Since I know people are going to ask...This is a Horizon Forbidden West cross with HP. In which Elisabet is really Fem Harry who changed her name and then the world itself while living a mundane life.
Hades' final words after she finally ended the insane program bothered her more than she wanted to admit. She thought she knew most of Elisabet's secrets. However he mentioned that she would never find the "Origin's" final secret, something that was only briefly mentioned in her diaries and hinted at in Gaia's final words as "Rhea's Rest".
She knew she had the key, as Hades had recognized it, but she had no idea what Rhea's Rest was or why it had been important enough that she had to hide it from the others working on Zero Dawn.
It was a final secret project that Gaia was aware of, but had kept silent from the other researchers...the only thing Aloy knew for certain was that Rhea's Rest was tied heavily to a program she called "Hecate" and it was one of her final gifts to the world. A hidden sanctuary filled with wonderous things that would be safe from Hades.
Hades knew of the sanctuary...had been quietly programmed to ignore the area so long as containment never failed...but he would not part with it's location. Not even Sylen had been able to get that information from him.
Aloy put it out of mind, and continued her search for Gaia's back-up. She was desperate to find it, as the system had spun out of control since her death.
A few scant weeks later, she succeeded, though it had nearly cost her life in the process. She had no idea there was a second Elisabet clone.
In the lab...
Aloy stared at Gaia with amazement and no small measure of pride. She had finally managed to awaken Gaia, as weakened as she was.
Then the program told her something that would change things forever.
"Wait...Hecate is here?" said Aloy.
"Hecate's access point is within this base. It was hidden from the other programs in sleep mode and was unaffected by the mystery signal," said Gaia.
"How do I access it? What was it's purpose?"
"The purpose of Hecate can only be disclosed once it is activated. Unfortunately, I will require assistance to do so."
"What sort of assistance? Another program?" asked Aloy.
"To activate Hecate, we require the key to awakening Rhea's Rest," said Gaia.
"Hades said I had the key...but he never said what it was," mused Aloy.
Gaia pulled up a very familiar object. It was the small Earth pendant that Aloy carried with her ever since she found Elisabet's suit...which had been oddly empty. She had assumed that the woman she had been cloned from had disappeared due to the elements and Gaia's terra-forming operations.
"The pendant?"
"My database indicates that the only way to awaken Rhea's Rest...is by boiling the pendant in a pot of hot water and delivering the resulting concoction to an area of the base. Unfortunately, that area is still restricted. I will need at least one of the missing sub protocols to access it."
Well, she had come this far. Still, the idea of having to boil Elisabet's pendant of all things seemed a little odd.
With that in mind, Aloy went in search of one of the sub protocols. Aether was closest, and with it's retrieval the base opened up a bit more.
Enough to awaken Rhea's Rest and hopefully uncover more about Elisabet.
"So you have to boil that pendant of yours...and dump the entire pot into that?" said Varl, confused.
That, as it turned out, was an odd tube of sorts that lead deeper into the base. The concoction smelled beyond strange and it didn't look appealing in the least. Aloy had come to far to question doing strange things.
Aloy dumped the entire pot down the tube, making not to spill any. She saw it go down and wondered where the other end lead.
When she finished, she tried to listen. The base was rather quiet, which made it a good place to think.
In the distance, she thought she heard something.
"Is that...hissing?" she said.
"I think it is. Wonder what that stuff did...though I hope it doesn't release into the rest of the base."
"Me too," said Aloy. That stuff had smelled rather unpleasant and it had been bad enough carrying it to the tube.
"Aloy. Rhea's Rest has begun to awaken. However it will take some time for it to complete."
"Guess I'll go find Poseidon in the meantime then," said Aloy.
Deep inside the base, the concoction was turned into an aerosol and released into a small room that had been kept secluded and hermetically sealed. A figure clad in garments that had all but fallen apart from age began to twitch as their body went through the process of waking up.
Once Gaia had registered that the person within was more or less awaken, she spoke.
"Good morning, Doctor Rhea."
"Good morning Gaia," said the woman. She looked close to her forties or fifties. Her hair was gray with age and stress. "How long was I sleeping?"
"It has been well over one thousand years since you put yourself into hibernation," said Gaia.
"A thousand years?" she repeated in surprise. That didn't sound right. Add in the fact that Gaia had called her Doctor Rhea said volumes that something had gone wrong. Gaia never called her Rhea.
First things first...she would need to find new clothes and do something she had been putting off since the machines had made it impossible to breath outside without a suit. There was little point in doing it the world had gone to hell.
"Gaia, what's the atmosphere like outside?" asked Rhea.
Gaia dutifully gave her the weather forecast. Obviously, Zero Dawn had worked because that pendant was nowhere near Minerva. And Gaia wouldn't have bothered to awaken her personally, as she knew Rhea needed her rest and was tired of the world in general.
Rhea stepped outside...and her suspicion something had gone terribly wrong increased dramatically. There was no way that Zero Dawn would go this catastrophically bad...not without outside interference. The blighted plants were a good indicator of that.
"Gaia...give me an overview of everything that's happened since the system went AWOL," said Rhea.
"Of course, Doctor Rhea," said Gaia.
Hearing how Hades went completely out of control was bad, but learning that Gaia had been so desperate to create a clone to set things right. Rhea was frowning big time. She could look at the data once she had completed her task for the moment. Her body was already starting to feel the effects of being asleep for a thousand years.
Outside the base...
Aloy was about to head into the base when she saw the massive pillar of fire to the east. The second she came inside she went straight to Gaia.
"Gaia, what was that?" she asked.
"Rhea's Rest has become fully active. However the Hecate protocol will still take time to set up," replied Gaia.
"Wait...Rhea's Rest is active, but Hecate isn't?" said Aloy. "Hold on...what exactly is Rhea's Rest?"
"Rhea's Rest is the hibernation chamber of Doctor Rhea Potter. She alone can activate Hecate," said Gaia.
"Hibernation chamber?" said Varl. "You mean this Rhea person was asleep this whole time?"
"Doctor Rhea went into hibernation the day Elisabet Sobeck died. She has been in hibernation until the pendant awakened her."
"Okay, I'm confused," said Aloy. "Who is Rhea Potter? Why would she need Elisabet's pendant to wake up?"
"I am afraid I cannot answer that," said Gaia. "However Doctor Rhea will likely answer all questions by tomorrow morning."
"So we wait another day. Great," said Aloy. "Still more questions to answer."
A burning day sucked, but it was a necessity to reorient herself to the magical leylines inside the earth. She had never felt them so pure, so clean before.
It seemed like Hecate had quietly done it's job well.
Once she reentered the base, she put on her focus.
"Alright Gaia...tell me everything about this girl Aloy," said Rhea.
She wanted a measure of the woman she was about to shock the hell out of before she introduced herself. There was no way Aloy or her allies were prepared for this.
"As you wish, Doctor Rhea," said Gaia. She sent the woman a copy of Aloy's focus.
The girl had it rough, being born an outcast...but she was at least loved. Rhea could already tell she could trust Aloy at least with her greatest secret. After all, there was no way any of her old life could come back to bite her in the ass.
Anyone that could use it against her was long dead, after all.
Once she had some proper clothes, she got something to eat and drink...particularly the local equivalent of coffee. She was going to need it.
The next morning...
Gaia was as polite as ever.
"Good morning, Doctor Rhea. The others are expecting you," said Gaia.
"Thank you Gaia. I'm as ready as I'll ever be...I guess."
The second Aloy saw Doctor Rhea, she froze. The look of utter shock filled her features, as well as that of her companions.
"What... Aloy, she looks just like you!" said one of the men.
"Elisabet?" said Aloy, in disbelief.
Doctor Rhea Potter...or rather, Elisabet Sobeck...gave a sheepish smile.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions."
Aloy and her friends were in utter disbelief. Elisabet Sobeck was right in front of them, in the flesh. She looked exactly like she did in the old pictures when Zero Dawn was first created.
"How is this possible? I thought you were dead," said Aloy. She sounded so lost...it took everything in Rhea's power not to hug the poor girl.
Rhea still had that sheepish smile on her face.
"To put it simply the pendant you boiled contained a counter agent to a potion I used to put myself into a hibernative state."
"A hibernative state?" said Aloy. "How is that possible?"
"It's a little hard to explain...particularly since Ted's paranoia and stupidity caused APOLLO to be erased," said Rhea in open annoyance. "There is a force within the Earth itself...it's an energy that humanity was once able to tap into. Hecate was a learning program that contained all the knowledge I was able to save on how to access that energy and use it. Gaia was supposed to identify those with the specific gene and have them discreetly trained alongside those learning from APOLLO to make the transition easier."
If she ever saw Ted Farro again, she was going to punch the bastard.
"So this energy is the reason you're alive?" asked Aloy slowly. This was Elisabet...Rhea they were talking about.
"There were plants and animals that could create herbal remedies that allow those who knew how to use the energy to do amazing things. The pendant you boiled had the counter-agent to the one I used to put myself into a coma," said Rhea.
"What about the fire earlier?" asked Varl. Because that still bugged him a lot.
Rhea had a mischievous smile on her face.
With a bit of a twirl, where Rhea had been was now a massive bird with red and gold feathers that would look like she was on fire in the right light.
It let out a friendly trill, which seemed to ease everyone's nerves before it turned back into Rhea.
"I learned a particularly difficult trick that turned me into what was once called an animagus. Basically I can turn into a phoenix...an ancient bird that can heal others with it's tears and has a few...fiery...abilities," said Rhea.
"Wait...does that mean Aloy can do that too?" said Erend.
"She can, but only after she's been trained. And there's no guarantee she'll turn into the same thing I can," said Rhea. "After all, she's a clone of me and that sort of gift is passed through the blood."
Aloy was clearly overwhelmed...after all, she had been chasing Elisabet's shadow for years now. Being faced with the woman herself, even under a new name was pretty shocking.
"I know you have a lot of questions Aloy. I will try to answer them as I can...but you have to remember I've been asleep for a very long time. And I can tell from the way things are outside that we have a great deal to set right."
"We?" said Aloy, confused.
"You didn't think I'd let you go on this quest solo, did you? I know what it's like to go on grand adventures, and some things are made better with company," said Rhea smiling at her.
Besides, it would let her learn more about her pseudo-daughter.