Our first deceased character! I loved Rost in the game, but his death was a major defining moment for Aloy and I've decided to keep that. As this is an AU, he is a little bit different, but mostly because the rules of the Nora aren't a thing with outcasts and Death-Seekers. He's still a stern, uncompromising man, but he's a bit more open about his emotions, which we didn't get to see too much of that vulnerability in the game. Some of his lessons might seem odd for a modern AU, but remember that this isn't a typical modern setting. Aloy is very competitive and driven, so it makes sense that she wouldn't settle for just "good enough", and Rost would accommodate her like he probably did in the game.

(Sorry for the format; this site doesn't like me doing this like a bullet list.)

I own nothing except my AU. The characters of Horizon Zero Dawn and the sequel game Horizon Forbidden West belong to Guerilla Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Mathijs de Jonge.

~Russell "Rost" Irons~

Former police detective

-Dishonorably discharged and imprisoned (now released) for killing the criminals who murdered his family, instead of arresting them.

~-He was released early from a combination of Elisabet's petition for early parole, and for his superior's mistake of not removing him from the investigation when it turned personal. He received a reduced sentence because of extenuating circumstances, including emotional trauma and failed oversight.

Adopted Aloy not long after his parole as per his agreement with Elisabet.

-He was supposed to get Beta as well, but he didn't know there were two children or that the paperwork was switched/changed.

-Their relationship was much like in-game.

-She's called him "Rost" since she was young because Russ sounds like rust, he's old, and his last name is Irons. Plus, she was a child and couldn't say it properly, and he'd annoyed her that day, so she thought she was getting sufficient payback by flubbing his name. He didn't mind and came to like it even.

He taught her everything he knew about being a police officer. As one of the only adults she has a positive opinion of, she latched on to the idea of being like him and threw herself into the training.

-He also trained her in bow-hunting after she came home from school one day red-faced and holding back tears. Another boy, Bast, had been bragging about his new hunting bow his parents had gotten him and she had wanted to see it. He refused and said there was no way she could use a bow because "Girls are weak, and as an orphan you must be really weak if even your mom didn't want you." Rost calmed her down and helped her understand how he was wrong, but it wasn't enough for Aloy. She wanted to prove Bast wrong and rub it in his face. She knew Rost had used a bow to hunt before and begged him to teach her. Rost told her to give him a day to think about it. The next morning she woke to a wooden thunk! coming from outside. Rost had set up targets and was practicing with one of his old bows as Aloy stepped outside. He explained how if Aloy was serious about this, he would teach her everything he knew, but he would not make it easy. He would drill into her the skills of hunting, tracking, and bow technique from sunup to sundown; he would push her to the limit, and then push it again. When he finished teaching her, he said she'd even be able to shoot his massive war bow accurately. She told him she wasn't backing down and took the recurve bow from his hands and tried to shoot the target. Of course, it fell short about two feet from her. That was the first time she'd heard Rost laugh that hard. When he calmed down, he informed her that she wasn't strong enough for that bow yet before gently taking it from her grasp. "But we'll get there in time. Now, follow."

~-Over the next twelve years, Aloy's prowess as a hunter would grow to incredible heights. Rost taught her to use many different types of ranged hunting weapons, from bows to slings, and Aloy took to it like it was second nature. She trained relentlessly to be able to draw and fire as quickly and accurately as possible from either standing or kneeling, and at static or moving targets. But the biggest surprise was when she started training do all this while in motion or coming out of motion. When Rost asked her why she would go that far, since bowhunting is a very immobile sport, she retorted, "And if my target runs? Or fights back? My prey is mobile, and that gives it the advantage. So, I will be too." That was when Rost realized that this training had gone from a simple pastime to become something more to Aloy, as inherent to her sense of self as breathing. He agreed to assist her in any way he could, but since no one had ever made it a viable hunting tactic, she would be 'running blind' as it were. She made it work, though; her new method allowed her to surprise unsuspecting prey with her initial rush before leaping above them or sliding below them with an arrow already nocked and ready to release. The drawbacks were that she needed space and a running start, it wouldn't work on every animal, and she couldn't get more than one shot off before the animal bolted and she would have to chase it down. He used her initial flops to give further instruction in tracking, which she excelled at, and how to identify useful plants for injuries if the animal was aggressive enough to attack, which was far less common.

~-Once she asked why he didn't use guns to hunt. He said it was partially because he liked the challenge and partially a personal belief. "Anyone can pick up and shoot a gun, but it takes real strength to draw and shoot a bow. This is true in hunting, and in life."

He and Aloy had an argument one morning about her future in law enforcement. He wanted her to submit a different surname since he knew she would be judged unfairly by association with him. She refused, not understanding why she couldn't apply under his name. Later, when she was walking home with Vala, they were almost gunned down in a drive-by shooting. Vala was seriously injured, but Rost had been waiting outside to apologize to Aloy and explain himself when he saw the car. He wasn't fast enough for the first shot, but he shielded them from further harm with his own body. He died protecting them.

-It wasn't until later Aloy learned it was an attempt on her life by the Eclipse gang on Gerard's orders so that Beta, as the younger twin, would become the sole inheritor of their mom's estate and company.