Chapter 1: A Bug in a Ruined City.
Chapter Text
In the shadows of the night, a small figure dug itself out of the snow. It was freezing, but the creature's exoskeleton was unbothered by this feat of the environment. The lack of air did not bother the little one, as it was fine. This creature would persist through this cold, desolate wasteland of what used to be a city, as it had gone through a traumatic process that one could say had killed it and brought them back to life. They were not human, but they were not a machine. They were a bug, but different. They were a vessel. A vessel that went by the name of Ghost, a name that was gifted to them by their half-sibling, Hornet.
Ghost looked around, taking in everything they could see in the cold, snowy night. They noticed frozen skeletons standing where they had, from the looks of it, died suddenly without any warning. Whoever they were, they were in a better place.
The vessel got up from the snow they had been buried in and pulled out their lamp. With that taken care of, the little one approached a skeleton, noting they had never seen a bug of a kind in their time in Hallownest. In the palm of the skeleton's hand was a rectangular device, something they had never encountered before. Deciding to let curiosity take control.
Grabbing the item, the knight accidentally knocked over the skeleton, shattering the remains of what had once been a living creature. The vessel ignored what they did and focused the center of their attention on the rectangular device. They had no idea what it was but decided to store it for later investigation.
Proceeding that, they wandered aimlessly through the frozen forest, metal... trees? Structures? Whatever they were, the vessel was not sure. As they continued on their path, they began to notice the remains of some odd... bugs? At least they thought they were once bugs since they were unsure of the remains of the creatures on the floor.
Deciding to investigate, they picked up what appeared to be a head of these once lively metal bugs. The face had a glass panel, and the lower half of the body appeared to have what seemed to be a mouth. However, the glass panel emitted a red light, displaying an odd symbol surrounded by a triangle. But in the reflection of the glass panel that did not light up, the vessel stared back at its reflection. Two pairs of bottomless pits that made up their eyes showed themselves.
A little bit later, the vessel decided to look more into the depth of the head. Where there had once been a neck, there appeared to be a leaking black substance, one of which looked akin to the Void. But it wasn't void, as the vessel could not feel a trace of it nearby or anywhere but the Void inside itself. With all that in mind, they could find out the knight proceeded to discard the head by throwing it to the side.
Proceeding again on their path of going seemingly nowhere, the knight passed by more odd contraptions that made it ponder. Where were they? This place was no Hallownest; neither was it any foreign kingdom. There were skeletons within big rectangular boxes, almost similar to that of the trams that had been abandoned, and few between in Hallownest. Were they experiencing culture shock?
Before answering their own thoughts, a flawed action of a vessel, they paused in their tracks. As before them was a sight that they had only seen a rare few times before. Once in the city of tears, where the Soul Master had tried to devise a way of using Soul magic to cure the blinding light's plague. The second? Their birthplace had taken up a primary example of insights that this compared to. As towering before them, was a tower made up of what appeared to be more discarded metal bugs.
Like every moment leading up to this point, the knight was not hesitant to investigate. Why would they stop themselves from discovering more answers to their current predicament? After all, they discovered their origins by jumping into the pit of their deceased siblings. So, they charged themselves up a crystal dash and flew through the air, letting their magic commit the rest of the journey for them.
Once they arrived, the knight paused mid-air before hitting the side of the tower. Landing on the ground that happened to be more metal bug parts than snow, the knight proceeded to pull out their nail just in case. Slowly tip-toeing around the spire; in search of the entrance, the vessel paused as it heard something within the spire. Almost as if something had just flown into it from above and landed on top of something metallic.
Slowly inching around the corner of the spire, the knight finally found an entrance. Peaking around the corner, the knight looked within to see what was going on. What they saw was... a fight about to start?
On one side was a purple-coded metal bug, while on the other side; was a yellow-eyed, winged, more importantly: deadly. It sported a tail with a sharp thing on the edge of it, with a glowing yellow liquid contained in a glass tube; its glass panel for a face shined a yellow X, and finally, its hands were that of a deadly predator.
One moment right after the other, a sudden burst of green light blinded the knight. Stumbling backward, the knight tripped and fell over the pieces of metal bugs and would soon find itself covered in the pile of metal bugs. It may have knocked something over in its attempts to remain standing on its two legs.
Chapter 2: An Encounter with a Local
Summary:
Ghost awakens, meets a menacing local, loses their nail, and prepares for adventure.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Once more, the little knight awoke, though covered in body parts of metal bugs. The vessel took caution before emerging fully from the surface and took a peek at the outside world from the sea of limbs. The limbs did not bother them. From where they were, they could make out the entrance and almost a glance at the interior. From the looks of it, the fight was over, and the two parties were gone.
As they tried to make out more details to figure out what had happened right after they fell unconscious, the knight felt something heavier sitting on top of the pile of things they were in. How could they tell? Well: something was digging through the mess, making a loud ruckus before them speaking a foreign language.
"You know, N is taking an inconsiderable amount of time... getting a dangerous excuse, right J?" a female voice said before the knight felt the need to pause their movement. Doing so, the knight made sure to put on their checklist of figuring out these metal bugs' language to understand them in the first place. They could use the dream nail, but they would have to find a safer target than whatever these dangerous ones were.
But right now, they had to wait for whatever these things were to go somewhere else. They did not know if they would be attacked by these things, assuming that their anything like the bugs of Deepnest, because if anything, the number of dangerous things on the first one it saw only meant that it came from somewhere dangerous.
Though the dream nail would require them to find a peaceful metal bug, or at the very least, an intact corpse of the metal bug people. But that would make the knight a hypocrite if they just wanted to avoid these dangerous metal bugs without initiating conflict, considering the number of times they didn't give up fighting their opponents and running for their life. So if that meant dream-nailing these metal bugs in the middle of combat, then so be it.
Combat with these metal bugs was becoming more likely if the metal bug digging through the pile did not stop what they were doing. Slowly moving to their na- it was at this moment that the knight realized they were missing their nail. Where was their weapon? This time, they took a more intensive look around than before, knowing from the experience of their time in Hallownest; without a nail to defend themselves, they were likely to die at any second.
"You know, where ever this thing came from, J, it makes for a great toothpick!" the voice from above said, taking a second to... mess with something. Though, at that time, it sounded like they were using a tool in their mouth.
"Why are you using that as a toothpick? With the size of that thing, it doesn't seem efficient!" a second voice spoke, sounding more annoyed than bothered. "Besides, can't you just use your claws?" continued the voice. From how this new voice sounded, their tone felt like that of that bank teller. Or at least somewhere near being similar to that of that horrid bank teller because they weren't sure what they could be like.
But in the end, this meant that the knight would have to fight more than one metal bug, including being disarmed and not having enough soul for use, which meant that they weren't ready for a combat encounter. So, they just sat there, ready to shadow dash out of the way just in case.
The knight could only feel a sense of dread as the body belonging to the voice above them continued to dig through the pile of metal bug parts. The weight of the heap lessened as whatever was on top of it threw away limbs. From where they were, the knight looked upwards, waiting to be met face-to-face with one of the local metal bugs.
In one moment, a head was removed from the collection of parts, revealing the knight to whoever had been scavenging through the pile. They were met with a metal bug's face, their glass panel face emitting a yellow light, almost similar to the old light's color. Antennae were drooping down from the top of the metal bug, with spheres of more yellow light adorning the top of their head. The face paused as it met the knight's soulless stare, causing the metal bug to change its expression to another one, unrecognizable to the knight's usual understanding of those around it that was alive, unlike they were due to their nature. In one clawed appendage was a broken and beaten-up metal bug's head that had once been shielding the knight, and in the other appendage was their nail.
Before anything continued further, before combat would commence, everything would be interrupted by the second voice. "Hey, did that useless and pathetic drone do something useful for once! V, the doors to that bunker are wide open! Let's go and set out what we came here for!" the unknown individual spoke out, catching the attention of the metal bug above them. The metal bug looked elsewhere, acknowledging the voice and returning its attention to the vessel. Then the metal bug smiled at them, with fangs coexisting with flat-ended teeth that the knight was not used to seeing from predators.
"You are really fortunate, whatever you are." the metal bug whispered. Despite sounding menacing and terrifying, the knight couldn't understand what it had just said to them. And just like that, it sprouted wings from nowhere, dropping the metal bug head, then flew off with their nail in toe.
With the two individuals now gone, the knight proceeded to shadow dash out from the heap of bodies. They took note of the encounter and realized they could once more feel the cold air of the wasteland. With that in mind, the knight realized that to have felt relatively warm in a heap of scraps, the metal bug they had met face-to-face had been emitting a large amount of heat. The knight, left next to the spire of bodies, being used to the cold as a creature of the void, could only stare into the night sky.
That was when they heard an alarm go off in the distance. Looking where the sound was coming from, the knight noticed that, from quite a far distance from the spire, was an entrance to a fortified structure in the ground. That must have been where the winged metal bugs went; and where the knight would go. Grabbing a cast-off arm of a metal bug, which was huge in size to its own body, which would also suffice as a weapon for now, proceeded to follow the flying metal bugs.
Despite being a creature made for the explicit purpose of being emotionless, lacking a will, and with no mind nor a voice to speak, there was one thing that gave life to the vessel that was the knight named Ghost. They despised thieves. Whether they be the common bug to a god. Whether they were a peasant or a forsaken bank teller, they loathed the thieves that stole what was rightfully their own.
Even if the said thief was a giant in size in contrast to themself and had far more tools of destruction.
But besides all that, the knight was also excited to fill out a brand new map.
Notes:
Just to let people understand, Ghost in this is about the size of a small toddler. So, basically, Uzi is no longer the shortest one.
Unless Ghost can finally grow up like their sibling the Hollow Knight.
Chapter 3: New Companions
Summary:
The knight finally makes first contact with the two metal bugs they first came across, only this time... they aren't trying to kill each other.
However, the knight has yet to be lectured on what robots are.
Chapter Text
As cold winds rushed throughout the cold winter night, a glow of pink began to emit from where the spire was. The pink light grew brighter and brighter, lighting up the surrounding environment. One could only guess what had been causing it; however, one would never guess that the light originated from a tiny, black bug. Once the crystal dash finished charging up, the knight released the stored energy and flew throughout the night towards what appeared to be a bunker, the entrance emitting red lights.
The knight passed by similar contraptions from before, only they appeared to be more for construction or other purposes. Whatever they had once been used for, they may never be used once again as the cold perhaps had made them useless to any random passerby.
With the bunker getting closer and closer, the knight stopped in mid-air and dropped to the ground. The doors to the inside of the bunker were wide and open, revealing four deceased bodies of metal bugs, a dangerous metal bug that had two long antennae that hung to the back of its head, the dangerous metal bug that the knight first saw was talking to the long antennae metal bug, speaking in a foreign language. But the metal bug who had stolen their pure nail was nowhere to see.
Hiding behind the side of the entrance to the bunker, the knight poked their head around the corner to wait for the two to move on. The long antennae metal bug looked as if it were reassuring the jacket-wearing robot. The knight would only realize this was a ruse until the metal bug with some form of magic, causing the metal bug to fall to the floor in shock. Then the long antennae bug turned around and walked briefly in the direction of the entrance; the knight rushed to hide behind the exterior structure of the bunker.
When the knight heard the long antennae bug fly into some entrance above the long hallway, they poked their head again into the interior. This time, the purple drone from earlier peaked its head from the corner they had hidden and approached the metal bug laying its back on the floor. The knight invited themselves into the bunker, observing the hole above the two metal bugs. In front of the knight, a slab of metal blocked the way, making progression impossible... if it weren't for the said hole in the ceiling is available.
As the knight drew closer, the purple metal bug began talking to the floor-prone metal bug in a foreign language. Whatever they were talking about, the knight wasn't sure. The purple metal bug distracted herself- at least, the knight began to think it was a female- by pushing and reorienting a crate just below the hole in the ceiling. The purple metal bug was just distracted long enough for the little knight to rush up to her, pull out the dream nail, and use it on her. The purple metal bug only caught a brief glimpse of the knight before closing her eyes as if expecting something to happen.
'What the! What is that thing, and where did it come from!?!' the purple metal bug had thought, pulling her arms back from the crate. After a few seconds of nothing happening, the purple metal bug opened one of her eyes to see if anything had happened... only to see nothing did. In front of her stood the knight, looking up at her, with their black and unending holes that made up their eyes.
"Hey, what just happened?" the yellow metal bug asked from his side of the hallway. The knight and purple metal bug looked at the immobile robot, red light plastering their glass panel face. On the chest of the metal bug was some kind of... charm? It showcased a similar appearance to the rectangular device it had picked up from before. It was roughly the same size as all the charms they had collected up to this point, only displaying words: Uploading Virus. The knight walked over to the metal bug; the purple metal bug sighed, got on top of the crate, ignoring what had just happened, and tried and failed to jump into the hole. The knight would be able to successfully jump up into the hole. Right this moment, however, they were curious about what the odd-shaped charm was doing to the positive-sounding metal bug.
The purple metal bug groaned as she failed at jumping into the hole and turned to face Ghost and the immobile metal bug and spoke up. "For the record, that was the lamest heel-face turn in history. Was that supposed to be you switching sides?" the purple metal bug asked sarcastically but in the direction of the immobile metal bug. It seemed to appear that the purple one tried to ignore the knight, but they weren't a part of this conversation.
"Being rebellious is a lot harder than it looks. Thanks for showing me the ropes." The metal bug said, their voice distorting as they spoke.
"Nah-ah, no bonding thing. You just killed a bunch of people, idiot." the purple metal bug rejected.
"That's super fair." the metal bug sighed, "I screwed up." the metal bug spoke dejectedly. The metal bugs looked finished with their short conversation before the purple metal bug groaned in response.
"Ugh. In the same way you're about to fix it?" the purple metal bug asked, pulling out a tool.
Then the metal bug chuckled, with the words "I'm literally about to die." displayed. "I love doing anything." the metal bug said, raising a thumbs up.
The purple metal bug got down from the crate and joined the knight. She knelt down, moving the tool up to the charm, and removed it from the metal bug. This appeared to help the metal bug, who finally acknowledged the knight standing there. "Oh, hi there, little guy? Hey Uzi, why didn't you say we weren't alone?" the metal bug said, getting up and picking up the knight. This shocked the knight, while the now-named Uzi just sighed.
"N, that's because it was minding their own business... now, how about we leave it alone..." just as she said that... the newly-named N was holding the knight, making odd squeaking noises that sounded as if the metal bug was giving them affection. "Or we can take it with us... we don't have time!" Uzi shouted.
"Alrighty then!" N said and then kneeled down for Uzi to get on his back. Once she was on N's back, the metal bug spread his wings and jumped into the hole in the ceiling. Realistically, the knight knew they could've done it by themselves, but they somehow were fine being hugged by this metal bug. The metal bug felt warm, and the hug was comfortable.
Once a few meters past the tight entrance, N knocked down a metal trapdoor, and they were then on the other side of the metal slab that had once blocked their progression. Uzi got off of N while the knight remained to be hugged.
"Alright, now we just have to find J and V!" N spoke, looking over to Uzi. She looked at the knight in his arms and squinted.
"I might know where they could be, but perhaps you should let go of them?" Uzi suggested, pointing to the knight in his arms. The knight started to dislike being carried by something not blood-related to them, only one creature that could rightfully pick them up and hold them like a child. Unfortunately, the being was a mother who wasn't interested in raising them because of their nature, even if they were their direct offspring.
"I'm sure he likes being held! Right little guy?" N asked the knight. In response, the knight shadow dashed from N's grip and walked to where the most panicked screams came from.
Because if anything, at least one of the dangerous metal bugs that went by the name of V or J were the likely culprit of the panicking people. Because one of them was the one that stole their nail!
"See? Told you so." Uzi said to N, who must have looked dejected.
Chapter 4: First Boss Fight!
Summary:
The knight encounters their first boss fight.
Chapter Text
Rushing through the halls, the knight followed the sounds of people screaming in terror. The knight dashed to go as fast as they could without using their crystal dash ability. The knight gripped the metal bug arm that served as an improvised weapon and slid to a stop as they approached the broken sealed door to a room. The metal bugs that were N and Uzi followed from behind, with Uzi asking why it had the metal bug arm in the first place. The knight ignored the metal bug and entered what appeared to be a storage room.
When the knight's eyes landed on the drone that held their pure nail, they began to charge a nail art. They weren't sure what would happen if the knight used anything that wasn't a nail when conducting nail art, though, considering how Sheo had used a paintbrush as a weapon in their time in God home, it might just work. The metal bug that had its nail on her back had a green-eyed metal bug in her claws, ready to kill them.
"Hey!" Uzi shouted from behind the vessel, holding the glowing green device on her shoulder, with N beside her. "Put that conventionally attractive male down." the knight briefly turned behind to look at the duo and saw N waving at the other metal bugs. Uzi also turned to N and looked at him for a second, then elbowed his side to get him acting correctly to the scenario. The knight returned their attention to the other opposing metal bugs across the room and readied themselves for combat once more.
"Oh. J, you're sometimes mean to me, and I wish you weren't. Just some constructive criticism." N said to the long antennae metal bug, sounding nervous. The knight tried to ignore the ridiculousness of the comment, but apparently, the now-named J took it to heart.
Uzi only said "Nice!" to the metal bug beside her before the two made a clunking metal sound with their hands.
The other metal bug, now to be assumed to be the metal bug named V, threw away the green-eyed metal bug while the metal bug named J spoke up. "Noted, traitor. We'll circle back after I right-size your existence." J scowled at the three before them.
"Ok, which one do you want?" Uzi asked N and the knight. But before N could answer, the knight dashed further into the room in V's direction. The knight ignored whatever Uzi had to say to the knight, who had shouted at them for whatever reason.
This V individual only chuckled before speeding towards the knight. Transitioning to a state of complete void, the knight released the nail art that they'd been charging mid-dash, their body transforming into the darkness itself; meanwhile, their eye sockets turned a bright white light, the metal bug arm lashing out at their opponent turned to the same color as the rest of their body. The hand at the end of the arm made contact with the side of V's face, slapping her. This would result in the metal bug attempting to stabilize herself in mid-flight in the air.
The knight slid to a stop and watched for whatever came next. Their time in Hallownest told them they had to be patient in figuring out their opponent's attacks, having many attempts to take down their opponents. But before anything, there was a blood-curdling scream from the metal bug that was J. Turning their attention briefly to the side to look at the other metal bug, the knight saw some form of writing instrument jammed in J's head. Then N flew right behind the knight to engage the likes of V, assisting the knight in combat.
There were only a few times where the knight had been assisted against an opponent, with the likes of Cloth and Quirrel. Both compatriots in battle had passed either in combat or after a combat interaction. The knight would appreciate the help from N.
The two metal bugs parried each other's attacks, and the knight rushed to a pillar, climbing up the stone-like structure that kept the bunker stable. As the knight climbed high enough, they turned their attention to where N and V were fighting. V had turned her back on the knight to take advantage of who appeared to be the weaker opponent. Just as V readied a projectile weapon that had replaced another, the knight jumped on her back from above to steal their pure nail from the metal bug.
"HEY!" V shouted as their weight landed on her back. As the knight grabbed their nail, the heat that radiated off of V soared, causing a reaction from the knight's void body. Before the knight had arrived in this odd place, one of the many charms the knight had equipped was that of Thorns of Agony. This heat that resulted in burning the knight would end up causing the charm to activate, sending out vines of thorns flying out in different directions, causing harm to their opponent while staggering her at the same time.
Gripping the pure nail as they landed, the knight tossed away the arm of a deceased metal bug and readied it. Their opponent took a moment to take in what had just happened. V then brought a sword from within her body and charged the knight. The wind flowing through the vessel's cloak only increased as a blue light similar to a lifeblood cacoon spread throughout the room. The knight took one moment to look at the other fight across the room, only to see that Uzi was losing to her opponent as she was on the floor, struggling to move. The knight had two options: finish off V and let Chance take hold of Uzi's life, or let N handle V and come to Uzi's aid.
The knight chose the latter. Turning intangible, the knight dashed through their current opponent, leaving V with whatever feeling that one felt when the knight moved through the bugs that would typically get in their way. That was to say, a form of disgust.
"You've got a lot of guts for a barely sentient toaster," J said, monologuing to Uzi. If the vessel had to be honest: What creature would think that was a good idea? Not even the likes of the Radiance of the Soul Master had ever done that before. However, the knight was sure that Zote would if he somehow was on the advantage of winning during the knight's time in the Colleseum of Fool's. "I've had prey fight back before, but your edgy spirit is just so..." before J could finish that sentence, the knight stabbed the chest of the metal bug from behind. "Painful?"
Pulling back their nail, the knight watched the metal bug before them stagger as she cupped the gaping hole the knight's pure nail had left behind. Uzi got up, grabbing her strange weapon before turning her attention to J... who fell to the floor. Apparently, at the same time the knight had arrived at Uzi's aid, J's tail had tangled the metal bug's legs, resulting in her tail tripping her.
Uzi approached the fallen metal bug, the tables being turned, and pointed her weapon in J's face. "One more buzzword, and I'll do it." Uzi said mockingly. J looked to the side, her yellow eyes briefly glancing at the knight.
Then the metal bug spoke up, sounding nervous, but, at the same time, decided to risk it. "Equity partnership." was all that J had to say, leaving Uzi to pull the trigger of her weapon. The room was consumed in a familiar green light, destroying the floor where J had once been. The knight, in reaction to the output of the weapon, froze in place, unable to move by themselves. The knight wasn't just frozen, as the wind caused the knight to slowly slide across the floor in the direction the wind was going.
Unlike last time, the knight had prepared itself to brace for the blinding green light of Uzi's weapon. Once the light died down, the vessel looked around the room and noted N taking out V, subduing her, and tying her up. Why N had done that, the knight didn't know, but they wouldn't criticize his choice. The other metal bugs poked their heads out from where they had hidden before leaving their hiding spots.
Said metal bugs began cheering, the majority looking over to Uzi and N, only a few looking at the knight. As the knight took in the sight of the metal bugs, something happened to Uzi that caused her to stagger and lose her balance, but thankfully N was there to catch her before she fell. N placed the metal bug in a sitting position around his neck.
V could only glare at the vessel while she was tied up.
"Holy hell, Uzi. That was insane!" the green-eyed metal bug from earlier said, approaching the group. "And you too..." the metal bug said, drawing up a blank at N and the vessel.
While the vessel stared into the metal bugs, N spoke up. "Oh, N. I'm an angsty rebellious Disassembly Drone now." N said, sounding confident. This only caused the knight to look back at the metal bug in reaction to what N said. "And this little guy is... I don't think we caught your name?" N asked, looking over to the vessel. In response, the knight did not speak to answer the apparently now identified 'Disassembly drone,' whatever that was. "Eh, we'll just call you little guy for now," N said, shaking it off.
Then someone made a coughing noise, catching the heroic group's attention. A metal bug... or at least the knight assumed they were a form of bug if they were called drones, with a hat and goggles on the top of their head walked into view, the crowd moving out of the way. The metal bug had something between the panel face and its mouth, and from where the vessel stood, it looked just as fake as the bank the knight had once trusted.
Uzi then threw the small metal tool that she had used to rescue N on the floor in front of the metal bug. Uzi spoke up, this time sounding bitter, "I brought the Murder Drones here accidentally. You chose to leave me for dead instead of just freaking believing in me! And that's not even an edgy teen hyperbole like I said last week." Uzi yelled at the metal bug, the knight now thought was her father. Uzi had sounded distraught at what had apparently happened to her. She then slapped her face, with words passing by her face that the vessel didn't bother to read. "I'll save you the trouble, Dad. I banish myself!" Uzi shouted, causing the knight to pause. Everyone else that wasn't in the heroic group looked surprised at what Uzi had to say, then they looked over to the bug in question. The bug looked as if he was about to speak up, opened his mouth... only to say nothing and lower his arm.
The knight only saw weakness in the bug. There was no need to stay here in this bunker. The knight walked over to N and jumped twice, using the monarch wings to bounce above and sit on Uzi's neck. Uzi looked away from the other metal bugs across from them.
"Let's go, N. Everyone here can bite me. And the little guy can come with." Uzi said, hugging N's head. N grabbed V, sprouted his wings, and took off, breaking through the roof. Surprisingly, it was paper thin.
They soared through the sky, the freezing wind pushing against them. The sky got brighter and brighter as they returned to the spire; the knight had a feeling that there were questions that the knight would have to answer while having questions of their own to ask.
The knight was sure that there would be more questions than answers.
Chapter 5: Hammers, Questions, and Answers
Summary:
The gang returns to the corpse spire, and while Uzi watches the sunrise, Ghost tries to figure out what a phone is. V watches them do so, and finally, the gang starts asking each other questions. Ghost is finally told what a robot is, and Uzi and N discover that there might be a cool backstory behind Ghost but wait to budge on it. It could be an uncomfortable subject for Ghost.
Notes:
Now, this shall take place between episodes one and two. I hope you enjoy it and have a great day.
Chapter Text
Once they had returned to the spire of dead 'drones' with a glowing ball in the distance rising from below the horizon, the vessel jumped off of Uzi and walked to the entrance. Once within the hollowed-out chamber of the spire and escaping the rushing winds from outside, the knight turned around to see N carrying V right behind them. However, Uzi had not followed as she walked away from the spire to watch the ball of light rise.
The knight couldn't help but be reminded of the many times it would challenge the dream goddess inside the dream realm. Each time the knight challenged that dreaded moth, she took the form of a ball of light, just like the ball of light that rose above from the horizon to shine over the wasteland. However, the knight did not feel the presence of the old light here, just as they could not feel the presence of void anywhere else but within themselves. Putting that to the side, the knight turned around and looked at the metallic structure that the spire contained within.
From the way the metallic contraption looked, it shared a resemblance to the attack shapes that the bees of the Hive back in Hallownest. However, long appendages draped outwards, adopting orange stripes across the arms. The knight was unsure what it was supposed to be, but they followed N as he walked up to it with V in toe. It was then revealed to be a shelter, as within appeared to be two seats, a counter, and what looked to be broken mirrors... at least, the vessel assumed they were broken mirrors. The knight followed after N, who placed V on one of the two chairs and got chains from one of the metal cabinets built into the wall.
However, the counter appeared to emit electricity. Almost akin to the electrical lumaflies back in fog canyon.
The knight sat down on the opposite chair, which had spun around as the knight got on top of it, to the metal bug of V and got to work on their brand new map of the place they had just explored. This, however, did not go unnoticed by the other individuals in the room. As the knight drew the map, N walked behind the chair the knight sat on and watched as they sketched. Meanwhile, V across from the vessel looked as though she was annoyed.
As the vessel drew, N suddenly spoke up. "Hey, little guy, I'm going to check up on Uzi, so be careful around V, ok?" N asked while V sighed. The vessel was alright with that, so they nodded in response and continued drawing.
And thus, that left the knight alone with the 'Disassembly Drone' named V on the chair next to the vessel. Once finished, the knight looked at it, taking in the progress of filling out a map. And so, once the knight put away that distraction, it was onto other matters. For example, the odd rectangular device it had picked up earlier. Pulling it out from within their void body, the knight examined it, taking in every detail.
It appeared to have a sheet of glass on one side while the other side was covered, and on the other, there seemed to be multiple glass circles, numbering up to twenty small glass circles. On the sides, there appeared to be two odd buttons, one longer than the other button. Pressing the long button revealed two smaller buttons on each side of the button of the mysterious device. Pressing either of the two buttons revealed... nothing. They did absolutely nothing.
The knight turned their attention to the smaller button and pressed it. That only resulted in doing nothing. The knight was unaware that the phone they held within the palms of their void body... was dead. The device needed to be charged before anything else could be done. V knew this and watched the knight fester in frustration in its attempts to figure out the device that the vessel held within its tiny hands. The knight got up from where they sat and looked around the room, ignoring the disassembly drone struggling to not laugh at the knight.
The knight then discovered the hammer N had used to bolt V down to the floor and had an idea. It could be used on the rectangular device, getting answers from the cryptic and silent machine that refused to answer their internal and not big questions. Once the knight grabbed the hammer, the knight returned to the chair and was about to use it on the infernal item... until V spoke up.
"You do realize that needs power, right?" The knight almost jumped at the sound of V's voice, the first time that the knight had understood the Disassembly Drone. From their understanding, it had been revealed that the knight needed some form of power to activate the device before using it.
And thus, the knight resorted to using the one power they believed could help activate this wretched device. Soul magic. After their first battle here, the knight had enough soul to use, and they could focus the soul magic into the annoying contraption that it held within their hands. Focusing some of their soul magic, the knight guided it into the device and waited for results.
This... did nothing to the device. Pressing the small button again revealed nothing. Looking back at V, the knight noticed that she had not expected the small knight to start glowing white for a moment. And so the knight returned to using the hammer on the rectangular device, ignoring V's groan at the sight of the vessel, not understanding what she had meant by 'power.'
But once again, the knight, in their moment of interrogating the small device, was interrupted by their companions Uzi and N returning from the outside world, getting down from the latter and gazing upon the scene before them. Before the two were V, face in her clawed hands, and the knight with a hammer, about to smash the device.
"What the? You do realize that's a phone, right? Why are you trying to break it with a hammer!?!" Uzi shouted, clearly mortified at what Ghost was about to do to the phone.
This was when the knight realized that they finally had a reliable source of information that wasn't V. Something told them that V was intentionally holding back crucial information about the newly revealed identity of the device. Though, this had not meant that the knight knew what this phone did.
Then N spoke up, "Well, at least we have a method of communicating with the mute little guy. Let me see that, little guy. I promise I can help you?" N asked the vessel, causing V to look at N, confused.
"How, exactly, do you know they're mute?" V asked while the knight handed N the phone. The knight watched as N walked over to the electrified countertop, reached underneath the counter, pulled out a string made of rubber, and plugged it into the phone. And just like that, the phone was alive with light.
"Well, so far, he hasn't spoken to us directly, so I'm going to assume they either don't want to talk or can't vocally communicate, period," N answered V before returning his attention to the knight. "Was the former correct, or was it the latter? Jump once for the former and jump twice for the latter." N directed the knight, to which the knight responded with two jumps.
Uzi seeing the results of N's questions, decided to speak her mind and get some answers before using the phone for in-depth answers. "So, could you answer me this? Are you a human, yes or no?" Uzi asked, trying to figure out the knight. The vessel shook its head, then tilted its head, confused about what a human was. This caused Uzi to pause before chuckling nervously, "Oookaayy then, um... are you a robot just like us?" Uzi asked, only causing more confusion for the poor vessel. They shook their head again, not understanding what either of those words had meant in the first place. They had come from Hallownest and had yet to hear of the words 'robot' or 'human' during their travels. Uzi groaned with zero results and spoke, "N, hand me the phone, please? I'm going to input my contact information into it. You do the same, ok?" She asked of her companion, who complied. Once the odd device called a phone was in her metallic hands, she pressed some buttons, handing it back to N. N proceeded to do the same thing and then handed back the device to the little vessel. The once-dark screen of the device was now giving off light, and then yellow text appeared on the device.
The text read, "Tap the long grey bar, and you'll see that you can press letters." to which the knight followed the advice of the yellow text. From what the knight could tell, the yellow text might have been N, but this only confused the vessel as they looked up and saw no similar device in their hands. And so the knight tapped on the little letters on the phone with one of their stubby hands and sent it out for the rest to see.
For the first time, the knight could write, or in this case, text as a method of communication. And surprisingly, they did well for their first time communicating with someone else. "Hello, you can call me Ghost. Please don't call me Little Guy."
Uzi made a motion with her arm, pulling it past her body and grasping her hand, and whispered, "Yes! It works!" she cheered before returning to her normal posture. "Now, before we do any further questions, let's ask one more question; then, you can ask your fair share of questions?" Uzi asked, to which the knight nodded in affirmation. "Alright, tell us, oh Ghost, what are you exactly?" she asked, motioning for the knight to continue to text.
"Am bug. Am vessel. Where are your rectangular devices?" the knight replied, tapping each letter before the knight. The knight wanted answers too, so they decided to type some more. "What is a human? What is a Disassembly Drone? What is a robot?"
This only left the two confused, then N spoke up. "Weeellll... to answer the simple question, we have our 'rectangular devices' built into us. Now... for the other three questions... Uzi, could you take it from here?" N answered before whispering to Uzi, who only sighed in response.
"Well, the one time my slide presentation could help us... and I don't have the flash drive on me," Uzi commented before retreating into her thoughts to think of a solution to the current problem. The vessel took a moment before coming up with an idea themselves.
Texting the two their suggestion, the knight hoped they would allow them to do what they believed could help the situation. "I could just use the Dreamnail on you to easily explain it? That's how I can now understand you two." the knight informed them, causing Uzi to look at the knight, confused at what they meant.
"Dreamnail? Was that what you did earlier? To understand what we were saying?" Uzi asked, getting a nod from the knight. "N? Are you ok with that?" Uzi asked her new friend.
N answered with this, "Sure, I love doing anything."
The knight put away the phone and then pulled out the dream nail. Then they approached the two and then used the Dreamnail on them, reading their thoughts and gaining an understanding of what they sought. At least that's what they got from N, as once they Dreamnailed Uzi, they would fall over and experience a vision.
Said vision... appeared to be the presentation that Uzi remembered perfectly for the knight to see the memory of the day she had presented in front of the class about her new project, the railgun. When she was asked to share the answer to a word problem, the knight was... confused, to be honest.
Getting up, the knight looked up at Uzi with a blank stare before pulling out their phone and asking Uzi a needed question. "What's a watermelon?"
Uzi's only response to that question was this. "That's the final question that you want to ask?" The knight nodded. "It's a plant... I think? I've never actually seen one in person." Uzi said, shrugging her shoulders.
"So... is it our turn to ask questions?" N asked, looking over to his friend. The knight walked to the chair and sat back on it, watching the robots talk. The knight spun the chair to face V, who blew bubbles into their face.
"I think that's enough questions for now... Though I do think there's something to the word 'vessel.'" Uzi said, N nodding in agreement before a smile formed on her face, "Now, how about I get to work on figuring out how to repair this landing pod!" Uzi said, getting a new wrench from out of nowhere. She would then go around the landing pod to try and fix the darn thing.
Chapter 6: Arguments and Gifts
Summary:
Returning from another journey throughout the frozen city on Copper 9, the knight is allowed to gift their companions charms to guarantee their safety as they go and meet up with Thad, leaving the knight to babysit V. Oh, and the Drones have yet to realize that this is a first contact scenario without a proper representative of JCjenson who has the guidelines of the company downloaded within their coding to inform them of such.
*cough* *Cough* J isn't here *cough* *cough*
Notes:
TDIL: Bugs don't have tongues, though each arthropod species has a different means to taste food. Some bugs use their antennae, while others use their limbs, and others do something different. So, the existence of tongues would be unknown to the bugs of Hallownest.
Chapter Text
As the knight returned to the spire after exploring more of the city, with the sun beginning to lower into the horizon, they took note of N sleeping upside down. They only saw one person that had slept just like that, and he had a different kind of personality in comparison to N. Walking past the unconscious Disassembly Drone, the knight made their way to the pod that contained Uzi and V. The knight had communicated through the small device that they had called a phone that they would go and explore the city and fill out their map.
On their journey, the knight investigated some towering buildings. They had yet to discover any lethal wildlife as they would have back in Hallownest. With the information provided to the knight from what Uzi had shared, perhaps the simple reason was that accident reduced the planet to a frozen wasteland. With that in mind, the knight had been fortunate that their nature separated them from other bugs. Entering the pod, the knight dropped down with the hatch closing behind them. When they entered the pod, the knight saw Uzi leaning against the wall, squinting at a small object in her hands. Meanwhile, V had been blowing bubbles like she had been doing earlier.
Resting upon the chair, the knight pulled out their quill and the map and began to make updates. As they proceeded with this action, they heard Uzi hum as she continued her observations. As the knight continued, V would let her presence be reminded, with the likes of bubbles hitting the side of their head. The knight ignored this action, continuing with the process.
Just as they were wrapping up, the knight heard the sound of N shrieking before falling with a loud thud, signaling that their ally was awake and well, to some degree. Looking up from where she was leaning, Uzi realized that her friend had just woken up. She proceeded to shout, intent on showing N her discovery of a small emblem she held in her hand. "N, I found something in here!" she spoke, perhaps muffled by the metal walls.
Finishing up with the updates to the map, the knight looked up for just a second, enough time to witness Uzi looking at a mirror on the wall. They weren't sure when it was there, but there was a chance that Uzi and N had installed them when they had been gone. Said mirror cracked the mere second a symbol flashed on her face, replacing one of her eyes once she looked at it, lifting her weird purple, not antennae, just a bit with her hand. The symbol would disappear, her eyes returning to normal, and she looked concerned.
The tiny knight was not the only one to notice that symbol, as V would lean out of her chair and take a break from blowing bubbles to strike Uzi with a snark comment. "That's weird and concerning." She said, antagonizing the worker drone.
Uzi would shout at her prisoner, "Bite me! This is probably you weirdos' fault!" she spoke with annoyance, pointing at the yellow-eyed machine. The knight wasn't sure if she was lumping the knight with the other two, but if she had meant it on purpose or not, they wouldn't blame her. This didn't mean it could be their fault, as they had no expertise in this field.
In response to her captor, V would respond with ignorance. "I've never seen that symbol before. Wanna do an autopsy to find out?" She said, transitioning from being sarcastic to being a local from Deepnest. The knight put away their map before gripping their pure nail, sheathing it from where it lay on their back, staring at the Disassembly Drone in question. The noise of the vessel readying its nail caught her attention, her eyes gazing over to Ghost's eyes.
This mantis stand-off was interrupted by N climbing down the ladders. Looking away from the ladders, N spoke up, curious. "What'd you find?" he asked before Uzi got on top of something and slammed the emblem on the hat he was wearing.
"Did you know that was a pilot hat?" Uzi asked before getting down by kicking whatever it was that she was on over, making her resume to her regular height. The knight was... unsure what Uzi meant by the word pilot, adding to their expanding vocabulary.
This new information would surprise the likes of N, "I was the pilot? That's aweso- I crashed and ruined everything. Spaceship pilot. Origin story." N said, going through a spiral of emotions before pointing two fingers at V. The knight was confused by the word: spaceship. The knight decided to make their question clear.
"What does spaceship mean?" Ghost asked, having their phone pulled out, but at the same, V decided to hiss at N, pointing the tool she had been using to create bubbles at N as if it were a nail. She returned to her activity and blew more bubbles... at the knight. The knight was unbothered by it.
Uzi took a moment to think about that question. "Well, to answer that question, what is the pinnacle of advancement where you're from?" Uzi asked, trying to think up something to compare the word that the knight had no concept of.
"Back in Hallownest, there are trams. Not as helpful as the stagways." the knight answered, unsure where this was going. There was a moment of silence by Uzi, who appeared to be doing something.
Before the knight could ask what she was doing, Uzi returned to reality. "Alright, when thinking of a spaceship, Ghost, think of a tram that goes vertically in the sky, without any rails. Unlike a tram, a spacecraft needs more things to be considered." Uzi said before going into detail, losing the knight in the process. There were... things that people back in Hallownest, and perhaps even throughout the world the knight was used to, hadn't thought to be possible. The idea that other celestial objects were orbiting other things was perplexing to learn. But Uzi had apparently assumed that the knight was some form of an academic as she continued with information that caused the knight to be lost.
Then Uzi realized something. "Say... if you don't know what a spaceship is... and if you're using a sword... as well as the fact that you said that a tram is the most advanced piece of technology... does that mean you're from a pre-industrial level civilization?" Uzi spoke aloud, asking the knight, who didn't know what that meant, before continuing with more questions. "Wait, do you even know how you got here?" she asked her final question regarding the knight's kingdom of origin, only to get a shake of the head from Ghost. She groaned at that and commented to herself once more. "Well, that's one mystery we can deal with after the whole 'murder all humans' plan is finished," Uzi said before pulling out a wrench and walking to the counter.
"Speaking of piloting to Earth, are we sure that murder all humans is "morality"?" N asked, sounding concerned as he made air quotes. The part regarding the destruction of their creators was none of the knight's business. It wasn't like these humans were behind the infection that plagued Hallownest, nor were they responsible for being their direct creator.
Uzi responded, "The humans sent you without a communication relay and reformatted your memories to soup." she said, pointing at the two with her wrench. While N had nothing to say, V had her arms crossed before sticking out something from her mouth and touching the device she'd been using to blow bubbles; while showing a face of aggression to Uzi. Her reaction to feeling the bubble tool with the thing that appeared from within her mouth was to glare at it before shrugging off what Uzi had to say and giving her a blank stare. Behind the two disassembly drones was a big drawing the knight had noticed for the first time. Instead of orange for what little there was, purple replaced everything orange, and the knight was confident that Uzi's favorite color was purple. Uzi closed one of the devices on the counter and once more began speaking. "Covering their tracks means their past negotiating," she said, stabbing the counter with a long metal stick before bending the wrench in her hand, "Not that they tried negotiating with my mom." muttering that last part aloud for everyone to hear.
It would then turn out that where Uzi was standing was too close to the chained-up prisoner. The reason is that V was just barely on the edge of the chain when she was suddenly in Uzi's face. "Or you missed the negotiations. The humans programmed us to solve a problem. Where's proof of your backstory? The one where you're kind's so conveniently innocent." V asked, not holding back the familiarities she had with creatures of Deepnest. N got behind Uzi and pulled her away from the disassembly drone; N kept his eyes on V as the knight got out of the chair and divided the two with their pure nail, making it so that there wouldn't be a fight. V, in response, rolled her eyes at the two's actions.
"J was getting orders from someone. If not the company, through that relay, then who, and how?" N asked, trying to come up with another explanation. The knight could only assume that this had something to do with a form of magic, though separate from soul and dream magic. Meanwhile, Uzi took a moment to comprehend that question; perhaps, it complicated her to destroy the human's plan.
"Quit complicating my murder plan," Uzi said, upset there might be another reason these two were here. She leaned on N, hugging herself as she looked away. N attempted to pat her on the head to comfort her, but Uzi swatted N away. V only narrowed her eyes to the two, though the knight barely understood her reasons beyond: "Quit comforting the food."
At least, that's what the knight guessed.
With that interaction over, silence consumed the room. The knight put away their nail and brought out their phone, intent on breaking the silence until Uzi spoke, "Hey, Ghost, could you keep an eye on V while N and I meet up with Thad?" she asked the knight perhaps, getting a message from a person that wasn't here. Before the knight could ask via phone, Uzi revealed more information, "I kinda sorta forgot my super awesome railgun back at the bunker." she nervously explained, rubbing the back of her head.
There was a feeling the knight had gained as something told the knight that something was going on back at the bunker. But they couldn't leave V unsupervised, so perhaps they could craft a compromise. Putting their phone to the side, the knight focussed on their charms. They could rule out most charms, as they intended to have the companion charms help the duo. The Glowing Womb charm was right out, given how the robots didn't use soul magic, limiting their usefulness. This left the Grimmchild and Weaversong charms that the knight could rely on.
This left the knight with two options, but the knight could give the two their own respective charms. Getting out both, the knight walked up to the two, messaging the two to hold out their hands. With their hands open, the knight placed the Weaversong in Uzi's hand and gently placed the Grimmchild in N's hand, believing it would be an ironic coincidence. As the knight texted the inevitable questions the two would have, Uzi looked at it puzzled and squinted her purple eyes at the white trinket with six eyes. N only said "cool" at the sight of the Grimmchild charm.
The knight didn't understand what N meant by that; after all, the vessel had received multiple burns in getting the charm. "In your hands lay two charms, each with a unique ability. In your hands, Uzi, lies the Weaversong, with the power that summons three companions that help you in combat. In your hands, N, lies the Grimmchild charm, the offspring of a higher being named Grimm. The child is full of a flame of nightmares but is capable of helping you along the way. They aided me in my journey throughout my time back in Hallownest. Allow the child to help you as they helped me. Equip them while sitting on the chair, and in return for ensuring your safety, I will watch over V." the knight said, finally finishing texting the wall of words. The knight watched as they processed what the knight had revealed to them. If they were confused, the knight would be open to answering any questions that they might have.
Walking to the chair, Uzi sat down and wrapped the Weaversong as if it were a necklace, humming as she tried to mentally piece together something. Once she was finished applying the charm, three little weaverlings appeared in a small burst of white light, and they shared appearances with the robotic nature of Uzi. The little metallic spiders looked over at Uzi, climbed onto her, and rested on her shoulders. Getting up, Uzi patted each of the spiders on their heads, appreciating the sight of them. N gawked at the appearance of the companions, who quickly sat down on the chair to apply his charm to his wrist.
In a burst of flame, the Grimmchild appeared before the group, making a pitched squawk as they took form within the landing pod. At the sight of the child, N squealed at the cuteness of the child; the knight noted how the child of the master of the troupe had remained unchanged in comparison to the robotic weaverlings. The Grimmchild looked over to N before looking over to Ghost in confusion. The vessel used the link established by the summoning of the Grimm troupe to inform that they were to watch over N and Uzi as the knight kept an eye on the murderous individual that was V. The child of flames nodded in understanding before accepting N's hand to pet them.
"Alright, once we come back, I'm going to make a list of questions, alright?" Uzi said, sounding almost as if she was trying to be serious without falling into awe at the sight of the robotic spiders. The knight responded with a nod, left alone with V as the two robots climbed out of the landing pod. Turning around, the knight finally noticed the glare that V was giving them.
All V had to say was this: "Why don't I get one!?!" she shouted once they were finally alone. She was clearly jealous of them gifting the two drones a charm. This was a poor mistake on V's part, as she only gave the knight an idea. Pulling out the Defenders Crest, the knight walked over and placed it in her hand, who was unaware of the nature of the charm. Once she applied the trinket, a smoke of brown gas emerged, surrounding the drone. For a moment, V looked confused until she finally realized what the knight had gifted her. Removing the charm, the robot who would fit in Deepnest handed it back to the knight, scowling. "Nevermind, you can have it back," she said, disgust overwhelming her. With the charm returned to the knight, they looked at the Defenders Crest, reminded of the last of the five great knights who had given them a worthy battle.
While this charm may not seem like it, it had proved helpful in the knight's attempts at pursuing the likes of Godhome. At the thought of the godly realm, the knight paused. Perhaps there was an explanation behind their sudden appearance here through the view of Godhome? Though they didn't remember if that was the case, they had forgotten if the knight had killed the Radiance from within the mind of the physical Hollow Knight or if they had gone through Godhome to do the same thing. Maybe they could get the help of the others to put together the missing puzzle pieces the knight was left with.
Chapter 7: Loopholes and New Acquittance's
Summary:
The knight comes up with a loophole with their task and a newcomer introduces themselves.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
A few hours after the knight had been told to keep an eye on the likes of the individual V, with Uzi and N taking their time with whatever business was occurring back at the bunker, they assumed it would be an easy objective to complete. They would have to sit there, watch V and make sure she didn't make an escape attempt. So, there they sat across from V, who aggressively tapped the counter with one of her clawed fingers. The room had gotten warmer over time; the source of this growing heat was that of V. She had put away the bubble-making device, and her face had changed from the uncaring attitude she expressed earlier to the agitated look she wore now.
Something was irritating V; the knight could recognize that. Deciding to figure out what was bothering her, the knight got out their phone and stared at the contacts the phone contained. They did not have any means to communicate with V through texting, only to Uzi and N and the person who used the phone before it fell into the knight's possession. They would have to get the contact directly from V if they wanted to know what was bothering her, so the knight got up from where they sat and approached the agitated murder drone.
Once beside her, the knight looked for a way to get her attention without pulling the chain that wrapped itself around her neck or pulling her tail. The knight saw the clothing she wore across her upper body, providing a way to get her attention. The knight's arm exited the safety of their cloak, reaching for the sleeve of V's jacket and gently tugging on the piece of clothing.
The drone slowly turned her attention to the knight, her expression unchanged from the look of agitation as she glared at the creature of the darkness. Rolling her eyes while groaning, the murder drone spoke up. "What do you want?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at them. The knight held up the phone, having found a neat function called "notes."
"Is something bothering you?" it read, V having read it aloud. She took her time to process the knight's question, her gaze frequently taking turns to look at the knight and back to the phone they held up in the air.
The knight awaited an answer from the murder drone, who made a humming noise, almost thinking of a way to answer the knight's question. "Well, you see, I require this thing called oil. You know, a black substance you can typically find in worker drones. Kinda need it to avoid overheating and dying." She said, resting her head on her hands and resting the elbow of said arm on the counter.
With this as their answer, the knight thought about their arrival in this strange world. The substance they had noted as not void fit the description that V gave them. It was found within the remains of a worker drone; it was black and shared no connection to that of the void, as apparently, V needed it to survive. Although they were given the request to keep an eye on V by Uzi, it did not necessarily mean to make sure she stayed chained up. Besides, even if V had stolen their nail in their first meeting, the knight doubted that N and Uzi would be glad that V succumbed to death due to not having any oil in her system.
"We could go out and look through the remains of already deceased worker drones to find you some oil." the knight texted, holding the phone up to her face like a child. Once more, she took her time to read what the knight had proposed, raising a digital eyebrow at the knight's idea.
She spoke up, "Weren't you supposed to make sure I didn't escape?" she asked sarcastically, a toothy grin adorning her face.
Returning to the activity of texting, the knight gave their explanation. "Uzi said to keep an eye on you; nothing about making sure you don't escape the chains of imprisoning you." the knight replied, explaining the loophole they had. The main reason they proposed the opportunity to break her chains was simple, the knight didn't know how much oil would be enough to satiate her for the moment, so having V come along would prove helpful.
V put a hand to her chin, thinking about what the knight had proposed and whether or not to go along with the idea. V got up from where she sat, and just within a mere second, V broke the chain that restrained her with a swift strike with her clawed hands. She took the lead and exited the pod into the cold outside wasteland. Following her, the knight jumped out of the exit and had a safe landing; they made their way to any remains of any discarded bodies for any oil left inside. Ahead of them, V searched the wall, checking if any oil was left over in the drones that made up the wall.
As they searched for signs of the substance, only a few showed good results; the knight briefly looked over to the bunker. They had begun developing an odd feeling that they could feel emanating from within the bunker after leaving the pod with V; the sense could only compare to the likes of the few higher beings that they encountered during their time in Hallownest. Although, it was different, almost artificial... just as unnatural as themselves. Though, as the knight continued to gaze at the bunker another time after handing V a head of a worker drone, the knight saw something appearing in front of the bunker. The knight swore they saw a brief glimpse of red light glowing at the entrance, revealing two worker drones of different colors. And within the blink of a second, one of the two was enveloped in red light, then disappeared right before the knight's empty eyes. The other was left behind in the cold wasteland of the outside.
The individual progressed along the frozen wasteland, and when the knight got a better look at them, they wore... whatever they were wearing, along with a set of multiple blonde antennae. The knight honestly couldn't place their fingers on what in the void it was that the worker was wearing, only a mix of red and yellow. Her eyes shone a pink light akin to the crystals of their crystal dash ability. The only piece of clothing the knight could recognize was the skirt; however, the knight was confident that they were a rarity back in Hallownest. As the figure got closer, did the knight realize that their destination was that of the spire, although their reasons for this were left unknown.
By the time this worker arrived, they had gotten enough oil to satiate V's dependence to the point that she was no longer radiating the same amount of heat she had been producing throughout the day. With a closer look at the worker drone, it was then revealed that this worker... was wearing a hat that sprouted two fake horns, a shape they didn't remember seeing any other vessel wearing on them. V stood beside the knight, picking at her teeth after having enjoyed the collected remains of worker drones.
It would appear that whoever this worker was, they were either brave to approach the spire with its deadly inhabitants or were incredibly stupid. Standing across from the duo, the worker took in their appearances, from V's jacket and drooping antennae to the knight's cloaked body. Internally, the knight was uncertain of where this encounter would lead. Would V bring about a headache by killing this worker? Was the worker planning to manipulate them (primarily V) into doing something? The knight was uncertain.
What they didn't expect was the worker speaking up about their apparel. "Ew, what are you wearing? A shredded blanket? They make you look like you're an abandoned child." she asked, causing the vessel to stumble in reaction to what the worker said. Looking at their cloak, the knight tried to understand the criticism they were given, although not understanding what was wrong with the thing they were born with. The worker then looked at V and her appearance. "You, however, are gorgeous with your hair and that jacket," she said, losing the knight's grasp on where this was going. "Oh, my name's Lizzy; nice to meet you... not you," she said, aiming that insult at the knight. The creature of the darkness was unphased by it; they heard worse from far greater beings than this one, with Zote being lower than her with greater insults.
V looked like she liked the compliment, although the knight felt something sinister going on in her mind. Almost as if she was engineering a plan to do something horrible.
The worker continued, "Say, we've got a prom coming up! You'd be perfect for it." this Lizzy said, confusing the vessel more. They had no clue what a prom was, though from what they could guess, it was a social event. And the knight didn't know what a social event was like besides the Colosseum of Fools and tales of parties thrown by the rich before the infection.
In response, V looked awfully intrigued by this idea that the worker came up with. The smirk was enough evidence to show V had a malicious concept regarding an event like this. "That sounds like a great idea; I would love to come," she said, sounding sinister.
"Hey, we should totes hang and all!" Lizzy offered? Proposed? The knight was beginning to lose track of reality here. Weren't the murder drones feared by the workers? Why would a worker want to spend quality time with a creature that attacked and killed their kind? So, the knight could only come up with one conclusion about this worker: they aren't as affected by this situation as any other life form would be. "They can come too if they choose," Lizzy said, bringing the knight's attention back to the moment. "And besides, if we get them a better outfit than the one they're wearing, they would look adorable! Thoughts?" she asked the murder drone standing next to the knight.
Before the knight could bring out their phone to question where this would lead, the large murder drone picked the vessel up and held them to her side, restraining them between her arm and chest. "On behalf of our mute companion, they'd love to hang out with us! Right, little ghost?" V said, turning to face the emotionless vessel. The look on her face practically shouted to the knight not to ruin her opportunity to trick the workers... or as close to that conclusion, what with the toothy grin she showered them in.
Well, this still counted as keeping an eye on V, so they nodded in response. Later, in one instance, Lizzy used a phone to take what she called a "Selfie" (Whatever that meant) of themselves with the skeletal remains of what the knight had guessed was once a human. Though, the knight wasn't sure how to feel about the murder drone and the worker going along with the desecration of the... exoskeleton? The knight didn't even know what a living human looked like, but they knew that the human wouldn't like their remains being stuffed in balls of snow and said snow being decorated.
After that memorable moment, the next stop was that of a ruined building that the Lizzy individual claimed was the leftovers of what she called a "Mall of Copper 9" that the knight had taken note of during their time exploring the city. The purpose was to find human remains that still had clothing on; or if the stores had something the two metallic creatures believed could fit them. The store was quiet, with snowflakes falling from broken windows in the ceiling, the winds not plaguing the inside of the mall, leaving a sense of calm around the knight.
"Hmm, do you think they'd look great in this?" Lizzy asked V, becoming background noise as the knight caught something in their eyes. Across from the vessel was what they believed to be a weapons store, with snow covering the rest of the sign, leaving only the word weapon uncovered to the world.
Ignoring what Lizzy was saying to V with each other, the knight quickly forgot about their task of keeping an eye on V as they approached the store with the sign introducing itself as the weapon store. Walking into the abandoned store, attached to walls behind the counters, a shield of glass protecting them, the knight saw objects they didn't recognize as weapons. They walked along the counter; the knight got their lantern out, jumped on the counters, and noticed words beneath each object behind the shield protecting them from being obtained by the knight. Each had a title that the knight could guess were the names, though they didn't show any specifics. For example, one plaque was revealed onto the vessel with this: "It's a Sniper Rifle, IDK (shut up gun nerds)!"
That didn't help explain to the vessel what these things were.
But as they explored the store full of alien weapons, their absence was soon noticed by both Lizzy and V. As the knight jumped down behind the counter, they approached the glass that prevented the knight from investigating further. But in the reflection of the glass, yellow and pink light caught the vessel's attention. Turning around, the knight saw Lizzy and V standing there; Lizzy was confused about why the knight was there while V smirked at the knight.
"Yo, why'd ya ditched us?" Lizzy asked, which the knight ignored before focusing back on the wall with the alien weapons. Weapons that they had never seen before. Weapons that they wanted to understand. Weapons that they wanted to try. Moving their arm out of their cloak, the knight placed their limb on the glass wall, taking in the sight of the weapons. In the reflection, the knight could tell that V's face changed from the smirk she had before to a concerned look as she soon saw what the vessel was about to do.
Within a moment, the knight channeled the void they held within them, turning intangible for a moment and phasing through the glass and into the chamber of weapons. They reached for one they thought best suited them, grabbing it without hesitation and expanding the void onto the weapon of choice. The object of their selection was a small build that could easily be used in one palm while using their pure nail in combat. Pulling it out, the knight returned to their normal state of existence and looked at the weapon the plaque had told them was a pistol. It was a shiny gold color, possibly painted that way, and looked neatly built.
Turning back to face the other two individuals, the knight looked up, and the look on both faces was enough to tell them that they might have spooked them right then and there. Lizzy was the first to speak up, "How in Robo-god's name did you do that? Cause even if I'm not the brightest, even I know that just broke some laws of physics." she asked the knight, casually expressing her confusion. Meanwhile, V stood there, quiet, appearing like she needed to process what she had just seen.
"That's what you did earlier, wasn't it?" V said, realization dawning on her face, but still confused about the methods of how the knight could do that. "To phase right through me? To slap me with an arm?" she continued, showing some emotion the knight hadn't seen coming from her before. Was she- but before the knight could finish that line of thinking, she took a different turn than the knight was expecting. "Cool, that's cool," she said, taking a 180-degree turn in her emotions. It was almost like the murder drone wanted to hide their true feelings... perhaps they should use their dream nail on the murder drone to figure out what was going on. When the two's backs were turned long enough for the knight to pull out the dream nail and gently use it on V to seek what she held within her thoughts. 'Whatever they did to do that, it was definitely not normal... though, it wouldn't be the first time I haven't come across something like this.' revealing that the murder drone was confused and was creeped out by the knight's abilities.
Putting away the dream nail before the two realized anything, the knight left the counter, joined their companions, and left the store behind them. As they continued to venture through the mall, the knight paid the most attention to the painted weapon in their hand. The alien object appeared to have a sophisticated design; the mere sight of the thing had entranced them, making them deaf to their companion's conversation. Unknown to the vessel, they had no clue that the weapon required one thing before it could be used: ammunition.
Their trance was broken the moment that they were addressed. In the hands of Lizzy was that of what could only be clothing. "Yo, ditch the cloak and try this on. Trust me, I think this would work with your style." She said, unknowing of the nature of the knight. Pulling out their phone, the knight expressed the nature of their cloak, of the fact that it was one with their body. Showing this to the two, the knight waited for their response, their minds processing that information. "Well... that only means we should improvise with what we have here." Lizzy and V said at the same time before they strategized with each other.
They were now back at the pod, the knight with a new set of clothing they held on their lap after trying them back at the mall. As they thought about their time spent with the worker and V, the vessel decided to store them away within themselves just in time for the arrival of N and the Grimmchild... with a lack of Uzi following from behind him.
Looking over to him, the Grimmchild appeared to try and comfort him, only for N to sit down and ignore it. He... looked to be hurting from something as he hugged as legs. Pulling out their phone, the knight tried to text N, but... he didn't respond, keeping to himself. The knight was left without an explanation; they could only go to one person in their contacts. Pulling up Uzi's contact information, the knight texted Uzi the only two questions they had.
"Where are you? What's wrong with N? He won't respond to my message and appears hurt."
They didn't get any answer from the purple one.
Notes:
Well, that took a while, now, didn't it? Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed. Next chapter I'm thinking about putting it through the point of view of a different character. And to get this out of the way, I'm thinking of putting it in the point of view of the Grimmchild during the rest of the events of episode two.
I hope you all have a great rest of your day.
(BTW, I think this is the longest chapter for this story as of the moment.)
Chapter 8: The Grimm Interlude
Summary:
Our point of view changes from our little shadow to that of the young burning fire that accompanies that of both N and Uzi. Witness as the actions of outsiders begin to change events of this realm.
Notes:
Greetings, hello! I hope you enjoy this one! It took me some time to work on it, and by the Pale King, this is a very long chapter! Have a great day.
PS: Updates for this story and my other (Courier of Hallownest) will take longer than usual as I begin my next year of college, just a warning for you to explain why future updates are taking a while.
Chapter Text
Under the light of three moons, three differing light colors ventured throughout a frozen city. The small yet brightest light was themselves, the offspring of Grimm that followed a taller yellow light that was their companion. A companion whose shell was that of metal and glass, unlike any other lower being, wearing fabric amid the cold winds. Right beside their new companion was a smaller purple one, though lacking the height and deadly nature of the other, wearing a different kind of apparel to that of their companion. The smaller purple one had her own arachnid companions, the weaver-lings having changed to fit the wearer of the charm, resting on her shoulders. The two they accompanied conversed with one another, bonding as they made their way to meet up with someone. All the while, the child calmly followed behind, flapping their wings through the cold air.
"Aren't they just cute? What with their big red eyes and the noises they're making." Yellow, or N, said, sharing his excitement about the Grimmchild's presence. The purple one, or Uzi as they had overheard, acknowledged it as she led the way to their destination, wherever that was.
From the view of the Grimmchild, everything they had caught with the grasp of their vision was unlike anything the memories provided from the long line of rituals; no bugs had remains that matched the ones frozen before them, and no creature could fit the description of their current companions, there was that strange smell that afflicted the nightmares filling this land, this world... this realm, it all boggled their mind. Something greater happened beyond this world, spewing out the essence of the flame of a fallen civilization. Nonetheless, these confusions the child had intrigued them.
With that in mind, the group's journey would end as they arrived at an area that, from the view of the child of flames, seemed to be their final destination, and thus meant they could all rest as they awaited the arrival of the individual they were meant to meet. N would sit down on the snow that covered a ruined vehicular machine, to which the Grimmchild would accompany him and land on the crystalized, frozen water beside the odd lower being. Meanwhile, Uzi and her three mechanized arachnid companions would lean against a lamppost, with its broken state providing zero illumination over Uzi.
Straying from their habit of falling asleep in times of resting, the Grimmchild would observe their fellow oddballs through the chilling winds, ignoring the physical traits they had so far been baffled by. Looking up at N, he appeared to be... well, hundreds of sayings and words could perfectly define the metal creature's joyful personality. However, beneath that surface, the Grimmchild felt an odd sense that they were unsure of, though they couldn't place the tips of their wings on it. Looking over at Uzi, they saw a developing teenager going through the eventful (while short) parts of the river of life. But there was an essence tying itself to her, whatever it was.
The Grimmchild did not look forward to going through that part of life, even with the many cycles of death and rebirth that came with the nature of their origins. There was a lot to that stage of life that just made it unbearable. Many of them were responsibilities their father had in the troupe and his growing influence over their existence as they would eventually become one with each other. There were also physical development issues as they aged, but those would come soon enough.
Besides the fact that Uzi was a developing teenager and an essence tied to her, her personality (as far as the child could grasp) told them that she was... very mentally unstable. From what the child could gather, she was seemingly reclusive, all the while desiring the company of others. But the child could tell there was more to her, though whatever it could be was hidden beneath the reclusive personality. Perhaps over time, she will open up on her own terms and show what was beneath that shield that she held.
So, the three continued to wait; the Grimmchild looked over to their companion and then pondered how the two had come across their kindred spirit in this cold wasteland. As they began to wonder, N met the child's head with his hand, metal hands meeting a chitin surface. In return, the child closed their eyes and squawked. However, the petting ended quickly, just as it began, leaving the Grimmchild to realize they had melted the snow they sat upon. The sight of N's hand slightly steeming from the heat of the Grimmchild made them realize a flaw in their companion. It would appear he could not handle their body heat.
"Got carried away, little guy?" N asked, gently smiling at the child of flames. In hindsight, this should've been foreseen, what with them bearing the nightmare heart after the ritual. It was a fire that burned within, and carrying it came the burden of producing scarlet flame and perhaps burning those that touch the child or the father. Nodding in response, the child looked around and spotted a figure in the snowy winds approaching from the distance.
Just like the two that accompanied the Grimmchild, the clothing of this newcomer was just as unfamiliar to them as always, but instead of the dark colors, this one wore red and yellow fabric. And unlike the yellow and purple lights that colored N and Uzi, the new arrival carried a green light. In his hands lay a green glowing item, the nature of it evading the Grimmchild's knowledge. Perhaps it was a weapon or an artifact, but whatever it could be, the child would soon find out.
Looking over at Uzi for but a brief second, they noticed that purple drops of fake water ran across the glass screen Uzi wore. Within a moment of spotting that tiny, minute detail, she was next to N and the Grimmchild. With that, she finally spoke a coherent sentence. "Oh, I'm sweaty! Who programmed that?!" she complained, holding her hands up as the weaver-lings on her shoulders gripped onto the piece of cloth that she wore. In the meantime, the Grimmchild mentally wrote down each new word and their vocabulary definition that they would learn from them.
N briefly spoke up, "You good, Uzi?" he asked. In response, Uzi gently pushed aside N's face.
"I'm good. Better than good! I am God!" Uzi shouted, lifting her arms into the sky, leaving the Grimmchild confused by her statement. They had been flying with these two for a short while, but they were confident there'd be something wrong with themselves if they had yet to recognize a fellow god. Nothing about the short, purple-haired creature of steel shouted godhood. Though, being honest, both the Pale King and their kindred spirit were short in size, both were still gods despite all their height. Then Uzi spotted the person who had just joined them and laughed nervously. "H-hi, Thad," she said, walking toward him and taking the glowy item. This Thad person seemed to be... well, the child didn't know what they were like. With the item in hand, Uzi held a thumbs up to N, who did the same thing in response.
The Grimmchild would have done the same thing if it weren't for the fact that they had yet to grow and molt into their next stage of life.
"Of course, Z! N and M's." Thad said, pointing two of his index fingers at N, spotting the Grimmchild. "Huh, where'd you come from?" Thad asked, earning a chirping response from the child, causing the world around them to appear nightmarish before returning to its normal state. In response, Thad put his hand to his chin and nodded; all the while, N and Uzi looked startled by the sudden but short change to reality. "That's cool... anyways, Uzi, you saved my life! I don't think the colony is serious about all this banishment... stuff." Thad said, revealing new pieces of information to the child of flames. "More just confused, especially with-" but before he could explain any further, Uzi interrupted him, jumping to her own conclusion of where that sentence was going.
Holding up the glowy item in her one arm and into the sky, Uzi spoke with a voice that was just childish as the cold wind flowed, "The fact I'm too rogue to re-enter society now, I can never return!" she said, sounding serious and quickly debunking the Grimmchild's earlier assumption of her just being reclusive... she was just not normal, and not being normal would repel people from her own odd personality. She was a lot is what she was.
But that was not where Thad was going, "With the Recent disappearances? And your Murder friend's corpse?" Thad said. Uzi lowered her glowy stick and narrowed her purple eyes at Thad, confused by what he meant. "When I went to grab your gun, it almost looked like it crawled away?" Thad said, causing N to look wildly around, searching for something. Uzi appeared to realize something, but the Grimmchild couldn't put a wingtip on it.
Unlike Uzi and N, the Grimmchild made an animalistic oh noise while grinning wide and narrowed their eyes with glee. 'Oooh sounds like there's a nightmarish monster about! I wonder if this is a Nosk? Or a flying Nosk!' the child thought, putting the tip of their wings to their mouth.
"We can return a little... hey, N, should we message Ghost and tell them to meet us at the bunker?" she asked, looking over to N. While he looked spooked by the information that Thad had revealed, N just put it off to the side.
"I'm sure we won't need their help. Besides, they're watching V," N confidently spoke, waving his hand up and down. This only caused the Grimmchild to question that statement silently. It was always a statement like what N had just said that would lead to them regretting not asking for help. It was just asking for trouble to happen.
'We're going to need their help, aren't we?' they thought, eyes halfway closed and giving the other three a blank stare. And with that, Uzi and Thad climbed onto the back of N, who sprouted wings before the three paused and looked over at them. All three briefly looked at each other, their thoughts probably overthinking about something.
"Hey, N, do you think they'll be able to keep up with you?" Uzi said, sounding concerned about leaving behind the Grimmchild. Making an irritated sigh, they teleported behind them within a mere second. This action spooked the three as they turned around to face the flying child that had disappeared before their eyes. "Ok, guess we don't have to worry about leaving them behind," Uzi said, tapping N's head. With that, the three went into the sky with a sudden boom of speed, displacing the stagnant snow from where it rested.
With a quick transition from one location to another, the Grimmchild found themselves at the entrance to what they assumed to be the colony that Thad had referred to. Accompanying the door were bright lights that the Grimmchild were not used to handling, causing them to narrow their eyes in response, attempting to adjust to the shining glow. As they tried their best to accommodate the suddenness of the brightness, they looked over to the weaver-lings on Uzi's shoulders, seeing them shaking in nervousness or terrified expressions after the trip they took with their companion. Looking over to the floor, the Grimmchild spotted Thad on the frozen ground once they had arrived. It would appear that he had fallen off N just as they all landed.
With that out of the way, the group made their way for the massive door in front of them, with Uzi taking the lead. Peering over N's shoulder, the Grimmchild witnessed Uzi knocking on the sealed door. In response to the knocking, the door slid open, a person just like everyone they encountered peering back out at the group. With white light observing them, the guard spoke up, welcoming at least one individual back to the bunker. "Welcome back, Thad," he said before his eyes landed on Uzi of all people. With his eyes narrowing, the robot continued with what he had to say, "Hey, wait. Isn't she grounded or something?" he said, pointing at Uzi, who, in return, groaned.
"Banished! Has my dad been saying I'm grounded?" Uzi shouted at the top of her Tracheae.
The person at the door looked over to N and the Grimmchild. "Genocide robot?" he asked. In response, N had both his fingers touch each other as he walked over to the door and brought out a card to hand to the door operator. Opening the card and reading it, a second appeared just enough for the door operator to be convinced. "OOooh, all right. Just don't do it again. Get in here, ya goobs!" he said before opening the door for the entire group to enter.
This caused the Grimmchild to pause for a second. That was all they needed to do to be let in. That did not make sense, but they weren't going to judge. Shaking their heads, the Grimmchild followed behind to leave the icy winds behind them, looking around and observing. In the first room was a table with other folks with faded cards in front of their faces. Almost as if they didn't have anything else to do but sit around and wait. The walls were of smooth grey metal, painting a claustrophobic feeling for all to be consumed, just as the air was still despite air coming in from the ventilation.
This only caused the young child with their father's essence to question what they were doing here. Well, besides answering the front door to anyone outside. Aside from that, in front of the group was another door, which was opened to reveal another door. As they followed behind the group, the child overheard one of the locals speak up to their companions at the table. "Is it just me, or is something wrong with that Ariel Drone? I swear those didn't have wings like it does." Looking back at the individual who spoke those words, the child decided to play the role of mischief and mess with them. With a simple chirp, the reality around the locals at the table changed; creatures from their home realm appeared beneath the table, their forms hiding in the darkness. The hissing and snarling caused the locals to be shooked, but with a squawk from the Grimmchild, the beasts from home disappeared from this plane of existence.
The feeling that monsters were hiding beneath the table did its job of startling the locals. The moment one of them looked under the table caused a stir of confusion, and to their reactions, the Grimmchild only chuckled at their frightened nature. However, the moment was short-lived as they felt the gaze of their own companions judging them. Each had a varying reaction mixed in with their judgemental glares, what with Uzi confused as to how they did what they did, N clearly upset that they were messing around and mentally traumatizing the locals; finally, Thad just shook his head in response.
"Hey, bad! We don't traumatize the Worker Drones!" N said, shaking his fingers at the child. In return, the Grimmchild sighed and bent their head downwards, upset about being shamed for instilling nightmares into the locals who called themselves workers. "Now, say you're sorry," N said, causing them to roll their eyes. Turning back to the traumatized fools, the Grimmchild attempted their best at an apology.
"I'm sorry for scaring you." is what they attempted to say, but what came out of their mouth was growls, yawning, and chirping. Safe to say, they had yet to grow in a voicebox that would inevitably be destroyed over some time. But from this attempt at saying apologies, everyone around them nodded their heads in acceptance of the child's apology. Sighing, the Grimmchild returned to following their companions.
Continuing throughout the bunker, the piles of snow near the entrance disappeared, and the group poked their heads out from the corner to peer into a room booming with activity. It would appear that the monster they were hunting had left behind remains of its previous victim, but to the Grimmchild, they could tell that not all was right. Looking over at their companions, it would appear that they were lulled into a false sense of security but did not intend to walk right into what the Grimmchild considered a trap. Looking back at the fake scene, the only real thing in the room was the one worker observing fake remains surrounded by fake coworkers, leaving said worker doomed to die if they did nothing.
This left them with quite a conundrum: Should they warn their companions like they tried to warn their kindred spirit of the fake bank, or should they do nothing? Looking over to their companions, N looked at Uzi in concern as the illusion worker finished talking about... something concerning her father and herself. Something about a parent-teacher conference... whatever that is.
"You good?" N asked as he stood behind Uzi. Uzi, in return, responded with violence and pushed him aside.
"I'm good. Stop asking!" Uzi said, sounding almost as if she was shouting and whispering both at the same time. After that, she did some odd things with her hands before running further down the hallway, leading the way for Thad and N, but a confused Grimmchild was in last place as they were confused about what she did.
Looking back at the crime scene, the Grimmchild narrowed their eyes at the illusion this monster was putting up. By this point, something told them that this was the work of a fellow higher being. Perhaps the beast they were about to fight was a higher being; they would have to reveal themselves to the group on their own terms if the Grimmchild was the only one to spot them first. Thus, the Grimmchild followed behind, staying alert for any sudden attack.
As the group continued through the bunker, the weaver-lings decided to take the lead, hopping off Uzi's shoulders and charging forward to where they were heading. The three little arachnids would soon lead them to a vast, empty room, likely where Thad had found the missing remains. Which would be confirmed by the scene before them. A black substance that shared appearance with the void had left a trail crawling up the wall, appearing almost as if it were a garpede. 'Maybe this higher being is a Nosk-Garpede hybrid? However, that would be incredibly rare to even find besides the fact that something like that became a higher being.' They thought, observing the trail.
"You guys do that often?" Uzi said, contrasting to what they were thinking, as she shone a light on the wall ahead of them. In response to her question, he laughed before responding.
"Ha, no! I'm very concerned but also pretty frightened, a little bit." N said as he pointed both fingers at Uzi, almost trying to look cool. Uzi was not amused.
"Hey, Zi! What's this thing?" a distant Thad called out, staring at something else. Following their companion's line of sight, the Grimmchild flew ahead and started sniffing the wall that Thad was staring at, their eyes lighting up the wall right in front of their face.
They were met with text burnt into the wall, with it being addressed as an Absolute Solver, whatever this could mean, being accompanied by other words that confused them. Sniffing it further revealed to the Grimmchild that. The answer was yes; this was the mark of a higher being, one verging on a new brand of godhood that no other is the God of. However, as the child continued to sniff, their companions found it confusing why the child was sniffing the wall.
"Hey! Move over so we can take a look!" Uzi said, breaking the child out of the action of sniffing. Looking back at them, they noticed they were as intrigued by the mystery as they were. Flying back to N, the Grimmchild looked over to N before the smell that accompanied the mark grew in intensity.
"Wonder why he was smelling the wall?" N asked, moving his hand to scratch the child's chin. As the creature of steel scratched its chin, the smell continued to grow. As the child continued sniffing, N looked over to the wall and observed it. "Hey, isn't that your special eye?" N asked, pointing at the burnt-in text. Uzi would respond to this; however, the smell was becoming too intense for the Grimmchild to ignore, making them tone out what Uzi said and follow the smell's origin to investigate. Perhaps she was trying to figure out what the text meant, but the aroma was at the forefront of their mind. Flying upwards, they kept their eyes open and observed their surroundings.
As their companions continued to figure out the engravings, a barely audible sound paused their flight movement and stared into the darkness. Narrowing their eyes, the Grimmchild began to snarl at the creature that dared to hide in the shadows that were the domain of their kindred spirit. After a few seconds of this beast refusing to respond, the Grimmchild decided that this thing had long overstayed its welcome and let loose fire on the beast.
With the red flames of their attack, the monster was illuminated, answering their suspicion of it being linked to a garpede, with the trademarked garpede traits being accompanied by extra parts not typically found on a garpede. As the ball of flames landed on the metallic hide of the monster, something grabbed their back, a metal claw wrapping around their wings and pulling them into the darkness. Crying out in surprise, they struggled as the wind moved around them; they could even hear their companions shouting in reaction as their winged ally was snagged out of the air. Their struggle would yield no results, leaving only two options: biting the monster or teleporting back to N.
However, that decision would not have to be made, as within a moment, a beam of light amputated the limb holding the child captive. Once they were freed, the Grimmchild teleported straight back to N, giving them a sigh of relief. Looking over to their companions, N had held out his arm; his hands had changed to something that looked like it could be a unique magical tool or something else.
"Fwoo! That was a close one!" Uzi said, sounding as if she was startled by the event. Meanwhile, N smiled at the Grimmchild, perhaps relieved by his success in saving them.
This moment would be short-lived as Uzi and N were pushed aside by a metallic tentacle, the little weaver-lings flying out onto the floor all the while, and Thad would be seized by another metallic arm. Tracing where the frantically screaming worker was being dragged to, then looking back to their companions getting up from where they were knocked down. They looked over at one another before N spoke.
"You good?" N asked but was then shoved aside by Uzi.
"STOP ASKING!" She shouted, sounding irritated. She quickly followed that shout with this, "Chainsaw hand time?" she asked N.
In response, N raised his arms, his hands again replaced with a melee weapon the Grimmchild had never seen before. "Yeah, cool." was all N said, having accepted being punched around by Uzi. The weaver-lings climbed back onto Uzi's shoulders, who began their war cries of high-pitched screeching.
With that out of the way, the team followed the distant screaming Thad, running, or in their case, flying to where they believed was their destination. This led them to a cold room filled with tubes littering the walls. In front of them was an illusion of Thad lying on the floor and screaming at nothing before being quickly corrected and changed to a different position.
"Yes, and hello, it's me, Ted. Um, can I get a location?" the illusion said, showing that this Nosk-Garpede monster hybrid was attempting to distract them all. However, no one was fooled as Uzi, N, the three weaver-lings, and themselves looked at each other unamused. "I heard the dentist's office. I'm sat at the dentist's office! Come over here for your teeth." the illusion said, still confused and awkward.
Unphased, Uzi prepared her green glowing weapon and pointed it at the illusion. "Predictably terrible work, J. Why do you look so-" but before Uzi could finish that sentence, N interrupted her.
"Great, you look great, J," N said before looking back at Uzi and putting his hands on his hips. The pose that N took reminded the Grimmchild of a disapproving parent or a sign of disappointment from a colleague. Uzi, who, without a second thought, returned to pointing her weapon back at the illusion, causing the flickering fake Thad to panic.
"No! No! Wait, guys, it's really me!" the mirage said before the sight of N pulling out a small, sharp item. The illusion began to actively distort, "Is that- a Freaking ninja- star?" the fabrication asked, confused and distorting.
With a smile on N's face, he threw the small object through the room, with Uzi coming out of left field and kicking it, adding more power to the flight trajectory of the thrown weapon. The flying weapon moved right through the illusion and then flew in an upward arc, cutting Thad free from the grasp of the monster in question. As he got up from the floor, gasping for air, a small rectangular head with a single eye holding up the illusion poked its head from out of the corner.
"Lifesavers, again! Thanks! Oh, so invited to my shindig next weekend. Cool kids only!" Thad said, calling the monster uncool. A claw was close to grabbing him again, only to back off when he raised his fist as a threatening gesture. After that, Thad made his exit and left the scene.
Then- for whatever reason- both N and Uzi looked at each other and made a high-pitched sound similar to that of a Belfly. Deciding to ignore their companions screaming like an exploding creature, the Grimmchild just shook their head. Opposite them, the monster would lower itself into view, revealing multiple more craniums emitting yellow light, almost akin to the sister of the cycle they and their father took part in.
"We're busy then, anyway, so whatever, so lame." the beast said, rolling their eyes in response.
Returning their attention to reality, Uzi returned to aiming her shiny item back at the monster. "What's with the voice, J?" Uzi asked, narrowing her eyes at the thing.
"Oh, J's not here. We are trying to repair that host as per our directive." The thing said, putting up an illusion of what they assumed was once J, only her head was missing. Tilting their head in confusion, the Grimmchild tried to wrap their head around what was revealed.
With their slight grasp of understanding anything in this world, something told the Grimmchild that this was not the abomination's only intention. But, the Grimmchild had an important question that only this thing could answer, and they didn't care how dumb it sounded. For all they cared, this could be the work of their father's influence on them. "So, are you the horrific result of a Garpede and a Nosk going at it in the bedroom?" They anomalistically said, attempting to throw off the entity. It would appear to work as the monster narrowed the eyes of all eyes that now paid full attention to them.
"Data on Garpede and Nosk are nonexistent. What are you talking about, alien?" the abomination asked, almost stuck on the mention of commonly known creatures. "And secondly, how inappropriate of you, hot-mouthed child!" it continued; however, this was not important to note, as this was the one being that could understand their animalistic noises as actual language.
This meant they could mentally torture this creature without getting in trouble for inflicting the realms of nightmares on the being that dared harm the heir of the Nightmare King, as something told them that this was not their actual body that they resided within. So, even if the team killed this thing, it would only mean it was elsewhere to be haunted by nightmares.
"Ignoring whatever that was... so you're a program?" Uzi said, almost sounding like she both wanted to and didn't want to know what the Grimmchild had just said.
"More like you are our cute puppets. It hurts our feelings you don't remember us." the thing said, putting up another illusion of a figure almost with a similar look to Uzi. In the mirage's arms was a round pill infant with the same color of eyes that Uzi held. And then, the same symbol they spotted earlier appeared on both faces that the creature projected.
Looking over to Uzi to see her reaction, there were two things the child noticed. One: Where was their companion? And two: this was distressing her. Returning their view back to the monster, the Grimmchild took action by returning fire at the abomination before them.
"N? What's with the mom hologram?" Uzi asked as the Grimmchild took in a deep breath.
"Really, an illusion of your prey's deceased loved one's? That's, like, a novice Grimmkin tactic of instilling nightmares! Even as a child, I can do better than that!" they taunted the mechanical disaster.
The abomination ignored them, their focus of attention primarily on Uzi. "Easier to assimilate than explain," it said, with an eerie edge. As this continued, more tentacles encircled the two, excluding the weaver-lings, who were now aggressively screeching at the creature.
"Not happening!" Uzi said, sounding determined.
"Fair, but poor choice," it said, and then a head of the garpede-like abomination came from a hole in the ceiling, pulling down another illusion in their hands. "Now, we will have to do something shocking." it eerily said, causing the Grimmchild to realize one thing: Uzi didn't understand what they said, and they could only warn her that this was another trick this thing was pulling. But before the Grimmchild could adequately warn Uzi, VIA fireball into the illusion of her (they could only guess) father, the abomination ripped the illusion in two and ate it, saying "goodbye, dad." without a trace of soul in their voice.
"Wait... what?" Uzi said, lowering her guard. The weaverlings were stunned, having never witnessed a takedown like that before. All the while, the Grimmchild would yawn if it weren't for their burning mission of PROTECTING THEIR KINDRED'S ALLIES! Letting loose a fireball, the Grimmchild proceeded to get in front of Uzi and bite whatever arm got close.
"Hah, that tickles!" the abomination said before another illusion took place where they took an explosive that never happened to their faces. Looking to their back, the Grimmchild spotted a fake! An illusion of their companion!? Oh, it was on!
"Uzi, shoot! Or give it to me!" the faker said, firing another fake explosive onto the creature, who deflected the projectile and got closer to them. The Weaverlings were still too traumatized to realize that this was a faker?! Are they, the spawn of Grimm, going to have to do all the protecting?!?!? "Uzi, you go-" but before the fake, honorless, lack of purity, and so many more adjectives that could apply to this abomination vile attempt at impersonating their new companion could get any further with that sentence, the Grimmchild soared over to the disguised arm and chomped down on the metallic thin arm. Then, the Grimmchild let loose the heat of the nightmare heart and extended onto their teeth, boosting the power of their bite.
It was powerful enough to snap off the arm. However, this unfortunately opened the opportunity for another limb to slam the Grimmchild to the side. Tumbling across the floor, the pain inflicted upon them caused them to struggle to get up. Looking across the room, the Grimmchild saw the beast get closer to Uzi and her companions, with the arachnids still traumatized. What was the matter with them? They hailed from Deepnest; they shouldn't be that terrified of something so simple. Was it because of their changes to fit the charm bearer? And where was N?
Uzi kept aiming the weapon at the cretin, but her hold on it proved that she was not fairing well. Was it because she watched an illusion of her father die before her that caused her this much doubt? Or did it terrify her? Grrr, lower beings can be so hard to understand, what with their limited mortality! A metal arm then swiped Uzi to the side, the glowy item still intact in her arms as she joined the child on the ground, and the weaver-lings were sent flying across the room.
Looking over to the beast, N missing, Uzi and the weaver-lings traumatized, the Grimmchild was left with a last resort. Doing it would fasten their mental merging with their father, what with opening a portal of indistinguishable size into the nightmare realm being one of the actions that sealed their own fate. Taking a deep breath, the Grimmchild began to chant with their limited vocal range, and the air around them began to change to the familiar color of nightmares.
"Lucky for you, it's snack ti- what is that thing even saying?" the monster said, their attention on Uzi having changed to them. Before it could do anything to interrupt their small ritual, the noise of metal cutting through metal led to the creature losing almost all its limbs, and N landed on the ground with his weapon of choice. This interruption proved fruitful as they finished their chanting, and the portal to the nightmare realm ripped open beneath the Garpede-like body, and out came several thousands of nightmarish limbs that tore through their victim. Along with the limbs came the fiery heat of the nightmare realm, and by this point, the Grimmchild was now floating midair, wings spread out but motionless.
Whatever Uzi and N were doing was no longer the child's primary concern. Their red, fiery eyes glowed with intensity as they glared into the body of their victim, who dared interrupt the peace of this realm. After all, if they didn't punish the cretin now, the God of the Gods would see to doing it themself. What they were doing now was a mercy, unlike their kindred's wrath. And then the explosion of a closing nightmare portal occurred, shaking the room that they were in, and the beast was no more.
Resuming the flapping of their wings, the Grimmchild turned around and looked for their companions throughout the wreckage. Spotting them, they would discover that N had apparently shielded Uzi from the explosion that the Grimmchild purposely set off; who stepped away and looked around to face the Grimmchild, but his line of sight paid more attention to the illusion of Uzi's father then flickered out of existence, with the head that projecting it collapsed in on itself then there was but a dark particle akin to the void floating around.
"What was... which parts of that were real?" Uzi asked, traumatized by the experience.
And then, out of the wreckage, somehow having escaped their attack, a tiny, meaty, three-legged creature crawled out from the debris. Now, the Grimmchild was conflicted about what they were seeing. On one wingtip, the abomination dared to survive their nightmarish attack and should be punished more severely. On the other, the creature's fleshy exterior was now smoking and sizzling, smelling like cooked meat, thus calling to their animal side to devour the monster and feed the nightmare heart itself. So, flying in a rush to the abomination, loudly speaking their action, the Grimmchild opened their mouth wide, swooped down, and tackled the cooked meat appetizer.
"Ow! Ow! OW! Stop it! What are you doing?! Are you trying to eat me!" the cretin said before the Grimmchild threw them into the air and opened their maw wide. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!" It screamed in fear as it fell into their blazing hot mouth. Shutting their mouth tight, the Grimmchild munched on their prey, and then, after a short while, they swallowed. After having their meal, N walked over, picked them up in one hand, and walked over to Uzi.
N offered his hand for her to grab, only for Uzi to not respond, and then reached over for Uzi's shoulder with his free hand, only for Uzi to recoil in response. She and her companions looked terrified; the looks on their faces told the entire story. "What, are you things?" she asked, fear gripping on her existence. Looking over to N, the Grimmchild saw that he was hurt by what Uzi said. In the distance, they could hear the shouting of approaching workers, who were probably going to investigate what had just happened.
And with that, N walked away, broken by Uzi's response, and left the bunker with the Grimmchild cupped in his arms. Thus, Uzi stayed behind to return to her real (possibly neglectful, they didn't know) father. Observing N, he looked emotionally hurt by what Uzi said, making it harmful to even look at if they didn't do anything to comfort him. Deciding that their companion needed someone to comfort him, the Grimmchild nudged the surface of N's chin as he flew back to the shelter where Ghost and this V were.
Once landing, N let go of the Grimmchild fly on their own, the injury from the beast having recovered, and approached the spire their shelter resided within. Looking it over, the Grimmchild took in the beautiful sight of the spire and what made it up. It was a mastery of a work of art, creating a new brand of nightmare fuel. If there was one thing they appreciated about the mortals, they put something special into their works of art that not even higher beings could compete with.
Chapter 9: The Old Reliable Method
Summary:
The Knight, after not getting a response from Uzi over text messaging, decides to do the next best thing: going to see her in person.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
"What happened at the bunker?" The vessel sent another message after another, not knowing when to stop. In all the attempts to get a response, they were all failures, as they were left with no response. All the knight knew was what N told them... after he took some time to process what had happened. Something about them coming across the remains of J turning into a spooky crab monster thing, whatever that meant. The only part of that description the knight understood was the word crab, a type of bug not native to Hallownest, and they had never met one, only heard of them. Something to do with them staying along the coasts of vast bodies of water.
Despite N's explanation, they were skeptical of what he revealed and wanted Uzi's side of the story for more accuracy. The way N described what happened didn't sit well with them. Another reason they were trying to contact Uzi was to make sure she was okay, and the fact that they had not gotten a response from her was not sitting well with them. Putting away their phone, realizing their attempts were not working, the knight got up from where they sat and faced the exit.
So, if Ghost could not get a response with this device they had found, then that left them with the old reliable path they were familiar with. Going to the bunker themself and looking for her in person. Sure, they didn't know the layout of the bunker, and they could get lost... but it wouldn't be the first time they had gotten lost in new territory. It also wouldn't be their second. Or their third. Their time in Hallownest proved that to be the case.
Paying no attention to V, the vessel left the stale environment of the pod, spotting N sitting at the entrance with the Grimmchild in his lap, the two avoiding the rays of the bright sunlight within the comfort of the shade. Jumping down, the knight dashed as they made their way to the entrance, not bothered by whether or not they caught the attention of their companions. Just as they arrived to take in the sight of the far-off bunker, N spoke up, perhaps wondering what they were doing.
"Oh, hey, Ghost! Going out and about?" N asked, scratching the neck of the Grimmchild with the tip of his fingers; said creature rested on the snow beside N. Pulling out their phone, the knight typed a message to tell N what they intended to do. After sending the message to N, they charged up a crystal dash, glowing a pink aura and causing crystals to grow from the white snow. "Wait, don't you want your charm back?" N asked, pointing down at the curled-up spawn of Grimm. In response, the knight shook their head; someone had to aid N just in case.
And with that, the knight blasted off into the distance, rapidly approaching the bunker that was sealed shut to any outsider. As they flew through the freezing environment, the knight mentally asked themself this: how could they get inside the bunker? Perhaps they could knock on the front door? No, that would probably require a test... or something of the sort, like the Mantis tribe with Deepnest. Maybe an alternative was available? The two things that came to mind were either going through the sewers of this ruined city or going through what they guessed would be the hole in the ceiling that they, N, Uzi, and V, had left behind in their departure from the bunker. They'd give the hole a try before attempting the sewers. Stopping in mid-air right in front of the sealed door, the knight tried to retrace their steps from their first arrival at the bunker, climbing up the door and walking on the roof of the buried structure.
"Hey, is it just me, or did anyone else hear something climb up the side of the door?" a voice said, loud enough for the knight to overhear as they departed from the top of the entrance.
Looking across the roof of the fortification, the knight carefully kept an eye out for anything out of place, something that would prove beneficial to helping them get inside. They felt the artificial feeling having grown fainter than before, almost as if it wasn't there, hiding within the bunker, whatever it was. Eventually, the knight spotted what they had recognized as the hole that their group had left behind. Walking over to the hole, the knight did not hesitate to jump down into the inner workings of the bunker, their cloak flying up as they fell in.
Once landed in the dark, spacious room, the knight brought out their lantern to guide their way. Approaching a wall, the knight took note of the odd trail going up it and into a ventilation system. Perhaps the doing of the now-deceased monster that Uzi, N, and the Grimmchild had killed, and this was the beast's attempt at hiding from the populace of the bunker. The knight, feeling that they did not want to be halted in their mission of finding Uzi by the locals questioning them, decided following the monster's footsteps was a good idea and climbed up into the ventilation system to find out where Uzi stayed within the bunker.
Once inside the vents, the knight would wander about within the ventilation system. In this process, they would overhear several conversations the locals had with one another while walking beside robotic bugs the same size as a lumafly. The topics of these verbal exchanges would vary, providing insight into what life was like within the bunker while simultaneously providing no help in finding where Uzi was. There were mentions of that word that they heard Lizzy say being repeatedly brought up, and there were mentions of murders of nominees for something called "Prom Queen;" the knight did not know what that meant. But no one had so far brought up word of their companion Uzi; it was almost like these locals were giving them a hard time snooping around on purpose. From time to time, the vessel would overhear the groan of what sounded like an animal in pain, but the knight was confident it had nothing to do with Uzi. After a long while, the knight would soon realize they were lost, the realization setting in after overhearing a conversation, one with a familiar voice and the other speaking in a language once more alien to the knight's knowledge.
"What are your thoughts on the weird bug creature thing?" the all too familiar voice of Lizzy asked, perhaps striking up a conversation with a friend of hers. "I think they're cute... if they didn't have those rags physically part of them. Those rags make them look like a... lost orphan child or something like that." Lizzy said, sharing her thoughts.
"I don't particularly care who or what they are; as long as they don't get in my way, they're fine by me." said a deep, monotonous voice. The knight had no idea what this new language was, so whatever they had said about them, the knight couldn't care less.
Continuing down the dark halls of the ventilation system, the conversation between Lizzy and her friend grew fainter as they walked on; the knight grew restless. After getting lost, the thought of using the descending dark spell on a random vent door below them only to see where that would take them only grew tempting. They had enough soul reserves to use the magic, and the vent door below their feet seemed appetizing to use said spell on. Although the room was dark below them, the knight was confident it could take them places. Using the limited space in the vent, the knight jumped up, activated the spell, and crashed into the room below, destroying the floor of the ventilation shaft they had been inside; the result was a loud thud within the bunker.
Looking around the room they had just crashed into, the knight was disappointed by the sight of two deceased individuals sitting before them at a table. If they could sigh, they would. But before they returned to the ventilation system, the knight had decided to walk over to the dead robots, curiosity asking why they had yet to be thrown away. As the knight approached the remains, they spotted the all too familiar dream particles that were found present around the dead. Stepping over the ever-increasing amount of robot bugs so they wouldn't harm the creatures.
Then, there they were, almost as if they were alive, the two worker drones floated before the knight. They appeared confused, horrified, and saddened by their current predicament.
"Oh, hello there, little one. Where are we? Why are we... alive? What is with all the bugs in the kitchen?" the female worker asked, who was identified by a card on her remains as Yeva. The dream spirit of the worker looked around the room, a barely lit room with terror in her eyes.
The male worker shared a similar thought; however, his concern primarily lay within that of another individual. "Where's our sweet daughter? I hope she fled from those horrid murder drones." the worker said before his and Yeva's eyes landed on them. The knight took a moment to glance at the dream spirits, and the knight was left with two choices: either use the dream nail and absorb their dream essence or leave them be like they had with Merrisa. Perhaps it would give them a chance to rest eternally? "What are you?" the dream spirits asked, confusion taking hold of them.
But this was the first time they had crossed paths with a dream spirit on this strange alien world, so perhaps they should spare them for now and leave them be. Why were they the first ones to bear fruit to dream spirits here in this world? Maybe they had relatives who still remembered them, proving to be enough for the vessel to see them present. With that all figured out, the knight walked away from the spirits, sparing (and ignoring) them the fate of being absorbed into the dream essence collection they carried with them. Jumping back into the vent, the knight walked away, not knowing where it would take them.
Eventually, a groan they had heard a while ago returned. This time, the knight could tell that it sounded almost familiar to Uzi's voice. Perhaps they were wrong about the groaning being unrelated to Uzi. Peering out of the slit holes provided by the vent door below them, the knight spotted something they could only guess could be a door leaning against the wall and a kitchen. From the looks of it, they may have finally found where Uzi had been staying... meaning they could finally get answers to why Uzi hadn't been messaging them back. After all, they were confident that Uzi hadn't been overexaggerating on her father's obsession with doors, meaning this had to be the place.
So, once more, the knight used their descending dark spell to go through the vent door, one of which had been separating them from their destination. Like before, the magic had once again destroyed the vent surrounding them, and they sent a shockwave throughout the room, announcing their entrance to anyone nearby. Looking around the room, the knight spotted another door with golden plating with the words Doorman carved into itself attached to it, furniture in one corner of the room, strangely colored boxes on shelves right next to the leaning door, and other accessories they couldn't tell what they were. As they wandered around, the groaning they had been overhearing stopped and was soon replaced with an all-too-familiar shout as a door slid open.
"WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?" a confused and enraged Uzi shouted at the top of her spiracles as she ran out of her room. "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VENT!? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CEILING!?!" Uzi, leaving her voice at a loud volume, gazed up at the destroyed ceiling above her as she stood in the living room, her mouth wide open. Resting on top of her shoulders were the three weaverlings spawned from the charm they had gifted her, just as confused as Uzi was. Her eyes then surveyed the room, her line of sight passing Ghost before quickly returning to look at them and staring nails into their very being. "GHOST?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" she shouted before she ran over to them at high speed, grabbing them by their cloak and raising them in the air so they could be near her face while shaking them.
Confused and shocked by Uzi's sudden aggression, the knight shadow dashed out of her grip, phasing right through her and sending her to slip and fall out of pure confusion. Why was she violent all of a sudden? Was it because they made a hole in the ceiling? Well... that was a reasonable reaction, they supposed. Anybody would be angry and violent in response to their home being intruded. Pulling out their phone instead of their pure nail, the knight turned it on and quickly messaged the worker, who got off her face and glared at them.
"I'm here to check up on you," they responded, holding the phone to her face in case she continued refusing to receive the message they sent her. Once Uzi processed what the vessel texted, they returned the device to their field of vision, continuing to message her. "You weren't responding to my messages, so I came here in person," they explained, returning the device to her face for her to read.
There was silence as Uzi processed what they told her, and as time continued on, the silence of both parties drifted on for what seemed to be countless cycles of sleep, even if it were a mere few minutes before Uzi responded. Her response was calm and reasonable and revealed knowledge that the knight barely had a grasp on.
"That's because the bunker blocks any cellular reception, Ghost. I can't receive text messages from outside the bunker, and I can't text anyone outside the bunker," she said with an annoyed sigh, looking away. Uzi then walked over to the soft-looking furniture and was about to sit down until something struck her. "Now, Ghost... please explain how you broke the vent?" She said, pointing up at the hole in the ceiling.
It would also be a response that included a question that made it sound as if Uzi was about to go violently crazy.
"It was one of the spells that I know." Ghost responded, nonphased by the situation before them.
"A spell?" Uzi asked, but before the knight could respond, the door to the residency opened. Walking right inside was Uzi's father, who appeared to be returning from a long day at work, looking exhausted.
"Hey, Uzi and little gu- WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CEILING!" he shouted, gazing upon the hole above them, his hands on his head in panic. "UZI! WHAT HAPPENED!?" he asked, a mix of concern and confusion littered across his tone of voice. In response, Uzi automatically pointed her finger at the vessel without remorse while sighing at the situation the knight had gotten them. Her father's attention switched over to the knight, "WHY WOULD YOU BREAK THE CEILING!?! I CAN'T FIX THAT BECAUSE I'M A DOOR EXPERT, NOT A VENTILATION AND CEILING EXPERT AND I'M NOT NORI! NOW I HAVE TO CALL ONE OF MY COWORKERS TO FIX ALL THIS!" he vented, taking in a deep breath before continuing. "Now... where exactly are your parental figures so I can talk to them to figure out a fitting punishment?" he asked, sounding more authoritative. This was only met with silence from the knight, Uzi's father staring into the abyss that was the knight's pair of eyes. The mention of their parents had only sent them into a spiraling staircase of the sounds of phantom buzzsaws and haunting memories of their past, shrouding them from what was happening in the real world.
"Dad, I'm pretty sure they're not from Copper 9. So it's safe to assume their parents aren't anywhere near here... also, what makes you think they're a child?" Uzi said, breaking up the silence that was clouding the room.
"Uh... Their size?" he said, briefly looking over to his daughter. "Well, if your parents aren't here to punish you, then I will have to punish you myself, young boy... child... thing?" he said, nervousness gripping him as he returned to looking at the knight. "So, as punishment, you are to stay in our home and be grounded like Uzi," he said, boasting in the sudden change from nervousness to confidence. Meanwhile, Uzi stared at her father before shouting at him.
"DAD! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE STAYING WITH US?!?!" Uzi shouted, confused and angry. This broke the knight out of their spiraling staircase of trauma and back into reality. "WHERE WOULD THEY EVEN BE STAYING!?! MY ROOM?" Uzi joked, still shouting.
"Why yes, they'll be rooming with you, young lady." He said before bringing out a book and reading from it. Something about improving family cohesion. "Now, to your room, children! I've got a call to make," he said, pointing to the hallway as he grumbled about calling someone to fix the ceiling.
As Uzi walked off to her room, returning to the state of groaning, Ghost was only left with one thought: 'What just happened?'
Notes:
Hello, here's another installment of Eerie Silence. Now, I hope I got each character's personality correct and I hope you all have a nice day.
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