Thorn was feeling rather optimistic for their day. Even Hornet thought that their weaving was getting very good! Their dream was finally coming true! So they bounced around the Distant Village going on their way to see Hollow.
They had made the older vessel a blanket as Thorn had heard that they were ill. It was a pretty silver colour and was embroided patterns of them, Ghost and the vessel it was for. They were rather excited to present it to their older sibling; the needle weilding vessel thought it was likely their best work yet.
When they found themselves at the tall doorway to Hollow's room, they knocked politely and waited. After a few seconds they assumed that they had either missed Hollow's call to come in or that the other vessel had not heard them. Thorn thought it would probably be fine if they came in anyway so entered smiling. That smile froze and arched downwards slightly when they saw Hollow though.
The vessel was curled on the floor in blankets, clutching a corner in one of their hands tightly. Thorn shook themself out of their confusion and went to go get the vessel's attention. They were probably just meditating right?
Right. It was not right.
Their older sibling did not respond to any sound or touch and seemed impossibly to be asleep. Only the sound of raspy, wheezy breaths gave away the life inside of the figure in front of them. Hollow had been ill but not like this yesterday! They were suppoosed to be up and enjoying their honey! Or doing a quiet activity! Not lying in a extremely bad condition on the floor squeezing a blanket like it was going to disappear!
Panicking, Thorn rushed off to find help. This lead them to Hornet who looked slightly dazed at them.
"What's wrong Thorn? I thought you were going to give the blanket to Hollow." she uttered ignorant to the current situation.
"Yes! I was b-but you need to come right now! Somethings wrong with Hollow! Their just lying there on the floor not responding almost like their asleep!" they explained terrified. Hornet's expression hardened and the look of sleepyness shrunk away. She was alert and ready to help so Thorn grabbed her wrist and hurried off with her.
As soon as they reached Hollow, Hornet knelt down and began examining the elder vessel. A frown was visible on her face. Shaking slightly -visibly worried- Hornet turned to face Thorn. She quickly put a mask of indifference on but her concern seeped through in her words.
"There's nothing physically wrong with them: their shell is fine! But I can't tell if their temperature is off because void always feel cold. We need to find help!" Hornet informed. Quietly the half Spider muttered to herself and Thorn made out words like "Archive", "Medical supplies" and "Moths". Still trembling slightly Hornet turned back to them and announced her plan.
"We need to get Seer. In the mean time, you get my mother and the two of you should take Hollow to the Deepnest hotspring."
Still trying to seem calm, Hornet strode off with her needle drawn ready to swing her out. Moving slowly from being overwhelmed at the situation, Thorn turned and left to do as Hornet said.
The vast expanse of dream seemed quiet today almost...empty. The structures of that reflected those found in the real world seemed fuzzy and faded. Even the monument to the dreamers -the place with one of the strongest connection between the realms in Hallownest- seeemed slightly surreal! It seemed a lot less like home than usual.
Fauna sighed and gazed out at the fluffy clouds she used to love so much. Maybe it was her older mind, but they seemed a lot less golden than normal today as well. She could vividly remember the time she spent happily playing in them as a young moth... Everything had gotten so much more complicated after she entered the real world for the first time since the Radiance had been defeated and the infection ended...
It was then that Tweet looked up at her concern. Maybe the small vessel had noticed her distantness? Or maybe they were just bored from trudging around the dream realm for hours and finding nothing...
"I'm fine Tweet. Just reminiscing that's all" Fauna told them as to not worry her friend.
"Yeah... You told a lot of stories about here... Do you ever...miss it?" they asked tentatively.
"Eh sometimes. But if I hadn't left, I'd never have met you!" she grinned.
Fauna's eyeline then shifted to Seer who seemed to be doing some kind of spell. The area around her was glowing: illuminating her purple, feathery wings. Everything was peaceful as they waited in silence. Suddenly, Seer's eyes snapped open wide. Quiz -ever the curious one- jumped up and ran over to the older moth.
"Are you okay? What happened?" they asked. Seer blinked a few times before hobbling upright and facing Fauna, Tweet and Quiz. Fauna saw her take a deep breath before she started to speak.
"Its strange... Nothing seems to actually be wrong but it still feels off... We'll have to postpone the search though, someone is trying to get our attention in the waking world." she spoke confusion evident in her tone.
Fauna glanced over at Tweet, wondering wht the vessel thought of this. They should all be able to tell that someone was trying to wake them! At the very least Fauna should be able to! Tweet's expression remained passive and Fauna realised that they were probably trying see if they could sense anyone trying to wake them up as Seer said. No one really did anything though so Fauna exhaled slowly and asked, "Sooo, are we going to see what they want?" Everyone murmed distantly in agreement so Fauna prepared to enter back into the real realm. She felt deep into the roots of her power and felt her link back consiousnes. She pulled herself into it and felt the familair feeling at this point of transitioning between realms.
Her eyes -her real eyes- flickered open to the sight of figure clad in red tapping Seer impatiently. Groaning slightly, she sat up, still groggy from being in the dream realm. The figure whipped around and stared at her with dark, threatening eyes.
"At last! I was trying to wake you for ages! I was starting to worry the same thing that was going on to... Never mind... I don't have time for this." She complained. Fauna's companions had started to awaken now as well.
"Sorry for keeping you waiting then" Fauna spoke dryly. She was at too much unease to deal with this bug politely. This earned her a glare but Fauna didn't care- she just wanted to know what was going on!
"Look, Seer I need your help. Something's happened to Hollow and they won't wake up! I figured you could help with you dream thingies" the bug dressed in red explained.
"Won't wake up eh? Could be something to do with the disturbence.. But that's much to insignificant to cause this. Unless its implying..." Seer mused to herself before finally adressing the visitor, "What's your name dearie? We'll gladly help you though."
"Hornet, I'm Hornet"
"Ohhh, I remember you!" Quiz piped up.
"From Deepnest are you? Well just let me get my supplied and I'll gladly come with you. Quiz you come with me." Quiz-alert and ready- jumped slightly and followed Seer off as she left. The bug -Hornet- glanced at Fauna and Tweet and then the figures of Seer and Quiz in the distance before jogging off after them.
Once she was gone, Tweet gently tapped Fauna. The moth spun around and crouched to get on Tweet's level. However, she frowned once she saw the small vessel's sunken eyes.
"What's wrong Tweet?" she asked worried.
"I-is Hollow g-going to be o-okay?" they aksed clearly frightened. Fauna mentally kicked herself for not remembering that Hollow was Tweet's sibling. Of course they would be concerned about them!
"Of course! Seer will probably be able to help them easily!" she tried trying not to let her uncertainess slip through. She wasn't sure if they could help Hollow yet or not. What she did though was that even though she may not like that Hornet, she would do anything in her power to help Hollow for Tweet.
Rim soared high into the air as Lost watched from below smiling. They were happy that Rim's confidence was building and were glad they had had the chance to help them. Rim looked so happy and carefree flying near the roof of the caverns with gleaming, dark, void wings flowing from them. Their scizzors stood stuck firmly in the ground. Lost almost couldn't see the cracks in Rim's mask!
Happy things were finally looking up for their sibling, Lost flew up to join them in the air.
"Hi Lost!" they smiled genuinly at them. Lost beamed back. Then a devious smirk crept across the lifeblood vessel's face... They swiftly flew up to their younger sibling and tapped them on the shoulder -like they had done with Lurien all those years ago- and uttered one word, "Tag." Playfully, they then darted away. Rim just looked up at them in confusion though
"Oh of course, sorry, you wouldn't have played before... You 'tag' someone and then they have to tag you or someone else back. When you're the 'tagger' you chase everyone else." Rim nodded at them slightly and put on a concentrating face. But Lost could see throught their disguises at this point and knew that they were faking it out. So they cautiously backed away but not far enough away for it to be that noticable. But Lost underestimated both Rim's flying skills and their perceptiveness...
The smaller vessel dove at them, pushing out their hand as far as it would go while yelling "TAG!". Lost could not evade in time and became the new 'tagger'. The game went on for a little while going back and forth between who was 'tagging' until Love spoke up in Lost's mind.
"Lost, be on your guard. I fear something sinister is at play here."
"What do you mean by that?" they transmitted back to the guardian.
"I can sense something is wrong! I'm not yet sure if its natural or not. But either way it needs to be stopped. Be ready to help when the time comes Lost- you have the power to help them!" At this point Lost noticed Rim fluttering nearby looking up at them confused.
"Ah, sorry to interupt our game Rim but Love was warning me of a premonition of sorts they had." Lost explained still quite confused at the guradian's cryptic word themself.
"Is something happening?" they asked, thier eyes darting down to their scizzors on the floor.
"I'm not sure yet..." Lost felt a bit guilty for interupting the fun Rim was happening but what Love predicted could not be changed.
But it turned out the guardian had been spot on when the King came not five minutes later bearing bad news about Hollow...
Their spirit plummeted. That couldn't be right! No way! Everthing was going so well! They refuse to admit things might be going wrong now! They looked up into Ogrim's bright eyes and stared.
"You have to be wrong! There's no way anything's that wrong with Hollow! They've gone through so much already: how can something get them down now!" The beetle just looked down pitifully at them.
"Fizz, I understand it seems strange, and believe me, I'd know! I did see them grow up! But they are actually ill! H-hornet asked me to tell you and Eve so that you'd come h-help if needed" Ogrim tried but even he was gettig upset by the end of it.
"No! I refuse to believe you"
With that Fizz took off. They ran away from Ogrim to a small cavern only Eve and they knew the location of. Slowly, they sat themself down and felt the tears that had been rolling down their face. They couldn't lose Hollow! Not after they had finally been reunited. After all those years stuck in the darkness where the only one to believe them that they'd leave someday was Eve! It couldn't happen!
"You're absolutely right!" a cold voice spoke. Its words seemed encouraging but its tone seemed hollow and empty. They looked over at it and saw a black shape that resembled themself.
"I mean how could Hollow ever fall to some illness, right!?" it tried again.
"Yeah! Its not like them to do that!"
"But that would mean Ogrim's lying and has he ever done that to you before?"
"N-no! I bet it was that dumb moth! I'm gonna kill her again if it was!" They brought out a nail made of an old claw and swiped at the air in riteous anger. No one did anything to their siblings! It was their job -and Eve's- to cause mischief and chaos!
"But the Radiance is dead! Consumed by the void! You can still feel her consumed in our darkness can't you?"
"S-so I m-must have b-been right first time!"
"So Ogrim betrayed your trust then..." Its bright eyes glinted malevolently. Fizz could see the malice behind them but didn't want to back down. They wouldn't pull out of a prank it was discovered! They were too stubborn for that.
"I suppose i-its possible he t-trid to d-decieve me but for what motive?" The thing seemed stumped for a moment before it seemed to darken even more and spoke with its words edged and sharp, "Maybe he's jealous of you and wants to be a duo act with only Eve so he made up a story to get you away..."
"B-but that wwould mean Eve w-would h-have to be in o-on it!"
"Whoever said they weren't"
"But they wouldn't! We've been best friends for way to long!"
"That kind of thing can be faked..."
They looked at the 'shade's' calculating look. It was studying them like they surveyed a situation to plan what prank best to go with! It was manipulating them! If Hollow was really ill then they had best go help not sit here moping.
"Ok then" they started slyly, "If Eve is really faking our friendship then how do you explain this?" They lifted their arm out of their to reveal a strange patch glistening darker than the rest of the crust of their shell.
"W-whats that?" it asked weakly.
"I think you already know..."
"N-no.." it lied.
"Fine then, you gonna play dumb? I'll tell you. Eve and I sealed a wound on each others arms with void from each other. A kind of 'blood pact' if you will. A symbol of companionship and of being we'd never abandon each other. Like I won't abandon Hollow. Ogrim wouldn't lie to me. I'm going to help Hollow" It floated staring at them eyes wide. Its colour seemed to have lightened slightly now making more of a murky grey than midnight black.
"I wish I could be like that..."
"Like what?"
"Brave and loyal to my friends."
"You can. Come with me! I'll show you!" Fizz offered it their hand and it scrambled over to take it. As soon as it made contact, its whole body was bathed in a brilliant white light as pure as the colour of their eyes.
"Thank you for showing me the way" was the last thing it ever uttered before dissolving back inside of them.
Fizz then stood up confident. They would help Hollow. It was their duty as a sibling.
