stumbling off the longhorn. Aloy hauled the pack off their mount, and began searching for food.

“Oh, I think Marad got the palace cooks to make us some lunches. You ok with cold food?”

“Sure thing. What is there?”

“Uh, flatbreads with fox meat and salad, and dried salted beans”

“Sounds pretty nice. You know back in my day I’d have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches pretty much everyday at school”

“Like, sweet stuff on bread?”

“Yeah. That, a fruit roll up which was a candy, and a bag of chips. Chips were potatoes cut thinly and fried”

“Sounds…nice?”

“You don’t have to pretend to like the sound of it.”

They ate in relative silence after that, Aloy happily munching down on the sandwich equivalent, Elisabet picking through the beans. Finishing up, Aloy wiped her hands on her pants, standing up and hauling the pack back to the longhorn. Elisabet climbed aboard, and they were off again.

—————————

Tundra didn’t leave them yet, and Elisabet grew cold with the wind whipping her face. They were further north now, and she activated her focus to see where they were on the map.

“Wow. We’ve gone pretty far! Used to take me twice the time in the car”

“Car…”

*it’s a type of metal chariot used by the old ones, Aloy*

Elisabet jumped out of her skin, and off the longhorn, rolling on the floor. She scrambled up, shouting.

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WHAT THE SHIT”

The voice responded, calculate tone and smugness barely hidden.

*I apologise if I startled you Elisabet*

“Oh you’re the bitch Aloy was talking to back in Rockwreath”

*that is correct*

Aloy helped her up, checking her for damage.

“I’m ok kid, although it’s getting pretty cold huh?”

“Hmm. Here, grab this”

It was a poncho, made from fabric and pelts, and reversible for differences in weather. Elisabet wore it fabric side in, not quite cold enough to warrant the fur.

“Cozy. Let’s get going again, don’t want the longhorn getting stuck in the snow”

*that would be inadvisable*

Aloy looked at her, and she brushed her off.

“The worst thing for a guy like this is to be ignored. Hurts their ego. Double tap the side of your focus, it’ll mute it”

*Elisabet I don’t believe th-*

The sound cut off with an undignified squeak, and Aloy laughed.

“Thanks. Don’t know if I could have put up with his monologues”

“No problem kiddo”

—————————

They set up camp while the sun rapidly descended. They were close now, but Aloy had heard rumours of a bandit camp nearby, and told Elisabet she wanted to handle it while it was dark. So, she was left alone, a campfire crackling to her side, a Carja tent set up above her, bored out of her fucking mind.

She double tapped the side of her focus, and initiated a video call with the mystery man. He declined, she tried again, he declined again, and tried to initiate a voice call. She huffed in frustration, and video called once more.

“Ah, so you finally answer”

*must you insist on a video call?*

“I must. It’s considered rude in my culture to talk to someone on voice call without seeing them on video beforehand.”

*because you care so much for your cultures views on politeness*

The man- the 3D holographic diagram of the user- stood before her, pacing in annoyance. He didn’t look like any of the tribes folk she had met this far, perhaps most similarly like the Banuk trader, but nothing concrete.

“So, you’ve been watching Aloy. Bit creepy”

*I did not intend for it to be so, I only started watching her recently*

“Because that’s so much less creepy. Alright, humour me, what’s your name”

*you don’t need to know that*

“Oh I don’t, but if you want to work with me then you need to provide your name. You know my name, call it an equal transfer of currency”

*….Sylens*

She quirked an eyebrow on offence.

*Sylens is my name. S Y L E N S*

“That makes sense. So tell me what you know about this world”

*hm. Whatever happened to the equal exchange of currency*

“You were listening in on my explanation of how my world ended, that knowledge was likely far above any you had found before”

*I must admit I didn’t know about Zero Dawn. Fine. This world is ignorant and uneducated, it’s a miracle we survived. I spend my time studying the old ones, but with you here it seems a bit redundant to talk about that*

“I don’t know, Aloy has been helpful in putting into words something that was so normal to me I didn’t think about it”

*she is uneducated*

“Don’t mistake a lack of education for a lack of intelligence.”

*I didn’t mean to. It is rather impressive that she has taken such a liking to old ones technology and history, given her upbringing*

“Pardon?”

The call cut out, and she almost screamed in frustration. That bastard. She took a breath, then double tapped the side of her focus. He wouldn’t hear her complaining goddamn it.

“That bastard! He knows something”

She laid back in the tent defeatedly, waiting for Aloy to come back. She was halfway to sleep when she did.

“Hey, Elisabet? You asleep”

“Hn? No kiddo I’m alright. How was it then?”

“I took down their leader and they crumbled, told them to scatter before I hunted them down. If nothing else Nil will find it fun”

“Heh, that’s good. Anything else happen? Any, I don’t know, fractured wrists?”

“That was one time, and no. I rescued the kidnapped folk and found them food for a night, whether they stay or go is up to them, but in this weather I wanted them to at least stay put for a night”

“That’s kind Aloy, you didn’t need to do that”

“I did. It was the right thing to do”

“But you didn’t need to do it”

“It was the right thing to do so it was the only option. Rost taught me that if helping someone doesn’t hurt you, you do it without expectation of praise or thanks. My words not his, he was more like ‘do the right thing Aloy’ and I took it from there”

“That’s… that’s a great quality to have Aloy. I’m proud of you”

“Thanks. Anyway you eaten?”

“Oh yeah, half the food from the first tiffin. Lovely warmed up”

“Great. I ate with the prisoners incase someone came back. Sleep now, then we’re up bright and early again”

“Ugh”

—————————

“Elisabet?”

“I’m old. I’ve got old bones. Let my old bones rest”

“Not a chance. Cmon, makers end. I’m excited”

With that Elisabet slowly sat up, stretching and cracking her joints. Aloy was sat next to her, a metal cup of tea in her hand.

“Mornin kiddo.”

“Morning Elisabet. You up to this today? Don’t wanna mess with your old bones”

Elisabet slapped her arm playfully, chuckling to herself.

“I’ll be alright. Forgot to tell you, I spoke to our mysterious friend last night, his name is Sylens apparently. Knows about you”

Aloy took a sip of her drink, then sucked on her teeth.

“Sylens… can’t place the name with a tribe. Maybe Banuk? Any identifying features?”

“Glowing cables on his body, furs, lotta my folks tech”

“I’m gonna say cursory Banuk, but we’d have to head up to the cut to know”

“Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad, I wanted to check on CYAN”

“If we’re in the area. It’s a ways away, we’d have to go through Nora lands”

“Another time then. Let’s get moving”

“Yep. I got you a flask to go, we can walk”

The walk up to the ex bandit camp was alright all things considered, freezing but refreshing. There were some people there, greeting Aloy happily, a child running up for a hug that she accepted. Elisabet was almost entirely covered by her Banuk furs, and a woman laughed at seeing her.

“Not used to the cold this one?”

Aloy shook her head, and they continued their walk to Makers end.

————————
The ruins were becoming steadily denser, compacted snow mixed with rusted metal peaking through. There was sounds of explosions, the booming piercing the morning air. It all worked to put Aloy on edge.

“Look, there. Corrupted machines. Stay here”

“Wait, unmute your focus, I’ll call you. Keep in contact”

She double tapped the side of her focus, and a voice suddenly cut in.

*ah. Finally. I have left some supplies here, the crate*

She looked, and there was indeed a crate, a couple dozen tearblast arrows filled it

“Hm.”

Elisabet waved briefly, then pushed into mid air like Aloy did when she was using her focus, and a symbol popped up in her peripheral.

“Im on a call with you now too, my profile pic, the leaf looking thing, should light up when I’m talking. Sylens is… man what is that? Blue lines? Anyway, you’re all set kiddo, go get em”

Aloy set off, comforted by the constant chatting from Elisabet and the occasional sarcastic reply from Sylens. Peaking over a ruin, she unhooked her bow, and flexed her splinted hand a little.

The cold was actually pretty nice on it, made the ache lessen. Maybe Rost had something with his ‘rolling in the snow helping pain’. It certainly made it numb.

She activated her focus, flagging a couple of enemies to an interested sound from Elisabet.

“Never even thought about using it that way”

*Perhaps we don’t talk while Aloy is aiming?*

“Right. Yeah. Sorry kiddo”

It was quiet again, she took a breath, and aimed. They were eclipse, the markings telling that tale, and the machines that trotted around them spewed corruption like nothing else.

Her wrist cramped, and she waited, knees wet from melting snow. One breath, two, a third.

Her arrow met its mark, and she drew another, hitting an eclipse in the throat with a gurgle. The camp was quiet, and she took another shot before sneaking through red brush for another vantage. One fell to her spear, and another to a fire arrow aimed at a barrel of blaze. Soon enough, the camp was clear, and she carried on forwards.

“Alright, that’s the first bit done. I think there’s more Eclipse just up here though, so don’t follow yet Elisabet”

“Got it. Thanks Aloy”

She took a running jump at a ledge, and climbed up. Little moved in the area, another boom rattled the metal surrounding Aloy, but she moved on regardless. Shouting, shouts back, and Carja slurs flung every which way.

“What did that mean?”

Neither Aloy or Sylens gave her an answer, and Elisabet remained quiet after that.

There was dark metal stirring, just under the snow. Barely visible, quaking and vibrating in anger, and very much there.

“Elisabet how do I mute one person?”

“Oh you’d double tap, then sorta circle the focus until the profile lined up”

“Thanks”

She muted Elisabet. She’d already be troubled today, best not let her hear one of her demons.

*interesting*

“Quiet or I mute you too”

She drew her long shot bow, and aimed three tearblast arrows at the deathbringer. She breathed in, out, in fired.

————————

“Sylens annoying you with his silence. Heh. Oh wait YOU MUTED ME! ALOY!”

Nothing

“Tell me what’s happening damnit”

*she’s in a fight, when is she not*

“That’s not what I meant. Sylens? SYLENS! Fuckers the both of them”

There was a loud bang, over where Aloy had gone, so Elisabet scrambled up and went to investigate.

—————————

‘All machines have weaknesses. Their armour isn’t like skin, it is something that can be removed with relative ease if you have the correct equipment. Aim an arrow between the scales, a tear blast like I taught you to make, and watch the ground for falling pieces. You might take down the machine that way, if not, aim again. All things fall, you must make sure they fall before you do’

The deathbringer was, infact, practically immune to tearblast. She squinted, and looked for a weak spot. If she could take down something it would come toppling down.

It fired barrage after barrage at her, as she ducked and weaved through the ruins trying to avoid being hit. Steam rose from the machine, melting the snow previously on it and around the area. It stopped briefly and-

There! A cooling rod, she fired a fire arrow at it, and… success. Another cooling rod went quickly too, then four more. She was fast on the draw, fingers numbed from cold heated by friction of bow string. At least the arrows would only light on impact, shards of metal striking against each other, igniting the blaze.

The machine stuttered, like a wounded animal, but returned to normality soon after.

She was back to running then, taking down whatever eclipse got in her way. Haphazardly aiming a tearblast arrow at one of the weapons gained another success, the thing falling off and shattering into a mess of metal and wires.

Impossibly, the machine seemed angrier.

The heat was growing now, Aloy could feel it even from her relative distance, it stuttered again briefly, and something large emerged from it.

A core, the focus designated, and Aloy shot it with as many arrows as her hands could find. It stuttered again, she was losing her chance. She breathed in, and time slowed.

Aloy didn’t know if it was adrenaline, training or some side effect of near constant Focus use, but she became more aware sometimes. Like time was slowed.

Like Rost said; ‘push your advantage’.

Her arms worked so fast her muscles burned, but every shot was true, and with the last arrow in her pack….

—————————

Elisabet covered her ears when she heard the sound, the shockwave following surprised her regardless. There was a brief moment of panic, then a voice.

“Elisabet?”

“Oh my god you’re ok. I’m coming to find you hang on”

She ran towards where her focus indicated a signal, clambering over obstacles all while ignoring the burn of her muscles. Aloy was stood over a man, waiting for Elisabet to arrive.

“Wanna see what’s on this guys focus?”

“Yes. But don’t think this is gonna excuse you from about a talk about what you just did”

Aloy threw her hands up, still breathing heavily from the fight. Elisabet picked the Focus from the man’s temple, and it was like something seeped from it.

{ENTITY; ELISABET SOBECK. STATUS; NOT ELIMINATED.}

“HADES?!”

{ENTITY QUERY, ANSWER; CORRECT}

“Why have you re activated. The biosphere is functioning”

{ENTIRY QUERY, ANSWER; WITHHOLD. QUERY; ENTITY HAS MUTIPLES, WHY?}

“Wha- you can’t refuse to answer my question, you’re a subfunction”

{ENTITY STATEMENT; INCORRECT}

“Elisabet that focus is gonna-“

She squeaked when the focus erupted into sparks, catching her skin slightly. She dropped it, and sighed at the ground.

“Damn it.”

“You alright?”

“Yeah I’m fine. If I was taken out my a sparking focus the world would still be dead”

They stood in silence I little longer.

“Sylens? Nothing to add?”

*no*

“Good to know. Shall we get going kiddo?”

“You bet”

—————————

Makers end was a blast to the past for Elisabet, the ruins had once held the life of a younger her. Now what was left was memories.

Aloy had squeezed through the gap first, making sure it was safe, then crawled back through and guided Elisabet from behind. To say the gap was claustrophobic was polite, it was downright offensive how flexible Aloy was.

If Elisabet was winded by her brief run and encounter with HADES, she tried not to show it.

“So, how come you muted me back then”

Aloy froze, as if she expected Elisabet to forget about it.

“There was a deathbringer. It was a Chariot line machine”

“Oh”

She remembered how Aloy wasn’t distraught over Elisabets panic attack back at Rockwreath, rather that she had inadvertently helped cause it.

“That was thoughtful Aloy, but I’d rather know that you’re okay.”

“Alright. I’m not gonna say I won’t do it again, but I’ll only do it if I absolutely need to. Like if I’m sneaking and can’t tell you to shut up”

“Yeah that makes sense. Just don’t make me worried sick again”

“I’ll try not to, but we’ve got a climb that might not help”

Aloy patted her shoulder, and they were off, meandering around ruins, dirt and snow cracking underfoot, and a smell like something nostalgic.

The place had changed, purple lights made the atmosphere eerie, lighting up particles of dust in the air. Stale air not helped by the difference in temperature, offices of people years dead laid in various states of cleanliness and disrepair.

Darren’s cubicle, the picture of his kids long since rotted away. Nadia’s computer, her FAS coaster missing her mug. Johns favourite hallway to clean, the dirt didn’t stick to the floors as much as it did in the reception area.

Co workers, friends. People who may have lived their days in Elisium, or died on the battlefield facing machines that they knew couldn’t be stopped. Maybe they thought she could stop them, maybe they didn’t care if she could.

Darren had invited her to his daughters birthday party, Nadia shared her tips on making decent break room tea, John had been the first person to greet her and the last person to say goodbye. In the early days she had invited them all to Miriam Robotics, they all declined. Darren because FAS paid for college, Nadia because FAS had better health benefits for her brother, John because FAS was his visa sponsor.

She looked at Aloy, who had that look of young wonder on her face, purple lights shining in her eyes. Elisabet wondered if she looked like that once, before years of overworking and focus migraines made the light dissipate. Miriam would’ve loved her.

—————————

Somewhere, deep within these ruins, is the start of the Nora faith.

Aloy followed while Elisabet wandered down the corridors in an almost trance, stopping briefly to open the way deeper into the facility. They came upon an elevator shaft, an obstacle.

“How do you wanna play this kiddo?”

Aloy cocked her head downwards considering the possibilities.

“It’s not that much of a drop, I could roll through it but I’m not sure about you. How about you tie some rope round yourself, then I bring you down using the corner as leverage.”

“Smart”

Elisabet nodded, and Aloy dusted her hands with a yellow powder.

“What is that stuff I see it everywhere”

“It’s ash and flower dye. Stops your hands from sweating so much, and stops rope burn”

She tossed her pack down, aiming so that Elisabet could use it as a landing if she needed to.

“Sorta gather it round your legs, yeah like that. Then around your waist”

“Why around my legs? Wouldn’t it be easier if I just did it around my waist?”

“Yeah, it would be easier. If you fell you also probably break your spine”

“Got it. Legs stay on”

“Right, Sylens keep an eye on her, Elisabet sit on the ledge and bring your legs round so you’re facing the doorway”

*I suspect this will be amusing*

Chapter Text

To say that Aloy had never struggled with her own mind would be a lie.

Elisabet looked into those eyes, the vulnerability that she wasn’t willing to share, Aloys own masterful hiding of her past.

The girl was incredible, doing things that Elisabet couldn’t even dream of. Taking down Chariot machines like nothing, learning to use a focus on her own and using it for a function it wasn’t designed for, climbing with such ease that she looked like a squirrel. Elisabet was proud.

She also wished that the girl didn’t need to be incredible, that she could have been average or below average and still made it in a world of Elisabets creation.

Aloy activated a hologram, showing machines and spouting their usefulness. She frowned, and Elisabet walked over.

“War machines. What kind of war needed weapons like this…”

Elisabet sighed, and looked at the holograms. They seemed so much less harmful like this, leashed dogs biting at the chain.

*wars that involved far more humans than any army of ours could muster, maybe more humans than are on earth right now*

Aloy pursed her lips, squinting at the holograms again, and then moved on.

The floor cracked and creaked with each step, layers of dust (the leftovers of biomatter conversion?) swept away by the poncho she wore.

In a world long passed, Elisabet listened to music too loudly. Her ears rung with regret.

—————————

The climb to the top of makers end took hours.

The cold air was murder on Elisabets face, regardless of the poncho or the thick gloves she now wore. It stung her nose, burned her lungs and made each blink feel like sandpaper. She had long since tuned out anything but the climb and Aloys own encouragement. She tailed behind her now, the rope tied around her waist and legs stopping her fear of falling from coming to fruition.

Aloy, for the most part, seemed to be in her natural habitat, easily climbing each broken jut of metal and finding the least crumbing bits of concrete. She was holding back for Elisabets sake? She could see that in the way she hesitated before switching paths. They would be lengthier climbs, but wouldn’t involve jumping at any point, even if Aloy seemed poised and ready to leap up the whole building in a matter of seconds.

Elisabet kept her eyes ahead of her, not looking down but not looking up further than Aloy. Sometimes they’d reach an area where they could both sit, legs dangling from the ruins. It gave Elisabet a sense of vertigo she had rarely experienced, and a little rush that she would never admit to.

Maybe Aloy had gotten her thrill seeking genes from her.

The girl never seemed to get out of breath, almost silent in the way she moved effortlessly up and around obstacles that took Elisabet far longer to traverse.

Aloy wasn’t even wearing gloves for gods sake, saying the splint would make it difficult enough to find traction without another barrier.

“Not that you have to worry about that, Elisabet” she had said, patting Elisabets shoulder all the while. “I’ll catch you if you fall”

And she wasn’t lying. Elisabet had slipped a couple times, heart leaping into her throat while she dangled helplessly, kicking until she regained enough calm to grab the rope and orient herself.

When that happened, Aloy would stay stock still, only moving to lock her arms around a hold. She didn’t look down at Elisabet, that was appreciated, she just stayed until she shouted up.

They breached the upper levels, the floor that had held Elisabet office, and stopped for a break.

Aloys nose and cheeks were rosy in the cold, she puffed out the occasional breath of fog, hiding her hands under her arms by crossing them. Elisabet for her part was almost collapsed on the floor, not caring about the sheer drop as she rolled onto her back.

“Jesus fucking Christ”

Aloy nodded in agreement

“What’s your version of that?”

“I dunno, maybe by the all mother”

“What about all mothers tits”

Aloy laughed, groaning slightly as she did, she shook her head in humour.

“I think saying that would get me outcast a-“

She cleared her throat, interrupting herself, but Elisabet couldn’t make out what she would’ve said.

Elisabet sat up, accepting Aloys hand to pull her to her feet.

“Almost at the top. Us old ones really loved having the most annoying places to navigate huh?”

“Oh this is nothing, wait until I take you to a cauldron”

—————————

The top floor brought mixed feelings. Elisabet hadn’t been here since before Zero Dawn. It stung to see how little remained.

Ted had never changed his office. It remained as it had been built, sleek and graceful with a brutalistic edge. How he loved to parade guests around it, how he loved to have it empty of all but himself.

He wasn’t a scientist or engineer. He was an entrepreneur, clawing at each dollar that came his way. But he was, at one point, staunchly practical.

He built FAS to last, he took on the clawback because without environmental change there would be no money at all, and even his arrogance with the refusal to install a back door into the chariot line came with practical reasoning.

It had gone to shit once they had gone rogue of course, either something snapped or he lost the reason to keep the mask of normalcy.

But here she was, in a world he had killed in the very place he had found out that he would be the reason, and Elisabet was upset that FAS hadn’t held up perfectly to the tests of time.

It was difficult.

She had once sat on Teds couch, shaking like a leaf from fever, while he uttered about finding her some medicine.

Once she would have said it was kindness, once she would have said it was so she didn’t go home to get medicine. Now, Elisabet wasn’t sure. They were never friends, she wouldn’t have gone out for drinks with the man, but she was the closest he found to an equal in the company he built, and they had an understanding of mutual respect.

Of course he went on to make war machines and Elisabet quit, then Ted followed her for years with lawsuits, but once upon a time they had mutual respect.

That one company retreat where they shared a tent in the name of team building came to mind suddenly, and Elisabet shook the memory from her head.

Terminal first, nostalgia later.

Aloy was already playing a datapoint on her focus, it was the one where she told Ted that he had doomed the world irrevocably.

Elisabet squinted into the snow, activating her focus and looking for the terminal. Result! She wandered over, dodging rubble and detritus all the while. Everyone on the Zero Dawn team had argued against giving Ted even a look into their systems, but it was helpful at the moment.

She reached it, scrambling up the short wall that hid it from the rest of the office, and there it was, in all of its rusted glory.

—————————

Aloy was immersed in the conversation playing back on her focus when she heard the angry shout.

She quickly shut off the playback, downloading it to her focus, and walked over. She vaulted the wall easily to see Elisabet kicking a metal box, that her focus quickly told her was the terminal they had come to find.

“Uh, Elisabet?”

The woman continued kicking it, stopping once to strike a fist down on the top before pulling the hand away, attempting to shake out the pain.

“Elisabet?”

Elisabet sunk down onto the floor, hunching over the box. Sniffles were coming from her now, and as swamped as she was by the poncho Aloy could tell she was shivering.

*Elisabet. Now is not the time for emotional outbursts*

“Not helpful!”

Instead of being cruel, like Sylens, Aloy sunk down beside her, rubbing her shoulders trying to warm her up at least a bit.

It took a moment for Elisabet to come back to herself enough to head into a shielded area, but never before was Aloy so happy that she kept spare sticks for arrows on her at all times.

She started a small fire, nothing large, barely enough to warm one of them, but the blaze made the fire burn hotter. Aloy positioned herself on the other side of the fire, facing towards Elisabet and shielding her from the wind that was now battering the building.

Elisabets eyes slowly focused on the light, and Aloy sighed relief.

“I- I’m sorry”

“What about?”

Elisabet threw her hands up, tears still brimming her eyes threatening to roll down her face.

“This! This whole mess! We climbed up for nothing, terminals busted. I don’t know what I expected, maybe that this place wouldn’t be such a ruin?”

“How’s it busted?”

“It can’t connect to Zero Dawn systems, can’t tell me what’s wrong with it or why the hell we talked to HADES down there”

“But it showed something, right?”

“…yeah, basic stuff. What terminals ended up connected to the ZD network, where they were, what staff were assigned. But that’s all just hardware, the things we used to access the meat of Zero Dawn. I, We, need the software. Need to be able to look at the system and fix what’s wrong”

“So it told you where these terminals could be?”

“Yes..?”

“Then it’s not useless. We go down that list till we find somewhere that has a functioning terminal.”

“That’s- that’s genius kid. Of course! I should even be able to write off some of the places, it ought to show what facilities were destroyed by the swarm, and if this one wasn’t shut off in the last hundred or so years I should be able to see which ones were still functioning before it died. You’re a goddamn genius Aloy!”

She got up quickly, almost stepping in the fire as she did so, and ran back to the terminal.

“Look! It even has the date! That means I’ll be able to tell how many HADES cycles came before, it might give me an idea as to why it’s trying to bring the biosphere back down again”

“What is the date?”

“It is… lemme see here, uh move that…. It’s an approximate date? 3040. 3040?! I was in the since 2066, that’s 970 odd years. Christ”

*incredible, the suit you were wearing wasn’t designed for that purpose yet it still kept your life support systems up and running*

“I mean we took the designs for the environment suits from the UNs space agency, they had been exploring long term space travel before everything went down. I thought we’d ripped that stuff out, went back to basics. I guess we hadn’t in the end.”

*does that mean other old ones may still be alive, if they managed to end up in similar circumstances?*

“Fraid not, GAIA prime was the only place with those suits save a couple of testing facilities. I’m the only one left”

That took a turn, Aloy was by her side looking through the data. Her tongue tuck out of the corner of her mouth, like Elisabets had done when she was younger.

Almost a thousand years apart but so similar.

“Cmon, let’s find the locations and get going. I’m getting vertigo up here”

—————————

Getting down was a much easier time, Aloy found a stable bit of metal sticking up from the building, attacked Elisabets climbing rope to it and just about shoved her off.

“Absailing. great…”

“Don’t look down”

Elisabet peeked over her shoulder, and held onto the rope harder than before.

*She did say not to look down*

“Shut it. I only take that kinda sarcasm from Aloy”

“And Marad”

“And Marad”

Aloy held onto the rope from the top of the building, gently leading it down further while trying to be as slow as she could manage. It’s a good thing that the chalk stopped rope burn from effecting her so much, her hands were already burning.

With Elisabet on a floor about a third of the way down, Aloy unhooked her climbing hook and threw herself off the building.

“ALOY?!”

The hook caught the piece of metal, and she slid down the rope easily, hooking her foot around it to slow her descent.

“Heart attack Aloy. That’s what you’re giving me. A heart attack”

She just laughed, and whipped the rope upwards to unhook it.

“You’d have a field day in Nora lands. Kids run the brave trails to train up before the proving, most of the time they jump off things without ropes to catch them”

—————————

The chatting continued as they got further down the building, eventually landing on the ground where Elisabet ignored the urge to sink to her knees and kiss it. It was too cold for that.

The sun was beginning to set, it would only get colder and darker from here, so Aloy whistled for a mount and they were off, back to the liberated bandit camp.

Her nose burned in the cold still, her muscles ached and her joints felt like they might pop out at the earliest convenience.

But one some deeper level, some primal instinct was telling her that this was ok. That this was good to feel. Aloy pulled two sleeping rolls from her pack, laid them out side by side in an old bandits tent, and laid down.

Her eyes were already drooping when they had arrived, and she continued to almost fall asleep in her dinner. There was something adorable about seeing Aloy so open, vulnerable.

Soft breathing escaped from the being beside Elisabet, and she smiled fondly.

Aloy had fallen asleep before she could even get herself tucked in, so Elisabet took on that role for her. She pressed a gentle kiss on the crown of her head, and Aloy shifted further into the fur of the roll.

“Night kiddo. Sweet dreams”

*heart warming.*

“Want me to tuck you in too, give you a little teddy bear and a mug of cocoa?

“Exactly. Shut up and go to sleep Sylens.”

—————————

Sleep came easy to Elisabet, but the hope for dreamless nights was moot. Too many souls haunted her, too much blood on her hands.

Once she would have just avoided sleep until her body gave in to exhaustion, or the blurring of her eyes made it so she couldn’t code anymore.

That wasn’t an option she had. She had too much riding on her being physically well enough to travel. It had never been like that before.

Maybe she had always known she wouldn’t make it to Elysium.

The thought of life in a bunker during Zero Dawn prep was hard enough, but being stuck in one until she died of natural causes, always wondering if what she had done was enough, always wanting to go back, tweak one last bit of code or finagle that part of GAIAs subfunctions.

If the thought alone made her wish she were dead, Elisabet knew she wouldn’t make it a week in Elysium.

It’s why she left GAIA prime. Why she had closed the door in an oh so selfless act of heroism.

Maybe the others thought that, but Elisabet knew herself better. Knew her team better. The malfunction was an accident, but Elisabet leaving was not.

Hearing the creator of the very project that’s meant to bring life back to a barren planet shoot herself wouldn’t be good for morale, no matter how increasingly common suicides were after people finished their work.

Anyway, weapons were confiscated on arrival, too much a risk of murder among inhabitants.

Elisabet dreamt of Elysium, bodies lying there, unable to rot in the sterile environment. Of course that wasn’t scientifically accurate, but she always thought about the lifeless eyes of those who went into those bunkers, knowing they were walking into their graves.

Only a handful of children were taken to Elysium, they tried best they could to populate families with children together. So the kids would have someone after the adults passed.

Elisabet had never been hands on with Elysium like she had GAIA. Maybe it was another smoke screen, like ZD itself. That thought made her almost throw up, dream self wandering through empty corridors that were built only to keep the building staff from spreading rumours of the lack of living space.

Another thought, another twist to the dream, the nightmare.

Elisabet saw GAIA prime, her living quarters left barren, a sign on the door. Elisabet saw the orbital launch base, US robot command, the countless other facilities where doomed souls laid. The frontlines of enduring victory, a lie crafted from the back of her mind and the genius of military generals.

The faces turned to her, and screamed.

—————————

Chapter Text

Post Zero Dawn journal 3, or why they should make a movie about Aloy.

HADES has made an appearance. Nothing good can come from that.

It was strange to see it, to talk to it. GAIA shared similarities with me, and each of the Alphas. HADES was never designed to have any type of consciousness, it was supposed to be a part of GAIA that came into play when her biosphere creation failed.

If anything, I would have expected it to be mournful, sad that it would have to destroy what GAIA had built.

But HADES is too robotic, and that scares me. It’s cult more so. How intelligent must it be to create a cult from Carja religion. I don’t know much about them, but if the nomenclature says anything, the eclipse worship it as some sort of god on par with their sun god.

We often wondered how GAIA would be perceived in the new world, APOLLO was meant to prevent any further humans from seeing GAIA as a god. The Nora seem to view her that way, and now with HADES emerging and being worshiped, I fear what the other subfunctions may do.

The question of how HADES emerged goes unanswered, and likely will do so until I can find a working terminal. The closest place is the shadow Carja capitol, and like hell am I going there. It’ll have to be a last resort.

Unfortunately that means the best bet for finding… anything that works is US Robot command. I don’t know how ready I am to see that.

Reminders of project enduring victory, perhaps a Horus ruin, undoubtedly some eclipse if HADES had a base at FAS. And its smack bang in the centre of Nora land. I’ll have to talk to Aloy about that tomorrow, see if she’s up to it.

Nora lands, maybe it would be good for her to visit Rosts grave. Maybe it would be good for me to see how she grew up with my own eyes. She’s hiding something about her upbringing, she’s detached for someone so young, and seems relatively unused to affection. Especially physical affection.

Not saying Rost did a bad job, lord knows Aloy is a damn good kid, but she dosent talk about anyone else she grew up with. No childhood friends, no other family, no maternal figures to speak of. Hell, Erend called himself her first friend. That’s sad! Really sad.

I hope whatever childhood she had was good, that she’s not burdened with trauma on top of trauma. Unfortunately the Sobeck luck seems to be with her.

I’m not even gonna write about the climb. My god everything hurts, muscles I didn’t even know I had burn. And Aloy? She’s fine! Just a regular badass, jumping off the roof and booking a grapple midair. GAIA must’ve mixed something extra into her, no way she can be entirely my clone.

Sylens is an interesting addition to the team. He’s hiding things, I can hear it in his voice, that arrogance tells a story. Teaching Aloy to mute her focus was a good choice, even if she used it against me :(.

I think Nora lands border Yellowstone, and USRC was on the way. Maybe we ought to head over there once we’ve visited. If CYANs up and running still, she could help us locate a functioning ZD terminal if USRC comes out as a bust.

I haven’t visited Yellowstone since I was young, I still remember my mom taking me for a week, I had been moved up a couple grades and the school needed time to prepare. That was a nice trip, Auntie Rach was a park ranger there, found us the best camping spot.

Maybe I could take Aloy to that spot. She’d love it there, a little stream with fish, a big boulder to climb. I’ll ask her about it.

Learning about Sylens would be a plus. Sneaky little fucker always listening in. Fortunately he dosent know how to get past basic focus functions. For once I’m glad for Ted, he added those functions after that scandal in the 50s. I still feel bad for that prince, can’t be nice to have a journalist live-streaming your entire life.

Doubt he’d be too happy about it, but having some blackmail would be nice.

Still no sign of GAIA proper. I fear for the worst, her destruction or absorb ruin into HADES seems likely. It’s difficult to keep hope, but she reversed the total extinction of every living thing on earth, she’s a tough one for sure.

I miss talking to her, but in a way Aloy reminds me of her. Always willing to learn, intelligent to a nearly scary degree, and strong as hell. Kinda like she’s our child.

I’m getting too tired to keep writing, so I’m gonna wrap this up now.

Elisabet Sobeck, Alpha Prime signing off

304X

See, I know the date now! Kinda

Chapter Text

Aloy enjoyed early mornings, when the air was cold and the birds chirped.

It was a habit of hers to wake up earlier than needed, just to have some time for the little things. So much of her life was dedicated to training and hunting and learning, even in the calm quiet of Rosts tutorage it was nice to slow down and breathe.

Elisabet stirred next to her, vague memories of last night came to mind. Being cold, then warm, something soft pressed against her head. It was nice, like Rost had visited her briefly. She settled back down, snoring once more, and Aloy crawled to the door of the tent.

It was cold out, the kind of cold you only got in the winter back in the embrace. Some people pottered about, beginning the chores of the day, a young parent with a baby rocking it while running to another tent.

Aloy got up, closing the tent behind her, and picked up a metal tin from her bag. Elisabet missed something called Coffee, a hot drink that she took as strong as it could go.

Honestly, Aloy didn’t mind the sound of that, she always liked her tea strong and bitter, much to Rosts confusion.

But coffee wasn’t something she had heard of before Elisabet so she’d get tea, brewed with fire kiln root and valleys brush. Fire kiln for warmth, valleys brush for aching muscles. She placed the tin down in the fire, pouring snow into it to boil off.

A woman sat beside her, putting her own run into the fire and sorting through her basket of berries. Casual solidarity, she still wasn’t used to it, people existing around her not talking or doing anything to do with her. Just there, being themselves and being in the same area.

The water started to bubble, and taking a cursory look at it revealed no scum on the top or sediment at the bottom. Good, the snow was fresh enough to expect that but you never know. Aloy placed a few of the dried flowers she kept in her medicine pack.

Elisabet had given her a very funny look when she had first picked some hintergold, but had refused to explain further.

The tin was back on the fire, and Aloy fished two wooden cups from her pack, wrapped in a few spare undershirts. Hand carved, one for her and one for Rost, a present for a Nora religious festival that Aloy didn’t really care about. Still, she had carved them from some slices of a tree stump, and Rost had smiled when she had passed him his.

That was the last gift she had given him, would be the last gift she gave him. He had known that, so he kept the two cups on a shelf with his other treasured items. Swirling patterns decorated his own cup, a stylised version of the paint he wore designating it his. Aloys cup didn’t have that, an arrowhead design was the only decoration.

Rost had remarked that she ought to fill out the designs. She never had done that, never stayed out for long enough.

The tea bubbled, and she poured the contents into the two cups, nodding to the woman at the fire before walking off to wake Elisabet. Hopefully she would accept being woken up so early with a peace offering.

—————————

“Aloy, its too early…”

Elisabet was face down in her sleep roll, and right now it was the comfiest bed she had ever slept in. Even better than Tildas bed, or Charles’ guest room.

And now Aloy was trying to pull her from her well deserved sleep, like she hadn’t climbed fucking Everest yesterday.

“I made you tea, cmon Elisabet you don’t even have to get out of the tent just sit up”

Elisabet slowly oriented herself, shuffling so that she faced Aloy. The girl was wide awake, and there was light leaking through the tent flap.

“Fine.”

It took another five minutes to sit up properly, her sleep roll bunched around her waist as she sat cross legged. Aloy sat down at the foot of the tent, holding two wooden cups.

“Here. Fire kiln and valleys brush tea”

Elisabet took a sip. It was warm, similar to black tea with a fruity taste, then an aftertaste similar to chamomile. It was nice tea, and she resisted the urge to drain the cup in one go. Aloy held her own cup, and drank slowly, blowing on it to cool it.

She ran her thumb against the design carved into the cup. An arrow head, good craftsmanship, there wasn’t any leaks coming through and it was easy to drink from.

“I’ve just realised that before I woke up I had never eaten from anything hand made”

“Wait really? What about ceramic plates or those mugs you old ones like”

“All made by machines. This cup is beautiful, kinda thing my Mom would put on the mantelpiece and tell me of if I moved it”

“Oh, you’ll find much better from the Carja or Oseram artisans”

“Where’d you get this thing anyway, the designs don’t look like any tribe I’ve seen so far”

“I, uh, I carved them. For me and Rost. For a Nora festival, something about shouting and names. I never really took on Nora religion”

“Can’t blame you there kid. But seriously these are cool, didn’t know you did carving”

“Mostly I just carve arrows, but I learned by watching a craftsman from afar”

“Why… from afar?”

“Anyway. Where is it we’re going from here”

*The Grave Hoard*

Elisabet muttered a quiet “fuck off” under her breath, but Aloy seemed even less pleased at the change in conversation.

“That’s in Nora lands. There no where else we could try first?”

*unless you fancy going to sunfall*

Aloy murmured something, and Sylens piped up again.

*I must agree. Elisabet will need a disguise of some sort. Your dealings with Marad could help, you have those downloads of machines correct?*

“We’d definitely need to stop by meridian anyway, see how Erend and Ersa are, check in on Avad”

Elisabet watched how Aloy focused on seemingly nothing, furrowing her brow as she thought through her options.

“Head back the way we came, pass through Meridian, and pose Elisabet as an Oseram. Not many Nora know about their culture, you’d be able to pass off wearing a helmet and no Oseram would snitch without shards on the line.”

*hmm, maybe an Oseram scholar. On loan from the Sun King. No sensible Nora would report to the matriarchs if you went ruin diving*

“That’s the problem. The Nora aren’t sensible. But, even if they threw a fit I’ve dealt with it before”

“When have you dealt with it before?”

“Huh? Never mind. We get going in say.. half an hour?”

“Sure thing, but seriously if you need to talk-“

Aloy was out the tent before she could finish her sentence.

“-about anything. Damn it kid.”

—————————

They set out shortly after the chat, Aloy calling for a charger mount for the rocky terrain. Elisabet shivered under her poncho, falling asleep against Aloys shoulder.

Something about the gentle rocking of a running charger was so good at putting her to sleep. The sounds of nature became background noise. Aloy didn’t seem to mind, she was happily looking around at the landscape while they rode. Elisabet didn’t dream of much while she slept, a nice change from the night before.

Occasional scrabbles woke her, briefly as it may, and Sylens voice always managed to bring her from her dreams of birds flying in blue skies. He was talking to Aloy, about what was indecipherable. She double tapped her own focus and let her eyes fall shut once more.

She woke to a tap on her shoulder, Aloy shaking her awake.

“Hn?”

Aloy pointed towards their location.

“How?”

“You were asleep. Figured I could go faster. Cmon, I need to leave this guy at the gate.”

Elisabet looked down.

“Where’s my poncho?”

“I took it off you. That things meant for Banuk winters not Meridian. Here, grab this and we’ll go find Avad for lunch”

Aloy handed her a small bag, it clanged with the sound of metal scraps, and from the opening she could see a small scrap of paper.

“Alright. Let’s go”

—————————

Meridian seemed well, that was what Aloy could tell from the lack of burning or angry looking Oseram. Clearly Dervahl was still subdued. Good. She didn’t want the hero worship that came with saving the city again.

They wandered through the streets, looking at the once smouldering ruins of the warehouse to find an obviously Oseram built barracks.

Obvious because it had a bar at the front, wooden and metal that was so unlike Carja built homes. The barrels out front were also a dead giveaway.

Elisabet laughed beside her, watching a vanguard emerge from one of those barrels, hungover and falling to the floor.

The walk to the palace was pleasant, and the way was fast. Soon they were stood at the palace stairs, having been let in by a number of Carja guard.

Marad greeted them soon after.

“Greetings Aloy, Elisabet. I trust your journey went well?”

Aloy answered.

“Yep. Oh Elisabet, pass him the bag. I helped liberate a bandit camp on the way, they’re requesting a trade route. Food in return for scrap metals and artefacts.”

Elisabet passed it to him, and Marad quickly fished the paper out.

“Ah yes, shattered kiln. It was once a military camp, held by the shadow Carja. No wonder bandits made their way there after it was abandoned. I’ll pass this off to Avad. Please, follow me. We’ve prepared lunch for you “

They did so, walking up the steps and into a room. It was a surprisingly humble room, some weapons on display, a few book cases and machine parts for decoration. A Carja style table sat in the centre, short and with cushions on the floor. Not unlike the table Aloy had seen in that inn with Erend.

Speaking of…

“ALOY! ELISABET!”

“Erend!”

He gathered them into a crushing hug, Elisabet hugged back while Aloy patted his back awkwardly.

“It’s not been since you guys left, what three days”

Elisabet answered, brushing some dust off her shoulder.

“We got what we needed in FAS, what did you call it? Makers End?”

“That’s a scrapper of a ruin if I’ve heard right”

Aloy answered this time, finally recovered from Erends hug.

“It was a climb…”

“You mean that you climbed and I almost fell 5 times”

Erend raised his eyebrows.

“Don’t worry, I made her tie rope around herself.”

“I thought you weren’t meant to do heavy lifting on that wrist”

Elisabet let out an offended ‘Hey!’ and Erend laughed nervously.

“It’s fine. I’m right handed anyway”

Elisabet swatted at the both, managing to catch Erend lightly on the ear. It was then Avad walked in.

“Why are you attacking a vanguards man, Elisabet?”

“He called me heavy lifting”

“Ah, carry on then”

The group laughed, even Marad in the corner hid a chuckle behind his hand.

“Please, sit. All of you, the lunch will be brought out momentarily”

The group sat, Avad at the head of the table, flanked by Marad and Erend on one side, Aloy and Elisabet on the other. Food was quickly brought out, and they dug in. It was a decent spread, cultural dishes from different tribes.

“Like tapas”

Or so Elisabet had said.

They ate quickly, chatting about the trip to Makers End and the new village that would be built up in the ruins of a bandit camp. Elisabet took the time to fish the focused out of her bag, passing three around.

“Here, I fixed these up. I doubt we’ll be able to take long distance calls, not for now, but they’re what we use to- what was it? See the unseen?”

Aloy nodded, carrying on in her stead.

“They’re easy enough to learn, it’s harder to explain how to use them than to just learn as you go. But they let you see the weak points of machines, even the new machines like deathbringers and corruptors”

Erend took his on first, attaching it to his left temple.

“Woah! You guys need to see this. What is all this stuff, lights and runes?”

“That’s what we always see, just give it a spin, look around the room a bit”

He did so, squinting at the table then looking towards Elisabet.

“Hey, this says you’re Elisabet Sobeck, Alpha Prime of project Zero Dawn. You’re- it says you were born March 11th 2020. That’s amazing, and you two just see this stuff constantly?”

“Yeah. It’s helps me hunt machines, you’ll figure out how to tag enemies when you take it out on a hunt with you, but for now I’m gonna send you something”

Aloy moved her hands around a bit, then made a pushing gesture towards Erend.

“Chariot line information? These are the machines that killed the world, you mean these are what’s back?”

“Afraid so. But we know that they’re beatable”

Elisabet jumped in-

“They also can’t self replicate. I’ve not seen any functioning Horus models. We… also know what’s controlling them.”

Aloy nodded, and Avad looked at her with a concerned look on his face. Elisabet took a breath, and spoke.

“HADES. A rogue part of Zero Dawn, I don’t know how or why it’s gone rogue, but I know that it has. It was meant to reset an unviable biosphere, so that the earth would be inhabitable for humans. Now it’s trying to reset the biosphere again, even though it’s viable, and it’s using chariot line machines to do that.”

“By the sun…”

“But! It can only do so slowly. It needs people to dig up those old machines, and have an infected device near it to reactivate it. HADES can’t broadcast over anything but hacked Focuses yet, so we have time. The cult that follows it views it as a god figure, a shadow from Carja religion…”

“The buried shadow, yes. Marad how many contacts do we have in the shadow Carja priests?”

“Not as many as I’d like, but enough to spread disinformation if needed”

“Excellent. Have them preach about the buried shadow, you would be best to come up with the details”

“Of course, your radiance”

Marad stood up, and left to figure out exactly what he would ask his contacts to preach about.

“Thank you for bringing this to my attention, both of you Sobecks. Once again my thanks are petty gifts in comparison to the boons you give me, but I hope they suffice. Anything you need, I will find a way to give”

Aloy rubbed the bottom of her chin, considering.

“We’re going to the grave hoard next, into Nora lands, Elisabet needs a disguise. I was thinking an eccentric Oseram scholar, someone who could get away with covering their face and not talking much.”

“Of course, I’ll have someone fetch an outfit for you. A letter from me would surely come in handy too, a notice of stature”

“Sounds great Avad, thank you”

—————————

“I was meaning to ask,”

Erend turned to face Aloy beside him.

“How’s Ersa?”

“Better. Seriously, she’s woken up a couple times to eat and drink, use the bathroom. The physicians say she’s healing nicely”

Aloy smiled, and Erend wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“You nervous about heading off to Nora lands?”

She considered the question for a moment, then shook her head.

“It should be fine. We’ll avoid the settlements, my status as seeker ought to keep anyone who would wanna bother us away”

“You think Elisabet will be happy with that?”

“Not a chance.”

Erend laughed, and pulled away. Elisabet wandered back into the room, wearing an Oseram getup.

“I hate this.”

“You look great!”

“Thanks Erend…”

To say Elisabet was swamped by the clothes was an understatement, the orange striped shirt was clearly too large on her, and the armour was similar. Marad walked in after her, explaining his choice in her disguise.

“I thought it best to hide Elisabets stature”

“It’s great Marad, perfect. Thank you”

He nodded, and left the room. Elisabet sighed, and fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

“Ya know I’ve seen Maranda disguises before, surprised he’s not made you shove pillows up your shirt”

They laughed, and Aloy motioned to the door.

“We ought to get going. We’ve still got plenty supplies, and I could always find some of Rosts old caches if we need anything”

“Alright kiddo, let’s go”

—————————

Aloy flagged down a strider, lifting the pack and then holding a hand out to Elisabet. She took it, and they were off.

“Hang on, I wanna show you something cool”

The strider veered north, and started to run at a speed that made Elisabets heart leap. In a good way.

“Your driving reminds me of rollercoasters!”

“What are those?”

“An old one entertainment. They’re usually carts attached to tracks, the tracks would loop back on themselves. They went fast, faster than most cars! There were loops, you could go upside down, it was good fun. You’d love it”

“That does sound like fun. Here I was thinking that all of your old one entertainment was boring and safe”

“Oh trust me kiddo, is old ones would do anything for fun. We’d skydive from planes, flying machines that could reach the clouds, we’d dive to the bottom of the sea in metal vessels, hell we went to space for fun”

*I believed it was for the pursuit of knowledge*

“Nope. In the beginning, like the 1960s, space was a big dick measuring contest between two opposing ideologies. Sure there was science to be done, but it was mostly for the status symbol of having put a man on the moon”

*interesting*

“Don’t ask me any more about that, I was a science prodigy, not a history geek”

Aloy laughed, and nudged the strider onto the path. The land blended into itself as rocks and desert passed by in the wind of the striders run. Even under the uncomfortable Oseram clothes Elisabet could feel the warmth of the sun, and tilted her head back to enjoy it some more.

Soon, Aloy slowed the strider to a trot, nudging Elisabet gently.

“Look”

Before them stood a marvel.

Tall, white metal plating and black ichor cabling like muscle. The ground shook at its movements, the disk-like head remaining level and constant.

Once, Miriam Sobeck had showed a young Elisabet a documentary on the flora and fauna of the African grasslands. Elisabet had been enchanted by the giraffe, and for her birthday that year she was given a giraffe plushie. She had worn that old thing half to death, but she had loved it.

Elisabet had told GAIA about that once, in a conversation they had about the now extinct animals of earth. Elisabet admitted she had never seen a giraffe in real life, only on screens and focus holograms.

This tall beast before her, gentle and giant, was GAIAs creation. A scanning machine, one that could have been any other design, bird-like or any number of other options. But GAIA had chosen the form of Elisabets beloved giraffe.

She barely felt the warm tears streaming down her face, barely felt Aloys concerned look narrowed at her. Elisabet felt the warmth of the hug though, and curled into it. A few moments passed, and Aloy let go. She sniffled, and wiped her eyes on her shirt sleeve.

“Sorry, it’s just- it’s beautiful”

Aloy smiled, and didn’t move to direct the strider any more.

“I’ve not seen one effected by corruption you know, I think they’re immune somehow”

“Oh GAIA. Yes, I think they’re meant to be monitoring stations for GAIAs functions. I wonder…. Maybe another subfunction operates them. A peaceful one. Maybe GAIA herself”

“I hope so.”

Elisabet smiled into the sun, watching as the machine circled the area.

“What do you call them?”

“Tallnecks”

“What’s with you lot and your names?”

“What? It’s got a tall neck!”

Aloy was almost indignant, it made Elisabets laughter echo around, and soon enough Aloy joined in.

It took a few more minutes for the laughter to die down, and for Aloy to once more nudge the strider into action. They set off, into temperate lands.

—————————

They headed southeast, towards a place Aloy called Dawns sentinel.

“A bit more direct to the grave hoard, and there’s less Nora poking around that way”

The Carja at the gate greeted them, praising the Sun and the Sun King all the same. Elisabet waved politely, while Aloy greeted them with nods and a thanks when they opened the gates.

Soon, they were in. Nora lands, the land of birth for everyone Elisabet had met so far.

It was terrifying in a way, so strange to see how the Carja fort quickly tapered off into wilderness. Rocky crags and temperate forests surrounded them, plush with wildlife.

“So where abouts did you grow up?”

“Uh… south of here. That’s where most Nora settlements are. Place called the embrace, even if we did stay far out of the way”

“You’re not close with your tribe?”

“Heh, I’d hardly call them my tribe. No, I’m not. They have theirs, I have mine. If their hatred of anything even remotely old one make wasn’t enough to drive me away, I have my own issues with them. It’s best if we stay away for as long as we can, they wouldn’t take kindly to you”

“Really?”

“They’d probably call for your death honestly. Maybe not, but it would be something bad”

“Oh. I’m glad you’re not like that, don’t know where I’d be without you kiddo”

“Probably doing the same thing but with a complement of Carja guards, and Erend too.”

“Please. I love Erend but I would’ve died at Makers End if he had taken me. Something tells me he dosent know much about how to set up a makeshift climbing harness”

Aloy joined Elisabet in her laughing after that, making some additional comments.

“So, tell me some more about the Nora, stuff I wouldn’t hear from a Carja”

“There’s three matriarchs right now, they always get that wrong. Currently it’s Teersa, Jezza and Lansra. Let’s hope we don’t have to deal with them”

“Why?”

“I mean Teersas actually pretty nice. She made me a lantern for the night before the proving. It’s something a mother would do so it meant a lot to have someone do that for me. The other two, Jezzas a pushover and Lansras a… what was that old ones world you used for Ted”

“Dick? Raging bitch? Fucker?”

“All of those. Not a pleasant woman to deal with.”

“Yeesh. Why the strong feelings kiddo?”

*it may have something to do with the fact she called for Aloys death within minutes of her birth*

“Sylens!”

“Sylens?! What do you mean?”

“One of you answer me? Please?”

“All mothers tits you two. Fine, I guess I’ll live in the dark then”

“It’s for the best”

*it truly is*

“Now get that helmet on, there’s still patrols around here”

—————————

The ride up to the Grave Hoard was peaceful, a couple patrols of what Elisabet assumed were Nora braves were sighted, but Aloy manoeuvred the strider away from them, veering off the path into wooded areas.

They headed further north, the air grew colder, and then into sight came a horrible view.

A Horus, perched on the mountain where USRC had once laid. Elisabet had not expected it. Part of her had wished she would find the Horus a wreck, destroyed to completion, buried under mounds of rock miles high.

No, it was almost entirely intact, disrupted only by years of exposure to the elements. Connected to USRC like a parasite, it must have used the systems to awaken decommissioned military machines.

It left a sour taste in her mouth. All those lives, threw into the meat grinder of Faro machines and the very military that was built to protect them.

Elisabet understood the Noras aversion to technology.

Aloy turned the strider towards a small cave, a slight in the cliff face, and headed inside. Unloading the pack, she was quick to hand Elisabet the poncho.

“I’m gonna go grab some firewood”

Elisabet nodded, and tugged on the mass of fur. She took the helmet off, brushing away strands of hair from her face. The cave was peaceful, a lot like the one they stayed in back at the Carja lands. Only thing missing is one of Aloys friends appearing from the darkness.

Aloy returned quickly, breaking up twigs and called logs easily, lighting the fire with a spark of flint on rock. Yellowish light poured into the cave, casting shadows and highlights across rock.

The sun was beginning to set on the land, piercing colours of blue and purple turned to reds and orange, and Aloy pulled some food from her pack. They ate quickly, spatters of rain hitting just outside of the cave. Aloy hummed, and knocked a beat onto the stone in time with the rain. She didn’t sing, but the music was lyrical regardless.

They pulled the sleep rolls out, Aloy falling quickly like she always did. Elisabet kissed her crown, tucked her in closer, and patted her shoulder as the girl slumbered.

At some point the fire burnt out, and Elisabet stood up, just by the mouth of the cave. The stars shone in the sky, lighting the darkness with pinpricks of white.

Miriam had once taught her constellations, but she couldn’t remember them now.

—————————

Chapter Text

Rubigo caecus

The climb to the grave hoard was less tense than makers end. Even with the Horus there, the metal devil, it was easier.

Elisabet flexed her arms, soreness fading quickly. No wonder Aloy was so ripped, climbing was good exercise.

There was something to be said about clambering over the corpse of an enemy that was once so terrifying that she would dream of its tendrils breaching GAIA prime. She shook her head, and took another hold.

The cold was different here, not as all consuming, they were relatively shielded from the winds, but it still nipped at her nose. A contrast against burning muscle, straining joints.

In her youth, Miriam had been part of a roller derby team, and often toted Elisabet around gyms. One such gym had a climbing wall, the first and easiest step was too high for her to reach. Once, a teenager had helped her up, carefully positioned behind her to catch her if she fell. She had never seen the boy after that day, but he had left an impact regardless.

Aloy shouted out, they had reached the top.

————————

“Look, footprints in the snow. Didn’t snow last night but they must be recent”

Aloy pointed towards the ground, following the tracks.

“Eclipse, must be. Machines too, corrupted ones.”

Elisabet stilled for a second.

“If they can find a way to reactivate the Horus….”

“I take them down before they have a chance”

They stalked into the building, Aloy pushing Elisabet to hide whenever she saw a cultist before she shot them down. There wasn’t a safe place to leave Elisabet while she worked, so keeping her close was the best option. Besides, the cultists were too preoccupied with the spear wielding redhead before them to wonder about the other one cowering in the corner.

Not that she wanted to cower, but it was simply reality; Elisabet couldn’t fight for shit. She knew how to throw a mean right hook, could kick a man in the balls like a donkey if needed, heavens knew she had been in a scrap while she was drunk. But practical fighting? No chance.

Aloy fired another barrage of arrows at the corrupted machines, taking them down with ease. They descended into the bunker.

—————————

Aloy looked around, a number of bodies laid on the ground. Old ones, lost in a battle against the plague.

An audio point flickered to life, and she downloaded it, reading the transcript rather than listening. There could still be eclipse around here.

“Elisabet?”

“Hm?”

“What’s MRB mean?”

“Uh… mechanised response something , battalion maybe? Oh brigade that was it. Why’d you ask?”

“I’m just reading some of these datapoints”

Elisabet paled at that, but didn’t give any indication as to why. Aloy shrugged, elisabet could have her secrets, all mother knows she had been keeping her own.

Aloy downloaded the rest before heading off deeper into the bunker. The ground was once again littered with the almost dust like debris, crunching underfoot. At least it wasn’t cold inside. Eisabet walked beside her, silent, but not the same silence she had shown in makers end.

It was not uneasy silence, it was guilty silence. Aloy ignored the prickling of nerves down her back, and checked her focus for any data points she had missed.

They wandered around, Aloy unlocking a few doors on the way, and taking down more cultists. Elisabet walked ahead slightly, heading off to look at a set of locks.

“Crap. Doors locked.”

Aloy looked over at Elisabet, who was stood before a set of door locks. She briefly searched the room with her focus, catching on one entry.

“Bird flies north in the summer,east in spring, west in fall and south in winter? I don’t know any bird that does that. Could it be the code for the door?”

Elisabet entered something, but the door didn’t unlock.

“You have a go I’m bad at directions. Never realised how damn annoying these doors can be”

She had gotten east and west mixed up, and Aloy quickly corrected them. The door slid open.

“Let’s go, stay low yeah? Don’t know what’s ahead”

“Right”

“You okay?”

“Yeah. I’ll be better once I can find the terminal and we can get out of here”

—————————

Elisabet looked around the new room that had opened up. It looked similar to a few of the command rooms that various facilities held, the hologram console flickered with life.

“Hey, Aloy! Check this out”

Aloy walked to beside her, a confused look on her face, and Elisabet activated it.

The hologram sprung to life, blue light casting bright shimmers against the dulled metal. Aloys eyes were wide, reflecting the sight back.

The earth, or a hologram simulation of it, stood before them. Elisabet heard a light sound of surprise in her ear, Sylens. She smirked, and pointed towards the light.

“This is earth, or a hologram of it. We scanned it decades, a century or so before I was born, using satellites. Of course humans have been mapping the earth since we gained sapience, but it’s still fascinating to see the earth as it would be to the stars”

Aloy was smiling now, head tilted in wonder.

“Did you ever go to space?”

“No. I was going to, NASA wanted me to build an AI system that could colonise a world before humans even touched ground. I got the call just after Ted called me to FAS. Never ended up calling them back I guess”

*you may have had a ticket out, yet didn’t take it*

“Oh I had a lot of tickets out that I didn’t take. And it was worth it. To build GAIA, to bring humanity back to a barren earth. I’d do it again, a thousand times”

“I think… I think I would too”

Elisabet patted her shoulder, smiling with pride.

“I know you would, you’re a good one kiddo”

They sat a while longer, enjoying the sight of the earth turning, Aloy asking questions about the continents and countries. An inquisitive one that kid.

—————————
The facility was still all cold metal and concrete, but Elisabet could remember that part of the place opened up into a cave system.

Aloy paused at a door, motioning for Elisabet to crouch down before entering. A shiver ran up her spine, the machine before her brought back memories of the videos she would watch to keep herself awake in the late days of Zero Dawn preparation.

A Horus, titan, death bringing destroyer. And out of it crawled a Kopesh, the cultists below it prodding and poking at the carcass.

*the metal devil is non functioning, the deathbringer was trapped within it, not created recently*

Elisabet breathed a sigh of relief, but kept her eyes keenly staring at the Horus. One twitch, a single flashing light, and the world could end all over again. Aloy pulled back her bow, and started taking down cultists with scary efficiency.

Lives faded before Elisabets eyes, a cruel mockery of the innocents who gave their lives here to stop the very devourer these Eclipse wanted to bring back. She grit her teeth, and the Kopesh made a few horrible noises. It hadn’t seen them, not yet.

She was hidden behind a few crates while Aloy took down the remaining cultists, the Kopesh clattering as it walked around, herded by a leader like a sheep. She tried not to look, but it was a pale effort in the face of terror.

A part of Elisabet wished it would end her. Wished that she could become a martyr on which Aloy would muster impossibly more strength to save the world.

The other part of her wanted to stay alive, join Aloy on her journey through this new world, be the one by her side as she faced challenges. Stand by her, a smile on her face and pride in her eyes.

Like her mom always had.

The Kopesh didn’t have eyes, but Elisabet knew when it saw her. It snarled like a wolf, and fired a barrage of missiles towards the platform.

The ground fell beneath her.

—————————

Coming back to full conscious took a moment, the rubble and dust from the fall created a blizzard effect on the air around her.

Then Aloy made a pained sound, and she struck into action.

Elisabet was on her feet in a second, running towards the direction of the lights and fire, uncaring as to what may happen.

The Kopesh took notice of her, and she tried to guide it away from the heap of brown furs and red hair on the ground. Aloy spotted her, eyes wide in fear, but Elisabet kept its attention.

Her legs burned as she ran, dodging bullets and diving behind crates when it fired rockets. There was a clang against its armour, but it took little notice.

A sound like a guitar riff broke into the air, pulling at the air and the armour on the machine. The Kopesh turned its attention to Aloy once more, before shuddering and slowing its walk.

Aloy fired arrow after arrow at it, aiming for the cooling vents (the cooling vents of course!), and it exposed its core after a nerve shattering moment.

Like a falcon tailing it’s prey, Aloy went in for the kill, squinting her eyes and breathing deeply, firing a bomb tipped arrow into the core.

The reaction was visceral, biblical. The holovids never showed one of these things going down. It was a shame, because it was damn beautiful.

The Kopesh fell like a whale on water, and Aloy smiled like a great captain of old.

She smiled, then grimaced, then ran towards Elisabet, who was hunched over breathing hard.

“Well then kiddo”

Elisabet panted between breaths.

“Let’s go find that terminal”

Aloy huffed out a laugh, and Elisabet joined her. Soon it was verging on the hysterical, Elisabet clinging to Aloys shoulder as a crutch, Aloy holding her sides.

*the terminal.*

Elisabet met Aloys eyes for a second, trying to hide her grin, and burst into even louder laughter.

It took a few minutes, but the laughter faded, and Elisabet straightened.

“How’s that wrist?”

Aloy grunted, stretching out her hand in and out of a fist.

“I twinged it when we fell but it feels okay now”

“Sorry for getting us got”

Aloy quirked an eyebrow.

“I fired an arrow at it, didn’t realise it would attack immediately. I tried to draw it away from you, wanted to go down one of the ropes. Are you hurt?”

“Don’t think so”

*the burns on your arm?*

“Shut it Sylens. Yeah I have a couple burns they’re nothing”

“May as well put some freeze time root on them though, cool it down some”

“Fine… they don’t hurt though”

“Don’t need to for the infection to kill you”

—————————

Aloy scavenged the deathbringer, and the various cultists for anything of use. A scrap of metal, black and shiny, not unwieldy. Perhaps it was time for Elisabet to get a knife.

Her wrist twinged again, she had definitely knocked it out of place. That would have to wait for a return to Meridian to fix, or even just a caravan of other tribes rolling through the Nora lands.

Together, they found a room with a few data points and a terminal. Hopefully it would work. Aloy looked at the data point while Elisabet worked on the terminal.

“Greatest wholesale slaughter of military personnel and civilians in the history of history….. what’s that on about?”

*I assume it’s about Enduring victory, but what that was? If anyone knows it would be Elisabet…*

“You mean you don’t know?”

*No. Of course we now know what Zero Dawn was, but not why Enduring Victory personnel believed it was a super weapon to take down the swarm*

“Hm. I’ll ask her about it when we get out of here, don’t you start pestering her yeah?”

*wouldn’t dream of it*

Elisabet looked up from the terminal, glancing at Aloy.

“What are you two talking about?”

“Better arrow designs to take down deathbringers”

“Ahh, ok”

*nice work*

Elisabet was still working on the terminal when Aloy walked over, and she let out a sigh.

“The alpha registry. We need the alpha registry to activate this one because of course we do. Of course we need more arbitrary items to just access the ZD systems.”

“Where would we find that alpha registry?”

“I don’t know. It should be active already, only way it would be down is because of a system corruption. We kept the master file back at the orbital launch base but that’s out of the question…”

“So what can we do with this terminal? Gotta be something”

“Hmm… oh! I can ping the locations of chariot line machines. We could send the map over to Avad, have him get some guards over there to stop Eclipse from digging them up. They all had tracking signatures before the plague, I guess the military used it against them.”

“Nice! Anything else?”

Elisabet tapped the screen of the terminal, typing furiously.

“Maybe? Oh hello…there’s something here, a location ping from a different location. Someone from the Eclipse must’ve used their focus to find the Horus, and their scan alerted the system here. Weird, doesn’t say who it was.”

*Anything useful?*

“Shut it. A couple things, I’m gonna sync my focus with the data from this, see if I can’t hack my way around the Alpha registry”

“You can do that?”

“It’ll take a while but yeah, think so”

“Great! Shall we get out of here?”

“Please”

—————————

They walked out, back into the snow and ice of Nora lands, absailing back down to solid ground.

Elisabet wasn’t nearly as shaky as she had been when she had descended from FAS, but it was still difficult to gain her bearings. Aloy was by her side, holding her steady with gentle hands.

They walked back to the cave they had slept in the night prior, the sun was beginning to set after a day of indoor work, and Aloy left to find some firewood.

Elisabet relaxed against the cave wall, popping her joints and stretching her back. Age had definitely caught up with her today, her hands still ached from the bitter cold. But it felt good, to have done something, something that didn’t involve sitting infront of a screen for days straight, hunched over like an antelope at the watering hole.

Sleep wanted to take her, but her stomach grumbled in dismay when she closed her eyes. Alright, she’d stay awake for dinner.

There was footfall at the mouth of the cave, and Elisabet leaned up to greet Aloy with a wide grin.

Her smile faltered.

The young man, couldn’t have been older than 20, dark skinned and wearing clothing similar to Aloy, stood before her with a flaming torch in hand.

He sputtered, eyes wild as he looked at her. Sylens spoke in her ear.

*perhaps your disguise would have been advantageous*

——————————

Chapter Text

“By the all mother…. I knew Aloy had gone to find her mother but I never thought…”

The young man stood in the mouth of the cave, quivering in nervousness or from the cold. He took a moment to gather himself, smoothing down his tunic in a soft manner.

“I came here to find Aloy, I’m Varl- a fellow brave. Would you know where she is?”

“I- yeah she’s getting firewood. Why do you need her?”

The young man, Varl, smiled at her kindly.

“I was hoping for her help finding our war-chief. She went off to hunt those who were at the proving massacre, but her party was ambushed. She is still yet to return, and I fear for her safety”

Despite her better judgement, she invited him to wait with her until Aloy came back.

“Please, sit. She should be back soon and it’s cold around here”

“Thank you”

“You know Aloy well then?”

“Ah, no. We only met recently, my sister was in the proving alongside her and they seemed to get on well. I miss her dearly, but she spoke highly of Aloy when I talked to her before she went off”

“Im sorry to hear that Varl, sounds like you loved your sister a lot”

“Loved, still love, will love”

“Yeah…. I forgot to introduce myself, I’m Elisabet Sobeck”

“An unfamiliar name to me, what tribe are you from? You wear the Oseram garb but Banuk on top”

“Im- I’m uh… not from around here. A community, didn’t call ourselves a tribe really, but I’m the last of us”

Aloy chose that moment to return, walking in with a handful of cut logs and twigs. She looked shocked for a second, darting between the two, fear slightly present in those green eyes.

“Varl? What are you doing here?”

“Aloy! Seeker! I was searching for you”

Elisabet looked over to Aloy, eyebrow cocked.

“Seeker?”

Aloy just pointed at her in a slightly threatening manor.

“Anyway, why were you looking for me?”

Varl almost shot up, something close to frantic.

“War-chief Sona, her party was ambushed by Carja after she went hunting those responsible for the massacre. You’re the best tracker I’ve seen, I thought you would help”

Aloy sighed, but nodded deeply.

“We need to rest for the night, had a busy day. But in the morning we can journey to where she was seen last”

Varl smiled, and sat back down.

“I’ll join you. You can tell me the tale of how you found your mother”

The look on Aloys face should have been framed.

“Uh…”

Elisabet jumped in, sensing her discomfort.

“We’ve had a very long day. Lotta climbing, and I don’t know if you can tell but I’m not built for that. How about we just tell you about our travels?”

“Yeah, we’ve been all over the place. Carja lands, Oseram, had a few run ins with the new machines”

—————————

Varl was, surprisingly, perfectly fine with their dodging of questions, and sat next to Elisabet listening intently to their stories.

“I can barely use my bow, I don’t know how you two can manage! ”

Varl laughed, hearty and slapping his thigh as he did so.

“You’ll be laughing at her when we get up early”

“I’m getting better! Not my fault you’re unnatural and wake up at the ass crack of dawn”

Varl paused.

“Ass crack of dawn. I’ve never heard that before that’s good. I’m gonna use that”

“Look at me I’m a terrible influence. Don’t tell your war chief that’s my fault, huh?”

Aloy settled down soon after that, poking at the fire trying to gage if it would last the night. A snore broke the silence, Varl was sound asleep. Elisabet watched with keen eyes as she added one last piece of wood to the flames, before curling up into her sleep roll.

“Night kiddo. Sleep well”

“Will do. You too, Elisabet”

She ignored the slight waver in Aloys voice, the almost imperceptible pause when she said her name.

Elisabet laid back, staring at the ceiling, waiting for rest to take her. She thought on the days events, it had been a damn long one.

The grave hoard, Aloy falling and her first taste of combat. Then Varl, and the way he seemed so sure that she was Aloys mother. The way she hadn’t corrected him, the way Aloys face turned to panic as soon as he asked her. The shifting eyes carefully checking for a reaction.

Her mind raced, sleep would not come easily. Elisabet made the choice to get up again. Maybe burning muscles weren’t the miracle cure for insomnia, but a look at the night sky might just be.

Stars twinkled, and the moon seemed just as unchanged as it always had. Indifferent, but present.

*you’re up late, Elisabet*

“Likewise”

“Did you just wanna say that or?”

*I was going to ask you about Enduring Victory*

Her heart sank, of course he would want to know. She paused, thinking it through.

Sylens was self serving. Elisabet had plenty of dealings with people like him. Hell she had dated one. They never revealed information they knew without something in return, no matter how selfless it may seem.

Tilda was an information broker, maybe Sylens would perform that role.

“What do you know about Aloy?”

*excuse me?*

“Her culture, how she was raised. Why she seems so against going into Nora lands proper”

*hmm. That is an acceptable trade*

Elisabet chuckled, the sinister one Tilda had always done, the one she said hid her insecurities.

“It’s not a trade. You’ll tell me what I want to know and I’ll think about what you should know about Enduring Victory”

*What I should know? You wouldn’t even tell me everything…*

“Like you’d do differently. Consider it. Sleep on the proposition. But remember I’m the only person alive with that information.”

There was silence for a moment, then the reply.

*you’re adjusting well. Goodnight Elisabet*

She smirked, eyes glinting in the moonlight and teeth grinning like a wolf. Having Sylens on the ropes while Aloy was having a tough time? Priceless.

Elisabet got back into bed, head much clearer now, and slept. Not dreamless, but better.
————————

The morning brought new challenges. Or old challenges for Aloy mixed with the variable of Varl.

Elisabet seemed even more reluctant to wake up than ever before, and Aloy made a mental note to send her off to Meridian for a break at some point.

Maybe that would be her way out of letting Elisabet know she was an outcast.

“Morning kiddo. Ready to get going?”

Or not.

She had finally gotten up (after much prodding and confusion from Varl), and was now beaming with…

It wasn’t quite joy. More smug than anything. Aloy shook her head and started on breakfast, the same tea she had made Elisabet after Makers End would be welcome, and Varl had fished a few potatoes from his pack.

They ate at a leisurely pace, Varl regaling Elisabet with tales of his days as a brave. How his proving had gone, and the story of his first machine kill as one of the Nora’s chosen.

Aloy smiled, as Elisabet took in as much of the culture of the Nora as she could.

Varl had shown little trepidation about Elisabets strange manners, nor the focus she wore on her head. Instead he had patted Aloy on the back, saying how he would have to make her some beads to weave through her hair when she had told him about the bandit camps.

Reflexively Aloy lifted her hand to her mouth to whistle for a mount, only stopping with Varls confused look.

“Crumbs”

He laughed, and continued on his walk past the cave, scouting for hostile machines. That gave Aloy time to talk to Elisabet alone.

She was stood by the crumbled remains of their campfire when Aloy reached her, tracing designs in the ash. It was chilly, but not impossibly so.

“Hey kiddo. What’s on your mind?”

Aloy sighed, shrugging a little.

“I’m really hoping we’ll stay far enough from the settlements. Varl took the news of… well you pretty well, but he’s less of a religious nut that the rest of the tribe”

“I did wonder about that. I’d like to know more about the culture of the Nora if I’m honest”

“Not much to tell, they revere mothers and hate tech. That’s about it. Varl, I think he was raised by the braves for the most part. Him and his sister grew up in war camps in peace time and brave lodges in war.”

“What about his parents?”

“His mom is a brave, don’t know about his Dad. Keep in mind what I know about him is from his sister who I only knew for a day…”

Varl shouted into the cave.

“You could ask me yourself Elisabet”

They laughed, and Aloy put the remainders of their items into her pack, starting the slow walk to where the war chief was last seen.

—————————

The walk deeper into Nora lands was easy enough. Miriam had taken Elisabet for hundreds of hikes as a child, and it seems that the muscle memory still existed.

Snow dusted crags turned to grassy forests, lush and overgrown. The air grew warmer, a pleasant breeze lifting through the trees knocking yellowing leaves to the ground.

Grazers, Varl had told her their name, wandered around. Deerlike, but with the attitude of wildebeest with how hostile they turned at any interaction. Aloy had taken down one with an arrow to the lens, and that was enough to scare the rest of the herd away.

She looked to the carcass, and wondered how these new humans had found the words to call these Grazers.

Nursery rhymes, children’s story books, what the servators already had locked into them to raise the children of the cradles.

Samina had taken such pride in the later development of the children, seeing her work for the early education didn’t surprise Elisabet in the slightest. She had marvelled at fitting life lessons and survival tips into the lullabies and songs the servators would teach.

Elisabet hadn’t understood why at first, but had brushed it off as one of the pet projects the Alphas desperately needed for their mental health.

Perhaps Samina had wanted to make her own Hail Mary, her own way of making sure these humans would have the tools they need to survive in a new world should Apollo fail. She shivered, and thought of how many must have died when they first emerged.

It could never be as many as Enduring Victory.

The blood on her hands could fill an ocean.

She swallowed the bile, and levelled her gait once more. It’s was a decent walk to where the braves had last been spotted, she couldn’t afford to stop.

Aloy paused before her, coming to a halt and almost sniffing the air. A hand reached to her focus, and she hunched down slightly.

“Elisabet, hide in the flower. Corrupted machines.”

She dove into the brush, and watched as Varl and Aloy made a frankly astounding efficient team.

The Nora were known as superstitious and stoic, but perhaps ruthlessly pragmatic was a better term. They ducked and weaved like gymnasts, dancing around the machines and slaying them as the salute.

It was over in seconds, and Elisabet crawled from her cowering position to a laugh from Varl.

“I take it your fighting prowess was all training rather than talent”

She didn’t even dignify that comment with a scowl, simply nodding and standing beside Aloy. Varls quiet gasp cleared what silence remained.

People littered the ground, blood darkened by time or rain, all wearing a glassy eyed stare.

A man ran towards them, and Elisabet manoeuvred her shirt to cover her mouth.

“Varl! Seeker Aloy!”

Varl steadied the man with a hand on his wrist, careful to avoid what wounds he had sustained.

“Dren. You were with the War Chief?”

“Yes! She’s gone off to devils thirst, chasing the killers. Wanted the wounded and dead cleared away, she sent me to report on the situation…. You know she won’t be pleased that you’re here, right?”

“I know. She ordered me to stay put, but had I not found Aloy I wouldn’t have found you at all. The braves in mothers watch needed word from the party”

Dren hummed, and let go of Varls hand.

“I’ll head back, let the braves know the situation. But perhaps I’ll keep their location to myself, the matriarchs won’t be happy about any of this”

Varl nodded, as did Aloy, and the man started to walk away. Elisabet stood beside Aloy as she continued scanning the field for any survivors, before she looked down dejectedly.

“Alright. Let’s get going, Devils Thirst is… that way”

She spun around on her foot for a second, pointing towards a pathway. Elisabet smiled, it reminded her terribly of her mother.

—————————

Devils thirst was- well it was Colorado Springs, Elisabet had been here a few times pre and during the Faro Plague, but she was unfamiliar with the area enough to come across as convincingly new.

Varl shuddered beside her, twitching and moving carefully.

“You ok Varl?”

“I’m fine, Elisabet. I’ve never been in any of the forsaken places before, it’s difficult. What was your communities views on the old ones?”

Elisabet paused, rubbing her chin.

“My community has been… gone for a long time, and even before that we weren’t largely religious like most tribes around here. I guess we never really thought about them”

Varl looked surprised for a moment, before retraining his face to a polite smile.

“The Nora, the few devout and inflexible, have their beliefs about the old ones. If they had their choice no one would set foot on these lands, on punishment of death”

“What do you believe”

“I believe the war chief is in trouble of some sort, and that she is one of the only options the Nora have for vengeance. Had it been me who died in the massacre, Vala would have gone charging into the forsaken places long before I am now, regardless of Sonas orders”

Aloy was watching something intently, eyes piercing into the sunlight as she searched. But Elisabets keen eye could see the tension in her shoulders, not unfamiliar to herself.

She had no idea what to say to Varl, and was trying desperately to let Elisabet take the reins while she focused on another task. Elisabet patted Varls shoulder gently.

“There’s no shame in grief Varl, no shame in being uncomfortable in hostile surroundings. No shame in fear. It’s what makes us human, we grieve for the ones we love, put ourselves in danger to protect them living or dead. We face our fears because bravery in the face of the unknown is the truest love someone can give.”

“Does it ever get easier?”

“With time. And the time will pass regardless”

Varl smiled at her, as did Aloy, and for a second… all was right.

—————————

There was a sawtooth.

She had spotted it a while ago, but it was a little too close for comfort. Aloy pushed Elisabet into a hiding crouch, and nodded to Varl. He lined up a shot, as did she. Her focus sparked into life, indicating the best place to shoot the beast, and she did just so.

Elisabet took the sawtooth going down as an excuse to run over and scavenge it for parts.

“Elisabet!”

It was a half shout through gritted teeth, but Elisabet just turned back and shot her a cocky grin. Aloy rolled her eyes, and ran down to join her.

“I’ve been looking for some parts, wanted to see if I couldn’t upgrade my focus a bit”

“And you’ll find those parts in a downed sawtooth?”

“Maybe”

There was thudding behind them, and Varl had been shouting something for the past few seconds. Too late did Aloy realise just what that thudding was.

She pushed Elisabet under the downed sawtooth, and turned to face the one that was steadily bearing down on them, nocking an arrow as fast as her hands would let her.

Aloy looked it in the eyes, the lenses red with anger, and aimed her bow.

An arrow came from a different angle before she had the chance to fire, tearing into the throat of the beast. It went down hard, shaking the ground like a tallneck step.

Varl shouted to the person who had shot the arrow, relief evident in his voice.

“War chief Sona!”

She looked to the ridge where the arrow had been shot from, barely recognising the shapes of blue and brown. But Varl knew who it was, and that was enough for Aloy to pull Elisabets shirt over her face again. She made a sound of offence, but tugged the shirt into place regardless.

They walked up to the ridge, the group of Nora greeted them with waves and points towards where Varl was.

They carried on, Aloy pulling Elisabet by her sleeve to Sona and Varl, who were eerily silent as they arrived.

—————————

“Aloy.”

It was curt, said with a nod of the head, that Aloy reciprocated.

“War Chief. How goes the hunt?”

“Well. We have tracked the murderers to an encampment. Will you come with us?”

“Tracking down killers? Might as well be my day job”

Elisabet laughed beside her, before her eyes shot wide in an awkward sort of surprise.

“Who is this? An outlander ally of yours?”

Varl piped up.

“She’s Elisabet, Aloys m-“

“She’s a crafter, and a historian. With me on orders from the Sun King, Avad”

Varl rubbed his side where she had elbowed him, but smiled regardless. Sona nodded, holding her hand out to Elisabet to shake.

“For a tribesman to bring an outlander into our homelands is one of the highest honors among the Nora, only below motherhood and matriarchy.”

Elisabet shook her hand with fervour, keeping her face as still as she could to prevent her shirt slipping down.

Sona turned to Varl, eyes hardened.

“You were tasked to stay, to watch.”

“I did. Then I got word that Aloy was back in our lands and I went to find her, to find you. None of your messengers got back. And now I am staying to rain vengeance on the killers”

Sona took a moment, then patted him on his shoulder.

“Very well.”

Chapter Text

Aloy had never spoken to Sona. Not really.

It would be difficult to do, being an outcast from birth. The only chance she did have would have been after the massacre, and she had been too rage filled back then to stop and talk to anyone.

The ride to meridian had levelled her out a bit, landscapes calming to a distraught mind. Then she’d met Erend, and tasted what it was to be kind and acknowledged for it.

She knew vaguely who Sona was, the War Chief who repelled Carja during the red raids and earned her promotion in battle like all good war chiefs.

It felt strange to walk as part of a group, all silent footsteps and bow twanging. Sona took the lead, Varl was at the back with a group of braves Aloy recognised as new. She walked beside Elisabet, who had since pulled her helmet down.

It was fortunate the sun had hidden between the clouds when they first met Sona, Elisabet had darker hair that was redder than her own. The effects of being an indoor person if she had to guess, her hair was sunbleached at the ends like hide tanning in the summer.

Funny how her hair got lighter but her skin got redder.

Elisabet was quiet as they walked, perhaps a little uncomfortable. Aloy couldn’t blame her, she was too. Clumsy steps and the light sound of metal clanging gave her away.

A hand reached for hers, and for a moment Aloy took it. Elisabet ran her thumb across the back of her palm, like Rost always did when she woke up in the night. Elisabets hand was steady, and warm against the chill of the locale. It was pleasant, and all too soon it was gone.

“Ahead of us”

The stony voice cut through the quiet and drew everyone to a halt. Elisabets hand left her own, and she pointed towards a rocky outcrop where she would wait.

The braves peeled off, and Sona walked towards her.

“Not a fighter? I suppose she wouldn’t need to be with you by her side”

Aloy nodded, and patted her quiver.

—————————

The ground was wet where she kneeled, soaking into the leg that touched it. She could just about see Elisabet from here, but she had tagged her with her focus just in case.

“You’ll have to teach her to fight one day”

She just hummed, and squinted at the camp below.

“Blaze barrels”

Aloy pointed with her bow.

“Poke a few holes in them, then ignite them. Kaboom”

Sona nodded, and motioned to the Braves. They coiled, standing like waves about to break upon the bank of a river, a tide of blue and brown readied with their arrows.

Sona held up a fist.

The coil tightened, twitching in anticipation.

The world slowed, Aloy breathed in.

The fist opened, and the wave broke.

————————

Hearing screaming from below her was not a great experience for Elisabet. The sound of an explosion rattling her bones was less so.

Still, she peeked her head over the rock where she had hunkered down, watching the Nora at their work.

She huffed in surprise. Aloy was leagues above most of them, darting and twisting in the air to land shot after shot. Sona and Varl though, they worked as an efficient team, maybe even taking down more enemies than Aloy.

The more she watched, the more she understood why people enjoyed boxing back in the day.

An arrow wizzed past Aloys head, but she barely flinched, simply propelling herself forwards and running the man through with her spear. Elisabets heart lept into her throat, a man behind her stood menacingly wielding a hammer.

He fell soon after that, Sona stood behind him with her bow aimed. The arrow stuck in the man’s back gave all away. He was alive, but wouldn’t be for long.

Aloy waved to her, bringing Elisabet from her hiding spot. The way she smiled when Elisabet drew near once again made her heart leap into her throat, the lopsided smile that looked so much like Miriam’s.

It was a strange dichotomy. Miriam, her mother, had always been older. Even as a toddler, when Miriam had been perhaps a few years older than Aloy was now, she had been an old soul.

The age gap between Aloy and Elisabet was almost the same as Elisabet and Miriam’s had been, minus however long she had been asleep.

Aloy burst into Elisabets life with youthful energy and an outlook on it that was practically the same as her mothers.

She blinked away tears under her helmet, and patted Aloy on the shoulder.

“Nice work kiddo! Tell me, was the explosion your idea?”

She shrugged, but smirked all the same, not even a glance of guilt within. Elisabet couldn’t blame her. Explosions were pretty fun. Sona appeared beside them, and spoke to Aloy.

“There are more. Our scouts are finding them as we speak, and we will regroup at Red Echoes.”

Elisabet inhaled as if to speak, but Sona had quickly marched away, Varl on her tail. Aloy just laughed, and led Elisabet away.

“How’s that wrist of yours?”

Aloy ignored her, waking past with her eyes on a target.

————————

“Check it out, a tallneck!”

Elisabet looked in the direction that Aloy had indicated. True to her word, a giant machine wandered into view. The ground shook as it walked, gently yet with terrible weight.

“Wanna watch me climb it?”

She turned to watch Aloy launch herself at the tallneck, leaping up the building to level herself with its back. She smirked, and jumped, catching herself with her spear in one of the gaps between white armour.

Elisabet could only stare, open mouthed in surprise, as Aloy climbed to the top and shoved her spear into its head. A wave of blue washed over the area, and Elisabets focus pinged.

“Nice work kiddo!”

Aloy swung her way back down with her grappling hook, pulling it free with ease.

“Figured it would be helpful”

Elisabet patted her shoulder again, and smiled with pride.

“That was some nice work there. I’m proud of you, you know?”

Aloy blushed furiously, but smiled the same.

“Shall we get going? We need to go to Red Echoes”

“Lead on”

They meandered along towards Red Echoes, slower than that of the braves. Couldn’t risk calling on a mount, not really, too many zealots peaking at the war chiefs party, having a machine rider trailing behind them could spell disaster.

So they walked, Aloy crafting arrows as she went. Elisabet took the time to hook her helmet off, carrying it under arm.

“So, any more Nora cultural norms?”

“Uhh, no. I’d say you’re pretty educated but there’s a lot of stuff I don’t know about”

“Hm. Perhaps I should come up with a name for my supposedly dead tribe.”

Aloy chuckled, shaking her head.

“Just say they’re far from here and you’ll be fine, Nora tend not to care about folks past their land”

“I get that feeling”

“So, any old one tales about this place? You recognised Devils Thirst”

Elisabet paused, and thought through it.

“I think, and I could be wrong, but I think it was Colorado Springs. I went there maybe twice, for business.”

“Anything interesting? Like landmarks or old one secrets”

“Hah- if there were secrets there I wouldn’t know. Oh hang on, my Mom might have taken me to the museum that was there. The explorers museum I think. Pretty sure it got broken into at one point, teenagers destroying the displays”

“A museum is… an old ones history display right?”

“Yep. I was never much into history myself, I liked some parts but honestly I always had my head in a computer or a robot back then. I bet you’d have liked the museum though, it had stuff about the Native American tribes you’d have probably found interesting”

“Native Americans- who were they?”

“Oh dear lord now I get to explain colonialism”

———————————

The journey didn’t take long, a hop and a skip from their previous location, but Elisabet enjoyed it nonetheless. Any time with Aloy really.

“Elisabet?”

“Yeah kid?”

“Would you be alright staying at the camp while I take down the eclipse, you’re… flagging a bit”

“Oh god yeah I’m still aching from the climb. Still need to do a bit of journaling too.”

“Great. I’ll set you up, then I’ll head off to kick ass”

Elisabet snorted, and carried on beside Aloy, tugging her helmet over her hair once more. There were Nora about, waving at Aloy and offering words of thanks to them both.

Varl ran up to them, smiling broadly.

“You ready to get going?”

“Yep, Elisabets gonna stay here, document what’s happened”

“Sounds good. We’ll be split off into smaller groups, best to-“

Elisabet let out a violent sneeze.

“Sorry, hayfever. Not been anywhere that’s had so many flowers”

Varls smile dropped.

“A fever?”

“I’m allergic to flower pollen, I’m not sick I’m just-“

She sneezed again, and threw her hands up in defeat.

“Best we don’t take you then”

Elisabet nodded in agreement, looking over at Aloy, who seemed entirely uneffected by the supposedly genetic seasonal allergies.

“That’s some bullshit”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing”

There was a rumble of noise at the camp, and the now trio made their way over. Sona was sat by the campfire, making marks on the ground with a stick.

She nodded at Aloy, and Elisabet took the time to find a relatively solitary patch of grass to plant herself on, able to still hear the conversations well enough from her location. Sona, every sturdy war chief as she was, spoke like a commander. Straight to the point, and without leaving chance for question.

Watching Aloy react to an authority figure from afar was… fascinating. Of course she stood there as respectfully as Sona deserved, but there was an air of caution around her. Like she would be questioning every word that left Sonas mouth, storing every sliver of information.

“The main camp is in the ring of metal, with smaller ones acting as lookouts. The Carja there have alarms, we need to take them out before we can handle the main camp”

Aloy pursed her lips slightly, weighing on the options.

“I can take out the alarms, but the main camp might be a problem”

Sona nodded towards her.

“These shadow Carja were dealing with, they’re members of the eclipse. They’re the ones who awoke the machine that attacked us at Mothers Watch, and I’m betting they’ll have more.”

There was a gasp behind her, Elisabet watching as the Nora Braves whispered to each other.

“The new machines, the corruptors, they’re hard to take down, but they’re vulnerable to fire. Blaze arrows are best so stock up”

“Thank you, Aloy. You all know your roles. Go, I’ll be here until I hear word on our triumph”

The Nora surrounding Aloy and Sona peeled off with a murmur of confirmation, Sona saying something to Aloy that Elisabet couldn’t hear. Aloy soon left as well, leaving to two at the camp alone.

Oh. They were alone at the camp.

Elisabet quickly turned her head towards her bag, fishing out the leather bound journal and lump of charcoal that served as a pencil.

The ground crunched beside her, and she turned her head to face Sona once more.

“It’s warmer by the fire. Follow.”

—————————

Walking to the Carja camps without Elisabet felt strange. Aloy was so used to watching her peripherals for hostile machines and people, twitching her head imperceptibly more towards each sound. It wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t awful.

Besides, if Elisabet needed to contact her she would call her. She wasn’t the type to suffer in silence.

Varl chatted as they walked, mostly to the other braves, bringing (or attempting to bring) Aloy into the conversations.

He tried, bless him, but there wasn’t much common ground between a group of braces who had been raised in the community by their mothers and an ex outcast who had jorneyed through the lands beyond.

“What’s your favourite food, Aloy? Any Oseram recipes take your fancy”

Now that was a good question. Elisabet had called her a ‘spice fiend’ once, after Aloy had practically absorbed a bowl of food that made Elisabets face turn red. It was at that palace lunch they had, and Aloy searched her mind for the name of the dish.

“Probably So-lai. It’s a Carja stew, spicy, meaty, I need to ask for the recipe”

The thought of asking Avad for the recipe brought a smile to her face. He probably had no clue, maybe Marad did?

“Oh or Oseram breakfast. They smoke their meat but pull it out before it gets all dried out, then they fry it in lard with garlic”

The braves around them muttered various ‘oh my mother’ and ‘no wonder they’re fat’.

“Huh, I feel like I should have expected you to be adventurous with food. I love my mothers bread bowl soups but Oseram breakfast sounds delicious”

The tensions had eased within the group, small talk left mouths easier than it had before, some of the younger braves laughed heartily at the quiet snide remarks Aloy would make about the machines.

The watch camps were fast approaching, and they began to duck down and squat-walk their way across the terrain. Aloy followed, taking on a slightly elevated position a ways away from the rest of the party.

Better to let the eclipse think that the Nora were coming from a different direction. The less shouting, the better.

She activated her focus, searching for the alarm. Maybe half a dozen enemies, perhaps more hidden in the interiors. She closed her eyes briefly, finding the alarm.

The blaze glowed in her view, and once more Aloy found the world slowing as she took a shot at a shadow Carja camp.

It was simple enough to ignite the blaze that powered the alarm, easy enough to take down the guard who stood beside it.

By the time the rest of the camp realised they were dead in the water, the other Braves had moved in, bringing them down with arrows, spears, and in Varls case, a rock expertly pitched at a blaze canister.

A thumbs up was given, and the group quickly moved on to the next camp.

It felt good to be part of a team, natural despite her solitary nature. Perhaps she wasn’t as solitary as she had always assumed.

—————————
They spoke as they walked.

“Being a mother is not something you are, it’s something you become. In Nora culture, motherhood is revered, mothers are the cornerstones of our culture. The Carja have their Sun god, we have the All Mother. The one who protected us from the Metal Devil.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Aloy has not. It is a tale told by mothers to their children. You don’t know it, so Aloy doesn’t either. Are you ready to listen?”

Elisabet swallowed nervously. A younger her popped into mind, hand clutching her Mothers as she entered a church. Miriam wanted to teach her the appropriate way to pray, even if neither of them believed. Back then she had prayed for the baby birds in the tree.

Years later, Tilda would sit silently on a pew, head bowed and tears streaming from her eyes. It was the anniversary of the floods. Elisabet noticed the way Tildas face turned to suprise as she sat beside her, and tearful affection as she too bowed her head towards the stained glass. It was a simple thing, no grand design or saintly visage. Just a cross, and multicoloured panes lighting the church in rainbows. Tilda had never spoken of that day, but she had been more open.

Perhaps Aloy would be the same, should she pray as Nora do.

“Yes”

—————————

“All beings once lived within the All Mothers embrace, machines, beasts and people. All her children. The children who strayed, the machines had whispered to them lies of a new world far from Her. A metal world, one built by machine alone for the people to enjoy, being fed and sheltered and entertained. And the machines kept to their word. Build great cities, like that of Devils Thirst or Grief. Only the mothers and fathers of the Nora stayed with All Mother, cradled and safe.”

Sona took a pause, eyeing Elisabet again. Satisfied, she continued.

“The machines did not serve for long. Their leader rose, the Metal Devil, and the faithless served him. But he wasn’t satisfied, he wanted all to serve. Tried to tempt the true children from All Mother. They refused to leave, clung to her mountainside, prayed and grew in faith. This angered the Metal Devil, roaring like thunder. He came for All Mother, wanting to tear her apart, to kill her by any means. All Mother had never claimed to be pacifist, and she stood ready to kill the Metal Devil. And she succeeded. His corpse lies to the North, the grave hoard his resting place. The death of their king maddened the machines, forcing the faithless from the cities and making them wander the world, far from All Mothers embrace.”

The monotone of Sonas voice didn’t give much emotion the chance to break through, but Elisabet could tell what she felt regardless. She wasn’t pious, not fevered with her religion. But she believed.

“So the All Mother created all life, and protected the Nora, which is why you worship her and view Motherhood in such high regard”

“To put it simply, but yes. Motherhood is an act of service, you’re there from the moment they take their first breath till the moment you take your last.”

There was a deep sorrow to her words, like Varls had been about his sister, how Erend spoke about Ersa before they rescued her. Like how Aloy avoided talking about Rost because they both knew she would have the same reaction.

“There was nothing I wouldn’t have done for my daughter, nothing I wouldn’t do for my son. They are my world, and even if it’s been split in two I will protect them with my life. To me they are my legacy, my daughter died protecting others, my son lives and does the same.”

It was like how Grandma Sobeck had told her about Miriam, how she grew up in a world so different to the one Elisabet knew. How she told Miriam to be brave, and kind enough to heal the world.

“Tell me, Elisabet Sobeck, who is Aloy to you?”

Sona had herded her to sit next to the fire, a log serving as a seat.

“I- I’m sorry?”

Sona sighed, clearly tense.

“She looks to you for guidance, worries for your safety, cares for you. That is easy to see. You wear the Oseram helm to hide your face. I do not know what you look to Aloy for”

Sona kept her eyes trained towards the fire, an air of disinterest surrounded her. Elisabet couldn’t help but feel intimidated, more so than she had felt when facing down the Kopesh at the grave hoard.

“My son tells me you look like her. That you look at her like a mother would a child, but a child who is not their own. With deep sadness, and guilt.”

“Your son?”

“Varl. He told me of your talk in the ruins, how you spoke of loss, grief. Bravery. You know little of Nora culture yet speak like the Matriachs say All Mother did.”

Elisabet paused, the revelation of Varl being Sonas son sinking in. She lifted her helmet from her head, letting the heat sink in. Sona let out an almost silent gasp.

Half of her hair was stuck to her face, but she was clear to see.

“I feel like I should re introduce myself. Elisabet Sobeck”

She stopped herself before she said ‘alpha prime’, but Sona looked pleased regardless.

“Sona, Warchief of the Nora.”

The pair sat in stony silence for a while, Elisabet desperately looking at anything but Sonas inquisitive gaze.

All too soon, the silence was broken.

“Have you done enough to call Aloy your daughter, to have her call you mother?”

—————————

Chapter Text

“I-“

Elisabet took a breath, shuddering at the sudden effort it took to remain some semblance of calm.

Sona just looked at her, impassively scrutinising her.

The moments she took to wrestle the words from her mouth was perhaps harder than it had been to explain to USRC that the entirety of humanity would be wiped from the earth within a scant few months.

She patted the side of her head, the side her focus was on, briefly enough to stop it from sparking. Elisabet could feel when it would happen, likely from years of practice. She needed to repair the damn thing again.

Sona looked at her, platitude at the answer clear as dawn on her face, and she took a look into the campfire.

“Aloy was-“

A Nora Scout came running from their left, Elisabet fumbled to get her helmet on again.

“The camps have been cleared. Seeker Aloy and Varl are scouting the metal ring”

Elisabet saw as Sonas eyes softened marginally at the mention of Aloy and Varl, but looked away as tears began to sting her eyes.

Beneath her helm, she sniffled, and not from the hayfever.

—————————

Creeping through the undergrowth with Varl on her tail was not at all similar to what it was like with Erend or Elisabet.

Erend at least had some semblance of survival instinct, he watched where he planted his feet even if they didn’t always go where he meant them to.

Within minutes of travelling with Elisabet, Aloy knew she would have to hide the woman somewhere safe in the heat of battle or the cold of stealth.

She walked carefully, sure, but didn’t hear the swigs snapping underfoot, or how rocks would scrape against each other when she ‘tip toed’.

Every Nora child was taught to roll their feet, even outcast ones.

Varl hummed beside her, looking at the platforms they could climb.

“This way? Don’t want to get too high up incase it comes apart underneath us”

Aloy nodded, and continued her half crouched walk from bush of red flowers to bush of red grass.

She mused to herself, if GAIA had made tallnecks in the shape of Elisabets favourite animal, then perhaps the most abundant shrubbery was the same colour as her hair for a reason.

Rost had always found it unfair how easily she could pass as long grass.

“Easy now. See, corruptors. A few of them.”

Varl sucked in a gasp, gritting his teeth.

“Anything that could help us breach? Not everyone can come from this direction, we’d be flanked like sitting geese”

“Geese are violent”

“So are we.”

She swallowed a laugh, tilting her head to get a better look at something. She pointed, and Varl followed the direction

“What’s with Eclipse and barrels of blaze being out in the open?”

“Arrogance mostly. Even the Carja in Meridian don’t believe anyone can harm them, especially not tribesfolk from the savage east”

Varl snapped his head back to her, face incredulous. Aloy chuckled, but continued regardless.

“You go find the others. I’ll blow the barrels in, half an hour?”

He nodded.

“It’ll blast a hole big enough for the war party to head in, plus the Corruptors should be lured towards me once I shoot.”

“Right. Half an hour. If we need more time I’ll send a scout for you”

He patted her arm, and was off again.

A waiting game then, a good time to restock her arrows and scan some more machines to find their weaknesses. She sat, and began the process of stripping the sticks of bark, careful not to cut too deep.

Her wrist twinged a bit, nothing bad but enough to take her mind off her craft. Aloy looked over the splint, seeing some of the rope had begun to fray. She sighed, it would have to be repaired back in Meridian. Or perhaps she could raid a brave cache for one.

The shadows against the ground had shifted, just enough to tell the time. About 15 minutes had passed.

*Aloy. I have done some research into our next steps.*

“Shoot”

*The Orbital base is the obvious next step, but getting into Shadow Carja territory is difficult. I suggest we crash their focus network*

“You know more about this than you’re letting on.”

*Perhaps. I’ll send you the coordinates now*

“Any reason Elisabet isn’t on this call?”

Silence reigned for a while, and Aloy watched as the shadows ticked away the minutes from when she would begin her fight.

*I can only assume she still has me muted from our disagreement. That, or one of Faros best minds doesn’t know how to fix her focus. Either way, it might be worth you attempting to contact her with the details*

“Will do, once I’ve sorted this out. Less time in Nora lands is always better. Speak later”

The quiet audio of rustling from Sylens’ end was silenced again, and Aloy took aim.

The eclipse were still milling about, going about their days with the casual ignorance that was so common among the Carja.

Shuddering from the chill, she began to move through the underbrush, to get a better angle at the barrels.

No one saw her as she moved, not even the corruptors that pranced about like insects under a log. Aloy took a glance at the blaze barrels.

If the Nora came from behind them, it would be best if the corruptors weren’t close. A pincer movement on a group of braves could end in catastrophe, Rost had taught her that much. But… if she made too much noise the entire camp would be on her. The braves could handle the eclipse with their eyes closed, especially in a surprise attack, it was just getting the machines away while drawing the Carja to them.

She took two arrows from her quiver, sparking the blaze coated one against the flint knife that laid attacked to her belt. Taking aim with the regular arrow, the fired towards the barrels.

The corruptors perked up like foxes, moving towards the barrels to try and analyse the projectiles origin. That was something Elisabet had taught her, how they could track someone from miles away by looking at where the bullet had come from.

Some of the Carja noticed, but most stayed in their causal stances. Good, they’d be drawn by the explosion.

She aimed her second arrow, flames licking at her fingertips as she did so. One breath in, one breath out. Fire.

Fire was her action, and fire was the conclusion.

The corruptors who had been scanning the arrow were tossed high into the air as the fireball grew, melting their armour at the edges and shattering the lenses of their scanners, pieces exploding into shards of streaming light.

The horde of braves running through the flames served to terrify the Carja even more, blanching at the sight and fumbling at their weapons too slow to stop a spear from entering their chest.

Doing her part, Aloy ran from her cover to take down a Carja with a large weapon, a scrapper blaster, spearing him with practiced ease.

Just like Rost had taught her, those heavy weapon carriers never paid attention to their backside, and she put that to her advantage.

The battle, if it could even be called that, was over almost instantaneously, the braves fishing shards from the corruptor they had taken down. Smouldering embers poured from the carcasses, they had taken her suggestions on board.

Varl smiled broadly at her, Sona at his side. He must’ve noticed the look on her face when they walked over, as he began to explain.

“We left Elisabet over by the ridge with some of the captives the scouts rescued after we cleared those camps. Pretty sure they’re talking her ear off about the Eclispe”

“Nice, thank you for making sure she’s safe by the way. Anyone hurt?”

Sona shook her head.

“Nothing serious. Your assistance today has been instrumental in our vengeance, in any other circumstance I would be recommending you for command over a group of your peers.”

Varl smirked again, not quite interrupting Sona, but close.

“But something tells me you’re not into that, at least not now.”

Aloy could only shake her head in agreement. Sona spoke up once more

“You two stay here, salvage what you can from the machines, I need to debrief the others”

They nodded deeply, and Sona walked off once more. Picking through smouldering machine wreckage wasn’t the worst fate, especially not after a long day of fighting. Good to replenish stocks of shards, and luminous braiding could go towards getting Elisabet that Oseram gear she had her eye on.

“What is this?”

Aloy turned to Varl.

“Keep that on you, it’s a heart. Sells for a decent amount, something like 70 shards”

“That’s 70 arrows”

“Or you sell a couple more things, get yourself a power shot bow”

“Like the one you use?”

“What can I say, half of what I do is sitting around waiting for something to wander into my sights. Why not do a little extra damage”

Varl laughed, and packed the parts away.

“Let’s get going, huh?”

*Aloy, would you like to her the conversation Elisabet had with the Warchief?*

Varl carried on walking, not looking her way, so she nodded.

//audio-datapoint:Alpha_and_chief\\

—————————

Sona was fast to return, Elisabet noticed, maybe an hour. The Oseram gear did a good job at keeping away the chill, but when some of the Braves returned with a number of shivering Nora in tow, she began to pick around the area for firewood.

What was it Aloy had said, dry branches of ridge wood, most plentiful near water. Elisabet trailed through the area, careful to only pick a few branches from each bush. Keeps them ready for people on the go to make arrows if they’re in trouble, at least that’s what Erend had told her.

Aloy didn’t seem the type to ever get into trouble like that, and neither did the Nora to be truthful. She walked back up to the fire, shoving a handful of branches into it and swatting away the smoke haphazardly.

One of the Nora laughed at that, more like a sneer than a snigger. Great, so snobbery had survived the end of humanity. She plopped down on the ground with her bushel of branches, feeding them while trying to access her focus as subtlety as possible.

The Nora who had laughed at her took that moment to speak up.

“An Oseram in the sacred lands. By the goddess what is this tribe coming to”

She stilled, turning her body towards the man. Another Nora spoke up.

“They must be with seeker Aloy, right? One of the braces said you were ordered by the Sun King to join her”

Elisabet nodded, happy for the conversation to move away from her prescience. Obviously the Nora man didn’t take the hint.

“Of course it was Aloy.”

He had grumbled her name out, almost like it offended him. It made rage spike within her, a rage she didn’t expect.

Memories of her college days came to mind, specifically how her Mom had taught her to deal with annoying frat guys.

Step one, don’t talk to him directly.

“What’s his problem?”

The other Nora laughed at that, shaking their head, while the man sputtered in anger.

“He’s just annoyed that a bunch of ‘lowly sun worshippers’ got the drop on him”

Step two, deadpan is best.

Elisabet chuckled under her helmet, wheezing in amusement.

“Seriously? I don’t know, looks like he’s uncomfortable”

The man still sputtered, while the other Nora laughed even harder.

Step three, hit them hard.

“I mean I guess it’s pretty hard to get comfortable, what with that stick up his ass”

The Nora roared with laughter, tears streaming down their face. They slapped their knee, and every time they looked up at the man, they broke down into giggles again.

The man, now red in the face with veins popping from his forehead, stood up. His lips thinned, and his face got impossibly more red when more Nora joined in on the laughter as the line was shared between them.

“You filth! I ought to take you to the matriarchs, you and Aloy”

Spittle flew from his mouth, and Elisabet casually wiped some from her helmet with her sleeve. One of the Nora from further away could be heard, yelling ‘stick up is ass?!’.

“Of course Aloy brought your ilk into our sacred lands, she’s scum, just like you!”

The rage returned with a vengeance. Elisabet lept to her feet, adrenaline coursing through her as she levelled with the man.

The Oseram helmet was damn uncomfortable, but it was also damn intimidating. The man took a step back, fear slightly present in his eyes.

“The fuck did you say?”

It was a growl, like the one Miriam had pulled back when a younger Lis had been yelled at by a teacher.

“I said she’s scum. She’s filth, she’s a worthless, dirty, goddess forsaken, MOTHERLESS OUTCAST”

If a pin had dropped in that moment, it probably would’ve been rammed into the man’s face alongside Elisabets fist.

She didn’t feel the splitting pain in her knuckles, only the crunching of his nose and the wet hot of blood.

He was launched to the ground, and held his nose as it began to gush blood. He snarled at her, and she snarled right back, scrambling towards him to hit that punchable face again.

Hands gripped her arms, holding her back while she twisted and turned in an attempt to escape and continue the breakage of his bones.

She briefly managed to get free, and began to run once again at him, but was stopped just as fast by a tackle to her side.

Her head hit the ground with a clang, and in the seconds following Elisabet didn’t even realise how much clearer her vision suddenly was.

The gasps surrounding her gave away what had happened though. Wiping the dirt away from her cheek, the Nora who had tackled her helped her to her feet once more.

Everyone stood stock still after that, tense silence following them like smoke from the fire. The man was dragged to his feet by two braves, who stared at him with utter contempt.

Murmurs soon erupted from the crowd, most looked at her with wide eyes shock, but a small group passed metal shards to one of their number. ‘See, told you. Oseram’

Adrenaline still pumped through her, having no outlet except…

Step four, if need be- kick him in the balls. Metaphorical or literal.

“Not so Motherless now, is she?”

The man squawked in offence, and the braces continued to drag him away.

The Nora who had tackled her patted her shoulder, passing her the helmet that had fallen off in the conflict.

“Oh hey Varl”

—————————

Elisabet Sobeck:

“Aloy is… she’s incredible.

We- we found out that my people would die months before it actually happened, I worked tirelessly to… preserve some memory of us, but I didn’t finish it in time. Some of us hid from them, to try and finish it, but where we hid didn’t close properly. All of us, all our work, it would’ve been undone if someone didn’t come out and shut it properly. My part was done so I- I left, and closed it up.

I wanted to go home, to my Moms house, but I didn’t get there. I don’t remember much, falling then being covered in dirt and snow… stung like hell. And then I was asleep.

I’m telling you this because… Aloy is the best thing to happen to me since- if not ever then at least before I found out that my people would die. “

——pause——

Elisabet Sobeck:

“I’m not gonna pretend like I understand Nora culture, my people were polar opposites. And Aloy is so closed off to me it stings a bit, she’s been hurt a lot in the past and I pray that I’m not the cause of that but…

From what I hear she was a lonely kid. Not having me around, not having any mother figure, I mean I never knew my Dad and that still messes with me and my people weren’t a patriarchal society.

I’m scared about what she went through in my absence. I only met her recently and the second I laid eyes on her all these instincts flew into me, it was insane and scary but brilliant.

And then I got to know her more, it was kinda like ‘could I do that?’ at everything she did. You know that she saved the leader of the vanguard, took down a murder plot against the sun king, and still found the time to join the hunters lodge and travel all over with me to find out what happened to my peoples project?

She takes down bandit camps, machines, Oseram who are twice the size of her, without breaking a sweat. And she still finds the time to check up on people, rescue captives, make friends and entertain me while I ramble about my people.

To answer your question, Aloy to me, she’s everything I wanted in a daughter.

I hope that one day I’ll be worthy enough to call her mine. ”

——pause——

Sona:

“Aloy was-”

//recording ended\\
||

||
{y/n}

—————————

Chapter Text

“And here I though Aloy got it all from Rost!”

Varl laughed beside Elisabet, grinning at the sight of the man being dragged off.

“I really hope I didn’t break some law there. I mean I’d do it again but not if Aloy was outcast because of me”

“No, actually you might be given a reward. A mother protecting their child is hardly cause for punishment, even if she punched the war chief in the face”

“I what?”

“That’s Resh. When Sona was gone he was appointed war chief by Matriarch Lansra. Thought he’d still be cowering in Mothers Watch. Apparently not”

“Lansra huh?”

“Nora law isn’t so forgiving if you punch a Matriarch, Elisabet. Sona should be back to deal with him soon, I doubt he’ll like the demotion much, so who knows. Might get a few more kicks in”

Elisabet laughed at that, punching his shoulder playfully, which he fake winced at. The captives were beginning to pull away now, and they could see Sona making her way over.

“Where is Aloy, by the way? I’d like to speak to her myself before the rumour mill gets to her first”

“She said she had to go speak to a friend, but she asked me to give you this”

He handed her an awfully familiar machine part. One of the override units from a Scarab.

“Oh, neat. Thanks Varl”

—————————

*Aloy-*

“Doing something”

She continued her stalking of the strider, whistling to call it over.

*Aloy I highly doubt Elisabet would be impressed if you-*

“Gotcha!”

She jammed her spear into the side of it, blue light spreading into each limb of the beast.

*Crashing the eclipse network alone will only end in disaster*

She snorted, hauling herself onto the back of the strider, careful to wrap her right hand in the cables. Aloy pursed her lips for a second, but kicked it’s sides nonetheless, setting off with frightening speed.

*I’ll contact Elisabet*

“She still has you muted”

Other than a slight breeze, the world was silent as she rode past trees and bushes. If she kept going at this speed, she’d be back to Elisabet by morning.

*….you are insistent on going*

“Yes”

There was quiet once more, but the sound of Sylens taking several deep, calming breaths was audible.

A flicker of yellow popped up on her focus interface, directing her to follow a path.

“Thanks Sylens”

*If Elisabet contacts me at any point I will be using my knowledge of your location to learn more from her*

She stifled a chuckle into her sleeve, wiping away the tears that speed had brought to her eyes. It would be a long night, especially after a long day, but worth it.

—————————

Sona walked with purpose towards the Braves holding Resh, and whispered something in his ear. Resh spluttered again, shouting and tugging on his human restraints.

“ME?! SHE SHOULD BE THE ONE PUNISHED”

Sona quirked an eyebrow, then pushed her thumbs against the mans broken nose. He screamed in pain, and Sona simply looked on with indifference.

“It needed setting.”

She gestured for the Braves to take him away, muttering the name of one of the Nora villages.

Elisabet turned to Varl, the smug smile on his face betraying any chance of fake sorrow at the imprisonment of the ‘Warchief’.

“You look like the cat that got the canary”

“What is a cat?”

“Eh- forget it. Sona! Good to see you”

Sona nodded her head.

“Likewise. You throw a good punch, one blow to knock out a trained brave is impressive. But you should get your hand looked at, follow”

“We’re not going to a village right?”

Sona shook her head.

“No. We’ll head back up to the freed bandit camp in devils thirst. Some scouts will stay here and direct Aloy there.”

“Let’s get going”

The air was crisp, the sky just beginning to turn from blue to pinks and purples, lighting the grass in a kaleidoscope of colours. Grazers lept between trees, Varl watching them with a steady eye, just incase they came closer.

Varl and Sona seemed so alike when they walked side by side. Their footsteps were the same, and if she squinted Elisabet could imagine a toddler Varl learning to walk next to his mother. Her heart swelled, and then she remembered.

A toddler Varl would have his sister by his side, Sona would have them both, both hands within the palms of her childrens. And even knowing Vala was dead by the same hand who had killed Rost, a jealous flicker bubbled up within her.

She had considered children, but there was once when she had almost had one. She was a young girl, cheeks chubby with youth and rosy with play, she had giggled at her while she ran past. Tilda had taken her to visit an orphanage back in Rotterdam, one she had spent a few weeks in after the floods. Elisabet never caught the child’s name, but she watched from a distance as the girl marvelled at the painting Tilda had donated. She remembered shaking her head, and reasoning with herself that she couldn’t adopt a child. She moved too much, and she didn’t exactly have the family to take care of one if she wasn’t there. Tilda picked up a conversation with her, and Elisabet began to speak to one of the caretakers.

When the faro plague showed its ugly head, elisabet was glad that she hadn’t adopted the girl, because if she had… she wouldn’t have been able to do what was necessary for the survival of the human race.

Perhaps the girl had ended up with the far zeniths, blown up in atmosphere, doomed to death like everyone else.

Elisabet wished she had been there when Aloy was a baby, a toddler and a child. Wished she could have taught her to dance, to draw and to know the constellations. But that time had passed. She just had to be there for her now.

“Wonder where Aloy is”

Varl turned his head towards Elisabet in questioning.

“She must still be talking to her friend. I hope it’s not that Nils guy, he freaks me out”

“Nils?”

“Creepy Carja who talks about killing and kills bandits. Walks around without a shirt on, and has a Carja headpiece”

Sona grunted.

“Him. Last I saw, he was going to Oseram territory, not enough bandits around”

“Oh. Wonder who she’s talking to then”

—————————

The ride to the Eclipse camp grew longer with each step, but she was close now. Brightmarket was to the northwest, and Sylens had finally decided to speak up again.

*The stone wall*

She hopped off the strider, setting it loose into the wilderness, and made her way over. Giving it a quick once over, she saw hand holds carved into the rock, and began her climb.

The campsite before her was a simple affair, a few bits of good loot, but nothing spectacular.

*I’d have you wait for nightfall, but it’s plenty dark*

She nodded, and made her way over to the crevasse at the end of the campsite. Making it through the tight squeeze, she crouched down in the tall grass.

*This is the Eclipses main base. There is a tallneck in the centre of the camp, take down the transmitter on its head and the Eclipse will be without their network*

“How do you know so much about this. That camp back there was yours, wasn’t it, and the Eclipse don’t seem the type to let folk trespass on their land “

*I…assisted the Eclipse*

“Gonna give me anything else?”

The sound of the call dropping made itself known.

“Guess not”

From her vantage, she could see a number of corrupted machines below her, and cultists to boot. Sneaking was the name of the game here.

“Good thing I left Elisabet”

The machines were easy to distract, a rock thrown against a tree drew them away from her path, and highlighting their paths on her focus made it childsplay.

Literally. She had done this as a child.

The machines circled, passing each other as if tethered to the paths. The Eclipse stool guard, careful to avoid stepping into the route of the machines. Some were fresh faced, young like the braves from the war chiefs party. Others were older, bearing scars from a war not long since passed.

She weaved between bushes and trees, always aware of where her feet landed. She was at the back of the base now, tallneck legs showing through foliage, but…

“It’s missing the head”

It was a half hiss, half whisper, into the vague direction of her focus.

*They must have moved it. The ravine to the left, heavily guarded but it’s the only other place it could be.*

“On it”

Continuing her journey, she slowly and carefully moved towards the location Sylens indicated, activating her focus every few minutes to check for datapoints.

Bingo, a larger tent with ceremonial armour. And a few datapoints. Aloy was fast to play them, barely reading the titles before doing so.

The voice that rang out chilled her to her core.

The memories bubbled up from the depths of her mind, memories that hadn’t haunted her nearly as much since Elisabet joined her, that she hadn’t considered more than an annoyance since she found Erend. Memories that had threatened to break her in All Mother mountain.

She shut off the datapoint faster than she had played it, gripping her arms with white knuckles to try and stop her hands shaking. Tears tried to leap into and then from her eyes, but she but her tongue hard enough to bleed and carried on.

She had a tallneck head to find.

Her focus pinged again, fifth time this hour. Elisabet was trying to contact her again, and she was damn tempted to pick up.

—————————

The way to the camp was surprisingly short, and it took that long for the adrenaline to fully drain from her body. Her knuckles started to ache, a sharp pain like that one time she stabbed through her hand trying to pit and avocado (Tilda fainting at the blood and needing to call two ambulances was fun to explain).

Varl pointed her towards a hide covered tent, sitting himself at the campfire next to a man with a large backpack. Sona disappeared into the moonlight, going to talk to the camp guards it seemed.

The woman in the tent looked kindly at her, she wore a different blue from the Nora folks who were mulling about.

The woman gestured to the pillow next to her, and Elisabet sat cross legged. Holding her hand out to the woman, she sat happily in the quiet of the tent, fire crackling outside, turkeys gobbling as children chased them.

The salve rubbed into her knuckles eased the pain tremendously, going from shake ache to dull pang.

“Thank you”

The woman smiled, and reached for a small basket. Bandages, clearly Elisabet had knocked some teeth out, and they had the gall to cut into her skin.

She sat in silence again as the woman wove bandages across her hand, placing a small patch of dried herbs within the second layer.

“What is that?”

“Rosemary. For luck. It’s needed these days, the blue light is fading more with each day.”

“The blue light… you’re not of the Nora?”

“No, Banuk. I came to the camp to trade medicine with the merchants. Looks like I came at the right time, 4 or so folk came through with burns”

“Must’ve been from the Eclipse camps the braves took down”

The woman finished wrapping her hand, and Elisabet gave it a few experimental squeezes.

“Nice! Thank you. What do I owe you?”

The woman shook her head, patting Elisabets shoulder.

“Nothing, the merchants here have already pledged to refill my stocks. I have a bed and food in my belly, that is enough”

Thank. The. Lord. The American healthcare system did not survive. Hurray for killing the medical industrial complex.

Elisabet thanked the Banuk once more, leaving the tent to sit by Varl. Sona was on his other side, grilling meat in the flames of the fire.

Bile rose in her throat, and Elisabet remembered what the man had said to ate her off. She desperately wanted to call Aloy, but all of her attempts hadn’t gone through. Couldn’t be helped, patchy signal never improved even in her time

“Was Aloy an Outcast?”

—————————

The dead tree fell fast, and Aloy balanced her arms out as she crossed the ravine.

Tallneck head, transmitter, stab, run.

It was a mantra, repeated on loop as loud as she could think so that Helis’ voice didn’t cut through. Her heart pounded, breathing heavy but as quiet as she could manage. The head stood vigil among an island of wooden platforms, but the area was deserted regardless. That was good. Trying to sneak while climb was not an easy thing to do.

She grabbed the lip on the top of the head, and came face to face with a nightmare incarnate.

“HADES.”

The thoughts of Helis left, and she reached for her spear to pry the casing off. If it noticed her, it didn’t show it, no red light or shuddering ground to give it away.

She grit her teeth, twitched at the pain in her wrist, and jammed her spear into the casing.

—————————

The anger that had bubbled up within her earlier was back with a bloody vengeance. Elisabet took a breath, calming her voice enough to talk.

“I’m going to ask that we take this conversation elsewhere”

Sona nodded, walking towards the edge of the camp, but when Varl began to stood up she shook her head.

“It’s best that this is between us.”

He nodded, glancing nervously between the two.

Elisabet stalked off, joining Sona as she walked into the woods. She grit her teeth, and glared into Sonas eyes.

“What happened.”

—————————

Aloy heard the sound of the cracking first, then the smell of singed flesh. The light came next, and then….

Searing pain.

It shocked through her arm, to her heart and her spine, throughout her entire body. But she couldn’t let go, hand clamping harshly over the handle of her spear, wood creaking in protest. Tears sprung to her eyes, but she held back a scream as she was blasted backwards.

Aloy scrambled to get her footing again, breathing hard, and watched as the red light began to spew from the metal devil.

{ENTITY; ELISABET SOBECK, STATUS; NOT ELIMINATED. QUERY; ENTITY IS SINGULAR- WHY?}

—————————

“You found a child, a baby, in the mountain of your ‘goddess’, and straight away one of your matriarchs wanted her dead?!”

Sona nodded.

“What the fuck is WRONG with you? A baby can’t be guilty of any crime, she was a baby she couldn’t do anything but cry and eat! And of course the next best option was to outcast her from a tribe that she was never actually a part of, and just hope that she survived?”

“Rost was chosen by Matriarch Teersa for his nobility. He had a daughter before, he was the best fit”

“And everyone just stood back and let that happen? No wonder Aloy doesn’t consider you her tribe”
—————————

She ran past the red light, careful to steady herself against the barrages of the deathbringer that HADES had brought into play.

The eclipse in the camp were aware of her now, she dove into position as the tallneck head shook with the blasts.

*The transmitter*

Aloy plunged her spear once more, the impact sending another bout of pain down her arm, but the transmitter crushed under the force.

That was enough for the deathbringer to up its attack once more, sending her sprawling towards the ground.

She jumped from the head, rolling onto the ground with a grunt.

—————————

“What did you think when the Matriarchs cast out a baby?”

Sona was silent. Elisabet shook her head.

“You needed her help to get vengeance, the Nora needed her to defend against the corruptors, the Matriarchs need her to go on some journey to stop the derangement. But you know what I wonder? I wonder what you have done to deserve that help.”

Elisabet began to walk off, tugging her pack with her, while Sona stood in stony quiet.

“I’m disappointed, in all of you. And you know what?”

She turned on her foot to face Sona once more.

“So would All Mother.”

And she meant every word that left her mouth.

If Sona balked, Elisabet didn’t notice, she just carried on walking. That cave they had spent the night before would be good enough. Just needed to tell the kid where she would be, Elisabet doubted that Aloy would want to deal with all that.

Maybe she could try an override a strider to keep her company while she waited.

—————————

The Eclipse were on her tail now, the deathbringer sending volley of red hot projectiles after her. Still she ran, the rappel point was close, with that she could escape.

Aloy ignored the stinging pains, they were hard to distinguish from eachother, but not enough of a distraction from the thudding of her heart.

One more leap of faith, and she was in the clear. Her grapple fumbled in her grip, but she got it out just in time, jumping from the bridge and letting the friction carry her down slowly enough.

The explosion shot through the air, piercingly loud like Dervahls device, and sent her plummeting into the water below.

She didn’t have the time to scream, but the shart slap of her body hitting the water forced a breath from her lungs.

It stung, and consciousness was barely held in weakening hands. The voices from above made some sounds of victory, and Aloy was dragged along the lake towards an unknown destination.

-/#* Aloy*#\-

The voice shocked her from her stupor, Focus struggling to make the sound clear in the water.

Flipping over, she managed to push against something to propel herself towards the bank.

She coughed, and wiped the water from her face.

—————————

The cave was still stocked with the leftover firewood from the night, that saved Elisabet gathering more.

She sat, and sighed deeply. Not like she know how to start the damn fire. Gods she hoped Aloy would be back soon. Perhaps Erend had come up to Nora lands again, and they were catching up.

Her focus pinged, another call muted. She checked her call logs, Sylens had tried to call her multiple times over the day. Typical.

Well it was better than talking to no one.

“What do you want?”

*Ah, Elisabet. You finally answer.*

“Yes. I assume you were trying to hack my focus earlier? My encryption is better than that”

*Perhaps*

Elisabet looked through her pack for a snack, something small. Jerky would do.

“So-“

She finished chewing her bit before continuing.

“How come you’ve been calling me all day? Missed me?”

*Hmm. Your encryption wasn’t actually that good I must admit, you were a roboticist so I’ll forgive you*

“And what exactly did you do?”

*I shared a conversation you had earlier in the day, it worked to motivate Aloy to complete a needed task*

Her blood chilled.

“If she’s hurt I will gut you from armpit to asshole”

*I warned her to find you first. I had hoped that sharing the conversation would make you more amenable to sharing your own knowledge of Enduring Victory*

“But it backfired, and she went off to- what? Prove herself?”

*I believe so*

“And you couldn’t call to tell me because I had you on mute”

*Yes*

“And I’ve not been able to call Aloy because she has me on mute”

*Yes*

“Wonderful. Sylens, be a dear and tell her to unmute me”

————————-

To call her disoriented would be an understatement. Aloys head span and her body shivered from the night air seeping through wet clothing.

She lifted her hand to her mouth, calling for her Strider, and crawled on. The Focus on her temple pinged, the sound uncomfortably loud.

*Aloy. Elisabet requests you unmute her.*

“Give me a minute”

The strider huffed as she got on, kicking its legs before setting off at top speed. Her head hurt at the jostling motion, and the wind chilled her further.

Sweat dripped from her brow, and heat began to emanate from her chest upwards. She was too hot, clawing at her clothes for some sort of cooling, but all too soon she was back to shivering.

Back to Elisabet, the pain could wait till then.

*It has been over a minute, Aloy.*

Her hand reached up to her focus, half heartedly double tapping and circling until Elisabets name popped up.

“Aloy?! Where the hell are you I’ve been worried sick”

The sound was a bit too much for her, and she rested her head on the strider, shutting her eyes tight.

Pain pounded between her eyes like a drum, bouncing around her body as the strider twisted along the path.

“I’m ok, Elisabet. Got caught up doing something, I’ll be back soon. You back at the devils thirst camp?”

“No, the cave we set up in before USRC. Is that okay, I can go back-“

“No, that’s fine. That’s-“

She had to grit her teeth against a squeak of pain as the strider jumped over a rock.

“That’s better, actually. See you there”

She double tapped her focus again, cutting off both calls at the same time.

For something called Focus, it didn’t help her do that.

—————————

Pacing around the cave wasn’t helping to curve her anxiety one bit, but goddamn it she couldn’t do much else.

A fire would be really nice right now, warm up the camp for Aloys return. Like being able to turn on her central heating while she was on her drive home after a day of dealing with Teds bullshit.

“Hey Sylens? How do I start a fire?”

*Really?*

“Aloys driving”

*hm. Find some firewood, pour a little blaze on it and use a sparker to light it.*

“And what if I had… none of those things”

*further into the cave, there ought to be a supply cache*

Elisabet wandered in the relative dark of the cave for a minute, spotting a pile of bags with her focus.

“Oh, hey! Nice”

She walked back over to the bundle of firewood and got to work. A little blaze, poured from the round canister, and mess with the sparker until it did it’s namesake.

The fire was lit, and Elisabet threw her hands up in celebration.

“Hey hey, let there be light”

It warmed the cave quickly, sending orange and yellow across the walls. A realisation slowly dawned on her, a creeping feeling like when she had asked Charles for some sleeping pills and he had dragged out a drawer fully stocked with the less legal kind.

“Sylens how did you know there was a cache there?”

*I left it there. I have done my fair share of ruin delving, Elisabet. It just so happens that I needed a key to get into most places*

Right. The genetic keys, created so that should a Faro robot try to gain access via overriding the facilities, they wouldn’t be able to even try. Their programming prevented them from taking prisoners, the biomatter conversion did come in useful for something.

Elisabet sat, and waited for Aloys return in the now warm of the cave, eyes gleaming at the stars she could see, trying her best to see the constellations.

—————————

The transition between Carja and Nora lands was barely a flicker in Aloys mind. Lush rainforest turned to sands turned to grass turned to snow.

The strider hadn’t slowed down one bit since she had urged it into action, perhaps understanding the desperation to return. It twisted along a slimmer path, then skidded to a halt.

Right, they didn’t like rocks.

Aloy unwrapped her hand, and reached for the ground with her foot, an attempt to not fall off the strider. It didn’t work, naturally, and she went tumbling off into the rock that had stopped her progression.

It send shockwaves up her arm, and she grunted in pain once more. The heat returned, numbness spreading through her limbs. Aloy braced, and got back to her feet, dragging them along the ground as she walked towards the cave.

Not far now, not far now.

The world swam and spun, the bright of the moon stinging her eyes as she tried to orient herself using the stars. She blinked, and her feet carried her to somewhere else. Bile rose in her throat, but she felt little else.

The ground was cold but soft against her skin, the pain turning to a dull thud buried in the snow.

Darkness made itself known, pulling her eyelids down and her into sleep. Sound came from nearby, thudding then a noise that sounded like her name.

Chapter Text

Dragging Aloys collapsed form to the cave was a process. She wasn’t heavy, perhaps pounds of muscle slowed Elisabet down, but that wasn’t the worst part.

Apparently, Aloy came pre baked with survival instincts(or trauma perhaps), and constantly wriggled to try and get out of her grip.

She managed to wrestle her to the mouth of the cave, laying the girl on her sleep roll, and began looking for injuries.

Her bad wrist was now bent out of shape, she was bleeding from a cut on her head, some burns perhaps. Elisabet made the mental checklist before carefully tipping Aloy onto her side.

Elisabet winced in sympathy, knotting her eyebrows in concern.

“Kid…”

Sticking out of Aloys back were two arrows.

Elisabet thought for a moment. She couldn’t carry Aloy back to a Nora camp alone, not while she was so feverish, but leaving her while she went for help was even less appealing.

“Elisabet?”

“Varl? Are you alright?”

“Yes. One of the scouts told me of a machine rider coming up around here, figured it must be Aloy. Is… she okay?”

She shook her head, the panic quickly descending on her.

“No- listen can I ask a favour? Could you go back to camp and ask that Banuk healer to come and help? I know a little about how to help but removing arrows is beyond me”

She had barely finished her sentence before Varl had shouted a confirmation and was out light a flash.

Elisabet sighed, and ran down the first aid training Herres had provided; check the pulse, check the breathing, recovery position.

Aloy had a pulse, a decently strong one, but the feverish temperature of her skin gave Elisabet concern. Breathing was fine if a little laboured. Getting Aloy into the recovery position without aggravating her injuries further was a trial, but she had stopped wriggling so damn much.

Elisabet coudlnt tell if that was good or bad. First aid training was for stuff like gunshot wounds or broken bones, they had doctors on site to deal with infections and illness.

Miriam had taken care of a sick Elisabet countless times, but she could only count twice that the opposite was true.

Chicken soup was out the window, but they still had some of the food that the Carja had gifted them. Getting Aloy hydrated would be hard, Elisabet didn’t particularly want her to choke. Ibuprofen and Tylenol would be impossible to get, not unless some immortal old ones dropped from the sky.

Aloy grunted slightly, muttering something that she didn’t quite catch, but went quiet again soon after. Elisabet pet her head fondly, pushing the hair off her forehead. Aloy nuzzled into her palm, and her heart broke.

Comfort was all Elisabet could offer her, and she would give all she could.

—————————

It took a frustratingly long time for the Banuk to come back with Varl, but the relief washed away any anger. The woman smiled at Elisabet, and sat beside Aloy.

“I need to remove her armour, check if those arrows are embedded in her or just the leather”

The woman nodded over at Varl, who flushed and stepped out of the cave once more.

She worked with deft hands, more careful that Elisabet would be. The armour was shucked off, and Aloy was left in her underclothes, shivering even in the warmth of the cave.

The woman pursed her lips.

“Corruption arrows, leeching poison it’s into her. Get a pot of water from the creek, put it on the boil. Throw these tools in the pot once it’s on the fire.”

Elisabet scrambled to her feet, sluggish with tiredness but too afraid to do anything but watch as Aloys face contorted in pain. She grabbed the earthenware pot from her pack, and walked out of the cave.

Varl was waiting for her.

“I’ll come with you, make sure machines don’t bother you.”

She nodded, and they walked to the creek, Varl scanning the horizon for any hostiles. To be honest, Elisabet was glad he was with her. It felt odd walking around without someone beside her, pointing out the best herbs for pairing with raccoon shank.

Dip the pot in the water, watch as the bubbles rise and the cold splashes against skin. Try not to think about Aloys limp body lying in the grass. Elisabet shook her head, willing the thoughts away, and dragged the pot out of the stream.

“Head back?”

Varl nodded, and led them back to the cave.

—————————

They were shivering when they made it back. Like Aloy, Varl was in his underclothes, skin gooseflesh in the chill. He stood awkwardly at the foot of the cave, avoiding looking towards Aloys side at all costs.

“You not coming in? It’s cold out there”

He nodded stiffly, and entered behind her, sitting by the fire while Elisabet busied herself with perching the pot in a way that wouldn’t spill.

She sat back beside Aloy, taking stock of her flushed face.

“You have some glaze root?”

Varl chucked a handful of greenery towards Elisabet, smiling in apology when it hit her square in the face.

The woman took the root, rubbing it between her palms before squeezing the oils into a pottery bowl beside her. She dipped a cloth into it, and began to rub it into the wounds on Aloys back. The girl groaned slightly, twitching, thankfully not waking. The oil saturated into the blood darkened fabric of her shirt.

The water bubbled for a moment, steam rising into view. Elisabet laid her head back against the cave wall, breathing deeply to calm her racing heart.

The woman returned, fishing something from the pack on her side. She turned to Elisabet, face stern.

“You will need to hold her down. Neutralising the corruption was a start, but until I can get the shards out it will react again and burn to the bone”

Elisabet nodded, waving Varl over.

“Can you help us with this? I’m not stronger than Aloy”

He voiced his agreement, and they flipped Aloy over fully, Elisabet at her arms with Varl at her feet. Her top was peeled from her back, clotted blood sticking as the Banuk knife sliced through woven cloth. Aloy groaned, twitching, but still not waking.

The Banuk woman tested the water for temperature, grabbing a collection of metal tools from the bottom, clacking a pair of tweezers together to test them.

Aloys heartbeat thrummed under her grip, slow enough for her to be asleep.

Elisabet prayed that she would remain that way, at least for the worst of it.

—————————

Floating was not a unique experience. A lot like drowning, breath failing and eyes burning.

It felt like this after the proving. Something hurt, vaguely and miles away but it hurt. There was weight pressing against something, less heavy more strength holding down.

Light pierced, left quicker, burning lancing upwards or downwards or side to side it was impossible to tell when floating. But it hurt.

It hurt.

Guttural hurt, pain and fire and ice latching onto-

What? What did the pain claw its ugly claws into. It wasn’t hands, not legs nor head even though they all hurt. Maybe wrist? A different ache infected that part but not the burning cold or the freezing flame.

She bit down, recognising herself within the waters she floated within. The red of hair the red of blood the red of the pain and the taste of bile. Bile tasted like blue, the blue that the Nora wore when they threw rocks and rotten fruits at her feet. But this bile was red, like the dripping corruption of the deathbringers.

She tried to spit, but naught but a scream left her mouth. She choked it down.

Tears spilled down her face, and she wished for something she hadn’t wished for since childhood.

She wished her mother was there.

————————————

Elisabet had heard screams before, god knew she heard them in her dreams as well as her waking life.

For a while she had thought the screams of the Faro plague victims would be the worst she had heard, then it was the screams of her colleagues as they watched their homes be destroyed.

But.

Aloy didn’t scream like folk she knew back then. It was a choked, harshly cut, partial sobbing scream. It was the scream of a child who had been so scared of making herself look weak that she would bite down on her tongue until it bled before she let even a grunt of pain loose.

It showed. The Banuk reached for a strip of leather, easing Aloys mouth slightly open before placing it between her teeth.

Elisabet steeled herself as Aloy shook, fever sick and weak but so much stronger than her. She shook under the hands holding her down, tears dampening Elisabets trousers, but when she took a shaky breath little sound escaped.

What could’ve been hours dragged on and on like the hours before the Faro Plague hit a new country. The anxious dread steadily creeping up over back, prickling skin like bug bites or sunburn.

Glass clattered to the ground, and the Banuk woman sighed in relief.

“Just the arrowheads now. They’re not barbed so I should be able to just-“

She pulled at the leftover shaft of the arrow, tugging hard while keeping the wound open with the tweezers. Aloy twitched, groaning but not moving to stop the pain.

The arrow clattered to the floor, red soaked twine unravelling from the leftover glass shards.

The woman tugged the rest of the arrows free, bringing a small spurt of blood alongside the last, but she seemed pleased with the progress.

Aloy looked better for it too, shaking turning to light trembles.

Obviously it still hurt to see her like that, Varl had long since turned his face from the scene, looking at the fire with quiet reverence. Elisabet wished she had done the same, but swallowed the bile that rose when the Banuk pulled a curved bone needle from the pot. Aloy again barely twitched when the woman pulled a few strands of hair from her head, threading the needle to begin sewing.

“Hair?”

The Banuk nodded, not looking up from her task.

“I’ve no thread on me, so hair works better than burning the wounds.”

The idea sent shivers down Elisabets spine, much like the anxious prickle from before.

The sewing continued, and the cave was silent barring the crackle of the fire and the occasional grunt from Aloy.

—————————

With Aloy out of the danger zone, Elisabet could finally sit back for a moment. The woman had wrapped Aloys back with deft precision. She was currently laying by the fire curled up like a cat, sleeping soundly even on the hard cave floor.

Varl sat against the wall beside her, examining one of the arrows. He twisted it around, squinting at the shards of glass that stuck to blood soaked twine.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. They make these ampules with arrow head stoppers so that when they fire the arrows will penetrate before the glass can shatter. It means more corruption gets in. All mother damn them…”

He threw the arrow to the ground, leaning his head to the wall.

“You should get some rest Varl. There ought to be another bedroll somewhere.”

He looked at her nervously, but she waved him on. Honestly he looked ready to collapse, it had been a busy day for everyone.

Varls soft snores filled the cave soon enough, and Elisabet threaded her hands through Aloys hair. She whines slightly, turning into the touch with unconscious effort.

“I’m here kiddo. You get some rest huh? Talk about your recklessness in the morning”

—————————

The steady creep of the sun was beginning to warm the cave more than the fire could ever have, perhaps just the orange light dancing along the stone grey.

Elisabet had slept some, head lulling against her shoulder, but it wasn’t very restful. Eyes snapped open every few minutes or whenever Aloy moved even milimetres.

But the sun stirred, and so did life. Elisabet longed for her journal, but didn’t fancy making the short journey to the other side of the cave to retrieve it. No, best to stay by Aloy, listen to the beat of her heart. Feel it thrum under her fingertips. Make sure she’s still alive.

Varl woke first, stretching into the light and yawning, the Banuk followed with a much quieter yawn and a turn away from the light to try and squeeze out the remainders of sleep.

Elisabet brushed the hair from Aloys face, glad to feel that the fever hot flush had vanished. She blinked the sleep from her eyes, and greeted Varl quietly.

“Morning Varl. You sleep alright?”

He smiled, and nodded, standing to head out.

“I ought to return to camp, tell the War Chief everyone’s alive”

Aloy stirred slightly, lifting her hands to cover her face. Varl chuckled, smiling at the pair. He left then, tails of his tunic flapping with the movement.

Elisabet sighed after he had left, turning her attention back to Aloy.

“He’s a nice kid you know? He doesn’t scare me half to death in the middle of the night by coming back bleeding out.”

A noise that sounded a whole lot like ‘I’m sorry’ came from the still waking figure. Elisabet smiled down at her, pressing another gentle kiss to the crown of her head, before facing the now upright figure of the Banuk healer.

“Good, her fever has passed. Is she awake?”

Aloy stretched herself out, eyes finally fluttering open, missing the fever glaze of the last night. She looked up at Elisabet, still confused and unfocused but for the first time that day Aloy truly understood who say before her.

Tears streamed down Elisabets face at the relief stricken expression on Aloys face. She smiled at her, bloodied lip splitting with the effort but no discomfort made itself known on her face.

“Morning kiddo”

“M-morning, Mom”

Chapter Text

“We need to talk”

Aloy stiffened, glancing towards Elisabet cautiously.

Elisabet sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of her nose. This girl would be the death of her. The adrenaline that coursed through her the day prior was back with a bloody vengeance.

“About why you ran off, about why you’ve been keeping secrets, about how you’ve been hiding how bad your injuries have been! I know what electrical burns look like kid, just- where did you go?”

Her voice cracked at the last question, eyes peering into Aloys face as the girl struggled to look anywhere else. Fear, perhaps, maybe something closer to panic was apparent. No. None of those. Aloy was looking at her like she didn’t understand.

“Fucking hell Aloy. I was scared half to death- I thought we had agreed that you wouldn’t run off!”

Aloy murmured something, quiet and barely above a whisper. Elisabet had to strain to hear it, but she eventually made out the words.

Her heart sank, ice cold leaping through her like a bullet. All of a sudden her arms went heavy, teeth felt too big for her mouth.

The look on Aloys face showed she was having a similar reaction to the questioning, scrambling back like a caged animal, clawing at her bad wrist like the pain would ground her.

Something in Aloys eyes told Elisabet that she wasn’t seeing her at that moment.

She hadn’t meant to shout, being loud had never come naturally to her, and it stung her throat.

Elisabet reached over to Aloy, wanting to pull her close before she bolted, but she squirmed away while putting her best intimidating face on, bearing her teeth like a fox. Her mind lagged as she tried to think of what to say.

Someone approached the mouth of the cave.
—————————

Somewhere between hearing Helis’ voice, plummeting into a lake, waking up and calling for her mother and feeling the cold shock of shouting, Aloy had lost track of just where she was.

It hurt. The cold heat of the floor rising into her aching joints, muscles panging with residual shock. She blinked back tears, and tried to see who was before her. White spots covered the world before her, like when she had woken up after the proving.

A shape moved towards her, dark and unrecognisable but the colour was close enough to Eclipse armour to give concern.

Her head pounded, a concussion perhaps, bloody bile rose in her mouth. It was all too much. She wanted to flee, to fight, to freeze.

Her own voice called to her from the shape, still reaching towards her like the icy hands that choked her back then.

The scar on her neck stung.

Another shape appeared from the background, similar shaped but stronger, in browns and blues rather than the striking orange of the other.

She tried not to sag into the second shapes arms as they walked her out of… wherever she was, but her feet hit grass and she sank into it, lungs burning with the effort of breathing so fast.

Warm hands met her own, and this time she didn’t run.

The air smelt like fallen snow and damp ground, but there wasn’t the icy chill that was there at the proving, nor the humid tinge that was there at the Eclipse base.

Warm hands pulled her into an embrace, tucking her head into shoulder shaped leather, hair tousled by soft breathing.

It took too long to come back to herself, too long for the shouting and the screaming and the “turn your face to the sun” to stop. Aloy was exhausted, cringing from the pain in her lungs and her wrist.

The shoulder remained, long hair tickling her forehead as the shape hummed a familiar tune.

An old Nora folk song, for the festival of the last fall. When the braves would bring piles of auburn leaves to the villages for each tribesman to share with the new mothers in the Nora.

Rost had told her about he had picked a leaf the same shade of red as her hair to give to his mate, and how it had crumbled in her grasp when she plucked it from his hands. How she had laughed heartily.

He always brushed tears from his eyes when he told stories of the festivals, of the various celebrations during the year. More often than not Aloy would join him, sitting solemn by the fire.

The shoulder moved away, and Aloy blearily looked up at the person who had held her in arms so recognisable.

“Are you back now, seeker?”

She nodded, blinking away the exhaustion and tears the same. The voice wasn’t mocking or cruel like she was so used to from anyone but Rost, it was quiet and stern but verging on kind.

“Follow.”

Her legs ached as she tried to obey, the shape helping her regain her footing, almost carrying her back to the warmth of the cave.

She fell asleep as soon as she was sat back on her bedroll.

—————————

“Corruption glaze root. Useful, but not without its harms. Braves who defended our lands during the Red Raids avoid it to a fault. The confusion can bring memories, and memories can be worse than the poison.”

Elisabet gawked, mouth opening and closing like a fish. Sona walked back in, almost casually, Aloy following like her life depended on it. She helped the girl sit, then lie, and watched wistfully as she fell into a slumber.

Elisabet struggled for words once again. She was still angry, the burn of that made her think of Ayomide and how she had caught Elisabet kicking her chair hard enough to break the metal. That call with Ted had been… trying at best.

“I looked after her once. Rost had fallen ill, and Aloy was too young to be without a caretaker. Teersa came to my home in the dead of night holding a bundle of blue and red, almost begged me to take her. Just for a time.”

Sona sighed, looking out into the morning sky visible at the mouth of the cave.

“She was an easy child, didn’t cry or wail. Small enough to hold in one arm while I held Vala in the other. They made fast friends even then”

She smiled wistfully at Elisabet, sorrow creeping into her eyes.

“I didn’t want to give her back, but I had two children, no mate, and the red raids at our borders. Rost took better care of her than I could”

She sucked in a breath, turning to Aloys peaceful face, free of worry.

“You were right. All mother would be disappointed in us. To allow a child to grow up thinking she is unwanted”

The words ‘motherless outcast’ breached Elisabets mind once more, the hate and scorn that fuelled it.

Motherless, without Mother or without love of All Mother.

Outcast, cast out or never belonged in the first place.

Elisabet wonders what Aloy would be like had she been raised by any other tribe.

A Carja Aloy, dressed in reds and golds, face painted with the striking black of a noble. A royal historian under Avad maybe, one of Marads spies, or a prized hunter for the lodge.

An Oseram Aloy, with more substance to her cheeks, a few less cut scars and a few more burn scars. A vanguard, a delver or a weapon smith with sarcasm to match her blades.

A Banuk Aloy, face perpetually red with the cold, fox fur collar to match her hair. A healer like the Banuk woman, a Shaman, or a Chieftain leading a mighty Werak against tides of machines.

“When I had her, she cried only once. I sang to her, a song from one of our festivals, and it calmed her. Did the same today. I’ll teach you if you’ll listen”

Elisabet nodded, smiling at Sona for the first time.

—————————

Aloy woke once more with white spots in her vision, but the bone deep panic wasn’t there anymore.

Someone hummed a soft tune, the same as before, another following clumsily. She rubbed her eyes, and the white spots faded.

Elisabet gave her a wide smile as she sat up, waving the other person over, pressing a full cup into her hands. Steam rose over the curled carving, and she inhaled the scent.

“Salvebrush?”

The other person nodded, sitting back on their haunches as they looked her over.

“For the pain, seeker.”

“War chief?”

She nodded, standing up to leave.

“Take care of that one, Elisabet Sobeck.”

Elisabet thanked her, and she was gone, Aloy watching as the rain covered her tracks.

“What in all mothers tits was that?”

Elisabet spat out her drink, just about managing to turn away from Aloy in the nick of time. She broke down into hysterics, laughing loudly in the echo of the cave.

“Glad to see you’re okay kiddo”

She grunted in pain, heat lancing up her back as she twisted to face Elisabet. Worse for wear would be the phrase to describe Elisabet in this moment, dark circles beneath her eyes, blood shot contrasting against the green of her iris.

“You look tired”

“You came back with three corruption arrows sticking out of your back, forgive me if I didn’t sleep”

—————————

Looking back on it, her reaction made sense.

Miriam had rarely needed to raise her voice at Elisabet, but when she had more often than not Elisabet would shout back.

But with Aloy…

So many things she had thought were in her nature were simply an artefact of her upbringing. So many things she thought her mother had instilled in her were in her nature.

Equally, so many things that were in her nature had been changed in Aloy. The argumentative streak still shone within the girl, but never without good reason. Aloy wouldn’t snap at someone for grumbling under their breath, but she also wouldn’t sit quietly as someone disparaged her before a crowd. To put it simply, they both had very different measures of when to let it go.

Elisabet had been trained by years of schoolyard squabbles and college debates. Aloy had been trained by years of survival. Not dissimilar, but nowhere near the same.

Aloy didn’t flinch at death, she barely gave a second glance to a corpse and she certainly didn’t feel guilty if she killed someone who came after her first. Things that were horrific to Elisabet were a fact of life to Aloy.

Aloy lost Rost recently, in brutality, after a lifetime of being outcast. Of course she would have an issue with Elisabet being maternally angry. Things Aloy had never experienced, the worried shouting of a mother concerned for her child, Elisabet had grown to accept them.

She grit her teeth against the worry-concert-rage, and spoke again.

“I’m sorry Aloy. I’m not angry at you, I’m-“

She took a deep breath.

“I’m terrible at this kiddo. I’ve never been a mother before you’ll have to bear with me”

“If it helps I’ve never had a mother before”

Jokes in the face of emotional turmoil. That was nature.

“How are you feeling?”

Aloy stretched out, opening and closing her fists carefully.

“Better than I was”

“Good. You up to answering some questions?”

Aloy paused, eyes flitting between Elisabet and the burnt out fire.

“Only if you’re up to it kiddo”

“No I, I am. What do you wanna know?”

“Why did you run last night?”

—————————

The want to impress people had never really faded away, from berries to pelts to machine parts to a helping hand in a fight. Still, she didn’t like to admit it.

“I wanted to impress you”

She didn’t like to admit it. But she would.

“Oh kid, you impress me everyday! What did you do anyway?”

“Took down the Eclipse focus network. Figured it would give us some breathing room”

Elisabet tilted her head, smirking slightly.

“You’ve got a plan”

“We need allies. Specifically we need to find something, someone, like Hades. And seeing as we’re in the area…”

“Cyan! Of course! It could even help us with getting into Sunfall for the Alpha Registry”

*I had wondered*

Elisabet shuddered, jumping at Sylens’ sudden intrusion.

“Shitting hell! Stop doing that”

*no.*

Aloy shook her head, smiling at Elisabets anger.

“So, got any tips for Banuk territory?”

*no*

“Wonderful”

Aloy double tapped her focus, muting Sylens again, Elisabet following soon after.

“You think he’s hiding something”

“I know he is. When I went to the eclipse base, he said he had assisted them, he knew where they might have moved the transmitter, knew the best place to run when it went to shit. I think we need to know more about him before we head into Sunfall, if he’s worked with the Eclipse we might need a bit of persuasion to avoid a trap”

“Smart. Let’s meet up with the healer who helped you, she did say something about Daemons and what I can only assume is Yellowstone volcano”

“Then let’s head out”

“We can talk more on the way”

Aloy groaned. It would be a long time before Elisabet let that mess go.

Chapter Text

Breath swayed in hazy circles, boots slipped on icy floors, nose stinging in the cold.

Elisabet walked regardless, eyes to the horizon, desperately ignoring the carcass of the very beast who had sought to end the world she so loved.

The healer had given them directions, ones that Aloy was following well, rope tied around her waist to connect her to Elisabet.

It helped ground her, keep her thoughts away from the Horus.

It also stopped her from careening off the edge of an icy cliff every time she slipped.

Together they squeezed through crevasse and cave all the same, clambering over rock and ice. It was nice, there in the quiet of the howling caverns, gave her time to think.

Aloy, child raised an outcast, who fought tooth and nail against that identity until those who had placed it upon her relented. And now she fought against the identity of Nora, because a few words of praise could never bring back Rost.

Aloy, who had a difficult relationship with the word ‘tribe’, but helped others not out of some sense of duty, but because it seemed the right thing to do.

Aloy, who would look upon her with disgust if she ever knew about enduring victory.

Bile rose in her throat, and for once it wasn’t because of the height.

“This way. Through the crack”

—————————
Aloy looked up towards the sheer wall, the icy holds made her so glad that the healer had shown them an easier way, up past the grave hoard and the Horus that held so many memories for Elisabet.

A growl interrupted her thoughts, glancing back to Elisabet who shook her head as if to confirm it wasn’t her stomach again, and she dove behind an outcropping dragging Elisabet with her.

Heat radiated off in waves visible to the eye and melting the snow around it, armour full compared to typical corrupted machines.

More disturbing, the red dripping coils of corruption that manifested within the usual ones was replaced with stark purple, hidden under the armour but showing under the neck joint.

It snarled, and she activated her focus to try and pinpoint what exactly it was.

“A scorcher. Weak to frost.”

She reached to her back to pull a weapon out, Elisabet grasping her arm as she tried.

“You’re injured”

A harsh whisper, but the intent was clearly concern.

“I’m using my sling. It’s injured, a couple chillwater bombs will take it down”

She raised her sling, taking aim with ease but care.

Bomb met metal, ice spreading across the carapace as it snapped and snarled, creaking with the movement and cracking with the frost.

Aloy rolled her shoulders, seemingly happy to be back in the fray, and wandered towards it, picking at the salvage.

Smiling fondly back down at her young clone, Elisabet crouched next to her, opening her hands to accept the parts Aloy passed her. They had to pack light this time, the mounts couldn’t manage the walk through icy crags and cracks in stone, and the healer had staunchly banned Aloy from carrying more than a basic pack.

Trinkets had been Elisabets kryptonite, she had collected rocks, bottle caps, interesting parts from the robots of her day. At least Aloy had an excuse to keeping hold of things, merchants could be picky with what they wanted in return for a fancy looking bow.

Her own collection of late 2030s lightbulbs? Not so much.

“Can’t wait to override another charger”

“Don’t I know it”

————————————

Her focus buzzed annoyingly as they got towards the entrance of The Cut, Sylens trying to reach her but failing thanks to the silencing.

But it was very annoying.

“Hey kiddo, I’m just gonna answer Sylens real quick”

Aloy gave her a quick thumbs up, turning back to the path, tracing invisible lines with her hands.

“What.”

“Pleasant to hear from you too, Elisabet. I was simply wondering why you’re headed into Banuk territory”

“Aloy shut down the focus network, something the eclipse can’t bring back… not without you anyway, and she needs time to recover. Unless you’re offering to drag me up to Sunfall?”

He snorted in reply.

“No other reason?”

“I’d like to check in on Yellowstone, maybe see Cyan. Shoot me, I want a vacation. Don’t know if it occurred to you but I didn’t really got much rest while I was under ice for however many years, and before that I was helping create the very world you were born into”

She paused for a second at that.

“Although are we entirely sure you were born, and you didn’t just crawl your way up from the depths of hell”

The quiet buzz on her temple indicated that Sylens had ended the call of his own accord. Elisabet smiled.

—————————

There was a commotion ahead, crying and sobbing, yelling perhaps. A group of Banuk tread past them, clambering over rocks to avoid clashing with the pair.

“Follow.”

Aloy kept quick pace with them, managing to avoid slipping on the ice, much to Elisabets chagrin.

“What I wouldn’t do for a pair of socks”

Or shoes with more grip than nails hammered into the leather soles, or that ridiculous down parka Tilda lent her way back when, hell even a cup of cocoa would be welcome.

She steadied herself on the ledge of a rock, smiling awkwardly at one of the tribesfolk who had come to see the new arrivals, Aloy turning back with a smile on her face.

“Need a hand?”

Part of her pride wanted her to say no, but quite frankly Aloy had seen so much worse, slipping up a small hill while on their brief journey to the Cut came to mind, so she took the arm the girl offered and quietly wondered how the hell she kept her grip so easily.

Squinting into the snow, Elisabet walked out into the village.

“All mothers tits”

Aloys eyes sparkled in amusement, she took a firmer grip on Elisabets hand as she marched forward.

“You need to stop saying that”

The ache that had been settling in under her skin from a night of no sleep was starting to show, and it was getting late. Traipsing past the Horus corpse and finding their way around the ‘easy’ path through the mountains had taken time.

But… the village was beautiful. Geometric designs littered walls and cliff faces, the tribesfolk dressed in similar blues and greens.

They seemed sad. Mourning.

Walking further, she could see the reason. One of the Banuk who had run past them grasped a young woman firmly, pulling her into a deep hug, minding the bandages that littered the girl.

“Get ready for a rare sight, Nora”

An Oseram man joined them, leathers creaking as he walked.

“Burgrend. Purveyor of necessities. Most of the time the Banuk burn their dead-but not today”

Aloy swallowed thickly, setting her eyes to the horizon.

“Because the bodies couldn’t be recovered.”

“Aye. A nasty business, all their best warriors lost.”

Elisabets vision of a Banuk Aloy left her mind, replaced with a charred corpse. She shook her head to rid herself of the image, but it remained the same as the victims of Faro.

Burgrend mumbled again, respectfully quiet but answering the question on Elisabets lips regardless.

“They’re gettin a different type of send off”

The slow roar of the tribes folk at the front of the gathering grew, three of them dancing.

No, not dancing. Acting. Acting out the fight that took their family. Screaming in grief, calling out to nothing in particular and everyone all at once. The one in the middle, the one with some sort of idol, set it down on a wooden frame as the screaming reached a fever pitch.

Silence.

Roar.

The metalic ring to the sound brought tears to Elisabets eyes. Aloy pointed upwards with a sweeping hand.

Elisabet tilted her head in the direction Aloy had indicated, watching as glints of white metal descended from the sky.

Glinthawks, or some other type of avian machine she couldn’t recognise, circled like they would prey, diving to collect effigies of the fallen. The Banuk around them watched with quiet reverence, and as Athiestic as she was Elisabet made a quick prayer to their gods. Praying for peace never hurt. The hunters raised their spears, watching as the machines left.

“Grasp your grief my hunters. And kill it! For our kin seized the fate all Banuk long for”

—————————

Out of the corner of her eye Aloy saw something oddly familiar. A flash of blue against skin, banding pattern sinking beneath.

She blinked, then blinked again. It wasn’t Sylens, that much was clear, but he may know something about him.

“Their struggle is over now. You have witnessed their spirits rise into the blue sky”

The man infront, the chieftain of Aloy had to guess, took a solemn tone.

“But our struggle is only beginning. Soon, we will take up the hunt against the Daemon that frenzies the machines against us”

A breeze lifted her hair, brushing it against her nose, and Aloy turned her head against it, looking to Elisabet.

“And so I ask you- can you summon the courage of our fallen kin? Will you fight, and die, as well as they did”

The silence turned into a swell of noise, tribesfolk shouting in their reverence, shouting the chiefs name.

“OUR BLOOD IS IN YOUR TEETH ARATAK”

A strange saying, but no more so than ‘by the sun’ or ‘hammer to stone’. All tribes had their little sayings. Some more violent than others.

Elisabet shivered violently beside her, wrapping her hands further into the pelt poncho.

“Ought to do some trading, get some better gear”

—————————
A much younger Elisabet had made it halfway through writing a thesis about ‘how localised climate change through volcanic activity in a given region could be negated by technology’ before she had given up the ghost and started on ‘Green Technology, or how robotics can reverse climate change’. Far less wordy.

Ted had funded firebreak, secretly but not so secretly that it wasn’t known to FAS employees. Perhaps the mandatory team building weekends spent ‘glamping’ there gave it away.

Ted Faro was not a good man, not close, but he did know how to make team building less awful. The open bar helped, as did paying off the rangers to ignore them.

She was 26 back then, old enough to know better. Waking up hungover using Johns arm as a pillow.

“So, what’ll it be?”

Burgrends voice snapped her from her musing, Aloy pointing towards some of his gear.

“I’ll take the boots. How much is that leather?”

“20”

Aloy made a sour face, looking over the goods once more.

“Yeah alright. Here”

“Thank you kindly Huntress”

Aloy turned back to Elisabet, goods in hand.

“For you”

She passed on a pair of boots, darker leather than what she was currently wearing, as well as-

“Figured you wouldn’t go slipping about so much”

They had metal spikes sticking out of the soles, like the ice climbing boots of her day.

“Thanks kiddo. What are we up to now?”

Aloys eyes followed that flash of blue once more, tailing the shimmer until she met focus with a Banuk man.

“I think we ought to find out where Sylens is from”

Chapter Text

When she was a child, Aloy had vivid dreams.

Not nightmares, but dreams so lifelike it made it difficult to tell them apart from the waking world. Rost knew when she had those dreams, her usual energy would be absent as she focused her mind on grounding herself.

So he would take her hunting, reciting knowledge hard earned about machines as they went. Few words, but the meaning stuck. Taught about the machines that lay outside of the embrace, what dangers they brought, what dangers other tribes would bring.

When she found her focus, a lot of her time was spent deciphering the glyphs that seemed almost instinctual to her. Rost had taught her some Carja script when she had been too young to question why he knew how to, and it helped.

The dreams faded as she grew, as she spent more and more of her days occupied with training and learning, absorbing knowledge like a bandage absorbs blood.

Still, sometimes Rost would sit her by the campfire, stories of far off lands.

—————————

Somewhere, deep in the darkness of space, a girl younger than the cot she laid in, dreams of the same far off lands. Different, but the landscape was enough for familiarity.

—————————

“That spear of yours! May I see it?”

She shrugged, and handed the man her weapon.

“Fine craftsmanship. Nora make, but what’s this? A part from a machine?”

“A corruptors… corruptor. It’s an override module, I use it to take control over certain machines”

The man beamed, twisting the spear in his grip with delicate care.

“Incredible. You said certain machines?”

“Right. I can only override machines that are native to cauldrons I’ve visited. So far I’ve only been to a handful of them, but from the looks of it you have a cauldron here in the cut”

“Ah, the spawning grounds up in Thunders Drum. No one can go there, and likely won’t for a while”

Elisabet wandered up close to her.

“Unfortunately that is where we need to go.”

She held out her hand.

“I’m Elisabet, this is Aloy.”

The man looked down at her hand briefly, pointing Aloy a confused look before she let out a small laugh.

“I am Kamut, shaman. Your spear is well made, the blue light gleams within it, Aloy. The hunters upgrade their own spears with parts from flying machines of old, they roosted in the mountains near here”

Elisabets eyes glimmered with recognition, but allowed Kamut to continue.

“To the north, at the edge of The Cut. A climb, but the hunters have showed the way for generations”

“Thank you, Kamut. I appreciate it.”

He shook his head.

“The conclave would not approve of this secret being shared, but the conclave is refusing to tackle the angered machines, and I believe a warrior like you could preserve the blue light”

He waved them off, giving Elisabets’ hand a quick pat.

“That braiding on his arms”

“Yep”

“Maybe Sylens is a Banuk shaman”

Aloy shook her head.

“Maybe he was. Can’t help but feel like he’s not the type to stick around if people aren’t useful”

“Right. I’ve known the type. Not downright evil but not about to do something just because it’s a good thing to do”

They paused mid walk, passing by one of the multicoloured ponds.

“Those are boiling, you know kiddo. Shouldn’t go for a dip. No matter how tempting…”

“Elisabet don’t jump in the boiling water because you’re cold. Let’s find somewhere to camp for the night, it’s starting to get dark”

“Yeah that’s a better idea. Better than- well boiling alive”

“If you can handle finding us somewhere to sleep I’ll get us some food”

“I’m not gonna be able to convince you otherwise am I?”

Aloy shook her head, and wandered off, leaving Elisabet on the outskirts of the Banuk camp.

“Right then.”

—————————

“Hey Burgrend!”

The man smiled at her, the same sort of smile a sleazy car salesman would’ve given her before they realised she was The Elisabet Sobeck and would not be convinced to buy a vintage petroleum sports car.

“Hello again. Come to see my wares?”

“Not your wares no, but I did come to ask a question”

“Well, talk is cheap”

She chuckled, reaching deep into her subconscious mind to find her ‘dealing with sleazy car salesmen’ voice.

“Where abouts do you camp for the night? Do you have a place nearby or..”

“Ah, we camp with the Banuk. They’re hunting groups, uh Weraks, set up big tents up in the caves over there. Suppose keeping warm is a big thing to them, so having more bodies is always welcome. Or if you’re the private sort there’s always a quiet corner”

“Thanks Burgrend”

“Talk is cheap”

—————————

Hunting eased the painful ache in her restless legs. A remnant of being raised to survive, being idle felt like a sin upon the goddess.

Unfortunately, Elisabet had confiscated her bow, thus spear fishing would catch them their dinner. And maybe some fish to barter, or to gift their hosts.

Avad and Erend were rubbing off on her.

Three salmon, red and fat, were caught in a small lake dusted with algae and snow. An easy catch, but a welcome one.

Her hand ached slightly, the cold making her fingers stiff as the pain traveled down from her fractured (now fully broken) wrist. It was in a splint now, far more sturdy than the Carja one had been, and a tad tight on the arm.

Rost had broken his collarbone during his own preparations for the proving, and it had still bothered him on cold days all those years later.

Varl had sprained his ankle once, and kept walking on it till Sona noticed the limp. Now he was twice as aware of mole hills and cracks in the earth, knee buckling if the injury was hit in training.

Erend had told Aloy about the time he had been kicked in the head by a strider as a child, a death sentence for anyone who wasn’t wearing a sturdy Oseram helm, but he had mentioned how his brow would ache sometimes, and that while reading had always been painfully difficult it only seemed to get worse on those days.

She sighed. The pain would likely stick, especially in the ice of Banuk lands. The consequences of ignoring an injury could, should, be fatal. Aloy had gotten lucky that the initial injury hadn’t been worse, luckier still that the corruption poisoned arrows had managed to purge the usual filth from the wounds.

According to her, Elisabet had never been the athletic type, maybe some hiking as a young adult but nothing major. She had been a ‘desk jockey’, not that Aloy knew what that was.

The sky was darkening, red and orange against the snow. Her fingertips were numb and not from the cold as she peered into the small stream looking for good fish.

Aloy sighed, breathing deep the cold air, and set off back to the encampment.

—————————

Kamut met Elisabet at the entrance of a large cavern, blue crystals and geometric paintings decorating the walls.

“Ah, I was wondering where you went. Aloy returned recently, she was looking for you. Come, come. I will show you around the quarters”

He wove his way through small crowds and fire pits, children being lifted by adults to reach higher onto the walls for painting.

Aloy was sat at a smaller fire, hooking three salmon to the cooking spit.

“Hey Lis”

Her eyes widened marginally, sweat beading on her spine.

“H-hey kiddo!”

Aloy smiled widely, cocking her head slightly at Elisabets nervous tone.

“You alright Elisabet?”

“Fine just- worried. About you is all”

Aloy smirked.

“Takes more than fish to take me down”

“I’m well aware. I mean to my reckoning it takes half a dozen arrows, corruption poisoning, an untreated fracture, an explosion, a-“

“Got it. But I got you a salmon. You said you liked salmon”

“I do like salmon. Thank you kiddo”

Years of adamant vegetarianism aside.

She patted the girls arm lovingly, glancing back at Kamut who was staring, utterly bewildered.

“Sorry about that. So, this tour”

Kamut smiled, leading them through the cavern.

“Here are the Werak tents, you’re free to stay in these for as long as you wish, although should you go hunting or fishing it would be appreciated if you contributed some”

He pointed to a round tent, almost Yurt like in its construction, fur pelts covering a wooden cross section. It seemed empty, and given the funeral, it probably was.

There were 4 Werak lodgings, but just 1 was fully occupied. Elisabets heart ached for those lost.

“Over here you’ve got the Shaman huts, you can tell us apart by the blue cables. Should you need spiritual guidance, we are here for you”

Aloy nodded at that, peaking around the wooden shack. It was a more permanent fixture, inviting and cozy. It reminded Elisabet of her aunts old wooden cabin in the mountains.

“And over there is the Chieftains place”

The large man from the funeral, Aratak if memory served right. He seemed subdued from his presence earlier, mournfully looking at the fire, glancing up at Kamut as he wandered by.

Elisabet took the lead.

“Hi. This is Aloy, I’m Elisabet. Nice to meet you Chief Aratak”

The man hummed, looking over the pair with keen eyes. Trying to get their measure.

“So, a Nora and a stranger wearing Oseram a garb walk into my camp”

“That could be the start of a very good joke”

Elisabet flinched at the pointed look Aloy gave her.

“Sorry”

“State your business”

Aloy chose to answer, to avoid Elisabet running her mouth again.

“Just looking to help”

“Hm.”

“We know a thing or two about machines, wanted to investigate”

Aratak balked slightly, furrowing his brow further.

“So long as you follow my rules as Chief, you are welcome to stay”

“That sounds fair. Anything we should be aware of minus the basic laws?”

Aratak levelled his gaze onto Elisabet, peering through her.

“Thunders Drum is off limits.”

Outrage panged through her, angry and strangely protective, but Aloy stopped her retort with a punishing grip on her arm.

“Thanks for the heads up, Chief”

With that, she practically dragged Elisabet away from the Chief and Kamut, pulling her into a corner.

“I’m surprised you went along with that”

Aloy smirked.

“I never said that. Let’s get dinner, you must be starving”

“And tired. And cold. And-“

Aloy had already walked off by the time she got to listing her third complaint.

“Kids these days”

—————————

Laying there, on the sleep roll, Elisabet wanted so desperately to sleep.

It called for her, a siren song, but refused to come closer unless she waded into the waters of her subconscious. Of her guilty mind.

Silently resigning herself to another sleepless night, she damned the gods or genetics that allowed for insomnia to plague her so easily.

There was no Margo to share a cup of tea with, no Travis to subtly pester for whatever downers he had on hand. No Gaia to spend hours tweaking or conversing with.

Aloy slept, that was good at least, the girl had been through enough. Deserved rest.

That pissy part of her brain, the part that whispered at night and sent her into panic attacks in the day, the part that was previously controlled by a veritable cocktail of drugs. It spoke to her tonight.

‘She doesn’t deserve the burden of you’

Elisabet shook her head, and crawled out of bed. That violent jawbone aching train of thought was little use to her.

Aloy was exhausted, rightfully so, the insomnia had apparently skipped a generation- that wasn’t quite right but it felt better to think of it that way. Still fever sick, wounds twinged with poison pain and corruption burns. The girl, her daughter, had dealt with it well.

Too well.

Her hands reached for the journal, and Elisabet once again began to write her thoughts in an attempt at persuading sleep to come bite her like a wolf.

It didn’t take long for her to get her (disjointed as they were) thoughts down, and a yawn built in her throat before she could stop it.

Miriam had told her once that simply laying down with her eyes closed gave 80% of the benefits of sleep. Maybe that was her way of getting a younger Elisabet to stop building robots in the middle of the night, but it had always helped somewhat.

Elisabet laid down, shucking off her outer layer quickly, and laid her head on the pillow.

It was relatively comfortable, the Banuk used cots to avoid sleeping on the cold ground, pelts tied to wooden frames gave a decent amount of softness.

Years of leaning over desks and squinting at screens had nothing on the pure back pain relief that was new world beds.

Tilda had some sort of temurpedic water based spring free foam mattress, and now that she had tried it, Elisabet would take a cave floor over that any day.

Aloy murmured something quietly, some sort of big car in the sky? It made Elisabet chuckle.

She pushed her face into her pillow, and closed her eyes tight.

Chapter Text

Post Zero Dawn journal 4: I’d write down a scream but my wrist would hurt.

Fucking hell it’s been… it’s definitely been a few days.

I don’t think I even thought Aloy could look that vulnerable, that sick. Kids raising my blood pressure I swear.

The kid, my daughter I suppose, helluva revelation. I don’t think either of us know how to do the whole ‘familial relationship’ thing. I only ever considered being a parent briefly, and even then I was way too swamped with work to think on it properly. She’s older too, I never really interacted with other 20 ish year olds.

Varl pulled through. Nice to see Aloy has someone actually on her side within the Nora. I have mixed feelings on Sona. For one she perpetuated the culture that had a baby cast out of a tribe and shunned for her entire childhood. But on the other hand…

That folk song she taught me, it was beautiful. She cares about Aloy, always did. She was a victim of circumstance as much as Aloy I suppose, she lost her partner (her mate?) and honestly I don’t think she ever recovered. Sure big strong Warchief Sona is impenetrable, but what about Sona of the Nora? What about the mother who just lost her youngest child in an attack perpetrated by the people she fought for years? I can imagine baby Aloy, red hair and all, cuddled up with her.

It’s fucked.

I’m not sorry about what I said, I’d say it again if I needed to. I don’t think I will though.

Attitudes within the Nora are changing. Varl would’ve followed us to Banuk lands had Sona not been there, and by the looks of it Aloys relationships with other tribes is making the old guard uncomfortable.

Good. Let them be uncomfortable. I can’t wait for the day Aloy and I can walk into Eulethia and talk to Gaia. If she’s the goddess does that make Aloy the messiah?

Anyway.

The Banuk are nice folk, nicer than the Nora that’s for sure. No outward hostility, no blantant slurs tossed to and fro, it’s like being back in Carja lands with how polite these tribesmen are in comparison.

I like Burgrend, but he’s definitely shifty.

The Nora. I’m starting to hate them. Aloy was an outcast, which explains so much. I knew she was traumatised, but I never realised just how deep that ran.

They’ve cultivated this religion based on Gaia, yet they spread words and practices Gaia would hate. It’s impossible to hold my tongue around them, my knuckle still stings from punching that rat bastards face in but I want nothing more than to march on into Mothers heart or tits or whatever the fuck they call their settlements and smash that ‘Lansra’s head in with a rock. A large one.

Stabbing would also work.

God. I was never so kosher with murder before, and I knew Ted Faro. This world might be changing me for the better but I can’t say it’s not coming without the worse.

Back to Aloy; what I know so far.
-horrifically traumatised (twinsies)
-outcast at birth (what the fuck)
-was raised by a lone man and wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone else ever
-then that man was murdered infront of her shortly after she had completed the task that would see her welcomed into the tribe
-knows how to deal with other peoples PTSD which is good but also deeply troubling because she refuses to deal with her own
-has enough scar tissue to be a campy 2030s villain

What do I do with this information?

For starters, cry. Cry a lot. I am currently crying as I am writing this and I will likely be crying rereading it.

Secondly, have a good it down chat with Aloy.

Thirdly, bully Sylens to make myself feel better.

Something hit me recently. It came out of nowhere if I’m honest, but when I thought about it I almost started crying.

I miss my friends.

When Aloy called me ‘Lis’, it brought a lot of stuff back.

It’s starting to truly dawn on me that I am the last of my kind. It stings knowing that in my attempt to sacrifice myself for the greater good, I only prolonged my own life. God knows what happened to the Alphas, something went horribly wrong clearly but what? And why?

The tumble I took down that mountain saved my life, as did the NASA suit and 5 feet of solid snow. If any of the other Alphas had gone, would it be them guiding Aloy?

They would help her, each one of them would. Probably better than I ever could.

I can see it, you know.

Patrick would probably throw some kind of fit about how the Nora treated her, worse than I got with how pissed he’d get at people for not following the accords.

Charles would take her hunting, I remember him being good with a bow. Maybe he’d teach her about animals that haven’t come back yet, I think she’d like that.

Margo would feel right at home yapping about the machines, honestly they’d probably start to tear up the countryside with whatever creations the two could come up with together.

Travis would- Travis would be Travis. In a weird way I can see him being like an uncle to her, teaching her the less than legal ways to get about life, just like he tried with the rest of us. He would’ve loved her, ‘Mini Lis’ is a nickname that comes to mind, maybe ‘little fox’.

Samina might have had a bit of a breakdown over the state of Apollo, much like myself, but I think the idea of teaching Aloy about the world that came before her own would bring her back. Aloy is a good kid, and Samina always used to say that she’d want to be a teacher in Elysium.

I was never as close with the other Alphas, but my Gaia Prime crew were good folk. They were there for me in the worst of times, even when I tried to push them away. Like I did with everyone else, friends, family, everyone.

I wonder what I would be like today if we hadn’t been friends.

I wonder if I would push Aloy away like I did with everyone after my Mom died.

God I miss them.

I miss my Mom.

I hope they missed me when I was gone.

Anyway. This is Elisabet Sobeck, Alpha Prime, signing off.
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