Heart Like a Machine

Chapter 44

After some time had passed and the wound in my shoulder had healed enough, Aloy, my mom, and I walked towards the gate of the tribe. The keepers there opened it up and before we did anything, Aloy ran off into the woods to get a couple of Chargers for us.

"Are you sure you want to take the long journey back?" my mom asked. "I know how close you are to Aloy."

"I'll be fine, mom. It gives us some mother, daughter time. And it gives Aloy some time to herself and some time to think about what is going on. It would give her the necessary time to move forward with the situation with Nemesis."

My mom nodded her head, "Alright."

Aloy came out of the woods with two Chargers following her.

"Y/N has the cooridnates to where the base is. So all you need is to follow her and make sure you two aren't separated. If you two do," she handed my mom a Focus. "You can get in touch with her or I. If something goes wrong, I can come find you and I will bring more than just a Sunwing," she chuckled.

"Thank you, Aloy," my mom said and placed it on her head. "I'm sure Y/N will teach me the ropes with this. I'm sure she had a good teacher."

"I tried my best, but we all learn differently and at our own pace."

"I'll let you two have a moment together," my mom said and got on her Charger, figuring out how to control it as she rode a bit farther away from where we were.

I walked closer to Aloy and smiled at her, "You're going to miss out on my wonderful jokes."

She snickered, "You had some good ones and you had some bad ones. I definitely will miss your commentary since they are pretty good. It's going to get lonely."

"I'm sure if you get lonely you will listen back to some of our conversations. You just can't replace the warmth."

Aloy walked towards me and pulled me into a hug. I tightly hugged her back as I rested my head on her shoulder. I pulled away and quickly placed a peck on her lips.

"Fly safely."

"Ride safely," she said as she pulled away, calling her Sunwing.

It landed and she climbed on top of it.

"See you back at the base," I said and got on the Charger.

"See you back at the base," she said and took off, flying into the air. 

I watched as she became a spec in the sky before she disappeared from my line of sight. I grabbed the reins of the Charger and whipped them, riding off to where my mom was. When she saw me coming towards her, she grabbed her reins and took control of the Charger. We rode off towards West. We got almost to the Daunt when we got off and took a break. I was surprised we got as far as we did on a couple of Chargers. But they were mostly running instead of a trot. My mom had gotten used to the Charger really quickly. But we did take a few minute breaks here and there along the way.

"We're almost to the base," I tapped my Focus and talked to Aloy.

"Where are you guys at? Maybe I can meet you there with a couple Sunwings."

"We're right by the Daunt. Right before the guy brings you down into the valley."

"Sounds good. I'm on my way. Sylens, what the hell are you doing," the call was cut off and I chuckled to myself.

"Who is Sylens?"

"Someone who is only after the pursuit of knowledge. He's neither ally nor enemy. He's just kind of there. He was the reason Aloy had to fight HADES and caused a whole rebellion in the Tenakth clan. He was helping Regalla's rebellion and allowing them to override machines. But Aloy put a stop to that. The one thing I regret about the last battle we had against the Zeniths was that I will never get to properly thank Regalla for saving my life."

"I'm sure she knows you were grateful," my mom said.

A few minutes passed and Aloy was flying towards us. She was riding on one of the Sunwings while the other was following her. She landed the Sunwings and she slid off the wing of the one. I walked over to her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"Good to see you're still in one piece," I chuckled.

"I could say the same for you," she said and pulled away, placing a small kiss on my forehead.

"How was the trip out here?" Aloy asked my mom, walking up to her.

"It was definitely something. I never would have expected the world to look so differently. We really are isolated from the rest of the world. The other Nora should have a chance to experience this," she said.

"Well, you're going to experience a whole lot more in the air. Now Y/N has flown a few times before but not alone. So I don't know how we're going to do this."

"I'll take my mom with me on the Sunwing. If anything happens to either of us, it will be my fault," I chuckled.

"Alright, it's just like riding a Charger almost. Just try not to tug on the reins too much. Also don't fly too high. You'll get dizzy."

Aloy jumped onto her Sunwing and waited until we were situated on the other one. I grabbed the reins and pulled it up, making the Sunwing fly into the air.

"There you go," Aloy said as she flew into the air.

Things were pretty steady and we flew side by side one another. My mom was looking out at the new area and she was looking down at the new machines.

"This is amazing," she laughed. "I love this. I-I never want to go back to the tribe."

"Neither do we," I said and looked over at Aloy. "We've had too much fun out here to want to return to the tribe. Well, Aloy has more personal reasons than I do. But without dad there, we might as well move out here."

My mom nodded, "You need to show me around."