Heart Like a Machine

Chapter 68

I headed back to the house to see Aloy was sitting on the porch, her hair still down and out of her braids. When I returned, she looked over at me. She tried to look angry, but a smile appeared on her face as she stood up and walked over to me.

"This will be the last time you get to unbraid my hair and leave without redoing it," she said sternly, but she broke out from it and started to chuckle.

"Couldn't keep a straight face?"

"Not around you I can't. Where did you go?"

"I had to get a few things for the house. You know, make sure it was around in case we needed it," I said.

"I see. Well, if you have time, mind redoing this?" she said and pointed to her hair.

"But I like it down."

"I know you do, but it gets in the way like this when I'm trying to hunt machines. I nearly took off half of my hair. And almost burnt it. I could go on because there is more."

"Alright, alright, I get the message. Sit down. I'll redo your hair."

She sat down at the bottom step while I sat on the step above her. I tapped my Focus and all of the different braids that were in her hair appeared. I started to do the main one that went down the middle before doing the others. Once I was finished, I patted her shoulders, letting her know I was done.

"There we are," I said and smiled as she turned to face me. "Your hair is done."

"Thanks, Y/N," she said. "Do you know where Beta went?"

"She went out to get a different mount. I don't think she likes the Chargers as much as we do."

"I'd rather prefer a Sunwing, which should be flying around here somewhere," she said and whistled to it.

The Sunwing landed right beside her and she looked over at the stables, "I think we should make a perch for the Sunwing."

I chuckled, "I'll get started on it."

"We both should. It'll help us get the materials we need," she said and we walked into the woods.

We started to cut down some of the trees and we dragged them over to the beach area. We started turning the wood into planks and before we knew it, we had a small little perch being made. The sun was starting to set and we had finally finished the perch. Aloy brought the Sunwing over and it sat on its little perch. That was around the time Beta had returned with a Charger and a Clawstrider behind her.

"Seems you were gone all day," Aloy joked.

"I wanted to get a Clawstrider so I can ride it. It took me a while to get the right one and not an apex Clawstrider."

"Yeah I need to figure out a way to make those mountable. How did it go out there?"

"I, um, did run into a few problems, but I dealt with them quickly. I only have a few scratches here and there, but nothing too major."

"Just make sure you're careful out there, Beta. We don't want you getting hurt either."

She nodded her head and walked over to the stables, putting the Charger and Clawstrider back. Aloy headed into the house when Beta walked over to me.

"How did it go?" Beta asked.

I pulled out a clam shell that held the ring to protect it.

"It looks good," she said. "What is it made out of?"

"Mostly Thunderjaw parts since that was a pretty big moment in our lives," I smiled. "But there are some other machine parts woven in there."

"When are you planning on asking her?"

"I was thinking tonight. Keep her occupied until I tell you I'm ready."

"What are you going to do?"

"Find a table and two chairs. That's all I really can do. If not, I might as well ask her on the beach. No place like doing it right here," I chuckled.

"I think you should just sit out here and watch the sunset, well, it's already setting. But come out here and watch the sunset and the moon rise into the sky."

"I like that, Beta. Bring her out here, I have a plan."

"Don't you always," she chuckled and headed towards the house.

"Aloy!" Beta called. "Y/N needs you out here!"

I slipped my boots off and headed into the water as the waves slowly came onto the shore. Aloy came out and walked up behind me, standing on the shore.

"What's the matter, Y/N?"

"Why don't we hunt for some clams? They should be around here? It'll add something extra when we make dinner tonight."

"Never tried seafood other than fish before. Might as well," she said and slipped her boots off, walking into the water and standing beside me.

"Where do you think some are?" she asked.

"I think I found some over there," I said and pointed in a general direction. "Let's both take a look."

We walked over to the area I had pointed to and we started looking. Aloy tapped her Focus and scanned the area a bit. I turned to where my back was facing her. I quickly took out the small clam I had found earlier and placed it in the sand. I splashed around a bit before I finally grabbed it.

"Any luck, Aloy?"

"I'm not seeing any. Are you sure it's over in this area?"

"It might be somewhere else," I said and walked a little farther away, holding onto the clam.

I walked into a different area and started walking around, pretending like I was looking for clams. I looked over at Aloy every now and then to see she was really trying to find them. I chuckled to myself. She looked over at me and saw I was standing up.

"Did you find one?"

"I think I did," I said and walked over to her. "There might even be a pearl inside it."

"Really? Let me take a look," she said.

I opened it slightly and nodded, "There is definitely a pearl inside of it."

I handed her the clam and she opened it up, seeing the ring inside of it. She grabbed it and pulled it out of the clam. She held it up and smiled at it.

"Did you make this?" she asked.

"I did. I was wondering if you'd like to spend the rest of our life together. I-I didn't write anything down, but would you like to become one? As the Old Ones called it."

She smiled and reached into her pocket, pulling out a small ring that looked like the one Beta had showed me this morning.

"As long as I can do the same with you."

I smiled widely, nodding my head. She placed my ring I had made her in my hand, sliding it onto her ring finger and she did the same with the ring she had made for me.

"There we go," I smiled. "We're officially one."

"We are officially one," she smiled at me.