Hollow stared at the strange creature that had been put into their arms by their father.
"Look after her my Hollow Knight" he commanded before slithering quietly away. It was an order so they had to obey! They could not let their father down! Steadily their gaze turned to the being in their arms as she squirmed to look at them. "Hi there! Are you my older sibling mother told me about. She said" and then the small bug started doing an imitation of a deeper snarky voice, "They're really stoic and don't do much. Only what your boring old father tells them to"
They looked at her confused- No! Not confused! That's an emotion and they don't have those! But it was a very good impression of Herrah! How did she get that good?
"Oh yeah, I forgot. Mother said you don't talk. Look this place is like way too bright for my poor little eyes. You'd be the best sibling ever if you took me outside to play!" she tried again while clambering down to the floor. A strange warmth had begun to spread in their chest and they studied the young spider. Their father might not like them leaving... But on the other hand their assignment was to look after their younger sibling so it would be on task... They looked her dead in the eye as they had been trained to do and nodded. That was what bugs did to mean agreement right?
"Yes!" she yelled in excitement, "Oh my name's Hornet by the way, what's yours?"
Staring at her still, they slightly tilted their head. Why would they have a name? Hornet gasped and jumped up and down.
"Do you not have a name?" They shook their head.
"Well then I name you Hollow. That's a nice name right? Do you like it!?" The vessel took a step back from the hyper princess of Deepnest. They nodded slightly though still assuming that was what they should probably do. Regally -as they were told a prince should walk- they stode over to her and took her hand to guide her out of the palace.
They blinked and felt slighty disorientated a they left the palace though. Why were they there? And why was Hornet so small? It was almost like they were in the-
The harsh clang of metal reverberated in their head but they stood their ground. They bore a gaze into Dryya and stood. They -being a vessel- couldn't feel the burn of extending themself. They had no reason to give in. Seeing a gap in her defence though, the pure vessel lunged forward and struck with a nail made purely of glowing, white soul. The warrior winced at the hit but it had done nothing but slightly darken her gleaming armour.
They broke apart at this though as it was all that was needed for them to be declared the victor of that round. But Dryya always got better if she lost: they had noticed that after suffering a horrible defeat because of winning against the armoured bug by a landslide just before that.
Both walked upright across the court and stood ready for the match to begin. On the shrill striking of Ogrim's claw, it started. Dryya -never being the one to wait as they had also learned the hard way- immediately struck low hoping to catch them off guard and earn an easy victory. But they were the Pure Vessel! The Hollow Knight! They're only job was to do as told and taught to them in preperation for taking on some horrible foe. They were not yet sure of who this foe was but they must incredibly powerful if their father couldn't take them on himself!
So they dropped to the floor and rolled out the way of the strike. Swiftly, they jumped back up and teleported to just above Dryya. They then dove downwards at her aiming for her nail. Now even more enraged, their opponent struck out with her leg in a round house kick. It would of hit them square in the face -possibly ending the fight- but in their panic (No! not panic they couldn't feel that kind of thing!) they summoned a brilliant burst of white energy that burst in Dryya's face. She stumbled backwards and tripped over thus signifying that the fight was once again over. And somehow, they had one all of the rounds! For the first time, they had triumphed over Dryya and won! Their Father would be proud!
'No he wouldn't!' a voice nagged. But how it could it possibly know that. Wait. They remembered their father never showing his pride though. But some of the event in their memories can't have happened yet! Something really strange was-
There was a stark contrast between the view of the dark basin below them and the shining palace behind them. They technically belonged to both sides but had only ever known the palace.
But they had just done it. Done what they had spent weeks trying after healing from harsh injuries. Completed the training exercise called The Path of Pain. Their father must be proud of them this time! They had done what they had worked so hard to do! Surely this would make them ready for their destiny!
They stood waiting still as they always did, waiting for him to speak. He often rambled on to them, seemingly thinking that they didn't understand. Eventually words left him despite him still looking out into the distance.
"Good job today vessel" The weren't sure why he always just called them vessel. They much prefered it when Hornet called them Hollow. But he had just praised them! It was an honour, a treat to hear that! They looked up at their father in amazement and to their surprise (No, again they had to stop feeling! They weren't surprised!) to see him looking at them to. They saw genuine pride in his eyes. They could stay how they were. They had done well! They-
But it all failed in the end didn't it? Why did they believe this. Oh. It was just a memory. A look into their past... So where were they now?
Hollow sat up groggily and looked around. Were they in the Archive and was that Hornet?
"H-hornet?" they croaked.
"Hollow?" she gasped and rushed over. Ramblings then left her mouth and she seemed amazed.
"Hollow! We thought something awful must have happened! You never said your illness was that bad!" She gushed. It wasn't was it? They never felt that bad! What was Hornet on about?
"What happened? Why am I in the Archives?"
"Hollow" she started gently, "You've been asleep for three days. Monomon's been doing immediate medical aid but hopefully she'll let Seer have a check up soon.
Asleep for three days? That wasn't possible was it? But it would explain their tiredness. They could so easily-
Monomon sighed. Apparently -according to Hornet- Hollow had been awake not too long ago but now they seemed in an even deeper sleep than before! She knew that really she should just let Seer take a look at Hollow but she cared for the vessel and would really prefer to have the chance to make sure they're okay before letting a moth invade their mind and possibly cause some kind of trauma due to being literally locked up with a moth in their own head for years.
Maybe this train of thought made her next action morally wrong but she did it anyway. The Teacher needed to know if this forced sleep was some kind of force at play or the work of a particularly nasty illness. This meant she would have to run some tests on Hollow. The vessel under the lifeblood guardian's influence seemd to imply that the guardian thought it was the former of the options but Monomon needed too be sure. Just because it was what needed to be done, doesn't make it right in her eyes.
The test itself is a simple scan that would indicate the presence of any magical force. It was quick and painless even if the vessel wasn't already forced asleep. And Monomon knew all about forced sleep...
When she pressed the button, she looked away and hoped that if Hollow was conscious on any level of existence, that this wouldn't cause strange side effects for them. The machine hummed to life and glowed the signature Archive green before shining that light over Hollow and scanning an image into a nearby screen. Monomon couldn't help glancing back at the vessel in her care as she left to take a break ;after all she couldn't be such abad role model to Quirrel as to not take her own advice she gave to others!
She passed Shadow on her way to her break room and stopped to speak with them.
"Hey Shadow, would you mind checking up on Hollow while I'm on break?" she asked politely while trying to not let her tiredness and guilt slip through.
"Sure thing. I'll drop by and finish some paper work there." they said sounding oblivious to the hidden undertones of her voice. They started to part ways when Monomon had a sudden thought that sent shivers down her back. Feeing slightly anxious for the response, she turned back to the departing Shadow and nervously called them back.
"Oh, and also, do-do you happen to know if Ghost knows about Hollow?" Shadow's normally stoic face became visibly distressed.
"No I don't think anyone has" they let out wincing at their own words. Monomon sighed again before adding, "I guess I'll bite the bullet and do it then..."
"Good luck with that then..." Shadow muttered likely to themself before abruptly turning and scurrying away probably so they could not be held accountable for any property damage Ghost might cause upon their taking of the news...
She was supposed to be on break but realistically the longer she left Ghost in the dark about the situation, the worse the consequences of when they inevitably did find out. She just hoped Quirrel didn't find out about this trip... And she realy hoped she wasn't about to become a victim of the kingdom's largest temper tantrum...
Ghost didn't know what to think. Monomon had taken time out of her day to come inform of the current...situation so they tried to be polite but it was taking all their will -which they definetly had pleny of- to restrict a transformation into their true form. Before they even had proper emotions they had had a desire to save Hollow so with emotions it had doubled. Knowing their precious sibling was in danger was pressing down on them like a weight on their shoulders. They just wanted to go destroy whoever had done this to Hollow just like how they had destroyed the Radiance after she had hurt Hollow the first time.
They had a solution though... It might not be the healthiest coping mechanism but they were going to head off to Godhome and train on the figments of the old 'gods' they had crushed on their original journey through Hallownest. At least there they could probably unveil the Shade Lord form if they needed to.
So Ghost dashed out, not even bothering to greet Sly as they went passed him. Their nail clanged in a rythmic beat against the bell as they impatient;ly waited for the stag. What had originally started as a habit they did because they could make sounds that calmed them in specific patterns had turned into more of entertainment as this point. They were too stressed about Hollow to really care like they should about how the stag would feel about this though...
He didn't say anything when he turned up so Ghost didn't put anymore thought into it. They focused on small things along the journey to keep their mind busy like the dusty faded colour of their cloak. It had been through so much with them! They were glad they got away with only washing it instead of Hornet making them a new one... They didn't really notice the rush of wind on the stag from the sheer amount of times tht they had used the stagway so they weren't able to focus on that. Instead their attention drifted to their dream nail for the rest of the journey. (Which felt like it was taking an eternity!) It glinted even in the dim lumafly lit tunnels. It too reminded Ghost of their journey and how much simpler things were then... When their problems could mostly be solved by hitting something with their nail. None of this talking, feelings and being a good role model to their other siblings like they had to do now. Even though two out of those three things they had caused in the first place anyway...
Once they eventually reached their stop in the city storerooms, Ghost jumped off the stag and hurtled their way down the tall city spire that they station was located fresh smell of rain never calmed them so much before. They were getting closer to where they could finally relax. After all what could they actually do to help Hollow? They were extremly skilled in combat but had never really dealt with situations like illness before. The best thing they could do was to keep themself calm and stay out of the way...
The void black corpse of the godseeker shouldn't have been a reassuring sight -after all it was a corpse- but in the end it was. So Ghost swung their trusty dream nail and felt the familiar tug of being pulled into the dream world.
They frowned upon entering the place though. It seemed a lot...duller than usual. The gold pillars were chipped and faded. The fluffy clouds looked thin and droopy. Even the sky seemed to have faded of its normal golden, warm colour. It really shouldn't have changed this much! Even when th whole place got nearly ruined with void it retained its beautiful asthetic. Something was definetly up but Ghost didn't really want to think about it. Their mind would probably wander to Hollow if they did...
So Ghost charged their crystal heart and soared through the air until they pulled the energy back into it at their target destination. The bench up high where they normally sat to admire the place no longer seeemed to glow like the sun when they approached it! This rather annoyed Ghost as they always found that rather pleasing and had hoped it would help calm them. They huffed before rushing to the Hall of Gods .
The Hall wasn't nearly as damaged as everywhere else and felt almost the same as it used to so Ghost eargerly rushed up to one of their favourite fights- Nightmare King Grimm. It always suceeded in pulling all of their concentration to win after all! It was exactly what they needed right now. So they challenged the statue releasing scarlet essence and no longer felt silly for drawing their nail at an inaminate object as they did it. Hopefully this would be enough to keep them busy. It had to! For Hollow...
