AN: Yay, another chapter.

Also, a warning in advance - this sequel will still have all the action, romance, and weird humor that you found in Season 1, but it will also go to some darker and creepier places. As for the concern expressed at the previous chapter, just know that I love this story and that I do not do "THE DARKNESS AND THE NIGHT" bullshit without there being a purpose and a fulfilling outcome.

Anywho, I'll shut up. Thank you for your comments last chapter and I hope you enjoy this.

Still cold. Why is it still cold?

Shivering, I reached down to pull the furs back over me only to find that they were stuck. No, not stuck. I looked over and sighed. Aloy slept peacefully next to me, and by peacefully, I mean that she was wrapped up in the blankets while doing her best impression of whatever the hell sound a Thunderjaw makes when it's upset.

After a few futile tugs, I gave up and glanced at the window. The faint rays of dawn peeked in through the covering, indicating that it was probably almost time to get up anyway. So much for sleeping in.

I leaned over and placed a light kiss on her bare shoulder before getting out of bed to look for my clothes. I found my tunic hanging over a chair and my pants on the wood floor, where I'd tossed them the night before after Aloy's birthday "celebration". As I grasped the tunic in my hands, I took a moment to inspect the implants on my left arm, the carefully placed array of metal parts and bright blue lights that had been woven into the olive skin, making up a good chunk of the limb – a remnant of the battle at the Bitter Climb.

It'd been a little over a year since that day, and it had taken me every single day since to get used to my "upgrades". Now, I could move my arm - even throw a spear (pretty well, I might add) and fire a bow without sucking horrendously (it was still pretty bad – I preferred the spear). I could walk, run, jump – on occasion, better than even Aloy could. But I was still no match for her endurance or her consistency when it came to strength and combat. I had a reconstructed arm, leg, and back and a year of improvised physical therapy. She had a lifetime of experience and training.

The memories never went away. I'd still get nightmares from time to time…relive that terrible moment at the GAIA Prime control panel – watching in horror as my best friend, Jenna, broken beyond repair, dropped the bomb that would kill her and change my life forever.

Not that it was the first time my life had been altered in a very, very permanent way. It was only a few months before the battle that Aloy and our friend, Erend, had found me in a cryo tank – the vessel my parents put me into in 2066 at the end of an apocalypse, with the hope that I might survive to see the world reborn a thousand years later. And I had.

But they hadn't.

I found them along with my brother, murdered by my best friend at the order of the man who was responsible for ending the world – Ted Faro. Aloy had killed him, but his death would not bring back my family. Nothing ever could.

We had accomplished the impossible, though. GAIA had been rebuilt, restored, and the last copy of APOLLO, once presumed gone forever, had been found and reintegrated. The future of this world was still up in the air, however. Cultures had been formed. Nations had been established. We wanted to share APOLLO with the world, but we were lost as to how we'd do it exactly. The only learning facility we knew of was in the cradle in Mother's Watch – the structure the Nora tribe worshipped as a goddess. The matriarchs had allowed Aloy and myself to enter it, but refused entry themselves.

I had suggested we find another cradle location, but to do that we'd have to ask GAIA herself. And she was at GAIA Prime, a location that up to this point, I was not in any physical or mental state to travel to.

Aloy was in no rush, though. After the battle, she'd spent every day for the next year helping me relearn how to move again. It had been a grueling process – my implants made me stronger and my movements smoother, but there was a severe mental disconnect between my body and the implants themselves. The emotional fallout was pretty shitty as well. Waking up in this new world, seeing my family's bodies, and watching as a girl I once cared for more than anyone end her life before me – it all eventually got to me and after I woke up from surgery I think something inside me snapped. Some days were better than others – I might spend a day walking around the cabin and going outside while spending another day in bed and refusing to eat or speak. Aloy had been supportive and caring, but there was only so much she could do. It took a while, but I realized that if I truly wanted to get better that the repairs would also have to come from me.

After dressing and pulling on my boots, I pulled my hair back and scanned the cabin for my spear. For a long time, I was hesitant to even pick it up, but now the weapon – a gift Aloy had made for me shortly after I'd awoken from cryosleep – was something I looked forward to wielding every time I went out. I was far from an expert with it, but the implants in my left arm, along with Aloy's help, had accelerated the training I needed to actually be useful with it.

By the door. Just where I'd left it. I grabbed my pack and slung it over my shoulder before picking up the spear and went out the front door, making sure to close it gently behind me as to not wake Aloy.

I took a deep breath as I stepped out into the forest. Although it was spring, the early morning chill had not yet gone. The sun was rising but I suspected things wouldn't warm up for a few hours yet. I activated my Focus to check for life signs and, with my spear in my hand, began to walk into the cluster of trees surrounding the cabin.

Let's see. Nothing, nothing…still nothing. Ooh! Movement. I stopped and turned toward the source. A quick scan and the Focus returned data. Rabbit. Gone, now. I had been going hunting on my own for a few months and while I was getting better at it, Aloy probably would have found and caught something right away. Still, I wanted to do my part and if that meant letting her sleep in for once then that was fine by me.

I continued walking. The air felt cleaner, clearer than it had in some time – we'd had a lot of rainy days recently and it was nice to go outside and not have to worry about walking home soaking wet. The tree leaves were a vibrant green, and while the Focus wasn't picking up any movement directly in front of me, I could feel a definite increase in animal activity in the forest.

Then, movement.

Turkey.

Despite my best efforts, I still had not taken one down. My kills had been mostly rabbits and a few boars. But there it was, right in front of me, waddling around and letting out the occasional gobble.

I readied my spear and prepared to throw it. "All right, you little shit," I muttered. "Time for payback." The stupid birds loved to hang out around the cabin and wake me up at the most disagreeable hours.

Aim. The muscles in my arm and upper back tensed. GAIA's "upgrades" allowed me to aim with deadly accuracy if I had a good handle on my movements. The connection to my implants was still something I was practicing, but when it worked, it really worked.

I was just about to let the spear loose when an audible – but only barely – click sounded from my left. My eyes darted – my peripheral vision saw the yellow light right before it went red. I jumped back, turning toward the hostile Watcher and holding my spear up to block as it charged at me.

I watched as the machine leapt into the air and hurled itself at me, the whirring sound it emitted growing higher in pitch. What the fuck?!

At the last possible second, I rolled out of the way. The Watcher crashed to the ground a few paces away, kicking up torn grass and small rocks. It turned to face me again, its red light glaring right at me. Before I could really think about it, I launched the spear, its target: the machine's eye.

There was a satisfying metallic crunch as the blade of the weapon shattered the glass of the Watcher's eye and punctured its main core. The machine's whirring slowed to a mournful whine before it collapsed on the dirt.

Panting, I spun around, looking for any other machines or enemies. The hell? Why did that thing attack? After we had brought GAIA back online, the AI had given a global command that set the machines to no longer attack humans. The only way a Watcher would have been able to attack me was if someone had ordered it to. Which meant someone had to have overridden it.

Or worse, GAIA is broken again.

I sighed and walked over to the fallen machine. I allowed my Focus to scan it, just in case it was able to pick up any information on who or what had overridden the Watcher to make it attack me.

Watcher.

Wow, thanks, Focus. Super helpful. I yanked the spear from the broken eye and looked around one more time. The turkey was long gone, and my kill count was still zero. Still, I couldn't help but be a bit smug at taking down the Watcher on my own. Too bad Aloy wasn't here to see what a badass I was just now.

Kill counts could wait. I needed to get back home and tell Aloy what had happened. If something was making the machines hostile again, then we needed to find out what it was and stop it. If that meant making the trip to GAIA Prime sooner than planned, then that's what we had to do.

More AN: See you next chapter! I have a free weekend so that means more time to write! Unless I get distracted of course. XD