#hfw fanfiction

[just-here-with-my-thoughts]

Chapters: 9/9 Fandom: Horizon Forbidden West - Fandom Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Aloy/Kotallo, Kotallo/Aloy, Aloy & Kotallo, Kotallo & Aloy, Kotaloy - Relationship Characters: Aloy, Kotallo, zo, Erend, Varl, Alva Additional Tags: Feelings & Smut, Canon-adjacent Summary:

Singularity – the point at the centre of a black hole where the laws of physics as we know them cease to operate. – the point at which an AI technology becomes more advanced than its creator, becoming ungovernable.

Event Horizon – a one-way boundary at the edge of a black hole. Anything passing this point has no way back.

(A Kotaloy fic set the night before the assault on the Zenith Base - mission named Singularity - fanfic title Event Horizon. See what I did there?)

[hotgothaloy]

KALON (A Horizon Forbidden West Fanfiction, +18)

PART 14/15: Security

As Quen forces bear down on Thornmarsh, Kotallo must come clean with Aloy.

[im-not-corrupted]

Tied By Fate

Rating: T | Aloy/Varl/Zo | No Warnings Apply

Amazing art for this fic done by the amazing @buffaloch1p-creations ! This art is absolutely amazing, and it was an absolute honour working with you on this, so thank you so much!

Summary:

Before running out of Meridian after the Battle of the Alight, Aloy makes a discovery: Varl is her soulmate, or, to the Nora, her Fated. After finding Elisabet’s body, she makes a decision. She’ll talk to Varl about his name written on her hand, and maybe, they can make something out of this bond.

Then the Blight starts, and Aloy has to focus on her mission. She doesn’t have room for a Fated while saving the Earth and restoring GAIA. Elisabet managed - why can't she?

Things get complicated, though, when Varl finds Zo, who happens to be his Fated, too. Aloy doesn’t ever tell him about the mark on her own hand that bears his name, but a disastrous mission gives light to a couple of things.

Written for the Horizon Big Bang of 2022! @horizonbigbang This has been such a brilliant experience, and I’m extremely grateful to have gotten the opportunity to take part. Thank you to all the mods for setting up this event, and for all the wonderful people taking part.

Fic Link Here: 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/42377631/chapters/106419639

[ereloycentral]

Ereloy Week 2024

Ereloy Week 2024 will be held April 20 - April 26!

We decided to try something a bit different this year with the prompts, hoping to give plenty of flexibility while being specific enough to spark your imaginations.

Here’s how it will work: each day lists a word, a line of dialogue, and a setting. You can choose any of these prompts on their own OR you can give yourself an extra challenge and try to incorporate two or all three! We hope that this will make it easy to apply to many types of creation, whether it’s art, writing, photomode, or any other medium.

Day 1: Tactile/“Sometimes it scares me.”/Under colorful lights

Day 2: Recognition/“I can’t run from this anymore.”/The wilderness in winter

Day 3: Succumb/“What if we gave it a try?”/Surrounded by the sound of water

Day 4: Tranquility/“I feel like I can breathe again.”/A place that feels like home

Day 5: Satisfaction/“I love that about you.”/Somewhere entertaining to the Old Ones

Day 6: Chaos/“This is a terrible plan.”/A place where nobody had the brain cell

Day 7: Entwine/“You're not going alone!”/Amongst the trees (or free day, up to you!)

When you post your work, please make sure to tag it with #ereloyweek2024 so we can reblog it onto this blog!

If you have any questions, let us know!

[charger-lens]

Is it weird that I sometimes miss the Sacred Lands?

July '24 Kotaloy Mini-Bang

Natural wonders / World around them

Then you know where to find me. Meet me there.

And then?

You’ll see.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

"We call them Nightlights" by Fallen2theVirus

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

While we wait, would you like to see the ‘Blue Sun’ too?

--- for @fallen2thevirus ---

[marshal-huntress]

Here’s the Masterlist for 🌸 Spring in my Heart 2024 🌸 that ran from 29th to 31st of March with those Prompts :

- DAY 1 - ▷ Flower crown ▷ Alternative Prompt : “What are you staring at?”

- DAY 2 - ▷ Lingering glances ▷ Alternative Prompt : “I just want to lay here all day”

- DAY 3 - ▷ Waterfall ▷ Alternative Prompt : “I really missed this

📖 Fanfictions

“Foreign Tradition” || by @r4d14t3lov3 [rated Teen And Up - Oneshot]

“The flowers in my crown are like love from here to the sky” || by @iammythmaker [rated General - Oneshot]

“Love is like water” || by @iammythmaker [rated Mature - Oneshot]

“A Little Heaven” || by @grexigone [rated Teen And Up - Oneshot]

-----------------

🎨 Arts

“Flower Crown” || by @fantasy-girl974

“Flower Crown” || by @sigvos

“Flower Crown” || by @eclectus

“What are you staring at ?” || by @fantasy-girl974

“A Little Heaven” || by @grexigone

“I just want to lay here all day” || by @fantasy-girl974

“Waterfall” || by @fantasy-girl974

“Waterfall” || by @sigvos

-----------------

✨ Gifs

“Lingering glances” || by @charger-lens

-----------------

📷 Virtual Photographies / VP

“Lingering glances” || by @fummmblez

“Lingering glances” || by @bookmancer-legendarium

Thank you everyone for your wonderful contributions! The next "season event" will be for Summer, so see you all in the next one! 💙🧡

[auntie-coagulant]

“Oh my god, honestly. ” Beta’s voice drifts down from above their heads, nasal, stuffy, and dripping irritation. “You three have all the collective emotional intelligence of a turnip.”

A thick, rattling cough has Kotallo narrowing his eyes at the grate covering the vent. 

“And I was raised by robots. ”

[bi-loy]

Catch The Spark And Hope To Burn

Horizon | Aloy x Erend | E Rated | 3 k

-

Every Oseram knows how to handle Blaze. It burns up, sudden and bright, decimating anything standing too close to it without giving a chance to blink before you’re done and turned to ash.

Taken by the fire, eaten alive.

It’s utterly, completely mercyless— And tonight, after the Eclipse, and the Zenith, and years by the other’s side, Aloy’s flame consumes him like that.

And Erend will gladly burn with her, then turn to ash.

-

Read on Ao3

[sparklewrites1]

Imagine the crows getting stuck in the world of horizon zero dawn/forbidden west (We’ll do hzd for now cause both games have two different maps.)

HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT imagine Elisabet had tried something before project zero dawn, a project for interdimensional travel to save humanity and go to another dimension or reality essentially, but no matter how much she tried she just couldn’t get the machine right, so she goes on to create project zero dawn, which is successful.

ANYWAYSSS centuries later the machine (we’ll call it project HERMES for now i feel like Elisabet would’ve named it that.) starts up again and basically malfunctions and pulls the crows from their world into HZD (DON’T ask me to explain the science.)

Anyways the crows gain consciousness and are hella confused as to why they are in some lush ass forest. I feel like Jesper would be the first to speak up and be like “Where the hell are we?” and of course no one has an answer to that question. Kaz is gonna be the one asking questions like “What do you all remember before you lost consciousness?” to try and connect the dots n shit, he probably thinks they’ve been kidnapped and somehow dumped in a forest. Wylan is already up and about examining the foreign plants, berries, and flowers and whatnot.

Now I think Inej would be the first one to hear the metallic thumping coming from within the forest, then Wylan would hear it next, and the rest of the group would follow. “What the hell is that?” Nina would say, she’d also realize she can’t feel a heartbeat so whatever is coming at them isn’t human.

Just then a watcher leaps out of the bushes. Now imagine their surprise when a yellow light quickly washes over them as the watcher scans them. The light aka the watchers eye turns red and it jumps at them. I feel like it would jump at Wylan first cause he’s probably the closest to it seeing that he's messing around in the bushes n stuff. Anyways Jesper of course jumps into action with his guns and shoots at the machine, (The body not the eye yet) but to no avail. Matthias jumps onto the action next and tries to subdue the watcher and he’d be somewhat successful, by that I mean he's got it in some kind of headlock for about a minute or so. During that minute Jesper would make one more attempt to shoot at the watcher, but this time he’d aim straight for the eye. And finally after a short but stressful battle. The watcher would be down.

Now EVERYONES freaking out cause wtf was that???

“What in saints name was that?!” Jesper would shout, Inej would be helping Wylan while simultaneously freaking out. Nina would be checking on matthias, and Kaz would be by the machine's body, examining it. They don’t know what to call it, so Jesper would cleverly name it a ‘Metal Devil’ (HEHEHHE DO YOU GET THE CORRELATION?)

So now the group is tryna figure out what they should do and they pretty much decide to explore since there's literally nothing else to do.

Anyways they’re now trekking through a foreign land that they are completely unfamiliar with, Wylan is picking up plants and berries that he’d like to save for examining later. Inej is on high alert watching for more strange metal creatures. Nina is checking on Matthias, Jesper, and Wylan every once in a while for injuries and whatnot.

All is relatively okay until they hear the thumping again when they are nearing a clearing. But this time it's louder and the ground shakes with every thump.

Now they’re really freaked, because how big is the monstrosity coming towards them now?

That's when they hear a voice in the bushes. “Get down!” A red head whisper-yells “Now!” They hurry to the bushes, not wanting to meet the wrath of this new creature “Why are you out here with no weapons?!” The red headed woman yells. Kaz is the first to take notice of her strange attire and the triangular shaped piece of what he assumes is jewelry on her temple.

“We have weapons!” Jesper raises his guns to show them to her, she would only give them a confused look, being unfamiliar to that type of weapon. The red headed woman also takes notice of the knives being held in Inej’s hands, but that would be useless against the machine. Especially the one entering the clearing.

The entire group made sure to get lower into the bushes as the monstrosity made its way across the land.

“Thunderjaw…” The red head mutters.

“What?” Jesper would say.

“A Thunderjaw.”

“Is that what you call it?” Inej asks. Aloy nods, taking out her bow and arrow and getting in position to shoot.

She shoots. And the arrow lands on the side of the Thunderjaw, but that's not it, a blast emits from the arrow, tearing off a few parts of the machine and exposing the heart. The machine is now unfortunately on high alert.

“You,” She turns to Jesper. “Do those shoot?”

“Of course.” He would say.

“You see that glowing core? Shoot it- Wait, you a good shot?”

“The best.” He’d cockily reply. Jesper aims his gun toward the machine but before he pulls the trigger she says something.

“You might wanna shoot twice.” The redhead says. “Those things don’t go down too easily.”

“Alright…” Jesper had both of his guns raised, and BOOM he shoots it straight in the core with two bullets and its body goes crashing down. “Doesn’t go down easy you say?” Jesper brags as he stands up from the bush but is quickly shushed and pulled back down.

The redhead is already sprinting across the field in the direction of the thunderjaw. That's when he notices that it's still “breathing”.

The redhead is on top of the Thunderjaw within seconds and plunging her spear into the core, making sure to twist it as well for extra measure. Now it's surely dead. She turns towards the group and gestures for them to come over. And they do so, but cautiously.

“Relax, the coast is clear.” She says as she taps the jewelry on her temple. “So, who are you guys?”

“Jesper Fahey, at your service.” He winks.

“Nina Zenik.”

“Wylan.”

Inej, Kaz, and Matthias stay silent.

“I see your friends aren’t the talkative type. I’m Aloy.”

“No surname?” Kaz finally speaks.

“Uh. No. Not really.” She replies. “Where are you guys from? Meridian? Your accents sound a bit different from most Carja if so.”

“Carja?’ Inej would query, giving Aloy a curious look.

“You’re not Carja?” confusion strikes Aloy, “Oseram?”

“Is she speaking Kerch?” Jesper would confusedly ask his friends.

“Kerch?” Aloy would say, not familiar with the word.

“Kerch. As in Ketterdam.” Jesper would say.

“Ketter…dam? Is that somewhere in the west?” Aloy would ask.

“West of what?” Jesper would ask.

“The east…?" Aloy would respond confusedly.

(THATS ALL I HAVE FOR NOW LEMME KNOW IF YOU WANT MORE IK THIS IS NOT A COMMON CROSSOVER IDEA BUT GOODNESS I LOVE ITTTT)

[fantasy-girl974]

Creator: @grexigone /// Co-creator: @fantasy-girl974

➜ Status: ONGOING 𖧷 Pairing: Aloy x Kotallo (Horizon: Forbidden West) ıllı Rating: Mature ★ Series Summary: HFW x Pacific Rim AU | After the loss of her father and co-pilot, retired jaeger pilot Aloy is recruited by Hekarro to join his last stand in the battle against the kaiju invading the earth - but first, she must choose her new co-pilot. What began as a 'better option' than her miserable life building anti-kaiju wall soon grows into finding the home she thought she'd lost, and possibly something more from her unlikely friendship and partnership with the Tenakth chief's prodigy, Kotallo.

▶ Chapters Masterlist by @grexigone : [LINK] ▶ Companion fic: A New Purpose by @fantasy-girl974 [LINK]

Status: ONGOING

Chapter-1 /// Chapter-2 /// Chapter-3 /// Chapter-4 /// Chapter-5 /// Chapter-6

Status: ONGOING

Miracle Lines Logo /// Sunwing Alpha (Kotallo & Aloy) /// The Jaegers

Status: ONGOING

Aloy & Kotallo : pilots (chapter 10) /// Kotallo : RABBIT (chapter 10) /// Young Kotallo (companion fic) /// Aloy & Kotallo (chapter 12) /// Beta & Alva (chapter 13-14) /// Fashav (chapter 14)

Status: ONGOING

Chapter-8 /// Chapter-9 /// Chapter-12 /// Chapter-21

Art Masterlist last updated: 13/03/2024

[orienteddreamerrr]

Cal Kestis & Aloy: A Crossover story!

(Horizon Forbidden West X Star Wars Jedi Survivor)

(LONG!)

Rating: PG-13 for…brief action, brief violence and fluff!

Cal slowly wakes up tied up to this wooden post. He takes upon realization that he was captured. His eyes adjusted to see three armored men surrounding him. They were Tenakth. He takes note of them wearing the same-colored armor. “From a tribe? Of some kind?”, a thought goes through his mind. One of the Tenakth soldiers slowly steps up and points a spear at him. “You’re not from here, outlander…so you best start talking!”, Cal flinches a little as he stares at the spear. “Easy…I don’t mean any harm!”, Before the Tenakth solider could do anything, an arrow comes flying into his skull. Cal flinches at the sight as he watches him fall to the ground. The others quickly met their fate as well as Cal looks over to see who had saved him. Approaching was a red-haired woman….red hair just like his but lighter and longer. A slender figure along with a weapon of a bow in her hands. It was the famed Machine hunter, Aloy.

She comes up to take notice of Cal, being wary as she takes an arrow, slinging it onto her bow as she aims it at him. “Who are you?”, She asked, her voice sounding demanding. Cal tries his best to keep a brave face on. “I’m Cal…Cal Kestis…”, Aloy lowers her bow upon hearing his name. “Aloy. You’re from around here?”, Cal slowly shakes his head. “Not exactly…”, Aloy only nods as she puts up her bow and arrow, going over to release his restraints. Cal stands to his feet, dusting himself off. “I uh…lost my way…I was hoping you could help me…”, Aloy smiles faintly. “Of course!”, She gestures her arms out. “This is the desert…nearby is a camp…a camp called ‘Camp Nowhere’…”, Cal couldn’t help but chuckle. “There’s an actual camp called ‘nowhere’?”, Aloy nods, chuckling along with him. “Yeah…I thought the same thing…”,

Aloy starts walking ahead. “I can lead you there…and then you can go from there wherever you came from…”, Cal quickly catches up to her to stop her. “Wait. I’m looking for someone…a droid…his name is BD-1…”, Aloy’s brows furrow in confusion. “A droid?”, Cal nods. “Yeah…he’s sort of like the Machines around here…just very small and harmless…”, Aloy takes note as she steps closer to him. “When did you last see him?”, Cal gestures behind him. “We were exploring this forest…near this watchtower…we were…in a little skirmish with those…Tenakth rebels…I tried to stop them, but they took BD before I could…”, Aloy nods in understanding. “You were near a Tenakth rebel base of the lowland clan…seems like they dragged you all the way here…to the desert clan…”, Cal looks to the ground, soaking in the information that she just told him.

His mind was beginning to race. Aloy takes notice as she reaches out to place a hand on his shoulder. “I can help you find your droid…but I’m needing to resupply first…will you come with me?”, Cal looks back at her as he nods firmly. “Yeah…I guess along the way you can show me around…”, Aloy nods, smiling faintly as she gestures for him to follow. “Let’s go…”, Cal follows right after her as they come upon Camp Nowhere. Nearby was an overridden Machine, a Charger, as Aloy quickly and effortlessly hops onto it. Cal stares in disbelief, wondering how she was able to tame a Machine like that. Of all Machines in general. Aloy extends her hand to him. “Come on…it’s okay…we’re heading to my base…”, Cal stares at her hand before grabbing it, hauling himself onto the Machine as his arms wrap around Aloy’s waist for leverage. They both were able to make it to the base, with Cal taking in the sights and scenery along the way.

Upon arriving, Cal hops off the Machine to find a small climbable wall that leads up to the entrance of the base. Aloy goes up to that wall as she starts climbing. “Come on…this way…”, Aloy beckons him. Cal watches her make it to the top as he climbs after. Entering the base, two of Aloy’s teammates, Erend and Zo, were sitting in the lounge, tooling away on their Focuses. Zo shuts hers off as she quickly stands to take notice of Aloy approaching. She smiles at her. “Aloy…you’re back…”, She glances over to Cal who was behind her. “…and I see we have a guest…”, Aloy nods as she gestures to Cal. “Zo…Erend…this is Cal…”, Erend shuts off his Focus as he stands to his feet. “Hey…how ya doin’?”, Erend extends his hand to Cal as he quickly takes it. “Hey…”, He greets the same greeting with Zo, with her smiling and nodding to him in acknowledgement. “It’s nice to meet you Cal…what brings you here?”, Cal looks over to Aloy, wanting to know if it was okay to tell them as Aloy gives him the okay.

Cal looks back as he explains, with Aloy going over to restock her supplies before walking back over. Zo looks to Aloy as she asks, “Is there any way we could help?”, Aloy quickly nods. “Just stay here and be sure to keep tabs on any Tenakth soldiers that are on patrol or that come nearby…”, Both Zo and Erend nod in unison as Aloy starts heading out of the base with Cal following after. Cal’s feet hit solid ground as he takes a look in his surroundings. “So…where do we go?”, Aloy hops onto the overridden Charger Machine as she looks to him. “Well, we go find your droid…where the Lowland clan is…”, Cal nods. “I’m asking when I find my droid…can you…give me a tour?”, Aloy can’t help but smile. “I would love to…but first thing’s first…”, Cal agrees with her as he hops onto the Machine, his arms wrapping around her as they both travel to where the lowland clan is, in the swamp. They stop by this village, with Aloy hopping off, along with Cal as he stands there to admire the village. Aloy notices as she smiles faintly. “Stay here…I’m going  to ask around to see if anybody has seen Tenakth rebels go by…”, Cal only nods as he watches Aloy make her way into the village.

A few minutes later, Aloy returns, pointing ahead of her. “There’s a camp up ahead…I think your droid is there…”, Cal’s eyes widen slightly. “Really?”, “Yeah, let’s go!”, Aloy swings herself onto the Machine, followed by Cal as they travel up the pathway that leads to the Rebel camp. Upon arriving, Aloy hauls herself off as she creeps up to this wooden post, with Cal following behind. They both peer over to see the camp littered with Rebels. Cal swallows as he looks over to Aloy. “What’s the plan?”, Aloy studies for a moment before glancing over to him. “We take out the Rebels and find your friend…”, Aloy raises a brow. “How skilled are you?”, Cal blinks as he unclips his Lightsaber hilt from his belt. Aloy notices as her eyes widen in curiosity. “What is that?”, Cal smirks faintly. “It’s a Lightsaber…you’ll see how it works in a minute…”, Aloy only nods as she takes her bow, slinging an arrow onto it. “Ready?”, Cal nods at her. “Ready…”, Aloy starts to walk ahead with Cal following after, with Aloy starting to fire some of her arrows towards the Rebels.

Some take notice and retaliate. Cal, with a quickness, ignites his Lightsaber, with it illuminating a  color of blue as Cal uses his Force power to quickly grab one of the Rebels, sticking his blade into them as he does the same to the others. One Rebel with a spear tries to come up and fight Cal but he was quick to dodge, slicing his spear in half. The Rebel was dumbfounded as Cal quickly swings his blade across the Rebel’s chest, quickly ending him. Aloy stands there, her face full of shock. “Wow…that’s cool…remind me not to get your bad side!”, Cal chuckles. “Yeah…”, Aloy chuckles back as she fires her arrows at a few more stragglers until the camp was full of silence. Cal retracts his blade as he walks up to Aloy. “You’re not so bad yourself…”, Aloy smiles at him. “Thanks…”, She then gestures her arms out. “Where’s your friend?”, Cal takes a minute to look around.

“Not sure…”, Aloy only nods as she blips on her Focus, trying to find any signs of his droid. Cal can’t help but be intrigued. “That’s new…”, Aloy looks to him. “Um, yeah…it’s…complicated…I can explain later…”, Cal only nods as he watches Aloy for a moment. Aloy suddenly sees a heat signature in a sealed off shed of some kind as Aloy points to it. “There!”, Cal rushes over to the shed, seeing there was a chain and lock around the handles as he takes his blade, cutting it with ease as he barges in to find BD-1 quirk his little head up to see Cal. He bleeps and hops around in Cal’s presence as he chuckles at this. “Happy to see you too, buddy…”, Aloy is standing by as she sees this moment unfold, smiling faintly, seeing she was able to be of help to somebody. Cal hugs on BD as he hops into his lap, checking him out for a quick second before BD crawls onto his back. Cal stands and turns to look at Aloy, smiling slightly. “You communicate with him?”, Aloy points that out as she watches Cal exit the shed. Cal shrugs. “In a way, yeah…”, BD takes notice of Aloy standing there as he bleeps towards her. Cal chuckles. “He says it’s nice to meet you…”,

Aloy chuckles too. “Yeah…I’m glad I was able to help…”, Cal nods to her. “Thanks, Aloy…”, Aloy nods back to him. “Anytime, Cal…”, Cal looks ahead of him, seeing the exit of the camp. Aloy notices as well, having a feeling that Cal was about ready to go. “Well…I guess you should go on your way…”, Cal looks to her. “What about that ‘tour’?”, Aloy acknowledges him. “If you’re up for it…”, Cal looks to BD over his shoulder, seeing him agreeing to the tour. Cal looks back at her. “Yeah…I guess we are…”, Aloy’s smile widens. “Great…you’ll need this then, since you’re tagging along…”, Aloy reaches into her pocket, pulling out a Focus device as she hands it to him. Cal felt hesitant as he slowly takes it, admiring it in his grasp. “It’s a Focus…a communication device…”, Aloy explains it to Cal as he nods. “A comm link?”, Aloy chuckles. “Yeah…something like that…”, Aloy points to her temple. “Just place it on your temple, like this…”, Cal listens to her as he slowly places it onto his temple.

Lights started to form around him as his eyes widen in surprise. “Wow…”, Aloy’s  smile turns faint. “You’ll get used to it…”, She reaches over to help him disable it for now. “Come on…we should go back to base…”, Cal watches her for a moment before following after, as they were now off back to base where Cal will become a useful member of her team and a helpful companion for the upcoming threat of Nemesis.

The End!

Leave a like if you loved this crossover! I know I did! ❤️

If I should make a part 2 to this also let me know!!!!

[xxxhellfireravenxxx]

I could not get the tavern scene out of my head from I_heart_thunderjaws fantastic AO3 fic 'Whiteout', this is just before he knocks his cup over. A sweet moment before chaos, if you will! 😆

[stardustandash]

The World on Her Shoulders

Whumptober Day 1: Race Against the Clock - Panic Attack

Aloy is aware, distantly, that she’s breathing hard, that her hands have clenched into tight enough fists that her nails are threatening to break through the skin of her palms, but none of that matters. They are running out of time. They still have two subfunctions to find and they need to figure out what the Zeniths really want to do with their copy of GAIA.

ao3 link

The Base is never still nor silent. Aloy tries her best to spend as little time there as possible. Somehow, she’s never quite gotten rid of the part of her that thought Rost and herself were the only people she ever needed, and living so close to the others while in a facility made by the Old Ones, made by Zero Dawn, makes her skin itch with every minute spent inside the Base. The fact that there’s other people around her all the time puts her on edge, like she has to pretend to be Aloy, Anointed of the Nora, Savior of Meridian, the girl who always defeats any man or machine set against her, instead of just being Aloy; huntress and occasional machine learner.

In the Base it’s hard to tell what time of day it was without the clocks projected by the internal computer. There were no windows to let in the light, instead the Base is lit with the false suns of the Old Ones. Machine lights embedded in the ceiling that glow with a bright cold light.

Today the lights are humming.

Aloy can hear them over everything, no matter where she is in the Base. She’s trying her best to focus on the projection in front of her detailing what they know of the desert and where POSEIDON might be hiding, with Varl offering suggestions of middling quality at her side. Instead she hears the humming of the lights, can feel Varl’s fur capelet brush against her arm like a Scrapper’s claws.

“You’re going to need a lot of water regardless, we should make you a bigger waterskin before you go,” suggests Varl.

“I don’t need a bigger waterskin. What I need is to stop standing around and go find POSEIDON,” Aloy growls.

The words come out far harsher than she intends, but she can barely hear them over the humming. Still, Varl just gives her a long-suffering look and charges into the argument.

“You won’t be of any use to anyone if you dry up like boar jerky under the desert sun. Let me and Zo make you a bigger waterskin, and some more trail rations before you head out. It’ll only take a few days at most.”

“A few days we don’t have,” snaps Aloy. “I should have left yesterday, but you insisted I stay for dinner.”

“Because you need to eat something other than dried meat and whatever berries you pull off of bushes out there. Can’t save the world on an empty stomach.”

“Can’t save the world by not going out and saving it either.”

Varl frowns at her. Somehow the humming from the lights gets impossibly louder. Aloy is aware, distantly, that she’s breathing hard, that her hands have clenched into tight enough fists that her nails are threatening to break through the skin of her palms, but none of that matters. They are running out of time. They still have two subfunctions to find and they need to figure out what the Zeniths really want to do with their copy of GAIA.

“I’m just saying you need to take care of yourself first,” says Varl.

Aloy barely hears it over the lights and the sound of her own angry heartbeat rising within her chest.

“Aloy?” Varl asks. “You alright?”

Aloy doesn’t know why that question makes her want to run, but it does. Except Kotallo is by one door to the Base, and Zo is by the other, and Erend is looking at her with his big sad eyes and he doesn’t even have a mug of ale in his hand. So she turns, pushing past Varl as she flees deeper in to the Base. She flies down the stairs, skidding down a couple of the steps before slamming into the opposite wall with a force she barely feels.

The door opens to slow, and while Aloy knows that the door locks are controlled by her Focus, she still scrabbles at it in her desperate feeling of needing to get away, to get out.

After what feels like far too long the door opens with a hiss and Aloy slips into the cool darkness of the server room. She finds her way through the towers by their small blinking lights. Eventually she stops and slides down against one to the ground. Her braids catch in the knobs and wires, but she can’t bring herself to care as her hair is pulled out of place.

For a moment she longs desperately for Rost. For his guidance and level head. He would know what to do, what to say to Varl to make him understand. She can’t just sit and wait, she has to do something, she’s the only one who can.

“Hello?” a voice as familiar to Aloy as her own calls through the darkness. “Aloy?”

Aloy looks up from her hands and in the dim light sees Elisabet. Haunting her. Here to tell her she’s not good enough. That the Lightkeeper program was a failure. Her breath catches in her chest as she hears those words ringing in her ears despite the fact that Elisabet’s mouth isn’t moving, she’s just staring with judgement in her eyes.

Then Aloy blinks and the lights in the server room are on and Elisabet is gone but she still can’t breathe. The air catches in her throat. She can hear herself wheezing. The logical part of her brain is trying to tell her to stop, to breathe, to calm down and be the rational person she needs to be to save the world but the louder part of her is short circuiting into a mess of sparks and emotions, and she can’t breathe.

The urge to run, to be anywhere else hits again, but before Aloy can get up she senses more than sees a presence in front of her. She reaches for a spear that isn’t there before she hears a voice. It’s muffled as if she’s hearing it through water.

“Breathe, Aloy. Deep breaths. You’re alright.”

It takes Aloy’s frazzled brain a minute to parse the words even as they’re spoken on repeat. Then the world resolves itself into the brown and green outline of Zo crouched in front of her. When Aloy blinks Zo’s face softens a little, the tight lines around her eyes easing away.

“Are you back with me?” asks Zo, her low voice even and calm.

“Didn’t go anywhere,” says Aloy, her breath still catching as she forms the words.

She can tell Zo has some kind of retort to that, but she’s smart enough to keep her thoughts behind her lips.

“Think you gave Beta a scare,” says Zo with a nod towards the storage closet Beta’s claimed for herself.

It takes Aloy a minute to put together Elisabet’s face in the dark with the fact that there’s another clone skulking about the Base now. She must have stumbled across Aloy in the dark. In the dim light she had looked ethereal. Like Elisabet reborn.

“She could use some good scaring,” says Aloy, but there’s no heat to it.

Zo gives Aloy a disappointed look, but again instead of a reprimand Zo helps her to her feet. Aloy refuses to let her see the tremble in her hands, or the way her head feels like its floating above her shoulders. She must be stronger, better. She can’t let whatever this was happen again. They don’t have time for her to freak out like that with the Zeniths on the loose and the biosphere still collapsing around them. Wordlessly, she marches past Zo towards the stairs, hoping she can get to her bedroom before Varl or Erend try their hand at talking about feelings.

[mehoymalloy]

Mutually Assured Destruction

An Aloy/Tilda fic, and an alternative take on the kiss scene from Prometheus Bound.

[chloefraazers]

equilibrium.

in which aloy finds her east and west, her rising sun and her setting sun, in the two people who provide balance to who she is.

featuring best friends to “oh fuck i’m in love with her,” “it doesn’t have to mean anything” “… as expected” to “oh fuck i’m in love with him too,” idiots in love, yearning and mourning, a somewhat-alarming amount of smut, and bi4bi4bi.

co-created with @kittleskittle and @mythicaitt.

preview below the cut.

When she remembers it later, Aloy knows she is the one who makes the first move. 

With their holographic practice enemies defeated, the three of them round on each other. It’s Talanah’s suggestion – “Hey, why stop now?” with her familiar wicked grin that, by this point, sends lightning bolts straight through Aloy’s nerves and makes her squeeze her thighs together – and with a glance at Nil, who gives a single nod, they begin. 

It’s clear right away that the three of them will be at this a while. The victory will go to whomever has the most endurance, or is the most stubborn. 

Given the particular trio of individuals training in GAIA’s dome… Aloy estimates they’ll be at it until one of them actually drops. 

The tension that binds the three of them together is heavy, thick, leaving Aloy feeling as though they’re connected by the sticky sweet of honey. Even when they strike and leap away to space out their attacks and defence, they’re never too far apart. She can always feel Nil’s heat somewhere at her side or back, and yet she knows he won’t strike at her from there. She always has Talanah in her peripherals, even if Aloy is focused on Nil. 

And they, she sees, are dancing around each other as well, challenging reflexes and abilities even though she knows they sized each other up in the holo practice.

[tjerra14]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Horizon (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Beta/Milu Characters: Beta (Horizon), Milu (Horizon) Additional Tags: One-Shot, Post-HFW, Post-Canon, POV Second Person, Established Relationship, Fluff, they just deserve the world, and hold some hands Summary:

Space and the horrors it bore are far away and fading further, matter less by the day. It is over. You are safe. In her arms, you can believe it. Her presence has a gravity like Earth’s. It’s a tether, to ground and bind you to the present, to allow for a glimpse of the future: the change firmly in your hands, a lifetime of endless possibilities; and the constant of her at your side. Starry-eyed fantasies, and all of them—yours, to make true.

Beta receives a gift from Milu.

Based on a prompt by the amazing @loumauve. So grateful to have you in my life.