They were supposed to be making a plan but looking across the room, everyone just seemed to be nervously sat anxiously next to Lost and tried to wait but everything surrounding them pricked at their nerves. It didn't help that the Pale King -one of the few bugs they were fully comfortable around was still gone. They knew he'd gone to see Hollow but that had been quite a while ago now...
When something big changed though, they, and who they thought was Est, snapped their heads to observe. Fauna and Seer had both abrubtly stopped in all that they were doing and expressions of shock crossed their faces. Seer started muttering something and Rim tried to make it out. Even though they couldn't hear her, they had a decent idea of what she was saying because of the experience they had from hiding and gathering infomation on their surroundings through bugs talking. She seemed to be whispering, "It can't be" to herself. Something big had happened and Rim wasn't sure if it was good or bad.
So they stood up and walked quietly over to Fauna who had been conversing with Tweet until her realization. They gently tapped the moth on the shoulder: unsure of how to act around her as they hadn't spent much time with her.
"H-hi there can I help you?" the moth feintly smiled.
"Um yeah, what's going on?I mean like clearly something's happened and I'm tired of being left in the dark."
"Sure... What's your name? Sorry I'm terrible at names"
"Oh I'm Rim" Fauna visibly paled and her breaths turned panicky.
"O-ok Rim how about we go sit down to talk about this" Rim wasn't sure how they were so sure but they had a sinking sensation that thy were going to recieve some heart breaking news. Maybe it was the pitiful tone. Or the sympathetic expression. Or the suggestion.
They sighed worriedly and followed Fauna to a seat. The lilac moth fidgetted slighty before starting.
"S-so Rim uhm w-what h-happened was" Fauna took a deep breath, "I'm sorry but he's gone"
"Who?!" Then it hit them. The only he Fauna would be talking about them being that close to. Their father.
"The Pale King" Rim willed themself not to cry. They had to seem strong for the other vessels. They may not have liked him but surely they'd care at his demise.
"W-what happened?"
"He took on the role of god of the dream realm."
"So he's not dead!?"
"Technically no... But he won't be able to walk this realm in a physical form for quite a while. His form just wasn't developed enough here when he took on the job"
"So I might never see him again?..."
"I can try and take you to him in the dream realm but I don't know if I'll be able to take somone so unconnected to dream so near to the ruler of dream..."
"Oh... Y-you need to tell them all"
"The vessels?" Fauna looked stricken at the suggestion.
"Yes"
"But they'll all be so upset! I could barely handle telling you!"
"And I was argably to closest to him. We can grieve together. Fauna you need to help them with this."
"Ok" she sniffed, "I'll do it... But you come with me?" Rim put on a brave face and readied for an enslaugh of their emotions later.
"Sure"
So the pair got up together and readied to tell the crowd what had happened. Only Fauna knew what had really happened so she did most of the explaining but Rim offered support and honoured him. They would get through this.
He had sacrificed himself!? The thought seemed fundamentally wrong to Ghost! But yet it had clearly happened s they could now leave. A silver glow had emerged where the exit normally was and the blade of their dream nail once again drew in full force. The last they had seen of him before this was -oh... The last time they had actually spoken to him was when he had first reincarnated. Sure they had seen him at other big events -like Verde's performance- but never tried to see who he'd become!
Had it been Ghost in the wrong the whole time? Had -just like they'd feared- they become that who they hated the most by hating him? They weren't this bad before! When had they changed? When had they even started to hate him? They clearly remembered thinking of him without even being able to hate him while they were still in Scarlet's mind! Had it been the reminder of his wrongs through their siblings shades? The trauma they'd all gone through being locked down there? Was it Thorn's tale of not being able to pursue their dream? Or the awful treatment Est had endured? Clearly by the time of the reincarnation their emotions had developed enough to comprehend a hatred!
They felt a strong desire to sit and fiddle with their cloak as a wave of emotion crashed down on them. They stared at the floor and let their hands do as they felt so compelled to do. With a start they realised it was guilt they felt. The sorrow mixed with a lingering sense of wrong was guilt. They had wrongly judged him and he last thing they ever did to him was take their frustrations out on him after jumping to conclusions. In some ways they were no better than he had been before... But if he could make up for it, they could make ammends too! Starting with visiting Hollow...
Their sibling would be worried for them if no one knew where they were! Maybe the option of combat theropy was still available for them to give to other vessels? So they jumped into the silver light and let it wisk them away. They emerged crouched -as usual- in front of the now dead godseeker. That was their fault too wasn't it?... Ah well, she had challenged them and called them a 'cringer' whatever that meant... They had just done her challenges! Blame couldn't really be put solely on them when they didn't know they had the potential to become a higher being!
Shifting uncomfortably, they redrew their dream nail and held it pointed upwards. It dragged them as essence to their dream gate. Without even bothering to look around to see how the Dirtmouth citizens were doing like they would normally, they went straight fr the Stag Station. They couldn't stop again to see how their friends were doing now! They had to help their family!
Once at the Queen's Station, they dashed off to the Archives. The wall glowed at the use of their monarch wings and dimmed again once they were enveloped in the shade cloak. They let themself get into a rhythm with this pattern as their mind wandered in exctement and nervousness for seeing Hollow.
It was clear that their family was all in the Archives from the flashing lights and assorted junk in the entrance hallway. The most prominent sign though was the racket echoing through the halls. Ghost ran through the corridor and went searching for one of theri siblings. One nearly ran into them when they rounded the corner a little too fast though...
It was Toothy dressed in their normal red cloak and smiling eyes. They started to bashfully utter sorry but then chose to look up and see who it was. Ghost saw their eyes go wide in happy shock.
"Ghost! You're here! No one's seen you for days and we were getting kind of worried!" they informed while trying to seem calmer than they were. Ghost was about to speak when they were interupted by Toothy interupted them at a realization.
"You never showed up to the meeting! You have no idea what's happened! Look basically-" It was then that Ghost chose to cut them off.
"Toothy, I know what happened" they smiled thinly, "I've been gone cause I was stuck in Godhome but I listened in through the void in you and the others"
"Do you know why everything's fixed?" They looked down ashamed. Yes, they did know what happened and they nearly stopped it from happening.
"Yeah... He's gone..."
"I'm trying to keep it together for the others but I think even Est's upset..."
"Do they all know?"
"Yeah.. He fixed eveything while we were still in the meeting so Fauna and Rim announced it." This should have reassured Ghost but they just got a feeling someone had been missed...
Then it clicked.
"Has anyone told Hollow?" Toothy jumped uncomfortably.
"N-no... That's the thing... No one really wants to do it... We've been avoiding the subject...I would do it but I just don't think I could actually help them..."
"I'll do it"
"Y-you will?!" They nodded affirmitively.
"Th-thanks Ghost" They ran up to them -clearly not holding back their emotion anymore- and hugged them.
"N-no problem Toothy" they sniffed suddenly overun with sadness at their sibling's display of affection.
Ghost pulled away and gave a watery smile.
"I'll go speak with them now then..."
"Good luck! If anyone can help them with this Ghost its you!"
Ghost walked steadily enugh and put on a brave face for Hollow. They knew from their siblings and their void connection where Hollow was.
When they reached the correct room, they hovered nervously by the doorway. How was Hollow going to take this? If Rim -probably the second closest vessel to the Pale King- had managed to make the announcement with Fauna maybe it wouldn't be so bad? They sighed and went in. Hollow was sat up in their bed with a book. A smile was plastered across their face and their head bobbed happily down the page they were reading.
"Hi Hollow" they started, uncharacteristically shy. The larger vessel looked up and somehow grinned even more.
"Ghost!" they spoke excitedly, "I'm so glad to see you! The others said you hadn't been seen since Monomon told you about me and I was worried!"
"I was worried about you too! I was stuck in Godhome after I went there to vent and stay out the way!"
"Well we're both here now!" Ghost smiled up at them then rememebered why they were there.
"Look Hollow, our father he-he-"
"I know Ghost"
"T-they told me no one had told you.."
"They didn't... I was there somehow..."
"Oh... I guess I just felt like I n-needed t-to be the o-one to t-tell you cause-cause I nearly st-stopped him and I j-just feel so b-bad!"
Hollow set the book down and squidged up to one side of the bed. They patted the now empty space next to them and Ghost climbed into it.
"Hey, its ok! We all make mistakes besides he's not dead!"
"Y-you don't u-understand! I-I used my power wrongly c-cause I judged him!"
"So did everyone else! Ghost you were just the only one with the ability to actually do something about it!"
"You really think I'm not a bad bug?..."
"No Ghost, and I wouldn't even if you weren't family." They snuggled up to Hollow and let their exhaustion catch up with them. They rested gently with Hollow for the rest of the day.
Hornt looked up when she heard someone plonk down next to her. Turns out she didn't need to as the immediate crash of the bug falling gave them away as Misfortune.
"Hi Misfortune..." she said glumly. The vessel was still in her fallen position with her face firmly planted on the tiled floor.
"Hi Hornet!" she said with her normal brightness. It seemed slightly off though... It wasn't quite as jovial as normal. Rather, it reflected Misfortune's energy levels as opposed to her happiness. "What you up to?" she said trying to start a conversation with the purple clad vessel.
"Nothing much" she spoke, her voice muffled but reverberating from the floor, "just looking for Nymph. Well I was but then I wanted a break." Hornet wanted to avoid the obvious issue but she also desired to talk to someone about how she felt about it.
"How are you taking the news?..."
"Probably better than my mother will... feels weird to be sad... I mean, I don't feel like glitter anymore! Like what's up with that!?" Misfortune had got up and properly sat down now so Hornet could see her expressive features.
Her horns -rather impossibly- seemed droopy and her eyes edged downwards. Only Misfortune could manage to make her solid horns seem expressive and full of movement like they were actually movable..
"I'm not sure I ever actually got to know him.."
"Me neither, but I guess you can expect that when you live with Nymph and Dryya" she smiled fondly as she mentioned her sibling and friend.
"I guess I could say the same but I actually stayed with him for multiple weekends! I feel like if someone asked me to them about him then I wouldn't know how to answer..."
"Ok then, what was he like?"
"Are you trying to annoy me or something?"
"No, I'm just curious and Nymph or my mother aren't really the best people to ask- especially not now. Besides your right here and are on the subject!"
"Well I'll try then..."
She tried to picture her memories of him. The first thing that came to mind was the time she had run away from Hollow and spilled craft supplies everywhere. She'd expected him to be mad -after all he was usually really strict- but instead he'd just tutted at the mess and got one of the royal retainers to clear it up! He even let her in his workshop after that! Said she had a 'creative mind' and could help him!
"Well, he always acted formal and strict but sometimes, if you coul get him to open up, he came across as just an overworked bug! I mean don't get me wrong he was still a jerk a lot-"
"Sounds like what Nymph and Dryya say"
"What that he was a jerk?"
"Yeah they'd tell stories of him doing things like wiping bug's memories cause they saw something that could 'ruin his image'!" "Sounds like him... But he wasn't always like that! I guess that was how the kingdom was actually alright under his rule until the infection... Or so I'm told.."
"So why did he leave us all then? I he did care deep down, the why were we locked down there?" Hornet was surpised at this question: it was a bit more of a heavy tpic than Misfortune normally covered in conversation. The vessel then tried to lighten the question with her normal solution.
"I mean I couldn't even see the glitter I used that well! And despite popular belief vessels can't see in the dark! You know I've been asked that one a whole two times!"
"I guess he was just doing what he thought was right Misfortune... I mean he did...this, so he probably felt guilty now. I never really forgave him for what happened to my mother. I just blamed him for it, which to be fair it was his plan, because he was the one that took her away the last time I saw her! But would we even be here right now if he hadn't tried something?"
"Eh who knows?... I don't usually think 'bout that kind of thing"
"You don't normally act like this either! What's up? I mean besides the obvious" Misfortune grinned up at her wisely.
"I learnt a while back that sometimes its okay to not be happy. There are times when its just not appropriate and that's okay!"
Hornet was a little taken aback. Misfortune was more aware than she gave her credit for! "And how'd you learn that one" she asked jokingly.
"Well its actually a long story you know!" Then Misfortune proceeded to explain the full story on how she faced something called a 'shade self' and learnt an important lesson about herself. It sounded a bit fishy to Hornet but vessels just kept getting wierder and weirder so it had some merit...
—-
So I went back and and edited chapter 9 (to add in Toothy's shade self) and chapter 19 cause I accidentally wrote Rim's shade self twice... Sorry if you noticed... Hope you are enjoying!
