Author's Note: I haven't typed up a fanfiction in years. I've been too busy with college, considering I'm steps away from my Bachelor's and soon on to my Master's (GRE in June, Baby). I'm a little rough on the writing, so apologies if it's rather, er, too fast-paced.

I started on H:ZD about over a week ago and I couldn't get Ereloy out of my head. It's hit just like my QuinnCready ship, which is my Fallout ship of my Vault Dweller Karlie Quinn and MacCready. That's lurking all over my Tumblr. For now I'm taking a small break on those two and working on this new couple that I'm in love with.

Chapter 1

After defeating Hades, a large celebration was all but surprise. While the broken walls were left open, it didn't stop the spirit of the survivors. Taverns were full of drunk men and the streets were filled with music, dancing, and talk.

While Aloy felt relief and the distress lift from her shoulders, she still had one more mission: to find Elizabet's body. The Seeker slowly drank her brew. While not buzzed, which her intention was just a sip to ease her mind, she didn't feel as if the booze were enough to keep her world spinning. She left the tavern, only to have her brutish comrade following behind. "Is our hero done for the night?"

Aloy enjoyed Erend's company, moreso at that exact moment. The duo aimlessly walked on through the loud commotion. "I'm just tired," she responded, turning into an alley. "Look, Erend, I need to go after tonight." She wanted to get that thought out of the way.

"Will you come back?"
"I promise." Aloy's expression was enough to gain Erend's trust.
"I'll take your word for it. You'll never be without me."

Aloy chuckled. She could smell the Oseram brew from the crack of his lips, something that wasn't uncommon. "So, uh, where are you going then?" the captain asked.

"It's very personal, and no one else is to come with."
"What? Need some space from me?"
Another Erend flirtatious joke.

Aloy closed the door behind them. She was still in her garb from hours before, during the battle. Erend had a bottle in his hand, and proceeded to place it on the nearest table. "So, if you put the bottle down, that means that you're staying the night, right?" Aloy chuckled again, jokingly hinting that she enjoyed his presence. She turned to the man and asked about his sobriety. Although he was slightly inebrated, he was still in a state of consciousness to acknowledge the surrounding world. He responded as so, placing a hand on her shoulder to confirm. She nodded and turned away. "Okay, so, then you won't mind if I go wash all this corruption off my shoulders then." At that moment, Erend was about to ask about following, but knew it wasn't the time. He belched, before stating, "Yeah, yeah. You go wash all that grime off you. You deserve it." Due to the normal Meridian weather, the room was rather warm, especially noting that it was filled with light. Warm colors did not help, as they bounced the heat. Aloy made her way to the nearest place to bathe, and wash the blood, sweat, and grime.

After cleaning up and dressing into her most comfortable garb, Aloy made her way up the stairs, only to see Erend asleep on the big bed before her. His armor was placed on the opposite side of the room, as he donned nothing but an undershirt and the baggy pants she always saw him in. She sighed, gave a small laugh, and approached him. "So, you did get comfortable. Looks like you're staying the night," she joked, as she started to play bongos with his abdomen."

"Hey, stop! A little less dignifying, don't you think?"

Aloy gave a small chuckle. It was the first time she's seen his beer-gut. She moved her way to the other side. Sheepishly, Erend said, "You know, after what happened today, our kids are gonna have quite a story."

"Our kids?" Aloy stopped right in her tracks.

"I-I mean everyone's kids!" he responded, waking up slightly after processing what he had just stated.

Aloy gave a small chuckle as her cheeks began to flush a rosy color. She moved her way to the other side of the bed. The Nora made a spot on the bed, absorbing the fabric as her back suddenly gave way into the mattress. It was so comfortable. She turned the focus on to listen to Elizabet's archives, hoping she would drift to sleep with new information. As she began to listen to what Elizabet recorded, she suddenly felt a pair of bear arms wrap around her body, and smelled that Oseram brew. "You don't mind me doing this, don't you?" Erend sheepishly said, as he began to drift off.

"It wasn't like you weren't gonna do it anyways," Aloy responded, just about drifting off herself.

As Elizabet's voice filled the Nora's brain as she regenerated, Aloy was suddenly woken up by light scratching on her side. It took a few seconds to realize that Erend was still wrapped around her. She turned her face to the man before her. "You're still awake, aren't you?"

"Just admiring the view," the Captain responded.

Aloy's lips curved to a smile, and she started to laugh. She turned the focus off, and wrapped her right arm around Erend's left forearm. She turned her head closer to his, hoping to fall back asleep. However, that little scratch was just enough to wake her up, only for her to realize that only twenty minutes have passed.

"Tell me something," Erend suddenly said to break some ice. "What was that Helis guy doing to you sometime ago when he locked you up. Wasn't he gonna sacrifice you to those machines? At least, that's what I heard."

Aloy's mind suddenly shot straight to that moment when she woke up to the man who killed her adoptive father. She remembered one detail about that conversation, and it was more of the physical feeling of uneasiness, and in terms of that, it wasn't the fear of dying, or the anger.

"I don't remember," she lied. Erend knew better.

"You seem really uneasy talking about it. I won't bother you about it anymore."

Aloy couldn't put her finger on what she felt other than the anger and fear. She shook her head. "I guess you could say I felt gross. It wasn't like that feeling where you just hate someone so much to where he or she grosses you out. It was a different kind of gross," Aloy stated. Erend's mind went elsewhere, however, that elsewhere confirmed the truth of what happened.

"Do you remember anything else?"

"I was mostly knocked out." The sentence was the honest truth. "Why are you asking me about it?"

"I heard about that grudge you had against him, and I also heard tonight that you churned his guts like butter."

"It was personal. He's caused enough hell for a lot of people."

A grunt emitted from Erend's lips. Aloy's eyes scanned his face, considering it was so close to hers. She then tried to adjust to the situation, and feel every inch of her body. Erend was still lightly scratching her side, which actually felt pretty good. She could feel his breathing trace down the side of her cheek down to the bottom of her neck. Her hand was wrapped under his body. She quickly adjusted, Erend following, so she would wrap it under his body. "Oh, so now you're finally getting into it," Erend responded to the moment, as her arm wrapped around his neck to the back of his head. She didn't think much of it, as she was still in the process of adjustment. She closed her eyes to focus more on his nose, which at that point was nudged against her cheek.

Aloy didn't pay much attention to what she was about to do next. She just followed through her instinct. She wrapped her right arm around Erend's neck, as his left arm wrapped around her body. She dug her face into the pillow, inches close to his. She finally scanned every detail of what she was able to see of his face. His expression changed to a curved half-smile. She loved to see him smile.

When his lips locked onto hers, she didn't think about what she was about to do next. The moment became warm, almost too warm to bear. She tasted the booze in his mouth as she allowed to open, and let him slip his tongue inside. She didn't respond to his tongue-battle, although she let out a sigh. His tongue was rather big, big enough to cover her whole mouth. She loved that.

She was too surprised to respond. Erend finished the kiss, and scratched the back of his head. "Uh, sorry," he said. "Got a bit caught up." Aloy was still too surprised to really grasped the moment. Her only response was to hold him in closer. Her heart was beating, almost to where she thought it would burst out of her chest. She didn't give second thought when she leaned in for another. As heavy breathing and grunts began to flourish the room like music, Aloy broke around the fifth to sixth kiss and regained her composure. "I promise I'll come back when I'm done," she said softly, as she began to tug at her braids.

"I know you will."

Erend began to tower over Aloy, kissing her again. He reached down and began to slip a hand to feel her hip bone. She almost stopped to regain herself, but it felt right to her for him to continue on. His fingers scanned every bit of skin around the area of her hip bone, to her lower abdomen, and then down to her outer thighs. Aloy tried to regain her composure, and rolled on top of Erend. "What the hell are we doing?" Aloy asked, with a light chuckle. Erend lifted himself up to where his back was against the headboard. "What's wrong?" he gave her a puzzled look. She loved when his eyebrows moved.

"No, nothing. It's just that I've never had something like this before."

Erend's heart skipped a beat. Aloy preferred her position on top; she didn't feel like her ribs were being crushed. Erend wrapped his fingers around the nape of her neck, and aimed for another kiss. His free hand still explored whatever inch he was able to touch on Aloy's body. She wasn't thinking when she removed her tunic, displaying a bare chest. Erend wasn't surprised to see the tone, considering she was of athletic build. He was more surprised over how beautiful she looked. He always imagined her bare in front of him, but at that moment, when it was real, his heart felt like it would stop any second.

Aloy struggled to slip her pants off, as she used every bit of her upper body strength to slip them off onto the bed. It didn't matter to her where they were. Meanwhile, Erend slipped his pants slightly. Aloy didn't pay attention to the view below her; her instinct was to insert whatever inch was available. As his shaft slowly entered through the lips, Aloy's body tensed. She arched her back to where her face buried into Erend's shoulder. A moan emitted from her lips. Erend tensed up himself when he felt her all around his member, even moreso when he felt the vibration of her moan slither through his shoulder, then down his spine. Aloy soon began to thrust. The air suddenly became heavy. Both bodies began to emit sweat. With shoulders pressed against each other, Aloy continued to thrust. Her upper teeth pressed over her bottom lips, almost curled to rip and tear. Aloy couldn't keep her eyes open throughout the whole euphoria. Erend, however, kept his eyes right onto her face, which made the experience much more intense.

Erend began to slowly curve his way to dominate over Aloy. Once he was able to do so, he slowly removed himself. Aloy, obviously inexperienced, was confused over what he was to do next. He began to plant his lips onto her mandible, and moved down to her middle bare. He continued downward to her breasts. He took his time, making sure his lips touched every inch of each breast. Aloy's body ached for more. Erend continued downward, kissing her abdomen, and moving down to her pelvic bone. He pressed both his hands firmly on each side. He rubbed with his thumb, and slowly gave a kiss to her southern lips. Her body jerked once she felt a rather large tongue slip among the most sensitive area on her body. A small shriek emitted from Aloy's lips. She then felt a gust of warm air hit, further realizing that Erend was chuckling over the small moan. She could tell he was feeling rather proud of himself. He continued onwards, as his tongue vigorously slithered around and onto her clit. On top of the amount of tongue skill Erend possessed and the size of his tongue, it didn't take long for the orgasm to take place. It was actually Aloy's first, and possibly the longest few seconds of her life. Heavily panting, the Nora didn't notice the Oseram move his way on top of her, as he planted a kiss to her lips again. At that moment, she wanted him even closer to her.

This time, he was on top. Erend inserted himself again, slowly thrusting. Aloy followed each thrust with her own. She didn't pay attention to her hips; she mostly paid attention to Erend's face which was buried into her shoulder. Again, each gust of breath that left his lips caused a shiver in Aloy's spine. His deep moans caused Aloy to follow suit, which intensified the moment. As each thrust got harder and faster, in a moment's notice, Aloy felt something jerk inside her. She couldn't quite put a finger on what it exactly was, but she was more focused on the removal of Erend's member, and his bear hugs wrapping around her again. She returned the embrace. After a minute of awkward silence, Erend cleared his throat. "So, um," he started, rather nervous. "You know about, uh, how I-"

"I've known since The Blessing," Aloy finished his sentence.

"You often tell stories of your mother. But you are childless."

"I never had time. I guess it was for the best."

"If you had had a child, Elizabet, what would you wish for him or her?"

"I guess… I would have wanted her to be… curious. And willful- unstoppable, even… but with enough compassion to… heal the world."

Aloy held the globe tight in her hand through the ride back to her old home- to Rost's grave. Upon coming across a campfire, as sunset was receding to nightfall, Aloy unmounted from her Strider. She turned her focus on to inspect more of the globe. Upon looking down, she noticed a small, magenta light flicker from inside her abdomen. Her new destination wasn't Rost's grave.

Upon relentless riding, Aloy reached the gates of Meridian. She hurriedly ran as fast as she could past the guards, to Avad. "Where's Erend?" She demanded, panting, out of breath. "I need to talk to him!"

"He's making his way to The Claim. He'll be leaving around tomorrow. He should be back anytime since today he just rested Ersa."

Aloy rested her arms on her waist and proceeded to scuffle her feet to the ledge, to look on into the city. "I don't care how long he'll be. I need to tell him something," she said. Avad questioned her motives, but remained silent.

After around a half hour or so, Erend quietly, but calmly approached the throne. "Aloy!" he shouted excitedly. "You promised you'd come back! Not that I, uh, doubted that you would," as he continued his sentence, she didn't give second thought before running up and embracing the Oseram Captain. "Erend, I need to tell you something," she said, with a worried tone. "It's personal."

The duo walked to the platform that they met right after catching Dervahl. Erend gave Aloy a rather concerned look. "You look like you've just seen a ghost," he said calmly, but worrying. Aloy looked down. "Look, I'll admit, I've never dealt with anything like this, obviously, so I'm not good at explaining it." She took the focus off her ear and handed it to Erend. "Just, turn it on. You'll see."

Erend placed it on his pierced ear, as Aloy turned it on for him. He saw some tech he's obviously never seen before, and was amazed. He looked at her face, as the focus identified her. "Look down," she implored. Upon slowly looking at her abdomen, a small gasp emitted from his lips. "This is mine?"

"Who else would have done this?"

Erend didn't know what to think, but an adrenaline rush hit, as well as excitement. "I can't believe it," he whispered. "What do you think?" Aloy removed the focus from Erend's ear and re-accessorized it. "I- I don't know. I never thought about something like this."

Erend placed his hand on her shoulder, then bent down to his knees. He wrapped his arms around her, allowing his ear to rest onto her womb. "You know what? Don't be afraid," he said calmly. In the back of Aloy's mind, she thought to herself that it was necessary, and a viable way for her to stay out of sight from the populace. In the front of her mind, she was scared.

"Come with me to the Claim. It'll be a short trip. We can talk more about what to do. Until then, just, do me a favor and rest up. You've been on your feet a little too much, and now after knowing this, you don't want trouble for more than one of you."

Aloy got what Erend was getting to her, but one thing kept hitting her head like a rock.

How can I raise a child?

This was going to be a prompt at first, but I figured it'd be more interesting to make it a story.