Aloy wandered aimlessly through Mother's Watch, surveying the repair effort as she walked, but shifted her gaze down to the ground as she began to climb the steps towards All-Mother Mountain. After defeating HADES, or at least remained of the sentient machine, Aloy had found herself returning home to the Sacred Lands, specifically to Mother's Watch, where she hid herself away in All-Mother Mountain, talking with the newly rebuilt GAIA function. Of course, GAIA wouldn't have been there without Sylens' help, for which Aloy was both thankful for, and resentful of. The man had his fair share of secrets, and refused to let Aloy meddle on his personal life, and she was merely a child, what could he have expected of her. But now, Aloy was turning into Sylens herself, secluding herself away inside of All-Mother Mountain, dedicating hours upon hours to talking with GAIA, sleeping as close to the AI as possible, and asking her question upon question of the world before. As she entered the main level of the ELEUTHIA facility, she made her way through the open door to her right, and began her descent down to the lower level of the facility, ever mindful of the loose cables that still hung freely around her. She touched the lower landing and made her way towards the control panel and took a seat on the stool that she had brought with her on one of her previous trips to the facility. With the touch of her palm to the Scanner, Aloy came face-to-face with the newly reconstituted GAIA. The AI immediately found a smile when her eyes landed on the young woman, so close in genetic date to her own creator, though an entirely different person (no thanks to Ted Faro for the destruction of her APOLLO sub-function).

"Aloy, it is always a pleasure to see your face." GAIA began warmly, the smile on her face reaching up to twinkle in her eyes.

"I have missed you GAIA. My travels are far lonelier without being able to talk to you." Aloy replied, a small fleck of a smile on her face.

"You sound... Sad. Disappointed perhaps. What troubles you young one?" GAIA asked as the figure of her knelt down to be eye-level with Aloy.

"There's just... I don't understand why it was me? Why I became this hero that was born to be Elisabet all over again. Don't get me wrong, everything that she did preserved life on the planet, but Faro basically dimmed that hope so drastically by destroying one of your essential sub-functions. And then the HADES sub-function generating a whole new swarm to destroy the terraforming system that Elisabet created when it became rogue... It's all so much GAIA, and there are still so many questions that I have that remain unanswered..." Aloy rambled, tears pricking the corners of her hazel eyes as she fought desperately with the emotions that ravaged through her heart.

"Aloy... My dear child... I am sorry that I have not done my duty in helping you understand all of the answers to the questions that you have, but perhaps I can help you find the answers that you seek." GAIA sounded almost hopeful, and even Aloy could sense that through the AI's gentle tone.

"What could that be GAIA?" The teenager asked, wiping the tears away from her now slightly puffy cheeks.

"Go to the ruins of GAIA Prime. Activate my panel in the Alpha room. I will do all that I possibly can for you." GAIA promised as she looked down at the young girl before her.

Aloy understood, and softly bid farewell to GAIA until she could find her way back into the old Prime facility. As she climbed back up the old elevator shaft and exited the facility, she collided with another Nora tribesman upon her entrance back into the heart of the mountain. Both bodies collapsed to the ground, and with a start, Aloy turned her gaze towards her new visitor. Her eyes locked with those of Varl, and she found herself smiling before making her way back onto her feet. The two of them brushed away the dust that had collected on their leathers before making eye contact once more.

"I came down when Teersa said that she had seen you come this way. I thought you would like some company." Varl spoke with a sheepish grin.

"That's a sweet offer, but I'm actually leaving now. I'm making my way back to GAIA Prime." Aloy replied as she took hold of her Sharpshot bow, which had fallen from her back when she fell.

"Where is GAIA Prime?" Varl asked.

"Out to the far north of Meridian, past a hoard of machines. The last time I was there, there were Stalkers, Watchers, Glinthawks, and a couple of Ravagers. Hopefully there won't be a Stormbird this time around. The facility is in a blown out portion of a mountain side." Aloy spoke; a tiny spark of anger flared behind her eyes as she thought of the machines at the base of the mountain. Involuntarily, she traced the scars on her left arm.

"I will go with you. Remember, the Matriarchs made those of us that traveled to Meridian Seekers. I should have no trouble following you to GAIA Prime." Varl concluded as he turned towards the hallway that lead out of All-Mother Mountain.

With a chuckle, Aloy followed her self-proclaimed companion out of the mountain, followed by the village, and finally through the Daytower gate after a few hours of walking. Along the way, the two companions fought a handful of machines, though nothing as dangerous as Corruptors or Deathbringers, and had shared a small dinner of rabbit along the way through the Sacred Lands. They talked for the remaining hours of travel between the Daytower gate and the way to GAIA Prime, and only stopped when they came upon the climb to the top of the mountain. Aloy, of course, led the way, having been through the path before. As she had thought, there was once again a hoard of machines to fight though, but it took far less time to accomplish with Varl at her side. The Stalkers were, of course, the primary challenge with their camouflage enhancement, and the Ravagers were no better, but they had finally been disposed of, and the duo once again made their way up the mountain side to the top where old, rusted steel littered the ground.

"I guess your Stormbird is avoiding you this time." Varl joked as he came to stand at Aloy's side.

"It would seem that way, but I'm not putting my guard down this time." Aloy replied back with a chuckle before she pressed onward through the snow; Varl was close at her heels.

As they continued, Aloy confidently led the way up to the entrance of GAIA Prime, and with practiced patience, slowly led Varl through the old facility. He marveled at all of the steel and technology around him, and had to stop as often as he could to look closely at the details of some piece of the facilities history. He stopped at the blasted hallway that would lead them to the other half of the facility, where Aloy recalled the Alpha control room was, and almost refused to cross the fractured steel.

"You're sure that this won't collapse when I try to come across?" He questioned, not trusting the metal before him.

"Varl, this this has been standing this way for nearly twenty years. You'll be fine." She laughed as she looked between one of her own tribe's Braves and the hunk of steel that made him shiver ever so slightly.

He finally garnered the confidence to cross the jagged steel by way of rope and footholds, and was now hunched over at Aloy's side trying to calm himself down.

"The great Varl, son of Sona, afraid of heights? I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself." Aloy teased before she began to walk away.

Varl, not wanting to be left behind in the unfamiliar facility, immediately ran to catch up to his companion. The two of them climbed through a few more empty shafts, and made their way up another blown apart flight of stairs before coming upon the Alpha control room. Varl stopped at the entrance when his eyes landed upon the corpses in the room. Aloy gently brought her hand to his shoulder, gave it a gentle squeeze, and made her way further into the room.

"What... What happened to them Aloy?" He asked, confusion and sadness tinging his voice. He looked from the corpses to Aloy, who now stood rigid near the middle of the room.

"He killed them... He killed all of them, and left us with nothing of their history." She ground out, trying painfully hard to keep the rage from bubbling into her voice. She remembered the Hologram. She remembered how he had managed to override their core control system and prevent them from accessing any of the Alpha protocols. She remembered how the air rushed past her into the room when she opened the door. She remembered everything that Ted Faro had said in his holographic projection.

"What? Why would he do that? And who is He?" Varl asked, genuinely confused. The one thing that Aloy left out of her tales of travel across the land, was Ted Faro. She deliberately left out every word that he said, left out every image of him that she saw, ignored his hologram and opted to only listen to Elisabet. She never told anyone about Ted Faro, not even the Matriarchs.

"Ted Faro. He's the man that created the machines. He's the one who paid for them to be left in the ground. He's the one who killed these men and women, and left us without any knowledge of our ancestral past. He took everything we could have been away from us." Aloy practically exploded from the rage that burned in the pit of her stomach. She rounded on Varl, and if it weren't for the tears that were falling down her cheeks, he would have been absolutely terrified of her.

His heart softened for his friend, and without a second thought, he pulled her into him and just held her close. She rested her head on his chest, and was calmed by the gentle, steady beating of his heart. They stayed that way for only a few minutes, but within that time, their bond had only grown. Aloy was the one to pull away, and moved to wipe the tears away, but Varl had beaten her to it. He gently wiped away her tears with the pads of his thumbs. She looked up at him, completely dumbfounded by his show of affection towards her.

"You know, tears don't really fit you all that well. I'm too used to seeing the different War Chief that you are. So much like my mother, and yet so different. You carry yourself with pride and grace, and these tears do not befit a warrior of that status." Varl spoke gently, as if the bodies in the room could hear him if he spoke any louder.

Aloy could only manage a wet laugh in response before she turned away from Varl and made to look around the room. Before she did that, she made her way to the podium and touched her palm to the scanner. In moments, GAIA appeared before them in the holographic terminal in the middle of the table. Aloy looked up to her with a smile, which was returned by the AI, before her gaze traveled over to the other occupant of the room. Varl tried to shrink from her gaze, but couldn't find a way to make himself small enough.

"Aloy, who is your companion?" The AI asked as she looked between the two of them.

"This is Varl, a member of my tribe." Aloy began as she looked up at the AI. "Varl, this is GAIA. She's an AI that Elisabet created to combat the swarm. She's also the main reason that we are even here." Aloy introduced Varl to the one creation that was as close to Elisabet as she could get.

"Hello Varl, I am pleased to make your acquaintance." GAIA spoke gently with a smile as she looked at the young man before her.

"I believe that I should be the one saying that to you." Varl replied in awe as he looked at the AI before him.

GAIA smiled warmly at him before returning her gaze to Aloy, who was gazing up at her with the biggest smile on her face. GAIA knew exactly what she wanted, and after nearly one thousand years, she knew what needed to be done. With the physical show of a sigh, GAIA once more looked to Aloy, who now seemed to have deflated a little at GAIA's action. Feeling the need to brighten the young girl back up, GAIA consoles her by saying it was not a show of annoyance, but a show of nervousness. Without really waiting for Aloy to process the AI's statement, GAIA flared to life before the two of them. Varl pulled Aloy back from the burst of light, and just moments after it started, GAIA's display was over. It was at the moment that Aloy heard the shifting of steel and stone, and turned her head to the right. There, before her very eyes, another door appeared, and as it came to be, the dial in the center went from red to blue. Varl followed her gaze, and followed her as she began to walk towards this new room.

"Aloy... I hope that this helps you." GAIA called as she looked at the young woman's back. Aloy turned on her heel almost immediately.

"GAIA, if this turns out to be what I hope it will be, I could only wish that you had a physical form for me to hug." Aloy called back with the largest smile her face could hold.

The AI smiled back, almost as wide, as she watched the young duo make their way into the new room. With a small sigh of sadness, she glanced down at the corpses that were either sat in a chair, or sprawled out on the floor. This was not what Elisabet wanted. This was not how Zero Dawn was supposed to play out. HADES had run rampant after so long, and all she could do was blow the reactors to prevent HADES from taking control of the terraforming systems. All that Elisabet had worked for had gone rogue or became erratic. GAIA took one last look at the bodies around her, and could feel herself grieve over the loss of their lives. If Elisabet had only been there...

Aloy and Varl entered the side room, and the door closed behind them almost immediately, causing the two to turn around in surprise. Aloy went back over to the door and tried to open it, but to no avail. She turned back around and looked at Varl with a grim look etched into her features.

"Maybe there's another way out. I'm sure GAIA wouldn't just lock us in here with no way to leave." Varl tried to reassure Aloy to the best of his ability, but the look remained.

"I'm sure you're right, but what was the point of that door if it was only a one way entrance?" Aloy questioned as she began to move around the room.

As the duo came towards the center of the room, lights suddenly flickered to life, and the room was illuminated in the blue and purple glow that the remainder of the facility still had. As their eyes adjusted to the new, harsh light, they landed on a tube that rested against the far wall of the room, with a monitor next to it showing a picture of a human body and various highlighted regions. Aloy's curiosity got the better of her, and she slowly made her way over to the object of her fascination. When she got to it, she immediately scanned it with her Focus.

"Sylenz? Sylenz do you see this?" She asked, to what Varl thought was the wind, until he saw her hand up by her ear.

"I do Aloy... That is what the Old Ones referred to as Cryogenics. They would freeze the body while the person was still alive, though placed in a deep sleep, and would monitor them as they began to go into the stasis process. I am curious, though, as to how and when this process was completed? By the accounts that I was able to salvage, there was very little record of this having been possible." Sylenz recounted to Aloy through their Focus network.

"What do I do? Should I open it?" Aloy asked as she made to move her free hand towards the tube.

"No! If you do that, the body may go into shock and kill whomever is inside!" Sylenz all but yelled, causing Aloy to wrench her hand back to her side. "Go over to the control panel and try to bring the system back online. Or have GAIA help you." Sylenz offered.

Aloy did just that. When she looked at the panel and didn't see anything that looked familiar, she asked GAIA to help her. Surprisingly, GAIA was able to jump into the mainframe and reboot the system surprisingly quickly, and within a few moments, the screen began to show the cold parts on the body turn to various shades of yellow, orange, and red.

"Aloy, the system is back up and running, and should complete this heat-cycle within the next few minutes. Until then, please do not touch the stasis tube or the panel itself. I will take care of everything from here." GAIA's voice rang out through the room as Aloy made her way over to Varl.

The minutes felt like they dragged on for hours, but within time, the screen showed message after message, until GAIA finally said that Aloy and Varl could open the lid of the tube. The duo made their way over and each took hold of the latch that held the lid in place. Each of them, though they'd never admit it, was nervous to see the body of whomever was in cryogenic stasis within the tube, and admittedly took just a moment too long to open the lid. But when they finally did, Aloy stepped back in shock. The familiar red hair was the first thing that gave the person away, then their face, the outfit, and the watch around their wrist. A plain white band with a black screen attached to it. Aloy would recognize this figure anywhere, and was fully aware of who they were when their eyes finally shifted open.

Elisabet stared up at the ceiling above her, and slowly blinked her eyes into focus. After a few moments, she was able to move her fingers, followed by other extremities, and then finally turn her head. When she looked to her left, her eyes were immediately drawn to the mane of red hair that stood next to her, and then the hazel eyes that rested just below. Their eyes locked together, and Elisabet swore that she saw the teenage version of herself, but didn't think that it would be possible. Before she could even utter a word, GAIA's voice came over the remaining intercom in the room.

"Good evening Dr. Sobeck. Please wait for vitals verification."

Elisabet remained motionless while GAIA's scanners did their work, and her vitals were measured. She knew that her heart rate would be rather erratic, having just woken up from extended sleep and seeing a younger version of yourself, but she calmed herself as much as she could.

"Scan complete. Vitals are to near normal levels." GAIA concluded.

"Thank you GAIA." Elisabet replied, though her voice was scratchy and her throat was parched.

She began to shift around in the tube, and fought to get herself upright into a sitting position. Trying to support herself with her arms proved to be useless, as her muscles were still stiff and rather unusable. Before she fell back into the tube, however, she felt an arm wrap around her back to support her. She looked to her left and met hazel eyes and red hair once again. She cleared her throat before speaking.

"Thank you..." She managed to get out before turning to look down at her legs.

"You're Dr. Sobeck..." Aloy whispered as she looked at the woman in her grasp.

"Yes, I am. But who are you? I don't recall having met you before." Elisabet replied as she shifted her legs over the side of the tube.

"Aloy of the Nora Tribe, though the tribe is not a true part of me." Aloy replied as she and Varl helped Elisabet stand up on solid ground once more.

"It's nice to meet you, Aloy. Who's your friend?"

"Varl. He's another member of the tribe who offered to come with me here." Aloy introduced Varl to Elisabet with practiced ease.

"It's very nice to meet you Dr. Sobeck." Varl commented as he helped Aloy guide the older woman around the room to circulate the blood back into her legs.

"Please, call me Elisabet or Lis. Dr. Sobeck is too formal for my taste anyways." Elisabet replied with a chuckle as she slowly extracted herself from her assistants.

"Very well Elisabet. Can you manage on your own now?" Aloy asked, hands still slightly outstretched so that she could grab Elisabet if she began to fall over again.

"I believe so, thank you Aloy." Elisabet replied as she took a few more steadying steps in a small circle.

"We should get back to the Sacred Lands. I'm almost certain that Sona will be looking for me soon." Varl almost cringed at the thought of his mother rampaging around the gate looking high and low for him.

"I'm sure when she sees me, all thoughts of hanging you by your ankles will be forgotten." Aloy smirked as she looked over at Varl.

"Ha ha, Aloy, very funny." Varl deadpanned as he looked at the redhead.

Elisabet smiled at the scene playing out before her, and suddenly, her interest in the young woman piqued once more. She sighed softly, almost uneasily, before turning towards the monitor that had been keeping her vitals for the last several hundred years, apparently. With a few pokes at the screen, she had pulled up the ELEUTHAIA Cradle facility, and the multitude of birth records from the last thirty years. As she skimmed through the files, she came upon one titled #LK1A1-4510 and clicked on it. In seconds, the file opened and the first thing that popped up was a photo of her. She tilted her head slightly in confusion before looking deeper into the file, finding date and time of "birth", as well as the genetic match data that proved Aloy to be a carbon copy of herself. GAIA must have had Aloy genetically created for the sole purpose of stopping something that only Elisabet's DNA could stop, which would require a complete genetic copy, but what? Elisabet pondered this question for only a moment longer before she felt a hand rest reassuringly on her shoulder. She turned to look at Aloy over her shoulder.

"Elisabet, we should get going. It'll be too dark to travel soon, and I'll need to find a way to get you down from this facility safely." Aloy commented as she looked at the older woman.

"I understand. Shall I wait here?" Elisabet asked as she turned to look at Aloy full on.

"Yes, and Varl will stay with you. We just discussed this plan." Aloy replied as she looked over at Varl with a small smile.

Varl made his way over to Elisabet's side and draped his furs around her shoulders. She nodded her thanks and wrapped it tighter around herself before joining him at the far side of the room and taking a seat on an old desk. Before the two of them could blink, Aloy had made her way out of the room and began climbing towards the roof.

"If anything, I'll take that Stormbird now. Or a group of Glinthawks... I won't be picky." She conceded as the snow began to nip at her exposed skin. Without a second thought, she continued her ascent.