Chapter Text
The Daunt felt empty as she moved through it with her charger. The strider she had had by her side for the last few months hadn’t been able to move through the snowy mountains and had been traded for a machine that would. She missed it a little. But the charger was more familiar. She wished Beta had named hers before it was too late.
Chainscrape was lively, and no one was injured beyond minor burns from a lack of attention near the forge. Ulvund didn’t seem to be in charge yet. Petra wasn’t even there. She kept moving.
If Aloy stopped at the vantage to feel closer to Elisabet, it was only because she had the time. Beta had loved looking at the stark difference between past and present. Aloy had loved the joy on her sister’s face.
No one stood beside her.
Barren Light was at the beginning of its repair, stone littered around the area. All she cared about was that the gate was open. She didn’t stop.
Aloy didn’t rest until she was staring at a Horus perched next to a lake. She knew what Sylens’ message would say. Knew all about what he had done to HADES for the answers he wanted. Knew that even then, the answers weren’t complete.
She didn’t bother watching it.
Her legs ached as they slammed against the metal sides of the charger, and it just made her miss her sunwing. The machine had been with her through so much, and it was gone. Just like everything else.
The deepwater kindleweed had been grabbed when she approached the leaplashers and shoved into her pack. The closest leaplasher had its spark coil shot off with such force the machine fell backwards before righting itself. The other machines all turned.
She used the opportunity to test her new bow a little more. The grip was a little too stiff, but nothing that wouldn’t be fixed with usage. She needed less force than her old hunter bow had needed, and it made everything easier. Yet even with less force used, the arrows did more damage. It was a powerful bow.
The leaplashers didn’t stand a chance.
Aloy made the igniter on the workbench outside of Latopolis when she realized it was missing from her spear. She didn’t mind. It gave her more time to avoid Sylens.
She didn’t ask HADES any questions, she already knew it wouldn’t have the answers she needed. Sylens had done too much damage. For all he said she messed with things she didn’t know and risked losing information, he had wiped anything regarding Nemesis with his own need for knowledge.
HADES told him where the signal came from, but not what. And everything Sylens had done just broke the information down bit by bit until it was gone.
“Aloy. I see you’ve dealt with HADES.” He was so damn smug.
“You know, you could stop putting spyware on my Focuses. Deleting it is starting to get old.” She left the call running and purged what she could. It wasn’t much.
“Hold for identiscan. Genetic profile confirmed. Greetings, Dr. Sobeck. Please step inside… Please step inside… Please step–” Aloy just slammed the igniter against the firegleam and moved back before it could explode.
She moved inside and started making her way around the facility.
Aloy wanted to block Sylens as she wandered through the flooded ruin. He just wouldn’t. Shut. Up. Elisabet knew what was best. Elisabet was solitary. Elisabet was exceptional.
She just wanted it to stop. He sounded far too similar to how Tilda had at the end. Like he was about to tell her that she was trying to use sticks and stones against the lightning.
She hated it. But she couldn’t end the call. Not until the alarm went off. So she stayed quiet and ignored the hate simmering under her skin. It would bubble and burn until she could use it.
Aloy didn’t touch the water. She was too used to her tools, too at home launching up and gliding back down. Her boots stayed dry.
“Color me confounded, Lis. How is it that someone like you– a paragon, damn near a saint – could love this world so damn much, but no one in it? I mean, have you ever even had a friend?” Aloy didn’t really know the answer. She knew about Tilda, about the relationship that cracked and crumbled under the weight of their differing morals, but had never heard of any friends. Elisabet was friends with Margot and Samina, but was also their boss. Everyone was close in the end. They had to be.
“Always admire ya from afar, Lis. Swear on my mama's grave. And she was religious.” Aloy hadn’t listened to what Elisabet had been saying. Had missed the words said with an empty voice that sounded like her own.
She didn’t say anything to Sylens.
“Hold for identiscan. Genetic profile confirmed. Entry authorized. Greetings, Dr. Sobeck. Please, step inside.” Aloy hated knowing what was going to happen.
She didn’t pay attention when giving authorization for Recluse Spider, didn’t hear Sylen’s shock at the size of the data inside the kernel. She would’ve grabbed one of the HADES kernels if they weren’t the ones being used to test if the code was correct. For all she knew, they wouldn’t let GAIA have control. She couldn't risk the world like that.
“Aloy, you’ve done all you could.” No, she hadn’t. “Maybe saving the world is too big a task for any one person, even you.” Aloy knew that it was.
She stayed silent as she used the kernel to send out a signal to the remaining subfunctions. She kept her plan close and Sylens in the dark. He would figure it out on his own.
The alarm sounded.
“Aloy. I need you to listen closely. These intruders want the same thing you do: GAIA reborn. It's why they're here.” It wasn’t, not really. They wanted GAIA, yes, but not to save the Earth. They wanted her to save themselves from the mistakes they made.
The Focus made a satisfying crunch under her boot as she cleared any spyware from a new one. Aloy didn’t know how to feel. The Zeniths were coming. Beta would be there. Beta would be trapped. She had less than a minute before the door opened.
Aloy stuck a Focus with nothing but a singular message on it to the GAIA repository. Completely blank save for four simple words and a file.
She hid.
She wanted nothing more than to run out and grab her sister– was Beta even her sister anymore– and go somewhere safe. But there wasn’t anywhere safe yet. Not from the Zeniths.
Aloy stayed hidden when Beta stumbled forward, didn’t move when she grabbed the kernel, kept her cheer internal as she watched the Focus get slipped into a pocket.
And then the machinery moved. She was revealed, in full view of the Zeniths. Aloy stared at Beta, took half a step closer, started to move more, held back her scream when the specter grabbed her sister and left.
Erik stalked towards her and Aloy realized she had missed the entire conversation between Gerard and the others.
“I snap a lot of necks in VR, but that certain tremor as life fades from the eyes… ooh . No holo quite gets it.” She couldn’t wait for him to die. They would have fun.
He lunged. She dodged. A beautifully hideous dance of death. Neither would win.
Aloy couldn't give herself away, couldn’t reveal what she knew lest the other Zeniths get around it. She aimed at the exposed cables. Recluse Spider jerked, fell a few feet before snagging on more wires. Erik laughed, but it was an angry sound.
She couldn’t breathe. His hand was on her neck and it was so very cold. But Helis was dead and Erik wouldn’t win. Not here. Not anywhere. The small amount of air in Aloy’s lungs left her when her shoulders slammed into the ground. Metal, not snow. She got back up.
Erik was just so mad that she wasn’t even trying to attack him. That she would rather shoot at an old, broken machine than an old, broken man.
Another cable gave out.
His sword slashed her leg, but not enough to stop her. It didn’t hit anything vital. His fist slammed into her face. Aloy felt her nose crunch under the force. She could taste blood, could feel it running across her face. Her eyes closed without her permission.
His fist closed around her throat again, her feet couldn’t touch the ground. Aloy could feel her windpipe start to give.
“We’re… having” she coughed as she struggled to get the words out. “Fu-n.” Erik laughed just hard enough that his grip loosened the smallest amount.
Recluse Spider crashed through the floor.
Water pushed into her lungs when she gasped a desperately needed breath. She pushed under the surface as she coughed, trying to hide the noise that would give her away. Her nasal passage burned as water forced its way out, but not as much as her slashed leg.
She couldn’t make out the words Erik was yelling, but she could hear the specters start to move. She pushed up the plate she was under, took as big of a breath as she could, and started swimming.
The small current quickly grew as she entered what used to be a hallway, and it took all of her strength to shove through it. The air started to hurt in her chest. She only released a little to keep going.
She could make out the first air pocket just a little bit further, and Aloy desperately willed her lungs to hold out a little longer. Her face burned. Her ribs ached. Her ears felt like they were going to give out.
The surface tension snapped as she gasped for air. She was heaving and struggling to stay above the water. If it wasn’t for the lack of oxygen and the threat of specters, she would be enjoying herself.
Aloy and Seyka used to swim together. It was… freeing. To be worse than someone at something so simple. She loved it. Loved her . But Seyka wasn’t there and the love harbored in Aloy’s heart had nowhere to go. It warred with the anger and pain and hurt that she couldn’t keep hidden forever.
She kept swimming and pretended the tears on her face were just water.
But Aloy was distracted. Sloppy. Too close to the surface. Yellow turned to red as a specter screeched. She felt her side tear before she moved lower. Water stained red.
Aloy didn’t stop swimming. She couldn’t with the specters on the search and Erik waiting.
She scrambled into the power room and considered her choices. There was really only one.
Aloy walked up to the firegleam, shoved her spear into the crystals, and stepped back as they sparked. It was a horrible choice, but she accepted her fate as the concrete exploded and the crack grew larger. Aloy took a deep breath and let herself be swept away.
It was an awful decision she had made, but it was the best one available to her. Even as her back slammed into a rock and her skin scraped against stones. She inhaled water when she was shoved into a tree that had fallen into the river she was being dragged through. Her rib had cracked at that, but she was only half aware of it.
Aloy washed onto the bank coughing up water. Someone was coming towards her, two people when her vision was just barely less blurred. Even without detail, she knew those bodies. Rost. Seyka.
She let her sorrow drag her back into unconsciousness and knew she was safe, all because she wasn’t alone.