Heart Like a Machine

Chapter 96

"Y/N, whatever he did to you, whatever he said to make you think this way, it's not true!" she said as I swung the blade at her.

"You left me!" I yelled. "You didn't care that I was here, suffering!"

"I tried to get here as quickly as I could. B-But we had other things going on."

"Such as saving the Quen! Saving her sister!" I pointed the blade at Seyka. "Once this is over, you're going to kill me and go with her, aren't you?!"

"I would never. Y/N, we're bound together," Aloy grabbed at her ring, but seeing that my ring finger was bare, she knew it had something to do with Londra. "W-Where's your ring?"

"Londra freed me of you. You were nothing but a set back! You held me back from becoming who I truly needed to be!" I swung at Aloy again, missing as she dodged.

"I am not going to fight you," Aloy said, seeing Lis was fighting the Slaughterspine by herself as Seyka got her sister to safety. "You're fighting for the wrong side."

"I am fighting for my own salvation! While you were doing who knows what in the Burning Shores, I had to suffer endless torture! Most of the bones inside me are metal because of how long they went untreated. I couldn't move my jaw and I won't be able to without this piece helping me. And my eye was so swollen shut they had to replace it with a Slaughterspine's!"

Turning my head, I focused on Lis and ended up causing the Slaughterspine to follow my command.

"Lis! Watch out! Your mother can control the Slaughterspine!"

"Where should I hit it?" Lis asked.

"The eyes! Go for the--"

I kicked her in the chest, causing her to stumble onto the ground.

"I am your only opponent here, Aloy! Not the Slaughterspine, not Londra, me! Right here, right now," I pointed my blade at her.

"I told you, Y/N, I am not fighting you. I-I can't."

"Then you're a coward! What happened to the girl who would do anything to save the world?" I swung at her, finally connecting my swings. "What happened to the girl who was deemed the Savior of Meridian? Hekarro's Champion? The one who rode on the Wings of the Ten? Who defeated the Zeniths?! Where is that Aloy?!"

"That Aloy," she stumbled to get up. "Is still here. But I am not fighting the one I fell in love with."

Blood was seeping out of every cut and slash I had caused on her. The armor she was wearing was starting to chip away and reveal she was still wearing her Nora garments underneath. She never took it off, which I was surprised by, but one thing caught my eye. The Thunderjaw tooth necklace. She still wore it.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the now broken Thunderjaw tooth.

"Even if you weren't physically there to protect me, you still did in a way I never thought you would."

I chuckled, "Would you look at that."

Aloy took the one piece that was already attached to the thread and put it back on. She took the other and placed some thread between an opening of the tooth. She handed it to me and I put it around my neck.

"There," she said. "Now we have matching necklaces."

"W-What the?" I muttered, stumbling as my head was pounding against my skull.

"This isn't you, Y/N," Aloy said, taking a step towards me.

""I-I--," I glanced to meet her hazel eyes and her flaming red hair, the attributes I loved about her other than her personality.

"Remember, Y/N. Remember where you came from and who you truly are."

I fell to my knees, everything was hurting once more. My body was aching and the pain in my head wouldn't subside. The voices were coming back like they were flies buzzing around my head. The actual voices around me were starting to drone on and I had to drown it out. They began to fade in and out, as if my head was dunked underwater and I couldn't hear them.

"Make it stop," I whispered before clutching my head. "Make it stop! Make it stop!" I yelled.

I grabbed my blade and stood up, snarling at Aloy.

"You're the cause of this! You're the reason I am here in this situation! If you had just came with us in the first place, I wouldn't be in this position."

"Y/N, I don't know how to reach you like this, but Londra has brainwashed you."

"No! He has saved me from holding onto false hope. He showed me what your true intentions were! He showed me that you weren't coming back for me. You were only coming back here to save her sister," I pointed my blade to Seyka and Kina.

"You're not going to hurt them, are you?"

"Kina was going to be hand picked by Londra to join him in his new world. And you came in here and messed it all up. Just like how you mess up everything!"

"Y/N, listen to yourself! This isn't you!"

"I had to fight tooth and nail to keep this side of me from coming out, but now I see. What we had was never real! It was all a facade, fake, made up! It was all an illusion."

"Y/N," Aloy breathed out, some tears forming in her eyes. "I-I don't want to fight you."

"Then die here and now!" I charged towards her, but I was tackled by a blind Slaughterspine.

"Mom!" Lis ran towards Aloy.

"Lis, h-h-how did you?"

"It was seeking for its other eye. So once it was able to get on the same wavelength as mother's new eye, it went after her."

"Your mother isn't the same any more. I-I don't know if I can break her out of the brainwashing."

"That's not the only thing we should be worried about."

The Slaughterspine backed away and I had crawled onto its head, being its eye now.

"You're dead, Aloy!" I yelled.

"You really pissed her off," Lis said.

"Not now, Lis! Do you think you can take her down?" Aloy asked.

"I can try."

"Your mother is in there somewhere," Aloy said. "I know she is."

The two of them separated and started to run around. I wasn't focused on killing Lis, but killing Aloy.

"Come here, Aloy!"

"Now, Lis!"

Turning, Lis threw a spike thrower at me. The metal head lodged into the chestplate and with the impact, I fell from the Slaughterspine's head. Aloy, bringing out a new weapon I've never seen before, shot down the Slaughterspine. The giant machine fell onto the ground and landed nearby.

Aloy was about to run towards me, but Lis stopped her.

"We'll get her back," Lis said.

"I-I just need to make sure she's alright."

"She's going to be fine," Lis said. "We need to get Kina to safety."

Aloy nodded her head and met up with Seyka and Kina, fleeing the volcano.

I dug myself out from the rubble and watched as they ran off. I growled, about to remove the spike thrower and throw it back at them, but Aloy turned around and met my gaze. There was something painful behind those eyes, conflicted even. Turning away, she ran off with Lis, Seyka, and Kina. Falling to my knees, I pulled the spike thrower from my chest plate and tears fell from my eyes.

What the hell was I doing? What is real?