Out of Cryo - Season 2 | A Horizon: Zero Dawn Fanfiction

Chapter 1: Happy Birthday

Hello!

Welcome to the second season of Out of Cryo! If you have no idea what this is, I highly recommend you read the previous works in this first! Otherwise, I'm thrilled you're here and I can't wait to get this started.
Few things:
- Cover art by the talented DRON261095. Season 2 edits by yours truly.
- I'm on tumblr at zerodawnkitewalker, which is where I usually post about updates and other random crap.
- I don't own HZD - Guerrilla Games is amazing and without them I wouldn't be doing this. :D
- This is rated M - violence, swearing, and sex are what you can expect.

Thank you and enjoy!

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Dodge. I threw my body, rolling left onto the metal platform and narrowly missing the blade that passed over my head. I gritted my teeth as my skin pressed against the metal grate under me. Coming back up on my feet, I shook off the water that had dripped down to my face from my damp hair – the rain coming down so hard that I could barely see her in front of me.

But she was still there. Still angry. The floodlights behind her only emphasized the redness of her hair, flames atop the silhouette that stood before me. I could barely make out her face – the hazel eyes that I'd come to love so much with all the emotion they contained now glared at me – the hate in them for me more than apparent. The left side of my face ached where she'd punched me earlier, and I had no doubt it would be black and blue in a day, assuming I even got out of there alive. We were far too high up for me to make a quick exit - unless falling to my death was an option.

"Enough of this, Becks!" she yelled over the clap of thunder that sounded. "You don't have to do this. Think of your parents! Your brother! They wouldn't want you to go through with this, either."

I shook my head. Fuck this. "I did think of them...and that's exactly why I have to do it." I gripped my spear in my right hand while my left hovered over the soaked pouch that hung from my belt.

Her brow furrowed as she glanced at the pouch before focusing on me again. "Then you know why I can't let you live."

Of course. "I know that you're a liar and that you didn't mean a goddamned word you said the other night," I said. "All that talk...it's bullshit."

"I won't be called a liar by someone who's so...so blind," she growled, rainwater running down her face and over the cluster of freckles under her eyes. She readied her weapon.

I'd had enough. "I'd rather be blind than a mistake." I smirked. "A miscalculation."

That did it. She let out a roar and charged at me. Her spear went down – I stopped it with my arm, the impact vibrating up and through the implants and sending a numbness up to my shoulder. I used my left side to push her back, separating us once more as she stumbled a bit before quickly regaining her balance.

"Nice try. You won't shatter this spear, though. It's been modified," she explained in the calmest and most arrogant tone I'd heard her use yet.

I rushed forward and swung, aiming for her head. She blocked me, her expression showing no signs of exhaustion or giving up. We moved with dizzying speed across the platform, each of us an equal match for the other, the both of us getting more frustrated as the fight wore on.

I wanted to look around, see if the others had made it, but I knew one pause and I'd be dead. One fuck up and that was it.

A yell amidst the chaos. She paused. What?

Didn't fucking matter. I took the opportunity to lunge at her, hoping to disarm her, but she deftly moved aside and slammed the bladeless end of the spear into my stomach. I gasped as the air was knocked from my lungs and barely had enough time to shout when the weapon came down again on my right knee. Pain exploded in my kneecap and I dropped, hitting the platform with an unforgiving thud. I tried to lift my spear but she kicked it from my hand before I could do anything. I whimpered and watched helplessly as it tumbled off the platform.