Chapter Text
Nil watched from afar, taking care to pounce if anything went wrong with the test that the little spark, Beta, wanted to do. It was impressive how fast Nil lost the younger flamed hair girl through the thick red grass. He couldn't see what she saw through her second sight, but he could tell she was patiently waiting for the ravager to circle back on its trail. Watching the ravine below Nil spotted the flame hair hesitate through the grass as the machine beast drew closer and closer. It didn't help that there were other machines circling about doing their patrols; two watchers and another ravager, an apex, a little further away from the rest.
From what flame hair had explained the 'apex' beasts couldn't be tamed and were worse to fight than their normal looking counterparts. Nil knew and heard of the black and heavy plated machines pop up more and more around the stillsands from further North down to the deep desert surrounding Vegas. Nil kept a particular close eye on the big machine, knowing full well if anything happened to the little spark below he would never hear the end of it from her fearsome sister, Aloy, if not she'd probably try to kill him. Something Nil wouldn't blame her in the slightest for.
It was Nil who convinced Beta to finally test her work on the override, despite her constant need to improve and not wanting anything to slip through the cracks of controlling not just one, but any machines at her disposal. To keep the connection permanent instead of temporarily for the bigger machine beasts. A conquest Beta wanted to achieve if they were to fight Nemesis, a threat from beyond the sky's, one that had even Nil intimated to fight. The fear of the unknown Kotallo had explained as they spoke about the battle to come. They were all preparing for the worst even if they had no clue what was going to happen.
Watching Beta press her spear and override onto the side of the ravager, Nil felt his heart pound counting the seconds it took to override the beast. He could see her hands wave and flurry in front of her, hell he could practically feel her fear and desperation for the override to work. Each pounding heartbeat and second felt like forever till the thick vines of control wove all over the ravager and its yellow eyes turned a deep blue different from the light blue of its calm patrol state. Nil smirked and cheering inside, before letting it fall seeing how close the Apex was, too close for his liking.
Knocking back an arrow, Nil caught how Beta quickly made her way to the watchers like a snake pouncing onto her prey. It had Nil colored impressed at how much more quickly the watchers were taken control of compared to the ravager. It was then a chilling roar from the Apex alarmed Nil to a fight. Pulling back the arrow in and hitting the Apex Ravager the action stunned it for a moment unsure of where the attack came from before it was soon taken over by the overridden one by Beta along with the Watchers.
Watching the fight was impressive as the fight with three against one even an Apex was over in moments. Nil was stunned as he stood over the ravine and smiled as Beta came rushing towards him with the brightest smile on her face and joy in her eyes.
"I did it!! It worked!" Beta cheered.
"That it did, little spark ." Nil grinned. "Your sister is going to be proud and happy to hear of this."
Beta faltered, the look she gave him was odd before she gave him a firm nod. Turning back to the machines that were under her control, they seemed to be doing their usual patrol till she let out a loud whistle. The sound piercing and echoing through the ravine. It was all the machines needed to answer Beta's call rushing and stopping right before them. Beta touched the top of the ravager's head noticing the damage the Apex had done to it along with a Watcher limping on one of its legs and the other having a gash along its side.
"They look a little worse for wear, but nothing Aloy can help me fix."
Nil nodded, remembering how Aloy had done so many times after a race. "Are you going to ride that thing back home?" He said pointing at the ravager.
"I- what?!" Beta stammered.
She looked at the beast, noticing a place on top of its back just before the tracking radars had cords tied into a nest and reigns waiting for a rider to sit in place. Nil saw the nervous agitated look in Beta's eyes before she turned to him.
"C-can you help me up there?" She asked, pointing to the spot.
Nil bit his lip trying to hold back a smirk as he held out his hand and kneeled on the ground.
"Make sure to hold on tight when I boost you up there, alright."
Giving a firm nod and hyping herself up, Nil could see the gears in her mind churning every step thinking and overthinking everything through. Taking a couple steps back and running up to him, Nil caught her foot and boosted her up near the top where the riding spot lay.
"T-thanks." Beta gasped trying to catch her breath as her chest hit the side of the ravager hard.
Pulling herself the rest of the way up, Nil did his best not to stare. Of course he had noticed the lein muscle that had grown on her since meeting her for the first time. The spark in her eyes that had grown with each passing day. The nervous, yet brave streak she had when adventuring into the wilds. She wasn't a fighter like her Aloy by any means, but what she lacked in fighting she made up for more than enough with her brain and wit.
Both flamed haired sisters could run circles around anyone and everyone on old world knowledge and hidden sight, but Beta a bit more so with how much she rambled about how the old ones worked even if Nil only understood half of what she was saying. He loved listening to her ramble and talk with no hesitation in sight. Her passion and ability to work around complicated situations and when things went topside was a gift few possessed.
Plus she was pretty crafty when it can to throwing bomb blasts and frost or electric blasts at machines or plans that had gone bad. Nil had sat impressed watching her throw new plama bombs she made with deadly accuracy at scrappers even before they got to the ravine.
"Huh, not so bad. For now." Beta spoke out loud to herself.
Standing back Nil watched as Beta urged the Ravager forward with the Watchers following close behind. It was a slow process as she got used to how the Ravager moved both lumbering around and into a prance.
"You're a natural, little spark ." Nil praised.
If she wasn't prancing on the Ravager running circles around him, Nil would've noticed the blush on her cheeks. Calling out to the Ravager to run, run it did, before she could say anything else. Nil's eyes widened in surprise as he watched Beta and her Ravager rush off towards the base. He rushed off to his Strider kicking it into a harsh leap running behind Beta and catching up to her Watchers. The Ravager, bigger and faster than a Clawstrider or Strider, made it almost impossible to keep up behind the flame hair girl.
With the ride back to base it didn't take as long to get back. Even with the slightly stop they had to make when the one Watcher's leg finally gave out and the other Watcher helped lift it up onto the back of the Ravager behind Beta. It was strange in every sense of the word seeing the machines act in such a way, but with Beta's influence it seemed anything was possible.
Reaching the entrance of the base, Nil got off his Strider watching as Beta looked around wondering how she was going to get down. Carefully siding down the front it was still a step way down from how tall the machine was and with all the override cords woven in the way. One wrong step was all it took for Beta to go flying forward, but not before Nil rushed over to catch her in his arms. His one arm wrapped around her thighs and the other around her waist, while her chest was clearly in his face. Nil did his best not to let it distract him as he lowered her down to the ground.
"I-I am- !" Beta stopped and buried her face in her hands as she leaned against the Ravager, her face was as red as her hair.
Nil could only laugh. "No harm done, little spark. "
The laughing stopped as Beta's smile faded, her face had become serious and nervous as she kicked the grass and hugged herself.
"Why do you call me that?" Beta asked.
"What?"
"You calling me, little spark, why?"
Nil didn't expect the rush of his heart and sudeen stop of his brain trying to come up with an excuse, but he knew he couldn't. Never to her, he had learned. Out of all the things in life Nil had learned about himself good and bad, mostly bad, is lying to himself wasn't worth the effort. Nil knew he wasn't a good man, not with the past he had, but Aloy gave him a chance to live for something better. He had found it here in the West and now-
"I call you that cause even the smallest embers or sparks can cause a raging inferno."
Beta let out a shaky breath looking away and pacing, he smiled slightly letting her take some time to absorb and analyze his wording. Hoping she would realize what he was telling her.
"I do that to you?" She asked suddenly. "Make you feel…for me?" She hesitated. "You feel something for me?"
Nil chuckled trying to hid the pain in his chest knowing better, "You make it sound like a bad thing."
He knew Beta, like her sister Aloy weren't good with emotions both their own and others around them, but he saw how they were learning and growing to be better in their own ways. Nil saw how Aloy slowly learned she was more than what she was born to do. He saw how Beta grew confident in herself to face the world both physically and mentally. Learning of Beta's past both through Beta's own snippets, and Kotallo and Aloy's own story of how they met Beta, it boiled Nil's blood with disgust how the Zeniths treated Beta like a disposable doll. Plus how they killed and wanted the kill the world for their own gain because of Nemesis and take the only think keeping the world together with Gaia.
"I- didn't mean-" Beta started, but the look Nil gave her stopped her.
"It's alright. I know feelings aren't exactly you and your sister's forte." Nil knew he was known for his snark and careless and can do attitude, but something about Beta did something unexplainable to him like she was at the moment glancing at him as she paced with hope and fear all at once. "I understand if you don't. You can tell me to stop if-"
"I don't!" Beta cried as she stopped pacing and stood straight staring right at him. "I don't- I- I like it when you call me, that." The blush across her cheeks made the freckles across her nose and cheeks more noticeable.
" Little spark. " Nil purred with a smirk slowly crossing his face as Beta grumbled and flushed with embarrassment.
"Could- don't say it like that." She stuttered.
"But you like it." Nil teased and echoed.
Beta scoffed trying to hide her emotions which Nil already saw through. The sun was low in the sky, the pinks, oranges, and blues slowly grew darker and darker turning into night. If it wasn't for the lights of the machine's eyes glowing it would of been a lot harder to see Beta move to help the Watcher down from the Ravager's back with the other Watcher's help.
"We'll talk more later, alright?" Beta asked nervously toying with the Watcher's limp leg.
Nil nodded, "I'll stay here. Go tell Aloy the news your override worked."
Beta stepped away as Nil turned to the machine curious even with no second sight to see how the machine worked. He could feel Beta's eyes on him till he heard the door of the base open and close as he waited for her to come back.