To those of you coming from my account, yep! Hollow Knight won the poll! To those of you not, welcome to my new story. Now, I love Gravity Falls, and it shocked me that I hadn't written a story about it yet! As for Hollow Knight, I beat the game recently, and I really fell in love with the characters and universe. So I figured, hey, no one's done this crossover yet, might as well be the first!
Now, I'm kind of new to Hollow Knight, so forgive me if I get some details about the lore incorrect. And hoo boy, is there a LOT of lore in that game!
This chapter is kind of just a prologue, so that's why it's rather short. The main story will start next chapter. So buckle up, I want to make this a good one!
The void raced up through Godhome, the Radiance desperately trying to keep it at bay. The forgotten god was in shock. Where had that little vessel gotten so much power from? They hardly seemed like a threat when they confronted her. Yet as they fought with it, the vessel gradually began to gain more and more strength, until it had the entirety of the void at it's command, leading the god of light to her current predicament.
"No! I refuse to fade away!"
Yet the void ignored her, closing in quicker and quicker, until it finally grabbed hold of the Radiance. The god struggled desperately as more tendrils wrapped around their being, yet they she could not shake them. The inky darkness continued to envelope the world around her, until all she could see was void.
As she continued to struggle, a terrifying roar rang out. The Radiance looked up in utter terror as the void began to take the shape of a terrifying monster. Eight glowing eyes opened on a twisting face of darkness, four arms reaching out from behind it. It reached one arm out, the hand grabbed the radiance by the head and started to consume her very essence.
"No, NO! I must live on!"
The beast ignored her cries once again, continuing to drain the god's essence away, her form fading by the moment.
"NOOOOO!"
As the Radiance cried out one final time, her body finally gave way, exploding in a flash of light which was consumed by the void almost instantly. And thus, the Radiance and the infection were no more.
The Godseeker hunched over, sudden pain infecting them. Void started leaking from their eyes and mouth, dripping to the ground, then rising up and wrapping around her. Her body was completely consumed by void, and soon, it continued to spread, covering the junk pit in darkness.
The void cried out once again. The little vessel may have acquired the power of the void, but it had no control over it. The Radiance may have been defeated, and the infection gone, but now the void was spreading, and unless it was dealt with quickly, it was doubtful that anyone could stop it.
Hornet Stood outside the Black Egg, awaiting the vessel to enter it. Since it had undone the seals, The temple was no doubt it's next destination.
"Will this really change anything? Or are we simply delaying the inevitable once again?"
Hornet looked down at the flower she was carrying. She kept it on her as a symbol of the fragile, yet precious life she wished to protect.
She had been visiting the White Lady in the Queen's Gardens before she went to meet the vessel, when she spotted someone she recognized. Ze'mer, one of the long forgotten five great knights, was kneeling over a grave covered in pure white flowers. Hornet had stopped and sat with her old acquaintance for a while, silently mourning with her.
When she got up to continue her trek, Ze'mer had offered her a flower. The warrior hadn't known why she accepted the gift at the time, but she was glad she had. The flower was a reminder to her that there were still things worth protecting, that even though the infection ravaged the remains of Hallownest, there were still those who continued to live on, those who had hope and optimism.
As Hornet stewed in her thoughts, she noticed that some of the tendrils of infection that were wrapping around the temple were fading away.
"What?! Impossible! The vessel did not enter the temple, I would have seen them! Why is the infection disappearing?"
Before Hornet could continue to question the strange phenomenon, Heavy footsteps came from the Black Egg. Hornet whirled around, drawing her needle in preparation, to find the Hollow Knight standing before her.
Hornet was baffled. If the infection was gone, then how was Hollow still alive? They were the current vessel, and in order for a new one, they had to be killed.
upon looking into her sibling's eyes, She became even more confused. Yet along with that confusion came happiness and hope. Hollow's eyes lacked the vicious orange that one infected would posses.
"H-Hollow?"
Hollow looked down at their sibling with a look that Hornet guessed was shock, and then immense relief and happiness. The grown vessel dropped their nail and picked Hornet up in a crushing hug.
"Ah! H-Hollow, You're going to crack my shell!"
The failed vessel gave a sheepish look, before letting their sibling down and tilting their head in confusion.
"I don't quite know what's going on either. The infection is gone, but if you're alive, then how?"
Hollow scratched their head in confusion, before shrugging.
"Well we can't leave this alone. Even if this seems like a blessing, there is something amiss. We need to figure out what it is an-"
Before Hornet could finish her sentence, a great roar rang out from the caverns below.
"That... Sounded like it came from the City of Tears! We need to get there as soon as possible!"
Hornet dashed towards the lift leading down to Hallownest's capital, Hollow picking up his nail and following close behind.
Hornet paced impatiently within the lift while Hollow watched her concerned. Contrary to the Pale King's beliefs, the Hollow Knight was far from hollow. They had started to feel not long after they left the Abyss with their father. They had hidden this from the Pale King in fear of being rejected and cast back into the Abyss with their other siblings.
If Hollow were capable of making noises they would scoff. What good had that done? They had only made everything worse. Had they accepted that they were a failure and allowed themselves to be cast aside, perhaps the Pale King would have found the true pure vessel. Perhaps the infection would never have gotten so out of control.
"Hollow, I can tell that you're wallowing in self loathing again. I told you before you were sealed and I'll tell you again now. You're not a burden. Vessel or no, no one being can solve every problem. Father's plan was doomed to fail from the start. No being can exist without some sort of will, some sort of mind. The 'pure vessel' he was searching for, there was never such a being."
Hollow stood up straighter, and gave Hornet a look of thanks.
"Feeling better? Good. Now, let's deal with whatever is going on down in the capital."
As Hornet and Hollow exited the lift, they were met with a bizarre and terrifying sight. The City was covered in tendrils of void, and a great mass of it had gathered in the center of the capital.
"Wh-what is this? Where did this come from?! Is this the reason why the infection disappeared?!"
A great mass of void began to rise from the lake of the stuff, taking the form of a giant, four armed beast. It turned, chilling glowing eyes locking on to Hornet and Hollow.
The siblings tensed, drawing their weapons and preparing to face the void gone mad.
The Void gave a shriek, before it sent tendrils flying at the two warriors. Hornet parried the attacks, before jumping towards the monster to attack herself. Hollow simply faded out of focus before appearing beside Hornet to assist her.
The two siblings slashed and cut through the void, making their way towards the beast. As they got close enough to strike it, the slashed nail and needle across the void's center, making deep gashes in the black matter. However, the wounds they inflicted simply filled themselves in with more void, doing no noticeable damage.
"Argh! What is this? It doesn't take any form of damage whatsoever!"
Hollow gave another frustrated slash, but soon realized that they couldn't move their arm. They looked to find that it had been caught by a tendril of void, their other limbs soon meeting the same fate.
Hornet was faring no better. The tendrils were too numerous, and soon she was overwhelmed. The void began to bring the siblings closer to consume them, but as they lowered their struggling forms, the white flower that Hornet carried fell off of her being. The void's glowing eyes widened in shock, before a brilliant flash of light erupted.
When the light died down, the City of Tears was once more empty. The void was gone, and Hornet and Hollow were nowhere to be found. The lone flower floated to the ground, soon being carried away by the water.