Thunderjaw Heart - Horizon Zero Dawn Fanfiction

* This is finally the Proving, reader

"Aloy, I think we've got to go."

The sweet sound of Kïma's voice woke her up. She groaned and sat, all sleepy.

"Are you ready ?", Asked the collector, already dressed up for the event.

"Don't worry, I just need a few seconds."

She finally got up and prepared too. She noticed all the concurrents going out of the lodge, and said to Kïma, who was waiting for her :

"You don't have to wait for me, you know. As you said, we are all concurrents today."

"Well, maybe I can wait for my favourite concurrent, can't I?"

"Sure", Aloy admitted, tying her shoes, with a small grin.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

They finally reached the clifftop, where it was snowing pretty badly. Kïma wore a simple shirt and Aloy couldn't take her eyes away of entertainment of the snowflakes melting on her arms. It left soft and mesmerising drops on her warm skin but she brutally put an end to it by swiping them away with her hand.

The red-hair then focused on Resh, the guard they spoke to the day before. He was giving explanations on how it was going to be and what they had to do. It seemed pretty easy.

Then a loud voice shouted "Grazers!!"

A large group of machines invaded the space, running everywhere. Arrows started to fly instantly, hitting the robots with high pitched metal notes. Aloy stretched her bow, aiming strategically at a one's blaze. A nearby explosion distracted her a bit but she hit her target, creating a second loud explosion. She hurried to loot her trophy and pointed it to the sky, smiling. She saw Kïma, already on the path, with her trophy on her back, tied with a rope.

Aloy was about to follow her when her trophy fell to the ground, in multiple pieces. With rage, she looked at Bast, who was chuckling, with his bow pointed at her.

She only had to get a new trophy.

She finally climbed on top of the little cliff, from where she could see the rest of the group. They were already too far from her. The guard told her she should head back to the camp and let it go, but she didn't listen. Looking around, she noticed another way, made with tree trunks and ropes.

"Don't think about it, this is the old way, it hasn't been used for years, you'll break your neck!", The guard screamed as she was already jumping from a trunk to another.

She jumped down and immediatly started to run again. The snow was thick, her limbs and throat were on fire, but she finally reached the head of the group. Kïma was right behind her, and Vala and Bast were just a step farther.

She saw the place where they had to put their trophies to end the Proving and tried to run a bit faster but the snow didn't allow it and went in her shoes. With a growl, she kept running, preparing her trophy.

She suddenly felt a hand on her back, which pushed her forcefully right to the ending line. Aloy just had to crouch and plant her trophy in the altar. A second later, Kïma did the same, so did Bast and Vala.

She looked at the machine tamer, who was covered in snowflakes, smiling at her.

"You did it Aloy !"

"Yeah, kinda looks like it... Are you the one who pushed me, though ?", she asked, curious.

She leaned closer to her and whispered :

"Well, they were getting to close and I thought you were struggling with the snow after you took the old path, so yeah, I pushed you a little to help. You were amazing back there, by the way."