Dying Tickles Chapter 3:

Fatality

Dark souls is owned by From Software.

"Talking"

"Thoughts"

"Demon/deity speech"

Line Break

After having a mental breakdown, and subsequently recovering, Garret heard the elevator in motion. He moved to the entrance to see Oscar, with his helmet back on, walk out. "…Ah…There you are Garret".

"Hey…Oscar…You doing okay?" Garret asked awkwardly.

"As well as one can after seeing their sister again after decades…Is…Is what you said true, that Ana had her tongue cut off cut off and was purposely mutilated?" Oscar asked.

"…I highly doubt she did it to herself…"

"…I see…" Oscar replied. He then clenched his fist, before slowly releasing it "…You said there was a smith down here who could repair armor?"

"Yeah, just down here" Garret replied, leading the way down. When they reached the bottom Garret spoke up again. "FYI, there are a few hollows down here, but they are the docile kind, so far gone they barely do anything. Easy kills if it pleases".

"…I don't know…" Oscar slowly spoke "…It goes against what I stand for as a knight".

"Not to be rude, but in this place, your "codes of honor" can take a hike". They had reached to set of stairs leading down to Rickert. "This is an eat or be eaten world buddy, and they aren't eating". Oscar just stayed silent.

They approached Rickert's cell. "Hmm" he grunted, "This is an unusual sight, not one, but two men roaming about. A knight and a sorcerer wandering the ruins of a city, sound like one heck of a story".

"Hello Rickert" Garret said.

"Hold on, how do you-"

Garret cut him off "I have the gift of foresight. One of the things I foresaw is you".

"Huh, a sorcerer gifted with visions of the future. The gods must like you".

"Oh trust me, when the remaining gods find out who I am, what I want, they will most certainly not like me, especially a certain cross-dressing prick with daddy issues". He muttered that last part out so the others wouldn't hear him. Rickert however, had heard that last part.

"Hold on, which god is a cr-"

"If it is all the same with you" Oscar interrupted "I would like to repair my armor and weapons".

"Oh, well give him here, I'll have them fixed up in a jiffy" Rickert replied. Oscar and Garret both started stripping off their armor.

"Excellent, I am sure if Garret and I pool our souls we can pay you in fu-"

"Oh no, I'll do this for free" Rickert spoke up.

Oscar looked on with a questioning gaze "Why would you repair our supplies for free".

"Thank your buddy over there" Rickert replied, already starting to fix Oscar's chest piece.

Now it was Garret's turn to look confused "What did I do?"

"That little speech you gave earlier" Rickert told them "About not giving up and changing things, it was inspiring, really got my blood pumping again".

"Speech?" Oscar questioned.

"Oh" Garret replied, a sheepish smile on his face, "I was just in the middle of a nervous breakdown, it happens". He then turned back to Rickert, "Well then, if you have any heavy soul arrow scrolls I can-"

"That'll be 2,000 souls" Rickert shot of, not taking his eyes off the items he was repairing.

"What?"

"Souls, it is what passes for currency in this godforsaken land".

"I know what they are used for, but, 2,000? What happened to the whole 'blood pumping thing' my speech gave you?"

"That's for the armor, this is separate".

"Bu-"

"You want me to double the amount?" Rickert asked, raising an eyebrow.

Oscar then told Garret "I'll give you some of my souls to spend Garret, after all, the entire repair is being done for free".

"…Alright" Garret relented, and paid the price, getting a heavy soul arrow scroll in return.

Soon enough, Rickert had fully repaired the duo's weapons and armor and had returned them. "Do come visit again" he called out as they left.

Garret and Oscar were moving towards the path the lead to the flooded city of New Londo. Garret the made a sharp left turn form the entrance arch and stopped before a vase with a body in it. Before Oscar could ask him what he was doing, Garret hurled himself into the vase, breaking it apart and having the body slump to the ground. "Garret!" he yelled out, "What do you thi-".

"Ta-Da" Garret suddenly yelled out, holding an Estoc in his right hand.

Oscar just stared before turning away "…Is this going to be a regular thing with you. Doing something no sane man would even consider, all to get some prize in return?"

Garret just tilted his head at the question "Is that going to be a problem?"

"…I guess not…So long as we get something beneficial in return".

"I am so glad you feel that way" Garret then proceeded to strip off his clothing until he was in nothing but a loincloth "You can head up to Firelink now, I'll be back up one way or another".

"Why did you...?"

"Well I just got this stuff repaired, don't want it to get all broken again".

Oscar merely stared at him for a few seconds before heading for the elevator, muttering about insane seers.

"Alright" Garret thought to himself, "I have to get the Firekeeper soul above all else, any thing else…I'll play by ear". With a "plan" in mind, he headed towards the ruins, grabbing a pair of transient curses on the way.

As he made it too the water, he spotted the first couple of ghosts making their way towards him. "Wait for it, wait for it" he chanted in his head. One ghost then made to cleave him in two "NOW!" he thought, and deftly rolled out of the way, just missing the ghost's slash. He continued to "duck and weave" past all the ghosts until he made it to the corpse with the Firekeeper soul in it. He grabbed the soul and placed it in his sack, "Now to esca-" his thought was interrupted by the gang of ghosts all blocking his way out. He then saw the lead ghost extend its blades in order to slice him to bits. "…Well…shit" were his last words, before his mind went dark.

A/N: Here it is, my third chapter.

In response to a Mr. (or Ms.) CadenGallic, the tone will be mostly comedic, but will have its serious moments. After all, Dark Souls does get pretty dark, what with all the NPC's having horrible fates befall them (Siegmeyer and Solaire come to mind). As it stands, Garret will try to keep things as lighthearted as possible, but there will be some depressing moments (Rhea's story in particular). I can only try to balance those out.

Later.