Machine Heart

Chapter 2

As the Shock Fury lay dead and still burning, a moment of respite was given. The adrenaline from the battle was wearing off, leaving Aloy completely exhausted and in more pain than earlier. She could feel the full extent of her injuries now that there was no immediate danger. Her burns felt like she was thrown into an active volcano and instead of giving her mercy, the world decided to let her suffer. Her ankle was merely a side thought before she tried to get back on firm ground to test its limit, and suffered the consequences of jostling it. With a cry, she stumbled on shaky legs before Erend stopped her fall with his arm. When he set her on the ground to assess her injuries, Aloy spoke up, "I'm fine, Erend, I can handle it."

Erend bit his tongue; sarcasm wasn't going to get them anywhere, "Look, you can barely stand, so let me help you until we get out of here."

"Fine." Aloy grumbled.

Erend decided to start tending to her burns first, which luckily for Aloy it was only in the area that the Shock Fury had grabbed her, so Erend had rather small areas to tend to. Her skin was pink and some of the blisters were already crying. Aloy handed him the waterweed pods he'd need to apply on the injury. Erend crushed the pods in his hands and began applying its content to Aloy's burns as she squirmed and whined in pain.

When he was done, Erend bandaged the injury and moved on to tend to her ankle. This injury will be, by far, the most unpleasant one to tend to. To ensure that the ankle heals properly, one has to set it back in its place and that is an extremely painful process.

Aloy's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, "Are you going to stare at my ankle until it sets itself back in place or are you actually going to do it?" She was being sassy with him, but Erend could hear a tinge of amusement in her voice.

Erend winced when he removed Aloy's boot. Her ankle was clearly not where it should be and it appeared rather bruised and swollen. With shaky hands, Erend grabbed her ankle, and Aloy hissed in pain at the sudden contact with the injury. As he mumbled out apologies, he began to move the ankle back in its socket. Aloy started wailing out in pure agony. A tidal wave of tears began flooding down her face. The shockwave of pain felt worse than the initial impact that caused the dislocation. She felt like her ankle was lit ablaze while simultaneously being stabbed. And her cries only made Erend want to comfort her more than he had previously.

Eventually, Erend felt Aloy's ankle pop back in place. She stopped wailing as the sharp pain began to subside. Careful not to jostle her burns, Erend hugged her. Aloy nestled her head comfortably in his chest as her whimpers slowly turned to sniffles. He gently rubbed her head, "You did great, Brightspark."

Aloy responded with a soft whine before pulling away from their embrace. Erend took it as a sign to get back to work. He opened his pack to look for more bandages. As soon as she found the ridgewood branches, she placed them on her lap. Aloy simply watched him struggle with his pack in mild amusement. A soft laugh escaped Aloy's lips, the sweet sound gaining Erend's attention, "Oh she thinks this is funny?"

"I think you'd have an easier time if you actually organized your pack." Aloy chuckled.

Erend finally found the bandage roll he had lost in the pack and approached Aloy. He grabbed the ridgewood branches from her lap and placed her foot on his pack. She winced at the movement. While Erend worked on binding her ankle, he heard her laugh, "By the forge, Erend, it smells like a raccoon crawled in your pack and died," Aloy quipped, "of shame."

Erend let out a small chuckle in response. She sighed, a silent exhale of air, and her expression fell. The aching, burning pain in her ankle was getting a bit too much with the pressure Erend was putting on it to keep it in place, so she grabbed some Hintergold to numb the pain. The room was so quiet that they could hear the last flames on the Shock Fury's metal corpse crackle. When Erend looked up to check on Aloy, he found that she was no longer bearing that sweet grin, rather she was reading something her focus while dozing off. He finished binding her ankle, tying the bandage in a steady knot, and gently tried to get her attention, "Let's get those overrides, yeah?"