Chapter Text
Lost Kin thinks about their life in the past and present. What they’ve seen. What they’ve felt. What they want. Sealed Family au.
Kin likes Deepnest. The Weavers and Spiders are kind and patient with them, especially when they take much longer to complete a simple weaving pattern. It’s not their fault, though. Their shell had been permanently broken from … from …
From what?
The recesses of their memories are foggy and dark. Their busy hands become idle, and the Weaver who is watching them, helping them, skitters close as if to ask ‘what’s wrong?’
Kin wants to give them an answer, but they don’t know it. Almost mindlessly, they touch the edges of their broken shell before jerking back.
Sorry. They sign to the Weaver. I got lost in my head.
——
They don’t remember how they got here. Just that when Ghost finally came, they felt angry. She took that anger and then their body. And then, and then … did it happen again?
No. It couldn’t have. They had died.
How are they alive?
Ghost, right? Right.
Why were they angry?
They didn’t suffer!
They represented hope when Kin had none?
Yes, yes. That … that had to be it. There’s no use reminiscing on painful memories. They should go home.
So they do.
—————-
I once fought here. Ghost signs to Kin. Their sibling had wanted to take them to a place that made them stronger.
…
It was the dead maw of the creature that startled them. The open hole of their shell ached. Their chest seemed to want to explode.
But they moved forwards. It’s for Ghost.
I don’t even know why they have a Shade room. Or how they made it. Ghost muses. Every time I would fall in the Colosseum, my Shade would always be right here.
And with that, Kin screamed with a voice not of their own.
————
The first feeling Kin felt was curiosity, then fear.
They’re dreaming. They don’t want to dream. They don’t want to hurt anyone.
“This is not a dream.” A cunning voice sounds through the void, bringing color to the eternal darkness. “It is a nightmare.”
Kin opens their eyes to see … Ghost. And a small Hollow. And hundreds of other vessels. Kin isn’t strong like Hollow, nor agile like Ghost. Kin is just … Kin. Small, unable to get out of the pit.
Ghost and Hollow climb, and only Ghost falls down.
The vessels around them wither away slowly. Ghost wanders off into the Abyss and isn’t seen again. In a fit of anger, Kin punches one of the walls of the Abyss, and it gives way to their small burst of rage.
They escape. Escape into the maw of a dead creature.
They’re given a nail. And they fight. And they die. The Lord Fool makes a room for their Shade, who learns to wait there instead of in the Arena like before. And they get to the top. And they leave.
They wander and wander and wander and wander. And then they see a glowing yellow, and run away. They go down, down, down. Trying to find that broken wall. Trying to find home. Safety.
But they don’t. And they lay there, dying, until something bright and angry brings them back.
———–
They wake again back at home, back in Dirtmouth. Ghost is nowhere to be found, but Hollow looms above them. Hollow’s sockets are watch Kin closely, worried.
Are you okay? They sign, and Kin nods. They feel okay. They think.
Hollow gently butts their shell against Kin’s, a sign of love. Of comfort. Nightmares? Kin nods again.
Hollow gently scrapes their claws on Kin’s shell. They stay there.
Kin thinks that maybe they could stay here. They could find themselves. Be happy.
That’s a nice future.