Thunderjaw Heart - Horizon Zero Dawn Fanfiction

J'ai peur

"Oh, shit", Was Kïma's first reaction.

None of them knew what to  do. Aloy slowly crouched next to the child and turned her focus on to examine his body. Everything was perfectly functional, it has even been a bit enhanced (probably temporarily).

He immediately looked at her and moved a bit backwards, hyperventilating and crying heavily.

"It's okay, boy. We are not going to hurt you", She said softly, reaching out a hand in a protective manner as APHRODITE did a minute ago.

He started to shake but not because of the temperature : her focus showed her a perfectly stable internal heat.
His lips moved a bit and the three Seekers could hear :

"Elle... Elle est morte, c'est ça ?"

"What ?", Bast asked looking at Kïma.

She shrugged, and crouched next to Aloy, saying :

"My focus tried to translate what he is saying but... It writes 'INTERNET CONNEXION NOT FOUND. TRANSLATION IMPOSSIBLE'. Does yours do it as well ?"

"Mine does it as well", Bast declared, joining them.

"Mine as well. We'll have to search this 'Internet' then. Maybe it can help us. But for now we have a bigger problem ...", Aloy replied, looking at the boy, who was starting to sit slowly.

With a hand, he wiped his nose and his eyes and started crying again. He said something else, with a slower pace this time :

"Mary... Elle est morte ...? Ou... Où on est ?"

"We don't understand you", Bast declared, spreading his arms.

"I think he doesn't understand us either so what you just said was completely useless", Noticed the collector.

She placed a hand on her chest and articulated :

"Kïma."

She then placed her hand on Aloy's and Bast's shoulder, introducing them in the same way :

"Aloy. Bast."

She pointed a finger at the boy and smiled at him, waiting for him to answer.
Between two sobs, the boy let out :

"Maxime Brochard-Klein..."

"Wasn't there an Old One named 'Brochard-Klein ?", Bast noticed, raising an eyebrow.

"We'll consider it later, Bast", Aloy decided.

"Vous savez... Où est maman ? Et papa ? Ils se sont réveillés aussi ? ... Ils m'ont dit que... Qu'on se réveillerait tous ensemble... En même temps... Que les machines seraient parties... Ils sont où ?"

Aloy and Kïma looked at eachother. Bast asked lowly :

"Shouldn't we get out of the bunker ? You know, just in case some bandits decide to come here and free their chieftain."

"Oh, you're right. I'll ask him if he can walk."

Saying so, Kïma pointed at him and mimicked a person with her fingers, making it walk on her other arm and transformed her facial expression to let him understand it was a question.

He seemed to understand and, still sobbing, used the wall to get on his feet.
He seemed much younger than he first appeared, and yet he was centuries older than them...

"J'ai... J'ai peur...", He said with a shaky voice.

Without talking, Aloy reached out her hand and showed it to him. Carefully, and extremely slowly, he let the safety of the wall behind him and moved towards her with his weak legs that hadn't walked for an eternity.