Thunderjaw Heart - Horizon Zero Dawn Fanfiction

Selfish lil brat

"Kïma !", Bast cheered as he ran to hug her. 

Quatu stayed behind, watching them from afar, a nostalgic smile on their lips. 

"What were you up to these days ? I thought I would never see you again, I..."

Moving back, he saw her face and understood that this Kïma was a bit different from the one he knew. 
She had two thick black lines painted on her face, starting right under her eyes to end lower than her jaw. No red triangles anymore. Her lips were colored with the same black shade and her hair appeared much shorter than before, as the few visible strands were not even touching her shoulders.

"What's going on ?", he asked softly, having never seen her face so flat.

She shrugged and looked above his shoulder to greet Quatu with a nod. She glanced back at him, sighing :

"Just trying to clear my head. What's up with you two ?"

"It's been almost two months, Kïma. You can't just paint her everywhere, this is not going to bring her back, you know ?", he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. 

"What do you want me to tell you ? I know damn well this is not going to bring her back but I can't think of anything else, Bast. I see her body falling down that ravine every time I close my eyes. She saved me from two fucking Scorchers and I wasn't even able of getting her out of a simple ravine..."

Quatu wasn't sure if they should approach and try to reason her as well or just let Bast speak. He seemed to have a lot of things to tell her... They decided to stay nearby but not to disrupt their discussion.

"Come back. We have to find the Master Override. Finish what she started months ago. That's the only..."

"I don't know where to find that shit ! The only people who could tell us where to find this jerk of Aveme are all dead ! Mala, Ivah, Tumach, all dead !", she hissed between her teeth, pushing Bast away and walking towards the wall. "And even if I finally find Aveme, I'm quite sure that the first thing he will try to do  when he'll see me is to stab me right in the guts. Let me tell you that I'm not letting this happen."

Bast frowned upon the reference of 'getting stabbed in the guts' but waited until she finished to tell her :

"You said his werak was in the east of Ban-Ur. We just have to search it. I'm sure that they weren't the only people aware of this werak's camp. We just have to ask !", he insisted, following her. 

"And then what ?", she stopped him, turning to face him. "We find HADES but, let's recall, we have no idea where he could be, and then what ? Then we take that thing and just throw it on him ? Does that sound like a good plan to you ? Everything Aloy started ended as soon as Helis deleted the instructions to wield this device."

"There has to be another way to get these informations ! There has to be something, some ancient device that has a copy on it, somewhere !"

Kïma did not even bother to answer and took her pigments out of her bag. She proceeded to examine the wall to find a decent place for her next artwork. 

"It's what she would have wanted and you know it, Kïma.", he concluded desperately.

"She would have wanted to live.", she replied, starting her painting.

Quatu could see Bast trying his best to reason her but she did not want to hear anything. She was just drawing another Aloy, completely ignoring the fact that some demon was about to destroy their lands. 
That was not the Kïma they had met a few years ago, laughing at everything and attaching chimes to machines. 
They could not let such a beautiful girl turn into this selfish little brat.